eChapters

Introduction

Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, has been the agro industrial activity with the highest growth rate worldwide in the last four decades. From 1970 to 2008 the production of aquaculture organisms grew at a rate of 8.3% per year, compared to less than 2% of fisheries, and 2.9% of livestock (Luchini et al. 2008). In India, aquaculture feed market was valued at USD 1.20 billion in 2017 and is expected to register a CAGR of 10.4% during the forecast period (2018-2023). Indian feed mills have the capacity to produce 2.88 million metric ton. Andhra Pradesh is the largest feed consuming state in India (Anon. 2017). The growth in production has been faster for fed species than for non fed species indicating that adoption of feed based aquaculture as the major driver of aquaculture production growth (FAO, 2016). However, the demand for aquaculture feed in the country will touch to 7 million tons by 2017-18. Hence, there is wide gap in demand and supply of feed. The feed cost is a major production cost in aquaculture in India yet feeding of fish is still mostly guesswork, each fish producer following different guidelines (feed charts) or adopting different practices. Feeding too much leads to feed wastage, a pure economic loss, and greater waste output. Feeding too little results in less growth and this also represents an economic loss. In intensive and semi intensive aquaculture, natural foods are not sufficient to meet our overall nutritional requirement of the fishes for their survival and faster growth. Hence, the good quality supplementary diet which contains all required nutrients in recommended quantity were recommended by many aquaculture scientists for the better production. It is further opined by the researchers that it is economical to prepare supplementary feeds by using locally available ingredients. The dietary carbohydrates are usually quantitatively the largest constituent of diet (40-55% W/W) particularly in feeds for carps, the most dominant group of fishes with respect to not only world aquaculture but also Indian Aquaculture. The rice bran, corn, and wheat are the conventional carbohydrate sources in India. In North East Region of the country none of these items are produced locally in sufficient quantity (Kumar et al. 2018). Due to less of local production of these ingredients, cost of feed which generally constitute about 40-50% of total cost of production, increase tremendously in NEH region due high transportation cost. Hence, for development of ideal feed for carp based aquaculture in North East Region, optimization of feed cost is very important to make the fish production cost effective and more profitable.

Introduction

The word cooperation is of Latin origin and it means to work together (Filley, 1929).Cooperatives are founded on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Based on the founding principles of co-operatives, members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others (Canadian Business Service Centre, 2004). A fishery co-operative society can be defined as “An autonomous association of people united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled fishery enterprise or fishery activities.”

Attitude implies that the individual is no longer neutral toward the referent psychological objects. The person would be positively inclined or negatively disposed in some degree towards the referents (Campbell, 1963; Allport, 1966; Newcomb, 1966; Zanden, 1977; Burr, 2000). The response in this connection is a lasting one, as long as the attitude in question is operative. Attitude refers to a psychological individual’s stands about objects, issues, persons, groups, or Institutions. The definition of attitude proposed by Triandis (1971) suggests that attitude has three components: (a) a cognitive component (the idea), (b) an affective component (the emotions), and (c) a behavioural component (the action).

Introduction

This chapter outlines recently developed and traditional statistical techniques, which are increasingly being applied in social science research. The social sciences cover diverse phenomena arising in society, the economy and the environment, some of which are too complex to allow concrete statements; some cannot be defined by direct observations or measurements; some are culture-or region specific, while others are generic and common. Statistics, being a scientific method as distinct from a ‘science’ related to any one type of phenomena is used to make inductive inferences regarding various phenomena. The chapter addresses both qualitative and quantitative research a combination of which is essential in social science research and offers valuable updates for advanced level for researchers. In this chapter, I will attempt to addresses the gaps between the research and data analysis faced the professionals and researchers working under different environment with multitude of problems particularly in the social science sector. It provides students with theoretical perspectives and methodological tools to explore the social and cultural systems that influence policy interventions.

The Social Science: Social science is the field of study concerned with society and human behaviors. Social science covers a broad range of disciplines like demography and social statistics, methods and computing; education, social anthropology, and linguistics apart from anthropology, archaeology, criminology, economics, education, history, linguistics, communication studies, political science and international relations, sociology, geography, law, and psychology. Further, it covers development studies, human geography and environmental planning; law, economic and social history; politics and international relations; psychology and sociology; and social policy and social work. Social science is, in its broadest sense, the study of society and the manner in which people behave and influence the world around us. Social science tells us about the world beyond our immediate experience, and can help explain how our own society works from the causes of unemployment or what helps economic growth or what makes people happy. It provides vital information for governments and policymakers, local authorities, non-governmental organisations and others. Economics seeks to understand how individuals interact within the social structure, to address key questions about the production and exchange of goods and services. Management studies explores a wide range of aspects relating to management of fisheries activities, such as strategic and operational management, organizational psychology, employment relations, marketing, accounting, finance and logistics.

Introduction

Aquaculture, also known as aqua-farming, embodies the procedure of the farming of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic plants, algae, and other organisms. Aquaculture involves cultivation of freshwater and saltwater fish-populations under controlled conditions (Wikipedia, 2019). Aquaculture industry has undergone a lot of change in the last two decades. The application of the sophisticated technologies in the aquaculture industry has greatly altered the face of the industry in special relation to the Western and developed countries. New tools related to the measurement of the different environmental parameters needed to be controlled in different layers of the production process like Hatchery, Nursery and Grow-out have come up. Lots of data generated from the above stages relate to include the parameters, like, cost of production, health condition of produced fish, etc., which ultimately leads to the generation of the appropriate pricing of produce. With the advent of globalization, all aquaculture product companies need to look for exporting their respective products along with meeting the full satisfaction related to the demand from the domestic markets with an ultimate objective to increasing the profit. Export of the fisheries products in the western countries needs proper certification on the quality of the products duly by the appropriate authorities. The certification authorities need to check the detailed production process related to the fisheries- products in order to be sure about the quality imbibed in the same. The development of integrated software maintaining the details of the production process makes the task easy for both the production company and the certification authority, thus satisfying the needs of the end-customers in the western markets. Useful ERP software needs to maintain all relevant information on the production process commencing from the very early stage of the production till the act of selling the products in the market.

Introduction

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), fish and fishery products accounts for 17% of the global human consumption of animal protein. Per capita food fish supply has grown to 18.4kg per person, an 8% rise since 2006. Approximately 54% of the seafood protein supply for human consumption comes from wild catch; unfortunately about 30% of the world’s wild-capture fisheries are overexploited and many fisheries are in bad shape and getting worse. Solving this problem will require innovative monitoring and management tools, but we can provide tremendous benefits if we act now to reverse our course. Taking a serious, in-depth look at fisheries could help feed the world’s growing population, and conserve marine species. Humanity is reaching farther and deeper into the oceans and, until recently, there were only anecdotes and guesses about the complete effects of our actions. Recent reports show that some fisheries are being managed sustainably and good progress is being made in reducing exploitation rates and restoring overexploited fish stocks and marine ecosystems.

Sustainable fisheries management is an integrated process that seeks to attain an optimal state that balances ecological, economic, social and cultural objectives for fisheries. It involves information gathering, analysis, planning, consultation, decision-making, allocation of resources and formulation and implementation, with enforcement as necessary, which govern fisheries activities to ensure the above mentioned fisheries objectives. A thorough knowledge on the fish resource assessment is of utmost importance for a fishery manager to effectively make decisions and implement it. In this chapter, an attempt is made to briefly explain the basic concepts of fish resource under management, its assessment and techniques to be applied.

Origin of fruit culture can be traced back to 8000-5000 years ago and the horticultural practices like irrigation, vegetative propagation, selection etc. developed about 5000-3000 years back. The sophisticated fruit culture might have originated before 3000-2000 years. Basically all the cultivated fruits are the gift of diversity and not results of systematic breeding. Most of them have spread to different parts of the world through various media from the primary centres of origin.

