eChapters

Introduction

Irrigation water always contains some soluble salts irrespective of its source. The suitability of waters for a specific purpose depends on the types and amounts of dissolved salts. Some of the dissolved salts or other constituents may be useful for crops. However, the quality or suitability of waters for irrigation purposes is assessed in terms of the presence of undesirable constituents, and only in limited situations is irrigation water assessed as a source of plant nutrients. Some of the dissolved ions, such as NO₃, are useful for crops.

Sometimes, effluents and domestic sewage water is utilized for irrigating field crops. For using these water safely in the farming system, assessment of undesirable pollutants and organic and microbial constituents with regard to their suitability is fore-most important. Determination of organic constituents is generally carried out under two categories viz., (i) organic substances that quantify an aggregate amount of organic C and (ii) individual or specific organic substances, such as benzene, DDT, methane, phenol and endosulphan. Important determinations are the chemical oxygen demand (COD), which gives the total organic substances, and the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), which gives the amount of total biodegradable organic substances in the water sample.

ABSTRACT

Trees play a crucial role in maintaining and regenerating soil fertility through the action of their roots and litter. Trees can also improve soil structure, water holding capacity, crop rooting volume and biological activity in soil by providing biomass. Quick growing species, especially of nitrogen fixing trees when combined with herbaceous crops enhance fertility status of the soil through litter contribution and nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs, grown in agroforestry systems, are capable of fixing about 50-100 Kg N ha^-1yr^-1. Use of agroforestry is also a viable option for enhancing soil organic carbon density. Soil organic carbon sequestration potential in soils of tropical forest ecosystems varies from 100 to 500 Kg C ha^-1 yr^-1. Improving soil organic carbon pool through agroforestry improves soil quality, biomass productivity and mitigates global warming by reducing the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. Nutrient cycling is another way in which trees draw a large portion of nutrients from deeper soil layer and return it to the soil through crown crash, stem flow and litter fall. In a nutshell, for improving the soil quality, ecological balance and sustainability of agro eco systems , agroforestry is one of the best viable alternative land use system.

ABSTRACT

The increasing level of green house gases in general CO₂ in particular has raised concerns about the vulnerability of human, animal and plant life. These concerns have prompted the Governments world over to take the appropriate measures to save them from perspective destruction. Forests though serve as source and sink of the CO₂, there is need to synthesize the impact of climate change on forests and the role of forests in global carbon cycle. Climate change needs to become part of decision making in forest management. Also, the agroforestry, a potential carbon sequestration activity is lagging behind, there is a growing interest in it in countries that have not only ratified Kyoto Protocol but also facing many other ecological problems on their private working land. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) offers benefits through sink credits and reduces the negative impact of climate change, therefore, necessary institutional arrangements should be put in place to use CDM projects effectively for generating resources through afforestation and reforestation projects for the well being of present as well as future generation. Forest/agroforestry scientists/managers need to realize the current degree of vulnerability and start thinking about their ability to cope with the impacts. Governments have initiated negotiations on policy actions to reduce the green house gases and addressed the vulnerabilities of the ecological, economic and social systems to climate change. It may be one of the least expensive ways for industries to off-set their carbon emission and tree growers to benefit through the carbon trade. Despite the fact that the certain aspects under Kyoto Protocol are still under clarification and negotiation, the forest plantations will play an important role in carbon sequestration and the implementation of Kyoto Protocol. Since the development of plantation is a slow process, the dividends will only be realized after a gap therefore the new plantation should be taken up without delay and the old one be managed as per their silvicultural rotation.

Abstract

Microbes are key ingredients of various ecosystems and backbone of modern biotechnology and industry. In addition to their cultivation, purification and characterization, preservation of microorganisms is equally important. Different preservation methods and protocols have been developed for long term preservation of microbes. Microbial Resource Centers (MRCs) are providing active services in the field of life sciences. National Centre for Microbial Resource (NCMR) at National center for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune is one of the MRCs. Unlike aerobes little work has been done in the area of cultivation and preservation of anaerobic microbes. In the previous chapter we have discussed the technicalities and problems of anaerobic cultivation. The aim of current chapter is to provide the recent overview of preservation of anaerobic microorganisms like methanogens, sulfate and metal reducers and the obligate anaerobes of clinical and industrial importance with fermentative mode of life style.

Abstract

Hundreds of bacterial taxa makes up human gut microbiota and it is comprised primarily of anaerobes belonging to four main phyla which are Firmicutes, Bacteriodetes, Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria. Anaerobes colonizes the human body, including oral cavity, small intestine, vagina, skin but the majority of them are housed in the colon. The composition and distribution anaerobes varies along the length of gastrointestinal tract because of variation in oxygen gradient, anatomy of intestinal tract and other host physiological factors. Human gets colonized by anaerobes during the birth and these initial colonizers have impact on infant’s health status. The colonization and development of the gut microbiome is responsive to variety of factors including the mode of delivery, feeding methods, environment etc. The human gut microbiota plays an important role in healthy status of host. It plays an important role in nutrient metabolism and absorption, synthesis of vitamins and production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). In turn these metabolites have positive effect on host immunity and overall host fitness. Studying, the anaerobes using culturing method remains critical in microbiology. However, culturomics approach, combined with sequencing technology, provides new insights in studying anaerobes of human gut microbiota. In this chapter we have discussed that, how human gut is an ideal habitat for the colonization and growth of anaerobes and their impact on host health. We also tried to shed light on latest technical advancement in sequencing culturing technology and their application in studying gut anaerobes.

8.1 Introduction

Rising petroleum prices, increasing threat to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming have generated an intense international interest in developing alternative non-petroleum fuels for engines. The use of vegetable oil in internal combustion engines is not a recent innovation. Rudolf Diesel (18581913), creator of the diesel cycle engines, used peanut vegetable oil to demonstrate its invention in Paris in 1900. In 1912, Diesel said, “The use of vegetable oils as engine fuel may seem negligible today. Nevertheless, such oils may become, in the passing years, as important as oil and coal tar presently.” Nowadays, it is known that oil is a finite resource and that its price tends to increase exponentially, as its reserves have being decreasing¹.

India ranks sixth in the world in total energy consumption and needs to accelerate the development of the sector to meet its growth aspirations. The country, though rich in coal and abundantly endowed with renewable energy in the form of solar, wind, hydro and bio-energy has very small hydrocarbon reserves (0.4 % of the world’s reserve). India, like many other developing countries, is a net importer of energy, more than 25 percent of primary energy needs being met through imports mainly in the form of crude oil and natural gas. The rising oil import bill has been the focus of serious concerns due to the pressure it has placed on scarce foreign exchange resources and is also largely responsible for energy supply shortages. The sub-optimal consumption of commercial energy adversely affects the productive sectors, which in turn hampers economic growth².

In fact, as the concept of synthetic seed involves the use of small propagules and enables the direct sowing of this material in vitro or in vivo, the technology could provide great flexibility to the breeders by not only reducing the costs when large quantities of propagules are required for handling, shipping and planting, but also eliminating the acclimation step when direct sowing in vivo is applied (Onishi et al. 1994).

