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Corynebacterium diptheriae was first observed by Klebs in 1883 and described in details by Loeffler in 1884. So it is also known as ‘Klebs-Loeffler bacillus’. In 1888, Nocard isolated a similar type of bacteria from cases of bovine farcy. In 1894, Preisz described it completely and revealed its similarities with the diphtheria bacilli. Latter it was named as Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (Preisz-Nocard bacillus). Bollinger (1890) first reported C. renale from the cases of pyelonephritis in cows. Magnusson (1923) first described C. equi (Rhodococcus equi) form suppurative pneumonia of a foal.

Properties of genus

1.   Morphology

Corynebacterium are gram positive, pleomorphic bacteria ranging from coccoid to filamentous rods. The size varies from 0.5-0.6 µm by 1.0- 3.0 µm. Some of the species appear as packets of parallel cells (palisade arrangement) or show ‘V’ shaped form (Chinese letter arrangement) in the microscopic field (Fig.1and Fig.2). The cell wall peptidoglycan contains meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-DAP). The arabinose and galactose are major cell wall sugars. Short-chain mycolic acids (corynomycolic acids, 22–36 carbon atoms) are present. This kind of cell wall structure is impermeable to the hydrophilic compounds. However, the ‘porin’ present in the cell wall sometimes helps in import of the hydrophilic substances. Mycolic acid containing cell wall helps in intracellular survival within the macrophages. Corynebacterium is non acid fast, non-sporulating, non-capsulated and non-motile bacteria (except C. aquaticum)
.

Properties

1. Bacteroides, Dichelobacter and Fusobacterium are major gram negative anaerobes isolated from human and animals. Other gram negative anaerobes are listed below (Table-1).

       2.   They are tolerant to oxygen in comparison to strict anaerobes. They do not die after oxygen exposure

       3.         They naturally inhabit the intestine and mucosal surfaces of human and animals. Majority of them are opportunistic pathogens. Often they cause mixed bacterial infection along with aerobes. Aerobes remove oxygen and create an anaerobic condition favourable for their growth. Aerobes may also supply other growth requirements. For e.g. Porphyromonas asaccharolytica requires vitamin K for its growth, supplied by another bacterium, not the host.

The word ‘chlamydia’ comes from the Greek word ‘chlamys’ which means, “cloak draped around the shoulder”. This describes how the intracytoplasmic inclusions caused by the bacterium are “draped” around the infected cell’s nucleus. Chlamydia was first discovered by a Czech zoologist and parasitologist, Stanislaus von Prowazek in 1907 in Berlin, but scientists believe it was actively infecting people for centuries before its discovery. Because the symptoms of Chlamydia are similar to some other infections it was not identified as a sexually transmitted disease. Originally, because of its structure it was thought to be a virus. In 1963 it was recognized as bacteria rather than a virus.

Properties of genus

           They are poorly stained by Gram’s stain. Chlamydiae are readily stained by Castaneda (blue in appearance), Giemnez and Macchiavello (red in appearance) methods. However, Giemsa staining is preferable to stain the inclusions (Chlamydial micro colony) in the cell culture. Inclusion bodies of the Chlamydiae are basophilic in nature. Again, the staining of the inclusion bodies may differ depending on the species. In C. trachomatis, the inclusion bodies contain glycogen matrix and can be easily stained with iodine solution.

(I)  Breeds

Basically swine is a clean animal and in our country, mainly, poor people  are rearing them with the least available infrastructure and poor quality feed, usually garbage, and that is why swine  are forced to take garbage as a feed (Fig. 23). With good food and shelter, they can give birth twice a year with better productivity. Even 8000- 9000 years back swine stood at 3^rd position for being reared by humans after cattle and sheep. Swine comes under phylum Chordata as they have vertebral column and their class is mammalia. They come under Artiodactyla for being ungulate animals. Swine comes in Swede order and their species is swiss. They have 3 subspecies. The domesticated subspecies comes under Swede domesticus and wild pigs comes under Swede vitatus and Swede scrofa. In India there are 4 breeds of pigs. Wild, desi, exotic and crossbred.

In recent years, we are just experiencing a surplus production in cereals and oil seeds leading to self-sufficiency through green revolution and yellow revolution. However, shortage in the production of vegetables has drawn the attention for increasing the cultivation of vegetables to provide food and nutrition security.

Vegetables are being cultivated over an area of 49 million hectares with the production potential of 487 million tonnes in the world. This accounts for 2.85 per cent of total cropped area in the world. India is the second largest producer of vegetables next to China, sharing nearly 12 per cent of the total world output (Joshi and Shukla, 1997). Vegetables occupy nearly 8.02 million hectares with the production potential of 133.10 million tonnes in the year 2009 in India (Anonymous, 2009).

Bhendi (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) is an important member of family malvaceae and commonly known as okra or ladyfinger in India. It is one of the most ancient and traditional vegetable crops grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world (Martin and Ruberte, 1978). Bhendi is originated from tropical Africa with 2n = 8x = 72 or 130 or 144 chromosomes and is an allopolyploidy in nature (Joshi and Hardas, 1956; Suresh Babu, 1987). Martin (1982) reported that it behaves as a diploid. Under the genus Abelmoschus, there are 30 species in the old world and four in the new world (Joshi et al., 1974). Out of them, Abelmoschus esculentus, is the only species known to be cultivated. Bhendi is being raised in India in an area of 0.44 million hectares with an average production of 4.52 mt with the productivity of 10.27 t/ha (Anonymous, 2009).

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.

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

Crossandra is native to Indo-malaya region. They are all native to sub-tropoical regions including India, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Madagascar.

