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PI:
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Dr. Abraham Blum
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Contact Details
P. O. Box 16246
Tel Aviv 61 162, Israel
Email: curator@plantstress.com
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Grantee:
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Abraham Blum, Plantstress.com, Tel Aviv
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Grant No:
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2003 FS 035 |
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Amount:
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US $88,900
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Duration:
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Three Years
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About
www.plantstress.com
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Plant
environmental (abiotic) stress
constitutes a major limitation to agricultural production
and the farmer's livelihood. Crop production is hardly ever
free of environmental stress. The major plant environmental
stresses of contemporary economical importance worldwide are
drought, cold (chilling and freezing), heat, salinity, soil
mineral deficiency and soil mineral toxicity.
While the "green
revolution"
indeed had an immense impact on agriculture since the
1960's, its benefits were limited mainly to farming under
non-stress or moderately stressed conditions. For the
farmers in stress prone agriculture that seriously lack in
water, soil fertility, nutrient supply, and favorable
weather, the "green revolution" had only a moderate impact
and in some region no impact at all. A major challenge in
agriculture practice and research today is how to cope with
plant environmental stress in an economical and an
environmentally sustainable approach.
Research to meet this challenge is complex as
it involves learning in widely different disciplines such as
atmospheric sciences, soil science, plant physiology,
biochemistry, genetics, plant breeding, molecular biology,
agricultural engineering and computer science. The most
successful cases of solution development by research in this
area involved close interdisciplinary collaboration and
integration. Such collaboration requires extensive exchange
of knowledge and ideas pertaining to plants under stress.
Regretfully the contemporary trend in agricultural and
biological research is increased specialization and reduced
wide interdisciplinary collaboration.
Henceforth, the purpose of this web site is
to serve as a brokerage of information, a meeting place, a
consultation facility and a source for professional update
on the most important issues of plant environmental stress.
While the site is dynamic and constantly updated it also
offers basic educational materials to newcomers into this
area who wish to use the site for learning. The most
important goal of this web site is to promote interaction
among those interested in solving the problem of plants
under stress in agriculture, be it scientists, extension
specialists, business people, administrators, policy makers
or farmers. The site bulletin board is one tool for the
exchange of ideas.
Contributed material highly pertaining to the
contents and purpose of this web site is welcomed. Please
write the
curator of the site.
The decision to publish any contributed information on this
site lies with the curator whereas the final responsibility
for the submitted material is with the person submitting it.
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