The second day of the 2017 congress of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP) kicked off with the Ethyl M. Doidge Memorial Address delivered by Prof. Carolee Bull of Pennsylvania State University. The topic of her talk was "Translational Bacterial Taxonomy: from field to phylogeny and back again" in which she discussed the importance of bacterial taxonomy to field pathologists, but also highlighting current challenges in this field. Dr Molapo Qhobela, Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Foundation, was the guest speaker and shared his views on the future of research at higher education institutions in South Africa.

Two postdoctoral fellows, one PhD student, three MSc students, and an MSc student presenting on his Honours project, Seamus Morgan, represented FABI on Day 2 in sessions 5 and 6 of the meeting. 

The day ended with a mentorship workshop presented by Prof. Bull, followed by a fun plant pathology quiz with prizes sponsored by Starke Ayres, and the Mildenhall Stakes, a hands-free beer-drinking competition that has become a tradition at the meeting.

FABI presentations on Day 2

O20: G.D. Carstensen, S.N. Venter, M.J. Wingfield, T.A. Coutinho. Characterization of the bacterial community in vascular tissue of Eucalyptus trees displaying symptoms of wilt.

O21: A.R. McTaggart, D.R. Beasley, M.J. Wingfield, A.R. Wood, R.G. Shivas, J. Roux. A dynamic resource for the identification of rust fungi (Pucciniales) in southern Africa.

023: Z.C. Mufamadi, A. Boyum, N. Van Den Berg. Macadamia Husk Rot in South Africa.

O24: A. Maduke, J. Roux, M.J. Wingfield, D. Pavlic-Zupanc. Botryosphaeriaceae associated with native and non-native Myrtaceae trees in South Africa.

025: S.W. Morgan, M. Schröder, S. Marincowitz, T. Paap, Z.W. de Beer. New Quambalaria species from Eucalyptus seed capsules and eucalypt-feeding insects in South Africa.

O27: V. Guarnaccia, G. Polizzi, J.Z. Groenewald, P.W. Crous. Colletotrichum and Diaporthe species associated with citrus in Europe.

033: A. Schulze, G. Pietersen. Detection, identification, genome sequencing and characterisation of members of the Potyvirus genus from a South African collection.