eChapters

A. PLANNING OF AN ORCHARD

Orchard is a long-term investment and needs proper planning and layout before establishment. Mistakes committed during planning and planting of fruit trees cannot be rectified. While planning and planting a new orchard, it is very important to carefully assess all the factors that will ultimately affect fruit yield and orchard sustainability. The aspects like location and site selection, suitability of soil and subsoil, suitability of fruit crop and varieties, plant spacing, market potential and source of nursery plants must be taken care of seriously. Thus, one should avail of expert advice on the establishment of new orchards and their proper maintenance.

Abstract

Plant architecture, plays a crucial role in gathering multiple resources from the environment. As a plant grows, they change its architecture with the surrounding environment for altering available resources. The architecture of the plant is modified through the distribution of assimilate, which conclude the growth rates of different organs. Plant roots expand to acquire soil water and nutrients (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus) from different soil layers by adjusting their direction in order to growth which transported and allocated to whole plant for maintenance and expansion of plant organs. All plants gradually develop their architecture according to source–sink activities and endogenous signals. This adaptation can result in complex structures. This chapter deals with the importance, different method for changing the architecture   of vegetable crops for improving their yield and quality.

1.    Land Preparation
    
2.    Tillages
    
3.    Planting
    
4.    Field Maintenance
    
5.    Vegetation Control
    
6.    Animal/ Bird Control
    
7.    Insects and Diseases Management
    
8.    Irrigation
    
9.    Manuring
    
10.    Harvesting
    
11.    Collection and Transportation
    
12.    Integrated Mechanization
        
References

INTRODUCTION

The European plum (Prunus domestica L.) is the most important plum species grown in different countries in the world. The Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) is the next important species grown in many Asian countries. It is more vigorous, productive, precocious in bearing and more resistant to diseases than the European plum. The Japanese plum a temperate fruit is unique amongst the stone fruits. It is a strong small growing tree, performing well as major crop of hills and considered as important minor fruit crop in north India. Its low chilling varieties comes into the market when the other crops are scarce and find little competition in the market. The fruit growers are now preferred to grow Japanese plum on account of giving higher yield and excellent return per unit area. It is successfully grown in temperate zone and subtropical climate of northern Indian states. Moreover, it is preferred as filler tree in permanent orchards of mango, litchi and pear. It start bearing after 2-3 years of planting and giving good economic return to the growers during pre-bearing period of permanent fruit crops.

1.     Groups of Polyembryony (PE)
    
2.     Mechanism of Polyembryony and the Genetic Bases
    
3.    Classification of Polyembryony
    
4.    Polyembryony – Its Practical Implications
        
References

INTRODUCTION

The pomegranate(Punica granatum L.) is one of the oldest known edible fruits, occupies the eighteenth place among the main world-fruit cultures.The fruit was naturalized throughout the Mediterranean region through ancient times and today the main areas of world production are Turkey, Spain and California. Around the world pomegranates are generally grown in Mediterranean climates, often with very warm dry summers (Wetzstein et al., 2011). During recent past, this ancient fruit has emerged as commercially important fruit, owing to its enormous medicinal and nutritional properties, built-in ability to tolerate heat and drought, low resource input demanding nature and high returns on investment (Singh et al.,2012). The fruit has growing consumer demand both for fresh use as well as processing into juice, syrup, squash and anardana (an acidulant product), owing to its attractive, juicy, and refreshing arils (Pruthi and Saxena, 1984).

9.1    Temperature
    
9.2    Relative Humidity
    
9.3    Physical Damage
    
9.4    Microbial Load
    
9.5    Packaging
    
9.6    Transportation

7.1    Pre-Harvest Factors Responsible for Post Harvest Losses
    
7.2    Harvesting Method
    
7.3    Post-Harvest Causes Responsible for Losses

10.1    Respiration
    
10.2    Effect of Ethylene on Ripening
    
10.3    Transpiration Loss
    
10.4    Postharvest Biochemistry of Banana
    
10.5    Postharvest Pathology of Banana

INTRODUCTION

As per National Horticulture Database published by National Horticulture Board, during 2014-15 India produced 89.15 million metric tonnes of fruits. This value however differs from the consumption value depending upon the post harvest losses, storage losses or transportation losses. Transportation and distribution of fruits being the most important factor, plays a key role in determining the net income from horticulture trade. It is an essential link in the modern food chain and exists as complex matrix where not only fresh goods finished products are transported but there is also transportation of bulk raw materials. Locally grown produce may be transported directly from farms to retail outlet. For local market, the produce is brought by bullock cart, tractor, trollies. Mainly the long distance transportation is by trucks, rails which is costly. In India the transportation by Railway is much less than the other means. The road transport is 3-4 times more expensive than rail, yet it is preferred for shipment of fresh fruits simply because of the faster movement of perishable commodities.

