eChapters

The original divisions of the class insecta are a matter of dispute and it is not easy to decide which division to use many, different original order and groups are recognised by different experts and which one is best will no doubt remain problem. The words taxonomy, systematics and classification have been used alternatively for the same subject by various scientists. However Simpson 1964 has attempted to segregate these. According to him classification is the order of animals into groups on the basis of their relationship that is association of contiguity similarity or both. Systematic is the scientific study of the kinds and diversity of organism and of any and all relationships among them, while taxonomy is the theoretical study of classification including its bases, principal procedures and rule. All animal species are segregated into small and large groups on the basis of their comparative similarities and dissimilarities. The largest group is called phyllum as followed by class, order, family, genus-species and sub-species respectively. The Phylum, class, order, genus, species etc. The division of class insecta into primitive wingless insects, the apterygota and the secondary winged-insects the pterygota and included some orders. The class insecta may be divided into two subclasses.

Efficiency of pest control by insecticides is dependent on the correct type of pesticide formulation applied at the proper time and correct dosage, besides the good equipment. Equipment used to apply insecticides must be suited to the crop (or other situation in which the pest is to be controlled), to the scale of operation, and to the formulation of chemical to be applied. In the long run, it is good economy to buy the best equipment available.

Application equipment of high quality means not only good, durable construction but also good design that gives it a professional appearance. Because it is desirable and often necessary to utilize pesticides in a variety of ways, various types of dispensing equipment have been developed. This equipment is placed in the following categories: (1) Sprayers, (2) Dusters, and (3) Granule Applicators. In addition, specialised equipment of various sorts (such as mist machines and fog generators) are available for particular purposes. Since detailed consideration of pesticide application equipment is out of the scope of this book, only a brief consideration is given here to some important features of the main types of equipment.

The insect larva after the complete development emerges out from the egg by rupturing the egg shell chorion. It passes through several stages called as instars. Each instar is separated by a moult; the growth from larva to adult involves some degree of morphological changes or metamorphosis. The egg hatches into 1st instar larva which later moults to the second instar larva and so on until at a final moult the adult imago stage. The insect moult takes place after attaining adult except in the insect apterygote insect. In family pantatomide full insect moulting occurs. Many insects especially those with a small number of instars (mosquitoes) and (chrysocoris stolli) insect moulting occurs as Ist, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th imago instar and then after sometime adults insect emerges.

Metamorphosis of Insect: The development process by which first instar immature stage is transformed into the adult is called metamorphosis, which means literally change in the form. The developing stage is morphologically different from the adult. The degree of difference varies from slight to extreme with many intermediates stage. E.g., Cockroaches, Butterfly, Chrysocoris stolli Wolf. The insect may be grouped on dependance of degree of metamorphosis as:

Locusts are injurious to man as it destroys several human commodities. Locusts are phytophagous and feed on several plants cultivated by man. The locusts are insects belonging to the order orthoptera. The most popular insect is grasshopper. The only difference between the two types of insects is that locust can exist in two different behavioural states whereas grasshoppers do not. When the population density is low locusts behave as individuals, much like grasshopper. As the population density is high locusts gregariously behave as band of nymphs or swarms of adults. The changes in body shape and colour and in fertility, survial and migratory behaviour are accompanied by phase change. The most important locust species is the desert locust (Schistocerca-gregaria). The international pest influences various parts of Asia, Africa and Europe. Other locust species are highly injurious to mainkind like Bombay locust and Indian migratory locust (Locusta- migratoria) found all over India in its solitary phase. The monsoon months in July and August suitable are for locust multiplication conditions. The new generation produced migrate eastward into the Indian desert areas in May and June.

DEFINITION

Pheromones are chemical produced as messengers that affect the behavior of other individuals of insects. The term pheromone was introduced by Peter Karlson and Martin Liischer (1959) and is based on the Greek pherein (to transport) and hormon (to stimulate) is a chemical that triggers a natural behavioural response in another member of the same species. There are alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones. And many are others that affect behaviour or physiology. Their use among insects has been particularly well documented, although many vertebrates and plants also communicate using pheromones. Pheromones are chemicals released by an organism into its environment enabling it to communicate with other members of its own species.

COMMON INSECT PESTS AND THEIR CONTROL

Since, insects are the most successful and one among the strongest rivals of man in the competition of existence. Due to their immense tendency of producing numerous viable propagules (eggs) i.e., their high fecundity, their population graph takes a sharp peak in a very short span of time.

A time reaches when the population of an insect type reaches to the level where from it starts causing inconvenience or injury to man, plants, domesticated animals and other human belongings, at such a juncture they are termed as insect pests.

Many, workers are of the view that “insects capable of causing 5 or more than 5% of damage to the crops, stored products, domesticated animals and other human dependences will be termed as pests”. Thus, if an insect causes a loss of less than 5% will not be considered as a pest. Moreover insect pests which cause a damage of 5-10% are said to be minor pests and those which cause a loss of more than 10% of yield are said to be major pests.

Silk is a way of life in India. Over thousands of years, it has become an inseparable part of Indian culture and tradition. No ritual is complete without silk being used as a wear in some form or the other. Sericulture and Silk Textiles Industry is one of the major sub-sectors comprising the textiles sector. Sericulture is an agro-based cottage industry. Sericulture refers to the mass-scale rearing of silk producing organisms in order to obtain silk. Sericulture is an agro-based labour intensive industry. The major activities involved in a sericulture industry are:

1. Cultivation of silkworm food plants
2. Rearing of silkworms for the production of raw silk
3. Reeling the cocoons for unwinding the silk filament and
4. Other post-cocoon processes such as twisting, dyeing, weaving, printing and finishing.

