eChapters

Grape cultivation is one of the most remunerative farming enterprises in India. Considered the “Food of Gods” by the ancients, the little juicy ball holds more mysteries than we can think of. Classified by biologists as a ‘true’ berry, it has fleshy insides all the way to the tiny seed, making it a strong powerhouse of nutrition and energy. As one of nature’s richest source of antioxidants, the grape is priceless in its nutritional value. In fact many dieticians believe that it helps lower the incidence of two of the deadliest diseases in the urban world- coronary disease and cancer. In its juice form, the grape is known to cleanse the liver and remove excess uric acid from the body. One interesting but little known fact is that grape seeds are healthier than the fruit itself. They contain powerful antioxidants serving to prevent premature ageing, disease and decay. Grapes, one of the most delicious fruits, are rich sources of vitamins A, C, and B6. In addition to this they contain essential minerals like potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus and magnesium.

3.1. Growth Analysis

Growth and development analysis of plants provides information related to influence of various factors either negative or positive on plant growth. The basic idea of this analysis is the estimation of crop growth at various stages and finally towards the yield. It will help us to understand the performance of a genotype as well as impact of agronomic practices on the crop at any stage of growth and also on final yield. This would also identify the factors responsible for high yield and thereby provide the basis to tailor agronomic practices. The most common parameters used in growth analysis are leaf area index, crop growth rate, relative growth rate, net assimilation rate and leaf area duration.

Weed management practices are evaluated for its efficiency in terms of effective control of weeds and economics of control measures through various indices under sole crop situation as well as intercrop situation.

6.1. Indices for Sole Crop Situation

The absolute effect of particular method or a chemical in reducing the weed competitions and increasing the crop productivity are measured effectively by various indices. The comparisons of weed control methods are usually based on the yield, weed population and weed dry matter from the control as well as treated plots.

Introduction

The climatic elements such as solar radiation, temperature, precipitation, humidity, evaporation, evapotranspiration and wind velocity affect growth and development of saplings. These climatic factors are not favourable for successful propagation of various horticultural crops in arid region. The main climatic features of Indian hot arid agro-ecosystem is high wind speed, sand storm and high temperature during summers up to 48-50oC  and during winter season temperature falls to the 2-3^°C, low atmospheric humidity i.e. 20-30% during maximum period of the year. Moreover the relative humidity goes down to below 10 per cent during summer months.

Land, a non-renewable resource, is central to all primary production systems. Over the years, the country’s landmass has suffered from different types of degradations. Land degradation can be defined as lowering of land productivity due to the deterioration of land’s physical, chemical and biological condition. Physical land degradation is due to water erosion, wind erosion, compaction, crusting and water logging and chemical degradation is due to the processes of salinization, alkalization, acidification and nutrient depletion. Biological degradation is due to the reduction of soil biota and organic matter, degradation of vegetation and impairment of activities of microflora and fauna. Land degradation is steadily increasing due to the growing pressure on land and unsustainable land use. Land degradation and the associated loss of soil productivity and quality is of great concern both from food production and environmental conservation point of view. An ever-increasing population created enormous pressure on land resources.

Introduction

Canopy management is the manipulation of tree canopies to optimize the production of quality fruits. The canopy management, particularly its components like tree training and pruning, affects the quantity of sunlight intercepted by trees, as tree shape determines the presentation of leaf area to incoming radiation. An ideal training strategy centers around the arrangement of plant parts, especially, to develop a better plant architecture that optimizes the utilization of sunlight and promotes productivity. Light is critical to growth and development of trees and their fruits.

