Contents: Foreword. Acknowledgement. Introduction. I. General: 1. Genetic resources of underutilized horticultural crops in Tripura/Sankaran, M. Sing, N.P. and Jai Prakash. II. Underutilized tuber crops: 2. Arrow root/Jose Mathew. 3. Coleus (Coleus Parviflorus Benth.)/Rajmohan K. 4. Larger Yam/Jayakrishna Kumar. 5. Lesser Yam/Jayakrishna Kumar. 6. Winged beans/Prasanna K.P. 7. Yam Beans/Devadas V.S. III. Underutilized ornamentals: 8. Indigenous ornamentals plants of Western Ghats/Rajasekharan P.E. 9. Domestication of underutilized species for ornamentals values/Datta S.K. 10. Underutilized orchids of Orissa/Sagar Mohapatra and Kambaska Kumar Behera. 11. Promising Indian Barlerias of ornamentals potential/Mayur Y. Kamble, Sandeep R. Pai and Shendage S.M. 12. Exacum bicolor-an elegant wild flowering herbs/Sreelatha U, T.S. Baburaj and Narayanan Kutty C. 13. Use of dehydration technique for utilisation of unutilized rural flora for preparation of diversified value added products/Datta S.K. IV. Underutilized herbs and spices: 14. Underutilized herbs and spices/Ravindran P.N, Geetha S. Pillai and Nirmal Babu K. V. Underutilized vegetables: 15. Tropical cucurbits and their improvement/K.V. Peter, P.G. Sadhan Kumar and T.E. George. 16. Basella/Varalakshmi B. 17. Chow-chow/Pitchaimuthu M. 18. Ivy Gourd/Bharathi L.K. 19. Melothria/Bharathi L.K. 20. Spine Gourd/Bharathi L.K, G. Naik, H.S. Singh and Dora D.K. VI. Underutilized fruits: 21. Participatory management of indigenous mango germplasm/Pradeep Kumar T., John Kutty I. and Peter K.V. 22. Indian Noni (Marinda Citrifolia L,)--a unique fruit crop with high medicinal value/Abu Saleha, Manju Kamath L and Peter P.I. 23. Karonda (Carissa conjesta) -- an underutilized fruit crop/Dinesh Kumar, Pandey V. and Vishal Nath. 24. Tamarind/Gajanana T.M, Gowda I.N.D and Reddy B.M.C. VII. Underutilized energy plants: 25. Simarouba (Simarouba glauca DC.)/Ramajayam D., Syamasundar Joshi, Shantha Joshi and Mishra P.K. 26. Aonla cultivars/Rao V.K. and Sharma S.K.
"Underutilized and underexploited horticultural crops form an integral part of healthfood, greenparks, neutraceutical industry, home decorations, renewable sources of green energy and above all foodreserves during calamities. Leaf vegetables like agathi, chekkurmanis, waterleaf, drumstick leaf, basella and colacasia leaf are rich in fibre, minerals and beta carotenes. Cucurbits like ashgourd, pointed gourd, ivy gourd, kekrol, snap melons and chow-chow are rich in iron and amino acids. Fruits like karonda, aonla and cherries are highly nutritious and are suited to less moisture soils. Noni is a fruit for health. Noni juice is recommended against diabetes, obesity and sleeplessness. Among spices, longpepper, mint, celery, fenugreek and garcenia possess medicinal properties. There are a large number of underexploited medicinal plants like Tulsi and peppermint with considerable economic value. Tuber crops like lesser yam, larger yam, yam bean and winged bean have high energy value. Underutilized crops in Tripura, Orissa and Kerala are specially mentioned. There is need to broaden the food basket with lesser known crops. There is a shift from health care to wellness industry. Prevention is always better than cure. The present volume deals with underexploited and underutilized horticultural crops in its totality. The contributors of each chapter are working scientists in the specific crop."
