eChapters

24.1 Aim

To determine the moisture content in fresh and processed products

24.2 Theory

Estimation of moisture in fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products is important for evaluating their nutritive composition as well as to optimize method for their processing like drying, preparation of different products viz; jams, preserve, candies etc. Moisture is determined by drying the weighed sample to a constant weight in hot air oven and measuring the loss in weight to express the moisture content in percent. This method is used for estimation of moisture in all food products which do not decompose at 100ºC. Moisture content of some commodities (Table 4.1) is as under:

Origin of Systematics

In Vedas (1500 BC), Ramayana (1900 BC), Mahabharata (1400 BC), and Upanishad (350 BC) mention had been made about various animals. The number of known species of animals is much greater than that of plants and has been estimated at about more than one million. When subspecies are included, the number may double to more than two million named forms of animals. The new animals are being described at the rate of about 10,000 per year. Metcalf (1940) estimated that one and a half million species names are already applied while Silvestre (1929) calculates an estimated 3 million probable species of insects.

Systematics

Systematics is a term coined by a Swedish naturalist Linnaeus (Systema Naturae 1735) which is a Latinized Greek word Systema, as applied to the systems of classification. According to Simpson, “Systematics is the scientific study of the kinds and diversity of organisms and any or all relationships among them.” It includes Taxonomy, identification, classification and nomenclature. Now-a-days, both terms are used inter-changeably in the fields of plant and animal classification.

To Prepare the Competent Cell and Carry Out Transformation Introduction

Transformation results from the uptake of purified DNA by bacterial cells and is the most frequently used procedure for introducing recombinant DNA molecules into bacteria. It is now widely used to transfer small plasmids from one bacterial strain to another. DNA is extracted from donor cell and used to treat the recipient cells that have been rendered more susceptible to DNA uptake. These competent cells allow DNA to enter through pores or channels in the cell membrane and in the case of plasmids, permit subsequent plasmid replication.

Zinc is found in earth’s crust to the tune of 0.008%. However about 50% of Indian soils exhibit deficiency of zinc with a content much below the critical level of 1.5 ppm. Soil contains both available and unavailable form of zinc. Water soluble, exchangeable, organically complexed and armorphous iron oxide bound forms are considered available zinc and crystalline iron oxide bound and residual zinc are considered as unavailable. The available fraction constitutes around 8% of the total zinc which is too low for utilization by crops in zinc deficient soils.

Zinc is required by crops in microquantities for its growth. The use of high analysis fertilizer due to cultivation of high yielding varieties, enhanced cropping intensity and the decline in the use of organic manures result in the deficiency of trace elements particularly zinc. With the liberal application of nitrogen the demand for zinc increases producing deficiency symptoms. The critical limit of zinc in dry matter for different crops and levels less than 20 ppm suggests the probability of zinc deficiency and less than 15 ppm indicate sure deficiency.

Zinc is a limiting factor in crop production and application of ZnSO₄ is preferred because of its water soluble nature. The zinc sulphate, when applied soil, gets transformed into different forms like Zn (OH), zinc carbonate in calcium rich alkali soils ; zinc phosphate in near neutral to alkali soils of high phosphorus application; and zinc sulphide under reduced conditions.

Microbes present in the biofertilizer formulations help in microbial processes in the soil which augment the availability of nutrients to be taken up by plants. They are of different types based on their nature and function such as nitrogen fixing, phosphate solubilizing, phosphate mobilizing or biofertilizers for micronutrients. Plants use different strategies for growth promotion at different stages of plant growth and development. Biofertilizers are mass multiplied cultures of specific beneficial microbial strains which improves the fertility of soil and productivity. The nutrients are added through natural processes of nitrogen fixation, solubilization of phosphorus and synthesis of growth promoting substances to stimulate the plant growth. The main sources of biofertilizers are bacteria, fungi and cyanobacteria.

11.1. Bio-enrichment of chemical fertilizers- A new approach

Yield response of different host plant depends on the mineral fertilizer and its fertilizer use efficiency. Generally, such fertilizers are low in efficiency due to environmental and soil factors. A large portion of synthetic fertilizers are lost due to fixation, leaching, run-off, erosion, volatilization, denitrification and precipitation without reaching plants. Hence, there is an economic loss and water and environmental pollution.

Microbial inoculants applied to the soil enhances the uptake of nutrient by plants and increase the efficiency of synthetic or organic fertilizers. In this context, it is possible to impregnate mineral fertilizers with specific microbial strain. A new approach is to incorporate the microbes or microbial compositions into fertilizer compositions.

