INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER ON PLANT PATHOLOGY

In this issue:

• Task Force on Global Food Security
• Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria
• Bacterial Wilt Newsletter
• Sclerotinia 2001
• Common Names of Plant Diseases
• Plant Virus Epidemiology
• Rhizoctonia
• Germany
• Crop Biosecurity
• Pacifichem 2000
• New Book from APS Press
• Coming Events

The ISPP Task Force on Global Food Security has completed its first Report, based on a meeting held in Bangkok in September 1999. A summary and the full Report can be found on the website at <http://www.isppweb.org/gfsrep1>.

The members of the Task Force are: Chrys Akem (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas), Ranajit Bandyopadhyay (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), Mike Jeger (Wye College, University of London), Hajime Kato (Kobe, Japan), Jill Lenne (Natural Resources International, UK), Emmanuel Moses (Crops Research Institute, Ghana), Chris Mundt (Oregon State University, USA), Rebecca Nelson (International Potato Center), Peter Scott (CAB International), Chongyao Shen (FAO), Paul Teng (Monsanto), Casiana Vera Cruz (International Rice Research Institute).

The main proposals in the report are to:
1. Establish an ISPP policy group, with a programme to inform policy makers of the importance of plant diseases in food insecurity.
2. Study PhD training for plant pathologists in developing countries, with a view to enhancement, and to assist decision making by donors, national agricultural research services, and universities in developing and developed countries.
3. Quantify economic impact of some major diseases, to provide a record of major examples of the consequences of diseases for food security, pointing to the need for support for continuing research.
4 Develop a pilot project for farmer training in simple disease management, focused on basic knowledge of cassava diseases in Ghana, to help in diagnosis and management, as a starting point for further knowledge transfer.
5. Develop the ISPP Website as a means of improved communication, to provide information about ISPP, plant pathology, and the work of the Task Force.

The first of these is an overarching activity which may need to be projected forward indefinitely. The last is a piece of infrastructure for the others, and for ISPP’s entire programme. The middle three are specific and varied in their aims, respectively in education, economics and extension, each being focused on an objective for which ISPP has access to the necessary skills for its completion.

All the proposed Activities are considered to be: appropriate to the status of ISPP; achievable within a time frame of 3 years; capable of being resourced; likely to deliver tangible results that will effect useful change.

Obviously these outputs are a beginning rather than an end. They are presented by the Task Force to the Executive and Councillors of ISPP, and through them to the membership, as a proposed basis for action and in due course for delivery of tangible results through effecting change in the chosen areas.

Subject to the agreement of ISPP Executive Committee, work will start immediately on these activities and on securing the resources necessary for their completion.

Peter Scott, President, ISPP; Fax: +44-1491-833508; e-mail: <p.scott@cabi.org>.

The 10th International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria will be held from 23-27 July 2000 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada (see ‘Coming Events’). ISPP has made a financial contribution towards the running of the conference.
The conference will encompass all aspects of phytobacteriology including recent advances in the genetics of pathogenicity, new detection technologies, developments in taxonomy and bacterial nomenclature, new disease occurrences, and prospects for disease control. Presentations on classical eubacterial pathogens, endophytic bacteria, plant growth-promoting/deleterious bacteria, and phytoplasmas are planned. Scientists working on any aspect of plant/bacteria interactions are invited to participate.
For further information and to obtain a registration booklet please contact Dr Solke H De Boer, Centre for Animal and Plant Health, 93 Mount Edward Road, Charlottetown, PE, C1A 5T1, Canada; Phone: +1-902-368-0950; Fax: +1-902-368-0960; e-mail: <deboers@em.agr.ca> . A conference website is maintained at <www.isn.net/~ppb2000/>.

The bacterial wilt community has been kept to up date by the Bacterial Wilt Newsletter which has been successfully edited by A C Hayward for these last thirteen years (16 issues), and sponsored by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). This publication reaches 825 people, libraries and organisations in 78 countries, in both the developed and developing worlds. The last issue in its present form was published May 1999. The declaration in favour of maintaining the Newsletter is very strong, as attested by the tremendous support recently welcomed through your answer to the Editor’s questionnaire about the future of this publication.