Centres of origin of major fruit crops are as follows:

Mediterranean basin : datepalm, fig, grape, olive, pomegranate

East Asia : banana, citrus, mango, peach, kiwi fruit, persimmon

Central Asia: pome fruits, apricot

Europe : plum, raspberry

North and South America: avocado, black berry, papaya, pineapple, strawberry

The concept of origin of cultivated plants was first developed by A de Candolle and the geographic centres of variability were developed by Vavilov. He identified Asia as a major centre with “Indian centre” of North East region as primary or secondary centre of origin for many crop plants. Plant genetic resources are of great importance as they form the basic raw materials to meet the current and future needs of crop improvement programmes. A wider genetic base, thus, assumes priority in plant breeding research aimed at developing new varieties for increased crop production (Paroda, 1991). This diversity comprises of native landraces, local selections, elite cultivars and wild relatives of crop plants. The collection and conservation of this diversity in a systematic manner is the primary responsibility of all plant genetic resources institutes/centres. The mention of use and cultivation of fruits can be seen in epics like ‘Ramayana’. Plant genetic resources are thus our heritage, which need conservation for posterity. During the long period of domestication, utilization and cultivation, a wide array of fruit crop variability got generated by natural means and through both conscious and unconscious selection. Huge wealth of variability also got generated/adapted and diversified by crop introductions in the exotic environment or through migration of human population.

Fruit crops, majority of them are generally perennial in nature and owing to the outcrossing during their evolutionary stages, they are highly heterozygous. Genetic improvement is extremely difficult due to the complex genetic nature. The germplasm collection, conservation and evaluation take long time and area. Although the concept of core collection is very much valid, there is always a question mark when it comes to highly heterozygous crops as to whether the sample is good enough to represent the population. Due to the propagation by seeds, the large variability present needs to be evaluated for various characteristics. The genetical studies carried out in many of these crops are not conclusive and the progeny performance cannot be predicted. The biometrical methods to estimate the parameters viz., combining ability, heritability using the methodologies such as diallel have proven to be futile excercises to a very great extent. Parental selection, which is so vital for a successful breeding programme is very difficult as mainly selection has to be based upon the phenotype. Breeding for particular traits like biotic or abiotic stress has been difficult as resistance is not found within the spp and interspecific / intergeneric hybridization is difficult because of incompatibility barriers for eg the ‘PRSV’ breeding programme in papaya. In highly heterozygous crop like mango, there exists strong genotype x environmental interaction, which alters the performance of improved varieties.

Apomixis was defined by Winkler as replacement of the normal sexual reproduction by asexual reproduction, without fertilization. This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus “normal asexual reproduction” of plants, such as propagation from cuttings or leaves, has never been considered apomixis, but replacement of the seed by a plantlet, or replacement of the flower by bulbils are types of apomixis. Apomixis deviates from sexual reproduction in several aspects: modification or complete omission of meiosis, formation of unreduced megaspores, parthenogenetic development of embryo, and autonomous, or pseudogamous, endosperm development (Ramulu et al., 1998). Apomixis produces embryos or seed progeny that are exact genetic replicas of the mother plant. The main advantage of apomixis over sexual reproduction is the possibility to select individual plants with superior characteristics and to propagate them clonally through seeds. Apomictically produced offsprings are genetically identical to the parent plant. In flowering plants, the term “apomixis” is commonly used in a restricted sense to mean agamospermy, i.e. asexual reproduction through seeds.

Mutations are sudden and heritable changes in the genetic material. They can result in deletion, inversion and translocation of certain portions in the chromosomes, which can result in the changed expression of a trait due to the interaction of alleles within or without the locus, sometimes the effects revert back or can be heritable.

Most of the fruit crops are highly heterozygous. However, heterozygosity is one of the advantages when it comes to mutation. In highly heterozygous crops wherein there is a need for improvement in a single trait, mutations have been of great use. One of main limitations is use of vegetative material, which due to the unlikelyhood of uniform penetration and distribution of mutagenic agent can result in chimera. Although hybridization and selection have made a fair dent in the improvement of fruit crops, mutation is one of the methods that can be relied upon to develop pre-breeding lines and to bring about change in the quantitavie traits. Another very important fact is that there are crops like grapes wherein a lot of spontaneous mutants have become established varieties viz., Sonaka and Saritha to quote a few. Some of the existing varieites wherein one or two traits need to be improved, mutation would greatly help in this in comparatively short time. In some of the crops like sapota, wherein the conventional breeding would take long time, mutation can be resorted to both for inducing variability in the germplasm as well as for trait improvement. It is also to be noted here that mutation breeding can be a good supplement for conventional breeding, more so with the emergence of tissue culture propagation, which often throws up spontaneous mutants. Mutation as a methodology can also be tried in some fruit crop spp where there is no disease resistance source within. It can also be adopted in cases where there is a need to break linkages.

Introduction

Pollination is an essential ecosystem service for the maintenance and conservation of biodiversity on the earth. Many food crops, barring cereals, are entomophilous in nature and rely on insects for pollination. The pollinators in turn are benefited by obtaining floral resources such as nectar, pollen or both. This mutualism has evolved over centuries and been helping both natural terrestrial ecosystems as well as man-made agro-ecosystems. Pollinators such as bees, birds and bats contribute to 35 per cent of the world’s crop production, increasing outputs of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide (FAO, 2009). The total economic value of crop pollination worldwide has been estimated at €156 billion annually (Gallai et al., 2009). The area covered by pollinator-dependent crops has increased by more than 300 per cent during the past 50 years (Aizen and Harder 2009). Pollinators are found in diverse groups of the animal kingdom, including birds, bats, reptiles, insects, etc. Among them, insects particularly honey bees, dominate in providing pollination services to several plants. There are about 19,000 described species of bees in the world (Linsley, 1958) and, with the exception of one species, Apis mellifera L., the domestic honey bee, all of them are grouped under the general term ‘wild bees’. India is endowed with the greatest biodiversity as far as honey bee species are concerned and is home to five species viz., A. cerana, A. florea, A. dorsata, A. andreniformis and A. laboriosa besides hosting A. melllifera, an introduced one. In addition, several other pollinators including stingless bees, carpenter bees, bumble bees, megachilids, halictids, sphecids, andrenids, syrphids, etc. occur in several agro-ecosystems (Thakur, 2012). Studies on crop pollination by insects are becoming increasingly critical because of a perceived global decline in pollinator stocks, with great economical and conservation consequences (Ghazoul, 2005a, 2005b; Steff an-Dewenter et al., 2005). In the recent years, there has been a concern about declines in both wild and domesticated pollinators, especially honey bees (Reddy et al., 2012a). A large proportion of horticultural crops is potentially vulnerable to declines in honey bee and other pollinator insects (Table 1). One of the essential requirements to adequately evaluate the importance of animal pollination for food production and the impact of pollinator losses is to determine the pollination needs of different cultivated plants. However, detailed studies of crop pollination requirements are incomplete in many crops (Klein et al., 2007).

Introduction

Fresh and processed products derived from fruit crops provide vital contributions to human nutrition, health, and well-being, and collectively their production constitutes the economic backbone of many rural communities worldwide. Rapid development and distribution of new cultivars with improved characteristics which meet the industry, market (both domestic and export), and consumer preferences is the need of the day. Conventional methods of perennial fruit crop improvement have almost exclusively relied on traditional breeding techniques. These techniques are expensive, time consuming and space requiring, especially for tree species due to the need of a large population of seedlings from which only a few promising ones are selected. The juvenile period of tree crops may last three to five years before onset of fruits so that 20 years or more are common before the successful introduction of a gene of interest (Baird et al., 1996). Therefore in this context, molecular tools recently made available for breeders have become tools of choice because they permit to reduce cost by fastening the selection process of woody fruit plants. Further, traits of importance like fruit quality, resistance to diseases, high yield etc. are polygenic in nature for which classical breeding is generally not suitable for detection and selection of traits. A quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis with help of markers and linkage maps may be more appropriate for detection of such traits of interest. Also, molecular markers are being used for maintenance of core collections, for the assessment of genetic diversity between genotypes and fingerprinting.

Quantitative genetics is often considered to be the bedrock of crop breeding research. Understanding and analyzing complex nature of genetic data based on its quantitative traits is of much importance in any perennial crop improvement research. Genetics and statistics are the two sides of a same coin to unravel complex problems in the study of inheritance and heredity of quantitative traits. Application of statistical methods in genetics probably dates back to 1880’s when Galton (1886), in his historic study about inheritance of mid-parent’s heights on their children, adopted the theory of regression. In the early 1990’s, Fisher (1918), in his study on correlation in Mendelian inheritance, utilized the analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. The distribution of quantitative traits in a population follows the normal distribution (also known as Gaussian distribution or bell curve), the central concept of statistical theory. Number of research experiments after these two historic studies essentially concentrated on analyzing vast genetic data of several quantitative traits and attributing the source of variability in traits to genetic variation. Furthermore, as emphasized by Narain, (2010) the classical genetic basis of continuous variation based on the infinitesimal model of Fisher and mostly using statistical methods has since undergone major modifications. Largely due to rapid advances in computational tools for data analysis, complex techniques, which better explain the reality in the vast data generated by the researchers, are being employed. Accordingly, an attempt is made not necessarily be exhaustive, to discuss about traditional data analysis techniques leading to modern aspects with special reference to perennial fruit crops.

