The Avocado


Book Description

This book is comprised of 15 chapters covering principles and basic understanding in avocado science, technology, best management practices and postharvest aspects. It is aimed at avocado researchers, libraries, teachers and academics, students, advisers, cutting edge growers and industry support personnel. Topics discussed include the history, distribution, uses, taxonomy, botany, genetics, breeding, ecology, reproductive biology, ecophysiology, cultivars and rootstocks, propagation, biotechnology, irrigation and mineral nutrition, crop management, foliar, fruit and soil-borne diseases, insect and mite pests and harvesting, packing, postharvest technology, transport and processing.




Tropical Forests and Their Crops


Book Description

The tropics are the source of many of our familiar fruits, vegetables, oils, and spice, as well as such commodities as rubber and wood. Moreover, other tropical fruits and vegetables are being introduced into our markets to offer variety to our diet. Now, as tropical forests are increasingly threatened, we face a double-fold crisis: not only the loss of the plants but also rich pools of potentially useful genes. Wild populations of crop plants harbor genes that can improve the productivity and disease resistance of cultivated crops, many of which are vital to developing economies and to global commerce. Eight chapters of this book are devoted to a variety of tropical crops—beverages, fruit, starch, oil, resins, fuelwood, fodder, spices, timber, and nuts—the history of their domestication, their uses today, and the known extent of their gene pools, both domesticated and wild. Drawing on broad research, the authors also consider conservation strategies such as parks and reserves, corporate holdings, gene banks and tissue culture collections, and debt-for-nature swaps. They stress the need for a sensitive balance between conservation and the economic well-being of local populations. If economic growth is part of the conservation effort, local populations and governments will be more strongly motivated to save their natural resources. Distinctly practical and soundly informative, this book provides insight into the overwhelming abundance of tropical forests, an unsettling sense of what we may lose if they are destroyed, and a deep appreciation for the delicate relationships between tropical forest plants and people around the world.




Postharvest Biology and Technology of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits


Book Description

While products such as bananas, pineapples, kiwifruit and citrus have long been available to consumers in temperate zones, new fruits such as lychee, longan, carambola, and mangosteen are now also entering the market. Confirmation of the health benefits of tropical and subtropical fruit may also promote consumption further. Tropical and subtropical fruits are particularly vulnerable to postharvest losses, and are also transported long distances for sale. Therefore maximising their quality postharvest is essential and there have been many recent advances in this area. Many tropical fruits are processed further into purees, juices and other value-added products, so quality optimization of processed products is also important. The books cover current state-of-the-art and emerging post-harvest and processing technologies. Volume 1 contains chapters on particular production stages and issues, whereas Volumes 2, 3 and 4 contain chapters focused on particular fruit.Chapters in Volume 2 review the factors affecting the quality of different tropical and subtropical fruits from açai to citrus fruits. Important issues relevant to each product are discussed, including means of maintaining quality and minimizing losses postharvest, recommended storage and transport conditions and processing methods, among other topics.With its distinguished editor and international team of contributors, Volume 2 of Postharvest biology and technology of tropical and subtropical fruits, along with the other volumes in the collection, will be an essential reference both for professionals involved in the postharvest handling and processing of tropical and subtropical fruits and for academics and researchers working in the area. - Along with the other volumes in the collection, Volume 2 is an essential reference for professionals involved in the postharvest handling and processing of tropical and subtropical fruits and for academics and researchers working in the area - Reviews the factors affecting the quality of different tropical and subtropical fruits from açai to citrus fruits - Important issues relevant to each particular fruit are discussed, including means of maintaining quality and minimising losses postharvest, recommended storage and transport conditions