Decades of research in plant tissue culture has passed through many challenges, created new dreams and resulted in landmark achievements. This has been possible not only due to the refinements of cultural practices and application of cutting-edge areas of molecular biology but also to the judicious inclusion of engineering principles and methods to the system. It has been the aim of the editors to offer a comprehensive survey of the engineering principles and methods applied in plant tissue culture, which has laid the foundation to many successes and opened up new vistas in this field.

This volume, Plant Tissue Culture Engineering, signals a turning point: the recognition that this specialized field of plant science must be integrated with engineering principles in order to develop efficient, cost effective and large scale applications of these technologies. A diverse team of key researchers, technologists and engineers have joined to describe in a lucid manner how various engineering disciplines can contribute to the improvement of plant tissue culture techniques and transform it to a technology. The volume contains 5 parts:

1. Machine vision systems for non-invasive and objective evaluation of cultures
2. Innovative bioreactor technologies and its engineering bases
3. Mechanized and/or automated culture processes
4. Engineering cultural environment
5. Physical aspects of plant tissue culture engineering

Readers of this volume will find a unique collection of chapters that will focus their attention on the interface of plant biotechnologies and engineering technologies.

This volume will be of use to graduate students, teachers andresearch workers in the fields of horticulture, agricultural botany and plant biotechnology in general and also to individuals who with or without engineering background are interested in industrial plant tissue culture.

The application of imaging techniques in plant and agricultural sciences had previously been confined to images obtained through remote sensing techniques. Technological advancements now allow image analysis for the nondestructive and objective evaluation of biological objects. This has opened a new window in the field of plant science. Plant Image Analysis: Fundamentals and Applications introduces the basic concepts of image analysis and discusses various techniques in plant imaging, their applications, and future potential. Several types of imaging techniques are discussed including RGB, hyperspectral, thermal, PRI, chlorophyll fluorescence, ROS, and chromosome imaging. The book also covers the use of these techniques in assessing plant growth, early detection of disease and stress, fruit crop yield, plant chromosome analysis, plant phenotyping, and nutrient status both in vivo and in vitro. The book is an authoritative guide for researchers and those teaching in the fields of stress physiology, precision agriculture, agricultural biotechnology, and cell and developmental biology. Graduate students and professionals using machine vision in plant science will also benefit from this comprehensive resource.

It is my privilege to contribute the foreword for this unique volume entitled: "Plant Tissue Culture Engineering," edited by S. Dutta Gupta and Y. Ibaraki. While there have been a number of volumes published regarding the basic methods and applications of plant tissue and cell culture technologies, and even considerable attention provided to bioreactor design, relatively little attention has been afforded to the engineering principles that have emerged as critical contributions to the commercial applications of plant biotechnologies. This volume, "Plant Tissue Culture Engineering," signals a turning point: the recognition that this specialized field of plant science must be integrated with engineering principles in order to develop efficient, cost effective, and large scale applications of these technologies. I am most impressed with the organization of this volume, and the extensive list of chapters contributed by expert authors from around the world who are leading the emergence of this interdisciplinary enterprise. The editors are to be commended for their skilful crafting of this important volume. The first two parts provide the basic information that is relevant to the field as a whole, the following two parts elaborate on these principles, and the last part elaborates on specific technologies or applications.