Grasses Crops, Competitors, and Ornamentals

Combines new findings on morphological aspects, the latest data on gene function in grasses, and the interaction of grasses with their habitats

45% of all arable land is covered by five grass crops: wheat, maize, rice, barley and sugar cane. This book demonstrates why crops and weeds are growing in characteristic environments today, and looks at how cropping practices may change in the future and how these changes will affect weed spectra. It explains the distribution of grasses and their role for mankind and summarizes our knowledge on grass genomes. Special emphasis is placed on the function of genes at defined developmental stages and in organs of grasses. The development of grasses is then described from the germination to fruit set with many unpublished examples.

Grasses: Crops, Competitors and Ornamentals provides readers with a comparative description of selected grass organs (stem, root, leaf, inflorescence) and devotes several chapters to habitats of grasses and morphological characteristics that enable grasses to grow in special environments. In addition, some chapters deal with grasses as crops and weeds, and emphasis is placed on their adaptation to modern agriculture.

• Predicts how cropping practices may change in the future and how these changes will affect weed spectra
• Details grasses as crops and weeds, emphasizing their adaptation to modern agriculture
• Summarizes our knowledge on grass genomes
• Connects classical morphology with the latest tools in molecular biology as well as ecological aspects determining the wide distribution of grass species today

Grasses: Crops, Competitors and Ornamentals will be of great interest to agricultural scientists who want to know more about crops and weeds, grassland specialists and breeders interested in special grass traits, and molecular biologists and ecologists who study the biology and habitat of grasses.

List of Contributors vii

Foreword ix

Acknowledgements xi

Part I Introduction1

1 Introduction 3
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

Part II Grass Genomics 11

2 Grass Sequencing Projects 13
Todd Gaines

3 Grass Gene Sequences and Traits 25
Hansjoerg Krähmer and Todd Gaines

Part III Morphological and Physiological Characteristics of Grasses 29

4 Flower and Inflorescence 31
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

5 Fertilisation and Fruit Development 89
Hansjoerg Kraehmer and Peter Baur

6 Seedlings 165
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

7 Leaf 195
Hansjoerg Kraehmer and Peter Baur

8 Shoots 233
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

9 Roots 435
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

10 Growth Forms of Grasses 447
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

11 Grass Surfaces 457
Hansjoerg Kraehmer and Peter Baur

Part IV Grasses as Crops 485

12 Arable Crops 487
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

13 Bamboos 491
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

14 Dominance of Grasses as Crops 495
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

Part V Grasses as Weeds 497

15 Dominance of Grasses as Weeds 499
Hansjoerg Kraehmer and Carl Bell

Part VI Grasses as Ornamentals 503

16 What Makes Grasses Attractive Ornamentals, and Where? 505
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

Part VII Natural Habitats of Grasses 517

17 Native Grasslands 519
Carl Bell

Part VIII Conclusions 549

18 Why Have Grasses Become So Successful? 551
Hansjoerg Kraehmer

Index 555

About the Editor

HANSJOERG KRAEHMER, works at Weed Control Research of Bayer AG. He has held positions in Research, Development, and Marketing in different agrochemical companies, including Schering AG, AgrEvo, Aventis, and Bayer AG. Dr. Kraehmer is the author of Weed Anatomy and Atlas of Weed Mapping.