eBook Chapters

1.1 Spice – definition and uses

Spice is defined as “a strongly flavoured or aromatic substance of vegetable origin, obtained from tropical plants, commonly used as a condiment”. A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, rhizome, bark or vegetative substance or flower bud used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavoring. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are leafy, green plant parts used for flavoring purposes. Herbs, such as basil or oregano, may be used fresh, and are commonly chopped into smaller pieces; spices, however, are dried and usually ground into a powder (http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Spice). American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) defines spices as “any dried plant product used primarily for seasoning purposes”. Included are tropical aromatics (pepper, cinnamon, cloves, etc.), leafy herbs (basil, oregano, marjoram, etc.), spice seeds (sesame, poppy, mustard, etc.) and dehydrated vegetables (onions, garlic, etc.) (http://www.astaspice.org/spice/frame_spice.htm). Many spices have other uses like food preservation, medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics, and perfumery or as vegetables.

The term plantation crops refers to those crops which are cultivated on an extensive scale in contiguous area, owned and managed by an individual or a company. The crops include tea, coffee, rubber, cocoa, coconut, arecanut, oil palm, palmyra and cashew. 
    ·    Coconut, cashew nut, cocoa, arecanut, oil palm and palmyra comes under Ministry of Agriculture.

Physiological or abiotic disorders are mainly caused by changing environmental conditions such as temperature, moisture, unbalanced soil nutrients, inadequate or excess of certain soil minerals, extremes of soil pH and poor drainage. The distinction between physiological or abiotic disorders from other disorders is that they are not caused by living organisms (viruses, bacteria, fungi, insects, etc.), but they are the result of abiotic situations (inanimate) i.e. their agents are non-living in nature which causes deviation from normal growth. They results in physical or chemical changes in a plant which is far away from what is normal and is generally caused by an external factor. Non-infectious disorders in some cases are easy to identify, but others are difficult or even impossible to recognize. Most of them are non reversible once they have occurred. For the identification of physiological disorders it is important that one must know that:

Food security of a country can be achieved through advanced agricultural research, followed by efficient and effective transfer of technologies. Unlike laboratory experiments, agronomic experiments are being conducted at open environment which leads to lot of variations in outcome/results due to influences of unpredictable weather condition and heterogenic soil characters even though proper adoption of local control. Results of an experiment can be expressed in different ways to make the clients to understand easily recordable output data viz., growth attributes, yield parameters and yield, laboratory analyses data like soil and crop nutrient status and quality parameters of the produce. Nutrient management studies should focus the efficiency of particular fertilizer nutrient over others, methods of fertilizer application, contribution of nutrients to crops from soil and fertilizer etc. Similarly, water management experiments would explain the water conveyance, application and storage efficiencies, suitability of method of irrigation, water saving techniques and water use efficiency of different crops as well as agronomic practices etc. In weed management experiments, the efficiency of particular herbicide in terms of controlling weeds, and increasing crop yields have to be expressed by various efficiency indices. Weed suppression ability of an intercrop can be explained by smothering efficiency.

Plants have been a major source of therapeutic agents since time immemorial. The increasing acceptance of traditional herbal systems of medicine, like Ayurveda, within India and outside has resulted in the revival of ancient traditions of medicine. Medicinal plants and their derivatives are thus looked upon not only as a source of affordable healthcare but also as an important commodity item of international trade and commerce. As per World Health Organization estimates, traditional medicines, mostly plant drugs, cater to the health needs of nearly 80% of the world population. The medicinal plant related trade is growing rapidly every year due to the growing recognition of natural products being non-narcotic, with relatively less side effects and being easily available at affordable costs.

In India, medicinal plant sector has traditionally occupied an important position in the socio-economic, cultural and spiritual arena of rural and tribal lives. About 8000 flowering plants, 650 lichens, 650 algae, 200 pteridophytes and 150 bryophytes are attributed with medicinal properties. The Indian coded systems encompasses a large number of treaties on recognized systems of medicine viz. Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. The Ayurvedic system of medicine, which cater to the health needs of a major segment of population currently utilizes as many as 1000 single drugs and over 8000 compound formulations of recognized merit. Other systems of medicine viz. Siddha, Unani and Amchi (Tibetan) systems of medicine together utilize about 1800-1900 medicinal species. Many medicinal plants are the source of clinically useful prescription drugs being used in modern systems of medicine. Also incredible knowledge on phyto medicine is acquired in non-coded form by tribals and rural community, as is clear from evidences related to folklore medicine. Recognizing their importance, medicinal plant sector has been identified as one of the key areas by the Government of India and the Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy.

1.1 Definition of Statistics

Statistics has been defined differently by different ‘Statisticians’ from time to time. These definitions emphasize precisely the meaning, scope and limitations of the subject.  The reasons for such a variety definitions may be stated as follows:

    i.    The field of utility of statistics has been increasing steadily and
    ii.    The word statistics has been used to give different meanings in singular (the science of statistical methods) and plural (numerical set of data) senses.

