eChapters

The maximum water holding capacity is the amount of water, expressed as percentage on oven dry basis held by a soil when it is completely saturated with water. At this moisture content, all the pore spaces are completely filled with water.

The lime requirement (LR) of an acid soil is the amount of lime needed to neutralize the acidity from an initial condition to some target soil pH, like 7.0. Different methods are used to calculate a LR for specific soils. Lime requirement tests will always recommend adding enough lime to neutralize all the acidity associated with soil pH, much of the salt-replaceable acidity, and some of the residual acidity.

The statement is still valid as long as it is understood that in an aqueous solution the substances involved are subject to dissociation, which changes the ionization state of the substances. 

The Kjeldahl method is mainly divided into three main steps. This method needs to be carried out in proper sequence. 

Olsen P were found to bear a quadratic relationship, with Olsen’s extractant underestimating the content in phytoavailable P of soils with high Olsen P contents relatively to soils with low contents. The ‘‘change point’’ at which phytoavailable P began to increase rapidly per unit change in Olsen P was 53 mg Olsen P kg–1 soil. For the acid soils, a significant quadratic relationship was found between the amount of P desorbed to water and Olsen P at the three soil:solution ratios studied.

Potassium is extracted from the soil with the help of suitable extractant CH3COONH4 by shacking followed by filtration or centrifugation & is determined in the extract using flame photometer. The analysis photometer is based on the measurement of the intensity of characteristic lime emission given by the element to be determined .

Reagents

• Buffer solution : Dissolve 67.5 g of Ammo. Chloride in 200 ml distilled water. Add 570 ml Ammonium solution. The volume make up to 1 ltr.

• EBT : 0.2 g in 25 ml methanol.

Soil is shaken with 0.15 % CaCl2 solution. Chloride ions displace adsorbed sulphate during extraction. Calcium ions suppress the extraction of soil organic matter and hence eliminate the contamination caused by extractable organic S.

Procedure

• Take 1 g soil in a 50 ml beaker

• Add 25 ml 1M KCL solution 

Take 1 g phenolpathalin powder in a 100 ml volumetric flask. Then add volume up to 100 ml by ethanol (Ethyl alcohol).

Digestion Mixure : This is a mixture of two salt. That is potassium sulfate and cupper sulfate with 9:1 ratio (90 g Potassium sulfate + 10 g Copper sulphate).

100 ppm ‘P’ : By dissolving oven dry KH2 PO4 salt. Take 0.4393 gm of KH2 PO4 and volume to 1 ltr that gives 100 ppm ‘P’.

Take 5 ml/2.5 ml aliquot in a 25 ml volumetric flask.

6.25 HNO3 (for 2 ltr) : Take 181 ml of conc HNO3 and diluted to 2 ltr in a volumetric flask.

Aim : To determine the Calcium in plant sample.

Aim : To determine the Magnesium in plant sample.

Kerria japonica var. pleniflora Witte. (Rosaceae): Eng.- Jew’s Mallow / Japanese Rose [NI]. A deciduous ornamental shrub with vigorous and upright green shoots; alternate, ovate, pointed, sharply toothed, bright green leaves; produces very attractive, solitary, pompon like, double yellow flowers in April.

Quercus baloot Griffith (Fagaceae): Eng.- Holy Oak; Kash.- Jamal Gota/ Baloote Kashmir [W/UC]. A small rounded evergreen tree. Leaves are coriaceous, oblong-ovate to lance shaped, entire or with spiny -toothed margins. Acorns oblong-ovoid to nearly rounded, solitary or in groups of 2 or 3. Grows as a hard wood element of forests. Also grown as ornamental.

Ulmus parvifolia Jacq. (Ulmaceae): Eng. – Chinese Elm; Ladakhi Shampoo Tree / Yumbuk [W]. A small to medium deciduous tree growing upto 12 m tall, across the region as a temperate woody element. Leaves leathery, toothed and lustrous green. Trunk has a handsome, flaking bark of mottled greys with tans and reds. Also used as a landscape tree. In Ladakh the bark of the plant used as shampoo to promote hair growth.

Waldhemia glabra (Decne.) Regel. (Asteraceae): Eng.- Smooth Ground Daisy [W] A tufted mat forming, aromatic high altitude plant of drier areas of Kashmir Himalaya at 4000-5000 m altitudes. Leaves wedge shaped and bluntly 3-5 lobed, occur in rosettes. Flower heads solitary on stems, pink to purple ray florets, disc florets yellow. Whole plant used for rheumatism.

Xanthium strumarium L. (Asteraceae): Eng.- Common Cocklebur; Kash.- Tcheere [W]. An annual herb usually inhabiting disturbed soils. Leaves simple, alternate. Flower heads are borne in leaf axils and have disc florets only.

Youngia tenuifolia (Willd.) Babc. & Stebb. (Asteraceae): Ladakhi– Neu [W]. A perennial herb of high altitude cold arid areas.

Cochan W.G. (1946). Relative Accuracy of Systematic and Stratified Random Sampling for a Certain Class of Populations. Ann. Math. Statist, 17, 164- 177.

Cochan, W.G. (1977). Sampling Technique, 3rd edition, Wiley Eastern Ltd., New Delhi.

Plants are used as medicine since time immemorial. One of the area of Ethnobotany, Ethnopharmacology is considered as the scientific evaluation of traditional medicinal plants (Cotton, 1996). Cox (1994) has suggested that the ethno-directed sampling is most likely to succeed in identifying drugs used in the treatment of gastrointestinal, inflammatory and dermatological complaints. The Plant kingdom is a virtual goldmine of potential drug targets and other active molecules awaiting to be discovered. It has been estimated that only 10 - 15 per cent of the 7,50,000 existing species of higher plants have been surveyed for biologically active compounds.

Phytochemicals from various parts of a plant or tree such as the leaves, the flowers, the seeds, the barks, the roots and the shrubs can be isolated. Once one comes in from collecting plants in the field, it is good idea to freeze them immediately in a freezer at – 20°C or a commercial freezer held at – 80°C (Kaufman et al., 1999). According to Harborne (1984, 1998), fresh plant tissues should be used for phytochemical analysis and the material should be plunged into boiling alcohol within minutes of its collection. Alternatively, plants may be dried before extraction.

Technical Term      Definition

Drainage               Removal and disposal of excess water from agricultural lands is referred as drainage.

Objectives

1. To know the propagation and its methods.
2. To know the propagation methods of various spices and condiments.

Propagation of plants

The process of increasing plant numbers is called propagation

Or

Multiplication of plants is known as propagation

Plants are propagated either by

1. Sexual (Seed) or
2. Asexual (vegetative) methods.

Objectives

1. To know about value addition and its benefits.
2. To know the value added products of various spices and condiments.

Value addition: The maximum realization of the price of the product through processing, packaging and marketing.

Benefits of value added products over raw spices

1. Easy to carry
2. Long lasting flavours
3. More volume can be handled / per unit area
4. Easy to store, free from bacterial contamination.
5. Increases foreign exchange as they are used in food industry, preservatives and pharmaceutical industry.

Objectives

1. To identify the morphological character of different spices and condiments.
2. To know the best variety of particular crop in that region.
3. To know the problems which are the main drawback of that region in the cultivation of spices and condiments.
4. To know the feedback of farmers.

General information of Institute

1. Name of Institute:
2. Address of the Institute:
3. Establishment year of the institute:
4. Director of the Institute:
5. Total area of the Institute:
6. Climatic condition of Institute:

A ‘spice’ is a seed, fruit, root, bark, bulb, corm, rhizome or any other part of a plant primarily used for enhancing the taste, flavor or color of food. Some spices serve as preservative of food substances. Many spices have antimicrobial properties. Spices are sometimes used in medicines, religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumes etc. Spices are more commonly used in countries having warmer climates, especially in meat preparations. Many spices have substantial antioxidant property due to the presence of phenol compounds, particularly flavanoids.

India is the major producer of spices and contributes about 75 per cent of world’s spice production. Developing and under developed countries of the world supply about 55 per cent of spices to the global markets and the major markets in global spice trade are the United States of America, The European Union, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

Plants have been used by man from prehistoric times to relieve from suffering and to cure various ailments. Primitive people, when injured in battle or when they had a fall or cut, they instinctively resorted to materials available at hand for staunching the flow of blood or for the relieving of pain and, by trial and error, they learnt that certain plants were more effective than others when used for these purposes. Man has also gained such knowledge from his observation of birds and animals that have been using plants for curing their ailments. Even today, we find that the domestic dog and cat, when they suffer from indigestion or other ailments, run to the field, chew some grasses or herbs and get cured. The folk medicines of almost all the countries of the world abound in medicinal plants and tribal people wherever they exist, rely chiefly on herbal medicine, even today.

Today, chemical and pharmaceutical investigations have added a great deal of status to the use of medicinal plants by revealing the presence of the active principles and their actions on human and animal systems. Investigations in the field of Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology have supplied valuable information on medicinal plants with regard to their availability, botanical properties, and method of cultivation, collection, storage, commerce and therapeutic uses. All these have contributed towards their acceptance in modern medicine and their inclusion in the pharmacopeias of civilized nations.

19.1 Python Turtle Graphics

Turtle is a special feathers of Python. Using Turtle, we can easily draw in a drawing board.

First we import the turtle module. Then create a window, next we create turtle object and using turtle method we can draw in the drawing board.

19.2 Some Turtle Method

Example

from turtle import *

t = Turtle() #object in python

wn=Screen()

wn.title(?my first graphic”)

wn.bgcolor(?yellow”) #color filling in window

t.shape(?turtle”) #turtle shape given

t.color(?red”, “green”)

Since shrimps live and grow in water, water quality has an impact on their growth and survival. Water of good quality means that the parameters influencing shrimp growth and survival rates are within the optimal range of shrimp requirements. Each water quality parameter can have a direct impact on the health of the animals. Shrimp suffer from stress and disease when exposed to improper levels of dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nitrite, or hydrogen sulphide. Water quality parameters, however, influence each other in the complex and dynamic environment of aquaculture ponds. 

The preservation methods used for water samples differ depending on the experiment to be performed, and they are as follows:

Interactions of different chemical components affect water quality in shrimp ponds.

Many chemistry principles are abstract (for example, carbonatebicarbonate buffering) and difficult to grasp. However, a fundamental understanding of the concepts and chemistry underlying the interactions of pH, CO2 , alkalinity, and hardness is required for an effective and profitable pond management. It is impossible to avoid; water quality is water chemistry.

The fi rst symptom of disease appears in early spring soon after leaves come out of buds. Affected leaves become distorted and fold over as tips directed backwards. The whole lamina puckered except tip and blistered. In some leaves, part of leaf show distortion. Blistered portions are thicker, softer than the normal leaf blade. The affected areas remain green for a while and gradually become yellow and fi nally turn reddish-purple in colour. 

It is known by different names such as Ramularia leaf spot, rust, bird’s eye spot, grey spots, and white spot. It mostly attacks leaves but can also attack fruit stalks and also fruits.

The symptom appears as numerous, circular, light yellow to dark yellow spots on both the surfaces of leaves but is more prominent on the upper surface. The spot may coalesce to form large, irregular patches and soon entire leaf turns yellow and dries. Affected leaves appear as reddish-brown in colour. Excessive spotting destroys green tissues and becomes weak and yield reduced drastically

The disease appears as tumour like swelling or galls on leaf veins, leaf stalks, peduncles, stems and on fruits. The galls on the vein give a swollen and hanging appearance to the leaves. These are elongated, looks glossy in beginning but later rupture to become rough and corky. When stems remain succulent, numerous tumours may form on them. In severe case, the plant may kill prematurely.

The nematode feeding on plant can be divided into above ground feeders and below ground feeders.

Apart from insects, pests and diseases, physiological disorders are one of the major threats to fruit industry which cause financial losses global. Over-all, the problems rise due to unfavorable environmental conditions and improper cultural practices which affect the normal plant growth and development is called as physiological disorders of plant. Ladaniya (2008) stated that the physiological disorder is that it is a function of physiological processes fruit tissue abnormality or failure due to abiotic stress, such as temperature, relative humidity, water stress, chemicals/ nutritional excess and deficiency.

Bronzing is a complex nutritional condition in guava (Psidium guajava L.). It manifests in the interveinal tissue of older leaves as bronze or copper colour development, while terminal leaves remain green. This is attributable to the inadequacy of elements P, K and Zn. Bad management and low soil fertility coupled with soil acidity are often due to it.

Internal necrosis has been observed in Aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) fruits. Francis cultivar, preceded by Banarsi, is highly susceptible. The symptoms begin with browning of the inner majority of the mesocarpic tissue in the 2nd or 3rd week of September at the time of endocarp hardening, which later spreads to the epicarp, resulting in brownish black flesh appearance. Internal fruit necrosis is associated with boron deficiency during the fruit development.

Fruit cracking is an important physiological disorder found in some commercial cultivars of Bael (Aegle marmelos), which occurs just before the ripening stage. It is correlated with abrupt changes, such as temperature and humidity, in weather conditions. Heavy irrigation or precipitation is also one of the causes of this disease after prolonged drought.

The normal blooming stem on the greenhouse rose has fully developed sepals, petals and reproductive organs. The inability to build a bloom at the apical end of the stem is a typical phenomenon which in such shoots is termed blind. There are sepals and petals; however, they are not complete or aborted in the reproductive portions.

Leaves in the centres appear bleached and may have brown edges. Shade should be provided to reduce the light level to 1800-2500-foot candles to control this problem.