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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.

  • Trace Gas Emissions by Plants

    • 1st Edition
    • English
    Many trace gases are exchanged between the atmosphere and the biosphere. Although much research has been published on the photosynthetic exchanges of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water vapor, this book focuses on the importance of biogenic trace gases on atmosphere chemistry and ecosystem stability. Included are methane and its effect on the radiative properties of the atmosphere, hydrocarbons (isoprene and monoterpenes), and their role in the production of ozone and carbon monoxide. Also covered are sulfur and nitrogen gases, both of which can lead to ecosystem acidification. The biochemistry and physiology of production of these and other gases are investigated.Plant physiologists, ecologists, and atmospheric chemists and modelers will benefit from this book.

  • Chromosome Engineering in Plants

    Genetics, Breeding, Evolution
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 2B
    • P.K. Gupta + 1 more
    • English
    This two-volume work surveys the entire range of general aspects of chromosome research in plants. The first volume covers cytogenetics of cereals and millets with more than one chapter being devoted to the same crop to give a detailed treatment to an up-to-date status of chromosome research. This second volume deals with cytogenetics of plant materials including legumes, vegetable and oil crops, sugar crops, forage crops: fibre crops, medicinal crops and ornamentals. The book will be useful both as a reference work and a teaching aid to satisfy a wide range of workers. Every chapter has been written by an expert who has been involved in chromosome research on a particular plant material for many years so that the treatment is authoritative and up-to-date in most cases.

  • Introduction to Food Engineering

    • 1st Edition
    • Paul Singh
    • English
    Introduction to Food Engineering deals with the engineering concepts in food processing employing a unit operations approach. The book focuses on mass and energy balances, fluid flow, energy utilization, refrigeration, heat transfer, food freezing, evaporation, dehydration, and psychometrics. It is in line with primary topics recommended by the Institute of Food Technologists of the U.S.A. The text reviews some concepts related to food science such as the equation of state and perfect gas law, laws of thermodynamics, and conservation of mass. The book also discusses the transport of liquid foods and the three types of utilities used in food processing: 1) steam generation and utilization; 2) natural gas utilization; and 3) electric power utilization. The text explains how to determine the properties of food and the different approaches that can be used to obtain the food's thermal properties prior to using the proper heat-exchange equipment. Food preservation also involves freezing (direct or indirect contact systems), evaporation, dehydration, and psychometrics (involving thermodynamic properties of gas-vapor mixtures). The book is suitable for nutritionists, food technologists, advanced under-graduate and beginning graduate students in food science and technology, and professionals whose works are in the food processing, research, and preservation industry.

  • Yield Formation in the Main Field Crops

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 13
    • V. Cerný + 2 more
    • English
    This book gives a detailed overview of production processes and yield formation in field crops and permanent grasslands. Yield formation is discussed by the authors as a dynamic process, involving many factors at each stage. Knowledge of the optimum levels of individual yield components makes it possible to control this dynamic process. It is intended that this approach will help to point out gaps in the understanding of the production processes and indicate the direction for further research on this subject.The authors report on various aspects which are involved in yield formation, such as uptake of nutrients, root growth, water use, photosynthesis, transport, distribution and accumulation of photosynthates, etc. A separate chapter discusses the production process as seen from a genetic standpoint. It includes an analysis of phenotype and genotype with respect to production potential, also the heredity, variability of yield potential and new cultivation methods are mentioned. The main part of the book deals with the theory and practice of yield formation in cereals, maize, legumes, sugarbeet, potatoes, clovers and perennial grass stands.

  • Acidic Proteins of the Nucleus

    • 1st Edition
    • Ivan Cameron
    • English
    Acidic Proteins of the Nucleus focuses on the functional role of acidic nuclear proteins in differential gene expression. Historically, these proteins are referred to as acidic in nature because they are insoluble in dilute mineral acids and their amino acid composition shows a preponderance of acidic over basic amino acid residues. After an introduction to DNA-binding proteins and transcriptional control in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems, the subsequent chapters describe various approaches for isolating, separating, and characterizing acidic nuclear proteins. The core chapters specifically cover the isolation, fractionation, and characterization of acidic nuclear phosphoproteins, and the role of these proteins in cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and cell cycle. The last two chapters address the role of acidic nuclear protein in binding steroid hormones and in gene regulation. Each chapter contains some previously unpublished work and provides recommendations for future research. This book will be a good reference background for researchers of acidic nuclear proteins.

