eBook Chapters

Layout of an orchard

Layout means the way by which something is arranged or laid out. The purpose of designing a layout for an rchard is to assign the actual position for trees/ plantations, roads, water channels, buildings etc. The layout should be planned very carefully and implemented properly to facilitate proper care and maintenance of an orchard. The plan should provide optimum number of trees per unit area as well as sufficient space to each of the tree for proper development and ease in various cultural operations of the orchard.

Materials required for layout

Measuring tape, rope, pegs, poles and planting board.

Based on agro-climatic conditions, the following system of planting are generally followed for planting of fruit trees:

1. Square
2. Rectangular

Layout means the way by which something is arranged or laid out. The purpose of designing a layout for an rchard is to assign the actual position for trees/ plantations, roads, water channels, buildings etc. The layout should be planned very carefully and implemented properly to facilitate proper care and maintenance of an orchard.

ABSTRACT

Haploids are of great importance in breeding programmes for the production of homozygous diploid lines. This technique reduces the time span in developing new varieties and fixes the traits including recessive ones in the homozygous condition. The haploid embryos or doubled haploid plants could be used in mutation breeding, genetic engineering, biochemical and physiological studies. Isolated microspore culture for the production of haploids has not yet been reported in Hevea brasiliensis. Hence the present work was initiated with the view of producing haploid plants by the culture of isolated pollen grains. The flower bud of the clone RRII 105 at the late uninucleate to early binucleate stage was used for culture initiation. Different pretreatment solutions were tried at different temperatures (4°C, 27°C and 33°C) with the macronutrients of N6 media. Three kinds of callus induction media were used viz. N6, WPM and Hunters medium supplemented with myoinositol (200 mg^-1), glutamate (150 mg^-1), phenyl acetic acid (7.0 mg^-1), sucrose (70 g^-1) and growth regulators. Induction medium include moving liquid, static liquid and semi- solid medium. The ovary co-culture was also tried in the induction medium to increase the frequency of callus formation. Pretreatment of the anther with 0.3 M mannitol at 33°C promoted the division of microspores. Static liquid cultures improved the formation of multicellular microspores compared to semi-solid or moving liquid cultures. N₆ basal medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l 2.4-D and 1.0 mg/l KIN induced microcalli formation. When the ovary co-culture was included in the callus induction medium, the rate of cell proliferation was increased considerably and the duration of callus formation was reduced from 3 months to 14 days. The results of the present study throws light towards the possibility of regenerating doubled haploids in future.

Selection of Site and Land Preparation

Cashew is a hardy plant; it thrives well on wide range of soil. While selecting the land for cashew, soils with water logging and excessive salinity of alkalinity should be avoided. Otherwise, soil depth, slope, stoniness, soil fertility and water availability seem to impose very little limitation. For establishing new plantations, land preparation should begin with the first pre-monsoon rains. The area should be cleared of bushes and other wild growth before digging pits for planting.

Planting Season

Planting of soft wood grafts is usually done at the beginning of monsoon season (June-July). Therefore, land preparation such as clearing of bushes and other wild growth, digging of pits for planting, should be done during pre monsoon season (April-May).

The concentration of essential elements must be maintained within quite narrow limits if the growth, health and productivity of the animal are to be maintained. Soil-plant-animal relationship is based on micro-mineral profile in animal blood, plant (fodder) and the soil is of paramount importance to identify dietary requirements of animals maintained under different husbandry practices of various agro-climatic zones. The soil occupies a strategic position in the chain of nutrition flow to plant, animal and eventually to man. The soil is the principal source of trace elements entering the food chain. The influence of the chemical composition of soil on the trace element contents of pant is well known.

1. INTRODUCTION

Field run seeds obtained from the seed production field posses high moisture and physical contaminants like trash and other inert materials (sand, stones, soil etc.,), diseased and pest damaged seeds, other crop seeds, weed seeds, deteriorated and damaged seeds, off-size and ill filled seeds, plant remnants etc. Seed processing is must to dry the seeds to safe moisture level, remove unwanted and inert materials as detailed above.

Seed qualities such as vigour and viability are improved by certain physical characteristics of the seed i.e., shape, size, large, denser and sound seed, etc. So, if grading is done to obtain a particular range of size, shape, length and density of the seeds, the quality of the lot is upgraded.

Seed processing refers to all the steps necessary for preparation of harvested seed for marketing namely handling, drying, shelling, preconditioning, cleaning, size grading, treating and packaging.

Extent of Passage
(Method of Krishna and Ekern, 1974D)
Definition of Terms
The term  extent of passage is used to describe how far a given ingested material travelled  or was allowed to pass. The point at which  undigested residue of the food comes to or has passed through the alimentary tract may be found by the use of markers without disturbing the subject. In some conditions of digestive system malfunction or disorder , the food residue may be blocked at point along with digestive tract.

Transit Time
This is the time it takes the digesta of a meal to pass through the alimentary tract or segments of it. This time also represents the  retention time in the tract or the particular segment. A simple way of calculating it is by recording the time of first or last appearance of the marked residue of a meal. Other more useful methods for calculating retention time include “mean retention time” (Castle 1956a), “mean time” (Blaxter et al., 1956) and “turnover time” (Hungate, 1968).