The artificial seed technology has been applied to a number of plant species belonging to angiosperms. The exact application of artificial seeds will vary from species to species. In self-pollinated crops that currently have good seed production systems, synthetic seeds will not have any practical applications, but in cross pollinating species, especially those where seed production is difficult and expensive, synthetic seeds offer many advantages and opportunities. The importance of encapsulation technique as an aid to propagation in various crop plants has been discussed by many workers. By combining the benefits of vegetative propagation system with the capability of long-term storage and with clonal multiplication, synthetic seeds have many diverse applications in agriculture (Gray and Purohit, 1991; Redenbaugh et al., 1991; Redenbaugh, 1993). In some species seed propagation is not successful. The reason behind this may be due to heterozygosity of seed, small sized seed, presence of reduced or insufficient endosperm, and seedless varieties of crop species like grapes, watermelon, mango, guava etc. Sometimes association of mycorrhizal fungi is essential for seed germination, for example orchids. The germination of these seeds under natural conditions or under control environment is not possible. Propagating of these species through synthetic seed is the added advantage. The possible implications of synthetic seed technology have been detailed hereunder.

Contrary to “Law of Finite Biology” though the number of genetic codes will exhaust soon in an exponential way (presumably leading to solutions to every known genetic anomaly related health problem), the number of NCE (New Chemical Entity), their number being finite⁹⁹ too, will run out of fuel soon too, despite unraveling of genomic decoding. The bleak scenario in the pharmaceutical field is a testimony to the latter surmise. As many a wise scholar has pointed out, the era of single molecule drug seem to drawing curtains. However, unlike what seems common sense, the era of combinational drug therapies of MM paradigm probably will not foot the bill. Just as very high speed serial computing simulates parallel processing but does not make real time parallel processing, mixtures of prima facie complementary medicinal molecules will perhaps not make combinational recipes. The fundamentals of non-linear dynamical complex systems (NLDCS) paradigm demand so. The odds against success with such efforts are close to odds of success of creating life one bit at a time out of mixing C, H and O molecules in a jar would be. The number of genes might be finite, but data on their combinations (and their corresponding effects) and more so on their permutations (one has to only imagine the vastness of those possibilities) would, as of now or in near future, cause an information overload and comprehension failure¹⁰⁰ (limitation of human biological brain apparatus) pitting researchers and industry against a futility barrier. However, TM provides a silver lining to these bleak analyses. Analytical comprehension of TM recipes, regimens or techniques might be unachievable by contemporary science, empirical testing of their efficacy and safety being doable and therefore taken care of, TM can provide an outlet to the drug discovery impasse because the same natural forces that shaped multi-gene interaction into complex and dynamical mode have created some of, if not all, TM solutions.

Typically herbal pharmaceutics may include any medicinal or functional food preparations such as phytopharmaceuticals, single or poly herbal formulations, and nutraceuticals made out of botanical materials. This includes two broad categories. First, there are many evidence based formulations and mixures that may or may not be based on traditional knowledge or practices. The second group includes all the traditional or ethnopharmacological preparations. Bringing herbal medications from either group to the market will require a pharmaceutics approach balanced with an understanding of the original context in which the treatment was used.

As an example, Ayurvedic medicines have been used safely for many years on a wide variety of patients. Medications that have not been altered from their original form have de facto gone through a type of safety testing. When a traditional medicine is prepared differently, then it is essential to validate the drug safety to be sure that the effects of the new procedure don’t cause harmful effects. In this same way, the value of animal testing to establish safety and toxicity is not as critical if the botanicals are used in traditional forms. Suitable animal models help in understanding the mechanism of action or pharmacodynamics of medicines. However, it is well known that no good animal models exist for many human diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, and rheumatism. The use of modern technology in making traditional preparations more contemporary and scientific is important but it should not compromise the original basis and principles described in tracditional medicine. The following examples highlight some of the concerns of this approach.

The main purpose of herbal drug technology is to convert botanical materials into medicines with a focus on standardization and quality control with proper integration of modern scientific techniques and traditional knowledge. The use of chromatographic techniques and marker compounds to standardize botanical preparations has limitations because of their variable sources and chemical complexity. DNA-based molecular markers have utility in fields like taxonomy, physiology, embryology, genetics etc. DNA based techniques have widely been used for authentication of plant species of medicinal importance. Pharmacognosy mainly addresses the quality related issues using routine botanical and organoleptic parameters of crude drugs, and chemoprofiling assisted characterization with chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. The new pharmacognosy includes all the aspects of drug development and discovery where the biotechnology driven applications play an important role. Current focus on chemotype-driven fingerprinting and related techniques require integration with genotype-driven molecular techniques so that an optimal characterization of botanical materials is possible. This review provides a brief account of various DNA based technologies that are useful in genotyping and quick identification of botanicals with suitable examples.

Loose Smut/Kernel Smut

Sphacelotheca cruenta

Economic Importance

• Loose smut is distributed in Africa, Europe, Asia and America.
• In India, it occurs in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
• It is less common than grain smut.
• The pathogen affects plant growth and development adversely.
• Grain yield losses correlate well with percentage of the disease distribution in fields.

Wilt

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris

Economic Importance

• Wilt is a serious disease of chickpea in India, Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and Syria.
• Wilt is prevalent in most chickpea growing countries and is a major disease of economic importance in Asian countries.
• It was first reported in India.
• The yield losses encountered was reported to the tune of 60 per cent. However, it causes complete loss in grain yield if the disease occurs in the vegetative and reproductive stage of the crop.
• Seeds harvested from infected plants are lighter and duller than those from healthy plants.

Damping Off

Pythium aphanidermatum

Economic Importance

• The disease is reported from China, Indonesia, South Africa and the USA.
• It causes extensive damage in the tobacco tracts of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat in India.
• The damage in some areas can be hundred percent, in the absence of protective sprays.

Introduction

Packaging helps to maintain the benefits of food processing and enables safe transportation of foods from their point of origin to point of consumption without compromising the wholesomeness of processed food in terms of its physico chemical and microbiological quality. However, packaging technology must balance protection effects with environmental issues, material and energy costs and should comply regulations on municipal solid waste disposal and release of pollutants. These regulations are different in jurisdictions around the world.

Safety implications of food packaging raise concern in recent times due to advances in technology leading to variety of packaging materials and additives. Also there is an alarming situation of damages to environment and natural resources of the planet, due to indiscriminate use and disposal of packaging materials.

However, food packaging as a means to protect and preserve food integrity, to enhance its shelf life and improve consumer appeal cannot be overlooked.The applications of food packaging and its primary role to protect and preserve food has remained the central focus of packaging innovations.Packaging materials are available in variety of forms and are made up of variety of ingredients.While paper. While paper, plastic, petroleum based materials have been in use for many years, the recent approach is towards environment friendly options from agricultural produce such as plant fibres sugars and starches. Advances in packaging has led to development of newer materials and combinations with specific economic and functional benefits.Food packaging ,in general , provides the ability to withstand thermal processing and acts as a barrier against light, moisture,oxygen and other sources of contamination.

