eChapters

1. Introduction

The status of mechanization in India is at a very low level for horticultural crops. The farmers usually go behind the use of traditional methods for different farm operations (Fig 1) and practices for cultivation of horticultural crops, their handling, storage, and processing. This results in less yields, high cost of cultivation and high crop losses from harvesting till processing. The use of different available hand tools, machinery and hi-tech technologies in the production and processing of the crops will lead to increased yields and decrease in losses to a great extent (Mandhar, 1999).

1. Introduction

The Indian economy is heavily dependent on agriculture (employing 53 % population). Around 84 % of the holdings are less than 2 ha while approximately 67% of the farms have less than 1 ha of operational farmland (Government of India, 2013; Pandey and Suganthi, 2015). A large fraction of the farming population is mostly reliant on monsoon rains for irrigation. The condition of the farmers is found to be deteriorating year after year with the revelation that 27% of farmers did not consider farming as a profitable enterprise and 40% were ready to migrate to other avenues for employment (NSSO, 2005; Pandey and Suganthi, 2015). 

2.1. Multiple Choice Questions

1. The process of bringing a wild species under human management is referred to as ????.
   1. Selection
   2. Rejection
   3. Domestication
   4. None of the above
2. ?????was perhaps the first man to use artificial hybridization to develop several new fruit varieties.
   1. Dawrin
   2. Knight
   3. Beal
   4. Mendel
3. Plant breeding aims to ???????
   1. Improve yield only
   2. Disease resistant only
   3. Insect resistance only

3.1. Multiple Choice Questions

1. The Σ of probability will be
   1. 1.0
   2. 2.0
   3. 3.0
   4. 0.5
2. Frequency distribution can be converted in probability by calculating -------------------------------------- ?? each class which can be consider the probability of that class
   1. Individual frequency
   2. Relative frequency
   3. Both relative and individual frequency
   4. None of the above
3. In binomial distribution, mean is always greater than ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ??.
   1. Median
   2. Mode
   3. Variance
   4. All of the above

4.1. Multiple Choice Questions

1. GoI has indicated ??? crop will be introduced without evaluating biosafety and socioeconomic desirability.
   1. GM
   2. Organic
   3. Rabi
   4. Kharif
2. ??? is AGRI UDAAN.
   1. Food and agribusiness initiative
   2. Food and agribusiness accelerator
   3. Food and agribusiness incubator
   4. Both b and c
   5. All the above
3. Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare launched --------------------------------------?? quality mark logo at New Delhi.
   1. National Dairy Development Board
   2. National Dairy Development Authority
   3. National Dairy Development Authority
   4. National Dairy Development Programme
4. --------------------------------------?? state is leading in the production of litchi.
   1. Bihar

1. The first Director of IARI was ?????.
   1. M. S. Randhawa
   2. B. P. Pal
   3. M. S. Swaminathan
   4. G. Kalloo
2. In vegetable blanching is done for?????.
   1. Removal of microorganism
   2. To activate the enzymes
   3. To retention colour
   4. All of the above
3. Viviparous refers to?????.
   1. Germination of seed on mother plant
   2. Germination of seed in the field
   3. Germination of the seed on monoecious plant
   4. Germination of seed on any place
4. Sourness in radish is due to ?????.
   1. Isosinate
   2. Isothiocinate
   3. Anthocyanin
   4. All of the above

Agriculture, also known as farming, is the production of food, fiber, animal feed, and other goods by means of growing and harvesting plants and animals. Agriculture is practiced throughout the world. Many agricultural products are used every day, from the clothes we put on in the morning to the sheets we sleep under at night. When you think of agriculture, think of the five F’s: food, fabric, forestry, farming, and flowers.

Agriculture is the science, art and industry of managing the growth of plants and animals to make use by human beings. In general, agriculture includes soil cultivation, growing and harvesting field crops, raising and breeding livestock, dairy and forest trees etc. The word agriculture is the English adaptation of Latin word i.e. agricultura, from ager, “a field” and cultura, “cultivation” in the strict sense of “tillage of the soil”. Thus, a literal reading of the word yields “tillage of a field/ fields”.

