International Symposium on Crop Roots and Rhizosphere Interactions

Description

The International Symposium on Crop Roots and Rhizosphere Interactions was successfully held in Yangling, the birthplace Chinese agriculture from 9−13 October 2017.

Co-organised by Northwest A&F University (NWAFU) and UWA, the conference brought together over 200 researchers including some world-leading root researchers from Australia, China, Germany, Morocco and US, plus some 100 postgraduate students from NWAFU. Dr Yinglong Chen from IOA and the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment was the symposium convenor and made great efforts in organising this joint symposium.

 The aim of this symposium was to provide a platform for debating key issues and strategies relevant to yield and stability of crops under environmental stresses by enhancing our understanding of root architecture, physiology, rhizosphere interactions, and their functions.

Six themes were discussed at the symposium: Crop root traits and functions, Crop root responses to environment stresses, Rhizosphere microbes, Novel methods and technologies in root study, Root models and simulations, and Applications in crop breeding programs.

IOA director Hackett Prof Kadambot Siddique served as the Executive Co-chair together with Professor Pute Wu, Vice President of NWAFU. Professors Hans Lambers, Neil Turner and Jairo Palta from IOA presented their research giving UWA excellent exposure and publicity during this event.

In total, there were 20 keynote speeches, 14 invited presentations, 16 talks at Youth Forum, and 27 posters. Selected papers from the workshop will be published in a special issues of an international journal.