eChapters

Knowledge on fish reproductive biology is extremely important to understand various issues relating to reproduction and fishery management. Reproductive success in aquaculture systems depends to a greater extent on our knowledge about sexual differentiation, gonad structure, gametogenesis, spawning, larval metamorphosis, etc for successful captive breeding of a fish species. This chapter therefore, contains information on secondary sexual characters, sex-ratio, gonad structure, gonadal maturity, fecundity and embryonic development of striped murrel.

2.1 Secondary Sexual Characters

The sexes are separate in striped murrel however differentiation of sex is not easy when fish is immature. The differentiations in sexes become distinct with advancement of maturity during spawning season. On attaining full maturity, a good fecund mature female could be easily distinguished with having bulged belly originating nearing the site of pectoral fins and extends near to the vent.

Introduction

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a set of soil management practices that minimize the disruption of the soil’s structure, composition and natural biodiversity. These include: i) maintenance of permanent or semi-permanent soil cover (using either a previous crop residue or specifically growing a cover crop for this purpose); ii) minimum soil disturbance through tillage (just enough to get the seed into the ground); iii) regular crop rotations to help combat the various biotic constraints. CA also uses or promotes where possible or needed various management practices listed below: i) utilization of green manures/ cover crops (GMCC’s) to produce the residue cover; ii) no burning of crop residues; iii) integrated disease and pest management; iv) controlled/limited human and mechanical traffic over agricultural soils. When these CA practices are used by farmers one of the major environmental benefits is reduction in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

In India, efforts to develop, refine and disseminate conservation-based agricultural technologies have been underway for nearly two decades and made significant progress since then even though there are several constraints that affect adoption of CA. Particularly, tremendous efforts have been made on no-till in wheat under a rice-wheat rotation in the Indo-Gangetic plains. The technologies of CA provide opportunities to reduce the cost of production, save water and nutrients, increase yields, increase crop diversification, improve efficient use of resources, and benefit the environment. However, there are still constraints for promotion of CA technologies, such as lack of appropriate seeders especially for small and medium scale farmers, competition of crop residues between CA use and livestock feeding, burning of crop residues, availability of skilled and scientific manpower and overcoming the bias or mindset about tillage. The need to develop the policy frame and strategies is urgent to promote CA in the region. (Bhan and Behera, 2014).

Introduction

The resource conservation technologies (RCTs) primarily focus on resource-savings management systems for agricultural production through minimal tillage operation, maintaining soil health for available plant nutrients and conserving soil moisture through crop residues and/or cover crops, and following cropping sequence in spatial and temporal scale. The integration of resource-conserving technologies working in synergy is commonly referred to as conservation agriculture (CA). The CA is “a concept for resource-saving agricultural crop production that strives to achieve acceptable profits together with high and sustained production levels while concurrently conserving the environment” (FAO 2007). The CA envisages four principles: (i) minimizing mechanical soil disturbance and seeding directly into untilled soil, (ii) maximizing crop residue retention and/or growing cover crops, (iii) optimizing diversification of cropping sequences and rotations, and (iv) minimizing mechanical soil compaction through controlled traffic. The CA technologies involving no- or minimum-tillage with direct seeding and bed planting, residue management and crop diversification have potential for improving productivity and soil quality, mainly by soil organic matter build-up. Conservation agriculture systems appear to be appealing options to achieve sustainable and intensive crop production under different agroecological environments because they use available resources efficiently and maintain soil fertility. However, there is a need for wider scale testing of these new technologies under diverse production systems, as the CA technologies are site specific and therefore appraisal of CA is important to have significant adoption (Ramesh et al., 2016)

Introduction

There is a widespread degradation of natural resource, e.g., soil erosion, nutrient loss, water-logging, salinity, alkalinity, acidity, decline in soil organic carbon (SOC) content, ground water depletion and micronutrient depletion. The major causes are washing away of topsoil and organic matter due to water erosion, intensive deep tillage and inversion tillage, dismally low levels of fertilizer application, mining and other commercial activities, faulty agricultural practices, no or low use of organics, indiscriminate use of herbicides, pesticides, fungicides etc. Other cause is loss of organic matter with higher temperatures, which increase rate of microbial decomposition of organic matter due to adverse effect of climate change. Climate change due to global warming as a result of increased concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere is a well-established fact. Impacts of climate change are experienced throughout the world. Increases in global mean temperature, rise in sea-level, and occurrence of extreme events are the consequences of climate change. These changes may deplete the SOC pool and soil structural stability, increase soil’s susceptibility to water runoff and erosion, disrupt cycles of water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and other elements, and cause adverse impacts on biomass productivity, biodiversity and the environment. Climate change is likely to have a variety of impacts on soil quality. In order to restore soil quality, enhance productivity, it is of utmost importance to focus on conservation agriculture practices on long-term basis. Conservation Agriculture (CA) is gaining importance as an alternative to conventional agriculture.

