Tissue culture for conservation of perennial crops

Abstract

Southeast Asia is the centre of diver sity of lange numbers of perennial crops. These are root and tuber crops which in general can feed two time more people from a unit area than cereals, and the nutritional value of sweet potato, yam and other root crops is not less than that of cereals, which can be compensated by side dishes in the case of cassava. Among the strategies suggested for improving the root and tuber crops, and increasing their production the congenetic resources are most important. Many tropical fruit crops also have their home in Southeast Asia, but no one nation has as yet considered them as highly important. Therefore, their development is somewhat negleeted. Under an ASEAN programme, post-harvest technology of fruits recived attention, but pre-harvest technology such as quick propagation and breeding has yet to be considered.