eBook Chapters

Introduction

Manipulating and controlling matter at the nanoscale, usually at dimensions less than 100 nanometers, is the focus of nanotechnology, also abbreviated as “nanotech,” a revolutionary branch of engineering and science. Particular material characteristics and behaviours, drastically different from their macroscopic equivalents, become apparent at this very microscopic size. With nanotechnology, we can design and build buildings, gadgets, and materials with hitherto unseen levels of control and accuracy.

Biocompatible, biodegradable, intelligent and responsive materials are currently an emerging area of interest in the field of efficient, safe, and green pesticide formulation. Using nanotechnology to design and prepare targeted pesticides with environmentally responsive controlled release via compound and chemical modifications has also shown great potential in creating novel formulations. Special attention was paid to intelligent pesticides with precise controlled release modes that can respond to micro-ecological environment changes such as light-sensitivity, thermo-sensitivity, humidity sensitivity, soil pH and enzyme activity (Huang et al., 2018).

The impact of nanotechnology in the food industry has become more apparent over the last few years with the organization of various conferences dedicated to the topic, initiation of consortia for better and safefood, along with increased coveragein themedia. Several companies which were hesitant about revealing their research programmes in nanofood, have now gone public announcing plans to improve existing products and develop new ones to maintain market dominance. The typesof application include:smartpackaging, on demand preservatives, and interactive foods. Building on the concept of “on-demand” food, the idea of interactive food is to allow consumers to modify food depending on their own nutritional needs or tastes. The concept is that thousands of nanocapsules containing flavour or colour enhancers, or added nutritional elements (such as vitamins), would remain dormant in the food and only be released when triggered by the consumer.24 Most of the food giants including Nestle, Kraft, Heinz, and Unilever supportspecific research programmes tocapturea share of the nanofood market in the next decade.

The definition of nanofood is that nanotechnology techniques or tools are used during cultivation, production, processing, or packaging of the food. It does not mean atomically modified foodor foodproduced by nanomachines. Although there are ambitious thoughts of creating molecularfood using nanomachines, this is unrealistic in the foreseeable future. Instead nanotechnologists are moreoptimisticabout thepotential to changethe existing systemof food processingand to ensure the safety of food products, creating a healthy food culture. They are also hopeful of enhancing the nutritional quality of food through selected additives and improvements to the way the body digests and absorbs food. Although some of these goals are further away, the food packaging industry already incorporates nanotechnology in products.

Introduction

Nature has been performing wonderful feats for millions of years. All organisms from microbes to humans are powered by highly evolved molecular and cellular machines that operate at nano scale. The capability to manipulate, control, assemble, functionalise, produce and manufacture things at atomic precision provides an opportunity to understand this new and exciting field of science. Nanotechnology is application of science to control the properties and structure of matter at nanometric scale.

Despite substantial advances in the diagnostics and treatment of diseases, parasitic infections are a major global health issue causing significant mortality and morbidity. Currently, chemotherapeutic antiprotozoal drugs, anthelmintic and anti-ectoparasitic agents are used to treat, but resistance to these drugs has developed due to overuse. In this scenario, nanoparticles are proving a major breakthrough in the treatment and control of parasitic diseases. In the last decade, there has been enormous development in the field of nano medicine for parasitic control. Gold and silver nanoparticles have shown promising results in the treatments of various types ofparasitic infections. These nanoparticles are synthesized through the use of various conventional and molecular technologies and have shown great efficacy. 

Introduction

The act of substituting food or drink with low grade quality ingredients thereby the f inal product will fail to the meet the regulation or standards and in most cases even unfit for human consumption (Augustin et al., 2009). With demand for profit based manufacturing market, there will be increase in points of adulteration with cheaper alternatives or inferior grade ingredients in the production of food or drink (Banti, 2020)]. Adulteration is highly prevails in developing countries such as India, where about 70% of milk supply is adulterated on day to day basis (Bittar et al., 2017). It is every nation and each individual’s responsibility to provide safe and nutritious food to the consumers.

Agriculture serve as a backbone in improving economic growth of a country as well as it provides a base in meeting various needs of people in direct and indirect ways. The recent advancement in nanotechnology has shown a path to develop traditional agriculture into a sustainable practice. Several nanochemicals emerged as promising agents for better plant growth, used as fertilizer, pesticides, control weeds and also used as antimicrobial agents in food packaging. Nanotechnology may act as sensor for checking soil health of agriculture fields.

