eChapters

India is facing with the issue of food production, especially the production of protein resources. The food production rate in India is insufficient to cope up with an alarmingly growing population. Protein deficiency is currently the most serious human malnutritional problem, with protein deficiency affecting about 30% of the world’s population. To cope up with the current situation, there is therefore a need for an all-out effort to increase food production especially the production of animal protein. Pisciculture has acquired primary importance in this context, and the culture of Indian major carps and their allies is now a common practice. For a long time, the culture of air-breathing fishes in the derelict water has remained neglected. Many such fishes, however, have become popular in the recent past, being rich in their food value.

The demand for fish as nutritious food is increasing day by day, as it is a good source of high quality-protein and lipid and is more palatable than vegetables. It is relished for its characteristic flavour due to high myofibrillar and low stroma protein, rich in essential amino acids particularly lysine and arginine (Kinsella, 1986). Fish proteins play a beneficial role in lipid and cholesterol metabolism by reducing triacylglycerol (=triglyceride) and phospholipid levels in plasma (Tsukuda and Arai, 1986). These proteins occupy an important place in human nutrition due to their high digestibility and growth-promoting value. Fish lipid has a high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUSFAS), which reduce plasma cholesterol, and this helps in ischemic heart disease and arteriosclerosis (Kinsella, 1986).

Introduction

In fish culture, anesthetic agents are commonly used in vaccination, labeling, and various measurements (Gomes et al, 2006; Collymore et al, 2014). But no agents have been able to obtain long-duration anesthesia in fishes. The use of conventional anesthetic agents in fisheries is not beneficial in terms of environmental safety as the discarded solutions directly reach oceans and rivers. The use of anesthetic agents presenting a risk of staying in the tissues of cultivated fish has been warned against. For example, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries caution against the use of anesthetic agents within 7 days before fishes and shellfishes are caught.

The use of anaesthetics has gained considerable importance in Fishery Science particularly during spawning (Colesante, 1977; Kidd and Banks, 1990) and transportation of live fishes or their early developmental stages (Maheshwari 1990; Jhingran, 1991; Pandit and Ghosh, 2012). This is because handling causes stress and physical damage to the fish, loss of mucilaginous covering, which in turn makes the fish susceptible to attack by bacteria and fungi (Brown, 1987). The anaesthetics are soothing medicines that reduce the metabolism and control the excitability as well as stress in a fish. Recently, Kugino et al, (2016) investigated whether the addition of nano oxygen-carrying bubbles to water at the same time as dissolved carbon-dioxide could result in safe, long-duration fish anesthesia.

Packaging : Packaging of fruits, vegetables, flowers or any other commodity is chiefly done to assemble the produce in convenient units of different sizes, shapes & types for storage, transportation, marketing and distribution. The size of units may vary depending on the requirement e.g for retail marketing smaller units are preferred and for bulk transportation and storage, large units would be more convenient.

Why do we Require Packaging?

Imagine there is no packaging material and technology available. How we are going to transport apple, mango etc. to distant markets? Definitely as loose. Then how can we weigh or count the fruits being transported or marketed? This would be very difficult. Had there been no packaging the commodity would have suffered great physical, chemical and microbiological losses. It would have been very difficult to handle, manage, transport and market the produce as loose and unpacked. Therefore, the packaging of fresh as well as processed commodities was needed to contain, unitize and protect the produce.

Nature has made such a beautiful system that a fruit does not spoil unless its outer covering is removed and till it is there on the plant. For example banana will not spoil for long time if we do not remove its peel. Similar is the case with apple, guava, mango and many other fruits and vegetables. But as soon as the outer covering is removed the damage begins and the commodity is spoilt very soon.

Preservation is extending shelf life of fresh or processed food by using various methods and prevention or reduction of spoilage. Better the preservation, lesser the spoilage, more the spoilage poorer and inefficient is the preservation.

Therefore, in order to prevent or reduce the spoilage, we have to first identify and understand the causes of spoilage. There are chiefly 3 agencies that cause spoilage in fruits and vegetables i.e. (i) microorganisms, (ii) enzymes & chemical changes and (iii) man, animals, rodents, insects, etc. For effective preservation we have to check the growth and activity of these spoilage causing agencies. So, in order to prevent spoilage and preserve a perishable commodity for long time the following principles and methods are to be followed.

Matrix is a rectangular array of numbers arranged in rows and columns. The order of a matrix is written as r x c, where r is the no. of rows and c is the no. of columns. The numbers included in a matrix are called elements of the matrix. The name of the matrix is denoted by an uppercase English alphabet.

Soil is a bioorganic - mineral complex of the loose surface layer of the earth’s crust. Soil microbiology is the science that deals with the millions of microscopic forms of life found in the soil. It is stated that one hectare - foot (one hectare to a depth of 30cm) contains 2 to 10 metric tons of living microorganisms. Soil microorganisms are in a constant struggle for existence and are believed to be in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Without microorganisms, the soil would be an inactive geological mass incapable of supporting plant life and without plant life, animal life would not be possible. This soil population consists mainly of bacteria, fungi, actinobacteria, algae, and protozoa. The soil ecosystem includes these microbial groups as well as the inorganic and organic constituents of a given site. The collections of cells represented in the community are considered as distinct populations. All the inhabitants of the particular locality make up the community.

Types of Microorganisms in Soil

Living organisms both plants and animals, constitute an important component of soil. The pioneering investigations of several early microbiologists showed for the first time that the soil was not an inert static material but a medium pulsating with life. The soil is now believed to be a dynamic or rather a living system, containing a dynamic population of organisms/microorganisms. Cultivated soil has relatively more population of microorganisms than the fallow land, and the soils rich in organic matter contain much more population than sandy and eroded soils. Microbes in the soil are important to us in maintaining soil fertility and productivity, cycling of nutrient elements in the biosphere, and sources of industrial products such as enzymes, antibiotics, vitamins, hormones, organic acids, etc. At the same time certain soil microbes are the causal agents of human and plant diseases.

Rhizosphere

The term Rhizosphere was introduced by the German scientist, Hiltner in 1904. It is region of the soil, which is subjected to the influence of plant roots. It is the unique environment under the influence of plant roots. The roots of plants are not only involved in the uptake of mineral nutrients and water for plant growth, but they also release a wide range of organic compounds in the surrounding soil.

