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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.

  • Food Texture and Viscosity

    Concept and Measurement
    • 2nd Edition
    • Malcolm Bourne
    • English
    Drawing together literature from a variety of fields, Food Texture and Viscosity, Second Edition, includes a brief history of this area and its basic principles. It reviews how texture and viscosity are measured, including the physical interactions between the human body and food, objective methods of texture measurements, the latest advances in texture-measuring instruments, various types of liquid flow, and more. This revised edition contains approximately 30% new material, including two new chapters on physics and texture and the correlation between physical measurements and sensory assessments. It now includes two-color illustrations and includes a current list of equipment suppliers.
  • Fruit and Vegetable Biotechnology

    • 1st Edition
    • V Valpuesta
    • English
    Genetic modification is one of the most important and controversial issues facing the food industry. With its international team of contributors, Fruit and vegetable biotechnology analyses its major impact on fruit and vegetable cultivation and processing.The book begins with an analysis of the methods available to the biotechnologist. Part one then considers the range of traits that have been the subject of modification. Chapter 3 discusses the modification of such agronomic traits as fruit quality and resistance to various kinds of environmental stress, as well as the use of molecular markers in plant breeding. Chapter 4 looks specifically at how biotechnology can improve plant defence mechanisms. The following three chapters then consider the genetic enhancement of fruit and vegetable ripening and post-harvest life, sensory properties such colour and flavour, processing functionality, and nutritional quality. Part two includes a number of case studies illustrating how genetic modification has enhanced particular fruits and vegetables, looking at a range of fruit and vegetables such as tomato, potato, melon, broccoli and cauliflower. Part three of the book considers the important issues of consumer attitudes and risk assessment.Fruit and vegetable biotechnology is an important contribution to a key area of debate, and is essential reading for those involved both in cultivation and the processing of fruit and vegetables.
  • Advances in Food and Nutrition Research

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 44
    • Steve Taylor
    • English
    Advances in Food and Nutrition Research recognizes the integral relationship between the food and nutritional sciences and brings together outstanding and comprehensive reviews that highlight this relationship. Contributions detail the scientific developments in the broad areas of food science and nutrition and are intended to ensure that food scientists in academia and industry as well as professional nutritionists and dieticians are kept informed concerning emerging research and developments in these important disciplines.This serial was established in 1948, and continues to publish top quality articles on emerging research and developments. Some of the topics in this volume include special processing methods for high-acid liquid foods, structure and properties of fat crystal networks, taste and smell perception in the elderly, edible coatings and films, and the composition and processing of buckwheat.
  • Food Chemical Safety

    Volume 2: Additives
    • 1st Edition
    • David Watson
    • English
    The use of additives in foods remains both widespread and, for some consumers, controversial. Additives are used for a wide range of purposes, particularly in improving the quality of food products. Whilst valuing products with the right taste, colour and texture and shelf-life, consumers have expressed reservations about the safety of the additives used to enhance these qualities. These concerns have increased the pressure on the food industry to demonstrate the safe use of additives in food. With its distinguished international team of contributors, this important collection reviews both the regulatory context and the methods used to analyse, assess and control the use of additives in food processing.Part one of the book looks at regulation in the EU and the US. Part two discusses analytical issues. There are chapters on the use of risk analysis in assessing the impact of additives on consumer health, quality control of analytical methods, and new more rapid and targeted methods in detecting and measuring additives in foods. There is also an important review of adverse reactions to additives covering such issues as monitoring, trends in reporting and the evidence concerning major additives. Part three of the book looks at some of the key groups of additives, from colorants and flavourings to texturing agents and antioxidant preservatives.Food chemical safety Volume 2: Additives is a valuable reference for all those concerned with the use of additives in food.
  • Physiological Systems in Insects

    • 1st Edition
    • Marc J. Klowden
    • English
    Physiological Systems of Insects is designed to emphasize classical material such as the structure and function of insect organ systems. In addition, the book supplements classical material with insights into insect biology achieved through studies of insect molecular biology, neuroendocrinology, biochemistry, and genetics. Throughout the book there is an effort to lay the experimental foundation upon which studies of insect physiology are based. Students, faculty, and researchers who need a summary of the patterns and processes regulated by physiological systems will want this book.
  • Advances in Agronomy

