eChapters

Canning: Cannings the process by which sealing of the food product and sterilizing them by heat for long storage is known as canning.

The term canning was first invented by N. Appert (1804) in France. In honour of the inventor canning is also known as appertization (Appart is known as the father of canning). The main principle of canning is destruction of spoilage organism by means of heat. The procedure of the canning should be as follows.

Jam:-Jam is a product made by boiling fruit pulp with sufficient sugar to a reasonably thick consistency. Jam is mainly prepared by apple, pear, sapota, apricot, peach, papaya, karonda etc. It can be prepared from one kind of fruits or from two or more kind of fruits. In general jam contain 0.5-0.6% acid and invert sugar should not be more than 40%.

Jelly:-Jelly is a semi solid product prepared by boiling a solution of pectin containing fruit extract free from pulp after the addition of sugar and acid. A perfect jelly should be transparent, well set, should have original flavour of the fruits, attractive colour and it should be free from dullness. Jelly is mainly prepared by guava, sour apple, wood apple, loquat and papaya. Apricot, pineapple, strawberry etc of low pectin containing fruits can also utilize after addition of pectin powder because these fruits have low pectin contain.

Marmalade: Marmalade is a fruit jelly in which peels of the fruits is in suspended forms. This product is generally prepared from citrus fruit like orange and lemon. The citrus marmalade can be classified into jelly marmalade and jam marmalade. 1 kg pectin extract required 750g sugar and 62g shredded peel.

Preserve:- Amature fruits/vegetable or its pieces impregnated with heavy sugar syrup till it become tender and transparent is known as preserve. The fruits like aonla, bael, apple, pear, mango, cherry, karonda, pineapple, papaya are commonly used.

Candied fruit:-A fruits/vegetable impregnated with cane sugar syrup and subsequently drained free of syrup and dried is known as candy. The most suitable fruits are aonla, apple, pear, cherry, karonda, pineapple, papaya are commonly used. In candy the total sugar contains of the impregnated fruits is kept about 75% to prevent fermentation.

Beverages:-The fruit beverages are easily digestible, highly refreshing, thirst quenching, appetizing, nutritionally for superior than many other synthetic drink. There are two types of fruit beverages i.e. unfermented beverages and fermented beverages. Natural juice, RTS (Ready to Serve), nector, cordial, squash, crush syrup, fruit juice concentrate and fruit juice powder are the main unfermented beverages. The fermented beverages are wine, champaigne, port, sherry, tokay, muscut, neera, cidar, orange wine, berry wine and fenny are the important.

Squash: It is a type of fruit beverage containing at list 25% fruit juice or pulp and 40-50% TSS commercially. It’s also containing about 1% citric acid and 350ppm sulphurdioxide or 600ppm sodium benzoate. Generally it is diluted before serving. Mango, orange, pineapple, lemon, lime, guava, litchi etc are commercially used for squash making using KMS as preservative. The coloured fruit like jamun, passion fruit, peach, phalasa, plum, mulberry, strawberry and grapefruits are also used for making squash but due to bleaching effect KMS is not used as preservative. In such types of fruits sodium benzoate used as preservative.

Material balance data

Guava pulp : 5.00 kg

Amount of sugar added : 4.50 kg

Amount of glucose added : 500 gm

Amount of SMP added : 700 gm

Pickles:- Pickles are a product which is prepared by using the common salt or vinegars of fruits and vegetables. It is a good appetizer and adds to the palatability of a meal. It’s also help full to stimulating the flow of gastric juices and thus helps full indigestion. Pickles are mainly preserving by salt, vinegar, oil and it can also be preserved by the mixture of salt, spices, vinegar and oil.

Ingredient of 1kg mango pickles: Mango piece 1kg, salt 150g, fenugreek powder 25g, turmeric powder 15g, nigella seed 15g, red chilli powder 10g, clove headless 8 number, black pepper 15g, cumin 15g, cardamom large 15g, aniseed powder 15g, asafoetida 2g and mustard oil 350ml.

Ingredient of 1kg mixed pickles: Cauliflower + diced carrot + turnip slice + vegetable pea each in equal amount of 1kg, salt 100g, ginger chopped 20g, onion chopped 50g, garlic chopped 10g, red chilli powder, black pepper, turmeric, cardamom large, aniseed powder, cumin, fenugreek powder each of 10g, clove headless 5 number and mustard 50g, vinegar 200 ml and mustard oil 450 ml.

