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"I don't want to suppose. I want to know." -Julia Frances Morton

"Fruits of Warm Climates" is "the" encyclopedia for those who want to know. In one definitive volume, Morton explores the world of tropical and subtropical fruit, providing information on the history of the plants, cultivation techniques, food and alternative uses, nutrition, varieties, and much more. Written in a professional yet accessible voice, "Fruits of Warm Climates" is a must-have for anyone interested in tropical horticulture.

Valuable for researchers as well as home and commercial growers, "Fruits of Warm Climates" masterfully packages the essential information on familiar and not-so-familiar tropical fruit. With over 400 pages containing hundreds of images, the volume is overflowing with information on countless varieties of fruits. Years after its original publication, "Fruits of Warm Climates" remains a leading text on the subject and the pinnacle work of economic botanist Julia F. Morton. It is an important resource for every agricultural, research, and science library.

Julia F. Morton was Research Professor of Biology and Director of the Morton Collectanea (a research and information center devoted to economic botany) at the University of Miami. She received a D. Sc. from Florida State University in 1973 and was elected Fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1974. She has held numerous positions in the field including President of the Florida State Horticulture Society, a member of the Board of Trustees of Fairchild Tropical Garden, and served on the Board of Directors of the Florida National Parks and Monuments Association. She is the author of 10 books and co-author of 12 others.

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 textbook aims to describe the role of minerals in plant life cycle; how these nutrients are absorbed, distributed, stored; what functions each mineral plays and the disorders that their excess or absence may cause. From an agronomic perspective, such knowledge is key to boost crop production and improve its quality, and it also helps understand how to better manage fertilizers and prevent environmental issues. The book has focus on tropical agriculture and its specific demands, providing examples of major crops (such as sugarcane, soybeans, coffee etc), silviculture and pasture species.

The pig is one of the earliest domesticated animals and plays an integral part in a number of peasant economies in the tropics, for example in Oceania and Southeast Asia. In several African countries and others such as Thailand, increasingly intensive pig production has played a significant role in the overall economic growth and the feeding of an expanding urgan population. Furthermore, although in some circumstances pigs do compete with humans for food resources, they are also very versatile at utilizing byproducts and wastes that are not suitable for human consumption. There is therefore considerable potential for developing pig production in the tropics, and this book provides an accessible guide to the subject for students, farmers and advisory workers. It is translated from an original French edition compiled by the Institut d'Elevage et de Medecine Veterinaire des Pays Tropicaux."

The proceeding of tropical agriculture is a proceeding of papers presented at the International Conference on Tropical Agriculture. Sustainability of agriculture production system is an important issue in the world, which includes all aspects of sustainable criteria, such as technical, socio-economic, and ecological aspects. This book covers sustainable tropical agriculture, sustainable tropical fisheries, sustainable tropical animal production, sustainable tropical forestry, tropical animal health, and Innovative and Emerging Food Technology and Management. The most common, challenging issues in plant, animal and fisheries production in the tropics are climate change, inefficiency production system, low technological innovation, decreasing environment quality, and the outbreak risk of pest and diseases. These issues are closely linked to the socio-economic condition of farmers as small-scale farms are dominant in this area. In addition, post-harvest technology is crucial to maintaining the high quality of products after on farm production. This volume provides the recent research and development on tropical agriculture production systems for plant, terrestrial animal and aquatic animal to establish sustainable agriculture production in the tropics.

