Cucumber is a well-known and popular vegetable because of its rich nutrient profile and versatile uses in culinary, therapeutic and cosmetic purposes. This book provides information on the plant's origins, biology, and breeding as well as research on its economic value, utilization, cultivation, and therapeutic benefits.

Cucumber is a well-known and popular vegetable because of its rich nutrient profile and versatile uses in culinary, therapeutic and cosmetic purposes. This book provides information on the plant’s origins, biology, and breeding as well as research on its economic value, utilization, cultivation, and therapeutic benefits.

A comprehensive guide to the basics of growing greenhouse cucumbers, this manual aims to assist Australian greenhouse growers in the development of good agricultural practices. This manual contains science-based information in a simple to use format that is relevant to a basic greenhouse horticultural enterprise to controlled environment horticulture. CONTENTS About this manual List of tables Introduction to greenhouse cucumber production Growing cucumbers Optimising production Greenhouse design and technology Hydroponic systems and technology Feeding the crop Plant nutrition Cucumber disorders and their management Cucumber diseases and their management Cucumber pests and their management Pesticides, sprays and their use in cucumbers Marketing and handling of cucumbers Waste management Health and safety in the greenhouse Some resources and further reading

Ginger is well known as a spice and flavor. It has been a traditional medical plant in many cultures for thousands of years. To uncover the miraculous plant, this book not only gives you the plant's origins, where the plant is grown now, but also provides current studies on its utilization, cultivation, breeding, and therapeutic benefits.

This book deliberates on the concept, strategies, tools, and techniques of allele mining in vegetable crops and its application potential in genome elucidation and improvement including studying allele evolution, discovery of superior alleles, discerning new haplotypes, assessment of intra- and interspecific similarity, and studies of gene expression and gene prediction. Available gene pools in global germplasm collections specifically consisting of wild allied species and local landraces for almost all major crops have facilitated allele mining. Development of advanced genomic techniques including PCR-based allele priming and Eco-TILLING based allele mining are being widely used now for mining superior alleles. Allele's discovery has become more relevant now for employing molecular breeding to develop designed crop varieties matching consumer needs and with genome plasticity to adapt the climate change scenarios. All these concepts and strategies along with precise success stories are presented in the chapters dedicated to the major vegetable crops. The first book on the novel strategy of allele mining in vegetable crops for precise breeding Presents genomic strategies for mining superior alleles underlying agronomic traits from genomic resources Depicts case studies of PCR-based allele priming and Eco-TILLING based allele mining Elaborates on gene discovery and gene prediction in major vegetable crops This book will be useful to the students and faculties in various plant science disciplines including genetics, genomics, molecular breeding, agronomy, and bioinformatics; the scientists in seed industries; and, the policymakers and funding agencies interested in crop improvement.

While sea cucumber is one of China's and Asia's most prized seafoods, and aquaculture programs are being developed on a huge commercial scale, Chinese expertise and knowledge in this area has not been well disseminated worldwide. The Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus is the first book to bridge this gap by compiling key information related to hatchery and aquaculture techniques, nutritional and medical values, markets, and trade flow of the number one sea cucumber species. It summarizes the historical and most recent developments in the trade and aquaculture of Apostichopus japonicus, as well as important aspects of its anatomy, population dynamics, reproduction, development, physiology, and biochemistry. With sea cucumber harvest and aquaculture booming worldwide, comprehensive knowledge of China's technological breakthroughs in this rapidly expanding field is key. The Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus is essential to understanding the cultural underpinnings of the insatiable market demands for sea cucumber and what drives sea cucumber trade. It also provides biological information and aquaculture techniques that can be adapted to other species, making it a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners involved in sea cucumber harvesting, aquaculture, and conservation. - Explores the historical and current importance of Apostichopus japonicus in China, Japan, and the two Koreas - Presents innovative production technologies in sea cucumber aquaculture - Provides the latest scientific methods to maximize efficiency and production - Includes important information on the design and operation of farms - Discusses hot topics, current challenges, and future opportunities in aquaculture - Highlights important advances in the study of sea cucumbers at the behavioral, cellular, and molecular levels

This major work has but one aim: to provide breeders and researchers from the public and private sectors with all the latest information on the breeding of crops of economic relevance. Also, it serves as a major reference book for post-graduate courses and PhD courses on breeding vegetable crops, as well a one-stop-shop for horticulturists and extension agents interested in current advancements in the development of new vegetable crops varieties. Each chapter incorporates the most up-to-date information on the crops examined, and an important novelty is that, in comparison to other books already published on this subject this one contains the most cutting-edge information on molecular breeding techniques.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book provides a fresh, updated and science-based perspective on the current status and prospects of the diverse array of topics related to the potato, and was written by distinguished scientists with hands-on global experience in research aspects related to potato. The potato is the third most important global food crop in terms of consumption. Being the only vegetatively propagated species among the world’s main five staple crops creates both issues and opportunities for the potato: on the one hand, this constrains the speed of its geographic expansion and its options for international commercialization and distribution when compared with commodity crops such as maize, wheat or rice. On the other, it provides an effective insulation against speculation and unforeseen spikes in commodity prices, since the potato does not represent a good traded on global markets. These two factors highlight the underappreciated and underrated role of the potato as a dependable nutrition security crop, one that can mitigate turmoil in world food supply and demand and political instability in some developing countries. Increasingly, the global role of the potato has expanded from a profitable crop in developing countries to a crop providing income and nutrition security in developing ones. This book will appeal to academics and students of crop sciences, but also policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the potato and its contribution to humankind’s food security.

This book comprises interdisciplinary topics including consolidating research activities in all experimental and theoretical aspects of natural advanced materials in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine including structure, synthesis, processing, physico-chemical properties, and applications. The book covers formulation for natural and organic cosmetics, CO2 sequestration, drug delivery systems, biosensors, and other related topics. In addition, case studies including some data are presented that demonstrate the growing interest and cost benefits of biomaterials. The main features of the book are: It discusses the properties and applications of materials from natural sources from an environmental and biomedical engineering perspective. It explores properties of natural materials used in drug delivery, biofuel, adsorbents, waste water treatment, cosmetics, and so forth. It includes studies on recent and emerging biomaterials. It details applications of natural materials in varied areas. It introduces the structure and mechanisms of self-healing material, biomaterial, biofuel, polymers, and adsorbents. This book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in chemical, environmental, and natural resource engineering.

The cucurbits (Cucurbitaceae, or gourd family), which include squash, pumpkin, melon, cucumber, and watermelon, have long been of economic significance. As sources of vegetables, fruit, and seeds rich in oils and protein, they have the potential of making an even larger contribution toward meeting the needs of humankind. This book, consisting of 37 papers by 50 cucurbit specialists, emphasizes the practical importance of cucurbit investigation, and also provides a broad overview of the family.