eBook Chapters

Super Species

According to Mayr (1931, 1942) Linsleg and Usinger (1953),“A super Species is a monophyletic group of very closely related and largely or entirely allopatric Species”.

Super species are, in other words, groups of populations that seem on other grounds (morphology, ecology etc.) to have passed beyond the point of potential interbreeding and to have acquired separate evolutionary roles. They are so by the more conclusive evidence of remaining separate when sympatric. It is to be assumed that they are still near the critical point of specification, near a definitive isolation. They are nascent species that will, if they survive, collectively form a subgenus or eventually a genus but have hardly get reached that degree of divergence.

They are not given special names; the Rules of Nomenclature make no provision for that usual designation and they are mostly known by the name of an included species and are in fact super species.

In sustainable agriculture the word sustain is derived from the Latin word sustinere (sus-from below and tinere-to hold), to keep in existence or maintain, implies long term support or performance. As it pertain to agriculture, sustainable describes farming system that are capable of maintaining their productivity and their usefulness in society indefinitely. Such system should be resource conserving, socially supporting, commercially competitive and environmentally sound. Systems approach is essential for understanding sustainability and it gives us tools to explore the interconnections between farming and other aspects of our environment and sustainability implies at the following,

1. Meeting the basic needs of all people and giving this priority over meeting the greeds of a few
2. Keeping population densities if possible below the carrying capacity of the region
3. Adjusting consumption patterns and the design and management of systems to permit the renewal of renewable resources
4. Conserving, recycling and establishing priorities for the use of non- renewable resources
5. Keeping environmental impact below the level required to allow the systems unaffected to recover and continue to evolve.

Various definitions have been provided for what constitutes sustainable agriculture ranging from the narrow focus on economics or production to the incorporation of culture and ecology. Wendell Berry has simply said A sustainable agriculture does not deplete soils or people.

The concept of multiple dimensions of a sustainable agriculture is more broad which has to be viewed with awareness of potential technologies, fragile ecosystem and human interference to disrupt with limited resource availability. All these aspects have to be taken into account for proper understanding of sustainable agriculture.

The major aspects are,

1. Agriculture must be increasingly productive and efficient in resource use.
2. Biological processes within agriculture systems must be controlled from within (rather than by external inputs of pesticides) and
3. Nutrient cycles within the farm must be closed.

Within this frame work a sustainable model has to be developed. The proposed concept of sustainable agriculture which is best suited for developing and developed countries and is a viable model for the present and future is depicted schematically (Fig. 1).

In its purest form sustainable agriculture would be a complete reversion to subsistence agriculture relying on organic wastes and manures within farms without applying

Agricultural production has made rapid strides in the past four to five decades and has enabled India to achieve self-sufficiency in food grain production. This was only through ìGreen Revolutionî which ushered during 1967-68 onwards, when use of old agricultural practices were mostly done away with. Neglect of old or indigenous agricultural practices such as use of organic manures (farm yard manure - FYM, compost, green manure), cultural control methods like sanitation, tillage/removal of weeds, adjusting sowing/harvesting time crop rotation, trap crops, water and fertilizer management and host plant resistance, and use of plant based insecticides like neem or nim (Azadirachta indica), drek (Azadirachta indica), nirgudhi or bana (Vitex negundo) vis-a-vis biological control measures, has resulted in outbreak of ill-effects in human beings and animals through contaminated food stuffs (Gupta, 2006a).

Watershed management

Watershed is defined as a geohydrological unit draining to a common point by a system of drains. All lands on earth are part of one watershed or other. Watershed is thus the land and water area, which contributes runoff to a common point.

A watershed is an area of land and water bounded by a drainage divide within which the surface runoff collects and flows out of the watershed through a single outlet into a lager river or lake.

Drought is one of the most frequent and widely spread stress factors that limit the production of vegetables in the world. Nearly every piece of cultivated land including those in the irrigated areas could be subjected to drought. However, the frequency, duration, severity, timing and extent of drought vary greatly from region to region.

The stress caused by deficit water in the living plant system, which is capable of inducing a potential injury, is called drought stress. Drought can also be defined as scarcity of water for plants and can be due to soil, atmospheric and physiological factors. In our conditions, the great damage to the production of vegetables is brought about by soil drought, which occurs when rapidly available water is spent from zone of the active rhizosphere. That particular moment represents the beginning of drought and as the water reserves in the soil become closer to the lower limit of optimum moisture, the drought becomes more intensive. Under such conditions, plants survive on the limited water available in the active rhizosphere and deeper soil layers, and this water is used to maintain essential life processes at the expense of crop yield.

The lack of precipitation causes drought; the area of cultivable soil in our country under irrigation is very small and so is the possibility to diminish the negative consequences of occasional shortage of precipitation. Aiming to reduce damage caused by drought, a huge number of research-experiments on drought, especially on tolerance has been conducted worldwide. Here, the attempts have been made to review the work done on drought tolerance by national and international centers.

