eChapters

During the last decade organic agriculture has emerged as a dynamic alternate farming system. This has been necessitated as a consequence of resource degradation because of to achieving high yields in various crops to meet the increasing demand of food by the burgeoning population. These have resulted in change in soil structure, imbalance in soil micro-organisms and organic matter, resistance among various weeds to weedicides, increased salinity, sodicity and have affected the water holding capacity of the soil and brought in health and environmental problems. Organic farming is a specified form of diversified agriculture that not only aims to produce nutritious food of high quality but also lead to the generation of more income and employment opportunities for rural population. In true sense, organic farming is a production system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetic fertilizers, growth regulators, livestock feed additives and pesticides. Moreover, it relies on agronomic management practices like crop rotation, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farming organic wastes and aspect of biological pest control to maintain soil productivity.

The inability of Indian agriculture to meet the demand for food in the country during the two and half decades immediately after independence had been a matter of concern at those times. The system of our agriculture based on the traditional knowledge and practices handed down from generation to generation could not produce enough to feed the increasing population. The ignominy of our dependence for food on the western developed nations and the politics of food aid practiced by them added to our determination to be self-sufficient in food production by modernizing agriculture. The green revolution fulfilled our aspirations by changing India from a food importing to a food exporting nation. However, the achievement was at the expense of ecology and environment and to the detriment of the well-being of the people.

Oilseed Brassicas also referred to as rapeseed-mustard, an important group of oilseed crops in the world, comprise eight cultivated crops of tribe Brassiceae within the family Cruciferae (Brassicaceae). The word ‘rape’ and ‘mustard’ have been derived from the word rapum meaning turnip and European practice of mixing the sweet ‘must’ of old wine with crushed seeds of black mustard [Brassica nigra (L.) Koch] to form a hot paste (Hemingway, 1976).

Q.1 In applying varying probability sampling for information of population total of X, it is required to know the values of selection probabilities Pi (i = 1, 2, 3,..., N).

Q.2 The technique of “Double Sampling” was first time formulated by Jayman, (1938) in connection of collecting information on strata sizes in stratified random sampling scheme.

Introduction

India is the world’s second largest producer of rice, wheat and other cereals. The important cereals are-wheat, paddy, sorghum (Bajra), barley and maize etc. India is not only the largest producer of cereal as well as the largest exporter of cereal products in the world.

Foodgrain production (2019-20): 296 million tonnes

Scenario

Table: States producing maximum area and production of crops in India

Hydraulics of wells means the laws that are applicable to understand the flow of water through the formation and certain aquifer properties that determine the discharge of a well. Darcy’s law is used in studying groundwater flow though Darcy’s law is not valid under certain cases.

8.1  Water Bearing Formation

The earth’s crust is called the lithosphere which consists of hard rocks and disintegrated rock materials. The outer parts of the earth’s crust are porous and containing partially and fully filled up with water. The surface strata of the earth is partially filled with water and is called as zone of aeration and the zone below this which is completely filled with water is called the zone of saturation. The zone of aeration is divided into (i) the soil water zone (ii) the intermediate zone and (iii) the capillary fringe (Fig.8.1).

12.1 Introduction

Agricultural drainage is the removal of excess water from the farmland for the purpose of providing favorable soil air environment for plant growth. Removal of water may take place form the surface or below the surface of the land. The practice of lowering ground water table below the root zone depth to improve the plant growth or to reduce the accumulation of salts in soil is also called as drainage

Drainage system is broadly classified as surface & subsurface drainage. Removal of excess water over the land surface is known as surface drainage & that of removing water below the surface is known as subsurface drainage. The flow of water in the form of evaporation or evapotranspiration also play important role in improving drainage situation. It gives the idea of the time required to get the wetland workable though it is not called a type of drainage as because this is very slow process & cannot be controlled by the human activities. However, using of certain tree plants e.g., Eucalyptus, Poplar, Casurina or similar species in wet fields, which transpires at high rate and improves the drainage problem by lowering the shallow water table is the new idea known as bio-drainage.

Alternative agriculture is a production system that follows the concept of agroecology and does not use conventional methods. Natural farming, Bio-dynamic farming, Organic farming, Permaculture, Homa farming and many others are considered as alternative agriculture. In spite of some differences, these practices aim at preserving the environment and minimise the use or avoid synthetic agrochemicals. They rely on natural cycles, by using crop rotations, cover crops or no-tillage, etc.

‘Cucurbits’ is a term coined by Liberty Hyde Bailey for cultivated species of the family Cucurbitacae (Robinson and Decker-Walters, 2004). Presently, the term has been used not only for cultivated forms, but also for any species of the family Cucurbitacae. Among vegetables, the cucurbits form one of the largest groups with their wide adaptation from arid climates to the humid tropics.