In order to have a clear grasp of the subject, we give below some selected definitions of statistics which are grouped under two main heads: ‘Statistics as numerical data’ and ‘Statistics as Methods’.  The former one is in plural sense and the latter singular sense.

The Indian agriculture is characterized by agro-ecological diversities in soil, rainfall, temperature and cropping system. Besides favorable solar energy, the country receives about three trillion cubic meter of water from rainfall. Of the total geographical area of 329 million hectares the net sown area has remained at about 140-142 million hectares during the last 40 years. The gross cropped area however has increased to about 200 million hectare in 2011-2012 (Anonymous, 2013). The total operational holding is estimated at 105 million with average size of the holdings of 1.6 ha. The Indian agriculture is not only characterized by small fragmented land, but also hill farming and shifting cultivation are also practiced. Out of an estimated 142 m ha net cultivated area around 40% is irrigated and rest is rain fed. About 65% of the population depend upon agriculture for their livelihood.

Soil is the most precious basic natural resource, on which depends the security of food, nutrition, income, biodiversity, livelihood and environment. But, its indiscriminate and unscientific management is a major threat to sustainability of agriculture. Over the years, there is a loss in the productive potential of soils, which is attributed to imbalance in nutrient use, mining of nutrients from soil, poor replenishment, loss of carbon, pollution, decrease in biological activities, waterlogging, soil salinity etc. Thus, land use is not commensurate with land capability.

Analysis of materials or samples is essential to understand their nature and quality. In recent years it has become mandatory to display the composition of food as well as non-food items. This is because of the need for their safety from the point of view of their day to day use. Environmental awareness has further imposed many restrictions on items of wide ranging nature. Analytical information gained from a laboratory is highly useful in knowing the qualitative and quantitative composition of the material.

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) is crowned as poor man’s crop which provides much needed protein to farming families with least inputs. It is a versatile plant species which can grow successfully in a range of soil types, temperatures and photoperiods. Its deep root system enables it to overcome intermittent drought and other stresses. In India, the crop is grown annually on about 4.04 m ha (FAO, 2012) and the major pigeonpea growing states are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat (Table 1). The high protein pigeonpea dal (decorticated dry splits) is widely consumed across the country in various cuisines. The annual national production of pigeonpea is about 2.56 m tones. This produce, however, is not sufficient to feed the ever growing population of the country, and hence, necessitates huge (500,000 tons) imports of this pulse. In spite of its importance in food security and sincere research efforts, its national productivity could never cross the bar of 800 kg/ha (Fig 1) since independence. Since last 50 years, ICAR has been very seriously pursuing the issue of genetic enhancement with huge investments and some out-standing pure line varieties with about 10% more grains over the best local varieties were developed.

Vegetables are defined as edible herbaceous plants or parts of plants consumed as raw or after cooking and are rich in vitamins and minerals, low in calorific value and neutralize the acid substances produced during digestion of high energy foods.  Olericulture is a branch of Horticulture that deals with production, storage, processing and marketing of vegetables and has its origin when man started growing vegetables for consumption. The term Olericulture comes from Latin words holus-holeris = any kind of culinary vegetable, pot herb, and cultura = to cultivate.

As per the projection of International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, there is likelihood of shortfall of 41% in food production in India by 2020 and need to produce 300mt of food by 2020. India is the seventh largest country in the world with a population of more than 1.03 billion and with 1.93 population growth rate. To overcome such problems we have to go for horizontal or vertical increase in production. As the cultivable area and water resources are limited to bring under cropping, except by way of increasing the cropping intensity/cropping system, horizontal increase has little scope. While the vertical increase in production has tremendous scope with better value added varieties and farmer friendly sustainable management and production technologies.

Everyone on this earth wishes to have a healthy life free from all ailments, stress and strain. But it is a common observation that some of us are more susceptible to diseases and fall victim of many infections while others have the capacity to resist many such infections. They are not so much susceptible to diseases. Is there anything which distinguishes them from others? An organism is made up of organs and organs systems. Like many other organ systems, in the body there is a system which is concerned with the protection of the body from infections.

1.1 Man’s place in Nature

All religions of the world share the view that man is the supreme being among God’s creations. He is the only one among many creatures to enjoy nature’s beauties and bounties. Nature is given to him so as to make responsible and judicious use of it. No religion justifies the most destructive attitude the modern man has developed towards his environment. All religions urge man to treat nature as a God-given gift, stating that God is omnipresent in the manifestations of the nature. It is irreligious for man to expect miracles and exploit the environment. Man must be confronted with the reality that struggle is essential for life rather than “struggle for existence.”

1.1. History and Origins of Rabbits

The existence of rabbit with human being remained from time immemorial. Romans were the first to domesticate wild rabbits in the 5th century by the monks of the Champagne region in France as a readily available food source. Rabbits were introduced to Britain during the 12th Century, and during the Middle Ages, the breeding and farming of rabbits for meat and fur became widespread throughout Europe. Sources suggest that some women among the Medieval gentry even kept rabbits as pets. The selective breeding of European rabbits meant that distinct breeds arose in different regions, and the origins of many old breeds can be traced back several centuries.

