In the last four decades of the twentieth century the use of sweetpotato was diversified beyond their classification as subsistence, food security, and famine-relief crop. In developing countries they serve both as human food and for feeding livestock. In Western countries they appeal to health conscious consumers because of their nutritional aspects. The sweetpotato is very high in nutritive value, and merits wider use on this account alone. The book has 2 parts. A general one giving up-to-date information on the history, botany, cultivars, genetic engineering, propagation, diseases and pests, nutritional data and marketing; and a second part presenting data on sweetpotato growing practices in different areas of the world. The information should be useful to researchers, practitioners and crop administrators in different countries.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book provides a fresh, updated and science-based perspective on the current status and prospects of the diverse array of topics related to the potato, and was written by distinguished scientists with hands-on global experience in research aspects related to potato. The potato is the third most important global food crop in terms of consumption. Being the only vegetatively propagated species among the world’s main five staple crops creates both issues and opportunities for the potato: on the one hand, this constrains the speed of its geographic expansion and its options for international commercialization and distribution when compared with commodity crops such as maize, wheat or rice. On the other, it provides an effective insulation against speculation and unforeseen spikes in commodity prices, since the potato does not represent a good traded on global markets. These two factors highlight the underappreciated and underrated role of the potato as a dependable nutrition security crop, one that can mitigate turmoil in world food supply and demand and political instability in some developing countries. Increasingly, the global role of the potato has expanded from a profitable crop in developing countries to a crop providing income and nutrition security in developing ones. This book will appeal to academics and students of crop sciences, but also policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the potato and its contribution to humankind’s food security.

Set includes revised editions of some nos.

This book was written for those individuals who are concerned about the techniques and practices of plant cell cultures for horticultural crops. It was designed to serve as a text and reference for students and professionals in ornamental horticulture, fruit and vegetable crop pro duction, botany, forestry, and other areas of plant science. Research during the last twenty-five years in the area of plant tissue culture has led to many developments and changes in this field. Al though the techniques involved in the manipulation of plant tissue culture are now relatively straightforward, the presentation of these techniques in a short volume for the beginner in the field is generally unavailable. In addition to describing the techniques for establishment and manipulation of specific species, several chapters in this book also provide a brief, general review of important cultural parameters. Spe cific protocols and laboratory procedures may also be found in the appendix. I hope that this presentation of information will be helpful to those individuals wanting to apply plant tissue culture techniques for horticultural crops.