eChapters

ABSTRACT

ICT innovations are bringing new information services to rural areas on which, farmers, as users, will have much greater control than ever over current information channels. A greater opportunity to access the services of ICT innovations is crucial requirement for the sustainable development of the farming system, which is the demand of the time. ICT when applied to the rural and agricultural conditions can improve the linkages between research and farmer sub-systems. The variety of new ICT tools for agriculture is impressive, but the tools need to be placed in an overall context of agricultural information and service needs. By looking at the critical information needs of agriculture and farming communities, the focus should be on applicable and relevant ICT tools for the specific purpose to serve the rural community without compromising with their individual applications towards understanding of their overall role in promoting productive, equitable, and sustainable agriculture. Extension workers well equipped with the ICT can prove more efficient in gathering, storage, retrieving, adaptation and dissemination of broad range of information needed by farmers, thus transforming them from extension workers into knowledge workers. Emergence of such knowledge workers will result in the realisation of the much talked about bottom-up, demand driven technology generation, assessment, refinement and transfer.

ABSTRACT

In 21^st century, the world has turned into a global village. This herculean task has been made possible with the advent of ICT tools. When we think of ICT, the most omnipresent tool that comes in our mind is mobile phones. With the increasing rate of mobile phone penetration in the urban as well as in rural areas, it is now possible to connect the farmers leaving in the far-flung areas with the institutes, who are working for the betterment of farming community. Today, mobile phones play a significant role in everybody’s life, besides being an efficient way to stay connected with the family; it also paves a way to bridge the gap between the availability and delivery of agricultural inputs and agricultural infrastructure. Mobile phones provide basic connectivity, mobility and security to owners, it works using the radio spectrum, so no need to rely on physical infrastructure, requires basic literacy only, also its services are available in local language; short message service (SMS), multi-media service (MMS) and voice communication are the added benefits. It allows transfer of data which can be used in the context of applications for the purpose of health, education, commerce and governance. Mobile phones are increasingly affordable due to factors like increased private sector competition and innovative payment methods. Due to high access, its reach, good adoption and real-time interaction mobile phones offer efficient solutions to governments’ communication challenges. Mobile phones helps the farmers in agriculture decision making, as they provide information related to crops, weather forecasting, seeds, fertilizers, bio-pesticides, soil fertility, pest and disease diagnosis, demand and supply of agricultural products, different schemes and technologies. Mobile based initiatives like SMS services related to weather forecast, disease forecast, and market information are issued to farmers by different organizations like IFFCO Kissan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) and Reuters Market Light (RML). Farmers can raise queries related to agriculture and allied sectors using their mobile phone to a farmer call centre which has been operating in every state of India. There are many such initiatives, which are working to provide valuable services, and also it provides opportunities to further explore the potentialities of mobile phones as a tool for transforming the farming scenario of India.

ABSTRACT

The role of community radio has been conceptualized as an important and powerful tool for informing, educating, entertaining and influencing the masses. Community Radio Station at KVK, Barh, Patna has brought about useful contributions to the farmers of surrounding villages and broadcasting different programmes related to agriculture, health, hygiene, nutrition and entertainment in the local language. Present study was carried out to see the impact of organic farming related talks. We found it a very effective tool to communicate with small and marginal farmers of surrounding villages for delivering useful information related with agriculture and organic farming.

Key words: Community radio, farmer, villages, organic farming information

ABSTRACT

Rural youth are the future of the agricultural sector in the country. A rising number of rural youth are migrating to urban areas from villages in search of better employment as well as better life. They are migrating towards cities due to limited resources, weak infrastructure, and unemployment in rural areas. Thus, the number of young people in rural areas is falling and the exodus of rural youth means fewer small-scale farmers for today and tomorrow. Agribusiness may prove important tool to stop the exodus of rural youth from rural to urban areas. Agribusiness provides the various employment opportunities in the areas of agricultural inputs, crop production, agro chemicals, fruit and vegetable cultivation, agricultural marketing and processing of agricultural produce. Agribusiness helps in remunerative farming which increases the level of income, employment and living standard of people in rural India. The present paper will discuss the role and importance of agribusiness in attracting and retaining rural youth in farming.

