eChapters

Acid soils occupy about 30 percent of the land area of the world out of which 67% acid soils support forests and wood lands and 18 percent are covered by grassland vegetation. Only 4.2 per cent (179 million hectare) of the acid soils across the globe is used for arable crops.

Soil acidity is a major constraint in crop production. The removal of basic cations especially Ca and Mg by leaching and their replacement by acidic cations, H, Al and Fe on exchange complex leads to soil acidity. Soil developed from granite parent material are more acidic than those developed from basalt, shale or lime stone. In acid soils, low pH leading to toxic concentration of H⁺, Al³⁺, Mn²⁺ influences nutrient availability, organic matter decomposition and microbial activity.

Efficient soil amelioration and nutrient management practices are necessary for crops susceptible to soil acidity.

This table presents the distribution of 13 independent variables (x1-x13) and 5 dependent variables (y1-y5) in terms of their Minimum, Maximum, Mean, Standard deviation, Variance, and Coefficient of variation. Here, it is depicted that the average age (x1) of the respondents is 28.614 and thestandard deviation is 8.653. The C.V. value for the variable is 30.241. So, it indicatesthat the distribution of the variable is highly consistent. From the table, it is depicted that the average education (x2) of the respondents is 9.514. So, almost on average, the individual education is 9 for every respondent and standard deviation is 3.471. The C.V. value for the variable is 36.486. So, it indicates that the distribution of the variables is fairly consistent. From the table, it is depicted that the mean family size (x3) of the respondents is 4.143. So,almostonanaverage,the family size is 4 for every respondent.The value of standard deviation is 1.477. The C.V. value for the variable is 35.657. So, it indicates that the distribution of the variable is fairly consistent. From the table, it is depicted that the mean income per year (x4) of the respondents is 143142.857. The value of standard deviation is 67274.537. The C.V. value for the variable is 46.998. So, it indicates that the distribution of the variables is fairlyconsistent. Here, it is depicted that the mean per capita income (x5) of the respondents is 39880.400. So, almost on an average, the per capita income is 40000 for every respondent. The value of standard deviation is 26024.645. The C.V. value for thevariable is 65.257. So, it indicates that the distribution of the variables is fairly consistent. From the table, it is depicted that the mean Workplace distance (x6) of the respondents is 3.008. So, almost on an average, the Workplace distance is 3 for every respondent.The value of standard deviation is1.817. The C.V. value for the variable is 60.392. So,it indicates that the distribution of the variables is fairly consistent.

1 Introduction

The purpose of these Guidelines on Audit Quality is to assist Supreme Audit Institutions assure the high quality of their work and the resulting products. This Section describes the background of the document, provides key definitions applicable to these guidelines, discusses the types of SAIs and audits to which the guidelines apply, lays out the form in which the guidelines are presented and identifies some other sources of useful guidance for assuring quality. Section 2 then deals with quality control as the “hot review” ofthe audit process. Subsections 2.1 — 2.6 set forth some basic premises for establishing effective quality controls, discuss the nature of the controls required to assure quality in the areas of selection and timing of audits, planning specific audits, executing audits, reporting the results of audits, and following up on audits, respectively. Section 3 describes the procedures necessary to assure that needed quality controls are in place and operating effectively, that is it presents the characteristics of post-audit quality assurance. Finally, Section 4 focuses on institutional measures to enhance quality, especially management of human resources (recruitment, training, staff development and ethical standards), institutional risks and external relations. The Annexes provide other information that was considered potentially useful, including reference material, checklists and excerpts regarding quality controls from other guidance documents. The list of reference documents is contained in Annex A.

Audit quality is obtained by a process of identifying and administering the activities needed to achieve the quality objectives of an SAI. All types of SAI need to understand the benefits that can be realised once audit quality is made a priority. Improving audit quality requires a systematic SAI- wide approach. Piecemeal efforts by individuals and individual audit teams are not enough and will not work. There are no quick fixes to be obtained where audit quality is concerned. SAIs needs to proceed methodically in an organised way to fix each quality issue and problem in turn. As new problems will always emerge, this should be a continuous process for the SAI. It is also evident that most audit quality related problems are mainly the result ofpoor management of the audit process or the SAI itself.

