eChapters

Respiratory tract disorders in domestic animals
The respiratory system is vital for efficient oxygen exchange, metabolic function, and overall health. Respiratory tract disorders in livestock speciesare among the most significant health challenges, leading to  economic losses in terms of reduced productivity, treatment costs, and mortality. Thesedisorders can affect the upper respiratory tract (URT), lower respiratory tract  (LRT), or both. Overview of common respiratory diseases in livestock, their aetiology, clinical manifestations, pathophysiology, diagnostic approaches, and management strategies are summarized as follows: -
1. Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex (BRDC)
? Species affected: Cattle
? Etiology: Multifactorial; involves viruses (Bovine herpesvirus-1, Bovine respiratory syncytial virus, Parainfluenza-3, Bovine viral diarrhea virus), bacteria (Mannheimia haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida, Mycoplasma bovis), and environmental stressors

This chapter describes methods for evaluating soil reaction, salinity, organic matter and plant-available nutrients. It begins with soil pH and electrical conductivity, explaining their importance in nutrient availability and the identification of acidic, saline or alkaline conditions. Procedures are then provided for estimating organic carbon, available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur. The chapter also covers calcium, magnesium and micronutrients, including zinc, iron, copper, manganese, boron and molybdenum. Every method identifies the necessary apparatus and reagents and explains extraction, colour development, instrumental measurement, calculation and interpretation. Particular attention is given to calibration, sample preparation, reagent quality, contamination control and laboratory safe

1. INTRODUCTION

Exotic means anything of foreign origin and something not of native growth. Exotic vegetables are those species introduced to a country or location. Broccoli, Brussels sprout, Knol- Khol, Red Cabbage, Lettuce, Asparagus, Baby Sweet Corn, Chive, Garden beet, Kale, Swiss chard, Parsley, Parsnip, Chinese cabbage and Leek are important exotic vegetables. These generally require cool temperature.

Due to increasing foreign culture and increasing living standards, the demand of exotic vegetables is continuously increasing in cosmopolitan cities and five star hotels. These are good in taste and have high nutritive value. Most of the exotic vegetables can be used in salad and soups. These crops are very remunerative.

In urban areas only few part time grower devote time to the production of exotic vegetable. Exotic vegetable farming is profitable venture that require little capital and become source of livelihood to the farmer. The increase in their output level and profit will contributing to food security in the country. About 50% world population living in the cities. The rapid urbanization poses new challenges for food security. It is hard for most of the cities in the developing countries to provide sufficient employment for rapid increasing population. Some district of Maharashtra like Pune, Nasik & Satara now growing exotic vegetables like asparagus and broccoli. Cherry tomato, leek, lettuce, red cabbage & baby corn are also important as exotic vegetables.

In HP cultivation of Exotic Vegetable like asparagus, broccoli, lettuce, leek, chinese cabbage, snow pea, and parsley start picking up in Theog, Matyana, Saproon Valley, Sirmour, Katrain, Manali, Narkanda & Sanj Valley. These vegetables are beneficial for health as they are rich in phyto-chemicals and neutraceuticals. India is endowed with a wide range of tropical, sub-tropical and temperate agroclimatic conditions, therefore almost all kinds of vegetable crops grown around the world can be cultivated in one or the other corner. There is a lot of potential for exotic vegetables for domestic and export market. Important one are:

Scheduling irrigation is the process of determining when to irrigate and how much to irrigate. Selecting the appropriate time span in between two irrigation and applying the required volume of water in each irrigation, ensures saving of water, minimize energy use, higher crop yield and lower production costs. Irrigation applied earlier than due date causes loss of water through evaporation or deep percolation and later causes water stress to plants and thereby affects the growth and yield of the plants.

Scheduling of irrigation may be required in two field conditions: (i) when available of water is adequate, (ii) when availability of water is limited.

