Investigating plant diseases impacting chayote farming in the Philippines

Project Overview

Chayote (Sechium edule, Jacq. Sw) is an important economic crop for agricultural production in upland tropical regions of the Philippines.

A perennial vining herb, chayote is part of the Cucurbitaceae family, known under many names, including sayote in Filipino and choko, cho cho or mirliton in English. All parts of the plant can be eaten, but the fruit is most commonly used for cooking. Chayote also has medicinal properties and is used for traditional medicine in the Philippines.

The livelihoods of local and indigenous communities can often depend on smallhold chayote farming in upland regions in the Philippines. In recent years, chayote farming has been challenged by emerging diseases, including the squash leaf curl virus (SLCV).

SLCV is transmitted by the whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) and leads to leaf curling, growth stunting, and yellowing, which reduces crop yields and income for local farmers.

Chayote farming is also vulnerable to increasing climate pressure due to its restricted habitat range, which is limited to cooler temperatures. A better understanding of viral and plant pathogens, the wider microbiome, and environmental conditions is necessary to understand disease susceptibility in chayote agriculture. Our survey will help develop cost-effective mitigation strategies for local agriculture in the Philippines.

The project focuses on Sto. Niño, a Barangay in Tublay, Benguet, which is part of the Cordillera region that is critical for chayote farming. The higher altitudes and cooler temperatures make this tropical upland region important for a variety of agricultural crops. Sto. Niño is also the site of a former gold-copper mine that was closed and abandoned in 1982. The mine had no significant formal rehabilitation, but indigenous people now live and farm in the area.

Our aims

The project aims to study and understand the pathogens in particular squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) and fungi affecting chayote farming and transmission by whitefly vector.

Field surveys in combination with high-throughput DNA sequencing will be applied to characterise the pathogens and microbiomes associated with healthy and infected chayote plants. Geochemical analysis of soil will be performed, and biodiversity and metal mapping data will be available from the Bio+Mine project.

We will collaborate with the local community to develop mitigation strategies that either reduce the occurrence of chayote diseases, treat the diseases, or do both.

Who are involved?

The project brings together an international and multidisciplinary team from leading research institutions in the UK, Philippines and Australia with track records in agronomy, botany, genetics and geology and social sciences and builds on ongoing collaboration as part of the project Bio+Mine.

Local stakeholders, including the local chayote farmers’ cooperative and government units, are an integral part of the research team.

The results

The study will identify viral and fungal agents affecting chayote agriculture in Sto. Niño. and develop new baseline data and an overview of the geographic distribution of diseases and vectors.

The findings will help to devise mitigation strategies and farming management practices that could limit the impact of chayote disease across Tublay, Benguet, in the Philippines.

Related links