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The physiology of tropical crop production
382
The crop model record: promise of poor show? - - N.G. Seligman A multiple goal programming basis for analysing agricultural research and development - - H. van Keulen Integrating crops and livestock in southern Mali: rural development or environmental degradation? - - H.J. Breman International agricultural research for developing countries - - C.T. de Wit Despite the wide range of topics, the book has a unifying theme in the use of simulation models as an aid to understanding the operation, performance and management of complex biological systems. For this reason the volume fits comfortably in the Simulation Monographs Series and is a fitting tribute to a man who pioneered and fostered this approach to agricultural research. The list of authors includes many well-known names in agricultural research who will attract readers. Those authors have variously interpreted their contributions so that the book is a mixture of reflections and reviews together with original research contributions. The papers are solid, tightly presented and well edited. Many readers might concentrate on a few chapters close to their own expertise but the real value of the volume is that it provides an opportunity for the experienced to inform themselves of the state of development and current thinking in a number of related aspects of theoretical production ecology. In summary, the book will be a valuable addition to libraries of universities and research institutes. It provides an up-to-date summary of the development and application of simulation models in a number of aspects of agricultural research and management. It will also be a treasured addition to the personal collections of those many scientists who respect de Wit's great contribution to agricultural science. D.J. CONNOR School of Agriculture & Forestry Plant & Soil Science Section The University of Melbourne Parkville, Vic. 3052, Australia
PHYSIOLOGY OF TROPICAL CROP PRODUCTION
The Physiology of Tropical Crop Production. G.R. Squire, 1990. CAB International, UK. 236 pp., paperback, £ 13.95/US$ 24.50, ISBN 0-85198-6773. This is an excellent book that examines the way the physiological processes of tropical crops are influenced by environmental factors, namely solar radiation, temperature, photoperiod, saturation deficit, soil water and nutrients.
383 The effects of plant population density are also considered. The work is based largely on the research funded by the U K Overseas Development Administration which examined the physiological control of yield of pear millet, grain sorghum and groundnut by temperature and drought. The subject matter in this book is extended to cover more physiological processes and environmental factors (e.g. nutrients) and more tropical crops (including maize, sugarcane, pigeon pea, cassava, tea and oil palm). To keep the book to a workable size, the research presented is selective, with examples largely from developing countries in the tropics. This does not detract from the value of the book, and I think it is a valuable contribution to tropical crop physiology. The physiology of yield is examined in terms of four types of processes - development, expansion, productivity (both in terms of solar radiation intercepted and water transpired) and partitioning of dry matter. Throughout the text, the effects of solar radiation, temperature, water and nutrients on these processes are examined in terms of a duration and a mean rate. For example, leaf canopy development is examined in terms of an expansion rate governed largely by temperature and a duration governed largely by temperature and photoperiod. Then, restrictions to the rate and duration of loaf canopy development due to solar radiation, saturation deficit, water and nutrient supply are considered. The first five chapters of the book consider the key physiological processes. The chapter titles are: 1. Control of Development; 2. The Leaf Canopy and Root System; 3. Dry Matter Production by Interception and Conversion of Solar Radiation; 4. Transpiration and Dry Matter Production; and 5. Partition of Assimilate. The final chapter (6. Environmental and Physiological Control of Yield) attempts to draw together the responses of crops to environment and cultivation. Yield is analysed in terms of supply-limitation (water-limited) and demand-limitation (radiation-limited). Then, the physiological responses to nutrients, plant population density and mixed cropping are considered, and finally, species are compared in terms of their main physiological attributes. Perhaps my one disappointment with the book is its lack of application of the physiological understanding to the solution of agricultural problems. The main value of the physiological understanding, described so well in the book, is in the development of crop growth simulation models. Given that most crops in the tropics are grown under variable and relatively unpredictable environmental conditions, it is impossible to sample sufficient growing seasons to obtain the mean response and assess the climatic risk to production, using conventional field experimentation. Consequently crop physiologists should view crop simulation as an adjunct to field experimentation. The author alludes to this need in his concluding remarks, but I think it would have rounded the book out nicely if a final chapter had been devoted to the application of this physiological knowledge.
