Ornamental Horticulture for the Service of Society
Conveners: Margherita BERUTO, Erzsebet BUTA, Sandra GONÇALVES
The S06 symposium is aimed at evaluating how the ornamental horticulture industry could impact the sustainability of the European society under the economic, social, and environmental aspects. The European Ornamental industry must face important challenges related to the worldwide dynamic evolution of production and trade, the global climate change, the increasing needs for a sustainable production and the new uses of ornamentals for ecological services and welfare. Moreover, the recent Covid-19 pandemic influenced the European ornamental trade and production.
The international symposium on “Ornamental Horticulture at the Service of the European Society” invites scientists and experts to discuss about the state of art and the future of cut flowers and ornamental plants sector in Europe.
The symposium is organized according to the following sessions:
Session 1- PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES AND ORNAMENTAL BREEDING
Ornamental sector is characterized by a continuing search of new products, and this results in an increasing interest in the utilization of new tools to increase diversity and in the exploitation of wild species for achieving interspecific and intergeneric crosses and to offer new crops. This session wants to outline breeding strategies ranging from traditional crossing and selection methods to the use of the genomic breeding tools for the obtention of new products for the ornamental horticulture industry.
Invited speaker: Agnès Ricroch, France.
Title of presentation: Biotechnologies and new genomic techniques for ornamental plant breeding.
Session 2- SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION OF ORNAMENTALS
Sustainability is becoming central to the ornamental production and refers to the economic, environmental and social aspects. The ornamental producers are called to operate a sustainable management system that performs to the highest standard in all three of these aspects. This session aims at highlighting innovative propagation protocols including biotechnological approaches, greenhouse/field ornamentals production practices, novel pest control/detection methods and crop management technologies which meet the sustainability standards for the European ornamental industry.
Invited speaker: Danny Geelen, Belgium.
Title of presentation: Utility of biostimulants in ornamental horticulture.
Session 3- PHYTOCHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY AND POST-HARVEST
The postharvest quality is particularly important in ornamental plants since consumer expects products with highly attractive appearance. In this section we expect to discuss the mechanisms underlying the various pre- and post-harvest metabolic and physiological processes in ornamental plants and their utility for the development of new strategies for quality control during transport, storage, and shelf life. The use of environmentally friendly solutions for extending the attractive appearance of the ornamental products will be also overviewed.
Invited speaker: Julian Verdonk, The Netherlands (shared with S10 symposium).
Title of presentation: Effect of preharvest conditions on postharvest quality of cut flowers.
Session 4 -CONSUMER DEMANDS, NEW USES, AND MARKETING IN ORNAMENTALS
Ornamental plants are an integral part of life and consumerism of people and can be an excellent source of phytochemicals with health benefits and a way of diversifying the diet with a wide range of colours, flavours, and textures. Ornamental industry offers a wide range of products and the ornamental plant supply chains face multiple challenges, including identifying their market, analysing their current and potential consumer base, determining prices, and developing promotional programs to attract new customers. In this session, the facts about the development of production, trade, and markets will be overviewed. Moreover, the new opportunities arising from new uses of ornamental plants, included the landscaping, and the industrial applications (cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, etc) of the bioactive compounds will be discussed.
Invited speaker: Silvia Scaramuzzi, Italy.
Title of presentation: Evolving Consumption Trends and Marketing Strategies in Ornamental Horticulture. What are the new challenges?
Main topics
- new ornamental varieties;
- propagation protocols;
- greenhouse and field ornamentals production;
- pest and diseases control;
- market quality crops;
- post-harvest management;
- consumption of ornamentals;
- business with ornamentals;
- European ornamental industry in a period of profound change;
- ornamental horticulture in a fast-developing society;
- opportunities in horticulture;
- landscaping;
- bioactive compounds.
For abstract submission, an active ISHS membership is needed (https://www.ishs.org/members).
If you are not yet an ISHS member and want to pay the membership within the Congress fee (https://ehc.usamv.ro/congress-participant/) – (Non ISHS members, including ACTA), you can ask for a voucher to secretariat@ehc.usamv.ro. Your membership will be active and you can submit the abstracts.
For more information/details please contact secretariat@ehc.usamv.ro
Dr. Margherita Beruto is the Chair of ISHS Division Ornamental Plants. She obtained her PhD in agricultural sciences and applied biology: biotechnology cellular and genetics in 1997 from the University of Ghent (Belgium). From 2009 to 2021, Margherita Beruto was the Director of the Regional Institute for Floriculture (IRF), Sanremo, Italy, a public research institute whose mission is to support growers and nurserymen involved in the floriculture sector, with particular attention to the achievement of novelties and with an eye towards sustainable management.
Associate Professor at University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj – Napoca, and Vice-President of Romanian Horticultural Society for Cluj – Napoca. Her scientific activity focuses on the behavior of new ornamentals cultivated in field and greenhouse, plant-assisted bioremediation, flowering and ornamental plant production. Also, she has a rich teaching activity on indoor plants and floral art.
Sandra Gonçalves graduated in Agronomic Engineering from the University of Algarve and completed the PhD in Biology (Biotechnology) in the same institution. Presently she is an assistant professor in the scientific area of Agronomy at Faculty of Sciences and Technology (University of Algarve), and member of the Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute. SG current research focuses on the application of
biotechnological approaches for the propagation, conservation, and sustainable use of plant resources. She is particularly interested on studying plants as a source of bioactive molecules with industrial interest and on the application of biotechnological techniques for plant biomass production and manipulation.
She published more than 70 scientific papers, 15 book chapters by invitation and many other publications. In the last years she has been involved in teaching activities, mainly in agronomy and plant biotechnology areas, in advanced training (BSc/MSc/PhD) and in outreach activities.
Anastasios Darras (Greece); Antonio Ferrante (Italy); Birane Dieng (Sénégal); Conny Tränkner (Germany); Denisa Jucan (Romania); Emmy Dhooghe (Belgium); Erzsebet Buta (Romania); Erzsebet Domokos (Romania); Henrik Lütken (Denmark); Julian Verdonk (The Netherlands); Margherita Beruto (Italy); Maria Teresa Lao (Spain); Nobuo Kobayashi (Japan); Patricia Duarte de Oliveira Paiva (Brazil); Rodrigo Barba-Gonzalez (Mexico); Sandra Gonçalves (Portugal); Sara Yasemin (Turkey); Silvia Scaramuzzi (Italy); Anabela Romano (Portugal); Dariusz Sochacki (Poland)
