ISHS Acta Horticulturae 412: I International Symposium on Solanacea for Fresh Market
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
| Author: | Prof. J. Cuartero |
| Abstract:
The Organizing Committee is greatly indebted to the following institutions, organizations and firms for the financial and material support in organizing this symposium:
Our thanks also to Ana M. Rico Sánchez and the rest of the staff of the Laboratory of Plant Breeding, La Mayora Experimental Station - CSIC: Dr.
Carmen Soria, José J. González Fernádez, Ana I. López Sesé, Francisco Sánchez, Manuel Báguena, Marina Gil, Mariá A. Crespillo and Severiano Bolívar for their help in organizing the symposium and in the preparation of these proceedings. Ladies and Gentlemen, On behalf of the Organizing Committee it is a pleasure to address a few words to all my dear colleagues, scientists, and technicians from so different countries in the opening session of this Symposium. First of all, I want to thank all of you for coming to Málaga. We are proud of such a highly qualified and large attendance which demonstrates the importance of the subject choosen for this Symposium. We want also to thank the International Society for Horticultural Science and the Spanish Society for Horticultural Science to promote and to sponsor this Symposium; it is a personal pleasure to welcome its Secretary General Prof. António Monteiro and its President Prof. Luis Rallo. Thanks are also due to the Spanish Council for Scientific Research, represented here by Prof. Antonio Troncoso, and to the Council of Agriculture of Andalusian Government, represented by the General Director Excmo. Sr. D. Francisco Nieto. Thanks also to the National Plan for Research and Development, Excma. Diputación Provincial de Málaga, the British Council, Unicaja and Caja Rural for their financial support to the Symposium. My personal gratitude to the friends helping here as assistants and specially to Marisa Gómez-Guillamón, Francisco de la Torre and Rafael Fernández-Muñoz for the work done organizing everything about this meeting. A couple of years ago, Prof. Carlos Portas, President of Section of Vegetables of International Society for Horticultural Science, suggested to me the oppurtunity of preparing a Symposium about Solanacea crops, principally because the International Society for Horticultural Science had never had a joint discussion about Solanacea for fresh market crops, even though the Solanacea are the most economically important vegetables. To deal with a homogenous group of plants like the ones belonging to a same family has some advantages; I would like to mention two. First, tomato, pepper and aubergine share similar environments in greenhouses and in the open air, which means that the same growers can cultivate one or another species indistinctly and the same technicians can advise about them. Both, technicians and growers, put into practice our research, so the knowledge of the cultivated Solanacea species must be transferred as a whole to them. Second, Solanacea also share a common physiological background which would allow to copy some research and techniques from one species to others. Tomato is the most studied species among Solanacea for fresh market and the knowledge we have today on tomato would lead future research and development in pepper and aubergine. The Symposium is structured into 5 working sessions with oral presentations and into 3 sessions for posters. One of the principal objectives of symposia is to stimulate discussion. So we urge all of you to participate in the discussions about the oral and posters presentations. We want now to apologize for the faults directly or undirectly related with the organization that, we anticipate, will occur. We wish you all an intellectually rewarding and socially stimulating stay in Málaga and we sincerely hope that the Symposium will serve to strength the bonds of friendship and collaboration between us. | |