Introduction

Indian agriculture is in a phase of transition from subsistence to high-tech agribusiness. This has ushered in an era where entrepreneurship is viewed as a strategic intervention in rural development. As a result, promotion of rural enterprises has gained great significance as an instrument for improved farm earnings, employment and women empowerment. It implies development of agriculture through farm diversification, value addition and development of agro-processing industries that provides autonomy, independence and reduced need for social support to the farmers. Improved farm-industry linkages along with great export potential will be added advantages. In this development scenario, agriculture, specifically high value horticultural crops like fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, plantation crops, medicinal and aromatic plants among others that ensure maximum returns to the growers with multiple scopes for value addition hold great promise. In fact, horticultural crops become a necessary condition for improving the living standards of farmers and ensuring nutritional security of the nation. The concept of nutritional security goes beyond food security to include adequate availability of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals in addition to calorie and protein needs of the people supplied through food grains. Therefore, the spectacular increase in food grain production and a reasonable overall agricultural performance has failed to eradicate malnutrition as can be inferred from Table 1. It indicates that the Global Hunger Index (GHI), a more comprehensive tool used to measure and track hunger, ranks India (97 out of 118 developing countries) in the category of serious hunger behind Bangladesh (90/118). More disturbing are the rates of growing malnutrition among Indian households. As such, nutritional security becomes a more relevant indicator of food security as we move up the development ladder

Introduction

Entrepreneurship is regarded as one of the most important factors that contribute to economic development of a country. The current epoch of development is marked by structural changes in developing economies to create new opportunities of entrepreneurship. This is largely made possible by liberal policy interventions that foster enhancement of enterprises of all hues. Unlike previously, in every country, an entrepreneur is looked upon as an invaluable contributor to economic growth and development. This is more important in developing economies, as ‘entrepreneurship development’ has multiplier effects as it invariably fulfils other important pre requisites of development, viz. innovation, technological development, new institutions and human resource development. To put it in other words, without enterprise and entrepreneurs, there would be little innovation, little productivity growth, and few new jobs. This is more relevant in the agricultural sector since the emphasis has now shifted from mere enhancement of productivity to value chain management, through a process of extensive entrepreneurship development. More so, this has been identified as a strategy for sustaining the livelihood options of small farmers who have found it difficult to thrive the perils of price fluctuations, increasing cost of production and several other uncertainties that have plagued the farm sector.

Introduction

The establishment and nurturing of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) is a vital input in creating dynamic market economies in the economic and social development of transition countries. Globalization has created a new world order in which entrepreneurship and systematic innovation play important roles by offering competitive advantage for much needed sustainability of SME’s. To keep up the momentum, the development process of innovative ideas into products require alignment with the changing business paradigms, market dynamics and prevailing economic scenario.

The concept of business incubation dates back to 1950s and was more of providing a real estate facility to the small scale units to tide over the early years’ resource deficiencies. These are called the first generation incubators, which were first established in United States. Later on, the idea of business incubation diffused over different countries, and by the mid of 80s the incubators started providing services like business supports, accelerating the learning curve, including knowledge based services. These are termed as second generation incubators. The third generation of incubators provides the additional facility of networking also to the incubated companies. The importance of networking led to the establishment of virtual incubators or networked incubators, where physical infrastructure has less sanctity. Business accelerators appeared in the mid 2000s, and by now the concept of business incubation is spread all over the world. There exist almost 9000 business incubators in the world.

Introduction

Fruits and vegetables are very important in a balanced diet. India has become the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Though, the production of fruits and vegetables make us believe in our strength for self-sufficiency, a significant qualitative and quantitative loss occurs in the produce from harvest till consumption. For self sufficiency and also for processing, export and to meet additional requirements, a lot of emphasis need to be given to reduce post harvest losses besides increasing production and productivity of fruits and vegetables. Though, processing plays an important role in conservation and effective utilisation of these perishable commodities, only less than three per cent of total production of fruits and vegetables are processed in India. The new industrial policy has placed this sector in the list of high priority areas.

Fruit and vegetable processing industry in the country is in a nascent and primitive stage. Number of establishments in the organized sector is less compared with several developed and developing nations. The technologies adopted for processing, preservation and value addition in medium, small and tiny industries are primitive and outdated. Processing of fruits and vegetables into various products using proper cost effective technology is a viable tool for improving economic status of farmers as well as our country. Fruit and vegetable preservation methods are broadly classified as (i) Physical methods: This includes removal of heat, addition of heat, removal of water and irradiation, (ii) Chemical methods: like salting or brining, addition of sugar and heating and by addition of chemical preservatives, (iii) Fermentation and (iv) Judicious combination of one or more of the above methods for synergistic effect.

Introduction

Banana plants are monocotyledonous, perennial and important crop in the tropical and sub tropical world regions. Traded plantain (Musa paradisiaca AAB) and other cooking bananas (Musa ABB) are almost entirely derived from AA-BB hybridization of M. acuminata (AA) and M. balbisiana (BB). Plantain and cooking bananas are very similar to unripe dessert bananas (M. cavendish AAA) in exterior appearance, although often larger. Main difference in the former is the starchy flesh rather than sweet and they are used unripe and require cooking. Dessert bananas are consumed usually as ripe fruits; whereas ripe and unripe plantain fruits are usually consumed boiled or fried. Large numbers of cultivars totalling about 70 are grown in different parts of the country. Some of the popular cultivars are Dwarf Cavendish, Robusta, Poovan, Nyali Poovan (Elakki Bale or Ney Poovan) Rasthali, Virupakshi, Monthan, Karpooravallli, Nendran or Rajeli. (www.pnbkrishi.com)

Commercial cultivation of Nendran has picked up rapidly in Tamil Nadu in the recent past. Nendran bunch has 5-6 hands weighing about 12-15 kg. Fruits have a distinct neck with thick green skin turning buff yellow on ripening. Fruits remain as starchy even on ripening. Keeping banana as a whole fruit for long time is not feasible due to its poor shelf life. The processed products from banana are also very limited at present and there is a good market potential for banana products such as banana figs, banana powder, banana jam, banana jelly and beverage (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry).

Introduction

Mango (Mangifera indica Linn.) is one of the most nutritious tropical fruits, native to Southern Asia and especially Eastern India. Mango belongs to Anacardiaceae family and it was disseminated all over the world in the beginning of sixteenth century, and there are currently around thousand known varieties of mango. It is the dominant tropical fruit variety produced worldwide, followed by pineapple, papaya and avocado, all of which are considered as major tropical fruits. Global production of mango in 2015-16 was estimated to be about 44 million tons, accounting for nearly 50% of world tropical fruit production.

Mango is the most important fruit of India and is known as “King of fruits”. Mango is cultivated in 2,312 thousand ha and the production is around 15.03 million tons, contributing 40.48% of the total world production. Main mango producing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Total export of mangoes from India is 59.22 thousand tons, valuing Rs. 162.92 crores during 2015-16. India exports mango to over 40 countries worldwide. Major importing countries during 2015-16 were UAE, Bangladesh, UK, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. Important mango varieties are Dashehari, Langra, Mallika, Amrapali, Bombay Green, Banganapalli, Totapuri, Neelam etc.