The damage to food grains in the storage may be caused due to insect attack, mould, fungi, bacteria, rodents, heat and moisture. The value of grain for milling purposes and human food is directly correlated with the amount of insect contamination present. The immature stages of rice and granary weevils, lesser grain borer, Angoumois grain moth and occasionally the flat grain beetle, cadelle, rust red flour beetle and saw toothed grain beetle live inside the kernels where they are hidden from view until they emerge.

Grain from casual inspection appears to be in good condition but may contain enough internal infestation which render it unfit for human food or unfit for purchase for future sale as milling stock. In general, millers have found that wheat with more than 0.5 per cent of infested kernels is unfit for milling. The need for a rapid and accurate method of estimating insect contamination in grain offered for sale has become more and more important to both grain dealers and millers.

Methods for Estimation of Damage

In order to assess the damage caused to food grains due to any one or combination of various factors; physical, chemical and micro-analytical methods are employed according to the necessity and information required. Various methods have been employed by field workers as well as by laboratory technicians in estimating damaged grains in food grains with particular reference to detection of insect infestation which alone cause maximum damage. These methods have been described below.

Principle

The portion of the total ash which is insoluble in dilute hydrochloric acid is called acid insoluble ash (AlA) and it is the part of ash which is having unavailable mineral matter like silica and sand. Silica is the part of mature plant materials which are highly lignified or woody like straw, husk, stems and stalks, while sand inters in feeds by faulty handling in the fields or as an adulterant.

Equipment/glass wares
    1.    Asbestos sheet
    2.     Filter paper (Whatman No.1)
    3.    Funnel stand
    4.    Glass funnel
    5.     Glass rod
    6.     Hot plate/heater/Bunsen flame
    7.     Metal tongs
    8.     Silica basin (crucible)
    9.     Volumetric flask
    10.     Wash bottle with distilled water

Nutritional significance of tannins in feeds and fodders

Tannins are widely distributed in many types of browse plants, tree leaves, forages and feed ingredients. The structure of tannins are not completely well defined but they are polymers of phenolic and aliphatic hydroxy compounds. Although tannins and related polyphenols are considered as protein binders and, protease and cellulolytic inhibitors, they can also exert beneficial effects on rumen fermentation. There are two forms of tannins viz., hydrolysable and condensed. Hydrolysable tannins are considered to have less deleterious effects on protein digestion since these types of tannins might get hydrolysed under acidic gastric condition and release bound proteins. Attempts have been made to utilize this to advantage in protection of proteins from rumen degradation.The condensed tannins are resistant to hydrolytic degradation. The reduction in digestibility due to condensed tannins is not clear whether it is due to specific interference with cellulases or precipitation of proteins.

Certain feed ingredients have been incorporated as a source of tannins, in the diets of ruminants to benefit ruminal fermentation and performance. Inclusion of Bengal gram husk as a source of tannins in the diet of sheep prevented potentially digestible carbohydrate in the rumen, but digested post ruminally (Sreerangaraju et al., 2000).

29.1. Aim

To estimate ascorbic acid in fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products.

29.2. Theory and Principle

Fruit, vegetables and their products are important sources of ascorbic acid. The ascorbic acid is present in sufficient quantity in aonla, guava, grapefruit, lemon, pineapple, strawberry fruits etc. Barbados cherry is the chief source of vitamin C. The products manufactured from these fruits are also considered as rich in ascorbic acid and the contents available in the commodities can be detected by using 2, 6 dichloro-phenol - indophenol visual titration method.

25.1. Aim

To estimate the ash content in fresh and processed products.

25.2. Theory and principle

Estimation of ash contents is important as it gives an idea about the presence of minerals in the food samples. Determination of ash is also required to evaluate fruit chutneys as the maximum limit for ash in this product shall not exceed 5% as per FPO specifications.

25.3. Apparatus/instruments/equipment

1. Crucibles

2. Muffle furnace

3. Sensitive balance

4. Heating plate

5. Desiccators

[Bray’s Method (Bray and Kurtz, 1945) – Acid Soils]

Introduction

The term available phosphorus (P) refers to the inorganic form, occurring in the soil solution, which is almost exclusively ‘orthophosphate’. This orthophosphate occurs in several forms and combinations, and only a small fraction of the total amount present may be available to plants, which is of direct relevance in assessing the P fertility level.

