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Stakeholders claim potato seed production declined after land in Tigoni on the outskirts of Nairobi city and Molo was grabbed. Despite good rainfall in most potato growing areas of Kenya, the potato industry is facing a serious shortage of the commodity due to acute supply of certified seeds in the East African country. Players in the industry have confirmed that the problem has been occasioned by the government’s capacity to produce certified potato seeds. As a result, farmers have to go for uncertified seeds from neighbouring countries. Stakeholders in the potato industry claim that potato seed production declined after land in Tigoni on the outskirts of Nairobi city and Molo meant for the project was grabbed.

Since then, they said, the country has not been able to meet its potato seed requirements for the last six years and, unless alternative land is found, the shortage of the commodity will persist. Import of potato varieties from unknown sources spread bacterial and viral diseases, says African Insect Science for Food and Health (ICIPE). After the government failed to allocate another land for potato seed multiplication project, potato farmers chose to get seeds from potato suckers from neighboring countries, which though proved to be more productive, were prone to diseases, threatening the potato industry.The variety commonly known as sangi has now spread to most potato producing zones of Mau, Narok and Nyandarua, where two other varieties called mugaruro and thima thuti are also grown. National Value Chain Development Committee Chairman George Bett, a member of the National Potato Task Force formed two years ago to look into problems facing the potato industry, has already raised the matter with the Ministry of Agriculture. In a letter written to the agriculture secretary, Bett said unscreened potatoes from neighboring countries are being brought into the country and turned into seed by farmers.

He says the move raises the danger of introducing more diseases that could pose a serious threat to potato production.”The varieties from outside could have better yields but in the eyes of experts, it could be short lived,” he says. The director of National Potato Station at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Tigoni, John Kabira, says the spread of diseases is to blame for declining production of all potato varieties. “Very few farmers practice crop rotation, which is responsible for the increase in diseases and potato yield in almost all potato growing zones,” he said, adding “whichever variety farmers adopt they cannot remain disease free for long due to recycling of the diseased seed.”

He attributed the disaster in the potato industry to land grabbing, disruption of training of farmers and post-election violence. Kabira asserts that even if the government could afford to go for certified seeds, a bigger portion of land set aside for seed multiplication has been grabbed and the small portions left are not being utilized. He also said a program started three years ago with support from Germany Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) to train agricultural extension officers to in turn train selected farmers did not bear fruits after the trained officers were transferred to non-potato producing areas, paralyzing the program. On post-election violence, he said the chaos displaced thousands of potato farmers from the main growing areas of rift valley, making the matter worse. Seed potatoes were destroyed in stores while those not harvested were abandoned in farms.

He, however, says efforts are being made to revive the sub- sector by involving the private sector in production of quality seed for sale to the farmers. One of the efforts, he said, is to equip KARI with adequate resources to produce quality seeds from its stations in Tigoni, Molo, Njabini, Ol joroorok and Meru, after which the seeds are supplied to companies and individuals through Kenya Plant Health Inspection Service (KEPHIS).

He added that KARI has already taken all the varieties the farmers are currently using to clean them of the viruses to ensure farmers have clean seed from all the potato varieties.

To speed up the production of potato seed, the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA) and United States Agency for International Development(USAID) is funding the establishment of an aeroponics potato breeding system in which the potatoes do not come into contact with soil, contaminated air, or water, and prevents fungal and bacterial infections.

After more than 20 years of plant research, Prof. Mark Bridgen, horticulture, has developed and patented a new species of flower at Cornell’s Long Island Horticultural Research & Extension Center. The “Tangerine Tango” is an alstroemeria, commonly known as the Lily of the Incas. It will bloom from May until the first frost and can survive cold northern winters. The researchers used sophisticated horticultural techniques to grow the flower. Earlier attempts to grow it from another alstroemeria were hindered by the plant itself, Bridgen said. “[The plant embryos] would die on the mother plant. We’re using some advanced techniques to get hybrids to grow and survive,” Bridgen said. The researchers first attempted to grow the hybrid on the mother plant, but it recognized a foreign gene and aborted the growth.

