Genetic resouces- general; gene centres; origins of agriculture and plant domestication; archaelogy and palavothnobotany; eth nobotany; evolutions-general genetica variation in populations; genecology and adaptation; taxonomy and biosyotematies; chemotaxonomy and data management conservation-general conservation-tissue anad anther culture; evaluation and utilisation; organisation,Networks, trainig; gene banks, genetic resouces centres and world collections.

One of the world centers of crop evolution and origin, Ethiopia has long been recognized as an important area of diversity for several major and various minor crops. Based on an international conference held in Addis Ababa, this book describes how plant genetic diversity in Ethiopia is of vital importance in breeding new varieties of crops with desirable characteristics, such as increased resistance to pests and diseases and greater adaptation to heat and drought. The three main sections in the book consider the Ethiopian center of diversity, germ plasm or genetic material collection and conservation in Ethiopia, and the evaluation and utilization of Ethiopian genetic resources. A broad range of food and feed crops and plants of medicinal and industrial importance are discussed, both at a national and international level. A brief account of conservation strategies and gene bank problems unique to Ethiopia is also given. The importance of Ethiopia's plant genetic resources to world agriculture has been demonstrated on more than one occasion. Plant breeders, geneticists, and botanists throughout the world will, therefore, find this unique book a valuable source of information and an essential reference work.

This anchor volume to the series Managing Global Genetic Resources examines the structure that underlies efforts to preserve genetic material, including the worldwide network of genetic collections; the role of biotechnology; and a host of issues that surround management and use. Among the topics explored are in situ versus ex situ conservation, management of very large collections of genetic material, problems of quarantine, the controversy over ownership or copyright of genetic material, and more.

This book was originally published in paperback in 1991, during a time of growing global concern over the loss of gene resources in crop plants. The future was seen as being dependent on their immediate conservation and effective use by plant breeders. The text is aimed at providing a comprehensive introduction to the form and availability of crop diversity, as well as how this diversity may be gathered, conserved and ultimately combined with new cultivars. Techniques are defined within the fields of data management, tissue culture and genetic engineering, and the overall concept of plant genetic resources is discussed within a political context. A comprehensive bibliography is included.

Our lives and well being intimately depend on the exploitation of the plant genetic resources available to our breeding programs. Therefore, more extensive exploration and effective exploitation of plant genetic resources are essential prerequisites for the release of improved cultivars. Accordingly, the remarkable progress in genomics approaches and more recently in sequencing and bioinformatics offers unprecedented opportunities for mining germplasm collections, mapping and cloning loci of interest, identifying novel alleles and deploying them for breeding purposes. This book collects 48 highly interdisciplinary articles describing how genomics improves our capacity to characterize and harness natural and artificially induced variation in order to boost crop productivity and provide consumers with high-quality food. This book will be an invaluable reference for all those interested in managing, mining and harnessing the genetic richness of plant genetic resources.