Topics for the Beltsville Symposia are selected to highlight specific areas of research and science policy that are of concern to scientists in the Beltsville Area as well as to the general scientific community. Each sympo sium in the series is structured to provide a realistic appraisal of current findings, research progress, and relevant policy issues within the constraints established by the organizing committee. Thus, the presentations and dis cussions that have marked these symposia have had a strong appeal to the broad community of scientists. Knowledge of the diversity of living organisms is still quite limited. Since the time of Linnaeus, about 1.7 million species have been described. The actual number has been estimated between 5-50 million. Many species, land races, and strains are vanishing. Clearly, the world's scientific institutions are inadequately equipped to attain sufficient knowledge of a significant fraction of the diverse living forms. Also, efforts in the collection and preservation of germplasm of plants and animals urgently need to be strengthened. These mattes are critically important to future generations. This symposium addresses vital concerns of biotic diversity and germ plasm preservation from diverse perspectives. Many of the parts provide concrete recommendations for action, and they call attention to areas of research that must be pursued with intensity."

This book is a collection of chapters concerning the use of biomass for the sustainable production of energy and chemicals-an important goal that will help decrease the production of greenhouse gases to help mitigate global warming, provide energy security in the face of dwindling petroleum reserves, improve balance of payment problems and spur local economic development. Clearly there are ways to save energy that need to be encouraged more. These include more use of energy sources such as, among others, manure in anaerobic digesters, waste wood in forests as fuel or feedstock for cellulosic ethanol, and conservation reserve program (CRP) land crops that are presently unused in the US. The use of biofuels is not new; Rudolf Diesel used peanut oil as fuel in the ?rst engines he developed (Chap. 8), and ethanol was used in the early 1900s in the US as automobile fuel [Songstad et al. (2009) Historical perspective of biofuels: learning from the past to rediscover the future. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Plant 45:189-192). Brazil now produces enough sugar cane ethanol to make up about 50% of its transportation fuel needs (Chap. 4). The next big thing will be cellulosic ethanol. At present, there is also the use of Miscanthus x giganteous as fuel for power plants in the UK (Chap. 2), bagasse (sugar cane waste) to power sugar cane mills (Chap. 4), and waste wood and sawdust to power sawmills (Chap. 7).

This book presents recent research on natural fibers extracted from pineapple leaves. Covering several extraction processes, properties of pineapple leaf fibers and comparisons with other natural fibers, and their applications, it provides up-to-date information on the subject of natural fibers from prominent researchers in academia and industry as well as government/private research laboratories across the world. The book is a comprehensive reference resource for university and college faculties, professionals, postdoctoral research fellows, undergraduate/graduate students, researchers and scientists working in the areas of non-forest product utilization, natural fibers, and biomass materials.

Plants have to manage a series of environmental stresses throughout their entire lifespan. Among these, abiotic stress is the most detrimental; one that is responsible for nearly 50% of crop yield reduction and appears to be a potential threat to global food security in coming decades. Plant growth and development reduces drastically due to adverse effects of abiotic stresses. It has been estimated that crop can exhibit only 30% of their genetic potentiality under abiotic stress condition. So, this is a fundamental need to understand the stress responses to facilitate breeders to develop stress resistant and stress tolerant cultivars along with good management practices to withstand abiotic stresses. Also, a holistic approach to understanding the molecular and biochemical interactions of plants is important to implement the knowledge of resistance mechanisms under abiotic stresses. Agronomic practices like selecting cultivars that is tolerant to wide range of climatic condition, planting date, irrigation scheduling, fertilizer management could be some of the effective short-term adaptive tools to fight against abiotic stresses. In addition, "system biology" and "omics approaches" in recent studies offer a long-term opportunity at the molecular level in dealing with abiotic stresses. The genetic approach, for example, selection and identification of major conditioning genes by linkage mapping and quantitative trait loci (QTL), production of mutant genes and transgenic introduction of novel genes, has imparted some tolerant characteristics in crop varieties from their wild ancestors. Recently research has revealed the interactions between micro-RNAs (miRNAs) and plant stress responses exposed to salinity, freezing stress and dehydration. Accordingly transgenic approaches to generate stress-tolerant plant are one of the most interesting researches to date. This book presents the recent development of agronomic and molecular approaches in conferring plant abiotic stress tolerance in an organized way. The present volume will be of great interest among research students and teaching community, and can also be used as reference material by professional researchers.

