NEW bOOkS

Rice: Origin, Antiquity and History

Edited by S.D. Sharma Published by Science Publishers, Enfield, NH 03748, USA (2010) Price US$89.99

http://books.irri.org

Words! Words! Words!

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has updated its online Rice Thesaurus (http:// snipurl.com/10sioc) and it now features 680 new rice and rice-related terms, mostly in the fields of plant physiology, cultural practices, and rice grain, generated from the current literature on rice research. The grand total of terms is 3,807. The number of new scientific and technology terms grows very quickly, says Mila Ramos, recently retired chief librarian and head of IRRIs Library and Documentation Services (LDS). The search and generation of new rice and rice-related terms involve scanning recent rice and rice-related publications and journal articles on rice. Among the sources of additional terms are Advances in genetics, genomics and control of rice blast disease [Wang, Guo-Liang; Valent, Barbara (editors)]; Planthoppers: new threats to the sustainability of intensive rice production systems in Asia [Heong, K.L.; Hardy, B. (editors)]; Climate change and crops [Singh, S.N. (editor)]; Gene flow between crops and their wild relatives [Andersson, M.; de Vicente, M.C. (editors)]; and Abiotic stress adaptation in plants [Pareek, A.; Sopory, S.K.; Bohnert, H.J.; Govindjee (editors)]. New terms were also generated in the process of establishing the hierarchical relationships of terms, particularly in the USE and USED FOR hierarchies, which relate synonymous terms. Each term in this thesaurus carries a subject tree showing hierarchical relationships as indicated by BT or broader term (general concept) and NT or narrower term (specific concept) rt or related term (associative term) USE (refers the user from a nondescriptor to a descriptor) uf or used for (indicates that the descriptor was used for a nondescriptor) The concepts on the different aspects of rice production were considered in building the hierarchical relationships of terms, especially the related terms. Moreover, according to Ms. Ramos, a crucial part in the process of updating the Rice Thesaurus is the standardization of the new terms. LDS consulted standard thesauruses such as AGROVOC,1 CAB Thesaurus,2 and NAL Thesaurus3 as guides in ensuring the consistency of the terms. For differences in terms used in the standard thesauruses, the common and current usage of the terms in the rice literature were considered and preferred. Scanning the Rice Bibliography database was useful in determining the choice of terms. The same consideration was adapted in the case of terms not found in AGROVOC, CAB, or NAL thesauruses. The project began in 2006 as a convenient reference for rice scientists and students. Funding for this thesaurus was provided by Communication and Publications Services and LDS.
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Prior to this book, the only available book that delved into the antiquity and history of rice in different parts of the world was Rice: Then and Now, which was written by robert E. huke and Eleanor h. huke and published by irri in 1990. this new publication, Rice: Origin, Antiquity and History, provides a more detailed account of the introduction of rice cultivation in various parts of the globe. its significance is highlighted by the fact that it fills an important gap in rice literature, which has undoubtedly increased in the past 5 decades. the book was written with general readers in mind. therefore, not only rice researchers but also anthropologists, sociologists, economists, and historians can appreciate this book. for purchasing information, go to http://snipurl. com/13cd08.

Accelerating Hybrid Rice Development

Edited by F. Xie and B. Hardy Published by International Rice Research Institute this 698-page publication represents the fifth international symposium on hybrid rice (hr5). it continues the series that started in 1986. hr5 brought together 430 hybrid rice scientists from 21 countries and two international organizations, the international rice research institute and the food and agriculture organization of the united nations. hr5 focused on hybrid rice and food production; improvements in breeding methodologies and products; applications of biotechnology in hybrid rice breeding; improving hybrid rice grain quality; technology of hybrid seed production; physiology and management for high yield and high resourceuse efficiency; hybrid rice economics, public-private partnerships, and intellectual property management; and country reports. View and download a pdf file from google Books at http://snipurl.com/12zzay.

The Hybrid Rice Collection

this collection contains the proceedings of the four previous international hybrid rice symposia (more than 1,400 pages of material), plus the Two-Line Hybrid Rice Breeding Manual and the terminal report of the irri-asian Development Bank project sustaining food security through the Development of hybrid rice technology. for information on obtaining a copy of the cD, send an email to irripub@cgiar.org.
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Rice Today October-December 2010

AGROVOC Thesaurus is a multilingual, structured, and controlled vocabulary designed to cover the terminology of all subject fields in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food, and related domains (e.g., environment, sustainable development, nutrition, etc.). The CAB Thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary that is used to index descriptor fields. NAL Thesaurus is an online tool for browsing agricultural and biological concepts and terminology.