The 13th International Horticulture Research Conference (IHRC 2026) was successfully held at Baoding Diangu International Hotel from July 12 to 16. Co-hosted by Hebei Agricultural University (HEBAU) and Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU), the conference was co-chaired by Professor Zhao Jianjun from HEBAU and Professor Cheng Zongming from NAU. Vice President Zhou Chunjiang of HEBAU attended the event and delivered the opening remarks.
Centered on frontier research in horticulture, the conference offered an open academic exchange platform for scholars and industry practitioners engaged in horticultural science and bioscience fields. More than 600 participants from China, the United States, France, Romania, Pakistan and other countries gathered at the event, to carry out in-depth discussions on key progress in horticultural germplasm innovation and stress-tolerant breeding.
Ten distinguished global scholars delivered keynote presentations at the conference, including Academician Qu Lijia from Peking University, Academician Mondher Bouzayen from University of Toulouse, France, Professor Zhou Jianmin from Yazhou Bay National Laboratory, and Professor Zhao Yunde from University of California, San Diego, USA. Eight thematic sessions were arranged around the core research directions of horticulture:
1. Quality Regulation of Fruits and Vegetables
2. Evolution and Domestication of Horticultural Plants
3. Genome Editing and Other Emerging Technologies and Methods
4. Climate Change and Abiotic Stresses
5. Research Frontiers in Brassicaceae
6. Mechanisms of Horticultural Plant-Biotic Interactions and Green Control
7. Secondary Metabolism in Horticultural Plants
8. Phytohormones and Horticultural Plants
The conference featured 86 thematic oral presentations and 21 graduate student forum reports, fully showcasing the latest progress in frontier research in horticulture and its industrial transformation applications. Participants came from institutions including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, top agricultural universities across China, and a number of enterprises in biotechnology and intelligent manufacturing.
Hosting international academic conferences is a regular key initiative for HEBAU to advance global disciplinary collaboration. The event has created direct, efficient communication channels for faculty and students to interact face-to-face with top international experts, which effectively facilitates cross-institutional and cross-border joint research, and strongly supports HEBAU's work in international talent training, collaborative germplasm research, and the transformation and application of agricultural scientific research outcomes.
