Maize Methods

Our perceptions and conceptions regarding the roles and importance of maize to ancient economies is largely a product of scientific research on the plant itself, developed for the most part out of botanical research, and its recent role as one of the most important economic staples in the world. Anthropological research in the early part of the last century based largely upon the historical particularistic approach of the Boasian tradition provided the first evidence that challenged the assumptions about the economic importance of maize to sociocultural developments for scholars of prehistory. Subsequent ethnobotanic and archaeological studies showed that the role of maize among Native American cultures was much more complex than just as a food staple.

Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world due to its high-yield potential. The economic and nutritional value of maize grains is associated with its starch content, protein, fibre, bioactive compounds, and minerals. Maize is used worldwide in the preparation of health-benefiting, antioxidant-rich, fortified products and dietary supplements.

This book discusses ways to achieve sustainable production of cereals via agronomy, breeding, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. Chapters review research, examine challenges, and present prospects in the field. This volume is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and scientists interested and working in the area of sustainable crop production.

Transgenic plants serve as essential tools for research in plant biology and are the basis of modern agricultural biotechnology. In Transgenic Plants: Methods and Protocols, leading scientists describe readily reproducible techniques they have perfected for the genetic transformation and regeneration of plants. The authors cover the most commonly used transformation systems, including Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Agrobacterium rhizogenes, particle bombardment, electroporation, floral-dip, and chloroplast transformation, as well as the regeneration of whole transgenic plants by organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis from different explant cells/tissues and from such diverse plant species as tomato, cassava, conifers, and citrus.

Maize; Farming; Crops

This book presents the state of the art of some of the natural sources of phenolic compounds, for example, medicinal plants, grapes or blue maize, as well as the modern methods of extraction, quantification, and identification, and there is a special section discussing the treatment, removal, and degradation of phenols, an important issue in those phenols derived from the pharmaceutical or petrochemical industries.