eChapters

16.1. Overview of Medium and Small Enterprises (MSE) Growth

In most developing countries, MSEs constitute the vast majority of firms, generating a substantial share of both overall employment and output. Given their significant economic role, one might expect MSE growth to drive overall increases in output and income levels. In many cases, however, their largest economic contribution appears to be one of maintaining, rather than generating new, employment and income for the poor. At an aggregate level, MSEs demonstrate impressive growth, 3 especially when compared with larger firms. However, many individual MSEs grow slowly or not at all, in some cases, due to a conscious decision on the part of the business owner. Overall growth rates are often fueled by the rapid expansion of a narrow group of highly performing MSEs. In dev e loping as well as in developed countries, there appears to be a small group of “gazelles”, firms that outperform their peers and drive aggregate employment and productivity growth for the small business sector. Why do some MSEs expand rapidly, while others stagnate? What factors account for the wide variation observed in MSE growth trajectories? This paper explores a wide array of specific factors, but it is first useful to consider a broader conceptual frame work of opportunities and capabilities. Clearly, opportunities for profitable business activities shape the ability of an entrepreneur to expand his or her firm.

11.1 Concept of Internet

The internet is not a computer network. It is a network of networks, linking computer to computers. Each runs software to provide access and view information.

In other words, internet is the connection of two or more networks so that a computer on one network can communicate with a computer on another network. The communication between two computers takes place such that the user does not have to worry about the technology used by the networks. The router, also called gateway, acts as an interface between two networks. The internet covers the entire globe and includes large, international networks as well as many smaller, local area networks (LANs). A user can access data, graphics, sound, software, text and people through a variety of services and tools for communication and data exchange. To get, provide and compile information, internet is the cheapest and fastest medium. Some of the popular tools and services available for communication and data exchange are as follows:

Looking forward, it is clear that traditional and western medicine have the potential for rich collaboration that benefits both disciplines. There is growing interest in this partnership, as shown by the number of international journals now dedicated to such research, such as Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, eCAM, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, and the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Even the WHO has taken note of the rich possibilities of the future of TM, having put out such documents as ‘WHO General Guidelines for Methodologies on Research and Evaluation of Traditional Medicine’ and ‘WHO Guidelines on Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACP) for Medicinal Plants’. Despite this enthusiasm, there are several areas where the international community will need to focus their attention if the goal of integrating botanical medicines for the good of human health is to be reached.

Downy Mildew (Green Ear)

Sclerospora graminicola

Economic Importance

• Downy mildew is reported from temperate and tropical regions of the world.
• In India, the disease is a major stumbling block in the full exploitation of yield potential of hybrids.
• Several epidemics have been observed which resulted in substantial grain yield losses (upto 60 percent) in F₁ hybrids under South Indian conditions.
• Usually the losses in grain yield are directly proportional to disease incidence in the field.

Wilt

Fusarium oxysporun lini

Economic Importance

• The wilt is very serious disease and occurs in almost all the countries where linseed is grown.
• Continuous cropping in the infected field makes the soil sick.
• Yield losses upto 80 percent has been reported due to this disease. However, in severe cases crop is destroyed completely.

Ozonium Wilt

Ozonium texanum var. parasiticum Thirum / Guizotia abyssinica

Economic Importance

• The disease was reported around Varanasi.
• Heavy losses are incurred as the diseased plants dry.

Leaf Spot

Colletotrichum capsici

Economic Importance

• The disease is common in many parts of South India, and in recent years has become very severe, causing much damage to the crop.
• The yield losses occur due to leaf spot infection is through the loss of photosynthetic green surface.
• During the period of heavy infestation, yield loss could be as much as 50%.

X-ray diffraction (XRD) is an important experimental tool used in determining crustal structure of material system in bulk and nanoregimes. Therefore, it is important to understand the basic concepts of XRD.

Introduction

Pulses belong to the taxonomic family Fabaceae, containing over 18,000 species divided into the three sub-families Mimosoideae, Caesalpinoideae and Papilionoideae. Pulses are commonly cultivated for several decades in all over the world because of the nutritional value of their seeds. Among different pulses, soybean, chickpea, common bean, cowpea, green gram, black gram and pigeon pea contribute significantly to serve the major protein source for the diets of large numbers of people living in Asia, Africa, and South America.

Production and Productivity of Pulses in india

In India, the production of pulses has not been able to keep pace with their domestic demand, resulting in import of 4-5 million tonnes of pulses per annum, especially from the countries like Canada, Myanmar and Australia to meet its domestic requirement (Kumar et al., 2018). India is the largest producer (around 25% of global production), however it consumes 27% and imports around 14% of its pulses requirements. The yield of pulses in India is quite low at 781 kg/ha which might be due to various factors. Pulse crops does not show any significant increase in area and production during 1950-51 to 2009-10, however, significant growth in area and production has been recorded during the last five years (i.e., 2010-2011 to 2016-17), with the adoption of high yielding varieties, increased usage of agricultural inputs like fertilizers and manures etc. The pulses under irrigation are cultivated in about 37% of the area while 63% of pulses are grown under rainfed conditions.

The productivity of pulses has increased about 77% at 779 kg/ha during 2016-17 from the level of 441 kg/ha during 1950-51. It is imperative to mention that the New Agriculture Technology (NAT) introduced during mid-sixties has increased the production of food-grains from 50.82 million tonnes during 1950-51 to 275.68 million tonnes during 2016-17 with the increase in area from 97.32 million hectares to 128 million hectares. In order to achieve self- sufficiency in pulses, the projected requirement by the year 2025 is estimated at 27.5 MT and to meet this requirement, the productivity needs to be enhanced to 1000 kg/ha.

