Sustainable Agriculture in the Era of the OMICs Revolution

Sustainable Agriculture in the Era of the OMICs Revolution
Author: Channa S. Prakash
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 511
Release: 2023-01-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3031155688

Access to food with enough calories and nutrients is a fundamental right of every human. The global population has exceeded 7.8 billion and is expected to pass 10 billion by 2055. Such rapid population increase presents a great challenge for food supply. More grain production is needed to provide basic calories for humans. Thus, it is crucial to produce 60-110% more food to fill the gap between food production and the demand of future generations. Meanwhile food nutritional values are of increasing interest to accommodate industrialized modern lives. The instability of food production caused by global climate change presents another great challenge. The global warming rate has become more rapid in recent decades, with more frequent extreme climate change including higher temperatures, drought, and floods. Our world faces various unprecedented scenarios such as rising temperatures, which causes melting glaciers and the resulting various biotic and abiotic stresses, ultimately leading to food scarcity. In these circumstances it is of utmost importance to examine the genetic basis and extensive utilization of germplasm to develop “climate resilient cultivars” through the application of plant breeding and biotechnological tools. Future crops must adapt to these new and unpredictable environments. Crop varieties resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses are also needed as plant disease, insects, drought, high- and low-temperature stresses are expected to be impacted by climate change. Thus, we need a food production system that can simultaneously satisfy societal demands and long-term development. Since the Green Revolution in the 1960s, farming has been heavily dependent on high input of nitrogen and pesticides. This leads to environmental pollution which is not sustainable in the long run. Therefore, a new breeding scheme is urgently needed to enable sustainable agriculture; including new strategies to develop varieties and crops that have high yield potential, high yield stability, and superior grain quality and nutrition while also using less consumption of water, fertilizer, and chemicals in light of environmental protection. While we face these challenges, we also have great opportunities, especially with flourishing developments in omics technologies. High-quality reference genomes are becoming available for a larger number of species, with some species having more than one reference genome. The genome-wide re-sequencing of diverse varieties enables the identification of core- and pan-genomes. An integration of omics data will enable a rapid and high-throughput identification of many genes simultaneously for a relevant trait. This will change our current research paradigm fundamentally from single gene analysis to pathway or network analysis. This will also expand our understanding of crop domestication and improvement. In addition, with the knowledge gained from omics data, in combination with new technologies like targeted gene editing, we can breed new varieties and crops for sustainable agriculture.

Sustainable Agriculture in the Era of Climate Change

Sustainable Agriculture in the Era of Climate Change
Author: Rajib Roychowdhury
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 696
Release: 2020-07-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030456692

Under ongoing climate changes, natural and cultivated habitats of major crops are being continuously disturbed. Such conditions impose and exacerbate abiotic and biotic stressors. Drought, salinity, flood, cold, heat, heavy metals, metalloids, oxidants, irradiation, etc. are important abiotic stressors, while diseases and infections caused by plant pathogens, such as fungal agents, bacteria and viruses, are major biotic stresses. In many instances, stresses have become the major limiting factor for agricultural productivity and exert detrimental role on growth and yield of the crops. To help feed an ever increasing world population and to ensure global food security, concerted efforts from scientists and researchers have identified strategies to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate-induced stresses. This book, summarizing their findings, is aimed at crop improvement beyond such kind of barriers, by agronomic practices (genetics, breeding, phenotyping, etc.) and biotechnological applications, including molecular markers, QTL mapping, genetic engineering, transgenesis, tissue culture, various 'omics' technologies and gene editing. It will cover a wide range of topics under environmental challenges, agronomy and agriculture processes, and biotechnological approaches. Additionally, fundamental mechanisms and applied information on stress responses and tolerance will be discussed. This book highlights problems and offers proper solutions for crop stress management with recent information and up-to-date citations. We believe this book is suitable for scientists, researchers and students working in the fields of agriculture, plant science, environmental biology and biotechnology.

Harnessing NanoOmics and Nanozymes for Sustainable Agriculture

Harnessing NanoOmics and Nanozymes for Sustainable Agriculture
Author: Rajput, Vishnu D.
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 557
Release: 2024-05-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN:

In an era overshadowed by pressing global challenges such as climate change, burgeoning populations, and the depletion of natural resources, the agricultural landscape is at a critical juncture. The need for sustainable practices has never been more urgent, with conventional methods struggling to meet the demands of a growing population while grappling with environmental degradation. Harnessing NanoOmics and Nanozymes for Sustainable Agriculture delves into the heart of the problem, navigating the intricate web of challenges facing agriculture today. From dwindling crop yields to the environmental repercussions of conventional farming practices, the urgency to find innovative, sustainable solutions is paramount. Harnessing NanoOmics and Nanozymes for Sustainable Agriculture offers a comprehensive exploration of nanotechnology's potential to revolutionize agriculture, presenting a promising pathway toward enhanced productivity, minimizing environmental impact, and optimal resource utilization.