Introduction

The main aim of conservation agriculture is to sustain and improve the crop productivity and to provide protection against biotic and abiotic stress, while at the same time protecting and enhancing the biological activities of the soil. The essential principles of conservation agriculture are no-tillage (and direct seeding) or reduced tillage, the maintenance of a cover of live or dead vegetative mulch on the soil surface and the wise use of crop rotations. The crop sequences are planned in such a way that which will discourage the buildup of pests or diseases and will help to optimize plant nutrient use by synergy between different crops of the rotation. While deciding the crop rotation, the locally important crops should be considered and there should be deep rooted and shallow rooted crops in the sequence so that the utilization of soil nutrients is maximized. At least one leguminous crop should be there in the crop sequence. The use of plant residues influences the soil physical, chemical and biological properties by reducing surface temperature, rate of evaporation and maintaining water content, nutrient load and rate of organic matter decay. The soils under conservation agriculture are happened to be highly active and diverse biologically and can supply plant nutrients for a longer period of time because of their higher nutrient loading capacities.

Soil biodiversity comprises of all organisms whether single-cell organisms or multi-cell animals or plants that live in the soil. Soil microbial diversity includes “genetic diversity, that is the amount and distribution of genetic information within microbial species, diversity of bacterial and fungal species in microbial communities, and ecological diversity, that is variation in community structure, complexity of interactions, number of trophic levels and number of guilds (Nannipieri et al., 2003).

Introduction

Intensive soil tillage, burning of crop residues and over use of fertilizer and irrigation water under current agricultural practices has accelerated the pace of degradation in Indian agriculture. Intensive soil tillage increases soil erosion and nutrient runoff into nearby waterways. Crop residue burning resulting in loss of plant nutrients and release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. Imbalanced use of chemical fertilizer leads to soil compaction, slows down the fertilizer utilization rate and contaminates the local environment. Increasing demand of irrigation water causes water shortage and harms the environment in several ways including increased salinity, nutrient pollution, and the degradation of flood plains and wetlands. In the face of these management and environmental challenges, there is a need to formulate such agricultural practices which improve the productivity of natural resources as well as of external inputs and help to prevent soil degradation. Conservation agriculture (CA) practices such as reduced tillage, residue retention and proper crop rotations offer such solutions. CA also helps in making agricultural systems more resilient to climate change and safeguard ecosystem services.

Introduction

Precise and continuous measurement the greenhouse gases (GHGs) fluxes/ emissions in agricultural systems are required for accounting and budgeting of carbon. Further, the long-term measurements of GHGs fluxes are equally important as precise measurement. Therefore, high frequency and long-term measurement of GHGs across the cropping systems are essential for chalking out the GHGs emissions mitigation strategies. Various technologies with definite working principles are used for estimation of GHGs emissions in agriculture.

Greenhouse Gases Estimation Techniques

Two basic principles are followed to estimate greenhouse gases in agriculture. One is the collection of GHGs from the field and subsequent analysis of the concentration of gases through gas chromatography (GC). Another principle is based on sensors measurement with the help of infrared gas analyze (IRGA). The two techniques used for the measurement are (i) ‘closed chamber method’ (manual/automatic), and (ii) ‘sensor-based method’. Generally, the GHGs fluxes in agricultural crop field are estimated by ‘closed chamber method’ for methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). And for carbon dioxide (CO₂) measurement either soil respiratory chamber or canopy chamber is used that measures CO₂ with the help of infrared gas analyzer (IRGA).

6.1. Introduction

This chapter deals with the sample survey conducted on cotton, turmeric and castor seed farmers and recorded various benefits observed by them by using Futures market as a platform for price information. Further, it tries to examine the price discovery efficiency of commodity futures market with the help of secondary data.

It is often believed that future price is a forecast of the price of a commodity during the maturity month of its futures contracts. It is far from true. The futures price of a commodity traded at an exchange market is not so much determined by the anticipated supply of and demand for that commodity in the maturity month of its futures contracts as by the cost of carrying the commodity till the maturity of such contract. That means the spot and future prices of any commodity are always determined by the same basic forces of the present and prospective demand and supply. The difference between the two prices represents merely the cost of carrying the commodity from the present to the future. Such cost may be positive or negative depending on whether the current (not the future) supplies are abundant or scarce respectively when the price of futures contracts of any commodity is in reality relied upon by the physical market functionaries in that commodity as a “reference” price for executing their forward transactions in either the domestic or export market, that price may deem to be “discovered” in the true sense. The application of such reference price for transacting a forward transaction in the physical market in that commodity, in fact facilitates the use of the same future contract for managing price risk for such forward transaction. Hence, the price discovery and price risk management are the two sides of the same coin and efficiency of price discovery is directly related to the price risk management. A commodity exchange or a derivative market is not a mechanism for controlling prices. An efficient futures market is one that discovers prices and provides effective mechanism for managing price risk arising from unavoidable price variations owing to shifts in demand and supply schedule. Prices are determined by the basic demand and supply forces and not the market. Markets reflect the supply and demand conditions from time to time through variation in prices.

