Duo to fight plant disease

Press, 27 September 1982, Page 16

Duo to fight plant disease

A Christchurch biochemist has teamed with a Brazilian professor as part of a U.N.E.S.C.O. project to help fight plant diseases in Brazil. Professor Walter Brune, of the Brazilian Federal University of Vicosa, has spent the last two weeks working with Dr J. R. L. Walker, of the University of Canterbury’s botany department. Their work has consisted of exchanging notes and techniques, and '• testing samples which Professor Brune brought with him from Brazil. Dr Walker will return with

Professor Brune to Brazil next week to complete the second half of the project. Plants give responses when they are attacked by pathogens. Both men are interested in how the pathogen attacks the plant, and how the plant defends itself. A common example of a plant’s defence mechanism is the browning of a rotting apple. The browning is thought to be caused by cells “committing suicide” to prevent the spread of the invading organisms. Professor Brune’s special interest is in combating

disease in red peppers. Other plants which require special attention in Brazil to prevent the spread of disease include garlic, tobacco, peas, coffee, and beans. Diseases which threaten some of these plants are being studied by other Brazilian scientists taking part in the U.N.E.S.C.O. project in other countries. During his stay in New Zealand, Professor Brune will also visit D.S.I.R. divisions at Palmerston North and Auckland, the Forest Research . Institute at Rotorua, and Lincoln Col-

lege. Both men hope their personal contact will lead to further work between them, their universities, and possibly their countries. Dr Walker will give a series of lectures and seminars during his visit to Brazil. Asked whether he was optimistic about man’s fight against plant disease. Dr Walker said, “We cannot afford not to win. We have to keep a jump ahead of the problem.”