eChapters

The reproductive efficiency in dairy herd is one of the important factor in determining total production and profitability. To remain profitable, dairy cows must reproduce at greatest efficiency and should calve every year (12-13 months). The measure of fertility in a herd is the calving rate (percentage of live, normal calves born). However, it is also necessary to measure fertility based on services per conception. In a healthy herd in which fertile bulls are used, an average of about 1.6 to 1.7 services is required per conception. The number of services per conception is particularly useful for analyzing costs and in comprising the A.I. quite similar to that obtained through natural service in well managed herds. Another measure of fertility is the non-return rate that is calculated from insemination records. Non-return rate is the percentage of cows that are not subsequently rebred within a defined period (60 to 90 days) following an insemination. On an average, about 70% percent of cows inseminated fail to return for service after first service on a 60 to 90 days non-return basis.

Artificial insemination in horses is being practiced since many years in Russia and China for genetic up-gradation. The equine artificial insemination industry has evolved a system in which mares are inseminated with fresh or cooled semen (500 million motile sperm) every 48 hours until estrus is no longer detected or until ovulation is detected by trans-rectal palpation or ultrasonography of ovaries respectively. The advantages of AI include:

Artificial insemination (AI) technique in pigs is being performed since several decades in many countries but not widely accepted technology as in cattle due to reasons like sub-standard method of semen cryopreservation and lower fertility rate. The main idea is to increase the breeding efficiency by utilization of superior boars. The number of boars needed for breeding purposes can be reduced by use of AI and reduced transmission of infectious diseases. A minimum of 15 to 20 sows can be inseminated after dilution over a 2 days period with an ejaculate from a boar. Artificial insemination had considerable impact worldwide in its application to commercial pig production. The main advantage of using fresh liquid boar semen is that fertility is maintained even with low number of spermatozoa in the inseminate. AI provides unique opportunity for the genetic improvement of pig industry. Using fewer than 1 million sperm cells per breeding unit can achieve conception rates with liquid semen similar to those with frozen thawed semen containing approximately 15 million sperm and reduced fertility makes cryopreservation an uneconomical option in boars.

Artificial insemination technology is a valuable tool to inseminate 2000 to 3000 does by frozen semen instead of breeding 40 to 50 does by natural service in a year. Goat semen may be stored and frozen more successfully than ram semen. The buck will be sexually mature at 6-7 months of age.

Castration means removal of the testicles and there are two methods of castration in domestic animals viz. closed and open method.

1. Closed method

In closed method, without incision, the spermatic cord is crushed where thrombus is formed which arrest blood flow to the testicles resulting in gradual atrophy of the testicles. ex. Burdizzo method

2.1     Regulation of the Cell Cycle 
    
2.2     Mitosis
    
2.3     Meiosis

8.1 Sub Cloning
    
8.2 Cloning into a Yeast Artificial Chromosome (YAC)
    
8.3 DNA Libraries

Introduction

Road traffic in cold snowy regions during winter season faces problems, like icing of road, snow compaction and snow storms that obstruct visibility. In snowy region there is also danger of damage due to snow avalanches. Avalanches often severely damage road service facilities or road structures. Quick response and corrective actions are required to cope with the damages, if any avalanche occurs.

Introduction

Forests face many hazards but most common is forest fire. They pose threat to not only forest wealth but also to entire region of fauna and flora seriously disturbing the bio-diversity, ecology and environment of a region. During summer, forests are littered with dry senescent leaves and twigs which could burst into flames ignited by the slightest spark. Forest cover in India is 675,538 km and constitute 20-25% of geographical area.

1.    Wilt
        
2.    Anthracnose
        
3.    Canker

1.    Blister blight of tea
        
2.    Red rust
        
3.    Black rot
        
4.    Black root

1.    Foot rot or Leaf rot or wilt
        
2.    Anthracnose
        
3.    Bacterial leaf spot or stem rot

1.    Yellow vein mosaic
        
2.    Cercospora leaf spot
        
3.    Fusarium wilt
        
4.    Powdery mildew

1.    Powdery mildew
        
2.    Die-back
        
3.    Black spot
        
4.    Rust

1.    Wilt
        
2.    Rust
        
3.    Septoria leaf spot
        
4.    Powdery mildew
        
5.    Chrysanthemum stunt

Efficiency of pest control by insecticides is dependent on the correct type of pesticide formulation applied at the proper time and correct dosage, besides the good equipment. Equipment used to apply insecticides must be suited to the crop (or other situation in which the pest is to be controlled), to the scale of operation, and to the formulation of chemical to be applied. In the long run, it is good economy to buy the best equipment available.