Nanotechnology epitomizes one of the most dynamic and transformative fields in modern science and technology. This multidisciplinary domain bridges chemistry, physics, biology, along with engineering, enabling the creation of materials and devices with extraordinary properties and applications. The book chapter reflects the research and patenting trends in nanotechnology. USA leading the global share for most patents granted followed by South Korea, Japan, China and Germany for the top five spots contributing more than 76% of all the granted patents by EPO & USPTO related to nanotechnology. Nanotechnological products in relation to sub-industrial areas of medicine, food, agriculture, cosmetics, environment, and renewable energies are also highlighted in chapter. 

Nanotoxicity is the study of the toxicity of nanomaterials that focuses on how the size and unique properties of nanoparticles influences their impact on plant helath, human health and the environment. Plants are essential fundamental components of all ecosystems and the interaction between nanoparticles (NPs) and plants is an indispensable aspect of the risk assessment. NP phytotoxicity, an important precondition to promote the application of nanotechnology and to avoid the potential ecological risks was reviewed (Jie Yang et al., 2017). 

Nanotoxicology is the study of the toxicity of nanomaterials. Because of quantum size effects and large surface area, nanomaterials have unique properties compared with their larger counterparts

Nanotoxicology is that branch of bionanoscience, which deals with the study and application of toxicity of nanomaterials. The nanomaterials, even when they are made of inert elements like gold, become very active at a nanometer range. Nanotoxicological studies are intended to determine whether and to what extent these may pose a threat to the environment and to human beings. For instance, Diesel nanoparticles have been found to damage the cardiovascular system in a mouse model.

Human health and safety

Calls for tighter regulation of nanotechnology have occurred alongside a growing debate related to the human health and safety risks associated with nanotechnology. The Royal Society identifies the potential for nanoparticles to penetrate the skin, and recommend that the use of nanoparticles in cosmetics be conditional upon a favorable assessment by the relevant European Commission safety advisory committee. Andrew Maynard also reports that ‘certain nanoparticles may move easily into sensitive lung tissues after inhalation, and cause damage that can lead to chronic breathing problems’.

Cumbu Napier hybrid grass is a cross between Cumbu (Pennisetum glaucum) and Napier grass (P. purpureum Schumach.), widely cultivated across India, Africa, Sri Lanka and South East Asian countries. As the hybrid is a triploid, it displays complete sterility and high vegetative growth. In Tamil Nadu, land area utilized for growing fodder is negligible, accounting only 1.6 per cent of the total cultivated area.

INTRODUCTION

Narcissus is a hardy or tender herbaceous perennial, growing from bulbs and seeds. In India it is commonly called Nargis. The splendid yellow and white flowers of the narcissus alone could make April and May month of delightful sweetness in the garden. Shakespeare mentioned Narcissus again and again as common symbol of the English spring. Narcissus are highly suitable for rowin in beds ots under the deciduous trees, window garden, etc. They are very good cut flower and are sold in the market. The bulbs of the European species are used in folk medicine as these are believed to possess the purgative, dermal and depurative properties. Few species are used for extraction of essential oil in France. There is often confusion as to whether the name narcissus or daffodil should be used. Popular thought attached the former name to the sweet scented tazetta or poet narcissus and the latter to the small wild Lent Lily which is still to be found massed in the wood and open pastures. Today daffodil usually refers to long trumpet and large flowered garden forms while, all the rest are narcissus. In the simplest words, the species of this are called narcissi, although the trumpets, which have trumpet (corona or cup) as long as or longer than the surrounding petals are usually called daffodils.

Introduction

India has one of the best agricultural research systems in the world with better amount man-power amongst the developing countries. The research system includes more than 30,000 scientists along with 1,00,000 subordinate personnel actively engaged in research system in the country involved to agricultural research which considered to be second highest next to China. The achievement and success looks very much impressive and at par with all the developed nations of the world.

National Agricultural System

India has one of the largest agricultural research systems in the world with the largest number of scientific personnel of any developing country except China. The research system includes approximately 30,000 scientists and more than 100,000 supporting staff actively engaged in research related to agriculture. Although the total number of scientists engaged in agricultural research in India looks very impressive, it compares less favorably with many developed countries.

The present agricultural research system comprises essentially two main streams, the ICAR at the national level and the Agricultural Universities at the State level. Besides, several other agencies such as General Universities, Scientific Organizations, and various Ministries/Departments at the Centre, as also Private or Voluntary Organizations participate directly or indirectly in research activities related to agriculture.

National Agriculture Technology Project (NATP)

This project was launched by the ICAR on June 30, 1998, with the support of the World Bank to strengthen and complement the existing resources and to argument the output National Agricultural Research System (NARS).