Agriculture nowadays is facing a complex problem. It’s the rate at which we are turning arable land into non-arable. To solve this problem, we cannot simply stop farming and wait for the Earth to return to its natural state. Hence, alternative farming methods have become increasingly popular in recent years. Hydroponics is one of these options that can help produce crops without soil and other resources needed for crops to grow.

2.1 Definitions

Hydroponics is the term for growing plants without soil and in a water-based solution, the roots may be physically supported by an inert medium such as perlite, gravel, or other substrates. While it can be used to grow all kinds of crops, hydroponics is particularly effective for growing leafy vegetables, herbs and salad greens that have high water requirements, as well as for growing plants that have very shallow root systems. 

The income of farmers is declining day by day due to increasing cost of inputs including wages of farm labor. The net income can only be increased by reducing cost of inputs and by increasing yield of currently adopted cropping systems. The income of farm can be increased by growing horticultural crops (vegetables, flowers, fruits etc.) as well as medicinal, aromatic or spice crops. However, these crops cannot be grown on large scale due to their market problems and involvement of high labor. So, in order to improve profit from ongoing cropping systems, some latest crop production practices are being discussed in this chapter.

4.1 Climate Change

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. Burning of crop residues also adds to climate changes

Examples of greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building. Clearing land and forests can also release carbon dioxide. Landfills for garbage are a major source of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and land use are among the main emitters.

A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. The term may also refer to the resulting grain itself (specifically “cereal grain”). Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop and are therefore staple crops. Edible grains from other plant families, such as buckwheat, quinoa and chia, are referred to as pseudo cereals. In their natural, unprocessed, whole grain form, cereals are a rich source of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, oils, and protein. When processed by the removal of the bran and germ the remaining endosperm is mostly carbohydrate. In some developing countries, grain in the form of rice, wheat, millet, maize etc. constitutes a majority of daily sustenance. 

Oilseed crops have been grown all over the world and are considered important crops due to their economic value. Oilseed crops are primarily grown for edible oil. Recently, oilseeds attracted more attention due to an increasing demand for their healthy vegetable oils, livestock feeds, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and other oleochemical industrial uses. The increased interest resulted in an 82% expansion of oilseed crop cultivation areas and about a 240% increase in total world production over the last 30 years.

Pulses are high in protein, fibre, and various vitamins, provide amino acids, and are hearty crops. They are most popular in developing countries, but are increasingly becoming recognized as an excellent part of a healthy diet throughout the world. Pulse crops are one of the most sustainable crops a farmer can grow. It takes just 163 litres of water to produce 0.45 kg (1 pound) of pulses, compared with 818 litres for soybeans. They also contribute to soil fertility by fixing nitrogen in the soil.

Sugarcane, (Saccharum officinarum), perennial grass crop of the family Poaceae, primarily cultivated for its juice from which sugar is processed. Most of the world’s sugarcane is grown in subtropical and tropical areas. The plant is also grown for biofuel production, especially in Brazil, as the canes can be used directly to produce ethyl alcohol (ethanol). The by-products from cane sugar processing, namely the straw and bagasse (cane fibres), can be used to produce cellulosic ethanol, a second-generation biofuel. Other sugarcane products include molasses, rum, and cachaça (a Brazilian alcohol), and the plant itself can be used as thatch and as livestock fodder.

9.1 Introduction

According to FAO guideline, “Conservation Agriculture (CA) is an approach to managing agricultural ecosystems for enhanced and sustained productivity, improved returns, and food security while preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment.”

The terms “conservation agriculture” (CA) and “resource-conserving technologies” (RCTs) are not synonyms, but sometimes both words are used for a similar meaning. Therefore, the practices which improve resource or input-use efficiency are termed as RCTs. RCT is a wider term than CA which is used for nitrogen-efficient varieties; fuel-, money-, and time-efficient techniques; and improvement in plot-level water productivity including CA.