Crossandra Salisb is a genus of about 50 species which are shrubs or herbs from Tropical Africa, Madagascar and Arabia, where it is grown as a perennial shrub. Crossandra undulaefolia Salisb. (Syn C. infundibuliformis Nees) is a native of East Indies. However, it is sometimes considered to be native of south India and Ceylon. C. guinensis is native of east Africa while C. nilotica has its origin in east Africa and Mozambigue. C. flava is a native of tropical west Africa.

The crossandra plants are distributed in tropical as well as subtropical regions of the world such as south Asia, South America, South Africa and Madagascar. In India, it is commercially cultivated in southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh (Singh, 2006).

Indian horticulture has shown impressive impact on production, productivity and profitability. Currently, the total production of horticultural produce is 214.7 million tones from the 9% of total cultivated area in India, which contribute 30.4% to GDP of agriculture (Singh, 2010). In world perspective, India is second largest producer of fruits (68.5 mt) from 6.10 m ha area and contributes 11.2% in global fruit production. Vegetable crops occupying 8.0 m ha have the production of 129.1 mt (Table 1). However; India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices and spice products in the world and produce more than 50 spices. The spice production in India is the order of 4.14 mt from an area of about 2.63 m ha. India is also the leading producer of plantation crops in the world and contributes 22.34% in coconut, 25% in cashewnut and 55% in arcanut. Commercial floriculture sector has recorded fast pace of growth during the last decade. During the last decade area under floriculture has expended to 1,67,000 ha with production of 9,87,000 MT of loose flower and 4.8 million cut flowers (Singh, 2010). The over all percent share of fruits and vegetables to their total production and contribution of different states for production of fruits and vegetables are repicted in Fig. 1 & 2. From the above fact, it is indicated that the production of horticulture produce has increased manifold but the gap in demand and supply continues simultaneously and is hardly sufficient and meets only 46% of national demand. Hence, there is a strong need to increase the production and productivity through crop diversification.

Agriculture in India is one of the most important sectors of its economy. It provides livelihood to almost two thirds of the work force in the country and accounts for 18% of India’s GDP. About 43 % of India’s geographical area is used for agricultural activity and large number of production systems are in practice in different parts ofthe country. In pre-independence era (before the 1950s), agriculture in India was a system of harnessing nature for the sustenance of human beings, similar to the presently defined organic farming. Some countries have moved away from inorganic to organic farming yet it is not possible for India to depend entirely upon this system of farming due to large population. Total availability of plant nutrients from organic sources is projected to be 7.75 million tonnes by 2025 (Tandon, 1997) against the total requirement of37.50 million tonnes (Katyal, 2001) for 1504 million population (Sekhon, 1997). Thus nutrients supply through organic sources alone would result in deficiency of about 30 million tonnes of nutrients. Hence, it is imperative to use both organic and inorganic sources of plant nutrients enhance food production for the increasing population (Mahajan et al., 2007). In India the contribution of organic sources was 80-100 per cent in 1949-50 and reduced to about 32 per cent in 1993-94 and 20-25 per cent in 2004-05. So, it is imperative to enhance organic sources to meet total nutrient consumption. Following independence, rapid population growth in India placed great pressure on land and on these traditional farming systems; huge demands for food grains led to increased use of fertilizers and pesticides to boost production. Still a negative balance of about 8 million tones of NPK is foreseen in 2020, even if we continue to use chemical fertilizers, maintaining present growth rates of production and consumption. The most optimistic estimates at present, show that only about 25-30 per cent nutrient needs of Indian agriculture can be met by utilizing various organic sources. Many of the gains in production during the last 4-5 decades resulted from the “Green Revolution,” a campaign of technological interventions in agriculture widely adopted by farmers in developing countries. Expansion of irrigation to cover rain fed areas, popularization of hybrids/ transgenic varieties of crops, and use ofsynthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides were the maj or technologies promoted. This paid rich dividends in India, quadrupling food grain production from 50 million metric tons in 1950-51 to 211 million metric tons in 2001-02, and enabling India to become self-sufficient in food grain. Now a second green revolution is also in the offing, to boost agricultural production and meet the estimated requirement of 337 million metric tons.

Balanced crop nutrition is a most reaJized critical factor in allowing crops to give their full yield potential. The application of macro and micronutrients through manures and fertilizers to achieve this balance is an integral practice in modern crop production system. Macro and microelements have long been recognized as being associated with changes in the level of many diseases and yield and /or quality of crops. Three major elements N, P, and K are the most studied nutrients which chiefly affect relative resistance of crop plants to various diseases. Others macro/micro/beneficial nutrients including Ca, Mg, S, Mn,Te, Zn, Mo, Si, Bo and Cu have shown varying degrees of disease suppression/induction on many crop species under various environmental conditions. Crop nutrition influence plant health through: i. affecting the growth, reproduction, virulence, and survival of pathogens; ii. resistance and tolerance, predisposition and escape in the host crop; and iii. root exudates and microbial interactions facilitatingbiological control. Balanced crop nutrition can protect crops from pathogens by: i. avoiding plant stress, which may allow crops to better withstand the attack of pathogens and ii. manipulating nutrients to the advantage of crops and disadvantage of the pathogen. The modern intensive agriculture which mainly relies on chemical inputs (fertilizers and pesticides) and fertilizer responsive HYVs (high yielding varieties) has led the self sufficiency in food production in India and several other countries of the world. But, the indiscriminate and imbalance use of chemical fertilizers along with exhaustive cropping initiated several second generation problems including widespread micronutrient deficiencies and increased attack of several insect-pests and pathogenic diseases. The excessive use of nitrogen and no or reduced application of phosphorus, potash and other micronutrients is creating conducive conditions for several crop pathogens and their insect vectors. This situation frequently results in serious crop losses during favourable environmental conditions for disease development. The specific role of macro and micronutrients in maintaining crop health, effect of their dose and form of application on suppression /induction of various diseases and interaction with other soil/ environmental factor (s) will be discussed in following sections.

