eBook Chapters

Abstract

Whenever human beings come together and interact, there are bound to be conflicts. It is the struggle between individuals or groups or organizations for values, status, power or scare resources, that creates tension and frustration. It cannot be totally eliminated, it has to be managed. Positive conflicts sometimes lead to innovations or new directions of thinking in the Research and Development (R&D) environment. But negative conflicts mainly breed unproductiveness, a climate of distrust and suspicion, antagonism, and neglect of organizational goals. Conflict arises due to one of the three reasons : unacceptability, uncertainty and incomparability of alternatives. The problem of unacceptability arises when the most preferred alternative is not found to be acceptable. Uncertainty arises when the individual faces problem to select one from the alternatives. The incomparability dilemma is a situation where the decision maker does not have standards to compare alternatives. Modern managers must be equipped to deal with different types of conflict and devise strategies to resolve them. This chapter deals with conflicts at individual level, at group level or at organizational level, their resolution through negotiation or collaboration, models and methods for managing conflicts, etc in details. A healthy organization climate can unblock creative potential of its employees, streamlining and facilitating efforts for the good of the organization and its employees.

A conflict is a fight or a clash of interest, opinion, or even principles. Conflict can never be eliminated from the society; as there are different reasons of conflict. It may vary from personal, racial, class, caste, political, international and many more.

Conflict in a group often follows a specific course. Routine group interaction is first disrupted by an initial conflict within the group. It is often caused by internal differences of opinion, disagreements between its members, or scarcity of resources available to the group. Some of the common sorts of conflicts are:

• Inter-group conflict is conflict between two or more groups.
• Organization conflict is discord caused by opposition of needs, values, and interests between people working together.
• Role conflict involves incompatible demands placed upon a person in a manner that makes accomplishing both troublesome.
• Social conflict is the struggle for supremacy or autonomy between social classes.
• Conflict of interest is involvement in multiple interests which could possibly corrupt the motivation or decision-making.

The difficulty in conducting a factorial experiment in an RBD is that, as the number of factors and/ or that of levels of the factors increase, the number of treatment combinations to be compared increases too. This in turn necessitates use of large sized blocks to accommodate all the treatment combinations i.e in a 2^4 – experiment there should be 16 plots in a block. But it has been found that the experimental error increases with an increase in the size of a block, for then it becomes less effective in controlling the heterogeneity of the units. A remedy has been found out : this is to divide a replicate (a complete block) into a number of equal blocks (incomplete blocks) and then to allocate the treatment combinations to these blocks so that only the unimportant treatment comparisons gets mixed up or entangled with the block comparisons. These treatment comparisons are then said to be confounded or mixed up with block effects. These effects cannot be separately tested or estimated. But the remaining treatment effects, which are not confounded with the block effects, are still capable of separate estimation and testing.

Congenital anomaly of newborn buffalo calves is quite common in new born calves. Most common encountered are atresia ani, rectovaginal fistula etc. Sometimes, developmental defects interfere with physiological processes viz. in urination and defecation. Therefore, such cases, if not corrected well in time can cause death of the patient. In the present report, few newborn calves were brought to the veterinary clinic with the following abnormalities:

Agenesis of Urogenital System Without Anus

Five newborn buffalo calves were brought to the veterinary clinic with the complain of not passing urine and feces. There was no visible external genitalia and anal opening. At the site of vulva, there was only an impression of vulvar lips and below it, a cord like structure was hanging.

There was an impression of round structure below the skin; in some cases it was outside giving appearance of scrotum which was located in between the two thighs. On ventral side of abdomen, preputial sheath was not present, therefore, it was very difficult to decide about the sex of the calves and site of external preputial-orifice. There was an indication of both sexes, but organs were not developed, therefore it was difficult to decide about the sex of the calves. In some cases, impression of the anal sphincter was visible but there was no visible external anal opening. There was slight deviation of the tail from its base also. Intake of milk was normal. Abdomen was distended bilaterally. Respiratory rate was higher than the normal with slight discomfort .Heart rate was elevated. Blood picture revealed increased total blood cell count with neutrophilia. Radiography of the abdomen showed distended urinary bladder at the floor of pelvis indicating formation of the urogenital system without development of the external opening. Barium meal study revealed marking of gastrointestinal tract and stagnation of the barium up to the rectum.

Aim

To know the use of Conjoined ‘U’ Plate with Padded ring for fracture side immobilization.

Site to be immobilized

Upper 3^rd metacarpus, Carpo - meta carpo joint dislocation, Radio - Carpal Joint dislocation. Lower Radius & Ulna fracture are can also be immobilised with this device

Use of conjoined Thomas splint for bilateral tibia fibula fracture for large animal.

Aim

To know the immobilization technique for both tibia-fibula fracture in large animal practice.

Instruments

Conjoined Thomas splint (Fig 1).

Product Development and Marketing

Several efforts are being made on the research front for development of novel products from fish which have enhanced shelf life, retain the freshness and nutrients and are safe to consume. During the course of product development, which are in many stages, studies are conducted prior to commercialisation to ensure the acceptance of a product.

In a business, understanding consumer behaviour plays an important role in success. To be in a business for a long time, it is essential to know what the consumer prefers and why. Consumers make the buying decisions based on a number of factors. The purpose behind studying the buying behaviour and consumer preference is to produce and market products which may better meet the needs of a consumer. The emerging fastfood culture among the young and affordable has brought focus on processed food and its demand in the domestic food market in India. Domestically, spending on food and food products constitutes the largest portion of the Indian consumer’s spending – more than a 31% share of wallet. Evaluation of consumer preferences before introducing a new product will help the marketer to refine the product for better reach.

