Environmental pollution resulting from widespread pesticide application has become a serious worldwide problem. Plant Pathogenesis and Disease Control is an important new reference that addresses this problem by exploring the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of plant pathogenesis and emphasizing the use of "pest control agents" rather than "pesticides" for plant disease control. Topics examined include pathogenicity, the resistance of plants against pathogens, the offensive and defensive struggle between hosts and parasites, methods for using natural defense mechanisms to develop environmentally sound disease control agents, and the use of modern biotechnology for plant disease control. The book will be an essential reference for phytopathologists, plant biochemists, pesticide chemists, mycologists, plant cell technologists, and agricultural researchers.

This book reviews and synthesizes the recent advances in exploiting host plant resistance to insects, highlighting the role of molecular techniques in breeding insect resistant crops. It also provides an overview of the fascinating field of insect-plant relationships, which is fundamental to the study of host-plant resistance to insects. Further, it discusses the conventional and molecular techniques utilized/useful in breeding for resistance to insect-pests including back-cross breeding, modified population improvement methods for insect resistance, marker-assisted backcrossing to expedite the breeding process, identification and validation of new insect-resistance genes and their potential for utilization, genomics, metabolomics, transgenesis and RNAi. Lastly, it analyzes the successes, limitations and prospects for the development of insect-resistant cultivars of rice, maize, sorghum and millet, cotton, rapeseed, legumes and fruit crops, and highlights strategies for management of insect biotypes that limit the success and durability of insect-resistant cultivators in the field. Arthropod pests act as major constraints in the agro-ecosystem. It has been estimated that arthropod pests may be destroying around one-fifth of the global agricultural production/potential production every year. Further, the losses are considerably higher in the developing tropics of Asia and Africa, which are already battling severe food shortage. Integrated pest management (IPM) has emerged as the dominant paradigm for minimizing damage by the insects and non-insect pests over the last 50 years. Pest resistant cultivars represent one of the most environmentally benign, economically viable and ecologically sustainable options for utilization in IPM programs. Hundreds of insect-resistant cultivars of rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, cotton, sugarcane and other crops have been developed worldwide and are extensively grown for increasing and/or stabilizing crop productivity. The annual economic value of arthropod resistance genes developed in global agriculture has been estimated to be greater than US$ 2 billion Despite the impressive achievements and even greater potential in minimizing pest- related losses, only a handful of books have been published on the topic of host-plant resistance to insects. This book fills this wide gap in the literature on breeding insect- resistant crops. It is aimed at plant breeders, entomologists, plant biotechnologists and IPM experts, as well as those working on sustainable agriculture and food security.

First published in 1990, The Economics of Salmon Aquaculture was the first book to systematically analyse the salmon aquaculture industry, from both a market and production perspective. Since publication of the first edition of this book, the salmon aquaculture industry has grown at a phenomenal rate, with salmon now being consumed in more than 100 countries worldwide. This second edition of a very popular and successful book brings the reader right up to date with all the major current issues pertaining to salmon aquaculture. Commencing with an overview of the production process in aquaculture, the following chapters provide in-depth coverage of the sources of the world s supply of salmon, the growth in productivity, technological changes, environmental issues, markets, market structure and competitiveness, lessons that can be learnt from the culture of other species, optimal harvesting techniques, production planning, and investment in salmon farms. Written by Frank Ashe and Trond Bjorndal, two of the world's leading experts in the economics of aquaculture, this second edition of The Economics of Salmon Aquaculture provides the salmon aquaculture industry with an essential reference work, including a wealth of commercially important information. This book is also a valuable resource for upper level students and professionals in aquaculture and economics, and libraries in all universities and research establishments where these subjects are studied and taught should have copies of this important book on their shelves.

Plants are frequently exposed to unfavorable and adverse environmental conditions known as abiotic stressors. These factors can include salinity, drought, heat, cold, flooding, heavy metals, and UV radiation which pose serious threats to the sustainability of crop yields. Since abiotic stresses are major constraints for crop production, finding the approaches to enhance stress tolerance is crucial to increase crop production and increase food security. This book discusses approaches to enhance abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants on a global scale. Plants scientists and breeders will learn how to further mitigate plant responses and develop new crop varieties for the changing climate.

