eChapters

Seed germination

It is defined as the emergence and development from the seed embryo, of those essential structures, for the kind of seed in question, indicates its ability to produce a normal plant under favourable conditions. The seedlings devoid of an essential structure; showing weak or unbalanced development; decay or damage affecting the normal development of seedling are not considered in calculating the germination percentage.

An Act to provide for regulating the quality of certain seeds for sale, and for matters connected therewith. It enacted by Parliament in the Seventeenth Year of the Republic of India.

1. Short Title, Extent and Commencement

• This Act may be called the Seeds Act, 1966.
• It extends to the whole of India.
• It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act, and for different States or for different areas thereof.

House plants play an integral role in providing decorative value and aesthetic sense to the place. They are important component of interiorscaping and provides softscape. House plants are also considered as natural air filters as they provide freshness and many house plants are reported to absorb many house pollutants. The demand of house plants are generating many employment opportunities like plant rental services, interiorscaping etc. The house plants are preferred in homes, offices, hospitals, multiplexes etc.

Placement

These attractive house plants rightly deserve their place as interior decorations. “Shade loving” is an adjective often used to describe house plants, but this is a misnomer, Plants may be shade tolerant but they do not actually seek poor light. Diffused light through the glasses or windows’ can be effective you can supplement the suns’ rays with artificial light in the form of a “warm white” fluorescent tube. Then may be shifting them after frequent intervals in the open for a short duration in morning hours to supplement the sunlight during winter months and leaving them out overnight and bringing them after exposing them to early morning sunlight during hot months exposure for a desired time frame in the monsoon are some of the effective methods to make your house plants feel happier.

Abstract

Grain size distribution patterns of five rivers – Hooghly, Bhagirathi, Damodar, Ajoy and the Usri, were critically analyzed and compared with three model distributions: log-normal, log-hyperbolic and log-skew-Laplace. The log-normal and log-skew-Laplace are the limiting distributions of log-hyperbolic family. The Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system from where the sand samples were collected is tidal in nature whereas the other three rivers are non-tidal. The tidal effect on grain size distribution patterns was also studied. Bed load samples were collected from the foreset of different bedform sizes. A total number of 126 sediment samples were collected from different sections of the rivers under study.

It is observed that the grain size distribution pattern of the tidal stretch of the Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system has a tendency of attaining a log-skew-Laplace distribution model whereas the other three non-tidal river sediments show a clear log-normal distribution pattern as a best-fit statistical model.

A possible reason has been attributed. During prolonged transport of bed material, the coarser and finer sediments are separated in the following manner: coarser sediments are buried below the advancing ripple fronts whereas the finer sediments are transported further downstream as suspension load. As a result, sediments of a narrow range of size classes are active in the distribution pattern giving rise to symmetric and unimodal distribution patterns which are the main criteria of log-normality. On the other hand, due to the upstream and downstream movement during sediment transportation in tidal reaches, the same sediments are constantly reworked and the segregation of different size fractions is hindered causing a log-skew-Laplace distribution pattern.

Pesticide Formulation

Pesticide formulation is the process by which the pesticide is put into a form which can be easily produced, stored, transported and applied by practical methods in order to achieve a safe, convenient economic and effective method of pest control.

When a pesticide active ingredient (a.i) is manufactured, it is not in a usable form as it may not mix well with water or may be unstable. Therefore, it is mixed with other compounds to improve its effectiveness, safety, handling and storage. These other compounds can include solvents, mineral clays, stickers, wetting agents, or other adjuvant. The mixture of a.i. and inert (inactive) ingredients is called a pesticide formulation. Some formulations are premixed while others must be mixed before use. A single a.i. is often made into several formulations.

Introduction

Humans are able to live and work in almost all the environmental extremes of the planet earth and also in space due to their remarkable physiological adaptability and/or by modification of environment itself. Adequate nutrition plays a key role in adaptation and accordingly nutritional needs vary to a great extent. Nutraceutical, a term combining the words “nutrition” and “pharmaceutical”, is a food or food product that provides health and medical benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease. Such products may range from isolated nutrients, dietary supplements and specific diets to genetically engineered foods, herbal products, and processed foods such as cereals, soups, and beverages. Nutraceutical is a broad umbrella term used to describe any product derived from food sources that provides extra health benefits in addition to the basic nutritional value found in foods. Products typically claim to prevent chronic diseases, improve health, delay the aging process, and increase life expectancy. Phytochemical profile in important crops such as ber, aonla, pomegranate, date palm, karoda, bael, aloe vera, cactus pear of arid region have been indicated that there is wide variation among primary and secondary metabolites. Thus it has become imperative to look into markers linked to high contents of bioactive compounds rather than size and sweetness of the fruits during exploration and evaluation of the plant germplasm.

Introduction

Cactus pear belongs to Cactaceae family, is widely grown in Mexico and distributed in arid and semi arid tracts of several other parts of the world, such as Australia, Africa, USA and the Mediterranean basin and South East Asia. The future of arid and semi-arid areas of the World largely depends on the development of sustainable agricultural systems based on the use of appropriate crops. Suitable crops are those that successfully cope with water shortage, high temperature, variabilities, poor soils, and easy management to provide food and forage to poor farmers and herders. Opuntias fit most of the above described requirements. In addition, Opuntias play an important ecological role in combating desertification as well as producing fruits and vegetables for human consumption, forage or fodder for livestock, biomass for energy purposes, cochineal for carmine production, and numerous by-products (beverages, vegetarian cheese, drugs and cosmetics). They also provide shelter and food for various wildlife species in arid environments. The fruit known as tuna is a fleshy berry, varying in shape, size, and colour and has a consistent number of hard seeds. The fairly high sugar content and low acidity of the fruit makes it palatable and delicious. Cactus pear was largely treated as underutilized crop by the scientific world until the beginning of 1980, when there was a multiplication of research and symposia, resulting in a large number of publications, including books and book chapters. Recent research finding has, in fact, revealed the high content of some chemical constituents, which can give added value to this crop on a nutritional and bioactive profile. High levels of betalains, taurine, calcium, magnesium, and antioxidants are nutraceutically important. Moreover, some of the constituents show promising in terms of health beneficial quality. Cactus pear products could supplement to nutritional security and human health. The diverse genotypes of Cactus pear have different coloured fruit that show the presence of different antioxidants profiles.

