More than 20 million childhood deaths occur every year due to the micronutrient deficiency and diet-related non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes). The United Nations (UN) recently announced that the increase in chronic, non-communicable diseases has resulted in 36 million deaths around the world annually, claiming more lives than all other causes combined. These chronic diseases are not isolated to developed countries and are even more pronounced in the developing world. Such chronic illnesses have caused far more deaths than infectious diseases throughout the world (except Africa) in recent years. Therefore, enrichment of micronutrients in staple food crops is of paramount importance for the nutritional security in our world. Biofortification is the development of micronutrient- and/or vitamin-rich crops using traditional crop improvement practices as well as modern biotechnology tools. It is a more sustainable and cost effective method than food supplementation, fortification and diet diversification. This work consolidates available information on the different aspects of breeding for improved nutrition of pulses. An overview of entire pulses based on their nutritional profile is given so that audience can find the desired information easily. Food legumes are the active ingredients in many gluten-free food products and there is a continuous rise of the use of pulses flour in milling and baking processes. Our book sheds light on recent efforts and the underlying constraints of meeting the public demand. We believe this work provides the basic information for anyone interested in biofortification and stimulate further research to meet this unique challenge.

The crop plants cater not only to our basic F5 (food, feed, fiber, fuel, and furniture) needs but also provide a number of nutraceuticals with potential nutritional, safety and therapeutic properties. Many crop plants provide an array of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidant-rich bioactive phytochemicals. Increasing incidences of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and HIV, and malnutrition necessitate global attention to health and nutrition security with equal emphasis to food security. This compendium compiles results of researches on biochemical, physiological and genetic mechanisms underlying biosynthesis of the health and nutrition related nutraceuticals. It also explores the precise breeding strategies for augmentation of their content and amelioration of their quality in crop plants under all commodity categories including cereals and millets, oilseeds, pulses, fruits and nuts, and vegetables. The compendium comprise 5 sections dedicated to these 5 commodity groups and presents enumeration on the concepts, strategies, tools and techniques of nutraceutomics. These sections include 50 chapters devoted to even number of major crop plants. These chapters present deliberations on the biochemistry and medicinal properties of the nutracuticals contained; genetic variation in their contents; classical genetics and breeding for their quantitative and qualitative improvement; tissue culture and genetic engineering for augmentation of productivity and quality; and sources of genes underlying their biosynthesis. They also include comprehensive enumeration on genetic mapping of the genes and QTLs controlling the contents and profile of the nutraceuticals and molecular breeding for their further improvement through marker assisted selection and backcross breeding tools. Prospects of post-genomic precise breeding strategies including genome-wide association mapping, genomic selection, allele mining, and genome editing are also discussed. This compendium fills the gap in academia, and research and development wings of the private sector industries interested in an array of subjects including genetics, genomics, tissue culture, genetic engineering, molecular breeding, genomics-assisted breeding, bioinformatics, biochemistry, physiology, pathology, entomology, pharmacognosy, IPR, etc., and will also facilitate understanding of the policy making agencies and people in the socio-economic domain and research sponsoring agencies.

Dry Beans and Pulses The second edition of the most complete and authoritative reference on dry beans production, processing, and nutrition available Since the first edition of Dry Beans and Pulses: Production, Processing, and Nutrition was published in 2012, the popularity of pulse crops as sustainable, nutritionally-rich food ingredients for alternate meat and other food products has increased significantly beyond traditional utilization. Retaining its distinctive value-chain approach to the subject, the new edition is fully revised to provide up-to-date coverage of breeding, composition, quality, nutritional profiles, postharvest and processing technologies, food safety and security, significance to human health, and more. A team of more than fifty contributors review recent research, consumer trends, new products, and food security issues in dry beans processing and value-added practices. New chapters address Hard-to-cook phenomenon and other storage-induced quality defects, quality assessment of raw and processed legumes using innovative technologies, utilization of dry beans and pulses as ingredients in diverse food products, and the production, processing, and nutritional profile of Faba beans and chickpeas and lentils. Covering both traditional and non-traditional bean classes, this comprehensive volume: Features new topics, expanded discussion, updated references, and additional figures and tables throughout Provides in-depth information on key aspects of production technologies, value-added processing, and Culinology® Examines global production and consumption, packaging and distribution, and nutrient bioavailability of bioactive compounds Highlights worldwide efforts to improve the quality and utilization of dry beans and pulses Discusses emerging trends and new applications of antioxidant properties of dry beans as functional foods Features chapters written by experts in disciplines such as crop science, horticulture, food science and technology, food biochemistry and engineering, and nutritional and environmental sciences Dry Beans and Pulses: Production, Processing, and Nutrition, Second Edition remains required reading for food scientists, nutritionists, agronomists, researchers, food processing specialists, and food security experts, food engineers and chemists involved in dry beans processing and value-added technologies.

This book is an advanced textbook and a reference book for the post-graduate plant-breeding students and the plant breeders. It consolidates fundamental concepts and also the latest advances in plant-breeding practices including development in crop genomics. It contains crop wise explanation on origin, reproduction, genetics of yield contributing traits, biotic and abiotic stresses, nutritional improvement and crop specific plant-breeding procedures and techniques. The chapters are planned to describe crop-focused breeding procedure for the major crop plants as per their economic importance. The recent developments in breeding of field crops have been reported. The recent progress made in mapping traits of economic importance has been critically reviewed for each crop. The progress made in markers assisted selected in few crops has been summarized. This book bridges the knowledge gap and bring to the researchers and students information on modern breeding tools for developing biotic and abiotic stress tolerant, climate resilient and micronutrient rich varieties of field crops. The chapters in book are contributed by experienced Plant Breeders.