Write up about the Conference
The 24th Asian Pacific Weed Science Society (APWSS) Conference definitely put emphasis on how weed science can support food security by 2020, which is very significant because of rapid population growth, increasing influx of new weeds as international travel increases, climate change and its impact on weed distribution and abundance, and evolution of weeds that are resistant to herbicides. Food and land systems that are environment-friendly, sustainable and profitable in both the short- and long-term have been planned to adopt for use in different situations earth-wide. To face the new challenges of weed science, increased level of international collaboration was encouraged.
Among the important highlights of the conference are the future approaches to weed management, implications of weeds and weed management on food security in the Asia-Pacific region, problems and prospects of conservation agriculture systems, a review of weed assessment, managing weeds in rice, managing herbicide-resistant weeds, manipulating the weed seed bank, isolation and identification of allelochemicals from traditional crops and their utilization in agriculture and rice allelopathy. Several technical papers and poster presentations dealt with weed invasive and ecology, weed management in rice, weed resistance and herbicide residues, allelochemicals, and quarantine and special weed problems.
Dr. Steve Adkins from Australia elaborated some present problems related to agriculture that we have been experiencing. Since 60% of world’s population is from Asia, we, including the Philippines, should be carrying out our utmost effort to face our problems in Asian region. According to FAO, in 2050 there wil be greater demand for food and fuel by 70% greater than before. Included in the future approaches to these problems are molecular biology, biotechnology, agro-ecology, computer technology and education/ awareness. Weed management tools such as interactive weed identification software, maaping system for biocontrol agents and virtual plant-plant interaction modeling are helpful contributions of computer advancement.
Dr. A.R. Sharma of India emphasized how conservation agriculture has drawn the attention of resource management scientists throughout the globe, following resource degradation problems and rise in energy prices. Dr. N.T. Yaduraju of India summarized the impacts of weeds, causing yield losses ranging from 10 to 60% depending on the crop and associated environment; hence, appropriate weed management has the potential to ensure food security. Dr. S.T. Tjitrosoedirdjo of Nairobi, Africa provided relevant information about pre- and post- border Weed Risk Management model to predict if a plant has a potency to become a weed or an invasive species. Dr. Aurora Baltazar of the Philippines gave methods on how weeds can be managed in rice and these include studying rice and weed adaptation mechanisms during germination under hypoxia, deeper understanding of multiple resistance mechanisms, use of potential future technologies being explores such as development of allelopathic rice and C4 rice and biotechnological approaches to enhance rice competitiveness or reduce weed competitiveness. On the other hand, Dr. Albert Fischer from USA pointed out the importance of integrated weed management in solving weed resistance to herbicides. Sequential application of herbicides, synergism, shuffling of selective herbicides, alternation of dry and water seeding methods, diversifying weed management and crop rotation are ways of mitigating herbicide resistance evolution. Moreover, Dr. Trevor James of New Zealand accentuated the relevance of information on timing of major flushes of specific weeds for determining most appropriate cultural or chemical control measures.
As a whole, the conference aimed to integrate all possible solutions that can be offered for each challenge being face by Asia-Pacific region. Through this international discussion of reliable methods and approaches, efficient routes can be attained towards food security.
Feedback on paper presented
Many weed scientists and other participants appreciated my oral presentation of our research paper entitled “Effect of propyrisulfuron on growth & acetolactate synthase activity of three rice (Oryza sativaL.) cultivars and five weeds.” There were people from the audience such as those from Japan, Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India who commended my presentation as meritorious. After my presentation, several of them want to collaborate with U.P. and they also want to apply my methodology in their respective researches.
Future directions of research presented
Since our studies presented in the oral paper confirm the susceptibility of grasses, broadleaf weeds and sedges to the herbicide propyrisulfuron with high selectivity to rice, propyrisulfuron can be used as an effective resource in rice production. Our results also show that propyrisulfuron can be used for control of weeds infesting rice as additional option for rice farmers using herbicide rotation, a practice recommended to avoid or delay evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds. Thus, our study would greatly contribute in food security since rice is the staple food of several countries worldwide.
