eChapters

Introduction

Bougainvillea is a popular ornamental plant in the tropics and sub-tropics of the world. The plant is mainly grown for its attractive bracts in wide array of colours which splash colour to the surrounding where it grows. Wide adaptability to different agro-climatic conditions and easy multiplication has made it a popular ornamental plant of the world. The mass effect of the colourful bracts of Bougainvillea can alter the face of any given place in a magnificent way which could not be achieved by punctuating any other plant. The flowering of Bougainvillea is compared with the Azalea of temperate countries and very truly called as Glory of the Tropics.’

The popularity of Bougainvillea has now crossed from tropical to temperate countries and successfully being grown as pot plants in green houses. Selection of cultivars of Bougainvillea spectabilis and B. peruviana for temperate region is recommended for better result. Availability of a large number of cultivars under horticulturally important species, provide a unique scope to the Bougainvillea lovers for wide choice according to their need. Single bracted cultivars with large bracts in different colours are obvious choice for every landscape designer while double bracted cultivars produce mass effect of colour as specimen plant. Considering its ornamental and commercial importance in nursery trade, R & D work were taken up by different national research institutes (IARI, IIHR, NBRI, BARC), agricultural universities, Agri-Horticultural Societies (Kolkata and Chennai) and even by progressive nursery men. As a result, a large number of new cultivars have been developed in India. Considering the contribution made by India, The international registration authority for new cultivars lies with The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi which is an international recognition conferred upon by International Society for Horticultural Science.

Recently, lot of development taking place for further popularization and exploitation of Bougainvillea around the world by way of development of new cultivars, standardization agro-technology suited to different zones. Countries like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and India have been excelling in this area. Establishment of American Bougainvillea Society is another landmark in Bougainvillea cultivation.

Horticulture and allied sector are integral elements for food and nutritional security in the country. Horticulture is the main segment, while its various sub- segments are fruits, vegetables, aromatic and herbal plants, flowers, spices, tubers, plantation crops and ornamental plants. All these are regarded as essential ingredients of economic security. The wide range of agro-climatic conditions of India is conducive for growing a large variety of horticultural crops, including, root and tuber crops, mushroom and ornamental crops.

The Government of India recognized horticulture crops as a means of diversification in agriculture in an eco-friendly manner through efficient use of land and optimum utilization of natural resources. Horticulture seeks to create ample opportunities for employment, particularly for unemployed youths and women folk. India has maintained leadership in the production of many commodities like fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants and particularly in landscape business.

India is coming up in landscaping and ornamental horticulture. There is wide scope since large number of MNC and business houses have come up in India. The purchasing power of people has increased to a greater extent.

Thus, over the years, much progress are made for advancement of horticulture and allied sector. Rising investments resulted in increased production and availability of horticultural produces in the rural and urban areas. Many schemes and policies were introduced from time to time for upliftment and commercialization of the sector. Large number of investors are taking advantage of the existing potentials in the sector, as well as trying to explore the untapped potentials in the field of horticulture.

Bonsai is an art of growing and training of a woody plant in a miniature form in a shallow container imitating natural look of an old aged tree. It differs from a pot plant where either the foliage or the flower is the main criterion, but here the artistic look of the tree in a miniature and natural form maintained for many years is desired.

The word Bonsai’ is a combination of two Japanese words, Bon (meaning shallow pan) and Sai (meaning plant), which can be translated as “tray planting”. By growing the trees in shallow containers, the growth is checked or dwarfed but the plant is not starved. A properly maintained bonsai should outlive a full size tree of the same species. Bonsai is a small tree in comparison to its huge life-sized tree of the same species. Thus, Bonsai is specially trained ordinary tree or plant, not special hybrid dwarfs. Bonsai culture is viewed as a hobby that allows greater understanding and association with nature. This art of bonsai is linked with Zen Buddhism - where this art originated as pastime that merged with natural elements and developed into a unique method of meditation and expression. The bonsai is even expressed as “heaven and earth in one container”

Bonsai is developed from seeds, cuttings, layering or grafting from young trees or from naturally occurring stunted trees transplanted into shallow containers. Most bonsai range in height from 5 centimeter (2 inch) to 1.2 meter (4 ft). Bonsai is kept small and trained by pruning branches and roots, periodic repotting, pinching off new growth and wiring the branches and trunk for giving desired shape. Tradition holds that three basic virtues are necessary to create a bonsai: shin-zen-bi standing for truth, goodness and beauty which are parallel to Hindu concept of Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. The bonsai must look natural and should never show the intervention of human hands (with the exception of Chinese bonsai which in many cases depicts images of dragons and other influential symbols of the culture at the time of origination). Bonsai is primarily kept outdoors in partial shade with exception of some plants suited, trained and indoor grown. In traditional Japanese rooms, there is a tokonoma, the alcove, specially designed for the display of bonsai on special occasions. Bonsai can live for hundreds of years with utmost care and the prized specimens are being passed from generation to generation, admired for their age and valued as a reminder of those who have cared for them over the centuries.

Whether you are an experienced gardener or a newcomer to the high desert, learning how to successfully garden the desert can be an exciting challenge. With minimal annual precipitation, a short growing season and fluctuating temperatures, maintaining an attractive, healthy landscape can keep you on your toes. Most gardeners value the natural beauty of our native landscapes, but are interested in enhancing it with additional plants to add more color and texture. Can a more beautiful landscape be created and still be water efficient and sustainable? The answer is YES.

The Meaning of Xeriscape

The word xeriscaping (pronounced zer-iskap- ing) is commonly referred to as water-wise or water-smart gardening. Xeros is derived from the Greek word meaningdry’. However, do not let the Greek derivative conjure up images of a dry, desert-like, “blandscape.” Xeriscaping and Xerogardening refer to landscape gardening in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental irrigation. It is promoted in areas that do not have easily accessible supplies of fresh water and is gaining acceptance in other areas as climate pattern changes. Xeriscape is a proactive approach to curbing wasteful use of a valuable natural resource. Xeriscaping, is a seven step method that combines innovative water conservation techniques with sound horticultural practices. Not only it is possible to have a colorful and beautiful landscape while conserving water, but it can become more sustainable while saving you time, energy and money.

