eChapters

The narrow sense heritability estimates were high for days to first flowering, plant height at first flowering, number of leaves at first flowering, plant height at maturity, productive tillers per plant, boot leaf area, 100 grain weight, grain length and grain L/B ratio. These characters may be controlled by additive genetic variance. This indicated that the individual genotype can be evaluated readily from their phenotypic expression. Simple selection would more effective in the sets of materials exhibiting greater additive genetic variability and desirable mean performance. Thus, it merit selection in the next generation. On the other hand, the remaining traits may largely be controlled by non-additive genetic variance or the number of genes controlling these traits may be more, or these traits may largely be influenced by a large number of modifiers or might be largely influenced by environment. As the effects of the environmental variance were generally low, the observed low heritability for the above traits might be due other factors other than environment. These traits are hard to improve by selection. It necessitates progeny testing.

India is blessed with wide range of diverse agro climatic conditions, making it an appropriate place for vegetable cultivation, resulting in increasing vegetable production from has increased from 63.8 MT in 1993 to 168.5 million tonnes in 2015-16 and productivity from 12.6 MT/ha to 17.8 MT/ha (www.indiastat.com). Although the production has increased but still the technology used and practices followed is predominantly traditional resulting in low productivity and inconsistent quality and quantity of produce supplies to various markets in the country. The per capita consumption of vegetables in India is very low against WHO standards and FAO recommendation (135 g/day <180 g/day (WHO standards) < 300 g/ day capita (FAO recommendation).

Abstract

Meat is considered to be a highly perishable food commodity because of its biological composition. Thus, to extend its shelf life and maintain its nutritive value, there is an urgent need to find out alternatives for synthetic anti-microbial and anti-oxidants. This will not only serve the purpose of meat product manufacturer’s but will also satisfy the consumers’ demand for minimally processed meat products devoid of synthetic preservatives. This review discusses the natural antimicrobial and anti- oxidants sources viz., various essential oils, their composition and application in different meat and meat products. Essential oils from basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, ginger, basilica, balm, coriander, rosemary and clove have exhibited a better potential to be used as an antimicrobial agent in meat and meat products. They owe their anti-microbial properties to the phenolic compounds present in them. They dislocate cell membrane and disrupt functionality of bacterial cell membrane and eventually leading to the release of intracellular components. However, essential oils are not widely used due to the pungent and intense aroma imparted to the food, thus there is still need to work out on the novel technologies which can not only increase food shelf life but at the same time, are sensorially acceptable to the consumers.

Abstract

Ghee means the pure clarified fat derived solely from milk or curd or from desi (cooking) butter or from cream to which no coloring matter or preservative has been added. It is the second largest dairy product prepared from milk and it is almost 35% of total milk production. Unfortunately, the producers or the middle- men involved in the ghee trade, tend to adulterate ghee with cheaper oils and fats like vegetable oils, animal body fats, hydrogenated fats and sometimes even the non-edible mineral oils, especially during lean season to earn more money. Recently, the problem of adulteration has assumed a very serious dimension. Such a situation has tarnished the image of dairy industry. Methods presently adopted by food law enforcing agencies to ensure the quality of ghee are mainly based on the physico- chemical constants, but all these methods have some limitations. So researchers are always in search of different innovative methods to check the quality of ghee.

6.1 Introduction

Energy planning is possible only with knowledge of past and present energy consumption and future energy demand. There are number of factor which affects the energy consumption pattern significantly. These include energy prices, availability, reliability of supply, uniformity of quality, convenience in use, technical and economic characteristics of energy using equipment & appliances, population growth, income rate of urbanization, educational status, social acceptance, social habit, present knowledge of beneficiary etc.

The energy planning differ in planning sectral wise and planning sources wise. For sector planning purposes, estimates are needed of the short and long run price elasticity for every specific energy resource. Where as in planning sources wise, one must consider its long term availability & its costs.

In general, to cope up future risk and uncertainty, we need to predict the future event. The likely future event has to be given from and content in terms of projected course of variables i.e. the forecasting. Projection is of two types – forward & backward. It is the forward projection of data variable, which is named as forecasting.

12.1 Introduction

Nature has a provision for destroying and disposing off wastes and dead plants and animals. This decay or decomposition is carried out by tiny micro-organisms called bacteria. Making of farm-yard manure (FYM) and compost is also through decomposition of organic matter (OM). When a heap of vegetable or animal waste and weeds etc., die or decompose at the bottom of backwater or shallow lagoons, bubbles can be noticed rising to the surface of water. Sometimes these bubbles burn with dancing flame at dusk. This phenomenon has puzzled man for a long time. It was only during the past hundred years that Scientists unlocked this secret as the decomposition process. The gas thus produced was and is still called “Marsh Gas.” The technology of harnessing this gas under artificially created conditions is known as Biogas Technology.

Abstract

The recent earth movements and the related seismicities in the Southern part of the Indian Peninsula has been a matter of enigma for a century and more. While one school was strongly holding the opinion that the southern Indian Peninsula is free from recent earth movements as it is a shield area, the other school has narrated the possibilities for the ongoing earth movements. Under these circumstances, the various anomalies observed from satellite data and ground based information on geomorphology, subsurface lithology, geophysics, hydrogeology, geochemistry etc. have suggested a possible Pleistocene / Holocene graben along Pondicherry in the northeast and Cumbum Valley in the southwest in the southern tip of the Indian Peninsula.

2.1. Particle Size Distribution Analysis

Soil is composed of particles of varying size and shape. The expression of the proportion of the different size particles is termed as ‘soil texture’. It is one of the most important basic characters being little changed by cultivation or other practices. Particles are arbitrarily distinguished into following groups on the basis of their diameters.

6.1. Determination of Hydraulic Conductivity of Saturated Soil: Laboratory Methods

Hydraulic conductivity of a saturated soil indicates the ease with which water is transmitted through the soil pores. If a constant water head (h) is maintained on a saturated soil column of length (L) and the volume of water (V) percolating per unit time (t) through per unit cross sectional area (A) to the other end, then according to Darcy’s Law the rate of flow of liquid or flux (q) is proportional to the hydraulic gradient (ΔH/L) across the length of soil column.

