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The arid zone eco-system of Rajasthan is very fragile and is prone to serious imbalance even with the slightest disturbance due to mismanagement of resources. Among the eastern margin of the mean annual rainfall is 500 mm, while in the western most part it is 100 mm. The rainfall is monsoon driven. It comes between June and September (in 9-21 short spells). Large coefficient of variation (40-60%) and erratic distribution during the monsoon are characteristics features of the rainfall, leading often to prolong drought and failure of rainfed crops (More and Samadia, 2007). Temperature as low as 4.4° C, and as high as 50° C has been recorded in Western Rajasthan. Farming system and cropping system approach for sustainable use of farm resources and reduced risks have been successfully demonstrated in perennial horticulture. There is great pressure of livestock on available feed and fodder, as land available for fodder production has been decreasing. The requirement of dry and green fodder by 2025 would be 1170 mt and 650 mt while supply is expected around 411.3 mt and 488 mt deficit will be 64.87 % green fodder and 24.92 % dry fodder (Table 1).

Since time immemorial India has been leader in respect to spice, area, production and consumption. India is known as ‘Land of spices. Out of 109 spices listed by the ISO, India produce as many as 63 owing to its varied agroclimatic regions. Almost all the state and union territory of the country grow one or the other spices. Spices are the sources of livelihood and employment for large number of people in the country. Seed spices are annual herbs, whose dried seeds or fruit are used as spices. Spices are the nature’s gift to mankind and since antiquity, spices have been considered indispensable in the culinary art, as they are used to flavour foods and beverages The important seed spices are coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek. ajwain, dill,, celery, anise, nigella and caraway. The other seed spices s are poppy seed, rai, yellow mustard, white mustard, parsley and sesame. In India, Rajasthan and Gujarat has emerged as “Seed spice bowl” and together contributes more than 80 percent of total seed spices.

Burgeoning population exerts pressure on limited precious natural resources for enhancing production of food, fodder and fuel. In order to meet out increasing demand for food, fruit, vegetables, oilseeds, fodder and timber wood for burgeoning population, it is necessary to utilize each unit of natural rsesource very efficiently. The productivity of the precious natural resources is to be enhanced per unit time per unit area by agronomic ally managing stresses soil and land ecosystem to harvest more benefit. The cropping system as well as intercropping system practised by using different trees, fruits, vegetables, crops are the very efficient enterprises for realising higher productivity of natural resources available with in specified ecosystem.

The arid zone of India covers about 12% of the country’s geographical area and occupies over 31.7 mha of hot desert and about 7 m ha under cold desert. The arid regions of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana together constitute the Great Indian Desert known as Thar Desert that accounts for 89.6% of hot arid regions of India. In Gujarat, 6.22 m ha area is under arid zone which constitute 19.6% of the arid area of country (Fig 1). In Gujarat, eight districts fall under arid zone, namely, Kachchh (100% of district area), Jamnagar (80%), Surendranagar (29%), Junagadh (20%), Banaskantha (18%), Mehsana (7%), Ahmedabad (6%) and Rajkot 6%).

India has witnessed tremendous increase in the production of horticultural crops especially fruits since independence. Due to specialized scientific interventions and application of latest research tools, the country is now among the top fruit producing countries of the world ranking second next only to China. However, the productivity has still remained low as against area under the fruit cultivation. Several neglecting issues related to the production technology have remained unattended so far. The old and senile orchards are now reverting towards a declining trend of production because of plant age factor, non-compatible varieties and poor canopy management (Baba et al., 2011).

In the recent past declining productivity of old and dense orchards existing in abundance has become a matter of serious concern for the orchardists, traders as well as scientists. In India 30-35 per cent area under fruit crops is occupied by old, dense and diseased orchards. For overcoming the problem of unproductive and uneconomic orchards existing in abundance, large scale uprooting and replacement with new plantations (rehabilitation) will be a long term and expensive strategy. Therefore research efforts were initiated to standardize a technology for restoring the production potential of existing plantations by a technique called Rejuvenation. The term ‘Rejuvenation’ means renewal or making new or young again. As applied to the orchard tree it would mean restoring the productive capacity of the fruit trees. The meaning of ‘Rejuvenation’ according to Chamber’s dictionary is ‘to recover youth character or to grow again’. Obviously, this would apply to those plants which have attained a stage where they are no more profitable from the grower’s point of view.

With the culmination of green revolution, the yield in agriculture is almost static with the use of even great deal of inputs and resources with appearing decadence in nature. The agriculture, if continuous on with same trend, will no longer productive and sustainable. Heterogenity being vested with best survival and sustenance, attempt is underway towards crop diversification deploying remunerative crops and techniques so as to keep pace with rising demand of mankind. Added to this, dwindling land : man ratio (0.13 ha during 1990s), harvesting more return from a unit area of land, disguised unemployment, improper availability of fruits and vegetables (40 g and 120 g respectively as against 120 g and 280 g for fruits and vegetables, respectively), generating employment (143 man-days/ha in cereals, 860 man-days/ha in fruit production and 1000-2500 man-days/ha in cultural intensive fruit crops), are major concerns for high density planting (HDP). It is a holistic production system which helps in promoting and preserving dynamic agro-ecosystem. HDP is also an aid to biodiversity, biological cycles and organic farming. As an alternative to raise production and productivity especially to compete global trade, HDP is worth adoption.

India is a natural reservoir of the several fruit species. The several less known fruit species, which have the potential for commercial exploitation, are yet to be utilized to their potential. An attention to the less known fruit would play a significant role in increasing the income, providing employment opportunities, uplifting of the poor, small and marginal farmers and the development of value added products. These fruits are well known for their medicinal and nutritive value. There is a great need to develop and popularize not only for their domestic market but also for their export. Some of the less known fruits are described here with respect to their cultivation technology.

Vegetables are short duration crops and provide more returns per unit area and time besides, they play a major role in balancing human diet, thus, helping in alleviating hunger and malnutrition (Annon., 2009). In the previous few years, India has attained quantum jump in vegetable production and present estimated vegetable production is around 162.9 mt in an area of about 9.4 mha (NHB, 2014), and holds second position at global level. But this level of vegetable production is insufficient to meet the recommended daily intake (~300 g per capita per day) for a huge population of the country. This is mainly due to lower average productivity (17.5 t/ha) of the nation. There are several crop diminishing factors such as soil borne- and foliar- diseases, insect-pests and nematodes as biotic factors, and soil or water salinity, alkalinity, metal toxicity and heat and moisture stress as abiotic factors, which greatly affect vegetable crops yield in almost all growing areas, especially in fragile arid and semi arid regions.