Introduction

Biofertilizers are microbial preparations containing living or latent cells of efficient strains of nitrogen fixing, phosphate solubilizing and cellulose decomposing microorganisms intended for seed or soil application and designed to improve soil fertility and plant growth by increasing the number and biological activity of beneficial microorganisms in the soil.

The objects behind the application of biofertilizers /microbial inoculants to seed, soil is to increase the number and biological / metabolic activity of useful microorganisms that accelerate certain microbial processes to augment the extent of availability of nutrients in the available forms which can be easily assimilated by plants. The need for the use of biofertilizers has arisen primarily due to two reasons i.e. though chemical fertilizers increase soil fertility, crop productivity and production, but increased / intensive use of chemical fertilizers has caused serious concern of soil texture, soil fertility and other environmental problems.Use of biofertilizers is both economical as well as environment friendly. Therefore, an integrated approach of applying both chemical fertilizers and biofertilizers is the best way of integrated nutrient supply in agriculture.

Biofertilizers, thus include i) Symbiotic nitrogen fixers- Rhizobium sp. ii) Non-symbiotic, free living nitrogen fixers- Azotobacter, Azospirillum etc. iii) Blue Green Algae (BGA) inoculants- Azolla-Anabaena, iv) Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms (PSM)- Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Penicillium, Aspergillus etc. v) Mycorrhiza vi) Cellulolytic microorganisms

Mass Production of Bacterial Inoculants

Strain Selection and Improvement

In biofertilizer technology, strain selection occupies the foremost criteria, so as to explore its biological potentialities for the beneficiary crop. The selected strain used in biofertilizer production must be efficient to grow fast besides retain desirable potentialities of biological activities, which should be present in desired high numbers and must be stable. The strain must be improved periodically so as to sustain the productivity.

India has a population of one hundred twenty four crore plus and feeding this large a population calls for a strong FPI. The industry also assumes importance in the national economy due to the immense employment generation opportunities it offers and the export revenue it earns. Food Processing Industry (FPI) in India is a sunrise sector that has gained prominence in the recent years. Easy availability of raw materials, changing lifestyles and favourable fiscal policies has given a considerable push to the industry’s growth. FPI serves as a vital link between the agriculture and manufacturing sectors of the economy. Strengthening this link is critical to reduce wastage of agricultural raw materials, improve the value of agricultural produce by increasing shelf-life as well as by fortifying the nutritive value of the food products and ensure remunerative prices to farmers as well as affordable prices to consumers. The industry has very low processing level i.e., 2.2% for fruits and vegetables, around 35% in milk, 21% in meat and 6% in poultry products, which is significantly lower by international standards. For e.g., processing of agriculture produce is around 40% in China, 30% in Thailand, 70% in Brazil, 78% in the Philippines and 80% in Malaysia. Value addition to agriculture produce in India is just 20% with wastage estimated to be valued at around US $13 billion.

India has the second largest producer of food with arable land of 159.65 million hectares and has the highest acreage under irrigation. Next to China, India ranks second largest food producer in the world and has the potential to immerge the biggest with its food and agricultural sector. India accounts for less than 1.5% of international food trade despite being one of the world’s major food producers, which indicates huge potential for both investors and exporters. Food and food products are the biggest consumption category in India

In India, people are mostly vegetarian, depending largely on cereals and pulses, as their staple foods, which provide the main source of dietary proteins and calories. The proteins from pulses are known to be inferior quality, due to the deficiency of sulphur containing amino acids as well as due to other factors like digestibility, availability of amino acids, anti-nutritional factors, etc. The anti-nutritional factors present in this type of food, including their contents of enzyme inhibitors, lectins, flatulence factors, tannins, phytic acid and saponins. Anti-nutritional factors can cause detrimental effects to humans and animal growth and performance by impairing intake, uptake, or utilization of other food and feed components, or by causing discomfort and stress to humans and animals. The anti-nutritional factors mainly occur in pulses and grain legumes and foods and feed material prepared from grain legumes and pulses.

Substance which, from nutritional point of view, interferes with normal growth, reproduction or health when consumed regularly in amount existing in a normal component of diet should be considered as harmful and toxic. A significant part of human population relies on legumes as staple food for subsistence, particularly in combination with cereals. They are unique foods because their rich nutrient content including starch, protein, dietary fibre, oligosaccharides, phytochemicals (especially the isoflavones in soybean) and minerals. Their nutritional contents contribute to many health benefits to human.

The word ‘social forestry’ was coined by Westoby and used in the ninth Commonwealth Forestry Conference at New Delhi in 1968. In India the term was first used by the National Commission on Agriculture, Government of India in 1976, to denote tree raising programmes to supply firewood, small timber and minor forest products to rural population. Prasad (1985) defined social forestry as forestry outside the conventional forests which primarily aims at providing continuous flow of goods and services for the benefit of people. This implies that the production of forest goods for fulfilling the needs of the local people is social forestry. Thus, conceptually it deals with the people to produce goods such as fuel, fodder, small timber, etc. to meet the needs of local community particularly the underprivileged section (Shah, 1988).

Management approaches to soil, including problems of soil degradation and low soil fertility, have recently undergone major changes. The earlier concept was to concentrate on achieving high levels of production from the more fertile areas, leaving the marginal lands for extensive use only. Steeply sloping and highly drought-prone areas were mostly left without any cultivation as production from these areas was hardly cost effective. Soil constraints were to be overcome by inputs like improved crop varieties, fertilizers, chemical control of pests and diseases, and the use of irrigation.

The approach of use of newly developed high yielding crop varieties, improved agronomic management practices, use of chemical fertilizers, efficient water management and timely plant protection measures has been successful in achieving large increases in crop productivity in recent years. On the other hand, continuous application of fertilizers at higher rates leads to environmental problems. Yield responses to fertilizers have declined because of soil physical degradation and micronutrient deficiencies. Above all, large numbers of poor farmers simply can neither afford high levels of fertilizers and other purchased inputs, nor do they have the capital to take on the risk involved in their use. Increasing the area under irrigation has also run into severe constraints in the form of limits to available freshwater resources.

Farmers have been growing trees for different purposes for thousands of years. Tree species that are grown to provide more than one significant function are called multipurpose trees. These functions may be productive such as producing fuelwood, timber, fibre, fodder, food, medicine, etc. and/or protective such as soil conservation, shade, shelterbelt, microclimate amelioration, land sustainability, biodiversity preservation, etc. All trees are multipurpose; some, however, are more multipurpose than others. Tree species can be multipurpose in two ways.