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 76
    • Donald L. Sparks
    • English
    Advances in Agronomy has the highest impact factor among serial publications in Agriculture. The Science Citation Index, 1986, reports an impact factor over 2,459 and a cited half-life over 10 years.Volume 76 contains five excellent reviews on topics of great interest to crop and soil scientists as well as others in various fields. Chapter 1 is concerned with the potential of tropical soils to sequester carbon. Topics that are covered include soil inorganic and organic pools and dynamics, loss of soil organic pools from tropical soils, and potential for C sequestration in tropical soils. Chapter 2 covers the applications of crop/soil simulation models in tropical agricultural systems. Chapter 3 deals with interorganismal signaling in suboptimum environments with emphasis on legume-rhizobia symbiosis. Chapter 4 discusses the surface chemistry and function of microbial biofilms. The authors discuss biofilm formation and matrix architecture and general features and properties. Chapter 5 deals with vegetable crop scheduling and prediction. Topics that are covered include identification of stages of growth and development and experimental approaches for developing scheduling and prediction models.
  • Advances in Agronomy

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 75
    • Donald L. Sparks
    • English
    Advances in Agronomy has the highest impact factor among serial publications in agriculture. The Science Citation Index, 1986, reports an impact factor over 2,459 and a cited half-life over 10 years. Volume 75 contains four outstanding reviews dealing with phytoremediation, issues related to water use in China, humic substances, and remote sensing. Chapter 1 is an extensive review on phytoremediation of metals, metalloids, and radionuclides, including discussion on phytoextraction technologies, hyperaccumulator plants, chemically induced phytoextraction, and phytovolatilization. Chapter 2 covers the conservation and use of water in Chinese agriculture including engineering, economic, and agronomic aspects and considerations. Chapter 3 presents advances in understanding the structure of humic substances, particularly the concept of a supramolecular structure. Analytical and molecular scale evidence for this latter structure are presented as well as discussions on the role of humic superstructures in soils. Chapter 4 presents frontiers in quantitative remote sensing of soil properties including principles, methods, mechanisms, and limitations.
  • Design and Operating Guide for Aquaculture Seawater Systems

    Second Edition
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 33
    • J. Colt + 1 more
    • English
    This book provides, in one place, basic information and considerations necessary to plan, build and operate seawater systems for culturing purposes. It provides design, construction and operations guidance for seawater (salinities from freshwater to brine) systems with flow rates of 10-1,000 gallons (40-4,000 liters) per minute. While the book concentrates on general circumstances, situations and concepts, comprehensive referencing of text and annotated bibliographies are provided in critical technical areas to allow readers to pursue specialized areas of interest. This upgraded and expanded Second Edition contains a considerably increased number of numerical examples relative to the first edition to demonstrate practical applications of the concepts and presented data.
  • Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals

    • 1st Edition
    • Bernd Würsig + 2 more
    • English
    Combining excellent science with accessible style, the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals is an indispensable resource on the fascinating warm-blooded creatures of the sea. The contributions of more than 200 leading international authorities have made this single volume the guide for studyig the entire range of marine mammals. Organized alphabetically, more the 280 articles are devoted to wide range of topics -- from the specific behavior and physiology of cetaceans and pinnipeds, to ecology, population biology, human effects and interaction, and research methodology. Up-to-date, accessible, and scientifically sound, the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals will occupy a central place in any marine science library. KEY FEATURES*Complete Species List, featuring both living and extinct mammals;*Comprehensi... Glossary with definitions for more than 1,000 specialized terms; *Extensive cross-referencing between articles; *Abundant visual resources -- photographs, line drawings, maps, tables, and figures
  • Nitrogen in the Environment: Sources, Problems and Management

    • 1st Edition
    • R.F. Follett + 1 more
    • English
    Nitrogen in the Environment: Sources, Problems, and Management is the first volume to provide a holistic perspective and comprehensive treatment of nitrogen from field, to ecosystem, to treatment of urban and rural drinking water supplies, while also including a historical overview, human health impacts and policy considerations. It provides a worldwide perspective on nitrogen and agriculture.Nitrogen is one of the most critical elements required in agricultural systems for the production of crops for feed, food and fiber. The ever-increasing world population requires increasing use of nitrogen in agriculture to supply human needs for dietary protein. Worldwide demand for nitrogen will increase as a direct response to increasing population. Strategies and perspectives are considered to improve nitrogen-use efficiency. Issues of nitrogen in crop and human nutrition, and transport and transformations along the continuum from farm field to ground water, watersheds, streams, rivers, and coastal marine environments are discussed. Described are aerial transport of nitrogen from livestock and agricultural systems and the potential for deposition and impacts. The current status of nitrogen in the environment in selected terrestrial and coastal environments and crop and forest ecosystems and development of emerging technologies to minimize nitrogen impacts on the environment are addressed. The nitrogen cycle provides a framework for assessing broad scale or even global strategies to improve nitrogen use efficiency. Growing human populations are the driving force that requires increased nitrogen inputs. These increasing inputs into the food-production system directly result in increased livestock and human-excretory nitrogen contribution into the environment.The scope of this book is diverse, covering a range of topics and issues from furthering our understanding of nitrogen in the environment to policy considerations at both farm and national scales.