The phosphate concentration in solution is governed by heterogeneous equilibria in which it takes part. This situation can be represented as follows:

P adsorbed in solid phase ↔ P in the soil solution ↔ P precipitated

The phosphorus absorbed by plants from soil solution comes from the soil solution in which it exists as inorganic orthophosphate ions viz., H₂PO₄ ^–, HPO₄ ^2– and PO₄ ^3–. The most accessible ion is H₂PO₄ ^–, with the greatest activity coefficient, followed by HPO₄ ^2–. The quantity of P accessible to the plants is influenced by a series of soil properties. The relative abundance of these ions is, however, relatively dependent on the soil pH. For soils having a pH between 4.5 and 7.5, ions of H₂PO₄ ^– as well as HPO₄ ^2– exist in soil solution. At a pH of 7.2, H₂PO₄ ^–and HPO₄ ^2– ions have an equal activity, and, when the pH is strongly alkaline (>8.3), ions of HPO₄ ^2– predominate in solution. Above pH of 9.0, the trivalent ion (PO₄ ^3–) becomes more important than H₂PO₄ ^–, but even at a pH of 12, the HPO₄ ^2– concentration is still greater than that of PO₄ ^3–. Soluble phosphorus may be adsorptively retained at the surface of colloidal particles. This retention is more marked when the higher amounts of clay and sesquioxides are present. Relatively, the available inorganic P tends to accumulate in its most stable state under prevailing conditions, thus, in calcareous soils, the available inorganic P would be acid-soluble, whereas, in acid soils the adsorbed P would be more available. In flooded soils, with low oxidation potential, certain forms of P, normally considered as unavailable, for example, iron and phosphate, can be regarded as available. In most soils, the main source of orthophosphate is organic matter unless, of course, direct fertilization, with soluble phosphate, has been made.

(Neutral Normal Ammonium Acetate Method)

Introduction

The total potassium (K) content of a soil varies from 0.05 to 2.5 %. The total K is distributed in mineral form (lattice – K, 90-98 %), fixed non-exchangeable or temporarily retrograded K (1-10 %) and exchangeable plus water soluble K (1-2 %). Exchangeable K represents an average of 2 – 15 % of the sum of exchangeable bases and 1 – 3 % of the total capacity for cation exchange. The K concentration in the soil solution is on an average 0.08 – 3 meq/litre. Both water soluble and exchangeable K are most accessible to the plant. Available K can, thus be separated into that, immediately available, which is water soluble and exchangeable, and that, potentially available or fixed. The neutral normal ammonium acetate extract contains both water soluble and exchangeable K. K extraction by this extractant is considered as a suitable index of K availability in most soils, based on crop response correlation study. Thus, the K extracted by this method is equated as the available K.

[Williams and Steinbergs (1959) Method]

Introduction

Sulphur (S) occurs in numerous forms in soil, viz., sulphites, sulphates, sulphides and in organic compounds. It is considered that the most accessible form is ‘sulphate’ (SO₄ ^2–). The organic forms of S compounds become assimilable, especially following, microbiological transformation into SO₄ ^2–. The mineralization of organic S in a soil depends primarily upon the N:S ratio, and any SO₄ ^2– formed may be fixed against extraction, particularly if much Fe or Ba is present or if the soil is very acid. Despite the fact that the plants absorb S almost exclusively as SO₄ ^2–, mobility of SO₄ ^2– in soil may not always yield satisfactory results in accordance with the time of sampling, while assessing SO₄ ^2– availability.

Neem seed cake (NSC) despite of being rich in protein is not used as animal feed due to the presence of large number of toxic/bitter compounds in it. Studies have shown that NSC can be safely included the ration of animals after water washing / alkali/ urea treatment. These treatment methods appear to remove / reduce or largely inactivate the toxic principles present in NSC. In order to assess the quality/safety of the treated product, quantification of the residual toxic compounds is essential. One such compound is azadirachtin. It has been reported to be biologically most active.

One of the best techniques for the estimation of azadirachtin is by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

The bacterial load in the semen samples is estimated by standard plate count method. The bacterial contaminants of semen have been a major concern for most of the frozen semen production laboratories as it adversely affects semen quality and hence subsequent fertility. There exists a significant negative correlation of bacterial load and sperm livability, motility and in vitro fertility tests. Macrophages and polymorphonuclear granulocytes, which form the first line of defense against these microorganisms, produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) to kill these microorganisms. ROS, however, is also released outside these cells and may react with molecules and cells such as spermatozoa in their vicinity. The cellular antioxidants, present mostly in the cytoplasm, are scanty and inadequate to counteract this ROS as the sperm cell cytoplasm is very small (20 µm3) and mostly distributed in the midpiece. Therefore, semen samples with minimum bacterial load are expect to give better results on insemination.

Introduction

Sugars are commonly found in the form of biopolymers. Cellulose, a biopolymer of glucose is the predominant constituent of plant tissues, and may be shortly described as the structural bases of vegetable world. In this case, the glucose moieties are strung together by P-glycosidase linkages, which form the linear chain, making it resistant to chemical attack. Hemicellulose consists of short, highly branched, chains of sugars. It contains five carbon sugars (usually D-Xylose and L-Arabinose) and six carbon sugars (D-Galactose, D-Glucose and D-Mannose) and uronic acid. Its branched nature renders hemicellulose amorphous and relatively easy to hydrolyse to its constituent sugars. Lignin is a biopolymer rich in phenolic components, which provide structural integrity to plants. Acid and neutral detergent fraction methods (ADF and NDF) involve the gravimetric determination of residue previously treated with acid and neutral detergent solutions. These methods determine the insoluble fraction and their individual components. NDF represents the total plant fibre or cell wall including hemicellulose

1. Introduction

Insects, like many other organisms, rely heavily on their diet for essential nutrients that regulate their growth and development. The quality of food intake significantly impacts various aspects of an insect’s life cycle. Research, such as that conducted by Lee (2015) highlights that consuming a diet lacking in essential nutrients can lead to premature aging, a process known as senescence, in insects. Furthermore, such inadequate nutrition can hasten the rate of mortality as the insect ages. This underscores the critical role that proper nutrition plays in the longevity and overall health of insect populations.