Economic analysis provides a rational basis for making decisions in allocating scare resources among various options to achieve competing goals. If resources were not limiting, there would be no need for economic consideration. Some important basic principles of economic analysis are outlined below.

PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Optimization criteria

The additional return obtained from using one additional unit of an input should be considered to optimize net income from several possible production options. If option ‘x’ gives a higher return to land than other options, then additional units of land should be allocated to option ‘x’.

Introduction

The improvement of the quality of foods can be made by fortification of foods nutrients quality and quantity in food. It can be a very cost effective public health intervention. As a result of the high consumption pattern of dairy products viz. yogurt, the fortification process will effectively diminish or prevent diseases associated with nutritional deficiencies (Gahruie et al., 2015). However, due to nutrients deficiencies in human population especially in certain stages of life, holding, importing, and consumption of fortified foods is increasing (Preedy et al., 2013). As a general rule, addition of one or more essential nutrients to a food and increasing their concentration in that particular food to levels higher than normal is known as fortification. This is intended at preventing and correcting shortages in one or more micronutrients in the society or specific population groups (Bonner et al., 1999). The major ways of food fortification are (1) commercial and industrial fortification for wheat flour, corn meal, cooking oils, (2) bio-fortification of crops to augment their nutritional value, which can include conventional as well as selective breeding, and genetic engineering and (3) house hold fortification like vitamin D drops. Fermentation has twofold outcome on glycemic index though there are conflicting results after consumption. The reduced glycemic index of fermented food has been featured to the production of short?chain organic acids during fermentation.

In order to get assured supply of quality seed weaned on formulated diet, the captive spawning is the right choice for successful farming of striped murrel. Captive spawning involves several activities such as broodstock development, induced breeding, hatching of eggs, larval rearing, etc. These activities are given in detail in the following sections.

4.1 Broodstock Development

Brood stock development is an integral part of captive breeding programme in fish and the success of breeding largely depend on it. It involves rearing of healthy brooders of both sexes in captive conditions to meet the targeted production of seed. In striped murrel, maturation of gonad begins in the first year of their life. However, brooders of 2⁺ year age or above are better and recommended for captive breeding (Pati et al., 2004). A size of 400g to 1500g is considered ideal (Fig. 10). Brooders may be procured from wild sources or reared on-farm from farm-raised fingerling. Brooders from wild stocks are to be procured at least 2-3 months prior to spawning season so that they acclimatize to the farm conditions. It is recommended to give them a bath of 50 ppm formalin for about 8 hours under vigorous aeration before stocking in the tank/pond. Formalin treatment removes external pathogens from the fish body. Brooders raised at the same farm do not require formalin treatment, if they are free from any wound.

Introduction

The Indo-Gangetic Plain is one of the world’s major foodgrain producing regions. The Indian states falling under this region, viz. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, are also the major rice-wheat growing states spread over 10.5 million hectares in the country. During the past 30 years, agricultural production growth in this region has been able to keep pace with population demand for food in the country mainly due to adoption of green revolution technologies inducing yield growth, followed by area expansion. But this opportunity is ceasing very fast due to limited scope for increasing the availability of arable land and natural resources. The other issue is the conservation of the basic resources of land and water for sustainability of agriculture in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is generally believed that the rice-wheat system has strained the natural resources in this region and more inputs are required to attain the same yield levels (Swarup and Singh, 1989; Kumar and Yadav, 1993; Lal et al., 2004). It is, therefore, imperative now to promote alternative technologies that would help conserve the much needed but gradually depleting natural resources while boosting productivity growth in the long-run by maintaining soil health and production environment. As a part of this strategy, conservation agriculture and resource conserving technologies play a major role in sustaining and enhancing the productivity of the rice-wheat system at a lower cost of production.

Introduction

Generally speaking, Conservation Agriculture (CA) includes minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop rotation (Hobbs, 2007). CA has been recognized as an efficient way for sustainably increasing crop yields in different countries (Hobbs et al., 2008; Pittelkow et al., 2015). Farmers following CA will face several managerial problems, and weed management is the most challenging (Wall, 2007; Giller et al., 2009; Farooq et al., 2011). Weed growth in an agroecological system and crop yields are inversely related; so, knowledge on weed dynamics and weed management are vital for achieving the possible yield gains in CA systems. There are few studies that examined both the direct and interactive effects of the 3 basic CA principles on weed dynamics (Chauhan et al., 2012; Giller et al., 2009; Farooq et al., 2011).

For comprehensive understanding the current topic, a diagrammatic representation of an annual weed’s life cycle (Fig. 1) will be useful and the same corresponds to four likely areas managing the weeds:

Introduction

The 21st Century agriculture needs knowledge integration and maximum input efficiency. Crop simulation models offer possibilities to evaluate and target agricultural information towards sustainability (Elliott et al., 2015; Van Oort and Zwart, 2018). All the modern day’s crop growth models not only predict the growth and yield, but also they are strong Decision Support System (DSS). Due to the impact of climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss, the agricultural production system becomes the most vulnerable one (Araya et al., 2017). Crop intensification is inevitable to meet the ever-increasing food demand for the billions of populations. It leads to deterioration of soil physical health, reduction of the organic carbon percentage and micro-environmental pollution. Conservation agriculture (CA) has a great potentiality to enhance the inherent resilience against all sorts of degradation and possess the potentiality to regenerate the degraded lands (Haggblade and Tembo, 2003). CA is a farming system that maintains a permanent soil cover to assure its protection, avoids soil tillage, and cultivates a diverse range of plant-species to improve soil conditions, reduce land degradation and increase water and nutrient use efficiency (Friedrich et al., 2012; Sapkota et al., 2015; Bell et al., 2019; Steward et al., 2019). For last few decades, climate change becomes a serious threat to agriculture in context to influence crop and livestock production, hydrological balances, input supplies and other components of agricultural system (Kabir, 2015; Kumar and Kumar, 2016). Agriculture is inherently sensitive to climatic conditions and conservation agriculture may be the only answer to combat the negative impact of climate change.

