eChapters

Food Hygiene is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Since food hygiene has a direct effect on the health of individuals patronizing the catering facility, it is obligatory on the part of the management to lay down definite guidelines for maintaining hygienic conditions and ensuring their proper implementation. Cleanliness should be the basis of all food hygiene programmes and should be aimed at food protection as well as improving and maintaining the quality of food. 

Noise has become a very important “stress factor” in the environment of man especially with regard to health. However, not much attention is being paid towards its elimination or control in dairy plants. The harmful effects of noise(s) in the workplace as an occupational hazard is really a cause of great concern. Apart from reducing the work efficiency, in the long run it causes serious auditory and non-auditory effects on the worker. Thus, it becomes imperative to set legal standards in workplaces to be monitored constantly to avoid or reduce the health hazards of the workers.

Noise and Noise Pollution

Noise is often defined as “Unwanted Sound” or “Undesirable Sound”. The “Noise Pollution” has been coined to signify the vast cacophony of sounds that are being produced in the modern life, leading to health hazards.

The financial and commercial book keeping that is generally practiced by dairies, the main purpose of which is to ascertain the total results of the business during a given period, does not answer the question whether the costs of processing of milk products and of the various operations involved in manufacturing, are reasonable. For this purpose, dairy plants have to keep detailed records of the expenditure incurred on different components and processes, for planning of production and controlling of costs. In large multi-product dairy plants, production is generally characterized by mixed and joint production and the different operating operations are interrelated. Thus, it becomes difficult to draw a distinction and allocate and apportion the consumption of various services and utilities to arrive at the cost of different operations of various products.
The Bureau of Indian Standards has developed three different sets of records on dairy accounts which may be used to record different information for cost and quality control. These records are:

1. General

In this the nature of objectives of the enterprise i.e. setting up a dairy farm, details of proposed investments, specification of the project area, name of the financing bank branch, status of beneficiary: (Individual/Partnership/Company/Corporation/Co-operative Society / Others) details of borrowers profile in terms of capability, experience, financial soundness, technical / other special qualifications are mentioned.

2. Technical Aspects

    a)    Location, Land and Land Development: This involves the site details of the proposed project. The total land area and its cost. Also, particulars of land development such as fencing, boundary wall, gates are mentioned in it. Thus, site map is also mentioned in this subheading.

    b)    Civil Structures: Several structures like sheds, milking room, store room, quarters for dairy farm manager / labourers are also to be constructed. So, their measurements as well as approximate costs need to be mentioned.

Assumptions

    ·    Freshly calved animals in 1st or 2nd lactation are purchased in two batches of five animals each at an interval of 5 to 6 months.

    ·    Cost of rearing calves not considered as it will be nullified by their sale value or retention value.

    ·    Fodder cultivation considered in two acres and working capital for one crop / season considered. Two crops considered per year.
 
    ·    Manure is utilized for fodder cultivation.

I. Dairy Farm Equipments

a. Balance Sheets or Net worth Statement

Balance sheet is the list of assets and liabilities owned by a business. It helps to calculate the growth in net worth of the business by calculating the change in assets less the change in liabilities. They represent the financial foundation on which the business is built.

The term ‘balance sheet’ implies some sort of balance as part of the document. That balance represents the relationship between assets on one side, and liabilities on the other, and the basic accounting principle that assets always equal liabilities plus equity. Since it is simply a list of assets owned and debts owed, at a given time, with monetary values attached, we must understand the concepts of assets and liabilities.

