eChapters

1. INTRODUCTION

Fruits and Vegetables are heighly perishable crops and have to be handled carefully after harvest. Postharvest handling of these perishables is essential to prevent the post harvest losses and maintain the quality of the fruits and vegetables. Various treatments (chemical, physical and biological agents) have been standardised and used for retaining the storage quality of different horticultural commodities. All these aspects have been discussed in this chapter.

1. INTRODUCTION

In the changing global scenario, food nutrition, health care and livelihood security are the matter of great concern to human, social and economic development. Fruits and vegetables is one of the most important and fast growing sub-sectors as they form an indispensable part of healthy diet. The current trend shows that dietary habits are changing with increasing income, from cereal based diet to nutritious diet. Resultantly, there is a growing demand for horticultural produce.

World production of vegetables amounts to 1169.45 million tonnes, while that of fruits is 689.39 million tonnes (NHB, 2017). India is the second major producer of fruits and vegetables in the world and ranks next to China. India produces 92.85 million tonnes of fruits from an area of 6.5 million hectares and 175.00 millions tonns of vegetables from an area of 9.2 million hectares annually. The productivity of vegetables in India is 17.6 tonnes per hectare. Potato (28.9%), tomato (11.3%), onion (10.3%) and brinjal (8.1%) are the 4 major vegetables contributing 58.6% of total vegetable production in our country. Other important vegetables are cabbage (5.4%), cauliflower (4.6%), okra (3.9%) and peas (2.4%)

1. INTRODUCTION

Juices and pulps are produced from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables around the world, while some medicinal plants and herbs are also used for preparation of extract of beneficial bioactive compounds. These juices and extracts contain very high proportions (upto 75-90%) of water. Due to their seasonal nature, these products can not be produced round the year in various parts of the world. Preservation, storage, transportation and marketing of single strength juices, pulps and extracts is not at all economical due to the presence of large quantities of water. Under these circumstances, the technology of concentration offers many advantages.

In chemistry, concentration, as a state, may be defined as “the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture” and can be mathematically explained in four types i.e. mass concentration, volume concentration, molar concentration and number concentration. Generally, the term concentration can be applied to any mixture (solid or liquid) but most frequently it refers to the presence of solutes in solvents. Mass concentration is defined as mass/volume (m/V) of mixture and represented in kg/m³, volume concentration as volume of a constituent divided by the volume of all constituents of the mixture (v/V) and represented in m³/m³, molar concentration as moles of a constituent divided by the volume of all constituents of the mixture (n/V) and represented in mol/m³, while, number concentration is defined as the number of entities of a constituent in a mixture divided by the volume of the mixture (N/V) represented in 1/m³.

In food technology or fruit juice industry in particular, concentration refers to a process of separation of water (or any other solvent) from the solids of the pulp, juice, extract by making use of any of the three basic methods i.e. evaporation, freezing and membrane technology. Pulps, juices and extracts are the basic material used for preparation of various types of processed products. But due to their bulk and presence of large quantities of water they are difficult to store and transport. Concentration of juices, not only provides microbial stability, but also reduces the costs of packaging, transportation and storage by reducing the bulk of the material. Concentrated juice, contains far less water than normal, or “not-from-concentrate” forms of juice.

1. INTRODUCTION

Food additives have been used for centuries in food processing practices such as smoking and salting of meat. Prior to the advent of refrigeration, food grown in the summer had to be preserved for the winter. Salt, sugar, and vinegar were commonly used preservatives. Additives serve many roles and their common uses includes maintaining product consistency and palatability, providing leavening or controlling pH, enhancing flavour and imparting colour. A food additive can be defined in many ways. The Codex Alimentarius Commission, which develops international regulatory guidelines for food additives, provides the following definition of a food additive:

"Any substance not normally consumed as a food by itself, and not normally used as a typical ingredient of the food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological (including organoleptic) purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of such food results, or may reasonably be expected to result, (directly or indirectly), in it or its by-products becoming a component of or otherwise affecting the characteristics of such food. The term does not include contaminants or substances added to food for maintaining or improving nutritional qualities".

F.A.O and W.H.O in 1956 defines food additives as non-nutritive substances added intentionally to food, generally in small quantities, to improve its appearance, flavour, or storage properties. The definition did not include vitamins and minerals. Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FASSI) in 2011 defines food additives “as any substances which is added to food for a technological (including organoleptic) purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation or treatment of such food and affects the characteristics of such food, but does” not include contaminats or any substance(s) added to the food maintaining or improving the nutritional values. Food additives are those added intentionally to foods and are not naturally a part of a food but can be a part of food unintentionally.