Introduction

India is well-known around the world for its rapid economic growth rates over the last fifteen years or so, fuelled in part by the spectacular growth in its export- oriented software and ICT-based services sector. Many other countries look to India as a model for global outsourcing and try to imitate elements of this in their own strategies (Carmel 2003; Heeks and Nicholson 2004). Success at a particular period of time does not, of course, guarantee its continuation and commentators have expressed concerns such as rising wage rates and skills shortages of ICT professionals (CACM 2007), and increasing competition from countries such as China (Negroponte 2003). It is likely, however, that India will remain a major player in the ICT industry for years to come and thus its global image as an ICT success story will continue. Viewed from a broader development perspective, things are not so simple. The new wealth that has arisen in India from the ICT boom benefits the relatively wealthy and educated in the first instance (Kambhampati 2002). Will this trickle down to the poor and uneducated? Statistics paint a mixed picture of the current situation. On the one hand, India is now the world’s fourth largest economy in purchasing power parity terms, and has enjoyed high growth rates for over a decade rising to an average of over 8% per annum in the period 2004-7 (World Bank 2007).

On the other hand, India was ranked as 128th out of 177 countries on the human development index 2005 (UNDP 2005) which is a composite index based on life expectancy, literacy and education levels, and economic standard of living. Shocking statistics include the percentage of malnourished children under 5 being 46%, the adult female literacy rate as only 48%, and the percentage of the rural population using adequate sanitary services as 18% (World Bank 2007, UNICEF 2004). A major development issue, therefore, is whether India can seriously address the needs of all of its people, including the vast numbers of poor and uneducated in the rural areas and the urban slums. A related sub-question is whether, and to what extent, can ICTs be used to provide development benefits to all Indian citizens. There are increasing attempts to use technology in this way through projects such as e-government services and telecentres in poor areas.

Introduction

Knowledge and Knowledge management are concepts, which are debated extensively by managers, analyst and academicians. When we refer to knowledge, most of us mainly tend to think of codified and documented knowledge like patents, databases, manuals, white papers etc. knowledge is intuitive, contextual, linked to experience, past memories and difficult to codify, document and communicate. Unfortunately, there is no universal definition of Knowledge Management (KM), just as there’s no agreement as to what constitutes knowledge in the first place. In broadest context KM is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. It is the practice of harnessing and exploiting intellectual capital to gain competitive advantage and customer commitment through efficiency, innovation and faster and more effective decision-making. Most often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices.

Today, knowledge is still considered power - an enormous power in fact - but the understanding has changed considerably, particularly from the perspective of organizations. The new paradigm is that within the organization knowledge must be shared in order for it to grow. It has been shown that the organization that shares knowledge among its management and staff grows stronger and becomes more competitive. This is the core of knowledge management - the sharing of knowledge. Knowledge management (KM) is all about managing organization’s knowledge effectively by sharing and having a systematic activity for creation of knowledge and exploiting it for the market and benefit of the organization. KM techniques and processes provide such a structured approach to explicate a significant part of this tactic knowledge document in knowledge repositories and also share in teams, through intensive dialogue and discussions. KM refers to the critical issues of organizational adaptation, survival and competence against discontinuous environmental change.

Introduction

E-Portal otherwise called as an electronic portal is a webpage that allows business application procedure developed by framework to be easily deployed via internet. Portals are usually created in standard Java format. It utilizes an Extensible Mark- up Language (XML) interface protocol in addition to Java Server Pages (JSP). Portals are given different names based on the field they are created. For example, if the portal is developed to improvise agriculture, then they are termed as agri-por- tals. Similarly, if a portal is developed for academic reasons they are called web portal. Examples of web portals are iGoogle, MSNBC, Netvibes, and Yahoo.

Portal concept has opened new possibilities to address some of the issues concern- ing the personal management of academic information and knowledge through internet. Some of the main issues are the lack of integration, personalisation and customisation of existing academic information sources and systems. A Web por- tal can be defined as a Web site that aggregates an array of content and provides a variety of services including search engines, directories, news, e-mail and chat rooms. Portals have evolved to provide a customised gateway to Web information. A high level of personalisation and customisation is possible (Melzer 1999; Boye 1999). It was felt that the portal concept could be further developed to function as a sophisticated Web interface that can support the task performance (teaching and research) of academics.

Introduction

Audiotex is a voice response application that allows users to enter and retrieve information over telephone. Example Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). Audiotex is a generic name for interactive voice response equipment and service. Audiotex connected with a telephone is like a data processor connected to a data terminal. They are passive service which provides through appropriate access by standardised procedure for the user of Audiotex service to communicate with database via telecom network (i.e.) a subscriber can retrieve the information at any time by interacting with the audio service equipment by using the existing telephone line.

Audiotex is essentially a content provider. It enables the subscribers to record their message in a computer memory area called a “Mail Box”. The recorded message can be retrieved by the recipient by dialling a telephone number. Audiotex service is a telecommunication system which enables a caller, by dialling a designated telephone numbering beginning with ‘1800’ to receive a recorded announcement or to interact with a programme whereby he/she may communicate by means of a dual tone multi frequency telephone key pad, a touch tone telephone or other similar device with a value added network connected to the public switched telephone system for purposes of sending or receiving information. However, there are differing views across the world on what constitutes “Audiotex service”. European Telecommunications Standards Institute in its ETSI technical report 131 (June 1994) on “Terminal Equipment(TE); An investigation into the need for standardization in the area of stored voice services” has commented that “ It can be seen that there are many differing views as to what constitutes an Audiotex service and, in formal usage (e.g. in lectures or articles on the subject), a distinction is always drawn between voice messaging and the other services (information, consultation, transaction, etc.). It is thus misleading to use the word Audiotex without a previous definition. Therefore, in many countries the term “stored voice service” is used to describe Audiotex and each separate application and service is distinguished by a more precise definition.

Introduction

The Kisan Call Centre is an ICT initiative launched by the Department of Agri- culture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture on January 21, 2004 to instantly respond to farmer’s queries in their local language. Farmers from any part of the country can contact KCC simply like common public do to contact the customer care of their preferred network for queries. If it is a BSNL connection KCC can be contacted by just dialling 1551 toll free number. If it is other network, then farmers can dial “1800-180-1551” and get their query solved. In Tamil Nadu, until 2014, it was Cartel India Limited which acted as Level-III centre for Kisan Call Centre in Tamil Nadu. From May 2014 onwards, the administration of Kisan Call Centre was taken over by Indian Farmer Fertilizer Company (IFFCO) and working since then in the name of IFFCO Kisan.

