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Microorganisms are diverse group of organisms differing in many ways and range from saprophytic to virulent one. Virulent are pathogenic and harmful to human and animals and can cause latent to per acute disease. Nowadays although treatment is available for most of the diseases, it is better to prevent the disease rather than going for treatment. Development of immunity is the aim of immunization and hence through knowledge of the host parasite interaction, epitope of the microorganisms responsible for the inducing protective immune responses is of pivotal importance.

1. Introduction

Education is undergoing a digital transformation. The incorporation of digital technologies into the educational scene over the last two decades has radically changed the way we teach and learn. This transition has started a revolution with far-reaching repercussions, both positive and negative, for students, educators, and institutions alike.

The growing adoption of digital technologies in educational settings has created a world of possibilities. Online platforms, learning management systems, educational apps, virtual reality, and augmented reality are just a handful of the innovations that have transformed the educational experience. This comprehensive investigation tries to investigate the intricate and multifaceted impact of various digital technologies on schooling.

Chapter Overview

This chapter provides a comprehensive understanding of the intersection of gender and animal husbandry, emphasizing the influence of culture, society, and history on our perceptions of gender and sex. It explores the interconnectedness of these concepts and their significance in shaping roles and expectations of the members of a society in livestock production. This chapter delves into the complex concepts of gender and sex, shedding light on their intricate nature and exploring their implications for animal husbandry.

Abstract

Cyanobacteria have gained a lot of attention in recent years because of their novel applications in biotechnology, besides their well recognized role as inoculants for rice crop. They represent favourite model organisms for a deeper understanding of several plant and microbial metabolic processes and efficient systems for the production of recombinant compounds of pharmaceutical and commercial value. They have been identified as a rich source of biologically active compounds with antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal and anticancer activities, which illustrate their potential as biocontrol agents. The genus Anabaena assumes significance not only as a diazotroph, but also as a rich source of pharmacologically active and structurally interesting secondary metabolites with diverse applications in agriculture and industry. The present compilation aims to present an overview of the literature available globally, and studies undertaken in India illustrating the diversity and potential of Anabaena strains, besides their significance in biology and evolution.

Society

Human societies are intricate networks of individuals engaged in continuous social interaction within a shared geographical or social space, typically under the governance of the same political authority and cultural norms. These societies are characterized by complex patterns of social relations, cultural practices, and institutional structures, collectively shaping the fabric of human existence. Social sciences often reveal underlying stratification and dominance patterns within these societies. Collaborative in nature, societies offer collective benefits that transcend individual gains, facilitating opportunities that would otherwise remain inaccessible. Within a society, subcultures may emerge, governed by their distinct norms and values, coexisting within the broader societal framework. Structurally, societies encompass economic social, industrial, and cultural infrastructures, comprising diverse individuals yet forming a cohesive entity. The term “society” traces its origins to the Latin word “societas,” signifying friendly or civil interaction among parties. It encompasses the entirety of humanity, acknowledging the interdependence and interactions among individuals.

Introduction

A payment gateway is a server that is located between the web server of the merchant and the web server of the acquiring bank. When a merchant receives an order, it is transferred to the payment gateway by the merchant server.

The payments sector in India is set to reach USD 100 trillion in volume and USD 50 trillion in transactional value by the end of 2030. The payment gateways, which are also a part of the payments sector are set to reach USD 1.21 billion in India, growing at a CAGR of 17.6% between 2024-2029. The global payment gateway landscape as of 2024 stands at USD 16.27 billion growing at a CAGR of 16.43%. Payment gateways across the world are credit card-based gateways, with the introduction of card readers in mobile phones. The Fintech and payments sector boom in India cannot be justified without mentioning UPI (Unified Payments Interface), which has encompassed payment solutions for small street vendors to large conglomerates with its user-friendly interface and QR-code-based payments. UPI is one of the major payment gateways in India, in addition to IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), and NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) and many more.

INTRODUCTION

It is becoming obvious that the interest of youth in agriculture is declining and this trend is likely to continue if we do not look into this seriously. A large number of young people are migrating to urban centers in the hope of getting employment and for a better life. This is due to lack of jobs and opportunities in rural areas, and a view that working in farming is low status and does not offer good future prospects. Young people play an important role and are required in the agriculture sector. But education or training programs are not always readily available, technologies are not accessible, inputs may be scarce, and other vital services are not accessible. Young people now-a-days are becoming less connected with their food, often making little or no association between the food they eat, who is behind it and it is produced. They may not see beyond the store or market, nor make the connection between the food they are eating and the efforts made by farmers to grow it. This growing disconnection with agriculture implies an uncertain future for sustainable food production to feed the growing population. It is important to make the link between food and agriculture visible. The important role young people play in farming needs to be understood as agriculture is sustainable if it can attract future generation farmers. In fact the young people are the future farmers. Efforts are required to discourage the overwhelming tendency of young people to move out of farming in search of a more comfortable life and better income. It is true that there are major challenges, farming is not an easy or a more glamorous option, but we should be exploring ways of doing agriculture in a sustainable and rewarding manner.

