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Books in Agricultural and biological sciences

The Agricultural and Biological Sciences collection advances science-based knowledge for the improvement of animal and plant life and for secure food systems that produce nutritious, novel, sustainable foods with minimal environmental impact. Food Science titles include not only those products from agriculture but all other aspects from food production to nutrition, health and safety, chemistry to security, policy, law and regulation. Biological Sciences address animal behaviour and biodiversity, organismal and evolutionary biology, entomology, marine biology and aquaculture, plant science and forestry.

  • Cadmium Contamination in Soils and Plants

    Mechanisms and Mitigation
    • 1st Edition
    • Fang-Jie Zhao + 2 more
    • English
    Cadmium Contamination in Soils and Plants presents a rigorous, up-to-date account of how this toxic metal enters agricultural landscapes, persists in soils, interacts with living systems, and ultimately affects food safety and human health. The volume synthesizes cutting-edge findings on the processes that drive Cd movement from soil to crops and clarifies the biological pathways by which plants and microorganisms respond. It translates scientific insight into practical solutions for safer agricultural production systems, drawing on recent advances in measurement, modeling, and remediation.This book is intended for researchers, graduate students, and professionals across environmental science, agronomy, and public health who need an authoritative, research-grounded reference to inform decisions in cultivation-related settings.
  • Starches in Smart Packaging

    • 1st Edition
    • Swarup Roy + 1 more
    • English
    Starches in Smart Packaging explores the innovative use of biodegradable, starch-based polymers in developing sustainable packaging solutions. Derived from natural resources such as maize, rice, and tubers, starch is a non-toxic, eco-friendly material with great potential to replace conventional plastics. This book addresses the growing need for environmentally responsible packaging by covering research from laboratory studies to industrial applications, focusing on smart packaging for food preservation, quality monitoring, and active packaging functionalities. The content includes detailed discussions on starch extraction processes, fabrication techniques, and methods to enhance properties like barrier, thermal, and mechanical performance. It also examines the incorporation of bioactives, nanomaterials, natural colorants, and cross-linkers to create advanced packaging materials. The book highlights applications in extending shelf life, monitoring food freshness, and ensuring safety, alongside considerations for large-scale production, biodegradability, and sustainability. Additionally, it discusses regulatory frameworks, consumer acceptance, and future challenges in the field. Designed for researchers, industry professionals, and policymakers, Starches in Smart Packaging provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements, environmental benefits, and potential hurdles. It is an essential resource for promoting eco-friendly, innovative packaging solutions aligned with sustainability goals.
  • Mineral Nutrients to Mitigate Abiotic Stress in Crops

    • 1st Edition
    • Azamal Husen
    • English
    Mineral Nutrients to Mitigate Abiotic Stress in Crops offers a clear and timely examination of the physiological and biochemical dynamics that govern how plants endure increasingly unpredictable growing conditions. The volume begins by outlining the fundamental principles that shape a crop’s capacity to acquire, distribute, and utilize nutrients, and then considers how these processes influence its survival and productivity when confronting drought, salinity, heat, or nutrient-induced stress. Across the chapters, contributors show how nutrient availability guides defense mechanisms—from maintaining cellular stability and enzymatic function to modulating antioxidant potential, osmotic adjustment, and stress-related signaling—and how intensifying environmental pressures reorder metabolic priorities, redirect root behaviour, and reallocate resources at the whole-plant level.Building on this foundation and proceeding in an intentionally structured sequence, this book integrates applied approaches encompassing soil and fertilizer systems, nutrient biofortification, and the breeding of nutrient-efficient cultivars. By integrating established science with emerging insights, it delivers a coherent, forward-looking framework for interpreting plant resilience and for implementing adaptive strategies that underpin effective responses in diverse cultivation contexts, thereby strategically equipping researchers and practitioners to navigate the increasingly complex challenges facing modern agriculture.
  • Medicinal Plant Biotechnology for Ameliorated Secondary Metabolite Production

    • 1st Edition
    • Saikat Gantait + 3 more
    • English
    Medicinal Plant Biotechnology for Ameliorated Secondary Metabolite Production delivers a cutting-edge perspective on how biotechnology is reshaping the way medicinal plants are studied and utilized. By integrating advanced molecular techniques, precision genetic tools, bioprocessing strategies, and analytical platforms, this volume addresses the critical challenge of enhancing the biosynthesis and optimization of high-value bioactive compounds.The book moves beyond technical innovation to emphasize its role in meeting global demand for plant-derived therapeutics while ensuring ecological balance. It highlights how advancements can drive sustainability, reduce reliance on synthetic alternatives, and open new pathways to ensure the long-term viability of plant genetic material and biodiversity preservation. This future-oriented approach makes the volume not just a specialized reference, but a strategic guide for shaping the next generation of plant-based functional solutions.Part of the Medicinal and Industrial Plants and Products series, this state-of-the-art resource boasts a holistic approach with relevance across stakeholders in academic and industrial contexts seeking practical insights that can be adapted to diverse plant species and scaled for real-world industrial and commercial uses.
  • Precision Technologies for Digital Agriculture