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

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

Introduction

Agriculture is the mainstay of Indian economy and it is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. Agriculture engages 54.6% of the total workforce (Census 2011) and contributes about 17% to the country’s Gross Value Added (Current price 2015-16, 2011-12 series). 90.2 million (57.8%) out of an estimated 156.1 million of rural households were agricultural households during 2013. The total agricultural workers (cultivators + agricultural labourers) increased from 97.2 million in 1951 to 263 million in 2011. According to the Agriculture Census 2015-16, the average size of landholding is 1.08 hectares and has been decreasing over the years in India. 85% small and marginal farmer’s holdings are less than 2 ha. In 2015-16, the average yearly earning at current prices of a small and marginal farmer was Rs 80,000.00.In 2016-17, the NABARD Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) reported that the average monthly earning of an Agricultural Household was Rs. 8931.00. Of this, cultivation accounted for only 35% and the rest was from other sources including wage labour (34%).

The term ‘Management’ derived from word ‘manage’ derived from French

word menage means ‘housekeeping’.

According to Knootz and Weihrich 1988, ‘Management as the process of

designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working

together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims’.

According to Louis E.Boone and David L.Kurtz ‘management as the use of

people and other resources to accomplish objectives’.

POSDCORB is an acronym widely used in the field of Management and

Public Administration., it first appeared in a 1937 staff paper by Luther Gulick

and Lyndall Urwick. The acronym stands for steps in the administrative

process: Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting

and Budgeting.

Sex determination is one of the first aspects of nematode biology to be systematically characterized with genetic analysis and the depth of this analysis has made it a major topic in developmental biology. It is both fair and interesting to ask how general the Caenorhabditis elegans model is likely to be, both for other nematodes as well as for animals in general. As nematodes employ many different reproductive strategies, often related to parasitic life histories, one might expect similarly variable sex determination mechanisms. However, comparative studies of sex determination based on the C? elgans model have revealed both rapidly evolving and surprisingly well conserved features (Haag, 2005). This mixture of old and new (or slow and fast), along with its obvious relevance to evolution, ecology, and applied fields like agricultural and medical parasitology, has made the evolution of nematode sex determination an increasingly active research area.

Similar to animals of the higher order, insects also possess all important internal systems of organs necessary for the proper performance of the various vital functions. The most important of the systems are the alimentary or digestive system, the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the reproductive system and the excretory system. The fundamental arrangement of the various organs is more or less similar in all insects and does not exhibit much remarkable variations as seen in the external morphological features. The dorsal blood vessel or heart runs along the median line immediately below the dorsal wall. The digestive system including the alimentary canal and its appendages lie in the middle, below the heart. The nervous chain lies below the alimentary canal and immediately above the ventral wall.

3.1. Terminology Used in the Description of the Fungal Pathogen

3.1.1. The Mycelium

The hypha or mass of hyphae that make up the body of a fungus.

3.1.1.1. Coenocytic or aseptate mycelium

• General considerations

 • Cyanide poisoning

 • Nitrate poisoning

 • Nitrite poisoning

 • Oxalate poisoning

 • Strychnine poisoning

 • Arsenic poisoning

 • Lead poisoning

 • Thalium poisoning

 • Ergot poisoning

 • Carbon monoxide poisoning

 • Phenothiazine poisoning

 • Pesticide poisoning

10.1 General Description

The soil, water, and biodiversity of the land make up a complex composition. Together, these three components produce goods and services that lay the groundwork for people to live sustainably and in peace with one another. Yet an estimated 3.2 billion people's security, livelihoods, and health are at stake due to land degradation. Any decrease or loss in the biological or economic productive capability of the land resource base is referred to as "land degradation." Natural processes contribute, but humans are primarily to blame for the harm. Degradation is frequently intricately connected to biodiversity loss and the effects of climate change.

Restored lands provide access to clean water, reduce erosion, preserve livelihoods and biodiversity, create forest products, and supply biomass fuel. Trees in agricultural environments can enhance soil fertility, hold onto moisture, and boost food output. Trees and forests slow climate change by storing carbon; intensive restoration efforts may lead to a reduction in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. Restoration can assist communities in adjusting to the effects of climate change by ensuring water supplies or reducing the effects of severe storms.

Plant cultivation was only a modest activity of primarily nomadic populations in the second millennium BC, and it had little impact on the vegetation. After 0 BC/AD, sedentary civilizations created enormous settlement mounds, and on the dunes, a shifting agricultural system with fields and fallows was constructed. Park savannas, an agroforestry system with protected wild fruit trees scattered throughout the fields, were used for cultivation (Höhn and Neumann 2012). Extensive farming with protracted fallow periods was conducted during the first millennium AD. The composition of the woody vegetation changed as fallow seasons shrunk and the impact of cattle herding on the vegetation increased towards the start of the second millennium AD. The substantially lower species richness of the contemporary woody forest was eventually brought about by declining precipitation and anthropogenic pressure (Höhn and Neumann 2012).

