Recent NA49 results on Lambda, Antilambda, Xi- and Antixi+ production in
minimum bias p+p and centrality selected p+Pb collisions at 158 GeV/c, and the
results on Lambda, Antilambda, K+ and K- production in central Pb+Pb collisions
at 40, 80 and 158 A GeV are discussed and compared with other available data.
By comparing the energy dependence of Lambda and Antilambda production at
mid-rapidity a striking similarity is observed between p+p and A+A data. This
is also seen in the energy dependence of the Lambda/pi ratio. K+/pi at
mid-rapidity is affected in a similar way, due to the associated production of
K+ together with Lambda particles. The observed yields increase faster than the
number of wounded nucleons when comparing p+Pb to p+p. As already observed in
A+A collisions, the increase is larger for multistrange than for strange
baryons and for baryons than for anti-baryons.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, To appear in proceedings of Strange Quark in
Matter 2001-A Flavourspace Odyssey, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 24-29. Sept.
200