Cotton is a multipurpose crop and produces lint, the most important source of fiber used in the textile industry, oil, seed meal, and hulls.
Twenty-three chapters on various aspects of in vitro manipulation and other biotechnological approaches to the improvement of cotton are arranged in six sections. Special emphasis is placed on interspecific hybridization, somaclonal variation, transgenic cotton resistant to insects and herbicides, and re-engineering of fiber.
This book is of special interest to advanced students, teachers, and research workers in the field of cotton breeding, genetics, tissue culture, molecular biology, and plant biotechnology in general.

Band 8 ist den Neuentwicklungen auf dem Gebiet der Herbizide gewidmet. Die Bedeutung der Herbizide ist von 1976 bis 1980 erneut gestiegen, und weltweit betragt der Herbizid-Verkauf wertmassig soviel, wie der Verkaufswert der Insekti- zide und Fungizide zusammen! Langsam bedienen sich auch, bei intensiverem Anbau von Nahrungsmitteln und Nutzkulturen, "unterentwickelte" Lander aller Arten von Pestiziden und Herbiziden, und so ist mit einer weiteren Steigerung der Herbizid-Anwendung zu rechnen. Von 1976 bis 1980 wurden viele neue Versuchsprodukte, aber vergleichsweise wenig neuartige Handelsprodukte bekannt, denn der Herbizid-Standard ist schon sehr hoch, sodass es immer schwieriger wird, Herbizide mit wesentlichen Vorteilen zu finden, zu entwickeln und zum Verkauf zu bringen. Die mengenmassig hohe Produktion wichtiger Herbizide macht es zudem schwierig, preiswertere neue Produkte herzustellen und einzufuhren. Die stark angestiegenen Forschungs-und Entwicklungskosten fur ein neues Pflanzenschutzmittel - etwa 100 Mill. D- erschweren den Fortschritt ausserordentlich. Wenngleich die meisten neuen Ver- suchs- und Handelsprodukte Substanzgruppen entstammen, deren Bedeutung schon Ende 1976 erkannt worden war, und deren erste Versuchsprodukte bereits eine Weiterentwicklung anzeigten, so wurden doch auch spektakulare Ent- deckungen gemacht, von denen es wiederum erste Versuchsprodukte gibt. Herbi- zide mit Aufwandmengen von etwa 20 g/ha, also mit extrem guter Wirksam- keit zeigen, dass der Weg in unerwartetes Neuland noch lange kein Ende hat. Schon 1976 bekannte Verbindungsklassen, wie die der Diarylether-oxyalkan- carbonsauren, nicht nur von der Entdeckerfirma Hoechst AG intensiv bearbeitet, ergaben eine Fulle neuer Herbizide mit meist selektiver Graserwirkung.

Chemicals inhibiting the biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids form a new and promising class of herbicides. This volume discusses in an authoritative way recent developments in this field and covers important aspects of these potent herbicides (synthesis, structure-activity, mode of action, selectivity, weed resistance, metabolism).

"The book is very effective in communicating the many aspects, dimensions and interpretations of sustainable forest management (SFM)...It is clearly born out of an ambitious remit to present an overview of SFM across all its dimensions. In this, it is by and large successful... It provides an effective entry into almost any SFM topic." Review in Scottish Forestry by Professor Jaboury Ghazoul, ETH Zurich/University of Edinburgh "Achieving Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests provides an excellent and essential read for those with responsibility for managing the world's tropical forests...The editors, Dr Blaser and Dr Hardcastle, are to be congratulated for editing the chapters into a very consistent read... Each chapter is authored by an expert or experts in the particular geography and/or discipline as social, governance, tenure, biology, rural livelihoods, climate change, products etc." Journal of Forestry - Society of American Foresters Although global rates of deforestation have started to decrease, they remain alarmingly high in many tropical countries. In light of this challenge, the growing importance of sustainable forest management (SFM) has been highlighted as a means for improving sustainability across the sector. Achieving sustainable management of tropical forests summarises and reviews the rich body of research on tropical forests and how this research can be utilised to make sustainable management of tropical forests a standard implementable strategy for the future. The book features expert discussions on the economic, political and environmental contexts needed for SFM to operate successfully, including coverage of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With its distinguished editors and international array of expert authors, Achieving sustainable management of tropical forests will be a standard reference for researchers in tropical forest science, international and national organisations responsible for protection and responsible stewardship of tropical forests, as well as the commercial sector harvesting and using tropical forest products.

