Many of the world's most important food legumes are grown in arid and semi-arid regions of Africa and Asia, where crop productivity is hampered by biotic and abiotic stresses. In recent years biotechnology approaches, mainly genetic engineering and genomics have shown a great potential for tackling these stress constraints and improving crop productivity. However, many food legumes (except soyabean) have not benefited from biotechnology approaches as they have either been branded as recalcitrant to in vitro regeneration, an important component of genetic engineering, or suffer from low levels of genetic polymorphism and a paucity of molecular markers – a critical factor to develop genetic and QTL maps. Therefore publication of Handbook of New Technologies for Genetic Improvement of Legumes is a very timely and invaluable contribution to legume crops.

A wide range of topics is covered in 37 chapters of this book by about 100 eminent scientists from about a dozen countries. The editor is to be congratulated for bringing together international leaders in legume biotechnology. Most chapters deal with transformation protocols and genetic engineering topics. In my opinion, genomics have not been adequately covered, but it is difficult to cover all the topics of legume biotechnology in one volume. The subject index at the end of the book is a big plus, as it is easy to browse a topic of interest.

This volume will serve as a good reference book for the legume community in general and young researchers who are entering the field of legume biotechnology to understand the current status of new technologies for the genetic improvement of legumes.