Rivolta (1873) first described the chain forming cocci in pus collected from the equine infection. Rosenbach (1884) established the genus Streptococcus’ Nocard and Mollereau (1887) first observed the relationship between the bovine mastitis and Streptococcus agalactiae. Lancefield (1933) classified beta-haemolytic streptococci on the basis of group specific-carbohydrate antigens.

Properties of genus

1. Morphology: Streptococci are gram positive cocci, capsulated, non-sporing and non-motile. Each coccus cell is 1µm in diameter. They are arranged in a pair or chain of cells as the cell division occurs in one plane(Figure 1 & 22). The chain formation and the chain length are variable. Streptococcus equi ssp. equi is a constant chain producer. Young cultures are gram positive whereas bacteria present in the pus and older cultures in the laboratory are often stained as gram negative.

Corynebacterium diptheriae was first observed by Klebs in 1883 and was described in details by Loeffler in 1884. So it is also known as ‘Klebs- Loeffler bacillus’. In 1888, Nocard isolated a similar type of bacteria from cases of bovine farcy. In 1894, Preisz described it completely and revealed its similarities with the diphtheria bacilli. Later it was named as Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (Preisz-Nocard bacillus). Bollinger (1890) first reported C. renale from the cases of pyelonephritis in cows.

The genus Trueperella was proposed by Yassin and others (2011) to describe T. pyogenes previously known as Arcanobacterium pyogenes or Actinomyces pyogenes or Corynebacterium pyogenes. The genus Arcanobacterium was first described (Collins and others, 1982) to include the bacteria originally isolated as Corynebacterium haemolyticum from the wounds of American soldiers. On the basis of 16S rRNA comparisons and menaquinone and phospholipid compositions it is proposed that the species Arcanobacterium pyogenes should be reclassified as members of the new genus Trueperella.

The genus Rhodococcus was first introduced by Zopf (1891) as a soil bacterium used in horticulture. Magnusson (1923) described C. equi (Rhodococcus equi) from suppurative pneumonia of a foal.

Antony Van Leeuwenhoek (1681) first observed the spirochetes under the microscope and described them. In 1833, Ehrenberg used the name Spirochaeta for free living spiral shaped organisms. Obermeir (1873) first described a spirochete of pathogenic significance isolated from human patients with relapsing fever. Inada (1916) first isolated Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae from human patients of Weil’s disease. In 1980, Nogochi proposed the name as Leptospira.

In India, Taylor and Goyale (1931) first reported Leptospira from human patients suffering with jaundice in Andaman Islands. Ayyar (1932) first reported Leptospira from dogs in Chennai city.

In the previous chapter the physical methods of fruit and vegetables processing and preservation have been discussed. The present chapter deals with chemical method of fruit and vegetable preservation. In this method of preservation of fruits and vegetables, chemicals as preservatives are used to prevent the spoilage of fruit and vegetable products. These preservatives react with food (produce) constituents or microorganisms and create unfavourable conditions which hinder growth, activities and multiplication of microbes responsible for spoilage of food products. These chemical agents have maximum permissible limit of their use as law. They can be classified into two classes class I and class II.

Class I: Sugar, Salt and Oils

Class II: Sodium benzoate, Potassium metabisulphite (K M S) and Sorbic acid

Introduction and Concept

The word fungicide has originated from two Latin words: viz. fungus and caedo (to kill). So literally, a fungicide would be any physical or chemical agency which kills a fungus. However, the word is restricted to chemicals. Hence, the word fungicide should mean a chemical capable of killing fungi. However, there are a number of compounds which do not kill the fungus. They simply inhibit growth or spore germination temporarily. If the fungus is freed from such substances, it would revive. Such a chemical is called a fungistat. and the phenomenon as fungistasis. Some other chemicals, like certain phenantherene derivatives and bordeaux mixture may inhibit spore production without affecting vegetative growth. These are called antisporulants. There are other groups of chemicals which exhibit very poor or no antifungal activity in vitro condition but provide protection to the plants either by inhibiting the penetration of host surface by the fungi or by inducing the host defense system. The former type of chemicals are termed as antipenetrants and later as antipathic agents. Even though fungistats, antisporulants, antipenentrants, and antipathic agents do not kill fungi, they are included under the broad term fungicide because by common usage, the word fungicide has been defined as chemical substance which has ability to prevent damage caused by fungi to plants and their products. Fungicide which is effective only if applied prior to fungal infection is called protectants. On the other hand, fungicide which is capable of eradicating a fungus after it has caused infection, and thereby curing the plant, is called therapeutant.

INTRODUCTION

The World Wide has become one of the most important media for sharing information resources, digital documents, images, movies and various other types of resources. The research results, new findings, and opinions can also be put on the web from any where at any time. Owing to the dynamic nature of web information, the contents of many websites and their web pages are constantly being updated to reflect the latest changes.

The Web has also freed the user‘s dependence on library resources for finding information related to address and contact details of a person/institution, contents pages of books, journals, etc. Looking at the web has become an innovative trend in the reference service to complement dated print sources. At present many academic institutes in India have their own website and present all kinds of information about themselves. Information content is, however, one thing; Web site design and organisation is quite another matter. The existing institutions of Web sites are as different as are the institutions because even a high-quality institution may have a low-quality Web site that turns users off. Obviously, different institutions have a wide range of target groups, level of service, resources etc. Stover (1997) has outlined the different types of Web sites that academic, public and special libraries have created.

