ChronicaHORTICULTURAE

A PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE

Volume 46 - Number 2 - 2006

Symposia and Workshops

Horticultural HighlightsFuture of Horticultural Science within Academia • Wollemi Pine •Clean Planting Materials and Management Practices for SustainedProduction of Banana and Plantain in Africa • Antioxidant-rich Berries•Indigenous and Wild Cassava • Double Cropping of Table Grapes inBrazil • Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Production in Spain

Rose Research and Cultivation • Guava • Cucurbit • Grapevine and Wine• Kiwifruit • Biotechnology of Temperate Fruit Crops and Tropical Species• Growing Media • Controlled Atmosphere

CONTENTS

ChronicaHORTICULTURAE

Chronica Horticulturae© ISBN: 90 6605 480 8 (Volume 46 - Number 2; June2006); ISSN: 0578-039X.

Published quarterly by the International Society for Horticultural Science, Leuven,Belgium. Lay-out and printing by Drukkerij Geers, Gent, Belgium. ISHS© 2006. Allrights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced and/or published in anyform, photocopy, microfilm or any other means without written permission from thepublisher. All previous issues are also available online at www.ishs.org/chronica.Contact the ISHS Secretariat for details on full colour advertisements (1/1, 1/2, 1/4page) and/or mailing lists options.

Editorial Office and Contact Address:

ISHS Secretariat, PO Box 500, B-3001 Leuven 1, Belgium. Phone: (+32)16229427, fax:(+32)16229450, e-mail: info@ishs.org, web: www.ishs.org or www.actahort.org.

Editorial Staff

Jules Janick, Science Editor, janick@purdue.edu

Jozef Van Assche, Managing Editor, jozef@ishs.org

Kelly Van Dijck, Assistant Editor, kelly.vandijck@ishs.org

Peter Vanderborght, Associate Editor - Production & Circulation,

peter.vanderborght@ishs.org

Editorial Advisory Committee

Jules Janick, Purdue University, USA, Chair of the Editorial Advisory Committee

Tony Biggs, Australian Society of Horticultural Science, Australia

Byung-Dong Kim, Department of Plant Sciences and Center for Plant MolecularGenetics and Breeding Research, Seoul National University, Korea

António A. Monteiro, College of Agriculture and Forestry, Technical University ofLisbon, Portugal

Robert K. Prange, Atlantic Food and Horticulture Resarch Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Manfred Schenk, Institute of Plant Nutrition, University of Hannover, Germany

Membership and Orders of Chronica Horticulturae

Chronica Horticulturae is provided to the Membership for free: Individual Membership45 EUR annually (special rate for Individual Members from selected developing coun-tries: 45 EUR for 2 years), Student Membership 15 EUR per year. For all details on ISHSmembership categories and membership advantages, including a membership appli-cation form, refer to the ISHS membership pages at www.ishs.org/members.

Payments

All major Credit Cards accepted. Always quote your name and invoice or membershipnumber. Make checks payable to ISHS Secretariat. Money transfers: ISHS main bankaccount number is 230-0019444-64. Bank details: Fortis Bank, Branch “HeverleeArenberg”, Naamsesteenweg 173/175, B-3001 Leuven 1, Belgium. BIC (SWIFT code):GEBABEBB08A, IBAN: BE29230001944464. Please arrange for all bank costs to betaken from your account assuring that ISHS receives the net amount. Prices listed arein euro (EUR) but ISHS accepts payments in USD as well.

Acta Horticulturae

Acta Horticulturae is the series of proceedings of ISHS Scientific Meetings, Symposiaor Congresses (ISSN: 0567-7572). ISHS Members are entitled to a substantialdiscount on the price of Acta Horticulturae. For an updated list of available titles, goto www.ishs.org/acta. A complete and accurate record of the entire ActaHorticulturae collection, including all abstracts and full text articles is available onlineat www.actahort.org. ISHS Individual membership includes credits to download 10full text Acta Horticulturae articles. All Acta Horticulturae titles - including those nolonger available in print format - are available in the ActaHort CD-ROM format.

Scripta Horticulturae

Scripta Horticulturae is a new series from ISHS devoted to specific horticultural issuessuch as position papers, crop or technology monographs and special workshops orconferences.

A publication of the International Society forHorticultural Science, a society of individuals, orga-nizations, and governmental agencies devoted tohorticultural research, education, industry, andhuman well-being.

ISHS • 2

� News from the Board3 ISHS Publications: New Directions, J. Janick4 Launch of the Global Horticulture Initiative5 Amendments to the ISHS Statutes

� Issues8 The Future of Horticultural Science within Academia, R.L. Darnell

� Horticultural Science Focus10 Wollemi Pine: From the Wild to the World, C. Offord and P. Meagher

� Horticultural Science News14 Clean Planting Materials and Management Practices for Sustained

Production of Banana and Plantain in Africa, A. Tenkouano, S. Hauser,D. Coyne and O. Coulibaly

19 Antioxidant-rich Berries: Plant Food for Better Health, K. Haffner andS.F. Remberg

20 Indigenous and Wild Cassava: A Rich Source of Genetic Diversity inBrazil, N.M.A. Nassar

� The World of Horticulture22 Double Cropping of Table Grapes in Brazil, C.V. Pommer26 Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Production in Spain, V. Galán Saúco and

J.M. Farré Massip31 New Books, Websites32 Courses and Meetings33 Opportunities

� Symposia and Workshops33 IVth Int’l Symposium on Rose Research and Cultivation35 Ist Int’l Guava Symposium37 IIIrd Int’l Cucurbit Symposium39 Int’l Workshop on Advances in Grapevine and Wine Research41 VIth Int’l Kiwifruit Symposium - kiwi200643 Int’l Symposium on Biotechnology of Temperate Fruit Crops and Tropical

Species44 Int’l Symposium on Growing Media46 IXth Int’l Controlled Atmosphere Research Conference - CA2005

� News from the ISHS Secretariat48 New ISHS Members50 In Memoriam50 Calendar of ISHS Events52 Available Issues of Acta Horticulturae

Cover photograph: A Wollemi pine showing adult leaf form with pollen andseed cones developing at the tip of branches, see p. 12. Photograph by courte-sy of Jaime Plaza, copyright BGT.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 3

ISHS Publications:New Directions

NEWS FROM THE BOARD

Jules Janick, ISHS Board Member and Director of Publications

Jules Janick

Horticultural Science societies have an inte-resting history. Beginnings derive from the ori-gins of scientific societies in the 17th century,particularly the Royal Society of London foun-ded in 1662. The Proceedings of the RoyalSociety carried a number of papers of horticul-tural interest including 15 in vegetable physio-logy by Thomas Andrew Knight (1758-1838),considered the Father of Horticultural Science.In the 18th century, following the lead of theRoyal Society, a number of local agriculturalsocieties were formed in Europe. In 1804, TheHorticultural Society of London was foundedand soon after changed its name to The RoyalHorticultural Society, which still remains thelargest society devoted to gardening, and ismore active then ever. In 1903, the Society forHorticultural Science (later renamed theAmerican Society for Horticultural Science) wasfounded in Boston with Liberty Hyde Bailey(1858-1954) as its first president, the first socie-ty to explicitly join the names horticulture andscience. Its rationale was to put discoveries inhorticulture on a par with other scientific fin-dings, despite the fact that they were practicaland useful, virtues considered inappropriate fortrue science in the 19th century. TheInternational Society for Horticultural Sciencederives from a series of international congressesdevoted to horticulture, beginning in 1864 inBrussels. The concept of an InternationalSociety for Horticultural Science was formallyproposed in 1955 and became a reality in 1959.

Scientific societies were all based on meetings,where scientific results presented in the form oforally presented papers eventually werepublished in a Proceedings. The information inthese early papers is our scientific heritage fromthe past. Scientific societies serve several purpo-ses but it is fair to say that their basic rationaleis to promote, publish, and become the reposi-tory of scientific information and, by this way,to make it available to all. Without this functionsocieties become advocacy organizations orclubs, which certainly have a place, but a diffe-rent one from that of a scientific society.

The role of archiving of scientific informationhas been the prerogative of libraries but the

sheer volume of material has restricted availabi-lity. Today, the ability to digitize information hasmade it possible for scientific societies to carryout the archival and distribution functionthemselves and complement or facilitate thetask of libraries. The information from publica-tions is placed on a server (i.e., a specializedcomputer) and made available for downloadson the internet. This is changing the relation-ship of societies and libraries, changing the pro-cedures of manuscript submission, and willeventually change the concept of a journal,which heretofore has been confined to a hardcopy or paper format.

Your Society is entering this new arena. It star-ted with the digitizing of the Society’s ActaHorticulturae, now more than 700 volumes andover 36,000 articles. This collection, availableon www.actahort.org, represents a new sourcefor horticultural information that can besearched, downloaded, and scanned. With thesuccess of Acta Horticulturae online, ISHS hasdeveloped the concept of making itself a focalpoint for horticultural information, a sort ofone-stop shopping, not in competition, but incollaboration with other horticultural societiesand organizations. To this end, the concept ofPubHort (www.pubhort.org) was developed asa gateway for horticultural information,modeled after PubMed, a gateway for medicalinformation. What we visualize is a location forvarious horticultural societies to link or down-load the huge amounts of information that theyhave available, so that this information will beavailable to users in an information bazaar.Because ISHS is set up to manage this informa-tion transfer, it could supply a service for otherorganizations. We have started withHorticultural Reviews (33 volumes) and PlantBreeding Reviews (28 volumes) published byJohn Wiley & Sons, which had heretofore onlybeen available from libraries. For a number ofreasons their general availability is limited to afew large libraries and some do not have acomplete set. Initial contacts are underway withthe Arborist Society, and other plant science-related societies to develop mutually synergisticrelationships.

Although ISHS publishes a vast amount ofinformation annually via Acta Horticulturae,which are proceedings of ISHS symposia (about30 volumes a year), it has never published ajournal. Our sponsorship of ScientiaHorticulturae was discontinued in 1998 becau-se control of this publication was completely inthe hands of Elsevier, a private press. I believethere are a number of good reasons for havingan ISHS journal. At the present time, our mem-bers who want to publish in internationaljournals often find it difficult to do so becauseof high page charges. Publication in ActaHorticulturae is available only for circumscribedtopics, often at four year intervals. Furthermore,a prerequisite for publication in an Acta isauthor attendance and paper presentation atthe related ISHS-sponsored symposium.Unfortunately, travel costs and/or institutionalor governmental approval make attendanceprohibitive or impossible for many horticulturalscientists and graduate students, especiallythose located in developing countries. In addi-tion, even though Acta Horticulturae articlesare vetted and carefully edited, they are a“Proceedings” publication and are consideredsuch by academic promotion and tenure com-mittees. To make up for this gap in our offe-rings, the ISHS Publications Committee hasintroduced the concept of an eJournal. A“White Paper” on the concept was developedand while the Board approved the concept,implementation is contingent on the develop-ment of a suitable business plan. There is nofree lunch; an eJournal will engender costs, butas Chair of the Publications Committee I find itshameful that ISHS falls short on providingpublishing opportunities for many of our mem-bers who desperately need it. Clearly the con-cept of an eJournal is a serious issue that deser-ves careful and prudent discussion. In order tofoster discussion on an eJournal, readers whowant to learn more about this concept, or wishto express their support or concerns, are encou-raged to contact me via email.

ISHS • 4

On March 24, 2006 in Montpellier, France,the ISHS was recognized as a key player in thedevelopment and implementation of TheGlobal Horticulture Initiative (GHI). ISHS joinedthe World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) and theFrench Centre of International AgriculturalResearch for Development (CIRAD) in organi-zing this three-day “coming out” party for theGHI. ISHS President Looney, Vice-PresidentWarrington, and Executive Director Van Asschecontributed to the launch program. An ISHSdisplay, prominently located in the presentationhall, proved a popular meeting point.

The official launch was preceded by more thantwo years of consultations involving ISHS,AVRDC, CIRAD, the Consultative Group onInternational Agricultural Research (CGIAR), theGlobal Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR),some key national agencies for international

development (USAID, GTZ, CIDA, CTA andothers), and many other agencies, institutes anduniversities. The motivating idea was that thevalue of horticulture enterprise for improvingincomes and life quality in developing countrieshas been seriously under-recognized. It followstherefore that agencies conducting or suppor-ting research for development should put grea-ter emphasis on horticulture and a “GlobalInitiative” is needed to initiate, coordinate, andadvocate for more horticulture research fordevelopment.

The Declaration developed at Montpellier andendorsed by the 74 science leaders and agen-cies present reads as follows:

Considering:

� the Science & Technology challenges faced toimprove the nutrition, health and income ofthe population of the developing countries ina sustainable way in line with the MillenniumDevelopment Goals;

� the unique opportunity provided by horticul-tural production in that direction;

� the limited Science & Technology capacities ofthe developing countries and the need tostrengthen global linkages to address thesechallenges;

� the benefits gained in facilitating collabora-tions between the scientific communitiesfrom the private and the public sector, using

Launch of the Global Horticulture Initiative

the comparative advantages of all the part-ners; and

� the new priority given to high value crops bythe Consultative Group for InternationalAgricultural Research and other organiza-tions

The participants agree to:

� launch the Global Horticulture Initiative (GHI)and establish an Interim ExecutiveCommittee;

� be committed to the development of thepartnership for the Global HorticultureInitiative;

� designate AVRDC as the facilitating agency;

� encourage GHI to cooperate and coordinatewith the relevant existing initiatives;

� contribute to the preparation of a Consor-tium Agreement that will be open to stake-holders involved in horticulture research, edu-cation and development; and

� bring to the attention of possible fundingagencies the purpose and the portfolio ofactivities of the Global Horticulture Initiative.

The responsibility of developing a governancestructure, funding mechanisms, and a strategicagenda has been assigned to the above-men-tioned Interim Executive Committee. The ISHSPresident has been invited to serve on thisExecutive Committee.

Participants at the GHI Launch.

A visit to CIRAD’s “Tropical Food Qality”Research Unit.

ISHS Vice-President Prof. I. Warringtonchairing the opening session.

Introductory remarks by Dr. T. Lumpkin,GHI initiator.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 5

Italics: modifications following comments madeby the Minister and amendments resulting fromthe new Belgian Law

Red: proposals for changes suggested by theISHS Board

International Society for HorticulturalScience

International not for profit Association accor-ding to the Belgian Law of 27 June 1921, amen-ded by the Belgian Law of 2 May 2002

registered office: Rue du Serpolet 181080 BrusselsBelgium

TITLE I. Name, Registered Office andGeneral Objectives

Article 1. NAME AND REGISTERED OFFICE

1.1. The Society is registered as a not for profit‘International Association’ following theBelgian law of 27 June 1921, amended bythe Belgian Law of 2 May 2002.

The name of the Society in English is the“International Society for HorticulturalScience”, hereafter referred to as “theSociety” or “ISHS”, or in French “SociétéInternationale de la Science Horticole”.

The official languages of the Society areEnglish and French. In case of dispute, theFrench version of the Statutes is considereddefinitive.

1.2. The Society is established for an indefiniteperiod of time.

1.3. The registered office of the Society is in1083 Brussels, Rue du Serpolet 18,Belgium. The registered seat can bechanged to wherever in the Brussels-Capital (Belgium) Region by simple decisionof the Council, to be published within aperiod of one month, in the annexes of theMoniteur Belge.

Amendments to the ISHS Statutes

The Board, as part of its review of the administrative structure of ISHS, has undertaken arather thorough review of the ISHS Statutes. Within this ‘Revised Statutes’ documentthere are two kinds of amendments to consider: First there are those proposed by Belgianofficials and are deemed necessary to conform to the present Belgian Law concerning ope-rational transparency of ‘not for profit’ associations. These modifications are shown usingItalic script. Secondly there are amendments proposed by the ISHS Board. These are shownin red script.In accordance with Article 15 of the Statutes, these revisions, agreed to by all members ofthe Board, will be presented to Council for further consideration when it meets in Seoulon August 11 and 12, 2006. Those amendments accepted, and perhaps others proposedand accepted by Council at Seoul, will then be submitted, with comments, for approval bythe ISHS General Assembly when it meets on August 15, 2006.

Article 2. OBJECTIVE

2.1. The objective of the Society is: to further allsectors of horticulture by improving inter-national cooperation in the scientific study,education and exchange of knowledge ofbiological, technical, ecological, environ-mental, sociological and economic issuesas they affect horticulture.

Article 3. ACTIVITIES

The Society will:

3.1. hold International Congresses at regularintervals.

3.2. arrange international workshops and sym-posia as well as other international mee-tings.

3.3. establish Sections according to commodi-ties within horticulture, and Commissionsaccording to subjects of horticulturalscience and technology, that range acrossseveral commodity sectors.

3.4. form relationships, and cooperate, withother governmental and non-governmen-tal organisations in its field of interest.

3.5. edit, produce and distribute information,reports and scientific or technical publica-tions, reserving the exclusive rights andcopyrights to the Society according toBelgian law.

3.6. use other legal means to achieve theobjectives of the Society.

TITLE II. Membership

Article 4. MEMBERS

4.1. Membership of the Society is open toindividuals, organisations, countries-states and groups of countries, subscri-bing to the objectives of the Society.Organisations must be legally registeredin accordance with the laws and customsof their country of origin.

4.2. The Society recognizes the followingmain categories of members:

4.2.1. Individual member

4.2.2. Country-state (or groups of countries)members represented by ministries,national societies, national associationsor institutes.

4.2.3. Institutional members: any organisationwith an interest in horticultural scienceand technology.

4.2.4. Honorary members: Honorary membersare individuals who in the judgment ofthe Council, have made an exceptionalcontribution to the Society. They areappointed for life by the GeneralAssembly.

4.3. Membership is available on applicationto the Board and payment of the annualdues. Honorary Members are exemptfrom payment of annual dues.

4.4. The Secretariat maintains a register of allmembers listed by country-state, orgroups of countries.

4.5. The Board has the right to reject anapplication for membership and to ter-minate membership.

4.6. Membership ends in the event of:

4.6.1. resignation

4.6.2. death of the individual or dissolution ofthe organisation (as defined in 4.2.3.)

4.6.3. termination of Society membership by adecision of the Board for non-compli-ance with the Statutes or Rules ofProcedures.

4.7. The creditors or heirs of a member have,without exception, no claim on thegoods or assets of the Society; nor canthey have any vote in the affairs of theSociety.

4.8. If a member resigns from the Society,he/she cannot claim any of the goods orassets of the Society, nor claim repay-ment of any dues previously paid.

Article 5. MEMBERSHIP RIGHTS ANDOBLIGATIONS

5. Members have the right to participate inthe General Assembly. They will receivethe newsletter of the Society and havethe right to question the members of theBoard. The members have an obligationto pay the membership dues and complywith the Statutes and Rules of theSociety. The dues to be paid cannot behigher than the amount agreed byCouncil at its last meeting. TheSecretariat will communicate theamount of the membership dues to bepaid at the request of a member or appli-cant for membership.

ISHS • 6

TITLE III. The Structure of the Society

Article 6. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

The Society has the following organisationalstructure:

6.1. General Assembly, comprising all mem-bers

6.2. Council

6.3. Board

6.4. Executive Committee

6.5. Sections, Commissions and WorkingGroups

6.6. Secretariat

Article 7. GENERAL ASSEMBLY

7.1. The General Assembly has all the powersnot assigned to the Council and theBoard in accordance with the Society’sStatutes and the law.

7.2. The General Assembly confirms the elec-tion of the President and Members of theBoard (see art. 8.4.)

7.3. At every meeting of the GeneralAssembly, the Board is required to rendera report, including a financial statement,and to present its forward plans coveringthe period until the next meeting of theGeneral Assembly.

7.4. The quorum for the meeting of theGeneral Assembly is not less than 75members of the Society. Voting is by sim-ple majority except in the case of dissolu-tion of the Society.

7.5. The General Assembly meets once everyfour years on the occasion of theCongress mentioned under article 13.

The date and place of the GeneralAssembly are announced in the Society’sofficial publication “Chronica Horticul-turae”. An agenda will be issued to themembership not less than four monthsbefore the date of the meeting.

7.6. The General Assembly considers andconfers Honorary Membership as recom-mended by the Council.

7.7. The resolutions of the General Assemblyare published in summary in the officialpublication of the Society, “ChronicaHorticulturae”

Article 8. COUNCIL

8.1. The Council consists of representatives ofthe country-state - and groups of coun-tries - members, and of representativesof the individual members who are citi-zens of non-member country-states.

Each country-state member can appointup to three representatives. At any time,each country-state member has only onevote in the Council.

Individual members, citizens of a non-member country-state, elect per country-state and from their ranks by simplemajority a representative. This represen-tative has observer status on the Council.

8.2. Council Members of the Society areappointed according to the proceduresof the country-state or region concerned.

8.3. The Council has the powers assigned toit by the General Assembly.

8.4. The President of the Society is elected bythe Council and chairs its meetings. Inthe President’s absence, the Vice-President of the Board takes the chair. Ifboth the President and the Vice-President of the Board are absent,Council elects a chairperson for thatmeeting.

8.5. The Council normally meets once everytwo years, having been invited formallyto:

8.5.1. approve the annual accounts

8.5.2. receive the reports of the Board andExecutive Committee

8.5.3. receive and approve the forward plansincluding the financial budget

8.5.4. fill any vacancies within the Board for theperiod until the next General Assembly

8.5.5. transact any other business

8.6. The Council can be convened by theBoard upon a request from 10 votingcountry members.

8.6.1. The quorum for a Council meeting isreached:

- if one third of the country-state repre-sentatives, entitled to vote, are presentor represented;

- and if at least one representative ofeach of the geographical regions (i)Europe, (ii) North and South America,(iii) Oceania-Asia-Africa is present orrepresented.

8.7. Decision making may be by a show ofhands. When voting is required votes arecast orally unless a voting representativeor the Board demands a ballot. Votesrelating to persons are taken by ballot.The Chairperson only votes in the case ofa tie.

8.8. At each meeting, minutes are taken,adopted by the Council at its next mee-ting, and then signed by the President,the Secretary of the Board and two otherCouncil members, as a true and accuraterecord.

Article 9. BOARD

9.1. The Board consists of not less than five,nor more than nine, members who areelected by the Council and confirmed bythe General Assembly. In addition, theExecutive Director and the Congress

President are ‘ex officio’, non-votingmembers.

9.1.1. The Council is empowered by theGeneral Assembly to appoint, dischargeor suspend from duties any Board mem-ber in the period between GeneralAssemblies.

9.2. The Board has the power assigned to itby the General Assembly and Council.

The Board is empowered with themanagement of the Society to enter intoagreements with a view to the acquisi-tion, encumbrance, and disposal of theassets of the Society.

9.2.1. The Board is represented legally by thePresident. If the President can not act,two other members of the Board acttogether.

9.2.2. The Board delegates day-to-day manage-ment of the Society as well as represen-tation for this management to one ormore of its members, directors or otheragents, acting alone or together.

9.2.3. In case of delegation, the Board laysdown the terms of the assignment and ifappropriate, any special financial arran-gements required by the assignment.

9.3. The Board is responsible for the financialgovernance of the Society. Financial deci-sions must be agreed by a three quartersmajority of elected Board members.

9.4. The Board prepares the agendas for themeetings of the General Assembly, theCouncil and the Executive Committee.

9.5. The Board will empower and control theExecutive Director.

9.6. Board members retire at the end of eachGeneral Assembly, provided that a newBoard has been appointed. They may bere-appointed for a further term if eligi-ble.

9.7. In the event of a vacancy on the Boardbetween General Assemblies, theCouncil is empowered to fill the vacancy.

9.8. An employee of the Society is not eligibleto be a voting member of the Boardwhile still in office.

9.9. The President of the Society isChairperson of the Board. The Boardelects a Vice-President, a Secretary and aTreasurer from within its own ranks. Inthe event of absence of the President,the Vice-President acts temporarily forthe President. If both President and Vice-President are absent, the Board electsanother person from within its ownranks to act temporarily for the Presidentfor the meeting.

9.9.1. A Board member cannot hold more thanone permanent position on the Board.

9.10. A quorum is a majority of the electedBoard members.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 7

Any member of the Board absent from aBoard or Council meeting, can provide aproxy in writing, by telefax, telegram,telex or e-mail to one of his/her col-leagues to represent him/her at the mee-tings of the Council or the Board and tovote on his/her behalf. The Board mem-ber will, in this case, be reported present.The number of proxy votes held by anyone member of the Board is not limited.

9.11. At each meeting, minutes are taken,adopted by the Board at its next mee-ting, and signed by the President, twomembers of the Board and the Secretaryas a true and accurate record.

9.12. The managerial functions of the Boardare specified in the Rules of Procedurefor the Society.

Article 10. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

10.1. The Executive Committee consists of theChairpersons of the Sections andCommissions plus the members of theBoard, and is chaired by the Vice-President.

10.2. The Executive Committee is responsiblefor the scientific and technical work ofthe Society. It reports through the Boardto the Council.

Article 11. SECTIONS AND COMMISSIONS

11.1. Sections and Commissions of theSociety consist of members who under-take the scientific and technical work ofthe Society and may form WorkingGroups.

11.2. The Chairpersons must be confirmed inoffice by Council after an election bythe members of Sections andCommissions.

They report to the ExecutiveCommittee, which again, through theBoard, reports to the Council.

11.2.1. The Council is empowered by theGeneral Assembly to appoint, dischargeor suspend from duties any Section orCommission Chairperson in the periodbetween General Assemblies.

Article 12. SECRETARIAT

12.1. The Secretariat is headed by theExecutive Director, who is appointed bythe Board with the approval of theCouncil.

12.2. The Executive Director is responsible forthe management of the Society inaccordance with the policies and direc-tives agreed to by the Board, acting onbehalf of the Council.

Article 13. CONGRESS

13.1. The Congress is normally held every fouryears. The date and place are recom-mended by the Council and approvedby the General Assembly.

13.2. The Congress promotes the advance-ment of horticultural science, on behalfof the Society, by means of symposiaand workshops, Section and Commis-sion meetings, and plenary sessions.

13.3. During the Congress there is a GeneralAssembly, which is open to all membersof the Society.

13.4. The Congress President is nominated bythe Organizing Committee of theCongress, and appointed by theCouncil.

TITLE IV. Finances

Article 14. FINANCES

14.1. The financial year of the Society is thecalendar year.

14.2. Sources of income for the Society com-prise:

14.2.1. annual dues and subscriptions

14.2.2. sponsorships

14.2.3. donations and bequests

14.2.4. revenue from the sales of publications

14.2.5. all other legal revenues

14.3. The members are required to payannual dues, the level of which will befixed by the Council.

14.4. The Council is empowered to grantexemption from, either in whole or inpart, the obligation to pay annual duesor subscriptions.

14.5. Records of the financial position of theSociety are kept by the Board and repor-ted to the Council.

14.6. The financial records of the Society aresubject to an annual independent audit.An external auditor is appointed by theBoard on the recommendation of theCouncil. The summary of the auditreport is made available annually to themembership.

14.7. An internal Audit Committee, of at leasttwo persons, is appointed by theCouncil, from within its own ranks. TheAudit Committee reports to the Coun-cil. Members of the Audit Committeemust not be Board members.

TITLE V. Amendments to the Statutes,Dissolution, Rules of Procedure andDisputes

Article 15. AMENDMENT TO THE STATUTES

15.1. An amendment to the Statutes can onlybe made by means of a member’s reso-

lution, considered first by the Counciland then submitted, with comment, tothe General Assembly.

15.2. At that Council meeting there must be50% of the voting member countriespresent, or by proxy, in accordance withthe geographical divisions specified inthe Rules of Procedure. There must be atwo thirds majority of the votes of thisCouncil in making the recommenda-tions.

In addition, the amendments will onlybe adopted with the support:

- of either twenty individual members;

- or of six institutional members distri-buted over the three geographicalregions (i) Europe, (ii) North andSouth America, (iii) Oceania-Africa-Asia

Article 16. DISSOLUTION

16.1. The Society will only be dissolved byCouncil following the adoption of aresolution accepted by a two thirdsmajority vote of members at a GeneralAssembly.

16.2. The net proceeds, after settlements, willbe given to one or several organisa-tion(s), as designated by the Council,that promote horticultural interests.

16.3. In the event of dissolution, the GeneralAssembly appoints the liquidators anddetermines their powers. The liquida-tors will have the same powers as themembers of the Board. If no liquidatorsare appointed, the members of theBoard act as liquidators.

Article 17. RULES OF PROCEDURE

17.1. The Board, authorised by the Council, isempowered to draw up Rules ofProcedure, and make any subsequentamendments for consideration by theExecutive Committee and for approvalby the Council.

17.2. These Rules must not be contrary toBelgian law nor to the Statutes of theSociety.

Article 18. DISPUTES

18.1. In the case of a dispute, which is notcovered by the Statutes, the decisionrests with the Council, acting on behalfof the membership.

Article 19.

19.1. Each word used in these Statutes suchas “President”, “Vice-President”, “repre-sentative”, refers to the person in officeregardless of gender.

ISHS • 8

The Future of Horticultural Sciencewithin Academia

ISSUES

Horticultural science within academia is expe-riencing a crisis. This crisis is occurring in spite ofcontinued growth in the size, diversity, andvalue of the industry. The number of horticultu-ral science departments at North American uni-versities has declined 35% over the last 30years (Looney, 2004). Typically, horticulturedepartments have been merged with otherapplied departments such as agronomy, to formmore general plant science or crop sciencedepartments. Inevitably, the number of horticul-tural science courses and trained horticulturistsis decreasing. This is true not only at the under-graduate level, but at the graduate level as well.In the U.S., horticulture suffered a 16% de-crease in M.S. and a 20% decrease in Ph.D.degrees conferred between 1998 and 2000(U.S. Dept. Education, 2001). This trend isequally apparent across Western Europe,Australia and New Zealand. In contrast, in manydeveloping nations such as Mexico and India,interest in horticultural science is growing. Thedecline in developed countries is likely related toseveral factors, including technological advan-ces that require fewer people trained in produc-tion horticulture, generally low salaries - at leastin some areas of horticulture - and the fact thatstudents contemplating university often fail toperceive horticulture as a science and certainlynot as a career option.