Introduction

Soils are formed by weathering of rocks and minerals and all soils contain some amount of soluble salts. Many of these act as a source of essential nutrients for the healthy growth of plants. However, when quantity and quality of salts in the soil near rhizosphere exceeds a particular value, growth, yield and/or quality of most crops is adversely affected. Such a soil is called salt-affected. The degree of adverse effects depends upon the type and quantity of salts, crop and its variety, stage of growth, cultural practices and environmental factors viz. temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall etc. Development of salinity and waterlogging is a serious problem in arid and semi-arid regions of the world and threatening the sustainability of irrigated agriculture.

Salt-affected soils occupy an estimated 952.2 million ha of land in the world that constitutes nearly 7% of the total land area and nearly 33% of the potential arable land (Dudal and Purnell, 1986). In India, the salt affected soils account for 6.727 million ha i.e. 2.1% of geographical area of the country. These soils are mostly found in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. In the last 25 years 1.1 million ha of alkali soils have been reclaimed in the states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. These have contributed to the additional food grain production of 10 million tonnes annually. Reclamation of alkali soils have also decreased the incidents of floods and malaria and increased the groundwater recharge.

Introduction

Climate change and agriculture are interrelated issues, both of which take place on a global scale. Global warming is projected to have significant impacts on conditions affecting agriculture, including fluctuation of temperature, carbon dioxide, glacial run-off, precipitation and the interaction of these factors (Sehgal et al., 2006; Kalra et al., 2008). These conditions determine the carrying capacity of the biosphere to produce enough food for the human population and for domesticated animals. The overall effect of climate change on agriculture will depend on the balance of these effects. Assessment of the effects of global climate changes on agriculture might help to properly anticipate and adapt farming to maximize agricultural production. Droughts, which have frequented different parts of India through the history, have been responsible for many famines, rural poverty and migration despite development of impressive irrigation potentials. Similarly, abnormal temperatures, high velocity winds and humidity during critical stages are known to significantly affect crop growth and development, pest incidences and epidemics, demand on irrigation resources and finally food production. Over the past few decades, the main-induced changes in the climate of the earth due to multifarious human activities linked to develop have become the focus of scientific and social attention. The predicted changes to agriculture vary greatly by region and crop. Findings for wheat and rice are reported here: The study found that increase in temperature (by about 2 ºC) reduces potential grain yield in most places. Regions with higher potential productivity (such as northern India) were relatively less impacted by climate change than areas with lower potential productivity (the reduction in yields was much smaller). Climate change is also predicted to lead to boundary changes in areas suitable for growing certain crops. (Kalra et al., 2002-2003). Reduction in yields as a result of climate change is predicted to be more pronounced for rainfed crops (as opposed to irrigated crops) and under limited water supply situations because there are no coping mechanisms for rainfall variability. The difference in yield is influenced by baseline climate. In sub-tropical environments, the decrease in potential wheat yield ranged from 1.5 to 5.8%, while in tropical areas the decrease was relatively higher, suggesting that warmer regions can expect greater crop losses.

Introduction

India contains around 7517 km of coast line, which is surrounded by the Arabian Sea on the west, the Bay of Bengal on the east, and the Indian Ocean to its south. The Indian Coastal ecosystem, where land and water join to create an environment with a distinct structure, diversity, and f low of energy. They include salt marshes, mangroves, wetlands, estuaries, and bays and are home to many different types of plants and animals. (Marale. 2013). The geographic and land use details of Indian coastal zone is presented in Table 1.

Introduction

Production of consumer preferred varieties of fish and fish products have been facing several constraints. Identification of potential constraints is important for growth and development of fisheries sector. The constraints of production and marketing have been examined by a number of researchers in different time and place. In this chapter, it is tried to explain an overview of the different constraints of production and marketing of fish and value added fish.

Constraints of production of freshwater fish

Constraints of aquaculture production in developing countries have been identified by Lee (1997) and categorized them as:

1. natural and environmental (inequitable allocation of land resources, insufficient quantity and degraded quality of water, highly seasonal variation in temperature and natural disaster);
2. socioeconomic (insufficiency of infrastructure for production and marketing, variation of prices of inputs, ageing and poor training of aqua-farmers); and
3. Institutional constraints (inefficiency of extension services, lack of a better organization of producers, shortage of rural finance).

Introduction

Pollination is an essential ecosystem service for the maintenance and conservation of biodiversity on the earth. Many food crops, barring cereals, are entomophilous in nature and rely on insects for pollination. The pollinators in turn are benefited by obtaining floral resources such as nectar, pollen or both. This mutualism has evolved over centuries and been helping both natural terrestrial ecosystems as well as man-made agro-ecosystems. Pollinators such as bees, birds and bats contribute to 35 per cent of the world’s crop production, increasing outputs of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide (FAO, 2009). The total economic value of crop pollination worldwide has been estimated at €156 billion annually (Gallai et al., 2009). The area covered by pollinator-dependent crops has increased by more than 300 per cent during the past 50 years (Aizen and Harder 2009). Pollinators are found in diverse groups of the animal kingdom, including birds, bats, reptiles, insects, etc. Among them, insects particularly honey bees, dominate in providing pollination services to several plants. There are about 19,000 described species of bees in the world (Linsley, 1958) and, with the exception of one species, Apis mellifera L., the domestic honey bee, all of them are grouped under the general term ‘wild bees’. India is endowed with the greatest biodiversity as far as honey bee species are concerned and is home to five species viz., A. cerana, A. florea, A. dorsata, A. andreniformis and A. laboriosa besides hosting A. melllifera, an introduced one. In addition, several other pollinators including stingless bees, carpenter bees, bumble bees, megachilids, halictids, sphecids, andrenids, syrphids, etc. occur in several agro-ecosystems (Thakur, 2012). Studies on crop pollination by insects are becoming increasingly critical because of a perceived global decline in pollinator stocks, with great economical and conservation consequences (Ghazoul, 2005a, 2005b; Steff an-Dewenter et al., 2005). In the recent years, there has been a concern about declines in both wild and domesticated pollinators, especially honey bees (Reddy et al., 2012a). A large proportion of horticultural crops is potentially vulnerable to declines in honey bee and other pollinator insects (Table 1). One of the essential requirements to adequately evaluate the importance of animal pollination for food production and the impact of pollinator losses is to determine the pollination needs of different cultivated plants. However, detailed studies of crop pollination requirements are incomplete in many crops (Klein et al., 2007).

