International colleagues honor Arkansas plant pathologist
Dec. 20, 2007Contact Information:
Dr. Fleet Lee, Rice Research and Extension Center, Stuttgart, 870-673-2661,fnlee@uark.edu
Howell Medders, Division of Agriculture Communications, 479-575-5647, hmedders@uark.edu
Dr. Liangying Dai (right), professor of plant pathology, Hunan Agricultural University, presents Fleet Lee with the Distinguished Research Award at the 4th International Rice Blast Conference in Changsha, Hunan, China.The award recognizes Lee's leadership in research on the fungal plant disease known as rice blast, which is a major problem for rice growers worldwide. Lee is based at the Division of Agriculture's Rice Research and Extension Center near Stuttgart. He joined the university's faculty in 1977 as an assistant professor of plant pathology.
Lee conducts research on all plant diseases that affect rice in Arkansas. The state's farmers produce nearly half of the rice grown in the United States.
In recent years, Lee has focused on how production practices impact the "field resistance" of rice plants to blast disease. His research has led to practices that allow growers to successfully grow high-yielding varieties that are susceptible to rice blast disease. By following flood irrigation guidelines that slow or impede growth of the fungus on rice plants, the impact of blast disease on yield and quality is minimized.
As a result of Lee's work, proper irrigation is now the primary blast disease control strategy for Arkansas growers. This has significantly reduced the need for chemical fungicides, which has reduced production costs and the environmental impact of applying fungicides.
Lee has also helped reduce yield losses caused by sheath blight, another major fungal disease of rice plants. His research has led to increased sheath blight resistance in varieties developed in the Arkansas Rice Variety Improvement Program based at the Rice Research and Extension Center. Yield losses in fields infected by sheath blight have been reduced from as much as 80 percent to only 15 to 25 percent in resistant varieties.
Yulin Jia, a molecular pathologist at the USDA Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center near Stuttgart, nominated Lee for the award. Jia said Lee's work provides the basis for ongoing research on rice diseases. "He has dedicated much of his life to the control of rice blast disease, which sets an example for us all in his dedication to his profession and his research," Jia said.
Lee was raised in a farm family in Lonoke, Calhoun and Pulaski counties. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Arkansas and a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, all in plant pathology.