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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.

  • Applied Mutation Breeding for Vegetatively Propagated Crops

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 12
    • October 22, 2013
    • C. Broertjes + 1 more
    • English
    When the first edition of this book appeared in 1978, it was warmly received. Most readers and reviewers especially valued the extensive coverage of the literature in the chapters dealing with the different crops. ``... a valuable and timely addition to plant breeders and of outstanding value to breeders of ornamental plants. The book's special strength resides in the extensive review of literature ...'' (International Journal for Breeding Research). This is also reflected by the many times that the work has been referred to in other publications.This new edition provides plant breeders as well as scientists with an up-to-date overview of methods and results of the application of mutation breeding in order to genetically improve vegetatively propagated crops. General principles and background information about mutation breeding in general, methods of treatment, material to be treated and results are discussed in the introductory chapters, followed by a description of the specific situation in each of the vegetatively propagated crops ever used in a mutation breeding project.This volume brings together all the important and relevant literature in the field. It provides a complete account of mutation breeding of vegetatively produced crops, presenting conclusions about the value of the method, its possibilities, limitations and shortcomings and the possible difficulties of further application in various crops. The initial chapters deal with the interactions between mutagenic treatment and plant material, such as aspects of mutagenic treatment, post-irradiation behaviour of shoot apices and adventitious bud techniques. All available literature is then discussed crop by crop and critically evaluated. Almost 1700 references are covered and whenever possible suggestions for more efficient application of mutation breeding methods are given.

  • Marine Shrimp Culture

    Principles and Practices
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 23
    • October 22, 2013
    • A.W. Fast + 1 more
    • English
    The commercial culture of marine shrimp in tropical areas has grown at a phenomenal rate during the last 10 to 15 years. This book provides a description of principles and practices of shrimp culture at one point in time and documents both historical events and conditions now. It also tries to look into the future. The volume provides both practical information about shrimp culture, as well as basic information on shrimp biology. It should be of value to researchers, consultant practitioners and potential investors in the marine shrimp culture industry.

  • Reproductive and Developmental Behaviour in Sheep

    An Anthology from ``Applied Animal Ethology''
    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • A.F. Fraser
    • English
    Although intensive husbandry is increasingly applied to sheep, most sheep production around the world is still based on the extensive system. Under these conditions, attempts to improve productivity must take particular account of reproductive and developmental behaviour, as successful sheep production depends heavily on optimal reproduction and development. These topics are presented in this anthology of selected publications on sheep behaviour. The papers have been taken from ten years of Applied Animal Ethology (now Applied Animal Behaviour Science) from its inception in December 1974 to the end of its publication under that title in 1984.

  • Genetics in Aquaculture

    Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Genetics in Aquaculture
    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • Graham A.E. Gall + 1 more
    • English
    This volume, the proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Genetics in Aquaculture, builds on the foundations laid down at the first symposium, held in Galway, Ireland in 1982 (Aquaculture, Volume 33), as well as those laid down at the second, held in Davis, California, USA in 1985 (Genetics in Aquaculture II), and the third, held in Trondheim, Norway in 1988 (Genetics in Aquaculture III). It addresses specific problems and developments in this field, demonstrating the tremendous breadth of research activity as well as the complexity of issues in aquaculture genetics. This book will be of great value to aquaculturists, fisheries scientists and marine biologists.(The above-mentioned proceedings of the first three conferences are still available).

  • Off-Flavors in Foods and Beverages

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 28
    • October 22, 2013
    • G. Charalambous
    • English
    This book, volume 28 in the Developments in Food Science Series, reviews thelatest information and up-to-date concepts concerning a great number ofaspects of flavor quality. Particular attention has been afforded to providea balance between food and beverage chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology,nutriti... processing, packaging, storage, computer applications, andchemometrics.Twen... six specialists were invited to discuss the present state of knowledgein their particular fields. Together with their co-workers (totalling oversixty well known researchers) the authors were drawn from the internationalspectru... of academia, government institutes, and industry. Their presentationsinclude... original research results, background reviews, and comprehensivebibliog... informative and well documented book goes a long way to improving thecurrent knowledge in a complex area and certainly increase understanding of taste and odor, flavors and off-flavors of high quality foods and beverages.

