eChapters

Introduction

The integrated nature and high diversity of the soil health system may contribute a significant degree of resilience under conditions of disturbance, particularly at lower (largely microbial) trophic levels. Nonetheless, the conversion of natural vegetation to agricultural land results in major changes in both physical organization and community structure in the soil, including species loss and changes in dominance among the surviving biota. This then becomes the resource with which agriculture must work and any targets should realistically be set in relation to the potential equilibria in agricultural systems rather than the natural systems from which they are derived, as has sometimes been advocated. More importantly, it is clear that subsequent agricultural practices may also impair soil health through significant impacts on the composition and structure of the soil biological community and consequently on soil-based ecosystem functions and services. Damage to ecosystem functions can arise both owing to an inadequate supply of resources (carbon, energy, nutrients or water) and through the impact of intensive substitutive practices such as continuous mechanical tillage, the use of pesticides and excessive amounts of fertilizers. These interventions may also impact on soil functions by destroying or changing the habitat of the soil organisms and their capacity to repair it.

Introduction

Increased food production is required to ensure food security in the face of the rising world population. The strategy will include cropping of the rising world population. The strategy will include cropping of the new geographical areas and increase in the per hectare crop yields, through better crop management; losses of the food in storage will have to be minimized.

The food grains and their products are susceptible to deterioration by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors. These include the high temperature, moisture, micro-organisms, mites, insects and rodents. Together they account for loss of about 25% of food grains worldwide. The losses are highest in the tropical and sub-tropical areas where conditions are relatively conductive for rapid growth and multiplication of the organisms that cause damage to the food materials, especially insects. Reliable pesticide and storage techniques are required for limiting the damage to food grains in storage in most of the developing countries of the areas.

Introduction

The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation reported that global aquaculture is increasing by 11 percent per year and is the world’s fastest growing food-producing sector. More than 38 million people are employed in aquaculture and associated industries worldwide, and 131 aquatic species are currently being commercially cultured. In 2002, Asia led the world in the aquaculture production, with about 12.4 million tonnes, while Europe and America together produced 1.2 million tonnes.

Among the Asian countries, India ranks second in aquaculture and third in capture fisheries. Freshwater aquaculture in India is mainly based on Indian major carps (Labeo rohita, Catla catla and Cirrhinus mrigala) with an annual production of 1.8 million tonnes, and exotic carps, which together contribute to over 87% of the total aquaculture production of 2.2 million tonnes. Disease problems represent important constraint to the aquaculture industry. The need to control endemic diseases imposes severe year-on-year costs on producers. The advances made in the development of vaccines for diseases of Indian major carps are very meager.

Introduction

Ornamental fish keeping in aquarium has emerged as the second most popular hobby next to photography. As these fishes usually are kept in aquarium, they are popularly known as ‘Aquarium Fishes’. These beautiful fishes form an important commercial component of aquaculture, providing for aesthetic requirements and upkeep of the environment. At present the market for ornamental fish in the world for public aquaria is less than 1% and over 99% of the market is still confined to hobbyist. In India the hobby of ornamental fish keeping is nearly 70 years old. The brilliant, flamboyant color and exotic appearance of fish appeal almost for every one, children and aged alike. According to psychiatrists, placing aquaria with ornamental fishes in the patient’s house could treat certain type of mentally disordered problems. The relatively minimum requirement of space or attention compared to other pet animals is the reason of growing interest in keeping aquaria all over.

Introduction

India is an agrarian society where 70% of the population depends on agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries. Fishery is an important sector, its planning and development largely depends on a sound and reliable data and information on resource, production, marketing and distribution. Generating reliable information basically needs identification, conceptualization, classification and sound scientific techniques for collection, compilation and analysis of data. Geographical Information System emerged as an efficient tool to access, organize, update and analyse the information and to utilize it in an optimal way.

A proper computer based information system is the need of day to organize such complex data in order to draw reliable conclusions which may help in drawing action programmes. This multidimensional nature of information on topography, physico-chemical parameters, socio-economics and fish production data can only be handled and processed by Geographical Information System (GIS).

Introduction

In almost all biological studies, it will be impossible to account for every individual in a population. Therefore, it is necessary to examine a sub-group of the total population and extrapolate from this to the whole population. The process by which the sub-group of the population is selected is sampling. Nearly, all statistical tests make a fundamental assumption that sampling of individual will be at random from all the individuals that could possibly be sampled. It is very important that timing is taken into account either by sampling strategy or by later analysis. Most population will be affected by season, time of day and local weather conditions.

