High-quality seed is essential for healthy crops and greater agricultural productivity. At the same time, advances in breeding technology require equivalent advances in seed technology. In order to ensure food security, it is crucial to develop seeds that are high yielding, and resistant to drought, heat, cold, and insects.
Gathering the latest research in seed sciences, the book includes contributions on seed production in crops such as legumes, sugar, rice, wheat and other cereals. It discusses a range of topics, like the effect of climate change on seed quality, production and storage; seed rouging; seed certification for different crop species; seed biology; and seed pathologies and their effective management. Integrating basic and applied research, this compendium provides valuable insights for researchers and students in agricultural and life sciences; professionals involved in seed certification and those working in quarantine laboratories; as well as plant pathologists.
About the Author: Ajay K. Tiwari, PhD, is a Scientific Officer at the UP Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahanpur, UP, India. He completed his PhD on Cucurbit viruses at the CCS University, Meerut, UP, India, in 2011. He is a member of the British Society of Plant Pathology, Indian Phytopathological Society, Sugarcane Technologists Association of India, International Society of Sugarcane Technologists, Society of Sugarcane Research and Promotion, Prof H. S. Srivastava Foundation, and Society of Plant Research. He has published 75 research articles and 12 review articles in respected national and international journals. He has also published six book chapters and has also authored seven books published by Springer, Taylor & Francis, and Nova. He has submitted more than 200 plant pathogen nucleotide sequences to Genbank.
Dr. Tiwari is a regular reviewer and member of the editorial boards of several international journals, and is managing editor of Sugar Tech (IF 1.08) and chief editor of the Agrica journal. He received the CIPAM Young Researcher Award in 2011, and the DST-SERB Young Scientist Award, and was nominated for the Narshiman Award by the Indian Phytopathological Society. He was selected for the Young Scientist Award by the Chief Minister of the State Government of UP for his outstanding contributions in the area of plant pathology, and was the recipient of many international travel awards conferred by DST, DBT, and CSIR in India; PATHOLUX in Luxembourg; and IOM in Brazil. He has attended conferences and workshops China, Italy, Germany, Vietnam and Thailand, and has delivered invited talks on phytoplasma diseases of sugarcane in Vietnam and Thailand. He also received a post-doctoral fellowship from Oman and DST India.
He is currently involved in research on the molecular characterization and management of agricultural plant pathogens, and the production of healthy sugarcane seed materials and their distribution in UP through cane societies.
