eChapters

Low External Input Agriculture (LEIA)

It is a form of agriculture wherein the use of external inputs including chemical inputs is minimized and production is kept sustainable. It uses synthetic fertilizers or chemical pesticides below rates commonly recommended by the Extension workers. There is no elimination of these materials. Any system that reduces purchased chemical inputs can be called low-input farming. Yields are maintained through greater emphasis on crop rotation, crop residues, animal manures, biofertilizers, IPM, IWM and utilization of on-farm resources and management. Locally available resources are used by maximizing the complementary and synergistic effects of different components of the farming systems. There is use of external inputs in a complementary way. Main advantages of this type of agriculture are:

Abstract

The knowledge of engineering (physical) properties constitutes important and essential data in the design of machines, storage structures and processes. The present investigation was carried out determine the physical parameter (diameters, mass, volume, density, sphericity, angle of repose etc.) of varieties KPS 10. The moisture content in green pea (KPS 10) was observed 411.77% (db). The average values of dimensional and geometrical parameter like length (D₁), width (D₂), height (D₃), AMD, GMD and SMD were found 9.517mm, 9.343 mm, 7.707 mm, 8.856 mm, 8.816 mm and 15.305 mm respectively. Mean values of mass of 1000 pea seeds, volume, bulk density and true density were found 329.501 g, 0.2 ml, 0.275 g/cm₃ and 0.304 g/cm₃ respectively. Average values of angle of repose, sphericity, porosity and moisture content were found 24.7, 0.926 %, 9.528 and 80.96%, respectively.

Frequency distribution table is a statistical table which shows the sets of all distinct values of the variables arranged in order of their magnitude either individually or in groups with their corresponding frequencies side by side.

Need for frequency distribution table

1. To condense the data
2. To provides quick reference for the entire data
3. To facilitate quick & easy statistical analysis of data
4. To reveal the pattern within the data

Agriculture

The term agriculture is derived from Latin word ager or agri meaning soil and cultura meaning cultivation. Agriculture is a broad term encompassing all aspects of crop production, livestock farming, fisheries, forestry etc. Agriculture is a branch of applied science and is the art of farming including the of cultivating the soil for producing crops and raising livestock. There are three main spheres of agriculture-geoponic meaning cultivation in soil, hydroponic meaning cultivation in water and aeroponic meaning cultivation in air.

Agriculture is a productive unit where the gifts of nature like land, light, water and temperature are integrated into a single primary unit that is crop plant which is indispensable for human beings. The secondary productive units of agriculture are animals including livestock, birds and insects which feed on the primary units and provide concentrated products such as meat, milk, wool, eggs, honey, silk and lac.

Growth is defined as an irreversible change in the size of a cell, organ or whole organism. Commonly, growth is the increase in the amount of living material (protoplasm) which leads to an increase in cell size and ultimately cell division. Growth occurs only in living cells by metabolic process involved in the synthesis of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and CHO at the expense of metabolic energy provided by photosynthesis and respiration.

Cropping systems are designed to mimic nature and bring diversity into our farming system. The cropping system should provide enough food for the family, fodder for cattle and generate sufficient cash income for domestic and cultivation expenses.

The objective of any cropping system is efficient utilization of all resources viz., land, water and solar radiation, maintaining stability in production and obtaining higher net returns. The efficiency is measured by the quantity of produce obtained per unit resource used in a given time. The objective of traditional agriculture was to increase the production by two means:

a) By increasing area under cultivation.

b) By increasing the productivity per unit area of the crop.

Crop adaption is closely related to genetics and plant physiology. Knowledge of basic of biological evolution and genetics is essential for an understanding of crop adaptation. Natural selection, the fundamental basis of adaptation has been atmost importance in determining the characteristic of present day crops and its still of great significance in modern plant breeding.

Ecology and ecosystem: Ecology and ecosystem influences adaption and distribution of crops. As such basic knowledge of ecology and ecosystem is necessary to understand adaptation and distribution of crops for maximum economic yields through efficient use of natural and applied inputs.

Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living and non living components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem frame work. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plant and animals.

Ecology is the scientific study of relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Under ecology we study various ecosystems which are part of the biosphere. An ecosystem includes all the organisms and the non living environment that are found in particular place.

Problem soils are an important ecological entity of arid, semiarid or humid climate of our country. In India saline and sodic soils are serious threat to produce enough food grains for growing population. The other main problem is acid and acid sulphate soil, spread in one third of cultivated land.

Problem soils are either deficient in plant nutrients or the nutrient availability is inhibited by the antagonistic effect of the nutrient element present in excessive amounts as soluble or exchangeable ions.