Rootstocks play a very important role in propagation of plants, It may modify form or stature and adopt a variety to a soil in an incompatible climatic condition and also build up the resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and meanwhile increase the production and productivity.

Vagaries of climate and mismanagement of soil have resulted in abiotic stresses, which in turn have lowered yield and quality production of fruits. In the course of its phylogenetic development, several fruit crops have developed various physiological and morphological mechanisms enabling plants to survive under adverse conditions. In case of fruit crops, one of the most important methods is to use rootstocks to overcome such stress conditions. However, over the years in fruit crops, the rootstocks that are present do not cater to the present day needs of pest and disease tolerance. Hence, there is an urgent need to widen the genetic base of rootstocks in different fruit crops by breeding and selecting rootstocks with desirable characteristics. It is acknowledged that the timing and intensity of the response of rootstocks to soil and atmospheric conditions are synergistically beneficial in evolving new cultivars.

Number of attempts has been made in rootstock improvement programmes all over the world. One of the methods that are being followed in perennial crops like mango is the development of large progeny population through half sib families. In this case, the female parent is common and open pollinated progeny population of varieties, in which improvement is sought, is used. Rootstocks were first used in European vineyards in the late 1800’s to combat devastating Phylloxera outbreak. Rootstock can be used to improve vigor, production and help to sustain the health and survival of fruit crops

Mango, like some of the other perennial crops viz. Citrus has varied reproductive mechanisms i.e. both sexual and asexual. Understanding of the physiology of flowering in mango has remained largely inconclusive and tangible explanation for the irregular pattern of flowering during the recent years is not forthcoming. Mango is a highly heterozygous crop and this high heterozygosity in the cultivars which are used in hybridization and the inherent difficulties in obtaining large hybrid population have made accurate genetic analysis in mango very difficult (Iyer and Schnell, 2009). Despite the drawbacks ailing mango breeding like high heterozygosity, occurrence of only a single seed per fruit, breeding can be successful because of a number of positive attributes of the species like the wide range of available genetic variation and the ease with which a selected hybrid can be vegetatively propagated (Iyer and Schnell, 2009). However, in spite of the large variability, sufficient headway has not been made in the improvement. Naik et al., (1958), opined that it is the large variability in India, too many cultivars and heavy regional preferences which have hindered the production of new commercial varieties on a large scale. The various botanical features of mango along with features of cytology and breeding are discussed below:

Introduction

Citrus is one of the most important fruit crops in the world. Citrus fruits are grown in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Some of the important countries where these fruits are grown include USA, Brazil, Spain, Israel, South Africa, Australia, China, India, Mexico and Morocco. Citriculture as a garden industry dates back to less than one hundred years. Indian citrus industry is the third fruit industry after mango and banana. The important groups of crops in citrus are sweet oranges, mandarins, limes, lemons, grapefruits and pummelo (Singh, 2001). Total world citrus production is about 115525.2 thousand tonnes, whereas in India, the production of citrus fruits is 8267.2 thousand tonnes (Anonymous 2012). The most important commercial Citrus species grown in India are the mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco), followed by sweet orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) and acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle). The main cultivars in the mandarin group are the Nagpur mandarin, Coorg mandarin, Khasi mandarin, Hill mandarin and the Kinnow mandarin. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab are the major citrus producing states, while in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Bihar, the fruit is grown to a limited extent. In Rajasthan new plantation of citrus are coming up very well and the main cultivars are Nagpur and Kinnow mandarins.

Banana is one of the most important major fruit crops grown in India and is as old as Indian civilization. It seems that it is one of the earliest fruit crops grown by mankind at the dawn of civilization. In India, bananas are so predominant and popular among people that it is liked both by poor and rich alike. It is the cheapest among all other fruits in the country. Considering the year round availability of fruits, unlike the seasonal availability of other tree fruits, it has become an inevitable necessity in any house hold in India, for all cultural occasions.

The bananas were grown in Southern Asia even before the prehistoric periods and the world’s largest diversity in banana population is found in this area. Hence, it is generally agreed that all the edible bananas and plantains are indigenous to the warm, moist regions of tropical Asia comprising the regions of India, Myanmar, Thailand and Indo China. Historical evidences show that the Arabs have introduced the banana from India to Palestine and Egypt perhaps in seventh century A.D. (Hayes, 1953). It soon became popular in those areas and later spread to East coast of Africa at a very early date and subsequently spread throughout the African continent. Bananas were reported to have introduced to Central America in 1516 A.D., where it spread rapidly and attained commercial significance. The spread of bananas to West Indian Islands was through Christian missionaries and wherever it reached it assumed economic importance due to its greater adaptability and commercial value.

Pomegranate is emerging as one of the important fruit crops owing to its hardiness and ability to withstand adverse soil and climatic conditions. India contributes 40-45 percent of total 10 lakh tons production in the world. Currently the export of pomegranate is around 10,000 tons, which is just 5 percent of the total export. With the increase in population, the domestic demand of fruits has also increased substantially. As on date, out of total area of 1, 25,000 ha. under pomegranate, major area under the crop is found in Maharashtra. The state has 85,000 ha. (68 % area) under the crop, of which only 51,000 ha is under production, followed by Karnataka 12,727 ha. Gujarat 3,787 ha, up to 2003 –2004 (Anon, 2005). Earlier orchards were raised mainly with variety Ganesh, which was the leading variety. However, the variety is fast being replaced with the new cultivars like Bhagawa and Arakta, which have attractive skin and aril colour and are suitable for export.

The pomegranate is an ancient and favorite table fruit of tropical countries. It is commercially grown for its sweet-acidic fruits, which provide a cool refreshing juice, and is valued for its medicinal properties. The fruit rind, juice, leaf and roots are used in the preparation of various ayurvedic medicines. Its popularity is also due to ornamental nature of the plant especially due to bearing bright red flowers throughout the year. The fruit juice is refreshing and contains both glucose and fructose. The juice and seed contain large quantities of tannin and agolic acid, which is essential in curing several diseases. The fruit can be successfully grown even under purely rain fed conditions. In the recent years pomegranate cultivation has become an economically viable proposition.

Papaya is one of the fruit crops grown both commercially as well as a backyard crop. Papaya was mainly a backyard crop till recently. It emerged as a main commercial crop during the last decade, because of the high nutritive value. It is a rich source of Vitamin A (2020 I.U), Vitamin B1 (40 mg), Vitamin C (46mg), protein (0.5%) and mineral matters (0.4%). Ripe papaya is a favourite breakfast and dessert fruit available yearround. It is used for making fruit salads, refreshing drinks, jams, jelly, marmalade, candies and crystallized fruits. Green fruits are pickled or cooked as vegetable. Carpine, an alkaloid present in papaya, can be used as a heart depressant, amoebicide and diuretic. It is also grown for the extraction of papain, a proteolytic enzyme present in the latex, collected mainly from the green fruit. In 1875, T. P. Lucas, a British physician discovered the medicinal value of papaya and started a hospital in Brisbane, to treat patients solely with papaya. The people in Papua New Guinea use papaya for the skin and to treat rashes or sunburn or, with repeated applications, to remove the brown spots of aging. They also say that if you put papaya into the compost pile, they grow especially large! Natives in the Pacific Islands use all parts of the papaya tree for medicinal purposes — leaves, skin, seeds, bark, roots, flowers and of course, the fruit. South American women massage their breasts with thin slices of green papaya to stimulate the milk glands. Eating the fruit provides energy and nutrients for both herself and the baby. Papaya bark is used as a toothache remedy and the flowers in teas, to treat bronchial infections. For centuries, teas from the roots were used to expel parasites and to alleviate bleeding, kidney colic, and jaundice.