The question has arisen: Can this decline bereversed? To address this, discussions about whowe are within academia and whom we servewithin society are necessary. The ISHS Board hasdiscussed and debated this topic on numerousoccasions. In Fall 2003, the ISHS Board met withthe ASHS Board of Directors to explore the ideaof a joint ISHS/ASHS task force that wouldaddress this issue. There was unanimous agree-ment to form a task force to define the problemand develop a plan of action for strengtheninghorticultural science as an academic pursuit. Atthe September 2004 ISHS Council meeting inCoolum, Queensland, Australia, the future ofhorticultural science was further discussed.Many questions were raised during these discus-sions, but it quickly became apparent that inputfrom a broader range and larger number of hor-ticulture professionals was needed.

In order to further address this issue, an ISHSweb site forum was established in June 2005(http://www.ishs.org/future/). The purpose ofthis forum was to provide horticultural science

Rebecca L. Darnell

professionals around the world with a conve-nient way to share their thoughts on this issue.Opinions and suggestions have been postedand will be used to draft a strategy forstrengthening horticultural science as an acade-mic pursuit worldwide. The purpose of this arti-cle is not to offer solutions to the issue, but sim-ply to categorize and summarize the commentsreceived so far. Hopefully, this synopsis will givethe issue a framework from which strategies foraddressing the decline of horticulture in acade-mia can be addressed.

Since June 2005, over 50 responses/commentshave been received; a relatively small numberconsidering the number of horticulture profes-sionals world-wide. However, the respondentsrepresent a diverse geographical, professional,and philosophical range. Colleagues from aca-demia, industry, and governmental agenciesworld-wide contributed to the forum. Countriesrepresented included the USA, Canada, Mexico,Colombia, the U.K., the Netherlands, Spain,France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal,Poland, the Czech Republic, Australia, China,Japan, Thailand, India, and Indonesia. Thevarious responses/comments have been catego-rized and are summarized below.

How Widespread is the Problem ofDeclining Numbers of HorticultureDepartments/Horticulturists in Academia?

It is generally agreed that this is more of a pro-blem in developed countries than in developingcountries. Basic horticulture production is stillconsidered very important in developing coun-tries; production and opportunities are increa-sing. This appears to be due to both increasedexports of horticultural crops to developedcountries and increased consumer demand indeveloping countries (particularly Asia).

Is the Decline in HorticultureDepartments/Horticulturists Related to anInability to Define “Horticulture”?

Is horticulture so broad that it is unclear what itencompasses? Is it too diverse to appeal to stu-dents? Some contributors argue that thedecline of horticulture in academia is due to theview that horticulture is merely one aspect of anoverall and encompassing study of plant biolo-gy, and thus the decline may be an outcome ofthe failure to define horticulture as its own dis-

tinct science. Others argue, however, that horti-cultural science includes and integrates gene-tics, environment, postharvest biology, planthealth, economics, social sciences, plant phy-siology, and molecular biology. The fundamen-tal task of horticulturists is to improve the pro-duct or the methods of production. Thus, thegeneral approach is holistic, trying to under-stand the plant as a system, the function of thissystem and the interaction of the system withthe environment. As a consequence, horticul-ture is not a distinct science.

Is horticulture a science or a technology? Whilemany contributors argue that horticulture is adistinct science, some contributors argue thathorticulture is like engineering; that is, theemphasis is not on being a fundamentalscience, but rather the application of funda-mental sciences to solving problems and deve-loping technology. If this is true, we shouldemphasize the applications and technologyaspects of what we do, rather than trying toconvince everyone that horticulture is a funda-mental science. A slightly different viewpointargues that horticulture is an industry and itsaim is economic success. There are numerousquestions that beg to be answered: Is horticul-ture missing vital components? Should horticul-ture be more clearly identified with healthfulliving, quality of life, and environmental sustai-nability, rather than production? Are marketneeds for food and health products beingignored in horticulture departments?

Are Scientists in Horticulture DepartmentsUncomfortable with the Term “Horti-culture”? Do they Find HorticulturalResearch Unappealing and Hard to Fundwith Competitive Grants?

Several contributors pointed out that theclimate in academia today is geared towardsextramural, competitive funding, that bringsindirect costs or overhead money into universi-ties. These funding sources typically do not sup-port the type of applied research that has tradi-tionally been performed in horticulture depart-ments. In order to succeed in academia, horti-cultural scientists/departments have felt forcedto follow the path of the disciplinary depart-ments. Thus, success is based on publicationsand grantsmanship in disciplinary research,rather than applied research and/or the deve-lopment of horticultural technologies and prac-tices. As horticulture departments movetowards more basic scientific research, scientists

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 9

involved in applied research may begin to feelmarginalized, and - to some extent - inferior totheir departmental colleagues.

What Role does the Public Perception ofHorticulture Play in the Decline?

Many comments addressed ideas related to thepublic’s perception (or misconception) of horti-culture. Of course, public perception is likelyrelated to our own inability to define horticul-ture. Colleagues suggested that the generalpublic associate horticulture with “environmen-tal pollution, dirty hands, long hours, and lowwages”. Horticulture is thought of as unscien-tific, nothing more than a hobby - such as gar-dening. Students do not see horticulture as“glamorous” enough nor do they see it as alucrative career path. Adding to the perceptionproblem is that most of our population growthoccurs in urban areas, and urbanites do not rea-dily relate to where or how they obtain food(other than from the grocery store).

How Valid are these Perceptions?

Several colleagues indicated that the public’sperception, in many cases, was valid. Theyargued that we are providing students withknowledge and skill relevant to specific cropproduction rather than training them tomanage and direct horticultural firms, productdevelopment, and marketing. As such, typicalsalaries are well below those you would expectfor the level of knowledge and skill required.

Others argued that students do not see horti-culture as “glamorous” because horticulturehas, in fact, fallen behind as a contributor toscience. Horticulture departments need toemphasize more basic science in order to attractstudents, since “only basic research is reallyrecognized as research in the long run.”

Some colleagues suggested that the careeremphasis in horticulture departments needs tochange from production to non-traditionalareas, such as environmental science, nutra-ceuticals and medicinal crops. Consumers aremore concerned with health issues than everbefore and numerous medical studies point tohorticultural crops as a critical component of ahealthy diet. Horticulture departments arefailing to take advantage of this reality.

How do we Address these Perceptions ofHorticulture?

Many colleagues suggested that negative per-ceptions or misconceptions of horticultureshould be addressed by early educational oppor-tunities. One contributor noted that “we shouldbe outraged that children do not know thesource of their food or the value of horticultureto their economic, mental, and physical well-being”. There were several suggestions toalleviate this, including developing horticulturecurricula in primary and secondary schools; insti-tuting student-industry internship programs atthe secondary school level; and encouraging

class visits by horticultural professionals. Onecontributor described a program in Tasmania andWestern Australia that focuses on connectingsecondary school science teachers and studentswith the agricultural industry. The program con-sists of research presentations to science classesby university faculty, followed by a 2-day pro-gram of professional development for scienceteachers, highlighting current research and therelevance of classroom science to industry.Selected high school students then participate ina 5-day camp that illustrates the career andresearch opportunities for agricultural (horticul-tural) science students, followed by a 5-dayindustry “internship” for these students. Thisprogram attracts large sponsorship from agricul-tural industry, and all high schools in Tasmaniaare involved in the program. The program hasbeen successful in encouraging students to studyagricultural science at the university.

Other colleagues suggested that perceptioncould be altered by successful marketing strate-gies. Some argued that the media creates a poorimage of agriculture and horticulture, thus weneed public relations experts, media campaigns,and other means to inform the public aboutthe science of horticulture. One contributor sug-gested that we need to ask “Hollywood, CNN,Cartoon Network, Disney and the like to put hor-ticultural crop food back into our culture.”

How do we Address the NegativePerceptions that may be Valid?

Suggestions here included the development ofmore urban horticulture curricula that havegreater relevance to the public, expanding newhigh-income careers in horticulture (althoughways to do that were not addressed), and beco-ming more informed of the current (and future)job market, as it relates to anything remotelyhorticultural, and tailor curricula accordingly.

Should Horticulture Departments Retaintheir own Identity? The Argumentbetween Combining Horticulture intoPlant Science Departments vs. KeepingHorticulture Distinct.

This is really the crux of the issue and many con-tributors addressed this question. Some arguedthat merging horticulture departments intomore general plant science departments doesirreparable harm to horticulture. The argumentis that horticulture is both a specific science anda technology, and the generalized educationresulting from a plant science departmentwould not provide the professional expertiseneeded for horticulture. On the other hand,others argued that merging horticulture intoplant science departments would not be detri-mental, and, in fact, might aid horticulturalscientists in their academic success. It was poin-ted out that the decline in horticulture depart-ments/student enrollment is not unique to hor-ticulture, but is apparent in other agriculturalareas, including agronomy, entomology, plant

pathology, and others. The problem lies notwith horticulture, but rather with the decline inthe farming population and the declining con-tribution of agriculture to the total economy indeveloped countries. Thus, the idea of agricul-ture - not just horticulture - as a scientific disci-pline and as an appealing career option isfading. To address this, several contributorssuggested the formation of a single society ofagricultural sciences that is distinct from thebasic sciences. Then, the argument can bemade that research and education in appliedagricultural sciences are essential in order tobenefit from the public investment in basicsciences. As one contributor noted “Basicscience does not automatically morph intorobust agriculture, into marketing and tradeopportunities, into a secure food supply, into ahealthy population, or into a healthy environ-ment. Skilled applied scientists are required tomake those things happen.”

Conclusions

Strategies and recommendations for addres-sing this issue are needed. Perhaps the questionto be asked is not “what can we do to stop thedecline in horticulture departments/horticultu-ralists”, but rather, “what should be done toensure that research and education in hor-ticulture remain relevant and viable intoday’s society?”

REFERENCES

Looney, N.E. 2004. Future of horticultural sciencewithin academia. Chronica Hort. 44(3):3.

U.S. Department of Education. 2001. NationalCenter for Education Statistics, IntegratedPostsecondary Education Data System,“Completions” survey. 7 Dec. 2004.http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d01/dt259.asp

Rebecca Darnell is Professor of Horticulture inthe Horticultural Sciences Department,University of Florida, Gainesville, FL and mode-rates the ISHS web forum addressing the issueof the future of horticulture in academia.Email: rld@ufl.edu

Rebecca Darnell

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ISHS • 10

Wollemi Pine: From the Wild to theWorld

HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE FOCUS

THE LIVING FOSSIL

The Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis W.G. Jones,K.D. Hill & J.M. Allen) was discovered in late1994 as a small grove of trees in the WollemiNational Park approximately 150 km north-west of Sydney, Australia (Fig. 1). Although onlyrecent, the story of the discovery has achievedlegend status in Australia, and there is world-wide recognition for the botanical uniquenessand horticultural potential of the plant. Whenpark ranger David Noble discovered the pine inWollemi National Park, part of the Greater BlueMountains World Heritage area (Fig. 2), he pro-bably didn’t expect it to be one of the most

Cathy Offord and Patricia Meagher

The marketing of the Wollemi pine as a hor-ticultural product began with a uniqueworldwide auction in October 2005.Sotheby’s Australia put 148 lots comprising292 premium Wollemi pines under thehammer, raising more than a million dollars(Australian), with royalties going to conser-vation of the Wollemi pine and otherendangered plant species. The first genera-tion cutting propagated plants were eachprovided with a provenance certificate lin-king it back to the original wild tree fromwhich the propagation material was deri-ved. Buyers from around the world boughtthese plants for private gardens and manywere donated to public gardens, schools,hospitals and research institutes.

amazing species discovered in Australia. In aworld sense, only the rediscoveries of otherancient species, like the Dawn redwood(Metasequoia glyptostroboides) in China or theGingko (Gingko biloba) in Japan, rival this find.However, Wollemi pine is extremely rare anddespite extensive surveys, only a few smallgroves have been discovered with a total offewer than 100 mature trees and a few hun-dred small seedlings. Threats to the speciesinclude its very discovery, as human visitationmay introduce diseases, weeds or soil compac-tion to what is essentially a pristine area. Thiscombination of rarity and potential threatsmakes Wollemi pine one of the most endan-gered tree species in the world.

The existence of ancient relatives of this specieswas known from widespread Gondwanan pol-len and macrofossils from fossil records, datingback over 100 million years (MacPhail et al.,1995; Dettmann and Jarzen, 2000). Pollen mat-ching the modern Wollemi pine has been foundin Bass Strait dating back only twomillion years, by which time the Wollemi pinehad severely contracted in its distribution(Chambers et al., 1998).

The discovery and early scientific research on

the Wollemi pine has been well documented(Woodford, 2000) and in this review we de-scribe the plant, then outline recent researchand horticultural development, that culminatesin worldwide commercial release beginning in2006.

Botanical Uniqueness

This species is the sole extant member of theancient conifer genus Wollemia, and is closelyrelated to the two other extant Araucariaceaegenera Agathis, the Kauri pines and Araucaria,the Monkey puzzle pines. Other members ofthis family are known for their horticultural uti-lity (e.g. Norfolk Island pine, Araucaria hetero-phylla) and forestry value (e.g. Hoop pine,Araucaria cunninghamia), as well as for theirdominant stature in southern hemisphere wildforests (e.g. Monkey Puzzle pine, Araucariaaraucana and Bunya pine, A. bidwillii). One ofthe most surprising things about the Wollemipine is its taxonomic uniqueness. It shares someof the characters of Agathis and Araucaria, butthe combination of these features, as well assome unique characters, sets it quite apart (assummarised in DEC, 2005). Based on DNA evi-dence, it seems probable that the Wollemi pine

Figure 1. Location of Wollemi NationalPark, New South Wales, Australia.Photograph by courtesy of Jaime Plaza, copy-right BGT.

New SouthWales

WollemiNational

Park

SYDNEYKATOOMBA

0 100 200 300 400 500 km

Figure 2. Wollemi National Park. Photograph by courtesy of Jaime Plaza, copyright BGT.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 11

was the earliest diverged of the extantAraucariaceae species (Setoguchi et al., 1998).

Description

Wollemi pine is a large tree, growing up to 40m tall (Fig. 3), that forms definable clumps oftrunks with diameters of up to 1 m in the wild(Fig. 4). The exact number of trees in the wild isnot known because of the coppicing habit,which results in a multi-trunked structure, withmany individual stems of varying sizes. Thereare two different types of leaves; the softer lightgreen juvenile leaves occur below the canopylayer (Fig. 5), and the adult leaves, which areshorter and tougher, are exposed to the ele-ments above the canopy layer, and have theappearance of dinosaur spines. The arrange-ment of leaves on the branches is dimorphic:the juvenile leaves are arranged in a singleplane and adult branches are four-ranked.Pollen and seed cones develop at the tips ofbranches (Fig. 6). The bark of the tree is charac-teristically bubbly and deep red in colour(Fig. 4).

CONSERVATION BY CULTIVATION

The discovery of this species took the botanicalworld by storm and created immense publicinterest (Briggs, 2000; Woodford, 2000).Because of its rarity, the species was declarednationally endangered but, so intense was theinterest in obtaining plants of this species, theNew South Wales Government, through theDepartment of Environment and Conservation,decided that the plants in the wild must be pro-tected from inappropriate harvesting. In thepast Australia has experienced uncontrolledexploitation of rare and desirable species, whichhas led to decline of the species in the wild.Furthermore, visitation to the area was of parti-

cular concern because of the fragile nature ofthe trees and the environment, which is thebottom of a deep canyon that was not knownto have previously been disturbed by humanactivity.

As part of a wider conservation plan (DEC,2005), a horticultural program was establishedto bring the Wollemi pine into cultivation. Theoverriding concern of the program is to ensurethat the plants in the wild are not adverselyaffected by human activity. Thus, in 1995, theBotanic Gardens Trust, Sydney began a pro-gram researching propagation and cultivationof the Wollemi pine. The pine proved to beadaptable to cultivation and, following a tende-ring process, a commercial consortium knownas Wollemi Australia (the QueenslandDepartment of Primary Industry and BirkdaleNursery), was contracted in 1999 to furtherresearch and develop the Wollemi pine for theworld market.

Options for Propagation

It is estimated that only a few thousand seedsare produced in any of the stands on an annu-al basis, and, because of the very rough terrain,most of these seeds are unavailable for collec-tion (Offord et al., 1999). Additionally, harves-ting of large numbers from the wild would bedetrimental for the survival of the species as alarge seedling cohort is required to supportrecruitment to the adult phase. The few seedsthat have been collected through laborious ordangerous means, such as by helicopter, have

Figure 3. The Wollemi pine is an emergentspecies growing to a height of about40 m. Photograph by courtesy of Jaime Plaza,copyright BGT.

Figure 4. The coppicing habit of the Wollemi pine produces multiple trunks, which makes itdifficult to identify individual trees. The bark of these trunks is characteristically bubbly.Photograph by courtesy of Jaime Plaza, copyright BGT.

Figure 5. Wollemi pines branches gro-wing in the softer light under the rainfo-rest canopy have juvenile leaves.Photograph by courtesy of Jaime Plaza, copy-right BGT.

ISHS • 12

been used for research (see for example Offordand Meagher, 2001) and establishing ex-situpopulations that represent the natural popula-tion, and the residual are stored in conservationseedbanks at the New South Wales Seedbankat Mount Annan Botanic Garden and theMillennium Seedbank, Royal Botanic GardensKew. Although it seems that sufficient seedsare produced to maintain the natural popula-tion, too few seeds are produced for commer-cial harvest.

Figure 7. Wollemi pines will be popular incultivation. Like other members of theAraucariaceae, they grow into magnifi-cent large trees, but also make good potplants. Photograph by courtesy of JaimePlaza, copyright BGT.

Figure 6. A Wollemi pine showing adult leaf form with pollen and seed cones developing atthe tip of branches. Photograph by courtesy of Jaime Plaza, copyright BGT.

Vegetative propagation was then the only op-tion for large-scale propagation, but this wasalso challenging initially. Imagine if you will, agrove of trees growing near the bottom of adeep canyon. Some of these trees cling to theside of the cliff, growing out of rock fissures.The trees are tall, too tall to climb without cau-sing damage. Vegetative material for propaga-tion is scarce, or non-existent on some trunks.The adult trees have been dated as being manyhundreds of years old and have survived, essen-tially, on very little in the way of nutrients, waterand light. Initially, the propagation of treesusing vegetative material was problematic,because the material was, essentially in “slowgrowth mode.”

The Propagation Challenge Solved

Although initial rooting rates of cutting materialfrom the wild were low (Fensom and Offord,1998), strike rates have now been raised tonearly 100% in commercial production by acombination of stock plant manipulation andoptimisation of the rooting environment (Lake,2000). Alternative methods of propagation,through tissue culture, have been investigatedby Forest Research, Rotorua in New Zealand,with some promising results (Grace et al., 2005)but this is still in the developmental stage.

Wollemi pines are now being propagated com-mercially in a large purpose built facility in sou-thern Queensland using cuttings taken fromstockplants of both seedling and vegetativelypropagated plants. From fewer than one thou-sand plants produced initially at the BotanicGardens Trust, many thousands of plants arenow being produced that will be releasedworldwide over the next few years to meet theanticipated demand (Fig. 7). This release beganin late 2005, with a charity launch by

Sotherby’s, with worldwide sales over the nextten years estimated to be in the millions.

Benefits to Plant Conservation

Royalties from plant sales will go directly toconservation of Wollemi pine and other endan-gered plants in New South Wales (NSW), ofwhich there are more than 600 of the state’sentire flora of 6000 species. To put this in per-spective, the total flora of the United Kingdomis around 1400 species, and so there is a greatneed for conservation of this large NSW floraand of the entire Australian flora that is estima-ted to be in excess of 25,000 species.Additionally, each Wollemi pine that is sold willbe branded with messages and informationabout world plant conservation, the value ofbiodiversity and what can be done to help con-serve it.

MANIPULATING PLANTGROWTH

For a species with so few numbers in the wild,existing in an extremely inhospitable terrain,the amenability of Wollemi pine to cultivationhas surprised horticulturists. Yet, consideringthat the species has survived 17 ice ages, conti-nental drying and enormous sustained compe-tition from the more advanced flowering plants(advanced in an evolutionary sense) that nowdominate the planet, it is apparent that theplant is truly remarkable. A survivor from theage of the dinosaurs, we believe that theWollemi pine has natural survival characteristicsthat also contribute to its horticultural adapta-bility.

It grows in extremely poor soils with lownutrient levels, yet responds to a range of ferti-lisers by increased growth. Although this spe-cies prefers low pH it will tolerate a wide range(Meagher and Offord, unpub.). The growth rateof Wollemi pine is similar to that of tropicalAraucariaceae species (Whitmore, 1977; Offordet al., 1999). Furthermore, its growth is con-trolled by light, with low light levels suppressingor suspending growth, and in the wild, thereare cohorts of small dormant seedlings thatcould be as old as, or even older than 20 yearsof age, which can resume growth in responseto increased light levels as gaps appear in thecanopy. The root systems of Wollemi pine,while they may become larger over time,require relatively little soil to maintain goodgrowth. This makes the plant particularly adap-table to pot culture.

Yet another survival characteristic that gives theWollemi pine a degree of adaptability is itsnatural self-coppicing habit. This feature isautapomorphic, that is, it only occurs inWollemia in the Araucariceae (Hill, 1997). Thetrees produce new shoots, from continuallydeveloping axillary buds buried in the bark(Burrows et al., 2003) particularly in the basalregion. It is impossible to age the oldest trees in

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 13

CONTACT

Cathy Offord and Patricia Meagher, Mount Annan Botanic Garden, Mount Annan Drive, Mount AnnanNSW 2567, Australia, email: Cathy.Offord@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au and Patricia.Meagher@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au

Cathy Offord

Dr. Cathy Offord is a Senior Research Scientistwith the Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney and isbased at Mount Annan Botanic Garden, the400 ha Australian native plant garden locatedin south-west Sydney. She is a member of theWollemi Pine Recovery Team and has workedon the horticulture of many Australian plantspecies, including Wollemi pine, Waratah andFlannel flower.

Patricia Meagher is a scientist at Mount AnnanBotanic Garden. She has been involved withmany aspects of the horticulture and conser-vation of the Wollemi pine, and is also a mem-ber of the Recovery Team.Patricia Meagher

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We wish to thank Chris Allen for production ofthe map and Jaime Plaza for photography.

REFERENCES

Banks, J.C.G. 2002. Wollemi pine: tree find of the 20th century. p.85-89. In: J. Dargavel, D. Gaughwin andB. Libbis (eds.), Australia’s Ever-changing Forests V, Proc. Fifth National Conference on Australian ForestHistory.

Briggs, B.G. 2000. What is significant - the Wollemi pine or the southern rushes? Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard.87:72-80.

Burrows, G.E., Offord, C.A., Meagher, P.F. and Ashton, K. 2003. Axillary meristems and the development ofepicormic buds in Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis). Ann. Bot. - London 92:835-844.

Chambers, T.C., Drinnan, A.N. and McLoughlin, S. 1998. Some morphological features of Wollemi pine(Wollemia nobilis: Araucariaceae) and their comparison to cretaceous plant fossils. Int. J. Plant Sci.159:160-171.

DEC. 2005. Draft Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi pine) Recovery Plan. Department of Environment andConservation (NSW), Hurstville, NSW, Australia. http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/ npws.nsf/Content/Recovery+plans

Dettmann, M.E. and Jarzen, D.M. 2000. Pollen of extant Wollemia (Wollemi pine) and comparisons withpollen of other extant and fossil Araucariaceae. p.197-203. In: M.M. Harley, C.M. Morton and S.Blackmore (eds.), Pollen and Spores: Morphology and Biology, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Fensom, G. and Offord, C. 1998. Propagation of Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis). Combined Proc. Intl. PlantPropagators’ Soc. 47:66-67.

Grace, L., Cook, J., Hargreaves, C., Meagher, P., Menzies, M., Offord, C. and Trueman, S 2005. SomaticEmbryogenesis in Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis). Poster presented at IAPTC Conference, February 2005,Christchurch, New Zealand.

Hill, K.D. 1997. Architecture of the Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis, Araucariaceae), a unique combinationof model and reiteration. Austral. J. Bot. 45:817-826.

Lake, J. 2000. ‘Living fossil’ set to become next trend. Austral. Hort. 98(6):41-44.Macphail, M., Hill, K., Partridge, A., Truswell, E. and Foster, C. 1995. Australia: ‘Wollemi Pine’ - old pollen

records for a newly discovered genus of gymnosperm. Geology Today 2:2.Offord, C.A. and Meagher, P.F. 2001. Effects of temperature, light and stratification on seed germination of

Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis Araucariaceae). Austral. J. Bot. 49:699-704.Offord, C.A., Porter, C.L., Meagher, P.F. and Errington, G. 1999. Sexual reproduction and early plant growth

of the Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis), a rare and threatened Australian conifer. Ann. Bot. - London84:1-9.

Setoguchi, H., Osawa, T.A., Pintaud, J.-C., Jaffre, T. and Veillon, J.-M. 1998. Phylogenetic relationshipswithin Araucariaceae based on RBCL gene sequences. Amer. J. Bot. 85:1507-1516.

Whitmore, T.C. 1977. A first look at Agathis. Tropical Forestry Papers, No. 11, Commonwealth ForestryInstitute, Univ. Oxford, Oxford.

Woodford, J. 2000. The Wollemi pine. Text Publishing, Melbourne.

the wild because, while an individual trunk of0.5 m in diameter may be 400 years old (Banks,2002), the multi-trunked habit means that anindividual tree could be thousands of years old.In cultivation, this habit can be manipulated toproduce trees that suit particular situations andapplications. Therefore trees can be easily indu-ced to grow with single stems, clumps, or withside branching to create interesting shapes.

Unlike many other conifers, plants of Wollemipine grown from plagiotropic (lateral) branchesmay revert to the orthotropic (upright form)over time. However, when young, the plagio-tropic plants make an attractive pot or casca-ding rockery display, or require pruning tomaintain the growth form.

Decorative Cones

Many of the Wollemi pines recently planted ingardens have produced cones, with male conesappearing as early as four years after propaga-tion. Several young cultivated trees have nowproduced functional female cones, from asearly as seven years. Cones are produced in latesummer and pollination occurs in the followingspring. However, fertilisation doesn’t occur untilapproximately another year after that, severalmonths prior to maturation, and so femalecones can persist on the trees for up to twoyears. These cones are rather decorative andhave given rise to the notion of the Wollemipine becoming known as the “AustralianChristmas tree.”

CONCLUSION

Wollemi pines have been on display in most ofAustralia’s large botanic gardens for some time,and have recently been planted in other gar-dens including Kew (UK), Vienna BotanicGarden and several in the USA and Asia. Therehas been enormous interest and acceptance ofthe Wollemi pine not only as a curious Jurassicage relict, but as an exciting new horticulturalspecies (Fig. 7). Most importantly, it is a modelfor sustainable horticultural development of anendangered species, that could be adopted formany other desirable but rare species.

More information on the Wollemi pine canbe found at:

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/information_about_plants/wollemi_pine

and

http://www.wollemipine.com

ISHS • 14

INTRODUCTION

The majority of banana and plantain farmers inAfrica grow their crop on small backyard plotswith a few hundred plants (Swennen, 1990).Traditional cultivars are often grown perenniallywhereby successive crops are derived fromshoots (suckers) emerging from lateral budslocated at the base of the main plant in the pre-vious crop.

In most plantain cultivars, the emergence ofnew suckers follows a hierarchical pattern dueto a strong apical dominance exerted by themain plant (De Langhe et al., 1983; Swennenand Wilson, 1983; Swennen et al., 1984). Incontrast, wild bananas or non-plantain cultivarshave a polyarchic architecture that producesrelatively large numbers of shoots (daughterplants) from the base of the mother plant.

Expanding the cultivation of plantain beyondthe backyard has often been hampered by thescarcity of planting materials (Schill et al., 1997;Nkendah and Akyeampong, 2003). Farmersusually depend on natural regeneration ofplants for the supply of such materials, but thisis a slow process that often produces smallnumbers of planting materials (Swennen, 1990;Faturoti et al., 2002). Thus, farmers only obtaina few suckers that essentially allow them toreplace lost or mature plants on the same plots.

However, soil nutrient depletion, plant parasiticnematodes and the banana weevil combine tolimit the length of plantain plantation lifespan(Swennen et al., 1988). Nematodes destroyplantain roots, undermining productivity, espe-cially under conditions of poor soil fertility. Thisforces the farmers to abandon their fields insearch of new crop areas, particularly land fol-lowing extended fallow or at the expense offorests (Hauser, 2000; Gowen et al., 2005).

Newly planted fields are established for themost part, from untreated suckers from existingfields. Consequently, suckers used for newlyplanted fields are invariably infected with nema-todes and other soil-borne pests and diseases,resulting in the contamination of new fields.Transplanting the contaminated materials facili-tates the persistence and spread of nematodeand weevil problems and shortens the lifetimeof plantations to only one or two cycles of pro-

Clean Planting Materials and ManagementPractices for Sustained Production ofBanana and Plantain in Africa

HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE NEWS

A. Tenkouano, S. Hauser, D. Coyne and O. Coulibaly

duction, beyond which most plants topple,become unproductive, or simply die (Coyne etal., 2005a&b; Wilson et al., 1985a).

The poor health and quality of planting mate-rials and soil-borne pests are detrimental toexpansion of banana and plantain cultivation.However, a number of techniques have beendeveloped to produce large numbers of plan-ting materials (Wilson et al., 1985b; Swennen,1990; Faturoti et al., 2002; Kwa, 2003), todecontaminate infested materials (Speijer,1999; Hauser, 2000), and to reduce reinfesta-tion of fields with nematodes (Coyne et al.,2005a). In this paper, we outline availableoptions for mass-propagation of plantain andbanana seedlings, describe farmer-friendlyoptions for sanitation of seedlings and farms,and examine the adoption prospects of theseoptions by farmers.

MASS-PROPAGATION OFBANANA AND PLANTAIN

Rapid production of planting materials can beachieved through various vegetative multiplica-tion methods, including micropropagation(Vuylsteke, 1998). While these aseptic produc-tion methods can provide large numbers ofplanting materials, they are not adapted to theconditions of small-scale farmers nor are theyroutinely applicable to agricultural realities ofthe developing world, particularly in Africa.Therefore, user-friendly techniques that requirelittle technical skills or equipment would provemore attractive to adoption by small-scale far-mers.

