eChapters

Soil structure is highly important for maintaining favourable conditions for water movement, aeration, root development and crop production. In irrigated agriculture, inappropriate management practices can cause structural degradation through compression, puddling, compaction and crust formation. This chapter examines the major processes responsible for deterioration of soil structure and their effects on soil physical properties and crop performance. Soil compaction is discussed in relation to agricultural machinery, pressure distribution, formation of compacted layers and restrictions to root growth and water movement. The chapter also explains soil crusting, its mechanisms, effects on seedling emergence and methods for evaluating crust strength. Slow-permeable soils, including Regur soils, highly permeable soils and soils with shallow water tables are considered from a management perspective. Appropriate management practices are emphasized to restore permeability, improve soil structure and maintain favourable soil-water relationships. The chapter provides an integrated understanding of structural degradation and its management for sustainable irrigated agricultur

Secondary nutrients are essential for balanced plant nutrition and sustained soil fertility in intensively cultivated irrigated systems. This chapter focuses on calcium, magnesium and sulphur, examining their sources, behaviour, availability and management in soil. Calcium is discussed in relation to its sources, fate in soil, crop removal, leaching and factors affecting its availability, including high sodium content, parent material and interactions with other cations. Calcium fertilizers and their practical importance are also considered. The chapter then examines magnesium, including its sources, behaviour in soil, uptake by crops, leaching and fertilizer management. Sulphur receives detailed attention through discussion of organic and inorganic forms, elemental sulphur and sulfides, sulphate behaviour and the different forms occurring in rice soils. Processes such as adsorption, leaching and immobilization influence sulphur availability and are therefore important under irrigated conditions. Practical aspects of sulphur management, sulphur-containing fertilizers and crop responses to sulphur fertilization are discussed, including effects on the nutritional quality of forages

Micronutrients are required in small quantities but are essential for normal plant growth and crop productivity. Their availability in irrigated soils can vary considerably because of changes in soil pH, moisture conditions, organic matter, texture and interactions with other nutrients. This chapter introduces the concepts of micronutrient deficiency and toxicity and discusses critical limits used for evaluating micronutrient status. Particular emphasis is placed on boron and zinc. Boron content, deficiency in Indian soils, availability and leaching are examined, together with the influence of soil texture, pH and moisture. Boron indicator plants, correction of deficiency, sources, crop response and frequency of application are also discussed. Interactions between boron and other nutrients receive attention. The chapter then considers zinc content and zinc deficiency in soils and examines the influence of pH, phosphate level, organic matter and adsorption by clay minerals on zinc availability. Methods, timing and rates of zinc application and crop responses are presented to support effective micronutrient management.

Probability analysis measures the likelihood of uncertain climatic and agricultural events. It is particularly useful for assessing rainfall occurrence, drought, floods, heatwaves, cold events and other risks that cannot be predicted with complete certainty. This chapter introduces classical, empirical, subjective and conditional probability, probability distributions, return periods and recurrence analysis. It explains how historical climatic records can estimate the likelihood and severity of future events. These methods assist in crop selection, sowing decisions, irrigation planning, infrastructure design and weather-risk management. By converting uncertainty into measurable probabilities, the chapter provides a scientific basis for climate-informed agricultural planning, disaster preparedness and development of resilient farming systems.

This chapter explains how workplaces and equipment can be designed to improve functionality, comfort, safety and productivity. It presents fundamental principles for arranging work areas, selecting layouts and adapting workstations to the physical dimensions and capabilities of users. Work-simplification techniques, process charts, motion-economy principles and task-analysis methods are introduced as tools for eliminating unnecessary effort. The chapter also examines energy expenditure, worker comfort and environmental conditions such as lighting, temperature, humidity, ventilation, vibration and noise. Human–machine interfaces, controls and information displays are discussed to show how intuitive design can reduce errors. The overall emphasis is on fitting workplace systems to their users.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an important tool for addressing complex challenges in plant science and agriculture. This chapter introduces the fundamental concepts, methodologies and emerging paradigms of AI applied to plant research. It discusses machine learning, deep learning, convolutional and recurrent neural networks, and transformer architectures, with applications in plant phenotyping, disease diagnosis, genomics and precision agriculture. Different data modalities, including imaging, LiDAR, remote sensing, genomic sequences and metabolomics, are examined. The chapter also considers transfer learning, data augmentation, explainable AI, graph neural networks, federated learning and multimodal AI, together with challenges, ethical issues and future research directions

9.1 Introduction
In the preceeding chapter, we have studied the estimation part of statistical decision (inference) infered about the parameters of the population on the basis of information available in the sample observations drawn from the parent population under study. In the present chapter we discuss the problems related with the tests of statistical hypothesis and its significance about the population parameters under study. For understanding of the subject matter considered in this chapter, very clearly and easily, one must be familier with the statistical terminologies used in the subject matter. Hence we discuss the various notable terminologies with some suitable examples in a simple way for better understanding.

Abstract

While harnessing the benefits of genetically modified (GM) crops, in terms of increased yield, better nutritional quality and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, it is important to undertake biosafety and risk assessment studies in a systematic manner to allay the concerns of their impact on the environment and especially on the genetic diversity. Since Bt cotton is the only commercialized GM crop in India, this paper reports on the monitoring of unintentional introgression of transgene(s)/ regulatory elements of four commercialized Bt cotton events, covering 99.5% of the area under cultivation, in 180 ex situ cotton accessions conserved in the National Gene Bank at National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays. Based on the real-time event-specific and conventional transgene-specific PCR assays, no amplification signals specific to two major Bt cotton events MON531, MON15985; transgenes/markers/ regulatory elements of 4 widely cultivated commercialized Bt cotton events, i.e., cry1Ac, cry2Ab, marker genes, i.e., nptII (neomycin phosphotransferase), aadA (aminoglycoside-3’-adenyltransferase) and uidA (?-D-glucuronidase) marker genes, CaMV35S, nos (nopaline synthase) promoters and nos terminator were detected in any of the cotton accessions. The study shows that the cotton accessions conserved in National Gene Bank are GM free and the study can be used as a model for monitoring the adventitious presence of unintended mixing of cotton seed during seed production or harvesting in Bt cotton growing states of India. On similar lines, adventitious presence of transgenes can be checked in ex situ collections of different crops conserved in the genebanks.

