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Books > Professional & Technical > Agriculture & farming > Agricultural science
This book highlights the technicalities of plant breeding in a
seed-business environment and explains the crucial aspects of the
value chain. It educates the readers on how to initiate,
participate, sustain national and international agreements for
material transfer, how consortia work to facilitate germplasm
accessibility, and how to set visionary goals to develop a superior
plant varieties. The book covers the aspects such as how to conduct
disease screening trials at hot spots, preparing an operational
budget, and how to accelerate product advancement. Plant breeding
is broadly defined as manipulation of plant genotypes to create
phenotypes that are beneficial to mankind. It helps to achieve food
security and sustainability by developing high yielding,
climate-resilient, nutritious varieties of crops and hence is able
to address unprecedented challenges like rising global population,
diminishing genetic biodiversity, and uncertainties of the weather
. This book is an extraordinary source of information starting from
goal-genesis to market-oriented product-profiling and help readers
to accelerate/enhance? their work/professional performance more
effectively. This book will be very useful to practicing plant
breeders at various levels in the public and private sectors. It is
a must-have book for potential plant breeders who enter plant
breeding profession just after the completion of their formal plant
breeding education.
The existential environmental crisis prompted the United Nations to
formulate the Millennium Development Goals at the turn of the 21st
century in order to embark on an era of sustainable development.
The progress and deficiencies in achieving the Millennium
Development Goals provided impetus to the intelligentsia and
policymakers to map out the pertinent goals for a sustainable
growth trajectory for humanity and the planet. The United Nations'
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted in
September 2015, took the shape of 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and 169 targets. In effect, the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals focus on protecting the earth's life support systems for
intra- and inter-generational equity and for development that is
rooted in sustainability science. Attaining these goals is an
uphill task; nevertheless, scientific knowledge, trans and
interdisciplinary inquiries, concerted global action and capacity
building would provide an enabling environment for achieving the
SDGs. This book explores the synergies and trade-offs between
climate change management and other SDGs. It highlights the policy
imperatives as well as the interrelations between combating climate
change and its impacts (SDG 13) and food and nutritional security
(SDG 2), water security (SDG 6), soil security (SDG 15), energy
security (SDG 7), poverty eradication (SDG 1), gender equality (SDG
5), resilient infrastructure (SDG 9), and sustainable and resilient
cities (SDG 11).
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. Pub/ius Vergilius Mara
Forests have long been one of mankind's most important natural re
sources and not the least because forests are, if properly managed,
re newable. They serve us in many different ways, but above all in
pro viding us with wood, one of the most remarkable and useful of
all natural materials. Reaction wood, compression wood in
gymnosperms and tension wood in the arboreal angiosperms, serves
the function of making it possible for trees to perform movements.
In the ancient Ginkgo and in the conifers, the ability to form
compression wood is of vital importance to each and every tree.
Compression wood plays a crucial role in the regulation of tree
form in these gymnosperms, and their arborescent habit probably
depends on their ability to develop this tissue. Few forest and
plantation trees are devoid of compression wood in their stem, and
all of them have it in their branches. Unfortu nately, what is
necessary and beneficial for the tree in this case is harmful to
mankind, for compression wood is a very serious defect in both
sawtimber and pulpwood. It is now almost 20 years since the last
complete survey of compres sion wood was published, namely Arthur
H. Westing's excellent review of this subject. My major objective
in writing the present book has been to bring together in one
single work everything that is currently known about compression
wood."
This specially curated collection features five reviews of current
and key research on crops as livestock feed. The first chapter
reviews the impact of feeding ruminants cereal grains on animal
physiology and health. The chapter explores the use of
starch-containing cereal grains as a feedstuff to improve animal
efficiency and performance, as well as to reduce the environmental
footprint of ruminant animal production. The second chapter
discusses key environmental trade-offs in the use of crops as
livestock feed. It reviews key elements in trade-off analysis and
explores opportunities for making better use of existing feed
resources and producing more feed biomass of higher fodder quality.
The third chapter reviews ways of optimising the use of barley for
animal feed, from production and breeding through to the
application of new technologies such as near infrared spectroscopy
and molecular markers. The fourth chapter reviews the use of
sorghum as an important source of fodder and forage. It reviews the
different types of sorghum used for forage and other applications,
and then provides a detailed discussion of the use of forage
sorghum as feed for ruminants. The final chapter discusses the use
of soybean meal (SBM) as an animal feed. It assesses the
nutritional content of SBM, as well dealing with its anti-nutritive
compounds in optimising its use.