Guava (Psidium guajava L) is an important fruit crop of India. It has gained considerable prominence on account of its high nutritive value, availability at moderate prices, pleasant aroma and good flavour. It is one of the commonest fruits liked by the rich and the poor and is popularly known as the ‘apple of tropics’. It is one of the hardiest fruit trees adaptable to a variety of soil and climatic conditions. It comes up well even under neglected conditions and in fact it is even considered sometime as a weed in Fiji and Hawaii. Guava fruit is relished when mature or ripe or when freshly plucked from the tree. It is also used for many commercial products like jelly, fruit butter, juice, etc.The guava is said to have originated from tropical America (Hayes, 1953). De Candolle (1904) stated that it originated in Mexico, while Purseglove (1968) opined that it originated in Brazil. It is widely distributed all over the equatorial regions of tropical and sub-tropical climate. It was introduced to India during the 17th Century. In Spanish, the tree is known as guayabo, or guayavo, the fruit guayaba or guyava. The French call it goyave or goyavier; the Dutch, guyaba, goeajaaba; the Surinamese, guave or goejaba; and the Portuguese, goiaba or goaibeira. Hawaiians call it guava or kuawa. In Guam it is abas. In Malaya, it is generally known either as guava or jambu batu, but has also numerous dialectal names as it does in India, tropical Africa and the Philippines where the name, bayabas, is often applied. Various tribal names–pichi, posh, enandi, etc., are employed among the Indians of Mexico and Central and South America.

Sapota [Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen, (Manilkara achras (Mill.) Fosber] is a member of the family sapotaceae. It is a fairly slow growing and long-lived tree. It is valued for its delicious fruit in India, while in Guatemala, south East Mexico, British Honduras, chickle is commercially produced which is the main ingredient in preparation of chewing gum. Chickle is extracted from trunk and unripe fruits of the tree as white latex exudate. Although synthetic gums are primarily used, countries like Mexico, Venezula and Guatemala still grow sapota for chickle.

It is native to South Mexico as well as North East Guatemala. Manilkara species is found in forests throughout tropical America, which was introduced long ago followed by West Indies, Bahamas, Bermuda and Southern part of Florida mainland. Early in colonial times, it was carried to Phillippines, and later distributed to Malaysia and other countries in the tropics (Purseglove, 1974). It is not known when it was first introduced to India. Commercial cultivation was first taken up in Maharashtra during 1898 (Cheema et al., 1954). Future of sapota appears to be promising, since attention in this crop is enthusiastic from growers and consumers in many countries. Sapota is grown on commercial basis in India, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mexico and Venezuela.

India is one of the largest producers of sapota in the world. Major states growing this fruit crop are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Assam and Haryana. India’s production of sapota continues to grow up and there is an active research program in India with specific goals towards improving storage, transport and marketing strategies.

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam) is a multi-purpose tree species that provides food, timber, fuel, fodder and medicinal and industrial products. It is one of the species that has been brought into wider cultivation through a farmer-driven domestication process because its products meet the household needs of families with limited land, which require wood and animal feed to ensure family food security. Despite such vast potential and usefulness, jackfruit remains an underutilized fruit species and deserves to be given the necessary thrust for research and development. There is little progress on the genetic improvement of the species, including study on its reproductive biology, even though it demonstrated substantial use and importance. Therefore, a brief background on the reproductive biology of jackfruit is covered here before dealing with its genetic improvement.

The Annonaceae or custard apple family comprises about 120 genera and more than 2000 species (Leboeuf et al., 1982). The genus Annona is the most economically important one, containing 120 species. The major commercial species throughout the world are: the cherimoya (Annona cherimola), sweetsop (Annona squamosa) and atemoya (a hybrid of Annona cherimola and Annona squamosa). The custard apple species name ‘squamosa’ refers to the knobby appearance of the fruit. Custard apple is a small tropical tree originating in the New World tropics, probably Central America. This species is the most widely grown in the tropical regions of the America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Sweetsop is synonym also named sugar apple and has many other regional names, such as Custard apple (India), anon (Spanish), ata (Portuguese), noi-na (Thailand), stis (The Philippines) and fan-li-chi (Taiwan). Sweetsop is the mostly grown Annona species. The fruit is frequently found in village markets but has not shown much potential for large commercial cultivation due to the small fruit size, frequent cracking at maturity and poor shelf life. The perishable nature and supply shortages make marketing localized or air shipment essential.

Indian jujube (Ber) belongs to the genus Zizyphus and family Rhamnaceae having more than 600 species. The family includes trees with spine, shrubs and climbers. The original home of Ber is Myanmar and India. Many workers have tried to classify it on the basis of leaf, flowers and fruits characteristics. Some tried to divide into two groups i.e. having smooth leaves on both surfaces and having leaves downy beneath. Ber as a tree has been described it as small, much branched or a large shrub with dense spreading habit, bark dark gray, branches elongated, leaves with glabrous shining upper surface densely covered beneath with whitish hairy growth.

Ber has attracted sustained breeding attention owing to its wide adaptability, good quality and nutritive value. However, problems like poor shelf life, incidence of powdery mildew disease, fruit fly and fruit borer have hindered the extension of the area under this crop. In Chinese jujube, the problem of fruit cracking and ‘witches broom’ disease are the major hindrances in its cultivation. There are two major cultivated species viz., Ziziphus mauritiana and Ziziphus jujuba, which are widely distributed covering vast regions in Asia. The wild population found is heterozygous and extremely variable. As a result, many local selections were made, some of which have become widely recognized as cultivars. The success of any breeding programme depends on the extent of genetic variability in the source population. The assessment of variability is therefore a basic requirement of breeding programme. Since most of the plant characters of economic importance are governed by the group of genes and are highly influenced by environmental variation, it is difficult to judge whether the observed variability is heritable or due to environment. This necessitates optimizing of phenotypic variation into its heritable and non heritable components, so that the selection of parents

Jamun is an evergreen tree commonly known as Java plum. It has its origin from Southeast Asia, India, Myanmar and East Indies. It belongs to the family Myrtaceae (which has flowers consisting of characteristic numerous stamens) and species Syzygium cuminii (L.) Skeels. Closely related to an important spice Syzygium aromaticum “Clove”. It is cultivated in tropics as an evergreen tree with dense foliage and can provide lot of shade. It is a very popular avenue tree. A unique fast growing tree, known to be tolerant to high rainfall and also to water deficit conditions, it is present in both moist and dry situations, occurring in the tropical wet evergreen forests, tropical semi-evergreen forests, tropical moist deciduous forests, littoral and swamp, tropical dry deciduous, tropical dry evergreen, subtropical broadleaved hills, and subtropical pine forests. The tree favours moist, damp or marshy situations, where it tends to form gregarious crops. It tolerates prolonged flooding, and once established it can tolerate drought.

Introduction

In Indian agriculture, horticulture sector has made considerable progress after independence and as a result, horticulture has emerged as one of the major drivers of growth in the agricultural and allied sector. The horticulture sector includes large number of crops viz., fruits, vegetables, ornamental crops, spices, tuber crops, plantation crops, medicinal and aromatic crops, mushroom and their post harvest management. On the production and productivity front, the horticulture sector outperformed conventional food crops. Between 200405 and 201415, horticultural output achieved an annual growth of about 7 per cent as compared to around 3 per cent growth in food grain production. This increase in production has come from an increase in acreage and even larger increase in productivity. Over the last decade, the area under horticulture grew by about 3% per annum and annual production increased by 5.4%. Thereby, India has maintained its second rank in the global production of fruits and vegetables, next only to China. India’s fruit productivity is better than that of China, though China is the largest fruit producing country.

The country is currently producing 295.2 million tonnes of horticulture produce from an area of 24.9 million hectares, which has surpassed the estimated food grain production of 275.68 million tonnes (201617). Though the production of food grains and horticultural produce are not meaningfully comparable due to fundamental differences in resource requirements, their farming practices, characteristics of produce and most importantly, their nutritional and medicinal properties as well as energy value. The special attention was given to the this sector, especially after the introduction of the Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH) and the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) during 11^th Plan period, owing to bumper fruit production. Given the increasing pressure on land, growth strategies have been focusing on raising productivity through high density plantations, protected cultivation, micro irrigation, quality planting material, rejuvenation of senile orchards and an emphasis on post harvest management and marketing of produce for better price realization.