Conjoint Analysis

Conjoint analysis is a popular technique used in marketing research to study the features a product that should possess to have a wide consumer reach. Conjoint analysis was initially conceptualised by Luce and Tukey (1964) and further developed by Green and Rao (1971) for marketing research. It employs a decompositional method to estimate the structure of consumer preferences and consumer utility values of different attributes of a product or service. It is a decompositional method that disaggregates the structure of consumer preferences into utility values. The relative importance of a product can also be estimated using this method.

1. INTRODUCTION

The concept of product management in market research is all about tradeoffs. Whether the objective is to increase market share, profit margin or revenue, every product manager makes trade-offs—quality vs. cost, time to market vs. breadth of features, richness of the offering vs. ease of use, etc. So, how does anybody know what the market wants? What market segments exist? What those segments prefer? What will they pay? or what trade-offs to make? The answer is to get the market to make the trade-offs. The conjoint analysis is the tool to measure the trade-off i.e. to understand customer preferences, values and choices. Conjoint analysis is used for many marketing decisions, including new product development process, selecting among alternative product designs, targeting, and pricing. It is also used to predict their choices for future products and services. Conjoint Analysis assumes that a product can be “broken down” into its component attributes. For example, a car has attributes such as colour, price, size, miles-per-gallon, and model style. Using Conjoint Analysis, the value that individuals place on any product is equivalent to the sum of the utility they derive from all the attributes making up a product. Further, it assumes that the preference for a product and the likelihood to purchase it are in proportion to the utility an individual gains from the product. It is generally inappropriate for products which are evaluated by consumers on the basis of their “image”, such as beer or cigarettes, rather than on the basis of their constituent attributes. It is so widely used in market research that helps to understand the market’s preferences including product development, competitive positioning, pricing, product line analysis, segmentation and resource allocation.That gives the better insight to the market revenue, share, profit which in turn helps to provide the better market intelligence. The present chapter deals with the genesis, usefulness and analysis procedure of conjoint analysis in different software with example.

Abstract

Dual inoculation of Rhizobium + VAM coupled with recommended NPK doses was found to produce the highest bean pod (6.38, 6.40 qha-1) and straw (35.11,35.35 qha-1) dry matter production and resulted in higher macro and micronutrient contents in bean leaves which were to the tune of 4.05, 4.06%N,0.44, 0.49 %P, 2.65, 2.66 %K, 2.65, 2.67%Ca, 64.67, 64.59 ppm Zn, 242, 242.2 ppm Fe, and 36, 36.33 ppm Mn. Under this treatment increase in bean pod and straw dry matter production during the years 2002 and 2003 was to the tune of 130, 131 and 81, 83 per cent, respectively over control.

Introduction

Genetic variability is essential for the evolutionary success of all organisms. In diploid eukaryotic the processes of crossing over exchange of genetic material between homologous chromosomes and meiosis contributes to his variability. In haploid, asexually reproducing prokaryotic organisms, genetic recombination may occur by conjugation transduction, and transformation. In this experiment only the process of conjugation is considered.

Conjugation is a matting process during which a one direction transfer of genetic material occurs at physical contact between two sexually differentiated cell types. This differentiation or existence of different mating strains in some bacteria, is determined by the presence of a fertility factor of F factor, within the cell. Cells that lack the F factor are recipients (females) of the genetic material during conjugation and are designated as F^- . cells possessing the F factor have ability to act as genetic donors (males)during the mating. If this F factor is extra chromosomal (a Plasmid or episome), the cells are designated as F⁺; most commonly only the F factor is transferred during conjugation. If this factor becomes incorporated into the bacterial chromosome there is a transfer of chromosomal genes, although generally not involving the entire chromosome or the F factor. The resulting cells are designated as Hfr, for high frequency recombinants.

India is one of the few countries in the world, which has contributed richly to the international livestock gene pool. Small animal particularly sheep and goat biodiversity in India is characterized by high degree of endemism in different agro climatic regions, and has led to the development of various breeds/strains that are well adapted to specific set of environmental conditions. These breeds have generally been named after their place of origin and some based on their prominent characteristics. Indigenous sheep and goat contribute greatly to the agrarian economy, especially in areas where crop and dairy farming are not economical, and play an important role in the livelihood of a large proportion of small and marginal farmers and landless laborers. Sheep and Goat rearing and production has been the important source for sustainable livelihood of the rural people mainly in arid, semi-arid and temperate regions of India as it serves their various needs and provides an unceasing source of income round the year.

Introduction

There is a widespread degradation of natural resource, e.g., soil erosion, nutrient loss, water-logging, salinity, alkalinity, acidity, decline in soil organic carbon (SOC) content, ground water depletion and micronutrient depletion. The major causes are washing away of topsoil and organic matter due to water erosion, intensive deep tillage and inversion tillage, dismally low levels of fertilizer application, mining and other commercial activities, faulty agricultural practices, no or low use of organics, indiscriminate use of herbicides, pesticides, fungicides etc. Other cause is loss of organic matter with higher temperatures, which increase rate of microbial decomposition of organic matter due to adverse effect of climate change. Climate change due to global warming as a result of increased concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere is a well-established fact. Impacts of climate change are experienced throughout the world. Increases in global mean temperature, rise in sea-level, and occurrence of extreme events are the consequences of climate change. These changes may deplete the SOC pool and soil structural stability, increase soil’s susceptibility to water runoff and erosion, disrupt cycles of water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and other elements, and cause adverse impacts on biomass productivity, biodiversity and the environment. Climate change is likely to have a variety of impacts on soil quality. In order to restore soil quality, enhance productivity, it is of utmost importance to focus on conservation agriculture practices on long-term basis. Conservation Agriculture (CA) is gaining importance as an alternative to conventional agriculture.

