The members of the FMG-EPPI team recently departed on an eleven-day field trip to Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, spanning the period 26 October to 5 November. The purpose of the field trip was to undertake an inoculation trial involving 5012 Eucalyptus trees within the Mondi compartment near Mzingazi. The first week of the trip was dedicated to the tagging of 5012 trees and inoculation of 3340 trees with the fungal canker pathogen Chrysoporthe austroafricana. The remaining 1672 trees were left uninoculated to assess growth and wood properties. The second week saw the harvest of stem tissue samples proximal to the inoculation site from 1002 inoculated trees. These samples were harvested for use in future transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses. The remaining 2338 inoculated trees were left undisturbed such that they could be revisited for phenotyping of disease development in January or February 2026. Early signs point to this field trip being a massive success with several genotypes showing signs of lesion formation at six days post inoculation.

This trial is part of an ongoing study where four greenhouse and two field inoculation trials were conducted on two different populations of Eucalyptus grandis x Eucalyptus urophylla backcrossed to E. grandis. The study aims to identify DNA markers associated with resistance against the fungal canker pathogen, Chrysoporthe austroafricana and to understand the underlying resistance mechanisms. 

Attending this filed trip were Dr Demissew Teshome, Dr Mary Ranketse, Dr Noma Majola, Dr Avhashoni Zwane, Bertus Van Rooy, Ryan Bosch, Tshoganyetso Motete, Kelebogile Happy Sathekge, Monique Horn, Tebogo Molemela, Tshiamo Lesedi, Sinenhlanhla Shongwe, Anicka Nel, Kaliwe Sindazi, Nicki van Aardt, Doleen Sehlabane and Tsholofelo Modise. We thank Mondi staff members, particularly Izette Greyling, for their support during this activity.