Introduction

India is bestowed with diverse agro-climatic conditions which favour the production of a variety of fruit crops. At present India is second largest producer of fruits in the world after China. Fruit culture can be highly profitable by increasing employment opportunities and commercialization of the rural sector. During early sixties, priority was to achieving self sufficiency in food grain production in our country, however, over the years, fruit culture 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 to generate substantial employment opportunities (Bardhan, 2016). Amongst various tropical and sub-tropical fruit crops grown in India, guava, pomegranate, acid lime, sweet orange and mandarins, if left on its own, give several light crops of the variable quantities and qualities from the various flowering flushes throughout the year. Under natural conditions, these crops produce flowers thrice in a year i.e. February-March (Ambe Bahar), June-July (Mrig Bahar) and October-November (Hasth Bahar) with the corresponding harvest during rainy, winter and spring season, respectively (Boora et al., 2016, Lal et al., 2017). Owing to this, potential yield is not obtained during the desired period. Therefore, to obtain higher fruit yield during a particular period, these fruit crops are given a resting period with artificial means so that the natural flowering tendency of the trees is altered. It can be achieved through root exposure and its pruning (Boora et al., 2016), shoot pruning (Tiwari et al., 1992, Thakre et al., 2016)

Terms associated with cropping and farming systems are:

1. Cropping system: is an important component of a farming system. It represents cropping pattern used on a farm and their interaction with farm resources, other farm enterprises and available technology which determine their makeup.
2. Cropping pattern: means the proportion of area under various crops at a point of time in a unit area. It indicates the yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of crops and fallow in an area.
3. Cropping scheme is a plan according to which crops are grown on individual plot of a farm during a given period of time with the object of obtaining maximum return from each crop without impairing soil fertility. Thus a cropping scheme is related to the most profitable use of resources, land, labour, capital, and management.
4. Multiple cropping: Growing two or more crops on the same piece of land in one calendar year is known as multiple cropping. It is intensification of cropping in space and time dimensions. It includes intercropping, mixed cropping and sequence cropping.
5. Quadruple cropping: Growing of four crops in a year in sequence.
6. Competition effect: Competition of intercropped spp. For light, nutrients, water, carbon dioxide, and other growth factors.
7. Complementary effect: Effect of one component on another which enhances growth and productivity.

EAAMs (Electric Agricultural Aerial Machines) have emerged from drones used for both aerial filming, as toys and even as racing units. A Price water house Coopers’ study revealed that the global market for drone-powered business solutions was valued at $127.3 billion in 2016. For agriculture, prospective drone applications in global projects were valued at $32.4 billion. Stelios Kotakis and colleagues at market research firm IHS Markit projected that there would be around 400,000 shipments of drones to firms in the agriculture and forestry sectors in 2017. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations projects that by 2050 humanity’s ranks will likely have grown to nearly 10 billion people. Farmers will need to produce more with less, while preserving our environment for future generations. And society has a duty to help them achieve this. Although agriculture is perceived as a traditional economic sector, precision agriculture technologies have already boosted crop yields significantly in the last decades. The same study forecast that agricultural consumption would increase by 69% from 2010 to 2050.

A plant is said to be healthy or normal when it carries out its physiological functions to the best of its genetic potential. These normal functions include division, differentiation, development, absorption of water and mineral from soil and translocation of these throughout the plants, photosynthesis and translocation of photosynthetic product to areas of utilization or storage, the metabolism of synthesized compounds, reproduction and storage of food supplies.

A plant becomes diseased when it is disturbed by pathogen under certain environmental conditions which interfere with one or more of its essential functions. Diseased plant refers to any disturbance brought about by living organism under environmental factors, which interfere with normal function of plant or in other words when any organ and part of plant is not doing their work properly and when either the growth or reproduction is not going forward in natural or regular manner.

Mango is one of the choicest fruits of India, grown over an area of 1.23 million hectares in the country. Mango occupies the same position in India as occupied by the apple in temperate and grape in subtropical areas. In India mango is acclaimed as king of fruits. The name Mangifera was given for the first time by Bontius in 1658, when he referred to this plant as arbor Mangifera (The tree producing mango). Linnaeus also referred to it as Mangifera arbor in 1747, prior to changing the name to its present form (Mangifera indica) in 1753. Mango is good source of vitamin A and C apart from the usual content of minerals and other vitamins. Mango is also considered to have some medicinal properties. Ripe fruits of mango is fattening, diuretic and laxative. Smoke of burning is supposed to cure hiccups and some throat troubles and the kernal is effective against diarrhoea and asthma. Besides table purpose, fruits of mango can be used for the preparation of pickles, preserves, jam, amchur (mango powder), mango leather (ampapad) and mango fool (mango+milk+sugar)

Citrus constitutes a major group of fruits comprising of mandarins, oranges, lemon, pummelo, grape fruits, tangelo, trifoliate orange, citron, citranges etc. Despite of inter-specific and inter-generic hybrids, Poncirus and Fortunella also belong to genus Citrus. During its long history, citrus has given the world numerous varieties both by open pollination, bud sports and of recently by controlled pollination and artificial induction of bud variation. Citrus fruit cultivation lies between latitude 40 0N also 40 0S where conditions are neither cold nor moist and dry. India is considered to be the home of several citrus species and they are found growing wild in some parts of the country. Many types of citrus still remain unexploited by man and such types are considered as semi wild. The productivity of citrus plant in our country is very low which is 7.65 tonnes/ha as acompared to Spain, Italy and Japan where it lies between 17-35 tonnes/ha. Sweet oranges cover an area of 42.4 thousand ha with an annual production of 510.8 thousand tonnes (Ghosh, 1985).

The damage due to frost in fruit crops has been a problem for farmers since starting from their cultivation. Damage caused by frost is a worldwide problem because if all aspects of crop production are well managed, one night of freezing temperatures can lead to complete crop loss. According to Bagdonaset al. (1978) frost periods in temperate regions are shorter in duration and occur more frequently whereas in subtropical climates it is occurs with slow moving cold air masses. In tropical regions, there is usually no or very less freezing damage except at higher elevations. In subtropical fruits crops, damages occurs mainly during the winter, whereas in deciduous fruit and nut trees, it occur mainly in spring, but sometimes it occurs in autumn as well. The region prone to frost should adjust the date of planting of crop, microclimate, variety and other preventive measure. According to Attaway (1997) in South Carolina, northern Florida and Georgia, orange fruit were commonly grown before 1835, but losses due to frost damage, farmers did not prefer to grow oranges in that regions. The history of frost damage is more sporadic in nature leading to some major losses from time to time. In December 1990 and 1998

Californiacitrus industry suffered two major damaging events of frost which ranged from little damage in some regions to severe damage in the other region. The economic losses to fruit crops were high in the frost occurring in 1990 compare to frost in 1998.