Application equipment of high quality means not only good, durable construction but also good design that gives it a professional appearance. Because it is desirable and often necessary to utilize pesticides in a variety of ways, various types of dispensing equipment have been developed. This equipment is placed in the following categories: (1) Sprayers, (2) Dusters, and (3) Granule Applicators. In addition, specialised equipment of various sorts (such as mist machines and fog generators) are available for particular purposes. Since detailed consideration of pesticide application equipment is out of the scope of this book, only a brief consideration is given here to some important features of the main types of equipment.

The insect larva after the complete development emerges out from the egg by rupturing the egg shell chorion. It passes through several stages called as instars. Each instar is separated by a moult; the growth from larva to adult involves some degree of morphological changes or metamorphosis. The egg hatches into 1st instar larva which later moults to the second instar larva and so on until at a final moult the adult imago stage. The insect moult takes place after attaining adult except in the insect apterygote insect. In family pantatomide full insect moulting occurs. Many insects especially those with a small number of instars (mosquitoes) and (chrysocoris stolli) insect moulting occurs as Ist, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th imago instar and then after sometime adults insect emerges.

Metamorphosis of Insect: The development process by which first instar immature stage is transformed into the adult is called metamorphosis, which means literally change in the form. The developing stage is morphologically different from the adult. The degree of difference varies from slight to extreme with many intermediates stage. E.g., Cockroaches, Butterfly, Chrysocoris stolli Wolf. The insect may be grouped on dependance of degree of metamorphosis as:

We let you know that the type of people in a given region is closely linked to the kind of resources found in the concerned region; and which are necessary for human beings to survive.

In fact, more than 100 countries possess arid lands, where more than 40% of the global population lives. The soils of these regions present too much fragility and they are too degraded that they can’t allow people to survive.

Let’s emphasize that in Africa, two third of the total area are arid zones. Thus, for Africans, the type of their struggle for adaptation to the context of their land, illustrates their ingenious capacity to model their hostile surroundings and to leave marks of their cultures all over prehistory and history.

Social organizations in those arid areas are closely linked to modes of exploitation and valuation of resources (water and land). However, human productions in those areas are doubly menaced; on one side by the action of humans who exploit resources for their immediate needs, and on the other side, by climate adverse effects during long periods of drought. It means that climate change and violent meteorological phenomenon worsen circumstances. That leads to environmental degradation and biodiversity reduction; alarming deterioration of vital conditions; and intensification of poverty, both in rural and urban areas; particularly among women and young. Consequently, there are non durable (viable) agricultural practices, overexploitation, overgrazing, excessive and illegal forestry exploitation; destruction of forests and bushes by non-controlled fires, pillages and conflicts with weapons; reduction of vegetation, due to the scarcity of rain; of water in general and menaces of heaps of sands.

Introduction

The town Paithan is famous by it’s name Dakshin Kashi. Godavari river has pristine glory and great significance for Hindus.

Nath temple is situated on the bank of Godavari river. It is a holy place and that’s why it becomes a place of public gathering on Ekadashi, Aashadi Ekadashi, Poornima, Deepawali, Dasera etc. Every year during Chaitra lakhs of people gather.

But at the time of Sheshti, which occurs once in a year is a special event. Hence many fold increase of congregation compared to other melas. The particular small stretch of river near temple was highly polluted, due to mass bathing and other polluting activities. The warm weather shall alter the photosynthesis rates, biodegradation and affect BOD, DO, pH etc. Recent Nath Sheshti at Paithan during 20^th March to 22^nd March 2006, drew about one lakh of pilgrims and had a few special aspects of interests from an environmental point of view.

Considering all the above aspects, it was decided to assess the changes in quality of river Godavari during Nath Sheshti.

Introduction

India is having very rich sources of inland water bodies in the form of river, lakes and reservoirs. The reservoirs are constructed by impounding the river system. The reservoirs are constructed for effective utilisation of water for irrigation, power generation and flood control. Reservoir fishery in India is also important from socio-economic point of view as it has the potential of providing employment to about two million people, Kaushal and Sharma (2001). Total area under the reservoirs in India is 3:1 million ha and it is expected to double by 2020. This includes 19,000 small reservoirs with a total water surface area of 14,85,557 ha and about 180 medium and 56 large reservoirs of 5,27,541 and 11,40, 268 ha area respectively.

The Maharashtra is endowed with an area of 1,79,430 ha under reservoir and the Maharashtra produces 516 tonnes of fish through reservoirs. The state fisheries corporation was operating in 6,272 ha of reservoirs and marketing the catches.