Often it is thought that a xeriscape means the use of all native or low water use plants, resulting in limited plant selection. However xeriscapes can incorporate hundreds of plant choices including trees, shrubs, evergreens, perennials and grasses. Plants whose natural requirements are appropriate to the local climate are emphasized, and care is taken to avoid losing water through evaporation and run off. The specific plants used in xeriscaping depend upon the climate. The concept originated in Denver, Colorado, in early 1980s. Because of severe drought conditions, Denver rationed water and prohibited irrigation of lawns and yards. As a result, vegetation in yards withered, and Denver landscapers began promoting what they called xeriscape, a landscaping approach that uses small amounts of water but maintains a traditional look. In some areas, terms likes water-conserving landscapes, drought tolerant landscaping, zeroscaping and smart scaping are used instead.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir is highly mountainous except for a short belt joining the Punjab plains. Geographically, the state of Jammu and Kashmir is divided into three regions -alpine desert of Ladakh, subtropical region of Jammu and predominantly temperate region of Kashmir valley. The valley is rich in herbaceous flora with huge potential for landscape use, however, many of which are still not exploited much for the purpose. Plants which live and bloom year after year are known as perennials which have an importance of their own and are backbone of any well-planned garden. The stems of herbaceous perennials die at the ground level each winter. They comprise a vast group of plants widely differing in size, leaf texture, flower color and are found in all the gardening countries of the world. The monotonous spread of concrete and glass in cities can have a dehumanizing effect. Growing colourful flowers in the house compound and in the parks will greatly enhance the beauty of surroundings in the countryside, the towns and cities. Flowers also bring happiness to life and boast the sagging spirits. The assemblage and display of colourful and attractive herbaceous perennials can achieve very significant and telling effects on the environment particularly in the landscaping of the house compounds, gardens, parks, health resorts and hotels. Now a day herbaceous plants are also used therapeutically to cure several problems related to humans. Judicious selection of native and introduced herbaceous perennials should camouflage with the type of habitation, building pattern, colour of the countryside etc. These plants should occupy only well thought of position in the landscape. There are always a number of shady spots in our lawns/gardens especially towards north-east side of a structure where lawn grass fails to grow or show poor growth. These spots can be converted into perennial herbaceous border of foliage plants.

Trees and shrubs are often the most dominant plants in landscapes but ground covers and vines play an important role too. The low spreading form of ground covers can connect and unify major planting areas and even serve as a focal point when the plants are flowering. In contrast to annuals, perennials provide savings in time, labour and expenses each year because where adapted to a specific climate zone, they can successfully over come winter and re- establish for more than a single growing season. Perennials are probably the most diverse plant group, providing a huge variety of shape, form, colour, texture and scent with which to design a planting. Since there is an increasing trend and awareness of planned landscaping in the public and in view of its value in preserving the environment, there is an urgent need to identify and select the appropriate native, naturalized and exotic planting material for specific sites /locations. Information regarding herbaceous perennials surveyed and identified in Kashmir Valley with prospective use in landscaping are given as under:

The landscape gardening for aesthetic appreciation is an integral part of the progress achieved through the growing world floriculture business that has reached a $ 40 billion mark and valueless aesthetic emotional gains. The industry is continuously rising through transitional changes to have more accepted and unique applications as a wide and economic choice to the consumers with regards to the energy saving in the system. The use of energy for sustenance of the landscape plants before and after planting can be a benchmark in time to come as no one can believe that the plants instead can grow with still better traits either be it the foliage colour, variegation, shape, size and or form beside the fact that the consumption of such altered/compact plants has increased manifold in house, gardens, parks and indoors with a large number of products worldwide in a eco-friendly manner.

At the same time there is great environmental consciousness towards transforming landscape gardening with more natural and unspoiled system of growing plants and maintaining them in the landscape as perennial ones. The system being independent of distance of use or application offers an ease of transport into a mass for large-scale uniform planting. This is the fact that in the recent times, the commercial growers do not rely on the nature to introduce the genetic mutation that will make them millionaires but depends on the art and scientific knowhow to create a novelty in its own. This has resulted in the seriousness and painstaking effort of the growers to produce the plants round the year in new forms and shapes to put forward a new plant with extra-ordinary marketable characteristics every year, e.g. compact chrysanthemum, kalanchoe, bromeliads, orchids, etc are some of the common products with an unusual and eye-catching hue in the auction markets. Similarly, a large number of annual and perennial plants perfectly suited for various kind of landscaping, slope, soil types and moisture regimes under the specific and artificial environment created for a specific growth of the plant.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is the use of Computer Technology for the design of objects which are real or virtual. CAD involves more than just shapes. As in the manual drafting of technical and engineering drawings, the output of CAD must convey information such as materials, processes, dimensions, and tolerances according to application-specific conventions. CAD may be used to design curves and figures in two-dimensional (2D) space; or curves, surfaces, and solids in three-dimensional (3D) objects.

Lawn is an integral part of any garden and it gives pleasure while sitting during evening in summer and one can enjoy good sunshine during winter. Hence, it is often referred as “heart of the garden”. It is covered with perennial grass and provides open landscape to the house and adds aesthetic beauty to the surroundings. Good lawn is essential to have in a good garden. It is permanent feature, which occupies 60% share of total garden area. Here in this chapter lawn is divided into two parts. There are approximately 620 genera and 10,000 species of grasses worldwide. Grasses are used extensively used throughout the world for their beauty and utility. Grasses are found from temperate to tropical to arid semi arid regions and suits in most extreme climatic conditions and have adapted to a worldwide climate and zones. Grasses are used as fodder, food, medicinal and for aesthetics purpose and it belongs to family Gramineae.

Cities or urban conglomerations are fast developing and where the rate of land availability has infinitesimally small; vertical expansion and taller buildings have emerged and are defining the city skyline. Though this may speak well of the economic development, but the increase in hard paved areas and roads may spell trouble for the environment as urban heat island (UHI) effect. The causes of Urban Heat Island are primarily due to the absorption of solar radiation (Short wave) by building/urban materials that is subsequently re-radiated (long wave) to the surroundings. In addition, heat generated from the use of air- conditioning coupled with the greenhouse effect of pollutants also contribute to the increase in temperature. Such increase in temperature with the presence of air pollutants can result in the accumulation of smog, damages the natural environment and jeopardizes human health. It also costs consumers more money because it takes more energy to cool buildings. Who can forget the regular news of Beijing repeatedly topping the list of most polluted cities and fresh air is available in cans!

