eChapters

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.

Introduction

In India about 8.6 per cent of population enlisted in the category as ‘Scheduled Tribes’ under Article 342 of the Constitution of India, but they constitute almost 16 per cent of the poor. Lakshadweep is the most populous state with respect to proportion of tribal to total population (94.8 per cent) whereas, in Uttar Pradesh tribal population is lowest with only 0.6 per cent of the total. In Odisha tribal constitutes 22.8 per cent of total population. In India literacy rate of tribal is 59 per cent as against that of general category is 69 per cent. Tribal people are observed to be strongly associated with the forests, hills and remote areas, practising a unique life style, having a unique set of cultural and religious beliefs. Over the generations these communities have evolved time tested farming systems, which are purely subsistence in approach and are keeping pace in perfect harmony with nature. Over the recent few decades, however, population growth and lack of harmony between different agriculture and developmental policies have threatened these traditional agricultural systems for extinction. The encroachment of local Governments and private interests on forest and mineral resources has pushed the tribal groups on to increasingly degraded land, thus their survival became a constant struggle.

The primitive societies have passed through several stages of economic development everywhere in the world. Thus one can find the stages of food gathering, hunting and fishing, farming, etc. among the Indian tribes. The tribes living in the forests and hills usually earn their livelihood by means of food gathering, hunting and fishing. Such is the life of Kadar of Kerala, Birhor and Kharia of Bihar and other tribes. The tribes living in dense forests, full of wild beasts, live on hunting, such as the tribes of Naga, Kuki, Bhil, Santhal and Gond. The hunters leave the females to carry out household activities in the morning and return in the evening after hunting. In some tribes there is a usual custom of hunting collectively. The Nagas use spears, arrows and bows. The Bhils are very much specialized in shooting by arrow. The tribes living near rivers and seas usually earn their livelihood by catching fish. The hilly tribes rear the cattle, an example of which are Goojars and the tribes of Chamba. The Todas of Nilgiri rear buffaloes. Some tribes also carry out cultivation, but they are generally shifting from one place to another. So shifting cultivation is an intrinsic part of tribal system and tradition. Among the cultivating tribes are the Santhals and Gonds. Tribal groups mostly do not have land ownership and have a limited option to adopt agricultural operations in forest areas. Considering their sustenance Government of Odisha has passed an Act “Schedule Tribes and other forest dwellers Forest Right Act” in 2006. It permits ownership of tribals on forest land up to 4 ha. for forest use and subsistence agricultural activity without any penalty. Cottage industries, such as weaving cloths, preparing ropes and skins and utensils of different metals are prevalent in many tribes. The Kharia people are very much specialized to cottage industries. Their living standard is very poor in spite of their hard work.

Frankia is potent nitrogenous biofertilizer for forest trees since it establishes symbiotic association with non-leguminous plants. Nitrogen fixing non leguminous trees thrive in temperate condition. The species belong to Casuarinaceae are an exception and grow successfully in tropical areas. Alnus for temperate regions and the genus Casuarina for tropical and sub-tropical regions stand out examples of the benefits they provide to ecosystem by the way of nitrogen fixation. They have an excellent potential to adapt themselves to grow under diverse geographical and environmental conditions providing enough fuel, fodder, pulp and timber. The microsymbiont within these root nodules of non-leguminous plants has been identified and designated as Frankia (Becking, 1970).

Historical Developments

First of all Boussingault, a French farmer during 1838 drew attention that non-legumes were capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen. The roots of Alnus were described as warty brownish biomass as large as man’s fist (Woronin, 1866). Frank and coworkers (1887a, b, 1891) studied the nodulated nitrogen f ixing trees regardless of whether they were leguminous or non-leguminous (actinorhizal). Frank believed that the bacteroids were protein deposits but subsequently he named the causative organism as Frankia subtilis. Moller (1885, 1890) reported the causative organism in the nodules as plasmodia and Frank also revised his opinion and pointed out that the causative organism was a fungus. Such conflicting results were due to imperfect techniques to differentiate between vesicles and sporangia. Later the organism was renamed as Frankia bruchorstii to honour Frank and his coworker, Brunchorst (Moller, 1890).

