eChapters

Environmental constraints that include abiotic stress factors such as salt, drought, cold, extreme temperatures and heavy metalsalready a major limitingfactor for crop productivity and will soon become even more severe due to climate change conditions.Together, these stresses constitute the primary causes of crop losses worldwide, reducing average yields of most major crop plants by more than 50% (Boyer, 1982; Bray et al., 2000; Wang et al., 2003). Current climate change scenarios predict an increase in mean surface temperatures and drought that will drastically affect global agriculture in the near future (Le Treut et al., 2007).
 
Abiotic stresses trigger many biochemical, molecular and physiological changes and responses that influence various cellular and wholeplant processes (Wang et al., 2001, 2003). For example, drought, salinityand low temperature stress lead to reduced availability of water (alsoknown as dehydration/osmotic stress) characterized by a decreasedturgor pressure and water loss (Dhariwal et al., 1998; Boudsocq and Lauriere, 2005). Osmotic stress promotes the synthesis of the phytohormoneabscisic acid (ABA)which then triggers a major change in gene expressionand adaptive physiological responses (Seki et al., 2002; Yamaguchi and Shinozaki, 2006; Shinozaki andYamaguchi-Shinozaki, 2007).

Abstract

Women empowerment is a buzz word of every platform starting from household issues to national politics. The best way to empower women is to make them economically self-reliant through entrepreneurial activities. In India agriculture is mainstay of the country and 70 percent women are farmers, so the best measure to empower them is through entrepreneurship in agriculture and allied sectors particularly organic agriculture as India currently holds a prominent position among 172 countries that actively practice it. At present, the country is home to more than 8, 50,000 organic producers, 699 processors, 669 exporters, and 7, 20,000 hectares under cultivation. Merely with 0.4 per cent of total agricultural land area under organic cultivation, India has attained global standing which infers that this industry still has a long way to go in terms of growth and opportunities for socio-economic development. Organic Food industry has been experiencing steadfast growth in past few years in India in spite of several challenges at producer, processor and consumer levels. With its annual turnover of Rs 4000 crore and annual growth rate of 25%, the country’s budding organic food market is transforming into world’s fastest growing organic food market with expected turnover of 10,000 crore by 2020. There is drastic change in consumer behavior and spending patterns in the country which has opened avenues for organic food industry at the national level besides export. This highscale opportunity is driven by the fact that organic food consumption is not even 0.1 percent of India’s $300 billion annual food consumption. Likewise, India’s share in the $100 billion global organic food market is less than 0.2 percent. Further, the scope of the opportunity is also driven by the increasing variety of organic foods hitting the market and the emergence of e-commerce as a channel in which to sell the product. India today is on the threshold of organic revolution where women participation will act as booster but need to be supported by Govts and technical institutions. Barriers to improving women’s agency include widespread deficiencies in policy support to women, and in fact to the organic farming sector as a whole. It is necessary to increase women’s research presence in organic research institutions (including at the higher levels). To enable women to conduct research in the field, it is important to allow women to set research agendas, and to work with their research needs and priorities. Food security as a priority for organic agriculture involves women’s empowerment since they hold a central role in providing nutrition for the household.

Statistics: Collection of methods for planning experiments, obtaining data,

and then organizing, summarizing, presenting, analyzing, interpreting, and

drawing conclusions.

Sir R.A. Fisher: Father of modern statistics.

Population: All subjects possessing a common characteristic that is being

studied.

Sample: A subgroup or subset of the population.

Parameter: Characteristic or measure obtained from a population.

Statistic: Characteristic or measure obtained from a sample.

Karl Pearson: Study of correlation and chi-square test of goodness of fit.

W.S.Gosset: Student’s t-test for small sample

Francis Galton: Regression analysis.

Descriptive Statistics: Collection, organization, summarization, and

presentation of data.