14.1. Determination of Total Nitrogen in Soil (Modified Kjeldahl Method)

Nitrogen mostly present in soil in organic form. Relatively small amount of nitrogen usually occur in ammonium and nitrate form, the available form. The Kjeldahl method of total N determination includes both organic and ammonium form and with modification nitrate form of N can also be included.

16.1. Forms of Soil K

Ignoring potassium (K) in soil organism, total K in soil may be classified as (i) water soluble K, (ii) readily exchangeable K (exchangeable K), (iii) slowly exchangeable K (non- exchangeable or fixed K) and (iv) mineral or lattice K. The different forms are in dynamic equilibrium with one another.

In spite of considerable progress achieved during the last four decades in vegetable production in India, average productivity of vegetable crops is still low as compared to national and world level, indicating the scope to enhance their yield potential of quality produce. This is because of an appealing gap between potential yield and actual yield. In many vegetables, yield realized is even lesser than 50 % of potential yield. Sometime, farmers growing vegetable crops during main season do not get back their cost of cultivation. The prices of the same vegetable produce is very high during off-season. Several biotic and abiotic stresses are major factors responsible for low productivity and poor quality in different vegetable crops under open field cultivation, especifically in rainy and post-rainy seasons. The increasing demand of off-season high quality vegetables in various markets of big cities has called the attention of vegetable growers for diversification from traditional techniques of vegetable cultivation to modern systems of cultivation.

Protected cultivation of vegetable crops offers best choice for diversification. Production of crops under protected conditions has great potential in augmenting production and quality of vegetables, in main and off-season, maximizing water and nutrient-use efficiency under varied agroclimatic conditions. This technology has great potential especially in peri-urban areas, since it can be profitably used for growing high- value vegetables like tomato, cheery tomato, coloured Capsicum and parthenocarpic cucumbers, and healthy and virus-free seedlings in agri-entrepreneurial models.

H orticultural crops are most important ones incurring huge amount of pesticides in our country. The intensity of esticides on them is highest per unit area. However research on integrated pest management has not matched the progress and problems of plant protection at large and protected cultivation in particular. The USA, UK, Israel and Russia, pioneers in protected cultivation, are able to harvest productivity of up to 500 tonnes/ha of tomato and 200 tonnes/ha each of cucumber and capsicum, while in India up to 300 tonnes/ha of tomato and 100 tonnes/ha each of cucumber and capsicum are obtained, has compared to normal open field where their yield ranges from 40 to 60 and 10 to 20 tonnes/ha in India, respectively.

The sustainability of an agro-ecosystem is represented by its ability to maintain a given level of productivity over time and a given quantitative-qualitative level of environmental resources (Loucks, 1977). The greenhouse is also a form of agro-ecosystem, where unlike other agro-ecosystems, environment has been adapted to crop in order to maximize its productivity. The greenhouse system has to take maximum advantage of natural benefits offered by location in certain latitudes while minimizing the disadvantages (Castilla, 2002). Higher productivity under such protected cultivation is attainable mainly on account of reduced competition, healthy environment, better nutrient management, increased surface area and longer crop duration. However, ideal and stable environment with warm, humid and abundant food under protected conditions provides an excellent platform for pest development often more than open field crops, leading to severe pest situations in greenhouses, as revealed by extensive surveys.

High-yielding crop varieties and hybrids with tolerance to pests /diseases and to various farming constraints such as soil and water salinity, soil acidity, drought, flood and such other factors have been developed.

Eight cardamom hybrids, NKE 12 × MB 5 (1,499 kg/ha), MB 5 × NKE 19 (1,461 kg/ha), GG × NKE 12 (1,350 kg/ha), RR 1 × CCS 1 (1,245 kg/ha), CCS 1 × RR 1 (1,022 kg/ha), ASH (1,930 kg/ha), NKE 12 × GG (1,746 kg/ha), GG × NKE 19 (1,635 kg/ha), were identified for high yield and resistance to mosaic and rhizome rot diseases. Two unique mutants, AFg-3 and AFg-4, for powdery mildew resistance were isolated in fenugreek. In ajwain, AA 93 has been developed which flowers 40 days earlier compared to other varieties. Thirty- two elite saffron clones were selected and evaluated for fresh and dry weight of pistil, stiga and style length, and weight. CITH 125 (4.5 kg/ha), CITH 123 (4.3 kg/ha), CITH 124 (4.3 kg/ha), CITH 122 (4.0 kg/ha), CITH 12 (4.5 kg/ha), CITH 121 (3.9 kg/ha), CITH 107 (3.8 kg/ha), CITH 120 (3.8 kg/ha) and CITH 104 (3.7 kg/ha), having higher saffron yield were identified.

3.1. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Solid waste management includes the transportation, processing, recycling and disposal of our waste materials. We live in a disposable world in many ways with the modernization and convenience of our world we have cluttered it with our refuse.

Pulses in India are considered a residual crop and grown under rainfed conditions in marginal/ less fertile lands. About 90 percent of total pulse production comes from 97 million ha of rainfed areas in our country. Presently, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan contribute 85% of the total area and production of pulses in the country. Pulse crops usually face soil water deficits sometime during their growth cycles. Thus, drought stress is a common phenomenon and ranks high among all abiotic stresseslimiting yields of pulses (Ali and Mishra, 2000). Hence, there is an urgent need to increase the pulse productivity to increase the income of farmers and reduce malnutrition. Productivityof pulsesin rainfed agriculture has remainedlowand unstable owing to climate and soil related constraints (Swindale, 1982). Soil moisture is the foremost factor that determines the productivity of rainfed pulses where rainfall is the only source of water. To maintain required soil moisture in rainfed lands, every action must be focused to conserveas much quantity of rainfall in the soil as possible (Rao, 1997). Unfortunately, farmers following rainfed agriculture in our country are not practicing any sort of moisture management techniques though wehaveahandful of techniques suitable for rainfed conditions.