ABSTRACT

Sweet Corn (Zea mays var. saccharata var. rugosa) also called Indian corn, sugar corn, and pole corn is a kind of maize having high sugar content (12 – 15%). It is a very delicious and rich source of energy, vitamin A and vitamin C. It is consumed as raw, boiled or steamed green cobs/ grain. Cooked/ processed sweet corn has significant antioxidant activity which has been suggested to minimize the chance of heart disease and cancer. In addition to this, it is also utilized in preparation of soup, salad and other famous recipes. Besides green cobs, the green fodder is also available to the farmers for their cattle. It requires deep fertile and good drainage loam or sandy loam soil with neutral pH. It germinates best at the temperature range from 20^°C - 25^°C. Green cobs are harvested after 20 days of pollination during kharif but the days may accorded by season to season. It is ready to harvest in 70-75 days during kharif season and 105 – 110 days during rabi season. After harvesting, green cobs should be immediately transported to the cold storage in refrigerated trucks to avoid the conversion of sugar to starch because loses flavor at high temperature. Being a short duration crop (70-80 days), farmer can earn 2.0 to 2.5 lac rupees per hectare because it require less input i.e. water, manpower and other crop management practices. Therefore, it can generate a good employment for rural youthdue to high demand in hotels for preparation of various dishes.

ABSTRACT

Human resources are one of the most strategic and critical determinants of growth. A country cannot make rapid social and economic advancement unless it has enterprising people with necessary knowledge, skill and attitudes. Entrepreneurship development not only helps individual to become self reliant but also adds to wealth creation process, thereby paving the way to past growth and development of the nation. Rural entrepreneurship is required to capitalize on the opportunities available and to create job, mainly for rural youth and the farm family. In order to achieve this we are promoting mushroom production and processing as an enterprise for rural youths and farm family through their capacity building activities like training, consultancy, forward and backward linkages and to some extent by making available the much required inputs in the initial stages as the scenario of mushroom production in state is far from satisfactory. With the vast opportunities both at the international and national levels lying at the door steps of India, nothing less than a mushroom revolution in the coming decade will help to achieve the targets of nutritional security of people. During last year we have trained 215 farmwomen and youth in mushroom production and processing out of which 110 trainees started producing it at small scale and selling in the local market. Three villages of Patna district have been developed as “mushroom village” namely Sadikpur, Chaknawada and Mahmadpur. A sample of 100 mushroom growers of Patna district was taken for present investigation. All of them agreed that growing mushroom is a beneficial enterprise as it is capable of recycling agricultural wastes and generating employment opportunities. But, they revealed that important constraints in recommended practices of mushroom cultivation are spawn availability, perishable nature and marketing of mushroom in local villages because of poor infrastructural facility and lack of institutional finance available to them. So, in order to encourage mushroom Production at household level in villages, it is required to uplift farmers, initiating new applications, providing them with adequate marketing information and sufficient agri-business finance knowledge. Two of the most important problems in India, unemployment and malnutrition, will be addressed to a larger extent by promoting the cause of mushroom growing and its utilization as health food.

ABSTRACT

The present study was carried out to assess the knowledge level of dairy Entrepreneurs of Patna District and to find the co-relation between the socioeconomic variables and the training needs. This study was conducted by personally interviewing 100 dairy farmers, sent for training at B.V.C. Patna by different Agencies. Majority of the respondents (58.20%) had medium level of knowledge flowed by 26% respondents with high level of knowledge, while some of the respondents (15.80%) had low level of knowledge about dairy entrepreneurship. The study of co-relation between socio-economic variables and training need of the respondents showed that variables like education (0.469), social participation (0.500) and the knowledge (0.734) were significantly and positively co-related with the training need. Whereas variables like age (0.063) family size (0.193) and land holding (0.072) were found to be positively but non-significantly co-related with the training needs while, the caste (-0.093) was found to be negatively and non-significantly co-related with the training needs at 0.05% level of probability. Therefore it is imperative on the part of change agency to utilize the variables gainfully so as to give needed push to knowledge level in the area of Dairy entrepreneurship development.

Introduction

The role of knowledge management as the key source for competitive advantage in our organizations has become a hotly debated topic. Indeed, it is a core competency for creating competitive advantage. In this environment that knowledge management is vital, therefore, at first we should determine knowledge management situation, and then to achieve a desired point, formulate a knowledge management strategy.

I am happy to note that the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, a premier national institute for agricultural research is celebrating the 100th year of its establishment. It is indeed quite fitting that JARI has chosen to celebrate this occasion by organizing a seminar on current scenario in temperate horticulture in Himachal Pradesh which is the second highest producer of temperate fruits in the country, I, therefore consider myself to be privileged to be a key speaker, and express my appreciation and gratitude to the organizers for giving me this honour and opportunity in this very important event.
 