What is considered here is the problem faced by an ecologist working in the field and trying to design a suitable sampling strategy. The use of the very powerful statistical technique; analysis of variance (ANOVA) is more common in the situation of a controlled experiment, where, we are analyzing the effects of different levels of a treatment (e.g. feed, fertilizer, temperature etc.) on some measured aspect of population, Then, to get a true estimate of the effect of the treatment, experimental design will be of paramount importance.

Understanding biology and genetics at molecular level has become very important for better understanding and manipulation of genome architecture and this creates new opportunities to streamline plant breeding. Breeding is simply defined as the selective mating of individuals of a population to isolate or combine desired morphological, physiological or genetic traits such as appearance, yield, and disease resistance. This is performed with the assistance of identifiable traits.

Molecular markers have contributed significantly in this respect and have been widely used in plant science in a number of ways, including genetic fingerprinting, diagnostics, identification of duplicates and selecting core collections, determination of genetic distances, genome analysis, identification of markers associated with desirable breeding traits which are useful in marker assisted breeding, genomics and development of transgenics. Use of these markers also significantly reduces breeding time and cycles required for crop improvement. This is reflected in the fact that complete molecular and genetic maps have now been constructed for at least 20 major crop species and many more have been characterized at less defined level and the genomes of a few model plant species were completely sequenced.

Consumption of fruit and vegetables has dramatically increased globally during the past a few decades. These are living perishable biological entities which perform a number of metabolic functions and have a short life span. Once the fruit is harvested, respiration and transpiration continue, but only for as long as the fruit can draw on its own food reserves and moisture. It is this limited ability to continue vital metabolic functions which define fruit as perishable. It is also estimated that about 20% of all fruits and vegetables produced are lost each year due to spoilage. The process of the fruit spoilage is just the decomposition of the fruit itself. Once harvested, this begins to deteriorate until eventually it becomes unfit for consumption. This deterioration is known as decay and that leads to spoilage. Latter may be defined as “any sensory change (physical, visual, olfactory or flavour) which the consumer considers to be unacceptable. The gradual changes which cause deterioration and decay in fruits are due to certain organisms and chemicals present in the food and outside the food. Carbohydrates play a major role in the fruit spoilage process (Prasanna et al., 2007) by way of depolymerization leading to decreased molecular size with concomitant increase in the levels of ripening inducing specific enzymes, whose target differ from fruit to fruit. The major classes of cell wall polysaccharides that undergo modifications during ripening are pectins, cellulose, starch, and hemicelluloses (Hallet et al., 2005). The focus of this chapter is to provide information about carbohydrate metabolism during fruit spoilage.

Recent awareness of consumers towards innovative probiotic fermented food products containing friendly bacteria and healthier foods has coined the term functional foods. Food development in the world is taking place mainly in three strategic directions as functional foods, organic foods and national foods. Every year the global demand is increasing at the rate of 15–20 %.

Fermentation by newer technologies involves specific strain of lactic acid bacteria. This brings specific fermentation under controlled conditions resulting in a specific fermented product with enhanced organoleptic, nutritional and therapeutic qualities.

Ash gourd (syn:wax gourd, winter melon, white gourd, white pumpkin, ash pumpkin, Chinese preserving melon and hairy melon) is a vegetable belonging to family Cucurbitaceae and genus Benincasa with only one cultivated species, Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn. (2n=2x=24). Ash gourd is an important vegetable especially in the Indo-China region, which is also the major producer of ash gourd (Rubatzky and Yamaguchi, 1997), but it is also a potential crop of tropical Africa and America (Sirohiet al., 2005).

Dall code: A code of nomenclature prepared by W.H. Dall at the direction of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1877).

Damage boundary: The level of injury where damage can be measured.

Damage threshold: Pest population above which crop loss occurs.

Damage: Measurable reduction in crop growth or yield; or a measurable loss of host utility, most often including yield quantity, quality, or aesthetic appeal.

Damping off: Infection of newly formed roots and stems of young seedlings by fungi or bacteria, typically at soil level, resulting in decay or seedling death.

Danger: A signal word used on pesticide labels to inform the user that the pesticide is highly toxic, as defined by FIFRA. The word poison and the skull and crossbones symbol always accompany the signal word danger.

R

Rabbet: A rectangular groove or cut made in the edge of a board, so that another similar cut may fit into it to form a rabbet joint.

Rack and pinion: A gear arrangement consisting of a toothed bar that meshes with a pinion. These are used to transform circular motion in to rectilinear motion and vice versa.

Rack and pinion steering: A steering system in which the rotation of pinion gear at the end of the steering column moves a toothed bar (the rack) left or right to transmit steering movements.

