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INBAR Technical Report
Volume 21
Zhang Guangchu
All major crop plants have been subjected to genetic improvement, eitherby selection and propagation or by breeding. Bamboos have received scantattention from plant breeders despite their importance as crop plantsdue to their unpredictable and uncontrollable flowering habits and to alimited understanding of genetic variation amongst the existing species.The potential for new, improved bamboo hybrids is enormous. The demandfor bamboo is increasing worldwide and the diversity of uses to which itis put is growing steadily. Increases in demand can be met by increasingthe areas of bamboo plantations, but improvements in the quality of rawbamboo can only be met by selection and breeding.
Professor Zhang Guangchu of Guangdong Forestry Research Institute hasworked on bamboo hybridization for almost thirty years and has amassed awide range of skills and experience. She has produced hybrid bamboosthat are now being grown commercially in South China. INBAR recentlyinvited her to distil her experiences and make them available to a wideraudience and this manual is the result. The manual refers primarily tothe bamboos of southern China where the author is based, but theprinciples and techniques are applicable worldwide.
This manual is one of the products of INBARs Ecological Securityprogramme, which aims to improve the genetic diversity, conservation andmanagement of bamboo and rattan resources, and to promote their use inenvironmental protection and rehabilitation. It aims to be the catalystfor scientists, technicians, foresters, farmers and individuals toundertake bamboo hybridization in their own regions, to stimulaterelevant research and to promote the wider acceptance and use of hybridbamboos.
2002; x+42 pages
ISBN 90-6764-356-4
Price (all prices are subject to change without notice): EUR 51/US$ 73
VSPPostal address: P.O. Box 9000, 2300 PA Leiden, The Netherlands