eChapters

Common name    :    English- Neem tree
        Hindi- Neem
        Odia- Nimba
Family    :    Meliaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a tree (Fig. 14 a), very commonly planted and often self shown. Also seen in forests as well as in wild. It is cultivated and naturalized throughout India.

General Charcter
The leaf of the plant is about 20-38 cm in length, leaflets 5-9 pairs and obliguely lanceolate. Flower is white in clolour and fragrant. The plant bark, leaves and flowers are bitter in taste. The plant bears flowers during February to May. The plant fruiting occurs during June to July.

Common name    :    English- Jack Fruits
        Hindi- Kathal
        Odia- Panasa

Family    :    Moraceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a tree (Fig. 13 a) found in wild as well as cultivated in farms. It was introduced and has become naturalized in many parts of India.

General Characters
The plant is an evergreen tree that grows up to 20-30 meter tall and 80-200 cm in diameter with evergreen, alternate, glossy, leathery leaves reaching up to 9 inch long. Leaves are oval in mature trees. All parts of the plant contain sticky, white latex. Inflorescence is solitary, borne axillary on special lateral short leafy shoots arising from older branches. Fruits are large arising from the tree trunk and weighting about 10-50 kg. the exterior of the fruit is green or yellow when ripe and composed of numerous hard, cone like points attached to a thick and rubbery, pale yellow or whitish wall. The plant flowers during December-February and bears fruits during June-July.

Common name    :    English - Wire grass/spread grass
        Odia- Suan
Family    :    Poaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (Fig. 12 a) widely found in agricultural lands, hill sides, road sides, river bank etc. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant ascending to erect, grows up to 3-4 feet in height. The leaves may be flat or rolled. The inflorescence either panicle like or raceme with spiky branches. Flowers are tiny and hairs like awns seen protruding from each flower. The plant flowers during September-November.

Common name    :    English- Betelnut
        Hindi- Supari
        Odia- Gua
Family    :    Arecaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree, (Fig. 11 a) naturalized and commonly cultivated throughout India.

General Character
The plant is perennial, grows up to 20 meters in height and 8-12 inches in diameter. The stem is solitary, slender and erect. The leaf of the plant is 1.5-2 meter long, pinnate with numerous crowded leaflets. Fruit is a coriaceous drupe, ovoid, 3.7-5 cm, smooth orange, with a single seed with truncate base. The plant flowers and bears fruits throughout the year.

Common name     :    English- Onion
        Hindi- Pyaz
        Odia- Piaja

Family    :    Amaryllidaceae

Habit & Distribution 
It is a herb (Fig. 10 a). The plant is commonly cultivated along the river banks during winter season.

General Characters
The leaves of the plants are cylindric, fistular and look like tubes. Flower of the plant is white or greenish white with a short pedicel. The plant flowers during January- February.

Common name    :    English- Rain Tree
        Hindi- Gulabi Siris 
        Odia- Chakunda
Family    :    Mimosaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a tree common in dry, lowlands ,grasslands, coastal bush lands, forests and also planted in avenues. It is distributed throughout the tropical countries (Fig 9 a).

Common name    :    English- Wood apple
        Hindi- Bel
        Odia- Bela
Family    :    Rutaceae

Habit & Distribution 
It is a tree, (Fig 8 a) common in scrub and open forests, also planted near temples and villages. The plant is usually distributed throughout the greater part of India.

Common name    :    English- Pith plant
        Hindi- Sola
        Odia- Sola
Family    :    Fabaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (Fig.7a), commonly found in ponds, swampy areas, lakes and other water bodies. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is an erect, perennial herb. Its stem is about 2 cm in diameter. The leaves are sessile reaching up to 15 cm long, leaflets 25-50 pairs, alternate or opposite. The flowers are yellow in colour and about 8 cm long, broadly ovate and acute. The plant flowers between August and October.

Common name    :    English- Red Lucky Seed
        Hindi- Badi gumchi
         Odia- Manda kaincha

Family    :    Mimosaceae 

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a tree (Fig. 6a) often found in gardens and village sides and distributed in different states of India.

