eChapters

Cohn (1875) first observed and described a branching filamentous micro-organism in the concretions (coagulated mass) taken from a lacrimal canal, latter identified as Actinomyces israelii. Bollinger first reported the yellow granules in jaw tissues of the cattle in 1877 and established the significance of the organisms as an etiological agent. In 1878, Israel described the first human case. In 1879, Hartz observed the microscopic appearance of granules of Actinomyces infection and suggested the name Actinomyces bovis. Mosselman & Lihnaux (1890) and Wolf &Israel (1891) first isolated the bacteria in artificial laboratory media from lumpy jaw cases of cattle and human Actinomycosis, respectively.

Properties of genus

1.         Morphology :  Actinomyces are gram positive filamentous organisms with branching rods. In artificial media, short bacilli or cocci forms are also observed. During infection, they can produce yellow coloured granules (sulphur granule), commonly found in the pus as ‘opaque speck’ and are visible under naked eye (1-2 mm in diameter). The granules are usually soft and easily broken under light pressure, but they may occasionally be tough or even calcified. They are composed of club shaped bodies, arranged radially with their narrow ends towards the centre. So the organisms are also known as ‘ray fungus’. In the centre of the club, filamentous masses of gram positive organisms with some bacilli or cocci form are found. Together the club like processes and bacterial masses are known as ‘rosette’ (Fig.1). This club is composed of calcium phosphate and inflammatory debris
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Introduction to Swine Farming

World pig population in the year 2007 was 918,278,000 when the pig population in India was 14,000,000. The per head agricultural land holding is decreasing continuously because of a high rate of increase in population leading to excessive pressure on land. This lower land holding per person leads to lowered production per person forcing people to move to urban areas for better incomes. Excessive population pressure on urban areas itselves has its own demerits and limitations. To prevent this drift of village people to the urban areas they should be encouraged to adopt agriculture based professions which give the villagers a good return in short time span. Swine industry provides the same opportunities to villagers who can get better income with a minimal investment in short time intervals. In India for varied reasons the swine industry is not much developed. The breeds yield less and also the littre size is small in comparision to the better breeds available in many parts of world. In India, the desi swine survives on garbage and looks very unhygienic. Thus, most of the people in India feel uncomfortable to consume swine. Indian swine industry has a great potential but needs attention with respect to raising of better productive breeds with lesser cost for hygienic feeding and management.

            Pig is mainly reared for meat, skin and manure. Growing pigs for meat is little different from other production processes because here the daily live weight gain relates to the daily feed supply and the efficiency of output production depends upon the total quantity of input (feed).

(I)  Structure

The swine is an omnivorous animal because if can eat both vegelables and meat. But generally they prefer the vegetarian diet over the carnivorous diet. Pig is a simple stomach animal with double hoof. Different type of pigs are found as Sus indicus, Sus vittatus, Sus scrofa and  Suis domesticus.

            At the first instance, the skeleton of pig looks smaller than its original size. The main reason of this is feeding and nutrition of the animal. The pigs are kept indoor, provided less exercise and artificial feeding that leads to fattening of animals (pigs). The other reason for the undersized skeleton in pigs is that as compared to other animals the bone density of pig is more and they are very nicely arranged, that is why they are much stronger. The skull of the pig is triangular, long towards mouth, frontal bone is large and strong.

            The jaw has teeth, they use it for tearing and chewing of objects (feed). The temporary and permanent dental formula of pig is follows:

(I)  Slaughter and Preservation of Swine

Clean meat production from animals has been a difficult task since ancient times. Now it has become easier due to the joint efforts of Veterinarians and progressive animal owners. For clean meat production, with healthy animals, it is essential that care is given to their better management, better breeds, good ration and arrangements for preventing diseases are made. Meat from diseased animals is of inferior quality and unfit for human consumption.

            Meat is a very useful edible material, which is used for its high nutritive value with a good taste. Due to these nutritive elements, many microorganisms come in contact with the meat and they may contaminate it and change its natural structure and composition. As a result it produces many types of toxic and bad odour substances.

            Meat has an important place amongst human foods. Meat has many pecularities for which it is used in many parts of the world and by people of different religions. Many people prefer meat because of its better taste and/or odour. Often, it is observed that people consuming meat do not prefer vegetarian foods. The active consumer always gives more importance to the nutritive elements in meat. And at the time of bying meat, they prefer taking complete meat.  Allmost in all countries of the world, few selected and common animal species are slaughtered for meat production.

Introduction

The nature and magnitude of genetic variability present in the genetic stock afford the plant breeder, information to formulate a purposeful breeding programme for crop improvement. The association and the influence of yield components with yield, their heritability and genetic advance would characterise the various steps in the breeding programme in achieving the aim of the breeder. Studies on these lines in various crops have hastened the realization of crop improvement in general.

India grows a variety of pulse crop which probably no other country in the world grows. These are multiple utility, energy high crops as they provide protein for human consumption, green nutritious fodder and enrich soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation. Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek, commonly known as greengram or mungbean, is the most widely distributed of the six cultivated Asiatic Vigna species.

The current breeding approaches to yield improvement in greengram are based on the recognition that this crop have lost a large part of their genetic variability in the process of adaptation to stress environment. This variability must now be regenerated.