Horticulture is increasingly recognized as a sunrise sector, owing to its potential to raise farm income, provide livelihood security and earn foreign exchange through export. The diverse agro-climatic conditions and rich diversity in crops and genetic resources enable India to produce a wide range of horticultural crops round the year. To cite an example, India produces tropical fruit like mango and sub-tropical fruit like an apple at the same season in a year (Jha et al., 2019). The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of crops like fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, plantation crops like coconut, beverages like tea and coffee, and some medicinal and aromatic plants. Statistics provided by National Horticulture Development Board showed that India is the second largest producer of the commodities, after China, accounting for 13 per cent of the global production of fruits and 21 per cent of vegetables. (DAC&FW, 2017).

Economic reforms and policies further increased the speed of diversification in favor of horticulture crops (Jha et al., 2019). This is on account of the increased domestic demand from high-value food commodities as well as for export markets. The diversification process that is seen within the agricultural sector also got transmitted to the horticultural sector. In line with the emerging demands, India has taken several technical and policy initiatives for promoting horticulture. The most important among is the newer technology packages spanning from production to postharvest (Jha et al., 2019).

Horticulture and allied sector are integral elements for food and nutritional security in the country. Horticulture is the main segment, while its various sub- segments are fruits, vegetables, aromatic and herbal plants, flowers, spices, tubers, plantation crops and ornamental plants. All these are regarded as essential ingredients of economic security. The wide range of agro-climatic conditions of India is conducive for growing a large variety of horticultural crops, including, root and tuber crops, mushroom and ornamental crops.

The Government of India recognized horticulture crops as a means of diversification in agriculture in an eco-friendly manner through efficient use of land and optimum utilization of natural resources. Horticulture seeks to create ample opportunities for employment, particularly for unemployed youths and women folk. India has maintained leadership in the production of many commodities like fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants and particularly in landscape business.

India is coming up in landscaping and ornamental horticulture. There is wide scope since large number of MNC and business houses have come up in India. The purchasing power of people has increased to a greater extent.

Thus, over the years, much progress are made for advancement of horticulture and allied sector. Rising investments resulted in increased production and availability of horticultural produces in the rural and urban areas. Many schemes and policies were introduced from time to time for upliftment and commercialization of the sector. Large number of investors are taking advantage of the existing potentials in the sector, as well as trying to explore the untapped potentials in the field of horticulture.

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. 2n = 2x = 14, grass family Poaceae, cross-pollinated and with C4 photosynthetic path-way) is the stable food for millions in the semi-arid tropics. It is adapted to drought and poor soil fertility. Pearl millet is a dependable nutritious source of food for millions in marginal agricultural areas. It is the world’s hardiest warm-season cereal crop. It can survive and produce grain even on the least fertile soils in the driest regions, on highly acidic and saline soils, and in the hottest climates. Pearl millet covers an estimated 31 million hectares worldwide with production of 30 million tons and productivity of almost 1 ton/ha and is grown in more than 30 countries located in the arid and semi-arid tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

1.    Substantially used metal for manufacture of tin container for heat processed food is

(a) Aluminum

(b) Steel

(c) Iron

(d) Glass

2.    The steel used for the manufacturing of tin free plate metal food cans is

(a) High carbon cold rolled steel

(b) Low carbon hot rolled steel

(c) Low carbon cold rolled steel

(d) Moderate carbon hot rolled steel

3.    Which are the processes primarily used to fabricate the plastic containers used in sterilization process?

(a) Molding and injection

(b) Blowing and injection

(c) Cutting and heating

(d) Conditioing and calendering

9.1. INTRODUCTION

Maize (Zea mays L. ssp. mays 2n = 20), known as corn in some countries is an important cereal crop of the world. The scientific name from Greek word ‘Zea’ for a kind of grain and West Indian word ‘malnis’ for corn. Maize was domesticated in Mesoamerica and hence formed the Mesoamerican people’s identity and later it spread throughout American continent. Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world and a greater weight of maize is produced each year than any other cereal grain. USA produces almost half of the world’s harvest (42.5%) and other top producing countries include China, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, India and France. During the year 2007, worldwide maize productivity was around 4970 kg per ha. Maize is the only cereal that can be harvested and used at various stages of plant development. The crop can be cultivated on a wide area from 580 N to 400 S from below sea level to altitudes higher than 3000 m and in areas with 250 mm to more than 5000 mm of rainfall per year (Shaw, 1988, Dowswell et al., 1996).