Introduction

Pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) is cultivated commercially in the tropics and parts of the subtropics of the world. It is greatly appreciated by consumers due to its pleasant sweet taste and flavour in addition to its nutritional and health promoting properties. Varieties differ greatly in both taste and shape. Each variety also has local types. Kew/Giant Kew variety is a leading commercial variety. Fruits are big sized (1.5-2.0 kg), oblong and tapering slightly towards the crown. Fruits with broad and shallow eyes become yellow when fully ripe. Flesh is light yellow, almost fibreless and very juicy. Queen fruits are rich yellow in colour, weighing 0.9-1.3 kg each. Flesh is deep golden yellow, less juicy than Kew, crisp textured, sweet with pleasant aroma and flavour. Baby-pineapples are mostly less than 500 g (Singh, 2016).

Pineapple fruits are consumed fresh. However, because of the unique structure of the fruit and the presence of very active protease, fruit does not find extensive use as a table fruit and hence is mostly processed into a number of products. Many types of value added products are obtained from pineapples which have got good domestic and international market. Proper processing and value addition will not only help to provide wide varieties of products to the market, but also help to reduce the losses of pineapple and will provide additional income to farmers.

Introduction

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) is valued as one of the most important commercial horticultural crops in India, belonging to the family Anacardiaceae and widely grown in tropical areas. The name Anacardium refers to the shape of the fruit, which looks like an inverted heart (ana means “upwards” and - cardium means “heart”). It is native to Brazil, introduced to India by Portuguese for afforestation and soil conservation and now grown widely in the traditional and non-traditional regions of our country. Cashew is well adapted to warm humid climatic conditions. It is restricted to altitudes below 700 m, where temperature does not fall below 20°C for prolonged periods.

India is the second largest producer, processor as well as consumer of cashew. Yet, nearly 50% of the requirement of cashew processing industries is met through import. As against the processing requirement of approximately 20 lakh MT per annum, the domestic production of raw cashew nut is only about 9 lakh MT per annum. Major cashew producing states in India are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, West Bengal and interior tracts of Chasttisgarh, A & N islands, Gujarat, Jharkand and North Eastern regions. Though, there is limited scope for expansion of cashew producing area there is scope to increase income through cashew based commercial enterprises.

Introduction

Modern agricultural systems that promote cultivation of a very limited number of crop species have relegated indigenous crops to the status of neglected and underutilised crop species. This has caused a decline in crop diversity in agricultural systems across the world and current research efforts have identified these underutilised crops as having potential to reduce food and nutrition insecurity. This is because of their adaptability to low input agricultural systems and better nutritional composition. Underutilised crops are otherwise known as undervalued or neglected or development opportunity crops (DOCs) (Kahane et al., 2013). They are already cultivated, but underutilised regionally or globally giving relatively low global production and market value. These underutilised crop species have also been described as “minor”, “orphan”, “promising” and “little-used”. Many of these traditional crops grown for food, fiber, fodder, oil and as sources of traditional medicine play a major role in the subsistence of local communities. With good adaptation to often marginal lands, they constitute an important part of the local diet of communities providing valuable nutritional components, which are often lacking in staple crops. Global Facilitation Unit (GFU) for Underutilised species define underutilised crops as, those plant species with under-exploited potential for contributing to food security, health (nutritional/ medicinal), income generation and environmental services.

Introduction
Cocoa, Theobroma cacao L. popularly known as ‘Food of Gods’, the original source of chocolate, is indigenous to tropical humid forests on the lower eastern equatorial slopes of the Andes in South America. Cocoa spread to all over the tropical regions of the world from 18^th century onwards and is now grown in 58 countries covering 6.9 million ha worldwide, producing 4 million tons of cocoa. Cocoa is an important agricultural commodity and the key raw material in chocolate manufacture. Unlike large, industrialized crops, 80 to 90% of cocoa comes from small, family-run farms, with approximately five to six million cocoa farmers worldwide. Total production has increased by 13% from 4.3 million metric tons in 2008 to 4.8 million metric tons in 2012. This represents an average year-over-year production increase of 3.1%. This rate of increase may slow in the coming years, as cocoa trees are sensitive to changing weather patterns. Periods of drought and of excessive rain or wind can negatively impact the yield, and will continue to fluctuate as climate change intensifies. Most of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa (70%) followed by Asia and Oceania (15.6%) and Latin America (14.1%). World leaders in cocoa bean production are Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil, Ecuador, The Dominican Republic, and Malaysia, supplying 90% of the world production.

Introduction

Spices are high value export oriented crops extensively used for flavouring food and beverages, medicines, cosmetics, perfumery etc. Spices constitute a significant and indispensable segment of culinary art and essentially add flavour, colour and taste to food preparations. Farm level processing operations are important for value addition and product diversification of spices. It is essential that various operations like washing, threshing, blanching, drying, cleaning, grading, storing and packaging ensure proper conservation of the basic qualities like aroma, flavour, pungency, colour etc. Each of these operations enhances the quality of the produce and the value of the spice.

India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices in the world. India produces more than 65 spices in different varieties out of the 109 spices listed by International Standards Organisation (ISO). India produces around 5.8 million tons of spices annually (2012-13), of this about 10% of the total produce is exported to over 150 countries. The USA, Europe, Australia, Japan, the Middle East and Oceanic countries are the major importers of Indian spices. Estimated world trade in spices is 1.05 million tons valued at 2750 million US $, out of which India has a significant share of 48% in quantity and 43% in value.

Introduction

Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera L.), a perennial horticultural crop, is a symbol of national and international integration involving more than 93 producing countries and more than 140 consuming countries. It is eulogised as ‘Kalpavriksha’- the ‘tree of heaven’ as each and every part of the palm is useful to mankind in one way or other. There are countless uses of this coconut palm. It is bestowed with multiple benefits like health, wealth and shelter to mankind. It is also denoted as “heavenly tree”, “tree of abundance” and “nature’s supermarket”. India is the largest producer of coconut followed by Indonesia and Philippines. In India, Tamil Nadu ranks first in production followed by Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. These states account for more than 90 per cent of the area and production of coconut in India. However, it is also cultivated with varying success in other states like Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Orissa, Tripura, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

Introduction

Coconut is a versatile crop with several uses to mankind. Apart from the main product, the by-products obtained from the coconut crop have many alternative uses, thus, adding to the total value of the crop (Popenoe, 1969). A tremendous scope exists for use of coconut in a variety of non-food products. The development of cottage industries to produce such products is recommended to increase income of coconut growers. For historical reasons, cultivation of coconut and value addition of non-food products from coconut have taken deep roots in the state of Kerala. The rapid expansion of coconut cultivation in non-traditional areas increased the production of coconut and the industry has also developed gradually in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Among the non-food products of coconut, charcoal, activated carbon, and shell powder and coir or coconut fibre assume commercial importance. Other parts of the palm especially coconut wood and leaves are recently gaining attention.

