eChapters

Concept of Agro-ecology

Ecology and environment

The word environment is derived from the French verb environner, which means “encircle” or “surround”. Thus, our environment can be defined as the physical, chemical and biological world that surrounds us, as well as the complex of social and cultural conditions affecting an individual or community. This broad definition includes the natural world and the technological environment, as well as the cultural and social contexts that shape human lives.

The earth is the only known planet habited by man and other life forms, plants and vegetation. Man and nature have lived together and so long as man’s wants were in conformity with nature, there was no problem. But unfortunately, man’s ambition for limitless enjoyment and comfort has led him towards the exploitation of nature’s wealth so indiscriminately and so shamelessly as to reduce nature’s capacity for self stabilization. The indiscriminate exploitation of nature over centuries has created numerous environmental problems. Man’s voracious appetite for resources and his desire to conquer nature has put him on collision course with environment. The demands of his explosive technological society impose intense stress on the state of equilibrium with the environment.

Ecology is the branch of biological science concerned with the relationships and interactions between living organisms and their physical surroundings or environment. Living organisms and the environment with which they exchange materials and energy together make up an ecosystem, which is the basic unit of ecology. An ecosystem includes biotic components – the living plants and animals and abiotic components the air, water, minerals and soil that constitute the environment. A third and essential component of most natural ecosystems is energy, usually in the form of sunlight.

Familiar examples of land based or terrestrial ecosystems include forests, deserts, jungles and medows. Water based or aquatic ecosystems include streams, rivers, lakes, marshes and estuaries. There is no specific limitation on the size or boundaries of an ecosystem. A small pond can be studied as a separate ecosystem, as can a desert comprising hundreds of square kilometers. Even the entire surface of earth can be viewed as an ecosystem; the term biosphere is often used in this context.

Boost to crop production has been the ultimate goal of researchers involved in agriculture so as to feed the ever-increasing human and domestic herbivorous animal populations. Crop production is not only constrained by the limited inherent potential of available varieties currently in use, but is also largely affected by the limitations of soil nutrient availability and damages by diseases, insects and weeds. To counter later challenges, augmentation of soil nutrients through use of biofertilizers in integrated nutrient management programmes and restricting the use of chemical pesticide by integrating biopesticides in plant protection programmes has received much attention in recent years because of consumer’s preference for organic food.

INTRODUCTION

Insecticide resistance poses a severe threat to agricultural productivity in India and in other countries of the world. Humans have had the ingenuity to develop thousands of pesticides to protect foodstuffs, livestock, and health and the use of these poisons has triggered a rapid evolutionary response in many target species and some nontarget species of invertebrates, microorganisms, higher plants and vertebrates. Insecticide exposure led to nullify their toxic effects through genetic selection for individuals with the biochemistry or behaviour. Continual development of new compounds and its greater use and increase in input insecticide cost is mainly due increase in resistance. Reduction in insecticide efficacy from insect resistance has major economic, environmental and human health implications. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a convenient descriptor for wide range of still-evaluating pest control program that emerged from chemical prophylaxis practiced. IPM theory has fostered a transition from primarily chemical control to programs tempered with biological information and input tailored to each agro ecosystem, crop and pest situation in production.

Soil survey is essentially a study and mapping of soils in their natural environment. It is the systematic examination, description, classification and mapping of soils of an area.

2.1. History of Soil Survey in India

The original investigations on Indian soils were carried out by Voelcker dates back to 1893 and by Leather to 1898.They classified the soils of the country into four major groups, namely the Indo-Gangetic alluvium, the black cotton soil or regur, red soil and laterite soil. Schokalskaya (1932) has published a soil map of India based on the Russian concept which describes 16 soil groups such as climate,vegetation, soil-forming materials, salinity, alkalinity, swamps and peats (Bhattacharyya et al. 2013). In 1935,Wadia and his co-workers collected a soil map of India with significance on geological formations and classified the soils as red, black (regur), laterite and lateritic soils of Peninsular India and also Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) which includes delta, desert, bhabar, terai and alkali soils. Vishwanath and Ukil (1943) published a soil map of India by placing the soils in different climatic zones for the first time. This was prepared by Imperial Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, and published in the year 1943. There were 17 kinds of soils identified, viz., deep black soils, black clay soils, black loamy soils, black sandy soils, red sandy soils, brown sandy soils, red and yellow soils, dark reddish brown soils, mixed soils (white and yellow), alluvium (Indus, Gangetic, Brahmaputra), coarse alluvium, soils of swamp lands, calcareous soils, usar soils, kallar soils, coastal alluvium soils and soils of Great Himalayan Ranges.

