7th International Conference 2020 on Phytopathology Starts from Today

Indian Phytopathological Society (IPS), New Delhi is organising the 7^th International Conference starting from today i.e. 16^th January 2020- 20^th January 2020. The conference is on Phytopathology in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals. The venue for the event is B.P. Pal Auditorium, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, India starting from 3:00 PM today.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Govt. of India will be the Chief Guest and deliver the inaugural address. Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, DARE & Director General, ICAR, New Delhi will preside over the function. Dr. Anand Kumar Singh DDG (Horticulture & Crop Science), Dr. A.K. Singh DDG (Extn.) & Director ICAR-IARI, New Delhi and Dr. Serge Savary (Editor-in-Chief, Food Security, ISPP, France will be the Guests of Honour.

The invitation welcome message from IPS reads, “It is with immense pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the Indian Phytopathological Society, in the 7th International Conference on “Phytopathology in Achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals” at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi.”

The message further reads, “The IPS along with 12 most prominent plant protection societies/institutions within and outside the country have come together to celebrate 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health and planned to bring the world plant pathologists/microbiologists or biotechnologists on a common forum to discourse the issues related to plant pathogens, the disease they cause, the threat they pose to global agriculture and method & strategies to combat them.”

The conference will include following Technical Sessions:

• Taxonomy of plant pathogens

• Plant disease diagnostics

• Population genetics and pathogen diversity

• Host pathogen interaction and plant immunity

• Climate change influencing plant diseases

• Epidemiology and forecasting of plant diseases

• Plant health management vis-à-vis human health

• Post-harvest diseases and mycotoxins

• Disease management in organic and protected cultivation

• Breeding strategies for plant disease resistance

• Bio-prospecting in disease management

• Progress in chemical control of plant diseases

• Workshop on wilt disease of solanaceous crops

• Genomics and bioinformatics

• Transgenics and related approaches for disease management

• Human resource development in plant pathology

• International trade and biosecurity

• Extension plant pathology: challenges in implementation

• Plant pathologists entrepreneurship and policy perspectives for food security

• Farmers-Scientists-Industries interface

• Workshop on Rust diseases of cereals

It is to be noted that, the 1st International symposium was organised by the Society at IARI, New Delhi, from December 26, 1966 to January 1, 1967. About 300 delegates participated including 40 foreigners in the symposium. Fifteen sessions in various sub-disciplines and 7 panel discussions were arranged on various topics of interest.

2nd International Symposium was again organised at IARI, New Delhi from 27 January to 3 February 1971. There were 35 sessions on various topics.

However, the 3rd International symposium was organized during December 14-18, 1981 at IARI, New Delhi. The major emphasis was given to ecology and epidemiology of plant diseases and forecasting, pesticide residue, reducing hazards to chemicals, integrated plant disease management, identification of virulence genes and molecular characterisation.

The 4th International Conference was organized from November 23-27, 1997 at IARI, New Delhi. The 5th International Conference on “Plant Pathology in the Globalised Era” was organized at IARI, New Delhi during November 10-13, 2009.

The 6th International Conference was on “Plant, Pathogens and People” with the theme “Challenges in Plant Pathology to benefit Humankind” from February 23-27, 2016 at NASC Complex, New Delhi, India. Total 750 delegates including 68 foreign delegates belonging to 36 countries participated in the conference. Total 1092 abstracts were received for presentation in 20 different technical sessions. 308 papers were presented orally and 347 were presented in the form of posters. Eight Plenary lectures were delivered during the conference. The memorandum of understanding between the American Phytopathological Society (APS) and the Indian Phytopathological Society (IPS) was signed for mutual benefit of the two societies and scientific exchanges among the members.