There is no plant in this world which is uneconomical/not useful. Medicinal plants have been considered as important therapeutic aid for alleviating aliments of human kind. The WHO estimates that 80% of people living in developing countries rely almost exclusively on traditional medicines for their primary health care needs. Aromatic plants are used for essential oils - volatile material extracted from plants or plant parts usually by stream distillation and used in flavours and fragrances for food, soap, detergents, perfumes, lotions etc. Spices are the dry part of a plant such as roots, leaves and seeds which impart to food a certain flavour and pungent stimuli. Spices contain variable amount of fat, protein, carbohydrates, fibres, minerals and vitamins.

11.1 Biomass

Globally, all agricultural countries have promoted the use of biomass sources for many household applications and biomass energy generation. Biomass is defined as the bio residue available from the sum of crop production, agricultural waste, vegetation, forestry waste and organic waste. Biomass is a renewable source of energy and contains a complex mixture of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. Various biomass resources are available in different parts of countries and are classified based on their availability. The broad classification of biomass energy is in three formats; residue of agricultural crops, energy plantations, and municipal and industrial waste. Agriculture residues are organic materials produced as the byproduct from processing and harvesting of agriculture crops. 

Agriculture is not only the main source of employment, income and food for over 70% of the population but also the main culture of the rural families. But the linear growth in population and unplanned colonization lead to rapid fragmentation of land holdings and shrinkage in fertile cultivated land. In India, more than 70% of the total population of the country still live in villages and mainly depend on agriculture and/or related enterprises. Marginal and small farmers constitute more than 84% of the 115 million operational holdings in India which are cultivating only 29% of the arable land (Singh et al., 2011). 

As per United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), organic farming is defined as a system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetic inputs (such as fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, feed additives etc.) to a maximum extent and feasible rely upon crop rotations, crop residues, animal manure, off farm organic waste, mineral grade rock additives and biological system of nutrient mobilization and plant protection. FAO suggested that organic agriculture is a unique production management system which promotes and entrance agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity and this is accomplished by using on-farm agronomic, biological and mechanical methods is exclusion of all synthetic off-farm inputs.

According to Watson, bio-herbicides are living entities (natural enemies) used deliberately to suppress the growth or reduce the population of a weed species. This may include an insect; a microbe or a parasite nematode. These organisms operate directly or indirectly (by producing toxins) and their mode of action proves deleterious to the weed species. The latter toxins are termed bio rationals, phytotoxins or natural herbicides and are excluded in the definition.Bio-herbicides are formulations containing plant pathogens capable of mass production in vitro that are applied directly to target weeds uniformly to kill or suppress their growth. This method employs the annual release of a bio-agent into specific weed infested fields to infest and kill susceptible weeds. At present only the potential use of fungal pathogens as mycoherbicide has been studied in depth. Exploitation of bacteria seems promising where use of viruses as biocontrol agents are problematic since they are not host specific and require vector for their transmission.

Dryland agriculture refers to cultivation of crops entirely under natural rainfall without irrigation. It is a form of subsistence farming in the regions where deficit of the soil moisture retards the growth of water consuming crops like rice (Oryza sativa), sugarcane etc. Dryland areas are characterized by low and erratic rainfall and no assured irrigation facilities. Dryland agriculture is important for the economy as most of the coarse grain crops, pulses, oilseeds, and raw cotton are grown on these lands. Dryland areas receive annual rainfall between 500 and 1200 mm.

Types of Dryland Agriculture

Depending on the amount of rainfall received, dryland agriculture has been grouped into three categories:

Dry farming: It is production of crops without irrigation in areas where annual rainfall is less than 750 mm. Crop failures are more frequent under dry farming condition owing to prolonged dry spells during crop period. The growing season is less than 200 days. It is generally practiced in arid regions of the country

Water is indispensable for human, animal and plant life. It is a major component of all organisms some of which contain more than 90% of water. Water is a constituent of protoplasm. It maintains turgidity of cells which is essential for stomatal opening, expansion of cells and for different physiological processes. Water is also required for translocation of nutrients and dissipation of heat.

