ISHS Acta Horticulturae 435: II Workshop on Environmental Regulation of Plant Morphogenesis
PREFACE |
| Authors: | K.E. Cockshull, F.A. Langton |
| Abstract:
The Workshop held at Horticulture Research International, Wellesbourne UK from 8–10 May 1996 was the second to be held under the auspicess of the ISHS with the title "Environmental Regulation of Plant Morphogenesis". The first such Workshop was held in Hanover in 1993 and the proceedings were published in Acta Horticultrae 378. The meeting was originally to have been held at the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute in Littlehampton but, following the reorganisation of horticultural research in England, this site was closed in 1995. Consequently, it was agreed to postpone the meeting for one year and to hold it instead at Wellesbourne, which by then was established as the centre for all strategic horticultural research in England. As a result, the Workshop had the added distinction of being the first international meeting to be held in the new Conference Centre at Wellesbourne. The ability to produce compact pot plants without excessive use of synthetic growth retardants is of considerable horticultural importance. Therefore, the central theme of the meeting continued to be the regulation of stem extension by factors of the aerial and root environments. However, in keeping with the earlier meeting, the scope was broadened to include the environmental regulation of all aspects of plant morphogenesis and contributions that increased our understanding of the mechanisms by which plants detect and respond to changes in their environment were especially encouraged. Although attendance was deliberately restricted to ony 40 participants, in order to maintain an informal atmosphere in which ideas and information could be exchanged freely, the meeting was attended by participants from 11 countries. It was particularly pleasing to note that representatives from Japan, South Africa and the USA were able to attend such a Workshop for the first time. The concept of DIF, the difference between day and night temperature, as a primary regulator of stem extension has had enormous impact on the subject of the regulation of morphogenesis both as a stimulus to research and as a means of conveying essential physiological information to growers in a form that is readily understood. It was most fortunate, therefore, that Professor Royal Heins of Michigan State University was able to attend the meeting as he, together with his colleague John Erwin, had pioneered this concept. At the end of the Workshop, it was agreed that the next meeting would be held in Denmark in 1998 where we look forward to renewing many friendships and to learning of further discoveries in the environmental regulation of plant morphogenesis. | |
