eChapters

Nitrogen Content in Indian Soil Because of tropical and subtropical climates Indian soils have very low nitrogen content and in the majority of cultivated soil it varies from 0.02% to 0.13%. Low levels of N in Indian soil is primarily attributed to climate and secondarily to cropping. Climate plays the dominant role in determining the nitrogen content in soil through the effect of soil organic matter content. Generally heavy textured soils have higher N content than loamy or sandy soils. Other factors remaining the same, total N content in soil decreases with the increase in annual temperature at a given humidity level, on the other hand, it increases with increasing humidity level at a given annual temperature. Maximum N content in soil occurs in the surface layer of soils and decreases with depth in soil profile. The variation of distribution of N content in soil with depth is attributed by varying accumulation of organic matter in soil profile.

1.    Introduction    232
2.    Photosynthesis and Biomass Yields    232
3.    Biomass Properties    233
    3.1.     Polymeric and chemical composition, 233
    3.2.     Fuels analysis, 235
    3.3.     Physical properties, 236

1. Introduction

Movement of fluids from one location to another is an important unit operation in food processing. Various types of systems are used to convey fluids based on their flow behaviour. Understanding fluid flow behaviour is therefore important for designing of fluid flow systems. The fundamental mechanism involved in fluid flow is the momentum transfer occurring in moving fluids during various unit operations (fluid flow, aeration, drying, fluidization, filtration, centrifugation, sedimentation, mixing, etc.). This chapter deals with the basic concepts of fluid flow, viscosity, pressure measurement, conservation of mass and energy, boundary layer, momentum and velocity profile of fluid flowing in a pipe, flow metering devices, and pumps.

Crops are grown with the use of plant protection chemicals to boost production, enhance quality, and lengthen shelf life. Wherein the enormous use of pesticides which are having the longer half life period led to leave the residues in the different bodies of the ecosystem. Pesticide residues refer to the residual presence of pesticide active ingredients, their metabolites, or breakdown products in various environmental components subsequent to their application, accidental release, or disposal.

Analysis of residues gives insight on the type and extent of chemical contamination in an area, as well as how long it has been there. Before governments will approve the use of pesticides, they require comprehensive testing of their efficacy, environmental impact, and toxicology. A possible risk to human health arises from the presence of chemical residues and/or breakdown products in agricultural goods. Selective sampling plans can be used to learn more about pesticide traces in the environment, how they move about, and how quickly they degrade.

Pesticide: The act defines “pesticide” as any substance or other substance or product that is used to stop, kill, repel, or control insects, rodents, fungi, weeds, and other plants and animals that humans don’t need.

The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is recognised as the cheapest edible oil-yielding crop and has become one of the major oil crops in the world. The most productive oil-bearing crop, oil palm yields about three times the oil yield of coconut, seven times that of rapeseed, and ten times that of soybean. In terms of world production, palm oil maintains second place after soybean as a source of vegetable oil and has overtaken other crops such as rapeseed, sunflower, groundnut, and cottonseed. Under good agricultural management, a hectare of oil palm yields 5 to 7 tonnes of oil / year (Henson, 1991). The crop is unique in producing 2 distinct types of oil- palm oil and palm kernel oil- used for culinary and industrial purposes. Being rich in b-carotene, palm oil contributes substantially to nutritional and energy requirements of masses.

Introduction
Eversince green revolution was introduced in 1960’s, the Indian agriculture has taken a series of transformations that resulted in paradigm shift from tradition farming to precision agriculture with an intend to address a wide array of challenges including burgeoning population, shrinking farm land, restricted water availability, imbalanced crop nutrition, multi-nutrient deficiencies, crop yield barriers and decline in soil organic matter. Agricultural scientists were looking for alternative strategy to tideover the bundle constraints with a single stop solution. Nanotechnology deals with atom-by-atom manipulations to evolve processes and products precised to overcome the farming challenges altogether that hardly possible to achieve by the traditional systems. Nanotechnology applications in agriculture include diagnostic devices for early detection of plant diseases (Chen and Hu, 2013), nano-agricultural inputs such as nano-fertilizer (Subramanian et al., 2015; yuvaraj and Subramanian., 2018; Nongbet et al., 2022; Verma et al., 2022; Mohanraj et al., 2024), nano-herbicides (Abigail and Chidhambaram, 2017; Forini et al., 2022) and nano-insecticides (Wang et al., 2022), nano-seed science, plant health management (Subramanian et al., 2016), nano-food systems (Anusuya et al., 2016; Jincy et al., 2017; Jan et al., 2023) besides environmental remediation (Rajkishore et al., 2023).
Even though the nanotechnology is being exploited in wide array of disciplines such as energy, environment, electronics, health sciences and few areas in agricultural sciences, the literature on the application of nanotechnology in plant breeding and genetics is scanty. Nanotechnology is a key component in the creation of genetically enhanced crops (Servin et al., 2015) with an increase crop yield or disease resistance (Kerry et al., 2017). Using genetic engineering or plant breeding, nano-enabled approach aids in the development of resilient and better plant genotypes (Patel et al., 2014). Plant breeding and genetic modification to create better crops frequently utilise nanotech-derived devices (nano sensors and nanoparticles) (Kumar and arora, 2020). Nanobiotechnology is to better understand the biology of various crops and the breeders may be able to increase agricultural yields or nutritional value (Sah et al., 2014). Atomically altered seeds, plant cells with silica beaks, hormone and antibiotic delivery in plants, particle farming, and iron seeding are a few examples. (Prasanna et al., 2018; Jha et al., 2013). Particle farming is the process of cultivating plants in predetermined soils to produce nanoparticles for industrial purposes. Plant production and growth are negatively impacted by abiotic stress. Salinity and drought are the two abiotic stressors that affect plants the most widely (Lavania et al., 2015; Zhao et al., 2017). Nano-enabled crop improvement can be achieved through four important aspects such as (1) genome editing, (2) genetic engineering, (3) abiotic and biotic stress management and (4) plant performance.

