Preface Horticulture plays an important part in today’s agriculture and there are new avenues that are being achieved by horticulture. The subject has transformed from only being about vegetables, fruits, flowers and postharvest technology and has moved towards disease, breeding, pathology, physiology, greenhouse technologies and other areas which were never heard for. The book series: Hi-Tech Horticulture has been worked out keeping the above mentioned issues in mind with contribution by eminent professors and scientists. The volumes are on: 1. Crop Improvement Nursery and Rootstock Management 2. Organic Farming and Sustainable Development Techniques 3. Improved Production Techniques 4. Plant Protection and Stress Management 5. Value Addition and Postharvest Techniques 6. Advance Techniques

Introduction Horticulture plays a significant role in Indian Agriculture. It contributes 30% GDP from 11.73 % of its arable land area. India is the second largest producer of both fruits and vegetables in the world (52.85 Mt and 108.20 Mt respectively). Being rich source of carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and dietary fibres these constitute an important part of our daily diet. The dietary fibres have several direct and indirect advantages. Not only this, fruits and vegetables provide a variety in taste, interest and aesthetic appeal. Their significance in human life is being recognised increasingly in societies with the objective of minimizing the occurrence of the diseases related with an affluent life style.

Ornamental Industry Floriculture as a multi-billion dollar industry has been undergoing unique revolution in terms of production and marketing of high value ornamentals such as cut flowers, loose flowers, potted and foliage plants there by emerged as fully export oriented activity. Owing to the steady increase in demand of flowers, floriculture has become one of the important commercial businesses in horticulture. Presently, floriculture industry in India has been growing with compound annual growth rate of 25 percent over the past decade (Muthukumaran, 2009). It has been found that commercial floriculture has higher potential per unit area than most of the field crops and therefore, it is a lucrative business. Indian floriculture industry has been shifting from traditional flowers to cut flowers for export purposes.Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Tamilnadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal have emerged as major floriculture production areas. The export of floricultural products from India has been on an increase in the past five years due to high demand for floriculture products in importing countries. The estimated total area under floriculture in India is 2,82,000 ha. Tamil Nadu stands first followed by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana. Approximately 16,57,000 metric tonnes of loose flowers and over 5,20,000 metric tonnes cut flowers are produced in India during 2015-16. Total export of floriculture products is 22,518 MT with value of 479 crores (APEDA, 2015). Major importers of ornamental products from India are USA, Germany, UK, Netherland, and UAE.

Introduction Fresh fruits and vegetables are known for their nutritional and relishing nature. But, their fast perishability and season wise availability make them unavailable for a longer time. To enjoy and get benefited from their unique taste and nutritional value they are further preserved or converted into some value-added products such as jam, jelly, candies, juices, minimally processed fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, pickles etc. There are techniques which are developed to preserve them while in fresh and also when they are made into value-added products. Some require only one technique and other requires more than one in combination so that the product can be preserved for a longer period and available to maximum population even after their period of production/availability is completed.

Introduction Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. Packaging may be defined as the art and science which involves preparing the articles for transport, storage display and use. India is a land of large varieties of fruits and vegetables due to its vast soil and climatic diversity. With 38 and 71 million tons of production of fruits and vegetables, India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables next to Brazil and China respectively. Apart from the huge value addition and employment involved in these activities, packaging has served the Indian economy by helping preservation of the quality and lengthening the shelf life of innumerable products-ranging from milk and biscuits, to drugs and medicines, processed and semi-processed foods, fruits and vegetables, edible oils, electronic goods etc., besides domestic appliances and industrial machinery and other hardware needing transportation (FAO, 1985).

Abstract The irradiation process involves exposing the food, either prepackaged or in bulk, to a predetermined level of ionization radiation. In this process, it is important to know sources of ionization radiation, how energy is quantified, and its scope with advantages and limitations.The traditional methods like preservation, such as drying, smoking and salting have been supplemented with pasteurisation (by heat), canning (commercial sterilisation by heat), refrigeration, freezing and chemical preservatives. ‘Food irradiation’ is another technology that can be added to the list. By realizing its importance present chapter highlighted with some basic aspects as well as its applications and other related aspects of food irradiation. Food irradiation involves basic principles like; Pasteurization (Pathogen Reduction) 2. Sterilization 3. Sanitation 4. Disinfestation. As concern to dosage can be applied as  low, medium and high based on type of radiation, type of food, type of packaging material and time of application. It has broader range of application in preservation with this also has few limitations which have become bottlenecks in this technology. Though technology is employing much in developed countries rather than developing once. Prospectus should be given in those countries also.

Abstract Being a great nutrient rich fruit, Dragon fruit has fetched a worldwide attention already and started to emerge as an important cash crop in global market. But the fine tuning between the scheduling of supply and market demand is greatly influenced by postharvest management and storage techniques of the fruit as the fruit has a short storage life. In this review, effect of diversified storage and packaging techniques on the different post harvest quality of fruits viz. fruit firmness, skin colour, its nutritional quality and susceptibility to disease pest during storage is investigated. And it was seen that various alternative and innovative modern techniques such as introduction of  plastic film, plastic crate packaging, modified atmospheric storage, different chemical application and application of edible chitosan coating are proven as effective to extent the durability of storage that widen the room for transport and marketing. Finally it can be said that the advantage of growth in dragon fruit consumption and marketing can be more harnessed through understanding the missing links between harvest and post-harvest handlings and integrating the traditional and modern postharvest approaches.

Introduction Canning is the general term applied to the process of packaging a food in a container and subjecting it to a thermal process for the purpose of extending its useful life. An optimal thermal process will destroy pathogenic (disease-causing) Bacteria, kill or control spoilage organism present and have mineral impact on the nutritional and physical quality of the food. Although we thing of canning in term of steel or possible aluminium cans, the principle apply equally well to a variety of food containers such as glass jar, plastic and foil laminated pouches, semi rigid plastic tray or bowls, as well as metal cans of any one of several shapes, including cylindrical, oval, oblong or rectangular. The concept of aseptic packaging (sterilizing the food and the container prior to filling and sealing) also follows the same principles.