Strawberry is a highly valuable economic crop with a domestic cultivation area of approximately 586 ha, primarily concentrated in Miaoli County. During the strawberry production season, a large number of tourists are attracted, which drives the development of the surrounding industries. Over the past decade, the strawberry industry has faced increasing challenges, including threats from diseases and pests, varietal transitions, and climate change, making cultivation progressively more difficult. Based on the principle of integrated pest management (IPM), which emphasizes prevention over treatment, our research team has implemented the following research and extension strategies tailored to different cultivation stages: (1) Establish a strawberry healthy runner plant supply chain by developing diagnostic techniques for key pathogens and integrating these into the voluntary pathogen-free certification system for strawberry propagation, while guiding the industry toward specialized nursery production and propagation; (2) Develope a screening platform to assess the resistance and susceptibility of domestic strawberry germplasm to manage major diseases, by integrating molecular marker-assisted breeding and high-throughput phenotyping technologies to reduce the reliance on extensive field selection and accelerate the breeding process; (3) Adapt nursery propagation and fruit production management strategies to mitigate the impact of high temperatures on strawberry production due to climate change; (4) Provide technical guidance to farmers on pre-planting soil disinfestation, optimizing base fertilizer according to soil analysis data, and implementing rationalized liquid fertilizer application after transplanting; (5) Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to develop machine learning and deep learning algorithms for the automated identification of strawberry diseases and pests while integrating an expert decision support system to enable real-time and accurate diagnosis and management recommendations for farmers. Through the promotion of IPM strategies, strawberry yield and quality will be gradually improved, increasing farmer profitability and creating an environmentally friendly approach while meeting consumer market demand.
草莓為極具經濟價值之作物,國內栽培面積約586 ha,主要產區位於苗栗縣(約佔總生產面積89.1%),每當草莓生產期間總是吸引大批觀光客前往,帶動周邊產業發展。近十多年來草莓產業面臨病蟲害威脅、品種更迭及氣候變遷等挑戰,栽培難度逐年增加。本研究團隊以整合性病蟲害管理(integrated pest management; IPM)預防勝於治療的基礎,依草莓不同栽培階段與短中長期目標執行以下研發輔導策略:(1)建立國內草莓健康種苗供應鏈,開發重要特定病害檢測技術落實於草莓種苗病害驗證作業須知,並輔導產業朝向專業育苗分工發展;(2)建立重要病害耐(感)受性篩選平臺,確認國內種原對病害之耐(感)受性,並將結合分子標誌輔助育種與高通量植物表型分析技術,未來可望減少大量田間選拔工作並且提升育種速度;(3)因應氣候變遷,調適育苗期與產果期栽培管理策略以降低高溫對草莓生產之影響;(4)草莓定植前輔導農民進行土壤消毒、依土壤分析數據施用基肥及定植後合理化追施液肥;(5)與跨領域團隊合作利用機器學習或深度學習等訓練電腦程式辨識草莓病蟲害種類,同時結合專家決策輔助系統幫助農民即時且正確地辨識病蟲害並成功防治。期望藉由IPM技術的推廣,逐步提升國內草莓產量與品質,不僅增加農民收益且友善環境同時滿足消費市場需求。