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July 10-13 in India
Int'l plant virus disease symposium co-organized by WSU
Thursday, June 28, 2012
By Brian Clark, College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences
COIMBATORE, India - Plant diseases caused by insect-transmitted viruses are a threat to the food security of developing countries, causing serious crop and income losses for people whose livelihoods depend on farming. A symposium in India sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the USDA, and co-organized by Naidu Rayapati, associate professor of plant pathology at Washington State University, will bring together scientists to review the status of these diseases and discuss methods of combating them.
"Research and Management of Insect-Transmitted Virus Diseases in the Tropics and Subtropics" will be held July 10-13 in Coimbatore, India. The Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program (IPM CRSP), funded by USAID, and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University are sponsoring the four-day symposium. Rayapati, IPM CRSP principal investigator, is a conference organizer.
Rayapati has been collaborating with scientists in developing countries in Asia to study virus disease problems in vegetables produced by small-holder farmers and to deploy eco-friendly strategies for management of virus diseases in subsistence agriculture.
"Plant virus diseases are a huge cause of crop losses in the developing world. The symposium will bring together scientists from the US and developing countries to review current knowledge and technologies and intelligently translate scientific advances into practical solutions applicable to virus diseases in specific cropping systems in developing countries," Rayapati said.
Participants and invited speakers will cover fundamental and applied aspects related to virus diseases. Discussions will focus on emerging and re-emerging virus diseases, especially those of vegetable crops, and on establishing a coordinated program to identify and manage virus diseases affecting cucurbits, eggplant, okra, pepper and tomato.
Additional information about IPM CRSP, as well as registration information for the symposium, may be found by visiting the conference website at http://bit.ly/ipmcrsp.
Contact:
Naidu Rayapati, WSU associate professor of plant pathology, 509-786-9215, naidu@wsu.edu
Brian Clark, WSU agricultural science news, 509-335-6967, brian.clark@wsu.edu
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