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16th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, Big Sky Montana, analysis of the clover rhizobia genome at the Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, and meetings with scientists in north America

Dr Matthew Denton, Department of Primary Industries Victoria

Attendance at the 16th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation provided an excellent update on the current status of research in nitrogen fixation from around the globe. Some stimulating talks were included in sessions on the biochemistry of nitrogenase, legume and rhizobial genomics, plant-microbe genetic interactions, non-legume N fixation, and applied biological nitrogen fixation. Dr Denton provided a presentation entitled “A multi-site field evaluation of granular inoculants for legume nodulation”. A discussion session at the conference on the measurement of nitrogen fixation in field situations was particularly informative and outlined a need to develop innovative and robust protocols for field measurements of biological nitrogen fixation. A further highlight was the announcement that the next International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation would be held in Perth in 2011, the first Australian congress of its type since 1980.

The 16th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, Montana State University, Bozeman,  Montana, USA, June 14th -19th 2009.

Dr Ron Yates, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia / Centre for Rhizobium Studies, Murdoch University.

The International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation conference at Montana, USA, was attended by over 200 delegates from around the world. This gathering of scientists provided me with an invaluable opportunity to be exposed to current research in biological N2 fixation. It consisted of 22 seminar sessions (including parallel sessions), two evening poster sessions and an applied biological nitrogen fixation workshop. The main session topics included nitrogenase biochemistry and regulation, genomics of symbiotic N2 fixation, nodule development and function, evolution of N2 fixation and applied biological N2 fixation. My interests in selecting concurrent sessions centred on applied biological N2 fixation; however, there is a worrying trend that this area of research is diminishing on the world stage. Generally the standard of the oral papers was very high, although I felt that some talks required more background information to put their talks into perspective for the audience. I presented a poster paper titled ‘Developing inoculant quality root-nodule bacteria for Bituminaria bituminosa; a perennial pasture legume with potential for Mediterranean regions with extended summer drought’ that prompted good discussions with delegates. In addition, the congress allowed a meeting of a group of collaborative scientists to discuss future papers and research on the first fully sequenced genomes of 2 clover rhizobial strains resulting from my PhD studies. Overall this congress was an important opportunity to strengthen existing links and relationships with international scientists as well as establish many new contacts for the first time. I would like to thank the AW Howard Memorial Trust fund for their financial support.

Travel to the Plant Genomics & Beyond Conference, Evry, France and laboratory visits to Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, United Kingdom and the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China

Sylvia Malory, PhD Candidate, Southern Cross University

As a recipient of the AW Howard Memorial Trust Inc travelling scholarship I was able to attend and present a poster at the Plant Genomics & Beyond Conference in Evry, France on the 5th-8th of July 2009. My poster was titled “Domestication of a wild relative of rice, Microlaena stipoides”. Using the poster, I was able to present my PhD project, domestication of Australian native grass species using molecular tools. In the poster sessions I received a number of enquiries and feedbacks. It was a great opportunity to promote M. stipoides, an Australian native grass species as an alternate food and pasture crop to other parts of the world. At the conference I was also able to attend seminars presented by world leading experts in my research area. It was a very rare opportunity that allowed me to interact with the experts and also other scientists and students in my field. Following the conference I visited Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, United Kingdom. It is the oldest agricultural research station in the world, dating back to 1843. I met with a number of scientists that helped me with the most up to date TILLING techniques, a mutation screening procedure that I will be conducting in my research. On my last leg of travel I visited the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. There I also met with a number of scientists that helped me with my experimental set-up and designs. Overall, this travel has allowed me to gain more highly related scientific knowledge and network with international scientists and institutions that would not be possible otherwise.

Joint International Agriculture Conference (JIAC) in The Netherlands from 6-8 July

Callum Eastwood

With support from the AW Howard Trust I was able to attend the Joint International Agriculture Conference (JIAC) in The Netherlands from 6-8 July. The JIAC conference was a combination of 3 groups: European Precision Agriculture, European Precision Livestock Farming, and European Federation of Information Technology in Agriculture. I presented two papers, listed below, and received some valuable feedback during question time. The exposure linked to presenting papers aided in making several new contacts, including a researcher using satellite imagery to estimate pasture mass in the alpine areas of Austria.