ABSTRACT

Shivaliks, the most impor tant ecosystem of the foothills of the Himalayas, have been identified as one of the eight most degraded rainfed ecosystems of the country. They are characterized by undulating barren hill slopes, undulating agriculture fields and erratic rainfall pattern. Majority of the lands under cultivation and orchards in the hilly terrain of the state are thus subjected to runoff and soil loss of varying degrees. The soils of Shivalik hills in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh were found to be coarse in texture with abundance of gravels (upto 73.20%). According to the erodibility indices i.e erosion ratio (ER) and erosion index (EI), all the soils were found to be erodible; however, grasslands and forestlands recorded lowest values for these indices. Forest soils had higher water stable aggregates (WSA), mean weight diameter (MWD) and lower dispersion ratios than the cultivated and orchard soils. The dispersion ratio was comparatively higher under cultivated lands (17.37-22.54) followed by orchards (14.36-14.99) and lowest under forest soils (12.59-13.70). Areas having barren lands recorded very high soil loss (86.05 t ha^-1 yr^-1) followed by intensively cultivated areas (58.87 t ha^-1 yr^-1) and both of these have fallen in very high category of priority. A medium category of soil loss has been observed under degraded forests, agro-horticultural plantations and scrubs (14.77 – 18.27 t ha^-1 yr^-1). While low to very low soil loss was recorded under moderately dense, mixed and dense forests (3.46 – 9.59 t ha^-1 yr^-1). Weighted soil loss of 10.60, 17.12, 19.20 and 256.73 t ha^-1 yr^-1 was observed under 5-10, 10-15, 15-35 and >35 per cent slope classes. However, dense forests in all the slope classes registered annual soil loss within the tolerance limit (5 t ha^-1 yr^-1). Hence, maximum runoff, soil loss and available NPK losses were recorded from the barren lands and lands under cultivation followed by orchards and minimum under forests. Risk of soil erosion is higher on steeper slopes. Mixed forests in slope class of 15-35% have also reflected very high soil loss. However, dense forests in all the slope classes registered annual soil loss within the tolerance limit (5 t ha^-1 yr^-1). There is an urgent need to adopt suitable soil and water conservation measures to check runoff losses causing loss of soil and nutrients.

ABSTRACT

The lower Shivaliks of Jammu and Kashmir comprise 12% of the total area of Jammu region. The productivity of the soils is not only low but highly unstable. High intensity monsoonal rains coupled with rolling topography, low organic matter and coarse nature of the soils are primarily responsible for soil erosion in the region. Soil loss due to erosion depletes the soil nutrients and, is primarily responsible for land degradation, low productivity and poor economic status of the farmers in the region. Further, the adoption level of the farmers regarding modern conservation techniques is also low. Though soil erosion can be controlled or minimized through agronomical and/or mechanical techniques but agroforestry intervention is one such option which can be used for managing the land in the problematic conditions. Agroforestry systems have proven potential of conserving soil and water besides enrichment of soil through biomass additions. Agroforestry systems, therefore, help curtail soil erosion both by intercepting the rain and minimising its erosivity as well as by reducing the erodibility of the soil. Tree based cropping systems enhance the organic content in soils and therefore, create more stable aggregates, which provide more resistance to erosive forces. The chapter discusses the importance of agroforestry in the fragile Shivaliks of Jammu and Kashmir and suggest how to conserve and restore degraded lands in the region.

The word agronomy has been derived from two Greek words, agros and nomos having the meaning of field and to manage, respectively. Literally, agronomy means the “art of managing field”. Technically, it means the “Science and economics of crop production by management of farm land”.

Definitions

Agronomy is the art and underlying science in production and improvement of field crops with the efficient use of soil fertility, water, labour and other factors related to crop production.

Agronomy is defined as “a branch of agricultural science which deals with principles and practices of field crop production and management of soil for higher productivity.

For better understanding of different systems of farming it is essential to study certain terminologies.

Farm is a piece of land with specific boundaries, where crop and livestock enterprises are taken up under a common management.

Farming is the process of harnessing solar energy in the form of economic plant and animal products or it is the business of cultivating land, raising livestock etc.

System refers to an orderly set of interdependent and interacting components none of which can be modified without causing a related change elsewhere in the system.

There are three district systems of farming as wetland system of farming, garden land (irrigated dry land) system of farming and dryland system of farming.

Wetland: Pertaining to soils flooded or copiously irrigated through lake or pond or tank for a least several weeks in each year (or) to crop growth in such soils. The water is not entirely under the control of the farmer.

Irrigation

Irrigation is defined as the artificial application of water to the soil for the purpose of crop production in supplement to rainfall and ground water contribution.

Time of Irrigation

The time schedule which indicates when irrigation water is to be applied and the quantity of water to be applied at that time is called irrigation schedule. There are several approaches for scheduling irrigation:

1. Soil moisture depletion approach based on the available soil moisture in the root zone.
2. Climatological approach based on the amount of water lost by evapotranspiration.
3. Combination approach based on soil moisture depletion and climatological approaches.
4. Critical stage approach which indicates the growth stages at which moisture stress leads to yield loss. These stages are known as critical period or moisture sensitive period. In cereals and millets panicle initiation and flowering stages are moisture sensitive stages. In pulses and oilseeds, flowering and pod development stages are critical stages. In sugarcane active tillering or formative stage is critical and in cotton boll development is the critical stage.

Agroforestry is a new name for a set of old practices. The general concept of agroforestry is to integrate trees and agriculture so as to create a more diversified landscape, while providing the producers with new environmental and economic benefits. In other words, agroforestry is a method of farming that allows trees and shrubs to grow along with crops and/or livestock, therefore blending agriculture and forestry in the same production system. In fact, man's association with forest is much older than with agriculture. First man was a food gatherer and hunter in forests. Then he realized that the seeds of the fruits he collected germinated, grew into plants and bore the fruits again and thus man started to cultivate foods. Man's desire to live in a community created settled agriculture.

