eChapters

Common name    :    English- Wild leadwort
        Hindi- Chitrak 
        Odia- Ogni 

Family    :    Plumbaginaceae 

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a shrub (Fig. 74 a), frequent in open places, scrub forests and among bushes. It is widely distributed throughout India.

Gerneral Characters
The plant is an evergreen shrub that reaches about 6 feet in native. The leaves are dark green, spreading and ovate in shape. Flowers are white, terminal, often panicled and grow as dense racemes. Individual flowers are up to ½ inch across. The plant flowers and bears fruits during September-April.

Common name    :    English- False Asoka 
        Hindi- Ashok 
        Odia- Debadaru

Family    :    Annonaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
The plant (Fig. 75 a) is usually planted in gardens, roadside avenues and also cultivated throughout India.

General characters
The plant is a tall evergreen tree having slender and glabrous branches, growing up to a height of 25 feet. The leaves are narrowly lanceolate, glossy green, long with attractive wavy edges. Flowers are yellowish-green, star like structures that give the tree a peculiar hazy appearance. Seeds are smooth and shining. The plant flowers in March-April and bears fruits during July-August.

Common name    :    Shaving brush tree

Family    :    Malvaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a large tree (Fig. 76 a), usually seen in open forests often scattered through fields and over plains, besides on open rocky hillsides. It is distributed throughout Indian.

General characters
It is large deciduous tree, which grows up to 30-40 feet in height. The leaves at first are bright red turning fine green as they mature. Flowers are having silky rose-pink stamens topped with yellow pollen. The wood is interesting as well, showing strippings of greens, yellows, brown and white. The plant flowers during October-February.

        Odia- Jada/Gab

Common name    :    English- Castor bean
        Hindi- Arandi 
        Odia- Jada/Gab
        
Family    :    Euphorbiaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
The plant is a shrub or small tree (Fig. 77 a), often found in wastelands, fields, gardens and near villages. Also cultivated as a cash crop. It is widely distributed throughout the dry parts of India.
 
General Characters
The plant is a fast growing, sucking perennial tree that reaches the size up to 12 m. The leaves are 15-45 cm long, stalked, alternate and palmate with 5-12 deep lobes. The flowers are borne in terminal panicle like inflorescences of green or shades of red monoecious flowers without petals. The fruit is spiny, greenish capsule containing large and oval bean like seeds. The plant flowers and bears fruits during most parts of the year.

Common name    :    English- Rose
        Hindi-Gulab
        Odia- Golap

Family    :    Rosaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
It is a shrub (Fig. 78 a), commonly planted in gardens and also cultivated.

General Characters
The plant is a woody, perennial shrub. The leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species, they are 5-15 cms long, elliptic-lanceolate, pinnate with 3-11 leaflets. Flowers are usually white or pink, though in a species yellow or red with 5 cm across. The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry like structure called a rosehip. The plant flowers during February-March.

Common name    :    English- Fever root
        Hindi- Ruwel

Family    :    Acanthaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (fig. 79 a), often found in wastelands, cultivated land, waysides etc. sometimes in gardens also. The plant is widely naturalized in India.

General Characters
The plant is a tropical perennial herb, growing up to a height of 6.5 inches with hairy stem. The leaves are simple, opposite and elliptic-obovate with 4.10-1.8-4 cm in size. Flowers are blue or violet with 3-4 cm in long. The ripe fruits in a pod carry 7-8 seeds each in it. The plant flowers and bears fruits during June-February.

Common name    :    English- Sugarcane
        Hindi- Ganna
        Odia- Akho

Family    :    Poaceae

Habit & Distribution 
It is a tall herb (Fig. 80 a), widely cultivated in Odisha and also throughout the hotter parts of India.

General Characters
The plant is a giant grass. The stem is erect, jointed, 3-5 m tall, 2-3 cm thick with plenty of juice. Leaves are elongate, rigid, mostly 4-6 cm wide, with a very thick midrib. The flowers are white, appear in plume like panicles, 20-60 cm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during November-January.

Common name    :    English- Tropical soda apple
        Odia- Denga bheji/Bheji baigana

Family    :    Solanaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a perennial shrub (Fig. 81 a), is commonly found in grassland, thickets and disturbed places such as roadsides and river banks.