Radial arm: The movable cantilever, which supports the drilling saddle in a radial drilling machine.

Radial bearing: Bearing made with cylindrical or with barrel shaped rollers. The direction of action of the load transmitted to the axis of shaft.

Radial drill: l.A drilling machine in which the drill spindle can be moved along a horizontal arm, which itself can be rotated about a vertical pillar. 2. A heavy drilling machine, so constructed that the position of the drill can be adjusted to the work without moving the latter.

Radial engine: An engine, which has stationary cylinders, arranged radially around a common crankshaft.

Cattle Breeding Policies and Programmes in the Planning Process

It is necessary to see how the issues relating to Cattle Breeding have been dealt with in the successive Plan periods starting from the First Five Year Plan. It is seen that, while the issue of surplus cattle has been handled in different ways in the various Plan documents, some discussing this issue at great length and other remaining completely silent on the subject, other issues such as cattle development, genetic improvement and breeding etc., have also received varying degrees of emphasis in the different Plans. 

Anacardium occidentale is a medium-sized tree, spreading, and evergreen, much branched; grows to a height of 12 m. When grown on lateritic, gravelly, coastal sandy areas, it rarely exceeds 6 m and develops a spreading habit and globose shape with crown diameter to 12 m but, if grown inland on loams; it reaches 15 m tall and is much branched, with a smaller (4-6 m) crown diameter. The root system of a mature A. occidentale, when grown from the seed, consists of a very prominent taproot and a well developed and extensive network of lateral and sinker roots. Leaves simple, alternate, coriaceous, glabrous, obovate, rounded at ends, 10-18 x 8-15 cm, with short petiole, pale green or reddish when young and dark green at mature. Rai and Vatsala (1985) studied the dermal morphology and stomatal ontogeny of Spondias pinnata Kurz., Lannea coromandelica (Houtt.) Merr., Anacardium occidentale L., Holigarna arnottiana Hook. F. and Mangifera indica L. are studied. The cuticle is thick in H. arnottiana, A. occidentale and M. indica, but is thin in S. pinnata and L. coromandelica. Based on the shape of epidermal cells, the five species are categorised into three: cells in both upper and lower epidermis sinuous (A. occidentale, H. arnottiana, S. pinnata); upper sinuous and lower polygonal (M. indica) and upper polygonal and lower sinuous (L. coromandelica). Stomatal ontogeny aperigenous (L. coromandelica), paramesoperigenous (A. occidentale) and anisomesogenous (M. indica, H. arnottiana). S. pinnata is peculiar in that it possesses three different types of stomata, aperigenous, hemiparamesoperigenous and paramesoperigenous; whereas, in all the other four species, only one type of stomatal ontogenesis exists. Except S. pinnata, all the other species possess epidermal appendages. Unicellular trichomes occur in A. occidentale and H. arnottiana, and multicellular glandular trichomes in A. occidentale, M. indica and L. coromandelica. The multicellular hairs are found in A. occidentale in specialized pockets in two rows on either side of the major veins - a unique feature which is reported for the first time.

Pattern of Growth Flushes in a Bearing Tree

Two or three peak periods of growth are usually observed in a bearing cashew tree, even though under favourable conditions the stray shoot growth may occur almost every month. The pattern of growth of a bearing tree consists of a generative flower flush (reproductive) and a vegetative flush. The vegetative flush, consisting of lateral shoots, always develops soon after the main crop has matured. Flowering is terminal and is universally preceded by the vegetative flush.

There are two types of branching in cashew, intensive and extensive.

Though more than 1500 species contain volatile aromatic principles, only around 50 species serve as commercial source of essential oil and aroma-chemicals. Among these, aromatic crops under large-scale cultivation hardly exceeds two dozens. Important aromatic plants of world are classified according to economic part used, growth habit, habitat, crop duration and propagation method besides usual botanical classification.

Introduction

The economic choice of any process is the criterion for efficient utilization of the by-product that is produced along side of main product. During manufacture of major dairy products, the dairy industry also ends up in producing different by-products. Various by-products of dairy industry are skim milk, butter milk , whey and ghee residue. Dairy industry is particularly confronted with the problem of economic utilization of whey and ghee residue. The techno-economical problems associated with utilization of these by-products, is now receiving considerable attention. More efficient, cost effective and sophisticated technologies have opened up new vistas for manufacture of number of derived by-products. Further more the market for dairy by-products, as an ingredients in other consumer food products like snacks, ready meals and microwavable food products, has been growing.

