K.V. Peter

• Ph.D.Post Doc(USDA Beltsville) FNAAS FNASc
• Former Vice-Chancellor at Kerala Agricultural University,Vellanikkara,Thrissur

The book “TECHNIQUES IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY” is a compendium on the laboratory experiments in molecular biology, plant tissue culture, genetic engineering and immuno-diagnostics covering a total of 90 experiments. The present day education system focuses on skilling and development of entrepreneurial human resources. Biotechno...

Pictorial representation of vegetable crops, flower, part used and propagule

The goal of developing ornamental landscapes that are safe, attractive, and functional for urban dwellers is pursued with great interest, and vast amounts of energy and material resources were used in this effort. However, direct and indirect energy consumption, the need for supplemental water, and the concerns about soil and ground water contamina...

Importance of herbs (medicinal plants) can hardly be overemphasized. They are exploited for manyfold applications, ranging from phytopharmaceuticals, to nutraceuticals, to cosmetics and many others. Keeping in view the richness of herbs and their vast potential, this book collates the most up-to-date knowledge of important herbs and herbals. The bo...

Genetic Engineering of Horticultural Crops provides key insights into commercialized crops, their improved productivity, disease and pest resistance, and enhanced nutritional or medicinal benefits. It includes insights into key technologies, such as marker traits identification and genetic traits transfer for increased productivity, examining the l...

Centuries before Greece and Rome had been discovered, sailing ships carried Indian spices-black pepper, cardamom, large cardamom, herbal perfumes and natural fibre textiles to Mesopotamia, Arabia and Egypt. It was the lure of these that brought many seafarers to the shores of India. The legacy of Indian Spices is more than 7000 years old (BC 5000)....

Climate resilient agriculture (CRA) represents whole-system approach to food, feed, fuel and fibre production that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. CRA encompasses adaptation and mitigation strategies and the effective use of biodiversity at all levels- genes, species and ecosystems for man essential pre-requisite for sustainabl...

Industrialisation, urbanisation and population increase are gradually wiping out green from our living environment. As we continue our quick and ungraceful lunge towards cities, providing an optimal green space on planet earth has become a priority topic. Due to increased footprints of architecture in urban and suburb areas, land for landscaping ha...

Plantation crops are high-value commercial crops which play a vital role in the agricultural economy and export trade of many developing and developed countries. With the World Trade Organization giving greater emphasis on agriculture, the commercial aspects of growing these crops assume considerable economic significance. Arecanut (betel nut), car...

Ginger is a rhizomatous plant that belongs to the family Zingiberaceae. It is a herbaceous perennial but cultivated as annual, with crop duration of 7–10 months. Ginger is native to India and Tropical South Asia. The tuberous rhizomes or underground stems of ginger are used as condiment, an aromatic stimulant, and food preservative as well as in tr...

Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial but cultivated as annual, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. It is a native of India and South East Asia. The tuberous rhizomes or underground stems of turmeric are used from antiquity as condiments, a dye and as an aromatic stimulant in several medicines. Turmeric is an important crop in India and...

Black pepper, Piper nigrum L., the “King of spices” is the most widely used spice growing in the South- Western region of India. The humid tropical evergreen forest bordering the Malabar Coast (Western Ghats is one of the hot spot areas of plant bio-diversity on earth) is its center of origin and diversity. However, the crop faces constraints like...

Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Andrews (syn. V. fragrans Salisb.), a native of Central America, is the primary source of natural vanillin and plays a major role in the global economy. The gene pool of vanilla is threatened by deforestation and overcollection that has resulted in disappearance of natural habitats and wild species. Continuous vegetative...

Biotechnological approaches like micropropagation, somaclonal variation, in vitro conservation, synseed technology, protoplast fusion, production of flavour and colouring components and development of novel transgenics have great potential in conservation, utilization and increasing the production of spices. Efficient micropropagation systems are a...

Genetic resources are global assets of inestimable value to human kind, which holds the key to increasing food security. The loss of variation in crops due to the modernization of agriculture has been described as genetic erosion. The current status of the genetic diversity and erosion in spice crops is discussed in this chapter. Human intervention...

Biotechnology tools involving plant tissue culture and recombinant DNA technologies are powerful to complement conventional breeding and expedite spices improvement. The rate of progress in improvement of perennial spices is relatively slow due to their long pre-bearing period and other crop specific problems compared to other horticultural crops a...

