Description
Book SynopsisCombines new findings on morphological aspects, the latest data on gene function in grasses, and the interaction of grasses with their habitats
45% of all arable land is covered by five grass crops: wheat, maize, rice, barley and sugar cane. This book demonstrates why crops and weeds are growing in characteristic environments today, and looks at how cropping practices may change in the future and how these changes will affect weed spectra. It explains the distribution of grasses and their role for mankind and summarizes our knowledge on grass genomes. Special emphasis is placed on the function of genes at defined developmental stages and in organs of grasses. The development of grasses is then described from the germination to fruit set with many unpublished examples.
Grasses: Crops, Competitors and Ornamentals provides readers with a comparative description of selected grass organs (stem, root, leaf, inflorescence) and devotes several chapters to habitat
Table of Contents
List of Contributors vii
Foreword ix
Acknowledgements xi
Part I Introduction 1
1 Introduction 3
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
Part II Grass Genomics 11
2 Grass Sequencing Projects 13
Todd Gaines
3 Grass Gene Sequences and Traits 25
Hansjoerg Krähmer and Todd Gaines
Part III Morphological and Physiological Characteristics of Grasses 29
4 Flower and Inflorescence 31
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
5 Fertilisation and Fruit Development 89
Hansjoerg Kraehmer and Peter Baur
6 Seedlings 165
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
7 Leaf 195
Hansjoerg Kraehmer and Peter Baur
8 Shoots 233
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
9 Roots 435
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
10 Growth Forms of Grasses 447
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
11 Grass Surfaces 457
Hansjoerg Kraehmer and Peter Baur
Part IV Grasses as Crops 485
12 Arable Crops 487
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
13 Bamboos 491
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
14 Dominance of Grasses as Crops 495
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
Part V Grasses as Weeds 497
15 Dominance of Grasses as Weeds 499
Hansjoerg Kraehmer and Carl Bell
Part VI Grasses as Ornamentals 503
16 What Makes Grasses Attractive Ornamentals, and Where? 505
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
Part VII Natural Habitats of Grasses 517
17 Native Grasslands 519
Carl Bell
Part VIII Conclusions 549
18 Why Have Grasses Become So Successful? 551
Hansjoerg Kraehmer
Index 555