    Harnessing IoT, Big Data, Crop Modeling, and AI for Agricultural Production
    • 1st Edition
    • Sushil Kumar Himanshu + 2 more
    • English
    Precision Technologies for Digital Agriculture investigates the growing role of computational and connected approaches in contemporary agricultural environments, bringing together recent findings in artificial intelligence, sensing infrastructures, agroecosystem modeling, and data analytics to illustrate decisive shifts toward more accurate, forward-looking, and responsive decision-making.Earl... chapters set out the theoretical and technical underpinnings of digital and precision agriculture, addressing automation, data stewardship, privacy, and the development of dependable AI‑based tools. These foundations support a detailed overview of key technological building blocks, including remote and proximal sensing, geospatial platforms, machine vision, digital twins, and the Internet of Living Things, with emphasis on their contribution to integrated system management and optimized resource allocation.Later sections concentrate on applied methods across field operations. Topics include climate‑adaptive, smart irrigation, soil and microbial diagnostics, UAV‑enabled monitoring, and algorithmic frameworks to yield estimation and nutrient regulation. Across these chapters, attention is given to both implementation constraints and enabling factors, including interoperability, data security, and scalability.The volume concludes with regionally grounded case studies and economic assessments that explore adoption strategies, governance arrangements, and cost–benefit considerations across diverse crops and production settings. Together, these cutting-edge analyses provide a structured assessment of how digital technologies are being translated into transformative agricultural practice, and of the contextual conditions under which their effective use can be fully realized.
  • Harvesting the Sea

    Unveiling Marine Bioresources for Functional Foods and Human Health Enhancement
    • 1st Edition
    • Thilina Uduwaka Jayawardena + 2 more
    • English
    Harvesting the Sea: Unveiling Marine Bioresources for Functional Foods and Human Health Enhancement explores the remarkable potential hidden within the depths of our oceans. Encompassing over two-thirds of the Earth's surface, the marine ecosystem possesses an astonishing array of biodiversity and contains a trove of bioactive compounds that can revolutionize human health and wellbeing. In a world where functional foods are gaining prominence for their ability to provide targeted health benefits, this book delves into the untapped potential of marine bioresources and reveals the captivating journey of their discovery, sustainable utilization, and prospects. Written by a global team of experts, this book underscores the pressing need for innovative solutions in nutrition and healthcare. Modern lifestyles, stress, and the rise of chronic diseases demand a shift toward functional foods that promote well-being and disease prevention. Organized by marine bioresources, nutritional and bioactive compounds, functional food types, and therapeutic properties, chapters highlight the potential of marine-derived bioactive compounds and offer insights into their integration into functional foods. Through a meticulously researched exploration, readers are invited to understand how these compounds can contribute to a more vibrant and fulfilling life. With its interdisciplinary approach, Harvesting the Sea: Unveiling Marine Bioresources for Functional Foods and Human Health Enhancement is a valuable resource for nutritionists, food scientists, biotechnologists, researchers, and anyone intrigued by the profound relationship between our oceans and human health. As a bridge between conventional foods and dietary supplements, this book illuminates the path toward a healthier, more functional future through the wonders of marine bioresources.
  • Smart Aquaponic Farming

    An Intelligent Production System for Aquaponics
    • 1st Edition
    • Daoliang Li
    • English
    Smart Aquaponic Farming: An Intelligent Production System for Aquaponics describes the aquaponics AI factory, an ecologically efficient and sustainable multitrophic production model. While traditional aquaculture systems produce farming waste with environmental and food safety implications, the aquaponics model offers a circular organic production method that recycles and reuses aquatic waste to expand the ecological planting scene. Given recent developments in intelligent sensing, information processing, and agricultural equipment technologies, this book provides a much-needed technical guide for industry scientists and technicians. Written by leading experts in aquaculture biosystems engineering, this book reviews technology assembly, system realization, and industrial development of intelligent aquaponics AI factory models. Early chapters introduce the concept of AI factory infrastructure before exploring recirculating aquaculture systems, hydroponic planting systems, and various control systems to maintain air quality, water quality, and fish nutrition. Concluding chapters discuss AI factory system integration, sustainability evaluation, and global case studies of proof-of-concept systems. Smart Aquaponic Farming provides in-depth conceptual analyses, technical overviews, and case presentations to demonstrate the characteristics, advantages, and significance of industrial scale-up for aquaponics. It bridges the gap in disseminated knowledge on analysis, design, and implementation of aquaponics AI factories, making it an indispensable resource for aquaponics producers, technicians, industry scientists, and academics alike.
  • Harnessing Plant-Stimulating Molecules

