Since 1991, the Rice Genome Research Program in Japan has carried out rice genomics, such as large-scale cDNA analysis, construction of a fine-scale restriction fragment length polymorphism map, and physical mapping of the rice genome with yeast artificial chromosome clones. These studies have made a great impact on research into grass genomes and made rice a model plant for other cereal crop r...

Methods for the transformation of barley using Agrobacterium-mediated techniques have been available for the past 10 years. Agrobacterium offers a number of advantages over biolistic-mediated techniques in terms of efficiency and the quality of the transformed plants produced. This chapter describes a simple system for the transformation of barley based on the infection of immature embryos with...

The epidermal patterning factor (EPF) family of secreted signaling peptides regulate the frequency of stomatal development in model dicot and basal land plant species. Here, we identify and manipulate the expression of a barley (Hordeum vulgare) ortholog and demonstrate that when overexpressed HvEPF1 limits entry to, and progression through, the stomatal development pathway. Despite substantial...

The epidermal patterning factor (EPF) family of secreted signaling peptides regulate the frequency of stomatal development in model dicot and basal land plant species. Here, we identify and manipulate the expression of a barley (Hordeum vulgare) ortholog and demonstrate that when overexpressed HvEPF1 limits entry to, and progression through, the stomatal development pathway. Despite substantial...

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is one of the globally important cereal crop after wheat, maize, rice and barley. Sorghum is a unique crop among the major cereals and the staple food and fodder crop of the world’s poor and most food-insecure populations, located primarily in the semi-arid tropics. Sorghum is grown on 43.81 million ha area in the world, producing about 65.42 million tonnes grain wi...

Crop cultivation intensifies globally, which can jeopardize biodiversity and the resilience of cropping systems. We investigate changes in crop rotations as one intensification metric for half croplands Germany with annual field-level land-use data from 2005 to 2018. proxy sequences compare how these changed among three seven-year periods. The results reveal an overall high diversity Germany. H...

Increased understanding of the substantial threat climate change poses to agriculture has not been met with a similarly improved understanding of how best to respond. Here we examine likely shifts in crop climates in Sub-Saharan Africa under climate change to 2050, and explore the implications for agricultural adaptation, with particular focus on identifying priorities in crop breeding and the ...

The world population is projected to become a staggering 8.3 billion by 2030 from about 6 billion today, which will aggravate food insecurity especially in developing countries [31]. By 2050, developing countries will account for 93% of cereal and 85% of meat demand growth [73]. In agricultural crop production systems, insects, diseases and weeds continue to threaten sustainability and account ...

Approximately 80% of human food is composed of crops, which are dominated by cereals that collectively make up 50% of global food production (Langridge and Fleury, 2011). Among cereal crops, rice, wheat, and maize provide approximately half of the calories consumed worldwide. Nevertheless, crop production is seriously hampered by influential abiotic stresses like drought, climate fluctuations, ...

Livestock, particularly ruminants, can eat a wider range of biomass than humans. In the drive for greater efficiency, intensive systems of livestock production have evolved to compete with humans for high-energy crops such as cereals. Feeds consumed by livestock were analysed in terms of the quantities used and efficiency of conversion of grassland, human-edible ('edible') crops and crop by-pro...