Natural regeneration is slow in banana due tohormone-mediated apical dominance of themother plant (De Langhe et al., 1983;Swennen, 1984; Swennen et al., 1984; Ortizand Vuylsteke, 1994). However, repression ofapical dominance to stimulate lateral bud deve-lopment and increase suckering rate can beaccomplished by mechanical means throughcomplete or partial decapitation, or bydetached corm techniques.

Field Decapitation Techniques

Field decapitation methods involve stimulatinglateral bud production through destruction of

the active growing point (meristem) in thepseudostem of a standing plant. In false deca-pitation, a window or small hole is made on thepseudostem slightly above the soil line, and thegrowing point removed, but the plant is leftstanding with foliage that remains photosyn-thetically active for approximately three months(Wilson et al., 1985b; Swennen, 1990). In com-plete decapitation, the pseudostem is cut downand the growing point destroyed using a metalblade perpendicular to the soil line (Wilson etal., 1985b; Swennen, 1990). Both methodsincrease sprouting and sucker multiplication inthe field (Fig. 1), with an annual suckering rateper plant ranging from 9-14. Field techniquesare suited to the needs of smallholder farmerswho only require relatively small quantities ofplanting materials.

Detached Corm Techniques

A well-developed banana or plantain corm con-tains several axillary buds, which essentiallyhost meristems of different ages and stages ofdevelopment (Kwa, 2003). Detached cormmethods involve multiple sequential de-repres-sion of lateral growth by activation of latentbuds in humidity chamber conditions resultingin the high production of planting material.

A

C

B

D

Figure 1. Field techniques for productionof planting materials of banana and plan-tain, true decapitation (A, B), false deca-pitation (C, D). The growing point of themother plant is destroyed to suppress itsinhibitory action on lateral buds and de-repressed buds develop.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 15

Scarification of buds, which consists in makingtwo perpendicular incisions on the buds, hasthe potential to further increase plant produc-tion by a factor of 2-10 (Table 1). In compari-son, shoot tip in vitro micropropagation takes12-18 weeks of incubation before the shoot tipstarts producing individual shoots. About 40explants can be derived from a single shoot tip,and about 1000 plantlets can be obtained in 8-15 additional weeks (Table 2).

Plantlets obtained through detached corm pro-pagation have the uniformity of tissue-culturedones while being less prone to post-esta-blishment stress and loss in the field. However,plantlets obtained through detached corm pro-pagation have lower survival rates during theacclimatization stage in the nursery comparedto plantlets from tissue culture. The detachedcorm method is relatively simple and requiresminimum investment to set up germinationchambers and acclimation facilities (Fig. 2),which could make it suitable for enterprising,plant production-oriented farmers. Corms frompreflowering or harvested plants are suitable forthe corm multiplication techniques, but evensuckers from field-induced multiplication couldbe used.

Adoption Prospects

As part of a large-scale hybrid disseminationprocess, approximately 110 on-farm demon-stration trials were established across Nigeria inpartnership with the public extension agencies,oil companies, churches, other community-based organizations, and contact-farmers(Tenkouano and Swennen, 2004). Similar initia-tives have been launched in other countries,notably, Cameroon, Ghana, Mozambique, andTanzania (Gallez et al., 2004). A key feature ofthese projects was the backing of the trials bytraining of stakeholders in rapid multiplicationas described above, in addition to informationon hybrids, crop management practices, pestand disease management methods, and postharvest processing options.

A farm household survey was carried-out in2005 in key plantain and banana producingstates of Nigeria to assess the socio-economicimpact of the adoption of plantain and bananahybrids and the overall performance of theplanting materials dissemination scheme (C.Aitchedji, A. Tenkouano and O. Coulibaly,unpublished report, 2005). All respondentsreported that the capacity building curriculawere adapted to their needs and opportunities.Some 44% of the respondents had attendedtraining sessions during the period 2000-2004.Farmers’ awareness has been increased withfield days and exchange of information onhybrids and associated techniques.

The sucker proliferation potential through rapidmultiplication was instrumental to the adoptionof the new cultivars by 56% of surveyed far-mers. Other reasons for adoption of newhybrids included high yield, resistance to pests

Genotypes Avg. shelf life of Proliferation rate of corms No. corms requireddetached corms (no. shoots per corm) to produce 1000 plantlets

(weeks) after 3-4 weeks in 4 months

Not scarified Scarified Not scarified Scarified

HybridsBITA 3 16 8 20 125 50FHIA 23 16 6 27 166 37FHIA 25 16 4 23 250 43PITA 14 12 5 13 200 76PITA 21 12 12 33 83 30PITA 23 16 6 19 166 52

LandracesAssangda 16 7 21 142 47Ebang 12 6 15 166 66Elat 12 4 10 250 100Essong 8 6 12 166 83

Table 1. Proliferation characteristics of some banana and plantain genotypes propagatedusing detached corms with and without scarification.

Genotypes Initiation time Proliferation rate Post-initiation time required(weeks) (no. shoots/explant) to produce 1000 plantlets

(weeks)

HybridsBITA 3 18 6 8FHIA 23 15 3 12FHIA 25 15 2 15PITA 14 15 3 12PITA 21 12 4 12PITA 23 18 5 8

LandracesAssangda 18 6 8Ebang 15 3 12Elat 18 4 12Essong 15 4 12

Table 2. Proliferation characteristics of some banana and plantain genotypes obtained duringin vitro micropropagation.

Figure 2. Mass-propagation of banana and plantain: corms propagated in humidity chambers(A) produce large numbers of shoots (B) that are very uniform (C). These are detached andtransferred into plastic bags in locally made shade-houses (D), ready for distribution.

A

C

B

D

ISHS • 16

and diseases, taste, and good cooking quality.A farmer who adopts hybrids could generatean average of $200 per season from the sale ofsuckers, on top of some $8,000 net revenueper ha and per year from fruit sales. Thus,incentives for adopting hybrid plantain andbanana include substantial financial gains fromsuckers and fruit sales.

The detached corm technique is subtending theemergence of commercial plant production forbanana and plantain both in Cameroon andNigeria. The plant production capacity has dra-matically increased over the past three years inCameroon and Nigeria where training work-shops through farmers’ field days or in-classapprenticeships have reached an estimated50,000 people.

SANITATION TO CONTROLSUCKER AND SOIL-BORNEPESTS

Detached corm propagation is carried out usingsteam-sterilized substrates, providing nearly-pest-free conditions for production of relativelyhealthy seedlings. In contrast, seedlings fromfield propagation techniques may be infectedwith soil-borne pests such as nematodes. Toreduce the risks of transmitting soil-borne con-taminants, sanitation of suckers obtained viafield decapitation methods is strongly recom-mended and forms an integral component ofthe technology package.

Several techniques for sanitation exist, all basedon the exposure of suckers to heat for relative-ly long time as described by Colbran (1967).

Suckers are treated in 52°C hot water for 20minutes during which the heat kills pests in theouter layer of the corms. The simplest thermalsucker sanitation method consists in immersingsuckers for 30 seconds in boiling water (100°C),using portable devices that can be locally pur-chased or assembled by the farmers (Fig. 3).

Sucker immersion in boiling water can be aharsh treatment, which could damage or killsmall suckers. Thus, an experiment was carriedout to assess the effects of sucker size andduration of thermal treatment on plantletemergence and growth. Suckers ranging from< 20 cm to > 60 cm circumference were im-mersed for 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 secondsand planted at two locations in Cameroon.

Neither corm size nor duration of thermal treat-ment had an effect on the emergence rate orthe mean number of leaves per plant eightweeks after planting (WAP) at the first site. Theemergence rate of untreated suckers was91.7%, compared to 94.5 to 98.6% for boilingwater-treated suckers, but this was not statisti-

Sucker Plantlet Not flowered Producing plants Bunch weight Yieldtreatment emergence (%) (%) (kg) (t/ha)

(%) 10 WAP

Control 96.9 34.4 29.2 8.8 4.6

Boiled 93.8 6.3** 61.5* 13.0** 14.2**

Table 3. Effect of sucker treatment with boiling water on performance of local plantain insouthern Cameroon, after 38 months, plant crop and first ratoon.

WAP = weeks after planting; *, ** Difference significant at 5% (*) and 1% levels (**).

cally significant. At the second site however,there were significant differences (p=0.04)among sucker size classes for emergence ratesassessed at 9 weeks after planting: 99.3% forsuckers of 40-50 cm circumference, 93.8% forsuckers with 20-30 cm or 30-40 cm circumfe-rence. Immersion time had no effect initially,but it was observed, following an unusuallysevere drought spell, that plots established withsuckers that had been immersed in boilingwater for 30 seconds had the highest survivalrate, leading to the general recommendation ofa 30 second exposure. Boiling water treatmentdoes not require paring of the corms beforetreatment and is thus labour saving.

It was further observed that plant growth wasusually faster, more plants produced an ediblebunch, and bunches were heavier in field plotsestablished with suckers that had beenimmersed in boiling water compared to controlplots (Table 3). Additionally, sucker sanitationinduces faster crop cycling, reducing weedingrequirements, so that fields can return to fallowor other crops earlier.

Training workshops were held in southernCameroon on plantain sucker cleaning in 2003.The workshops were well attended by farmersand about 40% of participants had set updemonstration plots to get first hand informa-tion on the effects of eliminating plantain rootnematodes and weevils from suckers by immer-sing them for 30 seconds in boiling water.

In 2004 the same farmers were visited to moni-tor their experience with the new technology.The farmers located north of Yaoundé (capitalcity of Cameroon) reported a significant impro-vement in plantain growth and yield. A signifi-cant proportion (20%) of the sample farmersparticipating in the pilot study had establishedadditional fields of up to one hectare entirelyplanted to boiling water treated suckers. In theforest areas south of Yaoundé, farmers addedsome chemical fertilizer to boost fertility in thedemonstration plots, because expansion in areais constrained by high labor and capital costs ofclearing the forest. Farmers noted that suckerproduction through boiling water treated andfertilized plantains had high returns with up to25 suckers per plant, adding practically as muchmoney through sucker sales as for the bunch. Inlow density forest areas south east of Yaoundé,

Figure 3. The boiling water treatment is a simple technique for disinfestation of plantain andbanana suckers. The technique can be practiced in the field.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 17

Table 4. Response of corm boiling and Tithonia mulch on performance of plantain ‘Agbagba’for 9 sites in Southwest Nigeria after 18 months of growth.

Treatment Bunch weight No. hands No. fingers(kg) per bunch per hand

Farmers’ practice 4.8 4.3 14.9Boiling water only 6.2 5.1 20.2

Boiling water + Tithonia mulch 8.1 5.8 21.8

LSD(0.05) 2.8 2.1 8.0

there are good quality lands and 50% of far-mers who established demonstration plots sub-stituted small plots for large fields of up to 3.5ha entirely planted with boiling water treatedsuckers.

DELAYING FIELD RE-INFESTA-TION BY NEMATODES

Pest-free propagules obtained by the abovemethods can be used to establish new fields,expand existing ones, or replace lost plants inexisting fields. However, a major challengefacing the farmer is to improve crop husbandrytechniques that would delay re-infestation ofthe fields.

One promising development in this area is theprospect of using nematode-suppressive plantssuch as Tithonia diversifolia as a mulch (IITA,2004). Benefits are magnified when this techni-que is practiced in conjunction with suckertreatment for nematode disinfestation. Thisplant, originating in Central America, has be-come a common feature in the humid and sub-humid tropics of Africa along roadsides andfarm boundaries (Jama et al., 2000). T. diversi-folia produces relatively large quantities of bio-mass, which is relatively high in N (average3.5% on dry weight basis), P (average 0.37%)and K (average 4.1%) and tolerates regular pru-ning (Buresh and Niang, 1997; Jama et al.,2000). T. diversifolia has been reported to beactive against nematodes (Tiyagi et al., 1985;Nisar et al., 1989; Coyne et al., 2005a), and useof its organic matter as a mulch can reducenematode damage and improve yields (Coyneet al., 2005b; Gowen et al., 2005).

T. diversifolia (Fig. 4) is relatively easy to recog-nize, which made it an attractive subject for far-mer participatory experiments in South WestNigeria. Mulching with T. diversifolia was prac-ticed on one of three plots, comprising nineplants per plot, in farmers’ fields. Farmers com-pared their normal cropping practice against aplot of boiling water treated suckers, and alsoagainst boiling water treated suckers + T. diver-sifolia mulching of one handful per plant permonth. Mulching varied among farmers, butaveraged approximately 6 kg fresh weight (~1.2kg dry weight) per plant per month.

Bunch characteristics after 18 months from plan-ting were measured at harvest, showing diffe-rences among treatments (Table 4). Plants culti-

Figure 4. Tithonia diversifolia is easy to recognize and occurs abundantly along road sides.

vated using the farmers’ usual practices had rela-tively smaller bunches compared with othertreatments resulting in substantially higher yields(Table 4). While treatment with boiling wateronly marginally increased the number of harves-ted bunches from 50 to 69, superimposing mul-ching to sucker sanitization boosted the numberof harvested bunches to 101.

Farmers initially proved skeptical to using heat-treated suckers. Preliminary demonstrationswere therefore necessary to gain farmer confi-dence that suckers would not be killed by theprocedure, before commencing on-farmdemonstration plots. Even then, farmers wereapprehensive: “I half-heartedly pointed to apart of my farm for the experiment because Ithought it would not work, but what has comeout of the farm is unbelievable!” recalls Mr.

Joseph Ilesanmi, a participating farmer at Ajayetown in Ekiti State, Nigeria.

During 2004 approximately 12-18 months afterplanting, farmer field days were held in con-junction with national agricultural programmes,farmer groups, and individual farmers at parti-cipating farms to discuss the merits of thevarious treatments, farmer to farmer. Demon-strations of ‘cleaning’ suckers by removingroots (paring) and boiling water treatment wereorganized at the field days.

There has been an overwhelming response byfarmers to use both healthy material and to addT. diversifolia mulch, which is readily available inmost locations. An increasing demand forhealthy suckers is being witnessed in pilot studyareas, with some farmers establishing multipli-cation plots for sale of healthy (premium)suckers. Support for expanding the programmewider and across Musa growing areas is cur-rently being sought, to promote this simple, yeteffective method.

CONCLUSION

Promoting clean planting materials andmethods for reducing de novo field infestationby nematodes and weevils has been a corner-stone of IITA’s research for development work infavor of banana and plantain growers. Theadoption prospects of the promoted technolo-gies are very high, already evidenced by theemergence of commercial seedling production.A key factor subtending the attraction of far-mers to the new technologies is their user-friendliness and the potential high rewardsfrom investment in extra labor or low-costinfrastructure.

ISHS • 18

D. Coyne

A. Tenkouano is a plant breeder at theInternational Institute of Tropical Agriculture(IITA), Humid Forest Ecoregional Center, BP2008 Messa, Yaoundé, Cameroon, email:a.tenkouano@cgiar.org

S. Hauser is an agronomist at IITA, Humid ForestEcoregional Center, BP 2008 Messa, Yaoundé,Cameroon, email: s.hauser@cgiar.org

D. Coyne is a nematologist at IITA-Uganda, P.O.Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda, email:d.coyne@cgiar.org

O. Coulibaly is an agricultural economist atIITA, Biological Control Center for Africa,BP 08-0932 Cotonou, Bénin, email:o.coulibaly@cgiar.org

All authors can be contacted c/o L.W. Lambourn& Co., Carolyn House, 26 Dingwall Road,Croydon CR9 3EE, United Kingdom

O. Coulibaly

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

A. Tenkouano S. Hauser

REFERENCES

Buresh, R.J. and Niang, A.I. 1997. Tithonia diversifolia as a green manure: awareness, expectation and rea-lities. Agroforestry Forum 8:29-31.

Colbran, R.C. 1967. Hot water tank for treatment of banana planting material. Queensland Department ofPrimary Industries, Division of Plant Industry, Brisbane, Australia, Advisory Leaflet 924.

Coyne, D., Kajumba, C. and Kagoda, F. 2005a. Nematode management at the International Institute ofTropical Agriculture. p.141-148. In: G. Blomme, C. Gold and E. Karamura (eds.), Farmer-ParticipatoryTesting of Banana Integrated Pest Management Options for Sustainable Banana Production in EasternAfrica, Proc. Workshop on Farmer-participatory testing of IPM options for sustainable banana productionin Eastern Africa, held in Seeta, Uganda, 8-9 December 2003, INIBAP, Montpellier, France (http://www.ini-bap.org/pdf/ipm-proceedings_en.pdf).

Coyne, D.L., Rotimi, O., Speijer, P., De Schutter, B., Dubois, T., Auwerkerken, A., Tenkouano, A. and DeWaele, D. 2005b. Effects of nematode infection and mulching on the yield of plantain (Musa spp., AAB-group) ratoon crops and plantation longevity in southeastern Nigeria. Nematology 7:531-541.

De Langhe, E., Swennen, R. and Wilson, G.F. 1983. Aspects hormonaux du rejetonnage des bananiers plan-tains. Fruits 38:318-325.

Faturoti, B., Tenkouano, A., Lemchi, J. and Nnaji, N. 2002. Rapid multiplication of plantain and banana.Macropropagation techniques. A pictorial guide. IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria. 12p.

Gallez, A., Runyoro, G.T., Mbehoma, C.B., Van den houwe, I. and Swennen, R. 2004. Rapid mass propaga-tion and diffusion of new banana varieties to small-scale farmers in north western Tanzania. African CropSci. J. 12:7-17.

Gowen, S.C., Quénéhervé, P. and Fogain, R. 2005. Nematode parasites of banana, plantain and abaca.p.611-643. In: M. Luc, R.A. Sikora and J. Bridge (eds.), Plant parasitic nematodes in subtropical and tro-pical agriculture, 2nd ed., CAB Int., Wallingford, UK.

Hauser, S. 2000. Effects of fertilizer and hot-water treatment upon establishment, survival and yield of plan-tain (Musa spp. AAB French). Field Crops Res. 66:213-223.

IITA. 2004. Project B research highlights. In: Annual Report for 2003, Int. Ins. Trop. Agr., Ibadan, Nigeria.Jama, B., Palm, C.A., Buresh, R.J., Niang, A., Gachengo, C., Nzighuheba, G. and Amadalo, B. 2000. Tithonia

diversifolia as a green manure for soil fertility improvement in western Kenya: a review. AgroforestrySystems 49:201-221.

Kwa, M. 2003. Activation de bourgeons latents et utilisation de fragments de tige du bananier pour la pro-pagation en masse de plants en conditions horticoles in vivo. Fruits 58:315-328.

Nisar, S., Husssein, S.I. and Ali, N. 1989. Allelochemicals kill root knot nematodes in vitro. Indian J. Appl. &Pure Biol. 4:169-171.

Nkendah, R. and Akyeampong, E. 2003. Socioeconomic data on the plantain commodity chain in West andCentral Africa. InfoMusa 12:8-13.

Ortiz, R. and Vuylsteke, D.R. 1994. Genetics of apical dominance in plantain (Musa spp., AAB Group) andimprovement of suckering behavior. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 119:1050-1053.

Schill, P., Afreh-Nuamah, K., Gold, C.S., Ulzen-Aprah, F., Paa Kwesi, E., Peprah, S.A. and Twumasi, J.K. 1997.Farmers’ perception of constraints in plantain production in Ghana. Plant Health Management ResearchMonograph 5, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Speijer, P.R. 1999. Clean planting materials for bananas and yams. Agriforum 9:4.Swennen, R. 1984. A physiological study of the suckering behaviour in plantain (Musa cv. AAB). PhD

Dissertation, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.Swennen, R. 1990. Plantain Cultivation under West African Conditions: A Reference Manual. IITA, Ibadan,

Nigeria. 24p.Swennen, R. and Wilson, G.F. 1983. La stimulation du développement du rejet baïonnette du bananier plan-

tain (Musa spp. groupe AAB) par application de gibberelline (GA3). Fruits 38:261-265.Swennen, R., Wilson, G.F. and De Langhe, E. 1984. Preliminary investigation of the effects of gibberellic acid

(GA3) on sucker development in plantain (Musa cv. AAB) under field conditions. Trop. Agr. (Trinidad)61:253-256.

Swennen, R., Wilson, G.F. and Decoene, D. 1988. Priorities for future research on the root system and cormin plantains and bananas in relation with nematodes and the banana weevil. Nematodes and the borerweevil in bananas: present status of research and outlook. Proceedings of a workshop, Bujumbura,Burundi, 7-11 December 1987. INIBAP, Montpellier, France. p.91-96.

Tenkouano, A. and Swennen, R.L. 2004. Progress in breeding and delivering improved plantain and bana-na to African farmers. Chronica Hort. 44:9-15.

Tiyagi, S.A., Mukhtar, J. and Alam, M.M. 1985. Preliminary studies on the nematicidal nature of two plantsof the family Compositae. Int. Nematol. Newslett. 2:19-21.

Vuylsteke, D. 1998. Shoot-tip culture for the propagation, conservation, and distribution of Musa germ-plasm. IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria. 73p.

Wilson, G.F., Swennen, R. and De Langhe, E. 1985a. Effects of mulch and fertilizer on yield and longevityof a medium and giant plantain and a banana cultivar. Proc. 3rd meeting, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 27-31May 1985, International Association for Research on Plantain and Bananas. p.109-111.

Wilson, G.F., Vuylsteke, D. and Swennen, R. 1985b. Rapid multiplication of plantain: an improved field tech-nique. Proc. 3rd meeting, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 27-31 May 1985, International Association for Researchon Plantain and Bananas. p.24-26.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 19

K. Haffner and S.F. Remberg

Antioxidant-rich Berries:Plant Food for Better Health

Table 1. Overview of the screeningresults of plant food and plant food pro-ducts. Antioxidants measured by theFRAP-assay (Halvorsen et al., 2002).

Product Antioxidants(mmol/100 g FW)

Berries 1.0 - 39.5Nuts and seeds 0.2 - 21.0Fruits 0.1 - 11.3Wine 0.4 - 3.7Tea 0.8 - 2.5Vegetables 0.0 - 3.8Cereals 0.0 - 1.1

The antioxidant activity values for various berryand stone fruit species is presented in Table 2.Wild berries gave the highest antioxidantvalues, but cultivated berries are also richsources.

Dog rose hips are extremely high in total anti-oxidants, and are therefore considered forhealth purposes (Hvattum, 2002). Thus, the

food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industrieshave become interested in the fruits of the rosefamily (Rosaceae). In Sweden, these fruits aretraditionally used for manufacturing dessertsoups, mainly from dehydrated fruit flesh. Inthis Scandinavian country, recent research workhas been done on domestication of wild roses(Uggla, 2004). Other berries, such as bilberriesand highbush blueberries, both fresh and pro-cessed as juice or jam, are widely consumed inNorwegian households. Increased research onantioxidant rich blueberries has been reportedfrom several countries in the world (e.g. Kalt etal., 2001; Connor et al., 2002; Remberg et al.,2003).

BERRY PRODUCTION INNORWAY

Berries are widely grown commercially in thisScandinavian country. Because of the positiveclimatic influence of the Gulf Stream and thelong days in the summer time, berry productionis possible beyond the Arctic Circle, and at aheight of about 1000 m above sea level. Wildberries - especially bilberries, lingonberries,cowberries and raspberries are found all overthe country. These species are frequently usedin Norwegian households, but they are notcommercially cultivated today.

The knowledge that plant-based diets reducethe risk for developing several chronic diseases(e.g. Steinmetz and Potter, 1996; Greenwald etal., 2001; Blomhoff, 2005) has led to a broadscreening project of analysing plant food fortotal antioxidant activity by the Plant Food forBetter Health Programme of Norway.Cooperating partners in this project include theNorwegian University of Life Sciences, theNorwegian Food Research Institute, and collea-gues specialised on human nutrition and medi-cine at the University of Oslo. Special focus hasbeen on antioxidant content in fruits, berriesand vegetables.

The Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP)assay was used to measure the concentration oftotal antioxidants. FRAP was determined inextracts by the method of Benzie and Strain(1996), with the exception that the sample wasnot diluted with water in the assay, as describedby Halvorsen et al. (2002). A Technicon RA1000 system (Technicon Instruments Corpo-ration, New York, USA) was used for the mea-surements of absorption changes that appearwhen the TPTZ-Fe3+ complex is reduced to theTPTZ-Fe2+ form in the presence of antioxidants.The total antioxidant capacity was calculated asmmol 100 g-1 fresh weight.

An overview of the antioxidant activity in diffe-rent plant food groups (Table 1) indicates consi-derable variation among fruits, berries, vegeta-bles and the other plant food groups.

Fruit Botanical name Mean and range of anti-oxidants (mmol/100 g FW)

Dog rose, wild Rosa canina 39.46 (32.41-50.80)Crowberry Empetrum hermaphroditum 9.17 (7.07-10.80)Blueberry, wild (bilberry) Vaccinium myrtillus 8.23 (7.57-8.86)Blackcurrant Ribes nigrum 7.35 (5.49-9.09)Strawberry, wild Fragaria vesca 6.88 (6.67-7.01)Blackberry, wild Rubus nemoralis 6.13 (5.83-6.40)Sour cherry Prunus cerasus 5.53 (3.39-7.14)Blackberry, cultivated Rubus fruticosus 5.07 (3.84-6.61)Cowberr Vaccinium vitis-idaea 5.03 (4.59-5.25)Elderberry Sambucus nigra 4.31 (3.37-5.24)Raspberry, wild Rubus idaeus 3.97 (3.93-4.01)Blueberry, cultivated Vaccinium corymbosum 3.64 (3.17-3.96)Raspberry, cultivated Rubus idaeus ssp. vulgatus 3.06 (2.49-3.35)Cloudberry Rubus chamaemorus 2.83 (2.51-3.44)Rowanberry Sorbus aucuparia 2.42 (2.34-2.58)Strawberry, cultivated Fragaria x ananassa 2.17 (1.85-2.34)Redcurrant Ribes rubrum 1.78 (1.61-1.92)Gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa 1.45Sweet cherry Prunus avium 1.02 (0.62-1.42)

Table 2. Antioxidant activity in berry and cherry species, measured by the FRAP assay(Halvorsen et al., 2002).

Highbush blueberries, Vaccinium corymbo-sum (left), bilberries, Vaccinium myrtillus(right). The darker colour and the higheramount of pigments - not only concentratedin the skin of the berries - account for thehigher antioxidant activity in bilberries.Photograph by courtesy of Finn Måge.

The most important berry crops are strawber-ries (1800 hectares), red raspberries (250 hec-tares) and black currants (200 hectares).Strawberries are mostly consumed fresh butalso prepared as jam. The Dutch cultivar‘Korona’, with large berries, rich in taste andaroma, is the dominating cultivar for the freshmarket. Other strawberry cultivars grown inNorway include ‘Senga Sengana’, ‘Polka’,‘Honeoye’ and ‘Inga’.

ISHS • 20

Indigenous and Wild Cassava: A RichSource of Genetic Diversity in Brazil

’Korona’: the most important strawberrycultivar in Norway.

Karin Haffner

Professor Dr. Karin Haffner, Norwegian Universityof Life Sciences, Dept. of Plant and Environ-mental Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, N-1432 Aas,Norway, email: karin.haffner@umb.no

PhD-student Siv Fagertun Remberg, email: siv.rem-berg@umb.no

Siv Fagertun Remberg

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Raspberries and black currants had been most-ly used for production of jam and juice by theindustry. However, at the present time rasp-berry farmers grow more red raspberries forfresh consumption. Highbush blueberry pro-duction was established during the last 15years, and is still only a small scale crop ofabout 25 hectares. Only areas in the Southernpart of the country, with the best climatic con-ditions, are recommended for highbush blue-berry production.

There is a long tradition of fruit and berryresearch at the Norwegian University of LifeSciences. Field trials, storage facilities and labo-ratories are placed on the Campus. Specialfocus has been on cultivars, quality, postharvestresearch and health beneficial compounds infruits and berries (e.g. Heiberg et al., 1992;Haffner et al., 1997; Remberg et al., 2003,2006).

REFERENCES

Benzie, I.F.F. and Strain, J.J. 1996. The ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) as a measure of “antioxidantpower”: The FRAP assay. Anal. Biochem. 239:70-76.

Blomhoff, R. 2005. Diteary antioxidants and cardiovascular disease. Curr. Opin. Lipidol. 16:47-54.Connor, A.M., Luby, J.J. and Tong, C.B.S. 2002. Variability in antioxidant activity in blueberry and correlations

among different antioxidant activity assays. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 127:238-244.Greenwald, P., Clifford, C.K. and Milner, J.A. 2001. Diet and cancer prevention. Europ. J. Cancer 37:948-965.Haffner, K., Jeksrud, W.K. and Tengesdal, G. 1997. L-ascorbic acid contents and other quality criteria in apples

(Malus domestica Borkh.) after storage in cold store and controlled atmosphere. 7th Intl. ControlledAtmosphere Storage Conference, Davis, CA, 2:252-257.

Halvorsen, B.L., Holte, K., Myhrstad, M., Barikmo, I., Hvattum, E., Remberg, S.F., Wold, A.B., Haffner, K.,Baugerød, H., Andersen, L.F., Moskaug, J.Ø., Jacobs Jr., D.R. and Blomhoff, R. 2002. A systematic screeningof total antioxidants in dietary plants. J. Nutr. 132:461-471.

Heiberg, N., Måge, F. and Haffner, K. 1992. Chemical composition of ten blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L.) cul-tivars. Acta Agric. Scand., Sect. B, Soil and Plant Sci. 42:251-254.

Hvattum, E. 2002. Determination of phenolic compounds in rose hip (Rosa canina) using liquid chromatogra-phy coupled to electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry and diode-array detection. RapidCommun. Mass Spectrom. 16:655-662.

Kalt, W., Ryan, D.A.J., Duy, J.C., Prior, R.L., Ehlenfeldt, M.K. and Vander Kloet, S.P. 2001. Interspecific variati-on in anthocyanins, phenolics, and antioxidant capacity among genotypes of highbush and lowbush blue-berries (Vaccinium Section cyanococcus spp.). J. Agric. Food Chem. 49:4761-4767.