Sauce/Ketchup:-Fully ripe red fruits are selected, all green and blemish part are discarded. It is made from strained tomato juice or pulp and spices, salt, sugar and vinegar with or without onion and garlic and contains not less than 12% tomato solid and 25% total solid.

Ingredient of tomato sauce/ketchup: Tomato pulp 1kg, sugar 75g, salt 10g, onion chopped 50g, ginger chopped 10g, garlic chopped 5g, red chilli powder 5g, cinnamon, cardamom large, aniseed, cumin, black pepper powder 10g each, clove headless 5 number, vinegar 25ml or glacial acetic acid 5ml and sodium benzoate 0.25g/kg final product.

Ingredient of tomato chutney: Tomato 1kg, sugar 500g, salt 25g, onion chopped 100g, ginger chopped 10g, garlic chopped 5g, red chilli powder 10g, cinnamon, cardamom large, aniseed, cumin, black pepper powder 10g each, vinegar 100ml and sodium benzoate 0.50g/kg final product.

Structure of turmeric process

Boiling

• Boiling figures in water in copper vessels/galvanized iron/earthen vessels
• If water is acidic then add NaCO₃
• Stopped boiling when froth starts coming out and white fume appears
• Then dried in the sun for 10-15 days till they become hard and brittle

Curing- Curing is a process in which produce is subjected to undergow through a special treatment to get the quality product.

Distillation of rose oil and rose water:

For distillation of rose oil and rose water initially the fresh rose flower are hydro distilled. The oil and water are collected together. The oil which floats upon the water is separated by decantation get oil directly, while the water is re-distillated. The oil obtained from re-distillation is called recovered oil or water oil. The direct oil and water oil are then combined to make the commercial rose oil.

The water obtained from the second re-distillation step is the commercial rose water

Plants are used as medicine since time immemorial. One of the area of Ethnobotany, Ethnopharmacology is considered as the scientific evaluation of traditional medicinal plants (Cotton, 1996). Cox (1994) has suggested that the ethno-directed sampling is most likely to succeed in identifying drugs used in the treatment of gastrointestinal, inflammatory and dermatological complaints. The Plant kingdom is a virtual goldmine of potential drug targets and other active molecules awaiting to be discovered. It has been estimated that only 10 - 15 per cent of the 7,50,000 existing species of higher plants have been surveyed for biologically active compounds. Natural products produced by plants, fungi, bacteria, insects and animals have been isolated as biologically active pharmacophores. Approximately one-third of the top-selling drugs in the world are natural products or their derivatives often with ethnopharmacological background. Moreover, natural products are widely recognized in the pharmaceutical industry for their broad structural diversity as well as their wide range of pharmacological activities.

New medicines have been discovered with traditional, empirical and molecular approaches (Harvey, 1999). The traditional approach makes use of material that has been found by trial and error over many years in different cultures and systems of medicine (Cotton, 1996). Examples include drugs such as morphine , quinine and ephedrine that have been in wide spread use for a long time, and more recently adopted compound such as the antimalarial artemisinin. The empirical approach builds on an understanding of a relevant physiological process and often develops a therapeutic agent from a naturally occurring lead molecule (Verpoorte, 2000). Examples include tubocurarine and other muscle relaxants, propranolol and other adrenoreceptor antagonists, cimetidine and other histamine H₂ receptor antagonists. With the development of molecular biological techniques and the advances in genomics, the majority of drug discovery is currently based on the molecular approach.

Phytochemicals from various parts of a plant or tree such as the leaves, the flowers, the seeds, the barks, the roots and the shrubs can be isolated. Once one comes in from collecting plants in the field, it is good idea to freeze them immediately in a freezer at – 20°C or a commercial freezer held at – 80°C (Kaufman et al., 1999). According to Harborne (1984, 1998), fresh plant tissues should be used for phytochemical analysis and the material should be plunged into boiling alcohol within minutes of its collection. Alternatively, plants may be dried before extraction. It is essential that the drying operation is carried out under controlled conditions to avoid too many chemical changes occurring. Once thoroughly dried, plants can be stored before analysis for long periods of time. It is possible to isolate some of the compounds from herbarium samples. One example of the use of the herbarium material is the essential oil analysis that was carried out on type specimens of Mentha leaf, the material being obtained from the original collection of Linneaus made before 1800 (Harborne, 1998). An obvious point to follow by the research worker is freeing of the plant tissue under study from contamination with other plants. While collecting roots, care must be taken that we are collecting roots from one plant. It is essential to use plants which are free from disease, i.e. which are not affected by viral, bacterial or fungal infection. In phytochemical analysis, at some stage in the investigation, a botanist of an acknowledged authority must authenticate the botanical identity of the plants studied and a voucher specimen of the plant may be deposited in a reputed Herbarium for future reference. It is advisable to keep a logbook of the plants that have been collected and used for phytochemical analysis. A backup inventory on the computer is also a good idea.

