Achieving Sustainable Cultivation of Wheat Volume 1

“These books present a comprehensive coverage of issues facing wheat production globally. The authors represent the top scientists involved in the diverse areas that are important for sustainable wheat production and will this book provides an excellent resource for those interested in wheat improvement and production.“
Dr Hans-Joachim Braun, Director Global Wheat Program and CRP Wheat, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico

Wheat is the most widely cultivated cereal in the world and a staple food for around 3 billion people. It has been estimated that demand for wheat could increase by up to 60% by 2050. There is an urgent need to increase yields in the face of such challenges as climate change, threats from pests and diseases and the need to make cultivation more resource-efficient and sustainable.

Drawing on an international range of expertise, this collection focuses on ways of improving the cultivation of wheat at each step in the value chain, from breeding to post-harvest storage. Volume 1 reviews research in wheat breeding and quality traits as well as diseases and pests and their management. Chapters in Part 1 review advances in understanding of wheat physiology and genetics and how this has informed developments in breeding, including developing varieties with desirable traits such as drought tolerance. Part 2 discusses aspects of nutritional and processing quality. Chapters in Part 3 cover research on key wheat diseases and their control as well as the management of insect pests and weeds.

Achieving sustainable cultivation of wheat Volume 1: Breeding, quality traits, pests and diseases will be a standard reference for cereal scientists in universities, government and other research centres and companies involved in wheat cultivation. It is accompanied by Volume 2 which reviews improvements in cultivation techniques.

Author Biography

Dr Peter Langridge is Emeritus Professor of Plant Science at the University of Adelaide and former CEO of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFC). Professor Langridge is also Chair of the Scientific Board of the Wheat Initiative set up to coordinate international research in wheat. Professor Malcolm Hawkesford is head of the Plant Sciences Department at Rothamsted Research and leads the Institutes contribution to the UK Designing Future Wheat strategic research programme. He is a Honorary Professor in Plant Sciences in the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham. He is an investigator on multiple international programmes with Brazil and India, is a lead investigator in the Defra-funded Wheat Genetic Improvement Network, participates in multiple BBSRC-funded projects aimed at optimizing resource use in wheat and is the lead scientist for major wheat GMO field experiments at Rothamsted. He is chair of the Nutrient Use Efficiency Expert Working Group of the International Wheat Initiative. Dr Trust Beta is Professor of Food Science and Canada Research Chair in Grain-based Functional Foods at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Professor Beta is internationally-renowned for her research on the health-protective effects of whole grain foods. She has written widely in this area as well as working with several international institutions, serving on major granting committees at federal and provincial levels in Canada. Professor Frank Ordon is President of the Julius Kühn-Institute (JKI), the Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants in Germany. He is Honorary Professor for Molecular Resistance Breeding at the Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Editor-in-Chief of Plant Breeding, a member of the editorial board of several other journals and Chair of the Wheat Initiative Research Committee. He has published widely on molecular markers and improving resistance to biotic and abiotic stress especially in cereals. Dr Sanford D. Eigenbrode is University Distinguished Professor in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Idaho, USA. A Fellow of the Entomological Society of America, Professor Eigenbrode is internationally known for his research on the chemical ecology of insect-plant interactions, particularly in the context of vector-borne plant pathogens and cropping systems under climate change.