In today’s condition, the policy makers feel it as a real challenge to bridge the com- munication gap that prevails between two farmers, between two villages, between two regions and perhaps between two countries. The only way to bridge this gap is through some ICT initiatives. Recent studies have shown impressive growth of telecommunication network for effective information utilization and delivery of knowledge and information in the country. In Kenya, the helpline service was start- ed on a pilot basis by GSMA Foundation, Inc., which was funded by Rockefeller Foundation. The technology was named Kenya Farmer’s Helpline. It was mainly started to bring a change in the economic, social and environmental development in the country. The helpline received very good support from the local farmers and till 2010, the helpline solved queries of over 30,000 farmers. During the same period, India solved queried of over one lakh farmers. Now, the number would be much more than what we expect.

Introduction

Satellites are specifically made for telecommunication purpose. They are used for mobile applications such as communication to ships, vehicles, planes, hand-held terminals and for TV and radio broadcasting. They are responsible for providing these services to an assigned region (area) on the earth. The power and bandwidth of these satellites depend upon the preferred size of the footprint, complexity of the traffic control protocol schemes and the cost of ground stations. A satellite works most efficiently when the transmissions are focused with a desired area. When the area is focused, then the emissions don’t go outside that designated area and thus minimizing the interference to the other systems. This leads more efficient spectrum usage. Satellite’s antenna patterns play an important role and must be designed to best cover the designated geographical area (which is generally irregular in shape). Satellites should be designed by keeping in mind its usability for short and long term effects throughout its life time. The earth station should be in a position to control the satellite if it drifts from its orbit it is subjected to any kind of drag from the external forces.

The psychological sets that can be barriers to communication can be characterized into several basic categories. These sets can occur in the sender or in the receiver in the communication process. The sender has the ability to recognize these barrier categories when they occur and to transform communication to overcome them. However, the receiver is a different story. If the receiver is interested in communication, he or she can recognize when these barriers arise and can consciously overcome them. On the other hand, when a receiver is passive in the communication process, he or she does not recognize the barriers and the sender can do little to overcome the blockage.

Mutations are sudden and heritable changes in the genetic material. They can result in deletion, inversion and translocation of certain portions in the chromosomes, which can result in the changed expression of a trait due to the interaction of alleles within or without the locus, sometimes the effects revert back or can be heritable.

Most of the fruit crops are highly heterozygous. However, heterozygosity is one of the advantages when it comes to mutation. In highly heterozygous crops wherein there is a need for improvement in a single trait, mutations have been of great use. One of main limitations is use of vegetative material, which due to the unlikelyhood of uniform penetration and distribution of mutagenic agent can result in chimera. Although hybridization and selection have made a fair dent in the improvement of fruit crops, mutation is one of the methods that can be relied upon to develop pre-breeding lines and to bring about change in the quantitavie traits. Another very important fact is that there are crops like grapes wherein a lot of spontaneous mutants have become established varieties viz., Sonaka and Saritha to quote a few. Some of the existing varieites wherein one or two traits need to be improved, mutation would greatly help in this in comparatively short time. In some of the crops like sapota, wherein the conventional breeding would take long time, mutation can be resorted to both for inducing variability in the germplasm as well as for trait improvement. It is also to be noted here that mutation breeding can be a good supplement for conventional breeding, more so with the emergence of tissue culture propagation, which often throws up spontaneous mutants. Mutation as a methodology can also be tried in some fruit crop spp where there is no disease resistance source within. It can also be adopted in cases where there is a need to break linkages.

Sapota [Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen, (Manilkara achras (Mill.) Fosber] is a member of the family sapotaceae. It is a fairly slow growing and long-lived tree. It is valued for its delicious fruit in India, while in Guatemala, south East Mexico, British Honduras, chickle is commercially produced which is the main ingredient in preparation of chewing gum. Chickle is extracted from trunk and unripe fruits of the tree as white latex exudate. Although synthetic gums are primarily used, countries like Mexico, Venezula and Guatemala still grow sapota for chickle.

It is native to South Mexico as well as North East Guatemala. Manilkara species is found in forests throughout tropical America, which was introduced long ago followed by West Indies, Bahamas, Bermuda and Southern part of Florida mainland. Early in colonial times, it was carried to Phillippines, and later distributed to Malaysia and other countries in the tropics (Purseglove, 1974). It is not known when it was first introduced to India. Commercial cultivation was first taken up in Maharashtra during 1898 (Cheema et al., 1954). Future of sapota appears to be promising, since attention in this crop is enthusiastic from growers and consumers in many countries. Sapota is grown on commercial basis in India, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mexico and Venezuela.

India is one of the largest producers of sapota in the world. Major states growing this fruit crop are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Assam and Haryana. India’s production of sapota continues to grow up and there is an active research program in India with specific goals towards improving storage, transport and marketing strategies.

Introduction

Canopy management is defined as managing plant architectural design as per need, using their inherent characteristics which is in accordance with a given set of conditions and resources to perform the plant maximum (Nath et al, 2014).The modern principles of sustainable fruit production systems focused on optimal use of natural resources (light, water, soil fertility) where the input (labour, energy, fuel, other material) and output (yield) are well balanced and the resources remain renewable.

Fruit orchards can be considered as artificial ecosystems converting the energy of photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) into edible, marketable fruits for human consumption. The core of this system is the bio-factory of leaves driven by the absorbed PAR. Several data support that the light interception is the basic factor for the modern orchard systems. Factors as LAI (Leaf area index), tree spacing, training and pruning systems, fruiting wood development, rootstocks and genotypes also have an important bearing on orchard efficiency.

The main objectives of canopy architecture is to develop strong tree framework, maximize utilization of light, accommodate more number of trees per unit area, maintenance of tree orchard uniformity and induce and sustain proper amount of well distributed fruiting terminals.