Biotic stresses cause yield loss of 31-42% in crops in addition to
6-20% during post-harvest stage. Understanding interaction of crop
plants to the biotic stresses caused by insects, bacteria, fungi,
viruses, and oomycetes, etc. is important to develop resistant crop
varieties. Knowledge on the advanced genetic and genomic crop
improvement strategies including molecular breeding, transgenics,
genomic-assisted breeding and the recently emerging genome editing
for developing resistant varieties in pulse crops is imperative for
addressing FPNEE (food, health, nutrition. energy and environment)
security. Whole genome sequencing of these crops followed by
genotyping-by-sequencing have facilitated precise information about
the genes conferring resistance useful for gene discovery, allele
mining and shuttle breeding which in turn opened up the scope for
'designing' crop genomes with resistance to biotic stresses. The
nine chapters each dedicated to a pulse crop in this volume
elucidate on different types of biotic stress agents and their
effects on and interaction with the crop plants; enumerate on the
available genetic diversity with regard to biotic stress resistance
among available cultivars; illuminate on the potential gene pools
for utilization in interspecific gene transfer; present brief on
the classical genetics of stress resistance and traditional
breeding for transferring them to their cultivated counterparts;
depict the success stories of genetic engineering for developing
biotic stress resistant varieties; discuss on molecular mapping of
genes and QTLs underlying biotic stress resistance and their
marker-assisted introgression into elite varieties; enunciate on
different emerging genomics-aided techniques including genomic
selection, allele mining, gene discovery and gene pyramiding for
developing resistant crop varieties with higher quantity and
quality of yields; and also elaborate some case studies on genome
editing focusing on specific genes for generating disease and
insect resistant crops.
This open access book on straw management aims to provide a wide
array of options for rice straw management that are potentially
more sustainable, environmental, and profitable compared to current
practice. The book is authored by expert researchers, engineers and
innovators working on a range of straw management options with case
studies from Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia. The book is
written for engineers and researchers in order to provide them
information on current good practice and the gaps and constraints
that require further research and innovation. The book is also
aimed at extension workers and farmers to help them decide on the
best alternative straw management options in their area by
presenting both the technological options as well as the value
chains and business models required to make them work. The book
will also be useful for policy makers, required by public opinion
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, looking for
research-based evidence to guide the policies they develop and
implement.
This book offers an overview of the latest work in environmental
remediation and waste management coming out of developing nations.
It is split into two sections: one on state-of-the-art sustainable
remediation approaches, and the other covering waste management for
a cleaner environment The ten chapters in this book are structured
as reviews that assimilate recent works in these areas; they
provide a centralized resource for scholars in developing nations
who are working in environmental remediation and waste management.
The volume will be of interest to sustainability researchers,
environmental engineers, industry managers and agricultural
scientists.
This book on lupin genomics primarily focuses on the narrow-leafed
lupin (NLL), and details the genomic resources that have been
developed and how they are currently being used to help advance
both fundamental and applied research on NLL in areas ranging from
its domestication to plant-microbe interactions and syntenic
relationships between NLL and other legume crops. It also reports
on genomic efforts being pursued with regard to other lupin crops.
Lupins are important ecological 'engineers': they can colonise and
thrive in low-nutrient soils due to their ability to fix
atmospheric nitrogen in symbiosis with bacteria and efficiently
take up phosphorous. Recently, lupins have attracted considerable
interest, not only because of their value for sustainable farming
as a break crop, but also as a potential 'super food' for fighting
major health issues in connection with diabetes and obesity.
Narrow-leafed lupin is the main grain legume crop, grown primarily
in Australia, and was therefore selected for the development of a
reference lupin genome and associated genomic resources. Its genome
has recently been sequenced with a focus on the gene-rich space,
which has advanced the development of new breeding tools for the
improvement of NLL and related lupin crops.
The first accessible text on the topic of animals as environmental
predictors, bringing together the literature from as far back as
18th century through to the present day. - Covers wider terrain
than other titles in a relatively unexplored subject area. The text
discusses climate change (highly topical) and how animals may be
able to be used to predict future weather and climatic events.
There is international potential as the climate challenge is
global, and the examples span worldwide case studies. The sources
used include myths, anecdotes, news articles and stories backed up
by relevant scientific literature in international peer-reviewed
journals. Each chapter starts with a short fictitious story to set
the scene and anecdotes from indigenous cultures are especially
interesting. The author draws on his vast expertise in biochemistry
and cell biology. The science does not impede the less technical
reader, due to the engaging mix of stories, anecdotes, personal
observations and scientific underpinnings.