Cross-pollinated species, or outbreeders, are highly heterozygous, heterogeneous and carry a higher mutation load than the inbreeders. Their mode of reproduction bestows upon them considerable heterozygous balance under panmitic population structure. Inbreeding such species disturbs the natural rhythm and leads to inbreeding depression. It is, therefore, essential that if selfing has created any disturbance in outbreeders, the heterozygous structure be restored. Since artificial selfing and outcrossing can be carried out in such crops at will, all breeding methodologies, even those meant for self-pollinated crops, can be used for their improvement. In fact, allogamous crops have provided opportunities for innovating breeding procedures to achieve the maximum efficiency by combining selfing and outcrossing cycles.

Thus, the classical separation of breeding procedures for self- and cross-pollinated crops has become unnecessary, particularly, for outbreeders which are amenable to selfing. Exploitation of heterosis has been the major objective in cross-pollinated crops and most breeding procedures developed earlier aimed at maximising heterosis. In later years, with better understanding of genetic structure of populations and availability of efficient biometrical methods of estimating genetic parameters, newer procedures of accumulating desirable genes have been developed. The presently available breeding procedures for cross-pollinated crops can be broadly classified under two heads: (1) Hybrid development, and (2) Population improvement. Both these methodologies, though independent, are not mutually exclusive. The steps for operating the two procedures, however, have contrasting requirements. For hybrid development, fixation of genes through cycles of selfing is necessary whereas such fixation is avoided while developing populations. As can be seen from the scheme given below, in both cases the homozygosity attained through initial selfing is converted to heterozygosity at the end of breeding programme. Irrespective of whether hybrids, synthetics or composites are being developed, great emphasis is placed on the attainment of homogeneity in the end products.

Man-directed evolution of distinct types and cultivars (cultivated populations) of self-fertilised crops had their beginning about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. As a breeding system, self-fertilisation favoured constancy and fitness (Stebbins, 1950) of the genotypes to the immediate environment. This provided an alternative to the slash and burn migrant agriculture of the Neolithic farmers (7,000-6,000 B.C.) and to stabilisation of production.

Manu Smriti (700–500 B.C.) proclaimed Subeejam Sukshetre Jayate Sampadyate meaning that good seed in a good field yields abundant produce. The knowledge that good seed is essential for a good harvest, led to conscious efforts for selecting types which provided a dependable source of food. Besides their utility as food, choice of plants and their seeds as progenitors of the next generation depended on personal fancy, observation and experience. As farmers learnt their crop plants better, they sorted them out into similar types (species). While migrating from the centres of origin they carried seeds of mixed populations.

Self-pollinated cereal crops of barley, wheat, oats and important grain legumes such as lentil, peas and chickpea spread from the Near East Centre, first to far and remote areas of Asia, Europe and Africa; and subsequently in comparatively recent times, to the Americas and Australia. In new environments, the introduced mixed populations diversified into well adapted identities of land races. These land races continued to be the main basis of cereal production till early 1900. Improvement in crop plants made by some early civilisations was mainly through introduction and mass selection, based on the natural tendency of preserving the seeds of preferred colour and size from vigorous, healthy and more productive plants.

It was only after the rediscovery of Mendel’s laws in 1900 that breeding procedures based on the knowledge of the genetic principles and the inheritance pattern of different characteristics were developed. This permitted the improvement of crops with objectivity and predictability.

Introduction

Breeders expect a new variety to show high performance for yield and its contributing characters along with other physiological and nutritional traits. A variety is said to be superior not only for its higher economic yield, but also for its consistent performance over a wide range of environmental conditions. But the performance of a particular variety is the resultant of its genetic constitution and the environment in which it has been grown. Particular variety may not exhibit same phenotypic performance under different environments, or different varieties may perform differently to a specific environment.

The basic cause of differences in the stability of different genotypes is the interaction effect of genotype and environment, known as genotype × environment (G × E) interaction (GEI). The term environment refers to the uncontrolled external conditions that affect expression of genes of an individual genotype such as the annual rainfall, dry spells, soil fertility gradients, waterlogging, depth and texture of soil, and photoperiod and incidence of disease or pests. However, prediction of GEI is seldom possible with available and known factors. Therefore, the environmental factors can be categorized as predictable and unpredictable environmental factors (Table 1).

Entrepreneurship: the Concept and Definitions

Entrepreneurship is the capability to improve, arrange and continue a business enterprise, along with any of its uncertainties to make a profit. We can say an example of entrepreneurship is the starting of a new business, a new venture with some challenges and specific objectives.

Meaning of Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is defined as one person who has the ability and desire to establish, administer and succeed in a startup venture along with the risk entitled to it, to make profits. The best example of entrepreneurship is the starting of a new business venture. Entrepreneurs are often known as a source of new ideas or innovators and bring new ideas in the market by replacing old ones with a new invention.

According to Cole (1949), an Entrepreneur represents an individual or a group of individuals, who conceive, initiate and maintain for a sufficiently long period a social institution which produces economic goods or to put it differently.

Communication: Communication is an act by which one person gives to or receives from another person, the information about the person’s need, desires and perceptions. Knowledge or affective states: Communication is an act by which one person gives to or receives from another person, the information about the person’s need, desires, and perceptions. Knowledge or affective states.