Assets are resources owned by or owed to the business such as dairy, equipment, real estate, and notes receivable. Assets are those parts of the business that are owned or controlled. They include any property/resource owned by a person or business e.g. cash, land, buildings, dairy, farm equipment and dairy-related share. Assets are usually listed on the top or on the left hand side of the balance sheet. They are classified in following ways

A large number of insect pests are associated with stored grains which are directly related to geographical and climatic conditions. There are different estimates on post harvest losses in food. During storage both quantitative and qualitative losses occur due to insects, rodents, and microorganisms. Almost all the insect species may destroy 10.0 - 15.0 % of grain and contaminate with undesirable odour. These pests also helps in transportation of fungi. Some insect pests initiate damage at the ripening stage of crops and continue during storage. Major sources of infestations are old gunny bags, storage structure and old containers (Pruthi and Singh, 1950). The spread and distribution of stored product pests are facilitated by movement of grains from one area to another and by flight of insect pests as some of the adult insects are strong fliers. The cracks and crevices are probable sites for cross infestation. Nearly one thousand species of insects have been associated with stored products in different part of the world. Majority of insect pests belong to the orders Coleoptera and Lepidoptera (Khare, 1994).

Introduction

Agroforestry has vast potential not only to meet the demands of fuel, fodder, timber, medicine and other Non-wood Forest Products but also to enhance green cover, soil and water conservation and reduce pressure on forests. The objective of agroforestry is to take advantage of the complimentary relationships between trees, crops and livestock in such a way that the productivity, stability and sustainability of the total system are maintained. It has great potential in improving degraded and affected sites and has been recognized as a restoration agent, rehabilitation process, and bioremediation mechanism, in addition to increasing farm income.

Agroforestry is not a new practice for the farmers of Tamil Nadu.  It has been in practice in various forms e.g. growing Acacia leucophloea in the grazing lands with Cenchrus ciliaris in the Kangayam tract of Tamil Nadu exists from time immemorial to meet the mixed farming in that tract. In late 60’s farmers in coastal areas of Chengalpattu and Cuddalore districts started growing Casuarina to be sold as firewood.  This effort was entirely of the farmers without any support from the Government.

2.1    Specification Drafting
    
2.2    Methods and Precautions in Drafting Patent Specification
    
2.3    Disclosure Requirements
    
2.4    Patent Claims
    
2.5    Filing of A Patent Application

Semen dilution/ extension is done to meet the following objectives

1.    To preserve the fertilizing potential of semen for a long period of time

2.    To increase the number of services per ejaculate. Ideally approximately 500 cows/ buffaloes can be inseminated from diluted/ extended semen of  a single ejaculate.

3.    Extenders provide the spermatozoa with a medium in which they are able to remain viable and fertile for a prolonged time period.

In order to be an ideal extender, it should be able to provide conducive environment to prolong sperm survival and modify the sperm structure to prepare them for freezing through the following properties:

1.    It should be isotonic with blood and should maintain this during preservation.

While collecting and processing semen the following points needs to be considered:

1.    Good quality Artificial Vagina (AV) should be used for semen collection. Strict hygiene should be maintained while collecting semen.

2.    Highly scientific and flawless collection technique should be used for semen collection.   

3.    Neat semen should be maintained at close to body temperature.

4.    Semen should not come in contact with any contaminant such as lubricant, dust, infection etc. in the collection yard or in any stage of semen processing.

5.    Direct exposure of semen to sunlight or cool white fluorescent light should be avoided as it may cause chromosomal damage.

6.    Enclose all cool white light sources e.g. laminar flow hood, cold room etc. in gold or orange sleeves that absorb ultraviolet and low wavelength visible light (< 475 to 500 nm).

In recent years, a new branch of biological science, called as bio-informatics receives more attention among its users and calls for application of computational statistical algorithms to a greater extent and needs employment of more sophisticated mathematical/statistical tools. Though biological science and information technology forms a major part in bio-informatics research as applied to agriculture, statistical tools act as their backbone. Its utility is more felt starting from the stage of framing of hypothesis till analyzing/interpreting results of a scientific experiment.  It can also be viewed as a three way multi-disciplinary approach with biotechnology, information technology and statistical technology as its three faces, with the principles of statistics applied to biological science through an interface information technology.

