Research funding for kochia and bacterial blight in dry edible beans are "absolutely critical" to explore new technologies in the space, said Zack Bateson, research scientist at the National Agricultural Genotyping Center. The NAGC is a private diagnostic lab that received funding for the two projects from USDA's specialty crop block grants for both projects
"Whether it's traits in weeds or diagnosing diseases, where there might be several distinct pathogens that lead to the same symptoms — all of these types of projects are benefited by the funds through the specialty crop block grants and through the Northarvest Bean Growers Association," Bateson said.
One of those grants was for $271,945 to increase the availability of a diagnostic panel to survey for herbicide resistance in kochia populations.
Bateson said the diagnostic panel refers to a set of genotyping tests where the NAGC look for target site mechanisms related to herbicide resistance. While a lot of herbicide resistance testing is done in a greenhouse, NAGC is able to test inside of a lab.
"We have a statewide survey where we have agronomists, growers, Extension send us leaf samples from the field, that then we can apply our genetic test to look for this indirect association with herbicide resistance," Bateson said.
After about a year and a half of conducting the genetic tests, Bateson said the lab is able to churn out results in about a week.
"When samples arrive to the lab, we are reporting results in about five to seven days," he said. "Much quicker than from a greenhouse."
Group 14-resistant kochia is a much more widespread issue than what was first thought, Bateson said, according to the samples they tested from across the state of North Dakota
"It is one of those weeds that drives a lot of weed management on the farm," he said.
One of the main focuses in herbicide resistance testing in kochia is because of its "relatively new appearance of group 14-resistance," Bateson said.
"There's a strong genetic test, or a strong association with one of the tests that we provide for this group 14-resistance in Kochia," Bateson said. "We established a statewide survey where folks were sending us samples, and we found in about 65% of the counties that we tested had this group 14-resistant kochia."
Bateson said free testing will be running throughout this whole year, with new funding secured.
"We'll be distributing these envelopes across the state, at county Extension offices, so anyone can grab these kits and collect weeds for us to test," he said.
Bacterial blight pathogens
Another testing program funded through specialty crop block grants was for $154,818, to evaluate molecular tests to supplement North Dakota’s seed certification program and field detection of bacterial blight pathogens in dry edible beans. The program is a collaboration between the NAGC and the North Dakota State Seed Department.
Bateson said when it comes to pathogens and disease in dry edible beans, bacterial blight is at the top of the list.
"It's one of the top disease issues that lead to yield loss," Bateson said "There's a strong recommendation to avoid planting any stored or bin seeds from previous years."
The North Dakota State Seed Department provides a test where they take seeds from various sources and try to elicit disease in the lab.
"If there's bacterial blight that's found in the seed, the pathogen that causes that, they will see in these plants," Bateson said.
He said there's some gaps to the testing, which NAGC can assist with due to the funding, by providing a diagnostic test to supplement the state department's dome testing.
"There are going to be some isolates that just won't grow in the laboratory, so this project really helps with that by creating a genetic diagnostic test for bacterial blight, so we're able to specifically identify whether one or a few of those bacterial blight pathogens are in a seed source."
Bateson said the NAGC has been working with the North Dakota State Seed Department since 2019, and the state department is just starting to get into similar technologies used by the NAGC.