Objectives

The major objective of this component is:

National Agriculture Development Programme/Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

Economic reforms initiated since 1991 have put the Indian economy on a higher growth trajectory. Annual growth rate in the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has accelerated from below 6 per cent during the initial years of reforms to more than 8 per cent in recent years. The Planning Commission in its approach paper to the Eleventh Five-Year-plan has stated that 9 per cent growth rate in GDP would be feasible during the Eleventh Plan period. However, Agriculture that accounted for more than 30 per cent of total GDP at the beginning of reforms failed to maintain its pre-reform growth. On the contrary, it witnessed a sharp deceleration in growth after the mid-1990s. This happened despite the fact that agricultural productivity in most of the states was quite low as it were, and the potential for the growth of agriculture was high. The GDP of agriculture increased annually at more than 3 per cent during the 1980s.

Since the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996 to 2001-02), India has been targeting a growth rate of more than 4 per cent in agriculture, but the actual achievement has been much below the target. More than 50 per cent of the workforce of the country depends upon agriculture for it’s livelihood and slow growth in Agriculture and allied sectors can lead to acute stress in the economy because a large proportion of population depend on this sector. A major cause behind the slow growth in agriculture is the consistent decrease in investments in the sector by the state governments. While public and private investments are increasing manifold in sectors such as infrastructure, similar investments are not forthcoming in Agriculture and allied sectors, leading to distress in the community of farmers, especially that of the small and marginal segment. Hence, the need for incentivising states that increase their investments in the Agriculture and allied sectors has been felt.

1. Introduction

The National Agroforestry Policy of India is a comprehensive policy framework designed to improve agricultural livelihoods by maximizing agricultural productivity including animal productivity along with tree cover and mitigating climate change. The Government of India launched the policy in February 2014 during the World Congress on Agroforestry, held in Delhi. The focus of the policy is to address Agroforestry, which is an integrated system of practicing agriculture, livestock farming and forest activities on the same unit of land, storing high carbon, there by mitigating climate change. Agroforestry systems have the potential to be more beneficial than traditional agriculture and forest production practices. They may be able to give enhanced productivity, as well as social, economic, and environmental advantages, as well as a broader variety of ecological products and services. It’s important to remember that these advantages are contingent on appropriate farm management. In 2014 India became the first nation in the world to adopt an inter-sectoral policy on agroforestry, which seeks to identify the bottlenecks in expansion on agroforestry in the country and pathways to remove the constraints in a systematic manner.

Previous Year Questions

1. Write down the various programmes run by state & central govts for ensuring food security in our country. Briefly discuss the strategies for sustainable agricultural production (20M, CSE 2023)

2. How will national food policy help in sustainable food security? (CSE 2020, 10 marks)

3. Discuss the national initiatives for food and nutrition security. (8M, IFoS-2019)

4. What are the special schemes for providing food grains to underprivileged, destitutes and malnourished populations (CSE 2016, 12.5 marks)

5. National and international food policies. (10M, IFoS-2016)

Historically, Indian scientists have recognized the importance of conserving plant biodiversity with particular reference to indigenous     and naturalized crops and their wild relatives. Indian scientists have recognized the importance of conserving plant biodiversity as early as 1935 by the ‘Crops and Soil Wing’ of the then Board of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. Late Dr. B. P. Pal, in his classic paper ‘Search for New genes’ published in 1937 emphasized the importance of germplasm augmentation and utilization in crop improvement programmes. The need was reiterated in a meeting of the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding in 1941, which inter alia discussed the subject of economic crops. Dr. B. P. Pal, working at the then Imperial (now Indian) Agricultural Research Institute approached the then Imperial (now Indian) Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to set-up a unit for assembly of global germplasm under phytosanitary conditions in India. The ICAR scheme for plant introduction started functioning in 1946 under the leadership of late Dr. Harbhajan Singh as the first ‘Operational Scientist’. The scheme was further expanded and strengthened as ‘Plant Introduction and Exploration Organization’ in the Botany Division in 1956 and later established as a separate Division of Plant Introduction in IARI in 1961 headed by Dr. Harbhajan Singh.

Introduction

The much awaited new educational Policy 2020 approved and released by the Central Government on July, 29, 2020. A document which is set to transform Indian education system in most holistic way and will exert a long lasting influence on framing the Indian education system by addressing the vivid issues across the discipline and streams. The implementation of this policy will be under a single body HECI (Higher Education Council of India) well supported by multiple bodies like National Higher Education Regulatory Council(NHREC), Meta-accrediting body referred as Nation accreditation Council (NAC), Higher Education Grant Council (HEGC), General Education Council(GEC) also called Graduate attributes, it will formulate the National Higher Education Qualification Frame work (NHEQF). This council will take over presently regulating bodies of higher education like University Grant Commission, All India Council of Technical Education and National Council of Teachers Education.