In the places where water is adequate scheduling of irrigation follows full   irrigation with time sequence of minimum number of irrigation to ensure maximum yield and high water use efficiency. When water is limited its use is rationalized by using at the sensitive stage

Seabuckthorn or Siberian pineapple or Leh Berry is an emerging new horticultural crop of temperate region in the world. In India, its importance was realized in 1992 when the author found its wild abundance in cold desert of Leh /Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir State and named it as Leh Berry. Perhaps Chinese were the first to use this plant as medicine even before 8th century. In traditional Chinese medicines, seabuckthorn products are used as health drinks, for cardiovascular and digestive diseases and ailments related to lungs and skin. Chinese Olympic athletes were served seabuckthorn based health drinks to improve their physical performance and endurance. Seabuckthorn figures in folklore medicines of China, Mongolia, Tibet, India ,Russia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Ancient Greeks were taken by surprise before 12th century to find their horses, strong and energetic again with a shine on their hair, which were let loose to die a natural death. These horses used seabuckthorn wild growth as their fodder.

Climate change is a multifaceted alteration of climate which is perceptibly subtle and yet continuous, nevertheless it is extremely important due its consequences on whole biome that thrives under constant or relatively unchanged climates. The effects of climate change have reached such an extent that irreversible changes in the functioning of the planet are feared. Some of the main effects of climate change with specific reference to agriculture and food production especially during the last decade are: increased occurrence of storms and floods; increased incidence and severity of droughts and forest fires; steady spreading out of frost-free intervals and potential growing season; increased frequency of diseases and insect pest attacks; and vanishing habitats of plants and animals. Currently, the world is facing a challenge of producing sufficient food from dwindling natural resource base for the constantly increasing population.

Abstract

The increase in human population, their growing economic activities and more and more transport demands, on one side, have increased the requirement of automobile fuels more than ever before, but the political turmoil in Middle east oil producing countries, the quick declination in stock of fossil fuels, the high rise in petroleum prices and rapid increase in air pollution due to automobile emission, on the other side, have made people of both developed and developing countries to search some non-polluting renewable but commercially viable alternative automobile fuel as a national priority. Hydrogen based fuel cells and latest designed improved storage batteries are knocking the door to bring revolution in developing non-polluted electric drive vehicles for 21st century. Successful blending of bio-diesel with petro-diesel has shown promising results to give relief to the present generation for saving some petroleum for future generation, for reducing air pollution substantially and for generating employment opportunity for its rural masses.

Mode of Action

The term mode of action refers to the sequence of events from absorption into plants to plant death. The mode of action of the herbicide influences how the herbicide is applied. For example, contact herbicides that disrupt cell membranes, such as acifluorfen (Blazer) or paraquat (Gramoxone Extra), need to be applied post emergence to leaf tissue in order to be effective. Seedling growth inhibitors, such as trifluralin (Treflan) and alachlor (Lasso), need to be applied to the soil to effectively control newly germinated seedlings.

To be effective, herbicides must 1) adequately contact plants; 2) be absorbed by plants; 3) move within the plants to the site of action, without being deactivated; and 4) reach toxic levels at the site of action. The application method used, whether pre-plant incorporated, pre-emergence, or postemergence, determines whether the herbicide will contact germinating seedlings, roots, shoots, or leaves of plants.

Mode of Action of Herbicides

Herbicides perform a vital role in the management of weeds. As the name indicates, herbicides are chemicals that kill or control vegetation. Although the ultimate effect of most herbicides is the same (usually death of weed), the way they control weeds is vastly different. Physiologists use the term mode of action to describe the way the herbicides affect weeds. It includes the entire sequence of events that occur from the time the weed absorbs the herbicide to the final plant response (usually death). The term mode of action is the broad term under which all aspects of herbicidal action including the mechanism of action is included, while the mechanism of action refers to only the biochemical and biophysical responses of plants that appeared to be associated with herbicidal action.

Thus, mode of action includes absorption, translocation to an active site, inhibition of a specific biochemical reaction, degradation or breakdown of the herbicide in the plant and soil and the effect of the herbicide on plant growth and physiology.