The foremost need for this purpose is the collection of germplasm from different parts of the world and the organisation of a very intensive hybridization programme, using diverse genetic stocks as parental lines. Selection of parents for hybridization based merely on geographic diversity can no more be a suitable criterion. The importance of genetic diversity has long been appreciated by crop specialists. Such an analysis will eventually help to choose desirable parents for hybridization and evolve superior genotypes.

The Coconut palm is a monotypic species of the family Arecaceae, under the tribe Cocoideae. It is considered as an important commercial crop in more than 18 countries in the world. The palm provides food, drink, shelter and also supplies raw materials for a large number of industries. Every part of the palm is utilized for some economic purpose or another. Hence, it is referred to as ‘Tree of Wealth” or the “Tree of Life” (Satyabalan, 1993). It is native of South East Asia. Genetic diversity has become one of the keywords of scientists who are concerned about the sustainable management of different tree crops. Genetic diversity plays an important role in tree breeding, because hybrids between populations of diverse origin, generally display a greater heterosis than between closely related parents (Zobel and Talbert, 1986). The present study was formulated to identify divergent parents for future breeding programme.

Two hundred and fifty genotypes of coconut cultivar Chawghat green dwarf, distributed in the two districts of Kerala viz., Kottayam and Pathanamthitta were evaluated for nut yield per plant during June-July, 2000. Seventy five genotypes, which had single tree nut yield of more than population mean ± 2 SE were selected as per the method outlined by Ledig (1974). These 75 genotypes were observed for 10 nut and endosperm characters in two seasons (years), during June-July 2000 and 2001.

Each tree was considered as a single genotype. Thirty nuts from a single tree were collected and divided into three replications (Chauhan and Kanwar, 2001; Thirugnanakumar, 2006a, b). Observations were recorded on 10 nut and endosperm characters viz.,1) oil content (%), cold percolation method; (Kartha and Sethi, 1957), 2) weight of unhusked nut (g), 3) weight of husked nut (g), 4) diameter (polar) of the husked nut (cm), 5) diameter (equatorial) of the husked nut (cm), 6) thickness of husk (cm), 7) husk: nut ratio, 8) thickness of meat (mm), 9) weight of kernel (g) and 10) weight of copra (g). The mean values so obtained were subjected to statistical analyses, in Randomized Block Design, as suggested by Chauhan and Kanwar (2001) and Thirugnanakumar et al.(2006a, b). The D² estimates were made following Mahalanobis (1936), as described by Rao (1952). Clusters were prepared following Tocher (Rao, 1952).

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most popular crop and source of food for more than one-third of the world’s population. About 90 % of the world’s rice is grown in Asia and more than 3 billion Asians rely on rice for 30–75 % of their total calories (Braun and Bos 2004). It has been cultivated in four different ecosystems viz., irrigated, rainfed low land, upland and flood-prone (Halwart and Gupta, 2004). Since rice planting has been started around 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, the level of diversity would be more than it expected. The genetic diversity plays a major role in survival and adaptability of a species, as changes happen in environment. Organism needs to make changes in the phenotype that enables it to adapt and survive in unfavorable conditions. The inadequate knowledge on diversity of a species reduces the chance of widening the genetic base of that species. The venture of green revolution in Indian agriculture has narrowed down the genetic base of any popular crops. Therefore, collection, conservation and utilization of germplasm are very much needed in the present scenario for improving the varieties against biotic and abiotic stress.

Morphological and biochemical trait based diversity studies being largely influenced by environment as phenotype and/or enzymes are altered by the environmental and developmental changes. Therefore, adapting DNA based molecular markers for genetic diversity studies would be more reliable to overcome the environmental influence. Being molecular markers as a versatile tool, it establishes its strong holds in several fields of life science. Molecular marker based technique does not require DNA sequencing but it is generally based on nucleic acid hybridization or polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR based tests has several advantages over hybridization technique as it is cheaper, speedy and sensitivity. Therefore, PCR based markers have been used extensively in genetic diversity study for assessing genetic variation within the species. The recent advent of molecular and computational tools now enables the estimation of genetic diversity and allele frequency between the genotypes easy.

Nerium (Nerium oleander L.) belongs to family Apocynaceae is a Mediterranean evergreen shrub characteristic of watercourses, gravely places and damp slopes (Portis et al., 2004 and Herrera, 1991). The first Oleanders came to subtropical Galveston in 1841. Joseph Osterman, a prominent merchant, brought them from Jamaica. After distributing these oleanders, these new plants were growing throughout the city. Later as early as 1908, an editorial in the Galveston Tribune observed that the oleander was emblematic of Galveston. In 1910, The Galveston Daily News also reported that Galveston was known throughout the world as “The Oleander City” and in 1916, an article named it one of the most beautiful cities in the South. It is widely grown as an ornamental in warm temperate and subtropical regions, due to its abundant and long-lasting flowering and moderate hardiness. It is used for screens, hedging along highways, planting along beaches and in urban areas as, by removing suckers and leaving just a few stems, it can also be formed into very attractive small trees (Portis et al., 2004). Nerium oleander is among the most toxic of all ornamental plants. More than fifty toxins have been isolated, including cardiac glycosides, general cell toxins and the strychnine-like compound rosagenin. The ancient city of Volubilis in Morocco took its name from the old Latin name for the flower.