Vegetables are of short duration, have higher productivity and give more return per unit area, besides giving nutritious food to human being and can be fitted in different farming systems. They also play a major role in balancing human diet, thereby helping in alleviating hunger, poverty and malnutrition. Because of the public awareness for the significance of vegetable consumption, the demand of vegetables in the global market has increased immensely. Thus, vegetable farming is becoming profitable venture globally, opening avenues of self employment and revenue generation (Anon., 2009). At global level, India holds second position, next only to China in vegetables production with a share of about 14%. The present annual vegetables production of country is about 175 million tons from an area about 10.3 million ha with a productivity of 17.1 t/ha. India grows largest number of vegetables in the world, as having a spectrum of wide range of agro-climatic situations, ranging from dry temperate to humid tropics between the altitudes from sea level to snow line.

The Indian hot arid region is one of the most important arid ecosystems of the world in terms of biodiversity it possesses. This arid region spreads over 31.7 mha, occupies major part of north western India including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana, which together contribute 73% of arid region. High temperature, wind velocity, low humidity, low and erratic rainfall and high potential evapotranspiration are important characteristics of this region which narrowed down the choice for vegetables, besides permit their low productivity.

Rajasthan has geographical area of 3.42 lakh sq. km has attained the status of being the largest state of India. The state represents 10.4% land surface area with 5.5% population of India, 66% is dependent on agricultural for their livelihood. The state is divided into 33, districts, which are further subdivided into 338 Tehsils and 295 Panchayat Samitis. The total cultivable area is around 220.00 lakh ha. The average rainfall of the State is 575 mm, out of which about 532 mm precipitation occurs in the rainy season i.e. June to September. The average rainfall of eastern Rajasthan is about 704 mm and that of western Rajasthan is about 310 mm which reflects a vast variation. Rivers in Rajasthan are non-perennial except for Chambal and Mahi rivers. The State is presently divided into 33 administrative districts and has 10 agro-climatic zones. Agriculture in Rajasthan is primarily rain fed covering country’s 13.27 per cent of available land. Groundwater is getting depleted as well as polluted. In general, every third year is a drought year. Despite these, the State has made significant achievements since independence and has attained self-sufficiency in food- grains. Rajasthan is located in the north-western part of the subcontinent. It is bounded on the west and north-west by Pakistan, on the north and north-east by the states of Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, on the east; in the south- east by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and on the south- west by the state of Gujarat. The Tropic of Cancer passes through its southern tip in the Banswara district. In the west, Rajasthan is relatively dry and infertile: this area includes some of the Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert. In the south-western part of the state, land is wetter, hilly, and more fertile.

The hot arid regions of India are spread over 32 million hectares in the states of Rajasthan (61%), Gujarat (20%), Punjab (5%), Haryana (4%), Karnataka (3%) and Andhra Pradesh (7%). The arid regions of western Rajasthan experience an annual rain fall between 100-500 mm with a coefficient of variations varying from 40-70 per cent. Low and erratic rainfall coupled with extreme temperature results in complete or partial crop failure, considerably affects the agricultural economy of the region. High wind velocity causes wind erosion and shifting of sand dunes covers the fertile agricultural land and canals (Rao and Singh,1998). The rise in temperature begins from March onward and attains its peak in May as high as 46°C. The transpiration is low during winters but during summer in months (May & June), it reaches up to 16 mm per day. The annual estimated potential evapotranspiration values ranges from 1600 mm in eastern part and 1800 mm in western part of the region.

In the arid regions of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and eastern part of arid Gujarat the soils have developed from alluvial and aeolian parent materials. In context to the type of soils light brown sandy soils with dune dominance is 30.6 per cent and associated others 34 per cent area, light brown soils 1.7 per cent, Grey brown soils 13.6 per cent hard pan in 5.9 per cent and seirozems in 1.7 per cent area (Dhir, 1977). Kolarker et al. (1989) reported that in 12 district of Rajasthan sandy soils dominated in 14.3 million ha. These soils are poor in fertility very low organic carbon (0.03-0.1%), light in texture called desert soils (north western) in the order of aridisols. It has undulated topography with the dominance of sand dunes inter-dunal plains. About 80 per cent area falls under rain fed cropping and moth bean, cluster bean, pearl millet, and sesame are the main crops grown during kharif season after the onset of monsoon. Under the vagaries of monsoon and recurrent drought the rain fed cropping becomes a gamble, which creates severe food and fodder scarcity in the region.

The Indian arid zone is characterized by high temperature and low and variable precipitation which limit the scope for high crops productivity. However, these conditions greatly favour the development of high quality in a number of fruits such as date palm, ber, aonla, bael, pomegranate, kinnow, lasoda and in vegetables cucurbits, legumes and solanaceous crops, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants. The existing low productivity could be increased by following improved technologies and inputs. It is now realized that there is a limited scope for quantum jump in fruit and vegetable production in the traditional production areas. The amelioration of the extreme conditions is also considered vital for life support to the inhabitants of this area. The recent awareness regarding the potential of these ecologically fragile lands for production of quality produce has not only opened up scope for providing sustainability for the people of this region, but also for bringing in new areas to increase horticultural production. The area expansion and yield potential of arid horticultural crops has increased many folds because of development of new varieties and advancement in production techniques in arid region.

3.1 Tomato

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is an important vegetable crop. Its 2n= 24.

Floral biology

Flowers are borne in small forked racemose cyme. Anthesis starts at 6.30 a.m. and continues up to 11.00 a.m. Anther dehiscence is longitudinal. It occurs 1-2 days after opening of corolla. The stamen sheds its pollen when the style grows up through anther tube, thus self-pollination occurs. When the stigma protrudes above the anther tube, chances of cross pollination through bees increases. The optimum temperature for pollination is around 21°C.

TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS

2.1 Mango
 

Mango is considered to be an allopolyploid. The chromosome number is 2n =40. The polyembryonic seedlings of cv. Vellaikolumban, earlier reported to be 2n= 80 was later shown to be a diploid. In Canary Island, a putative tetraploid viz Gomera-1 has been identified.

Floral biology

Flower starts opening early in the morning from 4-7 a.m. and maximum flowers open between 9.30-10.30 a.m. and complete 11 a.m. Dehiscence of anthers takes place at 11.30 a.m. and it continues up to 3.45 p.m. The pollen grains are oval, or triangular or oblong. Stigma becomes receptive even 18 hours before flower opening. Mode of pollination is entomophily; nectar is present to attract the insects.

The flowering duration is usually of short i.e. 2 to 3 weeks. The mango inflorescence or panicle bears mainly two types of flowers - male and perfect. The number of flowers per panicle varies between 1000 to 6000 depending upon the variety and climatic factors. The percentage of perfect flowers varies between 0.74 per cent in Rumani, 16.41 to 55.7 per cent in Neelum and up to 69.8 per cent in Langra.

