PREFACE

During the symposium a variety of interesting and stimulating papers were presented. Apart from the interesting approaches and findings conveyed by these lectures, direction was also given as regards future research priorities. All papers which met with the generally accepted standard are published in this edition. It is hope that this material will benefit the many scientists throughout the world who are involved in research directed towards the fruit and vegetable processing industries. It is also hoped that the technical tours and excursions presented an opportunity to learn more about the South African fruit and vegetable industry as well as to meet the local people involved with this important concern.

A special tribute is due to all the overseas participants, especially prominent members of the Executive Committee of ISHS, for the effort they made to travel all this way to make their contribution towards science in South Africa.

We are most thankful for the contribution made by our foreign guests and the role they played in making this symposium a great success.

Dr. J.H. TERBLANCHE
Chairman of the Organising Committee


ADDRESS PRESENTED BY PROF. DR. D. FRITZ, PAST-PRESIDENT OF
ISHS, AT THE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM 'FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
FOR PROCESSING', CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, NOVEMBER 18–22, 1985

Mr. Minister, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have the honour to convey kindest regards on behalf of the International Society for Horticultural Science to the audience of this International Symposium 'Fruit and Vegetables for Processing'. Its most comprehensive subject is expected to stimulate both, research and industry in different climatic regions. Here the spotlight of course is held by the host country, and we greatly appreciate it that you, Mr. Minister, do us the honour of being present at the opening session of this conference.

I should like to congratulate the convener on the successful work done and on the well-known and beautiful meeting place, that is surrounded by important horticultural production. Our thanks is due to the organizing committee headed by Dr. Terblance, and to his staff. It has been quite a good team having prepared a most interesting program. To take summary proceedings, I should like to extend the gratitude of the ISHS to all of the institutions, organizations and individuals who have been concerned with arranging this meeting. But our special thanks is owing to you, Mr. Minister.

It seems to me that - apart from generous hospitality and perfect organization - we will enjoy a pleasant personal atmosphere, which will fit for promoting scientific collaboration. So I also can congratulate the technical branches of ISHS involved in the subject.

According to good tradition practiced at our symposia, a member of the Executive Committee of ISHS is used to introduce the Society to those among the participants who neither are members, nor are even acquainted with the aims of the ISHS.

The International Society for Horticultural Science has to deepen international collaboration in order to advance horticulture in all countries throughout the world by the so improved international collaboration of science and technology.

ISHS memberships at present are composed of 49 country members, including South Africa, which was a foundation member from the very beginning of the Society 26 years ago. Other members are more than 250 affiliated organizations such as research institutes, libraries, industrial firms, etc. The most important group are the individual members, their number exceeding 2,500 - consisting of scientists, people from administration, governments, organizations, industry - from 91 different countries. This very extensive organization is guided by the Executive Committee, which is formed of the chairmen of the Sections and Commissions, and by the Council, that is assembled by the delegates of the country members, e.g. South Africa. The General Assembly, statutorily, takes resolutions on essential decisions every four years at the Congresses. The place of business of the Secretariat general is Wageningen. The President of the Society is Prof. H.B. Tukey, Jr., USA; the Secretary general is Ir. H.H. van der Borg. Both of them deeply regret not to be able to be present here today, I have to convey their kindest regards to you.

The ISHS is grouped into four Sections, and ten interdisciplinary Commissions. It belongs to the sections and commissions to establish working groups. The presently existing about 50 specialized groups often are the conveners of specialized, or sometimes joint symposia, socalled interdisciplinary ones.

One of the principal means to achieve the objectives of the Society is the periodical arrangement of International Horticultural Congresses, taking place with four years' intervals. The last one - it had been the 21st one - was held in Hamburg in 1982, with 2,000 participants (and 300 accompanying persons) from 77 different countries. The next International Horticultural Congress - the 22nd one - will take place in Davis, California in 1986, the next but one in Florence, Italy in 1990; this is why the Vice-president's office is held by Prof. Dr. Scaramuzzi, Florence. I should like to take this opportunity of inviting you to that 22nd International Horticultural Congress in Davis.

During the periods in between two congresses, 10 to 20 international symposia a year are arranged by ISHS working groups throughout the world. In 1985 that number even will sum up to 30, two of them held in South Africa. Such special conferences provide ideal occasions for advanced training of specialized scientists, and for maintaining contacts between different branches of horticultural sciences.