Remberg, S.F., Haffner, K. and Blomhoff, R. 2003. Total antioxidant capacity and other quality criteria in blu-eberries cvs ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Hardyblue’, ‘Patriot’, ‘Putte’ and ‘Aron’ after storage in cold store and controlledatmosphere. Acta Hort. 600:595-598.

Remberg, S.F., Måge, F., Haffner, K. and Blomhoff, R. 2006. Highbush blueberries Vaccinium corymbosum L.,raspberries Rubus idaeus L. and black currants Ribes nigrum L. – Influence of cultivar on antioxidant activi-ty and other quality parameters. Acta Hort. (in press).

Steinmetz, K.A. and Potter, J.D. 1996. Vegetables, fruit, and cancer prevention: A review. J. Am. Diet Assoc.96:1027-1039.

Uggla, M. 2004. Domestication of wild roses for fruit production. Doctoral Thesis, Swedish University ofAgricultural Sciences, Alnarp.

Cassava (Manihot esculenta), a tuberous root-stock indigenous to Brazil, is now cultivatedthroughout the world’s lowland tropics. It pos-sesses many attributes such as efficient carbo-hydrate production, tolerance to low soil ferti-lity, recovery from damage caused by pests anddiseases, insurance against famine via under-ground conservation of roots for long periods,and adaptation to mixed cropping systems. It isthe sixth major staple crop in the world afterrice, wheat, maize, potato, and sweetpotatowith annual production of 185 million tonnes(FAO, 2004). Africa is responsible for more than

Nagib M.A. Nassar

Figure 2. An indigenous cassava clonevery rich in lycopene.

Figure 1. An indigenous cassava clonerich in beta-carotene.

half of the world production, while Nigeria andBrazil account for about one third of the worldproduction.More than 700 million people consume cassavain one form or another. It is used for animal

feed, and as a raw material for producingstarch, starch-based products, and starch deri-vatives. Cassava starch is an important rawmaterial in food processing, paper, textile andadhesive manufacturing and in the oil drilling

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 21

industry. It is also a raw material for producingmany derived sugar products, such as glucose,maltodextrines and mannitol.An immense diversity of wild cassava and itsindigenous clones is found in Brazil, its centerof origin. Genetic resources of Manihot havebeen collected, evaluated and manipulatedsince the 1970s (Nassar, 1999). Genetic diver-sity of the wild species brought about by evolu-tion and natural selection combined withdomestication through thousands of years hasled to the development of extremely valuablegenetic resources. Screening indigenous clonesenabled the selection of clones with high beta-carotene content (Fig. 1), as well as being richin lycopene (Fig. 2) combined with increasedpalatability (Nassar et al., 2005). These cloneshave been propagated and distributed to far-mers in the District Federal and adjacent states.

Figure 6. A selection from a cassava-Manihot cearulescens hybrid.

Figure 5. M. pseudoglaziovii.

Figure 4. An interspecific hybrid ofcassava with Manihot pseudoglaziovii.

Figure 3. M. oligantha.

A company has been formed to educate far-mers and alert them to the nutritive value ofthese clones.

Wild species have also been manipulated. Forexample crosses of Manihot oligantha (Fig. 3), asource of high protein content, with cultivatedcassava have produced a cultivar with 4% pro-tein, twice the normal level (Nassar and Dorea,1982). This hybrid has very high leaf luteinreaching 9000 mg/kg compared to 700 mg/kgin common cultivars. Highly productive cloneshave been obtained through interspecific hybri-dization with wild species (Fig. 4). The use ofcertain wild species, namely M. glaziovii, M.pseudoglaziovii (Fig. 5) and M. cearulescensresulted in increased production of roots (Fig. 6)with yields 3 to 4 times higher than commoncultivars including increases in vegetativegrowth (Fig. 7).

One of the most impressive examples of mani-pulating wild cassava is the production of culti-vars resistant to bacterial blight and mosaicachieved by S.K. Hahn, IITA, using some of thismaterial. These cultivars are cultivated on morethan 2 million hectares in Nigeria. Wild cassavamay offer genes for apomixis, which will enableclones to be progagated by seed (Nassar, 2000).

Nagib Nassar is professor in the Departement ofGenetics, University of Brasilia, Brazil. Email:nagnassa@rudah.com.br

Nagib N.A. Nassar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

REFERENCES

FAO Yearbook. 2004.Nassar, N.M.A. 1999. Cassava, Manihot esculen-

ta Crantz genetic resources: Their collection,evaluation and manipulation. Advances inAgronomy 69:179-230.

Nassar, N.M.A. 2000. The transference of apo-mixis genes from Manihot neusana Nassar tocassava, M. esculenta Crantz. Hereditas32:167-170.

Nassar, N.M.A. and Dorea, G. 1982. Protein con-tents of cassava cultivars and its hybrid withManihot species. Turrialba 32(4):429-432.

Nassar, N.M.A., Vizzotto, C.A., da Silva, H.L.,Schwartz, C.A. and Pires Junior, O.R. 2005.Geneconserve www.geneconserve.pro.br arti-cles. 15:267-283.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The living collection was established at theUniversidade de Brasilia, with the help of theCanadian International Development ResearchCenter (IDRC), Ottawa in the years 1976-1982to whom this author is grateful.

Figure 7. An interspecific hybrid of cassava with M. neusana.

ISHS • 22

THE WORLD OF HORTICULTURE

Double Cropping of Table Grapes in BrazilCelso V. Pommer

Brazil is a very large country with a diverse cli-mate. This allows a diversity of plants to growranging from tropical rainforest in the Amazon,Atlantic Forest along the coast, the “cerrados”(savannah) in the Central-West region, andsemi-arid area in the Northeast. Latitude rangesfrom 5°N to 33°S, with most of this territory inthe Tropical region. The Northeast region is alarge semi-arid expanse, traversed by thelargest entirely Brazilian river, the São Francisco.Table grapes are produced in the Petrolina/Juazeiro region (38° to 42°W, 8° to 10°S).Climatic conditions are shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Almost the total grape production in the regionis destined for export. The international marketoffers two “windows” for Brazilian grapes:May and October. Growers manipulate theirfield management to capture these marketwindows, which is made possible thanks to theclimatic conditions. Since there is no real winter,several operations are done to overcome lack ofchilling.

The cycle for production of the renowned‘Italia’, a golden muscat type, under those con-ditions is about 120 days, from pruning to har-vest. This cycle allows growers to have five har-

vests in two years, but in order to capture thesemarket windows, they manipulate the produc-tion cycle to obtain two harvests in the sameyear (first and second semester).

PROCEDURES

Most procedures shown in Table 1 are similar tothose used in common viticulture, but some willbe described below to facilitate the understan-ding of the whole process.

“Comb” thinning is a technique to cluster thinvery young inflorescences using a plastic brush

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Maximum ave. temp.

Minimum ave. temp.

Tem

p. (°

C)

Figure 2. Maximum and minimum average temperatures.Historical series (Remanso, 9°S 42°W). Source: INMET.

Figure 1. Total annual rainfall (mm). Historical series (Remanso, 9°S42°W). Source: INMET.

Vineyard after complete defoliation.

Hand defoliation just before pruning.

mm

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 23

(Possingham, 2004), to reduce the fruit set in‘Italia’ by up to 60%. It is a manual and labori-ous technique, but very effective.

As there is no winter chilling, growers manipu-late their vines to “simulate” winter. Irrigation isreduced by a 50% rate about three weeks be-

Table 1. Daily operations for production of ‘Italia’ grape in Northeast Brazil (Petrolina andJuazeiro).

First semester Second semester

Day Operation Detail Day Operation Detail

(-20) Foundation1 fertilization (-20) Foundation1 fertilization1 Pruning, trunk twisting & Dormex© 1 Pruning, trunk twisting & Dormex©

bending2, Dormex©3 at 5-7% bending2, Dormex©3 at 5-7%3 Trunk tying - 3 Trunk tying -

15 Gibberellin application 1 ppm 18 Gibberellin application 2 ppm16/18 Deshooting - 19/22 Deshooting -19/23 Tying (green parts) - 23/25 Tying (green parts) -

23 “Comb” (cluster thin.) - 25 “Comb” (cluster thin.) -21 Removal of tendrils, leaves, Max. 4-5 25 Removal of tendrils, leaves, Max. 4-5

unproductive & axillary leaves, leaving unproductive & axillary leaves, leavingshoots 10-18/shoot shoots 10-18/shoot

30 2nd tying (green parts) - 32 2nd tying (green parts) -33 Gibberellin 20 ppm 38 Gibberellin 25 ppm36 Removal of undesired - 41 Removal of undesired -

clusters, tendrils clusters, tendrils43/46 Cluster thinning Scissors 42/44 Cluster thinning Scissors44/47 Gibberellin 15 ppm 43/45 Gibberellin 15 ppm

76 Shoot tipping - 86 Shoot tipping -86 Checking (re-pass) - 96 Checking (re-pass) -96 Pre-harvest cluster cleaning - 101 Pre-harvest cluster cleaning -97 Ethephon 5.000-8.000 106 Ethephon 5000-8000

ppm ppm100/110 50% reduction in - 105/115 50% reduction in -

irrigation (water volume) irrigation (water volume)116/121 Harvest - 121/131 Harvest -

122 75% reduction in irrigation - 132 75% reduction in irrigation -(water volume) (water volume)

REST REST

150 NEW CROP FULL 160 NEW CROP FULLIRRIGATION IRRIGATION

1 Minimum and maximum amount, depending on soil analysis, 120-200 g N; 30-120 g P2O5; 60-200 g K2O2 Hand operation that increases bud burst3 Dormex© (hydrogen cyanamide) in the indicated concentration

Table 2. Grapevine area in Brazil, 1990-2003.

Grapevine area (ha)Brazil and regions

1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003

Brazil 58,764 61,339 59,838 63,325 66,308 68,461

North - - - 1 41 38

Northeast 1,759 4,871 5,339 6,690 6,238 6,912

Southeast 9,510 10,371 11,237 11,982 13,120 13,325

South 47,494 46,076 42,930 44,337 46,602 47,856

Center-West 1 21 332 315 307 330

Production (tonnes)Brazil and regions

1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003

Brazil 804,774 836,545 1,024,482 1,058,579 1,148,648 1,067,422

North - - - 11 502 459

Northeast 29,670 118,321 156,732 190,578 186,548 191,571

Southeast 129,579 146,258 210,619 226,591 248,071 238,109

South 645,510 571,805 653,501 638,440 710,392 633,698

Center-West 15 161 3,630 2,959 3,135 3,585

Table 3. Grape production in Brazil, 1990-2003.

Heavy removal of leaves and shoots toimprove light penetration.

Scissor thinning. A. Operation detail;B. vineyard floor with discarded berries.

Comb thinning. A. Cluster before thinning;B. comb; C. operation detail; D. thinnedcluster.

ISHS • 24

Box of ‘Italia’ grape ready for export.

Grape cluster.

DOUBLE CROPPING OF TEMPERATE FRUITS IN THE TROPICS

Apples and peaches are also grown in several locations in the tropics where no chilling isreceived. The culture depends on defoliation to induce the next growth cycle after flower initia-tion has occurred but before cold-requiring dormancy arises. Extensive commercial apple produc-tion occurs in East Java, Indonesia, 8°S latitude and bi-annual cropping of peaches occurs inVenezuela, 10°N. No winter chilling occurs under those conditions. Two crops are harvested eachyear and cropping is staggered so that fruit may be harvested every day of the year. Success isdependent on relatively uniform temperatures, favourable for tree growth and fruit developmentall year round. Successive growth cycles are induced by artificial defoliation after flowerinitiation occurs but before cold-requiring dormancy develops.

There are some important requirements for successful apple culture in the tropics (Notodimedjoet al., 1981). These include: (1) a moderate temperature regime conducive to episodic growth;(2) many growing points on each tree; (3) cessation of shoot growth by terminal bud formation;(4) adequate time for flower initiation to occur; and (5) synchronous bud burst after flowerinitiation.

In Java, the basic system to produce double cropping of apple involves leaf stripping to stimu-late flowering (Janick, 1974). There are regularly two crops per year, typically one in April andthe second in October. Notodimedjo et al. (1981) demonstrated that bud burst and flower emer-gence could be induced at any time of the year by hand defoliation. At the time of defoliationthere are high levels of gibberellins and cytokinins in the apices and ABA and other inhibitors inthe subtending leaves. Cessation of shoot growth by terminal bud formation depends on com-petition between a large number of growing points. Flower initiation follows terminal bud for-mation but subsequent flower development is slow until after harvest and defoliation.Physiological dormancy of terminal buds is avoided by defoliation within a month of harvest. Nochilling requirement is apparent and no chilling temperatures occur. Dormancy of most lateralbuds is not broken by defoliation. Burst of lateral buds is increased dramatically by bud slicing,partially by branch bending and, under some conditions, by ethephon treatment. There is noevidence for growth control mechanisms that differ from those known in the temperate zone.

The requirements for flowering are not met naturally in the tropics but are achieved by manipu-lative treatments notably branch bending and hand defoliation. Although the growth cycle ofapples in the tropics is visually quite different from that in the temperate zone, the endogenousmechanisms of growth regulation do not differ appreciably. This has consequences for research.Whereas in the temperate zone each stage of growth occurs only once a year, in the tropicsgrowth control mechanisms may be studied throughout the year as each stage of growth maybe found at any time on different trees and bi-annually on any one tree.

George et al. (1988) described an overlapping double cropping system in low-chill feral peachesin the east coastal areas of Australia. The overlapping double cropping system consists ofpartial predormancy bloom, winter fruit growth, and postdormancy harvest plus the normalpostdormancy bloom and harvest with a 4 to 6 week difference between harvests. Sherman andLyrene (1984) showed that peaches could be produced biannually generally at high-altitude inthe low latitudes of Central America and northern South America, where high latitude tempe-rate zone fruits are considered nonadapted. The general concept is based on the hypothesis thattrees not induced into dormancy by either shortening photoperiod (virtually non-existent in lowlatitudes) or low temperatures, do not build up growth inhibitors and therefore continue gro-wing except during periods of stress, usually drought. The trees are made to cycle biannually,usually under conditions of two dry and two wet seasons. Biannual production may be modifiedby climatic conditions (i.e., a long dry season perhaps coupled with one major rainy season) suchthat crop cycles average 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 per year.

Breeding fruits for low-winter chill areas is a viable approach for subtropical climates thatreceive some chilling. Until recently, the vast majority of low-chill cultivars was developed andreleased by public programs in the USA, Mexico, and Brazil. However, from 1990 until 1996 onlyone third of the world releases of peach and nectarine cultivars was developed and released bypublicly funded programs (Byrne, 2005). For frost-free zones, research needs to be carried outto develop cultivars that can be cropped twice a year or, to achieve bloom that can be easilymanipulated to time harvest for specific periods. In areas where protected culture is economical,lower chill and early ripening cultivars well adapted to this unique environment need to be deve-loped. In São Paulo State, Brazil, there is a demand for cultivars adapted to both subtropical andtropical climates (Barbosa et al., 2004). Pear breeding programs have been initiated with the aimof developing selections with better fruit quality with adaptation to different areas of the SãoPaulo State. A collaborative stone fruit breeding program with Texas A&M University was initia-ted in 1997 to develop new cultivars of stone fruits suitable for commercial production in thehighland areas of northern Thailand (Boonprakob and Byrne, 2005).

fore harvest and growth regulators, such asethephon, [(2-chloroethyl)phosphate alsoknown as daminozide], are applied about twoweeks before harvest. These procedures stressthe vines so that they will start to lose leavesand enter a stage of near dormancy. Vineyardsare located in 4-hectare sections and are dividedin a number of blocks to be treated. As notevery grape produced is destined to exporta-tion, centered in May and October, it is possibleto see on the same day in one farm almostevery management operation (pruning, tying,gibberellic acid treatment, thinning, and har-vest).

Other varieties, such as ‘Crimson Seedless’ and‘Festival Seedless’ (‘Superior Seedless’) are evenearlier than ‘Italia’ under these conditions andthis fact must be considered in the protocol.‘Redglobe’ is not double harvested due to itssusceptibility to bacteria (Xanthomonas campe-stris pv. viticola) that makes the operationimpracticable.

There are about 70,000 hectares of grapes inBrazil (Table 2); more than 90% produced in thesouth is destined to wine production. About98% of grapes produced in the southeast is forfresh consumption. More than 90% of produc-tion in the northeast region is for export astable grapes. In the last 15 years total grapearea in Brazil increased by 16.5% as comparedto 292% for the Northeast, as a result of highprofits. Approximately the same pattern wasobserved for grape production (Table 3). Thiscan be attributed to double cropping thatallows a more even distribution of operationsthrough the year, reducing costs and increasingyield. Growers can obtain 15-20 tonnes/ha inthe first semester and up to 30-35 tonnes/ha inthe second, producing an annual yield of 50tonnes/ha.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 25

Celso V. Pommer, presently a consultant in horti-culture, was Visiting Professor at the Universityof Brasília from March 2004 to February 2005,headed the grapevine breeding program atthe Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC),Brazil until 2003, and served as Director of theIAC Center of Fruit Crops (1998 to 2000).Present address is Rua Antonio Cesarino, 591#152, 13015-291 Campinas, Brazil, email:pommer@directnet.com.br

Celso V. Pommer

ABOUT THE AUTHORREFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Albuquerque, T.C.S. 1996. Uvas para exportação: Aspectos técnicos da produção. Série PublicaçõesTécnicas FRUPEX 25, Embrapa-SPI, Brasilia, Brazil.

Barbosa, W., Pommer, C.V., Tombolato, A.F.C., Meletti, L.M.M., Veiga, R.F.A., Moura, M.F. and Pio, R. 2004.Asian pear breeding for subtropical areas of Brazil. III Intl. Symp. Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, Fortaleza,Brazil. (Abstr.).

Boliani, A.C. and Corrêa, L.S. (eds.). 2001. Cultura de uvas de mesa do plantio à comercialização. SimpósioBrasileiro sobre Uvas de Mesa, Ilha Solteira, Anais, Brazil.

Boonprakob, U. and Byrne, D.H. 2005. Breeding low-chill stone fruit in Thailand. p.39-42. In: Productiontechnologies for low-chill temperate fruits, Reports from the Second Intl. Workshop (Thailand, 2004),ACIAR Technical Rep. 61.

Byrne, D.H. 2005. Trends and progress of low-chill stone fruit breeding. p. 5-12. In: Production technolo-gies for low-chill temperate fruits, Reports from the Second Intl. Workshop (Thailand, 2004), ACIARTechnical Rep. 61.

De Leão, P.C.S. and Soares, J.M. (orgs.). 2000. A viticultura no semi-árido Brasileiro. Embrapa Semi-Árido,Petrolina, Brazil.

George, A.P., Nissen, R.J. and Sherman, W.B. 1988. Overlapping double and early single cropping of low-chill peaches in Australia. Fruit Var. J. 42(3):91-95.

Janick, J. 1974. The apple in Java. HortScience 9:13-15. Notodimedjo, S., Sastrosumarto, S., Danoesastro, H. and Edwards, G.R. 1981. Shoot growth, flower initia-

tion and dormancy of apple in the tropics. Acta Hort. 120:179-186.Pommer, C.V. 2003. Uva: Tecnologia de produção, colheita, mercado. 1st ed. 5 Continentes, Porto Alegre,

Brazil.Possingham, J.V. 2004. On the growing of grapevine in the tropics. Acta Hort. 662:39-44.Sherman, W.B. and Lyrene, P.M. 1984. Biannual peaches in the tropics. Fruit Var. J. 38(2):37-39.Sousa, J.S.I. 1996. Uvas para o Brasil. 2ª ed. FEALQ, Piracicabe, Brazil.Terra, M.M., Pires, E.J.P., Nogueira, N.A.M. and Pommer, C.V. 1993. Tecnologia para produção de uva Itália

na região noroeste do Estado de São Paulo. CATI Documento 97, Campinas, Brazil.Terra, M.M., Pommer, C.V., Pires, E.J.P. and Passos, I.R. 1994. Grapevine culture in Brazil. JIRCAS Intl. Symp.

Series, Tsukuba 3:45-48.

www.ihc2006.org

Figure 1. Canary Islands and the Spanishmainland.

ISHS • 26

INTRODUCTION

Although continental Spain is considered a tem-perate country, where temperate fruits, olivesand also citrus are the main tree fruit crops, sub-tropical fruits such as avocado and cherimoyahave been long cultivated in the coastal areas ofAndalusia, and also in the Canaries, blessedwith a spring-type, frost-free climate, whereparticularly bananas, but also papaya, mangoand pineapple are traditional crops (Fig. 1).Other tropical and subtropical fruits are alsocultivated in small scale or in experimentalbasis both in the Canaries or in the mainland(Table 1).

MAJOR TROPICAL CROPS

Banana

The Canaries are the main banana producingregion of the European Union, producingannually around 400,000 tonnes (t). Out of the9,614 hectares currently under production -3,000 of which are under greenhouse - the tra-ditional cultivar ‘Dwarf Cavendish’ is still themost used, with some 4,500 ha, followed by3,000 ha of ‘Grande Naine’ (mostly undergreenhouse) and 2,000 ha of ‘Gruesa’ (probablya natural mutation of ‘Dwarf Cavendish’), withassorted Cavendish subgroup cultivars makingup the rest (Galán Saúco and Farré Massip,2005).

V. Galán Saúco and J.M. Farré Massip

Despite the subtropical climate of the Canaries,its banana yields are reported as the highest inthe world averaging annually over 80 (exceptio-nally 100) t/ha under greenhouse versus 60 t/hain the open air (Galán Saúco et al., 2004). TheIslands are fortunate in not having many pestsand diseases. To date, they are free of Sigatoka,Bunchy Top, Moko and Radopholus similis, andhave a reduced incidence of Fusarium oxispo-rum f. sp. cubense (Panama disease), whichfurther contributes to these very high yields,particularly when coupled with good culturaltechniques. On the down side, scarcity of landand water and high labor costs make bananaproduction an expensive business.

Greenhouse cultivation has been one of theCanary Islands’ responses to the need forincreased production and faces the threat

posed by multinational competition in theEuropean market. Greenhouse-produced bana-nas present higher yield, possibility of timingharvest, improved commercial quality, reducedrisk of weather damage, efficient water usage,ease of introducing new cultural techniques -especially relevant to organic production - andimproved pest and disease control.

Despite high yields, Canary Islands’ bananasexperience serious problems in the Europeanmarkets, having to compete with bananas fromLatin American countries with lower producingcosts. Although current production is exportedalmost exclusively to the Spanish mainland,marketing problems may be in danger after therecent change made at the beginning of 2006from a common market organisation of bana-nas (OCM) to a tariff-only system.

Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Productionin Spain

Common Name(Binomial) Cultivated area (ha)* Cultivars grown or recommended*

Banana 9600 (C.I.) Dwarf Cavendish, Grand Naine, Gruesa (C.I.)(Musa acuminata)

Avocado 8600 (S.M.), Bacon (S.M.), Fuerte (C.I.), Hass (C.I. & S.M.),(Persea americana) 700 (C.I.) Pinkerton (C.I.)

Cherimoya 3000 (S.M.) Cholan (S.M.), Fino de Jete (S.M. & C.I.),(Annona cherimola) Madeira (C.I.)

Mango 1100 (S.M.), Keitt (C.I. & S.M.), Kent (C.I. & S.M.), Lippens (C.I.),(Mangifera indica) 500 (C.I.) Osteen (C.I. & S.M.), Sensation (S.M.), Tommy Atkins

(C.I. & S.M.), Torbet (C.I.), Valencia Pride (C.I.)Papaya 150 (C.I.) Baizinho do Santa Amalia, Maradol, Sunrise (C.I.)

(Carica papaya)Pineapple 75 (C.I.) Red Spanish (C.I.)

(Ananas comosus)Litchi < 10 Early Large Red, Tai So (C.I.)

(Litchi chinensis)Carambola < 10 Arkim, B-17, Sri Kembangan (C.I.)

(Averrhoa carambola)Guava < 10 Not defined

(Psidium guajava)Macadamia

(Macadamia integrifolia & < 10 Not definedM. tetraphilla)

Longan Experimental Not defined(Dimocarpus longana)

Lucuma Experimental Not defined(Lucuma obovata)

Passion fruit < 10 Not defined(Passiflora edulis)

Pitaya < 10 and experimental Not defined(Hylocereus spp. &Selenicereus megalanthus)

Mamey sapote Experimental Not defined(Calocarpum sapota)

Pepino < 10 Not defined(Solanum muricatum)

Table 1. Tropical and subtropical fruits of Spain.

* C.I. = Canary Island, S.M. = Spanish mainland

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 27

The main lines of research done at the InstitutoCanario de Investigaciones Agrarias (ICIA)include:

� Evaluation and characterization of local selec-tions, particularly those of ‘Dwarf Cavendish’but also from other Cavendish subgrouplines, in order to obtain short-size and highyielding plants.

� Introduction and evaluation of cultivars ofbananas different from the Cavendish sub-group, not only for the fresh fruit market butalso for cooking purposes.

� Evaluation of greenhouse covers, in search ofdurability and biodegradability.

� Studies focusing on integrated managementof Cosmopolites sordidus, using metabolic,genetic and/or organic methods.

� Integrated management of whiteflies(Lecanoideus floccisimus and Aleurodicus dis-persus) using natural enemies (parasitoids),biological control with Encarsia guadeloupae,and recently with entomopathogenic fungi.During trials on greenhouse covers, it wasobserved that polyethylene film was veryeffective in reducing attacks while mesh wasnot.

� Studies on Panama disease as well as on theetiology of False Panama disease.

� Use of arbuscular mycorrhizas and other rhi-zospheric microorganisms to control rootpathogens.

Avocado

Most of the Spanish avocados are planted inthe southern mainland provinces of Málagaand Granada. Although the Canary Islands onlyhave around 700 ha of avocado out of a natio-nal total of roughly 9,300 ha, it is the secondtropical fruit crop of the Islands. No new plan-tations have been undertaken recently in theCanaries but the rate in the Spanish mainlandhas been a steady 500 ha year-1 over the lastfew years, predominantly using ‘Hass’ (GalánSaúco and Farré Massip, 2005). Spain producesabout one third of the European Union avoca-do consumption, but outside the local market,most exports are directed to France. The maincultivar planted in the Canary Islands is ‘Hass’,followed by ‘Pinkerton’ and ‘Fuerte’, with agreat proportion consumed locally.

The main cultivars planted in the mainland are‘Hass’ and ‘Bacon’, mainly on Mexican race root-stocks, usually ‘Topa Topa’. In the last few years‘Duke 7’ is also being used in response to theexpansion of Phytophthora cinnamomi root rot.The producing areas of the Canary Islands havemore moderate temperatures, ranging between15 and 28°C, which allow cropping throughoutthe year, but temperatures above 30°C, occur-ring in July and August in the mainland,seriously limit harvest during those months.

Rosellinia necatrix root rot is the chief diseaseconcern in the mainland, where it is endemic.There are no tolerant rootstocks for Roselliniaroot rot but ongoing trials show good prelimi-nary results (Pérez-Jiménez et al., 2003).Irrigation restriction is an essential tool for reco-vering affected trees.

Protected and field plantings of banana at Tenerife (A), banana planting in greenhouse (B).

’Fuerte’ avocado (A), ‘Osteen’ mango (B).

ISHS • 28

A line of research of special relevance is thework done on evaluation of the existing WestIndian seedling population mainly as a potentialsource of resistance to Phytophthora cinnamo-mi, with identification of interesting rootstocks(Gallo Llobet et al., 2003), but also as a sourceof fresh fruit.

Other lines of research in the Spanish mainland,at La Mayora experimental Station fromConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas(CSIC) include: nutritional studies, pre- andpostharvest research particularly for controllingpostharvest anthracnose fruit rotting, introduc-tion and evaluation of new cultivars and bree-ding selections, pollination studies using mole-cular markers, comparison of conventional andorganic production of avocados, tissue cultureof avocados and training and pruning systems.

Cherimoya

Spain is now the first world producer of cheri-moyas, producing about 30,000 t per year, andconsuming some 90% of its own production.Plantings cover about 3,000 ha, almost all ofwhich are in the coastal area of Granada in thesouthern mainland, with only nominal plantingsin the Canary Islands.

The main picking season is October toDecember. However, there are indications thatwith new cultivars and pruning techniques har-vesting could extend to January and even to theFebruary-May period. Most plantings are graf-ted on the local cultivar ‘Fino de Jete’. Handpollination is increasingly used to produce largesized and well-shaped fruits (Galán Saúco andFarré Massip, 2005).

The Spanish Cherimoya Germplasm Bank(Hermoso González et al., 1999), with over 300entries, tests and exchanges material with

’Sunrise’ papaya.

research institutions all over the world.Pollination studies merit particular emphasis,with other lines of research in Spain mainlandincluding clonal propagation, high-density plan-tings and pruning techniques, development ofgenetic markers and breeding. Research donein the Canary Islands has been rather minor andlimited mainly to floral biology and hand polli-nation.

Mango

Although commercial mango plantings initiatedin Spain in the Canary Islands at the end of the1960s, cultivation remained static in Spain untilrecent years when a boom of new plantingsoccurred in the eastern coast of Andalusia, par-ticularly in the province of Málaga. There areabout 1,600 ha in Spain, of which over 1,100are in Andalusia, with a great majority of youngplantings. The most commonly employed culti-vars are ‘Osteen’ (especially in the mainland)and ‘Lippens’ (mostly in Canary Islands) but‘Tommy Atkins’, ‘Keitt’, ‘Kent’, ‘Irwin’, ‘ValenciaPride’, ‘Torbet’ and ‘Sensation’ are still plantedon a small scale. The most popular rootstock inthe Canary Islands is the polyembryonic‘Gomera-1’ and in the mainland, ‘Gomera-3’,where it is known as “Espada” (Galán Saúco,1999). Around 10 ha are under greenhouseproduction in the Canaries, with introduction ofbees or flies to promote pollination, with a viewtowards marketing at the beginning of the sea-son when prices are highest.

