People and Places

• Scottish Agricultural Science Agency, East Craigs
• Glasgow University
• Plant Pathology in Northern Ireland
• ADAS
• Central Science Laboratory
• Harper Adams Agricultural College
• Horticulture Research International
• University of Nottingham
• King's College, London
• NIAB, Cambridge
• University of Bath
• University of Oxford
• University of the West of England
• Cambridge Mycology and Plant Pathology Club
• University of Reading

Scottish Agricultural Science Agency, East Craigs

It has been some time since SASA's activities were last reported in the Newsletter and it may be helpful to members to know something of the background to the Agency and its plant pathology responsibilities.

SASA became an Executive Agency of The Scottish Office on 1 April 1992, having previously been known as Agricultural Scientific Services or, more usually, by the name of its headquarters - East Craigs, where in the 1920s the Board of Agriculture for Scotland established its Variety Registration and Seed Testing Station. Seed testing and variety testing, to meet the National Listing requirements of EU Directives, are still important activities, but to these have been added seed certification, plant health including quarantine, pesticide usage surveys, food and wildlife monitoring for pesticides and aspects of wildlife damage to crops. The station currently employs around 100 scientists, approximately onethird of whom are indirectly or directly involved in crop protection.

SASA's principal functions are to support The Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department (SOAEFD) by providing the scientific input for work required by EU Directives, UK Regulations and various scheme requirements and to provide SOAEFD with the scientific information and advice it needs to develop and implement policy. This may, perhaps, seem rather dull to our colleagues involved in front-line research, but the reality is quite different and SASA staff enjoy the challenge of turning what can sometimes seem rather dry legislation into practical procedures for Ministers, policy makers, consultants and growers.

Most plant pathologists at SASA work within the Potato and Plant Health Division and, as the name implies, much of the division's work relates to plant health legislation and seed potato classification (certification). Dr Jane Chard leads the Plant Health Section where she and her staff help SOAEFD develop policies and testing procedures that aim to protect the Scottish seed potato industry (worth between £50m and £100m per year) and other agriculture and horticulture enterprises against non-indigenous pathogens. Not surprisingly, in view of the situation in western Europe in recent years, potato brown rot (Ralstonia solanacearum) and ring rot (Clavibacter michiganensis ssp. sepedonicus) have occupied much of her group's time in the last year or so. Dr John Wood and Karen Breckenridge have conducted surveys of EU and Scottish produced seed potatoes and have confirmed Scotland's freedom from brown rot and ring rot.

Dr Colin Jeffries, Carol Brattey and Carolyn Nisbet operate the UK Potato Quarantine Unit on behalf of all the UK Agricultural Departments, with Tina James providing testing for potato spindle tuber viroid. Any non-EU potato material, including material for research purposes, entering the UK must undergo comprehensive testing in the Unit before general release. Recent interceptions have included bacterial ring rot, potato spindle tuber viroid and a number of potato viruses, including a previously unknown virus, potato latent virus. Akhtar Ali oversees SOAEFD's licensing arrangements for the importation of nonindigenous pathogens for research purposes and also provides, with Susan Irvine, diagnostic support to the Department's agricultural and horticultural staff in respect of fungal pathogens.

Dr Kevin O'Donnell (currently the BSPP's membership secretary) leads the Diagnostics and Molecular Biology Section at SASA. The section has the dual role of undertaking diagnostic testing in support of SOAEFD's statutory requirements and of developing new diagnostic tests. Isla Browning, Maureen Darling and Lynn Young provide a virus testing service in support of the Scottish Seed Potato Classification Scheme. Isla and Maureen also test new potato varieties for susceptibility to potato wart (Synchytrium endobioticum) disease as a requirement of EU legislation.

Robert Burns and Edna George run SASA's Monoclonal Antibody Production Unit where antibody lines are developed and produced for use in SASA's testing programmes and are also widely marketed to other testing institutes. Vince Mulholland and Lynn Young are involved in developing nucleic acidbased assays to a level where they are robust enough for highvolume, routine use. A priority here is the development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based tests to detect tuberborne potato viruses, though assays for a wide range of other pathogens are also being developed. We also have interests in developing alternative DNA amplification methods - for example, the ligase chain reaction.

