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This book explores the different conventional and biotechnological techniques for enhancing the productivity of industrial crops. The growth of the industrial crop sector has become a widespread global phenomenon that helps rural livelihoods and propels economic development. Contrary to staple crops, industrial crops are cultivated with the intention of being sold for a high profit. Industrial crops are a crucial component of plans to increase food security because they offer the required stability during periods of economic or climatic crises. In order to maintain their livelihood and food security, many farm households balance the advantages and disadvantages of producing food crops and industrial crops. Avoiding land-use rivalry with crops grown for food and feed production is crucial when considering growing industrial crops on agricultural soils. The past several years have seen a rise in the awareness of scholars and decision-makers regarding the immediate and long-term effects of climatic variables on economic, food security, social, and political results. In order to sustain food production with more climate-resilient crops for future generations, genetic variety, both natural and artificial, is crucial. Therefore, addressing the problem of finding a compromise between increasing crop production under a specific set of conditions and reducing the chance of crop failure when conditions change is important and difficult. An assortment of meteorological conditions is used to grow industrial crops. Many are subsistence farmers who run extremely tiny farms with very little agricultural input to produce products that can be sold. It is a significant problem to preserve the variety of these crops and handle all crop culture-related difficulties. By offering the knowledge required to minimize the dangers of industrial crop breeding through managing genetic diversity, the author believe that this book will primarily address a need that has not yet been met in this and other grower groups.

This edited book provides an all-inclusive coverage of latest research in crop improvement and stress management in potato crop. It is composed of 17 chapters covering breeding, diseases & pest management with the view to enhancing the total production and quality under the scenario of climate change. The book also explores harvesting, storage, post-harvest management, and processing of potato. The book has special focus on the use of high throughput next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques, modern genomics tools, genome editing techniques such as CRISPR systems that could help the potato breeding programs and, also in development of biotic and abiotic stress resistant varieties. Potato is the world's third most important food crop after wheat and rice in terms of human consumption. It is the staple crop providing maximum nutrients per unit area, time and money and is the most versatile crop with the highest industrial production potential in India being the second largest potato producing country after China. As a major food crop, the potato has the most important role to play in the United Nations'Sustainable Development Goals'2030 Agenda for zero hunger, achieving food security, improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. This book is unique in its approach for providing in depth knowledge enabling readers to learn the subject fully on different strategies, new perspectives and fully understanding different topics of diversity, interaction and improvement for stress management in potato. It is a relevant reading material for researchers, students, practitioners and other stakeholders involved in improvement of potato crop.

Advances in plant genomics, plant molecular biology and genome editing have revolutionized opportunities for more efficient plant breeding. Successful application requires a concrete understanding of the concepts. Molecular Plant Breeding is an interface of issues from basic concepts to applications to crop improvement. The tools include molecular marker technology, gene mapping, genetic transformation, precise gene editing, and climate smart agriculture. This book provides a comprehensive coverage of molecular tools and methodologies that should be integrated within plant breeding programs for the improvement of crop plants. The book covers all relevant areas of molecular breeding in plants, with concepts and tools of relevance to plant genomics research and advanced molecular breeding. Chapters comprehensively review the contemporary literature on the subject and reflect the experiences of the authors. Each chapter emphasizes introduction covering related backgrounds and providesin-depth discussion of the subject supported with high-quality color illustrations and relevant data. Chapters conclude with future research perspective and, a comprehensive list of pertinent references.

This edited book addresses the introduction to wheat, advancements in breeding, the contribution of biotechnological approaches, the development of climate-resilient wheat cultivars, and biofortification efforts to create nutrient-rich wheat cultivars.The world faces simultaneous challenges of a growing population and climate change. It is anticipated that the world population will exceed 9 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, climate change significantly impacts agriculture through uneven patterns, expected to worsen in the coming years, resulting in substantial losses due to biotic and abiotic stresses. Wheat, a staple food for millions worldwide, requires more studies to develop climate-resilient cultivars with improved nutritional content. Given these considerations, it is crucial to understand the activities conducted for wheat breeding and address the current gap to ensure an ample food supply for future generations.This book is beneficial for researchers, teachers, agriculturists, biologists, climate change scientists, and organizations involved in wheat breeding. It also serves as a valuable resource for undergraduate, master, and PhD students interested in wheat.