In order for the fruit production system to remain sustainable, the orchard system should favour the contributory role of an input of natural origin to the maximum possible extent, in improving the yield in the early years and provide high yields after the trees are mature until the planned age of the orchard. Recent development in the tree architecture has produced some promising tree training and pruning systems as well for high density fruit orchards.

Introduction

Any project is undertaken and an investment is made with expectation of realizing benefits out of it. This applies to projects both in the private domain as also in the public domain. Hence, it is imperative to assess the benefits derived from the project investment over its entire economically viable. The extent to which project contribute to various aims of development (benefits) and make use of scarce resource (costs) can differ widely. A proper project preparation requires an assessment of the various benefits and costs associated with execution of a project. Methods to determine, analyze and assess the relevant benefits and costs of a project are known as cost-benefit analysis. The cost- benefit analysis ensures that all the relevant factors that contribute to a project’s net benefits are systematically taken into account, whether they relate to an individual, a firm, a social group, the public sector or the country as a whole.

There are many tools or criteria for the financial evaluation of projects. However, the important and commonly used evaluation criteria are simple Rate of Return, Payback Period, Net Present Worth, Benefit- Cost Ratio and Internal Rate of Return.

Economic appraisal and evaluation helps the decision makers who are saddled with the responsibility to prioritize measures in a situation with enormous needs and quite limited resources. Government planners as well as donor agencies are all in need of enough data in order to make rational choice or decision in selection of investment alternatives. Most of the economists believe that economic analysis cannot give the final answers. There will always be lack of data, uncertainty about the future, disagreement on the methods, and similar issues. However, economic analysis, if properly done, can indeed be of much help to decision makers.

1. Introduction

India is an exquisite example of biodiversity. From time immemorial scholars like Charaka, Barathwaj, Athreyan, Agnivesha, Dhanyandhari, Shushruthan, Wakbadan and Bharathduja etc. have studied and explored the possibility of such a diversity for human welfare and the most conspicuous exploration in this field has lead to the discovery of so many indigenous medicinal plants that were scripted mainly in Vedas (1500 BC) that contain rich materials on herbal lore of that time. Charaka in his medical treatise – Charaka samhita delt with innumerable medicinal plants, their usage and descriptions. Besides the two above said texts, treatise like Sushruth samhita and Ashtangha hridaya samhita are a few among other precious ancient texts. Thus the gradual accumulation of practical and systematic medical knowledge lead to the formation of Ayurveda.

Ayurveda - the science of life, prevention and longevity, is the oldest and most holistic or comprehensive medical system available. It was placed in written form over 2000 years ago. Ayurveda is said to have been first complied as a text by Agnivesha (Agniveshtantra). This text was later revised by Charaka and renamed as Charaka samhita (completed by Dhridhabala). The concept of medicines envisaged in the Ayurveda comes from the monumental scripture called Ashtanga hridaya and Sahasrayoga.

1. Introduction

Phytochemists and pharmacologists from all over the world obtain several patents for herbal drugs developed on the basis of the indigenous knowledge systems of different ethnic groups. Many countries rich in traditional medicinal knowledge have been conducting ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants (Patil and Bhaskar, 2006). In India the native people have exploited a variety of herbal medicines for effective curing of various diseases. The plants used, preparation and administration of drug varies from area to area (Rajaram, 2006). The ethnobotanical research still plays its evident scientific role in stimulating further phytochemical and pharmacological studies (Leporatti and Corradi, 2001).

The objective of this study is to interact with Kani traditional healers and document their traditional knowledge. The Kani-tribals are one of the most primitive hill tribes of Western Ghats. They occupy the slopes of the Agasthiarmalai in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India. Some ethnobotanical studies have been done in this area (Anonymous, 1948-76, Chopara et al., 1956, Satyavati, 1976, Jain, 1981, Nagendra Prasad et al., 1996). The impact of deforestation, urbanization and modernization makes the tribals shifting from their natural habitats to urban areas. Documenting the traditional knowledge through ethnobotanical studies is important for the conservation of medicinal plants and traditional medicines.

ABSTRACT

In this study, different concentrations of acetone, alcohol, benzene and chloroform extract of Wedelia chinensis were carried out against human pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains. High frequency of anti-bacterial activity was observed on the Escherichia coli. Moderate amount of antibacterial activity was observed on Staphylococcus aureus. Highly resistant bacterium to this plant was screened through antibacterial pour plate method, which showed on the following organisms Citrobacter diversens, Serratia marcescens and Streptococcus pyogenes. The aim of this study is main evaluation of antimicrobial activity of plant. The ethanolic extracts demonstrating antibacterial and antifungal activity could result in the discovery of antibacterial and antifungal agents.

ABSTRACT

The present communication thr ows light on 118 species of flowering plants (Angiosperms) found in Dewghat forest (in Koraon forest range of Uttar Pradesh), which are traditionally used by the “Kol” tribal community and some other forest dwelling people, viz. Belbans, Bahelia, Mushahar etc. An enumeration of these plants materials is prepared with their botanical names, local / vernacular names, family names and using practices provided in this paper. This is the first ever report from the area under study on this aspect. In case of Anogeissus latifolia the leaf juice is used poisonous insect bite, grounded flower used in chronic diseases and its fruit is used asthma. The seeds of Cleome viscosa are given orally in stomach diseases. The leaves of Cassia alata used for ringworms and skin disease. The leaves juice and seed of Euphorbia thymifolia is used as a strong purgative. It leaf juice is also used for the remedy of ringworms and other skin diseases. It is an antidote for snakebite. The present study is aimed at indexing of all medicinal flora occurring in Dewghat forest (U.P.) and their uses for the benefit of the researchers to undertake studies on the prospects and potential of commercial exploitation.

