Research . Extension . Teaching

DepartmentPPCP of Plant Pathology NEWS and Crop Physiology January 2018 From the Department Head Chen contributes to reduction in aflatoxin production A worldwide group of plant scientists has made a significant research breakthrough by suppressing the that produces aflatoxin in peanuts. Dr. Zhi-Yuan Chen, Professor of Plant Pathology, Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology, is one of the collaborators in the project headed by scientists at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India. Other participating institutions are the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and the United States Department of Agriculture. Aflatoxins are a major health risk worldwide, and infected crops are not suitable for human consumption. Along with peanuts, aflatoxin infects corn, Lawrence E. Datnoff cottonseed, tree nuts and chilies. Happy 2018! Dr. Chen has developed a method of changing the genetics of corn plants to impart resistance to Aspergillus flavus, the fungus that causes aflatoxin. He Our department continues has produced a vector carrying the partial sequences of genes from A. flavus to excel on so many academic for inserting into plants susceptible to the fungus, such as corn. Through and professional levels in collaboration with scientists at Iowa State University, the genetic material from 2017. Faculty and students the pathogen was inserted into the corn in such a way that the plant sees it as published a number of invasive and triggers a defense response to generate resistance, Chen said. refereed manuscripts and (continued on page 9) extension articles; gave many presentations locally, regionally, nationally and internationally; and competed for grants to support their research and outreach. They also won a number of prestigious awards for their efforts that included Epsilon Sigma Phi’s Early Career Service Award (Dr. Raj Singh), Epsilon Sigma Phi’s International Service Award (Dr. Charles Overstreet), the LSU College of Agriculture Sedberry Teaching Award (Dr. Edward McGawley), first place at the ONTA student poster presentation (Felipe Godoy), second place at the (continued on page 2) Dr. Zhi-Yuan Chen shows the HPLC used to analyze aflatoxin in corn seeds. 1 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Happy 2018! (continued from page 1)

Disease Worker’s student oral presentation (Deborah Also, a large number of students graduated with their M. Xavier-Mis) and first place at the National M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Sweetpotato Collaborators Group graduate student In this current newsletter, you’ll see for yourself oral presentation (Favio Herrera). Our M.S. and Ph.D. these wonderful activities and achievements, which graduate students were highly engaged. Their efforts are having profound effects on the university and and outstanding contributions continue to infuse the AgCenter’s missions and on Louisiana agriculture and department with vitality and enthusiasm while they also beyond. help to answer basic scientific questions and solve plant Happy reading! disease problems of great importance to Louisiana.

HELP US TO ENSURE EXCELLENCE IN PLANT PATHOLOGY AND CROP PHYSIOLOGY While the Department receives monetary support for core research/extension programs (LSU AgCen- ter) and its teaching program (LSU College of Agriculture), these funds are not sufficient to provide the resources to move our programs to the next level of performance. Private financial support is becoming a vital resource to enhance existing programs and begin new initiatives. Please consider contributing to help support our programs. You may help to support the Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology Department by donating to one of the below listed funds: #104626 - The Max and Leah Cohn Invited Lecture Endowment Fund #100250 - Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology Excellence Fund #100246 - Dr. C. W. Edgerton Memorial Fund #100247 - Dr. Weston J. Martin Fellowship Fund #104992 - M. C. “Chuck” Rush Plant Pathology Teaching Laboratory Fund

#104814 - Don Ferrin Teaching Student Fund

Donations can be made by accessing the LSU Foundation site at www.lsufoundation.org/give or by sending a personal check made out to the LSU Foundation with a letter stating which fund you would like to donate to. Address the letter to:

Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology For more information contact: 302 Life Sciences Building Lawrence E. Datnoff LSU Campus Professor and Department Head Baton Rouge, LA 70803 [email protected] or 225-578-1366

2 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Table of Contents

From the Department Head...... 1 Chen Contributes to Reduction in Aflatoxin Production...... 1 2017 PPCP Graduates...... 4 Awards and Honors...... 5 Edmiston Award ...... 5 Silicon in Agriculture Recognition Award...... 5 Sedberry Award...... 5 SSDW Distinguished Service Award...... 5

ESP Awards...... 6 ONTA Poster Award...... 6 National Sweetpotato Collaborator Award...... 7 Ray and Dorothy Young Assistantship...... 7 LACA Scholarship...... 8 Southern Disease Workers Award...... 8 Weston J. Martin Fellowship...... 9 Grad Students and Faculty Visit Monsanto...... 10 Summer Technical Sharing Sessions...... 11 Grad Students Educational Tour...... 12 Former Grad Students Hired ...... 13 PPCP Faculty Activities January-December 2017...... 14 PPCP Alumni Seminar Speakers...... 20

3 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 PPCP 2017 Graduates, Thesis/Dissertation Titles and Advisors M.S. degrees Ph.D. degrees Adam Bigott Eduardo Chagas A comparison of soils and their associated microbial Cercospora leaf blight of : Symptomatology communities as affected by sugarcane cultivation, advisor and biochemical responses, advisor R. Schneider J. Hoy Favio Herrera Cesar Escalante Sweetpotato Virus C and its contribution to the Comparison of two near-isogenic lines of bell pepper Potyviridae complex in sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas), (): One Endornavirus-infected and the advisor C. Clark other Endornavirus-free, advisor R. Valverde Churamani Khanal Felipe Godoy Virulence phenotypes of reniformis: Incidence of Aphelenchoides besseyi in rice in Evaluation of host status of cotton and utility of single Louisiana and host status of the most widely planted nucleotide polymorphism for identification, advisors E. cultivars, advisor C. Overstreet McGawley/C. Overstreet

