Suarau O. Oshunsanya and OrevaOghene Aliku

Preface

chapters.

of the topic through a general reading.

Today, human beings have turned to the profound meaning of green areas in their lives, and it is clear that grasses are a symbol of life, and their importance corresponds to the earliest evidence of people on earth. Grasses have existed on the earth for much longer than people have, and human beings have been the fortunate member of this partnership. Savannah and Steppe form the largest natural grassy areas from different climate zones that are not suita‐ ble for forests. In addition, grasses create cultural landscapes, especially in Central Europe. They have arisen in a long process since the Ice Age, where forests have been transformed into meadows and pastures. Appropriately, the earth's first ages of grasses came even earli‐ er than the first age of the grazing animal. Indeed, the word 'graze' was derived from 'grass'. During Miocene times, believed to have begun some 30 million years ago, the fore‐ bears of grass came out of tropical forests and swamplands into the cooler and drier lands. The aim of this book is to embody the essential components, the role and the function of grasses as natural material in our lives. The book will discuss the importance of using differ‐ ent species of grasses in landscape and medicine. The importance of the book is manifested by subject debates, which display multiple viewpoints on how grasses are used in general, and their impact on our lives in particular. The book is divided into four parts and eight

Section 1, 'Overview on Grass Topic', is an introductory section, which presents a snapshot

Section 2, 'Grasses in a Complex Agronomic Process: The Benefit and Importance', is divid‐ ed into two chapters: the first, 'Analytical Interpretation of the Beneficial Interaction Be‐ tween Microorganisms and Grasses', debates the meaning, benefit and importance of soil microorganisms, the mechanisms of growth promotion of grasses and the main mechanisms of growth promotion of grasses by soil microorganisms. The second chapter, 'Importance of Grass Carp (*Ctenopharyngodon idella*) for Controlling of Aquatic Vegetation', debates the con‐ cept of aquatic plants, where grass carp becomes a tool to control aquatic vegetation. This

Section 3, 'Different Grass Species from Diverse World Regions', is divided into three chap‐ ters. The first chapter, 'Study of Some North African Grasses (*Ampelodesma mauritanica* and Esparto Grass)', discusses the subject of *Ampelodesma mauritanica*, which is a plant of the family Poaceae from northern and southern Africa. Esparto grass is another topic of this chapter; both are cellulose-based fibres extracted using a basic procedure to remove noncel‐ lulosic substances such as pectin, lignin and hemicelluloses. The authors attempt to charac‐ terise the Esparto grass fibre obtained from chemical extraction using sodium hydroxide followed by sodium hypochlorite as a bleaching agent. The second chapter, 'Endemic Spe‐

chapter aims to analyse the use of grass carp to control aquatic vegetation.