Introduction

Seafood demand has grown over the years due to its numerous nutritional advantages, acting as a primary contributor to global nutritional security, and the industry supports the livelihood of several million people. Persistent growth in demand for animal protein keeps the fisheries and aquaculture an important role. The average annual seafood demand growth across countries varies between 6 % and 7.5% (Kidane et al., 2021). Hence, Increased fish production, increased the per-capita fish consumption of the respective country (Garlock et al., 2022). Global average fish consumption has increased from 9.9 kg in 1961 to 20.5 kg in 2019 (FAO, 2022). The coastal countries of Iceland and Maldives are leading in per capita fish consumption with 92 kg and 85 kg respectively. While, landlocked countries such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Tajikistan are the least in per capita fish consumption with less than 1 kg of fish per annum. The leading fish producers China (39 kg) and India (6.8 kg) positioned 7th and 15th place respectively in 2019 (World Economic Forum, 2022). India plays a significant role in export as like production with a global share of 5.2 % after Norway (10.4 %) and China (8.6 %). Shrimp is the primary commodity of export in India’s seafood basket with a share of 25 % of the World’s shrimp export next to Ecuador (44 %) during 2021-22. Frozen f ish is the second largest exportable item of India’s seafood export which contributed 22 % in quantity and 8.6 % in earnings next to frozen shrimp with 41 % in quantity and 67 % in export earnings. Followed by frozen cuttlefish & squid and dried items had an export share of 9 % and 5 % respectively during 2022-23 (MPEDA, 2023). Shrimp farming in India is also extending from 1.17 lakh hectares during 2010-11 to 1.67 lakh hectares during 2020-21 in India with production of 1.3 lakh tons to 8.4 lakh tons of shrimps respectively to meet the trade advantage.

Export

India is one of the largest producer of the pomegranate. Apart from India, Spain, Iran, Egypt, Peru, Israel, Pakistan, Afganisthan, Turkey and America are the countries where the crop is cultivated. World production of Pomegranate is around 10 Lakh tones out of which India’s share is 40-45 percent .At present Spain is the maximum producer and exporter of pomegranate due to high quality and low transport cost capturing most of the European market. The total demand for pomegranate in the world is around 1.5 Lakh tones, which is increasing day by day. Spain contributes 75,000 to 80,000 tones (75%)of the total demand followed by Iran 25,000 tones and India 10000 tones (5%). Thus to increase the export there is only one way to improve the quality.

5.1 Present Status

Export of pomegranate has decreased in quantity from 36,027.43 tons in 2012-13 to 20,997.02 tons in 2014-15, whereas in value term it show an increase trend during the same period. There is tremendous potential for exports of pomegranate from India and it is fact that India is largest producer of pomegranates in the world. Moreover, India produces finest edible quality of pomegranates which are available almost throughout the year. The major Markets of India’s pomegranate during the year 2014-15 were UAE, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Netherland.

Summary

Expressed sequence tags are small pieces of DNA sequence (usually 200 to 500 nucleotides long) that are generated by sequencing either one or both ends of an expressed gene. Currently various EST sequencing projects are underway for numerous organisms, generating millions of short, single-pass nucleotide sequence reads, accumulating in EST databases. Extensive computational strategies and various databases have been developed to organize and analyse both small- and large-scale EST data for gene discovery, functional annotation of putative gene products as well as transcript and single nucleotide polymorphism analysis. Present chapter provides an overview of the significance of ESTs, their properties, databases, analysis software and the applications of ESTs.

There are three types of systems for expressing the energy value of feeds and many examples have been depicted in each of these systems the world over but here, one example has been taken up in each of these categories.

Digestible Nutrient Type

For example, Total digestiblenutrients (TDN) system: Digestibility coefficients of various organic nutrients like carbohydrate, fat and protein are determined by digestibility trials, which can be utilized to be involved for total digestible nutrients as a measure of nutritive value of feeds. Here only faecal enegy loss has been considered barring losses from other channels. Hence roughages are overestimated bysuchcalculations.Otherwise, thismethodissimple, economical and has some basis for animals to be fed on such standard in India. The TDN value is expressed in percentage as following :

% TDN = % dig. C.P. + % dig. C.F. + % dig. N.F.E. + [% dig. E.E. X 2.25]

Crude protein of feedscontain true proteinandnon-proteinnitrogen. Trueprotein is madeupaminoacids andforthemaximumefficiency, feed musthave essential amino acids in correct proportion, correct balance as well as non essential amino acids should also be in sufficient amounts. About digestion in simple stomached animals, the true protein is degraded to oligo peptides (less than ten peptides) in the stomach, subsequently to mono peptide and amino acids in the small intestine. Thereafter amino acids are assimilated in the small intestine. But in ruminants, the situation is complex in the sense that feed proteins get digested in the rumen but even amino acids are also broken down by microbes and thereafter, amino and carboxylic groups are released. Secondly, synthesis of new amino acids or proteins takes place for the formation of their own microbial body coat. Because of these reasons, the approach for protein evaluationor expressionisdifferent inruminant andnon-ruminant animal.Further, non-protein nitrogen portion of feed can not be utilized effectively by non – ruminants like swine and poultry. These animals are usually fed with oil cakes, cereals and cereal by-products, which are poor in non-protein nitrogen compounds, however, young succulent fodders, clover etc. are rich in such compounds.