We are still in the process of securing the future of the Newsletter. Links between people, as well as quick access to up to date information regarding bacterial wilt disease and its causative agent could be improved using electronic communication (e-mail and the WWW). A Web site dedicated to Bacterial Wilt is likely to provide such opportunity. It would offer access to information including (in the first place) the on-line edition of the Bacterial Wilt Newsletter, a guest forum, consultation of an image bank and the ability to search a database for people’s contact and field of activity. Development of these homepages is in progress. I am actually setting up a database to be published in the future Web of Bacterial Wilt (WBW).

Could you please, provide feedback on the following points:

1. The "Field of activities" category for searching purpose in the database needs to be completed. Please, indicate a maximum of three of these key words regarding your bacterial wilt research area(s): Diversity, Taxonomy, Diagnosis, Quarantine control measures and directives, Pathogenesis and its regulation, Latent infection, Breeding for resistance, Genetic mapping of plant resistance genes, Mechanism of resistance, Suppressive plants, Suppressive soils, Synergy, Biological control, Epidemiology, Disease management, Other (a) please specify your additional key-words, User (b) this refers to people who are not directly involved in producing data from research on bacterial wilt.

2. It is your choice to provide the database with five additional key-words describing more precisely your activity. They will appear in a separate window.

3. It will be useful to initiate an image bank for bacterial wilt. You are invited to express your interest in submitting your image(s) to be published on the WBW. You will be further requested to provide the detail for your image; relevant field of activity, title, author name(s) and publication if any. Note that it is your responsibility to check for any editing restriction (copyright) in publishing your image(s) on the Internet, or to obtain the agreement from the Editor if it is already published. I will keep in touch later for required format.

I am looking forward to hearing from you. Philippe Prior, INRA, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia; Fax: +61- 7-3365-1566; e-mail: <prior@biosci.uq.edu.au>.

The XIth meeting of the International Sclerotinia Workshop will be held at the Central Science Laboratory, York, UK, from 8-12 July 2001. It is being organised under the auspices of the British Society for Plant Pathology. A call for papers and posters will be sent out in February 2000. Further details can be obtained from Dr Nigel Hardwick, Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York, YO41 1LZ, UK; Fax: +44-1904-462111; e-mail: <nigel.hardwick@csl.gov.uk>. Workshop information, including the provisional programme will appear on the BSPP web pages at <http://www.bspp.org.uk/> as details become available.

As announced in the October 1999 issue of the ISPP Newsletter 29 (5): 2, ISPP appointed its 21st committee, the Committee for Common Names of Plant Diseases (ISPP-CCN). This Committee will work with plant pathologists worldwide to establish principles (guidelines) for the naming of new plant diseases. Also, where multiple names, sometimes as many as 7 or 8 names, are being used for the one disease, the Committee will undertake discussion aimed at choosing the most appropriate name. The aim is to encourage the use of common names which describe a major symptom of a disease in words which are internationally meaningful. Eventually lists of internationally approved common names of plant diseases will be produced, which will assist authors, editors, quarantine officers and others communicating internationally. These lists will be placed on the ISPP-CCN website at <http://www.bspp.org.uk/ispp/ccn.html>.

You are invited to comment on the Committee’s Aims, which include recommended Principles (guidelines) and Working Rules (see the ISPP-CCN website). Send your comments immediately to the Committee Chair, Dr David Teakle, at <teakle@biosci.uq.edu.au> or one of the Committee Members as listed on the website and in the October 1999 issue of the ISPP Newsletter.

The next (8th) general symposium of the Plant Virus Epidemiology Group of ISPP will take place at Aschersleben, Germany, in May 2002. The 9th general Symposium of the group will be held at a place yet to be decided in the year 2005.

A satellite meeting of the Plant Virus Epidemiology Group will be held either just before or just after the International Congress of Plant Pathology in Christchurch, New Zealand, in the year 2003. The theme will be "Virus - Aphid and Thrips Vector Epidemiology: Applying Research to Solve Farming Problems" and will be organised by John Fletcher, the Senior Plant Virologist at the New Zealand Institute of Crop and Field Research in Christchurch.

