Preface Promoting sustainable agriculture development for the eradication of poverty by guaranteeing environmental sustainability through agro-based eco-friendly technology is termed as Green Technology. The technology behind the first “Green Revolution” in agriculture, during the 1960s and '70s, focused on boosting crop yields, to help feed growing populations and spur economic growth in Latin America and Asia. But that revolution wasn't all that green in the present sense of the term, relying heavily on irrigation. Many technocrats like Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and uber philanthropist, wants to help accelerate a second green revolution in agriculture, again boosting yields, but this time paying more mind to the environment and turning to some technologies that could help deliver a truly sustainable movement. At the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa (2009) in his speech Gates advocated the farming techniques that are both environmentally responsible and highly productive. Green agriculture encompasses a continuously evolving group of methods or materials, from newer techniques for generating energy to non-toxic cleaning products. It is that innovation which reduces waste by changing patterns of production and consumption. It is also defined as environmental healing technology, which reduces environmental damages by the products and technologies for peoples' conveniences. The book “Green Agriculture : Newer Technologies” carries 18 chapters and covers most of the on farm adopted technology developed by our distinguished scientist mainly focusing, how to save the planet earth during agricultural activities through modern technology. The attempt is to highlight the recent agro-based development through newer technologies to make Indian agriculture productive and eco-friendly.

SUMMARY Agriculture is the largest user of fresh water for irrigation to fulfill the increasing demand of food, feed, fiber, fuel and other need of ever-increasing population. Water availability to agriculture is characterized by declining in share with time, over exploitation, improper mismanagement, deterioration in quality as well as environment. This could be addressed using sustainable management of irrigation water. As per the Brundtland Commission report of United Nations, sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable water management aims to improve water productivity, availability and quality over an area.  Improved and efficient irrigation techniques and practices enhance water application efficiencies, and thereby reduction in associated damage to environment, which include water logging, soil salinity, runoff and leaching of nutrients and other chemicals polluting water sources, and over exploitation of ground water. Micro irrigation systems have been characterized to be the most efficient irrigation techniques. These have efficiencies even more than 90%, doubled water productivity with improved quality of produce, reduced runoff and leaching of nutrients and chemicals to water sources. Application of fertilizer through drip irrigation called fertigation could be adopted for efficient use and saving of fertilizer.  Fertilizer savings of 20-60% and 8-41% increase in yields of horticulture and vegetable crops has been realized through fertigation.

SUMMARY Green manuring is the practice of growing lush plants on the site into which organic matter directly incorporate to the soil while it is still fresh. Green manures, often known as cover crops, are plants which are grown to improve the structure and nutrient content of the soil. They are a cheap alternative to artificial fertilizers and an eco-friendly input for organic farming and can be used to complement animal manures. Growing a green manure is not the same as simply growing a legume crop, such as beans, in a rotation. Green manures are usually dug into the soil when the plants are still young, before they produce any crop and often before they flower. They are grown for their green leafy material which is high in nutrients and protects the soil. It is basically a holistic management system, which promotes and improves the health of the agro-ecosystem related to biodiversity, nutrient biocycles, soil microbial and biochemical activities.

SUMMARY Citrus is third most important fruit crop in India after banana and mango. Citrus crops have occupied an area of 8.43 lakh ha with total production of 75.7 lakh tons and the productivity of 9.9 tons/ha in India. Such a quantum of citrus production contributes 13 per cent of total fruit production demonstrating the significance of citrus in horticultural research and development in India. Rootstocks are known to have profound effect on the vigour, precocity, productivity, internal quality, and longevity of the scion varieties grafted on them. They are also known to influence the susceptibility of trees to various diseases and insects. Furthermore, it is recognized that optimum performances depends on the proper selection of rootstocks for a given set of growing conditions. The most commonly and widely used citrus rootstocks in India are Rough lemon, Cleopatra and Pectinifera. Rough lemon (Jatti Khatti) is the most important and widely used rootstock in the country for most of the scions followed by Kharna Khatta being more popular in Uttar Pradesh. While the problem of rootstock selection is important in all major fruit crops, it is of even greater importance in citrus due to tristeza virus disease now present in many areas of the world. It is also possible that citrus decline in India may be due partly to stionic incompatibilities. This chapter deals with problems and prospects of rootstocks in citrus in India, particularly related to horticultural aspects, insect-pests, diseases, nematodes, physiological disorders, post harvest quality, aspects related to tissue culture and rootstock breeding.