Summary

Genes are discrete elements that govern the appearance of specific traits. Morgan Sturtevant and their coworkers demonstrated that genes have specific address. They reside at particular locations on particular chromosomes and these addresses remain constant from one individual of the species to the next. Transcription is the first step leading to gene expression. It is the process of creating a complementary RNA copy of a sequence of DNA. Both RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, which use base pairs of nucleotides as a complementary language that can be converted back and forth from DNA to RNA by the action of the correct enzymes. During transcription, a DNA sequence is read by RNA polymerase, which produces a complementary, antiparallel RNA strand. translation is the second stage of protein biosynthesis (part of the overall process of gene expression). In translation, messenger RNA (mRNA) produced by transcription is decoded by the ribosome to produce a specific amino acid chain, or polypeptide, that will later fold into an active protein.

MMPs are a family of zinc-containing, calcium-dependent endopeptidases secreted by various cell types and implicated in a wide range of physiological events (e.g. trophoblast invasion, development, endometrial remodeling, ovulation, angiogenesis, wound healing, bone resorption and cell migration) as well as in pathological processes. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (timps) have been strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of many types of human cancer. Expression levels for the most relevant MMPS are confirmed by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The activities of MMPs are significantly higher in malignant tissues than benign canine tumours.

Mammary tumours are the most frequent neoplasia in female dogs; therefore, these tumours represent a serious problem in veterinary medicine. Many tumours presented activated genes which are not normally expressed in the tissue from which they originate. The proteins derived from the expression of these genes are called tumour markers. Detection and measurement of these proteins are used in medicine for diagnosis and assessing the evolution of the tumours.

Role of Male and Female Extension Workers

Extension Workers include all persons working in the field for improving the qulaity of life of people. In our field, Gomitras, Livestock Inspector, VAS, BVO, etc are all extension workers because some way or other they are involved in promotion of livestock activites in the field. The role of extension worker working with rural people is to bring necessary change inindividual and collective behaviour and motivating them. The role of male and female extension worker is not very distinct. However, in some backward communities, the role of the female extension worker to motivate women, is found to be very encouraging. Here, we will discuss the important roles of both male and female Extension workers.

An extension worker should arouse farmers to recognize and take interest in their problems, to overcome these problems, to teach them how to do so, to persuade them to act on his teaching, so that they ultimately achieve a sense of satisfaction and pride in their achievements.

Introduction

To accomplish the objectives of the organisation, the administration often performs a standard set of tasks. Administration is the direction, leadership, and supervision of a group’s actions toward certain common objectives (Newman, 1950). It suggests sincere efforts made to plan and manage human activities in order to accomplish set or desired goals. Organising, leading, and controlling people and resources to achieve predetermined goals.

Meaning of Administration

The Management of public affairs of a government or institution is called administration. In extension education knowledge of administration is very important which can be developed by administrators. This knowledge will make the administrators aware of some of the unanticipated consequences of their decision. Secondly proper administration makes the administrator to his/her skill. Knowledge for solving problems of organization for which they are members.

Introduction

Communication is a process for exchanging ideas, facts, feelings, or impressions between two or more individuals for a common understanding. Communication is required for transferring technology or obtaining farmer feedback to adopt technology in the field. Good communication is the essence of good teaching. Communication is a whole learning process in which the teacher sends a message through a channel to the receiver as a means of teaching. In traditional extension, there was direct contact between the extension worker and farmer to communicate research innovations and to obtain farmer feedback. In this system, only a few farmers had direct contact with the extension worker while the majority of farmers were contacted less frequently. Daniel Benor has tried to improve traditional extension through a “training and visit” (T & V) system designed to emphasize the organizational and training components of extension and improve communication with the farmers. In considering extension as a vehicle for communicating with large numbers of farmers without any discretion, the communication process and its role in extension need to be followed by the extension workers.

what is Communication?

Communication is a process of transferring a message from a source (communicator) through a channel to the receiver (communiqué). It is defined by different scientists in a different manner keeping the intent in view. However, it is accepted that communication is a process where a message is transferred from the source (communicator) to the receiver (communiqué). Some definitions of communication are indicated below.

• J. Paul Leagan (1961) defines communication as a process where two or more individuals exchange ideas, facts, and impressions for mutual gain and common understanding of the content and use of a message.

