Purpose: To attend the 12th ICPP to meet experts in the field of plant pathology, scientific exchange, and develop collaborative professional relationships; meet with Dr F. Trouillas from the US who is assisting us to characterise the morphology of Eutypella spp. of cotton; and inform the international scientific community of our research on two important wilt diseases of cotton in Australia, Reoccurring and Verticillium.

What was achieved:

Met Prof. Zarco-Tejada, an expert on the detection of Verticillium wilt in olive using remote sensing. Discussed current CRDC funded project and he is open to being contacted for advice and to assist where possible. Met with Dr F. Trouillas and discussed our research on Eutypella and gained further incite on research direction. Knowledge was gained to develop a better insight of disease management and disease prediction tools. 

Key points:

· Different expression of disease symptoms and/severity possibly due to change in the environmental conditions and development of more virulent strains was a common theme.

· Harnessing remote sensing and imaging spectroscopy for agricultural disease management is possible and effective.

· Resistance and reduced sensitivity of leaf pathogens to some fungicides is concerning highlighting the importance of fungicide resistance monitoring.

· Spore-trapping and qPCR are effective methods for detection and quantification of pathogens associated with trunk cankers which enables study of seasonal abundance of pathogenic fungi which contributes to the application of management strategies. This supports our future research on Eutypella sp.

· The knowledge of seed mycobiomes is important to prevent spread of pathogenic fungi. Could metagenomics be used to understand cotton seed pathology and health with aim to improve seed quality.

· Volatile organic compounds of pathogens were detected using sensor technology. Could this be applied to early detection of Fov?