vernalization

The treatment of seeds, seedlings, bulbs, or other parts of a plant to cold conditions in order to shorten the vegetative period and promote flowering.

vermifiltration

A low-cost, odorless, sustainable wastewater filtration technology that uses waste eater earthworms, and their interactions with microbes, to transform organically polluted water into eco-friendly safe water

vertical farming

Cultivation of vegetables, fruits, etc., vertically, within a building or other high rise structure, in a city or urban areas.

viability

The ability of a cell, organism, spore, seed or other living thing to survive and continue its life processes.

vines

Woody or herbaceous plants which produce flexible stems that climb, trail, or creep. Vines may lie prostrate on the ground or have tendrils, twining stems, or other mechanisms to cling to natural and manmade structures.

virgin forests

Natural forest virtually uninfluenced by human activity.

volunteer plants

Plants found growing without having been planted, as by natural regeneration, and if undesired, are considered weeds. In crop rotation fields, volunteers from the previous year's crop may germinate and establish in the current crop; these "crop plants as weeds" or "rogue" plants may require control measures.

Vermiponics

Vermiponics�is a soil-less growing technique that combines�hydroponicswith�vermiculture�by utilizing diluted wormbin leachate ("worm tea") as the nutrient solution�as opposed to the use of fish waste (as used in�aquaponics) or the addition of manufactured chemicals to provide the nutrients.

waste wood

Pieces of wood, such as branches, limbs, and wood scrap, leftover from wood harvesting, wood processing or leftover from construction projects

wastewater aquaculture

An aquacultural system in which wastewater or treated wastewater is added to produce natural food for fish or other cultured organisms, via complex food chains.

water table

The upper surface of the groundwater or that depth below which the soil is saturated with water.

watershed management

The management of all the natural resources of a watershed to protect, maintain, or improve its water yields.

wax beans

The immature, green, succulent pods of Phaseolus vulgaris.

waxy corn

A type of corn in which the starch content of kernels is high in amylopectin.

quality for nutrition

An indication of the contribution of a food to the nutrient content of the diet.

quantitative risk assessment

A risk assessment that uses numerical expressions of risk and indication of inherent uncertainty.

quaternary protein structure

The three dimensional structure of a protein made up of two or more subunits; the manner in which the subunits fit together.

questionnaires

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

race specific resistance

Host resistance that is operational against one type of foreign matter or agent such as micororganism, pest, chemical, heavymetal, pollen etc.

radioautography

A technique for visualizing the radiation emitted from radioactively labeled material in a specimen by recording the image produced from such radiation on photographic film.