The Farming Handbook is a unique and comprehensive book that deals with a wide range of agricultural subjects and enterprises in one easy-to-use volume. Although the focus is mainly on conditions in South Africa, the agricultural principles and practices can easily be applied elsewhere. Throughout his career, Barry Smith has formulated and collected rules of thumb, working on the premise that it is better to be roughly right than to be precisely wrong. 150 of these thumb rules are presented here, which can save time and effort and are easy to remember and apply. The book is an essential guide to natural resources (climate, vegetation, soil and water), and contains useful information on veld management, land assessment, agricultural engineering (soil erosion, land preparation, and building), and irrigation. Barry Smith's extensive knowledge and experience are revealed in the practical resources given for livestock production (beef, dairy, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry, and wildlife), pastures, field crops, orchard crops, vegetables, and timber. He was given the Top Management award by the Department of Agriculture for producing 28 prediction yield models for field crops, pasture, orchards, vegetables, and timber trees. These models are included in The Farming Handbook and will prove indispensable for farmers, students, and agricultural advisers.
The book is more interesting learning tool for undergraduate and postgraduate students focusing on women in agriculture course. The major task has been to be selective to include pertinent new materials to emphasize women work in agriculture and allied sectors. Among these are encounter in investigating different aspects related to women, gender concepts, status of women, issues and challenges of women in agriculture, role, responsibilities, access and control over productive resources, program for women in agriculture, extension needs and preferences of women in agriculture, women-friendly agricultural technologies, gender-related data and information sources, etc. With these innovations and systematic understanding, I hope students find this book illuminating since I found this as rewarding and enriching.
Written by one of the world's leading experts, Handbook of yarn production: technology, science and economics is an authoritative and comprehensive guide to textile yarn manufacturing. The book is designed to allow readers to explore the subject in various levels of detail. The first three chapters provide an overview of yarn production, products and key principles. The major part of the book then reviews in detail the production processes for short-staple, long-staple and filament yarns.There are also chapters on quality control and the economics of staple-yarn production. The final part of the book consists of a series of appendices which provide in-depth analysis of key topics with detailed technical data and worked examples which is an invaluable reference in itself for anyone concerned with the behaviour, performance and economics of a textile mill. Handbook of yarn production: technology, science and economics is a standard work for both yarn manufacturers and those researching and studying in this important area of the textile industry. A practical and authoritative new handbook for yarn manufacturing Shows how problems can arise and how to deal with them Includes invaluable technical data, calculations, worked examples and case studies
Seeds: Ecology, Biogeography, and Evolution of Dormancy and Germination differs from all other books on seed germination. It is an all-encompassing volume that provides a working hypothesis of the ecological and environmental conditions under which various kinds of seed dormancy have developed. It also presents information on the seed germination of more than 3500 species of trees, shrubs, vines and herbaceous species, making this a valuable reference for anyone studying germination. This book delivers information on characteristics of each type of seed dormancy, how each type of dormancy is broken in nature, and what environmental conditions are required for germination after dormancy is broken. It explains how studies should be done to distinguish persistent from transient seed banks, and covers which species should be controlled, propagated, and conserved. Seeds gives the reader insight and guidelines for doing ecologically meaningful studies on the biogeography and evolution of seed dormancy and germination in order to better understand plant reproductive strategies, life history traits, adaptations to habitats, and physiological processes. Evolutionary/phylogenetic origins and relationships of various kinds of seed dormancy A world biogeographical perspective on seed dormancy and germination Ecophysiology of seeds with each type of dormancy Critical evaluation of methodology used in soil seed bank studies Germination ecology of plants with specialized habitat and life cycle types Genetic and maternal preconditioning effects on seed dormancy and germination Guidelines for doing ecologically-meaningful germination studies