The study of plant development in recent years has often been concerned with the effects of the environment and the possible involvement of growth substances. The prevalent belief that plant growth substances are crucial to plant development has tended to obscure rather than to clarify the underlying cellular mechanisms of development. The aim in this book is to try to focus on what is currently known, and what needs to be known, in order to explain plant development in terms that allow further experimentation at the cellular and molecular levels. We need to know where and at what level in the cell or organ the critical processes controlling development occur. Then, we will be better able to under stand how development is controlled by the genes, whether directly by the continual production of new gene transcripts or more indirectly by the genes merely defining self-regulating systems that then function autonomously. This book is not a survey of the whole of plant development but is meant to concentrate on the possible component cellular and molecular processes involved. Consequently, a basic knowledge of plant structure is assumed. The facts of plant morphogenesis can be obtained from the books listed in the General Reading section at the end of Chapter 1. Although references are not cited specifically in the text, the key references for each section are denoted by superscript numbers and listed in the Notes section at the end of each chapter."

Lord Rutherford has said that all science is either physics or stamp collecting. On that basis the study of forest biomass must be classified with stamp collecting and other such pleasurable pursuits. Japanese scientists have led the world, not only in collecting basic data, but in their attempts to systematise our knowledge of forest biomass. They have studied factors affecting dry matter production of forest trees in an attempt to approach underlying phYf'ical principles. This edition of Professor Satoo's book has been made possible the help of Dr John F. Hosner and the Virginia Poly technical Institute and State University who invited Dr Satoo to Blacksburg for three months in 1973 at about the time when he was in the final stages of preparing the Japanese version. Since then the explosion of world literature on forest biomass has continued to be fired by increasing shortages of timber supplies in many parts of the world as well as by a need to explore renewable sources of energy. In revising the original text I have attempted to maintain the input of Japanese work - much of which is not widely available outside Japan - and to update both the basic information and, where necessary, the conclusions to keep them in tune with current thinking. Those familiar with the Japanese original will find Chapter 3 largely rewritten on the basis of new work - much of which was initiated while Dr Satoo was in Blacksburg.

"Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology" contains timely review articles concerned with all aspects of chemical contaminants (including pesticides) in the total environment, including toxiological considerations and consequences. It attempts to provide concise, critical reviews of advances, philosophy, and significant areas of accomplished or needed endeavor in the total field of residues of these and other foreign chemicals in any segment of the environment, as well as toxicological implications.

The field of the molecular basis of plant disease is rapidly developing. The nineteen chapters of current information in Molecular Strategies of Pathogens and Host Plants are written by well known experts in the United States and Japan, and cover recent progress in the genetics and molecular biology of bacteria and fungi which are pathogens of plants. This research emphasizes the genes which are responsible for production of toxins, enzymes, and hormones that lead to pathogenicity and specificity in plant-pathogen interactions. Several chapters also examine the biochemistry of the plant's response to microbial attack.