    Innovations in Stress Biology and Crop Resilience
    • 1st Edition
    • M. Iqbal R. Khan + 1 more
    • English
    Harnessing Plant-Stimulating Molecules serves as an authoritative reference on the multifaceted molecular regulators and biotechnological innovations underpinning plant resilience to environmental stressors. This volume delivers an exhaustive treatment of diverse classes of signaling entities—including phytohormones, secondary messengers, secondary messengers, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, and heterotrimeric G proteins—elucidating their roles in complex stress adaptation pathways.In addition to molecular and biochemical foundations, this book explores advanced methodologies such as nanoparticle-facilit... metabolic modulation, RNA interference, and gene-editing strategies aimed at optimizing nutrient utilization. It also highlights the emerging significance of biostimulants in modulating plant–microbe interactions and interplant signaling networks. Detailed discussions on systemic signaling mediated by mobile molecules and photoreceptor-mediat... photomorphogenic responses further enrich the scope.By integrating cutting-edge approaches, particularly CRISPR–Cas systems, with computational modeling for simulating metabolic networks, the volume facilitates accelerated crop improvement strategies essential for addressing contemporary challenges in food security and agroecosystem sustainability.Desig... as an indispensable resource for researchers, advanced graduate students, and industry professionals, Harnessing Plant-Stimulating Molecules bridges fundamental plant molecular biology with translational biotechnology, fostering the development of resilient, high-performance crops adapted to the challenges of a changing climate.
  • Aquaculture with Artificial Intelligence

    Emerging Technologies for Sustainable Industry Development
    • 1st Edition
    • Baskaralingam Vaseeharan + 3 more
    • English
    Aquaculture with Artificial Intelligence: Emerging Technologies for Sustainable Industry Development will play in aquaculture and aquaculture-adjacent sectors in the coming years. The aquaculture industry faces various challenges, including environmental concerns, disease management, and resource optimization, and integrating AI into aquaculture practices can improve industry efficiency, sustainability, and overall productivity. This book explores how AI technologies such as machine learning for predictive analytics, computer vision for monitoring aquatic environments, and robotics for automated tasks can streamline various aspects of aquaculture requiring monitoring, management, and decision-making. Aquaculture with Artificial Intelligence: Smart Aquaculture is co-authored by a diverse team of experts bridging disciplines in aquaculture, aquatic immunology, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence. Early chapters provide a thorough introduction to the aquaculture industry to provide critical context for all audiences. Central chapters explore machine learning, bioimaging, drone technology, bioengineering, OMICs technologies, big data, and other AI technologies emerging in aquaculture. Global case studies highlight the practical applications of AI to various aspects of aquaculture operations, including automated feeding, water quality monitoring, disease protection, and precision aquaculture. The book concludes with a look to the future of the industry, research gaps, and opportunities for continued research. This is an essential read for aquaculturists, environmental scientists, data scientists, and roboticists interested in the intersection of aquaculture and AI.
  • Advances in Rice Research for Abiotic Stress Tolerance

    • 2nd Edition
    • Mirza Hasanuzzaman + 3 more
    • English
    Rice production is increasingly challenged by abiotic stresses—such as extreme temperatures, drought, salinity, and flooding—which undermine both yield and grain quality. Tackling these constraints is crucial for global food security and depends on improved farming practices, the development of resilient cultivars, and the adoption of emerging technologies.Advance... of Rice Research for Abiotic Stress Tolerance, Second Edition, integrates new research across multiple fronts, including advances in genetic markers, modern breeding approaches, and biotechnological tools. It updates readers on cutting‑edge methodologies to mitigate climate‑related impacts and introduces expanded content on microbiome‑driven resilience, sustainable cultivation and intensification techniques, and genome editing applications that enhance crop performance under environmental stress. By capturing current global trends alongside practical solutions in rice science, the volume serves researchers, educators, and professionals working across agronomy, plant physiology, molecular biology, soil science, and related disciplines.