Breeding Plantation Tree Crops Tropical Species

Tree species are indispensable to support human life. Due to their long life cycle and environmental sensitivity, breeding trees to suit day-to-day human needs is a formidable challenge. Whether they are edible or industrial crops, improving yield under optimal, sub-optimal and marginal areas calls for uni?ed efforts from the s- entistsaroundtheworld. Whiletheuniquenessofcoconutaskalpavriksha(Sanskr- meaning tree-of-life) marks its presence in every continent from Far East to South America, tree crops like cocoa, oil palm, rubber, apple, peach, grapes and walnut prove their environmental sensitivity towards tropical, sub-tropical and temperate climates. Desert climate is quintessential for date palm. Thus, from soft drinks to breweries to beverages to oil to tyres, the value addition offers a spectrum of pr- ucts to human kind, enriched with nutritional, environmental, ?nancial, social and trade related attributes. Taxonomically, tree crops do not con?ne to a few families, but spread across a section of genera, an attribute so unique that contributes immensely to genetic biodiversity even while cultivated at the commercial scale. Many of these species in?uence other ?ora to nurture in their vicinity, thus ensuring their integrity in p- serving the genetic biodiversity. While wheat, rice, maize, barley, soybean, cassava andbananamakeup themajorfoodstaples,manyfruittreespeciescontributegreatly tonutritionalenrichment inhumandiet. Theediblepartofthesespeciesisthesource of several nutrients that makes additives for the daily diet of humans, for example, vitamins, sugars, aromas and ?avour compounds, and raw material for food proce- ing industries. Tree crops face an array of agronomic and horticultural problems in propagation, yield, appearance, quality, diseases and pest control, abiotic stresses and poor shelf-life.

Tree species are indispensable to human needs. Due to their long life cycle and environmental sensitivity, breeding trees for sustainable production is a formidable challenge in order to meet the demands of growing human population and industries. Fruit crops such as apple, cocoa, mango, citrus, litchi, pear, dates, and coconut or industrial crops including rubber and tea, improving yield under the optimal, sub-optimal and marginal areas call for a unified worldwide effort. While the uniqueness of coconut as ‘kalpavriksha’ (Sanskrit - meaning tree of life) makes its presence in every continent from Far East to South America, tree crops such as cocoa, oil palm, rubber, apple, peach and walnut prove their environmental sensitivity towards tropical, subtropical and temperate climates. Date palm is quintessential for desert climate. Thus, from soft drinks to breweries to oil to tires, the value addition offers a spectrum of products to human kind, enriched with nutritional, environmental, financial, and trade related attributes. This volume is a compilation of information on breeding of temperate tree species and provides first hand comprehensive knowledge to research, teach, and make policies.

Major tree crops contribute substantially to the economy of many developing countries on the Asian, African and Latin American continents. For example, coffee is the main revenue earner for Kenya. This book provides a comprehensive review of the agronomy, botany, taxonomy, genetics, chemistry, economics, and future global prospects of a range of crops that have great food, industrial and economic value such as cocoa, coffee, cashew, oil palm and natural rubber. Discusses the major tree crops of great economic value to the developing world The author is an eminent scientist who has won numerous awards for his work in this area

Author J. Russell Smith (1874-1966) travelled widely and shares his insights and research into agro-forestry, describing how trees such as carob, honey locust, persimmon, mulberry, oaks and pecans can be used to enrich the land and the people and animals dependent on it.

The book reviews recent advances in tropical plant breeding. Each of the twenty-four chapters describes a specific crop, which has been written by scientists working in the field of plant breeding and genetic improvement of that particular species. The book will be a useful reference work for professional plant breeders as well as researchers, teac

Wild crop relatives are now playing a significant part in the elucidation and improvement of the genomes of their cultivated counterparts. This work includes comprehensive examinations of the status, origin, distribution, morphology, cytology, genetic diversity and available genetic and genomic resources of numerous wild crop relatives, as well as of their evolution and phylogenetic relationship. Further topics include their role as model plants, genetic erosion and conservation efforts, and their domestication for the purposes of bioenergy, phytomedicines, nutraceuticals and phytoremediation. Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources comprises 10 volumes on Cereals, Millets and Grasses, Oilseeds, Legume Crops and Forages, Vegetables, Temperate Fruits, Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, Industrial Crops, Plantation and Ornamental Crops, and Forest Trees. It contains 125 chapters written by nearly 400 well-known authors from about 40 countries.

In the tradition of Silent Spring, Raoul Robinson's Return to Resistance calls for a revolution. Traditional plant breeding techniques have led us to depend more and more on chemical pesticides to protect ourcrops. Return to Resistance shows gardeners, farmers, and plant breeders how to use a long-neglected technique to create hardy new plant varieties that are naturally resistant to pests and disease. Horizontal resistance breeding has been largely ignored in this century due to the popularity and apparent successes of the Mendelian geneticists. However the colossal, unrecognized failure of m.