Production in the Canaries is between June andFebruary and in the mainland, from July tillDecember. Canary Islands production is con-sumed locally, between the close to two millioninhabitants and the approximately eleven mil-lion tourists who visit the Islands each year. Inthe case of the Spanish mainland, although a

great quantity is consumed locally, part of theproduction is exported to France.

The main lines of work undertaken by the ICIA inrecent years which have helped to developmango plantings in Spain include: introductionand evaluation of cultivars, with the main resultsof recommending ‘Osteen’ and ‘Lippens’; theidentification of a naturally occurring tetraploid,a unique case which has been scientifically con-firmed (Galán Saúco et al., 2001); control of flo-wering to avoid embryo abortion problems; andcontrol of internal fruit breakdown.

Two serious phytopathological problems ap-peared in 2003 and 2004: The incidence ofScirtothrips spp. in the Canary Islands and thedissemination of Mango Malformation incitedby Fusarium subglutinans in the Spanish main-land is worrisome. Efforts are underway to era-dicate the latter, a difficult if not impossibletask, and adequate integrated control measuresare being sought for the former. Bacterial apicalnecrosis (Pseudomonas syringae) is also a pro-blem in the mainland (Cazorla et al., 1998).

Papaya

Papayas in Spain, over 150 ha, are only cultiva-ted in the Canary Islands where they aremostly planted (90%) under greenhouses,either mesh or polyethylene film, to escapefrom Papaya ring spot virus (PRSV) and also tobenefit from the controlled climatic conditionsrequired for good quality fruit and high annualyields in the range of 60 t/ha.

The two main cultivars used in greenhouse are‘Sunrise’ and ‘Baizinho do Santa Amalia’, adwarf mutant of ‘Sunrise’, although recent eva-luation done by ICIA indicates that ‘BH-65’,another dwarf mutant of ‘Sunrise’, also hasgood prospects. ‘Maradol’ is also cultivated insmall scale. The main phytopathological con-straints of the papaya in the Canary Islands arethe banana moth, Opogona sacchari, as well aspowdery mildew and mites, which are control-led mainly by chemical treatments (Galán Saúcoand Rodríguez Pastor, 2006).

Pineapple

Pineapple is only cultivated in Spain in theCanary Islands, where around 75 ha of bothgreenhouse and open air plots are growing acultivar of the Red Spanish group, called ‘RojoEspañola del Hierro’. This cultivar is a localselection of about 1.5 to 2.0 kg in weight andof an attractive red when ripe. It is planted at adensity of 46,000 plants/ha and exhibits goodproduction of suckers, which allows two oreven three cycles to be cultivated. Its organo-leptic qualities differ from those of the traditio-nal ‘Smooth Cayenne’; although it exhibitsgreater acidity, it has a better acidity-sugar ratiounder subtropical conditions in the wintermonths (Cabrera Cabrera and Galán Saúco,1988). Research has been initiated recently byICIA to evaluate the relatively new fresh fruitcultivar ‘MD-2’ (Janick, 2003).

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 29

Litchi tree (A), longan tree (B), pitaya plant (C).

’Jete’ cherimoyo (A), macadamia nuts (B), ‘Roja del Hierro’ (Red Spanish) pineapple (C),guava (D), carambola (E), mamey sapote (F).

The pineapple mealybug Dysmicoccus brevipesand, to a lesser extent, the banana moth(Opogona sacchari) are the main pests. Wilt,transmitted by mealybugs, is an occasional pro-blem, but the most serious diseases are fungal.Both Fusarium moniliforme var. subglutinansand Phytophthora cinnamomi are present butcontrolled by improving drainage and culturalpractices. The whole of the production is soldlocally. Interest in establishing more plantationsis high but growers are handicapped by theabsence of commercial nurseries capable ofsupplying plants.

OTHER TROPICAL ANDSUBTROPICAL SPECIES

The litchi and the carambola, both originallyfrom Southeast Asia, were introduced in Spainin the 1970s and are beginning to be cultivatedon a small scale, both in the Canary Islands andin Andalusia. As research on suitable cultivarsand cultivation techniques continues in Spain,the litchi, and the carambola to a lesser degree,has good developmental prospects. The samethrips mentioned in mango is also a serious pro-blem in litchis by feeding on young shoots (both

floral and vegetative), causing different degreesof damage depending on the cultivar, but thoseof the Fay Zee Siu group are the most affected.

A few small commercial plantations of guavasexist in the Canary Islands, and the crop is mar-keted locally either as fresh fruit or for proces-sing in guava paste. Efforts are actually done atICIA to build a collection of plant material fromdifferent sources. Fruit fly is the only problem ofnote but this is of little importance, particularlyfor trees cultivated at medium altitude and onthe cooler slopes of the islands, where produc-tion starts in the spring. It is popular fruit withlocal consumers and a certain expansion of thiscrop can be forecast in the mid future.

The macadamia, the longan and the lucuma arealso present in Spain, but they are not commer-cially cultivated. There is a small commercialplantation (3 ha) of passion fruit in the CanaryIslands as well as scattered small plots withgood yields of both yellow and purple passionfruit in the Canary Islands. Prices for macada-mia have notably declined due to the increaseof plantations on a world scale, and it is unlike-ly that it will become a commercial venture inSpain. The longan adapts better to subtropicalareas than the litchi and, perhaps more impor-tantly, it has a ready ethnic market in Europe, soit could undergo a certain development inSpain, both in Andalusia and the CanaryIslands. Efforts are being done to introduce andevaluate cultivars, with highly promising preli-minary results. The lucuma has undergonesome evaluation in Andalusia, but the generalimpression is that commercial expansion cannotbe recommended as long as local fruit wouldhave to compete with frozen pulp importedfrom the Andes countries. The same could be

ISHS • 30

V. Galán Saúco

V. Galán Saúco, Departamento de FruticulturaTropical, Instituto Canario de InvestigacionesAgrarias (ICIA), Apartado de Correos 60, LaLaguna 38200 Tenerife, Spain, email:vgalan@icia.es

J.M. Farré Massip, Centro de Investigación yFormación Agraria de Málaga (CIFA), Cortijo deLa Cruz, Churriana 29140 Málaga, Spain, email:tropicalesfasip@terra.es

J.M. Farré Massip

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

said about the passifloras, but in this case thereis some possibility of expansion for direct con-sumption or for the preparation of “Not-from-Concentrate” juice, an ongoing trend amongEuropean consumers.

There is a small commercial greenhouse (< 2 ha)producing yellow pitayas on the island of GranCanaria. Yields are good, and a program ofintroduction and evaluation of this crop hasbeing recently initiated, both in Andalusia andCanary Islands.

The mamey sapote is another crop recently tes-ted at ICIA, with good adaptation for certainwarm areas of the Canary Islands. The localmarket is good, due to the traditional links ofthe archipelago with Cuba and Venezuela.Sweet pepino experimental plantings undergreenhouse has given good results in Spainmainland, but only small plots mostly for homeconsumption exist in Spain, both in the CanaryIslands and in the mainland (Galán Saúco,2005).

FUTURE OF TROPICAL FRUITIN SPAIN

With the exception of the banana, which isencountering strong market competition, andperhaps the macadamia, most of the speciesmentioned in this article can be expected toincrease in area in Spain. The main limitationto this expansion is due to land prices whichare increasing due to competition from the bur-geoning tourist industry of Spain, especially inareas most adapted to tropical fruits. There are,however, differences between the mainlandand the Canaries: in the former, real estatedevelopments are replacing plantings of avoca-do and cherimoya, and mango is substitutingthese crops in the warmer areas; in theCanaries, there are strict legal impediments toreal estate development of farm land, and theprospect of future market problems for thebanana will no doubt encourage the develop-ment of cultivation of other tropical fruits tosatisfy the increasing demands of the aroundeleven million tourists who, eager for sun andexotic fruits, visit the Canary Islands each year.

REFERENCES

Cabrera Cabrera, J. and Galán Saúco, V. 1988. Variación estacional de la calidad del fruto de la piña tropi-cal (Ananas comosus L. Merr.) en Canarias. III Congreso Nacional de la SECH. Actas de Horticultura 1:232-235.

Cazorla, F.M., Torés, J.A., Olalla, L., Pérez, A., Farré, J.M. and De Vicente, A. 1998. Bacterial apical necro-sis of mango in southern Spain. A disease caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae. Phytopathology88:614-620.

Galán Saúco, V. 1999. El Cultivo del Mango. Mundiprensa, Madrid.Galán Saúco, V. 2005. Tropicales y subtropicales. In: J.M. Mateo Box (Director-Coordinador), Prontuario de

Agricultura, Mundi-Prensa, Madrid. p.824-903.Galán Saúco, V. and Farré Massip, J.M. 2005. Tropical and subtropical fruits in Spain. Acta Hort. 694:259-

264.Galán Saúco, V. and Rodríguez Pastor, C. 2006. Greenhouse cultivation of papaya. Acta Hort. (in press).Galán Saúco, V., Coello Torres, A., Grajal Martín, M.J., Luis Navarro, J.J. and Fernández Galván, D. 2001.

Ocurrence spontaneous tetraploid nucellar mango plants. HortScience 36:755-757.Galán Saúco, V., Ait-Oubahou, A. and Abdelhaq, H. 2004. Greenhouse cultivation of bananas. Chronica

Hort. 44(2):35-37.Gallo Llobet, L., Siverio de la Rosa, F., Rodríguez Pérez, A., Domínguez Correa, P., Pérez Zárate, S. and Díaz

Hernández, S. 2003. Evaluación en campo de patrones clonales de aguacate de raza mexicana y antilla-na tolerante-resistentes a Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands. Actas V Congreso Mundial del Aguacate,Granada-Málaga, 19-24 de Octubre de 2003. Vol. II:573-578.

Hermoso González, J.M., Pérez de Oteyza, M.A., Ruiz Nieto, A. and Farré Massip, J.M. 1999. The Spanishgermplasm bank of cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.). Acta Hort. 497:201-224.

Janick, J. 2003. Pineapple wars. Chronica Hort. 43(4):17.Pérez-Jiménez, R.M., Zea-Bonilla, T., Imbroda-Solano, I., Pliego-Alfaro, F., López-Herrera, C.J. and Barceló-

Muñoz, A. 2003. Selección de portainjertos de aguacate tolerantes a la podredumbre blanca causada porRosellinia necatrix. Proc. V World Avocado Congress, Málaga. Vol. II:537-542.

www.actahort.org36,500 articles on-line

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 31

The books listed here are non-ISHS-publi-cations. For ISHS publications coveringthese or other subjects, visit the ISHS web-site www.ishs.org or the ActaHorticulturae website www.actahort.org

BOOK REVIEWS

Melons for the Passionate Grower. AmyGoldman. 2002. Artisan, New York. 176p.ISBN 1-57965-213-1. $25.

The Compleat Squash: A PassionateGrower’s Guide to Pumpkins, Squashes,and Gourds. Amy Goldman. 2004. Artisan,New York. 216p. ISBN 11-57965-251-4. $40.

(Discounted copies of both copies are availablefrom www.Amazon.com)

New Books, Websites

byists and cucurbit enthusiasts. With unusualpassion (the title of both her books) she has suc-ceeded in combining how-to-gardening withbeautiful illustrations and touching, oftenhumorous but painstakingly accurate descrip-tions and information on various old cultivars ofcucurbits.

The author has tracked down and collectedseed for these heirloom cultivars from an unbe-lievable variety of sources, and has grown themall herself in her garden in upstate New York.The resulting books are a wealth of informationthat give the reader a feeling of having grownand observed the plants first hand. At the endof each of the books is a detailed list of seedsources for each of the varieties described so asto enable anyone, hobbyist or researcher, toeasily obtain seed.

The most important contribution of these booksis the author’s detailed and accurate research onthe history of the various heirloom cultivars.Each of the 70 melon, 30 watermelon (both in“Melons for the Passionate Grower”) and theapproximately 130 squash and pumpkin (in“The Compleat Squash”) heirloom cultivars isaccompanied, not only by excellent artistic colorphotographs but also by a detailed horticulturalhistory. This demanded painstaking detectivework, collecting rare written sources togetherwith oral histories from breeders, collectors andresearchers. The final product serves as a rarereference work for the description of thesegroups of cucurbits and these books shouldshare a place on the cucurbit researcher’sbookshelf, together with the rare classic TheCucurbits (part IV in the series Vegetables ofNew York, ed. W.T. Tapley et al., 1937).

These old cultivars are organized into easy-to-understand and systematically sound groupings.The melon book describes the cultivars undertheir horticultural groupings of cantalupensis,reticulatus, conomon, inodorus, flexuosus,chito, dudaim and momordica. The squashbook divides the heirlooms into the majorCucurbita species (maxima, moschata, pepoand argyrosperma) and each species is furtherdivided into its component horticultural groups.

The illustrations are beautiful, courtesy of pro-fessional photographer Victor Schrager. If allthat was not enough, the book on pumpkinsand squash contains a variety of intriguing reci-pes, which are often specific for particularkinds. Overall, these are outstanding books,accurate, affordable and beautiful, for scientistsand the general public, for anyone interested incucurbits.

Reviewed by Arthur Schaffer, Volcani Institute,Agricultural Research Organization, Bet Dagan,

Israel

NEW TITLES

Andres, T.S., Campbell, S., Chauvet, M.,Horváth, S., Hyman, M., Hyman, P., Jacobsohn,A., Novák, L., Paris, H.S., Perédi, J.,Planchenault, D., Pluvinage, M., Szabo, I., Viga,G. and Wimmer, C.A. 2005. L’Épopée desCourges: Cultures et Consommations enEurope / The Squash Epic: Culture andConsumption in Europe. École nationale supé-rieure du paysage, Versailles, France. 161p.ISBN 2-915474-08-7. € 19.

de Vicente, M.C. (ed.). 2005. Gene flow andgermplasm management. Topical Reviews inAgricultural Biodiversity. International PlantGenetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy. 63p.ISBN 92-9043-693-X.

Kang, Manjit S. (ed.). 2005. Genetic andProduction Innovations in Field CropTechnology. New Developments in Theory andPractice. Food Products Press, The HaworthPress, Inc., New York. xx + 383p. ISBN 1-56022-122-4 (hardback). $69.95. ISBN 1-56022-123-2(paperback). $49.95. www.haworthpress.com

Nayar, N.M. and More, T.A. (eds.). 1998.Cucurbits. Science Publishers, Inc., NewHampshire, USA. 340p. ISBN 1-57808-003-7.€ 50. For sale at the ISHS Secretariat.

Palaniswamy, Usha and Palaniswamy, K.M.2005. Handbook of Statistics for Teaching andResearch in Plant and Crop Science. FoodProducts Press, The Haworth Press, Inc., NewYork. xxvi + 624p. ISBN 1-56022-292-1 (hard-back). $99.95. ISBN 1-56022-293-X (paper-back). $79.95. www.haworthpress.com

Rai, Mahendra K. (ed.) 2006. Handbook ofMicrobial Biofertilizers. Food Products Press,The Haworth Press, Inc., New York. xxvi + 579p.ISBN 1-56022-269-7 (hardback). $124.95. ISBN1-56022-270-0 (paperback). $69.95.www.haworthpress.com

Spooner, D., van Treuren, R. and de Vicente,M.C. 2005. Molecular markers for genebankmanagement. IPGRI Technical Bulletin No. 10.International Plant Genetic Resources Institute,Rome, Italy. 126p. ISBN 92-9043-684-0.

WEBSITES

http://www.bcpc.org/bookshop: BCPC BookShop OnlineAmy Goldman has done a great service for pro-

fessional horticulturists, plant breeders, germ-plasm curators, as well as for horticultural hob-

ISHS • 32

Courses and Meetings

CIHEAM - Instituto Agronómico Mediterráneo de Zaragoza -Courses 2005-06/2006-07. Info: Instituto Agronómico Mediterráneo deZaragoza, Montañana 1005, Apartado de correos 202, 50080 Zaragoza,Spain, Phone: +34 976 716000, Fax: +34 976 716001,email: iamz@iamz.ciheam.org, web: http://www.iamz.ciheam.org

Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops Short Course, 19-30 June 2006,Davis, California, USA. Info: Ms. Mary Reed, Postharvest Technology Research& Information Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA, Phone:(530) 752-6941, Fax: (530) 754-4326, email: postharvest@ucdavis.edu

XXIXth World Congress of Vine and Wine - 4th General Assembly of theO.I.V., 25-30 June 2006 Logroño, Spain. Info: Secretaría Técnica del XXIXCongreso Mundial de la Viña y el Vino, Calle del Arte, 21, 1°, 28033 Madrid,Spain, Phone: +34 91 5359617, Fax: +34 91 4560877, email: organiza-cion@oiv2006esp.org, web: www.oiv2006esp.org

MSc Enterprise in Horticulture and MSc Plant Bioscience for Crop Production,October 2006, Warwick, UK. Info: Warwick HRI, Universityof Warwick, Wellesbourne, Warwick, CV35 9EF, United Kingdom,Phone: +44 (0)24 7657 4455, Fax: +44 (0)24 7657 4500, email:whri.msc@warwick.ac.uk, web: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/whri/study

International Master on Plant Breeding (16th edition), 2 October 2006 - 8June 2007 and October 2007 - July 2008, Zaragoza, Spain. Info: InstitutAgronomique Méditerranéen de Zaragoza - CIHEAM, Apartado 202, 50080Zaragoza, Spain, Phone: +34 976 716000, Fax: +34 976 716001, email:iamz@iamz.ciheam.org, web: http://www.iamz.ciheam.org

6th National New Crops and New Uses Symposium: Creating Markets forEconomic Development of New Crops and New Uses, 14-18 October 2006,San Diego, CA, USA. The 6th National New Crops Conference will cover avariety of topics from bioproducts, bioenergy, value added industry proces-sing, crop research reports and updates to a panel discussion on building anational strategy for new crops. Participants may present both oral and pos-ter presentations. Info: www.aaic.org or www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop

I International Symposium on Pomegranate and Minor Mediterranean Fruits,16-19 October 2006, Adana, Turkey. Info: Yeflim Yalçın Mendi, Department ofHorticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Çukurova University, Balcalı Campus,Adana, Turkey, Phone: + 90 322 3386615, email: yesimcan@cu.edu.tr, web:http://www.cu.edu.tr/fakulteler/zf/bkb/ispm/

The BCPC International Conference & Exhibition - Crop Science & Technology2006 - Global Aspects of Crop Production, Crop Protection and Food Supply,23-25 October 2006, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Info: BCPC, 7 Omni BusinessCentre, Omega Park, Alton, Hampshire, GU34 2QD, UK, Phone: (0) 1420 593200, Fax: (0) 1420 593 209, email: md@bcpc.org, web: www.bcpc.org/con-ference2006

“Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006”, 1 November 2006 - 31 January 2007,Chiang Mai, Thailand, is the International Horticultural Exposition devoted tothe 60th Anniversary of His Majesty the King of Thailand’s Accession to theThrone and His Majesty’s 80th Birthday Anniversary. Info: Ms. BoonchiraPutthisri, Public Communications Division, Project Management Office,

The following are non-ISHS events. Make sure to check out theCalendar of ISHS Events for an extensive listing of all ISHS mee-tings. For updated information log on to www.ishs.org/calendar

Phone: +66 2686 7319, Fax: +66 2659 5920, email:info@royalfloraexpo.com, web: www.royalfloraexpo.com

Workshop on Tropical and Subtropical Fruits (at Royal Flora Ratchaphruck2006 International Horticultural Exposition for H.M. the King of Thailand), 20-23 November 2006, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Info: Dr. Piroge Suwanjinda,Director Horticultural Research Institute, Department of Agriculture,Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand, Phone: (66)25792759, Fax:(66)25614667, email: hort@doa.go.th, web: www.royalfloraexpo.com

Workshop on Ornamental Plants (at Royal Flora Ratchaphruck 2006International Horticultural Exposition for H.M. the King of Thailand), 8-11January 2007, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Info: Dr. Piroge Suwanjinda, DirectorHorticultural Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Chatuchak,Bangkok 10900, Thailand, Phone: (66)25792759, Fax: (66)25614667, email:hort@doa.go.th, web: www.royalfloraexpo.com

Workshop on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (at Royal Flora Ratchaphruck2006 International Horticultural Exposition for H.M. the King of Thailand), 15-18 January 2007, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Info: Dr. Piroge Suwanjinda, DirectorHorticultural Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Chatuchak,Bangkok 10900, Thailand, Phone: (66)25792759, Fax: (66)25614667, email:hort@doa.go.th, web: www.royalfloraexpo.com

First International Symposium on Cassava Plant Breeding, Biotechnology andEcology, 11-15 November 2006, Brasilia, Brazil. Info: Prof. Nagib Nassar,Departamento de Genética e Morfologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas,Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte. CEP:70910-900, Brasília - DF, Brazil, Phone: (+55.61) 349.3253, Fax: (+55.61)349.3562, email: nagnassa@rudah.com.br, web: www.geneconserve.pro.br

14th Triennial Symposium of The International Society for Tropical Root Crops- ‘Roots and Tubers for Sustainable Development: Issues and Strategies’, 20-26 November 2006, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Info: Dr. S. Edison,Director CTCRI & Convenor 14th ISTRC Symposium, Central Tuber CropsResearch Institute, Sreekariyam, Thiruvananthapuram 695 017, Kerala, India,Phone: 0091-471-2598551, Fax: 0091-471-2590063, email:istrc_ctcri@yahoo.co.in, web: http://www.ctcri.org

12th International Conference and Exhibition, 21-23 November 2006, Cairo,Egypt. Info: Dr. Mohamad S. Safwat, 1 El-HefnawyStr.Fatma Roshdi El-haram,Giza, Egypt, Phone: +202/5250310, Mobile: 012/3236751, Fax:+202/5282208, email: esmap_con@yahoo.com, web: www.esmap.org.eg

Growtech Eurasia 2006 - 6th International Horticulture, Agriculture,Floriculture and Technologies Fair, 30 November - 3 December 2006, Antalya,Turkey. Info: NTSR International Exhibition & Congress Organizers, EkincilerCd. Ertürk Sk. Mehmet Ozcelık Plaza, No: 5 Kat: 3, 34810 Kavacık - Istanbul,Turkey, Phone: +90 216 425 63 00, Fax: +90 216 425 63 02, email:info@growtecheurasia.com, web: www.growtecheurasia.com

4th International Bemisia Workshop - and - International Whitefly GenomicsWorkshop, 3-6 December 2006 - and - 7-8 December 2006, Duck Key,Florida, USA. Info: Ms. Beth Miller-Tipton, Director University ofFlorida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), Office ofConferences and Institutes (OCI), PO Box 110750, Gainesville, FL 32611-0750, USA, Phone: 1-352-392-5930, Fax: 1-352-392-9734, email:bmt@ufl.edu, web: http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/bemisia

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 33

OpportunitiesCompany Horticulturalist, Gisborne, New Zealand

Head Communication Services, AVRDC headquarters, Taiwan

Full or Associate Professor, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, School ofEconomics and Management, Bolzano, Italy

Cucurbit Breeder, AVRDC headquarters, Taiwan

SYMPOSIA AND WORKSHOPS

Section Ornamental PlantsFourth Int’l Symposium on RoseResearch and Cultivation

The Working Group on Roses, constitutedwithin the ISHS Section Ornamental Plants, hasorganized several international symposia sincethe 1980’s. The First Symposium was held inIsrael (1985), the Second in France (1995) andthe Third in Israel (2000). The FourthInternational Symposium on Rose Research andCultivation was held for the first time on thenew continent from 18 to 22 September 2005at the Santa Barbara Inn in Santa Barbara,California, USA. The symposium was organizedby the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station(research agency of Texas A&M University), TheUniversity of California and the University ofArizona under the auspices of ISHS.

Ninety-one participants arrived from 24 coun-tries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil,Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia,

Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, India,Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea,Switzerland, Thailand, The Netherlands, UnitedKingdom, United States and Zimbabwe.

The Opening Reception was sponsored by TheJoseph H. Hill Memorial Foundation, Inc. andfeatured California wines served on a terraceoverlooking the Pacific Ocean. The followingday, the scientific program began after a wel-come by Convener Brent Pemberton and inclu-ded oral sessions on:

� Art and History (2 papers)

� Biotechnology and Genetic Manipulation (6papers)

� Breeding and Genetics (5 papers)

� Crop Modeling (2 papers)

� Pest Biology and Management (10 papers)

� Plant Biology and Tissue Culture (5 papers)� Postharvest Physiology (5 papers)� Production Practices (6 papers)

In addition to the oral program, two poster ses-sions were held in conjunction with receptionssponsored by Jackson & Perkins Roses andBayer Crop Science. Poster presentations (40papers) were made on the same topics. Alltogether, a total of 81 papers were presented atthis symposium.

The diversity of topics and participants made foran interesting and engaging symposium.Among some of the memorable presentationsin the Production Practices section, M. Ravivfrom Israel illustrated the importance of maintai-ning hydraulic conductivity at a level that iscompatible with atmospheric water demand foroptimum plant growth and production. Also, N.

Participants of the Symposium near a field of roses near Wasco, California.

Professor and Director of Agricultural Sustainability, University ofCalifornia, Davis, USA

For more information visit www.ishs.org/general/index.htm

ISHS • 34

G. Hess (USA) inspecting tree roses in the rose fields near Wasco, California during themid-week professional tour.

Drs. Francine Cuquel (left) and Jose Grossi(right) of Brazil inspecting rose graftlingsat Jackson and Perkins Roses during themid-week professional tour.

CONTACT

H. Brent Pemberton, Texas AgriculturalExperiment Station, Department ofHorticultural Sciences, Texas A&M UniversityResearch and Extension Center at Overton, POBox 200, Overton, TX 75684, USA, email: b-pemberton@tamu.edu

García from The Netherlands shared with us thechallenges and successes in the use of roboticsto grow and harvest greenhouse (cut flower)roses. In the Crop Modeling session, H. Lieth dis-cussed the effect of temperature on rose shootdevelopment. In the Biotechnology and GeneticManipulation session, T. Debener of Germanypresented progress made in positional cloningof disease resistance genes in roses. The PestBiology and Management section (with thelargest number of oral papers and representingresearch from six countries) had engaging pre-sentations on a range of rose diseases. A.Roberts from the United Kingdom presentedstudies concerning the host range of black spotdisease in roses. L. Leus of Belgium presentedfindings on resistance reactions in rose leavesagainst powdery mildew. And, D. Schulz ofGermany presented information on screeningfor resistance and early detection of downy mil-dew. In the Breeding and Genetics session D.Byrne from the USA presented findings on theuse of Rosa wichurana in breeding landscaperoses adapted to hot humid climates. The twopapers in the Art and History section drew con-siderable attention as they touched on impor-tant and interesting cultural topics, particularlyas they differed from the typical science and bio-logy experimentation being presented at thesesymposia. Dr. G. Wang from China presentedrecent studies tracing the history of modern rosecharacteristics in Chinese roses prior to westernintroduction. In the Plant Biology section, S.Matsumoto from Japan summarized the pro-gress made on applying the ABCDE model forfloral development from Arabidopsis to roses.M. Zacaai from Israel also made an interestingpresentation on morphological, anatomical andphysiological characterization of the commer-cially important disorder known as the “bent

peduncle phenomenon”. The PostharvestPhysiology section was highlighted by the waterrelations papers of L. Hendriks and S. Spinarova.

In addition, a Workshop was held concerningRose Nursery Stock Importation to discuss pro-posed revisions of the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture regulations concer-ning importing foreign grown rose plants intothe US. An international panel made brief pre-sentations and discussed national standards forimport and post-entry quarantine of Rosa plantsto conform with IPPC international standardsfor phytosanitary measures.

In the middle of the week-long symposium, aprofessional tour was organized and graciouslysponsored by the Garden Rose Council USA.The tour included visits to the expansive andimpressive garden rose production fields in thearea of Wasco, California and stops at nurserieshighlighting rose plant processing and propaga-tion. The symposium was brought to a closewith a farewell dinner at the Santa Barbara Innwhere an elegant toast was made by V.MacPhail of Canada.

At the end of the symposium, a post-sympo-sium tour was attended by many of the partici-pants. The tour included visits to well knownrose nurseries where cutting propagation, linerproduction, miniature rose production, and cutflower breeding and production were on dis-play. Dinner the first night was graciously spon-sored by and served at Greenheart Farms.Another stop on the tour was at Filoli where a

historic home and, of course, a rose garden setamongst a series of theme gardens wasenjoyed. The group enjoyed shopping, dinner,and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco asthey traveled to Davis, California. There, thecampus of the University of California at Daviswas visited where the programs of H. Lieth, M.Parella, and M. Reid were featured.

During the symposium, a special presentationabout the scope and goals of ISHS as well asmembership benefits was made by RichardCriley, Chair of the ISHS Section OrnamentalPlants. Dr. Criley also presided over a meetingof the Working Group on Roses where B.Pemberton, USA, was elected chair. At the endof the business meeting, the group agreed tomake plans to convene the 5th symposium witha possible date of 2009. Two possible sites haveemerged including Germany under the leader-ship of T. Debener and Japan under the leader-ship of Y. Ueda.

H.B. Pemberton and R.I. Cabrera

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 35

Section Tropical and Subtropical FruitsFirst Int’l Guava Symposium

Dr. Ashok Bajpai, Honorable Minister ofAgriculture, Government of Uttar Pradesh,India, inaugurated the opening sessions of the1st International Guava Symposium at Hotel TajResidency, Lucknow, India. In his openingremarks, he expressed appreciation for theefforts of the Central Institute for SubtropicalHorticulture, Lucknow, and welcomed the dele-gates from India and abroad. About 200 dele-gates participated in the Symposium. The scien-tists that participated from abroad were fromIsrael, France, Malaysia, Mexico, Venezuela,Germany, South Africa and the USA.

The Symposium, held at Lucknow from 5-8December 2005, was organized by the Societyfor Development of Subtropical Horticulture(SDSH) and the Central Institute for SubtropicalHorticulture, Rehmankhera, Lucknow, in colla-boration with the International Society forHorticulture Science (ISHS), Mandi Parishad, theAgriculture Processed Food Export Deve-lopment Authority (APEDA) and the NationalHorticulture Board (NHB). The inaugural sessionwas attended by scientists, teachers, studentsand policy-makers. The deliberations of thesymposium were divided into 10 different tech-nical sessions: Current Scenario of GuavaIndustry; Genetic Resources and VarietalImprovement; Biotechnology; Integrated Pro-duction System; Organic Farming; Nutrient and

Water Management; Integrated Managementof Pests; Integrated Management of Diseases;Post Harvest Technology and Value Addition;and Transfer of Technology and Government

Programmes for Guava Development andDomestic and Export Marketing.