The first surviving Tangerine Tango was grown in a sterile plant tissue medium after harvesting a two-week-old plant embryo from the mother plant, Bridgen said. New Tangerine Tangoes can only be grown from existing plants by dividing the roots of the plant, called rhizomes, because the Tangerine Tango is sterile and does not produce seeds.

The name Lily of the Incas is a misnomer, as the alstroemeria is propagated from roots and lilies grow from bulbs, Bridgen said.

Bridgen worked specifically on developing the Tangerine Tango for the last eight years. He crossed different species of alstroemeria from Brazil and Chile, centers of biodiversity for the alstroemeria, to obtain the chosen characteristics: winter hardiness, attractiveness and longevity when cut.

“We did old-fashioned hybridization where we made crosses of the alstroemeria from Brazil and from Chile,” said Bridgen. He also noted that the Tangerine Tango successfully survived several Ithaca winters with its added capacity for hardiness.

Bridgen called the Tangerine Tango “good for the garden,” “a good cut flower” and noted that it is “showy and bright.”

The Tangerine Tango is currently available to home gardeners from nurseries online. The plants are grown in commercial facilities that have purchased a license from Cornell to propagate and sell the plants.

“[The Tangerine Tango is] really vibrant and stands out against the greenery,” said Mike Heubusch ’12, a student in Arts and Sciences. “I’m glad that the developers will get reimbursements for their creation. I’m glad, especially with budget cuts everywhere in universities, that Cornell has another opportunity to prove its worth.”

The plant will bloom in stages so that it has a continuous display of flowers throughout its blooming period, Bridgen said. As one set of blooms dies off, another set will blossom.

The Tangerine Tango is Cornell’s second ornamental plant patent, according to Bridgen. Cornell’s first was by Bridgen in 2007 for another alstroemeria, the Mauve Majesty.

The Mauve Majesty produces speckled mauve flowers that last from early June until the first freeze. When cut, it lasts up to two weeks in an arrangement, according to the White Flower Farm website, which sells the flowers. The species which produced the flower are also native to South America.

Other projects of the Horticultural Research and Extension Center include developing a yellow spider flower and working with the Tangerine Tango species to create potted and fragrant varieties.

Bridgen also developed the alstroemeria hybrid commonly called the Sweet Laura Princess Lily. It is hybridized to withstand summers in the South, something that most ‘princess lilies’ cannot do, according to the Plants Delight Nursery website, which sells the flower.

Jozef Van Assche, Executive Director of the International Society for Horticultural Science, delivered an invited speech in Bloemfontein, South Africa (University of the Free State) on the occasion of the SASHS Combined Congress 2010 from January 18-21, 2010.

Abstract: It seems that the new model ‘Cradle to Cradle’ (C2C) of the US Designer, William McDonough, and German Chemist, Michael Braungart, is quickly conquering our world of horticulture and horticultural science (1). The growing knowledge of the living earth, its opportunities and chances, its limitations and restrictions are inviting our professional sector and research community to re-invent the human industry of horticulture. The challenge for scientists and stakeholders in horticulture and horticultural science in the coming decade will be to again ‘upload’ the word horticulture, a word with content probably as old as mankind.

Our colleagues of the year 2012 ‘Floriade’ exhibition in The Netherlands have recently simplified the C2C model into five themes, addressing horticulture as Relax and Heal (Well-being), Green Engine for Economy (Sustainability), Education and Innovation (Future), Environment (Quality of Life) and World Show Stage (Cultural BioDiversity).

I will give a glimpse of the issues that horticulture and horticultural science are facing in view of the above themes. Secondly, a number of topics in relation to the growing importance of horticulture will be discussed. And finally, comments on the positions and answers of the various stakeholders, including the reshaping of the International Society for Horticultural Science in this global context will be presented.

The application to horticulture of the C2C paradigm by the ‘Floriade’ provides a clear illustration of the potential of horticulture to contribute to the future sustainability and prosperity of humankind.

References: (1) Cradle to Cradle – Remaking the Way we make things by William Mc.Donough & Michael Braungart, Nort Point Press, 2002.

