This comprehensive reference consolidates current information on the antioxidant properties of wheat, their beneficial effects, the mechanisms involved, factors affecting availability/bioavailability, and the methods used to measure them. It discusses antioxidant properties of wheat grains and fractions and their phytochemical compositions and covers the effects of genotype, growing conditions, post-harvest treatment, storage, and food formulation and processing on availability/bioavailability.

"Wheat Antioxidants" will help cereal chemists, food technologists, food processors, nutritionists, and others maximize the health benefits of wheat-based foods.

This book was written to provide an integrated account of barley, induding its cultivation, nature and uses. An attempt has been made to cut across the unjustified and obstructive divisions between pure science, applied science, technology, botany, biochemistry, agronomy, and so on. Limitations of space preclude the use of more illustrative material or references, or even complete accounts of various topics. However sufficient information is given to enable the reader to understand the general principles and to find his or her way readily into the literature to obtain further information. Emphasis has been placed on general principles rather than details. In becoming familiar with the literature one becomes acquainted with the effects of the cereal or religion, the English language and the development of agriculture and biochemistry. The comparison between 'parallel literatures' is often stimulating also. For example one is forced to conclude that many of the agricultural problems of poor 'seed vigour' would be overcome if seedsmen used the maltsters techniques for breaking dormancy and speeding 'post-harvest maturation'. Barley is the world's fourth most important cereal after wheat, rice, and maize. It is the most widely cultivated, being grown from the equator to 700N (Scandinavia), from the humid regions of Europe and Japan to the Saharan and Asiatic Oases, and from below sea level in Palestine to high up mountains in the Himalayas, E. Africa and S. America. Some where in the world it is being sown or harvested at every time of the year."

Without sensationalizing or providing the technical details that would result in a terrorist's handbook, the volume reflects the concerns expressed by experts from 12 states (including many from Slavic regions adjoining or aspiring to membership of the European Union). A range of vulnerabilities are highlighted that are usually neglected. Assessments that focus on the horrifying potential of bioterrorism directly targeting people are commonplace. This book is exceptional because indirect impacts on human health and welfare through challenge to the security of food supplies are the focus. These urgently need to be recognised and made subjects of planned investment to counter the threat. Examples of past state-sponsored and independent actions are discussed. The evolution of biological (chemical defoliant) systems for controlling plant growth with unambiguously humanitarian aims is shown to have resulted in a range of counter terrorist uses.

The Maize Handbook represents the collective efforts of the maize research community to enumerate the key steps of standard procedures and to disseminate these protocols for the common good. Although the material in this volume is drawn from experience with maize, many of the procedures, protocols, and descriptions are applicable to other higher plants, particularly to other grasses. The power and resolution of experiments with maize depend on the wide range of specialized genetic techniques and marked stocks; these materials are available today as the culmination of nearly 100 years of genetic research. A major goal of this volume is to introduce this genetical legacy and to highlight current stock construction programs that will soon benefit our work, e. g. high-density RFLP maps, deletion stocks, etc. Both stock construction and maintenance are relatively straightforward in maize as a result of the ease of crossing and the longevity of stored seeds. Crossing is facilitated by the separate staminate (tassel) and pistillate (ear) flowers, a feature almost unique to maize. On the other hand, many of the genetic methodologies utilized with maize, including the precision of record keeping, can be adapted to other plants. Facile communication and a spirit of co-operation have characterized the maize genetics community since its earliest days. Starting in the 1930s, institutions such as annual Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter, the Maize Genetics Stock Center, and the annual maize genetics meeting provide continuity to the field.