• “Communication is a purposeful process, which involves sources, messages, channels, and receivers.” – Andersch et al. (1969).

Van den Ban and Hawkins (1988) defined communication as the process of sending and receiving messages through channels that establish a common meaning between a source and receiver.

Transfer of technology is closely associated with generation of technology and its use leading to development. Extension components contain stimulating inputs that would mobilize the practitioners to put recommendations into action. Sustainability in agriculture is very important component of present day agriculture and future aspirations. Keeping these aspects in view an attempt was made to enlist suggestions under extension approaches that would enhance sustainability in agriculture in the area under study. The suggestive extension measures to enhance sustainability in agriculture were studied under components of social structure, cooperation mechanism, evaluation technique and marketing network.

Agriculture is a generic term used to include various types of farming systems, single to multiple crops under various agro-climatic conditions thereby covering crop husbandry, animal husbandry, vegetable growing, floriculture, horticulture, fishery, poultry, goat rearing, piggery, rabbit rearing, sericulture, forestry, vermi-composting, etc. Indian agriculture is a symbiosis of various production systems, a way of life or a tradition, which for the centuries have shaped the thoughts, the outlook, the culture, and the social and economic force of rural life. It is well known for its multi-functionalities of providing employment, cultural heritage, livelihood, social security, family bondage, nutritional and food security. Although agriculture is the main stay of the Indian economy and supports nearly two-third of the work force, yet this is not a highly rewarding enterprise for a large majority of farmers who hold small and marginal size holding. At the same time, the size of the land holding is on a gradual decline, while contribution of farmwomen is on an increase as men go elsewhere in search of better jobs. This sector holds and will continue to be central to all strategies of socio-economic development of the country. A farmer is a multi-purpose entrepreneur (Rajavanshi, 2007).

Developing countries with agrarian economy have been facing challenges arising from climate change causes and consequences. The altered patterns of climate are affecting the yield potential of crops thereby affecting agricultural production, farmers’ income, and livelihoods. Out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, the 13th SDG on ‘Climate action to combat climate change and its impacts,’ emphasises the importance and urgency of addressing the effects of climate change in developing nations. It is projected that climate change would have the most detrimental effect on agriculture, the primary source of income for small and marginal farmers in developed nations (Azadi et al., 2021). Building the ability of small and marginal farmers will be crucial to global food security over the next decade (FAO, 2020). World Bank (2018) reported that 800 million South Asian population are at risk of experiencing a decline in their standard of living and incomes due to rising temperatures and more erratic rainfall hampering the agriculture production system. Millions of low-income smallholder farmers, particularly those who rely on agriculture for a living and an income in South Asia, would be directly impacted by a reduction in productivity leading to food supply shortages and price increases.

Contract Farming

Contract farming is defined as a system for the production and supply of agricultural/horticultural produce under forward contracts between producers/suppliers and buyers. The essence of such an arrangement is the commitment of the producer/ seller to provide an agricultural commodity of a certain type, at a time and a price, and in the quantity required by a known and committed buyer.

Contract Farming Ventures in India: A Few Successful Cases

The Government of India’s National Agriculture Policy envisages that “Private sector participation will be promoted through contract farming and land leasing arrangements to allow accelerated technology transfer, capital inflow and assured market for crop production, especially of oilseeds, cotton and horticultural crops”.
Farming is an age-old means of livelihood for millions of Indians. However, there have been few systems/models in which farmers are assured of a market for their 

Communication and Extension

We spent most of the time in a day by communicating with others. It is impractical to think of a life in which we don’t communicate. Communication is a process not only limited to human beings. All creatures of earth communicate with each other for their better existence. In communication, we exchange our ideas, information, feelings, opinions about an issue, emotions, etc. with others throughout our life. It indicates that the communication is inseparable from the existence of life. A hypothetical example on the various kinds of communications that a Veterinary doctor might be using on a normal day is presented below for easy understanding.

A Veterinary doctor goes to office and put his signature in the attendance register (written communication) and greets his staffs (communication through gesture). Then he attends the patients and discuss with the owner (verbal communication). He writes prescription for the ailing animals (written communication). After office works, he may visit and discuss with the villagers about a vaccination programme (group communication) and inform the villagers about the date and time of vaccination. He may sensitize the people about the importance of vaccination through television, radio, newspaper, etc. (mass communication) and develop leaflets/folder/bulletins on different issues for distribution. This brief example suggests that the communication is an inevitable part of our daily life. It may be like that we may not survive without communication.

Father of Extension: James Stuart •

Word Extension: Derived from Latin roots “ex” - Out “tensio” - Stretching

Extension term originated in England as University Extension in 1866.

The term Extension Education first used in 1873 by Cambridge University.

Philosophy of Extension (Kelsey and Hearne, 1967): How to think.