G. Kalloo, Deputy Director General, Horticulture& Crop Sciences, Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch (ICAR), New Delhi, India, delivered alead paper on the global scenario of guava pro-duction, utilization and trade, targeted ongenetic resources and improvement, inter-speci-fic hybridization, varieties, propagation plantingdensity, pruning and rejuvenation. Researchableissues were emphasized, particularly seed-lessness, molecular breeding, gene tagging andgenomics. The second presentation by D.S.Rathore, Vice Chancellor, Himachal PradeshKrishi Vishwavidylaya (HPKV), Palampur, India,emphasized the current status of the propaga-tion methods, micropropagation, cropping pat-tern, planting density, training, pruning and leafnutrient status.

In the session on Genetic Resources & VarietalImprovement, S.S. Negi, ex Vice Chancellor, Dr.Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry,Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India, propo-sed future lines of work for broadening thegenetic base for effective breeding throughinter-varietal hybridization involving less seededtriploid varieties with high yielding, better kee-ping quality selections. Scion and rootstocksshould be improved separately for abiotic/bioticstress resistance. ‘TRY (G) 1’, a new variety ofTamil Nadu, needs to be tested for diversifica-tion under sodic soil conditions.

There were three oral presentations duringthe Biotechnology session. The lead lecture

Participants of the Symposium.

Dignitaries on the dais. From left to right: Dr. Ramesh Chandra, Head Division of CropImprovement & Production and Organizing Secretary IGS-2005; Dr. B.M.C. Reddy, DirectorCISH and Chairman IGS; Prof. S.K. Mitra, Kalyani University, Mohanpur (W.B.); Dr. GautamKalloo, DDG (Hort. & Crop Sciences) ICAR, New Delhi; Honorable Dr. Ashok Bajpai,Agriculture Minister, U.P. Government; Prof. R.K. Pathak, Ex-Director and Convener; Dr.Fredric Normand (France); and Dr. W. Rohde (Germany).

ISHS • 36

delivered by Jaiswal, Professor at Banaras HinduUniversity, Varansi, India, emphasized in vitrocryo-preservation, synthetic seed production,selection to screen salt tolerant varieties andsomatic embryogenesis for rapid plant multipli-cation. R. Chandra, Central Institute forSubtropical Horticulture (CISH), ICAR, Lucknow,emphasized the need to engineer genes con-trolling ethylene biosynthesis for better shelf-life and insertion of genes encoding hydrolyticenzymes (chitinase and glucanase), for control-ling fungal disease. Rohde, Max-Planck Institutfür Züchtungsforschung, Köln, Germany, cha-racterized 62 Cuban guava germplasms usingAFLP and micro satellite DNA markers.

The session on Integrated Production System,chaired by S.D. Shikhamany, Director, IndianInstitute of Horticultural Research, Banglore,India, contained two papers on harvest forecas-ting using spectral indices, leaf to fruit ratio,rejuvenation and variation in fruit quality inrelation to tree age and on-tree position. Fastmultiplication of guava was obtained throughwedge grafting. High density plantation, cano-py management and crop regulation wasemphasized by Gorakh Singh, Central Institutefor Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow, India.The need to integrate organic farming systemsprevalent in India to develop the Jaivik packageof practices for guava production (organicpackage of practices based on biodynamic agri-culture) was detailed by R.K. Pathak, exDirector, Central Institute for SubtropicalHorticulture, Lucknow, India.

During the session on Nutrient and WaterManagement, B.K. Singh, Indian Institute ofTechnology, Kharagpur, India, presented waterrequirement of guava under drip and plasticmulch and reported that drip irrigation fol-

Release of new guava cultivar ‘Shweta’. From left to right: Dr. S. Rajan, Dr. G. Kalloo,Dr. S.S. Negi, Dr. Ashok Bajpaj and others.

Lamp lighting by Honorable Sh. Ashok Bajpai; Dr. Gautam Kalloo, Dr. W. Rohde, Dr. FredricNormand, and Dr. Ramesh Chandra looking on.

lowed by plastic mulch produced the highestyield (45 tonnes/ha). S.C. Kotur, Indian Instituteof Horticulture Research, Bangalore, India, exa-mined spatial root activity pattern of guava cv.‘Arka Mridula’ in relation to age using 32p radioisotopes. He reported that the root activity in 7and 16 year-old-trees was more intense duringthe rainy season and declined in the winterseason.

In the session on Integrated Management ofPests, M. Mani, Indian Institute of HorticultureResearch, Bangalore, India, presented the status

of biological control of guava pests in India withthe emphasis on the use of microbial pathogenpredators in conjunction with botanicals. A.Verghese, Indian Institute of HorticultureResearch, Bangalore, India, presented IPM tech-niques for the major pests of guava andstressed basic ecological aspects with respect tosampling techniques. Various insects thatattack guava and their control were empha-sized by different speakers. The chairman’s con-cluding remarks encouraged eco-friendlymethods of pest control using botanicals,microbials and bio agents in guava ecosystem.Precaution must be taken in transporting plantmaterial from South India to North India andvice versa to reduce the risk of spiraling whitefly and stem borer insects.

In the session on Integrated Management ofDiseases, S. Kumar, Indian Council ofAgricultural Research for Eastern Region,Ranchi, India, highlighted the interaction ofcausation of guava wilt disease by the spiralnematode (Helicotylenchus dihystera) and thefungus Fusarium oxysporum and suggestedthat management should aim at controlling thefungus and the nematode. A.K. Misra, CentralInstitute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow,India, isolated and identified the fungusGliocladium roseum as the main causal orga-nism for guava wilt. However, disease intensitycan be controlled using AN 17 strain ofAspergillus niger along with Trichoderma hari-zanum and Penicillium citrinum; intercroppingwith Curcuma domestica, to restrict basin infec-tion; and avoiding tillage operation from July toNovember. Om Prakash, Central Institute forSubtropical Horticulture, Lucknow, India, repor-ted two new diseases of guava (Botrysphaeriafruit rot and Hyaloderma leaf spot). He empha-

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 37

SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTS ON GUAVA MULTIPLICATION

Two bulletins by Gorakh Singh were presented based on work conducted at the CentralInstitute for SubtropicalHorticulture (CISH), ICAR,Lucknow. One entitled“Wedge Grafting in Guava - ANovel Vegetative PropagationTechnique”, presented innova-tive approaches for selection ofscion wood, seed germination,grafting operation, andmanagement of sapling underpost grafting operation for fastmultiplication of disease freeplanting material. Anotherpublication, A Souvenir of the

Symposium, edited by the team led by Ram Kushun, contained important articles related toguava improvement, production, protection and value addition along with advertisements ofdifferent firms.

‘SHWETA’ - A NEW CULTIVAR OF GUAVA (Psidium guajava L.)

A new cultivar of guava was released by Dr. Ashok Bajapai,Honorable Minister of Agriculture, Government of UttarPradesh, at the First International Guava Symposium. This isthe second cultivar of guava selected through the improve-ment programme of the Division of Crop Improvement andProduction, Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture(CISH), ICAR, Lucknow. This cultivar is a selection from a halfsib-population of Apple Colour guava developed by theteam led by S. Rajan. Trees are semi-vigorous with mediumheight. Their yield ranges from 60-80 kg fruits per tree at the

age of 6 years. Fruits are globose, medium size, with a creamy white skin with red blush. Pulpis white with a small number of seeds. It has a high TSS (13%) and vitamin C (250 mg/ 100 g)content with good keeping quality.

CONTACT

B.M.C. Reddy and R. Chandra, CISH (ICAR) Lucknow - 227 017 (Uttar Pradesh), India, email: intguava-symp@cishlko.org

sized that Streptosporangium pseudovulgareisolated from cow dung is highly effective inmanagement of anthracnose disease of guava.The chairman concluded that the causal orga-nism of guava wilt should be confirmed usingmodern tools and major diseases need to beidentified based on economic threshhold levels.

The Post Harvest Technology and ValueAddition session highlighted the importance ofhandling methods to enhance the shelf life offresh guava fruits. The concluding remarks ofthe chairman highlighted the establishment ofappropriate non-destructive maturity indices aswell as a protocol for export of fresh guava.Development of guava based innovative pro-cessed products on consumer demand as wellas protein fortified fruit products should beencouraged, to avoid human nutritional defi-ciencies. Dr. Pal, Indian Agricultural ResearchInstitute, New Delhi, India, highlighted the con-trol of postharvest fruit fly disinfestations anddelayed ripening in ‘Allahabad Safeda’ and ‘L-49’ by insecticidal controlled atmosphere (ICA)storage containing 40% CO2 + 1% O2 for 12hrs at 40°C or hot water treatment at 49°C for20 minutes or gamma radiation of fruit at 0.25KGy treatment.

The last session was on Transfer of Technologyand Government Programmes for GuavaDevelopment for Domestic and ExportMarketing. The lead lecture was on participato-ry technology development and disseminationsystem for quality production and marketing ofguava. The chairman emphasized that farmer-scientist partnership, gender improvement andthe discouragement of the preharvest contractsshould be an integral part of extension systemsto boost guava production, marketing, and pro-cessing.

The plenary session was chaired by D.S.Rathore, Vice Chancellor, HPKV, Palampur,India. A vote of thanks was given by R.Chandra, Organizing Secretary of the sympo-sium. Participants look forward to the forthco-ming 2nd International Symposium onMyrtaceous Fruits in Mexico during 2008.

B.M.C. Reddy and R. Chandra

Section VegetablesThird Int’l Cucurbit Symposium

The 3rd International Cucurbit Symposiumwas held on 11th - 16th September 2005 atTownsville and was attended by 130 delegatesfrom 30 countries and they shared their expe-rience and expertise with an additional 140delegates at the Australian melon industry con-ference which was held concurrently. The latestinformation and developments in many aspects

of cucurbit research, growing and marketingwere presented at the symposium.

Countries represented other than Australiaincluded; Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, CzechRepublic, France, Germany, Greece, India,Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Korea, Lebanon,Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand,Oman, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan,

Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and USA. This was agreat deal of sharing of information betweenthe worlds leading experts in all aspects of pro-duction and post harvest in cucurbits withAustralian growers and industry people.

The technical areas covered by the symposiumprogram were crop production & esta-blishment, breeding & genetics, pest manage-

ISHS • 38

CONTACT

Gordon Rogers, Convener, Faculty of AgricultureFood and Natural Resources, John WoolleyBuilding, University of Sydney, NSW 2006,Australia, email: gordon@ahr.com.au

ment & IPM, plant pathology, post harvest,greenhouse production, environmentalmanagement and sustainable production, sup-ply chain, human health, cucurbits in the worldscene, variety performance & selection.

The information presented at the symposiumhighlighted the breadth and diversity ofresearch in cucurbits internationally and alsothe common issues and trends that researchersin different countries are addressing.

Some of the more diverse aspects of melonresearch presented were grafting techniques fordisease control and quality, molecular control offruit ripening & extending the shelf life of

melons, systemic acquired resistance for diseasemanagement, the diversity of cucurbit typesgrown internationally and the range of uses,technology to measure fruit firmness of melons,melon processing treatments (juice, dried, fro-zen): physicochemical and organoleptic effects.

Some of the common research issues andindustry trends highlighted were geneticresearch into management of viruses, powderymildew and wilt, challenges associated withimplementation and adoption of IPM techni-ques by growers, greenhouse cucumberresearch production (growing and hydroponictechniques, pest management and the expan-sion of greenhouse cucumbers particularly), thesignificance of calcium and potassium nutritionin melon crop and fruit quality, research into thequality attributes of melons e.g. storage life,eating quality (flavour, aroma, sugar content,firmness), research into the health attributes ofcucurbits and melons (carotenoids, lycopene,ascorbic acid, vitamins, citrulline), growth of themarket for seedless watermelons and marke-ting developments and efforts to improve theproduction of alternative melon varieties e.g.galia and charantais.

There were some excellent social events, withthe highlights being the Billabong Sanctuary onMonday night where we were able to get closeto freshwater crocodiles, snakes and kangaroos.There were also some great impromptu musicalperformances by some of the delegates, dis-playing some serious musical talent!

A field day shared with the melon conferencedelegates highlighted the practical aspects ofcucurbit and melon production. Some of thefeatures were displays covering Silver leafWhitefly, disease management, irrigationmanagement and soil moisture monitoring,spray application efficiency, melon and cucurbitvarieties and melon brix and firmness testing.

Melon packing facility at Gumlu,North Queensland.

Hypervision sorting facility at Gumlu, NorthQueensland.

Zucchini harvesting aid at Corrick Plains.

Paul Le Feuvre (Corrick Plains) in zucchinicrop.

There were visits to commercial growing andpacking businesses.

At NQ Fresh, Gumlu melon packing shed ope-rations were inspected. At Corrick Plains, Giruzucchini crop production was inspected as wellas a Hypervision sorting & grading unit in thepacking shed. Some of the crop production fea-tures at Corrick Plains were raised permanentbeds, crop rotations, nutrient and irrigationmonitoring, IPM and biological pest manage-ment and pest monitoring.

Scientific papers are being edited by GordonRogers and Robyn McConchie. These will bepeer reviewed, published in Acta Horticulturaeand distributed to symposium delegates.Abstracts of the symposium presentations wereprinted in a symposium handbook and are alsoavailable at the melon industry website.

Feedback received from delegates indicated thesymposium was very successful. China was cho-sen as the location for the 4th internationalsymposium to be held in 2008.

Gordon Rogers

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 39

A very successful International Workshop on“Advances in Grapevine and Wine Research”was held in mid-September 2005 at Venosa inthe South of Italy (120 km west of Bari). Thearea of Venosa, like two more areas ofBasilicata (Metaponto and Grumento), was partof the ancient ‘Enotria’ region, known as thewine land. In recent years, these areas havebecome increasingly important for winemaking,both at the national and the international level.Aglianico del Vulture is the best known wineproduced in Basilicata. It is a premium red wineprimarily produced in the Vulture area ofBasilicata. The name Aglianico is believed to bederived from Ellenico - the Italian word forHellenic - indicating that the origin of Aglianicogrape is probably Greek. Aglianico and severalother regional wines have received increasingattention from viticulturists and wine connois-seurs around the world.

The aim of this workshop was to create aninternational forum to share technical andscientific state-of-the-art information amongresearchers, grape producers and the wineindustry at large. We need innovation to main-tain a high level of quality of our product, andinnovation is an indispensable tool in a chan-ging and competitive global market. With thisvision in mind, innovative research, when pro-perly applied by the wine producers, can largelycontribute to enhancing the grape and winequality production giving rise to an added valuerather than being limited to producing only theraw material.

It is not by chance that our University ofBasilicata has chosen to host this workshop inan area directly involved in the production ofsuch an important wine as Aglianico del Vultureis. It is a good opportunity for local grape pro-ducers to benefit from learning about the latestinnovative research.

The workshop was organized by the Universityof Basilicata - Department of Crop System,Forestry and Environmental Science, under theauspices of the Regione Basilicata, theInternational Society for Horticultural Science,the Italian Society of Horticulture (SOI), and theAccademia Italiana della Vite e del Vino and itwas hosted by the Venosa Municipality and bythe Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dellaBasilicata.

The event was financially supported by theDepartment of Crop System Forestry andEnvironmental Science, and by several institu-tions: the Ministry of Agriculture and ForestryPolicies, the Basilicata Region, the AgenziaLucana per lo Sviluppo e l’Innovazione in

Section Vine and Berry FruitsInt’l Workshop on Advances in Grapevineand Wine Research

Agricoltura, Potenza District, ComunitàMontana del Vulture, Venosa Municipality, GalSviluppo Vulture and Alto-Bradano, Consorzio‘Qui Vulture’.

The workshop was attended by 146 partici-pants from 20 countries. A total of 168 paperswere submitted during the conference, 48 asoral presentations and 120 as posters, alongwith eight lectures from keynotes speakers.

At the Opening Ceremony, chaired by theConvener, V. Nuzzo, Ben Ami Bravdo, Chair ofthe ISHS Section Vine and Berry Fruits, wel-comed the participants on behalf of the ISHS.Then, Gaetano Fierro, councillor of Agricultureof the Basilicata Region, and Filippo Corbo,Department of Agriculture, Regione Basilicata,Italy, presented some introductory remarks onviticulture and oenology in the BasilicataRegion.

Three plenary sessions alternated with nineparallel sessions and two poster sessions.Several aspects of viticulture and oenology werecovered, i.e. (i) genetic resources and biotech-nology both in grapevine and wine microbiolo-gy, (ii) grapevine physiology in vitro and openfield conditions, (iii) the role of the varieties androotstocks on yield and grape quality, (iv) envi-ronmental resources and cultural practices, (v)the effect of fruit composition on secondary

metabolism and metabolites. A separatesession was also devoted to table grape produc-tion.

Plenary sessions were devoted to a presentationof the latest innovation in viticulture and oeno-logy. Particularly, the first two keynotes, presen-ted by Osvaldo Failla, from the University ofMilan, and by Patrizia Romano, from theUniversity of Basilicata, pointed out, respective-ly, the impact of local grapevine varieties andthe genetic variability among and within varie-ties on viticulture and the importance of wild(or autochthonous) yeast as a tool to optimizewine typicality and quality.

The third keynote lecture, presented by DorisRauhut, from the Department of Microbiologyand Biochemistry, State Research Institute,Germany, addressed the role of must composi-tion and wine micro-organisms for both alcoho-lic and malolactic fermentation.

In the afternoon, the second plenary sessionwas devoted to the innovation on viticulture.Here two paradigms of viticulture were dis-cussed: (i) Can high quality wine be obtainedonly in dry farm conditions?; (ii) Do small berriesproduce higher quality wine than big berries?Finally, in the third lecture the issue of the cano-py efficiency was reviewed in depth.

Ben Ami Bravdo, from the Robert Smith

Participants of the Workshop.

ISHS • 40

Institute for Plant Science and Genetics, theHebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, pointedout that drip irrigation is presently the leadingirrigation technology for grapes. It paves theway to new frontiers for improving yield andquality of the fruit and the wine.

The lecture presented by Mark Allen Matthews,from the Department of Enology andViticulture, Davis, USA, presented some recentresearch works addressing berry size and cropyield as well as their interaction in the presenceand the absence of water deficits. When fruitsfrom different irrigation treatments were sepa-rated into size categories, the results showedthat effects of vine water status on fruit compo-sition arose independently of the resultant diffe-rences in fruit size.

The lecture presented by Stefano Poni, from theCatholic University of Piacenza, Italy, was areview of the methods available for assessingthe efficiency, or the ability to share high lightinterception with effective light distributionwithin the canopy while reaching concurrentlyadequate dry matter partitioning to clusters andrenewal of wood, of a grapevine canopy.

At the end of the plenary session, two paralleloral paper sessions covered grapevine nutritionand irrigation in one session and table grapevarieties and cultivation methods in the other.The day ended with a poster session.

The last plenary session dealt with issues ofwine quality and health benefits of wine con-sumption. Erminio Monteleone, from theUniversity of Basilicata, Italy, focused his lectureson perceived astringency in wine. The last lec-ture given by G. Mazza, from the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, Canada, addressed therecent advances and limitations of research on

Participants in a vineyard for table grape production of Metapountum plain.

Participants visiting the Hera Temple in Metapontum.

CONTACT

Vitale Nuzzo, Dipartimento di Scienze deiSistemi Colturali, Forestali e dell’Ambiente,Università degli Studi della Basilicata, V.ledell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy,email: nuzzo@unibas.it

the health benefits of wine. Wines, especiallyred wines, contain about 1800-3000 mg/L ofpolyphenolic compounds, most of which arestrong antioxidants and likely function ascardioprotectives and anticarcinogens.

After the scientific session all participants had achance to visit some vineyards and the cellars‘Cantina Sociale di Venosa’ in Venosa and‘Cantine del Notaio’ in Rionero in Vulture,owned respectively by Teodoro Palermo andGerardo Giuratrabbocchetti. This enabled dele-gates to view the cultivated area around theinactive volcano named ‘Monte Vulture’

covered mostly by vineyards, olive groves andchestnut groves.

The last day was devoted to a full-day technicaland tourist tour in Metaponto and Matera. Thetechnical tour included visits to table grapevineyards typically trained to ‘Tendone’ system,covered with plastic film to delay harvest.During the tour it was also possible to visit kiwi-fruit, citrus and apricot orchards. The delegatesvisited the remains of the old city of Metapontoand the national museum of Metaponto. Thatwas a good chance to see a rich list of handi-crafts finds of the Greek period (VI-IV centuryB.C.). The day ended in Matera, the UNESCOworld heritage city, where the ‘Sassi’ area wasvisited.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, theconvener thanked all the participants for atten-ding the workshop and coming from all overthe world to present the results of their workand share their experience with us. We equallyexpressed gratitude to our sponsor that suppor-ted us in attracting top quality invited speakers,while keeping reasonable workshop fees.

In conclusion, our impression was that theworkshop provided a valuable link betweenvine growers, wine-industry and science.

Vitale Nuzzo

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 41

Section Vine and Berry FruitsSixth Int’l Kiwifruit Symposium -kiwi2006

The 6th International Kiwifruit Symposiumunder the auspices of the ISHS organised by theNew Zealand Institute of Agriculture andHorticultural Science was held at the ParkHeritage hotel in Rotorua, New Zealand on 20-24 February 2006, financially supported byZESPRI International Limited and HortResearch.In addition to the usual oral and poster presen-tations, there were a number of trade displaysrepresenting some of the innovative productsand services covered in the presentations andseen during the Technical Tour. Over 250 dele-gates from 23 countries attended, the highestnumber since the previous one hosted by NewZealand in 1991, making it a truly internationalmeeting plus a further 30 press and trade exhi-bitors.

The symposium was preceded by a pre-sympo-sium tour from 17-20 February. After visitingHortResearch’s Mount Albert facilities inAuckland, it took in kiwifruit orchards growinga number of varieties and post-harvest facilitiesfrom Auckland through to the Bay of Plenty. Toprovide variety, it included visits of more gene-ral horticultural interest plus leisure activities.The 40 people on the tour also enjoyed goodfood and wine at a number of excellent restau-rants.

SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS

Overall, over 150 titles were offered after thefirst call for abstracts. To accommodate thenumber of requests for oral presentations andconsidering their high quality, the Scientific andOrganising Committees decided that the oralprogramme, in addition to the usual three fulldays of presentations, should include two eve-ning workshops plus a concurrent session withtopics that were sufficiently different that itshould not present delegates with a problemdeciding which of the two sessions to attend. Intotal, 76 oral presentations in 16 sessions and59 poster presentations were included in theprogramme, interspersed with adequaterefreshment and meal breaks to allow dele-gates plenty of time for talking to their fellowdelegates and also for poster viewing.

The Genus Actinidia and MeetingConsumer Needs

After a welcome from the convener, the sympo-sium opened with a keynote address from Dr.Hongwen Huang from Wuhan, China on thediversity of the genus in China. It was followedby another Chinese paper on how gene disco-very could assist cultivar development.

Consumer preferences for kiwifruit and lookingat the skin of the fruit concluded the openingsessions.

Assessing Fruit Quality

With the increasing importance of providinghigh quality fruit to consumers, there werevarious research papers on maintaining andmeasuring fruit quality, with a special focus onthe newly developing area of non-destructivetesting.

Participants of the Symposium.

Hort16A orchard visit.

ISHS • 42

CONTACT

Bob Martin, ZESPRI International Limited, PO Box4043, Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, email:bob.martin@zespri.com

Breeding, Genetics and New Cultivars

Dr. Elspeth MacRae presented the keynoteaddress which questioned whether biotechno-logy can help kiwifruit breeders, leading into anumber of papers describing the research ongenetic markers and maps in kiwifruit. A num-ber of papers were presented on the characte-ristics of species (other than the current com-mercial ones of Actinidia chinensis and delicio-sa) including A. rufa, A. arguta, A. eriantha andA. kolomikta.

Physiology, Fruit Quality and Climate

There were a large number of research papers,both oral and poster, on these topics. Dr. JohnPalmer stimulated the audience with his addresson whether apples and kiwifruit can learn fromeach other. Other research papers on methods ofreducing fruit quality variability and the effect ofclimate on production and quality were presen-ted.

Nutrition, Water and Vine Growth

The keynote address opening this session waspresented by Prof. Massimo Tagliavini fromBologna University in Italy on studying nutrientfluxes at the orchard ecosystem scale. Otherresearch presented discussed the effects of vinenutrition and management on production andquality.

Prof. Guglielmo Costa of BolognaUniversity, elected Chair of the ISHSWorking Group on Kiwifruit, contemplatingthe next kiwi symposium.

Placing fruit in pocket packs.

This vine is even older than me!

Thanks to the Organising Committee.

Workshop on 1-MCP

The results of research from a number of coun-tries into the effects of this product on fruit sto-rage life and quality were presented followed bygood general discussion on the technical aspectof its use.

Sustainability

A wide range of topics were presented in thepapers in this session including orchardmanagement in a semi-arid environment, diffe-rences between organic and conventionalorchards, biodiversity in orchards andorchard/orchardist interaction.

Biochemistry

Research results on colour development, flavourand nutritional components were presented.

Pathology and Crop Protection

Reflecting that kiwifruit is relatively free ofpests, most of the presentations in these twosessions were on orchard and post-harvestdiseases.

Human Health and Nutrition

This is an area of increasing interest as resear-chers demonstrate the health benefits of kiwi-fruit for consumers, including its anti-heartattack, stroke and cancer abilities, how its con-sumption can improve intestinal health andlaxation.

Business Meeting

Professor Guglielmo Costa was elected Chair ofthe ISHS Working Group on Kiwifruit with Italyselected as the host country of the next ISHSInternational Kiwifruit Symposium in four year’stime. He also summarised and closed the sym-posium.

TECHNICAL TOUR

The Technical Tour on 23 February, after startingwith a delicious breakfast in a Redwood forest,visited the main kiwifruit production area of theBay of Plenty. Included in the visits were aHort16A orchard which is trialling a new cano-py management system, an organic Hayward

orchard, a post-harvest facility using NIR and IRgrading systems and an interesting machinethat picked kiwifruit up from a conveyor andplaced them accurately in pocket packs, aHayward orchard which featured some of theoldest producing vines planted in 1947 beforefinishing at HortResearch’s Te Puke researchorchard for a tour of the facilities and a marvel-lous spit roast barbeque dinner at which dele-gates could relax and to talk to each other overdrinks.

CONCLUSIONS

With the participation of the large number ofdelegates from so many countries, the qualityof the research papers presented in a highlypraised venue and the enjoyable tours thatwere included in the programme, the 6thInternational Kiwifruit Symposium has beenjudged to be a great success. The OrganisingCommittee has been rewarded for all theirefforts by superb comments sent in by many ofthe delegates in appreciation of such an excel-lent event.

Researchers, growers, post-harvest operators,consultants and industry representatives fromall over the world were able to further existingrelationships and develop new ones in arelaxed, pleasant and friendly environment. Theweek concluded with an informal dinner muchappreciated by the 150 or so delegates whoattended, many dancing (and drinking!) thenight away!

There has been very good media coverage ofthe symposium before, during and afterwards.

The research papers will be published as avolume of Acta Horticulturae later in the year.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 43

The International Symposium on Bio-technology of Temperate Fruit Crops andTropical Species, which was the joint meeting ofthe 3rd International Symposium onBiotechnology of Tropical and SubtropicalSpecies and the 1st International Symposiumon Transgenic Temperate Fruit Crops, was heldat the Hilton Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida,USA from October 10-14, 2005. The hotelvenue was situated directly on the beach, andthroughout the symposium there was thesound and sight of crashing surf. The meetingwas convened by Drs. Ralph Scorza, USDA ARS,Kearneysville, WV, USA and Richard Litz,Tropical Research and Education Center,University of Florida, Homestead, FL, USA.There were 184 participants, who represented32 countries. The meeting was sponsored bythe University of Florida Institute of Food andAgricultural Sciences (IFAS) Office of the Deanfor Research, United States Department ofAgriculture (USDA) Agricultural ResearchService, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service,USDA Tropical and Subtropical AgriculturalResearch and the International Society forHorticultural Science.

The meeting was officially opened on MondayOctober 10 by welcome addresses by Drs.

Commission Biotechnology andMolecular Biology

Int’l Symposium on Biotechnology ofTemperate Fruit Crops and TropicalSpecies

Richard Litz, William Brown, Assistant Dean forResearch of the University of Florida’s Instituteof Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), andRalph Scorza. The symposium consisted ofseveral general sessions that included invitedspeakers, contributed oral speakers and pos-ters. Thursday afternoon was devoted to con-current crop sessions: Apple, chaired byGennaro Fazio (USA) and Jay Norelli (USA);Grape, chaired by Fernando Reyes (Chile) andDennis Gray (USA); Prunus, chaired by LiningTian (Canada) and Humberto Prieto (Chile);Miscellaneous Tropical Fruits, chaired by Eva deGarcia (Venezuela) and Fernando Pliego-Alfaro(Spain); Papaya, chaired by Michael Davis (USA)and Richard Manshardt (USA); and Citrus,chaired by Randy Niedz (USA) and Leandro Pena(Spain).

Session 1 - GM and Non GM BiotechnologicalApproaches, included the following invited pre-sentations: The History of the Effort sinceCommercialization by Richard Manshardt,University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii, USA; TenYears of Plant Biotechnology Products: ProvenSuccess and Future Applications by DavidSongstad, Monsanto, St. Louis, Missouri, USA;Genetic Modifications in Floral Crops: Researchto Marketplace by Steve Chandler, Florigene,

Collingwood, Victoria, Australia; OvercomingChallenges to Deliver Transgenic HorticulturalProducts to US and Overseas Markets byKatherine Kahn, FAS, US Department ofAgriculture, Washington DC, USA; Genetics,Epigenetics and Crop Improvement by PatHeslop-Harrison, University of Leicester,Leicester, UK; and Applications of SomaticHybridization and Cybridization in Scion andRootstock Improvement with Focus on Citrusby Jude Grosser, Citrus Research and EducationCenter (CREC), University of Florida, LakeAlfred, FL, USA.