1. Introduction

Sustainability embodies an ecological vision aimed at fostering enduring human coexistence on Earth. Over time, its definition has evolved in literature and context, generating ongoing debate. Generally, experts frame sustainability around three pillars: social, economic, and environmental. While environmental concerns often dominate discussions, sustainability encompasses broader challenges like pollution, land degradation, biodiversity loss, climate change, and ecosystem service decline. This concept influences decision-making globally, politically, and personally.

Sustainable development, often used interchangeably with sustainability, is distinguished by UNESCO as a long-term objective versus the diverse processes and pathways to achieve it. Within the economic dimension, the tension between welfare and environmental preservation is explored through concepts like “weak and strong sustainability,” acknowledging the necessity of trade-offs. Ideal policies would aim to decouple environmental degradation from economic growth.

Environmental sustainability is pursued through various means such as ecosystem preservation, collaborative resource management, reducing food waste, advocating plant-based diets, managing fertility rates to curb population growth, and transitioning away from fossil fuels towards clean energy and innovative green technologies.

C - enamel can: The sulphur resistant lacquer is golden coloured and the can coated with it are called C-enamel can or sulphure resistant can, used for packing non acid products (Plate 143).

CA storage: Storage of commodities under gaseous atmosphere like gas storage, where the composition of atmosphere is controlled accurately. MA and CA differ only in degree of control and CA is more exact. These storage methods in combination with refrigeration markedly enhance storage life of fruit and vegetables (Plate 144).

CAC: It stands for Codex Alimentarious commission (1962). It is a joint commission of FAO and WHO, comprising of 146 member countries. It ensures consumer food safety, establish fair practices in food trade and promote the development of international food standards. CAC make standards for food additives, veterinary drugs, pesticide residue and other miscellaneous substances that affect consumer safety. These are published in Codex Alimentarius.

‘Insect pest control’ includes all measures adopted to make the life of insects hard and ultimately to destroy them or to prevent their multiplication and spread. Such measures can be taken up before the appearance of the pests or after occurrence of the pests. To achieve this purpose , it is quite necessary to know the factors, which favor the occurrence of the pests and acquire enough knowledge about the nature and life cycle of the pests, the vulnerable growth stage at which they can be effectively destroyed and appropriate measures of control to destroy them Control measures may be either preventive or direct.

Need for pest control

Control measures for the control of pests have to be taken up as soon as the infestation reaches the economic threshold level. Failure to control the pests at this stage will result in further increase in the pest population and consequent loss in yield and economic loss.

The need for pest control is of two kinds :

i) For yield maximization. The only objective of pest control in this method is to maximize the yield. The cost incurred for pest control is most often more than the income accrued as a result of pest control. The method is adopted only with the object of increasing the yield as much as possible so that the country and the people may be benefited. In this method, pest control operations are taken up before the actual occurrence of the pest or before the pest infestation reaches the economic threshold level. Such treatments taken up to control the pests before their occurrence are known as ‘prophylactic treatments’

1. Introduction

The agricultural sector plays a pivotal role in driving economic development in India, a nation with a population of 1.39 billion, making it the world’s second most populous country according to the United Nations’ World Population Prospects 2019. With 54.6 percent of the workforce engaged in agriculture as per the 2011 Census, and contributing 18.6 percent to the Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2021-22, its significance cannot be overstated. Notably, women play a substantial role in this sector, with rural females exhibiting a higher workforce participation rate of 41.8 percent compared to 35.31 percent for urban women (MoSPI, 2017). In rural communities, agriculture and allied sector is the primary source of livelihood that includes 80 percent of all economically active women, out of which 33 percent constitute agricultural labour force and 48 percent are self-employed farmers. Rural women are engaged at all levels of the agricultural value chain; i.e., production- pre-harvest, post-harvest, processing, packaging, marketing to increase productivity in agriculture (Nilam Patel etal, 2022). As per Pingali et al. (2019), the ratio of women to men working in the agricultural sector has increased over the time and made a greater amount of contribution to GDP per capita. They are the momentous demographic group for a sustainable food system (FAO, 2011). Empowering women in agriculture through reforms aimed at ensuring equal access to resources, skill development, and opportunities is projected to increase agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent (FAO, 2011).