Binet test: Intelligence test (IQ)

Function of Extension: Change in Attitude, Skill and Knowledge of an individuals.

Extension Education Process: Extension education is a participative and continuous process

Learning Situation: It is a condition or environment in which all the elements necessary for promoting learning are present.

Elements of effective learning situations in Extension are:

THEORY
    ·    Father of Extension: James Stuart
    ·    Word Extension: Derived from Latin roots “ex”    - Out
                                                              tensio”    - Stretching
    ·    Extension term originated in England as University Extension in 1866.
    ·    The term Extension Education first used in 1873 by Cambridge University.
    ·    Philosophy of Extension (Kelsey and Hearne, 1967): How to think.
    ·    Binet test: Intelligence test (IQ).
    ·    Function of Extension: Change in Attitude, Skill and Knowledge of an individuals.
    ·    Extension Education Process:  Extension education is a participative and continuous process.
    ·    Learning Situation: It is a condition or environment in which all the elements necessary for promoting learning are present. 
    ·    Elements of effective learning situations in Extension are:

Introduction

About 65 percent population of the country is living in the economically undeveloped area. Therefore, many evils such as illiteracy, superstitions, unhealthy practices etc. took roots in our country. After Second World War or after independence, it was thought to settle all these problems properly and so, many development programmes were reinvigorated. It is wrong to declare that there was nothing done during slavery period. However, those works, which were executed at that time, were very few in number according to the needs. Looking at a vast country like India, during British rule some selected social workers had started some programmes of rural development. The evolution of extension programme is described in two stages.

As the Veterinary colleges, and Parasitology being an integral part of them, are part of Agricultural universities framed on USA land grant pattern, or separated as Veterinary university imbibing the same philosophy, extension is an integral part of the system. Here, a team of the experts visit the villages to teach the villagers about the basic problems, faced by them in day to day dealing with animals. For explaining a particular problem to the villagers, the experts generally take help of the pamphlets which they have prepared. These pamphlets or extension literature deal the subject with common sense and illustrate the material with line drawings.

Introduction

With India’s population to catapult to a gigantic figure of 1.63 billion by 2050, it rests upon the shoulders of the country’s dwindling land resources to cater to the food demand to the surging human race with an eco-friendly manner. This requires a mammoth effort from the food producing machinery of the country-an effort which has to be inclusive of the technological innovation and extension in this field and to the fullest possible extent. Coping with the short-run challenges to food security posed by food price volatility is indeed a daunting task. But the serious concern is the long-term challenges of avoiding a perpetual food crisis under conditions of global warming. The decline of contributions of Indian Agriculture to the National GDP and an apparent stagnation of the growth rate in agriculture, non remunerative agricultural system, ever increasing population pressure, shrinking land resources, global warming and climate change, indiscriminate use of agricultural inputs, over exploitation of natural resource base and environmental quality have made the situation more vulnerable towards food security. In this backdrop, agricultural knowledge and technology accumulation, transfer, application, and diffusion are key to sustainable development and food security in an eco-friendly manner. The knowledge and technology revolution is critically different from the past industrial revolution in that it is based upon a shift of wealth creating assets from physical things to intangible resources based on knowledge and technologies. Thus, effective management and transfer of knowledge and technologies are believed to be the most critical capability of individuals, organizations, and nations in the globalized 21st knowledge society. Extension could play a pivotal role in fostering sustainability through its educational programs but there has been a growing realization that traditional extension models have not been sufficiently effective in promoting socialization of sustainable agricultural practices. Since sustainable agriculture is a knowledge-intensive system, it requires a new kind of knowledge, which differs from other forms on the basis of conventional agricultural practices. In fact, conventional extension system cannot accomplish sustainability in agriculture; because today’s agricultural extension must consider environmental implications, social issues, and overall economic growth within the agriculture sector. In such a situation, the present conceptual discussion shall be envisaging the dictum and destiny of evolving extension approaches by cherishing a clear focus on extension management perspectives towards sustainable development and environment protection and management so as to the well established extension approaches can be restructured and applied in the niche of extension management towards sustainability.

1. Introduction

India is a land of large varieties of fruits and vegetables due to its vast soil and climatic diversity. India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, with an annual production of fruits 45.5 Million tonnes and vegetables 90.8 Million tonnes. It contributes 10.23% and 14.45% of the total world production of fruits and vegetables (F&V) respectively (NHB, 2010). Though fruits and vegetables are grown only on 7–8% of gross cultivated area, these contribute more than 18.8% of the gross value of agricultural output and 52% export earnings from total agricultural produce. These have a high export potential of 20-30 times more foreign exchange per unit area than cereals due to higher yields and higher price available in the international market (Sen et al., 2012). According to estimates, the per capita consumption of fruits and vegetables in India is only around 46g and 130g which are far below the stipulation of a minimum of 92g and 300g respectively as recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Nutrition. The low availability is mainly due to considerably high post-harvest losses. About 15-20% of the fruits and vegetables are wasted every year in the country, due to poor post-harvest management and lack of infrastructural facilities for processing and storage, amounting to a revenue loss of over Rs. 625 billion.

