eChapters

Introduction

Lipids are among the major components of food of plant and animal origin (food lipid). There is no precise definition available for the term lipid; however, it always includes a broad category of compounds that have some common properties and compositional similarities. Lipids are materials that are sparingly soluble or insoluble in water, but soluble in selected organic solvents like benzene, chloroform, ether, hexane, and methanol. Together with carbohydrates and proteins, lipids constitute the principal structural components of tissues (Erwin Wsowicz et al., 2004). Lipid oxidation is one of the major reasons that foods deteriorate and is caused by the reaction of fats and oils with molecular oxygen resulting in off-flavours that are generally called rancidity. Exposure to light, pro-oxidants and elevated temperature will accelerate the reaction (Velasco, J et al., 2010). Rancidity is related to characteristic off-flavour and odour of the oil. There are two major causes of rancidity. One occurs when oil reacts with oxygen and is called oxidative rancidity (Ribeiro et. al., 1993). The other cause of rancidity is by a combination of enzymes and moisture. Enzymes like lipases liberate fatty acids from the triglyceride to make di and monoglycerides and free fatty acids and such liberation of free fatty acids is named hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is additionally caused by chemical process that’s prompted by factors like heat or presence of water. Rancidity caused by hydrolysis is called hydrolytic rancidity. Oxidation cares mainly with the unsaturated fatty acids. Oxidative rancidity is off interest because it results in the event of unfavourable off-flavours which will be detected early within the development of rancidity, more so than in the case of hydrolytic rancidity. Oxidation can alter the flavour and nutritional quality of foods and produce toxic compounds, all of which may make the foods less acceptable or unacceptable to consumers. Oxidation products typically include low relative molecular mass compounds that are volatile also as undesirable off-flavour compounds (Food lipids).

For the intelligent appreciation and understanding of various reactions and processes associated with soils a little basic knowledge of chemistry is helpful. If the reader follows this chapter carefully, the working knowledge of chemistry thus acquired will enable him to follow all the complicated chemical reactions taking place in the soil.

What is Chemistry? Chemistry is the science that deals with the chemical changes. What is a chemical change? When two or more substances combine to give a substance entirely different in properties to the individual components, the change is called a chemical action to distinguish it from the purely physical action in which the properties of the product are intermediate between the components. The latter naturally can be separated easily by mechanical means. For instance a mixture of sand and water can be separated by passing through a filter, and a mixture of salt and water can be separated by evaporating the water when the salt is left as residue. But water itself is a compound of two gases: oxygen and hydrogen. Its properties are totally different from its components. We can freeze it, evaporate it and perform a host of other operations on it without changing it in the least.

Atoms and molecules: The whole science of chemistry rests on atoms and molecules If these are understood clearly, basic chemistry is reduced to simplicity. Take a familiar object like gold or silver and go on subdividing it into smaller and smaller bits. You will reach a stage that further subdivision will become impossible. You will have reached the primary units, the elementary bricks of which the substance is made up, namely the “Atoms”. An atom in chemistry is the smallest brick from which all material substances in the world are made up. Not that you can see an atom. It is so small that even the most powerful microscope will nut reveal its presence. You could perhaps just see a collection of a million atoms as a tiny spot of light if it is illuminated with a powerful beam of light. Even then you could not say if it was round, square, or oblong. However, you need not look for any such tangible proof to believe in the existence of atoms. Even pure logic would compel you to stop somewhere if you started with an imaginary division and sub-division of a substance. You could not go on ad infinitum. Even the ancients, who knew no modern chemistry, believed in their existence purely from philosophical reasoning.

If the reader has endeavoured to follow the basic chemistry in the first chapter, he would be in a positions to follow up the various reactions that take place in soils and which hitherto had baffled him. Soils contain particles of various sizes ; some so fine that they would remain suspended in water for a long time; others so coarse that they would be sieved out by even a coarse sieve. Soils contain some salts that can be washed out by leaching with water; they contain some water which can be readily evaporated away by exposing to hot sun or by heating slightly. They also con-tain a little organic matter which can be burnt away or dissolved in alkali. When all the extraneous substances have been completely removed we are left with what we might call soil framework. This framework gives mechanical support to the roots of the plants. Without this framework the plant would not stand up even if it could be supplied with all the food material.

Let us suppose a soil freed from all the extraneous matter by continuous leaching with water or a dilute acid. In the former case the removal of all the extraneous matter is extremely slow, whereas by leaching with dilute acid everything except the soil framework is removed in a short time.

When soils from different localities are subjected to leaching with dilute acid we find that the soil framework in every case, behaves in a similar manner. No matter from what part of the world the soil has been obtained, the properties of its mineral framework only differ in quantity but not in kind.

Next to the mineral frame work the salts in the soil deserve consideration. In fact these salts constitute the main food material of plants besides what the root hairs can get out of the mineral framework in the form of basic materials already dealt with. We are, however, not concerned with the plant food materials, but salts that are in excess and which alter the properties of the soil to such an extent as to influence its behaviour profoundly.

Soil texture and mechanical analysis: The chemistry of the mineral framework was explained in Chapter II. Its physical properties are quite as important- When all the extraneous matter is removed from the soil we are left with a collection of particles of various sizes. These particles are not spherical in shape, but most of them are nearly so. At any rate the discussion is very much simplified if we suppose that they are spherical and the arguments advanced are equally applicable if the shape deviates from the spherical.

Moisture plays by far the most important role in soils as regards vegetation. It is through the medium of water that the plants obtain their quota of mineral food vital for their growth. If water is gradually withheld from the soil, at a certain stage, the plant will begin to wilt and soon dry up. The soil may still contain some moisture but the plant is unable to make use of it. The minimum moisture in the soil below which wilting will take place is called the Wilting Coefficient and at one time great importance was attached to it. The determination of this Coefficient, however, is tedius. One must grow a number of plants and slowly watch them wilt and determine the moisture content at that point. Moisture content of the soil is determined by heating a weighed quantity of the sample in an oven kept at 100-110 ^oC. The moisture is expressed as percentage on the oven-dry soil.

Soil mechanics as a distinct branch of soil science is comparatively of recent growth. Its need arose from the fact that the requirements of the engineer are very often quite different from those of the agriculturist. Whereas the former would as a rule require hard, compact, impervious soil, the latter would have no use for it for the growth of his plants which require soft, friable and porous soil. The agriculturist generally has to look up to nature to help him out of his difficulties, the engineer has to depend on his scientific skill to modify the soil to suit his requirements. In this chapter an attempt will be made to explain in a simple language the requirements of the building, road, and irrigation engineer for particular types of soils and how they are met by modifying the soil if the required properties already do not exist.

Soil fertility is the resultant of several factors, not the least important of which is the soil itself. Theoretically, the soil only plays the part of a support and could be very easily dispensed with and replaced by sand and even that can be replaced by a wire framework to support the plant mechanically and it will grow quite well if the right amount of nutrient materials have been added to water. ‘Where does the soil come in?” you will ask. The importance of the soil is two-fold: (1) It provides vast reserves of plant food which is slowly made available. (2) It provides limiting factors which restrict plant growth; these limiting factors must be neutralized. We have already discussed these reserve food materials and limiting factors in Chapter II.

It has been shown that if we treat a soil with dilute acid exhaustively we can remove everything from it except the mineral framework. If we try to grow anything in this mineral framework nothing will grow. Yet it is not like sand, for whereas in sand by adding appropriate amounts of nutrient materials in water solution you could grow a crop, nothing will grow if you added the same solution of nutrient materials to the soil. This mineral framework, therefore, is not inert like sand, but it is active and can react with the nutrient salts in such a way that either they are rendered unavailable or something else which is toxic is produced by the interaction between the soil and the nutrient salts. This mineral framework is not acted upon by dilute acids, but it reacts with alkalies in such a way that the alkalies are neutralized. In this respect, therefore, the mineral frame work behaves like an acid. With alkalies it forms salts and different alkalies are required in equivalent amounts for the formation of these salts. Thus we can have salts of a number of bases and if we use sodium hydroxide for neutralizing we shall have sodium soil, similarly we can have a calcium, magnesium or potassium soil. Now in nature, all the various bases principally, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium, are associated with it in different proportions. The nature and amount of these bases determines the physico-chemical properties of the soil affecting crop yield and leading to soil infertility. We have already indicated the method of bringing the soiil to the normal state when it suffers from any of the defects associated with the soil framework.

