Sunil Singh travelled to Darwin to attend the 4th Asian conference on plant pathology, which was run concurrently with the 18th biennial Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference from the 26-29 April, 2011.

The conference was attended by close to 400 participants from over 30 different countries and included a wide range of presentations focussed around the theme New Frontiers in Plant Pathology for Asia and Oceania.

There was a good mix of presentations covering:

• disease management
• plant pathogen interactions
• soil borne diseases
• biosecurity
• epidemiology
• new technologies
• alternatives to chemical control
• cereal pathology
• disease surveys
• virology
• forest pathology
• tropical horticulture
• training
• extension and technology transfer
• prokaryotic pathogens, and
• population genetics.

Biosecurity was a popular issue discussed throughout the conference and presentations covered various aspects such as risk assessment methods, biosecurity policy, sampling methods, detection and diagnostic tests and incursion management.

Sunil thought the presentations were of a high quality and provided him with the opportunity to learn a lot over the three days. He met with other nematologists, plant pathologists and students and learnt about other projects while also discussing his own. Sunil's presentation on Biosecurity model for exotic and non-exotic plant parasitic nematodes was well received by the audience and the feedback was very encouraging.

Sunil also had discussions with other researchers working on risk assessment methods and exchanged ideas on how to address uncertainties in the risk assessment process (what do we do about the unknowns?). In addition he was able to talk to representatives from the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, who showed a keen interest in the project and the findings. The conference also provided good networking opportunities and Sunil said it was a pleasure to meet people with whom he had been conversing via emails or phone prior to the conference.

The conference program included several workshops, with Sunil attending the workshop on Nematology in the Asia-Pacific: new and old threats to plants. The one day pre conference workshop provided an opportunity to have a focussed group discussion on nematode problems in the Asia-Pacific and discuss nematodes in more detail.

There were presentations on current and emerging nematode pests in Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, China and Australasia. Two relatively less widespread root-knot nematode species, Meloidogyne graminicola and Meloidogyne enterolobii, were identified as emerging nematode pests in China and are of potential biosecurity significance to Australia and countries where the species are not present yet.

The workshop also included a farm visit to see the damage caused by root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) on okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) in the Northern Territory. Overall the conference and workshop were a success.