Objective:To transfer DNA on nylon membrane by Southern blotting.

Background information

A Southern blot is a method used in molecular biology to detect a specific DNA sequence in DNA samples. Southern blotting combines transfer of electrophoresis-separated DNA fragments to a filter membrane and subsequent fragment detection by probe hybridization.

The British biologist Edwin Southern (Southern, 1975) discovered this technique the technique is known by his name. Southern blotting technique uses digested genomic DNA with restriction enzymes. Southern blotting technique may be used to identify the gene copies number in a genome. A probe that hybridizes only to a single DNA segment that is uncut with restriction enzyme will produce a single band on a Southern blot, whereas multiple bands will likely be observed when the probe hybridizes to several highly similar sequences (e.g., may be due to sequence duplication).

In the southern blotting technique a short DNA probe is used that matches based on complementary DNA sequence fragment on filter membrane. It proves that the DNA fragment on membrane contain specific sequence for which DNA probe is prepared. When DNA is transferred on the membrane from gel it permits binding of radioactive/Biotin labeled hybridization probe to the restricted DNA. Southern blotting is also important for autoradiography.

Southern blotting is an important molecular biology technique that may be used for homology based cloning, screening a DNA library, screening of cloned DNA fragments and to identify methylated sites in genes.

Objective: To quantify aflatoxin content in given sample by Indirect competitive ELIS

Background information:

Enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) is a common biochemical technique that uses the principle of solid-phase enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for detection of substances mainly antigens in a liquid or wet sample.

ELISA is a very popular technique that is used for diagnostic purpose in health sector, plant protection and also for quality test in food and other industries. This technique applies the principle of antigen-antibody reaction on a solid surface. The attached antibody is linked to certain enzymes and in the end of reaction by addition of substrate that performs enzyme-substrate reaction and makes product that has some signal mostly color change and based on intensity of color the qualitative as well as quantitative estimation of antigens can be done using ELISA reader coupled with spectrophotometer.

In ELISA technique one antibody should be specific to certain antigen. For reaction of ELISA the ELISA plates are used that is also known as microtiter plate made-up of polystyrene. The sample to be tested for ELISA contain unknown amount of antigen to be detected, this sample containing antigen is immobiliz d on a solid support like polystyrene microtiter plate in two different ways; first is non-specific where antigens adsorbed to the surface and second is specific where the antigens of sample are captured by specific antibody to the antigen, like used in sandwich ELIS Once the antigens are immobilized non-specifically or specifically the detection antibody should be added that makes precise antigen-antibody complex. The detection antibody may be either covalently linked to certain enzyme or may be detected by another secondary antibody linked to bioconjugated enzyme. During ELISA steps several proteins or antibodies may non-specifically bound that can be removed by washing with mild detergent solution in between of each ELISA step. For washing of ELISA plates, ELISA plate washer may be used that mechanically wash the ELISA plates. At the end of ELISA the final wash is given and substrate is added that produces visible signal in the form of color change that indicates the presence of antigens in the sample and further quantification may be done using ELISA reader coupled with spectrophotometer.

1. Introduction

The global population is very cautious about gaining weight and diabetics. Calorie less and sugar free substances are gaining momentum in food sector. The miracle plant stevia is very fit in this scenario as it is both zero calorie and sugar free and one more additional benefit that it is completely natural. Stevia rebaudiana Bert. belonging to the family asteraceae has been used in many countries for thousands of years as a source of natural sweetener eg., in Paraguay and Brazil Central America, Thailand, Korea and China (Megeji et al., 2005, Sivaram and Mukundan, 2003; Jain et al., 2009). It is also known as sweet herb, sweet leaf, honey leaf, candy leaf, honey yerba (Carakostas et al., 2008) and meeti tulsi. It possesses an extensive root system and brittle stems producing small, elliptic leaves. In natural conditions S. rebaudiana grows in a form of a shrub and reaches even 1 m of height. Leaves are the major economic part. They are sessile and oppositely arranged, lanceolate to oblancoelate in shape, and are serrated above the middle. Trichome structures on the leaf surface are of two different sizes, one large and one small (Shaffert and Chetobar 1994). The white florets are, borne in small corymbs of 2–6 in number. Corymbs are arranged in panicles. Dr. Moises Santiago Bertoni discovered this plant in 1888 at Paraguay. In 1905, the plant was scientifically named as S. rebaudiana after a Paraguayan chemist Dr. Rebaudi. (Gupta et al., 2013). The active components of Stevia i.e., steviol glycosides (SGs) includes rebaudioside A (Reb A), rebaudioside C and stevioside (ST) that are 250-300 times sweeter than sugar (Chalapathi & Thimmegowda 1997). Stevia is a short-day plant and its flowering is induced when days are shorter. Long photoperiods stimulates leaf growth and steviol glycoside content. The plant can survive only mild winters of its native regions. It cannot survive in waterlogged areas. Stevia extracts can be used in a wide variety of food and beverage applications. Individual usages and use levels may vary depending on the country. They act synergistically when used in combination with other sweeteners. The higher market demand favors the cultivation and commercialization of this particular species.

