Springer Phenomics in Crop Plants: Trends, Options and Limitations

Identification of desirable genotypes with traits of interest is discernible for making genetic improvement of crop plants. In this direction, screening of a large number of germplasm for desirable traits and transfer of identified traits into agronomic backgrounds through recombination breeding is the common breeding approach. Although visual screening is easier for qualitative traits, its use is not much effective for quantitative traits and also for those, which are difficult to score visually. Therefore, it is imperative to phenotype the germplasm accessions and breeding materials precisely using high throughput phenomics tools for challenging and complex traits under natural, controlled and harsh environmental conditions. Realizing the importance of phenotyping data towards identification and utilization of a germplasm as donors, global scientific community has exerted increased focus on advancing phenomics in crop plants leading to development of a number of techniques and methodologies for screening of agronomic, physiological, and biochemical traits. These technologies have now become much advanced and entered the era of digital science. This book provides exhaustive information on various aspects related to phenotyping of crop plants and offers a most comprehensive reference on the developments made in traditional and high throughput phenotyping of agricultural crops. From the Back Cover Identification of desirable genotypes with traits of interest is discernible for making genetic improvement of crop plants. In this direction, screening of a large number of germplasm for desirable traits and transfer of identified traits into agronomic backgrounds through recombination breeding is the common breeding approach. Although visual screening is easier for qualitative traits, its use is not much effective for quantitative traits and also for those, which are difficult to score visually. Therefore, it is imperative to phenotype the germplasm accessions and breeding materials precisely using high throughput phenomics tools for challenging and complex traits under natural, controlled and harsh environmental conditions. Realizing the importance of phenotyping data towards identification and utilization of a germplasm as donors, global scientific community has exerted increased focus on advancing phenomics in crop plants leading to development of a number of techniques and methodologies for screening of agronomic, physiological, and biochemical traits. These technologies have now become much advanced and entered the era of digital science. This book provides exhaustive information on various aspects related to phenotyping of crop plants and offers a most comprehensive reference on the developments made in traditional and high throughput phenotyping of agricultural crops. About the Author Dr. Jitendra Kumar, born in 1973, is presently working as a Senior Scientist in the Division of Crop Improvement at Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur. He has an excellent research career throughout. He secured Gold Medal during masters’ programme and pursued his Ph.D. in Genetics & Plant Breeding from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, India. He was awarded CSIR-Research Associateship during 2003-2005 for postdoctoral studies at the Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu (India). He has more than 14 years of research experience in genetic improvement using both conventional and molecular marker-assisted breeding approaches on various crops including sunflower, medicinal and aromatic, cereal and pulse crops. He has done work on development of SSR markers, identification of QTLs for preharvest sprouting and high grain protein content and marker assisted breeding in wheat for pyramiding the preharvest sprouting tolerance and high grain protein content and leaf rust resistance and developed a number of lines. During this period, he undertook study tours of several countries includ