Good quality seed is the most important component in production technology of crops. Farmers in India are aware of the importance of good quality seeds and trade liberalization has resulted in flourishing of vegetable seed industry in India. Seed production has become a lucrative business for the private sector which is evidenced from mushrooming of seed companies in India.

While the public sector is by and large concentrating on the low-cost technology such as production of open pollinated varieties, private firms are after the production of F1 hybrids which ensure market protection. Tuber crops are important from food security point of view and seed tuber production of virus free potato is a challenging task. Since most of the spices are vegetatively propagated, ensuring virus free quality planting materials require knowledge and skill.

Theory and practice of seed production of vegetable crops, tubers and spices need to be updated and available for all stake holders in seed industry and farm sector.

Pradeepkumar T.  was born on 31/05/1965 at Tellicherry, Kerala. He obtained his PhD degree in Horticulture from IARI, New Delhi in 1994 and has undergone overseas training at University of Wisconsin, USA. He started  service carrier as Assistant Professor and now working as  Professor and Director of Planning, KAU. Dr Pradeepkumar.T has experience of more than 26 years in horticultural research, UG and PG teaching  and extension as state and national level expert. He has developed 6 hybrids of different crops like water melon (Seedless types), salad cucumber (Parthenocarpic type) and ridge gourd. He has supervised 10 M.Sc. and 6 PhD students. He is the recipient of Krishi vijnan award for the best agricultural scientist instituted by Govt. of Kerala and Harbhajan Singh Award by ISVS.  He has published  70 research papers, 11 books, 16 book chapters and  45 popular  article .

He received ISVS fellowship  from,  Indian Society of Vegetable Science in year 2016, IAHS fellowship from Indian Academy of Horticultural Science in the year 2019 and ISS fellowship from Indian Society for Spices in the year 2021.

Divya K. Lekshmanan is scientist at ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute, Regional Station, Udhagamandalam, Tamil Nadu. Her research is mainly on breeding for potatoes resistant to biotic stress and optimizing production technologies for increasing the productivity of potato in potato based cropping system. She completed her post graduation from Kerala Agricultural University. She is one among the breeder of a newly released potato variety resistant to late blight and potato cyst nematode.

1. Introduction,, 2. Seed, 3. Vegetable Seed Production, 4. Seed Processing, 5. Solanaceous Vegetables,  6. Cucurbitaceous Vegetables, 7. Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus),  8. Leguminous Vegetables, 9. Cole Crops, 10. Bulb Crops, 11. Root Crop, 12. Potato (Solanum Tuberosum L.) 13. Leafy Vegetables, 14. Exotic Vegetables, 15. Spice Crops