Achieving sustainable cultivation of vegetables

"From the beginning of this book to the end, it has been Professor Hochmuth’s intent to address and educate with a complete synopsis of what he calls ‘…the wealth of research addressing the challenges’ in sustainable growth of vegetables… I believe he has succeeded."
(Plant Science Bulletin - Botanical Society of America)

Sustainability involves meeting current needs without compromising the ability to meet future requirements. Like other crops, vegetable cultivation faces a number of challenges in ensuring sustainable production. These challenges include the need to improve yields and quality to meet rising demand and higher consumer expectations, the need to reduce the ongoing threats from pathogens and pests. Focussing on temperate cultivation, Achieving sustainable cultivation of vegetables summarises the wealth of research addressing these challenges, from breeding improved varieties to better techniques for cultivation and crop protection.

Part 1 reviews advances in physiology and breeding. Parts 2-3 summarise advances in cultivation and pest management. The final part includes case studies on the breeding and cultivation of key vegetables such as carrot, lettuce and cabbage.

With its distinguished editor and range of expert authors, this will be a standard reference for horticultural scientists in universities, government and other research centres involved in supporting vegetable cultivation, as well as companies supporting the vegetable sector.

Part 1 Physiology and breeding
1.Advances in understanding vegetable physiology: root systems as the next frontier in improving sustainable vegetable production: Felipe H. Barrios-Masias, University of Nevada, USA; Cristina Lazcano, University of California–Davis, USA; and Leonardo H. Hernandez-Espinoza, University of Nevada, USA;
2.Advances in understanding and mitigating vegetable responses to abiotic stress: Frederik Börnke, Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) and University of Potsdam, Germany; and Dietmar Schwarz, Liebniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), Germany;
3.Developments in breeding vegetables: Laura A. Chatham and John A. Juvik, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA;

Part 2 Cultivation
4.Advances in irrigation techniques in vegetable cultivation: Andre da Silva and Tim Coolong, University of Georgia, USA;
5.Advances in understanding soil health for vegetable cultivation: Ajay Nair, Iowa State University, USA;
6.Advances in greenhouses and other protected structures used for cultivation of vegetables: Martine Dorais, Centre de recherche en innovation sur les végétaux, Université Laval, Canada;
7.Developments in soilless/hydroponic cultivation of vegetables: Dimitrios Savvas, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece; and Damianos Neocleous, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Cyprus;
8.Advances in organic cultivation of vegetables: Xin Zhao, University of Florida, USA; Francesco Di Gioia, Pennsylvania State University, USA; Kathleen Delate, Iowa State University, USA; Erin Rosskopf, USDA-ARS, USA; and Wenjing Guan, Purdue University, USA;

Part 3 Pests and pathogens
9.Understanding and monitoring diseases of vegetables: Mohammad Babadoost, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA;
10.Advances in understanding insect pests of vegetables: a case study of sweetpotato weevil: Ken Sorensen, North Carolina State University, USA;
11.Integrated pest management (IPM) of vegetables: examples of successful deployment: Joshua Freeman, University of Florida, USA;
12.Microbiological safety of vegetable produce: the impact of pre- and post-harvest practices: Max Teplitski, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USA;

Part 4 Case studies
13.Advances in carrot breeding: Emmanuel Geoffriau, Agrocampus Ouest, IRHS, France;
14.Sustainable carrot product: Mary Ruth McDonald and Zachariah Telfer, University of Guelph, Canada;
15.Advances in lettuce breeding: Germán Sandoya, University of Florida, USA;
16.Advances in lettuce cultivation: Rosemary Collier, University of Warwick, UK;
17.Advances in breeding of cucumbers and watermelon: Todd Wehner, North Carolina State University, USA; and Rachel Naegele, USDA-ARS, USA;
18.Alternative tillage production systems for cucurbit vegetables: Alan Walters, Southern Illinois University, USA;
19.Sustainable production of cabbage on plasticulture: Charles E. Barrett, Lucas G. Paranhos, Kati W. Migliaccio, Gary K. England and Lincoln Zotarelli, University of Florida, USA;
20.Advances in pea breeding: Diego Rubiales and María J. González-Bernal, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Spain; Tom Warkentin and Rosalind Bueckert, University of Saskatchewan, Canada; Maria C. Vaz Patto, ITQB NOVA-Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal; Kevin McPhee, Montana State University, USA; Rebecca McGee, USDA-ARS, USA; and Petr Smýkal, Palacký University, Czech Republic;