Introduction

Quality is the ultimate criterion of the desirability of any food product to the consumer. Overall quality depends on quantity, nutritional and other hidden attributes along with sensory quality. Sensory quality is of great importance to both processors and consumers, since it attracts consumers; it satisfies consumers’ aesthetics and gustatory sense. Sensory quality is the combination of sensory senses of perception responsible for choosing and eating a food.

According to Institute of Food Technologists and the American Society for Testing and Materials, sensory evaluation is a scientific method used to evoke measure, analyze, and explain those responses to products as perceived through different senses like sense of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing (Stone and Sidel, 2004). Sensory evaluation gives a general rule for the preparation and serving of samples under controlled conditions so that unfair decisions are minimized. People for sensory evaluation are often placed in individual test booths so that the judgments they give are true and do not reflect the opinions of those around them.

Samples with random numbers are given to the evaluators so that they do not form judgments based upon labels, but rather on their sensory experiences. Products may be given in different orders to each evaluator to help measure and to ensure internal validity by controlling the potential confounds created by sequence and order effects. To control unwanted variation and to improve test precision, standard procedures may be established for sample temperature, volume, and spacing in time, as needed.

Sensory evaluation or testing is a quantitative science in which numerical data are collected to establish lawful and specific relationships between product characteristics and human perception. Sensory methods draw heavily from the techniques of behavioural research in observing and quantifying human responses. For example, we can assess the proportion of times people are able to discriminate small product changes or the proportion of a group that expresses liking for one product over another. Another example is having people generate numerical responses reflecting their perception of products taste and smell.

Introduction

Therapeutic foods are products, which are multiutility food products that may be used as nutrition as well as medicine. A nutraceutical may be defined as a substance, which has physiological benefit or provides protection against chronic disease. Nutraceuticals are used to improve health, delay the aging process, prevent chronic diseases, increase life expectancy, or support the structure and/or function of the body. Oflate nutraceuticals are receiving considerable interest due to potential nutritional, safety and therapeutic effects. The examples of therapeutic foods are the foods used for feeding of malnourished children on an emergency basis or to supplement the diets of persons with special nutrition requirements, such as the elderly. Therapeutic foods can also form a part of treatment/prevention/reduction of other health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, anaemia and any other lifestyle disorders.

The incidences of diet-related diseases are progressively increasing due to greater availability of calorie-rich foods and a sedentary lifestyle. Obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and neurodegeneration are major diet-related diseases. Nutraceuticals and functional foods represent a novel therapeutic approach to prevent or attenuate diet-related diseases.

There is always a requirement for cheaper formulations using locally available ingredients that are processed in a safe, reliable, and financially sustainable methods. Some of the literature available on health foods for various diseases is summarized below. However, since the burden of diabetes in India is staggering. In 2017, 72 million cases of people suffering from diabetes were reported and the figures are expected to reach 134 million by 2025, this chapter more emphasis is given on the safe, natural treatment/reduction of diabetes by herbal means.

Introduction

Advances in food preservation methods have supported the journey of food science from that of a cookery science to a fast growing industrial technology. Food preservation knowledge deals with the way to prevent spoilage and maintenance of quality in foods. Spoilage is the deterioration in quality brought about by inherent biochemical and chemical changes, as well as microbial metabolism during food storage. Basic principles of food preservation (Frazier et al., 2008) remains the same, but newer methods for achieving the goal is added through research fuelled by a consumer demand for fresh-like foods with convenience and safety. Scientific information on novel processing methods are beautifully compiled (Cullen et al., 2011; Da-Wen Sun, 2014; Tokuþoðlu and Swanson 2015; Doona, 2018).

In-depth knowledge of physiological activities of micro-organisms in presence of preservation agents is essential for preparation of safe foods with prolonged shelf life. Besides this, it is necessary to understand the effect of food constituents on microbial resistance against inactivation agents, to identify critical dose requirement. This profound knowledge would also help to understand kinetics of microbial inactivation and to develop mathematical models suitable for a realistic design of process parameters. For better appreciation of the following sections, readers are encouraged to have fundamental knowledge in microbiology and food processing. The sections in this chapter cover advanced microbiological knowledge pertaining to the preservation aspects of food.

Nano-technology refers to technology on a nano- meter scale, specifically less than 100 nano-meters. The novel nano-particles are tiny spheres (fullerenes) or tubes (nanotubes) made from carbon atoms. It facilitates the development of future inventions transversely a vast array of fields. New nano-particles are being made of silicon, ceramic, polymers or even natural ingredients that break down in the body. The characteristics that make these particles functional in the food industry include optical properties, reactivity to temperature, and biodegradability. They can be used as probes or filled with flavorings or nutrients for delivery. Highlights on the categorisation of agriculture with nano- food technology and nutrition are given in Fig 1.

There are three key elements in nano-technology. They are: (1) substances at nano-scale exhibit novel physical and chemical phenomena with novel functions (2) allowing to measure, control and operate material at the nano-scale that transform them to functions. (3) allowing the union of nano scales of materials for exceptional properties.

Introduction

For human beings, the three most important necessities for their survival are food, clothing and shelter. among all of these food is the top most priority. Food safety and Standards defines food into 8 categories (Nutraceutical, Heath Supplements/Dietary Supplements, Food for special medical Purpose, food for Special Dietary Use, Novel Food, and Functional food) in regulation, 2016. A growing trend of health products, concept of food as medicine, associated public interest and consumers demand leads to a progressive research interest in functional foods and nutraceuticals development. Abnormal lifestyle, food habits (consumption of junk food) and low physical activity creates an exponential growth in a number of chronic diseases; obesity, cardio-vascular syndromes, osteoporosis, arthritis and cancer (Das et al., 2012) among the developing and developed countries. While nutraceuticals and functional foods are becoming an alternative affordable system to reduce the risk of disease through prevention in spite of high tech therapies and costly medicines.

The current survey showed that worldwide revenue of functional foods is projected to increase from about 300 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to over 440 billion dollars in 2022. Also according to the International Food Information Council (IFIC), health benefits achieved from functional food components may provide benefits far beyond than basic nutrition. Products like dietary supplements containing vitamins, functional foods such as sports drinks or products fortified with probiotic play a major role in the market rise (www.statista.com).Indian and Chinese traditional foods, recipes, spices and diversified ingredient market is well known around the world from centuries. Hence, a double-digit growth rate is also experienced in Asian nutraceutical and functional food market. Another reason for the growing trend in consuming functional foods is education and proper health awareness. Furthermore, people are more concern about the optimization of health-promoting capabilities in their diet using dietary supplement and fortified foods. While, food product based industries are marketing health supplements using scientific facts and the relationship between diet and health. Government, non-government organizations (NGOs) and web-based online information also play a key role in promoting and trending food based health products.

