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New Scholarship Recipient Takes on Endophytes
NEW SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT
TAKES ON ENDOPHYTES
Kazi Talaska : Onions New Zealand
Endophytic fungi
Otago University PhD student Pauline Cervantes is the recent recipient of an Onions NZ and Vegetables NZ joint scholarship working to study the endophytic fungi in New Zealand vegetable crops.
In her Honour’s year, Pauline had isolated a species of endophytic fungi that demonstrated great potential in inhibiting the growth of Botrytis, a common fungal pathogen for vegetable crops in New Zealand. “My interest in vegetable research essentially started through endophytes. In the summer of 2018–2019 I was doing this summer scholarship at Lincoln University with the BioProtection Research Centre and that was when I first learnt about endophytes,” says Pauline. Her current PhD project is around isolating these endophytic and microbial communities and how they can provide crop protection and beneficial ecological interactions. “It just fascinated me how broad their current applications are, and new possibilities for their applications are still being discovered, and I really want to be a part of that.” Although there have been challenges with the project, including starting fieldwork and facing delays for procurement of samples due to Covid-19, Pauline has strong support from her supervisors and continues a close relationship with Onions NZ to address issues going forward. Agrichemical use has been an ongoing issue for the vegetable sector. The shift in consumer preference, domestic and international compliance is putting pressure on growing systems to move to low residue and increasingly sustainable growing practices.
The use of agrichemicals is also a challenge for water quality, biodiversity, and limiting the increasing costs of production. “The cost of production and compliance is rising; this is becoming an increasing challenge for our growers” says chief executive of Onions New Zealand, James Kuperus. It is essential to ensure the vegetable sector remains competitive, sustains market access, and grows in value. Leading sustainability by example on the global platform is vital to achieve that. Supporting research into biological control agents is a step in that direction. “My love for studying these natural interactions in our indigenous systems just naturally overflowed into trying to find ways in which they can be applied to our horticultural systems to help solve contemporary problems relating to pests and diseases in a manner that is sustainable.” She hopes that her research will highlight the biotechnological potential of endophytes and how this can be translated into the resilience of growing systems. “The dream would be to be able to apply the endophytes that I discover in my project as biological control agents for important diseases and pests that threaten the industry.” “I’m really grateful for this opportunity, and the support from Onions NZ and Vegetables NZ has allowed me to be able to extend the application of my project.”
