Download or read book Sorghum written by Ignacio A. Ciampitti and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-01-22 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sorghum is among the top five cereals and one of the key crops in global food security efforts. Sorghum is a resilient crop under high-stress environments, ensuring productivity and access to food when other crops fail. Scientists see the potential of sorghum as a main staple food in a future challenged by climate change. The contributors provide a comprehensive review of sorghum knowledge. The discussion covers genetic improvements, development of new hybrids, biotechnology, and physiological modifications. Production topics include water and nutrient management, rotations, and pest control. Final end uses, sorghum as a bioenergy crop, markets, and the future of sorghum are presented. IN PRESS! This book is being published according to the “Just Published” model, with more chapters to be published online as they are completed.

Download or read book Millets and Sorghum written by Jagannath V. Patil and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-03-06 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millets and sorghum are extremely important crops in many developing nations and because of the ability of many of them to thrive in low-moisture situations they represent some exciting opportunities for further development to address the continuing and increasing impact of global temperature increase on the sustainability of the world’s food crops. The main focus of this thorough new book is the potential for crop improvement through new and traditional methods, with the book’s main chapters covering the following crops: sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, foxtail milet, proso millet, little millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet, tef and fonio. Further chapters cover pests and diseases, nutritional and industrial importance, novel tools for improvement, and seed systems in millets. Millets and Sorghum provides full and comprehensive coverage of these crucially important crops, their biology, world status and potential for improvement, and is an essential purchase for crop and plant scientists, and food scientists and technologists throughout the developed and developing world. All libraries in universities and research establishment where biological and agricultural sciences are studied and taught should have copies of this important book on their shelves.

Download or read book Lost Crops of Africa written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1996-02-14 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scenes of starvation have drawn the world's attention to Africa's agricultural and environmental crisis. Some observers question whether this continent can ever hope to feed its growing population. Yet there is an overlooked food resource in sub-Saharan Africa that has vast potential: native food plants. When experts were asked to nominate African food plants for inclusion in a new book, a list of 30 species grew quickly to hundreds. All in all, Africa has more than 2,000 native grains and fruitsâ€""lost" species due for rediscovery and exploitation. This volume focuses on native cereals, including: African rice, reserved until recently as a luxury food for religious rituals. Finger millet, neglected internationally although it is a staple for millions. Fonio (acha), probably the oldest African cereal and sometimes called "hungry rice." Pearl millet, a widely used grain that still holds great untapped potential. Sorghum, with prospects for making the twenty-first century the "century of sorghum." Tef, in many ways ideal but only now enjoying budding commercial production. Other cultivated and wild grains. This readable and engaging book dispels myths, often based on Western bias, about the nutritional value, flavor, and yield of these African grains. Designed as a tool for economic development, the volume is organized with increasing levels of detail to meet the needs of both lay and professional readers. The authors present the available information on where and how each grain is grown, harvested, and processed, and they list its benefits and limitations as a food source. The authors describe "next steps" for increasing the use of each grain, outline research needs, and address issues in building commercial production. Sidebars cover such interesting points as the potential use of gene mapping and other "high-tech" agricultural techniques on these grains. This fact-filled volume will be of great interest to agricultural experts, entrepreneurs, researchers, and individuals concerned about restoring food production, environmental health, and economic opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. Selection, Newbridge Garden Book Club

Download or read book Corn and Grain Sorghum Comparison written by Yared Assefa and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2013-12-16 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Corn and grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor subsp. bicolor L) are among the top cereal crops world wide, and both are key for global food security. Similarities between the two crops, particularly their adaptation for warm-season grain production, pose an opportunity for comparisons to inform appropriate cropping decisions. This book provides a comprehensive review of the similarities and differences between corn and grain sorghum. It compares corn and sorghum crops in areas such as morphology, physiology, phenology, yield, resource use and efficiency, and impact of both crops in different cropping systems. Producers, researchers and extension agents in search of reliable scientific information will find this in-depth comparison of crops with potential fit in dryland and irrigations cropping systems particularly valuable. - Presents a wide range of points of comparison - Offers important insights for crop decision making