India is endowed with abundant natural resources and diverse agroclimatic conditions, which are ideal for cultivation of a number of annual or perennial crops, in different areas. Meticulous planning, extraordinary scientific support, judicious use of inputs and focused policy thrust have led to manifold increase in production and productivity of fruit trees. The horticultural crops, particularly fruit crops, are high-value and technology- intensive crops. Appropriate technologies are gaining popularity in entire country in view of their high potential of productivity, land utilization and more income. Today, our country is producing different kinds of fruits, but quantum of total fruit production is unable to cope with the present day demand. Various constraints, biotic and abiotic in nature, pose hindrances to meet the fuel potential. The poor productivity of fruit trees is the main reason of low availability of fruits. The low productivity of fruits is compounded by several environmental, genetic and conditional factors. Besides, productivity and quality of perennial fruits continued to remain low and there exists a wide gap in between actual and potential production. Visualizing the problems of perennial commercial fruit production, the main reason comes in forefront/top is a large number of old and senile orchards turning even unproductive, due to lack of information regarding non-adoption of appropriate agro-techniques and canopy management (Hare Krishna, 2012). Though, we have made rapid strides in fruit production, the productivity is very low compared to developed countries. The present scenario of production in our country is still technology deficit and what so ever the technologies are available very poor in adoption level and the situation still go worse even in the era of climate change.

Present situation demands that new technologies are needed to push the yield frontiers further by utilizing inputs more efficiently, diversifying to more sustainable and yielding higher quantum of quality production, particularly by integration of invasive and non-invasive medium-term strategic technologies. There are still challenges ahead in the way of the research which require concerted efforts in organizing, conducting and developing the technology as well as the proper way they are transferred to growers. The new generation of technologies will have to be much more site-specific, based on high quality science and a heightened opportunity for end-users, participation/adoption in identification of targets and achieving the objectives. These must be not only aimed at increasing the growers/farmers technical knowledge and understanding of science-based timely operations. It will also need to take on challenges of integrating the socio-economic context and role of markets for profitability and economic viability.

Today, our country is the second largest producer of fruits in the world, yet the per caput availability of fruits is below the recommended level (Chadha et al., 2013). The major reason for low availability of fruits is poor productivity. In addition, pressure of burgeoning population and ever increasing demand also result in reduced availability of fruits. The production of fruit crops is still nature dependent. The problem of low productivity of fruits is compounded by several environmental, genetic and conditional factors. At present, there exist a wide gap in between actual fruit yield and their potential yield in almost all tropical and subtropical fruit species, particularly in perennial and woody trees of fruits.

There is a great diversity in perennial fruit crops which permits considerable manipulation for various purposes and desirable outcome. For achieving even the average productivity in many fruit crops, the production constraints like lack of information regarding canopy management, non-adoption of appropriate agro-techniques and timely management practices are required, while the concern about existing a large number of old and senile orchards which has turned or are turning even unproductive needs attention (Hare Krishna, 2012). Though, the country’s fruit production status is showing an increase, but far below the potential production requires immediate attention to critically analyze the situation by revisiting the problems and its causes, identifying the gaps and development of need- based technologies in the present context.

The low productivity of perennial fruits has been attributed to various factors, like small size of holdings, preponderance of old and senile trees and poor management of inputs such as water, nutrients and pesticides. Thickly-shaded mango orchards in Malihabad areas of Uttar Pradesh (Kalloo et al., 2005; Mishra, 2013), lanky as well as sick tall unproductive litchi orchards in Muzaffarpur and its adjoining areas in Bihar (Kumar, 2008), seedling orchards of guava and citrus fruits throughout the country, including disease-affected aonla and other perennial fruit plantations are commonly seen in large tracts in different parts of the country (Pandey et al., 2013; Singh 2007). In pomegranate, the old orchards become non- productive due to incidence of pests and diseases, and negligence (Hiwale, 2009).