Over the past several years, there has been significant change in consumer perception on quality and food safety. Consumers are demanding healthy, nutritious and cost-effective products processed under controlled hygienic conditions. Food safety concern, in recent years, has become dominant and important. The requirement of food safety and quality assurance has never been so demanding as it is now. Globally food safety is being addressed independent of food quality. In anticipation of consumer demands on food safety, food sanitary standards at national and international levels are under constant review. Several inter governmental agencies/organizations are engaged in work related to quality assurance and food safety. Amongst these World Health Organization (WHO) and Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) play the major role in protecting public health and defining standards of quality and safety aspects of foods for regional and or world wide usage.

Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, one should be able to understand:
    ·    The Indian ICT industry and the emerging market of Africa: overview
    ·    Regulations and their impact on international business, with reference to the emerging African market
    ·    Some of the business regulations relevant to the ICT industry
    ·    Regulatory reforms and their impact on business: examples from global markets
    ·    African regulatory situation by means of field survey and secondary data
    ·    Regulatory assessment and recommendations for the Indian ICT industry

Abstract
Electricity is one of the most important input factors for the economic development of the country. There is huge and increasing demand of electricity in India and it is continuously increasing with the countries corporate and economic growth. The Indian power sector has responded significantly and made significant progress in reducing the gap between demand and supply. Indian power sector offers one of the highest growth potential to players in this industry. However, this is subject to some challenges like to generate more power and to generate and distribute power efficiently and at minimum cost. The present study covers five selected companies operating in power sector for the financial performance using ratio analysis and ANOVA. Out of selected companies NTPC performance is better than other companies but overall Indian power sector needs to reduce too much dependence on coal and needs to generate more power availability, quality and reliability for successful future and growth of the country. 

Introduction

In the recent years, climate change emerged as the single most pressing problem globally, and accordingly received an increased attention (Berrang-Ford et al., 2011). It is evident that human activities are responsible for the climate change. Natural processes may also lead to climate variability and change. The climate change forecasts resulted from simulation models indicate that the future climate is likely to turn into more capricious nature with more occurrences of extreme events (IPCC, 2013b). Future projections according to the World Bank (2010) reveal the need of raising food production by 1.8% per annum between 2005 and 2050 due to climate change rather than 1% per annum if there were no impact of climate change. The effect of climate change can be seen on the quantity and quality of various components in the global hydrologic cycle (Milly et al., 2005; Bates et al., 2008).

In South Asia, vulnerabilities to the climate change are the largest in semi-arid and arid countries, where rainfall is concentrated over a few monsoon months, year to year variations are high, and where water resources are decreasing (Lenton, 2004). Cruz et al. (2007) indicated that climate trends and variability can be characterized by increased air temperatures, which are more pronounced during the winters compared to the summers. Across the entire Asia, both spatial and temporal variability in rainfall trends observed during the past few decades may be attributed to climate change. It is likely to happen that climate change will extend the dry season when negligible or very low flows occur, which particularly affects the water management process due to inability to rely on water storage reservoirs or groundwater resources situated at great depths (Giertz et al., 2006).

Basmati Rice

Basmati Rice is a simple grain, yet throughout history it has been on royal menus of various cultures as the main dish. From the pilav of Turkey, polou of Persia, pilafs of the Steppes, the isotos and paellas of the Mediterranean, to the pulau of India it has been served to great sultans, maharajahs, shahs and emperors. Spices, nuts, dried fruits, vegetables and herbs are a natural for Basmati rice. Basmati rice transforms rice dishes into extraordinary meals. Also known as the “Queen of Rice”, this highly aromatic grain that is long and elegantly thin, has originated from Vasumati which means earth recognized by its fragrance. The full exposition of the word is from Hindi. Bas originating from Prakrit Vas which has a sanskrit root- Vasay connoting aroma; and mati from mayup meaning ingrained from the origin. Common usage has changed Vas to Bas while joining bas and mayup the latter changed to mati.. Thus the word Basmati originated.

Abstract

In Gadilam river basin, groundwater is found in both hard rock and sedimentary terrain and is the most important source of rural/urban drinking water supply. Gadilam river basin has gained its importance due to the presence of Neyveli Lignite open cast mine (NLC), group of industrial estate (SIPCOT), extensive depressurization of Cuddalore aquifer and boreholes of New Veeranam Scheme (NVS) in the downstream of the basin. A total of 178 water samples were collected in four different seasons at various lithologies. The collected samples were analyzed for various physico-chemical parameters using standard procedures. Geochemical indicators of groundwater were used to identify the chemical processes that control hydrogeochemsitry. Interpretation of hydrogeochemical data suggests that leaching of ions followed by weathering and anthropogenic impact controls the chemistry of the groundwater. Isotopic study reveals that recharge from meteoric source in sedimentary terrain and rock water interaction with significant evaporation prevails in hard rock region. This thorough understanding helps us to make judicial usage and to maintain the quality of this commodity.