INTRODUCTION

DNA sequencing is a process of deciphering the complete order of nucleotide in the DNA molecule with precision. Over the past few years, there has been a shifting from the automated Sanger’s method of sequencing to next generation technologies. There was a milestone in the year 2003 for the researchers when fine sequence of human genome project was declared complete. The project was completed in 13 years with nearly $3 billion expenditure and more than 20,000 researchers and technicians took part in it all over the Globe. DNA sequence determination is performed using dideoxy chain termination technology (Ronaghi, 2001). The dideoxy sequencing method was developed by Frederick Sanger and his colleagues (Sanger et al., 1977) and is called as First-generation sequencing technology. Since early 2000s, there became drastic improvements in the sequencing technologies from Sanger’s method used for Human genome project to Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies used these days. The change in technologies not only reduced the expenditure to the minimal but also involved minimum use of human resource and time. High –throughput sequencing technologies are increasingly being used to address varied range of biological objectives. It provides a promising approach to increase the scale, robustness and efficiency of the results of whole genome within few hours and minimum expense. Key players in the field of NGS are 454 GX Flex Roche, Solexa Illumina, SOLiD ABI (Applied Biosystems), ViSiGen biotechnologies, Helicose Biosciences and Polonater systems.

ABSTRACT

During the efficient genetic transformation of plants with the gene of interest, some selectable marker genes are also used in order to identify the transgenic plant cells or tissues. Antibiotic and herbicide selective agents and their resistance gene are commonly used to introduce economically valuable genes into crop plants. According to the biosafety authority and consumer view points, the presence of selectable marker genes in released transgenic crops may be transferred to weeds or pathogenic microorganism in the gastrointestinal tract or soil, and will make them resistant to treatment with herbicides or antibiotics, respectively. Sexual crossing also raises the problem of transgene expression because redundancy of transgenes in the genome may trigger homology-dependent gene silencing. The future potential of transgenic technologies for crop improvement depends greatly on our abilities to engineer stable expression of multiple transgenic traits in a predictable fashion and to prevent the transfer of undesirable transgenic material to non-transgenic crops and related species. Therefore the development of efficient marker free transgenic plants system is very essential. That is why many technologies and various approaches designed to timely elimination of transgenes when their function is no longer needed. Due to the limited number of available selectable marker genes, in future the stacking of transgenes will be increasingly desirable. The production of marker-free transgenic plants is now a critical requisite for their commercial deployment and also for engineering multiple and complex trait. Here we describe the current technologies to eliminate the selectable marker genes (SMG) in order to develop marker-free transgenic plants and also discuss the regulation and biosafety concern of genetically modified (GM) crops.

1. INTRODUCTION

Growth is a complex biological process that must be evaluated carefully if a profitable combination of growth and efficiency is to be realized. Knowledge relating to birth weight, mature weight, maturity rate and the point of infection of the growth curve in various breeds and crosses is very useful in selecting breed combinations that can produce the most efficient growth pattern. The effect of cow size on economy of production has been a discussing subject among cattlemen and animal scientists. Growth models are used to predict rates and change in the shape of the organism. They can be applied to determine the food requirements so as to get a desired growth. The estimated parameters of growth function can evaluate various growth characteristics of animal like rate of maturing, rate of gain, mature size and related characters.

Abstract

Plants have been the source of food and medicine since time immemorial. Tribal people have been using several plants and their parts as source of alternative food that is conventionally not consumed by urban population. However recently, due to increasing population and reducing agriculture land, such alternative foods are gaining attention. Such alternative foods often also have medicinal value and are consumed by tribals for ameliorating certain disorders. Due to rising costs of modern medicine and associated side effects, general public perception is positive for alternative medicines and traditional therapies. Yams are an example of such alternative medicinal foods and are the focus of this chapter. Here we describe the ethnobotanical and nutraceutical potential of yams. We have discussed, in detail, some of the species that are consumed in various regions of India. During the compilation of this data, it was noticed that detailed molecular information is not available for most species, while for some species almost no molecular data exists. Further, many species have not been properly evaluated through modern natural product chemistry and pharmacological screening methods to validate the claims made in ethnobotanical surveys. These and other lacunas in knowledge pertaining to yams have also been pointed out towards the end of the chapter.

Abstract

Mythology is a unique subject of religious or cultural traditions. Plants play a vital role in the practice of these traditions. The use of plants may be an approach towards their conservation by demonstrating their magico-religious importance or their efficiency in keeping away some infectious microbes. Reason may be any, but all such herbs needs scientific interventions with respect to their usage. In this manuscript 69 such plant species are enumerated which are used for magico-religious purposes. Maximum species were recorded from dicots and seeds have shown maximum percentage among the plant parts to be used for the purpose. The knowledge about the magico-religious usage among the inhabitants is communicated through oral, literature or practice. The quantitative indices like Cultural Significance Index and Factor Informant Consensus have been calculated for the collected data from 92 informants in the region. The calculated ethnobotanical quantitative indices indicate Capsicum annuum and Santalum album are the culturally more significant plants and there is a strong homogeneity in the practices among the people of different districts.

Abstract

Toxic plants are a grave threat to existence and bodily functions of humans and animals resulting in death or sickness through accident, unawareness or bad intention resulting in huge economic loss. They have always been part of our daily life and some of them are so prevalent that we do not even doubt their poisonous nature. The study aimed at systematically documenting the precious traditional knowledge regarding the ethnotoxic plants of district Udhampur. Ethnotoxic data was collected by interviewing 125 infomants between the age group 24-95 years. A total of 89 plant species belonging to 69 genera and 43 families were observed to be toxic to either humans or animals or both. Majority of the taxa were growing in wild. Leaves were observed to be the most toxic plant parts. Frequently encountered toxic plant families include Fabaceae, Solanaceae, Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Apocynaceae and Ranunculaceae. The route /mode of entry of toxic chemicals was mainly observed to be ingestion. A total of 62 ailments/ conditions/diseases were reported to be caused in humans or animals or both by the ingestion, contact or inhalation of toxic plants in the present study. These include nausea, vomiting, headache, diarrhoea, hematochezia, abdominal spasms, anorexia, dysuria, deep yellow or no urine, bloat, etc. The present study may serve as a base line data for further research and will go a long way in safeguarding people from being poisoned by stuff that may have healed them.

Abstract

Herbal healthcare forms the most favored system for curing various ailments of the people residing in remote areas of Himalayan region. Gujjar and Bakerwal tribes inhabit the hilly areas of Pir Panjal region of J&K along with their livestock and rely on the surrounding bio-wealth for their healthcare needs. But, proper documentation of traditional knowledge about the medicinal plants has been poorly attempted in this part of J&K. In order to develop a data base of plants being used by Gujjar and Bakerwal tribes of district Poonch, present attempt has been made. The present compilation recorded one hundred forty five plant species belonging to 133 genera and 76 families which are used by the tribal people to cure various ailments like rheumatism, diarrhea, dysentery, skin and gastric problems, wound healing etc. These medicinal plants comprise of 25 trees, 27 shrubs, 82 herbs and 11 climbers. Of the total, 44 species are native to Himalayan region and 101 are non native.