Wild rice has always been essential to life in the Upper Midwest and neighboring Canada. In this far-reaching book, Thomas Vennum, Jr., uses travelers' narratives, historical and ethnological accounts, scientific data, historical and contemporary photographs and sketches, his own field work, and the words of Indian people to examine the importance of this wild food to the Ojibway people. He details the technology of harvesting and processing, from seventeenth-century reports though modern mechanization. He explains the important place of wild rice in Ojibway ceremony and legend and depicts the rich social life of the traditional rice camps. And he reviews the volatile issues of treaty rights and litigations involving Indian problems in maintaining this traditional resource.
A staple of the Ojibway diet and economy for centuries, wild rice has now become a gourmet food. With twentieth-century agricultural technology and paddy cultivation, white growers have virtually removed this important source of income from Indain hands. Nevertheless, the Ojibway continue to harvest and process rice each year. It remains a vital part of their social, cultural, and religious life.

Maize is the world's most productive food and industrial crop, grown in more than 160 countries and on every continent except Antarctica. If by some catastrophe maize were to disappear from our food supply chain, vast numbers of people would starve and global economies would rapidly collapse. How did we come to be so dependent on this one plant? Maize for the Gods brings together new research by archaeologists, archaeobotanists, plant geneticists, and a host of other specialists to explore the complex ways that this single plant and the peoples who domesticated it came to be inextricably entangled with one another over the past nine millennia. Tracing maize from its first appearance and domestication in ancient campsites and settlements in Mexico to its intercontinental journey through most of North and South America, this history also tells the story of the artistic creativity, technological prowess, and social, political, and economic resilience of America's first peoples.

The origin of agriculture is one of the defining events of human history. Some 11-10,000 years ago bands of hunter-gatherers started to abandon their high-mobility lifestyles in favour of growing crops, and the creation of settled, sedentary communities. This shift into agricultural lifestyle triggered the evolution of complex political and economic structures, and technological developments, and ultimately underpinned the rise of all the great civilisations of recent human history. Domestication of Plants in the Old World reviews and synthesises the information on the origins and domestication of cultivated plants in the Old World, and subsequently the spread of cultivation from southwest Asia into Asia, Europe, and North Africa, from the very earliest beginnings. This book is mainly based on detailed consideration of two lines of evidences: the plant remains found at archaeological sites, and the knowledge that has accumulated about the present-day wild relatives of domesticated plants. This new edition revises and updates previous data and incorporates the most recent findings from molecular biology about the genetic relations between domesticated plants and their wild ancestors, and incorporates extensive new archaeological data about the spread of agriculture within the region. The reference list has been completely updated, as have the list of archaeological sites and the site maps. This is an advanced, research level text suitable for graduate level students and researchers in the fields of crop science, agriculture, archaeology, botanical archaeology, and plant biotechnology. It will also be of relevance and use to agricultural historians and anyone with a wider interest in the rise of civilisation in this region.

With more consumers moving away from traditional cereal-based foods due to concerns about health impacts, including wheat intolerance, the sector must develop next-generation nutritionally-enhanced cereal products to maximise market potential. Improving the nutritional and nutraceutical properties of wheat and other cereals reviews key research into the nutritional components of cereals and their role in preventing chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and cancer. Initial chapters cover our understanding of the nutritional value of starch, antioxidants and lipids in wheat. The book also details the interactions of these components with the gut and whether the way they are processed can inhibit or optimise benefits to overall human health. Final chapters review the key steps in nutritional enhancement of cereals such as wheat, spelt and millet. Edited by Professor Trust Beta, University of Manitoba, Canada, Improving the nutritional and nutraceutical properties of wheat and other cereals will be an excellent reference framework for academic researchers in cereal science, arable farmers, manufacturers/suppliers of cereal nutrition products, as well as government and private sector agencies supporting cereal production.

Finger millet though a small cereal grain is a most promising millet for its strength of calcium, iron, dietary fibre and polyphenols. These compounds provide better skeletal health and the cereal possess anti-diabetic properties. But the information documented so far on finger millet refers more to varieties and cultivation practices. This book covers the global information within 9 chapters in a methodological way, the finger millet strength, history and cultivation of varieties, nutrients, non-nutrients, the finger millet processing methods, processed products development and their health benefits evaluation which creates a scientific evidence for the benefits.

Biotechnology of Major Cereals focuses on the recent advances and future prospects in cereal biotechnology. The first part of the book covers the world's major cereals and focus on new developments and trends. The second part is technology rather than species-led, detailing fundamental developments in technologies and significant target traits.

