Chronica - Acta Horticulturae

Maria Dragovic, Fernando Tombolato, Eleni
Maloupa and Gabriela Facciuto during the
field trip.
other two main types of vegetation existing in
the island and to appreciate the fantastic
landscape and also the big number of endemic
species, some of them easily watched and
photographed!
In the Business meeting of the Working Group
on New Ornamentals, Dr. Eleni Maloupa was
recognized for her meritorious service as the
Chair of the Working Group during the last
eight years, and a new Chair and Vice-Chair
were appointed for the next 4 years, Dr.
Fernando Tombolato and MSc. Maria Dragovic,
respectively. It was also decided that the next
Symposium on New Floricultural Crops will be
held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2011, with
Dr. Gabriela Facciuto as convener.
CONTACT
Maria João Oliveira Dragovic
Maria João Oliveira Dragovic, DSIAP - DAP,
Caminho das Voltas, 11, 9060-329 Funchal,
Madeira, Portugal, email: joaodragovic.sra@govmadeira.pt;
joaodragovic@netmadeira.com
Section Pome and Stone Fruits
Tenth Int’l Pear Symposium
Cristina Moniz Oliveira and Armando
Torres Paulo.
The Xth International Pear Symposium organised
by the Portuguese Pear Growers
Association (ANP) and the Portuguese
Association for Horticulture (APH) under the
auspices of the ISHS was held in Peniche,
Portugal on 22-26 May 2007. Overall 172 titles
were offered, 57 oral presentations and 115
posters were included in the program that comprised
three days of oral and poster sessions
and one day visit to a packinghouse and pear
orchards. Over 212 delegates from 31 countries
attended making the symposium a truly international
meeting.
After an official welcome by Armando Torres
Paulo (Convener of this Symposium), Manuel
Soares (President of APH), Prof. Theron (Chair
ISHS Working Group on European and Asian
Pears) and Dr. Webster (Chair ISHS Section
Pome and Stone Fruits), three keynote
speakers, opened the Symposium. Prof.
Sansavini presented an overview of intensive
pear orchard management, focusing on the
main aspects where research is needed. Prof.
Karen Theron followed with a talk on the physiology
of girdling, referring in particular to the
aspects related to flower induction. Dr. Becker
from Bayer CropScience, the Emeritus sponsor
of the Symposium, dealt with how food chain
partnership can lead to the implementation of
integrated crop solutions. The world wide pear
industry in New Zealand and Australia, Asia,
South and North America, South Africa and
Europe was addressed by invited speakers.
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME
Fruit Set Control
Presentations focused on the effect of plant
growth regulators and management strategies
to control vigour and fruit set. The mechanisms
underlying the Gametophytic Self Incompatibility
(GSI) system and the use of Pyrus genotypes
as pollinators were also addressed in
detail.
Participants of the Symposium.
Crop Physiology and Ecophysiology
Dr. Grapadelli from the University of Bologna
presented results of the effect of two rootstocks
on the photosynthetic efficiency and photo-oxidative
stresses of pear scions demonstrating the
influence of rootstocks on leaf and whole canopy
photosynthesis. The subsequent oral and
poster presentations focused on the agronomical
performance of pear cultivars. An important
topic was the effect of climate changes on pear
production with strong emphasis on the impact
on colour development, accomplishment of
chilling requirements and maturation date.
Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
A study of the Pyrus genus through chloroplast
DNA, as well as several contributions of Pyrus
fingerprinting added more knowledge to phylogenetic
relations within Pyrus. Three pioneering
studies namely, characterisation of expression,
and cloning of ripening-related MADS box
genes in pear fruit, identification of genes
coding for NH 4+ transporters in pear/quince
combination and identification of genes related
to anthocyanin production in fruit were presented.
Dr. Lebedev from the Institute of
Bioorganic Chemistry addressed the intronmediated
enhancement of foreign gene expression
and its stability in transgenic pear rootstocks.
Identification of S-genotypes and characterisation
of genes involved in the GSI were
also important contributions.
Cultivars Breeding and Evaluation
Breeding aims and crossing types from breeding
programmes from IRTA-HortResearch,
ISHS • 38