Ageratum is a winter season annual that is grown for its beautiful flowers. It belongs to family Asteraceae. The word “Ageratum” is derived from the Greek words “ageras” meaning non-aging referring to the longevity of the whole plant. Ageratum houstonianum (flossflower, bluemink, blueweed, pussy foot, Mexican paintbrush) syn. Ageratum mexicanum Hort. is a cool-season annual plant often grown as bedding in gardens. Ageratum houstonianum is from Mexico and is named after William Houston (1695-1733), a Scottish physician who collected the first ageratum plants. The flowers are blue in colour (sometimes white, pink, or purple). The ray flowers are threadlike leading to the common name and are used for flower arrangements and potted ageratum plants are used for beautification of the surroundings. Growing ageratum is very easy under suitable climatic conditions. The genus Ageratum consists of some ornamental species, but only a few species have been phytochemically investigated (Burkill, 1985). A. houtsonianum contains essential oil the main constituents were precocene I (23.34%), precocene II (43.99%) and beta -caryophyllene (9.18%) (Menut et al., 1993 and Shahi et al., 1996).

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

Although ageratum is native to the Americas, Ageratum houstonianum, (floss flower), was known in Europe as early as the late 1600s or early 1700s, being routinely cultivated in European gardens by the 1800s (Johnson, 1971). Locations within which Ageratum houstonianum is naturalized include Australia, south-eastern USA, southern Europe, Africa, China, Japan, New Zealand and some Pacific islands. Ageratum houstonianum is invasive in parts Tanzania. A. houstonianum is naturalised in Kenya at 1500-2780 m altitude, specifically in the highlands: Mau, Aberdares, parts of Laikipia and Nyeri.

Cosmos is a flowering plant belongs to family Asteraceae. Cosmos bipinnatus is ornamentally important species grown for garden display. The word cosmos is derived from the Greek word “kosmos”, which means a balanced universe or order, harmony and often referred to as Mexican Aster. The species name is from the Latin “bipinnatus” meaning “twice-pinnate” The botanical epithet is from the Latin “pinnatus” meaning “with leaflets arranged in opposite pairs”. Cosmos flowers are produced in a capitulum. Modern varieties come with single or double flowers, picotee edges, and even furled petals in the variety Seashells. Ornamental uses of cosmos include cut flowers and as border annual in the gardens. It is a very popular flower for summer bedding. Cosmos has a pleasant aroma and attracts butterflies to the garden. Essential oil extracted from leaves of cosmos. The major constituent of C. bipinnatus contained 15-17% beta-elemene, 15-17% beta-caryophyllene, 10-21% germacrene D and 12-15% bicyclogermacrene (Menut et al., 2000).

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

Cosmos is native to scrub and meadowland in Mexico where most of the species occur, Florida and the southern United States, Arizona, Central America, and to South America in the north to Paraguay in the south.

It can also be found in natural areas in much of North America, where it is a garden escape (introduced species) and in some habitats becoming a weed. Cosmos sulphureus originates from Central America (Mexico) and northern South America, where it is still found in the wild. It has been introduced as an ornamental in many countries all over the world, in tropical Africa e.g. in Senegal, Cameroon, Sudan, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Réunion and Mauritius. Sometimes it has escaped from cultivation and behaves like a weed, e.g. in Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, the United States and Canada. Cosmos caudatus is indigenous to tropical America. It was introduced by Spaniards into the Philippines, possibly because it was used by them as a vegetable at sea. Now it is pantropical, including Southeast Asia, where it is cultivated but also occurs in a naturalized state.

Importance of Food Additives

Food additives are chemicals, biochemical ingredients etc., which are added to food products for their technological benefits. These benefits may be to preserve the quality of food, to maintain and improve its appeal, to ensure its nutritional value and to provide innovations in new products with consumer appeal and satisfaction. Additives are also added to maintain uniform quality and to enhance quality parameters such as flavour, colour, texture etc. in large-scale production. They and their by-products ultimately become part of the food that is consumed and so they must be safe.

Additives may be direct additives, which are added deliberately to improve its sensory quality, nutritive value, stability, ease in processing and retention of quality during handling and retailing. There are also indirect additives, which are not added intentionally but get included into foods incidentally during handling, processing and packaging.

There are some guiding principles for the use of food additives. They should be justified for their technological effectiveness and purpose. They should be safe for use. There should be maximum adequate levels, absolutely necessary levels of usage and ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake) properly evaluated while considering its safety and permitted usage levels in foods. They should not be added with the intention of misleading consumers about quality. They should also not significantly affect adversely the nutritional quality of food products.

Purpose of Law

The Food Laws or Regulations are made in order to protect people consuming these foods from undue risks, which may arise from processing, transport, retailing and consumption of food products which may undergo contamination, spoilage, inclusion of harmful chemicals/microbes or at harmful levels. Besides safety, consumers are also protected by these laws with respect to quality, quantity and substance that the food products are supposed to represent. Finally, laws also aim to protect the consumers from Nutrition and Health considerations with special consideration being given to vulnerable group such as infants, pregnant women etc.

Food additives are chemical substances added to foods to improve flavour, texture, colour, appearance and consistency or as preservatives during manufacturing or processing. Herbs, spices, hops, salt, yeast, water, air and protein hydrolysates are excluded from this definition.

