Professor Brett Hurley and PhD candidate Agil Katumanyane attended the 23rd Symposium of the Nematological Society of Southern Africa (NSSA). The symposium took place between 19-23 September at the Waterval country lodge in Tulbagh, Western Cape province, South Africa. Agil presented an oral presentation entitled “The resistance mechanisms of white grubs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) to entomopathogenic nematodes”. This is part of her PhD project whose overall aim is to look at the prospects for the management of white grubs in South African forestry and sugarcane plantations using locally isolated entomopathogenic nematodes.

During the symposium, Agil and Brett also had the opportunity to participate in the entomopathogenic nematode research committee to discuss the two important aspects of the current nematode research in South Africa. These included the potential for formulation of a local entomopathogenic nematode based product and the registration of the same.