This comprehensive volume brings together cutting-edge research and advancements in the field of horticultural sciences, with a particular focus on vegetable and fruit crop breeding, sustainable crop production, protected cultivation, post-harvest management, and technological innovations. The book serves as a vital resource for students, researchers, academicians, horticulturists, policy makers, and agribusiness professionals striving to enhance productivity, sustainability, and profitability in the horticulture sector.

Divided into thematic sections, the book begins with a focus on demand-led breeding strategies, genomic tools, genome editing (CRISPR/Cas), and biotechnological applications in vegetable and perennial fruit crops. It addresses the critical role of genetic resource management and DUS testing in varietal distinction and conservation efforts.

The next section explores advanced crop production technologies, such as high-density planting, precision farming, natural greenhouses, and pollination management. It highlights modern tools like ICT, sensing technologies, automation, artificial intelligence, and telemetry for climate and soil monitoring—paving the way for smart horticulture practices.

Special attention is given to post-harvest innovation, processing potential, disease and pest management, and the challenges and opportunities in underutilized crops and arid ecosystems. The book also discusses social and economic aspects such as urban horticulture, FPOs in coconut farming, and agrivoltaics, linking modern horticulture to livelihoods, climate resilience, and nutritional security.

By featuring over 30 expert contributions from across India and abroad, this book offers a multidimensional perspective on future-ready horticulture—integrating science, sustainability, and entrepreneurship.

Prof. Balraj Singh is Former Vice Chancellor S.K.N. Agriculture University, Jobner) Durgapura Campus, Jaipur, Rajasthan. He has served as Project Coordinator, ICAR-AICRP on Honey Bees and Pollinators, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, successfully completed his term as Vice-Chancellor, Agriculture University, Jodhpur, and as Director ICAR-NRC on Seed Spices, Ajmer. During his 30 years of professional carrier, he has acquired valuable experience in research, teaching, HRD and extension of horticultural crops. He has gone through international training on “Leadership and Decision Making” at world’s most prestigious management institute, Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA. He also got training on ‘‘Horticultural crop production under climatic constraints” at Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University, Rehovot, Israel. He was the member of the pioneer team that implemented Protected Cultivation Technology in India under the Indo-Israel collaborative project established. He has standardized numerous low-cost and energy-efficient protected cultivation technologies suitable for different agro-climatic conditions for the Indian farmers. He was also Consortia Principal Investigator of NAIP project of around 1.0 million USD funded by World Bank on ‘Protected Cultivation of High Quality Vegetables and Cut Flowers: A Value Chain Approach, as a resource person, he has been member of various Working Groups formed by few Indian States for implementation of Protected Cultivation and Hi-Tech Vegetable Farming. Dr Singh’s contributions are well recognized both at international and national forums through various awards and recognitions. He is the founder Secretary of the Indian Society for Protected Cultivation and also Vice President of Indian Society of Seed Technology. He is Fellow member of Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Technology; Indian Society of Seed Technology; Horticulture Society of India, Indian Society of Seed Spices and president of the Society for Integrated Development of Agriculture, AU, Jodhpur and SHRD, Ghaziabad. He has guided several post graduate and Ph. D. students at ICAR-IARI New Delhi. He has published more than 145 research papers in national and international referred journals of repute and more than 36 book chapters published nationally and internationally. He has also written more than 125 technical and popular articles to disseminate the technologies among farmers and stakeholders. He is the author of the first Indian text book on ‘Protected Cultivation of Vegetables Crops’ and also authored edited book on “Advances on Protected Cultivation” which has been forwarded by the Hon’ble Ex-President of India Late Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He has conducted more than 50 national and international training programmes for scientist, professionals and farmers on various aspects like Hi-tech nursery raising in vegetables, advances in protected cultivation of vegetables, plant protection of horticultural crops under protected conditions, seed production in vegetables etc. To his credit, there are eight varieties of different vegetable and seed spice crops identified /released at state and national level, and also standardized several vegetable crop production and seed production technologies under protected and open field conditions. Under his leadership, the ICAR-NRC on Seed Spices, Ajmer has achieved new heights in R&D and got ISO 9001:2008 accreditation for providing laboratory analysis, seed spices research and development and consultancy, training and transfer of technology to stakeholders. Due to this progress, Zee News, Rajasthan awarded NRC on Seed Spices, Ajmer, as Best Research Institute of Horticulture under the leadership of Dr Singh during January 2016. He has been awarded with Dr Kirti Singh Gold Medal by HSI and Life Time Achievement Award by SHRD for his outstanding contributions in the field of Vegetable Sciences.