ABSTRACT

Three medicinal plants namely, Eryngium foetidum (Apiaceae), Centella asiatic (Apiaceae) and Hemidesmus indicus (Asclepiadaceae) were collected from Similipa Biosphere Reserve forest and used in this investigation. Ethanolic, methanolic chloroform and aqueous extracts of different parts like leaf, root and stem were prepare through standard techniques and screened for their anticandidal potencies agains Candida albicans, C. tropicalis and C. krusei. Anticandidal activity of the extracts wer tested using preliminary and secondary screening methods, like disc diffusion metho (DDM) & agar-cup-plate-method (ACPM) and poisoned food technique (PFT respectively. On an average the inhibitory tendency of the extracts can be arranged as ethanolic extracts > methanolic extacts > chloroform extracts > aqueous extracts Maximum degree of inhibition was observed against C. krusei. Among the plant Hemidesmus indicus showed better anticandidal activities in comparison to other tw plants tested.

ABSTRACT

A rapid micropropagation technique have been established for Solanum trilobatum L., a medicinal plant from internodal explant. Callus formation was observed from both cut ends of explants cultured on MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D (3.0 mg/l). Direct shoot and multiple shoot formation were noticed from explants (proximal cut end) on BAP (2.0 mg/l) alone and BAP (2.0 mg/l) + NAA (0.5 mg/l). Root formation was directly produced from the basal cut end of explants cultured on IBA (1.0 mg/l). In vitro plantlet regeneration has been achieved on BAP (2.0 mg/l) + IBA (1.0 mg/l). Regenerated plants were transferred to sterile vermiculite and soil mixture (3:1). In vitro propagated plants were grew successfully under the field conditions. In vitro propagation can be a useful tool for the conservation of this medicinal species.

The basic points that are to be considered while choosing appropriate enterprise in IFS are:

1. Soil and climatic features of an area/locality.
2. Social status of the family and social customs prevailing in the locality.
3. Economic condition of the farmer (Return/income from the existing farming system).
4. Resource availability at farm and present level of utilization of resources.
5. Economics of proposed IFS and credit facilities.
6. Farmer’s managerial skill.
7. Household demand.
8. Institutional infrastructure and technological knowhow.
9. Market facilities.

Integration of Enterprises

In agriculture, crop husbandry is the main activity. The income obtained from cropping is hardily sufficient to sustain the farm family throughout year. Activities such as dairying, poultry, fish- culture, sericulture, biogas production, edible mushroom cultivation, agro- forestry, agri- horticulture etc. assume critical importance in supplementing their farm income. Assumed regular cash flow is possible when cropping is combined with other enterprises. Judicious combination of enterprises keeping in view of the environment condition of a locality will pay grater dividends. At the same time it will promote effective recycling of residues/ wastes.

Integrated farming system seems to be the answer to the problems of increasing food production. For increasing income and for improving nutrition of the small scale farmers with limited resources without any adverse effect on environment and agro- eco-system. In a cropping system the amount of by products can be as high as or higher than marketable produce. This may go to waste if not utilized in an animal waste component and to reduce the cost of production of the economic produce of component two and finally to entrance the net income of the farm is whole.

Livestock is the best complementary enterprises with cropping, especially during the adverse years. Installation of a biogas plant in crop- livestock system will make use of the wastes, at the same time provides valuable manure and gas for cooking and lighting.

The classification of the farming systems of developing regions may be based on the following criteria:

• Available natural resource base, including water, land, grazing areas and forest; climate, of which altitude is one important determinant; landscape, including slope; farm size, tenure and organization; and
• Dominant pattern of farm activities and household livelihoods, including field crops, livestock, trees, aquaculture, hunting and gathering, processing and off-farm activities; and taking into account the main technologies used, which determine the intensity of production and integration of crops, livestock and other activities.

Abstract

Multi-commodity flours were prepared by blending rice flour, mung flour and potato flour with wheat flour in ratios of 0:0:0:100, 5:5:5:85, 10:10:10:70 and 15:15:15:55, respectively and packaged in glass jar, high density polyethylene and aluminium flexible packaging for biscuits development. The standardized formulations for biscuit had ingredients as 100 g flour/multi-commodity flour, 45 g sugar, 45 g hydrogenated fat, 1.25 g sodium bicarbonate, 1.25 g baking powder and 1.0 g curry leave powder. The biscuits were baked in convective baking oven at 180 > C for 10-15 min till baked. The well baked biscuits were removed from the oven, cooled to room temperature, packaged and stored under ambient condition. The physical quality (Mass, thickness, diameter, spread ration percent spread and bulk density), of biscuits were analyzed just after preparation under ambient condition. Results were also reported that the spread ratio of multi-commodity flour biscuits increased with decrease in the incorporation of wheat flour in multi-commodity flours. It is clear that spread ratio is mostly influenced by the diameter and thickness of biscuits.

Abstract

Food processing involves the transformation of raw animal or plant materials into consumer-ready products, with the objective of stabilizing food products by preventing or reducing negative changes in quality. Without these processes, we would neither be able to store food from time of plenty to time of need nor to transport food over long distances. Food processing has also gained its importance in the wide variety of diet among people throughout the globe and availability of exotic food items at various places. Processing of food items enhance the taste, flavor and aroma of the food thereby increasing the overall chances of its acceptability among the masses. So, it is essential to determine and recognize the database of physical and engineering (aerodynamic and mechanical) properties of these agricultural products because these properties play an important role in designing and developing of specific machines and their operations such as sorting, separating and cleaning, also to determine the optimum in seed metering device in pneumatic planter and precision sowing machine to suite every size of these grains.

Abstract

The research work was conducted on the moisture dependent physical properties of kidney bean (White speckled kidney beans) were analyzed. Length, width, thickness varied between 1.53-1.90, 0.79-0.94, 0.58-0.76 cm for kidney beans, respectively. Arithmetic mean diameter and geometric mean diameter were 0.96-1.19 and 0.88-1.11 cm₂, respectively. Volume, Sphericity and surface area ranged between 0.44 -0.87 cm₃, 0.57-0.60 and 2.91-4.68 cm₂ for white speckled kidney beans, respectively. The kidney bean was soaked in normal water with initial moisture content 14.22 % (db) upto 270 min and attained the final moisture upto 83.23 % (ab).