The sensorial, nutritional, and organoleptic quality of fresh produce starts deteriorating after harvest as a result of soon after harvest the altered plant metabolism and microbial growth. The quality deterioration is the result of produce respiration and transpiration, senescence, ripening-associated processes, wound-initiated reactions, development of postharvest disorders, microbial proliferation leading to postharvest quality loss. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the respiration and ripening processes and the physiological and biochemical changes during ripening. The best way to reduce respiratory metabolism is to reduce the storage temperature. All biological processes proceed more slowly at lower temperature (Yahia, 2007). In general, O₂ levels must be reduced to less than 10 % to see a reduction in the rate of respiration. Respiration rate is temperature dependent; so, as the temperature reduces the amount of oxygen required also drops. Therefore, oxygen levels must be substantially reduced at low temperature for it to affect the rate of respiration. It must however, be ensured that O₂ levels do not fall below extinction point as anaerobic respiration and decay may occur. Tolerance to low O₂ varies between species and cultivars and is also time dependent. Commodities may be able to tolerate low O₂ for short periods of time. Low O₂ can also be tolerated when CO₂ is low.

Extension Program

Planning an extension program involves decision- making about the work of the organization. Extension program planning covers a set of objectives to be achieved by various activities included in the planning. Extension organization needs to decide the goal it aims at, the target group, the content of extension message, its use, and organization of all activities. The program includes situation analysis, and an action plan for solving people’s problems which is drawn in advance. Extension workers have to decide the goals, target group, messages, extension methods, and media and organization of activities. While setting the goal, the perception of the present situation and the vision of the desired situation should be borne in mind. The target group is normally larger than the extension worker contacts directly or through mass media. The target group can be contacted indirectly. The extension content depends on the goal, the target group, and the extension strategy. The content should be so selected that it can be implemented with the resources available to the farmers locally. A combination of extension methods need to be used. The extension program needs to be flexible and can be easily implemented by the organization.

Extension Program Planning

Extension program planning indicates an account of the activities to be undertaken by the organization.

The essential phases of program planning in extension are analyzing the situation, setting goals and objectives, identifying problems and gaps, developing work plan, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reconsideration.

Introduction

Planning is a “dynamic act of reflecting about, thinking about, and choosing among various options regarding the goals and objectives and the route to journey i.e. educational experience, we should follow to reach those destinations” (Forest and Baker, 1994). It offers opportunity to people to “participate” and “contribute” in the process. Therefore, it is understood that “planning extension programs has become an increasingly accepted practice among national authorities” (Maalouf, in Rivera, 1987, p. 116 as cited by Cristovao et al?, 1997).

Extension Programme: Planning and Evaluation

The first step to promote any extension programme is to prepare useful programme based on community need. Extension Programme planning is a blueprint or plan to an extension worker for effective execution. It is a procedure of working with people in an effort to identify and recognise the unsatisfactory situations or problems and to determine the possible solutions. To understand the extension programme planning process, certain basic concepts of an extension programme, planning and extension planning need to be understood.

Programme

The word ‘programme’ has several distinct meanings in the dictionary. It means a proclamation, a prospectus, a list of events, a plan of procedure, a course of action prepared or announced beforehand, a logical sequence of operations to be performed in solving a problem. This is a written statement which describes the extension activities proposed, the problems they address, the premises on which they are based, the objectives they seek to attain, the actions and the resources they require.

Introduction of Training and Visit System

This Training and Visit system was developed by World Bank Expert Daniel Benor. Initially (13) Major states in India adopted Training and Visit system but later on most of the states are practicing this system since 1984 onwards.

Extension Reform Strategies Global Perspective

In an effort to respond to the new paradigm, countries worldwide have adopted a variety of institutional reforms. These reforms are either market-oriented or non-market-oriented (Smith 1997). This distinction, provides an imperfect but hopefully useful framework for considering these reforms as individual, non-overlapping constructs. Following the discussion of Figure 3, a dynamic view of extension institutional reforms is presented in Figure 4 which suggests possible interconnections among the various constructs. Inferences drawn from the two Figures will shape the discussion in the final section.

The recent adoption by FAO and the World Bank of a fundamental vision and guiding principles for developing agricultural knowledge systems forms the focus of this section. This vision and these principles are reviewed in relation to the plethora of the ongoing agricultural and rural extension reforms.

Over the time, the concept of extension education transformed from an educational system to an empowerment tool. It is a programme and a process of helping village people to help themselves in view to increase production and raise their general standard of living. As a science, Extension education deals with the creation, transmission and application of knowledge designed to bring about planned changes in the behaviour-complex of people. This particular branch of agricultural science is devoted to bring changes in perception and attitude towards scientific farming techniques, adoption of hi-tech horticulture, precision farming, improved machineries of pre and post-harvest management etc. through vocational training, capacity building, participatory approaches and through many other approaches. A proper planning of extension strategy will help to popularize livestock-based system of production, processing and economics associated with it.