Edible bananas are classified into several main groups and subgroups. In the first place is the diploid M. acuminata group which originated in Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Southern India, East Africa, Burma, Thailand, the West Indies, Colombia and Brazil. This group is characterized by dark-brown sheaths of pseudostem,  and the leaves are nearly free from wax. The bunches are small and the fruits small, thin-skinned and sweet. Cultivars of this group are more important in New Guinea than any where else. Lady Finger which was popular in Queensland and New South Wales belonged to this group.

In second place, there was a group represented by the prominent and widely cultivated ‘Gros Michel’ originally from Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Indonesia and Ceylon. It was introduced into Martinique early in the 19th Century by a French naval officer and, a few years later, was taken to Jamaica; from there it was carried to Fiji, Nicaragua, Hawaii and Australia, in that sequence. It is a large, tall plant bearing long bunches of large, yellow fruits, and it was formerly the leading commercial cultivar in Central Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, but has been phased out because of its great susceptibility to Panama disease. It has given rise to several named sports or mutants (Mortan, 1987). 

4.1    Importance of Banana in International Trade
    
4.2    Major Exporting Countries
    
4.3    Major Importing Countries
    
4.4    World Market Structure for Fresh Bananas
    
4.5    Domestic Trade
    
4.6    Banana Trade Wars : A Glimpse
    
4.7    Fair Trade Bananas

7.1    Pre-Harvest Factors Responsible for Post Harvest Losses
    
7.2    Harvesting Method
    
7.3    Post-Harvest Causes Responsible for Losses

Q.1.    What is the most fundamental assumption to be followed by random variable for using the standard method of parametric statistics or parametric inference ?

    Answer
    
    The most fundamental assumption required to be followed by random varibale for using the parametric statistics to have statistical inference drawn from certain set of data is that the random variables have normal distribution.

1.    Total horticulture covers an area of 27.1 m ha and production 305.8 m ton in the country annually (Indian Horticulture Database, 2018).

2.    Fruit crops cover an area of 8.4 m ha and vegetable crops 12.2 m ha. Accordingly, 98.7 m ton of fruits and 182.1 m ton of vegetables are produced in the country annually (Indian Horticulture Database, 2018).

3.    Apart from fruits and vegetables, floriculture industry in India comprising of florist trade, nursery plants, potted plants, seed and bulb products is being observed as sunrise industry.

4.    The developed flower market in the country during 2018 is with area of 0.32 m ha with a production of 2.7 m ton flowers.

5.    The traditional flowers are grown on a large area on a commercial scale. These flowers are mostly grown for loose flower purpose.

6.    Area under cut flowers like rose, chrysanthemum, gladiolus, carnation and orchids is increasing day by day.

7.    Plantation crops are another potential sector with lot of opportunities for employment generation, foreign exchange earnings and overall supporting livelihood sustenance of mankind at large.

Nursery: Nursery is a place where seedling, saplings or any other planting materials are raised, propagated, multiplied and sold out for planting.

Importance of a Nursery

1.    The young seedling requires special attention during the first few weeks after germination. It is easier and economical to look after the young and tender seedling growing in nursery bed in a small area than in the large permanent site.

2.    Majority of fruit crops are propagated by vegetative means. The propagules require special skill and aftercare before transferring them in the main field in a controlled condition in nursery, all these can be provided successfully by skilled labours.

3.    Direct sowing method is not successful when compared with transplanting of seedling raised in nursery.

4.    Nursery hardened plants are preferred for causality replacement in orchards.

5.    Besides these, raising of seedling or sapling in nursery provides more time for replanting preparations.

6.    Seasoning of seeding against natural odds is only possible in nursery.

The quantitative increase in plant body such as increase in the length of stem and root, the number of leaves etc., is referred to as plant growth whereas, the qualitative changes such as germination of seed, formation of leaves, flowers and fruits, falling of leaves and fruits is referred as development. Utilization of these substances for proper development of the plant is regulated by certain chemical messengers called plant growth substances or plant growth regulators, which in minute amounts increase or decrease or modifies the physiological process in plants. Plant growth substances are the chemical other than nutrient which required in very small amount but without which plant can not complete their physiology.

