Preface The field of horticulture is endowed with an array of crops which are multifarious and commercially, economically and esthetically valuable. Area under these crops is increasing faster and is spreading to non-conventional locations too. A corresponding boom in the requirement of planting materials is there for these crops which is a real indicator of the new awareness in horticulture sector. Rapid and effective multiplication methods for these crops is a real issue to be addressed. The techniques of multiplication should be easy to practice and simple to adopt. Usually, informations of this kind are general and often confusing. Various propagation techniques developed for different crops remain rather scattered and not readily available when it comes to individual crops. This book “Propagation of Horticultural Crops” intendedly designed to fill up the above flaw. The important crops that come under fruits, vegetables, plantation crops and spices are covered in six chapters. Micro propagation or in vitro propagation techniques are provided wherever the protocols are available. The introduction about the crop and botanical details provided would be useful to both students and teachers. It is hoped that the book would serve as a guide to extension personnel and nurserymen also. We express our deep sense of gratitude to Dr.G.Kalloo, Deputy Director General (Hort. & C.S.), ICAR for giving the forward to this book. We also acknowledge the valuable service rendered by Sri. Joy, JMJ Computers, Thrissur in preparation of the book.

Mango occupies a pre-eminent place amongst the fruit crops grown in India and is acknowledged as the ‘King of Fruits’. Mango is the pride of the garden and one of the choicest fruits known to mankind. Mango possesses unique nutritional and medicinal qualities apart from being a rich source of vitamins A and C. Young and unripe fruits are utilized for culinary purposes, preparing pickles, chutneys because of their acidic taste as well as for extraction of tannin and other astringent products. Ripe fruits are a delicacy for the table and are utilized in preparing squash, juices, nectar, jam, cereal flakes, custard powder, baby food, mango leather and toffee. Canned mango slices and pulp are indeed very popular. The inside kernel of the stone being rich in carbohydrates, calcium and fat, can be used as a source of food for certain industrial purposes.

Citrus is the world’s leading tree fruit crop, comprising of mandarins, sweet oranges, grape fruit, limes and lemons. It is one of the most important fruit crops grown under varying agroclimatic conditions in India except in the high hilly temperature regions. Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata) is the most important commercial citrus in India followed by sweet oranges and acid limes. Citrus fruits are not only delicious and refreshing but also they provide vitamins, minerals and other substances. Different species of Citrus have different chemical composition. In sweet oranges, principal constituents of edible portions are sugars (glucose + sucrose) and acids (primarily citric acid and a little of malic acid), the fruits of acid groups contain primarily acids in fruit juice. Rind of citrus fruits is rich in pectin and contains essential oils and glucosides (hesperidin, naringin). Citrus fruits are a good source of vitamin C (ascorbic acid - 25 to 85 mg/100 ml juice), besides vitamin B, A and D. World-wide demand of orange is as fresh fruits, but orange marmalade is an important product and is one of the main uses of sour and sweet oranges. Grape fruit and mandarins are also taken as fresh fruits. Citrus fruit can be utilized in a number of other ways as salads, juices, squashes, cocktails, syrup, concentrates and pickles. Peel of thick-rinded fruits can also be made to delicious candy. Lemon is used in many culinary purposes. Grape fruit is utilized in preparation of wines and brandies and also for flavour and in perfumery.

Tomato, the ‘Apple of Love’ or ‘Golden Apple’ is one of the most popular, widely grown and highly praised vegetable in the world. In India, commonly referred as ‘Poor Man’s Orange’, has wider coverage in comparison to other vegetables. Tomato universally treated as ‘Protective Food’, is eaten raw or cooked or in processed form (soup, juice, ketchup, puree, paste and powder, green tomato - pickles and preserves) or it supplies vitamin C and adds variety of colours and flavours to food. It is a very good source of income to small and marginal farmers and contributes to nutrition of consumers. Tomato seed contains 24% oil used as salad oil and in manufacture of margarine. By virtue of its many attributes, it is considered as a favourite crop for research in physiology and cytogenetics, all over the world. Tomato is also rich in medicinal value. The pulp and juice are digestible, mild aperient, a promoter of gastric secretion and blood purifier. Tomato, a primary source of lycopene, showed significant association with low prostate cancer risk and cancers of digestive tract. It is one of the best vegetables which keeps our stomach and intestine in good condition. Tomato juice has become an exceedingly popular appetizer and beverage.

Onion is one of the most important commercial vegetable crops grown all over India. Onions are bulbous, biennial, herbaceous and are typically grown as annual, which give off a distinctive and pungent odour when the tissues are crushed. Characteristic pungency and flavour in onion are due to a volatile sulphur compound, allyl-propyl disulphide. This organo sulphur compound has potential for anticarcinogenic secondary metabolites. Pungency varies with cultivar, growing condition, stage of maturity and storage conditions. It is such a unique vegetable, used throughout the year in the form of salad or condiment or for cooking with other vegetables. Onions are used for flavour, aroma and taste in preparation of vegetables and used in the form of dehydrated, freezing, canning and pickling. Onion salt is prepared by dehydration and used in flavouring.

Coconut is the most important palm of the wet tropics as a  major source of vegetable oil which also provides food, health drink, medicine, shelter, fuel, timber and fibre.  Because of its versatile nature, it is eulogised as ’Tree of Heaven’, ‘Tree of Life’, Kalpavriksha, Tree of Abundance, Natures supermarket and king of palms.  Oil is extracted from dried endosperm  which is called ‘copra’. The unopened flowering spathe, on tapping process, yields a delicious sap (Coconut Inflorescence Sap) rich in sugars and vitamin B, is called toddy from which sugar syrup and many products can be extracted.  An intoxicating drink called arrack can be prepared by distilling fermented toddy. The hard endocarps of fruits supply fuel and charcoal and mesocarp yields fibre for coir industry. Leaves are used for thatching houses.  Young unopened leaves are used to decorate festive places.

Black pepper is popularly known as ‘King of spices’, it is the dried berry of the pepper vine, so important in the International Trade Market. The crop has its origin in the tropical rain forests of Western Ghats of India.  Kerala is the leading State in the production of black pepper with the ubiquitous presence of this crop in coconut, arecanut and coffee plantations. Chief pepper producing countries are Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

References Alex, A. 1996. Vegetative, floral and fruit characters in mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.). M.Sc.(Hort.) thesis, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur Aulakh, P.S. and Baidwan, R.P.S. 2004. Performance of Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis L.) on different rootstock. Progre. Hort. 36: 8-11 Badgujar, C.D., Deshmukh, S.S. and Dusane, S.M. 2005. A field comparison of daughter suckers derived from tissue culture mother plant with conventional suckers as planting material. Agric. Sci. Digest 25(2): 155-156 Bajpai, P.N. and Chaturvedi, O.P. 2002. Sysygiums. (In) Fruits: Tropical and Subtropical Vol.III (Eds. Bose, T.K., Mitra, S.K. and Sanyal, D.). Naya Prokash, Calcutta. pp.643-656 Bajpai, P.N. and Shukla, H.S. 2002. Aonla. (In) Fruits: Tropical and subtropical Vol.2. (Eds. Bose, T.K., Mitra, S.K. and Sanyal, D.), Naya Udyog, pp.523-540 Bal, J.S. 2002. Fruit growing. Kalyani Publishers, Ludhiana, p.422