Introduction
Cultivated Plants, Primarily as Food Sources is a component of Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias.
Global food demand is forecast to double and possible triple, by the year 2050, when more than 10 billion people will need to be fed worldwide. To ensure adequate nutrition for this growing population food production must be expanded faster than the population.
Following a longer introduction chapter with some information on the history of crop production, the land used for agriculture, the cropping systems and the future trends, comes the knowledge in depth: The grain and cereal, the edible been plants, the vegetables and plants for edible starch, oil, sugar and beverage production, the fruits and nuts, the fiber, forage and industrial crops. Each subject contains glossary and bibliography for better and deeper understanding. At each important plant the history, the production technology, the importance of the crop in nutrition of growing population, the feeding value, some short case stories, and the future trends are discussed.
When considering plant foods in relation to human health, it should be remembered that plant foods may also have health value in addition to their nutritional value. It would seem possible to modify the composition of plant foods as to improve human health. In developing countries, poverty leads to food shortage and under nutrition and many populations survive largely on plant-based diets. In industrialized countries, relative affluence leads to over consumption of food and especially to over-consumption of animal foods at the expense of plant foods. These two volumes, cultivated plants, primarily as food sources, help to get more detailed knowledge to overcome the mentioned problem of the World.
These volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.
Editor(s) Biography
György Füleky was born at Ekecs, Hungary in 1945. He obtained his M.Sc. in Chemistry and Physics from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, in 1968; a Dr. Univ. in Soil Chemistry from the Agricultural University of Gödöllö in 1974, and a Ph.D. in Soil Fertility from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest in 1978. He began his career as a research fellow of the Institute for Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was associate professor at the Department of Agricultural Chemistry in 1983–8, and at the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, University of Agricultural Sciences, Gödöllö, from 1988, Head of Department from 1900. He was Vice Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences in 1987–94, and since 2000 Vice Rector of the Szent István University Gödöllö. His teaching subjects are soil fertility and plant nutrition, and his research activity has focused on the chemical and biological testing of soil fertility, description of the processes of soil nutrient supply, and the impact of agriculture on the environment. He is a member of the International Union of Soil Sciences since 1974, and on the Editorial Board of Agrokémia és Talajtan, editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of Szent István University, and a national representative of Hungary in the European Society of Agronomy.
