Synthesizes a significant amount of data and information on roots and tubers in an effort to provide a clearer vision of their past, present, and future roles in the food systems of developing countries. How the production and use of these commodities have changed and will continue to change over time are all the more important to understand because of the contribution they make to the diets and income-generating activities of the rural and urban poor in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Provides a fuller understanding of the prospects of roots and tubers for food, feed, and other uses in developing countries.

The Role of Plant Roots in Crop Production presents the state of knowledge on environmental factors in root growth and development and their effect on the improvement of the yield of annual crops. This book addresses the role of roots in crop production and includes references to numerous annual crops. In addition, it brings together the issues and the state-of-the-art technologies that affect root growth, with comprehensive reviews to facilitate efficient, sustainable, economical, and environmentally responsible crop production. Written for plant scientists, crop scientists, horticulturalists, and soil scientists, plant physiologists, breeders, environmental scientists, agronomists, and undergraduate and graduate students in different disciplines of agricultural science, The Role of Plant Roots in Crop Production: Addresses root architecture and development dynamics to help users improve crop productivity Emphasizes crop production, plant nutrition, and soil chemistry relative to root growth and functions Covers root morphology, root functions, nutrient and water uptake by roots, root-soil interactions, root-environment interactions, root-microbe interactions, physiology of root crops, and management practices to improve root growth Supports content with experimental results, and additional data is presented with pictures Increasing food production worldwide has become a major issue in the 21st century. Stagnation in grain yield of important food crops in recent years in developed, as well as developing, countries has contributed to a sharp increase in food prices. Furthermore, higher grain yield will be needed in the future to feed a burgeoning world population with a rising standard of living that requires more grain per capita. Technologies that enhance productivity, ensure environmental safety, and conserve natural resources are required to meet this challenge.

Recent advances in plant genomics and molecular biology have revolutionized our understanding of plant genetics, providing new opportunities for more efficient and controllable plant breeding. Successful techniques require a solid understanding of the underlying molecular biology as well as experience in applied plant breeding. Bridging the gap between developments in biotechnology and its applications in plant improvement, Molecular Plant Breeding provides an integrative overview of issues from basic theories to their applications to crop improvement including molecular marker technology, gene mapping, genetic transformation, quantitative genetics, and breeding methodology.

The discipline of plant breeding has undergone transformation due to the assimilation of the rapid developments in molecular biology. The existing books on plant breeding deal mainly with the classical approaches, while specialized books on molecular approaches usually lack discussion of the classical methods. The book Plant Breeding for 21st Century attempts to present the complete picture of plant breeding ranging from the classical to the molecular approaches applied to crop improvement. The book is divided into four sections: Classical Plant Breeding, Transgenic technology, Molecular Markers, and Miscellaneous. The first section deals with the classical plant breeding and is divided into eight chapters. The second section has four chapters and describes transgenic technology. The third section discusses various aspects of molecular markers and is spread over three chapters. The final section has a single chapter dealing with variety release, seed multiplication and intellectual property rights. This book is designed primarily for graduate students, viz., B.Sc. agriculture and B.Sc. science students with botany as one of the subjects, who would get their first exposure to plant breeding. It would also be useful for the post-graduate students, especially in botany, and to teachers of the subject. The book is written in simple and easy to understand language. Illustrations and photographs have been provided wherever they were expected to facilitate comprehension of the subject under discussion.

Until recently, breeding efforts in mass produced food crops centered on high yield production, yet sacrificed flavor, taste, and other qualities. Now, more emphasis is being placed on the enhancement of nutritional and medicinal properties as well as from an environmental impact and sustainability standpoint. This volume looks at the use of crops