Entrepreneurial Communication: It should have some unique features. The way one teacher talk with a student, the way one official personnel talk with an individual, like them one entrepreneur should communicate with their customer to uplift of their enterprise. So this type of communication differs from the general communication.

It is the scholastic and theoretical exercise that configures the operational definition and text of entire research work. The conceptual inputs, axiomatic inputs, logic of discourses and the pursuit knowledge come together to frame the theory in compliance and in congruence with the set of objectives and research designs spelt out in the research process.

3.1 Definition of Farmer, Farm, and Farming System

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer might own the farm land or might work as a laborer on land owned by others. In most developed economies, a “farmer” is usually a farm owner (landowner), while employees of the farm are known as farm workers (or farmhands). However, in other older definitions a farmer was a person who promotes or improves the growth of plants, land or crops or raises animals (as livestock or f ish) by labor and attention. Over half a billion farmers are smallholders, most of whom are in developing countries, and who economically support almost two billion people. Globally, women constitute more than 40% of agricultural employees.

A farm is an area of land where livestock (animals) are raised and crops (plants) are grown for use as food, fiber, and fuel. The people who own and work on the farm are called farmers.

Websites

Information science is an interdisciplinary field that skirts the study of the organization, production, retrieval, storage, retrieval, use of information, and dissemination. Information and Metric studies of storage and recovery are the primary areas of Information Science. Today’s challenges for information personnel are to pave the way through enormous volumes of information brought about by different means.

The World Wide Web (WWW ), an information space, is a complex structure that incorporates all types of information that need different users and a layperson to the researcher. It is a system of interlinked hypertext documents approached via the Internet . The web pages can be viewed in a way that contains images, text, videos, and several multimedia through the forms of a web browser and negotiated between them with the help of hyperlinks.

It is also a system of multimedia that supports uniquely formatted, using markup languages like HTML or digital documents. These scripting languages support links to other documents, video files, graphics, and audio.

The term ‘Webometrics ’ (Bajorneborne & Ingwersen, 2001) was coined for content analysis , search engine performances, quantitative analysis of web related phenomena, links, and web technology analysis from an information science perspective.

1. Introduction

Cattle are one of the important livestock species of the country which forms an integral part of Indian agriculture since ages. Human progress depends on the utilisation of animals and natural resources in a balanced way. Cow, in particular, is considered as a part of the family in India. Cattle have been of the utmost importance for the sustenance of agriculture, nutrition supply and religious practices in India. Frequent references on cattle farming are found in Indian mythological books and historical writings regarding their utilization in agriculture as draught power, milk production and source of manure. Approximately 200 million Indians are involved in livestock farming, including around 100 million dairy farmers. Roughly 80% of bovines in the country are low on productivity and are reared by small and marginal farmers. Most of the local cows are managed on a low input and low output system for production of milk for the household nutritional requirement and sale surplus milk to dairy co-operatives or local milk sellers. Poor genetic makeup of Indian livestock is the main reason for their lower productivity as compared to the recorded potential of animals in temperate climate. With the change in food consumption pattern due to urbanization, increase in health awareness, reduced requirement of draught animal power due to mechanisation, etc., the demand for milk and milk products have increased many folds.

The concepts of health, disease, symptoms, constitution, cure, vital force, suppression of the disease, individualization, totality of symptoms, and dose etc. are unique in homeopathy differing from concepts of modern medicine.

Health

Generally, health is considered as freedom from disease. According to World Health Organization health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1946). In homeopathy, it is defined as mental, physical and emotional wellbeing (Mondal, 2006 a) and the healthy body has been described as one in balance and equilibrium. The equilibrium of internal parameters is maintained by “life forces” corresponding to a general interpretation of immune system . In fact ‘Life force” is the actual energy behind the biochemistry of the body. It ends with death of the organism.

“Curriculum” is seen often as a critical issue during discussions on quality of agricultural education, being considered variously as content, as product and as process. It is easy to make the assumption that a common understanding of curriculum, but in practice this is far from the case, with a host of definitions, approaches and ideological standpoints. Even though a dialogue on curriculum theory is well established, there is still a strong tendency in practice to understand curriculum as a list of content, often developed in considerable detail, that students should be taught.

According to traditional marketing concept, marketing is a mere physical process or set of activities connected with the exchange of goods or selling. According to traditional concept marketing is sales oriented. According to this concept marketing is more concerned with all those activities or operations which help the flow of goods from the producers or manufacturers to the ultimate consumers or users. From the point of production to consumption, the following steps are involved.

1. Goods have to be gathered and transported there by creating place utility.

2. Goods have to be made available to the consumers or users at the time when they are needed by consumers. This is done by storing the commodities in warehouses and cold stores etc. This creates time utility.

3. Goods are sold to consumers thereby transferring the ownership or title from the seller to the consumer. This creates “ownership utility” or “possession utility”. The various activities that help in the creation of place, time and possession utilities and help the flow of goods from the centers of production to the centers of consumption or use constitute the subject matter of marketing.

Concepts

The concepts of development communication has now been adopted by almost all the countries of the third world. It is all about to inform, motivate and influence all sectors and levels of peoples of a developing country to use unfamiliar ideas, skills and instruments, thus adding the long neglected social component without which the process of development remain dormant. Thus importance of communication as a tool to motivate and persuade people for eliciting positive response to various developmental ideas grow manifold.