INTRODUCTION

The discipline of Agrometeorology, an applied science is less than fifty years old. Its services are operationally used by individual farmers in developed countries, and by agricultural or development services in more than half of the countries of the world. Its contribution to agricultural production by examining forecast is sought in virtually all countries. In many countries, the respective governments have expressed the desire to use meteorological information to a much larger extent in day-to-day farm planning and operations. The climate database is used for the development of practical criteria in planning and management of irrigated and rainfed crop production system (Martin Smith, 2000).

Though a huge set of Agromet data exists in India, its utility has not been effective due to the scattered location of these data sources and the impediments for free flow of data to the users to analyze and interpret for real-time decision making in agriculture. There is also a considerable time lag between the actual observation and data availability. In view of the importance and the immediate exigency to centralize the database system for helping the researchers and planners, a central agrometeorological databank facility funded by DST from 1998 to 2003 and later by ICAR with the following objectives was established at Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (ICAR), Hyderabad.

Introduction

India accounts for 16.7 per cent of the world’s food consumers. India’s size in terms of food consumers is many times larger than the average size of the rest of the countries, except China. At the time of independence in 1947, India was in the grip of a serious food crisis, which was accentuated by the partition of the country. The demand for food far exceeded supply, food prices were ruling at high levels and more than half of the populations were living below the poverty line with inadequate purchasing power. With high rates of population growth, the dependence on imported food increased further. However, the situation improved considerably after the mid-1960s, when new agricultural development strategy and food policies were adopted in the country. The production of staple cereals increased substantially, mainly contributed by productivity improvements. The dependence on food imports reduced and the country became a marginal net exporter of cereals. There was also an improvement in physical and economic access of households to cereals and other nutritive food products. The proportion of households reporting hunger went down and the incidence of economic poverty was reduced. The objective of this paper is to review the Indian approach to tackling the severe problem of food insecurity, which it faced immediately after independence. It reviews the evolution of food policy, the major policy instruments deployed, intervention in food marketing system, and the current status of food security/insecurity. The paper also identifies the lessons emerging from the experience of India. The paper has been divided into eight sections. The second section briefly presents the evolution of the food policy in India and the approaches to food security. The current status of food security and insecurity is analyzed in section 3. The next three sections detail the three major instruments of the food security policy. Price support policies pursued in the country are described in section 4. Section 5 examines the magnitude of input subsidies in Indian agriculture. Direct food and other assistance programs for improving household food and nutrition security and magnitude of food subsidy are presented in section 6, while some salient features of food marketing system that affect food security are given in section 7. Lessons emerging from the Indian experience are presented in the last section.

Macroeconomics approaches the economic problems in terms of aggregates like national income, general employment level, aggregate demand, aggregate production and so on. The important among the above is national income. The one common thing to all products is value. Therefore, the national income must be expressed in monetary terms. The entire value of the goods and services (output) produced by an economy over time is measured by national income (normally a year). It also serves as a measure of the money generated by production and/or the total amount of expenditures made in order to produce the output.

Significance

The Central Statistical Organization of India has been calculating the country’s gross domestic product. We can measure your academic performance in relation to other students by the percentage of the marks scored by you. Similarly a country’s economic performance has been measured by indicators of national income such as GDP or GNP. Additionally, it is crucial to measure national income for a number of reasons, such as making predictions about how the economy will develop in the future,

Horticulture in the hills has special significance and specific requirements to sustain it for the improvement of the lot of the people living in the hills. The national policy on horticulture has to be so oriented so that it recognizes the varied agro climatic and soil conditions. The dynamic process of development and extension has to be specifically designed to cater to the requirements of the hill states; which, because of the difficult terrain, are by and large under-developed as compared to the rest of the country. The new national policy on horticulture should take into account the following points in order to make temperate horticulture a self sustaining enterprise.

The concepts of biosafety and biosecurity are central to efforts to protect human health against the risks posed by exposure to hazardous biological agents. Biosafety, a term used to describe the collection of technologies, processes and practices a term used to describe the collection of technologies, processes and practices aimed at preventing the unintentional exposure to biological agents, has in particularaccrued increasing importance in recent decades as a result of the trend towards globalization and concomitant growth in international communication, transport and trade (WHO, 2020). In this international context, the outbreaks of highly-infectious diseases that have occurred in the last years serve to underscore the urgent need for effective prevention and detection and response to biological risks, in accordance with the International Health Regulations (IHR).

National Rural Employment Programme (NREP)

The NREP was launched in October, 1980 and became a regular Plan programme from April, 1981. The programme was expected to generate additional gainful employment in the rural areas, to the extent of 300-400 million mandays per annum, create durable community assets, and improve nutritional status and living standards of the poor.

An outlay of Rs. 1620 crores was provided under this Programme, out of which the outlay from 1980-81 onwards (Rs. 1280 crores) was to be shared equally between the Centre and the States.

