New Title in the PROSEA Series Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 10, Cereals

摘要

Cereals are the mainstay of human nutrition. Their direct consumption provides about 60% of the world food energy on average. Moreover, a large part of the feed needed for livestock also stems from cereals. Cereals breeding and research have been verysuccessful. High-yielding cultivars of rice, maize; wheat and sorghum, developed by international research institutes, have become widely cultivated in the tropics and subtropics since the 1960s. In most countries, cereal farmers have succeeded in meeting national needs. In recent years, however, population growth has outstripped the increase in grain production, and hence per capita production has declined. This trend is caused by the scarcity of new land for cropping, and the levelling off in increase of yield per ha. As research has concentrated on a few major crops (in South-East Asia, mainly on rice), breeding and agronomic research on several secondary cereals and pseudo-cereals with economic potential have been neglected.