Only 15 % recorded out of 1.5 million Fungi in the World
Coinciding with his birthday on September 9, Prof. Dr. Ir. Herry Suhardiyanto, Rector of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) opened an International Symposium on Tropical Fungi in IICC (10/9). Participants of the symposium that was held in a series of IPB’s 50th Anniversary are mycology researchers from various countries such as Indonesia, Japan, India, USA, Malaysia, Australia, Kenya, and Iraq. Fungi coexist with humans on this planet. This fact gives us only one option, namely how to manage them (fungi) to minimize negative effects and optimize the positive sides. "This symposium is expected to shed light to guide us in achieving the above objectives," said Rector.
For Indonesia, the tropical climate condition in which it is not easy for the environment to change extremely from day to day with the diversity of fungi contained in it will pose special challenges (opportunities) to lead us to a better understanding of this organism.
"It will be an exciting challenge for us to explore the biodiversity and life patterns of fungi for our survival," said Dr. Widodo, an IPB faculty member, who is also Chairman of the Symposium Committee.
Meanwhile, according to Dr. Amy Y Rossman (USA), in his keynote speech, agricultural loss due to fungal attack is estimated at $ 23.5 billion each year, meanwhile current researchers in the world can identify only 10-15 % of the estimated 1.5 million fungi scattered in various ecosystems. "Thus, fungi studies are important for our country in the USA. One is to determine the proper names of fungi and how to find out their whereabouts. Fungi with negative effects on plants should have the names indicating the impact on the plants attacked," said the researcher from the Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory, USDA.
In the same occasion, the Japanese researcher Prof. Susumu Takamatsu of Mie University described the terrible effect of the powdery mildew disease caused by a fungus called powdery mildews. This disease has infected more than 10 thousand species of angiosperm plants. (Mtd)