Introduction

India agriculture is now at turning point as we have travelled a long way after the advent of green revolution. Over the past four to five decades our strategies, policies and actions were guided by goals of ‘self-sufficiency’ in foodgrains production via green revolution. Indian agriculture has been successful in achieving increased food grains production albeit at a low level of satisfaction. While the mission of increasing foodgrains production stands somehow achieved, these gains were accompanied by widespread problems of resource degradation and high factor productivity, which now pose a serious challenge to the continued ability to meet the demand of an increasing population and lifting our people above the poverty line (Tan et al., 2010). Indian agriculture has reached a point where it must seek new directions – those by way of strategies, policies and actions which must be adopted to move forward addressing sustainable intensifications. The past strategies to increase food grains production, however, have resulted in massive exploitation of natural resources, contributing to unsustainable growth; there is need to change this approach in the future. This will call for strategies, which are different than the ones we adopted in the ‘green revolution’ era. High levels of fertilizer use and decreasing resource use-efficiency are increasingly contributing to groundwater pollution and increased emissions of green-house gases (GHGs) (Gupta, 2004). High level uses of pesticides in many areas have become a major health hazard. Thus, with continuously deteriorating resources, widespread problem of soil and water contamination and eroding ecological foundation, sustainability of agriculture is becoming highly questionable (Conway and Barbier, 1990). There is need to seriously debate on the strategies required to ensure that agriculture continues to play a critical role in the overall development.

Biofertilizer is already proven to be beneficial for agricultural and horticultural crops. The most important pre-requisite for the success of biofertilizer application is the presence of high population of viable cells which will show the desired effect on plants. Biotic interactions along with competition from native microflora is a major challenge to an applied strains of biofertilizers. The formulation is an important parameter for biofertilizer production containing efficient microbial strain with suitable carrier material and additives. The microbial strain needs suitable protective environment to increase their efficiency at the target site and also make it user-friendly. Performance of biofertilizers under field condition is the major requirement for inoculants. Inadequate formulations and poor inoculant quality are the major hurdles for the successful use of biofertilizers.

Formulation of biofertilizers has to be consistant during production, distribution, storage and transport to the farmer/end users. The shelf-life of inoculated microbial fertilizer depends on the formulation with suitable carrier material. If local production and distribution of an efficient native biofertilizer formulations are developed, the present problems in the field performance of biofertilizers could be significantly solved. Specific formulations of native strains for use in saline soils, acid soils, drought, high temperature and eroded soils requires specific formulations. Therefore,use of native strains of biofertilizer formulations which are tolerant to the abiotic stress is an important approach. The formulations of biofertilizers are challenging and limited success has been observed in the commercialization of new biofertilizers. Hence, the search for new formulations has been a continuous approach. However, the choice of the formulation depends on the application method, available equipment, farmer’s convenience, plant inherent characteristics and developmental stage, cost, mode of action and colonization pathway of the inoculated strain. Conventionally, solid based formulations are used, which have problems of low viability during storage and application.

Introduction

Clean and renewable energy is a basic requirement for developmental activities. Global energy crisis is caused by increasing world population, escalating demand due to urbanisation, and continued dependence on fossil-based fuels. Non-renewable energy sources like coal, natural gas oil contribute 79 per cent of world electricity generation; only 21 per cent comes from renewable energy sources. Promoting the use of existing renewable energy sources and identifying new environment-friendly technology is gaining importance. Switching to renewable energy sources like wind energy, ocean energy and solar energy is gaining a lot of importance. These green technologies emit less greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and hence are pollution free and immensely available. Recently, investigators have identified plants as weak energy sources. Plants are versatile organisms capable of communicating with each other with a number of signaling mechanisms. It was observed that plants generate electronic signals inside their system. The concept of utilising electronic signals for studying various physiological plant processes was first put forth by Sir Acharya J. C. Bose, an eminent biophysicist, botanist, archaeologist and polymath from India (Fromm and Lautner, 2007). His ideologies and concepts of movements of plants laid the foundation for modern electrophysiology-a branch of physiology that deals with electrical phenomena associated with metabolic functions. Attempts have been made to harvest electricity from free electrons available in plant leaves produced during photosynthesis and from rhizosphere of plants formed as a result of bacterial activity. Currently, a lot of attention is being given to improvise and develop this technology. To proceed forward in this direction, it is very critical to understand the mechanism of electrical signaling in plants.

A. Definition

A fracture is a break in the continuity of hard tissues like bone, cartilage, etc.

B. Etiology

(a) Extrinsic causes

Direct violence

Indirect violence

Fracture in animals occur frequently and is a concern of economic importance to the owner. The practice of keeping them as pets in households rather than in sheds or in confinements have increased the chance of encountering accidents like fall from coat, terrace, limbs being trapped in drains, being hit by vehicles, dog bites etc. leading to fracture. Fracture management in small animals/small ruminants can be successfully achieved owing to their light weight; they tolerate external coaptation relatively well and can ambulate in three limbs well in order to spare the injured limb. Fracture can be repaired successfully with regional anaesthetic techniques which they can tolerate very well. The constraint of cost effectiveness can be balanced by carefully selecting the appropriate technique according to the weight and limb involved. Many economical skeletal fixation technique have been evolved which can well fit into the budget of the owner. Knowledge of simple techniques can enhance healing in cases of bone loss and management of infection.

Fracture site stabilization

Fracture repair is usually elective, hence initial support and care of the fracture is necessary to prevent further trauma and complications like communication of fracture site to the exterior through wound or sinus and chances of infection. Initial support to splint the bone not only limits the movements but also supports the soft tissues from untoward consequences. Limb splinting reduces edema and pain, preserves neurovascular supply to the limb till the day of operation and helps to transport the animal safely. Fracture to limbs caudal to mid radius ulna/ tibia can safely be stabilized by splints or full limb casts. Wood, pliable bamboo or split poly vinyl chloride pipes positioned on the caudal and lateral aspects of the limbs and supported firmly with tapes or bandages can serve the purpose. Fracture proximal to mid radius ulna or tibia should not be stabilized using splits since the fulcrum effect created due to this can augment soft tissue injury. Careful assessment of the viability of the structures caudal to fracture site should be assessed prior to a decision regarding surgery, devitalized tissue hamper healing and is a subject to be considered for amputation.

