eBook Chapters

Introduction

Present work report the study on Jakekur dam situated 4 km. from Omerga

The degradation of dam has occurred not only due to influents inflow but also by sanitation, domestic sewage, agricultural waste, and other activities around the dam like washing cloths, cattle, vehicles, and dumping of solid waste. Apart from it a large number of heavy metals is contributed by corrosion of metal pipe, runoff water from surrounding area during rainy season discharge of decorative paints in water bodies.

Geographical and morphological features of Jakekur dam.

Catchments area : 2110 hector

Gross storage : 10.17 TM C

Full reservoir level : 10 meter.

Length of the dam : 21.25 km.

Height of the dam : 14.80 meter.

ABSTRACT

Bacopa monnieri (L.) or Herpestis monniera, commonly known as brahmi, purifies the blood, and is useful in scabies, leucoderma, syphilis, diarrhoea and pyresis. As Brahmi is a major ingredient in several ayurvedic preparations, there is growing demand for steady supply of planting materials. Conventional propagation methods are less efficient than in vitro propagation. However, there are only a few reports on the in vitro propagation of this plant. Therefore, an attempt was made to evolve an improved protocol for the in vitro propagation of Bacopa. Shoot tips and nodal buds along with a portion of the stem excised from field grown disease free plants were taken as the explants. After three weeks of establishment on MS basal medium, the sterile cultures were sub-cultured on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of BA (0.5,1.0 and 1.5mg l^-1). Rooting was induced on in vitro proliferated shoots by culturing on MS basal medium with NAA 1.0 mg l^-1 and IBA 0.5 mg l^-1. Treatments with BA 1.0 mg l^-1 and IAA 1.5 mg l^-1 recorded the maximum number of shoots (40.9 and 35.2, respectively). The height of the shoots was also significantly influenced by the concentrations of IAA (1.5 or 1.0 mg l^-1) in combination with BA (1.0 mg l^-1), recording 5.4 and 5.5 cm. The shoots with an average length of 3.0 to 4.0 cm were kept for rooting. NAA (1.0 mg l^-1) in combination with IBA (0.1, 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 mg l^-1) produced significantly greater number of roots. The length of the roots was also greater in this treatment. The plantlets were transferred to pots in a greenhouse and later to the field with ninety per cent survival.

Introduction

In Puducherry, the first KVK was founded in 1974. In the newly constructed districts and several larger districts, 106 additional KVKs will be established, bringing the total number of KVKs to 645. KVKs are approved for use by Agricultural Universities, ICAR Institutes, associated Government Departments, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) engaged in agriculture. The KVK initiative is fully funded by the Government of India. KVK, which is a crucial component of NARS, aims to evaluate location-specific technology modules in agricultural and related companies through technology assessment, refinement, and demonstrations. As a knowledge and resource centre for agricultural technology, KVKs have supported public, private, and non-profit sector efforts aimed at enhancing the district’s agricultural economy(1).

The KVK’s mandate has changed from vocational training to technology assessment and demonstration for its application and capacity building in a district in preparation for its growing contribution to NARES in India. Though technologies were developed at ICAR Research Centres or State Agricultural Universities, KVK carried out location-specific technology assessments, micro location refinements on farms with genuine problems, and final technology certification for widespread adoption by farmers(2).

8. Introduction

The idea of sustainable development stands on the concept of maintaining the best possible environment within the availability of minimal resources and for the convenience of the society. Now-a-day the term “sustainability” gained a lot of attention due to challenges and problems faced in tackling the current situation of global pollution. One of the vital areas of research needs to be addressed in concern with sustainable development is the new innovations to enhance sustainability (Silvestre and Silva, 2014). 

Throughout the history of Indian agriculture, the contribution of farmers to agricultural technology development and dissemination has been very significant. Farmers’ practices are useful not only for scientific technology development, but also for sustainable agricultural development. Rural economy will sustain only when it effectively utilise the available local resources. But recent agricultural development witnessed that those modern agricultural practices slowly replacing the farmers’ practices. In this juncture the basic challenge for sustainable agriculture is to make better use of these internal resources. This can be done by minimizing the external inputs used, by regenerating internal resources more effectively or by combinations of both (Rolling and Pretty, 1997).

ABSTRACT

The commencement of the 21^st century has endorsed an extended requirement for safe and wholesome food. The fact is that consumer preferences, awareness and their concern towards food safety have been tremendously increased. Therefore, inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms through any treatment becomes essential for food processors to ensure that food is free from disease causing microorganisms and parallelly unaltered with respect to its organoleptic, functional and nourishing characteristic. Food industries predominantly adopt thermal inputs for the preservation of food. Thermal methods, however, lead to unfavourable changes in organoleptic and nutritional attributes, more particularly proteins and vitamins. Hence, there has been continuous development and advances in finding alternatives to conventional processing. Cold plasma technology is one such technique. Plasma can be defined as a quasi-neutral ionised gas and is more commonly termed as 4^th state of matter. Advances in plasma engineering have made it possible to generate plasma at atmospheric pressure which ultimately resulted in broadening the spectra of research on cold plasma at various interfaces of biological sciences. This chapter summarises the overview of cold plasma technology processing, numerous findings related to its application in the area of food decontamination, food fortification, seed germination, milk and milk products and modification of starches.

Keywords: cold plasma, non-thermal, plasma chemistry, fortification, modification, germination, plasma generation, novel

North East India is a hub of ethnomedicinal diversity. Nearly 8,000 flowering plants are distributed and approximately 200 ethnic tribes and subtribes reside in the region. The cross-cultural diversity of the ethnic tribes and subtribes has enriched the ethnomedicinal practice in the region. Due to inaccessible terrains the ethnomedicinal practices are mostly confined to this region than the rest part of the country.More than 175 dialects are practiced in NE India. The ethnomedicinal documentation of the region in universally accepted languages was started in early 21^st century. The ethnomedicinal documentation requires multidisciplinary aspects viz., correct identification of plant species, updated nomenclature, geographical area of occurrence, IUCN status, conservational approach, vernacular names of the species, formulations, documentation of traditional knowledge informants, medicine men, specific indications of treatments, mode of preparation, mode of consumption etc, Optimum and sustainable utilization of ethomedicinal practice holds a good future for economic and societal development of the region. An insight covering various factors like challenges, scopes, legislative modalities of ethnomedicinal practices are discussed here along with a compiled list of commonly used ethnomedicinal species of the region.

Introduction

21^st century challenges like climate change, water scarcity, increasing world population, rising food prices, and other socio-economic impacts are expected to generate a great threat to agriculture and food security worldwide, especially for the poorest people who live in arid and sub-arid regions. Millet is one of the oldest foods known to humans and possibly the first cereal grain to be used for domestic purposes. Millet has been used in Africa and India as a staple food for thousands of years. Typical grain texture and hard seed coat of millets increase their keeping quality but make them difficult to process as well as to cook in convenient form. Absence of appropriate primary processing technologies to prepare ready-to-use or ready-to-cook (RTC) products and also the secondary as well as tertiary processing technologies to prepare ready-to-eat value added products from millets are the major limiting factors for their diversified food uses.

Millets have relatively poor digestibility and low bio-availability of minerals due to the presence of inherent anti-nutritional factors. The difficulties in millet grain processing present a challenge but nutritional as well as health benefits and consumer demand for health foods provide opportunities in processing, develop suitable technology for newer products and process mechanization. This change in technology and consumer food preference would help in increasing the area under millets, maintaining ecological balance, ensuring food security, prevent malnutrition and increase the scope for utilization of millet grains on industrial scale.

Abstract

The pressure due to increase in world population necessitates an increase in agricultural production and this warrants the vital importance of research in plant and soil productivity. Applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have resulted in soil pollution, desertification and salinisation which disrupted the agriculture production. A suitable microbial technology to improve the soil health and plant productivity has been invented. Increase in the use of bacterial fertilizers substantially reduced the use of chemical fertilizers. Similarly invention of specific antagonistic microbes which control pathogen and stimulate plant growth resulted in lesser use of agrochemicals. Selection, development and application of such microbial strains to the agronomic crops resulted improving the fertility of such affected soil. The studies on plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on the growth and nutrient uptake of various plants have been well studied. Presently, it has been found that the use of beneficial microbes can enhance the resistance ability to adverse stresses. Some mechanisms by which the beneficial microorganisms are able to stimulate plant growth and arrest plant pathogens include mobilization of nutrients, production of phytohormones, siderophores, organic acids, nitrogen fixation, lowering of ethylene levels in plants and antagonism. Here the recent developments that have been taken place on the interaction between plants and PGPR and their mechanism of action resulting in enhanced agriculture production and soil fertility are discussed.

1. Introduction

The aquaculture industry is a rapidly expanding domain of food production worldwide. With the exponential growth of the human population, there has been a corresponding rise in the demand for natural resources. Therefore, all technologies aim to maximize food production. The widespread expansion of aquaculture, especially in coastal areas, increases the load of biomass in the culture water and presents enduring ecological hazards. (Piedrahita 2003; Sharifinia et al., 2018, 2019).

The primary challenge confronted by aquaculturists as a result of rapid intensification of the system is the quality of water. Consequently, there has been a surge in eco-friendly management and cultivation practices. Additionally, the development of aquaculture is limited by high land costs and its heavy reliance on fish oil and fish meal (Browdy et al., 2001; De Schryver 2008). Nevertheless, the sector continues to exhibit limited productivity, which is primarily attributed to inadequate quality inputs and substandard culture technologies. With substantial operating and maintenance expenses, the acceptance of recirculating systems among farmers, specifically in developing nations, is limited. Hence, there is a growing requirement for an affordable, environmentally friendly technology that is embraced by farmers and can be widely implemented (Ahmad et al., 2017; Karimanzira et al., 2017). There is growing interest in enclosed aquaculture systems, primarily driven by the biosecurity, environmental, and marketing benefits they offer compared to traditional, semi-intensive, and extensive systems (Ray, 2012).

ABSTRACT

An integrated geological, hydrogeological and geophysical analyses have been made to delineate groundwater potential zones in the Omalur Panchayat Union, Salem district, Tamilnadu. Sarabanga river is a major stream originating from western slope of Shevaroy hills. The tributaries are essentially consequent types. They are ephemeral in nature and the flow is restricted to the monsoon seasons. The flows of the streams are controlled by lineaments. Low drainage density, stream frequency and low relief indicate relatively high recharges and low runoff. The main lithological units are unclassified gneiss, grantite, charnockite, younger ultramafic rocks and recent alluvium. Ten vertical electrical soundings (VES) were carried out using Schlumberger electrode configuration. The maximum depth of investigation was 150meters when the electrode spread was generally in steps of 5 meters interval up to 50 meters and 10 meter intervals up to 150 meters. The field data were interpreted with the help of inverse slope method. Inverse slope field graphs reveal that in most of the locations, the aquifer consistsof five layers and third and fourth layersare normally weathered and highly fractured layers. These layers have attained a thickness range from 10 to 60 meters at the Tholasampatti, Sikkampatti, Pagalpatti and Sakkaraichettipatti. Correlation between the result of the VES data and the well lithology will be very useful in evolving ground water potential zones. Bore wells, dug wells in this area are normally sinking type wells. It will receive water only from the weathered, fissured and fractured zones which act as a favorable layers zones for tapping groundwater.

Taxonomic Classification of Common Livestock Species

A series of terms (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species etc) is used to denote the member of a kingdom and each division of the hierarchy contains one or more groups from the next lower division like subphyla, subclasses, suborders, subfamilies, or subgenera etc if required. Further, species may be subdivided into varieties, breeds, or strains. Domestic farm animals belong to either class Mammalia or Aves. The scientific name of an animal comprise of its genus and species names. The first letter of genus name is written in capital letter but not the species name. While writing the scientific name of an animal the genus and species names are underlined when handwritten and always italicized when printed. General characteristics and taxonomic arrangements of common domestic animals have been given below.

Kingdom : Animalia

Members of kingdom Animalia are multicellular, eukaryotic heterotrophs. Adult animals develop from embryos. Most animals ingest and digest their food in some kind of internal cavity.

1. Introduction

Bryophytes are atracheate, archegoniate non-flowering group of highly diversified plants. Among plants they form the second largest group comprising of 15000 – 25,000 species (Gradstein et al. 2001, Crum 2001). They occur in every continent on globe, in every location habitable by photosynthetic plants and grow luxuriantly between altitude of 1000-3500m. In India, nearly 850 species of liverworts, 41 species of hornworts and 2000 species of mosses, such as are known so far (Singh 1997, Vohra and Aziz 1997). These plants exhibit a variable range of size as some of them are only 0.5-2 mm in size, while on the other end mosses Polytrichum commune and Dawsonia superba can attain a height of 50 and 70 cm, respectively. These plants play a vital role in soil conservation and formation of fertile substrata for other plants in forest ecosystem. On account of unique moisture retaining capacity, Sphagnum and other pleurocarpous mosses are being used as mulching substances, moss grass, moss sticks and bags in horticulture industry. These plants are very sensitive to environmental pollution due to simple structure and devoid of cuticle, and accumulate heavy metals too, hence serve as good bio-monitor of pollution. Some novel compounds viz., marchantin, riccardin, lunularic acid, terpenes and other phenolic compounds have been detected in several thalloid as well as leafy liverworts.

Bryophytes exhibit heteromorphic alternation of generations in which the gametophytic phase (haploid phase) is a prominent and nutritionally self- sufficient independent phase in the life cycle while the sporophyte (diploid phase) is attached and dependent on the gametophyte. The main plant body (Gametophyte) is either thalloid or leafy (differentiated into axis and leaves). They are attached to substratum by simple hair like structures called as rhizoids. The rhizoids are usually unicellular, simple (smooth walled) in hornworts; simple, tuberculate or sinuate in liverworts or multicellular, oblique septate in mosses. Sex organs, antheridia and archegonia produce antherozoids and eggs respectively. After fertilization the zygote is formed which develops into the sporophyte. The sporophyte consists of foot, seta and capsule. The foot is embedded in the gametophytic tissue and draws nourishment for the development of sporophyte. Seta is generally stalk like may be of variable length which holds the capsule. The capsule is the main fertile portion of the sporophytic generation. The spore mother cells, after meiotic division, form spore tetrads having haploid spores. The elater mother cells form elaters, which are sterile and help in the dispersal of spores. Bryophytes are homosporous. Spores germinate to form young gametophyte in liverworts and hornworts, while in mosses, spores first give rise to protonema then buds develop on the protonema to form new gametophytes.

Downy mildew is refered to a condition of plant disease where the fungal growth and infection appears on the dorsal side of the leaf surface while the corresponding ventral side of the leaf shows faint yellowish color. It is also refered to the fungus which causes this disease.The word mildew in Latin language means mil + dew i.e honey like dews.The fungal growth on plant surface resembles to the milky dews in the beginging which turn to golden brownish honey like dews in later stage. Subsequently the affected areas turn grayish brown and dry. Besides the infection of leaves, the fungus also infects the fruits. The downy mildew infection on fruits causes the deformities on the affected fruits. The infection of the downy mildew pathogen on some of the cereals like pearlmillet causes the symptoms like green ear disease .

Downy mildew pathogens can cause major damage in the nursery, in greenhouse, in field crops and in landscape in the form of leaf spots, blights, and distortions with mildew growth. Downy mildews are primarily foliage blights with mildew growth of the fungus on affected portion. The fungus attack and spread rapidly in young, tender green leaf, twig, and fruit tissues. The fungal development are severe when a film of water is present on the plant tissues and the relative humidity in the air is high during cool or warm, but not hot, periods. Downy mildews can cause severe losses in short periods of time. Downy mildews often cause rapid and severe losses of young crop plants still in the seedbed or in the field. They often destroy from 40 to 90% of the young plants or young shoots in the field, causing heavy or total losses of crop yields. The severity of loss depends on the prolonged presence of wet, cool weather during which the downy mildews fungus sporulate profusely, cause numerous new infections, and spread into and rapidly kill young succulent tissues.

Despite widespread occurrence and its potency to inflict heavy causalities and damage to economy, generalizations could not be made to define “drought” – leave alone characterization, development of predictive model and common mitigation measures. Regional variation, be it definition or symptoms or causative factors or consequences and mitigation measures is the hallmark of drought. This chapter is an attempt to present a review on characteristics of drought for the benefit of devising mitigation and reclamation measures.

INTRODUCTION

“Drought” denotes the meteorological, agricultural, environmental, climatic, social, economic and political consequences of a gap between the water availability and demands for the needs of domestic, irrigational, industrial, commercial and recreational consumption in an area over extended period of time. As these demands vary from region to region and depend on too many parameters such as quantum of rainfall, geological and soil characteristics, land use, population, economic activity, climatic conditions, population and culture, drought conditions of an area may not have characteristics of some other region.

Introduction

Plant pests have been a part of the man’s environment, since ages. Traditional agriculture which included diverse crops and indigenous crop management practices provided little opportunity for the pests to build up and spread rapidly (Smith and Allen,1954). Crop production is constantly threatened by increasing difficulties in controlling insect pests, which are a major impediment to improved livelihoods of the poor farmers. However, in the quest for increasing food production for the growing population, use of pesticides became a norm in crop management. Pesticides became an integral part of the process owing to losses from weeds, diseases and pests reducing the harvestable produce. Use of pesticides along with high yielding varieties, irrigation and improved seed did result in increased productivity. But the rampant use of these chemicals, under the adage, “if little is good, a lot more will be better” has played havoc with human and other life forms.

Introduction

Indian agriculture is in a phase of transition from subsistence to high-tech agribusiness. This has ushered in an era where entrepreneurship is viewed as a strategic intervention in rural development. As a result, promotion of rural enterprises has gained great significance as an instrument for improved farm earnings, employment and women empowerment. It implies development of agriculture through farm diversification, value addition and development of agro-processing industries that provides autonomy, independence and reduced need for social support to the farmers. Improved farm-industry linkages along with great export potential will be added advantages. In this development scenario, agriculture, specifically high value horticultural crops like fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, plantation crops, medicinal and aromatic plants among others that ensure maximum returns to the growers with multiple scopes for value addition hold great promise. In fact, horticultural crops become a necessary condition for improving the living standards of farmers and ensuring nutritional security of the nation. The concept of nutritional security goes beyond food security to include adequate availability of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals in addition to calorie and protein needs of the people supplied through food grains. Therefore, the spectacular increase in food grain production and a reasonable overall agricultural performance has failed to eradicate malnutrition as can be inferred from Table 1. It indicates that the Global Hunger Index (GHI), a more comprehensive tool used to measure and track hunger, ranks India (97 out of 118 developing countries) in the category of serious hunger behind Bangladesh (90/118). More disturbing are the rates of growing malnutrition among Indian households. As such, nutritional security becomes a more relevant indicator of food security as we move up the development ladder

Mountains play a vital role in sustaining about 10 per cent of the world population directly as they are the major source of water supply and majority of rivers originate from these ecosystems thus sustain the life of people residing in the plains. In India hill and mountainous areas are vastly distributed all over the country with the major mountain ranges in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats. The Himalayas are extending in 2500 km length and 250 to 400 km breadth (Khanday et al. 2004). They are further classified in three major categories i.e Western Himalayas (including Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh), Central Himalayas (including eight hill districts of Uttarakhand), North Eastern Himalayas (including Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, hill areas of Assam and Darjeeling district of West Bengal). Whereas Western Ghats also known as Sahyadri including border of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu .

History

Pauling and his colleagues coined the phrase "molecular disease" in 1949, based on their finding that a single amino acid shift in the β-globin chain causes sickle cell anemia, which is characterized primarily by repeated bouts of acute pain due to vessel occlusion. In theory, their discoveries laid the groundwork for molecular diagnoses, though the major breakthrough came many years later. At the time, when molecular biology was only rapidly growing, providing molecular diagnostic services was unthinkable and practically impossible. In the early days of recombinant DNA technology, many scientists from different f ields collaborated to provide the first seedlings of molecular diagnostics.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an outline on the patenting system prevailing in India. 

INTRODUCTION

Ideas and knowledge are increasingly important parts of trade. Most of the value of new medicines and other high technology products lies in the amount of invention, innovation, research, design and testing involved. Hence, protection of such values is paramount. This paper details how these values are protected in India.

Introduction

R language is a popular and versatile tool for hydrological data analysis and visualization, offering several powerful packages for handling and analyzing hydrological parameters such as river flow, precipitation, groundwater levels, and water quality parameters. R language provides a wide range of statistical functions for hydrological parameter analysis, including time-series analysis, frequency analysis, trend analysis, and regression analysis. Moreover, R’s powerful graphics capabilities make it possible to create high-quality and customizable visualizations of hydrological data. In addition to its statistical and graphical capabilities, R also offers a wide range of packages for data manipulation and cleaning, making it a powerful tool for preprocessing hydrological data. R’s ability to handle and analyze large datasets also makes it well-suited for processing and analyzing large hydrological datasets. Furthermore, R has a strong community of developers and users who regularly contribute new packages and tools, providing a constantly evolving stage for hydrological analysis. Overall, R is a versatile and powerful tool for hydrological data analysis and visualization, offering numerous capabilities and resources for informed decision-making in water resources management and related fields.

This chapter reviews the published information on tsunami and attempts to characterize tsunamigenic sediments in terms of their microfossil content. Tsunamisare long-period waves generated by vertical displacements of marine watercolumn due to earthquakes, volcanic explosion and landslides. These waves can exceed heights of 25 meters (in shallow water) and lengths upto 100km with a velocity of more than 1000km/hour. Even at this magnitude, they are undetectable in deeper waters owing to very low wave height which in turn reduces significantly the response time, causing sudden havoc along coasts. They can cause flooding of coastal areas and affect areas thousands of kilometers away from their point of origin. These characteristics of tsunami imprint ensuing sediments with unique assemblage of microfossils.

INTRODUCTION

Shallow water progressive waves with very large wavelength and long duration caused by the rapid displacement of ocean water are called “tsunami”. Tsunami is a sudden non-meteorologically induced impulse in water regardless of size. Tsunamis are formed by submarine tectonic activity more often due to earthquakes and less frequently due to volcanic eruption, landslides near the coast, meteor impact and nuclear explosions.

The velocity of the tsunami varies and depends on many parameters such as bathymetry, height of the originating wave, initial pressure changes in the sea, etc. and can travel at a speed of more than 1000 km/hr. At the place of origin (directly above the epicentre of submarine earthquake or any other causative factor), the wavelength may be upto few tens to several hundred kilometres but the wave height is often less than one metre only. Since the velocity is proportional to the depth of the water column, it gets reduced to few tens of kilometres as the tsunami approaches the coast. However, the wave height increases significantly reaching 100 m in extreme cases. As a result, the tsunami strikes the coast with massive force. The effect is colossal in islands with low relief. The tsunami waves appear as flooding with water rushing inside the land more violently and with great force towards a river course. In several cases, when the tsunami arrives, the water level in the sea may drop significantly and the waters receding several hundred metres come back with great speed drubbing the coastal lands doubly from both the directions. Though an event of short duration in terms of geological history, tsunami deposits, owing to their higher rate of deposition and other salient characteristics, find place in stratigraphic records. This chapter is an attempt to review the characteristics of tsunami and tsunamigenic sediments, to find out the ability of microfossil content of such sediments for characterization and to identify tsunami deposits in stratigraphic records.

Introduction

The vast natural and cultural resources of India contribute to the country's abundant growth. Taking advantage of this, the tourist industry in India has experienced one of the most rapid growth rates seen anywhere in the world. The travel and tourism industry accounts for a significant portion of overall economic growth around the world, and over the past nine years, India's rate of economic expansion has consistently been higher than that of the whole economy. In 2019, the sector expanded at a pace of 3.5 percent, which was much higher than the world GDP growth rate of 2.5 percent. The tourist industry has a considerable bearing on India's overall economic performance. India is ranked as one of the top ten tourist destinations in the world. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) disclosed information indicating that the Indian tourism sector contributed INR 194 billion to India's GDP in 2019. Additionally, the tourism industry in India supported 87.5 million jobs, which accounted for 12.75 percent of total employment. However, for the past two years, due to COVID-19, the tourism sector worldwide, as well as in India, has faced huge losses and is in distress. So, it’s the right time to focus on developing tourism under different wings.

INTRODUCTION

Modern agriculture relies more on monoculture, which is highly energy intensive and has a narrow genetic base. This has disturbed the normal ecosystem and sometime results in disease epidemics. The problem becomes much more serious in case of soil borne pathogens, as soil medium is a highly complex living system and is also the habitat of many micro organisms including the pathogens whose activities are influenced by interaction in it. Many serious plant diseases are associated with soil-borne plant pathogens, which cause root rot, crown rot, damping off, blights, fruit decay and wilts in field and horticultural crops. Soil borne plant pathogens, which are most tricky and challenging ones, cause sustainable economic loss. Many important fungal pathogens reside in the soil and infect roots of crops often causing significant yield losses. Soil-borne diseases result from a reduction in biodiversity of soil organisms.

Introduction

Milk is regarded as the “ideal food” as it contains nutrients necessary for both newborns and adults (Azad & Ahmed, 2016). It is high in protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Unfortunately, milk is easily adulterated all over the world for several reasons, including a gap between supply and demand, the inherent nature of milk which can imbibe many adulterants that are difficult to identify, the low purchasing power of consumers, an insufficient share of the organized sector in the dairy business, and, most importantly, a lack of efficient and rapid methods for detecting adulterants (Ellis et al., 2012; Moore et al., 2012).

ABSTRACT

The state of Jammu and Kashmir, especially the valley of Kashmir, has a rich diversity of traditional agroforestry models, which are in existence since time immemorial. Agroforestry is based primarily on natural occurrence of trees. The paper highlights the traditional agroforestry systems prevailing in the valley. A number of studies have been undertaken since the inception of AICRP-AF in University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir. Besides design and diagnostic survey, studies on evaluation of twelve multipurpose tree species identified during design and diagnostic survey and designing of various agroforestry models for different problematic sites have been undertaken. These studies have been tested over a period of time and have been found suitable for different sites. The out come of these studies and the recommended agroforestry systems are given in this paper.

INTRODUCTION

Land is a vital natural resource and is the basis of our existence. Due to mounting pressure of increasing human and livestock population it has been subjected to various pressures and misuse resulting in degradation of land and loss of biodiversity. Management of land is therefore, of paramount importance so that increasing needs of human and livestock are met on sustainable basis. During the last three decades agroforestry has been recognised as a distinct land management system, which is destined to play an important role in socio-economic transformation of marginal lands into more productive agrarian economy. India has a long tradition of agroforestry, farmers and land owners in different parts of the country integrate a variety of woody perennials in their crop and livestock production fields, depending upon the agro climatic conditions and local needs. Most of these practices are, however, location specific and information on these is very scanty, therefore, benefits have remained vastly under exploited and un extrapolated to other sites.

Introduction

Aquaculture has been shown to offer high potential to fill the gap between supply and demand for fish and fish products to mitigate the problems of malnutrition with ever increasing world population. Globally, aquaculture has been growing rapidly in the last decade, approximately at 10-15% per year. The total aquaculture production, which was 26.7 million metric tonnes in 1996 increased to 37.5 million metric tonnes in 2001, in which tropical countries have been particularly contributing well, with the Asian component exceeding 80% (Ayyappan and Jayanthi, 2004).

The country has varied and enormous aquatic resources (coastline: 8041kms, EEZ: 2.02 million sq. km., river & canals: 171334 km., brackish water area: 1.422 million ha., reservoirs: 2.050 million ha., ponds: 2.855 million ha., beels & oxbow lakes: 0.788 million ha) (Gopakumar, 2000). The North-Eastern region of India is endowed with rich diversity of aquatic and biotic resources, which needs judicious and scientific exploitation for diversification of farm practices so as to mitigate the problem of demand and supply of quality food.

Introduction

Citrus spp. grown in almost all the states of India. Citrus fruit, consisting of mandarin oranges (Citrus reticulata Blanco), sweet orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) and lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) are grown commercially in tropical, sub-tropical, arid, irrigated and mountainous regions in varying soil and weather condition. The citrus tree on the whole do well in dry climate, with a rainfall between 75 and 125 cm but certain species such as pummel and certain mandarin oranges thrive in heavy rainfall areas of Konkan, Assam and Coorg. It is grown almost all kinds of soil, varying from heavy black soil to shallow open soils. A hard substratum or a sticky impervious layer is very injurious. Soils having a high water table should be avoided. Although the citrus industry in India has faced many challenges, there has been a consistent increase in area and production owing to the awareness for sustained production (Table 1).

Introduction

Modern intensive livestock and poultry production has achieved phenomenal gains in the efficient and economical production of high quality and safe animal products and by-products. Furthermore, the overall performance of livestock can be increased by improving nutrients utilization, health status, fertility and efficiency of production. The use of feed additives has been an important part of achieving efficient livestock production. Feed additives are non-nutritive substances, preparations and micro-organisms that are added to animal feed to improve productive, reproductive and health performances. Any substance is considered as a feed additive when, not having a direct utilization as nutrient, is included at an optimum concentration in diet to exert a positive action over the animal health status or the dietary nutrient utilization. Hutjens (1991) defined feed additives as a group of substances that can cause a desired animal response in a non-nutrient role, such as pH shift, growth, or metabolic modifier. Feed additives are added deliberately to animal feed which may favourably influences characteristics of the animal feed, feed intake, gastro-intestinal flora, digestibility of the animal feeds, animal production, health, fertility and characteristics of animal products. Because of their chemical nature as active principles, additives are generally included in very small proportions in diet.

1.1 Introduction

Irrespective of caste, creed, culture, sex, age or religion people like garden. A well-maintained garden serves as lungs of the city or locality as it is a prime source of plenty of oxygen and people enjoy the surrounding and feel happy by fresh air. In holy books of Hindu religion, the importance of plants as well as gardens are explained very beautifully. In the holy Bible it is mentioned that Adam and eve lived in garden. In Quran it is explained as the paradise on earth. So, scriptures of all religions explain about gardens. It shows gardens and plants are closely related to human from the origin of human belief.

Process of life of an organism is defined, driven and depicted by its genetic constitution, or the genome. A genome is a collection of genetic material present in the cell as nuclear or organelle DNA. To be precise, it is the sum of all single copy genetic materials present in the cellular subcompartments. Thus a diploid organism having two copies of each chromosome contains genetic material constituting two copies of the genome, while a gamete of the same organism contains single copy of the same. Organelle genome is shared by chloroplast and mitochondria. In these two organelle genetic material is present in single copy per organelle, although many copies of organelle ensures that a cell harbours many copies of mitochondrial or plastid genome. Unraveling the structure and function of the genome is, therefore, the central objective of biological science. Technologies that would help to understand the basis of genetic, biochemical and physiological processes are pivotal to execute the knowledge for the betterment of mankind and environment.

Helminths include the nematodes (roundworms), trematodes (flukes) and the cestodes (tapeworms). The adult worms live in intestine and discharge the eggs or larvae that comes out with the faeces. Therefore, diagnosis is based on the detection of eggs or larvae in faecal samples.

Overview of Nematode infections in humans and animals

The phylum Nematoda, (roundworms), is the second largest phylum in the animal kingdom, encompassing up to 500,000 species. Members of Nematoda are elongated, with bilaterally symmetric bodies that contain an intestinal system and a large body cavity. According to a report approximately 60 species of roundworms parasitize humans. Intestinal roundworm infections constitute the largest group of helminthic diseases in humans. According to 2005 report of World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 0.807-1.221 billion humans suffers from ascariasis, 604-795 million from trichuriasis and 576-740 million from hookworm infections worldwide.

Introduction

Global warming is chiefly due to combustion of fossil fuels for multifarious energy needs, causing emission of greenhouse gases which trap energy from the sun leading to warming. These climate changes bring in variation in patterns and emergence of new zoonotic diseases to newer areas. These changes sometimes create conducive conditions for the propagation of insect vectors. History shows that most of the diseases have a direct correlation with climatic changes. The survival and propagation of pathogens are directly related to temperature and humidity etc. Extreme shifts in weather patterns resulting from global warming and climate changes adversely affect the ecosystem resulting in new diseases, re-emergence of earlier diseases including emergence of zoonotic diseases. The emergence of the new cholera strain O: 139 and outbreaks of Dengue, West Nile virus and Rift Valley fever in newer and non-endemic areas have been linked with the El Nino effect. The spread of disease agents may be facilitated by factors including environmental conditions, the presence and availability of suitable hosts, the arthropod's feeding behavior and host preferences.

INTRODUCTION

Indigenous knowledge is the knowledge of the indigenous people inhabiting different geographical regions of the world with their own language, culture, tradition, belief, folklore, rites and rituals. In course of their close interactions with nature and natural resources, they are to make a certain decisions as to solve their problems they encounter in their day to day life while managing the land and environmental resources for survival.

Several researchers explained traditional knowledge as holistic, encompassing many fields of scientific knowledge, such as climate, hydrology, soils, plants and animals (Howes and Chambers, 1980, Jungerius, 1985, Wilken, 1987, Agrawal, 1995). Therefore, indigenous knowledge so developed is based on necessities, instinct, curiosity and observations of ethnic groups to mitigate the immediate problems. Several logical observation was used by them in the decision making process as to how, when and where to act depending on the situations.

Introduction

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

Introduction

Cashew is an important horticultural crop. It has gained status of commercial crop from that of a forest component through technological advancements with respect to propagation, production and management. This has been possible as a result of increasing demand for raw cashew nuts and enhanced interest for its commercialization. The demand is mainly due to its good quality protein, unsaturated free fatty acids, rich blend of minerals and water-soluble vitamins, which altogether contribute an excellent dietary supplement. It is being cultivated by as many as 28 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America

Abstract

The demand for the food for ever increasing population is always continuous, but the production is limited to specific seasons. Therefore the food grains have to be stored for sometimes. Grain is a living biological material and therefore storage structures should be suitably designed to protect them from the ravages of pests, rodents and micro-organisms. However, the storage losses account for a major portion which can be reduced to considerable extent if proper care is done. The faulty design, poor maintenance and limited knowledge of the farmers concerning storage technology have greatly added to the spoilage of the food grains during storage. Sometimes the foods if not properly stored may be edible but it may lose the essential vitamins and minerals, thus their nutritive value has been lost. There is a major requirement of a good storage structure. Various food grain storage structures (small and large scale) are described.

1.1 Introduction

Fruit breeding is an ancient technology with dynamic current technology and an exciting future (Janick and Moore 1975, 1996). In its broadest sense, fruit breeding refers to the purposeful genetic improvement of fruit crops through various techniques including selection, hybridization, mutation induction and molecular techniques. Its origins trace to the domestication process in prehistory and antiquity, where useful species were chosen and cultivated, and improved by continuous selection (Janick 2005, 2011). Through the millennia genetic improvement of these species have been achieved by grower selection, first from natural seedling populations and then from grower field that continued unique genotypes fixed by vegetative propagation. Spontaneous hybridization between wild plants and cultivated clones was critical to the early domestication of fruits.

Abstract

Malaria is a widespread disease in the developing world, known to mankind since primeval times. It exists over hundreds countries of the world. Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium parasite and cause disease in over 30 crores people annually and kills approximately 10 lakhs people worldwide. Plasmodium protozoan species which causes malaria can be differentiated into four species viz. P. malariae, P. falciparum, P. vivax, and P. ovale. Among all these four species P. falciparum parasite has got resistance to all common antimalarial drugs available in the market; therefore it is a devastating strain of Plasmodium causing of serious disease and death. The rising resistance of existing remedy based on quinoline is a key provider to the re-emergence of malaria as a main public health difficulty and its widen to fresh locations and populations. Therefore, In this compilation, an effort is made to compile clinical features of malaria, life cycle of Plasmodium sp., different classes of antimalarial drugs and their mechanism of actions and recent advances in target based discovery and recent development in artemisinin research especially different kinds of artemisinin derivatives and new structural classes of antimalarial agents. We have also reviewed new leads discovered as antimalarial from natural products where we have possible to see new lead in near future.

Abstract

Gastrointestinal tract (GIT) harbors mixed microbial community, these are highly diversified, as revealed by molecular and phylogenetic studies. It is also estimated that microbiota of the GIT is composed of over 35,000 species and play a crucial role in human health and diseases. Thus are now of great interest to both the industrial and scientific communities. The microbes exhibit health benefits are known as probiotics. Anaerobic bacteria dominate in the GIT environment and genera like Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, are strict anaerobes while Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, is facultative anaerobes implicated in the probiotic effects.

For developing anaerobic bacterial based bio-products, it is necessary to cultivate large-scale biomass production that could be done using a modern manufacturing practice. Information on detailed understanding of the perfect growth medium and other bioprocessing parameters for the growth and viability is must. Also high cell viability is a prerequisite during downstream processing and storage of probiotic formulation. In this work we review the latest information about the history, mechanism of action, benefits of probiotic, selection criteria, sources of anaerobic probiotic bacteria, industrial cultivation medium along with biomass production, downstream processing.

Abstract

Grazing animals have developed symbiotic relationship with anaerobic microorganisms, which survive in their rumen and help in the oxidation of complex molecules of feed containing lignocellulosic materials into volatile fatty acids. The consortium comprises anaerobic bacteria, fungi and protozoans. The rich microbial diversity of rumen remains constant after its establishment and does not get affected by intruding contaminants along with feed or water. The rumen contains a wide range of microbes such as Fibrobacter spp., Ruminococcus spp., Clostridium spp., Prevotella spp., Eubacterium spp., Methanobacterium spp., Treponema sp. Lachnospira sp., Bacterioides s pp., fungi: Anaeromyces s pp., Neocallimastix spp., and protozoa: Enoplastron sp., Eudiplodinium spp., Ostracodinium sp. They often have a variety of enzymes, glucanases, xylanase, glucuronidase, pectinase and amylase, etc. These enzymes inhabit the microbes and even break down complex molecules into simpler forms like; glucose and volatile fatty acids. The present chapter discusses on the role of microorganisms of rumen.

Abstract

The anaerobic fungi are one of the early organisms in evolution which are commonly found in the digestive tract of ruminating and non-ruminating animals, (including herbivores) deep sea and earth, dumping sites, etc. In animals, these are considered the primary colonizers of the plant biomass ingested by them. Still their taxonomy was unclear for a long period of time. However, with the help molecular techniques, they are now classified under a separate phylum Neocallimastigomycota. There are 38 species known so far belonging to 11 genera. These have been identified based on both morphological data (like thallus, rhizoids, flagella per zoospore, etc.) and phylogenetic analysis. There is a need to explore the undiscovered anaerobic fungi and look for their potential in industrial applications and solutions to the present environmental problems. It can be achieved by improving techniques of sampling, isolation, maintenance and long term preservation. Animals like herbivores do not have the ability to produce enzymes for degrading the plant biomass and anaerobic fungi help them by producing a range of extracellular enzymes. This ability of anaerobic fungi are of use to humans in bioenergy (biogas production) and biomass degradation (by producing cellulases). Recent advances in metagenomics coupled with new methods of cultivation are helping immensely to know the uncultivated anaerobic fungal populations from the animal gut. The present book chapter discusses the past and present of anaerobic fungi, lacunaes and need for more work on this group of fungi, It focuses on the progress in sampling, isolation and preservation techniques, simultaneously discussing the advances in the application these fungi in biotechnology.

Abstract

Methane is the second most important green-house gas and has a major role in global warming. Aerobic oxidation of methane is known for more than 100 years. Anaerobic methane oxidation (AOM) was recently discovered before ~25 years, first in marine sediments. The first discovered AOM was found to be mediated by anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) in association with sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) and termed as sulphate dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (S-DAMO). Three main groups of ANME are present which perform methane oxidation by reverse methanogenesis pathway. Later on, methane oxidation by using nitrate or nitrite as the electron acceptor was discovered from a freshwater sediment. N-DAMO or nitrate/ nitrite dependent AMO can be carried out by an archaeal or a bacterial member, respectively. Members of Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera are bacteria, and use nitrite as the electron acceptor and methane monooxygenase to carry out methane oxidation. Whereas, members of Ca. Methanoperedens nitroreducens are archaea, and use reverse methanogenesis coupled to nitrate reduction. Metals like FeIII or Mn IV can also be used as electron acceptors for AOM, a process recently discovered (M-DAMO). In this case, one archaeal partner and one bacterial partner could be involved, although more research is going in this area. S-DAMO is the main methane oxidation process in the marine sediments and accounts for the major methane oxidation in the marine sediments. In fresh water sediments, aerobic methane oxidation and processes like N-DAMO seem to play an important role.

Abstract

Rise in global energy demand has led to an increase in consumption of fossil fuels. In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness about the consequences of pollution and global warming caused by burning of fossil fuels. This has led to an increased interest in the search for sustainable energy. Transportation sector is a major consumer of world’s energy resources. n-Butanol is one of the most promising alternative bio-fuels which has various advantages over other biofuels. The microbial n-butanol is produced by anaerobic conversion of the substrate to n-butyric acid and subsequently utilized to form n-butanol. The present chapter explores the scope of bacterial butanol production as need of the hour and its use as an alternative biofuel.

Abstract

Solid Waste Management (SWM) has become a significant global concern, specifically for developing countries like India because of increasing population, rapid urbanization and high rate of municipal solid waste generation. Bio-composting and anaerobic digestion are the methods majorly used for solid waste management. Present chapter comprises detailed information on methods, microbiology involved and pros and cons of these methods to provide the detail information of solid waste management processes to the readers. Variable nature of substrates are available for bio-composting process. It includes sludge from effluent treatment plant (ETP), sewage treatment plant (STP) and bio-toilets, municipal solid waste, food waste and garden waste etc. Nutritional content, carbon /nitrogen (C/N) ratio of the substrate, available space and cost of the process are the main factors that affect selection method for waste management. Anaerobic digestion is the preferred method of solid waste management in comparison to other processes of composting due to methane generation as biogas and bioconversion of organic compounds to manure.

The term Anesthesia means loss of sensation.

GENERAL ANESTHESIA

In the technique of anesthesia, a drug is capable of causing loss of sensation together with loss of consciousness, sufficient to allow a surgical operation to be carried out.

Routes of General Anesthesia (G.A.)
Inhalation

Ether, Nitrous oxide, Halothane, Chloroform etc.

Questions related to analogy ae simple to answer with application of little aptitude. Analogy means ‘similar items’. There is three types of Analogy, 1. Number Analogy, 2. Letter Analogy and 3. Word Analogy. In questions based on analogy, a pair of numbers/letters/words is given that have certain relationship between them. This pair is followed by a third numbers/letters/ words. The candidate is required to identify the relationship between the pair of numbers/letters/words given and find out the fourth numbers/letters/words such that the relationship between the third and the fourth numbers/letters/ words is similar to the relationship that exists between the first and the second numbers/letters/words. Similarly some figures are also given in questions and the next pattern of the figures is to be guessed. It requires candidate’s concentration and common wisdom. Therefore the candidates should be very attentive to answer these type of questions.

1. Introduction

Bisphosphonates are frequently utilized in treating osteoporosis and cancer induced bone metastases, but they carry the risk of inducing a severe complication known as osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). ONJ manifests as exposed bone in the craniofacial area and persists for over eight weeks in patients who are currently or previously treated with bisphosphonates. Many novel antiresorptive tyrosine kinases, mammalian targets of rapamycin, monoclonal antibodies, and immunosuppressant drugs have been discovered since BRONJ was first identified in 2003 and linked to ONJ (Akita et al., 2020). Current ideas include the prevention of angiogenesis and suppression of bone remodeling, gingival inflammation, gingival fibroblast dysfunction, and compromised immunological function. Wound healing mechanisms may play a role in most instances of ONJ, which occur after dental procedures, such as tooth extraction. In addition to surgical treatment for bone lesions, complementary therapies such as laser therapy, ozone therapy, and the administration of platelet concentrates in solid and liquid forms might help prevent ONJ and promote recovery (Gaurav Kumar et al., 2017; Hampton et al., 2015). Formation of new blood vessels is critical for the initiation and maintenance of wound healing.