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SCIENCESAGRIN E W S L E T T E R • N U U S B R I E F 7 9 A U G 2 0 1 6

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Wetenskappe sciences

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Kalender 2016

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Nick Vink in Reserwebank se direksie verkies

Opara to lead world’s agricultural engineers

Strengthening collaboration between SU, Nairobi Agronomy Excels at GSSA Congress

Top honours for SU scientist

Groundwork for major newbilateral project completed

nGAP-pos help Voedselwetenskap

17-21 October

6Naaldekoker hou lyf verkleurmannetjie

5 First fungal genomes from the fynbos Join the hunt for protea

killing microbesProject to enhance agricultural

activity in Africa takes off

Ham elected president;award for Geldenhuys

Wes-Kaaptak van SASAS hou kongres by Spier

Sustainable farming practices

YXY, Three Wise Monkeys dink flink

Studente ryg toekennings in op kongres

Why agriculture is vitalfor SA’s economic future Trees of the year: 2016

Dragonflies can assess state of dams, rivers and streams

Nuwe nagraadse diploma vir agronome ingestel

Nuwe M-graad bied kans aan koskundiges

ISSUE/UITGAWE XX MONTH/MAAND 20XX 1 ISSUE/UITGAWE 79 Aug 2016terug na inhoudsopgawe / back to contents

SCIENCESAGRIWETENSKAPPE

Nick Vink in Reserwebank se direksie verkiesProf Nick Vink, voorsitter van die

Departement landbou-ekonomie in die Fakulteit AgriWeten skappe, is deur die aandeelhouers van die Suid-Afrikaanse Reserwebank as nie-uitvoerende direkteur van die Bank se direksie verkies. Sy aan-stelling geld vir drie jaar.

Nog ’n akademikus met US-bande, prof Ben Smit, is terselfdertyd tot ’n tweede termyn verkies. Smit is ’n voormalige direkteur van die US se Buro vir Ekonomiese Ondersoek in die Fakulteit Ekonomiese en Bestuurswetenskappe.

Vink sê hy hoop sy nuwe rol sal hom die geleentheid bied om te help skep aan ’n groter bewustheid oor hoe die Reserwebank se besluite ’n impak op die landbousektor het. En voeg hy by: “Ek wil ook die Bank attent maak op hoe gebeure in die landbou die breëre ekonomie beïnvloed.”

Vink het ’n wye belangstelling in landbou-ontwikkeling in Afrika, en is ’n gereelde kommentator en spreker oor sake soos grond- en landbouhervorming, beleid en die wynekonomie.

Hy is ook onlangs verkies tot aangewese president van die In-ternasionale Vereniging van Land-bou-ekonome (IAAE) – die eerste persoon uit Afrika om in hierdie posisie benoem te word. Hy is ook ’n voormalige wenner van die Suid-Afrikaanse Landbouskrywersver e-niging se na sio nale Landboukundige van die Jaar.

Vink is onder meer ’n erelid van die Suid-Afrikaanse en Afrika wye ge-nootskappe vir landbou-ekonome, asook dié van die Ame rikaanse Genootskap van Wyn ekonome.

Stellenbosch University (SU) distinguished professor and research chair, Prof Umezuruike

Linus Opara has been elected as the incoming president of the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR). CIGR is the worldwide umbrella agricultural engineering organisation, and consists of a network of regional and national societies of agricultural engineering, as well as private and public companies and individuals globally.

Opara was elected to the position during the recent International Conference on Agricultural Engineering held in Denmark and organised by the European Society of Agricultural Engineers under the auspices of the CIGR.

This means that he will first serve on the Presidium of the CIGR for two years as incoming president, before taking up the position of president around 2019. He will then serve the CIGR for another two years as past president. Opara is the first engineer from sub-Saharan Africa to be elected to this position and his term co-incides with the 90th anniversary of the CIGR.

He will juggle his new responsibilities with those placed on him as holder of the DST-NRF South African Research Chair in Postharvest Technology at SU and as distinguished professor in the Department of Horticultural Science.

Opara, who has been on SU’s staff since 2009, is a recipient of the 2016 African Union Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Award for senior researchers. He qualified as an agricultural engineer at universities in Nigeria and New Zealand, and serves on numerous international committees and editorial boards. He is a fellow of the SA Institution of Agricultural Engineers. Opara is also the founding president of the Pan African Society for Agricultural Engineering (AfroAgEng), which was established during a CIGR International Technical Symposium

held at SU in 2012.His multi-disciplinary research team is

considered the international leading group working on post harvest practices that improve the post har vest handling, packaging and mar-keting of pome granate fruit. His research group also tests and develops packaging and quality control methods relevant to the handling and storage of fresh fruits and vegetables such as table grapes, citrus and apples. These efforts are focused on alleviating unnecessary food loss and waste, maintaining quality and adding value in the fruit and vegetable sector.