An organic acid is an organic compound with acidic properties. The most common organic acids are the carboxylic acids, whose acidity is associated with their carboxyl group –COOH. However, sulphuric acids, containing the group –SO₂OH, are relatively stronger acids. Alcohols, with –OH, may also act as weak acids. Some other groups may also act as weak acids viz. thiol group and phenol group. In biological systems, organic compounds containing these groups are generally classified under organic acids. Some common organic acids are lactic acid, acetic acid, formic acid, citric acid, oxalic acid, uric acid, propionic acid and butyric acid. Organic acids have been used for decades in commercial compound feeds, mostly for feed preservation, for which formic and propionic acids are particularly effective. Since the ban of antibiotic growth promoters in many countries, organic acids have been used increasingly, not only because of their preservative qualities, but also for their nutritive properties. Organic acids and their salts are generally regarded as safe and have been approved by most member states of EU to be used as the feed additives in animal production.

Archaeobotany

Botany as far as it is relevant in archaeology mainly denotes all types of ancient organic material (in particular ancient plant remains) collected from excavation sites. The deliberate study of the interrelationship between humans and plants and the environmental context in which this occurred has been called archaeobotany.

Flowers are highly perishable unlike other horticultural or agricultural crops. Owing to poor keeping quality the post harvest losses in floriculture are significantly higher than any other sector. Although there has been significant increase in the area, production and productivity of flower crops in the last two decades, there is an urgent need to minimize the huge post harvest losses in terms of the value of the produce which are estimated to be 30-40 per cent of farm value. The post harvest behavior of flowers is an outcome of the physiological processes, occurring in leave, stem, flower bud, leafless peduncle or scape connecting bud to the stem. Some of these processes may act independently to affect the senescence and vase life of cut flowers but most of them are inter-related. The nature and extent of post harvest damage is typical for each crop or cultivar. The post harvest losses become important especially when dealing with the export of fresh flowers to distant and foreign market. Therefore, patient, soft and expert handling of flowers is of utmost importance after harvest.

Preservation means just protect the foods against the spoilage, but scientifically it may be defined as a science which deals with the process for prevention of decay or spoilage of the food is called preservation.

In other words, just controlling the physical, chemical or microbial changes in the foods is called preservation.

Physical Changes: Colour, flavour, texture and taste etc.

Chemical Changes: Carbohydrate, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals.

Microbial Changes: Mould, yeasts and bacteria

A. ICAR Agricultural Institutes

• Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Post Box No. 181. Andaman Nicobar & Lakshwadeep Group of Islands, Port Blair.
• Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur, (Rajasthan). Website: www.icar.org.in (Rajasthan).
• Central Avian Research Institute (CARI), Izatnagar, (Uttar Pradesh)
• Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI), Barrackpore (West Bengal). Web site: www.cifri.com.
• Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), P.O. No. 225, G.P.O., Panjari, Wardha Road, Nagpur (Maharashtra).
• Central Institute for Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), P.O. Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneshwar (Orissa).

ABSTRACT

In the present investigation on three different plant species from pollution and control area were carried act for biochemical analysis such as total chlorophyll content, leaf extract pH, relative water content and ascorbic acid test. The results indicate accordance to order of tolerance index of plant species in air pollution are Macrosolen cochinchinensis, Loranthus parasiticus and Viscum album. The changes in pollution tolerance index are biochemically induced due to the surrounding environmental conditions. Thus, it is observed that Macrosolen cochinchinensis is highly tolerant species among the selected three species. Thus, in future this plant species may play an important role in pollution indicator. APTI analysis show the pollution tolerating decreasing order for there species can be Macrosolen cochinchinensis> Loranthus parasiticus>Viscum album and as ascorbic acid result indicate that Macrosolen cochinchinensis show mostly defence mechanism and highly tolerance level against different kind of pollutant. Besides these three hemiparasite plant species have some valuable ethnomedicinal important. In India tribal people used leaf and stem bark in curing abortion, miscarriage, vaginal bleeding during pregnancy, treat circulatory and respiratory system problems.

An overwhelming proportion of plant material used for compounding herbal medicines and nutraceuticals is currently collected from the wild. With traditional health care systems gaining increasing popularity, the enormous amount of plant material extracted from the limited plant populations available in natural stands is a cause of justifiable alarm. The unscrupulous plunder of plant populations growing in the wild is pushing increasing number of important species to the endangered category and many to the verge of extinction. Also, unethical practices like adulteration and storage of medicinal plants under unacceptable conditions are rampant. All this is happening, when the consumer is becoming increasingly quality conscious and is demanding traceability of source material used for formulations and adherence to good practices for the entire chain of manufacturing process for herbal drugs and plant-based nutraceuticals. Clearly, solution to this problem lies in replacing the ‘collection from the wild ’ paradigm to ‘production by cultivation ’. An essential prerequisite for meeting this objective is a well thought out research agenda which not only tackles productivity enhancement goals for the targeted plant species but also addresses the validity of the entrenched notion among healers who use the traditional medical systems, that only material collected from the wild produces the desired results. The reason advanced in support of this argument is that phytomedicines are derived from plant populations growing in the wild under organic conditions and under their natural rhizosphere and rhizoplane. The associated soil-microbial complexes, and a variety of endophytic microorganisms, may be the initiators or modifiers of the production and expression of medicinal properties.

