Production of food to meet the demands of an ever-increasing human population in the world is the major task and challenge to agriculture today. The conventional methods of plant breeding alone can no longer cope with the situation. The success of any crop improvement program depends on the extent of genetic variability in the base population, but due to denuding of forests and agricultural land, the naturally occurring pool of germplasm is being depleted. An urgent need is therefore ap parent to create new variability and increase the genetic base of agricul tural crops. Agricultural biotechnology has progressed to a stage in the produc tion of plants where specific characteristics to improve their yield, ap pearance, disease-resistance, nutritional quality and adaptation to ad verse soil conditions can be built into the seed. This concept of built-in quality implies a continuous scientific endeavour to improve plant char acters using a wide range of possibilities, and it also implies a scrutiny of the materials and methods available in the world today.

Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.

Recently. there has been tremendous progress in the genetic transformation of agricultural crops, and plants resistant to insects, herbicides, and diseases have been produced, field tested and patented. Transgenic Crops I compiles this information on cereals, grasses, legumes, and oilseed crops. It comprises 25 chapters and is divided into two sections: I. Cereals and Grasses: wheat, rice, maize, barley, sorghum, pearl millet, triticale, Agrostis spp., Cenchrus ciliaris, Dactylis glomerata, Festuca arundinacea, Lolium spp., and sugarcane. II. Legumes and Oilseed Crops: Arachis hypogaea, Brassica juncea, Brassica napus, Cicer arietinum, Glycine max, Gossypium hirsutum, Helianthus annuus, Lens culinaris, Linum usitatissimum, Sinapis alba, Trifolium, and Vicis narbonensis. This book is of special interest to advanced students, teachers, and research workers in the field of plant breeding, genetics, molecular biology, plant tissue culture, and plant biotechnology in general.

Have you ever wondered why we eat wheat, rice, potatoes and cassava? Why we routinely domesticate foodstuffs with the power to kill us, or why we chose almonds over acorns? Answering all these questions and more in a readable and friendly style, this book takes you on a journey through our history with crop plants. Arranged into recurrent themes in plant domestication, this book documents the history and biology of over 50 crops, including cereals, spices, legumes, fruits and cash crops such as chocolate, tobacco and rubber.

This major work has but one aim: to provide breeders and researchers from the public and private sectors with all the latest information on the breeding of crops of economic relevance. Also, it serves as a major reference book for post-graduate courses and PhD courses on breeding vegetable crops, as well a one-stop-shop for horticulturists and extension agents interested in current advancements in the development of new vegetable crops varieties. Each chapter incorporates the most up-to-date information on the crops examined, and an important novelty is that, in comparison to other books already published on this subject this one contains the most cutting-edge information on molecular breeding techniques.