This volume brings together a cross-section of marine experts who provide a comprehensive exploration of the major facets of Asia's marine sector. It considers both the marine mineral and fish stocks in Asian waters. This extensive volume examines "official" statistics with an objective eye and provides an overview of fish stock with much focus on the access and management of tuna. It considers global economic issues concerning fishing rights, looks at joint ventures between nations, and considers law enforcement efforts. The volume devotes a section to sea lanes and another to off shore mineral deposits. It also considers current and growing problems and possible solutions regarding pollution:

An in-depth treatment of cutting-edge work being done internationally to develop new techniques in crop nutritional quality improvement Phytonutritional Improvement of Crops explores recent advances in biotechnological methods for the nutritional enrichment of food crops. Featuring contributions from an international group of experts in the field, it provides cutting-edge information on techniques of immense importance to academic, professional and commercial operations. World population is now estimated to be 7.5 billion people, with an annual growth rate of nearly 1.5%. Clearly, the need to enhance not only the quantity of food produced but its quality has never been greater, especially among less developed nations. Genetic manipulation offers the best prospect for achieving that goal. As many fruit crops provide proven health benefits, research efforts need to be focused on improving the nutritional qualities of fruits and vegetables through increased synthesis of lycopene and beta carotene, anthocyanins and some phenolics known to be strong antioxidants. Despite tremendous growth in the area occurring over the past several decades, the work has only just begun. This book represents an effort to address the urgent need to promote those efforts and to mobilise the tools of biotechnical and genetic engineering of the major food crops. Topics covered include: * New applications of RNA-interference and virus induced gene silencing (VIGS) for nutritional genomics in crop plants * Biotechnological techniques for enhancing carotenoid in crops and their implications for both human health and sustainable development * Progress being made in the enrichment and metabolic profiling of diverse carotenoids in a range of fruit crops, including tomatoes, sweet potatoes and tropical fruits * Biotechnologies for boosting the phytonutritional values of key crops, including grapes and sweet potatoes * Recent progress in the development of transgenic rice engineered to massively accumulate flavonoids in-seed Phytonutritional Improvement of Crops is an important text/reference that belongs in all universities and research establishments where agriculture, horticulture, biological sciences, and food science and technology are studied, taught and applied.

This book presents experiences and successful case studies of integrated pest management (IPM) from developed and developing countries and from major international centres and programmes. In nearly 40 chapters, the following themes are addressed: Emerging issues in IPM, such as biotechnology, pesticide policies, socio-economic considerations, country experiences from Africa, Asia, North and South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, regional and international experiences, including FAO, the World Bank and CGIAR System-wide IPM Program.

This book had its genesis in Alexandria, Egypt in March 2002, at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, when the new library hosted a conference on Biotechnology and Sustainable Development: "Voices of the South and North." Here, a group of modern scholars met to review the state of the art in relation to the applications of biosciences in human health, food and agriculture and the environment, and address the ethical, institutional, regulatory and socio-economic issues that affect their use. The goal was to identify ways and means by which the new life sciences could be mobilized in the service of humanity and especially to improve the livelihoods of poor people.

The Sunday Times bestseller following the inspiring story of life as a shepherdess, by the star of Channel 5's Our Yorkshire Farm. Amanda Owen has been seen by millions on ITV's The Dales and Channel 5's Our Yorkshire Farm, living a life that has almost gone in today's modern world, a life ruled by the seasons and her animals. She is a farmer's wife and shepherdess, living alongside her husband Clive and seven children at Ravenseat, a 2000 acre sheep hill farm at the head of Swaledale in North Yorkshire. It's a challenging life but one she loves. In The Yorkshire Shepherdess she describes how the rebellious girl from Huddersfield, who always wanted to be a shepherdess, achieved her dreams. Full of amusing anecdotes and unforgettable characters, the book takes us from fitting in with the locals to fitting in motherhood, from the demands of the livestock to the demands of raising a large family in such a rural backwater. Amanda also evokes the peace of winter, when they can be cut off by snow without electricity or running water, the happiness of spring and the lambing season, and the backbreaking tasks of summertime - haymaking and sheepshearing - inspiring us all to look at the countryside and those who work there with new appreciation.