Carbohydrates are constituents of all living cells. Animal as well as plant cells use carbohydrates as source of energy. Blood glucose is a useful indicator of energy metabolism and fertility status. Under certain clinical circumstances, estimation of carbohydrates becomes essential. Sugar levels (particularly glucose) in blood or urine are used as an important parameter for diagnosis of ketosis and diabetes mellitus.

Urea is the detoxification product of the ammonia derived from the deamination of amino acids. Urea is therefore the most common nitrogen-containing end product of protein catabolism. Its synthesis from ammonia occurs in the liver (via the urea cycle), and it is then excreted by the kidneys. The concentration of urea inside red cells is slightly less than in plasma due to the presence of large amounts of hemoglobin inside the cells. Whole blood urea concentration is therefore slightly less than plasma (or serum) urea. Therefore, usually serum is used instead of whole blood for the determination of urea. The familiar term BUN (blood urea nitrogen) persists in spite of the fact that it is serum urea nitrogen which is usually measured.

Estimation of calcium and phosphorus in feeds: Calcium is precipitated as calcium oxalate by adding ammonium oxalate to acid soluble extract prepared after running a sample for ash. Precipitates of calcium oxalate are dissolved in sulfuric acid and titrated with potassium permanganate to know the content of calcium.
Using N1V1 ≡ N2V2, 1.0 ml of 0.1 KMnO4 = 2.004 mg Calcium.
Calcium, g % = Burette reading difference X 2.004 X dilution factor X 100 / weight of the sample used for preparation of acid soluble mineral extract X 1000.
[dilution factor, (for example) = 250 / 25 (ml aliquot taken) = 10]
Phosphorous present in the sample is precipitated with ammonium molybdate and the precipitates are dissolved in NaOH solution. Excess sodium hydroxide is titrated with nitric acid to calculate the actual volume of NaOH used up which is direct proportion to the Phosphorous content.
1 ml of 0.1 N NaOH = 0.1347 mg Phosphorus
Phosphorus % = Actual volume of 0.1N NaOH solution used to dissolve precipitate X 0.1347 X dilution factor X100 / weight of sample used for acid soluble extract X 1000
[Here, dilution factor is 250 / 50 (aliquot taken) = 5]

Principle

When a solution containing calcium is treated with ammonium oxalate, all the calcium present is precipitated as calcium oxalate. The precipitate when dissolves in sulphuric acid, forming calcium sulphate and liberating free oxalic acid which is quantitatively estimated by titration against standard N/10 KMnO₄ to arrive at the calcium content present in the given solution. Following chemical reactions takes place in the estimation of calcium:

Theory

The energy available in food is expressed in unit is called joules or calories. One kilocalorie is equal to 4.184 kilojoules. The kilocalorie is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1°C. The calorific/ energy value of foods is usually determined using the instrument called bomb calorimeter. It is working based on the principles of calorimetry. Basically, this device burns a food sample and transfers the heat into a known mass of water. It measures the heat produced when the food sample is ignited by an electric spark in the presence of oxygen and platinum which acts as a catalyst. The quantity of food sample to be tested is placed inner part and known volume of water is taken in outer part of the bomb calorimeter. When the food sample is electrically ignited, the surrounding water absorbs the heat produced. The energy value of the food is calculated by measuring the rise in temperature of water.

I. Titrimetric Method of Estimating Salt in Fish Meal
(Modified AOAC, 1965 method)
Principle

The salt content is calculated as sodium chloride from the content of water solubles chlorides. The chlorides are dissolved in water and directly precipitated by titration with a silver nitrate solution using potassium chromate as an indicator.

Principle

When a sample of moisture and fat free feedstuff is boiled with dilute acid and then with dilute alkali, the soluble carbohydrates and proteins go into the solution and are extracted. The undissolved residue left behind represents cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and mineral matter. The cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin put together are called crude fibre (CF). When the residue after drying and weighing is ignited, the fibre being organic in nature is burnt whereas the ash or mineral matter is left over. The fibre is obtained by deducting the weight of ash from the weight of the dried residue. In simple way it can also be explained that the crude fibre is determined gravimetrically as part of the substance which is left when protein, soluble carbohydrate, fat, ash and water have been removed.

In feeding of simple stomached animals, the analysis of crude fibre content is very essential because the amount of crude fibre predicts the digestibility of the feedstuff. Higher the fibre content lesser will be the digestibility.