Rachel Herschlag Manjula Kularathna Occurrence of putative Endornaviruses in non-cultivated Pathogenicity and reproduction of isolates of reniform plant species and characterization of a novel Endornavirus , Rotylenchulus reniformis, from Louisiana on in Geranium carolinianum, advisor R. Valverde soybean and utility of single nucleotide polymorphism to evaluate genetic variability, advisor C. Overstreet Alejandra Jimenez Characterization and management of Ralstonia Josielle Rezende solanacearum in Louisiana, advisors C. Clark/M. Ivey The roles of AVR4 in fungal virulence, cercosporin biosynthesis and its potential use in host induced gene silencing for controlling Cercospora leaf blight disease of Isaack Kikway soybeans, advisor Z. Chen Evaluation of the microbial quality of cantaloupe fruit produced on raised or flat beds following a flooding event, advisors J. Ham/M. Ivey Brian Ward Documentation of siderophore activity, metal binding, and its effect on symptomatology of Cercospora leaf Benjamin McInnes blight caused in soybean by cercosporin from Cercospora Distinguishing isolates of Rotylenchulus reniformis cf. flagellaris, advisor R. Schneider endemic in Louisiana on the basis of root-associated females and egg masses, advisor E. McGawley

Sanjay Pokhrel Influence of silicon on the development of anthracnose of grain sorghum, advisor C. Hollier

Jorge Reyes Characterization of Aspergillus flavus, soil and corn kernel populations from eight Mississippi River states, advisor K. Damann 4 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Awards and Honors

Hoy receives McGawley the Edmiston wins Sedberry Professorship Outstanding Dr. Jeff Hoy, Professor Graduate of Plant Pathology, was chosen from a highly Teaching competitive list of Award outstanding LSU AgCenter Dr. Edward C. McGawley, professors to receive the Professor of Plant Pathology, Floyd S. Edmiston, Sr. won the highly prestigious Professorship in Agriculture and Natural Resource 2017 Sedberry Outstanding Management. Floyd Edmiston and his daughter Evelyn Graduate Teaching Award. were both county agents in De Soto County. Evelyn Dr. McGawley was selected established this professorship in memory of her father. based on his excellent Dr. Hoy was selected because of his exemplary field- undergraduate and graduate teaching of Introductory oriented sugarcane pathology research, extension and Plant Pathology and Nematology, his creative videos teaching program. He has made many groundbreaking and clip art as well as his imaginative upgrading of the research findings in the biology and epidemiology of outdated teaching laboratory in our department. many sugarcane diseases that has led to new cultural and chemical control strategies as well as disease resistant cultivars with high yield potential. He also has served the university, AgCenter and his profession in many other excellent capacities.

Datnoff receiving award from Dr. N. Prakash, Society President, left, and other meeting organizers and invited delegates. Hollier receives SSDW Distinguished Service Award Datnoff receives recognition Dr. Clayton Hollier, Professor of Plant Pathology, award received the Southern Soybean Disease Worker’s Dr. Lawrence Datnoff received a recognition award (SSDW) Distinguished Service Award at the 44th at the seventh Silicon in Agriculture Conference in Annual Meeting in Pensacola, Florida, held March 8-9. Bangalore, India, on October 28. Dr. Datnoff was Dr. Hollier was presented this honor by past awardee recognized for his outstanding contribution in the Dr. Tom Allen for his many years of outstanding service field of silicon in agriculture and for conceiving and to soybean producers throughout the mid-southern organizing the first international conference in 1999. United States.

5 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Awards and Honors

Singh and Overstreet receive National Epsilon Sigma Phi Awards At the national meeting of Epsilon Sigma Phi in Wilmington, North Carolina, October 9-12, 2017, Drs. Raj Singh and Charles Overstreet, Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology, received awards for their service as extension specialists. Dr. Singh received the Early Career Service award for the Southern Region for his accurate and rapid diagnosis of plant health problems for the residents Raj Singh receiving the ESP Southern Region award for of Louisiana as well as his identification of new Early Career Recognition from Kathleen Tweeten, who is diseases and pests. Dr. Charles Overstreet received the the ESP national president. International Service award for the Southern Region for his mentoring and encouragement of international students as well as his assistance with travel funds through the Organization of Nematologists of Tropical America Foundation. The awards were presented by Kathleen Tweeten, the ESP National President. Both Drs. Singh and Overstreet are members of the Louisiana Alpha Chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi. Godoy wins best student poster presentation at the Organization of Nematologists of Tropical Charles Overstreet receiving the ESP Southern Region award for International Service from Kathleen Tweeten. America (ONTA) meeting Felipe Godoy won first place at the ONTA student poster session competition at the annual meeting in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, July 10-14. His poster presentation was titled “Host status of selected rice cultivars to Aphelenchoides besseyi in Louisiana.” Felipe completed his master’s degree in December 2017 in the Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology under the guidance of Drs. Charles Overstreet, Edward C. McGawley and Clayton Hollier. Felipe is from Brazil and came to LSU after completing his bachelor of science degree in agronomy from Federal University of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais.

6 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Awards and Honors

Photo: From left to right: Michelle McHargue, representing corporate sponsor Lamb Weston Foods, Anirudh Akula, second place winner from NCSU, Favio Herrera, the first place winner from the LSU AgCenter, and Mark Shankle from Mississippi State University, who was chair and organizer of the graduate student contest.