Drying of the Spices

Drying is an important mode of preservation and it ensures microbial safety of the spices.The main purpose of drying is to increase the shelf storage and make the seasonal spices available round the year with minute losses of nutrients, flavor, taste and color (Maroulis, 2003). During drying, there is a continuous transfer of heat and mass due to the heat application which eventually leads to moisture removal from the product (Akpinar, 2006) (Hashim, 2014). Since, the sensory, nutritional and functional attributes of spices are partially or totally affected by the drying process, the adequate choice of drying technique becomes requisite. There exists a number of conventional drying methods including solar drying (El-sebaii, 2012), freeze drying (Ciurzy nska 2011), vacuum drying (Nadi, 2012), osmotic dehydration,hot air drying and fluidized bed drying (Onwude, 2016). However, these drying techniques lead to poor quality of the spices because of the longer duration of treatment and high amount of energy. To combat with the issues of poor quality, there has been a significant development of the novel techniques, which includes- microwave, ohmic, infrared, pulse electric field, radio- frequency, ultraviolet, ultrasound, supercritical and heat pump heating, in the drying of the agricultural crops. These novel techniques are found to produce higher quality products as compared to the conventional drying techniques (Moses J. N., 2014). The microwave and radio frequency heating technologies are developed in such a manner that they are capable of partial or complete removal of the conventional methods of heating/ drying (Onwude, 2016). The use of these novel techniques has gained a keen attention for the drying purpose of spices. Some of the researchers have also proved that combination of conventional and novel drying techniques leads to better product output.

Introduction

Military personnel’s are deployed for operation in adverse climatic conditions like desert, cold (arctic) and high altitude regions. Stressful and challenging living conditions have affected the outcome of many battles, campaigns and wars. Acclimatization to the environmental condition is a very essential stage of deployment. The time for acclimatization is restricted/limited for the effective operation towards the purpose of deployment. The performance of the military personnel in various deployed regions depends on the nutrition provided by the food consumed. The operational rations are designed to provide the essential nutrition to enhance their performance during training and/or operational situations.

Nutrition requirement of military personnel is different from that of the civilians. The nutrition requirement also varies with the kind (sedentary or continuous work) and region (plain, desert or high altitude) of deployment. The environmental stress caused by extreme heat, cold, etc. also influences the nutrient requirement/ intake. The insufficient dietary nutrient intake affects the immune function, pace of recovery from illness and injury and also the physical performance (Tharion et al., 2005).

The operational ration is also designed in such a way that it provides to the military personnel the required nutrition from the build in nutrition reserves during certain operational situations. Considering the vital criteria for nutritional requirement, the menu for the military personnel is designed. The chapter discusses the past, present and future of the army operational ration (AOR) in various countries of the world and the influence of advances in food processing methods in AOR menu.

Introduction

Oils and fats are utilized both for their food applications as well as for industrial purpose. As a food product, oils and fats are consumed in a variety of forms such as shortening, ghee, butter, margarine, cooking oil, salad oil, etc. Other uses include their usage in the form of lubricants, greases, soaps, cosmetics, paints as well as animal feed and biofuels. Among the Asian countries, Indonesia leads as the prime producer with more than fifty percent of the total palm oil production in the world. As a second-best producer of oils and fats, China was the major manufacturer of rapeseed as well as soybean oil in year of 2018. In general, Asian countries contributed to more than fifty percent of the total fat and oil manufacturing in the world in 2018 (Kushairi et al., 2018). Even though fats and oils are primarily utilized for food applications, there has been an increased interest in their industrial utility for the manufacture of biofuels. Fats manufactured from various animal sources like tallow or lard also contribute to a considerable quantity and compete with vegetable oils for the production of biofuels.

The resources for producing oils and fats are diverse depending on their end use, yet they are obtained from two major sources: animal sources and plant sources. Oils and fats are used as starting materials for the preparation of shortenings, margarines, and other tailored products that further act as functional ingredients in food products prepared by food processors, restaurants, and in home. They have been used for food and other variety of applications since the prehistoric times, due to their easy availability. For example, fatty tissues from animals liberate free-floating fats on being boiled, whereas oil can be pressed out from oil fruits and oilseeds.

The role of dietary oils and fats in human nutrition is also one of the important areas of interest. Over the time, oil and fat industry has provided significant contributions toward nutritional improvement of various products. With the growing concern linked between cardiovascular diseases and consumption of oil and fat products, low-calorie variants of different foods, free or low in cholesterol are also available now. Excessive fat consumption among the populations of developed countries and consequences of obesity has led to the development of reduced-fat and very-low-fat variants of foods.

Weaning foods

Introduction

Breast milk is natural and best for the growth and development of newborn babies. Although breast milk is adequate to provide an optimum nutrient till the age of six months but after that it is not sufficient to sustain optimum growth and fulfill their nutritional requirements. Various nutrients are required to supplement milk until child is ready to eat adult meal. This additional food along with the breast milk is referred as “complementary Food”. With adequate amount of complementary feeding breast-feeding continues up to two years of age and beyond so, referred as complementary feeding period.

Appropriate and adequate amount of complementary feeding helps in preventing malnutrition stunting and promoting growth. Introduction of this complementary food is called as weaning.

Weaning is the process of introducing adult food and beverage to the infant to support their growth and development. This is very crucial period in infant’s life. This is a period for diet transition as the nutrition requirements for growth and brain development is quite high. Introduction of various taste and texture promotes biting and chewing skills (Guthrie, 1975). Most six-month age children start eating semisolid foods. Weaning homogenized infant foods play a major role in the nutrition of infants (Martinez, 2004).As infants grow, their nutritional requirements also increase. To keep up this growing demand WHO recommends that infants start eating solid, semi-solid or soft foods at the age of 6 months to ensure sufficient nutrient intake.

Introduction

Biotechnology is defined as the ‘application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of material by biological agents to provide goods and services’. The term ‘biotechnology’ is also used when a technique involving live organisms are employed to make or modify a product, improve plants or animals or develop microorganisms for specific uses. According to the definition of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC 2001), modern biotechnology is defined as the application of (i) in vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and direct injection of nucleic acid into cells or organelles, or (ii) fusion of cells beyond the taxonomic family, that overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombination barriers, and that are not techniques used in traditional breeding and selection. Scientific developments of present world owe to processes and products of the field of biotechnology. Modern biotechnological advancements have played a major role in important branches of science such as agriculture, food processing, medicine and veterinary applications. Biotechnological interventions of the downstream processing applications include primary production areas namely breeding of crops and livestock, production of additives for food and feed and pharmaceuticals along with diagnostic tools. Inputs for food processing applications from biotechnology include biocatalysts such as enzymes, tracing food ingredients such as Genetically modified (GM) ingredients in end products of food and feed and food quality testing applications for food borne pathogens. Applications of modern biotechnology in form of genetically modified organisms have gained much importance in comparison to the downstream applications during food processing and food safety (Zhu, 2017). Food processing operations include transformation of harvested crop or animal produce into produce which are marketable with long shelf life and minimises waste and losses of raw produce in food chain and ensure their continuous availability in super market shelves. Food safety is an important area which assures of the food being safe for consumption. Food technological applications of modern biotechnology includes food enzymes that are important in various food processing applications in reactions involving lipids, carbohydrates and proteins, food fermentations to improve properties such as taste, flavour, texture, nutritional and shelf stability, food additives in form of bio preservatives, flavours, fragrances, genetically modified starter cultures, genetically modified crops, modern rapid diagnostic kits for food safety are discussed in detail.

Introduction

Recent advances in food technology have made our lives virtually easier and efficient. Changing lifestyle has led to the emergence of packaged food that provides convenience to the consumers. The authentic packaging of food implements consumers with the role of communication, containment, convenience, and protection. Any typical food package provides us with the information about the product and its nutritional fact, thus an efficient way of marketing/ branding. It protects the food product from the external environment and adulteration, thus keeps it safe. It allows the consumers to relish the food as per their convenience (reheating and direct consumption) and holds the product of any size, shape and restrains during handling and transportation (Robertson, 2006).