In many countries, the use of food additives is regulated, and food additives must be declared on food labels by using their chemical names or numbers. the use of any new additive in a particular food, they ensure that:

A nutrient budget is a valuable indicator of the long term sustainability of a cropping system. It indicates where fertilizer application is inadequate and leading to decline in the soil nutrient status. Conversely, it can indicate excessive inputs which result in a nutrient surplus and greater potential for losses to the environment and waterways. (Combs et al., 1996) Thus nutrient budget is the comparison between all the sources of nutrients available to the producer and the requirement of nutrients to meet the crop and soil needs. The sources can either be from on the farm, such as livestock manure or credits from legumes, or from off the farm, such as purchased fertilizer or irrigation water. The requirement is the amount of nutrients needed by the crop to obtain the expected yields.

Most values for nutrients available from different sources (credits) and crop nutrient requirements are calculated from estimates taken from many years of long historical averages and field research. There is no “real time” method of calculating exactly what neither the crop’s nutrient requirement or the nutrients available are at any one time. More closely, both the nutrient requirements and availability are based on past performance for the climatic and soil condition. These values are given with some surety that the crop grown will be supplied with adequate nutrient during the growing season and the crops will not be limited in its growth. All incidental environment losses, such as runoff and leaching, have been accounted for. Climatic conditions, particularly temperature and soil moisture, greatly influence both the crop performance and the soil’ s capacity to provide nutrients to the plant. During any growing season, there can be many changes in the climate conditions that will affect both the crop growth and soil delivery of nutrients to the crop.

Although a nutrient budget is not an exact formula for supplying nutrients, it is one method for organizing the nutrient needs ofthe crop with the nutrients available on the farm. Nutrient budgets can easily determine if there is a gross imbalance between the nutrients that are available vs. the amount required. Nutrient budgets are one of the best methods to see the over all supply of crop nutrients available, compared to the estimated crop needs as given by historic records and field research. Continued use of soil testing, plant and water analyses and yield monitoring are essential to maintain good nutrient balance with desired results.

1. Introduction

The interest in the uses of medicinal plants has grown considerably from the mid of 20^th century with the introduction of phytochemical analysis of natural products from various plants parts (Matos, 1996). Most studies survey specific local communities to examine patterns of use of plant part for treating various aliments along with the influence of economic and social variables on plant use (Albuquerque, 2006). Medicinal plants are the base for the development of new drug, which is the basic mode of survival of human and livestock from many diseases to maintain their healthcare (Uddin et al., 2014). Number of studies has been carried out globally on ethnomedicinal uses of plants among various indigenous communities (Alexiades and Sheldon, 1996; Basualdo et al., 1995; Martin, 1995). Particularly from the region Karbi Anglong, Assam (Teron and Borthakur, 2012, 2013; Terangpiet al., 2014; Teronpi et al., 2015) have also conducted many notable work on ethnomedicinal. While in all these studies qualitative approaches have not been adapted to document ethnobotanical information. The quantitative approaches on ethnobotany have grown steadily in the last two decades. Today researchers have developed and applied quantitative methods to the various ethnobotanical data to test different hypotheses about the relation between plant species and humans (Reyes-García et al., 2006). Quantitative ethnobotanical indices were applied to determine how important these plants are to ethnic and indigenous cultures whether, as food, veterinary medicine, human medicine or economic value from various non-timber forest products (Pieroni, 2001; Upadhyay et al., 2011; Reyes-García et al., 2006). Therefore, the aim of this study was to document the various uses of the medicinal plant Geophila repens (L.) I.M. Johnst by the Karbi tribe and to apply quantitative methods to determine the specific importance of these plants for treating particular ailment. G. repens is a very rare plant with high medicinal potential (Roy et al., 2011) and is global distribution is reported from India (Assam, Meghalaya, Andaman Islands and Western Peninsula); Bangladesh; Bhutan; Sri Lanka; Nepal; Malaysia; South China; Fiji; Tropical America; and Africa.

1. Introduction

Over the centuries, the use of medicinal herbs has become an important part of daily life despite the progress in modern medical and pharmaceuticals research. It is estimated that 40% of the world populations depends directly on plant based medicine. India is one of the world’s 12 biodiversity centres. Herbal industry in India uses about 8000 medicinal plants. Indian export of raw drugs has steadily grown at 26% to Rs.165 crores in 1994-’95 from Rs.130 crores in 1991-’92 and this is likely to touch US $5 trillion by 2050. Thus, India has a great role to play, as supplier of herbal products not only to meet the domestic needs, but also to take advantage of the tremendous export potential.

Biotic stress related problems are important bottlenecks for the successful commercial cultivation of any crop. Medicinal plants are not the exception and are vulnerable to be attacked by several pests and pathogens resulting crop loss in terms of both quantity as well as quality. Therefore, the “health of these healthy plants” should be concerned. Without proper identification and prior knowledge of the pests and diseases, the management will be a waste of time and money and can lead to further plant losses.

The litchi (Litchi chinensis) is a delicious juicy fruit of excellent quality. It is liked very much as table fruit. Presently, litchi occupies 940 ha area in Jammu region with an annual production of 2315 MT.

Climate and Soil

Litchi being a sub-tropical fruit thrives best under warm humid sub-tropical climate. However, frost in winter and hot winds in summer limits its growth and production. Hot winds results in cracking of fruits before reaching maturity while excessive rainfall at the time of flowering interfere with pollination. The prolonged dry spell after fruit set reduces the crop considerably.