Plant growth regulators are organic substances other than nutrient, which is required in minute quantity to modify the plant growth processes. PGR has very important role in fruit breeding which is used in every facet of crop improvement e.g. multiplication of hybrids/selection through asexual means or by micro propagation, breaking of seed dormancy, growth control, regulation of flowering, fruiting and induction of sterility in reproductive organs etc (Dhatt, 1985). Details of the various uses of plant growth regulators are given as under.

What is Nursery?

Nursery is a place, where seedlings, samplings, trees and other plant material are grown and maintained until they are planted in permanent place. Setting up of a horticultural nursery is a long term venture and needs proper planning for good return.

Establishment of Nursery

To be a viable venture, the nursery should be established in such an area where cultivation of fruit crops is on sizeable area and there is need for a nursery, having demand for saplings. In such area/region, following considerations need to be observed for selecting an appropriate location.

Training and pruning are an important activity in fruit crops to have better frame work and optimum fruiting area. Training refers to giving a desired shape to the plants by tying or staking or supporting over a structure and or selective pruning for a good strong frame work. Pruning refers to cutting of certain portion of plants for maintenance of fruitfulness and quality besides vigour of the trees or vines. Pruning affects the functions of the plants and assists in better fruiting and in getting more quality fruits. It is one of the most crucial operations and require some scientific knowledge regarding bearing behavior of the plants.

Losses resulting from pre harvest and harvest drop of fruits have long been a serious problem to the fruit growers. As the fruits of some species and varieties approach the picking maturity, they tend to loosen from the stalk and considerable quantities may drop prior to and during the picking operation. Such fruits are badly damaged and if salvaged have a very low value compared with those picked from the tree. In certain fruit crops, the problem of fruit drop is very serious. Whereas in some, the fruit drop starts right from the time of fruit set and is severe at a number of stages of fruit development. In some fruit crop serious drop occurs before harvest.

Management system adopted for fruit trees are quite different, especially with regard to nutrient than that adopted for field crops. The shift in management system could be commenced 3-4 years after planting depending on the tree size. Nutrients are required for flowering and fruiting while at the same time trees are allowed to grow and maintain sufficient vigour for producing high yields in following years. To maintain productivity of trees in long run and maintain the sustainability of tree production capacity, application of nutrient should be based on actual requirement and availability of nutrient in the soil. Application of plant nutrients economically at correct time with right amounts in a way that nutrients could be taken up by plants efficiently with minimum losses. The purpose of assessment of nutrient requirement of fruit trees is to keep mineral nutrient levels in the tree with in the desired range to have the growth and development effects and fruiting of trees as desired.

The most important thing in nutrient management for bearing trees is to analyze the importance of timing of nutrient application in relation to tree phenology or growth cycle.

The decline of productivity and health of the tress may be due to faulty management i.e. unsuitable site and climate, cultivation of intercrops, inadequate nutrition, improper planting, undesirable planting materials, incidence of insect pest and disease and other biotic and a biotic stresses. The decline of trees are characterized by sparse appearance, yellowing and different type foliage symptoms, undergrowth and sickly appearance, dried-up top growth with small and less number of fruits. The branches of trees start to die from the top to downwards, ultimately resulted poor quality fruits. Such type of decline may be seen in whole orchards, on in a single tree or patches. Senile orchards with poor productivity are now a common problem in temperate, tropical and subtropical fruits. Since most of the fruit trees has long juvenile period, hence going for replanting, rejuvenation may be better option to convert sick tree into productive ones.

‘FRUIT’, “a food, drink and medicine, neatly packed by nature in attractive, handy and easy-to-open containers”, is a sensible definition indicating significance of fruits in human life. In botanical terms, fruit is a ripened ovary and in horticultural science it is the plant product, which is edible on ripening. From the nomadic age to present day civilized life, man has used fruits as food. Human civilization is irrevocably linked with the culture of fruit plants and trees. References of larges number of fruits in the very ancient literature of different languages throw light to this fact.

Fruits exhibit vast diversity in various forms, shapes and aspects. According to climatic requirements, they are temperate, tropical and subtropical crops. Major tropical and subtropical fruits include mango, banana, citrus, grapes, litchi, pineapple, papaya, sapota, guava, mangosteen, avocado, jack, ber, passion fruit etc. Fruits can be grown in very rich and favourable climatic conditions, but some fruits are adapted to adverse conditions of dessert (date palm), moisture-stress arid zones (aonla, ber, custard apple) and saline regions. Fruit plants vary in morphological traits such as plant size and shape. They may be herbaceous as banana and pineapple, shrubs as cherries and phalsa, small trees as ber and limes, big trees as mango and jack and vines as passion fruit and grapes. Fruits are of different sizes and shapes also. The range is from very small berries of phalsa to very big fruits of durian and jack. Taste wise variation is also very clear in fruits. We have very sweet fruits (litchi, sapota, dates and banana) acidic/sour ones (aonla, tamarind, bilimbi) and fruits with specific sugar/acid blend (varieties of mango, grapes, oranges).

