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19 REPORTS OF WORKING GROUPS
20 LOW TEMPERATURE STRESS Summary of Program One and a half billion people now subsist on insufficient diets. There are enough female children in the world today to raise the world population by the year 2,000 from the present level of 3.28 billion to 7.4 billion. Biological scientists, and specifically agriculturalists, must meet the challenge of providing food and fiber for this expanding population. Cooperative work among the agricultural scientists of the world is a vital facet for freeing mankind from the ravages of malnutrition and the poverty and ignorance that invariably accompany it. Man cultivates only 7.6% of the earth's land surface. There- maining 92.4% is largely too cold, too hot, too saline, or too steep. Low temperature limits plant distribution more than any other factor. The many problems associated with low temperatures and freezing will be multiplied as we extend crop production to new, less favorable areas. Basically, three types of research can be applied to offset the damaging effects of freezing and low temperature on crops. In the order of their immediate practical application, they are: 1. Cultural technology to attenuate the cold stress in the en- vironment or increase plant resistance to low temperature 2. Genetic development of crop plants resistant to low tempera- ture 3. Basic physiological research to elucidate how chilling or freezing kills plants and how some plants acclimate to resist these stresses. While it is recognized that many specific problems exist, three are designated here that are of major importance in terms of world food supply. They reflect the interests and competence of our group and, as such, provide the most tangible starting points for cooperative efforts. In the future, many more areas of research can and should be de- veloped as the mutual interests of scientists and the obvious demands of the problems dictate.
21 Specific Problems Culture of Crops in the Highlands of the Andean Plateau The major problem related to producing crops in the highlands of the Andean plateau is the occurrence of killing frosts at both the be- ginning and the end of the growing season. Countries affected include Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina (northwestern part). Productive research could be done in all three types of research designated previously. The present lack of obvious cultural techniques to increase plant tolerance to frost and the impracticality of atten- uating the environment by known means in the primary production areas reduce the relative importance of this type of research at present. Major efforts should be initially directed toward breeding frost- resistant varieties and basic studies on the nature of frost injury and resistance. Persons at the meeting who expressed interest in this problem were c. J. Weiser, Martin Cardenas, and c. Ochoa.* It is important that the germ plasms of native Andean crops be collected, preserved, and evaluated for their value as frost-resistant parental lines. It would be worthwhile to organize in any of the previously mentioned countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina) a research center concerned with improving the adaptability of these crops to the cold stresses characteristic of this agricultur- ally important region. As the program develops there may be opportunities for cooperative work, particularly via the exchange of students and scientists interested in the basic physiology of injury and resistance and in the development of controlled freezing tests for screening seedling populations. Minnesota is presently involved in this type of research. * For identification, see Appendix B.