PREFACE

ISHS Acta Horticulturae 560: IV International Symposium on In Vitro Culture and Horticultural Breeding

PREFACE

Authors:

S. Sorvari, E. Kanervo, S. Karhu, S. Pihakaski

Abstract:
This book contains most of the presentations at The 4th International Symposium on In Vitro Culture and Horticultural Breeding held in Tampere, Finland, July 2-7, 2000. The previous symposium was held in Israel in June 1996, during which it was decided that the next symposium is going to occur in Finland, convened by Seppo Sorvari.
The development of plant biotechnology has been fast. We have now got tools to modify genetic inheritance, which has gained its present form through evolution over millions of years. We can also use high-tech methods to conserve the original plant genotypes and propagate them in modern, controlled in vitro conditions in huge volumes. Furthermore, we can use in vitro culture methods to utilise plant resources for chemical compound production, and to decrease the need for raw material and soil usage. At the same time, an increasing concern has centred upon the possible effects of the new technology on the environment and human health. All these and many other important research topics were examined by the symposium under enthusiastic atmosphere created by 215 scientists coming from 42 different countries.
Various contributions in this book are organized, like sessions in the symposium, with six major themes:

Breeding, genetic manipulation and preservation of plant germplasm
Plant metabolite production
Biotic and abiotic stress
In vitro propagation and apomixis
Product quality and safety issues
Public and commercial aspects

The book contains 117 papers altogether. There are 17 invited papers that are presented in the beginning of each main theme, after which the other contributions follow. Sessions 1 and 4 are, as expected, the most represented, while the other sessions delightfully broaden the symposium theme and present different aspects of the use of plant biotechnology. The contributions in this book are presented in very compact form, since the length of the papers was restricted. Such a limited number of pages were maybe not pleasant for writing the papers but very necessary restriction from the organizers point of view due to the big amount of participants of the symposium.
The editors have made every effort in helping authors to revise the content and style of the papers and also to bring general uniformity to the papers. We still naturally have to leave the final responsibility of the content and style to the presenting authors.
We wish to thank all participants, scientific committee and all the others that supported the realization of the symposium. We would like to acknowledge the financial and material support received from several national and international organizations and companies, listed above. We will express our special thanks to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland, to Maiju and Yrjö Rikala Horticultural Foundation, and to Agrifood Research Finland (MTT) for financial support.

At the Midsummer time, 2001

Seppo Sorvari
Eira Kanervo
Saila Karhu
Seppo Pihakaski