Biocontrol of the parasitic plant species Phelipanche ramosa, using rapeseed rhizosphere fungi or phytotoxic metabolites they produce.

Phelipanche ramosa (L.) Pomel, branched broomrape, is a major root-holoparasitic damaging weed with a large host range besides a strong adaptation to rapeseed. Broomrape seed germination is necessarily triggered by host root exudates. This ensures that they germinate close to a host root where they attach and establish a vascular connection to take up water and nutrients. No efficient broomrape management technique has been validated yet. Biocontrol could be an alternative but there is currently no biological control agent on the market. Indeed tripartite interactions between the host plant, the parasitic plant and a pathogenic agent of the latter are complex and poorly understood. The obje…