Abstract

Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) consisting of water soluble organic molecules and by products of organic decomposition and chemical degradation processes, constitutes a critical link in carbon and nutrient cycles. The quality, or chemical and physical character, of DOC affects the degree to which it is transformed by biological and chemical processes. The significance of DOC was studied in layered coastal aquifers of the Pondicherry region during four different seasons. Pondicherry region has varied geological set up ranging from Cretaceous to Recent formations. A total of 52 groundwater samples were collected from various aquifers like Alluvium, Tertiary(Upper Cuddalore, Lower Cuddalore) and Cretaceous for two different seasons of pre- monsoon(PRM), and post-monsoon (POM). The samples were analyzed for major ions and DOC. The range of DOC in the study area is 0-14 mg/l. Very high DOC concentrations were measured during PRM in the samples from Alluvium and Lower Cuddalore Formation. The samples of these formations were compared with pH, Ionic strength, log pCO₂ and carbonate minerals concentration. The alluvial aquifer shows that pH governed dissolution along the coastal tracts and in Upper Cuddalore formation it’s based on interaction between aquifer matrix and groundwater.

Abstract

Groundwater is most favored as a source of drinking water in all over world. It is often thought to be cleaner and easier to treat when compared with surface water and as a result, many wells have been sunk. Uranium and other radionuclides in water can lead to health problems if present in higher concentrations. In order to study the behavior and to understand the influence of lithology in groundwater of Madurai district, a study was conducted by collecting a total of 216 samples of different seasons (Premonsoon, South west monsoon, Northeast monsoon and Post monsoon) with respect to lithology and the number of samples was depending upon their spatial coverage in the study area. The groundwater samples were analysed for U, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, HCO₃^-, Cl^-, SO₄^2-, PO₄^3-, NO₃^-, F^-, H₄SiO₄, pH, EC, TDS. It was identified that the higher concentration of Uranium (156 ppb) were noted in the northern part of the study area. They are chiefly restricted to the Granitic terrain and nearby Charnockitic regions. The weathering process induces the release of higher U ions from the granitic terrain and the evaporated recharge water from the tank /reservoir  also induces the release of U ions from the rock matrix, it may also be due to fertilizer enriched agricultural return flows. The key source for all these processes and hydrogeochemical processes is identified to be lithology which inturn controls all the other processes in the study area.

Abstract

Amongst all types of major land-use change, extending irrigated agriculture using a surface-water source has the greatest influence on groundwater – both significantly increasing recharge and changing water quality as excess irrigation water infiltrates into shallow aquifers. Hence, in order to understand the impact of the landuse on the groundwater system the study has been aimed to understand the process by adopting geophysical, geochemical and microbial analysis of groundwater samples. The study has been conducted in Chidambaram taluk, with a total area of 92.51Sq.km. A total of 39 groundwater samples were collected for the analysis of major cation and anion along with the microbial analysis, like Total Coliform, Total Viable Counts, Fecal coliforms, Vibrio cholera and Total Streptococci. The geochemical studies reveal that there is no correlation between these parameters and the microbial population. The migration of the water from the elevated regions (urban region) is witnessed and the concentration of the microbial population is higher in these regions except in the southern region which has impermeable clay and this arrest the movement of water.

Abstract

The livelihood security of hill people is closely associated with hydrology of the region. The Himalayas possesses one of the largest reserve resources of freshwater in the form of snow and ice, thereby supporting livelihoods of millions of people. The physiographic constraints of the region restrict irrigation development with the result that, majority of cultivated area remains rainfed. Climate change is also a serious issue concerning hill economy. Its impact on livelihood security is dictated, among other things, through change in hydrology. In addition to highlighting hydrological issues, suggestions are offered on how to deal with water related issues to livelihood enlargement and protection.

Abstract

The paper presents findings of a field study to determine the agricultural and socio-economic impact of climate change on the mountain farmers’ apple economy. The study investigates the positive and negative effects of climate change on mountain farmers’ economy. It revealed how mountain farmers in a valley were forced to abandon apple farming which destroyed their farm economy and at the same time how same climate change brought new economic opportunities. The study findings also indicate that opportunities brought by climate change seem to have a time scale. This research attempts to piece together evidence and aims to enhance our understanding of climate change impacts as observed by farming communities at very local levels. The growing threat of global warming and its effects and prevailing obscurities about the future of agriculture are all addressed in this investigation.