Introduction

The Indian hot arid zone occupies an area of 0.32 million km to forming a continuous stretch in the north western states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and scattered land masses in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, 70 per cent of it falls in western Rajasthan. Low and erratic rainfall, extreme temperatures, long sunshine duration (6.6-10 hours), low relative humidity (30-80 per cent), high wind velocity (9-13 km/h) and high evapo transpiration (1600-1800 mm) and characteristic features of the region. Moreover the soils are poor in nutrients and scarcity of water and recurring droughts are perennial constraints. Despite hostile conditions, the western arid Rajasthan supports a large human and livestock population and a variety of flora and fauna. However, the ever increasing human and livestock population and development activities exert enormous pressure on the natural resource in the region. These areas experience an annual rainfall between 100 and 500 mm with a coefficient of variation varying from 40 to 70%. The region is characterized by low and erratic rainfall with extremes of temperature (1–48 °C), high wind velocity and sandy soils. In dry and arid region, wind erosion affects 13.5% in India (Sehgal et al., 1994, Kar et al.,1959). Wind erosion is very active in the Indian Thar Desert and poses severe multifaceted problems (Dey et al., 2016). Loss of nutrient-rich particles from agricultural fields has been occurring due to suspension of fine particles in air and deposition of eroded soil. Among terrain properties, soil aggregate distribution, surface roughness, soil moisture and vegetation cover are important factors influencing wind erosion. Indiscriminate grazing in the region also further destroys vegetation and exposes the land surface, thus making it more vulnerable to wind erosion.

Introduction

Horticultural crops comprising of fruits, vegetables, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants, and mushrooms play an important role in meeting the livelihood, nutritional security and socio-economic development of farmers. India’s horticulture production (287 mt) surpassed food grain output (265 mt) fifth year in a row in 2016-17 (First Advance Estimates, 2016-17). Horticultural crops together contribute around 30.4% to the agricultural GDP from nearly 14% of the total cropped area, and contribute nearly 37% to the export of the agricultural commodity from the country (Anonymous, 2015). Fruits and vegetables are an important part of the human diet and a major source of biologically active substances such as vitamins and secondary metabolites. India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, with a combined production of 260.7 million metric tons (91.7 million metric tons of fruits and 169 million metric tons of vegetables) during 2016-17.

Rapid growth in horticultural production has been accompanied by heavy use of pesticides thus causing major concern over health effects. Heavy pesticide use occurs, in part, because numerous pests attack horticultural crops, including the fruit itself, reducing market value and yield on high-value crops. Pesticide use raises safety concerns for agricultural workers who apply pesticides. Concern is particularly high in flower production because of heavy spraying in enclosed conditions. Potential food safety risks from pesticide residues are also a significant issue for importers of fresh fruits and vegetables and a market-risk factor for exporters who may have shipments detained or rejected if residues exceed allowable limits (George et al., 2003).

The increased use of chemical pesticides on horticultural crops has raised a number of economic, ecological and health concern. Economic concerns arise from the over reliance and use of chemical pesticides which increase the costs of production. Indiscriminate use of pesticides has resulted in ecological problems of common pests developing resistance, elimination of natural enemies and other beneficial arthropods, and environmental pollution. Human health concerns focus on risks from shortcomings in protective clothing, large deviations from recommended doses/situations, and excessive run-off into the soil and water sources. These concerns are exacerbated by poorly regulated internal markets for pesticides that have fostered usage of banned or outdated products; creating a situation that if not stopped will negatively impact on horticultural exports to countries with more stringent regulatory requirements for fresh crop produce. Meeting these food safety requirements has become a major challenge for the fresh produce export sector of many countries. To ensure and maintain export compliance, grower and consumer safety, and environmental integrity; farmers, government and development partners are developing programmes designed to improve pesticides usage, regulation and management on horticultural crops (Karungi et al., 2011). In this chapter, major important horticultural crops grown in India have been selected to illustrate trends in pesticide usage and regulation, and the development and application of alternative pest management practices through farmer participation and training.

Introduction

Vegetables are important constituents of Indian agriculture and play important role in nutritional security due to their short duration, high yield, nutritional richness, economic viability and ability to generate on-farm and off-farm employment. Vegetables form an integral part of staple diet in India where 42% population is vegetarian and vegetables are sources of daily requirement of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Our country is blessed with diverse agro-climates with distinct seasons, making it possible to grow wide array of vegetables. The role of vegetable cultivation in the country’s nutritional security, poverty alleviation and employment generation is becoming increasingly important. There are vast opportunities available in export sector, which need to be harnessed to their fullest ability. Vegetable crops have high yield potential and calories per unit area compared to that of cereals in the shortest time. Additionally, vegetable cultivation creates employment in rural sector, as it is a labour intensive farming practice. Vegetables are good source of ready farm income, besides being rich in health building substances, especially protective nutrients (Kalia, 2010 and Meena et al., 2016).

Introduction

Arid Horticulture denotes cultivation of fruits and vegetables under dry and arid regions. Arid region in India is stretched over 39.54 million ha (31.71 million ha is under hot arid region and 7.38 million ha under cold arid region) comprising about 12.02% of the total area of the country. Most of the precipitation in north-western arid region takes place from July to September. Occasional frost has also been a grave issue for horticultural crops, especially, aonla and moringa (Dhandar and Saroj, 2004). The region is exemplified by low and erratic rainfall with extremes of temperature (1–48°C), high wind velocity and sandy soils (Bhandari et al. 2014). Growing of annual crops restricted only a particular season of the year is the merely source of livelihood for the inhabitant of these region. These crops often encounter abiotic stresses like drought, hot and desiccating winds during their growth period leading to poor productivity. These regions have tremendous potential for cultivation of perennial fruit trees.

Introduction

Plant growth and productivity are adversely affected by various abiotic stresses. Plants are frequently exposed to a plethora of stress conditions such as low temperature, salt, drought, flooding, heat, and oxidative stress. Various anthropogenic activities have accentuated the existing stress factors. All these stress factors prevent them from reaching their full genetic potential and limit the crop productivity. In the event of growing concerns of uncertainties in climatic conditions, the abiotic stresses have become the major threat to agriculture production worldwide (Bray et al., 2000). The plant responses to abiotic stress condition are believed to be complex in nature as these are the reflections of integration of stress effects and responses at various levels of plant organization. To provide tolerance against stresses, plants are equipped with several inbuilt physiological and biochemical mechanisms occurring at cellular level. An understanding of processes linked to these mechanisms is vital in optimizing the crop growth and productivity under stress conditions.

Introduction

Multiplication and perpetuation of plants through sexual and asexual means at desired quantum and quality is one of the important aspects of successful horticultural development. For successful propagation, stock production and growth of plants some facilities in the nursery, field or greenhouses are required for mass multiplication of the saplings. Horticultural crops included annuals, biennial and perennial crops so careful planning is require for the quality and genuinely. We known the various methods of propagation i.e., seed, cuttings or grafting and budding can be used for faster and true to type sapling production (Aldriance and Brison, 2000). Plantlets propagation mainly depends on season in open conditions, but for round the year material multiplication require hi-tech propagation structures like greenhouses, cold frames low polyethylene tunnels, sun tunnels, shade houses (lath houses), tissue culture facilities, hot frames and net house (Singh et al., 2003; Ratha Krishna et al., 2014). Field management for mass multiplication of saplings require partial modification and refined in nursery beds preparation (raised bed in high rainfall area and sunken bed in arid region), mother bed preparation (bed with mixture of media, where generally seeds are sowing in enclosed area and all viable and vigours seedlings at early stage may be shifted in poly bags for further growth) and poly bag nursery (saplings of horticultural crops are produced in poly bags of 150-200 gauge and different sizes i.e., 25 x10 cm (ber, khejri), 15 x10 cm (phalsa and pomegranate, karonda) and 30 x17 cm (kinnow, mosambi, aonla, sapota, mango) etc. Propagated plants should be healthy, vigorous and free from disease, weed, insect-pests as well as grafted plants should be equal in size of scion – rootstock, proper in shoot: root ratio and appropriate in morphological standard of scion according to varieties and species.

Introduction

Indian horticulture sector contributes about 38% to the agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA) making very significant contribution to the Indian economy. Apart from ensuring nutritional security of the nation, it provides alternate rural employment opportunities, diversification in farm activities, and enhanced income to farmers. India is currently producing about 283.5 million tones of horticulture produce which has surpassed the food grain production, that too from much less area (24.2 mha. for horticulture against 125 mha. for food grains). Productivity of horticulture crops is much higher compared to productivity of food grains (11.96 tones/ha against 2 tones/ha.). India has emerged as world leader in the production of a variety of fruits like mango and banana and is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Besides, India has maintained its dominance in the production of spices, coconut and cashewnut. Among the new crops, kiwi, gherkins, kinnow, date palm and oil palm have been successfully introduced for commercial cultivation in the country. Launch of National Horticulture Mission has spurred the production and productivity of horticultural crops. Productivity of horticultural crops has increased by about 32% between 2004-05 and 2015-16. Increase in demand for horticultural produce due to greater health awareness, rising income, export demands and increasing population poses the challenge for further increasing the production and productivity of horticultural crops. The issue of climate change has thrown up greater uncertainties and risks, further imposing constraints on production systems. Therefore, continuous crop improvement programmes are the way forward for sustainable fruit production with greater opportunity of value addition of surplus produce.