16.1 Irrigation

Irrigation is generally defined as the artificial application of water to soil for the purpose of supplying the moisture essential for plant growth.

However, a broader and more inclusive definition of the term irrigation is the application of water to the soil for any number of the following six purposes —

1. To add water to soil to supply the moisture essential for plant growth.
2. To provide crop insurance against short duration drought.
3. To cool the soil and atmosphere, thereby making more favourable environment for crop growth.
4. To wash out or dilute salts in the soil.

Essential elements for plant growth

A large number of mineral elements are present in plants, but they do not require all these for growth. Out of the 107 elements in the periodic table, 90 elements are naturally occurring in plants and out of which only 17 elements are essential for plant growth.

Although common sense goes a long way in defining the concept of an essential element, Arnon and Stout in 1939, stated that an essential element should fulfil following criteria:

1. A deficiency in absence of the elements should make it impossible for the plant to complete its lifecycle.
2. Must not be replaceable by another element.
3. Must be directly involved in plant metabolism, that is, it must be required for a specific physiological function.

   To Arnon and Stout’s three requirements for essential elements should be added a fourth:

With the sharp development of urban and industrial growth, the area under agriculture is declining year by year. On the other hand, human and animal population is increasing at a very fast rate. So, to meet the growing demand of food and fodders, a vertical increase in yield is required. Crop productivity per unit area can be enhanced with the manipulations of some agronomist practices such as sowing the crops at appropriate time, selection of suitable field for raising a crop, adoption of best planting techniques, use of appropriate seed rates, adoption of proper irrigation schedule, proper and need based application of fertilizers, adoption of zero till technology, green manuring, mulching, addition of well decomposed farm yard manure, timely and proper weed management, selection of recommended crops and crop varieties, proper control of insects and pests, adoption of marketing tips etc.

With the current food production level of 275.11 million tonnes, India has to step up food grain production by next decade to feed the burgeoning population (Report Ministry of Agriculture). India with 2.3% of the global geographical area, supports about 16.8% human population, 20% of the world’s livestock. However, per capita availability of land for producing agricultural commodities has declined from 0.34 ha in 1951 to about 0.23 ha in 1980 and 0.15 ha in 0.15 ha during 2015 and it is expected to decline further to about 0.09 ha by 2050 A.D. With the possibility of horizontal expansion or putting more land under cultivation being remote, further augmentation in yield in Indian agriculture will be forced more and more into marginal or problematic soils accompany about 57% geographical area with increasing competition for good quality lands.

With Judicious Use of Herbicides

Herbicides are the chemicals used for killing or suppressing the growth of weed plants from field / horticulture / plantation crops as well as non-cropped areas/ water bodies etc. The herbicide is said to be an ideal herbicide when it is very safe to the crop on which it is applied and on the other hand, it must control all associated weeds effectively. Also, ideal herbicides should leave no residual effects on the succeeding crop(s). Herbicides are of two types i.e.

1. Selective herbicides and
2. Non-selective herbicides.

A selective herbicide is that which is very safe to crop plants but unsafe to weed plants e.g. atrazine in maize, clodinafop in wheat etc. On the other hand, non-selective herbicides are those which kill all green plants including crop and weed plants which come in their contact e.g. paraquat and glufosinate ammonium.

Mango (Mangifera indica Linn.) (Family-Anacardiaceae) is one of the most popular tropical and sub-tropical fruit crops in India and is well known as the “King of Fruits”. Mango is the national fruit of India and Pakistan as well as national tree of Bangladesh. It is cultivated worldwide in 49.46 lakh hectares with a production of 371.20 lakh tonnes. In India, the crop is cultivated in the largest area of 23.12 lakh hectares among all the countries in the world and production is around 150.30 lakh tonnes, contributing 40.48% of the total world production. India exports 59.22 thousand tonnes of mangoes to 40 different countries worldwide, valuing Rs. 162.92 crores (Anonymous, 2019).

