Current pressures to maximise the use of forages in ruminant diets have renewed interest in fast, inexpensive methods for the estimation of their nutritional value. As a result, a wide variety of biological and physiochemical procedures have recently been investigated for this purpose.This book is the single definitive reference volume on the current status of research in this areaCovers all forages eaten by ruminant animals

Forages, Volume I, Seventh Edition is the most comprehensive text available for teachers of undergraduate Forages courses. This edition will provide students with a good balance of scientific principles, to aid in integrating the concepts they learn, and practical information on forage identification, plant characteristics, management, and utilization that can be used by forage management practitioners. Grassland ecosystems are extremely complex, including the plant/animal interface as well as the soil/climate/forage interface and the text must support understanding and integration of all of these considerations. The coverage of the science behind the plant characteristics and responses make the book applicable in many parts of the world, while other region-specific management information relates mainly to North America. This edition has been updated to address emerging areas of study, including the use of forage plants as bioenergy crops. The editors also address the renewed national interest in environmental issues such as water quality, global climate change and eutrophication in the Gulf. This edition also addresses the role of forages for wildlife habitat and food sources, another area of increased interest in recent years. These revisions respond to the generational change taking place among forage scientists and teachers in recent years.

The first International Conference on the Biology of Deer Production was held at Dunedin, New Zealand in 1983. That meeting provided, for the first time, a forum for those with interests in either wild deer management or farmed deer production to come together. Scientists, wild deer managers, domestic deer farmers, veterinarians, venison and antler product producers, and others were able to discuss common problems and to share their knowledge and experience. The relationships formed at that meeting, and the information amassed in the resulting Proceedings, sparked new endeavors in cervid research, management, and production. A great deal has taken place in the world of deer biology since 1983. Wild deer populations, although ever increasing in many areas of the world, face new hazards of habitat loss, environmental contamination, and overexploitation. Some species are closer to extinction than ever. Game managers often face political as well as biological challenges. Many more deer are now on farms, leading to greater concerns about disease control and increased needs for husbandry information. Researchers have accumulated considerable new in formation, some of it in areas such as biochemical genetics, not discussed in 1983.

Agriculture depends on improved cultivars, and cultivars are developed through proper plant breeding. Unfortunately, applied plant breeding programs that are focused on cereal commodity crops are under serious erosion because of lack of funding. This loss of public support affects breeding continuity, objectivity, and, perhaps equally important, the training of future plant breeders and the utilization and improvement of plant genetic resources currently available. Breeding programs should focus not only on short-term research goals but also on long-term genetic improvement of germplasm. The research products of breeding programs are important not only for food security but also for commodity-oriented public and private programs, especially in the fringes of crop production. Breeding strategies used for long-term selection are often neglected but the reality is that long-term research is needed for the success of short-term products. An excellent example is that genetically broad-based public germplasm has significantly been utilized and recycled by industry, producing billions of dollars for industry and farmers before intellectual property rights were available. Successful examples of breeding continuity have served the sustainable cereal crop production that we currently have. The fact that farmers rely on public and private breeding institutions for solving long-term challenges should influence policy makers to reverse this trend of reduced funding. Joint cooperation between industry and public institutions would be a good example to follow. The objective of this volume is to increase the utilization of useful genetic resources and increase awareness of the relative value and impact of plant breeding and biotechnology. That should lead to a more sustainable crop production and ultimately food security. Applied plant breeding will continue to be the foundation to which molecular markers are applied. Focusing useful molecular techniques on the right traits will build a strong linkage between genomics and plant breeding and lead to new and better cultivars. Therefore, more than ever there is a need for better communication and cooperation among scientists in the plant breeding and biotechnology areas. We have an opportunity to greatly enhance agricultural production by applying the results of this research to meet the growing demands for food security and environmental conservation. Ensuring strong applied plant breeding programs with successful application of molecular markers will be essential in ensuring such sustainable use of plant genetic resources.