Plant breeding has undergone a period of very rapid and significant development in recent years and the area of fruit breeding is no exception. This book provides a balanced, up-to-date and comprehensive account of the developments in the field of breeding tropical and subtropical fruits. It offers not only the theoretical and applied aspects of breedings fruits but also provides an authoritative manual of the conventional and new techniques used for increasing efficiency of crop improvement programmes. In specific chapters the book deals with crop taxonomy, genetic resources, floral biology, breeding objectives, inheritance patterns and information on new improved cultivars/hybrids.

A Seminar in the EEC Programme of Coordination of Research on Plant Protein Improvement

The International Symposium on "Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Biosynthesis and Action of the Plant Hormone Ethylenc" ,vas held in Agen, France from August 31 st and September 4th, 1992. The planning and management of the scientific and social programme of the Conference were carried out jointly by the "Ethylene Research Group" of ENSAlIN"P (Toulouse) and Agropole Congres Service (Agen). Since the last meetings in Israel (1984) and in Belgium (1988), ethylene physiology has gone through a period of exciting progress due to new developments in cellular and molecular bioiogy. New methods and tools have been developed to better understand the role and functions of ethylene in fruit ripening, flower senescence, abscission, piant growth, and cell differentiation. Genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis have been characterized and transgenic plants with altered ethylene production have been generated. The feasibility of delaying fruit ripening or flower senescence by genetic manipulation is now demonstrated, thus opening new perspectives for the postharvest handling of plant products. Some progress has also been made on the understanding of ethylene action. However, much remains to be done in this area to elucidate the ethylene signal transduction pathway. Around 140 scientists from 20 countries attended the Symposium. They presented 47 oral reports and 40 poster demonstrations. All of them are published in these proceedings. It has been a pleasure for us to organize this important Symposium and to edit this book.

This is the first book on the genome of Salvia miltiorrhiza, summarizing the research advances in the molecular mapping, whole genome sequencing, chloroplast and mitochondria genomes, epigenetics, transcriptomics and functional genomics of this emerging model plant with great economic and medicinal value. It also describes its distribution, taxonomy and morphology and provides useful information on its cultivation and breeding. Further, it highlights the biosynthetic pathways of tanshinones and phenolic acids - two main classes of bioactive components produced in this plant species - and reviews and discusses the technology of hairy root induction, tissue culture and genetic transformation of S. miltiorrhiza. The book is a valuable resource for students, teachers and researchers in academia and industry interested in medicinal plants and pharmacy.

This book collates the most up to date information on Fragaria, and Rubus genomes. It focuses on the latest advances in the model system Fragaria vesca, along with the allied advances in economically important crops. Covering both basic and applied aspects of crop genomics, it illustrates strategies and resources for the study and utilization of genome sequences and aligned functional genomics resources. Rosaceous berries are collectively an increasingly important set of high-value global crops, with a trade value of over GBP2 billion dollars per annum. The rosaceous berries strawberry, raspberry and blackberry share some common features at the genome scale, namely a range of ploidy levels in each genus and high levels of heterozygosity (and associated inbreeding depression) due to self-incompatibility systems, dioecy, or multispecies hybridization events. Taken together, although the genomes are relatively compact, these biological features lead to significant challenges in the assembly and analysis of berry genomes, which until very recently have hampered the progress of genome-level studies. The genome of the woodland strawberry, Fragaria vesca, a self-compatible species with a homozygous genome was first sequenced in 2011 and has served as a foundation for most genomics work in Fragaria and to some extent Rubus. Since that time, building upon this resource, there have been significant advances in the development of genome sequences for related crop species. This, coupled with the revolution in affordable sequencing technology, has led to a suite of genomics studies on Fragaria and more recently Rubus, which undoubtedly aid crop breeding and production in future years.

In 1980, a conference on tissue culture of fruit crops was held at Beltsville to summarize the current status of this technology and to stimulate interest in it among research scientists, students, and commercial producers in the U. S. Interest in that conference and the proceedings from it far exceeded the expectations of the organizing committee. Since that time, micropropagation of fruit crops in the U. S. has increased significantly, but still lags far behind applications to production of ornamental plants. Within the past two years, a number of new laboratories have been established and some of the existing laboratories have expanded to a size far larger than any previously anticipated. Creation of new laboratories capable of producing more than 400,000 plants per week will test the ingenuity of laboratory managers and the skills of marketing departments. In recent years, numerous symposia have been held on various aspects of biotechnology and genetic engineering. Although micro propagation is the key to providing large numbers of genetically engineered plants, it is a topic that has been relegated to a minor position, or ignored completely, at such meetings. Accordingly, the time seemed propitious for a conference devoted solely to all aspects of micropropagation as applicable to horticultural crops.