Resistance of some plants against a pathogen is due to their belonging to taxonomic groups which are outside the host range of the pathogen. Such resistance is called non host resistance. It is attributed either to genes for resistance (R genes) against the avirulence genes of the pathogen (true, race specific, cultivar-specific, or gene-for-gene type resistance), or to the plants escaping or tolerating pathogen infection due to various reasons (apparent resistance). There are two kinds of true resistance: partial (also called quantitative, polygenic, or horizontal resistance) and R gene resistance (also called race specific, monogenic, or vertical resistance). Several examples of true resistance attributable to, biochemical underpinning or genetic transformation of host plants of major fruit crops viz., apple, pear, apricot, plum, cherry, almond, mango, grapes, banana, citrus, papaya, guava and pomegranate against important plant pathogens are known. Much greater efforts need to be invested, however, for incorporating resistance to diseases in horticultural species because of their huge relevance to socio-economic well being of farming community of the hill regions. The effort in this chapter will be towards synthesizing information which officials of the administrative and development departments can use for drafting plans and policies for promoting protection and up gradation of livelihoods of hill farmers.

Composting is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as fertilizer and soil conditioner. It is a natural process of decomposition and recycling of organic material into humus rich soil amendment.

At the simplest level, the process of composting requires making a heap of organic material sprinkled with water which break down to humus after a period of weeks or months. However, modern bio composting is a multi-step, closely monitored process with measured inputs of water, air and carbon and nitrogen rich (in proper C:N ratio) materials.

All farmed animals are transported at some stage in their lives, sometimes to places where food is more readily available, sometimes to a different owner or a different place of keeping and sometimes to slaughter. The handling, loading, transporting and unloading of animals can have very substantial effects on their welfare. Wherever   poor welfare associated with the transport of animals is prevented, there is an immediate financial advantage because mortality rates and carcass downgrading are reduced. The attitude towards animals has major consequences on animal welfare during transportation. Therefore, laws and codes of practice can also have significant effects on animal welfare during transport. In order to produce guidelines that can be used to prevent or minimise poor welfare in animals during transport, it is necessary to be aware of the biological functioning of the animals concerned and the attitudes and actions of the people involved in the handling and transport procedures.

Theory
    ·    Father of sociology: Auguste Comte 
    ·    The term sociology was coined by Auguste Comte (1789-1875).
    ·    Sociology word comes from two roots i.e.     
        Latin word ‘socius’ meaning companion         
        Greek word ‘logos’ meaning speech or reasoning.
    ·    Sociology: Sociology is the scientific study of human social behavior and its origins, development, organizations, and institutions. It is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social actions, social structure and functions.

Plantation crops are high-value commercial crops of greater economic importance which play a pivotal role in the world economy. These include coconut, arecanut, tea, coffee, rubber, cocoa, oil palm, cashew. In this chapter only Cashew and Rubber are dealt with since the other plantation crops have been dealt in the earlier chapters.

INTRODUCTION

Drying or dehydration is defined as the removal of moisture from its initial level to a level which renders food materials safe for subsequent storage. It is a simultaneous heat and mass transfer operation in which heat is supplied externally to evaporate moisture and air is forced through the bed to carry away the moisture. Drying is the oldest technique to preserve food materials. Advantages of drying include reduction in water activity, enhancement of shelf life, maintenance of flavor and nutritive value, and reduction in packaging and transportation costs. When the water activity of the dried product is reduced to below 0.6, most microorganisms do not grow and the rates of other deteriorative reactions are substantially reduced.

INTRODUCTION

Food being the basic need of all humans and other living organisms, the production and processing of food is a continuous activity with several new procedures and technologies adoption; thereby the quality of food needs an emphasis which also protects the consumers by providing safe and suitable food. The contaminated foods, food borne illness outbreaks though at times referred to poor consumer handling, commitment for provision of safe food to consumers is also a Governments concern. In the recent years, food safety measures through Food Safety programmes and increase in awareness are being followed. The food production in our country is the most promising sector which is the cause for white revolution and green revolution. India ranks first in the world in production of cereals and milk and second largest producers of fruits and vegetables. India stands second in inland fish production. It is second largest exporter of rice and so on. Food processing sector has a great potential which covers a wide spectrum of products encompassing agriculture, horticulture, plantation, animal husbandry and fisheries. But the growth of food processing industries in our country is rather slow. However, to encourage, the government is providing lot of incentives in the recent years.

MAC : It stands for modified atmospheric coating.