Correlation

In a statistical analysis, when two variables are studied simultaneously, then it is called “Bivariate study’. Now, in a bivariate study, if it is found that change in the values of one variable then in sympathy with the change in the values of other variable, then these two variables are said to be associated and the association is termed as correlation. In other words, the term correlation indicates the relationship between two such variables in which with changes in the values of one variable, the values of the other variable also change. In short, the tendency of simultaneous variation between two variables is called correlation.

Types of Correlation

Correlation can be classified by-

• Positive and Negative correlation: The correlation may be classified according to the direction of change in the two variables. In this regard, correlation may be either positive or negative. Positive correlation refers to the movement of variables in the same direction. Negative correlation efers to the movement of variables in the opposite direction.

• Simple, Partial and Multiple correlations: When only two variables are studied it is a problem of simple correlation. When three or more variables are studied simultaneously, it is a problem of multiple correlations. On the other hand, in partial correlation we recognize more than two variables, but consider only two variables to be influencing each other the effect of other influencing variables being kept constant.

• Linear and non-linear correlations: In linear correlation for every unit change in the values of one variable, there is constant change in the value of other variable. The perfect positive and negative correlations are also linear correlations. In non-linear correlation the change in the values of one variable does not have a constant ratio to the change in the other variable.

1. Introduction

Fruits and vegetables in fresh form in general contain very high water content, with the fast rate of metabolic activity, including respiration rate, which may vary with the fruit type. Accordingly, the storage life at room temperature is considerably less, to expect acceptable quality. A range of transformational changes occur in various features of the fruits and vegetables, such as color, flavor, texture, structure, sweetness, sourness, pungency, astringency and so on. Phenolic browning of mushrooms, intensive softening of papaya, coloration and softening of ripe banana, softening of pear and jackfruit , flavor transformations of mango, banana and jackfruit after ripening, their color and texture transformations, are classic examples of post-harvest changes in fresh commodities, over a course of storage period at room temperature. These physical and sensorial perceptions of fresh commodities over a length of storage period are based on the range and multitude of operations of physical, chemical and bio-chemical reactions occurring in various constituents of the fresh fruit or vegetable such as moisture, pigments, vitamins, pectin, cellulose, hemicelluloses, phenolics, lignin, sugars, flavor compounds, amino acids, fatty acids and so on. In order to increase the storage stability, the fresh fruits and vegetables are processed and converted into various products such as juice, RTS beverages, jam, jelly, marmalade, fruit spread, dehydrated, spray dried powder, frozen stored, fruit cereal flakes, canned, candied, fruit bar and so on. Based on the nature of processing, the original form, shape, size, texture and structure are transformed, however with due maintenance in storage acceptability. A number of external factors are applied to achieve this product range such as heat, air velocity, pressure, radiation, chilling, freezing, vacuum impregnation etc. The ultimate quality of the final product is essentially an interaction between and amongst the various chemical constituents so characteristic of each fruit or vegetable under study, and a sum total of positive and negative reactions related to sensorial acceptability of the product. This quality is again a function of the storage period and the conditions of storage. Consumers in modern days are more health conscious to choose between consumption of fresh or processed fruits and vegetables. For trade over distance and time and particularly for geographic regions not producing a particular fruit or vegetable, it is of utmost importance to process the fresh produce. Enzymatic transformations in color, texture and flavor deserve utmost attention to ensure acceptable quality of the processed product, in particular over the course of storage period or until consumed after transportation and marketing. Microbiological quality of the product in final form is a most vital factor of consumers' health and this is dependent on water activity, sugars and protein / amino acid contents. In this regard, additives and preservatives come into picture. Strict regulations are imposed on their use, type and concentration over a storage period, for healthy consumption. Accordingly, this chapter would deal with several examples of processing conditions influencing the quality of the product, that emanates. Processing involving chemical, bio-chemical, engineering, bio-technological and microbiological methods to achieve a product are vivid, varied and different to different species / variety of fruits or vegetables to target different products.

