The production of high-quality seeds is crucial for the growth of crops and India's farmers recognize the value of this. The liberalization of trade has led to the thriving of the vegetable seed industry in India, resulting in an increase in the number of seed companies. While the public sector concentrates on low-cost technologies, such as open pollinated varieties, private firms focus on the production of F1 hybrids, which offer market protection. The production of virus-free seed tubers, such as potatoes, is challenging and requires knowledge and skill, as most spices are propagated vegetatively.

It is important for all stakeholders in the seed industry and agricultural sector to have up-to-date information on the theory and practice of seed production for vegetable crops, tubers, and spices.

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