For thousands of years, moringa (Moringa oleifera) has been used as a food crop and as a medicinal plant. Almost all of moringa's plant parts have multiple uses, particularly the leaves and seed pods, which are highly nutritious. During the past several decades, more attention has focused on exploring and expanding the multiple uses and benefits of this miracle tree. Advances in research and development are rapidly progressing in the areas of botany and germplasm improvement, agronomy, nutrition, natural medicine, and its commercialization by the food and cosmetics industry. Recent developments are not only focusing on using moringa as a food crop, but also as an industrial commodity, with applications such as water clarification, livestock feed, and biofuel. This book presents much information collected from various sources including field research studies conducted by organizations involved in developing and promoting moringa as one of the most useful plants, articles written by individuals with experience and knowledge about moringa, as well as other books and publications cited in this present edition.
