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Director General Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center P.O. Box 42, Shanhua Tainan 741, Taiwan, ROC
lumpkin{at}netra.avrdc.org.tw
Edited by J. NÖSBERGER, H.H. GEIGER, and P.C. STRUIK. CABI Publishing, 10 E. 40th St., Suite 3203, New York, NY 10016. 2001. Hardcover, 398 pp., $100.00. ISBN 0-85199-530-6.
Crop scientists are being called on to ensure food security for the world's growing human population through development of higher-yielding crops of higher quality and with management methods that have less environmental impact. The proceedings from the 2000 Third International Crop Science Congress have been published in a form that will provide scientists with background and technological tools to address the challenges of world food security.
The contents are organized in to five topic parts involving 22 chapters from invited authors. The book flows from focusing on current and future human needs, to explaining environmental and biodiversity challenges to crop production, to biological approaches for addressing the challenges and needs, and finally two short chapters reviewing the challenges facing crop science.
Each of the 22 chapters has a different author or authors. As with most compilations by diverse authors, the qualities of the chapters vary and gaps remain in the flow of thoughts between chapters. Of the 41 authors, 10 are from European research institutes such as the French INRA and the Swiss ETH; eight are European professors from universities; nine are researchers from international centers such as IRRI and CIMMYT; four are U.S. professors from corn belt universities, four are researchers from the U.S. company Pioneer Hi-Bred; three are authors from Australian universities and CSIRO; and one is a professor from Sri Lanka. The book thus reflects a strong European and international research centers perspective.
Chapters in Part 1, Facing the Growing Needs of Mankind, flows from food security concerns through nutritional content of food to uses of grazing lands. Chapter 1 by JBSRAM's Penning de Vries provides a well-referenced overview of trends in the area and quality of cultivated land. Mention of crucial issues such as changing conditions in the former Soviet Union and impacts of water projects in eastern China would have been illustrative. Chapter 2 by Heidhues of Universtät Hohenheim relies heavily on IFPRI figures and statistics to illustrate world food prospects followed by a proposal for policy actions for food security. Chapter 3 by Cassman of University of Nebraska provides a well-illustrated view of global yield trends and then argues for different research priorities under different food security scenarios, that is, surplus, scarcity, resource-poor environments, and pasture and range systems. Chapter 4 by Hurrell of ETH Zürich offers an inspirational description of the relationship between plant compounds and chronic diseases and then boldly recommends biotech approaches to modifying levels of active phytochemicals in crops. Chapter 5 by Wilkens of University of Plymouth rehashes current pressures on grasslands and rangelands such as impacts on biodiversity but offers few remarkable approaches for intervention.
Chapters in Part 2 focus on Stress in Crops and Cropping Systems. Chapter 6 by Bohnert of University of Arizona and Bressan of Purdue University offers a technically dense view of abiotic stresses and numerous examples of breeding, transgenic, and reverse genetic strategies for improved plant competitiveness in harsh environments. Chapter 7 by Sangakkara of University of Peradeniya skims the impact of plant stress factors on cropping systems and technological innovations for enhancing tolerance. Chapter 8 by Turner of CSIRO reviews the physiological constraints that water availability places on crop production and discusses management effects on water accumulation in the soil. Chapter 9 by a team lead by Edmeades of Pioneer Hi-bred and CGIAR scientists offers one of the most useful chapters in the book, including a valuable review of abiotic stress impacts on yields and descriptions of genetic approaches to improvement of tolerance to numerous abiotic stresses. Chapter 10 by Nelson of CIP describes biotic stresses in crop plants through a series of case studies, and also discusses the use of biotechnologies. Chapter 11 is by Ong of ICRAF and Rao of ICRISAT, who review much of their own literature on agroforestry including competition for inputs and interaction with other biotic factors in relation to management of agroforestry systems.
Chapters in Part 3 focus on Diversity in Agroecosystems. Chapter 12 by Connor of University of Melbourne describes crop diversification logic in dryland farming with case studies from Australia and Syria. Chapter 13 by Edwards and Hilbeck of ETH Zürich provides an extensive review of focus origins and development, occasionally biased, of biodiversity in agroecosystems and challenges to sustaining biodiversity. Chapter 14 by Collins of CIP offers a short description of Andean biodiversity in agroecosystems, especially root and tuber crops. Chapter 15 by Bandry and Papy of INRA provides a clear thesis and unique prospective to the role, measurement, and management of heterogeneity in agricultural landscapes.
Chapters in Part 4 focus on Designing Crops and Cropping Systems for the Future. Chapter 16 by Boiffin, Malagieux, and Picard of INRA and CIRAO describes basic features of cropping systems evolution, issues effecting change and challenges to improving crops and biodiversity in cropping systems. Chapter 17 by Sheehy of IRRI offers a very thorough and well organized discussion of physiological and environmental factors affecting rice yield, discussion of yield barriers, and potential impact of global climate change on yield. Chapter 18 by Janick of Purdue University, a champion of new crop development, details the relative standing of the world's major crops, the emergence of new crops, and new forms of major crops in an interesting discourse but with few citations. Chapter 19 by Sonnewald and Herbers from public and private German institutes, respectively, offers an excellent and well-referenced overview of methods and goals for plant biotechnology. They include in their conclusion a potent statement: "Thus, the challenge will be to create the tools of public and regulatory acceptance..." In Chapter 20, Keller and Hütter Carabias of University of Zürich author a well-written though positively biased discussion of ecological, economic, and ethical aspects of transgenic crops. They fail to mention the increasing popularity of producing pharmaceuticals in major food crops and corresponding incidences of food chain contamination.
The final two short chapters in Part 5 are position papers. In Chapter 21, Fresco of FAO addresses the Congress participants, often in words of growing concern, about the current scientific and ethical challenges facing crop scientists from uneven distribution of food to genetically modified organisms. Chapter 22 is a declaration by the Hamburg Congress, edited by the president of the International Crop Science Congress, J.H.J. Spiertz, that discusses its "professional and ethical obligations for meeting human needs and maintaining natural resources."
While this publication was designed by the editors to serve as a "textbook for advanced students or young professionals", many of its chapters will be of interest to all parties involved in this issue.
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