25th Asian-Pacific Weed Science Conference organized

16^th October 2015, Hyderabad

The Silver Jubilee Conference of Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society (APWSS) was successfully organized during 13-16 October, 2015 at Professor Jayshankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU), Hyderabad. This mega event was organized by Indian Society of Weed Science in collaboration of   APWSS, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Directorate of Weed Research (DWR) and PJTSAU, Hyderabad. Dr. N.T. Yaduraju, Convenerof Conference and President of APWSS and Indian Society of Weed Science welcomed the Chief Guests and participants during inaugural function and gave his Presidential address highlighting the menace of weeds and their management world over. The main theme of the conference was “Weed Science for Sustainable Agriculture, Environment and Biodiversity.’

The conference was inaugurated on 13thOctober 2015 by Prof. P. Appa Rao, Vice Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad as aChief Guestand Dr. D. Rama Rao, Director, NAARM as the Guest of Honour. The conference was attended by approximately 700 delegates including 107 from 25 diferent countries including Republic of Korea, Vietnam, New Zealand, Italy, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Germany, Philippines, United States, Nigeria, Australia, United Kingdom, China, Canada, Japan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Tanzania, Taiwan and Sudan. Industry sector was represented by  46 delegates from different industrial houses. Leading scientists and policy makers delivered 11 Plenary lectures on different topics.

The conference comprised of 12 technical sessions with 16 lead presentations and 106 oral presentations in all. Five satellite symposia were organized on important emerging topics viz., conservation agriculture, weedy rice, biological control, herbicide resistance and weed utilization with world renowned weed scientist as conveners for each symposium. About 627 poster presentations were made by delegates from all over the globe covering various aspects of weed science, out of which 9 best posters won different awards representing Sri Lanka, India and Japan.

Silver Jubilee function of the APWSS Conferences and the book release ceremony of the special publications was held on 14th October, 2015, which was another unique event of this Conference. Field visit to the research farm of the University, Indian Institute of Rice Research and ICRISAT was also arranged by the organizers for the benefit of the delegates.

An overview of the conference and vote of thanks was given by Dr. A.R. Sharma, Organizing Secretary, APWSSS/Secretary ISWS and Director, ICAR- DWR , Jabalpur during valedictory function.

(Source: ICAR- DWR, Jabalpur)