Avocado Root Rot: Steep, Rocky Terrain and Biodiversity Help Protect Small Farmers in Post-Conflict Colombia
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San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Master's Theses Master's Theses and Graduate Research Spring 2019 Avocado Root Rot: Steep, Rocky Terrain and Biodiversity Help Protect Small Farmers in Post-Conflict Colombia Morgan Frankel San Jose State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses Recommended Citation Frankel, Morgan, "Avocado Root Rot: Steep, Rocky Terrain and Biodiversity Help Protect Small Farmers in Post-Conflict Colombia" (2019). Master's Theses. 4998. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.nfg7-3gjd https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4998 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses and Graduate Research at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AVOCADO ROOT ROT: STEEP, ROCKY TERRAIN AND BIODIVERSITY HELP PROTECT SMALL FARMERS IN POST-CONFLICT COLOMBIA A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Environmental Studies San José State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Morgan Frankel May 2019 © 2019 Morgan Frankel ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Designated Thesis Committee Approves the Thesis Titled AVOCADO ROOT ROT: STEEP, ROCKY TERRAIN AND BIODIVERSITY HELP PROTECT SMALL FARMERS IN POST-CONFLICT COLOMBIA by Morgan Frankel APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY May 2019 Rachel O’Malley, Ph.D. Department of Environmental Studies William Russell, Ph.D. Department of Environmental Studies Jenny Broome, Ph.D. Driscoll’s Berries Global Plant Health Abstract AVOCADO ROOT ROT: STEEP, ROCKY TERRAIN AND BIODIVERSITY HELP PROTECT SMALL FARMERS IN POST-CONFLICT COLOMBIA by Morgan Frankel In recent years, small avocado producers in coastal Colombia returned to their farms after decades of war to discover they must battle the pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi devastating their trees. While this disease is well-described in the U.S., Australia, and Europe, no previous research has examined environmental correlates of P. cinnamomi in avocado in the diverse tropical agroecosystem of the Colombian Montes de Maria. I used agroecosystem inventory, in-field diagnostics and disease observations to describe avocado agroecosystem diversity and identify relationships among P. cinnamomi presence, root rot disease, slope, pH, soil compaction, elevation, and distance to household in remote smallholder farms in the coastal mountains of Colombia. I also evaluated accuracy of a locally accessible, low-cost bioassay for detecting the pathogen. Although P. cinnamomi proved to be ubiquitous in the region, soil compaction and increasing slope were both negatively related to disease incidence at the farm level, and some infected trees appeared healthy. Furthermore, the low-cost bioassay detected P. cinnamomi equally well as commercial immunostrips. As conflict reparations are negotiated in this remote region, small farmers should be compensated for retaining their highly diversified genetic stock, diverse cropping palettes, and indigenous techniques, as they may provide a refuge for avocado from the heavy disease burden in the steep and rocky growing terrain. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Rachel O’Malley for her continued guidance, trust, and enthusiastic support throughout this process. I would like to acknowledge and thank my committee members, Dr. Will Russell and Dr. Jenny Broome for their support in designing this research and writing this thesis. This research would not have been possible without the support and guidance of the plant pathology team at Driscoll’s and my in-country mentor, Lillian Hall as well as the Sembrando Paz organization, its employees, and all the farmers and their families who graciously allowed me to survey their farms, fed me and housed me. Lastly, I would like to thank my family and especially my fiancé, Dalton, for their continued love and support. v Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Literature Review ............................................................................................................... 1 Conflict and Agriculture ................................................................................................. 1 Agroecological Theory ................................................................................................... 2 Disease Theory ............................................................................................................... 4 Model System ..................................................................................................................... 7 A Long History of Conflict ............................................................................................. 7 A Virulent Pathogen ....................................................................................................... 8 A Susceptible Host .......................................................................................................... 9 A Conducive Environment ........................................................................................... 10 Direct effects on the host ........................................................................................... 10 Effects on pathogen presence. ................................................................................... 10 Effects on Disease Severity. ...................................................................................... 11 Managing the disease .................................................................................................... 11 Research Questions and Hypotheses ............................................................................ 13 Methods ............................................................................................................................ 15 Study System ................................................................................................................ 15 Research Design ........................................................................................................... 19 Data Collection ............................................................................................................. 21 Access to Farm Sites.................................................................................................. 21 Research Question 1. ................................................................................................. 21 Research Questions 2 and 3. ...................................................................................... 21 Research Question 5. ................................................................................................. 23 Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 24 Limitations .................................................................................................................... 25 Results ............................................................................................................................... 26 Research question 1 ...................................................................................................... 26 Research question 2 ...................................................................................................... 27 Research question 3 ...................................................................................................... 30 Research question 4 ...................................................................................................... 33 Research question 5 ...................................................................................................... 33 Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 34 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 38 vi Literature cited .................................................................................................................. 39 Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 44 vii List of Tables Table 1. Disease Incidence Rating Guide. ........................................................................ 22 Table 2. Crops Observed and Listed by Farmers. ............................................................. 27 Table 3. Pearsons Correlation Among Predictor Variables. ............................................ 28 Table 4. Relationship Between Pathogen Presence or Absence and Predictor Variables (Binary Logistic Regression) ............................................................................. 29 Table 5. Binary Logistic Regression Classification Table................................................ 31 Table 6. Disease Incidence and Predictor Variables (Binary Logistic Regression) ......... 31 viii List of Figures Figure 1. Disease