The coconut palm occupies a significant place in the world economy as an important subsistence crop in all the areas in which it is grown. Relatively few countries are able to export any quantity of coconut products because of increasing home demands coupled with low productivity. Yields are generally well below potential despite recent developments with improved planting stock and agronomic practices. In the last 50 years, both these aspects have received considerable attention, but the focus is shifting to investigate how the use of recently developed biotechnological techniques- can benefit the coconut industry. This volume, the result of the International Symposium on Coconut Biotechnology (held in December 1997 in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico), describes recent research in three important areas. Standard plant breeding techniques used with coconut have produced improved planting material, but progress is inevitably very slow. Can more rapid genetic improvement be obtained using molecular techniques? The papers presented in this section suggest that such techniques will open up exciting new prospects, but only after basic information has been gathered on the genetic status of existing coconut stocks. Research using microsatellite techniques seems to provide a useful tool to help to classifying these stocks. However, only a combination of classical breeding methods with modem techniques will lead to the rapid improvement which is required to supply material for urgent replanting programs.

Inhalt

1. Biotechnology and the Coconut Industry.- Current status of the coconut industry.- The role of international cooperation in the development of biotechnology in coconut.- 2. Molecular Markers, Coconut Diversity and Genetic Improvement.- The application of molecular markers to coconut genetic improvement.- Genetic improvement of coconut palms.- Use of molecular markers and morpho-agronomical characters in the management of plant germplasm.- Use of RFLP markers to study the diversity of the coconut palm.- RAPD markers in the genetic diversity study of coconut.- Analysis of coconut germplasm biodiversity by DNA marker technologies and construction of a genetic linkage map.- The use of polymorphic microsatellites for assessing genetic diversity in coconut.- Lethal yellowing resistance in coconut germplasm from México.- Prospects for marker assisted breeding of lethal yellowing-resistant coconuts.- 3. Molecular Detection and Diagnosis of Coconut Diseases.- Conventional and molecular approaches for detection and diagnosis of plant diseases: application to coconut.- Detection and diagnosis of lethal yellowing.- Detection and diagnosis of African lethal yellowing-like diseases.- Detection and diagnosis of coconut cadang-cadang.- Detection of coconut cadang-cadang viroid-like sequences.- Detection and diagnosis of coconut foliar decay disease.- The use of biotechnology for the safe movement of coconut germplasm.- 4. In Vitro Propagation of Coconut.- Application of in vitro techniques to the conservation and propagation of coconut palms.- Coconut embryo culture.- Cryopreservation of coconut germplasm.- Somatic embryogenesis in coconut from immature inflorescence expiants.- Somatic embryogenesis and regeneration in coconut from plumular expiants.- Control of environmentalconditions and the use of polyamines can optimise the conditions for the initiation and proliferation of coconut somatic embryos.- The use of osmotically active agents and abscisic acid can optimise the maturation of coconut somatic embryos.- The zygotic embryo: a model for physiological studies in coconut.- Effect of medium sucrose on the photosynthetic capacity of coconut vitroplants formed from zygotic embryos.- The application of markers for embryogenesis and organogenesis in coconut propagation.- Recent progress on coconut micropropagation through a joined effort involving different countries.- Scaling-up micropropagation of palms: the example of oil palm.- Potential use of clonal propagation in coconut improvement programs.- Does clonal coconut material have a potential use in any agricultural system?.- Concluding Remarks.