eChapters

The Himalayan region extends all along the Northern boundary of India. It experiences harsh environmental conditions, coupled with unfavourable climate, poor physical capacity of soil and threaten habitat. However, low and mid altitude areas provide environment ranging from sub tropical to temperate, where plant life thrives. The diverse eco-habitat of Himalayan region hosts a wide range of plant diversity as well as crop diversity on which native people rely for their food and nutritional security. Among them, amaranth, buckwheat, chenopod, job’s tear millet and rice bean are the potential crop species of the region as they can easily be grown in harsh environments and degraded lands. These crops possess an exceptionally high nutritional value with higher content of protein, lipids and minerals as well as balanced composition of essential amino acid as compared to other cereals. Majority of people in the country are unaware of the nutritive values of underutilized crops. The chapter provides information on taxonomy, origin and distribution, nutritive value, uses, improved varieties, production and protection technology of the major underutilized crops grown in Himalayan region.

Underutilized crops are well adapted to the lands of Himalayan region and provide food and nutritional security to millions of impoverished people who do not have access to modern agricultural inputs. Owing to their nutritional superiority, underutilized crops are becoming popular in urban area as well as in developed countries as for example Amaranth in USA. With constantly increasing awareness for health products, the demand of underutilized crops is likely to grow in near future. Accelerated research and development are, therefore, essential for increasing production as well as productivity of underutilized crops along with mechanization and value addition.

Animal Husbandry is a major activity in hilly areas and women contributed the most in maintaining this enterprise. It is of immense importance to conduct study for alleviating drudgery of farm women in hilly areas. Since women’s contribution in animal husbandry is significant to our economy, their technological empowerment is equally important and needs to be given high priority.

This chapter covers a study of a project conducted in Udaipur district of Rajasthan. The concerted efforts made under this project through skill training, field demonstration, constant technical support and motivation resulted in acquisition of knowledge and skills in handling various drudgery reducing technologies in animal husbandry. Technological intervention has made farm women aware of new technologies available to assist them in performing the tasks. As a result there is a change in the practices of women and they have begun to adopt new technologies to improve their work efficiency in animal husbandry. By the use of technologies, there is considerable reduction in the drudgery of farmwomen. Equipment like rake, shovel, and wheel barrow and chaff cutter has not only decreased time and energy consumption but have improved work efficiency in terms of output.

Introduction

Livestock development has always been a major concern in the Indian economy along with agriculture. Animal husbandry and Dairy development play a prominent role in the rural economy in supplementing the income of rural household particularly, the landless, small and marginal farmers. It also provides subsidiary occupation in semi-urban areas and more so for people living in hilly, tribal and drought prone areas where crop output may not sustain the family. Animal husbandry output constitutes about 30 percent of the country’s agricultural output. In recent years, animal husbandry has become more indispensable for human kind because of increasing pressure on cultivable land owing to the population explosion.

Medziphema rural development block is known for producing sweetest pineapple in Nagaland. A few years earlier, farmers predominantly practised indigenous method of pineapple cultivation where productivity was less. Under horticulture technology mission, farmers have been trained to grow pineapple scientifically. Therefore, a study was conducted to know the scientific orientation of pineapple growing farmers in Medziphema rural development block of Nagaland. Sample pineapple growing farmers were selected as respondents from three purposively selected villages under Medziphema rural development block. Respondents were selected following random sampling procedure. A structured and pretested interview schedule was used for collection of primary data from the respondents. Data analysis was done using SAS software. Findings of the study revealed that, majority of the pineapple growing farmers possessed medium level of scientific orientation, followed by high and low level of scientific orientation. The variable ‘scientific orientation’ was significant and positively associated with the ‘entrepreneurial behaviour’ of the pineapple growers and it was found as an important predictor variable influencing the entrepreneurial behaviour of the pineapple growers. It was inferred from the study that off late, farmers are realising the importance and benefits of growing pineapple scientifically. Scientific orientation can promote the pineapple based entrepreneurial activities which can bring about the socio economic development of the rural people.

The North Eastern Hill Region is the most suitable area of India for organic agricultural farming because of its numerous advantages. This region is said to be, by and large, organic by default or the farmers of this region are de facto organic producers. Truly, the farmers of this region are using very minimal or not even minimal amount of inorganic inputs like fertilizer and pesticides. Almost in all the seven states of this region, farmers are practicing traditional agriculture for thousands of years. Recently, only pockets of the region, the use of inorganic inputs have been started but the level of use is almost negligible. This low chemical input use (inorganic input) is the biggest strength in term of the possibility of organic agriculture in this hilly region. The conversion period of organic from inorganic agriculture will be much lower and easier in this region as compared to other parts of the country. Further, the conversion process will be much easier due to the readily available huge amount of forest biomass and the residues of diverse livestock population. Moreover, experimental results show that during the transition period, the farmers face the problem of yield losses, but in NE India it was observed that yield loss was minimum, sometimes nil, because farmers of this region are using very low level of inorganic inputs. Additionally, the organic products usually fetch higher prices, nearly 20-25 per cent premium as compared to the conventional products, which, may compensate the problem of yield losses during early period of conversion and thereby increase the level of income.

North-Eastern Hill Region is suitable for growing a number of high value crops and following good agricultural practices for cultivation of these crops are likely to increase farm income substantially. Enabling the state to follow systematic organic farm practices is likely to make the farming profession more remunerative. Present socio economic study indicated that the organic farm practices might be quite favourable particularly for few crops like pineapple, turmeric, ginger and cashew, which have readymade potential.

Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control. Organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides but excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured (synthetic) fertilizers, pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, genetically modified organisms, human sewage sludge, and nano materials.

There is a need to look for new means to check this menace. Chemical fertilizers are necessary to feed the ever increasing population of the nation but this needs to be supplemented with the organic manures. But organic manures are not available in sufficient quantity. Besides, they alone cannot meet the nutritional requirement of the crops and have to be applied alongwith the chemical fertilizers. Experimental results have shown that if organic fertilizers are applied then chemical use can be brought down to half. This will lead to favourable impact on the soil ecology besides saving large amounts that are being pumped to subsidize the chemical fertilizers.

Organic agriculture is picking up in some parts of our nation and it can generate viable farming option to small and marginal farmers. But short supply of the organic inputs is emerging as one of the major bottlenecks. Vermicomposting of city wastes and farm wastes can generate substantial volume of the organic fertilizer for use in our fields, thereby, helping us to overcome major hurdle in taking up organic agriculture production. This chapter attempts to identify the find out the ways and benefits of practicing organic farming and determines the economics of Vermicomposting technology.

As long ago as 1881 Charles Darwin wrote: “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures”.

The soil of the food bowl states of our country viz. Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and plains of Uttarakhand have become deficient in organic matter, macro and micro nutrients and trace elements. Now soil has become non living due to death of earthworms and beneficial micro organism. Farmers are using mainly nitrogen and phosphorus in crop production. However 17 elements are essential for plants nutrition for growing of crops. To get maximum yield and output from the crop plants, a vicious cycle of using the maximum amount of chemical amendments is going on. In the chemical amendments, indiscriminate use of both fertilizers and pesticides are included. Due to this indiscriminate use of these fertilizers and pesticides, our environment is being polluted and living organisms on this planet are experiencing the deleterious effects of all this on their health. These chemicals also exert their influence on soil flora and fauna, therefore the balance of macro and micronutrients release in soil is being disturbed and as a consequence soil fertility and productivity is decreasing day by day. Therefore, for sustainable agriculture healthy farming is fast becoming an urgent necessity.

The problems being faced are the destruction of the soil health leading to reduction in production potential, failure of pest control strategies due to the development of pesticide resistance, biomagnification of pesticides such as reside problems in food and water. The food grain produced and assessed with attributes of fertilizers, the fertilizer efficiency seems to be decreasing. In 1970-71 it was 17.1%, declined in 1980-81 to 10.3% and in 1988-89 reached to 8.1%. Now a day, farmers are not properly using organic, green and compost manures in crop husbandry. Soil fertility and ground water level has been declining very fast by adopting intensive farming. If soil health of any country has been depleted, then the food grain production will also tend to decrease.