Introduction

The Indo-Gangetic Plain is one of the world’s major foodgrain producing regions. The Indian states falling under this region, viz. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, are also the major rice-wheat growing states spread over 10.5 million hectares in the country. During the past 30 years, agricultural production growth in this region has been able to keep pace with population demand for food in the country mainly due to adoption of green revolution technologies inducing yield growth, followed by area expansion. But this opportunity is ceasing very fast due to limited scope for increasing the availability of arable land and natural resources. The other issue is the conservation of the basic resources of land and water for sustainability of agriculture in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is generally believed that the rice-wheat system has strained the natural resources in this region and more inputs are required to attain the same yield levels (Swarup and Singh, 1989; Kumar and Yadav, 1993; Lal et al., 2004). It is, therefore, imperative now to promote alternative technologies that would help conserve the much needed but gradually depleting natural resources while boosting productivity growth in the long-run by maintaining soil health and production environment. As a part of this strategy, conservation agriculture and resource conserving technologies play a major role in sustaining and enhancing the productivity of the rice-wheat system at a lower cost of production.

Conservation agriculture (CA) has potential to changes soil physical, chemical and biological soil quality parameters compared to conventional tillage (CT) systems. CA can also affect the functional diversity of soil microbes that essential for improved soil quality, crop production and many ecosystem services.

Conservation Agriculture is a farming system that promotes minimum soil disturbance (i.e. no tillage), maintenance of a permanent soil cover, and diversification of plant species. It enhances biodiversity and natural biological processes above and below the ground surface, which contribute to increased water and nutrient use efficiency and to improved and sustained crop production.

Three principles of Conservation Agriculture

Introduction

Intensive soil tillage, burning of crop residues and over use of fertilizer and irrigation water under current agricultural practices has accelerated the pace of degradation in Indian agriculture. Intensive soil tillage increases soil erosion and nutrient runoff into nearby waterways. Crop residue burning resulting in loss of plant nutrients and release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. Imbalanced use of chemical fertilizer leads to soil compaction, slows down the fertilizer utilization rate and contaminates the local environment. Increasing demand of irrigation water causes water shortage and harms the environment in several ways including increased salinity, nutrient pollution, and the degradation of flood plains and wetlands. In the face of these management and environmental challenges, there is a need to formulate such agricultural practices which improve the productivity of natural resources as well as of external inputs and help to prevent soil degradation. Conservation agriculture (CA) practices such as reduced tillage, residue retention and proper crop rotations offer such solutions. CA also helps in making agricultural systems more resilient to climate change and safeguard ecosystem services.

Introduction

India agriculture is now at turning point as we have travelled a long way after the advent of green revolution. Over the past four to five decades our strategies, policies and actions were guided by goals of ‘self-sufficiency’ in foodgrains production via green revolution. Indian agriculture has been successful in achieving increased food grains production albeit at a low level of satisfaction. While the mission of increasing foodgrains production stands somehow achieved, these gains were accompanied by widespread problems of resource degradation and high factor productivity, which now pose a serious challenge to the continued ability to meet the demand of an increasing population and lifting our people above the poverty line (Tan et al., 2010). Indian agriculture has reached a point where it must seek new directions – those by way of strategies, policies and actions which must be adopted to move forward addressing sustainable intensifications. The past strategies to increase food grains production, however, have resulted in massive exploitation of natural resources, contributing to unsustainable growth; there is need to change this approach in the future. This will call for strategies, which are different than the ones we adopted in the ‘green revolution’ era. High levels of fertilizer use and decreasing resource use-efficiency are increasingly contributing to groundwater pollution and increased emissions of green-house gases (GHGs) (Gupta, 2004). High level uses of pesticides in many areas have become a major health hazard. Thus, with continuously deteriorating resources, widespread problem of soil and water contamination and eroding ecological foundation, sustainability of agriculture is becoming highly questionable (Conway and Barbier, 1990). There is need to seriously debate on the strategies required to ensure that agriculture continues to play a critical role in the overall development.

Introduction

The challenge of increased food production to meet food security needs still persists 50 years after the start of the Green Revolution as population growth continues to increase in many developing countries. There appears to be no alternative but to increase agricultural productivity and the associated individual factor productivities (such as water, labor, nutrients, energy and capital) to meet the food demand by 2050 and to alleviate poverty and hunger. Thus, needs technological initiatives for further agricultural intensification. But already happening negative effect of crop production intensification on essential natural resources such as soil, water, biodiversity, and associated ecosystem services has forced agriculture stakeholders to search for novel initiatives that focus on sustainable production optimization rather than just intensification. Furthermore increased food supply is a necessity though not sufficient for eliminating hunger and poverty. What is important is who produces the food, has access to the technology and knowledge to produce it, and has the purchasing power to acquire it. Of the developing world’s 5.5 billion people, 3 billion live in rural areas – nearly half of humanity. Of these rural inhabitants, an estimated 2.5 billion are in households involved in agriculture, and 1.5 billion are in smallholder households (World Bank, 2008 and Herren, 2010). Poor farmers need low-cost and readily available technologies and practices to increase local food production and to raise their income. At the same time, land and water degradation is increasingly posing a threat to food security and the livelihoods of rural people who generally live on degradation-prone lands. There are several other key issues while relating the situation to Indian context.

Conservation agriculture is an approach to managing agroecosystems for improved and sustained productivity, increased profits and food security while preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) defines conservation agriculture as a farming system that promotes maintenance of a permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance (i.e., no tillage), and diversification of plant species.