Most backaches seem to begin while bending forward to pick up some object from the floor. The pain usually comes on suddenly without warning, and it may be very difficult to straighten up to a standing position again. In most cases it is felt either in the middle of the back or lower down on one side. If a spinal disc is involved, the pain may radiate down the thigh and leg along the sciatic nerve on that side. The most common cause of backache probably arises from failure to get enough exercise to keep the muscles of the back strong and healthy. Flabby muscles then produce a wobbly spine, followed by pain, spasm and misery especially if a disc is ruptured.

Arthropods occur up to the height of over 6,080 meters on land and up to the depth of about 59,728 meters in water. Different arthropod species are adapted for living in air, on land, in soil and in fresh, brackish or salt water.

Many insects are economically important for being pests of crops, stored grains, stored food, household goods and clothing etc. Some insects and arachnids are in one way or the other responsible for certain diseases of crops, domestic animals and human beings. Some arthropods, on the other hand, such as crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimps form a part of human diet while, small sized crustaceans are staple food for fishes. Many parts of the world have witnessed some insects and spiders eaten by many land animals including man.

Insects share many characters with other arthropods, but the other arthropods have not been able to exploit these to the extent insects have evolved. The presence of functional wings is a very important character which insects do not share with other arthropods, that is why insects have distinct advantage over other arthropods in their struggle for existence and dominance. A comparative account of Insecta and other arthropod classes is given in Table 1.

INTRODUCTION

The trend of rising unemployment is compounded by the existences of regional imbalances in development, within the country, which have collectively accelerated the phenomenon of migration. The history of migration is the history of people’s struggle to survive and to prosper, to escape insecurity and poverty, and to move in response to opportunity. In developing countries like India, migration mostly takes place not due to the so called the full forces of the destination place, as usually happens in case of developed countries, but because of poverty, unemployment, natural calamities and under development of the origin place. Migration in developing countries like India is still viewed as a survival strategy. In India internal mobility is critical to the livelihoods of many peoples, especially for people from rural areas. In the Dindigul District of Tamil Nadu, NREGA works have stemmed migration from many villages. Ministry of Rural Development (2006). It has been conceptualized that, creating job out of NREGA programme will check the migration of the people from one place to another. In Pusa block, of Samastipur district the NREGA is in operation for about two and half years. It is with this background the present article has been presented with the specific objectives toexplore the extent ofmigration check among NREGA beneficiaries, running in this block.

Weeds have some characteristics as follows:

    1.    Weeds are hardy and can grow under adverse edaphic (Soil), climatic and biotic condition.
      Example: Lantana camera,Eupatorium adoratum etc.

    2.    Weeds in general prolific with abundant seed production potentialities.
        Example: Amaranthus viridis, Chenopodium album etc.

This procedure allows us to mix two feed stuffs with different nutrient concentrations and come up with a mixture of the desired total concentration. For this square to work, the desired diet nutrient concentration must be between the nutrient concentrations of the two feed stuffs as well as in the same unit. The procedure can be used for Crude Protein, Energy, Minerals and so on and so forth.Also, in place of percentage, calories, parts per million/ billion / trillion and other units of measurement can be used.

Double Pearson Square Method

Sometimes, we might want to have the exact amounts of two major nutrients such as - Crude Protein and Energy.

For example, suppose we want a final mixture with 12 % Crude Protein (CP) and 74 % Total Digestible Nutrient (T.D.N.). We have :

Low blood pressure or hypotension is far less common than hypertension or high blood pressure. Sometimes the pressure falls rapidly because of hemorrhage or loss of blood. Low blood pressure may also come on gradually because of slow bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract or through the kidneys or bladder.

Any lack of normal protein in the diet may also lower the pressure because of malnutrition or actual starvation or because of some endocrine disturbance, such as hypothyroidism. In rare cases an islet cell tumor may form in the pancreas producing an excessive amount of insulin and lowering the blood sugar level. Such patients always tend to feel tired and worn out.

Emotional problems are a far more frequent cause of low blood pressure. For instance, some people will fall into a dead faint on hearing bad news. This shock like state is probably brought on by temporary disturbance in the vasomotor system, causing the patient to collapse. To a lesser degree, prolonged disappointment and frustration may also result in a subnormal blood pressure. Relieving the chronic stress of mind may be all that is needed to bring the blood pressure back to normal. One should also add a little more protein to the diet, and be sure to take sufficient rest and exercise.