Download or read book Drought Adaptation in Cereals written by Jean-Marcel Ribaut and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2006-09-08 with total page 696 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how to best improve yield in cereal plants—even in dry conditions The impact of drought on crop production can be economically devastating. Drought Adaptation in Cereals provides a comprehensive review of the latest research on the tolerance of cereal crops to water-limited conditions. Renowned experts extensively describe basic concepts and cutting-edge research results to clearly reveal all facets of drought adaptation in cereals. More than simply a fine reference for plant biology and plant improvement under water-limited conditions, this book spotlights the most relevant biological approaches from plant phenotyping to functional genomics. The need to understand plant response to the lack of water is integral to forming strategies to best manage crops. Drought Adaptation in Cereals starts by offering an overview of the biological basis and defines the adaptive mechanisms found in plants under water-limited conditions. Different approaches are presented to provide understanding of plant genetics basics and plant breeding, including phenotyping, physiology, and biotechnology. The book details drought adaptation mechanisms at the cellular, organ, and entire plant levels, focusing on plant metabolism and gene functions. This resource is extensively referenced and contains tables, charts, and figures to clearly present data and enhance understanding. After a foreword by J. O'Toole and a prologue by A. Blum, Drought Adaptation in Cereals presents a full spectrum of informative topics from other internationally respected scientists. These include: drought’s economic impact (P. Heisey) genotype-by-environment interactions (M. Cooper) secondary traits for drought adaptation (P. Monneveux) leaf growth (F. Tardieu) carbon isotope discrimination (T. Condon) drought adaptation in barley (M. Sorrells), maize (M. Sawkins), rice (R. Lafitte), sorghum (A. Borrell) and wheat (M. Reynolds) carbohydrate metabolism (A. Tiessen) the role of abscisic acid (T. Setter) protection mechanisms and stress proteins (L. Mtwisha) genetic basis of ion homeostasis and water deficit (H. Bohnert) transcriptional factors (K. Yamaguchi-Shinozaki) resurrection plants (D. Bartels) Drought Adaptation in Cereals is a unique, vital reference for scientists, educators, and students in plant biology, agronomy, and natural resources management.

Download or read book The Sorghum Genome written by Sujay Rakshit and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-01-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides insights into the current state of sorghum genomics. It particularly focuses on the tools and strategies employed in genome sequencing and analysis, public and private genomic resources and how all this information is leading to direct outcomes for plant breeders. The advent of affordable whole genome sequencing in combination with existing cereal functional genomics data has enabled the leveraging of the significant novel diversity available in sorghum, the genome of which was fully sequenced in 2009, providing an unmatched resource for the genetic improvement of sorghum and other grass species. Cultivated grain sorghum is a food and feed cereal crop adapted to hot and dry climates, and is a staple for 500 million of the world’s poorest people. Globally, sorghum is also an important source of animal feed and forage, an emerging biofuel crop and model for C4 grasses, particularly genetically complex sugarcane.

Download or read book A Guide to Sorghum Breeding written by Leland R. House and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Bayesian Methods in Structural Bioinformatics written by Thomas Hamelryck and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-03-23 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an edited volume, the goal of which is to provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art in statistical methods applied to problems in structural bioinformatics (and in particular protein structure prediction, simulation, experimental structure determination and analysis). It focuses on statistical methods that have a clear interpretation in the framework of statistical physics, rather than ad hoc, black box methods based on neural networks or support vector machines. In addition, the emphasis is on methods that deal with biomolecular structure in atomic detail. The book is highly accessible, and only assumes background knowledge on protein structure, with a minimum of mathematical knowledge. Therefore, the book includes introductory chapters that contain a solid introduction to key topics such as Bayesian statistics and concepts in machine learning and statistical physics.

