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.

Editors, Joseph-Alexander Verreet, e-mail: javerreet@phytomed.uni-kiel.de
and Elaine Davison, e-mail: edavison@agric.wa.gov.au

In this issue:

• Second International Conference on Sunn Pest
• Disease Threatens Cucumbers, Pumpkins, and Other Vine Crops
• U.S. Livestock Industry Hurt by Devastating Disease
• New publications of interest to plant pathologists
• Coming Events

Second International Conference on Sunn Pest, ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria, 19-22, July, 2004

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the University of Vermont (USA) in collaboration with the Arab Society for Plant Protection are organizing the 2nd International Conference on Sunn Pest to be held at ICARDA headquarters in Aleppo, Syria, July 19-22, 2004.

In view of the importance of this pest, as it accounts for annual grain losses of 20-30% in barley, and 50-90% in wheat in Central and West Asia and Eastern Europe, this conference is planned to review the progress and recent advances in Sunn Pest management, and to develop international collegiality among Sunn Pest researchers and managers. All interested workers are invited to attend this event to contribute through presentations, posters and/or participation in discussion. For more information interested colleagues are encouraged to visit the website: http://www.icarda.cgiar.org/sunnpest/Spconference.htm

Dr. Safaa Kumari
Chair of the Local Organizing Committee
Second International Conference on Sunn Pest
ICARDA, P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
e-mail: S.Kumari@cgiar.org

Plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS) are reporting a significant increase in the occurrence of Phytophthora blight of vine crops, including cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash, in many vegetable-growing regions of the United States. This devastating disease, caused by a soilborne pathogen called Phytophthora capsici, often results in nearly total yield loss.

According to Mohammad Babadoost, a plant pathology professor at the University of Illinois, Phytophthora blight has become one of the most serious threats to production of vine crops, or cucurbits, both in the United States and worldwide. "Recent outbreaks of Phytophthora blight have threatened pumpkin and other cucurbit industries in Illinois, where approximately 90 percent of processing pumpkins produced in the U.S. are grown," said Babadoost. "Because of heavy crop losses, growers often have to abandon their own farms and move into different areas, sometimes traveling more than 50 miles, to find fields not infested with Phytophthora capsici," said Babadoost.

Phytophthora blight can strike cucurbit plants at any stage of growth. The infection usually appears first in low areas of the fields where the soil remains wet for longer periods of time. The pathogen infects seedlings, vines, leaves, and fruit. The disease is usually associated with heavy rainfall, excessive-irrigation, or poorly drained soil. Frequent irrigation increases the incidence of the disease.

Currently, there are no cucurbit cultivars with measurable resistance to Phytophthora blight. Plant pathologists are working to find new methods of controlling this disease. "In addition to exploring cultural management strategies, plant pathologists are assessing the possibilities of using induced resistance in plants, biocontrol agents, and fungicides for control of this disease in cucurbits and other crops,"said Babadoost.

More on this subject including details on the disease, the pathogen that causes it, and current control methods can be found in this month’s APS feature article at http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/cucurbit/.

A disease caused by tall fescue, one of the most common cool-season pasture grasses in the U.S., is taking a costly toll on livestock, including both cattle and horses. Although devastating to animals, this disease is not harmful or transferable to humans.

According to Craig Roberts, state forage specialist at the Department of Agronomy, University of Missouri, this disease, tall fescue toxicosis, is costing U.S. livestock producers more than $600 million each year. Tall fescue toxicosis is caused by a fungus that lives in tall fescue grass. When the fungus is not present, tall fescue is a highly-nutritional pasture grass.

Tall fescue toxicosis is most easily recognized by grotesque symptoms, such as fescue foot in cattle. Toxicosis is also seen in cattle that fail to shed their winter coats in the summer and display a shaggy, unkept appearance. Some of the most serious symptoms of tall fescue toxicosis, however, are not visible. These include narrowed blood vessels that cause restriction of blood flow, high core body temperature, increased respiration, low heart rate, altered fat metabolism, failure to produce milk, suppression of the immune system, reduced forage intake, and low rate of weight gain. Fescue toxicosis also causes serious reproductive problems, such as low pregnancy rate and birthing difficulty.

"At present, there is no cure for tall fescue toxicosis, but proven management strategies can lessen its effect," said Roberts. Such strategies include replacing toxic tall fescue with cultivars that are endophyte-free or contain beneficial endophytes, interseeding other forages to dilute the toxins, rotating livestock to non-toxic pastures, and ammoniating hay. "These new and old management practices limit the ingestion of toxic alkaloids and improve the health of their livestock and the profitability of their operations," said Roberts.

More on this topic is available in a recently published article from Crop Management, a journal published by Plant Management Network (PMN). A summary of the article can be found at http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/feature/fescue/.

