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Pomegranate growers in Karnataka and Maharastra (India) who were exporting the fruit and were facing some problems in recent years can expect some relief. The farm scientists are drawing up new strategies to overcome the problems. India is the largest producer of pomegranate next only to Iran. During 2007-2008 pomegranate had covered an area of 122,000 hectares with a production of 858,000 tonnes and the productivity was 7 tonnes per hectare. The area under the crop has increased in Karnataka and Maharastra at a rapid pace during the past few years. The fruit is fetching a lot of foreign exchange for the country as a sizeable quantity of fruits is being exported from these states. India exported 35.2 thousand tonnes of fruits valued at Rs 911 million. Till recently there were no serious constraints in its production but the problems of wilt and bacterial blight have caused its area to dwindle suddenly.

L. Manjunath of University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad who is heading the agricultural extension education wing said pomegranate aril juice provides 16 per cent of an adult’s daily vitamin C requirement per 100 ml serving and is a good source of vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), potassium and antioxidant polyphenols. He said in preliminary laboratory research and human pilot studies juice of the pomegranate was effective in reducing heart disease risk factors. Manjunath informed that pomegranate seed oil, containing polyphenols which inhibit estrogen synthesis was effective against proliferation of breast cancer cells. The UAS, Dharwad has teamed up with International Society for Horticultural Sciences and has invited 40 scientists from Iran, Israel, Turkey, Jordon, Tunisia, Afghanistan, California, South Africa and Italy besides 175 Indian scientists to participate in the five-day International symposium on pomegranate and other Mediterranean fruits starting June 23 at the UAS. The agenda is to address the emerging issues and to sustain the growth in area, production and productivity of the fruits, to take stock of the achievements and further challenges.

It is expected to enlighten the participants on world wide research achievements pertaining to pomegranate, custard apple, fig, jackfruit, wood apple, jamun and other minor Mediterranean fruits like olive, strawberry and sweet cherry. Union minister of state for agriculture K V Thomas, Karnataka agriculture minister S A Ravindranath, horticulture minister Umesh Katti, horticulture commissioner Gorakh Nath, ICAR director V T Jadhav, NHM joint secretary S K Pattanayak and ISHS representative Ahsen Isiki Ozguven will be present at the inaugural session on Tuesday.

source: www.business-standard.com

An article by K.W.T. Goulding (1) and A.J. Trewavas (2), AgBioView, June 23, 2009 http://www.agbioworld.org
(1 Department of Soil Science, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden; Herts AL5 2JQ; 2 Institute of Molecular Plant Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3 JH., Scotland.)

Abstract: In a recent publication, Badgley et al. (2007) claimed that organic farming, if used worldwide, would provide sufficient food for a growing world population. This claim was based on a literature survey of two kinds: (1) A comparison of organic and conventional yields, assembled, so far as one can judge, from a mixture of largely research experiments of rather variable quality and sometimes unpublished material. (2) An assessment of nitrogen (N) fixed by legumes from published literature. The two were then combined to calculate, incorrectly in our view, potential food production.

We have examined the literature basis of these claims particularly on wheat. There are many omitted references that indicate organic yields are substantially lower than Badgely et al. (2007) indicated. There are calculation errors in some of the references used by Badgely et al., (2007). Also Badgely et al., (2007) are equating organic procedures only with the use of either manure or cover crops and are ignoring certified organic procedures that prohibit synthetic pesticide use. We have also examined the claims by these authors that there is sufficient N fixed to provide for fertiliser and have found that mineralisation levels are wrongly equated with the N appearing in seed yield. We agree with Badgely et al., (2007) that maintenance of organic material in soil is important but consider that this is not a specific organic procedure. There would be insufficient food for the world population provided by global organic farming.

INTRODUCTION: In a recent publication, Badgley et al. (2007) claimed that organic farming, if used worldwide, would provide sufficient food for a growing world population. This claim was based on a literature survey of two kinds: (1) A comparison of organic and conventional yields, assembled, so far as one can judge, from a mixture of largely research experiments of rather variable quality and sometimes unpublished material. (2) An assessment of nitrogen (N) fixed by legumes from published literature. The two were then combined to calculate potential food production. We have four criticisms of the paper: (1) A very inadequate literature search-we have not instigated a rigorous search but easily found many scientific references that were not included by Badgley et al. (2007) and change the perspective on organic yields. (2) A failure to establish the credibility of published material. (3) An incorrect equating of N released by the mineralisation of organic material in soil with that taken up into grain. (4) No consideration of the economic base that underpins farm practice.