SUMMARY Fly ash, a waste product generated by coal based thermal power plants. The annual production of fly ash in the country has increased from 40 million tones in 1994 to 110 million tones in 2004 and it is expected that by 2012 the annual production of fly would reach the mark of 170 million tones. Owing to its physico-chemical characteristics, it has a vast potential for use in agriculture, forestry and wasteland reclamation. Application of fly ash into soil has been reported to increase the water holding capacity, hydraulic conductivity, porosity and decrease bulk density, modulus of rupture and surface encrustation. The studies conducted by various organizations on fly ash use in different crops have revealed significant increase in the crop yields such as wheat, maize, paddy, soybean, sunflower and vegetables like brinjal, tomato, potato, cabbage. Application of fly ash has been found to increase the level of heavy metals  viz., Co, Pb, Mo, As and Se as well as the activity of radio-nuclides i.e., 40K, 226Ra, 228Ac  in the soil- plant system; however, the levels of all these heavy metals and radio-nuclides were found to be well below the permissible limits.

SUMMARY Sustainable agricultural development can only be possible, when all agricultural inputs used judicially. Soil management practices, like nutrient management, time schedule of fertilizer application, irrigation management etc. are should be manage in such away that resulted in best remuneration and sustain overall soil health. More over that, soil physical properties like, tilth, aeration and drainage are also play important role in soil productivity, so tillage operation should be carry out at proper  level of soil moisture condition to maintain good soil tilth which result in better soil environment for high crop yield. The most important factor in sustainable soil management for agricultural development is nutrient management and it's only possible through integration. So nutrient management through integrated approaches, like use of chemical fertilizer is decreases by integrating with organic manures, biofertilizer, green manure, neem cake, caster cake etc which resulted in sustainable crop production and good soil health on long-term basis.

SUMMARY The primary requirement for sustainable agriculture is the maintenance of a satisfactory balance of water, air and salt in the root zone encouraging for plant growth. This balance can be achieved by sufficient drainage. About 22% of the World's irrigated area is affected by waterlogging and salinity. Vertical drainage by pumping can control the increase of ground water table in those areas where the ground water is of good quality. Horizontal sub-surface drainage in which the saline ground water is drained away through pipes and drains, is the other regularly used anti waterlogging methods. In bio-drainage system, the characteristic of the trees to transpire water is used to control the increase of ground water table. It is an alternative drainage method, which would be most economical and environmental congenial. But there are worries and doubts on the long-term sustainability of biodrainage. This chapter describes various aspects of biodrainage.

SUMMARY At present, Indian agriculture faces a severe challenge for the future in view of growing demand for food for meeting the needs of nation’s ever growing population. At the same time, resources are gradually shrinking and the productivity of some resources is already being utilized threatening the sustainability and leading to environmental degradation which necessitates judicious and sustainable management of natural resources, particularly soil and water. Of 142 m ha arable land, nearly 96 m ha (67%) is devoted to rainfed farming, which contributes about 44 % of the total production. Overexploitation of water resources, unequal access to water and adverse impacts on ecosystem services are among the major issues impacting sustainable use of water resources. Crop production in rainfed areas is generally affected by chronic drought, ephemeral drought, and apparent drought. In order to increase production, farmers have two options, either to use extensive systems (horigental) or intensive systems (vertical). There is a meager scope for extensive system in India and the remaining intensive system is the only option for the farmers as well as policy makers. Hence, optimizing soil water management is crucial to enhancing agronomic productivity and meeting the food needs of the growing population with rising standards of living under rainfed area.

SUMMARY Conventional agriculture has been contributing significantly to several modern day environmental problems like global climate change, soil degradation, water pollution, biodiversity loss etc. directly or indirectly. Organic agriculture has been identified as one of the eco-friendly agriculture techniques and is being promoted worldwide to meet the increasing demand for organic products and conserve the natural eco-systems. It helps mitigating climate change through reduced emission of green house gases (GHGs), greater C sequestration and less use of fossil fuel. Besides, it has been found helpful to reduce export of harmful agro-chemicals to water bodies, biodiversity conservation, restoring soil health etc. Organic agriculture can help to meet the objectives of sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture.

