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Wood apple (Feronia limonia (L.) Swingle) is also called kainth, elephant apple, monkey fruit, curd fruit, kath bel and other dialectal names in India. It is drought hardy, medium to tall sized, under utilized fruit tree. In Malaya, it is gelinggi or belinggi, in Thailand, Ma-khwit, in Cambodia, Kromsang and in Laos, Ma-fit. In French, it is pomm-d-elephant, pomm de bois, or citron des mois (Morton and Miami, 1987). It is one of the most highly valued fruit plant grown in drier region of the country. Its plants are deciduous, glabrous, tree with thorny branches. Limited work has been done on its post harvest utilization.

The wood apple is native to India and common in the wild form in dry plains of India and Sri Lanka. It is also found growing throughout South East Asia, in Northern Malaya and on Penang Island. In India, the fruit was traditionally a “Poor man’s food” until processing techniques were developed in the mid-1950’s. It occurs, wild or cultivated, up to an elevation of 1500 ft, in Western Himalayas, but more common in the Deccan; Thane and Chandrapur districts of Maharashtra. It is also reported to occur in parts of Hazaribagh, Palamau and Chota Nagpur in Jharkhand, in forest of Vidhyan hills of Uttar Pradesh and Chattishgarh. It is often cultivated on borders of fields and as a roadside tree near villages and sometimes planted in the orchards. It is grown in the states of Odisha, Karnataka, M.P., A. P.  and Tamil Nadu.

Jamun fruit holds a dear place in Indian literature and religion. One such tale states that when Rama was exiled from Ayodhya, he lived on nothing but jamun for 14 years. Hindu mythology also likens Krishna’s blue skin to the color jamun. Its correlation with Krishna is one reason why the fruit is planted near temples honoring him, even today. Another text states how the Puranas split the cosmos into seven continents. The continent at the center and the one on which humans live was regarded as the island of jamun. At the center of the earth was a single jamun mother tree that produced fruits so large that, upon falling, gushed life-giving rivers for all to enjoy.

Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) is a unique horticultural plant. It has a tremendous demand due to its high medicinal value. Increasing demand has led to commercial farming of the crop. Noni is an ideal plant for mixed farming with other horticultural plantations. Noni is grown as medicinal plant in most of South Indian temples as sacred plant like basil (tulsi). All parts of plants have traditional and modern use, including roots and barks in dye and medicine. Fruit juice is a rich source of vitamin A, C, E, B, B₂, B₆, B₁₂, calcium, iron, niacin, folic acid, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc, copper, chromium, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, potassium and carbohydrates. Noni fruit is a raw source for more than 150 neutraceuticals, required by our body on daily basis.  It is good source of anti-oxidants. Fruit juice purifies blood, protects from toxins and pollutants, promotes self healing mechanism and stimulates production of T-cells in immune system. Noni fruit attained significant economic importance world wide through a variety of health and cosmetic products, made from fruit leaves and fruits.

Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schn.) is a non traditional crop in arid and semi-arid areas. The search for a replacement for sperm whale oil has led to the investigation of jojoba, as a potential crop plant, because its seeds contain a wax that is essentially identical to the whale oil. Development of jojoba as an economically viable crop requires improved methods of propagation and culture since it is a dioecious in nature. Jojoba is a new oil-producing industrial crop that has attracted much attention in recent years. Jojoba oil is unique in nature. No other plant is known to produce oil like jojoba. It is remarkable to note that, in spite of the variability in size or where grown, each jojoba seed contains an average of 50% pure oil by volume. Jojoba is native to the semiarid regions of southern Arizona, southern California and north western Mexico. Now Jojoba is being cultivated in many countries like Israel, Egypt, Arizona and Mexico. In Rajasthan (India) it provides a renewable source of unique high-quality oil. It is suitable oil yielding plant for hot arid region (Muthana,1981)  because of its adoptive nature to arid environment. Much of the interest in jojoba worldwide is the result of the plant’s ability to survive in a harsh desert environment. Jojoba can be grown as an oil-producing cash crop. Jojoba is a drought resistant plant and can be grown on marginal lands without replacing any existing crops. Moreover, for optimum production, the crop needs irrigation, management and a good cultivar.