1. INTRODUCTION

Enzymes are proteins with highly specialized catalytic functions responsible for many essential biochemical reactions in microorganisms, plants, animals and human beings. Enzymes play an important role in many aspects of life since the dawn of civilization that have used enzymes for thousands of years without understanding what they were or how they work. Food processing through the use of biological agents/enzymes is historically a well-established approach. The earliest applications go back to 6000 BC or earlier, with the brewing of beer, bread baking, cheese and wine making. Whereas the first purposeful microbial oxidation dates back 2000 BC, with vinegar production. In the late 19^thcentury, Christian Hansen reported the use of rennet for cheese making and production of bacterial amylases was started at Takamine (latter became part of Genencor). Pectinases have been used for juice clarification in the 1930s and during World War II, invertase was also employed the production of invert sugar syrup in a process that pioneered the use of immobilized enzymes in the sugar industry. Still, the large-scale application of enzymes could only be really established in the 1960s, when the traditional acid hydrolysis of starch was replaced by an approach based in the use of amylases and amyloglucosidases (glucoamylases) and glucose (xylose) isomerase. From then onward, the trend for the design and implementation of processes and production of products by the use of enzymes has steadily increased.

Food and beverages and household care industries represent the largest application areas of enzymes, followed by animal feed, biofuels, textile and other technical industries. Recently, several new developments have taken place in the application of enzymes in fruit and vegetable processing. Fruits and vegetables are consumed as fresh or processed into different type of products. Commercial enzyme preparations are used as processing aids in fruit and vegetable processing to improve the process efficiency and product quality, because enzymes show activity on specific substrates under mild processing conditions. Therefore, there has been a striking growth in the enzyme market for applications in the fruit and vegetable industry.

1. INTRODUCTION

Packaging waste forms a significant part of solid waste and has caused increasing environmental concerns, resulting in strengthening of various regulations aimed at reducing the amounts generated. A wide range of oil-based polymers is currently used for packaging of various products by different industries including the food industry. These are virtually non-biodegradable and some are difficult to recycle or re-use as they are complex composites having varying levels of contaminants and pose serious health concerns. In the recent years, the use of bio-based and biodegradable products as packaging material has generated a lot of interest amongst researchers as they bring out a significant contribution to sustainable development with a wider range of disposal options.

Bioplastics are polymers that are capable of undergoing decomposition into CO₂, H₂O and inorganic compounds or biomass through predominantly the enzymatic action of microorganisms. Some of these polymers can also be compostable, which leads to their decomposition in a compost site at a rate consistent with known compostable materials. The market for these environmentally friendly materials is expanding rapidly, at the rate of 10–20 per cent per year. The global market for biodegradable polymers exceeds 114 million pounds and is expected to rise at an average annual growth rate of 12.6 per cent to 206 million pounds by 2020.

Bio-based packaging materials are mostly used to pack short shelf-life products, like fresh fruits and vegetables, and long shelf-life products, like pasta and chips, which do not require very high oxygen and/or water barrier properties. However, the inventory of films shows a wide variety in properties, which could make them applicable as a packaging material for other food products with stricter conditions, like MAP packaging. One of the challenges faced by the food packaging industry in its efforts to produce bio-based primary packaging, is to match the durability of the packaging with product shelf-life. The bio-based material offers great potential for the packaging industry. However, it is important to realize that a thorough evaluation of the functional properties of a bio-based material is essential before it can be used as an alternative for the traditional film materials.

1. INTRODUCTION

Sensory science is the fundamental physiological and psychological underpinnings of sensory evaluation and includes our basic understanding of the mechanisms of taste and odour, kinesthetic and the various techniques of scaling and statistical analysis, whereas, sensory evaluation could unfold the application of this knowledge and the development of specific methods for the evaluation of the discriminative, descriptive and affective nature of products, in a problem-solving situation. When the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) methodology was first described, it represented a decade of experimentation and study of the issue that were perceived at the time to be the impediments in solving “the problem of flavour characterization” Further, new developments and knowledge about sensory evaluation were beginning to have a positive effect on its acceptance by the food industry, but much more needed in be done if it is to contribute in a meaningful way. Today, it is indisputable that flavour is an important attribute affecting consumer acceptance of food and it is taste plus odour. The perception of taste is merely the detection of non-volatile tastants by the tongue while in other words, the perception of odour is the detection of odoriferous volatile aroma compounds by the olfactory nerves ending in the nose. The combination of all the possible flavour stimuli that could be encountered is as vast as the galaxy.

3.1. What is the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC)

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is a 1951 multilateral treaty deposited with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that aims to secure coordinated, effective action to prevent and to control the introduction and spread of pests of plants and plant products. The Convention extends beyond the protection of cultivated plants to the protection of natural flora and plant products. It also takes into consideration both direct and indirect damage by pests including weeds.

