Vegetables constitute an important item of human diet. In the context of alleviating protein malnutrition in India, efforts are under way to enrich cereals. To supplement them vegetables, being short-duration crops, can be produced in succession on the same plot and all the family labour of the vegetable-grower can be usefully employed throughout the year. The daily minimum requirement of vegetables, according to a dietician, is 284 g per head, i.e. about 20 per cent of the daily requirement of the total food of an adult. This requirement is more in the case of a vegetable diet. The present production and consumption of vegetables in the country are very inadequate, being only about one-fourth to one-third of the requirement. In order to improve the quality of the diet of the people, it is essential that the production of vegetables should be increased considerably. This object can be achieved by increasing the present area under vegetables and also by increasing the yield per unit area by adopting better agricultural techniques.

Vegetable seed supply.   Like any other crop, seed is an important factor governing the production of vegetables. Seed production is technical job in the case of vegetables , unlike in the case of most other crops. The production techniques are also different in biennial vegetables, including onion, cabbage, beet, etc., and specific environmental conditions are required for producing their seeds. The growers depend mostly on outside agencies for meeting their requirements of seeds. Seed production and trade have not developed in this country on any scientific lines and that the approach is not systematic. That is why the quality of the vegetable seeds has not been what it should be. The National Seeds Corporation, a Government of India undertaking, has recently entered the vegetable seed industry. Some private seed nurseries have also employed qualified technical personnel. A Central Seed Act has also been passed by the Parliament. These are all sure steps to streamline seed production, inspection and certification. The growing psychology of the farmers in recognizing the need for quality seeds augurs well for the production of vegetables. The quality seed production will not only help to increase the production within the country but will also open up a big source of potential foreign exchanges\ by exporting vegetables seeds to our neighbouring countries in South-East Asia and Africa.

Types of vegetable gardens.   Vegetable gardens can be classified into six different types according to the purpose for which they have been developed. These are home-gardens or kitchen-gardens, market-gardens, truck-gardens, gardens for processing, gardens for vegetable-forcing, and gardens for seed production. The layout of a home-garden will differ from individual to individual. However, broadly, a city home-gardener will follow a very intensive method of vegetable-growing compared with that followed by a home-gardener in a village. A market garden produces vegetables for the local market. Most of such types of gardens are located within 15 to 20 km from a city. The cropping pattern depends on the demands of the local market. A truck-garden produces selected crops in a relatively large quantity for distant markets. It generally follows a more extensive method of cultivation than the market-garden. The location is determined by soil and climatic factors suitable for raising particular crops. A vegetable garden for processing develops around the processing factories and is mainly responsible for supplying vegetables to the factories regularly. This type of garden grows particular varieties suitable for canning, dehydration or freezing. Vegetable-forcing is concerned with the production of vegetables out of the normal season. The commonest forcing structures are glass and plastic houses.

Vegetable seed production is rather a specialized type of vegetable-growing. A thorough knowledge of a vegetable crop in respect of its growth habits, mode of pollination, proper isolation distance, etc. are of prime importance in the production of quality seed. The handling of the seed-crop, its curing, threshing, cleaning, grading, packing and storage need specialized knowledge. A vegetable garden for seed production is , therefore, considered a special type of garden.

Classification of vegetables.   There are more than fifty important vegetables. If the growing of each is dealt with in details, it will lead to much repetition. It is, therefore, desirable to classify the vegetables into certain groups. They are : (1) botanical classification, (2) classification based on hardiness, (3) classification based on the parts used, and (4) classification based on essential methods of culture. The last on is the most convenient method and is generally followed for describing the cultural operations of different vegetables. The vegetables are dealt under thirteen groups, namely potato, solanaceous fruits, cole crops, root crops, bulb crops, peas and beans, cucurbits, sweet-potato, bhindi or okra, salad crops, pot-herbs or greens, other root crops and perennial vegetables.

Solanaceous fruits.   Three important vegetables, tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) and chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) are included in this group. They all belong to the family Solanaceae.