General Characters: 
It is a large tree with grey bark. The leaves are compound bipinnate, green when young, turning yellow when old and having 5-6 pairs of leaflets. The flowers are yellowish, small and grow in dense drooping and about 5-15 cm long. Fruits are curved, hanging, green pods that turn brown, coil up and split open as they ripen to reveal small bright red seeds. The plant flowers during March-May.

Common name    :    English- Prickly chaff flower
        Hindi- Chirchita 
        Odia- Apamaranga
Family    :    Amaranthaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig 5 a), fairly common weed that grows on waste lands and distributed throughout India.

Common name    :    English- Red hot cat’s tail
        Odia- Bilei lanja
Family    :    Euphorbiaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant usually seen along the road sides and often grown in gardens (fig 4 a).

General Characters
It is a bushy shrub grows up to 1.8 to 3.7 meters in height. The leaves are ever green, oval, 10-23 cm long and 7.5-10 cm in width with pointed ends. Flowers are borne in attractive shades, ranging in colour from deep purple to bright red and clustered in velvety catkins, which are about 30-50 cm long. The plant flowers throughout the year.

Common name    :    English- Indian mallow
        Hindi- Kanghi 
        Odia- Pedipedica

Family    :    Malvaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a shrub (Fig.3 a) commonly found in waste places, along road sides, as weeds in garden and in forests. It is distributed throughout India.

Common name: English- Indian liquorice
                           Hindi- Ratti/Gunchi 
                           Odia- Kaincha
Family : Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a common weed (Fig. 2 a) found in forest and it is also seen growing on road sides, gardens, waste places and sometimes planted in gardens.

Common name:     English – Lady’s finger
    Hindi – Bhindi
    Odia- Bhendi      
Family:     Malvaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 1 a), widely cultivated as vegetable in the tropical countries including India.

Galactometer: It is an instrument used for recording the specific gravity of the milk.

Galactose: It is an aldohexose sugar obtained by hydrolysis of lactose.

Galactosidase: An enzyme (actase) that hydrolyzes a galactoside.

Galactoside: A glycoside that yields galactose on hydrolysis.

Galactosyl: A glycosyl radical C₆H₁₁O₅ that is derived from galactose.

Fº value: It is used to express F-value when z =10ºC / 18ºF and the temperature is 121.1ºC. It is the number of minutes at a specific temperature (250ºC) required to destroy or kill a stated number of microorganisms and has specific z-value. It is also called reference value. 

E numbers: Each food additive used in the food industry has been given a specific number code for their identification. These numbers are called as E numbers. These E numbers are used within the European Union. The word prefix “E” stands for Europe. They are commonly used on the food label through out the European Union. These are not used in Australia and New Zealand. The different food additives are given different E numbers depending upon the type of food additive like E100-E199 (food colours), E200-E299 (preservative), E300-E399 (antioxidants), E400-E499 (thickners, stabilizers, emulsifier), E500-E599 (pH regulator, anticaking agent), E600- E699 (flavour enhancers), E700-E799 (antibiotics), E900-E999 (miscellaneous like waxes, synthetic glazes, packaging gases, sweetners, foaming agents),  and E1000-E1099 (additional chemicals).

Dahi: It is the product obtained from pasteurized or boiled milk by souring, natural or by harmless lactic acid or other bacterial culture. It is also called Curd (Plate 68)

Dairy: It is a room, building, or establishment where milk is kept and butter / cheese is made or it is the department of farming / farm that is concerned with the production of milk, butter, and cheese or an establishment for the sale / and distribution of milk and milk products.

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 35).

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 36).

B.T.U.: It stands for British thermal unit. The heat required to raise the temperature of one pond of the water through 1^° F is called BTU.
Baby back ribs: Meaty pork ribs cut from the lower back rib section.

Bacitracin: A polypeptide antibiotic isolated from a bacillus (Bacillus subtilis or B. licheniformis) and usually used against gram-positive bacteria.

