Plant Breeding (ePub)

This book, Plant Breeding, has it bases in an earlier
text entitled An Introduction to Plant Breeding by Jack
Brown and Peter Caligari, first published in 2008. The challenges
facing today's plant breeders have never been more
overwhelming, yet the prospects to contribute significantly to
global food security and farmers' quality of life have never
been more exciting and fulfilling. Despite this there has
been a worrying decline in public funding for plant
breeding-related research and support for international
centers of germplasm development and crop improvement.
In part, this has resulted in a serious reduction in the number of
young people interested in devoting their professional careers to
plant breeding as well as the number of universities offering plant
breeding courses or conducting relevant research in plant
breeding.

The authors' aim in writing this book is to provide an
integrated and updated view of the current scientific progress
related to diverse plant breeding disciplines, within the context
of applied breeding programs. This excellent new book will
encourage a new generation of students to pursue careers related to
plant breeding and will assist a wider audience of agricultural
students, agronomists, policy makers and those with an interest in
agriculture in gaining insight about the issues affecting plant
breeding and its key role in improving the quality of life of
people and in securing sufficient food, at the quality required and
at an affordable price.

With comprehensive coverage including questions designed for
students, and an accompanying website containing additional
material to help in the study of the subject, Plant Breeding
is an ideal text for all those studying plant and crop sciences,
and a convenient reference source for professionals working in the
area. All libraries within universities and research establishments
where biological and agricultural sciences are studied and taught
should have multiple copies of this book.