home news forum careers events suppliers solutions markets expos directories catalogs resources advertise contacts
 
News Page

The news
and
beyond the news
Index of news sources
All Africa Asia/Pacific Europe Latin America Middle East North America
  Topics
  Species
Archives
News archive 1997-2008
 

EuroBlight spawns Latin American version


Europe
December 10, 2014

EuroBlight

Latin America is to get its own version of EuroBlight, with European researchers helping scientists and the industry in the region to create a network for improving knowledge about phytophthora in potato and methods for controlling it.

The development follows the visit of Huub Schepers, one of EuroBlight's coordinators, to the ALAP (Latin American Potato Association) conference in Bogota, Colombia, earlier this year. Huub, from Wageningen University in the Netherlands and a former member of ENDURE's potato case study team, noted the importance of blight in Latin American potato production.

“During the conference I realised how big the impact of phytophthora on the potato production in Latin America is,” he told the EuroBlight website. “The importance of phytophthora clearly showed by the number of presentations related to this pathogen. In total 124 oral papers were presented: 24 dealt with phytophthora. Most Latin American countries presented the situation regarding phytophthora in their country. In some years, losses up to 100% were recorded! It would be great if scientists and industry can use the EuroBlight approach to tackle the problems with phytophthora.”

EuroBlight can trace its history back almost 20 years and has a membership of around 150 researchers and other specialists concerned with early and late blight in potato. Important topics in the network include integrated control, decision support systems, potato varieties and the genetic variation of phytophthora. The information generated in the network is important for both scientists and for practical recommendations regarding potato varieties and fungicides.

During a session dedicated to phytophthora at the meeting, Huub discussed the launch of a Latin America late blight network with representatives of 10 countries and four coordinators for the fledgling network were appointed. EuroBlight is offering its experience and contacts to help the network get started and representatives of the Latin American network will be invited to participate in the next EuroBlight meeting, which will be held in Romania in May 2015.

Huub believes this kind of network could be established in other continents too. “We believe that it is possible to start similar networks in Latin America, North America, Asia and Africa,” he said. “We hope that other regions will follow.”

For more information:



More news from:
    . ENDURE - EU Network for the Durable Exploitation of Crop Protection Strategies
    . EuroBlight


Website: http://www.endure-network.eu

Published: December 12, 2014

The news item on this page is copyright by the organization where it originated
Fair use notice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Copyright @ 1992-2024 SeedQuest - All rights reserved