The world turned into a grossly inhabitable during the infamous COVID-19 pandemic, with community health issues everywhere. Each one felt unsafe if other earthly inhabitants were, be it humans or other living beings. Onset of SARS CoV-2 set a ‘new normal’ world order. The ever-evolving and mutating SARS CoV-2 variants extended the pandemic wave after wave thereby complicating the situation, pushing the global healthcare system to its limits and exposing its underbelly. The continually evolving variants were more aggressively transmissive and infective. As the world still reels under tremendous healthcare pressure, other infectious diseases are emerging as are identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO), creating international health emergency situations. The situation becomes alarming with the increasing zoonotic (spillover) and reverse zoonotic (spillback) factors being more proactive in the disease spread. There is a greater need to vaccinate not only humans but also animals, especially the domesticated ones and known reservoirs/carriers. Vaccines must be developed on priority and equitably distributed as the first step to counter a pandemic or potential pandemic. Vaccination is self-limiting due to increasing reported breakthrough infection cases. A strong link of the environmental health to the overall global health needs to be acknowledged, and due diligent measures taken. Hence, there is a strong need of the One Health approach as a 360° solution, and follow it up at global-scale both in letter and spirit. This chapter discusses spillover and spillback of diseases like SARS-CoV-2 and Mpox as case examples, the mitigation strategies and the need for workable One Health models, and challenges and measures to counter future outbreaks. It stresses on foolproof vaccination strategies across to catalyse individual and herd immunities for universal wellbeing.

Reduced price volatility and stability for the market are generally a result of increased yield of crop(x12) when supply is more balanced. By providing higher yields, an increase in product delivery can be had, thereby delivering a more sustainable and predictable source that helps to keep supply and demand balanced. This lowers market volatility, creates a more stable pricing environment and reduces risk for both producers (and end buyers). Elevated or variable farming expenses or cost of cultivation(x13) may contribute to market uncertainty by impacting farmers’ earnings and shaping their choices on yield. Unpredictable expenses make it challenging to project financial results, which causes pricing volatility and inconsistent supply levels. This pricing and production volatility adds to the general unpredictability of the market.
A rise in on-farm income(x14) gives farmers greater financial stability and resources, which enables them to better manage risks and schedule production for the future. An agricultural product supply that is more predictable is facilitated by this consistency. As a result, lesser income volatility corresponds to lower overall market uncertainty and steadier prices.

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an integrated approach to managing landscapes—cropland, livestock, forests, and fisheries—to address the interlinked challenges of food security, climate change adaptation, and mitigation [FAO, 2023]. In the context of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) Member Countries, which span diverse agro- ecological and socio-economic landscapes across South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, CSA emerges as a pivotal strategy for fostering climate- resilient rural development [CIRDAP, 2023]. These countries, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, and others, face significant climate vulnerabilities such as rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, extreme weather events, and sea-level rise [IPCC, 2022]. CSA offers a framework to enhance agricultural productivity, strengthen resilience, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with the region's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and rural livelihoods improvement [UN, 2023]. The contribution of agricultural GHG emissions

Channel improvement increases or restores the ability of a river or drainage channel to convey floodwater safely. Natural or artificial channels may lose capacity because of sediment deposition, vegetation, debris, bank encroachment, irregular alignment, insufficient cross-sectional area, or excessive hydraulic resistance. Improvement can involve widening, deepening, straightening, clearing, lining, dredging, bank stabilization, or constructing additional waterways. This chapter discusses the purposes, advantages, disadvantages, and planning principles of channel improvement. It examines channel geometry, flow resistance, permissible velocity, sediment behaviour, erosion protection, and maintenance. The chapter also emphasizes that interventions must be evaluated carefully because poorly planned modifications can accelerate flow, destabilize banks, damage habitats, or shift flooding downstream.

Soil and growing media provide the physical, chemical, and biological foundation for successful horticultural production. This chapter explains soil properties, soil fertility, soil health, growing media, nutrient availability, and principles of plant nutrition. Emphasis is placed on soil testing, pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, nutrient balance, and crop-specific fertilizer management. The chapter also introduces soilless media used in nurseries and protected cultivation. Understanding root-zone conditions is essential because horticultural crops are highly sensitive to water, aeration, salinity, and nutrient imbalance. Sustainable approaches such as composting, mulching, biofertilizers, and integrated nutrient management are discussed to maintain productivity while improving soil health and resource-use efficiency.

10.1 Different practices for different purposes

There are so many different practices used in erosion control that to describe them needs some form of grouping. For a long time mechanical protection was used to describe all the methods which involved earth moving, such as digging drains, building banks, levelling sloping land, and so on. Anything else was lumped together under biological methods for want of a better title.

This is appropriate for large mechanized farms where the approach is to use machines to do the earth-moving and follow up with improved farming methods. But this division does not suit the concept of erosion control through better land husbandry supported by mechanical protection, and the division is artificial when we start talking about progressive terracing using grass strips or live hedges.

An approach more suited to today’s thinking is to group methods and techniques according to their main objective. All have an element of saving soil loss, but an important difference is the handling of surface runoff. This chapter identifies three kinds of water management objective and two types of soil management on sloping land.