Abstract

Camelids across the world are reared for milk, meat, draught, race and tourism. Camelids are also the source of world’s finest natural fibre. They are distributed in the South American, African, Arabian and Asian countries. Apart from this a feral population exists in Australia and recent reports indicate that a few animals of the species are also being reared in Europe. Camel (Camelus dromedarius) is the predominant species of the camelids. The world camel population shows an increasing trend with 12.92 m in 1961 to 26.63 m in 2011 producing 0.42 m tonnes of meat and 2.11 m tonnes of milk per annum. The top 20 camel rearing countries produce both milk and meat with the exception of India and Pakistan as per FAO data. There are about 83 populations of the dromedary camels in the world spread mainly across African and Asian countries. There are about 3.04 m Alpacas in world with Huacaya and Suri as the two main populations and 3.24 m Llamas with Chaku and Kara as the two main populations. The Guanaco population in the world is about 0.5 m and that of Vicuna is 0.35 m. The wild Bactrian camels are around a thousand but the domesticated Bactrian camels are about 0.6 m. The Alpaca and Bactrian camel genome has been sequenced whereas the expressed sequence tags of the Dromedary are available in the public domain. A brief account of evolution, present status and conservation of camelids is discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Rajasthan is the largest state of the country with a geographical area of 342,239 Km₂ which constituents 10.41% area of the country. The state can be divided into four major regions; the Western desert with barren hills, level rocky and sandy plains; the Aravalli hills running south west to north-east; eastern plains with rich alluvial soils; and south-eastern plateau. The state has varied climate from semi -arid to arid. The average rainfall in the state ranges from 480 mm to 750 mm, being as low as 150 mm in arid region and 1000 mm in south-eastern plateau (FSI 2009). The recorded forest area is 32,639 Km2 which is 9.54 % of the state’s geographical area. The maximum forests are found in the Districts of Alwar, Banswara, Baran,, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Dhaulpur, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Kota, Rajasamand, Swaimadhopur, Sirohi and Udaipur. The hot arid and semi-arid regions in the country accounts for 20 % of the country’s geographical area spread over seven states namely Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. It comes nearly 31.63 m ha out of which 19.61 m ha alone is in the states of Rajasthan (62.00 % of total arid region). This area is characterized by low erratic rainfall, high temperature and wind velocity, coarse textured soils with low organic carbon and soil fertility status and poor water holding capacity. The underground irrigation water is limited and highly saline in most of the cases (Chandra 2005). Mono-cropping is a gamble in arid tract of Rajasthan due to low and erratic rainfall and frequent occurrence of drought during crop growth period leading to complete crop failure. To avoid complete crop failure the farmers are adopting mixed cropping system from very ancient time. But the system is not perfect during the adverse climatic situation due to low yield, long duration of traditional varieties and unmatched crop combinations. Therefore, in mixed or multi cropping system, the choice of drought hardy, short duration varieties of crops are necessary to ensure the production of crops even under adverse situations. It has been seen that drought occurrence during month of July and August leads to 67-100 percent decrease in production of pearlmillet and short duration pulses which are the main crops of the region grown under rainfed condition.
The people in arid regions of India, since time immemorial has developed location specific agroforestry systems. The scattered trees /shrubs in the agricultural fields are common features of the landscape. Since the beginning of cultivation the farmers deliberately allowed the trees/shrubs to grow with crops. These trees provided them insurance during drought years and provided fodder, fruits, vegetables, timber, fuel, fiber etc. during lean period.

Abstract

The completion of large number of genome sequencing projects has generated large volumes of raw sequence data. One of the fundamental tasks in bioinformatics is the creation of databases for data storage and development of tools for analysis. The first plant genome to be completed is that of Arabidopsis thaliana in 2000^[49]. This was followed by the rice genome and others. The availability of complete genomes has provided us with an opportunity to analyze them and understand plant biology in a holistic way. It has enhanced our understanding of factors affecting plant growth and development, abiotic and biotic stress, disease resistance, host pathogen interactions amongst others.

Abstract

Mitochondrial (mt) genomic study may reveal significant insight into the molecular evolution and several other aspects of genome evolution such as gene rearrangements evolution, gene regulation, and replication mechanisms. Other questions such as patterns of gene expression, mechanism of evolution, genomic variation and its correlation with physiology, and other molecular and biochemical mechanisms can be addressed by the mt genomics. Rare genomic changes have attracted evolutionary biology community for providing homoplasy free evidence of phylogenetic relationships. Gene rearrangements are considered to be rare evolutionary events and are being used to reconstruct the phylogeny of diverse group of organisms. Mitochondrial gene rearrangements have been established as a hotspot for the phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis of closely as well as distantly related organisms. This evolutionary episode has significant contribution among animals as well as plants and serves as an important genomic evolutionary event for the analysis of mitogenomes on large scale.

Abstract

Spices are aromatic substances of plant origin which are commonly used for flavouring, seasoning and imparting aroma in foodstuffs. They are cultivated in an area of 5.98 million ha globally with a total production of 7.31 million tons. India is considered as the home of majority of these spices from ancient times and sizable area of the country is under spice cultivation. The latest statistics shows that the total cultivated area in India under spices is 2.89 million ha with a total production of 3.33 million tonnes. About 109 plants belonging to 31 families are recognized as spices useful as ingredients in food. Many of them have been demonstrated to mediate therapeutic benefits for wide spectra of diseases ranging from multiple sclerosis to colorectal cancer.