The evolution of the term ‘ development’ has had a fascinating history about itself. In its broadest sense ‘ development’ tends to be umbrella under which several phenomena - varying from human and spiritual development to economic and community development, as well as technological development have become related. Defining ‘development’ is not an easy talk. It has been interpreted in various ways by sociologists, economists and development planners. They defend the term according to their own frame of reference. Modernization, social change and enhancing quality of life are often used in one way of the other in explaining the term. In all cases development suggest some amount of improvement, self-reliance, uplift and progress as also awareness and self-awareness to some extent.

The eminent communication scholar, Everett M. Rogers, has development this process of thinking about development in this book communication and development critical perspectives (1976), as under “Development as a widely participatory process of social change in a society, intended to bring about both social and material advancement (including greater equality freedom and other valued qualities) for the majority of the people through their gaining greater control over their environment.

The new paradigm of development does not envisage the role of communication as that of magic multiplier of development, however, it is certainly envisaged to play a facilitate role in the process of development.

Whenever we design a scientific study it is designed in a specific contextual background to solve one or another scientific problem. Subsequently it also involves a set of variables/phenomenon operating in a particular context, set of relationships among these variables and the conditions under which they operate. Certainly, to address an unsolved scientific problem we need to carry out research by employing well defined research methodology and have an idea about possible outcomes.  For example when a extension scientist is asked to study the impact of a novel programme, he needs to understand the background and the context under which the programme was introduced, what are the developmental inputs given under the programme, to whom, when (variables), with what purpose (context), what kind of impact he/she is supposed to investigate (presumed relationship), what methods he is going to use to investigate the impact of developmental programme (research methodology) and what are the possible outcomes of the investigation and how programme interventions are related to the outcome (relationship).

18.1 Introduction

Nano – Science & Technology is design, fabrication and application of nanostructures or nanomaterials, and the fundamental understanding of the relationships between physical properties or phenomena and material dimensions at nano meter scales.

2.1 Introduction

The word Nanotechnology has originated from a Greek word which means “dwarf” and nanometer is one billionth of a meter (1 nm = 10^-9 meter). The nano-scale is not just another step toward miniaturization but a qualitatively new scale. The new behiviour of matter at nano-scale is dominated by quantum mechanics, material confinement, large interfacial volume fraction and other unique properties, phenomenon and processes. At nano-scale, physics, chemistry and biology converge towards the same principles and tools. Nanotechnology cannot be considered as a discipline in science or technology but it is domain in science and technology. Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary area, any scientist, engineer, medical doctor can do research on nanotechnology. Presently, it is more of a science and less of a technology because of a lack of proper tools for studying the properties of nano-material. There is an immediate need to convert this science into technology and get out of this transition stage.

For achieving the inclusive and sustainable development of the tribal communities in the selected areas we believe that imparting technical know-how of improved agricultural practices, development of vocational skills among rural resource-poor schedule tribes and ensuring the availability of quality technological input material will be instrumental. Considering these facts, in order to enhance the livelihood of the tribal communities in the selected district of Bihar this intervention project was designed with the following objectives.

3.1. Theoretical background of FPOs

Farmers Producer Organization is a people based organization having both the outlook of cooperation and business. In this context the theories of collective action, group formation, social learning cooperation etc are very much pertinent here.

3.1.1 Collective action

Collective action is visible in FPCs. Collective action is defined as action taken mutually by a group of people to augment their status and achieve a common goal. Over the past two decades analytic philosophers have been investigating the nature of collective action in the sense of acting together.

Food prices have risen 6% in the last six months. But it is expected to rise further as expensive energy, squeezed supplies and volatile weather take a combined toll. The biggest factor pushing prices is the cost of producing and marketing crops. Several factors will make farming more expensive in the coming months. The first variable is weather. Preliminary forecasts by a few foreign and private Indian meteorologists say India could have a below-normal monsoon because a weather phenomenon called El Nino is warming the Pacific Ocean. El Nino usually affects monsoon winds headed for India. Forecasters say monsoon might arrive on time but could falter during August-September, especially in the north.

The objective of the present investigation was to evaluate the antibacterial properties of cyanobacterial species viz., Anabaena variabilis, Anabaena fertilissima, Nostoc muscorum, Nostoc punctiforme, Nostoc linckia, Nostoc commune, Spirulina platensis., Westiellopsis prolifica and Hapalosiphon sp. against some pathogenic species including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pnumoniae and Salmonella typhi. The following are the major findings of the study.

    •    Extracts prepared in methanol were found more active as compared to ethyl acetate, hexane and dichloromethane.
 
    •    Antibacterial activity of extracts varied with the test organisms. Maximum antibacterial activity was shown against Staphylococcus aureus followed by Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi. Klebsiella pneumoniae was found to be least susceptible against all tested cyanobacterial extracts.

    •    Antibacterial activity was observed against both Gram-positive and a spectrum of Gram-negative bacteria by almost all the cyanobacterial species examined in the present study except Westiellopsis prolifica where activity was observed only against S. aureus, a Gram-positive bacterium.