Soil survey works were started in 1954, in most of the states as a part of their agricultural development programme, and Bihar (Soil Survey and Land use Planning Scheme, Sabour) was pioneer. In 1954, the soil survey work was started under the leadership of Dr. P. P. Jha following the conventional procedures in Bihar (including Jharkhand) to delineate the soil associations based on geology, relief, physical and chemical characteristics of soils for the first time in India by the then Soil Survey Scheme at Sabour (Mishra et al. 2001; Mishra 2015, 2016). Meanwhile, the National Atlas Organization, Kolkata, prepared a soil map of India in 1957 classifying Indian soils into six major groups and 11 broad types. Murthy and Pandey (1983) applied the working principles of the USDA 7^th Approximation in classifying the Indian soils with available data on soil classes and thus used the US system for the first time at great soil group level, which was transformed into a soil map of India on 1:6.3 million scale. Mishra et al. (1994) attempted to propose “Fluvisols” as the 13th Order in USDA Soil Taxonomy for active floodplain soils frequently occurring in different parts of India and elsewhere. Mishra (2015, 2016) proposed a framework of Indian system of soil classification mainly based on land use options.

Eventhough nematodes occupy nearly every habitat on earth, they are remarkably similar in morphology and life stages. Despite their structural complexity, certain basic principles are common to all nematodes. Nematodes are triploblastic, bilaterally symmetrical, unsegmented, pseudocoelomate, vermiform and colourless animals. The plant parasitic nematodes are slender, elongate, spindle shaped or fusiform, tapering towards both ends and circular in cross section. The length of the nematodes may very from 0.2 mm (Paratylenchus) to about 11.0 mm (Paralongidorus maximus). Their body width vary from 0.01 to 0.05 mm. In few genera, the females on maturity assume pear shape (Meloidogyne), globular shape (Globodera), reniform (Rotylenchulus reniformis) or saccate (Tylenchulus semipenetrans). The swelling increases the reproductive potential of the organism. Radially symmetric traits (triradiate, tetraradiate and hexaradiate) exist in the anterior region. The regions of intestine, excretory and reproductive systems show tendencies towards asymmetry. The nematodes have one or two tubular gonads which open separately in the female and into the rectum in the male which also have the copulatory spicules.

The free living saprophytic nematodes are generally larger in size. The animal and human parasitic helminths may have length of few centimetres to even a meter or more. The helminth parasitising whale fish is about 27 feet long. The study on these animals and human parasites are known as Helminthology.

Important Points

• A farmer with limited funds may operate in a range of increasing returns to capital is however, not an irrational producer.
• A firm is a particular business firm.
• A higher rate of accumulation of capital relative to the rate of population growth adds to the real stock of capital of a nation.
• A profit maximizing farmer will maximize the output for given level of outlay.
• An isolation curve is negatively inclined.

The general systemic states are generalized in nature and involve whole body systems. They are common to many diseases and contribute to the pathogenesis
of the disease. Pathogenesis is defined as the changes in functioning at the cellular level and establishment of disease process. Hyperthermia,
hypothermia, fever, toxaemia, septicaemia, bacteraemia, shock, dehydration, acid-base imbalance, hyponatremia, hypokalemia etc. are some examples of
general systemic states.

Horticulture crops contribute significantly for the total agricultural production and productivity. World production of fruits accounted for the total volume of 933 million tonnes (FAO, 2023). India being second largest producer for majority of fruit commodities had a production total reaching 108.34 million tonnes in 2022-2023 from an area of 7.15 million hectares. It accounts for 33 per cent to the agriculture GVA (Gross Value Added) and plays an important role in the Indian economy. India is second largest producer of majority of fruits and vegetables. Diverse agro-climatic zones in the country make it possible to grow almost all varieties of fruits in India. Produced fruits are used for domestic consumption, processing and export purposes. During 2022 23, fresh fruits exports was valued at 6219.46 crores (APEDA, 2023). The fruits grown in India includes domestic fruits and nuts along with the exotic fruits contributing for the food and nutritional security. The growth of these economically important fruits provides scope for maintaining rich germplasm, enhance bio-diversity and maintain ecological balance.