The present study was undertaken to study the trends of area, production and productivity of major fruit crops in the Himachal Pradesh state. The study was based on secondary data from 1974-75 to 2010-11. The data was collected from several government publications and website. To analyze the trend of area, production and productivity of major fruit crops in the Himachal Pradesh state, the linear, quadratic and exponential functional forms were used. To fit the trend, quadratic functional form was used due to its higher R² value as compared to other two forms. Besides these, compound growth rate, coefficient of variation and instability index was also estimated. The effects of area, productivity and their interaction towards increasing production were also estimated in the present study. The growing of major fruit crops was not risky in the Himachal Pradesh state as revealed by the lower coefficient of variation. The coefficients of variation (CV) of area, production and productivity of major fruit crops were less than 100.13 per cent. The instability indices for area, production and productivity for major fruit crops in the Himachal Pradesh state were positive and thereby indicating less risk for growing major fruit crops in the state. The increase in production is due to increase in area as well as interaction of area and productivity of fruit crops in the state. This may be due to the adoption of high yield variety seed of major fruit crops and adoption of improved methods by the farming community during last decade.

The vegetable crops like knol-khol, Broccoli and kale belong to the genus brassica of the cruciferae family. They are essentially cold weather, hardy crops and thrive best in cool moist season. These crops, if grown under warm conditions, the produce become pungent due to development of glucocide called sinigrin containing sulphur. According to Chowdary (1967), the crops of this group have developed from wild cliff cabbage, also known as cole wrots, from which the name cole has been given. Their taste founds to be more sweat in hills due to low temperature and constitute at top in the list of preference vegetables for people all over India.

This chapter attempts to describe the cultivation of these three cole crops, exclusively grown in hills of India.

Knol-Khol

Knol-khol (Brassica oleracea var. gonylodes) is a well known green–leafy vegetable, which is consumed with leaves and knobs. It is popular among Kashmiri people and the people of hilly areas. Its cultivation is confined to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pardesh, West Bengal, Uttranchal and Punjab. Due to its year round demand and conducive agro-climate available in J&K, it can be cultivated round the year. The crop is of short duration and be grown three to four times a year. Thus it gives very high productivity per unit area.

Originating in the New World tropics, peppers have become ubiquitous culinary essential now grown not only in warm climates but in temperate areas as well. They include both sweet and hot chilli varieties. Botanically chilli belongs to the genus Capsicum. The North East region has its own unique combination of living species, habitats and ecosystems, which together make up its diversity rich resource. While speaking strictly about plant diversity, two regions of the country are termed as hot spots. These are – Western Ghats and the North Eastern hill regions. The King’s chilli is an inter-specific hybrid cultivated in the Nagaland and Assam region of northeastern India and parts of neighboring Bangladesh. In 2007, Guinness World Records certified the Bhut Jolokia as the world’s hottest chili pepper, 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. From time immemorial, traditionally the Bhut jolokia is been cultivated and consumed by the local people in North eastern states like Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. A good amount of genetic variability exists in the landraces of the crop in respect of Pod size, shape, and colour etc.

In recent years, the King’s chilli (Bhut jolokia) is gaining importance in the scientific community as it was reported as the hottest chilli. Though Bhoot jolokia or Naga chilli was cultivated from time immemorial, but nobody really bothered to compare its heat with other record setters. The field of King’s chilli is still in a growing stage and it components and their beneficial uses are still to be exploited fully. Very little research towards the scientific cultivation of this potential crop was accomplished in recent years and until now no standard scientific package of practice is available for the cultivation of the crop.

There is tremendous scope for utilizing the available genetic variability of the crop in a well-planned plant breeding programme for further development of elite genotypes in this crop. Development of proper and efficient post harvest mechanism and also of different value added products of King’s chilli shall generate a great potential for earning revenue in the national as well as international markets.

Seabuckthorn is an important plant of India and other regions of the world, where it is being widely used as an orchard plant for fruit production and in the ecological rehabilitation of waste lands and eroded areas. In India, seabuckthorn has been developed into a major environmental resource. Many areas that are virtually treeless and losses huge soil due to erosion, seabuckthorn has turned out to be useful because it withstands severe weather and grows huge root systems in poor soil. This is the reason that seabuckthorn is grown in Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir which is known as cold desert. In Mongolia several wild animal species have found a habitat in the sea buckthorn forest, including pheasant, hare and fox.

In Garhwal Himalayas, various economically important tree species including Seabuckthorn (Hippophae salicipholia) have been over exploited for fuel, fodder and seed, therefore presently exist only in some patches here and there. Due to excessive lopping for fodder, the seed are generally not available for natural regeneration. Hence, there is a need of developing technique for mass multiplication of these multipurpose tree species for afforestation and general well being of the rural people.

In India, only two species viz. Capsicum annuum and Capsicum frutescens are known and most of the cultivated varieties belong to the species Capsicum annum. Insect pests and diseases are among the major constraints to enhancing production and productivity of chilli. There are a number of diseases, bacterial and viral infections that can attack chilli plants. They can sometimes be difficult to identify as they can have similar symptoms. The limited availability of commercial cultivars, resistant to pests and diseases especially in hilly areas affects its productivity. This makes more important for the farmers to rely on proper management practices to control pests and diseases.

This chapter attempts to brief the effect of insect pest and diseases on production of chilli. It also describes the proper management techniques of insect pests and diseases in chilli, highlighting the economics of their management. The chapter covers the description of insect pests of chilli like Aphid, Red Spider Mite, Slugs and Snails, Caterpillars, Capsid Bugs and Thrips and diseases like Bacterial Wilt, Anthracnose, Cercospora Leaf Spot, Damping off and Leaf Curl.

Introduction

India is a major producer, exporter and consumer of chilli. Chilli (Capsicum annuum) belongs to the genus Capsicum under Solanaceae family. It is also called as hot pepper, cayenne pepper, sweet pepper etc. Chilli besides imparting pungency and red colour to the dishes is a rich source of vitamin A, C and E and assists in digestion. Recently, Russian scientists have identified Vitamin P in green chilli which is considered to be important as it protects from secondary irradiation injury. The pungency in chilli is due to an alkaloid capsaicin which has high medicinal value. Capsaicin has many medicinal properties, especially as an anti-cancerous agent and instant pain reliever. It also prevents heart diseases by dilating blood vessels. The Chilli plant is a white flowered, dark green or purple leaved plant that grows upto 1.5 m in height. The major chilli exporting countries with their percentage share in world total exports are India (25 %), China (24 %), Spain (17 %), Mexico (8 %), Pakistan (7.2 %), Morocco (7 %) and Turkey (4.5 %).

Fast increasing population, changing climate, shrinking land and water resources are the major challenges before us to meet the food and nutritional security of the population at global level. Improvement in the production and productivity of crops are the immediate need to boost the availability of food and improvement economic conditions of the farmers. Greenhouse technology has shown tremendous potential in improvement in production and productivity of crops even under uncongenial soil and climatic conditions. The farmers having very small farm holdings in countries like Japan, Holland and South Korea have improved their income and living standards by adopting protected cultivation technologies. However, India is yet to trap the potentials of the technology. Modern green houses require uninterrupted huge electric power for control of environment (heating/cooling/air circulation etc), which is considered one of the major cause for global warming. High installation and running (energy) cost, high cost of production; poor government support and lack of farmers’ friendly/cost effective greenhouse technology are some other challenges. Low cost zero energy based solar greenhouse technology popularizes the green houses in small and marginal farmers of remote areas. Such greenhouses are specifically design using local resources and also to trap the natural solar radiation/ heat and maintain it for longer period. The designs do not require electric power which ultimately reduces the installation/running cost and also does not have the adverse effects on the environment. This will not only improve the economic status of the farmers but also provide nutritive food to their families and also enhance production and productivity of various crops in the country without deteriorating the environment.

Traditionally, agriculture in India was practiced on a subsistence basis; the villages were self sufficient, people exchanged their goods, and services within the village on a barter basis. But, with the development of means of transport, storage facilities and other infrastructure, agriculture has become commercial in character. The hills of India produces a wide range of goods starting from temperate fruits like apple to subtropical fruits like guava and cash crops like saffron, kala zeera, buckwheat etc. that are demanded at every corner of the country and even the world. The hills in India lacks infrastructure because of which farmers are not able to fetch a better price for their produce.

Agriculture is the dominant activity in the hill economy, which confronts multiple risks and uncertainty. The low yield of food and cash crops, fodder, fuel and other minor forest produce and their stagnant growth affected the agrarian economy and in particular the household food security. The scattered land holdings, traditional mode of production, low use of modern inputs and lack of market incentives are the primary causes of the poor performance of agriculture in J&K. Increase in Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) of major crops, Popularization of hybrids, Soil and Water conservation measures, and Public-private partnership are important aspects need to be considered for agriculture development in hilly areas of J&K. Strengthening of markets, Innovative marketing techniques and On-line trading can help in a big way for solving the problems of marketing in such areas.

