eChapters

The North Eastern Hill Region is the most suitable area of India for organic agricultural farming because of its numerous advantages. This region is said to be, by and large, organic by default or the farmers of this region are de facto organic producers. Truly, the farmers of this region are using very minimal or not even minimal amount of inorganic inputs like fertilizer and pesticides. Almost in all the seven states of this region, farmers are practicing traditional agriculture for thousands of years. Recently, only pockets of the region, the use of inorganic inputs have been started but the level of use is almost negligible. This low chemical input use (inorganic input) is the biggest strength in term of the possibility of organic agriculture in this hilly region. The conversion period of organic from inorganic agriculture will be much lower and easier in this region as compared to other parts of the country. Further, the conversion process will be much easier due to the readily available huge amount of forest biomass and the residues of diverse livestock population. Moreover, experimental results show that during the transition period, the farmers face the problem of yield losses, but in NE India it was observed that yield loss was minimum, sometimes nil, because farmers of this region are using very low level of inorganic inputs. Additionally, the organic products usually fetch higher prices, nearly 20-25 per cent premium as compared to the conventional products, which, may compensate the problem of yield losses during early period of conversion and thereby increase the level of income.

North-Eastern Hill Region is suitable for growing a number of high value crops and following good agricultural practices for cultivation of these crops are likely to increase farm income substantially. Enabling the state to follow systematic organic farm practices is likely to make the farming profession more remunerative. Present socio economic study indicated that the organic farm practices might be quite favourable particularly for few crops like pineapple, turmeric, ginger and cashew, which have readymade potential.

Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control. Organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides but excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured (synthetic) fertilizers, pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, genetically modified organisms, human sewage sludge, and nano materials.

There is a need to look for new means to check this menace. Chemical fertilizers are necessary to feed the ever increasing population of the nation but this needs to be supplemented with the organic manures. But organic manures are not available in sufficient quantity. Besides, they alone cannot meet the nutritional requirement of the crops and have to be applied alongwith the chemical fertilizers. Experimental results have shown that if organic fertilizers are applied then chemical use can be brought down to half. This will lead to favourable impact on the soil ecology besides saving large amounts that are being pumped to subsidize the chemical fertilizers.

Organic agriculture is picking up in some parts of our nation and it can generate viable farming option to small and marginal farmers. But short supply of the organic inputs is emerging as one of the major bottlenecks. Vermicomposting of city wastes and farm wastes can generate substantial volume of the organic fertilizer for use in our fields, thereby, helping us to overcome major hurdle in taking up organic agriculture production. This chapter attempts to identify the find out the ways and benefits of practicing organic farming and determines the economics of Vermicomposting technology.

Originating in the New World tropics, peppers have become ubiquitous culinary essential now grown not only in warm climates but in temperate areas as well. They include both sweet and hot chilli varieties. Botanically chilli belongs to the genus Capsicum. The North East region has its own unique combination of living species, habitats and ecosystems, which together make up its diversity rich resource. While speaking strictly about plant diversity, two regions of the country are termed as hot spots. These are – Western Ghats and the North Eastern hill regions. The King’s chilli is an inter-specific hybrid cultivated in the Nagaland and Assam region of northeastern India and parts of neighboring Bangladesh. In 2007, Guinness World Records certified the Bhut Jolokia as the world’s hottest chili pepper, 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. From time immemorial, traditionally the Bhut jolokia is been cultivated and consumed by the local people in North eastern states like Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. A good amount of genetic variability exists in the landraces of the crop in respect of Pod size, shape, and colour etc.

In recent years, the King’s chilli (Bhut jolokia) is gaining importance in the scientific community as it was reported as the hottest chilli. Though Bhoot jolokia or Naga chilli was cultivated from time immemorial, but nobody really bothered to compare its heat with other record setters. The field of King’s chilli is still in a growing stage and it components and their beneficial uses are still to be exploited fully. Very little research towards the scientific cultivation of this potential crop was accomplished in recent years and until now no standard scientific package of practice is available for the cultivation of the crop.

There is tremendous scope for utilizing the available genetic variability of the crop in a well-planned plant breeding programme for further development of elite genotypes in this crop. Development of proper and efficient post harvest mechanism and also of different value added products of King’s chilli shall generate a great potential for earning revenue in the national as well as international markets.

Fast increasing population, changing climate, shrinking land and water resources are the major challenges before us to meet the food and nutritional security of the population at global level. Improvement in the production and productivity of crops are the immediate need to boost the availability of food and improvement economic conditions of the farmers. Greenhouse technology has shown tremendous potential in improvement in production and productivity of crops even under uncongenial soil and climatic conditions. The farmers having very small farm holdings in countries like Japan, Holland and South Korea have improved their income and living standards by adopting protected cultivation technologies. However, India is yet to trap the potentials of the technology. Modern green houses require uninterrupted huge electric power for control of environment (heating/cooling/air circulation etc), which is considered one of the major cause for global warming. High installation and running (energy) cost, high cost of production; poor government support and lack of farmers’ friendly/cost effective greenhouse technology are some other challenges. Low cost zero energy based solar greenhouse technology popularizes the green houses in small and marginal farmers of remote areas. Such greenhouses are specifically design using local resources and also to trap the natural solar radiation/ heat and maintain it for longer period. The designs do not require electric power which ultimately reduces the installation/running cost and also does not have the adverse effects on the environment. This will not only improve the economic status of the farmers but also provide nutritive food to their families and also enhance production and productivity of various crops in the country without deteriorating the environment.

Introduction

Cucurbits, belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae are among the most ancient cultivated plants. The term cucurbit was coined by Liberty Hyde Bailey for cultivated species of Cucurbitaceae. Other vernaculars applied to the family and several of its members are ‘gourd’, ‘melon’, ‘cucumber’, ‘squash’ and ‘pumpkin’. The Cucurbitaceae consists of two well defined sub families, eight tribes representing varying degrees of circumscriptive cohesiveness and about 118 genera and 825 species (Jeffrey, 1990). It is mostly tropical and sub tropical in distribution and only a few species occur in temperate regions. Some are semi desert or saprophytic in nature. The Indian sub continent is considered to be the centre of origin for a number of wild and cultivated crops. Chakravorty (1982) reported that 36 genera and 100 species of cucurbits are found in India. Cucurbits are cultivated in 8.5 m ha area in world giving a production of 17.9 mt. While in India a total of 4.5 mt cucurbits are produced from an area of 0.42 m ha area (FAO, 2004).