General Characters
The plant is an erect perennial shrub, reaches up to 50-150 cm high with shortly pubescent stems and branches with recurved prickles up to 5 mm long. The leaves are broadly ovate up to 20 cm long and 15 cm wide, generally dark green in colour, and glossy above. The flowers are white, 1.5 cm across arranged in clusters. The fruit is a globose berry, mottled green when young and yellow at maturity, with 2-3 cm across. The plant flowers and bears fruits throughout the year.

Common name    :    English- Marigold
        Hindi- Genda 
        Odia- Gendu

Family    :    Asteraceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (Fig. 82 a) commonly cultivated in gardens. It is a very popular flowering plant commonly found in India and other countries.

General Characters
The plant is a very popular aromatic annual herb with 50-100 cm in height. The leaves are pinnately divided, in to oblong or lanceolate. Flowers are yellow, orange in colour, and large head with 3-5 inches across. The plant flowers mainly during cold season.

Common name    :    English- Tamarind
        Hindi- Imli 
        Odia- Tentuli

Family    :    Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a large tree (Fig. 83 a), fairly common, planted or self sown. It is widely distributed throughout India, also cultivated and self-sown.

General Characters
It is a large tree which grows up to 30-50 m height with spreading crown up to 12 m in diameter. The leaves are up to 5 cm long and composed of numerous small leaflets. Leaflets are 10-20 pairs, small and close. The flowers are about 1 cm across, pale yellow with purple or red veins. Fruits are brown, short haired, sausage like, contain an acidic pulp that surrounds the seeds, extremely sour. The plant flowers during April-June and bears fruits during December-March.

Common name    :    English- Teak
        Hindi- Sagun
        Odia- Sagwan 

Family    :    Verbenaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 84 a), naturally confined to south-western part of Orissa, also widely planted all over the state. The plant commonly distributed in central India to Orissa, also widely planted.

General Characters
It is a large deciduous and very popular timber tree. Leaves of the tree are large, opposite with 30-60 cm long and 15-30 cm broad. The flowers appear in large numbers in lax clusters at the end of branches with white colour. The fruit is about 15 mm across, spongy and enclosed in persistent calyx. The plant flowers during July-August and bears fruit during December-April. 

Common name    :    English- Indian Tinospora
        Hindi- Gulbel
        Odia- Gulochi

Family    :    Menispermaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a shrub/climber (Fig. 85 a), frequently found in forests and widely distributed throught tropical India.

General Characters
The plant is a climber, with stems about 5 cm diameters with light grey and papery bark. The leaves are about 7.5-14 cm long, broadly ovate or orbicular, deeply heart shaped at the base. Flowers are racemes which are 7-14 cm in long, greenish yellow in colour and arranged in 3+3 sepals in 2 layers, the outer one are small, the inner one are large. Fruits are red, globose to subglobose with 6-8 mm across. The plant flowers during August-December and bears fruits during March-May.

Common name    :    English- False white teak
        Hindi- Pindar
        Odia- Jandakhai

Family    :    Euphorbiaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 86 a), commonly found along riverbanks, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It is a large deciduous tree, growing up to 10-20 m tall, with a smooth grey bark. The leaves are oppositely arranged ovate, 7-17 cm long and are heart- shaped at the base and have tapering tips. Leaf-stalks are 3-7 cm long. Flowers are small and greenish. Male flowers are borne in 7-19 cm long racemes and are carried on slender stalks. Female flowers are borne singly on long stalks. Fruit is round, with 2-4 compartments, 2-4 cm in diameter, smooth or hairy, exocarp thick and fleshy. The plant flowers and bears fruits during December-March.

Common name    :    English- Coat buttons
        Hindi- Khal-Muriya
        Odia- Bisalya karani

Family    :    Asteraceae
 
Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 87 a), usually found in dry locations, especially sandy and rocky sites like roadsides, railways, dunes and waste places. It is widely distributed throughout India.
 
General Characters
The plant is a perennial herb that stands about 30-60 cm in height and has slightly hairy stem. The leaves are ovate or lanceolate with toothed edges. Flowers are small, creamy or white in colour having 5 petals that are notched in the outer edges. The centre of the flower is yellow. The plant flowers and bears fruits all the year round.

Common name    :    English- Burr Bush
        Hindi- Chikti
        Odia- Badya chana pata/tatatatia

Family    :    Tiliaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 88 a), fairly common weed, distributed throughout tropical and subtropical India.