Homoeopathic treatment for low blood pressure is given below:

26.1. Aim

To determine the pH of food samples.

26.2. Theory

The hydrogen-ion concentration of a food is a controlling factor in many chemicals and microbiological reactions. Pure water has equal concentration of H+ and OH- ions, each having the value of 1×107g/litre at room temperature that is why water is regarded as neutral. The pH of pure water is 7.0, the solution having pH below 7.0 is regarded as acidic while solution with pH above 7.0 is alkaline. Most fruits and fruit products have pH below 4.0 while vegetable; milk and meat products have pH more than 4.0. The pH value of some fruits and fruit products is given in Table 6.1. Thus, with the increase in acidity in the solution, the pH value decrease and vice versa. However, presence of buffer salts helps in maintenance of pH. Estimation of pH of the food is important as the processing conditions for different food products are categorized on the basis of their pH.

3.1 Malted Milk
Malted milk, originating from the ideas of British pharmacist James Horlick in the 19th century, was initially marketed under the name “Diastoid” before being trademarked as “malted milk” in 1887. Although initially targeted
for infants and invalids, its appeal expanded due to its nutritional value, convenience, digestibility, and palatability. Recognized globally for its lightweight, non-perishable nature, and high-calorie content, malted milk is
created by evaporating a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour, and whole milk until it forms a powder.
There aremainly two types of malt powder: diastatic and non-diastatic. Diastatic malt containing enzymes breaking down starch into sugar, aiding in dough rise and crust formation, particularly in bread making. Non-diastatic
malt lacks active enzymes and is primarily utilized for flavor enhancement, commonly in beverages. It may also include sugar, coloring agents, and other additives to improve taste and appearance.
3.2 Malting
Malting is a crucial process employed in treating cereal grains, such as barley, by inducing germination through soaking in water followed by halting the process through drying or heating with hot air. This technique encompasses two main stages: sprouting and kiln-drying. The term “malt” encompasses several products of this process:
1. Malted grains: These are grains, like barley, that have undergone the malting process.
2. Malt sugars: These are sugars, predominantly maltose-rich, derived from malted grains, often utilized in baking, such as baker’s malt.
3. Malted milk products: These include beverages like malted milkshakes, made using malted milk.

No plant in the earth is completely worthless. Weeds have also some beneficial effects although they do much harm in different ways. The beneficial effects of weeds are as follows:

    1.    Most of weeds absorbs nutrient from the deeper layer of soil. When such weeds are incorporated in the soil, they add organic matter content of the soils. As a result, the fertility of plough layer from where plants absorb most of their nutrients is enriched.

    2.    Weeds help in controlling erosion by the soil binding effects of their roots and by forming a living mulch, which resist beating action of rain drops and sweeping action of wind.

Fruit Cracking

The results fruit cracking is observed in almost all the cultivars. The extent of cracking ranged from 3.57% in kazkai to 76 .6% in Suni Bedana, Josan et al (1979). Fruit cracking is mainly associated with fluctuation in soil moisture, day and night temperature and relative humidity and rind pliability and nutrient imbalance. Phadnis (1974) reported that irregularity in watering and lack of moisture at the time of fruit development leads to cracking. Singh et al (1967) reported that cracking might be due to boron deficiency as well as wide variation in moisture content of the soil and humidity in the air. Prasad and Bankar (2000) also reported that varietal character plays important role in cracking. The percentage was minimum (36.6%) in Jalore seedless and maximum (78.2%) in Jodhpur red.

During his visit to India, President Barak Obama pointed out that our country is fortunate to have a youthful population with over half of the total population of 1.2 billion being under the age of 30. Out of the 600 million young persons, over 60 per cent live in villages. Most of them are educated. Gandhiji considered the migration of educated youth from villages to towns and cities as the most serious form of brain drain adversely affecting rural India’s development. He therefore stressed that we should take steps to end the divorce between intellect and labour in rural professions.

The National Commission on Farmers (NCF)(2004-06) emphasised the need for attracting and retaining educated youth in farming. The National Policy for Farmers, placed in Parliament in November 2007, includes the following goal of the new policy:

To introduce measures which can help to attract and retain youth in farming and processing of farm products for higher value addition, by making farming intellectually stimulating and economically rewarding.

Food is basic to human being and agriculture is the catalyst between the two which is basically supported by natural resources. The human being is entirely dependant on food and food is fully dependent on agriculture and humanity. Eventhough food, agriculture and humanity have their own entity; they are inseparable for the survival and existence of each other. Hence, the three pillars of food, agriculture and humanity forming a triangle symbolize the roots of human civilization.