Veterinary public health deals with the contributions of veterinary medicine to public health. It is concerned, in the first instance, with the control and elimination of zoonoses and also with the following areas of activity:
    ·    Food hygiene (production, processing and distribution of foods of animal origin)
    ·    Environmental contamination and degradation by animal wastes and animal products
    ·    Comparative medicine (eg. Studies in animals on naturally appearing cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic and other disorders encountered in humans)
    ·    Laboratory animal medicine
    ·    Education and training in VPH and communication with the public
    ·    Reproduction biology
    ·    Aspects of mental and societal health
    ·    Emergency veterinary functions in natural disasters and other catastrophes.

In today’s times, a lot of innovation has come into agriculture. This very hard occupation requires an amalgation of farmers with the scientists. From the rural areas after education the technocrats are moving to the cities and this is creating a great loss to the agriculturists. As the population is growing so is the demand for food. Due to shortage in the storage systems the amount of wastage has increased a lot. It is an important aspect to be looked into. A lot of waste material is seen in the vegetable markets, city markets and near the slums. This causes a lot of pollution and spoils the environment. It is important to know why is it increasing and why the facilities for wastes do not exist.

The livestock sector is one of the fastest growing agriculture sub sector in India, which accounted for about 17% of the value of agriculture output in 1981-83, has gradually increased by to 25% in 2011-2012 (CSO 2011, GOI). India possesses one of the largest livestock populations in the world with 218 million cattle, 115.4 million buffalos, 160 million goat, 75 million sheep, 9.4 million pigs, 947 million poultry (FAO, 2012) which provide excellent opportunities and boost rural income and alleviation of poverty. The country has 16.5% cattle, 56.8% buffalo, 5.78% sheep and 14.76% goat population of the world. India stands first in milk production likely to be touch142.6 MT in 2014 with 4.5% annual growth rate of milk.

1.1 Water and its Importance

Water has played a crucial role in sustainace of lives of all living beings including animals, plants and human beings in this earth since time immemorial. It is there since the creation of the nature and will probably remain till the destruction of the nature. It is used in multifarious uses including domestic, industrial, agricultural, recreational and many other uses. It occurs in the nature in practically three forms i.e. solid, liquid and gaseous forms. All the three forms are important to living beings; but the liquid form of water is more beneficial. The weight of the water helps in running hydroelectric turbines, the density of water helps in floating the ships, the steam energy produced by heating the water helps to run the locomotives and thus is beneficial in many ways. It is considered as the most important resource of the society. It has become part and partial in our life so that we cannot live without water. That is why water is called as life.

It is difficult to ascertain which came first, food or human being. It is the same situation as chicken and egg where we lack evidence to indicate which came first on earth.

It does not matter which came first but we know for sure that human being needs food and he or she needs everyday and throughout his or her life. In other words, a human being cannot survive without food indicating permanent unbreakable bondage between food and human being. It supports the basics of human civilization-food, agriculture and humanity.

Climate Change has emerged as one of the most serious environmental concerns of recent times. The most imminent climate change is increase in atmospheric temperature due to increased levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and hydrochlorofluoro carbons (HCFCs). Because of increasing concentrations of the greenhouse gases in atmosphere, there is much concern about future changes in the climate system viz., Atmosphere, Lithosphere, Biosphere, Hydrosphere and Cryosphere. Direct or indirect effects on the society linked sectors like water, forestry, agriculture, animal agriculture, fisheries, land and marine biodiversity and health due to climate change/variability are many-fold and economic impact of climate change is enormous. The recurrent drought and desertification threaten seriously the livelihood of over 1.2 billion people who depend on land for most of their needs.

Flowers attract both young and old alike. They are associated with mankind from the dawn of civilization. These have become an integral part of human life in the modern era.
 
The Indian floriculture industry has been shifting from traditional flowers to cut flowers and dry flowers for export purposes. The liberalized economy has given an impetus to the Indian entrepreneurs for establishing export oriented floriculture units under controlled climatic conditions. About 60,000 hectares, area is under floriculture at present. During nineties, increasing demands for flowers in world market was coupled with production technology available abroad for high quality flowers.

Fruits and vegetables are very important food commodities. India has become the largest producer of fruits and the second largest producer of vegetables. Though the production of fruits and vegetables make us believe in our strength for self-sufficiency, a significant qualitative and quantitative loss occur in the produce from harvest till consumption.  For self sufficiency and also for processing, export and to meet additional requirements, a lot of emphasis need to be given to reduce post harvest losses, besides increasing  production and productivity of horticultural produces. Processing plays an important role in  conservation and effective utilisation of these perishable commodities. However, only less than 2% of total production of fruits and vegetables are processed.  The new industrial policy has placed this sector in the list of high priority areas.