Fresh air cans are in no means a firm solution. Plants are atmosphere cleansers, can serve to filter carbon dioxide and other toxins in environment, cool the air by transpiration and also provide cooling shade. Research work shows the benefits of using light colour roofs and roof gardens to minimize the heat gain inside the buildings. This would in turn reduce the energy consumption of air conditioning in buildings. Rooftops, balconies and terraces have often been referred to as the “last urban frontier” of cities, in the sense that they represent the last significant remaining space to be exploited to create a green oasis and an area of relative peace and privacy away from the urban bustle. Given the social, economic and environmental contributions of urban greenery to the quality of life in cities and the realization that cities more often than not lack sufficient greenery, greening of rooftops, balconies and terraces is therefore a logical, effective and high impact way to re-inject the much needed greenery in urban settings thus reinventing the concept of hanging gardens.

The green buildings are the needs of present day in India as well in the world. The easy availability of most of the green materials and equipments in the country has made it easier for designers to adopt local materials to a very large extent in the construction of green buildings. Now, there is an imminent need for service providers, who would be required in large number, not in hundreds but in thousands, as the movement is heading to reach greater heights. The green building movement is here to stay for the benefit of individuals, society and the country at large in the era of climate change.

With increase in the urbanization and industrialization, there is more pressure on available land and natural resources. In coming era, there will be only limited space available for city dwellers. In buildings one can grow a wide range of flowering and foliage plants. Plants not necessarily one confined to the outdoor only but bed room, kitchen, staircases, patios, windows and other locations can be made green with suitable plants. Indian Council of Green Building (ICGB) has developed the rating system.

Green Building in Santiago, Chile

A large amount of materials are used and energy consumed in construction and operation of average building. Many steps have been taken to reduce consumption of energy by developing new types of vehicle, energy sources, recycled materials and designing environment friendly buildings. These buildings are also known as green buildings or green construction or sustainable building.

Mans’ progress in this universe is posing a threat to the environment, we live in. If we do not treat the environment well, nature will have its own repercussions and we will inevitably have to bear the consequences. We have already begun to suffer for not taking care of mother earth in the past. The earth is warming up each year and this rise in temperature will have its effects on the earths’ inhabitants. Pollution, global warming, acid rain, deforestation, extinction of species, depletion of ozone layer, soil erosion and floods are some of the commonly heard problems of the environment and they are seem to be inter related. The objective of ornamental horticulture is the functional and aesthetic integration of people, building and site, using plants and space as its main tools. The necessity of it in landscape architecture is for positive control of the fast changing landscape for the future. Landscape architecture can help a major way to alleviate the earths’ problems. The landscape which includes urban, agricultural forests and other lands becomes a component of nature and thus ensuring that our landscapes are healthy in the first step towards this goal. The landscape gardener is a necessity because very a few people are capable of selecting the right kind of plants for their grounds; they cannot imagine a landscape picture in terms of varieties and groups, the way an expert can. Planning a piece of land with ornamental plants and features transforming it into a beautiful garden requires experience, patience and knowledge about land topography, soils and climatic factors.

The vividity of the garden depends on its design, features and the most vitally on plants, the key elements which make the garden enliven. Selection of variety of ornamentals is done in order to exhibit different form of growth, flowering time, leaf and stem texture, flower colour etc. Therefore trees, shrubs, climbers, annuals, bulbous plants and ornamental grasses usually find place in the garden along with other secondary groups. Plants play a pivotal role in the protection of our environment as well as improving human life. Apart from their physical characteristics, plants aid in cleaning the environment and reducing some of the harsher effects of heat, sound, wind, air and also serves as complementor, attractor, emphasizer, diverter, indicators and provide aesthetic function by creating attractiveness for human activities.

Landscape models focus on both the integrated master landscape planning of a home gardening and specific garden design. The people should be educated to realize the importance of gardening, by providing good parks and gardens in cities for a large population to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature. The plants used in the landscape designing of gardens are directly or indirectly involved in increasing the aesthetic value of the city, changing microclimate, social behaviour of the people, checking pollution etc. The importance of landscape gardening in human welfare cannot be overlooked. Even in an under-developed country as India, people do not live by bread alone. They also need some finer things of life. The models described in this chapter are very basic features of any garden.

Garden Walls

A garden lover will never like to block the view of his garden by putting a wall along periphery of the garden. A garden as it is enjoyed from inside should also be visible from outside but sometimes, it is necessary from safety and beauty point of view to obscure the ugly sight of an open drain. A compromise is to have a low brick wall of say 60-90 cm height and to put over it some grills, so that the view is not totally obstructed from outside. Alternatively, walls from 1.80 to 5.0 m may also be erected based upon the size of the garden.

Landscaping combines elements of art and science to create a functional, aesthetically pleasing extension of indoor living to the outdoors. One initial purpose of landscape design is to blend mans’ technology (house or building) into the natural surroundings. To work towards a desirable landscape design, the landscape horticulturist must have a working knowledge of art elements and design principles.

The “art” is always changing as the plants grow, environmental conditions change and people use the space. For this reason, landscape designers use a design process that systematically considers all aspects of the land, the environment, the growing plants, and needs of user to ensure a visually pleasing, functional, and ecologically healthy design. The design process begins by determining the needs and desires of the user and the conditions of the site. With this information, the designer then organizes the plants and hardscape materials, which are collectively referred to as the features. The features can be physically described by the visual qualities of line, form, color, texture and visual weight—the elements of design. The principles are the fundamental concepts of composition—proportion, order, repetition and unity—that serve as guidelines to arrange or organize the features to create an aesthetically pleasing or beautiful landscape. Knowledge of the elements and principles of design are essential to designing a landscape and working through the design process.

Seed Health Testing

Science of determining the presence or absence of disease causing agents such as fungi, bacteria and viruses and insects in the seed samples.

Seed Borne disease

The seed primordial or the maturing seed may be infected either (i) directly from the infected plant through the flower or fruit stalk and the seed stalk or directly from the seed surface, or (ii)infection from outside may be introduced through stigma or ovary wall or pericarp, and the flower or fruit stalk, and later through the seed coat. A pathogen may penetrate several of these parts of the seed and in turn infect them. The infestation /contamination of the seed may occur during harvesting, threshing and processing. Visualizing the importance of seed borne diseases the Central Seed Certification board has prescribed certification standards for foundation and certified seed for several diseases.

The pathogen may carry with the seeds in three ways.

• Admixture: Pathogens are independent of seeds but accompany them. They are mixed with health seeds during threshing.
• External:The pathogen may be present on seed surface as spores, oospores and chlamydospores.
• Internal: Pathogens establish within the seed with definite relationship with seed parts.

