eChapters

Abstract

The present study discusses the cropping pattern changes in Andhra Pradesh agriculture will leads to crop diversification and crop concentration using with Geographical Information System (GIS). Crop data were compiled for the triennium ending period 1980-81, 1990-91, 2000-01 and 2004-05 from various statistical abstracts of Andhra Pradesh. For measuring the crop diversification indices, we have used the Herfindahle index and for crop specialization is measured by using the Location quotient method. The level of crop diversification in the some districts of the state in the eighties is very high. However with the advent of green revolution, there had been a moderate crop unification or crop concentration in the eighties. This trend of crop unification is found to be reversed after 1990-91, though the magnitude of the change is not very striking. The crop diversification is observed to differ across the districts. The level of crop diversification is high in the agricultural backward regions of Rayalaseema and Telangana districts and low in the agriculturally progressive Coastal Andhra districts. During the period 1990-91 to 2004-05, the major trends in crop concentration are increase in the concentration of rice in the districts where it is popularly grown and decline in the concentration of coarse cereal crops, pulses and oilseeds. The concentration of spice crops and fruits and vegetables are also on an increasing trend, which they are popularly grown in their respective districts.

Keywords : Cropping Pattern, Diversification, Location Quotient, Andhra Pradesh, GIS

Definition

‘Whipping agent’ are a wide variety of materials to describe their role in confectionery manufacture as a means of holding air introduced into a product, to produce a uniform dispersion of air cells within the confection leading to a lower specific weight and considerable modification to the texture.

Stable foams cannot be obtained by whipping high concentration sugar solutions without the presence of a ‘surface-active’ agent.

Many types of proteins have whipping properties and those used in the sweet industry are:

(a) Egg albumen, crystal powdered and spray dried;

(b) High Bloom gelatine and gelatine hydrolysates;

(c) Skimmed milk in spray dried form;

(d) Whey, or whey in a mixture with skimmed milk;

Abstract

The continental drifting and the movement of Indian plate to the tune of 6500 km in a time frame of 65 million years towards north north-easterly, its collision with Eurasian plate, the rise of mighty Himalayan mountains, the still prevalent northerly directed compressive force which has originally drifted the Indian plate and the disseminated intraplate seismicities have been the proven facts. In this context, a remote sensing based study carried out using IRS satellite images revealed that the whole Indian plate is whirling like a worm with series of alternately arranged E-W trending arches and deeps and N-S extensional/block faulting, NE-SW & NW-SE strike slip faults and E-W trending fracture swarms from Cape Comorin in the South to foot hills of Himalayas in the north. These ongoing tectonic activities have displayed hierarchy of geomorphic anomalies in the fluvial, coastal and hydrological systems and these suggest that the whole Indian subcontinent warrant detailed studies to understand the post drift kinematics and its impacts over the ecosystems, natural resources and natural disasters.

Introduction

Consequent to the continental drifting, the Indian plate has moved towards north northeasterly and collided with Eurasian plate, thus resulting into the rise of Mighty Himalayan Mountains along the junction of these two plate boundaries as demonstrated by many earlier Geoscientists. But the behaviour of the Indian plate, both during the collision and after that, has not been comprehensively studied and understood as to whether it has remained as an inert plate or suffered any mid plate deformations. However, disseminated information has been brought out by many earlier workers on the post trappean arches, deeps, horsts and grabens within the

Indian plate. Some of such tectonic grains from north to south in the Indian Peninsular are:

Scientific name: Ammi majus L.
Family: Apiaceae
Ammi majus L., a member of the Apiaceae family, is a valuable medicinal plant. Its botanical name is derived from the Greek words "Ammi" and "majus," meaning "sand" and "larger," respectively. This plant has been used for centuries in traditional medicine, particularly for its antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory properties.
Origin and distribution
Ammi majus L. is native to Egypt and is now cultivated in various parts of the world, including India, Europe, and North Africa. It has been introduced to many countries for its medicinal and ornamental value.
Botany
This herbaceous annual plant grows up to a height of 0.75 to 1.15 meters. It has a round, erect, and solid stem with a tap root system. The large leaves are 5-8 cm long, alternate, and light green, with a compound, pinnately divided, and lanceolate shape.
The inflorescence is an umbel, axillary, and terminal in position, bearing white flowers. The calyx tube is adnate to bracts, with 5 teeth. The petals are 5 in number, epigynous, distinct, and bifid. There are 5 stamens, epigynous, and alternate with petals. The ovary is inferior, 2-celled, disk epigynous, 2-lobed, with a solitary ovule in each cell. The style has 2 branches, with a minute and capitulate stigma.

