Product Description

This is the first volume to provide a comprehensive review of this increasingly important crop. It covers research and production practices from around the world, including all of the major avocado growing regions. Topics include history and distribution; botany and taxonomy; climate and soil requirements; genetics, breeding, and biotechnology; cultivars and rootstocks; flowering, pollination, fruit set and development; pests and diseases; and harvest and postharvest technology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #911522 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 500 pages

Customer Reviews

"It is the very model for a modern fruit or vegetable"
I'm not a botanist, nor a plant pathologist, nor an avocado farmer. I have no scientific credentials whatsoever, beyond the somewhat dubious calling of `anthropologist'. I have eaten the odd avocado over the years, but can't even call myself a guacamole aficionado. So, why did I get my local library to borrow this book from 500 miles away ? Curiosity. And, I mean, I wasn't about to shell out [...] bucks to buy a copy !! I must say that my effort rewarded me. If you want to admire the human species (and there's a lot in life that would turn you off that particular effort), you have only to peruse the pages of a book like this. What a magnificent edifice of detailed knowledge, of constant experimentation, research and writing over the years ! Hundreds of people have devoted unbelievable amounts of time and sweat to learn all the details of avocado growing and avocado life. It's amazing ! While being a layman is a distinct handicap because a lot of the terminology is beyond you----no quarter is given, this book is for professionals----perhaps I come away from THE AVOCADO more impressed than someone who has been dealing with the subject for years.

Sentences like the following "The avocado tree abscisses, perhaps through activity of the periderm, most of its lateral buds at about one year of age or sooner, except at the intercalation." may cause you to scratch your head. Words like stenospermocarpy, bitegmic, crassinucellate, or grumusols leave you cold, but that's not really the point. This is the Whole Earth Book of Avocados; if humans know something about avocados, it's in here. Research from the US, Mexico, Israel, Spain, Australia, and South Africa is included. You learn that there are three major kinds of avocado, all with New World origins, but many cultivars from multiple cross-breedings. You will find avocado production figures, learn about the megafauna connection to its ancient dispersal throughout the highland/lowland forests of Mexico and Central America, and what people want in avocados---high quality, a long shelf life, and high yielding trees. Avocados differ according to size, shape, skin thickness, skin color, susceptibility to disease, seed size, ripening time, and flavor. You can go on and on. The book contains a chapter on breeding and on the soil and climatic variables necessary for different cultivars of the fruit. It discusses the reproductive biology of the avocado, its relationship to bees, methods of seed storage and grafting, and biotechnology in terms of the avocado. It seems that someone has even introduced genes from an arctic fish to increase the cold tolerance of some avocados ! Mulching to cut down on root rot, the usefulness of various sprays to increase the yield, orchard design, water and minerals and their relationship to the trees' health and production, diseases like canker, wilt, spot, blotch, and mold--19 diseases are discussed and color photos help you identify them. I was fascinated to learn that you can keep an avocado on the tree for six months; they don't ripen till picked. This means that in some places two crops can be on a tree at the same time. Picking, packing, shipping, cooling, and ripening treatments all get covered too.

I have no idea, but I wondered if there is such a book for every fruit and vegetable. This one could be a model. In short, if you are seriously in the avocado business, this is the Bible for you. If, like me, you are curious about human endeavors in fields utterly unconnected to your life, you could take a look at this book. Admittedly you won't be able to read it cover to cover, but you'll find out a lot about avocados and you might gain some respect for our (pretty ratty) race after all.