eChapters

Carbon assimilation or carbon fixation is the conversion of inorganic carbon (carbon dioxide) to organic compounds by living organisms. The most prominent example is photosynthesis, although chemosynthesis is another form of carbon fixation that can take place in the absence of sunlight. Organisms that grow by fixing carbon are called autotrophs. Autotrophs include photoautotrophs, which synthesize organic compounds using the energy of sunlight, and lithoautotrophs, which synthesize organic compounds using the energy of inorganic oxidation. Heterotrophs are organisms that grow using the carbon fixed by autotrophs. The organic compounds are used by heterotrophs to produce energy and to build body structures. “Fixed carbon”, “reduced carbon”, and “organic carbon” are equivalent terms for various organic compounds.

Access to information and improved communication is a crucial requirement for sustainable agricultural development. Modern communication technologies when applied to conditions in rural areas can help improve communication, increase participation, disseminate information and share knowledge and skills. It is being said that “Cyber Extension” would be the major form of technology dissemination in the near future. However it is observed that the rural population still have difficulty in accessing crucial information in order to make timely decisions. It is essential that information availability is demand driven rather than supply driven. The challenge is not only to improve the accessibility of communication technology to the rural population but also to improve its relevance to local development.

The advent of INTERNET on communication scenario offers enormous potential for two-way on-line communication between distant parties via the telecommunication and computer network spread over the entire globe. The world is rapidly shrinking to a ‘global village’ which some courageously even call a ‘global family’. The merger of communication (audio and video) and computer technology has suddenly made this combination so powerful that no sector of human activity can afford to ignore it. Right from high security defense systems, space research, engineering and educational applications the INTERNET has found users in petty shopkeepers and small service agencies. In countries like Singapore, you can book a taxi via e-mail and the concerned taxi driver is able to confirm your booking, while he is still driving.

Introduction

Over the last two decades the Land and Water Development Division (AGL) has been at the forefront of the development and application of computer-based systems to analyse data and generate information to support decisions on various land and water issues . Separate soil and land and water systems have been developed. The soil and land systems focus on methodologies and tools for the assessment of land resources potentials at global, regional and national and sub-national levels. The water systems concern irrigation water use and management at field level and water resources assessment at regional and national levels.

AGL has been cooperating with various units within FAO and numerous international agencies and national institutions in developing and applying the systems.

Initially, in the late seventies and early eighties, the systems were developed for mainframe and mini-computers. From the late eighties they were gradually adapted to microcomputers. At the same time computer tools for managing spatial data, including geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing and global positioning systems (GPS) were introduced. Since the last few years the availability of networked PC workstations, rapid application development environment and multimedia tools have opened an era of completely new possibilities in the development and application of the systems.

Origin and Domestication of Sheep

The domesticated sheep belongs to phylum-Chordata, class-Mammalia, order- Artiodactyla, family - Bovidae, sub-family - Caprinae, genus - Ovis and species- aries. They are hollow horned, cloven-hoofed ruminants of relatively smaller size. Sheep plays an important role in Indian agrarian economy as it is having multi facet utilities like meat, wool, skin, manure and to some extent milk and transport also. Marginal and sub-marginal lands of arid and semi-arid tropics are well adapted by sheep. Among the different wild species, Asiatic (Ovis orientalis) species of mouflon is considered to be the ancestor of present day sheep. Sheep were domesticated by man at around 9000 BC. The reference of role of sheep in the economy of mankind is found in the history of civilization of Mesopotamia, Mohen-jo-Daro and Harappa in Northern India.

6.1 Introduction

There are a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic fiber-optic sensors which use absorption spectroscopy indirectly for the detection of various chemical species. These include pH, metal ions, oxygen in water etc. In such sensors a suitable reagent is immobilized on a solid support. The support can be the core of the fiber or some optical material attached at the end of the fiber. Further it is optically transparent to allow transmission of the light signal from the interface and should remain inert to the chemical reaction being analyzed. The analyte (or the chemical species) when comes in contact of the reagent affects the absorption properties of the reagent. In other words, in these sensors, the reagent acts as a chemical transducer for analytes that are not directly measurable by optical techniques. Following conditions for the use of reagents in sensors must be met:

7.1 Introduction

There are numerous wavelength dependent phenomena that may be used to modulate the wavelength of incident light source. These are wavelength dependent absorption, luminescence, dispersion, interference and scattering. Wavelength modulated sensors use a broadband source, a wavelength modulator or measurand (i.e. analyte), a form of spectrometer (using prisms, gratings or interference filters), a detector (single photodiode or array) and signal processing unit. Silicon photodiode is cheap and can be used for detection but it limits the detection wavelengths to the region 400 to 1050 nm. The sensitivity or the resolution of the wavelength modulated sensor depends on the characteristics of the detector, the inherent resolution of the spectrometer, mechanical stability of the modulation unit and the spectrometer, and the capability of the signal processing unit. However, wavelength modulated sensors do not require any form of referencing like intensity modulated sensors. In intensity modulated sensors, loss in intensity occurs due to connectors and splices, microbending, mechanical creep and misalignment of light sources and detectors due to environmental effect. Further the fluctuations in light source can affect the performance of the sensor. Thus, for intensity modulated sensors one needs referencing to cancel out these losses. In some intensity modulated sensors two wavelengths are used. One wavelength is used to cancel out all of the losses while the second is used to sense the measurand.

Wavelength detection is relatively easy if the spectral changes result from changes in chemical indicator dyes, fluorescence, phosphorescence, or black-body radiation. In these cases the incident and emitted wavelengths are far apart and therefore detection is easy. If the spectral change occurs due to mechanical movement, then the wavelength filtering mechanisms must have sufficient resolvable spectral points. The reasons for using fluorescence in the fiber optic sensors are well known. Fluorescence is intrinsically more sensitive than absorbance and is more flexible in that a great variety of analytes and physical parameters are known to change the emission of particular fluorophores. The fluorescence based sensors utilize the change in the intensity, lifetime or colour of fluorescence as the affected parameter by the measurand. That means, any interpretable observation of fluorescence can be made the basis of a sensor. In this chapter we shall first describe luminescence phenomenon and then various physical and chemical fiber optic sensors based on wavelength modulation and fluorescence phenomenon.