Session 2 - Disease and Stress Resistance/Growth and Development/Product Qualityincluded the following invited presentations:How Can Knowledge about the MolecularBases of Plant Disease and Disease ResistanceHelp Engineering of Resistance in Crops? byOliver LeGall, UMR INRA/Univ. Bordeaux,France; Genomics Approaches to Under-standing Ripening Control and Fruit Quality inTomato by James Giovannoni, USDA-ARS,Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; and UsingBiotechnology to Improve Resistance toEnvironmental Stress in Fruit Crops: TheImportance of Understanding Physiology byMichael Wisniewski, USDA-ARS, Kearneysville,WV, USA.

Session 3 - Integrating Biotechnology intoBreeding Programs included Improving DiseaseResistance in Citrus Using Genomic Approachesby Fred G. Gmitter, Jr., Citrus Research andEducation Center (CREC), University of Florida,Lake Alfred, FL, USA; and Molecular Genetics inPersian Walnuts: A Breeder’s Perspective byGale McGanahan, University of California,Davis, CA, USA.

Session 4 - Integrating Genomics into BreedingPrograms included Integrating Genomics intoRosaceae Tree Fruit Breeding Programs by PereArús, IRTA Barcelona, Spain; and CurrentChallenges of Tropical Tree Crop Improvement:Integrating Genomics into an Applied CacaoBreeding Program by Ray Schnell, USDA ARS,Miami, FL, USA.

Session 5 - Risk Assessment/Mitigation andEnabling Technologies included Site-SpecificRecombination for Plant Genetic Engineeringby David Ow, USDA Gene Expression Center,Albany, CA, USA; and Recovery of Difficult-to-Regenerate Species: the Cycad Example byVictor Chavez, Instituto de Biologia, Univer-sidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, MexicoCity, Mexico.

Participants during the social events.

ISHS • 44

CONTACT

Ralph Scorza, USDA ARS, 2217 Wiltshire Rd.,Kearneysville WV 25430, USA, email:rscorza@afrs.ars.usda.gov

Richard Litz, University of Florida, TropicalResearch and Education Center, 18905 SW 280St., Homestead FL 33031-3314, USA, email:rel@ifas.ufl.edu

A full day field trip was organized to visit twoof the University of Florida’s off-campusresearch centers, including the Citrus Researchand Education Center (CREC) in Lake Alfredand the Mid-Florida Research and EducationCenter (MFREC) in Apopka. CREC is a large andrenowned center that focuses exclusively oncitrus, including many aspects of citrus biotech-nology that were addressed during the mee-

ting; the MFREC is the home of the Universityof Florida’s grape biotechnology program.

There were several opportunities for the partici-pants to interact informally. There was an EarlyBird cocktail party on Sunday evening whileposters were being set up and there was a wel-come reception with a calypso band onMonday evening. The banquet was held onThursday evening, and following dinner thespeaker was Richard Jefferson, CAMBIA,Canberra, Australia, who delivered a very inte-resting address “Open Sesame: Biological OpenSource and a New Dynamic for Biotechnologyin Society.” Participants dined and danced untilthe early hours.

During the business meeting, Drs. Scorza andLitz proposed to Dr. Carmine Damiano,Chairman of the ISHS Commission Bio-technology and Molecular Biology, that in thefuture, the two symposia should be formallymerged and thereafter should be referred to asthe “International Symposium on Bio-technology of Fruit Crops”, and would includetemperate, subtropical and tropical fruits. Thiswould involve changing the name of theWorking Group on Biotechnology of Tropicaland Subtropical Species to the Working Groupon Biotechnology of Fruit Crops in order to

Crashing ocean surf directly in front ofthe hotel.

reflect this change. It was agreed that the nextsymposium should be held in four years, andproposals to host the meeting were receivedfrom Dr. Magda-Viola Hanke of the FederalCentre for Breeding Research on CultivatedPlants, Dresden, Germany and Dr. FernandoPliego-Alfaro of the Universidad de Malaga,Malaga, Spain.

A survey conducted by the Symposium organi-zers, Beth Miller-Tipton and Dianne Kattawar ofthe University of Florida IFAS Office ofConferences and Institutes, concluded that justabout everyone enjoyed both the scientific andsocial program.

Richard Litz and Ralph Scorza

The most recent symposium of the ISHSWorking Group on Growing Media was held on4-10 September 2005 at the Congress Centreof Angers in the Pays de la Loire, France andorganised by staff from SAGAH (Joint ResearchUnit Sciences Agronomiques Appliquées àl’Horticulture - Agronomic Sciences Applied toHorticulture) as well as the Institut National dela Recherche Agronomique (INRA) and theInstitut National d’Horticulture (INH). Links esta-blished with the International Peat Society ledto close cooperation with IPS in organisation ofthe symposium.

Commission Plant SubstratesInt’l Symposium on Growing Media

The symposium itself proved a resounding suc-cess, attracting widespread acclaim from dele-gates. The organising committee led by Jean-Charles Michel, with Louis-Marie Rivière andFrancis Lemaire (jointly responsible for the firstsymposium of the group held in Angers in1981), Sylvain Charpentier (SAGAH Director),Philippe Morel, Jean-Luc Gaignard, all ablyassisted by Mme Sylvie Tijou, deserves greatcredit for the symposium programme. Almost200 delegates attended from 38 countries.The Congress Centre at Angers proved a fine,convenient venue, with a well equipped lecture

room that included excellent visual and audiofacilities. Following the opening ceremony andwelcome given by the President of INRA Centreof Angers Professor Boiffin, M. Raoul (localcouncillor, Angers) and M. Chevalier (regionalcouncillor, Pays de la Loire), two reviews of gro-wing media use in France were given. Therethen followed a novel initiative for the group -a complete day on microbiology, which fea-tured a review on the use of composts in gro-wing media against soil-borne diseases fromone of the longest-standing members of theworking group, Michael Raviv. The analytical

Delegates at the symposium.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 45

methods session brought reviews of the analy-tical procedures in growing media, with consi-derations of challenges and perspectives, fromAndreas Baumgarten, Chairman of theWorking Group on Standardisation ofSubstrates; and also of definitions of criticalcapillary rise and water repellency properties forgrowing media, presented respectively by JeanCaron and the symposium convener Jean-Charles Michel. Peat in Growing Media formedthe third day of oral sessions and attracted alarge audience with Donal Clark from the IPSgiving a pragmatic review of the application ofWise Use principles to the horticultural use ofpeat. The next session on growing media andcrop management included an excellent reviewby Chris Blok on the influence of physicalaspects of growing media on root developmentand plant growth, as well as a further overviewof the physical and hydraulic properties ofgrowing media; from laboratory studies togreenhouse management, by Ronny Wallach.

In recognition of his services to the societyover the last 25 years, Dr. Louis-MarieRivière received an ISHS medal from theChairman of the Commission PlantSubstrates, Dr. Omer Verdonck.

Delegates at a visit to the superb substrate production facilities of the Falienor Group at Vivy.

From left to right: the Chairman of the ISHSWorking Group on Growing Media, Dr. BillCarlile; the Chairman of the ISHSCommission Plant Substrates, Dr. OmerVerdonck; and the Chairman of the IPSHOPE (Horticultural Use of Peat) WorkingGroup, Dr. Gerald Schmilewski led discus-sions at the symposium on peat and alter-native materials in growing media.

CONTACT

Dr. Jean-Charles Michel, Convener, INH - NationalInstitute of Horticulture - Research Unit A-462SAGAH INRA-INH-Univ. Angers, AGronomicSciences Applied to Horticulture, 2, rue LeNotre, F-49045 Angers cedex 01, France,Phone: 33 2 41 22 54 22, Fax: 33 2 41 22 5553, email: jean-charles.michel@inh.fr

Dr. W.R. Carlile, c/o Nottingham Trent University,School of Biomedical and Natural Science,Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK,email: William.carlile@ntu.ac.uk

The final oral session on composts and otherconstituents in growing media included areview by Bill Carlile, Chair of the ISHS WorkingGroup on Growing Media, on the use of com-posted materials in growing media.

In addition to these seven review papers, 45further oral presentations were given. Thetiming of review papers at 30 min with 10 minfor discussion and other presentations of 20min with 5 min for discussion, with no indivi-dual sub-session having more than four papers,was viewed as a highly positive feature. In addi-tion 79 posters were presented by authors fromall parts of the world; most of high quality, andmuch fruitful discussion emerged at the postersession.

As with the scientific sessions, the pre-tour andfield trip attracted much praise. The pre-tourincluded a visit to the site of Tourbières LaFlorentaise, a company which extracts peat andalso blends a range of materials to produce gro-wing media. A series of visits on the field-dayincluded the large pot and bedding plant nurse-ries of Ets Bellard-Crochet at Sainte-Gemmessur Loire where a superb range of cyclamenwere seen; to Pépinières Minier, with its exten-sive range of mature nursery stock, and EtsTaugourdeau in Beaufort-en-Vallée. Furthervisits included the Falienor-Terreaux de Francecompany at Vivy, producers of growing mediawhose operations and particularly attention todetail and quality attracted much admirationfrom delegates, and Fleuron d’Anjou ofVarennes, producers of strawberries in soillessculture whose product samples were quicklyconsumed!

In the social programme, the pre-tour includeda fascinating visit to the salt marshes nearGuérande to view the natural production ofsalt. Receptions at INRA/INH/SAGAH with aninstructive tour of the facilities at both institu-tions, and a visit to view the exceptionalmodern tapestries in the Musée Jean Lurcat (at

the invitation of the Mayor of Angers) werevery well received. At the conclusion of the fieldvisits a tour of the Bouvet-Ladubay winery, withits remarkable underground caverns, was fol-lowed by a splendid buffet dinner there. Thesymposium dinner took place at the ChateauPlessis-Macé. Traditional music and dance ledby the group ‘Crock Notes’ led to a highly con-vivial atmosphere. The occasion was used tomark the outstanding contribution of Dr. Louis-Marie Rivière to ISHS for more than 25 yearsthrough the award of an ISHS medal. Theopportunity was taken to award a medal also tothe symposium convener, Dr. Jean-CharlesMichel and well-merited certificates of appre-ciation to two of the longest standing suppor-ters of the Working Group, Drs. Francis Lemaireand Munoo Prasad. Recognition of Dr. Prasadwas greatly appreciated by IPS members, sincehe is also a long-standing member of thatgroup.

Overall the organising committee deservesmany thanks for producing such a highly pro-fessional but nevertheless friendly and sociablesymposium. At the business meeting,Nottingham (at Nottingham Trent University)was proposed as the next venue in Septemberof 2007.

Bill Carlile and Jean-Charles Michel

ISHS • 46

The International Controlled AtmosphereResearch Conference was held in East Lansing,Michigan on the campus of Michigan StateUniversity between 5 and 10 July, 2005. Thiswas the 9th research meeting in a series datingback to 1969.

The CA Research Conference is typically heldevery four years and provides a forum for thescientists and practitioners to share informationregarding scientific, conceptual, and practicaladvances in controlled atmosphere and relatedstorage technologies and physiological respon-ses of the products to the storage environment.The International CA Conference is currentlyincluded in the regular offerings of theInternational Society for Horticultural Science(ISHS), but is organized and conducted by indi-viduals from research institutions in the U.S. andabroad. The first CA Conference was organizedby Don Dewey, Bob Herner, and David Dilley atMichigan State in July of 1969. The conferencewas originally called the National ControlledAtmosphere Research Conference. The CAConference was subsequently held in 1977,again at Michigan State University. In 1982, itmoved to Corvallis, Oregon and was organizedby Daryl Richardson and Michael Meheriuk ofOregon State University. In 1985, theConference was organized by Sylvia Blanken-ship of North Carolina University out of Raleigh,North Carolina. The fifth CA Conference wasorganized by Eugene Kupferman ofWashington State University and held inWenatchee, Washington, in 1989 and was re-named the International CA ResearchConference. In 1993, the conference was heldat Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and hos-ted by David Blanpied. The seventh Inter-national CA Conference was held at the

Commission Quality and Post HarvestHorticulture

Ninth Int’l Controlled AtmosphereResearch Conference - CA2005

University of California, Davis, and was con-vened by members of the Department ofPomology including Adel Kader, ElizabethMitcham, Jim Thompson, Mikal Saltveit, andJim Gorny, in 1997. In 2001, the CAConference was held off U.S. soil for the firsttime in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and orga-nized by Koos Oosterhaven, HermanPeppelenbos, and Miriam Strous of ATO B.V.,Wageningen University. In 2005, the CAConference returned to its historical roots atMichigan State University. CA2005 was orga-nized by Randy Beaudry, Arthur Cameron,David Dilley, and Sandy Allen of Michigan State.

This year’s conference was comprised of a pre-conference social outing on July 4th, the eve-

ning prior to the official start of the conference,technical sessions from July 5 through July 8,and a post-conference trip along the length ofthe southern peninsula of Michigan to theTraverse City area July 9 and 10. While the pre-conference social outing was marked by one ofthe most intense rainstorms of the year, dam-pened shirts did not dampen spirits as we tra-veled to a local fireworks display marking theU.S. celebration of its Independence Day. Forthe next four days, 130 members of the inter-national scientific community from 29 countriesshared information regarding their researchefforts concerning technological and physiolo-gical advances in temperate and tropical post-harvest research. The presentations were punc-

Opening reception following first day of presentations. From left to right: Theo Solomos, Herman Pepelenbos, Randolph Beaudry, Errol Hewett,Elzette van Rooyen, David Dilley and Stanley Burg.

Cherry orchard visit at CHES. From left to right: Gene Kupferman, Susan Lurie, Errol Hewett.

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 47

CONTACT

Prof. Randolph M. Beaudry, Department ofHorticulture, A22 Plant and Soil Science Bldg.,Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI48824-1325, USA, Phone: (517)355-5191 ext303 (when you dial 355-5191, first press 1,then extension 303), Fax: (517)353-0890,email: beaudry@msu.edu

Closing ceremony. From left to right: ArtCameron, MSU; Mustafa Erkan, AkdenizUniversity, Antalya, Turkey; Randy Beaudry,MSU; and David Dilley, MSU.

Pit spitting contest at CHES. NobukoSugimoto (winner of ladies competition).

tuated by presentations from keynote speakers,Drs. David Dilley, Stanley Burg, Fritz Bangerth,Bart Nicholai, and Adel Kader. An ActaHorticulturae proceedings is being developedfrom that will be published in 2006. Followingthe meeting, a post-conference tour broughtabout fifty of the attendees to the ClarksvilleHorticulture Research Station for MSU fordemonstrations of a mechanized cherry harves-ter, an organic apple production plot, high tun-nel cherry production, and an informal cherrypit-spitting contest (winners - Australia for themen, and Japan for the women). The tour alsointroduced participants to a successful roadsidemarket operation, an apple packing plant, acherry harvesting and processing operation, ashort visit to the International Cherry Festival inTraverse City, and a surprise dune buggy ride onthe shores of Lake Michigan.

The four-day program was built around the pri-mary theme of technological innovation toaddress biological needs of harvested plant pro-ducts during commercial storage. Most presen-tations dwelt on the use of postharvest techno-logies to improve quality maintenance duringthe storage and handling of temperate and tro-pical fruit and vegetable products. The confe-rence opened with Herman Peppelenbos mode-rating an overview of low pressure (LP), con-trolled atmosphere (CA), and modified atmos-phere packaging (MAP) technologies and fea-tured David Dilley and Stanley Burg discussingthe successes and development of CA and LPtechnologies. The presentation by Burg wasnoteworthy for its description of an essentiallymature technology that is cost-effective andbroadly beneficial to many plant products, butcontinues to lack implementation. On thesecond day, the focus of the conference shiftedto physiology and storage quality (Susan Luriemoderating) and featured a presentation byFritz Bangerth on the impact of atmospheremodification on aroma formation. BethMitcham moderated a session on 1-methylcy-

clopropene (1-MCP) in CA and refrigerated air(RA) storage. 1-MCP (SmartFresh) is an innova-tive ethylene action inhibitor that has becomeintegrated into apple storage strategies world-wide in the interim between the last CAResearch Conference in Rotterdam in 2001 andthe 2005 conference. In much the same wayresearch reports in 2001 predated commercialimplementation, expanded uses of 1-MCP areexpected on several of the commodities dis-cussed at CA2005. The third day of the confe-rence was comprised of sessions on MAP andmodeling (Elhadi Yahia moderating) and theimpact of atmosphere on physiological andpathological disorders (Jenifer DeEll modera-ting). Keynote speaker Bart Nicolai punctuatedthese sessions with a presentation on themodeling of gas and water transport in fruit tis-sue, describing models built on multiple physi-cal scales to accommodate changing physicalrelationships with changing scale and effective-ly tying microscopic features to macroscopicconditions of atmosphere modification.Nicolai’s work continues efforts in modelingresearch in CA and MAP found in numerous CAConference proceedings and implemented incommercial packaging and storage efforts. Onthe final day, Mustafa Erkan moderated a ses-sion on the impact of phytosanitary procedureson storage quality. Today we see the benefits ofresearch in this area in the diversity of foods inour marketplaces. Much of the progress in glo-bal marketing can be traced back to workreported in previous CA Conference pro-ceedings. CA2005 concluded with a keynoteaddress by Adel Kader on and analysis of thefuture of modified atmosphere research.Kader’s remarks on the protecting flavor qualityhighlight a current trend in postharvest researchfocusing on flavor analysis as a quality measure.As Kader concluded, the future of MA researchis bright and necessarily includes further investi-gations of the interplay of 1-MCP and atmos-phere modification; the use of MA as a compo-

nent of pest control measures; improving ourunderstanding of the relationship of MA tofood safety; and further investigations into thebiological basis of positive and negative MAeffects.

The next CA Conference will be held in Turkeyin 2009 and will be hosted by Dr. Mustafa Erkanof the Department of Horticulture, Faculty ofAgriculture, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey[Phone: 90-242-2274560/2504, Fax: 90-242-2274564, email: erkan@akdeniz.edu.tr]

Randolph M. Beaudry

Poster session. From left to right: Luiz Argenta, Maarten Hertog, Lucie Nouaillac.

ISHS • 48

FROM THE SECRETARIAT

New ISHS Members

ISHS is pleased to welcome the followingnew members:

NEW ORGANISATIONMEMBERS:

Australia: Fleming’s Nurseries Pty. Ltd.,Monbulk, VIC 3793

Austria: Austrian Agency for Health and FoodSafety, 1226 Wien

Kenya: Finlay Flowers Co. Ltd., 20200 Kericho

Turkey: Baris Tarim, Antalya Altinova

NEW INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS:

Argentina: Dr. Norma Iglesias; Australia: Mr.David Anderson, Maxwell Arif, Skye Auer, Mr.Ian Bally, Les Baxter, Mr. Peter Brown, Dr.Stephen Chandler, Dr. Mick Considine, BobDick, Andrew Donald, Tony Dunne, Mr.Jonathan Eccles, Ms. Vikki Eggleston, JennyEkman, Barry Gaudion, Jon Gaudion, ChinGouk, Darren Graetz, Howard Hansen, ShaneHetherington, Mr. Craig Hicks, Mr. RobKerslake, Lilly Lim-Camacho, Mr. Eugene Louey,Mr. Andrew Lucas, Mr. Don Lynam, Dr. NickMalajczuk, Simon McKirdy, Mr. FaridMoradinezhad, Mr. Reuben Mubiru, Mr. SinanOgun, Dr. Patrick O’Riordan, Jennifer Payne, Mr.David Pullar, Mario Rankin, Ms. Claire Regan,Mr. David Rigby, Mr. Andrew Roberts, WilliamRoberts, Mr. Neil Robison, Brendan Rodoni,Simon Rouget, Mr. Paul Rowse, Iean Russel, Dr.Henry Sabarez, Taro Sakamoto, Dr. Shashirekha,Satyan, Mr. Kumar Sellakantha, Michael H.Silm, Mr. Shehbaz Singh, Alan Smith, JohnSpriggs, Mrs. Barbara Stephens, Ms. CynthiaStewart, Ximing Sun, Mr. Paul Tardieu, Dr.Bruce Topp, Franklin Trouw, Peter Whittle, Mr.Cliff Winkleman; Austria: Mr. Sedat Gürol,Ulrike Persen, Susanne Richter, WernerRuppitsch, Fatensch Wagnuly; Barbados: Dr.Sonia Peter; Belarus: Tatania Krasinskaya;Belgium: Barbara Chaves, Laurent Cornette,Rozemarijn Dreesen, Dr. Mario Godoy, JeanPierre Goffart, Mr. Sam Janssens-Middendorp,Gert Leppens, Mr. Vahid Rouhi, Hilde Schoofs,Mr. Bert Sercu, Dr. Kathy Steppe; Bosnia andHercegovina: Jelka Dzinovic; Brazil: Prof. Dr.José A. Da Silva Cabral, Dr. Claudia RobertaDamiani, Renato De Oliveira Resende, AliceDuval, Manfred Fehr, Ester Ferreira, RicardoGloria, Wilson Goto, Ricardo Lacerda, Dr. JoséEduardo Lahoz da Silva Ribeiro, Prof. Dr.Elizabeth Ono, Wagner Otoni, Jorge Rezende,

Mr. Marcos Rondon; Bulgaria: Mr. KrumHristov, Ms. Teodora Ivanova, Marinov Pencho,Dr. Marina Stanilova; Cameroon: Mr. AhmadouDanpoulo Baba, Helene David-Benz, CharlyFacheux, David Olivier; Canada: Mike Aleman,Mr. Ahmed Bilal, Diane A. Cuppels, Mr. SamuelFournier, Mr. Joseph Gallant, Dr. Sara Good-Avila, Ms. Gaelle Janvier, Anna Kalinini, Mr.James Kitts, Prof. Dr. Rajasekaran Lada, JaniceLeBoeyf, Mr. Michael Lindenbaum, FrankMarks, Robin Marles, Gunamani Singh Oiman,Dr. Erick Schmidt, Dr. Stuart Schroeder, PeterSholberg, Mr. Stephen Smith, Mr. PhilipThomas, William Truscott, J.C. Mike Tu, DarrellZbeetnoff; Chad: Mr. Nassir Arzamkhan; Chile:Garcia Arribillage, Antonia Beltran Rojas,Reinaldo Campos Vargas, Alberto Cortes, PabloGarces, Maria Veronica Herrera Fischer, ClaudioHerrera, Matias Kulczewski B., Mr. FernandoLira, Felipe Masenas, Andres Ureta Ovalle, Ms.Eliana Oyarce, Patricio Seguel, Oscar Mozo,Cristian Vicencio; China: Dr. Li-Ping Chen, Prof.Riyuan Chen, Prof. Yanping Fan, Xinghong Fu,Mark Lanmon, Prof. Dr. Zhihui Li, Dr. HouchengLiu, Dr. Qinglin Liu, Prof. Dr. Yongli Liu, Dr.Guangwen Sun, Prof. Xiaowu Sun, Dr. YingWang, Yuzhu Wang, Dr. Chunxiang Xu, Dr.Jianfan Yu, Prof. Dr. Riqing Zhang, XuejunZhang, Qiang Zheng, Dr. Fang Zhiyuan;Colombia: Dr. Claudia P. Florez Ramos; Coted’Ivoire: Mr. Hubert Coffi, Dr. AndreasTschannen; Croatia: Martina Ljubicic; Cuba:Olimpia Gomez Consuegra; Denmark: BenteMs. Kahr, Mr. Steven Victor Turbes; DominicanRepublic: Jose Gabriel Jasquez Vasquez, Dr.Rafael Ortiz; Ecuador: Frank Seelig; Egypt: Mr.Maged Abou-Ahagr, Amr Osman, Prof. Dr.Alfred Tewfik; Estonia: Alar Astovar, IngridBender; Finland: Ms. Anu Koivisto, Dr. Mona-Anitta Riihimäki; France: Mr. Hugues Badin deMontjoie, Marie-Anne Barny, Philippe Bassy, Mr.Babette Blaedel-Flajsner, Mr. Boeglin, GregoriBonnet, Jean-Michel Broquaire, Sylvie Bureau,David Caffier, Christohpe Chamet, PhilippeCharlet, Carole Chazoule, Evelyne Costes, Mr.Arnaud David, Dr. Hubert de Bon, Marc deJouffroy, Jacques Dintinger, Marie Laure Etebe-Lambertin, Michel Genard, Mr. Anthony Gorin,Benoît Guerry, Fabrizio Gurrieri, Michel Jay, Mr.Jacques Joas, Lucie Jouault, Serge Lafond,Patrick Lambert, Aimé Lambertin, NatachaLancelin-Lespinasse, Vinciguerra Laurent, Pierre-Yves Le Strat, Jean Michel Legave, FrançoisLuro, Isabelle Marty, Mireille Monternaud-Vignoles, Samuel W. Page, Christian Pinet,Philippe Prior, Karine Robini, Marc Rogolini,Caroline Sablayrolles, Mr. David Saignant, GayaSarkissian, Mr. Jean-Pierre Say, Daniele

Scandella, Sabine Schorr-Galindo, SergioSemon, Hubert Veauvy; Gambia: ArieayiburuBrown O, Akeem O. Muibi; Germany: Dr.Martin Buchholz, Henryk Flachowsky, KlausGanter, Bodo Gutezeit, Dr. Werner Herppich,Juliane Hirte, Claas Nendel, Andreas Peil,Michael Popp, Klaus Reif, Klaus Richter, MartinRoehrig, Jorg Rühlmann, Prof. Dr. KlausSchaller, Bernd Schneider, Anja Seibold, HarelSeidenwerg, Dr. Simone Seling, Peter VonFragstein, Frank Will; Greece: SofiaBladanopoulou, Dr. Christos Chatzissavvidis, Dr.Haroula Spinthiropoulou, Mr. Trifon Topalidis,John Tsiantos, Dr. Evangelos Vellios; Honduras:Juan Aguilar Moran, Dr. Dale Krigsvold, MiguelMuñoz; Hong Kong: Paul Pui-Hay But,Edmund Lee; Hungary: Gabor Dren, SandorThurzo, Ms. Zsuzsanna Varga, Zsuzsanna Veres;India: Dr. Pitam Chandra, Charanjit Kaur, Mr.Manav Khullar, Dr. Sangeeta Kutty, Mr. PrakashPatil, G.N. Qazi, Prafullachandra Sane,Satyawati Sharma, Mr. Sukhvinder Pal Singh,Sukhphal, Singh; Indonesia: Bambang, Irianto,Sri Kuntarsih, Erna M. Lokollo, Nerlie M.Manalili, Kim-Yen Phan-Thien, Mr. Setyadit, SriSulihanti, Mr. Suyamto, Joel C. Tukan, Mr. TriWinarso, Mr. Yuniarti; Iran: Dr. FrançoiseBernard, Dr. Darab Hassani, Dr. DavoudHassanpanah, Assist. Prof. Jamal Javanmardi,Mr. Faramarz Saadat; Ireland: Dr. CatharineBarry-Ryan, Dr. Gary Henehan; Israel: Dr. AvriBar Zur, Ron Ecker, Dr. Viviane Goldman, DoronHolland, Dr. Hinanit Koltai, Dr. Ephraim Lansky,David Levy, Orly Mor, Yael Rekah, Yaniv Rotem,Asaf Shnel, Asya Weksler; Italy: Mr. Fausto Alia,Dr. Adriano Altissimo, Roman Amider, DanieleBaldantoni, Susana Bartolini, Paolo Benincasa,Mauro Bergamaschi, Maurizio Bilotto, DanieleBorsato, Alessandra Calzolari, Ippolito Camele,Luigi Catalano, Nunzia Cicco, Aniello Crescenzi,Sergio De Luca, Dr. Emanuela di Martino, Mr.Dinella, Luca Dondini, Luca Fortunato, SilvioFritegotto, Rino Ghelfi, Pietro Giannoccaro,Italo Giordano, Rossella Gozzi, MarcelloGudicci, Dr. Barbara Herren, Anita Ierna, LucaLovatti, Stefano Lugli, Livia Martinetti, GabriellaMellano, Mario Monotti, Nicola Montemurro,Luigi Morra, Andrea Onofori, Dr. FrancescoOrsini, Giuseppe Pallotti, Dano Panelli, FelicePennone, Prof. Giorgio Peri, Marco Piscicelli,Anna G. Sabatini, Ms. Elizabeth Salter, Prof.Vito Nicola Savino, Daniele Savoia, BenitoScazziota, Andrew W. Shepherd, Anna MariaStellacci, Raffaele Tamborrino, Vito Vitello,Massimo Zaccardelli, Geni Carmen Zanol;Jamaica: Dr. John Brown, Mr. Sheridan Hibbert;Japan: Mr. Mohammad Affan, Mr. YusukeAkita, Koji Azegami, Ms. Patchareeya