The IPPC as an intergovernmental treaty signed by over 180 countries, aiming to protecting the world’s plant resources from the spread and introduction of pests, and promoting safe trade. The Convention introduced International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) as its main tool to achieve its goals, making it the sole global standard setting organization for plant health.

The IPPC is one of the “Three Sisters” recognized by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement, along with the Codex Alimentarius Commission for food safety standards and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for animal health standards.

7.1. BioNET International

7.1.1. What is BioNet International

BioNET-International, is the Global Network for Taxonomy, and is dedicated to creating sustainable mechanisms to assist developing countries to overcome the Taxonomic Impediment by becoming self-reliant in taxonomy i.e. self-reliant in the skills, infrastructure (collections etc.) and technologies needed to discover, identify, name and classify and to understand the relationships of all organisms on this planet.

It is concerned with helping developing countries to recognise and know the organisms that constitute and threaten their biodiversity, not for taxonomy’s own sake, but rather to support national programmes for sustainable agricultural development, and conservation and sustainable use of the environment.

BioNET-International is particularly focused on helping countries implement the various environmental conventions such as the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC; www.ippc.int) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD; www.biodiv.org), especially its taxonomic capacity building compnent, the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI). The subregional networks of BioNET-International have been identified as appropriate structures through which much of the GTI (www.biodiv.org/programmes/cross-cutting/taxonomy/default.asp) can be effectively implemented.

The IPPC Secretariat provides support for the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and coordinates the annual work programme put in place by the Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures. The three key activities of the Secretariat are: standard setting, technical assistance and information exchange. To facilitate the information exchange obligations laid out in the IPPC, the Secretariat adapted an existing Web-based environment to allow users to be able to both deposit and retrieve data from various sources. This Web site was named the “International Phytosanitary Portal” (IPP). As the IPP continues to evolve every effort are being made to ensure that specific issues necessary for the management of invasive alien species are addressed.

18.1 Introduction

The genetic variability present in populations of self-pollinated vegetable, spice and ornamental crops is rapidly exhausted by pureline selection. For further improvement, genetic variability must be created. This is generally achieved by hybridization. After the cross has been made, F₁ is grown and seeds set on it are harvested. This makes the seed source for raising F₂ population, and so on. The segregating populations from crosses are handled according to a suitable method. The three basic methods available for this purpose are: (1) pedigree method, (2) bulk method, and (3) backcross method. There are also certain modifications of these methods.

18.2 Pedigree Method

Pedigree method is developed from the pureline system and widely used method of plant breeding for self-pollinated crops. A main difference between pedigree selection and mass selection or pureline selection is that hybridization is used to create variability for the base population in case of the former, whereas in mass and pureline selections variability is naturally present in the base populations. The pedigree method was first described by H.H. Lowe (1927). This method predominated the crop improvement programme throughout the world until 1980s. Pedigree method is common in horticultural crops, especially where readily identifiable qualitative traits are involved. Vegetable crops in which pedigree system is used include tomato, cucumber, pepper, pea, lettuce, snap and field beans, all self-pollinated crops. In general, selection is done on F₂ plants. Yield is important in many horticultural plants, but quality is equally or even more important. Quality may be associated with identifiable traits, making the pedigree system ideal for self-pollinated vegetable crops.

1. The Invisible Gender

India, as is always said, is primarily an agrarian economy. Despite the forward leaps taken by our society in the different novel and pioneering areas of development, agriculture remains the force that supports rural India. According to the economic survey of 2020-21, the contribution of agriculture to the country’s GDP has increased from 17.8% in 2019-20 to 19.9% in 2020-21. It is a sector that provides almost half of all the employment opportunities available in the world. The rural agricultural workforce all over the world comprises 37 per cent women and in low-income countries, it is as high as 48 per cent. Women also represent close to 50 per cent of the world’s 600 million small-scale livestock managers and about half of the labor force in small-scale fisheries. They also have a highly significant presence in the post-harvest, processing, and small scale value addition sectors also. However, these numbers are pessimistic estimations as the women’s contributions to agriculture are often unpaid labor and therefore their contributions are not fully captured (FAO, 2020).

They also have a highly significant presence in the post-harvest, processing, and small-scale value addition sectors also.According to the latest reports from Oxfarm Research, the agriculture sector employs 80% of all economically active women in India, which comprise 48% of the self-employed farmers, and 33% of the agriculture labor force.Barring few states like Punjab, Kerala, and West Bengal, most of the women in rural India are engaged in agriculture. It is estimated that 85% of the rural women in India work in agriculture yet own only 13% of the land. The modeled estimates of the International Labour Organization (ILO) shows a drop in females employed in agriculture from 74.38% in 2000 to 54.59% in 2019.However, under the cultural backdrop of Indian society, a significant number of women still exist as “invisible contributors.

