The 26th IWGO Conference Successfully Held in Beijing
The 26th IWGO (International Working Group on Ostrinia and Other maize pests) Conference, organized by IWGO of IOBC (International Organization of Biological Control)-Global and Institute of Plant Protection at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IPP-CAAS), collaborated with China Society of Plant Protection and MoA-CABI Joint Laboratory for Bio-safety, was held in Beijing on April 10th to 12th, 2017. The conference achieved a great success and 98 delegates from 11 countries attended the meeting, including the representatives from Belgium, Croatia, China, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, United States and Singapore.
Chaired by Dr Zhenying Wang, IWGO Co-Convenor and Director of Department of Agricultural Entomology of IPP-CAAS; Dr Dongxin Feng, then Director General of Department of International Cooperation of CAAS; Dr Dewen Qiu, Deputy Director General of IPP-CAAS, and Dr Ulrich Kuhlmann, IWGO Convenor and Executive Director for Global Operations of CABI, delivered welcome speeches.
The conference featured 11 scientific sessions with 52 presentations and 9 posters covering a range of interrelated topics. Many of the presentations were given by leading experts in the field. The 11 scientific sessions include: ecology of maize pests and implications for their sustainable management, genomic and transcriptomic research applications in corn pest insects, environmental risk assessment of insect-resistant genetically modified maize, role of genotype by environment interaction in understanding innate resistance to maize pests, the evolution of resistance to insecticidal toxins by insect pests of maize, the evolution of resistance to insecticidal toxins by insect pests of maize, migratory pests of corn, regional suppression of lepidopteran pests by Bt corn, new research in rootworm basic biology and potential applications, new generation traits for management of maize pests, and biological control of maize pests. Seven experts from IPP-CAAS, namely Zhenying Wang, Kanglai He, Xingfu Jiang, Yunhe Li, Xiangrui Li, Tiantao Zhang and Bin Yang, have delivered presentations and shared their research achievements and progresses in the conference.
Victor Clottey from CABI’s Ghana Office delivered a presentation on the spread of fall armyworm and currently-limited management options in West Africa. It was unanimously agreed by all delegates to launch a subgroup under IWGO focusing on the fall armyworm in Africa in recognition of its importance, similar to the response made to the western corn rootworm invasion in Europe in the 1990s.
For following a longstanding tradition, the Journal of Applied Entomology offered to publish the selected manuscripts presented during the 26th IWGO Conference. A printed version will be released in the middle of 2018. The 27th IWGO conference will be hosted in Switzerland in 2019.
The 26th IWGO Conference was sponsored by Bayer, DuPont Pioneer, Monsanto, Syngenta, DBN Biotech and Longping High-Tech. It provided a valuable international platform for the exchange of research progresses, experiences and ideas on the integrated management of maize insect pests through the use of chemical, cultural and biological control measures. These exchanges and discussions would make valuable contributions to improve Chinese scientists’ research capacity on maize insect pests, facilitate exchange and cooperation with other countries, safeguard food security and ecological safety and promote sustainable agricultural development in China.