Scientific support in relation to invertebrate plant pests is provided by Dr Jon Pickup's Zoology Group. Andrew Harris manages the nematology laboratory which supports SOAEFD's programme of potato cyst nematode testing, and Paul Shave's entomology laboratory supports the aphid monitoring arrangements for the Seed Potato Classification Scheme and development work on the epidemiology of aphidborne potato viruses.

Dr Stuart Carnegie and his colleagues in Potato Section provide scientific advice and information to SOAEFD's policy makers in support of the Seed Potato Classification Scheme and Stuart monitors the commercial production of high grade (virus tested stem cutting) seed. Sandra Goodfellow and Jim Maguire maintain and distribute to high grade seed growers pathogentested nuclear stock which is the foundation of healthy Scottish seed. The section also provides support to SOAEFD through the provision of training plots and during seed tuber inspection courses.

Stuart Carnegie, Arlene Cameron, Paul Haddon and Jenny Craigie have recently completed a Potato Marketing Boardfunded project which examined, in collaboration with Geoff Hide and colleagues at Rothamsted, the health of seed and ware potatoes during multiplication. Stuart's work on the epidemiology of tuberborne pathogens over many years has shown the importance of good seed store hygiene in reducing the buildup of tuberborne fungal pathogens.

Valerie Cockerell is responsible for seed health testing within the Official Seed Testing Station at SASA. Valerie's work has assumed greater prominence following the withdrawal of organomercury cereal seed treatment fungicides in 1992 and, with support from the HomeGrown Cereals Authority and Zeneca Crop Protection, Valerie, Margaret Jacks and OSTS staff have recently conducted comprehensive surveys of the health of UKproduced cereal seed and Valerie has collaborated with colleagues in ADAS, NIAB and PSD to develop guidelines for cereal seed treatment usage.

My direct involvement with seed quality and seed treatments has been all but given up as I try to get to grips with the station's potato and plant health work, assume the chairmanship of the Standing Committee for Crop Protection in Northern Britain, in succession to James Gilmour who has recently retired from SAC, and act as local arrangements co-ordinator for next year's International Congress of Plant Pathology. My SASA colleagues and I, and indeed all Scottish plant pathologists, look forward to welcoming BSPP members to ICPP98 in August. Look out for the Invitation to Register  it will be on your desk soon.

Bill Rennie

Glasgow University

In 1994 the 11 departments of Biology were merged into a single resource unit, the Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences. The Institute consists of 6 research-centred Divisions of cognate areas, largely formed by combining departments but some departments were split with staff being moved into separate divisions. The latter was the case for the department of Botany, the biochemical/molecular biologically orientated botanists moving to the Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology while the `whole organism' orientated botanists moved to the Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology. This has lead to plant pathology in Glasgow being split between two Divisions with Don Clarke's group housed in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology while Joel Milner's group is housed in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Don Clarke's group is housed in the Brian Laboratories (shared with Plant Ecology) located in the old walled garden of the Garscube estate some five miles from the main campus. We are not a lone part of the University as the estate also houses the Vet School, the Beatson Institute and several other research institutes and a magnificent sports facility which yours truly is far too old to make use of; although I believe there is a bar somewhere in the pavilion. Work continues on parasites, particularly powdery mildews, downy mildews and rusts of Senecio spp., both British and foreign. The particular interests at the moment are the two new parasites, the Albugo and the rust Puccinia lagenophorae, to determine the within and between species specificities of these parasites. A postgraduate student, Abdella Ahkhka, is comparing the reactions of wild and cultivated barleys to infection by Erysiphe graminis f.sp. hordei. Over the last 5 years, in collaboration with a local timber preservation company who obtained a local enterprise grant and some EEC money to fund the work we have been researching pesticide free methods, specifically biological control methods, for controlling timber dry rot in buildings.