1. Introduction

The gender gap in agriculture is perceived worldwide. It signifies that farm women have less access to resources, finance, capital and advisory services compared to men (FAO, 2011a). Further, women own only 1 per cent of the world’s property in spite they dominate in world food production (50 to 80 per cent) and they own less than 10 per cent of land globally (Huyer et al., 2015). But, in a healthy society, both men and women should enjoy the equal right, opportunity, accessibility and also should shoulder the equal responsibility in family building, society building or nation building. But till date, the equal status and opportunities of men and women has remained a desired goal. It happens so, as the livelihood needs of men and women are different due to their different roles, responsibilities, accessibility to resources and cultural norms. However, of late the researchers and policy makers have realized the importance of gender equality for national development and it has been one of the avowed targets in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030. This has led to the recognition and conceptualization of the concept of ‘gender analysis’ in development research. Gender analysis frameworks provide a step-by-step methodology for conducting gender analysis (Ochola et al., 2010). Gender analysis is relevant to education, although the frameworks used for development projects must be adapted to meet the needs of educational projects (Leach, 2003).

The chapter discusses the concept of Gender Analysis along with the tools and frameworks available in undertaking gender analysis. Each method is discussed in detail covering the context of use, merits and limitations. The data collection formats are also discussed.

Importance-Effective writing -Components of writing : Introduction , Audience and format, Composition and style, Structure, Grammatical errors, Proofing and Conclusion-Ways to improve writing skills -Technical writing.

A written communication is always put into writing and generally used when the audience is at a distance or when a permanency or record is required or where its preservation is essential in case it is needed as a evidence in cases of dispute. It is generally in the form of instruction, orders, rules and regulations, policies, procedures, posters, memos, reports information bulletins.

Importance of writing skills

1. Expression

Writing is one of the important ways of expressing your thoughts, and communicating ideas and views to others. Some have the innate ability to put their thoughts into words. Writing is more beneficial, specifically for those who are emotional, and do not express verbally. This tool allows them to express their ideas, thoughts or their existing mental condition, which otherwise, may not be possible. People express themselves by writing novels, short stories, biographies and even personal diaries, etc.

2. Judgment of a person

Often, a person is judged by the quality of writing, he/she possesses. Be it a school, college, workplace or a society, writing has become a vital yardstick to assess one’s knowledge and intellectuality. When we come across a person who is prim and proper, we immediately make an impression about that person being careful, responsible and sincere. Similarly, if the writing is devoid of mistakes, we tend to create a good impression about the writer.

Meaning – Points to be considered in public speaking – Effective public speaking: Group Discussion: Meaning – Procedure – Advantages – Limitations; Seminar Conferences: Definition and meaning – Steps in organizing seminar / conferences/ symposium / workshop

Definition

Public speaking is the process and act of speaking or giving a lecture to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain a listening audience. Public speaking is commonly understood as face-to-face speaking between individuals and an audience for the purpose of communication. It is closely allied to “presenting”, although the latter is more often associated with commercial activity. Most of the time, public speaking is to persuade the audience.

Public speaking can serve the purpose of transmitting information, telling a story, motivating people to act or some combination of those. This type of speech is deliberately structured with three general purposes: to inform, to persuade and to entertain. Knowing when public speaking is most effective and how it is done properly is a key part in understanding the importance of it.

Points to be considered in public speaking

1. Prepare to succeed

The single most important thing you can do to make your next presentation successful is to be prepared. That means make time for some serious practice. Experts suggest you spend 60% of your time to prepare your content and slides and 40% of your time to practice.

2. Say it correctly

Part of good preparation is double-checking the pronunciation of any tricky words—especially jargon. Your correct pronunciation and knowledge of industry terms lends credibility to your presentation.

The prime object of plant breeder is to develop high yielding variety with superior characteristics. Selection is based on the phenotypes of the plants. Consequently the effectiveness of selection primarily depends on the degree to which the phenotype of plants reflects their genotype. These are all self fertilizing species. In these species development of seed take place by self fertilization. Hence self pollinated species are also known as autogamous species. Various plant characters such as homogamy, cleistogamy, chasmogamy, bisexuality etc. promotes self pollination. The self pollinated crops with their description are given in Table 9.1. The breeding methods used in self and often-self pollinated crops are discussed below:

Plant Introduction

Plant introduction consists of taking a genotype or a group of genotypes of plants into a new area or region or environment, where they have not being grown earlier. It is very simplest and fastest method of developing new variety. It is of two types:

Introduction

Increasing knowledge regarding the impact of diet on human health along with state-of-the-art technologies has led to significant nutritional discoveries, product innovations, and mass production on an unprecedented scale. In particular, naturally occurring bioactive extracts or single compounds thereof, that are believed to benefit human health, have spawned an important and dynamic new area of research resulting in substantial advances in nutritional knowledge. There is also growing awareness that dietary source and form of food may affect overall health. Suitably, the role of food as an agent for improving health has been recognized, initiating the development of new classes of food, known as functional foods (Honkanen 2009).