INTRODUCTION

There is growing concern in both the scientific community and the general public over the possibility of important climatic changes due to increases in relatively active gases in the atmosphere, a phenomenon commonly referred to as “climate change.” In the past century, the activities of a rapidly expanding and industrializing human population have added significant quantities of heat retaining gases to the atmosphere. For example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that by 2100 increases in greenhouse gases will likely lead to an increase in temperature of between I0⁰ C and 3.50⁰ C (Houghton et al., 1996) and an increase in sea level of between 13 and 94 cm (Warrick et al., 1996). The IPCC also reports that warmer temperatures will most likely intensify the hydrological cycle, leading to an increase in the precipitation intensity and number of storm events (Houghton et al., 1996). Our results of this study also agree with it.

The hot arid regions of India are spread over 32 million hectares in the states of Rajasthan (61%), Gujarat (20%), Punjab (5%), Haryana (4%), Karnataka (3%) and Andhra Pradesh (7%). The arid regions of western Rajasthan experience an annual rain fall between 100-500 mm with a coefficient of variations varying from 40-70 per cent. Low and erratic rainfall coupled with extreme temperature results in complete or partial crop failure, considerably affects the agricultural economy of the region. High wind velocity causes wind erosion and shifting of sand dunes covers the fertile agricultural land and canals (Rao and Singh,1998). The rise in temperature begins from March onward and attains its peak in May as high as 46°C. The transpiration is low during winters but during summer in months (May & June), it reaches up to 16 mm per day. The annual estimated potential evapotranspiration values ranges from 1600 mm in eastern part and 1800 mm in western part of the region.

In the arid regions of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and eastern part of arid Gujarat the soils have developed from alluvial and aeolian parent materials. In context to the type of soils light brown sandy soils with dune dominance is 30.6 per cent and associated others 34 per cent area, light brown soils 1.7 per cent, Grey brown soils 13.6 per cent hard pan in 5.9 per cent and seirozems in 1.7 per cent area (Dhir, 1977). Kolarker et al. (1989) reported that in 12 district of Rajasthan sandy soils dominated in 14.3 million ha. These soils are poor in fertility very low organic carbon (0.03-0.1%), light in texture called desert soils (north western) in the order of aridisols. It has undulated topography with the dominance of sand dunes inter-dunal plains. About 80 per cent area falls under rain fed cropping and moth bean, cluster bean, pearl millet, and sesame are the main crops grown during kharif season after the onset of monsoon. Under the vagaries of monsoon and recurrent drought the rain fed cropping becomes a gamble, which creates severe food and fodder scarcity in the region.

Vegetables are short duration crops and provide more returns per unit area and time besides, they play a major role in balancing human diet, thus, helping in alleviating hunger and malnutrition (Annon., 2009). In the previous few years, India has attained quantum jump in vegetable production and present estimated vegetable production is around 162.9 mt in an area of about 9.4 mha (NHB, 2014), and holds second position at global level. But this level of vegetable production is insufficient to meet the recommended daily intake (~300 g per capita per day) for a huge population of the country. This is mainly due to lower average productivity (17.5 t/ha) of the nation. There are several crop diminishing factors such as soil borne- and foliar- diseases, insect-pests and nematodes as biotic factors, and soil or water salinity, alkalinity, metal toxicity and heat and moisture stress as abiotic factors, which greatly affect vegetable crops yield in almost all growing areas, especially in fragile arid and semi arid regions.

Micro irrigation normally called as drip irrigation was introduced in early seventies. Drip irrigation is one of the advanced methods of irrigation, by which water can be supplied directly into the root zone of the soil to achieve considerable saving of water through high water use efficiency, compared to surface irrigation method where water use efficiency is low due to losses in the water distribution system in the field. In micro irrigation method, water supplied at slow rate that is 1.0-2.0 kg/sq cm to the root zone of an individual plant through lets called emitters or drippers fitted with laterals pipes and filters at pump side. The success of micro irrigation is proven and efforts are being made in promoting the same extensively among the farmers in arid areas.

The hot arid regions of India are spread over about 31.7 million ha area mainly in the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, which inhabit on an average 61 persons per square km making up a population of nearly 20 million peoples. The Indian arid zone is characterized by high temperature and low and variable precipitation which limit the scope for high horticultural productivity. However, these conditions greatly favour development of high quality production in number of fruits such as date palm, ber, pomegranate, citrus, aonla, bael, grapes and, guava. The optimized technologies and inputs could increase the existing low productivity. It is now realized that there is a limited scope for quantum jump in fruit and vegetable production in the traditional production areas. The amelioration of the extreme conditions is also considered vital for life support to the inhabitants of this area. The recent awareness regarding the potential of these ecologically fragile lands for production of quality horticultural produce has not only opened up scope for providing economic sustenance for the people of this region, but also for bringing new areas to increase production through horticulture.