The varied climatic and soil conditions in India provide enormous scope for cultivation of wide range of tropical, sub-tropical and temperate horticultural crops, The production of tropical and sub-tropical horticultural crops is confined to the plains, coastal and root hills of Indian mountain~ whereas, the temperate horticulture is monopoly of the hilly regions of the country. The production of temperate fruits in the country is spread over some fifteen states and union territories situated in the following regions.

Abstract

The present studies were undertaken in selfed and open pollinated seedlings of 11 cultivars namely Belrubi, Blackmore, Catskill, Chandler, Fairfax,  Fern, Pajaro, Seascape, Selva, Tioga and Torrey during the years 2001 to 2003.  The days taken to 50%  flowering varied  from 43 to 64 days, flower number from 11.8 to 22.4 and pollen viability from 77.5 to 85.2%. The pollen germination was highest in 20% sucrose solution +  5 ppm boric acid in all the progenies.  The fruit length varied from 27.8 mm to 35.5 mm, breadth 21.3 to 27.9 mm, fruit weight 8.8 to 12.2 g, fruit firmness 0.23 to 0.33 lbs force, number of achenes per fruit 176.9 to 297.9, pedicel length 6.4 to 9.5 cm, TSS 8.1 to 12.3^ºB, titratable acidity 0.58 to 1.24%, total sugars 5.1 to 7.3, reducing  sugars 4.8 to 6.8% and non-reducing sugars from 0.50 to 1.11%.  Fruit development period  varied from 32.8 to 53.6 days, total number of fruits per plant 7.2 to 17.9, fruit yield per plant 27.4 to 57.3 g and fruit yield per plot from 0.77 to 1.40 Kg in different progenies.

Abstract

Apple productivity is declining gradually. It is the high time to find out new rootstock for apple improvement. The crab apples can play a pivotal role for the improvement of apple through proper utilization of their potentiality. A number of crab apples have been found growing wild in the Himalayas. Apple accessions collected from Shillong (Meghalaya) i.e. Malus baccata (Shillong), was found completely resistant to woolly aphid (Eriosoma lanigerum) and the development of root rot (c.o. Dematophora necatrix) and powdery mildew (Podosphora leuchotricha) was significantly delayed as compared to well known source of resistance, Malus zumi.  It has shown field resistance to apple scab (c.o. Venturia inaequalis) also.  It has a very good propagation potential.

Abstract

In Himachal Pradesh, apple plantations have been made on seedling rootstock. The valley and comparatively warmer areas leads to the problems of irregular bearing and lower yields, besides less colour development in delicious varieties. Non uniformity in tree growth and yield is observed. To solve these problems, efforts have been made and plants of different cultivars of delicious and other prominent cultivars on different virus free clonal rootstocks have been introduced and planted at progeny-cum-demonstration orchard (PCDO) at anu situated at 1375m a.m.s.l. in Shimla district during 1989-90. Plant of three cultivars viz., Real Mecoy Red Delicious, Mutsu and Criterion on EMLA 26, EMLA 7a and EMLA 106 rootstock have been planted with a density of 1280 plants per hectare. The observations on yield were recorded during 1999-2002.

Abstract

Studies were carried out on 110 seedling trees of aonla growing at Tikker area of district Sirmaur, Ghanatti area of district Shimla and Kandaghat & Arki areas of district Solan to know the extent of divergence for various fruit characters by using non-hierarchical cluster analysis. Maximum co-efficient of variability was observed for fruit volume (38.63 %). First component gave maximum Eigen root value (7.286) and maximum percent variation (45.54 %). All 110 genotypes got clustered into eight clusters and the distribution of genotypes from different location was random. Maximum genotypes (30) entered in cluster 3 and minimum (5) in cluster 8. Intra-cluster distance varied between 1.877 (Cluster 5) to 3.137 (Cluster 8). The inter-cluster distance ranged between 3.006 (Cluster 3 & 4) to 11.677(Cluster 5 & 8). Wider genetic base is the prerequisite for breeding to get better recombinants and segregants. So, genotypes of Cluster 5 & 8 can be used for future aonla breeding programmes.

Abstract
The analysis of variance showed significant differences for all the traits studied. The best two combinations out of the 28 F1s produced by crossing eight diverse lines of capsicum in diallel fashion (excluding reciprocals) with respect to most of the traits were Osh Region x EC-119058 and California Wonder x Bonali.