It also so happens that a majority of medicinal plants are shade loving, C4 types and will necessarily require their species-specific ambient environment for elicitation of the medicinally relevant moities.

1. Introduction

The objective of algal taxonomic collections is to represent the natural population, flora and diversity in size and form. Therefore, it is important to collect the representative samples seasonally from various habitats. Collection of information about the habitats and other details are also very important. For algal sampling the first thing to consider is how to collect the specimens. The freshwater algae show an ability to tolerate a wide range of environmental condition. Under natural conditions, they usually grow in mixed communities which may include many species and genera. Field study provides information about the site, environment, season and size and shape of the living algal thallus in its natural surroundings. Many algae can be tentatively identified by their appearance, shape and colour of thallus in a particular habitat. Algal population can be sampled in a number of different ways, depending on the nature of the habitat and the location of the algae within the water body. The specimens must be prepared carefully so that important morphological characters are displayed as fully and completely for further researches.

1. Introduction

Pteridophytes consist of ferns and their allies and are one of the oldest groups of plants on the earth, and they are commonly known as vascular cryptogams. Pteridophytes have a long history of evolution and were the dominant group of plants during the carboniferous period. The ferns, which constitute major element of the pteridophytes, preferentially grow in shade, moist habitats with moderate temperature but also occur throughout from high altitude in arctic-alpine to rain forests of tropic regions of the world. The most favoured habitat of these plants, however, is tropical mesic environment, where 65% of the living species of fernsthrive vigorously and grow luxuriantly (Page, 1979). Ferns are distinct in having rhizomes, stipes, fronds and are homosporous, whereas the fern allies exhibit scale like leaves and are heterosporous (mega and micro). In ferns, the spore matures into gametophyte that bears both male and female gametangia in a definite pattern. In fern allies, both the mega and microspore mature into female and male gametophyte that bears female and male gametangia, respectively. Pteridophytes are unique in having two different phases-the gametophyte and sporophyte. There has been a wide range of variation in spatial distribution, habitat, growth pattern and morphology of pteridophytes. Fern and fern allies, are comprised of six distantly related classes viz. Lycopodiopsida, Selaginellopsida, Isoetopsida, Equisetopsida, Psiloptopsida and Polypodiopsida (Copeland 1947; Pichi Sermoli 1987).

There are about 12000 species of the pteridophytes belonging to 300 genera in the world, whereas India is represented by about 1200 species (Chandra, 2000). Beddome (1892) during the first quarter of the twentieth century provided a comprehensive account on ferns of British India, and subsequently, Clarke (1880) and Hope (1899, 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904) made significant contributions in taxonomic studies of pteridophytes mainly the ferns of north western India. Several workers (Nayar and Kaur 1974; Dixit 1984; Chandra and Kaur 1987, 1994; Manickam et al. 1992; Khullar 1994, 2000; Chandra 2000; Singh 2003; Singh and Panigrahi 2005a, 2005b) have significantly contributed towards the taxonomy of Indian pteridophytes.

1. Introduction

Biological systematics (biosystematics) deals with the grouping of biological organisms in discrete taxonomic units based on their character states. These character states are determined through morphological, anatomical, ecological, biochemical and molecular biological analyses of specific parameters. If these character states are converted into numerical parameters, we can apply several statistical and numerical methods to achieve appropriate biosystematic inferences. In fact this particular application of statistical and numerical methods has given rise to what we may describe as Numerical Taxonomy, a concept first developed by Robert R. Sokal and Peter H. A. Sneath nearly a half century ago. In recent years the application of numerical methods to taxonomy has received a great deal of attention with the development of the computer and computer technology to the extent that even classical taxonomists are now resorting to the use of such numerical taxonomy methods with the help of computers. In this article the various methods commonly used, their application and specific limitations or otherwise are discussed in the context of their usefulness for classification and taxonomic disposition of the plants.

Chromatography is an important analytical technique for the separation, isolation and identification of the constituents of a mixture. It is a physical method of separation in which the components to be separated are distributed between two phases; one of these phases consisting a stationary bed of large surface area, the other being a fluid that percolates through or along the stationary bed. All forms of chromatography do have the common features given in this definition. All of them involve the physical movements of the sample across a flat surface (tube like) or through a tube. The stationary phases in all of these possess a large surface area. In all the techniques, the movement of the sample is due to the motion of the fluid/mobile phase. The principle underlying all these methods is the selective retardation of the movement of the components by the stationary phase. These methods result in the production of bands of concentrated components. The basis of naming various chromatographic methods are different:

Meat is an animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys or lungs. Meat is highly nutritious food because it contains protein, fat and carbohydrates in relative proportion, supply energy as required by the human body, posses ability to build or replace tissues and the substances present in meat are easily absorbed by the human body. Meat is also a good source of B-complex vitamins but fat soluble vitamins are low in meat. It is a good source of phosphorous, zinc and iron but low in calcium. Meat also contains significant amount of copper, sodium, potassium and magnesium but low in carbohydrate contents. Carbohydrate is found mainly in form of glycogen which disappears completely after completion of rigor mortis. In general lean red meat is particularly good source of protein, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, phosphorus, zinc and iron. About 100g of meat can provide more than 25% RDI of these nutrients. It also provides more than 10% RDI of riboflavin, pantothenic acid and selenium. Of the four meats, mutton is particularly nutrient-dense and the richest source of thiamine.

