This book volume has been divided into three sections and contains a
total of 23 chapters. Section A contains eleven chapters covering topics
such as studies of embryo development and cell biology of white spruce,
proliferative somatic embryogenesis in woody species, somatic embryo
germination and desiccation tolerance in conifers, performance of
conifer somatic seedlings, apoptosis during early somatic embryogenesis,
water relation parameters in conifer embryos, image analysis of somatic
embryos, somatic embryogenesis in woody legumes, cold storage and
crypreservation, and commercialization of plant somatic embryogenesis.
Section B comprisis six chapters dealing with angiosperm woody plants
such as somatic embryogenesis in myrtaceous plants, Laurus nobilis,
Simarouba glauca, Magnolia spp., Juglans cinera, and somatic
embryogenesis and evaluation of variability in somatic seedlings of
Quercus serrata by RAPD markers. The chapters contained in Section C are
focussed on somatic embryogenesis in gymnosperms, including Pinus
patula, Encephalartos, Picea wilsonii, Pinus banksiana, hybrid firs, and
Taxus. All the mansucripts have been peer reviewed and revised
accordingly to improve the quality of these chapters. The final
manuscripts were submitted as camera- ready to publication, and editors
had no opportunity to go through them again before the final printing.
Authors were advised to prepare final camera-ready manuscripts carefully
to avoid any mistakes. Therefore, editors are not respon- sible for
mistakes, if any, in this book volume. We are grateful to all the book
chapter contributors for submitting their manuscripts in time, and to
the reviewers for giving their free time to review the manuscripts.
