Springer Sustainable Horticultural Systems: Issues, Technology and Innovation: 2 (Sustainable Development and Biodiversity, 2)

Sustainable horticulture is gaining increasing attention in the field of agriculture as demand for the food production rises to the world community. Sustainable horticultural systems are based on ecological principles to farm, optimizes pest and disease management approaches through environmentally friendly and renewable strategies in production agriculture. It is a discipline that addresses current issues such as food security, water pollution, soil health, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. Novel, environmentally-friendly solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil science, entomology, ecology, chemistry and food sciences. Sustainable horticulture interprets methods and processes in the farming system to the global level. For that, horticulturists use the system approach that involves studying components and interactions of a whole system to address scientific, economic and social issues. In that respect, sustainable horticulture is not a classical, narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts, sustainable horticulture treats problem sources. From the Back Cover Sustainable horticulture movement is growing the past few decades and gaining increasing attention among the scientific and farming community. An understanding of the impacts and relevant adaptation strategies are of foremost importance to sustain the productivity and profitability of horticulture crops in the climate change scenario, which necessitates synthesis of current knowledge to develop strategies for adaptation and mitigation to achieve climate-resilient horticulture. Issues have been covered in various chapters to make this book a treasure of knowledge in sustainable horticulture. Specific examples in fruits and vegetables included and various other important aspects like climate change, pests and diseases, soil are also covered in the book. The chapters have been written by well- known professionals in their research field. The book contains three sections; Sustainable Horticultural Systems, Biodiversity in Sustainable Horticultural Systems and Breeding and Improvement in Sustainable Horticultural Systems. The book is useful for undergraduates, graduates students, horticulturists, agriculture researchers and extension agents, plant scientists as well as horticultural industries. It will therefore help all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations. About the Author Dr. Dilip Nandwani (born 1965) did his M.Sc. (1987) and Ph.D. (1991) from the University of Jodhpur (now Jai Narayan Vyas University), Jodhpur, India. He joined the Tennessee State University as Associate Professor in 2014. Prior to joining Tennessee State University, he served University of the Virgin Islands (2011-2013) as Research Associate Professor and Program Leader (Horticulture). He worked with Land Grant institutions in the American Pacific for a decade and served as Program Leader in Crop Production and Improvement. Dr. Nandwani has several years of research, extension and education experience in plant and horticultural sciences. He has published 103 articles (peer-reviewed, extension booklets and conference proceedings) in internationally recognized journals. Dr. Nandwani is Certified Professional Horticulturist from American Society for Horticultural Science, worked with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-GEF) as Regional Advisor, International Agriculture Development and earned five awards, $2.2M grants from regional, national and international organizations, and presented research papers in a two dozen countries.