The increasing use of biotechnology for the improvement of agricultural crop species has gained momentum, and recent developments (see Crops J) have shown beyond doubt the far-reaching implications of biotechnological approaches for future agricultural research and plant- breeding programs. The production of novel plants and somaclones showing resistance to pests, diseases, herbicides, and salt and the early release of disease-free as well as improved cultivars have become reality. The present volume comprises 31 chapters and deals with the impor- tance, distribution, conventional propagation, micropropagation, and methods for the in-vitro induction of genetic variability in various fruits, vegetables, grasses, and pasture crops such as grapes, strawberry, brambles, red raspberry, currants, gooseberry, kiwifruit, blueberry, cran- berry, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cucumber, chico- ry, taro, rhubarb, lettuce, spinach, quinoa, kale, fescue, bromegrass, Ber- mudagrass, napier grass, foxtail millet, turtle grass and others. (The cere- als and other vegetable crops are discussed in Crops J, Vol. 2 of the series). Micropropagation of some fruit crops such as strawberry, grape, and raspberry is already being practiced on a large scale in various countries. Likewise, test-tube-derived plants of certain crops such as brassicas, let- tuce, and taro and improved pastures are being utilized, while the technology for mass propagation of certain other crops is being worked out. These recent developments emphasize the urgent need to arouse awareness among horticultural scientists and plant breeders to enable them to incorporate these modern innovative approaches into routine crop improvement programs.

Books dealing with climatic change are commonplace, as are those concerned with effects of environmental stresses on plants. The present volume distinguishes itself from earlier publications by highlighting several interrelated environmental stresses that are changing in intensity as the climate warms in response to the accumulation of 'greenhouse' gases. The stresses examined at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop upon which this book is based include atmospheric pollutants, flooding and sub mergence, drought and cold. In future, successful farming or landscape management will ultimately depend on strategies that offset the effects of these and other environmental constraints, while exploiting more favourable features. However, the to predicted speed of climate change may exceed the rate at which new approaches farming, forestry, landscape management and genetic conservation can be developed through experience and retroactive response. The alternative is to anticipate future needs and thus identify appropriate management and legislative strategies by research and discussion. The contents of this volume contribute to these vital processes, upon which the productivity of agroecosystems and conservation of natural ecosystems may increasingly depend. Those with any lingering doubts concerning the gravity of the likely future situation are especially encouraged to read the opening chapter. For convenience, chapters discussing pollution, flooding, drought and cold are grouped in separate sections. However, many authors have taken care to emphasise that interactions between the changing combinations of stresses pose particular problems for plants and plant communities."

Plants are a major source of medicines, flavors, fragrances, and various pharmaceutical and industrial products. Biotechnology is being put to the service for mass clonal propagation of plants, and to produce impor- tant secondary products in cell cultures. In some cases cell cultures ac- cumulate higher amounts of products than the intact plant cells in situ, and such cultures can be stored through immobilization and cryopreser- vation. An in vitro-produced anti-inflammatory drug, shikonin, has been commercialized, and the recent observations on the increased pro- duction of atropine and hyoscyamine by Agrobacterium rhizogenes- mediated transformed "hairy roots" have encouraged the acceptance of such biotechnologies by the pharmaceutical industry. In an earlier volume, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants I, various aspects of in-vitro culture of cells, bioreactors, micropropagation, im- mobilization, and cryopreservation were discussed. The present volume concerns the application of these biotechnologies to 29 genera of medicinal and aromatic plants. It deals with the distribution, economic importance, conventional propagation, micro propagation, review of tissue culture studies, and the in-vitro production of important medicinal and pharmaceutical compounds in various species of Angelica, Anisodus, Basel/a, Bupleurum, Camellia, Co ix, Coptis, Cryp- tomeria, Datura, Dioscorea, Foeniculum, Gardenia, Geigeria, Heimia, Humulus, Hyoscyamus, Jasminum, Macleaya, Mucuna, Nicotiana, Pimpinel/a, Rauwolfia, Ruta, Salvia, So/anum, Saponaria, Stevia, Tabernaemontana, and Zingiber. The potential role of biotechnology for industrial production is discussed. Biotechnology enables the production and isolation of products of higher purity and also opens the possibility of making desired molecular alterations in products.

