Litchi and nematodes
University of Idaho researchers are introducing genes from a specific plant into potatoes in an effort to develop spuds that are resistant to harmful nematodes. The Litchi [LEE-chee] tomato has a natural resistance to several species of nematodes, which are also known as round worms.
Nematodes can exist in fields for more than a decade and can be found down to three feet deep in soil. U of I plant pathologist Louise-Marie Dandurand has been leading a team of researchers looking at how the Litchi tomato may be able to help potato crops against nematodes. She say Litchi tomatoes choke off nematodes when they invade.
"It's called localized settled death. Basically, that plan just walls off a nematode, so it just starve it, basically."
Litchi tomatoes can be used as a "trap crop" to clear out potato-threatening nematodes from fields. She notes there are some complications using the trap crop method, including a current shortage of Litchi tomato seeds.
Another line of study for Dandurand's team is extracting chemicals from Litchi tomatoes for use in pesticides.
"That is one of our research objectives. It's to find out what those compounds are, those chemicals are in the plant. We have some possibilities. So, we're trying to extract those from the plant and then test them against nematodes to see how it affects it's behavior."
Dandurand's team is also looking at the possibility of either transferring genes from Litchi tomatoes into potatoes or using pathways in potatoes that are similar to Litchi plants.