Abstract

Though India is second largest producer of fruits and vegetables but is far behind in per capita availability of this protective food as compared to many developed countries. Floriculture and allied horticulture crop production (spices, medicinal & aromatic crops, mushroom etc.) have great potential to generate high income, jobs and new careers. Hi-tech horticulture is the need of all the developing countries and it refers to “the precise production techniques for efficient use of inputs at appropriate time and quantity for maximization of yield and quality of crops”. Various ways to make horticulture hi-tech include modern nursery management including micro propagation, protected crop production, high density planting including canopy management, use of agrochemicals, rejuvenation technique, interated nutrient management, integrated water management, integrated pest and disease management. Inspite of this, in present context, major emphasis has been given on clean horticulture production with bio-derived, renewable energy sources for developing a profitable CEA (controlled environment agriculture) that would help in sustaining the system, improving socio-economic status of growers and of-course environment-friendly.

1.    Major difference between unleavened and leavened bakery products is

(a) Unleavened do not form cracks on surface

(b) Unleavened do not rise significantly during baking

(c) Leavened bakery products are not attractive

(d) Unleavened products are much more stable

2.    Unleavened bakery products contain small holes throughout the finished product because of

(a) Ingredients contain fats that may swell

(b) Air incorporation between cells

(c) Incomplete coalescence of mixed ingredients

(d) High temperature baking

6.1 Introduction

The food industry produces large volumes of waste both solid and liquid, starting from the initial step of raw material to the final consumption of processed food. Apart from a loss of valuable biomass and nutrients, the generated waste poses increased disposal and potentially severe pollution problems. Meat and meat industry is no exception where slaughter houses, meat processors, wholesalers and rendering plant generates huge amount of waste [1, 2].

Meat and meat processing industry, is among the least profitable industries despite its immense size and large gross sales. Effective recovery and utilization of by-products and wastes is the lifeline of meat and poultry processing industry. Thus, it becomes imperative that an effort be made to reduce expenses by employing the use of new or modified processing methods and through in-plant treatment, where waste effluents and by-products could be recovered and often upgraded to useful products of higher value. Meat processing wastes have a potential for recycling raw materials or for conversion into useful products of higher value as by-product or even as raw material for other industries or for use as food or feed after biological treatment.

Key words : Glaciers, Glacial Lakes, Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF), Himachal Pradesh, Glacial Inventory, Glacier Recession.

Introduction

Glaciers are large masses of snow, re-crystallized ice and rock debris that accumulate in great quantities and begin to flow outwards and downwards under the pressure of their own weight. Glaciers form when yearly snowfall in a region far exceeds the amount of snow and ice that melts in a given summer. In this way, massive quantities of glacial material accumulate in relatively small periods of geologic time. The glaciers exist in environments of high and low precipitation and in many temperature regimes; they are found on all the continents except Australia and they span the globe from high altitudes in equatorial regions to the polar ice caps. Presently, 10% of the Earth’s land area (5.8 million square miles) is covered with glaciers storing about 75% of the world’s freshwater. However, during the last Ice Age, glaciers covered 32% of the total land area of the planet.

Key words : Integrated Watershed Management (IWM), GIS, DTM, Watershed Delination, Water Quality Modeling, RS, DSS, Ground Water Information System (GWIS).

Introduction

The availability of land and water resources has a major effect on the economic and ecological aspects of life everywhere around the world. As a result, the need to develop better tools for efficient land and water resources management has become very vital. For quicker, reliable and precise results, it is necessary to use the geospatial tools and techniques such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) image interpretation and analysis techniques to manage the natural resources. The application of these tools and techniques not only facilitates timely and repetitive analysis of all the topological features, but also assists in development of Decision Support Systems (DSS) to generate alternative scenarios for optimal use of the natural resources in the long term. The optimal use of these resources through integrated management of land water and vegetation leads to enhanced production and productivity of food, fodder, fiber, fuel, fish, flower and forest resources. Moreover, the holistic management of the resources to produce these outputs is plausible and manageable within the watershed systems, which are hydro geological units from which the runoff resulting from precipitation flows past through a single outlet to downstream locations. The systematic management of land, water, vegetation and livestock resources within the watershed systems is termed as Integrated Watershed Management (IWM). Broadly, IWM can be defined as a multidisciplinary, holistic way of protecting and managing a watershed’s natural resources to enhance biomass production in an eco-friendly manner. The watershed is viewed as a hydro-geological complex and dynamic ecosystem in which natural and anthropogenic processes occur and interact resulting in generation of runoff at the watershed outlet.

It is well known that lowering the temperature of food stuffs reduces microbiological and biochemical spoilage and thus extending the shelf life of the product. In addition, it is generally agreed upon that the reaction rate is reduced by half by lowering the temperature by 10°C. Though low temperature preservation process has been recognized as a preservation technique for several hundred years, the major developments in its utilization have occurred only in the last century.

Annuals, commonly known as seasonals, constitute an amazing group of popular flowering ornamentals widely grown in all types of parks and gardens. Enchanting colours of the flowers in various shades, forms and fragrance have made them an obvious choice for all garden lovers. Perennial plants like trees, shrubs, climbers usually form the framework of garden. However, they produce flower in a particular season and the garden remain out of flowers for considerable period of time. On the other hand, annuals serve as toppings in every season with a colouful flower plate and complement the perennials. No other plants can influence the general landscape in such an incredible manner by splashing colours and quick performance.

Botanically annuals are the plants which normally complete life cycle within one year. However, horticulturally annuals refer ornamental herbaceous plants grown in different seasons of the year for flowers and aesthetic purpose. As the winter sets in and the annuals start blooming, face of the garden alters into a vivid beauty. Easy cultivation and availability in wide array of dazzling colours have made them most popular in Indian gardens. Annuals are like jewels of the garden which magnifies beauty of the other permanent plants and features by adding colour.

Whenever we get a cut, a red fluid comes out of the wound. This red fluid is called blood. Blood is very important for the body as is evident from the fact that the loss of blood from the body makes it weak and may even cause death. Physiologically the blood is a red tissue composed of cells suspended in a pale yellow fluid, plasma. Unicellular organisms that live in immediate contact with the external environment obtain nutrients directly from that environment and eliminate unused or unwanted materials. Blood and lymph are important connecting fluids among the diverse anatomical structures of the mammalian organisms. Thus blood is the liquid vehicle by which the major organic nutrients are transported from the intestine where they are absorbed, to the liver where they are processed and thence to other organs. Similarly blood is the liquid vehicle for the transport of waste materials from various organs to the kidney and gastrointestinal tract from where they are eliminated. Thus the blood is the major transport carrier of nutrients, metabolites, oxygen, hormones, waste products etc. inside the body. Blood is an important medium to maintain homeostasis of various electrolytes in the body. Besides blood provides the army against any external attack on the body by harmful microorganisms. This army is in the form of cells, called white blood or corpuscles or leucocytes.

