Linking Research to Crop Production

by Richard C. Staples (Editor)

Overview

In 1941, The Rockefeller Foundation sent a team of three American agricultural scientists to Mexico to survey the pros­ pects for increasing grain production there. The nature of the program that was subsequently established by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations has had a large influence upon the evolu­ tion of agricultural research for the developing countries, and the project grew into what is now called the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution has been vastly successful because there was abundant research and technology available to draw upon. Now the Green Revolution has evolved into a very complex program of development; the momentum has slowed; and it appears that the time has come to reconstruct the research base which underlies the cropping systems for the third world. What are some of the problems that we face? The expanding world population is taking up more living space just when land is urgently needed to feed the 6.3 billion persons projected for the year 2000. The causes of the population problem are deeply imprinted in the social pattern of most countries, and certainly there are no simple solutions in a nation unwilling to restrain population growth. The problem of population growth, and others like it, is very much a sociological problem.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468410235
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	02/18/2012
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1980
Pages:	235
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

Linking Basic Research to Crop Improvement Programs in Developing Countries.- Agricultural Research in Developing Countries.- Application of Basic Research in Crop Improvement.- Areas of Greater Value to Developing Countries.- The Evaluation and Removal of Constraints to Crop Production.- Unique Significance of Asia and of Rice.- Rice as the Food Staple of the Poor.- Three Sources of More Food.- The Potential Performing Gap.- Constraints on Rice Yields in the Tropics.- Research to Remove Constraints.- Research to Permit Tolerance of the Stresses.- Research to Support the “Factory”.- Symbiotic Alliances.- Crop Improvement.- The Need for Improved Technology.- Technology Development.- Conservation and Utilization of Genetic Resources.- Crop Improvement.- Objectives in Crop Improvement at the Centers.- Pest Resistance.- Breeding for Adverse Environments.- Plant Quarantine.- Basic Research.- Conclusions.- The Role of Physiology in Crop Improvement.- Limitations on the Contributions of Plant Physiology.- Photosynthesis and Yield.- Yield Usually is Limited by Environmental Factors.- How to Increase the Contributions of Plant Physiology.- General Discussion.- Summary.- Blue Roses and Black Tulips: Is the New Plant Genetics Only Ornamental?.- Some of the Components of the New Genetics.- Completely Defined Cellular Systems are Not Required for Use in Crop Improvement.- What Kind of Genetic Variability is Agronomically Desirable?.- Envoi.- Biomass Production and Utilization.- Nature of Linkage and Consequences.- Funding Allocation for Agricultural R and D.- Biomass Conversion.- Arid Land Plants.- Basic Research in Biomass Production: Scientific Opportunities and Organizational Challenges.- Basic Research Needs.- Relation of Net Photosynthesis and Photorespiration to CropYield.- The Glycolate Pathway of Photorespiration and its Regulation.- Producing Mutants of Higher Plants by Selections on Plant Cells.- Economic Benefits of Agricultural Research.- The Organization of Science for Maximum Effectiveness.- Biological Nitrogen Fixation: A Fertilizer Strategy Potentially Beneficial for the Poor in Developing Countries.- Nitrogen Fixation by Pure Cultures of Rhizobium.- Glutamine Synthetase in Rhizobium.- Experimentally-Induced Bacteroids?.- Organic Nitrogenous Compounds Synthesized for Transport and Assimilation.- The Recognition/Infection Process in Legumes.- Relationship Between Photosynthesis and Nitrogen Fixation.- Efficiency of Nitrogen Fixation in Legumes.- Characteristics of the Molybedenum Iron Cofactor of Nitrogenase.- Non-legume, Symbiotic Nitrogen-fixing Systems: Alnus.- Non-legume, Symbiotic Nitrogen-fixing Systems: Azolla.- Concluding Remarks.- Translating Basic Research on Biological Nitrogen Fixation to Improved Crop Production in Less-Developed Countries — A User’s View.- General Approaches to Meeting Nitrogen Needs.- Advances and Impacts of Nitrogen Input Research.- The What’s Wrong With and Opportunities for Improvement of Biological N2 Fixation.- Steps in Legume N2 Fixation.- Possible Future Technologies.- Concluding Thoughts.- Linking Basic Research to Crop Improvement Programs for the Less-Developed Countries: Biological Control of Insects.- The Scale of the Rural Problem.- Mixed Cropping Entomology.- Conventional Attitude to Crop Resistance.- Insects as Chemists.- The Future of Crop Protection in the Developing Countries.- Use of Predators and Parasitoids in Biological Control.- The Empirical Basis of Biological Control.- The Theoretical Basis of Biological Control.- Some Classical Examples IllustratingEcological Principles.- Manipulations to Conserve and Augment Resident Natural Enemies.- Programs Integrating Chemical and Biological Control.- Toward More Rational Policy.- Technical Constraints to Increased Resource Productivity.- The Role of Research.- The Dilemma.- Why the Dilemma?.- The Bottom Line.- The Role of Scientific Research in Rural Development.- Contributors.- Author Index.