Industrial crops offer farmers new market opportunities to increase their revenue by producing high-value products, focusing on fiber, forest, and energy crops, industrial oilseeds, rubber and resins, pharmaceuticals, and more. Technological innovations in agriculture have facilitated higher yields, but conserving crop genetic resources and diversity remains crucial for sustainable agricultural production. This poses a challenge that can be addressed through modern tools of biotechnology and genomics, utilizing the wealth of sequenced plant genomes. This book addresses the need for knowledge in managing the risks and conservation of genetic diversity associated with advanced technology. It provides comprehensive coverage of plant genomics and biotechnology, catering to post-graduate students, researchers, employees of seed and biotechnology companies, as well as instructors in plant genetics, breeding, and biotechnology fields.

This edited book is compiled by renowned Horticultural scientist Padma Shri Prof. Brahma Singh and Former Head of Vegetable Science Division, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi Dr Pritam Kalia. The book is mainly focused on two aspects of vegetable crops – nutrition and entrepreneurial potential. The book explains the importance of vegetables crops as essential food items for managing food security and malnutrition. Since vitamins and minerals deficiency is on the increase globally, this book highlights the presence and availability of essential nutrients, vitamins in addition to other food constituents necessary for human health. The book also emphasizes on the potential of vegetables crops as an affordable avenue for entrepreneurial ventures. It explains the important steps in respect of vegetable crops, such as production, harvesting, packaging, transport, storage, marketing of fresh vegetables, processing and value-addition etc. The book chapters are written in simple language with recent scientific developments by the experienced and acknowledged scientists in the field. The book is a useful reading material for curriculum and examination requirements of undergraduate and postgraduate, and other university examinations. It is also of interest to professionals, researchers, policy makers and potential entrepreneurs in the field of vegetable crop farming

This volume discusses the nutraceutical importance, production technologies, management and cultivation practices of underutilized vegetables, which can be described as those vegetable crops which are neither grown commercially on a large scale nor traded widely. While much of the crops addressed in the book are cultivated, traded and consumed at the local level, there are over 60 species of minor vegetables with high growth and yield potentials that are not cultivated to a large extent for greater populations. This work highlights the production technologies needed to grow these vegetables on a larger scale and under various adverse soil and climatic conditions, and their nutritional and medical benefits to assist with food security, health and poverty alleviation in rural areas. Production of underutilized vegetables is low, due to the unavailability of planting material, lack of awareness about the nutritional and medicinal importance among the farmers and inadequateinformation on the production techniques of these crops. In this context, there is an urgent need to take up a program on genetic resources exploration, management, utilization, and improvement of underutilized vegetable crops to ensure food and nutritional security. Readers will learn about these technologies and practices, while also learning about the unique properties and benefits of these underutilized vegetables. The book will be useful for academicians and researchers focusing on vegetable production and breeding, as well as farmers and sustainability scientists looking for underexplored sources of nutrition to benefit large rural populations.

As per the reports of FAO, the human population will rise to 9 billion by the end of 2050 and 70% of more food must be produced over the next three decades to feed the additional population. The breeding approaches for crop improvement programs are dependent on the availability and accessibility of genetic variation, either spontaneous or induced by the mutagens. Plant breeders, agronomists, and geneticists are under constant pressure to expand food production by employing innovative breeding strategies to enhance yield, adaptability, nutrition, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In conventional breeding approaches, introgression of genes in crop varieties is laborious and time-consuming. Nowadays, new innovative plant breeding techniques such as molecular breeding and plant biotechnology, supplement the traditional breeding approaches to achieve the desired goals of enhanced food production. With the advent of recent molecular tools like genomics, transgenics, molecular marker-assisted back-crossing, TILLING, Eco-TILLING, gene editing, CRISPR CAS, non-targeted protein abundant comparative proteomics, genome wide association studies have made possible mapping of important QTLs, insertion of transgenes, reduction of linkage drags, and manipulation of genome. In general, conventional and modern plant breeding approaches would be strategically ideal for developing new elite crop varieties to meet the feeding requirement of the increasing world population.This book highlights the latest progress in the field of plant breeding, and their applicability in crop improvement. The basic concept of this 2-volume work is to assess the use of modern breeding strategies in supplementing the conventional breeding toward the development of elite crop varieties, for obtaining desired goals of food production.