Joel Milner's interests lie in the field of plant virology. One of his main areas of research concerns those plant-virus interactions which are involved in symptom expression following infection by compatible viruses. Ongoing work in his laboratory includes a project, funded by the BBSRC and carried out in collaboration with the John Innes Centre, which is aimed at identifying genes in Arabidopsis that control symptom character and severity during infections by cauliflower mosaic virus. Research in this area also involves collaborations with researchers at CNR, Pisa and in Quebec. In addition he has a long standing interest in plant rhabdoviruses, and is collaborating with researchers in the Department of Electrical Engineering on the development of novel methods for the purification of viruses.

Don Clarke

Plant Pathology in Northern Ireland

Disease control in short rotation coppice willow

Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) grown willow is being developed as a viable energy crop. There has been considerable commercial interest in growing willow with several large areas being planted recently. However the major limiting factor to sustaining viable yields has been the susceptibility of many of the Salix clones used, to rust caused by Melampsora epitea var. epitea. Control of the disease is difficult, with the use of fungicides not being an option.

In Northern Ireland we have had considerable success in reducing the impact of rust on the crop by growing mixed clonal stands of willow. Clones have been chosen from a clonal selection programme on the basis of their yield and resistance to rust and some have been included in a large trial which incorporates mixtures of up to 20 different clones. Clonal mixtures reduce disease impact by delaying the onset of disease, slowing down its build up and lowering final levels at the end of the season. However, based on preliminary data, it would appear that the number of clones within a mixture has little effect, with disease reduction in the 5 way mixture being as good as in the larger mixtures of 10, 15 or 20 clones.

Nevertheless, when very susceptible clones are included, they do not survive, although through compensation from neighbouring, less susceptible clones means that there is almost no effect on yield. In 1996 /97 some clones, most notably Salix burjatica Germany, which had been grown in N. Ireland for several years with only low levels of rust became very sensitive to the disease and in a number of trials were wiped out.

In Northern Ireland, where the rust disease pressure is high, we are confident that the use of carefully selected clonal mixtures provides a way in which high yields can be obtained and the long term sustainabiity of plantations achieved.

Enterprise in plant pathology teaching

Plant pathology graduates, in common with others, need the ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, employers, customers etc. Therefore, within the plant pathology element of the agriculture, food science and science courses at the Queen's University of Belfast (QUB) we have put an emphasis on developing oral and written skills, inter-personal and group skills, curriculum vitae preparation and interview techniques etc. Students are given instruction and the opportunity to develop these skills, within the context of the plant pathology being taught.

During the past two years there has been a British Council funded collaboration with the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (UASVM), Bucharest, Romania, as part of a Romanian Academic Links Programme. The purpose of this programme has been to introduce enterprise into the curriculum of the UASVM. There have been two visits by the Romanian co-ordinator, Dr Agatha Popescu, to Belfast.

In May 1997 three members of staff from QUB spent two weeks in Bucharest where we introduced, both a group of staff and a group of students to the concepts of enterprise and the importance of transferable skills for all graduates. Staff were involved in discussions on how best to provide the necessary skills to graduates and how this may affect their teaching. The student group, comprising approximately 20 students drawn from all faculties and years, were enthusiastic in their involvement, especially in some of the group skills exercises. They were particularly pleased to be given the opportunity to express their aspirations and opinions in a relaxed and non-threatening atmosphere.

Dr Popescu has made a World Bank application to extend the incorporation of enterprise into courses throughout the UASVM in Bucharest and to other Universities in Romania.

Alistair McCracken
DANI & Queen's University, Belfast

ADAS

Bill Clark and Rosie Bryson are currently working on the effects of strobilurin analogue fungicides on wheat physiology, and in-field sensing of winter wheat crop canopies, with particular reference to the interactions of nitrogen and disease on green leaf area, canopy duration and radiation interception. Tim O'Neill is leading a MAFF Horticulture LINK Project in collaboration with HRI Efford, SAC Auchincruive, SRI, the University of Reading and Campbell Scientific Ltd on the "Integrated control of botrytis in protected container-grown ornamentals". The project commenced in April and is funded by HDC and industrial partners in addition to MAFF. Irene Koomen presented a paper on "Biological control of post-harvest diseases on fruit". at the 1997 Silsoe Postharvest Convention held on the 25 March.