The woody perennial shrubs have been the integral part of the traditional agro forestry system in arid region since ancient times. Inhabitants of the region rely on these species for food, fodder, fuel wood and other day-today requirements since long. Among woody perennials arid shrubs also have a major role in stabilization of drifting sands in the arid ecosystem. Out of about 682 species of Indian arid Zone (Bhandari, 1990), shrubs constitute 70% of the total flora in the Indian desert, yet they cover over 70-80% of desert landscape. Thus shrubs are less in variety, they are ecologically more successful biotypes in the desert environment.

Khejri (Prosopis cineraria), also known as shami (Sanskrit), janti and jand (Delhi, Haryana, Punjab), sumi (Gujarat), banni (Karnataka), kandi (Sindh) is a leguminous tree species of arid and semi-arid regions. It not only tolerates the extreme edapho-climatic conditions of these regions but also bears flowers and fruits and that too during the driest period from February to May (Pareek, 2002). Khejri is a tree having multipurpose uses, viz. nutritious rich pods and fodder and valuable fuel, besides its favourable effects on ecology and soil fertility(Arya et al.,1991). It is an important perennial component compatible to almost any companion crop in various agri-horti-forestry systems of production in the hot arid ecosystem (Harsh and Tewari, 1998). The crops such as bajra, guar, moth, mung, cowpea and ground nut during kharif and wheat, mustard, gram, etc. during rabi season are grown between the natural plantations of khejri trees without adverse effect on growth of crops. Almost all the vegetable crops grow better between the widespread natural this leguminous tree. Also the fruits such as ber, aonla, bael, kinnow, lime, etc. have been observed to perform better in association of khejri trees. Excellent growth and development of desert plant species of commercial significance such as jharber, ker, lasora, pilu, rohida, kumat, phog, kheep and grasses like sewan, dhaman, etc. has been observed in association with khejri trees (Mann and Saxena,1980; Samadia,2007, Samadia et al., 2009).

Indian Aloe (Aloe barbadensis Mill.)  is commonly known as Ghritkumari in Sanskrit and Bangla, Ghikwar or Ghikanwar in Hindi, Aloe in English, Ghiquara in Urdu, Darkhtesibra in Persian, Sabbarat in Arbi, Guarpatha in Rajasthani, Koryed, Korkanta and Elwa in Marathi, Kunwargandal in Punjabi, Lolesara and Katthaligida in Kannada, Kattavala in Malyalam, Sirukanthli, Sirukattashai, Kattazhai, Sorttukathali and Chirukattali in Tamil, Kalawand, Manjikattali, Pinngorisht Kalvand and Chinnakalabanda in Telgu, Kumari and Mushaboro in Oriya and  Musabbar in Kashmiri. Because of its nutritional qualities, anti-oxidant and medicinal values, it is often called as ‘The Miracle Plant’, ‘The Natural Healer’, ‘The Health Plant’ and by many other names.

Abstract

Quality of water is a matter of serious concern for arid and semi arid region like Rajasthan. The study area chosen is extreme western arid part of Rajasthan state where water quality and quantity both are very important issues. Due to absence of any perennial river, scanty rainfall and scarcity of surface water resources, ground water is very deep and saline. The groundwater potability assessment was based on 1119 wells water quality data. The purposes of this investigation were (1) to provide an overview of present groundwater quality and (2) to determine spatial distribution of groundwater quality parameters which affect water potability and (3) to map groundwater potability in the study area by using GIS and Geostatistics techniques. Arc GIS 9.3 and Arc GIS Geostatistical Analyst were used for generation of various thematic maps and Arc GIS Spatial Analyst to produce the final groundwater potability map.

Abstract

This study evaluates the potential of remote sensing techniques for assessing the relationship between land degradation and poverty in Pali development block of Rajasthan. Due to climatic conditions that prevail in this area of the country, less facilities and management practices to conserve land and its fertility becomes an important factor for intensifying poverty. The other countenance of this is that it is poverty which leads to land degradation. This paper assesses the impact of poverty and land degradation on each other. The desertification intensity and BPL density is calculated and relation is seen using Chi square test. The goodness of fit is seen up to 5 per cent level of significance for land degradation and demographic data.  The desertification in agricultural area is also considered. The total degradation in the block calculated is 8.39 per cent. It is found that village with highest BPL density has more degradation intensity particularly in agricultural area, proving the agricultural based economy of the dry lands in Rajasthan. An example study is also done at village level.  Using cadastral map and satellite image classification, fields that require immediate attention have been identified. Demographic and degradation maps are also prepared.