The measurement of greenhouse gases (GHGs) has been started during middle of the last century. Initially, CO₂ and water vapour were measured with other common meteorological variables like temperature, sunshine hours, rainfall, humidity etc., for monitoring the weather condition and pollution. The absolute or relative concentrations of gasses in atmosphere are used to measure basically for monitoring purpose. However, limited studies were dealt with actual gaseous exchanges of fluxes. The concern about gaseous flux measurement and GHGs-exchanges started after 1900s when people got concerned about anthropogenic pollution, environmental sustainability and climate change issues. The GHGs-exchanges in earth-atmosphere systems primarily occur due to change in meteorological variables, soil responses and physiological activities of crops. If we are interested for environmental data inventories, then absolute GHGs concentrations of atmosphere at a specific time is required. However, presently researchers, students, environmentalists, climate scientists are primarily interested for quantitative data on GHGs fluxes and or GHGs-exchanges. They want to know what and how much quantity of a particular GHG is emitting from unit area at unit time.

Flux refers to the amount of any gas emitted per unit area per unit time. The dimension of that is M A^-11 T^-1. (Where, M= Mass/ Quantity; A= Area; T= Time). The SI unit of flux is g m²s^-1. Therefore, flux is a vector. It has magnitude as well as direction. As for example positive flux of CO₂ from earth surface means, CO₂ is moving out from earth surface to atmosphere. If it moves in opposite direction then the flux would be negative. In that case CO₂ gas may be absorbed by the soil surface from adjacent atmosphere. Similarly, GHGs fluxes of earth surface are either positive or negative. Generally, positive GHGs flux refers to emission of GHGs from earth to atmosphere and vice versa.

Introduction

For the past few decades, a number of chemical feed additives such as antibiotics, ionophores, methane inhibitors and defaunating agents have been introduced into ruminant nutrition in order to improve rumen fermentation, and increase growth and milk production by improving intake and feed conversion efficiency. However, most of these supplements are not used routinely because of toxicity problems to the host animals and microbial adaptation to these additives. Most importantly, growing awareness from public health aspects has centered on the safety of tissue residues of these chemicals and also bacterial resistance to antibiotics as a result of increased use in the food chain. These supplements have been criticized by the consumers’ organizations on the ground of product safety and quality. Antibiotic feed additives are banned in European Union. The consumers’ demands have drived the search for natural alternatives to chemical feed additives for eco-friendly animal production. Plants are part of herbivore diets, and these plants contain bioactive compounds with antimicrobial properties can be of interest in animal nutrition. Therefore, recent research has been greatly focused to exploit bioactive plant secondary compounds as natural feed additives to improve rumen fermentation such as enhancing protein metabolism, decreasing methane production, reducing nutritional stress like bloat, and improving animal health and productivity (Wallace et al., 2002; Patra and Saxena, 2009a, b; 2010; 2011), which may be useful in eco-friendly livestock farming (Patra, 2007). This review discusses the effects of different plant metabolites on rumen fermentation, rumen microbial ecosystems and ruminant performance.

Abstract

Fusion is a well known entity in various fields (e.g. medical imaging, weapon detection, flood monitoring etc.) that surmises information originating from several modalities. This chapter is an attempt to assort the various image fusion techniques available for human face recognition and to put a review of the advancements being made by the different researchers. The various types of fusion those have been used or may be used for face recognition have also been discussed here.

Insects are the most successful arthropods in animal kingdom. They are found in almost all habitats on earth except for the frozen polar environments at the highest altitudes and in the immediate vicinity of active volcanoes. They are the only invertebrate animal (animals without backbones) with wings. The success of insects on the planet is due to their ability to fly and rapidly colonize new habitats. The study of insects is called entomology and entomologists are those scientists who study about insects.

