The discipline of plant breeding has undergone transformation due to the assimilation of the rapid developments in molecular biology. The existing books on plant breeding deal mainly with the classical approaches, while specialized books on molecular approaches usually lack discussion of the classical methods. The book Plant Breeding for 21st Century attempts to present the complete picture of plant breeding ranging from the classical to the molecular approaches applied to crop improvement. The book is divided into four sections: Classical Plant Breeding, Transgenic technology, Molecular Markers, and Miscellaneous. The first section deals with the classical plant breeding and is divided into eight chapters. The second section has four chapters and describes transgenic technology. The third section discusses various aspects of molecular markers and is spread over three chapters. The final section has a single chapter dealing with variety release, seed multiplication and intellectual property rights. This book is designed primarily for graduate students, viz., B.Sc. agriculture and B.Sc. science students with botany as one of the subjects, who would get their first exposure to plant breeding. It would also be useful for the post-graduate students, especially in botany, and to teachers of the subject. The book is written in simple and easy to understand language. Illustrations and photographs have been provided wherever they were expected to facilitate comprehension of the subject under discussion.

Recent advances in plant genomics and molecular biology have revolutionized our understanding of plant genetics, providing new opportunities for more efficient and controllable plant breeding. Successful techniques require a solid understanding of the underlying molecular biology as well as experience in applied plant breeding. Bridging the gap between developments in biotechnology and its applications in plant improvement, Molecular Plant Breeding provides an integrative overview of issues from basic theories to their applications to crop improvement including molecular marker technology, gene mapping, genetic transformation, quantitative genetics, and breeding methodology.

Learn to integrate molecular genetic techniques with traditional plant breeding methods! This comprehensive book provides the latest authoritative scientific information on improvement of both temperate and tropical crops. Crop Improvement: Challenges in the Twenty-First Century brings together expert plant breeders and geneticists to address issues related to crop adaptability and stability across environments for important food and fiber crops. It emphasizes the need to integrate molecular genetic techniques with traditional plant breeding methods to develop hardier, more productive crops. Crop Improvement includes the latest research on physiological and biochemical responses of plants to drought and heat stress, which should help breeders develop effective strategies for improving resistance to abiotic stresses. In addition, this helpful book elucidates the use of mixed models and best linear unbiased prediction. To make the book comprehensive, chapters discuss stability analysis in crop performance trials and genotype-by-environment interactions. Crop Improvement includes detailed information on breeding specific crops, including: rice tropical maize sorghum common bean sugar beet bananas and plantain cotton Crop Improvement offers both practical information and up-to-date research. It also suggests a vision of new directions and partnerships that are expected to evolve in this century. This book is an essential resource for practicing plant breeders and geneticists at universities, government agencies, and industry. It should also be of use to teachers and students engaged in crop breeding.

This comprehensive 2007 survey of modern plant breeding traces its history from the earliest experiments at the dawn of the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century to the present day and the existence of high tech agribusiness. Murphy tells the story from the perspective of a scientist working in this field, offering a rationale and evidence-based insight into its development. Crop improvement is examined from both a scientific and socio-economic perspective and the ways in which these factors interact and impact on agricultural development are discussed, including debates on genetically-modified food. Murphy highlights concerns over the future of plant breeding, as well as potential options to enable us to meet the challenges of feeding the world in the 21st century. This thoroughly interdisciplinary and balanced account serves as an essential resource for everyone involved with plant breeding research, policy and funding, as well as those wishing to engage with current debates.

As the oldest and largest human intervention in nature, the science of agriculture is one of the most intensely studied practices. From manipulation of plant gene structure to the use of plants for bioenergy, biotechnology interventions in plant and agricultural science have been rapidly developing over the past ten years with immense forward leaps on an annual basis. This book begins by laying the foundations for plant biotechnology by outlining the biological aspects including gene structure and expression, and the basic procedures in plant biotechnology of genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics and proteomics. It then focuses on a discussion of the impacts of biotechnology on plant breeding technologies and germplasm sustainability. The role of biotechnology in the improvement of agricultural traits, production of industrial products and pharmaceuticals as well as biomaterials and biomass provide a historical perspective and a look to the future. Sections addressing intellectual property rights and sociological and food safety issues round out the holistic discussion of this important topic. Includes specific emphasis on the inter-relationships between basic plant biotechnologies and applied agricultural applications, and the way they contribute to each other Provides an updated review of the major plant biotechnology procedures and techniques, their impact on novel agricultural development and crop plant improvement Takes a broad view of the topic with discussions of practices in many countries

Floriculture is one of the fastest-growing sectors of commercial agriculture. This book provides a unique and valuable resource on the many issues and challenges facing flower breeders, as well as the industry at-large. Featuring contributions from 32 international authorities, it offers tools and directions for future crop domestication and enhancement as well as offers essential information for breeding a wide range of floriculture crops.

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. ) is the most important pulse crop in the world. It is an important source of calories, proteins, dietary fibers, minerals, and vitamins for millions of people in both developing and developed countries worldwide. It complements cereals and other carbohydrate-rich foods in providing near-perfect nutrition to people of all ages. Moreover, a regular intake ofbeans helps lower cholesterol and cancer risks. Despite the fact that per capita consumption of common bean in some developed countries (e. g. , the U. S. A. ) has been increasing over the last several years, in general, the average global per capita consumption is declining because production is unable to keep up with the population growth. Moreover, increasing demand for pesticide-free food products, concern for natural resources conservation, and the need to reduce production costs offer daunting challenges to the twenty-first century policy makers, bean growers, and researchers alike. High yielding, high quality bean cultivars that require less water, fertilizers, pesticides, and manual labor combined with integrated management of abiotic and biotic stresses will have to be developed. Eminent bean researchers were invited to contemplate these issues, prepare a state-of-the-art account on most relevant topics, and offer their insight into research directions into the twenty-first century. Four excellent books have been published covering various aspects ofthe common bean since 1980. These books are: I) Bean Production Problems nd in the Tropics (l SI ed. 1980, 2 ed. 1989), H. F. Schwartz & M. A.