Abstract

Groundwater is one of the major sources of exploitation in arid and semi -arid regions of Rajasthan. To protect groundwater, its data on spatial distribution are important along with quantity. Analysis of quality of groundwater is also very important, because the physical and chemical characteristics of groundwater determine its suitability for agricultural, industrial and domestic usages. The importance ground water increases many fold for arid tracts like Western Rajasthan. Here quality of water is also matter of serious concern. Geostatistics methods are most advanced techniques for interpolation of Groundwater quality. The present study appraises the groundwater quality of western Rajasthan for agricultural purpose with GIS technology. Kriging Raster Interpolation technique of spatial analyst module in Arc GIS software has been used to generate the spatial distribution map of ground water for agricultural purpose. In western Rajasthan only 28% (58109 km2) of ground water falls under the category of good and is suitable for agricultural use. 

In previous section, we discussed about the concept of the reliability and its importance. In this section, we will discuss about different types of reliability and procedures for estimation of the reliability. We already discussed that one cannot measure the reliability but of course it can be estimated.

Synonyms : Catarrhal fever, Sore mouth, Epizootic catarrh, Sore muzzle, Pseudo foot and mouth disease, Malarial catarrhal fever.

It is an infectious, noncontagious arthropod borne viral disease of domestic and wild ruminants namely sheep, goat , cattle, camels, llamas, deer and antelopes. This is predominantly a disease of sheep but occasionally cattle and  goats are subclinically affected. The disease is characterized by high fever, catarrhal stomatitis, rhinitis, enteritis and lameness due to inflammation of the coronary bands and sensitive laminae of the feet. There are at least  25 serotypes of bluetongue virus worldwide within the BTV serogroup. Genetic variability occurs within a group due to genetic drift of individual gene segments and genetic reassortment when ruminants or other vectors are infected with more than one strain.

Synonyms : Farcy, Pacin, Carn

Glanders is a contagious, acute or chronic, usually fatal anthropo-zoonotic disease of Equidae caused by Burkholderia mallei and characterized by serial development of ulcerating nodules that are most commonly found in the upper respiratory tract, lungs, and skin. The first recorded description of glanders is from the third century from Aristotle. In 1664, glanders was recognized as a contagious disease and in 1830, it’s zoonotic potential was suspected. In the late 1800’s, the Mallein test (1891) was developed for diagnosis of glanders. By 1910, the U.S., Canada and Great Britain all implemented glanders-control programs. B. mallei was eradicated from the United States in 1929.

Synonyms : Pasteurellosis, shipping fever, Stockyardis disease, Stockyardis pneumonia, Barbone disease

Hemorrhagic septicaemia is a particular form of pasteurellosis caused by Pasteurella multocida and manifested by an acute and highly fatal septicaemia mainly in  cattle and water buffaloes. The disease includes pneumonic pasteurellosis (shipping or transport fever), a disease caused mainly by P. haemolytica, although various serotypes of P. multocida are occasionally involved. Although the morbidity of pneumonic pasteurellosis of cattle can be high, the mortality rate is much less than that of hemorrhagic septicemia.

Mange or parasitic dermatitis is caused by the infestation of mange mites e.g. Sarcoptes, Psoroptes, Demodex spp. and a range of other mites. The condition is characterized by itching, rubbing of the infested parts of the body against hard objects. Lesions include hair loss, dry, rough, thickened and wrinkled skin accompanied by the presence of scab and foul odour in some cases. Some mites burrow into the host epidermis (Sarcoptes) while others spend their entire life cycle on the skin surface (Psoroptes). Most mites are microscopic or less than 1mm in length; therefore skin scrapings are taken from the affected area of animals suspected to be suffering from mange or parasitic dermatitis.

Collection of blood

Blood sample should be collected in a capped clean and dry vial containing an appropriate amount of anticoagulant. The commonly used anticoagulants are ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) @ 1-2 mg/ml and heparin @ 5 I.U./ml of blood.

