eChapters

1. Introduction

Micronutrients are essential nutrients required in small quantities but play a crucial role in human health and productivity. Key micronutrients include iodine, iron, zinc, and vitamins A, B6, and B12 (Godswill et al., 2020). Zinc deficiency, a common micronutrient shortfall, is prevalent not only in developed countries but particularly in impoverished nations. It can affect individuals of all ages, with young children and breastfeeding women being the most vulnerable. Addressing zinc insufficiency through zinc supplementation or diets rich in animal protein sources has shown promising results in promoting growth and reversing hypogonadism. Subsequent research has revealed that inadequate zinc consumption in the diet is the primary cause of this hypogonadism syndrome. Since the identification of zinc deficiency as a health concern in 1961, there has been a noticeable increase in interest in the biochemical and clinical aspects of zinc nutrition (King and Cousins, 2006). In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the physiological functions of zinc, zinc bioavailability (including inhibitors and enhancers), the human requirement for zinc, factors affecting zinc absorption, consequences and causes of zinc deficiency, evaluation of zinc status, and prevention strategies for zinc deficiency, focusing on the use of zinc-fortified foods.

Nanotechnology holds immense promise in bolstering environmental protection and sustainability by revolutionizing approaches to monitoring, addressing, and amending environmental pollutants. This paradigm shift extends to resource conservation and energy efficiency through the innovation of more adept technologies. Yet, as we harness the potential of nanotechnology, it is of prime importance to meticulously evaluate its environmental and health implications, instating stringent measures to mitigate risks. Responsible and sustainable development, coupled with effective regulation, is imperative.

Internationally maize (Zea mays) and citrus (Citrus sp.) are reported to largely suffer from Zn de?ciency, for which these are considered as marker plants. Zinc de?ciency in maize results in pale or whitish top young leaves and the de?ciency is referred to as 'white bud' (Camberato and Maloney, 2012). In citrus, Zn de?ciency results in ‘rosette’ (cluster of stiff leaves at the end of young shoots) formation (Brennan, 1993). Zinc de?ciency in India was ?rst reported in rice by Nene (1966) at the Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, and given the name ‘khaira’ disease due to dark-brown-coloured spots resembling kattha (Acacia catechu extract used in paan – the betel leaves) on the leaves of zinc de?cient plants. Soon All India Coordinated Project on Micronutrients was launched by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) with headquarters at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, which was later shifted to the Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. About half of the cultivated soils in the India are de?cient in available zinc. Zinc de?ciency is most in Maharashtra and Karnataka and rice-growing states of north and northeast (Table 12.1). A good response of cereals to Zn fertilization has been reported (Rattan et al., 2008).

A family of 56 genera and over 1,300 species, Zingiberaceae are distributed in tropical regions, chiefly in Indomalaysia. About 17 genera and over 115 species have been reported from India, chiefly in Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas. Some largely represented genera along with number of their world over reported species are Alpinia (250), Amomum (150), Costus (150), Zingiber (90), Kaempferia (70), Curcuma (60), Hedychium (50), Globba (50) and Elettaria (7).
Selected Indian Genera
Alpinia, Amomum, Costus, Curcuma, Elettaria, Hedychium, Zingiber.
Economic Importance
1. Spices and condiments: Seeds of Amomum cardamom (Badi elayachi) and Elettaria cardamomum (true cardamom), roots of Alpinia officinarum (gangal root) and rhizomes of A. gangala (Siamese ginger), Curcuma longa (turmeric) and Zingiber officinalis (ginger) are used as spices, condiments and flavouring agents. Ginger oil, obtained from rhizomes of Z. officinalis, is used in perfumery and for medicinal purposes. Turmeric is also used for medicinal purposes.

Abstract: Zinnia, multipurpose ornamental annual is noted for its garden performance. The uses of zinnias range from dwarf cultivars used for containers, borders or edging, bedding to tall cultivars used for cut flowers. Breeders and seed companies successfully introduced hybrid cultivars in the mid 20^th century. Some modes of inheritance of floral doubleness, floral colour, male sterility, self incompatibility, leaf morphology, disease resistance have been discussed/ clarified; research succeed in interspecific hybridization, polyploidy, mutation breeding and seed production are presented. Somaclonal variation for generating mutants has created new horizons in zinnia breeding. Important traits for both production and landscape use include flower colour and bloom time, plant habit and form, seed germination, disease and virus susceptibility.