In a normal adult human being, about 5 to 6 litre of blood is present which is about 8 percent of the body weight. In domestic animals generally 5 to 8 per cent of the body weight is blood (say 30-40 litre in a cow). The blood is composed of two parts, the cells and the fluid part or plasma. The cellular constituents of blood include erythrocytes or red blood corpuscles, leucocytes or white blood corpuscles and thrombocytes or platelets. The cellular constituents of blood varies with the species as well as with the age and physiological stage of the animal.

The extracellular constituents or plasma is composed of water, electrolytes, proteins, lipids, glucose, enzymes and hormones etc. The blood undergoes coagulation on exposure to air leaving clear watery fluid, called serum. The serum is nothing but plasma minus fibrinogen and other clotting factors. The serum is a clear yellowish fluid. The yellow colour is due to the presence of small quantities of bilirubin, a bile pigment and of carotenoids. The blood serum of cattle is yellow due to presence of more of carotenoids whereas that of buffalo is white due to the absence of carotenoids. The blood clot consists of a network of fibrous strands of fibrin in which are enmeshed the cellular elements of the blood. Blood clotting is a protective mechanism against excessive loss of blood from the body. The lymph also clots, although, somewhat more slowly than blood.

I. INTRODUCTION

Nations are growing with pace in technology and technological advancements. Till the end of 20th century development was the priority of entire planet earth but in the ending of the 20th century it was realized by almost all countries that development cannot go alone but it has to have the social, economic and environmental concerns. It was realized by the United Nations in Rio Conference on Environment and Development, 1992 that there is need of sustainable development. Now in 21st century the technological advancements are needed to be utilized for saving the planet earth from the curse of climate change and global warming reducing the carbon emissions across the entire planet earth. The argument in this paper is based on, how far technological advancements and technology transfer, by developed countries to developing countries can be facilitated in reduction of the carbon emission and greenhouse gases, through legally binding norms? How there should be synergy in between technologies reducing carbon emission and IPR issues?

Financing the Business

The capital of a business consists of those funds used to start and run the business. Capital may be of two types: fixed and working.

Fixed capital refers to items bought once and used for a long period of time. This includes such things as building, fixtures and equipment. Fixed Capital does not vary with the level of output.

Working capital is the type of funds, which is needed for carrying out day-to-day operations of the business smoothly. The management of working capital is no less important than the management of ‘long term‘ financial investment. Working Capital varies with the level of output.

In old days, Statistics is considered as a method for collected numerical information. In general, Statistics deals with concepts, principles and methods dealing with collection, summarization, analysis and interpretation of data. Data means a collection of numerical facts. Data is plural and singular is datum. Generally there are two classifications for data, quantitative and qualitative. In the case of quantitative character the individuals are measured. While in the case of qualitative character, the individuals are distinguished by some quality. Data collected by the investigator for the purpose of the investigation are known as primary data. E.g., data obtained in a population census. Data collected by others for some other purpose and is used by the investigator are known as secondary data. E.g., Annual Reports, Official publication etc. The aggregate of all the observations pertaining to a character is called a population. Sample is a part of the population selected according to some definite rule. Usually the sample is used to make an inference about the population. In other words sample is a miniature of the population. The methods by which we analyze the data are called statistical methods. At the end of the enquiry, the investigators will naturally left with a large number of filled up schedules and a very efficient statistician couldn?t interpret anything from it unless it is classified and extracted. When we classify based on the quality like colour, sex, religion etc. which can?t measure directly, the classification is qualitative. But characteristics such as height, weight, length, time etc. can be easily measured using a scale. Such are called quantitative characteristics. The quantitative characteristics may be discrete or continuous. In the case of numerical values like number of petals in a flower, number of days in which rain occurred in a month etc. are whole numbers and are called discrete variables. If there may occur many values with in an interval, we call it as continuous variables.

Abstract

Kaliasaur landslide located 18km from Srinagar on the NH-58 in Uttrakhand Himalayas has been repeatedly sliding for the last over 5 – 6 decades totally paralyzing the transport operations in the region and causing beeline of issues not only for the people living in the hilly state but also the tourists and the pilgrims. The study of Geosystems & geodynamics, large scale micro zonation and geotechnical studies using RMR and SMR techniques show that the slide is located in high hazard zone and follow the pattern of wedge and planar failures with vulnerable zone of factor of safety. The toe erosion by the acutely turning Alaknanda river and the mitigation measures in the form of slope disturbance in the upslope part rather protecting slide, has been responsible for the recurring slides. The study further revealed that excessive rainfall is also a triggering parameter and the crown part is widening. On the basis of the studies, mitigation measures have also been brought out.

Keywords: Kaliasaur landslides, Micro LSV zonation, Factors of landslides, Mitigation.

INTRODUCTION

The term ‘ginseng’ is applied to a range of plants from family Araliaceae involving genus Panax. Out of the many species available in nature, Himalayas are also home to a commercially lesser known variety called as Panax psuedoginseng Wall (Nayar and Shastry 1990). In the interior temperate areas of the eastern Himalayas, the species is distributed across Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal, and extends into China. Keeping in view its high commercial international demand, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) Palampur has recently taken an initiative to introduce and cultivate Chinese ginseng (Panax ginseng) in the Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh, in India. This chapter addresses the different biological, chemical, medicinal and cultivation aspects of both the indigenous Himalayan variety (P. psuedoginseng) and the introduced Chinese species (P. ginseng) in particular.

Introduction

Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth is an important alpine medicinal plant of the Himalayan region. The root and rhizome of P. kurroa are source of the crude drug, which is characteristically bitter in taste and is linked to the medicinal properties. In Indian system of medicine, the species popularly known as Kutki, is an important constituent of several drugs items. This plant also finds a place in Chinese system of medicine where it is known as Hun-hung lien. Chemically, compounds of interest in Picrorhiza are iridoid glycosides: picroside-I and picroside-II. Material for crude drug has traditionally been extracted from the wild. Natural stands have sharply dwindled due to over extraction and habitat degradation. The species was listed as “endangered” in 1997 by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Commercial cultivation is not popular, but is urgently recommended.

10.1 Introduction

Food safety and quality are the two important factor which results in consumer food choices. Nowadays consumers are demanding food which is safe and of high quality in terms of nutrition due to a healthier life style. Food safety and quality are the terms used interchangeably. Food safety refers to all those hazards, that make food injurious to the health of the consumer and it is not negotiable. Food quality includes attributes that influences the product's value to the consumer. This includes both negative and positive attributes; negative attributes includes spoilage, contamination, discoloration, off-odours and positive attributes include colour, flavour, texture and processing method of the food. This distinction between safety and quality has implications for public policy and influences the nature of the food control system. Food control is defined as a mandatory regulatory activity which provides consumer protection and ensures food is safe, wholesome and fit for human consumption during production, handling, storage, processing, and distribution.

