For the past thirteen years, the event called Trans-Tisza Plant Protection Forum has also functioned as an international symposium. There was a significant number of distinguished speakers attending the symposium this time, too, coming from the United Kingdom, India, Nepal, North Macedonia, Romania and Slovakia to the event, which was held at the headquarters of the Debrecen Regional Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Science (DAB).
This year’s event was organized around “the role of professional knowledge in our changing world.” The reason for this choice was that plant protection specialists are facing increasingly significant challenges due to shifting climatic conditions, while it is common knowledge that healthy food can only be produced from healthy raw materials.
- We need to change our plant protection methods. Besides minimizing the use of chemical agents, the application of other protective strategies is also necessary for integrated pest management. For example, innovative precision plant protection solutions, such as drones and GPS-based technologies, are coming to the fore, while there is also growing significance in the use of alternative biological preparations, essential oils and other natural substances, such as plant extracts- said Gábor Tarcali, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Plant Protection of MÉK, in response to an inquiry from hirek.unideb.hu.
This year’s exceptionally dry weather conditions have had a dual impact on the health of plants.
- We observed that diseases were hardly present at all, because infections basically require water and humidity. The dry conditions, by contrast, proved to be more favourable for animal pests. At the same time, the changing climate not only leads to the emergence of new pests but also makes certain existing ones proliferate. Nevertheless, in other instances, weather conditions may result in a decline in their population numbers or the extent of the harm they cause- added Professor Tarcali.
In his welcoming address, Professor Antal Nagy from the Institute of Plant Protection, mentioned that, while the past year had ushered in a number challenges to the agricultural sector, the present conference and the ensuing scientific and professional discourse could offer some reason for optimism.
- Both Hungarian and international students from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management are participating in this plant protection forum, with quite a few of them presenting their research findings, thereby enhancing the international character of our conference. This feature also demonstrates that the field of plant protection continues to be an attractive career path- he said.
The Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management offers an English-language plant protection training program in every academic year. So students enrolled in the program from Turkey, China, Morocco, Mozambique, Uganda, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam also presented papers at the forum.
The opening plenary was delivered by Biljana Atanasova from Goce Delchev University of Stip in North Macedonia, who spoke about the need to rethink plant protection. She detailed how the assumptions based on traditional farming strategies would no longer be sufficient because of the climate change demanding novel solutions in the field of plant protection.
There were also presentations given on the plant protection situation in neighbouring countries, as well as topics such as vector leafhopper species, locust swarms in the Carpathian Basin, methods for preventing sunburn in orchards, plant protection in walnut plantations and the effects of precision pesticide application in apple orchards. For the second day of the forum, a professional field trip to the Tokaj-Hegyalja region was on offer.
Once again, the Antal Gulyás Memorial Medal for Plant Protection was awarded during the course of the conference. This year, the recognition was presented to Klára Balázs, a plant doctor, entomologist and editor-in-chief of the journal Növényvédelem (Plant Protection). In addition, the Hajdú-Bihar County Regional Organization of the Hungarian Chamber of Plant Protection Engineers and Plant Doctors bestowed the “Excellent Plant Doctor” title upon György Juhász.
Press Center – SzZsL