Plant breeding has undergone a period of very rapid and significant development in recent years and the area of fruit breeding is no exception. This book provides a balanced, up-to-date and comprehensive account of the developments in the field of breeding tropical and subtropical fruits. It offers not only the theoretical and applied aspects of breedings fruits but also provides an authoritative manual of the conventional and new techniques used for increasing efficiency of crop improvement programmes. In specific chapters the book deals with crop taxonomy, genetic resources, floral biology, breeding objectives, inheritance patterns and information on new improved cultivars/hybrids.

This is the first volume in a three volume comprehensive reference work presenting detailed information on the breeding of horticultural crops. In a systematic way, the work presents: the history and commercial importance of each fruit, the origin and early development of cultivation, regional characteristics, breeding objectives, fruit characteristics such as color and shape, and disease resistance. Volume 1 deals with tree fruits: Apples, Apricots, Avocado, Banana/Plantain, Cherry, Peach, Pear, and Plum.

This book examines the development of innovative modern methodologies towards augmenting conventional plant breeding for the production of new crop varieties, under the increasingly limiting environmental and cultivation factors, to achieve sustainable agricultural production and enhanced food security. Two volumes of Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies were published in 2015 and 2016, respectively; Volume 1: Breeding, Biotechnology and Molecular Tools and Volume 2: Agronomic, Abiotic and Biotic Stress Traits. This is Volume 3: Fruits, which is focused on advances in breeding strategies for the improvement of individual fruit crops. It consists of 23 chapters grouped into three parts, according to distribution classification of fruit trees: Part I, Temperate Fruits, Part II, Subtropical Fruits, and Part III, Tropical Fruits. Each chapter comprehensively reviews the modern literature on the subject and reflects the authors' own experience.

While products such as bananas, pineapples, kiwifruit and citrus have long been available to consumers in temperate zones, new fruits such as lychee, longan, carambola, and mangosteen are now also entering the market. Confirmation of the health benefits of tropical and subtropical fruit may also promote consumption further. Tropical and subtropical fruits are particularly vulnerable to postharvest losses, and are also transported long distances for sale. Therefore maximising their quality postharvest is essential and there have been many recent advances in this area. Many tropical fruits are processed further into purees, juices and other value-added products, so quality optimisation of processed products is also important. The books cover current state-of-the-art and emerging post-harvest and processing technologies. Volume 1 contains chapters on particular production stages and issues, whereas Volumes 2, 3 and 4 contain chapters focused on particular fruit. Chapters in Volume 4 review the factors affecting the quality of different tropical and subtropical fruits from mangosteen to white sapote. Important issues relevant to each product are discussed, including means of maintaining quality and minimising losses postharvest, recommended storage and transport conditions and processing methods, among other topics. With its distinguished editor and international team of contributors, Volume 4 of Postharvest biology and technology of tropical and subtropical fruits, along with the other volumes in the collection, are essential references both for professionals involved in the postharvest handling and processing of tropical and subtropical fruits and for academics and researchers working in the area. Along with the other volumes in the collection, Volume 4 is an essential reference for professionals involved in the postharvest handling and processing of tropical and subtropical fruits and for academics and researchers working in the area Reviews factors affecting the quality of different tropical and subtropical fruits, concentrating on postharvest biology and technology Important issues relevant to each particular fruit are discussed, such as postharvest physiology, preharvest factors affecting postharvest quality and pests and diseases