In recent years poverty elimination has become the most important development objective. Introduce the land reforms and laws for the hill areas as per the needs of the tribal people in keeping with the changing times. It is concerned on the social inequality between the advance majority sections of the society and the backward hill people, negligence relating to the roads and transport, health service, electricity, water supply, education, agriculture and sports. It shall strive to protect, safeguard and ensure proper management of the lands, forests and mineral resources of the hill people. As inequality in the distribution of production inputs, especially agricultural land seems to be the main cause of rural poverty and income disparity. A successful redistributive land reform may increase small household production and contribute directly and immediately to reduce poverty and economic inequality. Redistributive land reform has been an increasingly important strategy for both poverty alleviation and socio-economic development. The impetus for land reform is then the possibility of improved social justice and equity. An effective land reform program must boost efficiency and promote equity and so land ownership should be targeted towards those who use it most productively.

The significant marginal value of land of both consumption and income implies that an effective land reform policy could well be the most effective approach to alleviate hills poverty. The study investigates the effect of other complementary factors along with land on consumption and income. These all suggest that programmes of access to land must be packaged as elements of more comprehensive programmes in order to secure the poverty reduction potential of land. This study also analyses the economic relationship between access to land and poverty in hills area by establishing the link between land and consumption as well as land and income. The significant marginal value of land of both consumption and income implies that an effective land reform policy could well be the most effective approach to alleviate rural poverty. So in this paper we would like to trace the problems related with Land reforms in hills area, agriculture development and poverty alleviation. What are the major problems in Land reforms in Hills are and how to cope up with those problem.

The financial system in India has grown rapidly in the last three decades and more. The functional and geographical coverage of the system is truly impressive. Nevertheless, data do show that there is exclusion and that poorer sections of the society have not been able to access adequately financial services from the organized financial system. There is an imperative need to modify the credit and financial services delivery system to achieve greater inclusion. The implementation of the recommendations made in this Report could go a long way to modify particularly the credit delivery system of the banks and other related institutions to meet the credit requirements of marginal and submarginal farmers in the rural areas in a fuller measure. However, creating an appropriate credit delivery system is only a necessary condition. This needs to be supplemented by efforts to improve the productivity of small and marginal farmers and other entrepreneurs so that the credit made available can be productively employed. While banks and other financial institutions can also take some efforts on their own to improve the absorptive capacity of the clients, it is equally important for Government at various levels to initiate actions to enhance the earnings capacity of the poorer sections of the society. The two together can bring about the desired change of greater inclusion quickly.

India is basically agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood for 70% of people. Livestock enterprise is not the exception. The primary sectors included the agricultural labourers, labours (workers) etc. The agriculture contributes about 40% of National income. And two problems in Agriculture are lack of Technology and Institutional arrangements. The investment is not possible an account of poor yielding resulting in pitiable economic conditions and. The establishment of NADARD with it objective in promoting health and strength of credits institutions forming front of the delivery system, i.e. COoperatives, Commercial Banks, RRBS is the Landmark in Agricultural Finance.

In spite of development of irrigation and expansion in transportation and communication; the risk or we can say threat in agriculture sector such as its production and yield has increased in the country. The risk is much higher for farm income than production, as is evident from lower risk in area and higher risk in production. It has been reviewed from the state wise results of area and production which shows that only in the states where irrigation is very consistent; it helped in plummeting the risk and vice-versa. In some states farmers face twin problem of very low productivity accompanied by high risk of production. Also, with the course of time, neither technology nor any other measure helped in reducing production risk in all over the country. Therefore, there is strong need to plan and broaden insurance products or we can say insurance policies for agricultural crops and their production. No doubt various insurance schemes has been launched by the Government of India for covering various agricultural crops in the country as well as in the states but agriculture insurance has served very limited purpose. The coverage through insurance schemes in terms of area under crops, number of farmers and value of agricultural output obtained is very small and the payment of insurance based on area approach fail to notice affected farmers outside the compensated area, and most of the schemes are not workable. It has been viewed in most of the parts of the country. So there is a need to restructure the programme vigilantly to make it feasible and to increase its prospects for future expansion to impact more farmers. This whole process is in immediate need of rehabilitated efforts by Government of India as well as state governments in provisions of introducing new crop insurance policies with full financial support. The government should also extend support to private stakeholders for providing agricultural insurance which in turn will help in increasing insurance coverage and in improving viability of the insurance schemes over time. Moreover the crop insurance policies shouldbe simple in plan so that they are easily understood to the farmers. At last we can say that, good insurance products with good management are key for successful operation of an agriculture insurance scheme all over the India.

Recent advances in information technology are making it more feasible to provide farmers with marketing information they need. However, farmers are still lagging behind in getting the information as accessibility to this technology is not available to them for various reasons. The major reason for this is abundance of small and marginal farmers without formal education and training in proper decision making. This problem is more acute for North Western (NW) hill farmers as besides above constraints, accessibility to information centers is very difficult due to undulating topography and lack of communication and transport facilities.

In the North-Western hill states, not many initiatives have so far been taken to use the information technology for the rural/agricultural development. Presently, use of radio and television for acquiring the information is limited as these media do not give focused information for different target areas. Even newspapers, in their local versions, do not provide regular updates for different major mandis regarding vegetables. This area has also been neglected by AGMARKNET (www.agmarknet.nic.in) for the market information regarding hill crops. For Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, only one and three markets, respectively, has been covered. This shows the apathy of agricultural development departments towards incorporating ICT into the day-to-day activities of hill farmers.

The adoption and use of a new technology causes disruptions in the sociocultural system of a nation and induces a change from established practices to distinctly different and complex forms of social practice. The deployment of ICT into the predominantly traditional societies of developing countries is therefore very disruptive. In view of this, a seamless integration of both the technical and socio-cultural systems of societies where technology transfer takes place is necessary for a thriving ICT deployment. Unfortunately, technological transfer to developing countries is driven by a perspective that is based on the development experience of Western industrialized nations.

It is indeed highly inspiring to see that in India, people are gradually getting aware of the multiple roles of Information Technology in the overall growth of the country. The bureaucrats and policy makers have equally emphasized the significance of exploring and exploiting the benefits of IT. Moreover, the governance has also realized that with availability of vital infrastructure Information and Communication Technologies can be used to improve the lives of the rural and underprivileged section of the Indian society, especially the ones living below the poverty line (BPL). Nonetheless, the Government will have to play the role of a catalyst in this huge integration project. A strategic framework including actors from Central & State Governments and Civil Society Organizations to capture the benefits of ICT and make it reach the countryside can do wonders in this regard.

The Agreement on Agriculture, the AoA, was negotiated to cover loopholes in the agriculture sections of the original GATT and was signed in April 1994 at Marrakesh, Morocco. Its first step was to get all countries to replace the various quota and other non-tariff restrictions on agricultural imports with equivalent-level tariffs; then countries would progressively cut those tariffs (by 36% over six years for developed countries, 24% over 10 years for developing countries). Restrictions were also mandated in other areas, such as export subsidies and in the AMS, the “aggregate measure of support”, which measured all the assistance going to a country’s farm sector. However, developing countries already had low levels of agricultural support, while developed countries had very high levels, meaning the field was still tilted in favour of the rich countries.

The WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture which came into effect on 1^st January 1995 brought world agriculture production and trade under multilateral trade rules. It was supposed to herald a new era of trade liberalization in the agriculture sector, as hitherto agriculture had been mainly exempted from the disciplines of GATT.

Although the efforts to develop hill agriculture were initiated in early fifties, planned development programme came to be evolved only in the late sixties. The phenomenal increase in food grains called the ‘Green revolution’ bye passed these hilly regions because of paraphernalia of constraints. Furthermore severity of soil erosion and soil degradation is much more and widespread in hill agriculture due to fragile ecosystem and its impact on plains through downstream sedimentation and flooding. Because of these constraints, traditional agriculture cannot be the lead sector for development. Thus the country faces the challenge of promoting livelihoods to minimize migration through local employment and income generation, and to enhance the quality of life of people living in villages. The positive features of these hilly areas are that they are rich in biodiversity, have enormous potential for tourism, a suitable climate for high value crops that can be harnessed for a development strategy.

In order to improve the existing system and to harvest newer opportunities in the hill agricultural system, a proper understanding of the composition of agri-horti-silvi-pastoral farming system and livestock based farming system is necessary. There is a considerable scope for development of agro-ecological zone specific farming along with horticultural interventions in the hill agriculture. At the same time there is an urgent need to give top priority to land use pattern, soil and water conservation and environmental sustainability. Agri tourism can be exploited in hill agriculture. What Hill agriculture needs is the appropriate technology, emerging markets, investment and risk cover.