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Digital Agriculture
(Hardcover, 1st ed. 2022)
Daniel Marcal de Queiroz, Domingos Sarvio M. Valente, Francisco de Assis de Carvalho Pinto, Aluizio Borem, John K. Schueller
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R2,875
Discovery Miles 28 750
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Ships in 12 - 19 working days
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This textbook addresses the most recent advances and main digital
technologies used in farming. The reader will be able to understand
the main concepts and techniques currently used to efficiently
manage agricultural production systems. The book covers topics in a
general and intuitive way, with examples and good illustrations.
This open access book is the first comprehensive guideline for the
beryllium-7 (Be-7) technique that can be applied to evaluate
short-term patterns and budgets of soil redistribution in
agricultural landscapes. While covering the fundamental and basic
concepts of the approach, this book distinguishes itself from other
publications by offering step-by-step instructions on how to use
this isotopic technique effectively. It covers experimental design
considerations and clear instruction is given on data processing.
As accurate laboratory measurement is crucial to ensure successful
use of Be-7 to investigate soil erosion, a full chapter is devoted
to its specific determination by gamma spectrometry. This open
access contribution further describes new developments in the Be-7
technique and includes a concluding chapter highlighting its
potential benefits to support the implementation of area-wide soil
conservation policy.
Compiles current research on nanomaterials as well as their
versatile applications in plant biotic stress management Describes
role of nanomaterials as enzyme-mimicking nanoparticles,
nano-pesticides, nano-fertilizers, and nanomaterials Reviews
day-to-day problems related to crop plants, their diagnostics and
stress management Explores trends in nanomaterials utility towards
diagnostics, enzyme-mimicking, crop protection and their possible
role in plant disease management Includes pertinent nanomaterials
including synthetic strategies, properties, chemistry, and
applications
This two-volume collection analyses the evolution of wine
production in European regions across the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. France and Italy in particular have shaped modern
viticulture, by improving oenological methods and knowledge, then
disseminating them internationally. This first volume looks closely
at the development of winegrowing, with cases ranging from Italian
and French regions to smaller producers such as Portugal and
Slovenia.
Medicinal Plant Responses to Stressful Conditions discusses the
effects of multiple biotic and abiotic stressors on medicinal
plants. It features information on biochemical, molecular, and
physiological strategies used to mitigate or alleviate detrimental
effects of biotic and abiotic stressors. The book contains chapters
featuring medicinal plants of importance covering subjects
including genomics, functional genomics, metabolomics, phenomics,
proteomics, and transcriptomics under biotic and abiotic stress of
medicinal plants and their molecular responses. It suggests
exogenous application of different types of stimulants to enhance
medicinal plant production in such conditions. Features: * Details
all aspects of biotic and abiotic stressors in various important
medicinal plant species. * Chapters cover evidence-based approaches
in the diagnosis and management of medicinal plants under stressful
conditions. * Includes information on ways to mitigate effects from
high salinity, drought, temperature extremes, waterlogging, wind,
high light intensity, UV radiation, heavy metals, or mineral
deficiencies. A volume in the Exploring Medicinal Plants series,
this book is an essential resource for plant scientists, botanists,
environmental scientists, and anyone with an interest in herbal
medicine
Science Communication in a Crisis: An Insider’s Guide identifies
the principal challenges that scientists face when communicating
with different stakeholder groups and offers advice on how to
navigate the maze of competing interests and deliver actionable
science when the clock is ticking. If a scientist’s goal is to
deliver content and expertise to the people who need it, then other
stakeholder groups—the media, the government, industry—need to
be considered as partners to collaborate with in order to solve
problems. Written by established scientist Christopher Reddy, who
has been on the front lines of several environmental crisis events,
the book highlights ten specific challenges and reflects on
mistakes made and lessons learned. Reddy’s aim is not to teach
scientists how to ace an interview or craft a soundbite, rather,
through exploring several high-profile case studies, including the
North Cape oil spill, Deepwater Horizon, and the 2021 Sri Lanka
shipping disaster, he presents a clear pathway to effective and
collaborative communication. This book will be a great resource for
junior and established scientists who want to make an impact, as
well as students in courses such as environmental and science
communication.
