PREFACE

The Symposium on "Transplant Production Systems" was held in Yokohama on July 21–26, 1992. The Symposium covered biological, engineering and socioeconomic aspects of transplant production systems. For the Symposium, 'transplant' was defined as any plant propagated by any means and requiring positional and/or environmental transfer to promote further growth and development. Transplants include seedlings, grafted seedlings, plantlets from cuttings, micropropagated plantlets, artificial (synthetic) seeds produced from somatic embryos, bulblets, microtubers, etc.

Transplant production systems are now attracting much attention, presumably because of four reasons: specialization and shortage of labor (or high labor costs) in the plant production industry, global issues on environmental protection and food shortage, advancements in plant biotechnology and robotics, and demands for high quality transplants as well as high quality end products. The demands for commercially produced quality transplants have been increasing for reforestation, plantation, outdoor/indoor horticulture, food/forage production, etc. However, widespread use of commercially produced transplants is still restricted due mainly to relatively high production costs.

This symposium was held to promote research on transplant production systems. For this objective, the promotion of exchange of novel ideas, latest information, and experimental results/experiences among researchers and industry people from various fields was particularly important. There has not been much information exchange among researchers specializing in vegetable crops, ornamental crops, fruit trees, forestry trees, rice and other cereals. Likewise, not much information has been exchanged among researchers specializing in seedlings, grafted seedlings, micropropagated plantlets, propagation by cuttings, bulblets and tubers. Plant physiologists, engineers, horticulturists, socioeconomists, and plant production managers also have had little exchange of information.

For this symposium, researchers and industry people from various fields were invited to promote in-depth exchange of ideas and information. Balances between the number of overseas and Japanese participants, the number of academic and industrial people, and the number of special lectures, oral and poster presentations and workshops were also carefully arranged to stimulate creative discussion among the participants.

The interest in the subject of the symposium was reflected in the large number of participants, totaling 98 attendants and 25 spouses from 26 overseas countries in addition to 199 attendants from Japan. Additionally, 136 Japanese people attended only the special sessions. Forty nine oral papers and 75 posters were presented during the Symposium. We regret that we had to limit the number of participants and the number of oral/poster presentations due mainly to the space capacity of the Symposium sites. Most of the oral/poster papers presented at the Symposium are included in this volume. Papers submitted for the Symposium but not presented at the Symposium are not included in this volume.

The first 2 days of the Symposium were devoted to the special sessions, in which distinguished researchers in this field and persons from leading transplant production industries gave invited lectures, in addition to lectures by several members of the Symposium Organizing Committee. Most of the proceedings of the special sessions are contained not in this volume but in a separate book entitled 'Transplant Production Systems' (335 pp.) published just one week before the Symposium by Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands (Eds. K. Kurata and T. Kozai). Lectures in the special sessions were given by Dr. M. Roh, Dr. M. Menzies, Dr. R. Heins, Dr. T. Ito, Prof. W. Roberts, Dr. K. C. Ting, Dr. W. Simonton, Dr. H. Nonami, Dr. I. Chu, Dr. Ph. Boxus, Ms. J. Aitken-Christie, Dr. T. Hirosawa, Dr. R. Williams, Dr. P. Read, Dr. T. Kozai, Dr. J. Reed, Dr. D. Holdgate, and Dr. K. Kurata.

Prior to the special sessions, the industry people meeting (organizers: Dr. B. Jeong and Dr. Y. Kitaya) was held. Each of the 25 overseas participants and 11 Japanese participants gave a short presentation on his/her business and research activities. Most participants obtained valuable information through this meeting.

Two 2.5-hour workshops were held on the last day of the Symposium: one on robotics (Organizers: Dr. N. Kondo and Dr. H. Murase) and the other on morphology and survival of in vitro acclimatized plants (Organizers: Dr. G. Reuther and Dr. M. Ziv). During the Symposium, 10 private companies exhibited their products at the exhibition hall of the Symposium site. Products exhibited included robotic grafting systems, sap flow sensors, plant growth chambers using diffusive optical fibers, computer software for agricultural management, seeding/germinating systems, transplanting machines, micropropagation systems, seed coating systems, irrigation systems, etc.

Pre- and post-symposium tours were organized for overseas participants. In the one-day pre-symposium tour (organizer: Dr. W. Amaki), 42 attendants visited the Kanagawa Prefectural Agricultural Research Institute, the Kanagawa Prefectural Horticultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural Research Center of National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations. In the 3-day post-symposium tour (organizers: Dr. Y. Kitaya and Dr. K. Fujiwara) , 40 attendants visited the Plant Laboratory of Kirin Brewery Co., Ltd., a plug seedling production site of Wintec Co. Ltd., the Applied Plant Research Laboratory of Japan Tobacco Inc., Toshogu Shrine and the Bonsai Village.

In the accompanying persons' program, 23 people enjoyed their visits to Yamashita Bay Bridge, Chinatown, Yokohama Harbor cruise, Kirin Yokohama Beer Village, Sankeien Garden, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, and the Great Buddha. They also enjoyed Ikebana (flower arrangement) and a Japanese style tea ceremony. The Symposium included a party held in conjunction with a big fireworks festival and a welcome reception and was highlighted with a Japanese style banquet. The Young-People-Get-Together Party (organizer: Ms. C. Kubota) also attracted many participants of all ages.

This symposium was sponsored by the Commission for Engineering of the ISHS and the Commission for Protected Cultivation of the ISHS as one of their joint activities, the Society of Agricultural Meteorology of Japan as one of the commemorative activities of their 50th anniversary, the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science, and the Japanese Society of Environmental Control in Biology as one of the commemorative activities of their 30th anniversary.

Sincere appreciation and cordial thanks are extended to all those who participated in this symposium and all those who helped in the preparations for the Symposium. Our deepest appreciation is given to Dr. M. Iwata and Dr. R. Sakiyama, Members of the International Advisory Committee of the ISHS; Dr. M. Hayashi, Dr. A. Kano and Dr. E. Goto, editors of these proceedings; Dr. T. Ito and Dr. Y. Hashimoto, vice-chairpersons of the organizing committee; Dr. H. Murase, Dr. Y. Kitaya, Dr. K. Fujiwara, Mr. Y. Ibaraki, Ms. E. Nomura, and many other members of the Secretariat staff.

Financial support for this symposium from the Commemorative Association for the Japan World Exposition, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Kanagawa Prefecture, City of Yokohama, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Kansai Electric Power Company, Chubu Electric Company, the Kajima Foundation, Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd. and Japan Tobacco Inc. and many other public and private organizations are gratefully acknowledged.

Yokohama is one of the oldest harbor cities in Japan and was a gateway to overseas countries. At the Symposium many foreign people had the opportunity to become acquainted with Japanese people, experience Japanese culture, and exchange information. It is hoped that the Symposium in Yokohama was fruitful for all attendants and that mutual understanding not only in research areas but also in personal relationships will continue and extend into the future.


Toyoki Kozai
Secretary General
of the Symposium

Kenji Kurata
Chairperson of the
Program Committee

Tadashi Takakura
Chairperson of the
Organizing Committee