Download the presentation from SlideShare at http://www.slideshare.net/ISHS

Scientists from the Plant Sciences Group of Wageningen UR in the Netherlands and the Brazilian research organisation Embrapa have developed a rapid DNA diagnostic to test banana plants for the much-feared cause of the Panama disease. Published in the magazine Plant Pathology, the method only requires a day to detect and identify the presence of Tropical Race 4, the most devastating strain of the Fusarium fungus that causes Panama disease in banana plantations. The time savings offered by the new method can be used to implement efficient
monitoring strategies, and thereby the threat to the cultivation of bananas, which is an economically vital crop that serves as a major food source in many tropical countries.

Tropical Race 4 (TR4) is a global threat to banana production. This strain of the Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense fungus is capable of affecting and destroying practically all the world’s export banana plantations. The threat is reminiscent of the devastating Panama disease epidemic that almost ruined commercial banana production in the previous century, which could only be stopped by switching to the cultivation of the Cavendish variety. Now Cavendish bananas are under threat from TR4 and there is no resistant variety available to replace Cavendish. Moreover, it is impossible to control the fungus once it has entered the plant. As a result it is crucial to be able to detect an outbreak of TR4 at the earliest possible stage in order to remove infected plants from the plantation, destroy them and prevent the fungus from spreading.

Scientist Gert Kema from Plant Research International (part of the Plant Sciences Group) says that the new method saves a great deal of time. “Until now, testing for the presence of TR4 took over four months. Within that period the fungus continued to grow and spread within the plantations. Now we can determine its presence within one day, even before symptoms of the disease are visible. This is a major breakthrough as bananas are a globally important food crop.”

The main reason that the existing method takes so long is that the test always required the fungus to be cultivated and genetically analysed. The new diagnostic applies a sensitive and fast technique that allows plant material to be tested for the presence of TR4 DNA and show results within one day. Appropriate measures can be immediately taken should TR4 be detected.

The technology was developed and published within one year and can be applied without specific patent costs. The test can be used to detect the presence of the fungus in practical samples such as banana plants and soil quickly and on a large scale. Due to the magnitude of the threat, it is illegal to transport contaminated material within and between countries that cultivate bananas. Kema: “Due to the quarantine status of the Fusarium in banana-producing countries, Wageningen is an ideal location for assisting in the global monitoring of TR4. With this in mind we are currently implementing various initiatives that will allow us to provide this service.”

For further information: Nora de Rijk, communication advisor PlantSciences Group, phone +31 317 48 07 44, mobile +31 6 51 79 99 48

Scientific publication: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123238174/abstract

VII International Symposium on Light in Horticulture October 8-11, 2012, Wageningen (Netherlands).

Light plays an important role in market-oriented greenhouse production. Products have to be ready for the market on time with the desired volume and quality.  In order to meet with these requirements, an optimal use of light as one of the most important production factors is of utmost importance.  Natural light is free and its utilization in greenhouse horticulture is necessary for sustainable crop production.  The addition of supplementary artificial light however, will remain necessary in several regions of the world.
By manipulating light we are able to control and steer crop growth and development.  Changing the factor light has a large impact on the total production system: microclimate and energy consumption are influenced, costs and benefits are affected.  Research on light in horticultural systems is necessary for a sustainable and market-oriented greenhouse production in the future.

Make sure to download the first announcement: http://www.lightsym2012.com/

Wageningen University and Research Centre welcomes you to the 7th ISHS International Symposium on Light in Horticultural Systems.
We address Scientists, Policy makers, Horticultural industry. With this symposium we aim to contribute to the development of sustainable and competitive greenhouse horticulture.
Discussions will be held during three days of scientific presentations and a one day excursion.

Convener: Dr. Silke Hemming
Wageningen UR, Plant Research International, PO Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands.
Phone: (31)317 4 86921, Fax: (31)317 423110
E-mail: silke.hemming@wur.nl
E-mail symposium: info@lightsym2012.com

Web: http://www.lightsym2012.com/

Over the last couple of weeks the following Acta Horticulturae titles have been released:

Acta Horticulturae 845; VII International Congress on Hazelnut (ISBN 9789066057128 ), Acta Horticulturae 846; VII International Workshop on Sap Flow (ISBN 9789066056824 ), Acta Horticulturae 847; IX International Symposium on Postharvest Quality of Ornamental Plants (ISBN 9789066056923 ) and Acta Horticulturae 848; II International Humulus Symposium (ISBN 9789066057227 ).

