INDUSTRY
Martinez recognized for excellence American Phytopathological Society award from the APS
Martinez-Espinoza's primary responsibility is the development and transfer of information for disease management in turfgrasses (sod production, golf courses, sports fields, professional landscapes, and lawn care), as well as small grains, and nonlegume forages. He is stationed at the UGA Griffin Campus. His instructional responsibilities include coteaching an undergraduate course on turfgrass pest management and a graduate laboratory on Diagnosis and Management of Plant Disease.
Program development
The 2021 Excellence in Extension Award recognizes an American Phytopathological Society (APS) member for excellence in extension plant pathology. Nominees were individuals who have made outstanding contributions by creating, developing, or implementing extension-related programs or materials or who have provided significant leadership in an area of extension plant pathology. Alfredo D. Martinez-Espinoza grew up in a small town in northern Mexico. He received his B.S. degree in agronomy from the Universidad Antonio Narro (UAAAN) in 1985 and subsequently worked in the wheat pathology program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) before obtaining his Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from Montana State University in 1993. Following postdoctoral work, he was appointed as an assistant professor and is currently a full professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Georgia (UGA).
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Martinez-Espinoza has developed a dynamic, nationally and internationally recognized extension program. One unique aspect of his program is his tireless outreach to underserved and hard-to-reach stakeholders. He has effectively leveraged his bilingual and bicultural abilities to deliver information to the Hispanic community in the state of Georgia and internationally. While doing so, he has utilized and developed highly effective technologies to deliver science-based information without faltering on the proven face-to-face contact through the extension system.
Disease control
Martinez-Espinoza has been instrumental in developing efficacious disease control strategies for Rhizoctonia solani on cool- and warm-season grasses, as well as take-all root rot, spring dead spot, gray leaf spot, and Biolaris leaf spot in warm-season grasses. He has documented DMI and benzimidazole resistance in Clarireedia jacksonii, as well as strobilurin resistance in Colletotrichum cereale on turfgrasses in Georgia and has implemented management strategies for these resistant populations. He developed new recommendations for seashore paspalum management and identified several previously unreported turf diseases and nematodes in the state: tar spot in seashore paspalum, Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae in bentgrass, Meloidogyne marylandii in bermudagrass, and Helicotylenchus microbolus and
