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Books in Agricultural and biological sciences

The Agricultural and Biological Sciences collection advances science-based knowledge for the improvement of animal and plant life and for secure food systems that produce nutritious, novel, sustainable foods with minimal environmental impact. Food Science titles include not only those products from agriculture but all other aspects from food production to nutrition, health and safety, chemistry to security, policy, law and regulation. Biological Sciences address animal behaviour and biodiversity, organismal and evolutionary biology, entomology, marine biology and aquaculture, plant science and forestry.

  • Mineral Composition and Radioactivity of Edible Mushrooms

    • 1st Edition
    • Pavel Kalac
    • English
    Mineral Composition and Radioactivity of Edible Mushrooms is the definitive reference guide that collects and collates all recent very dispersed data and information on mushroom mineral elements and radioactivity.The book deals with the overall outline of the major and trace mineral elements of many both wild growing and cultivated mushroom species, including chemistry, biochemistry and environmental context, losses of minerals during mushroom preservation and cooking, and nutritional and health implications. This monography also includes a chapter on natural and anthropogenic radionuclides, along with the lessons learned after the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters concerning mushroom radioactivity.
  • Agricultural Extension Reforms in South Asia

    Status, Challenges, and Policy Options
    • 1st Edition
    • Suresh Chandra Babu + 1 more
    • English
    Agricultural Extension Reforms in South Asia: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options is based on agricultural extension reforms across five South Asian countries, reflecting past experiences, case studies and experiments. Beginning with an overview of historical trends and recent developments, the book then delves into country-wise reform trajectories and presents several cases testing the effectiveness of different types (public and private) and forms (nutrition extension, livestock extension) of extension systems. Further, the book provides a comprehensive overview of challenges and constraints faced in formulating and implementing reforms, tying the results into a concrete set of lessons and highlighting areas that require further research. In addition, the book discusses how a major aspect of agricultural development is the productivity increase from the knowledge base of farmers, and how translating research results into a knowledge base for farmers requires designing and implementing well-functioning extension programs.
  • Biofuels, Bioenergy and Food Security

    Technology, Institutions and Policies
    • 1st Edition
    • Deepayan Debnath + 1 more
    • English
    Biofuels, Bioenergy and Food Security: Technology, Institutions and Policies explores the popular ‘Food versus Fuel’ debates, discussing the complex relationship between the biofuel and agricultural markets. From the importance of bioenergy in the context of climate change, to the potentially positive environmental consequences of growing second generation biofuels crops, this book provides important insights into the impact of policy, the technical implementation and the resulting impact of biofuels. The discussion of existing issues hindering the growth of the cellulosic biofuel industry and their remedies are particularly relevant for policy makers and others associated with the biofuel industry. Transferring information on bioenergy economy through the discussion of the current and emerging biofuel market, country specific case studies explain the existing biofuel policy and its consequences to both the energy and agricultural markets. Economic simulation models explain the future of the bioenergy markets. Biofuels, Bioenergy and Food Security: Technology, Institutions and Policies is an invaluable resource to the students, scientific community, policy makers, and investors in the bioenergy industry. Students will benefit from a variety of perspectives on major societal questions in context of the interaction between food security and bioenergy. Its review of existing literature on the biofuel marker, investment opportunities, and energy independence provides a broad overview to allow informed decision making regarding the industry.
  • Biopolymer Nanostructures for Food Encapsulation Purposes

    Volume 1 in the Nanoencapsulation in the Food Industry series
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 1
    • Seid Mahdi Jafari
    • English
    Biopolymer Nanostructures for Food Encapsulation Purposes, a volume in the Nanoencapsulation in the Food Industry series, guides readers on how to fabricate and apply nanostructures from different proteins, carbohydrates and chemical sources for food encapsulation purposes. This book covers recent and applied research in all disciplines of bioactive and nutrient delivery. Chapters emphasize original results relating to experimental, theoretical, formulations and/or applications of nano-structured biopolymers.
  • Effect of High Temperature on Crop Productivity and Metabolism of Macro Molecules