Cucurbitaceae is one of the most genetically diverse groups of plants in the plant kingdom. As a family and as individual crop, cucurbits epitomize adaptive differentiation and evolutionary divergence. Not only may cultivars within a crop vary significantly in their characteristics, but the same cultivar grown in distinct areas can have different needs in response to disparate local growing conditions. Cultures and ethnic groups may have different cultivar preference and horticultural practices, which also increase morphological diversity within a crop.

Cucurbits are of tremendous economic importance as food plants. They are extensively grown in mixed cropping of more than one kind in long and meandering river beds. Of various improvements approaches possible, breeding of superior pure lines and hybrid cultivars of cucurbits utilizing locally adopted land races are the most important methods which will have far reaching impact on increasing the production and productivity of cucurbits.

Introduction

Global food productivity will have to rise significantly to satisfy an expanding world population. Increased vegetable production is one option towards the efficient conversion of natural resources into food stuffs. As a group, vegetables are a diverse range of herbaceous plants that do not belong to any particular botanical species, genus or family. Individual members may be at various stages of domestication. Vegetables are typically annual herbaceous species, whose plant parts (leaves, stems, flowers, fruits, roots or tubers) are consumed as fresh or as cooked product, and as an additional source of vitamins, minerals, fibre, phytochemicals, protein and/or calories. Health benefits are also claimed for some vegetable species, mainly due to antioxidant activity and capacity to scavenge free radicals.

Domesticated plants have been fundamentally altered from their wild relatives; these species have been moved into and adapted to new environments. They have become dependent on the farmer’s hand and they have been reshaped to meet human needs and wants. Modern crops are the results of thousands of years of these evolutionary processes. Like all biological evolution, crop evolution involves two fundamental process; the creation of diversity and selection (Harris and Hillman, 1989). Crop evolution is distinguished by two types of selection; one natural and another artificial or conscious. These evolutionary processes must continue in order for agriculture, a living and evolving system to remain viable.

In the hands of plant breeder’s sexual hybridization is a powerful tool for producing superior plants by combining characters distributed in different members of a species or different species of a genus. Genetic variability within the species has been efficiently utilized by breeders in their efforts to improve crops. However, the existing variability in a breeding population may not be sufficient for modern plant breeding purposes, and thus great efforts have been made to broaden the existing gene pool of crops through utilization of wild germplasm.

Introduction

Radish (Raphanus sativus L., 2n=2x=18) is a root cum leafy vegetable suitable for sub tropical and temperate climate. Radish probably originated in Europe and Asia. It has been under extensive cultivation in Egypt since long. It was introduced to England and France in the beginning of 16^th century. In 1806, it was introduced to America. Radish does not exist in wild stack. It is believed to have originated from R. raphanistrum which is widely distributed as weed in Europe. Radish is primarily a winter crop but with the development and release of new varieties, it can be grown all the year round. The new varieties can withstand heat and does not bolt in spring. Radish is a favourite crop because of its quick growth and availability in 4-7 weeks.

Its fleshy roots are modified roots, developed from both the primary root and hypocotyl. The leaves and roots are consumed both as salad and cooked. The radish root is a good appetizer; its different preparations are useful in curing liver and gall bladder problems. Roots are also used in treating urinary complaints and piles. The juice of fresh leaves is useful as diuretic and laxative. Pungency in radish is due to volatile isothiocyanates while pink colour is due to pigment anthocyanin.

Radish is a good source of vitamin C containing 15-40 mg per 100g of edible portion. Roots also contain proteins, fat, minerals, fibre and carbohydrates, besides trace elements like aluminium, barium, lithium, manganese, silicon, titanium, fluorine and iodine. Pink skinned radish is generally richer in vitamin C than the white skinned type. Radish contains glucose as the major sugar and also contains fructose and sucrose in smaller quantities. Pectin and pentosans are also reported to be present. The leaves are good source of extraction of protein on a commercial scale and seeds are potential source for non-drying fatty oil suitable for soap making, illuminating and for the edible purposes.

Introduction

In 1990, the magnitude of fungal diversity, that is, the actual number of species worldwide, was estimated conservatively to be at least 1.5 million. Of the 1.5 million estimated fungi, it has been estimated that 14,000 species produce fruiting bodies of sufficient size and suitable structure to be considered macro-fungi which can be called mushrooms. Of these, about 50 % or 7,000 species are considered to possess varying degrees of edibility and more than 3,000 species from 31 genera are regarded as prime edible mushrooms. To date, only 200 of them are experimentally grown, 100 economically cultivated, approximately 60 commercially cultivated and about 10 have reached an industrial scale of production in many countries (Hawksworth, 2001). Of the 14,000 species of mushrooms in the world, around 700 have known for medicinal properties. Thus, mushrooms have vast prospects as sources of medicines. The early herbalists were more interested in the medicinal properties of mushrooms than in their basic value as a source of food. Humankind has constantly searched for new substances that can improve biological functions and thereby make people fitter and healthier. About 3.5 billion people worldwide, all over half of the world populations rely on plant-based medicines and dietary supplements for their primary health care. Of the plant materials involved in medicines or health tonics, quite a few are fungi. The practice of using fungi as herbal medicines can be traced in different early records of the ‘materia medica’. The earliest book on medicinal materials the “Shen Nongs Herbal” recorded the medicinal effects of several fungi such as Ganoderma lucidum, Poria cocos, Tremella fuciformis, Polyporus umbillatus and other unidentified fungi. The most famous of all work on the traditional medicines “Pen Ts’ao Kang Mu” which was compiled by Li Shi-Zhen of the Ming Dynasty recorded the medicinal fungi totaling more than twenty species, including Ganoderma lucidum, Poria cocos, Polyporus umbellatus, Lentinula edodes, Termitomyces albuminosus, Auricularia auricula, Pleurotus ostreatus, Armillaria mellea etc. A very unique insect-infecting fungus, Cordyceps sinensis, was for the first time taken as a medicinal fungus in the book “Essentials of Materia Medica”. There have been new discoveries and developments in the field of medicinal fungi, which have greatly enriched the treasure house of our traditional medical and medicinal sciences. As a result of large number of scientific studies on medicinal mushrooms in the past three decades, the traditional uses of many mushrooms have been confirmed and new wider uses found. Some traditionally important and leading medicinal fungi in the Oriental medicines are presented below

1. INFLORESCENCE

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches.

