Bananas are a key food source for millions, whilst their production supports the livelihood of farmers across the globe. However, recent research has identified the vulnerability of particular banana varieties to major pests and diseases. With the banana industry under threat of extinction, more research is required into understanding the biology of the pests and diseases that pose this threat so that more effective management strategies can be developed and the risk of fu...

This book features five peer-reviewed reviews on understanding and tackling Fusarium wilt in global banana production.The first chapter examines the way in which monoculture has affected the banana industry and discusses the available banana varieties, the advent of the Cavendish variety and the need to develop new banana varieties.The second chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the history, epidemiology and management of F. oxysporum forma specialis cubense Race 1 ...

Bananas are a staple food for over 500 million people and are also an important cash crop. Fusarium wilt, caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense, is one of the most destructive diseases of banana globally. Since the 1990s, an aggressive variant of this fungus, called Tropical Race 4 (TR4), severely affected banana plantations in Southeast Asia from where it spread to other continents, including Latin America, where the global banana export market is primari...

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is an environment-friendly method of pest control that integrates well into area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programmes. This book takes a generic, thematic, comprehensive, and global approach in describing the principles and practice of the SIT. The strengths and weaknesses, and successes and failures, of the SIT are evaluated openly and fairly from a scientific perspective. The SIT is applicable to some major pests of plant-, animal-, and h...

Fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) pests have a profound impact on horticultural production and economy of many countries. It is fundamental to understand their biology and evaluate methods for their suppression, containment, or eradication*. Area-Wide Management of Fruit Fly Pests* comprises contributions from scientists from around the world on several species of tephritids working on diverse subjects with a focus on area-wide management of these pests.The first three sections of t...

Biological Control: Global Impacts, Challenges and Future Directions of Pest Management provides a historical summary of organisms and main strategies used in biological control, as well as the key challenges confronting biological control in the 21st century.Biological control has been implemented for millennia, initially practised by growers moving beneficial species from one local area to another. Today, biological control has evolved into a formal science that provides...

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This book provides a fresh, updated and science-based perspective on the current status and prospects of the diverse array of topics related to the potato, and was written by distinguished scientists with hands-on global experience in research aspects related to potato. The potato is the third most important global food crop in terms of consumption. Being the only vegetatively propagated species among the world’s main five staple c...

Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including non-target species, air, water and soil. The extensive reliance on insecticide use reduces biodiversity, contributes to pollinator decline, destroys habitat, and threatens endangered species. This book offers a more effective application of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, on an area-wide (AW) or population-wide (AW-IPM) basis, which aims at the management of ...

Insects as Sustainable Food Ingredients: Production, Processing and Food Applications describes how insects can be mass produced and incorporated into our food supply at an industrial and cost-effective scale, providing valuable guidance on how to build the insect-based agriculture and the food and biomaterial industry. Editor Aaron Dossey, a pioneer in the processing of insects for human consumption, brings together a team of international experts who effectively summarize the current sta...

This open access book presents simple, robust pre-field screening protocols that allow plant breeders to screen for enhanced tolerance to heat stress in rice. Two critical heat-sensitive stages in the lifecycle of the rice crop are targeted – the seedling and flowering stages – with screening based on simple phenotypic responses. The protocols are based on the use of a hydroponics system and/or pot experiments in a glasshouse in combination with a controlled growth chamber where the heat s...

With the current world population growth of 1.2%, the earth can expect to house 9-10 billion people by 2050. Food production, too, must increase to accommodate these numbers. Easy growing, high calorie, nutritious foods, such as bananas are the top priority as a solution to this imminent problem. The first comprehensive compendium on bananas in rec

Assesses developments in genetic resources, genomic information and their application in marker-assisted breeding of cassava;Reviews advances in breeding new varieties with enhanced properties such as higher yield, enhanced nutritional value and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses;Discusses advances in understanding cassava pests and diseases and integrated pest management techniques