In a recent HDC-funded project investigating the control of downy mildew in brassica seedlings, John Davies discovered that the mixture of Aliette® and Courgel AG614, a non ionic polysaccharide, had a synergistic effect, resulting in improved disease control and crop growth. The benefits have prompted HDC and Rhône Poulenc to file a patent for this mixture.

Centre for Research in Agronomy

ADAS and the University of Nottingham have set up a joint Centre for Research in Agronomy, bringing together research projects funded by growers, the Home-Grown Cereals Authority and MAFF. The formation of the Centre was announced by David Shannon, MAFF's Chief Scientist, at the opening of new research facilities at ADAS Boxworth, Cambridge. The purpose of the Centre, with Professor Keith Scott as its Head, is to develop and promote a fundamental approach to the improvement of crops and on-farm decision making.

The research base, which will encompass work being undertaken at the University and ADAS's five arable research centres, will be used to sustain agriculture through the educational, training and consultancy activities of both organisations. Pathologists involved in projects within the Centre include Neil Paveley, Rosie Bryson, Steve Parker, David Jones and Fen Beed.

John Davies
ADAS Terrington

Central Science Laboratory

Back in April this year, CSL's Plant Disease Diagnosis Team hosted the inaugural meeting of the `UK Phytodiagnosis Discussion Group'. The group was formed following informal discussions held at the European Federation of Plant Pathologists meeting in Bonn and the BSPP meeting in Canterbury to consider problems faced by plant pathologists involved in routine diagnosis. The first meeting focussed on diagnosis of Phytophthora spp. and was attended by diagnosticians from a number of different organisations within the UK and also representatives from the Dutch Plant Protection Service.

The two-day meeting provided an ideal forum to demonstrate current and new methods for the diagnosis for Phytophthora, as well as allowing discussion on new Phytophthora diseases. The meeting was considered successful enough for the group to want to reconvene next year and David Rose of the Forestry Commission, Alice Holt, kindly offered to host the next meeting. Any enquiries concerning the group and the next meeting can be sent to either David Rose or Charles Lane (c.lane@csl.gov.uk).

Further afield, CSL has been continuing to expand its interests in areas of overseas work. On the R&D side, David Stead (Plant & Environmental Bacteriology Team) has, in collaboration with fellow bacteriologists in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, won an EU contract to provide technical assistance for the control of potato brown rot in Egypt. The project, in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, will provide laboratory facilities and training to allow the testing of potatoes for export and also to provide the epidemiological information that is required to help control the disease.

CSL has also been developing new areas of work in overseas consultancy. A major event was the revision of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), for which Alan Pemberton (Plant Health Consultancy Team) gave technical support to the UK and EU delegations at the FAO Technical Consultation, Rome. CSL Plant Health Group pathologists and entomologists continue to play an active part in the Phytosanitary Regulations Working Party and many Panels of the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization.

CSL has also been closely involved with the International Standards on Phytosanitary Measures being developed by the FAO IPPC Secretariat. David Ebbels (Plant Health Consultancy Team) has undertaken several plant health consultancy missions for FAO (in Cyprus) and the EU PHARE programme (in Slovenia and Slovakia) aimed at assisting eastern European countries to harmonise their plant health services with the legislation and practices of the EU. In addition, Claire Sansford (Plant Health Consultancy Team) has visited the BBA (Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry) in Braunschweig and Kleinmachnow, Germany, in order to discuss relationships between the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the BBA, and the Plant Protection Services of the Lander. The visit allowed discussion of Claire's main area of interest, Pest Risk Assessment and Analysis. There may be some future collaborative work between the UK and Germany in support of our work at the Plant Health Standing Committee of the EU.