There is widespread belief now that forests can be used to reduce the costs of slowing climate change. While the role of forests in the global carbon cycle has long been acknowledged, recent discussions within the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as efforts to write climate change legislation in the United States, have emphasized the role forests might play. The most recent policy efforts have focused on near-term actions to reduce deforestation in tropical countries. The rationale for considering forests at all in the policy mix stems partly from the physical components of the issue. The world’s forest estate is exceedingly large:

The study entitled “sustainability of small farms in coastal ecosystem” was conceived out of consideration of continuous degradation of natural resources- base consisting of soil, water, forest, maintain and animal wealth of the state. With broad objective of investigation into the status of sustainability of agriculture in the state, the specific analysis like socio-economic and farming related situations, perception about sustainability of agriculture in terms of ecological soundness, economic viability, social accessibility, humaneness and adaptability, development of sustainable agriculture index, adoption of sustainable measures, extension components and suggestions and strategy to maintain sustainability were taken into consideration. The organic farming and agri-business opportunities for sustainable agriculture were also studied.

The study was conducted in the state of Odisha covering the districts of Puri, Khurda, Ganjam and Balasore. Altogether four blocks each of one district and eight villages two from each block were selected for the purpose of the study. As much as 200 respondents who were within definition of small and marginal farmers were selected for interview. The respondents randomly so selected were personally interviewed by the author through an interview schedule developed on the basis of objectives stated earlier. The secured data were processed statistically to reveal the relevant findings as per the need of the study. From the relevant findings of the study the conclusions have been summarized below.

In India many medicinal plants traditionally used by tribal and other sources have been recorded by different authors, workers and researchers. Many plants that can cause symptomatic relief for various ailments have also been established. Attempts have been made by different scientists to ascertain the active principles behind the herbal cure of certain diseases. Ayurvedic preparations from plant sources have been developed in our country to certain extent. Many Homeopathic medicines have also been procured from plants and herbs. Scientific conferences in State, National and International levels are being held on Traditional Asian Medicines to ascertain the scientific truth behind them. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar and many other Institutes of our country are doing creditable work to isolate the composition of medicinal plants. Many useful compounds have been isolated from different medicinal flora and their efficiency has been established scientifically. Good numbers of Allopathic medicines prepared on the basis of herbal cures are flooding in the market in different trade marks. Still the country is to find preventive and curative medicines for Cancer, AIDS, Thalsamia and other such deadly diseases. Recent International Conference on Cancer held at New Delhi came out with a suggestion that certain flora could be explored for the possibility of treating cancer without side effects. When we are starting to realize the importance of flora for a healthy living and scientists are in search of drugs from the vegetation to irradicate diseases deforestation is reampant in our country. Our environment has been contaminated due to various types of pollutants from industries and other anthropogenic sources. At this juncture man has to maintain a balance to achieve harmony of both the factors for our better living. The tribal dweller who is considered as the ‘Maa in the forest’ has to be recognized first so far his knowledge in medicinal plants is concerned. After ascertaining the utility of medicinal plants they are to be protected, propagated both by Government and Public. Scientific experiments are to be carried out to establish the active principles behind the herbal drugs. Herbal gardens are to be instituted at different places by adopting modern biotechnological methods. There is a need to make joint efforts by the workers from the fields of Allopathic, Ayurved and Homeopathic, as a step towards “the irradication of diseases”. Such an inter-disciplinary work on medicinal plants may throw a new light for achieving success, in finding out medicines without side effect. In this context, Pharmacologists have to play a vital role while preparing the doses of drugs from plant sources.

Many chemistry principles are abstract (for example, carbonatebicarbonate buffering) and difficult to grasp. However, a fundamental understanding of the concepts and chemistry underlying the interactions of pH, CO2 , alkalinity, and hardness is required for an effective and profitable pond management. It is impossible to avoid; water quality is water chemistry.

Agriculture and its allied sectors support the livelihood of a large section of India’s population and these ultimately play a pivotal role in life. National Agricultural policy describes predetermined goals, objectives and pathways set by the national government for the purpose of achieving a specified outcome, for the benefit of the society and the nations’ economy at large. Effective policies are the best beginnings for driving effective programs that deliver to the people. The best policies are those that take a realistic view of our context, needs, priorities and future challenges. Government initiated economic reforms in 1991, which involved deregulation, reduced government participation in economic activities, and liberalization. Much of the reforms did not affect the agriculture sector. But agriculture was affected indirectly by devaluation of the exchange rate, liberalization of external trade. T

Since the Green Revolution of 1960s, Indian agriculture have been highly dependent on chemical fertilizers, exploitation of ground water for irrigation, intensive tillage etc. to raise the food grain production of the country towards ensuring food security for all. The consequences of these practices resulted in declined and degraded soil health, soil erosion and dried up water capillaries - ultimately posing threat to the sustainability of the future production. This invites the need of affordable changes in the agricultural practices without hampering the production. Conservation Agriculture, as put forward by FAO, is a set of sustainable agricultural practices, aims to conserve, improve and make efficient use of natural resources through management of soil, water and biological resources in aid with external inputs. The three basic principles of Conservation Agriculture include - minimum soil disturbances, permanent soil cover and crop rotation or crop diversification.