Introduction

Indian Agriculture has made enormous strides in the past 50 years, raising foodgrains production from 50 million tonnes to over 200 million tonnes.  In the process, the country has progressed from a situation of food shortages and imports to one of surpluses and exports.  Having achieved food sufficiency, the aim now is to achieve food and nutritional security at the household level.

The increase in agricultural production, however, has brought in its wake, uneven development, across regions, crops, and also across different sections of farming community.  In the decade of the ‘nineties’, a marked slackening in the pace of growth has occurred, pointing to the need for infusing a new vitality in the agricultural sector.

Aims and Objectives

It has become evident that in order to achieve the food production targets of the future, a major effort will be required to enhance the seed replacement rates of various crops. This would require a major increase in the production of quality seeds, in which the private sector is expected to play a major role. At the same time, private and Public Sector Seed Organisations at both Central and State levels, will be expected to adopt economic pricing policies which would seek to realise the true cost of production. The creation of a facilitative climate for growth of a competitive and localised seed industry, encouragement of import of useful germplasm, and boosting of exports are core elements of the agricultural strategy of the new millennium.

Biotechnology will be a key factor in agricultural development in the coming decades. Genetic engineering/modification techniques hold enormous promise in developing crop varieties with a higher level of tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. A conducive atmosphere for application of frontier sciences in varietal development and for enhanced investments in research and development is a pressing requirement. At the same time, concerns relating to possible harm to human and animal health and bio-safety, as well as interests of farmers, must be addressed.

Globalization and economic liberalization have opened up new opportunities as well as challenges. The main objectives of the National Seeds Policy, therefore, are the provision of an appropriate climate for the seed industry to utilize available and prospective opportunities, safeguarding of the interests of Indian farmers and the conservation of agro-biodiversity. While unnecessary regulation needs to be dismantled, it must be ensured that gullible farmers are not exploited by unscrupulous elements. A regulatory system of a new genre is, therefore, needed, which will encompass quality assurance mechanisms coupled with facilitation of a vibrant and responsible seed industry.

Rural poultry production constitutes vital component of agricultural economy in India. The organized sector of poultry industry is contributing nearly 70% of the total output and the rest 30% by the unorganized sector. In unorganised sector, poultry are reared in free range extensive system with very little input in the form of grain or farm by-products, birds have to scavenge from limited amount of feed resource. The productive out put of these birds are very low (60-70 eggs per bird per annum; 2.0 kg. and 1.5 kg. body weight per bird in males and females, respectively). Moreover, still more than 50 % population of poultry in India comprises of non-descript / deshi birds.

1. INTRODUCTION

The Technology Protection System (TPS) or “Terminator Technology” as it has been called, allows plant breeders to genetically modify and protect their crop rights so they produce seed for one generation only. TPS was co-developed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Delta and Pine Land Company in 1998. They received U.S. Patent 5723765 entitled “Control of Plant Gene Expression”. The patent was based on research conducted under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Delta and Pine Land Co. and the ARS USDA. The CRADA was signed in 1993.

The prolong taking of excessive salt causes profound nutritive changes to take place in the system, and there arises not only the symptoms of salt retention as evidenced by dropsies and oedemas, but also an alteration in the blood causing a condition of anaemia and leucocytosis. There seems also to be retention in the tissues. It is a great remedy for certain forms of intermittent fever, anaemia, chlorosis, many disturbances of the alimentary tract and skin. Great debility; most weakness felt in the morning in bed. Dry mucous membranes. Constrictive sensation throughout the body. Great weariness and weakness. Oversensitive to all sorts of influences. Hyperthyroidism. Goiter, Addison's disease. Diabetes.

According to Dr. E.B. Nash, Nat Mur is one of the best homoeopathic remedies for anemia. This anaemia can be caused by loss of fluids, by menstrual irregularities, by grief or mental diseases. The patient is pale, emaciated and in spite of eating very well he is anaemic. He suffers from a throbbing headache, soreness while climbing steps, exhaustion or physical exertion, constipation to some degree and overall depression. Some women have scanty flow of blood during menses.

Various methods are employed to dry flowers and foliage. The method adopted for drying depends largely on the character of the plant, that is to say whether the plant is glabrous, succulent or not succulent, hardy or delicate in nature. The suitable method for drying any given plant has to be studied elaborately. However, the different methods of drying are described broadly in this and consequent chapters.