Dr A.K. Singh, Principal Scientist (Fruit Science) & Incharge at Central Horticultural Experiment Station (ICAR-CIAH), Godhra, Gujarat, with over 25 years of dedicated service, Dr. Singh has emerged as a nationally recognized expert in the field of dryland horticulture, particularly focusing on fruit crops adapted to hot semi-arid and arid regions of India. His pioneering work in the ex-situ conservation and genetic enhancement of underutilized dryland fruits has made a lasting impact on sustainable horticulture and rural livelihoods. Dr. Singh has established a field gene bank of exceptional diversity, conserving 222 bael clonal selections and 121 seedling. His contributions led to the development and release of 8 bael varieties (Goma Yashi, Thar Divya, Thar Neelkanth, Thar Srishti, Thar Prakriti, Thar Shivangi, Thar Gauri and Thar Bhavya), and 12 varieties of other fruit crops, viz. jamun (Goma Priyanka and Thar Kranti), tamarind (Goma Prateek and Thar Rashmi), chironji (Thar Priya), khirni (Thar Rituraj), phalsa (Thar Pragati), karonda (Thar Kamal), wood apple (Thar Gaurav and Thar Prabha) custard apple (Thar Amrit) and mahua (Thar Madhu) as co-developer. He has been associated with development of 10 varieties of vegetable crops viz. Indian bean (Thar Kiran, Thar Ganga, Thar Lakshmi and Thar Vinaya), cowpea (Thar Jyothi) and yardlong bean (Thar Surya, Thar Deeksha and Thar Prateeksha), drumstick (Thar Tejas) and spine gourd (Thar Varsha). Dr. Singh,  specialized in dryland fruit culture, published 140  full length research papers (50 articles >6 NAAS rating), 15 review paper, 13 short notes, 140 popular articles, 57 book chapters, 40 leaflets, 18 technical bulletins, 3 training manuals, 57 full length papers and 161 Abstracts in Conference Proceedings and 16 books in his credit including ‘The bael in India’. Valuable scientific information was generated from 12 in-house and 11 externally funded projects. He has been rewarded several times by best oral and poster presentation and research paper awards, and recipient of awards from scientific professional societies, viz. Young Scientist (HTHS), H. S. Mehta Memorial Best Young Scientist (Mehta Foundation), Distinguished Scientist (AIASA), Distinguished Horticultural Scientist (SHRD), Scientist of the Year (AIASA), Outstanding Research Scientist of Noni (ISNS) and Research Excellence Awards (Global Research Foundation). He is recipient of national fellowships of CHAI, HSI and ISNS. Dr Singh is presently serving as Editor-in–Chief of Current Horticulture, research journal published by SHRD, Ghaziabad and   has served as member of Editorial Board of Indian Horticulture, published by ICAR-DKMA, New Delhi. He also organized many national and international conferences, symposiums, national horticulture fair and bael day as organizing secretary and convener. Dr. Singh is a life member of many professional societies in the field of Horticulture and Agriculture.

