eChapters

15.1 Law of Mass Action

Gulberg and Waage, the two Norwegian chemists in the year 1864 stated the law of mass action in this form: ‘The velocity of any chemical reaction at any instant at a given temperature is proportional to the active mass of each of the reactants at that instant present in the system, the active mass in a homogeneous system is defined as the number of gram molecule of the substance present per unit volume i.e., the molar volume’.

Traditionally, remote sensing encompasses a wide array of technologies and methods used to gather information about objects, areas, or phenomena without direct physical contact. This includes devices like seismographs, fathometers, radar systems, and more. These tools enable us to observe and measure various aspects of the environment from a distance.

However, in contemporary contexts, when we talk about remote sensing in a more specialized sense, we often refer to the use of satellite and aerial-based systems to capture and analyze electromagnetic radiation reflected or emitted from the Earth's surface. This form of remote sensing has become incredibly valuable in fields such as environmental monitoring, urban planning, agriculture, forestry, and disaster management, among others.

Modern remote sensing techniques leverage sensors capable of detecting specific wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, such as visible light, infrared, and microwave radiation. By analyzing the patterns and intensity of this radiation, researchers can derive valuable information about the Earth's surface features, including vegetation cover, soil moisture, land use, and changes over time.

In statistics, sampling is concerned with the selection of a subset of individuals from within a statistical population to estimate characteristics of the whole population. Two advantages of sampling are that the cost is lower and data collection is faster than measuring the entire population. Each observation measures one or more properties (such as weight, location, colour) of observable bodies distinguished as independent objects or individuals. In survey sampling, weights can be applied to the data to adjust for the sample design, particularly stratified sampling. Results from probability theory and statistical theory are employed to guide the practice. In business and medical research, sampling is widely used for gathering information about a population. Acceptance sampling is used to determine if a production lot of material meets the governing specifications.

The sampling process comprises several stages

• Defining the population of concern

• Specifying a sampling frame, a set of items or events possible to measure

• Specifying a sampling method for selecting items or events from the frame

• Determining the sample size

• Implementing the sampling plan

• Sampling and data collecting

Sensory evaluation is a scientific method of evaluating foods including meat products that applies principles of experimental design and statistical analysis through the use of human senses like sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. It is also called organoleptic evaluation in which we measure, analyse and interpret reactions to those characteristics of materials as they are perceived by the human senses. These attributes can be perceived well by the human sense organs as compared to instruments available for this purpose. It is a fact that no single instrument is able to assess all the attributes of meat products. With the help of these instruments we can very well evaluate the single quality attribute of meat product i.e. shear force instrument or penetrometer is good for knowing the texture and refractometer is for colour interpretation.

M. D. SURANAGI

Software is a tool that allows the hardware to process and manipulate data. It is essentially a list of commands; therefore it is not something you can touch. Software is stored in the different drives in a computer. Software, like data, can be stored and shared through disks. Unlike hardware, software is not permanent. It can be added, removed, and changed very easily. Individual software pieces are normally called programs. There are different types of programs. The three major categories of software are System software, Application software and Programming software.

• System software like device drivers and utilities enables the application software to interact with the computer hardware.
• Programming software like compilers, debuggers and interpreters provides tools to assist a programmer in writing computer programs.
• Application software is what most users commonly use to interact with their computers and carry out various daily tasks.

Soil sampling is an integral and essential component of soil fertility evaluation and nutrient management research. The effectiveness of soil sampling is a prerequisite for soil testing to achieve its goals for efficient nutrient management and plant nutrition for improved yield and quality. The underlying basis for soil sampling is that a soil sample taken represents the “population” which may be a plot, field or a watershed. It further implies that nutrient status of the representative soil sample(s) determined in a laboratory would reflect nutrient status of a plot, field or watershed and is of interest for correcting nutrient disorders in the field or watershed.

The most important factor that influences the effectiveness of soil sampling is soil heterogeneity. However, in a relatively homogenous group of fields or plots, a small number of samples may be sufficient to represent the population to a more heterogenous group of fields that would require more number of samples to represent the soil population. Whenever, soil samples to be taken in field following points needs to be kept in mind.

