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Increase in world population, extreme weather conditions, decrease in fresh water supplies, and changes of dietary habits are major issues that affect global food security. We are expected to face the challenges of land use by 2050 because population will reach 9 billion while agricultural productivity losses are expected due to overuse of lands. How can we feed the next generations in a manner that respects our finite natural resources? Managing our resources in a sustainable way have only begun for selected crops. Much remains to be done to increase food yield. Cropping practices capable of sustainable production need to be elaborated, especially in fragile ecosystems. Typical applications will include the improvement and use of genetic resources; crop management and diversification; diffusion of improved varieties; development of cropping systems; sustainable cropping systems for areas prone to environmental degradation; use of agro-ecological data for crop production forecasting; and networks for regional coordination, and data exchange. The impetus behind this book is to bring attention to a cropping system that bears direct relevance to sustainable agriculture and food security. “Underutilized” crops are found in numerous agricultural ecosystems and often survive mainly in marginal areas. It is timely to review their status because, in recent decades, scientific and economic interests have emerged which focus on lesser-known cultivated species. Underutilized crops have a great potential to alleviate hunger directly, through increasing food production in challenging environments where major crops are severely limited.“Global Perspectives on Underutilized Crops” is therefore topical and highlights the unmet agricultural challenges that we face today. This book is an important resource for students and researchers of crop science and agricultural policy makers.

In the recent years, the looming food scarcity problem has highlighted plant sciences as an emerging discipline committed to devise new strategies for enhanced crop productivity. The major factors causing food scarcity are biotic and abiotic stresses such as plant pathogens, salinity, drought, flooding, nutrient deficiency or toxicity which substantially limit crop productivity world-wide. In this scenario, strategies should be adopted to achieve maximum productivity and economic crop returns. In this book we have mainly focused on physiological, biochemical, molecular and genetic bases of crop development and related approaches that can be used for crop improvement under environmental adversaries. In addition, the adverse effects of different biotic (diseases, pathogens etc.) and abiotic (salinity, drought, high temperatures, metals etc) stresses on crop development and the potential strategies to enhance crop productivity under stressful environments are also discussed.

A major threat to agricultural productivity worldwide is undoubtedly due to environments with stressful factors including drought, salinity, waterlogging, extreme temperatures, non-optimal levels of mineral nutrients etc. Based on contributions presented at the International Conference on Biosaline Agriculture and High Salinity Tolerance in November 2006 in Gammarth, Tunisia, this book reviews the current state of knowledge in biosaline agriculture and high salinity tolerance in plants. It mainly focuses on the biotic approach to economically utilize the stress-prone areas by growing resistant plants. This volume comprises three sections: physiology and biochemistry, ecology, and molecular biology. Thus, a systematic approach has been adopted to uncover plant responses to various ecological factors at physiological and molecular levels. It is of interest to students, researchers and professionals in plant physiology, molecular biology, biotechnology, agriculture, soil science, and environmental biology.