The process of fracture healing is unique, in which damaged bone restores its original architecture but it does not form a poorly organized replacement matrix, otherwise known as scar tissue, rather it regenerates the original matrix and retains its mechanical properties. In order to repair bone defects, a combination of cells with osteogenic activity and appropriate scaffolding material can stimulate bone regeneration and its repair. A potential substitute for autologous transplantation should possess 3 elements: osteoprogenitor cells, osteoinductive factors, and an osteoconductive scaffold. Stem cells from adult tissues are attractive materials for cell therapy and tissue engineering. These cells generally have restricted lineage potential when compared to embryonic stem cells, and this may be advantageous in certain therapeutic applications. Bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have proven to be beneficial in bone regeneration. Bone marrow stem cells are pluripotent cells with the capability of differentiating osteoblasts so that they have been used to facilitate bone repair. Several studies have shown that seeding of cultured BMSCs on bioabsorbable implants can induce bone formation in vivo and lead to improved healing of critical-size bone defects.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) because of their self replication and osteogenic differentiation capabilities are regarded as an excellent source of cells for bone tissue engineering. Autologous stem cells are not always preferable since the quality and quantity of such cells will be affected by metabolic diseases, old age, and osteoporosis. Allogenic BMSCs might be preferable to xenogenic, but they are always not readily available. In addition, allogenic MSCs have the potential for carrying some diseases. The use of non-autologous stem cells isolated from healthy donors offers a major advantage since these stem cells can be thoroughly tested and formulated into off-the-shelf medicine in advance. Major attractive advantage of BMSCs as a source of cell transplantation is their low immunogenecity. It is now well established that BMSCs are immune-privileged cells that do not elicit immune responses due to an absence of their immunologically relevant cell surface markers.

Despite the benefits that minimally invasive surgery and osteosynthesis have brought to fracture management and bone healing, there are still many circumstances where bone healing remains challenging. Large bone defects are serious complications that are most commonly caused by extensive trauma, tumour, infection, or congenital musculoskeletal disorders. In nonunion cases repairing of bone defects with composite biomaterials as defect filler can promote bone regeneration. Currently, the gold standard for bone regeneration is use of autogenous bone graft. In order to avoid morbidity at the donor site or if large amount of autogenous bone is needed, bone substitution materials can be used. Bone substitution materials can be combined with cells such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to increase bone formation. Bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) represent an attractive cell population for tissue regeneration. Bone marrow stem cells are pluripotent cells that have been used to facilitate bone repair because of their capability of differentiating into osteoblasts. Several studies on the regeneration of bone have shown that cultured BMSCs, seeded on different bioabsorbable implants are able to induce bone formation in vivo and lead to improved healing of critical-size defects.

Calcium phosphate bone substitutes such as hydroxyapatite (HA) and tricalcium phosphate (TCP) are currently used for bone substitution in many different clinical applications such as repair of bone defects after trauma or tumour and bone augmentation in spinal arthrodesis. Although these bone substitutes are osteoconductive, they often lack the osteogenecity needed to support bone healing in large defects and are slowly degraded in the body. Studies have shown that coating of hydroxyapatite with a calcium silicate layer could encourage cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow-derived stromal cells. Silica-calcium phosphate composite in comparison to calcium phosphate-rich biomaterials has a faster resorption rate owing to greater dissolution of Si ions. The use of several growth factors have been studied in bone repair and these factors are known to play a role in differentiation of mesenchymal progenitor cells specific lineages like endothelial cells or osteoblast. Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) has been shown to accelerate bone healing in humans and animal models. BMP-2 acts by osteoinduction and is involved in the differentiation of mesenchymal progenitor cells into osteoblasts. The addition of recombinant human BMP (rhBMP-2) to a self-cross linkable cellulose hydrogels/biphasic calcium phosphate granules construct promotes bone regeneration in a critical-size segmental defect model of non-union in dogs. It is also reported that protein, insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) stimulates direct migration of human mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPC) and contributes to the recruitment of MPC in bone formation and bone healing.

LAND VERSUS SOIL

Land is a part of Earth’s surface that is not covered by water. It is used for agriculture, building houses, of?ce buildings, schools, hospitals, roads, railroads and even water canals. Land is measured by area [length (l) × width (w)] and the units are square meters (m²), square centimeters (cm²) etc. On the other hand, soil is Earth’s crust, which could vary from a few centimeters to a few meters in thickness (depth), needs a measure of volume [length (l) × width (w) × depth (d)] and the units are cubic meters (m³), cubic centimeters (cm³) etc. Soil is thus a three-dimensional natural body on Earth’s surface that provides anchorage to growing plants/ trees and shelter to soil biota and is responsible for the storage of water and plant nutrients, which are essential for crop production. In addition, it helps in the biodegradation of soil pollutants and puri?cation of ground water, the major source of drinking water in the world. Soil feeds all living beings on Earth and its degradation is one of the reasons for inadequate human nutrition

German chemist Justus Freiherr von Liebig (1803–1873), Professor at the University of Geissen and the French chemist Jean-Baptiste Joseph Dieudonne’ Boussingault (1801–1887), Professor at the University of Lyon and later Chair, Conservatoires des Artes et Matier in Paris are to be credited for analyzing the plants and coming with the idea that plants absorbed nitrogen and other mineral nutrients from the soil for their growth. D.I. Arnon and P.R. Stout, Plant Physiologists and Plant nutritionists at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, grew plants by hydroponics using pure chemical compounds and established following 3 criteria for the essentiality of nutrients for plant growth

As compared to total N soil total P is present in much smaller amounts in soil; it is roughly about 10% of total N. Further, while N in soil is in the largest amount in surface 0 to 15 cm layer, soil P may be the same or in larger amounts in the sub-soil. Again, organic P constitutes only a small portion of total P. Thus, the Chemistry of soil P is generally centered on inorganic P. Total and organic P in some Indian soils is given in Table 8.1; hill soils had the highest and the desert soils the least total as well as organic P.

FRACTIONS OF INORGANIC P

All P in soils has originated from apatites [3 (Ca₃ (PO₄)₂.Ca×₂, where ×₂ could be F, Cl, (OH) or CO₃). Large deposits of apatites form phosphate rocks, which are the major materials for making phosphate fertilizers. As the soil weathering proceeds, P in apatite reacts with Al, Fe and other cations and forms compounds of different solubility. A knowledge of these can help in understanding the P-supplying capacity of soils. A number of chemical extractants and resins are used for determining different fractions. In general, 7 fractions of inorganic soil P are mentioned. These are: saloid-P (soluble and loosely bound P extractable by NH₄Cl), labile P (determined by using anion-exchange resins), Al-P (NH₄F extractable), Fe-P (NaOH extractable), Ca-P (H₂SO₄ or HCl extractable), reductant-soluble- P (CDB or sodium citrate-sodium dithionite-sodium bicarbonate extractable) and occluded P (CTB followed by NaOH extractable)

Secondary nutrients is a triad of three essential plant nutrients namely, Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg) and Sulphur (S). Of these three, Ca and Mg are taken up by plants as cations, while S is taken up as anion SO4 2–. Among the secondary plant nutrients, sulphur is emerging as a major plant-nutrient de?ciency in crops grown in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, spread over 13 million ha in Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh (Khurana et al., 2008). From the Indian point of view, S de?ciency has emerged in a large part of the country and needs to be attended. Uptake of Mg and S by some crops is given in Table 10.1.