Introduction

Advances in molecular genetics in the last 20 years like rapid DNA amplification techniques using PCR, rapid sequencing methods and computational software programs have enabled the placement of molecular markers on to the maps of chromosomes of most major crop species and the subsequent tagging of genes of interest by their placement near those markers^[38]. Unfortunately very little or scanty molecular data of spices are available in the public domain (Table 12.1). ‘Orphan crops’ like spices which have not yet received the investment of research effort or funding can exploit comparative genomics and bioinformatics to assist research and crop improvement provided they are related to a well-characterized model plant species.

Abstract

The study of palm genomics can aid to understand the genetic and molecular knowhow of all biological processes in palms that are vital tothe palm species. This knowledge will allow the path for the fruitful exploitation of palms as biological resources in the development of new cultivars of improved quality and with shortened economic and environmental costs. This knowledge is also vital for the development of new diagnostic tools. Traits considered of primary interest are resistance to pathogens and abiotic stress, fruit quality and yield. Genomics and bioinformatics approaches helped in unraveling the genomes of economicpalsm like coconut, oilpalm and datepalm. The genome characteristics and tools for genome analysis are provided in the chapter. Due to the economic importance of cocoa, many scientific research studies (genome, EST, transcriptome) have been carried out in the past years in this crop also.

Introduction

Plantation crops constitute a large group of crops. The major plantation crops include coconut, arecanut, oil palm, cashew, tea, coffee and rubber; and the minor plantation crops include cocoa (Prapulla and Indira, 2014). India is the third largest producer of coconut and goes in front of the ninety coconut-producing countries of the world (Richard 2013). India is the largest producer and consumer of cashew nuts (Mohod et al., 2011.). India also occupies number one position in arecanut production (Dwivedi et al.,2008) besides being the largest tea producers in the world. While Coffee is the second largest traded commodity in the world, it has, in recent times become an extremely important foreign exchange (Prapulla and Indira, 2014).

Indian agriculture is predominantly a rainfed agriculture under which both dry farming and dry land agriculture is included. Dry farming was the earlier concept for which amount of rainfall (less than 500 mm annually) remained the deciding factor for more than 50 years. In modern concept, dry land areas are those where the balance of moisture is always on the deficit side. In other words, annual evapo-transpiration exceeds precipitation. In dry land agriculture, there is no consideration of amount of rainfall. It may appear quiet strange to a layman that even those areas which receive 1100 mm or more rainfall annually fall in the category of dry land agriculture under this concept. The success of crop production in these areas depends on the amount and distribution of rainfall, as these influences the stored soil moisture and moisture used by crops. The amount of water used by the crop and stored in the soil is governed by the water balance equation: ET = P-(R+S). When the balance of the equation shifts towards right, precipitation (P) is higher than ET, so that there may be water logging or it may even lead to run off (R) and flooding (S). On the other hand, if the balance shifts to the left, ET becomes higher then the precipitation, resulting in drought in the various severity. Taking the country as a whole, as per meteorological report, severe drought in large area is experienced once in 50 years and partial drought in five years while floods are expected every year in one part of the country or the other, especially during rainy season. In fact the balance of the equation is controlled by the weather, season, crops and cropping pattern. Out of 142 million ha of net sown area in the country, rainfed agriculture is practiced in 95 million ha (67%). Nearly 67 m ha of rainfed area falls in the mean annual precipitation range of 500-1500 mm.

Introduction

Ruminants are provided with a microbial ecosystem in the gastro-intestinal tract which helps in the bioconversion of lignocellulosic feeds into volatile fatty acids which are utilized by the animal as a source of energy. This microbial biomass is also helpful in synthesis of microbial protein and B-complex vitamins for the host animals. Any disturbance in the microbial balance may affect the performance of the animal adversely and any improvement in the microbial environment may lead to the improvement in productivity of the animal. A number of chemical feed additive like hormone, antibiotics have been used to improve the performance of the animals. But due to residual left over in the animal products and risk of creating disease, resistance against antibiotics, the use of these chemical feed additives have been discouraged and even banned in some countries. As an alternative microbial feed additive seems to be more natural; as it is not creating any new thing in GIT but it is merely restoring the normal and ideal flora in the digestive tract to its full capacity.

Introduction

The process of making the rumen of animals free of rumen protozoa is called defaunation and the animal is called defaunated animal. The role of rumen ciliate protozoa on the performance of host animals became debatable issue when Becker and Everett (1930) demonstrated that rumen protozoa were non-essential for growth in lambs. Nevertheless, the reports of recent years reflect that though protozoa may be non essential for ruminant, still they have significant role to play in the rumen metabolism specially to stabilize the rumen pH (Santra and Karim, 2002a). Rumen protozoa are the largest in size among rumen microbes and contribute 40-50% of the total microbial biomass and enzyme activities in the rumen (Agarwal et al., 1991).

Introduction

While world population is expected to increase from 6 billion to about 8.3 billion, India is likely to be the most populous nation with 1.6 billion in the year 2030. Therefore, it is essential to be prepared to produce sufficient food for the increased population with the application of newer technologies. The consumption of animal food was 10 kg/yr in the 1960s increasing to 26 kg/yr in 2000 and is expected to be 37 kg/yr by 2030 (FAO, 2008; 2009). Large increases in per capita and total demand for meat, milk and eggs are forecast for most developing countries for the next few decades (Delgado et al., 1999). In developed countries, per capita intakes are forecast to change slightly, but the increases in developing countries, with their larger populations and more rapid population growth rates, will generate a very large increase in global demand.

