Jules Janick obtained his PhD in Plant Genetics and Breeding and is a Professor of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University.

• Contributors ix1. Bikram Gill: Cytogeneticist and Wheat Man 1W. John Raupp and Bernd FriebeI. Early Life: Emergence of a Cytogeneticist 2II. Research 4III. International Collaborations 23IV. Educator 24V. Champion of WheatWorkers 27VI. The Man 27VII. Epilogue 29Acknowledgments 29Literature Cited 302. Synthetic Hexaploids: Harnessing Species of the Primary Gene Pool for Wheat Improvement 35Francis C. Ogbonnaya, Osman Abdalla, Abdul Mujeeb-Kazi, Alvina G. Kazi, Steven S. Xu, Nick Gosman, Evans S. Lagudah, David Bonnett, Mark E. Sorrells, and Hisashi TsujimotoI. Introduction 39II. Production and Utilization of Synthetic Hexaploid Wheat 42III. Impact of Synthetic Hexaploid in Wheat Improvement 58IV. Conclusions and Future Prospects 100Acknowledgments 105Literature Cited 1053. Breeding Early and Extra-Early Maize for Resistance to Biotic and Abiotic Stresses in Sub-Saharan Africa 123B. Badu-Apraku and M. A. B. FakoredeI. Introduction 126II. Development of Breeding Populations 131III. S1 Recurrent Selection Program for Striga Resistance 146IV. Adaptation 164V. Development of QPM Populations and Cultivars 169VI. Breeding for Combined Tolerance/Resistance to Multiple Stresses in Early and Extra-Early Maize 179VII. Inbred-Hybrid Development Program 180VIII. Traits for Indirect Selection for Stress Tolerance/Resistance in Contrasting Environments 188IX. Future Challenges and Perspectives 193Acknowledgments 197Literature Cited 1974. Almond Breeding 207Thomas M. Gradziel and Pedro Martýnez-GomezI. Introduction 209II. Botany 211III. Genetic Diversity 221IV. Genetic Improvement 226V. Molecular Approaches 238VI. Future Progress 248Literature Cited 2495. Breeding Loquat 259Maria L. Badenes, Jules Janick, Shunquan Lin, Zhike Zhang, Guolu L. Liang, and Weixing WangI. Introduction 261II. Germplasm 262III. Reproductive Physiology 270IV. Breeding Objectives 275V. Breeding Methods 276VI. Future Progress 290Literature Cited 2916. Prognostic Breeding: A New Paradigm for Crop Improvement 297Vasilia A. FasoulaI. Introduction 298II. Genetic Components of Crop Yield Potential 303III. A New General Response Equation 305IV. Prognostic Equations for Single Plants and Sibling Lines 307V. The Advantages of Prognostic Breeding 335VI. The Marriage of Phenotyping with Genotyping 338VII. Outlook 339Literature Cited 342Subject Index 349Cumulative Subject Index 351Cumulative Contributor Index 373