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In continuation of Volumes 8, 9, 22, and 23, this new volume deals with the regeneration of plants from isolated protoplasts and genetic transformation in various species of Actinidia, Allocasuarina, Anthurium, Antirrhinum, Asparagus, Beta, Brassica, Carica, Casuarina, Cyphomandra, Eucalyptus, Ipomoea, Larix, Limonium, Liriodendron, Malus, Musa, Physcomitrella, Physalis, Picea, Rosa, Tagetes, Triticum, and Ulmus. These studies reflect the far-reaching implications of protoplast technology in genetic engineering of plants. The book contains a wealth of useful information for advanced students, teachers, and researchers in the field of plant tissue culture, molecular biology, genetic engineering, plant breeding, and general biotechnology. ... Read more

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Toxins produced by plant pathogens are known to play an important role in plant pathogenesis and are actively involved in part of the disease expression. This text deals with both host-specific and non-host specific toxins in order to describe host-pathogen interactions leading to disease development and their biotechnological exploitation using genetic engineering tools for disease and weed management. A study of toxins produced by some of the important plant pathogenic species together with their isolation, chemical structure, biosynthesis, genetics and molecular aspects of production, mechanism of action and role in disease development are included in the volume. ... Read more

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In continuation of Volumes 8, 9, and 22 on in vitro manipulation of plant protplasts, this new volume deals with the regeneration of plants from protoplasts and genetic transformation in various species of Actinidia, Amoracia, Beta, Brassica, Cicer, Citrus, Cucumis, Duboisia, Fragaria, Glycine, Ipomoea, Lactuca, Lotus, Lycopersicon, Manihot, Medicago, Nicotiana, Petunia, Phaseolus, Pisum, Prunus, Psophocarpus, Saccharum, Solanum, Sorghum, Stylosanthes, and Vitis. These studies reflect the far-reaching implications of protoplast technology in genetic engineering of plants. They are of special interest to researchers in the field of plant tissue culture, molecular biology, genetic engineering, and plant breeding. ... Read more

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This text presents the research findings of international research institutes and organizations who have co-ordinated efforts to use tissue culture methods for the conservation of certain crops. The articles highlight the direction of efforts in germplasm conservation. ... Read more

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A succinct, impassioned argument against corporate control of food plant genes. Discusses how the new technologies dominating agricultural research and production narrow the planet's gene pool. Dawkins describes how consumers are joining farmers to preserve sustainable food security. Softcover.Amazon.com Review
Gene Wars is a succinct, impassioned argument againstcorporate control of food plant genes. The author, a senior fellow atthe Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy, discusses monoculturecrops, pesticide use, government agricultural subsidies, NAFTA, andgenetic diversity in building her case against globalization and thepatenting of genes. Her stance is strongly activist, and her knowledgeof these topics is extensive and impressive. Scientific breakthroughsin food production are reaching their limits, she writes, and theanswers don't lie in more and better technology: "Perhaps mostalarming about this future is the likelihood that despite newtechnologies, the number of people in the world going hungry willactually increase."

All is not bleak, though. Dawkins outlines ways citizens can getinvolved, whether it's through political activity or teaming up withlocal growers to move away from the big, monoculture crop model andensure the safety and security of the world's foodsupply. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

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This book demonstrates that American agricultural development was far more dynamic than generally portrayed. In the two centuries before World War II, a stream of biological innovations revolutionized the crop and livestock sectors, increasing both land and labor productivity. Biological innovations were essential for the movement of agriculture onto new lands with more extreme climates, for maintaining production in the face of evolving threats from pests, and for the creation of the modern livestock sector. These innovations established the foundation for the subsequent Green and Genetic Revolutions. The book challenges the misconceptions that, before the advent of hybrid corn, American farmers single-mindedly invested in laborsaving mechanical technologies and that biological technologies were static. ... Read more

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creats a new history of agriculture in the US
The theme of the book is that biological and institutional innovations were as important as mechanical innovations in making American agriculture so productive. Improvements in wheat, corn cotton, tobacco, vegetables and fruit trees plus new breeds of livestock and dairy cows enabled individual farmers to fight off insects, diseases, and weeds in the original colonies and gradually expand production into challenging new climates and conditions in the South, Midwest, the plains and the far west. After the Civil War, the new agricultural colleges and efforts by the USDA increasingly contributed to the development and adoption of new seeds, breeds and techniques. Collectively these long forgotten accomplishments were as significant as the much better know machines--cotton gin, mechanical reaper and tractor--in creating agricultural abundance.

