ISPP Newsletter 42 (2) February 2012

News and announcements from all on any aspect of Plant Pathology are invited for the Newsletter. Contributions from the ISPP Executive, Council and Subject Matter Committees, Associated Societies and Supporting Organisations are requested.

 Editor: Brian J Deverall  (E-mail)

Members of Associated Societies of ISPP can receive e-mail notification of Newsletter updates by joining the ISPP mail list

In this issue:

• Bidding for ICPP2018 and Voting by ISPP Councillors
• Changes in Mycology to Benefit Plant Pathology – Do You Agree?
• 4th International Workshop for Phytophthora, Pythium, and Phytopythium
• Web Symposium on “Oomycetes of Regulatory Concern in International Trade”
• Richard D Berger - Obituary
• The Ever Increasing Importance of Plant Pathology
• FAO has a new Director-General
• The Newsletter of the Punjab Agricultural Research Board
• Phyllosticta and Citrus Disease in China
• More Insidious Hybrids of Phytophthora Discovered
• Plant Protection for the Quality and Safety of the Mediterranean Diet
• New Agriculturalist
• A Refutation of a Claim by Greenpeace Germany
• The Aspergillus website
• Agave, Aloe, Cactus and Yucca
• Acknowledgements
• Coming events

The ISPP seeks your help in updating names and email addresses, listed according to their Member Societies, for the following ISPP Councillors whose email addresses have bounced. (Please refer to ISPP Rule 5 for guidelines on selection of Councillors http://www.isppweb.org/about_objectives_statutes.asp)

If you know the correct email address for any of these Councillors, or are aware that the ISPP Councillors for your Society have changed, please contact the ISPP Business Manager at   businessmanager@isppweb.org.

Arab Society for Plant Protection, Dr Safaa Kumari

Asociación Colombiana de Fitopatología, Dr Gabriel Cadena

Asociación Colombiana de Fitopatología, Dr Fernando Correa

Asociación Latinoamericana de Fitopatología, Dr Mario Rocha Peña

Danish Society for Plant Diseases and Pests, Dr Bent Nielson

European Foundation for Plant Pathology, Dr Johannes Vandenheuvel        

German Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft, Prof G F Backhaus          

Indian Phytopathological Society, Dr D V Singh    

Pakistan Phytopathological Society, Dr Farhat Jamil          

Southern African Society for Plant Pathology, Prof Zacharias Pretorius       

Swedish Society of Biopathology, Dr Sture Brishammar                

Pedro Crous believes that plant pathologists should welcome some major changes in mycology which occurred during 2011. The changes affect taxonomy and particularly the naming of fungi. A key series of publications for and against the changes are as follows:-

“The Amsterdam Declaration on Fungal Nomenclature” by Hawksworth D L, Crous P W. Redhead S A, Reynolds D R, Samson R A, Seifert K A, Taylor J W, Wingfield M J and 80 others (2011) was published in IMA Fungus 2 (1) 105–112.   See: http://dx.doi.org/10.5598/imafungus.2011.02.01.14.

“A critical response to the Amsterdam Declaration” was published as a contrary view by Gams W, Jaklitsch W and 77 signatories a little later in 2011 in Mycotaxon 116 501–512.   See: http://dx.doi.org/10.5248/116.501.

Mike Wingfield played a major role in facilitating the changes and he published an editorial about them in December 2011 in IMA Fungus 2 (2) 39-40. He notes that most plant diseases are caused by fungi, typically pleomorphic organisms, for which the taxonomy and, in particular, their dual nomenclature system have frustrated and confused students and practitioners of plant pathology. Mike points out that over eight months have passed since the “One fungus=One name” (1F=1N) symposium was held in the Netherland’s Academy of Science, Amsterdam. He believes that the period since might well go down in history as amongst the most traumatic, exciting, and important in the history of fungal taxonomy. Mike believes that the outcomes will undoubtedly influence the field and the many associated disciplines that rely upon it for decades, if not posterity.

A further review entitled “One fungus one name promotes progressive plant pathology” by Mike Wingfield writing with de Beer Z W, Slippers B, Wingfield B D, Groenewald J Z, Lombard L and Crous P W has been published on-line in December 2011 in Molecular Plant Pathology. The review highlights the problems of a dual nomenclature, especially its impact on plant pathogenic fungi, and charts the road to a one fungus, one name system that is rapidly drawing near. The robust and reliable identification of fungi underpins virtually every element of plant pathology, from disease diagnosis to studies of biology, management/control, quarantine and, even more recently, comparative genomics. The journey to a one fungus, one name taxonomic reality has been long and arduous, but its time has come. This will inevitably have a positive impact on plant pathology, plant pathologists and future students of this hugely important discipline on which the world depends for food security and plant health in general. The review includes coverage of the impact of molecular biology, recognizing that the emergence of DNA sequencing has revealed cryptic taxa and revolutionized our understanding of relationships in the fungi. The impacts on plant pathology at every level are already immense and will continue to grow rapidly as new DNA sequencing technologies continue to emerge. DNA sequence comparisons, used to resolve a dual nomenclature problem for the first time only 19 years ago, have made it possible to approach a natural classification for the fungi and to abandon the confusing dual nomenclature system.