Keywords: Heterosis, Capsicum annuum L.

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) also known as Sweet pepper or Spanish pepper is an important vegetable used in various delicacies and salads, the world over. The crop originated in New World tropics and subtropics (Greenleaf, 1986), and introduced in India by the British. Because of its excellent quality as obtained under Shimla hills conditions, it came to be called as Shimla Mirch. Its most notable feature is flavour and hence is appreciated worldwide. It is also an excellent source of pro-vitamin A and vitamin C. Bell pepper assumes a special significance in the mid hills of Himachal Pradesh as it is grown as an off season crop during summer and rainy seasons, which brings lucrative returns to the growers. 

Abstract

It is essential that care is taken in the design of primers for PCR. Several parameters including the length of the primer, percentage of GC content and the 3' sequence need to be optimized for successful  PCR. Some of these parameters can be easily manually optimized while others are best done with commercial computer programs. In any event, careful observance of the general rules of primer designing will help ensure successful experiments.

Keywords: Bioinformatic tools, primer designing

Abstract

Seven different parents viz. July Elberta, Alton, J.H. Hale, Kanto-5, Saharanpuri, Quetta as female and Kateroo as male were used in the present crosses.  The crosses were made in the year 1997 and 76 hybrid seedlings under different crosses were raised  for these studies. The variability in respect of chemical characters, the mean values for titratable acidity for each cross varied between 0.50 to 0.75%, TSS 11.53 to 12.90oB,  reducing sugars from 2.33 to 2.88%, non-reducing sugars from 6.27 to 6.83%, total sugars from 9.24 to 10.05% and TSS/acid ratio between 14.47 to 23.90. The coefficient of variability varied 11.07 to 31.55% for titratable acidity, 0.00 to 23.02% for TSS, 5.24  to 18.53% for reducing sugars, 2.09 to 15.14% for non-reducing sugars, 0.00 to 6.80% for total sugars and 18.23 to 156.51% for TSS/acid ratio in these crosses.

Abstract

Lean season ornamentals of Shimla are observed for two years. Out of them, the flowering plants include those blooming more or less throughout the year, those having extended flowering up to early winter i.e. November, those begins to flower well before their actual flowering season i.e. spring and those which yield flowers mostly in winter. Some plants having good stalk length, keeping quality and attractive flower such as Reinwardtia indica, Asclepias curassavica and Spermadictyon suaveolens can be tried as cut flower. Some of foliage plants during spring produce beautiful flowers. Planting of these dual purpose plants will have the advantage of beautifying these temperate hills all the year round. Others are evergreen foliage plants with insignificant flower value. All the above plants belong to various utilitarian groups viz. annuals, herbaceous perennials, trees, climbers etc. and can be put into different uses. Some are potential multipurpose economic plants. This preliminary treatise reveals that there are adequate plants available within the premises of Shimla for lean season beautification. The ways to proceed further are also detailed.

Abstract

Open pollinated seedlings of chrysanthemum offer opportunity of large variations for different attributes, such as seed setting, growth and flowering parameters. The desirable seedlings selected from the germplasm collection of Department revealed that only few cultivars set seeds under Solan, Nauni condition  of Himachal Pradesh. Out of 1368 seedlings raised of different seed setting cultivars, 111 were found promising for various attributes concerning to uses of chrysanthemum.

Abstract

Asurvey was conducted in wet temperate zone (Agro climatic Zone III) of Himachal Pradesh at an elevation of 1670-2290 m above mean sea level, falling in Kumarsain, Thanedhar, Jubbal and Kotkhai areas of Shimla district: a potential apple growing area. The average land holding size varies from 0.74 to 6.50 hectares with the predominance of small and marginal farmers. The area under apple increased with the increase in the size of holdings from 0.44ha to 2.10 ha in case of marginal and large farmers respectively. Average number of animals varied from 2.54 to 3.20 per house hold with Jersey cow component varying from 0.71 to 1.40. Grass availability was 13.18 per ha against their requirement of 49.05 for 200 days and 89.51 qt. for 365 days in an year and the carrying capacity was 0.36 and 0.20 respectively. Thus, there is a need to adopt improved horto-pastoral mode of agro forestry to sustain the present livestock population.

