The Ecology Of Tropical Food Crops

Retaining the successful formula of the first edition while placing additional emphasis on tropical environmental conservation, this new updated edition considers the response of tropical food crops to environmental factors such as climate, soil and farming system.

Tropical cropping systems; Tropical crop/climate relations; Tropical crop/soil relations; Cereals in tropical agriculture; Rice (Oryza sativa and O. glaberrima); Maize (Zea mays); Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor); Pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum): Crop legumes in tropical agriculture; Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea); Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris); Soybean (Glycine max); Chickpea (Cicer arietinum); Non-cereal energy crops in tropical agriculture; Cassava (Manihot esculenta); Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas); Yams (Dioscorea spp.); Bananas (Musa spp.).

In tropical developing countries farmers tend to grow a wide range of crops in a small area for subsistence or sale. To make full use of often limited resources a good understanding of how environmental conditions affect the characteristics and performance of these crops is essential. This book considers the response of tropical food crops to environmental factors such as climate, soil and farming system. Three types of crop are considered; cereals, legumes and non-cereal energy crops, with individual chapters on the four most important crops in each group. This material is set in context by introductory chapters on tropical farming systems, tropical climates and tropical soils. This new, updated edition retains the successful formula of the first edition, and will serve the needs of advanced students of tropical agriculture, as well as professionals engaged in research and extension work in tropical crop production.

First Published in 2018. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.

Originally published in 1985, this book argues forcefully and practically for new relationship between science and the small farmer. It advocates scientific research seeking out changes which are already taking place within the smallholder farming sector and building on local initiatives. Drawing on his experience of West Africa, the author demonstrates that many of the most successful innovations in food-crop production during the 20th century have indigenous roots and that there should therefore be less emphasis on ‘teaching’ farmers how to farm and more emphasis on how to foster and support local adaptation and inventiveness. This book will be of interest to students of agriculture, environmental studies and rural development as well as those working with relief and development agencies.

Grain crops; Grain legumes; Oil crops; Farinaceous crops; Leaf and miscellaneous vegetables; Fruit vegetables; Tree fruits and nuts.

Ecophysiology of Tropical Crops covers the knowledge and opinion on ecophysiology of the major tropical crop plants. The book discusses the fundamental ideas about the numerical description of plant development and considers effects of climatic factors (e.g., temperature, light, and water) on physiological processes in plants. The text also presents an overview of the physical and chemical characteristics of tropical soils. The ecophysiology of the major crop plants, particularly those suitable for the wet tropics, including rice, sugarcane, pineapple, grasslands, root crops, sweet potato, coffee, cacao, rubber, banana, tea, oil palm, coconut palm, citrus, cashew, and mango, is also considered. Plant ecologists, plant physiologists, biochemists, horticulturists, agronomists, meteorologists, soil scientists, food technologists, plant breeders, and people interested in the production of tropical crops will find the book invaluable.