9 Books found
Springer-Verlag GmbH Books
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A Biomass Future for the North American Great Plains
The Great Plains of North America is a major global breadbasket but its agriculture is stressed by drought, heat spells, damaging winds, soil erosion and declining ground water resources. The great inter-annual variability in crop production and declining rural populations weaken an economy already highly dependent upon government support. The region’s ecological fragility and economic weakness is attributed by many to removal of its original ...
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Agroforestry for Commodity Production: Ecological and Social Dimensions
Agroforestry systems have been touted as sustainable production systems that alleviate many of the environmental problems associated with modern production systems. Are they indeed ecologically and economically sustainable? Using case studies from around the globe, this book highlights the potential of agroforestry systems to produce a broad range of commodities. In addition to addressing the biophysical and socioeconomic dimensions of producing ...
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Desert Plants
Vast areas of Earth's landmass exist as deserts, representing quite distinct ecosystems. Desert plants and animals have evolved specialised survival strategies to cope with the harsh environment of high temperatures and scarce water resources. The life-supporting vegetation of deserts is characterised by its unique reproductive biology, metabolism and adaptive characters. Plants like Prosopis cineraria and date palm form the basis of the rural ...
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Genetic Improvement of Bioenergy Crops
Ethanol as an alternative fuel is receiving a lot of attention because it addresses concerns related to dwindling oil supplies, energy independence, and climate change. The majority of the ethanol in the US is produced from corn starch. With the US Department of Energy’s target that 30% of the fuel in the US is produced from renewable resources by 2030, the anticipated demand for corn starch will quickly exceed the current production of corn. ...
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Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Dicotyledons
The Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants represents the first comprehensive taxonomic treatment of succulents in thirty years. It covers over 9000 taxa of all succulents except Cactaceae.The volume on dicotyledonous families embraces succulents from 47 families and 161 genera, further 8 families are shortly mentioned. Thus, a total of over 2000 species and 500 infraspecific taxa are covered. The families Didiereaceae, Fouquieriaceae and ...
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East Africa´s Grasses and Fodders: Their Ecology and Husbandry
This book is based on more than 1000 references to English and French articles produced in the region over many decades. A comprehensive review of the achievements in farming and research in both wet and dryland is given, related to the grasslands of: Eastern Africa, extending from Malawi to Eritrea, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan and eastern Zaire. Sown grasses, within the ...
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Economics of Sustainable Energy in Agriculture
This book contains up-to-date studies on the economics of sustainable energy in agriculture. The studies focus on energy efficiency improvement and the use of biomass. Specific attention is paid to the economic aspects of land use and the competition for land, both for food production and dedicated energy crops. The book will be of special interest to economists, agronomists, energy experts, and politicians that deal with energy issues in ...
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High-Tech and Micropropagation V
This volume, fifth in the series High-Tech and Micropropagation, contains 24 chapters arranged in the following three sections:I. Vegetables and Fruits: garlic, Amaranthus, Brassica oleracea, pepper, watermelon, cassava, banana, Myrtus communis, passionfruit, Polymnia sonchifolia, pepino, and spinach.II. Grasses: bamboos, Caustis dioica, Dendrocalamus, Miscanthus x giganteus, sugarcane.III. Trees: Aegle marmelos, Eucalyptus, Fraxinus excelsior, ...
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New Crops for Temperate Regions
This book covers underutilized and new crops which have the potential to be developed and exploited across temperate cropping zones. Contents include details of opportunities and markets for high value crops and the use of new crops for production of biomass, fibre, timber, starch, oils and fats. It will be of great use to researchers and policy makers involved in agriculture, food and feed science. ...