eChapters

Nitrate – Nitrite Poisoning
Sources

Accidental ingestion/grazing of
Plants which are Nitrate accumulators

8.1 Introduction

In the fields like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Engineering and Economics; their laws and principles contains various parameters and their derivatives. The mathematical relationships of such parameters with their derivatives constitute the differential equations. In calculus, differential equations were firstly introduced by Newton and Leibnitz. Newton listed the three kinds of differential equations:

Phenol is normally a benzene ring containing an –OH group, and hence an aromatic alcohol. The term “phenolic” refers to similar aromatic compounds with one or more -OH groups. Phenolics constitute one of the most widespread classes of secondary metabolites. Commonly talked about class of compounds like anthocyanins, flavonoids, lignins, tannins, coumarins and chalcones are all phenolic substances. Phenolics are water insoluble substances. However, the water solubility increases with the increase in the number of -OH groups. Phenolics absorb electromagnetic radiation strongly. Many of the phenolics absorb in the visible part of the spectrum (Ex. anthocyanins) and are coloured. Phenolics are produced in plants by 1. Shikimate pathway through phenylalanine (C₆-C3) and 2. Acetate/malonate pathway.

The Coconut palm, also known as the Cocos Nucifera L., is one of the most fascinating and beautiful palms in the world. Epigraphical, literary and sculptural evidence provide proof that coconut has served humanity for more than three millennia. The palm is looked upon with reverence and affection and is referred to by such eulogistic epithets as “Kalpavriksha”, tree of heaven, the tree of abundance, nature’s super market, king of palms and the tree of life. The coconut is believed to have originated in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines) or Micronesia (Harries, 1977; Purseglove, 1968 and 1972). Coconut has been cultivated in India since ages and plays an important role in social, economic and cultural activities of the people. The palm is amenable to both plantation and homestead management and it can be either a major crop or a minor one in a homestead garden of mixed crops. While responding favourably to scientific management, the palm also tolerates negligent farming to a certain extent. Thus, it can adapt to the divergent farming situations and management practices that are prevalent in different agro-climatic regions. The coconut palm is usually found near the sea on sandy beaches where it can tolerate salt spray and brackish soils. It is also grown under different soil types such as loamy, laterite, coastal sandy, alluvial, clayey and reclaimed soils of the marshy low lands. The ideal soil conditions for better growth and performance of the palm are proper drainage, good water-holding capacity, and presence of water table within three metres and absence of rock or any hard substratum within two meters of the surface. The coconut palm can also grow well inland, within altitudinal limit of 600 m to 1752 m in the Tropics. It requires an equatorial climate with high humidity. A year-round warm and humid climate favours the growth of coconut. The ideal mean annual temperature, which can be tolerated by coconut palm, is around 27ºC with 5–7ºC diurnal variation. The palm does not withstand prolonged spells of extreme weather/climate variations under rainfed conditions. A well-distributed rainfall of 1300–2300 mm per annum is preferred. It is known as a coastal tree since it is grown along the Coasts and Islands and does not tolerate high temperature range, that is the difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures.

1. Country Background

Mozambique is a country that is extremely dependent on agriculture, both for rural livelihoods and for overall economic growth. This importance is illustrated by the following:
    •    The agriculture sector accounts for about 20  per cent of GDP1.
    •    80  per cent of total employment and higher in rural areas.
    •    55  per cent of household incomes (national average) adding self-consumption and income from selling agricultural products2.
    •    40  per cent of export earnings (2003).
    •    The economy is not diversified and the average level of education is low, with few options for finding non-farm employment and incomes in rural zones.

Introduction

The word mycotoxin is derived from myco, meaning mold and toxin, a poison. A great number of mold metabolites have been identified as mycotoxins. Thus mycotoxins are secondary fungal metabolites (i.e., metabolites not essential to the normal growth and reproduction of the fungus) which cause pathologic, physiologic, and/or biochemical lesions in other species (may include animals, plants, other microbes, etc.).

Mycotoxicosis - Poisoning of a biological system by a mycotoxin.

Mycotoxins  are  defined as toxic metabolites released by moulds under certain conditions conducive for their growth. Acute or chronic toxicoses can result from exposure to feed or bedding contaminated with toxins that may be produced during growth of various saprophytic or phytopathogenic fungi or molds on cereals, hay, straw, pastures, or any other fodder. A few principles characterize mycotoxic diseases:

1.    Biological Control of Insect Pests
    
2.    Biocontrol Agents in Vegetables
    
3.    Mass Multiplication of Predators and Parasites
    
4.    Microbial Control
    
5.    Transgenic Plants
    
6.    Biological Control of Diseases
    
7.    Conclusion
        
References

Introduction

There has been a steady increase in the poultry meat and egg production globally during the past few decades. Though the high biological value of eggs and poultry meat have resulted in an increasing demand for these two products, growing awareness for food quality and safety are becoming increasingly significant in determining the market value of such products. The importance of mycotoxins as one of the major detractor of poultry productivity and also of product quality, hence, becomes more relevant now than ever.

