If one may recall nearly half a century ago, there were small books, Methuen series publishing on special subjects like photosynthesis (C.P. Whittingham) and plant Respiration (W. Stiles) in the 1950s and have been of great guidance for post-graduate studies in those years. Now great breakthroughs have been made with the introduction of isotopes, modern tools and instruments which can project into the cell components and unravel the ‘secrets’ of plant life, with the result on one book could so completely cover a single topic like photosynthesis or respiraculture’ during the 60s when it remained as only a laboratory technique, has helped in the now new branch of ‘plant biotechnology’ thanks to the work of early plant Physiologists. The book on the Advances in Plant Physiology covers a few limited areas of topics like photosynthesis, the effects of increased levels of carbon dioxide, plant nutrition specially on the uptake of nutrients by the leaves. This book serveds more than a text book and gives recent developments which influence crop growth and increase food production. Much is talked about the ‘global warming’ and its impact on crops. This subject is covered here giving the views of both the antagonists and protagonists. Recent development on Photoperiodism, flowering, vernalization and phytoremediation are included besides several others, and should interest those involved in plant research. The importance of plant physiology and a need for research in both the basic and applied field is very is also a discussion on the pros and cons of the development of plant biotechnology and genetic engineering. In short, this small book provides vital information on the essentials of plant physiology from the agricultural point of view.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Seshadri Kannan
Seshadri Kannan born (28 Dec 1927) at Nagapattinam, Tanjore District, graduated from the Agriculture College, Coimbatore (1948), master’s in Plant physiology from the (BHU) and Ph.D. in Horticulture from Michigan State university, USAQ on a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship. Was research associate with Sylvan H. Wittwer at East Lansing for a year. He carried out plant nutrition research in the Biology Division of Bhabha Atomic research centre, Bombay for over 20 years, worked on a research fellowship from IAEA, Vienna, at the Isolate laboratory at Braunschweig, Germany. He was IAEA technical co-operation expert for the establishiment of radioisotope laboratories in Tanzania, Vietnam and Tunisia. His research included micronutrient uptake by plants, foliar nutrition, and plant growth substances on ion uptake and transport, using radioisotopes. Had participated in the International Iron Nutrition Symposia and Plant Nutrition Colloquium, held in USA. Had visited several plant nutrition laboratories in Germany, France and USA. He received ‘Honored International Alumni Award in recognition of leadership, knowledge and understanding around the world by the Michigan State University in 1993. He has to his credit over 110 research papers in international journals, and reviews on foliar nutrition. He has organized a national symposium on “Micronutrient Stresses in crop Plants: Physiological and genetical Approaches to Control Them†at M.P. Agricultural university, rahuri, in 1987. He guided students for M.Sc. and Ph.D. of Bombay and Gujarat universities, was member of the editorial Board in the Journal of Plant Nutrition (Marcel Dekker, USA) recipient of senior award from the S.S. Ranade trust, Pune, for ‘Life Tome Achievement’ for excellence in Micronutrient research for the year 2000. He has to his credit two books, Footprints on the Sands of Plant Physiology –Concepts and Discoveries†2000, and “Food famine and fertilizers†2001.
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