Newer technologies involve fermentation by specific strains of lactic acid bacteria which bring specific fermentation under controlled conditions to a specific fermented product with enhanced organoleptic, nutritional and therapeutic qualities. Today health is of primary concern. It is important to have nutritionally balanced food with good bacteria. For this, probiotic foods top the list. The functional food concept was initially developed in Japan in 1990‘s as there were many side effects of allopathic medicines. A regulatory system has been initiated by the ministry of health and welfare to approve certain foods to improve health. These are now recognized as Foods for specialized health use (FOSHU). According to American dietic association (ADA) these foods are potential healthful food or food ingredients that may provide health benefits beyond the traditional nutrients. Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms. Probiotic foods as yogurt and sauerkraut are very well known. Fermentation increases the nutrient content and taste with the shelf life.

Even since, the man adopted plant cultivation; he attempted various methods of propagation. In ancient time, the only source of plant multiplication was by seeds. Hence, techniques for higher seed germination, improved seed vigour were developed by giving pre-treatment. However, as the knowledge advanced and demands for having true to type plants was realized to man shifted his cultivation practices for some plants from seed to vegetative propagation such as cutting, layering and grafting. The use of cuttings, corm, bulbs, tubers  for multiplication were known to ancient peoples as mentioned in old literature. This method also gave an edge to conserve the genetic gain once developed in a cultivar, since all vegetatively multiplied plants will have some genome and will produce true to type plants. Thus, the development of vegetative propagation method because it is easy method to multiply plants on large scale and develop uniform quality produce.

India is famous as the ‘Land of Spices’ world over. Spices are nature’s gift to humankind for flavoring our food. They are also used as preservative and in pharmaceuticals. India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of seed spices and their value added products. About 63 different spice crops are cultivated in the country. Among them, seed spices are annual herbs, whose dried seeds or fruits are used as spices. These crops share 21.87% in terms of quantity and 7.42 % in terms of value to total spices export in the country. The country grows a wide variety of seed spices like coriander, cumin, fenugreek and fennel as major crop, while, dill, nigella, ajwain, anise, celery, caraway, parsley, black cumin and few other are categories as the minor seed spices.

Cell culture has become one of the major tools used in the life sciences today. Viruses replicate only within the living cells. With the advent of cell culture technique, it has become easier to grow the viruses under in vitro condition (cell culture). Viruses are usually propagated in cell culture, embryonated hen’s egg, laboratory animals or natural hosts. In 1949, Enders, Weller and Robbins first reported that polio virus could be grown in cultured non-neural cells with the production of recognizable cytopathic changes. Although the cell culture technique has been evolved long back, it is only since the advent of antibiotics that cell culture became a matter of simple routine technique. Aseptic precautions are still essential, but the problems of contamination with bacteria, mycoplasma, fungi and yeasts can be checked by antibiotics and anti-fungal agents. The term in vitro literally means ‘in glass’ although today most cell culture is performed in or on plastic.

Soil acidity is a major constraint for crop production. The production of acid in soils is a natural process, especially in the high rainfall areas. The removal of basic cations especially Ca and Mg, by leaching and erosion results in their replacement by acidic cations, H, Al and Fe on cation exchange sites and in the soil solution, which are in dynamic equilibrium with each other. Soils, that develop from weathered granite are likely to be more acidic than those developed from shale or limestone. Organic matter decay produces H+ in soils, which also contribute to soil acidity. Intensive cropping and use of hybrid & high yielding crop varieties remove large quantities of basic elements essential for their growth i.e. Ca, Mg and K & deplete the soils. Rate of acidification is also accelerated by  faulty fertilizer (especially Nitrogen) management practices.

The term ‘Spices and Condiments’ applies to such natural plant or vegetable products or mixtures thereof, used in whole or ground form, mainly for imparting flavour, aroma and pungency to food. They are low volume high value crops which play a pivotal role in our national economy and provide a strong footing in the international market. According to the latest report of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), there are about 109 spices grown in different parts of the world. India grows about 52 of them. The list of those spices with botanical and English names which come under the purview of Spices, Board, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India is given in Table 1.

Agriculture encounters a complex dynamic system of natural conditions. The meteorological factors among these natural conditions play a pivotal role so far as agriculture is concerned. The rate of growth and development of a bio-system is largely depending upon its ambient temperature and moisture. The plant productivity per unit area, total production, quality of the produce, operational efficiency as well as econometrics are solely governed by the meteorological parameters. Therefore, their through understanding including the computation and the measurement techniques is absolutely essential. It is no less important to have sufficient workable information on weather phenomena as well as climatic resources to determine realizable potential and an appropriate solution for a number of problems faced in agriculture.

Weeds are the plants which grow where they are not wanted or simply plants growing out of place. A plant may be desirable in one situation and a weed in another situation. Those plants that interfere with human activity in crop and non-crop areas are considered weeds. Weeds compete with crops for soil nutrients, water and light; they host insects and plant pathogens harmful to crop plants, and their root exudates and/or leaf leachates may be toxic to crop plants. Weeds also hinder crop harvest and increase the costs of such operations. In addition, at harvest, weed seeds often contaminate the crop produce. Thus, the presence of weeds in crop areas reduces the efficiency of inputs such as fertilizer and irrigation water, enhances the density of other pest organisms, and finally severely reduces crop yield and quality (Labrada and Parker 1999).  Weeds are serious menace in crop production.