Dioscorea L. commonly known as yam is the largest genus in the family Dioscoreaceae with 602 species distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions. It is an important food crop next to cereals and grains due to high yield storage of carbohydrates which form an important place in the dietary habits of small and marginal farmers especially in the food security of tribal population. The tubers are rich source of various secondary metabolites like Diosgenin, a commercially important bioactive sapogenin used as a precursor in the manufacturing of sex hormones, oral contraceptives and other pharmaceutically important steroidal drugs. Despite of its huge diversity only few species are recognized to be useful for medicinal and edible purposes. About 50 species of Dioscorea are distributed in India. The North East India, one of the hotspot of biodiversity is particularly rich in tropical root and tuber crops. Dioscorea species are in luxuriant growth in wild habitat in this region. The present study mainly addressed to explore the ethno medicinal uses, phytochemical analysis and also focused on safe conservation of sixteen species of Dioscorea found in this region.

1. Introduction

The North east India (located between 87Ú32’E to 97Ú52’E latitude and 21Ú34’N to 29Ú50’ N latitude) forms a distinct part of the Indo-Burma hotspot which rank the 6th among 25 biodiversity hotspot of the world is climatically, ecologically and ethnically very diverse. The region is largely dominated by tribals such as Naga, Khasi, Mizo, Miri, Adi, Aka, Apatani, Maripa, Mushard, Garo, Tagin Naga and Singhpho who are sociocultural different. The North east region, besides having large floral biodiversity, is yet not fully explored. The forest resources available in this area are most often ill managed due to lack of awareness and anthropogenic activities. Various wild roots and tuber crops are consumed by the indigenous group of North East India which have very less scientific documentation although. As wild tuber crops available in North East India, Dioscorea species play a prime role in providing food and medicinal requirements for the indigenous communities of this region. Hence the present paper focuses on the ethnobotanical importance and qualitative screening of few important phytochemicals present in the various species of Dioscorea, their conservation strategies and sustainable utilization in North East India.

1. Introduction

Medicinal plants are well known for their secondary metabolites which are alternatively called as active principles responsible for curing of diseases and disorders. India is a biodiversity rich country belongs within 12 mega diversity zones of the world and possesses four biodiversity hot spots, 8 phyto-geographic regions and 10 vegetation zones (Khandekar and Srivastava, 2014). This subcontinent holds 47000 different species of plants out of which 8000 plants are medicinal in nature (Hamilton, 2004, Owolabi et al., 2007). High rate of endemism and 426 habitats for specific species are the unique resource of the country (BSI, 2009; Khandekar and Srivastava, 2014). Still majority of the herbal raw materials are wildcrafted and hence habitat destruction and wildcrafting pose a serious problem to the natural population particularly where roots are the targeted plant part as the percentage of root yielding medicinal plants are higher in the subcontinent. Since these plants are purely industrial and not having alternative uses the commercial production is not flourishing at a higher pace. Still the production of medicinal and aromatic plants in India has reached 1031000 tonnes from 634000 hectares.

In the post-CBD regime with global developments in aspects of Plant Genetic Resources and Intellectual Property Rights, the outlook towards these lesser exploited species has been changed to bioprospecting from collection and documentation.Here lies the importance of value addition in medicinal plants. Value addition means a change of state of the produce which will give a manifold return than the additional investment. Value-added products can be obtained through processing of raw herb or crude drug which will improve its look and also increase its quality, longevity, efficacy and obviously the return.

Jammu division with three agro-climatic zones viz., sub-tropical, intermediate (low hills) and temperate (Fig. 1) has vast potential for horticultural industry by way of improving the productivity of existing orchards and using vast tracts of underutilized wastelands, kandi areas of sub-tropical zone and hilly areas of intermediate and temperate zones for fruit production. For this, there is need for plantation of suitable varieties, budded/grafted on proper rootstock and following of improved orchard management practices viz., training and pruning, nutrient and water management and pest and disease control. At present, fruits occupy an area of 118805.00 ha with the production of 274006.70 MT and productivity of 2.31 MT/ha in Jammu division.

Sub-tropical zone

It comprises both irrigated and unirrigated areas and goes upto an attitude of 500 m above mean sea level. This zone is characterized by hot summers and relatively dry but pronounced winters. The land is suitable for cultivation of mango, citrus crops (sweet orange, mandarin particularly kinnow, lime, lemon), guava, litchi, ber, papaya and other minor fruits. Some low chill varieties of temperate fruits like peach, plum, pear and strawberry have been introduced at Advanced Centre for Horticulture Research (ACHR) of SKUAST-J, Udheywalla and peach cultivars Shan-e-Punjab, Flordasun and Flordared and pear cultivars Patharnakh and LeConte have shown good yield and quality crop. Besides, strawberry cultivars Chandler, Gorella, Fern and Belrubi have also shown promising yield with proper management practices. For rainfed areas, hardy fruits like aonla, phalsa, ber, guava, lasoda, karonda and custard apple are more suitable with aonla, phalsa and ber being commercially more viable.

Guava (Psidium guajava), the apple of tropics, is one of the most common fruits in India. It is the fourth most important fruit in area and production after mango, banana and citrus. Being hardy, it gives assured crop even with little care, and is good for rainfed areas also. This fruit is popularly being grown in sub-tropical regions of Jammu on 2480 ha with annual production of 9153 MT.

Climate and Soil

Guava is successfully grown under tropical and sub-tropical climate. In areas with distinct winter season, the yield tends to increase and quality improves. It can be grown upto an altitude of 1515 m above mean sea level. Older plants can tolerate drought. High temperature at the time of fruit development can cause fruit drop.

Guava trees are very hardy and can thrive on all types of soils, but are sensitive to water logging. The best soils are deep, loamy and well drained.

Walnuts (Juglans regia L.) are found in the northern parts of the country in temperate belts. They are grown in the length and breadth of the valley in Jammu and Kashmir and hilly areas of Jammu. The walnut is being cultivated in the state on 89,339 ha with an annual production of about 2,66,280 metric tonnes. In Jammu Division, walnut plantation is on 38,318 ha with an annual production of 92,227 metric tonnes. The walnut is very rich in proteins, fats and minerals and is a concerned source of energy.

