About SweetARMOR
SweetARMOR stands for Sweetpotato Advanced Resistance and Management for RKN (Root-Knot Nematode). The SweetARMOR project is a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture funded project that aims to meet the needs of stakeholders in the sweetpotato industry that are experiencing economic losses at the hands of root-knot nematodes.
Objectives of the SweetARMOR Project
Objective 1: Development of systems-based sweetpotato crop management solutions for Meloidogyne enterlobii (Me) and Meloidogyne incognita (Mi)
- Objective 1 aims to support the implementation of a systems-based, whole-farm root-knot nematode (RKN) management program to quickly address the sweetpotato industry’s RKN control needs.
Objective 2: Accelerate breeding efforts for resistance to Me and Mi by identifying causal genes/QTL
Objective 3: Deployment of conventional, marker-assisted breeding and/or genomic selection to develop new market ready varieties with resistance to Me and Mi
- Objectives 2 and 3 aim to support longer-term simultaneous genomic and pheomic research activies focused on implementing genomic selection and molecular marker selection for resistance to Me and Mi in sweetpotato. Objectives 2 and 3 also aim to support rapid translation of this reserach into new market accepable RKN resistant varieties that be deployed into the new RKN control system long-term.
Objective 4: Develop high-throughput 2D and 3D storage root phenotyping technologies for the examination of nematode infection and storage root yield and quality
- Objective 4 aims to support the development of high throughput optical imaging tools for RKN and storage root phenotyping, which will be deployed in Objectives 1-3 alongside manual phenotypic scoring practices.
Objective 5: Economic cost-benefit analyses and effective communication of research results
- Objective 5 aims to support the development of economic cost-benefit analysis and communication strategies to be used in the project.
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