Deeply rooted in indigenous peoples’ culture and traditions, millets (also called ‘nutricereals’ are ancestral crops high in nutritional value. As the global agrifood systems face challenges to feed an ever-growing global population, resilient cereals like millets provide an affordable and nutritious option and help guarantee food security. This book presents the basic principles and practices of millets and other potential crops towards climate resilience and nutritional security. It discuses the role of millets in sustainable agriculture, the medicinal use of foxtail millet, exotic fruits in India, and climate-resilient fruit and vegetable crops. The goal of this work is to promote the sustainable cultivation of millets, also under adverse and changing climatic conditions and improving their quality, highlighting their potential to provide new sustainable market opportunities for producers and consumers. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Bhutan)

Scenes of starvation have drawn the world's attention to Africa's agricultural and environmental crisis. Some observers question whether this continent can ever hope to feed its growing population. Yet there is an overlooked food resource in sub-Saharan Africa that has vast potential: native food plants. When experts were asked to nominate African food plants for inclusion in a new book, a list of 30 species grew quickly to hundreds. All in all, Africa has more than 2,000 native grains and fruitsâ€""lost" species due for rediscovery and exploitation. This volume focuses on native cereals, including: African rice, reserved until recently as a luxury food for religious rituals. Finger millet, neglected internationally although it is a staple for millions. Fonio (acha), probably the oldest African cereal and sometimes called "hungry rice." Pearl millet, a widely used grain that still holds great untapped potential. Sorghum, with prospects for making the twenty-first century the "century of sorghum." Tef, in many ways ideal but only now enjoying budding commercial production. Other cultivated and wild grains. This readable and engaging book dispels myths, often based on Western bias, about the nutritional value, flavor, and yield of these African grains. Designed as a tool for economic development, the volume is organized with increasing levels of detail to meet the needs of both lay and professional readers. The authors present the available information on where and how each grain is grown, harvested, and processed, and they list its benefits and limitations as a food source. The authors describe "next steps" for increasing the use of each grain, outline research needs, and address issues in building commercial production. Sidebars cover such interesting points as the potential use of gene mapping and other "high-tech" agricultural techniques on these grains. This fact-filled volume will be of great interest to agricultural experts, entrepreneurs, researchers, and individuals concerned about restoring food production, environmental health, and economic opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. Selection, Newbridge Garden Book Club

Millets and sorghum are extremely important crops in many developing nations and because of the ability of many of them to thrive in low-moisture situations they represent some exciting opportunities for further development to address the continuing and increasing impact of global temperature increase on the sustainability of the world’s food crops. The main focus of this thorough new book is the potential for crop improvement through new and traditional methods, with the book’s main chapters covering the following crops: sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, foxtail milet, proso millet, little millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet, tef and fonio. Further chapters cover pests and diseases, nutritional and industrial importance, novel tools for improvement, and seed systems in millets. Millets and Sorghum provides full and comprehensive coverage of these crucially important crops, their biology, world status and potential for improvement, and is an essential purchase for crop and plant scientists, and food scientists and technologists throughout the developed and developing world. All libraries in universities and research establishment where biological and agricultural sciences are studied and taught should have copies of this important book on their shelves.

Millets and Pseudo Cereals is the first comprehensive resource to focus on the potential crop improvements through genetic enhancements. The choice of food crop for a region is primarily determined by the conditions of climate and soil. Once labelled as orphan crops, millets and pseudo-cereals are now known as miracle grains due to their adaptation to harsh conditions and high nutritional quality. Small millets and pseudo-cereals are now seen to occupy special niches through their ability to adapt to challenging conditions. These crops have a comparative advantage in marginal lands where they withstand stress conditions and contribute to sustainable production. They also contribute to the diversity-richness and production stability of agro-ecosystems. Millets include sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, barnyard millet, little millet and kodo millet while the other group which are not cereals but consumed as cereals and generally referred as pseudo-cereals comprises of grain amaranths, buckwheat and chenopods. Millets and Pseudo Cereals presents current information on the genetic architecture of important economic traits and the genomic resources for gene enabled breeding. This compilation contains information on the global status, available germplasm resources, nutritional value, breeding advancements, genomics applications and sustainability of agriculture through millets and pseudo-cereals cultivation. This book is a valuable resource for those conducting research and exploring new areas for advancing crop genetic understanding.