1.1 Introduction

Fungi are chlorophyll-less thallophytic plant. Due to absence of chlorophyll, they are heterophytes which depend on other form of life for food. They grow in various habitats and show much diversity in their structure, physiology and reproduction. They evoloved long back from the ancient time.

Their existence was recorded from Pre-cambrian period. Information from ancient literature indicates that the fungi were used as food by men. At present, the fungi are used in medicine as well as food in addition to other aspects. The fungi cause diseases in crop plants (spots, rusts, smuts etc.) and on human beings (Aspergillosis, Blastomycosis etc.).

At present biologists use the term fungus (fungus mushroom, from Greek, sponagos = sponge) to include eukaryotic, spore bearing, achlorophyllous organism that generally reproduce sexually and asexually and whose usually filamentous, branched somatic structure are typically surrounded by cell wall containing chitin or cellulose or both of these substances, togather with many other complex molecules

More than 1.5 million species (Hawksworth 2001; Kirk et al., 2001) of fungi have been recorded, but their number may be much more than the actual record. The subject which deals with fungi is known as Mycology (mykes — mushroom; logos—study) and the concerned scientist is called mycologist. The various definitions of fungi as proposed by mycologists are:

Alexopoulos (1962) defined fungi as “nucleated, spore-bearing, achlorophyllous organisms which generally reproduce sexually and asexually and whose usually filamentous, branched somatic structures are typically surrounded by cell walls containing cellulose or chitin or both”.

Alexopoulos and Mims (1979) defined fungi as eukaryotic spore bearing, achlorophyllous organisms that generally reproduce sexually and asexually, and whose usually filamentous, branched somatic structures are typically surrounded by cell walls containing chitin or cellulose, or both of these substances, together with many other complex organic molecules.

Microbiology is the branch of science which deals with the diverse minute forms of life such as bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi, prions, protozoa and algae. The study includes structure, classification, growth and nutrition, natural habitat, genome, antigenic characteristics, virulence determinants, types of toxins produced, pathogenesis, diagnosis and ways to combat the infection caused by the microbes.

The genetics is the study of inheritance and variability of organisms. Bacterial genetics is a sub-field which specifically studies transmission of genetic information from one bacterium to its progeny or between the interbreeding bacteria and the expression of genetic information.

Mutation

Hugo de Vries (1848-1935, Dutch botanist) coined the term ‘mutation’. It is originated from a Latin word which means ‘to change’. The heritable change in bacterial DNA sequences is known as bacterial mutation. The mutation will generate a new type of bacteria with altered genotypical and phenotypical characteristics, known as ‘mutant’. The parent bacterial cell from which the mutants are generated is known as ‘wild type’. In nature bacterial mutation is a rare incidence. The spontaneous mutation occurs at a rate of 1 in 10⁵ to 10⁸. The phenotypical expression of mutation occurs quickly as the bacteria are haploid with shorter generation time.

In 1850, Bacillus anthracis was first reported by three individuals in two different countries i.e. Delafond and Davaine in France, and Pollender in Germany. They could not establish the relationship of the bacterium with the infection. Absolute proof of the anthrax etiology as B. anthracis was established by Robert Koch during 1876-77. The name Bacillus anthracis was first coined by Cohn (1875) and the disease ‘anthrax’ was first named by Hippocrates (5th century B.C.). In Greek language meaning of ‘anthrax’ is ‘coal’ referring to the black coloured skin or blood in affected animals.

Lucke (1862) first described that the bluish green discolouration of surgical dressing is associated with the presence of small vibrio like organisms. Gessard (1882) first isolated the bacteria as Pseudomonas.

Identification of the etiologic agent of glanders was performed in 1882 by isolating a bacterium from the infected liver and spleen of horse. Since its discovery, the pathogen has been classified as Loefflerella mallei, Pfeifferella mallei, Malleomyces mallei, Actinobacillus mallei, Corynebacterium mallei, Mycobacterium mallei, Pseudomonas mallei, and currently as Burkholdria mallei. The genus Burkholderia was created to accommodate former rRNA group II (Pseudomallei group) Pseudomonas bacteria. It was based on the 16S rRNA sequences, DNA-DNA homology values, cellular lipid and fatty acid composition.

Louis Pasteur (1881) first isolated the bacterium from fowl cholera outbreak and attenuated the bacteria to develop a vaccine for the chicken. Trevisan (1887) coined the generic name ‘Pasteurella’ in honour of Louis Pasteur. Lignieres (1900) proposed the name of the species according to the animals acted as the major hosts such as Pasteurella aviseptica for fowls, P. suiseptica for pigs, P. boviseptica for bovines, P. oviseptica for ovines and P. leptiseptica for rabbits. Rosenbuch and Merchant (1939) proposed the name of single species Pasteurella multocida which is in use till date.

Mannheimia is an exclusive animal pathogen and is associated with ‘shipping fever’ or bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in cattle. Kitt (1885) first described the bacterium as Bacterium bipolare multocidum isolated from shipping fever in cattle. The nomenclature was further changed into Bacillus boviseptica and finally into Pasteurella haemolytica. Based on fermentation capability of arabinose and trehalose, P. haemolytica was subdivided into two biotypes (A and T) and several capsular serotypes. The biotype A (with 12 capsular serotypes) was classified under a new genus Mannheimia due to disparities in 16S rDNA sequence, cultural and pathological characteristics.