In addition, Badgley et al., (2007) stated that they were evaluating the potential contribution of organic agriculture to the global food supply but then admit that they were not referring to any particular organic certification criteria. It is clear from their paper that they have arbitrarily identified organic farming with just the application of manure or the use of cover crops. Neither of these procedures is particularly organic; they are used by many “conventional” farmers in the UK, for example, particularly those on mixed farms. On the basis of the criteria used by Badgley et al. (2007) for organic farming, most UK farms of all types would currently qualify as ‘organic’. Also, from a UK perspective, it is difficult to identify any particular farm with what is claimed by Badgley et al. (2007) to be conventional farming. UK farmers practice what can be called Integrated Farm Management (IFM) to varying extents, with short or long rotations, no-till or min-till (conservation tillage) sometimes combined with ploughing, livestock fed on grass, grass/clover or other forms of silage, and returning variable amounts of manure, slurry and bought-in composts and other “wastes” to the land. The actual practices result from long experience by the farmer and with some experimentation and are usually site specific. Managerial skill is crucial; most UK farmers do take a holistic view of their farm, but the over-riding criterion is the market price for produce, set against the cost of production (Trewavas, 2004). The primary goal of any successful farmer is to sustain both income and the quality of their land.

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by Ian J. Warrington, Vice-President.

The scientific activities of the International Society for Horticultual Science (ISHS) are the heart of our Society and they continue to grow in both strength and diversity. Recent reports at the Executive Committee meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand from the Chairs of the Sections and Commissions, confirm that the program of symposia for the next four years is very strong. This builds on activities that have grown in scale over the past decade.

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM
In the late 1990s and for the first half of the current decade, the Society hosted 30-32 symposia per annum while for 2008 this had grown to 46 and for 2009 will be 42. This program has resulted in an impressive growth in the number of Acta Horticulturae that have been or are scheduled to be published by ISHS (Fig. 1).

This growth and diversity of scientific conferences has not been associated with any reduction in the content of the resultant Actas (Table 1).

Quality has increased over that same time period in response to increased attention by the editorial committees associated with each symposium. The status of papers presented in Acta remains as a point of contention amongst some of those who present at ISHS symposia because Acta Horticulturae is not included in most citation indexes. However, it must be recognised that Acta Horticulturae is not intended to be a scientific journal – rather it is a series of conference proceedings that is heavily used by the scientific community as a valued and unique source of horticultural information. The interest in Acta Horticulturae can be best assessed by accessing the ISHS website at www.pubhort.org/actahort/citationstatistics.htm.  The most consulted article has been accessed 46,595 times, the top 20 articles more than 10,000 times each, and the top 100 articles more than 5,000 times each since the launch of the PubHort website. These impressive numbers need to be provided to those who fail to see the impact of this series! One article was downloaded 85 times and those in the top 100 were downloaded 37 or more times. In the first month of 2009, the Society hosted some 32,295 downloads from the archived Acta holdings. These are outstanding numbers for any publication. However, the ISHS Board does recognise the pressure that authors are under to secure recognition for their publications and will continue to seek ways of having Acta Horticulturae more formally recognised by those managing citation services.

PARTNERS
The Board has continued to form and encourage the development of close partnerships with a number of organisations and societies who have an involvement with research and activities that are similar to those encompassed by the ISHS. Information on the various partnerships involving the ISHS is available at www.ishs.org/partners.
The number and complexity of these relationships have to be closely and consistently monitored and promoted if they are to provide mutual benefits. It is recommended that the incoming Board of the ISHS assign a dedicated “champion” to ensure that these relationships are maintained and nurtured.

International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM).

A number of meetings have been held with senior staff from CIHEAM in recent months and various initiatives have been advanced between CIHEAM and ISHS. Initiatives discussed that have relevance to the Executive Committee have included:

1. identifying ISHS members who would be prepared to be examiners for the CIHEAM Masters degree qualification;
2. inviting CIHEAM to consider how ISHS might be involved in CIHEAM-supported training initiatives;
3. co-involvement in databases that list experts in defined fields who could be contacted for specialist knowledge (in a controlled way);
4. involvement of CIHEAM in IHC2010;
5. involvement of CIHEAM as cosponsors of ISHS symposia in the Mediterranean region; and
6. attendance of a CIHEAM representative as an observer at Executive Committee meetings.