Abstract
 
Different sources of phosphorus along with various amendments were applied with an objective to enhance the availability of P. Maximum yield during 2001 and 2002 was obtained in the trees supplied with super phosphate (SSP), whereas in 2003, the highest yield was recorded in rock phosphate (RP) + phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSB) treated plants. Pooled values for three years showed highest yield per plant (54.17 kg) in SSP which was statistically at par with RP+PSB treated plants. Fruit weight was maximum in RP+PSB treated plants followed by SSP. Annual shoot growth and fruit set were observed to be maximum in plants supplied with SSP in 2002, whereas in 2003, RP+PSB treated plants recorded the highest shoot growth and fruit set. As regards leaf nutrient content, leaf P was found to be maximum in SSP supplied trees in 2002, however in 2003, RP+PSB treated plants recorded the highest leaf P content. Highest cost benefit ratio of 1:2.09 was recorded in plants supplied with SSP which was closely followed by RP+PSB showing cost benefit ratio of 1:200.

Abstract

Different orchard floor management practices had a significant effect on percent soil moisture content at a soil depth of 0-22.5 cm and 22.5-45 cm and soil temperature at a depth of 22.5 cm and 45 cm. Black polythene mulch recorded significantly higher soil moisture content than other treatments at both depths while clean cultivation recorded the minimum soil moisture content throughout the studies. Similar to the soil moisture content, black polythene mulch recorded the maximum soil temperature while hay mulch recorded the minimum soil temperature.

Abstract

Among the different hand thinning treatments, thinning of lateral flower buds resulted in maximum yield of ‘A’ grade fruits (42.30 kg/vine) without affecting the total yield (86.34 kg/vine). The fruit size and weight was significantly increased with increase in the intensity of thinning. The maximum fruit size (length and breadth) and weight were recorded when only two flower buds or flowers, or fruitlets/fruiting shoot were retained, but the total yield was significantly reduced as compared to other treatments. In the second experiment, hand thinning treatment was integrated with the plant growth regulators i.e. CPPU and cytokinin. The results revealed that 5 ppm CPPU in combination with hand thinning (thinning of lateral flower buds to 2 flower buds/fruiting shoot) significantly increased fruit size, yield and percentage of ‘A’ grade fruits. This treatment produced 75 per cent ‘A’ grade fruits as compared to only 19 per cent under control.

Abstract

The study with different inorganic phosphorus doses and their combination with phosphorus solublizing microbes (PSM) had significant effect on growth, total microbial population of the soil and leaf nutrient status of Walnut cv. Govind. The treatment T₁₁ consisting of 84.37g P₂O₅ + PSM (80g culture) had maximum growth (16.87 cm) and also have a significant improvement in total microbial count (12,126) of the soil and leaf nutrient status of Walnut cv Govind.

Abstract

Studies were conducted to investigate the effect of growing media and fertilizers on growth and flowering of rose cultivar ‘First Red’ under naturally ventilated polyhouse. During first flush, it was observed that growing medium containing soil, FYM, sawdust (2:1:1) gave maximum flower yield (5.58 cut stems) per square meter per month when fertilized with water soluble fertilizers (N-150 ppm and K-200 ppm) whereas, maximum number of ‘A’ and ‘C’ grade cut stems were recorded from plants grown in soil: FYM: sand which were fed with straight fertilizers (N-150 ppm and K-200 ppm).

Abstract

The experiment was carried out to study the effect of  BA and GA3 on in-vitro raised plants of African violets. The studies revealed that BA 150 ppm spray increased the number of leaves and duration of flowering, whereas, GA3100 ppm increased leaf area, plant spread and resulted in earliest flowering. Number of flowers was maximum in GA3 100 ppm treated plants and was at par with BA 150 ppm. Maximum pot presentability (82.85 days) was found with BA 150ppm which was at par with GA3 100 and 50 ppm treated plants.