Introduction

In-spite of environmental, bio-physical and resource constraints in most parts of Rajasthan, the state can be classified into three distinct agro-climatic zones namely hot arid, semi-arid and sub-humid  from horticultural perspective. These diverse zones have excellent vegetable production potential with wide range of crops, varied opportunities and resource utilization. The extremes of high (March–October) and low (December–January) temperature conditions together with associated abiotic stresses in the hot arid and semi-arid regions limit the choice of crops and their genotypes, quality of produce and productivity. Vegetable exploitation with adaptive and native crop-plant species is generally found to be potential and stable under arid to semi-arid agro-climatic conditions of the state that receive 150–650 mm of rainfall and having abiotic stresses due to climatic variations, drought, frost, hot and cold winds, soil and water quality.

Continuous vegetable cultivation year round in the limited available land, without adopting crop rotation practices induces stress, which leads to low vegetable crop productivity. These conditions apart from building up soil-borne pathogens will also lead to other deleterious factors such as temperature extremes, flooding, drought, salinity, heavy metal contamination, insufficient nutrient uptake, soil pH stress, etc. causing severe crop loss. To overcome these abiotic stress conditions, grafting is an environmentally friendly technique for reducing losses in production in solanaceous and cucurbitaceous vegetable crops. The cultivated area of grafted Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae has increased tremendously in recent years because the objective of grafting has been greatly expanded (Lee et al., 2010) to reduce infections by soil-borne pathogens and to enhance the tolerance against abiotic stresses.

Introduction

The hot arid zones of the country are spread over 32 million ha in the state of Rajasthan (61%), Gujarat (20%), Andhra Pradesh (7%), Punjab (5%), Haryana (4%), Karnataka (3%) and Maharashtra (0.4%), in addition to the cold deserts in the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh which are characterized by hostile agro-climate and fragile eco-system. In Rajasthan, the hot arid zone covers 12 district of whole western Rajasthan. It covers the 61 % area of the Rajasthan State and characterized by an annual rainfall between 100 – 500 mm with a coefficient of variation (CV) varying from 40 – 70 per cent; low and erratic rainfall combined with extremes of temperature (450-500 cal/cm2/day); low relative humidity; high potential evapo-transpiration value ranging from 1600 mm in eastern part and 1800 mm in western part of the region.

Introduction

Under arid and semi-arid regions of the world, major problems are salinity, alkalinity and calcareousness, which seems to further aggravate with changing climate scenario. Besides, most of the developing countries lies in this zone with flanging population resulting from shrinking of land resource and good quality of irrigation water. Globally area under saline/sodic soils is about 953mha covering 8% of the land surface. Resent estimates indicate that 6.7 mha area in India is affected by soil salinity and alkalinity and about 25% of ground water are sodic and/or saline in the country. There are two important approaches for utilizing saline alkali or calcareous environment. The first one is to modify the environment so as to suit the plant or modifying the plant and the second one is to substitute the plant species so as to suit the environment. However, second option is cost effective and most sustainable.

Vegetable production in our country is significantly influenced by the seasonality and weather conditions. Extends of abundance and deficiency in production and availability cause considerable fluctuations in the prices and quality of vegetables. Vegetable production, at present, is also characterized by a strong dependence on chemical plant protection with its all inherent environment and health hazards, both for growers and the consumers. Strinking a balance between all-season availability of high quality vegetables with minimum environment impact, and still to remain economically competitive in this time of globalization, is a major challenge for the modern technology of crop production. The crop productivity is influenced by the genetic characteristics of the cultivar and the management practices including nutrients, water and microclimate. Under open field cultivation, while the other factors could be taken care of, it is not possible to effect control on the microclimate around the plant.

Introduction

Fast and efficient dissemination of suitable technological information from the Agricultural Research System to the Farmers in the field and reporting of farmers’ feedback to the research system is one of the critical inputs in Transfer of Technology. Today India is at the verge of technology revolution with immense number of agriculture, home science and livestock technologies developed by the research institutes to enhance the agriculture and livestock production. These technologies have changed the total production of agricultural commodities in the country.

