This contributed volume covers recent advancements in the development of climate-resilient agriculturally important crops by focusing on climate change, crop cultivation, crop breeding, and the application of novel biotechnological approaches in line with attaining second Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger.
Climate-smart agriculture is a concept aimed at transforming and reorienting agricultural production systems to ensure food security in the ever-evolving situation of climate change. Widespread alterations in rainfall and temperature patterns have threatened agricultural production and elevated the vulnerability of human dependency on agriculture for food, feed, and fiber. Additionally, global food demand is estimated to increase to feed the estimated global population of 9.7 billion by the year 2050. Climate change, food, and nutritional insecurity pose the greatest challenges for the farming community, researchers, the private sector, civil society, and policymakers to develop more sustainable solutions ensuring food security, plant adaptability, and the mitigation of adverse effects on sustainable food production systems. This book will cover three pillars defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for climate-smart agriculture: sustainable increase in agricultural production, adaptation, and plant resilience under climate change, and mitigation of environmental degradation through intensive agricultural practices. Furthermore, the book also highlights technological innovations taking place across different disciplines of agriculture to cater to both biotic and abiotic factors in agronomically important crops.
This book serves as a useful resource documenting all recent developments made to achieve sustainable crop production. It is an interesting read for master’s and doctoral-level students, academics, scientists, and researchers in the field of agronomy and agricultural biotechnology.
Sajid Fiaz, PhD, is an assistant professor working at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lahore, Pakistan and serving as adjunct scholar with Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, China. Dr. Fiaz received his PhD in crop genetics and breeding from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Dr. Fiaz’s research interests include marker-assisted selection for agronomic traits, mutation breeding for biotic and abiotic stress resistance, QTL mapping, and genome editing for yield and quality traits in cereals. Currently, his lab group is working to identify genetic factors controlling drought stress tolerance in exotic and local landraces of rice. Dr. Fiaz is actively supervising undergraduate and post-graduate students. He has published more than approximately 170 research and review papers and around 12 book chapters with prestigious scientific magazines. He has been working as an academic editor for several journals. Dr. Fiaz has edited books with reputed publishers on food security, genome editing, OMICs based technology.
Umair Ashraf, PhD, is an assistant professor, at the department of botany, University of Education, Lahore (Faisalabad Campus). He completed his PhD in ‘Crop Cultivation and Farming Systems’ from South China Agricultural University (SCAU), Guangzhou, China. During his PhD, he was declared a “Distinguished International Young Scholar” by the China Scholarship Council. His research mainly focuses on the morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular basis of crop responses to various abiotic stresses and their management. He devised promising strategies for improving crop performance under sub-optimum conditions and suggested various novel indicators and effective management strategies augmenting stress tolerance in crop plants. He has published many research articles in SCI journals, and various book chapters with renowned publishers. He serves as a reviewer of several refereed journals and acts as an academic editor of several journals, also an active member of national and international scientific societies.
Dr. Kotb A. Attia, working as an associate professor at center of excellence in biotechnology research, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He completed his PhD in, “Genetic Engineering and Functional Genomics” from Fudan University, China, and pursued his postdoctoral from Niigata University, Japan; Melbourne University, Australia; Toronto University, Canada. He has good experience with genetics from genes to genomes, genetic engineering, gene cloning and DNA analysis, functional genomics, microbial genetics, and bioinformatics. His research mainly focuses on physiological, morphological, and biochemical attributes of different plant species for achieving high yield and quality, stress breeding, genome editing, genome-wide association analysis, and improvement of crop physiological traits under climate change conditions. He has published several articles in scientific magazines and served as a reviewer, guest editor, and editorial board member. He is also actively engaged with various national and international scientific societies.
Dr. Muhammad Rai Amir is working as an associate professor at the Institute of Food and Nutritional Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and an additional director of industrial linkage at the same University. He is a seasoned academician and researcher with vast experience in the field of food science and nutrition. Dr. Rai has a PhD in food sciences and has made significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge in this field through his cutting-edge research and innovative teaching methods. He has a proven track record of excellence in teaching and has been instrumental in the development of several graduate programs in food science and nutrition and has published high-quality research articles that have been widely cited and recognized. Dr. Rai Muhammad Amir is also a highly regarded editor of several research international journals and has played a pivotal role in shaping the direction of research in food science and nutrition.
