What do we now know about the origins of plants on land, from an evolutionary and an environmental perspective? The essays in this collection present a synthesis of our present state of knowledge, integrating current information in paleobotany with physical, chemical, and geological data.

This book provides a general but thorough overview of basic microbiological techniques, analytical methods and advanced tests for food-borne pathogens, procedures for detecting pathogens in food, as well as beneficial microorganisms and their role in food fermentations. Both specialists looking to refresh their understanding of microbiology and those working in the food industry without a background in microbiology will find this book useful.

This book offers an up-to-date account of important crops grown worldwide. It provides detailed discussion on the history of plant exploration, migration, domestication and distribution, and crop improvement. The text starts with the origin and diversification of cultivated plants, followed by discussion on tropical, subtropical and temperate crops that are sources of food, beverages, spices and medicines, as well as plant insecticides, timber plants and essential oil-yielding plants. The genetic and evolutionary aspects of different plants and their health benefits are highlighted. The book covers topics dealing with biodiversity conservation, petro-crops, ethnobotanical studies, and important sub-tropical and temperate plants that have commercial importance. The significance of major plant species under each category is described in detail. Illustrated with numerous well-labelled line diagrams and pictures, this book will be useful for students of botany, food and nutrition, forestry, agriculture, horticulture, plant breeding and environmental science.

This collection of papers includes some of the presentation given at the International congress of Plant Pathology held in Beijing in 2013 in the session of Recent Development in Postharvest Pathology. Fruit production for human consumption is an important part of the market economy. Any waste during to spoilage and pest infestation, in the field and the postharvest phase, results in significant economic losses which are more pronounced as the losses occur closer to the time of produce sale. Careful handling of perishable produce is needed for the prevention of postharvest diseases at different stages during harvesting. Handling, transport and storage in order to preserve the high quality produce. The extent of postharvest losses varies markedly depending on the commodities and country estimated to range between 4 and 8% in countries where postharvest refrigeration facilities are well developed to 30% where facilities are minimal. Microbial decay is one of the main factors that determine losses compromising the quality of the fresh produce. For the development of an integrated approach for decay management, cultural, preharvest, harvest and postharvest practices should be regarded as essential components that influence the complex interactions between host, pathogen, and environmental conditions. Orchards practices including preharvest fungicide applications can also directly reduce the development of postharvest fruit decay. Among postharvest practices, postharvest fruit treatments with fungicide are the most effective means to reduce decay. Ideally, these fungicides protect the fruit from infections that occur before treatment, including pathogen causing quiescent infections, as well from infection that are initiated after treatment during postharvest handling, shipment and marketing. The implementation of these alternatives techniques often requires modifying currently used postharvest practices and development of new formulation for their applications.“p>The present chapters deal with the newest report related to postharvest pathology in the world.