Conservation agriculture (CA) defined as minimal soil disturbance (no-till) and permanent soil cover (mulch) combined with rotations is a recent agricultural management system that is gaining popularity in many parts of the world. Cultivation is defined by the Oxford English dictionary as “the tilling of land”, “the raising of a crop by tillage” or “to loosen or break up soil”. Other terms used in this dictionary include “improvement or increase in (soil) fertility”. All these definitions indicate that cultivation is synonymous with tillage or ploughing.

The other important definition that has been debated and defined in many papers is the word “sustainable”. The Oxford dictionary defines this term as “capable of being borne or endured, upheld, defended, maintainable”. Something that is sustained is “kept up without intermission or flagging, maintained over a long period”. This is an important concept in today’s agriculture since the human race will not want to compromise the ability of its future offspring to produce their food needs by damaging the natural resources used to feed the population today.

8.1 Introduction

Conservation agriculture (CA) is an approach to regenerative agriculture and land management practices based on three interlinked principles: (1) continuous minimum mechanical soil disturbance using no-tillage or reduced tillage based crop cultivation, (2) maintenance of permanent soil cover using crop residues and cover crops and (3) diversification of cropping system using economically, environmentally and socially adapted crop rotation including legume crops and cover crops coupled with other complementary agronomic management practices (FAO, 2014).

Introduction

The Indian agriculture is very complex and carrying out multi-functionalities of providing food, nutrition and ecological security besides employment and livelihood for over 700 million people. Indeed, India has made a marvelous achievement in attaining self-sufficiency in food grain production after the induction of Green Revolution which eventually resulted in maintaining all-time high buffer stock in warehouses of our country. Such rosy picture in production trends turned to be bleak in the past few years. There are various reasons behind this. Shrinking resources of prime lands, deforestation and accelerated erosion, deterioration of soil physical environment, increasing waterlogging and salinity in canal irrigated areas, declining water table in well-irrigated areas, poor management of rainwater, lower efficiency of inputs such as water, fertilizers and agrochemicals, rapid industrialization coupled with pollution and environmental degradation and hazards have aggravated the problem. At the same time, increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gasses (GHG), of which the most common is carbon dioxide (CO₂), is the primary cause of global warming and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) estimates that the current greenhouse gases (GHGs) concentrations are 30% more than the pre-industrial level. C is accumulating in the atmosphere at a rate of 3.5 Pg (Pg = 1015 g or billion tons) per annum, the largest proportion of which resulting from the burning of fossil fuels and the conversion of tropical forests to agricultural production. Under such circumstance, there is an imperative need to produce more from less arable land and water through meticulous management of basic agricultural resources such as soil, water and biological inputs.

Introduction

The green revolution is exemplified by too much adoption of high soil disturbance, modern varieties, energy exhaustive technologies, high amount of capital investment and simplification of farming systems (Meeus, 1993), resulting in uniform and featureless landscapes (Nassauer and Westmacott, 1987) in the most intensively farmed arable areas. In post-green revolution epoch, we had experienced a period of remarkable escalation in food productivity, despite rising land values and increasing land scarcity. Farmers from both developing and developed countries get exposed to several production constraints for achieving a sustainable, cost-effective and assured return from their field. Depending upon the circumstances and the scale of farm activities, farmers face varying degrees of climate risk, biotic invasion, and economic uncertainty. Thus, from the context of economical ambiguities, volatile food prices, social pressure to buffer ups and downs of agricultural production and achieving food security for ever growing population and curtailing poverty, farmers must be equipped with novel cultural practices to achieve a sustainable and assured cost-effective grain production. Research experiments throughout the globe found that the principal indicators for unsustainability of agricultural systems are: (1) intensive tillage induced decrement of soil organic matter (OM), structural degradation of soil, accelerated water and wind erosion, reduced water infiltration rates, surface sealing and crusting, soil compaction, (2) insufficient return of organic materials into soil, and (3) monocropping.

Introduction

Persistent use of conventional farming practices based on extensive tillage, especially when combined with removal or in-situ burning of crop residues, has magnified soil erosion losses and swiftly degraded soil resource base. One of the glaring examples for the aforementioned statement is the ‘Dust Bowl’ in the U.S during 1930s in Great plains, where 91 M ha of land was degraded by severe soil erosion (Hobbs, 2007).

One of the primary challenges of our time is to feed growing and more demanding world population with reduced external inputs and minimal environmental impacts (nature paper). Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a set of management practices for sustainable agricultural production without excessively disturbing the soils, while protecting it from the processes of soil degradation like erosion, compaction, aggregate breakdown, loss of organic matter, leaching of nutrients, and processes that are accentuating due to anthropogenic interactions in the presence of extremes of weather and management practices. The organic materials conserved through this practice are decomposed slowly, and much of materials are incorporated into the surface soil layer, thus reducing the liberation rate of carbon as CO₂ into the atmosphere. In the total balance, carbon is sequestered in the soil, and turns the soil into a net sink of carbon. So, CA enhance soil health by improving soil aggregation, reducing compaction through promotion of biological tillage, increasing surface soil organic matter and carbon content, and moderating soil temperature and weed suppression. CA reduces cost of cultivation, saves time, increases yield through timelier seeding/planting, reduces pest and diseases through stimulation of biological diversity, and reduces green house gas emissions.