Macaroni : Pasta made from semolina and shaped in the form of slender tubes.

Macaroni wheat : It is tetraploid wheat and is preferred for making macaroni, vermicelli etc.

Macaroon : A small cookie composed chiefly of egg whites, sugar, and ground almonds or coconut.

Mace : An aromatic spice consisting of the dried external fibrous covering of a nutmeg.

T A Spoilage : The spoilage of low and medium acid canned foods by Clostridium thermosacharolyticum which breaks sugars and form acid and gas (moisture of H₂ and CO₂) resulted in swelling and in severe cases even bursting of can may occur and the spoiled food usually has a sour odour.

Abstract

It’s relatively frequent to hear about the customary consumption and commercialization of wild and cultivated mushrooms in European, North American and Asian tempered zones. In contrast, such a phenomenon has been widely unrecognized in Mesoamerican lowlands. The scarce interest for leading ethnomicological studies in these zones may be caused by a preconception according to which peoples inhabiting them do not use macroscopic fungi. Yet, archaeological evidence shows a relation between fungi and Mayan peoples existed during pre-Hispanic times.

Introduction

The horticulture sector has been a driving force in stimulating a healthy growth trend in Indian agriculture. This sector contributes around 28 per cent of the GDP from about 13.08 per cent of the area and 37 percent of the total exports of the agricultural commodities (Rather et al., 2013)  India is currently producing 257.2 million tonnes of horticulture produce from an area of 23 million ha. Over the last decade, the area under horticulture grew by about 3.8% per annum but production rose by 7.6% per annum. The higher growth rate in horticulture was brought about by improvement in productivity of horticulture crops, which increased by about 28% between 2001-02 and 2011-12. (Anonymous, 2012)

Introduction
  
Horticultural production can be highly profitable, increase employment opportunities, and bring about increasing commercialization of the rural sector. Horticulture thus has a role to play in a world where 1.1 billion people continue to live in extreme poverty on less than US$1 a day and another 1.6 billion who live between one and two dollars per day (Von Braun et al., 2004). While in past, priority to achieving self sufficiency in food grain production in our country, over the years, horticulture has emerged as an indispensable part of agriculture, offering a wide range of choices to the farmers for crop diversification. It also provides ample opportunities for sustaining large number of agro-industries which generate substantial employment opportunities. The horticulture sector contributes around 28% of the GDP from about 13.08% of the area and 37 % of the total exports of agricultural commodities (Annon, 2007).

Introduction
   
The major land mark in the primary food production is the Green revolution during sixties, eventually leading the country to self-sufficiency in food grains. At present, agriculture and allied sector contributes 22% of GDP in India. Total arable area in India is 184 million hectares contributing a total food grain production of 210.01 million tonnes. Horticultural crops including fruits, vegetables, flowers, plantation crops, spices and medicinal and aromatic plants have emerged as a major economic activity in India. Horticulture crops cover over 20.7  million hectares of area, which is approximately 11.25%  of the total gross cropped area of the country and contributes 18-20% of the gross value of India’s agricultural output. India is the world’s second largest fruit and vegetable producing country accounting for 81.29 million tonnes of fruit and 162.2 million tonnes of vegetables (Annon., 2013).

Introduction

Fruits and vegetables are an important supplement to the human diet as they provide the essential minerals, vitamins and fibre required for maintaining health. For various reasons, this abundance of production is not fully utilized and about 25-30% of it is wasted due to spoilage. Most of fruits and vegetables are seasonal crops and perishable in nature. In a good season there may be a local glut, particularly of fruits, but because of insufficient transport facilities and poor availability of packing materials, the surplus cannot be taken quickly enough to the natural markets in urban areas. Moreover, the surplus often cannot be stored for sale in the off-season because of inadequate local cold storage facilities. Thus the growers do not get a good price for their produce because of the glut and some of it is spoiled resulting in complete loss.

Fº value: It is used to express F-value when z =10ºC / 18ºF and the temperature is 121.1ºC. It is the number of minutes at a specific temperature (250ºC) required to destroy or kill a stated number of microorganisms and has specific z-value. It is also called reference value. 

The interventions for women empowerment was perhaps started intensively since fourth plan period. Subsequently many more initiatives are taken for the total all round development of women in this country.