  • Plant Peroxisomes

    • 1st Edition
    • Anthony H.C. Huang
    • English
    Plant Peroxisomes deals with the biogenesis of plant peroxisomes and its relevance to the proposed model for peroxisome biogenesis in germinated seeds. The book is divided into seven chapters that discuss the history, cytochemistry, morphology, properties, isolation, metabolism, enzymology, and ontogeny of plant peroxisomes. The book first explains how advances in electron microscopy and cell fractionation studies have led to the detection of peroxisome. The subsequent chapters discuss the types and metabolic functions of plant peroxisomes and the cytochemical procedures for establishing the localization of specific enzymes and for analyzing peroxisome distribution in nonflowering plants, algae, and fungi. A chapter presents methods of peroxisome isolation from various tissues and the physical and chemical properties of the isolated organelles. Considerable chapters are devoted to the metabolic functions, enzymatic activities, development of their form, and biochemistry of peroxisomes. Several key enzymes of the glycolate pathway of photorespiration found in leaf peroxisomes are presented. A discussion on the physiology of plant peroxisomes is provided. This book will be of value to professional scientists and graduate students concerned with plant metabolism and development.

  • Viruses, Evolution and Cancer Basic Considerations

    • 1st Edition
    • Edouard Kurstak
    • English
    Viruses, Evolution and Cancer: Basic Considerations focuses on comparative biology and evolutionary aspects of DNA and RNA oncogenic viruses. Organized into seven parts, this book begins with a discussion on the host-cell-virus relationships. Some chapters follow that discuss the comparative aspects of DNA and RNA oncogenic viruses. This work also elucidates the effects of oncogenic viruses on cell surface metabolism. Other chapters explore the comparative viral oncology, comparative immunology of oncogenic viruses, and evolution of viruses. This book will be an invaluable material both to those concerned in the scientific and medical problems of cancer and will benefit all who are interested in virology and oncology.

  • Isozymes in Plant Genetics and Breeding

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 1B
    • English
    Developments in Plant Genetics and Breeding, 1: Isozymes in Plant Genetics and Breeding, Part B focuses on the advancements in the processes, methodologies, principles, and approaches involved in the study of isozymes, including its role in plant genetics and breeding. The selection first offers information on maize, hexaploid wheat, and barley. Topics include polymorphism, linkage relations, esterases, evolutionary and crop improvement studies, special applications to genetics and breeding, alcohol dehydrogenase, amylase, catalase, and catechol oxidase. The text then examines Secale and triticale, oats, rice, and tomato. The publication takes a look at potato, peppers, and tobacco. Topics include biochemical characterization of isozymes, isozymes in cell and tissue cultures, glutamate dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenase and xanthine dehydrogenase, potato as a source of enzymes, and data for esterases in basic gels. The manuscript also tackles conifers, eucalyptus, fruit trees, cucurbits, and cole crops. The selection is a valuable reference for researchers interested in the role of isozymes in plant genetics and breeding.

  • Agriculture in Dry Lands

    Principles and Practice
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 26
    • I. Arnon
    • English
    Throughout history, man has, by over-use, consistently reduced the productive capacity of dry lands. This degradation of one-third of the land area of the globe is, unfortunately, increasing. In recent years, world interest has turned to the problems of pollution of the environment and the impending food shortage as world population grows explosively. Thus the attention of international and other agricultural bodies has turned to the need for preserving and developing more effectively the agricultural potential of these areas.This book provides a comprehensive review of present knowledge of the agriculture of dry lands, with special emphasis on measures for conserving their natural resources. Management practices are described which aim at optimizing productivity of rainfed and irrigated agriculture without adverse effects on sustainability. Land use in the dry regions, and its evolution throughout history is described and analysed, and the lessons to be learnt from destructive technologies are stressed. In particular, current proposals for an alternative agriculture are discussed and their justification is questioned. This is a generalist work, which specialists can also find interesting, not only in their own discipline but as a concise way of acquainting themselves with the state-of-the-art in associated fields. Increasing specialisation with each discipline using its own vocabulary leads inevitably to communication problems, and the need for multi-disciplinary teams makes inter-discipline communication indispensible.

  • Progress in Theoretical Biology

    • 1st Edition
    • Fred Snell
    • English
    Progress in Theoretical Biology, Volume 2, brings together the significant and timely theoretical developments in particular areas of biology in a critical and synthetic manner. It is concerned with a field which has emerged as an identifiable subdiscipline of the biological sciences. This emergence and recognition signify that biological science has evolved from its initial stage of description and classification into the adolescence of transformation to the quantitative. The book's opening chapter develops a theory that uses a new generalization of statistical mechanics to provide a basis for understanding how the microscopic behavior of nonliving parts can generate the macroscopic appearance of a living aggregate. The subsequent chapters discuss theoretical methods in systematic and evolutionary studies; the theory of neural masses; the design of chemical reaction systems; cooperative processes in biological systems; and the organization of motor systems. This book is intended for the modern biological scientist as well as for the physical scientist who is inquisitive of the ways of the most complex of all processes.

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