Principle

Crude protein constitutes a mixture of true protein and non protein nitrogenous substances and is determined by estimating nitrogen and then multiplying the nitrogen content of feed by the factor 6.25.

The factor 6.25 is derived on the basis that all proteins contain 16% nitrogen. The total nitrogen content in the feedstuff is determined by Kjeldahl method which generally consists of three steps, i.e. digestion, distillation and titration. The sample is digested with an excess quantity of concentrated sulphuric acid which hydrolyses the protein, decomposes to ammonia and finally the ammonia combines with the excess of sulphuric acid forming ammonium sulphate. The acid digest is cooled, diluted with distilled water and distilled with strong alkali (sodium hydroxide, 40 per cent), the ammonia released during distillation is taken up into a boric acid solution forming ammonium borate complex and such ammonia is titrated with standard sulphuric acid. While estimating the nitrogen content, following reactions take place:

Objective

To determine the electrical conductivity (EC) of soil, which is an indicator of the soil’s salinity and its ability to conduct electricity. This provides valuable information about the nutrient availability and potential toxicity to plants.

Materials Required

• Soil sample

• Distilled water

• Electrical conductivity meter (EC meter)

• Beakers (100 mL)

• Measuring cylinder (50 mL)

• Stirring rod

• Filter paper and funnel

• Mortar and pestle (for soil grinding, if necessary)

The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the soil is a measure of soluble salts present in the soil and is expressed as millimhos/cm or dSm^-1.

Principle

As the amount of the soluble salts in a solution increases, the electrical conductivity also increases. This electrical conductivity is measured in terms of resistance offered to the flow of current using a conductivity bridge.

It is known that solutions offer some resistance to the passage of current through them, depending upon the concentration of the soluble salts present. Hence, EC is measured in terms of electrical Resistance between parallel electrodes immersed in the soil water suspension.

In such a system, the solution between the electrodes becomes the electrical conductor to which the physical laws relating to resistance are applicable. The electrical resistance ‘R’ is directly proportional to the distance ‘L’ between the electrodes and inversely proportional to the cross sectional area ‘A’ of the conductor.

Accurate estimation of embryonic/foetal age play vital role in the developmental anatomy research related to morphogenesis and histogenesis of an organ or system. The observations and recordings of normal developmental features of embryos/ foetuses at successive stages of gestationare very important for studying functional development of an organ in anatomical research. The documentation of normal embryonic and fetal growth can serve as a guide for understanding the consequences of harmful influences at various stages of gestation (Evans and Sack, 1973). Post-mortem studies have provided valuable information on fetal development, identifying stages such as implantation, appearance of forelimb bud, tail development and hind limb development (Alberto et al., 2013). The normal development of external features of animals has been described by Evans and sack (1973), however, subjective assessment of foetal age from the external features alone is not much reliable, although it may be useful adjunct to more precise measurements (Richardson et al., 1990). For accurate estimation of developmental age, fetal measurements are needed which show a consistently rapid rate of growth and which are least variable at a given age (Richardson et al., 1990), however, these parameters are affected by individual variation and by breed differences within a species (Greenwood et al., 2005).
A number of methods have been discussed by many workers for estimation of age of foetus in animals. The method mainly focus on foetal biometry recorded either inside uterus during normal gestation process or after taking out foetus during post-mortem examination. In-utero foetal biometry allows estimating gestational age and time of parturition by ultrasonographic methods (Manning

(Method of Visek et al., 1953; Lueker and Lofgreen, 1961)

By using isotope dilution technique, It is possible to separate faecal calcium into endogenous and exogenous fractions. The true digestibility can be measured independently by making correction for faecal endogenous loss. The isotope dilution method described by Visek et al., (1953) involves daily intravenous injection of 45Ca for 15 days, followed by a collection of the serum and the faeces for 15 days. However, these numerous veinpunctures result in considerable discomfort to the animal. Lueker and Lofgreen (1961) modified this method in sheep by giving a single subcutaneous injection of 45Ca, followed by a collection of blood and the faeces for 7 days only.

The endogenous faecal calcium and true digestibility of calcium is calculated by the formula of Lofgreen and Kleiber (1954) as given below:

Principle
When a sample of feed, which is free from moisture, is extracted continuously with fat solvent like petroleum ether, the vapour from the ether boiling in the flask passes into the condenser where it condenses and drops back on the sample which dissolves ether soluble materials such as fat, sterols, lecithin, resins and volatile oils in the extraction flask. The extract is termed as crude fat or ether extract (EE) because it also contains other fat like substances in addition to true fat.