Climate and Soil

Walnuts are found growing in all parts of the Himalayan region between the elevation of 1200 to 2100 m above mean sea level. Walnuts are sensitive to both low and high temperature. Climate should be free from frost in spring and from extreme heat in summer. They grow well in areas where rainfall is about 75 cm or more and is well distributed. Temperature of 29-32^oC near harvest time, results in well-filled kernels.

Walnuts do best in soils where roots can penetrate deep evenly. In addition to good top soil, sub-soil must be free of rock, impervious clay or layers of gravel. Most suitable soil is well drained silt loam with abundant organic matter. Alkaline soil and sandy soils should be avoided for walnut growing. A soil with 2-3 metres depth and pH range of 6-7 gives best results.

SOURCES OF LOSSES
In most of the cases of excessive fat or product loss, a combination of several factors rather than any single factor are responsible.
 
Inaccuracy in weighing: Receiving room scales should be checked regularly with a set of weights. The check should be made immediately before weighing operations begin. Improper drainage of the weighbowl will permit a carry over into the next batch dumped, resulting in incorrect weighing. Errors in weight in bulk handling methods may be caused also by improper leveling of the tank, incorrect calibration of the measuring rod, or carelessness on the part of the person taking the measurement.
 
Inaccuracy in sampling: Failure to collect representative samples may sometime cause sizeable losses. Milk should be properly agitated before taking samples. The composite sample should be preserved and refrigerated and should be protected from mould growth.

Importance and Value of Human Resources

The employees are the human resources of an organization which are crucial for its functioning. The acquisition of human resources and their maintenance involves costs. Manpower costs include costs of research and designing of manpower programmes that is man-power planning, work study and designing of personnel policies etc. The costs of commissioning of man power, that is, costs of recruitment, induction, placement and training etc. The cost of maintenance of these resources is a very significant component of the total costs of an organization. Maintenance costs include wages and salaries, welfare and medical benefits, PF, gratuity and other retiring benefits etc. These costs form a substantial part of the total costs of an organization. In the last 30 years the treatment of manpower costs has been recognized as a separate division in accounting practices. The other assets like machinery, buildings etc come under depreciation. In contrast, human assets are the employees at all levels, as they grow in age and experience, add to their productivity and capacity to earn for the organization and become more valuable.

RECRUITMENT 
Recruitment is the process of identifying the prospective employees, stimulating and encouraging them to apply for a particular job or jobs in an organization. It is a positive action as it involves inviting people to apply. The purpose is to have an inventory of eligible persons from amongst whom proper selection of the most suitable person can be made.

The Process of Recruitment
Before thinking of inviting people to apply for a job one has to decide what types of persons are to be invited and what their characteristics should be. This calls for fixing the ‘job specifications’ which may also be called ‘man specifications’. Job specifications are based on job description which is dependent upon the nature and requirements of a job. 

Thus, job specification will be different for each job. The various elements of job specification are:

The machine parts, which have relative motion, rub against each other. The rubbing surfaces are never perfectly smooth, even when they are highly polished. If they are observed under a microscope, one sees small depressions and elevations which get interlocked when the machine parts are under pressure, and give rise to a resisting force called frictional force. Due to friction, the parts get worn out and become useless. Friction produces heat, which, in this case, represents loss of work. To reduce this wear and loss of power caused by friction, certain foreign substances are introduced between the rubbing surfaces which keep them apart. These substances are called lubricants; and lubrication is the science of reducing friction by the application of a suitable substance between the rubbing surfaces of bodies having relative motion.

DAIRY BUSINESS

Most ambitious young men at some time or another are likely to develop an interest in going into business for themselves. This is prompted not only by the thought that a person owning his own business is more independent but also by the hope of increasing personal income. However, when these same young men look about them and see the general existence of “big business” in practically all lines of endeavour, they often lose courage and decide to remain as workers with some company where they can enjoy a certain degree of security. 
The general condition is an important factor in determining the success of new business enterprises. Similarly, innovations like the creation of new products or the development of new methods of merchandising often gives rise to opportunities for a new business enterprise. The introduction of “Softy” ice cream and other soft-served frozen products made it possible for several hundred small businesses to get established in our country. The advent of single- service paper container was the spark that started several milk-plant operations which later grew into companies of considerable size. Ironically, the paper milk container also spelled the doom for many older independent plants that could not or did not adjust soon enough to this new way of packaging. The chocolate-coated ice-cream bar idea started a number of new enterprises which grew from small companies going to concerns of considerable size. Vending machines made it possible for many small companies to get started selling milk, ice cream, candy and lassi etc. 

Introduction

Dairy is vital to the economics of many developing countries. Animals are a source of food, more specifically protein for human diets, income, employment and possibly foreign exchange. For low income producers, dairy can serve as a store of wealth; provide draught power and organic fertilizer for crop production and a means of transport. Consumption of dairy and dairy products in developing countries, though starting from a low base, is growing rapidly. Dairying has become an important secondary source of income for millions of rural families and has assumed a most important role in providing employment and income generating opportunity. Indian Dairying is unique in more than one ways. It ranks first with its 199.1 million cattle & 105.3 million buffaloes accounting for about 51 percent of Asia’s and about 19 per cent of world’s bovine population. It also ranks first in milk production with a production of 121.8 million tones in 2010-11 and the demand is expected to be 180 million tones by 2020. To achieve this demand annual growth rate in milk production has to be increased from the present 2.5 % to 5%. Thus, there is a tremendous scope/potential for increasing the milk production through profitable dairy farming. Besides milk, the manure from animals provides a good source of organic matter for improving soil fertility and crop yields.