Research specifically focused on pasture management was limited at the conference, a reflection on the much smaller role that grazed pasture plays in European farming systems. The Austrian research used satellite imagery to develop a methodology for qualitative and quantitative estimation of alpine pastures. Other research of interest surrounded the development of ICT based innovations via a ‘Living Lab’ approach where end-users were directly involved in the development process. Also there were several papers on the ongoing development of virtual fences for grazing management.

Plant-Herbivore Interactions Short Course at Utah State University in Logan, Utah (June 2009)

Felicity Cox

The short course in Plant-Herbivore interactions was a unique and invaluable opportunity to learn about the complex interactions between plants and animals. The course highlighted the importance of developing a greater understanding of these multifaceted interactions to further develop and refine grazing management practices, in particular within complex heterogeneous landscapes.

It was a privilege to meet, interact with and learn from international scientists, researchers and producers. The provocative course challenged and enabled me to think about and consider plant-animal interactions from new and different perspectives. In particular to further consider and refine methods and techniques to investigate and understand sheep grazing in native pastures, in the early stages of my PhD project and studies. I am very grateful to the A W Howard Memorial Trust for enabling my attendance at this course.

Joint International Agricultural Conference, Wageningen, The Netherlands, July 2009

Matthew Harrison, CSIRO Plant Industry

The award of an A.W. Howard Memorial Trust travel grant allowed me to visit Europe for the first time, and thus attend the Joint International Agricultural Conference (JIAC) which was held in the Netherlands. The JIAC brought together a community of specialists from the European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment (EFITA), the European Conference for Precision Agriculture (ECPA) and the European Conference for Precision Livestock Farming (ECPLF). The purpose of the Conference was to provide a platform for information exchange and the presentation of current research that was focused on precision agriculture, precision livestock or information technology in agriculture, food and the environment. The Conference was attended by over 400 researchers, agri-business representatives and policy-makers from more than 40 different countries.

The Conference was held from July 6-8th at the Forum Building of the Wageningen University and Research centre (WUR, see Figures 1-3). During this period, over 288 scientific papers and 135 poster papers were presented on topics including sensor technology, data collection and analysis, modelling in space and time, decision making and management, application technology, global positioning systems (GPS) guidance and robotics, and information technology. Each day began with a range of stimulating plenary sessions. On July 9th, a contest was held for field robot prototypes.

Attendance at the 8th International PGPR Workshop, Portland, Oregon, May 2009

Sharon Fox, PhD candidate, Centre for Rhizobium Studies, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.

The travel fund awarded to me through the AW Howard Memorial Trust Inc. was used to travel to Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. to attend the 8th International PGPR Workshop. This conference was attended by a range of international scientists working in the field of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR).  There were many highly dedicated researchers that are working toward using soil bacteria to improve crop growth, yields and to enhance disease resistance in efforts to enhance the sustainability of global agronomic systems.

The presentations were of a very high standard and it was exciting to see that there has been a large uptake of molecular tools aimed at understanding the mechanisms by which bacteria enhance plant yields and disease resistance. This was particularly valuable to me as my PhD research is aimed at understanding the mechanisms by which a PGPR organism is enhancing early nodulation on Medicago truncatula when inoculated with a sub-optimal inoculum of Sinorhizobium medicae WSM419. Prof. Bernard R. Glick’s work is particularly interesting in this regard. His research group focuses on PGPR production of the enzyme ACC deaminase, which has been demonstrated to enhance plant growth in conditions that would usually result in suppressed productivity via plant ethylene production. Work on bacteria producing ACC deaminase has shown that these bacteria can be used as co-inoculants and help plant establishment in conditions such as salinity and waterlogging, and may prove to be useful in many Australian soils. My work is aimed at finding and characterising soil bacteria that may be useful for pasture establishment when environmental constraints limit the use of rhizobial inoculants in an effort to increase the uptake of BNF in pasture systems. This mechanism may be one that can be used in initial screening procedures.