384 About two years ago, I reviewed the book An Introduction to the Physiology of Crop Yieldby R.K.M. Hay and A.J. Walker (Field Crops Res., 23: 75-76) which used a similar approach, but practically all their examples were from temperature agriculture. I think that both books complement each other extremely well, and when used in combination would be excellent text material for modem day university training in crop physiology and for quantitative agronomic field research. R.C. MUCHOW CSIRO CunninghamLaboratory 306 CarmodyRoad St. Lucia, Qld., 4067, Australia
PLANT PROTOPLASTSAND GENETIC ENGINEERING
Plant Protoplasts and Genetic Engineering, Vol. I & H (Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, Volumes 8 & 9). Y.P.S. Bajaj (Editor), 1989. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York. Hardcover, 444 pp. ( 152 figures) & 499 pp. (141 figures), DM 378 & 398, ISBN 3-540-19194-1 & 3-540-50789-2 (Berlin, Heidelberg, New York); ISBN 0-387-19194-1 & 0387-50789-2 (New York, Berlin, Heidelberg). Manipulations with plant protoplasts are of interest to crop scientists because they can generate improved plants that could not have been obtained by conventional breeding. Such manipulations include protoplast fusion to introduce nuclear or cytoplasmic genomes from other plants and transfer of DNA sequences with no taxonomic limits. Direct introduction of DNA into regenerable protoplasts is of particular importance for cereal crops because transformed cereal plants have not been obtained using Agrobacterium vectors. These two books are part of an impressive series of volumes, all edited by Y.P.S. Bajaj, dealing with plant biotechnology. They provide an excellent overview of all aspects of plant protoplast technology. Volume I contains 28 chapters, of which the first six deal with general issues in protoplast work (i.e. selection of enzymes, assessment of viability, plating, cryopreservation, etc. ). The chapter by Schnabl and Zimmermann suggests some novel applications of immobilized protoplasts in assays for ecotoxins, a reminder that protoplasts can be useful in ways that do not require plant regeneration. Another 12 chapters present procedures for isolation, culture, plant regeneration (when possible) and sometimes fusion of protoplasts of various crops (including rice, potato, Citrus, Linum and Glycine). Each chapter includes extensive technical information about factors affecting protoplast culture, with many
The crop model record: promise of poor show? - - N.G. Seligman A multiple goal programming basis for analysing agricultural research and development - - H. van Keulen Integrating crops and livestock in southern Mali: rural development or environmental degradation? - - H.J. Breman International agricultural research for developing countries - - C.T. de Wit Despite the wide range of topics, the book has a unifying theme in the use of simulation models as an aid to understanding the operation, performance and management of complex biological systems. For this reason the volume fits comfortably in the Simulation Monographs Series and is a fitting tribute to a man who pioneered and fostered this approach to agricultural research. The list of authors includes many well-known names in agricultural research who will attract readers. Those authors have variously interpreted their contributions so that the book is a mixture of reflections and reviews together with original research contributions. The papers are solid, tightly presented and well edited. Many readers might concentrate on a few chapters close to their own expertise but the real value of the volume is that it provides an opportunity for the experienced to inform themselves of the state of development and current thinking in a number of related aspects of theoretical production ecology. In summary, the book will be a valuable addition to libraries of universities and research institutes. It provides an up-to-date summary of the development and application of simulation models in a number of aspects of agricultural research and management. It will also be a treasured addition to the personal collections of those many scientists who respect de Wit's great contribution to agricultural science. D.J. CONNOR School of Agriculture & Forestry Plant & Soil Science Section The University of Melbourne Parkville, Vic. 3052, Australia
PHYSIOLOGY OF TROPICAL CROP PRODUCTION
The Physiology of Tropical Crop Production. G.R. Squire, 1990. CAB International, UK. 236 pp., paperback, £ 13.95/US$ 24.50, ISBN 0-85198-6773. This is an excellent book that examines the way the physiological processes of tropical crops are influenced by environmental factors, namely solar radiation, temperature, photoperiod, saturation deficit, soil water and nutrients.