The two sets of internal factors, viz., nutrition and hormone control the growth and development of the plant. The raw material required for growth is supplied by nutritional factors which include the minerals, organic substances the protein, carbohydrates, etc.

In an orchard all the fruit trees do not bear equally or regularly and sometimes fail to flower and fruit under similar conditions where another fruit tree bears heavily. This failure to set fruits may be attributed to unfruitfulness. To understand the problem of unfruitfulness in orchards a familiarity with following terms is necessary.

1.    Fruit setting: It refers to initial growth of ovary and its associated parts after blossoming and taking it to maturity.

2.    Fruitfulness: It is the state of plant when it is not only capable of flowering and fruit setting but also takes these fruits to maturity and inability to do so is unfruitfulness or barrenness.

3.    Infertility: Ability of a plant not only to produce fruits but develop viable seeds and the inability to do so is referred as sterility or infertility. All fertile plants are fruitful but all fruitful plants are not fertile (Seedless fruits).

4.    Self fruitfulness: Ability of a plant to mature fruits after self pollination.

Origin and history: Papaya has long been known as wonder fruit of the tropics and is one of the five major fruit crops of tropical world, papaya fruits throughout the year and a remunerative fruit crop which is grown in almost every part of the country. It gives maximum yield per unit and income next to banana. It is generally grown as fruit plant in kitchen garden, home garden or nutrition garden and later as commercial fruit. It is also planted as a filler plant in a fruit orchard. India is the second largest producer of papaya in the world after Brazil. It is a fruit native to tropical America and commercially grown in many parts of the world viz., Australia, Hawaii, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Peru, Florida, Texas, California, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. In India, it was introduced by Portuguese in 1611. It is grown in Karnataka, Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Gujarat, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc.

1.    World Export/Import of Ornamental Plants
    
2.    Recent Trends
    
3.    Flower Auctions
    
4.    Domestic Trade of Flowers
    
5.    Marketing Channels and Price Spread in Traditional Flowers
    
6.    E-commerce in Floriculture
    
7.    On-line Information Systems Dealing with e-floriculture
    
8.    Flower Auctions
    
9.    Floriculture and WTO
    
10.    Documentation Indexing
        
    Further reading.

1.    Placement
    
2.    Growing Media
    
3.    Media Preparation
    
4.    Containers
    
5.    Potting
    
6.    Propagation
    
7.    Watering
    
8.    Feeding
    
9.    Diseases
    
10.    Precautions
    
11.    Indoor Plants

INTRODUCTION
 
Once a crop is harvested, it is almost impossible to improve its quality. Therefore, proper storage conditions—temperature and humidity—are needed to lengthen storage life and maintain quality once the crop has been cooled to the optimum storage temperature. In modern times, the storage of perishables has become more sophisticated because of the demand for a wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables at all the times of the year and because of need to spread peaks of production over longer periods to maximize profit and reduce waste. But in our conditions, storage of fruits and vegetables is practiced to avoid the low prices during the glut season in anticipation that prices will increase during the lean period or off-season. Certain crops like potatoes and apples can be stored for long period whereas for the crops peach and plum, the storage period is very short. However, for both long-term as well as short-term storage, high level of technical know-how about the crop is necessary for successful storage. There are a few important factors, which need to be taken into account before storage of the produce.

4.1. INTRODUCTION

The number of individuals to be included in a research study (the sample size of the study), is an important consideration in the design of many studies. This chapter will provide information on basic factors that determine an appropriate sample size and provides methods for its calculation in some simple, yet common, cases. Sample size is closely tied to statistical power, which is the ability of a study to enable detection of a statistically significant difference. A trade-off exists between a feasible sample size and adequate statistical power. Strategies for reducing the necessary sample size while maintaining a reasonable power is also important.

How many individuals will I need to study? This question is commonly asked by the clinical, ecological and behavioural investigator and exposes one of many issues that are best settled before actually carrying out a study. Consultation with a statistician is worthwhile in addressing many issues of study design, but a statistician is not always readily available.