International Society for Mushroom Science (ISMS).
Initiatives with ISMS include the inclusion of ISMS publications on the PubHort site and assistance from ISHS to develop an ISMS publication website.

European Association for Potato Research (EAPR).
This organisation has 300-350 members in 65 countries. The ISHS has contracted to provide Secretarial support to this organisation and will seek to establish an even closer collaboration with the EAPR. It is hoped that this will serve as a model for other regional potato associations.

International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH).
ISHS and AIPH have recently developed a set of banners that can be displayed at AIPH-sanctioned international horticultural exhibitions. These banners give messages about the importance of horticultural science education for supporting the nursery and landscape trades. A stronger presence of the ISHS is planned for at exhibitions such as Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2011 in order to advocate the importance and relevance of horticultural science to the public in general.

International Peat Society (IPS).
This partnership was formed in 2005. Joint symposia were held in Angers in 2005 and in Nottingham in 2007 and a further in the series will be held in North Carolina in 2009. The ISHS will cosponsor the International Symposium on Sustainability of Peatlands that will be held in Canada in 2011.

International Society of Citriculture (ISC).
The joint Section on Citrus (chaired by Dr. Gene Albrigo) is a direct result of this partnership. The Second International Citrus and Biotechnology Conference will be held jointly under the auspices of the ISC and the ISHS in November 2009.

PUBLICATIONS
The PubHort platform managed by ISHS is intended to be the key electronic database for horticultural publications. Information about these joint publication activities is available at www.PubHort.org. In addition to hosting our own publications (Acta Horticulturae, Chronica Horticulturae, Scripta Horticulturae) we currently host a number of horticultural publications as follows:

Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology (JHSB).
This relationship is progressing very well indeed. Prof. Geoff Dixon is the ISHS representative on the JHSB Board of trustees. The on-line services are now being provided by the ISHS Secretariat as part of the PubHort service. In 2008, total downloads for Volumes 74 through 84 was 6,774. Members of the ISHS are invited to put themselves forward to be considered as Associate Editors of this prestigious scientific journal by contacting the ISHS Vice President or the Executive Director.

Fruits.
The ISHS continues to “recognise” Fruits as a key journal for fruit science. Agreement has been reached to host the archives of Fruits on the PubHort website.

Horticulture Reviews and Plant Breeding Reviews.
The association with Wiley-Blackwell continues. The ISHS Secretariat is exploring ways of enabling whole article downloads from the PubHort site rather than the current 8-page grouping.

Journal of the American Pomological Society.
The archives for Volumes 49 through 62 have now been scanned and 493 articles will soon be available for downloading to the PubHort website. Back issues of the journal will now be scanned and added to the existing files.

Proceedings of the International Plant Propagators Society.
An agreement between IPPS and ISHS was signed in early 2008. All back issues of the IPPS Proceedings have now been scanned and it is anticipated that archives will be ready for downloading by mid 2009.

REGIONAL AND WORLD HORTICULTURAL CONGRESSES
The ISHS has “recognised” two recent regional horticultural meetings – the First Symposium on Horticulture in Europe (Austria) from 17-20 February 2008 and the first Asian Horticultural Congress (Korea) from 11-13 December 2008. The first All African Horticultural Congress will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 31 August-3 September 2009. The Board extends an invitation to all ISHS members to attend the 28th International Horticultural Congress in Portugal (Lisbon) from 22-27 August 2010.

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE
The Society has two important prestigious awards that can be used to recognise those who have made meritorious contributions to either the ISHS or to horticultural science – the Honorary Members and Fellows, respectively. Please give consideration to nominating those who you believe would be worthy recipients of such recognition. Further information is available at www.ishs.org/awards/.

