Plant improvement has shifted its focus from yield, quality and disease resistance to factors that will enhance commercial export, such as early maturity, shelf life and better processing quality. Conventional plant breeding methods aiming at the improvement of a self-pollinating crop, such as wheat, usually take 10-12 years to develop and release of the new variety. During the past 10 years, significant advances have been made and accelerated methods have been developed for precision breeding and early release of crop varieties. This edited volume summarizes concepts dealing with germplasm enhancement and development of improved varieties based on innovative methodologies that include doubled haploidy, marker assisted selection, marker assisted background selection, genetic mapping, genomic selection, high-throughput genotyping, high-throughput phenotyping, mutation breeding, reverse breeding, transgenic breeding, shuttle breeding, speed breeding, low cost high-throughput field phenotyping, etc. It is an important reference with special focus on accelerated development of improved crop varieties.

"Advances in Agronomy" continues to be recognized as a leading reference and a first-rate source for the latest research in agronomy. As always, the subjects covered are varied and exemplary of the myriad of subject matter dealt with by this long-running serial.
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This specially formulated collection features 3 reviews of current topics and key research in sweetpotato. The first chapter examines the origin and dispersal of sweetpotato, considers in vitro germplasm storage in sweetpotato genebanks, and looks at the importance of managing sweetpotato crop wild relatives (CWR). The chapter also considers the specific issues associated with sweetpotato germplasm, as well as the application of next-generation sequencing to sweetpotato and its CWR. The second chapter reviews the development and application of genetic transformation and trait improvement to sweetpotato, including the development of sweetpotato plants which are resistant to disease and abiotic stress, and sweetpotatoes with improved starch quality and higher anthocyanin content. The final chapter examines the nutritional contribution made by OFSP (orange-fleshed sweetpotato) in poor rural communities in Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso; sustainable breeding and seed systems; and effective commercialisation and marketing to benefit the communities concerned. This chapter includes detailed case studies from Ghana and Malawi.

This book presents abiotic stresses that cause crop damage in the range of 6-20%. Understanding the interaction of crop plants to the abiotic stresses caused by heat, cold, drought, flooding, submergence, salinity, acidity, 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 cereal crops is imperative for addressing FPNEE (food, health, nutrition, energy, and environment) security. Whole genome sequencing of these crops followed by genotyping-by-sequencing has 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 abiotic stresses. The nine chapters each dedicated to a cereal crop in this volume are deliberate on different types of abiotic stresses and their effects on and interaction with crop plants; enumerate on the available genetic diversity with regard to abiotic stress resistance among available cultivars; illuminate on the potential gene pools for utilization in interspecific gene transfer; are brief on the classical genetics of stress resistance and traditional breeding for transferring them to their cultivated counterparts; elucidate on the success stories of genetic engineering for developing abiotic stress-resistant crop varieties; discuss on molecular mapping of genes and QTLs underlying 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 adaptive crop varieties with higher quantity and quality, and also elaborate some case studies on genome editing focusing on specific genes for generating abiotic stress-resistant crops.

Known as the "King" of spices, black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) and the "Queen" of spices, cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum M.), both perennial crops of the tropics, are the most important and most widely sought after spice crops of the world. They both have many uses, for example, both are used as flavourings and as a medicine. This book provides a comprehensive review of these two very important spice crops, covering origin, history, geographical distribution, production, economy and their uses.

The book ?Development Misplaced? is an important record of behind the scene pressures on India's farmers brought on by a small group of multinational companies MNCs]. Their manipulations are unknown to farmers and consumers. These companies control global markets in seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, food grains, and common foods. Their sole aim is to take complete control over global agriculture, food production and distribution. To add to India's woes, our political leaders, planners and scientists have become a pawn in the hands of these MNCs. The book exposes Indian establishment's compulsive and habitual lying. The foreword written by Dr. GVG Krishnamurty, former Election Commissioner of India, precisely summarizes different sections in the book. Readers should note that a person can live without food for about seven days before the body's vital organs and systems start collapsing but it takes a full season-from seventy to 120 days- to grow food crops. An important contribution of the author is that he has devoted an entire section on Genetically Engineered seeds. GE seeds are almost entirely controlled by about seven multinational corporations. The food crops that are produced from these seeds have proven to be poisonous in every independent study carried out in Russia, UK, France, and the USA. Every study has shown that these foods cause cancers, vital organ failures and sterility. Cattle grazing on Genetically Engineered cotton fields have died within days and the deaths occurred from stable toxins in the blood. This Government in league with MNCs, led by world's largest seed company Monsanto, wants to feed this nation poison. It is a huge issue, an issue of our survival as a healthy nation. Along with destruction of human health, these MNCs are destroying soil health, environmental health and animal health. The author has done well to expose the behind the scene pressures of these MNCs to change the regulatory framework, create monopolistic control over seed supply, force farmers to leave farming and dismantle India's thousands of years of food and nutrition security. India's food and nutritional security, built over thousands of years of painstaking effort by farmers, is being completely undermined by a group that is determined to starve India, force a proud nation on its knees, and once again enslave this nation. In essence, the book is about that process of enslavement.