Keywords: Indigenous knowledge, Medicinal plants, Healthcare, Gujjar, Bakerwal

Vegetables are of short duration, have higher productivity and give more return per unit area, besides giving nutritious food to human being and can be fitted in different farming systems. They also play a major role in balancing human diet, thereby helping in alleviating hunger, poverty and malnutrition. Because of the public awareness for the significance of vegetable consumption, the demand of vegetables in the global market has increased immensely. Thus, vegetable farming is becoming profitable venture globally, opening avenues of self employment and revenue generation (Anon., 2009). At global level, India holds second position, next only to China in vegetables production with a share of about 14%. The present annual vegetables production of country is about 175 million tons from an area about 10.3 million ha with a productivity of 17.1 t/ha. India grows largest number of vegetables in the world, as having a spectrum of wide range of agro-climatic situations, ranging from dry temperate to humid tropics between the altitudes from sea level to snow line.

The Indian hot arid region is one of the most important arid ecosystems of the world in terms of biodiversity it possesses. This arid region spreads over 31.7 mha, occupies major part of north western India including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana, which together contribute 73% of arid region. High temperature, wind velocity, low humidity, low and erratic rainfall and high potential evapotranspiration are important characteristics of this region which narrowed down the choice for vegetables, besides permit their low productivity.

Of the total land area of the world, arid zones account for 18.8%. Throughout the arid zones, there is no dearth of problems, but rapidly increasing desertification (some call it land degradation) is a problem of worldwide dimension. Water is a scare commodity in arid zones. Much of rainfall is lost by evapo-transpiration and as a result, ground water recharged only by seepage through soil profile. However, it is a common phenomenon in arid zones of the worlds that ground water is frequently used at the rate that exceeds recharge. The situation in arid tropics of India, which is spread over an area of 31.7 million ha, is no more different.

Agriculture is the human enterprise that is most vulnerable to climate change. Tropical agriculture including agriculture in arid tropics, particularly subsistence agriculture is vulnerable, as farmers do not have adequate resources to adapt to climate change. Land-use options that increase livelihood security and reduce vulnerability to climate and environmental change are necessary. Rural folk in arid western Rajasthan, the principal hot arid region of the country have been practising arable cropping in association with these scattered trees on crop fields since time immemorial. This combined protective-productive system of integration of trees into farming system rooted in the principles of ecology, productivity, economics and sustainability, is generally referred as agroforestry. In fragile ecosystems of hot arid regions of India

Introduction

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate change refers to the long-term changes (typically decades or longer) in the average state of the climate with statistically significant variations.

The climate change, defined as the long-term imbalance of customary weather conditions such as temperature, radiation, wind and rainfall characteristics of a particular region, is likely to be one of the main challenges for mankind during the present century.

A general definition of climate change is a change in the statistical properties (principally the man and spread) of the climate system when considered over long periods.

Climate Resilience

Climate resilience can be generally defined as the capacity for a socioecological system to: Absorb stresses and maintain function in the face of external stresses imposed upon it by climate change. Adapt, reorganize, and evolve into more desirable configurations that improve the sustainability of the system, leaving it better prepared for future climate change impacts.

4.1 INTRODUCTION

Database management system is a computer program to store, search, manipulate retrieve and give the result. Vast amount of spatial data are available and it is necessary to arrange them, store them for retrieval and analysis. Attribute data adds intelligent to GIS. Without database, a GIS will be just a Cad software. Cad softwares do not have database. GIS softwares have their own databases besides it has the potential to link with external database like Oracle, MS Access, MS Excel, Informix, INGRESS, Sybase and dbase. The data available in paper has to be digitally stored in a proper order. Previously the data were stored in a a flat file format where the data was stored without any structure. But to search and retrieve and analyse the database, database structures were developed. There are of 4 types of database structures namely Hierarchical, Network, Relational database and Object orientation.

Tables are made of rows and columns. Rows represent a map feature. Columns represents characteristic of map feature. Row is called a record or a tupule column is a field or an item. Table 4.1 is a table where rows 1, 2 and 3 represent the locations with the soil types. A column soil type represents various soil types.

Sun is the prime source of energy injected into the earth’s atmosphere. The sun is the nearest star to the earth. It is a hot ball of glowing gases at the heart of the solar system. Its radiant energy is practically the only energy source to the earth. Very small and insignificant quantities of energy are available from other sources such as the interior of the earth, the moon, and other stars. Without the sun’s intense energy and heat, there would be no life on earth.

NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF SOLAR RADIATION

The mean distance of the sun from the earth, also known as one astronomical unit (1 AU), is approximately 1.496 × 10⁸ km, though the distance varies as the earth revolves round the sun in an elliptical orbit. At this average distance, light travels from the sun to earth in about 8 minutes and 19 seconds. The energy of the sunlight supports almost all life on earth by photosynthesis, and drives earth’s climate and weather. The minimum sun-earth distance is about 0.983 AU and the maximum is approximately 1.017 AU. The earth is at its closest point to the sun (perihelion) on around January 3 and at its farthest point (aphelion) on around July 4.

Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Weather forecasts are made by collecting quantitative data about the past and current state of the atmosphere on a given place and using scientific understanding of atmospheric processes to project how the atmosphere will evolve on that place. Weather warnings are important forecasts because they are used to protect life and property. Forecasts based on temperature and precipitation is important to agriculture.

Agricultural production is highly dependent on weather, climate and water availability, and is adversely affected by weather and climate related disasters. In many developing countries where rainfed agriculture is the norm, a good rainy season means good crop production, enhanced food security and a healthy economy. Failure of rains and occurrence of natural disasters such as floods and droughts can lead to crop failures, food insecurity, famine, loss of property and life, mass migration, and negative national economic growth (Sivakumar, 2006).

Farming in many parts of the world, especially in the arid and semiarid regions is risky, because climate is highly variable. In some developing countries as much as 80% of the variability in agricultural production is due to the variability in weather conditions. This production variability in agriculture has immediate and important macroeconomic impacts. A timely seasonal forecast of favourable conditions could permit farmers to adjust cropping patterns and input use in order to benefit fully from these conditions. Also, a timely forecast could give the marketing system and downstream users, such as the food processing industry, time to prepare for a bountiful harvest (Arndt et al., 2000). It is important to remember that under rainfed conditions, even a less reliable, but earlier forecast may be more valuable than an accurate but late forecast (Mjelde et al., 1998).

Many aspects of the global climate are changing rapidly. Evidence for changes in the climate system abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans. The climate system is the highly complex system consisting of five major components; the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the land surface and the biosphere, and the interactions among them. The climate system evolves in time under the influence of its own internal dynamics and because of external forcings such as volcanic eruptions, solar variations and human-induced forcings such as the changing composition of the atmosphere and land-use.

The term ‘climate variability’ is often used to denote deviations of climatic statistics over a given period of time (e.g., a month, season or year) from the long-term statistics relating to the corresponding calendar period. In this sense, climate variability is measured by those deviations, which are usually termed anomalies.

‘Climate change’ refers to a statistically significant variation in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting for an extended period (typically decades or longer). Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or due to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. The United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines ‘climate change’ as ‘a change of climate behaviour which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods’. The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between ‘climate change’ attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and ‘climate variability’ attributable to natural causes. Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions measured by changes in temperature, precipitation, wind, snow cover, and other indicators. It can involve both changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including, for example, changes in extreme conditions.

