Iceland Collaborative Research on Carbon Sequestration and Climate Change.

Collaborative activities with scientists in Iceland continued during 2009.  This included several highlights.  Dr. Gudrun Gisladottir, University of Iceland, returned to The Ohio State University to continue her collaborative research with Rattan Lal and other members of the Climate, Water and Carbon program housed in the School of Environment and Natural Resources.  The collaborative research is becoming long-term as points of collaborative interest are identified and activities coalesce around them. 

Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland, received an honorary degree from The Ohio State University at the fall commencement.  While in Ohio he made presentations on the Columbus campus and at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.  President Grimsson has been a leader of the environmental movement, with particular attention to climate change related to potential sea level rise and the melting of glaciers and its impact on neighboring communities.  Rattan Lal was invited to accompany President Grímsson to a high level meeting in India at which these topics were discussed. 

U.S.-Serbia Management of Maize Redness

Richard Pratt, Horticulture & Crop Science, and Peg Redinbaugh, USDA, ARS Corn & Soybean Research, Plant Pathology, both at the Ohio Agricultural Research & Development Center (OARDC), were invited to join a collaborative group to address the cause of dramatic maize yield losses in the South Banat region of Serbia.  The putative disease had come to be known as corn redness syndrome (CRS) but the etiology remained unknown.

In November a workshop sponsored by USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) brought together all relevant stakeholders (researchers, extension agents, farmers, industry representatives, and administrators) to listen to producer concerns and invite interested parties to support future field experiments.  Producers are key to field studies which are critical to determine appropriate management strategies as foundation for best Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practice recommendations.

Since collaboration began in 2004, the Serbia Institute for Plant Protection and Environment (IPPE) and CABI Switzerland have drawn upon the technical expertise and physical facilities of the Ohio State University/USDA Agricultural Research Service maize virus research group to plan strategies and to address the following goals:  determine the etiology of CRS (accomplished); develop diagnostic procedures for CRS, develop a research-based CRS management program for Serbia-Montenegro, and develop an active network of crop protection research and extension units for CRS management (in active development, substantial progress made); and select procedures for CRS-resistant maize varieties (TBD).

Current work is underway to develop the first summaries of the yield impact (screenhouse) studies.  Investigating effective disease management strategies will be the focus of research in the coming year.