SERVING THE SOCIETY
A number of important positions within the ISHS will become vacant in the lead up to the International Horticultural Congress that will be held in Portugal in August 2010 (IHC2010). Key amongst these, in the context of the scientific programme of the Society, will be the election of all Section and Commission Chairs and Vice Chairs. While some current office holders will be eligible for re-election, all positions will be open for nomination and processing through the formal election process. The new round of nominations will commence in November 2009 and members of each Section and Commission will vote for those standing for office within the Section/Commission. All five positions on the ISHS Board will be renewed at the time of the Council meeting at the Lisbon Congress. Four Board members will have completed two terms and cannot stand for re-election. While the position of President is not constrained by geographical location and one other position will be filled by an ‘at-large’ candidate, according to present Society rules three positions are reserved for representatives of a specific region. These regions are the Americas, Europe, and the rest of the world (Australasia and Africa). It is also important to understand that specific Board responsibilities like vice-president, publications, and finances are allocated after the new Board is in place. The ex-officio position for the 2014 Congress President will be filled by Dr. Rod Drew of Australia. It is a privilege and honour to serve the ISHS in the various ways. I encourage all of you to consider standing for office in one of the positions outlined above. You have something unique to contribute from your perspective, your experience and your energy. In turn, I can assure you that the rewards from collegiality, contribution and experience will be more than sufficient compensation to you for your involvement.

Please make this commitment to the ISHS – the pre-eminent horticultural science society in the world!

The 28th IHC is now accepting online abstract submissions for oral and poster presentations. Abstracts will be organised into symposia and seminars as requested by authors at submission. When the topic of an abstract does not fit into any symposium or seminar, it can be submitted to Congress at large according to the list of topics given. Abstracts submitted this way will be gathered a posteriori for oral or poster presentation in thematic sessions. Poster presentations are encouraged as they will be a major form of scientific communication at the Congress. Conveners will select abstracts for oral and poster presentation based on the preference indicated by authors and the suitability to the scientific programme.

All presentations must be in English the official language of the Congress.

The deadline for abstract submission is 31 December 2009. The final decision regarding abstract acceptance and the form of presentation (oral or poster) will be communicated to the corresponding author by 31 March 2010

For more details go to www.ihc2010.org

When civilization coughs up its final death rattle, one of the last bastions of mankind’s survival will lie near Corvallis behind a modest sign touting a simple mantra: “Preserving plant genetic resources for all time.”

In a building guarded only by a standard burglar alarm and a handful of exterior security cameras, scientists at the National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Oregon, a unit within the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS), are even now hedging against humanity’s uncertain future. Within the twenty-eight-year-old facility’s greenhouses, sheds, and freezers, which sprawl through sixty acres of orchards and field plantings, are the fruits and nuts and seeds and pollen of roughly ten thousand plants collected from all over the world. It is the repository’s job not only to protect these precious bits of propagation as some sort of worst-case-scenario refuge, but in many cases, to perfect them through countless rounds of experimentation, making their edible blooms and pomes a leafy Steve Austin: better, stronger, faster.

The plants under the care of the repository’s four USDA scientists and their ten-person support staff are the equivalent of rare artifacts in a museum, each containing a particular story of origin. Except that in this case, the museum pieces are alive. Inside one of a dozen screened sheds are the strawberries that were depicted in early fifteenth-century paintings of the Virgin Mary. Outside, in the orchard—where long rows of trees and shrubs trade shades of red, yellow, and pea green—are several varieties of pears that may have been eaten by the caesars of ancient Rome. There is medlar, a hard-skinned fruit with a mushy middle that Shakespeare used as a metaphor for women: half rotten, half ripe. There are golden quinces from Iran, heavy with a sweet aroma; historians think they, not the legendary apple, were the true stars of the Garden of Eden. There is hardy kiwi, native to the mountains of northeastern China, scaling a trellis—the fruit tastes like its fuzzy cousin but has a shiny, smooth surface.

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Dr. Bernhard Brückner, Leibniz-Institute of Veg and Ornam.Crops, Theodor-Echtermeyer-Weg 1, 14979 Grossbeeren, Germany has been elected new Chair of the Working Group Vegetable Quality.

For more details on this and other ISHS Working Groups check out the Scientific Structure pages at www.ishs.org/science/ or go to the ISHS online membership directory at www.ishs.org/directory/

Acta Horticulturae 824; International Symposium on Application of Precision Agriculture for Fruits and Vegetables (ISBN 978-90-66053-70-0 ), Acta Horticulturae 825; I Balkan Symposium on Fruit Growing (ISBN 978-90-66054-10-3 )and Acta Horticulturae 826; I International Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Conference on Culinary Herbs (ISBN 978-90-66054-68-4 ) have just been released.