International collaboration between scientists of different horticultural disciplines is also promoted by the ISHS publications: The bulletin of the Society CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE is issued up to four times a year, among others it announces dates and reports of ISHS activities, and news of general professional interest. Papers delivered at ISHS symposia - and partly such of congresses - are spread worldwide by the book-series ACTA HORTICULTURAE, 172 numbers of which already have been issued by now. These ACTA HORTICULTURAE represent an enormous documentation of scientific original publication. The directory HORTICULTURAL RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL informs on horticultural research in more than 60 countries, worldwide. The scientific journal SCIENTIA HORTICULTURAE appears under the auspices and with contributions of the ISHS. And last not least the PROCEEDINGS of International Horticultural Congresses, but especially the LIST OF MEMBERS OF ISHS - on 330 pages - give most valuable information.

Apart from such important advantages, it is an essential factor of ISHS activities that they promote personal initiative of individuals and supply the basis and the chance for international collaboration to every horticultural scientist. So every horticulturist is given the opportunity of gaining information of high scientific standard, and of presenting his own research results for subject of discussion. Therefore, I should like to invite you to ISHS membership. Individual membership is the most favourite way to receive any information in a shortest possible time. We count ourselves fortunate that we so can maintain contacts with colleagues and friends, worldwide. There indeed are some countries where this will not be possible.

I am sure that the ISHS, by providing the basis for international collaboration, makes an essential contribution to the advancement of horticultural science. But the Society, deeming it necessary that the world needs more horticulture, also helps to develop horticulture as a whole.

Again extending gratitude and congratulations to the convener, I wish this symposium to become a success.

D. FRITZ

November 18, 1985


OPENING SPEECH BY MR S A S HAYWARD
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND WATER SUPPLY

On an illustrious occasion such as this it is a pleasure and indeed a great honour to welcome you to South Africa and to this international symposium which is being held under the auspices of the International Society for Horticultural Science. As a founder member of this Society, South Africa is privileged to host, for the first time, this gathering. It is my sincere wish that your visit to this fair country will be an unforgettable experience.

From modest beginnings in the years following the establishment of a revictualling station at the Cape of Good Hope more than three centuries ago, the South African fruit industry has evolved to become an export giant on this continent.

It has grown to such an extent that about 4 ½ million tonnes of deciduous, citrus and subtropical fruit, table grapes and vegetables, with a gross value of just over Rl billion, were produced during the 1982/83 season.

About 36% of the fruit crop was exported as fresh fruit. Though our fruit production is low in comparison with total world production, the importance of the industry is demonstrated by the fact that in the case of six of the seven major fruit crops on the world export markets, South Africa ranks among the top ten exporters. In the case of the seventh fruit crop, bananas, the distance from the potential markets is a serious limitation. As an exporter of canned fruit, South Africa is in the top three and as a dried fruit exporter she ranks seventh.

With the increasing use of air freight, the export of subtropical fruit and vegetables is also beginning to gain importance.

The success of the South African fruit and vegetable industries can be largely ascribed to organisation, research and advice to growers. The four horticultural research institutes of my Department are entrusted with research on the production of fruit and vegetables. The FRUIT AND FRUIT TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE at Stellenbosch is responsible mainly for deciduous fruit, the VITICULTURAL AND OENOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, also at Stellenbosch, takes care of grape and wine research, the HORTICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE at Roodeplaat, Pretoria, is concerned with vegetables and flowers, and the CITRUS AND SUBTROPICAL FRUIT RESEARCH INSTITUTE at Nelspruit in the Eastern Transvaal undertakes research on citrus and subtropical crops.

In addition to the research facilities at the four institutes, there are various experimental farms in all the major fruit and vegetable-growing areas.

Research is aimed at developing techniques to optimise production of high quality products at reasonable costs. One of the many important research projects currently under way is our comprehensive plant improvement scheme. It is designed to provide the industry with improved planting material which is not only virus and disease free, but which will also yield better crops and better quality fruit. In respect of citrus alone 50 commercial cultivars have already been made available to growers under the Citrus Improvement Scheme.

During the past three decades South African researchers have developed and released about 40 new grape, peach, apricot and plum cultivars, thereby giving the industry a considerable boost.

During this period several subtropical fruit cultivars of local origin as well as imported and improved cultivars were also released to producers. In addition, at least 23 new vegetable cultivars were developed.