Ageing of meat is also known as conditioning or tenderising or ripening or maturing and sometime resolution of rigor. It is a process of holding unprocessed meat above freezing point under controlled conditions. By this process we can make muscle soft and pliable thus meat becomes tender. When we keep the meat above freezing point at temperature between 0-3ºC then all those changes occurs which are normally occurs at higher temperature i.e. atmospheric oxidation and enzymatic action of fat, bacterial action etc. When this temperature range becomes below freezing point then it inhibits completely the enzymatic action in the muscles. Ageing is required for marked increase in flavour, juiciness and tenderness of meat. In this process action of enzymes in meat plays key role while bacterial action is not of any importance. Meat tenderness and taste are definitely improved if carcasses or vacuum packed cuts are conditioned after slaughter but paradoxically beef is quite tender just two hours after slaughter and several days of conditioning are required to recover this degree of tenderness.

During the contraction of muscles, thick and thin filaments sliding to each other and decreases the length of sarcomeres. In turn, this decreases the length of fibrils, fibres and the whole muscle. If these muscles remain in contracted length when rigor develops, it causes massive overlap of thick and thin filaments leading to severe meat toughness. It is also necessary to avoid the cooling of meat too rapidly after slaughter, otherwise it cold-shortens and gets tough. If we avoid cold-shortening of muscles during conditioning, it will increase meat tenderness. But with too much conditioning, weight loss, surface spoilage and the cost of refrigerated storage increases.

Ageing of carcasses with little or no fat cover is not recommended by meat specialists. Because these carcasses loose moisture rapidly, loose weight excessively and discolour the meat surface rapidly. In addition, lean meat is also susceptible to deterioration through microbial growth, slime formation by bacteria and mould growth etc. Ageing is important for beef and buffalo meat while pork and lamb do not require ageing because they are slaughtered in the age where they are young and inherently tender. Additionally, the unsaturated fats found in pork fat oxidize during ageing causes rancidity and off flavour. Veal has very little protective fat covering and is high in moisture; thus it does not lend itself to ageing.

Climate change mitigation is urgent, and adaptation to climate change is crucial, particularly in agriculture, where food security is at stake. The gases contributing to the greenhouse effect mainly include carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and methane (CH₄). These gases have varying global warming potentials, which can be expressed in CO₂ equivalents.

Agriculture, currently responsible for 2030% of global greenhouse gas emissions (counting direct and indirect agricultural emissions), can however contribute to both climate change mitigation and adaptation. The main mitigation potential lies in the capacity of agricultural soils to sequester CO₂ through building organic matter. This potential can be realized by employing sustainable agricultural practices, such as those commonly found within organic farming systems. Examples of these practices are the use of organic fertilizers and crop rotations including legume leys and cover crops. Mitigation is also achieved in organic agriculture through the avoidance of open biomass burning, and the avoidance of synthetic fertilizers, the production of which causes emissions from fossil fuel use.

Organic agriculture is associated with higher carbon sequestration as many organic practices help to improve soilquality and carbon sequestration. The most common organic practices that increase soil organic carbon are the use of organic fertilizers (such as the composted waste products from livestock husbandry), crop rotation involving legumes and the planting of cover crops.

Organic farming offers several ways to mitigate climate change when compared to conventional agriculture:

Primarily, organic farming, through its key practices of organic fertiliser use and crop rotations with forage legumes, tends to increase soil organic carbon levels resulting in carbon sequestration.This contributes to climate change mitigation, as it absorbs CO₂ from the atmosphere and stores the additional carbon in the soil. However, depending on soil type and climatic conditions, this process usually comes to a halt after some decades, when soil organic carbon levels have reached a new equilibrium and soils arethus saturated with respect to organic carboncontents. Furthermore, this storage of organiccarbon is reversible and the carbon can again be released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide when switching to unsustainable practices.

1. INTRODUCTION

Fruit production is not only the growing of fruit plants but it is an outcome of well planned orcharding system. The designing of an orchard for successful fruit production depends upon various physical as well as climatic conditions and resources which help in building up of fruit growing systems. An orchard is a long term investment, mistakes committed at initial stage of planning, selection of site and soil reduces the return greatly from investment, beside wastage of time and energy. Thus, a faultless planning with utmost care and attention become quite imperative while planning a new orchard.

2. PLANNING OF ORCHARD

Before undertaking the actual planting of fruit trees, it is advisable to plan the complete process/steps, which will enable the grower to provide not only the most economic orchard management, but also for the economic layout and location of roads, drains, irrigation channels, hedges and wind breaks. For establishing an orchard of fruits, the major consideration must be given to four important aspects like climate, site or location selection, soil condition and basic facilities (economic and market consideration).

1. INTRODUCTION

Nursery management is the backbone of fruit industry. The nurseries will have to play vital role in planned work for increasing the area under orchard. They are indeed the hub on which the success of an orchard depends. It provides continuous supply of healthy and certified planting material. So, one should give utmost attention while raising fruit plants.

The fruit plants are the foundation on which an orchard is built. If the plants are reliable and of guaranted performance, they will be high yielding and will produce quality fruits. There are many nurserymen in several fruit belts of the country who multiply thousands of fruit plants vegetatively for sale. It is desirable to raise only reliable, true-to-type, disease resistant and vigorous and precocious plants in order to have success in the fruit development programme in the country. At present there are several research stations and progeny- cum-demonstration orchards, Govt nurseries and also private registered nurseries engaged in the propagation of fruit plants.

Stone fruits like peaches, plums, apricots, almonds and cherries liked by one and all throughout the world for its colour, taste and nutritional value and grown in all part of the temperate zone and lower hill area of the country. The common procedure to raise nursery trees is to grow rootstocks from seeds or cuttings and then to bud known suitable varieties upon them. The stone fruits do not come true- to-type when raised from seed and therefore, nursery plants are generally raised through vegetative methods of propagation either on their own roots by cuttings or layering techniques or on the roots of other plants (rootstocks) by budding and grafting techniques. Rootstocks play an important role in quality fruit production. The stone fruits are generally propagated on rootstocks rather than on their own roots to have an advantage of rootstocks, like growth control, precocity, cropping and resistance to insect-pest and diseases.