Keywords: Breeding, cytology, inheritance, polyploidy, F₁ hybrids, seed production.

Zinnia is a very important summer annual belongs to family Compositae. Zinnia was named for the man who wrote the first scientific description of the flower, “Dr. Johann Gottfried Zinn” a German Professor of medicine, but it was the late 19^th century that plant breeders started to pay any attention to this plant. Zinnia is a half hardy plant. They are popular for bedding however, cut flowers of zinnia remain fresh for several days. They are easy to grow from seeds. Collection of open pollinated seeds is in common practice in India. Non-uniformity of bloom with respect to colour, flower shape and size, height of the plants and excessive etiolation of the plants result into poor sale of zinnias.

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

The genus Zinnia consists of 20 species, all native to the New World (Bailey, 1951). Further Stemart and Thomas (2007) suggested that zinnia are native to scrub and dry grassland in an area stretching from the Southwestern United States to South America, with a centre of diversity in Mexico.

Zinnias are grown mostly as annual in Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Brazil and Chile. It is sometimes called the Mexican marigold as its designation in some degree is justified in case of the yellow varieties. In early days zinnias were not popular. Although native to North and South America, not everyone found them attractive or desirable as a landscape plant. In fact, when Spanish first saw the zinnia species in Mexico, they considered the flower so unattractive that they named it “mal de ojos” which is Spanish for “Sickness of eye”. Zinnia seeds brought back to Europe in eighteenth century caused little excitement although the plant did not get good name. But it was not until the late nineteenth century that plant breeders started to pay any attention to this species.

The start of real popularity of the zinnia came around 1920 when Bodger Seeds Ltd. introduced the dahlia flowers Giant Dahlia. John Bodger discovered it as a natural mutation in a field of Mammoth and within the next few years selected the California Giant (large, flat-flowered variety) from the strain. The most attractive feature was availability of flowers in different colours. It also was considered to be a new trend in plant habit and flower form. It even won a gold medal from the Royal Horticultural Society of England, making everyone want to grow this prize winning flower. The many garden form of Zinnia elegans developed from the wild plant that grown in Mexico. Common zinnia has escaped and naturalized in part of southern United States including central Florida. Recently cultivation of new hybrid zinnias have started in some American and European countries under open as well as protected conditions for cut flower production.

Zinnia is a very important summer annual belongs to family Compositae. Zinnia was named for the man who wrote the first scientific description of the flower, “Dr. Johann Gottfried Zinn” a German Professor of medicine, but it was the late 19th century that plant breeders started to pay any attention to this plant. Zinnia is a half hardy plant. They are popular for bedding however, cut flowers of zinnia remain fresh for several days. They are easy to grow from seeds. Collection of open pollinated seeds is in common practice in India. Non-uniformity of bloom with respect to colour, flower shape and size, height of the plants and excessive etiolation of the plants result into poor sale of zinnias.

INTRODUCTION

Zinnias are popular in flower gardens because of their variable coloured blooms and their ability to withstand hot summer temperatures. They are easy to grow from seeds. Plants come in many colours, shape and size adapted well to most growing conditions. Out of about twenty species, these are some eight to ten species of zinnia known to the gardens, but only few of them have become favourite and that abundantly deserves the pre-eminence. They have attained position as one of the most splendid of annual flowers. Most varieties are prolific bloomer, making them excellent for landscape. They are also available as compact varieties suitable for hanging baskets, window boxes and containers. Recently, new hybrid zinnia cultivars have attracted attention as a cut flower crop. There are at least hundred varieties in the diversity of flower colour and types. Some with flower heads upto 15 cm across. The colour of zinnias are white, cream, green, yellow, apricot, orange, red, bronze, crimson, purple and lilac with stripped, speckled and bicoloured flowers. An important variety of zinnia is Coccinea or Scarlet-rayed. This variety became popular after its existence in 1829 and was thought much of for its brilliant colour and stately habit. During the fifty years that have elapsed since it appeared, the flower has been in all characters and now posses a race of perfectly double zinnias, the flowers of which show no central disc, but are perfect rosettes of exquisite form and of every shade of colour except blue. There is not a more striking instance of floral advancement, accomplished by systematic selection, than is afforded by zinnia, which is at once one of the largest and long standing of many good and cheap annual flowers.