Despite the huge efforts made by the food safety authorities and industries, food safety still remains a critical issue. In food industries, producers have to satisfy both safety and quality criteria for their products to the consumer. Food processors have multiple options in terms of different quality and management systems, they have to choose the most appropriate one for its specific activity and should establish, document and implement effective systems in the processing area for managing quality and safety of the product. Over the past few decades, food-borne illnesses have raised great concern about the safety of food. Considerable steps are taken by the food processor for understanding and managing the risks of airborne diseases. Among various systems, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is effective tool which focuses mainly on controlling hazards to ensure the production of safe and wholesome food. For maintaining the safety and increasing the shelf life of food, traditionally it has been preserved by thermal processing, freezing, salting and drying. But nowadays consumers are demanding convenient, innovative, fresh foods, including new "minimally processed" products. To meet consumers' expectations in the 21^st century, the food industries are implementing novel technologies whose purpose will be two fold: 1) to provide the new quality attributes demanded by consumers; and 2) to ensure the all important and often expected assurance of food safety. The novel technologies will include various minimally processed technologies like high pressure processing (HPP), pulsed electric field (PEF), ohmic heating, dielectric heating, microwave heating, ultrasound, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and cleanroom technology. Among these cleanroom technology have attracted great attention for maintaining the safety and quality of the food products as because it doesn't have any effect on the nutritional quality of the food being processed, it maintains the hygienic condition in the processing area, remove contaminants from the processing area and clean air in the processing area which in turn results in safe food product. The main objective of cleanroom technology is to eliminate airborne contaminants from the humans and/or from the environment. An air curtains and a positive air pressure is maintained in the processing unit using filtered air. Production personnel will use the special clothing which is preferred for cleanroom to reduce the contamination from both air- and human-borne microorganisms. In this chapter we will discuss about cleanroom technology, its historical background, its classification, layout of cleanroom, air handling, personnel and its clothing, regulations in cleanroom, and its application in food industries.

Milk is the secretion of the mammary glands of animals. For human consumption, milk is that liquid obtained from the cow or the buffalo during the period following at least 72 hours after calving or until the milk is colostrums-free. It is a complex biological fluid consisting of seven main components: water, fat, protein, sugar (lactose), minerals, vitamins and enzymes. Milk is a white opaque fluid in which fat is present as an emulsion, protein and some mineral matters in colloidal suspension and lactose together with some minerals and soluble proteins in true solution. The opacity of milk is due to its content of suspended particles of fat, proteins and certain minerals. The colour varies from white to yellow depending on the carotene content of the fat. Skimmed milk is more transparent with a slightly bluish tinge. Milk of a good flavour has a pleasant, slightly sweet taste, and no odour. It is an excellent source of calcium, phosphorous and riboflavin. Vitamin A and D are currently added to whole milk, partly skimmed and skimmed milk.

Cleaning and sanitisation are the two processes employed in dairy industry to ensure hygiene and product safety. The safety of milk and milk products is a very important aspect and every attempt should be made, during processing, to minimize contamination through handling and processing equipments. The accumulated dried milk solids (milk stones) consist largely of calcium phosphate, milk proteins (precipitated, coagulated and baked on by heat) and insoluble calcium salts from water and washing detergents. The surface can also contain biofilms, which are formed by the incorporation of bacteria into the accumulated inorganic and organic materials that attach to most surfaces. With time and in the presence of nutrients, a biofilm and the bacteria within the biofilm will grow and become strongly attached to the surface. The removal of dairy soil, milk stones as well biofilms is the prime objective of the cleaning process. International Dairy Federation (IDF) defines a clean surface as one which is free from residual film or soil that will not contaminate the food products coming in contact with it.

While cleaning refers to the removal of soil from the surface of the equipment, sanitisation implies destruction of all pathogenic and almost all non-pathogenic organisms. Cleaning and sanitisation are complimentary processes. Either of the processes alone will not achieve the desired result, which is to leave the surface as free as possible from soil and viable organisms. In actual practice cleaning and sanitisation overlap to some extent, as during cleaning a high proportion of bacteria are destroyed and others get removed in the detergent solution. Inadequate or faulty cleaning and sanitisation can have serious consequences, as milk is a prefect nutrient in which bacteria can multiply. A thorough understanding of the cleaning methods is, therefore, necessary for economic production of high quality food products.

Organic agriculture or farming is very much native to India. Whosoever tries to write a history of organic farming will have to refer India and China. The farmers of these two countries are farmers of 40 centuries and it is organic farming that sustained them. This concept of organic farming is based on following principles:

• Nature is the best role model for farming, since it does not use any inputs nor demand unreasonable quantities of water.
• The entire system is based on intimate understanding of nature’s ways. The system does not believe in mining of the soil of its nutrients and do not degrade it in any way for today’s needs.
• The soil in this system is a living entity.
• The soil’s living population of microbes and other organisms are significant contributors to its fertility on a sustained basis and must be protected and nurtured at all cost.
• The total environment of the soil, from soil structure to soil cover is more important.

ABSTRACT

Dysoxylum binectariferum Hook.f. (Meliaceae) is phylogenetically related to the Ayurvedic plant D. malabaricum. D. binectariferum has been identified as an enriched source of rohitukine, an alkaloid. Two synthetic flavones, flavopiridol (Alvocidib; L868275; HMR-1275; NSC 649890 of Sanofi-Aventis + NCI) and P-276-00 (Piramal) are advanced in clinical trials for the treatment of cáncer. These two molecules are considered as potent Cdk inhibitors. Cdk has been discovered as a key regulator of cell cycle. Therefore, Cdk inhibitors or modulators are of great interest to explore as novel therapeutic agents. These two molecules can be considered as rohitukine inspired drugs since their stuructural novelity originated from a compaign to develop a route of total synthesis of rohitukine. Recently a semisynthetic derivative of rohitukine; IIIM-290 has been emerged as potential preclinical cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor. Moreover, phytochemical investigation of D. binectariferum yielded dysoline a new region-isomer of rohitukine. Dysoline seems to be a potent inflammatory and cytotoxic compound. Similarly, camptothecine and 9-methoxycamptothecine were isolated from Dysoxylum binectariferum for the first time by bioassay-guided fractionation. Present chapter is reviewing some original work which were carried out at CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu, India. The present studies focused on the phytochemistry of Dysoxylum binectariferum; dysoline, camptothecin and 9-methoxycamptothecin and medcinal chemistry and preclinical evaluation of IIIM-290 a semi-sythestic derivative of rohitukine.