The present research had been conducted to study the Entrepreneurial behaviour of farmers in farmer producer organisations(FPO) in selected block of Odisha and in the end the comparison is made. The study had been conducted on 2 Farmer producer organisations (FPO) of Ranpur block from Nayagarh district of Odisha. A pilot study was conducted to understand the area,its people, institution ,communication and extension system of these states.

An exhaustive list of respondents was prepared critically with the help of FPO members. From the list, 100 respondents were selected for the study through Snowball sampling method. The primary data were collected with the help of structured interviewschedule by following the personal interview method. The secondary data werecollected from our departmental library, internet, Department of Agriculture, Odisha, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya ,etc.for establishing the conceptual framework of the study.

India is primarily an agriculture based economy, which implies, agriculture dominates the nation’s economic landscape. In the course of socioeconomic growth, agriculture is crucial. Around 58 per cent of the population in India relies only on agriculture for their livelihood. India is enriched with various agricultural and horticultural crops with diversified agro-climatic conditions and different soil types. India is one of the leading producing countries of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables etc. India is also have a prominent scope in allied sectors of agriculture includes livestock, poultry, forestry, sericulture etc. Among such crops, Moringa is the selected crop for this research study. Moringa (Moringa oleifera), which is popularly known as ‘Drumstick’ belongs to the family Moringaceae. Moringa is basically a native crop of India. This crop has its own therapeutic properties with greater nutritional content. Especially in South Indian cuisine, moringa pod is a highly regarded vegetable because of its distinctive flavour and fragrance.

7.1. Summary

The present research had been carried out to study the social ecology of arsenic contamination in groundwater; factors, perception and impact on life and livelihood of the selected village of West Bengal and in the end the comparison is made. The study had been conducted at village Mitrapur in the Haringhata block of West Bengal. A pilot study was conducted to understand the area, its people, institution, communication and extension system of these states.

An exhaustive list of respondents was prepared critically with the help of some villagers. From the list, 70 respondents from the village were selected for the study through a non-random snowball sampling method. The primary data were collected with the help of a structured interview schedule by following the personal interview method. The secondary data were collected from our departmental library, internet, Department of Agriculture, West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya etc. for establishing the conceptual framework of the study.

Three types of Issues are Covered in this Study

• The influence of social, cultural, and/or economic variables on how drinking water poisoned with arsenic affects people’s life, notably their health (for example socio-economic patterns of illness and social),

• Social factors influencing people’s response: especially in relation to other priorities, perceptions of arsenic, and social roles and relationships.

The craniofacial region presents a unique challenge for implantable biomaterials because the pull of the craniofacial muscles produces variable loading in different regions. In addition, craniofacial skin loses elasticity with the age and develops subcutaneous tissue sags.

Even though surgeons are familiar with the use autogenous bone grafts for craniofacial reconstruction, the usage of alloplastic bone substitutes has increased continuously, because autogenous bone is difficult to harvest, time consuming, causes significant donor morbidity, and bone resorption, but most important thing is that the biocompatibility of current alloplastic materials are improving.

Synthetic substitute creates a new avenue for clinicians to explore as adjunct in surgical procedures. These materials may not necessarily be used solely for reconstructive procedures, but when used in the right situation in combination with autologous, allograft or other synthetic, the result have the potential for more desirable results.

a) A Key GDP Contributor: Dairy and Livestock sector form the backbone of agriculture with 28 per cent contribution in GDP and the progress in this sector is dependent on innovative measures to increase the value for farmers as well as customers.

b) Doubling Farmer’s Income : Doubling Farmer’s Income by 2022 can be achieved by improving crop and livestock productivity, efficiency to utilize resources, increased intensity of cultivation and diversification in high value cash crops, processing and value addition of food and animal products. This price realization can be assured through market reforms and efficient market linkages.

c) Unorganised sector – a challenge : The Indian dairy sector is still characterized by strong presence of unorganized sector. Apart from the Cooperative dairy sector, in the last few years there has been a considerable growth in Private Dairy sector and Milk Producers Organization like Maahi in Gujarat. If small dairy farmers are provided with sufficient ‘value addition’ training and support, they can increase their income considerably.

d) Value addition : Further, the milk processing plants can also go for value addition and innovation and in turn pay remunerative prices to milk producers.