Although few remember their former significance, oysters were one of the largest U.S. fisheries at their peak in the late nineteenth century. As the fishery industrialized on-and offshore, oyster farms and canning factories spread along the Eastern Seaboard, with overharvesting becoming increasingly common. During the Progressive Era, state governments founded new agencies to cope with this problem and control this expanding economy. Regulators faced a choice: keep elaborate conservation systems based on common property rights or develop new ones with private, hatchery-stocked aquaculture farms. The tradition-preserving solution won, laying the groundwork for modern oyster management. The Aquatic Frontier explores the forms this debate took between 1870 and 1920 in law enforcement, legislative advising, natural science, and oyster cartography. Samuel P. Hanes argues that the effort to centralize and privatize the industry failed due to a lack of understanding of the complex social-ecological systems in place - a common dilemma for environmental managers in this time period and for fisheries management confronting dangers from dwindling populations today.

Centrarchid fishes, also known as freshwater sunfishes, include such prominent species as the Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass and Bluegill. They are endemic to Eastern North America where they form part of a multi-million dollar sports fishing industry, but they have also been widely introduced around the globe by recreational anglers, in aquaculture programs and by government fisheries agencies. Centrarchid Fishes provides comprehensive coverage of all major aspects of this ecologically and commercially important group of fishes. Coverage includes diversity, ecomorphology, phylogeny and genetics, hybridization, reproduction, early life history and recruitment, feeding and growth, ecology, migrations, bioenergetics, physiology, diseases, aquaculture, fisheries management and conservation. Chapters have been written by well-known and respected scientists and the whole has been drawn together by Professors Cooke and Philipp, themselves extremely well respected in the area of fisheries management and conservation. Centrarchid Fishes is an essential purchase for all fish biologists, ecologists, fisheries managers and fish farm personnel who work with centrarchid species across the globe.

This Open Access book is for scientists and experts who work on urban food policies. It provides a conceptual framework for understanding the urban food system sustainability and how it can be tackled by local governments. Written by a collective of researchers, this book describes the existing conceptual frameworks for an analysis of urban food policies, at the crossroads of the concepts of food system and sustainable city. It provides a basis for identifying research questions related to urban local government initiatives in the North and South. It is the result of work carried out within Agropolis International within the framework of the Sustainable Urban Food Systems program and an action research carried out in support of Montpellier Mediterranee Metropole for the construction of its agroecological and food policy.

This new and updated edition of a popular text provides a broad, balanced review of the scientific knowledge of strawberries and their cultivation. The worldwide strawberry industry has grown substantially since the original book was published, and methods of culture have undergone extensive modifications. This volume incorporates important changes to the taxonomy of strawberries and new understanding of how its ancestors evolved. It includes coverage of new disease and pest control methods and recent developments in genomic information. These advancements have greatly improved our understanding of how flowering and fruiting is regulated, and will revolutionize the breeding of strawberries. Drawing on extensive research and practical experience, the author presents an essential text that: Includes new content on genomic data, trait genetics, and marker-assisted strategies for varietal improvement. Provides a thorough review of the evolution of the strawberry and the history of strawberry cultivation. Contains an up-to-date comparison of the cultural systems employed across the world and the physiology behind these practices. Presented in full-colour throughout, this is a core guide for academic and professional researchers, breeders and growers, advisors, extension personnel and students of horticulture.