Abstract

The various options available with the fruit growers in temperate areas through floriculture are i) Growing traditional flowers such flowers are honeysuckle, hydrangea, roses of many sorts including Rosa banksiae ( vars alba, lutea), R. moschala, R. wichuriana, R. laevigata, bush roses, Jasminum humile, J. officinale, J. auriculatum, J. mesnyi, spiroea, Passiflora, Fuchsia, Wisteria chinensis, Hibiscus syriacus, Viburnum, Camellia  japonica, Cestrum, etc. ii) Growing cut flowers, iii) Growing annuals. The hardy annuals include Alyssum, Antirrhinum, Anchusa, Brachycome, Calendula, Candytuft, Centaurea, Chrysanthemum (annual), Clarkia, Cornflower, Eschscholtzia, Godetia, Helichrysum, Lathyrus, Larkspur, Linaria, Linum, Lobelia, Lupinus, Matthiola, Nasturtium, Nemesia, Nemophila, Nigella, Phacelia, Poppy, Reseda, Salpiglossis, Saponaria, Vaccaria, Venidium, Viola, etc.  Shade loving annuals are Salvia, Cineraria, Tropaeolum majus, etc. iv) Production of flower seeds and bulbs v) Growing herbaceous annuals vi) Plant rentals. The space between the trees and other plants can be utilized for potted plants, hanging baskets, making bonsai etc. vii) Dried flowers and floral crafts etc.

Abstract

Himachal Pradesh is endowed with varied type of climate providing conditions to grow temperate and sub  tropical fruits. Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) appears to be readily adapted to wide range of climatic conditions and offer a good potential for diversification of fruit culture. Though it was introduced in Himachal Pradesh in early nineties by the European missionaries but it could not be established as commercial fruit crop. Persimmon cultivation suffers from lack of organized plantings, inadequate vegetatively propagated plant material, non-availability of suitable cultivars and standardization of various orchard management practices. Besides, problems of poor fruit set, heavy fruit drop, astringent nature and lack of sufficient knowledge regarding fruit maturity and marketing mired its cultivation. The efforts made in recent years to overcome the problems the fruit seems to be on the thresh hold of popularity and with diversification in the fruit culture this fruit has great future.

Abstract

Powdery mildew infected leaves of apple hyperparasitized by Ampelomyces quisqualis were collected from field and examined for the presence of the dark brown pycnidia of  hyperparasite. The hyperparasite was isolated on potato dextrose agar medium by standard isolation technique. The morphological characters of the hyperparasite such as size and shape of pycnidia and pycnidiospores were studied. Six systemic fungicides were evaluated for their compatibility with A. quisqualis under in vitro conditions. Dinocap was least inhibitory giving 65.56 per cent growth inhibition of A. quisqualis followed by mancozeb (66.67%). Effect of these fungicides was also seen on conidial germination and germ tube length of A. quisqualis. Maximum conidial germination and germ tube length was observed in mancozeb followed by benomyl and dinocap.

Abstract

Amongst various soil-borne diseases of apple, white root rot (Dematophora necatrix) causes severe losses both in nursery as well as in grown up orchards and is a limiting factor in raising healthy nursery of apple. Seedlings are killed within a short period depending upon the age of the host and environmental factors. The present investigations were, therefore, undertaken to study the population dynamics of VAM fungi in rhizosphere soil  of apple plant alone and in combination with green amendments and its role in disease suppression. The study revealed that there was variation in population dynamics of VAM fungi alone and in combination with green amendments. It was observed that apple seedlings grown in VAM inoculated fungi (Glomus sp. and Glomus heterosporum) and green amended   soils had more VAM population and colonization in roots than non-amended (minus crop residue) soils after pathogen inoculation. The population of Glomus sp.(350/100gm soil) was maximum in soybean+ Glomus sp. inoculated soil and it was observed that VAM fungi and crop residues in combination suppresses the disease to maximum extent as compared to their alone effect and only 8.7 per cent disease index was recorded in apple seedlings inoculated with mungbean+ Glomus sp. followed by 16.03% in soybean+ Glomus sp. inoculated seedlings.

Abstract

Ten pests belonging to six insect and mite orders were recorded infesting strawberry cv. Chandler in Paonta and Doon Valleys of North Indian during 2001-04. Out of these Heliothis armigera Hubner, Spodoptera litura F., Thrips tabaci  Kheg, Holotrichia insularis Brenke, Odontotermes obesus Ramb and Tetranychus telarius L were of primary significance. Two fortnightly application of endosulfan (0.05%) from mid April proved effective in containing the attack of first two most devastating pests.

Investigations were undertaken to isolate the fluorescent pseudomonads from the soil and root samples collected from Western Ghats regions of Chikkamagalur district of Karnataka. A total of nine isolates were obtained from 10 sampling sites. All the nine isolates were subjected for morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics and were tentatively identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens. Isolates were examined for different agriculturally important functions like production of plant growth promoting substances (PGPS), solubilization of TCP and biocontrol activity. Results of the study indicated that, five out of nine isolates found positive for IAA production and the amount of IAA production ranged from 1.92 to 6.75 mg per ml.

