Interactions: Food, Agriculture And Environment is a component of Encyclopedia of Environmental and Ecological Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on Interactions: Food, Agriculture and Environment focuses on methods to ensure the development of agriculture and food production to be in dialectic unity with the surrounding natural environment. In every country of the world agriculture always faces complex problems: how to significantly increase production of agricultural products to supply the population with sufficient food, and industry with sufficient raw materials, and how to satisfy the permanently growing demand. The acuteness of this task has always been linked with the demographic factor and the need to guarantee the population with a high living standard free of starvation and poverty. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Introduction; Context of genebank management; Setting objectives for genebanks; Considerations for improved conservation and utilization concepts and strategies; Genebank management procedures; Rationalization of genebank management; Economic costs of genebank operatios; Sharing responsibilities.

Seed storage behaviour. Types mof seed collections. Conditions for long-term storage. Conditions for medium-term storage. Drying seed and determining moisture content. Hemetic containers. The size of acessions and the volume of the coldroom. Eletricity supply and maintaining gene bank services in emergency. Temporary or alternative seed storage facilities. Monitoring gene bank environments. Air-lock. Ancillary facilities. Safety precautions. Selecktion of site.

Horticultural Reviews presents state-of-the-art reviews on topics in horticultural science and technology covering both basic and applied research. Topics covered include the horticulture of fruits, vegetables, nut crops, and ornamentals. These review articles, written by world authorities, bridge the gap between the specialized researcher and the broader community of horticultural scientists and teachers.

This book contains edited and revised papers from a conference on 'Science and Technology for Managing Plant Genetic Diversity in the 21st Century' held in Malaysia in June 2000, organised by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). It includes keynote papers and some 40 additional ones, covering ten themes.The major scientific challenges to developing a global vision for the next century are identified and key research objectives are also discussed.