Moreover, an increasing number of consumers demanding healthy and quality foods have pushed researchers into development of technologies that can control the proportion of lean and fat muscle deposition in meat producing animals. A number of technologies have been developed that led to remarkable improvements in the efficiency of animal production and in carcass composition and meat quality. There are some dietary additives and vitamins that may increase protein and muscle deposition, while often simultaneously reducing fat deposition by modifying nutrient metabolism in individuals.

Weeds pose serious problems to agriculture and environment. Weeds are plants that are undesirable to human activity at a particular time and place, and therefore, weeds will always be associated with human endeavours. In agriculture these not only cause huge reductions in crop yields but also increase cost of cultivation, reduce input efficiency, interfere with agricultural operations, impair quality, act as alternate hosts for several insect pests, diseases and nematodes. In non-crop areas, they affect aesthetic look of the ecosystem as well as native biodiversity and health and quality of life. Weeds are a big constraint in crop production and are responsible for heavy yield losses in almost all the crops. “Being fore-warned is fore-armed” is the principle behind preparation of perspective plans. Weeds are big constraints in crop production and are responsible for heavy yield losses in all crops. Out of the losses due to various biotic stresses, weeds are known to account for nearly one third. Proper management of weeds is essential to meet the growing demand of foodgrains, pulses, oilseeds and other crops by the ever increasing population. As per the projections of IFPRI, Washington there is a likelihood of shortfall of 41 per cent in the food grain production in the country by 2020.

Fungi include a large group of organisms and there are about 72,000 described species and the total number of species in the world may be as high as 1.5 million (Hawksworth et al., 1995). The infections that these fungi cause on a group of organisms viz. plants, animals, insects etc. may or may not be beneficial depending upon the type of host infected. With reference to insects, fungal infections in pest insects are beneficial which can be used effectively in biocontrol programmes. On the other hand, fungal infections in beneficial insects are harmful.

The entomopathogenic or entomogenous fungi mainly include those genera of fungi that associate with insects and some arthropods in a variety of ways. The association with the insects may be saprophytic, commensalistic, parasitic or pathogenic with the insect host. Some entomopathogenic fungi like Coelomomyces are obligate pathogens which can’t be cultured outside a living host, but most of them are however, facultative pathogens capable of growing without host insect. More than 750 spp of fungi, mostly deuteromyctes and entomophthorales from about 100 genera are pathogenic on insects and many of them offer great potential for pest management. The entomopathogenic fungi which have been most intensively investigated include Beauveria, Metarrhizum, Paecilomyces, Entomophthora, Verticillium, Hirsutella, Eryina, Mefarrhizium etc. Out of them Beauveria and Mefarrhizium have been extensively used in large scale for the control of several crop pests.

Introduction

According to an estimate by World Health Organization (WHO), about one million cases of pesticides poisoning and 20, 000 deaths occur every year due to pesticide residues in food chain including cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruits, oils, milk and milk products (including mother’s milk), fishes, poultry, meat and water. At global level, chemical pesticide worth US$ 30 billion is being used annually for the management of diseases and insect pests. In spite of this, epidemics of diseases, infestations of insect pests and colonization by weeds results in significant losses in agriculture production worldwide. As a result of crop improvement programs to incorporate resistance to pests, devastations epidemics and infestations are rare. Nevertheless, pests continue to exert a heavy toll in terms of yield losses. The last global estimate of yield losses due to pests, made crops like rice, wheat, maize, cotton, soybean, barley and coffee were equivalent to approximately US $ 250 billion annually during the period the period 1989-1990 (Table 1). Since these eight crops occupy only half of the global cropped area, yield losses due to all pests on all crops would be much high. The estimates indicate that 42 per cent of the total global attainable production of the eight major crops is lost due to pests, of which 16, 13 and 13 per cent losses are due to insects, diseases and weeds, respectively. Post harvest losses are estimated to cause an additional 10 per cent loss. Developing countries incur higher losses than industrial countries. (Table 2).

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization designed to supervise and liberalize international trade. It was established on 1^st January 2005 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 Trade (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 than did GATT-a member’s failure to meet the obligations can invoke retaliation across agreements and sectors.

Introduction

Fish production in aquaculture has increased dramatically over the last 20 years with an increment of 9-10% per year over the last decade. Microbial disease problems are prevalent in aquaculture as in any other intensive animal or plant production sector. Vaccines are used as disease prevention and can be very effective, however, they do not work at all developmental stages of fish or in all species. Therefore, antibiotics play a major role in control of fish bacterial diseases, although serious concerns have been raised with respect to development of antibiotic resistance and its transfer to human pathogenic bacteria. Also, new EU regulations call for specific license for antibiotic use in aquaculture and this is too costly even for fish farmers.

The urgent need for development and application of non-antibiotic disease control measures has led to research in probiotic organisms. Probiotics are “live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amount, confer a health benefit on the host (FAO/WHO 2001)” and the principle is most widely known from the belief that ingestion of high numbers of lactic acid bacteria (fermented foods) can control human pathogenic organisms in the intestine. Fish pathogenic agents, however, can invade via skin and gills and probiotic organisms may therefore be as efficient if applied to the outer environment of the fish.

Introduction

In this computer age software plays a vital role in speeding up the research activity. Software and databases help in storage, processing and accessing large volumes of information. Software helps to retrieve right information at the right time at the right place for the right purpose. The time of researchers is very precious. Instead of spending it in monotonous and tedious tasks, it could be used more effectively for new findings. With the advent of computer and its softwares, this problem could be overcome to a considerable extent.

