In the history of the International Plant Nutrition Colloquium from its first meeting in 1954, this meeting, the 13th Colloquium, is the first to be held in Asia and will be the last in the 20th century. The 20th century has seen huge changes in the number and activities of mankind. Our population has increased from around 1. 7 billion to more than 5. 8 billion and technological innovations have completely altered our way of living. As a consequence of such rapid change, we are facing many problems including changes in our environment of a global scale. But, while food shortage has been a serious concern to mankind throughout our history, serious food shortages in the 20th century have been confined to limited times and areas. As Lester Brown discusses in this volume, farmers have increased food production heroically on demand. We, the plant nutritionists should be proud of our support to the world's farmers which has helped them make their achievement possible. During the 20th century, the science of plant nutrition also has achieved great progress as described by Jack Loneragan; it became established as a discipline firmly based in science, defined the chemical elements supporting plant growth, and has contributed to improvements in plant production and environmental quality, as readers will find in many contributions in this volume.

Inhalt

Plenary papers.- Plant nutrition in the 20th and perspectives for the 21st century.- Facing the challenge of food scarcity: Can we raise grain yields fast enough?.- Application of microinjection techniques to plant nutrition.- Regulation of mineral nitrogen uptake in plants.- Physiological nitrogen efficiency in rice: Nitrogen utilization, photosynthesis, and yield potential.- 1. Functions of macro and micro elements.- Does boron play only a structural role in the growing tissues of higher plants?.- Boron requirement for reproductive development in wheat.- Significance of N source (urea vs. NH4NO3) and Ni supply for growth, urease activity and nitrogen metabolism of zucchini (Cucurbita pepo convar. giromontiina) 75.- HPLC/ICP-MS study of metals bound to borate-rhamnogalacturonan-II from plant cell walls.- Ameliorative effects of phosphate and silicate on aluminum toxicity in barley and rice plants.- Effect of different concentrations of urea with or without nickel on spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) under hydroponic culture.- Leaching from the leaf surface and its significance for apoplastic ion balance.- A borate-rhamnogalacturonan II complex in germinating pollen tubes of lily (Lilium longiflorum).- Relationships between cell wall composition and leaf development in low-P mashbean (Vigna aconitifolia) plants.- Effect of potassium on EDTA-osmoticum, nitrate reductase activity and productivity of groundnut-sugarcane intercropping under water deficit conditions.- Plant tolerance to nitrogen deficit and excess: Ion compartmentation in root cells.- Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium concentrations and their balance of durum wheat plants during different growth stages.- Calcium signalling in programmed cell death in plants.- 2. Uptake and transport of nutrients I: Nutrient uptake.- Reevaluating the free-ion activity model of trace metal availability to higher plants.- Plant uptake of Cd and Zn in chelator-buffered nutrient solution depends on ligand type.- Possible role of root-ethylene in Fe(III)-phytometallophore uptake in Strategy II species.- Compartmentation and flux analysis of Ca2+ in citrus root using isotope exchange kinetics.- Characterization of ferric chelate reductase in plasma membranes isolated from cucumber roots.- Regulation of phosphate absorption by phosphorus nutritional status in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings.- The toxicity of Cu on the seedlings of a mangrove (Kandelia candel) in the presence of NaCl.- Simultaneous observation of nitrogen uptake, transport and assimilation by rice and wheat young plants fed 15N-nitrate.- Differences in growth and nutrition of legumes in varying soil temperature and phosphorus.- Uptake and translocation of N and P in Leucaena leucocephala grown at different N, P and Al concentrations.- A high affinity Na-dependent phosphate uptake induced by P starvation in Chara.- 3. Uptake and transport of nutrients II: Nutrient translocation.- Detection and characterization of nitrogen circulation through the sieve tubes and xylem vessels of rice plants.- Isolation and patch clamp measurements of xylem contact cells for the study of their role in the exchange between apoplast and symplast of leaves.- The mechanism of phloem mobility of boron.- Characteristics of light-regulated iron transport system in barley chloroplasts.- Inheritance of potassium, calcium and magnesium status in maize (Zea mays L.) plants.- Solute-pool enlargement in drought-sensitive or -tolerant grain legumes: Concentration effect or osmotic adjustment?.- Efficiency of K utilization by soybean cultivars.- Uptake and transport of positron-emitting tracer in irradiated plants.- Seasonal changes in accumulation and retranslocation of nutrients in Casuarina glauca cladodes.- Study on sugar accumulation of sweet sorghum.- The effect of the level of nitrogen supply on the amino acid composition in phloem sap and in leaf extract of rice.- Net influx of calcium and efflux of potassium in groundnut pods grown in solution culture.- 4. Molecular biology and biotechnology in plant nutrition.- Genetic and physiological approaches toward understanding the mechanisms underlying the sulfur-regulated expression of ?-conglycinin genes.- High-affinity phosphate transporter genes of Arabidopsis thaliana.- The froh gene family from Arabidopsis thaliana: Putative iron-chelate reductases.- Transfer of potassium channel genes into tobacco.- Changes in the activities of ammonia assimilation enzymes during senescence of Brassica napus leaf protoplasts.- Exogenous sucrose supresses a far-red light block of greening in Arabidopsis seedlings.- Molecular aspects of potassium and water transport, and their bearing under salt stress.- Uninfected cell specific enhancement of a nodulin-35 genomic gene expression in soybean nodules. Evidences by RT-PCR and chimeric promoter region: GUS reporter gene analysis using transgenic hairy root system of soybean.- Expression in Escherichia coli and purification of a fusion protein containing a hydrophilic region from Oryza sativa plasma membrane H+-ATPase.- Short root-hair mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana.- Isolation of an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant in which the soybean ?-conglycinin gene promoter does not respond normally to sulfur deficiency.- Cloning of axi1-like cDNA from soybean.- Screening of Arabidopsis thaliana mutants sensitive to sulfur deficiency.- Wounding inducibility of axi1 gene, which induces auxin independent cell division of tobacco protoplast.- Pectic fragments prepared by irradiation and their phytoalexin elicitor activity.- Transcription regulation of a Kunitz chymotrypsin inhibitor gene which is expressed abundantly in seeds and tuberous roots of winged bean.- Modification of the nitrogen utilization in transgenic tobacco plants that have enhanced or repressed expression of a putative nitrite transporter in chloroplast envelope.- Hydroponic culture of Arabidopsis thaliana to screen mutants defective in the absorption of manganese.- PCR-assisted differential display of the expression of genes that are induced by manganese-deficiency in tomato roots.- Phenotypic characterization of tobacco mutant CF15-9, which overexpress the axi1 gene, under phosphate deficient condition.- Characterization and cDNA cloning of the GPI-anchored phosphatase from Spirodela oligorrhiza.- Selection of mineral stress resistant lines in sugarcane through biotechnological methods.- Structure and function of two higher plant sulfate transporters.- 5. Tolerance to nutrient deficiency I: Micronutrients.- Role of rye chromosomes in improvement of zinc efficiency in wheat and triticale.- Root…