This book is the first comprehensive compilation of deliberations on botany, genetic resources and diversity, classical genetics and traditional breeding, genetic transformation, and detailed enumeration on molecular maps and mapping of economic genes and QTLs, whole genome sequencing and comparative genomics in watermelon, and elucidation on functional genomics. The genomic resources for disease resistance, genomics of fruit and quality traits of watermelon, and molecular and metabolic regulation of nutraceuticals in watermelon are discussed. Mapping of quality traits, and biotic and abiotic resistance is also to be discussed. The genome draft of watermelon and application of genome editing are covered. The book contains approximately 250 pages and over 10 chapters authored by globally reputed experts on the relevant field in this crop. This book is useful to the students, teachers, and scientists in academia and relevant private companies interested in horticulture, genetics, breeding, pathology, entomology, physiology, molecular genetics and genomics, in vitro culture and genetic engineering, and structural and functional genomics. This book is also useful for seed industries.

This book presents deliberations on molecular and genomic mechanisms underlying the interactions of crop plants to the abiotic stresses caused by heat, cold, drought, flooding, submergence, salinity, acidity, etc., important to develop resistant crop varieties. Knowledge on the advanced genetic and genomic crop improvement strategies including molecular breeding, transgenics, genomic-assisted breeding, and the recently emerging genome editing for developing resistant varieties in technical crops is imperative for addressing FHNEE (food, health, nutrition, energy, and environment) security. Whole genome sequencing in many of these crops followed by genotyping-by-sequencing has provided precise information regarding the genes conferring resistance useful for gene discovery, allele mining, and shuttle breeding which in turn opened up the scope for'designing'crop genomes with resistance to abiotic stresses. The ten chapters each dedicated to a technical crop and one chapter devoted to a crop group in this volume elucidate different types of abiotic stresses and their effects on and interaction with the crops; enumerate the available genetic diversity with regard to abiotic stress resistance among available cultivars; illuminate the potential gene pools for utilization in interspecific gene transfer; present brief on classical genetics of stress resistance and traditional breeding for transferring them to their cultivated counterparts; depict the success stories of genetic engineering for developing abiotic stress-resistant crop varieties; discuss on molecular mapping of genes and QTLs underlying stress resistance and their marker-assisted introgression into elite varieties; enunciate different genomics-aided techniques including genomic selection, allele mining, gene discovery, and gene pyramiding for developing adaptive crop varieties with higher quantity and quality of yields, and also elaborate some case studies on genome editing focusing on specific genesfor generating abiotic stress-resistant crops.

This book highlights the uses for underutilized crops, presenting the state-of-the-art in terms of genome sequencing for over 30 crops, previously understudied and under-researched. In a changing climate and with significant pressure on the land, it is the ideal time to be discussing novel crops, with significant biotic and abiotic tolerances and/or rich nutrient profiles for consumers. Previously, the only species with sequenced genomes were high-profile internationally recognized crops, but in the current era genomes are being sequenced for dozens of crops, including those previously classified as underutilized, now being investigated. This book covers food crops, from fruits to tubers, and from grasses to legumes, as well as crops with non-food applications. Some of these crops have draft genomes, and others have polished genomes with extensive resequencing panels. Each chapter tells the story of an individual crop or crop group, written by experts, focusing on thegenome data available, revealing more about crop domestication and genetic variation, and the current and future prospects given that this data is now becoming available. It also highlights how even small sequencing projects can provide draft genome sequences suitable for gene discovery, comparative genomics, and identification of molecular markers for understanding these crops further.