The pressure on the agricultural lands has increased manifolds due to the increasing population, expansion of urban area and the industrialization process. The environment has also been disturbed. Soil is losing its productivity and the biodiversity is threatened. Farming community is trying all means to increase the land productivity. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are applied in higher proportion, causing environmental pollution hazards. Under all these circumstances agroforestry has shown that besides sustainable agriculture it can also help promote a better environment. Trees have always played an important role in mankind's survival. This relatively young science known as agroforestry was brought from the realm of indigenous knowledge into the forefront of agricultural research three and half decades ago and was promoted widely as a sustainability-enhancing practice that combines the best attributes of forestry and agriculture.

Agroforestry is a land use system that involves two or more plant species at least one of which must be a woody perennial. When perennial woody and herbaceous components are grown together on the same piece of land their performance would largely depend on their ability to share various growth resources in a given environmental situation. Due to difference in growth pattern and resource requirement of the components in agroforestry situation, a close interactive relation is obvious. Thus, careful management practices for the components are required to establish a successful agroforestry system. The characteristics of the trees and crops, and their interactions, can be modified with good management practice in order to take advantage of the positive characteristics and minimize the effects of the negative ones. Effective and efficient agroforestry management may be divided into two groups - tree management and agricultural crop management.

3.1 Introduction

Nature has a provision for destroying and disposing off wastes and dead plants and animals. This decay or decomposition is carried out by tiny micro-organisms called bacteria. Making of farm-yard manure (FYM) and compost is also through decomposition of organic matter (OM). When a heap of vegetable or animal waste and weeds etc., die or decompose at the bottom of backwater or shallow lagoons, bubbles can be noticed rising to the surface of water. Sometimes these bubbles burn with dancing flame at dusk. This phenomenon has puzzled man for a long time. It was only during the past hundred years that Scientists unlocked this secret as the decomposition process. The gas thus produced was and is still called “Marsh Gas.” The technology of harnessing this gas under artificially created conditions is known as Biogas Technology.

Introduction

Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn), like most fruit tree crops, is usually attacked by two or three key pests, several secondary pests and a large number of occasional pests in localized areas where it is grown. Litchi is an important subtropical evergreen fruit crop belongs to family Sapindaceae. It is known as queen of the fruit due to its attractive deep pink/red colours and flavoured juicy aril (Singh et al., 2012).

Insect pest attacks on litchi, in China there are 193 species of litchi pests in two classes, 11 orders, and 57 families. In India, nearly 42 insects and mite species reported to attacking on trees and fruits of litchi at different stages of growth (Singh et al., 2012). The majority belong to the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, followed by the Homoptera and Hemiptera. However, only about three or four key pests including fruit and flower borers, sucking bugs, stem borers and erinose mites which require regular control, and the species involved vary between orchards. Secondary pests viz., fruit-piercing moths, defoliators etc generally occur at sub-economic levels, but can become serious pests as a result of changes in cultural practices and litchi cultivars or because of indiscriminate use of insecticides against a key pest. Recently, litchi fruit borer and litchi leaf roller have acquired the status of major pests and now, litchi looper, litchi bug and bag worm are emerging pests of litchi (Choudhary et al., 2013; Singh et al., 2014). Occasional or incidental pests also can cause economic damage only in localized areas at certain times; the great majority of pests reported here fall within this last category.

The artificial seed production technique was first used in clonal propagation to cultivate somatic embryos placed into an artificial endosperm and constrained by an artificial seed coat. Today artificial seeds represent capsules with a gel envelope, which contains not only somatic embryos but also axillary and apical buds or stem and root segments (Vdovitchenko and Kuzovkina, 2011).

The prime requirements for preparation of artificial seeds are high frequency somatic embryogeniccalli, synchronous embryo development and maximum conversion of embryos into plants. Success in production of synthetic seeds mainly depends on how best callus development and plantlet regeneration are achieved. However, over time the morphogenetic competence of differentiated cultures declines (Lynch and Benson, 1991). Therefore, the primary goal of synthetic seed production is to produce somatic embryos that resemble more closely to the true seed embryo in storage and handling characteristics so that they can be utilized as a unit for clonal propagation and germplasm conservation. Synthetic seeds may be hydrated or dehydrated and may be quiescent or not. Encapsulation of micropropagules enables to satisfy the requirements of synthetic seed development. The gelling agents used for encapsulation for production of synthetic seeds act as protective cover. The encapsulated synthetic seeds also contain growth nutrients, plant growth promoting microorganisms (mycorrhizah, Rhizobium, etc.), and/or other biochemical constituents necessary for optimal embryo-to-plant development (Fig. 4.1). Fungicides may also be used in the liquid gelling medium to protect them during storage and germination in vitro and in vivo.

Many researchers successfully prepared synthetic seeds of crop plants. The major success of this technology is being elaborated in this chapter.

8.1. FIELD CROPS

Rice is the world’s most important food crop and a primary food source for more than one third of the world’s population. This crop has received considerable attention in biotechnology research progammes. Research in artificial seeds in rice is not scanty and this technology through somatic embryogenesis would offer a great scope for large-scale propagation of superior elite hybrids (Brar and Khush, 1994). However, success on artificial seeds research in field crops, especially cereals is still in infancy. However, many workers successfully encapsulated somatic and androgenic embryos of cereal crops (Datta and Potrykus, 1989; Suprasanna et al., 1996; Roy and Mandal, 2004 & 2008). Brar et al. (1994) emphasized the need for research on artificial seeds in rice through embryogenesis and outlined its impact on mass propagation of true-breeding hybrids. Somatic embryogenesis can also be used in the regeneration of genetically transformed plants (Vicient and Martinez, 1998). Subsequently those somatic embryos could be economically and successfully propagated though synthetic seed technology.

Ethnopharmacology and Traditional medines use natural resources as medicines. They have developed the knowledge of this through the generations of traditions and experiences. Therefore the protection of this knowledge and protection of natural resources both remain critical. Bioprospecting involves sustainable, ethical and legal processes to access natural resources and use them judicially so that the business needs do not pose any threat to nature and to people.