Abiotic stresses are major constraints for many crop plants in specific areas over the globe which limits the crop production. Dudal (1976) estimated that only 10% of world’s arable land may be categorized as free from stress. The rapid change in environmental conditions likely to override the adaptive potential of plants, this environmental changes mainly originated from anthropogenic activities, which has caused soil and air pollution, plant are exposed to natural climatic or edaphic stresses, such as, high irradiation, heat, chilling, freezing, drought, excess water and waterlogging and nutrient imbalance. Among abiotic stresses drought is the main abiotic factor as it affects 26% of arable area (Table 1.1). Water stress is a single most severe, limitation to the productivity of rice in the rainfed ecosystem (Widawgky and O’Toole, 1990). Mineral toxicity/deficiencies are second in importance. Among mineral toxicity, salinity is wide spread and is estimated to affect 10% of the world land surface (Richards, 1995).

All living organisms are basically made up of chemical components. The chemistry, composition and energy management of living organisms is what we call biochemistry. It tries to explain life processes at the molecular level. Although different organisms differ outwardly in their life processes, there are striking similarities in executing the different tasks. Genetic code, metabolic pathways, enzymes, coenzymes and even regulatory mechanisms are similar to a large extent in all the living organisms. Living organisms have certain extraordinary properties. They can grow, respond to stimuli and replicate themselves with high fidelity. All these activities are ultimately interpretable in chemical terms. The components that constitute organisms are all inanimate. The lifeless organic molecules with appropriate complexity and properties make a living being.

Biochemistry helps us understand how the inanimate molecules that constitute living organisms interact with each other to maintain life. The basic life processes or the biochemistry remains broadly the same in either the unicellular microorganism or the higher organisms such as the plants or the human beings. Life is nothing but thousands of ordered chemical reactions. In other words, chemistry is the logic of all biological phenomena.

Some cyanobacteria (Blue-green algae) like Nostoc are known to work as one of the two coponenents (photosynthetic partner or phycoboint) of lichens. The second partner of lichen is a lichen fungus or mycobiont. The lichens have not been described as a therapeutic agent in Charak Samhita, the monumental work on materia medica prepared by great Acharya Charak and his group in India more than three thousand years ago. However, these have been used in folklore medicine in many countries of the world and have been regarded to bear antibacterial properties (Katiyar and Katiyar, 2009). They are found in tundra even, the treeless plain of the arctic regions of Russia, Siberia, marshy in summer and frozen hard in winter. It is common to see gunny bags full of lichens for sale in the Masala market near Kesa House, Express Canal Road, at Kanpur. They also comprise a part of meat masala (spices for meat). There are references that Raja (King) Todarmal studied algae in relation to purification of water.

However, the search for antibiotics began in the late 1800s, with the growing acceptance of the germ theory of diseases; a theory which linked bacteria and other microbes to the causation of a variety of ailments. As a result, scientists began to devote time searching for drugs that would kill these disease-causing bacteria.

The concern for nature and the focuss for all things which are basic and natural has been spearheading to a green movement of everything natural and nature-based consumer products all over the world. God has given diseases and remidies also in the nature only we have to properly find out. In today’s world of consumer boom, the role of essential oils has increased many folds. Uptil now known applications of essential oils, more and more areas are opening up which will benefit the industry. Use of essential oils in therapeutics is becoming popular in India, China, Japan and European countries. Aromatherapy involves the use of essential oils and aromatics derived from plants to cure diseases. These plants are known as aromatic plants. Aromatic plants possess odorous volatile substances which occur as essential oil, gum exudate, balsam and oleoresin in one or more parts, namely, root, wood, bark, stem, foliage, flower and fruit. The characteristic aroma is due to a variety of complex chemical compounds. The term essential oil is concomitant to fragrance or perfumes because these fragrances are oily in nature and they represent the essence or the active constituents of the plants. They are called volatile or ethereal oils as they evaporate when exposed to air at ordinary temperatures. Essential oils are highly concentrated, low volume, high value products.

Reproduction is one of the most serious biological problems that markedly influence the efficiency of livestock production. Immunology is a powerful tool for studying both normal fertility and infertility of farm animals. Reproductive immunology is in turn is an important tool for unlocking normal fertility problems and various forms of infertility or reproductive disorders. Although the immune and reproduction systems have been considered independent of each other, the cooperation of both the systems is crucial for initiation and maintenance of mammalian pregnancy. Therefore, reproductive immunology has now become a mature discipline and a major theme during advances in the field of reproductive immunology is to explain the successful gestation of the histcompatable mammalian embryos within the uterus of its immunologically competent mother.
 
Immune responses play an important role in various reproductive processes, including ovulation, menstruation and parturition. Clearly, during pregnancy, when the mother must accept a semi-allogeneic foetus, immune responses also play a very important role which  was first recognized by Medawar in 1953, when the concept of the foetal allograft was presented in order to explain the immunological relationship between mother and foetus. Since then, the immunology of pregnancy has been the leading subject within reproductive immunology research.