Equipment/glass wares
    1.     Analytical balance
    2.     Beaker
    3.     Cotton wool
    4.     Dessicator
    5.     Extraction thimble
    6.     Hot air oven
    7.     Oil flask (150-250 ml)

The ultrasonography is based on echo-principal i.e. reflection of sound waves. The ultrasound waves, commonly termed as ultrasound beam is generated from the pizzo-electric crystals, under electric stimulation. The sound beam travels and strike to the organs/tissues on its way and get either reflected or reabsorbed by these structures. The reflected beam is received back by the transducer, which are processed and displayed on the monitor of ultrasound scanner. The display of signal is in form of shades of grey scale i.e. from bright to black picture. If these sound beams strike to organ such as bone, then major part of the beam is reflected and it appears bright (white) on screen. If the sound waves strike to fluid, these get absorbed and are not reflected back, therefore, the image of fluid appears as black on the screen. Other organs appear in between black and bright white. In fact, the reflected sound beam is not proportionate to frequency and velocity of emitted ultrasound beam. The strength of ultrasound beam (grey scale) or brightness of the image depends upon the acoustic impedance of organ or tissue. In simple term acoustic impedance is the capacity of tissue or organ to reflect or absorb these sound beams that again depends upon density or composition of these structures. The reflection of sound beams also depends upon, the angle at which the ultrasound beam strikes the structure on its way. The distance of the organ from the transducer also affects image brightness.

Introduction

Access to adequate food, which is one of the fore-most basic needs of life, should be birthright of every single human being on this earth but in our country one fourth population is still underfed. The food insecurity situation is more rampant in the North-eastern region of the country. The proportion of population below poverty line (BPL) was reported at 31.4 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, 34.0 per cent in Assam, 37.9 per cent in Manipur, 16.10 per cent in Meghalaya, 15.4 per cent in Mizoram, 8.8 per cent in Nagaland and 40.0 per cent in Tripura, in the year 2015 (RBI, 2015). At national lavel it was reported to be 37.20 per cent. By comparing BPL population in NE Region states and national level poverty it was found that several states of this region like Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya were far better as in these states BPL percentage were very less than the national average, whereas in the states like Tripura, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh BPL percentages were close to National level (37.20%). It has now been well established fact that the availability of food grains may not be the real problem of food security; it is prevailing poverty that comes in the way of achieving household’s food security. Hence, household food security is a function not only availability of food but also of the purchasing power of household. Any effort to achieve sustainable development demands concerted efforts to reduce poverty, including finding the solutions to hunger and malnutrition. In this study, an attempt has been made to analyze the status of food deprivation among fish farmers of West Tripura district of Tripura and to examine consumption expenditure behavior fish farming families of the study area.

22.1. Aim

To estimate the fruit firmness.

22.2. Apparatus/machineries/equipments required

• Magness Taylor Pressure Tester

• Penetrometer

22.3. Theory and principle

Fruit firmness is an important feature of maturity. During ripening, fruits may soften and become too soft at the overripe stage. The changes are detected by touching or by using devices like texture analyzers and pressure testers to measure texture of fruits and vegetable.

ABSTRACT

Coastal aquaculture in India is synonymous with shrimp culture since shrimp has a pronounced presence among the basket of commodities produced in the sector. In coastal aquaculture, maximum area is under shrimp culture due to its high profitability, ready marketability, premium price and unlimited export demand. Since the growth of shrimp has showed significant fluctuations in terms of area, production and productivity over time, this paper aims to seek and use appropriate methodology for computation of growth rates. Accordingly, the present study utilized nonparametric regression method for computation of growth rates. Results indicated that the methodology has been successful in extracting required information from the data set. The analysis revealed that growth of Indian shrimp farming is largely governed by east coast states. Potentiality of west coast states remains grossly underexploited. Broad results also indicate that growth rate is higher in commercial shrimp farming states compared to traditional farming states. Shrimp farming being a livelihood option for small and marginal farmers of the deprived sections of the population of a developing country, like India, consistent yield is more important than substantial growth in yield in shrimp farming.

Principle
If a sample of feed is heated and dried in a hot air oven at the temperature of boiling water (100°C ± 2°C), the water present in feed sample escapes as vapour. The loss in weight is considered as moisture and the residue is termed as dry matter (DM).

Requirement
    1.    Aluminium/steel moisture cup or Iron trey
    2.     Analytical balance
    3.     Dessicator
    4.     Hot air oven
    5.     Metal tongs
    6.     Spatula

24.1 Aim

To determine the moisture content in fresh and processed products

24.2 Theory

Estimation of moisture in fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products is important for evaluating their nutritive composition as well as to optimize method for their processing like drying, preparation of different products viz; jams, preserve, candies etc. Moisture is determined by drying the weighed sample to a constant weight in hot air oven and measuring the loss in weight to express the moisture content in percent. This method is used for estimation of moisture in all food products which do not decompose at 100ºC. Moisture content of some commodities (Table 4.1) is as under:

The estimation of moisture in foods is one of the most important and most widely used measurements in the processing and testing of food products. It is used to determine the nutritive value of food, to express results of analytical determinations on a uniform basis, and to meet compositional standards or food laws. The level of moisture in different fruits and vegetables varies widely. Most fresh fruits contain more than 85-90% moisture in edible portions. Broad range of moisture content in common fruit, vegetables and their products as general guideline are given in Table 3.1.
Estimation of Moisture content in food products: Moisture content in foods can be estimated by following methods.
i. By Drying in an oven
ii. By distillation with an immiscible solvent
iii. By Chemical and physical methods (Infra-red heating method)

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by different types of moulds which are present in soil, plant and feed ingredients. Ingestion of toxins will result in reduced growth and production performance due to reduced nutrient utilization, illness or death of animals. Analysing the presence of mycotoxin and its concentration in grain and feeds is necessary to eliminate the adverse health effects of mycotoxins in animals. Estimation of mycotoxin in feed ingredients is a challenging task because the concentration of toxin is at µg/kg or parts-per billion levels. At the same time, analysing inappropriate samples is a waste of resources. Mycotoxins are not evenly distributed in feeds or grains. If the specimen collected for analysis includes contaminated grain, the mycotoxin will be detected. If not, the mycotoxin will not be detected.