1. Damping off
Pathogen
Pythium spp
Phytophthora spp
Fusarium spp
Sclerotium spp
Symptoms
It is a term used to describe the damage caused by various fungi to the seed and emerging seedling in the reduced plant stand and sometimes it is so serious that  resowing becomes inevitable. Major symptoms are the failure of the seedlings decay or sudden death of the emerged seedlings roots and lower stems of emerged seedlings become soft and watery and may be reddish brown in colour.

Herbicides are the chemical substances used to kill weeds, i.e., unwanted plants that compete with crop plants for soil nutrients. Chemical herbicides are the most effective immediate solution to most weed problems. Use of chemicals, however, can be harmful to wildlife, to the environment and to humans. Chemicals are also expensive, and weeds develop resistance to the chemicals. For these reasons, there is now a move toward alternative methods of controlling the weeds. One of the most promising is biological weed control, which involves using one living organism to control the activities of another organism.

IPGRI founded in 1974 is the world’s largest international institute dedicated solely to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources. It is located at Rome in Italy. The institute is funded by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIR) which is an informal association of 45 public and private sector donors. CGIAR supports a network of 16 International Agricultural Research Centres. The Group was established in 1971. It is cosponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Biodiversity is the foundation stone of human survival on the earth. Very appropriately, the theme of the World Food Day celebration, 16 October, 2004 was “Biodiversity for Food Security” Biological diversity is fundamental to agriculture and food production. Scientists have identified so far about 1.4 million of the plant and animal species that exist on earth. A rich variety of cultivated plants and animals serves as the foundation for agricultural biodiversity. Yet people depend on just 14 mammal and bird species for 90 % of their food supply from animals. Just four plant species, namely, wheat, maize, rice and potato provide half of our energy from plants (FAO, 2004).

India is located between 8^°- 38^° N and 68^°- 97^ºE and exhibits extreme variation in altitude — from sea level to heights above vegetational limits in the Himalayas (ca 4500 m), and climate — from monsoon- tropical in south to temperate and alpine in the north-western Himalayas and extremely arid to semi-arid in the north-western plains. It is floristically extremely rich with about 33 percent of its botanical wealth (over 15,000 species of higher plants) being endemic. There are about 141 endemic genera distributed over 47 families. Further, of the 4,900 endemic species, larger percentage is localised in the Himalayas (about 2,532 species) than in other regions, namely, the peninsular tract (1,788 species), and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (185 species). It is also estimated that floristic richness is maximum in the north-eastern region, which holds about 50 percent of India’s total species diversity, i.e., more than 7,000 species, and is considered as the cradle of flowering plants. Of 990 species of orchids, 700 species occur in this region (Nayar, 1989). This, thus, makes the Indian region botanically unique and interesting (Arora, 1991).

Certified seed must meet certain seed standards in order to ensure an adequate level of seed purity along with the reasonable level of seed germination so that the farmer gets a good stand of the crop conforming to the varietal description. The components of the seed standard are as follows :
     The minimum percentage of pure seed 
     The maximum permissible limit for inert matter 
     Other crops seeds  
     Weed seeds 
     The maximum permissible limit for objectionable weeds 
     The maximum permissible limits of seeds of other distinguishable varieties (ODV) 
     Maximum permissible limits of seeds infected by seed bone diseases 
These standards are ensured in the seed crop by strictly adhering to field standards and careful harvesting, threshing, seed drying and then brining the same to the seed processing /seed conditioning plants. The Indian minimum seed standards for different crops are given in Tables 24.1-24.3 (Agarwal, 1995).

Seed certification is a legal programme to maintain and make available to the public high quality seeds and planting material of genetically distinct crop varieties. Under seed production programme, quality seed is produced by govt. farms research stations, progressive farmers and seed producers using careful quality control, pedigreed plant stock, field inspections during the growing season and seed inspections after the harvest. Certification is an officially recognized method for maintaining varietal identity of the seed. In India certification is carried out by State Seed Certification Agencies.

Intellectual Property Right, IPR is a general term covering patents, registered design, trademarks, copyrights, layout design of integrated circuits, trade secrets, geographical indicators and competitive practices in contractual license.