Introduction

Disaster is defined as a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses, which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources (ISDR 2002).

Disaster in Global context - The impact of natural disasters in terms of human and economic losses has risen in recent years, society in general has become more vulnerable to natural disasters. Those usually most affected by natural and other disasters are the poor and socially disadvantaged groups in developing countries as they are least equipped to cope with them (IFRC 2001).

Introduction

The advancements in the field of informatics, biology and allied fields of technology led to the emergence of an inter-disciplinary field known as ‘Bioinformatics’ (Kumar 2006, Madhan Mohan 2006). Explosion of knowledge in the field of biology and generation of new information (data) needs collection, storage, organization, integration, analysis, simulation of biological data and a faster distribution among the scientific workers (Mehrotra et al. 2005). The advent of super computers, high speed computing and development of algorithms for data formatting, assists in the storage of data at the site of origin and distributed through the hyperlinks in world wide web (www).

The vast field of Bioinformatics is beyond the scope of this article. However to elucidate the concepts that led to the the development of Bioinformatics vis-à-vis is given in brief before explaining the new and emerging area of ‘fluxomics’.

Techniques have been developed to produce nanotubes in sizeable quantities, including arc discharge, laser ablation, high pressure carbon monoxide (HiPCO),andchemicalvapor deposition (CVD).Mostof these processes take place in vacuum or with process gases. CVD growth of CNTs can occur in vacuum or at atmospheric pressure. Large quantities of nanotubes can be synthesized by these methods; advances incatalysis and continuous growthprocessesare making CNTs more commercially viable.

Strength

Carbon nanotubes are the strongest and stiffest materials yet discovered in terms of tensile strength and elastic modulus respectively. This strength results from the covalent sp² bonds formed between the individual carbon atoms. In 2000, a multi-walled carbon nanotube was tested to have a tensile strength of 63 gigapascals (GPa). (This, for illustration, translates into the ability to endure tension of 6300 kg on a cable with cross-section of 1 mm².) Since carbon nanotubes have a low density for a solid of 1.3 to 1.4 g·cm”³, its specific strength of up to 48,000 kN·m·kg”¹ is the best of known materials, compared to high-carbon steel’s 154 kN·m·kg”¹. Under excessive tensile strain, the tubes will undergo plastic deformation, which means the deformation is permanent. This deformation begins at strains of approximately 5% and can increase the maximum strain the tubes undergo before fracture by releasing strain energy.

Nanosensors are any biological, chemical, or sugery sensory points used to convey information about nanoparticles to the macroscopic world. Their use mainly include various medicinal purposes and as gateways to building other nanoproducts, such as computer chips that work at the nanoscaleand nanorobots. Presently, there are several ways proposed to make nanosensors, including Top-down and bottom-up design, top-downlithography, bottom-upassembly, and molecular self-assembly.

Predicted applications

Medicinal uses of nanosensors mainly revolve aroundthe potential of nanosensors to accurately identify particular cells or places in the body in need. By measuring changes in volume, concentration, displacement and velocity, gravitational,electrical, and magneticforces, pressure, or temperature of cells in a body, nanosensors may be able to distinguish between and recognize certain cells, most notably those of cancer, at the molecular level in order to deliver medicine or monitor development to specific places in the body. In addition, they may be able to detect macroscopic variations from outside the body and communicate these changes to other nanoproducts working within the body.

The societal implications of nanotechnology are the potential benefits and challenges that the introduction of novelnanotechnological devices and materials may hold for society and human interaction. The term is sometimes expanded to also include nanotechnology’s health and environmental implications, but this article will only consider the social and political implications of nanotechnology.

As nanotechnology is an emerging field andmostof its applications are still speculative, there is much debate about what positive and negative effects that nanotechnology might have.

Beyond the toxicity risks to human health and the environment which are associated with first-generation nanomaterials, nanotechnology has broader societal implications and poses broader social challenges. Social scientistshave suggestedthatnanotechnology’s social issues should be understood and assessed not simply as “downstream” risks or impacts. Rather, the challenges should be factored into “upstream” research and decision making in order to ensure technology development that meets social objectives.

Nanotechnology, which deals with understanding and control of matter at dimension of roughly 100 nm and below, has a cross sectoral application and an interdisciplinary orientation. At this scale, the physical, chemical and biological properties of materials differ from the properties of individual atoms and molecules or bulk matter, which enable novel applications. Nanotechnology research and development is directed towards understanding and creating improved materials, devices and systems that exploit these properties as they are discovered and characterized

There are many applications of nanotechnology such as in the area of medicine, chemistry and environment, energy, agriculture, information and communication, heavy industry and consumer goods. The alleged potential of this technology has garnered the attention of both developed and developing countries across the globe. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has listed it as one of six priority areas; it is one of the themesin the EU Framework Program for Research and Technological Development in Europe; and it has been the focus of research in countries worldwide.