Although SU does not offer a degree in agri-cultural engineering per se, Opara says he is looking forward to using the new opportunity presented to him. He hopes it will help to deepen and strengthen the contributions of engineering and related programmes at SU in the agriculture, food and related sectors.

Says Opara: “The work of individual SU staff and postgraduate students in these areas are widely recognised by our peers, locally and internationally. Through collaboration and co-supervision we have several PhD and MEng students registered in the faculties of Engineering and AgriSciences working on different research topics in agricultural and biosystems engineering.”

2 Sept Einde van derde kwartaal11 Sept Klasse vir vierde kwartaal begin30 Sept Laaste dag vir betaling van uitstaaande

US-gelde Laaste dag vir staak van modules

(tweede semester en jaarmodules)21 Okt Klasse vir vierde kwartaal eindig25 Okt November-eksamen (1ste geleentheid)

begin

KALENDER 2016

Prof Nick Vink

Opara to lead world’s agricultural engineers2016

VENUE De Zalze Golf Estate

DATE Thursday

17 November 2016

FORMAT 4 Ball Alliance

(best 2 scores to count)

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY:

An invitation to join the Faculty of AgriSciences for our ANNUAL GOLF DAY at De Zalze Golf Estate, Stellenbosch

Prof Linus Opara (left) of SU with the immediate CIGR past president, Prof Tadeusz Juliszewski of Poland.

Research chair in Postharvest Technology chosen as president of worldwide organisation

VENUEDe Zalze Golf Estate

DATEThursday

17 November 2016

FORMAT4 Ball Alliance

(best two scores to count)

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY:

ISSUE/UITGAWE XX MONTH/MAAND 20XX 2terug na inhoudsopgawe / back to contents ISSUE/UITGAWE 79 Aug 2016

Strengthening collaboration between Stellenbosch and the University of Nairobi

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Two of Stellenbosch University (SU)’s eminent scientists have

received national acclaim for their outstanding contributions to their respective research fields.

Prof Michael Samways, Dis tin-guished Professor in the De part -ment of Conservation Eco logy and Entomology in the Fa culty of AgriSciences, and Prof Bert Klum per man, Distinguished Pro-fessor in the Department of Chemis try and Polymer Science, won National Science and Tech-nology Forum (NSTF)/South32A-wards.

These awards recognise, cel-ebrate and reward outstanding excellence in Science, Engineering, Technology (SET) and Innovation in South Africa.

Samways walked off with top

honours in the category: NSTF-GreenMatter Award towards achieving biodiversity conservation, environmen-tal sustainability and a greener eco-nomy and Klumpermann won a Lifetime Award for his outstanding contribution to SET and Innovation over a period of 15 years or more.

Samways won an NSTF-Green-Matter Award for his sig nificant con tribution to insect con ser va-tion and biodiversity science, in particular, over the past 40 years and he helped restore the Cousine Island in the Seychelles to its natural state. He is the team leader of the Mondi Ecological Networks Programme, a research group at SU that develops and fine-tunes de-sign and management principles for ecological networks.

Samways has been working

for some years with certain large corporates in South Africa to op-timise timber production with out compromising biodiversity. He also advanced the further de velopment of sustainable wine pro duction.

Agronomy Excels at GSSA Congress

Chloe MacLaren and Pieter Swanepoel.

Researchers of the Depart-ment of Agronomy excelled

at the 51st annual Congress of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) held in Wilderness, near George. The excellence of re-search on pastures and forages at the Agronomy Department was acknowledged by the GSSA when three of the six scientific awards at the congress went to researchers from this Department.

Dr Pieter Swanepoel, lecturer in Agronomy, bagged two awards. The first award was for the best presentation by a young scientist (younger than 35 years) and the second award was the Norman Rethman Award for the best over-all paper related to cultivated pas-tures.

Furthermore, a PhD stu dent from Coventry University (UK) cur-rently collaborating with Dr Pieter Swanepoel and Dr PJ Pieterse at the Agronomy Department, Chloe MacLaren, gained the award for the best project proposal for 2016. This is for a project on diverse forage crops for weed management in crop rotation systems.

Diversity amongst species and di-versity of functional traits of species are important factors driving weed ecology in agroecosystems. This pro ject will provide researchers and farmers in the Mediterranean region with important information on how effectively diversity could be used to suppress weeds in agro -ecosystems.

The GSSA Congress is made up of platform and poster pre-sentations of current and ongoing research related to advancing range-land eco logy and pasture manage-ment in Africa.

The congress was attended by more than 200 rangeland- and planted pasture scientists, mostly from Southern Africa, but also from Central Africa, Europe and Oceania.

