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Carrots, while in the ground, are home to a community of microorganisms, some members of which wage a kind of battle for supremacy against others that cause plant disease and costly losses to farmers who grow the vegetable.
Now, a team of university and Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists has begun to identify some of these good guy microbes. Reported in the June 2020 issue of
PLOS One, the findings provide a critical step toward learning how carrot growers could enlist these beneficial microbes as an effective defense against diseases like Alternaria leaf blight.
One clue to emerge is soil-building practices that allow the microbes to colonize carrots, protecting them from attack. Another tantalizing clue is the genetic makeup of the carrot varieties themselves, which may predispose them to being colonized.