On the 18th of October 2017 the African Centre for Gene Technologies (ACGT) in conjunction with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) hosted a Regional Plant Biotechnology Forum at the ARC’s Central Office Auditorium in Hatfield. The focus for this forum was “Plant-Soil Interactions”. This theme came in light of the national plant-soil working group initiative that the ARC is planning to create and coordinate. The forum was attended by a number of people from the ACGT’s partner institutions as well as outside institutions, including the University of Cape Town and industry representatives.
The organising committee were fortunate to secure Prof Wijnand Swart as the keynote speaker for the forum. Prof Swart is currently in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein and Discipline Head in the Division of Plant Pathology. His research broadly focuses on using the taxonomic and functional diversity of microorganisms, above- and below ground, as bio-indicators of soil and plant health. His research interest made him a perfect fit for the forum’s theme. Prof Swart gave a fascinating talk titled “Phytobiomes: Key to understanding plant and soil health”.
Other equally fascinating talks came from Prof Joanne Dames (Rhodes University and Mycoroot), Prof Oleg Reva (University of Pretoria), Ms Francina Bopape (ARC), Dr Juan Venter (University of Pretoria), Dr Martin Myer (Biopower Institute) and Dr Fidele Tugizimana (University of Johannesburg).
The forum, like many of the ACGT fora, served as a platform for people from different institutions and labs to network as well as discuss future collaborative initiative. The plant-soil working group was a big topic during the networking session/lunch. The ACGT aims to work together with the ARC to establish and coordinate the working group and it will keep all interested stakeholders up to date with its progression.
The ACGT would like to thank Dr Charles Hefer and Dr Dirk Swanevelder from the ARC for assisting in organising the forum.