Litchi flourishes well on deep, well drained loamy soil, rich in organic matter and free from hard substrata.

Ber (Zizyphus mauritiana Lamk.) is one of the ancient and common fruits, indigenous to India. It is growing in wild, semi wild and cultivated forms all over the country in sub-tropical and tropical areas. Area under ber in J&K is 5,376 hectare with annual production of 10,779 metric tonnes.

Climate and Soil

Ber plant is hardy and can grow successfully even under poor soil and unfavourable climatic conditions, where most other fruit trees fail to grow. It prefers a hot and dry climate for its successful cultivation, but needs adequate water during its first fruiting season. It can be grown up to an elevation of 1000 meters above sea level. Excessive atmospheric humidity seems to be a limiting factor in its successful fruiting.

The ber tree develops a deep tap root system with in a short period of its growth and as such adopts itself to wide variety of soils. However, deep sandyloam soils appear to be better for its plantations. It is well known in its ability to thrive under adverse conditions of salinity, drought and water logging.

“It  is not uncommon for animals to exhibit behavioral changes before an impending disaster. Wild animals often vacate areas, gather in strange groupings and sometimes will even enter into human habitats they normally avoid,” animal behavior expert Diana L.Guerrero said.Three days before the earthquake, thousands of toads roamed the streets of Mianzhu, a hard-hit city where at least 2,000 people have been reported killed.

Employee motivation and job enrichment are described as two management techniques used to improve human behaviour and attitude towards work, with a view to utilize available human resources more efficiently and thus make man-management more effective. Just as the employee has certain wants that the organization is expected to satisfy, the organization too expects certain types of behaviour usually termed as ‘Direction’ or ‘Motivation’. Obviously this managerial function is not so easy, as it involves many problems, and it is these problems and their possible solutions that one is concerned.
Job enrichment is also a motivational problem created by the alienation of employees from their work, or by lack of their interest in their work. Here the problem is how to make the work more interesting, purposeful and acceptable to employees so that they may perform it more enthusiastically and with a greater sense of responsibility. Like motivation this is also a problem of human behaviour and work attitude. In fact both employee motivation and job enrichment are the problems which every supervisor and manager has to face while working and making their subordinates work.

Dairy industry has long dealt with issues of food pathogens and inadvertent adulteration; it is time to review the plant systems with a new perspective. Each plant has its own handling protocols, physical lay-out and employee policies. Milk and other materials entering the facilities, till the distribution of the finished product needs special attention.
 
I. INCOMING MATERIALS

In general, start by considering the milk, food ingredients, packaging, chemicals and other materials that come into plant facility and warehouses, and ensure that these product streams are secure, and that materials are stored in asecure place.

The primary objective of dairy plant hygiene is to ensure the consistent daily turn-out of safe and clean products which comply with pure-food and public health laws. A secondary and commercially important aim is to preserve the keeping quality of dairy products and so enhance consumer confidence in them. An integral part of a dairy is the quality control laboratory. Continuous testing is necessary for many purposes, including equipment hygiene. Bacteriological standards of dairy products can be maintained only if the raw product is of good bacteriological quality and is protected against contamination from the equipment with which it comes in contact during all stages of processing. 
Many factors may influence the maintenance of dairy equipment in a hygienic condition; the most important are the dairy buildings, the materials and construction of the equipment, personnel, water supply, cleaning procedures, and laboratory control. It is quite impossible to place these points in order of importance, efficient control of dairy plant hygiene being dependent on proper attention to all factors.

Food Hygiene is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Since food hygiene has a direct effect on the health of individuals patronizing the catering facility, it is obligatory on the part of the management to lay down definite guidelines for maintaining hygienic conditions and ensuring their proper implementation. Cleanliness should be the basis of all food hygiene programmes and should be aimed at food protection as well as improving and maintaining the quality of food. 

Noise has become a very important “stress factor” in the environment of man especially with regard to health. However, not much attention is being paid towards its elimination or control in dairy plants. The harmful effects of noise(s) in the workplace as an occupational hazard is really a cause of great concern. Apart from reducing the work efficiency, in the long run it causes serious auditory and non-auditory effects on the worker. Thus, it becomes imperative to set legal standards in workplaces to be monitored constantly to avoid or reduce the health hazards of the workers.

Noise and Noise Pollution

Noise is often defined as “Unwanted Sound” or “Undesirable Sound”. The “Noise Pollution” has been coined to signify the vast cacophony of sounds that are being produced in the modern life, leading to health hazards.

The financial and commercial book keeping that is generally practiced by dairies, the main purpose of which is to ascertain the total results of the business during a given period, does not answer the question whether the costs of processing of milk products and of the various operations involved in manufacturing, are reasonable. For this purpose, dairy plants have to keep detailed records of the expenditure incurred on different components and processes, for planning of production and controlling of costs. In large multi-product dairy plants, production is generally characterized by mixed and joint production and the different operating operations are interrelated. Thus, it becomes difficult to draw a distinction and allocate and apportion the consumption of various services and utilities to arrive at the cost of different operations of various products.
The Bureau of Indian Standards has developed three different sets of records on dairy accounts which may be used to record different information for cost and quality control. These records are:

1. General

In this the nature of objectives of the enterprise i.e. setting up a dairy farm, details of proposed investments, specification of the project area, name of the financing bank branch, status of beneficiary: (Individual/Partnership/Company/Corporation/Co-operative Society / Others) details of borrowers profile in terms of capability, experience, financial soundness, technical / other special qualifications are mentioned.

