Plant Breeding Reviews Volume 36

The book provides a comparative analysis of management experiences from the different geographic regions, emphasizing the need to balance the utilization of dry forests and woodland products between current and future human needs.  Further, the book explores the techniques and strategies that can be deployed to improve the management of African dry forests and woodlands for the benefit of all, but more importantly, the communities that live off these vegetation formations. Thus, the book lays a foundation for improving the management of dry forests and woodlands for the wide range of products and services they provide.

The livelihoods of millions of people in developing countries, which depend on dryland agriculture to ensure their food security and their well-being, could be improved measurably by gains in agricultural crop yields. This book describes lessons learnt from an innovative scheme in India that improved crop yields in drylands. It shows how the scheme can be scaled up for other dryland regions of the world. The scheme uses localized soil nutrient analyses to create an integrated, climate smart fertilizer and planting plan that maximises yields for farmers.

This chapter focuses on strawberry root growth and architecture, discussing apical dominance, lateral root formation and allelopathic sensitivity. An architectural model of strawberry root growth is presented, showing that, if temperature and water availability are at optimal levels, the proliferation of roots in favourable soil patches is rapid, as is the depletion of nutrients and the accumulation of allelochemicals.

From the pre-historic era to modern times, cereal grains have been the most important source of human nutrition, and have helped sustain the increasing population and the development of human civilization. In order to meet the food needs of the 21st century, food production must be doubled by the year 2025, and nearly tripled by 2050. Such enormous increases in food productivity cannot be brought about by relying entirely on conventional breeding methods, especially on less land per capita, with poor quality and quantity of water, and under rapidly deteriorating environmental conditions.

Landscape architects, design professionals and contractors alike require a good working knowledge of how to achieve plant establishment under a variety of conditions and situations. Overlooking the physiological needs of plants can lead to potential problems that can have negative financial and design impacts. Plants and Planting on Landscape Sites is a practical book giving practitioners in landscape design the essential horticultural knowledge and concepts needed to understand the limits of the material they are working with and make informed decisions.