Vegetables II

Abstract

The production and consumption of vegetables has expanded dramatically in the last years, with a global growth in the production of more than 50% in the last decade and it is expected that in the coming years, vegetable crops production will continue its expansion. The vegetables seed market is very dynamic and competitive, and predominant varieties are quickly replaced by new varieties. Therefore, updated information on the state of the art of the genetic improvement of specific crops is of interest to vegetable crops breeders, researchers and scholars. During the last years an immense quantity of new knowledge on the genetic diversity of vegetables and the utilization of genetic resources, breeding methods and techniques, and on the development and utilization of modern biotechnologies in vegetables crop breeding has accumulated, and there is a need of a major reference work that synthesizes this information.