383 The effects of plant population density are also considered. The work is based largely on the research funded by the U K Overseas Development Administration which examined the physiological control of yield of pear millet, grain sorghum and groundnut by temperature and drought. The subject matter in this book is extended to cover more physiological processes and environmental factors (e.g. nutrients) and more tropical crops (including maize, sugarcane, pigeon pea, cassava, tea and oil palm). To keep the book to a workable size, the research presented is selective, with examples largely from developing countries in the tropics. This does not detract from the value of the book, and I think it is a valuable contribution to tropical crop physiology. The physiology of yield is examined in terms of four types of processes - development, expansion, productivity (both in terms of solar radiation intercepted and water transpired) and partitioning of dry matter. Throughout the text, the effects of solar radiation, temperature, water and nutrients on these processes are examined in terms of a duration and a mean rate. For example, leaf canopy development is examined in terms of an expansion rate governed largely by temperature and a duration governed largely by temperature and photoperiod. Then, restrictions to the rate and duration of loaf canopy development due to solar radiation, saturation deficit, water and nutrient supply are considered. The first five chapters of the book consider the key physiological processes. The chapter titles are: 1. Control of Development; 2. The Leaf Canopy and Root System; 3. Dry Matter Production by Interception and Conversion of Solar Radiation; 4. Transpiration and Dry Matter Production; and 5. Partition of Assimilate. The final chapter (6. Environmental and Physiological Control of Yield) attempts to draw together the responses of crops to environment and cultivation. Yield is analysed in terms of supply-limitation (water-limited) and demand-limitation (radiation-limited). Then, the physiological responses to nutrients, plant population density and mixed cropping are considered, and finally, species are compared in terms of their main physiological attributes. Perhaps my one disappointment with the book is its lack of application of the physiological understanding to the solution of agricultural problems. The main value of the physiological understanding, described so well in the book, is in the development of crop growth simulation models. Given that most crops in the tropics are grown under variable and relatively unpredictable environmental conditions, it is impossible to sample sufficient growing seasons to obtain the mean response and assess the climatic risk to production, using conventional field experimentation. Consequently crop physiologists should view crop simulation as an adjunct to field experimentation. The author alludes to this need in his concluding remarks, but I think it would have rounded the book out nicely if a final chapter had been devoted to the application of this physiological knowledge.
384 About two years ago, I reviewed the book An Introduction to the Physiology of Crop Yieldby R.K.M. Hay and A.J. Walker (Field Crops Res., 23: 75-76) which used a similar approach, but practically all their examples were from temperature agriculture. I think that both books complement each other extremely well, and when used in combination would be excellent text material for modem day university training in crop physiology and for quantitative agronomic field research. R.C. MUCHOW CSIRO CunninghamLaboratory 306 CarmodyRoad St. Lucia, Qld., 4067, Australia
PLANT PROTOPLASTSAND GENETIC ENGINEERING
Plant Protoplasts and Genetic Engineering, Vol. I & H (Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, Volumes 8 & 9). Y.P.S. Bajaj (Editor), 1989. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York. Hardcover, 444 pp. ( 152 figures) & 499 pp. (141 figures), DM 378 & 398, ISBN 3-540-19194-1 & 3-540-50789-2 (Berlin, Heidelberg, New York); ISBN 0-387-19194-1 & 0387-50789-2 (New York, Berlin, Heidelberg). Manipulations with plant protoplasts are of interest to crop scientists because they can generate improved plants that could not have been obtained by conventional breeding. Such manipulations include protoplast fusion to introduce nuclear or cytoplasmic genomes from other plants and transfer of DNA sequences with no taxonomic limits. Direct introduction of DNA into regenerable protoplasts is of particular importance for cereal crops because transformed cereal plants have not been obtained using Agrobacterium vectors. These two books are part of an impressive series of volumes, all edited by Y.P.S. Bajaj, dealing with plant biotechnology. They provide an excellent overview of all aspects of plant protoplast technology. Volume I contains 28 chapters, of which the first six deal with general issues in protoplast work (i.e. selection of enzymes, assessment of viability, plating, cryopreservation, etc. ). The chapter by Schnabl and Zimmermann suggests some novel applications of immobilized protoplasts in assays for ecotoxins, a reminder that protoplasts can be useful in ways that do not require plant regeneration. Another 12 chapters present procedures for isolation, culture, plant regeneration (when possible) and sometimes fusion of protoplasts of various crops (including rice, potato, Citrus, Linum and Glycine). Each chapter includes extensive technical information about factors affecting protoplast culture, with many