Abstract
Although cereals feature as the main world crops (1638 million tonnes — 1983 FAO figures), field vegetables (372 million tonnes), roots and tubers (556 million tonnes) and pulses (44 million tonnes) form the other major components of food crop production (see Table 1 for UK vegetable statistics). Thus, in most parts of the world, vegetables comprise a large part of the human diet, providing a high proportion of the nutrients and vitamins essential for normal body metabolism. Indeed, in some countries they constitute the main food intake, particularly where the protein levels of some indigenous vegetables is high and in areas where availability of other foods is very limited.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Reference
Anon. (1984). Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants; Five Years on. Agricultural and Food Research Council pamphlet, London
Dalton, C. C. (1980). Photoautotrophy of spinach cells in continuous culture. Journal of Experimental Botany, 31, 791–804
Dixon, R. A. and Postgate, J. R. (1972). Genetic transfer of nitrogen fixation from Klebsiella pneumoniae to Escherichia coli. Nature, Lond., 237, 102–103
Grout, B. W. W. and Crisp, P. (1977). Practical aspects of the propagation of cauliflower of meristem culture. Acta Horticulturae, 78, 289–296
Gunn, R. E. (1983). Breeding new potato varieties from protoplasts. In Proceedings of the Eighth Long Ashton Symposium on Improvement of Vegetatively Propagated Crops, Bristol, 12–15 September 1982. Academic Press, London
Hardwick, R. C. (1983). Genetic variation in yield processes of grain legumes and their responses to temperature. In The Physiology, Genetics and Nodulation of Temperate Legumes (Ed. Davis, D. R.). Pitman, London, pp. 55–76
Innes, N. L. (1983). Breeding Field Vegetables. 10th Anniversary Monograph Series. Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, Taiwan
Kenney, M., Kloppenburg, J. Jr, Buttel, F. H. and Cowan, J. T. (1983). Genetic engineering and agriculture: socioeconomic aspects of biotechnology R&D in developed and developing countries. Biotech 83, Online Publications, Pinner, 475–489
Ockendon, D. J., Currah, L. and Robinson, H. (1983). Anther culture. In Annual Report of the National Vegetable Research Station for 1982. Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol, pp. 51–52
Ooms, G., Hooykaas, P. J. J., Moolenaar, G. and Schilperoort, R. A. (1981). Crown gall plant tumors of abnormal morphology, induced by Agrobacterium tumefasciens carrying mutated octopine Ti-plasmids; analysis of T-DNA functions. Gene, 78, 33–50
Pandey, K. K. (1975). Sexual transfer of specific genes without gametic fusion. Nature, Lond., 256, 310–313
Power, J. B., Berry, S. F., Chapman, J. V. and Cocking, E. C. (1980). Somatic hybridization of sexually incompatible petunias. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 57, 1–4
Salter, P. J. and James, J. M. (1975). The performance of Japanese and European cultivars of onions from autumn sowing for early production. Journal of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, 13, 367–379
Secor, G. A. and Shepard, J. F. (1981). Variability of protoplast-derived potato clones. Crop Science, 21, 102–105
Thomas, T. H., Gray, D. and Drew, R. L. K. (1977). Potential for outdoor tomato production and storage in the U.K. Acta Horticulturae, 62, 101–108
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1988 The Editor and the Contributors
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thomas, T.H. (1988). Brave New Vegetables — A Challenge to Biotechnology. In: Greenshields, R. (eds) Resources and Applications of Biotechnology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09574-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09574-2_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-09576-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-09574-2
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)