Post-harvest deterioration primarily means the loss of commodity after harvest. It is one of the serious problems for producers, distributors and consumers. Post-harvest deterioration of perishables is the spoilage of fruits and vegetables after harvesting. Perishables are the feed commodities with moisture content between 50 and 90%. Fruits with the size of 5 g to 5 kg or more, high to very high rate of respiration, high generation of heat, soft texture, easily damageable nature and shorter shelf life are more prone to the microbial damage. The post-harvest losses are caused either by pathological, physiological and mechanical means or combination of all these. These perishables because of having minerals, vitamins, and photochemicals (essentially required for the human health) become victim to the several biotic and abiotic factors easily. Once these fruits are detached from the plant are deprived of essential ingredients as hormones, nutrients, water and other requisites. These biotic and abiotic factors apart from rendering the produce unfit for human consumption reduce the aesthetic value, substantial decrease in food value and also organoleptic quality of the vegetables. The fleshy produce are prone to the exogenous agencies such as fungi, bacteria, etc. as well as other endogenous factors such as respiration, senescence, etc. which may lead to poor quality of the produce and also affect market quality. These perishables continue to respire and may carry out various biochemical activities, leading to ripening subsequently to senescence and making them more susceptible to microbial damage. In addition, tropical conditions prevailing in India, which are characterized by high temperature conditions, are optimal for fungal and bacterial infections. In India, the post-harvest losses of fresh fruits and vegetables are estimated to be about 30%. The post-harvest losses have been recorded are 5-20% at farmer’s field due to pre-harvest infection and sorting, 15-20% due to faulty packaging, 30-40% during transportation and 30-40% during marketing.

Plant viruses, like all other viruses, are obligate intracellular parasites that do not have the molecular machinery to replicate without the host. The plant viruses are defined as viruses pathogenic to higher plants. The discovery of plant viruses causing disease is accredited to Beijerinck who determined in 1898 that the plant sap obtained from tobacco leaves with the mosaic disease remained infectious even after passing through a filter. This was in contrast to bacteria, which were retained by the filter. Beijerinck referred to the infectious filtrate as a contagium vivum fluidum, thus, he used modern term virus.

Viruses occasionally cause significant problems in vegetable crops. However, the prevalence and severity of viral diseases differ from year to year. Aphids spread many of the viral diseases observed in vegetables. There are two types of viral transmission by aphids, i.e., persistent and non-persistent transmission. It is important to understand the difference between these two because persistent and non-persistent viruses differ both in their uptake and behaviour within the insect vector, consiquently, tactics used to limit their and spread vary considerably. In persistent transmission, the aphid usually carries the virus for life. Uptake of virus requires extended feeding and after an incubation period of several hours or days, the virus replicates and circulates within the insect. Because of the time required for feeding before acquisition by an insect vector, the spread of persistent virus is favoured by colonizing aphid species that spend time in the crop. Controlling the aphid vectors with insecticides can reduce the spread of persistent plant virus significantly. In contrast, aphids can acquire non-persistent viruses (NPV) within a few seconds after sampling an infected plant. Winged migratory aphids can move quickly from infected plants onto healthy ones, transmitting the virus in the process. Aphids rapidly lose the virus particles from their mouthparts, which are cleaned when they feed on the next available plant and are unable to transmit disease to additional plants. Because of the speed in which aphids acquire and transmit non-persistent viruses, insecticides are not usually effective in controlling their spread. One of the most common viruses found in many vegetable crops is cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). This is transmitted by several aphid species in a non-persistent manner. There are several strains of CMV that can infect over 775 different plant species in 85 families including snap bean, peppers, tomato, lettuce, tobacco and sugar beets. Symptoms vary depending upon the plant species infected but range may be from yellow-green mottling on leaves and fruits to severe stunting of plants. The viral diseases affecting different vegetable crops are being discussed below:

Vegetables being good source of carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, vitamins and dietary fibers constitute important component of human diet. These are the cheapest source of natural protective food and increase the palatability. India is the second largest producer of vegetables next to China. Diseases are inherent component of agro-ecosystem, which must be dealt with continuous and knowledgeable basis. Diseases in the standing crop from the seedling stage until harvest and spoilage caused by microorganisms during transit, storage and marketing are major constraints in increasing production and availability of vegetables. At different stages of vegetable production, disease management requires several approaches, and it is more successful, if it is integrated into crop production system. Since vegetables are mostly grown year after year in the same fields especially near towns and cities, therefore, concerted efforts are required to manage the diseases. More than 300 diseases have been reported to occur on vegetable crops and it is beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss all the diseases. However, brief description of etiology, diagnostic symptoms and management practices being adopted are presented here for the economically important fungal and bacterial diseases of vegetable crops.

Seed viability tests

Only two methods, the Topographical tetrazolium (TZ) test and the embryo excision test were previously accepted by the International Seed Testing Association as official methods for some species of seeds. ISTA has recently accepted the X-ray method as a valid alternative to the cutting test for the detection of empty and insect-damaged seeds. The following tests can be applied depending on the circumstances.

Introduction

Agricultural soils harbour a rich variety of nematode fauna, where they coexist with a myriad of other microorganisms. It has been estimated that one cubic meter soil of highly fertile field may contain as many as 3×10¹⁴ bacterial cells (300 g), 5×10⁸ protozoa (39 g), 1×10⁷ nematodes (12 g) and fungi (400 g), besides other organisms. The nemic fauna comprises of free-living (saprophagous and microbivorous), predatory forms and plant parasites (phytophagous). In addition, certain animal and insect parasitic forms may spend a part of their life cycle in soil. Plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) exist in poly-specific communities and attack all types of plants- cultivated or wild. They possess a needle-like stylet or spear at their anterior end, which is used to puncture the plant cells and ingest the cell contents. Majority of PPNs dwell in soil and draw their nutrition from plant roots. Only a few forms attack the above ground plant parts such as stem, leaves, inflorescence and seeds. PPNs may be ectoparasites (feed from outside and do not enter plant tissues) or endoparasites (enter inside the plant tissues). The endoparasites spend a part of their life cycle in soil or may come out into the soil to re-infect the other roots. These may be further categorized into migratory or sedentary types. The migratory forms keep on moving, feeding and laying eggs that are scattered in soil or plant tissues. The sedentary nematodes are more harmful and a particular stage of their life cycle infects the plant and establishes a feeding site by modifying plant tissues by their enzymatic secretions. The females of sedentary nematodes usually attain swollen shapes upon maturity and lay hundreds of eggs in clusters.