Introduction
Vegetable crops are highly susceptible to biotic stresses indicated by disease causing micro-organism (fungi, bacteria, virus and phytoplasma). Indiscriminate use of chemicals for the control of diseases, insect pest have
several disadvantages, particularly increased cost of cultivation, residual toxicity in food chain and development of resistance against pathogen. Management of diseases involves use of resistant varieties and integration of cultural and chemical control measures. Of the biotic stresses much of the breeding efforts have been directed towards developing resistance against diseases. In fact, breeding for resistance, has been one of the most important objective of vegetable breeder in the last half of the century. Genes that contribute to pathogen tolerance/resistance can be obtained from local germplasm resources, or through exotic lines, wild species or genera, or lines from other breedingprograms. In the biotechnological approaches for vegetable breeding also,  most of the achievement has been to generate transgenic plants resistance to disease. Often breeding for resistance has assumed greater importance in a number of vegetable crops.
Major Diseases of Tomato
Early blight: The casual organism is Alternaria solani. The symptoms appears as small, black spots with enlarged and concentric rings in a bull’s eye pattern in the center of the leaves. Tissue surrounding the spots may turn yellow. On fruits, dark brown concentric rings are seen that affects the market quality.

Ice cream defects can result from formulation imbalance, poor ingredient quality, processing deviations, inadequate freezing or hardening, packaging problems, storage conditions, and cold-chain failures. This chapter provides a systematic framework for understanding, classifying, diagnosing, and correcting defects affecting flavour, body, texture, melting, colour, appearance, packaging, and storage stability. It emphasizes that a visible defect in the finished product may originate much earlier in the production or distribution chain. Examples include iciness caused by slow freezing or temperature abuse, weak body associated with formulation or overrun, and flavour problems originating from raw materials or microbial activity. Defect analysis therefore becomes an important tool for troubleshooting, quality improvement, training, and preventive action.

Introduction

India (8^o-30^o N and 68-97.5^ºE) exhibits a wide range in topography and climate, which has a bearing on its vegetation and floristic composition. This subcontinent is one of the World’s 12 leading Biodiversity Centres, encompassing 16 different agro-climatic zones, 10 vegetation zones, 25 biotic provinces and about 426 habitats of specific species. It has been estimated that about 45,000 plant species (nearly 20% of the global species) occurs in the Indian Sub-continent. About 3,500 species of both higher and lower plant groups are of medicinal values. More than 80 per cent of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are collected from 17 million hectares of Indian forest land. However, many of these, due to over-exploitation have become rare (Rheum emodi, Aconitum deinorrhizum), threatened (Rauvolfia serpentina, Berberis artistata) or endangered ones (Sassurea lappa, Dioscorea deltoidea). Problems arising out of rapid genetic loss of medicinal plants forced the need for international co-operation and co-ordination to undertake programmes for conservation of medicinal plants to ensure that adequate quantities are available for future generations.

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.