The amount of information that can be gained from a sample depends upon its absolute size and not upon its size as a proportion of the population size, Just as to decide if the wine is good we need only a sip, irrespective of the bottle size, similarly we do not need to know the exact size of the parent population, provided complete homogeneity exists, But in reality, and more so in biological sciences, such homogeneity is rarely seen. Therefore, appropriate sample size becomes pertinent for drawing valid conclusions and is among the most difficult decisions to be taken for a study.

The size of the sample would depend upon (i) the permissible error in assessment of inference i.e. accuracy and (ii) sampling error. Sampling error measures the amount of variability between sample results; the lesser it is the better. The main determinant of the sample size, therefore, is how accurate results do we used. This in turn, depends on the purpose and type of study.

Synchronization of estrus is making a group of cows to come into estrus at the same time.  Effective estrus detection requires much time, labour, skill and expense and it is a major limiting factor in artificial insemination programme in cattle.  It was the principal stimulus that led to research in the development of progestational and prostaglandin compounds. 

Advantages

1.     Improve the efficiency of heat detection

2.     Management tool, better planning of breeding activities and wider use of artificial insemination 

3.     Solve problem of unobserved estrus

4.     Maintain short calving interval

5.     Overall improvement in herd productivity and reproductive efficiency

6.     Controlled lactation

7.     Management of replacement heifers

8.     Useful in embryo transfer programmes

9.     Reduce labour

10.     Possibly reduce involuntary culling for reproductive reasons

Buffaloes, though have great production potential, do suffer with many reproductive problems viz.  delayed age of puberty and  sexual maturity, weak / silent estrus, longer inter-calving period,  seasonality in breeding, poor libido  and poor semen quality. Little information is available about the buffaloes as compared to cattle because all the time we try to apply the knowledge available about the cattle to the buffalo.  Some comparative reproductive parameters in cow & she buffalo & cow bull and buffalo bull are depicted in Table 8. 1 and Table 8.2 respectively.

Laparoscopy is an operative procedure performed through a key-hole opening with a rigid endoscope that allows visual inspection of organs.  The laparoscopy helps in arriving diagnosis of various reproductive and digestive disorders quickly.  By laparoscopy clinician can visualize the external surface of the abdominal organs.  Tumours, abscess, cyst, lesions, growth, hemorrhage, adhesions of the organs in the abdominal cavity can be readily diagnosed by this technique.  Aspiration of follicular fluid, biopsy of lesions and sterilization are commonly employed maneuvers by this technique.  It is having both diagnostic and therapeutic value.  The procedure consists of placement of transabdominal rigid endoscope after establishment of pneumoperitoneum in the body cavity.   The images of different organs are displayed on the TV monitor when the laparoscope is moved within the peritoneal cavity with the illumination through halogen light source.

Buffalo plays an important role in Indian livestock economics.  India has more than the half of the world buffalo population, contributing 50% of total milk production of the country.  The buffalo is said more productive than an average cow due to the higher fat percentage (7%) in the milk, better feed conversion ability and disease resistance.  Buffaloes have lower reproductive efficiency in the form of delayed age of maturity, longer calving interval, weak / silent estrus, seasonality of breeding, poor libido and poor semen quality. A large number of buffaloes do not conceive due to some gynaecological problems and are being slaughtered every year.  The most commonly observed reproductive disorders are detailed below.

There is no rapid direct test to determine fertility of semen sample. During freezing and thawing of semen 20-80% of the spermatozoa become immotile or die. In addition to this, there may be damage to spermatozoa by disintegration of sperm cell membrane and acrosome leading to loss of intracellular enzymes.   The only reliable method to evaluate the semen is to inseminate a cow and get a calf at the end of gestation period.  Now-a-days new methods have been developed for in-vitro assessment of fertility of spermatozoa.  Some of these methods are exhaustive, time consuming, need for a full fledged analysis and difficult under field conditions.

