eChapters

3.1 Introduction

The green revolution has no doubt provided great increase in the production of food crops, but has led to a sizeable increase in energy use. With the cost of energy raising constantly and shortage faced in developing countries, the energy conservation given a special importance. It has been estimated that potential for conservation of commercial energy is around 20% in transport, 25% in industrial and 30 percent in agriculture. In a country like India where about 70% of people depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Agriculture being the primary sector has got its importance. Mechanisation of agriculture is inevitable for farm productivity. Mechanization of agriculture has two forms job requiring traction work, mobile mechanization need the use of machines for such jobs as pulling and drawing efforts e.g. plowing and tillage operations like harrowing, leveling, rolling, seeding, harvesting and hauling .

Summary

The main greenhouse gases (GHGs) that have caused the global climate change or global warming are carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). CO₂ is the principal anthropogenic GHG that affects the earth’s radiative balance. It is the reference gas against which other GHGs are measured and therefore has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 1. CH₄ and N₂O have a GWP of 21 and 310, respectively. CO₂ is responsible for most of the enhanced greenhouse effect of more than 50%, CH₄ for about 10-15% and N₂O for about 8%. The global atmospheric concentrations of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O have increased since 1750. While CO₂ increased from a pre-industrial value of 280 ppm to 379 ppm in 2005, CH₄ increased from 715 ppb to 1774 ppb and N₂O increased from 270 ppb to 319 ppb during the same period. Rich countries and large developing countries account for most of global CO₂ emissions (China 23.5%, USA 18.27%, India 5.83%, Russia 5.72%, Japan 4.04% and European Union 13.98%). A new climate agreement called ‘Warsaw International mechanisms (November 2013) on loss and damage’ agreed to help the poor countries to cope with loss and damage from heatwaves, droughts, floods, typhoons, desertification and rising sea levels. The Warsaw agreement also includes a set of decisions to help developing countries to reduce GHG emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests which is backed by pledges of US$280 million financing by the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom. Projections for global average temperature rise is in the range of 1.1-6.4°C; a doubling of CO₂ (from pre-industrial 280 ppm) and average sea level rise is in the range of 0.18-0.59 m (Meehel et al. 2007) and 0.5–2.4 m (Brown et al. 2013). Hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation events will continue to become more frequent. Projected data show that there is an increasing global trend in the rise of average temperature in all countries, regions or sub-zones; a decreasing trend in average precipitation in most sub-tropical areas and an increasing trend of precipitation in most of the tropical and high latitudes.

10.1 Introduction

Industrial effluents, which are deteriorate their quality, and push them to the brink of extinction in the process of unplanned discharge, giving rise to the need for suitable conservation strategies for the receiving water body. Unfortunately, over the years, less attention has been given to industrial effluents world over. The degradation of the industrial effluents has altered their functions, affecting the ecological balance. The objectives of carrying out the physico-chemical and biological analyses of water bodies are as follows:

1. Generally, industrial effluent functions directly relate to their physical, chemical and biological integrity. Water quality evaluation for industrial effluent leads to information about their misuse by indicating the pollution status. 1st define water quality objectives as the overall direction and purpose of the industrial effluent and furthermore define goals as milestones to be met during the course of a book. Since the quality of aquatic life depends on the water quality, a thorough assessment of the water quality is an integral part of industrial effluent toxicity evaluation. The assessment of the chemical criteria of the industrial effluent helps in

Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), famous as “Black Gold” and also known the “King of Spices” is the most important agricultural commodities of commerce and trade in India. It is the most important, most popular and most widely used spice in the World. Of the total spices traded internationally, black pepper accounts for 34 per cent. South West India is the traditional home of this important spice, particularly the Malabar Coast. Black pepper is also grown in tropical zones such as the Asia Pacific Region, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Outside the Asia Pacific region, the crop is distributed in Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, etc., totaling about 26 countries. It is grown successfully between 20°N and 20°S latitude and from mean sea level to 1500 meters above sea level. World’s black pepper production varies in the range of 2.7 to 3.35 tonnes annually.

Definition and Scope
Offshore aquaculture, also known as open-ocean aquaculture, is an emerging approach to farming aquatic organisms in exposed, deeper waters further from the coastline than traditional nearshore aquaculture. While a precise definition remains elusive due to variations in regulatory frameworks and geographical contexts, offshore aquaculture is generally characterized by its location in deeper, more energetic waters with stronger currents and increased distance from shore (Holmer, 2010). This distinction from nearshore operations, typically situated in sheltered bays or estuaries, has significant implications for environmental impact, species suitability, and technological requirements.
Key characteristics of offshore aquaculture
• Increased depth and distance from shore: Offshore aquaculture operations are typically situated in waters deeper than 30 meters and at a significant distance from the coast, often beyond the territorial waters of a country (Buck et al., 2018). This exposes the cultured organisms to stronger currents, greater wave action, and a more dynamic environment compared to nearshore farms

3.1. INTRODUCTION TO PLANT BREEDING

What is Plant Breeding?: Plant breeding is an art and science which deals with changing genotypes of the plants, to adapt them to the service of human being. (or) The application of genetic and cytogenetics principles in crop improvement are called plant breeding.