Asiatic Momordica comprises 10 species of which 3 are monoecious and rest dioecious. They are unique in the sense that all are wild or cultivated vegetables with medicinal uses. Barring bitter gourd, all are under utilized vegetables with little research and conservation efforts. In this book, the authors have presented the available information on various aspects of Asiatic Momordica like taxonomy, cytogenetics, crop improvement, origin, ethnobotany and crop production at one place. The book is well illustrated with color maps and photographs depicting habit, morphology and distribution of individual taxa. Species distribution map for all Indian taxa, descriptor for characterization and preliminary evaluation of dioecious and monoecious group available varieties, keys for botanical identification are some of the unique features of the book. The book will be useful to botanists, horticulturists, foresters, environment educators, conservation biologists, plant science students in general and all interested in agrobiodiversity.

Recent studies have revealed remarkable complexity and diversity in orchid-pollinator relationships. These studies comprise a vast literature currently scattered in numerous, often obscure, journals and books. "The Pollination Biology of North American Orchids" brings together, for the first time, a comprehensive treatment of this information for all native and introduced North American orchids found north of Mexico and Florida. It provides detailed information on genetic compatibility, breeding systems, pollinators, pollination mechanisms, fruiting success, and limiting factors for each species. Distribution, habitat, and floral morphology are also summarized. In addition, detailed line drawings emphasize orchid reproductive organs and their adaptation to known pollinators.

This, the second of two volumes, treatsthe subfamily Orchidoideae with the tribe Cranichideae. This is followed by examination of the seven North American tribes of subfamily Epidendroideae and the single North American tribe of subfamily Vanilloideae.

"The Pollination Biology of North American Orchids" will be of interest to both regional and international audiences including: Researchers and students in this field of study who are currently required to search through the scattered literature to obtain the information gathered here.Researchers and students in related fields with an interest in the co-evolution of plants and insects.Conservation specialists who need to understand both the details of orchid reproduction and the identity of primary pollinators in order to properly manage the land for both.Orchid breeders who require accurate and current information on orchid breeding systems. General readers with an interest in orchid biology.

Charles Argue, Ph.D., is a plant biologist at the University of Minnesota specializing in the study of pollen grains. His articles have appeared in numerous journals including the "American Journal of Botany," "International Journal of Plant Sciences "(formerly "Botanical Gazette"), "Botany "(formerly "Canadian Journal of Botany"), "Grana," "Pollen et Spores," "North American Native Orchid Journal," "The Native Orchid Conference Journal," "Fremontia," and as chapters in a number of books.

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This book contains complete information on Capsicum genetic resources, diversity, evolution, history and advances in capsicum improvement from classical breeding to whole genome sequencing, genomics, databases and its impact on next generation pepper breeding. Capsicum is one of the most important Solanaceae crops grown worldwide as vegetables and spices. Due to its high economic value and to meet the demands of enormous population growth amid biotic and abiotic stresses, there has been an ongoing breeding program utilizing available genetic resources with desired traits to increase the sustainable productivity of this crop for several decades. However, the precision breeding of this crop for desired traits only started with the advent of molecular markers. The recent advances in high-throughput genome sequencing technologies helped in the quick decoding of transcriptome, epigenome, nuclear and organeller genomes, thereby enhancing our understanding of the structure and function of the Capsicum genome, and helping in genomics assisted breeding. These advanced technologies coupled with conventional mapping have greatly contributed towards dissection and manipulation of economically important traits more precisely and made less time consuming.