Abstract

The chapter aims at introducing selected physical properties of food and biological materials in food process and application in the field of food technology. These physical properties of food are not only used for designing of food equipments but can also maintain the nutritive value of food to a greater extent during processing in these equipments.

Introduction

The investigation of food engineering is spotlighted on the inspection of equipments and system used to process food materials on a commercial scale. Building of system for food materials can be efficient if two factors are known, the nature of the food product and what happen to the food during its processing. Food materials are organic in nature and it has a certain kind of qualities which recognize them from other processed food product. Since food materials are organic in nature, they have (a) shapes usually found in normally non regular; (b) properties which differ from other food products; (c) heterogeneous arrangement; (d) properties are varied due to climatic conditions, ripening conditions, etc. and (e) several other factors such as (e) influenced by chemical changes, moisture content variation and enzymatic movement. Managing food materials with these remarkable attributes requires extra thought, for the most part by implication and extra sources or reasons for different varieties. The attributes of a food material that are autonomous of the on looker, quantifiable, can be measured, and characterize the condition of the material (yet not how it accomplished that state) are considered as its physical properties.

Abstract

During present investigation a comparative study was done to see the effect of storage on physical properties of tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) packed in HDPE and stored under ambient temperature. Four varieties of tomatoes taken for current investigation were Badshah, Himshikhar, NS-524 and Raja. From the studies it was clear that TSS increased gradually during storage duration for entire tomato varieties due to loss of some moisture from tomatoes. Variety NS-524 shows maximum shrinkage among all during observation period.

Chi-square test is a non-parametric test as the null hypothesis does not contain any assumption regarding the population parameter. Chi-square is also written as c₂. In this chapter two uses of chi-square test will be dealt with. They are the following :

It is supposed that man was evolved on earth about 15 lakh years ago. This man started to move by standing erect on his feet and called Homo erectus L. Later the modern man was evolved called Homo sapiens L. (Sapiens means learning habit) due to his continuous learning habit. It is difficult to trace the exact period of beginning of agriculture. Archeological evidences indicated that, Agriculture started about 50,000 years ago.

Hunting was the primary source of food in olden days and was prevailed for long time. They obtained his food through domestication of some animals like dogs, horse, cow, buffalo etc. They live in the periphery of the forest and migrate from one place to another in search of food. It was not comfortable and they started enjoying by settling at one place near the river and started agricultural system.

Seed is the living link between plant and progeny and biologically seed is ripe fertilized ovule and a unit of reproduction of flowering plant. Agronomically, a seed material or propagule is the living organ of crop in rudimentary form used for propogation.

Propagation Asexual Sexual Seed Stem cutting Ex: Sugarcane Grafting Rooted slips Ex: Grasses Tubers Ex: Potato Budding Corms Rhizomes Layering

Plants perpetuate / multiply either sexually or asexually. Sexual methods are through seeds and asexually through vegetative parts. Most of the crop plants produce viable seeds which are used for sowing. Those used for multiplication are called seeds and those which used for human consumption are called grains.

Seed consisting of intact embryo, stored food and seed coat which is viable and has got a capacity to germinate. Embryo has two parts:

Pineapple is one of the most important commercial fruits of the world. It is good source of vitamin A, B and fairly rich in vitamin C, minerals like calcium phosphorus and iron. Fresh fruit of pineapple is used as dissert fruit in the form of slices. Fruit is also used for juice, squash, jam, mixed jam and in canned form, fruit cone is used for preparing candy. Some cultivars of pineapple are used for extraction of fibre. The important states of pineapple growing are Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh (Bal, 1997).

Growth is the fundamental property of all living organisms. It is an irreversible permanent increase in size, volume or mass of a cell or organ or whole organism accompanied by an increase in dry weight. Where, development is sum total of growth and differentiation. It is governed by both environmental and internal factors. The development of a plant is highly complex phenomena (Table 1).

The propagation of plants has been one of the fundamental occupations of mankind since civilization begins. Most of the selected plant would have lost or could have attained undesirable forms if they were not propagated under strict environment conditions. Growth, in all nature, result from the division of cells to form more similar cells. Thus bacteria reproduce by simple division, in higher plants and animals, a new individual is genetically formed only when cell division fallows the fusion of two cells. This is known as sexual reproduction. There are thus two methods of producing new plants, sexual and asexual or vegetative reproduction.

I. Sexual Propagation

Raising of plants by means of seeds is called sexual propagation. There are many plants raised for our garden from seeds. The plants produced through seeds are called seedlings. In sexual method, the sex organs of flower are involved in process like pollination and fertilization, resulting the formation of seeds. eg rootstocks plants of many fruit crops are grown through seed propagation.

Maturity indices and their adoption at harvesting and in post harvest management of fruits provide a information against quality loss, microbial decay and deterioration of external appeal. Fruit harvesting at proper stage of maturity has direct effect on quality and market value of produce. Stage of harvesting also influence the after harvest enzymatic activities of the horticultural produce, which determines the levels of different pigments, sugars, acids and vitamins in fruits, flowers and vegetables. Maturity can be described as the attainment of a particular size, stage after which ripening takes place. However, horticultural maturity is defined as the stage of development when a plant or plant part possess the prerequisites for utilization by consumers for a particular purpose. Cucumbers, lettuce and peppers are harvested at various stages (Horticultural maturity) prior to reaching physiological maturity, or completion of growth phase.

There are many methods to determine produce maturity. The most common is the size of the individual commodity.Some other commonly used crude methods are colour change, Softening of the tissues (fig,sapota) ease of detachment from the stalk (Sapota, annona), shrivelling of fruit stalk (water melon), time elapsed from the date of flowering to picking maturity, sound by tapping jack and water melon when ripe produce hollow and dull sound on tapping but produce metallic sound if unripe etc. Another physical characteristic is the firmness and it is determined with a pressure tester. Firmness is often correlated with chemical changes that occur during ripening. Chemical characteristics include TSS, acidity, sugar, vitamins and pigments. There are certain test which accurately gives the maturity measurements such as use of colour charts (judge colour), penetrometers (firmness), brix: acid ratio etc. Other recent methods viz. thermal conductivity X-rays and NIR have also come in practice to judge the maturity of fruits and vegetables. Some commonly use maturity indices are given below in some of the important fruits.

