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Preface
Fruits are grown extensively under varying climatic conditions ranging from temperate to tropical. Fruits are regarded as protective food as they are rich source of essential minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, which protect us from several fatal diseases. In the world scenario, temperate fruit crops dominate over tropical or subtropical fruits whereas in India, temperate fruits are grown largely in west Himalayan ranges. Temperate zones for fruit culture cannot be defined exactly by lines of latitude or longitude but are usually regarded as including those areas where frost in winter occurs, even though rarely. Temperate fruits are valued for their attractiveness, taste and nutritional quality. Besides, they are also an important source of foreign exchange. The cultivation of temperate fruits is the mainstay of the economy of hill farmers of the country. However, their national productivity is far below the international level as their production is encountered with several complex problems, which if not addressed in time, may result in complete crop failure.
Hence, there is an urgent need to address the causes of low productivity so as to meet the increasing demand, especially in view of no further significant area expansion and burgeoning population pressure. One of the major factors behind the low productivity is use of low productivity cultivars, which is very often seen in many areas, lack of quality planting materials, poor adoption of improved technologies of cultivation such as provision for adequate pollination, high density planting, insufficient infrastructure for input supply etc. Furthermore, to aggravate this situation, different biotic and abiotic stresses like drought, low snow fall, insect-pests and diseases are ever there to challenge the temperate fruit cultivation. Therefore, it is necessary to have a sound knowledge of temperate fruit cultivation so as to achieve the goal of higher productivity with superior quality, particularly in changing and challenging environment.
Thus, keeping in view, the challenges faced by the temperate fruit industry and a uniform syllabus approved by the ICAR for under graduate and PG students, we planned to write an edited book entitled ‘Temperate Fruit Crops: Theory to Practical’. The book is an effort to summarize the current research information on temperate fruits in a comprehensive treatise. Authors attempted to provide the information and physiology behind current cultural practices as well as future trends.
The book will have 15 chapters on important temperate fruits such as apple, pear, apricot, peach, plum, cherry, strawberry, kiwi, almond, olive, hazelnut, pistachio nut, pecan nut, quince and walnut. Besides dealing with principles and cultivation practices of 15 temperate fruits, this book contains information on all difficulties faced by a farmer with practical application on all cultivation aspects. Efforts have been made to provide the maximum information about the nutritive and medicinal value, origin and distribution, area of cultivation, genus and different species, cytogenetic, botanical description including flowering and fruiting, physiology of flowering, fruit set and development, abiotic factors limiting production, varieties, suitable climate and soil, different methods of propagation including micropropagation, all aspects of cultivation, insect-pest, diseases and their control, physiological disorder and their control measures, harvesting, yield, post harvest management and storage, value addition, economics of cultivation, trade and marketing, organic cultivation, effect of climate change and future research thrust of individual crop in such a way that the information may be easily transmitted among the scientists, researchers, students, policy makers and entrepreneur. We are of the strong opinion that this book would certainly help the students in writing any UG or PG level examination. In addition, this book will also serve the purpose of fruit growers due to its well fabricated content.
This book could not have come in its present form without the helps received from various colleagues and students in different stages during the preparation of the manuscript and for which they are profusely thanked.
We acknowledge our family members who were ever there to extend unconditional support during the preparation of this book and we thank all of them from the bottom of our hearts. We thank the group of outstanding contributors who made this project possible. Each is recognized as an authority in a particular research area and enthusiastically contributed his or her knowledge to making this book a fine source of information.
Preface
Fruits are grown extensively under varying climatic conditions ranging from temperate to tropical. Fruits are regarded as protective food as they are rich source of essential minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, which protect us from several fatal diseases. In the world scenario, temperate fruit crops dominate over tropical or subtropical fruits whereas in India, temperate fruits are grown largely in west Himalayan ranges. Temperate zones for fruit culture cannot be defined exactly by lines of latitude or longitude but are usually regarded as including those areas where frost in winter occurs, even though rarely. Temperate fruits are valued for their attractiveness, taste and nutritional quality. Besides, they are also an important source of foreign exchange. The cultivation of temperate fruits is the mainstay of the economy of hill farmers of the country. However, their national productivity is far below the international level as their production is encountered with several complex problems, which if not addressed in time, may result in complete crop failure.
Hence, there is an urgent need to address the causes of low productivity so as to meet the increasing demand, especially in view of no further significant area expansion and burgeoning population pressure. One of the major factors behind the low productivity is use of low productivity cultivars, which is very often seen in many areas, lack of quality planting materials, poor adoption of improved technologies of cultivation such as provision for adequate pollination, high density planting, insufficient infrastructure for input supply etc. Furthermore, to aggravate this situation, different biotic and abiotic stresses like drought, low snow fall, insect-pests and diseases are ever there to challenge the temperate fruit cultivation. Therefore, it is necessary to have a sound knowledge of temperate fruit cultivation so as to achieve the goal of higher productivity with superior quality, particularly in changing and challenging environment.
Thus, keeping in view, the challenges faced by the temperate fruit industry and a uniform syllabus approved by the ICAR for under graduate and PG students, we planned to write an edited book entitled ‘Temperate Fruit Crops: Theory to Practical’. The book is an effort to summarize the current research information on temperate fruits in a comprehensive treatise. Authors attempted to provide the information and physiology behind current cultural practices as well as future trends.
The book will have 15 chapters on important temperate fruits such as apple, pear, apricot, peach, plum, cherry, strawberry, kiwi, almond, olive, hazelnut, pistachio nut, pecan nut, quince and walnut. Besides dealing with principles and cultivation practices of 15 temperate fruits, this book contains information on all difficulties faced by a farmer with practical application on all cultivation aspects. Efforts have been made to provide the maximum information about the nutritive and medicinal value, origin and distribution, area of cultivation, genus and different species, cytogenetic, botanical description including flowering and fruiting, physiology of flowering, fruit set and development, abiotic factors limiting production, varieties, suitable climate and soil, different methods of propagation including micropropagation, all aspects of cultivation, insect-pest, diseases and their control, physiological disorder and their control measures, harvesting, yield, post harvest management and storage, value addition, economics of cultivation, trade and marketing, organic cultivation, effect of climate change and future research thrust of individual crop in such a way that the information may be easily transmitted among the scientists, researchers, students, policy makers and entrepreneur. We are of the strong opinion that this book would certainly help the students in writing any UG or PG level examination. In addition, this book will also serve the purpose of fruit growers due to its well fabricated content.
This book could not have come in its present form without the helps received from various colleagues and students in different stages during the preparation of the manuscript and for which they are profusely thanked.
We acknowledge our family members who were ever there to extend unconditional support during the preparation of this book and we thank all of them from the bottom of our hearts. We thank the group of outstanding contributors who made this project possible. Each is recognized as an authority in a particular research area and enthusiastically contributed his or her knowledge to making this book a fine source of information.