1.1. Types of inflorescence

Inflorescences can be simple or compound.

1.1.1. Simple inflorescence

Inflorescence of sessile disc florets forming the capitulum

1.1.1.1. Indeterminate

Indeterminate simple inflorescences are generally called racemose. The main kind of racemose inflorescence is the raceme. The other kind of racemose inflorescences can all be derived from this one by dilation, compression, swelling or reduction of the different axes. Some passage forms between the obvious ones are commonly admitted.

1. SEED

A seed is defined as a ‘mature ovule’ or a reproductive unit formed from fertilized ovule, consisting of an embryo, reserve food and a protective cover.

Seed is the basic input in agriculture upon which other inputs are applied. A good vigorous seed utilities all the resources and realized as a reasonable output to the grower. It is wealth to the farmer, it is the yesterday’s harvest and tomorrow’s hope. Good seed in good soil realize good yield.

Seeds exhibit a great range of variation in shape, size, colour and behaviour. The most essential factor for the success of plantation is the ready availability of quality seeds. The quality of seed is totally responsible for the future return / performance of each and every seedling.

1. TROPICAL FRUITS

1.1. Common name, botanical name and family

1. INTRODUCTION

For maintenance of genetic purity in the field with the seed crop and to test verify the standards in certification programme, the studies on varietal characterization and identification have attracted the attention of breeders, breeder’s right protection institutions, farmers, the seed industry, certification agencies, and seed testing laboratories with a view to assure the quality of seed marketed to the consumers.

2.1. Soil structure

Important physical properties of soils

Soil texture

Soil structure

Surface area

Soil density

1.1. Livestock breeds

Denotes and established group of animals / birds having the similar general body shape, colour, structure and characters which produced offspring with same characters.

1.1. Cattle

1. Indigenous breeds

Milch: Sindhi, Sahiwal, Gir and Deoni

Dual: Hariana, Ongole, Tharparkar, Kankrej

Draught: Kangayam, Umblachery, Amritmahal, Hallikar

5.1. Groundnut

5.1.1. Aphids - Aphis craccivora (Aphididae: Hemiptera)

7.1. Rice

7.1.1. Blast

Magnaporthe oryzae (formerly Magnaporthe grisea) anamorph: (Pyricularia oryzae)

8.1. Redgram

8.1.1. Wilt: Fusarium udum

1. Symptoms

10.1. Sugarcane

10.1.1. Yellow leaf disease

1. Vector: Melanaphis sacchari , Rhopalosiphum maidis

2. Symptoms

3.1. Cereals and millets

3.1.1. Rice

1. Major weeds

Grasses

5.1. Importance of Secondary Nutrients in Agriculture

Secondary nutrients such as sulphur (S), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) are the macronutrients that are required in relatively large amounts for crop growth. Among the secondary nutrients, Ca is the 5^th most abundant element in the earth’s crust while, Mg and S are ranked 8^th and 13^th, respectively. The average S content of the earth’s crust ranges from 0.06 to 0.10%; whereas, Ca in soil solution of temperate region soils is 30 to 300 ppm and soils of tropical areas is 8 to 45 ppm (Tisdale et al., 1997). In case of Mg, its’ concentration ranges from 5-50 in temperate region and 120-2400 ppm in tropical region. The Ca and Mg are the most abundant cations occupying the exchange sites of the soil colloids. Thus, most soils with the possible exception of highly weathered, leached acid soils, contain enough Ca and Mg for crop growth. In soils, occurrence and reactions of S are different from those of Ca and Mg. The plant available S is SO₄^2- ion which is relatively mobile in soil solution. Like nitrogen (N), S is also subjected to chemical and biological oxidation-reduction reactions. On the other hand, Ca and Mg are much more stable and they exist in soil as Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ cations and present in association with soil colloidal fraction similar to that of K. In general, Ca and Mg are the most abundant cations occupying in the exchange site.

Secondary nutrients in soils may be lost due to several reasons such as (i) crop removal, (ii) leaching, (iii) erosion, and (iv) volatilization. The amount of Ca and Mg attain importance in areas where soils are either strongly alkaline or acidic. These soils are often deficient in Ca and Mg. The Ca deficiency is most widespread in acidic soils. The alluvial soils of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP), being neutral to moderately alkaline in reaction, have sufficient bases on their exchange complex and Ca deficiency is, therefore, rarely found in these soils. However, alkali soils may contain inadequate quantities of Ca due to dominance of Na⁺ on the exchange complex. Magnesium deficiency is found in sandy soils with low exchangeable Mg²⁺, acid soils and those with high in native or applied K. Alkali soils have high exchangeable Na⁺. The Ca²⁺ is a suitable ion to replace this Na⁺ from the exchange complex when Ca²⁺ is supplied through gypsum (CaSO₄.2H₂O). The replaced Na⁺ forms Na₂SO₄ which is then leached down to remove the salt away from the root zone of the crops. Gypsum also reacts with Na₂CO₃ to form CaCO₃ and Na₂SO₄ which is leached down the profile. A thorough leaching of the soil with irrigation water should be done after application of gypsum to free it from Na₂SO₄.

Introduction

Food processing comprise of techniques employed to transform raw ingredients into final food product or to preserve the food product. Food processing industry as well as at domestic scale the food processing methods aim at providing processed food products for daily consumption by humans and animals. Food processing aims at increasing the shelf life, preserve, make nutritious or ready to eat foods, and getting the best quality final products. There are various techniques and methods which come under food processing such as drying, dehydration, fermentation, pickling, freezing, mixing, pumping, pasteurization, cooking and homogenization etc.

Rheological properties of foods are greatly influenced by various unit operations and processing methods or conditions such as heating and mechanical treatments. Processing of different food products such as dairy, fruit and vegetable products like jams and purees, chocolates, dough development etc. and basic make up of foods such as fats, proteins and others such as emulsifiers, hydrocolloids etc. affects the rheological properties of food product and which ultimately affects the quality of end product. Apart from processing conditions the compositional variations have a great impact on the textural or rheological properties of foods. The changes in rheological characteristics of a food product reflects the alterations in the molecular structure of the food material, this can aid in revealing the changes in product structure during different processing methods or conditions. In designing of various processes such as cooling, freezing and equipment design information about thermal properties is crucial. Moreover, in order to design storage structures for foods and refrigeration equipment the knowledge of thermal properties is important (Becker et al. 2003).