Specific objectives of plant breeding: The main objectives of the plant breeding is to improve the characteristics of crop plants which are agronomically and economically desirable

1. Area, Production and Productivity of Horticultural Crops (2013-2014)

INTRODUCTION

Bangladesh is a very small country of 1,47,570 square kilometer area having a population of 150 millions. The country has only 8.29 million hectare (Bangladesh Krishi Diary, 2003) cultivable land against the huge population. The land area is gradually decreasing because of population growth, industrialization and other infrastructure development. This results in a declining trend of per capita land availability from 0.13 hectare to 0.06 hectare during the last few decades (1960 to 2000) (Food and Agriculture Organisation, Bangladesh Country Profile).

In order to ensure food security of this vast population and with the emergence of “Green Revolution” in 1960s, priority was given to produce more food in terms of grain through intensification of land usage. New crop variety (HYV), chemical fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation were introduced. As a result, immediate objective of more grain (rice) production had increased and Bangladesh had temporarily achieved self sufficiency in food (rice). Bangladesh made steady progress in crop agriculture in the post-independent period. Cropping intensity increased from 148 to 179 per cent and food grain production almost doubled during the period from 1969/70 to 1992/93 (Hoque, 2007).

However, a lot of HYVs, hybrids, which were introduced, required increased amount of chemicals, and over time they took a toll on the fertility of soil, gradually decreasing acreage production despite usage of high doses of chemical fertilizer and pesticides. Moreover, the natural disasters such as floods, droughts, etc., continued to result in fluctuation in production. Wide fluctuations in production led to large instability in food grain prices having serious implications for household food security and the welfare of the people. The attainment of food security and rural economic development, therefore, could no longer rely on the production of rice alone.

Some basic informations about genera of Family Pythiaceae, Peronosporaceae and Albuginaceae;

Pythiaceae

Indeterminate (grows continuously) sporangiophores, have sporangia that are borne variously, but not in chains, on somatic hyphae or on sporangiophores. This family includes the genera Pythium and Phytophthora.

Peronosporaceae

Determinate sporangiophores, form sporangia on well-defined, branched sporangiophores of determinate growth. There are seven genera in the family including Basidiophora, Bremia, Bremiella, Peronospora, Plasmopara, Pseudoperonospora and Sclerospora.

Albuginaceae

Club shaped sporangiophores, catenate sporangia, produces chains of sporangia on club-shaped sporangiophores of indeterminate growth. The Albuginaceae contains a single genus Albugo.

Cells Contain 4 Major Types of Giant Molecules (Macromolecules, Polymers)

Carbohydrates

Lipids

Proteins

Nucleic Acids

BIOLOGICAL POLYMERS ARE MADE FROM ABOUT 60 SMALL BUILDING BLOCKS

Cells contain thousands of types of giant molecules (macromolecules, polymers)

Polymers are macromolecules made from a single building block molecule Most of the macromolecules are made from about 60 types of small building block molecules

Most macromolecules are linear: building blocks linked head to tail- a few have branches (some polysaccharides)

This is what you would get if you heated cells in hydrochloric acid overnight at 110 degrees C:

Pack inspection: It is similar to continuous inspection except that here inspector(s) may make in-process checks during different processing operations under contract but not required to be present all the times in the plant during operation.

Package: The package means a pre packed box, tin, barrel, pouch or can etc in which food article is packed.

Package store: A store that sells bottled or canned alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises.

Packaging: Packaging is an industrial and marketing technique for containing, protecting, identifying and facilitating the sale and distribution of agricultural, industrial and consumer products (Plate 467). Packaging is defined as an enclosure of products, items or package in a wrapped pouch, bags, box, cup, bottle or any container form to perform one or more of the functions as containment, protection and preservation, communication and utility or performance. Technically, packaging is a system or method by which a product from the manufacturing point to the consumer level reaches in a safe and sound condition at an affordable cost. The primary purpose of the packaging is to protect the food product, to keep it in good condition and to preserve the flavour until it reaches the consumer. It is therefore, very essential that a suitable form of the packaging is chosen for a finished product. Packaging is an art, which determines the buying decision of a consumer. or Wrapping / placement of objects in paper / other packaging materials, keeping in box, etc is known as packaging which has two main functions, to assemble the produce / objects in convenient units for handling and to protect them during transporting, marketing and storage which results in extended shelf life of the produce. “Packaging” play a very important role not only in ensuring safety of the product during transportation, storage and distribution and in conveying information about the pack contents to the consumers, but also ensuring desired sensory characteristics and micro biological soundless till consumed.