Horticultural crops include the fruit crops, vegetables, spices, plantation crops, medicinal plants, aromatic plants, commercial flower crops and ornamental plants.

Knowledge on the methods by which these reproduce is of primary importance from the standpoint of plant breeding. Besides, their annual or perennial nature also decides the methods of breeding to be adopted to get desired improvement.

Two divisions of methods of reproduction commonly recognized are:

1. Asexual i.e. vegetative parts of the plants are utilized to produce new individuals.

2. Sexual i.e. gametic fusion, the resultant zygote develops into seed which is utilized to produce new individual.

This group can be further placed in several sub divisions according to the mode of pollination. They are

a. Naturally self pollinated crop - (e.g. tomato, pepper, brinjal) wherein cross pollination occurs less than 4 % only.

b. Often cross pollinated crop- (e.g. chillies, bhendi) wherein though self pollination is more frequent, cross- pollination may occur so frequently that some methods of preventing cross pollination between varieties and strains of different genotypic constitution must be followed throughout the breeding programme.
Common breeding methods can be applied to the above two groups, however, the parents chosen for breeding under often cross pollinated crop need to be selfed for few generations to select desirable, homozygous lines.

Introduction:Jamun (Syzygium cumini) belonging to the family Myrtaceae is a popular indigenous fruits Of India. It is also known as black plum, Indian black cherry, Ram jamun etc. in different parts of India. The tree is tall and handsome, evergreen, generally grown for shade and windbreak on roads and avenues. In India, the maximum number of jamun trees are found scattered throughout the tropical and subtropical regions. It also occurs in the lower range of the Himalayas up to an elevation of 1,300 meters and in the Kumaon hills up to 1,600 meters. It is widely grown in the larger parts of India from the IndoGangetic plains in the North to Tamil Nadu in the South.

Soil:The jamun tree can be grown on a wide range of soils. However, for high yield potential and good plant growth, deep loam and a welldrainedsoil are needed. Jamun can grow well under salinity and waterlogged conditions too.

Climate: Jamun prefers to grow under tropical and subtropical climate. It is also found growing in lower ranges of the Himalayas up to an altitude of 1300 meters. The jamun requires dry weather at the time off towering and fruit setting.

Varieties: The common variety grown under North Indian conditions is “Ram Jarnun”. It produces big sized, oblong fruits, deep purple or bluish-black in color at full ripe stage. The pulp of the ripe fruit is purple pink and the fruit is juicy and sweet. The stone is small in size. The variety ripens in the month of June- July and it is very common both in rural as well as in urban markets.

Botany: Emblica officinalis belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae commonly known as Amla or Indian Gooseberry or Nelli is an important crop with high medicinal value. The fruits have the richest source of vitamin-C (700 mg per 100 g of fruits) and is considered to be good liver tonic. The various preparations using Amla include Chyavanprash, Triphala churna, Brahma Rasayana and Madumegha churna. The fruit is valued as an antiscorbutic, diuretic, laxative, antibiotic and anti-dysentric. Phyllemblin, obtainedfrom fruit pulp has been found to have mild depressent action on central nervous system. It has good demand from the industries for the preparation of various health care products also like hair oil, dye, shampoo, face creams and tooth powder.

Soil: Light as well as medium heavy soils except purely sandy soil is ideal for amla cultivation. The tree is well adopted to dry regions and can also be grown in moderate alkaline soils.

Climate: It is a tropical plant. Annual rainfall of 630-800 mm is ideal for its growth. The young plant upto the age of 3 years should be protected from hot wind during May-June and from frost during winter months. The mature plants can tolerate freezing temperature as well as a high temperature upto 46^OC.

Varieties: The varieties recommended for cultivation are Banarasi, Chakaiya, Francis, NA-4 (Krishna) NA 5 (Kanchan), NA-6, NA-7, NA-10 and BSR-1 (Bhavanisagar).

Botany: Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) belonging to the family Palmae is a slender palm tree widely distributed throughout the tropical regions,with a size that can vary between 12 to 30 meters high. Each inflorescence is a branched flower cluster (panicle), located at the base of the leaves. Its flowers, male and female (monoecious), can be white to pale yellow. Fruiting occurs throughout the year, and the fruit is a drupe with a dry fibrous mesocarp popularly known as coconut.

Coconut fruit has an ovoid shape, constituted by 3 angles and 3 germination holes at the end, with a size between 20 and 30 centimeters in diameter. Coconut fruit consists of a brown fibrous bark and a hard shell, booking a seed inside. The central cavity of the fruit has an aqueous or milky liquid called coconut water that is a nutritional mixture aimed for coconut to grow. When the fruit ripens , this fluid accumulates fat and it is called coconut juice or milk. The seed of the coconut palm is the second largest known , after the coco-de-mer (Lodoicea maldivica ), that can reach 40–50 cm in diameter and weigh from 15 to 30 kg. The seed of coconut is hollow inside and it is covered with a white pulp, oily and edible.

Medicinal uses:It is said to have analgesic, antirheumatic, antibacterial , anticancer, antioxidant, hypoglycemic, hypotensive and immune stimulating properties. Its oil also has numerous cosmetic applications

Botany: Coffee trees are evergreen shrubs of the rubiaceae family. Coffee of commerce consists of seeds of coffee which when roasted, ground and soaked in hot water yields a fragrant stimulating infusion used for preparing the beverage called Coffee. It is native of America and introduced in India in 1936 near Chickmanglur in Karnataka.

Coffee plants have bright green opposite leaves with smooth margins. Its flowers, white, grow in clusters in the axils of the leaves and are aromatic. From them, fruits are born.They are red drupes with the size of a cherry The outside of the fruit is fleshy and inside it there are two seeds or coffee beans, surrounded by a membranous layer of leathery texture, hence this layer is commonly known as the “parchment”. Some species of trees only produce one seed per fruit are known as “pearl coffee”. In double seed varieties, the two seeds that grow inside each fruit press each other, so they stop the growth in the part which is in contact, so this becomes flat.

Soil and Climate: Coffee arbica comes up well in high altitude from 800 to 1650 meters but -C. canephora Pierre ex A.Froehner adopts well to lower elevations. At high altitude the crop is often late and susceptiable to frost and high winds.Evenly distributed rainfall of 2250 mm is essential. Heavy rainfall is not counducive as it encourages rotting of leaves and plants are easily susceptible to fungal diseases.