Software is a set of instructions given to the computer to perform certain tasks. In this era of information technology, its essential to apply different softwares to speed up the research activity. It is therefore, utmost importance to have information about the different software already developed in the area of fisheries/aquaculture worldwide. Almost all the routine tasks which the scientists or the farmers are doing, could be automated in the areas like financial & economic analysis, development planning and project appraisal, facility design, management planning and production forecasting, facility construction, management decision support and record keeping, disease diagnosis and treatment, environmental regulation and aquaculture databases. FAO, World Fish Centre and other International Research Organisations have contributed software and database development in the area of aquaculture (Anon, 1999; ICLARM, 1998; FAO, 1999; Erist, 1998). In India also initiative to develop software and database has been taken up. Preliminary report on the availability of fishery related software and databases are available (Roy, 2000). In this communication, an attempt has been made to list softwares and databases that may be used in fisheries and aquaculture research and development/activities.

The evolutionary classification based largely on the typological methods has been adopted a number of fish taxonomist. Foremost among them are Gunther and Cope (1871) Boutenger (1904); Jordan (1923); Regan (1929); Berg (1940) and Romer (1959). Out of the various schemes proposed by aforesaid taxonomists, there is no agreement among the ichthyologists regarding the classification of fishes. Fishes constitute more than one half of all vertebrates comprising around 40,000 species.

The classification of Berg (1940) is most widely accepted, it is based upon the conclusions of Jordan (1923) and Regan (1929). Many ichthyologists consider Bergs classification as a minor revision. Berg scrutinizing the merits of the other classification proposals and make advanced classification, which is accepted all over the world.

INTRODUCTION

Natural resources are the untamed natural essence of the environment which contain a significant amount of material as well as aesthetic values. Natural resources are broadly categorized into renewable, flow and non-renewable sources. While renewable natural resources primarily involve living sources such as forests, crops fish, reindeer, coffee, etc. and non-living sources like water and soil. Natural resource management refers to the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations. Natural resource management is congruent with the concept of sustainable development. It is a scientific principle that forms a basis for sustainable global land management and environmental governance to conserve and preserve natural resources (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2009). Though forest, water, agriculture land and crops, minerals, livestocks and many more constitute natural resources in India but forest represents the second-largest land use in India after agriculture, covering about 641,130 square kilometers, or 22 percent of the total land base (FAO 2005). Forestry is the second largest land use after agriculture and accounts for about 1.5 % of the nation’s GDP (World Bank, 2006) in India. On one hand, forests support the livelihood of the poor, especially the tribals, and on the other hand, it is remarkable to see that the poorest people of our country live in the rich forest and natural resource base (Narain, 2008).

Mutations are sudden heritable changes in characteristic of the organism, that is other than due to recombination (Swaminathan, 1983). Mutations occur naturally as spontaneous mutations and induced as spontaneous mutations and induced artificially by treating the biological materials with physical and chemical agents (mutagens). Experimental mutagenesis is effective method to enlarge genetically controlled variation, considerably within a short time.

Darwin’s theory of evolution explains that “variation is the mainspring of evolution”. The extent of genetic variability available in the breeding population and the selection techniques determine the efficiency of any breeding programme. In classical plant breeding programme, variation is generated by hybridization and selections are made from the resulting segregating generations. Induced mutagenesis can supplement hybridization or replace as a source of variability. Thus, mutation provides the raw material for crop evolution (Mahadeva and Randerson, 1982) and it provides the fundamental variability required for crop improvement by breeding (Konzak, 1984).

The induction of mutations in polygenes controlling quantitative characters can be detected by the estimation of mean and variance of progenies from normal looking mutagen treated populations. Induction of micromutations in different crop plants have been reviewed by various investigators like Gregory (1955, 1968) in peanut, Rawlings et al. (1958) in soybean, Oka et al. (1985) in rice, Brock and Latter (1961) in Trifolium, Borojevic (1966) and Scossiroli (1966) in wheat, Gaul (1961a, 1966), Astveit (1966) in barley and Brock (1967) in Arabidopsis.

Though more reliable results can be obtained from the study of quantitative variation in the advanced generations than in M₂ (Aastveit, 1968, and Scossiroli, 1977), an estimation of the extent of induced genetic variability in quantitative traits in M₂ itself will be valuable in providing information for future selection programme. It was therefore considered worthwhile to study the shift of mean values and to gather information on induced genotypic variance heritability and genetic advance for different quantitative traits from families of M₁ from different mutagenic treatments.

Recently people are moving towards newer trends in food diversification for value addition. The beneficial effects could be either maintenance, promotion or well being of health or reduction of the risk of a pathogenic process or a disease. Genetically modified (GM) crops / foods, algae, mushrooms and probiotics are among the important functional foods which apart from improving health also protect against infections and/or stimulate immune systems. The interactive research between physiology, microbiology, food technology and molecular biology may produce many healthful, diversified value based food products for human consumption. The concept of value addition in food is changing significantly. Earlier the emphasis was on survival through hunger satisfaction but today it is aiming towards food safety and food sciences at developing foods which promote good health and reduce the risk of major diseases. With these efforts, these products have come into the market and are identified as functional foods. These include foods containing phytochemicals, dietary fibre, structural lipids, bioactive peptides, polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Race: A subspecific category that is based on particular attributes, such as behavioral or physiological (other than morphological) differences; similar to a subspecies; often used in describing plant pathogens.

Race: Subspecies (q.v.).

Race: A naturally occurring group within a species usually visually indistinguishable but with some physiological difference from other members of the species, e.g., with a different plant host range. cf. strain.

Radial cell: A cell bordered anteriorly by a branch of the radius; the marginal cell (Hymenoptera).

Radial cross vein: A cross vein connecting R₁ and the branch of the radius immediately behind it.

Radial sector: The posterior of the two main branches of the radius.

Radiation: See Adaptive radiation.