The traditional trend of orcharding for most of the tropical and subtropical evergreen perennial fruit trees, in general, are regarded as not responsive to pruning. However, a number of observations made in recent decades have conclusively proved the effectiveness of this important operation in maintaining the sustained fruit yield and keeping the plant well within manageable limits. The efforts have been made to deal perennial fruits in quite details wherever deemed necessary. Climatic factors have been found to affect significantly on fruit bearing as a result of pruning treatments. Though, this aspect is one of the most misconceived and least understood when seen with shoot emergence and shoot physiology for perenation and phase change from vegetative to reproductive. Correct pruning may easily spell the difference between success and failure, yet many growers undertake infinite pains to get the best out of their trees but the neglect to give their consideration to important practice. It is obviously needless to mention here that their such efforts end in futility. For better understanding of principles and practices of pruning, it would be imperative to trace out its historical background. The present level of understanding about pruning has been developed through ages with the increased understanding of growth and developmental processes of fruit plants.

Rejuvenation of fruit trees is visionary approach to save the old senile declining trees for future sustainable quality fruit production through unique integration of invasive exhaustive operations in scientific manner and skilful management. Since unproductive and uneconomic orchards are in abundance, a large-scale uprooting and replacement with new plantations (rehabilitation) will be a long-term and expensive strategy. Therefore, research efforts have been initiated at various pioneer institutes/ SAUs to standardize. The technology for restoring the production potential of existing plantations by a technique called rejuvenation. Rejuvenation of old orchard is very vital under orchard management. Reiterative pruning and canopy re-building of perennial fruit trees is medium- term strategy requiring scientific skill and technique, for bringing back the youthful vigour with enhanced quantum of quality production in sustainable way within a time gap of three years for mango, litchi and cashew (Lal et al., 2000; Kumar, 2008), while two years for guava, aonla and pomegranate (Singh, 2007; Hiwale 2009) without any economic loss to growers. The old fruit orchards need to be rejuvenated since they show decline in yield and quality of produce. These trees/plants need to be rejuvenated which have attained a stage where they are no more profitable from the grower ’s point of view (Singh, 2007; Srivastava, 2007).

Botanical description :Botanically, cluster bean is known as Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L) Taub. (2n = 2x = 14) belongs to the family Papilionaceae.

Floral biology :Cluster bean is a self-pollinated crop having about 9 percent maximum natural out crossing. The plants are normally fully fertile, a few semi-sterile ones have also been reported.

Isolation distance :Cluster bean is a self-pollinated crop. Isolation distance of 50 metres for foundation and 25 metres for certified seed is essential.

Sowing :Cluster bean can be sown twice in a year, February - March in Northern plains and December - January in Southern plains.

Seed rate : In order to sow one hectare area about 30-40 kg seed of cluster bean is required.

Nutrition : The yield of cluster bean has been maximum when the crop was applied with 40 kg nitrogen and 60 kg phosphorus per hectare. The application of micronutrient to cluster bean crop proves very beneficial. Two sprays of molybdenum at 0.15 percent at 15 and 30 days after seedlings emergence give better yield.

Botany

The plant is highly cross pollinated due to heteromorphism and bees being the major pollinators.

Varieties: PKM 1 & PKM 2

Method of seed production : Seed to Seed.

Land requirement : Uproot all the wild and non specific moringa trees if any near the field within a radius of 1500ft. Good drainage facility is must for moringa.

Isolation requirement : A distance of at least 500 M is necessary for seed production.

Season : Early season (July August), Mid season (September), Late season (October -November). Best season is September October, so that flowering starts during summer which facilities better pollination and seed set.

Botany : Pea is a self pollinated crop. Time of anthesis is 5.45 to 6.30 AM. Time of dehiscence is 5.45 to 7.30 AM. Duration of pollen futility is on the day of anthesis to 24 hr there after. Duration of stigma receptivity is 48 hr before and 24 hr after anthesis.