Introduction
It has been universally acknowledged that breeding for hybrids is the most effective conventional plant breeding technique. When two genetically distinct parent lines typically inbred lines are crossed, the resultant progeny is referred as a hybrid. It has been demonstrated that hybrids are larger, more productive, and hardier than their parental lineages. When we talk about hybrids, it is also imperative to understand two other related jargons: heterosis and hybrid vigour. The word “heterosis” was first coined in 1914 by Gottingen to refer the hybridization process in which two homozygous individuals (inbreds) are crossed to produce a hybrid. Darwin first used the phrase “hybrid vigour” in 1876 to denote the superiority of the F1 offspring produced by heterosis (i.e., the hybrids show superior performance with increased characteristics when compared with the two parental lines).
In general, the goal of plant breeding is to create better crop varieties by utilizing genetic variation found in the germplasm of the given plant species. Traditionally, two genetically different accessions of the given crop were selected and crossed to produce a hybrid. The genotype of this hybrid is the outcome of the fusion of the male and female gametes, those produced a zygote, from which the progeny eventually emerged. It would be appropriate to recollect the point that a plant’s life cycle consists of a gametophytic generation that produces gametes. Therefore, the genotypes of the gametophytes reflect the genetic diversity of the gametes.
Gametophytes are derived from spores, which are created via sporophytic reproduction during the course of the plant’s life cycle. Meiosis is a specialized kind of cell division that produces spores from differentiated cells that are located in the reproductive organs of plants. Two important processes (viz., recombination and chromosomal segregation) occur during meiosis and this results into independent assortment and creation of novel combinations of the genetic components of a diploid genome into a haploid genome of the gametophytes. Consequently, the genotype of a progeny is made up of the genotypes of the male and the female gametes that merged to create a new sporophyte. Therefore, meiosis can be viewed as a crucial stage in the life cycle of a plant and is responsible for generating genetic diversity. To generate desired plants with novel traits, this diversity or variability is frequently employed. In many cases, a hybrid plant outperforms a homozygous (parental) plant because it combines the best traits of the two parents. However, the creation of such hybrids is quite difficult. In order to evaluate the combining ability of hybrids, multiple putative parental lines are first produced at homozygous conditions by employing several generations of inbreeding and selection. The best pairs are then kept, and the corresponding parental lines produce a vigorous hybrid. Although hybrids were originally generated in maize during the 1930s, they are now employed in a wide variety of economically important plant species because they significantly surpass their parental inbreds. The main reason quoted for the wide-spread application of hybridization in breeding programs is because of the reason that hybrid seeds are easier and faster to growing homogenous plants

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.

8.1. Introduction

The term canning refers to a process which involves heating food stuff in hermetically sealed containers for a specific time at specific temperature to eliminate microbial pathogens that endanger public health and micro-organisms as well as enzymes that deteriorate food during storage. The canning of fruits and vegetables is canned out in the season when they are available in plenty. The canned products are then sold in the off season for getting better returns and to assure availability of fruits and vegetables throughout the year at reasonable prices.

8.2. History of canning

Important historical developments in canning are as under:

• The credit for invention of canning goes to Nicholas Appert, a French confectioner who was awarded a prize in 1809 by the French government for developing new method of heat preservation of food in sealed container and after whose name the process of canning is known as Appertization.

• In year 1810, Appert published the first book on canning entitled The Art of Preserving Animal and vegetable substances for many years which is the first known work on canning.

• The work of Appert consists of packing food in glass bottles, closing with corks and heating the container in boiling water for several minutes depending upon type of food.

Early Warning Systems (EWS) have evolved from simple, rudimentary alert mechanisms into complex, multi-hazard, data-driven networks that play a critical role in disaster risk management and climate adaptation. In today’s rapidly changing climate, timely and accurate information is essential not only for saving lives but also for protecting livelihoods, reducing economic losses, and enhancing community resilience. The application of EWS varies significantly by region, geography, type of disaster, and across diverse sectors such as agriculture, aquaculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, and allied sciences. Global initiatives - led by organizations such as the United Nations - aim to ensure that every person, particularly the most vulnerable, is equipped with lifesaving early warnings by 2027 (Fig.11.1). Complementary partnerships, such as that between the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), further strengthen these systems by integrating cutting edge forecasting with actionable advisories for critical sectors. A particularly groundbreaking effort is the United Nations’ Early Warnings for All (EW4ALL) initiative, launched in 2022 by UN Secretary General António Guterres, which seeks to provide comprehensive early warning coverage for hazardous weather, water, and climate events to every person on Earth. Underpinning these global efforts is Weather Intelligence - a transformative approach that harnesses advanced data analytics, real time monitoring, and machine learning techniques to refine forecasts and deliver precise, context specific alerts. By integrating diverse data streams and tailoring