Introduction

In an era of liberalization of world trade where there is a continuous inflow and outflow of goods into and from a country, the need for developing competitiveness to sustain in global markets is extremely important. Technological progress and scientific advancements go hand in hand for the economic growth of a country and the Global Competitiveness index (GCI) which was revised in 2006 includes several factors such as institutions, infrastructure, health, primary and higher education, business sophistication, innovation, training etc. of nations to categorize them on the basis of competitiveness (Baig, 2006). Successful entrepreneurship development is a primary driver for the sustainable economic progress of any nation. The term ‘entrepreneurship’ has been defined by Cole (1968) as ‘“Entrepreneurship is the purposeful activities of an individual or a group of associated individuals undertaken to initiate, maintain or organize a profit oriented business unit for the production or distribution of economic goods and services”. An entrepreneur is an enthusiastic individual committed to bring change in the society through the successful implementation of innovative ideas. However, bringing together a package of resources by an entrepreneur for effective transformation into a profitable venture may require inputs from several institutions such as research and development sectors, financing organizations, and training and education providers. The role of R & D institutions in providing innovative technologies having commercial value and the requisite capacity building for prospective entrepreneurs is of prime significance. In this context, ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute under the aegis of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi is a premier research organization dedicated to the research and development of tropical tuber crops and has developed a plethora of technologies for the processing and value addition of tuber crops.

Introduction

India is one of the major producers and exporters of honey. Diversity of bee flora and varied agro-climatic conditions in the country offers enormous potential for the development and growth of apiculture. Honey is a supersaturated sugary material produced mainly by honey bees from the sweet substances of plants (floral or extra-floral nectaries) or insect. Honey bee forager (field bee/worker honey bee) collects the nectar and converts the same into honey by a process of regurgitation and evaporation and stores in the honey comb. The sweetness of the honey is largely by monosaccharide viz., fructose and glucose. Honey is either monofloral or polyfloral as it is collected by the bees. The physical properties of the harvested honey depend upon the source from it is derived, water content, temperature, proportion of the simple sugars present and the method of processing. At low temperature (below 17°C), honey gets crystallized. Honey is also hygroscopic, capable of absorbing water from the atmosphere. India produces approx. 65,000 mt of honey per year (Kejariwal, 2015).

Introduction

Mushrooms are fleshy spore-bearing fruiting bodies of fungi, produced above ground on soil or on their food sources. Total number of useful fungi having edible and medicinal values is over 2,300 species. Like green plants, they do not contain chlorophyll and as a result cannot manufacture their own food. In this respect, they are like animals because; they feed themselves by digesting other organic matter. They are a large heterogeneous group having various shapes, size, appearance and edibility.

The use of mushrooms as food is very old. People harvested mushrooms from the wild for thousands of years for food and medicine. The Egyptians regarded mushrooms as food for pharaohs. The Greeks and Romans described them as food for God and served only on festive occasions. The first professional growers of mushrooms were the Chinese. China is the major producer and consumer of both edible and medicinal mushrooms. As early as 1313, a document was published which described the cultivation method for Shiitake on wood logs. Even older is the cultivation of the wood ear mushroom (Auricularia spp) of which sources indicates that it was cultivated from the year 600 A.D. onwards. The white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, was domesticated in France.

Introduction

Food safety and quality is the most important issue in the global food supply chain. Quality and safety of fresh as well as processed foods have an important role in the export of these commodities. Increasingly stringent food safety and agricultural health standards in industrialized countries pose major challenges for developing countries to establish in the international markets for high-value food products, such as fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, nuts and spices. Yet, in many cases, such standards have played a positive role, providing the catalyst and incentives for the modernization of export supply and regulatory systems and the adoption of safer and more sustainable production and processing practices. This has created an increased need for updated research and development to demonstrate and provide adequate evidences for their ability to identify and control food safety hazards, and deal specifically with food quality and safety.

Food quality is an increasingly important factor in the production and marketing of biological products. Consumers are becoming more discerning as their affluence increases, and hence the food industry/suppliers of products must meet these demands if they are to maintain or increase market share. The term ‘quality’ is one of the most defined terms used in food industry today. Quality may be defined as ‘the totality of features and characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy a given need’. The first part, ‘the totality of features and characteristics of a product…..’ concerns objective factors related to the product. The second part, ‘…… to satisfy a given need’, concerns subjective factors related to user or consumer of goods.

Introduction

Traditionally, Indian economy was characterised as an agrarian economy for the reasons that majority of the population were dependant on agriculture and allied activities and more than fifty per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was derived from agricultural sector. However, paradoxically, despite a drastic decline in the share of agricultural sector to GDP wherein it declined from 56.5 per cent in 1950-51 to 15.11 per cent in 2016-17 (Statisticstimes.com) Indian economy is still characterised as an agrarian economy. But, it would not be inappropriate to state that Indian agricultural sector is at crossroads, or it would be rather safe to comment that for any further advancement of the agricultural sector, value addition is imperative. During the post independence period, the sector had witnessed commendable progress attributing to a shift from an undesirable situation of ‘ship to mouth’ to ‘farm to mouth’. It is obvious that as a result of various programmes, projects and schemes tailored for development of agricultural sector, India had attained self sufficiency in food crops and other agricultural/horticultural products. However, the darker side is that the Indian peasants are still deprived of a remunerative price for their products as well as a respected status in the society which in turn is arresting further advancement and progress of the sector. Thus, it could be concluded that future of agricultural sector in India vests on the adoption of appropriate marketing strategies, supply chain management and value addition initiatives for the prosperity of our farming community in specific and agricultural sector in general. It is in this backdrop, the NITI Aayog has proposed various reforms in India’s agriculture sector, including liberal contract farming, direct purchase from farmers by private players, direct sale by farmers to consumers, and single trader license, among other measures, in order to double rural income in the next five years. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, has been conducting various consultations and seeking suggestions from numerous stakeholders in agriculture sector, in order to devise a strategy to double the income of farmers by 2022.

Introduction

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is the largest edible fruit in the world. It is a seasonal fruit found in almost all the humid tropical regions of the world. It is very popular all over India and is believed to be of Indian origin. Flesh of jackfruit is starchy and fibrous and is a source of dietary fiber. Varieties are distinguished according to characteristics of the fruit’s flesh. In Kerala, two varieties of jackfruit predominate: varikka and koozha. Varikka has a slightly hard inner flesh when ripe, while the inner flesh of ripe koozha fruit is very soft and almost dissolving. Strong aroma of the fruit accounts popularity of its processed products. Each year, approximately 30-50% of the total harvested fruit is spoiled because of lack of post-harvest processing in India

Jackfruit has more protein, calcium, thiamine, riboflavin and carotene than banana. Edible bulbs of ripe jackfruit are consumed for their fine taste and pleasant aroma. The fibre content helps to protect the colon mucous membrane by decreasing exposure time as well as binding to cancer-causing chemicals in the colon. Fresh fruit has small amounts of carotenoid and flavonoid pigments such as ß carotene, xanthin, lutein and cryptoxanthin-ß. Together, these compounds play vital roles in antioxidant and vision functions.

