ISHS Acta Horticulturae 610: V International Symposium on Kiwifruit
PREFACE AND FOREWORD |
| Authors: | ISHS Board of Directors, H. Huang |
| Abstract:
PREFACE This volume of Acta Horticulturae is the Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Kiwifruit. Invited and keynote speakers and selected authors of 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 the Editor and the Editorial Board and amended according to the referee suggestions prior to acceptance. The ISHS acknowledges the cooperation received from the Editor and the Editorial Board on reviewing the manuscripts which was a significant contribution to the overall quality of the publication. The ISHS Board of Directors Foreword First of all, I appreciate very much for all of you who have input tremendous amount of time and efforts to put this meeting together. I also feel privileged to serve as chairman of kiwifruit working group in past 4 years and been responsible for organizing this symposium decided at the last symposium held in Chile as agreed by the Kiwifruit Working Group and the Fruit Section of the ISHS. Now we are very pleased to host the fifth International Symposium on Kiwifruit here at Wuhan, China. Kiwifruit is one of few new crops, which has made great impact on world fruit market place in past century. Its origin and development history provides a good example of successful story in exploration of the wild natural resource to an international industry. This success presents a case study of challenging our minds for developing a new crop industry driving by endless efforts of scientists, growers, enterprisers and policy makers. Further sustainable development of the world kiwifruit industry will depend on a good cooperation in research programs including germplasm, breeding, and production technologies and marketing strategy. We come together at a unique time in history: since the first International symposium on kiwifruit was held in Italy in 1987, this fifth International Symposium on Kiwifruit is the first one to be held in beginning of the new century, as well as the first one in China, the hometown of Actinidia deliciosa, where the seeds of commercial kiwifruits for the world kiwifruit industry were originally collected. The kiwifruit in the narrow sense has evolved since the name was originally devised for selections of Actinidia deliciosa in New Zealand. However, China, in past 20 years, has changed concept “Kiwifruit” and played an important role in successful domestication and cultivation of another Actinidia species, A. chinensis Planch., which may have even greater commercial potential than A. deliciosa itself. Now about one quarter of all Actinidia orchards in China are of A. chinensis and this species is also being increasingly cultivated in other countries: for example, in New Zealand, more than 20% of all kiwifruit orchards are now planted in new cultivars of A. chinensis. The international kiwifruit industry, now with more than 120,000 hectares of orchard planted and with more than one million tonnes fresh fruit produced annually is based on these two Actinidia species, and maybe soon the third species, A. arguta will be in commercial cultivation. The industry is now moving forward to new era of expanding uses of Actinidia. This symposium is a well attended; more 120 participants from over 18 countries will present more than100 papers and posters in the symposium. The meeting provides a wide coverage of different research fields from production & marketing, genetics & breeding, orchard management, pre and post harvest & physiology, germplasm & taxonomy, pest & diseases and molecular biology & biochemistry. Keynote speakers of well-known experts are invited to present specific review of progress made in the past as well as recently highlighted research topics. The symposium program, I hope, shall benefit exchange of information and ideas about research and problems the industry facing to in this new century. Please allow me to thank all of who have contributed financially in organizing this symposium, let me mention in particular: NSF of China, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hubei Provincial Government, Wuhan City Government, Hubei Science and Technology Bureau and other sponsors. I would like also to thank all members of the Symposium International Scientific Committee for their support and collaboration. Finally, I wish you all a very productive symposium and a pleasant stay at Wuhan, I hope, in particularly, our foreign guests will feel at home and enjoy your visit to China. Hongwen Huang Convener of The Fifth International Symposium on Kiwifruit | |
