Zingiberaceae Crops : Present and Future: Cardamom Ginger Turmeric and Others

Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. Introduction/H.P. Singh, V.A. Parthasarathy and M. Anandaraj. 2. Botany and cytogenetics/R. Ramakrishnan Nair and V.A. Parthasarathy. 3. Genetic diversity/B. Krishnamoorthy, T.E. Sheeja, R. Senthil Kumar and D. Prasath. 4. Biotechnology/T.E. Sheeja, K.N. Babu, D. Prasath and V.A. Parthasarathy. 5. Physiology/K.S. Krishnamurthy and S.J. Ankegowda. 6. Cropping zones/Utpala Parthasarathy and K. Kandiannan. 7. Production technologies/K. Kandiannan and C.K. Thankamani. 8. Nutrition/R. Dinesh, V. Srinivasan and S. Hamza. 9. Diseases/A. Kumar, C.N. Biju and R. Praveena. 10. Pests/S. Devasahayam, Santhosh J. Eapen, T.K. Jacob and Rashid Pervez. 11. Post harvest processing/E. Jayashree and T. John Zachariah. 12. Chemistry/B. Chempakam, T. John Zachariah and N.K. Leela. 13. Nutraceutical and medicinal uses/Shamina Azeez and B. Chempakam. 14. Ayurvedic uses/P. Ram Manohar. 15. Ornamentals and minor crops/K.N. Shiva and Sujtaha A. Nair. 16. Web resources and databases/C.K. Sushama Devi, K. Jayarajan and Santhosh J. Eapen. Index.

Zingiberaceae or ginger family is the largest family of the order Zingiberales containing about 53 genera and more than 1, 300 species consisting of aromatic perennial herbs. Commercial Zingiberaceous spices traded are ginger, turmeric, cardamom and large cardamom. Ornamental ginger is a diverse group of plants that are gaining importance in the floriculture trade as cut flowers, flowering pot plants and landscape plants. Herbs of the Zingiberaceae family have been used in the tradition of Ayurveda from a very early period in its evolutionary history. Cardamom, ginger, turmeric and greater galangal or blue ginger figure prominently amongst several other crops mentioned in the classical text books of Ayurveda. The monograph covers all aspects of Zingiberaceae in sixteen chapters.