The cold chain is the lifeline of the ice cream industry because the product must remain continuously frozen from factory hardening until consumption. This chapter examines the complete cold-chain network, beginning with hardening and factory cold storage and extending through CFA or distributor cold rooms, refrigerated transport, retail freezers, and final consumer handling. It explains temperature requirements, monitoring systems, equipment selection, cold-room management, stock rotation, and quality assurance. Particular attention is given to Indian challenges such as power interruptions, inadequate freezer maintenance, poor retailer practices, and temperature abuse. The chapter demonstrates how disciplined cold-chain management protects texture, flavour, shape, overrun, shelf life, and ultimately consumer confidence

ABSTRACT

Coastal aquaculture in India is synonymous with shrimp culture since shrimp has a pronounced presence among the basket of commodities produced in the sector. In coastal aquaculture, maximum area is under shrimp culture due to its high profitability, ready marketability, premium price and unlimited export demand. Since the growth of shrimp has showed significant fluctuations in terms of area, production and productivity over time, this paper aims to seek and use appropriate methodology for computation of growth rates. Accordingly, the present study utilized nonparametric regression method for computation of growth rates. Results indicated that the methodology has been successful in extracting required information from the data set. The analysis revealed that growth of Indian shrimp farming is largely governed by east coast states. Potentiality of west coast states remains grossly underexploited. Broad results also indicate that growth rate is higher in commercial shrimp farming states compared to traditional farming states. Shrimp farming being a livelihood option for small and marginal farmers of the deprived sections of the population of a developing country, like India, consistent yield is more important than substantial growth in yield in shrimp farming.

Introduction

Management is the process of successfully accomplishing tasks with and through others. It is all about having more control and getting better results as a result of having more control. Many parts of nursery administration are unrelated to horticulture in any way. Nurseries, both wholesale and retail, are frequently managed by persons who have worked in a range of sectors. Nutrient management, disease control, irrigation management, insect pest management, and marketing management are just a few of the nursery management techniques that are necessary for a successful nursery output. A nursery manager and employees who spend a lot of time for potting plants, weeding plants, or conversing with clients may discover that they do not spend enough time for managing the nursery, resulting in a loss of control. Many activities are carried out during management, such as planning - need for planting material, provision of mother blocks, land area requirements, water supply, working equipment, growth structures, and input availability. Implementation - land treatment, biotic interference and soil erosion prevention, correct layout, input supply, and so forth. However, in a small nursery where several jobs are required, the manager must strike a delicate balance between the numerous responsibilities. Managers who are well informed can provide good management; thus, the first duty of every manager is to become knowledgeable about the company for which they are responsible.

