Allelopathy is an ecological phenomenon by which plants release organic chemicals (allelochemicals) into the environment influencing the growth and survival of other organisms. In this book, leading scientists in the field synthesize latest developments in allelopathy research with a special emphasis on its application in sustainable agriculture. The following topics are highlighted: Ecological implications, such as the role of allelopathy during the invasion of alien plant species; regional experiences with the application of allelopathy in agricultural systems and pest management; the use of microscopy for modeling allelopathy; allelopathy and abiotic stress tolerance; host allelopathy and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; allelopathic interaction with plant nutrition; and the molecular mechanisms of allelopathy. This book is an invaluable source of information for scientists, teachers and advanced students in the fields of plant physiology, agriculture, ecology, environmental sciences, and molecular biology.

Conservation agriculture-consisting of four components including permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance, diversified crop rotations and integrated weed management-is considered the principal pathway to sustainable agriculture and the conservation of natural resources and the environment. Leading researchers in the field describe the basic principles of conservation agriculture, and synthesize recent advances and developments in conservation agriculture research. This book is a ready reference on conservation agriculture and reinforces the understanding for its utilization to develop environmentally sustainable and profitable food production systems. The book describes various elements of conservation agriculture; highlights the associated breeding and modeling efforts; analyses the experiences and challenges in conservation agriculture in different regions of the world; and proposes some pragmatic options and new areas of research in this very important area of agriculture.

Allelopathy is an ecological phenomenon by which plants release organic chemicals (allelochemicals) into the environment influencing the growth and survival of other organisms. In this book, leading scientists in the field synthesize latest developments in allelopathy research with a special emphasis on its application in sustainable agriculture. The following topics are highlighted: Ecological implications, such as the role of allelopathy during the invasion of alien plant species; regional experiences with the application of allelopathy in agricultural systems and pest management; the use of microscopy for modeling allelopathy; allelopathy and abiotic stress tolerance; host allelopathy and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; allelopathic interaction with plant nutrition; and the molecular mechanisms of allelopathy. This book is an invaluable source of information for scientists, teachers and advanced students in the fields of plant physiology, agriculture, ecology, environmental sciences, and molecular biology.

Neglected and Underutilized Crops: Future Smart Food explores future food crops with climate resilience potential. Sections cover their botany, nutritional significance, global distribution, production technology, and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses of neglected and underutilized crops. By simply changing species in a crop rotation system, the cycle of some pests and diseases is disrupted and probabilities of infestations are reduced. Finally, the book provides case studies that highlight where the adaptation of crops to local environments, especially with regard to climate change, have been successful. These crops can help make agricultural production systems more resilient to climate change. Although a few books on neglected and underutilized crops are available, this comprehensive book covers the full scope of crop husbandry, nutritional significance and global distribution.

Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment describes the relationship of agriculture, society, nature and the environment, sustainable agriculture and sustainable development goals, management of biophysical resources for sustainable food and environment, traditional knowledge and innovative options, and social and policy aspects of sustainable agriculture. The book presents both environmental and economic principles, helping readers in the development and application of robust policy and good institutional systems that execute on sustainable agriculture practices for a healthy environment and to combat climate resilience.

Careless and indiscriminate use of pesticides to control different pests has distressed the natural balance between pests and biological control agents, along with the difficulty of environmental pollution. In the present changing situation of the world, role of the biological control agents cannot be ignored. The potential role of biological control agents in IPM has attracted the concentration of scientists to discover and manipulate the natural enemies instead of conventional control methods, which are mainly dependent on chemical pesticides. Between different biological control agents, mites are well-recognized predators among which the genus Agistemus occupies a significant place.Agistemus mites (Stigmaeidae) are successful predators of destructive mites and other soft-bodied insects.They often establish on plants and can prey on different kinds of harmful mites.Stigmaeidae is a potential significant predatory mite group found throughout the world and among this group, same species might have a very important role in biological control of phytophagous mites and scale insects.

Rangelands are found roughly on fifty percent area of the earth and present nearly in all continents of the world. Grasses, herbs, forbs and shrubs are the dominant plant species in rangelands. Rangelands play a significant role in the livelihoods of vast number of rural people by providing forage and feed to livestock. The vegetation of the major rangelands of Pakistan like any other developing country of the world is associated with infertile soils, soil erosions, overgrazing and other environmental extremes. Grasses are the major component of the Rangelands and are highest potential yielder of starch and protein. Being the most palatable and nutritive stuff, grasses is good fodder source for the grazing animals. In view of the above said facts, the paramount importance and magnitude of generic variability of the grasses, various morphological and nutritional parameters of grass species have been investigated. The present study can be useful in the breeding programmes of forage grasses for developing their drought tolerance.

Stored grain mites are critically dangerous for future concern, in this regard studies were carried out to check the efficacy of aqueous extracts of locally available botanicals (Gardenia jasminoides) and Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum, ) and selective pesticides (azocyclotin and chlorfenapyr against stored grain mites under CRD. The LC 50 value of gallop showed that gallop killed most mite population and was highly toxic after 14 days of application while azocyclotin (Gallop) was least toxic after 28 days of replication while the EC50 (Effective Concentration) value of chlorfenapyr (Vibrent) showed that chlorfenapyr killed most mite population and was highly toxic after 21 days of application while chlorfenapyr was least toxic after 28 days of replication. In case of gardenia, the LC 50 value showed that gardenia killed most mite population and was highly toxic after 28 days of application while gardenia was least toxic after 7 days of application. LC 50 value of tobacco showed that tobacco killed most mite population and was highly toxic after 7 days of application while tobacco was least toxic after 14 days of application