One important consideration is assuring the preservation of traditional knowledge, particularly oral knowledge, within communities, for the potential benefit of others. Developing mechanisms to document traditional knowledge, such as national inventories, can be beneficial in identifying cases where conservation or cultivation is needed, based on an understanding of existing natural resources used for medicinal purposes. Decisions about access and ownership of information can also be made (including those relating to intellectual property rights, where appropriate) once methods have been found to collect and preserve traditional knowledge. On the other hand, the livelihood of traditional healers may depend on maintaining the secrecy of their healing methods - one argument for consulting with traditional healers as part of the process of planning and executing the collection, storage and testing of traditional medicines.

Extending some form of intellectual property protection to traditional knowledge, of which traditional medical knowledge is a significant part, is being actively debated in WIPO and other international forums. Existing intellectual property regimes can offer protection for purified compounds (produced by scientists and companies) isolated from a natural medicine. But traditional medicines, whose method of action may not be well understood, and which often consist of mixtures of different active substances, may not meet criteria for patentability. The principal impetus for international debate is a desire to compensate the holders of traditional knowledge appropriately for the use of their knowledge by others, or to prevent so-called “biopiracy” where knowledge or genetic materials are used without the consent of the holder. China and Kenya are examples of countries that have modified their laws in an effort to accommodate traditional medicine. It is not intended that the Commission should enter into this debate, except in so far as aspects of it may be relevant to its terms of reference, in particular stimulating innovation in traditional medicine with the purpose of expanding access to affordable medicines.

The development of a new drug begins typically in the chemistry laboratory and is followed by a wide range of biological studies in vitro (cells/tissues) and in vivo (animals), which forecast what the agent would do in humans. The focus of these studies moves from evaluating the safety of a drug for use in humans to looking at its clinical relevance. Pharmacodynamics involves a set of biological studies both in vitro and and in vivo to get a better understanding of the mechanism of action of a drug. Preclinical studies mainly include safety and toxicity to ensure its safety for use in humans. Typically, preclinical in vitro, in vivo, and Phase I testing may not be necessary if preliminary data on safety are available. However, preclinical data or clinical observations are still necessary to justify a rationale for use and safety in initial clinical studies.

Three main screening approaches are generally used in drug development. Simple Screening evaluates substances that have a particular property by one or two tests. There is no need for a series of tests in which the interpretation of results of one test may depend on others. Blind Screening is used for a new plant extract where no adequate pharmacological information is available. Blind screening may give clues for potential activity and worthiness to probe further for pharmacological activities. Programmed screening involves a new plant extract or substance with known pharmacological effects and results in more precise information.

Review of Health Claims

Regulators of different countries have different procedures and views to review health claims of traditional medicine, herbal medicines, botanicals, functional foods, nutraceuticals, health products, diatory supplements and such other natural forms of materials intended to use for health promotion. However, if such products carry any therapeutic or health benefit claims then the regulators may provide general guidance and demand for sufficient evidence base in support of such claims. For instance, U. S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) provides general guidance to review of health claims in functional foods and dietary supplements. Ethnopharmacological preparations involving herbal medicine and traditional medicines prepared from natural ingredients also will need similar process. The scientific review process for health claims of such products is comprehensive and mainly focuses on review of individual studies³²⁴

Wilt

Fusarium udum

Economic Importance

• Wilt is widely prevalent throughout the world but more important in India and in eastern Africa.
• Wilt is the worst disease of red gram in India, causing severe damage wherever the crop is grown, especially in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.
• The disease is reported to cause 30-100% loss in grain yield and may cause 100% yield losses in susceptible genotypes.
• The annual losses due to wilt have been estimated at $71 million in India.

Powdery Mildew

Erysiphe polygoni

Economic Importance

• Powdery mildew can be a serious disease of peas grown in India.
• It appears in epidemic form in the plains almost every year when the pods are formed in January-February.
• Since the disease occurs more frequently and covers a large host surface, it proves much more destructive than the downy mildew disease of the same crop.
• It is worst in dry weather as against the downy mildew, which flourishes in moist weather.
• Severe infections can reduce yield by 10–20%.
• Severe pod infection can lead to poor seed quality.

Tikka or Leaf Spot

Cercospora arachidicola/ Phaeoisariopsis personatum

Economic Importance

• Tikka disease of ground nut is regarded as the most important fungal disease of this crop.
• The infection appears when the plants are one to two month old; one can see this disease in the month of September in the plains of our country.
• Losses due to this disease may go up to 15-50%.

Introduction

Over centuries, spices have been used as an important addendum for colour, flavour and preservation of foods. In addition, their medicinal and cosmetic utilities have been widely recognized (Purseglove et al., 1981; Srinivasan, 2005). All these benefits made them extremely desirable with an ever growing demand in the international market. India holds the title of the largest producer and exporter of spices with major share for pepper, capsicum, turmeric, ginger cardamom, seed spices, curry powders, spice oils and oleoresins. The other primary producers of spices includes China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey Brazil and Mexico while USA, Europe, Japan, East Asian and Middle East countries are their major importers.