1. Basic Information

Philippines  is located between 4o23’N and 21o25’N latitude, and between 116oE and 127oE longitude. It is an archipelago of 7,107 islands with three major groups of islands: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It is bounded by the Bashi Channel up north, Sulu and Celebes Seas in the south, the Pacific Ocean to its east, and the South China Sea to its west. The Philippines has a tropical climate with an average temperature range of 23° to 32°C. Populated by 88 million people, the country has a total land area of 3,00,000 square kilometers  (30 million hectares); where about one third is agricultural land (NSO, 2007).

Of the agricultural land, 31 per cent is used for cereals such as corn and rice, 52 per cent for food crops and 17 per cent for non-food crops (ITC, 2007). Majority of these are cultivated on small farms averaging about two hectares and are managed by single families ranging from subsistence to commercial production (NSCB, 2007).

Introduction

Globally, now scholars accepted that the climate is changing and it has implications on human culture, social systems, economic stress and ecological problems (Ford et al. 2010). The IPCC advocates to search and develop local solutions for climate change adaptations (IPCC 1996; IPCC, 2001), however, it does not recognize the breadth and strength of centuries-tested community knowledge/traditional knowledge systems (Salick et al. 2009) which are available with the people of developing world, and has been for adaptation practices and strategies to extreme weather and climate change (Turner and Clifton 2009; Salick and Ross 2009). It is well recognized that with fragile ecosystems, poor economic status and with less robust technologies required to adapt climate change, marginal and poor people of developing countries are likely to be more vulnerable with the changing climate than the industrialized countries (Tompkin and Adger 2004; Agrawal, 2008).

The use of natural dyes lost ground together with the old traditional dye methods towards the end of 19th century soon after the synthetic dyes came to the market (Gilbert and Cooke 2001). Only artisans, craftsmen, and green–minded companies continued dyeing with natural dyes (Hartl 1997). The first recorded synthetic dye is picric acid produced in 1770’s from the interaction of indigo and nitric acid. The synthetic dye industry is considered to have started when Perkins synthesised mauveine (mauve) in 1856 in the UK (Hancock 1997). With the passage of time, it was observed that synthetic dyes used by the textile industry are a source of environmental pollution (Seker et al. 2007) and they produce allergic, carcinogenic and detrimental effects on the health of humans (Singh and Singh 2002, Mahanta and Tiwari 2005). The synthetic dyes were preferred by the industry because of their simpilicity in the use and all colors could be produced easily, but the problem was the waste deposition which is a major cause of environmental pollution. The solvents used during dying reduce the problem to some extent but the waste water purification needs extra effort and money (Shreve and Brink 1985). As against this, the natural dyes are not only harmless to the humans but also cause far less environmental pollution, and have distinctive washing and sunlight fade–resistant characteristics (Mert et al. 1992, Angelini et al. 1997, Kim and Park 2006). For this purpose, the textile industries have started rethinking about the natural dyes and are trying to find sustainable as well as non–toxic alternatives to synthetic dyes for a growing textile market.

Organic soils contain _____ % or more of organic matter.

A. 10       B. 15

C. 20      D. 30

1.1 Importance of Food Process Engineering

Food occupies the first position among the hierarchal needs of human beings. It is more important than shelter and clothing. After production and be forec on sumpti on, food commodities are subjected to nume rous unfavourable physical, chemical, microbial or parasitic factors which may cause their spoilage or disease when consumed. To prevent such spoilage, a process engineer has to understand these and provide remedial measures. The two primary goals of processing operation are first to minimize post harvest losses and second value addition of raw food commodities through preservation and processing.

Present level of production of different types of food commodities and their estimated post-harvest losses along with monetary values are given in Table 1.1. It shows that various food items get lost, to the tune of 65 million tonnes, worth Rs. 76,000 crores per annum, during post-harvest phase. A substantial amount of these losses could be prevented if appropriate agro processing centers, having backward linkage with farmers to ensure constant supply of quality raw food materials, are established and operated. Profit generated through value addition must also be shared with farmers, who are only people in the world to create wealth every year, in the form of food, fiber and other commodities necessary for human survival. It can bring sea change in rural areas, where 65-70% population live, in respect of economy, health and happiness.

It sounds simple, but the above process is fairly complex and requires lot of coordination in order to succeed. The major challenge is to minimize the losses during the various post harvest operations and keep the food as fresh as possible. In order to do so, one must first try to understand the various causes of post harvest losses of food commodities and the various factors that influence theses causes. Secondly, we must use those food processing operations that will not only extend the shelf life of the produce but also convert the raw food commodities to more acceptable product to the consumer.