The cropping pattern in India is changing fast, particularly in favour of export-oriented commercial crops. These crops pose threat to the environment. Grapes is one such crop which accelerates environmental degradation. Borkar (2007) reported that with the advancement of technologies, the cultivation practices of grapes had improved increasing the yield and quality of grapes. However, to control the tremendous losses occurred due to pests and diseases in grapes, thousands of hundreds of kilograms of pesticides were dumped into the environment causing pollution.

Introduction

Farmers work hard to earn a living. However, not all farmers make money, especially small family farmers. There is very little leftover after they pay for all their inputs (seeds, livestock breeds, fertilizers, pesticides, energy, feed, labour, etc.). However, the Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) has enabled farmers to develop a framework for an alternative development model to improve the feasibility of small sized farming operations. The ‘’modern’’ technologies have been widely used to enhance the productivity per acre of land to ensure that there is enough food for the increased global population. Due to the indiscriminate and erratic use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, our food and ecosystems have been poisoned. On the contrary, the integrated farming system uses the integrated approach to farming compared to monoculture approaches. It refers to agricultural systems that integrate agriculture with horticulture, livestock, fishery, agro-forestry, etc. and known as integrated bio-systems. In this system, an inter-related set of enterprises is used so that the “waste” from one component becomes an input for another part of the system. This reduces costs and improves production and/or income. 

Agriculture – world-wide – is a vital determinant of the livelihoods of the rural communities and small holders in particular. Farm households consume as well as produce the food items. Diet diversity increased with farm size. Large farm- households obtain their food energy from more diverse sources – intake of pulses, milk, edible oil and sugar. Calorie intake per person per day decreased as farm size decreases. So also the protein intake on large farm house holds is substantially higher than for sub-marginal farm households and correspondingly for fats. So far the protein consumption is concerned the main source is pulses the small holder farmers grow. This is justified by the Simpson Index of diet diversity-0.43 for sub-marginal and 0.56 for large households (Singh et al., 2002). The production of pulses including the traditional/potential pulses keep priority for combating the protein deficiency in addition to earning monetary returns from export of processed and value added pulse products. The pulse production is not sufficient to cater the domestic consumption need. The area under pulse is declining over the years. The productivity is not satisfactory in comparison to the potential yield of the varieties as well as the low yield from traditional plant types grown mostly under rain fed and residual soil moisture condition after harvest of paddy or as pyra crop in paddy without proper crop management. The trend in total factor productivity of black gram and green gram, the major pulses is declining in state of Odisha and that of chick pea in Madhya Pradesh. The deficit in pulse production has led to rise in price of processed pulses due to its import to meet the domestic requirement.

Extension Teaching

• Extension teaching defined as a sequence of progressive steps, undertaken to create situations that are conducive to effective learning.
• According to Leagans (1961) extension methods are the devices used to create situation in which communication can takeplace between the instructor and learner.
• The purpose of using an extension teaching method is to create opportunities to establish rapport over a subject matter between the communicator and learners.

Theory

Extension Teaching Methods: Methods by using them new information can pass freely between the extension worker and rural communities. Extension education is mainly concerned with the dissemination of useful and practical information relating to rural life and helping the rural people in the practical application of such knowledge to rural situations. Extension teaching methods can be classified on the basis of:

The basic aim of extension system is to bring about a change in the behaviour of the people with whom the work is done. Change in behaviour pertains to change in knowledge, skills, attitude, understanding, etc about a particular technology which we want to diffuse. For this purpose, the extension workers essentially function as teachers to bring about adoption of new technologies by making regular contact with livestock owners through various means. He visualizes the problems of rural community in proper perspective and organizes the meaningful learning situation for effective learning. It calls for appropriate use of different extension teaching techniques. The desirable changes in the behaviour of learners depend upon the skill of the extension worker as teacher in choosing the various extension teaching techniques which are found to be most effective in the relevant situations.

The main job of the extension worker is to bring about behavioural changes in the rural people. A number of extension methods are required to perform such behavioural changes among the rural people which form the tools of the extension workers. These tools are called extension teaching methods. Extension teaching methods may be defined as the devices used to create situations in which communication can take place between the extension worker and learner. The effectiveness of various teaching methods depends on the combination of the same. Similarly, the adoption of innovation is positively related to the combination of different extension teaching methods, at different stages of the learning process.