Prof Michael Samways.

A recent visit to the University of Nairobi (Kenya) by Dr Lindy J

Rose (Plant Pathology) and Prof Bradley C Flett of the ARC-GCI (Potchefstroom) saw the bonds of collaboration between these institutes being strengthened once more.

The successful completion of an AWARD fellowship by Prof Sheila

Okoth (University of Nairobi) in 2011 at the Department of Plant Pathology, laid the foundation for further collaboration between the two institutes. Common in-te rests, focussing on mitigating the contamination of maize with poisonous metabolites (mycotoxins) produced by fungi, formed the basis of a collaborative CIMMYT/CGIAR-

funded project from 2012 to 2014. During the 3-day meeting, feedback on the research accomplishments and progress of the project between SU and University of Nairobi was discussed. Furthermore, a new pro posal for Phase 3 funding was de veloped together with Dr Dan Makumbi from CIMMYT (Nairobi).

The visit was made possible by funding provided by the NRF SA/Kenya bilateral grant awarded in 2014 to Prof Altus Viljoen to facili-tate continued interaction be tween members/collaborators of the re-search groups.

A sub sequent visit by Prof Okoth to the Department of Plant Pathology saw her give a presenta-tion on Management of aflatoxins in eas tern and southern Africa, pre-senting some of the research con-ducted by the two institutions.

From left to right: Drs Lindy J Rose (SU) and Dan Makumbi (CIMMYT) and Profs Bradley C Flett (ARC-GCI) and Sheila Okoth (University of Nairobi).

Ms Hannél Ham and Prof Coert Geldenhuys.

Top honours for two eminent SU scientists

Ham elected president;award for Geldenhuys• Prof Coert Geldenhuys, extraordinary professor

in Forest and Wood Science, received the Dedicated Service Award of the Southern African Institute of Forestry (SAIF) at its 48th AGM held in Nelspruit recently. The award is made annually to members of the Institute in recognition of continuous and dedicated service.

• Ms Hannél Ham, a research associate at Forest and Wood Science, was elected as the 24th president of the Institute for the period 2016 to 2018. This is only the second time that a woman has been elected as president in the 48 year existence of the SAIF.

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Groundwork for a new bilateral project between the Institute for

Wine Biotechnology, Department of Viticulture and Oenology (IWBT/DVO) in South Africa, and a project team from the Umea Plant Science Centre and Computational Life Science Cluster (CLiC) at Umea University in Sweden was recently done during a workshop at Stias (Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies).

The aim of this project is to analyse a large and complex data set that was generated by a team of IWBT/DVO researchers in an integrated project on Sauvignon blanc funded by the South African Wine Industry, the THRIP programme and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The integrated approach implemented in this project follows on the development of workflows to conduct large scale field studies in vineyards with a “Field-Omics” approach using highly characterised model vineyards. The project “follows” wine production from the vineyard through all steps of wine making and ultimately wine

perception (sensory evaluation).The main grant holders and part-

ners in the bilateral project, which is called Wine as a System, are Prof Melané Vivier (Stellenbosch) and Prof Johan Trygg (Umeå). The Swedish group has a proven record for inno-vative multivariate data analysis, with a strong focus on advanced systems biology data analysis work-flows. These skills will be essential to develop and im plement appropriate data analysis workflows for the bio-logical data generated by the South African partners.

The funder of the project, the Swedish Foundation for International Co-operation in Research and Higher Education (STINT), has collaborated with other research councils in Swe-den and awarded an amount of 5.3 million SEK (Swedish Krona) for ten projects – 103 applications were re ceived – within the South Africa/Sweden Bilateral Scientific Research Co-operation programme for the period 2016 to 2019.

The NRF will be financing the South African groups with an equi-valent amount.

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Groundwork for major new bilateral project completed

Why agriculture is vital for SA’s economic futureCountries that tax agricultural sectors are normally poor. Countries

which subsidise the agricultural sector are normally rich. This is according to Prof Mohammad Karaan, Dean of the Faculty of

AgriSciences, who was a speaker at National Treasury’s Public Economics Winter School held recently at the University of Pretoria. Karaan shared evidence to show why agriculture should be part of economic and industrial policy.

He explained: “Agriculture must form an important part of the economic future of South Africa. Most economic evidence does not favour agriculture as a future development path. But there is enough evidence to show that agriculture can play a role in modernising economy.”

Karaan continued: “Looking at China as an example, within 15 years, the country was able to take almost 20% of its population out of poverty through agricultural development. Much of economic development in South-East Asia, China, Singapore and others was based on industrialising agriculture, introducing land reform and developing the manufacturing industry. A country’s future is also developed around planning with surplus factors of production such as labour.”