1.    Postharvest Losses of Fruits and Vegetables
    
2.    Minimization of Postharvest Losses
    
3.    Postharvest Management Practices
    
4.    Selection of Varieties
    
5.    Harvesting
    
6.    Sorting /Grading
    
7.    Washing
    
8.    Trimming
    
9.    Curing
    
10.     Delatexing or De-sapping
    
11.    Waxing
    
12.    Pre-cooling
    
13.    Hot Water Treatment
    
14.    Postharvest Disease Management
    
15.    Regulation of Ripening
    
16.    Sprout Inhibition
    
17.    Packaging
    
18.    Transportation
    
19.    Marketing
    
20.    Storage
    
21.    Conclusion
        
References

Ornamental Industry

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

Abstract

Fruit, Vegetable, Flowers, Medicinal and Aromatic crops are as horticultural crops play significant role in improving the productivity of land, generating employment, enhancing exports, improving economic conditions of the farmers and entrepreneurs and providing food and nutritional security to the people. For better management of the existing crops and to bring more area under horticulture crops, updated and accurate database is necessary for systematic planning and decision making. Remote sensing (RS) is an advanced tool that aids in gathering and updating information to develop scientific management plans. Many types of sensors namely microwave radiometers, laser meters, magnetic sensors and cameras collect electromagnetic information to derive accurate, large-scale information about the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Because these data and images are digital, they can easily be quantified and manipulated using computers. RS can be used in efforts to reduce the risk and minimize damage. The same data can be analyzed in different ways for different applications. A number of studies were aiming at identification of crop, area estimation, disease and pest identification, etc. using satellite data in horticulture. The potential use of RS techniques in Horticulture is briefly reviewed in order to exploit the available techniques for efficient crop management.

8.1    Climatic Conditions
    
8.2    Water
    
8.3    Spacing
    
8.4    Crop Nutrition
    
8.5    Pests and Diseases
    
8.6    Bunch Covering
    
8.7    Maturity and Maturity Indices
    
8.8    Maturity vs Shelf life and Quality
    
8.9    Pre-Harvest Sprays
    
8.10    Harvesting

Precision Farming

Precision farming is a concept of proper crop management based on the observation, technology, measurement and response during inter and intra field variability in crops. It is also known as satellite farming or site specific crop management (SSCM).It is an application of right things, in right place, in the right way and at the right time. It has three main requirements viz. first identify various field location, second capture, interpret and analyzed the data in a proper scale & frequency and third, adjust the input with farming practices for efficient economic yields. There are 17 Precision Farming Development Centers (PFDC) located in different agro-climatic zones of India. It is mostly exist in SAUS, ICAR Institute and IIT Kharagpur. 

Introduction

Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa) occupies an important position among commercial ornamental bulbous crops, because of its highly fragrant flowers which can be used in various ways and is essentially a florists flower. The white tubular flowers emit the most popular odour and hence are cultivated on a large scale in some parts of the world for the extraction of its highly valued natural flower oil. The lingering delightful fragrance and excellent keeping quality are the predominant characteristics of this crop. It is popularly known as Rajanigandha, derives its generic name from the greek word Polios, which means white or shinning and anthos meaning a semi perennial bulbous plant. It is commercially cultivated for cut flowers and loose flowers trade and also for extraction of its highly valued natural flower oil. The serene beauty of the flower spikes, bright white flowers, sweetness of blooms and delicacy of fragrance of this ornamental crop, transform the entire area into a nectarine and joyous one. Fresh flowers and value added products of tuberose are exported from India to USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, The Netherland, Japan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Precision farming is one of the most scientific and modern approach to sustainable agriculture. It involves management of within field variation and helps farmers to grow crops more efficiently. Precision farming is concerned with the management of variability in the dimensions of both space and time. Variability of resources is a key factor of precision farming.   Precision farming is the application of technologies and principle to manage spatial and temporal variability associated with all aspects of horticultural production for improving crop performance and environment quality. Precision farming calls for an efficient management of resources through location specific hi-tech inventions to produce cost-effective and eco-friendly consumer- acceptable quality products (Mondal and Tewari, 2007).

1.    Factors Causing Spoilage of Foods
    
2.    Methods of Preservation
    
3.    Preservation by use of Preservatives
    
4.    Preservation by Irradiation
    
5.    Preservation by Low Temperature
    
6.    Methods of Food Freezing
    
7.    Principles of Preservation by Fermentation
    
8.    Preservation by Dehydration
    
9.    Preservation by Thermal Processing
    
10.    Advantages of Processing
    
11.    Demand for Processed Products
        
References

1.    Basic Principles
    
2.    Scale and Proportion
    
3.    Balance
    
4.    Rhythm
    
5.    Simplicity
    
6.    Unity
    
7.    Transition
    
8.    Focal Point or Emphasis
    
9.    Elements
    
10.     Variety
    
11.     Grouping
    
12.     Mass
    
13.    Sequence
        
    Further Reading

Abstract

Roselle, or Jamaica sorrel (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) is a popular vegetable in many tropical regions, cultivated for its leaves, seeds, stems and calyces of which, the dried calyces are used to prepare tea, syrup, jams, jellies and beverages. It is an annual herbaceous shrub belongs to family Malvaceae originated in old world tropics. The fresh calyces and young leaves are used as a vegetable in various cuisines and the plant also yield industrial bio fibre. It also has nutraceutical potential, high pigment content, and nutritional and medicinal properties. Roselle is a drought tolerant crop and cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics during hot and rainy seasons. China and Thailand are the largest producers and control much of the world supply, where as the best quality roselle comes from Sudan. Many medicinal applications of this plant have been developed around the world. It is used to treat hypertension, pyrexia, dyspepsia, and leukaemia hepato protective, due to its high content of protocatechuic acid. Leaves are emollient and sedative and also show antihypersensitive, antihyperlipidimic, diuretic and anti oxidant properties. Hence, it is an ideal candidate crop for low input multi-cropping system for the food and nutritional security for developing countries.