Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Vegetables: beans (dry)

Target Pests

• Target Pests: bacterial diseases, fungus

Practices

• Pest Management: chemical control

• Crop Production: other

Dry beans (Phaseolus spp.) are well suited for the Northeast as they serve as a great addition to grain rotations and are a highly marketable crop. Dry bean production in the Northeast is largely through organic farmers on a small-scale, with many farmers choosing to save their own seed rather than purchase new seed at the start of each season. While this practice supports regional seed sovereignty and reduces input costs, it also allows fungal pathogens such as Colletotrichum lindemuthianum (anthracnose), and two bacterial pathogens, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. Phaseoli (common bacterial blight) and Pseudomonas syringae pv. Phaseolicola (halo blight) to persist and accumulate across planting cycles. Approximately 50% of the major dry bean pathogens can be seedborne or seed transmitted and cause significant yield loss for dry bean growers (Loria 2021). Throughout the last decade and a half, the Northeast has seen more extreme weather events (i.e. flooding and drought) and growers have noticed a rise in disease pressure throughout their fields. This can become a significant issue particularly for organic growers who already have limited control measures against pathogens. In the absence of effective sanitation or testing, infected seed lots can silently amplify inoculum loads year by year, resulting in higher disease pressure and degraded seed quality over time.

This project aims to evaluate the efficacy of ozone (O₃) as a seed treatment to reduce the incidence of common bacterial and fungal seedborne pathogens affecting dry beans. Ozone acts as a powerful oxidant that ruptures microbial membranes and degrades mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON); it decomposes naturally to oxygen, leaving no chemical residue and requiring minimal energy input. Through replicated trials, dry bean seed lots with known levels of common seedborne diseases will be treated with ozone and changes in pathogen incidence and germination will be assessed. Laboratory trials will determine optimal ozone parameters that preserve seed viability while suppressing seedborne pathogen incidence. Once ozone parameters are determined, a field trial will be conducted to assess in-season plant quality metrics (i.e. plant population and yield), and disease assessments will be conducted to evaluate the incidence of seedborne pathogens.

By establishing standardized seed treatment protocols and linking them to pathogen suppression, germination, and vigor outcomes, this project fills a critical research gap in seed health science and disease management. The work integrates diagnostic testing, seed physiology, field research, and extension outreach to generate practical, science-based sanitation recommendations for growers and seed companies.

• Objective 1: Determine ozone rate/time seed treatment parameters for reducing seedborne pathogen load while maintaining seed health.
• Objective 2: Determine the effects of ozone seed treatments on seedborne pathogen incidence, seedling vigor, and dry bean yields under field conditions
• Objective 3: Increase knowledge and awareness of stakeholders in the area of dry bean seedborne disease and management.