Breeding Oilseed Crops for Sustainable Production: Opportunities and Constraints presents key insights into accelerating the breeding of sustainable and superior varieties. The book explores the genetic engineering/biotechnology that has played a vital role in transforming economically important traits from distant/wild species to cultivated varieties, enhancing the quality and quantity of oil and seed yield production. Integrated nutrient management, efficient water management, and forecasting models for pests diseases outbreaks and integrated pest and pest management have also added new dimensions in breeding for sustainable production. With the rise in demand, the scientific community has responded positively by directing a greater amount of research towards sustainable production both for edible and industrial uses. Covering the latest information on various major world oil crops including rapeseed mustard, sunflower, groundnut, sesame, oilpalm, cotton, linseed/flax, castor and olive, this book brings the latest advances together in a single volume for researchers and advanced level students. - Describes various methods and systems to achieve sustainable production in all major oilseed crops - Addresses breeding, biology and utilization aspects simultaneously including those species whose information is not available elsewhere - Includes information on modern biotechnological and molecular techniques and production technologies - Relevant for international government, industrial and academic programs in research and development

Advances in Agronomy, Volume 157, continues to be recognized as a leading reference and first-rate source for the latest research in agronomy. Each volume contains an eclectic group of reviews by leading scientists throughout the world. As always, the subjects covered are rich, varied, and exemplary of the abundant subject matter addressed by this long-running serial. - Includes numerous, timely, state-of-the-art reviews on the latest advancements in agronomy - Features distinguished, well recognized authors from around the world - Builds upon this venerable and iconic review series - Covers the extensive variety and breadth of subject matter in the crop and soil sciences

Organic Crop Breeding provides readers with a thorough review of the latest efforts by crop breeders and geneticists to develop improved varieties for organic production. The book opens with chapters looking at breeding efforts that focus on specific valuable traits such as quality, pest and disease resistance as well as the impacts improved breeding efforts can have on organic production. The second part of the book is a series of crop specific case studies that look at breeding efforts currently underway from around the world in crops ranging from carrots to corn. Organic Crop Breeding includes chapters from leading researchers in the field and is carefully edited by two pioneers in the field. Organic Crop Breeding provides valuable insight for crop breeders, geneticist, crop science professionals, researchers, and advanced students in this quickly emerging field.

Plant adaptation is a fundamental process in plant breeding. It was the first criterion in the initial domestication of plants thousands of years ago. Adaptedness is generally a quantitative complex feature of the plant, involving many traits, many of which are quantitative. Adaptation to stresses like cold, drought or diseases are among the most central problems in a world grappling with global food security. Modern plant breeding, based on mendelian genetics, has made plant improvement more effective and more precise and selective. Molecular genetics and genetic engineering has considerably increased this selectivity down to single genes affecting single traits. The time has come when plant breeding efficiency may cause loss of genetic resources and adaptation. In these proceedings an effort is made to merge modern plant breeding efficiency with ecological aspects of plant breeding, reflected in adaptation. It is hoped that this merger results in more sustainable use of genetic resources and physical environments. The book is based on 10 keynotes addressing a wide spectrum of themes related to adaptation. In addition each subject is further elaborated in up to three case studies on particular plant species or groups of plants. The keynotes do in fact overlap to some degree and there are articles in this volume that seemingly contradict each other, a common aspect in advanced fields of research. The keen reader may conclude that, in a world where climates and environments are under continuous change and where human society is more and more polarized into a developed and a developing part, adaptation of our cultivated plants has different constraints on yields depending on ecology, and indeed economy.