Z Gloria Abad and Yilmaz Balci are very pleased to announce the presentation of the “4th International Workshop for Phytophthora, Pythium, and Phytopythium” and the International Web Symposium “Oomycetes of Regulatory Concern in International Trade” to be held during 21-25 May 2012 at University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.

The primary purpose of the workshop is to provide hands-on training on morphological and molecular tools used to identify species within the genera.  Participants will have the chance to examine a selected assemblage of species from each genus using type species. The innovative “Morphological and Molecular Identification Tools for Oomycetes: Phytophthora - Lucid and Tabular Keys” with important information of the described species will be presented at the event.

Z Gloria Abad at the USDA-CPHST and Yilmaz Balci at the University of Maryland are the organizers.  Instructors for the workshop are: Frank Martin of the USDA-ARS, Salinas, California; Michael Coffey of the World Oomycetes Genetics Resource Collection (WOGRC) Universityof California; Gloria Abad and Yilmaz Balci from the USA; and Arthur de Cock of the CBS Fungal Biodiversity Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Invited Speakers are: Niklaus Grünwald of USDA-ARS, Horticultural Crops, Research; Seogchan Kang of Pennsylvania State University-Phytophthora Database; and Kurt Zeller of USDA-CPHST, Beltsville, Maryland.

The International Web Symposium will be presented during the morning of Wednesday 23rd as an additional activity for the workshop. Invited Speakers are:  Clive Brasier and Joan Webber at the Forest Research Agency, Farnham, UK; Marco Thines from the University of Hohenheim, Germany; Trena Burgess from The Centre for Phytophthora Science and Management, Australia; André Lévesque from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Paloma Abad from the Mediterranean Agroforestal Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. 

Registrations for the Workshop will be open to 30 April 2012.

See the workshop web-site.

Dr Richard D Berger, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Florida (UF), passed away on 22 December 2011, after a long illness. His colleagues and former students remember him as a friendly, quiet and dedicated researcher and teacher, with a unique sense of humor and a tremendous historical knowledge of the development of epidemiological concepts and applications. Dr Berger voiced and published many original, innovative and sometimes controversial ideas about temporal and spatial dynamics of plant diseases. He trained six MS and eight PhD students the principles and practice of plant disease epidemiology in addition to teaching an introductory course in Plant Disease Control and a course in Epidemiology at the graduate level.

Dr Berger was born in Pennsylvania in 1934, grew up on a farm, and received his BS degree from Kutztown State College, PA, in 1955. He then served in the US Army as research assistant doing research on rice blast in the biological warfare laboratories in Frederick, MD. There, he developed an interest in and understanding of plant disease epidemiology, so that he continued with graduate studies in Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned the PhD degree in 1962. His first position in Plant Pathology was that of Extension Plant Pathologist at the Pennsylvania State University. Next, he became assistant and later associate professor at the Everglades Research and Education Center of UF in Belle Glade, Fl. In 1976, he and his family moved to the main campus of UF in Gainesville, Fl., where he taught the epidemiology course, maintained a successful research program, and mentored graduate students for many years.  An interest unrelated to epidemiology was his fascination of Cercospora taxonomy. For a few years, Dr Berger was also the interim Department Chair for the Department of Plant Pathology.

Dr Berger retired in 2002, but continued to teach epidemiology until 2006.  Dr Berger was an active member of the American Phytopathological Society, serving as Chair or member of the Epidemiology, the IPM and the Crop Loss Committees. He was also a member of the Florida State Horticultural Society and of the American Peanut Research and Education Association. He was Senior and Associate Editor of Phytopathology, Assigning and Senior Editor of Plant Disease, Associate Editor of Phytoprotection, and served on the Editorial Committee of the Annual Review of Phytopathology. He attended numerous scientific meetings worldwide and was a regular participant in the International Epidemiology Workshops. He also gave many invited presentations at various conferences. Dr Berger spent several study leaves abroad, among others in the Netherlands, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Mexico. For these tremendous contributions Dr Berger received two awards from horticultural organizations in Florida and two awards (Campbell award and Fellow award) from the American Phytopathological Society.

