Ranked on the basis of harvested mass, the top five cereals in the world are maize (corn), rice, wheat, barley and sorghum. However, the commercial application of biotechnology over these five species is heavily skewed. Only in maize are there genetically engineered varieties currently marketed to...

In the early 1980s, the ability to transform and regenerate plants opened the way for developing biotechnological strategies to control virus infections. This chapter focuses on how knowledge of RNA silencing has been applied successfully to confer virus resistance in principal crops, i.e....

Heat stress (HS)-induced reduction in crop productivity is likely to enhance because of the impending climate change. HS affects both vegetative and reproductive phase in plants leading to loss in yield. HS at the vegetative stage results in less biomass accumulation and at reproductive stage...

This chapter focuses on the historical context and exploratory analysis of the genetic improvement of the crops (maize, wheat and rice, among others) in the 1998 initiative by the Diffusion and Impact of Improved Varieties in Africa (DIIVA) project. The importance of the establishment of a reliable ...

This chapter outlines established methods for the assessment of damage and losses caused by rodents to certain crops (rice, oil palms, coconuts, maize, sugarcane and cocoa) and stored products. The importance of damage assessment data in predicting the cost and benefits of implementing rodent...

This chapter takes a macro perspective of the state of the use of crop wild relatives (CWR) in crop improvement programmes under the auspices of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, with some supplementary perspectives from outside of the CG family where required. It asks, ...

This book contains 16 chapters focusing on the recombinant DNA techniques and transformation methods used by the commercial maize biotechnology sector, current traits and future trends of the global adoption of transgenic maize, specific breeding challenges and the current trends in applied sorghum ...

This chapter focuses on the improved cultivar generation of various crops (maize, cassava, rice, bean, potato, cowpea, wheat, soyabean, sweet potato, yam, sorghum, groundnut, banana, chickpea, pigeon pea, barley, pearl millet, faba bean, lentil and pea) in Africa South of the Sahara. Information of ...

This chapter focuses on the adoption and turnover of cultivars of crops, such as soyabean, maize, pigeon pea, wheat, cassava, rice, potato, barley, yam, groundnut, bean, sorghum, cowpea, pearl millet, chickpea, faba bean, lentil, sweet potato, banana and pea, in Africa South of Sahara. The changes...

The tryptophan (Trp) pathway diverges from the shikimate pathway at chorismate. The first committed enzyme for Trp synthesis is anthranilate synthase. Anthranilate is then converted to Trp in five steps. The secondary metabolites derived from this pathway have been shown to play important roles in...