Boron in Plant and Animal Nutrition - Tapa blanda

The Boron '97 meeting was a great success in summarising all recent developments in basic and applied research on boron's function, especially in plants. New techniques have since been developed and new insight has been gained into the role of boron in plant and animal metabolism. Nevertheless, there were still lots of open questions. The aim of the present workshop held in Bonn as a satellite meeting to the International Plant Nutrition Colloquium was thus to gather all actual information which has been gained since the Boron '97 meeting and to compile knowledge, both from animal and plant sciences. Furthermore, applied aspects had to be addressed too, as there is an increasing awareness of boron deficiencies even in crops such as wheat, which have formerly not been considered as responsive to boron application. Genetic differences in boron demand and efficiency within one species are a further important topic which has gained importance since the 1997 meeting. More in-depth knowledge on the mechanisms of boron efficiency are required as an increased efficiency will be one major possibility to maintain and improve crop yields for resource-poor farmers. Nevertheless, it has also clearly been shown that an adequate supply of boron is needed to obtain high yields of crops with a high quality, and that a sustainable agriculture has to provide an adequate boron supply to compensate for inevitable losses through leaching (especially in the humid tropics and temperate regions) and for the boron removal by the crop.

This book comprises the contributions of the international workshop Boron 2001 which was aimed at gathering all relevant information on recent developments in boron research in soils, plants, animal and men over the past years. Review articles and original contributions deal with both applied and basic aspects in this area, comprising topics such as methods for B determination, the physiological functions of boron in plant and animal metabolism, including use of 10B for diagnostic purposes and cancer treatment. Genetic and molecular aspects of boron efficiency and tolerance to toxic levels in plants and the early physiological reactions to boron deprivation are further important topics of this volume. The role of boron for reproductive development is dealt with in further contributions. Furthermore, improved methods for the diagnosis of the available boron status in soils, plants appropriate timing and leaf fertilizer application are addressed. Special emphasis is given in the contributions to highlight the most recent developments in the aforementioned areas.