Although two herbicides may differ chemically, they may still possess the same mode of action example trifluralin (a dinitroaniles herbicide) and propanamide (an amide herbicide) are inhibitors of microtubule/spindle apparatus. Each herbicide family (class or group) has a primary site of action which may be different in its action from others example sulfonylureas herbicides are ALS or AHAS inhibitors while glyphosate and sulfosate are ESPS inhibitors. Some may have more than one site of action, but the mostinhibitory of these will be affected first. The other site(s) may be considered secondary. Fluometuron, a urea group herbicides act by inhibiting photosynthesis at photosystem II and carotenoid biosynthesis.

Wind stress at the sea surface not only causes horizontal movement of water (Ekman Net transport), but also leads to vertical motion (Ekman Pumping). This horizontal movement of water leads to the occurrence of upwelling and down welling throughout the oceans both at coastal boundaries as well as in the open ocean. As divergence of surface water causes rising, convergence of the surface water causes sinking. This rising and sinking of water are called upwelling and down welling.

The word mulch was coined by Wagganor in 1960. It is derived from the German word ‘molsch’ means “easy to decay,” and mulches have widely been used for vegetable production since ancient times (Lightfoot 1994). Therefore the term mulching refers to the practice of covering the soil surface with different organic and inorganic materials, known as mulch materials to reduce moisture loss, balance wide variations in diurnal soil temperatures especially in the root zone, control weeds, insect-pests and diseases and finally enhance crop yield (Nalayini 2007; Kader et al. 2019).

Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), famous as “Black Gold” and also known the “King of Spices” is the most important agricultural commodities of commerce and trade in India. It is the most important, most popular and most widely used spice in the World. Of the total spices traded internationally, black pepper accounts for 34 per cent. South West India is the traditional home of this important spice, particularly the Malabar Coast. Black pepper is also grown in tropical zones such as the Asia Pacific Region, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Outside the Asia Pacific region, the crop is distributed in Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, etc., totaling about 26 countries. It is grown successfully between 20°N and 20°S latitude and from mean sea level to 1500 meters above sea level. World’s black pepper production varies in the range of 2.7 to 3.35 tonnes annually. The major production share is contributed by Vietnam with an annual production of 80,000 tonnes. About 85 per cent of the World trade of pepper is determined by the largest pepper producing countries in the International Pepper Community (IPC). World export fluctuates around 1.5–2.5 lakhs tonnes per annum. Global black pepper supply has shown a drastic increase over last ten years except in 2008–09. Vietnam’s sudden increase in production has resulted in the massive global out put of 3–3.5 lakhs metric tonnes from 1.9–2.0 lakhs metric tonnes in late nineties. 

ABSTRACT

Plants play an important role in human survival and contribute to sustainable development as they are the major source of different bioactive compounds such as taxol, digoxin, reserpine and vinblastin used directly as drug and medicines for human diseases. As plants are basic need and requirement for living, they are used as herbal remedy, and known to produce lead compounds for semi synthesis of higher activity or lower toxicity. Indian Himalaya regions are repository of more than 8,000 plants species and out of which 50% are endemic and unique due to thepresence of morphological and chemical structure of peculiar characters. Most of the plant used in Indian traditional system of medicines such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha or Amchi described for different formulations and ethnomedicinal applications had distributional range restricted to the hills and the valleys of Himalayas. Hence, in this communication, an attempt has been made to present economic plants of Himalayan origin used as ethnomedicine, wild food plants as vegetables, herbal teas, homemade soups, wild salads, chutney, underground snacks, alcoholic drinks, nutrients as burnt powder and other human usages. Besides, this unique Himalayan plant has potential to be used as wild source for the development of new drugs and medicines which can sustain future to human survival and had the ability to produce medicine against deadly diseases. It is estimated that 80% of the world population uses traditional medicine made from herbal botanicals to cure disease and illness. It is of the record that 122 compounds obtained from ethnomedicinal plants is globally used as drugs. This indicates that tribal knowledge on plants and drug discovery cannot be separated, and newdrugsfor uniquedeadly diseases can be discovered only from ethnobotanical leads. More than 5,000 species reported from Indian Himalayas are of ethnobotanical values and they are used as medicine or wild food by different tribal communities. It can be concluded that Himalayan tribals are endowed with strong culture associated with botanicals and have age-old tradition with respect to the use of wild plants as food and medicine. Plants provide a real substitute for the primary health care systems in hills and valleys, and definitely going to serve as jewel for mankind in near future to come.

