Modern Farming Technologies for Vegetable Crop Production

Contents: 1. Evolution, Distribution and Cytogenetics. 2. Nursery Raising. 3. Cropping Systems. 4. Integrated Nutrient Management. 5. Integrated Pest Management. 6. Effect of Environmental Factors. 7. Manipulation of CO2, Light and Temperature for Vegetable Production. 8. Protected Seed Production. 9. Greenhouse Structures. 10. Soilless Culture. 11. Tilling as a Screening Tool. 12. Plant Ideotype Concept. 13. In-Vitro Conservation. 14. Somatic Hybridization. 15. Protoplast Culture and Fusion. 16. Seed Treatments and Seed Storage. 17. Seed Marketing, Demand Forecast and Marketing Organization. Over the past few decades, priority was given to achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural output. However, agricultural production has lagged far behind that of the services and manufacturing sectors in recent years, failing to keep pace with other economic sectors. Agriculture's share to GDP has declined sharply, despite continued reliance on the agricultural sector for subsistence. The Indian government has set a policy goal of doubling farmers' income by 2022. Farming expansion towards more remunerative enterprises, such as horticulture (fruits, vegetables, ornamentals etc.), cattle, and fish, was one of the key choices identified for raising farmers' earnings. Horticulture has a significant role to play in providing employment and income possibilities in India's north-western Himalayan states. Numerous geographical specificities that characterize the region create limits on increasing field crop output and providing revenue for smallholders. Vegetable crops such as Tomato, Brinjal, Potato, Chilly, Beet-root, Radish, Turnip, Carrot, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Knol Khol, Lettuce and many more have a lot of potential throughout the terrain. During the past decade tremendous advances have been achieved in various areas of crop improvement to achieve agricultural sustainability. In this regard, the present book has been brought out to highlight the recent progress achieved in vegetable cultivation methods with the advanced breeding and biotechnological interventions aiming sustainability in the production. This book delivers a convincing review accounting diverse aspects and progress towards the paradigm shift in vegetable growing. This book covers most of the syllabus topics for the M. Sc and Ph. D students studying in various agricultural institutes. The book provides comprehensive knowledge about the history of important vegetable crops and their evolution, distribution and cytogenetics, proper nursery raising techniques, different cropping systems, integrated nutrient and pest management, environmental effects affecting crops and their manipulation for vegetable production, vegetable seed production under protected cultivation, storage and treatments of seeds, various greenhouse structures, soilless vegetable growing, using biotechnological tools like "TILLING" for screening purposes and plant ideotyping, in-vitro conservation, somatic hybridization and protoplast culture and fusion technique.…