For rheological measurements various tests and techniques are available, such as steady and dynamic shear measurements. From the steady shear properties flow properties of the sample can be revealed whether the flow is Newtonian or Non Newtonian. In case of dynamic shear rheological properties information on viscoelastic characteristics can be withdrawn in terms of storage and loss modulus and depending on the predominance of each modulus the nature of sample can be predicted i.e. whether viscoelastic solid or viscoelastic fluid (Bhardwaj et al. 2019). Apart from these measurements, other rheological measurements are available for specific food materials, such as farinograph, alveo-consistograph, mixograph etc. are meant for study of rheological properties of dough. So, accordingly, depending upon the food material choice of rheological measurement can be made. To study the thermal transitions DSC (Differential scanning calorimeter) and DTA (Differential thermal analysis) are commonly employed. Dynamic measurements as a function of temperature or time are made in these techniques to detect the endothermal and exothermal changes. These techniques can be used to determine the phase transitions in various foods, for instance, crystallization and melting of water, lipids and other food components; denaturation of protein; gelatinization of starch and others (Roos 2015).

Introduction

Lipids are among the major components of food of plant and animal origin (food lipid). There is no precise definition available for the term lipid; however, it always includes a broad category of compounds that have some common properties and compositional similarities. Lipids are materials that are sparingly soluble or insoluble in water, but soluble in selected organic solvents like benzene, chloroform, ether, hexane, and methanol. Together with carbohydrates and proteins, lipids constitute the principal structural components of tissues (Erwin Wsowicz et al., 2004). Lipid oxidation is one of the major reasons that foods deteriorate and is caused by the reaction of fats and oils with molecular oxygen resulting in off-flavours that are generally called rancidity. Exposure to light, pro-oxidants and elevated temperature will accelerate the reaction (Velasco, J et al., 2010). Rancidity is related to characteristic off-flavour and odour of the oil. There are two major causes of rancidity. One occurs when oil reacts with oxygen and is called oxidative rancidity (Ribeiro et. al., 1993). The other cause of rancidity is by a combination of enzymes and moisture. Enzymes like lipases liberate fatty acids from the triglyceride to make di and monoglycerides and free fatty acids and such liberation of free fatty acids is named hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is additionally caused by chemical process that’s prompted by factors like heat or presence of water. Rancidity caused by hydrolysis is called hydrolytic rancidity. Oxidation cares mainly with the unsaturated fatty acids. Oxidative rancidity is off interest because it results in the event of unfavourable off-flavours which will be detected early within the development of rancidity, more so than in the case of hydrolytic rancidity. Oxidation can alter the flavour and nutritional quality of foods and produce toxic compounds, all of which may make the foods less acceptable or unacceptable to consumers. Oxidation products typically include low relative molecular mass compounds that are volatile also as undesirable off-flavour compounds (Food lipids).

5.1 Introduction

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in a nutrient solution rather than in soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with only their roots exposed to the nutritious liquid.

Traditionally, the soil supports the crop’s roots by helping them remain upright and ensuring the delivery of water and essential nutrients. In hydroponics farming, crops are supported by an inert medium such as perlite, gravel, or other substrates. Therefore, the nutrients are supplied by using various practices that bring mineral nutrient solutions to the crops. In the present situation there excessive use of chemical fertilizers, affecting fertility of soil is badly affected. The fertility of the soil is falling that affects the plants growth but in hydroponics, the plant remains unaffected. Plants grow faster than in soil. Produce better quality of plants and higher yields. It use less water. It is possible to use hydroponics on outdoor crops, but most of the hydroponics production is in greenhouse. Hydroponic farming system has the potential to reduce the problem associated with traditional crop production. Therefore, it could serve to be a turning point in feeding the global population. The greenhouse and its environment control system are the same whether plants are grown conventionally or with hydroponics. The difference comes from the support system and the method of supplying water and nutrients.

The hydroponic farming has been successfully demonstrated by the commercial growers for fast-growing crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, spinaches, lettuce, radishes, strawberries, bens, spring onions, coriander, and ornamentals. Indeed, hydroponics technology enables a more precise control of micro climatic conditions. In this technique, the vigorous development of a root system is taking place, which enable the uptake of essential nutrients from nutrient solution for better crop yield. The initial investment in hydroponics farming is high and required constant energy input. Owing to this, hydroponics farming is recommended for growing high value crops in developed countries such as the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.

Abstract

Nitrogen (N₂) is an essential nutrient for every organisms. It is the building block of many biological molecules. Atmosphere contains 79% of N₂ gas which cannot be used by plants directly as it is chemically inert. Many diazotrophs like bacteria and cyanobacteria have the capability to convert atmospheric dinitrogen into a usable form by means of Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). N₂ fixation is generally three types i.e. Asymbiotic, Associative and Symbiotic. Asymbiotic N₂-fixation also known as free living N₂-fixation is under taken by some bacteria and cyanobacteria. In associative N₂-fixation, some bacteria fix nitrogen in association with root of some grasses and cereal plants. In symbiotic nitrogen fixation, Rhizobium form root nodule in legumes and fix atmospheric N₂ and convert it into the ammonia (NH₃) by the help of Nitrogenase enzyme. This oxygen sensitive enzyme consist of two components i.e. di-nitrogenase (MoFe protein) and di-nitrogenase reductase (Fe protein) which are highly conserve in sequence and structure. The N₂ fixing genes e.g. nod gene (nodulation gene) and the nif gene (nitrogen-fixing gene) are located in the plasmid which is also called mega plasmid. Symbiotic association between legume and rhizobium have agronomic importantance and reduce the use of N-fertilizers or even avoided. The long term use of the nitrogenous biofertilizer in the agricultural field is a promising approach to develop and fulfil N₂ demand of the growing crop without causing any environmental hazard.

Abstract

Rhizobia are soil bacteria that fix atmospheric dinitrogen after establishing symbiotic relationship inside the root nodules of legumes (Fabaceae). Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria are the group of bacteria which thrive in the rhizosphere region and enhance the plant growth through direct & indirect mechanisms. Pulses are being inoculated with specific rhizobial strains to have better nodulation in India. The native rhizobial strains from the root nodules of legumes from different agroclimatic zones of Odisha was isolated, characterised and screened for PGP activities. Out of all eleven isolates showed similar characteristics with the family Rhizobiacae. Among them six isolates contained nif-gene and PGPR activity (B2, B4, B5, B6, B7 and B8) were applied to seeds, that helped in faster germination and better elongation of root and shoot. The observations were statistically significant.