Insect Pests of Millets: Systematics, Bionomics, and Management focuses on protecting the cultivated cereals that many worldwide populations depend on for food across the semi-arid tropics of the world. Providing coverage of all the major cultivated millets, including sorghum, pearlmillet, finger millet, barnyard millet, prosomillet, little millet, kodomillet, and foxtail millet, this comprehensive book on insect pests is the first of its kind that explores systematics, bionomics, distribution, damage, host range, biology, monitoring techniques, and management options, all accompanied by useful illustrations and color plates. By exploring the novel aspects of Insect-plant relationships, including host signaling orientation, host specialization, pest – host evolutionary relationship, and biogeography of insects and host plants, the book presents the latest ecologically sound and innovative techniques in insect pest management from a general overview of pest management to new biotechnological interventions. - Includes the most comprehensive and relevant aspects of insect systematics, including synonyms, nomenclatural history, and identification characters to quickly guide readers to desired information - Addresses aspects of insect-plant relationships, including host signaling and orientation, host specialization, pest – host evolutionary relationship, and biogeography of insects and host plant - Presents the latest research findings related to the ecological, behavioral, and physiological aspects of millet pests

The sudden destruction of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the surrounding Campanian countryside following the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 preserved the remarkable evidence that has made possible this reconstruction of the natural history of the local environment. Following the prototype of Pliny the Elder's Natural History, various aspects of the natural history of Pompeii are discussed and analyzed by a team of eminent scientists, many of whom have collaborated with Jashemski during her years of excavation of several gardens in the Vesuvian area. This volume brings together the work of geologists, soil specialists, paleobotanists, botanists, palaeontologists, biologists, chemists, dendrochronologists, ichthyologists, zoologists, ornithologists, mammalogists, herpetologists, entymologists, and archaeologists, affording a thorough picture of the landscape, flora, and fauna of the ancient sites. The detailed and rigorously scientific catalogues, which are copiously illustrated, provide a checklist of the flora and fauna upon which future generations of scholars can continue to build.

Gluten-Free Ancient Grains: Cereals, Pseudocereals and Legumes covers grains that are not related to wheat. This includes sorghum, the major millets - pearl, foxtail, proso and finger millet, as well as teff, the major pseudocereals - quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat, and emerging legume grains - lupin, cowpea, Bambara groundnut and marama beans. These are all characterized as gluten-free grains. The book provides key information on the sustainable production of these grains. Ancient grains are characterized by their ability to produce a crop under harsh environmental conditions where the major cereals are not-sustainable or even fail. In order to meet growing food demand, and with water resources becoming scarce, this is a highly valuable quality. Chapters review the major grains, analyzing their production and manufacture processes and detailing their impact on long-term good health. Of interest to many people and organizations in the food production chain, this book will be of significant value to agricultural scientists, food company innovation and R&D managers, academic and food company nutritionists and dietitians and governmental and non-governmental health ministries and research institutes. - Provides a comprehensive overview of non-wheat grains - Reviews the manufacture and sustainable production of these grains, detailing their abilities to grow in harsh conditions - Analyzes the nutritional value of ancient grains and their health-promoting qualities

The impact of global climate change on crop production has emerged as a major research priority during the past decade. Understanding abiotic stress factors such as temperature and drought tolerance and biotic stress tolerance traits such as insect pest and pathogen resistance in combination with high yield in plants is of paramount importance to counter climate change related adverse effects on the productivity of crops. In this multi-authored book, we present synthesis of information for developing strategies to combat plant stress. Our effort here is to present a judicious mixture of basic as well as applied research outlooks so as to interest workers in all areas of plant science. We trust that the information covered in this book would bridge the much-researched area of stress in plants with the much-needed information for evolving climate-ready crop cultivars to ensure food security in the future.

Management of Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Enterprises theme is a component of Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Growing populations and expectations have placed extreme pressure on agricultural, forestry and fisheries resources. Sustainability of resources and resource industries will be achieved only with commitment, ingenuity and cooperation at unprecedented scale. The theme on Management of Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Enterprises begins with an assessment of the organization of agricultural, forestry, fisheries and rural enterprises introducing community-based management, traditional small farms, cooperatives and marketing boards, collective and state enterprises, and integrated global corporate systems. This is followed by thorough assessments of management systems for plants, livestock, forests and fisheries. Plant management systems are based on genetic resources, water management, nutrient management and agronomic systems. Livestock production systems are considered from the standpoints of genetic resources, range and pasture-based systems, landless systems, and options for diversification. Trends in the forest industry are revealed in terms of demand for a variety of products from forests, evolving policy regimens and sylvicultural developments. The final topic addresses the complex issues surrounding sustainability of the world's fisheries. This theme assess the evolving state of the main resource industries interpreting trends and identifying challenges and opportunities. Contributors have attempted to project these developments and raise questions about their impact and role in a changing world. Clearly, they are part of an unfolding story of adaptation of the resource industries in an increasingly global society. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.