Nematoda, a diverse animal phylum that comprises an estimated million species, inhabit very broad ranges of ecological niches throughout earth. These animals, ranging from microscopic to a meter in size, are extremely successful in adapting different environments and have different lifestyles as free-living or parasitic to plants, animals and humans. As a result, nematodes have evolved to communicate with a wide variety of organisms that they live and interact with, including microbes, plants, insects, other animals, and nematodes of the same and different species. These communications play a key role in the mutualism, parasitism, predatory and prey, host and pathogen relationships between nematodes and other organisms and are critical to the ecological fitness of nematodes (Hsueh et al., 2014)

Our understanding of plant–nematode interactions has increased significantly. The f irst genome sequences of two root-knot nematodes species, M? incognita and M? hapla, have been described, which were significantly different from genome of the free-living nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. Both M? incognita and M? hapla have definite set of proteins that determine the virulence in plant species. The secretomes (set of secreted proteins through the stylets) of different phytonematodes have demonstrated a number of effector proteins that are involved in compatible plant nematode interactions (Ali et?al., 2017). In response to infection of various nematodes, plant’s transcriptome resulted in increased metabolic activity in the feeding cells and suppression of defense mechanisms of the plants in most of the cases. Most of these studies revealed considerable progress toward an understanding of plant–nematode interactions under natural conditions.

4H: An agricultural club for children that features hands-on learning

Abiota: The nonliving component of an ecosystem, including the soil, water,

and air.

Aborigines: The original or native inhabitants of a country or region.

Absorption Losses: Loss of water from a canal or a reservoir by capillary

action and percolation and in case of canal during the process of delivery.

Absorptive capacity: The maximum amount of waste that can be absorbed

by the environment.

Acclimation: Adaptation to changing or new conditions.

Acid precipitation: Rain, snow, fog, or dew containing sulfuric and nitric acids

produced by fossil fuel combustion.

Acid soil: A soil which is deficient in available bases, particularly Ca and which

give an acid reaction when tested by a standard method.

Acre foot water: The amount of water that would cover an area of land to a

depth of one foot assuming no seepage evaporation and run off.

Acre inch day: Term used principally in irrigated section of united state for

measuring quantity of flow of water. It is equal to a flow which will cover

one acre to a depth of one inch in a 24 hours period or 0.042 cubic feet per

second.

Acre inch: It is a measure of quantity of flow of water and is equal to the flow

which will cover one acre to a depth of one inch.

Acre: (43560 sq. ft) an area of land about 220 feet long and 198 feet wide.

Active solar heating: The use of solar panels to collect and concentrate the

sun’s energy for heating.

Adaptation: Biological modification that allows species to better exist in a

specific environment.

Additives: Chemicals added to food, often con- sidered to represent a threat

to human health.

The present study was envisaged to develop kodo millet incorporated chicken meat nuggets and to explore the effect of kodo millet flour on the shelf life of chicken meat nuggets. The chicken meat nuggets were developed by using kodo millet flour (KMF) at three different levels (T1-6%, T2-8% and T3-10%) by replacing lean meat. Appearance/colour and flavour score, juiciness and overall palatability were found significantly higher (P < 0.05) for T1. On the basis of sensory scores, control and T1 were selected for further comparison and storage studies in refrigerated temperature for 28 days and assessed for microbial analysis at regular interval of 7 days. Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and standard plate count (SPC) values increased significantly (P < 0.05) in both variants during storage. These values were found lower in treatment. Results of sensory evaluation studies during storage also revealed decrease in sensory scores in almost all occasions. T1 (treatment containing 6 % KMF) was rated higher for flavour, texture, juiciness and overall palatability throughout the storage period. It was concluded that functional chicken nuggets could be developed by replacing the chicken meat in standardized formulation at the level of 6 % kodo millet flour. The developed product maintains better physiochemical, microbiological and sensory qualities during refrigerated storage and was acceptable up to 14 days of storage.

Computational intelligence is central to the development of proactive, personalized and connected healthcare systems. This chapter examines artificial intelligence, machine learning, expert systems, medical-image analysis, IoT, big-data analytics, cloud computing and blockchain as key enabling technologies. It presents intelligent architectures for diagnosis, monitoring, treatment support and secure health-data management. Privacy, cybersecurity, explainability, bias, fairness, scalability and deployment challenges are discussed in relation to practical healthcare implementation. The chapter proposes a research roadmap involving trustworthy AI, advanced privacy-preserving mechanisms, edge-cloud intelligence, digital twins, multi-omics integration and personalized health models. It also emphasizes accessible computational-intelligence solutions for rural and resource-constrained healthcare environments

10.1 Introduction

Irrigation is an age old practice. It has been practiced for thousands of years. It is chiefly used to irrigate rice in wetter areas; especially in Asian countries and dry land crops including vegetables and fruits in dry land areas having low rainfall in all most all countries. Devices for irrigation water lifting range from age old indigenous water lifts to highly efficient pump. Unlike canal irrigation where water is fed to the fields through gravity system, water from the surface and sub-surface sources is lifted either mechanically by pump or manually by any indigenous lifting devices. Irrigation by lifting water from a lower level to a higher level is called as lift irrigation. Several types of indigenous water lifting devices are in vogue in India since ancient times. These are animal or/and manually operated ones, the animal operated ones being more efficient than the manually operated ones. The earliest water lifts were simple man-powered devices, many of which are still being used with modifications in different forms. With gradual improvement, principles of simple machines, like the liver, pulley, screw etc. were employed in smooth lifting of water from surface and sub-surface sources. The selection of a suitable water lifting device for a particular situation depends on the following factors:

(i) Characteristics of source of water and the lifting device

(ii) Amount of water to be lifted

(iii) Depth of water table

(iv) Type and amount of power available and

(v) Economic status of the farmers.