Key Facts
    
·    The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines ‘climate change’ as a ‘Change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over the comparable time periods’.
    
·    The main green house gases (GHGs) that have caused the global climate change or global warming are carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O).
    
·    CO₂ is the principal anthropogenic GHG that affects the earth’s radiative balance. It is the reference gas against which other GHGs are measured and therefore has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 1. CH₄ and N₂O have a GWP of 21 and 310 respectively.
    
·    CO₂ is responsible for most of the enhanced green house effect of more than 50%, CH₄ for about 10-15% and N₂O for about 8%.
    
·    The global atmospheric concentrations of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O have increased since 1750. While CO₂ increased from a pre-industrial value of 280 ppm to 379 ppm in 2005, CH₄ increased from 715 ppb to 1774 ppb and N₂O increased from 270 ppb to 319 ppb during the same period.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The chemistry of the soil is much more complex than can be represented simply by precipitation, adsorption, or exchange processes. The complexity arises from the time scale of soil chemical reactions in which the structure and dimensions, the extent and distribution of pores, and the content and mobility of water in them, interact immensely with the reaction chemistry. The fourth process adding to this complexity is the dissolution of native and reprecipitated soil constituents by percolating water containing solutes accumulated by natural processes or added by man. The fifth complicating factor compounding the time scale is that very often the resultants of soil chemical reactions are large complex molecules, occasionally polymeric, made up of several constituent groups or atoms. It is by no means clear which of the four processes participate in a chemical reaction and in which order. That a process reoccurs during a prolonged reaction is very likely.

Such complexities explain why no single model related rigorously to the retention and release of cations and anions, can provide a basis for a laboratory procedure to test and compare the chemical properties of soils. In this chapter, some of the soil reactions that are important to plant nutrition and pedological processes are discussed, principally those leading to relatively simple compounds accumulating in soil.

The term bioinformatics was coined by Paulien Hogeweg in 1979 for the study of informatics processes in biotic systems. It was primarily used in genetic and genomic studies, particularly in those areas of genomics involving large-scale DNA sequencing. Bioinformatics involves application of information technology to store, organise and analyse the vast amount of biological data available in the form of sequences and structures of proteins (the building blocks of organisms) and nucleic acids (the information carrier). There are umpteen ways to define bioinformatics, mainly owing to its rapid evolutions.

Abstract

The anaerobic fungi are one of the early organisms in evolution which are commonly found in the digestive tract of ruminating and non-ruminating animals, (including herbivores) deep sea and earth, dumping sites, etc. In animals, these are considered the primary colonizers of the plant biomass ingested by them. Still their taxonomy was unclear for a long period of time. However, with the help molecular techniques, they are now classified under a separate phylum Neocallimastigomycota. There are 38 species known so far belonging to 11 genera. These have been identified based on both morphological data (like thallus, rhizoids, flagella per zoospore, etc.) and phylogenetic analysis. There is a need to explore the undiscovered anaerobic fungi and look for their potential in industrial applications and solutions to the present environmental problems. It can be achieved by improving techniques of sampling, isolation, maintenance and long term preservation. Animals like herbivores do not have the ability to produce enzymes for degrading the plant biomass and anaerobic fungi help them by producing a range of extracellular enzymes. This ability of anaerobic fungi are of use to humans in bioenergy (biogas production) and biomass degradation (by producing cellulases). Recent advances in metagenomics coupled with new methods of cultivation are helping immensely to know the uncultivated anaerobic fungal populations from the animal gut. The present book chapter discusses the past and present of anaerobic fungi, lacunaes and need for more work on this group of fungi, It focuses on the progress in sampling, isolation and preservation techniques, simultaneously discussing the advances in the application these fungi in biotechnology.

Recombinant DNA Technology

A transgenic organism contains foreign DNA.

Biotechnology is the industry dedicated to using altered cells or molecules for various applications.

Recombinant DNA technology (i.e. gene cloning) was the first of the modern biotechnologies.

Gene targeting uses precision techniques to “knockout” a gene or substitute a gene for one on a chromosome.

Bioethics questions, gene patenting, and potential uses and risks of biotechnology pose treat questions for society.