This book provides an excellent compilation of key topics summarizing current knowledge about nitrogen acquisition and use in plants and, crucially, expert insight into how this knowledge can be applied to crop production. The chapters are consistently well written, making the topics accessible to advanced undergraduate students and researchers alike. The book is divided into three sections: Physiology and Adaptive Mechanisms; Molecular Genetics, and Applied Aspects. The section on Physiology and Adaptive Mechanisms includes five chapters that successfully integrate current knowledge about N acquisition and assimilation. The emphasis on uptake systems and how they are regulated at the cellular level is successfully integrated with chapters on assimilation and growth responses (roots, leaves and whole canopies). An interesting chapter on the challenging topic of regulation of C/N interaction. successfully integrates the functional information of the earlier chapters into a coherent statement of integrated C and N metabolism.

The section on Molecular Genetics provides a useful insight into the use of quantitative trait loci and the usefulness of the approach in breeding programmes for increased nitrogen use efficiency. The section includes a challenging chapter on how best to integrate currently fragmentary knowledge about processes and physiology into a more integrated view of the regulation of N management from the gene to the field. This is discussed in the context of advances in plant molecular biotechnology.

The section on Applied Aspects comprises chapters that effectively challenge the current knowledge base and the relevance of scientific effort in N relations in crops. These chapters are well integrated and review succinctly how current knowledge is being applied and, importantly, provide a reference for the prioritizing of future research effort.