Introduction

In India, the Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) sector plays a pivotal role in the overall industrial economy of the country. It is estimated that in terms of value, the sector accounts for about 39 per cent of the manufacturing output and around 33 per cent of the total export of the country. Further, in recent years the MSE sector has consistently registered higher growth rate compared to the overall industrial sector. The major advantage of the sector is its employment potential at low capital cost. As per available statistics, this sector employs an estimated 31 million persons spread over 12.8 million enterprises and the labour intensity in the MSE sector is estimated to be almost 4 times higher than the large enterprises.

Definition for SMEs is often considered to be an obstacle for business studies and market research. Definitions in use today define thresholds in terms of employment, turnover and assets. They also incorporate a reasonable amount of flexibility around year-to-year changes in these measures so that a business qualifying as an SME in one year can have a reasonable expectation of remaining an SME in the next.

Introduction

The farmer’s socio-economic conditions continue to be poor. The job availability and opportunities are also very poor in rural areas and are declining with time. There are several instances of despair amongst farmers due to heavy burden of loan, which they took for procuring inputs for crop production. In majority of the cases loan is still borrowed from the local moneylenders on a very high rate of interest, as it is convenient and simple for them. The despair arises due to non-payment of loan in the event of crop failure or market crash for that crop, for which he had taken loan. The reason for crop failure may be adverse climatic conditions or pest attack, which could not be managed due lack of know-how and non-availability of good quality agro-chemicals. Report about the presence of spurious pesticide and fertilizers in the market are quite common in media. Farmers meet unfair treatment in the market while procuring inputs and marketing their produce. The market is uncertain and several times the farmers are not able to meet even the variable cost of production.  There is no other option left except ploughing back the crop in the field. The majorities of our farmers are small and marginal and unable to bear such losses on one hand and government doesn’t have a contingency plan to help the poor farmers on other hand. Even if it provides some help it doesn’t reach the affected farmers.

Introduction

Indian economy is characterized predominance of rural population and is heavily dependence on agriculture sector. The major challenges to the growth and prosperity of the country are unemployment and poverty. Various attempts by government in the past have yielded only marginal success. The problem of rural unemployment and poverty can be solved by creating some new avenues for employment generation in the rural areas. Majority of farmers are still using traditional farming practices. The concept of entrepreneurship in agriculture can play vital role in improving their livelihood security and alleviating the poverty.  The individuals involved in farming/industrial activity should posses drive, ambition, foresight, and imaginations to break their traditional barrier, overcome social inertia, transform theory into practice. The individuals performing these functions are the entrepreneurs, and their enterprising ability and skill can be termed as entrepreneurship (Kothari, 1989).

ABSTRACT

Women nearly constitute half of the population of the mountainous region of northwestern Himalayas. Rural hill women with their multiple roles and functions in the society, form an integral part of sustainable development of hills. Irrespective of age and health, they have to perform domestic household and agriculture work. Collection of fodder, firewood and fuel wood from the forest areas for energy requirements and household cooking are also done by women. The present paper provides the background information about the women in hilly areas and their dependence on agroforestry for meeting daily requirements of household.

INTRODUCTION

More than ninety per cent of mountain population inhibit in rural areas. Women nearly constitute half of the population of the region having composite social profile. Mountain specificities which consists of habitats, societies and their interactions and adaptations can prove to be constraints as well as opportunities. Comparative economic growth or development and dynamism in social-economic structure are due to interlinking of various land use systems including agriculture, horticulture, forestry, animal husbandry and tourism. Rural women play a pivotal role in sustainable development of their areas and form an integral part of subsistence rural economy (Thakur, 2003). They are considered nucleus of hill farming because of their multiple functions/ role in the society. Hence this section of the society in the region is the main and basic asset. They depend on their surrounding environment for many of the basic needs, therefore they are inextricably linked with natural resources and environment, and thus have to cope with the harsh environment by developing mountain specific adaptations.

A. Answer the following?

1.    Why does camel mostly eat carbohydrates during desert travel?

Ans: Because increasedrespiration needed to oxidize body fat and protein which result in an increased loss of water by evaporation whereas carbohydrates oxidation results in lower loss of water.

2.    Why birds require less water than mammals?

Ans: Because uric acid is the end product of protein metabolism and is excreted in nearly solid form with minimum loss of water. Higher evaporative loss in birds is partially balanced bytheir reducedurinarywaterexcretionrelative to mammals. Besides, the breakdown of protein to uric acid provides more metabolic water than does its catabolism to urea.