Apple codling moth: Cydia (Carpocapsa) pomonella: Tortricidae 

This is an international pest and is now seen in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This is a fruit borer whose moth is silvery white with a dark band on the margin of the forewing and light brownish hind wings with a fringed margin. The moths hold their wings roof-like over the body while at rest.

Citrus butterfly: Papilio demoleus, P. polytes : Papilionidae

The pest is distributed all over the world and has a host range that includes citrus and other rutaceae plants like Aegle marmelos. Adult has the head and thorax black with a creamy-yellow coloration on the underside of the abdomen. Wings are dull black, orna-mented with yellow markings and a distinct red patch on the hind wing. The underside is orange and yellow coloured and can be seen when it flirts for honey collection or just before egg laying. The Antenna is black and clubbed.

Mango Fruit fly : Bactrocera dorsalis : Tephritidae

This is probably the most economically important pest of mango. It can attack many crops like mango, guava, peach, apricot, cherry, pear, ber, citrus, banana, papaya, avocado, passion fruit, coffee, melons, jack fruit and strawberry. There are also related species that may cross infect. The adults are light brown small flies with a single pair of membranous transparent wings. The other pair is modified into halteres. Eggs are thrust into the skin of the mangoes when they are semi ripe. A drop of resin comes out of the ovipunctures and can be seen as a black mark. While purchasing mango, this can be used as an indication of the presence of the fruit fly eggs.

Spindle bug: Carvalhoia arecae :Miridae

Spindle bug is a serious pest multiplying rapidly with the close of monsoon. The adults are red and black and nymphs are greenish in colour with reddish brown patches. Both these stages colonize the top-most leaf axils at the base of the spindle. Adults and nymphs suck the sap from emerging spindle, tender leaves and other tender parts. For feeding they move out and later return to the axils again. At the site of feeding a longitudinal narrow, decolourised zone develops rapidly on either side of the puncture, along the length of the leaf blade. The decolourised patch gradually turns yellowish, then brownish, become stunted, twisted and malformed in a few days and dries up. In this way the tissues may break away and drop off in the wind leaving shot holes on the leaves. In cases of severe infestation the leaves get shred, stand erect and the palms become stunted.

Tea tortrix/flushworm: Homona coffearia:Tortricidae

The tortrix is  an important pest of tea leaves. The larvae make leaf nests by webbing the leaves using silken threads and feed from inside. A single caterpillar makes several cases. Young larvae prefer tender leaves, while the older larvae are seen in mature leaves. The economic produce being the leaves, and since chemical control is not advised, especially during the picking phase, the pest becomes a management problem.

Aphids: Myzus persicae, Lipaphis erysimi and Brevicoryne brassicae Aphididae
 
Aphids suck the sap from potato foliage, causing wrinkling, cupping and downward curling of young leaves. The older leaves will become yellow, wilt and fall off.  They also excrete honeydew on which sooty mould develops covering affected parts with a thin superficial black coating that hinders photosynthetic activity of leaves resulting in stunted growth of plants. In addition, they also act as vectors, for transmitting potato leaf roll virus. Major damage by M.persicae and A. gossypii is through transmission of potato leaf roll virus.

Fruit flies: Bactrocera cucurbitae:Tephritidae

This pest is more serious in bitter gourd, snake gourd and to a certain extent on ridge gourd. Other cucurbits are attacked to a lesser level. Damage by this pest causes losing the fruit quality, rotting and fruit drop. The adults lay many eggs inside the fruit sing their big ovipositor that hatch out into worm like apodous maggots. Feeding by the maggots on the pulp of fruits result in rotting, yellowing and fruit drop. The dropped fruits allow pupation by the maggots in the soil from where they emerge out as adults and start egg laying on fresh frits.