Back Bacon / Canadian bacon: Bacon cut from the loin that has little fat and is cut into round or oblong slices.

Abnormal milk: It is milk that is not smooth and homogenous but is flaky, ropy, stringy, slimy, watery, discoloured or bad flavoured.
 
Abrassive peeler: It is equipment comprising a rotating drum lined with carborandum (an abrasive material) in which certain vegetables like potato and ginger are tumbled and exposed to the abrasive action of the carborandum lining, thereby facilitating separation of peel from the vegetables (Plate 1).

Absinthe: It is green liquor which is flavored with wormwood, anise, and other aromatic herbs. Its commercial production is banned in many countries for health concerns.

Introduction

Humans and grass are inextricably linked to each other. The oldest unequivocal grass fossils are 25 million years old, originating in the Oligocene epoch (Thomasson, 1987). Grasses are one of the first permanent vegetation to reappear after disasters, such as volcanic activity, extended droughts, floods, fires, explosions, abandoned urban ghettos, and battlefields. In the past, landscaping was universally regarded as an extravagance for the affluent or as a decorative for mediocre and average structural design. Today, growers offer hundreds of selections for landscape designers who envision their backyard canvases swept with fulsome grasses. Countries are capitalizing on this industry at a furious pace and turfgrass research can be circuitously, the next moolah machine for enhancing lifestyle, real estate values and tourism revenues.

Introduction

Landscaping refers to art and science of proper utilization of garden forms, methods and materials for the overall improvement of the place in such a way that it blends with surrounding and creates aesthetics. It is an approach to enhance the appearance of land by altering its contours, and planting trees, shrubs, climbers and various ornamental plants for aesthetic effects. It is the prerequisite for the urban areas that are highly polluted and densely populated. The urbanites now-a-days are facing many problems relating to the health because of imbalance in the environmental conditions.In today’s world, with the rapid pace of urbanization and the growing concern for climate change led to the increasing trend of bringing nature back into cities. Removal of greenery and replaced them with buildings and paved streets increase the surface radiation and air temperature that result to drier and hotter environment for urban cities compared to the rural areas. In this context, the demand for planned and creative exterior landscaping increases which allows the man to re-create an aesthetic environment with breath taking life. Exterior landscaping is the means of bringing man closer to the nature. It is also referred as outdoor landscaping and has gained wide popularity now-a-days because of the expansion of the urban areas along with increase interest of people towards healthier and cleaner environment.

With the advent of modernization and urbanization, people are shifting from rural to urban areas, thereby, urban population is increasing day by day resulting in congested cities and towns. All around the world, a huge number of buildings are being constructed adding many more in future. Throughout the years, replacement of vegetated surfaces with paved and impervious surfaces in the urban areas have increased the temperature as compared to rural areas, because the paved surfaces absorbs, retain and reradiate more solar energy than vegetation. The ambient temperature in urban area can be as much as 6oC higher than the air in rural areas.

Introduction

Increasing concern about climate change and global warming has created immense awareness among society about green house gas and its reduction. Irrespective of the geographical location, population density and economic development of any region, there is a huge scope for addressing the green house gas emission. Cities have a key role to play in the global agenda for addressing the challenge of climate change. Today, approximately half of the world’s population lives in cities; by 2050, that proportion will probably have increased to two-thirds. India has the highest rate of change of the urban population and will remain above 2% annually for the next three decades. At this rate, an estimated 854 million people will live in Indian cities by 2050.

Introduction

Landscape gardening is a very fascinating and interesting subject. It is a money spinner business and people who are involved in designing and preparing landscape gardens are earning handsome money. It is an aesthetic branch of horticulture which deals with application of garden forms, different styles, methods and materials with a view to improve the landscape. Frescos of flowers of old times reveal the association of human with flowering plants which they used in making gardens and planting on road side. In India, the landscape gardening is a developing subject and as such offers much scope for improvement. A beautiful landscape is a vital part of your home and community. A well-planned landscape can save your money by reducing energy consumption.

