The biotic and abiotic stresses cause damage to production, with effects on the quantity and quality of the product. In the industrial crop, yield losses also have serious effects on product transformation and marketing .
Improvement in resistance to fungi (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. pisi, Verticillium dahliae, Ascochyta pisi), viruses (TMV, CMV, BCMV), bacteria (Pseudomonas phaseolicola, Pseudomonas tomato), nematodes (Meloydogine incognita), Rizomania (BNYVV) has been a primary goal. This is essential to ensure a greater yield and to obtain more healthy and hygienic products.
Early diagnosis with the use of immunoenzymatic tests is a sector in which the Institute is in a leading position. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against different epitopes (viruses, hormones and other organic molecules) and their use in analytical tests (ELISA, RIA, Dot blot, etc.) have played an important role in the breeding programs, in the identification of genes products, in the cheking the health of plant material and in the study of the interaction between vector dynamics and the incidence of viral diseases.
A research project takes in account the abiotic stress induced by low temperature (in pea) and water stress (in potato and sugar beet),the last ones very common in the Mediterranean area. Experimental models have been set up with physiological tools (chlorophyll fluorescence,osmotic pressure, stomatal conductance), biochemical (ABA content) and molecular (time-course experiments for the analysis of the regulation of genes during stress condition).
Cultural practices with reduced imput of chemicals and energy have been studied.