3.    What is TDS?

Ans: TDS or total dissolved solids or salinity is a measure of the usefulness of water for animals or for crop irrigation.

4.    What is metabolic water?

Ans: When prganic compounds such as fat,protein, carbohydrates are oxidized in the animal body, water us produced as end product along with other usable products. Similarly, when proein, fat and carbohydrates are synthesized liberation of water takesplace. The water which is available to the animal body by such biochemical reaction is known as metabolic water.

5.    What is bound water?

A. Answer the following questions

1.    Define silage?

Ans: Whena freshgreenfoddercontaininghighmoistureisallowed to ferment under controlled anaerobic condition, produces some volatile fatty acids which preserve the green material for a long time is known as silage.

2.    What is ensiling?

Ans: The process of conserving green fodder as silage is called ensiling.

3.    What is silo?

Ans: Silo is an airtight container in which silage is prepared.

4.    Why hollow stemmed plants are not suitable for ensiling?

Ans: Because air remains trapped in the stem but once the stems are trampled then the fodder can also produce good silage.

5.    Why legumes are difficult to ensile?

A. Answer the following questions:

1.    What is flushing?

Ans: It means putting the sow on a more nutritious ration before breedingseasonto improvephysical condition of the female, prominent heat symptoms, increases ovulation rate, shortens period between weaning to successful conception, more uniform litter size and minimizes embryonic death, prompt post weaning estrus.

2.    What is piglet anaemia?

Ans: It is a condition occurs 2-4 weeks after birth when piglets do not have access to soil or pasture and are housed in concrete floor. Piglet anemia is characterized by labored spasmodic breathing(popularlyknownasthumps); hemoglobinlevelfalls to 3-4mg/100ml of blood, poor growth rate, wrinkled skin, rough coat, lack of healthy pink color of visible mucous membrane.

3.    Why pig industry in India has not yet been developed?

Ans: It is mainly due to the fact that pig is not used as meat by majority of meat eaters.

4.    Why it is advisable to offer cereal based ration to the piglets only after two weeks?

Maintenance

When an animal is being fed for growth, fattening, milk secretion or other productive function, a considerable part of its feed is utilized for supporting body processes which are vital, irrespective of new tissue or product is being formed. This demand for feed is referred to as the “Maintenance requirement”; because it includes the amount needed to keep intact the tissues of animal which is not growing, working or yielding any product. There would be tissue break down with the accompanying loss in weight, leading to undesirable consequences, provided such need for feed is not met.

The fasting catabolism

The fasting animal doing no external work and not producing in any way is still carrying on a variety of internal physiological processes, which are absolutely vital for life. Obviouslythe nutrients required to support theseinternal activities must come from the break down of body tissue itself. This destruction of body tissue is termed as the “Fasting catabolism” and this can be measured in terms of the waste products discarded through the various paths of excretion.

Energy catabolism of fasting

The energy expended in the fasting animal is converted into heat, which can be measured in direct or indirect calorimeter. For measuring fasting catabolism at its minimumvalue, it becomes imperative to eliminate all the influences leading to increase heat production above the minimum expenditure compatible with the maintenance of life in so far as possible. Such a minimum value is called “Basal-metabolism” or BMR.Theconditions essential fora true minimumvalue of fasting catabolism can most nearly be attained in human being are specified as following :

The increase in size and weight of farm animals is the simplest manifestation. The life in the animals begins with a single cell weighing practically nothing, then grow to reach mature weights ranging from 1 kg to 800 kg or more for a bison. Fromconceptionto maturity, animalsgrowth canbe depicted bya sigmoid (S-shaped) graph :

Practically there may be deviation from above pattern due to environmental and nutritional features. Retardation of growth may be observed due to feed scarcity during cold or dry seasons. Vice-versa will happen when there is feed abundance. Intensivehusbandrygenerallyfollows sigmoid growthof animals. Whereas, idealized pattern of growth would be deviated in the growth rate of animals, whenreared undernatural (extensive) conditions;exhibitinginterrupted curves. While growing, development of various parts of the animal, defined as anatomical components (for example legs), as organs (for example liver) or as tissues (for example muscle) grow at different rates. By the time of maturity, the proportions of the animal changes. For example in cattle:

• At birth: Head is relatively large, 6.2 % of the body weight. • At body weight of 100 kg: Head is 4.5 % of body weight.

