Sweden
The seventh international “Fascination of Plants Day” around 18 May 2024 will be launched by plant scientists across the world under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO).
The goal of this activity is to get as many people as possible around the world fascinated by plants and enthused about the importance of plant science for agriculture and sustainable production of nutritious food, as well as for horticulture, forestry and the production of plant-based non-food products such as paper, timber, chemicals, energy and pharmaceuticals. The role of plants in environmental conservation is also a key message.
Everybody is welcome to join this initiative!
Welcome to a day when the power of plants will be explored!
Where: Botanical Garden of Lund University
When: 25th of May, 11:00 – 15:00
Programme:
- Plant senses. Exhibition in the garden.
- Blossom exchange – Swap, Grow, Share. Join Sustainable University (HU) to celebrate the beauty and utility of plants. Our plant swap is a perfect opportunity for gardening and plant enthusiasts to exchange their beloved plants, seedlings or seeds. Bring your plants, share their stories and get some others in exchange. Roll up your sleeves for a microgreen hands-on workshop where you’ll plant your own cress to take home. We will provide the materials and instructions, so whether you’re a seasoned gardener or a curious newbie, you will have a day of green-thumb fun and sustainable living insights.
- Wild plants in science. The Biological Museum shows how they take care of botanical material.
- Leopard’s bane and lily of the valley – perennials with a history. Linnea Oskarsson from the National Gene Bank gives a guided tour of the plants in the Clone archive (in Swedish).
- Plant dyes. A small exhibition about yarn dyeing with natural dyes from plants.
- BioBlitz at the Botanical Garden! For the first time, a BioBlitz will be hosted in the Botanical Garden! In BioBlitz, we can try to identify as many organisms as possible within the Lund University Botanical Garden in a limited time. By working alongside scientists from the Biology Department, you will have a unique opportunity to gain skills in identifying species. In the process, you can collect important data on the biodiversity in the Botanical Garden and make an inventory of species that will prove invaluable to our biological knowledge.
- Plants as sculptural material. How can plants help us to express ourselves, and what can we learn from their expression? Friedel Weiser from Malmö Art Academy presents an art installation with bamboo from the garden.
- Friends of Botan. Supporting association will be present in the garden all day.
The challenge of feeding a growing population on increasingly limited and sometimes degraded land in climate-resilient and sustainable ways has put agriculture practices at the focal point of attention. It calls for a rethinking of agriculture and food systems. Sustainable agriculture combines increased agricultural production and economic development, while promoting environmental protection and more equitable sharing of social benefits. Its achievement requires the development of new ideas, practices and tools.
The use of agricultural biologicals is steadily increasing, and the global market of biologicals is currently doubled about every 4th year. However, the market share in Africa is, in comparison, minute. In this workshop, Nordic and South African representatives will present how they view the emerging area of Agricultural Biologicals, and how they use it. A part of the workshop will be dedicated to a panel discussion where we open up for questions from the audience.
Agricultural biologicals are nature-based products that can increase yield, improve plant health, manage crop pests and pathogens. As such, they offer alternatives to conventional agrochemicals, which can have a negative impact on the environment and also on biodiversity. Biologicals can act as biopesticides, biocontrol agents, biostimulants, resistance inducers or biofertilizers. If correctly used, they can increase resilience by providing a more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. For future development of a sustainable agriculture, it is vital to thoroughly test the efficiency of biologicals and build capacity to systematically study these.
There has been limited information on the precise status of biologicals in sub-Saharan Africa. As part of an AgriFoSe2030 project, we therefore recently performed a Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) analysis of stakeholders active in the agriculture sector in Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa regarding agricultural biologicals. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected over 18 months from policymakers, regulators, researchers, agricultural-based investors, agro-dealers, farmers’ organizations, extension service providers, and smallholder farmers. In this workshop, we will first present the findings from our KAP analysis and contrast these to the status of biologicals in Sweden and Europe in general. We will discuss pitfalls and possibilities for biologicals both from Swedish and South African view point to identify common and different needs.
Moringa oleifera Lam. Moringaceae is a miracle tree that has been used by people for centuries for food, medicine, fodder, oil, and other purposes. The most commonly utilised part as food is leaves and pods rich in essential macro and micronutrients. Most plant parts are also used to prevent and treat various ailments; the leaves are known for several therapeutic benefits, such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects. Dry leaves are traded as nutritional supplements and medicine, while the seeds are a good source of edible oil and biofuel and are excellent flocculant agents for water purification. Given the plant’s significant value, a satellite event will disseminate additional plant knowledge and link stakeholders interested in the same topic. Moringa’s ability to withstand arid dry conditions and its high nutritional value made it a widely distributed species in tropical regions.
The SASUF Sustainability Forum will host a satellite event in association with the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences and the University of Mpumalanga. A one-day interactive workshop on “Connecting Research Priorities: Innovation, sustainability and long-term perspectives in Moringa cultivation” aims to illustrate how M. oleifera contributes to the food, health, and water nexus to combat climate change for smallholder farmers. The satellite seeks to demonstrate the benefits of M. oleifera for health (disease prevention and treatment), product development, nutraceuticals, and commercialization. The satellite will also cover the technology transfer implementation strategies researchers follow in providing technological support (e.g. cultivation practices, primary processing and marketing) to beneficiaries working on Moringa (University of Mpumalanga, Agricultural Research Council, Wits University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences).
The purpose of this event is to identify the gaps, initiate joint research and strengthen the next generation of researchers from Sweden and South Africa by giving early-career researchers, established researchers, research managers, policymakers, and industry experts a platform for engagement and collaboration and to share ideas, pertinent knowledge, and information.
Plant disease is a major burden across the world. With the changes in global climate, the spread of pathogens to new ecosystems is becoming an increasing threat to global food security and safety. Researchers are producing high quality genomic and transcriptomic data for various agricultural systems in unseen volumes. The data generated by these methods contains a wealth of information about how plants interact with their environment with regards to biotic and abiotic stresses. The main challenge for researchers is knowing what methods are applicable and available to them to extract the information from the data, and knowing how to interpret the massive volume of results one can obtain from this avenue of research. With this workshop we will showcase how reference genomes from plants and their associated pathogens can be used to elucidate the method of interactions these systems share. We will use sugar beet and its fungal pathogen, Cercospora beticola, as a model system for this workshop as sugar beet is a valuable commodity within both the Swedish and South African economies. The pathogen is yield-limiting for sugar beet crops in South Africa in summer rainfall areas in summer, and is a significant problem in Europe as well. We will use open source and publicly available tools to show how genome annotation can be used to determine the genes involved in plant immunity as well as genes involved in pathogenicity harboured within the fungal genome. We will showcase tools that predict protein structure, as well as sites of interaction within the proteins. We will also show how the domains of interaction are influenced by different evolutionary pressures than regions in the genome that are not involved in the evolutionary arms race between plants and pathogens. The tools we will showcase will be applicable to all systems for which reference genomes exist, and with this, we hope to engage the SASUF community on a larger scale. The tools and methods we will show can also be used to answer many other questions about genomes and interactions between plants and their environment.
With DLF, our industry-based partner, we will show how the advances in research at universities support the growth of private industry, and how collaborations with industry partners can foster a productive research environment. Ida Lager, the program study coordinator of the M.Sc. program towards plant breeding and protection at SLU, will facilitate a discussion on how researchers of all levels can place themselves in a better position to collaborate with industry partners, as well as preparing themselves for a career in industry.