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Molecular biology and crop improvement: A case study of wheat, oilseed rape and faba beans
206
Book Reviews
W o r l d Crop Pests (Editor-in-Chief W. Helle). Volumes IA and 1B:
Spider Mites: Their Biology, Pests of Rice and their Natural Enemies in Peninsular Malaysia, by G. van Vreden and Abdul Latif Ahmadzabidi. ISBN 90-220-0890-8 (viii+230 pp; Dfl 50.00; US$20.00 outside USA and Canada). Wageningen: Pudoc. 1986. The colour plates are strikingly well presented and I'm sure they serve the stated purpose of this book: to be an aid to the recognition of the insect fauna of rice. There are photographs of most of the species of importance that one is likely to encounter, and the book would make an excellent field guide as the set of photographs, in a spiral binding, with plastic-covered pages, and with brief notes to help identification. Instead, the figures are separated by rather more text about the biology, ecology, pest status and, if appropriate, the control of each species. This information is at a fairly general level and as such makes a good introduction to rice pests. Many of the comments are specific to the pest situation in Peninsular Malaysia, reducing the international portability of much of the text. The first 25 pages make a very readable cameo of rice cultivation and pest management in Peninsular Malaysia. The remaining 170 pages are devoted to a detailed catalogue of the pests and their natural enemies. The catalogue is divided broadly into these two groups and, within the groups, ordering is by family. The index has only scientific names. This means that the student, armed with something in a specimen tube and this book, will either have to know some basic entomology or spend a long time looking. The book is, nevertheless, a valuable reference. A tangible picture can be
obtained of unfamiliar species which would form a useful foundation for more specific enquiries. JOHNSON HOLT
Molecular Biology and Crop Improvement: A Case Study of Wheat, Oilseed Rape and Faba Beans, by R. B. Austin with R. B. Flavell, I. E. Henson and H. J. B. Lowe. ISBN 0521 32725 3 (x+ 114 pp; £17.50; $29.95). Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press for the Commission of the European Community. 1986. This excellent book will be especially useful to the agricultural biotechnologist since it gives a realistic appraisal of the plant breeder's viewpoint, breeding objectives and requirements for the improvement of the crops dealt with. Commissioned by the European Communities, Division for Genetics and Biotechnology and written by scientists from the Plant Breeding Institute at Cambridge, which is well known for its excellence in technology transfer, it assesses the opportunities for the application of molecular biology to the improvement of wheat, oilseed rape and faba beans. After a brief introduction, there is a chapter on crop improvement by breeding; this examines the rationale of traditional methods, their limitations, identifies where improvements are needed and discusses the physiological basis of yield, pest and disease resistance and seed quality. These same topics are taken up later in individual chapters on wheat, oilseed rape and faba beans. Another chapter is devoted to molecular biology and its potential application to crop improvement and includes suggestions as to how
molecular biology might be used for crop improvement. Non-traditional biotechnological uses of crops and raw materials are considered to be beyond the scope of the book and are briefly dismissed. Individual chapters are devoted to the three crops, wheat, oilseed rape and faba beans and each presents a detailed survey of the biological limitations to yield, the pests and diseases of the crop, the latter particularly comprehensively, and discusses grain quality, but with minimum details of the potential use of a molecular biological approach. However, the needs for the application of molecular biology to the improvement of the three crops are included, in table form, in a short concluding chapter. This chapter also lists the status of the development of the techniques of molecular biology. In addition, it is concluded that recombinant DNA technology offers many entirely new opportunities for directed crop improvement, which may supplement existing techniques, but that it has not yet been demonstrated to be generally useful; hopefully the next two decades should see the new technology properly tried and tested. In order for this to come about, it will be necessary to identify precise objectives which are both biologically feasible and economically desirable. Where conventional methods can be used to improve plants, these will often be preferable to the use of the new technology, but the latter may be the only means for transferring genes from widely different organisms. In any case, four broad areas are identified as being particularly amenable to study by using molecular biological methods: these are photosynthesis, water relations, seed composition and pest and disease resistance. D. BOULTER
Other publications received Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry (series ed. by Y. P. S. Bajaj): Volume 2, Crops I, ed. by Y. P. S. Bajaj. ISBN 3-540-15842-I (xviii+ 608 pp; DM 348.00). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
CROP PROTECTION Vol. 6 June 1987
Plant Biology, Volume 1. Phloem Transport, ed. by James Cronshaw, William J. Lucas and Robert T. Giaquinta. ISBN 0-8451-1800-5. (xxix+ 650 pp; £60.00). New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc. (Distributors in Europe, U K and East and West Africa: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Baffins Lane, Chichester, Sussex, PO19 1UD) 1986.
Plant Biology, Volume 2. Regulation of Chloroplast Differentiation, ed. by George Akoyunoglou and Horst Senger. ISBN 0-8451-1801-3. (xxvi+790 pp; £63.00). New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc. (Distributors in Europe, U K and East and West Africa: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Baffins Lane, Chichester, Sussex, PO19 1UD) 1986.
