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Preface
The relationship between mankind and ornamentals has a very long and romantic history. Modern plant breeding has improved the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people in the world. Plant breeding is a rapidly developing subject, particularly through the achievements of modern genetics and genetic engineering. Ornamentals are sold worldwide, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Ever year, breeders, driven by their search for novelty, create new and attractive varieties. Traits such as new colours, altered forms, enhanced fragrance and increased longevity are in high demand by consumers.
The intent for a book of this kind was deeply felt by us in the recent years, in view of the marked advances in breeding and seed production of flower crops especially in the last two decades and the lack of up-to-date compilation on the various aspects of genetics of major flower crops of the world. The large volumes of research works that have been done, and the information accumulated over the years necessitated the need for immediate publication of a good updated text book on breeding ornamental flower crops to keep the readers abreast with the current literature and development in the subject.
It presents the breeding work on 37 ornamental and flower crops and describes the skills necessary for taking up the cultivar improvement program on these flowers. The opening chapters are meant to provide basic information to the subject, history and development of ornamental plant breeding and major work going on at global level. The major part of the book then considers breeding of all economically important ornamental and flower crops of tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions. Each chapter is supported by a comprehensive list of bibliography to facilitate readers, locating finer details of the past and recent work of the crop(s). To help readers, some topics in a chapter are broken down into short sub-sections in order to convey the gist of a subject area. We hope that the book will serve as an excellent source of reference for flower scientists and teachers too. Additionally, it should be useful to others (enlightened growers, nurserymen, flower traders, agricultural extension officers and policy makers) who wish to become familiar with the topic in relation to their professional interest. However, a basic knowledge of botany and genetics is preferable to fully appreciate the text. It is our belief that the genetic improvement of ornamental plants must rely largely on the work of plant enthusiasts. Woody ornamentals, especially, have great potential for improvement, as most of the focus thus far has been on annuals and herbaceous perennials. Hobbyist plant breeders-whether medical doctors, teachers or business people-with little or no professional training in botany, horticulture or plant genetics are still able to make significant contributions to the improvement of ornamentals because of vast array of plants and the seemingly endless combinations among them. The dedicated efforts of thousands of backyard plant breeders would surely result in many new and exciting ornamentals to enrich the landscape. A Chinese proverb says: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The real credit for this publication ultimately should go the many floriculturists and flower breeders whose research during the last past century disclosed information comprising the book.
Basic scientific research in the last several years has provided an excellent foundation to better understanding plant regeneration, genetics and aspects of growth and development. Taken together, this ‘biotechnology’ offers the potential for significant advances in the improvement of ornamental species. Many of these improvements are currently impacting commercial production of ornamental plants. A large number of landscape plants are being commercially propagated through tissue culture. Recently-identified genes controlling flower characteristics, biotic and abiotic resistance have been ‘engineered’ into ornamental species and in concert with classical breeding programs will significantly change landscape and cut flower crop improvement into the next century.
We are indebted to Dr. T.A. More, Ex. Vice- Chancellor, MPKV, Rahuri for his critical remarks and valuable suggestions. We are also thankful Dr. M.V. Dhananjaya, Sr. Scientist, IIHR, Bengaluru for his valuable guidance; Shri. A.B. Deshmukh, Librarian, College of Agriculture, Pune for providing library facilities; scientists of AICRIP on Floriculture, MPKV, Rahuri, Directorate of Floricultural Research, Pune for sparing photos. We are greatly indebted to all those authors/ publishers whose work was consulted and incorporated in the text. We hope that the thoughts and strategies, presented in this book, of molecular and classical genetics, which are not always complimentary or even compatible, will serve to spark the imaginations of breeders as well as students entering the exciting world of state-of-the-art ornamentals. We believe, the readers will be impressed with the large body of work dealing with these crops and we hope these reviews will inspire additional research toward the improvement of this important group of plants. We shall be most grateful to the readers to give us the benefit of their advice and suggestions so that this can be incorporated in later edition.