Botany: Cashew belongs to the Family Aricardiaceae. A small evergreen tree native of tropical America from Mexico to Peru and Brazil but now cultivated largely in Malabar, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and to some extend in Maharashtra, Goa, Odisha and West Bengal

The commercial production is mainly confined to India, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya; Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.Cashew is an important foreign earning crop of India, remarking second (29%) in the international trade of the nuts. It is a crop of marginal lands and can be grown under rainfed conditions.

Soil and climate: It grows up well in all soils. Red sandy loam is best suited. Plains as well as hill slopes upto 600 - 700 feet elevation are suitable for cultivation. Season: June - December. Propagation: Soft wood grafting, air layer and epicotyl grafting. Requirement of plants: 200 plants/ha. Preparation of field: Pits of 45 cm3 size are dug and filled up with a mixture of soil + 10 kg FYM + one kg neem cake and 100 g Methyl parathion 1.3 %.

Botany: The Cocoa (Theobroma cocoa) belonging to the family Sterculiaceae. Cocoa tree is a shade tolerant, moisture loving, understory rainforest tree. The trees live for up to 100 years, but cultivated trees are considered economically productive for only about 60 years. Naturally Cocao grows to a height of 15 meters, but cultivated trees are trimmed shorter to make harvesting easier. The leaves of Cocoa are smooth bright green, oblong, about 15cm by 8cm. The seeds are encased in a large colourful pod which grows close to tree after a flower. The large pod is green while maturing and turns yellow, orange, red or purple when ripe. They range from about 10 cm to greater than 40 cm in length.

Soil and climate: Potash rich alluvial soils friable in nature with high humus and moisture retentivity with a pH of 6.6-7.0 are suitable. Cocoa is normally cultivated at altitudes upto 1200 m above MSL with an annual rainfall of 150 cm and a relative humidity of 80 % and annual mean temperature of 24^oC to 25^oC. Cocoa can be grown as intercrop in coconut and arecanut gardens.

Botany:Fenugreek is a leguminous plant, belonging to the Papilionaceae family. Fenugreek is an annual herbaceous plant between 20 and 50cm high. (sometimes up to 100cm.). Its stem is erect, branched, grooved and with little pubescence. The leaves are compound, petiolate, oblong leaflets formed by three kills reminding those of alfalfa. White or yellow flowers , isolated or arranged in pairs. Fenugreek fruits are narrow and elongated pods. They contain 10 to 20 seeds, tiny yellow, quadrangular, with a groove in the central part dividing them into two unequal lobes.

Land Requirements: Land to be used for seed production of Kasuri methi and methi shall be free from volunteer plants.

Varieties: Co 1, Pusa Early Bunching, Lam selection 1, Rajendra Kranti, Kissar Sonali, RMT1and CO 2.

Soil: A rich well drained loamy soil is best suited.

Climate: Cool and comparatively dry, frost free climate. It requires a warm climate with mild temperatures for a good seed production (between 8 and 27°C).It grows well in full sun. Sow it in places sheltered from the wind. Resistant to frost and temperatures down to -5°C. However, low temperatures during planting causes not all seeds to germinate.

Season: June - July and October - November.

Botany:Coriandrum sativum belonging to the family Umbelliferae. It is an annual soft shrub that attains a height of 1 to 3 feet. Leaves are in basal cluster varies from 3 to 15 cm in length and are oblong to ovate in shape. Leaflets are 1 to 2 centimeter in length and are ovate to round. Flower is of white color which can vary from light purple to creamish in color. These appear in umbles. Fruit is roundish in shape bearing color that varies from yellow to brown. It is tripped and gets divided in to two then crushed with fingers. The plant flowers and fruits in late winters.

Land Requirement: Land to be used for seed production of coriander should be free from volunteer plants

Varieties: CO 1, CO 2, CO 3, CO (CR) 4, GAU 1, UD 1, UD 2, UD 20 and UD 21

Soil: Well drained black cotton soil and red loamy soil. For rainfed cultivation soil should be clay in nature and the pH should be 6 – 8.Coriander performs well at a temperature range of 20 – 25 °C.

Climate: Cool and comparatively dry, frost free climate

Botany

Phyllanthus is an herb common to Central and Southern India. It can grow to 30–60 centimeters in height and blooms with many yellow flowers. All parts of the plant are employed therapeutically. It is a small erect annual herb 10-60 cm tall widespread in tropical areas. Leaves are small elliptical - oblong and flowers are whitish green & minute. It bears ascending herbaceous branches. The bark is smooth and light green. The fruits are tiny, smooth capsules containing seeds.Kizhanelli is a circum-tropical weed, thriving well under tropical conditions. In India, it grows abundantly up to 700m altitude in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Major constituents – Phyllanthin (0.4-0.5%) and Hypophyllanthin

Uses- Hepatitis B and Jaundice

Botany: Senna, Cassia angustifola belonging to the family Leguminosae is a perennial 1-2 m height undershrub. The stem is erect, smooth, and pale green to light brown with long spreading ascending branches. Leaves are compound with four to eight pairs of leaflets. The full grown leaflets are bluish-green to palegreen in colour and emit a characteristic fetid smell when crushed. The flowers are small and yellow and axillary arranged racemes. The pods are broadly oblong about 5-8 cm long and 2-3 cm broad, green in beginning and change to greenish-brown to dark brown on maturity. Each pod has 5 to 7 ovate, compressed, smooth, dark-brown seeds.

Varieties : KKM - 1, Anand Late Selection, ALFT-2 and Sona

Soil and climate: In Tamil Nadu, it is grown in sandy or sandy loam or laterite soils. It is a hardy warm weather crop grown under rainfed and irrigated conditions. Senna is also cultivated successfully on black cotton soils. It has a great tolerance to high soil salinity, however, shedding of some lower leaves often occurs. The soil pH suited for cultivation is 7.0-8.5. But, the most suitable to sandy loam to loam soils which are more friable and well drained.

Botany: Periwinkles (Catharanthus roseus) belonging to the family Apocynaceae are evergreen perennials that produce bright blue flowers. They grow best in well-draining, moist soil and partial sun to full shade. They work well as sprawling groundcover or border plants and bloom from early spring to early fall. Periwinkles are often grown as transplants, but they can be started from seed about 10 weeks before the last frost with the proper care.

Varieties: Nirmal, Dhawal and Prabal

Soil and climate: It is suited to all types of soil and tropical climatic conditions. Well distributed annual rainfall of 100 cm or more is ideal for raising as a rainfed crop.

Seeds and planting: Propagated through seeds either by direct sowing or throughtransplanting.

Seed rate: 2.5 kg/ha : Direct sowing

0.5 kg/ha : Through seedlings

45 - 60 days old seedlings are transplanted at a spacing of 45 x 20 cm during June - July or September - October.

