Rajeev K Varshney FRS

This book addresses the need to develop future crops that are highly resilient and adaptable to fluctuating environmental conditions, in order to sustain global food security in the years ahead. Climate change is accelerating land degradation, disrupting global carbon and nitrogen cycles, intensifying pest and disease outbreaks, altering weather patterns and reducing crop productivity. To safeguard and sustain both food and ecosystem security, it is imperative to innovate and design future crops for agricultural sustainability. Emerging new breeding techniques (NBTs), including genomics-assisted breeding, genome editing and synthetic biology, are now being harnessed to create the crops of tomorrow. This book provides an outlook on 'crops for the future'. Chapters explore the complexity of the challenges, the demands of the evolving global scenario and the prerequisites for action that range from the domestication of forgotten orphan crops, to crops for extreme environments, bioenergy, nutritional security to the re-design of plants with desirable traits using advanced genomics tools.

This volume is intended for professionals, researchers, policymakers and commercial entrepreneurs concerned with plant genetic diversity and breeding, with the goal of enhancing agricultural productivity and ensuring the sustainability of global food resources.

This book explores the significance of Nutri dense crops traditionally consumed during fasting in India. It highlights their nutritional benefits and their role in sustainable agriculture. Covering a diverse range of crops such as barnyard millet, amaranth, buckwheat, makhana, and chia seeds, the book sheds light on their historical and cultural relevance, along with their modern-day importance.

The chapters provide detailed insights into each crop’s biology, cultivation practices, genetic resources, and potential for commercialization. Readers will find valuable information on their production, breeding techniques, and innovative value-addition methods that enhance their utility in today’s food systems.

This book serves as a comprehensive resource for researchers, students, agricultural professionals, and food industry stakeholders. It aims to raise awareness and encourage the cultivation and consumption of these nutrient-rich crops, supporting both health and sustainable farming practices.

In a world where food security and sustainable agriculture face unprecedented challenges, the cultivated peanut emerges as an important food crop. Representing an essential quality oil and food legume crop grown across over 100 countries, peanuts provide vital nutrition and economic stability. Peanut Genomics and Biotechnology: Status and Prospects for Sustainability delves into the fascinating journey of peanuts, from their evolutionary origins as a natural tetraploid hybrid to their critical roles in addressing global food and oil demands amidst changing climates.

Advances in peanut genomics and biotechnology have transformed the possibilities for sustainable production. This book is a comprehensive guide to these breakthroughs, offering insights into peanut genome sequencing, breeding programs, and the innovative biotechnological tools that are driving progress. From decoding the complexities of the peanut genome to addressing abiotic and biotic stresses, this resource provides actionable solutions to develop resilient cultivars with superior yields and nutritional content.

Peanut Genomics and Biotechnology: Status and Prospects for Sustainability is useful to students, researchers, and practitioners, bringing together knowledge on genome editing technologies, omics, and bioinformatics applications. By providing a single, consolidated source of systemic information, it empowers scientists and agricultural professionals to revolutionize peanut breeding programs and contribute to sustainable agriculture.

This contributed volume explores the latest breakthroughs in genetic and genomic resources for enhancing biotic stress responses in grain legumes – including minor ones. It covers the advances made to date, including gene identification, transcriptomics, proteomics, transgenics, genome editing, genomic selection, epigenetic breeding, and speed breeding related to different biotic stresses. Authored by crop-specific experts, the chapters in this book are essential resources for those directly involved in improving grain legume crops.

Legumes play a vital role in ensuring food and nutritional security, enhancing soil quality, and promoting environmental sustainability. Rich in protein, they are essential in preventing hunger and malnutrition while adding to dietary diversity. However, as these crops are commonly grown in marginal lands with poor inputs, they are highly susceptible to biotic stresses such as diseases and pests, which can cause significant yield losses. This book consolidates all available knowledge about genetic and genomic aspects of biotic stress responses in various grain legumes.

It is a must-have resource for all stakeholders involved in grain legume improvement. Whether you are a breeder, pathologist, biotechnologist, seed production specialist, market manager, graduate or post-graduate student, or any other industry professional, this book serves as an excellent guide to help you stay at the forefront of grain legume improvement.

This book entitled, The Pearl Millet Genome, is the first comprehensive compilation of deliberations on history, domestication, genetic and genomic resources, traditional breeding, genetic diversity, molecular maps and mapping of important biotic stress as well as nutritional quality traits, whole genome sequencing and comparative genomics, functional genomics, genetic transformation. The economic, nutritional, and health importance of the pearl millet is also discussed. It also presents the input use efficiency and wide adaptation of the crop. Altogether, the book will contain about 200 pages over 10 chapters authored by globally reputed experts on the relevant field in this crop. This book will be useful to the students, teachers, and scientists in the academia and relevant private companies interested in genetics, pathology, molecular genetics and breeding, genetic engineering, structural and functional genomics, and nutritional quality aspects of the crop. This book will also be also useful to seed and pharmaceutical industries.

