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Breeding oilseed brassicas
Book reviews / Field Crops Research 37 (1994) 145-148
147
(2) Better Selections - Better Accuracy of yield estimates implies that better selections can be made. (3) Better Models- he believes that the AMMI models are helpful for understanding large complex data sets. (4) Better Experiments- with the efficiency of AMMI he believes it is possible to test more genotypes with fewer replications. As a statistician used to analysing most experiments using ANOVA or regression methods, I found this book very interesting. I was not clear who it was mainly aimed for. It appears to be trying to appeal both to agriculturalists and statisticians. However, I wonder
whether many agriculturalists will have a sufficiently strong statistical background to benefit fully from this book. I would suggest, however, that it is probably worth them persevering to try to find out about a method which could become much more common in the years to come.
Breeding Oilseed Brassicas
topics are not covered with adequate precision, e.g. the review of oil and meal quality contains the following inaccuracies. The upper limit for the glucosinolate content of meal is not 10/zmol/g defatted dry matter, as stated on p. 87, but rather 30/.~mol of aliphatic glucosinolates per g of air-dry, oil-free meal in Canada, or 20 /xmol of total glucosinolates per g whole seed in Europe. The aromatic glucosinolates are not mentioned, glucosinolates are equated with their breakdown products in Table 1, and an incorrect Josefsson reference is given in the first paragraph on p. 81, the last two sentences of which don't make sense. I believe the editors should have chosen other authors or coauthors for this chapter. The lack of an international perspective, however, is not restricted to the Indian authors, e.g. Thurling, writing from Western Australia, doesn't mention the salinity and sodicity stresses prevalent in India, China and elsewhere, or the physiological traits needed for multiple cropping systems. He also could have covered root characteristics, particularly the lack of mycorrhizae and the presence of special mineral uptake mechanisms. The subject matter of some chapters is not well integrated with that of others. This applies particularly to the newer subjects like genetic engineering and wide hybridisation, where the practitioners are not well trained in the application of their results to plant improvement. Thus, it should be pointed out that the production of hybrids between the oilseed brassicas and their distant relatives within the family Brassicaceae is much easier and quicker than the subsequent transfer of useful genes into oilseed cultivars. Similarly, the genetic engineers should admit that they have so far
Breeding Oilseed Brassicas. K.S. Labana, S.S. Banga and S.K. Banga (Editors). Springer-Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-540-55854-3, and Narosa Publishing House, ISBN 81-85198-36-5, xvii+251 pp. DM178.00, £70. This book is published as Volume 19 of the useful series of Monographs on Theoretical and Applied Genetics edited by a panel coordinated by R. Frankel. It consists of 14 reviews written by 23 authors, mostly from India. The chapters document in considerable depth our knowledge of the biology of the four oilseed Brassica species, B. napus L., B. rapa L., B. juncea (L.) Czern. & Coss. and B. carinata A. Braun, from the points of view of their origins, breeding objectives and methodologies, heterosis breeding, physiological constraints, bioenergetics, oil and meal quality, rescue of embryos from wide crosses, genome manipulations, nuclear-cytoplasm genome manipulations, transformation and transgenics, isozymes, and resistance to diseases, insects and freezing. The wide coverage of the various facets of Brassica genetics and breeding, and the depth to which each topic is explored, make this an excellent source book for students and practising scientists. Over 1000 papers published up to early 1990 have been cited; the authors are indexed, as is the subject matter. A book of such wide scope and mixed authorship cannot be expected to satisfy the needs of all readers. Not surprisingly, there is some emphasis on matters largely of concern in India. Conversely, some other
Dr. C.J. Dyer Rothamsted Experimental Station Harpenden, HerO~ordshire AL5 2JQ, UK SSDI0378-4290(94)00023-6
148
Book reviews/Field Crops Research 37 (1994) 145-148
isolated very few genes which are truly useful in solving real-world problems. The suggestion on p. 161 that metaUothionein gene products introduced into crop plants could sequester enough heavy metal ions to decontaminate polluted soils is overly optimistic. Once more, better guidance of the authors by the editors would have given a better-balanced account. The book is sprinkled with other flaws that could have been eliminated by better refereeing. Indians are not used to the technicalities of the English language. The word "the" is particularly troublesome, being omitted or inserted incorrectly on nearly every page. Spelling errors are more common than they should be, e.g. "homoelogy" on p. 3 and "phyllogenetic" on p. 137. The quality of the taxonomy is variable, and often poor, e.g.B, rapa