Introduction
Glycerol, a colourless and odourless sweet viscous liquid, is a prominent member of the polyol family—compounds distinguished by their multiple alcohol groups. Chemically known as 1, 3-propanetriol and commonly referred to as glycerine, it contains three hydroxyl (-OH) groups, which contribute to its hygroscopic nature and chemical versatility. As an essential component of lipids, glycerol forms the structural backbone of fats and oils, underscoring its biological and chemical significance. Over the years, glycerol has transitioned from being a laboratory curiosity to becoming a cornerstone of modern industrial processes, thanks to its versatility and renewable sourcing (Zhu et al., 2024).
Modern Applications and Industrial Importance of Glycerol
1. Chemical Industry: As a versatile platform chemical glycerol supports the creation of acrolein, propylene glycol and polyhydroxyalkanoates derivatives. Catalytic transformations allow glycerol to produce glycerol carbonate which finds application in lubricants, solvents and polymer synthesis research (Aranda et al., 2009). Glycerol demonstrates essential functionality in the creation of hydrogen and syngas which results in more eco-friendly manufacturing methods.
2. Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics: The humectant and lubricant properties of glycerol make it essential for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics where it maintains moisture in cough syrups, lozenges, and skin creams while improving texture. The medical derivative glycerol trinitrate provides essential treatment for angina pectoris which results in substantial therapeutic advantages (Binod et al., 2011).
3. Food Industry: Glycerol functions as a humectant and preservative, maintaining moisture in products like dried fruits, confectioneries, and beverages. In formulations free of sugar, it also serves as a sweetener (Awogbemi and Von Kallon, 2022).
4. Animal Feed: A economical energy source for cattle, crude glycerol, a biodiesel byproduct, helps sustainable agricultural methods (Mekunye and Makinde, 2024).
5. Energy and Environmental Sustainability: Glycerol is used in biogas development to improve methane yields and helps the development of bio refineries for converting waste glycerol into biofuels, lipids, and other sustainable chemicals (Peng et al., 2023).
6. Other Applications: Glycerol finds usage as a concrete addition for enhanced durability and in antifreeze compositions in the building and automobile industries. In printing, paper manufacture, and microbial fermentation techniques, it also finds roles as a plasticiser, lubricant, and carbon source (Solowski et al., 2020).

Reducing the input costs in farming, especially agrochemicals and improving the yields of farm products in environmentally sustainable way, is one of the most important challenges. World over, the understanding of alternative eco-friendly inputs and intelligent integration of such products with the farming practices are the areas which need to be emphasized, understood and demonstrated. Our experience of working with farmers in different regions has convinced us that they all are looking for alternative, eco-friendly and cost effective inputs and the only way to convince them is practical demonstrations. Eco safe farming is a global challenge and needs combined efforts of NGOs and farmers bodies, private and public sector industries and scientists in the institutions and universities. There are many challenges and many success stories and some typical once are listed here.
1. POTATO IN BIHAR
Bihar Government planned a major program in 2011 – 12 for taking up large scale organic farming. A group of experts was invited to discuss and help this initiative. After a systematic planning and joint participation of the state Government, public and private sectors a package of bio inputs was prepared. The results with respect to productivity increase were extremely encouraging as reproduced from a case study paper in BOX – 1

Current Trends in Fruit Exports from India

Fruit culture in the Indian subcontinent dates back to the Harappan civilization when datepalm, pomegranate and lemon were domesticated. Fruits such as aonla, bael, jackfruit, karonda, phalsa, mango, pomegranate, almond, walnut and pistachio are mentioned in Charaka Samhita (300 BC) and Sushruta Samhita (400 BC), the oldest known texts on ayurveda. Owing to diverse agro climatic conditions, India can produce a wide range of tropical, subtropical, arid and temperate fruits. In the past few decades, India had made rapid strides in fruit production and is currently the second largest producer of fruits in the world, next only to China. The annual production is estimated to be about 81 million tonnes for about 12.6% of the total world production. However, India’s share in the global export of fresh fruits is less than 5 per cent. The major fruits exported in terms of quantity are grape, mango, banana and pomegranate. In value terms, grapes and mango earn the maximum foreign exchange for India.

Abstract
In-silico analysis of nucleic acids and proteins from fishes has enriched our understanding to several fundamental problems of classical fish biology and genetics. Mining of data which is analogous to information discovery is the process of automating knowledge discovery. Analysis of data in all possible manner and recognition of a pattern which has a scientific basis by an efficient algorithm is the fundamental principle of Bioinformatics. Ever increasing number of Bioinformatics tools as computational packages are now a days used in tandem to analyze sequence of a loci and to model a novel gene product. High efficiency algorithms with excellent homology searching functions have lead to this advancement. Cat fishes, a group of diverse bony fishes have been studied with respect to genetic analysis in several species and several peptides. Tracking of the evolutionary foot prints using genomic libraries and between expressed sequences has been generating much interest.