Agroforestry, the word coined in early seventies, has made its place in all the developed and the developing countries of the world and is now recognized as an important approach to ensuring food security and rebuilding resilient rural environments. India has been an all-time leader in agroforestry. The South and Southeast Asia region comprising India is often described as the cradle of agroforestry. Almost all forms of agroforestry systems exist across India in ecozones ranging from humid tropical lowlands to high-altitude and temperate biomes, and perhumid rainforest zones to parched drylands. The country ranks foremost among the community of nations not only in terms of this enormous diversity and long tradition of the practice of agroforestry, but also in fostering scientific developments in the subject. Agroforestry applies to private agricultural and forest lands and communities that also include highly erodible, flood-prone, economically marginal and environmentally sensitive lands. The typical situation is agricultural, where trees are added to create desired benefits. Agroforestry allows for the diversification of farm activities and makes better use of environmental resources. Owing to an increase in the population of human and cattle, there is increasing demand of food as well as fodder, particularly in developing countries like India. So far, there is no policy that deals with specifics in agroforestry in India. But, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has been discussing on the scope of having a National Agroforestry Policy in appropriate platforms. However, evolving a policy requires good and reliable datasets from different corners of the country on the subject matter. This synthesis volume containing 13 chapters is an attempt to collate available information in a classified manner into different system ecologies, problems and solutions, and converging them into a policy support.

Parasitic weeds of the families Cuscutaceae, Orobanchaceae and Scrophulariaceae are considered to be among the major problems facing agriculture in the Tropics and Subtropics. In the last decades, enormous efforts have been made and success achieved by scientists all over the world in gaining a better understanding of their biology and ecology as well as of control methods. However, no substantial reduction of infestation has been achieved in the past and control strategies specific to the different parasites, crops and farming systems must be further developed or adapted and realised among a wider farming population with suitable extension methods. This `Technical Manual' provides up-to-date methodologies for various aspects of research and extension related to parasitic weed species of the genera Striga, Alectra, Orobanche and Cuscuta. It has the intention to support scientists and extension workers of international and national research and extension institutes and universities, who are either new to the subject or plan to apply further techniques they are not yet familiar with.

Tropical dry forests are the most exploited and endangered ecosystems in the world. A combination of climatic and human factors often reduce these forests to patches of dry scrubs or savannas. Because these ecosystems experience a more arduous and less anticipated environment, they are more prone to environmental stress as plant communities are developed. Therefore, urgent research is necessary to understand both the detrimental issues and problem-solving approaches to conserving these important forests. The Handbook of Research on the Conservation and Restoration of Tropical Dry Forests is a pivotal reference source that combines theory and practice on the current trends and issues in this important ecological subject and discusses future challenges towards conservation strategies of these tropical dry forests. While highlighting topics such as forest management, natural regeneration, and silviculture, this publication examines the anthropogenic impacts on tropical dry forests and the necessity to rebuild their ecosystems. This book is ideally designed for state forest agency professionals, resource managers, non-governmental organization agents, ecologists, botanists, environmentalists, students, and researchers seeking current research on the threats to these forests.

The association between plants and wind that first comes to mind might be plant damage from a strong wind such as a typhoon or monsoon. The winds this book will 1 discuss, however, are not this strong at all, but rather are only 2 m.s. or weaker, like a breeze that gently blows over a farming area. Such a breeze, in fact, instills vitality into plants and increases their growth rates. This book is an attempt to explain these beneficial effects on plants from a field perspective. One fundamental process necessary for plant growth is photosynthesis. Since it is a photochemical reaction, this synthesis has been studied with emphasis on light. Yet to shed light on dry-matter or carbohydrate production by plants, it is indispensable to pursue research not only into the mechanism of photosynthesis but also into photosynthetic production itself. I have observed various phenomena occurring in the production field, and have thereby realized it necessary to recognize photosynthesis as a phenomenon that carbon dioxide (C0 ) in the air diffuses into chloroplasts in the leaves, and to study 2 which environmental factors promote C0 diffusion into the leaves. 2 In this book, I am going to describe the effects of the natural environment on photosynthetic production, placing focus on the leaf boundary layer as an environmental factor for plant production."

Until the 1900s colonial and indigenous governments of Southeast Asia farmed out the right to run opium, gambling and other monopolies. Yet by about 1920 all of the major farms had been abolished and the collection of revenue brought under direct bureaucratic control. This book tries to explain the rise and sudden fall of revenue farming to trace the changing fortunes of the Chinese businessmen who held the major farms and to use the study of revenue farming to examine the emergence of the modern state in Southeast Asia and the great economic changes of this period.