Book Reviews
W o r l d Crop Pests (Editor-in-Chief W. Helle). Volumes IA and 1B:
Spider Mites: Their Biology, Pests of Rice and their Natural Enemies in Peninsular Malaysia, by G. van Vreden and Abdul Latif Ahmadzabidi. ISBN 90-220-0890-8 (viii+230 pp; Dfl 50.00; US$20.00 outside USA and Canada). Wageningen: Pudoc. 1986. The colour plates are strikingly well presented and I'm sure they serve the stated purpose of this book: to be an aid to the recognition of the insect fauna of rice. There are photographs of most of the species of importance that one is likely to encounter, and the book would make an excellent field guide as the set of photographs, in a spiral binding, with plastic-covered pages, and with brief notes to help identification. Instead, the figures are separated by rather more text about the biology, ecology, pest status and, if appropriate, the control of each species. This information is at a fairly general level and as such makes a good introduction to rice pests. Many of the comments are specific to the pest situation in Peninsular Malaysia, reducing the international portability of much of the text. The first 25 pages make a very readable cameo of rice cultivation and pest management in Peninsular Malaysia. The remaining 170 pages are devoted to a detailed catalogue of the pests and their natural enemies. The catalogue is divided broadly into these two groups and, within the groups, ordering is by family. The index has only scientific names. This means that the student, armed with something in a specimen tube and this book, will either have to know some basic entomology or spend a long time looking. The book is, nevertheless, a valuable reference. A tangible picture can be
obtained of unfamiliar species which would form a useful foundation for more specific enquiries. JOHNSON HOLT
Molecular Biology and Crop Improvement: A Case Study of Wheat, Oilseed Rape and Faba Beans, by R. B. Austin with R. B. Flavell, I. E. Henson and H. J. B. Lowe. ISBN 0521 32725 3 (x+ 114 pp; £17.50; $29.95). Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press for the Commission of the European Community. 1986. This excellent book will be especially useful to the agricultural biotechnologist since it gives a realistic appraisal of the plant breeder's viewpoint, breeding objectives and requirements for the improvement of the crops dealt with. Commissioned by the European Communities, Division for Genetics and Biotechnology and written by scientists from the Plant Breeding Institute at Cambridge, which is well known for its excellence in technology transfer, it assesses the opportunities for the application of molecular biology to the improvement of wheat, oilseed rape and faba beans. After a brief introduction, there is a chapter on crop improvement by breeding; this examines the rationale of traditional methods, their limitations, identifies where improvements are needed and discusses the physiological basis of yield, pest and disease resistance and seed quality. These same topics are taken up later in individual chapters on wheat, oilseed rape and faba beans. Another chapter is devoted to molecular biology and its potential application to crop improvement and includes suggestions as to how
molecular biology might be used for crop improvement. Non-traditional biotechnological uses of crops and raw materials are considered to be beyond the scope of the book and are briefly dismissed. Individual chapters are devoted to the three crops, wheat, oilseed rape and faba beans and each presents a detailed survey of the biological limitations to yield, the pests and diseases of the crop, the latter particularly comprehensively, and discusses grain quality, but with minimum details of the potential use of a molecular biological approach. However, the needs for the application of molecular biology to the improvement of the three crops are included, in table form, in a short concluding chapter. This chapter also lists the status of the development of the techniques of molecular biology. In addition, it is concluded that recombinant DNA technology offers many entirely new opportunities for directed crop improvement, which may supplement existing techniques, but that it has not yet been demonstrated to be generally useful; hopefully the next two decades should see the new technology properly tried and tested. In order for this to come about, it will be necessary to identify precise objectives which are both biologically feasible and economically desirable. Where conventional methods can be used to improve plants, these will often be preferable to the use of the new technology, but the latter may be the only means for transferring genes from widely different organisms. In any case, four broad areas are identified as being particularly amenable to study by using molecular biological methods: these are photosynthesis, water relations, seed composition and pest and disease resistance. D. BOULTER
Other publications received Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry (series ed. by Y. P. S. Bajaj): Volume 2, Crops I, ed. by Y. P. S. Bajaj. ISBN 3-540-15842-I (xviii+ 608 pp; DM 348.00). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
CROP PROTECTION Vol. 6 June 1987
Plant Biology, Volume 1. Phloem Transport, ed. by James Cronshaw, William J. Lucas and Robert T. Giaquinta. ISBN 0-8451-1800-5. (xxix+ 650 pp; £60.00). New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc. (Distributors in Europe, U K and East and West Africa: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Baffins Lane, Chichester, Sussex, PO19 1UD) 1986.
Plant Biology, Volume 2. Regulation of Chloroplast Differentiation, ed. by George Akoyunoglou and Horst Senger. ISBN 0-8451-1801-3. (xxvi+790 pp; £63.00). New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc. (Distributors in Europe, U K and East and West Africa: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Baffins Lane, Chichester, Sussex, PO19 1UD) 1986.