Plant parasitic nematodes are ubiquitous, and so far, more than 1800 species have been recorded. They are obligate parasites and must feed upon plant hosts, thus, debilitating the plants to some extent. The extent of direct damage by the nematodes to plants depends on several factors viz., nematode density in soil, nature of parasitism (ectoparasite or endoparasite), host susceptibility, cropping pattern, edaphic factors (mainly soil texture and moisture) and ambient climatic conditions (like temperature and relative humidity). Nematodes, by themselves, rarely kill the plants to ensure their own survival. Nematodes also inflict considerable indirect damage to crops by interacting with other plant pathogens (fungi, bacteria and viruses) to cause disease complexes in which nematodes act as incitants, aggravators, or vectors.

India is contributing about 10% of the world’s vegetables, and in terms of production, the country stands second after China. The existing area under vegetable cultivation in India is around 6.89 million hectare with a production of about 96.54 million tonnes. There will be a demand of 151-193 million tonnes of vegetables in India by 2030 (Dhaliwal et al., 2006). There are extensive crop losses in vegetable crops due to increased insect infestations. Since vegetables are grown round the year, there is carry over of insect-pests across the seasons and also from sowing until harvesting. Vegetables also invite more pest problems because of their cultivation under high fertility conditions leading to high plant succulence. High yielding varieties and hybrids are further more prone to the attack of insect-pests. Insect infestation affects the quality and market value of vegetables adversely and it is estimated that 30-40% of the total production is lost due to the attack of pests (Lal et al., 2004). A large number of pesticides are being used repeatedly to manage the insect-pests in India. Indiscriminate use of pesticides has led to many problems like toxic residues in edible parts of the vegetables, adverse effects on non-target organisms and beneficial insects, resurgence of secondary pests and development of resistance in major pests to pesticides and also environmental pollution. Therefore, latest approach has been to minimize the use of highly toxic insecticides by integrating different strategies of pest control like use of biological control agents, pesticides of plant origin, insect resistant varieties and other cultural practices. In this chapter, efforts have been made to highlight the distribution, host range, identifying characters, biology and nature of damage of important insect-pests of vegetables and also the methods of their management crop or pest wise.

Seed germination

It is defined as the emergence and development from the seed embryo, of those essential structures, for the kind of seed in question, indicates its ability to produce a normal plant under favourable conditions. The seedlings devoid of an essential structure; showing weak or unbalanced development; decay or damage affecting the normal development of seedling are not considered in calculating the germination percentage.

Concern for improvement of nutritional quality of vegetables has arisen in the context of providing nutritional security to our ever-increasing population. Nutritional security denotes the consumption and physiological use of adequate quantities of safe and nutritious food by every member of the family and encompasses the process of equitable distribution among members of household and communities (Nandi and Bhattacharjee, 2002). This would entail the need to ensure a varied food intake, comprising all the essential macro-and micronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins), plant pigments (lycopene, beta-carotene, anthocianin, lutein, capsanthin, zeaxanthin, etc.) and other functional phytochemicals (secondary metabolites, like flavonoids, isothiocyanates, glucosinolates, etc.) through a diversified diet. In this regard, production and consumption of vegetables that are the valuable source of micronutrients, beneficial phytonutrients and highly functional phytochemicals hold the key in assuring nutritional security.

Implication of vegetables in diet has been well conceived among the high-income group in the world since human health in recent years has assumed an unprecedently important status. Increased interests in nutrition, fitness and beauty have exaggerated concerns over diet and human health. A new diet-health paradigm is evolving which places more emphasis on the positive aspects of diet. Foods have now assumed the status of functional foods, which should be capable of providing additional physiological benefits, such as preventing or delaying the onset of chronic diseases as well as meeting basic nutritional requirements so with high-income elasticity, the demand for vegetables and perception of diversified diet have been growing steadily, hence, both access and consumption of vegetables have been increasing in the urban and peri-urban population groups. However, meeting the requirements for macro- and micronutrients for most of the population groups in households and communities of South Asia, Latin America and African countries seems far off because of meager presence of vegetables in the diet. In south Asia where meat intake is low, ascorbic acid emerges as one of the most important enhancers of iron absorption. This is attributed to the fact that foods containing vegetables may provide an optimal mix of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, dietary fibers and other non-nutrients bioactive compounds.

Diseases of plants are produced by a variety of organisms from plant and animal kingdoms viz., fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes and insects. The diseases reduce total biomass (dry matter) production and consequently yield of the crop by general stunting, damage to the leaf tissues, fruits and seeds or by killing the plants. The degree of damage would depend upon the intensity of infection but both need not be proportional. One serious effect of disease is the disappearance from cultivation of otherwise excellent but susceptible varieties.

Vegetable crops have been found to be highly susceptible to biotic stresses from the disease causing microorganisms and insects-pests. The ability of pathogen and insect-pests to attack and proliferate in the host plant is highly specific. There are wide differences in the host plants in response to the attack by pathogens and insects. Although control of the diseases and insects by the use of chemicals is possible to certain extent but indiscriminate use of fungicides or insecticides over the crop has several disadvantages. Besides increasing cost involved in chemical control, residual toxicity of the chemicals such as fungicides, antibiotics and insecticides in food chain and development of resistance against pathogens and insect-pests to different chemicals are serious problems.

Genetic improvement of host plants conferring resistance to diseases and insect-pests is considered to be the best approach in the management of diseases and insect-pests, and this is more particularly true in case of vegetable crops. Indiscriminate use of chemicals in the vegetable sector has led to health hazard. This has resulted in switching towards organic vegetables. However, cost of production of organic vegetables naturally will not permit the common people to consume these products. Therefore, the best option is to induce resistance in the host varieties. The resistant varieties could in turn be an important component in the organic vegetable farming, thereby reducing cost of production to certain extent.

Purity analysis

Purity of a seed lot indicates in percentage how large a fraction is made up of pure seeds of the species in question, and how much is made up of inert matter and other seeds. Impurities may be any non seed material (leaf, flower, fruit fractions, soil etc.), small fractions of seeds of the actual species, as well as seeds of other species. Pure seed may include both dead and empty seed, plus damaged seed, purity does not tell anything about viability. The purity analysis of a seed sample in the seed testing laboratory refers to the determination of the different components of the purity viz., pure seeds, other crop seeds, weed seeds and inert matter. Each component is reported as a percentage of total weight. The objective of the purity analysis is to determine whether the submitted sample conforms to the prescribed physical quality standards with regard to physical components. Large seeds are generally easy to clean and purity analyses are therefore often omitted. However, for smaller seeds contamination with other seeds may occur e.g., during processing.