Crossandra belongs to family Acanthaceae. It is also known as Kanakambaram in Tamil or Kanakambara in Kannada and Fire cracker in English because of cracking sound during opening of seed pod. Crossandra is derived from Greek word “krossoi” meaning fringe and “aner” meaning male i.e. fringed anthers. Crossandra is an evergreen shrub and one of the important loose flower used for adornment. The flowers are commonly grown for flower adornment in the form of garlands, venis and gajras. Though it is not fragrant, flowers are very popular because of its attractive bright colour, light weight and good keeping quality. These are used for making garland, either alone or in combination with jasmine flowers. Using crossandra flowers in combination with jasmine is becoming increasingly popular in India, particularly in southern parts, because the jasmine flowers provide colour contrast and the desired fragrance. Crossandra varieties show a remarkable range of colours, varying from orange, pink, red, yellow and double coloured blue-type with white throat.

Abstract

In South India, tanks system is quiet ancient, meant for storing and supplying water towards multifunctional needs of the people. In Tamil Nadu, there are around 39,000 tanks with varying size and types. Over past few decades, irrigation rely on stable and reliable groundwater resources like dug and deep bore wells, consequently tanks lost their significance. Moreover, excessive siltation, improper maintenance and illegal encroachment further degraded the system. The deterioration factors are broadly categorised into problems in catchment, feeder channels and head works which eventually resulted in loss of storage capacity. The present study chiefly narrates an indirect method of estimating the loss in storage capacity of tanks and the catchment problem, especially soil erosion and its induced siltation of tanks in the downstream using geoinformatics technology. Using remotely sensed satellite data, by measuring surface area of tank loss in storage capacity was estimated through a linear model. Using Digital Elevation Model derived topographic wetness indices data, the catchment problem especially, soil erosion areas were identified and remedial measures were suggested. Under prevailing water crisis, it is essential to rehabilitate the tanks through which the surface water potential can be improved along with quality as well.

Abstract

The groundwater targeting in hard rock aquifer systems is complex, because of the heterogeneity of the aquifer systems. The ground water mobility and stability in such aquifer systems varies because of the lithology, folded structures, fracture density, geomorphology, slope etc., These occur in various permutations and combinations and control the overall water holding and conducting capacity in different parts of the aquifer systems. Hence, one needs to analyse all the data so as to understand and bring out precise spatial models on the groundwater probability in hard rock aquifer systems. In the present study, the authors have carried out GIS based appraisals to understand the relation between the lithology and groundwater movement in hard rock aquifer systems of parts of Central Tamil Nadu covering 1300 sq.km. In the said study, GIS images were generated on the maxima zones of various aquifer parameters such as water level, width of aquifer depletion, transmissivity, permeability, specific capacity, storage co-efficient, optimum yield and recovery rate. These were overlaid with the lithology GIS image. Such an analysis has shown that, in general, the fissile hornblende biotite gneiss appears to have some control over the groundwater systems.

The term ‘Spices and Condiments’ applies to such natural plant or vegetable products or mixtures thereof, used in whole or ground form, mainly for imparting flavour, aroma and pungency to food. They are low volume high value crops which play a pivotal role in our national economy and provide a strong footing in the international market. According to the latest report of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), there are about 109 spices grown in different parts of the world. India grows about 52 of them. The list of those spices with botanical and English names which come under the purview of Spices, Board, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India is given in Table 1.

Cell culture medium : To grow cells in in vitro, environment should be as close as possible to in vivo condition. But a number of factors are important to grow cells in vitro namely substrate, temperature and medium. There is a number of ready made medium available commercially and made the cell culture work easier. Any successful medium consists of isotonic buffer solution containing inorganic salts, amino acids, vitamins, a energy source and various supplements. Usually serum or serum replacement is used as supplement.

Early and accurate diagnosis of disease is of prime importance for both the successful treatment of the patient and in limiting the spread of disease in the community. It is in this context that immunodiagnostic methods are now being used extensively since they can be extremely sensitive and highly specific. Among the most successful methods are those utilizing labelled antibodies or antigens. Examples of these are immunofluorescence in which antibodies labelled with fluorescent dyes are utilized and radioimmunoassay in which antigens or antibodies are labeled with isotopes. Both of these procedures have proved to be of great value for particular purposes.