Potential foreign collaborators
The following are the people in this scientific community who approached me and desired to collaborate with University of the Philippines:
Japan: Atsushi Ishimatsu
Herbicide Group, Ag. Chem R&D Department
Nissan Chemical Industries
Saitama, Japan
Phone: 81-48-92-2513
Fax: 81-480-92-2516
Email: [email protected]
Korea: Dr. Kee Woong
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Chungam National University
Daejon, Korea
Tel: +82-42-921-5726
Mobile: +82-10-9078-5964
Fax: +82-42-822-2631
Email: [email protected]
Korea: Dr. Kwang-Ho Park
Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries &
Korea Agricultural Unmanned Helicopter Association
Gyeonggi-do, Korea
Tel: +82-31-229-5003
Mobile: +82-16260-6667-2
Fax: +82-31-229-5071
Email: [email protected]
Japan: Dr. Hisshi KatoNoguchi
Kagawa University, Japan
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Akbert Fischer
University of California in Davis, USA
Email: [email protected]
Philippines: Dr. Bhagirath Singh Chauchan
International Rice Research Institute
Other important contacts and insights
- Some important contacts of APWSS officers and organizers:
Steve Adkins
University of Queensland, Australia
E-mail: [email protected]
Denny Kurniadie
Faculty of Agriculture,
Pajajaran University, Bandung,
INDONESIA
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr Do-Soon Kim
Department of Plant Science
Seoul National University
KOREA
E-mail: [email protected]
Michael Renton
University of Western Australia, Australia
[email protected]
Khan Bahadar Marwat
KP Agriculture University
Peshawar, 25130
PAKISTAN
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr Asad Shabbir
Institute of Agricultural Sciences
University of the Punjab
Lahore 54590
PAKISTAN
[email protected]
- Other important insights:
Collaboration with other institutions will really be beneficial for the Philippines. For instance, we can conduct research studies related with those already presented in the conference such as future approaches to weed management by Dr. Steve Adkins, weed management in conservation agriculture systems, management of multiple-herbicide resistant weeds of rice by Dr. Albert Fischer, weed control using robotic implements by Dr. KH Park and rice allelopathy by Dr. Kato-Noguchi.
As follow are the e-mail addresses of the those Keynote speakers:
Dr. Steve Adkins ( Australia): [email protected]
Dr. Albert Fischer (USA): [email protected]
Dr. K.H. park ( Korea): [email protected]
Dr. Kato-Noguchi (Japan):[email protected]
Short write-up of one’s participation (to be used to feature/publicize the grantee’s participation in the conference)
The 24th Asian Pacific Weed Science Society Conference has met its main theme: “The Role of Weed Science in Supporting Food Security by 2020, ” mainly focusing in the science of
1) sustainable weed management in the Asian-Pacific region,
2) weed solutions for Asian-Pacific region,
3) threats and risks in the Asian-Pacific region and 4) economics of weed control in the Asian-Pacific region. It was an excellent opportunity for me to disseminate research output about our study which conforms with the goals of the conference in sustainable weed management and weed solutions for the Asian-Pacific region.
The conference also exposed me to research developments in agriculture, weed science and herbicide management that could greatly contribute to food security. The overall theme of the conference is definitely timely since it imparted me reliable knowledge on how each of us could help in sustaining food security earth-wide. Furthermore, the conference addressed important topics such as weed management in range of ecosystems, new herbicide development and their applications, prevention and management of herbicide resistant weeds, education and training in weed science, impact of weed control on the environment, integrated weed management, utilization of weeds as bio-resources and as a management tool, weed risk management and other topics. These information are indeed beneficial since I could use it in my future studies and in my specific subject being taught in our Institute, particularly Chemistry 185 (Structure and Activity of Agrochemicals) which also deals with herbicide management. Furthermore, the conference equipped me with knowledge about modern technological techniques such as robotics and interesting studies like allelopathy, supporting food and environment security by 2020 and weed risk assessment.
