Plant Nutritional Genomics / Biological Sciences Series (PDF)

A 'textbook' plant typically comprises about 85% water
and 13.5% carbohydrates. The remaining fraction contains at least
14 mineral elements, without which plants would be unable to
complete their life cycles.

Understanding plant nutrition and applying this knowledge to
practical use is important for several reasons. First, an
understanding of plant nutrition allows fertilisers to be used more
wisely. Second, the nutritional composition of crops must be
tailored to meet the health of humans and livestock. Third, many
regions of the world are currently unsuitable for crop production,
and an understanding of plant nutrition can be used to develop
strategies either for the remediation of this land or for the
cultivation of novel crops.

That application of knowledge of plant nutrition can be achieved
through genotypic or agronomic approaches. Genotypic approaches,
based on crop selection and / or breeding (conventional or GM),
have recently begun to benefit from technological advances,
including the completion of plant genome sequencing projects. This
book provides an overview of how plant nutritional genomics,
defined as the interaction between a plant's genome and its
nutritional characteristics, has developed in the light of
these technological advances, and how this new knowledge might
usefully be applied.

This is a book for researchers and professionals in plant
molecular genetics, biochemistry and physiology, in both the
academic and industrial sectors.