Introduction

Flowers are associated with mankind since the dawn of civilization. Flowers are required for all the functions, ceremonies, rituals and celebrations from dawn to the dusk. In India, flowers are mainly grown for cut flowers and loose flowers purpose. By using best postharvest techniques, we can preserve the flowers ranging from few days to few weeks, but drying or dehydration is a technique by which flowers can be preserved for months to years. India has rich biodiversity comprising of wide variety of ornamental trees, shrubs, climbers, etc. which are not being used as fresh or loose flowers but their branched, twigs, flowers, fruits, cones, stems, roots, bark, etc. can be dehydrated to preserve their beauty and for utilization in dry flower industry.

Introduction

Marketing sector via value addition has gained momentum with the rapidly growing flora industry. It is the ultimate way to rescue the flowers from the huge postharvest losses. Value addition in form of floral craft increases the economic value and consumer appeal of floricultural commodities and serving as a linkage between growers and consumers, it directly emphasizes the utility of flowers and a necessity for marketing of flowers. Other forms of value addition in flowers like essential oils, tinting, flower-drying, natural dye, art of floral arrangements are gaining momentum and popularising in our country as well.

Introduction

India has very old and long tradition of flower cultivation. With changing life styles and increased urban affluence, floriculture has assumed a definite commercial status in recent times. Improved communication facilities have increased their availability in every part of the country. Floriculture in India is being viewed as a rapidly growing industry. In India, at present total area under flower crops is about 2,33,000 ha with production of about 17.29 lakh tonnes of loose flowers and 76732 lakh  number of cut flowers (NHB database, 2013).The important floricultural crops in the international flower trade are rose, carnation, chrysanthemum, gerbera, gladious, gypsophila, liastris, bird of paradise, orchids, anthurium, tulip, lilies, etc. All the flowers and ornamentals are the most perishable commodities needs special care during harvesting, handling, storage and transport. The losses can be both, quantitative as well as qualitative, which result in loss in terms of monitory value.

Introduction

Fruits and vegetables are an important supplement to the human diet as they provide the essential minerals, vitamins and fibre required for maintaining health. For various reasons, this abundance of production is not fully utilized and about 25-30% of it is wasted due to spoilage. Most of fruits and vegetables are seasonal crops and perishable in nature. In a good season there may be a local glut, particularly of fruits, but because of insufficient transport facilities and poor availability of packing materials, the surplus cannot be taken quickly enough to the natural markets in urban areas. Moreover, the surplus often cannot be stored for sale in the off-season because of inadequate local cold storage facilities. Thus the growers do not get a good price for their produce because of the glut and some of it is spoiled resulting in complete loss.

Introduction

Packaging and storage are two most important operations in post harvest supply chain of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables. The self-life, damage, loss, sale and profit from commodities depend on storage and packaging parameters. The primary objective of packaging of fruits and vegetables is to protect the contents during storage, transportation and distribution against deterioration, which may be physical, chemical, or biological. Packaging is hence provided at the point of production or processing or at distribution centers. Though packaging forms the last link in the chain of production, storage, marketing and distribution, it still plays an important role in delivering the contents safe from the ‘‘farm gate to the consumer plate.’’ Increase in production can have an impact on the consumer only when the food is wholesome, unadulterated and available under hygienic conditions at an economical price.

Fruit trees like ber, aonla, jamun, tamarind, custard apple, bael, lasora, phalsa, ker, pilu, etc well suited for arid environment, remained under exploited owing particularly to lack of appreciation of their quality as fruits, their economic potential and above all due to non-availability of the needed technology for their profitable cultivation. Because of their curative properties, these fruits have been used in Indian system of medicine such as Ayurvedic and Unani since time immemorial. Apart from their nutritive and medicinal values, quite a few of these underutilized fruits have excellent flavour and very attractive colour. In spite of these quality attributes, most have not undergone any conscious phase of domestication and human selection. Their cultivation is very restricted and they grow mainly wild. Being tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses, these fruit species are suitable for growing in the disaster- and drought-prone areas.India has a rich heritage of indigenous fruit types. Significant advances have been made in recent times towards providing technology support for their cultivation.