Abstract

The north eastern region of India, consisting of the eight states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, has an area of 255 090 km2 with a vigorous monsoon dominated climatic and a dynamic hydro-geomorphic regimes. Endowed with a sub-tropical type of monsoonal climate, the region shows remarkable variability of weather and climate on a regional scale. It possesses about 30% of the total water resources potential and about 41 % of the total hydropower potential of India. The per capita and per hectare availability of water in this region is the highest in the country. The problems of environment degradation in the northeastern areas of India are, primarily impacted by demographic pressure, urbanization, natural disasters, soil erosion and land degradation. The region is visited by the southwest monsoons which make it one of the wettest areas in South Asia as well as highly frequented by the water induced disasters. The rapid melting of glaciers is initially expected to first contribute to excessive water flow and flooding in the region. Eventually with the full loss of glaciers, the shortage, when it comes, will likely arrive much more abruptly in time; with water systems going from plenty to want in perhaps a few decades or less.

Abstract

An attempt has been made in this paper to study probability model for modeling of spell distribution & Weather Cycles during the monsoon period (June to September) at Cochbehar, West Bengal. The daily rainfall data of 31 years (1970 to 2000), recorded at Cochbehar have been analyzed. In this study, it was found that daily rainfall during monsoon period follows Markov Chain model. Markov dependent truncated geometric distribution model is best fitted for studying the Dry spells, Wet spells & Weather Cycles during the monsoon period.

Abstract

Pest damage is an age old problem of Indian agriculture. The increased accumulation of green house gases always changes the climatic conditions that have potential effects in increasing pest population.  The insect pests are cold-blooded animals and their body temperature varies with the surrounding temperature. Thus, any change in the climate and weather is bound to influence the activity of pests. The pests are directly influenced by temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed and other environmental factors in terms of their occurrence, development, reproduction, distribution, migration and adaptation. In many cases the insect out breaks which classified as gradient out breaks are not self-driven but are entirely dependent on external environmental conditions. For example, the number of aphids has frequently been shown to be correlated with several environmental factors. Such correlations indicate an understanding of aphid out breaks. The increased temperature as a result of climate change has several implications for agricultural pests. These are as follows: (i) changes in population growth rates, (ii) increased number of generations, (iii) extension of development season, (iv) extension of geographical range, (v) increased over wintering, (vi) changes in crop-pest synchrony, (vii) changes in interspecific interactions, (vii) increased risk of invasion by migrant pests, (ix) introduction of alternate hosts, and (x) availability of over wintering hosts.

Introduction

India is believed to be the native of several economic plant species which have spread to various part of the world. While agriculture continuous to stagnate in underdevelopment and insufficiency in food production. India enjoys variable climatic conditions and multiplicity of topographic feature, elevation and rainfall. The climatic conditions and soil type are so diversified that the various combinations of these factors favor unlimited production of a wide variety of crop plants. Now started move and rapid changes are taking place largely as results of bio-technology to advance scientific agriculture. Bio-technological approaches introduction of genetically modified in plant protection. A small percentage of former are well educated on the advantages of scientific forming and are adopting newer technique at limited extent.

Abstract

Tripura is expected to be highly prone to the consequences to climate change because of its geo-ecological fragility, strategic location, its trans-boundary river basins and its inherent socio-economic instabilities.  Environmental security and sustainability of the state is and will be greatly challenged by the impacts of climate change in coming years.
Climate and weather can substantially influence the development and distribution of insects.

Abstract

Global warming is predicted to have significant effects in global potato production. Like many crops, potaoes are likely to be affected by changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide, temperature and precipitatiom, as well as interations between these factors. As well as affecting potatoes directly, climate change will also affect the distributions and populations of many potato diseases and pests. Potato is one of the world’s most important food crops. Potato prodcution must be adapted to climate change to aviod reductions in crop yields. Potato plants and potato crop are predicted to benefit from increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. The major benefit of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide for potatoes (and other plants) is an increase in thier photosynthetic rates which can increase their growth rates. Potato crop yields are also predicted to benefit because potates partition more starch to the ediable tubers under elevated carbon dioxides levels. Higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide also results in potatoes having to open thier stomata less to take up equal amount of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, which means loss through transpiration from stomata. As a result the water use efficiency (the amount of carbon assimilated per unit water lost) of potato plants is predicted to increase.