Machinery development, refinement and adoption for a range of soil and cropping situations will be fundamental in any success to promote conservation agriculture practices. Agricultural machinery or tools, which support conservation agriculture generally refer to the cultivation systems with minimum or zero tillage and in-situ management of crop residues. Minimum tillage is aimed at reducing tillage to the minimum necessary that would facilitate favorable seedbed condition for satisfactory establishment of crop. Zero tillage is however an extreme form of minimum tillage. With the development of direct drilling machines, almost all research work was attempted to define the responses of direct-drilled seeds in relation to soil micro-environments. Different designs of direct drilling machines viz. zero till drill, no till plant drill, strip till drill, and rotary slit no till drill have been developed with controlled traffic measures for energy efficient and cost-effective seeding of crops without tillage. In this paper various issues, challenges and prospects of conservation agriculture in India has been discussed.

Green Revolution has increased food grain production by four fold since 1950–51 with the adoption of HYVs, intense input use, extensive tillage, burning of residues and irrigation. The intense cultivation has lead to degradation of natural resource such as soil, water, vegetation etc. In this context, globally conservation agriculture (CA) has opened a new paradigm as it has potential for higher resource use efficiency, water productivity and climate change mitigation through its key principles. Total area and percentage of total area under no tillage practised as part of conservation agriculture in different continents is given in Table 92.

Conservation agriculture is an approach to managing agroecosystems for improved and sustained productivity, increased profits and food security while preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations defines conservation agriculture as a farming system that promotes maintenance of a permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance (i.e. no tillage), and diversification of plant species.

Conservation Agriculture Conservation agriculture is an approach to managing agro-ecosystems, for improved and sustained productivity, increased profits and food security while preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment. It is a set of technologies, including minimum disturbance, permanent soil cover, diversified crop rotations, and integrated weed management (Reicosky and Saxena, 2007; Hobbs et al., 2008, Friedrich et al., 2012).

9.1 Introduction

According to FAO guideline, “Conservation Agriculture (CA) is an approach to managing agricultural ecosystems for enhanced and sustained productivity, improved returns, and food security while preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment.”

The terms “conservation agriculture” (CA) and “resource-conserving technologies” (RCTs) are not synonyms, but sometimes both words are used for a similar meaning. Therefore, the practices which improve resource or input-use efficiency are termed as RCTs. RCT is a wider term than CA which is used for nitrogen-efficient varieties; fuel-, money-, and time-efficient techniques; and improvement in plot-level water productivity including CA.

Introduction

The development of insecticide resistant populations of insect-pests, evidence of resistance, resurgence and environmental concerns have led to increased research for the alternative strategies to pesticides for control of damaging pest populations. Classical biological control and the success in that area are important and provide background and encouragement for increased efforts in the manipulation of natural enemies. Methods for manipulation of natural enemies for the purpose of reducing herbivore populations and alleviating plant stress include conservation and augmentation, habitat management and genetic manipulation.

Virtually all pest populations are affected by natural enemies to some extent. In many cases, natural enemies are the primary regulating force of the pest populations. Natural controls include effects of natural enemies (predators, parasites, pathogens), other biotic (living) factors such as food availability and competition, and abiotic (non-living) factors such as weather and soil. In pest management, biological control usually refers to the action of parasites, predators or pathogens on a pest population which reduces its numbers below a level causing economic injury. Herbivorous insects and pathogens that attack pest weeds are also considered biocontrol agents. Biological control is a part of natural control and can apply to any type of organism, pest or not, and regardless of whether the biocontrol agent occurs naturally, is introduced by humans, or manipulated in any way. Biological control differs from chemical, cultural, and mechanical controls in that it requires maintenance of some level of food supply (e.g., pest) in order for the bio-control agent to survive and flourish. Therefore, biological control alone is not a means by which to obtain pest eradication.

Introduction

India ranks third in sheep population and accounts for 6.13 % of world population (FAO, 2009) with 71.56 million sheep to its record as of Livestock Census 2007 (DAHD, 2012). Out of 71.56 million sheep, 3.73 million are crossbred and 67.83 are indigenous. Sheep husbandry is backbone of rural economy in India. It is important as it helps in sustaining the livelihood of rural poor in difficult terrains characterized by sparse vegetation, marginal land and a high incidence of poverty. These breeds were developed following domestication and natural and artificial selection over the past 12,000 years.

India has vast animal genetic resources with a wide variety of indigenous farm animal breeds. These breeds have evolved over generations to adapt to specific agro-climatic and socio-economic needs of the people. Many number of these breeds are now subjected to fast genetic degradation and dilution because of unplanned and indiscriminate breeding and introduction of exotic germplasm.

Domestic animal diversity in developing countries is embedded in traditional farming and pastoral communities who manage their livestock according to their Indigenous Technological Knowledge (ITK) and in tune with local ecological constraints.

Threats

There are sixteen threat factors have been identified from Indian mangroves (Kathiresan 2010). However, habitat conversion for agriculture and aquaculture activities, environmental pollution by upstream anthropogenic activities, Climate change processes (e.g. sea level rise; increasing frequency of cylones, etc.) are the major threat factors for mangroves. Mangroves are able to cope up with short-term oscillations and long-term fluctuations of climatic conditions, but the consequences of global climate change, such as increased extreme events, will have unprecedented effects on biota and threaten the resilience and recovery potential of the ecosystems (Harris et al. 2018; Sippo et al. 2018). Despite conservation measures, the mangroves still experience an annual loss of 0.2-0.7% during 2000-2012 and they remain the most threatened ecosystem of the world (Hamilton and Casey 2016).

Arecanut is an important traditional plantation crop of India and South-Eastern Asia. Also known as “betel nut”, the kernel is obtained from its fruit. It is mostly used by the people as masticatory and is an essential requisite during several religious, social and cultural functions of India. Arecanut has been widely used in East Africa, South-East Asia, and the Pacific Ocean islands, providing economic security for millions of people and for many sole means of livelihood in the Indian sub-continent. Arecanut is commercially cultivated in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Its current world production is 17.96 lakh tonnes from 12.26 lakh ha (FAO STAT, 2020).