Method of seed production : Var: Open pollination ; Hybrids: Emasculation and Pollination

Varieties / Hybrids

Early varieties : Arlcel, Matar Ageta 8, Early Badger, Pant Uphar, Hisar Harit, P.M. 2, Jawahar Matar 4, Meteor, Alaska, Lucknow Boniya, Pant Sabzi Matar 3, Pant Matar 2, VL Ageti Matar 7, Asauj.

Mid season varieties: Bonneville, Lincoln, VL 3, Shalimar Matar, Solan Nirog, Jawahar Matar 1, Pant Uphar, p88, Khapar Kheda, JP. 83, JP71, NP. 289, T19

Late varieties: Kinnauri

Pre sowing seed treatment: Fortification with GA3 100 ppm (or) moringa leaf extract 2% for 16 h (or)KH₂PO4 2% for 16 hours

Age of the seedling for transplanting: The seeds are first sown in primary nursery (pot) and after 16 day the seedlings are transplanted to raised nursery and after 24 days transplanted to main field.

Varieties: No named variety

Soil: Red sandy soil and sandy loam soil are highly suitable. Soil drainage is essential and hard pan and water logged soils should be avoided.

Climate: Suitable for plain and lower hills. Requires 70 cm annual rain fall

Propagation: Terminal three to four nodal cuttings measuring 10 cm length is used

Land Preparation: Apply 15 t FYM/ha. Ridges are formed at a spacing of 60 cm. Cuttings have to be planted at a spacing of 45 cm.

Nutrient management: Nutrients Quantity (kg / ha) N 30 P 60 K 50 The above nutrients can be applied in two split doses viz., 30 and 45 days after planting. In micronutrient deficient soils, ZnSO4 can be applied as basal fertilizer.

Botany

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), also known as Indian ginseng belonging to the family Solanaceae, is an important ancient plant, the roots of which have been employed in Indian traditional systems of medicine, Ayurveda and Unani to cure asthma, fever, chest complaints. It is an erect branching undershrub reaching about 1.50 m in height. It grows in dry and sub-tropical regions. Being hardy and drought tolerant species with its enormous biocompounds, its usage is forever regarded and continuous to enjoy the monopoly in many parts of India, particularly in Madhya Pradesh. It grows in dry parts in sub-tropical regions. Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are the major Ashwagandha producing states of the country. Roots are fleshy, tapering, whitish brown. Leaves are ovate and flowers are greenish. The mature fruits are orange-red berries.

Varieties:Poshita and Rakshita are high yielding varieties released by CSIRCIMAP, Lucknow. Jawahar 20 is cultivated in Madhya Pradesh. WSR is another variety released by CSIR-Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu. Nagori is a local variety with starchy roots

Botany: Periwinkles (Catharanthus roseus) belonging to the family Apocynaceae are evergreen perennials that produce bright blue flowers. They grow best in well-draining, moist soil and partial sun to full shade. They work well as sprawling groundcover or border plants and bloom from early spring to early fall. Periwinkles are often grown as transplants, but they can be started from seed about 10 weeks before the last frost with the proper care.

Varieties: Nirmal, Dhawal and Prabal

Soil and climate: It is suited to all types of soil and tropical climatic conditions. Well distributed annual rainfall of 100 cm or more is ideal for raising as a rainfed crop.

Seeds and planting: Propagated through seeds either by direct sowing or throughtransplanting.

Seed rate: 2.5 kg/ha : Direct sowing

0.5 kg/ha : Through seedlings

45 - 60 days old seedlings are transplanted at a spacing of 45 x 20 cm during June - July or September - October.

Botany: Senna, Cassia angustifola belonging to the family Leguminosae is a perennial 1-2 m height undershrub. The stem is erect, smooth, and pale green to light brown with long spreading ascending branches. Leaves are compound with four to eight pairs of leaflets. The full grown leaflets are bluish-green to palegreen in colour and emit a characteristic fetid smell when crushed. The flowers are small and yellow and axillary arranged racemes. The pods are broadly oblong about 5-8 cm long and 2-3 cm broad, green in beginning and change to greenish-brown to dark brown on maturity. Each pod has 5 to 7 ovate, compressed, smooth, dark-brown seeds.

Varieties : KKM - 1, Anand Late Selection, ALFT-2 and Sona

Soil and climate: In Tamil Nadu, it is grown in sandy or sandy loam or laterite soils. It is a hardy warm weather crop grown under rainfed and irrigated conditions. Senna is also cultivated successfully on black cotton soils. It has a great tolerance to high soil salinity, however, shedding of some lower leaves often occurs. The soil pH suited for cultivation is 7.0-8.5. But, the most suitable to sandy loam to loam soils which are more friable and well drained.