The biomedical community often complains of the crowded schedule of important meetings to be attended. It was thus with some reser vations when the individuals participating in this conference accepted the invitation to attend a small gathering to discuss the "Comparative Pathophysiology of Circulatory Disturbances," held over three days in November, 1971. At the end of it they had changed their minds and were enthusiastic over the wisdom to hold meetingsof this kind. The conference was conceived some years earlier when it was apparent to the conveners that little opportunity exists in the common mammoth meetings to exchange detailed information and, p- haps more importantly, to transmit points of view between scientists of different disciplines. In particular, the voice of veterinarians and comparative biologists is not often heard by medical investigators, and vice versa. Thus, many animal models exist in nature whose investigative exploitation might make important contributions to an understanding of human disease, yet they are unknown to medical scientists. Conversely, veterinarians are often not aware of the needs of such models and their recognition is often delayed unduly. This conference, attended by investigators of various back grounds was called to help correct these deficiencies, at least in a small segment of study, that concerned with circulatory pathophysiology."

Modern forest products research had its start hardly fifty years ago. Today we are in a position to apply the title "wood science" to the field of wood technology that is based on scientific investigation, theoretical as well as experimental. It is this research that fosters new uses for wood as a raw material and that creates the foundation for new industries for the manufacture of wood-base materials such as plywood, laminated products, particle and fiber board and sand wich construction. Wood technology in its broadest sense combines the disciplines of wood anatomy, biology, chemistry, physics and mechanical technology. It is through this interdisciplinary approach that progress has been made in wood seasoning, wood preservation methods, wood machining, surfacing and gluing, and in the many other processes applied in its utilization. In 1936 the senior author published a book entitled, "Technologie des Holzes," which was a first approach to a universal reference book on wood technology. The first edition of Volume I of the Textbook of Wood Technology, co-authored by H. P. BROWN, A. J. P AN SHIN, and C. C. FORSAITH, was published in 1948. An indication of the rapid development of this field can be gained from the fact that the second edition of "Technologie des Holzes und der Holzwerkstoffe," completely revised, was needed by 1951. It contains 2233 pages compared with the 764 pages of the 1936 edition."

Presenting an analysis of the water relationships of the major groups of organisms: fungi, plants and animals, the text examines water stress at all levels of biological organization. Topics covered include: 1) organic osmotic agents: their distributions, modes of action, and mechanisms of regulation; 2) desiccation stress; mechanisms for preserving cellu lar integrity under conditions of low cellular water activity; 3) water stress and water compartmentation in plants; and 4) freezing stress: the prevention and regulation of ice formation in biological fluids, and mechanisms for overcoming the damaging effects of low temperatures on cellular integrity. Common adaptive strategies in diverse organisms are emphasized, as well as the fundamental physical-chemical properties of aqueous solutions that establish the nature of the interactions among water, low molecular weight solutes and macromolecules.

The aim of this work is to check the possibility of substantial energy savings in the European agricultural mechanisation. In this analytical survey the possibilities of energy saving in stationary plants nor the indirect savings in chemical inputs are considered. The analysis has been essentially bibliographical, without any direct experimental analysis. After some general considerations on the European farming structure and the present energy requirements of the sector, ,the European agricultural machines and tractors industry is outlined. At the start of this analytical survey, the working schemes and the energy requirements are examined for the different crops. The evolution of tractor manufacturing and the derived machines is also surveyed, gathering the specific implements into the main groups: tractors (and derived machines); soil tillage machines, intercultivation machines and harvesting machines. The evolution and the energy saving potential in tractors and farming machines management is examined and the actions for development are outlined.