For further details, orders and article downloads go to www.actahort.org

Prof. Dr. Montaña Cámara, Dpto. Nutrición y Bromatología II, Facultad Farmacia. UCM, Plaza Ramón y Cajal sn, 28040 Madrid, Spain has been elected new Chair of the Working Group Production of Vegetables for Processing.

For more details on this and other ISHS Working Groups check out the Scientific Structure pages at www.ishs.org/science/ or go to the ISHS online membership directory at www.ishs.org/directory/

The HortiMet specialisation falls under the context of the launch of the Global Horticulture Initiative (GHI) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research’s (CGIAR) “High Value Crops – Fruit & Vegetables” Challenge Programme. It is a response to the need for executives in the horticultural sectors of developing countries that, although these sectors are growing rapidly worldwide, is far from being met by these countries’ human resources.

Developing better performing and better structured horticultural sectors is a necessity. This is particularly true for fruits and vegetables, which provide an opportunity as a source of income, but also because of their potential contribution to populations’ food, health and wellbeing. Needs are high in all sectors, notably in periurban areas where horticulture is a source of wealth and jobs.

Future executives’ skills are extremely multidisciplinary. They are based on the crops’ life cycle and the elaboration of their value, keeping in mind the objective of sustainability because horticultural production systems can potentially have a strong environmental impact.

The HortiMet course examines horticultural sectors in their entirety, at different temporal and spatial scales, and proposes individual sector improvement projects that can include variety improvement, obtaining seeds and plants, production, storage and/or processing, and distribution.

This project relies on knowledge of how markets operate and their feedback loops (standards, specifications), and on the implementation of the system approach (actor coordination, quality construction, for example).

For more details and to download a brochure and full programme see www.supagro.fr or contact  Jean-Luc Regnard at  +33 4 99 61 25 48 or regnard@supagro.inra.fr

One of Africa’s leading bankers has urged the continent to spend less time engaged in meetings and dialogues about the role of knowledge of science and technology in economic and social development – and more time putting such ideas into action. Paul Baloyi, chief executive officer of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), said on May 4, 2009 that the time had come to shift from rhetoric to application. “We need to convert knowledge into a productive force that can cure the many ills that face Africa,” he said. Baloyi was speaking at the opening of a three-day conference in Dakar, Senegal, on how Africa can use scientific and technical knowledge to boost its role in the global economy. He added that developing the ability to put knowledge into use is particularly important at a time when the global economic crisis is making Africa aware of the disadvantages of being linked to a global economy, and it is becoming more difficult to raise the capital needed for large-scale investments on the continent. “There seems to be no shortage of funds for conferences and international dialogues,” he said. “But there are billions of dollars that have been earmarked for projects that Africa needs, and [we] are still waiting [for them] to be made available.”

The Dakar meeting is the third in a series of international conferences organised under the theme of Knowledge Management in Africa (KMA). The first KMA conference was held in Johannesburg in 2005, and the second in Nairobi in 2007. In a message delivered at the opening session, Abdoulaye Wade, the president of Senegal, emphasised the importance of managing knowledge effectively to achieve what he described as the “renaissance” of the African continent, pointing out that at present Africa provides only about two per cent of the world’s economic output. Wade said that the theme of the conference, which has attracted about 300 delegates from across Africa, underlines that there has been significant progress on the continent in areas such as biotechnology, information technologies and nanotechnologies, as well as new and renewable energy sources. Wade made a particular plea for greater investment in the use of information technologies to promote distance-learning techniques in Africa, and for more research into ways of adding value to its natural resources. “Africa should fast-track the exploitation of its huge natural resources,” he said.

Jean Pierre Ndiaye, the president of the National Academy of Science and Technology of Senegal – one of the main organisers of the Dakar meeting – emphasised the need to build the capacity of African countries to take full control of science as a critical step towards increasing their economic performance. One important part of this strategy is building centres of scientific excellence across the continent that will interact with each other in promoting both training and research. Ending the opening session of the conference, Snowy Khoza – executive vice-president of the DBSA responsible for communications strategy, and the person largely responsible for the KMA initiative – said that the three successive KMA meetings had demonstrated that scientific and technical knowledge were already contributing effectively to repositioning of Africa in the global economy. “We believe that we as Africans have the knowledge to solve Africa’s problems,” she said, “We also believe that we can use scientific and African knowledge to ensure that Africa is well positioned in the world.”