Theory

  The term ‘Management’ derived from word ‘manage’ derived from French word menage means ‘housekeeping’.

 According to Knootz and Weihrich 1988, ‘Management as the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims’. 

According to Louis E.Boone and David L.Kurtz ‘management as the use of people and other resources to accomplish objectives’.

POSDCORB is an acronym widely used in the field of Management and Public Administration., it first appeared in a 1937 staff paper by Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick. The acronym stands for steps in the administrative process: Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting.

Summary

Genetic engineering can be used to introduce specific traits into plants. It may not replace conventional breeding but can add to the efficiency of crop improvement. It is possible due to the fact that plants are totipotent, enabling regeneration of a new plant from an isolated cell. Transformation of dicots is usually carried out using the bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Genes are cloned into plant expression vectors that carry the 25-bp repeat sequences at the borders of the onc region, known as the left and right borders (LB and RB) and the virulence genes (vir) of the Ti plasmid.

VAM fungi are of worldwide distribution. They are present in the soil in form of chlamydospores, zygospores and azygospores and have been recovered from the soils of a variety of habitats e.g. agricultural fields, nutrient deficient soils, sand dunes and deserts, industrial wastes, sodic soils, polluted sites, sewage, eroded sites and others like forests, open woodlands, scrub, savana, heaths, grasslands, anthracite and bituminous coal wastes. There are several reports of VAM fungi from diverse habitats from India.

VA-mycorrhizal associations occur widely throughout the plant kingdom. They have  been reported to be present in Bryophytes, Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms in nearly all the geographical regions of the world. Most of the agricultural and horticultural crops belonging to diverse families have been shown to form VA-mycorrhizae. Many species of plants of economically important families have been reported to be mycorrhizal. Likewise, many of the plantation crops like coffee, tea, citrus, timber trees, many of the fruit trees and medicinal plants have been shown to form VA-mycorrhiza.

3.1  Write True/False

Q.1    The estimates obtained though various methods of point estimation, in general, do not concide with the true values of the parameters.
Q.2    The statistician is interested in finding an ‘interval’ within which the true value of the parameter θ is expected to lie with certain ‘confidence coefficient’, say (1 – α).

Amino acids are essential components of all living cells as building blocks of proteins. They are also metabolically active and supply substrates for many other biochemical reactions. In a bacterial cell, about 0.4% of the dry weight is amino acids. The amino units in other living systems varies according to species, age and part of the body.

4a. Intestinal Disorders
 
History of health claims
 
According to Bottazzi (1983) it was in 76 BC that the Roman historian Plinius recommended the use of fermented milk for treating gastroenteritis. Metchnikoff claimed that the intake of fermented milk containing Lactobacilli reduces the toxin producing bacteria, thereby increasing the longetivity of the host (Metchnikoff, 1908). Tissier (1905) showed that there was an increase in the Bifidobacteria in breast fed-infants, thus claiming that the administration of Bifidobacteria to infants suffering from diarrhea was very beneficial as they supersede the putrefactive bacteria that causes the disease. Intestinal beneficial microfloras are responsible to resist the disease (Bohnhoff et al., 1954).

5.1 Jute Seed Production 

Jute ranks next to cotton as the most important natural fibre and it recognized as the ‘golden fibre’. Its products being biodegradable and environment friendly in contrast to synthetic substitutes, a renewed interest in this natural fibre has been generated in the recent past throughout the world. Important characteristics of jute fibre are its silky lustures, high tensile strength, low extensibility, considerable heat resistance. Because of its great abundance and shortage of cotton, jute is blended with cotton and jute/cotton blended yarns are produced mainly to take advantage of the lower price of jute fibre (Doraiswamy et al., 1998). Several diversified product is also made from jute. Since currently the paper industry has been using it as a raw material for paper. It is also being used in geotextile. The jute sticks are largely used as fuel and also for making gun powder.

3.1. INTRODUCTION 

Transitory waterlogging occurs extensively in both irrigated and dry land agriculture on clay flats and duplex soils. Most of the humid tropical lowlands, with adequate, rain-fed but poor drainage, have the problems of waterlogging, which is further intensified by low water table and poor root aeration. In submerged condition, only root is exposed to excess water and the injury to the shoot is not a primary effect.