Food packages can be altered or modified according to one’s requirement with features like single-serving dishes and portability. However, traditional packaging is lacking adequacy to meet unending consumer demands and product intricacies. Therefore, a contemporary concept of packaging with higher proficiency is needed to meet various consumer requirements. For instance, a packaging that can - enhance product’s shelf-life with lesser or no preservatives, that maintains freshness, that meets permissible regulatory requisites and enables tracking throughout the product life-cycle. Emerging technologies like smart packaging have the expertise to invigilate a product and its milieu and pursue any modifications into these. Moreover, smart packaging helps in gaining global market recognition, and meets international food safety standards. In recent years, there has been rapid development in food packaging that includes active packaging, intelligent packaging, or smart packaging. These are the technologies that deal with the packaging of food, beverages, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products. Moreover, these terminologies are apparently identical but, each has a different function to deal with and is as follows:

Introduction

Over the years, processed food industry has become the largest growing industry in the world. The convenience food industry with the state of the art technology has been proved very successful in reaching every household and have started replacing fresh and healthy foods with the processed ones (Srinivasan and Shende, 2016).

Demand for processed and convenience foods are constantly on rise and convenience food segment is rising by leaps and bounds. Changing life style, food habits, displacement of rural population to urban centres, insufficient time to prepare healthy food and changing socio economic needs have led to the industrialization of the food supply and resulted in the development of convenience foods and today a great variety of the same are available for sale to the consumer throughout the world (Tillotson, 2003).

These convenience foods are available readily, convenient, inexpensive with pleasing organoleptic quality, requires minimal or no preparation before consumption. Varieties of convenience foods which are available in the market play a prominent role in the food choice of today’s consumer, and they include frozen and canned vegetables, bakery products, soups, sauces, prepared meat and fish, chilled and frozen dairy products as well as ready to eat and shelf stable products (Tillotson, 2003).

Rapid switchover of the consumer from the traditional dining practices to fast food centres, generally feed on quick and easily made products called fast foods, often termed as unhealthy junk foods. These foods are rich in saturated fatty acids, several refined components, high carbohydrates etc., which ultimately lead to the negative impact on physical and mental health of the consumer, contributing to several chronic diseases such as cardiovascular complications, cancer, atherosclerosis, liver disease, type 11 diabetes (Veggie et al., 2018) etc.

Therefore, focussing much about the health of the consumer, there is a great need for a healthy and a balanced diet to meet the basic needs of the human body (Mendes et al 2013) with an appealing organoleptic properties and appearance.

Mycotoxins are the secondary metabolites produced by moulds, which grow on food and feedstuffs causing pathological or physiological changes to humans and animals. They are toxic to vertebrates in low concentrations. Symptoms depend on the amount of toxin in the feed, the period for which the infested feed is ingested, the nutritional status of the feed and the susceptibility of the animal species. Toxic effects of chronic consumption of mycotoxins in human are carcinogenicity, hepatotoxicity, oestrogenicity, genotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, immunosuppression, reproductive disorders and dermal irritation (Anfossi et al., 2010). The most extensively studied mycotoxins viz., Aflatoxins, ochratoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON, vomitoxin), T-2 toxin, zearalenone, fumoninsins, mycophenolic acid, cyclopiazonic acid and ergot toxins are produced by the moulds Aspergillus, Fusarium, Pennicillium and Claviceps (Iqbal et al., 2015).

Various physical, chemical and biological factors interdependently affect the fungal colonization or production of the mycotoxin. Physical factors such as temperature, relative humidity and insect infestations create ideal environment for fungal colonization and mycotoxin production. Stresses such as drought, an increase in temperature, and an increase in relative humidity may selectively alter colonization and metabolism of mycotoxigenic fungi and thus alter mycotoxin production (Russell et al., 1991). Cool and damp weather favours the germination of the sclerotia and thus ergot alkaloid formation in fescue and ryegrass.

Biological factors are categorized into intrinsic factor such as fungal species, strain specificity, strain variation and instability of toxigenic properties. Interaction between the toxigenic fungal species and substrate affect the fungal colonization and mycotoxin production. Some plant species are more susceptible to colonization and some resistant plant species may also get infestation due to favourable environmental conditions.

The ingestion of mycotoxin-contaminated feedstuffs by animals leads to adverse effect on animal health and the effects are more serious in monogastric animals depending on the species and the susceptibility to toxins within the species. Ruminants are less susceptible to mycotoxins than monogastric animals because of biotransformation of mycotoxins to non-toxic metabolites in rumen by rumen microbiota (Fink-Gremmels, 2008).

Mould growth in raw materials or finished feeds result in production of mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are a large group of toxic chemicals causing wide range of pathological and physiological effects in animals. Symptoms depend on the amount of toxin present in the feed, the period for which the feed is ingested, the nutritional status of the feed and the susceptibility of the animal. Feed efficiency, growth rate and production are affected in animals consuming sub-acute doses.

Ruminants are generally considered less susceptible to mycotoxins than monogastric animals because of degradation of mycotoxin in rumen by rumen microorganism. However, certain mycotoxins resist rumen degradation and cause clinical mycotoxicosis. In high yielding dairy animals, during transition period, animals who are in negative energy balance (NEB), low body condition score and decreased resistance to infectious agents cause adverse effects in animal health with exposure of mycotoxins present in animal diet.

Effect of mycotoxin in ruminants

In cattle during metabolism, mycotoxin present in stored or ensiled feeds produce microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) which are responsible for mouldy odour, reduced feed intake and increased feeding times. This insufficient feed intake further produces negative energy balance (NEB).

Different type of mycotoxins commonly present in different feed and fodder crops are produced by mould during cultivation and storage and are specific to certain region according to climatic and environmental conditions. Most of the toxins produced in crops are consumed when fed to animals. Among the mycotoxins, aflatoxin B-1 is present in highest concentration which enters rumen following ingestion of aflatoxin contaminated feed stuffs. In the rumen, AFB-1 is degraded into aflatoxicol and the remaining portion of the aflatoxin is absorbed in the digestive tract by passive diffusion and metabolized in the liver into aflatoxin M-1 (Kuilman et al., 1998). AFM-1 circulates in the blood as a stable compound until excreted in milk, urine and bile. The following are the sources of AFM-1 contamination in milk and milk products and it occurs through two modes of contamination viz., indirect contamination and direct contamination.

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by different types of moulds which are present in soil, plant and feed ingredients. Ingestion of toxins will result in reduced growth and production performance due to reduced nutrient utilization, illness or death of animals. Analysing the presence of mycotoxin and its concentration in grain and feeds is necessary to eliminate the adverse health effects of mycotoxins in animals. Estimation of mycotoxin in feed ingredients is a challenging task because the concentration of toxin is at µg/kg or parts-per billion levels. At the same time, analysing inappropriate samples is a waste of resources. Mycotoxins are not evenly distributed in feeds or grains. If the specimen collected for analysis includes contaminated grain, the mycotoxin will be detected. If not, the mycotoxin will not be detected.

Sample collection for mycotoxin analysis

The objective of sample collection is to collect the specimen samples from as many parts of the feed lot as possible. The size of the collected specimen depends on the size of the load received. Sample collecting probes can be used to collect the samples from bags.

The economic loss in livestock arising due to mycotoxicosis is enormous apart from being a health risk. Indian economy is heavily affected by mycotoxins. It was estimated that 10 million dollars were lost in India’s export within a decade due to groundnut contamination with mycotoxins (Vasanthi and Bhat, 1998). Many developing countries have realized that reducing mycotoxin contamination in foods will not only improve the health and production in animal, but also increase the raw material exports (international trade) to other countries. The following strategies are to be adhered strictly to reduce the mycotoxins contamination of crops in the field.

1. Early harvesting

Early harvesting reduces the fungal infection of crop in the field. Early harvesting and threshing of groundnuts results in lower aflatoxin levels and higher gross returns of 27% than in delayed harvesting (Rachaputi et al., 2002).

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) is an internationally recognized method of identifying and managing food safety related risk and, when central to an active food safety program, can provide customers, the public and regulatory agencies assurance that a food safety program is well managed. HACCP is a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product. (FAO, 2003)

Mycotoxin hazard analysis and identification of possible control measures

I. Hazard Analysis

a) Identification of mycotoxin hazard

For a given commodity system in a particular location, the HACCP team need to first consider which, if any, of the mycotoxins known to constitute a food safety hazard are likely to be present. Over 300 mycotoxins are known, but only a relatively few of these are widely accepted as presenting a significant food or animal feed safety risk.