Citrus genus belongs to the family Rutaceae that comes in various forms and sizes (from round to oblong) that commonly known as oranges, mandarins, limes, lemons and citrons. Besides being consumed as raw/fresh fruits, they are also used in the industries of beverages, cosmetic and pharmaceuticals. Citrus fruits have got abundant quantity of vitamin-C and other micronutrients like sugars, dietary fiber, potassium, folate, calcium, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, riboflavin and pantothenic acids etc. (Economos, 1999). Secondary metabolites like flavonoids, limonoids, coumarins, alkaloids, phenolic acids and other essential oils of this fruit also have anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous as well as cardiovascular protective effects (Lu et al., 2015).

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) belongs to family Moraceae, is the largest edible fruit in the world (Naik, 1949 and Sturrock, 1977). It is one of the most popular and important fruit crops and is the national fruit of Bangladesh (Haque, 1977). The jackfruit tree is widely cultivated in tropical regions of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Jackfruit is alsofound across Africa, e.g., in Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mauritius, as well asthroughout Brazil and Caribbean nations such as Jamaica. However, jackfruit originally native to Indian subcontinent, is now widely cultivated in the tropics of both hemispheres (Ochas et al., 1981).

Banana is the eighth most important food crop in the world. It is widely cultivated in over 130 countries in the tropics and sub tropics of Asia, Africa and the United States. Plantains and bananas are next important to major cereals, forming a key component in food security and agricultural sustainability in the developing economics (Patel and Shukla, 2009, Shukla, 2010; Deepah and Paranjothi, 2010). Banana ranks fifth in the global market of agricultural commodities and is one of the largest traded fruit crops. It is popularly known as “Apple of the Paradise ”. The per capita starch output of banana from unit cultivated area is almost near cassava and sweet potatoes (Choudhary, 2015).

The litchi or ‘lychee’ (Litchi chinensis Sonnen) is an evergreen subtropical fruit tree of the family Sapindaceae. It is known for its delicious fragrance, quality and juicy fruits contributing significantly to the nation’s economy. India is the second largest producer of litchi in the world after China with an area and production of 82,000 ha and 555,000 tonnes, respectively during 2012-13 (DAC, 2013).So far as Eastern India is concerned, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal accounts for 85% of the total litchi production in the country. The state Bihar alone contributes 45% of total litchi production and occupies nearly 40% of the area in India. In India litchi is being grown in an area of 89000 ha with a total production of 556 000 MT annually (http://nhb.gov.in).

Guava, Psidium guajava Linn. was originated in tropical America and is presently cultivated in the tropical and subtropical world (Al-Fwaeer, 2013). It is considered one of the healthiest fruit because it has many medicinal properties. Right from strengthening our immune system to regulating a healthy and ideal blood pressure, Guava provides multiple health benefits. It is one of the richest sources of Vitamin C, minerals, dietary fiber and fulfills about 20% of our daily folate (Vitamin-B9) requirement which is not produced in our body and is essential for DNA repair and synthesis (Kevat, 2013). But its steady production is hampered due to a number of biotic and abiotic stresses. Amongst the biotic stresses, insect pests contribute to the maximum strength for declining its production.

