WELCOME

In 1977 Mad. Blanc of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique at Antibes in France took the initiative and the risk to organize the First International Symposium on Carnation Culture. It was a risk because up till that time symposia or congresses were organized on a field of science, like physiology, post harvest or plant pathology, but not on a single crop. The number of participants, c. 135, however, made the first symposium a success.

The same applied for the Second symposium, which was held in 1983 in San Diego, United States of America. The organizers, Dr. Besemer and Dr. Kofranek, could welcome c. 170 participants.

To this Third International Symposium, here in the Netherlands, also a large number of participants have registered, being c. 150.

There is however a big difference between this Third Symposium and the former two Symposia. At the Symposia at Antibes and San Diego about 50% of the participants came from other countries than France and the United States of America. At this Symposium more than 80% of the participants are coming from other countries than the Netherlands.

The number of participants and the growing international interest justify the existence of a Symposium, dedicated to only one crop. They also indicate the international importance of the Carnation, all over the continents of the world.

During the Symposium the latest developments in research on Carnation will be talked about. Not only will the latest results of scientific work be 'published', but also the 'translation' to practical applications, which is essential for the development of the Carnation culture.

During this week there will be ample opportunity to exchange ideas about research and practical problems, not only during the formal sessions, but especially also by bilateral personal contacts.

Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to this Third International Symposium on Carnation and I hope you all have a fruitful and pleasant week.

Henk Rattink


OPENING ADDRESS

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure and an honour to welcome you officially at this symposium, which in fact started yesterday.

Since 1977, it is the third time that ISHS organizes a meeting where research workers, dealing with various aspects of carnation growing, are brought together. After France, 1977, and the U.S.A., 1983, it is now in the Netherlands. My Dutch colleagues and I have been looking forward to this symposium, not only for having discussions with people from other countries, but also to show you something of the work, carried out in the Netherlands, as well as giving you an impression under what conditions the work is being done.

An important aspect of a symposium like this one is the exchange of information, both scientific and in applied fields, with the ultimate goal to support (in this case) the carnation industry.

This is also one of the most important lines in the Dutch Agricultural Research Organization, where more basic knowledge, obtained in 24 research institutes (like the IVT and the IPO), is combined in applied work on 10 experiment stations, like the one in Aalsmeer, which you visited yesterday. The latter one also coordinates the work in regional centers, which can be described as demonstration units.

Growers participate in this organization through programme committees and governing bodies and by doing so, they have a direct effect on research programmes. Furthermore, and for us this is very important, the growers organizations share the budgets for experiment stations by paying 50% of the annual budget. In addition, these organizations also support special projects carried out in our research institutes and in university departments, but to a much lesser extent.

The basic idea is, that research on disciplines like plant pathology, plant breeding, agricultural engineering and others, is carried out in research institutes. Combination of the various disciplines, directed to a special agricultural branch like floriculture, takes places in an experiment station. It is clear, that there is no sharp distinction between the two types of working units.

Through the extension service, but also direct through information given by research workers, growers are given information on the latest developments on all aspects concerned with the production of a certain crop.

Such a crop is the carnation. Worldwide speaking, the carnation is the number one crop in floriculture. In the Netherlands, economically speaking, it is number three after rose and chrysanthemum.

In the Netherlands, there are about 9000 hectares of glasshouses, with approximately 4200 hectares for the production of flowers and pot-plants. For the production of carnations, approximately 350 hectares of glasshouses are being used. Altogether, there are about 950 holdings. These holdings produced 860 million carnations in 1986, at least that was the number sold through the auctions. In this year, the value was about 250 million guilders (125 million US dollars), which was approximately 7,5% of the total sales of flowers and potplants, which was over 3.4 billion guilders.

Although the production of these crops is higher in the U.S.A., we are to be regarded as the number one on export of flowers and potplants.

One would expect, that the research work carried out on flowers and potplants has a larger capacity than for other sectors in horticulture. However, that is not the case. This could be explained by the fact that floriculture has been a booming industry in more recent years, while a shift in the total agricultural research capacity towards floriculture has not yet taken place. Nevertheless, since 1965, the research capacity for floriculture has increased four-fold, also thanks to a higher financial input of the horticultural industry.

Research for and with carnations is carried out in various places in the world. However, there is a tendency to decrease the research capacity. Carnation production in the U.S.A. decreased by increasing competition from Colombia, and this affected research work in the U.S.A. From some European countries, it is also known that the research capacity for carnation has been decreased, like in Scandinavian countries and the Federal Republic of Germany.

Important centers for carnation research are found in France, Israel, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands, with an increase in research in Columbia and Spain.

With respect to the success of the carnation as a flower crop, research work has to be maintained, in order to support that position in the market. Research should be aiming at more variation in colour, better spread of the period of flowering, reduction in costs for crop protection, for example by breeding disease resistant varieties and a better suitability of the flowers for transportation and short term storage. Looking at the programme of this symposium, the vascular wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum plays an important role. That is not so surprising, as it is a devastating disease and, especially the last 3 years, much work has been devoted to the problem.

This was another reason for me to accept the invitation to open this symposium. Untill recently, I have been working in the department of Plant Pathology of the State University at Utrecht and of the University of Amsterdam, which is located at Baarn. And in that laboratory, work on Fusarium and carnation is one of the research lines. Mr. Baayen will tell you about that work later today and a poster will inform you on possibilities of biological control of this pathogen in hydroponics. In the Netherlands, work on all aspects of carnation growing forms part of the programmes of 9 institutions: experiment stations, research institutes and university departments.

There is also a growing cooperation between research workers within the common market. This is important, as the financial position of member countries leads to a further reduction in research capacity and only joint ventures will keep our knowledge on carnation up-to-standard. In this respect, symposia like this one do play an important role: exchange of information and personal contacts between research workers are the keys to a further development of knowledge.

The proceedings of the first 2 symposia on carnation have been functioning as an important source of information for people all over the world and I hope that this line will be followed after this symposium. The organizers, working under the ISHS, are to be congratulated in bringing you all together.

The programme is such, that in addition to paper and poster presentation, you will be given 'the state of the art' on carnation work in the Netherlands. Also for these reasons, we are proud to have you here. I wish you very effective and good meetings.

And by doing so, I formally open this third Carnation Symposium.


Prof. K. Verhoeff
Director of Agricultural Research
Ministry of Agricultural and Fisheries
The Hague