Abstract

Cow and buffalo milk is the major source milk worldwide contributing 81 and 15% of total milk production respectively. However, milk from animals like goat, sheep, camel, donkey, yak etc also contribute to human nutrition and health in different parts of world. These milks are source of staple traditional product and considered as delicacy in parts of Europe, UK, USA etc. The microbiota of raw milk and fermented milks, cheeses, made from raw milk is complex. These microorganisms have immense role in determining quality and safety of the subsequent product made from these milks as they may be responsible in spoilage and reducing shelf life, causing human health issues, also contribute to development of flavor and aroma formation, texture development, ripening cheese. Different factors like host, stage of lactation etc. affect the composition of microbiota present in the milks and methods like cultural and culture independent methods metagenomic analysis have been done to determine the microbial community present in the milk.

Introduction

Non- cow and non-buffalo milks such as milks from goat, sheep, camel, donkey, yaks etc. are one of the important sources of nutrition in different parts of the world. In Mongolia, the highlands of the Afghanistan and Pakistan, Himalayas in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, Tibetan Plateau and in the Mountains China yak milk is the only source of milk. Cheese made from sheep and goat milk are categorized as gourmet food and many times regarded as protected designation of origin (PDO) status. Camel milk is used for medicinal food and donkey milk is suitable for children, aged people due to its hypo allergenic properties. These milks and milk products like cheese, naturally fermented milks and yoghurt are staple traditional foods in different parts of the world.

Abstract

Colostrum is the lacteal secretion after the birth of the new-born. It has a very different composition from milk, naturally designed to build immunity, promotes growth, and protects new-born mammals from external factors. It has a higher amount of protein and fat which provides the building blocks for growth. The higher macro and micro nutrients present in it help in various inter and intracellular activity and metabolism. Colostrum is fully loaded with various immune-boosting factors and growth factors, among them immunoglobulin, lactoferrin, lysozyme, insulin-like growth factor, vitamins have the most importance. Colostrum can fight against various diseases, bacteria, viruses, toxins, and can build a healthy immune system and gastric digestion system in the human body. Bovine, non-bovine, and human colostrum have almost all components in common but at different compositions. Non-bovine colostrum is comparatively less explored than bovine colostrum. Deep research and marketing can bring this nature’s gift for the goodness of human beings.

Introduction

The ancient agriculture as an each class of advice has been well connected into several subcategories. As such, the advice under centennial sub-category has been divided to a few references, in adjustment with proper specification not to access only the aggregate of the publication. However, the information on past day agriculture to attending for data has been collected from the adapted references. There are several pictures assuming seeds of cereals and legumes and those of a collection of agricultural tools and implements begin in archaeological excavation and office texts. These are mentioned to advance how accurate to accept in aggregate of every fragment of advice and verify it from added sources more than one. The painstaking and thorough going work have revealed the state of agriculture during the period under study and its gradual development through the ages. The recorded findings are no doubt those have not been comparable with present-day agriculture. The awareness of the people engaged in agriculture regarding the types of food-crops to be grown, the animals to be domesticated and reared for agricultural operations as well as sources of food and nutrition, the design and preparation of tools and implements for agricultural operations and machineries for food processing unfolds gradually with experience gathered in course of time. The agriculture in past period wherein the population was predominantly pastoral and agricultural such great strides were noticeable in the pursuit of agricultural sciences with a sound traditional and scientific practice. Therefore, the recognizable endeavor throughout the period gives sufficient reasons to be proud of cultural continuity towards agricultural heritage.

Learning about water chemistry is often neglected by most of the aquarium owners. By understanding the concepts of water chemistry, they can considerably improve success rate in rearing healthy fishes. It is well known that the quality of water has a direct impact on the health of the fish. But many aquarium owners do not understand the basic internal chemistry of the water, nor do they understand how to correct it or safely adjust it. Until the basics of water chemistry is understood and some common water maintenance techniques are learnt, it will be difficult to maintain a healthy and safe environment for the fish in tank. The water quality is by far the single most important factor for the healthy fish, and the more is known, the better management is expected.

Fish depends for their basic necessities on the water in which they live. The most characteristic feature of an aquarium system is, therefore, the quality of the water available in tanks/aquarium. This water must be obtained from some source, pre-treated to make it suitable for the fish, delivered to the fish in sufficient quantities and maintained in good condition. The water supplied to an aquarium is not pure, but it contains dissolved and particulate materials, some are necessary for up keep of the fish and rests are harmful. Contamination may occur not only at source or from the animals, but often takes place within the aquarium from the materials used for its construction. The number of fish that can be maintained within the aquarium is said to be according to the quality and quantity of the water supplied to an aquarium. However, it is rarely the quantity of water per unit which limits the carrying capacity. The capacity is usually set by the requirement of dissolved oxygen and the accumulation of toxic metabolic products in the aquarium.

A kitchen garden/ nutrition garden is a vegetable garden where the vegetable crops are grown in the backyard of a house or any available space in compound or rooftop of the house, to meet the daily requirement of the family. All the members of the family are collectively involved in a kitchen garden.

For a balanced diet, 300 g of vegetables are to be included in our daily food. But on an average, Indians take only 160 g per day. Hence to fill up the gap, vegetable cultivation not only in farmers’ holdings but also in the home gardens is encouraged.

The introduction of high yielding varieties, additional irrigation facilities, a great input flow through fertilizers and pesticides, farm mechanization, credit facilities and other rural infrastructure facilities ushered in the green revolution. The food grains area under irrigation as a percentage to its total sown area has been increased from 20.9 to 51.2%, rice irrigated area from 36.5 to 58.3%, wheat from 43.1 to 93.4%, pulses from 9.4 to 18.6%, oilseeds from 3.7 to 28.6% during the period from 1965-66 to 2013-14 (DES, 2015). Despite the net sown area being stagnant around 140.80 M ha, gross cropped area has been increased significantly from 155.28 M ha in 1965-66 to 195.25 M ha in 2011-12 due to increase in net irrigated area from 26.34 to 65.26 M ha (Fig. 1), gross irrigated area from 30.90 to 91.53 M ha during the period. There has been a sharp decline in average size of operational land holdings. The scope for expansion of the area available for cultivation has become limited. The average size of holdings for all operational classes (small & marginal, medium and large) have declined over the years and for all classes put together it has come down to 1.16 ha in 2010-11 from 2.28 ha in 1970-71. Therefore, it is the urgent need to use the natural resource like water efficiently and in a sustainable manner.

