The following report summarizes the most important topics addressed in the last meetings of UPOV Technical Working Parties and Technical Committee.
Discussions on Test Guidelines
Technical Working Party for Ornamental Crops (TWO) and Technical Committee
Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch; Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch × Euphorbia cornastra (Dressler) Radcl.-Sm.) (Revision)
The Document TG/24/7(proj.3) presented by the LE Ms. Laetitia Denecheau (European Union) was discussed during the 56th session of the TWO. In summary, main changes were to the wording of some states of expression of “stem: intensity of anthocyanin coloration on middle third” (char 6) and “leaf blade: shape” (char. 10). Char. 27 was re-worded to “transitional leaves: number of lobes” and is no longer asterisked. Likewise, asterisks from char. 41 to 46 related to “bracts” were deleted, Furthermore, also related to “bracts”, drawings were also added to illustrate char. 35, 39, 43 and 46. Finally, some characteristics related to “cyathia” were deleted.
The TWO agreed to the proposed changes in the draft and will present it to the Technical Committee in October 2024.
Lavender (Lavandula L.) (Revision):
This Technical Guideline was already under revision in previous years and the draft was submitted to UPOV’s Technical Committee (TC) in 2023. The main proposed changes were the re-wording of char. 12 and 26 to “Leaf-type” and “Only varieties with Plant type: without infertile bracts: Spike: density”, respectively, and to add new states of expression and explanations. Furthermore, the latter was turned into a VG (VG: visual assessment by a single observation of a group of plants or parts of plants).
The TC proposed a re-evaluation of the draft by the TWO in 2024. During this latest meeting, the TWO agreed to indicate char. 12 (“Leaf blade: number of colors of upper side”) as PQ (Pseudo-qualitative Characteristic). That means that the state of expression is at ‘least partly continuous, but varies in more than one dimension (e.g. shape: ovate (1), elliptic (2), circular (3), obovate (4)) and cannot be adequately described by just defining two ends of a linear range’.
This final draft will be presented to the TC in October 2024 and should be adopted.
Leucanthemum (Leucanthemum Mill.):
The most important amendment agreed to in this TG by the TWO was to no longer have “ray floret: number of indentations” (char. 29) as an asterisked characteristic.
This final draft will be presented to the TC in October 2024 and should be adopted.
CIOPORA created a detailed report on proposed changes to the TGs exclusively for members, available in its member area (click here).
The following draft Test Guidelines were proposed for adoption by correspondence by the Technical Committee (TC). If there are no objections by August 9, 2024, they will be considered as adopted and posted on the UPOV website.
TG/148/3(proj.5) Weigela (Weigela Thunb.)
TG/181/4(proj.5) Amaryllis (Hippeastrum Herb.)
Technical Working Party for Fruit Crops (TWF) and Technical Committee
Grapevine (Vitis L.)
This TG has been under discussion for six years. In the TWF/55 in 2024, only a few matters to be resolved were discussed. The draft presented by Mr. Roberto Carraro (Italy), on behalf of the Leading Expert Mr. Luca Aggio, was agreed during this meeting. Most changes discussed during the last round of revision were editorial. But overall, there are some critical points for CIOPORA table grape breeders who have urged for a separate assessment from grape varieties used for wine production.
As part of CIOPORA’s work, the new draft, which will be submitted to the TC in October 2024, added more specific characteristics to provide distinction among table grape varieties. These new characteristics include a definition of new flavours, berry size became described by two new characteristics (length and width), and the fruit shape includes more distinction notes. On the other hand, five characteristics were removed, including the length of tendrils, length of petiole compared to the length of the middle vein, size of the bunch of fruits, easiness fruit detachment from the pedicel, and thickness of the skin. Overall, the new version is better adapted to provide distinction among the new varieties of table grapes.
CIOPORA created a detailed report on proposed changes to the TGs exclusively for members, available in its member area (click here).
Technical Working Party for Agricultural Crops (TWA) and Technical Committee
Hemp, Cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.)
A new Technical Guideline for Cannabis has been in the works for around three years. During the preparation of this draft, CIOPORA organized a meeting between cannabis breeders and technical experts from different examination offices (Canada, Argentina, Netherlands, Uruguay, and Colombia), in January 2023, in preparation for the attendance of the TWA. This opened a forum for discussion between the examiners and breeders on the priority characteristics to be added in the TG, as well as the example varieties to be used for comparison, and gave an opportunity for examiners to have a clear idea of the breeding process. As a result of this collaborative effort, the TWA made significant progress.
During the last round of discussions at the recent TWA meeting in May 2024, last changes to the new draft of the Technical Guideline for DUS Tests for Cannabis were discussed and agreed upon by the TWA. These changes were editorial, concerning the wording and explanations in the TG to add more clarity. This new draft will be submitted to the TC in October 2024.
CIOPORA created a detailed report on proposed changes to the TGs exclusively for members, available in its member area (click here).
Other important matters discussed by the Technical Working Parties:
1. Use of illustrations in DUS tests
The TWPs considered a document presented by an expert from Germany on the usefulness of illustrations when example varieties are not available or not suitable for cultivation. The expert will include examples of when illustrations could replace example varieties in the next draft to be discussed in 2025.
2. Similar varieties at the Report on Technical Examination and Variety Description
The TWPs discussed document TGP/5: Section 6 “UPOV Report on Technical Examination and UPOV Variety Description”, Subsection “UPOV Variety Description”, item 16 “Similar varieties and differences from these varieties” and agreed:
All similar/close varieties should be considered and if there is no such variety, it should be stated by the examiner “No similar/close variety was identified in the growing trial”.
Information on the closest similar variety(ies) to the candidate should be provided.
3. Number of growing cycles:
During the TWF meeting, experts discussed a possible contradiction between standard wordings in UPOV documents: “the minimum duration of tests should normally be two independent growing cycles” and “the testing of a variety may be concluded when the competent authority can determine with certainty the outcome of the test”. As in practice, this leads to uncertainty, experts from France, with the support of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and CIOPORA, will develop proposals on the number of growing cycles for fruit crops, such as reducing the duration of tests to one growing cycle for fruit crops and the meaning of “a satisfactory crop of fruit.”
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