For looking into the biosafety in research laboratories, agriculture and other food producing industries it is important to look into the numerous strains of lactic acid bacteria that are associated with food systems and are capable of producing bacteriocin or antibacterial proteins with activity against foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogens, Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium botulinum. Recently considerable attention has been given on the identification of these proteins and their biochemical properties including spectrum of activity, production conditions, purification procedures, aminoacid composition and mode of action. Advances in genetic engineering have facilitated the characterization of proteins at genetic level, providing information about protein synthesis, structure and cloning of bacteriocin genes into other organism. One problem in the use of bacteriocin in their applications as bio-preservatives is the emergence of resistant population. The understanding on the mechanism of resistance to bacteriocins is limited which limits the application in biopreservation. Much of the work on bacteriocin has been done under controlled laboratory conditions without the presence of adventitious microbial population. More research is needed to determine the efficacy of bacteriocin producing organisms and bacteriocins which are stable under commercial conditions. Foodborne illness is a major international problem and an important cause of reduced economic growth. The contamination of the food supply with the pathogens and its persistence, growth, multiplication and/or toxin production

A sustainable and healthy food system is one which can provide food and nutrition security for all, in an economical way which is socially and environmentally sound for future generations. Underutilized indigenous and traditional crops can support and strengthen the existing food system, as they are in particular economical and friendly with the environment. Several underutilized indigenous and traditional crops are nutrient dense and adapted to marginal conditions, suggesting that they could be used to champion sustainable and resilient agriculture and food systems for smallholder farmers residing in these environments. The mainstreaming of underutilized indigenous and traditional crops and foods should be recognized for their attributes to make them desirable and to conserve them. In this regard, the fact that value chains for underutilized indigenous and traditional crops are poorly developed at present has created many opportunities to diversify the current food systems. This will create a new employment, market and distribution opportunities.It will also help to combat poverty. It will be if the smallholder farmers and women in rural areas are given the opportunity to utilize underutilized indigenous and traditional crops and re-enter the manistream system. A significant role which is played by the women for the production and conservation of underutilized indigenous and traditional crops offers opportunities for women empowerment through their inclusion in the food system. Promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women is directly linked for strengthening the sustainable food systems that can fight hunger and malnutrition and improve the lives and livelihoods of rural populations. The mainstreaming of underutilized indigenous and traditional crops into the food system would support women to diversify in a sustainable way, feed their own households and to provide nutritious food into the local markets. This will also help in addressing, the Sustainable

Mammary tumors are the most common type of neoplasia found in female dogs with high percentage of malignancy and rate of mortality. The rate of incidence of these mammary neoplasia and dysplasia is continuously advancing nationally and internationally over the last 45 years. There are different risk factors such as age, diet, hormonal exposure and breeds, which are required to be monitored in order to control the incidence of CMTs. In addition to conventional therapies such as surgical excision, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, additional precision therapeutic agents targeting TKIs, p53 tumor suppressor gene, cyclooxygenases, epithelial-mesenchymal transitions and various hormones/ hormonal receptors could be beneficial for the treatment of CMTs. Scientific efforts are also being made to develop different biomarker panels and tests for prognosis/diagnosis of the diseases as well as to develop vaccines against CMTs.

Concretions

Concretions are solid, compact mass of material, endogenous or exogenous in origin, found in tissues, body cavities, ducts or in hollow organs. Concretions are stone-like bodies commonly occur in urinary system, gall bladder and gastrointestinal tract. Concretions of endogenous origin are known as calculi while those formed from exogenous material are known as piliconcretion (Hair), phytoconcretion (plant fibres) and polyconcretion (polythenes).

Calculi

Calculi are formed due to deposition of salts around the nucleus/nidus consisting of either fibrin, mucus, desquamated epithelial cells or clumps of bacteria. Due to the gradual and repeated precipitation of salts, calculi become laminated. In the process of calculi formation, the inner structural arrangement gets shrink, producing a rough superficial surface. Calculi formation is more common in urinary system and in gall bladder of man and animals; however, they may also occur in salivary gland, pancreas and intestines.

Various physical, chemical and biological factors interdependently affect the fungal colonization or production of the mycotoxin. Physical factors such as temperature, relative humidity and insect infestations create ideal environment for fungal colonization and mycotoxin production. Stresses such as drought, an increase in temperature, and an increase in relative humidity may selectively alter colonization and metabolism of mycotoxigenic fungi and thus alter mycotoxin production (Russell et al., 1991). Cool and damp weather favours the germination of the sclerotia and thus ergot alkaloid formation in fescue and ryegrass.

Biological factors are categorized into intrinsic factor such as fungal species, strain specificity, strain variation and instability of toxigenic properties. Interaction between the toxigenic fungal species and substrate affect the fungal colonization and mycotoxin production. Some plant species are more susceptible to colonization and some resistant plant species may also get infestation due to favourable environmental conditions.

Introduction

In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in the volume of datasets generated across various application domains. However, a prevalent issue within these datasets is class imbalance, wherein the distribution of samples is biased towards the major class, resulting in an extremely skewed dataset. Number of samples in the major class far exceeds those in the minor class, sometimes with an extreme ratio like 1/1000 or even higher. While traditional machine learning models trained on such imbalanced datasets often yield high accuracy for the overall dataset and the major class samples, their ability to correctly predict class labels for minor class samples is signicantly compromised. In many real-world scenarios, the minor class samples hold greater signicance and importance compared to the major class samples. Therefore, researchers are increasingly focusing on addressing the challenges posed by class imbalanced datasets and exploring solutions to improve the performance of machine learning models in handling such imbalances