This volume provides a comprehensive collection of methods for plant breeders and researchers working in functional genomics of cereal crops. Chapters detail advances in sequencing of cereal genomes, methods of traditional plant breeding, use of machine learning for genomic selection, random and targeted mutagenesis with CRISPR/Cas9, quantitative proteomics and phenotyping in cereals. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Accelerated Breeding of Cereal Crops aims to be of interest to plant breeders, researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and students working in functional genomics for the development of the next generation of crop plants.

Grain legumes are characterised by their nutritional value, an ability to grow rapidly and improve soil health. This makes them a key rotation crop in promoting food security. However, yields are constrained by factors such as pests and diseases as well as vulnerability to poor soils, drought and other effects of climate change. This collection reviews the wealth of research addressing these challenges. Volume 2 assesses key research on particular types of grain legume with chapters on developing improved varieties as well as improvements in cultivation techniques. The book covers common beans, lentils, soybeans, groundnuts, cowpea, faba beans and pigeonpea. With its distinguished editorial team and international range of expert authors, this will be a standard reference for the grain legume research community and farmers of these important crops. It is accompanied by a companion volume which reviews general advances in breeding and cultivation techniques.

This book presents deliberations on molecular and genomic mechanisms underlying the interactions of crop plants to the biotic stresses caused by different diseases and pests that are 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 FHNEE (food, health, nutrition, energy, and environment) security. Whole genome sequencing of these crops followed by genotyping-by-sequencing has provided precise information regarding 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 eight chapters each dedicated to a cereal crop in this volume elucidate on different types of biotic stresses and their effects on and interaction with the crop; 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 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 crop varieties; discuss on molecular mapping of genes and QTLs underlying stress resistance and their marker-assisted introgression into elite varieties; enunciate on different genomics-aided techniques including genomic selection, allele mining, gene discovery, and gene pyramiding for developing adaptive crop varieties with higher quantity and quality of yields, and also elaborate some case studies on genome editing focusing on specific genes for generating biotic stress-resistant crops.

Discussing the latest processes involved in researching yield generation, Wheat: Ecology and Physiology of Yield Determination will help you design various types of crop production systems for maximum yield. Featuring information on developing high-yielding, low-input, and quality-oriented systems, this book offers you both physiological and ecological approaches that will help you understand the crop as well as increase its production. Discussing aspects of wheat growth for specific regions around the world, Wheat provides you with information that will improve the size and quality of your crops, including: how temperature, vernalization, and the photoperiod affect the development of wheat using the correct amount of nitrogen fertilizers for wheat crops an explanation of the reproduction and nitrogen cycles of wheat how elements and conditions such as lipids, proteins, nitrogen, and climate enhance grain quality estimating and determining optimal sowing dates examining factors that may affect wheat yield-density relationships, such as planting arrangement and date of sowing preventing seed decay and examining effects of mildews and leaf blights examining historical trends of the crop to see what further research needs to be done You'll also receive information on the genetic gains in wheat research that are improving the physiological traits and numerical components of this essential grain. Within Wheat, you'll find data and methods from international experts in the field that will improve the yield and growth of the world's most important crop.

"These books present a comprehensive coverage of issues facing wheat production globally. The authors represent the top scientists involved in the diverse areas that are important for sustainable wheat production and will this book provides an excellent resource for those interested in wheat improvement and production." Dr Hans-Joachim Braun, Director Global Wheat Program and CRP Wheat, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico Wheat is the most widely cultivated cereal in the world and a staple food for around 3 billion people. It has been estimated that demand for wheat could increase by up to 60% by 2050. There is an urgent need to increase yields in the face of such challenges as climate change, threats from pests and diseases and the need to make cultivation more resource-efficient and sustainable. Drawing on an international range of expertise, this collection focuses on ways of improving the cultivation of wheat at each step in the value chain, from breeding to post-harvest storage. Volume 1 reviews research in wheat breeding and quality traits as well as diseases and pests and their management. Chapters in Part 1 review advances in understanding of wheat physiology and genetics and how this has informed developments in breeding, including developing varieties with desirable traits such as drought tolerance. Part 2 discusses aspects of nutritional and processing quality. Chapters in Part 3 cover research on key wheat diseases and their control as well as the management of insect pests and weeds. Achieving sustainable cultivation of wheat Volume 1: Breeding, quality traits, pests and diseases will be a standard reference for cereal scientists in universities, government and other research centres and companies involved in wheat cultivation. It is accompanied by Volume 2 which reviews improvements in cultivation techniques.