Introduction

World’s population is continuously on the rise, triggering the demand for food. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2011) observed that 70% increase in food production will be needed to sustain the globe’s population by 2050. Though, increase in agricultural production and productivity is said to be the panacea to solve food security issues, the greatest challenge that need to be addressed is the inefficiencies in the supply chain; instigated by insufficient storage capacities and perishability of food products. Food preservation and processing is highlighted in this context, as it serves to conserve/improve the quality and reduce food loss due to wastage as well as add nutritional security.

Introduction

It is common that after a rocket start, entrepreneur’s lack the motivation to scale up business and eventually fails to succeed in the market. There are many factors that may lead to such failures or even success stories, the most important being the entrepreneurial skills and traits that enable business to sustain in the competitive world.

What makes an entrepreneur competent in running a business? According to Fisher and Koch (2008), ‘Entrepreneurs are born; the advantage that they derive by birth being the natural advantage. However, we have changed our mindset now-a-days, that it is possible to nurture (make) an entrepreneur; the connotation points out that, right kind of education and training can inspire people with capacities to become motivated to be an entrepreneur.

In this chapter, our focus will be on identifying the entrepreneurial capacities in oneself, after reviewing the essential characteristics and traits that an entrepreneur should possess. Also we try to put forward a framework for entrepreneurship, fitting into the canvas of a food based entrepreneur.

Introduction

Compared to the previous decades, the scope and power of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in agriculture and biotechnology has grown substantially and their international reach has expanded. The IP regime has set up the stage for healthy competition among research centres and industries for developing and seeking novel technologies. However, compared to developed countries, once the technology is created, not much attention is paid in the developing nations on their commercial, policy, environmental, ethical and societal implications. Hence, better techniques are needed for their management, to create policy and educate professionals to commercialize and govern them. Due to the critical role of technology in a competitive environment, strategic technology management is important for farmers and agri-enterprises too. The translation of nascent technologies into new products/ services and their commercialization requires some amount of hand-holding, mentoring and incubation support.

Introduction

The food processing industry is a sunrise sector and contributes around 14% of Gross Domestic Product, 13% of India’s exports and 6% of total industrial investment. The Indian food retail market is expected to reach Rs 61 lakh crore by 2020 and the food processing industry accounts for 32% of the country’s total food market. This is considered as one of the largest industries in India and is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth.

The drift towards urbanisation and busier way of life, pave path to tremendous bounce in the food market. Nowadays consumer’s approach to being fit is not about going to gym, but also consulting dietitians and adopting an adjusted eating routine. Consumer’s behaviour concerning food consumption has undergone significant changes as a result of the increased awareness about different value added food products, brands, and cuisines, and also their greater willingness to experiment and ability to pay. It leads to the concept of food security in to nutritional security. Companies are offering a wider range of products to the consumers as a result of their investments into product innovation, research and development. At present, various value added products with versatile colour, shape, ingredients etc are available in worldwide market. Among this, some food items like processed fruits and vegetables and dairy products have witnessed a momentous growth in export also. Recent surveys indicated that for companies manufacturing processed foods and beverages, rise in the obesity rate is a great challenge. Hence, efforts were made to develop commercially viable, new process protocols to design healthy products from underutilised food commodities.

Introduction

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a staple food of over half the world’s people and is grown on approximately 146 million hectares, more than 10 per cent of total available land. Ninety seven per cent of the world’s rice is grown by less developed countries, mostly in Asia. Post harvest losses are considered to be contributed by storage alone, and not much attention was paid to losses occurring during harvesting, transport, threshing, drying, milling and pre-milling treatments. Quantitative loss of food grains was the main concern of the producers and the consumers. Qualitative losses at various stages were not fully recognized, but systematic studies by different organizations revealed that these losses are enormous and should be prevented. These losses cumulatively could be as high as 40 per cent and are normally accompanied by loss of quality also. Quality loss of products can take place at all stages but more particularly during drying or curing of harvested crops, storage, and milling and pre-milling treatments. Post-harvest attention is essential if the grains of higher production are to be fully exploited. Also the quality loss occurring in food grains can be extremely serious if the farming community is not aware of them.

Introduction

Rice is the major staple food for more than 70 percent of the Indian population. India cultivates more than 4,000 varieties and hybrids of rice to cater to varied consumer preferences. A portion of the total cultivated rice is also used for processed products like snacks, savouries and bakery items. India was the largest exporter of rice in 2015-16 followed by Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan. Rice production forecast is higher at 105 MMT in 2016/17 compared to 2015/16 production of 103 MMT (India Grain and Feed Annual, 2016). Rice milling is the oldest and the leading agro processing industry of the country. Paddy grain is milled either in raw condition or after parboiling, mostly by single hullers of which over 82,000 are registered in the country. Further, over the years, there has been a steady growth of improved rice mills in the country. Most of these have capacities ranging from 2 tons /hr to 10 tons/ hour. At present, it has a turnover of more than 25,500 crore per annum. It processes about 85 million tons of paddy per year and provides staple food grain and other valuable products required by over 60% of the population. Though, rice milling is a wide spread business undertaken in India, commercializing value added products is now gaining customer attraction paving way to merge milling and value addition under a single roof. The desirability of the working population to get foods, particularly rice based products in RTE and RTC forms has thrown a positive approach to new and emerging entrepreneurs to take up a venture in commencing rice based food processing industry.

Introduction

21^st century challenges like climate change, water scarcity, increasing world population, rising food prices, and other socio-economic impacts are expected to generate a great threat to agriculture and food security worldwide, especially for the poorest people who live in arid and sub-arid regions. Millet is one of the oldest foods known to humans and possibly the first cereal grain to be used for domestic purposes. Millet has been used in Africa and India as a staple food for thousands of years. Typical grain texture and hard seed coat of millets increase their keeping quality but make them difficult to process as well as to cook in convenient form. Absence of appropriate primary processing technologies to prepare ready-to-use or ready-to-cook (RTC) products and also the secondary as well as tertiary processing technologies to prepare ready-to-eat value added products from millets are the major limiting factors for their diversified food uses.