In last few decades awareness about social and environmental issues has been increased. Agriculture is one of basic enterprise that has major role in these two issues . Organic agriculture is one of the agriculture production system that not only supportive to the environment but also sensitive to the social issues like employment, health, migration etc. Definitions given by two international organizations also verify this concept.

Climate change is now a global phenomenon and its impact on livelihood health and wellbeing, and overall quality of life is not deniable. No country is free from the overall impacts of climate change, but poor people of developing countries have been disproportionately affected by the adverse effects. Vulnerability in the context of climate change is a function of sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacities. Odisha is the 9^th largest state by area and the 11th largest state by population in India. The state has an area of 155,707 km², which is 4.87 per cent of the total area of India, and a coastline of 480 km. In the eastern part of the state lies the coastal plain. It extends from the Subarnarekha river in the north to the Rushikulya river in the south. The State is broadly divided into four geographical regions, i.e. Northern Plateau, Central River Basins, Eastern Hills and Coastal Plains. The climate of the state is characterized by hot summer and cold winter in the interior parts. The state has historically been highly prone to climate change and multiple hazards – mainly cyclones, droughts and ?oods. Natural disasters devastate millions of lives and livelihoods in Odisha each year. More children and women suffer from the effects of natural disasters and this is predicted to worsen as storms ?oods and droughts become more severe and frequent because of climate change.

Introduction

Climate change is one of the important areas of concern for world to ensure food and nutrition security to the growing population. The impacts of climate change are global but development countries like India are highly vulnerable as large population depends upon agriculture and allied service. As per the latest report, the global average temperature rises is 0.99⁰C (NASA, 2016) since pre-industrial time (1850). The year 2016 ranks as the warmest year, 16 of the 17 warmest years in the 136 years record all have occurred since 2001. The predicted temperature rise for India is in the range 0.5-1.2⁰C by 2020, 0.88-3.16⁰C by 2050 and 1.56-5.44⁰C by the year 2080. Studies in India showed significant negative impacts of climate change, predicted to reduce yields by 4.5 to 9.0%, depending on the magnitude and distribution of warming. Agriculture sector is contributing about 17.4% of India’s GDP, a 4.5-9.0% negative impact on production implies a cost of climate change to be roughly up to 1.5% GDP per year. Therefore, Govt. of India has accorded high priority on research and development to cope with the climate change in general and agriculture and allied sector. The Prime Ministers National Action Plan on Climate Change has Identified Agriculture and allied sector as one of the 8 national Missions. Agriculture and the future of global food security figure very importantly in climate change negotiations. As stated in Article II of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the goal is to ensure stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. With this background to meet the challenges of sustaining domestic food production in the face of changing climate and to generate information on adaptation and mitigation in agriculture to contribute to global for a like UNFCCC, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched a flagship network project National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) during XI plan in February 2011, and during XII Plan it is referred as National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA).

Introduction

Climate change and pollution are the two major concerns that retard growth in animal sector particularly in a developing country like India. Pollution is directly contributed by human beings, while the former is also an after effect of continuous abuse of nature and natural resources. Hence these two areas are to be looked into seriously for country’s growth in general and animal production in particular.

Stress Effect

Stress is nothing but inability of an animal to cope with its environment, a phenomenon that is often ends up with a failure to achieve the full genetic potential. Stress may be from any origin and can even be a disease itself. There exists a variety of endocrine regulatory points of stress which limits the efficiency of production and reproduction. A simple transport produces an immediate constant increase in arginine, vasopressin and corticotrophinreleasing hormone secretion in animals. However, adenocorticotrophic hormone reaches a maximum in the first hour, while cortisol is highest during the second hour. Contrastingly, the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal response is delayed occurring only after glucose decreases below a threshold in an insulin treated animal. Negative feedback effects appear to operate mainly at the pituitary level during transport but at the hypothalamus during hypoglycaemia.

Livestock farming is an important activity to a large population of small and marginal farmers as well as landless agricultural labourers of Tamil Nadu. It also provides employment opportunities for most of the unemployed and underemployed in the rural areas. Tamil Nadu is bounded by the Eastern Ghats on the north, by the Nilgiris, the Anamalai Hills and Kerala on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, and by the Indian Ocean on the south. Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area. The land area has been classified into seven agro-climatic zones based on soil characteristics, rainfall distribution, irrigation pattern, cropping pattern and other ecological and social characteristics. Tamil Nadu endowed with 13.97 per cent of recognised breeds of the domestic ruminants (cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats) with 22.55 millions of population (19^thLivestock Census-2012).