Biochemical and Physiological Role of Lactation is Tremendous

On a large scale, feed nutrients are converted into milk constituents by considerable biochemical and physiological processes. Ahigh yielder of dairy may produce five times dry matter in the milk, as is present in her own body, during a single lactation. Still there are records of cows, which have produced in a year’s milk over five times the organic matter of their own bodies. Certain other high yielders, which over a life time, have secreted organic matter in the milk equivalent to thirty five times that present in their own tissues. The noteworthy physiological performance is represented in the milk secretion of sownursinga largerlitter.Humanorganismiscapableofproducinganastonishing output of milk. Thefeed provides rawmaterials fromwhichthe milkconstituents are derived. Some of these milk components are synthesized in the udder, for which energy is supplied again byfeed. Therefore, the amount and composition of milk dictates feed requirement.

Carnivore [Carnivora]

Members of this family are mostly flesh-eaters and share features that show hunting lifestyle.

Limbs: These are very powerful, agile quick moving, very active.

Forward-facing eyes: These help in judging distance accurately.

Teeth: All have very strong canine teeth for cutting.

These molars … pre-molars function like shears to slice through flesh (meat).

One exception is the Giant Panda, which is almost-entirely Herbivore, although, most other members of carnivora family would supplement their diet with Vegetation, when necessary.

Pinnipeds [Marine mammals]

In some systems of classification, Pinnipeds are considered as members of Carnivora, for example, marine mammal – Elephant Seal.

Most pinnipeds are collected fromisolated island rookeries, shoelines or seaice. Use of a so – called “Wally” net is the most efficient means of collecting large Seals, such as above Elephant seal. Large transport - cage carries such big animal to shore.

A premixisa mixtureofvitamins, trace minerals, medicaments, feedsupplements and diluents either individually or in a combination. It is a value added solution for feeds with sustainable safety and quality.

The main objective of premixes is to deliver the micro-ingredients in a manner desired by customer. These blends of Micro-ingredients need to be carefully selected, analysed and homogenously manufactured in controlled conditions.

Good quality premixes are manufactured as per following four fundamental principles that determine premix quality and performance :

1. Understanding the chemical and physical attributes in the microingredient to be incorporated.

2. Testing to ensure that all microingredients meet specifications.

3. Controllingthe inclusionin fullproof and secure method.

4. Blending together in speciality mixers to achieve a homogenous mix.

A mill is a device that breaks solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting. Such communition is an important unit operation in many processes. There are manydifferent types of mills and manytypes of materials processed in them. Historically, mills were powered by hand (e.g., via hand cranks) working animals (horsemill), wind (wind mill) or water (watermill). Today they are usually powered by electricity and are controlled by computer (automatic mills).

The grinding of solid matters occurs under exposure of mechanical forces that trench the structure by overcoming of the interior bonding forces. After the grinding, thestate ofthesolid is changed:thegrain size, thegrain size disposition and the grain shape.

Milling also refers to the process of breaking down, separating, sizing, or classifyingaggregatematerial. For instance rock crushingor grindingto produce uniform aggregate size for construction purposes, or separation of rock, soil or aggregatematerialforthe purposesofstructural fillor land reclamationactivities. Aggregate milling processes are also used to remove or separate contamination or moisture from aggregate or soil and to produce “dry fills” prior to transport or structuralfilling.

Grinding may serve the following purposes in engineering: • Increase of the surface area of a solid

• Manufacturing of a solid with a desired grain size

Introduction

• Objective of animal diet formulations to provide a palatable ration at minimumcost to meet nutritional and energyrequirements of the animal.

• To achieve this objective, it is important to have knowledge about the requirementsof specific nutrient ingredients and the nutrient composition of feeds, which are used to formulate the animal diet.

• Diet formulation is an important aspect to meet production and financial goals in the most economical way.

• A dietis called balanced if it providesenergyto meet lactation, production and specific level of health requirement.

• Economic as well as nutritional aspects should be considered while optimisingnutrient ingredients.

• These three factors are so intimately related to each other that cannot be separated during the process of feed formulation.

Preliminary Stages

• The first step in diet formulation is to define the objective of diet formulation. Depending on the objective of diet formulation (such as reproduction, lactation, live-stocketc.), requirementsfor nutrient ingredients are established

• This step includes individual units and overall requirement for diet ingredients. After defining the objective of study and diet formulation, requirements of nutrient intake are defined to achieve that objective

• While definingtherequirement, socialenvironment, internal, external and economical conditions should be taken into consideration.Nutrient requirements can be established by the empirical method and factorial method.

• The empiricalmethodisbasedonexperimental studies whereas the factorial method identifies the various functions within the animal that defines the needs of nutrient ingredients.

