News and Articles
Watchdog Weather Stations
01 Jun 2008
Plant health solutions has recently invested in a new Watchdog 2000 series weather station, from the US manufacturer Spectrum Technologies. The station was supplied by UK importer Enviromonitors and comes pre-configured and ready to go.… Read more
Managing Xanthomonas black rot in brassicas - New Project
08 Nov 2007
HDC is funding Plant Health Solutions to look at the potential of several biological treatments and disinfectants for use in the management of black rot on vegetable brassicas. Black rot, caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) continues to cause sporadic problems in brassica production.…
New project - lettuce bacterial diseases review
20 Oct 2007
Bacterial breakdown has been causing severe problems in outdoor crisphead lettuce for the last couple of years. As a first step in tackling the problem HDC is funding Plant Health Solutions to review the existing literature prior to committing funds to any experimental work.…
New herbs disease project
01 May 2007
HDC has agreed funding for a new project to look at control of two seedborne diseases of herbs: leaf spot on parsley (Septoria petroselini) and bacterial leaf blight on coriander (Pseudomonas syringae pv. coriandricola).…
rep-PCR discriminates bacterial canker races
08 Mar 2007
A new paper by Vicente & Roberts on bacterial canker of cherry has been published in the European Journal of Plant Pathology and can now be accessed on-line. Bacterial canker is one of the most important diseases of cherries and is caused by two pathovars of Pseudomonas syringae.… Read more Full text...
Seed health testing in the Philippines
04 Mar 2007
Report: ISTA / APSA / FAO Training Course in Seed Health Testing BPI-NSQCS, Quezon City, Philippines. Steve Roberts gives a brief account of a course designed to provide participants with skills and knowledge to improve the standardisation and reliability of seed health testing in the Asia-Pacific Region. Read more
Rapid spread of Xanthomonas in brassica transplants
05 Jan 2007
Contamination of brassica transplants with black rot (Xanthomonas) can reach nearly 100% after six weeks with overhead gantry irrigation within 50 plants distance from a single primary infector, according to a new paper published in the journal Plant Pathology.… Read more Link to Plant Path. Online Early
Organic Seed Issues Highlighted at Organic Variety Day
28 Nov 2006
The use of clean seed is important for the management of many plant diseases, but, with few options for control in the field, seed health standards need to be more stringent for organic production.… More from the meeting...
Standards, Transmission and Risks at the Brazilian Seed Pathology Conference
23-27 Oct 2006
Steve Roberts gave Brazilian seed pathologists and trade representatives some food for thought when he presented a personal view of the problems of interpreting seed transmission data and relating it to seed test results. Lively debate followed the presentation at the symposium in Passo Fundo, RS.… Full article...
APSA/ISTA Seed Health Training Course
18 Jul 2006
Held at Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand and with 19 participants from seven Asian-Pacific countries, the course aimed to improve standardisation and reliability of seed health testing in the region.… More
11th International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria - handouts available
10-14 July 2006
Handouts of the presentations made by Steve Roberts at the conference are now available for download. These included an oral presentation on the spread of black rot of brassicas and poster presentations on bacterial canker, testing carrot seeds for bacterial blight and leaf-spotting Xanthomonas on brassicas. Conference website...
New publication highlighted on front cover of Phytopathology
06 Jul 2006
A photograph from a new paper from Steve Roberts' old research team has been used to illustrate the front cover of the July 2006 issue of the journal Phytopathology.… click here...
HDC Onion downy mildew and leaf wax project continuation
01 Apr 2006
HDC has agreed to fund a further one-year project to continue work begun in 2005 looking at the interactions of leaf wax levels and downy mildew (Peronospora destructor) infection.… Link to HDC website...
1st International Symposium on biological control of bacterial diseases.
23-26 Oct 2005
Held in Darmstadt, Germany. A handout of the presentation on biological control of seed-borne bacterial diseases made by Steve Roberts is now available to download: click here...
HDRA / Warwick-HRI Organic Day at Kirton.
28 Jul 2005
A handout of the presentation made by Steve Roberts and presentations by the other speakers are now available for download: Get handout... Presentations on HDRA website...
New HDC project on onion, downy mildew and leaf wax
01 Jun 2005
A new HDC project led by Steve Roberts in association with VCS will look at the relationship between leaf wax and downy mildew (Peronospora destructor) in onions.… Link to HDC website...
5th ISTA-SHC Seed Health Symposium, Angers
10-13 May 2005
Handouts of posters by Steve Roberts on seed testing for bacterial blight of carrots and spread of Xanthomonas in brassica transplants are now available for download. Go to downloads...
Use of green waste compost in organic horticultural systems. Chichester.
27 Jan 2005
Green waste compost can be highly effective at suppressing diseases, improving soil structure and reducing weeding costs, delegates at the HDRA event were told. On the other hand growers need assurance that they won't be introducing new diseaese into the system.… More from the meeting...
New pathology/microbiology laboratory established at HDRA
30 Jul 2004
Refurbishment of laboratory facilities at HDRA has now been completed. Two of the rooms have been equiped for and dedicated to plant pathology and microbiology, with a preparation room and a secure 'clean room'.
HDRA welcomes EC organic vegetable seed treatment project
01 Jul 2004
HDRA joins EC project on Seed Treatments for Organic Vegetable Production (STOVE) taking over the responsiblities, and safeguarding the work, previously assigned to HRI, prior to its take-over by the University of Warwick.… Read more STOVE project