should be used instead of B. campestris and Sinapsis alba instead of B. hirta. More significantly, errors of fact or logic should have been more thoroughly weeded out, e.g. on p. 70, it is incorrect to claim that a harvest index of 20% on a dry matter basis would increase to 39--45% on an energy content basis. On p. 88, it is incorrectly stated that the low glucosinolate trait is only expressed in genotypes having the cytoplasm of cv. Bronowski. The concentration of glucosinolates in a seed is determined by the genotype of its female parent, rather than by its own genotype, but this is because glucosinolates are translocated into the seed during its development, not because glucosinolate concentration is maternally inherited. The reinstatement by the publisher of punctuation marks in the references is strongly recommended. Already their omission has led to a remarkable mistake in this book. Apparently, the authors of Chapter 11 have been misled by the practice into believing that the name of the famous scientist N. U, who first depicted the evolutionary relationships of the diploid and tetraploid
brassicas in the well-known triangular diagram, is actually UN! And who can blame them, because that is the way it is written throughout the reference sections in this book (pp. 7, 133, 167 and 180) and no doubt in other books from this publisher. Why not at least leave .a space between t h e " U " and the " N " , to be consistent with the treatment of multi-letter surnames and their initials? But surely it's better to use correct punctuation to avoid such confusion? Some areas ofBrassica R&D are developing rapidly, making some sections of the book already out of date. Medical opinion on the fatty acid composition of oils which is best for arterial health in particular has changed considerably since Chapter 6 was written. The suggestion that palmitic acid should be increased would now be strongly opposed, because stearic acid currently is the preferred saturated fat for margarine manufacture. Oleic acid concentrations above 65% are now preferred to linolenic acid concentrations above 30%. In summary, this book is an extremely useful source of information and references, but it is not without some lapses in scholarship. It is however, rather expensive in the Springer area of distribution (DM 178, £70, $Aust. 146). Fortunately, co-publishers Narosa are charging much less in the developing countries (Rs 675, $Aust. 31 ). Hopefully, there will be a second edition published soon with better editing, better refereeing, fewer mistakes and acceptable prices. Rex N. Oram CSIRO Division of Plant Industry G.P.O. Box 1600 Canberra, A.C.T. 2601 Australia SSDIO378-4290(94)OOO30-G
147
(2) Better Selections - Better Accuracy of yield estimates implies that better selections can be made. (3) Better Models- he believes that the AMMI models are helpful for understanding large complex data sets. (4) Better Experiments- with the efficiency of AMMI he believes it is possible to test more genotypes with fewer replications. As a statistician used to analysing most experiments using ANOVA or regression methods, I found this book very interesting. I was not clear who it was mainly aimed for. It appears to be trying to appeal both to agriculturalists and statisticians. However, I wonder
whether many agriculturalists will have a sufficiently strong statistical background to benefit fully from this book. I would suggest, however, that it is probably worth them persevering to try to find out about a method which could become much more common in the years to come.
Breeding Oilseed Brassicas
topics are not covered with adequate precision, e.g. the review of oil and meal quality contains the following inaccuracies. The upper limit for the glucosinolate content of meal is not 10/zmol/g defatted dry matter, as stated on p. 87, but rather 30/.~mol of aliphatic glucosinolates per g of air-dry, oil-free meal in Canada, or 20 /xmol of total glucosinolates per g whole seed in Europe. The aromatic glucosinolates are not mentioned, glucosinolates are equated with their breakdown products in Table 1, and an incorrect Josefsson reference is given in the first paragraph on p. 81, the last two sentences of which don't make sense. I believe the editors should have chosen other authors or coauthors for this chapter. The lack of an international perspective, however, is not restricted to the Indian authors, e.g. Thurling, writing from Western Australia, doesn't mention the salinity and sodicity stresses prevalent in India, China and elsewhere, or the physiological traits needed for multiple cropping systems. He also could have covered root characteristics, particularly the lack of mycorrhizae and the presence of special mineral uptake mechanisms. The subject matter of some chapters is not well integrated with that of others. This applies particularly to the newer subjects like genetic engineering and wide hybridisation, where the practitioners are not well trained in the application of their results to plant improvement. Thus, it should be pointed out that the production of hybrids between the oilseed brassicas and their distant relatives within the family Brassicaceae is much easier and quicker than the subsequent transfer of useful genes into oilseed cultivars. Similarly, the genetic engineers should admit that they have so far