Officials of the Department as well as several statutory boards apply inspection and quality control of the various horticultural crops. The Deciduous Fruit Board, for instance, controls and regulates the sale of deciduous fruit overseas and within the Republic. The Board works in close collaboration with the Director of Agricultural Product Standards to ensure that only the best quality is shipped abroad. The Dried Fruit Board not only promotes production and consumption, but also supervises the packing of dried fruit. Dried fruit of the highest quality is usually marketed under the local trade name, SAFARI, while dried fruit destined for the overseas market is usually shipped under the label SOLAR. The Citrus Board handles and sells all citrus fruit on both the local and export market and to indicate quality the trademark OUTSPAN is used for certain fruits. Similarly, the trademark CAPE is used for certain deciduous fruits.

There are also both local and export regulations for virtually all canned vegetables and fruit, dehydrated vegetables, dried fruit and frozen vegetables and fruit to ensure that products of only the highest quality are offered on the export markets.

The Deciduous fruit industry is our largest horticultural industry, the most important crops - both for export and the domestic market - being apples, pears, peaches, plums and table grapes. It is estimated that approximately 80 000 hectares are under deciduous fruit in South Africa, of which 75% are in the winter rainfall area.

During 1982/83 total production of deciduous fruit in South Africa amounted to 741 000 tonnes of which 54% was sold as fresh fruit, 26% as canning fruit, while 13% was processed and 7% dried. Slightly more than 50% of the fresh fruit was exported, mainly to markets in the Northern Hemisphere.

A closer look at the deciduous fruit achievements reveals the following:

In 1982/83 South Africa ranked sixth in the world as an exporter of apples and pears with a 6% share in these markets.

More than 40% of the apples was exported, 37% sold locally as fresh fruit and 27% processed.

In the same period 48% of the pears was sold as fresh fruit, mainly on the export markets, some 45% was canned and 7% dried.

More than 60% of the peach crop (mostly clingstones) was supplied to canning factories, almost 30% was sold as fresh fruit, mainly on local markets, while the remainder was dried.

With more than 330 million vines, South Africa ranks fifth as a grape exporter with a nearly 7% share of the market.

The wine crop now totals about 6 million hectolitres a year. Since this industry exports only about 10% of its output, it is less susceptible to fluctuations in overseas trading prices. Efforts to popularise the local consumption of natural table wines has resulted in a remarkable upswing over the past decade.

The semi-sweet vin ordinaire Lieberstein has become the largest selling brand of natural wine in the world.

During the past 25 years there has been a 160% increase in subtropical fruit production. During the past decade, in particular, progress has been substantial and thousands of trees of various varieties including coffee and tea are planted every year.

Some 44% of our 11 million citrus trees are Valencias, followed by navels, grapefruit, lemons, midseasons and easy peelers. During 1982/83 about 65% of the crop was exported, mainly to Europe, the United Kingdom and Canada.

South Africa has a 7% slice in the orange export market and ranks fourth.

South Africa also ranks fourth as an exporter of grapefruit and seventh as an exporter of lemons.

Our vegetable industry has made great strides since the days of the halfway victualling station at the Cape and today vegetables are produced in all parts of the country. Virtually the entire crop (fresh and processed) is consumed locally. Only a few tonnes of vegetables are exported in the fresh state. Production has shown a moderate growth during the past decade and it would appear that the local market has not yet reached saturation point.

The development of the fruit and vegetable canning industry over the past four decades can truly be described as remarkable. It has risen from slightly over 1 million cartons a year in 1938 to 18 million cartons in 1980, to become one of South Africa's major export industries.

The dried fruit industry accounts for 9% of the total value of our vine and deciduous fruit production.

The most important dried tree fruit products are apricots, peaches, pears and prunes. Also coming into the market are guava rolls and banaba slices as well as glazed pineapples and oranges. The growth of the dried vine fruit industry during the past decade was due to the increased production of dried sultanas. As a sultana producing country South Africa ranks seventh on the world list, producing slightly less than 4% of the total world production.

The South African fruit juice and concentrate industry was developed after the Second World War. At present about 25% of the citrus, apple, pineapple and guava crops are processed to juice concentrates or pulps for export and local consumption. The consumption of fruit juices in South Africa has doubled from 1979 to 1983.

My best wishes to you all for fruitful deliberations. I now have great pleasure in declaring this symposium offically opened.