India is fortunate in terms of natural wealth, which is manifested in its great plants diversity. Since time immemorial medicinal plants nature hidden and to a large extent unexplored treasure has been used virtual in all human cultures around the country. The wide spread use of herbal remedies and health care preparation from commonly used traditional herb and medicinal plants as those described in ancient texts such as Vedas, the Quran and the Bible have been traced to the occurrence of natural products with medicinal properties. Ancient people used plants as purgatives, sedatives, antitussives, and to alleviate a wide range of ailments such as fever and insanity. According to WHO, 3.5 billion people in developing countries use plant based medicines for their primary health care. WHO also indicates that over 30% of the world’s plants species have at one time or another been used for medicinal purpose.
 
The people of India have been using thousands of medicinal plants for curing various diseases suggesting that Ayurveda has been widely use to maintain human health. Ancient Indian medicinal heritage is based on 7000 plant species and about 8000 herbal remedies have been codified in the Ayurveda. Plants in Ayurveda have Sanskrit names the synonyms; each plant may have synonyms ranging from five to hundred.

Introduction

Pomegranate is emerging as one of the important fruit crops owing to its hardiness and ability to withstand adverse soil and climatic conditions. Today out of world production of ten Lakh tons; India contributes 40-45 percent. Currently the export of pomegranate is around 10,000 tones, which is just 5 percent of the total export. With the increase in population the domestic demand of fruits has also increased substantially. As on date out of total area of 1,25,000 ha. area, under pomegranate major area under the crop is found in the state of Maharashtra. The state has 85,000 ha. (68 % area) under the crop, of which only 51,000 ha is under production, followed by Karnataka 12,727 ha. Gujarat 3,787 ha. up to 2003 –2004.

Toxicology is defined as the study of chemical or physical agents which interact with biologic systems to produce a response in the organisms. Toxicity is the relative ability of a substance to cause injury to biologic tissue. Given the broad range of toxicities any substance might eventually invoke in an organism, it is easy to understand the wisdom of Paracelsus (1493-1541) when he said, “All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy”.

Toxicology is the study of the harmful effects of chemical compounds on biologic systems, including their properties, actions, and effects. The toxic agent is referred to as a toxicant or poison. The term toxin refers to poisons produced by a biologic source (eg, venoms, plant toxins); the redundant term biotoxin is occasionally used. Toxicosis, poisoning, and intoxication are synonymous terms for the disease produced by a toxicant. Toxicity (sometimes incorrectly used instead of poisoning) refers to the amount of a toxicant necessary to produce a detrimental effect. Hazard describes the likelihood of poisoning under conditions of use.

Answer the followings
    Q.1.    What is mastitis?
    Ans.    It may be defined as inflammation of mammary parenchyma and characterized by physiochemical changes in the milk and pathological changes of the glandular tissue.
    Q.2.    What are the cardinal changes of milk and udder in mastitis?
    Ans.    Changes of milk includes discoloration, presence of clot, and presence of huge leukocytes whereas, mammary gland becomes hot painful swelling and induration.
    Q.3.    What is sub clinical mastitis?
    Ans.    In subclinical mastitis, normally mammary gland is normal by physical examination; however, cellular constitution only indicates presence of mastitis (i.e. increased somatic cell count).
    Q.4.    What is the basis of diagnosis of sub clinical mastitis?
    Ans.    Diagnosis sub clinical mastitis depends largely on indirect tests which are related to leukocyte content of milk.

Food is basic to human being and agriculture is the catalyst between the two which is basically supported by natural resources. The human being is entirely dependant on food and food is fully dependent on agriculture and humanity. Eventhough food, agriculture and humanity have their own entity; they are inseparable for the survival and existence of each other. Hence, the three pillars of food, agriculture and humanity forming a triangle symbolize the roots of human civilization.

I find myself fortunate to have the opportunihj to live and experience the working life of the farmers and the farming in Kansas (USA), Nigeria (Africa), Saudi Arabia and Yemen (Middle East), Italy (Europe) and India, Myanmar and Thailand (Asia). It zvas fiirther strengthened by visits to farmers in another about 100 countries. Day after day and month after month and even years, it made me to realize that community culture, language and farming in each state, country and continent are different from each other but some things are common and that they are all doing farming, they are growing food and they all doing for the livelihood of their families, neighbors and communities near and far (Nath, 2011).

The foundation of agriculture is laid on available natural resources e.g. land, water, sunlight, air, plant, animal and human beings. The human beings, being the leader to manage the resources have contributed to redefine agricultural science and promote and develop technology. This has led to augment agriculture and its science and technology. At the end, the human efforts have brought about changes and improved agriculture production at the cost of excessive use of natural resources, knowing well that without natural resources, without good soil and water hardly anything will survive.

Presently world produces enough to feed the present human population, but it is not available to millions of people. It is not the lack of availability of food but is the unequal distribution and lack of entitlement which are causing hunger and malnutrition in millions of population.