Introduction

Climate change represents a threat not only to the existence of individual species, but also to the genetic diversity hidden within them. The finding promises to complicate assessments of how climate change will affect biodiversity, as well as conservationists’ task in preserving it.

Climate change comes as an additional factor affecting a livestock sector that is already highly dynamic and facing many challenges. Important objectives of AnGR management include ensuring that AnGR are effectively deployed to meet these challenges (i.e. are well matched to the production environments in which they are kept) and that the genetic diversity needed to adapt production systems to future changes is maintained. Climate change is likely to create a number of problems in many areas of animal husbandry (housing, feeding, health care, etc.) and threaten the sustainability of many livestock production systems and their associated AnGR. At the same time, many of the specific challenges associated with climate change (high temperatures, disruptions to feed supplies, disease outbreaks, etc,) as well as the general unpredictability it brings to the future of the livestock sector, highlight the importance of retaining diverse genetic options for the future. The upper critical temperature of dairy cattle is lower than other livestock species (Wathes et al.,1983).

8.1 INTRODUCTION

To implement a good GIS project, a well structured project design and management are essential. Well planned project will give fruitful result within the stipulated time. Project not completed in time will not incur more cost and also the time delay will add negative value to the project. Hence all the elements in project planning and implementation should be considered to have a desired result. Some of the issues are also present in GIS and they will be rectified in the next decade.

8.2 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Any project is coming into reality due to necessity. If water scarcity is more in a hard rock region with sufficient rainfall, it is important to augment groundwater resource using rain water harvesting structures. It is important to build water harvesting structures like check dam, percolation pond in suitable locations so that groundwater recharge will be more. Hence a problem is identified and the project work may be carried out by a government or private organisation and the result is given to the government to implement the project. Likewise many area may require a project in GIS environment for planning. Once a project is created any development taking place can be added and GIS database is updated.

1.1 Introduction

Over the centuries, farmers experimented and developed pest management practice to minimize the damage caused by pests. Paul Muller (1939) discovered insecticidal properties in DDT, which resulted in ushering the synthetic pesticide era. The period from the late 1940s through to 1960s has been called the ‘Dark Ages’ of pest control (Newsom, 1980). Calendar based pesticides schedules were developed by the scientists and disseminated to farmers by extension workers. During this period other control measures were not even considered for further research by the agriculture scientists. The intensification of agriculture with the excessive and indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides (DDT) in the 1940s and 1950s resulted in dysfunctional consequences like the resurgence of target pests, the appearance of new pests, and the development of tolerance to individual pesticides in many species (van Emden, 2002). The period was dominated by the belief that the pesticide was the only solution to pest management. In the 1960s itself, a major change in thinking occurred following the realization that pesticides had serious limitations and in several cases produce undesirable consequences (Norris et al., 2002). A solution to the problem caused by indiscriminate use of insecticide began to be developed by the entomologists through integrated control practices (Zodoks and Schein 1979).

2.1 Introduction

India is the second largest vegetables producing country next to China. Vegetable crops are grown on an area of 7.2 million hectares (Mha) with an annual production of 113.5 million tonnes (mt) in the year 2005-06 (Rai, 2007). The extent of crop losses in vegetable crops variety with the crop type, location, damage potential of the insect pests involved and cropping season. As vegetables are perishable items and are more prone to pest attacks, and at a conservative estimate, insect pests cause about 35-40 percent losses (Sardana et al., 2005). The major vegetables cultivated by farmers were cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.), cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.), and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. (Moench)). The chief pests of the cauliflower and cabbage crops were the tobacco caterpillar (Spodoptera litura Fab.), diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella L.), cabbage butterfly (Pieris brassicae L.), cabbage borer (Hellula undalis Fab.) and aphids (Brevicoryne brassicae L.). In the okra crop, the shoot and fruit borer (Earias vitella Fab.), jassids/leafhoppers (Amrasca bigutulla bigutulla Ishida) whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius) and fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hübner) were the main pests. Yield losses due to diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) 17-99 percent, cabbage butterfly (Pieris brassicae) 69 percent, and crucifer leaf webber (Crocidolomia binotalis) 28-51 percent, cabbage borer (Hellula undalis) 30-58 percent in cabbage/cauliflower. In Brinjal, 11-93 percent loss is caused by fruit and shoot borer (Leucinodes orbonalis). In okra, yield losses due to shoot and fruit borer (Earias vitella) is 23-54 percent, jassids/ leafhoppers (Amrasca bigutulla bigutulla) 54-66 percent, whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) 54 percent and due to fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera) yield loss is in the tune of 22 percent (Shanker et al. 2008). The management strategy for the insect pests and diseases remain largely confined to pesticides. The overemphasis on the use of chemical pesticides by the vegetable growers leads to the multitude of problems to human health and ecology.