This impressive and provocative book will likely have a profound and far-reaching impact on scholarship. By revealing the incompleteness of the prevailing narrative of agricultural development through mechanization, Creating Abundance offers a new paradigm for examining the history of agriculture in the U.S. The book convincingly demonstrates that creating new varieties of crops and farm animals was crucial for maintaining productivity in settled areas and for expanding agriculture to new geographic areas. Written not by historians, but by economists, the book also reveals flaws in some basic economic concepts and ironically this may prompt changes in the field of economics!
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Discusses ecological risks and prospects of transgenic plants.Presents the discussion sessions as well as the scientific contributions and thus mirrors the risk assessment debate based not on exaggerated negative scenarios but on critical science and hard data. ... Read more

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Providing a comprehensive yet concise overview, this text describes biological technologies in crop improvement from the earliest domestication of plants to modern developments such as biopharming and marker-assisted selection. Focusing on key technical topics such as transgenesis and biocontainment, it also addresses the scientific and social context of biotechnology. It is an essential resource for students of plant science, agriculture, biotechnology and breeding as well as professionals and researchers in pharmaceutical, biofuel and breeding companies who require a succinct yet comprehensive and accessible text.Key features:' ... Read more

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Key topics include supercritical fluid extraction in food engineering, fats and oils from plant materials, sugars and carbohydrates, and alkaloids from natural plants using supercritical fluids. Of particular interest will be the chapter on cholesterol removal from food products. ... Read more

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This book examines the current challenges and future prospects for agricultural biotechnology from the perspectives of academic, industrial, and governmental research scientists. ... Read more

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This book addresses the continuing controversy over the potential impact of genetically modified (GM) crops in developing countries. Supporters of the technology claim it offers one of the best hopes for increasing agricultural production and reducing rural poverty, while opponents see it as an untested intervention that will bring corporate control of peasant farming. The book examines the issues by reviewing the experience of GM, insect-resistant cotton, the most widely grown GM crop in developing countries.

The book begins with an introduction to agricultural biotechnology, a brief examination of the history of cotton production technology (and the institutions required to support that technology), and a thorough review of the literature on the agronomic performance of GM cotton. It then provides a review of the economic and institutional outcomes of GM cotton during the first decade of its use. The core of the book is four country case studies based on original fieldwork in the principal developing countries growing GM cotton (China, India, South Africa and Colombia). The book concludes with a summary of the experience to date and implications for the future of GM crops in developing countries.

This review challenges those who have predicted technological failure by describing instances in which GM cotton has proven useful and has been enthusiastically taken up by smallholders. But it also challenges those who claim that biotechnology can take the lead in agricultural development by examining the precarious institutional basis on which these hopes rest in most countries. The analysis shows how biotechnology’s potential contribution to agricultural development must be seen as a part of (and often secondary to) more fundamental policy change. The book should be of interest to a wide audience concerned with agricultural development. This would include academics in the social and agricultural sciences, donor agencies and NGOs.

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This timely reference/text integrates available basic biotechnological methodologies with current agricultural practices, providing solutions to specific agricultural needs and problems from plant and crop yield to animal husbandry.Presenting and evaluating the limitations of "classical" methodologies and the potential of novel and emergent agriculturally related biotechnologies, Agricultural Biotechnology coversplant biotechnology;discussing genetic engineering and crop improvement for yield and quality traits, rapid clonal propagation and marker-assisted selection, and metabolite production microbial biotechnology in agriculture and pest control;detailing biofertilization, bioremediation, and degradation of agricultural products, and new approaches to virus, fungus, insect, and weed control livestock biotechnology;examining growth factors; meat, milk, and egg production and quality control; gene farming; and genetic manipulations for improved fertility, reproduction, and growth marine biotechnology;exploring the use of fish, macro- and micro-algae, and other marine microorganisms for food production, as well as biochemical (pharmaceuticals and polysaccharides) and environmental applications the legal and ethical aspects of agricultural biotechnologies;clarifying how laws and public policy affect food production in developed and developing countries and the environmentand much more! ... Read more

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Introduction to Biotechnology: An Agricultural Revolution provides students with a basic understanding of the concepts that contribute to agriculture’s biotechnology revolution. Each chapter of this comprehensive text includes topics such as cell functions, genetics and genetic engineering, the uses of biotechnology and biotech careers. Also included is a thorough examination of the controversy and concerns over the use of genetic engineering, genetically modified organisms, cloning and their potential dangers to humans and the environments. This information enables students to engage and utilize the text’s science-based content in classroom discussions and research activities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A textbook full of inaccuracies
I am using this book as a textbook for the biotechnology freshman class at a vocational highschool. To make it short, the book is horrible. The images are from a stock photography agency, with little relevance to the text and are often pointless. The picture of one scientist working on a 96-well plate dispenser shows up as somebody working to wipe out the cotton weevil and as a scientist sequencing the bovine genome. Punnett squares are done wrong, and images of cells in interphase stained to visualize the Barr bodies are supposed to show the Y-chromosome. There is at least one factual mistake on almost every page, and the writing does not raise any questions that may arise with the use of genetic engineering in agriculture.
Very little thought and discussion seem to have gone into the writing of this book, and I would not spend the money on it again
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Following on from earlier titles in this series, this volume presents further material generated by the World Bank/ISNAR/Australian government biotechnology study.It covers the present status and future prospects for the application of biotechnology to solve agricultural and environmental problems in a number of developing countries. Particular focus is given on to developments that have taken place over the last decade. ... Read more