Model Project for Setting Up 10 & 20 Cow Dairy Farm (Indicative)

    ·    The models are only indicative and in no way designed to provide exact economics. Following guidelines may be used by the interested persons to work out the details of their project, depending upon the local market and conditions.

    ·    An interactive module considering the land availability for fodder cultivation, willingness to opt for silage bunkers, type of chaff cutter (manual or machine operated), milking machine, mister set, etc. is under preparation.

    ·    The proposed interactive module would require preference for set of inputs and intended herd size and accordingly generate output outlining the estimated investment, cost and return.

The degree of excellence in regard to the physical and genetical characterstics of seeds is called as Seed quality. Seed lots having high genetic purity and high germination percentage and minimum inert, weed and other crop seed and are free from diseases and pest attack, it is said to be a high quality seeds. If it is lacking in any of these qualities, it is said to be low quality seed lots. Only good quality seeds expected to respond well for fertilizers and other inputs used.
 
Viability: It is the ability of embryo to live, grow and develop into a seedling under favorable conditions. The seeds attained maximum viability at physiological maturity stage. Later on seeds start to loss viability.

Seed multiplication and production was controlled by a legally sanctioned system called Seed Certification. Seed certification procedures and designed to ensure physical and genetic purity, freedom from weed seeds and diseases and good germinability of the certified seed. Seed certification is done by the Seed Certification Agency (SSCA) of the concerned state or by NSC.
 
Objectives of Seed Certification

The objective of seed certification programme was formulated by Douglas, 1971
 
i)    to ensure genuineness and quality of seed.
ii)    The identification and their rapid increase of new varieties under accepted names.
iii)    The systematic increase of superior varieties
iv)    Continuing supply of quality material and their maintenance.

Inorganic pest management systems using external inputs such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, high yielding varieties have resulted in increased yields in certain areas, but resulted in ecological degradation hence a decrease in productivity. Under organic farming systems, the fundamental components and natural processes of ecosystems, such as soil organism activities, nutrient cycling, and species distribution and competition are used to work directly and indirectly as farm management tools. For example, crops are rotated, planting and harvesting dates are carefully planned, and habitat that supplies resources for beneficial organisms are provided. Soil fertility and crop nutrients are managed through tillage and cultivation practices, crop rotations, cover crops, and supplemented with manure, composts, crop waste material and allowed substances.
 
Bio intensive IPM incorporates ecological and economic factors into agricultural system design and decision making and addresses public concerns about environmental quality and food safety. The benefits of implementing bio intensive IPM can include reduced chemical input costs, reduced on-farm and off-farm environmental impacts, and more effective and sustainable pest management. An ecology-based IPM has the potential of decreasing inputs of fuel, machinery, and synthetic chemicals—all of which are energy intensive and increasingly costly in terms of financial and environmental impact. Such reductions will benefit the grower and society.

• What is Intelligence?
• What is Artificial Intelligence?
• Branches of AI
• Natural–Language
• Natural Language Processing 
• Natural Language Recognition
• Simple Natural Language Grammar
• Intelligent Technologies in Agriculture
• Intelligent Animal Houses
• Agricultural Robots

Agroforestry systems essentially involve a perennial component and provide cover to the soil through litter fall and tree canopy, which contribute to the conservation of soil and water resources in arid and semi-arid areas. Moreover, arid and semi-arid areas are exposed to extensive soil erosion by wind and water, respectively.  Planting of trees on erosion control structures as windbreaks, boundary plantations and tree-based systems are some of the potential ways for conserving natural resources (Singh, 2003).  Agroforestry and soil conservation have major role to play in the context of global climate change likely to occur from extremes of weather events and erratic rainfall behaviour.
 
    •    Provide  permanent vegetative cover to the soil or land surface and thus substantially control erosion caused by both runoff and wind.

    •    Improve soil quality through increased soil organic matter addition from litter fall and root turnover; and  improved  environment for soil microbe and earthworm activity. 

Abstract: This chapter reports soil and nutrient loss due to water erosion from five major land uses, i.e. vegetable fields, coconut plantation, arecanut plantation, home garden and moist evergreen forest on the undulating topography of the island. Soil loss under the land uses was quantified using replicated runoff plots. Vegetative methods, i e Gliricidia hedgerow + crop, hedgerow + mulch + crop, hedgerow + mulch + crop + grass barrier, for vegetable field under till conditions, and Pueraria cover crop (coconut + Pueraria phaseoloides  cover crop) for coconut plantation were tested to know their potential to arrest soil erosion in the respective system. Soil loss from the vegetable field under No till conditions, coconut plantation, arecanut plantation, home garden and forest was 3.8, 12.4, 10.6, 8.4 and 2.3 tonnes/ha, respectively. Soil working in vegetable fields (till + crop treatment) provoked soil loss to124 tonnes / ha. Erodibility was the lowest (0.06) in the forest and highest (0.26) in the vegetable field under till condition.  Among the nutrients, the highest loss, across the treatments, occurred for nitrogen and lowest for phosphorus. The hedgerow alone in vegetable fields reduced the soil loss substantially (66 %). However, it together with mulch and grass barrier reduced the soil loss nearly equal to that found in the forest. Like wise, Pueraria cover crop (19 years old) brought down the soil loss under the coconut plantation equal to that in the forest. These observations suggest that Gliricidia hedgerows for vegetable cultivation and cover crop for coconut plantation may be good vegetative methods for soil erosion control in the island.

Preliminaries

Section-A : Write True / False

Q.1 Statistics in singular is used to denote a subject (branch) of science.

Q.2 Statistics in plular is used to denote data or methods.

