This volume offers an up-to-date overview of biotechnologically oriented barley research. It is structured into two major sections: the first focusing on current agricultural challenges and approaches to barley improvement, and the second providing insights into recent advances in methodology. Leading scientists highlight topics such as: the global importance of barley; genetic diversity and genebanks; domestication; shoot and inflorescence architecture; reproductive development; mineral nutrition; photosynthesis and leaf senescence; grain development; drought tolerance; viral and fungal pathogens; phytophagous arthropods; molecular farming; sequence resources; induced genetic variation and TILLING; meiotic recombination; Hordeum bulbosum; genome-wide association scans; genomic selection; haploid technology; genetic engineering; and whole plant phenomics. Providing comprehensive information on topics ranging from fundamental aspects to specific applications, this book offers a useful resource for scientists, plant breeders, teachers and advanced students in the fields of molecular and plant cell biology, plant biotechnology, and agronomy.

Section I. Agricultural challenges and approaches to barley improvement 1 The world importance of barley and challenges to further improvements Harold Verstegen, Otto Koeneke, Viktor Korzun and Reinhard von Broock 2 Genetic diversity and germplasm management - wild barley, landraces, breeding materials Kazuhiro Sato, Andrew Flavell, Joanne Russell, Andreas Boerner and Jan Valkoun 3 Domestication Takao Komatsuda 4 Shoot and inflorescence architecture Laura Rossini, Ron Okagaki, Arnis Druka and Gary J. Muehlbauer 5 Genetic control of reproductive development Benedikt Drosse, Chiara Campoli, Aman Mulki and Maria von Korff 6 Improvement of mineral nutrition: a source and sink for candidate genes Benjamin Gruber and Nicolaus von Wiren 7 Photosynthesis and Leaf Senescence as Determinants of Plant Productivity Per L. Gregersen, Christine H. Foyer and Karin Krupinska 8 Grain development Winfriede Weschke and Hans Weber 9 Drought stress tolerance mechanisms in barley and its relevance to cereals Polavarpu B Kavi Kishor, Kalladan Rajesh, Palakolanu S Reddy, Christiane Seiler and Nese Sreenivasulu 10 Response to viral pathogens Frank Ordon, Thomas Kuhne 11 Host- and nonhost response to attack by fungal pathogens Patrick Schweizer 12 Response to phytophagous arthropods Isabel Diaz, Ines Cambra, M. Estrella Santamaria, Pablo Gonzalez-Melendi, Manuel Martinez 13 Molecular Farming Einar Mantyla and Bjoern L. OErvar Section II. Recent progress in methodology 14 Development of sequence resources Nils Stein 15 Induced genetic variation, TILLING and NGS-based cloning Silvio Salvi, Arnis Druka, Sara Giulia Milner, Damian Gruszka 16 Modulation of meiotic recombination Luke Ramsay, Isabelle Colas, Robbie Waugh 17 The secondary genepool of barley - Hordeum bulbosum: Gene Introgression and Homoeologous Recombination Brigitte Ruge-Wehling, Peter Wehling 18 Genome wide association scans (GWAS) Robbie Waugh, Bill Thomas, Andrew Flavell, Luke Ramsay, Jordi Comadran and Joanne Russell 19 Genomic selection in barley breeding Karl Schmid and Patrick Thorwarth 20 Haploid technology Jochen Kumlehn 21 Genetic engineering Jochen Kumlehn, Maia Gurushidze and Goetz Hensel 22 Whole plant phenomics Mark Crowe, Timothy J. March, Joanne Tilbrook