2. Technical Aspects

    a)    Location, Land and Land Development: This involves the site details of the proposed project. The total land area and its cost. Also, particulars of land development such as fencing, boundary wall, gates are mentioned in it. Thus, site map is also mentioned in this subheading.

    b)    Civil Structures: Several structures like sheds, milking room, store room, quarters for dairy farm manager / labourers are also to be constructed. So, their measurements as well as approximate costs need to be mentioned.

Assumptions

    ·    Freshly calved animals in 1st or 2nd lactation are purchased in two batches of five animals each at an interval of 5 to 6 months.

    ·    Cost of rearing calves not considered as it will be nullified by their sale value or retention value.

    ·    Fodder cultivation considered in two acres and working capital for one crop / season considered. Two crops considered per year.
 
    ·    Manure is utilized for fodder cultivation.

I. Dairy Farm Equipments

a. Balance Sheets or Net worth Statement

Balance sheet is the list of assets and liabilities owned by a business. It helps to calculate the growth in net worth of the business by calculating the change in assets less the change in liabilities. They represent the financial foundation on which the business is built.

The term ‘balance sheet’ implies some sort of balance as part of the document. That balance represents the relationship between assets on one side, and liabilities on the other, and the basic accounting principle that assets always equal liabilities plus equity. Since it is simply a list of assets owned and debts owed, at a given time, with monetary values attached, we must understand the concepts of assets and liabilities.

Assets are resources owned by or owed to the business such as dairy, equipment, real estate, and notes receivable. Assets are those parts of the business that are owned or controlled. They include any property/resource owned by a person or business e.g. cash, land, buildings, dairy, farm equipment and dairy-related share. Assets are usually listed on the top or on the left hand side of the balance sheet. They are classified in following ways

A large number of insect pests are associated with stored grains which are directly related to geographical and climatic conditions. There are different estimates on post harvest losses in food. During storage both quantitative and qualitative losses occur due to insects, rodents, and microorganisms. Almost all the insect species may destroy 10.0 - 15.0 % of grain and contaminate with undesirable odour. These pests also helps in transportation of fungi. Some insect pests initiate damage at the ripening stage of crops and continue during storage. Major sources of infestations are old gunny bags, storage structure and old containers (Pruthi and Singh, 1950). The spread and distribution of stored product pests are facilitated by movement of grains from one area to another and by flight of insect pests as some of the adult insects are strong fliers. The cracks and crevices are probable sites for cross infestation. Nearly one thousand species of insects have been associated with stored products in different part of the world. Majority of insect pests belong to the orders Coleoptera and Lepidoptera (Khare, 1994).

Introduction

Agroforestry has vast potential not only to meet the demands of fuel, fodder, timber, medicine and other Non-wood Forest Products but also to enhance green cover, soil and water conservation and reduce pressure on forests. The objective of agroforestry is to take advantage of the complimentary relationships between trees, crops and livestock in such a way that the productivity, stability and sustainability of the total system are maintained. It has great potential in improving degraded and affected sites and has been recognized as a restoration agent, rehabilitation process, and bioremediation mechanism, in addition to increasing farm income.

Agroforestry is not a new practice for the farmers of Tamil Nadu.  It has been in practice in various forms e.g. growing Acacia leucophloea in the grazing lands with Cenchrus ciliaris in the Kangayam tract of Tamil Nadu exists from time immemorial to meet the mixed farming in that tract. In late 60’s farmers in coastal areas of Chengalpattu and Cuddalore districts started growing Casuarina to be sold as firewood.  This effort was entirely of the farmers without any support from the Government.

2.1    Specification Drafting
    
2.2    Methods and Precautions in Drafting Patent Specification
    
2.3    Disclosure Requirements
    
2.4    Patent Claims
    
2.5    Filing of A Patent Application

Semen dilution/ extension is done to meet the following objectives

1.    To preserve the fertilizing potential of semen for a long period of time

2.    To increase the number of services per ejaculate. Ideally approximately 500 cows/ buffaloes can be inseminated from diluted/ extended semen of  a single ejaculate.

3.    Extenders provide the spermatozoa with a medium in which they are able to remain viable and fertile for a prolonged time period.

In order to be an ideal extender, it should be able to provide conducive environment to prolong sperm survival and modify the sperm structure to prepare them for freezing through the following properties:

1.    It should be isotonic with blood and should maintain this during preservation.

While collecting and processing semen the following points needs to be considered:

1.    Good quality Artificial Vagina (AV) should be used for semen collection. Strict hygiene should be maintained while collecting semen.

2.    Highly scientific and flawless collection technique should be used for semen collection.   

3.    Neat semen should be maintained at close to body temperature.

4.    Semen should not come in contact with any contaminant such as lubricant, dust, infection etc. in the collection yard or in any stage of semen processing.

5.    Direct exposure of semen to sunlight or cool white fluorescent light should be avoided as it may cause chromosomal damage.

6.    Enclose all cool white light sources e.g. laminar flow hood, cold room etc. in gold or orange sleeves that absorb ultraviolet and low wavelength visible light (< 475 to 500 nm).