This edited book is a compilation of information on existing frontier technologies in agriculture, such as driving modernized crop improvement programs via digitalization, mechanization and automation, artificial intelligence, speed breeding. The major focus of the book is on the technologies related to genetic gain, nutrition and food safety. Agriculture is core to industry as well as human civilization and sustainability of the society. Therefore, advancement and investment of technology is essential for enhancing the quality and quantity of the produce for ensuring food and nutritional security. The frontier technologies bring drastic change in the way of functioning leading to multi-fold increase in efficiency and outcome. Chapters in this book addresses a particular enabling technology and forward-looking strategy. Compiled information with successful deployment examples of these technologies is not been made available from a single platform, therefore, this volume is a unified compilation of information from international experts. The book is a relevant reading material for students, researchers, academicians and industry players in agriculture.

The book covers all aspects of future preparedness for COVID-19 pandemic-like situations as the COVID-19 pandemic commences at its endemic stage. Pandemics and large-scale outbreaks impact public health to a greater extent, causing the loss of millions of lives and financial loss to businesses which eventually lead to unemployment and economic crises. This book covers all lessons learned from past pandemics, including their spread, virulence, long-term health effects, etc. It includes a chapter focusing on the actions that need to be taken to deal with similar situations in the future.

The book mainly comprehends on identification and fulfilment of gaps in pandemic preparedness, the development of an effective early warning system, the strengthening of existing strategies as well as the need for the implementation of new global policies to mitigate future pandemics. It focuses on the role of omics approaches to understand and explore the newer and faster mechanisms for prevention, detection, and response to emerging biological infections. It also covers the psychological impact due to pandemic and its solution.

The book has a broad scientific impact and shall be helpful specifically for academicians/ students having an interest in microbiology, virology, and immunology fields.

It is aligned with SDG 3, "Good Health and Well-being".

The book covers all aspects of future preparedness for COVID-19 pandemic-like situations as the COVID-19 pandemic commences at its endemic stage. Pandemics and large-scale outbreaks impact public health to a greater extent, causing the loss of millions of lives and financial loss to businesses which eventually lead to unemployment and economic crises. This book covers all lessons learned from past pandemics, including their spread, virulence, long-term health effects, etc. It includes a chapter focusing on the actions that need to be taken to deal with similar situations in the future.

The book mainly comprehends on identification and fulfilment of gaps in pandemic preparedness, the development of an effective early warning system, the strengthening of existing strategies as well as the need for the implementation of new global policies to mitigate future pandemics. It focuses on the role of omics approaches to understand and explore the newer and faster mechanisms for prevention, detection, and response to emerging biological infections. It also covers the psychological impact due to pandemic and its solution.

The book has a broad scientific impact and shall be helpful specifically for academicians/ students having an interest in microbiology, virology, and immunology fields.

It is aligned with SDG 3, "Good Health and Well-being".

This open access book shares the experiences of Tropical Legumes III (TLIII) project in facilitating access to seed of improved legume varieties to smallholder farmers through innovation platforms. It highlights practices and guiding principles implemented in eight developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This book details key processes that respective teams employed to create an innovation space that delivers seed, other inputs, knowledge and financial services to agricultural communities and most importantly, the underserved farmers in remote areas of the drylands. It offers valuable insights into the pathway to establishing, promoting and operating innovation platforms to enhance the performance and competitiveness of legume crops’ value chains, and addresses critical issues that must be considered to make innovation platforms more sustainable and attractive to beneficiaries. The book offers a wealth of practical insights for development workers, technical staff, and project managers. This publication is all about TLIII community of practice. It will definitely inspire other development workers and scientists to share their own experiences for others to learn from.

The protein molecule is the basic building block of every living entity. Its deficiency leads to restricted growth and development of individuals. Globally, such malnutrition is on the rise due to various reasons such as rapid population growth, stagnation of productivity, and ever-rising costs. Millions of people, especially in developing and under-developed countries, suffer from protein malnutrition and the only possible solution is to encourage farmers to grow high-protein food legume crops in their fields for domestic consumption. This, however, could be possible if farmers are provided with new cultivars with high yield, and resistance to major insects, diseases, and key abiotic stresses. The major food legume crops are chickpea, cowpea, common bean, groundnut, lentil, pigeonpea, and soybean. Predominantly, the legume crops are grown under a subsistence level and, therefore, in comparison to cereals and horticultural crops their productivity is low and highly variable. The crop breeders around the globe are engaged in breeding suitable cultivars for harsh and changing environments but success has been limited and not up to needs. With the recent development of new technologies in plant sciences, efforts are being made to help under-privileged farmers through breeding new cultivars which will produce more protein per unit of land area. In this book, the contributors analyze the constraints, review new technologies, and propose a future course of crop breeding programs in seven cold and warm season legume crops.