In view of increasing global population, expected to reach 10 billion by 2050 and of the deriving shortage of natural resources, there is an urgent need to improve food production. Until a few years ago breeding has been limited to a low number of vegetal species, and agronomic technology has been directed mainly to achieve higher production yield and excellent postharvest quality. Nowadays, the increasing awareness of the necessity of a shift to sustainable productions is focusing the attention of researchers to other features (e.g., novel plant sources, drought tolerance, nutrient use efficiency, durable pest and disease resistance, environmental outcomes), all factors now recognized as greatly affecting the biodiversity and the sustainability of food productions. The goal of global food security will be achieved only by improving the qualitative and quantitative traits of crops through exploitation of metabolic pathways involving advanced analytical tools and technologies. This book comprehensively reviews the application of various aspects of rapidly growing omics technologies - including genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics for crop development.
Elsevier, Reference Module in Food Science, 2023