Biotic stresses cause yield loss of 31-42% in crops in addition to 6-20% during post-harvest stage. Understanding interaction of crop plants to the biotic stresses caused by insects, bacteria, fungi, viruses, and oomycetes, etc. is important to develop resistant crop varieties. Knowledge on the advanced genetic and genomic crop improvement strategies including molecular breeding, transgenics, genomics-assisted breeding and the recently emerging genome editing for developing resistant varieties in vegetable crops is imperative for addressing FPNEE (food, health, nutrition. energy and environment) security. Whole genome sequencing of these crops followed by genotyping-by-sequencing have facilitated precise information about the genes conferring resistance useful for gene discovery, allele mining and shuttle breeding which in turn opened up the scope for'designing'crop genomes with resistance to biotic stresses. The nine chapters each dedicated to a vegetable crop or crop-group in this volume will deliberate on different types of biotic stress agents and their effects on and interaction with crop plants; will enumerate on the available genetic diversity with regard to biotic stress resistance among available cultivars; illuminate on the potential gene pools for utilization in interspecific gene transfer; will brief on the classical genetics of stress resistance and traditional breeding for transferring them to their cultivated counterparts; will enunciate the success stories of genetic engineering for developing biotic stress resistant varieties; will discuss on molecular mapping of genes and QTLs underlying biotic stress resistance and their marker-assisted introgression into elite varieties; will enunciate on different emerging genomics-aided techniques including genomic selection, allele mining, gene discovery and gene pyramiding for developing resistant crop varieties with higher quantity and better quality; and will also elaborate some case studies ongenome editing focusing on specific genes for generating disease and insect resistant crops.

This edited book presents the latest research on cucumber, its genetic resources and diversity, tissue culture and genetic transformation, mapping of economic genes and QTLs, whole genome sequencing, comparative genomics, and breeding strategies. The mechanism of sex expression, interspecific hybridization, and cell biology are also described. The book discusses the genome draft of cucumber and the application of genome editing. This book is useful to the students, teachers and scientists in academia and relevant private companies interested in horticulture, genetics, breeding, and related areas.

This book is a compilation of advancements and achievements in the field of sugar beet cultivation. It covers recent research and up-to-date information on this crop. It discusses essential aspects for high production and good yield, development and crop management, such as origin, breeding, seed production, physiology, pathology, entomology, biotechnology, and post-harvest technology. Sugar beet is known as an alternative crop for sugar production. A versatile crop having numerous uses, besides being raw material for sugar production, its molasses contain high amount of betaine which is used as a feed supplement. Due to its value profile it has attracted the millers and farmers alike. This book is of interest to teachers, researchers, agriculture scientists, capacity builders and policymakers. Also the book serves as additional reading material for graduate students of agriculture, forestry, ecology and soil science. National and international agricultural scientists, policy makers will also find this to be a useful read.

This book presents deliberations on molecular and genomic mechanisms underlying the interactions of crop plants to the abiotic stresses caused by heat, cold, drought, flooding, submergence, salinity, acidity, etc., important to develop resistant crop varieties. Knowledge on the advanced genetic and genomic crop improvement strategies including molecular breeding, transgenics, genomic-assisted breeding, and the recently emerging genome editing for developing resistant varieties in vegetable crops is imperative for addressing FHNEE (food, health, nutrition, energy, and environment) security. Whole genome sequencing of these crops followed by genotyping-by-sequencing has provided precise information regarding the genes conferring resistance useful for gene discovery, allele mining, and shuttle breeding which in turn opened up the scope for'designing'crop genomes with resistance to abiotic stresses.The nine chapters each dedicated to a vegetable crop or crop group in this volume elucidate on different types of abiotic stresses and their effects on and interaction with the crop; enumerate on the available genetic diversity with regard to abiotic stress resistance among available cultivars; illuminate on the potential gene pools for utilization in interspecific gene transfer; present brief on classical genetics of stress resistance and traditional breeding for transferring them to their cultivated counterparts; depict the success stories of genetic engineering for developing abiotic stress-resistant crop varieties; discuss on molecular mapping of genes and QTLs underlying stress resistance and their marker-assisted introgression into elite varieties; enunciate on different genomics-aided techniques including genomic selection, allele mining, gene discovery, and gene pyramiding for developing adaptive crop varieties with higher quantity and quality of yields, and also elaborate some case studies on genome editing focusing on specific genes for generating abiotic stress-resistant crops

