Research

Certain weather conditions can lead to increased mycotoxin levels during grain harvest. This, in turn, can result in elevated levels in feed or food products, which is why a contaminated harvest may only be partially usable or require specific treatment before being used for production. Early countermeasures are essential to prevent high pollutant levels, and it is crucial to assess the contamination at the time of harvest based on the current situation. By combining weather data with data from experimental grain cultivation or other mycotoxin measurement results, mathematical models can be developed to estimate mycotoxin contamination early. This aims to enable grain producers to respond promptly to the conditions and potentially reduce contamination in the grain through appropriate countermeasures. An example of such a countermeasure could be an earlier harvest. Additionally, it will be analyzed whether it is possible to make predictions for new cultivation sites where no historical measurement data on mycotoxin contamination is available.

As part of its overaching climate change policy, the European Commission has decided to significantly reduce the use of chemical pesticides and to support more environmental friendly agricultural practices. An interesting alternative to develop more sustainable protection of crop plants against pathogens is to increase the efficiency of the plant immune system by surplus, non-growth limiting supply with micronutrients. Recent work demonstrates that supplying additional, non-toxic Zn and Cu concentrations to bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) can induce resistance against a generalist necrotroph Botrytis cinerea. In this interdisciplinary, collaborative project we intend to study the protective effects of each of the two micronutrients and to elucidate metabolic pathways that are mediated by Zn- and Cu-containing pepper proteins after priming as well as upon priming and subsequent infection (induced resistance). The B. cinerea - pepper interaction and the underlying protective effects of each of the two micronutrients Cu and Zn will be studied by the use of complementary expertises and cutting edge methods developed and optimized by the two collaboration partners in CZ (Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences) and AT (BOKU Vienna): metalloproteomics, X-ray spectroscopy, imaging of photosynthetic light reactions and stable isotope-assisted targeted and untargeted metabolomics. The planned time course experimens will reveal how the spatial accumulation pattern of Cu & Zn and metabolic pathways are modified by, and interfere with pathogen invasion. We anticipate that the complementary methods combined in this project together with the proposed time-resolved approach will provide a comprehensive picture and improved understanding of the molecular micronutrient priming for the first time.