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Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309176891
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 405
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Book Description
Scenes of starvation have drawn the world's attention to Africa's agricultural and environmental crisis. Some observers question whether this continent can ever hope to feed its growing population. Yet there is an overlooked food resource in sub-Saharan Africa that has vast potential: native food plants. When experts were asked to nominate African food plants for inclusion in a new book, a list of 30 species grew quickly to hundreds. All in all, Africa has more than 2,000 native grains and fruitsâ€""lost" species due for rediscovery and exploitation. This volume focuses on native cereals, including: African rice, reserved until recently as a luxury food for religious rituals. Finger millet, neglected internationally although it is a staple for millions. Fonio (acha), probably the oldest African cereal and sometimes called "hungry rice." Pearl millet, a widely used grain that still holds great untapped potential. Sorghum, with prospects for making the twenty-first century the "century of sorghum." Tef, in many ways ideal but only now enjoying budding commercial production. Other cultivated and wild grains. This readable and engaging book dispels myths, often based on Western bias, about the nutritional value, flavor, and yield of these African grains. Designed as a tool for economic development, the volume is organized with increasing levels of detail to meet the needs of both lay and professional readers. The authors present the available information on where and how each grain is grown, harvested, and processed, and they list its benefits and limitations as a food source. The authors describe "next steps" for increasing the use of each grain, outline research needs, and address issues in building commercial production. Sidebars cover such interesting points as the potential use of gene mapping and other "high-tech" agricultural techniques on these grains. This fact-filled volume will be of great interest to agricultural experts, entrepreneurs, researchers, and individuals concerned about restoring food production, environmental health, and economic opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. Selection, Newbridge Garden Book Club
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309176891
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 405
Get Book Here
Book Description
Scenes of starvation have drawn the world's attention to Africa's agricultural and environmental crisis. Some observers question whether this continent can ever hope to feed its growing population. Yet there is an overlooked food resource in sub-Saharan Africa that has vast potential: native food plants. When experts were asked to nominate African food plants for inclusion in a new book, a list of 30 species grew quickly to hundreds. All in all, Africa has more than 2,000 native grains and fruitsâ€""lost" species due for rediscovery and exploitation. This volume focuses on native cereals, including: African rice, reserved until recently as a luxury food for religious rituals. Finger millet, neglected internationally although it is a staple for millions. Fonio (acha), probably the oldest African cereal and sometimes called "hungry rice." Pearl millet, a widely used grain that still holds great untapped potential. Sorghum, with prospects for making the twenty-first century the "century of sorghum." Tef, in many ways ideal but only now enjoying budding commercial production. Other cultivated and wild grains. This readable and engaging book dispels myths, often based on Western bias, about the nutritional value, flavor, and yield of these African grains. Designed as a tool for economic development, the volume is organized with increasing levels of detail to meet the needs of both lay and professional readers. The authors present the available information on where and how each grain is grown, harvested, and processed, and they list its benefits and limitations as a food source. The authors describe "next steps" for increasing the use of each grain, outline research needs, and address issues in building commercial production. Sidebars cover such interesting points as the potential use of gene mapping and other "high-tech" agricultural techniques on these grains. This fact-filled volume will be of great interest to agricultural experts, entrepreneurs, researchers, and individuals concerned about restoring food production, environmental health, and economic opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. Selection, Newbridge Garden Book Club
Author: Gebisa Ejeta
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9812707085
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 356
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Book Description
Witchweeds (Striga species) decimate agriculture in much of Africa and parts of Asia, attacking the major cereal grains and legumes, and halving the already very low yields of subsistence farmers. Several years of research have provided promising technologies, based on the fundamental biology of the parasite?host associations, for dealing with this scourge. However, there is an apparent realization that these technologies will fail because highly successful weeds such as Striga evolve resistance to all types of controls unless proven methods are integrated with each other for a more sustainable solution.Integration is often an anathema to basic scientists who typically deal with single variables and solutions. However, key leaders in the development of the new knowledge-based control strategies, already in the field and under development, recently joined forces to develop strategies and projects in order to integrate the technologies in a symposium in Ethiopia in November 2006. The encouraging results are described in this peer-reviewed book, authored by leaders in the field who have been supplying the basic biology, genetics, biochemistry, and molecular information that have offered insights and generated technologies in how to deal with Striga.
