P. M. Priyadarshan – författare

As the world’s population increases the need to produce greater quantities of major staple crops such as wheat, rice, maize, potato, cassava, soybean, sweet potato, barley, and banana in order to sufficiently feed the people of the world continues to grow. Breeding Major Food Staples covers improving yields and quality of these crops through breeding and the use of molecular biology tools such as gene transfer, genome mapping, biofortification, and bioinformatics. This book will be an important reference for anyone working in crop breeding.

As the world’s population increases the need to produce greater quantities of major staple crops such as wheat, rice, maize, potato, cassava, soybean, sweet potato, barley, and banana in order to sufficiently feed the people of the world continues to grow. Breeding Major Food Staples covers improving yields and quality of these crops through breeding and the use of molecular biology tools such as gene transfer, genome mapping, biofortification, and bioinformatics. This book will be an important reference for anyone working in crop breeding.

Rubber is an economically important material that occurs naturally and can be produced synthetically. Many advances have been made in the understanding of the cultivation and biology of the rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, and this book covers the essential elements of rubber breeding and physiology to provide a guide for cultivators and researchers of this vital crop. It provides an in-depth analysis of plant structure and crop physiology, climatic requirements, latex production, genetics and breeding. It also pays particular attention to biotechnology, molecular biology, soil tillage and crop establishment, nutrition, weed control, environmental and biological constraints, ancillary income generation and clean development management.

Current major agricultural systems are on a largely unsustainable trajectory because of their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and biodiversity loss.For these reasons, innovative technologies are being introduced in modern agriculture to sustain food production.

The world population is increasing while arable land is decreasing at an alarming rate. About one-quarter of arable land is degraded and needs significant restoration before it can sustain crops again. By 2030, the water supply will fall 40% short of meeting global demand. Moreover, looming climate change poses additional challenge to increasing food production to feed 10 billion people by 2050. Current major agricultural systems are on a largely unsustainable trajectory because of their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and biodiversity loss.

For these reasons, innovative technologies are being introduced in modern agriculture to sustain food production.  They include digital and geospatial technologies to manage soil, climate and plant genetic resources. With the development of tools and sensors integrated into the internet of things (IoT) environment, physically collected information is converted into computer-readable language. Digital innovations thus allow real-time analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) that manage massive amount of data, also known as big data. Accordingly, digital agriculture affords greater potential for sustainable farming and economic benefits.

This book summarizes the latest advances in AI-integration of agriculture practices. Specific focus includes but not limited to, big data, yield mapping, pests management, and optimal fertigation. As such, it presents a forward-looking approach to meet multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically, SDG 2, 6, 13 and 15.

Current major agricultural systems are on a largely unsustainable trajectory because of their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and biodiversity loss.For these reasons, innovative technologies are being introduced in modern agriculture to sustain food production.

Natural rubber has been an essential commodity not only for the tyre industry but also for more than 50000 products that holds elasticity as an attribute.  The prime source of natural rubber worldwide is Hevea brasiliensis.  Ten of its allied species and 7000 other taxa also yield natural rubber.  Hevea rubber tree is an excellent example of how a soil-tree-atmosphere system can work in tandem. The retrieval of rubber through ‘injuring’ the tree on alternate days/once in three days/once in seven days, is indeed a unique arrangement followed universally that ensures income to the planter almost throughout the year. Every molecule of rubber is the end result of meticulous biochemical changes. Therefore, the biology of Hevea rubber tree itself is a subject that aggregates science and technology for the realization of an industrial purpose. Significantly revised from the original 2017 edition, “Biology of Hevea Rubber, 2nd edition” provides an in-depth analysis of plant structure and crop physiology, climatic requirements, latex production, genetics and breeding. It also pays particular attention to biotechnology, molecular biology, environmental and biological constraints, ancillary income generation and clean development management. New topics includes artificial intelligence and allied digital technologies and omics studies.