Introduction 
The world is reaching a crucial moment in the energy sector as the third decade of the twenty-first century unfolds (Azarpour et al., 2022). Concern over the prospects of our energy supplies has increased globally because of the key priorities posed by climate change and the necessity for economic stability and energy security. The transition to energy from renewable sources is widely viewed as a crucial component in transforming our relationship with nature, the economy, and cultural values (O'Connor and Cleveland, 2014; Hassan et al., 2024). Reducing the usage of fossil fuels in our energy supply systems is known as an energy transition (Cherp, Jewell and Goldthau, 2011). Fossil fuels, such as crude oil, and natural gas, supply a substantial share of the world's energy. Interest in energy transitions has grown because, in addition to the fact that most fossilfuel resources are reserve-based, burning the vast amounts of fossil fuels that are currently available, and the resulting environmental effects are the main drivers of energy transitions (Crow, Brown and De Young, 2006). Bioenergy refers to renewable energy produced from materials derived from biological sources. Any organic substance such as plants, agricultural or forestry residues, or the organic portion of industrial and municipal trash that stores solar energy as chemical energy is considered a biomass feedstock. The first energy source that humans employed was biomass, which could supply roughly onefourth of the world's primary energy, or 138 EJ (exajoules) (calculated by averaging estimated numbers from five reports) (Welfle, 2017). Because of its versatility in producing various forms of energy and chemicals, bioenergy is a desirable energy choice for all stages of development. It has a great potential for integration with current infrastructures, may produce energy that may be dispatched to balance changing demands, and most importantly provides energy with lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuel pathways, unlike many other renewable energy sources (Demirbas, 2008). It is anticipated that sustainable renewable energy sources, including biomass, sun (heat energy and PV (photovoltaic)), wind, hydroelectricity, geothermal, and wave and tidal energy sources, are expected to play a vital role in the future global energy supply (Panwar, Kaushik and Kothari, 2011). Compared to other sources of sustainable and clean energy, biological feedstock offers the advantage of being able to be stored and being easily accessible year-round from a variety of sources. Estimates suggest that biomass contributed 10% of the global energy demand in 2008 (Main-Knorn et al., 2013), with further advancements expected to increase this contribution by two to six times by 2050 (Zema et al., 2012). It is believed that biomass is a distinctive and promising form of "green" energy. It is abundantly found in nature and can be easily produced in most rural environments (Broda, Yelle and Serwanska, 2022). Biomass sources are generally classified into two categories: inherent and processed materials, the most common forms of sources comprise, wood, logging wastes, animal dung, aquatic plants and algae, agricultural crop waste products and processing residues, and municipal solid waste. Additionally, three categories have been established for biomass resources. Wastes include agricultural remnants, agricultural processing by-products and wastes, urban wood debris, urban organic materials, and wastes from mills. Forest goods include bark, sawdust, logging leftovers, timber, trees, plants, and wood debris from land clearing. Bioenergy crops encompass grasses, fast-growing woody plants, woody herbaceous plants, oilseed plants (soybean, sunflower, and safflower), sugar crops (cane and beet), and starch plants (corn, wheat, and barley) (Qian, Malmali and Wickramasinghe, 2016). Growers favour energy plants, sometimes referred to as

A greenfield ice cream project involves much more than installing production machinery. It requires integrated planning of the business model, market opportunity, capacity, product portfolio, plant layout, process technology, refrigeration, utilities, packaging, cold storage, quality systems, regulatory compliance, distribution, working capital, and future scalability. This chapter presents a practical framework for evaluating new ice cream manufacturing projects, with particular attention to a representative 1000 LPH facility. Different project scales and business models are considered along with major plant and machinery requirements. The chapter also highlights common project-planning mistakes and best practices. It helps entrepreneurs and investors assess technical feasibility, operational readiness, financial requirements, scalability, and long-term commercial viability.