Dr Singh has a distinction of being Nodal Officer for ‘DUS testing Centre on bael and Co- Nodal Officer of DUS testing center of aonla, Nodal Officer chironji and tamarind as recognized by PPV&FRA, New Delhi. Dr. A.K. Singh excels as a visionary scientist with a deep commitment to economic, nutritional, and ecological sustainability through dryland fruit cultivation. His relentless efforts are shaping a resilient and profitable future for farmers across India’s arid and semi-arid regions.

Dr. Praveen Kumar Singh born in a farming family in District Hardoi, UP. Presently he is serving as Head, Division of Plant Exploration & Germplasm Collection, ICAR- National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. He has received his graduation from C.S. Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur. He obtained his post graduation from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.  Dr. Singh’s journey has been marked by academic excellence and noteworthy contributions to the field of Horticulture (Vegetable Science).

Dr. Singh started his early career in the seed industry before transitioning to academia. He served as an Assistant Professor (Horticulture) at Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner and later joined as Senior Scientist (Hort: Vegetable Science) at Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, in 2008, where he contributed till 2015. He moved to the Center for Protected Cultivation Technology (CPCT), Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi and served as the Principal Scientist (Hort: Vegetable Science) until  May 2023. He is a recognized Vegetable Breeder and seed production expert, Dr. Singh has made significant contributions to the field of Vegetable Science. He had taught several courses of Vegetable Science, Seed Production, Plant Biotechnology, Tissue Culture, Protected Cultivation and Plant Genetic Resources to UG and PG students. He developed, standardized & registered petaloid-type of male sterile system in Asiatic carrot in 2008. He conducted several Plant Explorations in difficult land locked and border areas and acknowledged as a Certified Intellectual Property Manager by the Institute of Intellectual Property development & FICCI, New Delhi. Dr. Singh has developed several tomato varieties, including Tomat Pusa Protected-1, Pusa Golden Cherry no.2, Pusa Prasanskrit, Pusa Cocktail tomato, Pusa Cherry Hyb.-1 and Pusa Tomato hybrid-6. He has also contributed to the development of the Pak Choi variety (Pusa PakChoi-1), Capsicum (Pusa Preet) and Longmelon variety (Kashi Santushti).

Dr. Singh’s involvement extents to the development of tomato varieties like Pusa Rakshit and H-81, Ridge gourd (Kashi Shivani), Satputia (Kashi Khushi), watermelon (Kashi Mohini) and Roundmelon (Kashi Hari). His extensive body of work includes three edited books, 16 book Chapters, 70 research papers and numerous other publications. 

Dr. Prabhat Kumar, Horticulture Commissioner, GOI &Ex-National Coordinator ICAR-National Agricultural Higher Education Project was born on 1st July 1973 in Basti(UP). He obtained his B. Sc. Degree from C. S. A. Univ.of Ag. & Tech. Kanpur (U.P.) and M. Sc. degree (Floriculture and Landscaping) from Punjab Agril. University, Ludhiana, Punjab.  He completed his Ph. D degree (Floriculture and Landscaping) in the year 2002 from IARI New Delhi. He started his professional career as Assistant Professor at G.B.P.U.A.&T. Pantnagar in April 2003. He was selected to the post of Associate Professor at HNBGU, Srinagar, Garhwal (A Central University School of Agriculture) in 2012. Further, he was selected to the post of Senior Scientist at IARI, New Delhi in 2013 and become Principal Scientist in 2015. Dr. Prabhat Kumar was actively engaged in teaching, research, extension and managerial assignments at all the places. He has guided 10 M.Sc. and 01 Ph.D. students as Major Advisor in the discipline of Floriculture and Landscaping & taught various courses at UG&PG level. 

He has handled more than 04 externally funded and 6 institute research projects and published 112 research papers in various national and international journals, 35 popular articles, 15 book chapters, 11 technical bulletins and 10 books. He is associated in the development of 7 varieties namely; Pusa Deep, Pusa Bahar, Pusa Parv, Pusa Utsav(Marigold) &Pusa Sinduri, Pusa Shanti and Pusa Rajat. Established Model Floriculture Centre (MFC) under Horticulture Technology Mission at Pantnagar. In capacity of National Coordinator developed Monitoring and Evaluation cell to coordinate with all partners and facilitated to establish CAAST (Centre for Advanced Agriculture Science and Technology) centers (16) in cut edge areas like genomics, climate smart agriculture, digital agriculture, conservation agriculture, secondary agriculture, etc. He also organized many national and international conferences and symposiums as organizing secretary.