The major drawback of dried arrangements and other dry flower products is that they are dull and lack the brightness of fresh flowers. To overcome this problem, flowers are bleached and dyed. This enhances the visual appeal of the product. Both chemical and natural dyes can be used. Squires (1971) reported on the use of various types of paints to colour dried foliage and flowers using brushes or by dipping and spraying. Enamel paints, interior paints, poster paints and tube paints could be employed for this purpose. Tampion and Reynolds (1971) explained the three ways by which dyeing can be carried out for fresh flowers. They are as follows:

1. Introduction

Antioxidants are considered an important class of nutraceuticals which are associated with health improving properties. Antioxidants are compounds which when present in foods at concentrations lower than an oxidizable substrate, markedly delay or prevent the oxidation of substrate (Halliwell, 1999). They are increasingly applied in food systems to retard the oxidation process, particularly in lipid containing foods (Droge, 2002; Lee et al., 2004). The commercially available solutions to counter food oxidation are predominated by synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ), among others, which are increasingly rejected by consumers and legitimized by regulators due to long term health implications (Park et al., 2001). As a consequence, the development and utilization of natural antioxidants as alternatives to synthetic ones have attracted global interest among researchers.

The use of spices and herbs in foods was known since ancient times to modify or to improve the flavor. However, the antioxidant properties of only some of the spices have been recognized. Different spices and their extracts such as turmeric, ginger, fennel, rosemary, and sage, among others, are reported to possess very high antioxidant properties, owing to the content of biologically active compounds, which enables their food application (Madhavi et al., 1996). Exploitation of natural antioxidants in consumer goods is increasingly accepted and will gain momentum due to the rise of green consumerism. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to provide an insight into natural antioxidants and colors. Beginning with the source distribution of natural antioxidants, followed by review of extraction methods for their isolation from plant based matrices and bio-preservative properties in vegetable oils to delay rancidity. Lastly, a thorough collection of literature pertaining natural colors has been presented to potentiate the application of clean label ingredients in food systems. The application of natural antioxidants and colors in food products can vouch the food safety with value addition in terms of their nutraceutical properties.

Introduction

Fruits contain various beneficial compounds that possess biological activities and can be used as pharmaceutical nutraceutical products. Most of the fruits contain polyphenolic components that can promote antioxidant potential on human health. Wild Blueberries, strawberries, plums, oranges, grapes, cherries and mangoes are rich in antioxidant. Additionally, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal and chemopreventive effects are associated with the various fruits. Besides polyphenols, other compounds such as xanthones, carotenoids, saponins also exhibit health effects. Fruit consumption is considerably increasing in the daily diet because they supply high levels of biologically active compounds that impart health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Fruits provide an optimal mixture of antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, polyphenols and carotenoids, vitamins, phytoestrogens, glucosinolates and anthocyanins. Diets rich in fruits may help to delay the ageing processes and reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and other chronic diseases. The combination of vitamins, minerals, phenolic, antioxidants and fibre seems to be responsible for these effects. The most dietary components in fruits acting as antioxidants are fibre, polyphenols, conjugated isomers of linoleic acid, D-limolene, epigallocatechin, gallate, soy protein, isoflavones, vitamins A, B, C and E (group of tocopherols), calcium, selenium, chlorophyllin, alipharin, sulphides, catechin, tetrahy-drocurecumin, seasaminol, glutathione, uric acid, indoles, thiocyanates and protease inhibitors.

Introduction

Pulses are annually grown leguminous crops that yield one to twelve grains/ seeds within a pod, and are often promoted in diet owing to their low cost and many beneficial nutritional effects (Craig 2009). The United Nations general assembly has declared 2016 as the international year of pulses (Oyeyinka et al. 2016). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) describes pulses as the crops that are harvested only for dry grain. This definition excludes crops that are harvested green as food sources (such as green beans and green peas), crops that are used only for sowing purposes (such as alfalfa and clover) and crops used primarily for oil extraction (such as peanuts and soybean). India is the largest producer (around 25%) of pulses in the world and the Indian subcontinent covers the leading area in terms of consumption of pulses. It was also suggested that India can also increase the production output by 30%, considering a rise in government support prices for stimulating the growth of pulses and in case of a normal monsoon season (FAOSTAT 2008). The mainly grown pulses in India include mungbean (green gram), chickpea (Bengal gram), urd bean (black gram), lentil (masur), pigeon pea (arhar), cowpea, horse gram and peas (Tiwari and Singh 2012). In the western countries, nowadays pulses are one of the preferred food sources of the population, owing to ideological reasons and interest in vegetarian diet.

Introduction

Functional elements are non-conventional biomolecules in foods that have the ability to modulate one or more body metabolic processes or pathways, leading in health advantages and well-being promotion. Research has demonstrated a connection between food, health and well-being functional elements. Consequently, functional elements have health-promoting roles connected with multiple progressive steps at various phases of disease control, from initiation to growth. They can therefore be implemented efficiently in disease therapy and prevention. Therefore, the borderline between food and medicine is becoming very thin at a moment when the role of a healthy diet in stopping non-communicable diseases is well recognized. Functional elements include plant-derived, non-nutritious and biologically active chemicals that operate in the body to avoid certain non-communicable diseases from occurring.