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309124948
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
Increased agricultural productivity is a major stepping stone on the path out of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, but farmers there face tremendous challenges improving production. Poor soil, inefficient water use, and a lack of access to plant breeding resources, nutritious animal feed, high quality seed, and fuel and electricity-combined with some of the most extreme environmental conditions on Earth-have made yields in crop and animal production far lower in these regions than world averages. Emerging Technologies to Benefit Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia identifies sixty emerging technologies with the potential to significantly improve agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Eighteen technologies are recommended for immediate development or further exploration. Scientists from all backgrounds have an opportunity to become involved in bringing these and other technologies to fruition. The opportunities suggested in this book offer new approaches that can synergize with each other and with many other activities to transform agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Author: Mohar Singh
Publisher: Newnes
ISBN: 0123984947
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322
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Book Description
Grain legumes, including common-bean, chickpea, pigeonpea, pea, cowpea, lentil and others, form important constituents of global diets, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Despite this significant role, global production has increased only marginally in the past 50 years. The slow production growth, along with a rising human population and improved buying capacity has substantially reduced the per capita availability of food legumes. Changes in environmental climate have also had significant impact on production, creating a need to identify stable donors among genetic resources for environmentally robust genes and designing crops resilient to climate change. Genetic and Genomic Resources of Grain Legume Improvement is the first book to bring together the latest resources in plant genetics and genomics to facilitate the identification of specific germplasm, trait mapping and allele mining to more effectively develop biotic and abiotic-stress-resistant grains. This book will be an invaluable resource for researchers, crop biologists and students working with crop development. - Explores origin, distribution and diversity of grain legumes - Presents information on germplasm collection, evaluation and maintenance - Offers insight into pre-breeding/germplasm enhancement efforts - Integrates genomic and genetic resources in crop improvement - Internationally contributed work
Author: Sujay Rakshit
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319477897
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
This book provides insights into the current state of sorghum genomics. It particularly focuses on the tools and strategies employed in genome sequencing and analysis, public and private genomic resources and how all this information is leading to direct outcomes for plant breeders. The advent of affordable whole genome sequencing in combination with existing cereal functional genomics data has enabled the leveraging of the significant novel diversity available in sorghum, the genome of which was fully sequenced in 2009, providing an unmatched resource for the genetic improvement of sorghum and other grass species. Cultivated grain sorghum is a food and feed cereal crop adapted to hot and dry climates, and is a staple for 500 million of the world’s poorest people. Globally, sorghum is also an important source of animal feed and forage, an emerging biofuel crop and model for C4 grasses, particularly genetically complex sugarcane.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 32
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Book Description
Author: Sujay Rakshit
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783319477879
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This book provides insights into the current state of sorghum genomics. It particularly focuses on the tools and strategies employed in genome sequencing and analysis, public and private genomic resources and how all this information is leading to direct outcomes for plant breeders. The advent of affordable whole genome sequencing in combination with existing cereal functional genomics data has enabled the leveraging of the significant novel diversity available in sorghum, the genome of which was fully sequenced in 2009, providing an unmatched resource for the genetic improvement of sorghum and other grass species. Cultivated grain sorghum is a food and feed cereal crop adapted to hot and dry climates, and is a staple for 500 million of the world’s poorest people. Globally, sorghum is also an important source of animal feed and forage, an emerging biofuel crop and model for C4 grasses, particularly genetically complex sugarcane.
Author: Abdou Tenkouano
Publisher: IITA
ISBN: 9781311630
Category : Genetic markers
Languages : en
Pages : 242
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Book Description
Author: Rajeev K. Varshney
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319661175
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 152
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Book Description
This book sheds new light on the chickpea genome sequencing and resequencing of chickpea germplasm lines and provides insights into classical genetics, cytogenetics, and trait mapping. It also offers an overview of the latest advances in genome sequencing and analysis. The growing human population, rapid climate changes and limited amounts of arable land are creating substantial challenges in connection with the availability and affordability of nutritious food for smallholder farmers in developing countries. In this context, climate smart crops are essential to alleviating the hunger of the millions of poor and undernourished people living in developing countries. In addition to cereals, grain legumes are an integral part of the human diet and provide sustainable income for smallholder farmers in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Among grain legumes, the chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is the second most important in terms of production and productivity. Besides being a rich source of proteins, it can fix atmospheric nitrogen through symbiosis with rhizobia and increase the input of combined nitrogen. Several abiotic stresses like drought, heat, salinity, together with biotic stresses like Fusarium wilt, Ascochyta blight, and Botrytis grey mould have led to production losses, as the chickpeas is typically grown in the harsh climates of our planet’s semi-arid regions.
Author: Leland R. House
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