In the backdrop of a predominantly agrarian economy, India has made tremendous advances in modern agriculture to meet both the food and nutritional security. In recent years, horticulture has assumed great importance mainly to augment nutritional security and secondarily as a highly cost-effective, remunerative and eco-friendly enterprise having vast export potential. To meet the challenges of research and development, tracer techniques have added the much needed fillip as they can be ingeniously applied to resolve issues which are not ordinarily possible using conventional techniques.

A disaster is any event natural or manmade which creates an intense negative impact on people goods and services and or the environment and exceeds the affected community internal capability to respond prompting the need to seek outside assistance. In other words a disaster is a serious disturbance of a community or society interfere human resources losses and impacts on economically and environmentally or disaster means simply an event has unfortunate consequences on only on human but also on whole environment. Disaster can be two types’ Natural disaster and manmade disaster.

Horticultural crops are ideal and valuable assets of nature to mankind. They are popular among masses since time immemorial but their importance was realized only in the recent past due to their high nutritive value, good taste and pleasing quality. They provide essential nutrients and minerals for proper functioning of human body and aesthetic surroundings for peaceful living. India is an important centre of diversity and several horticultural crops  originated here.  The horticultural crops constitute 13.08% of total crop area and contribute about 28% to GDP. The sub-continent extends from 8° 04’ - 37° 06’ North latitude and 68° 07’- 97° 25’ East longitude and it has tropical, sub-tropical and temperate climates which favour successful growing of a large number of horticultural crops.  India has a wide variety of climate and soil on which a large number of horticultural crops like fruits, vegetables, potato and other tropical tuber crops, ornamentals, medicinal and aromatic plants, plantation crops, spices, cashew and cocoa are grown. Of late, major emphasis was laid on development of high yielding varieties and high production technologies and their adoption in areas of assured irrigation paved the way towards food security.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of writing this chapter is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the role of functions of water in plant growth and development. Water is essential to life on earth as the living organisms contain 80-90 per cent water. A typical crop or grassland will transpire approximately 500 ml of water per 10 g of dry matter produced. Water has a tremendous effect on the environment near the earth, which on regional basis we call ‘climate’. Ecological importance of water is due to its physiological importance because water affects the plant growth through physiological processes. All metabolic activities in the plant cell or tissue depend on water status of the plant. For example, in a maturing seed, respiration rate is highest as it moves towards maturation stage, water content decreases and hence rate of respiration slow down. At the harvesting stage, when the water content is 10-20%, the respiration rates become negligible. Now in a stored seed if the water content will be high it will result into higher respiration, thus release energy, which will increase the temperature and will finally destroy the seed.

Plant analysis includes tests on fresh tissue in the field and analysis of total nutrients in plants in the laboratory. Plant analysis is based on the relationship between nutrients in a plant and nutrient availability in a soil. Plant analysis is not a direct method of soil fertility evaluation, but it can serve as a valuable supplement to soil testing in the task of soil fertility evaluation. Plant analysis is useful in confirming nutrient deficiencies, toxicities and imbalance and identifying hidden hunger. Plant analysis generally provides more current plant-based information than soil testing, entails more effort in terms of sampling, sample handling and analysis and, perhaps, expensive.

Abstract

India has diversified agro-climatic conditions with significant variability in climatic factors viz, rainfall pattern, temperature, humidity, sunshine hours and wind speed etc. A no of fruit crops and vegetable crops are grown in India with significant differences in climatic requirements for sustainable growth and production of these crops. Attempt has also been made to have off season production of horticultural crops. Weather variability could also play a pivotal role in disease and pest incidence. So, forecasting of yield along with disease pest incidence should be given top priority to save the crop from weather vagaries and increase the crop productivity.