The following mycotoxins have regulatory limits set by one or more countries: the aflatoxins (including aflatoxin M₁), ochratoxin A, zearalenone, patulin, ergot alkaloids, and deoxynivalenol. Guideline limits exist for fumonisin B₁ and regulatory limits are likely to be set in the near future. The regulatory limits are taken as the target levels and should be included in the Product Description table. Mycotoxin limits can also be set by the customer in specific contracts and it is possible that these may include mycotoxins not subject to regulatory limits.

1.1 General

Food is basic necessity for the survival of human beings. It is derived from agriculture which traps and transfers solar energy in chemical energy in the form of biomass and end products are processed and utilized for food, feed, fibre, fertilizer, and fuel. Indian’s economic security continues to be foreseen upon agricultural sector. Agriculture supports 52 per cent of population, as against about 75 per cent at the time of dependence. Despite the focus on industrialization, agriculture remains a dominant sector of the Indian economy both in terms of contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as a source of employment to millions across the country. India occupies a leading position in global trade of agricultural products. However, its total agricultural export basket accounts for a little over 2.15 per cent of the world agricultural trade. The major export destinations are USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nepal and Bangladesh. Among agricultural commodities, basmati rice, spices, oil meals, sugar, cotton and castor oil have been leading export commodities.

Agriculture is an essential ingredient in overall development of India economic. The history of Indian agriculture in dates back to Indus Valley Civilization and even before that in some places of Southern India. India ranks second worldwide in farm outputs.

On the eve of Independence, 70 per cent of India’s nation income was from agricultural sector. Before 1947, over 85 per cent of country’s population lives in villages where livelihood completely depended on agriculture, which contributed over 95per cent of country’s income. Agricultural sector was most important sector in Indian economy facing massive stagnation and continuous determination. In the present context, around 60 – 70 per cent of Indian population directly or indirectly depends upon the agricultural sector and currently it contributes to 16 per cent of the Indian gross domestic product.

2.1 Introduction

The great impact of increase in population as well as rapid economic growth has given us cause for concern about the future situation of the earth in recent years. Desertification as well as deforestation is continuously changing the landscape. Irrigated areas are being damaged by salinization. The effect to increase arable lands cannot match with the speed of these deteriorating processes. Weather is also being changed gradually by urbanization. In the new millennium, the challenges in the agricultural sector are very different from those met in the previous decades. The enormous pressure to produce more food from less land with shrinking natural resources is a tough task for the farmers. This calls for special effort to manage the key input without eroding the ecological assets and sound knowledge base to sustain agricultural productivity and profitability.

The maximum crop response depends on the level of the balanced environmental parameters. The natural environment and input availability may not be optimum for a given crop. The environmental factors which affect plant growth includes air temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration soil temperature and moisture content to the soil. The micro-climate can be artificially controlled by means of plastic covering structure like greenhouse. The plastic covered greenhouse is the only mechanism, which transmits the useful wavelengths of the light spectrum for photosynthetic activity. Further, it also reduces the air movement, which is of great importance for the plant growth and often used to control the spread of plant diseases.

As far as plant propagation is concerned sunlight provides the primary energy for photosynthesis, the food chain and all human nutrition. The expansion of crop and flower production in various types of greenhouse during the recent years has enabled the growth of agricultural products throughout the year. An agricultural greenhouse consists of frames of metallic or wooden structure covered with a transparent material preferably plastic which provide a suitable environment for the intensive production of various crops. A greenhouse is essentially an enclosed structure, which traps the short wavelength solar radiation and convert and finally stores the long wavelength thermal radiation to create a favorable microclimate for higher productivity. Open field agricultural farming has no control on the environmental parameters such as sunlight, air composition and temperature that influence the plant escalation. Hence, a large number of winter vegetables, flowers and other horticultural crops have to be transported from distant places. Future greenhouse systems in moderate climates will have to be energy efficient. Greenhouses will have decreased transmission for long-wave length radiation and increased transmission for short-wave-radiation compared with common shelters.

3.1 Introduction

The world population will grow by another 2 billion people by 2025 and feeding them will be a big challenge. Rapid industrial development and fast urbanization, the arable lands are continuously shrinking. Many scientists and researchers reported that the Earth had lost a third of its arable lands over the last 40 years¹. In the current scenario, the most challenging task for agricultural sciences is to ensure for continuous and enough supply of food to growing human civilization. Presently, all available arable land on the earth are using extensive pesticides and fertilizers in various ways that are not sustainable as well as harmful to the environment.

There is an urgent need to think about sustainable farming options as arable land for farming is continuously reducing to fulfil the food material demand of growing population. Vertical farming can produce more food from fewer land and water resources. Though it takes out many of the risks inherent in outdoor crop production. With the control of light exposure, indoor temperature, relative humidity and watering levels, growers can grow food very efficiently. Vertical farming has the potential to produce food with less energy, less water, less waste and in less space than traditional methods. It also negates the need for harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Developing and installing vertical farm in those areas where people need good quality healthy food, tackle the shortage of nutritive food material at a local level. Vertical farming can be defined as it is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers where controlled-environment agriculture practices usually incorporated with the aims to optimize plant growth. The soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics also incorporated in vertical farming as shown in Fig. 3.1. Vertical farming is a very old idea, and indigenous peoples used vertically layered growing techniques like the rice terraces of East Asia. The term vertical farming was coined by American geologist Gilbert Ellis Bailey in 1915. In 1999, Dickson Despommier, a professor at New York’s Columbia University, popularized the modern idea of vertical farming, building upon the idea together with his students.

4.1 Introduction

In the modern era, agricultural productivity seems to have reached a maximum production due to the easy availability of fertilizers and pesticides/insecticide, which are used to improve crop productivity. Excess uses of these products and unawareness about field constraints can decrease the crop productivity and endanger the environmental balance in the cultivation area. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve agricultural system and efficient utilization of these resources for profitable and environmentally sustainable agriculture.

Government has also an emphasis on effective and efficient use of available resources and farmers are also adopting more scientific approach during crop production such as remote sensing, global positioning system, and new equipment to make their agricultural operation more precise.

Precision agriculture is one of the many advanced farming approaches that make production more efficient. It is basically an approach of farm management with the help of information technology to confirm that the cultivated crops and soil receive desire input for optimum health and productivity. In other words, precision agriculture utilizes different tools and technologies to identify infield soil and crop variability for improving farming practices and optimizing agronomic inputs. To reduce dependency on excessive use of chemical inputs in agriculture, several technologies have been applied to make agricultural products safer and to lower their adverse impacts on the environment and human beings, a goal that is consistent with sustainable agriculture. Precision agriculture has emerged as a valuable component of the framework to achieve this goal. Further, Pierce and Nowak define the precision farming that, the application of technologies and principles to manage spatial and temporal variability associated with all aspects of agricultural production for improving crop performance and environmental quality. Precision agriculture is the combination of many different elements working together in a synchronised way with the help of Geographic Information System (GIS) as shown in Fig 4.1. Precision agriculture is basically an information technology based agricultural management system. In this modern management system, Geography information system (GIS) based analysis is extensively used to get land and crop related data accurately and timely, which help farming community to take correct decision .

5.1 Introduction

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in a nutrient solution rather than in soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with only their roots exposed to the nutritious liquid.