SUMMARY Seed quality comprises the sum of all properties or characteristics, which determine the potential level of the seed or seed lot performance and crop establishment. Once the seed is sown many factors (biotic, abiotic etc.,) influence its survival and potential. Seed priming is one of the short–term and most programmatic approaches followed to improve the quality of seed so as to exhibit maximum possible potential even under adverse conditions. Seed priming is a method that well fit in to the one or more principles of sustainability, as it is practiced as a low-cost, low-risk interventions that increase and stabilize yields to have a large and direct impact on the livelihoods of farmers. Various priming methods viz., hydro priming, halo priming, matrix priming, bio priming are in practice for advancement in seed germination, better crop growth and yield. The adoption of seed priming as a successful technology is widely practiced across the Globe for various benefits at farm level. On-farm seed programme is one such   successful programmes adopted under UK aid across 11 countries towards sustainable agriculture campaign.

SUMMARY The natural drainage systems are severely affected by the development processes and thus increased in waterlogged and salt affected areas. In major and medium irrigation projects due to inadequate designs coupled with poor management practices has raised groundwater table and in turn sizeable command areas are being affected both by water logging and soil salinization, Water logging and salt problem have been experienced in irrigation projects all over the country. Both adversely affect the growth and the yield of the crops. An area with water table within 2 m from the land surface is called as water logged area. It is potential to water logging if water table is between 2-3 m from the land surface. It has been estimated that around 16.71 million hectare land is affected by salt and waterlogging in India. The drainage is the remedy to these problems for sustainable agriculture.             Drainage is defined as the natural or artificial removal of surplus ground- and surface water and dissolved salt from the land in order to enhance agriculture production. In the case of natural drainage the excess waters flows from the fields to lakes, swamps, streams and rivers. However, in an artificial system surplus ground or surface water is removed by means of sub surface or surface conduits. Improved drainage create a healthier environment for plant growth, It conserve soil and water; and provide drier field conditions for ease in farm operations for the crop production. Agricultural drainage is must to realize the full benefit of irrigation.

SUMMARY To meet the food requirement of spirally growing population we need to produce more crops per unit area of land. Soil is the raw material for land and is the outer covering of earth surface. It is a very important resource and gift of nature for the substrate where plant can grow. Agriculture is the backbone of our country, and agriculture mainly dependent on soil quality. The success management of soil quality depends on the mechanistic approach, how soil responds to agricultural use and practices over times. As soil degradation grows day by day there is a big challenge against agriculture to sustain. Now days the main cause for soil degradation is non-planed use of land resources. This is the time when we think about this big challenge and face it for the future generation which we need to manage the soil quality for self sustainability. Because adaptation of appropriate soil management scientific methodologies and land use planning could replenish the degraded soil properties for sustainable agriculture which is need of the hour.

SUMMARY Vegetables play a pivotal role in food and nutritional security of the ever increasing population of our country. The vegetarian society largely depends on vegetables for the want of their nutritional requirements. Vegetables are exhaustive crop with an exceedingly high turnover of plant nutrients, Thus , nutrient element required for optimum growth and development of vegetables should supplied to soil and plants in right time and in a balanced and integrated mode. Neither the chemical fertilizers are alone nor the organic sources exclusively able to sustain the soil fertility/productivity. The national average productivity of different vegetable crops of our country at present is much below the potential productivity. It may be increased up to 2-3 times more by adoption of appropriate nutrient management practices. The majority of our Indian soils are deficient in about 7-8 macro and micronutrients which leads lower productivity. Integrated nutrient management (IPNM) is one of the recent methods of supplying nutrients to the plants by organic as well as inorganic means together to fulfill the nutrient requirements. Organic manures are the key characteristics including the long term fertility of soil by maintaining organic matter levels, fastening soil biological intervention, nitrogen fixation as well as effective recycling of organic materials including crop residues and live stock wastes and weed. Micro - organisms play an important role in various chemical transformations in soil and thus, influence the availability of major nutrient like N, P, K. and S to the plant.

SUMMARY Plant tissue culture mainly comprises a set of in vitro techniques, methods and strategies that are part of the group of technologies called plant biotechnology. Tissue culture has been exploited not only to create genetic variability from which crop plants can be improved but also to improve the state of health of the planted material and to increase the number of desirable germ plasms available to the plant breeder through a shorter duration in cost effective manner. Tissue-culture protocols are available for most crop species, although continued optimization is still required for many crops, especially cereals and woody plants. Tissue culture techniques, in combination with molecular techniques, have been successfully used to incorporate specific traits through gene transfer. In vitro techniques for the culture of protoplasts, anthers, microspores, ovules and embryos have been used to create new genetic variation in the breeding lines, often via haploid production. Cell culture has also produced somaclonal and gametoclonal variants with crop-improvement potential. The culture of single cells and meristems can be effectively used to eradicate pathogens from planting material and thereby dramatically improve the yield of established cultivars. Large-scale  micropropagation laboratories are providing millions of plants for the commercial ornamental market and the agricultural, clonally-propagated crop market. With selected laboratory material typically taking one or two decades to reach the commercial market through plant breeding, this technology can be expected to have an ever increasing impact on crop improvement as we approach for the need of the hour .

