Tag Archives: PPWS

For over three decades regional weed science societies have hosted student competitions formerly known as Weed Contests. These contests function to prepare students for future careers by exposing them to weeds, herbicides and cropping systems found in their region of the country. In August 2014, Virginia Tech graduate students from the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science competed against 116 students at 11 other universities in both the northeastern and southern regions.

Virginia Tech graduate students compete in a number of events with learning objectives related to safe pesticide use, interpersonal relations with agricultural clients, and general knowledge in weed biology and ecology and herbicide biochemistry.

At the Northeast Weed Science Contest, held at Pennsylvania State University, Virginia Tech won top honors. Graduate student Team A (Sandeep Rana, Daniel Tekiela and Katelyn Venner) was the highest scoring team. John Brewer and Daniel Tekiela were the first- and third-highest scoring individuals, respectively. Rana had the highest score in herbicide identification and Tekiela had the highest score on the applicator calibration exam.

At the Southern Weed Science Contest, held at the Memphis AgriCenter, Virginia Tech (Rana, Brewer, and Venner) had the second place graduate student team. Rana and Brewer were the third- and eighth-highest scoring individuals, respectively.

These collegiate contests are extremely competitive and weed science students at Virginia Tech have been competing in the collegiate weed science competitions in both the Northeast and Southern Weed Science Societies for a number of years. In 2012, Virginia Tech became the only university that had a the highest scoring team at both the Northeastern and Southern Weed Contests in the same year. Students are trained by Shawn Askew and Jacob Barney with input from other Virginia Tech faculty.

Chris Clarke in the Westwood Lab recently won a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the USDA NIFA. The fellowship is for two years of postdoctoral research supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The research will be performed in collaboration with Jim Westwood, a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science.

Parasitic weeds are a national and global threat to food security. Control options for parasitic weeds are extremely limited because the similarity and close association of parasitic weeds with host plants limits the effectiveness of chemical and mechanical control approaches. Breeding for resistance against parasitic weeds has only been accomplished for a few plants and has not been durable. In contrast to other classes of plant pathogens, little is known about the host plant immune pathways that control the outcome (i.e. resistance or susceptibility) of parasitic weed infection. The overall objective of the project is to apply the tools and concepts of modern molecular plant pathology to elucidate the roles of the plant immune system in defending against infection by the parasitic plant Phelipanche aegyptiaca. The project will query host immune responses activated and suppressed during infection of P. aegyptiaca using global and gene-specific approaches. Additionally, the ability of P. aegyptiaca to secrete immunity-suppressing compounds into host tissue will be assayed.

Congratulations, Chris!