PLANT-PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS
Edited by Nicholas Talbot, University of Exeter, UK
Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 11

Plant diseases are destructive and threaten virtually any crop grown on a commercial scale. They are kept in check by plant breeding strategies that have introgressed disease resistance genes into many important crops, and by the deployment of costly control measures, such as antibiotics and fungicides. However, the capacity for the agents of plant disease – viruses, bacteria, fungi and oomycetes – to adapt to new conditions, overcoming disease resistance and becoming resistant to pesticides, is very great. For these reasons, understanding the biology of plant diseases is essential for the development of durable control strategies.

This volume provides an overview of our current knowledge of plant-pathogen interactions and the establishment of plant disease, drawing together fundamental new information on plant infection mechanisms and host responses. The role of molecular signals, gene regulation and the physiology of pathogenic organisms are emphasised, but the role of the prevailing environment in the conditioning of disease is also discussed.

This is a book for researchers and professionals in plant pathology, cell biology, molecular biology and genetics.

CONTENTS

1. Emerging themes in plant-pathogen interactions
Nicholas J. Talbot, University of Exeter, UK
2. Tobacco mosaic virus
John Carr, University of Cambridge, UK
3. Infection with potyviruses
Minna-Liisa Rajamäki, Tuula Mäki-Valkama, Kristiina Mäkinen and Jari Valkonen, Department of Applied Biology, University of Helsinki, Finland
4. The Ralstonia solanacearum–plant interaction
Christian Boucher and Stéphane Genin, CNRS – INRA, Castanet Tolosa, France
5. The Pseudomonas syringae–bean interaction
Susan S. Hirano and Christen D. Upper, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
6. Fungal pathogenesis in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe Grisea
Chaoyang Xue, Lei Li, Kyeyong Seong and Jin-Rong Xu, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
7. The Ustilago maydis–maize interaction
Maria D. Garcia-Pedrajas, Steven J. Klosterman, David L. Andrews and Scott E. Gold, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
8. B. graminis f. sp hordei, an obligate pathogen of barley
Maike Both and Pietro D. Spanu, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, London, UK
9. The Phytophthora infestans–potato interaction
Pieter van West, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Aberdeen, UK and Vivianne G.A.A.Vleeshouwers, Laboratory of Plant Breeding, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
References
Index

Ordering information:

Blackwell Publishing, c/o Marston Book Services, PO Box 269, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 4YN, UK. Email: direct.order@marston.co.uk Hardback, 1-4051-1433-9, 264 pp. April 2004 £89.50

Coming Events

V International Postharvest Symposium, Verona, Italy
6-11 June 2004
<ptonutti@agripolis.unipd.it>.

International symposium on Nutrition and Fertilization – Towards ecologically sound fertilisation strategies in field vegetable production, Perugia Italy
7-10 June 2004
unipg.it/ishs2004

Management of plant diseases and arthropod pests by BCAs and their integration in agricultural systems, Istituto Agrario di S. Michele all’Adige (IASMA), Italy
9-13 June 2004
http://www.ismaa.it/uodifesa/iobc.html

75^th Anniversary Annual Meeting of the Canadian Phytopathological Society, Ottawa ON Canada.
13-16 June 2004
Contact: André Léesque e-mail: Levesque@agr.gc.ca

VIII International symposium on Integrating Canopy, Rootstock and environmental Physiology in Orchard Systems, Budapest, Hungary
13-18 June 2004
hrotko@omega.kee.hu

VI International Congress on Hazelnut, Reus-Tarragona, Spain
14-18 June 2004
www.hazelnut2004.com

XXVII Symposium of the European Society of Nematologists, Rome, Italy
14-18 June 2004.
http://esn-symposium.ba.cnr.it

VII International Symposium on Modelling in Fruit Research and Orchard Management, Copenhagen, Denmark
20-24 June 2004
pbr@kvl.dk

ISHS First International Symposium on Tomato Diseases, Orlando Florida, USA
21-24 June 2004
http://plantdoctor.ifas.ufl.edu/istd.html

XIVth Biennial Workshop on Smut Fungi, Idaho Falls, ID, USA
23-25 June 2004
<bgoates@uidaho.edu>

III International Symposium on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Breeding Research and II Latin Americal Symposium on the Production of Medicinal Aromatic and Condiment Plants, Campinas-Sao Paulo, Brazil
5-8 July 2004
linming@fca.unesp.br

X International Workshop on Fire Blight, Bologna, Italy
5-9 July 2004
http://www.agri/sci.unibo.it/fireblight

Second International Conference on Sunn Pest, ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria
19-22 July, 2004
http://www.icarda.cgiar.org/sunnpest/Spconference.htm

First International Workshop for the Morphological and Molecular Identification of the Straminopiles: Phytophthora and Pythium, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
23-27 July 2004
Contact: Gloria Abad e-mail: gloria_abad@ncsu.edu

