$2.7 million research award to aid nursery, floriculture industry

Virginia Tech has been awarded a 5-year, $2.7 million grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study integrated management of zoosporic pathogens and irrigation water quality. Project director Chuanxue Hong, a professor of plant pathology, physiology and weed science, said the study will help the nursery and floriculture industry become more sustainable, enabling it to better compete in the global market. The project will look for biologically-based control methods for the Phytophthora and Pythium pathogens and develop best management practices to recycle irrigation water safely to protect water quality and improve water use efficiency.
“What we learn will have applications not only to crop health but also to much broader areas, such as water quality,” said Hong. “This project aims to reduce the crop health risk associated with recycling water for irrigation purposes and to answer the question, How can we make the production of nursery and greenhouse crops a more sustainable industry?”

Pictured: Virginia Tech researchers will look for biologically-based control methods for disease pathogens and develop best management practices to recycle irrigation water safely.
Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech