This new book provides comprehensive coverage of sustainable sweet cherry production including global trends, improved varieties and rootstocks, orchard establishment and management, the physiology of growth and cropping, and protecting the crop from adverse climates, pests, and diseases. Sweet cherries are a specialty crop, subject to significant production risks for growers, yet with high potential market returns due to strong consumer demand for the fruit's intensely enjoyable flavor and nutraceutical benefits.

Sweet and sour cherries (Prunus avium and Prunus cerasus) are important fruit crops for which demand is high and growing. A significant number of new varieties, rootstocks and training systems have been released or developed in recent years in order to improve the efficiency and profitability of cherry orchards. Cherries: Botany, Production and Uses covers the genetics, ecophysiology, production, protection and uses of cherries. Presenting up-to-date scientific data and applied information, this book is invaluable for researchers, teachers and all professionals working in the cherries value chain.

This book highlights the underlying principles and outlines some of the key hi-tech practices and technology interventions required to achieve enhanced productivity. It discusses horticulture technology interventions like varietal improvement including genetically modified crops; good agricultural practices like optimum planting density, micro-irrigation, fertigation, integrated nutrient management, plant bioregulators, precision horticulture, protected cultivation, nanotechnology, and integrated farming systems; integrated management of insects, mites, disease pathogens, nematodes, and weeds; and post-harvest management practices like handling, storage and processing to reduce crop losses. The importance of attaining food and nutritional security through hi-tech horticulture and profitable marketing of horticultural produce is also discussed. This book will be of immense value to the scientific community involved in teaching, research and extension activities related to hi-tech horticulture strategies for enhancing productivity in enhancing farmers’ income, food, nutrition and livelihood security. The material can be used for teaching postgraduate courses. The book can also serve as a very useful reference to policymakers and practicing farmers.

Infectious diseases. Diseases caused by fungi. Fruit diseases. Foliar diseases. Cankers, blights, and wood rots. Disease complexes. Parasitic plants. Diseases caused by bacteria. Diseases caused by mycoplasmalike organisms. Diseases caused by plant-parasitic Nematodes. Diseases caused by viruses and viruslike agents. Viruses or pathogens spread by mites, insects, and nematodes. Viruses and pathogens spread by grafting (Natural spread apparent for some diseases). Noninfectious disorders. Genetic and physiological disorders. Minor physiological and genetic disorders. Environmental disorders. Nutritional disorders.

Nutritional Composition of Fruit Cultivars provides readers with the latest information on the health related properties of foods, making the documentation of the nutritive value of historical cultivars especially urgent, especially before they are lost and can't be effectively compared to modern cultivars. Because there is considerable diversity and a substantial body of the compositional studies directed towards commercial varieties, this information is useful for identifying traits and features that may be transposed from one variety to another. In addition, compositional and sensory features may also be used for commercialization and to characterize adulteration. Detailed characterization of cultivars can be used to identify "super-foods". Alternatively, unmasked historical cultivars may be the focus of reinvigorated commercial practices. Each chapter in this book has sections on the botanical aspects, the composition of traditional or ancient cultivars, the composition of modern cultivars, a focus on areas of research, the specialty of the communicating author of each chapter, and summary points. - Presents the botanical aspects and composition of both traditional and modern plants, including in-depth insight into current research, and overall summary points for each fruit for consistent comparison and ease of reference - Provides important information in the consideration of preservation, transference, or re-introduction of historical/traditional cultivars into current crop science - Provides details on compositional and sensory parameters, from aroma and taste to micro- and macronutrients - Includes data on nutraceuticals and novel components that have proven to impact on, or be important in, food quality, storage, processing, storage, and marketing

This edited book provides a comprehensive overview of modern strategies in fruit crop breeding in the era of climate change and global warming. It demonstrates how advances in plant molecular and genomics-assisted breeding can be utilized to produce improved fruit crops with climate-smart traits. Agriculture is facing a number of challenges in the 21st century, as it has to address food, nutritional, energy and environmental security. Future fruit varieties must be adaptive to the varying scenarios of climate change, produce higher yields of high-quality food, feed, and fuel and have multiple uses. To achieve these goals, it is imperative to employ modern tools of molecular breeding, genetic engineering and genomics for ‘precise’ plant breeding to produce ‘designed’ fruit crop varieties. This book is of interest to scientists working in the fields of plant genetics, genomics, breeding, biotechnology, and in the disciplines of agronomy and horticulture.