Sequence Alignment

Sequence Alignment is the procedure of comparing two (Pair-wise Alignment) or more (Multiple Sequence Alignment) sequences by searching for a series of individual characters or character patterns that are in the same order in the sequences.

Significance: Discovering functional, structural and evolutionary information in biological sequences.

Motif

1.    A nucleotide/amino acid sequence pattern having biological significance.

2.    Occurs repeatedly, either in same molecule or in many molecules. Found in upstream intergenic region.

3.    Functionally important regions of genome (gene) can be recognized by searching such patterns.

4.    Used for locating binding sites, regulatory signals, to control gene expression.

5.    Identifying potential drug target sites.

Objectives
    
·    Creation and use of large databases of Biological information to augment traditional laboratory based biology.
    
·    Analysis and interpretation of genomic and structural data using computational techniques from Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science.
    
·    Explain the process and mechanism of evolution by comparing the Genomes of different species.
    
·    Development of new methods and technologies for understanding and diagnosis of genetic diseases and design of drugs for their treatment.

The genetic code uses 64 codons to represent the 20 standard amino acids and the translation termination signal. Each codon is recognised by a subset of a cell’s transfer ribonucleotide acid molecules (tRNAs) and with the exception of a few codons that have been reassigned in some lineages (Osawa and Jukes 1989; Osawa et al., 1990) the genetic code is remarkably conserved, although it is still in a state of evolution (Osawa et al.,1992). The genetic code uses 64 codons to represent the 20 standard amino acids and the translation termination signal. Each codon is recognised by a subset of a cell’s transfer ribonucleotide acid molecules (tRNAs) and with the exception of a few codons that have been reassigned in some lineages (Osawa and Jukes 1989; Osawa et al., 1990) the genetic code is remarkably conserved, although it is still in a state of evolution (Osawa et al., 1992).

A genome is an organism’s complete genetic signature and the collection of information that an organism can pass on to its offspring. Genomics, the study of the structure, function, and evolution of entire genomes is principally dealing with genetic information which helps us to understand how organisms and ecosystems work, how theymalfunction, or how they might be melded to human needs. The model organisms used in genomics have, in general, small genomes and short generation times. To meaningfully analyze the gene-to-phenotype relationships, a large amount of sequencing information is necessary. Progress in DNA sequencing technologies leads to accumulate Information about structures of genomes (Mohan Kumar, 2007).

HISTORY OF INSECT GENOMICS

Commencing from the publication of the entire nucleotide sequence of the genome of Haemophilus influenzae in 1995, a complete genome sequence of many organisms, including lower and higher eukaryotes, have been reported. The cost-effective way to get sufficient sequence information to address the questions is to sequence a high-quality reference genome and then map sequences from other genomes onto the reference sequence. Insects constitute the vast majority of known species with their importance including biodiversity, agricultural, and human health concerns. Hence, a study of Insect genomics is imperative to elucidate information to other organisms.

Abstract

A Mathematical Method for Artificial Neural Networks offers an original, broad and integrated approach that explains each tool in a manner that is independent of specific ANN systems. Artificial Neural Networks are abstract mathematical models of brain structure and functions. They are nothing but a mathematical model that relies on varying the strength of connections between the internal processing elements to interpret data. They can be applied to many pattern classification problems. In this paper, it has been used to predict the level of amino acid in protein sequences. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. It is any molecule that contains both amine and carboxylic acid functional groups. Here, known protein sequences of ingredients are taken as input patterns. The network is trained using back propagation algorithm with sigmoid function as activation function by generating random weights. It is tested again with unknown protein sequence. Error is calculated by the difference between actual network output and desired output. If the training is successful the patterns are correctly classified. The network is trained until the error is minimum. The amino acid level is thus predicted in a particular protein sequence.