As, Horticulture Commissioner, Govt. of India he immensely promoted more innovative technology for sustainable development of horticulture and also promoting holistic development of bamboo sector as national mission director of National Bamboo Mission. He immensely contributed to give fillip to sweet revolution as mission director of National Honey and Bee keeping Mission. As CEO of Coconut development board, Kochi contributed a lot for development of sector particularly in value addition and climate resilient production system. He has been elected as Chairman, TWG (Technical Working Group) of coconut in ICC, Jakarta. Dr Kumar visited many countries like The Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Maldives. He is a life member of many professional societies in the field of Horticulture and Agriculture. He has been honored with awards and fellow by many scientific societies. He is member of Board of Management.

Dr J. K. Ranjan is working as Principal Scientist at ICAR-IARI, New Delhi. He has visited Clemson University, South Carolina (USA) as visiting Scientist. He received ICAR-Junior Research Fellowship for Master Programme and CSIR-Senior Research Fellowship for Doctoral Programme. During last 16 years, he has worked on temperate fruits and vegetables, seed spices, and aquatic vegetables. Presently, he is working on genetic improvement of bottle gourd. He has developed two varieties of garlic (CITH-Garilic-1 and CITH Garlic (M)-1), one variety of apple; CITH Lodh Apple, two varieties of Indian spinach (Kashi Poi-1 (VRB-17), Kashi Poi-3), and several production technologies and genetic stocks of vegetable crops.

Dr Ranjan has developed processes for in vitro regeneration protocol in bitter gourd, okra and chilli, and technology for improving their field survival and increasing shelf- life of peach cultivar. He has also developed green technology for baby corn production in NW Himalayas and production technology of organic tomato and capsicum. He has also been admitted as Fellow of Indian Society of Seed Spices, Ajmer and recipient of Outstanding Horticultural Scientist Award-2019 by SHRD. He has published 39 research papers in peer reviewed national and international journals, 23 book chapters, 04 training manuals, 08 Conference proceeding papers, 20  extension folders/leaflets and more than 50 popular articles.

Dr. Jogendra Singh born on 2nd February 1989. He completed B.Sc. (Hort.) from Dr. P.D.K.V. Akola, Maharashtra in 2011. He obtained his M.Sc. Horticulture (Vegetable Science) from ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi in 2013. He was awarded the prestigious ICAR-Junior Research Fellowship with an AIR-02 for postgraduate studies. He was also qualified ARS-2013 with AIR-02. During his professional career, he was associated in the development of 5 open pollinated varieties viz., three in cucumber (Pusa Parthenocarpic Cucumber-6, Pusa Long Green and Pusa Pickling Cucumber-8) and one each in sponge gourd (Pusa Sponge gourd-29), ridge gourd (Pusa Tripti), muskmelon (Pusa Kazri) and Brinjal (Pusa Chhota Baingan-1). He was also associated in the development of four F1 hybrids viz., two in cucumber (Pusa Gynoecious Cucumber Hybrid-18, Pusa Parthenocarpic cucumber Hybrid-1) and one each in sponge gourd (Pusa Shrestha) and muskmelon (Pusa Muskmelon Hybrid-2). He has also registered two germplasm at ICAR-NBPGR, one each in sponge gourd and cucumber.

Mr. Singh has published 17 research papers in esteemed national and international journals, along with 19 popular articles, 30 technical articles, two technical bulletins, and 11 book chapters. He received “Young Horticultural Scientist Award-2021” conferred by the SHRD. Currently, he serves as a Scientist (Senior Scale) at the Division of Vegetable Science, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, focusing on pre-breeding, genetic improvement, and breeding of brinjal and bottle gourd.