1. INTRODUCTION

Vegetables differ widely from field crops in their requirements for land preparation and cultural practices because of their differences in their morphologies, growth habit, and socio-economic values. In preparing land for vegetable production, ecological location, mode of cropping, season, crop disposition and the type of vegetables to be grown are taken into consideration.

Clearing: It is often necessary to remove the vegetation cover when a piece of land is to be used for vegetable production. The land clearing methods may involve removing the remains of previous crops and undergrowth, cutting back the woody shrubs and trees and burning them.

Levelling: When the site has been cleared, uneven land may have to be leveled. This facilitates the process of ploughing, harrowing ridging and layout of the site.

Land preparation and layout depend on

I. INTRODUCTION

Horticultural crops include fruits, vegetables, flowers, plantation crops, spices, and medicinal and aromatic plants have emerged as a major economic activity in India. It contributes 30% GDP from 11.73 % of its arable land area. Horticulture crops cover over 23.4 million hectares of area, which is approximately 12.7% of the total gross cropped area of the country and contributes 18-20% of the gross value of India’s agricultural output (NHB, 2013). India is the world’s second largest fruit and vegetable producing country accounting for 77.7 million metric tonnes of fruit and 159.5m M tonnes of vegetables (NHB, 2013). Besides, about 5.66 million tonnes of loose flowers, spices, mushroom and aromatic plants are also produced. The country produces 41% of world mangoes, 23% banana, 24% cashew nut, 36% green peas, 10% onion and 30% cauliflower and accounts for 12% of world fruit and 13.25% of vegetable production (NHB, 2013). Owing to wide diversity of agro climatic conditions, almost all types of temperate (apple, peach, plum, apricot, cherries and nuts), subtropical (mango, guava, papaya, etc), tropical (banana, pineapple etc), arid fruit (ber and aonla), plantation crops (coconut, cashewnut and arecanut) and diverse variety of vegetables are grown in India. The export of fresh fruit and vegetables from India in 2006-07 was estimated at 9.84 Lakh tonnes valued at Rs 2411.70 crores. Mango, grapes, apple, onion, potato, green vegetables like okra, bitter gourd and green chillies were the major items of export. Similarly, India exported 5.97 Lakh tonnes of processed foods comprising of mango pulp, juices, concentrates, dried and processed vegetables, pickle and chutney, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages worth Rs 2818.1 crores (APEDA, 2012) (Table 1 to 3).

1. INTRODUCTION

Quality, i.e. the degree of excellence or superiority, is a combination of attributes, properties, or characteristics that each commodity value in of human food. The relative importance of each quality component depends upon the commodity and its intended use (e.g. fresh or processed) and varies among producers, handlers, and consumers. Appearance of quality, firmness and shelf-life are important from the point of view of wholesale and retail marketers. Consumers judge quality of fresh fruits and vegetables on the basis of appearance and firmness, flavour (eating) quality of the product. Consumers are also concerned about the nutritional quality and safety of fresh fruit and vegetables.

1. TERMS RELATED WITH BROWNING

1. INTRODUCTION

Food is constantly being rated for its quality either consciously or subconsciously by all people. Consumers choose food on the basis of its quality and their individual likes or dislikes. The attractiveness of food is clearly a quality which is important both to the manufacturer and to the consumer. When consumers make a selection they basically look for food that is attractive in terms of colour, flavour and texture apart from other psychological and social factors, which they may associate with food. The nutritional quality, shelf-life/keeping quality and cost factor are other criteria which may affect their selection.

The distinctive and attractive colour of food is not only pleasing but is also an indicator of good quality and freshness. The senses of taste and odour help us in detecting and appreciating different flavours and deciding on whether we like the food. The feel and texture of food entering the mouth should be firm, juicy, crisp and are extremely important characteristics that dictate the acceptance of a food. Today’s consumers are discerning, demanding, and more knowledgeable about food. They expect safe products having good value and high sensory quality. Therefore, knowing consumer’s preferences and perceptions of the sensory characteristics of food and beverage products is vital to food manufacturers. Without appropriate evaluation, there is a high risk of market failure.

Eswaran (2007) made graphic analysis with the model proposed by Jinks and Hayman (1953). He evolved 30 hybrids from six parents in a diallel fashion. The results are presented in Tables 71-74

Among the different biometrical methods available, triple test cross analysis is one of the most efficient designs currently available for investigating the genetic structure of populations. It provides a test of epistasis and in its absence it gives independent and equally precise estimates of additive and dominance genetic components (Mather and Jinks, 1982).

11.1. Statistical analysis

Triple test cross

Jinks and Perkins (1970) method was applied to detect epistasis and estimate additive and dominance components of genetic variance.

Generation of new genetic variability through recombination breeding followed by appropriate selection procedure is one of the key factor for crop improvement. Gain in selection is restricted by correlated response of agronomically desirable as well as undesirable characters. There is a host of examples in various crop species where genes for desirable agronomic traits have been found to be closely linked with those governing undesirable characters (Murthy, 1971; Clegg et al., 1972). Such close linkages delay the realization of the full recombination potential in many crops. The biparental mating or the disruptive mating scheme, finds its importance in the improvement of autgamous speice,s because it increases the probabilities of obtaining useful recombinants as compared to selection without intermating (Hanson, 1959; Jensen, 1970).

In contrast to classical pedigree breeding, random mating population could produce large amounts of variability. This variability can be maintained in the population by the use of recurrent intermating, while the population is improved by selection. According to the standard breeding methodology in self-pollinated crops selection for quantitative characters are generally taken up in early segregating generations. For characters like yield, selection is continued till the material becomes homozygous. Such characters are controlled by large number of genes and a very large population has to be raised to make selection effective. Since most plant breeders could never grow the theoretically required size of population, the recombination is highly restricted. It is likely that many of the valuable genes may be practically lost in the process of advancing the material by continued selfing the generations. Andrus (1963) suggested crossing of selected sibs in early generation for reassembling the genes capable of functioning in a balanced polygenic system.