Morphological characteristics

It is a moderately deciduous tree with straight trunk and numerous spreading branches, which form large shady crown with whitish grey corky lenticellate bark, exfoliating in thin flakes. It has a clear bole of 6.0-9.0 meter, and a girth 1.5-2.5m. Branchlets and young parts are clothed with fine white mealy pubescence. Leaves are simple, opposite, broadly ovate, cordate, glandular, glabrous above when mature and fulvous-tomentose beneath. It attains its largest dimension in the mixed forests of moist region as in the eastern sub Himalayan track, Assam and elsewhere in south India.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are 2.5-5.0 cm in diameter, brownish yellow that ends in terminal panicle. Calyx is campanulate, pubescent outside and with 5 lobes. Corolla is showy, brownish yellow with short tube and oblique limbs. Stamens are 4 in number and didynamous. Ovary is 4 chambered with one ovule each; style slender ending in a bifid stigma. Fruits are drupe and obovoid in shape, 1.8-2.5 cm long, pericarp leathery, shining yellow outside when dry; endocarp bony, embedded in an aromatic sweetish pulp. Seeds are 1 or 2, hard and oblong ex-albuminous. The panicles of flowers appear from February to April.

Distribution

Though it is a native of Asia, it has extensively been planted in tropical areas of Africa, Asia, Australia, America, West Indies, and on several islands in Pacific Ocean. In India, it is naturally distributed in Eastern SubHimalayan tract, Aravali Hills, Western Peninsula, Indo-Gangetic plains, Western Himalaya and Central India. It occurs naturally from 5° to 30°N longitude and between 50 to 1300 m elevations.

Curcuma zedoaria (zedoary or white turmeric) is a perennial herb and member of the genus Curcuma, family Zingiberaceae. The plant is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia but is now naturalized in other places including the US state of Florida. Zedoary was one of the ancient food plants of the Austronesian peoples. They were spread during prehistoric times to the Pacific Islands and Madagascar during the Austronesian expansion. Its use as a spice in the West today is extremely rare, having been replaced by ginger, and to a lesser extent, yellow turmeric. Curcuma Zedoaria (Berg.) Rosc.syn. C. zerumbet Roxb; Amomum zedoaria Christm., the Kasthurimanjal of commerce, is also known as Round zedoary in English, Kachura in Sanskrit and Kakhur in Hindi.

Morphological characteristics

Zedoary is a rhizomatous annual or biennial herb with a long, scented stem. It stands at 1.8 metres tall. On the inside, the rhizomes are large and pale yellow or yellowish. The roots are fragrant, and the tubers are ellipsoid in shape. With the exception of a bitter aftertaste, the edible root of the zedoary has a white interior and a mango-like scent; however, its flavour is more similar to ginger. Although there is no obvious aerial stem, the shoot has a pseudo stem made up of four to six long and densely overlapping sheathing leaf bases. The leaves are enormous, up to 1 m long, rectangular and strongly veined, and frequently violet in colour in the centre.

White yams are food plants belonging to genus Dioscorea and family Dioscoreaceae with about 600 species. White yams are among the 10 species of edible yam and belong to species rotundata (D. rotundata Poir). It originated in West Africa.

White yams are herbaceous annual climbers. Its vine arises from large underground stem that is technically called tuber rather than root (Armstrong, 1996). The underground stem thickens to produce one or more tubers which vary in size and shape. The plant bears green flowers that turn brown on maturity and when dry. The aerial stem may be smooth or thorny which could be round/cylindrical (O’ Hair, 1984). Vines can grow to sizeable lengths if provided with a rigid support. Vine length varies within and among species. The leaves could be alternate or opposite, usually heart shaped and may be smooth or hairy. In some varieties, bulbils are formed but this is real in white yam.

Whole blood, plasma, serum, and blood transfusions are critical life-saving therapies in veterinary medicine. They are used to restore blood volume, correct anemia, provide clotting factors, and address protein deficiencies in various disease conditions. This chapter discusses their administration doses, species-specific considerations, and disease conditions where these fluids are essential.
Key components of blood therapy
1. Whole blood: Contains red blood cells (RBCs), plasma, clotting factors, and platelets.
2. Plasma: The liquid portion of blood with clotting factors, albumin, and immunoglobulins but without RBCs and platelets.
3. Serum: Plasma without clotting factors.
4. Packed red blood cells (pRBCs): Concentrated RBCs used to treat anemia without volume overload.