This book consolidates the descriptive results of a pantropical project called Agroforestry Systems Inventory (AFSI), undertaken by the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) from 1982 to 1987. Since agroforestry was a relatively new term when the project was initiated, the main objective was to increase the understanding of and provide a state-of the-art information base on existing agroforestry systems. Therefore, the project was designed to systematically collect, collate, synthesize, and dissem inate information on existing agroforestry systems in developing countries. One of the major results of the project, descriptions of existing agroforestry systems, was published as a series of articles in Agroforestry Systems. These system descriptions form the bulk of this book. Other products of the project include a microcomputer database on agroforestry systems, practices and components, and voluminous unpublished reports and records. Perhaps the title of the book is misleading in that the book does not include or cover all existing agroforestry systems in the tropics and geographical regions in the tropics. Additionally, some of the systems described are outside the tropical boul;ldaries of 23. 5" Nand S latitudes. For the purpose of this book, the word tropics is used in a general sense to also include subtropical developing countries that have agro-ecological and socio-economic character istics and land-use problems similar to those of the countries within the geographical limits of the tropical belt."

Dating back to the nineteenth-century transplantation of a latex-producing tree from the Amazon to Southeast Asia, rubber production has wrought monumental changes worldwide. During a turbulent Vietnamese past, rubber transcended capitalism and socialism, colonization and decolonization, becoming a key commodity around which life and history have revolved. In this pathbreaking study, Michitake Aso narrates how rubber plantations came to dominate the material and symbolic landscape of Vietnam and its neighbors, structuring the region's environment of conflict and violence. Tracing the stories of agronomists, medical doctors, laborers, and leaders of independence movements, Aso demonstrates how postcolonial socialist visions of agriculture and medicine were informed by their colonial and capitalist predecessors in important ways. As rubber cultivation funded infrastructural improvements and the creation of a skilled labor force, private and state-run plantations became landscapes of oppression, resistance, and modernity. Synthesizing archival material in English, French, and Vietnamese, Aso uses rubber plantations as a lens to examine the entanglements of nature, culture, and politics and demonstrates how the demand for rubber has impacted nearly a century of war and, at best, uneasy peace in Vietnam.

Plant breeding has undergone a period of very rapid and significant development in recent years and the area of fruit breeding is no exception. This book provides a balanced, up-to-date and comprehensive account of the developments in the field of breeding tropical and subtropical fruits. It offers not only the theoretical and applied aspects of breedings fruits but also provides an authoritative manual of the conventional and new techniques used for increasing efficiency of crop improvement programmes. In specific chapters the book deals with crop taxonomy, genetic resources, floral biology, breeding objectives, inheritance patterns and information on new improved cultivars/hybrids.

Agroforestry is recognized as a sustainable land-use management in the tropics, as it provides environmental-friendly ecosystems; it also provides people with their every day need for food and cash. Since the recognition of agroforestry as a science, curricula have been developed for agroforestry programs for undergraduate and graduate trainings in Universities. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop and make available educational material. This textbook strives to provide up-to-date information on tropical agroforestry to serve as educational material in the tropical context. The authoritative textbook of Nair (1993) on agroforestry was published 18 years ago, and before the advent of tree domestication, an important agroforestry practice today. In addition, many other research activities, such as carbon sequestration and integrated pest management, have been included in the agroforestry agenda. This textbook is intended for agroforestry students, teachers, and practitioners.

The Flora is prepared at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in close collaboration with East African Herbarium and in liaison with the University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Nairobi and the Makerere University. Significant contributions are also made by specialists elsewhere. This reference should be of use to anyone concerned with the identification and utilization of plants in eastern Africa.

The Flora is prepared at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in close collaboration with East African Herbarium and in liaison with the University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Nairobi and the Makerere University. Significant contributions are also made by specialists elsewhere. This reference should be of use to anyone concerned with the identification and utilization of plants in eastern Africa.

Production from tropical agricultural systems will need to increase to satisfy the rising food demand of an increasing population coupled with changes in consumption patterns. At the same time, the agricultural sector is a significant source of greenhouse gases (GHG) in many developing countries, which can be attributed mainly to land-use change and methane emissions from rice and livestock. But how can we reconcile less GHG emissions from tropical agricultural systems while increasing productivity?