Introduction

Animal husbandry has been an integral component of Indian agriculture since time immemorial. It is still continuing as one of the major avocations in India contributing nearly 4.9% to the national GDP and 28.4% of the agricultural GDP. Livestock population in the country as per Livestock Census 2019 is 535.78 million which is an increase of 4.6% over Livestock Census 2012 (BAHS, 2019; DAHD, 2019). Cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats are the major livestock in the country. Today, India is the global leader in milk and milk products with a production of 187.7 million tonnes (MT) and the availability of 394 ml milk per capita per day. The per capita availability of milk has increased substantially during last four decades. The anticipated milk demand is expected to be 266.5 MT by 2030 based on per capita consumption of 468 ml/day (Table 1). It has been made possible with the active involvement of farming community and by creating awareness about high yielding breeds of livestock, improved rearing methods and milking, management of pests and diseases and most importantly, the feeding of the animal. The crop residue constitutes a major chunk of fodder to the livestock in many parts of the country. However due to their low nutritive values and poor palatability, it is not helping to realize the full milking potential of animals. A huge opportunity exists in livestock sector as there is a growing demand for animal products particularly milk and meat (NDDB, 2019). In addition, for promoting organic farming particularly the need of farm yard manure has necessitated the farming community to keep livestock as a complementary component of his farming. It provides draught power and organic manure to crop sector and hides, skin, bones, blood and fibers to the industrial sector. Therefore, the importance of livestock goes beyond its food production function, and has become even more significant (Birthal et al., 2002).

Introduction

Agricultural Extension is as ancient as agriculture itself. When it moves in agricultural trends, the importance on extension has also been transformed. Firstly, agricultural extension was the component of the research-extension-farmer approach. In the Training and Visit (T&V) period, communication of innovation was the crucial concept and the role of extension was to successfully disseminate the technological interventions. However, after the green revolution, the gap between resource rich and resource poor farmers widened with information and extension reaching only a few of them. With the conceptualization of new models, like Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS), the focus of extension has changed to formation of groups and collective farming. In time, the private sector has also entered into the agricultural arena, introducing the concept of pluralism in extension. Emphasis on mass media has also increased. More recently, Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) is introduced within the innovation systems framework. It focuses on the actors, their interactions, the institutions, and the policy environment to support or hinder it. Communication for innovation is the key AIS concept tried to identify the actors in systems, their core activities and bring them into an innovation platform for effective service and successful innovations (Saravanan, 2017).

Introduction

India is considered as one of the emerging superpowers of the world. This potential is attributed to several indicators, the primary one being its demographic trends and a rapidly expanding economy. In 2015, India became the world’s fastest growing economy with a 7.5% estimated GDP rate. But in the year 2020, the pandemic lockdown situation created adverse impact on the global economy. At this juncture, there is an urgent need to focus on native and indigenous resource mapping and judicious utilization of it to be a self-reliant. The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a new set of reforms to strengthen the economy. The first mention of this came in the form of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ or ‘Self-Reliant India Mission’ by the Government of India during the announcement of the coronavirus pandemic related economic package on 12^th May 2020. Almost 70% of India’s population depends directly and indirectly on agriculture for their survival. This means the country cannot have a development model that ignores agriculture.

It’s time to take a look at India’s agriculture economy. Over the last 10 years, (2008-19) India has been a net exporter of many farm produce. In fact, in 2018, the government has come up with a new agricultural export policy aimed at doubling farm income by 2022. However, in 2019-20, agri-exports were just $36 billion and the agri-trade surplus was $11.2 billion. The net agri-trade surplus has been falling over a period of time, making it difficult to achieve doubling of farmers’ income and doubling of agriculture exports by 2022as well.

India is not yet self-reliant in various essential agriculture commodities and depends heavily on imports. India imports around 15 million tonnes of edible oil every year — more than 9 million tonnes of palm oil and about 2.5 million tonnes each of soybean oil and sunflower oil. It buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and soy and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia. There is a need to create self-reliance in theses commodities enhancing productivity of Indian farms to create competitive advantage for domestic producers. India can step up cultivation of sunflower, groundnuts, mustard and oil palms. Presently, India has about two million hectares of land that is suitable for oil palm cultivation.

The Jamun (Syzygium cuminii Skeels) is a nutritious fruit with a variety of uses; virtually every part of the tree has been utilized by both urban and rural dwellers. The fruit is good source of iron, sugars, minerals, protein and carbohydrate etc (Table 1). Fully ripe fruits are eaten fresh and can be processed into beverages like jelly, jam, squash, wine, vinegar and pickles. The Jamun fruit has sub-acid spicy flavour and squash is very refreshing drink for quenching the thrust in the summer season. A little quantity of fruit syrup is much useful for curing the diarrhoea. The vinegar prepared from juice extracted from slightly unripe fruit is stomachic, carminative and diuretic, apart from having cooling and digestive properties (Thaper, 1958). However, small jamun fruits not suitable for table use but suitable for use in the beverage industry as they contained a high amount of acidity, tannins and anthocyanins (Anon., 1986). The volatile oil from the jamun fruits can also be extracted (Vijayanandet al., 2001). Fruits are used as an effective medicine against diabetes, heart and liver trouble (Singh, 2001). The Powdered seeds have also reputation of being useful in the treatment of diabetes. Oral administration of an aqueous jamun seed extract for 6 weeks caused a significant decrease in lipids, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and an increase in catalase and superoxide dismutase in the brain of diabetic rats (Prince et al., 2003). Leaf extract of jamun also reduces the radiation induced DNA damage in the cultured human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Jamun seed can be used as concentrate for animals, as it is rich in protein, carbohydrates and calcium. Its timber wood is used for railway sleepers, construction of buildings, agricultural implements and for well work, as it resists the action of water (Chundawat, 1990).

Garden lover has to invent their own styles of gardening commensurate with their climate of site, budget and taste. Gardens fall under three categories when it comes to style - formal, informal and wild.