It is vital to categorise agroforestry and its many systems in accordance with certain contemporary standards in order to have a thorough grasp of them and to enable future progress. Since each agroforestry system refers to a different set of agroforestry practices involving agriculture (crops), forestry (trees), and pasture (animals), the various uses of land are combined either temporally or spatially. Each agroforestry system has its own unique arrangement of various components, such as crops, animals, perennial trees, etc., and degree of interaction between the components. In terms of structure, composition, age intensity, technology, inputs, etc., one system varies from the other.

Creating a useful framework for the synthesis and analysis of data on current systems as well as the creation of new, promising ones should be the primary goal of classification. For this reason, every categorization system needs to have the accompanying the following standards.

3.1 Introduction

The subject of heat transfer is firmly grounded in the sciences of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. It has become exceedingly important for engineers to possess a clear understanding of the principles of heat transfer and its application to a large number of problems. In view of process engineering, the knowledge of heat transfer and its application is most important, because heat transfer is one of the basic unit operations in the agricultural processing activities. The design of process equipments, refrigerators, boilers or type of heat exchangers, thermal treatment of food grains, cooling of perishables, pasteurizations, sterilizations, freezing of milk and fruit juices and a large number of similar applications involve consideration of heat transfer rates. There may be other situations where heat is being generated during a certain operation, and may be detrimental to the equipment and the food product. In such cases we are often faced with the task of removing the undesirable amount of heat as far as possible.

A system is a set of components that are interrelated and interact among themselves. A system may be natural, social or artificial. Natural systems consist
of all the materials both physical and biological and are independent of human beings. Our role in relation to natural systems is to try to understand these
systems and make use of them as per our needs. 

Integrated farming system is a multidisciplinary whole farm approach, which enables the farmers to identify opportunities and threats and act accordingly. It
is a dynamic approach which can be applied to any farming system around the world. It is very effective in solving the problems of small and marginal farmers.
The approach aims at increasing income and employment from small-holding by integrating various farm enterprises and recycling crop residues and by-products
within the farm itself.

Effect on SOC and N losses through runoff and soil erosion

With increase in population, agriculture is being extended to even marginal soils which were hitherto uncultivated. Such soils are more seriously prone to erosion losses (FAO 2008), mostly because of their topographical position. Overall, soil organic matter and nutrient rich surface soil erosion could become more serious threat in the wake of changing climate in future; therefore, it is necessary to find suitable remedy measures to sustainable food production while protecting the soil from erosion.

Membrane technology is a proven separation method used on the molecular and ionic levels. Since the beginning of the 1970s, this technique has been adopted by the dairy industry. Membrane separation is widely used in dairy processing plants to perform an ever-increasing range of duties, e.g. pre-concentration, partial demineralization, protein separation, bacteria removal, brine clarification and waste water recycling. Representing one of the great technological developments occurring within the dairy industry during the second half of the twentieth century, progress was driven initially by the transfer of know-how gleaned from the application of cellulose acetate-based reverse osmosis (RO) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes in other industrial sectors to whey processing. Later, new membrane materials and engineering designs were built on this initial achievement and opened up further opportunities for the application of the full spectrum of membrane separation systems that also includes Nan filtration (NF) and cross-flow microfiltration The integration of these unit operations into traditional dairy processes has led to the development of innovative ingredients as well as improvements in yield, efficiency and product quality. R & D work indicates potential RO application for concentration of milk for products like khoa, condensed and dried milk products and of UF application for the manufacture of shrikhand, paneer, chana and cheese. Application of these processes permits higher energy saving, higher yields and superior product quality compared to traditional processes of thermal evaporation.

Tomato

Tomato, a warm season vegetable, requires a long season to produce a profitable crop. The optimum range of temperature for its cultivation should be 21–24ºC. The mean temperatures below 16ºC and above 27ºC are not desirable. The minimum, optimum and maximum soil temperatures for seed germination are 10º, 30º and 35ºC, respectively. Maximum seed germination occurs at 24ºC. Maximum fruit setting occurs at night temperature of 15-20ºC. Flowers fail to set fruit below 13ºC and beyond 38ºC. Formation of red colour due to lycopene is inhibited when temperature exceeds 32ºC. Lycopene is highest at 21-24ºC, while its production drops off rapidly above 27ºC. Tomato plants are highly susceptible to high rainfall areas if proper drainage is not available.

It is grown in many types of soil from sandy to heavy clay. A well-drained fairly fertile loam soil with a fair moisture-holding capacity is ideal for growing its good crop. It prefers a soil having a pH of 6.0 - 7.0. Application of liming is beneficial if it is cultivated in acid soils.

It can be grown almost round the year. The planting seasons vary from place to place. In northern India, for spring summer crop, it is sown in November and transplanted in second fortnight of January. In area, where frost does occur, it is sown in July-August and transplanted in August-September. In hilly areas, it is sown in March-April and transplanted in April-May.