5^th International ICDRA Conference

DUCKWEED RESEARCH and APPLICATIONS

September 9-12, 2019 The David Lopatie Conference Centre Rehovot, Israel

Duckweeds (Lemnaceae) are a family of aquatic, higher plants with extremely reduced anatomies. They can flower, but normally propagate vegetatively. Under optimal conditions, in nature or the laboratory, several duckweed species can double their biomass almost daily. With publication of the full genome of several species, duckweeds are moving to the center of interest in genomic studies. Similarly, broad interest exists in environmental aspects of duckweed research, with ecotoxicology and phytoremediation playing major roles. There is also keen biotech interest in duckweeds as an unexploited source of high-quality protein to feed a growing world's population. Indeed, research and development of diverse applications involving duckweeds are in bloom. Advances across the board in duckweed genomics, physiology, microbiomes, ecosystems and ecotoxicology, nutrients and natural products, biofuels and biomass production, will make up the subject matter and scientific content of the symposium.