A. 4^TH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1969-1974)

Farmers Training and Education Programme

It was for the first time in the 4^th Five Year Plan that an effort was made by Ministry of Agriculture to address the training and extension needs of women farmers with new and improved technology through “Farmers Training and Education Programme”, in which a network of 150 Farmers Training Centers were established to close the visible gap between the recommended package of practices and the farm women’s knowledge and skills about them. In this programme, a linkage of the supply of production inputs with improved technical training, supported by Farm Radio Broadcast and Functional Literacy was provided. The unique feature of this programme was that for the first time, a cognizance of women’s participation in agriculture was taken. The experience of the programme had shown that the states which gave due importance to this programme, especially in terms of curriculum planning and syllabus formulation (based on true status and needs of women farmers), achieved very good results. It was, this programme, which focused many issues that had to be categorically considered while planning and implementing agriculture support programmes for women farmers.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Infestation by insect pests is a major factor responsible for the low productivity of spice crops in India. Spice crops such as black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton), ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) are infested by many species of insect pests, some of which cause severe crop losses. Adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) schedules in which biological control forms a major component is more relevant in these crops since excessive use of insecticides could lead to pesticide residues in the produce and other ecological hazards. Spices are high-value and export-oriented in nature and pesticide residues are the most important non-tariff barriers on trade in these produces. There has been a renewed interest during the past decade in developing environment–friendly crop management schedules in sustainable agriculture including spice crops, reflecting the increasing concern over pesticide misuse.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Vanilla is one of the most popular and widely used flavour materials in the world and it is the most expensive spice traded in the global market after Saffron (Crocus sativus L). The major consumers of vanilla beans currently are the developed countries with the US, France and Germany absorbing about 80 per cent of the world imports. Among them, the US imports 50-60 per cent while the latter 10-15 per cent each. They are also main re-exporters of both vanilla beans and processed products. The total area under vanilla cultivation in the world during 2002 was 38,066 ha with the production of around 4956 metric tones and increased to 76,440 ha with a production of 10, 360 tons during 2005 (FAO, 2007). The major vanilla producing countries are Madagascar, Comoros, Indonesia, Mexico and Reunion (Table 1). Area under vanilla in India during 2002-03 was 2545 ha with the production of 92 tonnes. (Spices Board, 2003) and increased to 5370 ha with a production of 196 tonnes during 2004-05.

Protected cultivation practices can be defined as a cropping technique wherein the micro environment surrounding the plant body is controlled partially or fully as per plant need during their period of growth to maximize the yield and resource saving. Cultivation of vegetables under protective structures such as net houses has become popular in recent years (Kaur et al., 2004; Cheema et al., 2004; Singh et al., 2004). This enables, farmers to produce vegetables in the off-season, when fresh produce usually fetches higher price in the market.

Biological control is a strategy which employs utilization of natural enemies to reduce the damage caused by noxious organisms to tolerable levels (De Bach and Rosen, 1991). This is the most benign method for reducing pest population in vegetable ecosystem. It opens an amicable platform for production of organic vegetables with good export value. Since the late 1950s, much of the insect control in vegetables has been based on the use of synthetic chemical insecticides. Insecticides are relatively easy to use and have generally provided effective pest control. It is likely that they will always be a component of pest management programs. But, insecticides have some undesirable attributes. They usually present some degree of hazard to the applicator and other people who may come in contact with them, they can leave residues that some find unacceptable; they can contaminate soil and water and affect wildlife, aquatic life and other non-target organisms, they can interfere with beneficial organisms, such as pollinating insects and the natural enemies of pests. The insects also can develop resistance to insecticide. For these reasons, there is growing interest among farmers, entomologists and gardeners to explore and adopt methods that reduce pesticide use. 

6.1 Strength of India
    ·    In India, pomegranate is cultivated over 1.31 lakh ha with a production of 13.46 lakh tonnes and a productivity of 10.27 t/ha. 
    ·    India is the largest producer of pomegranates in the world.
    ·    Pomegranate is currently ranked 10th in terms of fruit consumed annually in the world. India is the only country in the world where pomegranate is available throughout the year i.e. From January to December. It is cultivated in 3 seasons (Ambia bahar, Mrig bahar and hasth bahar) in Deccan plateau of India. 
    ·    India is endowed with wide agro climatic conditions that offer immense scope for cultivation of various kinds of fruit crops. This provides an excellent platform for the country to emerge as a leading producer of fruit crop. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly used in our everyday lives. It is used in a variety of industries from gaming, journalism/media, to finance, as well as in the research fields from water resources to robotics. In this chapter concept and applications of AI are discussed in brief.

6.1 Historical Background

After World War II, a number of people worked independently on intelligent machines. The English mathematician Alan Turing was the first who explained the concept of intelligent machines through a lecture in 1947. He stated that intelligent machines could be developed by programming computers rather than by building machines. Since late 1950 many researchers are working on intelligent machines, mostly on programming computers