Livestock manure is principally composed of organic material. When this organic material decomposes in an anaerobic environment, methanogenic bacteria produce methane. These conditions often occur when large numbers of animals are managed in confined areas (e.g. dairy, swine, and poultry farms, and beef feedlots, where manure is typically stored in large piles or disposed off in storage of lagoons or tanks).

Manure management will always be a part of livestock production. Management practices will have a significant impact on the environment regardless of the size of the operation. Producers who make wise manure management decisions help to maintain a healthy environment now and for generations to come. To reduce the risk of air or water quality damage from manure, understand how manure impacts air and water quality, keep the public in mind when locating, expanding or maintaining a facility, reduce the amount of material entering the waste stream, collect and store manure to preserve nutrients and minimize gas/odour emissions, apply manure to fields in a way that most fully utilizes the available nutrients, follow compositing to increase manure value, establish bio-gas unit as an alternate energy source and for the electricity generation and if possible integrate with fish production to augment income.

Based on the observations a model system of waste management was designed by systematic and scientific integration of a bio-fuel unit, settlement and slurry processing unit, aerobic composting, traditional composting, and preparation of value added products like Panchagavya, Jeevamritham, packed dried dung and fresh cow urine. There were no reports of odour or water pollution from nearby water sources. The overall results of the waste management indicated that this integrated system can be recommended as a model for waste management in dairy enterprises with beneficial effects on economic efficiency, environmental hygiene and quality control.

Sustainability in agriculture is the prime importance for maintains its productivity particularly for crops over time and space. Sustainable agriculture is a system of farming as well as a philosophy which has its roots in a set of values that reflects an awareness of both ecological and socialrealities. It includes design and management procedures that work with natural processes to conserve all resources for maintaining or improving farm profitability keeping least waste and environmental damage.

The influence of environment on Indian farming revealed that future agricultural growth and productivity will have to occur simultaneously with environmental sustainability. The environmental challenges (land degradation, groundwater depletion, water logging and excessive use of chemical inputs) are posing problems for the future of Indian agriculture. Organic farming included in the policies has emphasized the sustainability in agriculture. Various other approaches and policy instruments, however, will be required to address these problems. The shift from input-intensive to sustainable, particularly organic farming is a difficult task as it involves a number of policy measures dealing with a variety of issues ranging from the transfer of information and technology to the development of markets. Another difficult task, and perhaps more difficult, relates to marginal and small farmers – which comprise a substantial part of Indian agriculture. Although, the marginal and small farmers considered as organic by ‘default’, severe resource constraints makes the shift to the modern sense of organic farming prohibitive.

Underutilized crops can be found in many different agricultural ecosystems, but they are mainly grown by small landholders in the marginal areas especially in hill agriculture. Some crops remain underutilized because they are in some way not competitive with other species in the same agricultural environment. They are usually characterized by having local importance in consumption and production systems, requiring relatively low inputs, adapting to specific agro-ecological niches, receiving scarce attention by national agricultural and biodiversity conservation efforts, mainly consisting of local types or landraces, and being cultivated with indigenous knowledge. Many underutilized species are adapted to low-input agriculture and depended on by a large number of people in marginal areas in hill agriculture of developing countries.

This chapter attempts to provide a detail picture of one such underutilized crop i.e. Grain Amaranth. In an effort to explain the decrease in grain amaranth cultivation, fanciful myths have arisen. The mystery is especially intriguing when one considers that maize, with which amaranth co-evolved, was selected and developed into a major world crop. The small seed size of amaranth may have been a partial cause for the reduction in amaranth cultivation. A small seeded crop, such as amaranth, requires greater attention to detail in the early parts of the growing season than does a larger seeded crop, such as maize.

This chapter discussed all the factors related to its cultivation, the constraints in the production and importance of grain amaranth in the economy of hill agriculture etc.

“Biodiversity, the planet’s most valuable resource, is on loan to us from our children.”

The significance of Plant Genetic Resources (PGR’s) is on top of agenda of all those who are concerned with food, nutritional and environmental security by using the Earth’s plant - biodiversity judiciously in a vital form. Agro-biodiversity is the backbone of a nation’s food security and the basis of economic development as a whole. The top-down system of agricultural research, where farmers are seen merely as recipients of research rather than as participants in it, has contributed to an increased dependence on a relatively few plant varieties. Global cooperation from farmers to agricultural scientist is critical for maintaining the balance across the agricultural landscape. Over the years this diversity in India is under pressure due to the massive commercialization of agriculture leading to the almost extinction of traditional farming systems and plant- biodiversity is under immediate threat. Behind this commercialization there lies the interest of the breeders for obtaining intellectual property rights. Around 1.6 billion people depend on farm-saved seed, yet up to 75 per cent of varieties of some key crops have already been lost this century. The rate of loss may well increase as global trade rules, intellectual property rights regimes, the concentration of agricultural research and development on inappropriate technological‘solutions’, and now the introduction and promotion of genetically engineered products, all combine to erode local resources from the fields of smallholder farmers. At the moment, it should call for a balancing on research into modern biotechnology, in favour of a redirection of research and development resources into sustainable, environmentally-friendly technologies that, sustain poor people’s livelihoods, agricultural biodiversity and agro-ecosystem functions. In this context, the importance of farmer-derived Agricultural Biodiversity that includes the variety and variability of plants and micro-organisms which are necessary to maintain the structure, processes and key functions of the agricultural ecosystem for, and in support of, food production and food security.

Since seed deterioration is irreversible process and the rate of deterioration might be arrested using proper packaging material, moisture proof packaging material are very effective for preserving seed viability, germination ability, vigour and other quality traits of orthodox seed. For the locations, with inadequate storage facilities and high humidity, moisture proof material is favoured. The use of high cost material is justified considering the advantage under such conditions in terms of maintaining the quality of the seeds.

In hills, farmers usually store their own seed for sowing in the next season. The uncertainty about the availability of good quality seed at proper time in the remote hilly areas develops a habit in the farmers for storing their own seed. This chapter attempts to highlight the different methods/sources of packaging of seed and their relevant advantages and limitations.

Among different containers polyethylene bags appear to be promising packaging material for storage since it is effective in preserving seed viability longer, are easily available, less expensive and need less space for storage.

The various adverse effects of Shifting cultivation, the need for its replacement have been widely discussed at various levels. It has been a matter of concern not only for the Government of India and the Planning Commission but also to the various state governments and the union territories of the region. Although considerable data on the extent of Shifting cultivation and its various adverse effects including its effect on agricultural production have been discussed in various forums, yet detailed scientific studies on shifting cultivation from various angles were not taken up until recently. The prevalence of shifting cultivation is so extensive in the region that it would not be possible to tackle the problem within a short period of time whatever, large the efforts may be. It will, thus, be necessary to approach the problem so that alternative systems of farming can be introduced in areas where the cycle of rotation has been greatly reduced.

Agriculture is an important economic activity for a large population of the developing world. The view that industrialization is the main hope of the developing countries has undergone remarkable changes in more recent times. Today, agriculture and rural development are viewed as the sine qua non of national development. A reorientation where in rural development is well balanced with industrial growth is now considered essential to correct serious imbalances in the economy, for equitable distribution of wealth and for social justice. It is against this background that increases in agricultural production in the developing world need to be viewed and evaluated.

Introduction

Shifting cultivation, developed over centuries of experience is known as “Swidden”, “Slash-and–burn agriculture”, “Rotational bush-fallow agriculture.’ or by a variety of local names; in India, it is commonly referred to as Jhum cultivation. This farming system is believed to have originated in the Neolithic period around 7000 B.C. This is the most primitive form of agriculture and is still common amongst the tribal people in various pockets. Shifting cultivation is mainly confined to medium to high rainfall zones between 100 meters and 2,000 meters above sea level. It is practised in three types of vegetation, such as forests, bush and grasslands.

Introduction

The term ‘biodiversity’ comes from the words biological diversity and quite simply means the variety of all living things, including microbes, plants and animals– from single-celled organisms to the largest mammals and trees. Biodiversity also refers to genetic diversity within a species (essential for evolution) and also the diversity of the woodlands, wetlands and other habitats which provide the food, water and shelter for these species. Human life itself depends upon healthy ecosystems (e.g. wetlands, forests and grasslands) and the biodiversity that they contain. Biodiversity gives us many of the essentials of life – water, oxygen, food, clothing, and medicines, without which we could not survive, and therefore contributes greatly to our economy. Access to nature is also a popular form of relaxation that greatly enriches our lives and helps to keep us healthy. Species are linked in an infinite number of ways via food-webs and the habitats they share. If one species becomes extinct, it may affect many more. If too many species become extinct then whole ecosystems can collapse, with severe consequences for the way we live. Across the world, biodiversity is under threat from human activity such as over-intensive or inappropriate farming, large-scale commercial forestry, forest clearance, mineral extraction, pollution and urban development. Conservation of plant diversity assumes greater importance when the world is facing unprecedented loss of biological diversity. As per an estimate about 60,000 out of 2, 87, 655 species of plants known in the world are facing the threat of extinction.

