This comprehensive new textbook takes a scientific approach to explaining the principles of modern conventional and sustainable commercial vegetable production. The book describes the basic botany of vegetables, environmental requirements for successful growth and development, mineral nutrition, field establishment, harvesting methods and post-harvest handling practices. Professor Gregory E. Welbaum is a former commercial vegetable grower whose family farm has been involved in crop production for several generations. He has taught both classroom and online vegetable crop classes at Virginia Tech for over two decades. Vegetable Production and Practices has been specifically designed to accompany courses in vegetable crop production, so is ideally suited to inspire students in crop and horticultural sciences, as well as provide a useful reference for experienced practitioners.

Substantial progress has been made in seed science during the past few years, emphasizing the important role seed biology plays in advancing plant biotechnology agriculture and plant resource management and conservation. This book contains edited and revised papers from the 6th International Workshop on Seeds held in Mexico in January 1999 and describes the current status of seed research and technology.

This is the first scholarly reference work to cover all the major scientific themes and facets of the subject of seeds. It outlines the latest fundamental biological knowledge about seeds, together with the principles of agricultural seed processing, storage and sowing, the food and industrial uses of seeds, and the roles of seeds in history, economies and cultures. With contributions from 110 expert authors worldwide, the editors have created 560 authoritative articles, illustrated with plentiful tables, figures, black-and-white and color photographs, suggested further reading matter and 670 supplementary definitions. The contents are alphabetically arranged and cross-referenced to connect related entries.