Abstract

India ranks in the world’s five largest producers of over 80% of agricultural produce items. Processing of agricultural produce generates substantial amount of crop residues which can have tremendous value to farmers. However, a large portion of the residues is burned on farm primarily to clear the field from straw and stubble; which affects the environment, soil health and crop yield.The conversion of crop residues to eco-friendly and valuable product like biochar is need of the hour. Biochar is an organic amendment which slowly releases C in the soil, and is stable over the years. Various applications of biochar like reduction in greenhouse gases emission, sequestering C in the soil, increasing crop yield, used as combusting fuel and livestock feedmakes it a promising candidate for sustainable agriculture and environment.

Abstract

Nutrition and genetics both have very crucial role in human health and in development of chronic diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Difference between individuals in response to dietary intervention is a well-known phenomenon in nutrition research (Ordovas, 2008).The effect of dietary changes on phenotypes such as blood cholesterol, body weight and blood pressure can differ significantly between individuals (Ordovas et al., 2007). Various bioprocess i.e. ingestion, absorption, digestion, transport, metabolism and excretion of nutrients and food bioactive components in human body is carried out through proteins such as enzymes, receptors, transporters, ion channels and hormones. Genetic variation leads to altered production and affect functional properties of these proteins. Furthermore nutritional efficacy is also different among different individuals which might be affected by nutritional status. Thus diet and gene expression are interrelated and have a mutual effect on physiology of human body.

Abstract

We are very fortunate to be born in a nation which is blessed with awesome decent variety of natural products, fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses and so forth. The population of India expanded consistentlythat cause a genuine sustenance and shelter problem. The supply of food is not adequate to fulfill the demand of the consumers. This shortage of food is the root for adulteration of foodstuffs by the traders. Food adulteration is a procedure in which the nature of sustenance is brought down either by the addition of inferior quality material or by extraction of valuable ingredient. An adulterant is a chemical substance which should not be contained within other substances (food, beverages) for legal or other reasons. The addition of adulterants is called adulteration. Food is adulterated to increase the quantity and make more profit. The food is sucked of its nutrients and the place where the food is grown is often contaminated. For instance: milkis mixed with water. Vanaspati is utilized as an adulterant for ghee. Adulteration of food is unsafe as it may be toxic and causes serious health hazards to the consumer. To evade this issue government has passed an act which is known as preservation of Food Adulteration Act. It covers security from risks involved due to contamination of poisonous elements. Instead of government efforts the informed and aware consumers will have the capacity to dispense with this issue. So, here in the chapter adulterants their types, effect on human health, laws and control measurement were reviewed and discussed.

Abstract

Agriculture is the major sector for the livelihood of the billions of people worldwide. Increasing population and decreasing arable lands are the major concern for the fulfillment of the desired food production. After green revolution more production in the crop is obtained by worldwide. Several insects and pests are responsible for the inhibition of desired production in agriculture. Therefore, pesticides play a major role in the control of destructive insects and pests. After ban of organochlorine pesticides, organophosphorus pesticides has been used vigorously. Beside the effective pest management in agriculture, residual organophosphorus pesticides are more lethal for human and other living creature. Monitoring of these compounds is very much essential in the food and agricultural samples. Chromatographic techniques are well adopted techniques for the hundreds of residual pesticides. Introduction of various analyzers in chromatographic techniques improve the monitoring of the residual pesticides from different samples. Therefore, recent advancement in residual pesticides isolation and chromatographic techniques has been discussed in this book chapter.

Pulses are gaining more important position in Indian agriculture. After green revolution, India became self sufficient in case of food grain production. However, India is still lagging behind in case of pulses production and is dependent on imports for the domestic consumption in present days. As there is little scope to increase area under pulse, the production can be increased by enhancing the productivity by various agro techniques. Among various factors which limit the pulse production and productivity, poor weed management at the early stages of crop growth, is one of them( Dash et al., 2003 and Dash & Mishra, 2014). Yield loss due to weed have been enumerated by different workers at different places to the tune of 20-65 per cent depending upon the crop growth stages, weed intensities and environment conditions. There are many methods available to control the weed menace at different crop growth stages but the integrated weed management (IWM) is considered to be a more practical and effective approach in the long run since combination of methods will take care of weeds in totality and prevents seed production of weeds and enrichment of soil seed bank (Das, 2008). IWM also provides continuous control of weeds over the crop growth stages than a single method in isolation. Hence application of suitable organic herbicide supplemented with one/two manual weeding are being advocated to control the weeds. Other weeding practices like hoeing, inter- cultivation, mowing, earthing up, weeding by mechanical weeder etc. may be substituted or supplemented to the manual weeding. IWM also reduces the modern day weed problems like weed shift, herbicide resistance, and preponderance of perennial and parasitic weed problems. Under high cropping intensity adoption of IWM practices always generate higher income and maximum profit to the growers.

In Indian Agriculture pulses play an important role in maintaining soil fertility and supplying protein to the vegetarian population of the country. This is because they are endowed with unique property of fixing atmospheric nitrogen in their root nodules and improving soil physical property. Further, it is not only the high protein content of pulses for which they are important, but the amino acid profile of these proteins is such that the mixed diet of cereals and pulses has superior biological value than either of the components alone.

Yield gap of a crop is the difference between the maximum yield under optimum management condition and the average yield achieved by the farmers. Yield under optimum management condition is otherwise known as potential yield of the crop. Because of concerns about global food security problem of malnutrition, there is necessary to minimize the yield gaps in order to enhance food production within limited resources. This will reduce vast majority of undernourished population residing in under-developed countries. Assessment of potential yield and the gap between potential and actual yield is very much necessary before any investment for improving crop production (Nanda and Sahoo 2010).

