Achieving sustainable cultivation of ornamental plants

• Strong focus on environmental physiology, abiotic stress and breeding more abiotic stress-resistant varieties
• Reviews range of advanced marker-assisted breeding techniques, including gene editing
• Discusses key advances in the value chain to improve resource use for more sustainable production

Part 1 Physiology and breeding
1.Environmental physiology of ornamental plants: John Erwin, University of Maryland, USA;
2.Exploiting the genetic diversity of ornamentals: Yoo Gyeong Park, Gyeongsang National University, Republic of Korea; Young Hoon Park, Pusan National University, Republic of Korea; Abinaya Manivannan, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Republic of Korea; Prabhakaran Soundararajan, National Institute of Agricultural Science, Republic of Korea; and Byoung Ryong Jeong, Gyeongsang National University, Republic of Korea;
3.Advances in conventional breeding techniques for ornamentals: Traud Winkelmann and Philipp Braun, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany; and Emmy Dhooghe and Johan van Huylenbroeck, Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Belgium;
4.Advances in tissue culture techniques for ornamental plant propagation: G. R. Rout, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, India; and S. Mohan Jain, University of Helsinki, Finland;
5.Advances in molecular breeding of ornamentals: Neil O. Anderson, University of Minnesota, USA;
6.The use of gene-editing techniques in breeding improved ornamentals: Bruno Trevenzoli Favero, Josefine Nymark Hegelund and Henrik Lütken, University of Copenhagen, Denmark;
7.Advances in abiotic stress-resistant varieties of ornamentals: Qiansheng Li and Mengmeng Gu, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, USA;
8.Improving nutrient management in the cultivation of ornamental plants in greenhouse, container and field production: John Majsztrik, Clemson University, USA and James S. Owen Jr., USDA-ARS, USA;

Part 2 Cultivation techniques
9.Advances in irrigation practices and technology in ornamental cultivation: John D. Lea-Cox, University of Maryland, USA;
10.Advances in protected cultivation of ornamentals: James E. Faust, Clemson University, USA;
11.Diseases affecting ornamental geophytes and their control: Gary A. Chastagner and Andrea R. Garfinkel, Washington State University, USA;