This book is the first comprehensive compilation of deliberations on elucidation and augmentation of the genome of Brassica juncea, one of the leading oilseed crops of the world, popularly called as brown mustard, Indian mustard, Chinese mustard, or Oriental mustard. It includes discussions on genepools; genetic diversity and its characterization; classical genetic and traditional breeding; basics and application of heteroploidy; techniques and applications of introgressive hybridization; in vitro culture for micro-propagation, somatic mutation, somatic embryogenesis, and somatic hybridization; genetic engineering including genetic transformation and gene silencing; and molecular genetic mapping and mapping of genes and comprehensive delineations on genome sequencing and comparative genomics; resequencing for elucidation of origin and diversity; large-scale genome analysis; plastid genome sequence; transcriptomics; metabolomics; proteomics; evolutionary genomics; role of regulatory genes in development and adaptation and their utilization in trait improvement; precise breeding for yield, quality, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses; and prospects of genome editing.

This book presents deliberations on molecular and genomic mechanisms underlying the interactions of crop plants to the biotic stresses caused by different diseases and pests that are important to develop resistant crop varieties. Knowledge on the advanced genetic and genomic crop improvement strategies including molecular breeding, transgenics, genomic-assisted breeding, and the recently emerging genome editing for developing resistant varieties in cereal crops is imperative for addressing FHNEE (food, health, nutrition, energy, and environment) security. Whole genome sequencing of these crops followed by genotyping-by-sequencing has provided precise information regarding the genes conferring resistance useful for gene discovery, allele mining, and shuttle breeding which in turn opened up the scope for'designing'crop genomes with resistance to biotic stresses. The eight chapters each dedicated to a cereal crop in this volume elucidate on different types of biotic stressesand their effects on and interaction with the crop; enumerate on the available genetic diversity with regard to biotic stress resistance among available cultivars; illuminate on the potential gene pools for utilization in interspecific gene transfer; present brief on classical genetics of stress resistance and traditional breeding for transferring them to their cultivated counterparts; depict the success stories of genetic engineering for developing biotic stress-resistant crop varieties; discuss on molecular mapping of genes and QTLs underlying stress resistance and their marker-assisted introgression into elite varieties; enunciate on different genomics-aided techniques including genomic selection, allele mining, gene discovery, and gene pyramiding for developing adaptive crop varieties with higher quantity and quality of yields, and also elaborate some case studies on genome editing focusing on specific genes for generating biotic stress-resistant crops.

Cash crops are grown and sold for monetary gain and not necessarily for sustenance. They include coffee, tea, coconut, cotton, jute, groundnut, castor, linseed, cocoa, rubber, cassava, soybean, sweet potato, potato, wheat, corn and teff. While some of these crops have been improved for realizing yield potential, breeding of many of them is still in infancy. Crops that underwent rigorous breeding have eventually lost much of the diversity due to extensive cultivation with a few improved varieties and the diversity in less bred species is to be conserved. Over the past years, scholars and policy makers have become increasingly aware of the short and long-run impact of climatic factors on economic, food security, social and political outcomes. Genetic diversity, natural and induced, is much needed for the future generations to sustain food production with more climate resilient crops. In contrast, crop uniformity produced across the farm fields in the form ofimproved varieties is genetically vulnerable to biotic and abiotic stresses. Thus, it is essential and challenging to address the issue of compromising between maximizing crop yield under a given set of conditions and minimizing the risk of crop failure when conditions change. Cash crops are grown in an array of climatic conditions. Many of the world's poor still live in rural areas. Many are subsistence farmers, operating very small farms using very little agricultural inputs for achieving marketable outputs. Conserving the diversity of these crops and addressing all issues of crop culture through modern tools of biotechnology and genomics is a real challenge. We believe the focus of this book is to fill an unmet need of this and other grower communities by providing the necessary knowledge, albeit indirectly via the academics, to manage the risks of cash crops breeding through managing genetic diversity.

