The COUSIN Project was presented at @The 32nd International Horticultural Congress (IHC2026) in Kyoto, providing an important opportunity to disseminate project activities and research results to the international horticultural community.

The research group from the University of Catania contributed to the scientific programme with several presentations:

• Prof. Ferdinando Branca delivered an oral presentation entitled “Capturing the diversity of the wild and grown germplasm for improving vegetable production and produce quality.”

• Donata Arena presented the poster “Genome assembly of Brassica oleracea complex species (n=9) to enable comprehensive assessment of B. oleracea genomic diversity” and was also invited as a speaker at the Crucifer Vegetable Workshop, where she presented the COUSIN Project research entitled “Capturing the diversity of the B. oleracea complex species (n=9) to improve resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses and produce quality in related crops.”

• Gresheen Garcia presented the poster “Enhancing Nutraceutical Traits in Brassica oleracea L. for Functional Food Production”.
  

These contributions demonstrate the COUSIN Project’s commitment to exploring, characterising, and valorising plant genetic diversity to support more resilient, sustainable, and nutritious food systems.