Check out www.actahort.org

Call for Abstracts for the 28th International Horticulture Congress (IHC), Lisbon, Portugal, 22-27 August, 2010 :: NEW Deadline: January 31, 2010 :: For online abstract submission go to www.ihc2010.org IHC 2010, the most relevant conference under the auspices of the ISHS – International Society for Horticultural Science The rich and diversified scientific programme covers the most significant topics related to horticultural sciences.  Participants will find events to suit specific interests among the 8 colloquia, 18 symposia, 14 seminars, workshops and thematic sessions. Check the programme details at the congress website www.ihc2010.org

The Congress will also be a unique opportunity to discover the dynamic and innovative horticultural industry in Portugal and Spain by participating in the technical tours.

August is a perfect time to visit Lisbon, when the city is quiet and the weather warm and dry.  Take the opportunity to experience this exciting city on the banks of the River Tagus, where historic sites and a tranquil atmosphere come together with all the modern facilities of a fascinating European capital.

NEW Deadline for Abstract submission: 31 January 2010
Deadline for Registration at reduced fee: 30 April 2010

IHC Lisboa 2010 Secretariat for scientific programme
28th International Horticultural Congress
Instituto Superior de Agronomia
Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa – Portugal
Phone: +351 961 068 237
Fax: +351 214 411 797
Email: info@ihc2010.org
Web: www.ihc2010.org

Photo: Mr. Clement Gignac, Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade of the Quebec Government, presenting the Prix Lionel-Boulet to Dr. André Gosselin. Photo by courtesy of Rémi Boily.

The highest distinction granted by the Gouvernement du Québec for industrial research and development, the Prix Lionel-Boulet, this year goes to horticulturist André Gosselin.

Twenty-five years ago, all the tomatoes and lettuce consumed during the winter in Québec were imported. The strawberry season was limited to the beginning of summer. Thanks to the work of Professor André Gosselin and the dynamism he instilled in Québec horticultural research, things have changed.

After obtaining a Ph.D. in Horticulture and Plant Biology from Université Laval, André Gosselin was appointed a Professor at that university in 1984. His primary objective was to liberate market gardeners from the rigours of winter so that they could compete with foreign producers. With several partners, including Hydro-Québec, André Gosselin developed a photosynthetic lighting technology for greenhouses, allowing cultivation of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce or peppers in all seasons. This technique was promptly adopted by many businesses in Québec, as well as in Scandinavia, the United States, France and Belgium. Without abandoning his laboratory, the researcher became an entrepreneur. In 1989, with help from his family, he founded Les serres du Saint-Laurent, which enjoyed a resounding commercial success with its greenhouse tomatoes sold under the Savoura brand. Today, the company generates $35 million in sales, employs 350 people and produces over 220 tonnes of tomatoes a week.

André Gosselin also developed continuous strawberry production, allowing harvesting from June to September. About twenty businesses now grow this type of strawberry in Québec, including Les Fraises de l’Île d’Orléans, founded by the researcher and his family in 1979. He also developed the world’s first nutraceutical strawberry and raspberry plants, containing a record antioxidant level. In 2006, the Professor created a new company, Nutra Canada, to commercialize extracts from these berries, and from vegetables and medicinal plants.

André Gosselin has also worked on improving horticultural practices to reduce their environmental impact. With his colleague Serge Yelle, he invented a deinking residue reclamation technology for the Daishowa paper mill in Québec. His results persuaded even the most reluctant observers that there is no danger spreading these composted residues in the fields. This technique subsequently was adopted by several other paper mills.

In 1989, André Gosselin founded the Centre de recherches en horticulture of Université Laval, which now has 150 members. As Director of the Department of Phytology and then as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences from 1995 to 1998, he was responsible for the creation of the Institute of Nutraceutics and Functional Foods (INAF), Canada’s research leader in this field. The Professor is also the father of the Envirotron, the Université Laval pavilion built in 1993 at a cost of $12 million, and one of the co-founders in 1997 of Les Floralies internationales de Québec, an event that has proven to be a great tourism and horticultural success.