This book gathers the latest information on the organization of genomes in wild Solanum species and emphasizes how this information is yielding direct outcomes in the fields of molecular breeding, as well as a better understanding of both the patterns and processes of evolution. Cultivated Solanums, such as potato, tomato, and pepper, possess a high number of wild relatives that are of great importance for practical breeding and evolutionary studies. Their germplasm is often characterized by allelic diversity, as well as genes that are lacking in the cultivated species. Wild Solanums have not been fully exploited by breeders. This is mainly due to the lack of information regarding their genetics and genomics. However, the genome of important cultivated Solanaceae such as potato, tomato, eggplant, and pepper has already been sequenced. On the heels of these recent developments, wild Solanum genomes are now becoming available, opening an exciting new era for both basic research and varietal development in the Solanaceae.

Food security, crop protection, biodiversity, and human and environmental health are among the main needs and concerns of society. Modern biotechnology and life sciences represent a constantly evolving area that is key for the rational use of natural resources – resources that in turn are indispensable for societal development. This book features the outcomes of the IV International Biotechnology and Biodiversity Congress, held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 2018. It includes extensive reviews of the trends in agricultural and forestry biotechnology, molecules and materials biodiscovery, ethnomedicine, environmental impact and bioindustry research, describing many of these topics from the Latin America perspective and showing how the biodiversity and ancient knowledge of these countries are vital for worldwide sustainable development.

Plant improvement has shifted its focus from yield, quality and disease resistance to factors that will enhance commercial export, such as early maturity, shelf life and better processing quality. Conventional plant breeding methods aiming at the improvement of a self-pollinating crop, such as wheat, usually take 10-12 years to develop and release of the new variety. During the past 10 years, significant advances have been made and accelerated methods have been developed for precision breeding and early release of crop varieties. This edited volume summarizes concepts dealing with germplasm enhancement and development of improved varieties based on innovative methodologies that include doubled haploidy, marker assisted selection, marker assisted background selection, genetic mapping, genomic selection, high-throughput genotyping, high-throughput phenotyping, mutation breeding, reverse breeding, transgenic breeding, shuttle breeding, speed breeding, low cost high-throughput field phenotyping, etc. It is an important reference with special focus on accelerated development of improved crop varieties.

Microbial communities and their multi-functionalities play a crucial role in the management of soil and plant health, and thus help in managing agro-ecology, the environment and agriculture. Microorganisms are key players in N-fixation, nutrient acquisition, carbon sequestration, plant growth promotion, pathogen suppression, induced systemic resistance and tolerance against stresses, and these parameters are used as indicators of improved crop productivity and sustainable soil health. Beneficial belowground microbial interactions in the rhizosphere help plants combat abiotic challenges in the unfavourable environmental conditions of native soils. These microorganisms and their products offer potential solutions for agriculture in problematic areas since they are able to degrade xenobiotic compounds, pesticides and toxic chemicals and help remediate heavy metals in the rhizosphere and so make deteriorated soils suitable for crop production. This book compiles the latest research on the role of microbes in the rhizosphere and agro-ecology, covering interaction mechanisms, microbe-mediated crop production, plant and soil health management, food and nutrition, nutrient recycling, land reclamation, clean water systems, agro-waste management, biodegradation, bioremediation, biomass and bioenergy, sanitation and rural livelihood security. It is a comprehensive reference resource for agricultural activists, policymakers, environmentalists and advisors working for governments, non-governmental organizations and industries, helping them update their knowledge of this important, but often neglected, research area.