Soil salinity is a key abiotic-stress and poses serious threats to crop yields and quality of produce. Owing to the underlying complexity, conventional breeding programs have met with limited success. Even genetic engineering approaches, via transferring/overexpressing a single 'direct action gene' per event did not yield optimal results. Nevertheless, the biotechnological advents in last decade coupled with the availability of genomic sequences of major crops and model plants have opened new vistas for understanding salinity-responses and improving salinity tolerance in important glycophytic crops. Our goal is to summarize these findings for those who wish to understand and target the molecular mechanisms for producing salt-tolerant and high-yielding crops. Through this 2-volume book series, we critically assess the potential venues for imparting salt stress tolerance to major crops in the post-genomic era. Accordingly, perspectives on improving crop salinity tolerance by targeting the sensory, ion-transport and signaling mechanisms were presented in Volume 1. Volume 2 now focuses on the potency of post-genomic era tools that include RNAi, genomic intervention, genome editing and systems biology approaches for producing salt tolerant crops.

This work synthesizes research and practical work, including various techniques and applications of botany and nanoparticles, including enzymology, pharmaceuticals, phenolics, antioxidants, metal particles, synthesis of nanoparticles by plants and microbes, and more. The text discusses the latest research as well as key sources of information condensed from other scholars across the globe, providing a comprehensive resource for scholars working in nanobotany, as well as chemists and researchers in the pharmaceutical industry.

These Proceedings evolved from the OECD Co-operative Research Programme workshop on "Potential ecological impact of transgenic plants expressing viral sequencies," held at the Agricultural Biotechnology Center in Godollo, Hungary on 24-26 April 1997. The OECD Co-operative Research Programme At the Directorate for Agrieulture of the Organisation for Economie Co-operation and Development (OECD) a co-operative research programme for "Biological Resource Management" has existed since 1990. It foeuses on work in four specific topie areas, one of whieh is "Ecology and utilisation of new organisms" (Theme 3). The activities promoted by this programme are post-doctoral fellowships (announced annually), and the organisation of expert workshops (1-2 workshops per Theme per year). The 26 OECD member countries participating in this programme are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, ltaly, Korea, Japan, the NetherIands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, SwitzerIand, Turkey, the UK, and the USA."

Plant phenotyping is the thorough assessment of plant traits such as growth, development, adaptation, yield, quality, tolerance, resistance, architecture, and the basic measurement of individual quantitative parameters that form the basis for understanding of traits. Genetic approaches to understand plant growth and development have always benefitted from phenotyping techniques that are simple, rapid and measurable in units. The forward genetics approach is all about understanding the trait inheritance using the phenotypic data and in most cases it is the mutant phenotypes that formed the basis for understanding of gene functions.

With rapid advancement of genotyping techniques, high throughput genotyping has become a reality at costs people never imagined to be that low, but the phenotypic methods did not receive same attention. However, without quality phenotyping data the genotyping data cannot be effectively put to use in plant improvement. Therefore efforts are underway to develop high-throughput phenotyping methods in plants to keep pace with revolutionary advancement in genotyping techniques to enhance the efficiency of crop improvement programs. Keeping this in mind, we described in this book the best phenomic tools available for trait improvement in some of the world s most important crop plants.

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The quality of human life has been maintained and enhanced for generations by the use of trees and their products. In recent years, ever rising human population growth has put a tremendous pressure on trees and tree products; growing awareness of the potential of previously unexploited tree resources; and environmental pollution have both accelerated the development of new technologies for tree propagation, breeding and improvement. Biotechnology of trees may be the answer to solve the problems which can not be solved by conventional breeding methods. The combination of biotechnology and conventional methods such as plant propagation and breeding could become a novel approach to improving and multiplying a large number of the trees and woody plants. So far, plant tissue culture technology has largely been exploited by commercial companies in propagation of ornamentals, especially foliage house plants. Generally, tissue culture of woody plants has been recalcitrant. However, limited success has been achieved in tissue culture of angiosperm and gymnosperm woody plants. A number of recent reports on somatic embryogenesis in woody plants such as Norway spruce (Picea abies), Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), Sandalwood (Santalum album), Citrus and mango (Mangifera indica), offer a ray of hope for inexpensive clonal propagation for large-scale production of plants or 'emblings' or somatic seedlings; protoplast work; cryopreservation; genetic transformation; and synthetic or artificial or manufactured seed production.