Herrera takes top honors at the National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group annual meeting Favio Herrera won first place in the Ph.D. section of the graduate student contest at the National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group annual meeting in Mobile, Alabama, February 3-4. His presentation was titled “Viral Distribution Titers of SPVG, SPVC, SPFMV and SPV2 (Potyviridae) in ‘Beauregard’ Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas).” Favio completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology under the guidance of Drs. Chris Clark, Arthur Villordon, Vinson Doyle and Rodrigo Valverde. Favio is a native of Ecuador and came to LSU after completing undergraduate work at the University of Zamarano in Honduras.

Rice receives Ray and Dorothy Young assistantship Jancee Rice was the recipient of the 2017 Ray and Dorothy Young Endowed Assistantship in Louisiana Row Crop Integrated Pest Management. Rice is pursuing her M.S. degree and is advised by Dr. Jeff Hoy. She is working on sugarcane mosaic, determining the distribution, incidence and rates of disease increase and evaluating sugarcane breeding populations for resistance. The Ray and Dorothy Young Endowed Assistantship in Louisiana Row Crop Integrated Pest Management was established to honor Ray Young for his professional contributions and service to agricultural industries for more than 40 years as an agricultural consultant. The establishment of the award was announced at the annual Louisiana Agricultural Technology and Management Conference in 2011 and was formalized by a donation from the Louisiana Agricultural Consultant’s Association.

7 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Awards and Honors

Reyes Pineda wins LACA Scholarship The Louisiana Agricultural Consultants Association (LACA) awarded Jorge Reyes Pineda a $2,000 scholarship plus a certificate of excellence at its annual meeting in Marksville in 2017. Jorge was recognized for his academic achievements and performance in agriculture studies. Jorge is conducting his M. S. thesis research under the direction of Dr. Ken Damann and is studying populations of Aspergillus flavus and how they behave in the corn ecosystem. His research is a large-scale study of this fungus and involves the Left to right: Dorothy and Ray Young, RiceTec representative Cullen Minter and isolation and characterization of Jorge Reyes Pineda. both soil and corn kernel isolates from eight states along the Mississippi River.

Xavier-Mis wins award at Southern Soybean Disease Workers meeting Deborah M. Xavier-Mis won second place in the graduate student competition at the Southern Soybean Disease Workers (SDDW) annual meeting in Pensacola Beach, Florida, March 8-9. Her presentation was titled “Reniform Nematode in the Variable Soil Texture of a Commerce Silt Loam Soil.” Deborah is currently working as a research associate and part-time Ph.D. student under the direction of Dr. Charles Overstreet. She is a native of Brazil and completed her master’s degree at LSU in the Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology. Deborah M. Xavier-Mis receiving the award from Dr. Terry Spurlock, president of SDDW.

8 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Awards and Honors

Herrera receives the Weston J. Martin Fellowship Award Favio Herrera was a recipient of the Weston J. Martin Fellowship at the College of Agriculture’s 2017 Honors Convocation October 12. He is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology, and his major professor is Dr. Chris Clark. The Martin Family created this fellowship to honor Dr. Martin by financially assisting graduate students studying in the department. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Dr. Weston J. Martin Left to right: David Martin, Megan Wesson, Carol (Martin) Wesson, advanced the understanding of Favio Herrera and Chris Clark. sweetpotato diseases. He was the first to demonstrate that soil rot of sweetpotato was caused by Streptomyces ipomoeae. He further found that circular spot was caused by Sclerotium rolfsii and helped determine the etiology of bacterial root and stem rot caused by Dickeya dadantii. He also contributed to the development of several disease-resistant sweetpotato cultivars.

Aflatoxin pathogen after ‘seeing’ the sequence. work with corn is continuing, and (continued from page 1) It binds to the pathogen like an he hopes to publish the study in the antibody so the pathogen doesn’t coming year. The program at the ICRISAT is increase,” Chen said. (Original article and photo by led by Pooja Bhatnagar-Mathur, “The construct was developed here Rick Bogren who had collaborated previously for corn and then moved to peanuts,” http://www.lsuagcenter. with Chen on a peanut proteomics he said of the five-year collaboration com/profiles/rbogren/articles/ project and learned about Chen’s to evaluate peanut lines. page1512664713981) novel “pre-immune” disease control strategy during one of her visits to The transgenic corn plants LSU. The research team at ICRISAT carrying the same genes have used the same vectors designed and gone through several years of constructed by Chen’s team for corn isolated field evaluation at the LSU to introduce into peanuts genetic AgCenter under strict governmental material that causes the peanut plant regulations for changes in aflatoxin to recognize the A. flavus infection resistance. and institute a defense against it. Because of tight restrictions in It’s like a vaccination. working with transgenic materials, field evaluation of the new corn “When a portion of the gene lines takes longer to complete in the sequence is introduced into the plant, United States, Chen said. Chen’s the plant recognizes and attacks the 9 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Graduate Student Association Activities PPCP students be acquired with less time invested. of experimental design and Obtaining high-quality data and execution is a necessity for many of and faculty visit analyzing it correctly can lead to the positions in industry, even among Monsanto higher resolving power and new the molecular and genetic specialists. discoveries. Whether it’s a working Similarly, an understanding of the Dr. Emilio Oyarzabal, Global knowledge of R statistical software, final goal and a sense of direction are Breeding Sourcing Lead for understanding of GIS data, or desired traits in industry scientists. Monsanto, visited the Department proficiency in Python, proficiency Finally, adaptability was mentioned of Plant Pathology and Crop in data analysis techniques to by all as an essential attribute for Physiology (PPCP) in January and better explore the ever-growing anyone working in private industry. presented a seminar titled “An accumulation of information will This visit clearly provided Industry Perspective on Challenges help separate a graduate from his or practical insights to both the needs in Agriculture.” Afterwards he her peers and make him or her much of industry and what training extended an invitation to Dr. more sought after. students will need to be successful Lawrence Datnoff for plant in industry. It also highlighted the pathology graduate students and Another characteristic emphasized outstanding capabilities of the PPCP faculty to visit Monsanto. Dr. for students is to have a working graduate students and quality of Oyarzabal then organized a tour knowledge of field practices. research they are conducting. and visit with scientists at the Knowing their way around a farm Monsanto Headquarters in St. Louis and the limitations and practicality from April 10 to 13. An extensive team of researchers met with Tiago Lelis, Olanike Omolehin, Jorge Reyes, Jancee Rice and Brian Ward along with Drs. L. Datnoff and Jeff Hoy to discuss a range of topics from individual research interests to advice about working in industry as a plant pathologist in an interdisciplinary team. Breeders, seed pathologists, microbiologists, epidemiologists and data management specialists were just a few of the professions represented by the hosting scientists during the two-day visit. All the students were Dr. Emilio Oyarzabal presents his seminar to the Department faculty and students. able to present their research in their respective areas, which always resulted in an enthusiastic dialogue among each group. One theme of the visit was keeping PPCP students competitive with their peers in job markets outside of academia. To this end, the most- asked question of the Monsanto staff was, “In what areas can the department and the students improve to make them more competitive in the job market after graduation?” One common answer involved the design of experiments and analysis of data. With each step forward in Back row, left to right, Tiago Lelis, Olanike Omolehin, Jorge Reyes and Brian Ward. technology, more and more data can Front row, Jancee Rice, Lawrence Datnoff and Jeff Hoy.