General Characters
It is an erect woody herb, grows up to 30-90 cm. leaves are simple, alternate, broadly ovate to sub orbicular. Flowers are yellow, small and clustered on leaf axils. Fruit is a subglobose and about 3-4 mm in diameter, covered with 75-100 hooked spines of 1.0 to 1.5 mm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during July-January.

Common name    :    English- Rangoon creeper
        Hindi- Madhumalti
        Odia- Madhumalati

Family    :    Combretaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a climbing shrub (Fig. 89 a), cultivated widely in gardens and distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is a twining climber blooming profusely throughout summer and can reach up to 70 feet in tropical climate. The leaves are elliptic-oblong and 7-15 cm long. Flowers are scented, pink-white to reddish-white in colour and grow in pendent racemes with a very fast rate. The plant flowers and bears fruits in most parts of the year.

Common name    :    English- Common Cocklebur
        Hindi- Chhota dhatura/Ghagra
        Odia- Mendhaguli

Family    :    Asteraceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 90 a), found in cultivated lands, coastal dunes, water resources, roadsides, waste places and field edges. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant has large and broad leaves, light and bright green in colour in an alternate pattern with irregular lobes. Stem turns maroon to black when mature, with hairy appearance. The flowers are white or green, numerous and covered with hooked bristles. The fruit is obovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm long and covered with hooked spines of 2-4 mm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during August-September.

1.1 Introduction

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is a well-known table fruit of tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The Romans received it from Carthage, hence the name of the genus Punica. Some botanists place it in the family Lythraceae, of the peculiar type of fruit, called as balausta, most authorities make it the only genus in the family Punicaceae. It belongs to genera Punica and family Punicaceae (Chatterjee & Randhawa, 1952; Joshi, 1956). It is a small tree, measuring less than 4 m when cultivated, although it can reach 7 m in the wild. Recent research findings corroborate traditional use of pomegranate as a medical remedy as all parts of this plant have several bioactive metabolites (Holland et al. 2009). Consequently, its demand has increased tremendously not only in the western world but also in other parts of the globe.

2.1 Soil and Climate

Pomegranate grows well in sandy-loam and well-drained soils having a pH of 7.5. It can also be grown on light soils. Quality and colour development in light soils is good but poor in heavy soils. It tolerates salinity up to 9.00 EC/mm and sodicity 6.78 ESP. Even it can be grown well in slightly saline soils as it is considered a saline-tolerant plant (Patil and Waghmare 1983; Rao and Khandelwal 2001; Ram Asrey et al., 2002). Accumulation of salts, in excess of 0.5% of the soil mass causes dying off of growing roots. Interestingly, application of Paclobutrazol (250 ppm) was reported to reduce salinity damage (Saeed 2005). The presence of water-soluble salts like sulphates and chlorides and ex- changeable sodium negatively affect root formation.

3.1 Integrated Insect Pests Management

1. Anar butterfly [Deudorix (Virachola) isocrates Fabricus]

Pomegranate fruit borer or pomegranate butterfly is the most widespread, polyphagous and destructive pest distributed all over India and common in Asia. Peak incidence is during the month of August in monsoon season, while it is more during November/December in winter crop. Infestation from flowering to button stage causing loss up to 50 per cent of the fruit. Adult bluish brown butterfly, female with V shaped patch on forewing. Full-grown larvae are dark brown with short hair and white patches all over the body and measures about 16 to 20mm long. The larvae bore into the pomegranate fruits soon after hatching. Once inside the fruit, larvae (approx 2cm length) feed on the flesh and seeds.  The bored hole is plugged by the last abdominal segment of the larva. When fully grown, the larva comes out by boring through the hard shell and spins a web, which ties the fruit, stalk to the main branch. Offensive smell and excreta of caterpillars coming out of the entry holes with excreta stuck around the holes. The fruits rot and drop off. The holes ultimately expose the rest of the fruit to disease, and typically rot off the tree.

4.1 Harvesting

Pomegranate being non-climacteric fruits should be picked when fully ripe. Its fruits become ready for picking 120-130 days after fruit set. Mature fruits should be immediately removed from the plants as delay in harvesting leads to fruit cracking. Fruits harvested at a premature stage have poor keeping quality and are prone to damage during handling and transport. The fruits are harvested when outer rind becomes yellowish and the fruit when tapped produces a metallic sound. The round fruits become flattened from all the sides and basal beak shaped portion shrinks at the time of maturity. Fruits are harvested with the help of secateurs by retaining 1 cm stalk with the fruit. All the fruits should be harvested in 2-3 pickings within a span of one month.

