From 14 to 20 August, one of the major horticultural events took place in Angers (France): the 31st International Horticultural Congress. With 25 different symposia on topics such as greener cities, conservation and sustainability, water and soil management, and new technologies, the congress featured a space entirely dedicated to Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.
Under the title Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: domestication, breeding, cultivation and new perspectives the symposium consisted in five oral sessions from Monday 15th until Wednesday 17th, discussing the following topics:
• Development of MAP crops through genetic resources, domestication and breeding
• Adaptation of MAP cultivation to global changes
• Plant raw materials for herbal medicinal products, botanical food supplements and frontier products: requirements for quality and safety
• Postharvest handling and drying of MAPs
• New uses of MAP plants and extracts in agriculture and horticulture (biocides, biostimulants, antibiotic substitutes, …)
These sessions were complemented by three thematic eposter sessions – 1. Optimisation of soil cultivation, 2. Genetic resources, domestication, breeding and 3. Quality and value chains.
In parallel to the theoretical explanations, the congress organised a Technical Tour on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, visiting the ITEIPMAI station, a technical institute qualified by the Ministry of Agriculture, which ensures a finalised applied research mission in the service of aromatic, medicinal and perfumed plants (PPAM) in France.
The contents of this symposium were selected by an international scientific committee of 24 scientific researchers from 18 countries around the world, one of them being Dimitrios Argyropoulos – partner of the WildMAPsFit project.
The International Horticultural Congress 2022 collected 12.000 hours of presentations, 1500 speakers and was attended by 2500 people from 88 different countries. After the success in France, the next edition of the congress will be celebrated in Kyoto, Japan in 2026. In the meanwhile, you can further the information about this year’s edition on their website https://www.ihc2022.org/