Traditionally, the soil supports the crop’s roots by helping them remain upright and ensuring the delivery of water and essential nutrients. In hydroponics farming, crops are supported by an inert medium such as perlite, gravel, or other substrates. Therefore, the nutrients are supplied by using various practices that bring mineral nutrient solutions to the crops. In the present situation there excessive use of chemical fertilizers, affecting fertility of soil is badly affected. The fertility of the soil is falling that affects the plants growth but in hydroponics, the plant remains unaffected. Plants grow faster than in soil. Produce better quality of plants and higher yields. It use less water. It is possible to use hydroponics on outdoor crops, but most of the hydroponics production is in greenhouse. Hydroponic farming system has the potential to reduce the problem associated with traditional crop production. Therefore, it could serve to be a turning point in feeding the global population. The greenhouse and its environment control system are the same whether plants are grown conventionally or with hydroponics. The difference comes from the support system and the method of supplying water and nutrients.

The hydroponic farming has been successfully demonstrated by the commercial growers for fast-growing crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, spinaches, lettuce, radishes, strawberries, bens, spring onions, coriander, and ornamentals. Indeed, hydroponics technology enables a more precise control of micro climatic conditions. In this technique, the vigorous development of a root system is taking place, which enable the uptake of essential nutrients from nutrient solution for better crop yield. The initial investment in hydroponics farming is high and required constant energy input. Owing to this, hydroponics farming is recommended for growing high value crops in developed countries such as the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.

6.1 Introduction

Aquaponics represents the relationship between water, aquatic life, bacteria, nutrient dynamics and plants, which grow together in waterways all over the world. Taking cues from nature, aquaponics harnesses the power of bio-integrating these individual components: exchanging the waste by-product from the fish as a food for the bacteria, to be converted into a perfect fertilizer for the plants, to return the water in a clean and safe form to the fish. Just like mother nature does in every aquatic ecosystem.

Aquaponics is basically a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics plant production in a close-loop water system where both vegetables and fish grow simultaneously. This is a closed-loop system and considered as highly efficient, produce more food compared to the traditional farming system. Importantly, it has virtually no waste and with double purpose, aquaponics farming might be an economical viable solution to the low provision of fish and vegetable in some countries. In many cases, aquaponics is advertised as a form of sustainable agriculture because it is water efficient, and has fewer environmental impacts than some forms of aquaculture. That is why, aquaponics is considered as super sustainable and highly efficient because of the healthy symbiotic relationships among the plants, fish and nitrogen-fixing bacteria as illustrated in Fig 6.1. As fish excrete into the water, the water is then pumped up to the plant beds, and bacteria break down the fish excrement so the plants can absorb it.

Aquaponics farming is quite different than hydroponics farming. As discussed in previous chapter, hydroponics is the process of growing plants in a soilless medium where nutrients are added to the water for the plants to absorb. Such systems are not as sustainable and viable as aquaponics because they require the addition of other supplemental nutrients to get desired plants growth. The quality of water decline with time and require proper disposal otherwise, it will contaminate water streams and other water sources. On the other hand, aquaponics incorporates fish to provide the natural fertilizers and nutrients plants need. This simple addition, eliminates the need to add “food” for plants. Best of all, aquaponics has a built in self-cleaning and filtration system that returns clean water to the fish. Aquaponics farming system can be more productive and economically feasible where land and water are limited. No doubt, aquaponics is complicated and requires considerable start-up costs. The production of fish and vegetables is the most visible output of aquaponics farming units. It is essential to understand that aquaponics is the management of a complete ecosystem that includes three major groups of organisms: fish, plants and bacteria.

7.1 Introduction

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy and almost 70 per cent of the total population depends on it. After independence, India achieved self-sufficiency in primary agriculture like food grains, fruits, vegetables and milk, etc. Now it is time to think and focus on secondary agriculture. It is assumed that with the adaption of secondary agriculture, India can achieve the goal of doubling the income of farmers. The secondary agriculture can be defined as, value addition to agricultural products, generating basic facilities for primary processing and add value to the basic agro commodities to allow farmers to get better revenues from their farm produce. It also has job creation opportunity in the rural sector to grow rural economy, which is purely based on agriculture. Further, it can also be elaborated that secondary agriculture as a production activity and invented strategy which includes sustainability of production, monetisation of farmer’s produce, straightening of extension service and recognising agriculture as an enterprise. Secondary agriculture can help drive growth of primary agriculture in the three areas i.e. (i) value addition to primary agriculture production, (ii) farmer – industrial linked and (iii) effective utilization of crop residues of primary agriculture.

The value addition to a primary agriculture production can be achieved by establishing direct linkage of farmers with market through grading of agricultural produce, cluster farming, marketing skill and financial literacy. The farmer – industrial linkage is closely associated with rural off-farm activities such as bee keeping, livestock production, etc. it can be promoted as a part of an integrated farming system. The crop residues effectively can be utilized for energy generation. There is scope of establishing rural based agricultural entrepreneurship in the field of biofuel. Agribusiness incubation can help farming community and provide reliable market linkages to improve farmer’s realisations.

8.1 Introduction

In the modern world, the most elementary desire of every common man is to have sufficient food and mental peace. With the increasing world population, pressure on both peace and availability of food are continuously increasing. Advancing agricultural research can explore a possibility to feed to all living beings. Agricultural crops are highly susceptible to climatic conditions and crop productivity which are mainly influenced by extreme weather conditions; including temperature and water availability. In open field conditions, during long dry weather condition, soil moisture reduces and increases the transpiration.

Plants are very important to all forms of life on the earth because they consume carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produce oxygen. In addition, plants make up the base of the food web. Basically, plants need five things in order to grow and these are: sunlight, proper temperature, moisture, air and nutrients. These five things should be provided by the natural or artificial environments where the plants live. If any of these elements are missing, they can limit plant growth. If any environmental factor is less than ideal, it limits the plant›s growth. People began putting plants indoor to avoid the damage from cold weather and this practice led to development of greenhouse. With the improvement in living standard and upgradation in agricultural technologies, off seasoned cultivation is also possible by providing desired artificial environmental conditions. The environmental stress weakens a plant and makes it more susceptible to disease or insect attack. In the modern engineering era, plant production systems have become more sophisticated. The desired climatic condition to grow plants and its control have changed from manual to automated digital operations and control computers have become faster and more capable.

Environmental control techniques are essential for protected cultivation and are not only for greenhouse’s cultivation but are also applicable to tissue culture and space farming as well. Environmental control in the present protected crop cultivation practices has been profusely supported by computer and sensor developments which is sometimes aslo called controlled environment agriculture.

9.1 Introduction

The increase in world’s population and respective food demand has brought the global concern. The climate change alone has put a tremendous burden on the farming communities, and has become the major challenge to feed the burgeoning population. It has been estimated that by the end of the year 2050, the global population will be around 10 billion, meanwhile, the food demand will also be increased by 70-100 %. The traditional method of agricultural practices are not sufficient enough to meet the rising food demand. Therefore, to meet the increasing food demand, agriculture is intensified by the use of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, which deteriorat the soil health. Thus, new automated/ mechanised systems have been introduced into the agriculture sector to ensure precision farming. These systems are quick in action, and satisfing the requirements along with generation of billions of employment worldwide. In a developing country like India, 65-70 per cent of the total population resides in rural areas, of which, most of the households are dependent on agriculture. The agriculture sector in India accounts for 18 per cent of the country’s GDP, and provide employment to 50 per cent of the total work force. The agriculture sector is one of the most sensitive sectors of Indian economy which supports all other sectors, and spreading its benefit to the far-reaching areas. Therefore, it becomes important for the developing country like India to develop agriculture sector to boost-up the rural economy.

With the advent of technology, a rapid transformation has been occurred in various industries, while agriculture remains the least digitized. Though, the application of aircraft/ drones in agriculture for fertilizer/ pesticides applications, image capturing, access to real-time quality data has adopted in some developed countries like Australia, USA, Japan, and some of the European countries. Moreover, these unmanned aerial vehicles could provide data of soil health, monitor crop health, assist in irrigation scheduling, yield estimation, and weather data analysis too. However, such development in agriculture is still lacking in developing countries. The agriculture development in the modern era could be done by taking the biological information and agricultural knowledge through integration of modern agriculture information technology with traditional agricultural practices. These knowledge integrations with mobile internet, cloud computing, and machine learning could enable to control the agricultural production system over stressed climate condition easily. Thus, Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is a sort of machine intelligence, an inbuilt set of programme and algorithms similar to the human brain in the current world is gaining more attention in agricultural application for precision farming.