1. Formal style gardens

Formal style gardens are beautiful in the view and have been popular for thousands of years. Granted, it is not to everyone’s taste but it creates a certain magnificence and persistence that will probably have meaning and importance in garden design for many more years in the future. A formal garden is laid out in a symmetrical or a geometrical pattern. Symmetry is the main characteristic of this style of gardening. Geometrically designed landscapes with trimmed hedges, paired flower beds, straight line planting and equal length of the sides of the area are the main features of formal or symmetrical gardening. The formal design is stiff as all garden features in a straight and narrow way. In the formal design, the land is forced to fit in the plan. In this type, an axis is drawn in the centre of the garden which divide whole of the garden in two equal halves, one half being the exact replica of the other, for every feature, element or adornment. The outline of the whole garden as well as the outline of different parts like flower beds, paths, hedges and lawns are of geometrical shape. These shapes are normally square, rectangular,oval or circular.

The Persian gardens, Mughal gardens and Italian gardens were formal in design. Geometrical formalism also influenced the French and British gardens of the pre- Industrial Revolution.

Shrubs are defined as woody, semi woody or herbaceous perennial plants, branches arises from the base of the plants and grow up to height of about 0.5 to 4.0 meters. These plants are commonly erect and bushy. Most of the shrubs are very hardy, require little attention and grow in all types of soils. Although some plants flower almost throughout the year, in most cases it is seasonal and selection can be made in such a way that some plants in the shrubbery will be in bloom in different seasion of the year. Shrub flowers regularly every year and produce flowers of almost all the important colors white, light yellow, golden pink, scarlet, crimson, violet, blue, and some are sweet scented.

In gardens, shrubs are usually planted in three ways:

(1) In the form of shrubbery, on the long strip of land where taller shrubs are grown at the back with medium height in middle and dwarf once at the fronts. Colors of flowers and time of flowering are also considered so that shrubbery remains colorful throughout year with bloom and foliage.

(2) In small garden or to break monotony of open space shrubs are often grown in groups and in this case few plants of the same variety or of different species are selected.

(3) Shrubs are also grown as a specimen plant or in only one row along the border of the garden or a wall.

Shrubs are used in gardens for decorative purposes as these shrubs are found more in ornamental and provide a variety of interests. They are evergreen and best against noise and dust. Any perennial woody, perpetual and thick plant of relatively low height that branches into a few stems or trunks arising from the ground base is known as shrub. They are littler than a tree but taller than herbaceous plants. They are also called as bushes when they are much-branched and dense. They grow upwards up to 0.5-4.0meter and may be flowering and ornamental. Shrubs play important role in permanent landscaping i.e. formal decoration which contributes pattern, colour, fragrance and utility. They may be either evergreen or deciduous in nature. Some shrubs have attractive foliage, flowers and attractive berries. Shrubs are planted as borders on the sides of paths and at the corners of lawn in a curving line. Shrubs are used for back ground, boundary wall, screen, shade, wind breaks and foundation planting. Hence, knowledge on the form, growth habit and habitat is essential to select the shrubs for planting. Shrubs are important part of landscaping or landscape designing is an art of modifying the overall appearance of a given piece of land using different ornamental plants. It is an artificial process. A garden or national and international playgrounds are the example of artificially landscaped area. Ornamental plants are a group of different flowering, foliage and stylish plants. These plants are used for the beautification of selected part of a site or other places.

Climbers are the group of ornamental plants which possess weak stem and climb up the support with the help of certain modified organs to reach the top and receive sunlight and air. Climbers enhance the beauty of any garden provided they are selected carefully depending upon the availability of space and the orientation of the building. The growth habit, mass effect of foliage and diverse flower colour give charming appearance to the climbers for their characteristics.

Ornamental climbers are commonly used to train on suitable supports such as arches, pergola, trellis, along the walls and trees. These are most suited in congested regions prone to scarcity of space especially in urban environment.

Chrysanthemum takes its name derived from the Greek word chryos meaning gold and anthos meaning a flower, as many species have yellow flower heads. The genus Chrysanthemum belongs to family Asteraceae. It is herbaceous perennial plant. The genus comprises some 200 species of annuals, perennials and shrubs from northern temperate zone (chiefly Europe and Asia), whereas some researchers claim it was originated only from China. Though botanists have retained only the annual species under the genus Chrysanthemum (Beckett, 1983; Dole and Wilkins, 1999).

Annual chrysanthemums which are propagated through seeds. Annual chrysanthemum comprise ofthree species viz, Chrysanthemum segtum (corn marigold), Chrysanthemum carinatum (tricoloured chrysanthemum) and Chrysanthemum coronarium (crown daisy or garland chrysanthemum). The crown daisy or garland chrysanthemum (C. coronarium) is a native from Southern Europe, branching annual with finely cut foliage reaching a height up to a metre, size of flowers varies from 2.5 to 4 cm and colour is usually in shades of yellow and white with cream zone at the center (Vishnu Swarup, 1967).

Importance and Uses

Chrysanthemum is the number one dollar earning flower in the United States and cultivars suitable for growing throughout the year have been evolved there. The members of National Chrysanthemum Society run into thousands in several countries. It ranks second (next to rose) in the international cut flower trade. In India, it occupies a place of pride both as a commercial flower, garden plant, pot plant and as a popular exhibition flower.

Large number of chrysanthemum cultivars which exhibit wide variation for characters like growth habit, size, colour and shape of blooms makes chrysanthemum suitable for varied purpose. Its erect and tall growing cultivars are suitable for background planting in borders and as cut- flowers. The dwarf and compact growing ones are suitable for front row planting or pot culture. The decorative and fluffy bloomed small flowered cultivars are ideal for preparation of garland and hair decoration. The extra large- bloomed cultivars are prized for their exhibition value. Certain species like Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium and Chrysanthemum coccineum are cultivated as sources of pyrethrum, a natural insecticide.

Varietal release and notification comes under the purview of the Seeds Act which is intended to provide for regulating the quality of certain notified seeds for sale and for marketing and for the matters connected therewith. Released and notified varieties are offered for seed certification by the seed certification agencies which ensure that the varieties under certification meet certain prescribed field and seed standards failing which they stand to be rejected during the process of seed certification. This ensures seed quality and its availability to the farmers.

Purpose of Release

The purpose of Release of cultivars is to introduce the newly evolved varieties to the public and the farmers in particular for general cultivation in the region for which the variety is released and notified ensuring availability of seed of varieties according to their suitability and adaptation and avoiding mismatch. In other words, release of a cultivar is in the nature of a recommendation to the farmers for its adoption. Therefore, notification of a variety is linked to the release of a variety, though the release process itself does not have statutory cover.