Botany

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), also known as Indian ginseng belonging to the family Solanaceae, is an important ancient plant, the roots of which have been employed in Indian traditional systems of medicine, Ayurveda and Unani to cure asthma, fever, chest complaints. It is an erect branching undershrub reaching about 1.50 m in height. It grows in dry and sub-tropical regions. Being hardy and drought tolerant species with its enormous biocompounds, its usage is forever regarded and continuous to enjoy the monopoly in many parts of India, particularly in Madhya Pradesh. It grows in dry parts in sub-tropical regions. Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are the major Ashwagandha producing states of the country. Roots are fleshy, tapering, whitish brown. Leaves are ovate and flowers are greenish. The mature fruits are orange-red berries.

Varieties:Poshita and Rakshita are high yielding varieties released by CSIRCIMAP, Lucknow. Jawahar 20 is cultivated in Madhya Pradesh. WSR is another variety released by CSIR-Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu. Nagori is a local variety with starchy roots

Varieties: No named variety

Soil: Red sandy soil and sandy loam soil are highly suitable. Soil drainage is essential and hard pan and water logged soils should be avoided.

Climate: Suitable for plain and lower hills. Requires 70 cm annual rain fall

Propagation: Terminal three to four nodal cuttings measuring 10 cm length is used

Land Preparation: Apply 15 t FYM/ha. Ridges are formed at a spacing of 60 cm. Cuttings have to be planted at a spacing of 45 cm.

Nutrient management: Nutrients Quantity (kg / ha) N 30 P 60 K 50 The above nutrients can be applied in two split doses viz., 30 and 45 days after planting. In micronutrient deficient soils, ZnSO4 can be applied as basal fertilizer.

Pre sowing seed treatment: Fortification with GA3 100 ppm (or) moringa leaf extract 2% for 16 h (or)KH₂PO4 2% for 16 hours

Age of the seedling for transplanting: The seeds are first sown in primary nursery (pot) and after 16 day the seedlings are transplanted to raised nursery and after 24 days transplanted to main field.

Botany :Annual Chrysanthemum is a winter annual that can be grown either as pot plants or in groups as bed plants for various ornamental purposes. There are two types of annual Chyrsanthemums: Chrysanthemum Segetum and C.coronarium. Major varieties of Chrysanthemum segetum L. are Morning Star, Evening Star, Eastern Star, Blanca, Eldorado, Gloria, Isabel, Romeo, and yellow Stone while popular cultivars of C. coronarium L. include Nivea, Oreon, Albo, Golden Crown, Luteum, Tom Thumb Golden Gem, Tom Thumb-Primrose Gem and Tetra Comet. In addition to this, there is another type of annual Chrysanthemum, i.e. C. carinatum. Popular varieties of C. carinatum S. are Merry, Atrococcineum, Burridgeanum, Eclipse, Flammenspiel, John Bright and Northern Star.

Propagation

Annual Chrysanthemums can be propagated by seeds. Their sowing time depends upon climate. It varies in different parts of India. In the Northern plains, winter season annual Chrysanthemums are sown during September–October. The seeds are sown in nursery beds, earthen pots, seed pans or wooden seed trays. The seed compost should consist of one part each of garden soil, coarse sand, farmyard manure and leaf-mould. For preparing the nursery beds, the soil should be dug up thoroughly and sufficient farmyard manure, should be mixed in soil. Raised nursery beds of convenient size (normally 60cm wide and 15cm high) should be prepared. If soil is heavy, some quantity of sand may be added. It is better if the soil of nursery bed or earthen pots is sterilized with 2% formalin. For this, soil is drenched with formalin solution and is covered with polythene sheet for 45hr. Afterwards, the polythene is removed and soil is dried before sowing the seeds.

In India marigold is one of the most commonly grown flowers and used extensively on religious and social functions in different forms. Because of their ease in cultivation, wide adaptability to varying soil and climatic conditions, long duration of flowering and attractively coloured flowers of excellent keeping quality, the marigolds have become one of the most popular flowers in our country. Flowers are sold in the market as loose or as garlands. Due to its variable height and colour marigold is especially use for decoration and included in landscape plans.

Potato has special seed production problems as the quality characteristics of seed potatoes are influenced by a number of factors and important amongst them are the diseases and pests namely, viruses, fungi, bacteria and nematodes. Once the seed tuber is infected the pathogens, specially viruses, permeate through the plant system. The plant growth, therefore declines and the yield reduces progressively. It is therefore, important that seed stocks should not only be genetically pure but also should be in right physiological condition and disease free at the time of planting. Seed production technology developed for seed potato production, thus aims at producing disease free, genetically pure seed. There are now two independent channels of seed production for hills and plains.

Hill seed : The seed produced in hills (2500 metres above sea level) at suitable locations is called ‘Hill Seed’.

Plain seed : The seed produced in plains at suitable locations is called ‘plain seed’. Northern plains have emerged as an important source of potato seed production. The low aphid, plains seed is in right physiological condition at the planting time and yields higher than the traditional hill grown seed.

Once healthy seed potatoes are introduced into the system of growing them during low Aphid period accompanied by a systematic insecticide application, roguing and removal of haulms before the aphids attain critical number and the re growth is checked, the health standards for the seed crop could be maintained for a number of generations. This system of seed potato production has been designated as ‘Seed Plot Technique’.

Botany: French bean has tap root system with poor nodule formation. Leaves are trifoliate. Though a self-pollinated crop, French bean offers wide variability for plant growth (bushy / climbing), colour of pod (green / waxy coloured), cross section of pod (flat / oval / round), pliability (stringed / string less) etc.

Varieties

1. Arkakomal: Plant is bushy. 70 days for flowering.
2. Blue pod medium: It is a white seed variety. It has bluish black spots on pods.
3. Bountiful: Introduction from US comes up in September to February. Seeds are Brown sweetish. It is resistant to common disease.
4. Contender: Tolerant to powdery mildew and mosaic.
5. Pant anupama: Developed from pantnagar. Bushytype
6. Pusaparvathi: Developed by X ray radiation of American variety IARI

Botany : Pea is a self pollinated crop. Time of anthesis is 5.45 to 6.30 AM. Time of dehiscence is 5.45 to 7.30 AM. Duration of pollen futility is on the day of anthesis to 24 hr there after. Duration of stigma receptivity is 48 hr before and 24 hr after anthesis.

Method of seed production : Var: Open pollination ; Hybrids: Emasculation and Pollination

Varieties / Hybrids

Early varieties : Arlcel, Matar Ageta 8, Early Badger, Pant Uphar, Hisar Harit, P.M. 2, Jawahar Matar 4, Meteor, Alaska, Lucknow Boniya, Pant Sabzi Matar 3, Pant Matar 2, VL Ageti Matar 7, Asauj.