Contributions to Science

Dr Berger’s research interest was in quantitative epidemiology, particularly the intensification of disease in time and space. He worked on many pathosystems, including leaf spots on beans, soybeans, celery, citrus, roses, turf grass, sweet corn and oats, root and bulb pathogens on onions or garlic to weed pathogens that could be used as biological control agents. Dr Berger and his graduate students developed models and simulators to help interpret the peculiarities of natural epidemics, and these models were used to devise ways to better manage plant diseases. They used a wide array of experimental techniques, including electronic probes to measure micro- and macroclimate variables, light interception, infra-red reflection, leaf area meters and video imagery to assess effects of the environment on disease development and the amount of host stress caused by disease and other factors.

Dr Berger published about 100 scientific papers, mostly in APS journals. His most important contributions to epidemiology were: improved disease assessments by partitioning the crop canopy and designing interpolative disease rating scales (1973); the development of disease forecasting systems for early blight on celery and Northern leaf blight on corn, widely used by growers (1973-1976); prediction of final disease and crop loss from average epidemic rates (1974); the realization that disease develops in temporal ‘waves’ at the beginning of the epidemic, which can only be observed when observations are made daily (1975); utilization of isopaths to describe the spread of plant diseases in time and space (1979); demonstration of the superiority of the Gompertz equation over the logistic equation for many disease progress curves (1981); coupling of models for pest and disease development to growth simulators to predict yield loss (1983); the development of a general model for disease progress with functions for variable latency and lesion expansion on growing host plants (1985); development, with Paul Waggoner, of the concepts of healthy leaf area duration (HAD) and healthy leaf area absorption (HAA) , the latter being the integration of the incident insolation absorbed by the healthy leaf area over the season, to predict crop yield (1987 and 1995); the development of a simulation model for bean rust (1995); the importance of lesion expansion for epidemic development, especially in (sub)tropical climates (1997); introduction of the area under the disease gradient curve (AUDGC) as alternative to fitting various models to disease gradients (1999); modification of the HAA concept to photosynthesizing leaf area index absorption (PAA) to account for large ‘virtual lesion’ areas (2001); and the realization that a biotrophic pathogen has a less damaging effect on physiological processes of the remaining green leaf area than a hemibiotrophic pathogen (2002).

The later contributions resulted from collaborative research with Brazilian epidemiologists (L Amorim, R B Bassanezi, A Bergamin and L A Maffia). In addition to his Brazilian colleagues, Dr. Berger had a wide network of other collaborators, in particular, in Germany (B Hau, G E Weber and J Kranz), the Netherlands (J C Zadoks), and the USA (P Waggoner). In Dr Berger’s own words: “International projects provide an added stimulus to study epidemiology under different sets of host-pathogen-environmental conditions”.

Contributions to teaching

Dr Berger developed and taught primarily the graduate course "Epidemiology of Plant Disease". This course consisted of lectures on the theory of epidemiology, various computer exercises, and also hands-on laboratory and field sections, including disease assessment, quantification of inoculum and inoculation of plants, and monitoring a field epidemic in space and time. Students often thanked him for the lessons learned in the field plots as the most valuable part of their training in plant pathology. Through computer exercises the students learned sampling techniques, analysis of experimental data, curve fitting of epidemics in space and time, and simulation modeling. The students got acquainted with classical simulation models like EPIDEM of P. Waggoner as well as Dr Berger’s own model CERCOS (for Cercospora blight on celery). His lectures reflected his research interests next to giving an overview of epidemiological concepts. For example, he showed students that disease progress occurs in waves in the early stages of epidemic development. [I remember vividly that Dr Berger presented a lecture on this topic at Wageningen University, when I was an M.S. student in the 1970s!!]. He also discussed the controversy surrounding the relationship between inoculum density and disease incidence (ID:DI) based on the rhizosphere-rhizoplane models presented by R Baker (1967 and 1972). To quote Dr Berger: “There has been controversy about the “I” and the “D” in inoculum density AND the “D” and the “I” in disease intensity. The only part of the ID:DI relationship that was non-controversial was the colon “:” !!”. Other lecture topics included spatial distribution and spread, disease forecasting, components of resistance and gene deployment; and finally, systems analysis, modeling, yield and crop loss. Dr Berger summarized his approach to teaching as follows: “This systems philosophy permeates most of my activities. It has really changed the way how I look at plant pathological problems. Before my indoctrination, I visualized our science as thousands of bits and pieces, unique for every pathosystem. Now, I look for patterns, generalizations, commonalities, etc.; the holistic view”. Dr Berger is missed by epidemiologists worldwide, plant pathologists in the USA, and colleagues, students and growers in Florida. However, he left behind an important legacy of theoretical concepts, practical information and excellent lecture notes, which will be used for many years to come.

