During the 20th century, agriculture underwent many unsustainable
changes for the sake of greater food production. Today, the effects of
climate change are becoming ever more apparent and the global
population continues to grow, placing additional pressures on
agricultural systems. For this reason, it is vital to turn
international agriculture towards a sustainable future capable of
providing healthy, bountiful foods by using methods that preserve and
reconstruct the balance of natural ecosystems. Fungi are an
underappreciated, underutilized group of organisms with massive
potential to aid in the production of healthy food and other products
while also increasing the sustainability of agricultural systems.
Mycoagroecology: Integrating Fungi into Agroecosystems lays the
foundations for integrated fungal-agricultural understanding and
management, the proposed practice of “mycoagroecology”. Suitable
for students and professionals of multiple disciplines, this text
includes nine introductory chapters that create a firm foundation in
ecosystem functioning, evolution and population dynamics, fungal
biology, principles of crop breeding and pest management, basic
economics of agriculture, and the history of agricultural development
during the 20th century. The latter half of the text is
application-oriented, integrating the knowledge from the introductory
chapters to help readers understand more deeply the various roles of
fungi in natural and agricultural systems: PARTNERS: This text
explores known benefits of wild plant-fungal mutualisms, and how to
foster and maintain these relationships in a productive agricultural
setting. PESTS AND PEST CONTROL AGENTS: This text acknowledges the
historical and continuing role of agriculturally significant fungal
pathogens, surveying modern chemical, biotechnological, and cultural
methods of controlling them and other pests. However, this book also
emphasizes the strong potential of beneficial fungi to biologically
control fungal, insect, and other pests. PRODUCTS: This text covers
not just isolated production of mushrooms on specialized farms but
also the potential for co-cropping mushrooms in existing plant-based
farms, making farm systems more self-sustaining while adding valuable
and nutritious new products. An extensive chapter is also devoted to
the many historical and forward-facing uses of fungi in food
preservation and processing.
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Integrating Fungi into Agroecosystems
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781000755336
Publisert
2022
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
CRC Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter