eChapters

Olericulture is Latin term ‘Olerus’ meaning ‘pot herb’ and ‘Cultra’ meaning ‘cultivation’.

Definition: Vegetables are those plants wherein parts such as leaf, stem or root can be used for food.

Herbs: Are those plants that are used for food, medicine, scent or flavour.

Vegetables are rich source of vitamins, minerals than other than nutrients. In India, vegetables occupy only 2.8% of the total cropped area. Vegetables are (except mushroom) grown for their succulent and edible parts such as the roots, stems, leaves, young tops, fruits or seeds which are used in culinary preparations either fresh or preserved in the fresh state.

These crops are further classified into different groupings according to similarities in edible parts, growth habits, methods of culture and botanical family.

The general recommendation for intake of fruits and vegetables is at least 400 g per person as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO), five servings of 80 g per day or about 146 kg per person per annum. For vegetables, the recommended intake requirement is at least 300 g per day per individual. This 300 g requirement must include 50 g leafy vegetables, 50 g roots and tubers and 200 g other vegetables (Kapur, 2016). Current annual vegetable production including potato, based on recent three years (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18) average is around 177 million tons from 10 million ha giving a productivity of 17.7 ton/ha. With this average and stagnating production and assuming Indian population at 133 CR (1.33 billion) and 25% postharvest losses, per capita per day availability of vegetables comes to 273 g leaving a gap of 27 g between the recommended dose and the availability of vegetables per head per day in India. By 2050, the projected population of India is 1.5 billion and to meet the requirement of this population, vegetable production will have be 220 million tons, of course making allowance of 25% post-harvest losses. Considering all kind of constraints on the available land area of vegetables, the vegetable area will be around 10 million ha and consequently, major gain of production will have to come from productivity increase from current level of about 18 tons/ha to 22 tons/ha and this seems to be a gigantic task as during last several years, the productivity of vegetables in India has been between 17 and 18 tons/ha, an indication that it has reached to a plateau. This situation calls for fall massive interventions on technological fronts in terms of innovative products with focus on better hybrids with higher yields, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses deploying precision breeding technologies using more of marker assisted breeding, genomics and gene editing tools and delivering high quality seeds to the farmers with assurance of high performance. This chapter looks into the present seed scenario and the emerging trends with respect to new seeds and new technologies and examines the need to facilitate rules, regulations and IPR environment for more investment in vegetable research and development and quality seed production and distribution. Improved seed with shift towards hybrid seed will be the key driver to increase vegetable production and productivity in India.

The processing of the seed refers to mainly pre-cleaning and sizing. The sizing is up gradation of seed lots based on size, shape or length. In this chapter processing with main reference to sizing or upgrading is given. Sizing or upgrading is done by using different screens in an air screen cleaner, gravity separator, seed blower, indent disc cylinder, belt grader or some time colour sorter. Here specific tasks like use of screens in an air screen cleaner, rubber belt angles when using a belt grader, disc type when using indent disc cylinder or special arrangements in a gravity separator are given. The details of the machines or equipments with the principles of working were already covered in Chapter-3.

A successful vegetable production industry is very dependent on a sustainable supply of seeds to the growers. At the present time, the seed industry plays an important role in both production and distribution of high quality vegetable seeds.

Successful seed production of a crop depends on a thorough knowledge of the reproductive process of a particular crop. The techniques of seed production must take into account several features of reproduction: whether it is sexual, asexual, or a combination of the both, the nature of floral structures, the amount of pollen transfer, the degree and means of self-incompatibility and the effect of inbreeding on vigour. For most purposes the important consideration to the seed producers is the extent of cross-pollination. It is, therefore, necessary that before engaging himself in seed production, a producer must acquaint himself with the following details of reproduction in the particular crop:

Methods of Reproduction

The method of reproduction in vegetable crop plants may be broadly grouped in to two categories, asexual/vegetative and sexual:

The horticulture sector of our country is following an increased growth in area and production by 9% and 14 % respectively for the past six years (2015-21). It is reported that the growth rate of horticultural crop production accounts for 2.7% per year. Fruits and vegetables are the major sectors contributing to total horticulture production. As per the report of second advance estimates published by Horticulture statistics division, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare during 2020-21, our country recorded the highest horticulture production during 2020-21 with an annual production of 329. 86 million tonnes from an area of 27.23 million hectares and the vegetable sector shared around 196.26 million tonnes production from 10.80 million hectare area. India is the largest producer of okra and ginger and second largest producer of potato, onion, cauliflower, brinjal, cabbage etc. Vegetables also contribute to the export market and onion, mixed vegetables, potatoes, tomato and green chilli are the main vegetables exporting from our country. It is estimated an export of worth Rs. 4969.73 crores from vegetables during the year 2020-21.

Importance of Vegetable Seed Production

Though we are leading in many of the vegetables in area and production, our national average in productivity of the major vegetables is far less compared to the world average. The country s estimated vegetable production by the year 2050 is 375 million tonnes from 15 million hectare with an average productivity of 25 t/ha. Low productivity is mainly because the farmers are still relying on old varieties which are less yielding and susceptible to pest and disease. Unavailability of the quality seeds of newly released varieties is one of the main reasons for this production gap. A substantial increase in yield and quality of vegetable crops can be achieved by adopting suitable agronomic practices, plant protection measures and use of quality seed. Now a days, there is an increased demand for good quality seeds of open pollinated varieties as well as hybrid seeds through which an increased vegetable production can be achieved for meeting the requirement of increasing population. So far, very limited number of vegetable hybrids have been developed and released by public sectors and majority of the existing promising hybrids in vegetables are from private sectors.

Introduction

While Indian agriculture has evolved to provide food to our ever growing population, nutritional security had remained a distant dream. Vegetables, an important component of a healthy diet, are rich source of nutraceuticals such as flavonoids, carotenoids, vitamins, anthocyanins, polyphenolics etc. Such constituents provide health benefits of disease prevention through antioxidant activity and reduced disease risks. Since perishable food commodities and light sensitive nutraceuticals have a specific shelf life, these run the risk of getting spoilt beyond a specific time. Excessive quantities of these must therefore, be processed and converted into value added products with improved shelf life and nutrition value after fortification with nutraceuticals. Nutraceuticals are also referred to by different terminologies like functional foods, fusion foods, dietary supplements, designer foods etc. Nutraceutical products include food supplements, dietary supplements, value-added food products, processed food commodities as well as non-food supplements such as tablets, soft gels, capsules etc. A survey related to nutraceutical rich vegetables has revealed that farmers are growing only the conventional vegetables and there is little awareness about the use of nutraceutical rich vegetables.

Vegetables are rich sources of important phytochemicals, which provide essential nutrients and enhance the body’s ability to prevent and fight disease. There is a multitude of phytochemicals, in unique combinations, in different vegetables, and each functions differently in the body as anti-oxidant, as anti-allergenic, as anti-carcinogenic, as anti-inflammatory, as anti-viral, and/or anti-proliferative. Being of natural origin, some of the phytochemical pigments are increasingly sought after as food colorants. Some of the nutraceutical rich vegetable crops include red and black carrot, beet root, tomato, chilli, and broccoli.

INTRODUCTION

Vegetables and fruits have many similarities with respect to their composition, methods of cultivation and harvesting, storage properties and processing. In fact many vegetables are considered fruits in the true botanical sense. But the difference between the two is that vegetables are derived from various parts of plants e.g. roots, leaves, stems, buds and so on whereas, fruits are the mature ovaries of plants with their seeds. The edible position of most fruits is the freshly part of the pericap or vessel surrounding the seeds. The other difference between the two is that those plant items that are generally eaten with the main course of a meal are often considered to be vegetables, whereas those that are eaten alone or as a dessert are considered as fruits. This is the distinction made by food processors, certain marketing laws, and the consuming publics.

SYNOPSIS

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal or fish origin. Plant foods are the most abundant sources of nutrition on earth. Only plants contain powerful substances called phytochemicals, which protect us from cancer, heart disease, and an array of other serious illnesses.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Horticulture is defined as “The science and art of growing vegetables, fruits, flowers, ornamental plants and landscaping of gardens and surroundings in small and commercial gardens”. The word ‘horticulture’ has been derived from Latin language and consists of two parts, viz., ‘hortus’ means garden and ‘cultura’ means cultivation. Thus, the word ‘horticulture’ means garden cultivation. Horticulture basically deals with Pomology, Olericulture, and Floriculture and Landscaping. Horticulture is gaining importance as it gives more returns per unit area and also gives nutritious food to human beings thereby improves quality of life and enhances the aesthetic beauty of nature. Vegetable growing is one of the major branches of horticulture with respect to value of the products.

In technical sense all parts of vegetables are used for consumption. The term, however, is usually applied to the edible plants which store up reserve food in roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, petioles, leaves, buds, flowers, fruits, and seeds which are eaten either cooked or raw. Growing vegetables is not only important for providing the protective food but also serve as an important subsidiary food playing a more significant role in the food consumption. They are rich in nutrients and are essential components of a balanced diet.

INTRODUCTION

Resource, land use patterns and erosion of homrgardens biodiversity have been at the core of the debate on sustainable ecosystem management today. Homegardens are considered as a resource system of multiple functions and an important wheels of vehicle for biodiversity, environmental and ecological benefits, food security (either directly food grains, fruits, vegetables and root crops or indirectly improving soil conditions and there by promoting understory crop productivity especially on degraded sites), soil conservation potential, nutritional security, socio-cultural as well as mitigation of the impact of climate change and job creation in developing and under developed countries. While increasing human population, urbanization and pressure on the earth’s ecosystems, has resulted in the breakdown of these traditional agroforestry systems, accompanied by increasing economic, cultural, nutritional, and environmental problems, there is little awareness that homegardens are under similar threats.

I. FILL UPS

1. _____ is the method of propagating plants with the use of organs other than the seed and spore.
2. The word asexual, which means _____.
3. In asexual, the _____ of the male and female sexual gametes (fertilization) is not a requisite to the production of new plants.
4. In vegetative propagation, the union of the male and _____ sexual gametes (fertilization) is not a requisite.
5. _____ without fertilization is known as vegetative propagation.
6. In vegetative propagation, _____ cell division takes place.

In global competitive agriculture market, the need of the hour is to provide uniform and quality agricultural produce which can compete in market and give remunerative returns. For this, the agriculture production needs to be addressed on more scientific grounds and full package of practices are to be adopted to produce quality produce for global market. Earlier, the orchards were established using seedling material where uniformity of the produce was not guaranteed. Thus, in recent years more emphasis is being paid on scientific establishment of orchards which requires true to type planting material from which uniform produce is expected. This true to type planting material can only be produced by vegetative methods. Thus, standardization of vegetative propagation in horticultural crops, particularly in perennial crops has gained much importance. Some references are available on propagation of plants which shows that vegetative propagation  methods were also practiced in ancient time as mentioned in old treaties literature viz. Upvan vinod,  Ain-e-akbari, etc.

1. VEGETATIVE PROPAGULE

Vegetative propagation or asexual propagation is the method of propagating plants with the use of organs other than the seed and spore. In contrast to sexual propagation, the union of the male and female sexual gametes (fertilization) is not a requisite to the production of new plants. Hence the word “asexual”, which means “without sex” or “not sexual”.

A close relationship between the mode of reproduction of a cultivated plant and the methods to be employed for its improvement is now well accepted. Crop plants are broadly placed in two groups according to the mode of their reproduction: sexually reproduced and asexually propagated or reproduced plants. Asexual reproduction does not involve the union of gametes and/or reduction in chromosome numbers.

Plants may reproduce asexually in a variety of ways. In 1980, Mayo has identified the following methods of asexual reproduction on the basis of the classification made earlier by Stebbins in 1941 and Brown in 1972.

The venous drainage of the fore limb of ox is conducted by two independent routes, the superficial and deep routes, in the fore limb. The major vein of the superficial route is the cephalic vein and that of the deep route is the axillary vein. The venous drainage of the fore limb begins at the digits and is carried by branches of both the routes intermingling or confluent with each other up to the level of elbow joint. From the elbow upwards the journey of the two paths is completely independent of each other. The superficial veins join the cephalic vein while the deep veins join the axillary vein to open into the cranial vena cava.

Superficial veins

The superficial veins begin in the form of distal deep and distal superficial palmer arch just above the fetlock joint. These venous arches are formed by the union of axial and abaxial digital veins. From these venous arches extend the dorsal metacarpal vein ascending first through the interdigital space and then winding around the large metacarpal bone. In this course it anastomoses with the branches of radial vein on the dorsomedial aspect of the carpometacarpal region and passes further upward as accessory cephalic vein.

The venous blood from the head and neck is carried by two jugular veins (Figure 2-11 B), the internal and external jugular veins on each side. Both of these extend from the base of the head to the thoracic inlet and are located on the ventrolateral part of the neck. The internal jugular vein is smaller while the external jugular is larger one.

The internal jugular vein is formed by the union of the thyroid, laryngeal and occipital veins beneath the wing of the atlas between the mandibular salivary gland and the rectus capitis ventralis major muscle. It passes down the neck in company with the common carotid artery, vagus and sympathetic nerves enclosed within a carotid sheath, receives in its course the muscular venous branches, tracheal vein and the oesophageal vein and terminates by joining the external jugular vein just in front of the thoracic inlet.

The external jugular vein is the larger of the two jugular veins and is formed by the union of the superficial temporal and the maxillary veins just behind the caudal border of the mandible and on the deep face of the parotid salivary gland below the temporomandibular joint. It becomes superficial by emerging through the parotid gland, passes down the neck subcutaneously in the jugular furrow, receives the internal jugular vein forming a common jugular vein in front of the thoracic inlet. It receives along its course, the external maxillary vein, parotid veins, auricular veins, small veins from the muscles of the cervical region and the cephalic vein at its termination. While in the jugular groove it is bounded dorsally by the brachiocephalicus muscle, ventrally by sternocephalicus and medially by the sternomastoid part of the sternocephalicus muscle. The vein is covered by skin and fascia and is separated from common carotid artery, vagosympathetic trunk, recurrent laryngeal nerve and internal jugular vein by the upper border of the sternomastoid muscle.

The right and left common jugular veins unite and form the jugular confluence which joins the cranial vena cava ventral to the trachea slightly to the right of the median plane at the level of the cranial border of the first rib.

The venous drainage of hind limb begins from two digital venous plexuses, one for each digit, situated in the corium of the foot. From each of these plexuses extend three digital veins namely the dorsal common digital vein, the medial digital vein and the lateral digital vein. The digital veins in their upward course converge and form the metatarsal veins which in their turn continue upward in the leg region as tibial and popliteal veins and then in the thigh region as femoral vein which finally joins the external iliac vein as the chief vein of the hind limb.

Digital veins

The dorsal common digital vein arises from the corresponding digital plexus in the form of proper digital vein.The two proper digital veins ascend along the medial face of the corresponding digit and unite at about the middle of the interdigital space below the metatarso-phalangeal articulation (fetlock joint) and form the dorsal common digital vein. The later, thus formed, ascends through the interdigital space, crosses vertically the metatarso-phalangeal articulation and after reaching the distal extremity of the metatarsal bone continues upward as dorsal metatarsal vein.

The medial digital vein after arising from the digital venous plexus ascends along the caudomedial aspect of the medial digit in company with the satellite artery, shares a branch each from the dorsal common digital and lateral digital veins, ascends the medial face of the fetlock joint and is then continued up as the medial plantar metatarsal vein.

The lateral digital vein after arising from the digital venous plexus of the lateral digit passes upward in the interdigital space, communicates a branch to the dorsal common digital and medial digital veins and then ascends the lateral face of the fetlock joint and then is continued up as the lateral plantar metatarsal vein.

The venous drainage from the wall of the thorax is performed by the dorsal intercostal veins. These veins are distributed as below.

The dorsal intercostal veins are twelve pairs in number. Of these, the fourth to twelfth intercostal veins from right side and fifth to twelfth intercostal veins from the left side join the vena azygos.

Morphological characteristics

A large elegant evergreen tree, grows up to 30 m. high, with a clean, cylindrical bole of 15 m. and a girth of 4.5 m. Bark is rough, whitish to grey, peeling off in thick round flakes. Leaves are coriaceous, Ovate to Oblong, entire (Leaf falls in March, new foliage appears in April-May, the second flush of foliage starts after rains, in October to December.) Fruit is a Capsule, ovoid, pale brown, fleshy, 8 to 11cm long, and 3.5 to 6 cm in Diameter. 1 seeded, reddish white, filled with fat. Ripens during June to July.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are bisexual, about 2 cm across, white, slightly fragrant, arranged in panicles. Panicle is robust, multi-branched, up to 15 cm long and drooping. Fruit is capsules, 4-6 cm X 2-4 cm in size, pale brown, fleshy, hard when dry, splitting by 3 valves when ripe.

Distribution

A slow-growing species, Endemic & found primarily in the South west coast evergreen forests, upto an altitude of 750 m, and also occasionally in secondary evergreen dipterocarp forest in the states of Karnataka, Kerala & Tamil Nadu.