Karaan said the fact that technical change brings about specialisation and productivity, shows that agriculture should be part of an industrial development strategy. “If it was not for technical change which has taken place in the last 20 years in agricultural research and innovation, we would not be able to deal with the current drought, the worst in 100 years.”

He added: “Looking at the growth of South Africa’s real GDP per capita over the last 300 years, prior to the gold rush and the discovery of diamonds, GDP was low. At the time South Africa was largely an agricultural economy, exporting field crops, wool and wine. If a sector only relies on agriculture, it will get poorer overtime, unless there is some industrialisation.”

Ruforum African Higher Education WeekThe Fifth Ruforum Biennial Conference 2016 (also known as ‘African Higher Education Week’) takes place from 17 to 21 October 2016 at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town. The theme will be ‘Linking Agricultural Universities with Civil Society, the Private Sector, Governments and other Stakeholders in support of Agricultural Development in Africa’.

• For more information, contact biennial@ruforum.org or info@rb2016.org

Pictured here are back (from the left): Philip Young, Johan Trygg, Hans Stenlund, Hans Eyeghe-Bickong, Hugh Patternton, Andreas Sjödin, Florian Bauer, Rickard Sjögren, Joakim Bygdell, Maret du Toit. Front (ltr): Debra Rossouw, Izabella Surowiec, Erna Blancquaert, Anke Berry, Anscha Zietsman, Kari du Plessis, Chandré Joubert, Carien Coetzee, Melané Vivier, Evodia Setati.

Die Departement Voedselwetenskap het een van vier nGap-poste ontvang wat aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch (US) toegewys is. Altesaam 79

toewysings is aan universiteite oor Suid-Afrika heen gemaak.Die Nuwe Generasie Akademici-program (nGap), wat deur die

Departement van Hoër Onderwys en Opleiding (DHOO) aangebied word, is daarop gerig om universiteite te help om nuwe personeel in lyn met hulle personeel- en ontwikkelingsplanne te werf.

Die DHOO dra die koste van die pos vir die eerste drie jaar. Daarna begin die universiteit tot die jong akademikus se indiensnemingskoste bydra. Die nGAP sal ook die nuut-gewerfde dosente ondersteun om by onderwysontwikkeling- en navorsingsontwikkelingsgeleenthede te baat. Aansoekers moet jonger as 40 wees.

Prof Gunnar Sigge, Hoof van die Departement Voedselwetenskap, sê hy is baie verlig oor en in sy skik met die nGap-pos wat aan sy departement toegewys is aangesien personeelkapasiteit al die afgelope paar jaar ’n uitdaging is. Die studentetal in die Departement Voedselwetenskap het sedert 2008 met 54% toegeneem, maar die akademiese komponent het met net een – van vyf tot ses – toegeneem.

In 2015 was daar 2 013 voorgraadse BSc Voedselwetenskap-studente, en 30 MSc en 22 PhD ingeskrewe studente. Dit is dus duidelik dat die akademiese personeel ’n hoë voorgraadse onderriglading het.

Trees of the year: 2016Common tree: Ficus thonningii: Family Moraceae (SA no. 48) (left). Common name: Common wild fig, Strangler fig, Gewone wildevy, umThombe, umBombeThis evergreen tree is relative drought resistant, but grows best in the drier to moist tropics at elevations of 1 000 to 2 500m. It prefers full sun, medium rainfall areas with deep and well-drained soils. It is is planted for shade, fences, shelter, erosion control, improve nutrient status and water-holding capacity of soil. The fruits and leaves are edible and provide a valuable source of nutrition. The bark, roots and latex have medicinal properties. Bark fibre is also used for making mats and strong ropes.

Uncommon tree: Maerua cafra: Family Capparaceae (SA no. 133) (left). Common name: common bush-cherry, white-wood, gewone witbos, unTswantwsane, umPhunzisaMaerua consist of approximately 100 species of which roughly eleven occur in Southern Africa. The name Maerua cafra might be from Arabic descendent as the name cafra is traditionally given to various plants from the eastern areas of southern Africa. Maerua cafra is a rare species in South Africa and grows as a low bush on dunes (dry places) to a tree in bushveld regions, rocky areas, wooded grassland and along forest margins (up to 9m – average 3m). Its perfect for landscaping, is water wise and form good hedges.

nGAP-pos help Voedselwetenskap

ISSUE/UITGAWE XX MONTH/MAAND 20XX 4terug na inhoudsopgawe / back to contents ISSUE/UITGAWE 79 Aug 2016

l veekunde l animal sciences l veekunde l Dairy researchers visit Utah for JAM of the ASAS and the ADSA

Dr Emiliano Raffrenato of the Department of Ani mal

Sciences and two of his postgra-duate students, Aimee Russouw and Louis Venter, re cent ly atten-ded the joint annual meeting of the American Society of Animal Science and the American Dairy Science Association in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The theme of the meeting was Big Solutions for Grand Challenges.