Dr Som Dutt did his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Botany from the CCSU, Meerut. He started his professional career as a Research Scholar at the IARI, New Delhi in 1982. Since Dr Som Dutt had keen interest in popular science writing, he joined Publications and Information Division (the then Directorate of Information and Publications of Agriculture (DIPA), and now Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture (DKMA) at the ICAR Headquarters, New Delhi, in 1984. Dr Som Dutt edited the Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Indian Horticulture, a national semi-technical magazine disseminating all research and developmental activities taking place in all horticultural crops across the country. Besides, he has edited the Handbook of Horticulture (the Encyclopaedia of Horticulture), the first ever published the bulkiest book of the ICAR and other important horticultural publications of the ICAR, New Delhi.

Dr Som Dutt has written about 500 articles on agricultural sciences, book chapters, and one book, ‘Phoolon Ki Vyavsayik Kheti’, in Hindi. In the field of electronic media, he has made a tremendous impact on farmers by giving radio talks in different programmes of All India Radio on agriculture. He has given several lectures to farmers, extension specialists, young scientists and Horticulture Development Officers of various states, that has contributed in increasing the agricultural production of farmers significantly. Dr Som Dutt has been awarded with the Chaudhary Charan Singh Award for Excellence in Journalism in Agricultural Research and Development 2008 (ICAR National Award), Raizada Memorial Award for Young Information Scientist 1990, and the Best Editor Award 2008, for the popularization of agricultural sciences in different media. At Present, Dr Dutt is Managing Editor of Current Horticulture, a peer reviewed research Journal published by SHRD, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and also organized the Indian Horticulture Summit-2020 and Webinar on Boosting Immunity through Horticulture during 2020 as Secretary SHRD, Ghaziabad,  Uttar Pradesh.

Crop improvement - I

1. Demand-led breeding opportunities in vegetable crops -- way forward - Sudhakar Pandey Vidya Sagar and Jyoti Devi

2. Importance and Management of Genetic Resources of Vegetable Crops - Praveen K Singh, SP Ahlawat, K Pradheep, Monika Jha & GP Singh

3. DUS testing for distinguishing potato varieties in India - Babita Chaudhary, V.K. Gupta, S.K. Luthra and Dalamu

4. Recent trends in application of molecular tools in horticultural crops - Heena Saheewala

5. Genomics for accelerating breeding in perennial fruit crops - Anuradha Upadhyay

6. Genome editing (CRISPR/Cas) for vegetable crop improvement - Jagesh Kumar Tiwari and Tusar Kanti Behera

7. Evaluation of wild fruit trees of northern Iran with emphasis on wild pomegranates - M. Alizadeh

8. Advances in breeding of Litchi

9. Integration of clonal selection and biotechnology in Citrus improvement - Awtar Singh

10. Tissue Culture in oil palm - Neema M, Kalyan Babu B Anand S, and Somasundaram G

11. Breeding for salt tolerance of vegetable crops for management of saline soils - S.K. Sanwa

12. Genomics for accelerating breeding programme in perennial fruit crops - Anuradha Upadhyay

Crop Production – II

1. High Density Planting in Temperate Fruit Crops for Enhancing Productivity - M. K. Verma, O.C. Sharma, J.I. Mir, W.H. Raja, S.U. Nabi, M.A. Shah

2. Pollination and bunch management in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) - Akath Singh, P.R. Meghwal and Anshuman Singh

3. Scope and challenges in onion and garlic research in India - Vijay Mahajan, A. Thangasamy, Rajiv Kale

4. Floriculture – a profitable and eco-friendly agri-business in Bangladesh - Farjana Nasrin Khan

5. ICT in post-harvest management of horticultural produce - M Feza Ahmad and Deep Lata

6. Sensing technologies for sustainable horticultural production - N.V. Gowtham Deekshithulu, T. Janakiram, L. Naram Naidu, P. Ashok,M. Ravindra Babu and T. Thomson

