A History Of Wheat Breeding In China

Wheat and wheat breeding in China: an overview; The north China winter wheat zone; The huang huai facultative wheat zone; The middle and lower yangtze valley autumn-sown spring wheat zone; The southwestern autumn-sown spring wheat zone; The south China autumn-sown spring wheat zone; The northeastern spring-sown spring wheat zone; The northern spring-sown spring wheat zone; The northwestern spring wheat zone; The Qinghai-Tibet spring and winter wheat zone; The xinjiang winter and spring wheat zone.

It is ten years since Volume 1 of The World Wheat Book was completed and the intervening years have seen many changes in the world economy, in agriculture in the countries where wheat is grown, and major developments in the techniques of wheat breeding.This second volume therefore updates, but does not replace, the first volume by adding to the countries discussed, giving an update on agronomy and cropping practices, and reviewing the technological advances in wheat breeding techniques.The opening chapters summarise the history of wheat growing, the development of wheat breeding, and the current status of breeding in the countries covered. The next set of chapters looks at agronomy and cropping practices in a wide range of wheat growing regions across the world. The third set of chapters records the latest advances in wheat breeding, looking at concepts and strategies as well as current and developing techniques. The fourth set reviews the developing end uses. The final group of chapters examines specific biotic and abiotic threats from viruses, insect pests and diseases.This book is subtitled A History of Wheat Breeding. It would be even more accurate to say that it records and discusses the continuing history of wheat breeding. As stated by Pierre Pagesse, Chairman of Groupe Limagrain, in his Preface: "The future of wheat rests in our hands and in those who succeed us. Let us try to do this together in a visionary and determined manner".

While there has been great progress in the development of plant breeding over the last decade, the selection of suitable plants for human consumption began over 13,000 years ago. Since the Neolithic era, the cultivation of plants has progressed in Asia Minor, Asia, Europe, and ancient America, each specific to the locally wild plants as well as the ecological and social conditions. A handy reference for knowing our past, understanding the present, and creating the future, this book provides a comprehensive treatment of the development of crop improvement methods over the centuries. It features an extensive historical treatment of development, including influential individuals in the field, plant cultivation in various regions, techniques used in the Old World, and cropping in ancient America. The advances of scientific plant breeding in the twentieth century is extensively explored, including efficient selection methods, hybrid breeding, induced polyploidy, mutation research, biotechnology, and genetic manipulation. Finally, this book presents information on approaches to the sustainability of breeding and to cope with climatic changes as well as the growing world population.

Scientific breeding in the twentieth century greatly accelerated wheat`s evolution, producing high-yielding varieties that helped avoid famine in many developing countries. Emerging scientific tools hold promise for identifying and tapping new, useful genetic diversity within wheat`s primary and secondary gene pools and, through genetic engineering, beyond.The book describes generally how policies affect wheat genetic diversity; it looks at historical changes in wheat genetic diversity, as policy and priorities have evolved; it identifies factors that explain changes and differences in spatial diversity; and finally, it analyzes the productivity impacts of changes in diversity. Chapters define various types of crop genetic diversity and ways to measure them, framing the definitions and metrics in the contexts for which they are most relevant.