Plants are fundamental players in human lives, underpinning our food supply and contributing to the air we breathe, but they are easy to take for granted and have received insufficient attention in the social sciences. This book advances understanding of human-plant relations using the example of wheat. Theoretically, this book develops new insights by bringing together human geography, biogeography and archaeology to provide a long term perspective on human-wheat relations. Although the relational, more-than-human turn in the social sciences has seen a number of plant-related studies, these have not yet fully engaged with the question of what it means to be a plant. The book draws on diverse literatures to tackle this question, advancing thinking about how plants act in their worlds, and how we can better understand our shared worlds. Empirically, the book reports original ethnographic research on wheat production, processing and consumption in a context of globalisation, drought and climate change and traces the complex networks of wheat using a methodology of 'following' it and its people. The ethnobotanical study captures a number of moments in the life of Australian wheat; on the farm, at the supermarket, in the lives of coeliac sufferers, in laboratories and in industrial factories. This study demands new ways of thinking about wheat geographies, going beyond the rural landscape to urban and industrial frontiers, and being simultaneously local and global in perspective and connection.

This book provides an overview of the latest advancements in the field of alien introgression in wheat. The discovery and wide application of molecular genetic techniques including molecular markers, in situ hybridization, and genomics has led to a surge in interspecific and intergeneric hybridization in recent decades. The work begins with the taxonomy of cereals, especially of those species which are potential gene sources for wheat improvement. The text then goes on to cover the origin of wheat, breeding in connection with alien introgressions, and the problems of producing intergeneric hybrids and backcross derivatives. These problems can include crossability, sterility, and unequal chromosome transmission. The work then covers alien introgressions according to the related species used, as well as new results in the field of genomics of wild wheat relatives and introgressions.

Wheat, which is the second most important cereal crop in the world, is being grown in a wide range of climates over an area of about 228 945 thou sand ha with a production of about 535 842 MT in the world. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ) accounts for 80% of the wheat consumption, howe ver, it is attacked by a large number of pests and pathogens; rusts and smuts cause enormous damage to the crop and reduce the yield drastically in some areas. The major breeding objectives for wheat include grain yield, earliness, resistance to lodging and diseases, spikelet fertility, cold tolerance, leaf duration and net assimilation rate, fertilizer utilization, coleoptile length, nutritional value, organoleptic qualities, and the improvement of charac ters such as color and milling yield. The breeding of wheat by traditional methods has been practiced for centuries, however, it has only now come to a stage where these methods are insufficient to make any further breakthrough or to cope with the world's demand. Although numerous varieties are released every year around the world, they do not last long, and long-term objectives cannot be realized unless more genetic variability is generated. Moreover, the intro duction of exotic genetic stocks and their cultivation over large areas results in the depletion and loss of the native germplasm pool.

This work is a comprehensive history of wheat across all its main areas of production. New techniques such as in vitro culture now enable the development of a greater level of understanding of the genetics of wheat.

Wheat is produced on a greater area, grown over a wider geographic range, and traded internationally as a commodity more than any other arable crop. Wheat alone provides 20% of the calories and protein in the global human diet. Understanding the interactions between wheat production, the environment, and human nutrition is essential for meeting the demands of food security as we approach the middle of the 21st century. Wheat: Environment, Food and Health is written by two leading authorities in the field and offers insights into critical issues such as the sustainability of wheat production, the challenges of both mitigating and adapting to environmental change, and the effects of wheat consumption on human health. Covering a broad range of topics, the authors: Introduce the historical development and utilization of the wheat crop. Describe the factors affecting the quality and acceptability of wheat for different uses. Discuss the soil characteristics that are required for, and changed by, wheat production. Examine the water, temperature, and light requirements of wheat systems. Explore the methods and sustainability of plant breeding and farmer approaches to improving crop yields. Describe the development, structure, and composition of wheat grain. Discuss the contribution and impacts, both positive and negative, of wheat consumption on human health. • Discuss how modern technologies and new approaches are addressing the challenges of maintaining wheat production. Wheat: Environment, Food and Health is an essential resource for researchers and academics in disciplines including agriculture, plant biology, applied biology, botany, food science and nutrition, crop improvement, food security, environmental sustainability, and human health.

Understanding the physical and genetic structure of cereal genomes and how defined coding and non-coding regions interact with the environment to determine a phenotype are key to the future of plant breeding and agriculture. The production and characteri- tion of transgenic plants is a powerful reverse genetic strategy increasingly used in cereals research to ascribe function to defined DNA sequences. However, the techniques and resources required to conduct these investigations have, until recently, been difficult to achieve or totally lacking in wheat, barley and oat. This book brings together the l- est protocols for the transformation, regeneration and selection using both biolistic and Agrobacterium tumefaciens appropriate for these three species. It includes two chapters describing in vitro Agrobacterium co-cultivation, one leading to germ line transformation with no need for tissue culture-based regeneration. In addition, it has several chapters dedicated to the manipulation of gene expression and characterisation of the recombinant locus and transgenic plants. Finally, it tackles the issues of GM risk assessment, field trials and substantial equivalence in terms of transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics. Although this book is dedicated to the temperate small grain cereals wheat, barley and oats, many of the techniques described could be readily adapted for other cereals or plants generally. We thank all the contributing authors for their timely and informative chapters, the staff of Humana Press, especially John Walker for their guidance, and Helen Jenkins for her proof-reading, word processing and administrative support. v Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix PART I.

The global population is projected to reach almost 10 billion by 2050, and food and feed production will need to increase by 70%. Wheat, maize and sorghum are three key cereals which provide nutrition for the majority of the world's population. Their production is affected by various abiotic stresses which cause significant yield losses. The effects of climate change also increase the frequency and severity of such abiotic stresses. Molecular breeding technologies offer real hope for improving crop yields. Although significant progress has been made over the last few years, there is still a need to bridge the large gap between yields in the most favorable and most stressful conditions.