Whooping cough is highly infectious specific disease, commonly of children characterized by respiratory catarrh and a special type of cough with inspiratory laryngeal spasm producing a characteristic sound.

This is common in children below 6 years, females are attacked more. Atypical cases are sometimes seen in adolescents and adults.

The disease occurs sporadically and less commonly in epidemics. It occurs mostly in winters and spring and is more common in temperate areas. The causative organism is Haemophillus pertusis present in the upper respiratory tract, conveyed by the infected sputum droplets of the patient to the contacts during the earlier stages of catarrh and paroxysmal cough.

The incubation period is 7 to 15 days or more.

A moderate degree of laryngeal, tracheal and bronchial catarrh with peribroncholitis and acute localized emphysema of the lungs are often associated. The tracheobronchial glands are sometimes enlarged. Rarely the right heart may be dilated and there may be haemorrhage in the brain and the meninges.

If you are inclined to make research as a career, the first question is why are you interested in research or making it as a career in your life -whether for money or to pass a cozy life in a government institute or to get fame or to solve some scientific problems - related to cosmos, Agriculture, animals, human health, search some medicinal plants or you have great passion for science and impressed with its power to find solutions for many universal problems ? Or it is un-employment, now rampant in every field, which is deriving you to join higher degrees and research. Many times, this unemployment or no vacancies in due time leads the young persons to continue their post graduation or joining doctorate program with the hope that some vacancy will arise in the ensuing period or a suitable job may fall after or prior getting a Ph.D. degree.

Agriculture Scenario

It has been seen since last few decades there is huge decrease in the production of the agricultural production. Three factors which can be held responsible for the increase of agricultural production per hectare:

1. Overall increase in efficiency due to the merger of farms and a more efficient redistribution of farm land.
2. More efficient cultural practises and better quality and availability of inputs (fertilizer, pesticides).
3. Genetic improvement of crops.

At this moment over 6 billion people need to be fed and it is expected that in the year 2050 more than 10 billion people will inhabit the earth (FAO, 1996). Moreover, demands per capita will rise when standards of living in developing counties improve. As a consequence there will be a huge increase in the demand for food, and production will need to triple in the coming 40 years. A continued effort to secure agricultural production in the future will therefore be vital. Reduction of losses caused by a-biotic and biotic stress will be a key issue. Scenario studies on world food security generally assume that a large increase in production will be achieved by genetic improvement of crop species and biotechnology. History has indeed shown a continuous increase in crop yields, resulting from plant breeding efforts. However, in the light of the speed at which the human population develops, and taking into account the expected reduction of available arable land due to climate change and human intervention, it may be necessary to accelerate the rate at which genetic improvement is achieved. Modern biotechnology provides new tools that can facilitate development of improved plant breeding methods and augment our knowledge of plant genetics. The knowledge that is obtained with these new tools can be used to contribute to an enhanced food security throughout the world.

Policies provide the institutional structure, direction, financial support and operational framework required for effective agricultural extension. Without clear policies, extension programmes may suffer from inconsistent decisions, fragmented implementation and unclear responsibilities. This chapter introduces the meaning, characteristics, sources and different types of policies and explains their importance to extension organizations. It examines how policies guide decision-making, establish limits, allocate resources and connect organizational goals with field activities. The chapter also introduces policy advocacy, analytical approaches and the policy-development process. Together, these concepts enable extension professionals to understand policy environments, participate constructively in decision-making and improve the responsiveness, accountability and effectiveness of extension services.

The world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050. This population growth of 2 to 3 billion people over the next 30 years, combined with the changing diets, would result in a predicted increase in food demand of around 70% by 2050 (UNDESA 2009).

24.1 Introduction

When crosses are made between two different species of a genus or between two different genera, they are known as distant hybridization (also called wide hybridization). It includes both interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. Thomas Fairchild (1717) was the first man to do distant hybridization. He produced a hybrid between two species of Dianthus, viz., D. caryophyllus and D. barbatus (Carnation and Sweet William). Intergeneric hybrid produced by Karpechenko, a Russian scientist, in 1928 is Raphanobarssica. It is the amphidiploid of cross between radish (Raphanus sativus) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata). Unfortunately, it had roots like cabbage and leaves like radish. Triticale was produced by Rimpau in 1890 itself. It is an amphidiploid obtained from a cross between wheat and rye (Triticum and Secale). Another example is Saccharum nobilisation involving Saccharum officinarum, S. barberi, S. sinensis, S. spontaneum. Wide hybridization has been used in the genetic improvement of some crops. It is an effective means of transferring desirable genes into cultivated plants from related species and genera.