Fruit borer: Helicoverpa armigera: Noctuidae

This is a medium sized moth yellowish brown in colour with a wing

span of about 3 cm and a body length up to 1.4 cm. There is a dark speck and a dark area on the outer margin of each forewing. The forewings also have greyish wavy lines and black spots of different sizes on the upper side.

11.1 Introduction

The analysis of variance is a powerful statistical tool for tests of significance.  The test of significance based on t-distribution is an adequate procedure only for testing the significance of the difference between two sample means. In a situation when we have three or more samples to consider at a time an alternative procedure is needed for testing the hypothesis that all the samples are drawn from the same population, i.e., they have the same mean. For example five fertilizers are applied of four plots each of wheat and yield of wheat on each of the plot is given we may be interested in finding out whether the effect of these fertilizers on the yields is significantly different or in other words, whether the samples have come from the same normal population. The answer to this problem is provided by the technique of analysis of variance. Thus basic purpose of the analysis of variance is to test the homogeneity of several means.

Introduction

Data are the most critical element of a GIS. It is reported that more than two thirds of the time and expenditure to develop a GIS is spent on data collection and organization. Understanding and appreciating the criticality of data is of paramount significance to practice GIS. This chapter is complementary to database concepts chapter discussed in Level II and deals with the fundamentals to start with and the concepts of building an information organization.

Data - A Definition and Certain Points to Ponder

“Data” are defined as a body of facts or figures, which have been gathered systematically for one or more specific purposes.”

Introduction

Data input or capture is the operation of encoding the data and incorporating in the database. The creation of a clean error free digital database is a complex and critical task determining the very usefulness of a GIS. GIS data represent not only where the graphic or cartographic features occur, but also the associated attributes of them.

Data input to a geographical information system involves

(a) Entering the spatial data (digitizing);

(b) Entering the non-spatial, associated attributes and

(c) Linking the spatial to the non-spatial data.

At each stage necessary verification and checking procedures shall be deployed to ensure an error free database.

Introduction

The term geographic information systems (GIS) has come to mean, variously, an industry, a product, a technology, and a science. As such, the term invokes different perceptions dependent on whether the viewpoint is that of the software developer, the system marketer, the data provider, the application specialist, or the academic researcher, among others. A newcomer to the field is likely to be bewildered by the multiple uses of the same term, or, seen alternatively, different definitions of the same term. For instance some find it distasteful to use of the conventional acronym GIS and prefer Geospatial Technology. With all the variety of perceptions predicting the future of GIS is a cumbersome business. The most certain inference we can gain from the available trends is, it is growing and is poised for further growth. Geotechnology along with Nanotechnology and Biotechnology is considered as of the three most promising growth industries for the near future.

Introduction

Famous French postmodern philosopher Jean Baudrillard commented on information once. “Information can tell us everything. It has all the answers. But they are answers to questions we have not asked, and which doubtless don’t even arise.” This seemingly paradox observation fits contemporary Internet age perfectly. Internet is a vast repository of information of all kinds and is bursting on its seams. The seeker needs to search with monumental grit and determination to have a full handle on the range of information available for any particular search. A search string for GIS returns more than 1185000 results, in a mere 0.26 seconds. Recommending a comprehensive resource list is not possible as new material gets continually added by way of additions and updates. However for a beginner the list given below will be handy. The flip side is GIS has innumerable resources and a broad range of content. Software vendors, organizations, individuals, universities and companies have provided a wealth of information. The readers are exhorted to make use of the materials to improve their understanding of the subject.

Abstract

Endophytes are microorganisms  that live inside the living plant tissues for at least part of their life without causing any apparent disease symptoms in the host. In general  they  can be divided into two main types namely, obligate and facultative endophytes. Facultative endophytes are capable to survive in the soil, on the plant surface, inside the plants as well as on artificial nutrients and can be cultured away from their host. Endophytes which inhabit inside plant tissues throughout their lifespan are called as obligate endophytes. Natural products produced by endophytic microbes are found to be antimicrobial, antiviral, anticancer, antioxidants, antidiabetic and immunosuppressant. Therefore, endophytes form an untapped source of novel natural compounds for application in agriculture, medicine and industry.

