This USDA Organic Research and Extension Initiative is designed to investigate predators of soil microbes. Micro-predators are an essential part of healthy organic soils, but the impact of organic management on most predators is unknown. This project will investigate how organic matter amendments affect soil micro-predator diversity to promote crop health.

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Questions

  1. How is organic matter linked to microbial diversity, micro-predator composition, and trophic interaction networks in organic soils across the US? (Obj. 1)
  2. How do different organic amendments and micro-predators work synergistically to suppress plant pathogens in soil? (Obj. 2)
  3. Can new knowledge of predator-amendment interactions be applied through predator inoculants and soil-testing kits? (Obj. 3)
  4. To what extent do our detailed analyses of representative farms and controlled experiments translate to broader predictive capacity of soil microbiome and chemical composition in support of soil and plant health in diverse organic cropping systems across the US? (Obj. 3B)

Activities

The above questions will be addressed through four major activities.

Objective 1: We will conduct a “predator-ome” and soil health survey of 12 organic tomato farms in four states early and late in the season, to identify how predator composition and predator-bacterial interactions are linked to organic matter content, the microbiome, and other soil properties.

Objective 2: We will perform soil microcosm experiments to determine how different organic matter amendments affect pathogen survival (2A), predator activation (2B), and pathogen predator interactions in support of pathogen suppression (2C).

Objective 3: We will evaluate translational potential of our findings by determining if organic amendment performance can be improved through predator inoculation (3A) and by designing and evaluating a self-testing kit for organic growers to learn about their soil predators (3B).

Objective 4: We will communicate the importance of soil predators in a healthy soil microbiome to growers and undergraduate and graduate students through extension and curricular activities.

Research Team, Affiliations, and Links to their websites

Samuel Martins, Project Director, Assistant Professor, University of Florida, 2550 Hull Road
Gainesville, FL, 32611, Lab Website; sj.martins@ufl.edu

Carolee T. Bull, Co-PI, Professor, The Pennsylvania State University, 108 Buckhout Lab,
University Park, PA 16802, Lab Website; ctb14@psu.edu

Jasna Kovac, Co-PI, Associate Professor, The Pennsylvania State University, 437 Rodney A. Erickson Food Science Building, Lab Website; jzk303@psu.edu

Maria Gorgo-Simcox, Co-PI, Extension Educator, The Pennsylvania State University, 601
Westtown Road, Suite 370 - Government Services Center West Chester, PA 19380-0990, mag38@psu.edu

Lindsay Triplett, Co-PI, Vice Director, and Chief Scientist for the Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 123 Huntington Street, New Haven, CT 06511, Lab Website; Lindsay.Triplett@ct.gov

Stephen Taerum, Co-PI, Postdoctoral Scientist, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 123 Huntington Street, New Haven, CT 06511, Stephen.Taerum@ct.gov

Joanne Emerson, Co-PI, Associate Professor, University of California, Davis, Hutchison Hall 474, Davis, CA 95616, Lab Website; jbemerson@ucdavis.edu

Benjamin Waldo, Co-PI, Plant Pathologist, USDA-ARS, 10300 Baltimore Ave, Bldg 010A, Beltsville, MD 20705, benjamin.waldo@usda.gov

Kendall Martin, Co-PI, Professor, William Paterson University, 4057 Hennings Science East, Wayne, NJ 07470, martink31@wpunj.edu

Hannah Goemann, Postdoctoral Scientist, University of California, Davis, Hutchison Hall 550, Davis, CA 95616, hgoemann@ucdavis.edu

Navdeep Kaur, Postdoctoral Scientist, University of Florida, 2550 Hull Road, Gainesville, FL, 32611, navdeep.kaur@ufl.edu

Melanie Medina López, Postdoctoral Scientist, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, mkm6528@psu.edu

Stakehoder Advisory Panel

Daniel R. Dalton: Associate Director for Farmer Training and Development, PASA Sustainable Agriculture, Harrisburg, PA

Doug O'Brien, PhD: Owner, Pleasure Point Farm, Santa Cruz, California