Introduction

The cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.), octoploid in nature is a result of hybridization of two American species, the Chilean F. chiloensis and Virginian F. virginiana. The name strawberry does not incidentally, seems to have anything to do with the practice of putting straw around the plants and long predates their cultivation. It probably comes from ‘strayberry’ for the runners cause young plants to stray from the parent. Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) is one of the most important soft fruits, and its cultivated area has increased significantly during the last few years in sub-tropical areas despite of its temperate nature. Being a high input requiring crop, the profit of margin is reduced in sub-tropical areas due to lack of runnering caused by high temperature and high light intensity. Strawberry is one of the most popular rosaceous vegetable used as preferable fruit has a great value for local consumption as well as for export. Attractive appearance, unique taste, availability of fresh fruits during the period of fresh fruits scarcity in the market, short duration nature, high return per unit area, twice earnings in a year (through fruits during spring and runners during autumn) and wider acceptability of its processed products, the strawberry has become a choicest crop of growers of sub tropical areas, and being grown commercially around the various cities of northern India. Although it is a quick and high return giving fruit crop, but the margin of profit in strawberry cultivation under sub-tropical areas is greatly reduced due to regular annual investment (Rs. 0.60 lakhs/ha) by the growers for the procurement of runner plants in every planting season (October) from temperate areas, as high temperature (>35⁰C) and intense light following fruit harvesting restrict the runnering as well as survival of mother plants in these areas (Sharma and Yamdagni, 2000).

1. INTRODUCTION

The contribution of Extension and research to Israel’s agricultural productivity and profitability is a collaborative effort with research hailing back to the late 19^th century. It facilitated technological innovation in agriculture, transfer of information, training of farmers and connectivity. These were in effect a dictate of continuously deteriorating agricultural terms of trade, crippling water shortages and severe climate and soil constraints.

The Israeli Extension Service’s (IES) adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) significantly enhanced extension’s capabilities and scope of activities. ICT empowered extension’s ability to develop, introduce and adopt innovative agricultural technologies and collaborate with research and other partners. Adoption of ICT as one of the tools of technological innovation dramatically improved the transfer and management of information, production chain efficiencies and integration within and with the agricultural sector. These were and are critical success factors contributing to Israeli Extension, Research, Services and Farmers ability to sustain a profitable and thriving agriculture sector. As such the overall results are a major contribution to rural viability and an illuminating case study of technological innovation adoption.

The primary function of the digestive system include prehension of food material, its digestion, absorption, excretion of undigested material and
maintenance of internal environment. All the these functions are accomplished through the four major functions of the gastrointestinal system.

A. General Morphology

2.1 The Root

It is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil.The root is best defined as the non-leaf, non-nodes bearing parts of the plant’s body. However, important internal structural differences between stems and roots exist. Root spices are, rather surprisingly, rare. Some popular examples of spices having roots are: Apium graveolens (Celery), Armoracia rusticana (Horse radish), Coriandrum sativum (Coriander), Ferula asafoetida (Asafetida), Glycyrrhiza glabra (Licorice), Levisticum officinale (Lovage), (Petroselinum crispum (Parsley), etc. All of the mentioned plants have aromatic roots.Roots of gingiberaceae are adventitious and storage roots arise from among the nodes of these scales.

Lilium is a popular genus of ornamental bulbous plants, belonging to family Liliaceae. Lilium is originated from a Greek word “li” meaning whiteness. It is an herbaceous perennial plant having scaly bulb. Despite the range of forms and their popularity as garden plants, there are two main groups of commercial importance as cut flowers i.e. Asiatic and Oriental Hybrids. They are the result of interspecific hybridization. However, intraspecific and interspecific hybridization face the hurdles like interspecific incompatibility, embryo abortion, degeneration of ovule, poor seed set and pollen sterility. There are several breeding methods and techniques which have been used to overcome these hurdles.

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

All species of Lilium are native to northern hemisphere. The northern limit extends up to Canada and Siberia, whereas in south, this extends up to Florida and the Nilgiri mountains of India. Majority of lilies known to cultivation are native to the northern hemisphere, chiefly South Canada, Siberia, Florida and India. It is distributed to east coast of Asia, the west coast of North America and the Mediterranean region. Several species i.e. Lilium nepalensis, L. wallichianum and L. polyphyllum are native of Himalayan region and L. niligiriensis have originated from Nilgiri hills. Few species have also been found in north east India. The Far East is the home of almost half of the world lilies and most garden lilies grown in the world have originated there.

