**Meet the editor**

Dr Luna Maldonado received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Science at the Kyushu University in 2009. He began his career as a lecturer of agricultural engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León México in 1992. At that time, he also held research positions on Farm Machinery Design and Agrimation. In 1996, Prof. Luna Maldonado became an assistant professor and later on

an associate professor at the same university. In 2005, he was a visiting researcher at the Laboratory of Terramechanics at the Iwate University. He has been a member of the Mexican Council for Science and Technology since 2010 and of the Japanese Society for Agricultural Machinery since 2007.

Contents

**Preface IX** 

**Part 1 Soil Management 1** 

N. Bettahar

**Part 2 Plant Breeding 41** 

Chapter 3 **Assessment of Diversity in Grapevine** 

**Part 3 Protected Horticulture 61** 

**Part 4 Postharvest Physiology 73** 

Chapter 4 **Total Growth of Tomato** 

Chapter 5 **Chemical Composition** 

Chapter 1 **Effect of the Climate and Soil Characteristics** 

Chapter 2 **Influence of Fertilizers with Prolongation Effect on** 

**Gene Pools from Romania and Republic** 

Ina Bivol, Ioan Baca and Gheorghe Savin

**Hybrids Under Greenhouse Conditions 63** 

**and Antioxidant Activity of Small Fruits 75**  Pranas Viskelis, Ramune Bobinaite, Marina Rubinskiene,

Audrius Sasnauskas and Juozas Lanauskas

**of Moldova, Based on SSR Markers Analysis 43**  Ligia Gabriela Gheţea, Rozalia Magda Motoc,

Carmen Florentina Popescu, Nicolae Barbacar, Ligia Elena Bărbării, Carmen Monica Constantinescu, Daniela Iancu, Tatiana Bătrînu,

Humberto Rodriguez-Fuentes, Juan Antonio Vidales-Contreras, Alejandro Isabel Luna-Maldonado and Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Orti

**Composition Before and After Storage 19** 

**on the Nitrogen Balance in the North of Algeria 3** 

**Productivity of Root-Crop Vegetables and Biochemical** 

Ona Bundinienė, Danguolė Kavaliauskaitė, Roma Starkutė, Julė Jankauskienė, Vytautas Zalatorius and Česlovas Bobinas

## Contents

#### **Preface XI**


#### **Part 2 Plant Breeding 41**

	- **Part 3 Protected Horticulture 61**
	- **Part 4 Postharvest Physiology 73**

X Contents

#### **Part 5 Urban Horticulture 103**


#### **Part 6 New Technologies 145**


## Preface

Horticulture is the science of plant cultivation charge. The term horticulture comes from the Latin *hortus* (garden) and *culture* (culture). The horticulture industry is also the crop and, specifically, the term is also used for growing vegetables. This branch of agriculture is particularly concerned with the production of plants used by man for food, ornamental and medicinal purposes. Horticulture, in addition to studying the plants of all varieties and all related, such as flowers, fruits, grains, etc., also includes the necessary knowledge of agriculture, botany, biology, chemistry, genetic engineering, biotechnology, mathematics, physiology, among many others. In addition, knowledge of business and everything related to marketing, economics, etc. The gardeners can work in such diverse areas as industry, educational institutions and government. They may be salespeople and also manage their own businesses. They can work in the field as counselors, specialists in particular areas, inspectors, and may even be teachers and scientists. Horticulture can be defined as science, industry and art of plant cultivation on a garden-sized scale, as opposed to large-scale agriculture/crop cultivation, although obviously there is a great deal of overlap between these two areas of study.

This book is intended to act as an introduction to all aspects of horticulture, from the plant breeding, practical issues such as soil management, protected horticulture, postharvest physiology as well as focusing on areas such as urban horticulture and new technologies for horticulture. This book is intended as a textbook for horticulture students at all levels, as well as a general reference work, both for professional horticulturalists and readers with an interest in the subject.

**Dr. Alejandro Isabel Luna Maldonado** 

Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, Mexico

**Part 1** 

**Soil Management** 

**Part 1** 

**Soil Management** 

**1** 

N. Bettahar

*Algeria* 

**Effect of the Climate and Soil Characteristics** 

*Laboratory Water & Environement, Department of Hydraulic,* 

*University Hassiba Ben Bouali, Chlef,* 

**on the Nitrogen Balance in the North of Algeria** 

The regular growth of the nitrate concentrations observed in the superficial and underground waters since the years 70 is a topic of preoccupation (Gomez, 2002). This general increase is largely imputed to the agricultural activities, which knew deep

The agricultural pollution is problematic because of its diffuse character. Of this fact, the solutions can be only preventive while reconciling effective agriculture (establishment of balance to assure the good management of nitrogen in soil) and quality of water using

Numerous research elaborated methods of balances of the nourishing elements to develop a lasting agriculture (Parris, 1998). However, the principles that found these balances are very variable, so much to the level of the sought-after precision (choice of the fluxes and parameters took in account and simplifying hypotheses), of the scales of the study (country, exploitation,

The nitrogenous balance method permits the nitrogenous excess calculation that constitutes the quantity of available remaining nitrogen in soil, capable to be leached toward the aquifer. We have three predominant types of nitrogen contribution: the contributions bound to the mineral fertilizers and the irrigation (Benoît et al., 1997; Sivertun & Prange, 2003; Delgado & Shaffer, 2002), the contributions bound to the breeding and finally the

However, the fate of nitrogen in the middle depends on the type of soil, of the type of culture, of the bacterial activity in soil, of the out-flow of water in the matrix of soil and the environmental conditions (Pinheiro, 1995). There are strong interactions between these factors, but environmental conditions, as the temperature, the humidity, the pH, the

Large quantities of inorganic and organic N- fertilizers are applied each year in agricultural areas (Feng et al., 2005; Elmi et al., 2004; Sivertun et Prange, 2004; Delgado et Shaffer, 2002),

manage these quantities of nitrogen in the nature (Tremblay et al., 2001).


rotation, parcel), or the length of observation (season, year, etc.) (Van Bol, 2000).

contributions bound to the municipal waste water.

dissolved oxygen, will play essential roles.

which increases the threat from NO3

**1. Introduction** 

modifications.

regimentations.