Curry leaf (Murraya koenigii Spreng.), an aromatic deciduous tree, is a perennial leaf vegetable. The leaves of the plant are used extensively for seasoning and flavouring dishes. Although it is classed as a minor spice, the flavour enhancing qualities of this spice harmonize with eastern cooking and the leaves retain their flaour and aroma even af...

This chapter discusses the definition and classification of herbs and spices. It also discusses the trade of spices and, in particular, the role of India. The applications of different spices in medicine, the food and beverage industry (including health foods), cosmetics, perfumery and nutraceuticals are summarized. The use of spices as a source of...

This chapter on capers and caperberries gives a detailed account of the plant description, distribution, important cultivars, chemical composition, flavour volatile profiles, cultivation practices, reproductive biology, propagation, production technology, caper grading system and post-harvest technology. It also deals with its uses in food, process...

This introductory chapter contains a brief history of herbs and spices, including cultivation, trade and uses. The cultivation requirements of important herbal spices are discussed, as well as uses of herbs and spices in food and beverages, perfumes and cosmetics, and medicinal and nutraceutical uses. The important flavour compounds in major culina...

Mango production in Kenya is of great economic importance. In 2010, 540,000 tons of mangoes were produced, mainly in the coastal and eastern parts of Kenya. Only about 0.4% of the mangoes were exported in 2010. Most mangoes are consumed fresh within the country. Processing mainly focuses on juice production at a few large-scale companies. Mango is...

Elettaria cardamomum Maton is a monotypic genus native to India but a few related tribes like Amomum, Aframomum, Alpinia and Hedychium, coexist with small cardamom. In the present study, about 11 species representing 5 major tribes viz., Amomum, Aframomum, Alpinia, Hedychium and Elettaria and 96 collections of cardamom germplasm representing the ra...

Herbs and spices are among the most versatile ingredients in food processing, and alongside their sustained popularity as flavourants and colourants they are increasingly being used for their natural preservative and potential health-promoting properties. An authoritative new edition in two volumes, Handbook of herbs and spices provides a comprehen...

Moringa is an old-world dry tropical plant genus with great food, horticultural, industrial, and pharmaceutical potential. The present study is conducted at laboratory of Plant Tissue Culture, Department of Olericulture, College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur. The KAU has recently released the “Anupama” a high yielding cu...

Vanilla is naturally distributed in Mexico and parts of Central America and the history of origin of cultivated vanilla suggests that the entire stock outside Mexico may be from a single genetic source. In the present study, RAPD polymorphism was used to estimate the level of genetic diversity and interrelationships among different collections of V...

Vanilla, an important flavouring material and spice, is the fermented and cured fruit of the orchid, Vanilla planifolia Andrews (syn. V. fragrans Salisb.). Origin of much of the planting material of vanilla from limited clonal source, coupled with the threat of destruction of its natural habitats, leads to a narrow genetic base being the major bott...

Spices, the predominant flavoring, coloring and aromatic agents in foods and beverages, are now gaining importance for their diversified uses. The nutritional, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial and medicinal properties of spices have far-reaching implications. In the present scenario, the anti-diabetic, anti-hypercholesterolemic, anti-carcinogenic, anti...

Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) is a crop of great commercial importance as the source of natural vanillin, a major component of flavor industry. The primary gene pool of V. planifolia is narrow and is evidently threatened due to destruction of its natural habitats making the secondary gene pool important as a source of desirable traits especially for...

Vanilla, Vanilla planifolia Andrews, is native to Mexico and Central America, but is now cultivated in other parts of the tropics. Continuous clonal propagation has resulted in very little variability for crop improvement programmes in vanilla. In this study, an attempt has been made to increase the spectrum of variation by interspecific hybridizat...

Genetic variation found in plants regenerated from any type of in vitro culture is termed somaclonal variation. The present study was initiated to study somaclonal variation in Capsicum annuum and the feasibility of using somaclonal variation for its improvement. Five genotypes of C. annuum were used for the present study (Round ornamental, PBC 535...

Together with its companion volume, Handbook of herbs and spices: Volume 2 provides a comprehensive and authoritative coverage of key herbs and spices. Chapters on individual plants cover such issues as description and classification, production, chemical structure and properties, potential health benefits, uses in food processing and quality issue...