Modem Methods of Plant Analysis When the handbook Modern Methods of Plant Analysis was first introduced in 1954 the considerations were: 1. the dependence of scientific progress in biology on the improvement of existing and the introduction of new methods; 2. the difficulty in finding many new analytical methods in specialized journals which are normally not accessible to experimental plant biologists; 3. the fact that in the methods sections of papers the description of methods is frequently so compact, or even sometimes so incomplete that it is difficult to reproduce experiments. These considerations still stand today. The series was highly successful, seven volumes appearing between 1956 and 1964. Since there is still today a demand for the old series, the publisher has decided to resume pUblication of Modern Methods of Plant Analysis. It is hoped that the New Series will be just as acceptable to those working in plant sciences and related fields as the early volumes undoubtedly were. It is difficult to single out the major reasons for success of any publication, but we believe that the methods published in the first series were up-to-date at the time and presented in a way that made description, as applied to plant material, complete in itself with little need to consult other publications. Contributing autllors have attempted to follow these guidelines in this New Series of volumes.

With one new volume each year, this series keeps scientists and advanced students informed of the latest developments and results in all areas of botany. The present volume includes reviews on structural botany, plant physiology, genetics, taxonomy, and geobotany.

This volume arises from an International Symposium on Flow and Transport in the Natural Environment held in Canberra, Australia, in September 1987. The meeting was hosted by the CSIRO Division of Environmental Mechanics (now the Centre for Environmental Mechanics) to mark the opening of the second stage of its headquarters, the F.C. Pye Field Environment Laboratory, twenty-one years after the opening of the first stage. Those twenty-one years have seen much progress in our understanding of the physics of the natural environment and the occasion provided an ideal opportunity to review advances in our knowledge of flow and transport phenomena, particularly with regard to flow and transport in soils, plants and the atmosphere. The contents of this volume are based very closely on the Symposium's program. Undoubtedly, our choices of topics were idiosyncratic, but we believe that those we have selected exhibit progress, innovation, and much scope for practical application. Rather than being encyclopaedic, we have sought to deal with thirteen selected topics in depth.

Two aspects of the biotechnology of medicinal and aromatic plants are of immediate application. (1) Micropropagation under controlled germ- free conditions which enables their fast multiplication and availability throughout the year irrespective of external environment - this is specially useful for elite and rare plants. (2) A large-scale culture and low-temperature storage of cells enables retention of their biosynthetic potential for the production of important secondary metabolites, med- icines, flavours and other pharmaceutical products. This book has been compiled with a view to bringing together information and literature on the biotechnology and the present state of the art of plant cell cultures for their potential use in the pharmaceutical industry. This volume comprises 29 chapters on the biotechnology of med- icinal and aromatic plants grouped into three sections, (1) microprop- agation, immobilization, cryopreservation, bioreactors, production of secondary metabolites and their impact in pharmacy, (2) production through cell cultures of antitumour compounds, lrDopa, shikonin, an- thraquinone, morphinan alkaloids, caffeine, berberine, valeoptriates, rosmarinic acid, quinine, tropanes, hypoxoside, ellipticine, paeoniflorin, saponins, cardenolides etc, and (3) distribution, economic importance, conventional propagation, review of the tissue culture work on micropropagation and the in vitro production of compounds of medicinal and pharmaceutical interest in various species of Cannabis, Centaurium, Cinchona, Digitalis, Duboisia, Hypoxia, Lithospermum, Ochrosia, Paeonia, Panax, Papavar, Rehmannia, Rhamnus and Rhaza.

"Instead of dirt and poison we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax; thus furnisning mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light." Mindful of Swift's dictum, this compilation is offered as an exhaustive coverage of a smallish literature on the synthesis and secretion of beeswax, its elaboration into combs and the factors which bear on the execution of these processes by honeybees. To codify any aspect of the biology of an animal of agricultural importance is to sift through myriad observations and experiments, centuries old, that come down to us enshrouded in the folk literature. It is evident that wars and languages have also acted as barriers to the dissemination of knowledge about honeybees. Thus, particular care has been given to the primacy of discovery and its con textual significance. I have endeavoured to not over-interpret data and to allow the authors' works to speak for themselves. I have also tried to indicate some of the more obvious gaps in our knowledge of honeybees in relation to wax and to suggest some directions as to where we might proceed, aided by discoveries made on other animals and plants. This was done to remind the seasoned bee-hand of our general neglect of beeswax biology, historically constituting less than a percentage point of the apicultural literature."