Climate Change: Understanding our Earth and Atmosphere

Our Mother Earth is the fifth largest planet in the solar system and the third from the sun. It is also the sole planet whose name comes from old English language only, and not from names of any other celestial bodies, whose names originated mostly from Greek/Roman mythology. Earth has a diameter of 6378 km, of which the earth crust (uppermost skin) is only 24 km. Earth is the only planet where water exists as liquid and 71% of its surface is covered by water. The earth’s atmosphere is made up mostly of nitrogen (77%) and oxygen (21%) gases. CO₂ consists of a very small (trace) fraction (0.03%) of atmosphere, but is most vital for the life cycle. When earth was created, it has got much higher CO₂ than today, and all of them have been sequestered in rocks as carbonates and dissolved in oceans and a negligible amount is distributed in plant communities. This extremely small quantity of CO₂ is keeping life on earth, by maintaining earth’s temperature at a comfortable 14°C (without CO₂, earth’s temperature would have been -21°C). This effect is called the ‘greenhouse effect’, revolving which all issues of climate change exist. It is also to be noted that water vapour is also an important greenhouse gas (GHG). It is to also to be noted that in spite of substantial increase in solar constant, earth’s average temperature has remained stable for billions of years. It is understood that this was possible through variation in CO₂, and it is the biological processes (Earth biosphere) that controlled the environment over years (Gaia hypothesis).

Introduction
Detailed understanding of the gene structure and functions are achieved in respect of the genes present in the nuclear genome. The knowledge of the gene functions is being applied in plant genetics and plant breeding. The different kinds of genetic variants are well captured and explained in crop improvement programmes. The organelle genomes, namely, chloroplast and mitochondria that are present outside the nucleus have not received much attention to understand this organization, structure, functions and in utilizing their genetic endowments in many of the plant development and functions. The organelle genomes present in the cytoplasm are providing cytoplasmic effect, cytonuclear and inter genome interactions that impact plant development, plant fertility and agronomic traits expression. It is estimated that 80% of the metabolites are affected by the variations in organelle genomes. The organelle genome also influences and regulates the activity of nuclear genes. The The chloroplast genome encodes proteins that are central to plant photosynthetic activity for plant photosynthesis producing sugar and mitochondria genomes as the energy powerhouse for the cells and they are very essential to provide support to the plant functions and biomass production that is converted to the crop yield. Together, the organelle genomes have disproportionate effects on the nuclear gene functions.
These two organelle genomes that exist outside the nuclear genomes, active in synthesizing food and energy for cell functions, are not as much considered and relied upon by the plant breeders although they are basic biological machineries. This chapter on the organelle genomes is designed to present the structure and genetic endowments and functioning of the chloroplast and mitochondrial

Pomegranate is one of the oldest known edible fruits and is associated with ancient civilizations of the Middle East. From its origin in the area now occupied by Iran and Afghanistan, the pomegranate spread east to India and China and west to Mediterranean countries (Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Spain). Spanish missionaries brought the pomegranate to the Americas in the 1500s (Hodgson, 1917; LaRue, 1980). The primary commercial pomegranate growing regions of the world are the Near East, India and surrounding countries, and southern Europe. The fruit is consumed fresh or processed into juice, syrup, jams, or wine (Fig. 1) (LaRue, 1980; Adsule and Patil, 1995; Kumar, 1990; Patil and Karale, 2001; Roy and Wasker, 1997).