Rick Mumford

David Ebbels retires from CSL

After his school days in Australia, David's enthusiasm for plant pathology was first fired when, in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) as a junior tea planter, in the quiet of the evenings he read E C Large's gripping account of the "Advance of the Fungi". He read botany at Reading and investigated soil sterilants for the control of root pathogens (especially those of wheat) for his Ph.D. at Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, before taking up the post of cotton pathologist and head of section at the Cotton Research Station, Ukiriguru, Tanzania. His major research project in Africa was on Fusarium wilt of cotton but David's immense interest resulted in wide-ranging publications from the Tanzanian plant disease check list to the Myxomycetes of East Africa.

After six years he returned to Harpenden with his young family, joining the Plant Pathology Department of the MAFF Plant Pathology Laboratory (now part of the Central Science Laboratory). Recruited to lead the crop certification work he quickly became responsible for technical guidance relating to all aspects of MAFF statutory control of crop diseases. Well respected by UK growers and Plant Health Inspectors alike, he has travelled widely in Europe being an authoritative member of EU and EPPO working groups on crop certification specialising in particular on potatoes, top fruit and soft fruit.

Alan Pemberton

Harper Adams Agricultural College

Plant pathology is a component of several full-time courses taught at Harper Adams. The HND and B.Sc. courses in Agriculture, and the B.Sc. in Rural Environmental Protection, each contain Crop Protection modules. At postgraduate level Crop Protection is available as both a Diploma and M.Sc. course and recently a new M.Sc. in Crop Biotechnology has been introduced to cover the increasing application of biotechnology to crop protection problems.

In addition the College is the major provider of short courses leading to the BASIS Certificate in Crop Protection. BASIS is an independent registration scheme, recognised under the Control of Pesticides Regulations, which certifies the professional competence of consultants, advisors and representatives working in the crop protection industry. Between December 1996 and September 1997 ten BASIS courses have been run at Harper Adams attended by more than 100 participants.

Research activities within the College have expanded significantly in recent years and in July Dr Patrick Fair was appointed as the first Director of Research. Two research groups are investigating topics relating to plant pathology. Dr Pat Haydock heads a group of nematologists working on the activity and persistence of nematicides used to control potato cyst nematodes. Molecular diagnostics are being used in the Fusarium group to study stem base diseases of cereals. This work is coordinated by Dr Simon Edwards.

In June, Dr Peter Jenkinson and Dr John Clement visited the Cambridgeshire site of Cereals 97. They presented results from a three year project, funded by HGCA, which has examined Fusarium ear-blight on winter wheat. In August, Dr Pat Haydock visited Moscow to present papers at a conference organised by the Russian Society of Nematologists. During the summer, Adrian Warner was funded by a BSPP bursary to work on an evaluation of two forecasting systems for Late Blight of potato. Forecasts of blight periods generated by the Adcon AgroExpert (Ullrich-Schrodter model) and the Hardi Metpole (NEGFRY model) systems were compared. The study, which was conducted for the British Potato Council, was directed by Dr Peter Jenkinson.

John Clement

Horticulture Research International

Virus and phytoplasma diseases

Recent visiting workers to HRI Wellesbourne are Dr Przennyslaw Lehmann of the Institute of Plant Genetics, Poznan, Poland, working with Dr John Walsh and Dr Carol Jenner on evaluating transgenic Brassica napus lines containing the coat protein gene of turnip mosaic virus and Dr Vessela Mavrodieva from the Plant Protection Institute at Kostinbrod, Bulgaria working with Drs Dez Barbara and Nicola Spence on cucumber mosaic virus.

Rebecca Young started an 8 week Sainsbury Summer Studentship in June. She will be working on a joint project between Richard Napier and Dez Barbara using peptide phage display libraries.