Mid season varieties: Bonneville, Lincoln, VL 3, Shalimar Matar, Solan Nirog, Jawahar Matar 1, Pant Uphar, p88, Khapar Kheda, JP. 83, JP71, NP. 289, T19

Late varieties: Kinnauri

Origin

Beet root originated from Beta vulgaris L. ssp. maritima by hybridization with B. patula. Crop has site of origin probably in Europe. Earlier types were with long roots like that of carrot. Beet root, sugar beet and palak belong to species B. vulgaris and are cross compatible.

Botany

Beet root is a biennial, producing a fleshy elongated hypocotyls and a rosette of leaves in first year and flowers in second year. Upper portion of fleshy root develops from hypocotyls and basal part from tap root. Concentric rings seen in cross section of root are as a result of alternate formation of vascular tissues and storage parenchyma tissues. Root skin colour varies from orange red to dark purple red. Colour of beet root is due to presence of red violet pigments of â cyanins and a yellow pigment, â xanthin. It has extensive tap root system and tap root grows as deep as 3m. Rosette leaves develop in a close sp

Carrot (Daucus carota Stova condolle) is one of the most important and widely used root vegetable belonging to the family Umbelliferae. The seed production can be done during September – October in plains and in hills the sowing takes place in June and roots are replanted during the first week of October.

Method of seed production

Carrot is a cross-pollinated crop and self-pollination occurs to the extent of 0-5%. Crosspollination is mainly through insects. Seeds should be allowed to set by cross-pollination in isolation. Seed production is done by seed to seed and root to seed method. In seed to seed method, the matured roots are left to produce flowers and seeds in the place where seeds are sown initially. In root to seed method, roots at edible maturity should be uprooted and the roots of true to varietal characteristics should be selected and transplanted to the well prepared field after proper trimming of roots and shoots. This root to seed method is preferred for seed production in carrot since the root rot infection is high in seed to seed method of seed production.

The isolation distance maintained between the fields of other varieties and the fields of the same variety not conforming to varietal purity requirements for certification is 1000 metres for foundation and 800 metres for certified seed production. During mother root production an isolation of 5 metres should be followed.

Botany

Cauliflower is highly cross pollinated crop due to self incompatibility. Flower is protogynous in nature. Stigma remains receptive 5 days before and 4 days after opening of the flower. The time taken from pollination to fertilization is 248 hours depending upon the temperature. The optimum temperature for fertilization and seed development is 12°C – 18°C. Bees are the major pollinators.

Method of seed production: There are two methods of seed production

1. in situ method (seed to seed method)
2. Transplanting method (Head to seed method)

For seed production, seed to seed method is recommended since the head to seed method in India has not been very successful. In seed to seed method (In situ method) the crop is allowed to over winter and produce seed in the original position, where they are first planted in the seedling stage.

Elephant foot yam is an underground stem tuber belonging to the family Araceae, one of the most popular tuber crops, extensively used as a favourite vegetable by millions of people in India. It has both nutritional and medicinal value and is usually consumed as cooked vegetable. It has high dry matter production capability per unit area than most of the other vegetables. Elephant foot yam is a remunerative and profitable stem tuber crop. The crop is gaining popularity due to its shade tolerance, easiness in cultivation, high productivity, less incidence of pests and diseases, steady demand and reasonably good price.

The Indian Society for Protected Cultivation (ISPC) has organized a National Seminar on ‘Advances in Protected Cultivation’ at the NASC Complex, DPS Marg, Pusa, New Delhi, on 21 March 2013, with an objective of collection and collation of scientific advances made in protected cultivation in India and dissemination of these among policy-planners, farmers, students, scientists, industry and other stakeholders. In spite of the fact that protected cultivation is in its state of infancy in the country in terms of scientific engagements, more than 120 delegates from distant parts of the country registered for the seminar besides good number of policy-planners, recognized names in agriculture and higher officials from industry particularly corporate associate life members of the society.

In the inaugural session, Dr Brahma Singh, President, ISPC and Chairman, Organizing Committee welcomed the Chief Guest Padama Bhushan, Dr R S Paroda, formerly Secretary and Director-General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi and Chairman Haryana Kisan Ayog, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University , Hisar ; Guests of Honour Dr M M Pandey, Deputy Director-General (Agricultural Engineering), ICAR and Dr H S Gupta, Director, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, other dignitaries on and off the dais, delegates, press and media. He also highlighted that this seminar intended to review the advances made in protected cultivation in India with a purpose to accelerate the same. He emphasized that protected cultivation offers opportunities to earn more from the limited land, water and other resources. It also enables production of quality products which fetch more prices and pride, besides being a potential practice for provisioning disease-free quality planting material for horticultural crops.

Global demand for cut flowers is increasing steadily at around 10 per cent per annum. The share of India in this flourishing trade estimate at over US$ 40 billion per annum is negligible at 0.4 per cent. Floriculture include cut flowers, pot plants, cut foliage, seeds, bulbs, tubers, rooted cuttings and dried flowers or leaves. At international cut flower trade, flowers such as rose, carnation, Chrysanthemum, gerberas, gladiolus, gypsophilla, liatris, nerine, orchids, anthurium, tulips and lilies are preferred. Roses, gerberas and carnation are grown in greenhouses. The open field crops are Chrysanthemum, roses, gaillardia, lily, marigold, aster, tuberose etc. In India, floriculture is emerging as an important economic activity, earning foreign exchange. It has become a potential farm income enterprise. The domestic markets for high-quality flowers have been growing at 10- 20 per cent per year for the last few years. India’s flower business is estimated to be worth $ 400 million at retail, and about $ 100 million in international trade. Flower exports are about $ 30 million, constituting mainly of roses and dried flowers. Both Central and State Governments have been more than proactive and have made large investments in this industry in assisting production and marketing.

A large variety of floricultural crops can be produced in protected environment as economic cash crops for the benefit of farmers. Problems associated with floriculture in hills are small, scattered land holdings and sparsely located population. There is a lack of irrigation facilities due to scarce availability of water resources; widespread natural vagaries like drought, hail storms, frost etc. There is a serious gaps in application of advanced floricultural technologies for improving quality and productivity; high pressure on land use for different purposes like cereal crop production, fodder production, etc. due to low per capita land availability; difficulty in technology dissemination due to difficult terrain, hostile climate, poor communication facilities and sparsely located population. Consuming markets within the state are very less which result in dependence upon distant markets of the county. There is a high post-harvest losses due to lack of modern post-harvest management system; very high temperature differentials in production areas and consumer markets; perishable nature of flowers, resulting in high post-harvest losses during transportation; and distant location of production areas from main roads. High cost of marketing, lack of organised system of marketing, lack of bargaining power with individual growers due to small production levels; inadequate availability of market intelligence to farmers resulting in imbalances in distribution of produce in different markets.