Abstract

Infertility in Livestock is a matter of great concern Anoestrous and repeat breeding in buffalo and bovines are two of the most serious reproductive problems affecting 30-40% of the total cattles and buffalo population on a conservative estimate our country is loosing 20-30 million tonnes of milk due to anestrus and repeat breading in cattle and buffaloes translating to a loss of Rs 40-50,000 crores annually. The used weak symptoms of estrus in the normal breeding season (September to February) become ever weaker during the hot month of summer. The incidences of silent heat is the lowest in December while the break is seen in the hot summer month of April. Summer infertility is also noticedin goat. During summer farmer experience a variety of reproductive problems such as an estrus extended weaning to eastern interiors, poor conception rates, higher unbryo mortality rates and low barrowing rates. There are strategies to ameliorate heat stress induced fertility problems and gonadotropin treatment can prevent seasonal infertility. There is a need to implement several techniques at the field level combining the glance of any detrimental impact on health and environment

Abstract

Climate change is a change in the distribution of weather over periods of time that range. The effect of climate change is now visible every where including animal farm industry. Projected temperature rise around 2-5oC by 2100 due to climate change is likely estrus, start estrus and decline in reproduction efficiency of livestock species Climate change may have a significant effect on livestock and other animals through is impact on diseases Zoonotic diseases which can be transmitted between vertebrate animals and humans are a matter of great concerns. There is an urgent need for adoption of integrated approaches towards mitigation of advance effects of climate change in animal production. There are nutritional strategies to reduce enteric methane production. Surveillance and monitoring with various adaption strategies are to be brought under purvision to reduce adverse impact of climatic variability in livestock 

Abstract

Aquaculture is facing the serious effects of climate change in the form of scarcity of water and shift in dissolved oxygen level leading to outbreak of diseases. In a study conducted in Farm facilities of ICAR, Tripura it was seen that rise in temperature do have significant effect on hematological and biochemical parameters of fish which are basic index of good health of any organism. Many different diseases occur in the farmers’ pond and which can be controlled. So some basic diseases and their controlling strategies have been pointed out that can lead to better management of fish diseases in pond condition.

Abstract

Climate change is today’s major concern throughout the world. All sectors have been influenced with the impact of climate change. Similarly, agriculture sector has also been affected with the worse climatic changes. All components of agricultural production system like water, soil, vegetation, organism and microorganism etc. affected greatly due to climatic abruptions. And thus, the productivity is hampering day by day. Today, we requires to predict the trend of changes in climatic parameters like maximum and minimum temperature, humidity, wind speed, sunshine hours etc, to project future change in these climatic parameters, to assess the effect of theses climatic parameters on agricultural components like water resources, soil, vegetation, organism and microorganism and, also to find the adaptation and mitigation strategies.  All these works have beenmainly done by manual methods earlier. Developed country like USA, Japan, UK etc adopted the computer modelling to climate change research. Computer modelling and software assistance have been adopted slowly in developed countries. Since, climatic changes requires processing of very large number of data, they needs computer and software assistance. Without computer assistance climate change research seems to be impossible.

Improving the skill set of individuals is an important agenda of any development organization. The individuals may be anyone in the system who is directly or indirectly connected to the system.  Agriculture System is a complex and multi-stakeholder system with farmers as the axis of the wheel with other stakeholders’ forms part of spokes of the wheel. The scope for capacity building or training of every stakeholder has been peaking tremendously given the ever changing nature of the profession. The public and private training Institutions are vying with each other for conducting trainings in order to sustain the existence of the Institutions. Though a few institutions are really trying hard to take the technologies in real terms to the farming community, the following observations are very difficult to be masked.

Abstract

Human Resource Management (HRM) is an essential function of every organization. Information Technology (IT) application has made such ‘human resource management’ function easy, to a great extent. Now a day, IT has been used widely across the organizations to perform different functions like, Recruitment, training, maintenance and development etc. Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is one of the latest contributions of IT to the area of human resource management, which is going to revolutionise management in 21st Century. Technology has brought changes in the existing working styles of organisations. By the introduction of HRIS, it enhances the efficiency of the organisation by changing the traditional way of working. In Human Resource Information Systems, many organizations use employee data in traditional ways. These can create conflict with the rights and interests of employees, with external stakeholders, and with society at large. The present paper discusses such issues. Other soft issues like, challenges and possible solutions are also discussed.