6.1 Introduction

The analysis of issues in agricultural credit in India reveals that the credit delivery to the agriculture sector continues to be inadequate. It appears that the banking system is still hesitant on various grounds to purvey credit to small and marginal farmers. The situation calls for concerted efforts to augment the flow of credit to agriculture, alongside exploring new innovations in product design and methods of delivery, through better use of technology and related processes. Facilitating credit through processors, input dealers, NGOs, etc., that are vertically integrated with the farmers, including through contract farming, for providing them critical inputs or processing their produce, could increase the credit flow to agriculture significantly.Agriculture plays a crucial role in the development of the Indian economy. It accounts for about 19 per cent of GDP and about two- thirds of the population is dependent on the sector. The importance of farm credit as a critical input to agriculture is reinforced by the unique role of Indian agriculture in the macroeconomic framework and its role in poverty alleviation. Recognising the importance of agriculture sector in India's development, the Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have played a vital role in creating a broad-based institutional framework for catering to the increasing credit requirements of the sector. Agricultural policies in India have been reviewed from time to time to maintain pace with the changing requirements of the agriculture sector, which forms an important segment of the priority sector lending of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) and target of 18 per cent of net bank credit has been stipulated for the sector. The Approach Paper to the Eleventh Five Year Plan has set a target of 4 per cent for the agriculture sector within the overall GDP growth target of 9 per cent. In this context, the need for affordable, sufficient and timely supply of institutional credit to agriculture has assumed critical importance.

I. Definition of wasteland

Wasteland include degraded forest, overgrazed pastures, drought- struck pastures, eroded valley, hill slopes, water logged marshy lands, barren lands etc.

Different authors have defined wastelands as:

Land which is lying unproductive or which is not being utilized to its potential.

Land which is incapable of producing material or services of value (American Society of Soil science).

Land which has been abandoned and for which there is no further use (Mine spoils).

Land which produces less than 20% of economic potential. e) Land where no greenery can be sustained.

Land which is neither under forest cover or agricultural cover or assigned for specific purposes such as National park or National hydro power projects.

The Technical Task Group Report of the National Wasteland Board defines the wasteland due to different constraints.

In India rice is cultivated under two land situations. In uplands, rice is grown under rainfed conditions and the yield is normally low. In medium or low land conditions rice is grown under wet condition where plenty of rain water or irrigation water is available. Here an intensive tillage is practiced in wet to create a soft puddle condition and then paddy is transplanted. Land submergence is thus an essential condition for successful rice cultivation.

Rice soils are not necessarily soils with water at or near the surface. Many soils have a fairly deep water table, but their surface is kept under submergence maintaining depth of 3-5 cm water. This condition is maintained either by puddling when wet or by having a compacted layer in the sub surface.

A rice soil is characterized by reducing conditions, when it is cropped with rice during wet season and oxidizing conditions during dry season, when the land remained fallow or planted with dry season crops if, irrigation water is available.

1. INTRODUCTION

India produces a large variety of fruits and vegetable due to varied agro-climatic conditions. These include mango, citrus, banana, apple grapes, strawberry, pineapple, litchi, guava, papaya, plum, peach, pear apricot etc. Astonishingly, it may appear but it is a fact that postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables in India are staggering. Infact the postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables are equivalent to the annual consumption of fruits and vegetables in U.K. In this article, a focus is made on the causes of postharvest losses of fruits, overview of various techniques used to prevent the postharvest losses constrains in postharvest technology and future strategies.

1. INTRODUCTION

Every fruit or vegetable is harvested keeping in view, its intended use. At what stage it should be harvested, is indicated by the maturity index. The chapter focuses on these and postharvest quality of fruits and vegetables.

2. FRUIT MATURITY

"Maturity of a fruit can be defined as that stage at which a commodity has reached a sufficient stage of development that after harvesting and postharvest handling, its quality will be at least the minimum acceptable to the ultimate consumer”. Maturity is of two types:

1. INTRODUCTION

Indians are known to prepare preserves from the ancient times. They were also familiar with ther therapeutic values associated with the preserves. Besides, candies, reathers and toffees are the other food products prepared and consumed. In this chapter, the methods of their preparation are described.

2. PRESERVES

A preserve is made from properly mature fruit, by cooking it whole or in the form of large pieces in heavy sugar syrup, till it becomes tender and transparent. In its preparation not less than 45Kg of the fruit are used for every 55Kg of sugar, and cooking is continued till a concentration of at least 68 per cent of TSS (Total Soluble Solids) is reached.

Freshly made preserves are wholesome and have an attractive appearance. When they are stored for a long period, their natural colour and flavour deteriorates on account of oxidative changes. They should therefore, be made only during the season, unless there should be adequate facilities to keep the fruits so that they are available in the off-season also.