Abstract

The medicinal plant, Nithyakalyani, Catharanthusroseus is valued for its alkaloid and the content varied, among root (0.14 to 1.43%), stem (0.48%), fruit (0.4%), seed (0.18%) and pericaup (1.14%). The biofertilizer consortium development includes Catharanthusroseus. Azosppirillumlipoferum CAZS-4, Azotobaterchroococcum CAZB-1, Bacillusmegaterium CPB-18 and Pseudomonasflourescens CPF-14. The relative chemotactic response (RCR) of the strains to anionic fraction is more than that of cationic and neutral fractions. The consortium treated plants possessed 1.120 mg g^-1 of ajmalicine on 180 DAS, and the antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD) (13.240 U mg of protein hr-1), peroxide (POX) (11.240 U mg of protein hr-1) and catalase (CAT) (9.000 U mg of protein hr^-1) values were higher on 150 DAS. The consortium increased the biomass production by 50-75 per cent with proportionate increase in the mineral nutrient content. Biofertilizer consortium is the most effective organic input for biomass production.

Chemicals in the form of insecticides ,fungicides and herbicides are extensively used in large numbers in agricultural production. Commercial production of some crops would be impossible if chemicals are not used. Small quantities of chemical residues often remain in such crops and the harvested grains and other products. The residues of pesticides  have been observed in small quantities (ppm level) in soil, water, agricultural produce  and even in animal tissues and their products like meat and  milk. They finally reach the consumer, namely, man (and even animals). Even the environment  is  now-a-days polluted with pesticides and other chemicals harmful to the humans. In view of the importance and seriousness of the problem the residues need to be estimated in the food and non-food products to assess their safety. Analytical details of a few pesticide residue procedures are presented below. Specialized texts may be consulted for  more extensive information.

Male sterility is a situation where the male reproductive parts of a plant are either absent, aborted, or non-functional; and therefore, they fail to participate in the process of natural sexual reproduction. This situation generally arises due to some developmental defect that occurs at any stage of microsporogenesis (process of development or release of pollen grains) in the plants. Since male sterility is the manifestation of abnormal growth and development and can occur at any point of time, the action of genes controlling male sterility is also be variable and inconsistent across the genotypes. Based on the type of malfunctioning of androecium, the male sterility systems have been classified as structural (absence or deformity of anthers), sporogenous (defective microsporogenesis), and functional (failure of mature pollen to germinate). In addition, on the basis of genetic control mechanism of the male sterility, it has also been classified as genetic, cytoplasmic, and cytoplasmic nuclear (or genetic) male sterility. With respect to utilization of male sterility in crop breeding, it is essential that individuals with altered male fertility keep their female fertility intact. The fertilization of such plants takes place with pollen grains from other plant that is transferred with the help of external agencies such as wind, insects, or human beings.

ABSTRACT

Concomitant with paradigm shift from agrarian and brick and mortar economy to knowledge and service based economy, India needs to adhere to the international conventions for the benefit of enriching its knowledgebase with which economic development and social welfare could be achieved. Although geoscientific research has been at the forefront and contributed immensely to our country’s economic development, number of applications for patents, copyrights, etc., on geoscientific concepts, databases, innovations, designs or processes has been negligible when compared with other branches of science. This paper intends drawing the attention of geoscientists on this lacuna and provides information on fundamental aspects of IPR that may be of help to geoscientists whose innovations are waiting to be filed for patents or copyright.

