ISHS Acta Horticulturae 415: VIII International Asparagus Symposium
EDITORIAL |
| Author: | M. Nichols | ||||||||||||
| Abstract:
The first International Asparagus Symposium that I attended was at Geisenheim in 1979 where the major emphasis was on plant breeding. In Canada tissue culture became a major theme, probably because of the excellent work being carried out by the late Professor Herm Tiessen and his team at Guelph. The Symposium at Ferrara (Italy) had a much broader theme of Asparagus improvement, and this broad approach was continued at this Symposium on New Zealand, when a new ingredient was added to the mix: molecular biology. In addition to the formal presentations, the Symposium included some 30 poster presentations, as well as optional pre- and post-symposium professional tours, and an industry visit to Hawkes Bay and to the Levin Research Centre during the Symposium. The Symposium was organized under the local auspices of the New Zealand Society for Horticultural Science, and was supported by the New Zealand Asparagus Council, New Zealand Crop and Food Research Institute, Circle Pacific Asparagus and Aspara Pacific. The first day of the Symposium was structured to provide papers of particular interest to New Zealand asparagus industry, to enable as many growers as possible to attend, an to make the field visits of more interest to visitors from overseas, the symposium was organized during the middle of the New Zealand harvest season. During the formal dinner it was my pleasure to present Professor Dietmar Hartmann with a memorial medal to commemorate his leadership of the Asparagus Working Group and to announce that Brian Benson from USA would take over from me as Chairman of the Asparagus Working Group following the next Symposium in Washington State, USA in 1997. In conclusion I wish to thank the following:
and Mrs. Lesley McKewan who was willing to act as guide not only for the pre-tour, but also at very short notice for the post-symposium tour. Finally I thank Mr. David Swain for his editorial assistance in ensuring that wherever possible the papers were reviewed and changed where necessary. Nevertheless I take full responsibility for any errors and omissions in the final presentation. | |||||||||||||