Fusarium wilt of carnation caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.spp dianthi causes severe yield losses under protected cultivation. For the management of Fusarium wilt, 27 isolates of Bacillus strains were isolated from the rhizosphere of different crops including carnation. Among various species of Bacillus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (BSC7) was identified as a most virulent antagonistic bacterial isolate. Studies on antagonism under Environmentally Controlled Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM), depicted the presence of rod shaped bacterial cells with biofilm formation at 44847x. Detection for the presence of antibiotic biosynthetic genes reflected the presence of surfactin, iturin, bacillomycin and fengycin genes. The 24 isolates of Bacillus spp. showed positive reaction for surfactin gene. Nineteen isolates were amplified for Iturin A gene except BS5, BS9, BSC1, BSC2, BSC11, BSD1 and BSD2. Strains of B. subtilis BS1, BS2, BS5, BS6 and BS8 expressed Bacillomycin D gene. The genomic DNA of strains BS1, BS2, BS4, BS6, BS7 BS8, BS11 and BS14 showed positive for Fengycin D gene. The isolate of B. subtilis BS2 showed positive reaction for four genes namely surfactin, iturin, bacillomycin and fengycin.

In vitro screening of Bacillus, B. amyloliquefaciens (BSC7), P. aeruginosa (P1) and T. viride (TV1) showed highest inhibition against F.oxysporum f.sp.dianthi to an extent of 55.95, 55.29 and 81.61 per cent over the control respectively. The antifungal activity of antagonistic B. amyloliquefaciens BSC7 and T. viride TV1 against F.oxysporum f.sp. dianthi was confirmed under ESEM by observing disintegration, lysis and structural abnormalities of the hyphae of the pathogen at the zone of interaction.

H orticultural crops are most important ones incurring huge amount of pesticides in our country. The intensity of esticides on them is highest per unit area. However research on integrated pest management has not matched the progress and problems of plant protection at large and protected cultivation in particular. The USA, UK, Israel and Russia, pioneers in protected cultivation, are able to harvest productivity of up to 500 tonnes/ha of tomato and 200 tonnes/ha each of cucumber and capsicum, while in India up to 300 tonnes/ha of tomato and 100 tonnes/ha each of cucumber and capsicum are obtained, has compared to normal open field where their yield ranges from 40 to 60 and 10 to 20 tonnes/ha in India, respectively.

The sustainability of an agro-ecosystem is represented by its ability to maintain a given level of productivity over time and a given quantitative-qualitative level of environmental resources (Loucks, 1977). The greenhouse is also a form of agro-ecosystem, where unlike other agro-ecosystems, environment has been adapted to crop in order to maximize its productivity. The greenhouse system has to take maximum advantage of natural benefits offered by location in certain latitudes while minimizing the disadvantages (Castilla, 2002). Higher productivity under such protected cultivation is attainable mainly on account of reduced competition, healthy environment, better nutrient management, increased surface area and longer crop duration. However, ideal and stable environment with warm, humid and abundant food under protected conditions provides an excellent platform for pest development often more than open field crops, leading to severe pest situations in greenhouses, as revealed by extensive surveys.

The beginning of protected cultivation in the country has paved the way for export of horticultural produce, especially of flowers to earn valuable foreign exchange. The technology also became handy for quality production of flowers and F₁ hybrid seeds for domestic and export markets. In view of the globalization of international market and tremendous boost that is being given for export of flowers, there has been a spurt in the demand for protected cultivation technology. Low-cost polyhouses are quite popular in the North-East and in the northern plains, flowers are being raised in polyhouses either for capturing the early markets or to improve the quality of seedlings. Several commercial floriculture ventures are coming up in Uttrakhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to meet the demands of both domestic and export markets. There has been a substantial increase in area under protected cultivation of different flower crops. Though there were initial hitches owing to the cost sharing, farmers of some states have taken maximum benefits of the existing schemes and adopted the technology. Protected cultivation technology is one of the most useful technology inputs which hold promise to transform Indian floriculture and bring in the “Colour Revolution”.

Nearly, 40 countries are involved in protected cultivation of flower and vegetable crops. New production centers are being added constantly, mostly from developing nations. Today, majority of production is from developing countries like Zimbabwe, Morocco, Kenya, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico, Singapore, Malaysia and India. In developed world, USA has an area of about 6,000 ha under greenhouses which are mostly used for floriculture. The Netherland is traditional exporter of greenhouse grown flowers all over the world. Israel, the largest exporter of cut flowers, has wide range of crops under greenhouses. About 1,000 ha area is under protected cultivation. Approximately, 98% of flowers are grown under open field cultivation and hardly 2% under the greenhouse cultivation.

Orchids are known for their exquisite beauty and trade in global floriculture business. The Netherlands is pioneer in roduction and ex ort of tem erate orchid while Thailand and Hawaii are the world leader in tropical orchids, respectively. Recently, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Sri Lanka are catching the international market. The orchid industry is expanding in terms of magnitude in some of the major orchid-producing nations. The global orchid market has passed $ 1 Billion mark in 2010. The leading orchid producing countries in 2010 are:

Country Production ($ million) Japan 280 USA 170 Taiwan 130 China 70 Brazil 60 UK 45 Thailand 35 Italy 30 New Zealand 20 Source: Orchid News The world consumption of orchids (potted plants) is valued more than $ 500 million (2000). The Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and India have recently begun to produce orchids for export. Commercial production of orchids has increased dramatically through the world in the past quarter century. The most common genera sold in Japan from 1993 to 2002 were Phalaenopsis (30%), Nobile type Dendrobium (20%), Oncidium (20%), Cymbidium (15%) and Cattleya (10%). The potted orchids sold through Dutch flower auctions increased from 50, 0000 to 18 million pots.

India is the second largest producer of vegetable crops with a total production of 146.5 million tonnes (2010-11). More than 60 vegetable crops belonging to, Solanacious, Cucurbitaceous, Leguminous, Cruciferous (cole crops), root crops and leafy vegetables are grown in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions. The demand of vegetables will be 225 million tonnes by 2020 and 350 million tonnes by 2030. A larger quantity of quality seed of vegetable crops will be required in order to achieve the demands of vegetables. The limiting factors which reduce seed yield under open field condition are biotic and abiotic stresses, requirement of isolation distance and generation system of seed multiplication etc. These problems can be effectively managed when we go for seed production under protected structures.