Extension Teaching Method

The function of extension education is to bring about desirable changes in the behaviour of a human being. The changes in human being are produced by increasing his/her knowledge level, improving skill and changing attitude. For all these to happen, an individual has to be taught, trained and communicated. So, the extension education emphasizes the process of communication, and if you examine, you will find that the extension education is broadly a teaching-learning process in which a learning situation is created by an extension worker/ teacher by which an individual attempt to change his/her behaviour. The learning situation created in extension education process is a condition or environment in which the elements like teacher, learner, subject matter, physical facilities and teaching methods and aids for promoting learning are present in a dynamic relationship with one another. The quality of learning depends upon the conditions created by the teacher for learners to learn. However, the learner is the key element in the teaching and learning process. His willingness and desire for change are very important. The third element; subject matter is the content of the message that the extension worker wants to transfer to the client. Transfer of the subject matter will be easy and effective if it is valid, correct, based on facts, applicable to practical life situation and need based. Effective teaching-learning process is also affected if physical facilities like place, light, ventilation, seating arrangements, etc., are not properly provided to both teachers as well as to the learners. Besides all these, the transfer of subject matters to the learners requires the help of suitable teaching methods, aids and media. Proper selection and handling of methods and aids facilitate in creating the desirable learning situation. The teaching methods and aids should be simple, easy to handle, suitable to subject matter, readily available, suited to the environment and needs of the learners.

1.1. Extension

Educational process for bringing about maximum number of desirable changes among the people

Extension teaching methods: Methods by using them new information can

pass freely between the extension worker and rural communities. Extension

education is mainly concerned with the dissemination of useful and practical

information relating to rural life and helping the rural people in the practical

application of such knowledge to rural situations. Extension teaching methods

can be classified on the basis of:

Some Definition

Farmer’s call: Call made by a farmer or homemaker at the working place of

the extension agent for getting information.

Adoptive/minikit trial: It is a method of determining the suitability of a new

practice in farmer’s situation.

Farm clinic: It is a facility developed for diagnosis and treatment of farm

problems and provides specialist advice to individual farmers.

Field day/ Farmer’s day: Methods of motivating the people to adopt a new

practice by showing what has actually been achieved by applying the practice

under field condition.

Extension teaching methods encompass the array of strategies employed to facilitate meaningful communication between instructors and learners within educational settings. In essence, a method denotes a systematic approach to executing tasks or achieving objectives, characterized by a structured progression of steps in a logical and orderly manner.

Thus, an extension teaching method can be construed as a series of progressive steps designed to cultivate environments conducive to effective learning outcomes. As articulated by Leagans (1961), these methods, also referred to as communication methods, serve as instrumental tools for fostering communication channels between instructors and learners. Ensminger (1957) further emphasizes the prerequisite for extension workers to possess comprehensive knowledge of available methods, discern optimal utilization scenarios, and adeptly employ each method to maximize efficacy.

The functions attributed to extension teaching methods are multifaceted

• Facilitating communication channels wherein learners can actively observe, listen, and engage in practical application of the subject matter.

• Provoking cognitive and/or physical responses from learners, thereby stimulating desired actions or reactions.

• Guiding learners through various stages of the teaching-learning process, encompassing attention, interest, desire, conviction, action, and satisfaction.

Classification of Extension Teaching Methods

Wilson and Gallup (1955) initially sought to categorize extension teaching methods based on their utilization and structural characteristics. In a subsequent effort, Bains (1987) endeavoured to refine this classification by considering additional factors such as stages of the learning and adoption processes, categories of adopters, cost implications, required skill levels, time expenditure, and intended behavioural modifications. However, while these classifications contribute to scholarly discourse, their practical utility may be limited. Among the various classification schemes proposed, the most prevalent and pragmatic approach categorizes extension teaching methods based on their intended usage

Introduction

A teacher uses different aids in addition to lectures for effective teaching. Similarly, a trainer uses different training methods to make learning effective. In Agricultural Extension the extension worker as a teacher has to design and use appropriate teaching methods depending upon the group to make the teaching effective. According to Leagans (1961) “extension teaching methods are the basic and proven devices used to create situations in which communication can take place between the instructor and the learner.” Extension methods are powerful tools for extension workers to effectively communicate certain messages. Some studies suggest that the adoption of innovations by the farmers requires different teaching methods at different stages of learning. These methods are required for imparting new knowledge and skills to the farmers to adopt new practices for their increased production and income. The choice of extension teaching methods depends on the target audience, location, and availability of time for teaching.

Classification of extension Teaching Methods

Extension teaching methods are classified according to use, form, and function as shown in Table 4.1.

Classification According to Use

The extension methods could be individual or interpersonal, group contact, or mass contact as shown in Figure 4.1.

Individual contact methods: Individual methods provide face- to- face contact with individuals. Those techniques are very effective in teaching new technologies and creating goodwill among farmers and extension people. When few people are to be contacted and they are at a close distance, the individual methods are effective. The extension worker contacts directly to an individual and gets his feedback through different means like personal visits, telephones, SMS, etc. The individual contact method is useful for rapport building and easy to obtain feedback. But the method is time- consuming and quite expensive.