Spices are made from diverse plant parts viz. rhizomes, barks, leaves, fruits and seeds and hence its processing methods vary depending on the raw material. However, the basic unit operations namely harvest, pre-treatment, drying, cleaning, particle size reduction, packaging and microbial decontamination in sequence remains common for the production of most of the spices. Inappropriate conduct of basic unit operations often lead to high microbial load, aflatoxin contamination, losses of valuable compounds, change in sensory characteristics, physical damages and incorporation of contaminants in spice products (Table 1). Moreover, spices being natural products, they may be fraught with a large number of microorganisms including several pathogenic species of bacteria and fungus depending on the prevailing conditions in their cultivation areas. In addition, poor food sanitation awareness and practices in spice producing countries may worsen their microbiological safety. Although spices are nonperishable in nature due to their low moisture contents after drying, they may act as a source of microbial populations upon contact with moist food products with no further thermal treatment. The outbreak of ‘salmonellosis’ in Germany (1993) due to contaminated paprika and paprika-powdered potato chips is an example. The aforesaid disadvantages related to conventional spice production may confound their international trade unless desired objectives of food safety management schemes such as International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF) are met. Moreover, international agencies have set standard to guarantee safe spices and augment business interests of their adherents. For example, both the European Spice Association (ESA, 2015) and American Spice Trade Association have set a maximum level of 1% w/w extraneous matter in spices (ASTA, 2017). These challenges associated with the conventional production system may be effectively addressed by preventive risk management strategy by which suitable control measures are enforced at earlier phases of food chain prior to consumption. The control measures must guarantee that the level of contamination has not exceeded the maximum permissible limit at every phase of spice production from farm to table.

Birds possess great intrinsic interest, they are certainly among the most attractive population of all wildlife groups. Moreover, it is widely recognised that birds can act as valuable indicators of the quantity and quality for wildlife. The studies on avian communities attracted great attention over the past several years all over the world. Much of the early efforts emphasized on the patterns and processes in the avian communities and the listing of species. Previous workers mainly concentrated on the narrow perspectives and focused on single variables, but the recent studies have emphasised the necessity of multi- scale, multi-factor approaches and the inclusion of both short term and long-term temporal variables. The difficulties of assessing numerous variables and several scales, both temporal and spatial, seem to have discouraged the contemporary ecologists from embarking on studies on avian communities.

The Western Ghats is well known for the wealthy and unique assemblage of flora and fauna and is one among the 25-biodiversity hot spots identified on the earth. Arising gradually from the narrow Konkan and Malabar coasts, these mountains run 1,600 km north south between the River Tapti in Gujarat and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu covering an area approximately equal to 1,60,000 km². Kerala State, located between 8° 4’ and 12° 48’ N and 74° 52’ and 77° 37’ E is known for rich biological resources on account of availability of a variety of ecological niches and habitats ranging from lush tropical forest, valleys, plains and coastal areas.

In this chapter the data collected in Silent Valley and Mukkali on the abundance of birds are discussed. Species abundance relations of the community is also prepared and presented in this chapter.

METHODS

Abundance : Total number of birds seen in each month and seasons (summer and monsoon) were calculated using the census data.

Density : Density of birds in each month, in two seasons and individual density of selected species were also calculated. The density was estimated using the line transect method (Burnham et al., 1980). The Fourier series method, which is used for analysis, is not dependent on specific distribution assumptions about the detection probability of birds at various perpendicular distances from the transect line. In this method density is computed from ungrouped, perpendicular distances from transect.

Foliage diversity of a forest stand has an important role in providing food for tropical forest birds. This feature adds to the ability of tropical forests to harbour high bird diversity. Studies on forest bird communities mainly examined the parameters like structure of forest bird communities (Nilson, 1983); distributions (Howe et al., 1981) and community organisation (Landers and Mac Mohan, 1980). The pioneering, studies of Mac Arthur and Mac Arthur (1961) established the relationship between bird diversity and foliage density. Mac Arthur et al. (1962) and Mac Arthur et al. (1966) supported the above hypothesis. Some studies have showed negative relationship also (Wiens, 1983). Other vegetation characters, which have significant effect on bird diversity are foliage volume, percentage vegetation cover (Karr and Roth, 1971), percentage canopy cover (Crawford et al., 1981; Wiens and Rottenberry, 1981; James and Wamer, 1982). In India Ramakrishnan (1983) examined many bird community parameters at Silent Valley. Diversity and structure of birds were also studied by Johnsingh et al. (1987), Katti (1989), Daniels (1989), Sundaramoorthy (1991), Johnsingh and Joshua (1994), Gokula and Vijayan (1996). Even though many studies have been reported on the forest bird communities from South India, relation between foliage abundance and bird diversity have not been dealt in detail. The correlation between the abundance of birds in different height classes of tropical forest canopy with foliage abundance is reported in this chapter. The study forms part of a major investigation (Jayson, 1994), which determined many ecological aspects of two bird communities. Seasonal changes in these bird communities were reported earlier (Jayson and Mathew, 2000).

Introduction

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) is the most widely grown type of millet and it is an important staple food grain crop for millions of people in arid and semi arid regions of the world. Pearl millet is very well adapted crop to growing areas characterized by drought, low soil fertility, and high temperature. It is also performs well in soils with high salinity or low pH. Because of its tolerance to difficult growing conditions, it can be grown in areas where other cereal crops, such as wheat or maize, would not survive. Physiologically, it is a C₄ plant which imparts it potential to grow under hot and dry climatic conditions. Among cereals, it is highly responsive to fertilizers and has highest water use efficiency. Pearl millet is being grown as dual purpose crop for both grain and fodder in dry areas like Rajasthan where animal production is complimentary with crop production. Pearl millet is also a good source of important essential minerals for human health like Fe and Zn hence it is useful to alleviating malnutrition.

Introduction

Drought is the most important abiotic factor that adversely affect growth and crop production. Drought stress can altered the normal physiological processes that influence one or a combination of biological factors for yield and yield attributing traits (Ashraf, 2010). The abnormal metabolism due to stress may reduce plant growth (Claves et al., 2002). Production is limited by environmental stresses, according to different scholar estimates, only 10 per cent of the world’s arable land is free from stress, in general, a major factor in the difference between yield and potential performance, environmental stresses. Drought is one of the most common environmental stresses that almost 25 per cent of agricultural lands for agricultural farm products in the world are limited (Loresto, 1976; Chaves, 2002). Drought occurrence in India is also very frequent. Drought occurred in past 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1979, 1987, 2002, 2009 and had considerable impact on food grain production. For example, the drought of 1966-67 reduced overall food grains production by 19%. The drought of 1972-73 reduced the food grains production from 108.95 million tonnes to 95 million tonnes, causing a loss of about $ 400 million $. The 1987 drought in India damaged 58.6 million ha of cropped area affecting 285 million people (Ray et al., 2015). Drought in 2002 has reduced food grains production to 174 million tonnes from 212 million tonnes resulting in decline of 3.2% GDP (Rathore et al., 2009; Ray et al., 2015).