Q.3 The data first time collected is known as primary data.

Q.4 Primary data is collected from published report.

Q.5 Editing of data is not necessary.

Q.6 Consistency must be maintained in data.

Q.7 Baised and unbiased errors are known as statistical error.

Q.8 Arrangement of data in different, rows & columns is known as classification.

ABSTRACT
There is a quantum global growth in both number and size of dairy industries in recent times. These industries discharge thousands of liters of wastewater characterised by a heavy chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), nutrients, inorganic salts, besides detergents and sanitisers each day (Kushwaha et al., 2011). High carbohydrates, fats and proteins contents in such waste streams originating from milk pose challenge to conventional municipal sewage treatment systems (Demirel et al., 2005). The easily biodegradable dairy effluent leads to precipitation of casein which is toxic and has a strong odour. Without adequate treatment, these effluents could pose serious threats to the receiving water bodies and disturb the ecosystem (Satpathy et al., 2017). For such heavily loaded organic effluents, biogasification through anaerobic digestion seems a promising strategy. This cost-effective energy generation process is also effective in environmental management compared to its other eco-friendly renewable source counterparts, such as, hydro, solar and wind (Satpathy, 2017). The Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactors are the most popular anaerobic systems to treat the fluctuating organic loads in dairy effluents. Anaerobic filter (AF), Upflow Anaerobic Filter (UPAF), Fixed-bed anaerobic reactor, Anaerobic Hybrid Reactor (AHR) etc. are few other systems that are demonstrably competent removing COD upto 90% and generating biogas. Successful anaerobic systems reported yielded (with upto about 85% CH₄ content) 0.32-0.34m3 CH₄/kg COD removed. Biomethanation process and reactors designs are constantly being optimised for effective treatment of the effluents while maximising the biogas production. The energy-rich gas thus obtained could further be utilised for heat and electricity at the domestic level, and also as a vehicular fuel. Residual digestate can also be used as organic manures (Angelidaki et al., 2007).

ABSTRACT
Nisargruna biogas technology has been developed in BARC for processing different types of biodegradable waste. This technology is based on biphasic separation of aerobic and anaerobic stages. Introduction of aerobic predigester has increased the efficiency of the process in terms of enhancing the quality and quantity of methane and also reducing the retention time of the process. Process parameters of the plant were studied and found that the modified design has proved very effective in faster digestion of complex waste. The technology has been commercialised and has spread across different parts of country for processing variety of wastes including kitchen waste, municipal waste, agriculture waste, textile waste and poultry waste. Microbial population from different stages of the plant was also studied and found their ability to convert waste to biogas, containing mainly methane.

Keywords: biogas, biphasic digestion, green energy, methane, microbial fermentation, Nisargruna, waste management

5.1. INTRODUCTION

Mean and standard deviation summarizes the salient features of a data set. But they do not describe adequately the full characteristics of the data. For an adequate description of the characteristics of a data set, a convenient method is to plot a frequency distribution curve. Such curve is constructed by first drawing a frequency polygon, which may then be smoothened to a frequency curve, indicating the distribution. The frequency curve or distribution of specific biological variables generally has a specific form and plays a very important role in statistical theory and practice. It is customary to describe a curve in terms of its symmetry or assymmetry and its flatness or peakedness.

The following types of distribution are commonly seen in the biological world:

3.1 Selection of Breeding Bulls

A sire is called half the herd and the breeding bulls to be used for semen production should be carefully selected. Selection of superior sire for breeding purpose is very important for the success any livestock breeding programme. Therefore, breeding sire must be carefully selected and maintained in scientific way so that its breeding life is prolonged and maximum number of frozen semen doses can be produced from it. 
The selection criteria for future bulls should be meticulously designed keeping into account all the factors/parameters which affects the breeding programme. The selection of breeding bulls is based on three broad parameters-

3.1.1 Pedigree Examination
3.1.2 Gross Physical Examination
3.1.3 Laboratory Examination

Semen metabolic activity can be assessed with the help of the following tests:
    
15.1    Incubation test
    
15.2    Methylene Blue Reduction Test
    
15.3    Resazurine Reduction Test
    
15.4    Millovonoo’s Resistance Test (‘r’ test)
    
15.5    Fructolysis Index
    
15.6    Oxygen utilization test
    
15.7     Glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase activity

15.1 Incubation Test

The longevity and viability of spermatozoa during storage is a good index of fertilizing ability of sperm. In this test assessment of motility is carried out over a period time to obtain an idea about the length of time over which acceptable level of motility is maintained in the semen sample. Therefore, this test serves as a mean of determining storage probability within a fairly short period of time.

21.1 Liquid Nitrogen Container/ Cryocan

To store liquid nitrogen a special type of container is used and is known as a LIQUID NITROGEN CONTAI NER OR CRYOCAN. Frozen semen doses are always preserved in liquid nitrogen which is an inert liquid having a boiling point of -1960C and a freezing point of -212°C. Liquid Nitrogen Containers are doubled walled metal (Stainless Steel/Aluminium) vacuum vessels with a very efficient insulation system. Due to highly efficient insulation system the temperature inside the container can remain -196 oC as long as atleast two inches of Liquid Nitrogen is present in the container. It has got an inner chamber which is suspended in outer chamber through neck tube which is a non metal and bad conductor of heat. Walls of the inner chamber are coated with a high quality of insulation material. The space between the inner and outer chamber is also filled with high quality insulation material. Vacuum is created in between inner and outer chamber. Loss of vacuum will lead to the boiling of the liquid nitrogen gas and hence rapid loss of this gas from the inner chamber.