A. Principles of spices breeding
Plant breeding is a science-based technique aimed at improving the genetic makeup of plants to develop desirable traits such as increased yield, resistance to diseases and pests, improved quality, and adaptability to various environmental conditions. When applied to spices, these principles are adapted to meet the unique characteristics and challenges of spice crops.
A.1. Understanding the breeding objectives
• Yield improvement: Increasing the yield of spices like black pepper, ginger, and turmeric is a primary goal. This involves selecting varieties that produce more berries, rhizomes, or seeds.
• Quality enhancement: For spices like vanilla, cinnamon, and saffron, the focus is on enhancing the quality of the product, such as increasing vanillin content, oil content, or curcumin levels.
• Disease and pest resistance: Developing resistant varieties is crucial for spices prone to specific diseases, like black pepper’s vulnerability to foot rot or large cardamom’s susceptibility to fungal diseases.
• Adaptation to environmental conditions: Breeding efforts often aim to produce varieties that can thrive in specific climates, such as the cool, shaded forests required for large cardamom or the arid conditions suitable for cumin.

Introduction

This chapter is intended to throw light on some statistical and econometric methods used for analysing time series data with specific emphasis on basic concepts related to time series analysis, co-integration techniques as well as forecasting techniques such as ARIMA model. Time series analysis is often helpful in revealing the broad patterns associated with longitudinal data, which in turn would aid in important economic and policy decisions. In fisheries sector too, economic variables such as market demand and supply, prices, etc. are of prime importance and often come in longitudinal format. There are a number of alternative methodologies available in the time series literature to determine relevant parameters pertaining to longitudinal data and the ensuing sections are set apart to delve deeper into this realm.

Some Key Concepts

Stationary Stochastic Process

A random or stochastic process is a collection of random variables ordered in time. A stochastic process is said to be stationary if its mean and variance are constant over time and the value of covariance between two time periods depend only on the distance or the gap between the two time periods and not the actual time at which the covariance is computed. In the time series literature, such a stochastic process is known as a weekly stationary or second order stationarity or covariance stationarity.

During recent years ultrasonography has become an indispensable diagnostic modality in human and veterinary medicine because of its non-invasive nature, providing visualization of internal organs, and quick results. Birth of ultrasound took place in 1794 when an Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani discovered that bats used sound waves for navigation. Since then continuous developments and advancements in the technology have made the sonography a dependable and an easily accessible diagnostic modality.

Introduction

Solid waste management is a worldwide problem and it is becoming more and more complicated day by day due to rise in population, industrialization and changes in our life style. Large quantities of organic wastes are produced from agricultural production and farming systems which include animal manures, sewage biosolids, food wastes, and industrial organic wastes. Globally, these wastes have the potential of increasing soil and water pollution as because they are currently disposed of by land-spreading, incineration, or into landfills. As much as 50%-60% of the total wastes that are disposed into landfills are organic wastes. If these were turned into materials useful in farming system, there would be great savings in primary plant nutrients and metabolic energy.

Vermicomposting has been arising as an innovative eco-technology for the method by which compost or mixed manure of organic origin or conversion of various types of waste is prepared by the use of earthworms. It is a controlled degradation (non-thermophilic, boioxidative process) of the organic wastes for the consumption of earthworms, helps in the recycling of food wastes, reduces the waste bulk density and the final product may contain hormone-like substance which accelerates the plant growth. Vermicompost is humus like, finely granulated and stabilized material which can be used as a soil conditioner to reintegrate the organic matter to the agricultural soils. Industrial wastes remain largely unutilized and often cause environmental problems like ground and surface water pollution, foul odours, occupying vast land areas etc. Non-toxic and organic industrial wastes could be potential raw material for vermitechnology. In the last two decades, vermin-technology has been applied for the management of industrial wastes and sludges and to convert them into vermicompost for land restoration practices. The success of the process depends upon several process parameters like quality of raw material, pH, temperature, moisture, aeration etc., type of vermicomposting system and earthworm species used. Vermicomposting and vermiculture are two interlinked and interdependent processes where vermiculture can be done in the presence of decomposable waste organic matter

Elephants are the simple stomached animals and colon is associated with digestion, predominantly. Elephants are the herd animals (gregarious in nature) and belong to the matriarchal groups (Leader of herd is usually a cow elephant)

In the last chapter, we have broadly introduced the concept of tracer hydrology and also the concepts of isotopes as tracers, their characteristics and measurement techniques. In this chapter let us see the basis of application of each group of isotope tracers, injected and environmental.

What are the different groups of isotope tracers used in hydrology and how are they classified?

Genetic Basis of Heterosis

There are three theories to explain the genetic basis of heterosis: (1) dominance hypothesis, (2) over-dominance hypothesis and (3) epistasis.