Congratulations to Dr Michael Clark who has recently received the first Posnette Award at the 17th International Symposium on Virus and Viruslike Diseases of Temperate Fruit Crops, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. The award has been given in recognition of Michael's outstanding international contribution to the understanding and diagnosis of viruslike diseases of temperate fruit crops. Drs Tony Adams, Susan Crossley and David Davies also attended the meeting. Other travellers this year were Dr Nicola Spence and Eve Shaw who attended a meeting of the CEC Alstroemeria Virus Project in Bologna in May.

Fungal diseases

Mr John Carder has taken over the bulb pathology work formerly carried out by Dr Christine Linfield who left HRI in January and a Botrytis Workshop took place at HRI Wellesbourne in March organised by Dr David Harris from HRI East Malling.

Dr John Whipps and Roger Williams attended the EU Biotechnology Sector Meeting in Lund, Sweden in April and presented a paper entitled "Assessing solid-substrate inocula of Coniothyrium minitans for control of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in glasshouse lettuce". Dr Alison Stewart from Lincoln University, New Zealand visited Dr John Whipps for six weeks in May to continue their collaboration on Coniothyrium minitans and biocontrol of sclerotial pathogens and Dr Roy Kennedy attended the International Conference on Cashew and Coconut Production in Dar es Salaam in February.

Tony Roberts and Ezra Shabi (a visiting worker from the Volcani Institute in Israel) presented some of their work on variation in sensitivity of the apple scab fungus (Venturia inaequalis) to fungicides at a meeting of the Israeli Phytopathological Society in February. Tony then spent time with Ezra visiting apple growing regions in Israel and collecting fungal cultures for further studies. Ezra will continue to work with us until July and has been partially funded by APRC. In May, Professor Ian Crute visited Portugal for the final project team meeting of an EU funded project on parasite resistance in horticultural brassicas.

Bacterial diseases

Joana Vincente joined HRI for 1 year as part of her PhD study on Xanthomonas on Brassicas. She will be working partly in the Plant Pathology and Microbiology Department with Dr Nigel Lyons and Dr John Taylor and partly in the Plant Genetics and Biotechnology Department with Dr Graham King.

General pathology

Dr David Parry took up his position as the new Head of Entomology and Plant Pathology at East Malling in April. Dr Alun Morgan, Dr John Whipps, Gill Turnbull, Liz Poole and John Thomas attended the Molecular Microbial Ecology Conference, at Liverpool in April. Gill Turnbull presented a paper entitled "Why are Pseudomonads Motile? A Case Study of Soil-Plant Microbe Interactions".

The Pathology Department at Stockbridge House has secured funding for an HDC project on cucumbers to evaluate fungicides for the control of powdery mildew and other foliar and stem diseases. Dr Martin McPherson launched the Stockbridge House Plant Clinic. This new clinic aims to diagnose crop problems and provide guidance on remedial action for growers and consultants in horticulture. In addition, a series of identification cards on pests and diseases of bedding plants prepared by Drs Martin McPherson, Rob Jacobson and Michael De Courcy-Williams was launched at the at the HRA/OAC Ornamentals Conference at Wellesbourne in February.

John Taylor and Dawn Teverson visited Tanzania in connection with NRI's African Bean Programme setting up a new ODA funded project on in situ conservation of bean mixtures. Dawn visited women farmers from whom she collected mixtures in 1991 to discuss changes in mixture composition and reasons for varietal selection. She will be back in Tanzania in April to plant multi-site field trials.

Rob Jacobson and Martin McPherson participated in the hydroponics conference organised by ISHS in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in May. Rob chaired a session on Crop Protection and presented a paper on `Pest Control in Protected Crops'. Martin presented an invited lecture entitled `Is there a Sustainable Solution for Root Disease Control in Closed Systems?'. They both took part in an Open Forum in which growers asked the panel questions on pest and disease control.

A new Horticulture LINK Botrytis Project will investigate integrated chemical and environmental control of Botrytis in protected ornamentals. This involves scientific partnership between HRI (Dr Tim Pettitt), ADAS, SAC, Silsoe and Reading University.

Nicola Spence

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