INTRODUCTION

Burgeoning human population and its elevated living standard have greatly demanded more agricultural production. But unfortunately agricultural crops suffer deadly due to many biotic and abiotic stresses. Of biotic stresses, phytonematodes, the hidden enemies of crops are real threat to successful and profitable cultivation of agricultural crops (Plate. 11.1). These, endoparasitic nematodes, Meloidogyne spp. and Heterodera spp., are mainly dreadful causing wrecking havoc to agricultural scenario. Chemical control of these, tiny parasites created residue, resistance, resurgence, hazardous and pollution problems to the growers as well as soil and atmospheric environment. To overcome these hazards, efforts are being made to go for non-chemicals means of nematodes management strategies in crops. Hence, a research work carried out on management of these endoparasitic nemas particularly Meloidogyne spp. and Heterodera spp., through non-chemical methods is reviewed in subsequent status.

I. General information

1. A group of ornamental plants which complete their life cycle in one season or in a year is called annuals
2. Time of sowing of summer annual seeds is February- March
3. Time of sowing of rainy season annual seeds is June- July
4. Time of sowing of winter annual seeds is September- October
5. Based on growing season, annuals are classified into summer, rainy & winter
6. Based on hardiness, annuals are classified into hardy, half hardy & tender
7. Based on photoperiodic requirement annuals are classified into short day, long day, day neutral, long short day, short long day & intermediate

I. General information

The nature of roots

The roots of palms are usually tough and thick, although slender and wiry types are existing. Some roots creep over the soil’s surface, while a few palms even develop aerial roots that may eventually make them appear to be growing on stilts.

A few palms develop aerial roots at or near the base of the trunk or stems. These include Crysophila warscewiczii (Rootspine palm) and Clinostigma exorrhizum. Other palms with aerial roots include Pinanga aristata, Verschaffeltia splendida (Seychelles stilt palm) and Socratea exorrhiza. Some of these develop into stilt or prop roots, which often form a cone and give the palm extra support, they usually occurs on plams native to wet soils and humid conditions, whereas the base of the palms is at risk from decay. Indeed, in a few instances, the lower part of the trunk withers and the palm is entirely supported by these roots.

ABSTRACT

Bio-engineering is the use of vegetation, either alone or in conjunction with civil engineering structures, to reduce instability and erosion of slopes. Such structures are advocated in hilly area mainly because they provide one of the best ways to armour slopes against erosion. Bio-engineering, in the context of upland slope protection and erosion reduction, combines mechanical, biological, and ecological concepts to arrest and prevent shallow slope failures and erosion. This chapter presents the design consideration and construction practices for stabilization of slopes using bioengineering technologies along with a brief review on the salient features and characteristics of the bioengineering processes.

Agriculture is undergoing a major transformation driven by digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and data-based decision-making. This chapter introduces the concept of smart farming and explains the transition from traditional agriculture to precision and digital agriculture. It discusses enabling technologies such as the Internet of Things, remote sensing, cloud computing, machine learning, and data analytics. These technologies facilitate real-time monitoring, precision irrigation, crop surveillance, yield forecasting, and efficient resource management. The chapter also examines the development of cyber-physical agricultural systems and the potential of automation. Challenges including data quality, infrastructure, cost, technology adoption, and the rural digital divide are also highlighted.

Highlights • Banana leather can be enriched with microencapsulated ? – 3 fatty acid for value addition. • Blanching can destroy more than 80% of vitamin C content. • Henderson and Pabis model can better predict the drying kinetics of banana leather. Introduction The ever increasing demand for functional foods having numerous health benefits has been an active research ground for the food scientists around the globe. Till date, many food products have been formulated to deliver functionalities by value addition with bioactive compounds (Carvalho Barros et al., 2020). These products have been extensively studied and proved to be beneficial, especially for elder age group against various metabolic syndrome and health complications. Functional foods are edible products fortified with compounds having additional health and safety benefits such as vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds (Granato et al., 2020). One such example of a nutritionally dense food product with the potential of fortification to meet certain health benefits is fruit leather.

Introduction

Food is the basis to sustain a healthy life as evidenced from its consumption through centuries by human. There are plenty of plenty of foodstuffs available these days as part of new product development and flexible global participation of researchers and food technocrats. Their researches brings a lot reforms in traditional recipes through newest technological concepts (functional or nutraceutical) that address much of safety aspect for consumers health and is the prime focused concern for now (Keservani, et al 2014). Even than strict labeling policies is the present hour need to stay fit and fine. Safe and wholesome supply of foods, high pace food demands, increase in processing aspect, minimization of fraudulent practices are the key points that somehow require laws and standards during transportation, storage, marketing and storage.

