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....

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian economy was on the way to becoming more market based. The broadening of the market forces in Russian agriculture supports the hypothesis that the land allocation decision for grains and oilseeds is in large part determined by output...

This chapter focuses on the assessment of the cultivar output, adoption and change for cassava, cowpea, soyabean and yam for Africa south of Sahara and maize improvement in West and Central Africa. The evaluation of the performance of genetic improvement programmes in these crops are also discussed.

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 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...

This chapter focuses on the target genes and enzymes for commercial herbicide-tolerant crop development and development of herbicide-tolerant mutants. Some commercial herbicide-tolerant crops developed from mutations, such as herbicide-tolerant maize, imidazolinone-tolerant rice,...

This chapter discusses in detail some of the key features in modelling dry matter production by a crop canopy that is not subjected to water or nutrient stresses, or not affected by competition with insects, diseases and weeds. The effects of crop radiation interception and use efficiency on the...

This chapter describes the simulation of the impact of water deficit and flooding on crop growth, or specifically transpiration/dry matter accumulation, leaf area development, phenological development and nitrogen accumulation. Tabulated data on the results of simulation experiments on wheat,...

This chapter discusses the various ways the system of shifting cultivation has been modified to make it a more intensive system of agriculture. Attempts to modify shifting cultivation include the integration of trees into farmlands to form agroforestry systems, enrichment of fallow vegetation with...