I International Symposium on Humulus, Corvallis, OR, USA
1-8 August 2004
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cor/hopsymposium.htm

11^th International Conference Root and Butt Rots of Forest Trees, IUFRO Working Party 7.02.01, Poznán, Poland
15-22 August 2004
www.au.poznan.pl/katedra/fl/iufro

ISHS International Symposium on Horticultural Education and Training. Perth, Western Australia
18-21 August 2004
www.ishs.org/cal/et_symp.pdf, or www.muresk.curtin.edu.au/ishs/

11th International Cereal Rust and Powdery Mildew Conference in Norwich, UK.
23-27 August 2004.
Contact: Dr James Brown, John Innes Centre, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK; Fax: +44-1603-450045; e-mail: <james.brown@bbsrc.ac.uk>.

14^th Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology, Cracow Poland
23-27 August 2004
http://www.zfr-pan.krakow.pl/konf/

International Symposium on Horticultural Economics and Management. Creating Value in a Changing Society, Berlin, Germany
29 August – 3 September 2004
www.agrar.hu-berlin.de/wisola/ishs

6th Australasian Plant Virology Workshop, Goldcoast, Queensland, Australia
30 August-2 September 2004
http://www.australasianplantpathologysociety.org.au/.

European Foundation for Plant Pathology meeting and BSPP Presidential Meeting 2004, ‘Discovery, development and delivery in plant pathology’, Aberdeen, Scotland
5-10 September 2004
www.bspp.org.uk

VIII International symposium on Plum and Prune Genetics, Breeding and Technology Lofthus, Norway
6-9 September 2004
http://www.planteforsk.no/

V International Strawberry Symposium, Brisbane, Australia
5-10 September 2004
greern@dpi.qld.gov.au

Third IUFRO Forest Phytophthora Research Workshop, Freising Germany
11–17 September 2004
carole.lishman@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

III Balkan Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes, Bursa, Turkey
6-10 September 2004
ozkan@uludag.edu.tr

International Symposium GREENSYS 2004 – Sustainable Greenhouse Systems: Co-operation of Engineering and Crop Science, Leuven, Belgium
12-16 September 2004
www.greensys2004.nl

V International Symposium on In Vitro Culture and Horticultural Breeding, Decrecen, Hungary
12-17 September 2004
www.ivchb2004.org

International Fusarium Laboratory Workshop, FABI (Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute), University of Pretoria, South Africa
26 September - 2 October 2004
http://fabinet.up.ac.za/fusarium

4^th International Crop Science Congress, Brisbane, Australia
26 September – 4 October 2004
4icsc04@im.com.au

V International Symposium on Olive Growing, Turkey
27 September – 2 October 2004
www.agri.ankara.edu.tr

VI International Symposium on Chemical and Non-Chemical Soil and Substrate Disinfestation, Corfu, Greece
4-8 October 2004
ect@aua.gr

III International Symposium on Persimmon, Jinju, Korea
5-9 October 2004
smk@nongae.gsnu.ac.kr

IV ISHS Symposium on Brassica and XIV Crucifer Genetics Workshop, Daejon, Korea
24-28 October 2004
yplim@cnu.ac.kr

XIII International Botrytis Symposium in Antalya, Turkey.
25 -31 October 2004.
contact: Dr. Figen Yildiz <fyildiz@ziraat.ege.edu.tr>.

5th International Walnut Symposium, Sorrento, Naples, Italy
7-14 November 2004
Contact: Emilia Malvolti <mimi@ias.tr.cnr.it

4^th International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk Diseases, Stellenbosch, South Africa
20-21 January 2005
phfourie@sun.ac.za

International Plant Virus Epidemiology Symposium, Lima, Peru.
4-8 April 2005
Contact: Pamela Anderson p.anderson@cgiar.org

International Working Groups on Legume and Vegetable Viruses, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
11-15 April, 2005
Contact: Gail Wisler gcwisler@mail.ifas.ufl.edu

13th Meeting of the Latin American Association of Plant Pathology. Córdoba. Argentina
19-22 April 2005
slenard@infovia.com.ar

IV International Symposium on Pistachio and Almond, Tehran, Iran
20-26 May 2005
http://www.pri.ir

XII Mediterranean Phytopathological Union (MPU) Congress, Bari, Italy
21-27 May 2005.
http://www.unifi.it/istituzioni/mpu/XIIMPUCongress/mputabinfo.html

XII International Sclerotinia Workshop, Monterey, CA, USA
9-15 June 2005
http://entoplp.okstate.edu/iswg/inex.html

XVII International Botanical Congress (XVII IBC 2005), Vienna, Austria,
18-23 July 2005
website: http://www.ibc2005.ac.at

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

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