10 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Graduate Student Association Activities PPCP Graduate Students Technical Sharing Sessions For the fourth year in a row, the Journal Club and Training Committee of the Graduate Student Association (LSU PPCP GSA) hosted the Summer Technique Sharing Series. This is a great initiative in which students teach each other research techniques that are performed in different labs. The goal is to broaden their technical knowledge and to gain insight into understanding the research conducted by others.

Favio Herrera Introduction to LSU’s High Performance Computing (HPC) June 22 system What is HPC and what can I do with it? The introduction covered the basics of accessing and using the system.

Dongfang Hu Applications of virus-induced gene silencing for gene June 29 function studies in plants The session briefly reviewed the principles and methodology of virus-induced gene silencing for characterizing the function of plant genes and how it can be optimized and used for both forward and reverse genetics studies. Churamani Khanal Extraction techniques of plant parasitic July 6 This informal talk about extraction techniques was followed by actual demonstration. Khanal showed how to extract nematodes using centrifuge-sugar flotation and the elutriation methods. Rebecca Sweany RNA extraction from fresh fungal material, eliminating the July 13 dangers of liquid nitrogen The demonstration covered how to extract RNA from Aspergillus flavus mycelia and discussed the pitfalls and troubleshooting required to develop the protocol. Marija Živanovic dsRNA extraction July 20 The lecture discussed producing dsRNA for the purpose of gene silencing without a kit. It was found relatively recently that the application of dsRNA can be used for pathogen gene silencing in plant-pathogen systems. Usually this is done by usage of kits, which are fairly expensive.

Brian Ward Chrome azurol sulfate (CAS), a universal method to test an July 27 organism for siderophore production This session taught how to make CAS solution, how to recognize positive and negative results, and how to incorporate the solution into mediums in a variety of ways for microorganism growth.

Rebecca Sweany demonstrating to fellow graduate students how to eliminate liquid nitrogen when extracting DNA from fresh fungal mycelia.

11 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Graduate Student Association Activities PPCP graduate student educational tour and manages plant diseases. On their final stop at the Texas A&M campus, of farm and university facilities in Texas they toured the Plant Pathology and After the American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting in San Microbiology Department and met Antonio, Texas, PPCP graduate students Cesar Escalante, Favio Herrera, with faculty and students to learn Rachel Herschlag, Jorge Reyes, Jancee Rice, Rebecca Sweany and Brian about their ongoing research and Ward met with local farmers and visited university facilities in Fredericksburg outreach activities. The students had and College Station. While in Fredericksburg, they toured the Texas AgriLife a great trip and met new colleagues Extension Viticulture and Fruit Lab and learned about common plant diseases while expanding their professional affecting mostly wine grapes. In addition, they visited the Studebaker Peach network. Farm and William Chris Vineyards to learn how each commercial farm operates

PPCP graduate students pose in front of the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Viticulture and Fruit Lab with Jim Kamas. LSU students learn about how wind machines prevent frost damage in grape vines at William Chris Vineyards.

Russ Studebaker teaches LSU students about peach cultural practices and management of plant diseases. 12 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 Silva hired by Valent Eduardo Silva graduated with his Ph.D. in May and was advised by Dr. Raymond W. Schneider, Professor of Plant Pathology. He was hired as a Research Scientist and Plant Pathologist at the Valent Midwest Agricultural Research Center in Champaign, Illinois, and started in June 2017. Valent MWARC, the new 160-acre site dedicated to large-scale testing of research pipeline and commercial technologies for Midwestern crops (corn and soybeans), opened July 18. In this position, he coordinates and conducts research trials for development of new EPA- registered products and new molecules and formulations of fungicides, herbicides and plant growth regulators as well as biological control agents. Projects include research on new use patterns, product development, potential Manjula Kularathna label expansion and early development technologies in collaboration with agricultural research scientists and the Kularathna obtains lecturer/ Midwest Field Development Team. He uses precision research position at Lincoln agricultural tools for the geospatial collection of data and analysis of raw yield monitor data, and he also University, New Zealand uses environmental sensors for collection of field and Manjula Kularathna was recently hired by Lincoln greenhouse data and design of geospatial experiments. University in New Zealand as a lecturer in plant pathology He needs to maintain a high level of professional in the Department of Pest Management and Conservation. expertise through familiarity with scientific literature He will be initiating, developing and conducting research and participate in scientific conferences and contribute to related to nematology as well as teaching nematology and scientific journals. plant pathology to undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Kularathna graduated with his Ph.D. in December 2017 and was advised by Dr. Charles Overstreet, his major professor. Dr. Edward McGawley served as his co- advisor. Lincoln University is New Zealand’s specialist land-based university with a proud tradition as New Zealand’s third oldest tertiary institution and was founded in 1878 as a school of agriculture. Today it is a research-led institution with an emphasis on land-based disciplines and their associated industries — agriculture, horticulture, viticulture, biotechnology, environmental science, environmental management, tourism, landscape architecture, sport and recreation and commerce. Lincoln University has three academic faculties, two research centers, two divisions and 16 corporate service units and draws its students from throughout New Zealand and from Eduardo Silva over 60 countries.