Introduction

Most of the technological advances in the recent past in Indian Horticulture have been done for favourable agro-climatic regions. However, the vast and diverse land-scape of hot desert, arid, semi-arid and tribal area is not yet receiving logical thought for resource based horticultural development (Samadia and Haldhar, 2017). Although, the semi-arid regions of the country have now became potential hub for aonla, bael, ber, pomegranate, jamun, guava, fig and custard apple. There has been a steady increase in area and production of these fruits particularly under aonla, ber, custard apple and pomegranate in the country as a result of identification and development of suitable varieties and production technologies. The average productivity of these fruits in India is, however, low as compared to many developed countries. The main reasons for low productivity are old and senile orchards, low yielding varieties, poor orchard management and inadequate technological up-gradation and adoption by the growers. Presently, the continuing decline in the availability of cultivable land, rising energy and land costs together with the increased demand of fruit and fruit products, have given thrust to the concept of high density planting (HDP) in fruit crops. High density planting gives earlier production and return per unit area, shortens juvenility, eco-friendly, provides efficient land use and better use of resources like light, water and fertilizers, efficient pesticides application, besides, in this system the harvesting becomes easy(Mishra and Goswami, 2016). Among the factors such as cultivar, rootstock, quality of planting material and cultivation practices contribute to high yield of fruit trees, however, the number of trees^-1 is the most important factor which brings about radical increase in fruit production. Therefore, high density planting has great potential for increasing productivity in fruit crops (Mishra et al., 2003). The success of this technology in most of the fruit crops is dependent on the use of methods to control shoot growth and maximize light interception as the trees begin to bear fruit. The main aim of HDP is to achieve the twin requisites of productivity by maintaining a balance between vegetative and reproductive growth without impairing the plant health and fruit quality. The underlying principle of HDP is to make the best use of vertical and horizontal space per unit time and to harness maximum possible return per unit of inputs and natural resources.

Introduction

Canopy management is defined as managing plant architectural design as per need, using their inherent characteristics which is in accordance with a given set of conditions and resources to perform the plant maximum (Nath et al, 2014).The modern principles of sustainable fruit production systems focused on optimal use of natural resources (light, water, soil fertility) where the input (labour, energy, fuel, other material) and output (yield) are well balanced and the resources remain renewable.

Fruit orchards can be considered as artificial ecosystems converting the energy of photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) into edible, marketable fruits for human consumption. The core of this system is the bio-factory of leaves driven by the absorbed PAR. Several data support that the light interception is the basic factor for the modern orchard systems. Factors as LAI (Leaf area index), tree spacing, training and pruning systems, fruiting wood development, rootstocks and genotypes also have an important bearing on orchard efficiency.

The main objectives of canopy architecture is to develop strong tree framework, maximize utilization of light, accommodate more number of trees per unit area, maintenance of tree orchard uniformity and induce and sustain proper amount of well distributed fruiting terminals.

In order for the fruit production system to remain sustainable, the orchard system should favour the contributory role of an input of natural origin to the maximum possible extent, in improving the yield in the early years and provide high yields after the trees are mature until the planned age of the orchard. Recent development in the tree architecture has produced some promising tree training and pruning systems as well for high density fruit orchards.

Introduction

Protected cultivation practices can be defined as a cropping technique where in the micro environment surrounding the plant body is controlled partially or fully as per plant need during their period of growth to maximize the yield and resource saving. Protected structures can play important role to minimize the impact of temperature fluctuation, over/under precipitation, fluctuating sun shine hour and infestation of disease and pest. The controlled environment can be utilized for growing early season /off-season vegetables and high value vegetables. This may become relevant to those farmers having small land holding who would be benefitted by a technology, which helps them to grow more crops each year and save them from adverse situation. Vegetable crops are very sensitive to climatic vagaries and sudden rise in temperature as well as irregular precipitation at any phase of crop growth can affect the normal growth, flowering, pollination, fruit development and subsequently decreased the crop yield. Apart from that high input cost and higher labor wages make vegetable cultivation less profitable under open field condition. Again, in the present scenario, more people are demanding early season/off-season vegetables and high value vegetables at higher price which are not possible to grow under open field situation.

Present status in world: In world, China has the largest area (2,760 thousand hectares) under greenhouse cultivation followed by Korea having 57.44 thousand hectares (Nair and Barche, 2014). The advent of protected cultivation technology in India materialized during the early nineties, post globalization.

India: India is the second largest producers of vegetable in the world, however as per medical council of India, the production is much less than the requirement if balanced diet are to be provided to every individual. The advent of protected cultivation technology in India materialized during the early nineties, post globalization. In India, the area under protected cultivation faced with constraints of land holdings, rapid urbanization, declining crop production, declining biodiversity and ever increasing population, demand for food, especially vegetables has increased manifold and protected cultivation has offered a new dimension to produce more in a limited area. Today Dutch protected cultivation is one of the most intensive farming systems in the world with high levels of output by using the latest technologies.

Introduction

Under arid and semi-arid regions of the world, major problems are salinity, alkalinity and calcareousness, which seems further aggravate with changing climate scenario. Besides that most of the developing countries lies in this zone with flanging population resultant shrinking down of land resource and good quality of irrigation water. Globally area under saline/sodic soils is about 953mha covering 8% of the land surface. Resent estimates indicate that 6.7 mha area in India is affected by soil salinity and alkalinity and about 25% of ground waters are sodic and/or saline in the country. There are two important approaches for utilizing saline, alkali or calcareous environment. The first one is to modify the environment so as to suit the plant or modifying the plant or substitute the plant species so as to suit the environment. First approach has been used more extensively because it enables the plants to respond better not only to water but also to other production inputs and also not far sustainable. However, second option is cost effective and most sustainable.

Accumulation of excessive salt in root zone leaves adverse effect on general agricultural crops and or crop failures sometimes, while crop diversification using seed spices are the option for such conditions. Most of the seed spices particularly cumin, fennel, dill, fenugreek, ajwain, celery, anise, caraway and coriander (and their cultivars) have some degree of salinity and alkalinity tolerance. However, among the seed spices, cumin is having high degree of salinity tolerance. In case of sodic or calcareous environment, fennel is most tolerant followed by dill as well as these crops are the remedy for such degraded environment by bringing down the sodicity and calcareousness. In some cases, germination, growth, yield and quality of seed spices improved by saline sodic environment. Besides eco-friendly use of these soils, phytoremediation of saline, sodic and calcareous soils by seed spices seems most sustainable.

Introduction

According to FAO estimates, about 50% total geographical area in India is under various degraded hazards and about 2.1 million ha of land is getting degraded and deforested annually (Sehgal et al. 1998). Out of that underground water in arid and semi-arid areas is saline or sodic in nature. While spices, medicinal and aromatic plants may be a boon for these areas, which not only withstand under adverse conditions but also could be productive and helps in mitigating these problems. However, other crops are remain less or unproductive in these areas.

Spices are low volume and high value crops and have tremendous export potential, which is witnessed by several invasions faced by this Indian peninsula during ancient time. Medicinal and aromatic plants have unequally market potential with the world demand of herbal products growing at the rate of 7 percent per annum (Aishwath and Tarafdar, 2007). Seed spices and aromatic plants are the natural source of flavour, perfumes and fragrance widely exploited by essential oil industries in the world. Owing to considerably diversity of edaphoclimatic conditions ranging from temperate to tropical and arid to sub-humid that prevails in India and an array of medicinal and aromatic flora occurs in wild state. Many exotic essential oil bearing plants, including mints, citronella, geranium, patchouli, lavender and chamomile have been naturalized in India. As the country has emerged as one of the main producers of seed spices and some of the essential oils, theses plants are significant foreign exchange earners. Some of the aromatic plants especially grasses can sustain both biotic as well as abiotc stresses, even in the areas unsuitable for conventional crops (Aishwath et al., 2008). Most of the seed spices crops are seasonal crops and comes up well with limited moisture and nutrients. Therefore, underutilized natural resources can be utilized profitably by crop diversification.