Hybrid vigour is used as a synonymous of heterosis. In 1910, the term heterosis was first used by Shull who defined this phenomenon as the stimulus of heterozygous, and in his word, it has been the “interpretation of increased vigour, size, fruitfulness, speed of development, resistance to insect-pests and diseases or to the climatic rigors of any kind manifested by the out breeding organism as compared with corresponding inbreds as a specific result of the unlikeliness in the constitution of uniting parental gametes”. This definition is often interpreted as not implying a genetic basis for heterosis, because the definition basically describes the phenotypes that result from the crossing of two different inbred lines. Generally, heterosis is manifested as an increase in vigour, size, growth rate, yield, or some other characteristics but in some cases, the hybrid may be inferior to the weaker parent. This also represents as heterosis (average heterosis), and if heterosis is estimated over the superior parent, such an estimate is sometimes referred to as heterobeltiosis, hence, authors feel “heterosis refers a biological phenomenon in which the F₁ population obtained by crossing of the two genetically dissimilar gametes or individual shows increased or decreased vigour over better parent or over the mid-parental value. Earlier, Power (1944)also suggested that the term heterosis should be used only when the hybrid is either superior or inferior to both the parents. Other situation should be regarded as partial or complete dominance. It can be easily explained with the help of Table 5.1.

Vegetables have always been looked upon as an essential part of diet and are necessary for human health and well-being. Vegetables supply many kinds of nutrients, e.g., carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, vitamins, fibers, phytochemicals, etc. and also add flavour, colour and crispness to foodstuffs. For developing modern day vegetables, breeders have utilized an understanding of genetic principles and applied them for the improvement of these crops. They often make crosses (hybridization) between a crop plant and a related or wild species (a wide cross) enabling valuable genes to be used for genetic improvement of the crops. Over the last few decades, molecular breeding is supplementing plant breeder’s efforts for accelerated genetic enhancement bringing about a revolution in this area. This approach demands efficient procedures for the routine introduction of foreign DNA into plant genomes and utilizing them for the production of novel types of vegetable. In this chapter, attempts have been made to review most of the available molecular breeding techniques, which can routinely be employed in various aspects of vegetable improvement.

Cultivars are developed by selecting for desired traits or by removing undesirable traits that are controlled by genes (the blueprint for all characteristics in living organisms) from existing varieties or breeding lines. The plant species, varieties and clones are identified or selected by their physical features since olden times. However, these traits would change with respect to environmental and climatic conditions. The biochemical parameters like enzymes, proteins, alkaloids, etc. are also likely to change due to the stages of development of plant tissue. Successful selection strategies are dependent on the breeder’s ability to distinguish genetic effects from environmental effects on a visible or measurable trait. Therefore, the scientists resorted to use ‘genetic marker’, i.e., any stable and inheritable variation that can be measured or detected by a suitable method and can be used subsequently to detect the presence of a specific genotype or phenotype, which otherwise is very difficult to detect. Presently, the breeders and scientists all over the world are pursuing mostly DNA or molecular markers.

Vegetables are cheaper source of carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, vitamins and dietary fibers, and hence, assume a place of very great importance in the diet of individuals. All kinds of vegetable are grown almost universally. India occupies the prime position in the production of vegetable crops and is the second largest producer of vegetables in the world. The area and production of vegetables in India have been increasing during the post-green revolution period, and the country is heading towards another revolution in the form of Golden Revolution. However, there is an utmost requirement for genetic improvement of vegetable crops in terms of productivity, qualitative characters and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. For any genetic improvement programme, the presence of genetic variation is pre-requisite and mutation is the ultimate source of this heritable variation.

Mutation technique that holds promise of generating a much wider desirable variability than classical breeding has been refined. Out of 2275 mutant varieties worldwide in all crops, as many as 66 mutants are in vegetables. In terms of percentage, China, India, USSR, The Netherlands, The United States of America and Japan account for 26.8, 11.5, 9.3, 7.8, 5.7 and 5.3%, respectively of mutagen varieties in all crops. Such varieties are 3% in case of vegetables. After mutation treatment by a mutagen to a specific plant, DNA alterations (deletion, duplication, inversion, translocation, or transposition of larger DNA fragments, or simple basic pair changes) occur and lead to the DNA sequence change. Hence, new characteristics of that plant are established. In fact, induced mutations supply us with many new plant lines, which may be used as primary materials for crop breeding. Hence, mutation breeding seems to be an effective and ultimate option to improve vegetable crops in the shortest possible time. A large number of new promising varieties in different crops, including vegetables, have successfully been developed worldwide using various mutagens (Chopra, 2005).

Seed sampling

Seed sampling is to draw a portion of seed from seed lot that represents the entire seed lot. Seed lot is a uniformly blended quantity of seed either in bag or in bulk.

Dietary constitution of Indian people is mostly cereal based. However, the cereals supply chiefly carbohydrates. Therefore, there is deficiency of protein, minerals and vitamins, especially vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin C, etc. in the diet. The dieticians advocate the intake of 125 g leafy vegetables, 75 g other vegetables and 100 g root and tuber vegetables (total 300 g) everyday because vegetables provide all the nutrient components like carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals, vitamins and water along with roughages, which are the essential constituents of a balanced diet.

India has attained food security by increased cereal production due to green revolution. In case of vegetables, although there has been increase in production from 15 million tonnes during 1950 to 94 million tonnes in 2005 but still more vegetables are needed to meet the minimum requirement of at least 250 g per day per capita. There has also been increasing demand for fresh export and for processing industries. Moreover, there is a pressure for increasing vegetable supply caused by constantly increasing population in a world of limited acres.

Addition of new agricultural land is of course not possible. In this situation, plant breeding can be expected to contribute substantially to greater vegetable productivity. This can be accomplished not only by the breeding of basically higher yielding varieties but also by the development of varieties that help to stabilize production through resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses.

Plant breeding/genetic improvement aims at altering plant genotypes in a way that they suit human needs for food, feed and industrial raw products and support sustainable plant production. In that sense, plant breeding may be regarded as the evolution of plant type by the will of mankind. Plant breeding/genetic improvement is important because an improved cultivar is the most-economic and least laborious input for farmers.