Food contains over 900 phytochemicals. One fruit or vegetable serving (about 120g) can contain as many as 100 distinct phytochemicals. Previously, functional elements were believed to happen predominantly only as phytochemicals in plant products including whole grains, fruits and vegetables. However, in animal goods such as milk, fermented dairy products and cold water fish, probiotics, conjugated linolenic acid, long-chain omega-3, −6 and −9 polyunsaturated fatty acids and bioactive peptides are also discovered. Usually, functional elements happen in various forms in food such as glycosylated, esterified, thiolated or hydroxylated materials. They also have numerous metabolic operations that enable positive impacts in the body on several illnesses and target tissues (Balic et al. 2020).

Definition of Disaster

A disaster can be defined as a sudden or catastrophic event that causes significant damage, destruction, and disruption to human life, property, or the environment. Disasters can be natural, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, or they can be human-made, including industrial accidents, terrorist attacks, or technological failures.

Disasters often result in the loss of lives, injuries, displacement of people, infrastructure damage, and the interruption of essential services like electricity, water, and communication systems. They can have long-lasting impacts on communities, economies, and the environment.

Governments, organizations, and communities implement disaster preparedness, response, and recovery strategies to mitigate the effects of disasters, protect lives and property, and facilitate the rebuilding and restoration of affected areas.

It is a well known fact that natural disasters strikes countries, both developed and developing, causing enormous destruction and creating human sufferings and producing negative impacts on national economies. Due to diverse geo-climatic conditions prevalent in different parts of the globe, different types of natural disasters like floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, volcanoes, etc. strikes according to the vulnerability of the area. India is considered as the world’s most disaster prone country. It has witnessed devastating natural disasters in recent past like droughts, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, etc. 

Introduction

The natural hazards like floods, cyclones, droughts, landslides and earthquakes are not rare or unusual phenomenon. India is among the world’s most disaster prone areas and a large part of the country is exposed to such natural hazards, which often turn into disasters causing significant disruption of socio-economic life of communities leading to loss of life and property. It would not be considered as a disaster unless it resulted in actual damage to human life or property. According to data accumulated over past 25 years, natural disasters in Asia accounts for about 40% of the world’s total disasters while the death toll ratio is about 50% and the number of people affected is about 90%. The latter figure is about 2.2 times the ratio of number of occurrences in Asia. The figures vary widely over the decades, a result that can be attributed to a few particularly terrible disasters. Such as the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake in China, which killed about 250,000, and a series of severe cyclones that hit Bangladesh in 1970 with a death toll of about 500,000. The death toll resulting from wind and flood disasters jumped by an order of magnitude in the 1990s. But this sudden increase affected Asia’s ratio to the world total by about 15 percentage points because there was a worldwide surge in this type of disaster. Clearly, there is an extreme concentration of victims of such disasters in Asia, Another substantial increase is clear in the value of damage caused by typhoons and cyclones; it is now running at 10 times the level of the 1980s. Again, however, the ratio has remained almost unchanged, at about 40%, because hurricanes in Central and North America account for more than 50% of the world total (51.2%, 58.5%, and 54.4% in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s,respectively). It is sadly worth noting that there has been conspicuous growth in the absolute value of damage in both Asia and the Americas.

WHO defines Disaster as “any occurrence, that causes damage, ecological disruption, loss of human life, deterioration of health and health services, on a scale sufficient to warrant an extraordinary response from outside the affected community or area”

Although the thriving dye industry in many countries throughout the world is now predominantly serviced by synthetic dyes, the knowledge of the plants used to produce natural dyes still survives among some dyers, who use plant dyes to some extent. Nonetheless this indigenous knowledge is rapidly being lost as increasingly less information is being passed on to succeeding generations. Thus several countries are taking steps to revitalize this natural dyes industry. In this article the history of natural dye plants is presented; several plants from selected countries, which are used in the dyeing process are documented, together with some general methods of dye production and fabric dyeing; pattern production and the chemical constituents of some of these plants. The potential for the sustainable utilization of this important ecofriendly renewable natural resource is discussed.

India is an agricultural country and nearly 70% of its population is dependent directly or indirectly on agriculture and related activities. At present, about 173 million hectares of land is under agriculture of which about 143 million hectare are cultivated without fallow. Mounting pressures of teeming population and shrinking land (due to urbanization) have necessitated the production of increasingly more food per unit area. In the efforts to increase the food production and make the country self-sufficient in food grains, modern technology adopted since ‘Green Revolution’ in the middle sixties has paid a significant role. Higher yields in almost all crops were possible with exotic and high yielding genotypes and availability of seeds, heavy doses of fertilizers, frequent irrigation, labour and repeated applications of pesticides. However, several genotypes particularly hybrids proved to be susceptible to pests and disease pathogens. Insect-pests, diseases and weeds are important biotic-constraints inflicting 20-25% losses in agricultural production. Farmers were therefore compelled to use pesticides extensively and frequently.