Dr Berger is survived by his wife Joyce, son Dan and daughter Tina, a sister and two brothers, and four grandchildren.

I like to thank Dr Larry Madden and Terry Davoli for corrections in the text.

Dr Andre Drenth of the University of Queensland gave a talk entitled “The Impact of Globalisation and Plant Diseases on Food Security” at a Food Security and Biosecurity Symposium run by the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology at the University of Sydney in November 2011. It was an excellent history of agriculture, input technologies, trade, biosecurity, pathogens and the importance of crop protection. 

FAO's new Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, told his inaugural press conference two days after taking over that the total elimination of hunger and undernourishment from the world will be his top priority. He told journalists that with a term in office of only three and a half years there was no time to lose. FAO would begin by scaling up its support to a number of low-income and food deficit countries and especially to those facing prolonged crises. He indicated that he wanted to work in the most transparent and democratic way with member countries, United Nations agencies, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders.

Phyllosticta species associated with diseases in mandarins, pomeloes, orange and lemons in the main citrus producing regions across China were reported in recent research. Four hundred and ninety six Phyllosticta strains were isolated and 74 of these were selected for phylogenetic analysis. The isolates clustered in four distinct clades corresponding to three known, and one undescribed species. A newly resolved taxon, P. citrichinaensis, was isolated from leaves and fruits of all four citrus species and it caused minor damage, showing irregular spots or freckles. P. citriasiana, associated with tan spot of pomeloes, was isolated only from pomeloes, and never from lemons, mandarins and oranges. P. citricarpa, the citrus black spot pathogen, was isolated from lemons, mandarins and oranges, but never from pomeloes. The isolates of P. citricarpa clustered in two subclades, one from mandarins, the other from oranges and lemons. P. capitalensis was isolated from all four citrus species as an endophyte, causing false melanose. Morphological, cultural and biochemical characters were consistent with the results of phylogenetic analysis. A specific primer pair was designed and selected, and its corresponding PCR procedure was developed for the detection of P. citriasiana in this study.

Dr Daniel Huberli has advised of an article published on 14 January 2012 at www.sciencewa.net.au entitled “More insidious hybrids of Phytophthora discovered” and written by Nic White.

New species of Phytophthora have been discovered in Western Australia’s forests, heathland and waterways, some of which could pose a threat similar to the deadly Phytophthora cinnamomi, the most well-known cause of Phytophthora Dieback. The new species include Phytophthora multivora, P. elongata, P. thermophila, P. fluvialis, P. arenaria, P. constricta, P. litoralis, P. gibbosa and P. gregata, which had not previously been found anywhere else, and eight exotic species never recorded before in Western Australia (WA). The new species were identified using recent DNA technology that enabled them to be distinguished from similar species.

Mike Stukely of the WA Department Environment and Conservation stated that P. thermophila and P.constricta are among the most destructive and have been associated with plant mortality in coastal heathlands following heavy summer rainfall. P. multivora, while not as potent as P. cinnamomi, is also of particular concern because of its very wide distribution and ability to thrive in environments where P.cinnamomi does not, such as alkaline sands and Tuart forests. Mr Stukely also stated that P. arenaria and P. constricta are believed to be native to WA but others have probably arrived from overseas.

Phytophthora hybrids are also being found in WA, though little is known about them beyond their likely parentage. Dr Treena Burgess of the Centre of Phytophthora Science and Management stated that the hybrids are probably the result of reproduction between P. thermophila, P. litoralis and P. fluvialis and are not yet widely distributed. The oldest samples are 10 years old and are still being examined to assess their potency and what plants they can infect. Hybrids have never been identified in WA before but have been reported overseas, sometimes becoming more damaging than their parents.

This is the theme of an International Workshop being organised by the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union (MPU) in Bari, Italy, in October 2012. See “Coming Events” and the official web-site.

The Mediterranean diet now has a place in UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. According to UNESCO, the Mediterranean diet constitutes a set of skills, knowledge, practices and traditions ranging from the landscape to the table. This includes crops, methods of harvesting, conservation, processing, preparation and consumption of food. The diet consists mainly of pasta, bread, cereals especially durum wheat or barley, olive oil, fresh or dried fruit and vegetables, a moderate amount of fish, dairy and meat, and many condiments and spices.

The latest edition of “New Agriculturalist” (2012) is now on-line at  www.new-ag.info. A key theme of this edition is keeping track of the changing environment and humanity’s impact and dependence on natural cycles. It also heralds new beginnings as “New Agriculturalist” launches two new sections, supported by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR).