- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
As the world's population rises to an expected ten billion in the next few generations, the challenges of feeding humanity and maintaining an ecological balance will dramatically increase. Today we rely on just four crops for 80 percent of all consumed calories: wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans. Indeed, reliance on these four crops may also mean we are one global plant disease outbreak away from major famine.
In this revolutionary and controversial book, Jonathan Gressel argues that alternative plant crops lack the genetic diversity necessary for wider domestication and that even the Big Four have reached a "genetic glass ceiling": no matter how much they are bred, there is simply not enough genetic diversity available to significantly improve their agricultural value. Gressel points the way through the glass ceiling by advocating transgenicsâa technique where genes from one species are transferred to another. He maintains that with simple safeguards the technique is a safe solution to the genetic glass ceiling conundrum. Analyzing alternative cropsâincluding palm oil, papaya, buckwheat, tef, and sorghumâGressel demonstrates how gene manipulation could enhance their potential for widespread domestication and reduce our dependency on the Big Four. He also describes a number of ecological benefits that could be derived with the aid of transgenics.
A compelling synthesis of ideas from agronomy, medicine, breeding, physiology, population genetics, molecular biology, and biotechnology, Genetic Glass Ceilings presents transgenics as an inevitable and desperately necessary approach to securing and diversifying the world's food supply.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword by Klaus AmmannâThe Needs for Plant Biodiversity: The General Case
- Preface
- 1 Why Crop Biodiversity?
- 2 Domestication: Reaching a Glass Ceiling
- 3 Transgenic Tools for Regaining Biodiversity: Breaching the Ceiling
- 4 Biosafety Considerations with Further Domesticated Crops
- 5 Introduction to Case Studies: Where the Ceiling Needs to be Breached
- 6 Evil Weevils or Us: Who Gets to Eat the Grain?
- 7 Kwashiorkor, Diseases, and Cancer: Needed: Food without Mycotoxins
- 8 Emergency Engineering of Standing Forage Crops to Contain PandemicsâTransient Redomestication
- 9 Meat and Fuel from Straw
- 10 Papaya: Saved by Transgenics
- 11 Palm Olive Oils: Healthier Palm Oil
- 12 Rice: A Major Crop Undergoing Continual Transgenic Further Domestication
- 13 Tef: The Crop for Dry Extremes
- 14 Buckwheat: The Crop for Poor Cold Extremes
- 15 Should Sorghum Be a Crop for the Birds and the Witches?
- 16 Oilseed Rape: Unfinished Domestication
- 17 Reinventing Safflower
- 18 Swollen Necks from Fonio Millet and Pearl Millet
- 19 Grass Pea: Take This Poison
- 20 Limits to Domestication: Dioscorea deltoidea
- 21 Tomato: Bring Back Flavr Savrâ˘: Conceptually
- 22 Orchids: Sustaining Beauty
- 23 Olives: and Other Allergenic, Messy Landscaping Species
- Epilogue
- References
- Index