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and
challenges of intensifying groundwater irrigation in Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA) for improving smallholder agrarian livelihoods. Only
about 3% of the groundwater resources of Sub-Saharan Africa are
used for irrigated agriculture despite the subcontinent’s
relative abundance of groundwater. The majority of the region’s
smallholders are highly dependent on seasonal dryland cropping,
making them extremely vulnerable to uncertain weather patterns and
droughts. Improved irrigation capabilities through sustainable
groundwater development could unleash smallholder farming and make
it a major driver of economic growth, poverty reduction, climate
resilience, and improved food security. So, why is groundwater so
underused? Tapping into groundwater requires a major shift in
farming practices and it has its own challenges and requirements
– smallholder access to land and finance for irrigation
infrastructure and equipment, gendered and equitable adoption
options. This whole list is framed in terms of what the smallholder
farmers need. Hence, this should also be put in this context,
supply chains, energy access, resource availability, and
institutional support. The chapters in this book present a picture
that is not only heterogeneous across the region, but also hold
some common denominators. They serve to enrich the discourse and
help better understand the barriers along the pathways toward the
sustainable and transformative adoption of groundwater irrigation.
The scientific information provided herein would be of interest to
researchers, practitioners, decision makers and planners with
interest in the region. This book was originally published as a
Special Issue of Water International journal.
Sustainable horticulture is gaining increasing attention in the
field of agriculture as demand for the food production rises to the
world community. Sustainable horticultural systems are based on
ecological principles to farm, optimizes pest and disease
management approaches through environmentally friendly and
renewable strategies in production agriculture. It is a discipline
that addresses current issues such as food security, water
pollution, soil health, pest control, and biodiversity depletion.
Novel, environmentally-friendly solutions are proposed based on
integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil
science, entomology, ecology, chemistry and food sciences.
Sustainable horticulture interprets methods and processes in the
farming system to the global level. For that, horticulturists use
the system approach that involves studying components and
interactions of a whole system to address scientific, economic and
social issues. In that respect, sustainable horticulture is not a
classical, narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the
classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts,
sustainable horticulture treats problem sources.
In any ecosystem, plant and microbe interaction is inevitable. They
not only co-exist but also support each other's survival and
provide sustenance in stressful environments. Agro-ecosystems in
many regions around the globe are affected by high temperatures,
soil salinity/alkalinity, low pH and metal toxicity. High salinity
and severe draught are other major constraints affecting
agricultural practices and also plants in the wild. A major
limiting factor affecting global agricultural productivity is
environmental stresses. Apart from decreasing yield, they also have
a devastating impact on plant growth. Plants battle with various
kind of stresses with the help of symbiotic associations with the
rhizospheric microbes. Naturally occuring plant-microbe
interactions facilitate the survival of plants under these
stressful conditions. The rhizosphere consists of several groups of
microbes, plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) is one such group
of microbes that assists plants in coping with multiple stresses
and also promote plant growth. These efficient microbes support the
stress physiology of the plants and can be extremely useful in
solving agricultural as well food- security problems. This book
provides a detailed, holistic description of plant and microbe
interaction. It elucidates various mechanisms of nutrient
management, stress tolerance and enhanced crop productivity in the
rhizosphere, discussing The rhizospheric flora and its importance
in enhancement of plant growth, nutrient content, yield of various
crops and vegetables as well as soil fertility and health. Divided
into two volumes, the book addresses fundamentals, applications as
well as research trends and new prospects for agricultural
sustainability. Volume 1: Stress Management and Agricultural
Sustainability, includes chapters offering a broad overview of
plant stress management with the help of microbes. It also
highlights the contribution of enzymatic and molecular events
occurring in the rhizosphere due to plant microbe interactions,
which in turn help in the biological control of plant disease and
pest attacks. Various examples of plant microbe interaction in
rhizospheric soil are elaborated to facilitate the development of
efficient indigenous microbial consortia to enhance food and
nutritional security. Providing a comprehensive information source
on microbes and their role in agricultural and soil sustainability,
this timely research book is of particular interest to students,
academics and researchers working in the fields of microbiology,
soil microbiology, biotechnology, agronomy, and the plant
protection sciences, as well as for policy makers in the area of
food security and sustainable agriculture.