Download or read book Genetic and Genomic Resources of Grain Legume Improvement written by Mohar Singh and published by Newnes. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grain legumes, including common-bean, chickpea, pigeonpea, pea, cowpea, lentil and others, form important constituents of global diets, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Despite this significant role, global production has increased only marginally in the past 50 years. The slow production growth, along with a rising human population and improved buying capacity has substantially reduced the per capita availability of food legumes. Changes in environmental climate have also had significant impact on production, creating a need to identify stable donors among genetic resources for environmentally robust genes and designing crops resilient to climate change. Genetic and Genomic Resources of Grain Legume Improvement is the first book to bring together the latest resources in plant genetics and genomics to facilitate the identification of specific germplasm, trait mapping and allele mining to more effectively develop biotic and abiotic-stress-resistant grains. This book will be an invaluable resource for researchers, crop biologists and students working with crop development. - Explores origin, distribution and diversity of grain legumes - Presents information on germplasm collection, evaluation and maintenance - Offers insight into pre-breeding/germplasm enhancement efforts - Integrates genomic and genetic resources in crop improvement - Internationally contributed work

Download or read book Genetic Enhancement of Rabi Sorghum written by Sanjana Reddy and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2015-05-28 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Genetic Enhancement of Rabi Sorghum – Adapting the Indian Durras presents both the historical background and the recent research done in breeding this important world crop for more global production. Its chapters cover topics in origin and taxonomy, morphology and breeding behavior, genetics, and cytogenetics, also looking at production, nutrition, and alternate uses. The durra race is Ethiopian in origin and its introgression with wild forms permitted adaptation to drier conditions. These have migrated and adapted to the currently known crop that is cultivated in the winter season and commonly called rabi sorghums. Grown under receding soil moisture conditions, rabi sorghums have tolerance to abiotic stresses apart from biotic stresses, unlike the rainy sorghums that are grown widely in the world. However, they must be more resilient to rapid changes in climate, for example. The variability from winter sorghums is being introgressed into rainy sorghums. With the yield plateaus reached and sorghum gaining importance as a food crop, this book will be of importance to those studying durras and their breeding. - Presents both the historical background and most recent research done in breeding rabi sorghum for more global production - Provides information on the adaptation of the crop and the ways it has migrated to the currently known crop, which is cultivated in winter season and commonly called as rabi sorghum - Explores strategies for resilience as the crop must be prepared to withstand rapid and varying changes in climate

Download or read book Managing Global Genetic Resources written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1993-02-01 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anchor volume to the series Managing Global Genetic Resources examines the structure that underlies efforts to preserve genetic material, including the worldwide network of genetic collections; the role of biotechnology; and a host of issues that surround management and use. Among the topics explored are in situ versus ex situ conservation, management of very large collections of genetic material, problems of quarantine, the controversy over ownership or copyright of genetic material, and more.

Download or read book Biofuels written by Dwight Tomes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-11-16 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive volume developed under the guidance of guest editors Prakash Lakshmanan and David Songstad features broad coverage of the topic of biofuels and its significance to the economy and to agriculture. These chapters were first published by In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology In Vitro Plant in 2009 and consists of 15 chapters from experts who are recognized both for their scientific accomplishments and global perspective in their assigned topics.

Download or read book Crop Physiology written by Victor Sadras and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2014-09-17 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From climate change to farming systems to genetic modification of organisms, Crop Physiology, Second Edition provides a practical tool for understanding the relationships and challenges of successful cropping. With a focus on genetic improvement and agronomy, this book addresses the challenges of environmentally sound production of bulk and quality food, fodder, fiber, and energy which are of ongoing international concern. The second edition of Crop Physiology continues to provide a unique analysis of these topics while reflecting important changes and advances in the relevant science and implementation systems. Contemporary agriculture confronts the challenge of increasing demand in terms of quantitative and qualitative production targets. These targets have to be achieved against the background of soil and water scarcity, worldwide and regional shifts in the patterns of land use driven by both climate change and the need to develop crop-based sources of energy, and the environmental and social aspects of agricultural sustainability. - Provides a view of crop physiology as an active source of methods, theories, ideas, and tools for application in genetic improvement and agronomy - Written by leading scientists from around the world - Combines environment-specific cropping systems and general principles of crop science to appeal to advanced students, and scientists in agriculture-related disciplines, from molecular sciences to natural resources management