Plant Breeding Reviews 38

Table of Contents1. Daniel Zohary: Geneticist and Explorer of Plant Domestication

"Giora Simchen"2. The Use of Association Genetics Approaches in Plant Breeding

"Maria F. alvare, Teresa Mosquera, and Matthew W. Blair "

3. Epigenetics Connects the Genome to its Environment

"Ray A. Bressan, Jian-Kang Zhu, Michael J. Van Oosten, Hans J. Bohnert, Viswanathan Chinnusamy, and Albino Maggio"

4. Peanuts Improvement for Human Health

"Sangam Dwivedi, Naveen Puppala, Soheila Maleki, Peggy Ozias-Akins, and Rodomiro Ortiz"5. Rice Breeding in Latin America

"Cesar P. Martinez, Edgar Torres, Marc Chatel, Gloria Mosquera, Jorge Duitama, Manabu Ishitani, Michael Selvaraj, Beata Dedicova, Joe Tohme, Cecile Grenier, Mathias Lorieux. Maribel Cruz, Luis Berrio, Edgar Corredor, Gonzalo Zorrilla de San Martin, Flavio Breseghello, Orlando Peixoto, Jose Manoel Colombari Filho, Adriano Castro, Sergio Iracu Gindri Lopes, Mara Barbosa, Gustavo Rodrigo Daltrozzo Funck, Pedro Blanco, Fernando Perez de Vida, Federico Molina, Juan Rosas, Sebastian Martinez, Victoria Bonnecarrere, Silvia Garaycochea, Gonzalo Carracelas, Alfredo Marin, Fernando Correa, and Ismael Camargo"

Stephen Spotte, Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, Florida, USA Tarpons arose from an ancient lineage, and just two species exist today, confined to the tropics and subtropics: Megalops atlanticus in the western and eastern Atlantic and Megalops cyprinoides distributed widely across the Indo-West Pacific. The Atlantic tarpon is considered king of the saltwater sport fishes and supports a multi-billion dollar recreational fishery in the U.S. alone. The Pacific tarpon, which is much smaller, is less valued by anglers. Both have limited commercial value but offer considerable potential for future aquaculture because of their hardiness, rapid growth, and ease of adaptation to captivity. This book is the latest and most thorough text on the biology, ecology, and fisheries (sport and commercial) of tarpons. The chapters comprise clear, intricate discourses on such subjects as early development and metamorphosis, population genetics, anatomical and physiological features and adaptations, migrations, reproductive biology, and culminate with a concise overview of the world's tarpon fisheries. A comprehensive appendix includes Spotte's original translations of important papers published previously by others in Spanish and Portuguese and unavailable until now to English readers. Tarpons: Biology, Ecology, Fisheries will be of considerable interest and use to fishery and research biologists, marine conservationists, aquaculturists, and informed anglers

Featuring green environmental practices and current information from recognized leaders in the field, the fifth edition of TURFGRASS SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT invites you into the thriving turfgrass industry. Designed for both aspiring and practicing turfgrass managers, the book explains the science behind plant growth and soil properties and how to evaluate, establish and maintain a variety of green spaces, including golf courses, athletic fields, and landscaped lawns. In addition, TURFGRASS SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT offers a review of critical math skills, an inside look at careers opportunities, and practical advice on effective business management practices to help prepare you for success!

This book covers the entire Nile Basin and reflects the latest findings. It provides unique and cutting-edge insights into the region's agriculture, water resources, governance, poverty, productivity, upstream-downstream linkages, innovations, future plans and their implications. Many international summits and conferences have declared that there is an urgent need to save agriculture from its demise. Most international agencies now recognize that something must be done, but what? Beyond policy changes, the restructuring of global governance and institutional reforms are called for. Commitments must be translated into concrete actions leading to a renewed interest in agriculture and a return to the basic objective of achieving food security.

Agriculture as a social-ecological system embraces many disciplines. This book breaks through the silos of individual disciplines to bring ecologists and economists together to consider agriculture through the lens of resilience. It explores the economic, environmental and social uncertainties that influence the behaviour of agricultural producers and their subsequent farming approach, highlighting the importance of adaptability, innovation and capital reserves in enabling agriculture to persist under climate change and market volatility. The resilience concept and its relation to complexity theory is explained and the characteristics that foster resilience in agricultural systems, including the role of biodiversity and ecosystem services, are explored. The book discusses modelling tools, metrics and approaches for assessing agricultural resilience, highlighting areas where interdisciplinary thinking can enhance the development of resilience. It is suitable for those researching sustainable agriculture or those engaged in agricultural policy decisions and analysis, as well as students of ecology, agriculture and socioeconomics.

