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Problems of Rational Utilization and Reproduction of Berry Plants in Boreal Forests on the Eve of the XXI Century Proceeding of a International conference, 11-15 September 2000, Gomel-Glubokoye, Belarus Gomel, 2000. 261 pages. In English and Russian. Papercover
Published by The Institute of Forest of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Gomel, Belarus |
The 20th century is drawing to a close. A distinguishing characteristic of this century is that over the course of many years considerable study has been given to ecological and biological peculiarities of wild fruit and berry plants. Most attention is concentrated on the issues of their introduction. A great deal of plants having been cultivated for extended time, it is difficult to imagine that their ancestors were wild (wild strawberries, currants, raspberries, blackberries, etc.). The establishment of wild berry plantations is being continued. Of special note is widespread investigation of the species of the Vaccinaceae and Rosaceae families (cranberries, cawberries, bog blueberries, arctic brambles and cloudberries) that have been carried out in the last few years. The creation of berry plantations is both economically and ecologically advantageous since this permits to decrease negative consequences of the recreational loads on marshy and finest ecosystems.
Investigations of wild fruit and berry plants are also being continued in their habitats. The major task of these studies is to retain or at least to slow down the rate of the decrease in the resources of the wild berry-fields in the conditions of the large-scale human activities.
Considerable progress that has been made towards these goals is directly related to close contacts between scientists. In the former USSR scientific cooperation in the field of investigation and cultivation of wild berry plants was mainly developed by the Commission on the study of wild berry-fields that was established in 1975 around the Section of Silvics and Dendrology of the All-Union Botanical Society. The recent inter-republican working seminar was held at the Experimental Station of the Central Botanical Garden of NAS of Belarus in Gantsevichi in 1991. The Commission was one of the organizers of the seminar. Only after a lapse of seven years contacts between scientists were resumed at a higher international level. The international conference "Wild berry culture: an exchange of Western and Eastern experiences" was held in Tartu in 1998. The conference was convened on the initiative of researchers of the Forest Research Institute and Estonian Agricultural University. This conference marked the beginning of the wide exchange of experience between western and eastern scientists.
It was decided that the last in the 20th century international conference on wild berry-fields should be held in Belarus, where scientific and practical achievements in the field of investigation, rational usage and reproduction of wild berry plants are rather high. The information disseminated by the organizers of the conference aroused deep interest of the international scientific community. More than 60 researchers from Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, the USA, Canada, Ukraine, Estonia, Poland and Sweden expressed their desire to participate in the conference.
This volume contains 55 reports by 86 authors. Part I contains reports on wild berry-fields occurring under natural conditions, while Part II contains reports on the establishment of wild berry plantations. The reports reflect the results of research on a broad spectrum of issues. The authors present results of their research on a wide spectrum of scientific problems. These are mainly devoted to such aspects as ecological, biological and phytocoenotic peculiarities of fruit and berry plants, their resources, response to industrial contamination, etc. A great deal of the reports (some 60%) are devoted to the introduction of wild berry plants, breeding, strain testing, productivity, reproduction, chemical composition, diseases of plants, processing technologies, etc.
The materials published in this volume undoubtedly contribute to the results of research into wild berry-fields of boreal forests carried out in the 20th century and will be helpful in allocating priorities of problems to be solved in the 21th century.
Click here to read the Introduction in English or Russian (Windows 1251).
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