The Codex alimentarius is a collection of standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relative to food.

It is derived from latin word which means Food Code.

Codex alimentarius is about safe, good food for everyone - everywhere.

International food trade has existed for thousands of years but until not too long agofood wasmainlyproduced, soldand consumed locally. Over the last century theamount offoodtraded internationallyhas grownexponentially, and a quantity and variety of food never before possible travels the globe today.

The CODEX ALIMENTARIUS international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice contribute to thesafety, qualityandfairnessof this international food trade. Consumers can trust the safety and quality of the food products theybuyand importers can trust that the food theyordered will be in accordance with their specifications.

Public concerns about food safety issues are often placing Codex at the centre of global debates. Biotechnology, pesticides, food additives and contaminants are some of the issues discussed in Codex meetings. Codex standards are based on the best available science assisted by independent international risk assessment bodies or ad-hoc consultations organized by FAO and WHO.

1. Introduction

The Refractance Window drying system uses circulating hot water, usually at 90°C and at atmospheric pressure, so that it can carry the thermal energy to the material to be dehydrated. Thermal energy is transferred to the wet product from circulating hot water through a plastic interface which is transparent to the infrared radiation. The actual product temperature is kept below 70°C. The heated water is recycled and reused, which helps in improving the thermal efficiency of the system. The use of hot water as the heat transfer medium and at temperatures just below boiling is a design feature that is unique to this drying method. In RW drying, there are three modes of heat transfer, namely conduction, convection, and radiation. The process water is heated by steam within an insulated tank and then circulated in shallow troughs to transfer thermal energy to the plastic conveyor. As the plastic conveyor is very thin, it reaches the temperature of hot water flowing beneath it almost immediately. By conduction and radiation, the thermal energy from the hot water is transmitted through the plastic conveyor. The use of process water at temperatures just below boiling and a thin plastic conveyor with infrared transmission in the wavelength range that matches the absorption spectrum for water all work together to facilitate rapid drying.

1. Introduction

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a tuberous root crops. It is known as “U mangra” in Manipuri. It is also known as mandioca or tapioca, yucca, mosioc. Cassava belongs to Euphorbiaceae family The cassava plant is of perennial woody shrub in nature. (CGIR 2011; FAO-2015, Zhu 2015). Like paddy and wheat as staple food crops, cassava is also staple food crops for many countries. It supports millions of population especially in South American and African countries. It is also known as food security crop because of its ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions when other food crops cannot sustain and destroy. It can grow in low fertility soil, marginal land with less agricultural maintenance. It resists to pest and diseases so cultivation is easy to carry out with less expenditure. Cassava is abundantly grown in Manipur mostly in hilly areas. To some extent, it is consumed as snacks item either by burnt in fire or charcoal or boiled form with little addition of salt. The fresh young leaves and roots after removing its cover is used as ingredients of “singju” a salad type traditional snack items of Manipur. Out of cassava sweet snack item locally called “manghra heingan” in Manipur is also prepared. For making this sweet item, cassava is boiled with sugarcane molasses until it is cooked and reach certain sugar consistency of molasses. This sweet item is similar with murabba available in Indian market.

1. Introduction

Purple colour passion fruit (Passifora edulis Sims) is a tropical fruit and is well known for its nutritional content and medicinal properties (Patel, 2009). Various type of vitamin E such as α-tocopherol (5,7,8 trimethyl), β-tocopherol (5,8 dimethyl),g-tocopherol (7, 8-dimethyl),d-tocopherol (8-methyl) and α-tocotrienol, b-tocotrienol,g–tocotrierol and d- tocotrienol were quantified in passion fruit as antioxidant molecules with various health benefits (Ramaiya et al., 2013).

Foam mat drying convert thin pulp into stable foam by whipping. Eventually, the whipping process increases surface area, and speed up the drying rates which yield dried foam mat powder of acceptable quality in reduced time span (Kudra and Ratti, 2006). Rheology plays a vital role in food manufacture and marketing nowadays viz., design of handling systems, quality control and evaluation of sensory stimuli of viscosity (Barnes, 2001). It also concerns with how all food materials respond to applied forces and deformations. Basic concepts of stress (force per area) and strain (deformation per length) are keys to all rheological evaluations. Stress(r) is always a measurement of force per unit of surface area and is expressed in units of Pascals (Pa). The direction of the force with respect to the impacted surface area determines the type of stress. Normal stress occurs when the force is directly perpendicular to a surface and can be achieved during tension or compression. Shear stress occurs when the forces act in parallel to a surface. Various food shows different rheological behavior and categorized into solid and liquids stages. It basically means that food varies their characteristic in viscous and elastic behaviors commonly known as viscoelasticity of food, caused by entanglement of long chain molecules with other molecules (Abang, 2010). The dough rheology of various flour has been investigated by various research. Although, there has not been any published literature about dough rheology with incorporated passion fruit powder. To the best of our knowledge, there are no published reports regarding the shear stress properties of passion fruit powder incorporated rice dough.