10.1 Introduction

The agriculture sector is also transforming through technological intervention and advancements drastically to improve several processes and crop and livestock production systems. These advancements have resulted in minimizing operation and production costs, reduction of environmental impact and optimization overall production cycle. The major issue in the agriculture sector is human-intensive operation and non-availability of sufficient labor on time. The on-field task like fruit harvesting, intra-row weed control which is supposed to be more difficult to perform by the traditional machinery and manually. This has made to think to introduce the autonomous tractors and robotics platform in field operation. Timely activities and treatment play an important role in agriculture and agriculture production. The farmers generally face many problems in performing the task on the field due to various limitations. The cost is one of the main parameters which need to keep the farmer in a competitive market and reduce the cost of operation as low as possible. Also, the growing population demand more and more food which put pressure on the agriculture sector to raise crop production. In this situation, agriculture robots can play an important role to address the challenges in the farms. A robot can professionally perform the task and can automate the tasks which are difficult for manual labor. These are used in the agricultural lands and they are also completely autonomous. These robots are used in several applications in agriculture and can also work autonomously.

The robotic system has been widely used in industrial production and warehouses in an almost controlled environment. In the early 1960s, the agriculture and forestry sector initiated research into driverless vehicles with a focus on automatic steered system and autonomous tractors. Robotics has made an impact on agriculture and forestry since past few years. The purpose of minimizing the damage to the growing zone of soil tends to cater to the application of automatic vehicle guidance. The interest in the development of robotics system in agriculture has led many experts to explore the possibilities to develop more rational and adaptable vehicles based on a behavioural approach.

Abstract

Microbes are ubiquitously found in the environment. Their interaction with other living organisms could either be pathogenic or beneficial in nature. Soil as a rich source of microbes, researchers have extensively studied the plant-microbe interactions. The soil microbes supply the nutrients deficit plants with essential growth elements such as nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, etc. and improve the texture and quality of the soil. Due to the destructive nature of chemical fertilizers to soil and environment, it was required to generate a more ecofriendly means of increasing the soil fertility. This led to the development of microbes based biofertilizers. The primary benefit of biofertilizers is to promote a healthy soil environment along with supplying essential nutrients to the plant. Again, biofertilizers can be tailor-made according to the specific plant or the climatic conditions. Fungal and bacteria based biofertilizers, either alone or in combinations are formulated for the plants. Lately, liquid fertilizers are increasingly finding their use in the biofertilizer industry due to their ease in manufacture and prolonged effect on plant growth. The scope of this chapter lays on the currently popular biofertilizers and recent trends in the biofertilizer industry.

Abstract

The concern of global food security is growing day by day as the agriculturally available land is reducing each day with the expansion of industrialization and urbanization. During the course of urban and industrial development, crop production is greatly affected by global warming, contamination of hazardous materials, salinity and drought. To combat against such adversities, scientists have taken several additives measurement like development of transgenic crops, application of indigenous plant growth promoting microbes etc. for sustainable agriculture. Use of plant growth promoting microbes is getting popular day-by-day as they occupy a privilege niche with the autochthonous flora of specific environment. For the expanse of food and shelter, the microbes supply a wide range of plant regulators (e.g. auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins, ABA, phenols, NH₃ etc.), antibiotics, alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, diterpenes, enzymes (e.g. cellulases, lipases, proteinase, esterases etc.) etc. for overall development of the plant. Apart from growth promotion, it also protects the plants against pathogenic invasion creating a competition with pathogens for nutrition and habitat. In near future, formulation of different plant growth promoting bacteria (like alpha- Azorhizobium, Azospirillum, Ancylobacter, Rhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, Sinorhizobium, Novosphingobium sp., beta- Burkholderia sp., gamma- Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, Azotobacter, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Pantoea, Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas sp. Proteobacteria, Bacillus sp., Paenibacillus sp. and Actinobacteria- Microbacterium sp. etc.) and fungus (Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Penicillium etc.) may reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizer to promote greener ways of crop production.

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the most important factors contributing to the economic growth of India. Out of the 329 million hectares of India’s geographical area, about 114 million hectares are under cultivation. There are 17 essential elements required for proper plant growth. Of the mineral elements, the primary macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) are needed in the greatest quantities and are most likely to be in short supply in agricultural soils. Secondary macronutrients are needed in smaller quantities, and are typically found in sufficient quantities in agricultural soil, and therefore do not often limit crop growth. Micronutrients, or trace nutrients, are needed in very small amounts and can be toxic to plants in excess. Silicon (Si) and sodium (Na) are sometimes considered essential plant nutrients, due to their ubiquitous presence in soils.

The economy of India thrives on agriculture, the most practiced occupation in the country. Agricultural fertilizers are essential to enhance proper growth of plants and crop yield. Recently, farmers have been using chemical fertilizers for quicker and better yield. But these fertilizers endanger ecosystems, soil, plants, human and animal lives. In contrast, naturally grown biofertilizers not only give a better yield, but are also harmless to humans. This chapter aims to study the biofertilizers play a key role for enhancing economic development of sustainable agriculture (EDSA) in comparison to chemical fertilizers. Biofertilizers improve the crop yields, plant resistance, soil health, profit to farmers, and the benefit to cost ratio of biofertilizers were higher than chemical fertilizer, proved that the biofertilizers would lead to better sustainable economic development for the farmers and their country.

Abstract

Soil salinity is one of the major environmental stresses affecting crop productivity and soil health drastically, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas. Most of the vegetable crops being salt sensitive, grow poorly in saline and alkaline soils. Soil salinity affects crops mainly due to the osmotic stress and excessive accumulation of toxic ions (Na⁺, Cl^-, and SO₄ ^2-), whereas alkali soils are generally characterized by poor physical conditions due to high concentrations of bicarbonate (HCO₃ ^-) and carbonate (CO₃ ^2-) as well as high exchangeable Na⁺. Excessive concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) in soil or irrigation water can induce several morphological, physiological, and biochemical responses in plants leading to stunted growth and yield. This is due to osmotic (i.e., water deficit) and ionic (i.e., Na⁺ and Cl^-) effects on nutrient uptake/translocation and metabolic processes such as nitrogen assimilation, photosynthesis, and protein synthesis. Plant growth promoting microbes (PGPMs) are considered as promising tools to overcome the limitations of salinity on crop growth and productivity. Many PGPMs can enhance tolerance of crops to salt stress by increasing nutrient uptake through better solubilization of nutrients like phosphorus and zinc, and also by production of small peptides, volatiles and metabolites with hormone activities such as indole-3-acetic acid or auxin analogs in the rhizosphere. This chapter discusses the benefits of PGPMs in plant adaptations to salt stress conditions.

Abstract

In recent years, significant studies have been carried out on Plant growth promoting rizhobacteria (PGPR) to replace the usage of pesticides and fertilizers to improve the plant health. Plant growth promoting rizhobacteria (PGPR) is a group of rhizosphere bacteria, which are symbionts to plants and influence their growth by providing plant growth promoting substances. Different bacterial genera act as plant growth promoting rizhobacteria (PGPR): Pseudomonas sp., Rhizobium sp., Azotobacter sp., Bacillus sp. Pseudomonads are gram negative rods, aerobic, fluorescent, motile and are able to produce siderophores which influence plant growth. There are multiple potential traits offered to the plants by plant growth promoting (PGP) Pseudomonas sp. are (1) Biocontrol agent against plant pathogens (2) Induced systemic resistance, which is a defense mechanisms in plants preceding to pathogenic attack (3) Influence of plant growth promoting (PGP) Pseudomonas sp.on agricultural crops (4) Siderophores, which are low molecular, high affinity iron chelating compounds which benefits the plants to acquire iron molecules (5) Nitrogen fixation (6) Phytoremediation of heavy metals (7) Solubilization of inorganic phosphates (8) Secretion of plant hormones (9) Bacteriocins(10) Antifungal factors (11) Antibiosis traits and (12) Endophytic PGP Pseudomonas sp.