7.1 Conducive Soils

Without a conducive environment, plant disease does not occur. Soils that favour the disease/ and the pathogen are generally referred to as conducive soils. Inoculum of powdery scab is the either the spore ball (an aggregation of thick walled, tough, resting spores, comprising an average of 700 spores) or the swimming spore (zoospore) that each spore of the spore ball releases. Spore balls of powdery scab have been shown to persist for long periods (Brierley et al., 2008). Exactly, how long they can survive has not been fully determined, but experimentally and anecdotally, it is much longer than a typical rotation. Inoculum may be seed-borne or soil-borne and whatever the source spore balls are able to cause infection and disease. Seed tubers may carry spore balls within powdery scab lesions or may carry spore balls symptomlessly where they have been picked up from adjacent infected tubers or contaminated machinery (e.g. on grading lines). In addition, recently, it has been found that tubers may be latently infected. That is where tubers are infected but symptoms are not expressed. Latent infections may be associated with conditions that are unfavourable for disease development, such as sub-optimal temperatures.

i. Soil Moisture: A high soil moisture content both encourages swimming spore release and facilitates movement to the host. It is generally accepted that swimming spores are unable to move through the soil without free water within the soil matrix (i.e. soil saturation). Many studies confirm the importance of free water in soil as a requirement for infection. The occurrence of wet soil conditions prior to tuber initiation, enabling inoculum multiplication, has been cited as important for high levels of powdery scab. Alternatively, prolonged wet soil conditions after tuber initiation can lead to high levels. In experiments investigating soil moisture, there is disagreement over the importance of constant versus fluctuating soil moisture conditions in powdery scab development. However, it is difficult to make clear comparisons because soil moisture levels have not always been measured and factors that may affect disease development (e.g. soil type, initial inoculum level) will have differed from experiment to experiment. Some studies have shown that constant high soil moisture has suppressed powdery scab development possibly due to low oxygen/high carbon dioxide levels rendering swimming spores inactive.

When a fixed voltage is applied to two electrodes dipping into a solution,a current will flow, depending on the conductivity of the solution. Conductivity measurements do not give information about the nature of the ions in solution. However, they are useful in the quantitative measurement of the ions.

Review of literature or consulting of literature is just beginning of a research project. The main intellectual work is to study the previous work meticulously and to draw conclusions regarding existing problems. This leads us to another intelligent part of the research i.e. planning of the research work. If you analyze what you are planning, it is only about materials to be employed and methodology of the research work (with planning of the work)- only these three parameters are under your control as results will be the outcome of these three facets while discussion will be how you consider your results in presence of previous research work. In fact, this statement of mine is more align to the sermon of “Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta” (5) where it is stated that man has control only on his actions (planning and conducting research) hence fulfill this duty without caring for the results-which in turn will depend on your analyzing the previous facts and how you have planned to solve the problem. Therefore, pay full attention on these three facts of the research.

Proximate analysis of the feeds and fodders does not give any idea about their nutritive value, because availability of nutrients varies according to the feed stuffs. The major loss of nutrients take place in body after ingestion of feed is through feces. Hence, it is very essential to know the actual amount of feed digested by the animals. Losses which take place after digestion are more or less comparable in different feedstuffs.

Digestibility
Digestibility of a feed can be defined as that proportion of feed which is not being excreted in the faeces and hence assumed to be absorbed by the animal. It is expressed as percentage (% digestibility or digestibility coefficient).

Digestion trial requires feaces collection only but when we have to go for balance studies we have to collect urine also (in addition to the nutrient losses take place through milk in lactating animals) to find out the nutrient losses takes place through urine. As we have discussed in digestion trial also, male animals are usually preferred to perform these types of studies to obtain contamination free urine and feaces to find out clear picture.

Balance studies are usually performed to find out the balance of nitrogen (Nitrogen retention, NR) and minerals (Ca, P etc.) as urine is rich in these nutrients and hence for their balance we have to find out the losses takes place through urine.

Confectionery fills an especially direct need; the sugar of agreeableness joined with exquisite flavors, smells and mouthfeel affects a basically transitory feeling of thriving and joy. Sugar confectionery has been made all through the long haul with extending headway and it remain alive in unlimited plans following a changed levels of agreeableness, flavors just as scents, feel, appearance and tastes

Sugar confectionery and chocolate includes candies (sweets in British English), candied nuts, chocolates, chewing gum, bubble gum, pastillage, and other confections that are made primarily of sugar. In some cases, chocolate confections (confections made of chocolate) are treated as a separate category, as are sugar-free versions of sugar confections. The words candy (US and Canada), sweets (UK and Ireland), and lollies (Australia and New Zealand) are common words for the most common varieties of sugar confectionery. Confectionery depends on numerous ingredients which have been discussed in detailed in this chapter

Conference

A conference is a formal gathering where people come together to discuss, exchange ideas, present research and engage in discussions on specific topics or fields of interest. These gatherings can vary widely in scale, purpose and format, bringing together professionals, researchers, academics, industry experts, or enthusiasts.

Audio conferencing

Its also called Teleconference, which means meeting a group or party via a phone call instead of meeting them physically. In most cases, standard telephone lines and speakerphones are employed. The person who starts the audio conference called the calling party and the people who are attending the calls are known as participants. Technology requirement of the audio conference:

1. Phone/Computer with access to internet connection
2. Speakers
3. Microphone