5.1 Present Status

Export of pomegranate has decreased in quantity from 36,027.43 tons in 2012-13 to 20,997.02 tons in 2014-15, whereas in value term it show an increase trend during the same period. There is tremendous potential for exports of pomegranate from India and it is fact that India is largest producer of pomegranates in the world. Moreover, India produces finest edible quality of pomegranates which are available almost throughout the year. The major Markets of India’s pomegranate during the year 2014-15 were UAE, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Netherland.

6.1 Strength of India
    ·    In India, pomegranate is cultivated over 1.31 lakh ha with a production of 13.46 lakh tonnes and a productivity of 10.27 t/ha. 
    ·    India is the largest producer of pomegranates in the world.
    ·    Pomegranate is currently ranked 10th in terms of fruit consumed annually in the world. India is the only country in the world where pomegranate is available throughout the year i.e. From January to December. It is cultivated in 3 seasons (Ambia bahar, Mrig bahar and hasth bahar) in Deccan plateau of India. 
    ·    India is endowed with wide agro climatic conditions that offer immense scope for cultivation of various kinds of fruit crops. This provides an excellent platform for the country to emerge as a leading producer of fruit crop. 

Water is a social requirement. Society now become aware about it’s dependence upon water and hence realized the importance of water in sustaining not only the development but also life. Water: too little, too much, too dirty; is general scenario in the world. But with increase in population water become limiting resource and is becoming scarcer and scarcer day by day. As water become scarcer commodity, the users (stakeholders) become more conscious regarding their share in water and ultimately this situation may lead to water conflicts. Earlier water related problems were generally tackled by hydro-engineers, but now in present climate changed scenario these problems go beyond the hydraulics and hydrology. Now a days politicians, ecologists, Non Government Organizations (NGOs), the media and the stakeholders etc are playing a crucial role in decision making in respect to water management issues. Now water projects are designed in reference to social context (Social context means cultural, economic, political, sociological, legal and other such aspects). When social factors are taken into consideration while tackling the water problems, it could not possible to satisfy all involved. Thus it is required to agree upon a compromise solution acceptable to all. Over recent few decades, information and communication technology (ICT) flourishes with great advances. It provides the ways to search for compromise solutions. In this chapter information, hydroinformatics, evolution of hydroinformatics and role of internet in hydroinformatics are discussed.

Data collection is a tedious and time consuming work, particularly from remote places. So many times the collected data is noisy. But data is the base for future planning and management of water resources. Planning based on noisy data could lead to failure. The modern data collection and subsequent control system i.e. telemetry and SCADA, are introduced in this chapter.

Modeling is heart of hydroinformatics. Simulation modeling became integrated part of modern science to justify feasibility of selected option among various competitive alternatives. Simulation modeling is a tool to evaluate the performance of a system, existing or proposed, under different configurations of interest and over long periods of real time. This chapter describes basic concepts, model simulation, model variables, modeling process, model performance etc. in brief.

In this era of computer, mathematical models become integral part of hydrologic studies due to advancement in soft technology. But question always arises as ‘Why should modeling?’ It was well expressed by Rosenblueth and Wiener (1945) as

No substantial part of the universe is so simple that it can be grasped and controlled without abstraction. Abstraction consists in replacing the parts of the universe under consideration by a model of similar but simpler structure. Models, formal or intellectual on the one hand, or material on the other are thus a central necessity of scientific procedure.

Data mining is a powerful technology which helps in extracting future trends and behaviour from large databases. Thereby it helps decision makers to make knowledge-driven decisions. One common form of real-world data is time series. The suitable models are required to analyze time series data. This chapter provides a short introduction to stochastic system, uncertainty, basic statistics time series analysis and some stochastic models.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly used in our everyday lives. It is used in a variety of industries from gaming, journalism/media, to finance, as well as in the research fields from water resources to robotics. In this chapter concept and applications of AI are discussed in brief.

6.1 Historical Background

After World War II, a number of people worked independently on intelligent machines. The English mathematician Alan Turing was the first who explained the concept of intelligent machines through a lecture in 1947. He stated that intelligent machines could be developed by programming computers rather than by building machines. Since late 1950 many researchers are working on intelligent machines, mostly on programming computers

The artificial neural network (ANN), a data driven model, is inherently suited to the problems that are mathematically difficult to describe. An ANN is a flexible mathematical structure that is capable of identifying complex nonlinear relationships between input and output data sets, where explicit knowledge of the internal processes is not available. In this chapter general structure of ANN is described and also explained briefly with a case study.

