Recent Initiatives in Horticulture

Contents: Preface. 1. Horticultural crops: research initiatives/H.P. Singh. 2. Arid and semi arid horticulture : research initiatives/T.A. More and B.D. Sharma. 3. Vegetable crops: research initiatives/K.V. Peter, P.G. Sadhan Kumar and S. Nirmala Devi. 4. Onion : an Indian perspective/K.E. Lawande. 5. Potato : stress prone environments and challenges/S.K. Pandey, P.M. Govindakrishnan and Shashi Rawat. 6. Medicinal plants : research initiatives/Satyabrata Maiti. 7. Indian horticulture in 2020 : challenges ahead/M.L. Choudhary. 8. Cluster development approach : a promising strategy/S.K. Pattanayak. 9. Horticultural statistics: evaluation of existing and designing an improved system/Bijay Kumar and Chander Gandhi. 10. Rainfed horticulture : perspective and priorities/Alok K. Sikka and J.S. Samra. 11. Intellectual property rights : initiatives in horticultural crops/S. Kannaiyan, V.A. Parthasarathy and D. Prasath. 12. Protection of plant varieties and farmers\' rights : initiatives in horticultural crops/K.V. Prasad,. V.B. Patel and Mohan Ram. 13. Tissue culture plants : quality standards/Vibha Dhawan. 14. Rootstocks for tropical and subtropical crops : status and opportunities/B.M.C. Reddy and S. Rajan. 15. Production of quality planting material : recent approaches/H. Ravishankar. 16. Hybrid seeds : making available at affordable price/Pritam Kalia. 17. Horticulture development in Orissa : R&D initiatives/D.P. Ray. 18. Citrus industry : rehabilitating in North India/G.S. Kahlon. 19. Guava : meadow orcharding/Gorakh Singh. 20. Cashew : research and development/P.C. Lenka and A.K. Pattnaik. 21. Bees : an essential agri - input for maximizing pollination and productivity/R.K. Lakra and Ombir. 22. Aonla : commercialization in India/S.S. Mehta and Manish Srivastav. 23. Mushroom production : agro wastes utilisation and creating employment/R.P. Tewari and V.P. Sharma. 24. Saline and Marginal soils : for horticultural crops production/Gurbachan Singh. 25. Integrated nutrient management : developments, constraints and opportunities/A.K. Srivastava. 26. Micro irrigation and fertigation : developments, opportunities and constraints/T.B.S. Rajput and Neelam Patel. 27. Mechanization in horticultural crops : need, trends and opportunities/S.C. Mandhar. 28. Integrated pest management : development, opportunities and constraints/T.P. Trivedi. 29. Organic agriculture : development, constraints and future course/Manoj Kumar Menon. 30. Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.): a potential horticultural crop for nutrition and health security/Kirti Singh. 31. Kokum (Garcinia species) : a horticultural crop with great potential/V.S. Korikanthimath, S. Priya Devi and A.R. Desai. 32. Seabuckthorn : a potential crop for cold arid region/Brahma Singh. 33. Pomegranate : present status, constraints and opportunities/D.P. Waskar. 34. Oil palm : an emerging oilseed crop of the future/M. Kochu Babu. 35. Tree spices : constraints and opportunities/P.M. Haldankar and A.D. Rangwala. 36. Passion fruit : industry in North East India/Akali Sema and C.S. Maiti. 37. Vegetables : technologies for year round production/A.S. Sidhu and Sabina Islam. 38. Onion : regulating production to meet all the year round demand/R.P. Gupta and K.J. Srivastava. 39. Greenhouse technology : present status/N.P.S. Sirohi. 40. Protected cultivation : status, gaps and prospects/Balraj Singh and Murtaza Hasan. 41. Transgenics in horticulture : status, opportunities and limitations/Preeti Kaur and K.C. Bansal. 42. Fruit crops improvement : traditional and biotechnological approaches/A.K. Singh. 43. Horticultural crops improvement : molecular approaches for disease resistance/Akella Vani. 44. Use of plastics in production : recent developments/Pitam Chandra. 45. Post harvest and processing of horticultural crops : research and development initiatives/R.T. Patil, R.K. Gupta and D.B. Singh. 46. Biofuel and Bio-Diesel from horticultural crops : scope and implications/P. Rethinam. 47. Product development in coconut : achievements, constraints and opportunities/Minnie Mathew. 48. Fruits and vegetables : emerging products and opportunities/A.S. Bawa, O.P. Chauhan and P.S. Raju. 49. Wine industry : development, status and prospects/P.G. Adsule. 50. Spice products : global and Indian scenario/V.A. Parthasarathy, T. John Zachariah and B. Chempakam. 51. Cashew apple : economic utilization through value addition/Jose Mathew, C. Mini and A. Sobhana. 52. Horticultural waste : utilization and its impact on environment/R.P. Kachru, R.T. Patil, R.K. Gupta ad D.B. Singh. 53. Climate change : impact on horticulture/G.S.L.H.V. Prasada Rao. 54. Climate change : impact on apple production/K.K. Jindal. 55. Climate change : impact on potato production/Prakash S. Naik and Joginder Singh Minhas. 56. Geographical Information System (GIS) : role in characterization of climatic requirements for fruit crops/S. Rajan. 57. Cold chain : recent developments/Prasanta Kumar Swain. 58. Fruits and vegetables : quality and safety issues/S.C. Khurana. 59. Apple industry : challenges from import/N. Ahmed, B. Das, M.K. Verma and R.K. Verma. 60. Food Park : growing food industries/Pradeep Chordia.

"Horticulture has been identified as one of the important growth engines to boost the agrarian economy of India. An outlay of Rs. 41, 500 crores for horticulture sector has been recommended by the Planning Commission\'s working group on Horticulture under chairmanship of Dr. K.L. Chadha for the 11 Five Year Plan. Living up to this expectation, the horticulture sector has responded by contributing 185.86 million tones of horticultural produce to make India stand next to China in the global ranking. Inspite of the laurels achieved, owing to increasing population, India needs to double its horticulture production to 300 million tonnes by the year 2011-12 to ensure nutritional security to the burgeoning population. For meeting the objective of doubling the production in a scenario where land availability to horticulture sector is shrinking, the only viable option left is to increase the productivity level in a number of crops.

This book, Recent Initiatives in Horticulture is a step in that direction. It is a compendium based on sixty key notes addresses given by top horticulturists from the country in the Third Indian Horticulture Congress covering new R&D initiatives for improving production, productivity, quality, marketing and identifying critical gaps in various emerging areas in horticulture. The book lays emphasis on new R&D initiatives viz., planting material, maximizing production and productivity, new emerging crops, off-season crop production value addition opportunities, new product development, biotechnological interventions, climate change, marketing and trade related issues of horticultural crops.

It is hoped that the wealth of information given in the book will be useful to all stakeholders such as researchers teachers, students, planners and policy makers in horticulture and offer a clear vision about priority issues and strategies in overall advancement of horticulture."