Biodiversity is a matter of concern to everyone as most of the economic sectors depends on it e.g. agriculture depends on it for wild genetic resources and biological control, human health depends on nature for many pharmaceuticals, industry requires raw materials which come from the nature, tourism increasingly base its attraction on natural amenities linked to biodiversity, water resources require intact vegetation to protect watershed and prevent siltation, disaster prevention needs natural vegetation to help people to respond to drought and the lists goes on and on (Mc Neely, 2004). Each of these sectors needs to be reminded of its reliance on biodiversity and provided with opportunity to invest in insuring the continued survival of the biological basis of their prosperity. Thus biodiversity has emerged as an integral aspect of human life and hence undoubtedly one of the keystone of sustainable development. Biodiversity in arid lands are under severe threats due to habitat destruction (Manuder and Clubbe, 2002), invasion of species (O’Kennen et al., 1999) dilution of customary conservation practices, climate change (Given, 1994; WCMC, 1992), increasing human population, unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, grazing pressure etc.

India is floristically extremely rich with about 33 per cent of its botanical wealth (over 15,000 species of higher plants) being endemic. There are about 141 endemic genera distributed over 47 families (Nayar, 1980) the 4,900 endemic species, a large number are localised in the Himalayas (about 2,532 species), compared with the peninsular tract (1,788 species), and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (185 species). Indian region is a major centre of domestication and diversity of crop plants (Zeven and de Wet, 1982; Arora, 1991). About 33 per cent of the cultivated plant species have theirorigin in this region (Damania, 2002). The Indian sub continent is a centre of domestication and diversification of several economically useful wild plant species comprising about 3,000 plants of edible value, 4,000 species having known reputed medicinal value, 700 plants of traditional and social significance, 500 fibre-yielding species, 400 fodder plants, 40 plants having insectivorous uses, 300 gum and dye yielding plants and 100 aromatic and essential oil-yielding species (Arora, 1991).

Introduction

Future agricultural production potential is in danger due to the existing cropping system, characterized by irresponsible chemical utilization, extensive tillage, monoculture, and soil health degradation. Consequently, a significant challenge for modern agriculture lies in ensuring adequate nourishment for the entire world’s population while also safeguarding the environment. The intensification of agricultural practices negatively impacts vital natural resources like soil, water, air, and biodiversity throughout various developmental stages. While the conventional cropping system have enhanced crop productivity, its consequences including land degradation, resource depletion, reduced organic matter insoil, draught, soil salinity, erosion, and climate change pose significant global threats (Tomar et al. 2014; Yadav et al. 2014; Mandal et al. 2020; Rani et al. 2021).

Chemical pest management is neither economically nor ecologically sustainable. As for example, the USA spent an estimated $11 billion on pesticides in 2008, applying more than 480 million pounds of these chemicals to its agricultural fields (Fernandez-Cornejo, et al, 2009). Despite this widespread use of pesticides, which cause severe harm to the mankind as well as the ecosystem, estimate suggest that 37% of the crop yield of the USA are lost due to pests (Pimentel, et al, 1992). This type of situation is witnessed all throughout the world. Under these circumstances, the natural enemies of agricultural pests may offer a sustainable solution to pest problems and the management they offer is worth of $13 billion per year in the USA (Losey and Vaughan, 2006). So, conservation of these biological control agents in the ecosystem is very much important for the sustainability as well as the health of the environment. Conservation and augmentation of natural enemies are among the main task in Conservation Biological Control (CBC).

Abstract

Bhadawari is one of the recognized buffalo breeds of India and is famous for high milk fat content. The main breeding tract is Agra and Etawah in Uttar Pradesh and Bhind and Morena districts in Madhya   Pradesh. The tract was a part of the erstwhile Bhadawar estate from where the name of these animals originated. Bhadawari, the brown beauty of ravines and predominantly the only breed adapted to the harsh conditions of the ravines with undulating topography, thorny and scanty bushes, climatic stress and draught conditions. Breed is said to be resistant to many tropical bovine diseases and also known for eating less and producing more. Calf mortality is significantly lower than the other breeds of buffaloes. Male animals are good for agriculture work especially for ploughing in rice fields.

Ethnobotany deals with different aspects of man-plant relationship with special emphasis on ethnic community of a region, nay country or any geographical territory. This perhaps gives us a new dimension, orientation and objectives to make it complete with vivid information on people and their resource use pattern including science background behind scientific use. The new form of ethno-botany is now reformed and re-oriented as beta-ethnobotany. Earlier taxonomists, anthropologists and social workers have made their work on a wide field of man-plant relationship which was very loose in the sense that no specification or special focus was there which has its origin so called alpha-ethnobotany. Beta-ethnobotany deals with objective based oriented studies, divine, dynamic and quantitative ethno-botany with special emphasis to assessment of credibility of folk claims, ethno pharmacology, ethno-pharmacotherapy and ethno-medicine. Presently scientists estimated that out of over 5000 plants have been used in ethno-medicine much less than 1000 are utilized in herbal drug industry in different indigenous systems of medicine like ayurveda, homoeopathy, unani and siddha. A wide variation of use and conservation strategies on that medicine or the raw sources of these materials are available in the lower tract of Chotanagpur plateau in red lateritic part of West Bengal so called the ‘ rarh’ region. Tribal people like santal, kol, sabar, kheria, oraon, munda etc. inhabiting the rarh region use the medicine as ethno-medicine since time immemorial and conserve the plants and similar plant propagules in their home gardens and nearby sal (Shorea robusta) dominated forests for future generation. Wide application and conservation strategies of a large number of ethno-medicine and ethno-medicinal plants have been presented here with special emphasis on landscape conservation to make the ecosystem pristine rather than degraded in near future.