Abstract

A huge technical improvement in Information Technology (IT) has made new instruments (e.g. WEB-GIS, Open Source platforms, DBMS with geometric data) available. Distributing geospatial information on the Internet is an enforcing factor for information providers. For dissemination of spatial data, Web-GIS technology can be used, which is amalgamation of several information technologies. Open Source is a philosophy of providing software with better quality, more flexibility, and lower cost. This paper explains the use of Open Source Web-GIS which provides a fast and globally reachable way not only to represent the information about natural resources through maps and statistics but also possibility of processing the information interactively on web.

Keywords : Web-GIS, Open Source, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, GeoServer, Wetlands

1.0 Introduction

India is blessed with diverse and abundant resources. India has been witnessing tremendous growth which has impacted practically every aspect of environment and the common man. Natural resource has been tremendously in use due to increase in population growth, thus generation, dissemination and sharing of information regarding natural resources and data amongst all stake holders have become a necessity. The utilization of modern technologies such as remote sensing, GIS which are effective in management of natural resources as user can store, retrieve and model the spatial information. Web media is playing a vital role in making people aware about the importance and conservation of natural resources. We are presenting such efforts with use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) tools.

The development of the upper respiratory system composed of nasal cavities, naso pharynx and larynx is directly related to the development of the face. The nasal cavities are derived from ectoderm while nasopharynx and larynx are endodermal in origin. The lower respiratory system (trachea and lungs) is a derivative of the embryonic pharynx.

The epithelial lining of the lower respiratory system is endodermal in origin, while the surrounding connective tissue and cartilage are mesodermal in origin. The endoderm and underlying mesoderm from the floor of foregut i.e caudal part of pharynx grow caudally in midline and form the laryngo-tracheal groove at about the level of the branchial arches IV -VI from which the larynx and trachea arise. The laryngotracheal tube consists of an inner endodermal lining and an outer layer of splanchnic mesoderm. It grows into underlying mesenchyme. Ingrowths from the sides of the groove at about the level of the branchial arches IV - VI form a pair of ridges that grow towards each other and fuse forming a septum changing the groove into a tube with a blind end caudally. The rostral end opens into the floor of the pharynx. The blind caudal end expands in a bilobed manner into mesenchyme forming bronchial buds the primordia of right and left lungs while the groove is closing.

larynx : A pair of elevations, aryteniod swellings appears on the floor of the pharynx along midline at the level of branchial arch IV. The hypobranchial eminence is just infront of the arytenoid swellings. The depression between the hypobranchial eminence and the arytenoid swellings becomes the lumen of the larynx. The caudal part of the hypobranchial eminence forms the epiglottis. The arytenoid swellings and adjacent branchial arch mesenchyme form the other laryngeal cartilages and musculature. The thyroid cartilage arises from branchial arches III and IV. The other cartilages are derived from mesenchyme of branchial arches IV, V & VI. The intrinsic musculature of larynx is derived mostly from the branchial arch V and VI. With the exeption of the epiglottic cartilage the cartilages and muscles of the larynx are formed by the end of embryonic period.

The kidneys develop from the nephrotome (intermediate mesoderm). The series of nephrotomes forms urino-genital ridge which splits up into an lateral nephric and a medial genital ridge, which project into the coelom from the dorsal wall. This is the short segment of mesoderm that connects somite with lateral mesoderm. Three sets of kidneys are formed during embryologic development in vertebrates viz., pronephros, mesonephros, and metanephros. First two sets are temporary structures and third set becomes the kidneys found in the adult.

This practical assignment is designed in a way that students will acquire knowledge on various development departments in the district, especially on organizational structure, functioning and activities of any agency like District Rural Development Agency (DRDA).

PURPOSE

To get the students acquainted with the organization and functioning of DRDA.

To give the students a brief idea about the organizational structure and functions of other development departments at district level.

This visit gives students an exposure to mass media like radio, television studio and helps them in understanding elements, equipment and overall process of programme production used for disseminating information on agriculture and rural technologies.

PURPOSE

To get acquainted the students about the mass media by visiting the community radio and television studio

To know the operating system how a programme is delivered in the radio and television

This practical assignment is associated with the evaluation of communication fidelity with in a communication process where in all the communication elements are responsible to contribute the same.

PURPOSE

To understand the communication gap which arises due to emergence of noise in the channel

To understand the importance of communicator’s ability to organize and treat the message for making communication effective

To understand the distortion (addition or deletion or alterations in the original message) in communication.

This practical assignment is dealt with the appropriate extension strategies and methodologies adopted by various extension institutes in disseminating proven agricultural technologies to various stakeholders under university extension system.

PURPOSE

To get acquainted with the university extension system.