The Assyrian monuments dating back to 1000 BC with sculptured lily forms is the first authentic record. The Palestinian coin makers were stamping lily on shekels before 143 BC. Lilium longiflorum popularly known as Easter lily became a florist flowerwhich existed in the Japanese gardens before trade opened the orient to the west. After that it was brought to the England by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1819. Lilies reached to Bermuda from England where it flourished well. Lily depicted an ancient Greek pottery, featured in literature and religions as diverse as pagan myths. Today lilies are enjoying a renaissance of recognition. In Italy and France they are among the most fashionable of flowers. In the USA their popularity has increased tremendously. A number of lily bulbs were imported by the US from the Netherlands for both professional forcing and garden usage. In India, lilies are mostly grown in the hills but Lilium longiflorum do well in the plains, especially under subtropical regions. There are about 7000 registered varieties of lily. The International Lily Register is maintained, under international agreement by the Royal Horticultural Society in London.

There is no single factor as important in the production of fine quality dairy products as absolute and complete cleanliness.

R.B. Barrett

It is not enough to provide milk for man, it must be high quality milk. It would be impossible to provide man with milk and milk products of superior quality if we were unable to remove milk soil and to kill residual microorganisms. Respectively, these are the processes of cleaning and sanitizing.

To successfully provide the atmosphere for proper food safety, the basics must be thoroughly understood. The basics of food safety begin with good understanding of sanitation processes, food-handling procedures that protect from, or eliminate cross contamination problems and specific attention to inspection of and follow up for all processes. Food safety activities need to be programmed into available time of day scheduling just as production requirements do. Whether special personnel or separate shifts handle cleaning responsibilities or you clean as you go on the production line, time must be made available. Safe products leaving the facility must be the watch word of all employees involved with the process.

In order to ensure safe food supply a high level of sanitation should be maintained throughout the food production chain. The word ‘sanitation’ is derived from the Latin word “sanitas” which means “health”. To further apply this word to the food industry, sanitation is the creation and maintenance of hygienic and healthful conditions when processing, preparing and handling food. Sanitation is the application of science to provide wholesome food handled in a hygienic environment by healthy food handlers to prevent contamination by food spoilage microorganisms. Effective sanitation refers to the mechanisms, which accomplish these goals.

7.1 Introduction

Fisheries are emerging as one of the fastest growing food production system all-over the world. The potential for fisheries development world over and especially in India is highly promising in view of physical and biological resources available coupled with technological development. The demand for fish fishery products is ever increasing as the awareness of health benefits are being made available to public at large. The world fish production has not kept pace with demand which means less and less fish is available. Nevertheless, a large fraction of this valuable commodity is wasted due to deterioration after landing or consumer preference. An estimate by FAO [1] indicates nearly 20-25% of the total catches are wasted as postharvest loss. Better utilization of aquatic resources should therefore, aim primarily at reducing this enormous loss by improving preservation of fish and fishery products and upgrading the discarded low value fish to high value fishery products. The processing of fish into different types of products generates considerable waste. Commercially, fish is being processed into fillets, steaks, mince, canned products and a variety of ready-to-eat products. Fish processing plants contributes substantial wastes in the form of skins, bones, offal, exoskeletons from shrimps and nutrients in wash water from surimi plants.

Fish processing waste utilization is an important issue for the seafood industry both from a regulatory standpoint as well as one that has potential economic impacts. It is estimated that only 25-50% of the raw material is utilized for primary products (fillets, canned and stabilized mince production). The remaining 50-75% of the raw material is considered processing waste and is utilized for low-value products or disposed-off at sea. A large volume of solid waste is currently processed into fish meal, fish protein hydrolysates, and fertilizers. A small percentage is processed into higher valued items, such as, seafood flavourants, colourants, chitosan, enzymes, etc.

Introduction

India is bestowed with huge production of fruits, vegetables, cereals, millets, sugarcane along with meat production, milk production, fish production and poultry. Despite such a huge production in India, owing to perishable nature of these produce around 25-30 per cent of the produce is being lost as post harvest loss. The one important reason for this may be the production of the crops are season specific and during the peak season the production is more while demand for consumption is less. It may be possible to cut down losses to great extent, if these produces may be transported from the produce states to those who are not producing due to agro-climatic reasons. So for making transportation of the perishable a successful venture in decreasing post harvest loss, there must be proper storage facilities both at producing site as well as marketing place. The aim of the storages must be to keep the produce in saleable condition during entire storage periods. Some products are stored for short period whereas fresh fruits, vegetables require cold storage. Foods before keeping into the storage room need some pre-storage treatments for better results.

