ISHS Acta Horticulturae 504: VI Symposium on Stand Establishment and ISHS Seed Symposium
PREFACE |
| Author: | G. E. Welbaum |
| Abstract:
The Symposium on Stand Establishment and International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) Seed Symposium were jointly held on May 15 through 19 at the historic Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center in Roanoke, Virginia, USA. This was the 6th Symposium on Stand Establishment held since 1988 and the previous Symposium was held in Columbus, Ohio in 1997. This was the 7th ISHS Seed Symposium since 1978, the last being held at Wageningen, The Netherlands in 1994. An objective of the Symposium was to report new research results and discuss emerging technologies relating to establishment of seeds and transplants for agricultural production. The Symposium was attended by representatives from 14 countries. This Acta is divided into sections based on the various topics covered during the Symposium. The Symposium began on May 15th with a Transplant Workshop entitled "Root Influences on Shoot Growth" featuring seven speakers from the US, Canada, and Israel. During the workshop, Dr. Amnon Koren from Israel explained how cucumber, cantaloupe, and watermelon shoots could be grafted onto disease resistant rootstocks to eliminate the need for soil fumigation and chemical use. Robots have been developed in Japan that eliminate the tedious and costly task of producing hand-grafted plants, making grafted plants feasible for large-scale production in the US. On Sunday, a colloquium entitled "New Developments in Stand Establishment" featured presentations by Jim Ligon, Dave McNertney, Dan Roberts, and Roger Harris. The session on Monday morning featured volunteered presentations relating to transplant and field establishment. The afternoon session on Monday was comprised of volunteered presentations on seed physiology and technology. A field trip on Tuesday featured stops in Carroll County, Virginia demonstrating the use of conservation tillage to produce cabbage from transplants using the subsurface tiller-transplanter developed by Dr. Ron Morse in the Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech. The group also toured Riverbend Nursery in Riner, Virginia and Chateau Morrisette Winery on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Wednesday mornings program featured a colloquium entitled "New Developments in Seed Physiology, Technology, and Assessment". One of the highlights on this year's Symposium was the presentation during this colloquium by Dr.
Mel Oliver of the USDA describing recent progress made in developing the "Genetically Based Seed Technology Protection System" for cotton and tobacco.
The genetically based system prevents saving seeds for propagation from season to season.
The seeds can safely be used for other purposes but will not germinate when planted after harvest.
This controversial product of biotechnology has been labeled the "Terminator Gene" by opponents as described in recent articles in Time magazine and the New York Times.
During his talk, Dr.
Oliver emphasized that the technology was developed to protect commercial investment in genetic crop improvement by preventing unauthorized seed production.
The system was also developed to prevent hybridization and transfer of engineered genes to wild plants.
At present, the Seed Technology Protection System is being tested but will not be available in commercial seeds in the immediate future.
Unfortunately, legal considerations prevented Dr.
Oliver from contributing a paper to this Acta.
Another highlight of the colloquium was Henk Jalink's demonstration of a new computerized, seed sorting system that can significantly improve seed quality.
This innovative system instantaneously and nondestructively uses a laser beam and fluorescence imaging technology to sort and remove low vigor seeds based on the amount of green pigment they contain.
This new high-speed sorting device was developed in The Netherlands and is now available in the US. Dr.
Greg Johnson of the University of Minnesota discussed how new temperature responsive polymer seed coatings can limit seed hydration in the field until the soil temperature is optimal for germination. This volume of Acta Horticulturae is the proceedings of the Sixth Symposium on Stand Establishment and Seventh ISHS Seed Symposium. Invited and keynote speakers and authors of the offered oral papers and posters had the opportunity to submit their manuscripts for publication in this volume of the series Acta Horticulturae. Submitted manuscripts were reviewed by at least two members of the Editorial Board and amended according to the referee suggestions prior to acceptance. The Editorial Board could not accept all manuscripts submitted for publication. The ISHS acknowledges the cooperation received from the Editors and Editorial Board on reviewing the manuscripts which was a significant contribution to the overall quality of the publication. | |
