Particular focus on improving functional traits needed for more resilient poultry breedsComprehensive coverage of key advances in genomic selection and their practical application in breeding improved breeds of layers and broilersLooks forward to emerging trends such as the use of epigenetics and genome editing

The fungi are a highly diverse kingdom of eukaryotic microbes. Recent advances in molecular genetics, together with the release of whole genome sequences of an increasing number of fungi, are facilitating their exploitation and commercialisation. Fungi have the ability to secrete large quantities of proteins of commercial value, and their complex secondary metabolic pathways produce a diverse range of bioactive compounds which have had a major impact in the pharmaceuticals market. In addit...

As the oldest and largest human intervention in nature, the science of agriculture is one of the most intensely studied practices. From manipulation of plant gene structure to the use of plants for bioenergy, biotechnology interventions in plant and agricultural science have been rapidly developing over the past ten years with immense forward leaps on an annual basis. This book begins by laying the foundations for plant biotechnology by outlining the biological aspects including gene struc...

Plant Defense provides an overview of all major aspects of plant defence, including defence against pathogens, parasites, and invertebrate and vertebrate herbivores. The book looks at defense mechanisms including structural and chemical defences, and constitutive and inducible defences. Including details of how plants 'sense' attack and how this is communicated within the plant and also to neighbouring plants, how plants coordinate defence responses to simultaneous multiple attack...

A fully revised review of the latest research in molecular basis of plant abiotic stress response and adaptationAbiotic stressors are non-living environmental stressors that can have a negative impact on a plants ability to grow and thrive in a given environment. Stressors can range from temperature stress (both extreme heat and extreme cold) water stress, aridity, salinity among others. This book explores the full gamut of plant abiotic stressors and plants molecu...

Discusses ways of ensuring genetic diversity, advances in wheat breeding and their use to improve properties such as drought resistance and cold tolerance;Summarises research on factors affecting nutritional and other aspects of wheat quality;Reviews advances in understanding wheat pests and diseases together with ways of controlling them such as disease-resistant varieties, integrated pest and weed management

Under continual attack from both microbial pathogens and multicellular parasites, insects must cope with immune challenges every day of their lives. However, this has not prevented them from becoming the most successful group of animals on the planet. Insects possess highly-developed innate immune systems which have been fine-tuned by an arms race with pathogens spanning hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary history. Recent discoveries are revealing both an unexpected degree of spe...

This book includes the most essential contributions presented at the 17th Evolutionary Biology Meeting in Marseille, which took place in September 2013. It consists of 18 chapters organized according to the following categories:· Molecular and Genome Evolution· Phylogeography of Speciation and Coevolution· Exobiology and Origin of LifeThe aims of the annual meetings in Marseille, which bring together leading evolutionary biologists and other scientists using...

Life history theory seeks to explain the evolution of the major features of life cycles by analyzing the ecological factors that shape age-specific schedules of growth, reproduction, and survival and by investigating the trade-offs that constrain the evolution of these traits. Although life history theory has made enormous progress in explaining the diversity of life history strategies among species, it traditionally ignores the underlying proximate mechanisms. This novel book argues that ...

Environmental stress is one of the most significant factors affecting livestock performance and health, and it is only expected to increase with effects of global warming. Environmental Physiology of Livestock brings together the latest research on environmental physiology, summarizing progress in the field and providing directions for future research. Recent developments in estimating heat stress loads are discussed, as well as key studies in metabolism, reproduction, and genetic...

This book collates the most up to date information on Fragaria, and Rubus genomes. It focuses on the latest advances in the model system Fragaria vesca, along with the allied advances in economically important crops. Covering both basic and applied aspects of crop genomics, it illustrates strategies and resources for the study and utilization of genome sequences and aligned functional genomics resources.Rosaceous berries are collectively an increasingly important set of high-value ...

This book examines how the growing knowledge of the huge range of protist-, animal-, and plant-bacterial interactions, whether in shared ecosystems or intimate symbioses, is fundamentally altering our understanding of biology. The establishment and maintenance of these interactions and their contributions to the health and survival of all partners relies on continuous cell-to-cell communication between them. This dialogue may be concerned with all aspects of the biology of both partners. T...