The water deficit reduces crop yield due to decrease in photosynthetic area, decreased radiation use efficiency and harvest index (Earl and Davis, 2003). Drought stress affect the water balance and plant metabolisms. Plants under drought conditions use various changes to tolerate stress conditions and increase drought tolerance which includes changes in whole plant, tissue, at physiological and molecular levels. Appearance of a single or a combination of inherent changes determines the ability of the plant to stand under aridity conditions. Tolerant plant adjusts its water balance by osmotic adjustment, deep root systems and by transient leaf rolling.

Introduction

Soil, a dynamic living matrix, is an essential part of the terrestrial ecosystem. It is a critical resource not only to agricultural production and food security but also to the maintenance of most life processes. Soils contain enormous numbers of diverse living organisms assembled in complex and varied communities ranging from the myriad of invisible microbes, bacteria and fungi to the more familiar macro-fauna such as earthworms and termites. The diversity in soils is several times higher than that above ground. Each hectare top soil contains approximately 1,000 kg of different fungi, 500 kg of bacteria, 750 kg actinomycetes and 150 kg of algae and many protozoa (Table 1). These diverse micro-organisms interact with one another and with the plants and animals in the ecosystem forming a complex system of biological activity. Environmental factors, such as temperature, moisture and acidity, as well as anthropogenic actions, in particular, agricultural practices affect soil biological communities and their functions to different extents. Diversity of soil micro-organisms has emerged in the past decade as a key area of concern for sustainable soil health and crop production. Besides, the well-being and prosperity of earth’s ecological balance, the sustainability of agricultural production systems directly depends on the extent and status of microbial diversity of soil.

Origin of fruit culture can be traced back to 8000-5000 years ago and the horticultural practices like irrigation, vegetative propagation, selection etc. developed about 5000-3000 years back. The sophisticated fruit culture might have originated before 3000-2000 years. Basically all the cultivated fruits are the gift of diversity and not results of systematic breeding. Most of them have spread to different parts of the world through various media from the primary centres of origin.

Centres of origin of major fruit crops are as follows:

Mediterranean basin : datepalm, fig, grape, olive, pomegranate

East Asia : banana, citrus, mango, peach, kiwi fruit, persimmon

Central Asia: pome fruits, apricot

Europe : plum, raspberry

North and South America: avocado, black berry, papaya, pineapple, strawberry

Introduction

Fresh and processed products derived from fruit crops provide vital contributions to human nutrition, health, and well-being, and collectively their production constitutes the economic backbone of many rural communities worldwide. Rapid development and distribution of new cultivars with improved characteristics which meet the industry, market (both domestic and export), and consumer preferences is the need of the day. Conventional methods of perennial fruit crop improvement have almost exclusively relied on traditional breeding techniques. These techniques are expensive, time consuming and space requiring, especially for tree species due to the need of a large population of seedlings from which only a few promising ones are selected. The juvenile period of tree crops may last three to five years before onset of fruits so that 20 years or more are common before the successful introduction of a gene of interest (Baird et al., 1996). Therefore in this context, molecular tools recently made available for breeders have become tools of choice because they permit to reduce cost by fastening the selection process of woody fruit plants. Further, traits of importance like fruit quality, resistance to diseases, high yield etc. are polygenic in nature for which classical breeding is generally not suitable for detection and selection of traits. A quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis with help of markers and linkage maps may be more appropriate for detection of such traits of interest. Also, molecular markers are being used for maintenance of core collections, for the assessment of genetic diversity between genotypes and fingerprinting.

Banana is one of the most important major fruit crops grown in India and is as old as Indian civilization. It seems that it is one of the earliest fruit crops grown by mankind at the dawn of civilization. In India, bananas are so predominant and popular among people that it is liked both by poor and rich alike. It is the cheapest among all other fruits in the country. Considering the year round availability of fruits, unlike the seasonal availability of other tree fruits, it has become an inevitable necessity in any house hold in India, for all cultural occasions.

The bananas were grown in Southern Asia even before the prehistoric periods and the world’s largest diversity in banana population is found in this area. Hence, it is generally agreed that all the edible bananas and plantains are indigenous to the warm, moist regions of tropical Asia comprising the regions of India, Myanmar, Thailand and Indo China. Historical evidences show that the Arabs have introduced the banana from India to Palestine and Egypt perhaps in seventh century A.D. (Hayes, 1953). It soon became popular in those areas and later spread to East coast of Africa at a very early date and subsequently spread throughout the African continent. Bananas were reported to have introduced to Central America in 1516 A.D., where it spread rapidly and attained commercial significance. The spread of bananas to West Indian Islands was through Christian missionaries and wherever it reached it assumed economic importance due to its greater adaptability and commercial value.

Indian jujube (Ber) belongs to the genus Zizyphus and family Rhamnaceae having more than 600 species. The family includes trees with spine, shrubs and climbers. The original home of Ber is Myanmar and India. Many workers have tried to classify it on the basis of leaf, flowers and fruits characteristics. Some tried to divide into two groups i.e. having smooth leaves on both surfaces and having leaves downy beneath. Ber as a tree has been described it as small, much branched or a large shrub with dense spreading habit, bark dark gray, branches elongated, leaves with glabrous shining upper surface densely covered beneath with whitish hairy growth.