The ability of plants to exchange RNA molecules and transcription factors between cells and tissues is a relatively recent discovery. However, all areas of research such as plant development, metabolism, and plant pathogen interactions now realize the importance of this phenomenon. In this book, experts from the field of intercellular transport deal with various aspects on intercellular transport of viruses and plant endogenous macromolecules such as transcription factors, small silencing-induced and micro RNAs, and other RNAs and their function as signals. The aim of the book is to provide the basic information on the cell-to-cell transport mechanism and to give an overview of the current knowledge of this relatively new field of research. To quote the words of W.J. Lucas "...pioneering discoveries in this field of cell-to-cell and long-distance signaling should certainly entice talented young scholars to join this frontier area of plant biology" . He is certainly right as we got only a first glimpse on the cellular factors regulating intercellular transport and the functional diversity of the ever-increasing number of proteins and RNA molecules found to move between cells.

The improvement of crop species has been a basic pursuit since cultivation began thousands of years ago. To feed an ever increasing world population will require a great increase in food production. Wheat, corn, rice, potato and few others are expected to lead as the most important crops in the world. Enormous efforts are made all over the world to document as well as use these resources. Everybody knows that the introgression of genes in wheat provided the foundation for the "Green Revolution". Later also demonstrated the great impact that genetic resources have on production. Several factors are contributing to high plant performance under different environmental conditions, therefore an effective and complementary use of all available technological tools and resources is needed to meet the challenge.

Proceedings of the EEC Flax Workshop, held in Brussels, Belgium, May 4-5, 1988 sponsored by the Commission of the European Communities, Directorate-General for Agriculture.

This book studies the production of indole alkaloids in the important medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don, commonly known as periwinkle. The anticancer alkaloids, viz. vinblastine and vincristine, are mainly present in the leaves of C. roseus and inhibit the growth of cancer cells by hindering the formation of mitotic apparatus during cell division. Further, vinblastine helps increase the chance of surviving childhood leukemia while vincristine is used to treat Hodgkin's disease. Great efforts have been made to produce these alkaloids at a large scale by the culture of plant cells. In view of this worldwide demand for commercial use, this book explores how to maximize the production of anticancer alkaloids from C. roseus. This reference book will be helpful for research students, teachers, ethnobotanists, pharmacologists and herbal growers who have a strong interest in this anticancer medicinal plant of paramount importance.

Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone originally extracted from the medicinal plant Artemisia annua L., is an effective antimalarial agent, particularly for multi-drug resistant and cerebral malaria. However, the concentration of artemisinin in the plant is very low. Because the chemical synthesis of artemisinin is complicated and not economically feasible in view of the poor yield of the drug, the intact plant remains the only viable source of artemisinin production. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the concentration of artemisinin in A. annua to reduce the cost of artemisinin based antimalarial drugs. Plant scientists have focused their efforts on A. annua for a higher artemisinin crop yield. With the present volume, we are bringing together the research which is being done on this plant throughout the world and future possibilities for scientists and researchers who want to work on it.

In nature, radiata pine is very localised and an obscure tree species despite the romantic character of much of its natural habitat. That obscure status and the lack of any reputation as a virgin timber slowed its due recognition as a commercial crop. Nevertheless, it has become a major plantation forest crop internationally. It has become the pre-eminent commercial forest species in New Zealand, Chile and Australia, with important plantings in some other countries. It consequently features prominently in the international trade in forest products, in addition to its importance in domestic markets of grower countries. Very fast growth, considerable site tolerances, ease of raising in nurseries and transplanting, and ease of processing and using its wood for a range of products and purposes, have made it the utility softwood of choice almost everywhere it can be grown satisfactorily. Abundant genetic variation and its amenability to other management inputs created special opportunities for its domestication. The story of its domestication forms a classic case history in the development of modern commercial forestry, with trailblazing in both genetic improvement and plantation management; this inevitably meant a learning process that provided instructive lessons, especially for tree breeders dealing with some other species. Paradoxically, the plantation monocultures have played and can continue to play an important role in protecting natural forests and other forms of biodiversity. Given the attractions of growing radiata pine, there were inevitably cases of overreach in planting it, with lessons to be learnt. Economic globalisation has meant globalisation of pests and disease organisms, and the scale on which radiata pine is grown has meant is has been the focus of various biotic alarms, none of which have proved catastrophic. Temptations, remain, however, to pay less than due attention to some aspects of risk management. The chapter structure of the book is based on historical periods, beginning long before any important human influences, and ending with a look into what the future might hold for the species and its role in human and ecological sustainability. Almost throughout, there has been complex interplay between the technical aspects, local social and economic factors, various types of institution, the enthusiasm and drive of some very influential individuals, and tides of economic ideology, threads that needed to be woven together to do the story justice.