Bougainvilleas is a multipurpose plant due to the variation in habit, growth and colour pattern of different cultivars and are grown as pot plants, standard, hedges, bush, climber, bonsai, landscape, as an espalier, factory gardens, institutional gardens, municipal gardens, terrace garden, wind curtain, topiary, pergola and various other multipurpose. Bougainvillea in an urban landscape trained as a “standard”. It is used as an accent plant, a specimen plant, in hanging baskets, in containers, and for bonsai. Bougainvillea is used to decorate all public, home gardens, play ground and office corridor. About 300 cultivars (150 of which were bred in India) have been derived from 4 species, viz. Bougainvillea peruviana, B. glabra, B. X buttiana and B. spectabilis,through hybridization and natural or induced mutation. Indian-raised cultivars are listed in categories for growing as climbers, bushes, hedges, standards and pot plants and are also grouped under bract colour  (Nagpal 1990, Singh 1990, Singh et al. 2015, Sharma et al. 2015, Kumar et al. 2007, Mathur 2000, 2001, 2007, 2015, Richard and Erin 2002, Simon 2005). It is tolerant to a number of adverse conditions like dry soil, saline soil, pollution etc. Bougainvilleas are sprawling climbers and shrubs. They naturally bloom in the spring and seem to bloom harder in drier years. It is very good plant for desert gardens. It can be used as vines, shaped into bushes, into ground cover. Most suitable for landscaping.  Bougainvillea plants can grow easily on walls. Internode length has a strong influence on bougainvillea growth habit and characteristics in the landscape. They are pollution and drought tolerant and very ideal for landscaping of industrial region as well as for road dividers. They are very hardy plants and specially suitable for growing in rocky and arid areas where other ornamental floweing plants do not  easily thrive well (Fig. 10).

Early reports are always path finders for future research. Earlier studies at CSIR-NBRI on characterization of bougainvillea is so important that it should be highlighted for researchers. Horto-taxonomical description of the leading Bougainvillea species/cultivars have been prepared according to their affinities to the species and hybrid seedlings (Sharma 1986a,b, 1996, Srinivas 1995, Khoshoo 1971a,b, Zadoo et al., 1975a, Jayanthi 1999). 
Abraham Kavoor : Bougainvillea x buttiana, tall, vigorous growth, young branches greenish-coppery, leaf blade ovate, green; thorn long, straight; bracts ovate, yellow-orange.
Abhimanyu : B. peruviana, bud sport of ‘Arjuna’, medium, drooping; branch greenish-coppery; leaves variegated, leaf elliptic, green; thorn long, straight, bracts elliptic, red-purple.
Aida : B. spectabilis, hybrid seedling of B. spectabilis (Lancaster 1940, Calcutta), tall, growth vigorous, young stem greenish coppery, tomentose, leaf blade ovate, base acute, apex acute to acuminate, coppery, old dark green, puberulent, thorn straight, bract young carmine changing to rose madder, elliptic, apex obtuse, profuse blooming, ideal as shrub, and pot culture.

Domestication of Livestock

Domestication (from Latin domesticus) is the process whereby a  population  of  animals  or plants is changed at the genetic level through a process of selection, in order to accentuate traits that benefit humans. It differs from taming in that a change in the phenotypical expression and genotype of the animal occurs, whereas taming is simply the process by which animals become accustomed to human presence. In the Convention on Biological Diversity, a domesticated species is defined as a “species in which the evolutionary process has been influenced by humans to meet their needs.” Therefore, a defining characteristic of domestication is artificial selection by humans. Humans have brought these populations under their control and care for a wide range of reasons: to produce food or valuable commodities (such as wool, cotton, or silk), for types of work (such as transportation, protection, and warfare), scientific research, or simply to enjoy as companions or ornaments. Plants domesticated primarily for aesthetic enjoyment in and around the home are usually called house plants or ornamentals, while those domesticated for large-scale food production are generally called crops. A distinction can be made between those domesticated plants that have been deliberately altered or selected for special desirable characteristics and those plants that are used for human benefit, but are essentially no different from the wild populations of the species. Animals domesticated for home companionship are usually called pets while those domesticated for food or work are called livestock or farm animals.

Open nucleus breeding system is considered to be a best approach to bring genetic improvement in livestock. This system was first introduced New Zealand for faster genetic improvement of sheep. The milk recording under field condition is quite expensive.  Moreover, farmers are not under any obligation to retain the animal till the lactation is completed.  The generation interval is also very large as it takes about 6-7 year by the time complete record on progeny testing programmes in developing countries is available, so that the effective genetic improvement is small.  Use of best proven bull on the elite cow, which are best 5-10% of the cow for genetic improvement of the population. The net genetic gain in the herd considering the actual genetic improvement from various parents off spring path is around 0.7% per annum.  Considering these situation in develop countries it has been proposed that ‘nucleus’ herd be created where males from the best cows are obtained.  The nucleus herd would be open in the sense that the lowest yielding cows are culled every year and are replaced by procurement of that many high yielding cow from farmers herd.  The nucleus herds are utilized entirely for production of males for breeding purposes in the population.

Progeny testing in India was introduced in the late 1950’s the first sire index in our country was suggested by Krishnan (1956) which was, however, similar to the herdmate and contemporary comparison methods. Robertson and Rendel (1954) stated that an efficient method of sire evaluation should satisfy two conditions: 

Introduction
India has vast animal genetic resources with a wide variety of indigenous farm animals including cattle. The cattle breeds have evolved over generations to adapt to the agro-climatic and socio-economic needs of the people. Domestic animal diversity is defined as the spectrum of genetic differences within each breed and across all breeds within each domestic animal species, together with the species differences; all of which are available for the sustainable intensification of food and agriculture production. The domestic animal diversity has evolved over millions of years through the processes of natural selection forming and stabilizing each of the species used in food and agriculture. Over the more recent millennia the interaction between environmental and human selection has led to the development of genetically distinct breeds. Selection processes, directed by both humans and the environment, together with the random sampling processes causing genetic populations to drift over generations, have accelerated the development of the diversity within species leading to the creation of distinct genetic differences amongst breeds.