1.     Concentration

1.     Extraction of b-galactosidase from Yeast Cells
    
2.     Measurement of Enzyme Activity
    
3.     Immobilization of Enzymes
    
4.     Precipitation of Enzyme and Proteins
    
5.     Protien Purification by Dialysis

Climate change and its variability imposed a great threat to agriculture production and ultimately on food security. Understanding of anomalies in climatic variables is essential to make agriculture sector resilient. Jharkhand state, geographically located at 220 28’ N – 250 30’ N latitude and 830 22’ – 870 40’ E longitude with an altitude up to 1142 m above msl and having humid to sub-humid tropical monsoon type of climate, has a number of agro-climatic/physiographic constraints. The state has 3 agroclimatic sub-zones viz; Central and North Eastern Plateau sub zone (zone IV), Western Plateau sub-zone (zone V) and South Eastern Plateau sub-zone (zone VI) falling under agroecological regions XI, XII and XIII. Zone IV is having 15 districts; Zone V has 6 and Zone VI have 3 districts. Agriculture in Jharkhand is very tedious due to topographical, physiographic and climatic constraints. Vagaries of climate put greatest limitation before the agricultural production system in the State.

Increasing evidences over the past few decades indicate that significant changes in climate are occurring across various regions of the globe in the form of increased occurrence of extreme weather events. The significant cause to this sustained increase in climate variability, known as climate change has been a resultant of increased level of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. The reason for this increase is mainly ascribed to enhanced human activities such as industrialization, uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels, increased use of refrigerants and changed land use patterns and practices. Most significantly, the concentrations of GHGs like CO₂ has already crossed the 400 ppm mark, while other potential contributors like methane and nitrous oxide also show significant rise. As a result of the heat absorbing capacity of these gases, there has been a considerable rise in global mean temperatures, more so in the recent decade and more. The increase in mean air temperatures of the globe was 0.76^ºC during the past 100 years. This rate of increase has been higher during the past two decades and the recent period recorded the warmest years in sequence, the latest being the 2017.

Climate change has become real and tangible affecting people. It is a major challenge for agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods. Climate change impacts on vulnerable groups have social, economic, political, and environmental implications. The impacts of climate change are global. India is more vulnerable in view of the high population depending on agriculture, which in turn is dependent on the seasonal monsoons. India is confronted with the challenge of sustaining rapid economic growth amidst the increasing global threat of climate change. Government of India has accorded top priority for addressing climate change related concerns.

Introduction

Agriculture plays a crucial role in ensuring food security, accounting for a significant share of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Agriculture is not just about food production alone, since it is a complex multi-dimensional and multi-faceted sector which concerns the efficient use of the natural resources, productivity enhancement, and preservation of the ecosystems in a manner that can sustain the needs and improvements of human livelihoods (Devendra, 2012). It is also a most vulnerable sector to climate change which has been recognized as one of the most serious challenge for the world- its people, the environment and its economies. Increased incidence of abiotic stresses (drought, high & low temperature, salinity, submergence and oxidative stress) and biotic stresses (pest and diseases) have became major cause for stagnation of productivity in major crops (Grover et al., 2011). Abiotic stresses are directly correlated with the change in climate while biotic stresses are indirectly correlated as the pattern and incidence of disease varies with the variation in climatic condition. Also, crop productivity rely on extent and type of stress in the particular area.

Introduction

Sustainable agriculture is the production of food, fiber, or other plant or animal products using farming techniques (including agroforestry) that protect the environment, public health, human communities, and animal welfare. This form of agriculture enables us to produce healthy food without compromising future generations ability to do the same. Sustainable agriculture describes farming systems that are capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely. Such systems must be resource-conserving, socially supportive, commercially competitive and environmentally sound. It is a system of agriculture that will maintain its productivity over the long run. Sustainable farming could be organic farming, biodynamic, perma-culture, agro-ecological systems and low input. The goal of sustainable agriculture is to minimize adverse impacts to the immediate and off-farm environments while providing a sustained level of production and profit. Sustainable agriculture is influenced by environmental climate, soil types and the various crops and types of farm practices employed (Olorunfemi, 2013).