Agro-ecosystems are defined as ecological and socio-economic system comprising domesticated plants and/or animals and the people who husband them, intended for the purpose of producing food, fiber, or other agricultural products. Agro-ecosystems are ecological systems transformed and simplified for the purpose of agriculture. In the case of agro-ecosystems productivity, these systems have Holling resilience if, in some state, they are able to maintain productivity and withstand stress or external shocks (e.g., due to lower rainfall and droughts). In many situations, biodiversity provides the link between stress and loss of resilience is a system (Perrings et al., 1995). Genetic variation within species and within population increases the ability to respond to the challenges of environmental stress (Mainwaring, 2001).

Introduction

Vegetable crops are a big group of crop plants, consisting of diverse kinds with differing breeding systems and varying consumer preferences. In India there are native vegetables like eggplant (Solanum melongena), beans (Lablab purpureus), cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and a few gourds, namely smooth gourd (Luffa cylindrica), ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula), snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina) and pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica), while there are several introduced crops and which have long history of domestication and adaptation like garden pea (Pisum sativum), onion (Allium cepa), bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) etc. and also some others like tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var.botrytis), cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata), chillies, (including Capsicum), frenchbean (Phaseolus vulgaris) etc, which have been introduced during the last 4 or 5 centuries. With such a diversity of crops, characterization and evaluation of genetic resources in each of them become a stupendous responsibility requiring extensive infrastructure facilities and varying methods of evaluation. The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi with its Regional Stations at Shimla, Bhowali, Akola, Thrissur, Jodhpur, Hyderabad, Umiam-Barapani, Base Stations at Ranchi, Cuttack and Satellite centre at Amravati and Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi-designated as National Active Germplasm Site (NAGS) for vegetable crops and Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bangalore, are holding over 40,000 germplasm collections in different vegetable crops.

A large number of lines have been collected from various parts of the country. A number of varieties have developed either through selection from local landraces or through hybridization resulting in development of a large number of open pollinated varieties with resistance to some important diseases, such as wilt. Also, a number of hybrid varieties have been developed both by public and private institutions, however there is a scope to increase further yield and nutritional quality using some of the modern techniques, such as molecular marker aided selection. The promising genetic resources utilized in vegetable improvement work have been described under following three heads

Introduction

National Gene Banks are now entering into an era of increased activity and responsibility, particularly for managing their own indigenous germplasm activities extending from collection to actual use of the genetic variation in crop improvement programmes. However, these tasks must be achieved with limited resources in best possible time frame. The core collection offers a potential opportunity to meet these challenges. Recognising that the sheer size of a germplasm collection could deter its use, Frankel (1984) proposed that it could be pruned to a ‘core collection’, which would represent, “with minimum repetitiveness, the genetic diversity of a crop species and its relatives”. The core collection consist of a limited set of accessions derived from a germplasm collection, chosen to represent the genetic spectrum in the whole collection, and including as much as possible of its genetic diversity (Brown, 1995). The remaining accessions would not necessarily be discarded but would be managed as a ‘reserve collection’. The proposal, the rationale, purposes and general principles of core collections have been critically examined (Brown, 1989 a and b). As to the size of a core collection, sampling theory of selective neutral alleles in finite populations indicate that about 10 % drawn randomly from the whole collection was relatively efficient in retaining its allelic variation (about 70 % retained). The core collection concept has attracted considerable discussion and debate in the past and has met criticism in many areas. Most of these concerns appear to arise from misuse or misunderstanding of the core approach and a number of core collections have been established during the past decade.

Introduction

Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) are uniquely placed within the overall ambit of biodiversity and play an important role in providing food, fuel, clothing, medicine and shelter for the whole mankind. The value of plant genetic resources or the plant germplasm can be visualized from the fact that Sir Joseph Banks, the Director of Kew Botanical Gardens accompanied Captain Cook on a plant collecting voyage. Plant genetic resources are going to occupy the centre stage in plant breeding and seed industry development in India as will be the case with other countries. However, despite the great importance of plant genetic resources in crop improvement programmes, there is ever increasing threat to the PGR due to degradation of their habitats, changes in ecology, cropping systems, modernization of agriculture, rapid replacement of locally adapted indigenous cultivars by modern high yielding varieties and the effect of massive urbanization. This calls for a sustained and scientific management of plant genetic resources. The issue of PGR management remains basically the same whether we are dealing with field crops, vegetable crops or perennials with slight changes in specific cases. For an effective management of PGR, all the CGIAR funded international agricultural research centres have independent units/divisions on PGR management. IPGRI is coordinating and strengthening the PGR management programmes at the international level. In India, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi is the nodal organization on PGR management. This article shall deal with the core components of PGR management in vegetable crops.

Introduction

Plant genetic resources represent a huge reservoir of genes of economic importance, which acts as buffer against environment fluctuations. These genes are largely spread in the land races and traditional cultivars, which have been conserved by virtue of their specific merits. The human and natural selection interventions have resulted in establishment, improvement and differentiation of numerous types, which represent genetic wealth of the crop species and are commonly referred as plant genetic resources (PGR).

Genetic Erosion and Need for Conservation

In view of the availability of high yielding varieties/hybrids, the traditional cultivars/ land races have been disregarded by the farmers due to their low economic potential. Sustaining the green revolution, changing cultivation practices and intensification of land use pattern have been the potential threats for rapid erosion of plant genetic diversity. The erosion of these resources has resulted into the extinction of several valuable genetic materials. Realizing the consequences of genetic erosion and importance of plant genetic resources, more diversity needs to be conserved for future. Prior to conservation the collection and characterization of germplasm through morphological and molecular markers for establishing the identity of genotype is essentially required. For effective utilization of PGR in vegetable improvement programme, the proper characterization and evaluation of genotypes for breeder driven traits including biotic and abiotic stresses in target environments is urgently needed. In addition, value addition is an important area of concern especially in vegetable crops. After implementation of recommendations of Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), the major thrust has been given on conservation of bio-resources. In view of the globalization and emerging IPR regimes (UPOV, TRIPS, ITPGFRA etc.), there is a need for having suitable mechanisms for the protection of bio-resources.

Introduction

Vegetable crops include a large number of species, mainly used as an essential complement to the daily diet, providing vitamins, minerals, fiber, specific amino-acids and other active metabolites. Largely emphasizing the need to accumulate and conserve in gene banks the genetic diversity that is most useful to breeders. One of the primary reasons to sustain conservation of plant genetic resources in gene banks is to prevent the loss of genetic diversity. The great diversity of types in cultivation is also considered a genetic resource itself, to be maintained or increased, since it adds to the diversity of vegetables being grown and consumed and could serve to replace more established but similar crops in case of need (Crisp and Astley, 1985). The risk of genetic erosion due to the introduction of single new cultivars was considered especially high by Crisp and Astley (1985) for those vegetables that are built on a narrow genetic base, such as garlic, broccoli, tomato, cucumber, etc. Genetic erosion is difficult to document with solid data available in vegetable crops. On a global level, efforts of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR, now IPGRI) to conserve vegetable crop germplasm began in 1980, with the definition of a number of priority crops for conservation, according to their importance for rural development and to their economic value for farmers in the tropics (Abelmoschus esculentus and related species, Allium spp., Amaranthus spp., Brassica spp., Capsicum spp., Cucurbita spp., Lycopersicon esculentum, Momordica charantia and related species, and Solanum melongena). During last six–seven decades, germplasm of promising and profitable varieties have been built up and developed by different agencies, initially assembling local types and selecting from them and by introducing promising types from other parts of the world. The introduction and acclimatization of vegetable germplasm from within the country and all over the world is important for exploitation and incorporation of useful characters such as early maturity, high yielding capacity, resistance to diseases and pests and tolerance to different climatic hazards, viz., drought, heat, cold and flood situations.