This assignment focuses on various methods in identifying the rural or local leaders in the social system and helps the students in case of identifying the specialized roles of extension workers at grassroot level.

PURPOSE

To identify rural leaders for collecting information about the village.

To assess the role of rural leaders in transferring new technology to the villagers through rural leader.

THEORETICAL ORIENTATION

One of the training methods used in management training and technical training is workshop method. The word workshop is borrowed from the area of industry. As the word says, in the workshop of industries, practical work is done by the workers. Similarly, through workshop method, some works are done by the participants who are actively involved in the same. One component which is common for all the methods is the person who conducts the proceedings of the method. We may call him a trainer or more appropriately for this method the director of the workshop. In using workshop method, the trainer needs a few experts who may be called as consultants or co-trainers. The trainer cannot handle the workshop situation single-handed.

A workshop schedule is very much important for planning an effective workshop method. It will help arrange all the necessary materials and the people well in advance to organise the workshop programme successfully and achieve the objectives of the workshop for which it is organised.

This practical assignment is conceptualized and designed to improve skill of the students on micro teaching for managing teaching situation.

Purpose

To get students acquainted with the micro teaching exercise.

To allow the students for progressive training for the management of teaching situation.

To improve specific micro-teaching skills involved in teaching.

This practical assignment is conceptualized in a way that students will gain a deeper understanding of the rural situation and can prioritize the rural needs which will eventually help in achieving overall development of the rural people.

PURPOSE

To gain a deeper understanding of the rural situation.

To encourage students to analyze the needs of the rural people on priority basis and thereby helping in planning effectively for rural development.

To acquaint the students with the areas that needs to be more strengthened in case of achieving overall development of the rural people.

This practical assignment is dealing with planning and preparation of agricultural information materials- leaflet, pamphlet and news stories, in this assignment required guidelines are provided for the students for preparing these agricultural extension material more effectively.

PURPOSE

To equip students in preparing Agricultural Information Materials like leaflets, pamphlets and news stories.

This practical assignment is associated with the planning, preparation and presentation of Microsoft PowerPoint slide. This assignment not only helps students in gaining first-hand knowledge on preparation of PowerPoint slide, but also improves their presentation skills while presenting a presentation before the audience.

PURPOSE

To acquaint students with first-hand knowledge about the power point slides and how to prepare it.

To get an idea about the presentation of power point slide in front of the audience.

This practical assignment is conceptualized and designed to guide students in identifying and preparation of project proposals. This assignment provides an opportunity for the students to explore, thing and putting their ideas on paper.

PURPOSE

 To provide an idea about project in entrepreneurship development.

 To identify the project and its importance.

 To know about the preparation of project.

This practical assignment is associated with visiting any two public/ private sector agricultural enterprises. This assignment provides a platform for the students to study structure, function and activities of the enterprise and gives an opportunity to analyses the same.

PURPOSE

 To help the students visit and observe directly the structure and activities of both public and private sector enterprises.

 To enable the students to find out the differences between the public and private sector enterprises with respect to certain aspects.

Seed in agriculture recognized as one of the most vital and crucial input in agriculture ever since the human kind has started tilling the land to produce the food for his existences. Seed technologist defined seed as matured fertilized ovule consisting of an intact embryo, endosperm and or cotyledon with protective covering (seed coat). A quality hybrid maize seed production system ensures design of the production technology which enables to maintain the healthy embryo, endosperm and /or cotyledon with protective covering. In fact the search of quality seed had acted as a major force to evolve the science of plant breeding. Ever since the farmers understood the importance of seed, they started trading the quality seed within community and now between geographies. Self-pollinated crops possess the natural mechanisms to maintain the intactness of genetic constitution of a seed during multiplication as there is very minimal chance of natural crossings. On the contrary, cross pollinated crops like maize requires special techniques in seed multiplication to maintain the genetic constitution of a F₁ hybrid. Hybrid Maize seed production techniques are well defined and are used by public and private sectors to produce the required hybrid seed in India. In this chapter, I will be highlighting the process, potential agro-climatic zones, hybrid maize seed production capacity and its future perspective in India. In addition, it also reviews the current system and possible strategic move in order to support the maize seed production system and steps required to meet future demand.

Vegetables occupy an important place in diversification of agriculture and have played a pivotal role in the food and nutritional security of every growing population of our country. Vegetables are becoming important as cash crops for urban and export markets. Looking at the national scenario, vegetables have tremendous strength in terms of natural and genetic resources. A large number of wild taxa and indigenous germplasm are available in the country and many of them have not being fully capitalized. Though efforts have been made to tap the variability present among the vegetable crops in the country and many varieties have been released, it needs further attention so that the problems of biotic and abiotic stresses can also be minimized. The vast diversity of land, soil and agro climatic conditions prevalent in India also offers a unique competitiveness to grow wide range of vegetables. During the last four decades, India has made commendable progress in vegetable production (from 23.45 million tonnes in 1961-65 to 166.47 million tonnes in 2015-16), securing the position of second largest production of vegetables in world next only to China. The total world vegetable production is 1159.88 million tonnes from an area of 59.16 million hectares. In this, India contributes about 15.88 % with the production equal to 166.47 million tonnes from an area of 9.29 million hectares (NHB, 2015-16).