Download or read book Genomics Assisted Crop Improvement written by Rajeev K. Varshney and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-12-13 with total page 517 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This superb volume provides a critical assessment of genomics tools and approaches for crop breeding. Volume 1 presents the status and availability of genomic resources and platforms, and also devises strategies and approaches for effectively exploiting genomics research. Volume 2 goes into detail on a number of case studies of several important crop and plant species that summarize both the achievements and limitations of genomics research for crop improvement.

Download or read book Plant Genetic Resources of Ethiopia written by Jan Engels and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1991-03-21 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the world centers of crop evolution and origin, Ethiopia has long been recognized as an important area of diversity for several major and various minor crops. Based on an international conference held in Addis Ababa, this book describes how plant genetic diversity in Ethiopia is of vital importance in breeding new varieties of crops with desirable characteristics, such as increased resistance to pests and diseases and greater adaptation to heat and drought. The three main sections in the book consider the Ethiopian center of diversity, germ plasm or genetic material collection and conservation in Ethiopia, and the evaluation and utilization of Ethiopian genetic resources. A broad range of food and feed crops and plants of medicinal and industrial importance are discussed, both at a national and international level. A brief account of conservation strategies and gene bank problems unique to Ethiopia is also given. The importance of Ethiopia's plant genetic resources to world agriculture has been demonstrated on more than one occasion. Plant breeders, geneticists, and botanists throughout the world will, therefore, find this unique book a valuable source of information and an essential reference work.

Download or read book Genetic Glass Ceilings written by Jonathan Gressel and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the world’s population rises to an expected ten billion in the next few generations, the challenges of feeding humanity and maintaining an ecological balance will dramatically increase. Today we rely on just four crops for 80 percent of all consumed calories: wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans. Indeed, reliance on these four crops may also mean we are one global plant disease outbreak away from major famine. In this revolutionary and controversial book, Jonathan Gressel argues that alternative plant crops lack the genetic diversity necessary for wider domestication and that even the Big Four have reached a “genetic glass ceiling”: no matter how much they are bred, there is simply not enough genetic diversity available to significantly improve their agricultural value. Gressel points the way through the glass ceiling by advocating transgenics—a technique where genes from one species are transferred to another. He maintains that with simple safeguards the technique is a safe solution to the genetic glass ceiling conundrum. Analyzing alternative crops—including palm oil, papaya, buckwheat, tef, and sorghum—Gressel demonstrates how gene manipulation could enhance their potential for widespread domestication and reduce our dependency on the Big Four. He also describes a number of ecological benefits that could be derived with the aid of transgenics. A compelling synthesis of ideas from agronomy, medicine, breeding, physiology, population genetics, molecular biology, and biotechnology, Genetic Glass Ceilings presents transgenics as an inevitable and desperately necessary approach to securing and diversifying the world's food supply.

Download or read book Aboveground Belowground Linkages written by Richard D. Bardgett and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-07-29 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aboveground-Belowground Linkages provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive synthesis of recent advances in our understanding of the roles that interactions between aboveground and belowground communities play in regulating the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems, and their responses to global change. It charts the historical development of this field of ecology and evaluates what can be learned from the recent proliferation of studies on the ecological and biogeochemical significance of aboveground-belowground linkages. The book is structured around four key topics: biotic interactions in the soil; plant community effects; the role of aboveground consumers; and the influence of species gains and losses. A concluding chapter draws together this information and identifies a number of cross-cutting themes, including consideration of aboveground-belowground feedbacks that occur at different spatial and temporal scales, the consequences of these feedbacks for ecosystem processes, and how aboveground-belowground interactions link to human-induced global change.