About Book

Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, fiber, and land reclamation. The tropics are generally defined as the region of the globe between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and the environmental conditions there are unique, creating a habitat for incredibly diverse animals and plants. Tropical fruit and vegetables are a botanically diverse group, indigenous to tropical regions. Their representatives come from numerous families. Traditionally, tropical fruit were consumed locally, either grown in a subsistence-style agricultural structure or gathered from the wild. Agronomy has come to encompass work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. It is the application of a combination of sciences like biology, chemistry, economics, ecology, earth science, and genetics. The area of agronomy involves selective breeding of plants to produce the best crops under various conditions. This book aims to shed light on some of the unexplored aspects of tropical fruit and vegetable crops with respect to agronomy. It deals with fruit proteomics, fruit germplasm, irrigation, fruit transpiration, microextraction techniques, soil acidity, nutritional quality and GIS applications. This book presents the complex subject of agronomy in the most comprehensible and easy to understand language. It explores all the important aspects of the area in the present day scenario. This book is meant for students who are looking for an elaborate reference in this field.

Preface ..................................................................................................................... v

1. The Effect of Preharvest Factors on Fruit and Nutritional

Quality in Strawberry ........................................................................................... 1

Abstract ........................................................................................................... 1

1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 1

2. Strawberry fruit quality .............................................................................. 2

3. Genetic variation ........................................................................................... 4

4. Climatic conditions ....................................................................................... 5

5. Cultural practices .......................................................................................... 9

6. Conclusion .................................................................................................... 20

2. GIS Applications in Agronomy ........................................................................ 31

Abstract ......................................................................................................... 31

1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 31

2. What is geographical information system (GIS)? ................................... 32

3. Applications of GIS in agronomy .............................................................. 34

4. Conclusions .................................................................................................. 44

3. Soil Acidity and Liming in Tropical Fruit Orchards ..................................... 52

1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 52

2. Soil acidity and liming ................................................................................ 53

3. Sampling of leaves and soil in fruit orchards ......................................... 56

4. Considerations on fruit growing areas and fructiferous plants .......... 58

5. Liming at planting and during formation of fruit orchards ................ 61

6. Liming of established orchards ................................................................. 70

7. Conclusions .................................................................................................. 72

4. Recent Developments and Applications of Microextraction Techniques

for the Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables ............... 76

1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 76

2. Solid phase microextraction (SPME) ......................................................... 78

3. Liquid phase microextraction (LPME) also called Solvent

Microextraction (SME) ................................................................................ 81

4. Stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) ........................................................... 86

5. Microextraction in packed solvents (MEPS) ............................................ 87

6. Interface to analytical instrumentation ................................................... 88

7. Limitations and future trends ................................................................... 88

8. Conclusion .................................................................................................... 89

Acknowledgement ....................................................................................... 89

5. Fruit Transpiration: Mechanisms and Significance for Fruit Nutrition

and Growth ........................................................................................................ 103

1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 103

2. Understanding and measuring fruit trans-piration ........................... 104

3. Daily and seasonal changes in fruit water loss .................................... 107

4. Significance of transpiration on dry matter and minerals

accumulation .............................................................................................. 115

5. Acknowledgments ..................................................................................... 121

6. Irrigation in Mediterranean Fruit Tree Orchards ........................................ 126

1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 126

2. Choice and design of irrigation method ................................................. 128

3. Regulated deficit irrigation ...................................................................... 136

4. Management of the irrigation method ................................................... 140

5. Irrigation and environmental impact .................................................... 147

6. Conclusions ................................................................................................ 150

7. Fruit Germplasm Characterization: Genomics Approaches for the .............

Valorisation of Genetic Diversity ................................................................... 153

1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 153

2. Management of germplasm collection ................................................... 155

3. Olive germplasm characterization ......................................................... 159

4. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 180

5. Acknowledgment ...................................................................................... 181

8. Fruit Proteomics ................................................................................................ 195

1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 195

2. Fruit ontogeny............................................................................................ 196

3. Two dimensional gel electrophoresis ..................................................... 197

4. Literature evaluation – Fruit proteomics .............................................. 211

5. Concluding remarks .................................................................................. 212

Citation ................................................................................................................ 221

Index .................................................................................................................... 223

About Author

Amanda Watson pursued her Master of Science in Sustainable Crop Production & Ph.D. in Soil Science and Agronomy from Public University, Suojarinne. She is actively engaged in the researches focused on plant physiology, plant genetics and crop rotation. She also serves on the editorial board of two renowned international journals in the field of agronomy along with serving as a guest lecturer for several prestigious universities. Watson consistently shares her knowledge with the researcher fraternity by organizing lectures and conferences around the globe.