Dr Vincent Lanoiselet was appointed as Project Scientist in late July 2005 and located at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Wagga Wagga. Merchandise for the plant pathology laboratory at CARDI was ordered from four suppliers and was delivered to Phnom Penh in various consignments from Jan - Mar 2006. Some of this equipment has yet to be unpacked. The equipment and consumables are listed in Appendix A of the annual report. Most was sourced in Australia except for the microscopes and laminar airflow cabinet which were sourced via a European supplier in Cambodia.
Drs Ny Vuthy and Preap Visarto visited CSU, Wagga in Nov. 2005 to participate in 2 weeks of training in plant pathology principles and methods. The course was structured to meet known and anticipated needs in Cambodia. The course was delivered by Drs Cother, Lanoiselet and Ash, based on material developed by Dr Lanoiselet and teaching aids from Dr Ash. The program is detailed in Appendix C of the annual report. The workshop notes are appended to the CD version of this report.

The workshop covered informal lectures and videos, field visits to onion, tomato and rice crops in the Riverina, and laboratory practices.
A visit was made to the Agricultural Scientific Collection Unit at Orange to look at the plant pathology herbarium and for demonstrations in plant bacteriology techniques. A new plant pathology laboratory at Wagga Agricultural Institute was visited to discuss the principles of lab design and work flow.
Drs Vuthy and Visarto were enthusiastic participants who were keen to be involved in hands-on laboratory techniques.

Two days were devoted to:
Planning the workflow in the CARDI plant pathology laboratory, placement of equipment and infrastructure (shelves, cupboards and additional power points) that would need to be acquired for practical operation of the lab. These were overlaid on photographs of the lab taken during our visit in August 2004.
Planning and logistics for the survey to be undertaken in Feb 2006. Content and structure of the training workshop to be held at CARDI during the Feb. visit to Cambodia, and an action plan for both parties was prepared. The target audience was deemed to include personnel from CARDI (10-12), DALLI (2), provinces (10), NGOs and AQIP (2) private consultants and farmers (2-4). Scope of instruction and method of delivery was discussed.
Designing a specimen submission form for future use at CARDI to be translated into Khmer for use in the February workshop.
Drs Vuthy and Visarto were given a lap top computer, copies of presentations in PowerPoint, many plant pathology reference books and numerous forceps, probes, needles and scissors for the CARDI lab.

Dr Lanoiselet resigned as Project Scientist on 3 Feb. 2006 to take up a position as Lecturer in Agronomy with CSU. However he will remain part of the CSU team involved with the project. Refilling the position with NSWDPI has taken longer than anticipated, and interviews for a replacement are scheduled for the week commencing 26 June 2006.

Surveys of lowland rice crops were carried out in Takeo, Kandal, Svay Rieng, Prey Veng and Kampong Chhnang Provinces in August and February. Crops of upland rice in Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri Provinces that had suffered large losses due to a combination of disease, adverse weather events and insects (termites and stem borers) were inspected in November. Bacterial diseases dominate and many of the diseases listed in various sources as present in Cambodia have not been observed. The pathogen causing Blast disease, which is reported to be widespread, was only isolated from one locality. Survey results are highlighting the importance of laboratory isolations to confirm diagnoses based on symptoms. In many instances, diseased tissue has not yielded the pathogen presumed to be the cause based only on symptoms. Leaf lesions similar to those caused by the blast fungus have only produced species of Bipolaris, Drechslera, Curvularia and Helminthosporium. Conidia of Magnaporthe grisea have not been observed on lesioned tissue.

Bakanae disease was widespread at a low incidence in many crops. Yield loss was estimated as low but this disease poses a great problem for farmers who save their own seed.
The first plant disease herbarium in Cambodia has been commenced at CARDI. This will curate specimens of correctly identified diseases (initially of rice, but other crops will be included in future) as a record of their occurrence and as potential training material for plant pathology personnel. Authenticated cultures of the pathogens are lodged in Herb. DAR in Orange.
On-site training in plant pathology laboratory methods was a continuing feature of our visits. In addition, a 3-day course on disease recognition in tomatoes and other vegetables, and field sampling protocols was conducted in conjunction with ACIAR project CP/2202/115.

A field experiment was set up at CARDI to assess cultivar and fertiliser interactions with blast disease. There was widespread occurrence of bacterial glume blight, glume lesions and Cercospora leaf spot but no blast developed in the trial plots. A glasshouse experiment was conducted to investigate a reported lack of vigour in CARDI-derived rice seed sown in Takeo Province. The condition could not be reproduced in the glasshouse and it was determined that field history was a major influence on the perceived problem

Several pathogenicity tests were conducted to complete Koch's postulates with bacterial and fungal isolates derived from infected plants sampled in the field. The severity of infection and the widespread occurrence of some bacterial pathogens indicated that considerable yield and/or quality loss is occurring in many areas where the diseases have been observed.
A survey of diseases in wild Oryza species in northern Australia has identified a previously unrecorded smut disease caused by a new species of Tilletia. Tests are in progress to determine the pathogenicity of this fungus to a commercial cultivar of rice. Three bacterial diseases were also identified for the first time in wild Oryza spp. The Australian survey was augmented by experience gained in Cambodia and it is now known that the three pathogens detected in the Northern Territory are similar to those detected in Cambodia and that they are pathogenic to domestic rice cultivars.