Breeding Oilseed Brassicas. K.S. Labana, S.S. Banga and S.K. Banga (Editors). Springer-Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-540-55854-3, and Narosa Publishing House, ISBN 81-85198-36-5, xvii+251 pp. DM178.00, £70. This book is published as Volume 19 of the useful series of Monographs on Theoretical and Applied Genetics edited by a panel coordinated by R. Frankel. It consists of 14 reviews written by 23 authors, mostly from India. The chapters document in considerable depth our knowledge of the biology of the four oilseed Brassica species, B. napus L., B. rapa L., B. juncea (L.) Czern. & Coss. and B. carinata A. Braun, from the points of view of their origins, breeding objectives and methodologies, heterosis breeding, physiological constraints, bioenergetics, oil and meal quality, rescue of embryos from wide crosses, genome manipulations, nuclear-cytoplasm genome manipulations, transformation and transgenics, isozymes, and resistance to diseases, insects and freezing. The wide coverage of the various facets of Brassica genetics and breeding, and the depth to which each topic is explored, make this an excellent source book for students and practising scientists. Over 1000 papers published up to early 1990 have been cited; the authors are indexed, as is the subject matter. A book of such wide scope and mixed authorship cannot be expected to satisfy the needs of all readers. Not surprisingly, there is some emphasis on matters largely of concern in India. Conversely, some other
Dr. C.J. Dyer Rothamsted Experimental Station Harpenden, HerO~ordshire AL5 2JQ, UK SSDI0378-4290(94)00023-6
148
Book reviews/Field Crops Research 37 (1994) 145-148
isolated very few genes which are truly useful in solving real-world problems. The suggestion on p. 161 that metaUothionein gene products introduced into crop plants could sequester enough heavy metal ions to decontaminate polluted soils is overly optimistic. Once more, better guidance of the authors by the editors would have given a better-balanced account. The book is sprinkled with other flaws that could have been eliminated by better refereeing. Indians are not used to the technicalities of the English language. The word "the" is particularly troublesome, being omitted or inserted incorrectly on nearly every page. Spelling errors are more common than they should be, e.g. "homoelogy" on p. 3 and "phyllogenetic" on p. 137. The quality of the taxonomy is variable, and often poor, e.g.B, rapa should be used instead of B. campestris and Sinapsis alba instead of B. hirta. More significantly, errors of fact or logic should have been more thoroughly weeded out, e.g. on p. 70, it is incorrect to claim that a harvest index of 20% on a dry matter basis would increase to 39--45% on an energy content basis. On p. 88, it is incorrectly stated that the low glucosinolate trait is only expressed in genotypes having the cytoplasm of cv. Bronowski. The concentration of glucosinolates in a seed is determined by the genotype of its female parent, rather than by its own genotype, but this is because glucosinolates are translocated into the seed during its development, not because glucosinolate concentration is maternally inherited. The reinstatement by the publisher of punctuation marks in the references is strongly recommended. Already their omission has led to a remarkable mistake in this book. Apparently, the authors of Chapter 11 have been misled by the practice into believing that the name of the famous scientist N. U, who first depicted the evolutionary relationships of the diploid and tetraploid
brassicas in the well-known triangular diagram, is actually UN! And who can blame them, because that is the way it is written throughout the reference sections in this book (pp. 7, 133, 167 and 180) and no doubt in other books from this publisher. Why not at least leave .a space between t h e " U " and the " N " , to be consistent with the treatment of multi-letter surnames and their initials? But surely it's better to use correct punctuation to avoid such confusion? Some areas ofBrassica R&D are developing rapidly, making some sections of the book already out of date. Medical opinion on the fatty acid composition of oils which is best for arterial health in particular has changed considerably since Chapter 6 was written. The suggestion that palmitic acid should be increased would now be strongly opposed, because stearic acid currently is the preferred saturated fat for margarine manufacture. Oleic acid concentrations above 65% are now preferred to linolenic acid concentrations above 30%. In summary, this book is an extremely useful source of information and references, but it is not without some lapses in scholarship. It is however, rather expensive in the Springer area of distribution (DM 178, £70, $Aust. 146). Fortunately, co-publishers Narosa are charging much less in the developing countries (Rs 675, $Aust. 31 ). Hopefully, there will be a second edition published soon with better editing, better refereeing, fewer mistakes and acceptable prices. Rex N. Oram CSIRO Division of Plant Industry G.P.O. Box 1600 Canberra, A.C.T. 2601 Australia SSDIO378-4290(94)OOO30-G