1. INTRODUCTION

Fermentation is an age old technology. It has been used by man since antiquity. It has been employed to produce a number of fermented products such as wine, beer, curd, vinegar, pickles and several others. Fermentation was discovered quite early and by chance but the underlying principles were discovered very late. Primarly fermentation was used as a method of shelf-life extension of the produce in the time of glut production, though the final product had modified sensory qualities. Thus, fermentation and drying were the main methods of preservation. With the discovery of new methods of preservation, fermentation as a method of preservation has gone into background and as technique of flavour development and product with modified sensory quality came into practice. In this chapter, fermentation as a method of preservation has been described.

4.1 Introduction

Many styles of gardens do not follow strict rules and so those are known as informal gardens. Some gardens evolved as informal garden in due course of time as per the choice of people but some gardens are informal in nature from origin. Informal gardens are:

English garden

Japanese garden

Hindu garden

Buddhist garden

12.1 Introduction-Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a chemical element which has the symbol N and atomic number 7. Elemental nitrogen is a colourless, odourless, tasteless and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.1% by volume of Earth’s atmosphere. Nitrogen is a constituent element of all living tissues and amino acids. Many industrial important compounds, such as ammonia, nitric acid, and cyanides are made up of nitrogen.

12.1.1 History

Nitrogen (Latin nitrogenium, where nitrum (from Greek nitron) means “native soda”and genes means “forming”) is formally considered to have been discovered by Daniel Rutherford in 1772, who called it noxious air or fixed air. That there is a fraction of air that did not support combustion is well known to the late 18th century.

Argon was discovered when it is noticed that nitrogen from air is not identical to nitrogen from chemical reactions. Compounds of nitrogen were known in the Middle Ages. The alchemists knew nitric acid as aqua fortis (strong water). The mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids is known as aqua regia (royal water), celebrated for its ability to dissolve gold (the king of metals). The earliest industrial and agricultural applications of nitrogen compounds involved uses in the form of saltpeter (sodium- or potassium nitrate), notably in gunpowder, and much later, as fertilizer, and later still, as a chemical feedstock.

5.1 Introduction

The development of quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping methods to identify genes or QTLs controlling quantitative traits was a landmark achievement in plant genetics research in the late 1980s. Since then literally thousands of research papers have reported the identification of genes or QTLs for important traits across a diverse range of plant species. This wealth of genetic information was built on the foundation of decades of research in crop molecular genetics and genomics.

The selection and enrichment of QTLs within breeding material was the inevitable next step from QTL discovery to application, and there have been numerous reports of successful tracking of genes and QTLs within breeding programmes. DNA (or molecular) markers have enabled selection of major genes or QTLs for critical or important traits in a process called marker-assisted selection (MAS), which has revolutionized plant breeding. DNA markers are used as tools by breeders to improve the accuracy or efficiency of selection as well cost and time efficiency. Apart from MAS, DNA markers have numerous applications including DNA fingerprinting, genetic diversity analysis and parental characterization.

Recent developments in genotyping platforms and systems to implement molecular breeding schemes offer new tools for modern plant breeders. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers are biallelic, co-dominant markers which are abundant in the genome. Insertion-deletion (Indel) markers are also prevalent and can be screened using high-throughput genotyping platforms. These platforms are cost-efficient, can handle large sample sizes and provide fast data turn-around time. The availability of genome sequences and genomic resources continues to provide a wealth of SNP and Indel markers which will undoubtedly be the marker type of choice for decades to come.

The availability of high-throughput SNP platforms in conjunction with advances in computational methods has also led to the molecular dissection of traits using genome-wide association studies (GWASs) across diversity panels and the development of genomics-based molecular breeding strategies. Association mapping (AM) has now emerged as a standard method for gene and QTL discovery for major crops.

1. Context

Women play a critical role in agriculture, and agriculture continues to remain the major livelihood strategy for women as well as millions of small, marginal and poor farming households in India. Despite this, farm women lack access to extension services as extension programmes rarely identify women as an integral client. Farm women and men have differential needs for knowledge, information, technology and skills as often they are involved in different activities spread over time and cropping seasons. Besides these, men and women farmers have differential access to assets, information, markets, credits, and other services that are necessary for using new knowledge, technologies and skills. Ignoring women while delivering services and technologies creates a gap as many of the agricultural operations are performed by women only.

It is estimated that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20-30 per cent (FAO, 2011). Yields on plots managed by women are lower than those managed by men, as they do not have the same access to inputs. If they did, their yields would go up, they would produce more, and overall agricultural production would increase. It isn’t merely about enhancing productivity but also about being fair and equitable. Women are a significant part of the agricultural workforce and they deserve to be consulted prior to formulation of agricultural development plans and policies. SDG 5 on Gender Equality “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” is closely aligned to this aspect. Moreover, enhanced access to services can help women grow more food, have more say in the family, and could potentially lead to more income and food in women’s hands-leading to better food security and nutrition for the entire family as they are the major caregivers in the family.