Improved Varieties of Asparagus

(1) Perfection

Source : Developed at IARI, New Delhi

Maturity : Early

Spears : Large, green, succulent, heavy cropper and uniform in maturity

Production Technology of Asparagus

Climate

Asparagus is temperate season vegetable and bears excellent crop between a temperature range of 15-24ºC for most of the growing season. The ideal day temperature is 25-30^oC and night temperature 15-20^oC. It can tolerate frost up to some extent but continuous freezing is harmful for its growth. Spear initiation occurs at soil temperature of more than 10ºC. Spear elongation is faster at high air temperature. Root and shoot development is reduced below 13ºC and above 29ºC. Due to warm weather, spear tips open prematurely and quality of spears is reduced. Elevation of more than 1000m is good for high yield.

Introduction

Electrophoresis is the migration of charged molecules in solution in response to an electric field. Their rate of migration depends on the strength of the field; on the net charge, size and shape of the molecules and also on the ionic strength, viscosity and temperature of the medium in which the molecules are moving. As an analytical tool, electrophoresis is simple, rapid and highly sensitive. It is used analytically to study the properties of a single charged species, and as a separation technique. SDS-PAGE is the most widely used method for qualitatively analyzing any protein mixtures. The method is based on the separation of proteins according to their size and then locating by binding them to a dye. It is particularly useful for monitoring protein purity and determines their relative mass. The SDS-PAGE enables the students to understand the theory behind the techniques in checking the purity of the protein and identifying the protein in a test sample.

Separation of Proteins

Proteins are amphoteric compounds; their net charge therefore is determined by the pH of the medium in which they are suspended. In a solution with a pH above its isoelectric point, a protein has a net negative charge and migrates towards the anode in an electrical field. Below its isoelectric point, the protein is positively charged and migrates towards the cathode. The net charge carried by a protein is in addition independent of its size - i.e.: the charge carried per unit mass (or length, given proteins and nucleic acids are linear macromolecules) of molecule differs from protein to protein. At a given pH therefore, and under non-denaturing conditions, the electrophoretic separation of proteins is determined by both size and charge of the molecules.

Introduction

Southern blotting was named after Edward M. Southern who developed this procedure at Edinburgh University in the 1970s. To oversimplify, DNA molecules are transferred from an agarose gel onto a membrane. Southern blotting is designed to locate a particular sequence of DNA within a complex mixture. For example, Southern Blotting could be used to locate a particular gene within an entire genome. The amount of DNA needed for this technique is dependent on the size and specific activity of the probe. Short probes tend to be more specific. Under optimal conditions, you can expect to detect 0.1 pg of the DNA for which you are probing.

This diagram shows the basic steps involved in a Southern blot.

Introduction

The most common method of bacterial transformation utilizes high levels of calcium chloride to facilitate the entry of plasmid DNA vectors into E.coli in conjunction with structural alteration of the bacterial cell wall. In general, there are three basic steps in the introduction of plasmid DNA unto cells.

1. Preparation of “competent” cells to enable cells to accept DNA.
2. Transformation of these competent cells, and
3. Selection of transformants.

Most E.coli strains exhibit transformation efficiency (measured as transformants per microgram plasmid DNA) in the range of 10⁵ to 10⁸.

The factors influencing this efficiency depends upon the condition that render cells competent.

Introduction

The isolation of mutants is often critical to the study of cellular process, especially when such studies are performed at the molecular level. The phenotype of a particular mutant is attributable to the loss of a particular cellular function; the loss of that function is actually attributable to a mutation in a gene necessary for that function. In this experiment we will isolate auxotrophic mutant which can grow only if provided with specific amino acid. For example arg^- mutant have lost the catalytic function of an enzyme involved in arginine biosynthesis due to mutation in the structural gene that encodes the enzyme.

Mutagenic Agent

Mutation is an alteration in the coding sequence of a gene. Mutation occur spontaneously at a frequency of about 10^-8 per bacterial cell per generation. The rate of mutation can be increased with mutagenic agents. Mutants are strains with any structural alteration of their DNA that gives rise to a mutant phenotype. Mutagens are chemical agents (e.g. nitorsoguanidine, 5 bromouracil), physical (e.g.UV) and biological agents (e.g. trnasposons) that cause mutation to occur.