During the proceedings con-siderable time was spent on the gut microbiome and prenatal pro gramming. The Stellenbosch University (SU) delegates contri-buted with one platform and one poster presentation on starch diges tibility and on yeast use for ruminants, respectively.

The meeting was characterised by the introduction of e-posters which brought much more inter-action between presenters and delegates.

Raffrenato and his students were able to establish collaborative networks with the University of Nevada (Prof Antonio Faciola), Penn State University (Prof Kevin Harvatine) and the US Department of Agriculture (Dr MB Hall).

Faciola is due to spend ten days next month in the Department of Animal Sciences with a view of collaborating in research projects of Raffrenato and his team.

Die plaaslike tak van die Suid-Afrikaanse Vereniging vir Vee-

kundiges (SAV3) was onlangs gas-heer van die 49ste SAV3-kongres by die Spier-konferensiesentrum buite Stellenbosch. Die kongres is die eerste keer saam met die 6de Internasionale Wetenskaplike Loopvoël-simposium aangebied.

Die SAV3-kongres en die Loop-voël-simposium is onder skei delik deur 340 en 75 kongres gangers van 13 Suid-Afrikaanse en twee internasionale universiteite, asook rolspelers van verskeie be drywe wat by diereproduksie be trokke is, bygewoon. Navorsers en studente van die Departement Vee kundige Wetenskappe het on der skeidelik 41 en 15 lesings op die kongres en simposium aan ge bied. Kongres-gangers kon die 20 plakkate, wat in die Old Wine Cellar ten toongestel is, besigtig.

Die tema van die kongres en simposium was Novel Research – Functional Farming, met klem op

die toepaslikheid van wetenskap-like navorsing in die bedryf. Van die genooide sprekers, waaronder dr Chris van Dijk (MPO), Ger hard Schutte (RPO), prof Mohammad Karaan (Universiteit Stellenbosch) en Kevin Lovell (SAPA), het hulle kundigheid met die gehoor kom deel en ook uitgelig in hoe ’n mate navorsing, wat deur aka demiese

instellings gedoen word, relevant en toepaslik op bedryfs vlak is.

Die belang van gesprekke tussen die bedryf en die akademiese sek tor is onder meer uitgelig. Daardeur sal verseker kan word dat navor sing Suid-Afrika as diere produksie-land van uitnemendheid bevorder sodat hy sy regmatige plek in die interna-sionale arena kan volstaan.

Wes-Kaaptak van SASAS hou kongres by Spier

Prof Mohammad Karaan, dr Chris van Dijk van die MPO en Gerhard Schutte van die RPO spreek kongresgangers toe.

Insight into sustainable farming practices in Benin

Dr Emiliano Raffrenato of the Department of Animal Sciences has visited Benin to establish a long term collaboration with the University of Abomey-Calavi in

Cotonou and the Department of Livestock of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture.Raffrenato is part of a research team which collaborates with the University of

Pretoria and the University Federico II of Naples in Italy to investigate ways of improving animal and farm efficiency, aimed at alleviating the poor conditions in which people in rural areas have to deal with on a daily basis. The main focus of the team is on improving the use of local resources and by-products, and the development of a farm model to use locally and potentially throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

The team also recently visited a most interesting model of farming led by five nuns that manage an orphanage for disabled children, most of whom have been abandoned by their parents. Their sustainable production practises include farming with dairy goats, ducks, chickens and rabbits, with the achieved success evident from the generation of profit in some cases.

During his Italian sojourn Raffrenato also presented several lectures at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Cotonou.

Dr Raffrenato discussing sustainable farming practices during one of the lectures he presented at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Cotonou.

Studente ryg toekennings in op kongresVerskeie medaljes en toekennings is op die 49ste kongres van die Suid-

Afrikaanse Vereniging vir Veekunde (SAV3) deur studente van die De-partement Veekundige Wetenskappe ingepalm. Die kongres het van 3 tot 6 Julie by Spier plaasgevind.

Lise Sandenbergh en Marna Smith-Stofberg het albei ’n SAV3-brons-medalje-toekenning vir hulle doktorale navorsing ontvang. Dianca du Plessis, wat tans met haar meestersnavorsing besig is, het ’n beurs van die Vereniging vir die beste finalejaar Veekunde-student ontvang.

YXY, Three Wise Monkeys dink flinkStudente van die Departement Veekundige Wetenskappe het uitstekend

gevaar in die onlangse Veeplaas-studentevasvrakompetisie wat deel uitge-maak het van die 49ste kongres van die Suid-Afrikaanse Vereniging vir Veekunde.

