Genes, Crops and the Environment

This book describes the genetic resources of plants, their management and conservation.

John Holden (Author), James Peacock (Author), Trevor Williams (Author)

9780521437370, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 June 1993

180 pages, 9 b/w illus. 8 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.1 cm, 0.27 kg

' … it is a valuable contribution to the subject and is well worth reading.' Agricultural Science

The productivity of agricultural systems is the result of human alteration of originally wild organisms over millennia. The availability of germplasm, particularly from wild relatives of crop plants, is vitally important in the development of new and improved crops for both agriculture and horticulture. The handling of these genetic resources for both immediate and future human benefits has resulted in the decades of interdisciplinary scientific research described in this book. The applications of this work and the associated operational programmes in all parts of the world are discussed in the light of their impact on the conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem rehabilitation and the future health of our planet.

1. Plant genetic resources - what they are and why they are needed
2. What needs to be collected and how is it maintained?
3. A global strategy for safe storage
4. Access to the resource - core collections and databases
5. Have we all that we need for the future?
6. Have genetic resources already been of value?
7. When there are no seeds
8. Genes and politics
9. A glimpse from 2050
Index.

Subject Areas: Agriculture & farming [TV], Plant reproduction & propagation [PSTL], Genetics [non-medical PSAK]