Botany

Phyllanthus is an herb common to Central and Southern India. It can grow to 30–60 centimeters in height and blooms with many yellow flowers. All parts of the plant are employed therapeutically. It is a small erect annual herb 10-60 cm tall widespread in tropical areas. Leaves are small elliptical - oblong and flowers are whitish green & minute. It bears ascending herbaceous branches. The bark is smooth and light green. The fruits are tiny, smooth capsules containing seeds.Kizhanelli is a circum-tropical weed, thriving well under tropical conditions. In India, it grows abundantly up to 700m altitude in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Major constituents – Phyllanthin (0.4-0.5%) and Hypophyllanthin

Uses- Hepatitis B and Jaundice

Botany:Fenugreek is a leguminous plant, belonging to the Papilionaceae family. Fenugreek is an annual herbaceous plant between 20 and 50cm high. (sometimes up to 100cm.). Its stem is erect, branched, grooved and with little pubescence. The leaves are compound, petiolate, oblong leaflets formed by three kills reminding those of alfalfa. White or yellow flowers , isolated or arranged in pairs. Fenugreek fruits are narrow and elongated pods. They contain 10 to 20 seeds, tiny yellow, quadrangular, with a groove in the central part dividing them into two unequal lobes.

Land Requirements: Land to be used for seed production of Kasuri methi and methi shall be free from volunteer plants.

Varieties: Co 1, Pusa Early Bunching, Lam selection 1, Rajendra Kranti, Kissar Sonali, RMT1and CO 2.

Soil: A rich well drained loamy soil is best suited.

Climate: Cool and comparatively dry, frost free climate. It requires a warm climate with mild temperatures for a good seed production (between 8 and 27°C).It grows well in full sun. Sow it in places sheltered from the wind. Resistant to frost and temperatures down to -5°C. However, low temperatures during planting causes not all seeds to germinate.

Season: June - July and October - November.

Botany: Cashew belongs to the Family Aricardiaceae. A small evergreen tree native of tropical America from Mexico to Peru and Brazil but now cultivated largely in Malabar, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and to some extend in Maharashtra, Goa, Odisha and West Bengal

The commercial production is mainly confined to India, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya; Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.Cashew is an important foreign earning crop of India, remarking second (29%) in the international trade of the nuts. It is a crop of marginal lands and can be grown under rainfed conditions.

Soil and climate: It grows up well in all soils. Red sandy loam is best suited. Plains as well as hill slopes upto 600 - 700 feet elevation are suitable for cultivation. Season: June - December. Propagation: Soft wood grafting, air layer and epicotyl grafting. Requirement of plants: 200 plants/ha. Preparation of field: Pits of 45 cm3 size are dug and filled up with a mixture of soil + 10 kg FYM + one kg neem cake and 100 g Methyl parathion 1.3 %.

OBSERVATION

The examination of the IRS - 1A imagery under raw and the digitally enhanced modes vividly display heavy concentration of suspended sediments in certain sectors along the east coast of Tamil Nadu. Such pockets of suspended sediments are seen as long and linear bodies trending parallel to the coast to the strike length of 20 - 30 km and width of 5 - 10 km. Such Phenomenon of suspended sediments concentration are strikingly observed in two sectors. One in between Tuticorin harbour and Vaippar river mouth and the other just at the mouth of Ponnaiyar river along Cuddalore-Pondicherry coast. Both of them are observed along conspicuous (Fig.1& 2) concave coasts.

ABSTRACT

Bats: A colony of 500 insectivorous bats of Hipposideros speoris inhabited a natural cave in Madurai (9^O58’ N. lat; 78^O10’ E long). At a depth of 40 m, the cave experiences a constant temperature of 27 + 0.1^OC, 95 % relative humidity and absolute and perpetual darkness. Therefore there were no day/night cues. Yet all the members of the bat colony flew out 10 to 15 min. after sunset as though they knew the time of sunset. Recorded flight and rest experiments in flight activity cages and a hand-wound Thermohygrograph drum 40 m from the cave mouth over periods of 50 days revealed that the free-flying conspecific bats were socially synchronizing the activity patterns of the three captive bats. Bats were telling other bats time.

