**5.2 Breeding for nutraceutical bioactive compounds**

Nutraceutical bioactive and edible colors are natural compounds which are regulated by several biochemical pathways and controlled by genetical and environmental factors. From early times people knowingly or unknowingly selected several vegetable crops for their food purpose. There are many or cultivated vegetables which are rich in these beneficial compounds. The biochemical pathway and synthesis of these compounds are controlled by one or many genes which are scattered in the available or unknown germplasm of particular vegetable crop. India is endowed with diverse agroclimatic regions ranging from tropical to temperate making it possible to grow all kinds of vegetable crops in one or the other corners of the country. Besides, there is plenty of diversity in different vegetable crops which can be exploited for development of special varieties. Through convention breeding, it is possible to develop new vegetable varieties or integrate the favorable genes for nutraceuticals, bioactive compounds and edible color into cultivated varieties, advances in molecular biology and recombinant technology have paved the way for enhancing the pace of special trait variety development using marker assisted breeding and designing new vegetable crop plants following transgenic approach.