After the Green Revolution

After the Green Revolution
Author: Gordon R. Conway
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2013-11-05
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1134063024

'The Green Revolution' of the 60's and 70's produced immense gains in food cereal production in the Third World. But there are huge problems in the 'post-revolutionary' era: farmers with small or marginal holdings have benefited less than wealthier farmers; intensive mono-cropping has made production more susceptible to environmental stresses and shocks. Now there is evidence of diminishing returns from intensive and intensively chemical agricultural production. What is needed is a new approach, equally revolutionary, but different in its ideas and style. The authors set out what they mean by 'sustainable' agriculture in the new era and look at the effects of international economic restraints and of national policies on the kind of development they see as necessary. They chart a path for sustainable livelihoods for Third World farmers enmeshed by forces outside their control. They describe methods of evaluating and resolving the tough trade-offs all levels of intervention, from international trade down to the individual farm. This book cannot provide all the answers, but it does indicate what international conditions we need to be aware of, what national policies we need to advocate and what approaches at the local level we need to adopt to ensure the goal of agricultural sustainability. Originally published in 1990

Water-Soil-Plant-Animal Nexus in the Era of Climate Change

Water-Soil-Plant-Animal Nexus in the Era of Climate Change
Author: Karmaoui, Ahmed
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 504
Release: 2023-12-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1668498405

Water, soil, plants, and animals are the main pillars that support global food security. Plants grow using nutrients from water and soil resources and then used by animals which affects them consequently. Water is the essential condition of life for all living beings, and soil is its support and a crucial reservoir. The interactions between the Water-Soil-Plant-Animal nexus and climate change are of increasing concern to scholars, decision-makers, and researchers. The impacts of climate change on these resources include water and soil quality degradation, infectious disease, shortage, desertification, and erosion. These impacts are accelerated due to human pressure through over-use and pollution. Water-Soil-Plant-Animal Nexus in the Era of Climate Change includes relevant theoretical approaches, empirical research, and bibliometric and bibliographic methods to bring together affordable methods and techniques to optimize the use of the nexus in the context of climate change. It presents an inventory of techniques and practices in the field, and introduces an opportunity to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these techniques, making it ideal for scholars, researchers, planners, and decision-makers.

A Green and Permanent Land

A Green and Permanent Land
Author: Randal S. Beeman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2001
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Once patronized primarily by the counterculture and the health food establishment, the organic food industry today is a multi-billion-dollar business driven by ever-growing consumer demand for safe food and greater public awareness of ecological issues. Assumed by many to be a recent phenomenon, that industry owes much to agricultural innovations that go back to the Dust Bowl era. This book explores the roots and branches of alternative agricultural ideas in twentieth-century America, showing how ecological thought has challenged and changed agricultural theory, practice, and policy from the 1930s to the present. It introduces us to the people and institutions who forged alternatives to industrialized agriculture through a deep concern for the enduring fertility of the soil, a passionate commitment to human health, and a strong advocacy of economic justice for farmers. Randal Beeman and James Pritchard show that agricultural issues were central to the rise of the environmental movement in the United States. As family farms failed during the Depression, a new kind of agriculture was championed based on the holistic approach taught by the emerging science of ecology. Ecology influenced the "permanent agriculture" movement that advocated such radical concepts as long-term land use planning, comprehensive soil conservation, and organic farming. Then in the 1970s, "sustainable agriculture" combined many of these ideas with new concerns about misguided technology and an over-consumptive culture to preach a more sensible approach to farming. In chronicling the overlooked history of alternative agriculture, A Green and Permanent Land records the significant contributions of individuals like Rex Tugwell, Hugh Bennett, Louis Bromfield, Edward Faulkner, Russell and Kate Lord, Scott and Helen Nearing, Robert Rodale, Wes Jackson, and groups like Friends of the Land and the Practical Farmers of Iowa. And by demonstrating how agriculture also remains central to the public interest—especially in the face of climatic crises, genetically altered crops, and questionable uses of pesticides—this book puts these issues in historical perspective and offers readers considerable food for thought.

Renewable Energy: Generation and Application

Renewable Energy: Generation and Application
Author: Ala A. Hussein
Publisher: Materials Research Forum LLC
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2024-08-15
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1644903202

The book covers the current status of renewable energy technology, such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal power engineering and biomass conversion. It focusses on technical challenges and potential future developments in electricity generation. electrical vehicles, heating and cooling, industrial processes and rural electrification. Keywords: Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Wind Farms. Hydropower, Hydroelectric Dams, Geothermal Energy, Biomass Energy, Agricultural Residues, Organic Waste, Electricity Transportation, Global Energy Systems.

Science and Sustainable Food Security

Science and Sustainable Food Security
Author: Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 439
Release: 2010
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9814282103

This book provides a roadmap for achieving sustainable agricultural advance and food security in an era of climate change and global economic melt-down. The contents include a description of the paradigm shift under the leadership of the author, from a green to an ever-green revolution necessary for advancing productivity in perpetuity without ecological harm. Science and Sustainable Food Security shows many methods of linking ecological security with livelihood security, and provides a scientific basis for entering an era of biohappiness based on the sustainable and equitable use of biodiversity. Also, methods of adaptation to the impact of global warming are described. This book will prove in valuable to all interested in sustainable human security and happiness.