INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER ON PLANT PATHOLOGY

(UK Registered Charity No 1065521)

Material for the Newsletter is invited from individual members of ISPP, Associated Societies, Council members, Chairs of all Committees and representatives of Affiliated Societies and Supporting Organisations.

Editor, Joseph-Alexander Verreet, e-mail: javerreet@phytomed.uni-kiel.de

In this issue:

• ISPP Task Force on Global Food Security

• ISPP Online Teaching Symposium

• Novel biotechnologies for biocontrol agent enhancement and management

• Coming Events

 ISPP Task Force on Global Food Security: Project in Ghana:

• A Report on Development of Appropriate Strategies to Control Cassava Diseases in Ghana http://www.isppweb.org/foodsecurity_congresschallangekumasi.asp
• An illustrated Disease Guide to Root Rot Diseases of Ghana http://www.isppweb.org/foodsecurity_cassavaghana.asp

ISPP Online Teaching Symposium

Papers are invited for the ISPP Online Teaching Symposium: Active Learning in Plant Pathology.  This is a free, online symposium sponsored by the International Society for Plant Pathology Teaching Committee. The symposium will be held from May 15 to June 4, 2006. Papers are to be accompanied by moderated online discussions. There also will be online discussions on more general topics (forums).

Papers are due by February 15, 2006, but please contact the organizers if you need a little more time. Papers may be in the following areas:

• Tools and Techniques

• Learning Theory

• Distance Education.

Please also register for the free symposium, so you can receive email updates. For more information, please see our website: http://www.ispp-teaching-symposium.org/

Gail Schumann, E-mail: gail.schumann@marquette.edu

Novel biotechnologies for biocontrol agent enhancement and management

Agriculture has a major problem of controlling pests (weeds, pathogens, insects, rodents, etc) and to a large extent the flexibility of growers in doing so is being curtailed, instead of enhanced.  This is despite the need to provide more food for an expanding population, on less arable land (due to land degradation and urbanization).  The flexibility is being curtailed due to limitations being placed on pesticide use, as well as loss of their efficacy, without new compounds coming on line. The limitations are a result of growing concern over the presence of chemical residues in the food chain, the evolution of fungicide-resistant strains of plant pathogens and herbicide resistant weeds, insecticide resistant arthropods, the loss of registration of some of the more effective pesticides or their phasing out.  This has generated an interest in the development of alternatives to synthetic agro-chemicals that are both effective and economically feasible. Two biological approaches are being used to enhance yields while lowering pesticide use:

The cultivation of transgenic crops with insect and disease resistance, or resistance to more environmentally benign herbicides, have been the subject of many workshops and symposia. The use of enhanced biocontrol agents is a nascent field, with scattered groups and limited communication between them, such that advances do not get disseminated and integrated as rapidly as they should.  This workshop is designed as a beginning to correct this problem by gathering the best lecturers and students to develop an international cadre and network of interacting scientists in this novel and important area.

Maurizio Vurro, Nato-Otan, Advanced Study Institute, E-mail: maurizio.vurro@ispa.cnr.it,  website: http://www.ispa.cnr.it/NATO-ASI

Journals

The Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection: Revitalization of a traditional international scientific journal.

The Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection (JPDP) was found in 1891 by the famous German plant pathologist Paul Sorauer as Zeitschrift für Pflanzenkrankheiten. Later named Zeitschrift für Pflanzenkrankheiten und Gallenkunde and Zeitschrift für Pflanzenkrankheiten und Pflanzenschutz, it is now published in its 115th year by the Eugen Ulmer Publishing Company in Stuttgart, Germany. Since the journal was not published from 1945 to 1947 due to paper rationing, the actual 2005 volume number is 112.  Besides its scientific purpose, the JPDP serves as the official scientific journal of the German Phytomedical Society (DPG) with a projected number of printed copies of about 1600 in 2006. The journal is then published bimonthly in the A4 format with 48 pages per issue. It publishes peer-reviewed English language scientific articles, short communications, reviews and book reviews from the entire field of applied phytomedicine which covers in a more traditional sense the sciences of plant pathology, applied entomology, weed science and crop protection. Biannually and starting in 2006, the last issue of the JPDP is dedicated to the publication of 3-4 selected lectures presented at the German Plant Protection Congress and a list of all about 400 oral presentations. Six of the 48 pages of each issue are reserved for the publication of selected oral presentations held at the yearly meetings of the 18 specialist working groups of the DPG. The new year will also see an online version of the JPDP (www.jpdp-online.com).