Pineapple Ananas comosus (Linn.) Merr. (Family – Bromeliaceae) is a tropical plant with edible fruit comprising of coalesced and the most economically important plant. The pineapple is native of southern Brazil and its wild relatives present at Paraguay. It was introduced in India by the Portuguese. Before arrival of Columbus the Indians deported it to West Indies. The Spanish introduced pineapple in Philippines. It was also introduced in Hawaii during early 16^th Century. The fruit reached in England during 1660 and began to grown in greenhouses in around 1720.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn.) is an important fruit crop cultivated in arid and semi-arid regions, serving nutritional, medicinal and aesthetic need of human beings. It is grown in Iran, Spain, India, Moracco, Egypt, Afghanistan, Arabia, West Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, China, USA and Japan.World pomegranate production is currently estimated at 1.5-2.0 million tonnes, 90% of which is in Iran and India. The rest is distributed amongst various Mediterranean countries, China, the United States, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and Argentina (CBI, 2014). In India, it is found from Kashmir to Kanyakumari cultivated in Maharashtra,Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka andAndhra Pradesh.Among the different states growing pomegranate, Maharashtra is the largest producer occupying 2/3^rd of the cultivated area in India followed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Papaya (Carica papaya Linn.) belongs to the family Caricaceae was introduced in India in 16th century by the Portugese. It is one of the few plants which produce fruits throughout the year. It owes its popularity to various simple reasons like, it requires less area per tree, comes to fruiting in a year, easy to cultivate, provides per hectare income next only to banana and has a high nutritive and medicinal value. Though papaya is a native of tropical America but presently it is being grown in all the tropical and sub-tropical countries, e.g. Australia, Hawaii, Taiwan, Peurto Rico, Peru, Florida, Texas, California in the USA, various parts of Central and South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

Sapota, Manilkara zapota (Linn.) (Family: Sapotaceae), commonly known as sapodilla or chiku, is a perennial and evergreen fruit tree. It is native to Southern Mexico, Central America as well as Caribbean. This fruit was introduced during 1888 in Thane district of Maharashtra in India (Cheema et al., 1954). Now, it is an important tropical fruit grown almost throughout the country except in hilly areas. The fruit is a rich source of sugar, minerals, vitamins and dietary fibers. Presently the India is considered to be the largest producer of Sapota in the world (Nandre and Shukla, 2014).

The Indian gooseberry or amla (Phyllanthus emblica Linn.; Family: Euphorbiaceae) is a deciduous fruit largely cultivated in the Indian subcontinent for its fruits. Amla is native to the tropical South Eastern Asia, particularly the Central and Southern India (Mortan, 1960), where the plants are often seen to grow in the wild up to an elevation of 1800 m (Firminger, 1947). In India, amla is mostly cultivated in the semi-arid regions of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and the Aravalli ranges in Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh (Pathak, 2003). The tree attains a height of 8 to 18 m, with a crooked trunk and spreading pattern of branching. The branchlets are glabrous or finely pubescent; leaves are simple, nearly stalkless, set along the branchlets resembling pinnate type. 

Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) is one of the most ancient and important fruit crops. It is considered as the “King of arid zone fruits”, due to its adaptations to tolerate the biotic and abiotic stresses prevailing under rainfed conditions (Anbu et al., 2009). It is also called as desert apple, jujube, Badari (Sanskrit), Chinee apple, Ber (Hindi), Kul or Boroi (Bengali), Indian plum, Boroi, Beri, Permseret (Anguilla) etc. It is a tropical fruit tree that belongs to the family Rhamnaceae. Ber is rich in amino acids, protein, sugar, calcium, phosphorus, carbohydrates, iron, vitamin A, ascorbic acid. The fruit contains from 70 and 165 mg ascorbic acid per 100 gm of pulp, which is two to four times higher than the vitamin C content of citrus fruits. The mineral content of phosphorus, calcium and iron in Z. mauritiana fruit is also reported as being higher than in apples and even oranges (Morton et al., 1987, Jawanda and Bal,1978).

Grape, Vitis vinifera Linn. is one of the most important fruit crops grown in India. It belongs to the family Vitaceae and is a remunerative temperate fruit crop of India. It is believed that Armenia near the Caspian and Black seas in Russia is the centre of origin of grape. By the end of 12^th century, it was introduced in India from Iran and Afghanistan. Grapes are normally eaten fresh as table fruit.

