Contents



Preface

Horticultural crops are important sources of proteins, minerals, carbohydrates, organic acids, and vitamins for human nutrition. They are some of the most important components of a healthy diet. But the successful cultivation of these crops necessitates sufficient knowledge, skills, and technologies from seed selection and planting to harvesting and storage. The use of quality material for planting is a prerequisite for successful horticulture. Also, during their development phases, crop plants are exposed to several biotic stresses (disease-causing agents and pests) and abiotic stresses that lead to a series of physiological, morphological, biochemical, and molecular changes, both at harvest and during storage. This causes important horticultural crop yield losses. The management of those stresses is therefore important to ensure good crop yields and in such a context is viewed as an integral part of crop production. To collect precise information on the type of stresses that undermine the crops during their development or in stores, comprehensive diagnostic surveys are conducted and when causal agents are identified, their management options are selected and applied. Several methods are used in this regard, including: genetics and

crop improvement and chemical, botanical, and biological control methods.

processes leading to book publication.

This book is aimed at students and researchers. It is divided into three main sections. Section 1 presents information on the physiology of some horticultural crops such as Malabar Bauhinia (*Bauhinia malabarica* Roxb) and wild multi-flower orchid (*Cymbidium faberi*) (Chapters 1 and 2, respectively). Section 2 provides examples of the use of genetics and the improvement of coffee (Chapter 3), tomato, watermelon, papaya, and some other horticultural crops (Chapter 4) and grapes (Chapter 5) for the management of viral, fungal, bacterial, and nematode diseases. Section 3 describes the epidemiology and management of South American leaf blight (SALB) caused by the fungus *Microcyclus ulei* associated with rubber (*Hevea* spp.) cultivation in Brazil, fusarium wilt caused by *Fusarium oxysporum* in bananas (*Musa* spp.), and several infectious diseases caused by many phytopathogens in mango (*Mangifera indica* L.) in Chapters 6, 7, and 8, respectively. The last two chapters of Section 3 present information on the use of parasitoids and essential oil nanoformulations for the control of insect pests associated with horticultural crops. The editors record their thanks to all authors of the different chapters of this book. They are especially grateful to Ms Sandra Maljavac for their valuable contribution during the editing

> **Hugues Kossi Baimey** University of Parakou,

**Noureddine Hamamouch**

University Sultan Moulay Slimane,

Benin

Morocco

*by Samar S. Ibrahim*
