Biotechnology of Perennial Fruit Crops

This book provides a systematic review of the latest techniques of biotechnology as applied to perennial fruit crops, a subject that has seen many new advances recently. The emphasis of the book is on genetic manipulation rather than on tissue culture or micropropagation. The book is divided into two parts: the first covers, in 14 chapters, individual fruit crops, and the second reviews, in seven chapters, various methodologies applicable to a range of fruits. Thus readers should be able to find accessible information whether they are interested in one particular crop or in a specific technique. Contributors are drawn from the USA, Europe, India and Bangladesh, and all chapters have been specially commissioned for this volume. Contents include chapters on apple, avocado, citrus, coconut and date palm, coffee, grape, guava and jackfruit, mango, Musa olive, papaya, pear, prunus and small perennial temperate fruits. Also included are chapters on protoplast-based approaches to breeding, induction of haploidy, organogenesis and embryogenesis, somaclonal variation, biochemical and molecular markers, transformation and in vitro conservation.