Plant breeding is one of the early accomplishments of humankind. Many of the cultivated plants are the result of slow and involuntary improvement from wild progenitors by human being over centuries. In fact, the process of domestication of wild plants is one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of humankind. Concept of plant breeding came in the being through domestication as it involved selection of the most desirable types. Among the ancient domesticates, some of the vegetable crops are front-runners, like peas, radish, muskmelon, watermelon, etc. Other present day popular vegetable crops were domesticated later in the Neolithic times. Some species including certain vegetables are still undergoing the domestication process. However, for all practical purposes, the breeders have given up domestication of wild relatives of the cultivated species. Today, breeders often incorporate important characters, like resistance to biotic stresses, adaptability to environments, etc. to the cultivated forms from their wild relatives.

Selection from the available variations is the oldest and the most effective breeding procedure. However, genetic recombination at present forms the basis of modern plant breeding approach. In this respect, Josef Kolreuter’s extensive crossing experiments between 1755 and 1806 were essentially the first attempts to scientifically-reconstruct naturally occurring species and types by combining their characters. Any way, no matter what method is adopted in the breeding approach, it inevitably involves selection, which is the most difficult part of overall breeding process.

The industrial revolution in Western Europe and concomitant flourish of capitalism and increasing commercial agricultural production stimulated breeding activities as a profitable venture of capitalistic economy. Throughout the 19th century, thousands of large and small seed companies were developed in Germany, England and the United States out of this impetus.

Seed certification

It is a legally sanctioned system for quality control and seed multiplication and production. It involves field inspection, pre and post control tests and seed quality tests. As per Indian Seed Act seed certification is voluntary and it is not compulsory. The seed that is sold in the market is of two types certified seed or truthfully labelled seed. Whereas truthfully labelled seed is one which is being produced and marketed by the producing company by maintaining the labelling standards.

Seed Packing

Seed packaging is the process of filling, weighing and sewing of bags with seed. The choice of packaging materials and amount of seeds to be packed depends on kind of seeds to be packed, duration of storage, storage environment, the seed moisture content, the cost of seed, the cost of packaging material, the geographical area where the seeds will be stored.

Seed Processing

Seed processing may be understood to comprise all the operations after harvest that aim at maximizing seed viability, vigour and health. It includes cleaning, drying, seed treatment, packaging and storage.

Removal of seeds from dry fruits is known as threshing while that of wet fruits is known as extraction. Threshing involves beating or rubbing the plant material to detach the seed from its pod or fruit. The detached seed is then winnowed to remove chaff, straw and other light material from the seed.

Threshing / extraction methods

1. Mechanical threshing

• Various types of threshing machines with adjustable cylinder speeds are available for extraction of vegetable seeds.
• Care must be taken to avoid damage to the seed during mechanical threshing, by properly adjusting the speed of the beaters, the width of the gap between the beaters and the concave, the airflow and the sieve sizes.

Harvesting is one of the agronomic management practices that require technical knowledge on maturation of the crops. This knowledge is much important in seed production than in commercial production.

Physiological maturation

• It is the stage of accumulation of maximum dry matter within the seeds. The moisture content of the seed at this stage will be in decreasing order (25-30%) and is expressed with maximum dry weigh of seed, germination and vigour potential. The physiological maturation is represented for individual seed and this maturation will not be the same for the population, due to differential flowering habit.
• The attainment of physiological maturation is represented by sigmoid curve of growth pattern. The physiological maturation can be represented both as duration and visible symptoms.

• The seed production of varieties and hybrids should be carried out carefully by following various techniques in the region where they are well adopted.
• The various factors affecting quality seed production includes,
  1. Agro climatic factors / Ecological factors - edaphic and climatic factors
  2. Production factors
  3. Post harvesting handling of seed
  4. Seed quality control factors

The important events involved in seed development and maturation include

• Pollination
• Fertilization
• Development of the fertilized ovule by cell division
• Accumulation of reserve food material
• Loss of moisture content

Seed Production

Systemized crop production is known as seed production. In seed production adequate care is given from the purchase of seeds upto harvest adopting proper seed and crop management techniques. The benefits of seed production are

• Higher income
• Higher quality seed for next sowing

Variety is a group of plants having clear distinguished characters which when reproduced either sexually or asexually retains their characters. The genetic purity of a variety or trueness to its type deteriorates due to several factors during the production cycles. The factors that are responsible for loss of genetic purity during seed production are :

• Developmental Variation
• Mechanical Mixtures
• Mutations
• Natural Crossing
• Genetic drift
• Minor Genetic Variation
• Selective influence of Diseases
• Techniques of the Breeder
• Breakdown of male sterility
• Improper/defective seed certification System

Generation system of seed multiplication is nothing but the production of a particular class of seed from specific class of seed up to certified seed stage. The choice of a proper seed multiplication model is the key to further success of a seed programme. This basically depends upon,

• The rate of genetic deterioration
• Seed multiplication ratio
• Total seed demand (Seed replacement rate)

History and development of seed Industry in India can be discussed under two heads

1. Pre-independence development.
2. Post-independence development.

Seed

• In broad sense, seed is a material which is used for planting or regeneration purpose. However, scientifically, seed is a fertilized matured ovule together covered with seed coat is called seed or it is a propagating material i.e., part of agriculture, sericulture, silviculture and horticultural plants used for sowing or planting purpose.
• Seed is a mature integumented megasporangium or mature ovule consisting of embryonic plants together with store food material covered by a protective coat.
• Seeds are fertilised, mature ovules, the result of sexual reproduction in plants. Not all plants produce seed (some produce spores or reproduce vegetatively) but most of the higher plants produce seed.
• It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant.
• The formation of the seed completes the process of reproduction in plants (started with the development of flowers and pollination), with the embryo developed from the zygote and the seed coat from the integuments of the ovule.

We live in a knowledge economy, where ideas generated by talented people and the inventions they make are the new currency. Research and innovation are now seen as the key differentiating factors determining the market value of a product or service. The emphasis today has graduated from cost arbitrage and quality deliverables to Intellectual property (IP) creation and research and development. Intellectual or Intangible property is the creation of human mind. An intellectual property under protection by law is intellectual property right (IPR). Intellectual property is an important business asset giving significant competitive advantages. Intellectual properties are protected by giving time bound restriction to inventor, owner, author, originator, or plant breeder to use, sell, share, or distribute intellectual asset. These are exclusive rights to the owner and give ability for a lawsuit against others for infringement of IP owner. It is also a marketable asset, which can be licensed out to a third party bringing income to the business in the form of license payments and royalties. Intellectual property rights are legal rights, which result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields. These rights give statutory expression to the moral and economic rights of creators in their creations. Intellectual property rights safeguard the creators and other producers of intellectual goods and services by granting them certain time-limited rights to control the use made of those productions. These rights also promote creativity, dissemination, application of their results and encourage fair-trading, which contributes to economic and social development.

