Globally, 80% of commercial soft fruit can be lost as waste due to damage caused by an invasive fruit fly, spotted wing drosophila (SWD). Growers rely on full field sprays of chemical insecticides to protect fruit from SWD, costing £11bn. Recently strawberry growers have also recorded increasing incidence of damage from earwigs with crop losses of 10-30% at peak times in strawberry crops: currently there are no effective control measures for this insect in strawberry crops, even though earwigs are actually beneficial in apple orchards, feeding on a variety of insect pests such as aphids. For apple growers, rosy apple aphid (RAA) is a major pest causing significant yield and quality losses. RAA damage is exacerbated by the presence of ants in the trees in the spring which tend the aphids for their honeydew. These ants protect their valuable 'aphid farms' from predation by generalist insect predators like hoverfly larvae and ladybirds. We have identified a bait made from a natural product which SWD feeds on (ProBandz) and in combination with low doses of insecticide can be used to control this pest using less than 95% of insecticide that is normally sprayed to protect crops. In this project we will test our new bait, ProBandz, in combination with low doses of alternative insecticides, thereby reducing the risk of SWD insecticide resistance simultaneously reducing levels of residues in the fruit. We will develop a more targeted and less environmentally damaging approach to SWD control. In strawberry crops we will live trap earwigs using a combination of formulated bait and escape proof traps. Earwigs can be later released into apple orchards as a pest control agent creating a sustainable approach. To accomplish RAA control, we will use a formulated ProBandz to attract feeding ants away from the aphid colonies, making the aphids more vulnerable to attack from natural enemies, resulting in fewer aphid damaged fruits.

Raspberries are fragile fruits that require significant manual labour to harvest. The raspberry industry has seen significant growth in production due to consumer demand, but the cost and availability of labour is threatening its economic viability. This project will produce a proof of concept raspberry picking robot that will demonstrate the approach required to alleviate this bottleneck in growth of the sector. Building on the cutting edge developments that Dogtooth Technologies has already achieved in bringing to market a commercial strawberry picking robots, this project will continue to push the boundaries of the application of robotics to the needs of the agricultural sector.

The UK strawberry industry is facing mounting challenges to its sustainability. The most significant challenges are: major increases in the agricultural living wage, increasing the costs of production in an industry where the main costs are labour; the reduced availability of seasonal labour; and the loss of many pesticides, leading to decreased yields, and increased resistance potential. To help meet these challenges, new varieties with larger fruit and greater yields are required to enable faster picking speeds and a greater return on investment for farmers. They must also have increased disease resistance to reduce the reliance on chemical inputs. Finally, to meet customer expectations and enhance consumer delight, new varieties must be attractive, with enhanced flavour and sweetness. The current methods of variety development are robust, but labour intensive and can be inaccurate. In order to make the breeding process more efficient, this project will implement a novel breeding method using genomic selection. The strategy involves using DNA information of all individuals in a breeding population, along with extensive measurements of fruit size, total yield, flavour, sweetness, and disease resistance. Statistical tests will be used to predict the plant characteristics by only looking at the plant DNA. In this way, decisions on which plants will be the best future varieties will be made more rapidly, leading to significant improvements in the appearance and flavour of the berries sold to consumers, a better deal for farmers, and more environmentally-friendly fruit production.

Strawberries contribute to a nutritious and healthy diet and are an important UK crop. Increasing restrictions in the type and frequency of chemical controls mean that existing varieties will soon be unsuitable for sustainable production in the soil. This project will develop technologies to aid the measurement of below-ground traits controlling natural plant resistance to nematodes, which in combination with a fungal pathogen called Verticillium dahliae (the causative agent of a wilting disease) cause major crop losses. Novel measurement techniques will be developed, which will allow the identification of wilt and nematode resistance genes that UK breeding programmes can harness to improve new varieties. Furthermore, this novel trait measurement system can be applied to other crop breeding programmes (along with other applications) to enhance the efficiency of trait meaurement on large plant populations.

Strawberry powdery mildew is a serious disease problem in the UK where 80% of production is under polythene tunnels, an environment more conducive to the disease. It requires an intensive fungicide spray programme to achieve effective control and availability of suitable pesticides is decreasing. The solution is resistant varieties but breeding programmes currently select for resistance using field evaluation of symptoms. This has often resulted in short lived resistance, lasting only a few seasons before the pathogen adapts. This project will develop molecular markers to enable plant breeders to develop varieties with stronger and more durable resistance. The approach is to raise a progeny of strawberry seedlings that segregates for resistance to mildew and then develop a genetic linkage map giving good coverage of the entire strawberry genome. The map position of quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance will be located and transferable markers that are tightly linked to the resistance genes will be identified and tested in a wide range of strawberry lines to validate them and identify those most suitable for marker assisted breeding. The outcome of the project will be markers that will offer an innovative approach to resistance breeding and improve the speed, efficiency and precision, resulting in stronger and more durable resistance.