Cultivation of grain crops has been rightly recognized as one of the main drivers in shaping human civilizations. Considering their key role in fulfilling a major portion of the global food needs, grain crops are the most widely grown crops around the world. Unfortunately, like many other agronomic crops, grain crops are quite vulnerable to climate change and this has posed multifaceted threats to agricultural sustainability. To add to the menace, the deteriorating quantity and quality of both land and water as primary factors of production are further aggravating the scenario. Confronting such challenges demands innovative adaptation strategies through intensification of grain crop production that can ensure grain self-sufficiency worldwide.
This new edition of an established title examines the determination of grain crop yield from a unique perspective, by concentrating on the influence of the seed itself. As the food supply for an expanding world population is based on grain crops harvested for their seeds, understanding the process of seed growth and its regulation is crucial to our efforts to increase production and meet the needs of that population. Yield of grain crops is determined by their assimilatory processes such as photosynthesis and the biosynthetic processes in the seed, which are partly regulated within the seed itself. Substantially updated with new research and further developments of the practical applications of the concepts explored, this book is essential reading for those concerned with seed science and crop yield, including agronomists, crop physiologists, plant breeders, and extension workers. It is also a valuable source of information for lecturers and graduate students of agronomy and plant physiology.
This volume explores the latest advances in high-throughput phenotyping to screen milling quality, cooking and nutritional quality in breeding material, and simplifying grain quality screening in germplasm. The chapters in this book cover topics such as seed development stages; panicle architectural traits to understand yield components; starch structure and protein properties; and genome editing technologies to reveal grain quality and nutritional traits. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and thorough, Rice Grain Quality: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for all researchers interested in expanding their knowledge in this evolving field.
Rice is a staple crop in many coastal and non-coastal areas of the globe and requires a large production area. With the increasing trends in population , it is pivotal to increase the production of this important crop for sustainability. The introduction of high-yielding rice cultivars through molecular breeding is one of the possibilities that can ensure sustainability. Additionally, development of new biotic and abiotic stress-resistant cultivars with higher nutritional value can revolutionize the rice industry.
Crop Physiology: Case Histories of Major Crops updates the physiology of broad-acre crops with a focus on the genetic, environmental and management drivers of development, capture and efficiency in the use of radiation, water and nutrients, the formation of yield and aspects of quality. These physiological process are presented in a double context of challenges and solutions. The challenges to increase plant-based food, fodder, fiber and energy against the backdrop of population increase, climate change, dietary choices and declining public funding for research and development in agriculture are unprecedented and urgent. The proximal technological solutions to these challenges are genetic improvement and agronomy. Hence, the premise of the book is that crop physiology is most valuable when it engages meaningfully with breeding and agronomy. With contributions from 92 leading scientists from around the world, each chapter deals with a crop: maize, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum and oat; quinoa; soybean, field pea, chickpea, peanut, common bean, lentil, lupin and faba bean; sunflower and canola; potato, cassava, sugar beet and sugarcane; and cotton. - A crop-based approach to crop physiology in a G x E x M context - Captures the perspectives of global experts on 22 crops
Scenes of starvation have drawn the world's attention to Africa's agricultural and environmental crisis. Some observers question whether this continent can ever hope to feed its growing population. Yet there is an overlooked food resource in sub-Saharan Africa that has vast potential: native food plants. When experts were asked to nominate African food plants for inclusion in a new book, a list of 30 species grew quickly to hundreds. All in all, Africa has more than 2,000 native grains and fruitsâ€""lost" species due for rediscovery and exploitation. This volume focuses on native cereals, including: African rice, reserved until recently as a luxury food for religious rituals. Finger millet, neglected internationally although it is a staple for millions. Fonio (acha), probably the oldest African cereal and sometimes called "hungry rice." Pearl millet, a widely used grain that still holds great untapped potential. Sorghum, with prospects for making the twenty-first century the "century of sorghum." Tef, in many ways ideal but only now enjoying budding commercial production. Other cultivated and wild grains. This readable and engaging book dispels myths, often based on Western bias, about the nutritional value, flavor, and yield of these African grains. Designed as a tool for economic development, the volume is organized with increasing levels of detail to meet the needs of both lay and professional readers. The authors present the available information on where and how each grain is grown, harvested, and processed, and they list its benefits and limitations as a food source. The authors describe "next steps" for increasing the use of each grain, outline research needs, and address issues in building commercial production. Sidebars cover such interesting points as the potential use of gene mapping and other "high-tech" agricultural techniques on these grains. This fact-filled volume will be of great interest to agricultural experts, entrepreneurs, researchers, and individuals concerned about restoring food production, environmental health, and economic opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. Selection, Newbridge Garden Book Club