Preface
The relationship between mankind and ornamentals has a very long and romantic history. Modern plant breeding has improved the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people in the world. Plant breeding is a rapidly developing subject, particularly through the achievements of modern genetics and genetic engineering. Ornamentals are sold worldwide, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Ever year, breeders, driven by their search for novelty, create new and attractive varieties. Traits such as new colours, altered forms, enhanced fragrance and increased longevity are in high demand by consumers.
The intent for a book of this kind was deeply felt by us in the recent years, in view of the marked advances in breeding and seed production of flower crops especially in the last two decades and the lack of up-to-date compilation on the various aspects of genetics of major flower crops of the world. The large volumes of research works that have been done, and the information accumulated over the years necessitated the need for immediate publication of a good updated text book on breeding ornamental flower crops to keep the readers abreast with the current literature and development in the subject.
It presents the breeding work on 37 ornamental and flower crops and describes the skills necessary for taking up the cultivar improvement program on these flowers. The opening chapters are meant to provide basic information to the subject, history and development of ornamental plant breeding and major work going on at global level. The major part of the book then considers breeding of all economically important ornamental and flower crops of tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions. Each chapter is supported by a comprehensive list of bibliography to facilitate readers, locating finer details of the past and recent work of the crop(s). To help readers, some topics in a chapter are broken down into short sub-sections in order to convey the gist of a subject area. We hope that the book will serve as an excellent source of reference for flower scientists and teachers too. Additionally, it should be useful to others (enlightened growers, nurserymen, flower traders, agricultural extension officers and policy makers) who wish to become familiar with the topic in relation to their professional interest. However, a basic knowledge of botany and genetics is preferable to fully appreciate the text. It is our belief that the genetic improvement of ornamental plants must rely largely on the work of plant enthusiasts. Woody ornamentals, especially, have great potential for improvement, as most of the focus thus far has been on annuals and herbaceous perennials. Hobbyist plant breeders-whether medical doctors, teachers or business people-with little or no professional training in botany, horticulture or plant genetics are still able to make significant contributions to the improvement of ornamentals because of vast array of plants and the seemingly endless combinations among them. The dedicated efforts of thousands of backyard plant breeders would surely result in many new and exciting ornamentals to enrich the landscape. A Chinese proverb says: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The real credit for this publication ultimately should go the many floriculturists and flower breeders whose research during the last past century disclosed information comprising the book.
Basic scientific research in the last several years has provided an excellent foundation to better understanding plant regeneration, genetics and aspects of growth and development. Taken together, this ‘biotechnology’ offers the potential for significant advances in the improvement of ornamental species. Many of these improvements are currently impacting commercial production of ornamental plants. A large number of landscape plants are being commercially propagated through tissue culture. Recently-identified genes controlling flower characteristics, biotic and abiotic resistance have been ‘engineered’ into ornamental species and in concert with classical breeding programs will significantly change landscape and cut flower crop improvement into the next century.
We are indebted to Dr. T.A. More, Ex. Vice- Chancellor, MPKV, Rahuri for his critical remarks and valuable suggestions. We are also thankful Dr. M.V. Dhananjaya, Sr. Scientist, IIHR, Bengaluru for his valuable guidance; Shri. A.B. Deshmukh, Librarian, College of Agriculture, Pune for providing library facilities; scientists of AICRIP on Floriculture, MPKV, Rahuri, Directorate of Floricultural Research, Pune for sparing photos. We are greatly indebted to all those authors/ publishers whose work was consulted and incorporated in the text. We hope that the thoughts and strategies, presented in this book, of molecular and classical genetics, which are not always complimentary or even compatible, will serve to spark the imaginations of breeders as well as students entering the exciting world of state-of-the-art ornamentals. We believe, the readers will be impressed with the large body of work dealing with these crops and we hope these reviews will inspire additional research toward the improvement of this important group of plants. We shall be most grateful to the readers to give us the benefit of their advice and suggestions so that this can be incorporated in later edition.