The term ‘waterlogging’ is defined as a condition of the soil where excess water inhibits gas exchange of roots with the atmosphere. Waterlogging is different from ‘flooding’ because the latter results in addition factors of partial or complete submergence of the shoot. The waterlogging replaces a gaseous air by liquid water, leading to the gas stresses. Schematic representation of adverse effects of waterlogging on plant growth and survival has been given in Fig. 3.1.

8.1. INTRODUCTION

Aluminium (Al) is not considered as essential nutrient, but at low concentrations it may increase plant growth or induce other desirable effects (Bollard and Butler, 1966; Foy, 1988; Huang et al., 1992a, b; Roy and Mandal, 2005). Al affects about 40-70% of the world arable land, which has the potential for food crops biomass production (Haug and Caldwell, 1985). Acid soils constitute about 3.95 billion hectares globally. About 38% of those are present in Tropical Asia (Datta, 2002). It is believed to cover more than 800 million hectares of forest and tropical Savana ecosystems of tropical America (Jaffe and Rojar, 1994; Prakash 2000). Nearly 75% of Amazon Basin contains acid and infertile soil classified as oxisols and utisols. About 383 million hectares (79%) of the Amazon area, suffers from Al toxicity. Acid soil occurs extensively in the some of the Mediterranean countries and Southern Australia. Low laying acid sulfate of Bay Islands in India chronically suffer from Al-toxicity (Chowdhury et al., 2001).

Though many of the insect species are injurious to man, his crops and his livestock in different ways, not all the insects are injurious. Some insect species are beneficial to man in many ways.  A  few  are  productive insects and yield materials directly useful to man. Of these, the most important ones are the honeybees, which give honey and bee wax, the silkworms, which give silk and the lac insects, which give lac. Some other insects are useful to man indirectly in many ways.

productive insects

1. Honeybees (Apis species)
Order - Hymenoptera
Family - Apidae

Kinds of honeybees

There are five kinds of honeybees in India. They are :
Apis dorsata - the rock bee
Apis florea - the little bee
Apis indica - the Indian bee
Apis mellifera - the European bee
Melipona iridipennis - the dammer or stingless bee

‘Nematodes’, otherwise known as ‘eel worms’, ‘thread worms’, ‘round worms’, and ‘nemas’ are unsegmented, smooth-bodied, mostly minute, worm-like metazoan organisms. They are classified under the Phylum - Nematoda. The term ‘Nematode’ has been derived from the two Greek words ‘Nema’ = thread and ‘Eidos’ = form, which means thread-like organisms. At present, the nematodes, which are exclusively parasitic on man and livestock are studied under ‘Helminthology’ or ‘Parasitology’, while the plant parasitic or phytonematodes, as well as free-living nematodes are studied under ‘Nematology’, a branch of biological science that exclusively deals with nematodes. Cobb coined the term Nematology in about 1920.

Nematodes are ubiquitous and are found every where life can sustain. They can survive in any type of environment and are found from the arctics to the tropics and from the oceans to the top of hills. Though basically aquatic, nematodes have adopted terrestrial habits. They are mostly found in the soil around the rhizosphere of roots of plants. They constitute 80 - 90 per cent of all multicellular organisms and the number of nematodes may vary from 1.8 - 120.0 million per sq. m. of soil according to Kevan (1965). At present the number of established species is about 15,000, but there may be several thousands more.

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) belongs to family Moraceae. The Latin name is derived from Greek words (artos = bread, karpos = fruit), and altilis meaning ‘fat’. Baked or roasted in a fire, the fruit has a starchy texture and fragrance, reminiscent of fresh baked food.

Breadfruit is an important staple crop and component of traditional agro-forestry systems in the Pacific for more than 3,000 years. This species originated in the South Pacific and spread throughout Oceania by intrepid islanders settling the numerous islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Due to efforts of Captain Bligh and French voyagers, a few seedless varieties from Polynesia were introduced to the Caribbean in the late 1700s. These gradually spread to other tropical regions. Breadfruit is now grown in close to 90 countries.

2.1. The Story of Fermentation

Human progress depends on man’s tact to tame the forces of nature. It calls for knowledge. Prior to Age of Science, our fund of such knowledge was gained by a process of trial, error and accidental discovery. Progress was due not so much to man’s understanding as it was to his unquenchable spirit, miraculous ingenuity and indomitable persistence.

At last, in the utmost urgency of struggle for a longer, healthier and more satisfying existence, humanity taught itself the scientific method, which has changed the world, and will change it more in the coming years. This chapter deals with one of the most momentous and far reaching of all scientific achievements: the ability to harness microscopic living creatures in the service of mankind. Thanks to the wonders of fermentation technology and biochemical engineering developed by scientists and skilled technicians in industrial, governmental and university laboratories around the world, billions of microbes are now at work in industry, producing substances that give us better food $#x0026; drink, better clothing $#x0026; shelter and better medicines. Thus, the human race has entered a new era of health, comfort and longevity.

