Comparing the Impacts of a Biopesticide and a Synthetic Pesticide on Potato Production: A Multi-Omics Analysis of Carvacrol and Dimethomorph

Abstract

Long-term application of synthetic pesticides for potato late blight control has raised many ecological concerns, while broader impacts of biopesticides on production systems remain unclear. Field trials compared the effects of pesticides dimethomorph (synthetic) and carvacrol (biological) against an untreated control in a potato production system, integrating untargeted metabolomics, metabarcoding and quality trait analyses. Compared with the control group, both pesticide treatments upregulated tuber lipid metabolism but downregulated leaf defense-associated metabolism. For rhizosphere communities, while both treatments reduced beneficial bacterial taxa, carvacrol exerted less suppressive effects than dimethomorph and resulted in superior pathogen suppression. These changes were associated with enhanced potato quality under carvacrol treatment, with starch, flavonoid, and vitamin C contents each more than 10% higher than under dimethomorph. This study highlights the importance of evaluating both productivity end points and soil ecological consequences in field conditions, providing novel insights into the integration of biopesticides in sustainable crop production.