Introduction

Plant genetic resources management essentially consists of two phases; its conservation and utilization. Germplasm conservation includes acquisition, in which germplasm is safeguarded in situ (by establishing reserves) or ex situ (by assembling collections through exchange or exploration). It also involves maintenance, protecting germplasm in situ in reserves or storing it ex situ under controlled conditions, propagating it while preserving its original genetic profile with maximum fidelity, monitoring its viability and health in storage or in situ and maintaining associated passport information and other data. Germplasm conservation also involves characterization, assessing highly heritable morphological and molecular traits for taxonomic, genetic, quality assurance and other management purposes. The second phase of germplasm management, encouraging utilization, includes evaluation, assessing agronomically or horticulturally important traits with relatively low heritability and high components of environmental variance e.g. yield adaptation and host-plant resistance to certain abiotic/biotic stress. It also includes genetic enhancement, making particular genes more accessible and usable to breeders by adopting exotic germplasm to local environments without losing its essential exotic genetic profile and/or introgressing high value traits from exotic germplasm into adapted varieties. Genetic enhancement can be subdivided into introgression i.e. backcrossing a few genes controlling desired characters into adapted stocks and incorporation i.e. the large scale development of locally adapted populations good enough to enter the adapted genetic bases of the crops concerned.

Introduction

The WTO was established on 1^st January 1995 and is responsible for making and enforcing rules for trade between nations. WTO marks a major change in global trade rules. As an organization, it replaces the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades (GATT), which had been in existence since 1947. The Eighth Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations under GATT, which started in Uruguay in 1986, was concluded in 1994, leading to the creation of WTO as the new permanent international trade organization. The role of WTO is much more extensive than that of GATT, which dealt with trade in goods. Apart from goods, the two other broad areas that WTO covers are services and intellectual property, which previously belonged to the domestic domain. Accordingly, WTO administers not only the Multilateral Trade Agreements (MTAs) in goods but also the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which came into existence with WTO. All the agreements annexed to the Agreement establishing the WTO were signed as part of a package deal. Member countries did not have the option of choosing some and rejecting others. Another important difference with the erstwhile GATT is that WTO has a stronger compliance mechanism (Chawla, 2007a).

As one of the WTO agreements, TRIPS is binding on all member countries of WTO. TRIPS aims at establishing strong minimum standards for intellectual property rights (IPRs). Apart from patents, intellectual property includes copyrights, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, integrated circuits and trade secrets. The protection of IPRs is binding and legally enforceable. Intellectual property (IP) is a product of the mind. Intellectual property is intangible in contrast to real property (land) or physical property, which one can see, feel and use. With any type of property there are property rights. When IPs are expressed in a tangible form, they can also be protected. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have been created to protect the right of individuals to enjoy their creations and discoveries. In fact, IPRs can be traced back to the fourteenth century, when European monarchs granted proprietary rights to writers for their literary works.

Introduction

Indian subcontinent has a rich and varied heritage of bioresources, encompassing a wide spectrum of habitats from tropical rain forests to alpine vegetation and from temperate forests to coastal wetlands. It is one of the eight centres of origin and one of the 12 mega centres of the world. It possess 11.9 % of world flora and about 33% of the country’s recorded flora are endemic to the region and are concentrated mainly in the North-East, Western Ghats, North-West Himalayas and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Of the 49,219 higher plant species, 5,725 are endemic and belong to 141 genera under 47 families. Of theses 3,500 are found in the Himalayas and adjoining regions and 1,600 in the Western Ghats alone. India has 26 recognized endemic centres that are homeland

Introduction

Nature provides a wealth of genetic variation in both wild and cultivated plants. In the advanced selections conducted in developing superior crop varieties cultivated today agriculture represent only a small portion of the available gene pool. However wild species remain a reservoir of valuable genetic variation and represents a valuable source for exploitation of unexplored genetic variation for improvement of various agronomic traits. Most success has come from introgression of specific single gene controlled traits largely for disease resistance (Tomleyson, 2000 and Sergio et al., 2000). The identification of genes and co-adapted gene complexes that control complex agronomic traits such as adaptation to specific environmental stresses, crop quality, yield, plant architecture, flowering time (especially important for vegetable crops) has been less effectively addressed so far and remains a major and immediate challenge. Also, existence of low genetic diversity in breeding lines of many species used in various plant breeding programs is often resulting in development of insignificant improvement of the trait under investigation (Christopher, 2000). Understanding the spectrum, frequency and distribution of allelic variation in genes controlling such multiple genes controlled complex traits will improve our knowledge of exploitation of natural variation and promotes effective management and exploitation of functional biodiversity. In India efforts have been initiated in the exploitation, conservation of crop germplasm and technologies that are needed to fully exploit this natural diversity available in our major crop plants and their wild relatives. For example, centers that maintain diverse germplasm collections (both by ICAR and State Agricultural Universities nation wild are well established.

Introduction

Cell and tissue culture techniques are becoming increasingly popular as alternative means of plant vegetative propagation. Plant tissue culture involves asexual methods of propagation and its primary goal is crop improvement. The success of many in vitro selection and genetic manipulation techniques in higher plants depends on the success of in vitro plant regeneration. Crop breeding and rDNA technology require the widespread use of reliable true to type propagation and better regeneration methods. Plant regeneration can be grouped in to different categories of enhanced release of axillary bud proliferation, organogenesis and embryogenesis. The oldest practical application of tissue culture techniques is the propagation of disease free plants from meristem tip culture. Meristem tip consisting of dome and one or two subjacent leaf primordial with a size up to 0.25 mm are aseptically cultured in appropriate nutrition media. The resulting plants are disease free because the pathogen is not generally present in the meristematic cells.

The aim of germplasm conservation is to ensure the availability of useful germplasm at any time. Breeding programs rely heavily on locally adapted ancient plant varieties and their wild relatives as sources of germplasm. Further, the continuing search for high yielding varieties of crop plants with resistance to pathogens and pests warrants the availability and maintenance of large collections of germplasm. In species which are propagated through seeds, it is economical to preserve the seeds. These seeds are dried to water content of 5 - 8% and then stored at a temperature of -18° C or lower and low humidity. In case of vegetatively propagated species, preservation of germplasm heavily taxes manpower and land resources. As in vitro techniques are becoming more important in crop improvement through the use of somatic cell genetics, the material produced in vitro will have to be conserved in vitro. The in vitro system is extremely suitable for storage of plant material, since in principle it can be stored on a small scale, disease free and under conditions that limit growth. Germplasm storage in vitro is crucial for the future development and safety of agriculture.

Introduction

Okra, Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench, is annual herb grown in tropical and subtropical parts of world for green tender immature fruits and consumed as cooked mostly fresh but sometimes sun dried or frozen also used as vegetable. Some parts of plant and roots are used for medicinal as well as purification of sugarcane juice. Green fruit contains vitamins, calcium whereas seeds possess 13-22 per cent edible oil and 20-24 per cent edible protein. India is leading producer of okra and exporting fresh as well as processed fruits to other countries and also ranked first in area (0.48 million ha.), production (3.5m tones) and productivity (9.8 t/ha) during 2005 against the world area (0.78 million ha.), production (4.99 m tones) and productivity (6.4t/ha).

Introduction

Genetic resources are the building blocks for new varieties. The Indian gene centre is floristically extremely rich. Most of the tropical and sub-tropical fruits believed to have originated from Hindustan and Indo Malaya-Region. Hindustani gene centre possess a rich diversity of 152 crop plants distributed in different agro-ecological regions of India (Arora, 1985). The Indian sub-continent is one of the centers of origin and diversity of vegetables crops. Around 80 species of major and minor vegetables occur in wild forms (Choudhury, 1967, Seshadri 1987). Among the 118 genera belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family Cucurbita, Cucumis, Citrullus and Lagenaria genera are of great importance. There is tremendous genetic diversity within the family, genera and even within species level. The adaptation range varies from tropical and subtropical regions to extreme arid desert and in temperate regions from Tarai belts to higher altitudes. Extreme germplasm collections are maintained at different centers of the world which represents valuable resources for breeding even in wild form, primitive cultivars, landraces/ folk varieties/ farmer’s selection in a much localized pockets. Now we have very good strains for highly nutritive value, multiple disease resistant and extended shelf lives from our local material through intensive breeding.

Indigenous plant germplasm are adapted component of plant biodiversity. Such adapted components are more valuable resources either as a cultivar or as a parental line in hybridization programme. It might be also a putative material for biotechnological treatment for tolerance to biotic, abiotic factors or nutritional and quality components. Indigenous germplasm can be basically of two types, one which has been domesticated and subjected to human intervention, the other one may be called wild plants or wild relatives and still in the process of evolution without the human intervention. Biochemically the cucurbits are characterized by bitter principles, called cucurbitacins. Great variety of cucurbits contains bitter principle in portion of the plant at some stage of development. Cucurbitacins are tetracyclic triterpenes having extensive oxidation level. Bitter principals found in roots differ from those in fruits. Seedlings specially radicals contains cucurbitacins which are considered primary. The pollen also carries bitter principles and hence when bitter pollen fertilized non-bitter ovule the resulting fruit will be bitter known as metaxenia effect. Cucurbits are consumed in various forms i.e. salad (cucumber, gherkins, longmelon), sweet (ash gourd, pointed gourd), pickles (gherkins), deserts (melons) and culinary purpose. Some of them (e.g. bitter gourd) are well known for their unique medicinal properties. In recent years, abortifacient proteins with ribosome-inhibiting properties have been isolated from several cucurbit species, which include momorcharin (from Momordica charantia), luffaculin (from Luffa operculata), trichosanthin (from Trichosanthes kirilowif) and beta-trichosanthin (from Trichosanthes cucumeroides). Among these, Trichosanthin is of particular interest because its ribosome-inhibiting properties have been found to be effective in inhibiting the replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), indicating its potential as a therapeutic agent for AIDS. In cucurbits three conditions are found (i) fruit and vegetative parts bitter (ii) fruit not bitter but vegetative parts bitter (iii) bitterness absent in both vegetative parts and fruits. Hence some kind of co-evolutionary relationship between cucurbits found and they are very helpful during evaluation of germplasm.

Introduction

The North-eastern region comprises of eight states viz. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim lying between 21.5^o N - 29.5^o N latitudes and 85.5 ^o E - 97.3 ^o E longitudes. It has a total geographical area of 262180 Km² which is nearly 8 % of the total geographical area of the country. In the whole of NE region, about 35 % area is plain and the remaining 65 % area is under hills. Whereas in Assam plains account for 84.44 % of its total geographical area and the remaining 15.56 % area is under hills. Net sown area is highest in Assam (34.12 %) followed by Tripura (23.48 %), however, Arunachal Pradesh has lowest net sown area in the region. Cropping intensity is highest in Tripura (173 %) followed by Manipur (152.1 %), Mizoram (136.36 %) and Assam (123.59 %). About 0.5 million hectare area is under shifting cultivation in the NE region. Out of 4.4 million hectare net sown area, roughly 1.4 million hectare lies in hilly sub region and at least 1.3 million hectare suffer from serious soil erosion problem.

The diverse agro climatic conditions, varied soil type and abundance of rainfall offers immense scope for cultivation of different types of horticultural crops, including fruits, vegetables, flowers, plantation crops, tuber and rhizomatous crops and crops of medicinal and aromatic importance. The region has rich diversity of different vegetable crops and both indigenous tropical vegetables and temperate vegetables are grown to a considerable extent. The major vegetables grown in the region are brinjal, cabbage, cauliflower, okra, onion, pea, potato, tomato, knol-khol, radish, carrot, French bean and different cucurbitaceous crops. Tuber and rhizomatous crops like tapioca (cassava), sweet potato, Dioscorea, colocasia, ginger and turmeric grow abundantly in the region.

Introduction

Leafy vegetables belong to an important group of vegetables and are highly nutritious due to their richness in Vitamin A (Carotene), Vitamin C, Folic acid, Riboflavin, Thiamine and minerals like Iron, Calcium and Phosphorus etc. Appreciable quantity of proteins is also found in these crops. They also provide a variety of phyto-nutrients including beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect cells from damage, age-related problems, among many other effects. Dark green leaves even contain small amounts of Omega-3 fat. They are available at cheaper rate in the market as compared to other vegetables. They provide roughage and have an important place in the balanced diet. It is recommended that a daily intake of 100 g and 40 g of leafy vegetables in the diet of woman and man respectively. India is the 2^nd largest producer of leafy vegetables in the world after China, accounted for about 10% of the world production (Singh et al., 2006) but, the production levels of these leafy vegetables are very low because of lack of availability of high yielding varieties. Leafy vegetables are those crops from which leaves and associated parts are harvested for use as vegetable. The leaves of about 700 different kinds of plants belonging to125 families are consumed in the form of vegetables. The major leafy vegetables grown in the country are amaranth, spinach beet (desi palak), spinach and fenugreek. In addition to this a number of under-utilized annual crops are also grown as leafy vegetables in specific regions. Leafy vegetables are usually grown in kitchen and market gardens. Tender stems and leaves of a number of perennial crops are rich sources of vitamins and minerals and are used for cooking. Though leafy vegetables have high nitrate and oxalate levels, but adverse nutritional effects are not to be feared with a consumption level of 100-200 g per day. The commonly grown major leafy vegetables and their wild relatives are listed below

Introduction

Cowpea, {Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.} is an important food legume in the semi-arid tropics covering Asia, Africa, Southern Europe and Central and South America (Henriet et al., 1997; Mortimer et al., 1997; Van Ek et al., 1997). It is a drought tolerant and warm weather crop. Therefore, well adapted to the drier regions of the tropics where other food legumes do not perform as well. It fixes atmospheric nitrogen and grows well even in the poor soils with more than 85% sand and with less than 0.2% organic matter and low levels of phosphorus (Kolawale et al., 2000 and Sanginga et al., 2000). Also, it is shade tolerant and therefore, compatible as an intercrop with maize, millet, sorghum, sugarcane and cotton as well as with several plantation crops (Singh and Emechebe, 1998). Coupled with these attributes, its quick growth and rapid ground cover checks soils erosion and in situ decay of its roots and nitrogen rich residues improves soil fertility and structure which together have made cowpea an important component of cropping system in the dry savannas of the sub-Saharan Africa (Carsky et al., 2001 and Mortimer et al., 1997).

Cowpea is cultivated in about 14 million ha world wide with about 5 million tons annual production. However, a substantial part of the cowpea production comes only from few countries. Nigeria is the largest producer and consumer of cowpea with about 5 million ha area and about 3 million tons production annually. Niger Republic is the next largest producer with 3 million ha and over 1 million ton production. Northeast Brazil grows about 1.5 million ha of cowpea with about 500.000 tons production. In the southern USA about 40,000 ha of cowpea is grown with an estimated 45,000 tons annual production of dry cowpea seed and a large amount of frozen green cowpeas. Even though exact statistics are not available, India is the largest cowpea producer in Asia and together with Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and other far eastern countries, there may be over 1.5 million hectares under cowpea in Asia.

Introduction

‘Cole crops’ is a general term used to describe several vegetables in the Brassicaceae family. It is an important and highly diversified group of vegetable crops grown worldwide that belongs to Brassica oleracea (Monteiro and Lunn, 1998) and includes particularly six Brassica crops (cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale and knol kohl). All of these crops can trace their history to a common ancestry of wild cabbage originating in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor regions. Cole crops are one of the oldest cultivated plant groups in the world. They are cultivated in Europe since very ancient time from where they have spread to other parts of the world (Nieuwhof, 1969). All the cole crops (except few cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage types) require chilling temperatures for about two months to transform from vegetative phase into reproductive phase. However, the period of chilling requirement differs according to the kind of crop and varieties. Cole crops are also commonly called as European or biennial vegetables due to their cool temperatures requirements and two season requirement to complete their life cycle.

Major Resources of Cole Crop Germplasm

Germplasm is any form of the hereditary material from an organism. Genetic resources encompass all the various forms of germplasm that are available for collection, storage and use. The genetic diversity of crops, represented by traditional local cultivars and wild relatives has been disappearing rapidly during recent decades. Initial concern was noted by H.V. Harlan in the 1930s (Harlan and Martini, 1936) but by the 1960s, modern plant breeding and land-use changes accelerated loss and stimulated the realization that genetic resources in regions of diversity were being lost at an alarming rate. To conserve the genetic variation within the cole group, a comprehensive base collection of the cultivated forms of Brassica oleracea has been established at the vegetable gene bank of Horticulture Research International (HRI), Wellesbourne, (U.K.). Gene banks have also been established at Instiuut de veredeling van Tuinbouwgewssen, Wageningen, the Netherlands and the Instituto del Germoplasm, Bari, Italy (Van der Meer et al., 1984) for conservation of genetic resources. The International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) has recognized HRI as an international centre for conservation of Brassica oleracea (Innes, 1975). Large number of collections of cole crops is also available with the United States Department of Agriculture, Plant Introduction Service. In India, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi has been assigned the duty of conserving the germplasm of all crops, including vegetables. Germplasm of all the cole crops is being maintained at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (tropical types) and its regional station at Katrain (temperate types). Other major institutes maintaining germplasm of cole crops include Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan and SKUAS&T, Srinagar.

