The Potomac Division Meeting of the American Phytopathological
Society was held March 21- 23 in Ocean City, MD. Despite a snowstorm that
shut down the College Park campus and impeded travel on the first day of the
conference, PSLA faculty and students were well represented. Justine
Beaulieu, Faculty Assistant in PSLA, presented on cryptic oomycete pathogens
in recaptured irrigation water. Cody Beckley, advised by Joseph Roberts,
presented his research on organic management of dollar spot in turfgrass.
Habtamu Demissie presented on the aggressiveness of regional isolates of
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and Jake Jones, on management of melon diseases
(Demissie and Jones are advised by Kate Everts). Robert Korir, who is
co-advised by Kate Everts and Shirley Micallef, presented on the interaction
between plant pathogenic Fusarium sp. and Salmonella enterica Newport.
Lovepreet Singh, who is advised by Nidhi Rawat, filled in for Dr. Rawat by
giving an extension presentation at the Extension and Industry session, and
also presented a poster on the role of defense related phytohormones in
resistance to Fusarium graminearum. Also speaking at the Industry and
Extension session was Mengjun Hu, our newly hired assistant professor for
grape and small fruit pathology.