I find myself fortunate to have the opportunihj to live and experience the working life of the farmers and the farming in Kansas (USA), Nigeria (Africa), Saudi Arabia and Yemen (Middle East), Italy (Europe) and India, Myanmar and Thailand (Asia). It zvas fiirther strengthened by visits to farmers in another about 100 countries. Day after day and month after month and even years, it made me to realize that community culture, language and farming in each state, country and continent are different from each other but some things are common and that they are all doing farming, they are growing food and they all doing for the livelihood of their families, neighbors and communities near and far (Nath, 2011).

The foundation of agriculture is laid on available natural resources e.g. land, water, sunlight, air, plant, animal and human beings. The human beings, being the leader to manage the resources have contributed to redefine agricultural science and promote and develop technology. This has led to augment agriculture and its science and technology. At the end, the human efforts have brought about changes and improved agriculture production at the cost of excessive use of natural resources, knowing well that without natural resources, without good soil and water hardly anything will survive.

Presently world produces enough to feed the present human population, but it is not available to millions of people. It is not the lack of availability of food but is the unequal distribution and lack of entitlement which are causing hunger and malnutrition in millions of population.

7.1 Investment Analysis for Agribusiness Projects

Financeis the Art and science of managing money. Financial Management is the manage rial activity concerned with the planning and controlling of the firm’s financial resources. Finance can be classified as Public finance, Private finance (Personal & Business), and finance for Non-Profit organizations. The objectives of financial management are Profit Maximization and Wealth Maximization.

The Cash flow is the net amount of cash and cash-equivalents moving into and out of a business.The types include Operating Cash Flows, Investing Cash Flows and Financing Cash Flows. Annuity cash flows are a series of periodic cash flows of equal amount. The time value of money is the change in the value of money as a result of change in the time duration. They are broadly classified into Future Value of Money and Present Value of Money.

Capital Budgeting is long-term planning form aking and financing proposed capital outlays. It is the process of making investment decisions in capital expenditures. The influential factors ofCapital Budgeting are Urgency, Degree of certainty, Intangible factors, Legal factors, Availability of funds, Future earnings, Obsolescence, Cost considerations, R&D projects and Competitivepressure.

ABSTRACT

The Cry2A proteins are promising candidates for managing the development of Cry1Ac resistance in insects. The Cry2A class of proteins is different from that of Cry1A, and experiments have shown that insects resistant to Cry1Ac are not cross-resistant to Cry2A proteins. However, the Cry2A proteins are less toxic than Cry1Ac to the polyphagous pest Helicoverpa armigera. Structure-based protein engineering of Cry toxins may pave the way for directed evolution of variants with broad spectrum of insect species specificity, enhanced potency, and stability. In the present study homology modeling of Cry2Ac was done using DeepView software. The template for Cry2Ac protein sequence (accession number X57252) was selected using ExPdb template search. The raw sequence of the Cry2Ac was superimposed over the Cry2Aa PDB template (1I5P). The superimposed model was submitted to the SWISS Model server. After receiving the Cry2Ac model, energy minimization was done using Gromos96. The threading energy and force field energy were calculated. The homology model of Cry2Ac made by us along with the Cry2Ac model from the SWISS-MODEL Repository was used for comparative analysis of receptor binding regions of Cry2Aa. Results showed variation between the two highly homologous Cry2A proteins in their receptor binding regions which may account for differences in spectrum of insecticidal activity.

Carrot (Daucus carota Stova condolle) is one of the most important and widely used root vegetable belonging to the family Umbelliferae. The seed production can be done during September – October in plains and in hills the sowing takes place in June and roots are replanted during the first week of October.

Method of seed production

Carrot is a cross-pollinated crop and self-pollination occurs to the extent of 0-5%. Crosspollination is mainly through insects. Seeds should be allowed to set by cross-pollination in isolation. Seed production is done by seed to seed and root to seed method. In seed to seed method, the matured roots are left to produce flowers and seeds in the place where seeds are sown initially. In root to seed method, roots at edible maturity should be uprooted and the roots of true to varietal characteristics should be selected and transplanted to the well prepared field after proper trimming of roots and shoots. This root to seed method is preferred for seed production in carrot since the root rot infection is high in seed to seed method of seed production.

The isolation distance maintained between the fields of other varieties and the fields of the same variety not conforming to varietal purity requirements for certification is 1000 metres for foundation and 800 metres for certified seed production. During mother root production an isolation of 5 metres should be followed.