Rabi : The winter crop season in India from November to April. Main crops grown in rabi comprise wheat, mustard, etc.

Rad : The ‘rad’ is the unit of radiation dose and is defined as the total absorbed dose of 100 ergs of energy per gram of tissue in a unit time.

Radar : An electronic instrument used to detect objects (such as falling precipitation) by their ability to reflect and scatter microwaves back to a receiver. The radar is used for detecting tropical cyclones and monitoring their course as they approach the coast.
 
Radar sonde : A system in which both meteorological and wind data may be obtained, as in radiosonde.

Radiance : Radiant flux per unit area per unit solid angle. Radiance has unit of watts per meter per meter per steradian. The radiance of a perfectly diffuse surface (Lambertian) is independent of the viewing angle.

    ·    An X-ray tube is an energy converter. It receives electrical energy and converts it into two other forms: X-radiation and heat.

    ·    It is a source of X-rays used in diagnostic radiology.

    ·    Designed and constructed to maximize X-ray production and to dissipate heat as rapidly as possible.

    ·    It is a thermo ionic diode type electronic vacuum tube where X-rays are produced.
 
    ·    A basic element of an X-ray tube (Figure) consists of the cathode, anode, glass tube and tube housing.

Orthopaedic Radiography
 
Radiography as an aid to diagnosis the orthopaedic cases has become an integral part of every modern hospital. This technique may also be helpful in detecting some previously unrecognized lesions in the area radiographed.

The radiologist must be aware of the radiological anatomy of part being examined, and of its normal variation with age, species and breed. The anatomical features which can be appreciated in a radiograph are:

It has been well established that the risk of health problems rises as the amount of radiation exposure increases. All types of radiation produce changes in the living tissues. The resultant cellular injury causes physiological and pathological changes leading to “Radiation sickness”. The radiation effects may be somatic or genetic. Somatic effects are harmful to a person in his lifetime whereas genetic effects affect generations. Radiation may cause changes in complex molecular systems of living cells, primarily in following two ways :- 

Silage fermentation is a complex process involving biochemical changes by microbial populations and the ensiling environment. The chemistry and microbiology of silage fermentation are linked, but the microorganisms are the dominant factor in the fermentation process, and they have the main influence on the quality of the end product. Many species of microorganisms are involved in the fermentation process, and their relative importance varies according to the prevailing conditions. As these conditions change during the fermentation process, the microorganism population changes accordingly. Lactic acid bacteria and clostridia are two main categories of microbes responsible for biochemical changes in silage.

It is recognized in developed countries that the production of silage of high quality cultivated forage can be a valuable component for the development of a high-performing and low-cost system of animal production, using a relatively low level of purchased concentrates. However, this appears inappropriate for smallholders in tropical countries, primarily due to lack or high cost, or both, of equipment for harvesting and conservation and production of cultivated forage being often limited due to lack of available land. Many agricultural, agro-industrial and fishery by-products have potential as animal feeds. Most farmers in developing countries rely for their food security on the cultivation of cereals, root crops and high-value crops such as fruits and vegetables, which understandably take priority in the allocation of land. Fruit, vegetables and root crops are increasingly integrated in the farming system and play a key role as staples in the human diet in most developing countries.

Hay quality really means feed value. The ultimate test of hay quality is animal performance. Quality can be considered satisfactory when animals consuming the hay give the desired performance.
 
Characteristics of Good Quality Hay

    1.    Hay should be nutritious therefore prepared form plants cut at an appropriate stage of maturity when it has the maximum nutrients.
 
    2.    Good hay should be leafy. The leaves are generally richer in proteins, minerals and vitamins then other parts of the plant.

    3.    Hay should be green in colour. The green colour indicates the amount of carotene which is precursor of vitamin A. The green colour should be preserved by minimizing the bleaching, leaching arid fermentation losses.

Sterilization is a process of killing all microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi and their spores, and viruses from animate or inanimate surfaces with the use of either physical or chemical agents. Joseph Lister first gave antiseptic principle in 1867.