In addition, there will be a Plant Virus Epidemiology Session lasting about 2 hours within the International Congress of Plant Pathology in Christchurch. It will include (i) a brief report on the 8th general symposium and (ii) papers by 3 or 4 key speakers from that symposium in Aschersleben.

RogerJones, Chairman, Plant Virus Epidemiology Committee; e-mail: <rjones@agric.wa.gov.au>.

The Third International Symposium on Rhizoctonia (ISR 2000) is scheduled to be held at the National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC, from 17-22 August 2000. ISR 2000 is a formal activity of the International Society of Plant Pathology through the ISPP Rhizoctonia Committee.

Fungi of the genus Rhizoctonia are among the most important worldwide soil-borne plant pathogens. They cause serious diseases in most cereals, horticultural crops and forests. In order to promote the international exchange of ideas and collaboration in research on these fungi, the ISPP Rhizoctonia Committee and the Taiwan National Organizing Committee cordially invite all interested parties to participate.

The symposium will include invited oral presentations, oral presentations and poster presentations, with emphasis on the following fields of Rhizoctonia research: Genetics and plant breeding, Pathology and plant-fungus interaction, Cell function and structure, Biodiversity and symbiosis, Ecology and population dynamics, Taxonomy, identification and detection, Biological control and disease suppression, Integrated pest management for control of Rhizoctonia, Chemical control, Induced resistance, Epidemiology and disease dynamics (including modeling), Other related subjects e.g. innovative techniques in the study of Rhizoctonia.

Visit the website for more information at <http://www.nchu.edu.tw/~isr2000/>, and contact Professor Dr Johannes Tschen; Fax: +886-428-60164; e-mail: <isr2000@dragon.nchu.edu.tw>.

Dr Volker Zinkernagel became president of the German Phytomedical Society (Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft) on 21 September 1999. Dr Georg Backhaus (BBA Braunschweig) was elected Vice-President and Dr Wilhelm Dehne (University of Bonn) is Past-President . From 1 October 1999, the office of the society is located at the Chair of Phytopathology, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, D-85350, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany.

Dr Volker Zinkernagel may be contacted at <zinkernagel@lrz.tu-muenchen.de>.

A new internet feature of the American Phytopathological Society (APS) is entitled "Crop Biosecurity" and has been prepared by N W Schaad, J Shaw, A Vidaver, J Leach and B E Erlick. For information and interaction, visit the discussion session at <http://www.scisoc.org> to see what others have to say and to add opinions.

The 2000 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies is presenting a symposium entitled "Plant-Microbe Interactions and Resistance to Disease and Nematodes" in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, from 14-19 December 2000.

The Symposium is intended to attract scientists in all areas studying the interaction of plants with microorganisms. This includes not only plant pathology and nematology but also allopathic interactions, and biocontrol organisms in the broadest sense. All of the papers will be oral.

For further information, see 'Coming Events'.

Current Advances in Mycorrhizae Research is on sale at an introductory price of $US 34 (plus $5 for shipping in the USA and $10 for shipping outside the USA) for orders before 31 December 1999. This book features the research approaches and tools for studying arbuscular and ectomyorrhizal interactions.

See <http://www.scisoc.org/apspress>.

National Academy of Sciences Colloquium on Virulence and Defense in Host-Pathogen Interactions: Common Features between Plants and Animals in Irvine, California, USA.
9-11 December 1999.
See the NAS web-site at <http://www.nas.edu/nas/colloquia>.

British Society for Plant Pathology Presidential Meeting: Biotic interactions in plant-pathogen associations in Oxford, UK.
19-22 December 1999.
Contact: Dr Mark J Hocart, BSPP Programme Secretary, Plant Science Division, SAC, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, UK; Fax: +44-131-667-2601; e-mail: m.hocart@ed.sac.ac.uk

Combined Millennium Meeting Biotech SA 2000 in the broad area of Experimental Biology, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Plant Pathology in Grahamstown, South Africa.
23-28 January 2000.
Contact the BIO Y2K Secretariat, c/o Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa; Fax: +27-46-6223984; e-mail: <bioy2k@ru.ac.za>.