Introduction

In order to define climate it is important to distinguish it from weather. The weather that we experience on a day-to-day basis is a momentary atmospheric state characterized by temperature, precipitation, wind, and so on, and seems to vary in an irregular way, not following any particular pattern. Climate is a very general term that has a variety of closely related meanings. Usually, climate refers to the average weather conditions observed over a long period of time for a given area. In contrast to the instantaneous conditions described by weather, the timescale upon which climate statistics are calculated is typically thirty years. There can be variations in climate from year to year, or one decade to another, one century to another, or any longer time scale. The climate of a region depends on many factors including the amount of sunlight it receives, its height above sea level, the shape of the land, distance from the equator and how close it is to oceans. Generally speaking, the climate remains stable over long periods of time if the various elements within the system remain stable. However, if one or more of the components of the system is altered, the stability of the whole system is compromised and can lead to uncharacteristic behaviour and give rise to weather, which is outside the usual range of expectations. This situation can be described as climate change.

Heat stress induced by climate change is a serious issue of livestock industries worldwide (Bajagai, 2011). When environmental temperatures move out of the thermo-neutral zone (or comfort zone) animals begins to experience either heat stress or cold stress. Both these stresses require the animals to increase the amount of energy used to maintain the body temperature so that less energy is available for productive processes. Atmospheric temperature, relative humidity, air movement and solar radiation are the major factors that determine the heat load on animal. Thermoregulation is the ability of the animals to maintain their body temperature in cold or hot environments. It consists of behavioural, physiological and anatomical responses that affect energy metabolism. At lower temperature as a physiological adjustment to maintain the body temperature the animal increases the metabolic heat production by increasing the basal metabolic rate and uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation. Hence the maintenance energy requirement of animals increases in a cold environment, which reduces the amount of energy available for production. From a practical point of view higher temperatures are much more dangerous for producing animals than a cold environment. Temperatures exceeding the higher critical level compromise animal performance not only by changing the energy and nutrient metabolism, but also by upsetting the body homeostasis, with detrimental consequences both for immune competence and for product quality. In general, livestock with high production potential are at greatest risk of heat stress, and require most attention.

Climate change is one of the most serious and long standing challenges facing livestock around the world and has moved up to the top of agenda among scientific community, civil society, business and government. Majority of scientific experts around the world believe that the climate change is already occurring by human activities, by use of fossil fuel, deforestation and agricultural practices, livestock rearing and that the developing countries in particular would be more vulnerable to the continuously changing climate. Rise in temperature due to climate change is likely to affect livestock production and health. Large deltas and low lying coastal areas would be inundated by a rise in sea level along with increased precipitation intensity. (DFID, 2004).Major contributors to the climate change are the man-made greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide and hydroflurocarbons in the atmosphere. The accumulation of gas is causing the climatic change globally, as evident from the increased frequency of floods, droughts, cyclones and torrential rains in the recent past. The green house gases (GHGs) emission from agriculture sector alone accounts for 25.5% of global emission and over 60% from anthropogenic sources (FAO,2009)

One Health is defined as “the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment.” The concept of ‘One Health’ dates back to the Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460 BCE–a.370) who in his text “On Airs, Waters and Places” stated:

Whoever wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceed thus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year, and what effects each of them produces, for they are not all alike, but differ much from themselves in regard to their changes.

Introduction

Cotton is a major commercial crop grown on nearly 12 m. ha area. About 65% of the area is rain dependent. It is grown on a wide range of soil types and climatic conditions. Soils supporting cotton in the rainfed areas are Vertisols (Vertic intergrades), Inceptisols and Alfisols. Rainfall ranges from 500-1200 mm in these regions. Both Alfisols and Vertisols have different potentials and problems but both need organic C improvement and soil moisture conservation measures to restore their productivity. This can only be achieved through resource conservation strategies. Conservation agriculture (CA) is one such strategy that focuses on resource conservation. It refers to a system of raising crops without disturbing the soil while retaining crop residues or soil surface.