Rapid urbanization and industrialization has led to continuous deterioration of air quality, which is a major environmental problems in many urban areas in both developed and developing countries. Air pollution is characterized by high concentration of suspended particulate matter, oxides of sulphur and nitrogen resulting primarily from increased use of vehicles. Air pollution effects are not limited to the short term nor to the plant damaged or killed. Rather, air pollution has long term effects that affect plants including fruit trees. Horticultural crops are injured when exposed to higher of abnormal levels of various air pollutants. The injury symptoms range from visible marks on foliage, reduced growth and yield to premature death of the plant. The development and severity of injury depends not only on the concentration of the particular pollutant, but also on a number of other supporting factors. These include the duration of exposure to the pollutant, the plant species and development stage as well as conducive environmental factors.

ABSTRACT

A Distributed Database is a database that is under the control of a central database management system (DBMS) in which storage devices are not all attached to a common CPU and may be dispersed over a network of computers interconnected through internet. To ensure that the Distributive databases are up to date and current, there are two processes: replication and duplication. Replication involves using specialized software that looks for changes in the distributive database. Once the changes have been identified, the replication process makes all the databases look alike. The replication process can be very complex and time consuming depending on the size and number of the distributive databases. Duplication on the other hand is not as complicated. It would basically identify one database as a master and then duplicates that database. This is to ensure that each distributed location has the same data. In the duplication process, changes to the master database only are allowed. This is to ensure that local data will not be overwritten. Both of the processes can keep the data current in all distributive locations. The most commonly used databases are DB2, MySQL, Oracle, MS-Access, Ingres, Firebird, MS SQL Server, Teradata, Sybase, Informix and Postgre SQL. Use of single or combination of databases depending on the requirement is key to success. This distributed data management with different levels of transparency like network transparency, fragmentation transparency, replication transparency, etc. Increase reliability and availability of data to the users as well as reduces the database downtime and increase the database performance, reduces network failure due to reduction of network traffic.

India has witnessed tremendous increase in the production of horticultural crops especially fruits since independence. Due to specialized scientific interventions and application of latest research tools, the country is now among the top fruit producing countries of the world ranking second next only to China. However, the productivity has still remained low as against area under the fruit cultivation. Several neglecting issues related to the production technology have remained unattended so far. The old and senile orchards are now reverting towards a declining trend of production because of plant age factor, non-compatible varieties and poor canopy management (Baba et al., 2011).

In the recent past declining productivity of old and dense orchards existing in abundance has become a matter of serious concern for the orchardists, traders as well as scientists. In India 30-35 per cent area under fruit crops is occupied by old, dense and diseased orchards. For overcoming the problem of unproductive and uneconomic orchards existing in abundance, large scale uprooting and replacement with new plantations (rehabilitation) will be a long term and expensive strategy. Therefore research efforts were initiated to standardize a technology for restoring the production potential of existing plantations by a technique called Rejuvenation. The term ‘Rejuvenation’ means renewal or making new or young again. As applied to the orchard tree it would mean restoring the productive capacity of the fruit trees. The meaning of ‘Rejuvenation’ according to Chamber’s dictionary is ‘to recover youth character or to grow again’. Obviously, this would apply to those plants which have attained a stage where they are no more profitable from the grower’s point of view.

Increasing susceptibility of vegetables to various biotic and abiotic stresses and very high cost of hybrid seeds has warranted the attention of the vegetable growers to improve the nursery raising technology of vegetables. Now-a-days protected nursery raising of vegetables has become a full flagged industry in several developed countries like Israel, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, USA etc. In countries like Israel no vegetable grower is growing his own nursery, but they are getting the required kind of seedlings from an established nursery owner on pre- order basis. Similar system of nursery raising is also prevalent in several other advance countries. In those situations where vegetables are being grown under protected conditions it becomes pre-requisite to raise the required vegetable seedlings only under protected environment to get virus free healthy seedlings.

Raising nursery from seeds provide an easy and convenient way to nourish tender and young seedlings in a well managed, small and compact area for better germination of small and costly seed. In general, vegetables crops are divided into three groups according to their relative ease for transplanting. Beet root, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato and lettuce are efficient in water absorption and rapidly form new roots after transplanting. Vegetables crops that are moderately easy for transplanting are brinjal, onion, sweet pepper, chilli and celery which do not absorb water as efficiently as crops that are easy to transplant, but they form new roots relatively quickly. The vegetable crops which are difficult to transplant are: all cucurbits and sweet corn which require special care during nursery raising and transplanting. Seedlings not only reduce the amount of time of the crop but it also increases the uniformity of the crop and harvesting as compared to direct sowing of the crops. Transplanting of seedlings also eliminates the need for thinning and provides very good opportunities for virus free, vigorous and even off-season seedlings if grown under protected conditions in soil-less media. So it becomes necessary to know the protected structures which can be efficiently used for successful raising of vegetable seedlings, suitable types of containers and growing media, method of seeding in containers in soil-less media, growing conditions and water and fertilizer requirement of seedlings along with hardening and transplanting to the field. Protected nursery raising technology is highly suitable and can be established as a small scale industry in major vegetable growing areas of our country by progressive farmers especially in peri-urban areas. By this way the vegetable growers will get virus-free healthy and off season nursery as per their requirement and it generate extra employment in rural areas.

Climate change may manifest itself as rapid changes in climate in the short term or subtler changes over decades. Generally, climate change is associated with an increasing global temperature. Various climate model projections suggest that by the year 2100, mean global temperature may be 1.1–6.4 °C warmer than in 2010. The difficulty facing livestock is weather extremes, e.g. intense heat waves, ?oods and droughts. In addition to production losses, extreme events also result in livestock death (Gaughan and Cawsell-Smith, 2015). Animals can adapt to hot climates, however the response mechanisms that are helpful for survival may be detrimental to performance. In this article we make an attempt to project the adverse impact of climate change on livestock production. There is a two-way relationship between livestock production and environmental health.

