Value Addition Of Horticultural Crops Recent Trends And Future Directions

This book combines several ideas and philosophies and provides a detailed discussion on the value addition of fruits, vegetables, spices, plantation crops, floricultural crops and in forestry. Separate chapters address the packaging, preservation, drying, dehydration, total quality management and supply chain management of horticultural crops. The book explains value addition as a process of increasing the economic value and consumer appeal of a commodity with special reference to horticultural crops. Each chapter focuses on a specific area, exploring value addition as a production/ marketing strategy driven by customer needs and preferences. But, as such, it is also a more creative field, calling for more imagination than calculated, routine work. Value is added to the particular produce item when the product is still available when the season is out and the demand for the product exceeds the available supply. Value addition is an important factor in the growth and development of the horticultural sector, both in India and around the world. But very little information is available on this particular aspect of horticulture. Albert Einstein famously said, “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” This message is not only true for those people who want to make more of themselves, but also for those who want their creation or product in any form to excel. And it certainly applies to horticultural crops, which are extremely perishable. It is true that loss reduction is normally less costly than equivalent increases in production. The loss of fresh produce can be minimized by adopting different processing and preservation techniques to convert the fresh vegetables into suitable value-added and diversified products, which will help to reduce the market glut during harvest season. Value-added processed products are products that can be obtained from main products and by-products after some sort of processing and subsequently marketed for an increased profit margin. Generally speaking, value-added products indicate that for the same volume of primary products, a higher price is achieved by means of processing, packing, enhancing the quality or other such methods. The integrated approach from harvesting to the delivery into the hands of the consumer, if handled properly, can add value to fresh produce on the market. But most of the fresh produce has a limited life, although it can be stored at appropriate temperature and relative humidity for the same time. If such produce is processed just after harvesting, it adds value and stabilizes the processed products for a longer time. Preparing processed products will provide more variety to consumers and improve the taste and other sensory properties of food. This will also promote their fortification with nutrients that are lacking in fresh produce. By adopting suitable methods for processing and value addition, the shelf life of fresh produce can be increased manifold, which supports their availability year-round to a wider spectrum of consumers on both the domestic and international market. With increased urbanization, rising middle class purchasing power, changing food habits and a decline in making preserved products in individual homes, there is now a higher demand for industry-made products on the domestic market. In spite of all these aspects, only 1-2.2% of the total produce is processed in developing countries, as compared to 40-83% in developed countries. The horticultural export industry offers an important source of employment for developing countries. For instance, horticulture accounts for 30% of India’s agricultural GDP from 8.5% of cropped area. India is the primary producer of spices, second largest producer of fruits and vegetables and holds a prominent position with regard to most plantation crops in the world. The cultivation of horticultural crops is substantially more labor-intensive than growing cereal crops and offers more post-harvest opportunities for the development of value-added products. This book offers a valuable guide for students of horticulture, as well as a comprehensive resource for educators, scientists, industrial personnel, amateur growers and farmers.

This book combines several ideas and philosophies and provides a detailed discussion on the value addition of fruits, vegetables, spices, plantation crops, floricultural crops and in forestry. Separate chapters address the packaging, preservation, drying, dehydration, total quality management and supply chain management of horticultural crops. The book explains value addition as a process of increasing the economic value and consumer appeal of a commodity with special reference to horticultural crops. Each chapter focuses on a specific area, exploring value addition as a production/ marketing strategy driven by customer needs and preferences. But, as such, it is also a more creative field, calling for more imagination than calculated, routine work. Value is added to the particular produce item when the product is still available when the season is out and the demand for the product exceeds the available supply. Value addition is an important factor in the growth and development of the horticultural sector, both in India and around the world. But very little information is available on this particular aspect of horticulture. Albert Einstein famously said, "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." This message is not only true for those people who want to make more of themselves, but also for those who want their creation or product in any form to excel. And it certainly applies to horticultural crops, which are extremely perishable. It is true that loss reduction is normally less costly than equivalent increases in production. The loss of fresh produce can be minimized by adopting different processing and preservation techniques to convert the fresh vegetables into suitable value-added and diversified products, which will help to reduce the market glut during harvest season. Value-added processed products are products that can be obtained from main products and by-products after some sort of processing and subsequently marketed for an increased profit margin. Generally speaking, value-added products indicate that for the same volume of primary products, a higher price is achieved by means of processing, packing, enhancing the quality or other such methods. The integrated approach from harvesting to the delivery into the hands of the consumer, if handled properly, can add value to fresh produce on the market. But most of the fresh produce has a limited life, although it can be stored at appropriate temperature and relative humidity for the same time. If such produce is processed just after harvesting, it adds value and stabilizes the processed products for a longer time. Preparing processed products will provide more variety to consumers and improve the taste and other sensory properties of food. This will also promote their fortification with nutrients that are lacking in fresh produce. By adopting suitable methods for processing and value addition, the shelf life of fresh produce can be increased manifold, which supports their availability year-round to a wider spectrum of consumers on both the domestic and international market. With increased urbanization, rising middle class purchasing power, changing food habits and a decline in making preserved products in individual homes, there is now a higher demand for industry-made products on the domestic market. In spite of all these aspects, only 1-2.2% of the total produce is processed in developing countries, as compared to 40-83% in developed countries. The horticultural export industry offers an important source of employment for developing countries. For instance, horticulture accounts for 30% of India's agricultural GDP from 8.5% of cropped area. India is the primary producer of spices, second largest producer of fruits and vegetables and holds a prominent position with regard to most plantation crops in the world. The cultivation of horticultural crops is substantially more labor-intensive than growing cereal crops and offers more post-harvest opportunities for the development of value-added products. This book offers a valuable guide for students of horticulture, as well as a comprehensive resource for educators, scientists, industrial personnel, amateur growers and farmers.