The concept of functional foods is to improve the general conditions of the body and decrease the risk of illness and disease. That is to say, bioactive compounds present as natural constituents or as fortificants in food having the potential to provide health benefits beyond the basic nutritional value of the product. Marine-derived nutrients and other marine bioactive components have excellent potential as functional food ingredients as they possess advantageous physiological effects, with medicinal characteristics and added health benefits such as anticancer or anti-inflammatory activity.

The marine world, due to its phenomenal biodiversity, is a rich natural resource of many biologically active compounds such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), sterols, proteins, polysaccharides, antioxidants and pigments. Many marine organisms live in complex habitats exposed to extreme conditions and, in adapting to new environmental surroundings, they produce a wide variety of secondary (biologically active) metabolites which cannot be found in other organisms. Moreover, considering its great taxonomic diversity, investigations related to the search of new bioactive compounds from the marine environment can be seen as an almost unlimited field.

Introduction

In recent years, food scientists, nutritionists and health experts have become more inclined towards functional food components present in various food sources due to their positive influence on health, which is beyond providing the basic nutrition.Nowa days, generalconsumers are also seeking healthier food options because of nutritive food habits and awareness. Therefore, it has triggered the studyof food and deep mining of food components from nutritional and health benefit’s perspective also. Functional food ingredient can be defined as any componentwhich is more than a source of nutrient i.e. provides additional specific health benefits. Milk is well known to exert positive effect on human health, provides nutrition and widely consumed all across the globe in form of either milk or milk products. As per the definition, milk is heterogeneous blend of lacteal secretion which contains various elements that displays wide range of chemical and functional activities. It has been more than a source nutrition and supplement to different age groups either neonates, youngsters or grown up peoples (Park, 2009). It is one of the basicelements of many diets either in its native form or fermented form which every class of people can afford and had evolved as one of the important nourishment sources. Milk in its native form contains fewer bioactive components while fermentation process produces numerous secondary metabolites which possess various health-beneficial properties (Stanton et al., 2005).

8.1 Introduction

Fruitfulness refers to the state where a plant is not only capable of flowering and bearing fruit but also takes these fruits to maturity. The inability to do so is known as ‘unfruitfulness’ or ‘barrenness’. Unfruitfulness is a major problem in many fruit crops and their varieties. It results in huge loss to growers and makes fruit cultivation less profitable.

8.2 Factors Affecting Unfruitfulness

Unfruitfulness can be due to lack of balance between vegetative growth and fruiting, lack of flowering and poor fruit set, which is result of the unfavourable environment. It can also be due to heavy cropping, leading to inhibition of fruit bud production and poor crop in the following year. Sterility also leads to unfruitfulness due to impotence, incompatibility or the abortion of embryo. This unfruitfulness is one of the serious problems of many orchards and its causes need to be understood properly for effective control and obtaining economically acceptable production level. The causes of unfruitfulness can be broadly grouped into two categories: internal factors and external factors.

13.1 Introduction

Climate change is emerging out to be the greatest challenge to humanity. Climate change may be a change in the mean of the various climatic parameters such as temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, atmospheric gases composition etc. and in properties over a longer period and a larger geographical area. It can also be referred to as any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or because of human activity. Climate change is a global challenge threatening sustainability of agriculture and its impact is realized more in the fragile and vulnerable ecosystems. The resource poor small and marginal farmers are more prone to climatic aberrations than other farmers. Predicted population growth over the next 50 years will raise food demand globally higher (Trostle 2008), which is complicated by environmental changes such as climate, biodiversity, water availability, land use, atmospheric and other pollutants, and sea level rise (Misselhorn et al. 2012). Climate change has emerged as a serious global environmental issue having impact on all forms of life. It increases the greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, ozone and methane which may cause impact in terms of increased temperature, more demand for water and increase in biotic and abiotic stresses. It has direct impact on agriculture and horticulture. Due to climate change, low production of horticultural crops is featured. Due to severe cold wave, horticultural crops suffer a yield loss of 10-100% depending upon crop and variety (Hazarika 2013). Mitigation strategies aim to reduce the impact of changes to climate and the associated risks from anthropogenic (human) processes. Adaptive capacity is defined as ‘‘the ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes), to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences’’ (IPCC 2001, p. 982).

