Crop Improvement

This volume examines how plant breeders can pair molecular genetic tools with conventional breeding techniques to produce sturdier, higher-yielding plants. It covers improvement work on both temperate and tropical crops, with specific chapters on breeding individual crops and recent findings on how plants respond to drought and heat.

Contributing specialists in plant breeding and genetics look at how major food and fiber crops adapt and remain stable across different growing environments. The physiological and biochemical responses of plants to abiotic stress are discussed as a basis for building resistance. Other chapters cover mixed models, best linear unbiased prediction, stability analysis in crop performance trials, and genotype-by-environment interactions.

Beyond its practical methods and current research, the book sketches new directions and partnerships that may shape crop science in the coming century. It is aimed at working plant breeders and geneticists in universities, government agencies and industry, and also serves teachers and students of crop breeding.