Introduction

Desertification, which is considered a major threat in the drylands of the world, is not about advancing boundaries of the existing deserts, but about land degradation in the arid, semi-arid and the dry sub-humid regions, which together form the drylands (Anon., 1995). Secular variation in climate that has resulted in periodic expansion and contraction of the desert boundaries and regional-scale changes in vegetation condition (Tucker et al., 1991; Nemani et al., 2003; Hickler et al., 2005) is one of the drivers of desertification. Human activities constitute the other major driver. According to Geist and Lambin (2004) the prominent core variables that drive degradation are climatic, economic, institutional, national policies, population growth and remote influences.

EXTENSION TOOLS /AIDS

Audio-visual aids, audio-visual media, audio-visual material, communication technology, educational or instructional media, extension teaching aids, extension tools, extension aids, etc, - all these terms broadly speaking, mean the same thing. The use of the terms like educational technology or instructional technology instead of extension tools/aids in the recent time is primarily due to the dynamic expansion of programmed learning, computer assisted instruction and education television. In this discussion, the term audio-visual aid is used most frequently which is almost same as extension aids.

Communication and Extension

We spent most of the time in a day by communicating with others. It is impractical to think of a life in which we don’t communicate. Communication is a process not only limited to human beings. All creatures of earth communicate with each other for their better existence. In communication, we exchange our ideas, information, feelings, opinions about an issue, emotions, etc. with others throughout our life. It indicates that the communication is inseparable from the existence of life. A hypothetical example on the various kinds of communications that a Veterinary doctor might be using on a normal day is presented below for easy understanding.

A Veterinary doctor goes to office and put his signature in the attendance register (written communication) and greets his staffs (communication through gesture). Then he attends the patients and discuss with the owner (verbal communication). He writes prescription for the ailing animals (written communication). After office works, he may visit and discuss with the villagers about a vaccination programme (group communication) and inform the villagers about the date and time of vaccination. He may sensitize the people about the importance of vaccination through television, radio, newspaper, etc. (mass communication) and develop leaflets/folder/bulletins on different issues for distribution. This brief example suggests that the communication is an inevitable part of our daily life. It may be like that we may not survive without communication.

Diffusion and Adoption of Livestock Innovations

One of the important functions of livestock extension worker is communication. This communication is not mearly informing the livestock owners about the improved technologies and practices, but to ensure the application of technologies for their benefits. Livestock extension worker’s efficency are always judged and measured (a) by the speed or quickness with which the gap between what is known and what is done by the livestock farmers is bridged, (b) by the number of new practices adopted; and (c) also by the number of livestock farmers and communities that adopt the new practices. While discharging the technology dissemination function, livestock extension worker often faces with some of the difficult questions:

Flood diversion redirects part or all of an excessive flow away from a vulnerable river reach, settlement, or agricultural area. Water may be conveyed through diversion channels, floodways, canals, tunnels, spillways, or natural depressions and discharged into another river, reservoir, wetland, or safe storage area. A diversion scheme must have sufficient capacity and a dependable control structure while avoiding unacceptable flooding, erosion, sediment deposition, or environmental damage elsewhere. This chapter explains the purpose, principles, and methods of flood diversion. It covers site selection, diversion routes, hydraulic and structural components, design discharge, operational requirements, advantages, limitations, maintenance needs, and the role of diversions within integrated basin-level flood-control planning.

INTRODUCTION

The rose is one of the oldest flowers in cultivation and most popular of all garden flowers throughout the world. It is one of the nature’s beautiful creations and is universally known as the Queen of Flowers.

Th e cultivation of th is f lower h as developed with the distillation of rose as mentioned in Ayurveda by Charaka around 100 A.D. At present, it has become the most important commercial flower. A large quantity of rose flowers is used for decoration purpose. Beside, it has been growing for centuries for the extraction of its essence. The rose water is frequently used for flavouring sweets and other food articles as well as for sprinkling over guests on festive occasions. Hips of some rose species are rich in vitamin C while its petals are used for preparing Gulkand and Pankhuri.

Domestic demand for roses has two components; the demand for stemless roses supplied by field grown roses and demand for stemmed roses, mainly grown under protected conditions. In most parts of India, rose flowers throughout the year, in a succession of flushes of blooms, without having any true dormant period. Good quality blooms are produced in winter when local market demand is good. There is a growing demand of value added floral extracts in world market, hence there is great scope for commercial cultivation of rose for production of floral extracts.