Ber has attracted sustained breeding attention owing to its wide adaptability, good quality and nutritive value. However, problems like poor shelf life, incidence of powdery mildew disease, fruit fly and fruit borer have hindered the extension of the area under this crop. In Chinese jujube, the problem of fruit cracking and ‘witches broom’ disease are the major hindrances in its cultivation. There are two major cultivated species viz., Ziziphus mauritiana and Ziziphus jujuba, which are widely distributed covering vast regions in Asia. The wild population found is heterozygous and extremely variable. As a result, many local selections were made, some of which have become widely recognized as cultivars. The success of any breeding programme depends on the extent of genetic variability in the source population. The assessment of variability is therefore a basic requirement of breeding programme. Since most of the plant characters of economic importance are governed by the group of genes and are highly influenced by environmental variation, it is difficult to judge whether the observed variability is heritable or due to environment. This necessitates optimizing of phenotypic variation into its heritable and non heritable components, so that the selection of parents

Jamun is an evergreen tree commonly known as Java plum. It has its origin from Southeast Asia, India, Myanmar and East Indies. It belongs to the family Myrtaceae (which has flowers consisting of characteristic numerous stamens) and species Syzygium cuminii (L.) Skeels. Closely related to an important spice Syzygium aromaticum “Clove”. It is cultivated in tropics as an evergreen tree with dense foliage and can provide lot of shade. It is a very popular avenue tree. A unique fast growing tree, known to be tolerant to high rainfall and also to water deficit conditions, it is present in both moist and dry situations, occurring in the tropical wet evergreen forests, tropical semi-evergreen forests, tropical moist deciduous forests, littoral and swamp, tropical dry deciduous, tropical dry evergreen, subtropical broadleaved hills, and subtropical pine forests. The tree favours moist, damp or marshy situations, where it tends to form gregarious crops. It tolerates prolonged flooding, and once established it can tolerate drought.

Introduction

Most of the technological advances in the recent past in Indian Horticulture have been done for favourable agro-climatic regions. However, the vast and diverse land-scape of hot desert, arid, semi-arid and tribal area is not yet receiving logical thought for resource based horticultural development (Samadia and Haldhar, 2017). Although, the semi-arid regions of the country have now became potential hub for aonla, bael, ber, pomegranate, jamun, guava, fig and custard apple. There has been a steady increase in area and production of these fruits particularly under aonla, ber, custard apple and pomegranate in the country as a result of identification and development of suitable varieties and production technologies. The average productivity of these fruits in India is, however, low as compared to many developed countries. The main reasons for low productivity are old and senile orchards, low yielding varieties, poor orchard management and inadequate technological up-gradation and adoption by the growers. Presently, the continuing decline in the availability of cultivable land, rising energy and land costs together with the increased demand of fruit and fruit products, have given thrust to the concept of high density planting (HDP) in fruit crops. High density planting gives earlier production and return per unit area, shortens juvenility, eco-friendly, provides efficient land use and better use of resources like light, water and fertilizers, efficient pesticides application, besides, in this system the harvesting becomes easy(Mishra and Goswami, 2016). Among the factors such as cultivar, rootstock, quality of planting material and cultivation practices contribute to high yield of fruit trees, however, the number of trees^-1 is the most important factor which brings about radical increase in fruit production. Therefore, high density planting has great potential for increasing productivity in fruit crops (Mishra et al., 2003). The success of this technology in most of the fruit crops is dependent on the use of methods to control shoot growth and maximize light interception as the trees begin to bear fruit. The main aim of HDP is to achieve the twin requisites of productivity by maintaining a balance between vegetative and reproductive growth without impairing the plant health and fruit quality. The underlying principle of HDP is to make the best use of vertical and horizontal space per unit time and to harness maximum possible return per unit of inputs and natural resources.

ABSTRACT

Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase (PNP) is an enzyme that functions in the purine salvage pathway by catalyzing the phosphorolysis of purine nucleoside thereby releasing the purine bases and phosphorylated sugar. Interest in PNP as a drug target arises from its role in T-cell proliferation and T-cell mediated autoimmune diseases. Recently, we have isolated the compound, coixol, from the plant Scoparia dulcis L. and its three-dimensional structure has been elucidated. As the structure of the coixol mimics the structure of PNP inhibitors, we have undertaken the molecular modeling studies of this compound with Human PNP, as a screening test for further in vivo studies. Generally PNP inhibitors have been synthesized with a ribose sugar moiety attached to them. As the plant Scoparia dulcis L. contains glucose and rhamnose (six membered ring), these sugar moieties are also included along with ribose in the presen study. In order to understand the binding mode and interactions of the isolated compound attached with different sugar groups, we have carried out the docking studies with Human PNP. The interactions between the ligand molecules and active site residues of Human PNP are similar to those of solved complexes and the energy values are also comparable, which clearly indicate that these ligands may act as inhibitors.

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants are known to contain innumerable bioactive compounds that play an important role in conventional as well as western medicine. These bioactive molecules occur in plants as secondary metabolites, which have pharmacological relevance and aid in defense mechanism. In India, herbal medicines have been the basis of treatment and cure for various diseases. Conventionally, natural products have been tested as crude extracts containing complex mixtures of compounds, which if showing a desired activity, require a process of purification and identification of the active components, which can be lengthy and efficient.

In order to understand the function of these active compounds, X-ray crystallographic studies are carried out.

The present study involves the three dimensional structure analysis of purified compounds from the plants Phyllanthus amarus, Sphaeranthus indicus, Scoparia dulcis and Mangifera indica and Leonotis nepetaefolia.

Conservation agriculture (CA) defined as minimal soil disturbance (no-till) and permanent soil cover (mulch) combined with rotations is a recent agricultural management system that is gaining popularity in many parts of the world. Cultivation is defined by the Oxford English dictionary as “the tilling of land”, “the raising of a crop by tillage” or “to loosen or break up soil”. Other terms used in this dictionary include “improvement or increase in (soil) fertility”. All these definitions indicate that cultivation is synonymous with tillage or ploughing.

The other important definition that has been debated and defined in many papers is the word “sustainable”. The Oxford dictionary defines this term as “capable of being borne or endured, upheld, defended, maintainable”. Something that is sustained is “kept up without intermission or flagging, maintained over a long period”. This is an important concept in today’s agriculture since the human race will not want to compromise the ability of its future offspring to produce their food needs by damaging the natural resources used to feed the population today.