Linear models have been extensively used in animal breeding. This chapter explains the basics of linear models including description; fixed, random and mixed models; model diagnostics and covariates. The concept of linear models in animal breeding is explained with representation and actual examples of use in different types of livestock.

Introduction to Linear Models

A model can be defined as a physical, mathematical or otherwise logical representation of a system, entity, phenomenon, or process. Linear models are a way of describing response variables in terms of a linear combination of the predictor variable. They provide a framework for a large set of models whose common goal is to explain or predict a quantitative dependent variable by a set of independent variables that can be categorical or quantitative.

1. INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

Flower arrangement is a very old art. In India, the flowers have been earlier arranged in temples and during festivities. The first rules of ikebana were laid down in Japan more than a thousand years ago. Flowers have been widely used for interior decoration, but they were cut from the garden and simply massed into water-filled containers to brighten the home. The beauty of the display relied upon the blooms themselves rather than the aesthetic appeal of the design. Even at homes and venues of festivals/functions/on auspicious occasions, flowers are used in a big way in the form of garlands, wall hangings, and floor decorations. Flower arrangements grace table tops, window sills, corners, fire places, and so on to suit the occasion.

Flower arrangement may be defined as the art of organizing and grouping together plant materials (flowers, foliage, fruits, twigs etc) to achieve harmony of form, colour and texture, thereby adding cheer, life and beauty to the surroundings.

Various types of arrangements are chosen, as appropriate to the area and occasion. Medium sized ‘round’ arrangements are often provided at the guest relations executives’ desk in the lobby and on coffee tables in the lounges. In most five-star hotels, one can see huge, spectacular arrangements in the loggies. Table arrangements for conferences must be low so that guests may see over them. At informal banquets, large arrangements may be seen. At wedding banquets, wall arrangements using gerberas are very popular, now a days. On special occasions and festivals, a large amount of flowers is required for making up various types of arrangements. The extent to which flowers are used in hotel interiors depends on the degree of luxury provided, the number of special functions held.

The housekeeper is responsible for all flower arrangements and their placement. Simple arrangements such as a bud in a vase can be done. Alternatively, flower arrangements may be provided on contract, in which case the arrangements are brought in and taken away at agreed times and little or no floral work is carried out on the premises. Arrangements like running water, containers, buckets, vases, scissors and flower pots are important.

1.1 Introduction to Sustainable Energy
The idea of sustainable energy has come to light in the twenty-first century as the globe struggles with rising energy demands, environmental degradation, and the menacing threat of climate change. It offers hope and a way forward for a more promising future. A major change in the production, distribution, and consumption of energy resources is what sustainable energy entails. It is a paradigm that includes a range of clean and renewable energy sources, technologies, and methods with the goal of supplying our energy demands with the least amount of harm to the environment (Andrews and Shabani, 2014). 1.2 Importance of Sustainable Energy Sources Sustainable energy is of paramount importance due to several interconnected reasons listed below and shown in Figure 1:
1.2.1 Environmental Concerns: For many years, conventional fossil fuelbased
energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas have formed the foundation of our energy system. But as they burn, greenhouse gases (GHGs) mostly carbon dioxide (CO2) are released into the environment (Hosseini and Wahid, 2016). These greenhouse gases are the main causes of climate change, which raises global temperatures, brings on harsh weather, and raises sea levels. Conversely, sustainable energy sources are crucial for reducing climate change because they emit little or no greenhouse gases when in use.
1.2.2 Finite Nature of Fossil Fuels: Because fossil fuels are limited resources,
their stocks are running out quickly. The task that follows is to ensure that future generations have access to economical and dependable energy sources. Because they are renewable or endless, sustainable energy sources provide a solution to the problem of energy security (Su-Ungkavatin et al., 2023).
1.2.3 Economic Benefits: Making the switch to renewable energy can be
very profitable. It can improve national energy security and lessen trade deficits by fostering innovation, generating jobs, and lowering dependency on energy imports. Furthermore, because they frequently have lower operating and maintenance costs than fossil fuel-based systems, sustainable energy technologies can result in cost savings over time (Shafiei et al., 2015).

