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This one-day meeting was held at the University of Nottingham, School of Biosciences, Sutton Bonington, UK and attracted 30 delegates from academic and commercial research sectors to discuss the ecology, biology and management of soil-borne diseases in crops. The programme included presentations from USA, UK and EU invited speakers as well as short talks by PhDs and post-doctoral scientists. The event began with a plenary by our first invited speaker, Marc Cubeta from North Carolina State University, USA who has worked on the fascinating soil borne fungus Rhizoctonia solani for more than 25 years. Marc provided an excellent introduction into the ecology, evolution and population biology of R. solani with particular focus on the mechanism and role of sclerotia production by AG 3 in the context of disease management. He also provided a synopsis of the bioinformatic, genomic and metabolomic approaches used to study the survival structure formation and heterogeneity in R. solani. Dasuni Jayaweera from the University of Notting ham also focused on Rhizoctonia solani, specifically AG2-1. She showed new results on the spatial and temporal development of the pathogen under different soil conditions and demonstrated that soil moisture and type significantly influenced the spread of the pathogen, root rot development and the effective ness of seed treatment. Faye Ritchie from ADAS, UK, provided further update into the management options of the important soil-borne pathogen, Verticillium longisporum, causing Verticillium wilt of oilseed rape (OSR). She present ed results from a recent Innovate project investigating the potential of soil testing in predicting disease occurrence and the use of agronomy, such as varieties or sowing date, in reducing the severity of the disease. Following a refreshing break, John Clarkson, our invited UK speaker, opened the mid-morning session with his presentation on the biology, detection and control of Fusarium diseases in horticultural crops. His interest is Fusarium oxysporum, another fungal species complex (similar in this respect to Rhizoctonia solani), comprising of more than 100 formae speciales that are highly adapted to their host plant species. John gave an inspiring talk on the genome organisation and identification of genes involved in virulence and host-specificity of the different F. oxysporum f. spp. and how this approach was used to develop PCR-based diagnostics for disease risk. Jennie Brierley from the James Hutton Institute was our first speaker focusing on sampling strategies for predictive diagnostics for soil-borne diseases in potatoes. She outlined specific limitations- including intensity of sampling and pathogen DNA extraction efficiency from soils. Her talk was followed by short talks on new methods for molecular detection and quantification, and sample prep methods and DNA preservation for field use by Emma Chapelhow from Newcastle University and Vicky Taylor from Arcis Biotechnology, UK, respectively. Isabelle Sims, a PhD student at the University of Nottingham also gave a short after a satisfying lunch during which there was much discussion between delegates at the conference, we focused on microbial interactions and control methods, including biological and chemical means. Our invited speaker, Gianni Tacconi from CREA, Centro Genomicae Bioinformatica, Italy, presented a very interesting talk on the phenomenon of kiwifruit vine decline, a serious problem in kiwifruit growing areas, presumed to be a result of plant-microbe environmental interaction. Gianni utilised metagenomics approaches to identify the cause of the decline in affected soils, however no single organism in the microbial community in these soils was found to be strongly associated with the disease symptoms, and abiotic stress appeared to be also implicated. Xiangming Xu from NIAB EMR, UK, also focused on a disease phenomenon termed apple replant disease, particularly difficult to control in the absence of broad spectrum soil fumigants. Using genetically different rootstocks associated with beneficial rhizosphere microbiota was found to be the most effective method in reducing disease development following replanting. Sarah Mitch ell, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge presented her modelling work on take-all decline in wheat. She demonstrated an epidemiological model that included the interaction with bio logical control agents with different mechanisms of suppression of Gaeumannomyces graminis var tritici thus contributing to disease decline. Sumeyye Erdogmus from the University of Nottingham, gave a short talk on the identification of bacterial candidates for biological control or host protection against R. solani in OSR. In the afternoon session, Brigitte Slaats, Syngenta, Switzerland, introduced a novel compound, sedaxane, from the class of succinate dehydrogen ase inhibitors, formulated as seed treatment against a range of seed and soil borne pathogens. After Brigitte, I presented results from field experiments showing excellent effectiveness of sedaxane used with fludioxonil in con trolling Rhizoctonia and Fusarium/ Microdochium spp. causing damping-off and seedling blight in wheat, respectively. Finally, Amanda Bennett from AHDB summarised succinctly AHDB funded work on integrated management of three important soil-borne pathogens, Fusarium oxysporum, Plasmodiophora brassicae and Rhizoctonia solani and the practical methods developed for farmers and growers to improve their rotational soil health management. I would like to thank BSPP, AHDB, Syngenta and AAB for supporting this meeting which brought together plant pathologists focused on research in soil borne diseases that are often over looked and notoriously difficult to control. This meeting demonstrated excel lent work that has been carried out in UK, EU and USA and identified a willing ness in this community to meet again in the future and bring together more scientists interested in pathogenic and beneficial soil microbial communities, diagnostics, disease risk forecasting and novel tools addressing the major challenges in controlling crop diseases. I am happy to report that a similar meeting will be organised in 2020 in the UK and we hope to be able to share details of dates and sessions soon.
Rumiana Ray University of Nottingham
