The countries of the Asia Pacific have constituted an association which organizes conferences on agricultural biotechnology once in two years. The second conference in this series was held at Madras. This volume assembles the presentations made at the Madras conference on plant-based agriculture. The material has been organized into seven areas: Biodiversity; Tissue Culture and Micropropagation; Molecular Breeding; Genetic Engineering; Gene Expression; Biotic Stresses and Crop Nutrient Management. The volume contains very useful information which would be of interest to scientists and students globally.