Site-bond percolation solution to preventing the propagation of Phytophthora zoospores on plantations.

ABSTRACT

We propose a strategy based on the site-bond percolation to minimize the propagation of Phytophthora zoospores on plantations, consisting in introducing physical barriers between neighboring plants. Two clustering processes are distinguished (i) one of cells with the presence of the pathogen, detected on soil analysis, and (ii) that of diseased plants, revealed from a visual inspection of the plantation. The former is well described by the standard site-bond percolation. In the latter, the percolation threshold is fitted by a Tsallis distribution when no barriers are introduced. We provide, for both cases, the formulas for the minimal barrier density to prevent the emergence of the spanning cluster. Though this work is focused on a specific pathogen, the model presented here can also be applied to prevent the spreading of other pathogens that disseminate, by other means, from one plant to the neighboring ones. Finally, the application of this strategy to three types of commercially important Mexican chili plants is also shown.