13 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 PPCP Faculty Activities January – December 2017 New graduate student: Zhi-Yuan Chen Invited presentations: Marija Živanovic,c transferred from Dr. Marc Cohn’s lab.

“Overview of mycotoxins, their impact and New collaborations: prevention.” Agro-Products Quality Safety Research Institute of Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Established new collaboration with Agro-Products Sciences, Harbin, China. Sept. 4-7. Quality Safety Research Institute of Heilongjiang “Transgenic approaches to improve aflatoxin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China, for resistance.” AMCOE/SERAT Corn Breeding Field Day, detection of various mycotoxins from agricultural Lubbock, Texas. August 15-17. products. “Transgenic control of aflatoxin contamination in corn through host-induced gene silencing.” 2017 Commodity Classic meeting, San Antonio, Texas. Feb. Chris Clark 28. Invited presentations: Awards and honors: “Viruses and sweetpotato ‘seed’: Louisiana’s Invited to comment on a HIGS paper published in experience in cleaning up our act,” Hawaii “Science Advances.” Sweetpotato Growers 2017 Annual Meeting, Hilo, Hawaii. Sept. 25. Committees: Grants and contracts: Appointed to search committee for department field crop plant pathologist position. National Clean Plant Network grant for the Clean Plant Selected as chair for search committee for the Program at Louisiana State University Agricultural department biotic-abiotic crop stress pathologist/ Center. $96,675. 2017-18. physiologist position. Visiting scientists/students: Grants and contracts: Aina Roosda, State Islamic University Bandung, AMCOE Aflatoxin Program grant for “Transgenic Indonesia. Roosda was a Borlaug fellow working with control of aflatoxin contamination in corn through Drs. Niranjan Baisakh and Chris Clark on developing host-induced gene silencing.” $61,859. June 2017 to molecular screening for resistance to black rot in May 2018. sweetpotato. 2017 Louisiana Soybean and Grain Research and Promotion Board grant for “Cercospora leaf blight disease of soybean-screening soybean varieties for Lawrence E. Datnoff differences in the expression of resistance genes.” $33,055. April 2017 to March 2018. Invited presentations: 2017 Louisiana Soybean and Grain Research and “Why is silicon still not used routinely for managing Promotion Board grant for “Using molecular biology plant health and enhancing plant growth under to control soybean diseases: Cercospora leaf blight and greenhouse and field conditions?” VII International rust.” $55,928. April 2017 to March 2018. Silicon in Agriculture Conference, Bangalore, India. USDA-ARS cooperative agreement award (58-6054-6- October 24-28. 015, #2) for “Identification and evaluation of proteins/ “Is silicon for plant health a biostimulant, fertilizer or genes associated with aflatoxin-resistance in soybean plant protectant?” LSU – PPCP Spring Seminar, March and .” $80,000. July 2017 to April 2021. 15. Visiting scientists/ students Awards and honors: Dr. Dalibo Huska, Department of Chemistry and Recognition Award, International Society for Silicon in Biochemistry, Mendel University, Czech Republic. Short Agriculture and Related Disciplines, 2017. term. American Phytopathological Society Treasurer-Elect, Maria Izabel Costa de Novaes, Department of 2017. Phytopathology, University Federal de Viçosa. Dr. Tong Wang, Peanut Research Institute, Shangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China.

14 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 PPCP Faculty Activities January – December 2017 Tessie Wilkerson, Delta Research and Extension Center, Vinson P. Doyle Stoneville, Miss. Invited presentations: “Revisiting the known knowns in plant-associated fungal diversity.” Louisiana State University Museum of Jong Hyun Ham Natural Sciences, Baton Rouge. March 3. Invited presentations: Committees: “The signaling and regulatory system of Burkholderia.” Korea University in Seoul, Korea. October 19. PPCP Courses and Curricula, Chair “The signaling and regulatory systems of the rice College of Agriculture Courses and Curricula pathogenic bacterium, Burkholderia glumae.” Committee Kangwon National University, Chunchun, Korea. Hiring committee for Field Crops Pathologist October 18. Grants and contracts: “The signaling and regulatory system of Burkholderia glumae for pathogenesis, competition, and survival.” Louisiana Board of Regents Research Competitiveness Pusan National University, Busan, Korea. October 17. Subprogram: Leveraging advances in high-throughput “The intercellular signaling system of the rice sequencing and statistical phylogenetics to improve pathogenic bacterium, Burkholderia glumae.” Dong-A understanding of fungal pathogen diversity. $128,050. University, Busan, Korea. October 16. June 2016-June 2019. Louisiana Soybean and Grains Research and Promotion Award to lab members Board: Identifying sources of inoculum to determine Best poster award at 4th LSU International Research effective management strategies for Cercospora leaf Fair, November 15. Recipients: Rosalie Calderon (Ph.D. blight and purple seed stain. $30,000. April 2017 to student), Soheila Zarbafi (Visiting Ph.D. student). April 2018. Committees: Visiting scientists/students:

