July 12th-16th, 2021, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) technical working party for fruit crops (TWF) 52nd session was successfully held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province featured both online and offline elements. This event was supported by UPOV, organized by the Development Center of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, and co-organized by Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ZFRICAAS). One hundred and thirteen experts from 37 countries (organizations) including China, Italy and New Zealand participated in the session.

Conference Scene

In the session, the participants gave reports on UPOV technical documents, code systems, molecular fingerprint testing technology, international exchanges and cooperation, etc. At the same time, eight UPOV test guidelines including hazelnuts, sour cherries, apricots, apples, raspberries, grapes, sweet cherries and mulberries were discussed and revised.

Chinese experts actively participated in the discussion on the revision of the test guidelines for apples, grapes, and citrus, and put forward some more operable revision suggestions, which were recognized by the international participating experts. Dr. Jiang Jianfu from ZFRICAAS and Ms. Zhao Wantong from Citrus Research Institute, CAAS introduced the research progress in the protection and testing of new varieties of fruit crops such as grapes, peaches and citrus in China.

Dr. Jiang Jianfu from Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute gave a speech

UPOV is an intergovernmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. UPOV was established in 1961 by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants with 77 members so far. The successful convening of this session has further promoted the in-depth exchanges between Chinese scientists and international counterparts on the protection of new varieties of fruit crops.

By Jiang Jianfu (jiangjianfu@caas.cn)