Summary

Expressed sequence tags are small pieces of DNA sequence (usually 200 to 500 nucleotides long) that are generated by sequencing either one or both ends of an expressed gene. Currently various EST sequencing projects are underway for numerous organisms, generating millions of short, single-pass nucleotide sequence reads, accumulating in EST databases. Extensive computational strategies and various databases have been developed to organize and analyse both small- and large-scale EST data for gene discovery, functional annotation of putative gene products as well as transcript and single nucleotide polymorphism analysis. Present chapter provides an overview of the significance of ESTs, their properties, databases, analysis software and the applications of ESTs.

1. Introduction Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), a cereal grain belongs to the grass family (Poaceae), within the subfamily (Panicoidea) and in the tribe (Andropogoneae) (H.J. et al., 2005). It is grown throughout the world in regions with warmer summers and with daytime temperatures often exceeding 90°F (Rai et al., 1999).After wheat, maize, rice, and barley, it is the fifth most significant and nutritious millet in terms of volume. While many varieties of millets are exclusively cultivated for human consumption, sorghum is widely farmed for – food and feed for humans and animals respectively (Awika, 2011). For millions of people in Africa and Asia, sorghum is commonly consumed as a staple.. In West Africa, sorghum is known as dawa, guinea corn, and sorgho while in Sudan, it is referred as durra; in Ethiopia,Eritrea and East Africa, mtama; in southern Africa, kaffircorn, mabele, or amabele; and in the Indian subcontinent, jowar, jonna, cholam, or jola.(Bantilan et al., 2004).

10.1 Normal Distribution
The normal distribution is the most widely used distribution in statistics. Almost all biological data including the agricultural data eg. crop yield, plant height, seed weight, seed size, protein percent in pulse, oil content in an oil seed etc are assumed to be normally distributed. In practice their distribution is rarely verified. In distribution theory, for large values of n, the number of trial (or sample size), almost all the distributions e.g. Binomial, poission, Negative binomial, chi square, student’s t, and Snedenor’s F distributions etc. are very closely approximated by normal distribution. It is a continuous distribution with mean and variance as its two parameters.

The pineapple, botanically known as Ananas comosus Merr, is the most famous edible member of the Bromeliaceae family. It is native to southern Brazil and is known by a variety of names, including “pina” in Spanish, “abacaxi” in Portuguese, “ananas” in Dutch and French, “nanas” in Southern Asia and the East Indies, “po-lo-mah” in China, “sweet pine” in Jamaica, and merely “pine” in Guatemala (Morton, 1987). After banana and mango, the pineapple is the third most important tropical fruit of the world (Chen et al., 2019; Nath et al., 2019). The pineapple became a major cultural icon of luxury after its introduction to Europe in 17th century. Pineapple has been grown commercially in greenhouses and on many tropical plantations since the 1820s. Furthermore, it is the world’s third-largest tropical fruit producer. Hawaii was a major pineapple producer in the twentieth century, with Costa Rica, Brazil, and the Philippines accounting for nearly a third of global pineapple production. Pineapples grow as a small shrub, with the un-pollinated plant’s individual f lowers fusing to form multiple fruits. The plant is usually propagated from a side shoot or an offset produced at the top of the fruit and it matures in about a year.

Crop Improvement

Pineapple is usually propagated through asexual method by using slips, crowns or suckers. Sexual reproduction in pineapple is barely used due to its self-sterile nature and failure in formation of seeds. Seed set can occur in case of self-fertilization but the seedlings are with low vigour due to inbreeding depression (Robert et al., 2003). Pineapple is heterozygous in nature, on this wise hybridization is possible in this crop. Gametophytic self incompatibility is reported in this crop where pollen tube growth is repressed in the uppermost part of the style. Diploid chromosome number of the crop is 2n=50. The genome size of the crop is estimated to be 526Mb and total genes were anticipated to be around 25,862 in number (Zhang et al., 2014).