Global Scenario

Globally, India’s share in the cashew area and production is 20 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively. India occupies the largest area followed by Ivory Coast (19%), Brazil (16%), Indonesia (12%), Vietnam (7%), Nigeria (7%), Benin (5%), Guinea-Bissau (5%), Mozambique (2%) and Philippines (1%). The highest production was from Vietnam (30%) followed by Nigeria (19%), India (16%), Ivory Coast (11%), Brazil (5%), Indonesia (3%), Philippines (3%), Guinea-Bissau (3%), Benin (2%) and Mozambique (2%). Sometimes back, India was credited as largest producer, processor and exporter of cashew in the world but as other cashew producing countries also acquired the know-how of processing and entered in the international market, currently the India’s share in the International market has shrank to 30 per cent only. On the other hand, the domestic consumption in India has increased considerably, owing to largest consumption of cashew kernel. Every year, over 7-8 lakh tonnes of raw cashew nut are imported mainly from African countries and exporting cashew kernel to USA and UK after processing (Saroj, 2013).

Canopy management is the manipulation of tree canopies to optimize the production of quality fruits. The canopy management, particularly its components like tree training and pruning, affects the quantity of sunlight intercepted by trees, as tree shape determines the presentation of leaf area to incoming radiation. An ideal training strategy centres around the arrangement of plant parts, especially, to develop a better plant architecture that optimizes the utilization of sunlight and promotes productivity. Light is critical to growth and development of trees and their fruits. The green leaves harvest the sunlight to produce carbohydrates and sugars which are transported to the sites where they are needed – buds, flowers and fruits. Better light penetration into the tree canopy improves tree growth, productivity, yield and fruit quality. The density and orientation of planting also impact light penetration in an orchard. Generally, in close planting, quicker shading becomes a problem. An east-west row orientation results in more shading as compared to the western and southern orientation of trees. Strong bearing branches tend to produce larger fruits. The problem of a fruit grower is initially to build up a strong and balanced framework of the trees, then equip them with appropriate fruiting. Obviously, pruning in the early years has to be of a training type to provide strong and stocky framework with well spaced limbs or any other desired shape.

Cashew Kernels

The role of balanced diet in contributing to a long and healthy life is undisputed. Diet related diseases are quite common even among the people of the affluent West. Unlike in developing countries, where many diseases are caused by deficiency in the quantity and / quality of diet. The diet related diseases among affluent populations result from excessive consumption of undesirable foods. Over consumption of foods of animal origin like meat and eggs are implicated in the causation of atherosclerotic heart diseases. Annual food consumption has also been suggested as possible aetiological factor in some cancers. After years of research, scientists are finding health benefits in a largely plant based diet emphasising foods low in saturated fats. On the basis of the awareness that excess animal food consumption is harmful, recent dietary guidelines all over the world recommend a reduction in the intake of meat and meat products and a liberal increase in consumption of fruits and nuts. Like meat and eggs, nuts are abundant in proteins, the body building material essential for growth and maintenance of tissues. Nuts are also a concentrated source of energy, since they contain liberal amounts of fat.

“The way to health is the way to have an aromatic bath and a scented massage everyday”                        Hippocrates

Aromatherapy is the art and science of using fragrant volatile plant oils and herbs including essential oils, for psychological and physical well-being of man by promoting natural healing and health. It is an emerging art of healing through essential oil, which has got therapeutic effect on body, mind and soul.  Essential oils give calmness, emotional and hormonal balance, stress relief and rejuvenation. Medicinal and spiritual properties of scented herbs were noted by ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Embalming of body of Egyptian Pharaohs was a practice to purify body for afterlife, whereas Egyptian priests used oils and incense as healers. Books were written in ancient Arabia indicating uses and benefits of certain aromas. Perfumed mortar was used by Babylonians to build temples and mosques, for premises cleaning and cleansing aromas. Ancient Greek believed sweet smells were of divine origin and they used to take aromatic bath to drench them in purity. Aromatic bath and scented massage were ways to health for Romans.

Availability of genetic variability and exploitation of this variability are two basic requirements of successful crop breeding programmes. The presence of genetic variation in a character is a must for any improvement in that character. If all the individuals in a population are identical i.e. no variation is there, selection cannot be done, so no improvement will be done. In case of crops, if variation is not present or variation is very small, variations are created through hybridization, mutation, polyploidy etc. Selection is identification and isolation of desirable plants from a variable population. A population consists of large number of heterogenous individuals with different morphological expressions. This variability is contributed by three factors: 1. Genetic constitution of individual, 2. Environmental effect on the individual and 3. Interaction effect between gene and environment. These three factors contribute towards the phenotypic variability among the individuals of the population. Assessment of magnitude of variability present in a crop species is of utmost importance as it provides the evidence for effective selection. Phenotypic variation in a population arises due to genotypic and environmental effects.

Important breeding methods can be classified as follows:
    1.    Introduction
    2.    Selection
    a.    Mass selection: Done in self pollinated crops, cross pollinated crops and dioecious crops.
    b.    Individual plant selection: Done in self pollinated crops, cross pollinated crops (line breeding) without control of pollination, artificially self pollinated lines, dioecious plants and clonally propagated lines.
    3.    Hybridization
    a.    Crossing in self pollinated crops.
    b.    Single crosses, double crosses and synthesized varieties.
    c.    Varietal crosses.

