When outbreaks of plant diseases occur, it is because all three sides of the “plant disease triangle” are present, which are: a susceptible host (the crop), presence of the pathogen (disease-causing agent), and an environment that is favorable for infection and disease development (favorable weather). As cropping practices change over time, those practices can have unintended consequences on any of the three sides of the disease triangle, which can promote the development of more aggressive plant pathogens and the rise of new diseases to new areas.  

For the above reasons and more, it is critically important that plant disease monitoring programs across the Commonwealth continue to be active into the future so that new pathogens and diseases can be detected quickly. Early detection of diseases helps farmers be prepared with mitigation action plans in place. The University of Kentucky serves as a first line of detection of new plant diseases with an entire Department devoted towards the discipline of Plant Pathology as well as the University of Kentucky Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. As cropping practices and weather variability change, the plant disease landscape also changes, and continuing these plant disease monitoring efforts into the next 100 years will be important for protecting Kentucky’s agricultural interests as well as the nation’s ability to safely produce a robust food supply. 

Plant pathology research on diseases of soybean and small grain crops (wheat, barley, rye, etc.) also will advance with the development of new technologies. Currently we are seeing farmers and agricultural professionals starting to use drone technology to spray crop protection products, such as fungicides, on crop fields in Kentucky. Research will advance in this area over the next 100 years, which will likely include the development and use of artificial intelligence enhanced “see and spray” technology, where these products are only sprayed in areas of fields in which affected or at-risk plants are targeted. 

As computing systems and development of algorithms expand, increased development of data-driven decision-making tools, such as disease forecasting systems, will become more accurate and effective. These tools will allow farmers to make the most-informed decisions on disease management practices in their own fields. Current research is ongoing at the University of Kentucky on developing new forecasting systems for diseases of soybean and wheat, and as technologies advance, these forecasting systems will be more accurate and will become the foundation for plant disease management in Kentucky. 

As plant pathology research advances, an overall area that will improve will be the detection of plant pathogens. As detection technologies and capabilities move forward, it will advance the speed of diagnostics and provide new research tools that will allow plant pathologists to better understand the biological interactions that these pathogens have with plants and other microorganisms, as well as provide the ability to more quickly detect new pathogens and new strains of pathogens that might pose new threats (i.e. fungicide resistance, races that are able to overcome resistant varieties, etc.). With the biological landscape ever-changing, advancements in plant pathogen detection will ultimately help farmers be better prepared for plant disease epidemics.

The future of plant pathology research at the University of Kentucky is strong. With faculty of UK’s Department of Plant Pathology being located both on campus at Lexington and at the UKREC in Princeton, cutting-edge research will continue in this area to help safeguard the interests of Kentucky agriculture and its stakeholders over the next 100 years.