The World Foliage Plant Industry - Acta Horticulturae

Participants of the Symposium.
The third statement was presented by Dr. R.
Socias i Company, ISHS representative. At first
he warmly welcomed all the distinguished
guests and expressed his deep appreciation and
thanks to all organizers of this symposium. He
stated that this could be a good opportunity for
exchanging the latest research highlights, meeting
participating researchers and other participants
and getting more acquainted with advances
and new technologies. He invited all participants
to join the ISHS for more strengthening
this international society.
The next statement was presented by the Iran
Pistachio Producers Cooperative representative.
He propounded for solving the most causes of
damages in agricultural production, the farmers
should have access to advanced technologies
and research highlights for enhancing the quality
and quantity of their products and in this
regard making a close collaboration among
national research institutes.
The first keynote lecture was presented by Prof.
Talaei, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at
Tehran University. At first he gave some general
information about the strategic and geographic
position of Iran, population and other relevant
information. He stated that Iran has many horticultural
crops due to vast diversity in its climatic
conditions. Further he mentioned two main
mountain ranges in Iran, Alborz and Zagros,
with many fertile lands in these areas. He also
stated agriculture plays an important role in
Iran’s national economy: 18% of GNP belongs
to this area and 20% of manpower is working
in this sector. Then he demonstrated some statistics
comparing Iran with other countries in
total horticultural crops, pistachio and almond
cultivars, production and quality.
The second keynote lecture, entitled “Aflatoxin
and its global strategies”, was presented by Dr.
Alavi. He mentioned that mycotoxins, fungal
metabolites exhibiting toxic effects in higher
organisms, are produced by over 100 fungal
species. Approximately 25% of the world’s food
crops are affected each year by mycotoxins. He
also spoke about aflatoxin, which is produced
significantly in storage commodities such as
dried nuts (peanut, Brazilian nut, pistachio,
almond, hazelnut and walnut), grains (maize,
millet, sorghum) and dried fruit (especially fig).
The last keynote lecture was presented by Dr. S.
Chaichi in the field of analysis on almond breeding
in Iran. He stated that the main origin of
this crop is in Iran and central Asia. A vast diversity
of almond wild species, of which around 15
date back to ancient times, is available in Iran.
The cultivation of this crop in Iran dates back to
Visit to almond’s orchards.
ancient times. Then he called the USA the main
almond exporter in the world, which possesses
43% of global production, and Iran as fourth
rank with a total production of 100,000 tons.
A total of 141 oral presentations and 175 posters
were divided into eight sessions, including:
1. Cultivars and Breeding
2. Propagation and Rootstocks
3. Physiology and Nutrition
4. Pollination and Fruit Set
5. Orchard Management
6. Harvesting and Processing
7. Phytopathology
8. Economics and Marketing
CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 45 • NUMBER 4 • 2005 • 27