Willem HP Boshoff was born on 10 January 1971 in Mossel Bay.  He matriculated in 1989 from Point High School in Mossel Bay.  After completion of his BSc Agric. and BSc Agric. Honours degrees in Plant Pathology at UFS in 1995, Willem was appointed by the ARC-Small Grain Institute, Bethlehem, to work on stem rust surveillance and pre-breeding for rust resistance in wheat.  He obtained his M.Sc. Agric. degree in 1997 and his PhD in 2001, all at UFS.  His master’s study dealt with Fusarium head blight and for his PhD the main focus was on stripe rust occurrence, epidemiology and control strategies.  This pioneering study was inevitable after the pathogen had been observed for the first time in 1996, causing extensive and severe epidemics, on wheat in South Africa.  After completion of his studies SGI appointed Willem as their spring wheat breeder for the irrigated production regions.  In 2003 he joined Pannar Seed (Pty) Ltd. as their winter wheat breeder where he acted as breeding lead from 2006 to 2016, releasing several successful varieties. Willem was appointed as Senior Lecturer by the UFS in January 2017 in the field of rust pathology.  Willem will continue and expand research on rust diseases of field crops, teach undergraduate modules in Plant Pathology, and advise post-graduate students on research projects.

1. V.L. Tolmay, S.L. Sydenham, W.H.P. Boshoff, W. du Toit, B.S. Wentzel & C.W. Miles 2015. Registration of five South African Spring Wheat Germplasm Lines Resistant to Russian Wheat Aphid; Stem-, Leaf- and Stripe Rust. Journal of Plant Registrations 10(1), 80-86. https://doi:10.3198/jpr2015.03.0013crg
2. W.H.P. Boshoff, R. Labuschagne, T. Terefe, Z. A. Pretorius & B. Visser 2018. New Puccinia triticina races on wheat in South Africa. Australasian Plant Pathology 47, 325-334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13313-018-0560-1
3. W.H.P. Boshoff, Z. A. Pretorius, T. Terefe, C.M. Bender, L. Herselman, G.J. Maree & B. Visser 2018. Phenotypic and genotypic description of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici race 2SA55 in South Africa. European Journal of Plant Pathology 152(3), 783-789. https://doi:10.1007/s10658-018-1527-3
4. W.H.P. Boshoff, C.M. Bender & Z.A. Pretorius. 2019. Reaction of South African rye, triticale and barley forage cultivars to stem and leaf rust. SA Journal of Plant and Soil 36(2), 77-82. https://doi:10.1080/02571862.2018.1522381
5. W.H.P. Boshoff, R. Prins, C. de Klerk, S.G. Krattinger, C.M. Bender, G.J. Maree, L. Rothmann & Z.A. Pretorius. 2019. Point inoculation method for measuring adult plant response of wheat to stripe rust infection. Plant Disease. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-08-18-1312-RE
6. G.J. Maree, R. Prins, C.M. Bender, W.H.P. Boshoff, T.G. Negussie & Z. A. Pretorius. 2019. Phenotyping Kariega x Avocet S doubled haploid lines containing individual and combined adult plant stripe rust resistance loci. Plant Pathology 68 (4), 659-668. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppa.12985
7. T. Terefe, Z.A. Pretorius, B. Visser, & W.H.P. Boshoff. 2019. First Report of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici Race PTKSK, a Variant of Wheat Stem Rust Race Ug99 in South Africa. Plant Disease. http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-18-1911-PDN
8. G.J. Maree, R. Prins, L.A. Boyd, H.D. Castelyn, C.M. Bender, W.H.P. Boshoff & Z.A. Pretorius 2019. Assessing the individual and combined effects of QTL for adult plant stripe rust resistance derived from Cappelle-Desprez. Agronomy. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9030154
9. E. Wessels, R. Prins, W.H.P. Boshoff, J.D. Zurn, M. Acevedo & Z.A. Pretorius 2019. Mapping a Resistance Gene to Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici in the Bread Wheat Cultivar Matlabas. Plant Disease. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-10-18-1731-RE
10. W.H.P. Boshoff, C.M. Bender & Z.A. Pretorius 2019. The value of field ratings of differential lines for pathotyping Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. European Journal of Plant Pathology. https://doi10.1007/s10658-019-01754-7
11. Z.A. Pretorius, G.J. Booysen, W.H.P. Boshoff, J.H. Joubert, G.J. Maree & J. Els 2019. Additive Manufacturing of Devices used for Collection and Application of Cereal Rust Urediniospores. Frontiers in Plant Science. https:doi10.3389/fpls.2019.00639

Focus on rust diseases of field crops including pathogen variability and genetic resistance.  

My main research interest includes pathogenic variation of rust pathogens of field crops, genetic resistance including cultivar characterisation and the identification and genetic analyses of new sources of genetic resistance with the potential of durable control.  

PPLG 3734 Bacterial and Viral Plant Pathology

PPLG 3724 Plant Health Management