This book puts an updated account on functional aspects of multiphasic microbial interactions within and between plants and their ecosystem. Multipronged interaction in the soil microbial communities with the plants constitute a relay of mechanisms that make profound changes in plant and its micro-environment in the rhizopshere at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels. In agro-ecological perspectives, such interactions are known to recycle nutrients and regulate signalling molecules, phytohormones and other small molecules that help plant growth and development. Such aspects are described deeply in this book taking examples from various crop plants and microbial systems. Authors described the most advantageous prospects of plant-microbe interaction in terms of inoculation of beneficial microorganisms (microbial inoculants) with the plants in which microbes proliferate in the root rhizosphere system and benefit plants'with definite functions like fixation of nitrogen, solubilization and mobilization of P, K, Zn and production of phytohormones. The subject of this book and the content presented herein has great relevance to the agro-ecological sustainability of crop plants with the help of microbial interactions. The chapters presented focus on defining and assessing the impact of beneficial microbial interactions on different soils, crops and abiotic conditions. This volume entails about exploiting beneficial microbial interactions to help plants under abiotic conditions, microbe-mediated induced systemic tolerance, role of mycorrhizal interactions in improving plant tolerance against stresses, PGPR as nutrient mobilizers, phytostimulants, antagonists and biocontrol agents, plant interactions with Trichoderma and other bioagents for sustainable intensification in agriculture, cyanobacteria as PGPRs, plant microbiome for crop management and phytoremediation and rhizoremediation using microbial communities. The overall content entrust advanced knowledge and applicability of diversified biotechnological, techno-commercial and agro-ecological aspects of microbial interactions and inoculants as inputs, which upon inoculation with crop plants benefit them in multiple ways.

This book describes the strategy used for sequencing, assembling and annotating the tomato genome and presents the main characteristics of this sequence with a special focus on repeated sequences and the ancestral polyploidy events. It also includes the chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a major crop plant as well as a model for fruit development, and the availability of the genome sequence has completely changed the paradigm of the species'genetics and genomics. The book describes the numerous genetic and genomic resources available, the identified genes and quantitative trait locus (QTL) identified, as well as the strong synteny across Solanaceae species. Lastly, it discusses the consequences of the availability of a high-quality genome sequence of the cultivated species for the research community. It is a valuable resource for students and researchers interested in the genetics and genomics of tomato and Solanaceae.

Wild crop relatives are now playing a significant part in the elucidation and improvement of the genomes of their cultivated counterparts. This work includes comprehensive examinations of the status, origin, distribution, morphology, cytology, genetic diversity and available genetic and genomic resources of numerous wild crop relatives, as well as of their evolution and phylogenetic relationship. Further topics include their role as model plants, genetic erosion and conservation efforts, and their domestication for the purposes of bioenergy, phytomedicines, nutraceuticals and phytoremediation. Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources comprises 10 volumes on Cereals, Millets and Grasses, Oilseeds, Legume Crops and Forages, Vegetables, Temperate Fruits, Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, Industrial Crops, Plantation and Ornamental Crops, and Forest Trees. It contains 125 chapters written by nearly 400 well-known authors from about 40 countries.

Wild crop relatives are now playing a significant part in the elucidation and improvement of the genomes of their cultivated counterparts. This work includes comprehensive examinations of the status, origin, distribution, morphology, cytology, genetic diversity and available genetic and genomic resources of numerous wild crop relatives, as well as of their evolution and phylogenetic relationship. Further topics include their role as model plants, genetic erosion and conservation efforts, and their domestication for the purposes of bioenergy, phytomedicines, nutraceuticals and phytoremediation.Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources comprises 10 volumes on Cereals, Millets and Grasses, Oilseeds, Legume Crops and Forages, Vegetables, Temperate Fruits, Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, Industrial Crops, Plantation and Ornamental Crops, and Forest Trees. It contains 125 chapters written by nearly 400 well-known authors from about 40 countries.

Wild crop relatives are now playing a significant part in the elucidation and improvement of the genomes of their cultivated counterparts. This work includes comprehensive examinations of the status, origin, distribution, morphology, cytology, genetic diversity and available genetic and genomic resources of numerous wild crop relatives, as well as of their evolution and phylogenetic relationship. Further topics include their role as model plants, genetic erosion and conservation efforts, and their domestication for the purposes of bioenergy, phytomedicines, nutraceuticals and phytoremediation.Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources comprises 10 volumes on Cereals, Millets and Grasses, Oilseeds, Legume Crops and Forages, Vegetables, Temperate Fruits, Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, Industrial Crops, Plantation and Ornamental Crops, and Forest Trees. It contains 125 chapters written by nearly 400 well-known authors from about 40 countries.