  • Wheat Studies - Retrospect and Prospects

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 3
    • October 22, 2013
    • H. Kihara
    • English
    This authoritative work has been written by a man whose career as an active wheat geneticist has spanned sixty years and has earned him a world-wide reputation. The book contains descriptions and much original data on genetical and cytogenetical findings concerning cultivated wheats and their relatives. It covers chromosomal analyses, genome analyses, ancestors of wheat, artificial synthesis of wheat, evidence of cytoplasmic inheritance and variations of wild species. The author explains how these facts and concepts have been discovered, points out the importance inherent in these discoveries, and shows how they can be utilized in genetical and breeding studies. Special emphasis is placed on the motives, processes and development of the studies.

  • Chemistry and Analysis of Hop and Beer Bitter Acids

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 27
    • October 22, 2013
    • M. Verzele + 1 more
    • English
    Largely based on laboratory work, the volume opens with a review on hops in general, while the bulk of the book covers the chemistry of the bitter acids of hop and beer. Practical, fully detailed procedures on the preparation and/or the separation of many of the compounds discussed are included. There is a chapter included on the complicated issue of bitter acid analysis, and several on the high-efficiency liquid chromatography of hop bitter acids.Bearing in mind the lack of literature produced recently in this field, the book is an excellent review of the present state of knowledge, and gives a large list of topics pointing to worthwhile studies for the future. The indexes provided will serve as a reference library-dictionary to hops, hop and beer bitter acids chemistry and analysis.

  • The Common Agricultural Policy beyond the MacSharry Reform

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 230
    • October 22, 2013
    • C. Folmer + 4 more
    • J. Tinbergen
    • English
    The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which is now being implemented, reduces the support for a selected number of agricultural products. This book uses welfare theory and applied general equilibrium analysis to assess the medium to long term consequences of this reform, if the new policies remain in place until the beginning of the next century. It analyses the implications of two alternative scenarios: a) a further trade liberalisation covering all commodities; and b) increased protectionism with high prices, constraints on production and export subsidies (financed by the farmers themselves). The study also investigates the implications of financial renationalisation, whereby the European Union member-states would cover the costs of their own support measures.

  • Soil Structure/Soil Biota Interrelationships

    International Workshop on Methods of Research on Soil Structure/Soil Biota Interrelationships, Held at the International Agricultural Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 24-28 November 1991
    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • L. Brussaard + 1 more
    • English
    Some pioneers in soil research such as Müller and Kubiëna were as much biologists as they were soil scientists and the legendary biologist Charles Darwin was foresighted in recognizing the earthworms as instrumental in reworking the soil, thereby forming what he called "vegetable mould". Still, soil science has largely been the realm of physicists and chemists over the past decades. Whatever the reason, this picture is rapidly changing. Until recently, research on the transport and transformation of elements in soil was often concerned with either soil biota/plant relationships or with soil structure/plant relationships, if the biota were considered at all, but very few studies explicitly took the interrelationships between soil structure and soil biota into account. The conference on Soil Structure/Soil Biota Interrelationships, held at Wageningen, The Netherlands, 24-28 November 1991, was meant to bridge that gap, focussing on methods of research, organized in three levels: features, processes and effects. The proceedings of the conference are testimony of the need to intertwine the biological, morphological, physical and chemical disciplines in soil research to understand better and forecast soil properties and processes as related to land use for agricultural and other purposes.This book should be of particular interest to soil scientists and ecologists who feel the need for a cross-disciplinary approach in soils research. It should also be a rich source of teaching material for courses in soil science and soil ecology at graduate level and above, with ample reference to studies on land use as related to agriculture and the environment.

  • Differential Growth in Plants

    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • Peter W. Barlow
    • English
    Differential Growth in Plants contains the papers presented at Symposia 2.04 ""Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Development"" and 2.14 ""Movements Based on Differential Flank Growth"" at the XIV Botanical Congress held in Berlin during July 1987. Organized into 10 chapters, this book begins by explaining the differential growth in plants. Some chapters follow on the biophysics of differential growth; the phototropic behavior of hypocotyls and coleoptiles in connection with the distribution of indole-3-acetic acid and of growth-inhibiting substances within them; and the differential growth and hormone redistribution in gravireacting maize roots. Other topics explained include plant movements caused by differential growth; genetic analysis of tropic responses; growth and bending of a cylindrical structure in terms of the distribution of relative growth rates; and differential growth resulting in the specification of different types of cellular architecture in root meristems. This book also elucidates the curving and twinning of stems, as well as the spatio-temporal analysis of flower ontogenesis.

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