Melon or muskmelon (Cucumis melo L., 2n = 2x = 24, family Cucurbitaceae, mostly andromonoecious, cross-pollinated as well as self-pollinated) has latest global production close to 30 million tons where top ten producing countries are China (16.0 million tons), Turkey (1.8 million tons), Iran (1.6 million tons), Egypt (1.1 million tons), India (1.0 million tons), Kazakhstan (0.9 million tons), USA (0.8 million tons), Spain (0.7 million tons), Italy (0.6 million tons), Guatemala (0.6 million tons). India produced 1.2 million tons melons from 54000 ha acreage during 2017-18 giving a productivity of 22 tons/ha (MAFW, 2018).

US melons encompass the netted, salmon-flesh cantaloupe; the smooth-skinned green fleshed ‘Honey Dew’, the wrinkled-skinned, white-fleshed ‘Golden Beauty’ and several other dessert melons. Other forms with different fruit characters (white-fleshed, green-fleshed, having striped thin skin and juicy) are commonly found in India and in Orient as indigenous land-race cultivars. These are getting displaced by the cultivar types as cantaloupe, Madhuras and Galia due to their long shelf life.

Melon is mainly cultivated for the consumption of the fruits which can be harvested immature; in this case, the fruit is not sweet and can be eaten raw, cooked or pickled. In most cases, the fruit is harvested at maturity with high sugar content (mainly sucrose). Fruit is mainly eaten raw; marginal uses are cubes canned in syrup, in “fruits confits”, candies, ice-creams, biscuits and also in cosmetics. Locally, seeds can also be consumed (Pitrat, 2008).

Atmosphere can be defined as the gaseous envelope surrounding the earth. It is retained by earth’s gravity. The atmosphere has a mass of about 5.15 × 10¹⁸ kg, three quarters of which is within about 11 km of the surface. The imaginary ‘Karman line’ lies at an altitude of 100 km above the earth’s sea level, and commonly represents the boundary between the earth’s atmosphere and outer space. The study of earth’s atmosphere and its processes is called atmospheric science or ‘aerology’.

Air in motion is called wind. Winds move moisture and heat around the world and also produce much of our weather. Winds are part of a global air circulation system that acts to balance temperature and pressure around the world. Any difference in temperature will always cause a difference in air pressure, and therefore, winds will blow. There are two types of movement in the atmosphere, horizontal movement and vertical movement. The term wind generally refers to the horizontal movement of air relative to the earth’s surface. Vertically moving air columns are called as currents. Upward and downward air currents are referred to as updrafts and downdrafts, respectively. Vertical motion in the atmosphere is of significance for the formation of clouds, precipitation and various types of storms. The horizontal differences in air pressure are far more variable than vertical changes and give rise to a wide range of air motions. Uneven distribution of pressure over the globe is balanced through the movement of winds. Winds also act as a means of transporting heat, moisture and other properties from one part of the earth to another.

In the Indian sub-continent, monsoon is one of the oldest weather observations, an economically important weather pattern over June through September every year. Due to its effects on agriculture, flora and fauna, and other economic, social, and environmental effects, a monsoon is one of the most anticipated, followed and studied weather phenomena of the Indian subcontinent. The word 'monsoon' is derived from the Arabic word mawsim meaning season.

The term 'monsoon' is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea. India Meteorological Department defines it as the seasonal reversals of the wind direction along the shores of the Indian Ocean, especially in the Arabian Sea, that blow from the south-west during one half of the year and from the north-east during the other half. The definitions include major wind systems that change direction seasonally. The cyclic change of wind and rain can be separated into the summer monsoon period characterised by warm and humid south-west winds, and the winter monsoon period characterised by dry and cool north-east winds. In fact, monsoon systems are a major feature of the general circulation of the atmosphere in subtropical latitudes of most regions of the world.

Avocado fruit has become one of the most sought after food sources worldwide. It is a nutritious source of food and is part of the staple diet of many people in third world countries where it is cultivated and where it is native. Production costs are very high owing to the cultural requirements of the avocado tree and the presence of diseases, which can be major limiting factors to production. Phytophthora root rot, caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi, is such a disease. During the developmental stages of hefruit in the orchard and at harvesting, the fruit is also exposed to diseases such as scab (Sphacelomapersea), anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides) and Cercospora spot (Pseudocercospora purpurea) Marias (2006).

Major Fungal Diseases of Avocado

Phytophthora root rot

Economic Importance

The causal fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands was first isolated from cinnamon trees in Sumatra in 1922 and has since been reported from over 70 countries. It has an extremely wide host range including 1000 varieties and species of plants. In California alone it has been estimated to affect between 60-75% of the orchards and causes a loss in excess of $40 million annually (Coffey 1992).

Family No. 1

Name and address:

Smt. Jamuna Khajuriputia

Age - 45 years, Caste - ST

Village – Rajbadei

Block – Similiguda, Koraput

Family size: A total of five members, husband Gopinath (50 years), the son Ramesh and Podu, daughter-in-law Dana and herself. Male : Female ratio is 3:2

Educational status: All members have education except daughter-in-law, Dana. The status score is 4.16 in 10 point scale.

Soyabean (Glycine max L. Merril) belongs to the legume family Fabaceae is one of the world’s most important legume crop and is the second most important cash crop in in India.

Economic Importance

Soyabean contributes to 25% of the global edible oil and about two-thirds of the world’s protein concentrate for livestock feeding (Agarwal, et al., 2013). In many countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Philippines, and Indonesia soyabean is considered to be a source of meat, milk, cheese, bread, and oil and therefore it is called “Cow of the field” or “Gold from soil” (Edwards et al., 2019). Soyabean is a chief source of protein and oil as it contains about 40% protein and 20% oil. Many processed products are made from soyabean such as soy milk, soy flour, soy protein, tofu etc. Due to its amino acids composition, soyabean protein is called a complete protein and is consumed at homes for food purposes. The protein fiber that remains after the oil has been extracted is a good source of animal feed for poultry, pork, cattle, other farm animals and pets. Soyabean is an important foreign exchange earner due to export of soybean defatted oil cake (Agarwal, et al., 2013). Bio diesel is produced from soyabean which is non-toxic, renewable and environmentally friendly and reduces particulate emissions.