Main description:

For the last eighteen years we have been deeply involved in a cooperative effort with our Latin American colleagues in genetics, biochemistry, physiology, and molecular biology. We have been in close contact with scientists in a number of centers and have helped to organize symposia, workshops, and so forth, in an effort to accelerate their development and make their substantial work known. These symposia in Latin America have been quite successful. The fifteenth will take place in Brasilia in 1977. At the request of colleagues, we are in the process of developing a similar series in Asia. The first very successful symposium was held in Calcutta in 1973. We were most pleased when Dr. Amir Muhammed, Vice Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Lyallpur suggested that we hold a symposium on a topic of great importance to Pakistan, Genetic Control of Diversity in Plants, under the auspices of the University of Agriculture. It is our hope that this symposium will be followed by additional ones in Pakistan as well as in other countries in the Far East. Leadership is quickly developing in the hands of outstanding scientists in these countries, and we appreciate the opportunity to cooperate with them. We are especially grateful to the Natiohal Science Foundation for makingPL- 480 funds available which made this symposium possible.

Contents:

I. Introduction.- 1. Perspective.- 2. Inaugural Address.- 3. The World Food Crisis.- II. Natural and Induced Genetic Variability.- 4. Natural Variation and Its Conservation.- 5. On Germ Plasm Conservation with Special Reference to the Genus Medicago.- 6. Distribution Patterns of Indigenous Wheat Varieties in Northern Pakistan.- 7. Useful Genetic Sources of Economic Importance and Their Utilization in Wheat-Breeding Programs in Pakistan.- 8. Natural and Induced Genetic Variability in Wheat.- 9. The Exploitation of Natural Genetic Variability for the Improvement of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.).- 10. Synthetic Amphiploids in Breeding-Genetic and Evolutionary Studies in Wheat.- 11. The Use of Aneuploids in Studies of Genetics, Breeding, and Evolution in Wheat.- 12. Prospects and Perspectives in Mutation Breeding.- 13. Norin-10-Based Semidwarfism.- 14. Evaluation of Branched Ear Derivatives of Triticum aestivum L..- III. Genetic Variability and Resistance to Disease.- 15. Artificial Mutagenesis as an Aid in Overcoming Genetic Vulnerability of Crop Plants.- 16. Principal Diseases of Major Crops in Pakistan with Reference to Genetic Resistance.- 17. The Measurement of Disease Severity in Cereal Smut.- 18. Stabilizing Selection for Pathogenicity in Cereal Rust Fungi.- 19. Development of Disease-Resistant Chickpea.- IV. Genetics of Quantitative Characters.- 20. Coadaptation in Plant Populations.- 21. Estimation of Genotypic and Environmental Variation in Plants.- 22. Heritability Estimates from Four Generations of a Diallel Cross of Common Wheat.- 23. Diallel Analysis of Four Agronomic Traits in Common Wheat.- 24. The Use of Selection Indices in Maize (Zea mays L.).- 25. Quantitative Genetically Nonequivalent Reciprocal Crosses in Cultivated Plants.- V. Prospects of Breeding for Physiological Characters.- 26. Physiological Basis of Salt Tolerance in Plants.- 27. Prospects of Breeding for Salt Tolerance in Rice.- 28. Plant Responses to High Temperatures.- 29. Effect of High-Temperature Stress on the Growth and Seed Characteristics of Barley and Cotton.- 30. Plant Genotype Effects on Nitrogen Fixation in Grasses.- VI. Seed Storage Proteins.- 31. Storage Proteins in Cereals.- 32. Nutritional Aspects of Cereal Proteins.- 33. Wheat Protein.- 34. Improving Protein Content and Quality in Legumes.- 35. The Variability of Free Amino Acids and Related Compounds in Legume Seeds.- 36. A Genetic Approach to the Increase of Methionine Content in Legume Seeds.- VII. Genetic Manipulation in Cell Cultures.- 37. Prospects for Crop Improvement through Plant Tissue Culture.- 38. Biophysical and Genetic Evidence for Transformation in Plants.- 39. Tissue Culture Studies on Amaranthus viridis.- 40. Molecular Mechanisms in Genetic Transformation.- 41. Unconventional Methods in Plant Breeding.- Participants.- Author Index.