Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.3, 121-133 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mp 121 Research Insight Open Access Investigation of the Co-occurrence Patterns of Major Diseases in Rapeseed Fields Xiuhua Liu, Qikun Huang Tropical Microbial Resources Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China Corresponding email: qikun.huang@cuixi.org Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.3 doi: 10.5376/mp.2025.16.0014 Received: 15 Apr., 2025 Accepted: 29 May, 2025 Published: 15 Jun, 2025 Copyright © 2025 Liu and Huang, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Liu X.H., and Huang Q.K., 2025, Investigation of the Co-occurrence patterns of major diseases in rapeseed fields, Molecular Pathogens, 16(3): 121-133 (doi: 10.5376/mp.2025.16.0014) Abstract Rapeseed is an important oil crop, but it is easily attacked by a variety of diseases during its growth process, especially the main diseases such as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Plasmodiophora brassicae and Leptosphaeria maculans are seriously harmful to yield and quality. These diseases often present symbiotic phenomena that occur simultaneously or alternately in the fields, changing the prevalence of a single disease and bringing complexity to prevention and control. This study reviews the types, distribution, occurrence characteristics and symbiotic patterns of the main diseases of rapeseed, and focuses on analyzing the interaction relationships of multiple pathogens on the same host, including synergistic and antagonistic effects and their impact on the prevalence of the disease. At the same time, the factors affecting the occurrence of disease symbiosis were discussed from the aspects of environmental climate, cultivation measures and host resistance, and comprehensive prevention and control strategies in the context of multiple diseases were summarized, such as breeding of disease-resistant varieties, agricultural prevention and control measures and biological agent applications. Finally, we will look forward to the trend of research on symbiosis of rapeseed diseases, emphasizing that we need to strengthen the research on multi-pathogen composite infection mechanism and comprehensive prevention and control technology, in order to provide theoretical basis and practical guidance for the sustainable management of rapeseed diseases. Keywords Rapeseed; Symbiotic disease; Sclerotinia sclerotiorum; Plasmodiophora brassicae disease; Comprehensive prevention and treatment 1 Introduction Brassica napus is one of the most important oil crops in China, and its sowing area and yield have long been among the forefront of the world. However, rapeseed production faces a variety of diseases, with common main diseases including Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Plasmodiophora brassicae and Leptosphaeria maculans. These diseases can significantly reduce rapeseed yield and quality, and are an important factor restricting the stable and high yield of rapeseed. For example, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is caused by sclerotia infection and is widely prevalent, causing rapeseed production to be reduced by about 10% to 20% all year round. In severe epidemics, the production cut can be reduced by as much as more than 70% (Chen et al., 2023). Leptosphaeria maculans is caused by infection with small globular bacteria and is widely occurring in rapeseed production areas around the world. Historically, rapeseed production has declined in Canada, Australia and other countries, and even once hit the local rapeseed industry hard. Faced with the threat of the above diseases, research and prevention and control are traditionally carried out on a single disease, but the actual situation in the field is more complicated - multiple diseases often occur at the same time or successively, forming a phenomenon of "compound infection" or "symbiotic occurrence" (Neik et al., 2020). The coexistence of different pathogens in the same field or even on the same plant will change the interaction between the host and the pathogen, affecting the occurrence, development and epidemic intensity of the disease. In recent years, with the development of molecular detection technology, the number of cases of multiple pathogens detected in plants has increased, and research on the coexistence of multiple diseases and their interaction patterns has gradually attracted attention. This is of great significance for a comprehensive
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