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Preface
In agricultural scenario of advanced countries, vegetable farming is given precedence attention in view of the great importance of these crops in the human nutrition. However, situation in the developing and underdeveloped countries is rather disappointing. In European countries where the climatic conditions do not favour the production of vegetables throughout the year, the year round production of these crops is realized by adopting special techniques. In contrast, India is endowed with varied soil and climatic conditions for the cultivation of vegetable round the year in one or other parts of the country. Despite that, sufficiency in vegetable production remains to be a target, which, is yet to be achieved. This state of affairs may be accredited to many reasons amongst which lack of technical knowledge on production technology may be considered as imperative constraints. In India where cultivation of vegetables is possible round the year, a big jump in production can be realized with improved varieties of different vegetable resistant to insect-pests, nematodes and diseases and adoption of cost effective modem management practices.
Vegetable crops occupy an important place in diversification of agriculture, and they Bare played a pivotal role in nutritional security of the rapidly growing population of the country. Majority of the population in India are vegetarian, thus, in last two decades, lot of emphasis has been given to vegetable research. As a result, India has emerged as a second largest producer of vegetable research. This significant growth in vegetable production copious impetus from the development of large number of high yielding varieties of rent vegetables by the State Agricultural Universities and Indian Council of Agricultural larch Institutes and adoption of modem agro-techniques for optimizing their yield potential. This has resulted in increase in area and production of vegetables in the country due to which per capita consumption has increased substantially.
The development and evolution of pests are parallel to the crop evolution itself. Amongst pests, insect-pests predominate with respect to their damage potential. Since last few years, pests have become the limiting factor in the cultivation of many crops of different groups. Amongst crops, vegetable crops are more vulnerable to the attack of insect-pests, and a number of varieties of these crops are adversely affected by their attack ire-few generations of the genotypes. Vegetables like other crops are attacked by various diseases, which result in both quantitative and qualitative losses. The introduction of hybrids arc improved high yielding varieties of vegetables has resulted in epidemics of many diseases. These have also added new disease problems. Hence, it is essential to have sufficient knowledge about the causal agents of plant diseases, their perpetuation and spread so that timely management practices may be put into practice. The description includes not only the diagnosis but also full account of the causal agent and host pathogen environment relationships. Control measures given for each disease are those that have been recommended by majority of workers in India.
Knowledge of various factors leading to epidemic build up of different diseases is also necessary for their porediction and timely application of various management methods since without proper knowledge of diseases, the farmers are indiscriminately using chemicals all over the world to control the ravage of insect-pests, nematodes and diseases, which produce ill effects on human health and environment. Hence, ecofriendly and economically viable strategies like genotypes having hereditary resistance against insect-pests should be adopted so that the treatment within pesticides may be minimized and more and more emphasis should be given on Integrated Pest Management System involving most effective and economical methods. This approach utilizes a suitable combination of host plant’s resistance, cultural measures and biological and chemical pesticides so that quality produce without pesticide residue may be harvested.
The book has been written in a very simple and easily understandable language. The information given in this book is based on systematically and scientifically designed field and laboratory experiments conducted in various ecological zones. It is believed that this book will serve the scientific society in a variety of ways. Undergraduate and postgraduate students, professors, teachers, scientists and researchers having their interests in different fields of specialization will certainly be benefited. Some progressive farmers who are engaged in vegetable cultivation, horticulturists and horticultural extension specialists may also find affinity of the subject matter.
Preface
In agricultural scenario of advanced countries, vegetable farming is given precedence attention in view of the great importance of these crops in the human nutrition. However, situation in the developing and underdeveloped countries is rather disappointing. In European countries where the climatic conditions do not favour the production of vegetables throughout the year, the year round production of these crops is realized by adopting special techniques. In contrast, India is endowed with varied soil and climatic conditions for the cultivation of vegetable round the year in one or other parts of the country. Despite that, sufficiency in vegetable production remains to be a target, which, is yet to be achieved. This state of affairs may be accredited to many reasons amongst which lack of technical knowledge on production technology may be considered as imperative constraints. In India where cultivation of vegetables is possible round the year, a big jump in production can be realized with improved varieties of different vegetable resistant to insect-pests, nematodes and diseases and adoption of cost effective modem management practices.
Vegetable crops occupy an important place in diversification of agriculture, and they Bare played a pivotal role in nutritional security of the rapidly growing population of the country. Majority of the population in India are vegetarian, thus, in last two decades, lot of emphasis has been given to vegetable research. As a result, India has emerged as a second largest producer of vegetable research. This significant growth in vegetable production copious impetus from the development of large number of high yielding varieties of rent vegetables by the State Agricultural Universities and Indian Council of Agricultural larch Institutes and adoption of modem agro-techniques for optimizing their yield potential. This has resulted in increase in area and production of vegetables in the country due to which per capita consumption has increased substantially.
The development and evolution of pests are parallel to the crop evolution itself. Amongst pests, insect-pests predominate with respect to their damage potential. Since last few years, pests have become the limiting factor in the cultivation of many crops of different groups. Amongst crops, vegetable crops are more vulnerable to the attack of insect-pests, and a number of varieties of these crops are adversely affected by their attack ire-few generations of the genotypes. Vegetables like other crops are attacked by various diseases, which result in both quantitative and qualitative losses. The introduction of hybrids arc improved high yielding varieties of vegetables has resulted in epidemics of many diseases. These have also added new disease problems. Hence, it is essential to have sufficient knowledge about the causal agents of plant diseases, their perpetuation and spread so that timely management practices may be put into practice. The description includes not only the diagnosis but also full account of the causal agent and host pathogen environment relationships. Control measures given for each disease are those that have been recommended by majority of workers in India.
Knowledge of various factors leading to epidemic build up of different diseases is also necessary for their porediction and timely application of various management methods since without proper knowledge of diseases, the farmers are indiscriminately using chemicals all over the world to control the ravage of insect-pests, nematodes and diseases, which produce ill effects on human health and environment. Hence, ecofriendly and economically viable strategies like genotypes having hereditary resistance against insect-pests should be adopted so that the treatment within pesticides may be minimized and more and more emphasis should be given on Integrated Pest Management System involving most effective and economical methods. This approach utilizes a suitable combination of host plant’s resistance, cultural measures and biological and chemical pesticides so that quality produce without pesticide residue may be harvested.
The book has been written in a very simple and easily understandable language. The information given in this book is based on systematically and scientifically designed field and laboratory experiments conducted in various ecological zones. It is believed that this book will serve the scientific society in a variety of ways. Undergraduate and postgraduate students, professors, teachers, scientists and researchers having their interests in different fields of specialization will certainly be benefited. Some progressive farmers who are engaged in vegetable cultivation, horticulturists and horticultural extension specialists may also find affinity of the subject matter.