Hi Tech Farming For Enhancing Horticulture Productivity

This book highlights the underlying principles and outlines some of the key hi-tech practices and technology interventions required to achieve enhanced productivity. It discusses horticulture technology interventions like varietal improvement including genetically modified crops; good agricultural practices like optimum planting density, micro-irrigation, fertigation, integrated nutrient management, plant bioregulators, precision horticulture, protected cultivation, nanotechnology, and integrated farming systems; integrated management of insects, mites, disease pathogens, nematodes, and weeds; and post-harvest management practices like handling, storage and processing to reduce crop losses. The importance of attaining food and nutritional security through hi-tech horticulture and profitable marketing of horticultural produce is also discussed. This book will be of immense value to the scientific community involved in teaching, research and extension activities related to hi-tech horticulture strategies for enhancing productivity in enhancing farmers’ income, food, nutrition and livelihood security. The material can be used for teaching postgraduate courses. The book can also serve as a very useful reference to policymakers and practicing farmers.

Climatic variations often tend to have adverse effect on the yield and production of crops. Efforts have, therefore, been on for harnessing this natural resource through artificial means for increasing crop productivity. One such technology is protected cultivation. This technique is well adopted in Europe and USA and now China and Japan are leading in controlled sphere production of horticultural crops. In India, the technology is making breakthrough in Karnataka and Maharashtra in protected cultivation of pepper, tomato, cucumber, muskmelon, baby corn etc. Precision farming is defined as the cultivation by adopting technologies which give maximum precision in production of a superior crop with a desired yield levels and quality at competitive production. These include use of genetically modified crop varieties, micropropagation, integrated nutrient, water and pest managements, protected cultivation, organic farming, hi-tech horticulture, and post harvest technology. Post-harvest sector needs lot of precision. Peels, rags, etc. go waste. Many times, peels being rich in polyphenols, colouring pigment, nutrients etc are richer in antioxidant than what we actually eat. Here, we need precision. Precision in management, precision in product diversification, precision in value addition are much sought after aspect.

Horticulture plays an important part in today's agriculture and there are new avenues that are being achieved by horticulture. The subject has transformed from only being about vegetables, fruits, flowers and postharvest technology and has moved towards disease, breeding, pathology, physiology, greenhouse technologies and other areas which were never heard for. The book series: Hi-Tech Horticulture has been worked out keeping the above mentioned issues in mind with contribution by eminent professors and scientists. The volumes on: 1. Crop Improvement Nursery and Rootstock Management 2. Organic Farming and Sustainable Development Techniques 3. Improved Production Techniques 4. Plant Protection and Stress Management 5. Value Addition and Post-Harvest Management 6. Advance Techniques

Horticulture plays an important part in today's agriculture and there are new avenues that are being achieved by horticulture. The subject has transformed from only being about vegetables, fruits, flowers and postharvest technology and has moved towards disease, breeding, pathology, physiology, greenhouse technologies and other areas which were never heard for. The book series: Hi-Tech Horticulture has been worked out keeping the above mentioned issues in mind with contribution by eminent professors and scientists.

Horticulture plays an important part in today's agriculture and there are new avenues that are being achieved by horticulture. The subject has transformed from only being about vegetables, fruits, flowers and postharvest technology and has moved towards disease, breeding, pathology, physiology, greenhouse technologies and other areas which were never heard for. The book series: Hi-Tech Horticulture has been worked out keeping the above mentioned issues in mind with contribution by eminent professors and scientists. The volumes on: 1. Crop Improvement Nursery and Rootstock Management 2. Organic Farming and Sustainable Development Techniques 3. Improved Production Techniques 4. Plant Protection and Stress Management 5. Value Addition and Post-Harvest Management 6. Advance Techniques

As the world population is exploding and alongside fluctuations in climate is also prevalent, there is an increasing stress on the food requirements of the population. We have an urgent necessity to produce more food in the limited agricultural land. Further, to feed 7 billion people there is a requirement of high yielding crops, without harming environment and limiting the use of unnecessary pesticide and chemical fertilizers. Therefore it has become crucial to develop agri-bio-techniques which are environment friendly and also give high crop productivity. Many countries are evaluating the utility of biotechnology and its role in addressing problems of food security and poverty. Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing and production of materials by utilising biological agents. These agents are exploited to provide goods and services. Agricultural biotechnology encompasses a growing list of techniques that range from simple probes to determine a relevant gene from the complete genome to manipulating genes for a desired outcome. Many other popular methods used in the realm of agricultural technology are – gene integration, Marker-assisted breeding, Tissue culture, Gene profiling or association mapping, Metabolomics etc. The fundamental challenge facing the scientific community is how to devise innovative strategies that will bring all developed as well as developing countries into the “biological fold” and to do so in ways that will take full advantage of advances in the biological sciences to curb poverty, improve public health, and promote human development. This book contains information on eco-friendly techniques for high crop productivity and it is a myriad of different techniques and technology used to sustain productivity in crop plants. There are fewer books focusing on large-scale organic farming, molecular farming etc. Multidisciplinary research and literature is needed to deliver knowledge and products into the marketplace which fulfil these requirements. The present book is a collection of literature contributed by experts, scientists, professors, and researchers from around the world, it emphasizes work of concerned scientist and his choice of techniques used for enhancement of agricultural production. This book analyses the use of modern techniques to increase crop yields, production, and risk of hunger linked to socioeconomic scenarios.

This timely two-volume compendium, Sustainable Horticulture, addresses the most important topics facing horticulture around the world today. The volumes cover a wide range of topical issues and trends in sustainable horticulture today: Volume 1: Diversity, Production, and Crop Improvements, and Volume 2: Food, Health, and Nutrition. Global food demand is expected to be double by 2050, while at the same time the production environment and natural resources are continually shrinking and deteriorating due to many complex factors. Horticulture, a major sector of agriculture, is vital to enhancing crop production and productivity in parity with agricultural crops to meet the emerging food demand. Implementing sustainable models of crop production is really an enormous endeavor. Promising technologies and management options are needed to increase productivity to meet the growing food demand despite deteriorating production environments.