1. Introduction

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a tropical fruit having good sensorial characteristics such as, mechanical properties, flavor, acidity/sweetness ratio, color; and nutritional. Pineapple is known to be a good source of vitamins such as vitamin C, vitamin B and antioxidants. The free radical scavenging activity of pineapple is found to be much higher than banana and is comparable to that of guava (Alothman et al., 2009). However, it is a perishable cash crop that grows in abundance in a short time. This necessitates protecting the perishable fruit against quality loss during storage and distribution.

Fruit leathers are an economic and convenient substitute for natural fruits with high nutritional components. Leathers are made by removing moisture from wet pulp until the desired cohesive “leathery” composition is obtained. Since it is light and low in moisture it has minimum storage problems and is economical to ship (Moyls, 1981). Therefore, making fruit leather from fresh fruits is an effective way to preserve fruits (Maskan et al., 2002). Furthermore, fruit leather has far fewer calories, less than 100 kcal per serving (Huang and Hsieh, 2005) and have a far greater nutritional value (e. g., especially in terms of energy, minerals, antioxidants and fiber) than the fresh fruits because all nutrients are concentrated. There are large numbers of fruit leather available in the market, such as mango leather, apricot fruit leather, grape leather, berry leather, kiwifruit leather, and jackfruit leather (Torres et al., 2015).

1. Introduction

Starch is present in the endosperm of cereal grains which provides the necessary energy during the process of germination and seedling establishment and rice starch is reported to supply 22% of global energy intake in humans (Sun et al, 2014). Starch is a semi-crystalline polymer composed mainly of linear and highly branched polymer viz. amylose and amylopectin respectively. Each polymer is composed of several D-glucose molecules and the difference lies only in the linkages between them. Amylose is a linear chain which is interlinked by α- (1→4) linkages and few branched chains (Kizil et al, 2002). Amylopectin subunits are linked by both-(1→4) and-(1→ 6), with about 95% of the glyosidic bonds being-(1→ 4) linkages and roughly 5% being-(1→ 6). The highly branched nature of amylopectin is attributed to the-(1→ 6) linkage.

Units/measures are used to specify quantities. Every unit has a well-defined standard basic value, which is used as a reference in measurements. The units used in scientific practice constitute a scientifically established system, SI (Système International). Although only SI units are official , numerous non-SI units are still widely used (calorie, Ångström, Celsius etc.). We distinguish two types of quantities with two corresponding types of SI units. The base quantities cannot be derived from other quantities. Many of these are used in biochemistry (names of units and their symbols are given in brackets) to quantify the mass (gram, g), the length (meter, m), the time (second, s), the temperature (kelvin, K) and the charge (coulomb, C). Much larger is the group of derived quantities. Of these, the various units of concentration (to characterise the abundance of materials in solutions and other mixtures), volume and energy are the ones most frequently used in biochemistry. It is important to note that the terms mass and weight are often used interchangeably as alternatives. Technically, however, they have different meanings. The mass is the total quantity of matter in an object, which comes from the mass of all of its protons and neutrons, although not simply additively. Weight is a measure of the gravitational force exerted on an object. As the mass of protons and neutrons is the unit mass, their total mass in an object (e.g. the mass of a molecule, the molar mass) is a unitless number (e.g. the molar mass of water is 18). In other words, the molar mass is a relative number that would reflect the number of protons and neutrons in an atom or molecule, if the masses of protons and neutrons were additive. We make mass measurable by expressing it in grams because this way we can handle it as weight and measure it with a balance, the device developed for this purpose. 

ALL MATTER IS IN MOTION

Everything moves:

In the atom electrons rotate around the nucleus

In gases, liquids and even solids molecules move away from other molecules

An accumulation of matter (i.e., a baseball) can move as a unit

The average velocity of movement is the distance travelled divided by the time

Bodies in motion have energy; the faster the velocity the more energy

MENDEL’S RULES OF GENETICS DO NOT ALWAYS WORK

Mendel’s rules:

Segregation of alleles

Independent assortment of genes for different characters

Hold for characters:

Which have dominant & recessive traits

Determined by single genes

Genes are on separate chromosomes

Different types of chromosomes, or

Different homologues of same type of chromosome

These conditions are not always met, so there are many complications