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Optimised Pest Integrated Management to precisely detect and control plant diseases in perennial crops and open-field vegetables

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - OPTIMA (Optimised Pest Integrated Management to precisely detect and control plant diseases in perennial crops and open-field vegetables)

Reporting period: 2021-03-01 to 2022-06-30

Global agriculture relies on synthetic Plant Protection Products (PPPs) for plant disease control to support sustainable yield productivity. Farmers follow conventional crop protection strategies, maintaining significant use of PPPs despite the negative impacts on the environment and human health. This happens as pests diminish global potential crop yield up to 40%, a figure that would be twice as large if no synthetic PPPs were used.
Reducing the negative impacts of PPPs is a major global societal challenge, as 72% of EU citizens are worried about PPP residues and seeing it as the most important food-related concern (Eurobarometer).

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced that 98,9% of food products contain synthetic PPPs residues (with 1,5% of them in excess of the legal limits), while 27,3% of food samples have traces of more than one synthetic PPP. Sustainable use of PPPs is also promoted by the European Directive 2009/128/EC, while the issue of plants resistance to PPPs is becoming a significant problem.

The overall objective of OPTIMA is to develop an environmentally friendly Integrated Pest Management (IPM) framework for apple scab in apple orchards, downy mildew in vineyards and Alternaria leaf blight in carrots by providing: (i) combined use of bio-PPPs and synthetic PPPs, (ii) Decision Support Systems (DSS) for disease prediction, (iii) spectral disease detection systems and (iv) precision spraying techniques.
Dissemination efforts involved publishing 32 Practice Abstracts, 12 promotional videos, participation in fairs and tradeshows, and field pilot activities with stakeholders. Regarding exploitation efforts, important progress has been made in order to push key exploitable results in the market, especially the commercial OPTIMA sprayers of CAFFINI and FEDE.
The main results of the IPM components are detailed as follows:
• Decision Support System (DSS) models for the three crop/pathogen combinations were built and implemented online using a dashboard. A field-level disease detection prototype was built, using Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color images. For multispectral imaging, most discriminant bands have been identified for the three crops. A deep learning pipeline was built using color images, yielding a precision of 77,2% for downy mildew in grapes and 45,1% for apple scab, based on the correct detection of at least one symptom at the image level. For Alternaria in carrots, results were 47,9% precision, mainly due to data scarcity and small symptoms.
• A selection and evaluation of >12 bio-PPPs per crop for the pathosystems grape downy mildew, Alternaria leaf blight in carrots and apple scab in apple orchards has been achieved. Selected bio-PPPs were able to reduce grape downy mildew by 40-50% (in low to medium disease pressure) and Alternaria leaf blight in carrots by 45-55%. Also, selected synthetic PPPs were able to reduce grape downy mildew by 80-90% and Alternaria leaf blight in carrots by 70-80%.
• For the 3 crop cases, optimal spray configurations have been selected to maximize deposition and coverage, while minimizing spray losses and can deliver a reduction of drift potential between 60%-90%. In addition, innovative technologies have been developed to reduce spray drift, including configurations with air-inclusion nozzles, off-center nozzles, narrow-angle nozzles, lower spray pressures, adjusted air-support settings and air conveyor orientation.
The methodological framework and the protocols for the Human, Environmental and Socio-Economic impact analysis of the proposed IPM for the three crops are:
VINEYARDS, ITALY
- The use of bioPPPs is clearly beneficial. Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA): Cumulative Risk Units (CRU) decrease 30%-80%; Human Risk Assessment (HRA): Hazard Index (HI) for farmers decreases 99%.
- References using the experimental Early Detection System (EDS) are hindered by the impacts of scouting, namely increased labor costs (x2) and environmental impacts (x2) of using diesel.
CARROTS, FRANCE
- The use of the smart sprayer configuration is beneficial, especially anti-drift nozzles, air assistance and crop bed optimal nozzle configurations. This is particularly observed in the reduction of the risk for soil organisms (-64%) associated to the use of the synthetic fungicide methalaxyl-M.
- Not all the so-called bioPPPs are beneficial. Experimental configurations using bioPPP are hindered by the incorporation of Heliosoufre, a bioPPP containing sulphur (chronic risk to bees more than triples).
APPLE, SPAIN
- The use of bioPPPs is beneficial for both environmental and health impacts compared to Best Management Practices, with slightly higher operational costs (3 %).
- Experimental references using bioPPPs would be even better for environmental and health impacts, if some harmful synthetic PPPs present in the planning were avoided as part of the IPM.
OPTIMA clearly goes beyond the state-of-the-art, adopting all IPM principles and elements (disease diagnosis, biological and chemical management, host resistance, spray techniques, agronomic and cultural practices, DSS). The approach will be showcased in broad-acre high value crops and is expected to lead to the reduction of synthetic PPP use (>50%).

OPTIMA is also pushing the research frontiers by increasing the prediction accuracy of existing DSS, by adopting geotagged data from the user testimonies and the detection system, as well as the areas elevation surface data that are fused and interpolated using spatial statistics.
OPTIMA goes beyond the state-of-the-art by developing a novel early detection system (EDS) using interference based color and spectral information, deposited and patterned directly on top of image sensor pixels. Optimization of plant disease detection accuracy will be achieved, using Deep Learning techniques.

Further advances are also achieved by introducing new bio-PPPs and bio-stimulants and evaluating existing commercial products (bacteria, yeasts, filamentous fungi, endophytes, botanical extracts, biostimulants and resistance inducers) to promote their use in new hosts and in replacement or interplay with conventional PPPs in an IPM system. OPTIMA works with qPFD technology, a host resistance evaluation system through phenotypic, genotypic and metabolomic approaches that will allow efficient and fast screening of bio-PPPs providing information about plant resistance status.

OPTIMA also develops 3 smart sprayers combining different nozzle/air support settings and targeted PPP application and equipped with a sensor-based variable spray application process for adopting variable rate control, variable airflow settings and spray droplet characteristics OPTIMA pushes the state-of-the-art limits, by integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Human Environment Risk Assessment combined (for 1st time for PPP use in agriculture) in a Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework allowing the consideration of a range of criteria addressing multiple perspectives and integrating the various sustainability dimensions.

To this end, OPTIMA has reported notable societal impact listed the feedback items below:
End-users are positive about:
- Variable spray rate, efficacy of combined synthetic & bio PPPS, prospect of DSS and EDS and expansion to other crops/enemies, receiving proper training
End-users are skeptical about:
- Viability and cost of DSS/EDS, complexity of new technology, relying only on bio-PPPs.
Donwy mildew detections in grapes
Spray trials and experiments for optimal configuration
OPTIMA communication and dissemination profile
Lab experiments for alternaria leaf blight in carrots
Application of synthetic PPPs for the control of grape downy mildew
Field trials
DSS dashboard with the selected 3 pilot areas
FEDE's advanced functionalities and connection with Specialty Crops Platform (SCP).
OPTIMA control box for vineyard and carrot sprayer
Image collection set-up
DynaJet PWM system including nozzle and console
Data collection in Spain
Focus group meeting snapshots
An example of the setup in the field and all three cameras imaging Downey Mildew.
Disease risk map in grapes (downy mildew)