Impact of climate change on livestocks

The potential impacts on livestock include changes in production and quality of feed crop and forage, water availability, animal growth and milk production, diseases, reproduction, and biodiversity. These impacts are primarily due to an increase in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration, precipitation variation, and a combination of these factors. Temperature affects most of the critical factors for livestock production, such as water availability, animal production, reproduction and health. Forage quantity and quality are affected by a combination of increases in temperature, CO₂ and precipitation variation. Livestock diseases are mainly affected by an increase in temperature and precipitation variation.

Introduction

Climate change has been realised during 1840s when indisputable evidence of former ice ages was obtained. The climate has altered sufficiently in many parts of the world even within the last few decades which will affect the possibilities for agriculture and settlement. Reliable weather records have been kept only during the last hundred years or so, but proxy indicators of past conditions from tree rings, pollen in bog and lake sediments, ice core records of physical and chemical parameters, and ocean foraminifera in sediments provide a wealth of paleoclimatic data. The standard interval adopted by the World Meteorological Organization for climatic statistics is thirty years:1901–30, 1931–60, for example. However, for historical records and proxy indicators of climate, longer, arbitrary time intervals may be necessary to calculate average values. Tree rings and ice cores can give seasonal/annual records, while peat bog and ocean sediments may provide records with only 100- to 1,000-year time resolution. Hence, short-term changes and the true rates of change may, or may not, be identifiable.

The present climatic state is usually described in terms of an average value (arithmetic mean, or the median value in a frequency distribution), a measure of variation about the mean (the standard deviation, or interquartile range), the extreme values, and often the shape of the frequency distribution. A change in climate can occur in several different ways, for example, there may be a shift in the mean level, or a gradual trend in the mean values. The variability may be periodic, quasi-periodic or non-periodic, or alternatively it may show a progressive trend . First, it is important to determine whether such changes are real or whether they are an artefact of changes in instrumentation, observational practices, station location, or the surroundings of the instrumental site, or due to errors in the transcribed data. Even when changes are real, it may be difficult to ascribe them to unique causes because of the complexity of the climate system. Natural variability operates over a wide range of time scales, and superimposed on these natural variations in climate are the effects of human activities.

Introduction

Climate-smart small ruminant production is an approach for transforming and reorienting the small ruminant production under the new realities of climate change. The main objective of climate-smart small ruminant production is to make the production sustainable for national food security, enhancement of resilience, and reduction of greenhouse gasses emission. Climate-smart agriculture is that, which increases the sustainable productivity, enhances resilience, reduce greenhouse gasses (GHG) and boost the achievements of national food security and development goals (FAO, 2013). In India, most of the rural communities earn their livelihood on smallholder livestock production system and they are very much vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, the need of the hour is to address the impact of climate change both in terms of adaptation as well as mitigation perspective (Vemeulen et al., 2013). The increase in population, the higher income, urbanization, and change in dietary preference leading to increased demand for animal products that pressurizing for higher productivity of livestock (Delgado et al., 1999; Thronton et al., 2007).

The mutton production in our country was 399 million Kg in 2012 which will be around 537 million Kg by 2020, and 840 million Kg in 2030 and 1317 million Kg in 2050. However, the requirement for mutton would be 813 million Kg by 2020, 986 million Kg by 2030 and 1408 million Kg in 2050. Similarly, the wool production in the country is 44.7 million Kg in present time (2011-2012), which have to be increased 150, 180 and 200 million Kg in 2020, 2030 and 2050, respectively. But the harsh climatic condition, shrinkage grazing resources, increase in cultivation and industrialization and decline interest of new generation for small ruminant rearing; making a question mark to meet the future demand in the current production trend. The scarcity of resources, impact of climate change and increase demand for mutton has made the traditional coping mechanism less effective (Sidahmed, 2008). Therefore, we need climate-smart sheep and goat production option that can achieve the triple win scenario of increasing productivity, adapting and building resilience to climate change through a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission (FAO, 2013; Shikuku et al., 2016).

Introduction

In the past few decades, persistent change in climatic variables coupled with global warming lead to the genesis of climatic stress. Currently climatic stress is considered as the most serious ultimatum to livestock’s growth, development, production and reproduction in tropics and subtropics including India. Livestock’s in tropical countries are most commonly affected by the menace of climatic stress. It has been shown that, climatic stress upsets animal’s body homeostasis resulting in grievous decline in livestock’s production and productivity across the world. In general, livestock adapt to the climatic insults via behavioural, physiological, biochemical, metabolic, endocrine and molecular responses. Despite of these thermal adaptation mechanisms, livestock’s witnesses the perils of climatic stress thereby incur major loss in their production and productivity. Therefore, in this changing climatic scenario, it is imperative to rigorously understand and explore the precise mechanism of thermal adaptation to generate climate resilient species which could upsurge the socio-economic status of the farmers as well as the country.

Introduction

Animals have delicate balance of heat production and heat loss, which is maintained by thermoregulatory mechanisms in response to environmental temperature and humidity combinations. When the heat loss is overrun by heat gain, heat stress occurs. During heat stress, increase in the core body temperature due to failure of homeostatic mechanism reduces productivity of the animals below their original genetic potential in growth, milk production, milk constituents and reproduction (Ravagnolo and Misztal, 2002). Impending climate change scenario is a unanimously accepted reality. Increase in the anthropogenic greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄and NO₂) cause radiation leading to excess warming of the earth’s environmental system. According to IPCC, the predicted temperature rises for the end of 21^st century may be in the range of 1.8^oC to 4^oC (IPCC, 2007). The climate change has complex impact on the livestock production. Temperature or heat stress will be one of the major environmental factor to in?uence the health and productivity of livestock population. The least tropically adapted livestock may be severely affected by heat stress. The manage mental and ameliorative practices can deal with the heat stress in short term, however the long term focus of developing genetic heat stress tolerance in livestock population will be a significant and impactful strategy.