Nation’s growth resides in their healthy people that contribute flawless to acquire achievements in overall growth of country. So availability of healthy food is must which can only be governed through strict standards and regulatory agency’s regulation. Journey of food from “Production to consumption”, “Farm to fork”, “Unstable to table” and “Boat to throat” are the activities where these agencies abide their regulations by way of laws and standards. Indian market somehow lacking its policy to organize food regulation appropriately hence is segmented in two types of food products viz;

Introduction

Rice is one of the most important staple foods among all cereals. The larger population in Asia and Africa depends on rice for their daily calorie and nutritional requirements. People are found to bank on rice as their main source of nutrition in emerging and underdeveloped nations (Yang et al. 2016). However, it is considered that the milled or polished rice is nutritionally poor as the majority of the essential micronutrients viz. iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), and important vitamins are lost during the process of milling and polishing (Johnson et al. 2011). So, by the way, the poorer section of the worldwide population mainly depends on rice and is most vulnerable to ‘hidden hunger’ as they are unable to afford other micronutrients-rich non-staple foods for their balanced diet and are often at the maximum risk for micronutrients deficiencies (Bouis and Saltzman 2017). The only possible solution for such malnutrition is to have nutritionally enriched food in the daily foodstuff. However, approximately one third of the world’s population is facing the problem of hidden hunger (White and Broadley 2009). Prolonged utilization of carbohydrate-rich food mainly based on rice, wheat, or maize is contributing to such nutritional deficiency in the poorer section of our society as most of them are unable to supplement nutritionally rich food for their diet. The deficiency of micronutrients can be termed a silent epidemic because it slowly weakens our immune system and hampers physical and intellectual development which may lead to fatality in some severe conditions. In the case of micronutrient deficiencies, deficiencies  of iron or iron deficiency anaemia (IDA), zinc deficiency, and vitamin-A  deficiency (VAD) are common, and have serious consequences.

Vegetable crops are highly susceptible to biotic stresses incited by different diseasecausing micro-organisms (fungi, bacteria, phytoplasma, virus), insect pests, nematodes, arachnids and weeds. In contrast to abiotic stresses caused by the environmental factors such as drought, heat, soil salinity, alkalinity, etc., biotic stress-causing agents directly deprive their host of its nutrients leading to reduced plant vigour and, in extreme cases, death of the host plant. In vegetable crops, different biotic stresses are the major cause of pre- and post-harvest losses.
Indiscriminate use of chemicals for the control of diseases, insect pests and nematodes has several disadvantages particularly, increasing cost involved in chemical control, residual toxicity of the chemicals (fungicides, antibiotics, insecticides) in food chain and development of resistance against pathogens and insect pests to different chemicals. Management of diseases and insect pests involve the use of resistant varieties and integration of cultural and chemical control measures.

Packaging is an integral part of fruit and vegetable processing. It has  major influence on storage life and on marketability of fresh as well as processed products. Packaging fulfills several functions including containment, facilitating transportation, protection of fruit/vegetable from further damage, protection of environment from contents of package (for example, if the contents are dirty), marketing, product advertising, and stock control.

Abstract

In the present horticultural scenario of India, this is the burning issue as how best the underutilized horticultural crops can be exploited. There is tremendous potential for these crops especially for diversification. These plants can generate employment for millions especially to the natives ofdeveloping counties besides nutritional security. Traditional wisdom of Indian farmers if used properly can pave the path for transforming the economy of developing nations. There are great opportunities for the people to identify crops, explore their market, standardize their cultivation and processing techniques, document them and provide jobs to millions. This will salvage the people from exploitation by multinational companies of developed nations and can give a new direction to sustainable agriculture.