Millets have relatively poor digestibility and low bio-availability of minerals due to the presence of inherent anti-nutritional factors. The difficulties in millet grain processing present a challenge but nutritional as well as health benefits and consumer demand for health foods provide opportunities in processing, develop suitable technology for newer products and process mechanization. This change in technology and consumer food preference would help in increasing the area under millets, maintaining ecological balance, ensuring food security, prevent malnutrition and increase the scope for utilization of millet grains on industrial scale.

Introduction

Pulses are major and cheap sources of protein in Indian vegetarian diet, providing most of the essential amino acids. Pulses are mainly consumed in the form of dehusked split pulses (Dal); and have 15-24% proteins. Various types of pulses grown are pigeon pea, chickpea, black gram, green gram, lentil, etc. Pulses are consumed because of body building properties due to the presence of various amino acids. By-products of pulses like leaves, pod coats and bran are fed to animals in the form of dry fodder. Some pulse crops like gram, lobia, urd bean & moong bean are fed to animals as green fodder.

Introduction

Soybean (Glycine max) is also known as the wonder bean or miracle bean or “golden grain” due to its diversified applicability. Soybean has an important place in world’s oilseed cultivation scenario, due to its high productivity, profitability and vital contribution towards maintaining soil fertility. The crop also has a prominent place as the world’s most important seed legume, which contributes 25% to the global vegetable oil production, about two thirds of the world’s protein concentrate for livestock feeding and is a valuable ingredient in formulated feeds for poultry and fish. The major soybean producing nations are United States, Brazil and Argentina. These three countries dominate in global production, accounting for 80% of the world’s soybean supply. Global production of soybean has grown at a CAGR of 2.78% from 215.69 million metric tons in 2004-05 to 283.79 million metric tons in 2013-14.

India stands 5^th in global production of soybean. In India, soybean cultivation started in early 1970s, but it has emerged as number one among oilseed crops covering around 11 m ha area with total production of around 11.5 m tons. At present, the average productivity of soybean is about 1.3 tons/ha and it can be easily doubled in near future. Production of soybean in India is dominated by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh which contribute 89% of the total production. Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat contribute the remaining 11% production.

About 85% of world’s soybeans are processed annually into soybean meal and oil. Approximately 98% of soybean meal is crushed and further processed into animal feed with the balance used to make soy flour and proteins. Of the oil fraction, 95% is consumed as edible oil; the rest is used for industrial products such as fatty acids, soaps and biodiesel.

Introduction

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) commonly called as Poor man’s cashew, is the 6^th most important oil seed crop in the world. It contains 48-50% oil, 26-28% protein and 11-27% carbohydrates. Groundnut is grown on 26.4 million hectare worldwide, with a total production of 37.1 million metric tons and an average productivity of 1.4 metric tons/ha. Developing countries constitute 97% of the global area and 94% of the global production of this crop (FAO, 2011). The production of groundnut is concentrated in Asia and Africa, where the crop is grown mostly by smallholder farmers under rain-fed conditions with limited inputs. Groundnuts (peanuts) are popularly used as seed oil in India. Since, they are obtained from the ground, they are called as groundnuts and also known as ‘Mungfali’ in Hindi, ‘Palleelu or Veru sanaga’ in Telugu, ‘Kadalai’ in Tamil, ‘Nilakkadala’ in Malayalam, ‘Kadale kaayi’ in Kannada, ‘Singdana’ in Gujarati and ‘Shengdaane’ in Marathi. Groundnuts are easily available round the year and almost everywhere in India. Groundnuts are also taken as snacks in many households especially in India. In reality, groundnuts are actually legumes. Since, they have all the properties of nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, etc., these are also included in the family of nuts.

Groundnut is the major oil seed of India. It accounts for 25% of total oil produced in India. Annual production of groundnut is around 9690 thousand tones. As the crop is grown in rainfed conditions, production and productivity are highly vulnerable to rainfall and exhibit huge fluctuation between the years. In India, groundnuts are produced both during Kharif (75%) and Rabi seasons (25%). Major production catchments of groundnut are located in Gujarat holding a share of 50.77% of total groundnut production, Andhra Pradesh holding a second place (12.69%) followed by Tamil Nadu (9.91%). Following are the top groundnut producing states of India (Table 1).

Introduction

India is the largest consumer and second largest producer of sugar in the world next to Brazil. Among the sugar yielding crops like sugarcane, sugar beet, palms and sorghum, sugarcane is the second most important agro-industrial crop of the country. It is the only raw material for nearly 538 sugar mills (2014-15), producing about 28 million mt of sugar annually from a sugarcane production of 366 million tons in an area of 5.307 mh. Apart from this, it is the predominant source of potable alcohol, industrial alcohol and fuel-ethanol. In India, 35 million farmers are engaged in sugarcane cultivation and another 50 million depend on employment generated by these 538 sugar factories and other related industries using sugar. Sugarcane occupies a very prominent position in the agricultural crops of India covering large areas in UP, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar (sub tropical) and Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu (tropical). On an average, white sugar production accounts for 74% of total cane produced, 14-15% is utilized for jaggery and khandsari production and the rest is utilized for other purposes including seed.

Jaggery and khandsari, the traditional Indian sweeteners are the natural mixture of sugar and molasses. If pure clarified sugarcane juice is boiled, what is left as solid is jaggery, which contains 65-85% sucrose. Khandsari sugar is a finely granulated and crystallized which contains 94 to 98% sucrose. In the early 1930’s, nearly 2/3rd of sugarcane production was utilized to manufacture these two alternate sweeteners. With the introduction of sugar mills and their multiple growth and better standard of living and higher per capita income, the demand for sweetener has shifted to white sugar which contains purely sucrose (99.7%).

Introduction

Consumption of milk is deeply rooted in our traditions, and it is an inevitable part of the Indian diet and even has ritualistic and medicinal uses. Milk is the first and one among the most nutritious foods that every mammal consumes on earth. It supplies all the nutrients needed to ensure proper growth and development in the postnatal period. Dairy foods in general are commonly considered balanced and nutritive, being frequently included as important components of a healthy diet (Pereira, 2014). Four components of milk are dominant in quantitative terms: water, fat, protein and lactose; while the minor components are minerals, enzymes, vitamins, and dissolved gases (Guetouache et al., 2014). On an average, bovine milk is composed of 87% water, 4 to 5% lactose, 3% protein, 3 to 4% fat, 0.8% minerals, and 0.1% vitamins. Milk and milk products contribute not only nourishment to the consumers, but also livelihood opportunities to farmers, processors, shopkeepers and other stakeholders in the dairy value chain.

