Concise Encyclopedia of Crop Improvement:

How were today's complex approaches to improving crops developed? The quest for a steady food supply sparked plant breeding attempts over 12,000 years ago. The Concise Encyclopedia of Crop Improvement is a comprehensive resource explaining the development of crop improvement methods over the centuries. This extensive history of development is examined in detail, including influential individuals in the field, plant cultivation in Asia since the Neolithic time, techniques used in the Old World, and cropping in ancient America. The advance of scientific plant breeding in the twentieth century is extensively explored, including hybrid breeding, biotechnological improvement, and genetic manipulation. The Concise Encyclopedia of Crop Improvement focuses on the full range of social and scientific advances in crop development. This concise yet detailed overview discusses leaders in the field, theories, achievements, disputes, and institutions that were crucial in the evolution of crop improvement, breeding, and plant genetics. Individual chapters discuss crop improvement within a specific time frame or geographic area as well as providing separate sections describing specific types or advances of breeding or scientific method. Numerous helpful tables, figures, and photos are included for idea clarity and illustration, and include comprehensive references. Topics in the Concise Encyclopedia of Crop Improvement include: plant breeding development over the past 10,000 years Arabic agriculture Medieval and Renaissance agriculture in Europe Mendel's laws--the beginning of genetic research breeding by selection pure lines and improvement of self-pollinated crops positive and negative mass selection backcross breeding synthetics mutation breeding induced mutation somaclonal variation by in vitro culture much, much more The Concise Encyclopedia of Crop Improvement is essential for governmental, public, and academic libraries. This superb reference is a perfect desktop resource for students, educators, researchers, seed producers, historians, and anyone interested in agronomy, plant breeding, genetics, biotechnology, or biology.

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
User's Guide	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
10,000 Years of Crop Improvement	p. 5
The Old World	p. 10
Sumeria	p. 11
Mesopotamia and Babylonia	p. 11
Judea	p. 13
Egypt	p. 14
Plant Cultivation in Asia Since Neolithic Times	p. 19
China	p. 22
India	p. 24
Cropping Plants in Ancient America	p. 25
The Greek and Roman World	p. 28
Arabic Agriculture	p. 34
Medieval and Renaissance Agriculture in Europe	p. 35
Plant Breeding by Experience During the 17th through 19th Centuries	p. 40
Interest	p. 42
Mendel's Contribution to Inheritance and Breeding	p. 53
Rediscovery of Mendel's Laws-Beginning of Genetic Research	p. 61
Scientific Plant Breeding with the Beginning of the 20th Century	p. 67
Breeding by Selection	p. 70
Cross and Combination Breeding	p. 72
Pure Lines and Improvement of Self-Pollinated Crops	p. 74
Positive and Negative Mass Selection	p. 75
Pedigree Selection	p. 77
Bulk Selection	p. 79
Backcross Breeding	p. 80
Single-Seed Descent	p. 81
Near-Isogenic Lines As a Breeding Tool	p. 82
Polycross Method	p. 84
Shuttle Breeding	p. 84
Resistance Breeding	p. 85
Hybrid Breeding	p. 89
Synthetics	p. 94
Mutation Breeding	p. 95
Induced Mutation by Mutagens	p. 95
Somaclonal Variation by In Vitro Culture	p. 101
Polyploidy and Breeding	p. 103
Chromosome Manipulations As a Tool for Breeding and Research	p. 107
Aneuploids	p. 108
Chromosome Additions	p. 111
Chromosome Substitutions and Translocations	p. 112
Chromosome-Mediated Gene Transfer	p. 114
Utilization of Haploids in Breeding	p. 116
Doubled Haploids	p. 116
Dihaploids	p. 119
Grafting Methods	p. 120
Quantitative Terms in Breeding and Genetics	p. 123
Plot design, Field Equipment, and Laboratory Testing	p. 123
Statistics in Breeding	p. 128
Bioinformatics	p. 133
Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering, and Plant Improvement	p. 137
In Vitro Techniques	p. 139
Embryo Rescue	p. 142
Cell Fusion and Somatic Hybridization	p. 143
Virus Freeing	p. 146
Micropropagation	p. 147
In Vitro Conservation of Germplasm	p. 150
Molecular Techniques in Plant Breeding	p. 151
Marker-Assisted Selection	p. 151
Plant Genomics	p. 155
Transgenic Crop Plants	p. 157
Future Transgenic Crop Plants and Genetic Engineering	p. 163
"Farmerceuticals" and Other Exotic Characters of Modern Crop Plants	p. 168
Prospects	p. 173
Intellectual Property Rights, Plant Variety Protection, and Patenting	p. 175
In the Service of CERES-A Gallery of Breeders, Geneticists, and Persons Associated with Crop Improvement and Plant Breeding	p. 183
Notes	p. 273
Glossary	p. 277
Bibliography	p. 295
Index	p. 317
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Concise Encyclopedia of Crop Improvement: Institutions, Persons, Theories, Methods, and Histories

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