International Day of Plant Health: Why Protecting Plants Matters to Everyone

It’s worth remembering that 98% of the oxygen we breathe and 80% of our food is directly provided by plants. We need to be very vigilant about promoting, securing and protecting plant health.

At the School of Science, our researchers are working on the frontlines to understand and combat hidden agricultural disease threatening the plantation:

• Professor Adeline Ting and her group are discovering ways to better-control this disease through detailed studies of plant fungus interactions in the laboratory as well as in plantations.
• Taking a different angle, Dr Wei Yee Wee, is taking a computational approach to identify genes involved in the infection of oil palm cultures by the fungus using DNA sequencing datasets.
• Additionally, Dr Wei Lun Ng is profiling mangrove endophytic fungi to establish a global reference database for biodiversity discovery and long-term sustainability of these valuable coastal ecosystems.

To appreciate the International Day of Plant Health on 12 May, read the full insights on how we are securing the future of our biosphere here by Professor Sadequr Rahman on this website.