This book provides insights into the current state of sorghum genomics. It particularly focuses on the tools and strategies employed in genome sequencing and analysis, public and private genomic resources and how all this information is leading to direct outcomes for plant breeders. The advent of affordable whole genome sequencing in combination with existing cereal functional genomics data has…
The world population is estimated to reach to more than 10 billion by the year 2050. These projections pose a challenging situation for the agricultural scientists to increase crops productivity to meet the growing food demands. The unavailability and/or inaccessibility to appropriate gene pools with desired traits required to carry out genetic improvement of various crop species make th…
The study of origin and domestication of legumes described in this book emerged when it became apparent that while this kind of information is adequate for cereals, the pulses lagged behind. At the end of the 1960s the senior author initiated a study on the chickpea's wild relatives followed by similar attempts for broad bean, fenugreek, common vetch, bitter vetch, and lentil. The junior aut…
This book introduces some emerging functional foods that are natural resources with tremendous promise as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. The author considers biodiversity and bioprospecting as a response to food security issues, drug-resistance, nutrition-poor diets and other problems, exploring the prospects of several under-utilized nutrients and bioactive repositories. Readers will d…
This book examines how biotechnology can improve livestock breeding and farming, and thereby also animal products. In the first chapters the reader will discover which techniques and approaches are currently used to improve animal breeding, animal health and the value of animal products. Particular attention is given to reproduction techniques, animal nutrition and livestock vaccines that not o…
Microorganisms play an important role in the maintenance of the ecosystem structure and function. Bacteria constitute the major part of the microorganisms and possess tremendous potential in many important applications from environmental clean up to the drug discovery. Much advancement has been taken place in the field of research on bacterial systems. This book summarizes the experimental setu…
This book describes a robust, low-cost electrochemical sensing system that is able to detect hormones and phthalates – the most ubiquitous endocrine disruptor compounds – in beverages and is sufficiently flexible to be readily coupled with any existing chemical or biochemical sensing system. A novel type of silicon substrate-based smart interdigital transducer, developed using MEMS semicond…
This book examines how biotechnology can improve livestock breeding and farming, and thereby also animal products. In the first chapters the reader will discover which techniques and approaches are currently used to improve animal breeding, animal health and the value of animal products. Particular attention is given to reproduction techniques, animal nutrition and livestock vaccines that not o…
Microorganisms play an important role in the maintenance of the ecosystem structure and function. Bacteria constitute the major part of the microorganisms and possess tremendous potential in many important applications from environmental clean up to the drug discovery. Much advancement has been taken place in the field of research on bacterial systems. This book summarizes the experimental setu…
Microalgae are sunlight driven single-cell factories for protein, lipids, carbohydrates, pigments, vitamins and minerals, etc. Microalgae have long been used as health food and additives for human consumption, as well as animal feed in aquaculture. Microalgae also prove to be beneficial to environmental cleanup such as bioremediation of industrial flue gases and waste water. Recently, owing to …