Die kongres het verlede maand by die Spier-konferensiesentrum buite Stellenbosch plaasgevind. Elf spanne van akademiese instellings soos die US, UOVS, UP en die Universiteite van Fort Hare, Limpopo en Venda, het aan die kompetisie deelgeneem. Die US se twee spanne, genaamd YXY en The Three Wise Monkeys, het onderskeidelik tweede en derde plek in die vasvra behaal.

Die ‘YXY’- spanlede is (vlnr) Mark Kirstein, Leanne Jordaan en Gerhard Niemann.

Die ‘Three Wise Monkeys’-spanlede is (vlnr) Dianca du Plessis, Juanita Langeveldt en Nelius Nel.

Lise Sandenbergh (links) en Marna Smith-Stofberg (middel) met hulle SAV3-bronsmedaljes wat hulle tydens die galadinee vir hulle doktorale navorsing ontvang het. Regs is Dianca du Plessis, wat ’n beurs vir die beste finalejaar Veekunde-student ontvang het.

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Research by the Diversity and Symbiosis Group, headed by Dr Francois Roets in

the Department of Conservation Ecology and Ento mology, and Prof Leanne Dreyer in the Department of Botany and Zoology, has led to the publication of the first full genome sequences for two fungal species endemic to the fynbos biome. This forms part of a PhD study by Janneke Aylward focussed on comparative genomics of the species Knoxdaviesia capensis and K. proteae.

The announcement appeared in the latest issue of the journal Standards in Genomic Sciences and is the result of collaborative research between Stellenbosch University and the University of Pretoria that was funded by the DST-NRF Centre of Tree Health Biotechnology.

These fungi have well-known tree-killing relatives, but their presence in the seed cones of Protea plants have long puzzled mycologists.

Unlike their pathogenic cousins, they do not seem to have obvious negative impacts on the beloved Protea plants. Since their discovery in Protea, much work has been done to establish how they move between the Protea seed cones and what factors influence their presence.

In short, the mites that infest Protea seed cones get “painted” with the sticky spores of the fungus while they walk around. These small mites struggle to move from one place to another, so they use beetles and birds as taxis. The fungi, along for the ride, are dispersed quite far in this way – some studies suggest as far as Stellenbosch to Mossel Bay.

So did these fungi just see a gap in a nice-looking seed cone and decide to live there? Why are they not causing disease in their Protea hosts and what enables them to live in dead cones that seem to have very little nutrients? The genome

sequences of the two Knoxdaviesia species are not only great because they are the first from their family of fungi or from the fynbos, but they will also provide a blue-print for these to be studied and many other unanswered questions. Using these genomes, one can look at K. capensis and K. proteae from the proverbial “head to toe” and ultimately learn a little more about the amazing biodiversity of fungi.

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Dr Pia Addison was invited to collaborate on a new regional project involving “enhancing

capacity for detection, surveillance and suppression of exotic and established fruit fly species through integration of sterile insect technique and other suppression methods.”

The first meeting to kick-start the four year project recently took place at the Eduardo Mondale University in Maputo, Mozam bique. It is being funded and co-ordinated by the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and FAO. The overall objective of the project is to enhance agricultural productivity in Africa and the Indian Ocean region by supporting the production of

Cape Citizen Science is a new project to survey plant-killing microbes in the fynbos. The pro-

ject invites citizens to participate in research by reporting dying plants, submitting samples, and even spending time in the laboratory. It also seeks to include students interested in web develop-ment, graphic design and video pro duc tion. Any-one is welcome to participate!

The project focuses on plant killing microbes called Phytophthora (a Greek term that literally translates to ‘plant destroyer’), which cause many plant disease epidemics around the world (e.g. potato late blight – Irish potato famine and sudden oak death), and may cause protea root rot extensively in the Western Cape. However, researchers hypothesise that there are more Phytophthora exotic and indigenous species present in the fynbos, and invite the public to join the hunt and possibly discover new, undescribed species!

Citizen Science projects are research pro jects committed to educational outreach. Cape Citizen Science offers public workshops on recognising

plant disease and contributing sam ples to the project. Anyone interested in learning is welcome to participate.

Citizens can report dying plants through on-line tools such as IspotNature, or submit physical samples directly to the laboratory in Stellenbosch. Phytophthora species move through moist soil and water using swimming spores. Therefore, one example of how citizens can contribute to the research is by submitting water samples from river recreational activities or sources of fresh-water irrigation.

Starting in September, the project will launch a phase of targeted soil sampling, providing a form of science driven recreation.