In this work, several modelling approaches are explored to represent spatial pattern dynamics of aquatic populations in aquatic ecosystems by the combination of models, knowledge and data in different scales.

It is shown that including spatially distributed inputs retrieved from Remote Sensing images, a conventional physically-based Harmful Algal Bloom model can be enhanced. Also, Cellular Automata based models using high resolution photographs prove to be good in representing aquatic plant growth. Multi-Agent Systems can capture well the spatial patterns exhibited in GIS density maps. A synthesis modelling framework was developed to include biological/ecological growth and diffusive processes, and local effects in conventional modelling framework. The results of the complementary modelling paradigms investigated in this research can be of help in achieving a sustainable environmental management strategy.

2018 Nebraska Book Award 2018 Outstanding Academic Title, selected by Choice Homesteading the Plains offers a bold new look at the history of homesteading, overturning what for decades has been the orthodox scholarly view. The authors begin by noting the striking disparity between the public's perception of homesteading as a cherished part of our national narrative and most scholars' harshly negative and dismissive treatment. Homesteading the Plains reexamines old data and draws from newly available digitized records to reassess the current interpretation's four principal tenets: homesteading was a minor factor in farm formation, with most Western farmers purchasing their land; most homesteaders failed to prove up their claims; the homesteading process was rife with corruption and fraud; and homesteading caused Indian land dispossession. Using data instead of anecdotes and focusing mainly on the nineteenth century, Homesteading the Plains demonstrates that the first three tenets are wrong and the fourth only partially true. In short, the public's perception of homesteading is perhaps more accurate than the one scholars have constructed. Homesteading the Plains provides the basis for an understanding of homesteading that is startlingly different from current scholarly orthodoxy. Purchase the audio edition.

The main objective of this book is to integrate environmental knowledge observed in local agriculture, based on the understanding of soils science and ecology, and to propose possible technical solutions and a more integrated approach to tropical agriculture. The chapters describe and analyze the ecological and technical countermeasures available for mitigating environmental degradation due to the increasing agricultural activities by humans, based on our scientific understanding of traditional agriculture in the tropics. This is an effective approach, as such ecological and technical tools previously involved in traditional activities are expected to be easily incorporated into present agricultural systems. The book starts with a rather classical pedological issue and analyzed traditional agricultural practices with different resource management strategies in terms of their modification of natural biological processes. It focuses on the present situation of tropical agriculture; that is, resource utilization in modern agriculture after application of technical innovation (increased application of chemical fertilizers as well as agricultural chemicals). Here, possible technical approaches to resource management that reasonably support agricultural production whilst mitigating environmental degradation are discussed. The negative impacts of agricultural development on our environment are rapidly growing, yet we are increasingly dependent on the agricultural sector for food and energy. The situation is similar in the tropics, where subsistence agriculture with low input management has long comprised most agricultural systems. Comparison of ecological and/or agronomical studies between different continents are still rare; therefore, this analysis may help clarify what is an essential problem when considering technical transportation beyond continents and/or between temperate and tropical regions.

Practical Statistics and Experimental Design for Plant and Crop Science provides an introduction to the principles of plant and crop experimentation. Avoiding mathematical jargon, this text explains how to plan and design an experiment, analyse results, interpret computer output and present findings. Using specific crop and plant case studies this user-friendly guide presents:

• The reasoning behind each statistical mathod before giving practical examples
• Step-by-step calculations with examples linked to three computer packages (MINITAB, GENSTAT and SAS)
• Exercises at the end of many chapters
• Advice on presenting results and report writing

Written by experienced lecturers, this text will be invaluable to undergradaute and postgraduate students studying plant sciences, including plant and crop physiology, biotechnology, plant pathology and agronomy, plus ecology and environmental science students and those wanting a refresher or reference book in statistics.

The original biodynamic sowing and planting calendar, now in its 59th year. This useful guide shows the optimum days for sowing, pruning and harvesting various plants and crops, as well as working with bees. It includes Thun's unique insights, which go above and beyond the standard information presented in some other lunar calendars. It is presented in colour with clear symbols and explanations. The calendar includes a pullout wallchart that can be pinned up in a barn, shed or greenhouse as a handy quick reference.