Joseph Verreet, e-mail: javerreet@phytomed.uni-kiel.de and Jens Aumann, e-mail: aumann@phytomed.uni-kiel.de

Coming Events

IX International Rubus and Ribes Symposium, Santiago, Chile
5-7 December 2005
pbanados@puc.cl

Emerging Trends in Plant-Microbe Interactions, University of Madras, Chennai, India.
8-10 December, 2005
gnanamanickam@yahoo.com

International Symposium on Recent Trends in Plant Disease Management, 5^5th Meeting of Pakistan Phytopathological Society, Karachi, Pakistan.
20-22 December, 2005
saleemshahzad_pk@yahoo.com

VIII International Mango Symposium, Johannesburg, South Africa,
5-10 February 2006
elphic@iafrica.com

Indian Virological Society XVI Annual Convention and International Seminar on Management of Insect-Transmitted Plant Viruses Occurring in the Semi-Arid Tropics. ICRISAT, India.
February 7-10, 2006
www.mvbv2006.org.

International Symposium on New Crop Technologies in Soil and soilless Cultivation under Protected Environment¸ Agadir, Morocco
19-24 February 2006
hanafi@iavcha.ac.ma

VI International Symposium on Artichoke, Cardoon and their Wild Relatives, Lorca, Spain
28-31 March 2006
www.viajescajamurcia.com/artichoke

II International Symposium on Loquat, Guangzhou, China
1-5 April 2006
cmliu@scau.edu.cn

International Symposium of Integrated Pest Management in Oilseed Rape, University of Göttingen, Germany
3-5 April 2006,
www.symposium-ipm-oilseed-rape.de/

ISPP Online Teaching Symposium
May 15-June 4, 2006
Gail Schumann gail.schumann@marquette.edu or visit http://www.ispp-teaching-symposium.org.

XX International Symposium on Virus and Virus-like Diseases of Temperate Fruit Crops and XI International Symposium of Small Fruit Virus Diseases, Antalya, Turkey
22-26 May 2006
caglay@mku.edu.tr

IX^th meeting of the Phytopathogens working group, IOBC/WPRS Working group biological control of fungal and bacterial plant pathogens, Spa, Belgium
13.-17 September 2006
Monica.Hofte@ugent.be ; www.agri.gov.il/Depts/IOBCPP/IOBCPP.html

XVth Biennial Workshop on the Smut Fungi  Prague, Czech Republic

June 11-14, 2006
Veronika Dumalasova at blazkova@vurv.cz  or http://www.lolo.usd.cas.cz/workshop/ 

12^th Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union, Rhodes Island, Greece
11 – 15 June 2006
http://www.mpunion.com ; phymed@unifi.it

12^th Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union, Rhodes Island, Greece
11 – 15 June 2006
http://www.mpunion.com ; phymed@unifi.it

1st International Ascochyta Workshop on Grain Legumes, Le Tronchet, Brittany, France
3-6 July 2006
http://www.grainlegumes.com ;aep@prolea.com

18^th World Congress of Soil Science, Philadelphia, PA, USA
9-15 July 2006
www.18wcss.org

11^th International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria, Edinburgh, UK
10-14 July 2006
www.australasianplantpathologysociety.org.au ; www.csl.gov.uk/contact/icppb.cfm ; ICPPB2006@csl.gov.uk

4^th International Bacterial Wilt Symposium York, UK
17-21 July 2006
www.australasianplantpathologysociety.org.au ; www.sasa.gov.uk/about_sasa/internationalconferences.cfm ; IBWS2006@sasa.gsi.gov.uk

3rd International Workshop on Barley Leaf Blights.  Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

July 23-27, 2006.

orrdd@agr.gc.ca for more information.

APS Annual Meeting, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
29 July-2 August 2006
www.apsnet.org

XXVII International Horticultural Congress, Seoul, Korea
13-19 August 2006
www.ihc2006.org

27^th International Horticultural Congress & Exhibition, IHC 2006, Global Horticulture: Diversity & Harmony, Seoul, Korea
13-19 August 2006
www.ihc2006.org

Novel biotechnologies for biocontrol agent enhancement and management, Gualdo Tadino, Perugia, Italy
8-19 September
Maurizio Vurro, Nato-Otan, Advanced Study Institute, E-mail: maurizio.vurro@ispa.cnr.it,  or see http://www.ispa.cnr.it/NATO-ASI

International Powdery Mildew Conference. Asilomar Conference Center, Monterey, CA.
Aug 28-Sept 5, 2006.
Doug Gubler, wdgubler@ucdavis.edu.

1^st International Symposium: Contribution of African Botanica to Humanity, N'Zérékoré, Guinea
3-7 October 2006
udecom@viola.fr   or  malo@ccophymed.com

II International Symposium on Saffron Biology and Technology, Mashhad, Iran
28-30 October 2006
www.saffron-ir.um.ac.ir

APS Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, USA
28 July-1 August 2007
www.apsnet.org

APS Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, USA
26-30 July 2008
www.apsnet.org

ICPP 2008, Torino, Italy,
24-29 August, 2008
Contact: Prof. M.L. Gullino, University of Torino:  marialodovica.gullino@unito.it