    • 1st Edition
    • Amitav Bhattacharya
    • English
    Effect of High Temperature on Crop Productivity and Metabolism of Macro Molecules presents a comprehensive overview on the direct effect of temperatures defined as "high", a definition which increasingly includes a great number of geographic regions. As temperature impacts the number of base growth days, it is necessary to adapt plant selection, strategize planting times, and understand the expected impact of adaptive steps to ensure maximum plant health and crop yield. Global warming, climate change and change in environmental conditions have become common phrases in nearly every scientific seminar, symposium and meeting, thus these changes in climatic patterns constrain normal growth and reproduction cycles. This book reviews the effect of high temperature on agricultural crop production and the effect of high temperature stress on the metabolic aspects of macro molecules, including carbohydrates, proteins, fats, secondary metabolites, and plant growth hormones.
  • Dietary Fiber: Properties, Recovery, and Applications

    • 1st Edition
    • Charis M. Galanakis
    • English
    Dietary Fiber: Properties, Recovery and Applications explores the properties and health effects of dietary fiber, along with new trends in recovery procedures and applications. The book covers the most trending topics of dietary fiber applications, emphasizing polyphenol properties, bioavailability and metabolomics, target sources, recovery and emerging technologies, technological aspects, stability during processing, and applications in the food, beverage and nutraceutical sectors. Written by a team of experts in the field of dietary fiber, this book is ideal for chemists, food scientists, technologists, new product developers and academics.
  • The Solar Corridor Crop System

    Implementation and Impacts
    • 1st Edition
    • C. LeRoy Deichman + 1 more
    • English
    The Solar Corridor Crop System: Implementation and Impacts presents a case-study format on the planning and implementation of alternative cropping systems designed to maximize incident sunlight and bio-support of all crops in a rotation system. The book describes the basic component of the system, an increased access point of incident sunlight between each row or pairs of rows that enables a more uniform vertical distribution of incident sunlight to chloroplasts within the entire corn leaf canopy. While the production environment and environment specific genetics determine the performance potential of this principle, by maximizing the principles that light is basic to crop yield, a solar corridor ultimately contributes to increased grain yield. Written by experts who were integral in the development of solar corridor systems, and providing real-world examples of the methods, challenges and future prospects, this book will be valuable for those seeking to increase yield-per-acre through both primary and cover-crops.
  • Light and Video Microscopy

    • 3rd Edition
    • Randy O. Wayne
    • English
    Light and Video Microscopy, Third Edition provides a step-by-step journey through philosophy, psychology and the geometrical and physical optics involved in interpreting images formed by light microscopes. The book addresses the intricacies necessary to set up light microscopes that allow one to visualize transparent specimens and, in the process, quantitatively determine various physico-chemical properties of specimens. This updated edition includes the most recent developments in microscopy, ensuring that it continues to be the most comprehensive, easy-to-use, and informative guide on light microscopy. With its presentation of geometrical optics, it assists the reader in understanding image formation and light movement within the microscope.
  • Sustainable Food Supply Chains

    Planning, Design, and Control through Interdisciplinary Methodologies
    • 1st Edition
    • Riccardo Accorsi + 1 more
    • English
    Sustainable Food Supply Chains: Planning, Design, and Control through Interdisciplinary Methodologies provides integrated and practicable solutions that aid planners and entrepreneurs in the design and optimization of food production-distribut... systems and operations and drives change toward sustainable food ecosystems. With synthesized coverage of the academic literature, this book integrates the quantitative models and tools that address each step of food supply chain operations to provide readers with easy access to support-decision quantitative and practicable methods. Broken into three parts, the book begins with an introduction and problem statement.  The second part presents quantitative models and tools as an integrated framework for the food supply chain system and operations design. The book concludes with the presentation of case studies and applications focused on specific food chains. Sustainable Food Supply Chains: Planning, Design, and Control through Interdisciplinary Methodologies will be an indispensable resource for food scientists, practitioners and graduate students studying food systems and other related disciplines.
  • Food Quality and Shelf Life

    • 1st Edition
    • Charis M. Galanakis
    • English
    Food Quality and Shelf Life covers all aspects and challenges of food preservation, packaging and shelf-life. It provides information on the most important pillars in the field, starting with active and smart packaging materials, novel technologies, and control tools in all stages between production and consumer. The book gives emphasis to methodological approaches for sensory shelf-life estimation and the impact of packaging on sensorial properties. Researchers and professionals alike will find this reference useful, especially those who are interested in the performance evaluation of future packaging for fresh produce in the cold chain and temperature management in the supply chain.