Introduction

Foods deteriorate in quality due to a wide range of reactions that may be physical, chemical or biological. The various forms of spoilage and food poisoning caused by micro-organisms are preventable to a large degree by a number of preservation techniques, most of which act by preventing or slowing microbial growth. These include freezing, chilling, drying, curing, conserving, vacuum packing, modified atmosphere packing, acidifying, fermenting, and adding preservatives. Thermal processes such as blanching, pasteurization or heat sterilization have long been employed in practice as economic, efficient, reliable and safe food preservation methods.

Introduction

Food processing is an important sector in agriculture, the scope of which has increased manifold that can help to prevent wastage of perishable commodities to a great extent. But, at the same time, the food processing industries generate a large quantity and variety of food products, provide employment to a large number of people and uplift their economic status. The production, processing and preparation of food, all results in generation of huge quantity of waste material causing health hazards due to environmental pollution. The waste material may be in the form of leaf/ straw, waste during harvesting, food preparation waste, after processing waste, unused material as waste, food processing operation waste, etc. The huge wastage of the food material is due to lack of control on such agri-economy practices. So, the disposal of waste material has become a challenge to the processors, as different agencies are pressurizing for an environment friendly treatment of waste material. The utilization of waste for the production of value added products is very important in the management of food processing waste.

Introduction
   
The major land mark in the primary food production is the Green revolution during sixties, eventually leading the country to self-sufficiency in food grains. At present, agriculture and allied sector contributes 22% of GDP in India. Total arable area in India is 184 million hectares contributing a total food grain production of 210.01 million tonnes. Horticultural crops including fruits, vegetables, flowers, plantation crops, spices and medicinal and aromatic plants have emerged as a major economic activity in India. Horticulture crops cover over 20.7  million hectares of area, which is approximately 11.25%  of the total gross cropped area of the country and contributes 18-20% of the gross value of India’s agricultural output. India is the world’s second largest fruit and vegetable producing country accounting for 81.29 million tonnes of fruit and 162.2 million tonnes of vegetables (Annon., 2013).

Introduction

In India, concern for the protection of intellectual properties took place way back in 1911 through the Indian Design Act.  Since then laws (Indian Patent Act, 1970 and its amendments) were enacted for the protection of various intellectual properties. However, the subject matter of intellectual property did not receive attention in agricultural sector, although scientists and farmers have been developing new plant varieties for almost the entire part of our agricultural history.  The development of new crop varieties on a scientific basis began only in the last 50 years with advanced knowledge of genetics and plant breeding. The entry of genetics into plant breeding resulted in major advances culminating in the development of high yielding hybrids and varieties. Indian agriculture witnessed the arrival of hybrids and high yielding crop varieties in the 1960s, during the Green Revolution.

Demand and Supply of Horticulture Produce

India’s horticulture production rose 30 per cent in the last five years — an impressive rise, considering growth in the preceding five years stood at about 23 per cent. India is currently producing 257.2 million tonnes of horticulture produce from an area of 23 million ha.The area under horticulture grew by about 3.8% per annum but production rose by 7.6% per annum. Improvement in productivity of horticultural crops was noted by about 28% between 2001-02 and 2011-12. Of the 140 million farmers in the country, horticulture engages about 20 million and also contributes about 30 per cent of India’s agricultural GDP. Horticulture contributes 37% of total exports of Agricultural commodities. India is among the foremost countries in horticulture production, just behind China.

Introducton

The Working Group Report of Fifth Assessment Report 2013, by UN’s Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says, that to limit warming to a rise of 2ºC above pre industrial levels, 1000 gigatones (trillion tons) is the upper limit of CO₂ that can be emitted. However, by 2011, we have already emitted 531 gigatones since last 260 yrs and in next 25 years, we will cross 1000 gigatones limit. There is a clear long-term global warming trend. Notably, the 20 warmest years have all occurred since 1981, and the 10 warmest have all occurred in the past 12 years.

Weeds are unwanted and undesirable plants which interfere with the utilization of land and water resources and thus adversely affect human welfare. They can also be referred as plants out of place. Weeds rank first among different agricultural pests causing crop loss. About 30,000 species of weeds have been listed in the world, out of which 18,000 cause serious damage in different ways resulting in considerable loss to agricultural production.

Introduction

Insect pests cause enormous loss to horticultural crops through direct and indirect invasion on various plant parts. It is estimated from the available information in the literature that there are about 1000 insect pests species on about 100 major and minor horticultural crops in India (Sharma et al., 2011).  The yield and quality of produce are central system point to the sustainable horticultural production. If not properly managed, pests can dramatically reduce crop yield, quality and subsequent returns. We invest a lot of time, money and natural resources into growing horticultural crops. Good pest management could protect this investment from avoidable losses.

Introduction

Agriculture in general and horticulture in particular are highly vulnerable to year-to-year climatic variability. Farmers and other decision makers in agriculture make decisions based on their understanding of general climatic patterns for their regions. Crops are constantly threatened by pests such as insects and nematodes, as well as diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses and other micro-organisms. However, depending on weather conditions, the severity is very variable from year to year and often control strategies are applied without considering the climatic variability. Moreover, following the global climate change predictions, meteorological conditions triggering pest population/disease infection cycles are destined to increase, leading to consequent increase of the pests/diseases pressure. Sustainable plant protection strategies rely on weather and climate related pest and disease forecasting models in order to:

Introduction

Integrated disease management in horticultural crops are of paramount importance these days, keeping in view that a single management practice cannot control multiple diseases in a particular agro ecological system. It is therefore worthwhile that all management practices are integration of cultural, physical, biological and chemical control strategies. The routine application of fungicides for insurance purposes is not appropriate, as it does not focus the proper attention on the real problem and can lead to resistance and potential environmental issues. Fungal, bacterial, viral diseases cause a great damage to the horticultural crops thus resulting in economic losses to the farmers. The extent of damage varies from year to year, location wise and variety involved. The pathogens responsible for causing diseases affect the crop at various stages of their development right from seedling stage to harvest. The manifestation of a disease can be in the form of different symptoms viz., damping off, leaf spot, blight, wilt, etc. It is thus important to properly identify a particular disease in a crop on knowledgeable basis to reach a particular end of profitability. As such, a proper disease diagnosis is of paramount importance.

Introduction
  
Horticultural production can be highly profitable, increase employment opportunities, and bring about increasing commercialization of the rural sector. Horticulture thus has a role to play in a world where 1.1 billion people continue to live in extreme poverty on less than US$1 a day and another 1.6 billion who live between one and two dollars per day (Von Braun et al., 2004). While in past, priority to achieving self sufficiency in food grain production in our country, over the years, horticulture has emerged as an indispensable part of agriculture, offering a wide range of choices to the farmers for crop diversification. It also provides ample opportunities for sustaining large number of agro-industries which generate substantial employment opportunities. The horticulture sector contributes around 28% of the GDP from about 13.08% of the area and 37 % of the total exports of agricultural commodities (Annon, 2007).

The Indian arid and semi-arid regions are characterized by immature, structure less, coarse textured soils with low water holding capacity and poor nutrient status. The moisture deficit conditions dominate for a long time throughout the year, which acts as the major limiting factor for establishment and growth of woody plant. Due to harsh edapho-climatic conditions, arable crop production is risky in arid and semi arid regions and threatening the agriculture, under such situation, horticulture based cropping system is considered effective strategy for improving productivity, employment oppornitues and nutritional security. Most of the cropping systems operating in the limited irrigated    area of arid ecosystems have very high water requirement and are highly unsustainable, hence location specific models have to be developed involving fruit crops, multipurpose tree species and arable crops in an agri-silvi-horti production system for increasing irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), productivity, profitability and sustainability of the system. An attempt has been made to present the status of available research data on some of horticulture based farming systems for arid and semi arid regions

Introduction

Production system under arid and semi-arid region faces several biophysical constraints (high solar radiation, low and erratic rainfall, high wind velocity, poor soil conditions, etc.). Availability of irrigation water and irrigation potential in these regions are meager. Nutrition, food security and sufficient livelihood options based on agriculture are the major challenges of the people living in these regions. Sustainable productivity in these regions cannot be achieved by monoculture of either seasonal or forage crops, and thus hinges the need for diversifying the cropping pattern through fruit based cropping system which has good potential particularly in the arid and semi-arid regions. Because hunger and malnutrition are often linked to poverty, providing economic opportunities through horticultural production not only helps family incomes, but also addresses food security and nutrition. Thus, cropping system approach for agricultural production has greater significance in these regions.

Introduction

The green revolution technologies involving the greater use of synthetic agrochemicals with adoption of nutrient responsive, high yielding varieties of crops have boosted the production output. However, this increase in production has slowed down and in some cases there are indications of decline in growth of productivity and production. Environmental and health problems associated with agriculture. These questions have given rise to a process of serious thinking to safeguard the environment and the quality produce.

Introduction

India is the second most populous country in the world. The per capita cultivable land resource is shrinking day by day. To meet the food, fibre, fuel, fodder, and other needs of the growing population, the productivity of agricultural land has necessarily to be increased. It requires increased use of agricultural inputs like quality seeds, fertilizers, water, agro-chemicals, etc. in such a manner that do not create any environmental problems.

Plant needs different chemical elements to grow and thrive. The most important chemical elements include (i) carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which are basic life building blocks and are available in plenty from air and water (ii) nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which are the macro nutrients and affect the plant growth significantly (iii) sulfur, calcium, and magnesium as secondary nutrients and (iv) boron, chloride, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc as micronutrients in very small quantities.

What is Precision Farming?

It is information and technology based farm management system to identify, analyze and manage variability within fields for optimum profitability, sustainability and protection of the land resource without disturbing the environment. It is basically means adding the right amount of treatment at the right time and right location within a field.

Introduction

Plant hormones (also known as phytohormones) are chemicals that regulate plant growth, which are termed ‘plant growth substances’. Plant hormones are signal molecules produced within the plant and occur in extremely low concentrations. Plant hormones are small, simple molecules of diverse chemical composition: indole compounds, terpenes, adenine derivatives, steroids, aliphatic hydrocarbons and derivatives of carotenoids or fatty acids. In the context of rooted habit and iterative mode of growth, plant hormones are not produced in specialized glands, but in most parts of the plants. Plant hormones are required in minicule quantities and their concentrations at sites of activity are precisely regulated. Changes in hormones concentration and tissue sensitivity mediate a whole range of development processes in plants, many of which involve interaction with environmental factors. First five hormones discovered from the plants were gibberellins, abscisic acid, cytokinins, indole-3-acetiv acid, and ethylene as well as some compound shown more recently to have a regulatory role in plant development, namely, brassinosteroids, polyamines, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid.

Introduction

Plant needs nutrients for their growth and development. In a systemic agriculture, nutrients are supplied to the plant in different amount, form and time for the economic and optimum crop production. Green revolution realized in the late sixties of the last century is an outcome of efficient use of improved varieties and nutrient management. Success of the green revolution has increased use of chemical fertilizers in the post green revolution era. Soon the chemical fertilizers become indispensible from all the crops including vegetable and plantation crops. Non judicious use of chemicals in the agriculture has lead to the serious health, soil and environmental hazards. Biofertilizers are considered to be the most safe, promising and economic component of sustainable agriculture. Biofertilizer is a substance which contains living or latent microorganisms which, when applied to seed, plant root or soil, colonizes the rhizosphere or the interior of the plant and promotes growth by providing and essential nutrients or increasing the supply or availability of primary nutrients to the host plant. They can applied in all the agronomic, horticultural and plantation crops.