You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Besides increasing crop yield to feed the growing population, improving crop quality is a challenging and key issue. Indeed, quality determines consumer acceptability and increases the attractivity of fresh and processed products. In this respect, fruit and vegetables, which represent a main source of vitamins and other health compounds, play a major role in human diet. This is the case in developing countries where populations are prone to nutritional deficiencies, but this is also a pending issue worldwide, where the growing middle class is increasingly aware and in search of healthy food. So a future challenge for the global horticultural industry will be to answer the demand for better quality food in a changing environment, where many resources will be limited. This e-collection collates state-of-the-art research on the quality of horticultural crops, covering the underlying physiological processes, the genetic and environmental controls during plant and organ development and the postharvest evolution of quality during storage and processing.
This book describes the concept, characteristics, methodology, design, management, business, recent advances and future technologies of plant factories with artificial lighting (PFAL) and indoor vertical farms. The third wave of PFAL business started in around 2010 in Japan and Taiwan, and in USA and Europe it began in about 2013 after the rapid advances in LED technology. The book discusses the basic and advanced developments in recent PFALs and future smart PFALs that emerged in 2016. There is an emerging interest around the globe in smart PFAL R&D and business, which are expected to play an important role in urban agriculture in the coming decades. It is also expected that they will contr...
Much has changed and improved in lighting technology over the past 10 years since industry-leading experts on lighting, in collaboration with Greenhouse Grower(r) magazine and Meister Media Worldwide, brought you Lighting Up Profits (Fisher and Runkle, 2004).This updated and substantially expanded book presents the underlying biology of how light influences plant growth and development of specialty crops, especially those grown in greenhouses and controlled-environment growth rooms. Authors Dr. Erik Runkle of Michigan State University and Dr. Roberto Lopez of Michigan State University, along with 19 other leading plant scientists from around the globe, discuss technology options for shade and lighting, including the latest developments in greenhouse and sole-source lighting.
This book explores the agricultural, commercial, and ecological future of plants in relation to mineral nutrition. It covers various topics regarding the role and importance of mineral nutrition in plants including essentiality, availability, applications, as well as their management and control strategies. Plants and plant products are increasingly important sources for the production of energy, biofuels, and biopolymers in order to replace the use of fossil fuels. The maximum genetic potential of plants can be realized successfully with a balanced mineral nutrients supply. This book explores efficient nutrient management strategies that tackle the over and under use of nutrients, check dif...
This textbook focuses specifically on the combined topics of irrigation and drainage engineering. It emphasizes both basic concepts and practical applications of the latest technologies available. The design of irrigation, pumping, and drainage systems using Excel and Visual Basic for Applications programs are explained for both graduate and undergraduate students and practicing engineers. The book emphasizes environmental protection, economics, and engineering design processes. It includes detailed chapters on irrigation economics, soils, reference evapotranspiration, crop evapotranspiration, pipe flow, pumps, open-channel flow, groundwater, center pivots, turf and landscape, drip, orchards, wheel lines, hand lines, surfaces, greenhouse hydroponics, soil water movement, drainage systems design, drainage and wetlands contaminant fate and transport. It contains summaries, homework problems, and color photos. The book draws from the fields of fluid mechanics, soil physics, hydrology, soil chemistry, economics, and plant sciences to present a broad interdisciplinary view of the fundamental concepts in irrigation and drainage systems design.
This book introduces the reader to algal diversity as currently understood and then traces the photosynthetic structures and mechanisms that contribute so much to making the algae unique. Indeed the field is now so large that no one expert can hope to cover it all. The 19 articles are each written by experts in their area; ranging over all the essential aspects and making for a comprehensive coverage of the whole field. Important developments in molecular biology, especially transformation mutants in Chlamydomonas, are dealt with, as well as areas important to global climate change, carbon dioxide exchange, light harvesting, energy transduction, biotechnology and many others. The book is intended for use by graduate students and beginning researchers in the areas of molecular and cell biology, integrative biology, plant biology, biochemistry and biophysics, biotechnology, global ecology, and phycology.
Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality Food Production, Second Edition presents a comprehensive look at the implementation of plant factory (PF) practices to yield food crops for both improved food security and environmental sustainability. Edited and authored by leading experts in PF and controlled environment agriculture (CEA), the book is divided into five sections, including an Overview and the Concept of Closed Plant Production Systems (CPPS), the Basics of Physics and Physiology – Environments and Their Effects, System Design, Construction, Cultivation and Management and Plant Factories in Operation. In addition to new coverage on the rapid advancement...
In spite of the wide variety and complexity of biological materials, nucleic acids are ubiquitous. DNA is becoming the bioanalyte of choice due to the vast amount of information embedded in its sequence, its robust chemical nature and the range of highly sensitive analytical techniques that have been developed. The results of such analyses can have an important impact on our society both commercially and in terms of the quality of life. Absolute confidence in the data generated is therefore of the utmost importance. This book, produced by LGC as part of the VAM (Valid Analytical Measurement) Programme, introduces the issues of validation and quality to the bioanalytical community, specifical...