Introduction

Salinity is an encompassing term used to describe saline and sodic soils, and the marginal quality groundwater unsuitable for crop irrigation. A soil is considered to be ‘salt-affected’ when either excess soluble salts or excess exchangeable sodium or both adversely affect the soil properties and plant growth. Depending on the values of soil saturation paste extract electrical conductivity (EC_e), pH (pH_s) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), salt-affected soils (SAS) are grouped into saline (EC_e > 4 dS m^-1, pH_s < 8.2 and high ESP< 15) and sodic (EC_e< 4 dS m^-1, pH_s>8.2 and ESP >15) categories. Under certain conditions, both excess soluble salts and exchangeable sodium may be present resulting in saline-sodic conditions (EC_e > 4 dS m^-1, pH_s>8.2 and ESP >15)(Sharma and Singh, 2015). Based on FAO/UNESCO soil map of the world (1970-1980), the global extent of SAS was earlier computed to be 831 Million ha (M ha) consisting of 397 M ha saline and the remainder 434 M ha sodic soils. Although this estimate is still widely used, recent studies suggest comparatively higher global extent of salinity and the associated problems; especially in irrigated arid and semi-arid regions across the world. Not withstanding the discrepancies in such estimates, it is certain that salinity continues to impose substantial costs on global food production and environmental sustainability.

Introduction

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.; Family- Arecaceae) also known as Khajoor, Kharek is an ancient important fruit tree of semi-arid and arid regions of the world. It grows well under poor desertic soils due to its hardy plant characteristics and deep root system. It is also suitable fruit trees for growing under saline irrigation conditions. It is well known fact for date palm that its feet in the water and its head in sun. It requires dry hot climate for growth and development of fruits. In arid region, crop production is risky preposition, where date palm cultivation contributes in achieving food security, high nutritive value food, crop diversification, desertification control, higher income generation and foreign exchange earnings. It can be grown at such places where adequate irrigation facility is available besides other dry hot climate conditions (Chandra et al, 1992; Singh and Dhandar, 2007). Better returns from date plantation can be achieved through good management practices besides adequate marketing of produce. The quality produce and its marketing will help to increase the income from date palm cultivation.

Introduction

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important fruit crop of hot arid region of the India. It is grown commercially in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. India is one of the largest producers of pomegranate in the world. The pomegranate area in arid region is increasing at faster rate due to its incessant demand, drought hardy nature, low cost management and wider adaptability to arid soils. In Rajasthan it is mainly grown in Jaipur, Ajmer, Alwar, Tonk, Sriganganagar, Tonk, Pali, Kota, Jalore, Banswara, Sawai Madhopur, Bhilwara, Jhunjhunu and Sirohi districts in 12,000 ha area (Rathi, 2017). The pomegranate plants flower and provide fruits throughout the year. In Rajasthan pomegranate is harvested in all three seasons during March-April, Aug.-Sep. and Nov.-Dec. However, it needs to be forced into rest period for prolific harvest at a given time. The basic objectives of flower regulation in pomegranate is to manipulate the natural flowering and fruiting in such a way that it produce high yield of quality fruits in desired season with sustainable use of farm resources. Transition of flower from vegetative phase to reproductive phase is critical phase in pomegranate flowering, which determine production efficiency. The differentiations of vegetative tissue to reproductive tissue decide flowering intensity and production efficiency. Withholding of irrigation (moisture stress), plant growth substances, nutrient content along with canopy management are major horticultural interventions for flower regulation which influence flowering. It is based on principles that pomegranate bears three kinds of flowers namely hermaphrodite, intermediate and male flowers (Fig.1) on both new and old growth in three flushes i.e. ambe bahar (Feb.-March), mrig bahar (June-July) and hasta bahar (Sep.-Oct.).

Introduction

Bael (Aegle marmelos Corr.) is an indigenous fruit of India belongs to family Rutaceae and it is commonly known as Bengal quince (John and Stevenson, 1979), Bilva, Indian quince, Golden apple, Holy fruit, Bel, Belwa, sriphal, bilipatra Stone apple and Maredo in India. The deciduous with trifoliate aromatic leaves is traditionally used as sacred offering to the ‘Lord Shiva’ and thus the tree is also known by the name Shivaduma (The tree of Shiva). It has tolerance to arid conditions as well as high rainfall. It is known from prehistoric time and mentioned its importance in different ancient and medicinal system viz., Rigveda, Yajurveda, Atharvaveda, Charak Samhita and Sushrut Samhita, and Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani medicines and religious Jain and Buddhist literature (Balunas and Kinghorn, 2005, Om Prakash,1961 and Kirtikar and Basu, 1935). It can be grown successfully in water scarce and rainfed areas of the country. Besides, occurring as natural wild plant of forest, it is commonly grown in the homestead gardens, backyards, and religious places particularly in the premises of the Lord Shiva temples and in the farmers’ fields. In India, bael is being grown throughout the country except temperate region, but there is no systematic plantation of bael except Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat where few progressive farmers have initiated growing bael economically (Dhankhar et al., 2011). Its fruit is highly nutritive and rich in vitamins, bioactive compounds, minerals, carbohydrate, etc (Gopalan et al., 1964). Every part of the tree such as fruit root, bark, leaf and flower of any stage of maturity and ripening are important ingredients of several traditional formulations. Recently, advanced scientific techniques have reported that plant has various medicinal properties viz, anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antidiabetic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, haemolytic, larvicidal and anti-inflammatory activities. The sherbet and marmalade prepared from fruit pulp is prescribed for diarrhea and dysentery. It is said that the ripe fruit is a tonic, an astringent and laxative, whereas unripe fruit is an astringent and digestive and good for heart and brain. The important medicinal properties of bael are antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, analgesic, cardioprotective, antispermogenic, anticancer and radio protective (Kumar et al., 2010 and Vadivelan et al., 2011) The fruit is efficient to avoid malnutrition and health insecurity in the underprivileged. The ripen and unripe fruits can be used for preparation of various value added products such as jam, slab, squash, powder, candy, nectar, toffee, pickle, wine, sherbet, ice cream etc.

Introduction

Indian arid zone is one of the largest subtropical deserts of the world of which 20% is arid and rest is semi-arid. Hot arid zone is spread over 31.7 million ha area and mainly confined in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. The major part of hot arid region of the country lies in western Rajasthan (19.62 mha) followed by North-western Gujarat (2.16 mha). It is characterized by high aridity index, extremes of temperature low and variable precipitation, very high wind velocity and dust storm, high soil pH, high infiltration rate, very limited availability of groundwater and saline ground irrigation water (More, 2010). Under such harsh climatic conditions cultivation of vegetable crops in open condition results in very low and poor-quality yield which fetches less return per unit area. By creating the suitable micro-climate for plant growth round the year cultivation of vegetables can be done under adverse climatic conditions. It is possible through protected cultivation which has tremendous scope in peri-urban areas of the country (Singh and Sirohi, 2004). It is the best way to increase the productivity and quality of vegetables, especially cucurbits. India is the second largest producer of vegetables in the world next only to China. Presently India has 178.17 million tonnes of total vegetable production, but the productivity and quality of most of the vegetable crops is very poor (17.40 t/ ha) due to several biotic and abiotic stresses due to open field cultivation. In Rajasthan, the total production of vegetables is very less i.e. only 1.81 million tonnes from an area of 0.17 m ha with a productivity of 10.66 t/ ha.

Introduction

India is the second largest producer of fruits crops in the world but productivity of arid fruit crops especially in western Rajasthan is miserably low.The productivity as well as the quality of fruit crops is affected to a greater extent due to various physiological disorders. The extremes of environmental variables like changing environmental conditions such as temperature, moisture, unbalanced soil nutrients, inadequate or excess of certain soil minerals, extremes of soil pH, poor drainage and deficiency of micronutrients as well as macronutrient causes many more disorders (Kumar and Kumar, 2015). At present, the climatic scenario of arid region is also changing and the problems like frost, temperature fluctuation, moisture fluctuation, high evaporation and low precipitation as well as nutrient imbalances are becoming a challenge for cultivation of many arid fruit crops. Reasons of low productivity in hot arid ecosystem of western Rajasthan are primarily physiological or stress related disorders such as styler-end browning in ber, fruit cracking in bael and pomegranate, internal necrosis in aonla and black and white nose in date palm. The world wide approximately 70% of crop yield reduction is the direct effect by abiotic factors (Acquaah 2007). In this chapter, we discussed the problems associated with ber, pomegranate, aonla, date palm & bael especially physiological disorders which will certainly help the farmers in timely overcoming of these maladies for getting satisfactory remunerative prices from arid fruit crops under hot ecosystem of western Rajasthan.