BOOK KEEPING & GENERAL ENTRY SYSTEM

Business Transactions can be recorded in any system, which provides the necessary financial position of a business and results of transactions. The Business transactions are recorded through systems of book keeping as maintained in accounting are as follows:

Book Keeping: This is an activity concerned with the recording of financial data relating to business operations in a significant and orderly manner. Book keeping is the record making phase of accounting. Accounting is based on a careful and an efficient book keeping system.

The essential idea behind maintaining book keeping records is to show correct position regarding each head of income and expenditure. It is concerned with the recording of business transaction in a significant and orderly manner which is mechanical and repetitive in character. 

PROJECT AND PROJECT APPRAISAL PROJECT

Project is a scientifically evolves work plan to achieve specific objectives within a specified time limit by consuming planned resources. A Project is a specific plan or design with a specific objective, time, and cost limitations and non-repeated it in nature. UNIDO defines a Project as a proposal for an investment to create and or develop certain facilities in order to increase the production of goods or services in a community over a certain period of time. The Project can be long-term or short-term, limited or comprehensive, sector concentrated on multi-sector concentrated.

PROJECT APPRAISAL or Evaluation is a step-by-step process of collecting recording and organizing information about project results including short-term, immediate output and long-term outcomes from the projects.

12.1. Penicillium chrysogenum

Penicillium chrysogenum (Fig. 255) (previously known as Penicillium notatum), produces the antibiotic penicillin, known as WONDER DRUG.

The antibiotics produced from fungus Penicillium is listed in table.

Botanical Name: Cocos nucifera L. Family: Arecaceae / Palmae Chromosome No: 32 Place of Origin: Malaysia Common Name: Coconut 2.1 Introduction Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.), is widely known as ‘Kalpavriksha’ (i.e., tree of heaven) as each and every part of the palm is useful in one way or the other and is an important perennial oil yielding crop of humid tropics. It provides food security and livelihood opportunities to 20 million people around the globe and 10 million people in India (Chowdappa et al., 2017). Even though India is the largest coconut growing country in the world, its contribution to the export market is not significant. Coconut as an edible oil and food crop, is now slowly transforming into raw material for various pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic products. Coconut is rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals. Because of its health benefits beyond its nutritional content, it has been considered as “functional food”. Hence, there exists a huge scope for coconut-based agribusiness in India, which will increase the present 8% level of value addition to 25%. The coconut-based value-added products are desiccated coconut powder, coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut milk powder, coconut flour, coconut water concentrate, coconut jelly (Nata-de-coco), coconut vinegar, virgin coconut oil, coconut chips, coconut pickle, coconut ice cream, neera and neera based value added products such as syrup, squash, honey, jaggery, candy and sugar (Chowdappa et al., 2017).

Botanical Name: Theobroma cacao L.

Family: Sterculiaceae

Chromosome No: 20

Place of Origin: Tropical South America

Common Name: Cacao, cacao bean, cocoa, cocoa bean

6.1 Introduction

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a perennial plant and is used as beverage crop. The generic name Theobroma means the “Food of the God”. The word cacao refers to the tree, while the word cocoa refers to the drink made from its seeds. The roasted product of the dried beans is called as Cacao nibs that are used for the manufacture of various products. When cacao nibs are ground, the resulting product is called chocolate liquor or mass, which contains around 55% fat. The fat that is pressed from chocolate liquor is termed as cacao butter. It is mainly used for the manufacture of chocolates, in pharmaceutical preparations and soap making. After pressing out the fat the resultant product with reduced fat content is called cacao powder. For preparation of chocolates cacao powder is mixed with cacao butter and sugar with a definite ratio. Milk chocolates are prepared by adding milk to the above mixture. The cocoa powder contains 22- 25% fat, 20.4% protein and 35% carbohydrate with caloric value of 452 cal. Rind or shell of pod is used as a cattle feed.

Botanical Name: Anacardium occidentale L.

Family: Anacardiaceae

Chromosome No: 42

Place of Origin: Brazil

Common Name: Cashew, cashew tree, caju

7.1 Introduction

Cashewnut (Anacardium occidentale L.) is an important tropical tree crop which leads the edible nuts in international trade with 29% market share only after hazelnuts (35%) and followed by walnuts (21%) and almonds (16%). It is one of the major exports earning crops which accounts nearly Rs. 2515 crores contributing about 1.5% of the total Indian exports. It was only during the past two decades it gained the status of horticulture crop. India is the world’s largest producer of cashewnut. The cashew cultivation area in India during 2018-19 was 10.89 lakh hectares with an annual production of 743 thousand metric tons of fruits. Maharashtra is a much-advanced state for horticulture which occupies large area (1.9 lakh hectares) under this crop (Directorate of Cashew & Cocoa Development, Cochin, Kerala). Cashew exports amounted to over 566 million U.S. dollars from India in fiscal year 2020. This included cashew kernels and cashew nut shell liquid. India’s main export markets for this commodity included South Korea, China, Spain, United States and Belgium (Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare).