5.1 Concept of Ecosystem

Ecosystem is the basic functional unit in ecology, since it includes both biotic and abiotic environments influencing each other for maintenance of life.

A.G. Tansky in 1935 first proposed the term ecosystem. According to him, it is defined as the system resulting from the integration of all the living and non-living factors of the environment. In a simplest form, an ecosystem can be defined as a self-sustained community of plants and animals existing in its own environment. The term ecosystem is composed of two terms, “eco” means environment and “system” means an interacting and interdependent complex. It is otherwise known as bio system.

9.1 What are Natural Disasters?

The natural disasters are earthquakes, floods, droughts, famines, heat waves, cyclones, wild fire, volcanic, aerosols (small particles), and landslides.

9.2 Disaster Management

Both physical solutions and institutional strategies should be developed to manage natural disasters. For flood disaster control the water flow should be checked. Institutional strategies do not rely on physical barriers and include flood plain management, flood and disaster warning systems, education and preparedness programmes.

Management of Angora rabbit includes important aspects of breeding, feeding, heeding and disease control.

8.1. Reproduction

Angora rabbits of lighter breeds reach breeding age of 6-7 m, medium rabbits at 7-8m and heavier breeds at 8-10 m. Female Angora rabbits do not have a true oestrus cycle with a definite heat period. They may mate at any time of year. Ovulation in does is induced by mating and occurs about 10 -12 hours later to mounting and copulation with the bucks. No doubt there is no definite heat cycle in Angora rabbits, yet during certain periods breeding does are more receptive to bucks than other times of the year. Some of the signs of such receptive period are restlessness, rubbing of chin on the feeding or watering bowls and vulva may be slightly swollen and purplish red.

Important by-products from rabbits are meat, wool, planner and skin. It can be made highly profitable if products are wasted because people do not have enough knowledge about their processing.

11.1. Slaughtering and Dressing

    1.    Rabbits are killed by one of two methods. The preferred method is dislocation of the neck. The rabbit is held firmly by the rear legs and head; it is stretched full length. Then with a hard, sharp pull, the head is bent backward to dislocate the neck. The rabbit can also be struck a hard, quick blow to the skull behind the ears. A blunt stick or side of the hand is commonly used to incapacitate the rabbit. Both methods quickly render the rabbit unconscious.

The sources of contamination of milk on the farm can broadly be categorized as

    a)    Interior of the Udder
    b)    Exterior of the Udder.
The interior reflects the health of the animal, while the exterior depends on the farm condition, equipment, persons, water etc.

a) Interior of the Udder
The animal by itself is one of the most significant contributors of microorganism in milk. The bacteria in the udder usually enter from the teat opening and get distributed internally by their own growth and physical movement. In the normal healthy udder, the types encountered in milk are most predominantly Micrococci, followed by Streptococci, Corynebacterium and others. Most of the bacteria are excreted in fore milk.

In India, the collection, transport and distribution of raw milk involves a number of agencies and persons at rural and urban level – village producers, milk collectors, halwais (Sweet-makers), milk vendors, dairies, producer-retailers and wholesale or retail markets.

1. Collection

Usually, the milk collectors approach the small village producers to collect milk and the same is sold directly or indirectly (through agents) to a dairy (milk procurement centres) or halwais or city milk vendors or consumers. The producer – retailers themselves, in some cases, supply the milk to the above said parties. The production of milk in small, scattered holdings in village causes problems during its collection. It involves visits to many villages, some of which are not easily accessible for the purpose.

According to International Dairy Federation(IDF),1980, Mastitis also called as ‘mammitis’ is defined as an inflammation of the udder, almost always of microbial origin and is the outcome of a local or a general infection. The common symptoms are related to inflammation, viz., swollen, hot, red, and painful udders. Mastitis can be classified based on symptoms or on the causative organism.

A) Forms of mastitis based on symptoms

    1.    Acute or clinical
    2.    Sub-acute or subclinical
    3.    Chronic.

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

Poultry industry in India has a strong standing globally, being third highest egg producer with more than 50000 million eggs and fifth highest broiler producer with 2.25 million tones of broiler meat. Largely, Indian poultry industry is chicken dominated and the rearing of high yielding varieties under intensive rearing system is the backbone of its present face. Analysis of trend of egg production in last five years i.e. 2001-2006 revealed that annual growth rate in egg production is about 5-6 %, except a much lower rate of 3 % during 2003.