Introduction

Fish is a source of valuable animal protein and is considered a health food. This has resulted in increased consumer demand. Fish is now more expensive than meat and other animal foods. Being a highly perishable commodity, fish require immediate processing and various options are available for the value addition of fish. Fish processing, particularly seafood processing and marketing have become highly complex and competitive and exporters are trying to process more value added products to increase their profitability. Value can be added to fish and fishery products according to the requirements of different markets. These products range from live fish and shellfish to ready to serve convenience products. In general, value added food products are raw or pre-processed commodities whose value has been increased through the addition of ingredients or processes that make them more attractive to the buyer and/or more readily usable by the consumer.

Introduction

Meat is a highly nutritious animal product relished by majority of the population in India. India produced around 6.2 million MT of meat in 2013 (FAOSTAT, 2013), standing at fifth position in world meat production and accounts for only 3 per cent of total meat production in the world (APEDA, 2017). Contribution of livestock sector to national economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) was 4.1 per cent in 2012-13 (Islam et al., 2016). The percentage of meat subjected to processing in India is only 1-2 per cent compared to 70 per cent in developed countries (Sen et al., 2013). Relatively higher proportion of poultry (7-8%) is converted into further processed poultry products. Major proportion of the meat produced in the country is derived from old and unproductive animals. Availability of spent birds is also on the rise due to the rapid growth in poultry industry. Meat from such animals and poultry has less desirable palatability attributes, especially tenderness, which makes it more suitable for processing into value added products. This will provide consumers with more acceptable, convenient, healthy and versatile products while simultaneously increasing the economic returns to the processor. The profitability of meat industry is critically dependent in deriving extra value from lower-value meat cuts. To achieve this, value must be added in the eyes of the consumer across the wide chain of value added products.

Introduction

Successful marketing is important to every business. Marketing is a critical tool for establishing awareness, attracting new customers and building lasting relationships. It is the process of planning and executing conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of your ideas, goods or services to satisfy the needs of individual consumers or organisations. It is as important to put adequate efforts on marketing your product or service, no matter whatever time you have dedicated to development of part of it.

We live in an electronic era, where the globe has shriveled into our fingertips. Customers are having lot of options to choose from. Information of what you need is reaching you within a click, that your decisions are often being guided by such information. Marketing uses communication and advertising tactics to persuade customers that your brand, including your products and services are exactly what they need. Marketing is thus crucial to your business which can have a bearing on the success rate and requires research, planning and appropriate budget allocations.

One of the important concepts in marketing is that of marketing mix. The elements of this mix are: product, pricing, physical distribution and promotion. Marketing management is that which optimizes the elements in the marketing mix, so that organisation is able to achieve its objectives while gaining customer utility. This chapter throws light on various aspects of marketing mix that an entrepreneur needs to focus upon to ensure success.

Once you have embarked upon the idea of doing (any) business, your concentration should be focused on doing things that should be relevant to maximizing returns and minimizing risks. Looking upon why businesses fail, one can find that it is usually because entrepreneurs are ill equipped to identify real business opportunities and take advantage of them, or they don’t anticipate and adapt critical changes or they fail to recognize or minimize real threats to business. Successful entrepreneurs are found to intensively pursue the path of planning by preparing business plans, for having foresight of critical incidents that would affect business and possible ways of action.

Executive summary

The enclosed project report envisages the setting up of a modern rice mill complex with attached parboiling facilities having an average processing capacity of 16 MT of paddy per day. The initial investment of the project is estimated to be Rs 480.17 lakhs. Sales Realization is assumed as constant for all the 7 years; amounted Rs 1129.2 lakhs. Pay Back Period for the project is estimated as somewhat more than 3 years. Internal Rate of Return for the project is 31%. Net Present Value is Rs.367.92 lakhs which is a positive value. It indicates that present value of cash inflows is greater than present value of cash outflows. Projected working results of the project throws light on its viability.

1.1. IMPORTANCE OF FOOD MICROBIOLOGY

Food may be defined as substances that provide nutrients, which when eaten and absorbed by the body, maintain life and growth. Food is basically energy stored in plant and animal foods in chemical form. On consumption, the stored form gets converted to physiological energy. Food is the prime necessity of life. Man has exhibited much thought and foresight in cultivating a variety of grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and oilseeds and in rearing birds and animals for use as food.

Of the three primary needs of an individual, food, clothing and shelter, ‘food’ occupies the most important place. The biodiversity of foods- cereals, millets, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruits and vegetables is varied and high in India, where we have varied agro-climatic regions from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. All the fifteen major climates in the world exist in India. India is the second largest producer of food in the world. The impact of green revolution is remarkable in India with many fold increased food production in the last five decades. The full potential of Indian agriculture can not be realized unless India emerges as a major player in the World agriculture.

World population is set to go beyond nine billion by 2050 and demand for food is likely to increase further because of growing affluence and globalization. Food security is achieved when all people have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious value added food. India is emerging as a food power in the international trade of foods. The food processing industry in India has been identified as one of thrust areas for the development of the country. It has emerged as a highly perspective sector with immense potential in food processing. The future of Indian food processing industries is bright, provided it improves its quality of products as per international standards.The quality of food processing refers to the adherence of physical, chemical, biological, nutritional and sensory parameters required to achieve the wholesomeness of a food product. Quality control has become an important aspect for food processing industry for both domestic and export markets.

Agricultural food production is increased by adopting scientific farming methods and another way to increase the availability of food is preventing the food spoilage by adopting food preservation methods. The global agricultural and fish production accounts for 50% of perishable food, which requires preservation. Only half of the perishable foods are properly protected. Application of innovative technologies to promote the production of food is indispensable to meet the demand of emerging populations. It is equally important to protect the stored food from the invasion of pests and diseases. A food saved is a food produced.

Food Processing and Preservation, branch of manufacturing that transforms raw animal, vegetable, or marine materials into tasty, nutritious, and safe food products. The industry has its roots in ancient times, as humans have always needed to obtain food and store a portion for later use. Prehistoric humans may have dried fruits in the sun and stored meat in cold areas, such as ice caves. The modern food processing and preservation industry was born in 1809, when French chef and inventor Nicolas Appert, searching for a better way to provide food for Napoleon’s army, devised a method for sterilizing food in tightly sealed glass bottles.

Today a wide variety of methods are available to maintain and enhance the appearance and taste of food. Food processing and preservation methods also create products that are convenient for consumers, such as products that are ready to eat or require minimal preparation and cooking. Combining these methods with modern distribution networks makes seasonal crops available year-round in grocery stores all over the world.