On the basis of systematically summarizing and sorting out the
significant achievements made since China's rural reform, this book
comprehensively explains the theoretical basis, principles and
strategies of the road to rural revitalization of socialism with
Chinese characteristics. Through in-depth research on nine aspects
of rural basic management system, rural deepening reform, food
security, modernization of agriculture and rural areas, integrated
development of urban and rural areas, poverty alleviation, new
rural construction, ecological civilization construction and rural
governance, this book puts forward the development direction and
strategic choice of China's rural revitalization by the middle of
this century. It not only enriches and develops the theory of
development economics, but also provides experiences for rural
development in developing countries.
Pests cause economic damage to crop and stored products, while
vectors are responsible for transmission of disease-causing agents
in human beings and livestock. Application of synthetic pesticides
in agriculture though has given immediate relief but has also
caused well known side effects, leading to a consensus among
entomologists and agriculturists to shift towards other ecofriendly
pest management. Insect natural enemies consisting of predators,
parasitoids and pathogens have attracted the attention of
scientists across the globe. These natural enemies exist in
agroecosystems and suppress the populations of pests. Parasitoids
are farmers' friends and most successful group of natural enemies.
Highly specialized in their host choice, female parasitoid searches
for a suitable host to lay eggs and larvae in or on or near the
hosts. Exploiting this potency of parasitoids may yield successful
results in controlling notorious pests in an ecofriendly way. This
book covers information on the important biocontrol agents
effective in pest suppression. It starts with insect parasitic
groups followed by specific group of parasitoids. It is hoped that
the book presents a comprehensive account of beneficial parasitoids
and will be useful to Undergraduate and Postgraduate students of
Entomology, Biological Control, Plant Protection, Agricultural
Zoology and Zoology, besides those involved in competitive
examinations and policy planning. Features Each chapter has been
written by specialized senior persons. Every chapter contains
Learning Objectives and Points to Remember. This book offers
comprehensive knowledge of parasitoids and their application in
pest management in a lucid way.
- examines the five major religions - Judaism, Christianity, Islam,
Hinduism and Buddhism - and provides a balanced, objective critique
of both the beliefs and practices employed which lead to both the
protection and exploitation of animals - draws on scripture as well
as leading historical and contemporary figures in the religions,
from early Christian saints to royal figures like Ashoka - compares
the teachings of old with contemporary practice and showcases what
the major religions are doing to protect or exploit animals, from
moving their investments away from animal-exploiting companies or
running animal sanctuaries to participating in or condoning animal
sacrifice, cruel sports and factory farming - challenges religious
leaders and followers to re-examine their religion's teachings and
to raise their official or personal practices in relation to the
well-being of animals. - essential reading for those interested in
the role of religion in animal welfare, human-animal studies, and
animal ethics more broadly.
Urban water management has to take an integrated approach that
prioritizes sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) over gray
infrastructure. This book elaborates on the planning and evaluation
of pipework drainage systems with a focus on modern-day constraints
to deliver a solution that favors sustainability as the overarching
goal. The book includes a technical section on design of gray and
green infrastructure, considering the total lifecycle costs of
drainage systems. Advanced computer simulation techniques are
discussed after covering the derivation of both standard and
empirical equations for appropriate hydrology and hydraulics. The
book provides an incorporation of reliability analyses for both
green and gray infrastructure starting with techniques for
forecasting flows, hydraulic performance, and lifecycle costs. The
work also involves 3-D modeling, geospatial and big data analysis,
and how these techniques are applied into city
management—particularly beneficial to municipal engineers who are
increasingly becoming involved in mapping the underground. Soil
mechanics and subsurface drainage systems are analyzed and
structural aspects of sewers are included. Finally, soil behavior
in shear, retaining wall structures, and tunneling is briefly
featured in the book. This book will be of interest to
(under)graduate and postgraduate engineering students, drainage
engineers, urban planners, architects, water engineers, developers,
construction contractors, and municipal engineers.
This book presents a synopsis, with an innovative approach, of
abundance, types and conditions of work performed in the tropical
plantation and natural forests. It covers work of formally and
informally employed, and of own-account small-scale forest users,
women and children. Activities in tree harvesting are analyzed,
also on-site conversion by pitsawing, planting and pruning. The
abilities of the workers and their efforts while fulfilling their
tasks, resulting in performance and workload, are described with
many examples of published studies. Influencing variables from
organizational, technical and managerial sides are considered as
much as included in the studies. The detailed descriptions
demonstrate the methodical state of ergonomic research. For better
understanding of the coverage the background of the development of
forest work science is described. The lasting influence of
Taylorism and the roles of ILO and FAO as well as NGOs, e.g. in
certification, are pointed out.
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Wilbur Smith, David Churchill
Hardcover
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