The Fourth International Seabuckthorn Association Conference (ISA-2009) was held in Belokurikha, Altai Territory, Russian Federation, in Aug 31 to Sep 6, 2009. The conference was organized by ISA, and hosted by Administration of Altai Territory, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, The Lisavenko Research Institute of Horticulture for Siberia. Around 130 delegates from 15 countries attended the conference. Ivan loor, head of legislative assembly of Altai territory, Russia, E. Jingping, vice minister of water resources, ministry of water resources, the people’s republic of china, Boris neudahin, vice governor of Altai territory, chairman of the ISA 2009 LOC, Russia, Yuanlin Tai, President of the International Seabuckthorn Association, etc., made speaches at the opening ceremony.
The conference took " Seabuckthorn: On The Way Between Science and Industry Interaction as the theme, and gave prominence to explore the focus and difficulty in sea buckthorn industry in the worldwide. 1o1 papers in the field like "breeding / genetics / ecology", "cultivation / propagation / harvesting", "chemistry", "processing / products", "pharmacology" and "miscellaneous" were collected for the meeting , which were contributed from China, Russia, Belarus, Romania, Germany, Latvia, India, Finland, Canada, Sweden, the United States and other countries, and 34 experts were in oral communication, as well as 56 papers were poster for exchange, and another processing enterprises from China, Russia, India and other countries exhibited nearly 10 sea-buckthorn products.
On the basis of extensive exchanges in sessions, all the delegations were divided into three groups: cultivation group, including cultivation, breeding, environment, conservation fields, hosted by Dr Natalia Demidova, Dr Virendra Singh, and Prof. Lu Rongsen; processing group, including chemistry, nutrition, pharmacology fields, hosted by Dr Thomas Moersel, Prof. Heikki Kallio; and marketing group, including processing, marketing, product development fields, hosted by Mr Veli-Markku Korteniemi, Dr Baoru Yang. The three groups had round-table meetings discussing on the Future Prospects in Seabuckthorn Research, aimed to make plans how to improve the international co-operation, to outline ideas about practical projects, and to focus the scattered disciplines. Good suggestions were gained through group discussion.
The first group (cultivation) proposed much work should be done in the near future like exchange and evaluation of genetic material for cultivation; raising resistance against pest and disease by developing resistant varieties and developing biological and agro-technical means of seabuckthorn protection; development of a small fruit harvester and measuring device for research for measuring different traits important for efficient harvest and breeding; transfer of technology for reforestation of fragile mountainous lands for control of soil erosion by China and other countries; development of package and practices document for cultivation of seabuckthorn. They also suggested that ISA should take initiative to have the full genome sequence determined for seabuckthorn.
The second group (processing) thought that complex composition of seabuckthorn make it necessary to focus on identification of active principles, and development of technological processes with a maximum concentration of not adulterated active biochemical ingredients was very important for the R&D of seabuckthorn.
The third group (marketing) considered that more emphasis should be given to the following aspects: quality and standardization about raw materials and end products, and active components, residues and contaminants; marketing including public image of seabuckthorn, press releases, message to consumers, and involvement of big players; cooperation between companies; and financing. They also put forward a suggestion that ISA should set up its own standards for international marketing of seabuckthorn.
At the closing ceremony, the president Prof. Tai gave a brief summary of the conference from ISA, and Prof. Vladimir Usenko, Lisavenko Institute of Horticulture for Siberia, Russia, and Co-chairman of the ISA-2009 LOC, also delivered a summary from LOC. The conference also declared that the host country of the 2011 Fifth Seabuckthorn International Conference (ISA-2011) would be held in Qinghai, China.Technical tours were organized after the closing ceremony and the delegates visited the seabjckthorn plantation and enterprises.
The successful conference will be an effective way to promote vigorous development of global seabuckthorn, and strengthen friendly cooperation and extensive exchange between countries in the world, so that to serve the construction of harmonious society. At the same time, it will also continue to promote the ecological construction in soil and water conservation, farmers��?income, corporate efficiency and so on in the Asia countries, and further realize the sustainable use of land and water resources, sustainable maintenance of ecological environment, and economic and social sustainable development in China.