André Gosselin has published about 150 scientific articles and delivered 300 lectures around the world, in addition to advising several major corporations. A greatly appreciated professor, he has supervised more than 80 graduate students. In 1999, he was the first Francophone Quebecer to receive the title of Fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science.

Bringing food production much closer to home makes sense. As our population becomes more urbanised, the environmental and financial impacts of transporting produce to our suburbs have risen. Meanwhile, traditional agricultural belts are facing the challenges of water shortages, climate extremes and declining land productivity, while once productive land on the urban fringe is being increasingly developed for housing and other infrastructure. This all coincides with concerns about the health and environmental impacts of large-scale commercial agriculture. Until the Second World War, when advances were made in synthesising fertiliser, most people grew at least some of their own food. They kept a few hens, had fruit trees and large veggie patches. Scraps were fed to the chickens, or composted and mixed with animal manure then returned to the soil. Backyard food production was labour-intensive but highly productive, and supplemented by produce from market gardens and smallholdings on the urban fringe.

After the war, advances in machinery and synthetic fertilisers pushed production away from towns and cities into more marginal farmland. For the next 40 years, broadacre productivity in developed countries skyrocketed thanks to artificial pesticides and fertilisers and monoculture specialisation. Recently, however, growth slowed due to a combination of changing climate, existing crop varieties reaching their maximum yield potentials and progressive soil depletion. Waste products – water, manure and vegetable waste – that were once composted and returned to the soil as an integral part of a closed production system, became a by-product liability.

Agriculture is also now responsible for 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) globally.1Carbon dioxide is produced from making fertilisers and from running farm machinery, processing plants and delivery trucks. Methane is produced mostly by gut fermentation processes in cattle, and chemical processes taking place in farmed soils release nitrous oxide. Carbon is also indirectly released into the atmosphere from soil as a result of chemical applications, land clearing and conversion of savannah or pasture land to arable land, and from overgrazing and subsequent soil erosion.

Against this backdrop of concern about food’s environmental and health impacts, and more recently its future availability, people in urban areas have been rediscovering the pleasures of ‘slow food’, growing and picking their own produce, and purchasing freshly harvested fruit and vegetables from suburban farmers markets. Read more »

More than 30 academics are facing redundancy at the University of Warwick following a decision to close its renowned horticulture research centre. Warwick HRI, formerly Horticulture Research International, is to close its 192-acre site at Wellesbourne and transfer all its work and teaching in plant and environmental sciences to the main campus in Coventry. The leading research university said it was taking the step, which will see a new School of Life Sciences emerge on the Coventry site from 2012, because Warwick HRI is making huge losses. But the move will result in substantial redundancies among academic staff currently employed in the two departments. A university spokesman said: “HRI is making a pretty significant loss, currently £2 million. And that loss is projected to grow. “We are a university, we don’t have shareholders and can only do research that is sustainable. We can’t continue to have £2 million a year or more being lost.“The only way we can see this working is by putting the two departments together into a new School of Life Sciences. We intend to make savings by moving them onto the main site at Coventry as it’s an obvious way of saving money.”

Warwick HRI, which the university took over in 2004, uses internationally recognised scientists to develop pioneering areas of research and technology, solving major challenges in areas such as crop science, food security, bioenergy, systems biology and climate change. The university spokesman added: “We expect about 55-60 academic posts at the new site and, currently, employ 89 people in the two departments. “But we are in continuous consultations throughout this process. It’s a long process, taking us up to 2012, and if something comes along that says we can sustain something at Wellesbourne beyond that date, then we will. But the majority would move to Coventry.” The move has drawn criticism from the Prospect union, which represents engineers, managers, specialists and scientists in both the public and private sectors. Its vice-president, Nigel Titchen, said: “The university is ploughing ahead with an ill-conceived plan that will denude the UK of vital horticultural research capability at a time of widespread concern over food security. This decision is nothing short of scientific vandalism.” The Wellesbourne site is based around a working farm with laboratory, glasshouse and field facilities, which are also used by other leading research organisations.