1. Introduction

Plant taxonomy and the cultivated plants have a close relationship of great antiquity. This ancient relationship can be traced back to the invention of incipient agriculture (neolithic revolution), about 10-13000 years BCE (Stearn 1965; Balter 2007). The early foundation of plant taxonomy was thus laid largely on humans’ knowledge on cultivated plants. This body of rudimentary knowledge on identifying the properties of different types of plants for food, medicine, clothing, shelter, and other uses led to the development of plant taxonomy- the first aspect of plant science to emerge as botany (Constance 1957). The fundamental principles of modern plant taxonomy with regard to the natural vegetation and flora were originally derived from cultivated plants (Li 1974).

The active process of cultivation of a plant, primarily through the intentional activity of humans has been considered the main criterion for categorising cultivated plants (Mansfeld 1959). According to Mansfeld’s approach, the number of cultivated plant species of the world was estimated to be about 7000 species, excluding partly the forestry plants, ornamentals, and plants used in amenity horticulture (Henelt and IPK 2001). Khoshbakht and Hammer (2008) expanded this list to include a total of 35000 species of cultivated plants, including 28000 ornamental plant species connected to gardening and landscaping. About 2500 plant species have undergone domestication worldwide, with over 160 families contributing one or more crop species (Zeven and de Wet 1982; Dirzo and Raven 2003).The growing numbers of cultivated plant species and the enormous diversity found in each of these species offer plenty of challenges as well as opportunities to the taxonomists to take up cultivated plant taxonomy as an active scientific pursuit. Despite this, there has been a lack of interest among taxonomists towards cultivated plant taxonomy.

Abstract: Tulip (Tulipa) is ornamental bulbous plant cultivated for cut flower, potted plant, garden plant and for landscaping. Species from different sections display complementary agronomic characteristics. The main goals of breeding are introgression of resistance against diseases, short forcing period, flower longevity, new flower colours and flower shapes. Long juvenile phase, slow rate of propagation, long breeding phase, slow rate of propagation, long breeding cycle, knowledge of mode of inheritance, reproductive and germination barriers pose significant challenges to breeders. The use of molecular cytogenetic tools, methods to overcome crossing barriers, polyploidization, biotechnological tools and marker assisted breeding are discussed.

Keywords: Geophyte, monocot, genomic analysis, interspecific hybridization, intergenomic recombination, gene transfer, forcing, tulipa.

1. EXPERIMENT 1 : INDUSTRIAL USES OF IMPORTANT CHEMICALS

Importance

It helps to cope with fever, cough and cold, stress, high blood pressure, excessive fats in body. It lowers the cholesterol level, cleanse the body by eliminating toxic substances, improve the digestive system, improve blood circulation, cleanses other organs of our body including kidney, pancreas, liver, bladder etc.and aid to deal with menstrual problems. The oil is distilled from leaves and flowering tops of Lemon grass. The oil has strong lemon-like odour, due to high percentage (over 75%) of citral in the oil. The characteristic smell of oil makes its use in scenting of soaps, detergents, insect repellent preparations. However, the major use of oil is as a source of citral, which goes in perfumery, cosmetics, beverages and is a starting material for manufacture of ion ones, which produces vitamin – A. The Citral rich oil has germicidal, medicinal and flavouring properties. An allied species called West Indian lemon grass (C.citratus) has low citral content in the oil and has meager trade in the country.

Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.), a member of the Sapindaceae family, originated in China. An arillate fruit, it is widely cultivated in subtropical regions of the world, providing livelihood security to millions of people in south-east Asia (GalanSauco and Menini, 1989; Menzel and Waite, 2005). Litchi is important commercial fruit crop in India. It is popularly known as “queen” of fruits due to its attractive colour, taste, flavour and excellent quality. Nutritionally, it is rich in sugar content with appreciable content of protein, minerals, fibres, vitamins and calorific value. Litchi is consumed mainly as fresh and little as processed form. The juicy aril is an excellent thirst quencher. It is highly perishable in nature. The short span of fruit availability coupled with poor shelf-life, limits duration of its availability in the domestic as well as international market. Till date, it is meagrely exploited for potential production and due R & D support is still lacking.

PRESENT STATUS

At present annual fruit production is around 585,300 metric tonnes from an area of 84,170 ha and the national productivity is 6.95 tonnes/ha. In India, main production region is concentrated in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam, Jharkhand, Tripura, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. The area under this crop has undergone substantial expansion in the past 64 years with plantation increasing from 9,400 ha in 1949 to 78,000 ha, in 2013 (NHB, 2013). Till date, the present level of production is unable to cope up with the ever-increasing demand. Its fruits are available from early-May to July in different areas.

India is recovering from the euphoria of the Green Revolution and battling the residual effects of the extensively used chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the country’s soils. The decade from 1980 to 1990 alone saw the area under pesticides in India, increased a whopping 20-fold, from six million hectares to 125 million hectares. After a high annual consumption of nearly 75000 MT reached in the early ’90s, interventions in the form of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices have only now started to show a declining trend in the use of pesticides in India. Interestingly, India’s consumption of pesticides per hectare is low (0.288 kg/ha) when compared with world averages—0.5 kg/ha against Korea’s 6.60 kg/ha and Japan’s 12.0 kg/ha. According to the pesticides industry statistics, India spends US $3/ha on pesticides compared with US $24/ha spent by Philippines, US $255/ha spent by South Korea and US $633/ha by Japan. Yet, despite a comparatively low use of pesticides in India, the contamination of food products in the country is alarming. About 20 per cent of Indian food products contain pesticide residues above tolerance level compared to only 2 per cent globally. No detectable residues are found in only 49 per cent Indian food products compared to 80 per cent globally. A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest. Though often misunderstood to refer only to insecticides, the term pesticide also applies to herbicides, fungicides and various other substances used to control pests.

Pesticides and their metabolites have received particular attention in the last few years in environmental trace organic analysis because they are regularly detected in food products, surface/ground waters and soil strata throughout the world as consequence of their widespread use for agricultural and nonagricultural purposes. So it is the need of the hour to study the levels of pesticides residues in plants, water and soil and their fate in environment after its degradation.

It would be necessary to work out tolerance limits of pesticides residues in/on crops, soil and water and the efforts, therefore, are directed towards various residue analytical methods like TLC, GLC and HPLC etc. which are suitable for the purpose.