Saccharification: The process of breaking a complex carbohydrate (starch or cellulose) into its monosaccharide components is called saccharification.

Saccharimeter: A device (polarimeter) used for measuring the amount of sugar in a solution is called saccharimeter. It is also known as saccharometer. It is a hydrometer with a special scale.

Saccharin: A crystalline compound C7 H5 NO3 S that is unrelated to the carbohydrates, is several hundred times sweeter than sucrose, and is used as a calorie free sweetener.

Saccharomyces: It is one of the genus (Saccharomyces) of the family Saccharomycetaceae and is usually unicellular yeasts (brewer’s yeast) that are distinguished by their sparse or absent mycelium and reproduced asexually by budding.

Safe food: Food that provide maximum nutrition and quality while revealing a minimal hazard to public health and they assume any risk present to be minimal.

6.1 Introduction

Plant breeding is the indispensible component of elevating production and productivity of spices by evolving high yielding and/or with good quality type. Thereby, the practice of identification and selection of desirable traits and introgression of those characters in a single plant is being done since the beginning of organized agricultural activities by humankind. The act of plant breeding was reshaped and got a momentum with a scientific basis after the discovery and rather rediscovery of Mendel’s laws. Worldwide, humankind could enjoy the direct benefits of methodical plant breeding during green revolution. Manipulation of genetic architecture for creating variation in the population and successive selection is the basic of all kinds of crop breeding. But the process of creation of variability and selection differs from crop to crop depending on their mode of reproduction. It is comparatively easier to get a new homogeneous population in self pollinating plants. Therefore, segregating generations are handled differently in these two categories of self and cross pollinated crops.

Fresh vegetables are essential part of a healthy diet as it is an important source of vitamins, minerals and fibers. The nutritional content of vegetables varies considerably, though generally they contain little protein, fat and varying proportions of vitamins such as Vitamin A, Vitamin K and Vitamin B6, pro- vitamins, dietary minerals and carbohydrates (Woodruff, 1995; Whitaker, 2001).

7.1 Plant Tissue Culture

Spices have great socio-economic impact in moden food habit of human but loss of resources day by day due to various reasons (industrialization, high population pressure) make the access of these valuable spices limited to people. Low production is general phenomena of common spices due to lack of high yielding varieties. Hence there is a need to improve the propagation method to meet the gap between demand and supply. Conventional vegatative propagation method is common approach for propagation but low multiplication rate, seasonal dependency and susceptible to abiotic stresses and diseases are major problems to achieve the optimum productivity. To overcome these drawbacks scientists have chosen the plant tissue culture technique (a modern approach of biotechnology which deals with the propagation the valuable/endangered plants under laboratory condition). Details about this technique and its role on spices are given below.

Plant Tissue Culture: Basic Components and Objectives

The technique of growing of a whole plant cell, tissue or organ under an aseptic condition in suitable synthetic medium is termed as plant tissue culture (Thorpe, 2007). De-differentiation and re-differentiation are two essential fundamental processes which help in the physio-morphological development of the plant.

Abstract: Orchids, one of the largest commodities in international cut flowers and ornamental plant market, in which genera Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis, and Vanda are most traded. Orchids occupy prime position among ornamental plants of the modern world. Both warm and cool temperature cultivars are grown in vitro germinated seeds or clones. Breeders have created polyploid cultivars (amphidiploids, triploids) which have greater flower number/raceme, large flowers and other valuable traits. Numerous genes have been identified in the genus with some sequenced genes being used to create genetic transformants. Genome breeding and wide crosses are routinely used to create new genetic variability. Future crop ideotypes are proposed to continue transformation of this crop during the next millennium.

1.1. Characteristics and categories
                
1.2. Litter
    Patterns of accumulation
    Successional trends
    Seasonal variations
    Fluctuations in accumulation

1.3. Dissolved organic matter
    Sources of DOM
    Fluxes of DOM

1.4. Woody detritus

1.5. Soil organic matter

The classification of pyrolysis processes plays a crucial role in understanding and categorizing the various methods used for thermal decomposition of biomass, waste materials, and carbonaceous feedstocks. This chapter provides an in-depth overview of the classification schemes employed in the field of pyrolysis. It discusses the different factors considered for classification, including temperature, heating rate, feedstock, reactor configuration, and operating conditions. Understanding these classifications is essential for selecting the appropriate pyrolysis process based on specific objectives, feedstock availability, and desired product yields.