7. Prospectus and challenges for protected cultivation of seed spices - Ravindra Singh, A K Verma, Ravi, Y, Sharda Choudhary, R. S. Meena,N. K. Meena and Krishna Kant

8. Natural greenhouse: a game changer - Rajaram Tripathi

9. Ornamental edible flowers - S. L. Chawla, Vaidehee Ninama, Sudha Patil and Mallika Sindha

10. Underexploited vegetables: Treasure trove for nutritional and health security - N. Rai and Rakesh K Dubey

11. Exploring processing potential of horticultural crops in Rajasthan - Ranjna Sirohi and Uadal Singh

12. National and export market-driven fruit fly management in mango - Abraham Verghese and M.A Rashmi

13. Disease management in arid horticultural crops - S. K. Maheshwari, B. R. Choudhary, Ramkesh Meena and Ramesh Kumar

14. Bottom-up effect on plant-insect interaction in underutilized horticultural crops for sustainable production - Shravan Manbhar Haldhar

15. Tropical tuber crops for climate resilient and entrepreneurship development - M. Nedunchezhiyan, K. Pati, V.B.S. Chauhan, K.H. Gowda, R. Arutselvan and G. Byju

16. Recent Trends in Biological Disease Management for Horticultural Crops - Bhavya Mishra and Arvind M

17. Wasteland Management Through Semi-Arid Horticultural Technologies - A.K. Singh, D. S. Mishra, Viakas Yadav and Jagdish Rane

18. Introductory telemetry soil and climate monitoring - Akash Sharma and Steven Falivene

19. Role of urban and peri urban horticulture in achieving - T. Janakiram, M. Lakshmi Durga & Varun M. Hiremath

20. Floricultural production through technological intervention - M. K. Singh, Devarai Lava Kumar and Namita

21. Automation in Protected Cultivation - T. Thomson, N.V. Gowtham Deekshithilu, P. Ashok, T. Janakiram

22. Artificial Intelligence in Horticulture - N.V. Gowtham Deekshithulu, T. Thomson, P. Ashok, T. Janakiram

23. Precision Farming Techniques in Fruit Production  - Uday Raj Patial, Anirudh Thakur, Antima Sharma, Nav Prem Singh and Prabhat Kumar

24. Farmer Producers’ Organization (Fpo’s) in Coconut Sector for The Better Livelihood of Coconut Farmers - Prabhat Kumar, Hanumanthe Gowda.B And Mrid Ula.K

25. Agrivoltaics, current status and its future prospects  - J. Suresh Kumar, R. Sarvanan, S. Sunitha, Himani B. Patel, Adarsh A

26. From Challenges to Rewards: Off-Season Vegetable Farming Perspectives - Hare Krishna, Manjunatha T. Gowda, V. Karuppaiah, Vinay Kumar Patel, Shekhar Singh, Manoj Kumar Singh, Shubham Kumar Tiwari and Anant Bahadur

27. Potential of Underexploited Vegetables for Nutritional Security and Economic Prosperity of Bundelkhand Region - Ajeet Singh, Himanshu Singh, M.K. Singh, Ashutosh Rai, A.C. Mishra, Jayshree Singh and S.V. Dwivedi

28. Horticulture: An Integral Component of Arid Ecotourism - Prof. (Dr.) P. L. Saroj

29. Postharvest Treatments of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables – latest trends - Ram Asrey

30. Status and prospects of cultivation of Garcinia species in India - Prakash Chandra Tripathi, R. Senthi kumar, G. Karunakaran, C. Kanupriya and Anuradha Sane

31. Site-specific cultural practices for pomegranate in arid climate - Akath Singh, P.R. Meghwal, Pradeep Kumar and P. Santra