Twenty first century is the century of entrepreneurship and every individual can be an agent for innovation and change. Entrepreneurship is regarded as one of the most crucial factors in the economic development of every region of the country. It widens the horizons of economic development even in the socially and industrially backward regions. Dynamic entrepreneurs are considered to be the agent of change in a society. Entrepreneurs play a very important role in generating new employment and setting up new business. The problem of poverty, inequality and regional imbalances can be tackled with the development of entrepreneurship. However, in all economic development activities more and more focus is being centered on entrepreneurship of the people. Entrepreneur has been now recognized as a concept, not only for starting industries but also in the development of dairy enterprise. In India, it is believed that tremendous latent entrepreneurial talent exists which, if properly harnessed, could help in solving many of the serious problems facing the country.

Seed technology is defined as “that discipline of study having to do with seed production, maintenance quality and preservation (Cowan, 1973).

Feistritzer (1975) has defined seed technology as the method through which the genetic and physical characteristic of seeds could be improved. It involves such activities as variety development, evaluation and release, seed production, seed processing, seed storage, seed testing, seed certification, seed quality control and seed marketing etc.

So seed technology in widest sense, includes development of superior crop plant varieties, their evaluation and release, seed production, seed processing, seed storage, seed testing, seed certification, seed quality control, seed marketing, seed distribution and the related research on these aspects,

The major goal of seed technology is to increase agricultural production through the spread of good quality seeds of high yielding varieties. To achieve this goal, the quality seeds must be rapidly multiplied and supplied to the farmers at proper time with the reasonable price.

1.    The term Horticulture is derived from two Latin words  Hortus meaning = Garden and Cultura meaning = Cultivation.

2.    In ancient days the gardens had protected enclosures with high walls or similar structures surrounding the houses.

3.    The enclosed places were used to grow fruit, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants. Therefore, in original sense “Horticulture refers to cultivation of garden plant within protected enclosures”.

Definition: Horticulture is the branch of science which deals the cultivation, utilization and management of horticultural crops eg. fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, plantations, medicinal and aromatic plants.

1. GEOLOGY

Geology : Earth Science

 Geo = Earth + Logos = Science

 Def : The science which investigates the history of the earth is known as geology.

 Following are the important branches of geology.

1.Coal Geology : it is related with natural gas, coal deposits and their formation.

2.Crystallography : includes the crystal and atomic structure of the mineral. 3. Drilling Technology : it is related with the cores, core logging and coorelation of the lithology.

4.Engineering Geology and Surveying : it is related with engineering aspects of the earth.

John William Harshberger codified ethnobotany as ‘the study of plants used by primitive and aboriginal people ‘in a popular lecture on 4 December 1895. Later it was published in the Botanical Gazette in 1896 and now he is regarded as “Father of Ethnobotany”. Subsequently, Walter Fewkes (1896) adopted the word ethnobotany after Harshberger for the title of a research paper. Another term ‘Arboriginal Botany’ coined by Steven Powers (1873- 1875) was in use for about two decades before Harsh Berger. In brief, “Ethnobotany is the study of interrelations between primitive human cultures and the plants and animals in its environment, which is regarded as the branch of ethnobiology”. There are some other definitions of ethnobotany by various authors:

Jones (1941) defined as “Ethnobotany is the study of interrelationship between man and vegetation”.

Faulks (1958) considered it as “The total relationship between man and vegetation” in his book entitled “An Introduction to Ethnobotany” It was the first book specially published on ethnobotany. Schultes (1962) explained as “Ethnobotany is the study of relationships which exist between people of a primitive society and their plant environment”. Gadgil and Vartak (1976) considered it as “Branch of economic botany which deals with the role of plants in life and culture of arboriginals and tribal people”. Alcorn (1984) states “It is the study of contextualized plant use”. Wickens (1990) defined ethnobotany as “The study of useful plants prior to their commercial exploitation and eventual domestication”. According to Ford 1994, ethnobotany is concerned with a wide range of interest of plants in cultural and ecological context as men in his edited book “The Nature and Status of Ethnobotany”. According to Martin 1995, ethnobotany is the part of ethnoecology, which concerns plants. Turner 1996 was given the appropriate definition “the science of people’s interaction with plants”. In context of Indian ethnobotany the first book published by Jain, S.K., 1981 entitled “Glimpses of Indian Ethnobotany” and Dr. Jain (2001) defined ethnobotany as “It deals with the study of total natural and traditional interrelationship between man and plants and his environment”.

Agriculture continues to be the occupation and way of life for more than half of the Indian population even today. Sustainable prosperity of this class-the farmers, the landless agricultural labourers holds the key for improving the overall human resource development scenario in the country. Indian agriculture had been on traditional lines till the first waves of Green Revolution gave a sudden boost to the production and productivity of major cereals in the assured irrigated areas. Quick dissemination of technological information from the agriculture research system to the farmers in the field and reporting of farmers feed back to the research system is one of the critical inputs in transfer of agricultural technology. The information and communication support during last 50 years has mainly been conventional. The extension personnel of the departments of agriculture disseminated the technological message to the farmers through personal approach. This approach has not been able to reach and satisfy majority of the farmers who are spread across the whole country with varied interests. This gap remains a challenge for the Extension System even today.