7.1 What is Artificial Neural Network?

An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is an information processing paradigm that is inspired by the way biological nervous system, such as brain process the information. An ANN is an adaptive (Adaptive means that the system parameters are changed during operation i.e. training phase), most often nonlinear system that learns to perform a function (an input/output map) from data. In more practical term, neural networks are non-linear statistical data modeling tools. They can be used to model complex relationships between inputs and outputs or to find out patterns in the data.

Remote sensing is emerged as an important application of science in all fields for collection of information from a far. This chapter describes the fundamental concepts of remote sensing, electromagnetic radiation (EMR), the interactions between EMR and earth surface features, satellites etc.

8.1 What is Remote Sensing?

Remote sensing is nothing but acquiring information about an object without touching the object itself. In other words, remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with that object. In present era, the term generally refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on the Earth by means of propagated signals. As remote sensing is obtaining information about objects without making physical contact with them, remote sensing can be described as ‘reconnaissance from a distance’, ‘teledetection’ or a form of the common phrase ‘look but don’t touch’.

More information, more accurate and timely decision. In present high tech world, the more information you have it is easier to make an accurate decision. The information comes in many different ways, from reports to digital photos. A new way to analyze data is a geographic information system (GIS). GIS allows to bring all types of data together based on the geographic and locational component of the data. GIS is a useful tool for seeking innovative ways to solve the problems.

9.1 What is GIS?

A geographic information system (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store manipulate, analyze, manage and present all types of geographically referenced data. GIS can be defined as a computer-based system for digital entry, storage, transformation, analysis and display of spatial data. A geographic information system integrates hardware, software and geographically referenced data for further analysis. GIS allows users to interpret the georeferenced data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns and trends.

Vegetation is a key component in hydrologic modeling. Transpiration, a component in hydrologic cycle, is contributed by vegetation. Most of the hydrologic model thus includes vegetation as a parameter. For accurate and appropriate model output, first requirement is good quality data. Most of the time, the data on vegetation is confusing, as in literature various researcher have used different values for common vegetation parameters. Here some common parameters of some important crops, which yield good quality results, are given.

Kharif crops are generally sown during last week of May and first week of June, while rabi crop are sown during last week of November and first week of December. But this period will vary from region to region as well as depends on variety of crop.

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.

Research is the basics which have changed human life and surrounding environment what existed on earth million years ago into present form. As soon as man realized himself as a separate entity from other animals, he started thinking about himself, creatures co-inhabiting with him and the universe. In that sense, biological science is the oldest subject which fascinated man, though it was called natural sciences in ancient times. Perhaps, the first curiosity was about himself, his birth, death and alike matters. As soon as he realized mortality of life or faced death of his dear ones, he attempted to become immortal or ‘amar’. This is reflected by worshiping of ‘Asur ’(Hirnakashyap, Bhasmasur, Ravan etc) to ‘Brahma’ or ‘Shiva’ for receiving the blessings of becoming immortal . However, even God refrained to bless these personalities becoming ‘amar’ confirming the realization by all that life is strongly linked with death ; as such they were blessed with certain conditional ties which may lead their death. Eventually, they met with their death under specific circumstances (3). When God or His little part (Ansh) took birth on earth as incarnation, He also followed all the rules and regulations of cosmic laws. But He never tried to become immortal and left His body on the earth, after finishing His duties.

The very basics in one’s life is whether he has judged his interests or decided goals of his life or has taken life casually. The first is to know what you wish to achieve in your life or in the words of our former president and Bharat Ratna APJ Abdul Kalam (14) what are your dreams ? If you have dreams than only you can achieve them hence it’s essential to know what is your passion ?, passion is the key to success. In pursuing your passion, all things become secondary ; in fact, desired changes occur within you, unnoticed and automatic to achieve your goals. It may not be out of contest to mention that basically I belonged to a business family and being eldest son in the family, my father asked me to join family business, after doing my intermediate, with the liberty to join part time BA classes while carrying business activities. But business was not my passion hence I struggled to join to the academics and carried all my Veterinary education with distinctions - because of my interests. I am not sure what would have happened to my life have I joined least interested business line- perhaps a failed business man.