1. Background

Agriculture sustains 58 per cent of population in India. Productivity and profitability are two major planks for food security and sustainable livelihood of farmers. About 86 per cent of farmers in India own less than two hectors of land. As a result, their marketable surplus is small which poses a major challenge in ensuring remunerative price. Limitations associated with quality of produce, storage, transportation, credit as well as vagaries of weather and market are other related problems. These limitations further aggravate if the producers happen to be women due to their socio-cultural and economic position in the society. Only a decentralised and income assuring approach alone can bring prosperity to the farmers apart from gender equality. This would ultimately propel the agricultural growth of the country.

The chapter discusses one of such approaches called the public private partnership (PPP). It has gained prominence in the wake of the demand for farm reforms, trade, commerce, climate change and gender equality in recent years.

1. Introduction

Fisheries is an important sector of food production which besides providing nutritious food to millions also serve as a livelihood option for many. It helps to bring about people centered rural development that protects the environment. Conventionally, fishing has been considered a male domain, because of the assumption that social, cultural, or religious taboos prevent women from participating in fishing activities. In fact, the involvement of women in fishing and related activities has remained invisible and unrecognized till the late 1980s. However, the publications and policy reports during the period highlighted the valued contributions by women in fisheries sector to economies and food security around the world (Harper et al., 2020). Several high-level fisheries reports and policy instruments that followed added to this momentum and emphasized the importance of principles of gender equality in ensuring sustainable coastal livelihood security. Present day estimates indicate that there are around 60 million people who are directly engaged in the primary sector of fisheries and aquaculture globallyof which 14 per cent are women (FAO, 2018) Asia tops the list with the highest number of fishers and aquaculture workers (85 per cent of the world total), followed by Africa (9 per cent), America (4 per cent) and Europe and Oceania (1 per cent each) (FAO, 2018). However, despite growing attention to women and gender in fisheries there exits glaring gap in the gender disaggregated data from fisheries sector that is skewed against women worldwide. These warrant the need for the implementation gender balanced fisheries policies and management strategies that support women empowerment in the sector.

1. Introduction

Economic growth and the commercialization of agricultural systems have enhanced the adoption of various technological interventions in the farming systems (Rola-rubzen et al., 2020). The green revolution is one of the successful examples of technology interventions, which led to the agriculture transformation and thereby brought reduction in the hunger and poverty of India (Minten and Barrett, 2008). It conclusively proved that the adoption of these farm technology interventions can increase production, productivity and farm income. The technology interventions consisted of a package of improved crop varieties, irrigation, fertilizers, plant protection chemicals, and agricultural machinery.It also brought to fore that the nation’s capacity to maximise its agricultural production potential also relied upon the responsiveness of farmers who were the ultimate decision makers. Thus the availability and accessibility of these technologies to the farmers, and their ability to adopt and utilise these technologies assumed paramount significance in the whole process.

Later decades of twentieth century proved that, along with men, women’s role is vital in agricultural production and they are the backbone of the rural economy in many developing countries including India. It is reported that women are responsible for more than 50 per cent of the world’s food production and account for about 43 per cent of the total agricultural labour force (Doss, 2018). In India, about 78 per cent of economically active women are engaged in agriculture compared to 63 per cent of men. Moreover,in rural India, almost 50 per cent of rural women are classified as agricultural labourers and 37 per cent as cultivators.

Plant breeding is the art and science of changing and improving the heredity of plants. The art of plant breeding lies in the breeder’s skill in observing and selection of superior plants. The value of selection largely depends upon the skill of the breeder. The skill that a breeder develops though a close and deep study of the concerned crop species. Before the rediscovery of the Mendelian Laws in 1900 AD, the plant breeding is as an art. The modern age of plant breeding began in the early part of the twentieth century, after Mendel’s work was rediscovered. Today plant breeding is a specialized technology based on genetics. It is now clearly understood that within a given environment, crop improvement has to be achieved through superior heredity. Plant breeding developed into a science as knowledge progressed towards the genetics, cytogenetic, physiology, pathology, biochemistry, biotechnology and biometry. The fundamental of plant breeding was based on recognition of the genes. The genes were identified by their effects on the visible expression of plant traits such as whether a plant was a dwarf or tall, or the flower color was white or pink. Through systematic hybridization, a desirable gene could be transferred from one to another cultivar. More recently the science of molecular genetics proposes to advance plant breeding. Molecular genetics was ushered in with the description of chemical structure of deoxy-ribonucleic acid (DNA), the material that constitutes the genes. DNA carries the instructions for synthesis of specific proteins that determine the visible expression of particular characters. The new technology does not supplant nor diminish the importance or need for traditional selection and crossing procedures in the breeding of improved cultivars. The performance of today’s cultivars reached at high levels through refined selection and hybridization breeding procedure.

The early developments in plant breeding that took place are based on archaeological evidence. The first efforts to grow wild plants probably occurred in Southeast Asia culminated in the domestication of some of the many plants with which humans experimented in 13000 BC. By 10000 BC, advanced knowledge existed of such plants as rice (Oryza sativa), several legumes such as pea (Pisum sativum), runner bean or broad bean (Phaseolus or Vicia spp.) and possibly soybean (Glycine max). At this point crops became domesticated.

