Proceedings of The Global Conference on Ergot of Sorghum

In June 1996, several of us had the opportunity to see sorghum ergot in Brazil and the damage that the disease can do. We saw severe damage in seed production plots and witnessed the pain that seed producers had to go through to deal with this new problem. There was a wide spread scare in the sorghum community in the Americas because of the infamous reputation of the disease in causing damage in seed production fields. As a silver lining, we also observed first hand, the excellent research program that the Brazilians had in place. It became apparent that all of the sorghum researchers, seed producers and regulators of plant pathogens worldwide needed to come together to study and review this disease. There could be no better venue for such a Global Conference than Sete Lagoas, Brazil. Hence this meeting was proposed and with the support and assistance of the Director of Sorghum and Maize Research (CNPMS) of EMBRAPA, this meeting has been arranged. At the time the meeting was proposed, the disease was known only in a few countries but it has spread today to include much of the Americas and Australia. Obviously, we can no longer avoid the disease, we can only learn to live with it and manage it in future growing seasons. It has been my pleasure to work with the research leaders on ergot at EMBRAPA in developing this conference, to receive cooperation from many of the global leaders on ergot to bring their knowledge to the conference and financial support from the American Seed Trade Association, as well as the support and encouragement from Texas A & M University and INTSORMIL in recognizing the importance of our collaboration on combating sorghum ergot. In this conference, we will learn from the experiences of countries where ergot had existed for a long time while examining the ergot situation in newly invaded countries. We have several dedicated papers dealing with the biology of the pathogen, the epidemiology of the disease, and disease management strategies. We will also chart the movement of the disease and plot ideas on how to collaboratively work to lessen the impact of sorghum ergot in the Americas

Utilização de multilinhas dinâmicas para o manejo da antracnose do sorgo

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a eficiência do uso de multilinhas dinâmicas, por meio de misturas genéticas em populações de híbridos triplos, no manejo da antracnose do sorgo, causada pelo fungo Colletotrichum sublineolum. Foram obtidos 18 híbridos triplos a partir de sete linhagens que continham genes distintos para resistência à doença. Os 25 genótipos de híbridos e linhagens foram avaliados em campo. Verificou-se, em alguns híbridos, grau de resistência superior ao observado para a linhagem mais resistente utilizada nos cruzamentos, o que indica efeito aditivo dos genes de resistência das diferentes linhagens na composição da resistência final dos híbridos. O usodas multilinhas dinâmicas reduziu a intensidade da doença no campo e aumentou a produtividade. Essa estratégia torna possível a utilização de linhagens que apresentam características agronômicas desejáveis, mas são suscetíveis à antracnose

Proceedings of The Global Conference on Ergot of Sorghum

In June 1996, several of us had the opportunity to see sorghum ergot in Brazil and the damage that the disease can do. We saw severe damage in seed production plots and witnessed the pain that seed producers had to go through to deal with this new problem. There was a wide spread scare in the sorghum community in the Americas because of the infamous reputation of the disease in causing damage in seed production fields. As a silver lining, we also observed first hand, the excellent research program that the Brazilians had in place. It became apparent that all of the sorghum researchers, seed producers and regulators of plant pathogens worldwide needed to come together to study and review this disease. There could be no better venue for such a Global Conference than Sete Lagoas, Brazil. Hence this meeting was proposed and with the support and assistance of the Director of Sorghum and Maize Research (CNPMS) of EMBRAPA, this meeting has been arranged. At the time the meeting was proposed, the disease was known only in a few countries but it has spread today to include much of the Americas and Australia. Obviously, we can no longer avoid the disease, we can only learn to live with it and manage it in future growing seasons. It has been my pleasure to work with the research leaders on ergot at EMBRAPA in developing this conference, to receive cooperation from many of the global leaders on ergot to bring their knowledge to the conference and financial support from the American Seed Trade Association, as well as the support and encouragement from Texas A & M University and INTSORMIL in recognizing the importance of our collaboration on combating sorghum ergot. In this conference, we will learn from the experiences of countries where ergot had existed for a long time while examining the ergot situation in newly invaded countries. We have several dedicated papers dealing with the biology of the pathogen, the epidemiology of the disease, and disease management strategies. We will also chart the movement of the disease and plot ideas on how to collaboratively work to lessen the impact of sorghum ergot in the Americas