To reach over 110 million farmers, spread over 500 districts and over 6000 blocks is an uphill task. The diversity of agro-ecological situations adds to this challenge further. The success of Green revolution was mainly achieved due to concerted homogenous extension strategy. Farmer’s needs are much more diversified and the knowledge required to address them is beyond the capacity of the grass root level extension functionaries.

There are basically two aspects of extension: the education function which aims to help farmers gain knowledge, acquire skills and change attitudes for their own benefit; and the communication function which transfers information about suitable technologies to farmers and growers and offers them alternative solutions to improve their situations. The aim is to transform the information into knowledge timely and accurately to create an environment for farmers to use it. IT will be indispensable in transferring information between research and extension organizations.

Over the past 12,000 years Homo sapiens have moved from the hunter–gatherer life-style to settled agriculture to advanced civilization in urban society with improved quality of life. Livestock has played an important role as an instrument of bringing out this change. Farmers all over the world, attach great importance to livestock ownership as a source of nutrition, as a mechanism for capital accumulation, and concomitantly, as a symbol of wealth and status in the community. Just as in today’s society, money is used to exchange goods and services, livestock including goats used to play the same role in times gone by. Most farmers consider livestock as a important resource for income generation. Livestock sector plays a significant role in supplementing family income and generating gainful employment in the rural sector, particularly among the landless, marginal and small farmers and women, besides providing cheap nutritional food to millions of people. History indicates that livestock has been not only a resource, but also an instrument of dominance and a source of conflict in the society. Livestock especially small ruminants have often served as a means for exchange of goods and services and thus becoming increasingly important in the growth of agriculture in developing economies.

Livestock species which man domesticated for improving the quality of human life include goat, sheep, cattle, buffalo, pig, poultry, horses and camels. Among these goats were the first among livestock species domesticated by man. Goats are among the smallest domesticated ruminants and have served mankind longer than cattle or sheep. Goat is an important source of meat, milk, skin, fiber and manure since then. Traditionally goats have been an important source of income generation among small households. Goats have been used to buy salt, cloth and groceries in many communities. Goats provide a large part of the cash income for smallholder farmers. Goats are friendly animals; with proper attention they maintain good health and can be managed easily even by children.

Sailors and other explorers out on the high seas kept goats as a ready stock of meat & milk on long voyages. Captain Cook’s goat had already sailed around the world before it entered on its first voyage with Cook, and helped save everyone on board the ship from scurvy. Goats are some times kept as pet or companion animal. Their use as pet is common in European countries especially U.K. Some owners keep goats for purpose of goat shows.

The term hydrogeomorphology can be divided into three terms hydro- means water including both surface and groundwater; geo- means the earth and morphology- is the surface expression of the features in the form of landforms. This means that the hydrogeomorphology is dealing with the aspects of water, rocks and earth’s morphological features (land). Of these water and land are most important natural resources for human beings.

Water is synonymous with life. This is a natural resource and an absolute necessity for the survival of the living beings. Human beings have an organic relationship with water. For living and livelihood, human beings solely depend upon the availability of water. They have an inalienable right on water. This is a community resource and cannot be made a tradable commodity, violating normative law of nature. Water is among the most precious gifts of nature to mankind. Most of the ancient towns of the world grew on the banks of the river, and some of the ancient civilizations are known by the names of rivers. Rivers have always been important sources of drinking water and the means of sustaining human, animal and plant life. Whenever one is dealing with water resources development and utilization, it has to be kept in mind that not only quantity of water but also quality of water is very important. The well being and development of our society is dependent on the availability of water.

Vegetables are rich source of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Phytochemical contents in vegetables and their strong antioxidant potential in scavergering ree radicals have generated tremendous attention among the consumers. Consumption of vegetables has significant health-promoting effect and can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and various other degenerative diseases. Human health, in recent years, has assumed an unprecedented status. The rising population levels, increase in mental stress and changes in dietary habits have resulted in various forms of degenerative diseases including cardiovascular, cancer and ageing. As a result, there has been an alarming explosion in consumers’ interest in health. In recent past, tremendous progress has been made for increasing vegetable production in the country. India has emerged as the second largest producer of vegetables next to China. During 2000-2001, India produced 93.92 million tonnes of vegetables from 6.24 million ha of land, accounting a productivity of 15.0 tonnes/ha. During 1991-1992, total vegetable production was 58.54 million tonnes from 5.59 million ha of land, with productivity of 10.5 tonnes/ha. Thus, in last one decade country has multiplied its vegetable production one-and-a-half times. Presently, India’s share is more than 13.60%. Our country will need to produce 215 million tonnes vegetables by 2015 to meet the demand of domestic and export markets. The increase in vegetable production by increasing area under vegetable cultivation is limited due to continued decrease of land holdings. Hence, it is essential to increase vegetable productivity to fulfill country’s requirements for food and nutritional security and poverty alleviation.