Читать книгу Quinoa - Atul Bhargava - Страница 8

First and foremost, the authors wish to convey their sincere thanks to all the researchers working on quinoa throughout the world. It is their valuable work that has enabled us to bring out a treatise on this fantastic crop.

We are lost for words to describe the contribution of Dr Francisco Fuentes in the preparation of this book. He has wholeheartedly supported us on several aspects along with Drs Enrique Martinez and Didier Bazile. Dr Fuentes has provided us with several fabulous images that are now a part of this book. We also wish to sincerely thank Drs Ángel Mujica, Andrés Zurita-Silva and Pablo Olguín M., along with Francisco, Enrique and Didier, for sharing their valuable work with us.

It is our great pride and pleasure to express our deep sense of gratitude and heartiest veneration to Prof. (Dr) Deepak Ohri, Professor and Deputy Dean, Department of Research, Amity University Uttar Pradesh Lucknow Campus (formerly Scientist and Deputy Director, Division of Genetics and Plant Breeding, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow) for his inspiring guidance, untiring supervision and mentorship during the early days of our research career on quinoa. In fact, it was he who taught Atul Bhargava about quinoa and inculcated in him a deep interest in the crop.

We feel privileged in expressing our deep gratitude to Dr Sudhir Shukla, Senior Scientist, Division of Genetics and Plant Breeding, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, whose valuable, rich and constant supervision, enlightened guidance, moral encouragement and guardianship have made us what we are today. Dr Shukla’s joy and enthusiasm for research has been contagious and motivational, and has propelled us to complete this task against all sorts of odds.

On a personal note, we are grateful to our brother (Akhilesh Bhargava), sister-in-law (Meenakshi Bhargava) and niece (Anushka Sharma) for their extreme patience and perseverance while this book was being written. Our family has supported us in our overburdened schedule and has been the source of our happiness and contentment.

We also thank our friends and colleagues at Amity namely, Mr Ajay Kumar Singh, Dr Prachi Srivastava and Dr Rachna Chaturvedi for their stimulating company and support at every level. Mr Ajay Kumar Singh has been with us through thick and thin and has wholeheartedly helped us in completing this endeavour. Sincere thanks are also due to Dr Kajal Srivastava, Lecturer, Amity School of Languages, Amity University Lucknow Campus for checking the manuscript thoroughly for English language and suggesting suitable improvements. The authors wish to thank Mr Santosh Kumar Pal and Ms Rita Pal (BCS In-Silico Biology, Lucknow) for working hard to improve the clarity of figures and redrawing many of them.

We gratefully acknowledge the indispensable help of Dr Sreepat Jain, Commissioning Editor (CABI, UK) and Alexandra Lainsbury, Editorial Assistant (CABI, UK) in the preparation of the manuscript and for showing the way whenever the authors needed their guidance. Both have cheerfully inspired us to make changes in text and art even very late in the production stage to bring out the best to the readers.

Atul Bhargava Shilpi Srivastava