Dominance Hypothesis

Davenport (1908) first proposed this hypothesis and he considered that heterosis is a consequence of action and interaction of favourable dominant genes brought together in a hybrid. Bruce, Keeble and Pellew explained it in 1910. This hypothesis suggests that at each locus the dominant allele have favourable effect, while recessive allele has unfavourable effect. In heterozygous state, deleterious effects of recessive alleles are masked by their dominant alleles. Thus, heterosis results from masking of harmful effects of recessive alleles by their dominant alleles. The harmful effects of recessive alleles, which becomes homozygous due to inbreeding. Therefore, according to dominance hypothesis, heterosis is not the result of heterozygosity; it is the result of prevention of expression of harmful recessive allele by their dominant alleles (Fig.1). In this hypothesis, there are two objections (i) the first objection relates to the failure in isolation of homozygous lines for all the dominant genes, and (ii) the second objection is directed at the symmetrical distribution in F₂. Both the objections are discussed below:

Individuality tells us what an animal seems to be; his pedigree tells us what he ought to be, but the performance of his progeny tells us what he is
Effectiveness of selection depends on ability to recognize those animals, which possess superior inheritance. Those superior animals must be mated together for the production of offspring. The aids available to estimate the breeding value of an animal is through the phenotype of an animal or its relatives.

ABSTRACT

Folivorous bats consume flowers and fruits, effecting seed dispersal and pollination. Adaptation of plants according to the type of pollinator is called pollination syndrome. Some of the adaptations of bat-pollinated syndromes are nocturnal anthesis

Bathua is an old plant that is also known as lamb’s quarters or cheel bhaji. Its scientific name is Chenopodium album. In India, the plant leaves are boiled and consumed like other green vegetables. Chenopodium is a weedy annual plant with a high growth rate. This is completely natural and a distinguishing feature of the plant. When the leaves mature, the powdery residue disappears. Look for younger leaves if eating raw. Otherwise, look for sturdy, robust leaves that aren’t wilted.

Botany and taxonomy Chenopodium album is a weedy annual plant belonging to the Chenopodium genus. 

This chapter explains how B-cell receptors, T-cell receptors and major histocompatibility complex molecules participate in antigen recognition. It differentiates MHC class I and class II pathways and describes the processing of endogenous and exogenous antigens. The roles of dendritic cells, macrophages and B lymphocytes as professional antigen-presenting cells are examined. Topics include MHC restriction, antigenic peptides, proteasomal degradation, ubiquitination and recognition by CD4-positive and CD8-positive T lymphocytes. The chapter also discusses superantigens, opsonization, phagocytosis, T-independent antigens and species-specific MHC systems such as BoLA and the avian B complex. These concepts explain the initiation of adaptive immune responses.

1) Anthracnose
Diagnostic Symptoms
• All the above ground parts are affected. However, the characteristic symptoms appear on pods.
• On cotyledons, spots are sunken dark brown or black with pink spore mass.
• Seedling infection results in collapse of seedling.
• Spots on leaves appear on lower side and are black. Later these may also appear on upper surface. When the infection is severe, the affected plants wither off.
• Black, sunken, circular spots of varying sizes appear on pods with bright red, yellow or orange margins. The centre of these spots later turns grey or pink due to sporulation of the pathogen. The border of these spots appear raised (Fig.1).

Bearing: Bearing is connotation of flowering and fruiting.

Bearing habit: The position of f lower bud with respect to vegetative growth of the plant after the cessation of juvenility. Different fruit plants have different habits.

Depending upon position of fruit bud, fruit trees may be categorized as under:

1. Shoot flowering: Terminal flowering: Banana, Pineapple, Mango, Litchi, Avocado Lateral flowering: Coconut, Papaya, Guava, Orange, Ber, Passion fruit, Bread fruit
2. Stem /Branch bearing: It also known as caulifluorous bearing habit. In this habit, flower and fruit appear directly from the main stem or branch. Example: Jackfruit, Cocoa, Durian,
3. Spur bearing: It is a shot stubby shoot of more than one year age which bears fruit bud in many fruit plants. Example: Apple, Pear, Peach, Plum, Cherry, Grape, Apricot etc

Bearing

Bearing is connotation of flowering and fruiting. When a fruit tree flowers and fruits, it is said in bearing condition. Different fruits have different bearing habits, inflorescences, types of flower, mode and medium of pollination, pollen viability and all these account a lot for the bearing of fruit plants.

Bearing habit

If one observes a mango tree, he/she may find it does produce the fruits terminally on a shoot and it citrus he/she finds the fruits always produced laterally in the leaf axils. The manner or patter in which a plant produces its fruit is known as bearing habit or fruiting habit. Bearing habits are specific to the kind of plant. In determining the bearing habit of any plant three points are to be considered.