At times, we hear our young generation questioning the need for obtaining degrees for conducting any research work. To some extend they are right. If we look back, there are many examples where persons without any former degree attained what is impossible by many degree holders. Tulsidas has written ‘Ramacharitmanas’, incorporating so many principles of Vedas and stories from Puranas without obtaining any degree. Srinivasa Ramanujan (21) narrated mathematics theorems without any degree in mathematics. His achievements may be appreciated by the fact that we celebrate his birthday 22nd December as National Mathematical day.

Whenever a person acquires desired qualifications, he needs a forum to express his talents and a place where he can fulfill his dreams and make important attainments. This may be achieved by two ways. One is, he becomes an entrepreneur and plans his own organization. As we are discussing biological research, there are good opportunities to start a Pharmaceutical firm to produce a drug, or a biotechnology firm to produce some biochemical molecule, enzymes, bio-fertilizers, vaccines against important human/animal/poultry diseases or a firm to supply diagnostic kits or immunological products etc. These are not hypothetical suggestions, difficult to achieve by a middle class person, but part of reality achieved by middle class family in India with laurels in their field of work. We may cite examples of firms like Dr Reddy Laboratory (Dr K.A Reddy), Biocon India (Ms Majumdar), Venky (poultry vaccines etc), Biorad (Bangalore based biochemical molecules supplier) who are working in India and leading their respective field. All this have been possible with tremendous change that has occurred in Indian scenario where there are many venture capitalists (or PE firms) who are willing to invest any amount of money provided they like your new idea of establishing a new enterprise. A somewhat more detailed information, in this regards, is provided elsewhere (see Research for money-chapter 13). Here I have not mentioned to pursue a Dairy or Poultry farm as these are not parts of research activities but related to animal production and any other person may also enter in such commercial activities.

It will be unjust not to describe history of Parasitology (31) and a little bit about Parasitology (chapter 8) so that our students may know the earlier works done in this field and how research has advanced by diligent observations of the eminent scientists when they were not having such sophisticated facilities.

As helminth is visible with naked eyes, it was this parasite which man encountered first in its journey of life sciences or natural sciences,as was known in ancient times. Some of these were known even before the era of biblical Palestine and ancient Egyptian civilization. Hippocrates (460-357BC), ‘Father of Medicine’ knew about pinworms (Oxyuris equi) of horses. In his “History of Animalium”, Aristotle (384-322 BC)(32) has mentioned three kinds of helminthes-flatworms, cylindrical worms (Ascaris lumbricoides) and thinworms (Enterobius vermicularis). The treatises of India had the information on large roundworms of intestine (Ascaris), pinworms, leeches, bed bugs and mosquitoes.

Our nature is the greatest or only laboratory where a large number of events are occurring at every fraction of a second - there are so many events, creatures, miseries taking place in the nature. Rightly it is considered an unparallel and biggest laboratory, man has ever witnessed. However, understanding it’s any event requires deep devotion and understanding,then only success will come. Our Philosopher and Poet Kabirdas has understood these facts as have reflected in his various couplets “Jin khoja tin paiya, gahre pani paith” or “chalti chaki dekh kar diya kabira roye, do patan ke beech main sabit bacha na koi“. For an ordinary person earth is still flat and he may not know the reasons for change of seasons.

Parasitology is the branch of biological sciences that deals with the study of parasites and all the related aspects. This leads to a basic question who is a parasite ? In fact, this term is frequently used in our society for those persons who are doing nothing and depending on others for their survival. The term Parasite means the organism (parasite) which depends on other organism (host) for its nutritional requirements. By definition, it excludes the organisms which are free living and do not depend on other organism for their food requirements. There are other details in fulfilling its nutritional requirements and important one is that in doing so, it causes some harm to the host other wise it will not be a parasite but a commensal.

A close look on three disciplines of Parasitology reveal that these are the branches where a scholar initially select them as per his basic qualifications. But while pursuing research in Parasitology, the line of demarcation becomes blurred and it is in fact combination of a group of scientists,from varied disciplines, who are able to solve any one problem; at that point, it is absurd to divide the subject as medical or veterinary or basic parasitology. In fact, these will be your interests and experiences which will decide your line of research and will determine your achievements.

