XIIIe réunion du GREMPA sur l'amandier et le pistachier

The XIII GREMPA (Groupe de Recherches Méditerranéennes pour l'Amandier et le Pistachier, Mediterranean Research Group for Almond and Pistachio) Meeting on Pistachios and Almonds took place in Portugal in Mirandela, the Garden-City of Terra-Quente (Hot Land) of Tras-os-Montes. The meeting, organized by the Direcçao Regional de Agricultura de Tras-os-Montes (DRATM) and the Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnologica (IBET), with the collaboration of the Inter-Regional FAO-CIHEAM Cooperative Research Network on Nuts, lasted 5 days (1-5 June 2004). A total number of 75 communications were presented (39 oral communications and 36 posters), distributed among the different sessions, which included : (i) "Cultivars, Rootstocks and Breeding" (10 oral communications, 12 posters) ; (ii) "Flowering, Pollination and Fruit set" (5 orals, 5 posters) ; (iii), "Pests and Diseases", (3 orals, 3 posters), (iv) "Harvesting, Marketing and Industry" (2 orals, 2 posters) ; (v) "Orchard Management" (4 orals, 4 posters) ; and finally (vi) "Physiology, Biology and Biotechnology" (15 orals, 10 posters). All the abstracts, including those of the participants that finally did not attend the meeting (in total 50 orals and 40 posters) were included in the book of Abstracts and distributed to the participants. Before closing the ceremony, a Round Table was organized to allow the participants to discuss common problems and strategies to solve them. The scientific programme was completed with a visit to a private almond company, a traditional store, some almond orchards at the Experimental Centre of Terra Quente and the old "lagares" in a Douro farm. The meeting was attended by more than 80 participants from 14 countries : Algeria (3), Argentina (1), Australia (10), Belgium (1), France (3), Greece (1), Iran (5), Italy (8), Morocco (1), Portugal (22), Spain (17), Tunisia (3), Turkey (3) and USA (6). A Chinese delegation with 7 participants could not attend the meeting because of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), although they were represented with their abstracts. Also one participant from Macedonia, and two other participants from Algeria, were only represented by their posters. This publication contains 57 of the 90 contributions that were included in the book of Abstracts. We hope the XIII GREMPA Meeting and this publication will contribute to the exchange of scientific knowledge and to strengthen the collaboration of the participants within the network or in connection with it.