Introduction

India is a second largest producer of fruits after China contributing about 11 per cent to the global production. India leads the world in productivity of papaya, grapes and banana but average productivity of country is much below as compared to other leading countries, which is merely 11.6 t/ha. Abiotic stress is the primary cause of crop loss worldwide, reducing average yields for most major crop plants by more than 50%. Drought and salinity are becoming particularly widespread in many regions, and may cause serious salinization of more than 50% of all arable lands by the year 2050 (Wang, 2003). This leads to a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that adversely affect plant growth and productivity. There are various factors, which contributes to low productivity like limited availability of quality planting materials, old and senile orchards, poor orchard management practices, insect pest and diseases, poor post-harvest management practices etc. There is a much scope in expansion of horticultural crops in arid region and it has vast potential for changing scenario of horticulture of the country. Land resource, surplus family labors, increasing canal irrigated area, developing infrastructural facilities, plenty of solar and wind energy, etc. are the strength in the region for research and development of arid horticulture. Further, low incidence of diseases/insects in the region provides good scope for production of quality seed and planting material of horticultural crops (Sharma et al., 2013).

India’s economic security continues to be predicated upon the agriculture sector, and the situation is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. Even now, agriculture supports 58% of the Indian population, as against about 75% at the time of independence. In the identical period, the contribution of agriculture and allied sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has fallen from 61 to 13%. As of today, India supports 16.8% of world’s population on 4.2% of world’s water resources and 2.3% of global land resources. Also per caput availability of resources is about 4 to 6 times less than that of world average. This will further decrease due to increasing demographic pressure and consequent diversion of the land for non-agricultural uses. Around 51% of India’s geographical area is already under cultivation as compared to 11% of the world average. The present cropping intensity is 136% and it has been registered an increase of only 25% since independence. Further, rainfed and dry-lands area constitute approximately 65% of the total net sown area. There is also an unprecedented degradation of land (107 million ha) and groundwater resource, and also fall in the rate of growth of total factor productivity. This deceleration needs to be arrested and agricultural productivity has to be doubled to meet growing demands of the population by 2050. Efficiency-mediated improvement in productivity is the most viable option to raise production of various commodities including horticulture.

Introduction

The Indian Thar Desert is a marginal zone for agricultural production. Scanty and un-even rain, extremes of high (March–October) and low (December–January) temperature condition for the prolong duration and in-together these factors creates an associated abiotic stressed environment that limiting choice of crops, quality of produce, productivity and production under hot arid agro-climate. Out of 9–12 mean rainy days/annum in the hot arid region of northwestern parts of Rajasthan, much of the rain often comes in only a few (1–3) heavy rainfall events during the monsoon season (June–September), which can be erratic and unpredictable. In kharif season, higher day temperature range (35–42°C) and prolonged drought periods in combination with sandy soil creates an environment where few crops can survive under rainfed situations. Here, the native crop-plants both annual and perennial can play an equally vital role for food and fodder especially when the livestock population is an important element of farming system. Further, horticultural exploitation with native crop-plant species in general is found to be potential and stable in the arid and semiarid areas which receive about 150–650 mm of rains.

Introduction

Arid and semi arid parts of the India are known as Seed Spices Bowl (Rajasthan and Gujarat) and contribute more than 80% of total seed spices production. Total 109 spices are listed by ISO and 63 spices are grown in India and out of which 20 are being classified as seed spices. Out of 20 seed spices, ICAR-NRCSS working on 10 most important seed spices namely cumin, coriander, fennel, fenugreek, ajwain, anise, caraway, celery, dill and nigella (NRCSS Vision, 2050). Seed spices also grown in some other states on considerable areas such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Punjab, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Since there is a large scope of seed spices by introducing them in new areas, the higher yields can also be achieved effortlessly by implementing new technologies. Among seed spices, maximum area is under cumin followed by coriander, fennel fenugreek, ajwain, celery, nigella, dill, anise etc. Being seasonal crops, these are grown extensively in rotation with food crops and also as inter/mixed crops under rainfed/irrigated conditions. All these crops mostly grown in rabi season. India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of seed spices in the world. Out of total area and production in spices, seed spices contribute about 51.79% of total area and 19.06% of production of spices in the country. The area under seed spices is about 1.74 million hectare and 1.45 million tonnes. India is consistent source of seed spices for importing countries worldwide. There has been ever increasing demand of seed spices and importing countries look at India for quality produce of seed spices.

Introduction

India is emerging as a major stake holder in the global horticulture scenario. More emphasis is given to underutilized fruits due to their high nutritive and medicinal value in addition to being resistant/tolerant to many biotic / abiotic stresses. Jamun (Syzygium cuminii Skeels), fruits are used as an effective medicine against diabetes, heart and liver trouble (Singh and Singh, 2012). The powder of seeds has high value being useful in the treatment of diabetes. Therefore, the jamun fruits are having high value in terms of therapeutic and nutrition. Fruits and seeds of tamarind have tremendous potential for industrial use. Mahua (Bassia latifolia) is a boon for tribal farmers of Gujarat. The corolla commonly called as mahua flowers is a rich source of sugar containing appreciable amount of vitamins and minerals. Flowers (fresh and dried) and spent flowers (after fermentation) are also used as feed for livestock. Fruits are eaten as raw or cooked. Seeds are good source of oil. The oil obtained from Mahua kernel is used for edible purpose and permitted for preparation of vegetable oil. Mahua oil is used in manufacture of soap, lubricating grease, fatty alcohols and candles. Chironji (Buchanania lanzan Spreng) is excellent tree of agro forestry and social forestry. The flesh of ripe fruit is very palatable and the oily kernels are good source of protein (28-30%) and are used in preparation of sweets. Kernel oil can be used to substitute olive and almond oil. Khirni (Manilkara hexandra) thrives well on rocky, gravelly, saline and sodic soils and is good source of sugars and antioxidants. It is being used commercially as rootstock for sapota. Tamarind has tremendous potential under semi arid conditions (Singh and Singh, 2013). The medicinal properties of the bael (Aegle marmelos Correa) fruit are due to high marmelosin content. The pulp of mature bael fruit is very effective to cure dysentery and diarrhoea Varieties on jamun (Goma Priyanka and Thar Kranti), bael (Goma Yashi, Thar Divya and Thar Neelkanth), tamarind (Goma Prateek) and chironji (Thar Priya) have been developed. These varieties are precocious bearer with good yield and quality attributes and suitable for high density planting. These minor fruits have potential in secondary agriculture through value addition. Minor fruits have been conserved at the station and it has great potential under semi-arid regions of western India.

Introduction

India is bestowed with diverse agro-climatic conditions which favour the production of a variety of fruit crops. At present India is second largest producer of fruits in the world after China. Fruit culture can be highly profitable by increasing employment opportunities and commercialization of the rural sector. During early sixties, priority was to achieving self sufficiency in food grain production in our country, however, over the years, fruit culture has emerged as an indispensable part of agriculture, offering a wide range of choices to the farmers for crop diversification. It also provides ample opportunities for sustaining large number of agro-industries to generate substantial employment opportunities (Bardhan, 2016). Amongst various tropical and sub-tropical fruit crops grown in India, guava, pomegranate, acid lime, sweet orange and mandarins, if left on its own, give several light crops of the variable quantities and qualities from the various flowering flushes throughout the year. Under natural conditions, these crops produce flowers thrice in a year i.e. February-March (Ambe Bahar), June-July (Mrig Bahar) and October-November (Hasth Bahar) with the corresponding harvest during rainy, winter and spring season, respectively (Boora et al., 2016, Lal et al., 2017). Owing to this, potential yield is not obtained during the desired period. Therefore, to obtain higher fruit yield during a particular period, these fruit crops are given a resting period with artificial means so that the natural flowering tendency of the trees is altered. It can be achieved through root exposure and its pruning (Boora et al., 2016), shoot pruning (Tiwari et al., 1992, Thakre et al., 2016)