Livestock sector may be considered as a driving force for nutritional security and an important component of sustainable agriculture in India. Livestock sector besides providing milk and meat also provides a diverse range of output for agriculture (manure, draught power and transport) and for manufacturing sector (fiber and leather). According to estimates of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the value of output from livestock sector at current prices was about 4,59,051 crore during 2011-12 which is about 24.8% of the value of output from total agricultural and allied sector at current price and 25.6% at constant prices (2004-05). The value of output of milk is 3,05,484 crore in 2011-12, which is higher than the value of output of paddy and wheat. The value of output from eggs and wool group is 17,803 crore and 318 crore respectively for 2011-12. Livestock agriculture is the only way to produce food in many of the world’s harshest environments. Locally adapted breeds enable these vast areas to be used in a sustainable manner.

To meet the food needs of the burgeoning population, India will need to produce 300 million tonnes of food grains by 2020. At present more than 75% of the total food grains produced in the country are of rice and wheat. Use of nitrogenous fertilizers has contributed much to the remarkable increase in production of rice and wheat in India that has occurred during the past three decades. During the last half-decade or so while fertilizer N consumption is touching new heights, the production of both rice and wheat is showing a trend of plateauing. In fact, fertilizer N efficiency of food grain production expressed as partial factor productivity of N (PFPN) has been decreasing exponentially since 1965. The PFPN is an aggregate efficiency index that includes contributions to crop yield derived from uptake of indigenous soil N. fertilizer N uptake efficiency, and the efficiency with which N acquired by the plant is converted to grain yield. A decrease in PFPN occurs as farmers move yields higher along a fixed N response function, unless other factors shift the response function up. In other words, an initial decline in PFPN is an expected consequence of the adoption of N fertilizers by farmers and not necessarily bad within a system’s context

Ever since industrial revolution altered the whole gamut of economic activity at least two hundred years ago, the path of economic growth including its modified form economic development had appeared unending and limitless. The whole focus of economic activity is to produce mere goods and services for use by the mankind so that life could be more comfortable and satisfying. Increasing population and increased needs of more goods and service was also seen as a hindrance or limitation in the march towards economic growth and development.

True/False

Q.1.    In many epidemiological studies with substantial follow up time, it is very often an interest to study the time taken for a particular event to occur.
Q.2.    The time taken for death or graft failure since transplant, time taken for relapse after treatment, time to death after treatment etc. are examples for survival time.

True/False

Q.1.    The accuracy of the measurement refers to how close the measured value is to the true value.
Q.2.    The precision refers to how close a set or group of measurements are together.
Q.3.    If the processes of measurement are repeated under identical condition, then precision explains that up to what extent these repeated values are reliable.

True/False

Q.1.    The precision of an estimator increases as the sample size increases.
Q.2.    Statistical power is the probability that a statistical test will indicate a significant difference is true i.e. it is the probability of taking correct decision.

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

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

SYNOPSIS

Human health is defined as a state of physical, mental, physiological and social well being. It is also considered as a state of body and mind, where there is a balance of body humors or secretions. The paper introduces the readers to common diseases caused through various agents like deficiency disorders, food and water, air-borne, vector, viruses, and life-styles. It also describes healthy food, health management, food management, and healthy life style.

On different occasions I have expressed my views on hunger and food security. Here are some of the views published earlier.

1. Food Security bill: Why it is an opportunity lost

Several years ago I and Dr M S Swaminathan were speaking at a conference on hunger at Rome. Also speaking at one of the sessions was the Brazilian Minister for Zero Hunger Programme, the dream programme of ex-President LuizInácio Lula da Silva. After he had listened to us, he sat down with us to know of how India was battling hunger, specially the way India was managing its food self-sufficiency and the massive food procurement programme.

1. Introduction

Democratisation of information makes it possible for ideas, opinions, knowledge and services to be accessible to everyone, anywhere, anytime. In this era of ‘knowledge sharing’, making access to the required information and knowledge is the key to innovation and empowerment of farming community. Rapid technological developments over the years, particularly internet and mobile, have made it possible to provide array of services on a single platform due to convergence. It is a unique opportunity to leverage upon the available ICT infrastructures and deliver the knowledge based services effectively to people. There are number of ICT initiatives being attempted in the field of Agriculture and other sectors. Some of the successful models (web-based and mobile based) have shown way for the future of e-extension in India.