In recent years, a new branch of biological science, called as bio-informatics receives more attention among its users and calls for application of computational statistical algorithms to a greater extent and needs employment of more sophisticated mathematical/statistical tools. Though biological science and information technology forms a major part in bio-informatics research as applied to agriculture, statistical tools act as their backbone. Its utility is more felt starting from the stage of framing of hypothesis till analyzing/interpreting results of a scientific experiment.  It can also be viewed as a three way multi-disciplinary approach with biotechnology, information technology and statistical technology as its three faces, with the principles of statistics applied to biological science through an interface information technology.

Edible bananas are classified into several main groups and subgroups. In the first place is the diploid M. acuminata group which originated in Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Southern India, East Africa, Burma, Thailand, the West Indies, Colombia and Brazil. This group is characterized by dark-brown sheaths of pseudostem,  and the leaves are nearly free from wax. The bunches are small and the fruits small, thin-skinned and sweet. Cultivars of this group are more important in New Guinea than any where else. Lady Finger which was popular in Queensland and New South Wales belonged to this group.

In second place, there was a group represented by the prominent and widely cultivated ‘Gros Michel’ originally from Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Indonesia and Ceylon. It was introduced into Martinique early in the 19th Century by a French naval officer and, a few years later, was taken to Jamaica; from there it was carried to Fiji, Nicaragua, Hawaii and Australia, in that sequence. It is a large, tall plant bearing long bunches of large, yellow fruits, and it was formerly the leading commercial cultivar in Central Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, but has been phased out because of its great susceptibility to Panama disease. It has given rise to several named sports or mutants (Mortan, 1987). 

4.1    Importance of Banana in International Trade
    
4.2    Major Exporting Countries
    
4.3    Major Importing Countries
    
4.4    World Market Structure for Fresh Bananas
    
4.5    Domestic Trade
    
4.6    Banana Trade Wars : A Glimpse
    
4.7    Fair Trade Bananas

7.1    Pre-Harvest Factors Responsible for Post Harvest Losses
    
7.2    Harvesting Method
    
7.3    Post-Harvest Causes Responsible for Losses

Q.1.    What is the most fundamental assumption to be followed by random variable for using the standard method of parametric statistics or parametric inference ?

    Answer
    
    The most fundamental assumption required to be followed by random varibale for using the parametric statistics to have statistical inference drawn from certain set of data is that the random variables have normal distribution.

1.    Total horticulture covers an area of 27.1 m ha and production 305.8 m ton in the country annually (Indian Horticulture Database, 2018).

2.    Fruit crops cover an area of 8.4 m ha and vegetable crops 12.2 m ha. Accordingly, 98.7 m ton of fruits and 182.1 m ton of vegetables are produced in the country annually (Indian Horticulture Database, 2018).

3.    Apart from fruits and vegetables, floriculture industry in India comprising of florist trade, nursery plants, potted plants, seed and bulb products is being observed as sunrise industry.

4.    The developed flower market in the country during 2018 is with area of 0.32 m ha with a production of 2.7 m ton flowers.

5.    The traditional flowers are grown on a large area on a commercial scale. These flowers are mostly grown for loose flower purpose.

6.    Area under cut flowers like rose, chrysanthemum, gladiolus, carnation and orchids is increasing day by day.

7.    Plantation crops are another potential sector with lot of opportunities for employment generation, foreign exchange earnings and overall supporting livelihood sustenance of mankind at large.

Nursery: Nursery is a place where seedling, saplings or any other planting materials are raised, propagated, multiplied and sold out for planting.

Importance of a Nursery

1.    The young seedling requires special attention during the first few weeks after germination. It is easier and economical to look after the young and tender seedling growing in nursery bed in a small area than in the large permanent site.

2.    Majority of fruit crops are propagated by vegetative means. The propagules require special skill and aftercare before transferring them in the main field in a controlled condition in nursery, all these can be provided successfully by skilled labours.

3.    Direct sowing method is not successful when compared with transplanting of seedling raised in nursery.

4.    Nursery hardened plants are preferred for causality replacement in orchards.

5.    Besides these, raising of seedling or sapling in nursery provides more time for replanting preparations.

6.    Seasoning of seeding against natural odds is only possible in nursery.

The quantitative increase in plant body such as increase in the length of stem and root, the number of leaves etc., is referred to as plant growth whereas, the qualitative changes such as germination of seed, formation of leaves, flowers and fruits, falling of leaves and fruits is referred as development. Utilization of these substances for proper development of the plant is regulated by certain chemical messengers called plant growth substances or plant growth regulators, which in minute amounts increase or decrease or modifies the physiological process in plants. Plant growth substances are the chemical other than nutrient which required in very small amount but without which plant can not complete their physiology.

The two sets of internal factors, viz., nutrition and hormone control the growth and development of the plant. The raw material required for growth is supplied by nutritional factors which include the minerals, organic substances the protein, carbohydrates, etc.

In an orchard all the fruit trees do not bear equally or regularly and sometimes fail to flower and fruit under similar conditions where another fruit tree bears heavily. This failure to set fruits may be attributed to unfruitfulness. To understand the problem of unfruitfulness in orchards a familiarity with following terms is necessary.

1.    Fruit setting: It refers to initial growth of ovary and its associated parts after blossoming and taking it to maturity.