In the Beginning Art without Science: The cave man discovered that meat allowed to stand a few days was more pleasing to the taste than meat eaten soon after the kill. The cave man’s earliest descendants learned that intoxicating drinks could be made from grains and fruits.

6.1. INTRODUCTION

After introduction of TN-1 (Taichung Native-1), Jaya, IR8 and other high yielding rice varieties during sixties and seventies, the productivity increased drastically and remained at plateau since last three decades. With no possibility to extend land area for rice cultivation in Asia, there is some scope for production advantages in rice through further expansion of high yielding varieties coverage in Pakistan, Thailand and India, expansion of area under irrigation in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, or expansion of boro rice in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. Thus, utilization of heterosis has become one of the main methods for increasing yield. Hybrid is one of the viable and proven technologies to improve rice productivity. China is the first successful country to produce hybrid rice in appreciable quantity. This technology not only helped China to increase the rice productivity, but also to save land for crop diversification. The 'National Food Security Mission' has been launched envisaging increase of annual rice production by 10 million tons by 2011-'12. Here, hybrid rice may play important role to achieve the assigned target.

Introduction

The Himalayan Moutains that is relatively a younger formation and geologically a very complex occupies most of the Arunachal Pradesh. The mountain terrain covers an area of about 86000 sq. km with elevation ranging from 400 to 6000 m above mean sea level (Satapathy and Dutta 1999). The wet tropical and sub-tropical climate which prevails in most part of the Arunachal Pradesh, there is usual phenomenon of erosion and land degradation by the action of water. It is estimated by the application of USLE for Arunachal Pradesh that the total amount of about 669.35 million tones of soil is eroded annually with an average rate of 90.7 tonnes /ha/year (Singh, 1999).

Arunachal Pradesh falls under upper Brahamaputra river system constituted by 10 major river basins. They are Tawang, Kameng, Dikrong, Subansiri, Siang, Sesseri, Dibang-Tellu, and Tirap-Tiso. In Arunachal Pradesh, Dikrong river is named after joining of two main rivers Pachin and Para . In the catchments of Dikrong river light textured unstable soils with the prevalent practice of Jhum Cultivation makes the entire catchments susceptible to erosion. In every monsoon the river Dilrong carries tremendous amount of silt, gravel, small boulder and causes flood in some parts of the catchments susceptible to erosion. Singh (1999) observed that loss rate through Dikrong River was 100.98 tones/ha/year. This indicates serious threat to soil resources and there is need for urgent treatment for sediment control in Dikrong river bash.

Poultry sector in India has grown from a backyard activity into a major commercial activity in four and half decades. Poultry is one of the fastest growing subsectors of agricultural sector in India. Within the poultry sector, broiler production is growing faster than egg production and about 66.7% of the total output (in value term) comes from the poultry meat sector and only 33.3% from egg production (FAO, 2008). India ranks fifth in chicken and sixth in duck population. Presently, India is world’s third largest egg producer and the fifth major producer of chicken meat (FAO, 2010). Poultry is today the major source of meat in India. As per an estimate about 2 million people are employed, fully or partly, along the poultry value chain and that an increase in annual per caput availability of one egg or 50 gm or poultry meat generates about 20,000 to 25,000 full time jobs (Ciamarra & Otte, 2009). Distribution of chicken and duck population as well as poultry meat and egg production among different regions, countries of the world and among different Indian states has been already discussed in chapter one of this book.

The importance of vegetables in human nutrition is now well known all over the world. Vegetables are rich and comparatively cheaper source of minerals and vitamins. Their consumption in sufficient quantities provides taste and palatability, increases appetite and provides fair amount of fibre. Besides, they provide many specific chemical substances, which are essential for growth, reproduction and for the maintenance of good health and also beneficial in protecting against some degenerative diseases (Prior and Cao, 2000; David, 2005; Elison and Levin, 2006).

Apart from their nutritive value, vegetables probably do more than any other groups of food to add colour, texture and flavour to our daily diet. Majority of the population in India is vegetarian, and thus, vegetables form an essential item of food for both the rich and the poor people. National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (1997) surveys indicated that the daily intake of most foodstuffs in Indian households, except for cereals and millets, is much below the recommended dietary allowances (RDA). The diets provided negligible amount of protective foods. It was found that consumption of green leafy vegetables (< 10 g) and other vegetables (70-80 g) per day, which are rich source of micronutrients, are woefully inadequate. However, as per the RDA, an adult man should consume 200 g roots and tubers, 100 g green leafy vegetables and 100 g other vegetables (Table 1) in a day. In addition, fresh fruits (100 g) as available in different seasons should be consumed regularly for the prevention of chronic diseases (NIN, 1998).