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.

Oil Seed Crops: Yield and Adaptations under Environmental Stress is a state-of-the-art reference that investigates the effect of environmental stress on oil seed crops and outlines effective ways to reduce stress and improve crop yield. With attention to physiological, biochemical, molecular, and transgenic approaches, the chapters discuss a variety of oil seed crops and also cover a broad range of environmental stressors including microbes, salt, heavy metals, and climate change. Featuring up-to-date research from a global group of experts, this reference provides innovative recommendations for mitigating environmental stress and promoting the healthy growth, development, and adaptation of crops.

The coconut palm (Cocos nucifera L.) is one of the world's most important palms, and contributes significantly to the income and livelihood of many people in tropical countries. Widely referred to as the 'tree of life', coconut has been used as a source of food, drink, oil, medicine, shelter and wood for around 500 years. Every part of the coconut palm can be utilized. The demand for coconut fruit and its products has increased recently as people have become aware of its nutritional and health benefits, especially those of coconut water and virgin coconut oil. This book is a key resource for researchers and students in horticulture, plant science and agriculture, and those interested in the production of tropical crops, and practitioners in the coconut industry.

This book highlights the advances in essential oil research, from the plant physiology perspective to large-scale production, including bioanalytical methods and industrial applications. The book is divided into 4 sections. The first one is focused on essential oil composition and why plants produce these compounds that have been used by humans since ancient times. Part 2 presents an update on the use of essential oils in various areas, including food and pharma industries as well as agriculture. In part 3 readers will find new trends in bioanalytical methods. Lastly, part 4 presents a number of approaches to increase essential oil production, such as in vitro and hairy root culture, metabolic engineering and biotechnology. Altogether, this volume offers a comprehensive look at what researchers have been doing over the last years to better understand these compounds and how to explore them for the benefit of the society.

This new volume focuses on novel breeding and biotechnological approaches for crop improvement, covering recent advances in molecular breeding and plant breeding, such as pre-breeding, reverse breeding, allele mining, next-generation sequencing, etc. The authors consider the important necessity and development of climate-resilient crops that can withstand hostility or adversities of climate without substantially compromising yield and discuss ways to mitigate plant stress. The recent developments in breeding and biotechnological approaches concerning crop improvement that are discussed in the book include molecular markers, their genesis, and their significant applications for crop improvement; QTL mapping, a modern breeding approach for mapping quantitative traits; pulse molecular breeding and genomics; and approaches for precise gene alterations in the genome of organisms by using genome editing. Other techniques include reverse breeding, a technique that allows breeders to develop parental lines directly from the heterozygous plant within a shorter time frame; pre-breeding approaches for biotic and abiotic stress management in crop plants; allele mining as a way to find existing variations in an organism’s gene pool by scanning the entire gene; marker-assisted selection, where molecular markers have played a significant role in accelerating breeding programs; and next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms in crop improvement, where the authors summarize the technical know-how of each sequencing platform and its merits and demerits. The book introduces the design and importance of Mutmap and its variant in modern breeding, a novel gene mapping approaches that allows rapid identification of causal nucleotide changes of mutants by whole-genome resequencing. Examples and case studies of the various approaches are included as well, with several examples of marker-assisted selection of rice and maize crop and other agriculturally important crops. This informative volume will enhance readers’ knowledge about the recent developments in breeding and biotechnological approaches concerning crop improvement.

This book deepens the study and knowledge on fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs), which are composite materials made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibers. The fibers are usually glass, carbon, or aramid, although other fibers such as paper, wood, or asbestos are sometimes used. The polymer is usually an epoxy, vinyl ester, or polyester thermosetting plastic, and phenol-formaldehyde resins are still in use. Among, the most prominent applications of FRPs are in the aerospace, automotive, marine, and construction industries. The development of FRPs has a very promising future with a marked annual increase and with a wide range of sources. This book presents comprehensive information on FRPs and their wide variety of applications in the industry worldwide.