‘Fungi’ including ‘mushrooms’ are ‘Thallophytes’, which do not possess chlorophyll and have been classified under the Kingdom - Myceteae. They do not have stems, roots and leaves and they lack a vascular conducting system as in the case of plants. They propagate by means of spores, either asexual or sexual. Though almost all the fungi are microscopic, the mushrooms are among the largest fungi and had attracted the attention Scientists and Naturalists of many countries dating back to centuries. The Greek word ‘mykes’, which means ‘cap’, was given to the mushrooms because of the ‘cap-like’ appearance of the pileus and the Greek word ‘Mycology’ (mykes = mushroom + logos = discourse) denotes the study of mushrooms. What we call mushrooms, are actually the sporocarps produced by several species of fungi, while the mycelium that produces them live in various types of substrata and obtain nourishment from them. Usually, the fleshy, macroscopic fruiting bodies or sporocarps produced by fungi belonging to Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes are called ‘mushrooms’

The Romans attributed the appearance of mushrooms and truffles to lightning hurled by Jupiter to the earth. Even now in India and several other countries, people believe that mushrooms appear only after lightning and thunder. The Greeks believed mushrooms as ‘Food for the Gods’. The Romans supplemented mushrooms in the food of soldiers for strength and vitality. The much-priced mushrooms were supposed to be the food delicacy of the elite society of the Romans and Greeks in olden days. The Chinese consider mushrooms as a cure for many diseases and they believe that mushrooms increase the longevity. A number of medicines in all forms are prepared from mushrooms by the Chinese.

Introduction

Baking is a traditional activity which has a long history, and according to some recent discovery, it is indicated to be dated back to as early as around 21,000 B.C. It is termed as a complex operation of prolonged heat transfer through radiation, convection, and conduction. Baking is considered to be one of the oldest methods of cooking, most commonly the bread baking but it is not only limited to the bread instead it provides a wide range of products such as cookies, pastry, pizzas, breakfast cereals, etc. Baking includes lots of raw materials such as flour, water, yeast, milk and milk derivatives, shortening, sugars, eggs and some minor ingredients such as malt products, cocoa products, dough improvers, inhibitors of microbiological spoilers, spices, etc. Food items which are rich in sugar and carbohydrates such as chocolates, candies are known as confections, and the art of making these products is termed as confectionary. Confectionery can be broadly classified into two major categories, namely sweet confectionary and baked confectionery. Conventionally cake was defined as the flour based sweet food, whereas bread was defined as the flou-based non-sweet food.

Baked confectionery, also known as flour confectionery includes products such as cakes, pastries, and similar baked goods, especially which are served in dessert. These delicacies hold history not much later to the bread baking. Earlier the baked confectionery especially cakes were only affordable by the rich and were prepared for special occasions such as festivity, celebrations, etc. but now a large number of flour confectioneries are being produced in the world which is delightfully acceptable and are much more in demand by a various group of people.

Introduction

Food additives are substances of natural or synthetic origin, which are added to foods to serve a certain technological or sensory function. They are utilized in the preparation and processing of almost all types of food in order to give favorable attributes to the food. Additives are the substances which are of little or no nutritive value but are added to food to enhance its flavour, appearance or other favourable quality. They are used in the processing or storage of foods especially in the developed countries includes antioxidants, food preservatives, colouring and flavouring agents etc. Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavour or enhance its taste and appearance (Latiful Bari and Yeasmin 2018). Some additives have been used for centuries for example, preserving food by pickling with vinegar, salting, as with bacon, or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines. The use of food additives is not a modern-day invention; they have been used for centuries. The practice probably started when man first discovered that fire would cook and thereby preserve his meat. Later he realized that the addition of salt would preserve without cooking. Food preservation began when man first learned to safeguard food from one harvest to the next and by the salting and smoking of meat and fish. The Egyptians used colours and flavourings and the Romans used spices and colours for preservation and improving the appearance of foods. Thus, food additives have been used for centuries to enhance the variety of food products, to preserve, improve its taste and appearance, and provide a better mouth feel. Food additives afford us the convenience and enjoyment of a wide variety of appetizing, nutritious, fresh, and palatable food. Their quantities in food are small, yet their impact is great.

Papaya is one of the fruit crops grown both commercially as well as a backyard crop. Papaya was mainly a backyard crop till recently. It emerged as a main commercial crop during the last decade, because of the high nutritive value. It is a rich source of Vitamin A (2020 I.U), Vitamin B1 (40 mg), Vitamin C (46mg), protein (0.5%) and mineral matters (0.4%). Ripe papaya is a favourite breakfast and dessert fruit available yearround. It is used for making fruit salads, refreshing drinks, jams, jelly, marmalade, candies and crystallized fruits. Green fruits are pickled or cooked as vegetable. Carpine, an alkaloid present in papaya, can be used as a heart depressant, amoebicide and diuretic. It is also grown for the extraction of papain, a proteolytic enzyme present in the latex, collected mainly from the green fruit. In 1875, T. P. Lucas, a British physician discovered the medicinal value of papaya and started a hospital in Brisbane, to treat patients solely with papaya. The people in Papua New Guinea use papaya for the skin and to treat rashes or sunburn or, with repeated applications, to remove the brown spots of aging. They also say that if you put papaya into the compost pile, they grow especially large! Natives in the Pacific Islands use all parts of the papaya tree for medicinal purposes — leaves, skin, seeds, bark, roots, flowers and of course, the fruit. South American women massage their breasts with thin slices of green papaya to stimulate the milk glands. Eating the fruit provides energy and nutrients for both herself and the baby. Papaya bark is used as a toothache remedy and the flowers in teas, to treat bronchial infections. For centuries, teas from the roots were used to expel parasites and to alleviate bleeding, kidney colic, and jaundice.

1. INTRODUCTION

Dielectric-barrier discharges (DBDs) also referred to as barrier discharges or silent discharges. DBDs have for a long time been regarded as the ozonizer discharge. In 1932 Buss observed that in a plane parallel gap with insulated electrodes air breakdown occurs in a number of individual tiny breakdown channels.^1,2 Recently, it was realised that plasma can be influenced, modelled and optimised for a given application through microdischarges. The most important characteristic of dielectric-barrier discharges is that non-equilibrium plasma conditions can be provided in a much simpler way than with other alternatives like low pressure discharges, fast pulsed high pressure discharges or electron beam injection. Moreover, the DBDs can breakdown most of the gases at about atmospheric pressure in a large number of independent current filaments or microdischarges. The dielectric barrier limits the amount of charge and energy deposited in a microdischarge and distributes the microdischarges over the entire electrode surface. When a dielectric-barrier discharge is operated in rare gases or a rare gas halogen mixture plasma conditions in a microdischarge channel are similar to those in pulsed excimer lasers. Consequently, each microdischarge can act as an intense source of ultraviolet (UV) or vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation. The absorption coefficient of most substances increases at shorter wavelengths. So, in many cases the UV radiation is absorbed in a very thin surface layer. The xenon excimer lamp can induce photo-cleavage of water and oxygen.²

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Geographic Information System handles large volumes of data. It is important to know the nature of data, instruments from which the data is collected and represented in computers. GIS data is either spatial or aspatial. Data is an important component in GIS. Digital data are available for some projects. but for many projects, input data may not be available. Now-a-days, data is supplied by many government, private organizations and also available on internet. If data for a particular project is not available, then the user has to collect the data from satellite imageries, GPS and other instruments and maps from various sources.

