Recently, fifty-seventh session of Technical Working Party for Vegetables (TWV) of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) was held in Antalya, Turkey. This meeting was held in two ways: virtual meeting and physical meeting. The session was opened by Ms. Marian van Leeuwen (Netherlands), Chairperson of the TWV. The TWV was welcomed by Mr. Mehmet Hasdemir, General Director of Plants production, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Turkey, and Mr. Muhtesem Torun, Secretary General of Turkish Seed Growers Association and representatives. More than 100 participants from 32 countries or organizations attended the meeting. Deputy Director Yang Kun, Dr. Ren Jun and some testers of the New Plant Variety Tests Team of Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences attended the meeting.

Figure 1 TWV57 Opening Ceremony

Participants of TWV listened to and discussed topics and related reports on the development of the TWV, image analysis, drafting and revision of test guidelines, development of the application of disease resistance traits and molecular techniques in DUS testing. Experts focused on revising the testing guidelines for vegetable crops such as Chinese cabbage, cabbage, parsley, pepper, tomato, cauliflower, cucumber, lettuce, melon, and spinach, and reached a consensus after enthusiastical discussion. TWV agreed to hold its fifty-eighth session from April 22 to 26, 2024.

Figure 2 TWV57 meeting agenda

Figure 3 Group photo of physical participants

New plant variety tests group performed actively at TWV meeting. Invited by the meeting, Associate Researcher Yang Kun made an English report on "Image analysis for tomato fruit", introducing the application of image analysis technology in tomato DUS test. It is worth noting that France, Germany and the Netherlands are also doing research on the application of image analysis in DUS testing. The participants collectively reviewed and studied the regulations in TGP/8 document on "Using Image Analysis for DUS Testing", and unanimously agreed that image analysis can help automate measurements and support the analysis of a large number of varieties. In the discussion section of the testing guidelines, new plant variety tests team put forward constructive suggestions on the characteristics of different vegetables.

Figure 4 Yang Kun, Deputy Director of Beijing Sub-center of New Plant Variety Tests, MARA, China, gave a report

The meeting achieved a complete success. New plant variety tests team will learn from the successful experience and practices of other member states of UPOV to promote the DUS testing work of the new plant variety tests team to be more accurate and efficient.

(Ren Jun, Promotional information officer)