Proceedings of the International Symposium on Cereal Adaptation to Low Temperature Stress in Controlled Environments [antikvár]

PREFACE The development and spread of phytotronic techniques has opened up new vistas in plant sciences and produced new channels of thought over the last quarter century. The controlled artificial environment provides an exact background in which to study the complex system of correlations involved in experimental biology, serving the whole range of research fields from molecular genetics to ecological studies, and from flowering biology to the frost resistance tests so important for plant breeders. Investigations into the relationship between the plant and its environment have always been an exciting field for scientists, but the rapid changes experienced nowadays have led to new, previously unknown interactions, making it urgently necessary to rethink the sustainability of agricultural activities while maintaining environmental equilibrium. One of the greatest challenges facing our generation is to find a place for cultivated plants, which are restricted on one side by the constant spread of urbanisation and on the other by the need to preserve the natural environment. Since its establishment twenty-five years ago, the Martonvásár phytotron has undergone continuous changes both technically and, due to scientific development, as regards the nature of the experiments carried out. What has remained is the scepticism necessary to scientific thought and the instinctive urge towards progress, which characterise the third generation of researchers now using the phytotron no less than their predecessors. Now, at the close of the millenium, the task undertaken in the interests of the society of the next millenium, is to sfrengthen the position of cereals, the most widespread of our crops. The anniversary of the establishment of the Martonvásár phytotron provided an opportunity for a deeper look at these problems, reviewing what has already been achieved and discussing with the friends who joined us from over twenty counfries the tasks still facing us. Zoltán Bedő Chairman of the Scientific Committee