International Symposium on Tropical Mycology in Liverpool, UK.
25-29 March 2000.
Contact: Profesor Roy Watling; e-mail: <r.watling@rbge.org.uk>.

European Congress of Fungal Genetics 5 in Arcachon, France.
25-29 March 2000.
Contact: Dr Beatrice Felenbok, Institute de Genetique, Universite Paris-Sud, Centre d’Orsay, Batiment 409, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France; Fax: +33-1-6915-7808; e-mail: <felenbok@igmors.u-psud.fr>.

Postharvest 2000 in Jerusalem, Israel.
26-31 March 2000.
For further information, see the web-site <www.agri.gov.il/events/PostHarvest2000.html> or e-mail: <postharvest@kenes.com>.

Hosts, Parasites and Pathogens, Genetical Society Spring Meeting in Warwick, UK.
5-8 April 2000.
Contact: Executive Officer, The Genetical Society, Roslin Institute, Midlothian, EH25 9PS, UK; Fax: +44-131-440-0434: e-mail: <Gensoc.Memsec@bbsrc.ac.uk>, or visit the web-site at <www.genetics.org.uk/gsmeetings/wa00.htm>.

Canadian Phytopathological Society Joint Meeting with the Pacific Division of the American Phytopathological Society in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
18-21 June 2000.
See <http://www.uvcs.uvic.ca/conf/cps_aps/>.
Contact: Jack R. Sutherland, Chair, Local Arrangements Committee; Fax: +1-250-598-1959; e-mail: <jsuther@islandnet.com>.

10th International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
23-27 July 2000 .
Contact: Dr Solke H De Boer, Centre for Animal and Plant Health, 93 Mount Edward Road, Charlottetown, PE, C1A 5T1, Canada; Phone: +1-902-368-0950; Fax: +1-902-368-0960; e-mail: <deboers@em.agr.ca>. A conference website is maintained at <www.isn.net/~ppb2000/>.

9th International Congress for Culture Collections in Brisbane, Australia.
23-28 July 2000.
Contact: Dr Lindsay Sly, ICCC-9 Organising Committee, Department of Microbiology, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia; Fax: +61-7-3365-1566;e-mail: <sly@biosci.uq.edu.au>

7th International Symposium on the Microbiology of Aerial Plant Surfaces in Berkeley, California.
3-8 August 2000.
Contact: Steven Lindow, University of California, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, 111 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Fax: +1-510-642-4995; e-mail: <icelab@socrates.Berkeley.edu>.

American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting in New Orleans, USA.
12-16 August 2000.
See <http://www.scisoc.org>.

The 3rd International Symposium on Rhizoctonia (ISR 2000) in Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
17-20 August 2000.
Contact: College of Life Science, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuokuang Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan, ROC; Fax: +886-4-2860-164; e-mail: <isr2000@dragon.nchu.edu.tw>; Web site: <http://www.nchu.edu.tw/~isr2000/>.

The 1st Asian Conference on Plant Pathology (ACPP 2000) in Beijing, China.
25-28 August 2000.
Contact: Dr Guo Li Yin, Chinese Society for Plant Pathology, Plant Protection Building No. 313, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 1000904, China; Fax: +86-10-6289-1025; e-mail: <bauicbe@public.bta.net.cn>; web-site: <http://www.chinaspp.com>.

Biotechnology 2000 in Berlin, Germany.
3-8 September 2000.
Contact: DECHEMA e.V., c/o 11th IBS, Theodor-Heuss-Alee 25, D-60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; e-mail: <info@dechema.de>.

A Symposium on Chemical and Non-Chemical Soil and Substrate Disinfestation in Grugliasco, University of Torino, Italy.
11-15 September 2000.
Contact: Maria Lodovica Gullino, Di.Va.P.R.A. - Patologia Vegetale, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Leonardo da Vinci 44,10095 GRUGLIASCO (TO), Italy; Phone: +39-011-6708539; Fax: +39-011-6708541; e-mail: <congress.mlg@agraria.unito.it>. For a second circular see <http://www.agraria.unito.it/news/SD2000.html>.