Sample collection for mycotoxin analysis

The objective of sample collection is to collect the specimen samples from as many parts of the feed lot as possible. The size of the collected specimen depends on the size of the load received. Sample collecting probes can be used to collect the samples from bags.

Principle

Carbohydrates are divided into two groups i.e., crude fibre (CF) and nitrogen free extractives (NFE). The NFE comprises the sugars, starch and a large part of the material classed as hemicellulose.

The NFE is not determined by analytical procedures. This is calculated as the figure obtained when the sum of water, ash, protein, fat and crude fibre of a feed is subtracted from 100. Since the figure is determined by difference, it includes the cumulative errors of the other determinations and thus it is not an exact value.

Requirement

Following analysed volumes of a feedstuff are very much essential to derive the nitrogen free extractives of the same feedstuff.

Calculation
The nitrogen free extractives can be derived from the following formula:

[Titrimetric/ Walkley and Black (1934) Method]

Introduction

The role of soil organic matter, in relation to soil fertility and physical conditions, are widely recognized. The organic matter is the source of plant nutrients which are released inassimilable forms during microbial degradation. A major proportion of N (95 – 99 % of the total), P (33 – 67 % of the total) and S (75 % of the total) in soils occur in organic combinations, which mineralize to release the nutrients in inorganic forms to be used by plants. Nevertheless, it serves as a reservoir of plant nutrients, in promoting water storage, and in regulating microbial activity.

The organic matter content of a soil varies from 0.344 % in very sandy arid soils to more than 86 % in Peats and Mucks. Soil organic matter contains 5 % N, and 0.5 % each of P and S, thereby, having a N:P:S ratio of 10:1:1. The organic matter content of a soil is estimated by the amount of organic carbon (C) present, as this element represents, on an average, 52 – 58 % of the organic matter, and the C:N ratio is 10 – 15. In the sub-soil, the average organic carbon amount is 36 – 44 % (40 %), and the C:N ratio is < 8. In order to find out the amount of humified organic material, the organic carbon content is multiplied by 1.724, which represents the ratio between the humus and the organic carbon (100/58) and is known as the ‘von Bemmlen factor ’.

The organic matter content of soils is estimated from the organic carbon, determined by using the ‘Titrimetric method / Walkley and Black method. The Titrimetric determination, also known as the ‘wet-digestion method’ involves a rapid titration procedure for the estimation of organic carbon content of soils.

The cytological insult due to exposure of different environmental pollutant viz. pesticides, herbicides etc. impose great loss to the vitality and health of the individuals. The basic pathophysiological distrubances following the expo sure of these deterrents to the different visceral organs leads to dysfunction of these organs. Imbalance between body’s antioxidant defense and peroxidation of the lipid layer of cells’ causing free radical generation is defined as Oxidative stress. Free radicals are the molecules or entity that contains one or more than one unpaired electron. Pathophysiology of several diseases are associated with the generation of oxidative insult and many xenobiotics associated toxicity are also a result of oxidative damage and generation of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species. Alzheimer’s Disease is one of the fine example of oxidative damage associated neuronal degeneration.

Oxidative stress can be estimated using following parameters:

1. Lipid peroxidation (Paula et al., 2005)

2. Reduced glutathione (Sedlak and Lindsay, 1968)

3. Superoxide dismutase (Madesh and Balasubramanian, 1998)

4. Catalase (Aebi, 1983)

Sample Digestion

Dry ashing and wet oxidation are two widely adopted methods for releasing mineral elements from plant tissues. Dry ashing, typically conducted at temperatures between 550 and 600 °C, can lead to the loss of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) through volatilization. This method is more time consuming and has several drawbacks, such as the volatilization of sulfur (S) and chlorine (Cl), which can be mitigated by adding sodium carbonate (Na2 CO3 ). Additionally, some phosphorus and micronutrients may become occluded during the process, making dry ashing less commonly used.

In contrast, wet oxidation employs oxidizing acids, such as a mixture of nitric acid and perchloric acid (HNO3-HClO4 ) or a tri-acid mixture of nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and perchloric acid (HNO3-H2 SO4-HClO4 ). The use of perchloric acid (HClO4 ) prevents the volatilization loss of potassium (K) and provides a clear solution, while sulfuric acid (H2 SO4 ) aids in completing the oxidation. Upon heating, perchloric acid dissociates into nascent chlorine and oxygen, enhancing the oxidation efficiency at high temperatures. However, direct contact between perchloric acid and plant samples can lead to explosions and f ires; thus, pre-digestion of samples is preferred.