Veronica Bras PPCP committees Graduate Student Recruiting (Chair) Jose Solorzano Safety/Operational (Chair) New graduate students: Course and Curricular (Member) Teddy Garcia, Ph.D., winter 2017, co-advised by Trey Promotion and Tenure (Member) Price Daniel Cooke, M.S., summer 2017 Other committees New collaborations: Gordon D. Cain Endowed Chair Search (Representative of PPCP) Laszlo Nagy, Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Integrative Biology Program Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Center — Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary Grants and contracts: Chris Reid, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Pusan National University (Pusan, South Korea): A Fisheries collaborative project with PNU funded by the Korean Trey Price, LSU AgCenter, Macon Ridge Research Government, titled “Comparative analyses of genome Station and in host transcriptome between plant-microbe and Burt Bluhm, University of Arkansas insect-microbe interactions to identify new virulence factors and its application.” $36,000. April 2017 - Tom Allen, Delta Research and Extension Center, September 2018. Stoneville, Miss. Louisiana Soybean and Feed Grains Research and Kassie Conner, Auburn University Promotion Board grant: Development of foliar Edward Sikora, Auburn University treatment and soil amendment methods to promote soybean health (PI: Jong Hyun Ham; co-PI: Changyoon Raghuwinder Singh, LSU AgCenter Jeong). $30,000. April 2017 – March 2018. Terry Spurlock, University of Arkansas System Louisiana Rice Research Board grant: Development of Cooperative Extension Service seed treatment methods to enhance rice health (PI: Maria Tomaso-Peterson, Mississippi State University Jong Hyun Ham). $32,588. January 2017 – December 2017. 15 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 PPCP Faculty Activities January – December 2017 Louisiana Rice Research Board grant: Characterization New collaborations and utilization of genetic traits for resistance to multiple diseases of rice (PI: Jong Hyun Ham. Co-PI: Mississippi State University (soybean) Donald Groth). $52,338. January 2017 – December University of Arkansas (soybean, maize) 2018. Auburn University (soybean) Visiting scientists/students: University of Tennessee (soybean, maize) Soheila Zarbafi, Ph.D. student, University of Guilan, University of Kentucky (soybean, maize) Iran, July 2017 to April 2018. Purdue University (soybean, maize) New graduate students: Iowa State University (soybean, maize) Southern Illinois University (soybean) Jhonson Leonard (M.S.). United Soybean Board (soybean)

New collaborations (university, industry, other): North Central Corn Cooperative Pusan National University (Pusan, South Korea). Jeff Hoy Clayton A. Hollier Invited presentations: Invited presentations: “Mosaic: An old foe” with Jancee Rice. American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, Louisiana Division “Incremental removal of maize leaves and the impact Annual Meeting, Lafayette, February 8. on yield.” Cotton and Rice Conference, Baton Rouge. January 31 – February 1. Awards and honors: “Diseases of grain sorghum and disease management.” LACA Annual Meeting, Marksville. February 16. Floyd S. Edmiston, Sr. Professorship in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Louisiana IPM Program, Sothern Division APS, College Station, Texas. February 19. Committees: Rice Field Day, Crowley. June 28. Social (Chair) “Historical and current plant disease epidemics and their impact on food security.” Third International Grants and contracts: Conference on Global Food Security, Cape Town, South Africa. December 4. American Sugar Cane League Helena Chemical Co. Awards and honors: Certis/Kleentek 2017 Distinguished Service Award, Southern Soybean Disease Workers, Pensacola, Fla. New graduate students: Committees: Jose David Cortes, Ph.D. (from Colombia; worked previously at Cenicana): Molecular markers for PPCP resistance to brown rust. Awards and Publicity New collaborations (university, industry, other): Graduate Admissions and Standards FMC 3RIVE pesticide application system (foam APS applicator). Crop Loss and Risk Evaluation Epidemiology Extension Edward C. McGawley Integrated Plant Disease Management Invited presentations: ISPP “Use of Multi-Media Resources for Teaching Crop Loss and Crop Security Nematology.” Annual meeting, Organization of Grants and contracts: Nematologists of Tropical America, Costa Rica. 2017. $87,000

16 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 PPCP Faculty Activities January – December 2017