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.), belonging to the family Moraceae, is indigenous to the rain forests of the Western Ghats of India (Menon and Peter, 2011; Amma anbd Kumaran, 2011; Alila and Sanyal, 2011). It spread early onto other parts of India, south-east Asia, the East Indies and the Philippines. It is often planted in central and eastern Africa and is fairly popular in Brazil and Surinam (Menon, 2011). Its tree is adapted to humid tropical and near-tropical climates. The jackfruit tree is handsome and stately. In the tropics, it grows to an enormous size. One of the popular cultivar, Ceylon, was introduced into India from Ceylon and planted extensively in our country.

PRESENT STATUS

India is the second largest producer of jack fruit in the world and better known as the motherland of jackfruit (Verhji and Coronel, 1992; Chadha, 2003; Amma and Kumaran, 2011). Though, it is indigenous to India, but also found widely grown in Bangladesh, Burma, Sri lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil and other tropical countries (Milan, 2011). In India, it has wide distribution in Asam, Tripura, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, foothills of the Himalayas and Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh. It is one of the three auspicious fruits of Tamil Nadu along with mango and banana. Jackfruit is very extensively grown all over the state of Tripura. As per the records of the Department of Horticulture and Soil Conservation, Government of Tripura, the area under jackfruit is about 9,012 ha with a total production of 2,69,404 tonnes (2012-13).

7.1 Introduction

Energy has become a critical input for the economic development of the India because of the wide spread scarcity of oil and electricity and other commercial form of energy.

The rural areas are often the worst affected because of these shortages and the rural population continues to depend on the inefficient non-commercial energy from like fire wood, cow dung, human and animal for meeting their energy requirement for subsistence, production and devolvement needs.

The rural energy crises or “The energy crisis” has been getting increased attention from the policy makers to tackle the problem in a planned and integrated manner.

The rural energy sector is concerned with two major planning issues.

1. Provision of energy for meeting substance needs for cooking, heating and lighting of the rural areas of the country. This problem is also directly linked to the problem of deforestation and environmental destruction being caused in the rural area because of indiscriminate and wide spread use of non conventional energy sources.
2. Meeting energy requirements for production activities which would create employment and productivity in rural areas.

Abstract

Satellite imagery interpretation has shown the existence of a major Palaeochannel system in the Great Indian desert. These palaeochannels belong to the mythological Sarasvati river, which seems to have flowed southwesterly close to the Aravalli hill ranges and joined the sea in the Great Rann of Kutch. Subsequently it seems to have shifted northwesterly, and more precisely in an anti-clockwise direction and got buried in the desert in Anupgarh plains. While its oldest course is the now misfit Luni river, its final trace is now represented by Ghaggar river. Whereas its overall northwesterly migration is attributed to NE-SW trending cymatogenic arching along the Great Rann of Kutch in the southwest to the Siwalik hills in the northeast, its multivariate palaeodrainage is attributed to block faulting and land subsidence in the Bikaner sector.

Abstract

The landslides of the hill ecosystems are either due to the natural morphotectonic and morphodynamics processes of the planet earth or due to the anthropogenic effects or due to the combinations of the both. In the Indian subcontinent, the landslides are reported from three major provinces viz: Himalayas, Westernghats and The Nilgiris. While the landslides of the Himalayas are demonstrated to be predominantly due to active tectonics, the landslides of the Westernghats are attributed to excessive weathering and rock fall. On the contrary the landslides of the Nilgiris have been thought to be due to extensive deforestation and the related increase in the pore pressure during rainy seasons. But the studies carried out in the recent years show that not only in the Nilgiris but also in other hill systems of Tamil Nadu, the landslides seem to be related to the recent earth movements. This is very significant in the context of fastly recurring seismicities in South India and hence this aspect warrants detailed studies for landslide mitigation.

ABSTRACT

Tropical wet evergreen and tropical moist deciduous forests were the preferred habitats of the Brown-hawk Owl. Detection rate and response to the broadcasted calls were highest during the breeding season and in all the census points, more than one individual i.e. either in pair or three individuals were detected. Besides conspecific species, some heterospecific species were also found to respond to the broadcasted calls of Brown-hawk Owl, where the Brown-hawk Owl was not detected during the Initial Quite Listening survey. Moreover, approach of the sympatric species was observed only in the riparian strip and in rest of the habitats they responded only with calls. No significant seasonal difference was observed in the habitat utilization but seasonality was observed in the response and the approaching distance to the conspecific calls broadcasted. Additionally, the response to the conspecfic calls indicated that the owls were responding to the conspecfic calls throughout the year.

ABSTRACT

Young buds of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) were isolated and cultured on MS media with BA 3 mg l^-1 induced shoot organogenesis. Young buds from aseptically grown cultures were evaluated for the effectiveness on embryogenic callus production on different concentration of auxin in combination with cytokinin. Among the plant growth hormones tested a combination of 2, 4-D 1 mg l^-1 and BA 0.5 mg l^-1 was most effective in inducing and maintaining embryogenic cultures. The somatic embryo germinated on half strength MS medium supplemented with 3 per cent w/v sucrose and 3 mg l^-1 BA.

ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted to screen fungal isolates for chitinolytic activity and to clone full-length endochitinase gene from fungus. Among the ten isolates tested (Trichoderma harzianum 1, 2, 3, Trichoderma koningii, Trichoderma virens, Trichoderma viride, Aspergillus oryzae Metarshizium verrucasia, Bauveria bassiana, Nomuraea releyi), Trichoderma koningii showed higest colloidal chitin hydrolysis when screened in Mandels and Reese (1969) salts supplemented with colloidal chitin as the sole carbon source followed by Aspergillus oryzae. Nomuraea releyi showed least chitinolytic activity. Other isolates were on par with each other. The use of diagnostic primers showed specific amplification of 260 bp in Trichoderma harzianum isolates 1,2 and3, Trichoderma koningii and Trichoderma virens, which confirmed presence of endochitinase gene.