In the recent years, the need to increase food production to meet the demands of rapidly increasing population from a limited land resource necessitated the use of intensive farming systems, with the inputs like narrow genetic base, high dose of fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, monocropping, etc. which led to the development of diseases and pest. The effect of changing global climate, particularly the sharp increase in CO2 concentration, has increased the susceptibility of plants to pathogens and pests. Because of the chemicalization of agriculture, the age-old eco-friendly pest management practices like sanitation, crop rotation, mixed cropping, adjustment of date of planting, fallowing, summer ploughing, green manuring, composting, etc. are not being practiced, affecting the crops adversely. This has encouraged researchers to look for eco-friendly and novel approaches for pest management. The information on recent advances in crop protection (involving bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects, mites and weeds) is scattered. The book delves upon the most latest developments in crop protection such as avermectins, bacteriophages, biofumigation, biotechnological approaches; bio-priming of seeds; disguising the leaf surface; use of non-pathogenic strains, plant defense activators, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, pathogenesis-related proteins, strobilurin fungicides, RNA interference, and variety of mixtures/cultivar mixtures/multilines; soil solarization; biointensive integrated pest management; among several others (fusion protein-based biopesticides, seed mat technology and environmental methods). This book is a ready reference for students, policy-makers, scientists, researchers and extension workers.
Advances in Rice Research for Abiotic Stress Tolerance provides an important guide to recognizing, assessing and addressing the broad range of environmental factors that can inhibit rice yield. As a staple food for nearly half of the world's population, and in light of projected population growth, improving and increasing rice yield is imperative. This book presents current research on abiotic stresses including extreme temperature variance, drought, hypoxia, salinity, heavy metal, nutrient deficiency and toxicity stresses. Going further, it identifies a variety of approaches to alleviate the damaging effects and improving the stress tolerance of rice. Advances in Rice Research for Abiotic Stress Tolerance provides an important reference for those ensuring optimal yields from this globally important food crop. - Covers aspects of abiotic stress, from research, history, practical field problems faced by rice, and the possible remedies to the adverse effects of abiotic stresses - Provides practical insights into a wide range of management and crop improvement practices - Presents a valuable, single-volume sourcebook for rice scientists dealing with agronomy, physiology, molecular biology and biotechnology
Plant phenotyping is an emerging technology that involves the quantitative analysis of structural and functional plant traits. However, it is widely recognised that phenotyping needs to match similar advances in genetics if it is to not create a bottleneck in plant breeding. Advances in plant phenotyping for more sustainable crop production reviews the wealth of research on advances in plant phenotyping to meet this challenge, such as the development of new technologies including hyperspectral sensors such as LIDAR, NIR/SWIR, as well as alternative delivery/carrier systems, such as ground-based proximal distance systems and UAVs. The book details the development of plant phenotyping as a technique to analyse crop roots and functionality, as well as its use in understanding and improving crop response to biotic and abiotic stresses.
This book aims to assess, evaluate and critically analyze the methods that are currently available for a judicious pest management in durable food. It presents and analyzes a vast amount of methods that are already in use in “real world” industrial applications. After the phase-out of methyl bromide, but also the withdrawal of several insecticides and the continuously updated food safety regulations, there is a significant knowledge gap on the use of risk-reduced, ecologically-compatible control methods that can be used with success against stored-product insect species and related arthropods. The importance of integrated pest management (IPM) is growing, but the concept as practiced for stored products might differ from IPM as historically developed for field crops. This book discusses a wide variety of control strategies used for stored product management and describes some of the IPM components. The editors included chemical and non-chemical methods, as both are essential in IPM. They set the scene for more information regarding emerging issues in stored product protection, such as emerging, alien and invasive species as threats for global food security, as well as the importance of stored-product arthropods for human health. Finally, the analysis of the economics of stored product protection is presented, from theory to practice.