India is emerging as a food power in the international trade of foods. The immense un-tapped potential in the food processing sector in India has to be still exploited. It has been termed as ‘sun rise industry’ for improving agricultural productivity and enhancing food availability. The terms food quality management and food safety have assumed large dimensions today. In the international trade of foods, specifications have been laid down on the levels of harmful substances (chemical or biological origin), protocols have been documented on their detection and quantification in foods. We have to meet these international standards to export processed food and earn foreign exchange. The future of Indian food processing sector is bright provided it improves the quality of its products as per international standards.

Fermentation plays a major role in our diet and give the basic foods like bread, yoghurt, wine and cereal and legume based traditional fermented foods. The development of fermented food products can be considered as one of the greatest achievements of human civilization and goes back thousands of years. It arose from the necessity to conserve foods, to make them more digestible and also more enjoyable. During the centuries, man learned by trial and error to conduct the fermentation processes by changing physical and chemical parameters in the basic food ingredients. It took much longer, however, to discover the cause of fermentation processes: only towards the end of the 19th century it was demonstrated, that baker’s yeast is the cause of alcoholic fermentation. Through the development of the technique of "pure microbial culture", the basis for a controlled use of microbes in food industry was established.

The unique feature of fermented foods is the vital role of microorganisms that bring about essential bio-trasformations of the substrates during fermentation contributing number of desirable properties such as improved product shelf life, enriched diet with improved flavor and texture, increased safety, enriched nutritional supplement and probiotic functions. Fermentation is a chemical reaction carried out by many types of microorganisms to obtain energy. Fermentation is a process for production of a product by means of mass culture of microorganisms. In fermentation, microorganisms breakdown complex organic compounds into simpler substances. Although chemical changes and microbial growth usually mean food spoilage, in some cases fermentation is desirable and microorganisms are actually added to foods. For example, in the production of beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages, yeasts convert sugar into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. In the making of yogurt and cheese, lactic acid bacteria convert lactose, a sugar found in milk, to lactic acid. Alcohol, acids, and other compounds produced in fermentation act as preservatives, inhibiting further microbial growth. In addition to its use with alcoholic beverages, cheese, and yoghurt, fermentation is used to produce yeast bread, soy sauce, cucumber pickles, sauerkraut, and other traditional fermented food products. The variation in agroclimatic conditions prevailing in India and diverse form of dietary culture of various ethnical groups produced traditional fermented foods such as idli, dosa (rice-legume based), vada, papad, wari, balle (legume based), bhatura, jelabi, nan (wheat based), paneer, shrikhand (milk based).

Milk is nutritious and essential food for human beings and also serve as good medium for microbial growth and contamination. Milk is a single, most nearly complete, natural food. Primarily it is meant for nourishing the newborns but man has exploited it for human consumption since long. Today milk has become indispensable integral component of our diet. About half the milk produced is consumed as fresh milk, the rest going into a variety of products including evaporated and condensed milk, dried milk powder, butter, cheese, malted milk, ice cream, yoghurt, lactose and casein. Milk is very important from a nutritional standpoint since it contained all the essential food constituents (carbohydrate-lactose, protein-casein, fat-butter, minerals- calcium, potassium and vitamins- A, B, C, D, E, and K) required in human diet in about the proper proportions. India is the second largest producer of milk in the world. India has exhibited unprecedented rate of growth in dairy development in last 30 years mainly due to sustained efforts of dairy technologists in Operation flood Programme introduced by the National Dairy Development Board. Dairy microbiology deals with aspects like shelf life and spoilage microbes, public health significance and food borne pathogens, and production of fermented dairy products.

SINGLE CELL PROTEIN (SCP) AND PROTEIN DEFICIENCY

Protein is an essential component of diet. The greatest single problem in the world today is global food protein shortage. Having adequate quantity of food is only one side of the picture, but the most important aspect is the supply of balanced and nutritious food. All efforts are being made to increase the food production through modern methods of farming. But very little attention is being paid towards protein requirements and production. Approximately half of world population suffers from the protein deficiency disease called ‘Kwashiorkor’ and children with poor protein are victims of this disease.

Usually, cereals have low protein values while protein rich pulses are not available in desired quantities due to poor yields and high costs. The good quality protein available in fish, meat, poultry, and eggs is not available due to poor economic condition as well as varied dietary habits. With the current system of production, agriculture cannot be relied upon to feed an ever increasing world population. Hence there is an urgent need to find other protein sources. The best potential is seen in microbial protein or single cell protein (SCP), a new source of protein independent of agriculture.

DEFINITION: The dried cells of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, yeasts, algae that are grown in large scale culture systems as proteins for human or animal consumption are collectively known as "single cell proteins".

Mushrooms are most ancient, best known and greatly admired fleshy macrofungi. Mushrooms are delicacies, much sought after and greatly valued foods. Wild mushrooms are mostly found in forests, tree trunks, pastures, lawns and road side during winter season and appear at surprising speed. Mushroom hunting or gathering is a popular hobby in Western countries. The wild mushrooms may be edible or unpalatable or poisonous. Poisoning by wild mushrooms is common and may be fatal or produce merely mild gastrointestinal disturbance or slight allergic reaction. The term toad stool is popularly reserved for inedible or poisonous mushrooms, but this classification has no scientific basis. This alarming term keeps many people away from these foods. It is important that every mushroom intended for eating be accurately identified. Mushrooms vary in colour, size, shape, growth habit, yielding ability and other characteristics.

STRUCTURE: Mushrooms are the fleshy fungi which constitute a major group of lower plant kingdom. Mushroom is the conspicuous umbrella-shaped fruiting body (sporophore) of certain fungi of the order Agaricales in the class Basidiomycetes but also of some other groups. Popularly, the term mushroom is used to identify the edible sporophores. The edible reproductive part consists of a stem and a cap. Gills found on the underside of the cap, are arranged like spokes in a wheel. The gills bear multiple spores which start new fungi. The sporophore emerges from an extensive underground network of fine thread like white growth known as mycelium. The mushroom, fruit body produced basidiospores at the tip of club like structures, called basidia, which are arranged along the gills of the mushroom. Beneath the mushroom, in the soil, is the mold colony itself, consisting of a mat of intercoiled hyphae, sometimes several feet in diameter. The mushrooms first appear as white tiny ball consisting of short stem (stipe) and a cap (pileus) which begins to open up like an umbrella. The delicate membrane or Veil (velum) enveloping the cap tears off, if allowed to develop fully, and lamellae (gills) radiating from the stalk into the cap become visible. These gills become darkened as the basidiospores (seeds) develop into millions and fall in the ground for starting their life cycle once again for second generation of mushrooms.