This book presents recent advances in global wheat crop research, including the effects of abiotic stresses like high and low temperatures, drought, hypoxia, salinity, heavy metals, nutrient deficiency, and toxicity on wheat production. It also highlights various approaches to alleviate the damaging effects of abiotic stress on wheat as well as advanced approaches to develop abiotic-stress-tolerant wheat crops. Wheat is probably one of the world's most important cereals; it is a staple food in more than 40 countries, and because of its adaptability is cultivated in almost every region. Global wheat production has more than doubled in the last 50 years due to higher yields. However, despite their high yield potential, modern wheat cultivars are often subject to crop loss due to the abiotic stresses. As such, plant breeders have long aimed to improve tolerance in order to maintain yield. Written by 85 experts, and offering the latest insights into wheat responses and tolerance to various abiotic stresses, it is a valuable tool for agronomists, plant breeders, plant physiologists and students in the field of plant science and agriculture. It is the first book to comprehensively cover past and current abiotic stress problems and tolerance mechanisms.

Thrips have recently surged to prominence as insect pests of field, plantation and glasshouse crops in many countries, associated with increased international trade in fresh vegetables, fruit, flowers and plant propagation material. They can cause direct feeding damage to the aerial parts of plants, resulting in yield loss and spoilage, and some are vectors of destructive plant viruses. Their minute size and secretive habits make them particularly difficult to detect and control. This book, containing contributions from several world authorities from Europe, the USA and Asia, is the most comprehensive treatise on thrips as crop pests ever to be published. It brings together a vast amount of modern work set against a wealth of background knowledge, covering basic biology, ecology, applied science and pest control. The result is a book indispensable for agricultural advisers and growers concerned with thrips pests, and a unique reference source and stimulus for research entomologists studying these intriguing insects.

"My earliest recollection of Colkirk was, I think, the Diamond Jubilee of good Queen Victoria in 1897 ... " Alfred Absolon's memoir is a unique window into life in rural Norfolk before the Great War and a story full of his family's farming heritage. He grows up on his aunt's farm in the village of Colkirk. This is a place where folklore is as real as the seasons and the harvest is gathered by men and horses. The threshing machine is powered by a steam engine, and the village is home to traditional craftsmen who practice a fading way of life. This is an authentic and unforgettable first-person account of life in a Norfolk village at the turn of the century (1897-1929)

Less than two decades ago, the world was focusing on the impending food crisis across Asia, which was given little hope of ever being able to meet its rapidly growing food demand. Since then, Asia has made a quantum leap in food production. Technological innovations and policies that promoted intensive rice production systems helped achieve this. The authors of this book argue that there is a growing sense of complacency about future food supplies in Asia and that such complacency is not warranted. While rice productivity may increase, this will be limited by a number of factors: withdrawal of land and labor from agriculture to other uses, increased competition for resources, and land degradation. It is unlikely to match the increase in demand for rice because of population growth. The book provides a thorough assessment of the opportunities for increasing land productivity, including crop diversification. It evaluates the successes and limitations of the Green Revolution for rice in Asia and projects economic and technological trends forward over the next three decades.

With growing concerns surrounding the impact of climate change on both native and invasive pest invasions, coupled with the rising threat of global food insecurity, more research is required to understand the major insect pests of cereals, including how best to control and monitor them. Advances in understanding insect pests affecting wheat and other cereals provides a comprehensive review of the wealth of research that addresses this challenge. This collection discusses the most recent developments in fundamental and applied research on major pests and shows how better understanding of these pests can be used to improve integrated pest management strategies.

