Among the natural resources, plant biodiversity is the key to human existence and survival. Horticultural crops contribute to nutritional and livelihood security. Mankind depends on near about 5000 plant species worldwide to meet food and other needs. This number is just a fraction of total world flora of 2.5 lakh species of mosses, ferns, conifers and flowering plants. More than 50,000 plant species are yet to be documented. Today only about 150 plant species are important in meeting the food (calories) needs of humans world wide. There is still greater dependence on a few plant species; 20 to 30 in global context. Horticultural crops encompass fruit crops, vegetables, ornamentals, plantation crops, spices, aromatic and medicinal plants, tuber crops and mushrooms. Temperate, subtropical and tropical horticultural crops are characterized by their adoption to varying ecology and land use patterns. The present volume 'Biodiversity in Horticultural Crops' has 18 chapters contributed by eminent scientists working in the respective crops. Biodiversity is conceived as gift to nature for sustainability, nutritional security and above all to widen the food basket. Man lives not for food alone, but to enjoy nature's gifts-fruits, vegetables, flowering plants, foliages and so on. Genes for desirable traits are embedded in biodiversity and as such the present the volume throws open horticultural bio resources to human benefit. The present volume emphasizes current and widely grown horticultural crops in India in all its biodiversity. The volume is edited by Dr. K.V. Peter, former Vice chancellor and currently Professor of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University. As vegetable breeder at G B Pant University of Agriclture and Technology, Pantnagar he surveyed, collected, documented and conserved working germplasm of tomato, brinjal and Chilli. During 1991-1998, as Director, Indian Institute of Spices Research, Calicut, he facilitated establishment of worlds largest collection of black pepper germ plam. Working collections of cardamom, ginger, turmeric, nutmeg, clove, allspice and vanilla were also felicitated to be organized. He also co-authored Descriptors of black pepper and cardamom published by IPGRI, Rome.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR K V Peter
Prof. K.V. Peter , Ph.D, is Former VC of KAU in Trichur, India and Coordinator of the Department of Biotechnology (GOI) funded projects on plantation crops and spices. Prof. Peter is a horticulturist, a plant breeder and an acknowledged research manager. He is the former Director for the Indian Institute of Spices Research, Calicut (ICAR) and former Professor and Director of Research, KAU. Professor Peter is the editor of seven books and author or co-author of thirteen books/bulletins and 132 research papers. The ICAR conferred on Prof. Peter the Rafi Ahamed Kidwai Prize, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences awarded the Recognition Award 1999 for contributions to crop improvement, and the University of Agricultural Sciences conferred the M.H. Marygowda Award for being the Best Horticultural Scientist. Prof. Peter is the Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Z Abraham
Dr. Z. Abraham, born on 30 April, 1952, working as Principal Scientist and Officer in chage, NBPGR Regional Station, Vellanikkara, Thrissur, Kerala took his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Madras, Tamil Nadu. For his Ph.D., he worked under the guidance of late Padma Shri Dr. E.K. Janaki Ammal, the doyen of cytogenetics of higher plants in India. The significant observation made while doing Ph.D. was the account of endemic species and rare plants of the montane region of the Nilgiris, south India, whichis being quoted extensively in literature notably the IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants, 1997. through experimentation, he found out that the limiting factor is temperature in the survival of temperate plants in an intratropical montane zone. Some of the important contributions are reporting of triploidy in Aloe vera for the first time (1979), a new chromosome number for Furcraea gigantean (1980), polypioidy and speciation in Costus speciosus along with triploidy for the first time (1981), ethnobotanical information on 69 plants in the lives of Todas, Kotas and Irulas of the Nilgiris (1981), karyological feature of Musa balbisiana, a diploid wild banana (1982), cytological study of the rare plant, Lilium neilgherrense (1982), a system of chromosome classification and nomenclature based on arm ratios and centromeric indices, published in Cytologia (1983), ethnobotanical data gathered on 74 plants from Nayadis of North Kerala (1984); documenting results of screening of 295 Indian plants for biological activity (1986), biological action, uses, chemistry, distribution and vernacular names of 2000 species of medicinal plants of India in the form of a Dictionary (1992), presence of secondary metabolite forskolin/coleonol based on anatomical studies of roots of Coleus forskohlii (1988, detection of adulteration of bhringraj with other plants (1990), ethnobotanical studies on 42 claims of Todas and Kotas of the Nilgiris (1990), botanical description and taxonomy of Indian Cymbopogon (2000), variability in Kokam (2002), and reviewed the changing pattern of plant biodiversity in Southern Western Ghats (2004), status of conservation of spices in India (2004), distribution, diversity and species relationship of wild Vigna (2005); studied correlation and path coefficient analysis for morphological characters and coleonol yeidl of Coleus forskohlii (1986) morphological and yield characters of ginger (2003) and characterized Malabar tamarind germplasm (2003, 2006), seed morphology, germination characteristics, desiccation-freezing sensitivity and longevity of Garcinia indica, G.cambogia and G. xanthochymus. A tissue culture laboratory was established for the first time and three priority crops namely ginger, black pepper and cassava were conserved in vitro. In addition to these, cultures of crops/wild relatives like kokam, malabar tamarind, dioscorea spp., curcuma spp were established. As Zonal Leader of Zone II. Comprising of 19 partners under National Agricultural Technology Project on Plant Biodiversity, co-ordinated 383 exploration and collection missions. In this , 11432 germplasm accessions were collected and a total of 2693 accessions were characterized. The germplasm deposited for long-term storage, medium-term storage and cryopreservation were 1638, 3508 and 102 accessions, respectively. He has published 41 research/review articles in national/international peer-reviewed journals/books and edited 3 books.
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