Attempts were made to clone full-length endochitinase gene from isolates showing chitinolytic activity. A unique amplicon of 1.7Kb from Trichoderma virens was cloned into linear pTZ57R/T vector with T over hangs. The confirmation of clones was made through blue/white colony assay, plasmid mini-preparation and PCR amplification of these plasmids, sequencing and BLAST search at NCBI. Among the clones confirmed, pSAV804 was sequenced that showed 98% homology with other reported endochitinase genes from Trichoderma spp at DNA and protein level. 85.7% of the protein is conserved. The ORF of the sequence comprises of 822 bases, which deduces 274 amino acids. The position of primer sequence in the insert and BLAST results confirmed the reverse orientation in the vector. The endochitinase gene now needs to clone into the expression and plant expression vectors for further studies.

ABSTRACT

Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi are known to improve the mineral nutrient and water status of the plants even under various abiotic stresses. During present investigations VAM fungus Glomus fasciculatum was used for developing mycorrhizal association with Sesbania sesban (L.) Merrill. In general mycorrhizal (M) plants exhibited better growth and development and showed significantly higher chlorophyll content, better PS II as well as PS I activities when compared to NM plants.

In general, both M and NM plants invariably showed reduced growth and development upon exposure to drought stress. However, the M plants could confront this abiotic stress more effectively than the NM plants. This was vindicated by the faster decline in the chlorophyll content and the photochemical activities in NM plants in comparison to the M plants upon exposure to drought stress. The higher photosynthetic efficiency of the M plants under drought stress indicate the presence of certain adaptive strategies in the form of osmotic adjustment operational in these plants through VAM association. The osmotic potential of the leaf cell sap in M plants was significantly lower than that of NM plants of Sesbania sesban, when exposed to either drought stress. The lower y of M plants as compared to NM plants under drought stress could be due to the accumulation of compatible solutes such as proline and sugars. A higher level of proline accumulation in the leaves of M plants than NM plants exposed to drought stress help them to counteract the adverse effects of stress better than NM plants.

INTRODUCTION

Zoonoses are diseases and infections which are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and humans. The pathogens that cause zoonotic diseases are bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites or protozoa. Disease transfer occurs via direct or indirect exposure to the pathogen. A pathogen is contracted directly through skin to skin contact of an infected animal or through ingestion of diseased animal products (infected faeces, urine, saliva, blood, milk or other bodily fluids). A bite or sting from a diseased animal or through an infected invertebrate host directly transfers the pathogen to humans as well. Indirect exposure occurs through air, water or soil in which the pathogen can survive for a limited period of time without a host ( Acha, et al., 2003).

CLASSIFICATION OF ZOONOSES

The World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Zoonoses came up with the following classification system of zoonoses based on the type of life cycle of the pathogen.

Sulphur (S) occurs in soil in both organic and inorganic forms. Inorganic S fraction may occur as sulphate (SO₄^2-) and compounds of lower oxidation state such as sulphide (S^2-), polysulphide (S_n^2-), thiosulphate (S₂O₃^2-) and elemental sulphur (S⁰). In well drained soils inorganic S usually present as sulphate. Under anaerobic condition (reduced or waterlogged soil) inorganic S mainly occur as sulphide and under extreme condition as elemental S form. Estimation of S carried out in two steps:

1.0. Introduction

Any commodity, produce or harvest in organic or inorganic form to be fit to eat by a particular society, and contributes materially towards growth and repair of tissue is known as food. Food processing is application of techniques in a systematic manner for preventing losses through preservation, processing, packaging, storage and distribution to ensure greater availability of a wide variety of foods. It is a set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals.

The early stages of food processing were largely confined to primary processing of food crops, commodities and produce whereby all these rendered fit for consumption or sale in the markets. Processing of rice and oil seeds were the necessities of that time for living. Later on, World War II gave a fillip to some of other food processing industries to meet the demand of the defence forces of the country. Fruits and vegetables processing; wheat and sugar milling drew support and sustenance from the exigencies created by war. Post war situation almost merged into the post-independence scenario. However, food processing industry received its first major impulse after independence. During this time, all the primary food processing industries received top most priority and all necessary support from the Governments in the country.

Role of Agriculture in Livelihood Systems

For the developing countries like India, where a majority of families, in both the farm and non-farm sectors, derive their livelihoods from agriculture, sustainability of agriculture cannot be discussed or even defined in isolation of the issue of livelihoods. Livelihood is defined as adequate stock and flow of food and cash with an individual or a family to meet its basic needs. Livelihood security then means secured ownership of, or access to, resources and income-earning activities, including reserves and assets to offset risks, ease shocks and meet contingencies. There are four principal ways of acquiring livelihoods by the rural households. First is the production-based livelihood. A large proportion of the small and marginal farmers gain livelihoods through production on small pieces of land. For these households, availability or access to inputs and improved methods of production are quite critical for their livelihoods. Second is the labour-based livelihood. Most of the small landholders and landless rural households derive livelihoods by selling their labour. For their livelihoods, demand for labour, wage rates and prices of food are the critical factors. Third is the exchange- or market- based livelihood. Those rural households which produce surplus food and non-food agricultural products or non-farm goods earn their livelihoods by selling these surpluses in the market. The marketing system for these products and relative prices of what they sell and what they buy, affect their livelihoods. The fourth set of livelihoods is transfer-based entitlements. The households without any income-earning asset or able-bodied person to work depend for their livelihoods on transfers from the government or other social organizations. Government’s social security and food assistance programmes are relevant for this group of rural households in fulfilling their livelihood requirements. The rural livelihood systems in the developing countries thus encompass a broad range of factors and depend on several macro sub- systems of the economy.