Spatial Data

All locations in the earth surface are spatial data. Location of a city, location of a river, location of a lake are represented in earth by their latitude or longitude in global coordinate system or as x,y coordinate in Cartesian coordinate system. Spatial data consists of location, shape and size in earth. A village boundary is represented as a polygon in map. The village is having certain shape of irregular polygon with definite area. As all these are mappable , they are called as spatial data. But name of the village, revenue of a village and description about a village and called as non-spatial or aspatial data.

Abstract

With its core intention to raise economic status of farmers, Govt of India vows for transformation in agriculture and sets goal to double farmers’ income by 2022. Nonetheless, net income increase at the farm is amalgamation of technologies, tactics and government policies. Farmers realized 3-4 times increment in their profit during era of green revolution when high yielding varieties and chemical fertilizers were introduced in early seventies. Subsequently income enhancement of the farmers continued through raising of farm productivity per unit area and entrepreneurship. Thus Indian agriculture experienced transformation through chemical fertilizers, high yielding varieties, synthetic pesticides, off-season cultivation, high yielding breeds, export orientation and entrepreneurship development in food processing, mushroom production, dairying and poultry. With the result, India emerged as top producer of milk, millets, pomegranate, banana, mango, jute, pulses, okra, safflower etc and second top producer of wheat, rice, tea, tomato, potato, onion etc and third in egg production and fourth in poultry meat. Consequence was evolution of commercial farming from subsistence farming. In era of globalization and increased purchase power of consumers, profitability at the farm has become subject of competitiveness, quality and consumer preference. Price shoot-up and market crashing of commodities in the country has made agriculture, a profession of risk, uncertainties and unpredictability. It has thus, lost creditability of socioeconomic security. To make it remunerative and attractive, a combo plan of transformational technologies that has the competence to break production and productivity barriers and can also address market needs as well as consumer preferences is highly wanted. There is urgent need to infuse characteristic of market orientation in agriculture through marketing information system and promoting demand driven production system with focus on zonalization of crops taking advantage of niche area or geographical indications. Commodity supply must remain high through promotion of climate resilient varieties or breeds, mechanization, adoption of hi-tech crop and livestock management practices. All this has to be made sustainable by way of produce and product diversification through integrated farming system, organic agriculture and secondary agriculture. Considering future vision, research initiatives must continue on noble areas like vertical farming and in vitro farming. Information and communication technologies will open avenue for assured marketing by linking production to consumption system via proper marketing and distribution leading to increased farm profitability. This as a whole will make transformation in agriculture a reality.

8.1 Introduction

Solar energy can be directly converted into electrical energy. Energy conversion devices which are used to convert sun light into electricity by use of the photovoltaic effect are called solar cells. The advantages of solar cells are:

1.They are reliable, convenient and durable.

2.It is green, sustainable and pollution free technology.

3.Directly solar radiation can be converted into electricity (conversion of global solar light by flat plate photovoltaic).

4.Maintenance cost is quite low therefore suitable even in isolated and remote area, since no moving parts are involved.

5.Solar cells are quite compatible with almost all environments, respond instantaneously with solar radiation.

6.Considerable expected lifetime i.e. 20 years or even more.

Abstract

Carrying out effective and sustainable agriculture has become an important issue in recent years. A key to this is the usage of modern technologies for precision agriculture. Recent technological developments allowed envisioning sensor devices with distributed ambient sensory network, which could be a potential technology for monitoring various natural phenomena (weather parameters, soil moisture, etc.) at micro level. As more and more agricultural data are virtually being harvested along with the crops and are being collected/ stored in databases, the same can be used in productive decision making if appropriate data mining techniques are developed/applied. As a case study for this, an experiment was conducted with four consecutive agricultural (Kharif and Rabi) seasons in a semi-arid region of India to understand the crop-weather-environment-pest/diseases relations using wireless sensory and field-level surveillance data on closely related and interdependent pest/disease dynamics of groundnut crop. Association rule and multivariate regression mining techniques/algorithms were propose developed /tailor-made to turn the data into useful information/ knowledge/relations/trends to know crop-weather- environment-pest/disease continuum. These findings have been used for development of prediction models (cumulative and non-cumulative) followed by a web based pest/disease decision support system.

Keywords : Data Mining, Pest/Disease Management, Precession Protection, Wireless Sensor Networks

Maize (Zea mays L.) occupies an important place in world agriculture due to its high yield potential and greater demand. Because of its divergent character, maize is grown over a wide range of climatic conditions, ranging from near sea-level to several thousand meters above sea-level (2,700 msl). It can also be grown in all types of soils ranging from sandy to heavy clay. Among the factors adversely affecting productivity, incidence of diseases is prominent. In India Maize is prone to a number of biotic stresses like foliar diseases, downy mildews, banded leaf and sheath blight, stalk rots and ear rot caused by fungi and bacteria, incidence of which are variable in time, space, and genotype. Disease may be minimized by the reduction of the pathogen’s inoculum, inhibition of its virulence mechanisms, and promotion of genetic diversity in the crop (Richard et al., 2005). Conventional plant breeding for resistance has an important role to play that can now be facilitated by marker-assisted selection.

Chemical control measures for some of the diseases are helpful in reducing losses, however for stabilizing production it is necessary to build level of genetic resistance. Germplasm improvement programme undertaken in sixties and early seventies by All India Co-ordinated Maize Improvement Project provided an opportunity for combining resistance against important diseases with other desirable agronomic traits. Thus, breeding for resistance had been an important objective of the overall crop improvement programme and it had been a cooperative venture of the plant breeders and plant pathologists. Consequently, it was recognized that there should be an efficient technique for the mass multiplication of inoculums, artificial inoculation technique and scoring/rating of plant disease as a pre-requisite for the successful identification of resistant sources in such improvement programme. With these objectives in to consideration, a six days seminar on the “Techniques of scoring for resistance to diseases of maize in India” was held at Andhra Pradesh Agriculture University, Hyderabad during 15-20 March, 1982 (Payak and Sharma, 1983).

Pathology is derived from Greek word (Pathos=disease + logos=study). It is study of structure and function of body in disease.

Veterinary Pathology is the study of anatomical, chemical and physiological alterations in comparison to normal due to disease in animals. Pathology has responsibility to forms a vital bridge between preclinical sciences (Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry) and clinical branches of medicine and surgery.