A key difference between climate variability and change is in persistence of ‘anomalous’ conditions. In other words, events that are used to be rare occur more frequently, or vice versa. Occasionally, an event or sequence of events occurs that has never been recorded before, such as the exceptional tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 or hurricane season in the Atlantic in 2005. Yet even that could be a part of natural climate variability. If such a season does not recur within the next 30 years, by looking back it could be called as an exceptional year, but not a ‘climate change’. Only a persistent series of unusual events taken in the context of regional climate parameters can suggest that a potential change in climate has occurred.

8.1. Vegetables

8.1.1. Tomato (Lycopsarsicon Esculentum)

Temperature: A warm climate crop can tolerate high temperature but cannot withstand frost. Minimum temperature for germination of seed is 8 to 10°C. Night temperature for fruit setting is 12 to 22°C. Critical night temperature for fruit setting is below 12°C. Critical day temperature for fruit setting is above 32°C. If the greenhouse can maintain the temperature as mentioned above then the non-terminal or indeterminate tomato crop can be grown for 10 to 12 month duration.

Variety: Indeterminate (producing flowers and fruits continuously along the stem as it grows) hybrid varieties resistant to nematodes or fusarium or verticilium wilt disease may be selected.

Abstract

Seed priming is the innovative way of ensuring optimum germination and plant stand under moisture deficit situations. It enables the seed to tide over initial stress from biotic and abiotic factors. Higher yield with better quality seed are reported. The seeds of agronomic and horticultural crops are significantly affected by ageing and deterioration. Reversal or rejuvenation of aged seeds is therefore of primary interest. Experiments related to reversal of seed deterioration effects due to ageing relying heavily on accelerated ageing (AA) of seeds and their priming using various priming agents especially osmotic substances. Repair during germination is a hypothetical event supported by some investigators and questioned by others. Repair includes the spontaneous reorganization of plasma membrane phospholipids, which occurs during seed hydration. Alternatively or additionally, metabolic repair might occur. Experimental evidence for repair in imbibed seeds has been elusive. Priming reduced electrolyte leakage as well as lipid peroxidation in seeds implying the activation of membrane repair processes. Priming was also associated with increased levels of antioxidants like ascorbic acid and tocopherols particularly the latter and the activities of enzymes SOD, CAT POX involved in the mitigation of oxidative damage. In comparison with the priming of unaged seeds, the aged seeds experienced a diminution of response in terms of changes in the levels of antioxidants and scavenging enzymes. Thus, seed priming technique under climate extremities seems the best and economical means to sustain higher crop yields. The technique needs to be popularized among the farmers practicing agriculture and horticulture under rainfed situation so as to sustain production under climatic adversaries and enhance livelihood security and more profitability at the farm.

Abstract

Agriculture is at a cross-road in J&K wherein the small holdings, profitability, livelihood security and sustainability issues are the factors adding to the existing agrarian crisis in the state in particular and the country in general. This requires a decisive direction shift at the policy level towards adoption of integrated farming system. There is a need of fundamental change from the unilateral, top-down, prescriptive “knowledge generation and transmission” models of agriculture development adopted in the country so far, which have in fact resulted in an ecological, economic and social crisis in the farming sector of the state during 40 years of adoption and that climate change is one more imperative for drastic change to address the situation. Climate change is already a reality for farming community and that conventional models of agricultural research and extension have failed to address the need of the hour unless some fundamental recasting in the form of diversified farming system is adopted. The immediate need for interventional action precludes traditional models of research and support systems and requires alternative but urgent programmatic interventions, led by farmers’ institutions and their local resources, knowledge and innovations. Existing mainstream models of farming are GHG-inducing and are not conducive to adoption either given their high external-input dependency-models which increases the risk of vulnerable farmers. Integrated farming system a key to sustainable agriculture, on the other hand, holds immense mitigation and adaptation potential, specifically in the context of climate change even as it improves rural livelihoods and addresses the ecological crisis in farming of today under various climatic regions of Jammu in particular and state in general. Jammu region of the J&K state is bestowed with varying climate zones i.e. subtropical, intermediate and temperate zones, which is best suited for diversified farming,as the promotion of single enterprise is neither beneficial from economy point of view nor is sustainable under the given climate change crisis. The integration of Crops, Horticulture, Animal ,Fish cum Poultry, Mushroom, Vermicompost, Apairy, Biogas and Boundary plantation enterprises in Jammu region under integrating farming system is having the potential to improve the farm income to three folds besides will address the sustainability issues in the long run.

Abstract

A Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) is synonymous to farm science center with responsibilities of on- farm technological assessment, front line demonstrations, capacity building, advisory services and mulit-sector support to various private and public initiatives. The KVKs work under the ambit of ICAR, New Delhi with administrative support from local institutions or State Agricultural Universities. There were about 695 KVKs operational in India till October 2018. All KVKs fall under the jurisdiction of one of the 11 Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes (ATARIs) spread throughout India. 21 KVKs are functioning in Jammu and Kashmir with seven of them in Jammu province namely KVK Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Reasi, Rajouri, Doda and Poonchh. The major thrust areas of hilly district Jammu and Kashmir are as integrated nutrient/pest/weed management in different crops, water management, promoting organic farming, protected cultivation of high value and low volume crops, promotion of aromatic and medicinal plants, increase in the productivity of livestock, drudgery reduction for farm women, promotion of loose flower cultivation, promotion of new single cross hybrids in maize, value addition of agricultural products and promotion of farming system approach. KVK Reasi has been able to motivate farmers of the district to adopt and practice organic farming, floriculture, backyard poultry farming and mushroom production at the commercial level.

Abstract

India with population of 1.30 billion in which 47 per cent is engaged in agriculture earnestly needs efficiently use of biotechnology and genetic engineering for transforming agriculture sector. Biotechnological tools offer great opportunities for increasing agricultural production and can play an important role towards the attainment of production sustainability of crops. Biotechnological tools have the potential to release burgeoning pressure on agriculture and allied sectors; ecology and environment; plant, animal and microbial biodiversity; and allied resources such as land and water with improved and sustainable agricultural productivity which enhances food security. Agricultural biotechnology, including tissue culture, DNA-marker-assisted breeding and genetic engineering (GE) technology have potential to increase stress tolerant, selection efficiency, crop adaptation, crop productivity and food security in more efficiently manner through the development of improved varieties with increased yields, nutritional content and storage characteristics. Genetic engineering tools should continue to build capacity in this technology, giving priority to traits and crops that are of economic importance such as drought tolerance in maize, rice, beans; cold tolerance in rice; increased nutritional value and improved shelf life in fruits and vegetables. Crop varieties and livestock with improved characteristics have been developed using tools such as marker-assisted breeding and genetic engineering. Molecular pharming is one of the applications of genetically modified crops and livestock for the production of pharmaceutical proteins. Reproductive technologies are alternative ways for genetic improvement of livestock. The development of molecular diagnostics and vaccine technology as a tool improved the ability to detect and treat several diseases of livestock. The advancements in biotechnological tools such as protein engineering and metabolic engineering play a significant role in production of a large number of valuable and high quality industrial products.