Protected cultivation was introduced in India during 1985 but its progress is slow during the last 25 years due to lack of suitable varieties and hybrids for protected cultivation. Presently, area under polyhouse in India is 2000 ha, therefore, knowledge of polyhouse vegetable production technology of tomato and cucumber with intervention of drip irrigation and fertigation along with suitable varieties will be quite effective for enhancing their productivity. Therefore, it is imperative to develop hybrid seed and production of suitable varieties/hybrids at affordable prices to small and marginal farmers to achieve the targeted production potential of vegetable crops. Keeping in view some genotypes were isolated and pure line and hybrid breeding programme were adopted for improvement of these genotypes. After three years of multilocational testing at tarai, midhills and higher hills under polyhouse condition, four genotypes were identified and released. They are: Pant Parthenocarpic Cucumber 2 (1,755 q/ha) and Pant Parthenocarpic Cucumber 3 (1,605 q/ha) of cucumber and Pant Polyhouse Hybrid Tomato 1 (1,616 q/ha) with average fruit weight of 130-140 g and Pant Polyhouse Tomato 2 (1,291 q/ha) of tomato with single fruit weight 100-105 g. These genotypes were released by Uttarakhand State Variety Release Committee during May 2011 for commercial cultivation.

Kerala has a tropical humid weather characterised by high rainfall and humidity. The intense rainfall during June-September is a limiting factor for vegetable cultivation. High cost of labour, rapid urbanisation, small size of holdings and quality conscious consumers are some of the factors favouring protected cultivation in Kerala. Rain shelters and modified naturally-ventilated polyhouses are recommended structures for protected cultivation of vegetables. The important vegetables grown are cucumber, yard long bean, Capsicum, okra, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower and leafy vegetables. The conventional saw-toothed structure has been modified to suit Kerala weather by making variation in height and improving the roof and side ventilation so that temperature variation inside the structure is only 1°C compared to the ambient. The Kerala Agricultural University has also developed an ad-hoc package for protected cultivation of vegetables, considering the soil and weather parameters and is providing necessary technical support to growers and extension officers. The technology for large-scale production of virus-free vegetable transplants in pro-trays has also been standardized. There is a growing demand for quality, disease-free seedlings and technology can be scaled up into a profitable agri-entreprenurial model. Open field precision farming through fertigation and mulching is profitable compared to conventional system of cultivation. Besides maximising water-and nutrient-use efficiency of the crop, this technology offers scope for mechanisation in vegetable cultivation saving human labour requirement by almost 50%. Rain shelters are useful for year-round production of vegetables in homestead for small growers.

Floriculture industry comprises of cultivation and trade of cut and loose flowers, potted plants, foliage and bedding plants, and dried flowers under open field as well as protected conditions. Globally, more than 145 countries are involved in cultivation of floricultural crops. Though the art of growing flowers is not new to India, protected cultivation is relatively new in India. Enormous genetic diversity, varied agroclimatic conditions, versatile human resources offer India a unique scope for diversification into new avenues which have not been explored to a greater extent. India also has a strong dry flower industry, which contributes a major share to the overall trade. Other segments like fillers, potted plants, seeds and planting material, turf grass industry and value-added products also contribute a share in overall growth of floriculture industry.

Cut flower production is a growing business in most of the Asian countries. Technology for production is well-known and it has been utilized to the maximum in many countries. As a consequence, cut flowers are commercially produced in larger quantities in these countries, resulting in surplus quantity during normal periods of blooming. On the other hand, such prices are much higher during the periods of needs such as certain special occasions, or off-season.

In spite of considerable progress achieved during the last four decades in vegetable production in India, average productivity of vegetable crops is still low as compared to national and world level, indicating the scope to enhance their yield potential of quality produce. This is because of an appealing gap between potential yield and actual yield. In many vegetables, yield realized is even lesser than 50 % of potential yield. Sometime, farmers growing vegetable crops during main season do not get back their cost of cultivation. The prices of the same vegetable produce is very high during off-season. Several biotic and abiotic stresses are major factors responsible for low productivity and poor quality in different vegetable crops under open field cultivation, especifically in rainy and post-rainy seasons. The increasing demand of off-season high quality vegetables in various markets of big cities has called the attention of vegetable growers for diversification from traditional techniques of vegetable cultivation to modern systems of cultivation.

Protected cultivation of vegetable crops offers best choice for diversification. Production of crops under protected conditions has great potential in augmenting production and quality of vegetables, in main and off-season, maximizing water and nutrient-use efficiency under varied agroclimatic conditions. This technology has great potential especially in peri-urban areas, since it can be profitably used for growing high- value vegetables like tomato, cheery tomato, coloured Capsicum and parthenocarpic cucumbers, and healthy and virus-free seedlings in agri-entrepreneurial models.

Tomato varieties produced 50% in plastic house cover more than what they produce in open air (Diez et al., 1985). Nevertheless this production increase is not, by itself the reason for the use of protected cultivation which requires higher expenses. The key factor is the cost increase of final product obtained during off-season, which created an interesting margin in spite of high production costs. The effect of cost of seed in total cost is negligible, which permitted the use of hybrid seed. The new hybrids have brought about production increases which can be calculated to be over 50% more than what the greenhouse varieties produced with the cost of hybrid seed giving an effect on total production costs of only 6-7%. So that under these circumstances, production increase associated with hybrids is certainly very advantageous, apart form other benefits to be derived from hybrids.

R aising of healthy vegetable seedlings is most important aspect in vegetable production, because, up to a large extent it determines the productivity and profitability. Nursery raising under open field conditions suffers by a number of biotic and abiotic factors like, continuous rains, too low and too high temperatures, disease and insect-pest etc. For the early establishment in the field and to reduce the cost of production, vegetable seedlings are being raised in plug trays under controlled conditions round the year. Under this system, each transplant grows in an individual cell to reduce the competition among transplants and maintain the uniformity. Plug transplants establish better in field because roots are not damaged in pulling, transplants often result in better stands, and their growth can be controlled more easily through fertility and water management. With the passage of time, a lot of advances have been made in this direction and a number machines have been developed like media sterilizer, media mixer, plug trays filling, seed sowing machine, growth chamber etc. by which the raising of seedlings under controlled environment becomes easier and labour intensive.

The growth is insulated to allow for heating or cooling according to specific germination needs of the seed. This technique reduces fluctuations in temperature and moisture that can occur in an open house. The growth chambers are usually an insulated room in which temperature and relative humidity can be maintained at a precise level. Air circulation is important to ensure uniform temperature and humidity throughout the chamber. Grafting in vegetables is a recent practice to control soil-borne diseases and nematodes, for both field and greenhouse grown crops. In addition, grafted vegetables can produce higher yields and have improved tolerance to environmental stresses, soil salinity and low soil temperatures which is only possible under protected conditions. Thus under present scenario, raising of seedlings under controlled environment offers opportunity to go for commercial nursery with different machines.