Classification

Classification is ordering of organisms into groups (or sets) on the basis of their relationships that are of associations by contiguity, similarity or both.

Classification of living things is an attempt to interpret nature. It attempts to bring together the kinds that are alike and closely related and to separate those that are unlike and unrelated.

Animals might be classified in various ways but the classification is based primarily on structural characters. Those animals with certain structures in common are classified into one group, and those with other structures into other group. Thus the animal kingdom is divided into a dozen or so major groups called phyla (singular, phylum); each phylum has a name, and its members have certain structural characters in common. The characters used to distinguish phyla include the number of cells, symmetry, body form and segmentation, the nature of the appendages, and the arrangement of the internal organs.

On the basis of degree of complexity, and probably evolutionary sequence, the animal phyla are usually arranged in a series from the lower phyla to the higher ones.

Nomenclature should not be confused with terminology which deals with terms, like antenna, abdomen, radius etc. Names of animal and plants may be either vernacular or scientific.

Vernacular names or local names of plants and animals are different from region to region, from language to language.

Scientific names or Latin or International names are used universally all over the world. Without them we would not be able to communicate and to use the knowledge accumulated about animals and plants in literature. These international names are under certain rules or nomenclature.

Nomenclature

No-men-cla-ture means a system of names. It is derived from Latin Nomen means name and calor means to call, which means to call by names. Nomenclature is the “language of Zoology” and the rules of nomenclature are its grammar. Since all zoologists work with animals and used their names, it is essential that the general principles of zoological nomenclature be familiar to all zoologists.

Introduction

The quest for data and analysis of the economics of zoonoses control is now in its fifth decade: The World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board having passed a resolution, recommending that a group of experts meet and discuss the subject and commission some pilot studies. (a) The health economics recognised as a sub-discipline of economics (b), the cost–benefit analysis established a notion for long enough to merit the writing of a survey article (c) and the difficulties of putting a monetary value on human life (d) the alternative non-monetary approaches being developed. The development of veterinary or animal health economics, partly spurred on by the gathering of experts initiated by that same WHO resolution. The International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics held its first meeting marking the formal launching of the fraternity.

Introduction

Aquaculture and Zoonotic Diseases

Diseases that can transfer from wild or domestic animals to humans are referred to zoonosis (Fig 1). Zoonosis also includes biotoxin producing agents from fish to human beings which is well documented. There are a number of pathogens which spread from fish and shellfish to human and other domestic animals causing diseases.There are also many other infectious organisms of fish origin that have not been reported but have potential to infect and harm man. Zoonotic diseases originated from fish and shellfish have been documented in the past mostly from wild caught fish and shellfish. However, in the last 30 years as the capture fisheries is declining and aquaculture is growing steadily worldwide, zoonotic incidences from the latter are increasing.

Aquaculture growing at 6-7% annually world over including India is contributing to 50-60% of total fish production today. Additionally, aquarium industry is booming worldwide. Therefore,incidences and scale of zoonosis due to aquaculture are quite different from that from capture or wild fisheries. Disease outbreaks in cultured fish are often by pathogens indigenous to aquatic environment. In aquaculture, disease outbreaks are associated with quality and quantity of nutrients and high stocking density which increase pathogen load leading to easy transmission to human. Apparently healthy fishes may also harbor bacterial pathogens, especially in their kidneys and intestines. World Health Organisation (WHO) considers many diseases in aquatic animals as emerging type. Emerging diseases appear in a population for the first time or it may have been existed before, but is now increasing rapidly. Usually information on zoonotic potential of emerging diseases is limited which is essential to disseminate to human health managers. Potential biological contamination of aquaculture products can occur from bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites and biotoxins. The location of the farm, the species being farmed, water temperature, husbandry systems, postharvest processing, and habits in food preparation and consumption are among the main factors influencing the zoonotic risk associated with aquatic animals and their products.