The change in greenhouse operation and technology in the last 20 years has been unprecedented. Photoperiodic control, mist propagation, green house cooling, clean stock programs, CO injection, to name a few, have 2 all been inaugurated as regular greenhouse practices in this time. The introduction of new markets, new production centers, shifts in public attitudes, and the realization that greenhouse production is not simply growing crops, but the management of an enterprise in which people work, h ve combined to make this agricultural practice a challenging and rewarding vocation. The greenhouse grower, manager, and student who are training for this vocation have not had an up-to-date text book for many years. It has been our goal to bring both published and unpublished work together in this book, and to provide a bench mark from which we can continue to move forward. It is not until a process of writing a text begins that one fully realizes how far we have come-and where we need to go. It is with some sadness that we realize that this book is not likely to remain long as an expression of the state-of-the-art. We do not expect it to be easy reading; for new terms, new technology, and new ways of doing things are not always easy."

Provided here is a comprehensive treatise on all aspects of dielectric properties of wood and wood products. The topics covered include: Interaction between electromagnetic field and wood. - Wood composition and dielectric properties of its components. - Measurement of dielectric parameters of wood.- Dielectric properties of oven-dry wood. - Dielectric properties of moist wood. - Effect of different kinds of treatment on dielectric properties of wood. - Dielectric properties of bark. - Dielectric properties of wood-based materials. - Recommendations for determination of dielectric parameters of wood based materials and for their use in calculations. Several appendices comprise reference data onthe dielectric characteristics of wood and wood-based materials in the wide range of frequencies, temperatures, and moisture content.

These are the proceedings of an Advanced Research Workshop (ARW), sponsored by the NATO Science Panel, entitled "Pest Control: Operations and Systems Analysis in Fruit Fly Management." The ARW was held in Bad Windsheim, Germany during the week of 5 August 1985. The purpose of the ARW was to bring together scientists who are interested in fruit fly problems, but who usually do not have an opportunity to speak with each other, for an intense week of interdisciplinary collaboration. In particular, the group present at the ARW contained a mix of biologists, field ecologists, mathematical modellers, operational program managers, economists and social scientists. Each group has its own professional meetings at which fruit fly problems are discussed, but the point of the ARW was to learn about the problem from the perspective of other fields, which are equally important for the ultimate management of the fruit fly problems. (A list of attendees follows this preface. ) It appears that the ARW successfully met its objective of bringing together a group for interdisciplinary considerations of the problems; I hope that the proceedings do as well. The ARW was structured with formal lectures in the mornings and workshops in the afternoons. For the morning lectures, four different topics were chosen: 1) basic biology and ecology, 2) trapping and detection, 3) control and eradication, and 4) policy issues. Each morning, one lecture from each area was presented.

th st On June 20 and 21 1985 the third workshop on "Azospirillum: Geneties, Physiology, Eeology" took place at the University of Bayreuth, West Germany, organized by the geneties department. There were about 80 partieipants, who eame from German research institutions, from other European eountries, from India, Egypt, North and South America. The former workshops had taken place in Bayreuth too in 1981 and 1983 respeetively, henee the organizers eould draw on the experienees then obtained. Azospirilla have, during the past 12 years, found an ever inereasing seientifie interest, beeause first, these soil baeteria earry the genetie information for binding moleeular nitrogen from the air, and second, they live in elose vieinity to the roots of grain erops and forage grasses. By exploi tation of these two properties, it is hoped to develop inoeulation proeedures in soils poor in nitrogen. The reports on the first afternoon foeussed, as aresult of the Bayreuth research interest, on genetie approaehes.