Principle

Phosphorus is the chief acid forming mineral constituent of plant and feeds. Phosphorus present in the ash solution (Mineral extract) is precipitated as ammonium phosphomolybedate. The precipitate is washed with dilute potassium nitrate till free from acid and dissolved in a known excess of standard sodium hydroxide solution. The excess alkali is back titrated against standard acid to arrive at the exact quantity of standard solution required.

Objective: Estimation of photosynthetic pigment from plant leaves.

Material required: Plant leaves, test tube, test tube stand, spectrophotometer, balance, centrifuge machine, mortar and pestle, acetone and distilled water.

Theory: Photosynthetic pigments, namely, the chlorophylls are present in green leaves and shoots of plants. There are at least five types of chlorophylls in plants. Chl’a’ and ‘b’ occur in higher plants, ferns and mosses. Chl ‘c’,‘d’ and ‘e’ are found only in algae and in certain bacteria. Chlorophylls are extracted from plant leaves. The absorption peaks of chl ‘a’ at 663 nm and ‘b’ at 645 nm are characteristic measures from which amount of chlorophylls can be calculated.

The physical properties of seeds are a basic activity for designing processing equipments and precision planters. Since these characters vary with crop or variety, one needs to have the data handy to be used on shop floor. This data also helps to quantify processing efficiency, presence of dormancy and suitability for seed treatments for all existing and new crops or varieties.

INTRODUCTION

In nature water is considered as the most important natural resource which is utilized in large quantity throughout the world for drinking, washing, bathing, recreation, irrigation, aquaculture and many industries. Water also plays a fundamental role in regulation of water cycle in nature. India is a agriculture based country totally based on different water sources. The quality of water plays a important role to mankind because it is directly linked with human health. Lake water’s are mainly used for farming and domestic activities like cloth washing. Increasing human activities continuously in lake basins is posing a great threat to all forms of life in aquatic environment. Most of the people who live in villages use irrigation facilities for farms and use excessive use fertilizers and pesticides for agriculture purposes and subsequently and degrade the aquatic ecosystems of lakes. We need to conserve water for future generations and safeguard our natural resources for sustainable development and biodiversity conservation.

Many researchers investigated the freshwater lakes and ponds in the Indian subcontinent viz. Bagde and Verma (1985), Desai (2014), Patel and Patel (2012), Nirbhavanae and Khobragade (2017), Mehta et al (2016), Gupta (2018), Bastola (2013), Raj and Sevankodiyane (2018), Rana Phul Kunwar Singh (2016), Shyamala and Hemvathy (2018), Meshram et al (2014), Fule and Nimgare (2018), Chaudhary and Sitre (2020), Pimpalshende and Sitre (2021).

There are stages in seed supply chain where seed losses happen at harvesting and post harvest stage. These losses may occur due to higher moisture at harvest, due to harvesting methods, processing methods, at seed storage, during transport etc. Estimation of these losses is an important function of seed inventory management. Estimating seed losses help to improve processing and seed distribution efficiency. These simple statistical tools will help to measure quantitative post harvest seed losses. Seed testing can be used for measuring qualitative post harvest seed losses.

Vegetables form an important component of our daily diet as they provide necessary nutrients to the diet and they add colour, texture and flavour to it. Vegetables contain very high content of water (about 78 to 98%) and are reasonably good source of starch, sugar, cellulose, hemicellulose, pentosans and pectic substances. They also contribute minerals, vitamins and indigestible fibers to our diet. The yellow, orange and dark green leafy vegetables are rich source of carotenes- the precursors of vitamin A. Non-volatile acids, such as citric, malic, oxalic and succinic acids, contribute to their flavour. The very strong flavour characteristics of some vegetables like onion, garlic, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. are due to certain sulfur containing volatile compounds. However, vegetables, in general, are poor source of protein and amino acids.

India has made significant progress in the production of vegetables since independence because its diverse agro-climatic zones ranging from tropical to temperate allow the production of a wide spectrum of vegetables.At present, the country is producing about 108 million tonnes of vegetables and considered the second largest producer in the world (Venkatesan et al., 2006). Currently, the plant breeders are focusing their efforts to produce high yielding varieties having resistance against diseases and herbicides and tolerance against drought and salinity. Therefore, the physical aspects of quality, i.e., shape, size, texture, colour, tenderness, etc. are given due priority in the breeding programme with no emphasis to the biochemical and nutritional quality parameters, which include dry matter, proteins, vitamins, sugars, flavouring compounds, alkaloids, flavonoids, etc. However, under present set up of World Trade Organization (WTO), the country will have to compete with quality conscious European and developed countries, and with inferior quality product, it would not be possible to penetrate the foreign market. Therefore, breeding programme in a country like India with future-plans of globalization of agriculture produce must be aimed at achieving good nutritional quality. In different types of vegetable, a varied set of biochemical parameters determines the quality. In this chapter, the methods for qualitative and quantitative determination of these parameters in vegetables have been described.