Grapes are used in a wide range of food products - from raisins to wine. They are also loaded with several nutrients and antioxidants and also have high amounts of phytonutrient resveratrol. According to some studies, this phytonutrient is good for heart. It is a good source of calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamins. In fact, while grapes are good for our overall health, it is especially lauded for its heart benefits. There are several colours of grapes, including red, black, purple or blue (concord), green (which is used to make white wine), pink and yellow. Concord grapes are usually used to make grape juice, grape jelly and grape flavouring.

Apple (Malus pumila, though erroneously and commonly called Malus domestica) is a deciduous plant and considered to be the world’s one of the oldest fruit crops. The tree originated from Central Asia where M. sieversii, wild ancestor of cultivated apple is still found today. It is one of the most important table fruits of the world and excels other fruits in having prolonged keeping quality and wide variety of flavour and taste. It is a highly remunerative crop and is grown in all temperate regions of the world. In India apple is mostly grown in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and some parts of Arunachal Pradesh.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L., Family: Anacardiaceae) is a very important crop in India for earning foreign exchange. Portuguese travelers introduced this plant into India from Brazil during sixteenth century and the purpose was to check soil erosion on the coastal area. Though initially this crop is considered as a remedy for soil conservation, wasteland development and afforestation, but it gradually became a commercial important crop. Cashew is now widely grown in tropical regions and well adapted to the climatic condition of India. Now India becomes the largest producer, consumer, processor and exporter of cashew in the world. In India, cashew is mainly cultivated in Goa, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka along the West coast and Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Pondicherry and West Bengal along the East coast. To a limited extent it is also grown in some nontraditional areas like Kolar region of Karnataka and Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is an important fruit crop in India and its commercial production is possible in temperate and sub-tropical areas of the country. According to the Ministry Agriculture, Government of India estimates, production of the fruit in India has dropped by 40% from 8,000 metric tonnes in 2014-15 to around 5,000 metric tonnes in both 2015-16 and 2016-17. Strawberries mainly consist of water (91%) and carbohydrates (7.7%). They contain only minor amounts of fat (0.3%) and protein (0.7%). The nutrients in 100 gm of raw strawberries are, calories 32, 91% water, 0.7gm protein, 7.7 gm carbohydrate, 4.9 gm sugar, 2 gm fiber and 0.3 gm fat. Strawberries should not lead to big spikes in blood sugar levels and are considered safe for people with diabetes. It is also useful for weight loss and can help prevent many diseases.The most abundant vitamins and minerals in strawberries are, vitamin C, vitamin B9, potassium and manganese. To a lesser extent, strawberries also provide iron, copper, magnesium, phosphorus and vitamins B6, K and E.

Resource management has become a formidable task with loss of cultivable land to urbanization. Coercion to increase production has resulted in adoption of intense farming. This, however, has resulted in significant increase in the pest problem. Despite ten-fold increase in insecticide use during the last 80 years, losses inflicted by pests have nearly doubled. Estimates of yield losses caused by various pests attack range from 10-35% in various crops during different seasons which account for about 2000 crore revenue loss to the horticulture industry and is further projected at 5000 crore or more in future due to changing climate and intense farming (Reddy, 2010 and Rather, et al, 2013).

Perennial nature of horticultural fruit crops provides a stable environment for the buildup and development of mite populations, as against the ephemeral habitat of short-lived plants. The phytophagous mites are represented by 169 species whereas 148 species belong to the predatory group. Mites (subclass Acari) are ecologically and morphologically very diverse group of tiny invertebrates that belong to the class Arachnida (along with scorpions and spiders), subphylum Chelicerata under Arthropods. As arthropods also include insects, but mites are differ because they have four pair of legs (insects are hexapods), lack of true head and conspicuous segmentation of the body. 