Cape Citizen Science is based in the Diversity and Symbiosis Group headed by Dr Francois Roets in the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology. The project is a collaboration between Stellenbosch University, the University of Pretoria, the Forestry and Agricultural Bio tech-nology Institute, and the Center of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology. More information about the project can be found on their website: http://citsci.co.za

Top left: Dying Proteaceae in natural mountain fynbos: the focus of this project.Left: Citizen Science in action: anyone and everyone can contribute.

First fungal genomes from the fynbos

Join the hunt for protea killing microbes

Project to enhance agricultural activity in Africa takes off

Protea repens inflorescences and seed cones.

Insert: Knoxdaviesia capensis (top) and K. proteae (bottom) on Protea flowers. Figures from Aylward et al. 2015. IMA Fungus 6: 471-476.

fruit fly free fruits and vegetables, meeting international standards.The problem is being addressed through a larger, regional project due to the transboundary nature

of fruit flies; the need to exchange experiences and share research outputs between participating countries and the need for a standard response to outbreak protocols; as well as co-operation among member states on the response to potential invasions of exotic fruit flies and creation of areas of low pest prevalence – to secure export markets.

The project involves 19 African countries, including the southern African region, West and East Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. Stakeholders include ministries responsible for surveillance and eradication of invasive flies, agricultural research and extension services, as well as agricultural colleges and universities.

Pictured here are the delegates who attended the first meeting to kick-start the four year project aimed at enhancing agricultural activity in Africa. The meeting took place at the Eduardo Mondale University in Maputo.

J Aylward

ISSUE/UITGAWE XX MONTH/MAAND 20XX 6 ISSUE/UITGAWE 79 Aug 2016terug na inhoudsopgawe / back to contents

l navorsing l research l kursusse l courses l Naaldekoker hou lyf verkleurmannetjieDie Spesbona-waterjuffer is een van die min

“verkleurmannetjies” van die naaldekoker-wêreld, en is boonop heeltemal uniek aan die insekwêreld.

Wanneer die temperatuur daal, verander die mannetjie sowel as die wyfie van hierdie be-dreigde fynbos-spesie se kleur binne sekondes van koningsblou tot ’n veel donkerder bruin. Dit gebeur ook met sonsondergang of wanneer ’n wolk voor die son verbygaan. Wanneer die temperatuur weer styg, trek dié insek weer vin-nig sy spreekwoordelike blou baadjie aan.

Dit is die enigste insek-spesie tot dusver bekend aan die wetenskap by wie hierdie omkeerbare kleurverandering weens temperatuurwisseling in albei geslagte voorkom, sê Charl Deacon, ’n nagraadse student in Bewaringsekologie in die Fakulteit AgriWetenskappe, en sy studieleier, insek-bewaringskundige prof Michael Samways.

Hulle het onlangs hul bevindings in ’n artikel in die internasionale vaktydskrif Journal of Insect Conservation uiteengesit.

Hierdie kleinerige tipe naaldekoker is in die jare twintig ontdek. Daarna is gemeen dat dit uitgesterf het, totdat dit sowat 82 jaar later in ’n vleigebied in die Theewaterskloof-bewaararea tussen Villiersdorp en Franschhoek opgemerk is. Sy herontdekking deur Samways en fotograaf Warwick Tarboton het gevolg na die verwydering van indringerplante in die gebied.

Deacon, wat MSc in Entomologie swot, is ’n opkomende jong navorser wat al waterverwante kwessies sedert sy skooldae in die Noord-Kaaplandse myndorp, Kathu, bestudeer het. Hy onthou: “Toe prof Samways my oorspronklik vertel het van hierdie fenomeen, het ek gemeen dat ’n insek wat in staat is tot omkeerbare kleurveranderings ’n lekker navorsingsonderwerp

sou wees – veral aangesien Spesbona angusta ’n endemiese spesie is. Om dié kleurverandering reg voor my eie oë binne ’n paar sekondes te sien gebeur, is eenvoudig verstommend, en herinner my net weer oor hoe gek ek oor insekte is.”

South Africa’s 162 sun loving dragonfly species are not only

beautiful to watch, but are also helping conservationists, water ma-na gers and farmers get to grips with the state of local freshwater sources, such as rivers, streams and dams.

To show how this can be done, two Stellenbosch University (SU) researchers have written a new book which sets out how these insects can be used as freshwater monitors.

The new 224-page full colour Manual of Freshwater Assess ment for South Africa: Dragon fly Biotic Index is written and compiled by Prof

Michael Samways, renowned insect conservationist of the De partment of Conservation Eco logy and Entomology, and water ecologist Dr John Simaika, a re search fellow in SU’s Department of Soil Science.

Says Samways: “Using dragonflies in freshwater assessments is so simple, because they are relatively easy to identify. All you need is a good guide, a pair of close-focus binoculars, and a sunny day.”

