Plant Conservation Bio-Technology

Contents: 1. Biotechnology for Endangered Plant conservation. 2. Environmental benefits of conservation tillage. 3. The role of biotechnology in plant conservation. 4. Plant biotechnology and conservation of biodiversity. 5. Role of biotechnology in medicinal plants. 6. Exploring biotechnology for conserving Himalayan Biodiversity. 7. Biodiversity and conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants. 8. Plant biotechnology: Potential impact for improving pest management in agriculture. 9. Management of the appropriate agricultural biotechnology for small producers. 10. Activities in biotechnology for food and agriculture. 11. Plant genetic resources: Advancing conservation and use through biotechnology. 12. Status of conservation of the indigenous leaf vegetables and fruits. 13. Plant biotechnology for sustainability: With emphasis on climate change and endangered plants. 14. Future of plant biotechnology. 15. Agricultural biotechnology sector in India: Issues impacting innovations. 16. Conservation of threatened plants endemic to the region through botanical gardens. 17. GMOs and Ecological sustainability: Does the Genetic Modification of Crops. 18. Biotechnology development strategy. Bibliography. Index.

It is estimated that up to 100000 plants, representing more than one third of all the world’s plant species, are currently threatened or face extinction in the wild. Preservation of the plant biodiversity is essential for classical and modern genetic engineering plant breeding programmes. Moreover, this biodiversity provides a source of compounds to the pharmaceutical, food and crop protection industries. Since the 1970s, large numbers of landraces and wild relatives of cultivated crops have been sampled and stored in ex situ gene banks. It is estimated that 6 million samples of plant genetic resources are held in national, regional, international and private gene bank collections around the world. Storage of desiccated seeds at low temperature, the most convenient method to preserve plant germplasm, is not applicable to crops that do not produce seed e.g., bananas or with recalcitrant seed i.e., non-orthodox seed that can not be dried to moisture contents that are low enough for storage, as for instance many tropical trees.