S05

Rodrigo Barba-Gonzalez , Mexico ; Peter Batt, Australia ; Margherita Beruto, Italy ; Jeong Byoung Ryong , Republic of Korea ; Fisun Çelikel, Turkey ; Lakshman Chandra De, India ; Rina Kamenetsky, Israel ; Lim Ki-Byung, Republic of Korea ; Sabine Lorente, Netherlands ; Leo Marcelis, Netherlands ; Eduardo Olate, UK ; Teresa Orlikowska, Poland ; Marta Pizano de Marquez, Colombia ; Alicia Rihn, USA ; Traud Winkelmann, Germany ; Xiuxin Zhang, China ; Thomas Debener, Germany ; Nan Ma, China ; Brent Pemberton, USA

The symposium on « innovation in ornamentals: from breeding to market » will be organised conjointly with the 8th International Symposium on Rose Research and Cultivation.

In a world of transitions, the ornamental sector has to face important challenges as global climate change, reduction of chemical uses through development of sustainable production and urbanization with larger cities. Today, ornamentals plants are not solely used as plants to decorate gardens or houses, but they provide increasingly important other services.

This symposium will cover various levels of innovations for the sustainability of the ornamental sector regarding plants and products, sustainable production systems, breeding and propagation methods in production context, marketing strategies of ornamentals, market development, new uses (between aesthetic, well-being, food use and ecosystem services and postharvest quality). In particular, a core challenge is how to address the market evolutions for ornamental plants in urban context and how to adapt ornamental plants to these new requirements.

The following topics will be developed during the symposium:

• Ecosystem services and alternative uses of ornamental plants: Innovations in ornamental plant breeding and production methods related to the use of ornamentals in ecosystem services (impact on environment and human health), in horticultural therapy, as remedy against air pollution or contamination of water and soil and for extraction of active ingredients and/or phytotherapeutic /nutraceutical uses.

• Healthy ornamental plants and sustainable production systems: propagation and sustainable production systems will be considered. The sustainability will concern aspects related to the impact on the environment (i.e. use of biostimulants) and human health but also to the economic sustainability of the entire production chain.

• Pre-harvest conditions affecting the final product quality: In this section, the effects of plant nutrition, cultivation conditions, climate changes and genetics on crop physiology, quality, storability and shelf life will be discussed for the ornamental plants. Indeed, these aspects are seldom faced but of great interest for providing the end-consumer with a satisfactory product.

• From production to market: In this section, new approaches to commercialize the ornamental products and to improve the market will be discussed. The smart digital ornamental chain will be considered.

The proposed symposium aims at encouraging the reflection on these aspects, enhancing the holistic approach in which different professionals can interact and through the presentation of case-studies where the positive or negative impact will be outlined under innovative, scientific and inter-disciplinary approaches. The interaction with people from industry, landscape designers and architects will help to understand to which extent the incorporation of ornamental plants in their workplace and their working process is satisfactory and how this could be implemented in the future organizations.