Although the beginning of civilization in China and Southeast Asia are obscure and fragmented. The number of successful species domesticated indicates considerable success in plant breeding. The third site of independent agricultural development and plant breeding was in south-central Mexico between 6700 and 5000 BC. Squash and avocados were domesticated first and a number of species of maize. Domestication in the Middle East and China included the self-fertilized crop like cereals and soybean.

Plant Propagation

Plant propagation involves the formation and development of new individuals, which are used in establishment of new plantings. It is simply the reproduction or multiplication of a plant from a source that is often referred to as a mother plant. In general, two methods are employed: 1) sexual and 2) asexual. Sexual propagation is multiplication of plants from seed and asexual or vegetative propagation involves starting a new plant from some vegetative part of a plant. Propagation by seed results in seedling variability. It is an extreme disadvantage for a nursery operator trying to produce a uniform crop containing chosen desirable characteristics. Seed propagation is not practiced in fruit nursery as plants raised by this method fail to bear true to type fruits.

Germination of seed

The activation of the metabolic machinery of the embryo leading to the emergence of a new seeding plant is known as germination. Germination is essentially a quickening of the growth of the embryo. As germination proceeds, the growing points of the radical and plumule divide rather rapidly Usually the radical emerges from the seed coat first, proceeds downward, and develops into the root system, the plumule proceeds upward and develops into the shoot system. Germination is entirely a food utilization process. Processes going on in seed during germination are: 1) Absorption of water; 2) Secretion of enzymes and hormones; 3) Hydrolysis of stored food into soluble form; and 4) Translocation of soluble foods and hormones to the growing points. These processes are either wholly or in part influenced by the food reserves, hormone supply, water supply, oxygen supply and temperature level.

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).

Introduction

The art of fermentation process is developed as far back as thousand years ago without understanding the role of microorganism in it. It is believed that the process of fermentation originates in Indus valley during 7000 – 8000 BC. Archives of harappan civilization showed that different clay utensils were used for the fermented product and the agriculture and animal husbandry were fully developed during that period. It is evident from the artifacts of Egypt and middle east that the practice of fermentation was common in that part (Farnworth, 2003). The earliest practice of cheese making is originated from Falcate between Tigris and the Euphrates rivers in Iraq, 8000 years back. Later, Egyptians developed the use of yeast in wine and bread making during 4000 BC (Ross et al., 2002). Further, Sumarians prepared beer from fermented barley during 1750 BC. Earlier the fermenting process was an artisan way without any knowledge of microorganism. However, the main turning point was in 1608, when Antony Van Leeuwenhoek first established the use of a microscope and revealed the existence of microorganisms. Another, major finding was Pasteurization by Louis Pasteur in 1861 AD and this was the first report that documented the role of microorganism in fermentation. Later, there was a shift observed in the production of fermented food from local communities to large scale industry. The health effect of fermented food was first reported by Roman historian Pliny, who reported that fermented milk is beneficial for gastrointestinal complains. Further, a French paediatrician proved that Bifidobacteria in food prevents infants against infection (Grill et al., 1995).

The Seed Act 1966 was passed by the Indian Parliament on 29th December 1966 and it came into force from 2nd October, 1969. In addition, Seed Regulation Order was also passed in December 1983.

The quality of irrigation water is a crucial factor for long-term soil productivity. Poor quality water if used for a long time can make the soil less productive or even barren, depending on the amount and type of constituents present in it and the texture of the soil in question. Low or marginally saline waters sometimes appear to stimulate crop growth because of the higher amounts of nutrient ions present.

The human civilization and environmental eco-system are the two most important components of real world. The technology intervention to safeguard human civilization and the environment has always been the foremost priority of scientific and engineering community through their innovative expeditions.

Q. 1 Choose the most appropriate word from the options given below to complete the following sentence:
His rather casual remarks on politics ………. his lack of seriousness about the subject.
(A) Masked        (B) Belied
(C) Betrayed       (D) Suppressed

Atomic weight of an element is defined as the relative average weight of its atom as compared to the weight of an atom of C12 (stable isotope) taken as 12 on the a.m.u. (atomic mass unit) scale.

Tagetes erecta L. (syn. Tagetes patula L.) (Asteraceae): Eng.- French Marigold; Hindi- Genda / Gule jafre; Kash.- Jaffre / Bata poshe [NI]. A herbaceous annual, naturalized in N W Himalayas and grown for border as well as bedding plant. Both double and single forms are cultivated. Double forms are golden yellow and carnation like

Horticulture has emerged as one of the potential agricultural enterprises in accelerating the growth of economy in India. It offers not only a wide range of options to the farmers for crop diversification, but also provides ample scope for sustaining large number of agro-industries which generate huge employment opportunities. Horticulture has been evolving in form of horticulture industry in our country owing to its significant role in nutritional security, poverty alleviation and employment generation.

The world ‘‘Unfruitfulness’’ means a state or character of being unfruitful or barrenness. It is a vital constraint in so many fruit crops leading to a great loss to the farming community. In contrary, ‘Fruitfulness’ is the state where a fruit plant is not only having the ability of flowering and fruiting, but also carry on these fruits up to maturity. The inability of the plant to do so is known as ‘unfruitfulness’ or ‘barrenness’. 