Botanical Name: Camellia sinensis L.

Family: Theaceae

Chromosome No: 30

Place of Origin: China

Common Name: Tea

9.1 Introduction

Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) of family Camelliaceae or Theaceae is the oldest and second most widely consumed beverage in the world following water. Tea is an evergreen plant that mainly grows in tropical and subtropical climates. India is world’s 2nd largest tea producer after China with production of 1.25 million tonnes in 2020. In India it is grown in an area of 6 lakh hectares, contributing one fourth of world total tea production annually. Interestingly, India is also the world’s largest consumer of the beverage and using nearly 30 percent of the world’s tea output. India stands third in terms of tea export after Kenya (including neighbouring African countries) and China. The total tea export was US$ 501.16 million in April 2020 to November 2020 and for November 2020 it was US$ 71.61 million.

Botanical Name: Phoenix dactylifera L.

Family: Arecaceae

Chromosome No: 2n = 36

Place of Origin: Countries around Persian Gulf

10.1 Introduction

Date palm is a nutritive fruit rich in sugar and iron and predominantly seen in desert oasis. It is the main fruit crop in arid and semiarid regions, particularly in the arid regions of western Asia and North Africa. The palm tree is well adapted to desert environments that are characterized by extreme temperatures and water shortage. Beyond the arid climates, date palm can also be grown in many other countries for food or as an ornamental plant including the continents of Americas, Southern Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The majority of date palm growing areas are located in developing or underdeveloped countries where dates are considered the primary food crop, thus playing a major role in the nutritional status of these communities. By-products from date palm are used in building structures, animal feed, and also in several items such as baskets and ropes. The date palm tree has been in cultivation since 2400 BC. It is one of the oldest cultivated fruit trees on earth. India is the leading importer of dates. According to FAO statistics, in 2011 India was the largest world importer of dates (256,295 mt) and its neighbour Pakistan, in 2012, was the world’s sixth largest producer (600,000 mt). The major date palm growing areas in India are Kutch (Gujarat), Rajasthan and certain parts of the Punjab, as well as Tamil Nadu state to some extent. In Kutch, there are more than 2 million date palms, the majority of them grown from seeds and offshoots, providing a huge biodiversity for experimentation and improvement of products. Efforts by the Indian government in the last decade have resulted in an increase of date palm cultivation from 8,973 to 16,000 ha and establishment of a prominent effort in Rajasthan (Shah, 2014).

The increasing concerns about dwindling biological resources globally led to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992. This convention for the first time, recognized sovereign rights of States over their biological resources and emphasized that access to genetic resources should be only for environmentally sound purposes and should be subject to national legislations. The access has to be on mutually agreed terms which inter-alia would include recognition of associated Traditional Knowledge of indigenous communities and equitable benefit sharing arrangements.

The fungi are usually:

a) Parasites or saprophytes b) Lithophytes

c) Epiphytes d) Insectivorous

8. Introduction

The idea of sustainable development stands on the concept of maintaining the best possible environment within the availability of minimal resources and for the convenience of the society. Now-a-day the term “sustainability” gained a lot of attention due to challenges and problems faced in tackling the current situation of global pollution. One of the vital areas of research needs to be addressed in concern with sustainable development is the new innovations to enhance sustainability (Silvestre and Silva, 2014). 

1 The serotype of aphthovirus causing most outbreaks of FMD in India is

a) A b) O

c) C d) Asia-1

Environment: Environment means “surrounding”. First definition of environment was given by “Ernst Haeckel”. According to this - The relation between all organic and inorganic atmosphere of any animal is called environment.

Sensor is a physical device used to detect manifestations or variations in a process value and collect data in real time assessment mode for measuring and predicting system/device performance and finally analyzing it to attain a specific task or application. Sensor technology is now-a-days used for interdisciplinary applications for data collection, system analysis and monitoring.

Internet of Things (IoT) is networking of physical objects, devices, machines, systems etc to interconnect each other for exchanging data through standard internet protocols. The IoT is also termed as Machine-to-Machine (M-to-M) communication. The term ‘Things’ in IoT includes objects embedded with sensors, actuators, mobile phones, routers, hubs, computers, wearable’s and smart devices etc.

The urinary tract is the body’s drainage system. It includes kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder and urethra. Ultrasound is a most preferred imaging tool for the diagnosis of diseases of urinary tract not only in humans but also in dogs and cats. Little adipose tissue in urinary system of dogs makes the contrast between different planes and anatomical structures poor.