Awards and honors: Grant proposal to USDA-LA-CIG. Evaluation of cover crop mixture on row crop productivity through President-elect, Organization of Nematologists of quantified soil health and crop production. K-J. Han, D. Tropical America. Fromme, C. Overstreet, C. Jeong. $99,752. 2017. Sedberry Graduate Teaching Award, 2017 A grant proposal to Koch Biological Solutions LLC. Assessment of Koppert’s trianum P for fungal disease, Committees: nematode suppression and impact on growth and yield in soybean. C. Overstreet. $9,600. 2017. ”History of the Organization of Nematologists of Tropical America” (Video, in production). 2017. E.C. McGawley and J. Meredith. Acting editor-in-chief, Nematropica. Trey Price Membership Committee, Society of Nematologists Invited presentations: Grants and contracts “Disease management.” Avoyelles Cotton, Soybean, “Management of plant-parasitic nematodes in and Feed Grain Clinic, Mansura, January 12, 2017. soybean.” Louisiana Soybean and Grain Research and “Field crop disease management.” Franklin Parish Promotion Board. C. Overstreet and E.C. McGawley. Production Meeting. Winnsboro, January 17. $40,000. 2016-2017 “Fungicide resistance management and disease “Evaluation of DPX against dagger, stubby-root, and management update.” LSU AgCenter Category 1 & 10: lesion nematodes.” DuPont Crop Protection. E.C. Demonstration and Research. Alexandria, January 18. McGawley. $65,000. 2016-2017. “Disease management in cotton, soybeans, and feed grain crops.” Rapides/Grant Cotton, Soybean and Feed Charles Overstreet Grain Clinic, Alexandria, January 19. “Diseases of beans and corn.” 27th Annual Farm Invited presentations: Forum and Rep Day. New Roads, February 6. “Fungicide use in corn, soybeans, and cotton.” 2017 “The changing dynamics of plant-parasitic nematodes NELA Crops Forum. Delhi, February 9. in the South and increased prevalence/importance of reniform (Rotylenchulus reniformis).” 2017 World “Soybean disease update.” LATMC Conference. Soybean Conference 10 in Savannah, Georgia. Meeting Marksville, February 16. was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. “Target spot and fungicide use in cotton.” LATMC Conference. Marksville, February 16. Awards and honors: Committees: International Service Award, Southern Region, presented at the Epsilon Sigma Phi National Advisory — Carol Pinell-Alison (2015, 2017 – Franklin) Conference, October 9-12, 2017, Wilmington, N.C. Advisory — Richard Letlow (2016 – Ouachita, 2017 – Committees: Morehouse) Advisory — Louisiana Agricultural Consultants PPCP Awards Association (2012 – present) PPCP Publicity Agronomy and Pest Management — Louisiana County PPCP Space Agent’s Association PPCP search committee for biotic/abiotic faculty Awards and Publicity — Department of Plant member Pathology and Crop Physiology Executive committee of the Organization of Cotton Disease Loss — Cotton Incorporated Nematologists of Tropical America Cotton Seedling Disease — Cotton Incorporated Grants and contracts Cotton Target Spot Working Group — Cotton Incorporated Program to establish collaboration between Brazilian- Argentinian institutions and LSU for soybean disease Graduate committees — multiple students research. Louisiana EPSCoR, LINK, Board of Regents. Hiring committee — Northeast Research Station – $2,000. 2017. Agronomist/Weed Scientist Louisiana Soybean and Grain Research and Promotion Hiring committee — Macon Ridge Research Station – Board. Management of plant-parasitic nematodes in Entomologist (Co-Chair) soybean. C. Overstreet and E. C. McGawley. $40,000. 2017. 17 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 PPCP Faculty Activities January – December 2018 Hiring committee — Macon Ridge Research Station – Soil Fertilist/Agronomist Raj Singh Hiring committee — Dean Lee Research Station – Invited presentations: Soybean Specialist “Diseases of cool-season vegetables.” LSU AgCenter Hiring committee — Plant Pathology & Crop Commercial Vegetable Agent Training. Covey Rise, Physiology — Field Crop Pathologist Husser. November 7. Planning — Rolling Crops Field Tour MRRS “Plant pathology and plant diagnostics.” Southern Planning — Louisiana Agricultural Technology and University plant pathology student tour. Baton Rouge. Management Conference October 24. Planning — Tri-State Soybean Forum “Invasive plant diseases.” LSU AgCenter Horticulture Agent Training. Alexandria. October 13. Soybean Disease Loss Committee — Southern Soybean Disease Workers “Disease management in Southern turfgrass.” Ornamental and Turfgrass Recertification Program. Grants and contracts: Lafayette. October 4. USB/MSSB. Enhanced pest control systems for Mid- “Citrus insects and their management.” Citrus Growers South soybean production, project lead. $262,233 Symposium. Port Sulfur. September 22. ($27,399). “Commercial and backyard citrus diseases in USDA Conservation Innovation Grants: Water quality Louisiana.” Citrus Grower Symposium, Port Sulfur. and soil health under fallow season cover. $18,200. September 22. Cotton Inc. Managing foliar disease and boll rot in “Plant pathology and plant health diagnostics”, cotton. $10,000. Louisiana Master Gardener training session. Franklinton. September 13. LSGRPB. Managing diseases in Louisiana grain sorghum. $8,868. “Plant pathology and plant health diagnostics.” Louisiana Master Gardener training session. Covington. LSGRPB. $11,353. Corn and wheat disease August 25. management in Louisiana. “Plant pathology and plant health diagnostics.” LSGRPB. $70,000. Foliar soilborne soybean disease Louisiana Master Gardener training session. Lafayette. management in Louisiana. August 17. U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative. Developing “Plant pathology and plant health diagnostics.” FHB-resistant wheat varieties, developed for the Gulf Louisiana Master Gardener training session. Lake Coast, U. S. Scab Initiative. $8,107. Charles. July 6. Multiple industry collaborations: BASF, Bayer, “Tree Diseases.” LSU AgCenter forestry re-certification Cheminova, Dow, Dupont, FMC, Gowan, Isagro, training session, Alexandria. June 29, 2017. Syngenta, and others. “Plant pathology and plant health diagnostics.” New graduate students: Louisiana Master Gardener training session. Baton Rouge, June 13. Teddy Garcia (co-advising with Doyle) “Plant pathology and plant health diagnostics.” New collaborations (university, industry, other): Louisiana Master Gardener training session. New Orleans. June 8. Vinson Doyle/Teddy Garcia — Taproot decline “Diseases of home lawns and commercial turf.” LSU pathogen characterization, etiology and AgCenter Agricultural and Natural Resource agent epidemiology. training. Bastrop. May 24. On-farm taproot decline yield loss estimates — “Disease management in commercial vegetable Crawford, Rolfe, Vandeven, and Young Farms. production,” LSU AgCenter Vegetable Field Day. Baton Sebe Brown, Josh Copes, and Josh Spivey — Effect of Rouge. May 10. harvest aids and insecticides on seed quality. “Diseases of home lawns and commercial turf.” LSU Steve Harrison/Hugo Anzueto — Remote sensing AgCenter Agricultural and Natural Resource agent applications in field plot research. training. Crowley. April 26. Terry Spurlock (UA) — TRD rotation trial location. “LSU AgCenter Plant Diagnostic Center program overview.” National Institute of Food and Agricultural Doyle, Garcia, Singh — Is Curvularia lunata causing director visit, Baton Rouge. April 24. Louisiana’s “eyespot” in corn? “Plant diagnostics in Louisiana.” Visiting international delegation from Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco Brazil. Baton Rouge. April 18. 18 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 PPCP Faculty Activities January – December 2017 “Plant diagnostics in Louisiana.” Visiting international Grants and contracts delegation from Debrecen University Hungary. Baton Rouge. March 31. Susceptibility of commercially available satsuma cultivars to citrus canker caused by Xanthomonas “Plant pathogen and disease detection methods.” axonopodis pv. citri, USDA-AMS Specialty Crop Grant Plant Disease Management and Control PLHL 4001. Administered by Louisiana Department of Agriculture Baton Rouge. April 3. and Forestry, $87,736. “Recognizing and managing diseases in home Southern Plant Diagnostic Network Agricultural and vegetable garden.” Southwest Louisiana Garden Food Research Initiative Grant, $30,000. Conference and Expo. Lake Charles. March 24. Citrus Clean Plant Network Grant, $20,417. “Disease management in Southern turfgrass”, Ornamental and Turfgrass Recertification Program. McIlhenny Tabasco Pepper Improvement Grant, Bossier City. March 22. $24,000. “Prevalent bacterial plant diseases in Louisiana.” New collaborations Phytobacteriology PLHL 7011. Baton Rouge. March 7. “Detection methods to diagnose bacterial plant Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry — pathogens.” PLHL 7011 Phytobacteriology. Baton Satsuma vs. citrus canker research project. Rouge, March 7. “Boxwood diseases and their management in home gardens and commercial landscape.” Landscape Pest Rodrigo Valverde Management Workshop. Hammond. February 23. Invited presentations “Plant pathology and plant health diagnostics.” Louisiana Master Gardener training session. Houma. “Endornaviruses — what are they and what do they do January 26. to plants?” 2017 APS annual meeting Idea Café. “Plant pathology and plant health diagnostics.” Committees Louisiana Master Gardener training session. St. Francisville. January 24. Chair, APS/APHIS Widely Prevalent Virus Committee. “Gummy stem blight and bacterial fruit blotch Reappointed to another three-year term on management in Louisiana watermelons.” Franklinton. Endornaviridae study group of the International January 12. Committee for the of Viruses. Awards and honors Grants and contracts Early Career Professional Award Southern Region, Survey for soybean green stem disorder and National Epsilon Sigma Phi Extension Professional investigations on graft and seed transmission. Society. Louisiana soybean and grain research and promotion Early Career Professional Award State Winner, Epsilon board. $12,000. Sigma Phi Extension Professional Society. Visiting student Honorary Membership of Louisiana Nursery and Landscape Association. Former student Randy Johnson visited the department and presented a seminar. Invited by the PPCP graduate Committees student association. Citrus Clean Plant Network Tier II Governing Body, New graduate student National Clean Plant Network. Cesar Escalante graduated with an M.S. and became a Chair, Professional Excellence Recognition Committee, Ph.D. student. Louisiana County Agricultural Agents Association. New collaborations Chair, Professional Development Committee, Epsilon Sigma Phi. Mr. Ricardo Alcala-Briceño, Dept. of Plant Pathology, Senior Editor, Plant Health Progress Journal, American University of Florida, Gainesville, on virus de novo Phytopathological Society. assembly and bioinformatics. Course and Curricula Committee, Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology. Graduate Student Admissions Committee, Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology. Award and Publicity Committee, Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology. 19 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018 PPCP Alumni Seminar Speakers