Q.1 In random effect model, the treatments are taken as a random sample of treatments drawn from a large group of T treatments.

Q.2 In varietal trials for plant breeding or genetics, the appropriate statistical model is not the random effect model.

India is an agriculture based country which is one of the few developing countries in the world. It successfully achieved Green Revolution during the late 1960s (1967-68). At present, agriculture is a principal means of livelihood for over 58.4 per cent of Indiaís population directly or indirectly (Anonymous, 2011). It is worthwhile to mention that although agriculture continued to be the mainstay of the Indian economy previously (Anonymous, 2010b) yet now its share in the Indian economy is declining year after year (Anonymous 2013d). After Independence, agricultureís sector contribution to GDP swings between 50-60 per cent. Even in 1950-51, it was 55.1 per cent, but fell to mere 17-18 per cent in 2008-09 (Mahajan and Gupta, 2009).

North Eastern Himalayan Region comprises mostly of seven states viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura (Gill, 2005). This Himalayan Region stands entirely different from the rest of the country not only in language, dress, food habits and festivals but also differs in agricultural practices. Among agricultural practices shifting cultivation locally known as ìJhumî or ìBunî is the most important. According to Ministry of Agriculture, Arunachal Pradesh stands first in the ìJhumî cultivation followed by Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya (Agnihotri, 2003). In Meghalaya, the problem has assumed an epidemic proportion in Gargo hills where tracts of forests are burnt. The farmers of Khasi and Jainta Hills usually practise the ìBunî cultivation.

Horticulture has emerged as one of the potential agricultural enterprises in accelerating the growth of economy in India. It offers not only a wide range of options to the farmers for crop diversification, but also provides ample scope for sustaining large number of agro-industries which generate huge employment opportunities. Horticulture has been evolving in form of horticulture industry in our country owing to its significant role in nutritional security, poverty alleviation and employment generation. The production of fruits, vegetables and flowers has acquired much importance in recent times due to their increasing demand. India has a wide variety of climate and soil on which different horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, medicinal and aromatic plants, plantation crops and spices are cultivated successfully.

The world ‘‘Unfruitfulness’’ means a state or character of being unfruitful or barrenness. It is a vital constraint in so many fruit crops leading to a great loss to the farming community. In contrary, ‘Fruitfulness’ is the state where a fruit plant is not only having the ability of flowering and fruiting, but also carry on these fruits up to maturity. The inability of the plant to do so is known as ‘unfruitfulness’ or ‘barrenness’. Despite of profuse flowering, poor fruit retention in an orchard has been found owing to poor fruit setting at initial stage and subsequently abscission of the fruitlets. All the trees of an orchard do not bear flowers and fruits in the same extent or regularly and sometimes fail to bear flowers and fruits under similar conditions while other trees bears heavily. Such type of characteristics of trees may be attributed to unfruitfulness. Thus, all the problems affecting fruit retention upto final stage can be considered under unfruitfulness of a tree. Therefore, it is a very complex problem of an orchard and needs proper understanding for economical and effective management to maintain sustainable production of fruit crops.

CAUSES OF UNFRUITFULNESS

There are innumerable causes perceived behind unfruitfulness. Majorly, It may be due to poor root shoot ratio, lack of balance between vegetative and reproductive (fruiting) growth, heavy crop load which leads to restriction of fruit bud production and finally short of the crop in the following years.

9.1 Introduction Numpy

Numpy: is apython package which stands for “Numerical python”.

This was created in 2005 by Travis Oliphant.

Using numpy we can perform the following functionalities:

1. Mathematical and logical calculation on array.

2. Fourier transforms and routines for shape manipulation.

3. It has built in functions for linear algebra random number generation.

4. Used for scientific calculations.

5. It is faster than python list.

6. It is fast because it is associated with c programming.

NumPy is often called as an alternate for MatLab (a programming platform designed specifically for engineers and scientists for data analysis, developing algorithms, create models and application etc.)

Mungbean is one of the most important pulse crops. It is grown in almost all parts of the country. Mungbean is primarily a crop of rainy season; however, with the development of early maturing varieties, it has proved to be an ideal crop for spring and summer seasons. Middle of March to last week of June is the most suitable growing period where there is a plenty of life-giving sunshine. During this period high temperature and low humidity keep insects and disease infestations at their lowest. Summer season offers an excellent opportunity for raising short duration pulses.

Indicators of agricultural sustainability are a composite set of attributes or measures that embody a particular aspect of agriculture. These are quantified information, which help to explain how things are changing over time. Smyth and Dumanski (1993) define indicators as environmental attributes that measure or reflect environmental status or condition of change.

The term “diagnosis” is derived from Greek words dia (between) and gignoskein (to know). It literally means to recognizing a disease and knowing
difference between the two diseases or conditions. Therefore, diagnosis includes – determination of specific cause, abnormality of structure and
function produced by the causative agents and clinical manifestations associated with the abnormality.