The extensive integration of drone technology in agriculture is swiftly revolutionizing farming practices, providing substantial enhancements in efficiency, precision, and sustainability. Drones provide farmers a cost-efficient and effective method for crop monitoring, resource management, and yield optimization. Drones facilitate high-resolution imagery acquisition, real-time crop health monitoring, and precise application of fertilizers or pesticides, empowering farmers to make data-driven decisions that improve productivity. As technology becomes increasingly accessible, particularly in developing regions, its usage is steadily rising. Agriculturalists are progressively recognizing the capacity of drones to decrease labor expenses, mitigate resource wastage, and improve environmental sustainability, establishing them as a crucial instrument in the future of agriculture.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE WIDESPREAD ADOPTION OF DRONE TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE
The extensive integration of drone technology in agriculture offers both obstacles and prospects. Comprehending these factors can influence the future of agriculture and realize its complete potential. Drone technology is being integrated into Indian agriculture; yet, obstacles to wider implementation persist. Challenges
• Significant Initial Expense: The initial capital required for acquiring drones, along with essential sensors and software, can be excessive, particularly for small-scale agricultural producers. The expenses associated with training and upkeep exacerbate the financial strain, hindering certain farmers from embracing the technology.
• Technical Skills and Training: Proficient operation of drones necessitates a specific degree of technical acumen. Agriculturalists must acquire the skills

India is a “Winter / Summer Home” for most of the Siberian birds such as Siberian Cranes, Greater Flamingo and Demoiselle Crane, also numerous species of birds from other regions of the world. These beautiful birds migrate to India every year during the winter and summer season for food, breeding and nesting. The migratory birds mainly arriving from Siberia and South East Asia move to the different wetland spots of the national parks/ wildlife sanctuaries etc. in India and are also seen in parts of the lakes and settling down in shallow or fresh water ponds. 

Introduction
Wild marigold (Tagetes minuta) is also famous as African marigold and mint marigold, valued for its higher content and superior in essential oil quality among all the cultivated species undergenusTagetes. Marigold/Genda (Tagetes species) are mostly grown for scented flowers for utilization in functions all over the world. The flowers and leaves are of different varieties, which are identified by their distinct odouriferous oil.
Origin
It is inhabitant to the grasslands of temperate region in South America and now become widespread throughout the world. In India, it has been customized in the North-West Himalayas up-to an altitudes ranging from1000-2500 meters in H.P., U.P. and J&K. Now-a-days, Tagetes minuta is considered as an extensive weed in South Europe, Africa, South Asia, Australia, and Madagascar (Chalchat et al., 1995). It is found growing naturally as a noxious
weed in the wild and arable farming systems. The high demand of its essential oil may leads into reduction of the wild resources, thus it is essential to start systematic cultivation in sub-tropical to temperate agro-climatic zones all over the world, mainly in the region of Indian subcontinent (Singh et al., 2003).

Any living organism in its natural habitat is called a wildlife. It may be plant animal or a microbe. The significance of wild life lies in setting up the balance of population in nature by maintaining food chains and food webs. It acts as the gene banks in relation to breeding of plants and animals for introduction of desirable characters such as high yield of economic product and resistance to diseases. The scientists are performing studies to screen and select useful genes in economically important organisms.

This chapters covers wide range of topics like taxonomy of wild animals, difference criteria among the species identification, feeding and nutritional requirements of wild and captive zoo animals, housing standards in zoo, habitats and behavioral changes and its management, environmental impact on captive animals, acts and zoo regulations governing wild and captive animals, handling and restraining of wild/captive animals, Purpose of restraining,  techniques of immobilization and complications associated with the immobilization. Various national and international organizations working

This chapter introduces the principles of wildlife ecology and the importance of biodiversity conservation within natural ecosystems. It examines wildlife communities, biodiversity, major threats to wildlife, and strategies for conservation and habitat protection. The chapter also explores the role of technology in wildlife conservation, ecological restoration, and wildlife conservation practices in India. Emerging challenges and future opportunities are considered to provide a broader understanding of maintaining wildlife populations and ecosystem integrity. The chapter emphasizes the importance of scientific management, habitat conservation, restoration, and technological support for long-term wildlife conservation.