Dr. Jay Frantom, Crop Randy R. Johnson, Branch Consultant in Northeast La., Manager and Plant Pathologist presented a seminar on “The at Sakata Seed America Inc. in Role of the Independent Crop Fort Myers, Florida, presented Consultant in Production a seminar on “Applied Plant Agriculture” and discussed Pathologists: An Endangered professional opportunities in Species?,” and discussed agriculture with the graduate professional opportunities in the students. Dr. Frantom also plant and seed private industries visited with many of the faculty with graduate students. Randy, to discuss research needs and a native of Evansville, Indiana, interests. Dr. Frantom graduated was a graduate student under with his Ph.D. in 1981 under the direction of Dr. Norman Drs. Lowell Black and Rodrigo Valverde. He graduated Horn. His dissertation title was “Field Resistance to Black in 1994 with an M.S. degree and his research was on the Root Rot of Soybean and Response of Selected Cultivars epidemiology of spotted wilt virus in Louisiana. to Cylindrocladium crotalariae Inoculum Density.

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Research . Extension . Teaching PPCP NEWS Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology

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William B. Richardson, LSU Vice President for Agriculture Louisiana State University Agricultural Center Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service LSU College of Agriculture The LSU AgCenter and LSU provide equal opportunities in programs and employment.

1/2018 20 Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology NEWS 2018