Cereals (2009)

Agriculture depends on improved cultivars, and cultivars are developed with the aid of proper plant breeding. Unfortunately, applied plant breeding programs that focus on cereal commodity crops are under serious threat due to a lack of funding. This volume is designed to increase the use of helpful genetic resources and increase awareness of the value and impact of cereal breeding and biotechnology. This, in turn, should lead to more sustainable crop production and ultimately food security. All the major cereal crops--from maize to sorghum to rice--are covered, with discussions of genetic diversity, breeding methods and techniques, integration of new biotechnologies, and seed production in each chapter.