Plant protection is an integral part of the crop production and pesticides proved to be valuable means in plant protection to ensure plenty food. However, some of the pesticides are highly hazardous and their residue remains undetected and posses risk to human safety and health. Moreover, the repeated and incorrect applications without following need-based criteria have resulted in several secondary side effects ². For instance, increased resistance of pests to insecticides, harmful to beneficial and non-target insects and animals, undesirable effects on crop plants and environmental hazards. Safety has become a major worry in factories and outside the working places. Besides these, repeated and heavy pesticide applications add to the cost of production and misery to farmer. These ill effects of synthetic pesticides have aroused interest in alternate methods of plant protection.

The R&D thrust in the pharmaceutical sector is focused on development of new drugs, innovative/indigenous processes for known drugs and development of plant based drugs through investigation of leads from the traditional systems of medicine. In addition, many nutraceuticals are being consumed from unregulated markets for their perceived benefits in health care and improvement of quality of life.

Natural pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals are of great importance as a reservoir of chemical diversity aimed at new drug discovery and can be explored as potential antimicrobial, cardiovascular, immunosuppressive, and anticancer drugs. Around 80% of all such products are of plant origin; their sales exceeded $ 65 billion in 2003. Examples of plant products and derivatives used by the pharmaceutical industry include Paclitaxel, Vincristine, Vinblastine, Artemisinin, Camptothecin, Podophyllotoxin and such.

The nutraceutical marketplace in Europe is estimated to be $ 9 billion, while the US marketplace, estimated to be $10-12 billion in 2003, is expanding at a compounded rate of more than 20% per year. US Congress has fueled the rapid growth of nutraceuticals with the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994. Globally, there have been efforts to monitor quality and regulate the growing business of herbal drugs and traditional medicine.

ABSTRACT

Endophytes are microorganisms that live inside the host plant tissues without causing symptoms of disease. There has been a crescent interest in the prospecting of these microorganisms as sources of novel and bioactive natural products. In fact, a significant number of interesting natural products have been reported in the last years. In this chapter some aspects regarding the endophytes are detailed: the relationship with their host plants, isolation, preservation, taxonomy, cultivation, frequently isolated strains, tropical endophytes, novel structures isolated and also their biological activities.

Key words: natural product, endophytic fungi, plant fungus interaction, secondary metabolites.

1.    Thomas Malthus suggested that population growth _____________.

(a) Would eventually lead to starvation and death as it exceeded the land’s potential to produce food

(b) Would lead to strong and better societies

(c) Would grow at a slower rate than land’s potential to produce food

(d) And the land’s potential to produce food would grow at the same rate

2.    Which population growth rate is likely to add relatively more to younger age population (youth effect on size of labour force)?

(a) Larger

(b) Smaller

(c) Uncertain

(d) Population growth rate does not affect the age structure of population

Agricultural production systems depend on natural resources viz. land, water, biodiversity, forests, pastures and wildlife. Farm activities can also have major impacts on the quality and availability of these resources well beyond the boundaries of the production system. Although natural resources are critical to agricultural production, farm households also frequently depend on them to meet other needs, such as fuel, construction materials and supplemental foods. Thus rural livelihoods are intricately linked to the condition of natural resources. Over the last 40 years as food production has doubled, agricultural production systems have expanded, with significant impacts on the natural resource base:

Introduction

In the post-world trade organization (WTO) era, the fantastic imagination of “one world for self-reliance”, has been shattered by the Corona induced calamity and the expansionists approach of a few rouge nations. Though the global welfare and peace has always been part of Indian traditional philosophy, approach and the concept of self-reliance, the practical boundary of self-reliance in its present context, starts from the country level itself. The idea of self-reliance at multiple levels (individual, family, society, and nation) has driven human civilization for most of its efforts, inventions and actions across the world.

A very high dependency of a large number of population on the natural resources in the developing world calls for proper management of natural resources for self-reliance. Since the early days of civilization, natural resources in the form of land, soil, water, biodiversity and climate have remained the very basis of supporting and sustaining life of human beings, plants and animals on the earth. However, in recent times intensive use and over-exploitation of pristine resources have robbed them of their legendry resilience. To effectively tackle the complex problems and to fulfil basic needs of livelihood, food security, poverty, employment, equity and environmental services, efficient and judicious utilization of natural resources for enhanced and sustained productivity is a matter of serious concern for policy makers, planners, scientists, conservationists and environmentalists.