Vegetables play an important role in human nutrition and health making them important in Indian agricultural economy. The productivity of vegetable crop is seriously affected by several biotic and abiotic stresses and makes the economic conditions of the Indian marginal farmers worst. Under Indian conditions, 25-40% of the total vegetable produce is going waste due to lack of post-harvest storage and processing facilities in the country. Conventional plant breeding methods have improved vegetable crop plants bringing together a wide array of genes responsible for novel productivity and quality traits. However, sometimes, genes needed for crop improvement are not available in the existing germplasm. In genetic engineering, individual genes affecting the traits of economic importance are introduced in commercial cultivars. It is a targeted approach to improve the crop plants, which attempts to avoid the transfer of large blocks of genetic material. It requires identification and cloning of desirable gene and its subsequent transfer in plant species for improvement. Transgenic technologies offer many scientific advantages in breeding for improved vegetable crop quality and performance. However, very few genetically engineered horticultural crops have been released to farmers. As of 2005, one thousand million acres of transgenic crops have been planted globally covering 40% of the United States land area out of which 75% of the area is devoted to cotton, 50% to corn and 85% to soybeans in the United States of America (ISAAA, 2006).

Silk is a way of life in India. Over thousands of years, it has become an inseparable part of Indian culture and tradition. No ritual is complete without silk being used as a wear in some form or the other. Sericulture and Silk Textiles Industry is one of the major sub-sectors comprising the textiles sector. Sericulture is an agro-based cottage industry. Sericulture refers to the mass-scale rearing of silk producing organisms in order to obtain silk. Sericulture is an agro-based labour intensive industry. The major activities involved in a sericulture industry are:

1. Cultivation of silkworm food plants
2. Rearing of silkworms for the production of raw silk
3. Reeling the cocoons for unwinding the silk filament and
4. Other post-cocoon processes such as twisting, dyeing, weaving, printing and finishing.

Plant tissue culture is the cultivation of plant cells, tissues, or organs on specially formulated nutrients media under the right environmental conditions. A whole plant can be regenerated from a single cell. The history of plant tissue culture has been long and started with Haberlandt in 1902 when he proposed the culture of single plant cells, his experimentation never resulted in success. White (1943) became successful in culturing plant cells for the first time, however, Morel (1960) at the Institut National Recherche Agronomique in Versailles near Paris was first to demonstrate meristem culture technology. He successfully introduced tissue culture technology to the orchid industry and produced disease-free plants of grape. By the 1970s, plant tissue culture had become a formidable technology. Plant tissue culture technique has been around for more than 30 years and considered as an important straightforward technology for the production of disease-free high quality planting material and the rapid production of many uniform plants. Its application requires a sterile workplace, nursery, greenhouse and trained manpower.

Plant tissue culturing techniques have been especially important in the agricultural community over the past many years. During this time, plant tissue culture has effectively moved from the confines of small laboratories and has taken its place among broad scale techniques employed by agricultural industry.

COMMON INSECT PESTS AND THEIR CONTROL

Since, insects are the most successful and one among the strongest rivals of man in the competition of existence. Due to their immense tendency of producing numerous viable propagules (eggs) i.e., their high fecundity, their population graph takes a sharp peak in a very short span of time.

A time reaches when the population of an insect type reaches to the level where from it starts causing inconvenience or injury to man, plants, domesticated animals and other human belongings, at such a juncture they are termed as insect pests.

Many, workers are of the view that “insects capable of causing 5 or more than 5% of damage to the crops, stored products, domesticated animals and other human dependences will be termed as pests”. Thus, if an insect causes a loss of less than 5% will not be considered as a pest. Moreover insect pests which cause a damage of 5-10% are said to be minor pests and those which cause a loss of more than 10% of yield are said to be major pests.

Vegetables consist of a large group of plants consumed as food. These represent complex commodities those include roots, stems, leaves, petioles, bulbs, tubers, corms, rhizomes, flowers buds, immature flowers, seedlings, immature and mature fruits and immature, partially mature and mature seeds of plants (Walker, 1988). Vegetables form an important part of human diet, providing essential minerals, vitamins, fibers and very special phytochemicals and they add a variety to the human diet (Singh, 2007). The consumption of vegetables has increased significantly since the consumers have now become more health-conscious (Cruess, 1958; Brackett, 1987a). Vegetables are cultivated in open fields, greenhouses and soil free hydroponic systems. In terms of retail, vegetables can be sold in a fresh or minimally processed form to provide a ready to eat product.

Vegetables are derived from various parts of plants, and it is sometimes useful to associate different vegetables with the parts of plant they represent. The vegetables based on their parts used as food are given below in Table 20.1.

DEFINITION

Pheromones are chemical produced as messengers that affect the behavior of other individuals of insects. The term pheromone was introduced by Peter Karlson and Martin Liischer (1959) and is based on the Greek pherein (to transport) and hormon (to stimulate) is a chemical that triggers a natural behavioural response in another member of the same species. There are alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones. And many are others that affect behaviour or physiology. Their use among insects has been particularly well documented, although many vertebrates and plants also communicate using pheromones. Pheromones are chemicals released by an organism into its environment enabling it to communicate with other members of its own species.

In India, the total losses of vegetables due to inadequate post-harvest handling, transportation and storage facilities have been estimated at least 25-40%. However, in some vegetables, the post-harvest losses may be as high as 80-100%. Being highly perishable nature of the vegetables, the losses always increase as the produce moves from harvesting to the consumer. Vegetables with a loss of as little as 5% in fresh weight show shrivelled, wilted and staled appearance, which makes the vegetable tissues tough, non-crispy and unpalatable, and eventually, lowers their saleability and consumer acceptability considerably.

Improper harvesting, handling, transportation, storage and distribution of vegetables result in significant post-harvest losses. In such situations, the reduction in post-harvest losses of perishables becomes more essential in countries like India. If these losses are minimised by handling and storing the produce carefully, the following gains can be realised: