eChapters

Abstract

Being an obligate photoautotroph, cyanobacteria must cope with a wide range of fluctuating environmental factors, including high light and ultraviolet radiation (UVR) that may lead to oxidative stress by upsetting the cellular redox status. Photo-induced oxidative stress by means of oxidizing agent such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) may damage several biological processes. In response to several adverse effects of solar UVR, cyanobacteria have developed different strategies such as heat dissipation mechanisms, synthesis of UV- absorbing/screening compounds and antioxidant systems to overcome the detrimental effects of intracellular oxidant molecules. This review deals with UV-induced oxidative stress and their counteracting mechanisms operating in cyanobacteria.

Abstract

Cyanobacteria, the Gram-negative photosynthetic prokaryotes are able to produce a wide range of secondary metabolites. Some of these metabolites are of general concern due to their toxicity and known as cyanobacterial toxins. These cyanotoxins are reported widely due to human and animal health hazard. On the basis of their toxicological target, these cyanotoxins can be classified into five different groups: hepatotoxins, neurotoxins, cytotoxins, dermatotoxins and irritant toxins (lipopolysaccharides). Hepatotoxins constitute a family of cyclic peptide variants and are classified as microcystins and nodularins. These hepatotoxic peptides possess a high degree of cellular specificity to the hepatocytes with similar mode of action and act as potent inhibitors of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A (PP1 and PP2A).

Abstract

The extensive use of antibiotics has raised serious health concern throughout the world due to development of resistance in microbes towards many classes of antibiotics. The emergence of multidrug resistance (MDR) in microbes and lack of novel classes of antimicrobial agents have raised an immediate need to identify new agents with novel mode of action. In addition to novel agents, inhibitors of efflux pumps are being now viewed as one of the most viable management strategy for treating MDR infections. In this concern, plants have always been a source of inspiration for novel drugs.

Abstract

Cyanobacteria were first oxygen evolving photosynthetic organisms on Earth, which not only survived under harsh conditions of primitive Earth but are also dominant and efficient photosynthesizers and N₂ fixers of present time which significantly contribute to fertility of paddy fields as natural biofertilizers. Cyanobacteria require solar radiation to carry out photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation. The stratospheric ozone depletion which has resulted in an increase in ultraviolet-B (UV-B; 280 - 315 nm) radiation on the Earth’s surface has been reported to inhibit a number of photochemical and photobiological processes in cyanobacteria. However, they have evolved mechanisms such as synthesis of photoprotective compound scytonemin and their derivatives to counteract the damaging effects of UV-B. In addition to Photoprotection, scytonemin has biotechnological potentials and several applications in biology and allied sciences.

Introduction

Water is a precious natural resource vital, for sustaining all life on the earth. It is in a continuous circulatory movement - hydrologic cycle. It is not uniformly distributed in time and space. Due to its multiple benefits and the problems created by its excesses, shortages and quality deterioration, water as a resource requires special attention. On a global scale, total quantity of water available is about 1600 million cubic km. The hydrological cycle moves enormous quantities of water about the globe. However, much of the world’s water has little potential for human use because 97.5% of all water on earth is saline water. Out of remaining 2.5% fresh water, most of which lies deep and frozen in Antarctica and Greenland, only about 0.26% flows in rivers, lakes and in the soils and shallow aquifers which can be readily used. Sustainable water management in India is fast becoming a necessity, with the looming crisis over water resources in the country threatening the security and livelihood of the population and the environment over the coming decades. Managing water resources, river catchments, and coastal zones are outstanding challenges of today and tomorrow’s. Global changes ask for a comprehensive scientific approach, an international multi-disciplinary orientation and require a new mind-set towards water and coastal management problems.

Vegetables belonging to the family Brassicaceae (Syn: Cruciferae) are known as Cole crops.  These are the most widely grown vegetables in temperate and sub-tropical zones.  The word ‘Cole’ comes from abbreviation of word ‘caulis’ meaning stem.  Cole crops are a group of highly differentiated plants originated from a wild plant Brassica oleracea var. oleracea (=B. sylvestris L.) commonly known as “Wild cliff cabbage” or “colewort”, through mutation, human selection or adaptation. Cole crops include cabbage, cauliflower, knol khol, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, sprouting broccoli, kale etc. of which cabbage and cauliflower are the most popular and widely grown.

Tuber crops are rated as one of the richest sources of energy, besides being a treasure house of vitamins and minerals. The highest rate of dry matter production per day per unit area makes tuber crops important in the food economy, especially in meeting rural feed security. The tuber crop produce can also be processed into various food products to suit the taste and need of the urban, semi-urban and rural folk as well. Better post harvest management and diversification for production of value added products is one of the dependable methods to make tuber crops lucrative to both farmers and entrepreneurs.

In tropics, many crops are grown for their edible roots or tubers. Broad group of “tuber crops” encompasses a wide range of starchy food crops, some of which are true botanical roots and some others are stem tubers or corms. In global scenario, they are in a neglected state mainly due to their negative image as poor people’s food. They are highly perishable and are normally consumed locally in fresh or home processed state. It is time to bring out the positive attributes of these important foods and the increased contribution they can make to the nutritional welfare, food security and economic wellbeing of people, especially in developing countries.

1. Introduction

With the fairly recent advent of inexpensive, rapid sequencing technologies that continue to improve sequencing efficiency and accuracy, many species of animals, plants, and microbes have annotated genomic information publicly available. It is important to use this genomic information for the identification and isolation of novel and superior alleles of important genes from gene pools of the organisms

Introduction

ICT may be defined as technologies that facilitate communication and the processing and transmission of information by electronic means. ICT is an acronym that stands for Information Communications Technology and refers to technologies that facilitate communication and the processing of information by electronic means and includes everything from radio and television to telephones (fixed and mobile), computers and the internet. Information and communication has become an increasingly powerful tool for improving the delivery of basic services and enhancing local development opportunities. Recent years have seen increases in the use of ICT in almost all spheres of rural life. Especially, the rural communities require information among others on supply of inputs, innovations, improved technologies, credit, market prices and competitors. Since the concepts, methods and applications involved in ICT are constantly evolving on an almost daily basis. It’s difficult to keep up with the changes - they happen so fast.

Abstract

In the past decade, many knowledge-centric mobile phone initiatives in Indian agriculture have emerged, either substituting or supporting extension services by providing farmers with access to agricultural information. These knowledge-centric mobile phone platforms have the potential to reach many farmers directly with timely and accessible content. But the content that these deliver has more relevance if it is localized and context specific, as this improves the value and actionability of the information, which can have important impacts on farm management. The localization of content is influenced by how the projects access, assess, apply, and deliver content.

Earthworms have been on the earth for over 20 million years. In this time they have faithfully done their part to keep the cycle of life continuously moving. Their purpose is simple but very important. They are nature’s way of recycling organic nutrients from dead tissues back to living organisms. Many have recognized the value of these worms. Ancient civilizations, including Greece and Egypt valued the role earthworms played in soil. The Egyptian Pharaoh, Cleopatra said, “Earthworms are sacred.”

India ranks 23^rd among world exporters of floriculture products and its share in the world exports are at around 0.38 per cent. It is estimated that fresh cut flowers of worth Rs. 100 crores are being exported annually from India. On the other hand the post harvest losses are estimated to be more than 30-35 per cent. The loss of quality in ornamentals may result from wilting or abscission of leaves and petals, yellowing of leaves and geotropic or phototropic bending of scapes and stems. Several factors prevailing during pre harvest, harvest and post-harvest stage affect the post harvest quality and longevity of cut flowers. Each step in the life span of post-harvest flower is associated with a number of coordinated biochemical, physiological, hormonal and structural changes that are strongly modulated by the fluctuations of environmental factors and stresses of biotic and abiotic origin.

3a. Sources and problems of agricultural wastes
3b. Waste Reduction
3c. Waste Treatment
3d. Waste Disposal
3e. Clean Technology

Different Kinds of Agricultural Wastes
Table 1: Common Hazardous Wastes: Community Source

Urban Air Pollution and Its Impact on Roadside Plants
Urban Air Pollution

Modern industrial society produces a large number of gases and particles in quantities to harm human, plant or animal life. The amount of pollutants released to the atmosphere by fixed or mobile anthropogenic sources is generally associated with the levels of economic activity. Deterioration of air quality is a major environmental problem in many urban centers in both developed and developing countries. Automobiles constitute a major source of air pollution in the urban areas. Motor vehicle emissions result from fuel combustion or evaporation. The most common types of transport fuel are gasoline and diesel. CO₂ and water vapors are the main products of the combustion, emitted in vehicle exhaust. The major pollutants emitted from the vehicles are particulate matter (suspended fine and ultra fine), sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and metals.

Abstract

Biotechnology offers an opportunity to exploit the cell, tissue, organ or entire organism by growing them in vitro and to genetically manipulate them to obtain desired compounds. It plays a pivotal role in search for alternatives to production of desirable biomedical compounds. There are several approaches have been used to increase the yield of metabolites from cell cultures such as manipulation of nutrient medium, application of exogenous growth stimulators, chemical treatment, precursor feeding, elicitation, transformed cultures, metabolic engineering, micropropagation, bioreactor cultures and etc.

Abstract

Bamboo is nature’s unique gift to mankind. It has tremendous scope for use in eco-friendly agro-forestry programmes, to bring marginal lands into use. The requirement for bamboo is increasing for various traditional and industrial requirements. In India almost 99% of annual bamboo production comes from the natural forests and only about 1% is derived from plantations.

SYNOPSIS

In all probability the ancient farmer’s market originated on the streets of villages and later on, on the streets of towns. The street food survived through decades and centuries and now it has assumed its new role in fulfilling the readymade food demand of the working people of mega cities. The street food has now more relevance to the growing urban population. With the lapse of time and migration people to the cities, the business and activities of street food got expanded in qualitative and quantitative terms worldwide.

Renewable energy sources, are the sources of power that quickly replenish and which can be used again and again. For this reason they are sometimes called energy resources. The main sources of renewable energy and their advantages and disadvantages are :

Solar
Energy from sunlight is captured in solar panels and converted into electricity.  Potentially it is an infinite source of energy supply, but the solar panels are costly.

G    :    Gibbs free energy OR Guanine.

G proteins    :    G proteins are intracellular proteins that bind GTP and convert it to GDP in the process of cell signal transduction. There are two kinds of G protein, the heterotrimeric (α,β, γ) receptor-associated G proteins, and the small G proteins, such as Ras and Raf, that act downstream of many transmembrane signaling events.

K    :    Kilo (10³g).

K    :    Potassium.

KA    :    Ketoacidosis.

Karlvon Baer    :    Person who‚ in 1828‚ published on the developmental stages in mammalian eggs and showed that an undifferentiated‚ single-celled egg grows into a many-celled embryo.

7.1  Write True/False

Q.1    All the problem of statistical inference may be considered as the problem of “Decision making in the face of uncertainty.”
Q.2    The problem of point estimation is the problem if deciding which value in the “parameter space” Wq is the true value of the parameter.

ABSTRACT

Expert Systems could be incorporated into extension education programmes to assist in solving problems using knowledge gathered from experts. During the process of problem solving, the Expert System becomes a source of educational material for the user. Hypertext may be incorporated into an Expert System as a means of providing the user with additional information. A hypertext approach to system development involves attaching information to specific phrases used in the system. The form of attached information can be textual, graphical or procedural. The methodology of developing expert system consists of two parts viz., developing computer-based Expert System and testing its effectiveness. The first part includes selection of most relevant subject matter area and procedure used in the development of an Expert System. The second part deals with the research design and technique adopted to test the effectiveness of computer-based Expert System versus human expert.

The Para rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) is the most important commercial source of natural rubber, a strategic raw material. Rubber is an indispensable commodity used in the manufacture of over 50,000 products worldwide. This crop has therefore emerged as a key plantation species in various countries. The global area under rubber  cultivation is about 9.6 million hectares producing 9.2 million tones annually (IRSG, 2014). Among the major natural rubber producing countries, India occupies 4th position in terms of production with 0.91 million tones and more significantly the first position in average productivity of 1823 kg/ha/year. The major rubber producing countries are Thailand, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Rubber is also commercially cultivated in Philippines, Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote de Ivoire, Liberia, Brazil, Cambodia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Guatemala, Myanmar, Mexico, China, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Papua New Guinea.Increase in production and improving productivity of NR continues to be the subject of considerable research efforts, particularly in the context of the widening gap between demand and supply of natural rubber. Over one million small farmers  in India owning less than 0.5 ha. of land depend on rubber cultivation for a livelihood.

Vegetables are considered protective foods and play an important role in human nutrition. These help to combat malnutrition and also diversify diets with variety of colours. The compounds imparting various colors to the vegetables are important antioxidants that also help to combat degenerative diseases like cancer. Over the years, vegetable sector has made an appreciable progress in terms of production and productivity and emerged as the better option to diversify agriculture, generate employment and enhance farmers’ incomes. The worldwide production of vegetables has doubled over the past quarter century and the value of global trade in vegetables now exceeds that of cereals.

Acid soils occupy a considerable area in the country. There are about 90 million ha. of acid soils (27.4 per cent of total geographical area) spread across several states. They are found to occur in the Himalayan region, the eastern and north-eastern plains, peninsular India and the coastal plains under varying environmental conditions of landscape, geology, climate and vegetation. Thirty one million hectare area show severe soil acidity problems (pH 5.5) and 59 million ha. have pH between 5.6 and 6.5 (Sharma and Sarkar, 2005). Laterites and various latosolic soils are the large groups among acid soils. The other groups are podzolic soils, brown forest soils, peaty soils etc., Distribution of acid soils in different states of India is given in (Table 1 and Figure 1). Acid soils usually have problems associated with aluminium, iron and manganese toxicity, low nutrients status, nutrients imbalance and multiple nutrient deficiencies.

Nucleic acids like proteins occur in all living cells. They device their name because of their primary occurrence in the nucleus and acidic nature. Deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA), one of the two nucleic acids is a major component of chromosomes. Small amounts of DNA are also found associated with chloroplasts and mitochondria.

Franz Holfmeister’s (LT, 1850-1922) definition, “vitamins are substances which are indispensable for the growth and maintenance of the animal organism, which occur both in animal and plants and are present in only small amounts in food”, still holds good, although it has been interpreted in various ways.

Abstract

Traditional practices of restoring and vegetating mine spoils, which include mechanical tillage, the addition of tons of organic and mineral inputs, seeding of herbaceous plants, and regular fertilization, are often expensive and not sustainable on the long term in the Canadian boreal forest biome. Phytobial restoration and remediation may be an excellent alternative to these traditional practices while accelerating ecosystem reconstruction and sustainable reforestation of mined sites. In this review, the role and importance of root symbionts – ectomycorrhizal fungi, PGPR, and Frankia – on boreal tree fitness are discussed. Furthermore, highlights of recent research studies done by our team in Canada on ecological restoration and bioremediation of boreal mined sites are presented.

ABSTRACT

Decomposition of litter is a dynamic process. It regulates cycling of nutrients in ecosystem. The productivity of an ecosystem depends on the turnover of carbon and other nutrients. Microbes play an important role in releasing of minerals locked up in organic complexes. The release of nutrients, however, is regulated by various climatic factors. The microbial succession at different stages of degradation of litter is controlled by the litter quality and species composition and biological activity. The present paper reviews the status of litter production, decomposition, species diversity and Biological activities as affected by the climatic and edaphic factors in tropical ecosystem.

Keywords : Litter decomposition, microbes, species diversity, biological activities, edaphic factors, tropical ecosystem.

Abstract

Agroforestry is an intensive land use management system that integrates trees, shrubs, crops, etc. on a landscape level to achieve optimum benefits. Agroforestry is not only concerned with beneficial effects of one component on another, but it also involves the manipulations of negative effects to minimize their influence on the productivity of the overall system. In an agroforestry, trees and crops compete inevitably for light, nutrients, moisture and other resources. The interactions between tree and crop roots can also have an effect on soil organisms, which play an essential role in the functioning and productivity of agroforesty systems. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are one of the most important components of the soil biota in monoculture and agroforestry systems. AM fungi can rehabilitate degraded lands subjected to agroforestry systems and common mycorrhizal network may further enhance the benefits of agroforestry through vertical niche expansion of AMF. However, management practices of agroforestry affect mycorrhization, AMF community composition and diversity of AM fungi. This review focuses on AMF diversity, which plays a significant role in agroforestry systems.

The scientific community working in the field of crop protection is experiencing an increasing academic and industrial interest in the discovery and development of new bio-insecticides as environmentally friendly pest control tools to be integrated, in combination or rotation, with chemicals in pest management programmes. In this context, Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) as a bio-control agent have proven successful and are now commercially mass produced in six of the seven continents to treat pest problem in agriculture, horticulture and forest crops. They actively search for the host, including those in cryptic habitat stages of insect pests in soil environment. They can be considered as good candidates for integrated pest management in ustainable agriculture due to plants and mammals which are not adversely affected and have ease of mass production. We present a general overview on the current state of knowledge of EPN and their mutualistically associated bacteria and their utilization as biological control agent against insect pests in world and India are briefly presented in this chapter.

Mango (Mangifera indica L), the king of fruits, is cultivated throughout a wide range of frost-free climates (Litz 1998). It is commercially the most important fruit crop of India, accounting for more than 54% of the total mango production worldwide. The fruit of mango (Mangifera indica L.) is exceptional for its juicy, succulent, thick fruit pulp and nutrient abundance in terms of wide range of amino acids, sugars, organic acids, minerals including Ca, P, Fe, and K and vitamins. Out of several diseases which attack mango crop, mango malformation disease is a serious threat to its cultivation since it causes gross deformation of the vegetative and floral tissues (Ploetz et al., 2002; Kumar et al., 2011). Floral malformation is a major problem in mango, rendering mango cultivation unproductive in northern India and other regions of the world (Pandey et al., 1977; Ram, 1991).

Introduction

Vast proportions of the population of the world are dependent on plants as their principal source of food either directly or indirectly. Recent decades have also seen increased numbers of people turning to alternative medical therapy based upon traditional folk medicine or food as a form of medicine. These alternative therapies emphasise the importance of a ‘good diet’ in maintaining and restoring health. Under these circumstances, vast majority of population may see diet therapy, dietary supplements and non-invasive alternative therapies as a safer, less technological and more natural way of maintaining health and treating and preventing individuals from illness. These alternatives may be seen as empowering the consumer and shifting the locus of control away from the medical establishment. This chapter covers many crucial topics to understand the chemistry and bioactivity of the active compounds of plant origin. It also aims to cover the latest research on the bioactive compounds.

MOLECULAR BREEDING

Molecular breeding is the application of molecular biology tools, often in plant breeding.

Genetic markers

Genetic marker is defined as a gene whose phenotypic expression is usually easily discerned, used to identify an individual or a cell that carries it, or as a probe to mark a nucleus, chromosomes or locus (King and Stansfield, 1990). Three broad classes of genetic markers are morphological markers, biochemical markers and DNA or molecular markers.
 
(1) Morphological markers

Morphological markers are based on the visually assessable traits viz., morphological and agronomic traits. However, they are limited in number.

Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) is a member of the family Caryophyllaceae. Dianthus word was first coined by Theophrastus from Greek word “dios” meaning divine and “anthos” meaning flower. It is a half hardy, perennial plant, propagated commercially by terminal cuttings. It is being produced as a cut flower in the world. Carnation cut flower trade contributed about 15% of the world flower market. Till now, new carnation varieties have been produced mainly through conventional breeding method. The breeding procedure typically consists of hybridization, self-pollination and selection (Holly and Baker, 1992). The breeding programme did not get enough momentum due to heterozygosity, limited gene pool and inadequate knowledge of genetic make up. However genetic engineering and molecular breeding have opened the way to achieve novel colour and good vase life of flowers.

Gladiolus (Gladiolus spp.) belongs to family Iridaceae and subfamily Ixioideae. Gladiolus is a Latin word, the diminutive of “gladius” meaning sword, sometimes called as sword lily. The plant is herbaceous perennial and semi-hardy. It is commonly grown from rounded, symmetrical corm, which is enveloped in several layers of brownish, fibrous tunics. The cultivated gladiolus is a complex assemblage of cultivars originating from complex ancestry of natural selection or hybridization involving several species. Modern garden gladiolus is a complex of at least twelve species (Raghava, 2000). It is an important commercial cut flower in both domestic and international markets.

Modern rose (Rosa × hybrida) belongs to family Rosaceae. Rose is derived from Greek word “Rhedon” means fragrance. From the ancient time its beauty and attractiveness drag the attention of breeders to create new colours and types. Present cut roses are complex hybrids developed through interspecific hybridization, polyploidy with male and female sterility and these heterozygous genotypes are propagated vegetatively. Rose occupies the first rank among the cut flowers in international market and in India it occupied first position in cut flower export trade.

Cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum Mill.), belonging to family Primulaceae, is cultivated throughout the Temperate Zone. Many people have enjoyed the charming plants as potted and/or garden plants. The cyclamen is one of the most famous and important commercial ornamental plants in many countries. It is commonly grown for its flowers, both outdoors and indoors in pots. It is used on a terrace, in flower boxes, in hanging baskets or in beddings. Several species, particularly Cyclamen hederifolium, are hardy and can be grown outdoors in mild climates such as Northwest Europe and the Pacific Northwest of North America. The cyclamen commonly sold by florists is C. persicum, which is frost-tender. Selected cyclamen cultivars can have white, bright pink, red or purple flowers. The use as cut flower is not important part of cyclamen production (Grey-Wilson, 2002), but not rare in Europe, especially in Germany. Some cultivars for cut flower production were bred in Europe, but cut flower cyclamen production is not popular in USA and Japan. Its popularity as pot plant led to many studies on the group, including cytology (Bennett and Grimshaw, 1991), hybridization (Gielly et al., 2001 and Grey-Wilson, 2002) and phenology (Debussche et al., 2004).

Since floricultural and ornamental crops are grown for aesthetic purpose and are non-edible there is likely to be less concern in bio safety issues compared to other food crops. Hence there is considerable potential for developing transgenics in ornamental crops. Advances in transgenic technology provide new opportunities for manipulation of the genome. These will have significant impact on expanding and diversifying the gene pool of crop plants, introducing specific genes and shortening the time required for the production of new varieties or hybrids. Molecular breeding is beneficial to increase the production and quality by creating plants with enhanced resistance to diseases, insects or viruses and increased tolerance to environmental stresses like salinity, temperature or drought. Through this technique genes for shelf life, flower colour and architecture may be directly transferred to develop new varieties that are tailor made to customer preferences. Bioluminescent orchids and blue roses are the significant outcomes of the genetic transformation studies in ornamentals (Swarnapiria, 2009).

Abstract

Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) have emerged as potential tools for competent planning and administration of water resources. In this study, a new methodology is proposed to delineate groundwater target zones using integrated RS, GIS and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The developed methodology is confirmed by a case study in Karur district of Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Seven thematic layers, viz., Lithology, Lineament Density, Geomorphology, Slope, Post– Monsoon Water Level, Drainage Density and Land use / Land cover were considered in this study. Selected seven thematic layers and their features were assigned suitable weights on the Saaty’s scale according to their virtual significance in groundwater incidence. The assigned weights of the thematic layers and their features were then normalized by using AHP. Finally, the selected seven thematic maps were incorporated by weighted linear combination method in a GIS environment to produce a groundwater target map.

Introduction

Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria are the group of most primitive prokaryotes that have been observed in proterozoic era. Many Proterozoic oil deposits are attributed to the activity of Cyanobacteria, such as Gloeocapsomorpha. Small concentrically layered structures called pisolites are also the result of fossilized bacteria.

Introduction

Bioremediation can be defined as elimination, attenuation or transformation of polluting or contaminating substances by the use of biological processes, to minimize the risk to human health and the environment. Bioremediation of contaminated soil and water uses microbes (e.g. bacteria and fungi) to convert pollutants to harmless or more environmentally acceptable products and minimizes the risk to human health in a natural or managed process.

Dragon fruit, commonly known as pitaya/pitahya (Hylocereus sp.) is a  climbing perennial cacti belonging to the Cactaceae family and the subfamily Cactoidea of the tribe Cactea (Raveh et al., 1993). It is a perennial climbing cactus plant native to tropical areas of North, Central and South America. Main countries growing dragon fruit are Vietnam, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Thailand and Taiwan. Cultivation also occurs in Australia, Israel and Reunion Island. The European Union and Asia, especially China are the largest import markets of dragon fruits (Vinas et al., 2012).

Abstract

Climate change is a matter of great concern considering aquatic resources and the productivity. The likely impact of Climate Change is noted in the domain both in marine as well as estuarine capture fisheries, fresh water capture fisheries and freshwater aquaculture. Climate change is having a linkage with spread of fish diseases as increasing water temperature will shift the balance in favor of either the host or pathogen changing the frequency and distribution of diseases. There are a no of adaptation and mitigation measures in aquaculture in order to increase the productivity and properly maintain the survivability of many aquaculture species.

Pulses are important crops in the State of Jammu and Kashmir as they are the only source of protein, an essential part of the vegetative diet. Besides that, pulses enrich the soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen in the root nodules and improve the soil structure (Thakur et al., 2009). The tap root system explores the deeper soil strata and heavy leaf litter increases the soil organic matter. Pulses in J& K state are ideal crops for mixed and inter-cropping as well as vegetable and fodder crops. It has been estimated that by 2020 the pulse requirement for Jammu region of J&K alone will be 1.51 lakh tonnes (based on average per capita consumption of 68 grams for the projected population of 60.75 lakh) whereas the estimated requirement of J&K state as a whole works out to be 3.85 lakh tonnes (Digest of Statistics 2008-09).

Introduction

The word mycotoxin is derived from myco, meaning mold and toxin, a poison. A great number of mold metabolites have been identified as mycotoxins. Thus mycotoxins are secondary fungal metabolites (i.e., metabolites not essential to the normal growth and reproduction of the fungus) which cause pathologic, physiologic, and/or biochemical lesions in other species (may include animals, plants, other microbes, etc.).

We mean sustainable of agriculture as preservation of productivity of land for a long period. This requires deviation from present methods of cultivation. The deviation needs knowledge about ecological process. At present we mean agriculture in association with terms like, high-tech, bio-tech and info-tech. Our traditional farming system or conventional farming system essentially means sustainable agriculture.

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.

Introduction

Rapeseed-mustard is attacked by more than 43 insect species. Out of which, mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi (Kaltenbach); mustard sawfly, Athalia proxima (Klug); painted bug, Bagrada hilaris (Burnmerister); pea leaf miner, Chromatomyia horticola (Goureau) and Bihar hairy caterpillar, Spilarctia obliqua (Walker) are of major importance. Other pests are of sporadic occurrence. Status of important insect pests attacking rapseed mustard in India have been given in detail by Bakhetia and Arora (1993) and Singh 2005. The occurrence of various insect pests on rapeseed-mustard is stage-specific. This has been a gift provided by nature to help avoid inter-competition among them for their fullest exploitation of the host. The insect pests attacking rapeseed- mustard as given in Table 1 and at various stages of the crop in Table 2.