VARIETIES.
Tomato :
IARI--'Pusa Ruby', 'Pusa Early Dwarf', 'Sioux', 'Marglobe', 'Best-of-All'. 'Slope. 120' and 'rama'
Uttar Pradesh--'T 1', 'Kalyanpur Angurlata' and 'Ponderose'
Punjab--'Keckruth', 'Keckruth Ageti', 'Pb. Tropical' and 'Slope 12'
Brinjal :
IARI--'Pusa Purple Long', 'Pusa Purple Round', 'Pusa Purple Cluster' and 'Pusa Kranti'
Uttar Pradesh--'T 1' to 'T 4', 'Benares Giant' and 'Black Beauty' Bihar--'Muktakeshi', 'S T 1' and 'S T 2'
Punjab--'Black Beauty', 'P 8' and 'P 34'
Madras--'Wynad Giant' and 'Gudiyatham'
Maharashtra--'Surti Gota' and 'Manjri Gota'
Chillies :
IARI--'California Wonder' and 'Yolo Wonder' (Vegetable type) and 'NP 46A'
Andhra Pradesh--'G 1', 'G 2' and 'G 3'

CULTIVATION.   All the three vegetables are warm season crops. Their plants cannot withstand frost. In northern India, two sowings are done in June-July for the autumn crop, and in November for the spring-summer crop. A third sowing of brinjal can be done in March for a rainy-season crop. In the east and the south India, the crops can be grown throughout the year, the main sowing season being during July-August. In the hills, the seed is sown in March-April. For a good yield, 20-25 tonnes of farmyard manure per hectare is incorporated into the soil at the time of its preparation. This is to be supplemented with 100 kg of nitrogen, 60-80 kg each of phosphoric acid and potassium. Half the dose of nitrogen and the full dose of phosphoric acid and potassium should be added to the soil at transplanting, and the rest top-dressed after about four weeks. The foliar application of 35 kg of nitrogen and 45 kg of phosphoric per hectare as 4 to 5 sprays is also recommended. It is necessary to maintain an even moisture supply in the soil; over-watering is as harmful as insufficient irrigation. A dry period, followed by a sudden heavy watering, may cause the cracking of tomato fruits. F₁ hybrids can be used for high yield and uniform fruiting. The yield of tomato is about 20-25 tonnes, of brinjal 25-30 tonnes; and of green chilli 8-10 tonnes and of dry chilli 2-2.5 tonnes per hectare.

Damping off is a common disease of all the three crops. Tomato is attacked by a number of fungal disease, e.g. Fusarium wilt, early blight and late blight. Several sprayings with fungicides, Bordeaux mixture, Marglobe and Manalucie, and the use of resistant varieties, are recommended. The common virus disease is tobacco mosaic and leaf-curl. In the case of brinjal, Phomopsis wilt is the most important fungal disease and is seed-borne. Hot-water treatment (50^oC for 30 minutes) of the seed helps to reduce the incidence of the disease. Little leaf is caused by mycoplasma and can be partially controlled with antibiotics. Die-back, mosaic and leaf-curl are the most serious disease of chillies. Fruit-borer is a serious pest of tomato and so are the shoot and fruit-borer of brinjal. Thirps are important insects on chillies. These pests can be controlled with periodical sprayings with insecticides, such as Malathion, DDT or BHC.

Cole crops.   This group includes cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata), cauliflower (B. oleracea L. var. botrytis), knol-khol or kohlrabi (B. caulorapa L.), broccoli (B. oleracea L. var. italica), brussels sprouts (B. oleracea L. var. gemmifera Zenk.), and chinese cabbage ((B. pekinensis (Lour.) Rupr. and B. chinensis). All the above crops have developed from wild cabbage, known as colewart. They belong to the family Cruciferae and the genus Brassica. All cole crops are hardy and thrive best in cool weather, except some acclimatized early cauliflower varieties. They have many things in common in respect of their cultural requirements.

VARIETIES.
Cauliflower :
Early-'Kunwari' and 'Early Patna'-available from mid-September to mid-October. 'Pusa Katki'--available in October-November.
Mid-season-'Aghani', 'Poosi', 'Patna Main crops'--available from mid-November to mid-December. 'early Snowball', 'D 96', 'Japanese Improved'--available from mid-December to mid-January
Late-'Dania-available in January and February. 'Snowball-16', 'Sutton's snowball'--available from mid-January to April
Cabbage : Round- or ball-head types--'Golden Acre', 'Pride of India', 'Copenhagen Market', 'Express Flat'. Drumhead types--'Pusa Drumhead'. Conical-head type--'Jersey Wakefield'. Savoy type--'Chieftan'
Round-head types are the earliest followed by the conical types, and then the drumhead and the savoy types.
Knol-Khol : 'White Vienna', 'Purple Vienna', 'King of North'
Chinese cabbage : 'Chihili', 'Wong Bok' and 'Pakchoi' (non-heading)
Broccoli : 'Calabrese', 'Bronzino'
Brussels Sprouts : 'Catskill', 'Long Island', 'Danish Prize'