Clinical conditions similar to brucellosis have been described since the time of Hippocrates (450 BC). J. A. Marston (1861) first described brucellosis as gastric remittent fever in Malta, the Southern European island country. Sir David Bruce (1886) first isolated small coccobacilli from an infected soldier’s spleen and purified the culture in 1887, and named Micrococcus melitensis. Later the genus was renamed as Brucella in his honour. Similarly, Bang and Stribolg (1897) first isolated Brucella abortus from abortion material of a cow. Traum in 1914 isolated Bacillus abortus suis, currently known as Brucella suis. In 1953, Brucella ovis was firs isolated in New Zealand by Budlle and Boyes from the aborted material of sheep. Carmichael and Bruner (1968) first isolated B. canis from the aborted placenta of a dog.

In India first report of ‘contagious abortion’ associated with Brucella was found in annual report (1918) of imperial veterinary research institute (presently Indian veterinary research institute), Mukteswar, Uttarakhand and later in 1942 by Polding.

The food we eat contains nourishing substances called nutrients which are required by human body for proper functioning and maintenance of body health. They are classified into five groups such as:

Carbohydrates,

Protein,

Fats,

Minerals

Vitamins

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science that deals with the identification, nomenclature and classification of organisms.

Systematics

It is scientific study of organisms with the ultimate object of characterizing and arranging them in an orderly manner.

Classification

Classification is the ordering of organisms into groups and systems, based on their morphological, phylogenetic and physiological relationships.

Nomenclature

It is the system of assigning names to the taxonomic groups or organism according to international rules.

It is said that “Success of any production system depends on the kind of seed which are sowing”. It is true for the seedlings also beacause healthy seedlings grown in a well managed nursery will decide the yield and consequently the profit.

Definition of Vegetable Nursery

A vegetable nursery is a place or an establishment for raising or handling of young vegetable seedlings until they are ready for more permanent planting.

Why vegetable nursery is needed

Some vegetable crops require special cares during their early growth period. There are some vegetables with very small sized seeds. Seedlings of many seed propagated vegetable crops like, tomato, brinjal, chillies, sweet pepper, cauliflower, cabbage, knolkhol, broccoli, Brussels sprout, kale, endive, chicory, celery, lettuce, parsley, onion, etc. are first raised in the nursery beds before transplanted in the main field. Many seed propagated vegetable crops viz., okra, peas, beans, radish, carrot, beet, turnip and all the cucurbits (e.g. bitter gourd, bottle gourd, pumpkin, cucumber, watermelon, muskmelon, snake gourd, sponge gourd, ridge gourd, etc.) are conventionally grown through direct seeding in the main field. However, many cucurbits, particularly in the early season are also grown in India using the seedlings raised in polythene packets.

Relationship Between Plant and Water

Water is the most vital component of the living cells and the basis of plant feeding. Water is also characterized with extraordinary physical properties: it has high specific heat, biggest latent heat of vaporization, very high thermal conductivity and greatest surface tension. Large amounts of heat are tied up with water because of very high specific heat, which contribute to both climatic stability and to heat budgets of the plants and other organisms. Water molecules are integral part of living systems being the solvent for metabolites and structural component of proteins and nucleic acids. In fact, biological macro-molecules cannot exist in their complicated secondary folding or spiralled helixes without the support of hydrogen bonding within their water matrix. The water matrix is also critical for metabolic activity because its properties of hydration permit ready reactivity between molecules in solution as well as between enzymes and their substrates, and the biochemical processes are sensitive to tissue hydration. A reduction of only 20-25 per cent below maximum hydration is sufficient to cause metabolic malfunctioning of many enzymes. It is the substrate for photosynthesis and a product of respiration. Water also helps to buffer plant tissue against fluctuations in the external environment. Plant growth including leaf expansion, organ enlargement, reproductive development and stomata function are all clearly associated with moisture status. Hormonal changes (abscisic acid and cytokinins) in plant body occur with brief reduction in water potential. Water is the also major force in shaping the climatic patterns.

Marketing is one of the most important factors in determining the success of any vegetable farming enterprise. Marketing includes all the operations and decisions taken by the producers. These decisions range from determining the most marketable crops for production to deciding how to best deliver quality produce to the consumers at a profit. However, contrary to popular belief, marketing does not begin after a crop is produced. Instead, marketing alternatives need to be considered even before the start of production.

However, vegetable marketing in India has not yet been organised so far. The long route from the grower to the retailer and ultimately to the consumer involves a chain of middlemen, transport contractors and wholesale merchants. Very often, there arises stagnation of the produce in the peak season or in the year of good production. The large number of intermediaries in the vegetable marketing channel grab maximum share of the consumer’s price and as a result, the producers’ profit becomes marginal. Vegetable cultivation is a capital intensive venture, and huge production alone cannot fetch profit for the growers. Organised marketing, storage and transport facilities are the key factors for making vegetable farming profitable which ultimatily boost vegetable cultivation.

Chemicals have been in use to arrest the ill effects of plant diseases even in the prehistoric periods (1000 B.C.) (Ogawa et al. 1977), although the nature of the causative agent was not known at that time. A combination of chemicals was developed and demonstrated to be effective against the devasting downy mildew disease affecting grapevines by systematic investigations of Millardet (1882) in France. This mixture of copper sulphate and lime was named as Bordeaux mixture after the place where it was developed (Large 1940). Despite the development of hundreds of chemicals over the following decades, for the management of fungal diseases, Bordeaux mixture is still being used against certain diseases. Copper, sulphur - and mercury-based compounds were applied prior to the 1940s. After the end of World War II, several organic chemicals were released into the market to wage a losing war against the plant pathogens. The researchers and industry have now realized that microbial pathogens cannot be entirely suppressed or eliminated by chemicals or by any other means.

Crusting soils

What is soil crusting?

Soil crusting refers to formation of a compact thin layer having high bulk density and high penetration resistance at the soil surface when dries after dispersion of fine particles and clogging of pores due to beating action of rain drop and slaking of irrigation water.

In arid and semiarid regions, crust formation occurs due to the destruction of soil aggregates. Crust formation occurs in all types of soils except sand. It is characterized by high bulk density, low non capillary pores, low hydraulic conductivity and aeration and high penetration resistance.

Soil erosion refers to detachment and transport of soil and soil particles from one place to other by the action of water, wind or gravity. Soil erosion consists of (i) detachment of soil particles from surface (ii) their transport from one place to other and (iii) deposition in another place.

Soil erosion are of two types: Natural erosion and accelerated erosion. The natural or geological erosion is steady, nondestructive and slow process of nature. On the contrary the accelerated erosion caused due to human activities like cutting of forest, intensive cropping, construction of roads and building is very rapid and destructive. Surface one inch of soil which is formed in thousand years can be lost within one year due to accelerated erosion.