The book synthesises the re-search they have been doing to-gether over the past decade to compile an easy-to-use biotic in dex that is relevant for South African

water systems. In the process they have also been in-volved in finding new species or re-d i scover ing ones that were thought to have be come extinct.

The manual, which contains full-colour photo-graphs and line drawings, can also be used as a field guide to locate and identify dragonfly species.

• The book can be ordered from samways@sun.ac.za

Dragonflies can assess state of dams, rivers and streams

Charl Deacon, ’n MSc-student in Entomologie en die Spesbona-waterjuffrou wat heelwat blouer op ’n sonnige dag vertoon wanneer temperature in die diep twintigs is.

Dr John Simaika.

Nuwe nagraadse diploma vir agronome ingestelLeergieriges wat in die saad- of kunsmisbedryf betrokke is of hul kennis

oor gewasboerdery en onkruidbestuur wil uitbrei, kan naderskuif vir ’n nuwe nagraadse diploma in Agronomie. Dit word van 2017 deur die Departement Agronomie aangebied en bied spesifiek bykomende in-diepte opleidingsgeleenthede aan mense wat nie hulle naskoolse agronomiekennis aan ’n universiteit ontvang het nie, maar eerder ’n landboukollege of ’n universiteit van tegnologie.

Kursuskoördineerder dr PJ Pieterse van die Departement Agronomie gee meer inligting oor die kursus:• Die ontwikkeling van die kursus spruit uit versoeke uit die bedryf vir

die verdere gevorderde en uitgebreide ondersteuning van mense wat ’n landboukwalifikasie in agronomie agter hul naam het, maar nie nood-wendig oor ’n BScAgric beskik nie omdat hulle aan ’n landboukollege of universiteit van tegnologie (voorheen bekend as “technikons”) studeer het en nie oor ’n BScAgric-graad nie, maar eerder ’n BSc-graad of ’n BTech-graad beskik.

• Die kursus kan heeltyds oor een jaar gedoen word, of deeltyds oor twee jaar versprei word.

• Enige driejarige graad met Agronomie as een van die finalejaarsmodules is voldoende om tot die kursus toegelaat te word. ’n Minimum slaagpunt van 60% in dié vakgebied word ook benodig. Dit is NIE vir mense wat reeds met ’n BScAgric gegradueer het nie, en lei NIE noodwendig na nog studies op meestersgraadvlak nie.

• Vir meer navrae oor die kursus, kontak dr PJ Pieterse pjp@sun.ac.za, of 021 808 4805, of me Rahkeenah Peters by rosman@sun.ac.za (tel. 021 808 4803). Die sluitingsdatum vir inskrywings is 14 September.

Nuwe M-graad bied kans aan koskundiges’n Nuwe meestersgraadkursus aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch sal beleid-makers en mense in nie-regeringsorganisasies help om ingeligte besluite te neem oor kwessies rondom kos en voedselsekerheid. Dit neem ook aspekte rondom goeie gesondheid in ag, en watter rol voedsame kossoorte daarin speel. Dit sal ’n tweejarige MSc in Voedsel- en Voedingsekerheid-program wees en begin reeds volgende jaar.

Dit is die eerste nagraadse kursus aan die US wat gesamentlik deur twee fakulteite aangebied word – die Fakulteit AgriWetenskappe (Departement Voedselwetenskap) en die Fakulteit Mediese en Gesondheidswetenskappe (Departement Interdissiplinêre Gesondheidswetenskappe, Afdeling Mens-like Voeding).

“Voedsel- en voedingsekerheid gaan nie net daaroor dat ons moet sorg dat niemand honger ly nie, maar ook oor hoe om te verseker dat genoeg van die regte soorte kosse geproduseer word, en dat alle landsburgers toe-gang het tot voldoende gesonde opsies,” meen prof Gunnar Sigge van die Departement Voedselwetenskap.

Die volgende kwalifikasies is nodig om vir die kursus te kan kwalifiseer: ’ntoepaslikeBSc-graadindieNatuurwetenskap(3jaar)enʼnhonneursgraad,OF ’n BSc Landbou-graad OF ’n vierjarige graad in Gesondheidswetenskappe, met ’n minimum slaagsyfer van 60%, OF ’n Baccalaureus- en Honneursgraad. Slegs ’n gespesifiseerde getal studente word jaarliks gekeur.

Die program strek oor ’n minimum van twee jaar, maar dit is nie nodig dat die student voltyds op kampus is nie.• Vir navrae oor die programinhoud, kontak prof Gunnar Sigge,

voor sitter van die US Departement Voedselwetenskappe by gos@sun.ac.za of prof Xikombiso Mbhenyane by xgm@sun.ac.za