Horticulturae Webinar | Use of Basic Substances to Manage Grapevine Downy Mildew and Diseases of Horticultural Crops and Tropical Fruit

On Tuesday, 20 July 2021, MDPI and the Journal Horticulturae organized the first webinar on Horticulturae, entitled "Use of Basic Substances to Manage Grapevine Downy Mildew and Diseases of Horticultural Crops and Tropical Fruit".

The introduction was held by the Chair of the webinar, Dr. Baldissera Giovani, and Dr. Ewa Matyjaszczyk. After more than 10 years of research experience in world leading universities, governmental agencies and private companies Dr. Giovani moved into the field of research funding and international research cooperation. Since 2014 he coordinates the Euphresco network at the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization. Dr. Ewa Matyjaszczyk is leading the EPPO activities on plant protection products at the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization. For over 12 years, as the head of the Department of Expertise and Opinions on Plant Protection Products at the Institute of Plant Protection in Poznań, she was responsible for efficacy assessment of plant protection products before their registration in Poland and for qualifying plant protection products for use in organic farming.

The first speaker to quick off this webinar was Prof. Dr. Gianfranco Romanazzi from the Marche Polytechnic University. He coordinates several projects, including PRIMA StopMedWaste and Euphresco BasicS, and research activity focuses on alternatives to synthetic fungicides for pre and postharvest disease management. Since June 2020, he is President of the Italian Association for Plant Protection (AIPP). His presentation was entitled "Application of Chitosan for the Management of Grapevine Downy Mildew".

The second presentation with the title "Basic Substances, a New Active Substance Category at PPP Regulation: Overview on Horticultural Usages" was held by Dr. Patrice Marchand. He is an organic chemist, researcher in biopesticides specializing in natural substance. His experience includes over 25 years in analytical environmental chemistry, organic synthesis of natural products analogs and structure elucidation, and applied research on the chemistry-biology interface. His particular area of focus is on plant extract (botanicals) and he is head of crop protection and biostimulation at the Organic Food and Farming Institute (ITAB).

The third and last presentation, entitled "Basic Substances in the Control of Postharvest Decay in Tropical and Subtropical Fruits" was held by Prof. Dr. Porfirio Gutierrez Martinez from the Technological Institute of Tepic (ITT). His Research and development area is in post-harvest pathology and development of alternative systems to the use of fungicides for the control of post-harvest decay by fungi in tropical and subtropical fruits.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A, moderated by the Chair. The webinar was offered via Zoom and required registration to attend. The full recording can be found here on Sciforum website. In order to stay updated on the next webinars on Horticulturae, be sure to sign up for our newsletter by clicking on "Subscribe" at the top of the page.