Significant advancement in high throughput technologies (microarrays, automated sequencing and mass spectrometry), transcriptomics, the global study of transcription, together with genomics and proteomics, has undoubtedly contributed to a systems biology approach. These technologies have generated vast amount of sequence data from plants, animals and microorganisms. Fortunately, efficient computational tools (intelligent data networks, query, retrieval, analysis and visualization tools) have now optimized data mining, accelerating the process of discovery. The analysis of sequence variation is of major importance in genetic studies. In this context, molecular markers represent one of the most powerful tools for the analysis of variations in the genome and the association of heritable traits with underlying genetic variation. The development of high-throughput methods for the detection of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has led to a revolution in their use as molecular markers. The availability of large sequence data sets permits mining for these molecular markers, which may then be used for numerous applications such as genetic mapping, association mapping, evolutionary and phylogenic studies.

Introduction

The branch of science that deals with resolving the evolutionary relationships among organisms is phylogenetics. Phylogeny is the description of biological relationships, usually expressed as a tree. A statement of phylogeny among objects assumes homology and depends on classification. Phylogeny states a topology of the relationships based on classification according to similarity of one or more sets of characters, or on a model of evolutionary processes. In many cases, phylogenetic relationships based on different characters are consistent, and support one another. If different characters induce inconsistent phylogenetic relationships, they all are dubious. Conversely, note that the same similarity data may be consistent with different possible topologies or trees.
 
Molecular approaches to phylogeny developed against a background of traditional taxonomy, based on a variety of morphological characters, embryology, and from fossils, information about the geological context (stratigraphy).

Introduction

Natural evolution gifted the biological world a treasure of diverse bio-molecules that take part in various cellular activities. Proteins, one of the vital molecules of biological function are wisely folded polymers comprising 20 different aminoacids. Function of each protein is encoded in its aminoacid sequence. Aminoacid residues can indulge in bonded or non-bonded interactions depending on the environment. These inter residue interactions with in a polypeptide drive its folding in to a compact conformation from a linear molecule. Biochemical properties as well as the linear arrangement of the aminoacids determines the three dimensional structure of a protein. These determinants of defined structure directly or indirectly dictates functional fate of the folded protein also.

10.1    Respiration
    
10.2    Effect of Ethylene on Ripening
    
10.3    Transpiration Loss
    
10.4    Postharvest Biochemistry of Banana
    
10.5    Postharvest Pathology of Banana

11.1    Maturity Indices
    
11.2    Harvesting and Field Handling
    
11.3    Packhouse Operations
    
11.4    Packaging
    
11.5    Precooling

Preliminaries
    
Results on 22 Factorial Experiment
    
23 Experiment in r Replication
    
Confounding

Test for Significance for Population Mean
    
Test for Significance of Population Proportion

Plant propagation: Plant propagation means multiplication of plant by sexual or asexual method.

There are two type of plant propagation

1.    Sexual propagation

2.    Asexual propagation 

A. Sexual propagation: Sexual propagation means multiplication of the plant by seed. It is also known as seed propagation.

Advantages of sexual propagation

1.    This is the easier and cheaper method.

2.    Some of the plant does not response well by asexual method (Papaya) this type of plant only propagated by sexual propagation.

3.    Sexually raised plant are long lived have extensive root system and bear heavily as compare to asexually propagated plants.

4.    Hybrid can develop only by seed propagation.

5.    Seed can be store for longer duration.

Growth, Fruiting Habits and Methods for Inducing Fruitfulness in Fruit Crops

•    Every plant has two distinct phases of development namely vegetative and reproductive.

•    In the vegetative phase, the plant only vegetative growth i.e. leaves, shoots etc.,

•    In the reproductive phases the plant produces reproductive growth i.e. flowers and fruits.

•    In case of annuals, these phases occur for a short period, each phase occurring only once and that too within the same season.

•    In perennials, the vegetative phase lasts for several years depending upon the variety and species. This is known as the pre-bearing period.

•    Once the perennial tree completes its pre-bearing period, the cycle of vegetative and reproductive phases might occur in each season or the reproductive phase may occur simultaneously along with vegetative phase without much distinction between the two.

Importance of Post Harvest Technology

1.     Proper handling, packaging, transportation and storage reduce the post harvest losses of fruit and vegetables. For every one percent reduction in loss will save 5 million tons of fruit and vegetable per year.

2.     Processing and preservation technology helps to save excess fruit and vegetable during the glut season (off season).

3.     The technology has become a necessity to improve the food safety and strengthen nation’s food security.

4.     The technology helps to boost export of agricultural commodities in the form of preserved and value added products.

5.     Presently mango, pineapple, citrus, grapes, tomatoes, peas, potato and cucumber being processed on a large scale.

Origin and history: Mango is the king of fruits which is grown in India for over 400 years. More than 1000 varieties exist today. It grown in almost all state, India’s share is about 56% of total mango production in the world. Its production has been increasing since independent contributing 39.5% of total fruit production in India. Andhra Pradesh top in the production and Uttar Pradesh is top in area. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Gujarat together contribute for about 82% of total production. 

Climate and Soil: Mango thrives well in tropical and subtropical climate. High humidity, rainfall and frost during the flowering period is harmful. The favourable temperature for its cultivation is about 24-27^ºC however, it can tolerant to the temperature up to 48^ºC.

Introduction: Grape is an important sub-tropical fruit crop in India. The plant of Vitaceae family divided into two important groups first is Euvitis which have 60 species; some important species which are commercially grown are i.e. Vitis vinifera, Vitis raperia, Vitis rupestris, Vitis labrausca and Vitis champini. Second group is Muscadiana and in this group the important crops are Muscadiana rotendifolia, Muscadiana popenoii and Muscadiana munsoniana. The chromosome number of this group is 2n = 40.