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 49

Boonkorkaew, Mr. Takashi Honma, Mr.Masahide Isozaki, Dr. Kazuhisa Kato, Prof. Dr.Yoshitaka Kawai, Prof. Dr. Nobuo Kobayashi,Dr. O New Lee, Mr. Kazuhiro Matsumoto, KenjiMurakami, Dr. Kazuyoshi Nada, Ms. Kyong-HeeNam, Mr. Wataru Ohkawa, Mr. TakeshiShikanai, Assist. Prof. Kazuhiko Shimasaki,Takanori Tsukamoto, Dr. Masaki Yahata, IttetsuYamaga; Kenya: Mr. Rory Tomlinson, Mr.Charles Wasonga; Korea (Republic of): Dr.Soonyoung Ahn, Jung Ah Byun, Mr. Jai-KwonCheong, Prof. Dr. Jeoung-Lai Cho, Ms.Moonkyoung Cho, Mr. Jae-Wahng Do, Dr. AnDong Choon, Ms. Miseon Jeong, Ms. KyongsukJi, Prof. Dr. Ho-Min Kang, Ms. Won Hee Kang,Byeong Sam Kim, Ms. Hyun Jung Kim, Mr.Hyun Seok Kim, Prof. Il-Seop Kim, Ms. Ji HyunKim, Dr. Ji Yeon Kim, Ms. Se Hee Kim, Ms.SooYun Kim, Mr. Sung Kyu Kim, Ms. MinKyung Kwon, Mr. Yonghee Kwon, Prof. Dr. AeKyung Lee, Mr. Chan-Gu Lee, Prof. Dr. CheolHee Lee, Dr. Ji-Yong Lee, Mr. Jong-Won Lee, Dr.SonSun Lee, Dr. Soon-Won Lee, Dr. Uk Lee, Mr.Won-Phil Lee, Prof. Dr. Woo Sung Lee, Prof. Dr.Yong Pyo Lim, Ms. Ji-young Moon, Dr. Dae MinOh, Mr. Sungbong Oh, Deokbae Park, Mr. MinKyu Park, Dr. Jeong Hak Seo, Jung Hyuk Seo,Dr. Ki Cheol Seong, Mr. Kwang Sik Shin, Mr.Hung Ngoc Tran, Dr. Bong Sik Yoo, Ms. JeewonYoon; Kuwait: Mahdi Abdal; Lebanon:Youssef Abou-Jaoude; Madagascar: RomaineRamananarivo; Malaysia: Mr. Kai Kooi Cheah,Menno Keizer, Ms. Jessica Ooi, Ms. ZauliaOthman; Mexico: Andres Cruz-Hernandez,Guillermo Mariscal, Jose Luis Martinez Ramirez,Mr. Jose Nuno, Francisco Parra, Dr. MarcoRamirez-Sosa, Jorge Retes, Lourdes Vallejo Espí,Elina Vidal; Moldova: Maria A. Pyntea;Morocco: Aziz Hasib; Namibia: Mr. DirkPrinsloo; Netherlands: Danilo Christiaan, PaulMaris, Ms. Judith Francis, Marie Gretenkort,Erwin Hoogendijk, Mihill Luli, Dr. Ellis Meekes,Leon Mur, Dirk Peeters, Mr. A Rezaei Nejad, Ms.Jolanda Salomon, Mr. Harald Vahl, Willem C.A.van Geel, Ms. Idy van Leeuwen, Dr. SietzeVellema, Xiaoyong Zhang; New Zealand: Mr.Chris Clark, Prof. Don Cleland, Mr. GregoryDryden, Elizabeth Hopkins, Alex Huffadine, Mr.Tasi Iose, Mr. Bob Jordan, Ms. Alison Moorcroft,Mr. Alistair Mowat, Mr. Andrew Walker; Niger:Mr. Hans Roelofs; Norway: Harald Kvaalen, Mr.Michel Ninauve, Harald Nornes, MagnusOpedal, Dr. Jon Anders Stavang; Oman: OasimR. Auladthani; Pakistan: Mohammad Asad;Peru: Dr. Pamela Anderson, Mr. RobertoRamírez Otárola, Beatriz Tubino Bardales, Prof.Dr. Roberto Ugás Carro; Philippines: Dr.Roberto Acosta, Ramir Apaga, Ernesto O.Brown, Sylvia B. Concepcion; Poland: MariaBuczek, Mr. Janusz Glinicki; Portugal: Prof.Maria Justina Bárbara Franco, Osvaldo Branco,Pedro Braz, Joana Duclos, Carlos GregorioFerro, Berta Gonçalves, Antonio MendesMarques, Jose Martins De Carvalho; Romania:Prof. Dr. Constantin Baduca Câmpeanu,Manuela-Cerasela Burtoiu, Adrian Chira, Petre

Gaidanov, Ioan Zagrai; Russia: TataniaEremeeva, Larisa Kramarenko, LarisseKramarenko; Saudi Arabia: Prof. AbdulMohsin W. Al-Dhowian, Dr. Nasser Al-Khalifah;Serbia and Montenegro: Radosav Cerovic,Veljko Gavrilovic, Dubravka Savic; Slovakia:Miroslav Glasa, Dr. Gabriela Juhasova;Slovenia: Dea Baricevic, Ms. Meta Cigon, TanjaDreo, Ms. Natasa Mehle; South Africa:Victoria I. Ayodele, Kalinka Conradie, DougGraham, Zamo Gwala, Noel Kamrajh, MikeLyne, Michiel Meets, Mr. Dhanashen Naidoo,Denton Osler, Mr. Johan Potgieter, Johan Prins,Mr. Nicholas Reay, Hugo Schreiber, Mr. WernerSchroeder, Schalk van Heerden, Ms. ElritaVenter; Spain: Nuria Albuquerque, AmayaAlvarez Lafuente, Alida Ballester, Prof. Dr. PilarBarreiro, Mr. Mathé Bastiaansen, InmaculadaBautista Carrascosa, Escande Beniot, MariseBorja, Miguel Cambra, Mr. José AntonioCampoy Corbaln, Antonio Carillo Navarro, A.Cascales, Juana Isabel Contreras Paris, FedericoGarcia Motiel, Prof. Elena González Biosca,Werner Howad, M.A. Hurtado, Mr. AntonioInfante Perea, Pablo Llop Lopez, Juan SalvadorLopez Escudero, Milagros Lopez Gonzales, Dr.Josefa Lopez Marin, Ester Marco Noales, Dr.Jose F. Marcos, Emilio Martin Exposito, Mr. LuisMeseguer, Mr. Carlos Mesejo, Dr. Luis Muñoz-Guerra, Atanasio Naranjo Hidalgo, Ana Palacio,Ana Maria Perez de Castro, Carolina SanchezRomero, Dr. Ricardo Suay, Santiago Vilanova,Ana Wünsch; Sweden: Mr. Fredrik Fernqvist,Mr. Olle Magnusson; Switzerland: Dr. Michelde Rougemont, Brion Duffy, Dr. GerhardMerkel, Mr. Leif Orthmann, Andrea Patocchi,Charly Rapillard, Dr. Ivan Tonutti; Syria: MyriamSaade; Taiwan: Chien-Young Chu, Li-ChunHuang, Dr. Tzu-Bin Huang, Dr. Chin-Hua Ma,Prof. Dr. Zen-hong Shu, Prof. Dr. Sherrie Wei;Thailand: Ms. Laksamee Dachanuraknukul,Vanla Dittapongpitch, Phrek Gympantasiri, Dr.Sakda Intaravichai, Nipon Jayamangkala,Gamini Keerthisinghe, Prathanthip Kramol,Jocelyn O. Naewbanij, Ms. Kullanart Obsuwan,Ranit Tantitamit, Suchila Techawongstien,Kuson Thong-ngam, Mr. SomchaiWatanayothin, Wong-aree Charlemchai,Chalermchai Wongs-Aree; Tunisia: MehdiBenmimoun, Rachid Hellali, Lamia Krichen,Amel Lachkar; Turkey: Yavuz Agi, BülentAkbudak, Ragip Ayan, Mr Baloglu, Hikmet Er,Prof. Dr. Nurgul Ercan, Ibrahim Gezer, RubinazGulcan, Assist. Prof. Mustafa Gumus, Dr.Ahmet Ipek, Abdullah Kankaya, Sevim Kanli,Mr. Suleyman Karaman, Kenan Kaynas, Dr.Pervin Kinay, Mr. Mehmet Laleli, Hüseyin Olgun,Handan Ataol Olmez, Dr. Ahmet Naci Onus,Hatice Ozaktan, Prof. Dr. Hatice Özaktan, AyseÖzdem, Selçuk Özmen, Kadir Ozturk, H. MuratSipahioglu, Can Tahincioglu, Serdar Tezcan, Mr.Umut Ulkumen, Mr. Yusuf Yormazoclu, CevdetZeki; Ukraine: Mr. Olexandr Lokshyn; UnitedKingdom: Mr. Kutty Bashir Ali, Kylie Borchardt,Mr. Colin Boswell, Ian G. Burns, Mr. SteveColley, Mr. Peter Collins, Ms. Louise Craig, Mr.

Ivan Davie, W. Paul Davies, Mr. William Erskine,Mr. Dene Godfrey, Ms. Yvonne Hau, JohnHumphrey, Lesley Jones, Mr. Simon Kyndt, JohnLamb, Mr. Phillip Lee, Ms. Alice Littlewood,Michael Lloyd, Ms. Hayley, Ms. Marson, AnnaMossberg, Ms. J.E. Patrick, Mr. ThomasPerchard, Adebola Raji, Mr. DouglasSehsuvaroglu, Ms. Amanda Wilkins, Ms. ShanShan Xiang; United States of America: DawnAdams, Scott Adkins, Arielle Adrien, Dr. Vijai K.Agnihotri, Ute Albrecht, Tito Alcantara,Fernando Alferez, Caitilyn Allen, AyhanAltintas, Anne Alvarez, Mr. Marc Andelman,Ms. Cathy Anderson, Thomas C. Andres, TimAnnala, Alejandro Antunez, Wendy Applequist,Mr. Ben Arcuni, Diana I. Arias, Jose Armendariz,Roydean Armstrong, Timothy Artlip, M. KhalidAshfaq, Dr. Eliot Atstupenas, Ms. AudreySauldubots, Jill Aviva Romm, Bharathi Avula,Premalatha Balachandran, Gary Barthe, JerryBartz, Beverly Beer, Mr. Moez Ben Dhiaf, Mr.Selester Bennett, Ms. Allyson Best, Mr. AnthonyBianco, Douglas Bielenberg, Mr. MarkBlumenthal, Dr. Michael M. Blumenthal, HasanBolkan, Christopher Borgert, James Borrone,Timothy Bourne, Ms. Aimee Boursaw, KimBowman, Gerald Brust, Ann Callahan, CharlesCantrell, Mr. Kyle Capps, David Carter, WalterChambliss, Mr. Brandon Chapla, Shaw T. ChenM.D., Suman Chandra, Richard Cobb, NancyCohen, Dennis Collins, Ms. Carol Colston,Kevin Conn, Mr. Warner Coogler, Mr. Lewis H.Cook, John Cordts, Dr. Jerry Cott, SylvaineCoulibaly, Kerik Cox, Edward Croom, Dr.Wenhao (David) Dai, Chris Dardick, DavidWedge, Ms. Monica De La Mora, Ms. AlisonDeBatt, Philip Decardo, Steven Dentali, WilliamDickinson, Louis Dinitto, Mr. Joseph Doney, Mr.Andy Dooley, Stephen O. Duke, Hala ElSohly,Mahmoud ElSohly, Robert England, GenyaErling, Dorothy Eyberg, Jorge Ferreira, JamesFrank, Vasilios Bill Frankos, Galen Frantz, JamesFrantz, Dr. Jonathan Frantz, Joe Funderbunk,Stefan Gafner, Maria Gallo, Ms. Zoë Gardner,Billy Garrison, Robert Gilbertson, Dr. AmyGoldman, Halley Granitz, Ms. Carrie Grant, Dr.Nihat Guner, Kimberley Gwinn, Alex Hall, Ms.Erin Hardie, Ms. Joy Harrison, Piers Harvey, Ms.Jennifer Hashim, Vicki Helmig, RegelioHernandez, Patricia E. Heuser, Brett Highland,Ms. Renate Hippen, Ann M. Hirsch, AndreaHodges, Husseim Ibrahim, Muhammad Ilias,David Ingram, Susan Inman, Loren IsraelsenJ.D., Ernest B. Izevbigie, Melissa Jacob, JanetteJacobs, Atul Jadhav, Darko Jevremovic, XiuhongJi, Randall Johnson, Mr. Mose Jones-Yellin,Madan Joshi, Vaishali Joshi, Ikhlas A. Khan,Anthony Keinath, Josph Kemble, ShabanaKhan, Ms. Suzie Kidder, Dr. Yunseop Kim,Mozaina Kobaisy, Mark Kroggel, David J Kroll,Paul Kuhn, U. Sampath Kumar, Ms. DonnaLamb, Hemant Lata, Julian E. A. Leakey, Mr.Jeffrey Lehman, Olivia Lenehan, Chuck Leslie,Dan Levy, Kristina Lewis, Susan E. Lewis, Jing Li,Zhijian Li, Xing-Cong Li, David Linde, StevenLindow, Kristine Lindsey, Yi Liu, Fernando

ISHS • 50

Loaiza, Delores Lomberk, Mr. Phillip Longacre,Michael Lum, Wenwen Ma, Radha K.Maheshwari, Susan P. Manly, RangavalliManyam, Lawrence Marais, Mr. Rob Marshall,Ken Martin, Mr. Charles Mathews, Joe-AnnMcCoy, Wanda McDavid, Cindy McKenzie, Dr.Maureen McKenzie, Fabricio Medina-Bolivar,Zlatko Mehmedic, Charles Meister, Mr. RichardMeister, Luis Mejia, Madeleine Mellinger,Ricardo Menendez, Ms. Julie Mikell, Dr. DianeDoud Miller, James Miller, Mr. Jeffrey Miller,Sally Miller, Kenneth Mitchell, Mahmood R.Moein, Mr. Steve Moring, Narender Nehra, Mr.Edward Newman, Ms. Linda Norman, DennisNorton, Jeremy Nunes, Mairead Ms.O’Callaghan, Margaret O’Connor, CecileOlano, Mr. Adam Olsen, Earl Padfield, RobertPark, Dr. Soon Park, David Pasco, Rahul Pawar,Dr. Linda Pellicore, Assist. Prof. Natalia Peres,Ken Pernezny, Mr. Jason Perrault, Tom Pfotzer,Lisa Piccinino, Pilar, Maul, Jane Polston,

Constantionos Prassinos, Ms. Victoria Raab,Jeanne Rader, Stuart Reitz, David Renz, MarkRickers, David Riley, Rodney Riordan, PamelaRoberts, Mr. William Robledo, RosanaRodrugues, Mr. Alan Rogney, Jeana Rohrer,Maria R. Rojas, Michael Ross, Samir A. Ross, P.Sali, Dr. Volodymyr Samoylenko, BrianSchaneberg, George Schnackenberg, DavidSchuster, John Scott, Myrna Sevilla, ChristopherShepherd, Yatin Shukla, Mr. W. H. Sierke, EricSimonne, Hari Singh, Troy Smillie, David Smith,Silvia Soehner, Prof. Theophanes Solomos, Mr.Keming Song, Stephen Southwick,Chinnathambi Srinivassan, Rita Stanikunaite,Mr. Evan Stoner, David Studstill, SatchiSubramaniam, P. Ramnathan Sundaresan,Nurhayat Tabanca, Dr. Yas Takashima, Mary KayTalbot, Hemlata Tamta, Natascha Techen, BabuTekwani, Todd Temple, Ms. Neela Thangada,Robert Thomas, David Thompson, RobertTilton, John Torgerson, Dr. Carolina Torres, Mary

W. Trucksess, Saleh A. Turujman, Dr. BryanUnruh, Mr. Roy Upton, Paul Uyehara, Mr. JuanValdez, Luis G. Valerio, Jr., Cheryl Vann, Dr. ArielVicente, Halley Vick, Mr. Randall Vos, LarryWalker, Susan Walker, Yan-Hong Wang, UjwalaWarek, Wasala Herath, Mr. Dale Washington,Terry Weaver, Dr. Aruna Weerasooriya, Dr.Stephen Weller, Bob Williams, Jennine Wilson,Jon W. Wong, Jason J.Y. Woo, Wencai Yang,Guochen Yang, Rongcai Yuan, Jianping Zhao,Thomas Zitter, Jeremy Zobrist, Ali Zulgiqar;Venezuela: Eva De Garcia, Carlos A. GimenezAlvarado, Diogenes Infante, Dr. Asia YuselyZambrano R, Asia Yusely Zambrano Rodriguez;Vietnam: Dr. Dao The Anh, Hong Luyen Ms.Cao, Pham Van Hoi, Nguyen Thi Tan Loc, HoThanh Son, Phan Thi Giac Tam, Nguyen AnhTru.

In MemoriamCARL JÜRGENSEN (1925-2006)

Prof. Dr. Carl Jürgensen (81) passed away inRastede, Germany, on 9 February 2006.

For updates and more logon to www.ishs.org/calendar. Doalways mention your ISHS membership number or attach copyof your ISHS membership card when registering. A reduced ISHSmembers registration fee applies.

YEAR 2006

� July 2-6, 2006, Udine (Italy): IX International Conference onGrape Genetics and Breeding. Info: Prof. Enrico Peterlunger,Università di Udine, Dip. di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientale, Via delleScienze 208, 33100 Udine, Italy. Phone: (39)0432558629, Fax:(39)0432558603, email: peterlunger@uniud.it web: www.grape-breeding2006.com

� August 7-10, 2006, Bangkok (Thailand): International Conferenceon Managing Quality in Chains. Info: Dr. Sirichai Kanlayanarat,Division of Postharvest Technology, King Mongkut’s University ofTechnology, Thonburi, 83 Moo 8 Tientalay 25 Rd., Bhakham,Bangkhuntien, Bangkok 10150, Thailand. Phone: (66)24709796, Fax:(66)24523750, email: sirichai.kan@kmutt.ac.th web:www.kmutt.ac.th/mquic2006

� August 10, 2006, Seoul (Korea): Meeting of theISHS Executive Committee

� August 11-12, 2006, Seoul (Korea): Joint meetingof the ISHS Executive Committee and Council

Calendar of ISHS Events

� August 13-18, 2006, Seoul (Korea): XXVIIInternational Horticultural Congress. web:www.ihc2006.org

� August 15, 2006, Seoul (Korea): ISHS GeneralAssembly, 12:00 - 15:00h

� August 18, 2006, Seoul (Korea): Joint meeting ofthe ISHS Executive Committee and Council,10:00 - 12:00h

� August 28 - September 2, 2006, Mildura, VIC (Australia): VInternational Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops.Info: Dr. Ian Goodwin, Senior Irrigation Scientist, HorticulturePhysiology Section, Department of Primary Industries, Private Bag #1,Tatura 3616 VIC, Australia. Phone: (61)358335240 or(61)409351962, Fax: (61)358335299, email:ian.goodwin@dpi.vic.gov.au web: www.dpi.vic.gov.au/irrigationsym-posium

� September 11-15, 2006, San Remo (Italy): XXII InternationalEUCARPIA Symposium - Section Ornamentals: Breeding forBeauty. Info: Dr. Tito Schiva or Dr. Antonio Mercuri, CRA IstitutoSperimentale per la Floricoltura, Corso degli Inglesi 508, 18038 SanRemo (IM), Italy. Phone: (39)0184694846, Fax: (39)0184694856,email: a.mercuri@istflori.it web: www.istflori.it

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 2 •2006 • 51

� October 3-7, 2006, N’Zérékoré (Guinea): I InternationalSymposium Contribution of African Botanica to Humanity.Info: Dr. Nianga Nicephore Malo, Director UDECOM, 69 Chablis,Sector Aylmer, Gatineau, QC J9H 5P9, Canada. Phone:(1)8196849029, Fax: (1)8192462945, email: malo@ccophymed.comweb: www.botaniqueafricaine.com

� October 16-17, 2006, Adana (Turkey): I International Symposiumon Pomegranate and Minor Mediterranean Fruits. Info: Prof. Dr.Ahsen Isik Özgüven, Cukurova University Agricultural Faculty,Horticultural Department, Ziraat Fakültesi Bahçe Bitkileri Bölümü01330, Adana, Turkey. Phone: (90)3223386564, Fax:(90)3223386388, email: ahsen@cu.edu.tr web: www.cu.edu.tr/fakul-teler/zf/bkb/ispm/

� October 28-30, 2006, Mashhad (Iran): II International Symposiumon Saffron Biology and Technology - ISSBT. Info: Prof. Dr. A.Koocheki, CESC, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University ofMashhad, PO Box 91775-1163, Mashhad, Iran. Phone:(98)5117610760 or (98)5118788494, Fax: (98)5118787430, email:akooch@ferdowsi.um.ac.ir or saffron-ir@ferdowsi.um.ac.ir web: saf-fron-ir.um.ac.ir

� October 29 - November 2, 2006, Wageningen (Netherlands):Models for Plant Growth, Environmental Control & FarmManagement in Protected Cultivation - HortiModel2006. Info:Dr. Ep Heuvelink, Horticultural Productions Chains Group,Wageningen University, Marijkeweg 22, 6709 PG Wageningen,Netherlands. Phone: (31)317483679, Fax: (31)317484709, email:programme@hortimodel2006.nl web: www.hortimodel2006.nl

� December 3-6, 2006, San Antonio, TX (USA): IV International ISHSSymposium and VIII National Symposium on Seed, Transplantand Stand Establishment of Horticultural Crops. Info: Prof.Daniel I. Leskovar, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A&MUniversity, 1619 Garner Field Rd., Uvalde, TX 78801, USA. Phone:(1)8302789151x140, Fax: (1)512-278-1570,email: d-leskovar@tamu.edu web: sest2006symposium.tamu.eduDeadline for Abstract submission is July 15, 2006

YEAR 2007

� March 20-23, 2007, Macon, GA (USA): International Symposiumon Medicinal and Nutraceutical Plants. Info: Dr. Anand K. Yadav,Agricultural Research, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA31030-4313, USA. Phone: (1)4788256830, Fax: (1)4788256376,email: yadava@fvsu.edu web: www.ag.fvsu.edu/ishsmanp.html

� April 29 - May 4, 2007, Antalya (Turkey): I International Medicinaland Aromatic Plants Conference on Culinary Herbs. Info: Prof.Dr. Ibrahim Baktir or Prof. Dr. Kenan Trugut, Department ofHorticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Akdeniz University, 07058Antalya, Turkey. Phone: (90)2423102469 or (90)2423102414, Fax:(90)2422274564, email: ibaktir@akdeniz.edu.tr or kturgut@akd-eniz.edu.tr web: www.mapc2007ant.org

� May 6-9, 2007, Lake Alfred, FL (USA): International SymposiumApplication of Precision Agriculture for Perennial Fruit Crops.Info: Dr. Reza Ehsani or Dr. Gene Albrigo, University of Florida CitrusResearch and Education Center, 700 Experiment Station Rd., LakeAlfred, FL 33850, USA. Phone: (1)8639561151 ext. 1228 and 1207,Fax: (1)8639564631, email: ehsani@ufl.edu or albrigo@ufl.edu

� May 22-26, 2007, Oeste Region (Portugal): X International PearSymposium. Info: Dr. Armando Torres Paulo, c/o Pears 2007,COTHN, Estrata de Leiria s/n, 2461-997 Alcobaça, Portugal. Phone:(351)213602053, Fax: (351)262507659, email: info@pears2007.comweb: www.pears2007.com

� June 11-15, 2007, Funchal (Portugal - Madeira): VI InternationalSymposium on New Floricultural Crops. Info: Maria João OliveiraDragovic M.Sc., Caminho das Voltas 11, 9060-329 Funchal,Madeira, Portugal. Phone: (351)291211260, Fax: (351)291211234,email: joaodragovic.sra@gov-madeira.pt web:http://www.sra.pt/nfc2007

� June 24-29, 2007, Beijing (China): II International Conference onTurfgrass Science and Management for Sports Fields. Info: Prof.Dr. Liebao Han, Institute of Turfgrass Science, Bejing ForestryUniversity, No. 35 Qinghua East Road, Beijing 100083, China.Phone: (86)1062337982, Fax: (86)1062322089, hanlb@tom.com

� July 1-5, 2007, Einsiedeln/Wädenswil (Switzerland): VIIIInternational Symposium on Modelling in Fruit Research andOrchard Management. Info: Dr. Joerg Samietz, Agroscope FAWWädenswil, Schloss, PO Box 185, 8820 Wädenswil, Switzerland.Phone: (41)447836193, Fax: (41)447836434, email:joerg.samietz@faw.admin.ch

� August 12-17, 2007, Portland, OR (USA): XI InternationalWorkshop on Fire Blight. Info: Dr. Virginia Stockwell, Departmentof Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR97331, USA. Phone: (1)5417384078, Fax: (1)5417384025, email:stockwev@science.oregonstate.edu or Dr. Kenneth B. Johnson,Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University,Corvallis, OR 97331, USA. Phone: (1)5417375249, Fax:(1)5417373573, email: johnsonk@science.oregonstate.edu

� September 12-15, 2007, Faro (Portugal): III InternationalSymposium on Acclimatization and Establishment ofMicropropagated Plants. Info: Dr. Anabela Romano, Universidadedo Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal. Phone:(351)289800910, Fax: (351)289819419, email: aromano@ualg.pt

� September 23-27, 2007, Hanoi (Vietnam): InternationalSymposium Improving the Performance of Supply Chains inthe Transitional Economies - Responding to the Demands ofIntegrated Value Chains. Info: Dr. Peter J. Batt, Horticulture, CurtinUniversity of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845,Australia. Phone: (61)892667596, Fax: (61)892664422,email: p.batt@curtin.edu.au web: www.muresk.curtin.edu.au/confer-ence/ishsvn

� October 8-12, 2007, Kusadasi (Turkey): II InternationalSymposium on Tomato Diseases. Info: Dr. Hikmet Saygili, EgeUniversity, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection,Bornova 35100, Izmir, Turkey. Phone: (90)2323886857,Fax: (90)2323881864, email: hikmet.saygili@ege.edu.trweb: www.2istd.ege.edu.tr

� October 21-25, 2007, Santa Catarina (Brazil): VIII InternationalSymposium on Temperate Zone Fruits in the Tropics andSubtropics. Info: Dr. Gabriel Berenhauser Leite, EPAGRI - CaçadorExperimental Station, C. Postal 591, 89500-000 Caçador, SC, Brazil.Phone: (55)4935612000, Fax: (55)35612010, email:gabriel@epagri.rct-sc.br or Dr. Flavio Gilberto Herter, EMBRAPA, C.Postal 403, 96001-970 Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Phone: (55)32758120,Fax: (55)32758220, email: herter@cpact.embrapa.br

� November 4-9, 2007, João Pessoa, Paraiba (Brazil): VI InternationalPineapple Symposium. Info: Dr. Domingo Haroldo Reinhardt,EMBRAPA, PO Box 7, Cruz das Almas, BA, Brazil. Phone:(55)7536218002, Fax: (55)7536218097, email:dharoldo@cnpmf.embrapa.br

For updates logon to www.ishs.org/calendar

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ISHS • 52

ACTA HORTICULTURAE

Available Issues of Acta HorticulturaeAvailable numbers of Acta Horticulturae (in print for-mat). These as well as all other titles are also availablein ActaHort CD-rom format. For detailed informationon price and availability, including tables of content, orto download an Acta Horticulturae order form, pleasecheck out the ‘publications’ page at www.ishs.org orgo to www.ishs.org/acta

Acta Acta Title ActaNumber Price (EUR)

709 I International Symposium on Natural Preservatives in FoodSystems 51

708 V International Strawberry Symposium 124707 VII International Symposium on Modelling in Fruit Research

and Orchard Management 71706 Joint Meeting of the XIV Crucifer Genetics Workshop and

IV ISHS Symposium on Brassicas 80705 V International Walnut Symposium 118704 X International Workshop on Fireblight 121703 II International Symposium on Sweetpotato and Cassava:

Innovative Technologies for Commercialization 69702 V International Pineapple Symposium 60701 XII International Symposium on Apricot Culture and

Decline 147700 International Symposium Towards Ecologically Sound

Fertilisation Strategies for Field Vegetable Production 74699 I International Symposium on Improving the Performance

of Supply Chains in the Transitional Economies 108698 VI International Symposium on Chemical and non-

Chemical Soil and Substrate Disinfestation - SD2004 79697 International Symposium on Soilless Culture and

Hydroponics 113696 VII International Symposium on Temperate Zone Fruits in

the Tropics and Subtropics - Part Two 117695 I International Symposium on Tomato Diseases 92694 International Symposium on Harnessing the Potential of

Horticulture in the Asian-Pacific Region 98693 III International Chestnut Congress 144692 II International Symposium on Biotechnology of Tropical

and Subtropical Species 54691 International Conference on Sustainable Greenhouse

Systems - Greensys2004 170690 I International Rose Hip Conference 75689 VII International Symposium on Grapevine Physiology and

Biotechnology 110688 IV International Symposium on Edible Alliaceae 82687 International Conference Postharvest Unlimited

Downunder 2004 89686 VI International Congress on Hazelnut 132685 III International Symposium on Persimmon 58684 Meeting of the Physiology Section of the European

Association for Potato Research 56683 V International Symposium on New Floricultural Crops 95682 V International Postharvest Symposium 395681 IV International Congress on Artichoke 122679 III WOCMAP Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants -

Volume 5: Quality, Efficacy, Safety, Processing and Tradein Medicinal and Aromatic Plants 56

678 III WOCMAP Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants -Volume 4: Targeted Screening of Medicinal and AromaticPlants, Economics and Law 56

676 III WOCMAP Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants -Volume 2: Conservation, Cultivation and Sustainable Useof Medicinal and Aromatic Plants 56

674 III International Symposium on Applications of Modellingas an Innovative Technology in the Agri-Food Chain;MODEL-IT 121

673 IX International Symposium on Flower Bulbs 150671 IX International Pear Symposium 124670 I International Symposium on Root and Tuber Crops:

Food Down Under 57669 VIII International Symposium on Postharvest Physiology of

Ornamental Plants 90668 I International Humulus Symposium 65664 IV International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural

Crops 132662 VII International Symposium on Temperate Zone Fruits in

the Tropics and Subtropics 99661 I International Conference on Turfgrass Management and

Science for Sports Fields 115

660 V International Congress on Artichoke 119

659 VII International Symposium on Protected Cultivation inMild Winter Climates: Production, Pest Management andGlobal Competition 159

658 I International Symposium on Rootstocks for DeciduousFruit Tree Species 137

657 XIX International Symposium on Virus and Virus-likeDiseases of Temperate Fruit Crops - Fruit Tree Diseases 117

656 X International Symposium on Small Fruit Virus Diseases 57

655 XV International Symposium on Horticultural Economicsand Management 106

654 International Workshop on Models for Plant Growthand Control of Product Quality in Horticultural Production 77

653 IX International Symposium on Plant Bioregulators inFruit Production 61

652 I International Symposium on Grapevine Growing,Commerce and Research 108

651 XXI International Eucarpia Symposium on Classicalversus Molecular Breeding of Ornamentals - Part II 54

For an updated list of all titles (in print or ActaHort CD-rom for-mat) logon to www.actahort.org