There is a delicate balance among electrolyte concentrations, body water and acid base status to maintain body homeostasis. Disturbances in homeostasis results in life threatening abnormalities. The aim of fluid therapy is to replace losses and maintain fluid and electrolyte balance in the body.

  Term anesthesia by Dr Oliver Wendell Holmes (1886).
  Anasthesis (Greece Word) – absence of sensation.

History of Animal Anesthesia
  Paracelsus (1540) produced ether and reported it to have a soporific effect on fowl. 
  Sir Humphrey Davy (1800) suggested that N₂O might have anesthetic property. 
  Chloroform was discovered by Liebig in 1831.
  Dr. Horace Wells (1844) discovered the general anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide. 

Advantages
    1.    These agents are primarily exhaled through the lungs and recovery is not dependent upon redistribution within the body and detoxification mechanisms. This is helpful in poor risk patient.
 
    2.    Anesthesiologist has good control over the anesthesia.
 
    3.    Early recovery of the patient.

    4.    Closed system available for thoracic surgery.

A sound understanding of general anesthetic emergencies and surgical techniques is vital for all practicing veterinarians. In most of the veterinary practices, after induction of anesthesia, no one is assigned the task of anesthetist to monitor anesthesia and occurrence of complications during surgery which may lead to the development of anesthetic emergencies. Onset of general anesthesia disturbs the physiological equilibrium of patient and increase the threshold of harmful events. The harmful events of anesthesia includes:

Application of various methods of restraints is essential to carry out certain surgical procedures on animals. A particular method of restraint suitable for one animal may proves ineffective for another. Consider the temperament, Age, breed and individual characteristic of the animal as well as purpose of the restraint.

Abstract

Performance records of 1085 crossbred cattle daughters of 57 sires maintained during 1974-2004 at Instructional Dairy Farm of G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar were used to evaluate sires for first lactation and life time performance traits. First lactation traits included were age at first calving (AFC), first lactation period (FLP),first dry period (FDP) and first calving interval (FCI) and life time traits were herd life (HL), total lactation length and life time milk yield. The data were analyzed to estimate the breeding values of sires using least squares methods (LSM), best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) and derivative free restricted maximum likelihood (DFREML) method. The average breeding values of sires estimated by all three methods were similar and estimated for AFC, FLP, FDP and FCI as 1359.95 days, 356.56 days, 177.58 days and 534.15 days respectively and for HL, TLL and LTMY as 1641.30 days, 1320.20 days and 9110.30 kg respectively. The estimated breeding values (EBV’S) showed large genetic variation between sires for both first lactation and life time traits. The estimated breeding values (EBV’S) of sires had very high and significant product moment correlations and rank correlations among all first lactation and lifetime traits estimated by all three methods.

Animal Husbandry is making a significant contribution to the national economy and socio-economic development in the country. In rural India where over 15-20% families are landless and about 80% of the land holders belong to the category of small and marginal farmers, livestock is the main source of livelihood with the policy of the state Animal Husbandry Department to extend free breeding, vaccination and veterinary services, and permit free grazing on community lands, the farmers were encouraged to expand their herd size without any major financial burden. This has probably been the reason for the presence of the worlds largest livestock population in India. India rank first in buffalo population, second in cattle and goat, third in sheep and seventh in poultry (Table-1). Although the population of livestock during last 10 years has been stable around 485 million, the buffalo population during 1997-2003 has increased by 8.91%, while the cattle population has reduced by 6.89%. There has been a significant increase in population of goats during the last five decades, which is attributed to the decrease in the size of land holdings and persistent drought caused by erratic monsoon, forcing many small farmers to shift from large animals to small ruminants.

Abstract

Bhadawari is one of the recognized buffalo breeds of India and is famous for high milk fat content. The main breeding tract is Agra and Etawah in Uttar Pradesh and Bhind and Morena districts in Madhya   Pradesh. The tract was a part of the erstwhile Bhadawar estate from where the name of these animals originated. Bhadawari, the brown beauty of ravines and predominantly the only breed adapted to the harsh conditions of the ravines with undulating topography, thorny and scanty bushes, climatic stress and draught conditions. Breed is said to be resistant to many tropical bovine diseases and also known for eating less and producing more. Calf mortality is significantly lower than the other breeds of buffaloes. Male animals are good for agriculture work especially for ploughing in rice fields.