Botany and Breeding of Spice Crops

Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Morphology of Spice Crops. 3. Centres of Origin. 4. Modes of Reproduction. 5. Pollination and Emasculation Techniques. 6. Classical Methods of Breeding. 7. Next Generation Plant Breeding. 8. Global Breeding Research on Important Spice Crops. The book throws insights on the concepts of origin and domestication of spice crops. There are elaborative description regarding different modes of reproduction of plants along with crop specific techniques regarding emasculation and pollination techniques. Conventional plant breeding methods has categorically been explained as these concepts would help spice breeders to choose the appropriate breeding tool. Detailed idea from tissue culture to genomics assisted breeding especially the theory and applications of various omics viz., metabolomics, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, etc., has been elaborated. Finally, different spice breeding information has been comprehensively documented in this book with some useful references to future directions of spice breeding throughout the world. The book shall pave the way for new age researchers, faculties, plant breeders, policy makers and amateur readers towards theoretical and empirical studies as well.…