Introduction
India has vast animal genetic resources with a wide variety of indigenous farm animals including cattle. The cattle breeds have evolved over generations to adapt to the agro-climatic and socio-economic needs of the people. Domestic animal diversity is defined as the spectrum of genetic differences within each breed and across all breeds within each domestic animal species, together with the species differences; all of which are available for the sustainable intensification of food and agriculture production. The domestic animal diversity has evolved over millions of years through the processes of natural selection forming and stabilizing each of the species used in food and agriculture. Over the more recent millennia the interaction between environmental and human selection has led to the development of genetically distinct breeds. Selection processes, directed by both humans and the environment, together with the random sampling processes causing genetic populations to drift over generations, have accelerated the development of the diversity within species leading to the creation of distinct genetic differences amongst breeds.

Conservation Biology emerged as the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth’s biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction. Biodiversity itself has a wider meaning unifying and taking into account species, within species breeds/ varieties, ecosystem, genetic and molecular diversity.

Need for Conservation

The progenitor of modern-day chicken has been the Red Jungle Fowl and over the years breeds have been developed slowly for commercial purpose as layers and broilers. However we still have lot of indigenous birds which cannot be defined in either category.

Breeding capabilities Vs biodiversity erosion: Presently only about 3-4 poultry breeding companies provide meat stocks for farms around the world. A similar number of companies supply birds for commercial egg production. As a result modern animal industry now uses only a few breeds of any species. Of the many breeds once commonly seen on farms, many have declined sharply in numbers and others have disappeared almost completely.

Productivity Vs Conservation: On one hand, to increase productivity we want certain natural characters to be eliminated and on the other we talk of conserving the indigenous varieties, which sounds contradictory.

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?

Abstract

Many people’s food and livelihood security depend on the sustained management of various biological resources that are important for food and agriculture. Agro biodiversity is the result of the interaction between the environment, genetic resources and management systems and practices used by culturally diverse peoples. The management of agro biodiversity by the indigenous communities is for a variety of reasons. The land use types, land use stages, aspect, soil fertility, availability of water and quality seed of crops etc. are essential variables which an indigenous farmer considers while cultivating a diversity of traditional landraces in the farm for food security. India is the largest producer of many kinds of millets, which are often referred as coarse cereals. However, realizing the nutrient richness of these grains they are now considered as nutria-cereals. Small millets, as a group includes several grain crops namely finger millet (ragi), proso millet, barnyard millet, italian millet, kodo millet and little millet. In the four decades since 1961, the area under millets declined by nearly 50% from about 18 million hectares to about 9 million hectares. During this time, production of millets declined from about 8.8 million tons to about 7.2 million tons; a decline of 18%. Tremendous decrease in area and production is directly or indirectly resulted in the loss of agro biodiversity of these crops as these crops are grown on marginal or rainfed areas without any fertilizers. Therefore, more emphasis should be given for maintaining bio diversity of these highly rich crops by increasing area under these minor millets and developing proper agro techniques for increasing its productivity.

Village Madangunj is situated on the bank of the Hatania Duaniya, a branch of the Hoogly River in Namkhana. The cyclone Aila unleashed its fury on the people residing on the islands in the Sundarbans and changed their lives forever. The Sundarban is the world’s largest mangrove forest and home to the Royal Bengal Tiger. The cyclone also affected the fish resources and livelihood of the villagers. Efforts were made to provide alternative sources of livelihood to the poor people of these villages.

Challenges and opportunities

We conducted field surveys to understand the status of small indigenous fish after cyclone Aila in the Sunderban region, particularly in Namkhana block, which was badly affected by the cyclone. Hundreds of people under various age groups ranging from 27 to 65 years old and involved in various occupations were interviewed personally to know about the present status of small indigenous fish after Aila. It was reported by 60% of the respondents that there is a significant reduction in the availability of small indigenous fish (SIF). To rejuvenate their stocks, it was decided to develop a conservation site, as a common seed bank for SIF. The SIF are self-recruiting species and can be cultured in various cultural systems like ponds, canals, wetlands, cages, etc. They can tolerate the adverse water quality cond

At the outset, I need to state that I am not a horticultural specialist and whatever horticulture knowledge have, is gained on the job and I am a plant genetic resources specialist with an interest in biodiversity and have worked across Asia. Today we will be mainly talking about tropical fruits and, in particular, tropical fruit tree genetic resources. If you look at tree fruits as a group, it includes a large number of species, unlike in field crops, e.g., rice, wheat, maize, etc., where just a few species are involved in each crop. Here we are talking about a group of species under each fruit tree. While talking about them, certain generalizations have to be made. Also, there are many unexploited species which are waiting to be discovered for human usage and exploitation, and there is hardly any genetic information available about them.

Introduction

Providing sufficient habitat and other food supplies to already-existing or naturally-occurring beneficial species is one of the most successful and long-lasting ways for reducing economic harm from pests. In contrast to monocultures or pesticide-treated fields, beneficial species such as predators, parasites, and pest-sicking "pathogens" are significantly more numerous in varied farms where pesticides are used less frequently.