Selection is an important activity in all the breeding programmes. Different types of selections i.e. mass selection, progeny selection and cyclic selection etc. are used depending on the mode of pollination of the crop species, the predominant gene action and the breeding objectives. The efficiency of selection largely depends on the extent of genetic variability present in the population and the heritability of the character. Selection is more effective for character with high heritability than those having low heritability. Breeding for higher or better yield is the breeding objective for most of the breeding programmes, but it has low heritability. Yield is considered to be complex or super character which is influenced by many components or contributing traits both in positive and in negative directions. Due to the fact that it has low heritability, selection is done for the yield contributing traits so that yield may be increased through selection. Prior to selection for yield contributing traits, it is always beneficial to study the extent and type of relationship between the character and yield. There are different procedures which aid in the isolation of superior yielding genotypes from genetically variable populations by providing information on indirect selection for yield. These methods are discussed in the following content.

Plant Nutrition

The term “fertility” refers to the inherent capacity of a soil to supply nutrients to plants in adequate amounts and in suitable proportions. Nutrition in plants may thus be defined as a process of synthesis of food, its breakdown and utilisation for various functions in the body. There are two types of nutrition:

1. Autotrophic nutrition: It is a type of nutrition in which the living organisms manufacture their own organic food from simple inorganic raw materials. The green plants exhibit autotrophic mode of nutrition and hence called the autotrophs.
 
2. Heterotrophic nutrition: Certain non green organisms like fungi and many bacteria fail to synthesize their own organic nutrients from inorganic substances.  These organisms are thus dependent on some other external sources for their  nutrition. Such plants are called heterotrophic plants and the mode of nutrition is called heterotrophic nutrition.

Out of 143 million hectares of net cropped area, about 75% is rainfed which contribute about 45% of food grains. These areas produce 55% rice, 25% wheat, 91% coarse cereals, 75% of pulses, 81% oilseeds and 69% cotton. More than 90% of sorghum, millet, groundnut and pulses is contributed from arid and semi-arid. The term rainfed farming (Dry farming) and dry land farming may be defined as conditions where rainwater is the only source of moisture for survival and growth of crops.

Abstract

Children today are playing an important role in family buying decisions like never before. They inform their parents regarding the modified use of products. Realizing this, marketers have changed the market into direct market for the children products. The children involved with their products are more likely to pay attention to their advertising, to evaluate their brands carefully and to become brand loyal. Children today are more brand conscious and have more awareness about the brands because the market for children products is rapidly growing. The media has affected the decision making role of the children and now they are more aware of new products because of media messages like advertisements but still final decision for buying a product is in the hands of parents. Advertisements produce brand consciousness among the children and they enjoy switching from one brand to another as it gives a feeling of adventure to them. Both parents and children agree that there is rapid growth in the market for children products over the last few years because marketers have come to know that children are the influencers of today but bread winners of tomorrow and hence, they are a force to reckon with.

Abstract

For achieving compatibility with the fast changing business environment and economic scenario at national and international level; instead of making more amendments in the Indian Companies Act 1956, it has been replaced with a new Companies Act 2013 which is effective from 1st April, 2014. Many changes have been made in the new Act and many new concepts have also been introduced, such as One Person Company, dormant company, corporate social responsibility, chief executive officer, stakeholders relationship committee, merger with foreign company etc. In this paper, an effort has been made for presenting a section-wise brief summary of some major changes in the Companies Act 2013 as compared to 1956 Act and its impact on corporate world.

Abstract

Global economies have been witnessing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in the economic and financial environment around the world thereby influencing the risk perception and investment decisions of the existing and prospective investors. Policy changes in the emerging and developed economies like China and US have had spill over impact on the economies world over. Year of 2016 have been witnessing a crisis similar to that faced by US in 2008 due to accumulation of US debt to GDP of around 67%, however this time it is the manufacturing driven economy of china that has witnessed Debt to GDP ratio of around 280%; other events of volatility since last five years include Greece debt crisis, Russia’s sanction, Fall in the prices of major commodities. All these events have influenced the financial sector world over. Banking sector is considered to be backbone of all economies and have been witnessing a continued downfall in credit and deposit growth. Policy implications along with spillover impacts of all the events have resulted in the increase in Non-performing assets of the banks thus posing a greater risk to the banking sector.

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze perceptions of individual investors on general terms, statements related to mutual fund and reasons for withdrawal of investors. This chapter analysed  the general awareness of individual investors on terms related mutual fund investment such as New Fund Offer (NFO), Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP), Asset Management Company (AMC) and  Association of Mutual funds in India (AMFI) etc and its association with individual investment decision making. This chapter also covered perceptions of respondents on the statements such as Mutual Funds are useful for small investors, Mutual Funds give higher return than other investments, Mutual Funds are healthy for Indian financial environment, Private sector mutual funds are not good, ELSS schemes are good for tax saving, Mutual funds with large corpus perform better and Mutual funds having diversified portfolio gives better returns etc related to mutual fund investment and studied their perceptions towards mutual fund investment. The primary data also collected from the respondents relating to the withdrawal Behaviour of individual investors from mutual fund investment by taking the factors such as Lack of Performance, Lack of Involvement of companies, Lack of Capital appreciation, Low Dividend Payment ratio and Low NAV etc.

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyses the price discovery relationships of future and spot prices of ten agricultural commodities during the period of post sub-prime crisis i.e., from 2010-2015. As per the decisions derived by the study, we found that except Turmeric price discovery is confirmed for all the nine agricultural commodities. The results are quite encouraging showing the emerging character of the agricultural commodities in India. Although, it doesn’t assure the competitiveness of the Indian commodities market. The statistical diffusion of the findings is quite relevant in policy making, hedging and investing decisions. Now a day, these markets are becoming more efficient and mature in terms of information, also market regulators are working towards their development. The study suggests that Forward Market Commission (FMC) should be given more power to regulate and control the market, which will ensure the efficient market situations in these commodities market. It also suggests that in order to facilitate more transparency in commodities market, like stock market, electronically traded stock exchanges must be developed. All these suggestions of the study are targeted to strengthen the derivative market trading in agricultural commodities to achieve efficient price discovery mechanism.