XIV International Symposium on Horticultural Economics in Guernsey, Channel Islands.
12-15 September 2000.
Contact: John Ogier, Raymond Falla House, Longue Rue, St Martin’s, Guernsey, Channel Islands, GY1 6AF, UK; Fax: +44-1481-235015; e-mail: <ishs.symposium2000@horticulture.guernsey.net>.

European Virology 2000 in Glasgow, UK.
17-21 September 2000.
Contact: Dr Bill Carman, Institute of Virology, University of Glasgow, Church Street, Glasgow G11 5JR, UK; Fax: +44-141-337-2236; e-mail: <w.carman@vir.gla.ac.uk>.

5th EFPP Congress, Biodiversity in Plant Pathology in Taormina and Giardini-Naxos, Italy.
18-22 September 2000.
Contact: EFPP 2000 Congress Secretariat, Institute of Plant Pathology, Universita di Catania, Via Valdisavoia, 5- 9123 Catania, Italy; Fax: +39-95-234416; e-mail: EFPP 2000@mbox.fagr.unict.it

Symposium on Durable Disease Resistance, Key to Sustainable Agriculture in Wageningen, The Netherlands.
28 November-1 December 2000.
Contact: Dr J E Parlevliet, Plant Breeding, Wageningen UR, P O Box 386, NL 6700 AJ Wageningen, The Netherlands; e-mail: <jan.parlevliet@users.pv.wau.nl>. See also the web-site at <http://www.spg.wau.nl/pv/symposium.htm>.

Plant-Microbe Interactions and Resistance to Disease and Nematodes, a PACIFICHEM 2000 Symposium in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
14-19 December 2000.
Contact one of: Dr Robert Stipanovic, Fax: +1-409-260-9470; e-mail: <rds846a@acs.tamu.edu>; Dr Rong Tsao, Fax: +1-905-562-4335; e-mail: <caor@em.agr.ca>; Dr Gregory S Basarad, Fax: +1-302-366-5738; e-mail: <barsarab@esvax.dnet.dupont.com>; Dr Robert Hill, Fax: +64-7-858-4702; e-mail:<rhill@hort.cri.nz>.

World Congress of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants 2001 in Budapest, Hungary.
8-10 July 2001.
Contact: Dr Oszkar Kock, National Institute for Agricultural Quality Control, P O Box 30, 93., H-1525 Budapest, Hungary; Fax: +36-1-2122-673; e-mail: <map.congr@ommi.hu>.

The XIth Latinamerican Phytopathological Congress in Piracicaba, State of Sao Paolo, Brazil.
August 2001.
Contact: Brazilian Phytopathological Society (SBF).

American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, USA.
25-29 August 2001.
See <http://www.scisoc.org>.

9th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology - Interactions in the Microbial World in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
26-31 August 2001.
Contact: for scientific program - Jan Woldendorp, CTO-NIOO, P O Box 40, 6666 ZG Heteren, The Netherlands; Fax: +31-26-4723227; e-mail: <woldendorp@cto.nioo.knaw.nl>, or for organisation - Dr Wietse de Boer at e-mail: <wdeboer@cto.nioo.knaw.nl>.

The 3rd International Bacterial Wilt Symposium in Sun City, Republic of South Africa.
Late January or early February 2002.
Contact Jody Terblanche, Tobacco and Cotton Reserach Institute, Private Bag x 82075, Rustenberg, 0300, Republic of South Africa; Fax: +27-142-993113; e-mail: <Jody@NITK1.AGRIC.ZA>

8th International Congress of Plant Pathology in Christchurch, New Zealand.
2-8 February 2003.
Contact: Congress Chairman, Dr Ian Harvey, PLANTwise, P O Box 8915, Christchurch, NZ; Fax: +64-3-325-2946; e-mail: <harveyi@plantwise.co.nz> or Helen Shrewsbury, ICPP Secretariat, P O Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury, NZ; Fax: +64-3-325-3840; e-mail: <shrewsbh@lincoln.ac.nz>. ICPP2003 Website: <http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/icpp2003/>.