In India, out of total 175 million hectares of degraded land, soil erosion due to water and wind accounts for 150 million hectare. Soil erosion due to shifting cultivation, salinity, alkalinity, water logging and shifting of water courses account for 25 million hectare.

Average soil loss from various land surfaces in India has been estimated to be 5334 million tonnes per year out of which 29 percent is permanently lost to sea, 10 percent is deposited in reservoirs and 61 percent is transported from one place to other. The plant nutrients lost through 5334 million tonnes of eroded soils was estimated to be 8.4 million tonnes which includes 2.5 million tonnes of N, 3.3 million tonnes of P and 2.6 million tonnes of K.

Siltation of reservoirs through water erosion is a major concern in India. This accelerated silting has considerably reduced the estimated life span of major reservoirs. The rate of siltation depends on the catchment area, soil erodability, topography and rainfall pattern. Larger the catchment area, smaller is the siltation load in the reservoirs because, the coarse fraction of eroded particles may be settle down in the stream valley before the water enters into the reservoir.

1. INTRODUCTION

Fruits and vegetables represent highly perishable items of agricultural produce, mainly because of their high water content in the fresh form. Fruits and vegetables vary greatly in their protective covering, peel or rind, and also in shape, size, colour, texture and flavour. Their care starts from the field of harvest, including pre- harvest care to reduce postharvest infections and maintain quality. Because of the high rate of perishability in fresh form, fruits and vegetables are preserved by processing into several forms and choices, depending on the specific commodity to ensure reduction in mass, render storage stability for extension in storage life for both domestic and foreign trade over variable distance and time.

Food preservation can be defined as the science which deals with methods of prevention of decay or spoilage of food, thus allowing it to be stored in a fit condition for future use. In this chapter, food preservation and have been discussed in abroad way.

Thus, sugar serves as a preservative in jam and jelly, whereas salt is the major preservative for pickle. RTS (Ready-to-Serve) beverage under acidic conditions in pasteurized form can be stored at room temperature for approximately three months while dehydrated products with 5% residual moisture with suitable packages, depending on the low hygroscopicity can find storage life upto 12 months. Intermediate moisture product with 25% residual moisture is becoming popular to consume mango or papaya strips directly in ready-to-eat form. Storage quality of such forms assumes greater importance. The use of synthetic preservatives is highly questioned in the modern days. However, low concentrations of potassium meta-bisulfite and sodium benzoate are still in use. Formation of benzene under acidic conditions for example in products like RTS beverage by the use of sodium benzoate is said to be dangerous, as benzene is known to be carcinogenic. This takes us to a subject of food safety including hygiene and HACCP. Good manufacturing practices are practically the most useful form of product preparation to expect safety.

1. INTRODUCTION

Wild pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is one of those fruits which has got a great economic importance. The name “pomegranate”is derived from Latin pomum (apple) and granatus (seeded) which has influenced the common name for pomegranate in many languages (like in German Granatapfel, seeded apple). It has widely been cultivated throughout India and drier parts of South-East Asia, Malaysia, the East Indies and tropical Africa. The most important growing countries of pomegranate are are Egypt, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, India, Mayamar and Saudi Arabia. In India, it grows in the vast tract of the hill slopes of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. One of the important centers of wild pomegranate, in Himachal Pradesh is Darlaghat, located about 50 Km from Shimla. The fruit provides substantial income to the farmers particularly where it is found growing wild such as in Mandi, Kullu, Sirmour, Solan, Shimla, and Chamba districts of Himachal Pradesh. It is found very common and gregarious in drier and sub-marginal land of mid hill regions of outer Himalayas at an elevation of 900-1800 m above mean sea level (a.m.s.l). Wild pomegranate is considered as one of the commercial fruits of Himachal Pradesh in the form of dried arils popularly known as “Anardana”. Besides Anardana, other value added products can also be prepared from this fruit as detailed in this chapter.

1. INTRODUCTION

Food processing industries are engaged in production of different types of processed products and generate various types of wastes. These wastes, whether solid or liquid, on one hand are a direct loss to the producer or manufacturer and on the other hand create environmental pollution, if not disposed properly. Therefore, the processors would always like to minimize these wastes. The generation of wastes not only cause economic losses but would also require additional cost for their management and disposal. As a matter of fact, it is often estimated that proper use of efficient machinery and careful handling during various operations can lead to more than 50% reduction in losses.

In general, the wastes from the food processing industries are either not utilized or primarily utilized as animal feed, fertilizer and in preparation of by-products on a limited extent. Many of the wastes such as cuttings and shreds from the fruit and vegetable processing industry can be used as animal feed. Fruit and vegetables wastes can also be used for extraction of starch, pectin, natural colouring matter, fat, essential oils etc. Wheat and maize bran alongwith palm kernel are used for the production of feed for chickens. Various oils and oleoresins having enormous pharmaceutical properties can be obtained from the spice processing industry.

Fermentation is a cheap and energy efficient means of preserving perishable raw materials. It commonly does not require any sophisticated equipment, neither is the storage of fermented products a big issue. Fermented foods play an important role in providing food security, enhancing livelihoods and improving the nutrition and social well being of millions of people around the world, particularly the marginalised and vulnerable population across the developing countries.

1. INTRODUCTION

With diverse agro-climatic conditions, India produces a wide variety of horticultural crops and out of these crops and out of these apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) occupies a prominent position in India. It is processed into different products like juice, concentrates, wine, cider, canned slices etc. Apple processing is one of the major industries in countries of the world including India, where it is processed in different states like H.P, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. Apple pomace is a left-over residue after juice extraction containing peel, seeds and remaining solid parts and represents about 25-35% of the weight of the fresh apple processed. At prasent, it is a waste and its disposal is a major environmental problem (Plate 1). Being precious natural resources its utilization is a challenge and opportunity to the scientists and technologists. It may be a good substrate for the pectin esterase enzyme, animal feed, citric acid, ethanol and biocolour production. It could be a good substrate for the production of microbial colours under SSF which otherwise require a costlier medium for its production. Different products using solid state fermentation of apple pomace forms the subject matter of this chapter. Here the efforts made to utilize apple pomace especially to explore the possibility of making value added products using Solid State Fermentation (SSF) have been summarized.