The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) method for potential evapotranspiration assessment is based on the crop coefficient, which allows one to relate the reference evapotranspiration of well irrigated grass to the potential evapotranspiration of specific crops. The method was originally developed for cultivated species based on lysimeter measurements of potential evapotranspiration. Not ...

Plant pathogenic fungi cause important yield losses in crops. In order to develop efficient and environment-friendly crop protection strategies, molecular studies of the fungal biological cycle and interaction with its host are necessary. For that reason, several approaches have been made using both classical genetic, cell biology and biochemistry and modern, holistic and high-throughput, omic ...

The disposal of organic wastes specially from urban origin is a very serious problem. The recycling through agriculture is certainly one of the best solutions but it means a thorough control of the composition and doses applied, as well as the response of the crops, in production and quality. In this paper we deal with compost of solid urban residues, sewage sludge, and cow manure as a known re...

Although seed vigor is a complex physiological trait controlled by quantitative trait loci, technological advances in the laboratory are being translated into applications for enhancing seed vigor in crop plants. In this article, we summarize and discuss pioneering work in the genetic modification of seed vigor, especially through the over-expression of protein L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase (...

Food security requires the development and deployment of crop varieties resilient to climate variation and change. The study of variations in the genome of wild plant populations can be used to guide crop improvement. Genome variation found in wild crop relatives may be directly relevant to the breeding of environmentally adapted and climate resilient crops. Analysis of the genomes of populatio...

Pearl millet [ (L.) R. Br; also (L.) Morrone] is an important crop throughout the world but better genomic resources for this species are needed to facilitate crop improvement. Genome mapping studies are a prerequisite for tagging agronomically important traits. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) markers can be used to build high-density linkage maps, even in species lacking a reference genome. A r...

Maize is an important staple crop for many countries. Culture dictates maize use, processing, and incorporation into foods. The crop has a rich history of domestication and improvement. With its relative ease of genetic manipulation, maize is considered a model crop for plant genetic experimentation. Recent biotechnological advances, as well as the completed B73 reference genome sequence, have ...

Anatomical and morphological studies of tropical crop plants are widely scattered in journals and reference books. This literature is all too often inaccessible to students and researchers in the developing countries of the tropics. In addition, the structure of many crops has never been carefully studied. These factors present a significant constraint on the teaching of and research in tropica...