Most of the plant parasitic-nematodes (PPNs)are worm-shaped microscopic animals. They are virtually invisible through naked eyes when present in soil or plant materials. It has been estimated that of the known nematode species, approximately 50% are free-living found in soil and fresh water, 25% are marine (found in sea water), 15% are animal parasites, and 10% are plant-parasites (Walia and Bajaj, 2004; Sasser and Freckman, 1987). Free living nematodes contribute to maintain the soil bio-dynamic system, by influencing microbial colonization of substrates and mineralization of nutrients (Neher, 2001), whereas PPNs feed on plants and reduce crop growth and yield efficiency. Among the PPNs, a few nematode species feed on aerial plant parts (leaves, stems, flowers and seeds), but the majority of feed on underground plant parts (roots, bulbs, and tubers).

Chemical pest management is neither economically nor ecologically sustainable. As for example, the USA spent an estimated $11 billion on pesticides in 2008, applying more than 480 million pounds of these chemicals to its agricultural fields (Fernandez-Cornejo, et al, 2009). Despite this widespread use of pesticides, which cause severe harm to the mankind as well as the ecosystem, estimate suggest that 37% of the crop yield of the USA are lost due to pests (Pimentel, et al, 1992). This type of situation is witnessed all throughout the world. Under these circumstances, the natural enemies of agricultural pests may offer a sustainable solution to pest problems and the management they offer is worth of $13 billion per year in the USA (Losey and Vaughan, 2006). So, conservation of these biological control agents in the ecosystem is very much important for the sustainability as well as the health of the environment. Conservation and augmentation of natural enemies are among the main task in Conservation Biological Control (CBC).

India is an agrarian country where around 70% of the total population is engaged in farming activities. Agriculture and allied sectors are undoubtedly the largest livelihood provider of India, along with significant contribution towards the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. Agricultural production has been raised dramatically in the recent past to feed our burgeoning population with the help of modern inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, mechanical devices for tilling, seeding and irrigating the crops. With the advancement of agro-inputs, incidence of various kinds of pests also increases that hugely threaten our food security.

1. Introduction

Country has vast network of 20 river basins with utilizable surface and groundwater resources of 1123 billion cubic meter (BCM). With the rising population, the per capita availability of water in India has declined from 5178 m³/year in 1951 to 1441 m³/year in 2015. About 60% of Indian population have per capita water availability close to or lower than the water scarcity threshold of 1000 m³/year. The per capita water availability will further decline to 1139 m³/year with increase in population. On the demand side, the gross water requirement for all users in India is expected to grow up to 1447 BCM in 2050 (CWC, 2010, GoI, 2015). With the massive financial investment by the governments and the farmers, net irrigated area in the country increased from 20.85 million hectare (Mha) in 1950-51 to 68.38 Mha in 2014-15 (DES, 2019). Although India is a world leader in irrigation infrastructure, still half of the total cropped area (51%) remains rainfed. Further, many studies have flagged sustainability and equity concerns in irrigation development in the country (Selvarajan and Roy, 2004;

Globally saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is cultivated in regions spanning from the Mediterranean in the west to Kashmir in the east. Countries like Iran, Spain, Italy, India, Greece, Turkey, Afghanistan, Morocco and Azerbaijan harbour suitable climatic and soil conditions required for its growth and harvesting (Mehdi and Reza, 2012). However, the crop is also cultivated on small scales inFrance, Switzerland, Israel, Pakistan, China, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Japan. Recently its cultivation has been introduced in non-traditional countries like Australia, New Zealand, USA, Argentina and Chile (Fernandez, 2004). Globally, about 85 thousand hectares of land is under saffron cultivation, giving a produce of 288 MT. Iran leads with 90 per cent of total global share for saffron production (Baghalian et al., 2010) and 70% of global export earning a revenue of US$ 51million. India’s global share is about 4.5 per cent in production followed by Greece (2.5%), Morocco (0.9%), Spain (0.8%), Italy and China (0.3% each), Afghanistan (0.2%) and Azerbaijan (0.06%).