Avocado Branch Canker Virtual Field Day Video and Materials Available Online
On September 17, 2020 avocado researchers and industry members from around the world joined the California Avocado Commission’s Avocado Branch Canker Virtual Field Day to review some of the latest research concerning this ubiquitous disease and pose questions to two of the world’s leading researchers.
The presenters for the event were as follows:
- Dr. Themis Michailides, Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of California Davis Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, is one of the world’s leading experts on Botryosphaeriaceae, the group of fungi responsible for Avocado Branch Canker. Dr. Michailides shared insights from his CAC-funded research project examining exactly what pathogens cause avocado brank canker in California, the extent of their presence in California avocado groves, why they have become more problematic and how they can be managed.
- Dr. Liz Dann, Principal Research Fellow with the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at the University of Queensland, Australia, has worked extensively on avocado diseases in Australia and recently started studying the role of the Botryoshpaeriaceae in flower blight of avocados in Australia. She shared her knowledge of these pathogens and the impacts they have had on avocado production in Australia.
Presentations from this event are available in the right-hand navigation. In addition, the recording of the virtual field day and question-and-answer session can be viewed on the California Avocado Commission’s YouTube channel.
If you have additional questions concerning Avocado Branch Canker or flower blight, please reach out to the panelists as follows:
- Dr. Tim Spann — tim@spannag.com
- Dr. Themis J. Michailides — tjmichailides@ucanr.edu
- Dr. Elizabeth Dann — e.dann@uq.edu.au