This book offers a detailed overview of both conventional and modern approaches to plant breeding. In 25 chapters, it explores various aspects of conventional and modern means of plant breeding, including: history, objective, activities, centres of origin, plant introduction, reproduction, incompatibility, sterility, biometrics, selection, hybridization, methods of breeding both self- and cross- pollinated crops, heterosis, synthetic varieties, induced mutations and polyploidy, distant hybridization, quality breeding, ideotype breeding, resistance breeding, breeding for stress resistance, G x E interactions, tissue culture, genetic engineering, molecular breeding, genomics, gene action and varietal release. The book’s content addresses the needs of students worldwide.  Modern methods like molecular breeding and genomics are dealt with extensively so as to provide a firm foundation and equip readers to read further advanced books. Each chapter discusses the respective subject as comprehensively as possible, and includes a section on further reading at the end. Info-boxes highlight the latest advances, and care has been taken to include nearly all topics required under the curricula of MS programs. As such, the book provides a much-needed reference guide for MS students around the globe.

This book offers a detailed overview of both conventional and modern approaches to plant breeding. In 25 chapters, it explores various aspects of conventional and modern means of plant breeding, including: history, objective, activities, centres of origin, plant introduction, reproduction, incompatibility, sterility, biometrics, selection, hybridization, methods of breeding both self- and cross- pollinated crops, heterosis, synthetic varieties, induced mutations and polyploidy, distant hybridization, quality breeding, ideotype breeding, resistance breeding, breeding for stress resistance, G x E interactions, tissue culture, genetic engineering, molecular breeding, genomics, gene action and varietal release.

The book’s content addresses the needs of students worldwide.  Modern methods like molecular breeding and genomics are dealt with extensively so as to provide a firm foundation and equip readers to read further advanced books.

Each chapter discusses the respective subject as comprehensively as possible, and includes a section on further reading at the end. Info-boxes highlight the latest advances, and care has been taken to include nearly all topics required under the curricula of MS programs. As such, the book provides a much-needed reference guide for MS students around the globe.

This book offers a detailed overview of both conventional and modern approaches to plant breeding. In 25 chapters, it explores various aspects of conventional and modern means of plant breeding, including: history, objective, activities, centres of origin, plant introduction, reproduction, incompatibility, sterility, biometrics, selection, hybridization, methods of breeding both self- and cross- pollinated crops, heterosis, synthetic varieties, induced mutations and polyploidy, distant hybridization, quality breeding, ideotype breeding, resistance breeding, breeding for stress resistance, G x E interactions, tissue culture, genetic engineering, molecular breeding, genomics, gene action and varietal release. The book’s content addresses the needs of students worldwide.  Modern methods like molecular breeding and genomics are dealt with extensively so as to provide a firm foundation and equip readers to read further advanced books. Each chapter discusses the respective subject as comprehensively as possible, and includes a section on further reading at the end. Info-boxes highlight the latest advances, and care has been taken to include nearly all topics required under the curricula of MS programs. As such, the book provides a much-needed reference guide for MS students around the globe.

This book addresses the global issue of food security for the year 2050, when the population is expected to rise to 10 billion people. It is estimated that by year 2025 itself, the number of people experiencing acute hunger will rise to 270 million due to food crisis. Enhancing the existing sustainable agriculture activities to increase global food production is thus a necessity for achieving the sustainable development goal of zero hunger. This book discusses the creation of highly annotated crop pan-genomes that provide a snapshot of the genetic diversity. The advancements in genomic-assisted breeding techniques which enables restoration of a specie's lost gene repertoire are also covered. The progression of agriculture to automation or digitalization through high-throughput phenotyping techniques and big data analytical tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning is also discussed. Other important topics covered include systems biology approach, speed breeding, multiomics data interpretation and multidisciplinary breeding platforms. This book is a reference book for students, researchers, scientists and policymakers working in the field of agriculture, plant breeding and global food security.

This book addresses the global issue of food security for the year 2050, when the population is expected to rise to 10 billion people. It is estimated that by year 2025 itself, the number of people experiencing acute hunger will rise to 270 million due to food crisis. Enhancing the existing sustainable agriculture activities to increase global food production is thus a necessity for achieving the sustainable development goal of zero hunger. This book discusses the creation of highly annotated crop pan-genomes that provide a snapshot of the genetic diversity. The advancements in genomic-assisted breeding techniques which enables restoration of a specie's lost gene repertoire are also covered. The progression of agriculture to automation or digitalization through high-throughput phenotyping techniques and big data analytical tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning is also discussed. Other important topics covered include systems biology approach, speed breeding, multiomics data interpretation and multidisciplinary breeding platforms. This book is a reference book for students, researchers, scientists and policymakers working in the field of agriculture, plant breeding and global food security.