Book Description

A ‘textbook’ plant typically comprises about 85% waterand 13.5% carbohydrates. The remaining fraction contains at least14 mineral elements, without which plants would be unable tocomplete their life cycles. Understanding plant nutrition and applying this knowledge topractical use is important for several reasons. First, anunderstanding of plant nutrition allows fertilisers to be used morewisely. Second, the nutritional composition of crops must betailored to meet the health of humans and livestock. Third, manyregions of the world are currently unsuitable for crop production,and an understanding of plant nutrition can be used to developstrategies either for the remediation of this land or for thecultivation of novel crops. That application of knowledge of plant nutrition can be achievedthrough genotypic or agronomic approaches. Genotypic approaches,based on crop selection and / or breeding (conventional or GM),have recently begun to benefit from technological advances,including the completion of plant genome sequencing projects. Thisbook provides an overview of how plant nutritional genomics,defined as the interaction between a plant's genome and itsnutritional characteristics, has developed in the light ofthese technological advances, and how this new knowledge mightusefully be applied. This is a book for researchers and professionals in plantmolecular genetics, biochemistry and physiology, in both theacademic and industrial sectors.