The fragrance of rose is said to be the only fragrance that never tires the human olfactory system. Export of rose water started in 8^th century from Iran and later in 9^th century from India and China, mostly to Arabian countries. Rose cultivation was introduced as an industry in Turkey in 17^th century and later spread to other countries like Egypt, Morocco, France, China, India, etc. About 80% of rose flower are utilized for rose water, 10% for attar, 1 to 2% for pankhuri and remaining for manufacture of gul-rohan and gulkand. Rose oil is used primarily as a fragrance component in pharmaceutical preparations e.g. ointments and lotions and is extensively used as a fragrance ingredient in perfumes, creams and soaps. Food products in which they are used include beverages, frozen dairy desserts, sweets, baked foods, gelatins and puddings.

Abstract

Indian Horticultural produce to become competitive both in domestic and international markets, there is an urgent need for use of Hi-tech horticultural technologies. The techniques covered under Hi-tech Horticulture are genetically modified horticulture crop varieties derived from biotechnology and genetic engineering, micro-propagation, protected cultivation, micro irrigation and fertigation, high density planting, organic farming, integrated nutrient, pest and disease management and post harvest management.

Micropropagation or tissue culture technology is based on the principle of totipotency. It provides disease free, uniform sized and year round production of mass multiplication of plants in various stages viz. establishment and stablillization, shoot multiplication, pre-transplant and in vitro rooting and transplanting acclimation and ex vitro rooting. Protected cultivation is the technique of providing to the crop to protect plants from the adverse climate conditions by providing optimum growth and development conditions. High value horticulture crops mainly cut flowers and vegetables are more popular for cultivation in green houses. Greenhouse may be of different types depending on the structural designs followed as quonset, curved roof or gable roof and covering materials used as glass, acrylic, polycarbonate, fiberglass reinforced plastic panels or polyethylene etc. applicators. Micro-irrigation system is used for frequent application of required and measured quantity of water directly above or below soil surface, usually as discrete

drops, continuous drops, tiny streams or miniature spray through emitters or applicators placed along a water delivery line (laterals). It may be in form of drip irrigation, bubbler irrigation, micro jet irrigation, sprinkler, micro-sprinkler or misting (fogger) irrigation system. Similarly under fertigation system, special fertilizers in form of liquid or water soluble solids are available through a suitable irrigation system for accuracy of water application.

Historical perspective: Planting of single crops or mono-cultural agriculture—is a recent invention of the industrial agricultural complex (Hirst, 2019). While unequivocal archaeological evidence is difficult to come by, it’s believed that most agricultural field systems in the past involved some form of mixed cropping. That’s because of even botanical evidence of plant residues such as starches or phytoliths of multiple crops are discovered in an ancient fields (Hirst, 2019). Mixed cropping, also known as polyculture, or co-cultivation, is a type of agriculture that involves planting two or more crop plants simultaneously in the same field so that they grow together. The primary reason for prehistoric multi or mixed cropping probably had more to do with the needs of the farmer’s family and perhaps to avoid crop failure. It’s possible that certain plants adapted to multi-cropping over time disappeared as a result of the domestication process (Hirst 2016).

1.0 INTRODUCTION

“Biological control is the reduction of the amount of inoculum or disease producing activity of a pathogen  or parasite  in its active or dormant state, by one or more organisms, accomplished naturally or through manipulation of the environment, host or antagonist or by mass introduction of one or more antagonists ” (Baker & Cook 1974). The biological world is a vast interacting network of living organisms in a state of dynamic equilibrium, reflecting changes in their physical environment and their relations to each other. Organisms exhibit many type of interactions in the process of achieving biological balance.  An organism may exert no effect on another or it may stimulate or inhibit the growth or development of the associate, it may stimulate or inhibit the formation of resting spores of the associate or it may enforce dormancy or cause lysis of the associate (Cooke & Baker, 1983).

What so ever you are doing as a researcher, one important task is to publish the same for scientific fraternity for establishing your view points else no body will recognize you and your competence. Your credentials are judged by the research papers published by you and its impact on scientific community. Therefore, it is must to publish what so ever you are doing to establish yourself in the scientific community and also to advance science. This implies to select a national or international journal for your research publication which has wide scientific circulation so that peers of scientific world may observe your publication. Adversely, the publication may bring you criticism if it does not stand on scientific parameters and you may lose your reputation in your profession.

5.1. Precision Farming Precision farming is an emerging concept in modern agriculture. It is micro management system to arrive at improved agriculture and land management decisions that result from using information delivered by geospatial technologies. In other words it is “Digital Agriculture” involving very large scale farm level mapping, comprehensive data base creation on required resources generated through space based inputs and field observations and making a detailed plan of work for maximizing the yield and reducing the cost on inputs using the decision support system. Precision farming means to do the right thing, in the right place and in right time. It is also called site-specific management (SSM), is the management of an agricultural crop at a spatial scale smaller than the individual field. In many fields, the crop’s environment varies substantially from one part to another