General Pathology deals with the basic alterations of tissues as a result of disease. e.g. fatty changes, thrombosis, amyloidosis, embolism, necrosis etc.

Systemic Pathology is related to the alterations in tissues/organs of a particular system. e.g. respiratory system, genital system etc.

Special Pathology is the application of the basic reactions of gene general pathology to various specific diseases.

Gross or Macroscopic Pathology is the examination of tissue without the help of a microscope.

Sampling for nematode population estimation

Sampling for nematode communities has been the basis for the development of appropriate control strategy. The major purposes of sampling for nematodes include population estimation for general detection, advisory or predictive programme, disease diagnosis and also for research purposes.

Plant parasitic nematodes are usually confined to top 20-25 cm soil and may vary depending upon the soil type, moisture content, host plant and climatic condition. Surface soil do not harbour any nematode. The roots and rhizosphere of severely infested plants do not harbour numerous nematodes as the nematodes tend to move to adjacent healthy plants. Hence soil and root samples need to be collected from plants showing partial symptoms. Samples should not be collected from dead or wilted plants.

Natural resources conservation and their management hold key to sustainable agriculture and livestock production. It is all the more crucial for countries with predominant agrarian economies where development of sustainable agriculture is essential for overall growth, redressal of poverty and security. Conservation of both soil and rain water as very crucial and basic resources have been practiced since ancient times in India. However, there has been renewed emphasis on conservation and efficient utilization of these resources in the recent past. The fact that 70% of the arable area of India is rainfed with precarious supply of water and that rainfed agriculture supports 44% of India’ s human population and contributes 90 per cent of coarse cereals and pulses, 80 per cent of oilseeds and 65 per cent of cotton and growing realization that further gains i n productivity of crops and livestock will emanate from rainfed regions, leave no room for complacency in this regard.

Year after year, the fate of a vast ‘majority of Indian farmers hangs in balance, as success with rainfed agriculture continues to be a gamble. It is evident that crop yields in semi-arid areas depended more on rainfall distribution than on total rainfall and lack of serious efforts to create d water supply for crops through scientific management of rainwater is a factor favouring this avoidable uncertainty. In rainfed agriculture no other input can perhaps enhance the yield without effectively tackling of the rainfall aberration related sub-optimal moisture availability. Therefore a prerequisite for substantial improvement in the agriculture production in the semi-arid region is to manage runoff water and to use it either at the time of moisture stress even during the monsoon or in next season. It has been reported that only one supplementary irrigation at proper stage can double of Rabi crops. But supplemental water is a developed resource and is more expensive than the natural resources. Hence, it is all the more necessary to use this water judiciously and efficiently. Standardization of techniques by which as much of precipitation as possible can be conserved for crop use, either directly in the soil profile through infiltration or through runoff collection and recycling is an area of priority in research.

A wide variety of fungal and bacterial pathogens cause postharvest disease in fruits and vegetables. Some of these infect produce before harvest and then remain quiescent until conditions are more favourable for disease development after harvest. Other pathogens infect produce during and after harvest through surface injuries. In the development of strategies for postharvest disease control, it is imperative to take a step back and consider the production and postharvest handling systems in their entirety. Traditionally fungicides have played a central role in postharvest disease control. However, trends towards reduced chemical usage in horticulture are forcing the development of new strategies. Controlling or reducing disease relies on integrated crop and postharvest management, with attention to fungicide application, crop hygiene and nutrition, and the management of ripening, to optimise advantages conferred by the plant’s natural resistance factors that prevent and delay disease development. Agricultural production and food distribution systems have evolved over many years to a complex system which allows for nearly year-round supply of most fresh commodities through longterm storage and long distance shipments to consumers. The expectation of year round supplies has resulted in increased challenges for postharvest handling systems. The availability of fungicides for disease management likely played a major role in the evolution of our current system of food distribution (Mitcham, 1999). With the recent loss of registration of many postharvestfungicides and more expected under the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), as well as consumer pressure to reduce the amount of chemicals used on food, the challenge to maintain our current system of food distribution increases.

Abstract

Production of healthy and vigorous seedlings is the foremost crucial step for raising a successful vegetable crop. Now a days seedlings are raised in trays under controlled atmospheric conditions called as transplants. As soil substitutes, artificial media made of perlite, vermiculite and peat moss are commercially available. A good rooting medium should be light weight, well drained, well aerated, and soilless with or without starter solution or added nutrients and with good water and nutrient holding capacity. The media should be sterilized before use. Selection of trays for cell shape, size and number depends on the type and nature of crop. Most of the vegetable transplants are now being produced in hardened plastic or polystyrene containers. Only good quality certified seeds should be used in media filled trays after priming, pelleting, coating or other seed treatments as per the crop requirement. Germination chambers as insulated rooms to maintain suitable conditions over large period of time may also be used. Generally vegetable crops need fertilizer application after expansion of first true leaf. Young seedlings are managed carefully to avoid any toxicity while taking care of their nutrient management. Water requirement also depends on growth stage and variation in weather conditions. Other seedling management practices include shading, thinning, weeding, disease/pest control, hardening off and subsequent transplanting. Containerized greenhouse plants can be grown using the conventional “rail” (or rack) system or the “float” system. Shipping factors such as mechanical injury, environmental conditions and length of storage affect plant vigour and establishments. IPM (integrated pest management) offers a practical way to effectively manage pests on vegetable bedding and transplants.

Radionuclides are used in two major ways: for their chemical properties and as sources of radiation.

Radionuclides of familiar elements such as carbon can serve as tracers because they are chemically very similar to the non-radioactive nuclides, so most chemical, biological, and ecological processes treat them in a near identical way. One can then examine the result with a radiation detector, such as a Geiger counter, to determine where the provided atoms ended up. For example, one might culture plants in an environment in which the carbon dioxide contained radioactive carbon; then the parts of the plant that had laid down atmospheric carbon would be radioactive.

In medicine, radioisotopes are used for diagnosis, treatment, and research. Radioactive chemical tracers emitting gamma rays that can provide diagnostic information about a person’s internal anatomy and the functioning of specific organs. This is used in some forms of tomography single emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography scanning. Radioisotopes are also a promising method of treatment in hemopoietic forms of tumors, while the success for treatment of solid tumors has been limited so far. More powerful gamma sources are used to sterilize syringes and other medical equipment. About one in two people in Western countries are likely to experience the benefits of nuclear medicine in their lifetime.

In biochemistry and genetics, radionuclides are used to label molecules and allow tracing chemical and physiological processes occurring in living organisms, such as DNA replication or amino acid transport.