Proteins and enzymes are important parameters in biochemical taxonomy. Seeds of 29 lines of C. annuum from different sources and places of origin were studied. The protein content was estimated and SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis technique was used to study the soluble protein pattern. Each genotype was distinct from the other, but certain b...

Acorus calamus L (sweet flag) is a semi-aquatic perennial medicinal herb having a creeping and much branched aromatic rhizome. Rhizome buds cultured in MS basal medium supplemented with BAP (8.87μM) and NAA (5.37μM) at light intensity of 30μE m−2 s−1 and photoperiod of 12 h produced 8–10 multiple shoots by the eighth week of inoculation. Shoots cou...

Heterosis for yield components and fruit characters was studied using line x tester analysis be-tween bacterial wilt resistant / tolerant accessions and processing varieties. Heterotic hybrids were identified for average fruit weight (Sakthi x Fresh Market 9, Sakthi x HW 208F), yield / plant (Sakthi x TH 318, Sakthi x Fresh Market 9), locule number...

Two interspecific hybrids of Piper, P. nigrum x P. attenuatum and P. nigrum x P. barberi, produced for the first time, were characterized by morphology, anatomy, isozymes, cytology and function (reaction to pollu beetle). The hybrids exhibit distinct morphological and anatomical features. Hybrid-specific bands as well as male-specific bands were ob...

Through concerted research in spices, 10 high-yielding varieties and hybrids in black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), 7 in cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton), 2 in cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Breyn.), 5 in ginger (Zingiber officinale Rose.), 16 in turmeric (Curcuma domestica Valeton), 12 in coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), 5 in cumin (Cuminum cy...

Spices have played a significant role in the history of civilization. Crop improvement in spices is difficult and time consuming due to their long pre-bearing age and other crop specific problems. Biotechnology offers novel avenues for crop improvement of spices. This paper reviews the present status of biotechnology of spices with emphasis on the...

A method for micropropagation of large cardamom (Amomum subulatum) is reported. Rhizome buds were activated to grow in Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with 3% sucrose and 0.5 mgl' kinetin. The sprouted buds were multiplied at the rate of 5-10 shoots per culture in Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 1.0 mgl ' benzylaminopurin...

Amaranth is one of the ancient groups of plants and has great potential for combating under-nutrition and malnutrition. It belongs to the family Amaranthaceae, which is comprised of 65 genera and 850 species. The genus Amaranthus includes 50–60 species cultivated for leaf (greens) and grains. It also includes a few wild species. The important leaf...

A native of the Old World tropics, bitter gourd—also known as bitter melon, balsam pear, or bitter cucumber—belongs to Cucurbitaceae and genus Momordica, a genus of annual or perennial climbers. It is a large genus consisting of about 80 species, of which Momordica charantia Linn is widely cultivated. In terms of nutritive value, bitter gourd ranks...

Snake Gourd, Trichosanthes anguina L., is one of the cucurbit vegetables, grown particularly in India, where it is grown throughout the year. The center of origin of snake gourd is not precisely known, but India or the Indo-Malayan region is its original home. It is widely distributed in south-east Asia, extending through Malaya to north Australia...

Ash gourd, Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.—commonly called hairy melon, wax gourd, winter melon, ash pumpkin, or white pumpkin—is the only species in the genus Benincasa. As the existence of wild populations is unconfirmed, the center of origin for Benincasa hispida is uncertain. It is possible that it is a native of Indo–Malaysia. Ash gourd is gr...

Curry leaf (Murraya koenigii, Rutaceae) is an important leafy vegetable and the leaves are widely used in Indian cookery for flavouring foodstuffs. The leaves have a slightly pungent, bitter and feebly acidic taste, and they retain their flavour and other qualities even after drying. Curry leaf is also used in many of the Indian ayurvedic and unani...

The 4 hot peppers from India ‘Pant C-1’, ‘KAU Cluster’ ( Capsicum annuum L.), ‘White Khandari’, and ‘Chuna’ ( C. frutescens L.) were evaluated along with 6 United States cultivars for their reaction to Pseudomonas solanacearum E.F. Smith (races 1 and 2), Phytophthora capsici Leonian, and root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita Chitwood. The Indian...

ABSTRACf The non preference mechanism of aphid resistance was evidenced under free choice conditions of migration and settling on cowpea. The tender most shoot tips of the reslslant cowpea lines were densely pubescent with mixed types of trichomes. Anatomical studies showed that lignification of the schlerenchymatous pericycIe was more in susceptib...