8.1 Introduction

Spices are appetizers and hence, esse ntially used in the culinary preparations. They also possess antioxidant, antimicrobial and antibiotic properties. Further, they possess medicinal properties and hence, play an important role in human health.

According to International Organization for Standards (ISO), there is no clear cut division between ‘Spices’ & ‘Condiments’ and as such they have been clubbed together. The term ‘Spices’ & ‘condiments’ applies to “such natural plants or vegetable products or mixtures there of, in whole or ground form, which are used for imparting flavour, aroma and piquancy and seasoning of foods”. Spices are divided into different groups based on their plant components such as floral, fruits, berries, seeds, rhizomes, roots, leaves, kernel, aril, bark, bulbs etc.

About 70 spices are grown in different parts of the world and a major portion of these are grown in India. Hence, India is called “The home of Spices”. It is well known that spices played a significant role in ancient times, in the development of civilization – the life of the people and trade among the nations of East and West. Spices like ginger, pepper and turmeric have an intense and immediate impact on sensory perceptions and exhibit strong physiological effects as food and medicinal constituents. Some spices and herbs like cardamom, saffron and vanilla, which have less intense but more delicate sensory effects, are well known for their contribution to fragrance and usage as food flavouring agents. The history of spices and their use in food and medicine in ancient India have been reviewed earlier [1-3].

Fruits and vegetables are perishables and the post-harvest losses from the point of production at the farm gate till it reaches the consumers is estimated as 30-35 per cent which constitute a major economic drain of more than 33 billion USD equivalent to Rs 2,40,000 crores annually. In order to reduce the losses at various stages, nanotechnologies have come as potential strategies to minimize the losses while improving the marketability and profitability of perishables. One of the plants derived natural compounds “hexanal” which is known to extend the shelf-life of fruits when it is used as a pre-harvest spray or post-harvest dip as a nano-emulsion. Since, it is a highly volatile compound, efforts were undertaken to entrap the compound in the polymer-based nano f ibres (as nano stickers) or as a cyclodextrin inclusion complex (as nano pellets) in order to preserve the perishables. Further, hexanal vapour was also evaluated to preserve fruits. In this book chapter, various nanotechnologies tested, evaluated and technologies developed over the years are elucidated. Overall, the literature review suggests that use of any of the nanotechnologies delivered as pre-harvest spray, post-harvest dip, nano-stickers, nano-pellets and vapour singly or in combination found to reduce the infestation of post harvest diseases, minimize the losses and extended shelf-life by 2-3 weeks that help the farmers to get lucrative prices due to the late arrival in the market besides significantly improve the productivity and profitability of orchards.

Brief History of Cashew Nut Processing Industry in India

As is known in the Cashew Trade Circles, cashewnut was not an indigenous product of India. A few hundred years back, the Portuguese brought it to Goa in India, from Brazil. The Portuguese also took it to their other colonies in Africa viz. Mozambique on the East Coast and Angola on the West Coast. In Mozambique, it spread all over the territory i.e. from Lourenco in the South to Ibo in the North and thence to British East Africa (now Tanzania) and Kenya. Though, now it is known as cashewnut, still in Mozambique and India, it is known by its original Portuguese name ‘CAJU’.

Global agricultural sector moves toward sustainability and resource efficiency, bioinoculants represent a transformative innovation. Bioinoculants (microbial inoculants) are preparations containing beneficial microorganisms such as bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, and cyanobacteria that, when applied to seeds, seedlings, or plants, and soil, enhance nutrient availability, promote plant growth, and improve soil fertility. In the context of modern agriculture’s ecological challenges, such as soil degradation, overuse of agrochemicals, and climate variability, microbial inoculants offer a sustainable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternative. However, their effectiveness is often limited by environmental stresses, short shelf life, and inconsistent field performance. Nano-bioinoculants address these limitations through the integration of nanotechnology into microbial formulations. This innovative approach improves microbial viability under field conditions, increases interaction efficiency with plant roots, and enables controlled nutrient release, leading to improved crop performance. Plant growth, soil fertility, and stress resistance are strengthened by inoculation using nanoparticles, nano-based biofertilizers, and biopesticides. Their application is particularly relevant in India, where diverse agro-climatic zones and smallholder farming systems demand low-input, high-efficiency solutions. In India, where the demand for eco-friendly and high-efficiency agri-inputs is