The soft-fruit industry has changed almost beyond recognition over the past 20 years, with average yields of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries increasing 172%, 98% and 118% per ha respectively between 2000 and 2019, driven primarily by the switch to soil-less (substrate) protected cultivation. The sector is valued at £2.2bn annually with year-on-year volume growth of 7% between 2014-2018 (DEFRA Horticultural Statistics), strawberry being the major crop (£1.6bn). Availability of coir substrate is likely to become a major constraint in soft fruit production due to rising costs, transport costs and competition for supply. This project aims to demonstrate how a range of soft fruit crops grow and suppress disease in a sustainable UK produced supplemented substrate. Unlike Coir which holds excess moisture around the root zone creating over watering conditions which favour root pathogen infection and spread, this substrate has excellent water management capacity, supporting the industry need to reduce water use, fertiliser use and leaching; improving local water quality and helping to reduce its environmental footprint towards a more sustainable growing media.

_Phytophthora infestans_ is the pathogen that caused the Great Irish Potato Famine and today over 170 described species of _Phytophthora_ cause crop disease on a global scale, costing commercial crop industries billions of dollars. The UK fruit industry and raspberry particularly has been decimated by _Phytophthora_ root rot (PRR) with an 80% reduction in field production leading to a smaller pot based short term industry[][0] supported by extensive fruit imports. Methods to control infection and spread are limited by current legislation that limit the use of prophylactic fungicides and increase the importance of novel control methods based on host resistance, growing media and watering. _Phytophthora_ _rubi_ and _P. fragariae_ are PRRs which spread through plant propagation, growth media and water flow in plantations. Manipulating the physical, chemical and biological properties of the growth medium has the potential to play a key role in inhibiting PRR. Commercial plant growth substrates can be designed specifically to meet a crops individual needs with regards to nutrient requirement, water management and grower preferences. Manipulating the growing media's physical, chemical and biological properties can lead to a stronger healthier root and plant system, while also limiting and actively suppressing the growth and spread of harmful root pathogens, such as PRR. Specific additives have previously been incorporated into growing media to control and prevent other root pathogens and pests such as Vine Weevil, _Fusarium_ spp. and _Pythium_ spp. A recent JHI study identified multiple responses triggered in a PRR resistant raspberry plant upon challenge with _P._ _rubi_, including a mechanism, which has the potential to improve a plants resistance to PRR. The growth medium can be improved by the manipulation of these plant-derived chemical signals that are normally induced upon pathogen challenge in resistant cultivars, to boost the immune capabilities of susceptible cultivars. Using molecular methods such as gene expression, genetic markers and fluorescent pathogen cultures we can track disease development in the root-zone environment in different growing media substrate formulations. The innovative range of growth substrate additives developed in this project will stimulate raspberry root growth signal to improve the root system under a controlled irrigation regime and secondly actively inhibit the growth and spread of root pathogens. Establishment of optimal raspberry growing conditions integrated with early pathogen detection and control of PRR spread will transform raspberry agronomy, maximising yield and securing the UK soft fruit industry with application to other crops worldwide. [0]: #_msocom_1