This book provides a comprehensive review of advances in breeding techniques for cereals such as wheat, barley maize and rye. Part 1 discusses ways of better exploiting genetic diversity through techniques such as trait introgression. Parts 2-3 then summarise developments in the use of doubled haploids and hybrid breeding methods. Parts 4-5 review advances in high throughput phenotyping and its use in identifying markers for breeding using techniques such as genome-wide association studies and nested association mapping.

In relation to the origin and spread of grasses, domestication is a recent event confined to about the last ten thousand years and to relatively few grasses. Part I of Grass Evolution and Domestication considers, from an evolutionary point of view, grass taxonomy, the origin and diversification of C4 photosynthesis, S-Z self-incompatibility and apomixis. It also includes a discussion of how the grass inflorescence and the spikelet could have originated. In Part II the origins of domestication are explored, both for cereals and for grasses which have latterly come to have either amenity or ecological significance. For the major cereals, domestication now involves not only classical plant breeding but also the application of molecular techniques to obtain new varieties with desirable characteristics. The world's three most important cereals, wheat, maize and rice, are therefore presented as model systems in an attempt to explore the interaction of plant breeding, cytogenetics and molecular biology.

A study of the productivity of land in the bishopric of Winchester from 1208 to 1350. To a student of agrarian society and economy the knowledge of changes in the productivity of land is a crucial factor. For the Middle Ages, only England has the right type of documents - the manorial accounts - to allow cereal yields to be calculated with any degree of exactness. The accounts of the bishopric of Winchester occupy a very special position. This collection not only antedates all others by some 50 years, but is also by far the best series of account rolls in existence and the only one allowing for a study covering the whole of the 13th century. Dr Titow presents the whole range of the Winchester yield calculations and also examines the observable changes in productivity in the light of other relevant factors.

ICARDA International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas Address: P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria Telex: 331206 ICARDA SY, 331208 ICARDA SY Fax: 963-21-213490 Established in 1977, ICARDA is governed by an independent Board of Trustees. Based at Aleppo, Syria, it is one of 18 centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which is an international group of representatives of donor agencies, eminent agricultural scientists, and institutional administrators from developed and developing countries who guide and support its work. The CGIAR seeks to enhance and sustain food production and, at the same time, improve the socioeconomic conditions of people through strengthening national research systems in developing countries. ICARDA focuses its research efforts on areas with a dry summer, where precipitation in winter ranges from 200 mm to 600 mm. The Center has a global responsibility for the improvement of barley, lentil and faba bean, and a regional responsibility -- in West Asia and North Africa -- for the improvement of wheat, chickpea and pasture and forage crops and the associated farming systems. Much of ICARDA's research is carried out on a 948-hectare farm at its headquarters at Tel Hadya, about 35 km south-west of Aleppo. ICARDA also manages other sites where it tests material under a variety of agroecological conditions in Syria and Lebanon. However, the full scope of ICARDA's activities can be appreciated only when account is taken of the cooperative research carried out with many countries in West Asia and North Africa. The results of research are transferred through ICARDA's cooperation with national and regional research institutions, universities and ministries of agriculture, and through the technical assistance and training that the Center provides. A range of training programmes is offered, extending from residential courses for groups to advanced research opportunities for individuals. These efforts are supported by seminars and publications and by specialised information services.

Western Corn Rootworm, "Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte," has been a major economic pest of maize in the Americas for many years. However, since the early 1990s, it has become an increasing threat to crops in Europe and is expected to spread to all maize growing areas of the continent. This book provides a comprehensive review of current knowledge of the biology and ecology of this insect pest and how it might be managed in order to limit its damage as it spreads into new agroecological areas. Cultural, biotechnical and biological control measures are addressed, as are ecological baseline data such as population dynamics, economic thresholds and aspects of its behavior. The book also examines the potential of plant protection techniques currently used in North America to be applied in Europe.