Tomatoes of various colors in a pile Tomatoes of various colors in a pile

Developing Branched Broomrape-Resistant Tomato

Generating Thriving Production Systems Solutions
Generating Thriving Production Systems Solutions

Program Contact

Dr. Kathy Munkvold
kmunkvold@foundationfar.org

Dr. Neelima Roy Sinha

Dr. Neelima Roy Sinha

University of California, Davis

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $232,728

Total award amount   $465,456

Location   Davis, CA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   University of California, Davis

Harmful Weed Threatens Popular Crop

Branched broomrape is a parasitic weed that threatens the United States’ supply of processing tomatoes – canned tomatoes and those used to create products like ketchup. Despite strong mitigation efforts, the weed has been detected in several counties in California, a state that grows 90% of the country’s processing tomatoes.

Current processing tomato varieties are not resistant to the weed and several features of branched broomrapes’ life cycle make them especially pernicious. They are not photosynthetic, and instead derive nutrients and water by attaching to tomato plants’ root cells, which limits crop growth. As the parasitism occurs underground, treating crops with herbicides is not effective. Additionally, branched broomrapes’ flowers make thousands of seeds, which can remain dormant and viable in soil for more than twenty years, potentially jeopardizing future processing tomato crops. These factors make combatting this weed especially difficult.

To address these challenges, researchers at the University of California, Davis led by Dr. Neelima Roy Sinha, professor of plant biology, are developing a tomato crop with branched broomrape resistance.

Dr. Neelima Roy Sinha
The processing tomato industry is severely impacted by field broomrape infestations. Funding from FFAR will allow us to accelerate gene discovery and use CRISPR mutagenesis to develop resistant tomato varieties. Dr. Neelima Roy Sinha
Professor, UC Davis

Preventing Crop Devastation & Ensuring Supply

Growing and harvesting processing tomatoes is a $1.17 billion industry in California. For these growers, branched broomrape is a threat in both the short and long term. The presence of the weed in a field can lead to an immediate, complete economic loss for growers, with potentially longer-term economic impacts if growers are forced to plant lower-value crops to replace tomato in a location due to the ongoing presence of branched broomrape seeds.

This weed could also compromise the supply of processing tomatoes that other companies depend on to produce tomato-based products consumers expect to see on store shelves. In addition to disrupting the supply chains for tomato-based products, shortages caused by this parasitic weed could also increase prices of common culinary products.

Developing tomato varieties that are resistant to branched broomrape could help growers protect their crops and ensure their livelihood while also protecting the supply of tomato-based products for consumers.

Details about this research

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