Abstract

The global economic burden due to zoonotic diseases is very high. According to a recent World Bank estimate, the economic burden due to six of the zoonotic diseases that have occurred in specific countries between 1997 and 2009 is estimated to be US$80 billion. In a worst-case scenario, potential losses from a pandemic influenza outbreak could be US$3 trillion, which is equivalent to 5% of the global GDP. Zoonotic diseases continue to represent an important health hazard in most parts of the world. More than 200 zoonotic diseases have been described, caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses, fungi and unconventional agents (e.g. prions). About 75 percent of the new diseases that have affected humans over the past ten years are caused by pathogens originating from animals or from products of animal origin. Many of these diseases have the potential to spread by various means over long distances and to become global problems. India contributes to substantial portion of the global burden of endemic zoonoses and is one of the several ‘EID hotspots’. The quality and safety of food supplies are put at risk by demands for more, cheaper food, driven by growing population and increasing urbanization, combined with a lack of resources to deal with issues related to food safety and lower or less rigorously enforced regulatory standards add to spread of zoonotic diseases. Human and financial resources that are dedicated by national authorities to the support of regulatory and non-regulatory food safety programs generally fall well short of needs. Commonly, many of the resources available are used for quality control of food for export, rather than products for domestic consumption, leaving the domestic market more vulnerable to unacceptable levels of food safety hazards, thus adding to the problem. In many developing countries, there is a substantial informal market that generally escapes any food safety controls. The successful control of zoonoses is possible if acceptable standards of life and social welfare are observed in developing country like India. Close cooperation and interaction between veterinarians, health physicians and public health operators, agriculturists and ecologists is thus necessary via one health approach strategy facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans, animals and the environment.

INTRODUCTION

Zoonoses are diseases and infections which are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and humans. The pathogens that cause zoonotic diseases are bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites or protozoa. Disease transfer occurs via direct or indirect exposure to the pathogen. A pathogen is contracted directly through skin to skin contact of an infected animal or through ingestion of diseased animal products (infected faeces, urine, saliva, blood, milk or other bodily fluids). A bite or sting from a diseased animal or through an infected invertebrate host directly transfers the pathogen to humans as well. Indirect exposure occurs through air, water or soil in which the pathogen can survive for a limited period of time without a host ( Acha, et al., 2003).

CLASSIFICATION OF ZOONOSES

The World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Zoonoses came up with the following classification system of zoonoses based on the type of life cycle of the pathogen.

Introduction
The major conditions described under this heading are as follows :
    1.    Snakebite 
    2.    Scorpion bite 
    3.    Black widow spider sting 
    4.    Toad poisoning

Snake Bite
Poisonous snakes mainly belong to three categories

Introduction 

A toxin (Greek: ôïîéêüí, toxikon, lit. (poison) for use on arrows) is a poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms that is active at very low concentrations. Toxins can be small molecules, peptides, or proteins and are capable of causing disease on contact or absorption with body tissues by interacting with biological macromolecules such as enzymes or cellular receptors. Toxins vary greatly in their severity, ranging from usually minor and acute (as in a bee sting) to almost immediately deadly (as in botulinum toxin)

A toxin is simply a poison that can affect the body by internal or external means. A toxin can be a chemical which occurs naturally or in synthetic form. More than 120,000 human-made chemicals have been introduced into the environment, in one form or another, and this number continues to grow each year at a phenomenal rate. At the same time, microbial toxins, being influenced by the vast numbers of chemicals, are mutating beyond belief.

• The name Zoraptera, derived from the Greek “zor” meaning pure and “aptera” meaning wingless was given to the order before winged forms were discopvered.

• Members of the order Zoraptera are small (less than 4 mm) and usually found in rotting wood, under bark or in piles of old sawdust.

• They live in small aggregations (gregarious) and appear to scavenge on spores and mycelium of fungi, or occasionally, on mites and other small arthropods.

• polymorphism in populations; with blind, apterous individuals dominating during colony life, but populations produce eyed alates (individuals with wings) for dispersal and founding new colonies.

• males with a distinctive “mating hook” and unique mating behaviors.

• unique grooming behaviors

Adults

• Antennae 9-segmented (moniliform).

• Mouthparts mandibulate, hypognathous.

• Soft bodied, small (usually less than 3 mm).

• Wings often absent with reduced venation when present.

• Tarsi 2-segmented

• Cerci 1-segmented

• ovipositor absent

• incomplete development (egg, nymph, adult)