Introduction

Agricultural productivity during past three decades resulted in depletion of natural resource base besides creating several environmental and ecological problems. In contrast the demand scenario features a growth rate in food requirements to meet the ever-increasing demand of the growing population. The total food grain demand of India by 2020 is estimated at 294 million tones as against the present 224 million tonnes (2010-11), which has to come from the almost static net cultivated area of about 142 million ha. This improvement in food grain production has to be achieved while dealing with the factors affecting the ecological balance and sustainability of Agricultural resources. Soil and water conservation is an important aspect, which needs very careful dealing with proper attention of the researchers and planners particularly in the context of agriculture of rainfed areas. As the water without soils is useless for crop cultivation, the soils without water nothing but desert. At least 20 % of total land is deserted and very difficult to use with another 20 % is sandy and poor in nutrient content subjected to severe soil erosion and excessive land degradation which causes fragile nature of eco-system and threatens food security of such areas. Soil erosion reduces productivity and cuts crop yield and causes at least 10 metric tons of topsoil loss per hectare per year. Now days, soil and water conservation is gaining paramount importance globally due to its obvious reasons. The main objective of the subject to protect soils against damage due to excessive runoff by natural, mechanical, cultural and agronomic measures to be adopted to bring a state of equilibrium between climate, soil, rainfall, slope and vegetation.

INTRODUCTION

Library Consortia is the sharing of resources among the libraries based on a number and utility over their respected areas. The resources that are shared in today’s consortia atmosphere are largely in electronic form such as electronic journals and databases. The aim of consortia is to accomplish what the members of the group cannot achieve individually, and its intention is sharing of resources, manpower and money, etc. It is regarded as a valuable strategy to increase the buying power and risk-sharing capacity of academic libraries over a short term. It is also a chance to maximize the opportunities for joint collection development and resource sharing over the long term. A consortium has the ability to share resources without forfeiting the individuality of member library. As a result, the end-users can collect the benefits of more resources than would be accessible through one library, while staff can adapt the system to meet their individual library’s needs. It can be a single agency with multiple locations around the world, all sharing one name, or the consortia members can retain their own name, but use the name of the consortia to recognize that they are the part of a larger, often worldwide, organization. It acts as director for the electronic resource sharing at the national, regional and local levels. The accessibility of IT-based electronic information products put forth portions of their budgetary allocation for either acquiring or accessing web-based online full-text search services, online databases shared services, on the one hand, permits flourishing consumption and desktop access to electronic resources at highly increasing users demands and growing cost of journals.

Biofertilizers can directly or indirectly influence the growth of plant. The direct influence can be through production of phytohormones or making the nutrients available to plants. The indirect effect can be through management of plant pathogens through biological control. Therefore, the purposeful introduction of biofertilizer inoculants to plant microbiome represents an environmentally sound option that holds a prominent position in order to reduce the dependency on agrochemicals (Adesemoye and Kloepper, 2009; Abhilash et al., 2016; Aloo, et al., 2019).

Microbes in soil can rarely exists as single cells and survive near the plant root canopy or in bulk soils or endophytes or even on plant surfaces (Lorito, 2006). The soil microflora occurs as complex members of microbiota (Hacquard, 2015). Microbial consortia (MC) are unique mixture of organisms which respond to the environment stress and adapt to stresses due to internal beneficial interactions among the microbial community. Ecosystem’s physiological functions by microflora is carried out by more than one microbial species with the functional diversity and succession among different microbial components. The microbial balance among the different microflora of a MC will consist of a continuous shift between actively growing cells and non-dividing cells of the microbial consortia. It has been reported that different microbial populations “talk” to each other by “quorum sensing” mechanism in a given environment by exchanging specific chemical signals (Thompson, 2015). Natural microbial consortia holds many specific properties like stability, functional diversity and perform complex functions. The natural consortia have generated an interest in manpulating synthetic consortia for the benefit of application (Minty, et al., 2013).

Constipation means difficult or infrequent passage of the feces. In some cases it is due to mechanical obstruction of the intestines, such as cancer, diverticulitis, or perhaps to some functional cause, such as an irritable colon discussed above. In most cases there is no actual obstruction.

Many elderly people suffer from constipation; probably they do not take sufficient fluid. They may think they are drinking enough, but careful observation may reveal that they are having only two or three glasses of liquid a day. For normal bowel habits, one should drink from six to eight glasses of fluid each day.

Sometimes constipation results from ignoring the normal call of nature. Many people suffering from constipation become dependent upon laxatives in early childhood. This is most unfortunate, for it means that the child may be dependent on drugs for the rest of his life. As far as possible do not use an enema on a child unless absolutely necessary. Laxatives and enemas are only for unusual conditions. Nature will provide for the normal needs of the body.

Key Points

• Constipation can be caused by a variety of clinical disorders or as a subsequent consequence.

• Rehydration and gentle lubrication of the GIT tract with oral paraffin or linseed oil will alleviate constipation caused by feed and water.

• Small animals, especially cats, are more prone to constipation.

• Common treatments for constipation include dietary changes, enemas, and mechanical removal under anesthesia.

Introduction

Constipation occurs when the ingesta moves slowly or not at all. It is a sign of several intestinal disorders. Although not all extra-gastrointestinal illnesses cause constipation, some do. A systemic illness is characterized by parasympathetic nervous system depression and constipation. Many diseases can lead to constipation as a complication. Chronic constipation in dogs leads to obstipation, which is characterized by drier, firmer, and more compact stools. Dogs cannot defecate and hence require medical intervention, such as surgery or manual feces evacuation. When the colon becomes irreversibly swollen and hypomotile (megacolon), surgery may be necessary. As a result, corrective actions for constipation should be implemented as soon as they are discovered. This will aid in a quick recovery from disease. The current chapter provides an overview of constipation in general and its management.