14.1 INTRODUCTION

India is conferred with a varied agro-climatic condition which are highly favourable for growing a large number of horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, root tubers, ornamental, aromatic plants, medicinal herbs, spices and plantation crops like coconut, areca nut, cashew and cocoa (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, GOI, 2008). India is next only to China in area and production of vegetables and occupies prime position in the production of caulif lower, second in onion and third in cabbage in the world. After achieving food security, it is being increasingly felt that India needs to achieve nutritional security for betterment of its population. In achieving nutritional security fruits and vegetables play an important role (Ganeshmurthy et al.2011). Although we have achieved good production levels of fruits and vegetables, the present production of fruits and vegetables may not be enough to meet out the demand. To feed the ever-increasing population in a sustainable way a tremendous effort will have to be made to increase the production of fruits and vegetables both horizontally and vertically through a rational and balanced use of production inputs, specially the mineral fertilizers. Soil fertility is a key factor for successful crop production, and it is a measure of capacity of soil to supply plant nutrients. The importance of soil fertility and fertilizer management is being increasingly recognized in all countries recently to meet the demand for food and other agricultural raw materials. Intensive use of fertilizer, intensive cropping with high yielding cultivars have increased the food production and reduced the food shortage, but it has also brought in numerous problems of soil fertility, soil and water pollution. On the other hand, fast depletion of nutrients due to over exploitation, a wide-spread deficiency of N, P, K and S coupled with micro-nutrients deficiencies especially Zn and boron has been noticed in many soils. Further deforestation, shifting cultivation, burning of trees, bushes, grasses and cow dung, soil erosion, soil degradation, nutrient losses, excessive fertilizer application, leaching losses etc., have aggravated the depletion of soil fertility status. It is being realized that the future of Indian agriculture is closely related to scientific management of soil fertility along with judicious and efficient use of fertilizers. Soil fertility and nutrient management is one of the important factors that have a direct impact on crop yield and quality. Soil test reports help in determining soil organic matter, pH, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, and levels of important macronutrients (phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium) and micronutrients (boron, zinc, etc.). These reports also help estimating lime or sulphur application rates to increase or reduce soil pH, respectively. Maintaining a soil pH between 6.0 and 7.0 is recommended for most crop rotations that include vegetable crops.

17.1 INTRODUCTION

Bearing habit indicates position of f lower bud with respect to vegetative growth of the plant after cessation of juvenility. Different fruit trees have different bearing habits. The knowledge of bearing habits will be of much importance for regulating the bearing of any plant by means of pruning. Terminal bearers are not normally pruned, whereas in case of lateral bearers pruning certainly increase the bearing, as it encourages the sprouting of lateral buds. Fruit trees may bear the fruits either terminally on a long or short growth, laterally on present or past season growth or adventitiously from any point on the trunk or root. The relative position of a fruit with reference to its potential bud giving rise to f lower or inf lorescence in the shoot is known as bearing habit. Knowledge on the bearing habit is a pre-requirement before performing pruning in any fruit crop (particularly in ber, guava, grape etc.). Proper understanding of bearing habits helps a lot in manipulating time and period of f lowering and fruiting which consequently inf luence harvesting and yield of better-quality fruits.

10.1 Introduction

Winds are the motion of air around the Earth. This movement in air is caused by the uneven heating of the planet’s surface by the sun. The idea of using wind as a form of power is not new. The traditional applications of wind were primarily as sources of kinetic energy for rural, agricultural and a limited number of industrial uses such as pumping water and grinding grain.

Presently wind energy can be used for two major applications, such as wind mills for pumping water for drinking as well as for irrigation purposes and second application is as aero-generator for electricity generation for domestic and industrial uses. In addition to this, presently wind energy battery charger are also available, which can store energy for lights, radio communication, hospital equipment and to power various emergencyrelated equipment.

The wind energy has an enormous resource, but the problems of utilizing the winds are many and varied. Wind energy is very diffuse in nature and local topographical features significantly alter the prevailing winds, thus leading to the extremely site specific nature of wind energy.

Scientists have estimated that as much as 10% of the world’s electricity could be prepared by wind generators by the middle of 21 century. India has estimated wind power potential of 40,000 MW. India now, ranks fourth in the world in wind power generation.

The world’s largest wind farms are in California (USA), where wind turbines can generate power up to about 1120 MW. The first wind mill used as source of electric power was built in Denmark in 1890.

Abstract

In the present study an integrated remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) based methodology is adopted for demarcating the groundwater prospective zones and identification of artificial recharge sites in the Peddavanka watershed, Andhra Pradesh. In this study Shuttle Radar Topograhic Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) with spatial resolution of 90 m and Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-1A), Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS- III) satellite data along with other field and collateral data on geology and well inventory have been utilized to generating the Drainage, Slope, Lineaments and Hydro geomorphology of the study area, which are an essential prerequisites for demarcating water resources and identification of recharge sites. Spatial data integration and analyses are carried out in GIS environment.

Keywords : DEM, Drainage, Hydrogeomorphology, Groundwater prospective zones, Remote sensing, GIS

1.0 Introduction

Groundwater is an important natural resource in arid and semi- arid regions, because most of the places surface water resources are scarce and some places it’s totally absent particularly in hard rock areas. Because in hard rock terrains availability of groundwater is of limited extent and its occurrence is essentially confined to fractured and weathered zones (Saraf and choudhury 1998, Sankar 2002). In these areas groundwater recharge depends on rainfall only. For understanding rainfall recharge mechanism and groundwater management in the watersheds level, first we have to understand the morphometric parameters in the watershed level.

Abstract

Traditionally remote sensing technology has been widely used in the mapping and change detection of vegetation features. Of late research has shown that remote sensing technology can be successfully employed for retrieval of biophysical parameters of vegetation, either by statistical techniques or by employing radiative transfer models (RTMs). This paper gives an introduction to leaf and canopy RTMs, especially about PROSAIL, which is the most commonly used model. It reviews different techniques for inverting RTM models, their merits and performance comparison. The main techniques briefly described are iterative optimization, look-up table, artificial neural network, genetic algorithm and support vector machine. At the end, it gives examples of applications which use canopy biophysical parameters retrieved by inverting RTM.

Keywords: Radiative transfer, PROSAIL, Inversion, Vegetation

1.0 Introduction

Accurate quantitative estimation of vegetation biophysical variables is useful for a large variety of agricultural, ecological, and meteorological applications (Houborg et al., 2007). The spatial and temporal distribution of these variables are important inputs into models quantifying the exchange of energy and matter between the land surface and the atmosphere, developing better yield prediction models and detecting abiotic stresses at regional scales. Among the many vegetation characteristics leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content and leaf water content are of prime importance (Bacour et al., 2006; Houborg et al., 2007).