SUMMARY Fertigation is the injection of concentrated soluble nutrients into irrigation water to enhance crop production. It is used extensively in commercial agriculture and horticulture. In combination with micro-irrigation (drip irrigation), this technique forms an efficient method for precisely applying nutrients close to the crop root zone, especially when a polyethylene mulch is used. Fertigation is used to spoon feed additional nutrients or correct nutrient deficiencies detected in plant tissue analysis and usually practiced with high value crops such as vegetables, turf, fruit trees, and ornamentals. Water supply for fertigation kept separate from domestic water supply to avoid contamination. Fertilizing fruit and vegetable crops requires a delicate balance between yield, quality, and environmental impact. Fertigation increases response to nitrogen (N) and provides greater opportunity to control rates to optimum levels to the root zone. Providing nutrients through the irrigation system enables more flexibility in a fertilizer program. Several types of irrigation systems are available for use in crop production. For any system used, approved backflow control valves and interlock devices are necessary to prevent accidental contamination of the water source due to irrigation system failure or shutdown.

SUMMARY In the context of increasing population pressure, diminishing per capita land holding, and employment crisis, livelihood security of Indian rural population has become important concern today. The livelihood of the people is dynamic, diverse and complex in nature. The livelihood comprises the people themselves, the assets they posses, the activities they do and the output they gain from their activities. According to the need, availability of the resources and capacity, people used to select their livelihood strategies like agricultural intensification, livelihood diversification or they migrate to the other places to find alternative livelihoods.

SUMMARY Abiotic stress can be reduced by choosing the most appropriate pulse species and adjusting agronomy (sowing time, plant density, soil management) to ensure sensitive crop stages occur at the most favourable time in the season. For example choosing the optimum sowing time, species and cultivars with appropriate phenology can reduce the effect of frost and drought in pulse crops in dry land environments, which termed stress.              Most appropriate approach of dealing with stresses caused by extremes in the abiotic environment is to develop cultivars resistant to specific stresses. However, breeding and selection for resistance to these stresses is often considerable difficult because of the unpredictability of climatic conditions. Drought and heat escape through earliness in flowering and maturity is probably the characteristic most widely used by breeders for pulses and other crops to escape drought especially in low rainfall, terminal drought environment. Lack of simple and accurate screening procedures to screen parental genotypes and breeding population for various abiotic stresses is the major bottlenecks in the development of stress tolerant cool season pulse crops.

SUMMARY Organic farming is not new to Indian farming community. Several forms of organic farming are being successfully practiced in diverse climate, particularly in rainfed, tribal, mountains and hill areas of the country. Among all farming systems, organic farming is gaining wide attention among farmers, entrepreneurs, policy makers and agricultural scientists for varied reasons such as it minimizes the dependence on chemical inputs (fertilizers; pesticides; herbicides and other agro-chemicals) thus safeguards/improves quality of resources, and it is labour intensive and provides an opportunity to increase rural employment and achieve long term improvements in the quality of resource base. The popularity of organic farming is gradually increasing and now organic agriculture is practiced in almost all countries of the world, and its share of agricultural land and farms is growing.

SUMMARY Multiplicity of cropping systems has been one of the main features of Indian agriculture and it is attributed to rain-fed agriculture and prevailing socio-economic situations of farming community. It has been estimated that more than 250 double cropping systems are followed throughout the country and based on rationale of spread of crops in each district in the country, 30 important cropping systems have been identified. Cropping systems of a region are decided by and large, by a number of soil and climatic parameters which deter mine overall agro ecological setting for nourishment and appropriateness of a crop or set of crops for cultivation. Much of the Madhya Pradesh area also coincides with the rainfed semi-arid agro-ecological region and sub-regions which are upland, forested with low agricultural productivity and predominately tribal population. It would appear that over the centuries – including in recent history tribals have been inexorably moved off the better lands, into areas which from an agricultural perspective have low productive capacity and little potential for growth. Low agricultural productivity is one of the main causes of persistently high poverty rates in the state and the poor masses not only depends upon the farming system but also chosen different alternatives for their sustanability.