It is always advantageous if there is a senior scientist,a mentor or a Guru ( I have not used the term teacher as all may be teachers but may not be Guru as per Indian mythology) who can recognize your talents and may believe that you may achieve some unusual goals, if properly guided or encouraged. This is important for carrying an important task to its fruitful results. Here what we are referring a Guru is not in the sense as is presently used for searching a god father. There is a vast difference between the two. The perception about god-father is that he may not possess the required knowledge but is perfect in manipulating situations in his favor so that work is done by all means. In scientific world, this is mostly applied to the persons who have contact with higher ups helping in getting promotions or foreign trips. These god fathers are good only to provide some material gifts but are not best in their scientific achievements hence cannot replace a Guru or a good scientist.

If you have prepared yourself to make research as your career, it is most advantageous to read research papers/reviews/chapters/books published by the eminent scientists. It is not necessary to confine reading to your subject but a voracious reading will enable you to develop an idea about general problems related to science and our society; how scientists managed to solve them and with development of new knowledge, how you may tackle fresh or existing problems. A deep analysis may be done of those works which are so accurate that even after lapse of so many years, they still hold true. In our opinion, it is better to launch websites/blogs highlighting important works of eminent Parasitologists for the benefit of our research scholars; a beginning, in India in Parasitology, has been made in this direction with launch of a website on first time Rafi Ahmed Kidwai award winner (in Animal Sciences) late Dr SC Dutt (www.drscdutt.com). 

One prime fact in research is not to take the matter for granted and do not believe in status quo. This is most critical mindset for creating something new. Even change may be made in existing circumstances with minimum requirements. Here, I may cite my experience while starting research in 1976 for my doctorate program on immunity against schistosomiasis. The experimental model was albino mouse where schistosomes, by their nature, develop into blood vascular system of the host hence require a special technique called “Perfusion technique” for retrieval of mature and immature schistosomes. This ‘perfusion technique’ requires use of a “Peristaltic pump” and was followed in some western countries (2). However, No body in India followed this perfusion technique hence recovered schistosomes from mouse or from any other host species by teasing the blood vessels or/and cutting and soaking liver,spleen, kidney, lung pieces in normal saline.

There is only one type of scientific research and that is to solve a real problem or to understand the universe and provide a solution –either with the experiments or by putting a hypothesis. However, we have classified the research in various types as per our comfort. But for the employed researchers, it may be a matter of concern if they are working on time bound research schemes as their services may be co-terminus with the project and they may face the problem of un-employment, after termination of the scheme. According to the scholars’ activities and type of research being carried out in the country, we can discuss the subject under following topics.

When you are assigned with your thesis problem or some problem is puzzling you, the first step is to search the related literature ; here the term literature is used not as it is used in humanities but this means the literature related to the research work published by the earlier scientists on the topic. The searching of literature is a most important and first step in conducting research on a particular topic. This not only acquaint you with the work of other scientists who tried to solve the problem but also confirms the possibility that previous scientists might have solved that problem and yours will be a repeat attempt ; in that case you may tackle other aspects of the problem, if at all they are existing and important in present circumstances.

Review of literature or consulting of literature is just beginning of a research project. The main intellectual work is to study the previous work meticulously and to draw conclusions regarding existing problems. This leads us to another intelligent part of the research i.e. planning of the research work. If you analyze what you are planning, it is only about materials to be employed and methodology of the research work (with planning of the work)- only these three parameters are under your control as results will be the outcome of these three facets while discussion will be how you consider your results in presence of previous research work. In fact, this statement of mine is more align to the sermon of “Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta” (5) where it is stated that man has control only on his actions (planning and conducting research) hence fulfill this duty without caring for the results-which in turn will depend on your analyzing the previous facts and how you have planned to solve the problem. Therefore, pay full attention on these three facts of the research.

After planning research problem, the next step is to start real research work. Indeed, it is said that planning of a research work is only 20% of work done while conducting the experiments is 80% to be done and is more laborious, requiring extended time and patience of the scientist. While conducting your research work,it is essential to record each and every observation of your work. These observations will be of two types. One is the subjective observations which are difficult to quantify. For example, if you are recording clinical parameters of a disease,you may record pulse, temperature, respiration in arithmetic form but clinical symptoms are subjective and require a description of the patient rather than filling tabular sheet. In describing morphology of a parasite both parameters are needed ; you will describe morphology of the parasite and will also mention measurements of different parts of the parasite. Likewise, you may like to describe weather conditions or behavior of animals, vectors at certain stage of disease while you have to mention figures in many cases. Thus your observations are clearly divided in two categories – one is subjective observation and other is recording arithmetic values.

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