Direction of rotation can be reversed in
(A) 2- stroke engine           (B) 4- stroke engine
(C) Both (A) and (B)          (D) None of these

Q. 1 Density of water is:-
(A) 1000 kg/m3    (B) 500 kg/m3
(C) 1500 kg/m3    (D) 2000 kg/m3

Q. 1 Which of the following is a correct match?
(A) Mole drain = pump drainage
(B) Vertical drainage = well drain age
(C) Pipe drain = well drainage
(D) Horizontal drain = bio-drainage

Soil is the most fundamental resource to fulfill basic requirements of food, fiber and shelter of human race. Although soil is perceived as something of insignificant value and it is considered as dirt but humans cannot survive without soil. Soil forms
basis for all terrestrial life. Soil provides a wide range of ecosystem services (Table 1) that make humankind to survive and progress.

Ocimum basilicum L. (Lamiaceae): Eng.- Sweet Basil; Hindi- Ban tulsi; Kash.-Baber [RC]. A cultivated aromatic herb grown for its seed. Flowers showy, light blue, fragrant. Leaves used for flavouring purposes. Seeds used for preparing refreshing drinks/ sharbats.

Agriculture is the lifeline of India that provides livelihood to about 70 per cent of its population dwelling in about 6 lakh villages. In spite of so many projects, programmes and schemes launched from time to time after independence by Government of India through Ministry of Agriculture and Indian Council of Agricultural Research, State Agricultural Universities and Departments of Agriculture, agricultural food grains production was not realized on ìsustainable basisî. Even ìGreen Revolutionî which came to fore during 1967-68 in the irrigated areas alone, could not sustain the productivity of rice and wheat. Rather, the productivity of these crops has either got declined in many cases and/or in other cases it has stagnated.

Cotton is often called as “white gold”. True to its name cotton supports the largest agro based industries in India and cotton industry ranks first in the agro based industries and engages 4 to 5 million people in cotton growing. The industrial sector employs 1.0 million people. At present there are 3660 ginning and 1570 textile mills in India. India earns foreign exchange to a tune of Rs. 2500 million through exports of cotton textiles and products. Cotton is cultivated for ‘lint’ which is used for preparing threads, yarns and medical cotton mixed with synthetic fibre and for various other purposes.

Food preservation methods are important in order to avoid glut or shortage of food in the market. In addition it helps to increase the shelf life, maintain the nutritional and sensorial quality, facilitate transportation and improve the overall value of the commodity. Even though various methods of food preservation are available now. Most of the conventional methods are thermal preservation methods which may result in the loss of volatile nutrients and flavour, different sensorial modifications, microbial spread with or without gas production, damage to the microstructure, rupture of coating or packaging surfaces and microbial recontamination caused by non-hermetic closure.

The word physiology initially meant for that branch of biology which deals with the function of living organisms.Physiology can be defined as the study of mechanisms of body functions. Physiology is concerned with the way the various systems of the body function and the way each contributes to the functions of the body as a whole.Thus, physiology not only seeks to define the functions of living organisms like feeding, digestion, respiration, transport of gases in the blood, circulation and functions of the heart, excretion and kidney functions, muscle and movement, reproduction etc but also seeks to answer to ‘why’ and ‘how’ all these functions are regulated.

Sustainability in agricultural production is guided by the overriding philosophy of ‘feed the soil to feed the plant’. Adequate supply of plant nutrients is required to ensure efficient crop production. Plants use individual chemical elements and ions as their food. In 1939, Arnon and Stout laid down three criteria for the essentiality of a plant nutrient.

The integrated pest management is a set of effective and environmentally safe pest management practices that takes advantages of all appropriate pest management options including, but not limited to, the judicious use of pesticides. The comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment, and the available pest control methods are used to manage pest damage by the most economical means, and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment. 

Agriculture is an economic activity that is highly dependent upon weather and climate in order to produce the food and feed necessary to sustain human life. In spite of technological improvements that increase agricultural production, weather hazards have caused significant yield reductions in some years at different regions.

The study of the immune system, in its various aspects, is called immunology. Immunology is the branch of bioscience which deals with the defense mechanisms including all physical, chemical and biological properties of the organism that help it to combat its susceptibility to foreign agents and microorganisms. Immunology includes the development and functions of various components of immune system by which the body responds, destroys or neutralizes foreign agents or pathogens. It includes the study at cellular as well as molecular level. Immunology is an interdisciplinary subject which incorporates and requires the knowledge of many branches of biology like microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and clinical medicine.

Cell mediated immune response (CMI) is the major defense mechanism against intracellular microbes and tumor cells. It is mediated mainly by T lymphocytes. T cells originate in bone marrow but the maturation of T cells occurs in thymus.