2.    Fruitfulness: It is the state of plant when it is not only capable of flowering and fruit setting but also takes these fruits to maturity and inability to do so is unfruitfulness or barrenness.

3.    Infertility: Ability of a plant not only to produce fruits but develop viable seeds and the inability to do so is referred as sterility or infertility. All fertile plants are fruitful but all fruitful plants are not fertile (Seedless fruits).

4.    Self fruitfulness: Ability of a plant to mature fruits after self pollination.

Origin and history: Papaya has long been known as wonder fruit of the tropics and is one of the five major fruit crops of tropical world, papaya fruits throughout the year and a remunerative fruit crop which is grown in almost every part of the country. It gives maximum yield per unit and income next to banana. It is generally grown as fruit plant in kitchen garden, home garden or nutrition garden and later as commercial fruit. It is also planted as a filler plant in a fruit orchard. India is the second largest producer of papaya in the world after Brazil. It is a fruit native to tropical America and commercially grown in many parts of the world viz., Australia, Hawaii, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Peru, Florida, Texas, California, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. In India, it was introduced by Portuguese in 1611. It is grown in Karnataka, Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Gujarat, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc.

1.    World Export/Import of Ornamental Plants
    
2.    Recent Trends
    
3.    Flower Auctions
    
4.    Domestic Trade of Flowers
    
5.    Marketing Channels and Price Spread in Traditional Flowers
    
6.    E-commerce in Floriculture
    
7.    On-line Information Systems Dealing with e-floriculture
    
8.    Flower Auctions
    
9.    Floriculture and WTO
    
10.    Documentation Indexing
        
    Further reading.

1.    Placement
    
2.    Growing Media
    
3.    Media Preparation
    
4.    Containers
    
5.    Potting
    
6.    Propagation
    
7.    Watering
    
8.    Feeding
    
9.    Diseases
    
10.    Precautions
    
11.    Indoor Plants

INTRODUCTION
 
Once a crop is harvested, it is almost impossible to improve its quality. Therefore, proper storage conditions—temperature and humidity—are needed to lengthen storage life and maintain quality once the crop has been cooled to the optimum storage temperature. In modern times, the storage of perishables has become more sophisticated because of the demand for a wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables at all the times of the year and because of need to spread peaks of production over longer periods to maximize profit and reduce waste. But in our conditions, storage of fruits and vegetables is practiced to avoid the low prices during the glut season in anticipation that prices will increase during the lean period or off-season. Certain crops like potatoes and apples can be stored for long period whereas for the crops peach and plum, the storage period is very short. However, for both long-term as well as short-term storage, high level of technical know-how about the crop is necessary for successful storage. There are a few important factors, which need to be taken into account before storage of the produce.

4.1. INTRODUCTION

The number of individuals to be included in a research study (the sample size of the study), is an important consideration in the design of many studies. This chapter will provide information on basic factors that determine an appropriate sample size and provides methods for its calculation in some simple, yet common, cases. Sample size is closely tied to statistical power, which is the ability of a study to enable detection of a statistically significant difference. A trade-off exists between a feasible sample size and adequate statistical power. Strategies for reducing the necessary sample size while maintaining a reasonable power is also important.

How many individuals will I need to study? This question is commonly asked by the clinical, ecological and behavioural investigator and exposes one of many issues that are best settled before actually carrying out a study. Consultation with a statistician is worthwhile in addressing many issues of study design, but a statistician is not always readily available.

The amount of information that can be gained from a sample depends upon its absolute size and not upon its size as a proportion of the population size, Just as to decide if the wine is good we need only a sip, irrespective of the bottle size, similarly we do not need to know the exact size of the parent population, provided complete homogeneity exists, But in reality, and more so in biological sciences, such homogeneity is rarely seen. Therefore, appropriate sample size becomes pertinent for drawing valid conclusions and is among the most difficult decisions to be taken for a study.

The size of the sample would depend upon (i) the permissible error in assessment of inference i.e. accuracy and (ii) sampling error. Sampling error measures the amount of variability between sample results; the lesser it is the better. The main determinant of the sample size, therefore, is how accurate results do we used. This in turn, depends on the purpose and type of study.

Synchronization of estrus is making a group of cows to come into estrus at the same time.  Effective estrus detection requires much time, labour, skill and expense and it is a major limiting factor in artificial insemination programme in cattle.  It was the principal stimulus that led to research in the development of progestational and prostaglandin compounds. 

Advantages

1.     Improve the efficiency of heat detection

2.     Management tool, better planning of breeding activities and wider use of artificial insemination 

3.     Solve problem of unobserved estrus

4.     Maintain short calving interval

5.     Overall improvement in herd productivity and reproductive efficiency

6.     Controlled lactation

7.     Management of replacement heifers

8.     Useful in embryo transfer programmes

9.     Reduce labour

10.     Possibly reduce involuntary culling for reproductive reasons

Buffaloes, though have great production potential, do suffer with many reproductive problems viz.  delayed age of puberty and  sexual maturity, weak / silent estrus, longer inter-calving period,  seasonality in breeding, poor libido  and poor semen quality. Little information is available about the buffaloes as compared to cattle because all the time we try to apply the knowledge available about the cattle to the buffalo.  Some comparative reproductive parameters in cow & she buffalo & cow bull and buffalo bull are depicted in Table 8. 1 and Table 8.2 respectively.