Introduction

Cucumber is one of the most popular vegetable of cucurbitacae family and grown worldwide for its freshly harvested fruits. Fruit yield in cucumber is suppressed due to its fruiting habit. Fruits developing from the first pollinated flower inhibit the development of subsequent fruits. This phenomenon is broadly known as crown fruit dominance or first fruit inhibition. Therefore, in mechanical once over harvest of seeded cucumber, only one to two fruits per plant are developed. Fruit set inhibition is less in seedless cucumber when compared to its seeded counter part. Parthenocarpy is the development of fruit without fertilization. This phenomenon was first studied in cucumber byNoll (1902) who introduced the term parthenocarpy. In parthenocarpic lines, a larger proportion of photosynthates could be diverted to fruit tissue instead of producing seeds. Partheonocarpic habit has become indispensable to greenhouse cucumber production because it alleviates the need for bees. Individual plants in the greenhouse produce many fruits simultaneously, with many fold higher yield in comparison to field grown crop.

Greenhouse or parthenocarpic cucumber production is very popular in many areas of the world. The fruits of parthenocarpic cucumber are mild in flavour, seedless and have thin edible skin that requires no peeling. Fruits are generally 10-14 inches in length and 200 g in weight. The parthenocarpic varieties require no pollination for fruit setting. If pollination occurs, the fruit will form seeds, shape of fruit will be destroyed and develop bitter taste. It is therefore essential to prevent bees and other pollinators entering the green houses. Cucumber cultivars are selected for commercial use based on quality and yield characteristics. An important quality factor is the shape of the cucumber referred to as the length to diameter (L/D) ratio. This becomes important to meet specifications of the number of whole cucumber units per container. The cool marine environment causes the L/D ratio of many cultivars to be undesirably long and therefore many of the useful cultivars for other production regions have been eliminate. The presently available parthenocarpic cucumber cultivars have been bred and developed in Europe under similar climatic conditions and produce fruit with desirable L/D ratios. The parthenocarpic cultivars have potential for improvement of both the L/D ratios and fruit interior quality.

Introduction

Cucurbits, belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae are among the most ancient cultivated plants. The term cucurbit was coined by Liberty Hyde Bailey for cultivated species of Cucurbitaceae. Other vernaculars applied to the family and several of its members are ‘gourd’, ‘melon’, ‘cucumber’, ‘squash’ and ‘pumpkin’. The Cucurbitaceae consists of two well defined sub families, eight tribes representing varying degrees of circumscriptive cohesiveness and about 118 genera and 825 species (Jeffrey, 1990). It is mostly tropical and sub tropical in distribution and only a few species occur in temperate regions. Some are semi desert or saprophytic in nature. The Indian sub continent is considered to be the centre of origin for a number of wild and cultivated crops. Chakravorty (1982) reported that 36 genera and 100 species of cucurbits are found in India. Cucurbits are cultivated in 8.5 m ha area in world giving a production of 17.9 mt. While in India a total of 4.5 mt cucurbits are produced from an area of 0.42 m ha area (FAO, 2004).

Cucurbitaceae is one of the most genetically diverse groups of plants in the plant kingdom. As a family and as individual crop, cucurbits epitomize adaptive differentiation and evolutionary divergence. Not only may cultivars within a crop vary significantly in their characteristics, but the same cultivar grown in distinct areas can have different needs in response to disparate local growing conditions. Cultures and ethnic groups may have different cultivar preference and horticultural practices, which also increase morphological diversity within a crop.

Cucurbits are of tremendous economic importance as food plants. They are extensively grown in mixed cropping of more than one kind in long and meandering river beds. Of various improvements approaches possible, breeding of superior pure lines and hybrid cultivars of cucurbits utilizing locally adopted land races are the most important methods which will have far reaching impact on increasing the production and productivity of cucurbits.

Introduction

Tomato is one of the most important vegetable crops which is grown throughout the world. It is a rich source of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants and considered as a protective food. It is used in several forms ranging from raw to processed one and is widely used as one of the food ingredient. Its popularity is due to its versatility and the variety it lends to the human diet. Tomato leads all other vegetables in terms of total global production except potato which is often classified as starchy staple. India stands fourth in terms of global tomato production after China, USA and Turkey. The total production of tomato in India during 2007-08 was 10.26 million tones which accounted for 8.9 % of total vegetable production. Though concrete historical records of its first introduction into the country from its primary centre of diversity in South America do not exist, tomato is presumed to have been brought here during the second half of the 18^th century through Far Eastern countries. It is believed that tomato was introduced in India during British period in the year 1828 by Royal Agri -Horticultural Society, Calcutta. The story of tomato transformation from an exotic fruit to a popular dietary item and a major item of commerce all over the world is one of the most fascinating events in the saga of crop domestication. As recently as 1900, tomato was avoided in the belief that it was poisonous because of its known relation to the nightshades and other toxic members of the nightshade family. The tomatine is a predominant alkaloid mainly present in foliage and green fruits. However, at the stage of ripening, tomatine is degraded into an inert compound which is not toxic.

Introduction

Global food productivity will have to rise significantly to satisfy an expanding world population. Increased vegetable production is one option towards the efficient conversion of natural resources into food stuffs. As a group, vegetables are a diverse range of herbaceous plants that do not belong to any particular botanical species, genus or family. Individual members may be at various stages of domestication. Vegetables are typically annual herbaceous species, whose plant parts (leaves, stems, flowers, fruits, roots or tubers) are consumed as fresh or as cooked product, and as an additional source of vitamins, minerals, fibre, phytochemicals, protein and/or calories. Health benefits are also claimed for some vegetable species, mainly due to antioxidant activity and capacity to scavenge free radicals.

Domesticated plants have been fundamentally altered from their wild relatives; these species have been moved into and adapted to new environments. They have become dependent on the farmer’s hand and they have been reshaped to meet human needs and wants. Modern crops are the results of thousands of years of these evolutionary processes. Like all biological evolution, crop evolution involves two fundamental process; the creation of diversity and selection (Harris and Hillman, 1989). Crop evolution is distinguished by two types of selection; one natural and another artificial or conscious. These evolutionary processes must continue in order for agriculture, a living and evolving system to remain viable.

In the hands of plant breeder’s sexual hybridization is a powerful tool for producing superior plants by combining characters distributed in different members of a species or different species of a genus. Genetic variability within the species has been efficiently utilized by breeders in their efforts to improve crops. However, the existing variability in a breeding population may not be sufficient for modern plant breeding purposes, and thus great efforts have been made to broaden the existing gene pool of crops through utilization of wild germplasm.

Introduction

Germplasm identification as a part of a philosophy of consumer protection extends through the entire seed trade and allied industries, from plant breeders to food consumers. Increasingly, countries are introducing schemes for Plant Breeders (or germplasm) Rights. These reward breeders financially for their efforts and offer protection for their germplasm, but in turn require that new germplasm are distinct from others and also uniform and stable in the expression of their characteristics. Since, the genetic variations in plants and plant populations are of considerable interest to have desirable traits to develop a commercial variety. Biochemical and molecular biology based data and its analysis for information regarding selection have been realized of utmost importance.

Introduction

The Indian gene centre has rich diversity in vegetable crops. This diversity includes crops native to India like eggplant, parval, ridge gourd, sponge gourd, Colocasia sp., elephant yam and for centre of diversity for other vegetable crops i.e., Okra, Cucumber, Chayote, Chilli, Cucurbita etc. Rich diversity also occurs in introduced crops such as tomato, french bean, cowpea, leafy brassica, amaranth, yam and in cucurbits, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, coccinea, ash gourd, snake gourd and in bulbous crop like onion and garlic.

Genetic Resources of Vegetable Crops in India

Their diversity and conservation about 400 species constitute the global diversity in vegetable crops. This diversity is mainly distributed in seven-eight geographical regions, which represent the centres of origin and diversity as well. Among these, the regions possessing maximum diversity are the tropical American, Tropical Asian and the Mediterranean (q.v.) regions. In the tropical Asian region, both India and China hold maximum diversity.

Phenotypic Diversity

Phenotypic diversity measures the portion of genetic diversity which is expressed phenotypically. So it varies with the character under study and the genetic background and the environment in which it is measured. The measures of genetic diversity based on variance of quantitative traits may be unreliable indicators of diversity in a population at the level of individual gene. But diversity at the molecular level (isozymes, RFLPs) may be a reasonable estimate of phenotypic diversity. The degree of differentiation is related to several biological attributes such as breeding system, mode of pollination and seed dispersal, life history, geographical range, successional stages, etc. The outbreeding populations are much less differentiated whereas the selfers or apomictic are strongly differentiated. Populations of outbreeders contain different alleles especially the rare alleles which contribute little to the diversity. Inbreeders should have greater interpopulations diversity and less intrapopulation diversity than the comparable outbreeders. Further, inbreeders are more prone to show an even distribution of their genetic diversity among populations and this makes their optimum sampling more difficult and any evidence of the geographic pattern of this diversity levels would greatly improve sampling efficiency but geographical and environmental factors rarely explain more than 50% variation.