Mice : In the field mouse, Mus booduga the mother conveys information of day and night to her pups by means of her presence and absence (PA) cycles. Her presence meant day and absence denoted night. We named this phenomenon maternal entrainment. Such entrainment of the time sense of the pups was possible if in every cycle the mother was presented for a minimum of 8 hr but not exceeding 16 hr. Therefore 8 hr and 16 hr describe the limits of maternal entrainment.

ABSTRACT

Insect societies such as those of ants, bees, wasps and termites are characterized by reproductive division of labour and cooperative brood care. Thus these societies consist of one or a smallnumber of reproductives (usually only queens but also kings in the case of termites) and a large number of sterile or nearly sterile workers

ABSTRACT

Malabar Spiny Dormouse (Platacanthomys lasiurus), the endemic rodent found in the Western Ghats of South India was studied in the Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary, Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala, to determine the status, distribution, food and feeding of the species.

ABSTRACT

Science essentially involves confronting our ‘models’ of nature, against data from the real world, in a continuous effort to refine our knowledge of the system under study. Scientific monitoring of animal populations is therefore best viewed in the context of questions such as why monitor, what to monitor and how to monitor.

ABSTRACT

Social primates appear to be knowledgeable about one another’s behaviour to different extents. But do they know as much about one another’s beliefs and intentions? Are they adept at recognizing the similarities and differences between their own and others’ states of mind?

ABSTRACT

Male crickets use acoustic signals for long-distance mate attraction. Each cricket species has a unique calling song, used by females to recognize and localize conspecific males. Field cricket songs have wavelengths of several centimeters, which pose a difficult problem for these small animals in terms of localizing males, particularly in choruses. The chorus structure in terms of spacing, call intensity and timing, are important determinants both of the ability of males to synchronise their calls and of female mate-finding strategies.

ABSTRACT

Ethology, the biology of behaviour has been a fascinating area of biological investigations during past few decades. In recent past the information gathered by reputed ethologists on social behaviour of insects, fishes, birds and human beings are very helpful in the application of these principles for the welfare of the humanity as well as for the environmental sustainability. Ethology differs from the study of Animal Behavior, in that animal behaviorists generally are interested in learned behaviors while ethologists concentrate on innate behaviors.

ABSTRACT

Insects are considered the most successful in the animal kingdom. Many factors contribute to their success. One major factor that operates strikingly is the economy and optimal use of energy. One can give several examples taking the life of a single insect

ABSTRACT

The Indian false vampire bat, Megaderma lyra detects and captures prey (e.g. frogs) mainly by listening to the rustling sounds that are created when the prey is on ground. In addition, echolocation and vision are also involved. Mothers of M. lyra take meticulous care of their young. At the age of about seven weeks, juveniles exhibit gleaning flights. Among eight mother-young pairs, four young (group A) began to capture frogs at the age of 62 days

ABSTRACT

The Indian short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus sphinx is one among the three paleotropical species known to make tents. Once a tent is made, male typically defends it against other competing males and also defends the females who join his tent.

ABSTRACT

Folivorous bats consume flowers and fruits, effecting seed dispersal and pollination. Adaptation of plants according to the type of pollinator is called pollination syndrome. Some of the adaptations of bat-pollinated syndromes are nocturnal anthesis

ABSTRACT

The coconut eriophyid mite, Aceria guerreronis Keifer is a serious pest of coconut in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The mites reside underneath the perianth of nuts and feed on the soft meristematic tissues of the young nuts. Their feeding damage is evident as scars on the surface of the older nuts. The damage results in reduction in size of nut and increases labour for dehusking the nuts.

ABSTRACT

Queens of 4 post-emergence colonies of primitively eusocial wasp, Ropalidia marginata were observed for their propensity to acquire and handle foraged material on naturally occurring free foraging nest. The queens were inclined to acquire pulp loads than food loads. 

ABSTRACT

In social Hymenoptera, the females carry out nest building, brood care and foraging, while males generally do not take part in any of these social behaviours and act solely as reproductives. The interesting phenomena of cooperation and altruism

ABSTRACT

Activity patterns of Grey Jungle fowl, Gallus sonneratii were studied at Gudalur Range (9º 37’ N, 77º 16’ E) which is 23² km area in Theni Forest Division, Western Ghats, Tamilnadu from January to December 2005.