Due to the interactive nature of these issues, this book is compiled of articles on natural resource management, as well as the socio-economic aspects of GHG mitigation. The scope of mitigation options in tropical agriculture is discussed for three different activities: (a) agroforestry; (b) rice-based production systems; (c) pasture/animal husbandry.

Agronomic solutions alone will not be sufficient, as the institutional and economic frameworks within which farmers operate dictate whether a recommended agronomic management practice is acceptable. The prevention of deforestation, and the re-forestation of degraded land, could become key elements to national climate protection programs of some developing countries. Alternative management practices in rice-based and pasture systems may offer win-win options to reduce emissions and improve resource-use efficiencies.

This collection features four peer-reviewed reviews on improving the shelf life of horticultural produce. The first chapter introduces the concept of smart distribution and highlights how optimising the management of produce distribution systems can reduce loss and waste in the horticultural sector and extend shelf life by minimising quality deterioration. The chapter also discusses the use of remote sensing technology to determine food quality. The second chapter reviews a selection of pre- and postharvest strategies used to optimise fruit quality. The chapter considers ways of measuring harvest maturity, as well as the role of temperature controlled environments in extending the shelf life of tree fruit. The third chapter summarises the wealth of recent research on the preservation of fruit quality in mango production, as well as how postharvest operations can be optimised to reduce loss and waste and maximise shelf life, including the use of controlled environments, waxes and edible coatings. The final chapter explores the advantages and disadvantages of cultivating ripening-impaired tomato mutants and genetically engineered genotypes characterized by inhibition of the ripening process. The chapter considers the use of ethylene inhibitors and controlled environments as a means of mitigating devastating yield losses.

This collection features five peer-reviewed reviews on optimising rootstock health. The first chapter explores optimising rootstock health to improve root function, resource-use efficiency, sustainability and agricultural productivity. The chapter also presents a case study on tomato rootstocks as a viable strategy to overcome abiotic stresses in Ghana. The second chapter reviews the important aspects of tree growth and development in apple production which are integral to ensure product quality. The chapter discusses the importance of rootstocks and emphasises the mechanisms and morphological effects of dwarfing on rootstocks. The third chapter considers recent advances in the development and utilisation of fruit tree rootstocks, focussing primarily on apples. The chapter also reviews rootstock tolerance to both abiotic and biotic stresses. The fourth chapter discusses advances in avocado tissue culture for clonal propagation and highlights the potential of this technology for improving the sustainable supply of high-quality avocado plants to support future avocado industry growth. The final chapter addresses the challenges and opportunities in pear breeding, focussing on pear cultivars, pear rootstocks and germplasm resources. The chapter also considers the use of dwarfing as a means of improving particular traits.

This volume is intended for reference by the commercial sugar cane grower. Disciplines are covered for the successful production of a sugar cane crop. A number of good books exist on field practices related to the growing of sugar cane. Two examples are R.P. Humbert's The Growing of Sugar Cane and Alex G. Alexander's Sugarcane Physiology. Volumes of technical papers, produced regularly by the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, are also a source of reference. Perhaps foremost, local associations, such as the South African Sugar Technologists' Association, do excellent work in this regard. In my forty-five years of experience with the day-to-day problems of producing a satisfactory crop of sugar cane, deciding what should be done to produce such a crop was not straightforward. Although the literature dealing with specific subjects is extensive, I tried to consolidate some of the material to provide the man in the field with information, or an overview of the subject matter.

The book covers the various aspects of the use of pesticides, their behavior, degradation, and impacts in wetland ricefields, and presents the results of surveys conducted in the Philippines and Thailand. It includes both bibliographic reviews and selected aspects of the experimental results of a research project on pesticide impacts in wetland ricefields. The first phase of the Pesticide Impact' project was developed in the Philippines from 1989 to 1991. It was a multidisciplinary/collaborative approach involving scientists from IRRI, NRI (England), ORSTOM (France), UPLB (Philippines) who studied the effects of pesticides on the environment and on farmers' health, and the economical aspects of their use.