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture is vital in today’s world as it offers the potential to meet our agricultural needs, something that conventional agriculture fails to do. Current soil management strategies are mainly dependent on inorganic chemical fertilizers, which caused a serious threat to human health and environment. To overcome the ecological problems resulting from the loss of plant nutrients and to increase crop yields in the absence of resources for obtaining costly fertilizers, microscopic organisms that allow more efficient nutrient use or increase nutrient availability can provide sustainable solutions for the present and future agricultural practices. Microbial populations are instrumental to fundamental processes that drive stability and productivity of agro-ecosystems. Several investigations addressed at improving understanding of the diversity, dynamics and importance of soil microbial communities and their beneficial and cooperative roles in agricultural productivity. Thus the technique, which uses microscopic organism as biofertilizer, is environment friendly and ensures safe and healthy agricultural products. In this chapter we aim to provide a brief overview of potential use of biofertilizer for attaining sustainability of agro-ecosystem.

Abstract

Nitrogen (N₂) is an essential nutrient for every organisms. It is the building block of many biological molecules. Atmosphere contains 79% of N₂ gas which cannot be used by plants directly as it is chemically inert. Many diazotrophs like bacteria and cyanobacteria have the capability to convert atmospheric dinitrogen into a usable form by means of Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF). N₂ fixation is generally three types i.e. Asymbiotic, Associative and Symbiotic. Asymbiotic N₂-fixation also known as free living N₂-fixation is under taken by some bacteria and cyanobacteria. In associative N₂-fixation, some bacteria fix nitrogen in association with root of some grasses and cereal plants. In symbiotic nitrogen fixation, Rhizobium form root nodule in legumes and fix atmospheric N₂ and convert it into the ammonia (NH₃) by the help of Nitrogenase enzyme. This oxygen sensitive enzyme consist of two components i.e. di-nitrogenase (MoFe protein) and di-nitrogenase reductase (Fe protein) which are highly conserve in sequence and structure. The N₂ fixing genes e.g. nod gene (nodulation gene) and the nif gene (nitrogen-fixing gene) are located in the plasmid which is also called mega plasmid. Symbiotic association between legume and rhizobium have agronomic importantance and reduce the use of N-fertilizers or even avoided. The long term use of the nitrogenous biofertilizer in the agricultural field is a promising approach to develop and fulfil N₂ demand of the growing crop without causing any environmental hazard.

Abstract

Potassium is a very essential nutrient element that is required for proper health, growth, functioning and productivity of plants. However, up to 98% of this very important mineral is held up in insoluble, unavailable forms in the soil and with only approximately 2% soluble form available for plant use. Biofertilizers add nutrients to the soil for plant use by some mechanisms like the breakdown of phosphorus, potassium, fixing nitrogen, and also synthesizing some substances which in turn enhance plant growth. These processes take place naturally. Microorganisms that solubilize potassium have demonstrated an increased potassium uptake by plants when added as bio-inoculants consequently resulting in increased yield by these plants. This article reviewed the methods of isolation of potassium solubilizing bacteria and fungi and their use as biofertilizers. Data are presented showing summary of researches conducted on potassium solubilizing microorganisms and their findings. Figures on production efforts of biofertilizers in India per year and by states are also added.

Abstract

Potassium (K) is the third most essential macronutrient element for plants. More than 98% of K in agricultural soils are remained as insoluble organic and inorganic compounds or complexes that are unavailable for plant uptake. Nutrition of crop plants are heavily relied on application of expensive inorganic chemical fertilizers, which is a potential cause of environmental pollution. An eco-friendly alternative strategy for plant K nutrition could be the application of K solubilizing bacteria (KSB) as biofertilizer. Plant and soil-associated bacteria from diverse taxonomic genera such as Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Acidithiobacillus, Paenibacillus, Flectobacillus, Arthrobacter, Enterobacter, Sphingomonas, Paraburkholderia etc. have shown high K solubilizing activities and promote plant nutrition in K deficient soils. The mechanisms involved in their activities include acidolysis, chelation, exchange reactions, and enzymatic degradation of insoluble K minerals and other K complexes. However, inconsistency in the efficiency of KSB-based biofertilizer for crop production in diverse ecological settings is still a big challenge. Recent genomics, post-genomics and CRISPR-Cas genome editing approaches seem to be useful for a better understanding the underlying mechanisms of KSB and development of highly efficient K fertilizers for promoting sustainable agriculture. This chapter comprehensively reviews current updates of KSB-based biofertilizer and their potentials for promoting sustainable crop production. The role of genomics and post-genomics approaches for better understanding of the mechanisms of the functions of applied KSB-based biofertilizers in the crop field and mitigation of the existing inconsistency in the efficiency of KSB-based fertilizers are also discussed.

Abstract

Agriculture provides food, feed, fiber and many other desired products for survival of human beings in the world. Modern agriculture emphasizes on use of hybrid seeds, high yielding varieties and chemical fertilizer to increase the crop productivity within a short period. Indiscriminate use of synthetic fertilizers has led to environmental pollution and deterioration of soil health, which results in depletion of essential plant nutrients and organic matter in soil. On account of the environmental hazard and soil infertility, biofertilizer concept was developed. Biofertilizer are natural fertilizers including bacteria, fungi and algae alone or in combination that augment availability of nutrients to the plants. However, due to its short shelf life period it may not be a suitable candidate for modern agriculture. Thus, it is the need of the hour to develop an economic and eco-friendly nano-biofertilizer for sustainable agriculture.

Abstract

Phosphorus is the second important key element after nitrogen as a mineral nutrient in terms of quantitative plant requirement. Although abundant in soils, in both organic and inorganic forms, its availability is restricted as it occurs mostly in insoluble forms. The dynamics of phosphorus in soil is closely related to the dynamics of the biological cycle in which microorganisms play a central role. They also participate in the cycles of the most important macro and microelements such as phosphorus besides their major role in the decomposition of plant residues, creation of humus and maintenance of stable soil structure. Microorganisms affect the amount of phosphorus accessible to plants by means of mineralization of organic phosphorus compounds, immobilization of available phosphorus and solubilization of non-soluble phosphorus minerals such as tricalcium phosphate. Mineralization is catalyzed by microbiological enzymes phosphatases secreted by a diverse group of bacteria, fungi and other groups of microorganisms. Organic phosphorus mineralization in soil depends on several soil and environmental factors such as temperature, pH, soil moisture, degree of aeration. In this chapter the major emphasis is given on the transformation of P through microbiologically involving different enzymes and also the microorganisms involved in the process. Emphasis is also given on the factors that have profound influence on the microbial transformation of P in soil and ultimately making it available for plant uptake. This chapter also focuses on the mechanism of P solubilization, role of various phosphatases, impact of various factors on P solubilization and potential for application of this knowledge in managing a sustainable environmental system.

Abstract

Rhizobia are soil bacteria that fix atmospheric dinitrogen after establishing symbiotic relationship inside the root nodules of legumes (Fabaceae). Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria are the group of bacteria which thrive in the rhizosphere region and enhance the plant growth through direct & indirect mechanisms. Pulses are being inoculated with specific rhizobial strains to have better nodulation in India. The native rhizobial strains from the root nodules of legumes from different agroclimatic zones of Odisha was isolated, characterised and screened for PGP activities. Out of all eleven isolates showed similar characteristics with the family Rhizobiacae. Among them six isolates contained nif-gene and PGPR activity (B2, B4, B5, B6, B7 and B8) were applied to seeds, that helped in faster germination and better elongation of root and shoot. The observations were statistically significant.