Description
This volume is based on a symposium held on 15 March 1990, jointly organized by the Linnean Society of London and the Association of Applied Biologists.
It sets out some of the more important aspects of germplasm conservation of crop plants and their wild relatives, following with the value of this germplasm to plant breeders and the financial and administrative inputs needed for its effective utilization throughout the world.
In a final chapter the impact of genetic engineering and molecular techniques is discussed in relation to the more conventional use of genetic resources in seed banks and in-vitro storage. The value of both technologies is highlighted, and it is concluded that gene banks will still be needed in the foreseeable future to preserve the biological diversity required for the breeding of better adapted and more resistant varieties to feed the ever-increasing world population. A key to the acronyms used in this volume is given overleaf.