Abstract

Intellectual property right (IPR) is the most serious, new branch of law and a legal right conferred by federal government in accordance with International conventions and treaties. IPR protects some of the finer manifestations of human achievement. IPR safeguards the application of ideas and information that are of commercial value. The exploitable ideas become more sophisticated and hope for a successful economic future depends increasingly upon the superior corpus of new knowledge and fashionable conceits.  Copyright law is one of the effective tools of IPR. Copyright law provides an incentive to creative activity of author and permits the society to benefit from those inventions. However, the technological advancement has made violation of copyright very easy and regulation very difficult. This paper aims at familiarizing  copyright laws and the powers enshrined in copyright laws.

The primary purpose in plant breeding is to develop better varieties. In order to realize the potential benefit from an improved variety, it should be distributed widely and sufficient seed must be produced so that the variety can be grown on farms in the areas to which it is adopted.  Otherwise much of the breeders work would be wasted.

Variety is a synonym of cultivar and has been defined in the International Code for the Nomenclature for cultivated plants (Anon 1980.) in article 10. ‘’The international term cultivar denotes as assemblage of cultivated plants which is clearly distinguished by any characteristics (morphological, physiological, cytological, chemical or others) and which, When reproduced (sexually or asexually) retains its distinguishing characters”. Indian Seeds Act, under its sub-section 16 of section 2 defined variety as “a sub-division of a kind identifiable by growth, yield, plant, fruit, seed or other characteristic”. Both definitions emphasize that variety should be distinguishable from others and capable of retaining its distinguishable features under multiplication. Therefore production of genetically pure and otherwise good quality pedigree seed is an exacting task requiring high technical skills and comparatively more financial investment. During seed production strict attention must be given to the maintenance of genetic purity and other qualities of seeds in order to exploit the full dividends sought to be obtained by introduction of new superior crop plant varieties.

Two decades after India’s independence, during the 1960s, the formal seed sector in India was dominated by the Public sector. It was in 1961 that the National Seeds Corporation (NSC) was established under the Ministry of Agriculture and was at the centre of seed production of breeders, foundation and certified seeds and their quality control. In furtherance of their control in the seeds sector, the National Seeds Project (NSP) was undertaken by the Indian Government in 1967 along with the assistance of the World Bank. In the sixties, the traditional crop breeding and seed production programmes were significantly transformed and modernized with initiation of hybrid development programme in maize, sorghum and pearl millet and introduction, breeding and release of semi dwarf high yielding varieties of wheat and rice.  Indian Seeds Act was enacted in 1966 ensuring official release of varieties and their quality seed production

Summary

Tropical forests are declining sharply and continuously growing demand of wood leads to removal of trees from their natural habitats. Clonal propagation of superior trees is must for further exploration and conservation of these genetic resource. Tissue culture technique offers rapid and large scale propagation of desired traits. However, micropropagation of adult trees is difficult; many problems are associated like- maturity, contamination, phenolic leaching, season, variants, long life cycle, etc. Shoot bud culture is the easiest and successful tissue culture technique for the toughest material to clone- mature trees. The chapter deals with the bud culture method of heartwoods and associated problems at different stages – explant establishment, shoot multiplication, rooting and acclimatization. Also the possible solutions of the problems are discussed on the basis of previous reports.

Summary
 
Although the concept of IPM, with emphasis on minimum use of pesticides: is well established and widely practiced in India, pest population still continue to be unabated, often reaching to alarming levels .Development of non chemical methods of pest control  as component of IPM tactics is a priority area of research today. Development of multiple resistance in larval stages against recommended insecticides ,spoiling of crop ecosystem with toxic chemicals and consequences of health hazards is the best alternative to control the pest in adult stage before they reproduce. Use of light trap is one such potential methods of control for the species known to be positively phototropic in adult stage. Rice is one of the most important cereal crop grown in different parts of world , serving as staple diet for millions of people . The losses due to insect pests in rice are very high and the pesticidal use in this crop is second highest after cotton in world .The positive feature of using light trap as IPM tool for survey ,monitoring , detection and control tool is that most of the insect pest species of rice are phototropic in nature and collected in sufficient numbers in light trap .Therefore use of light trap for imparting eco-integrity  by minimizing indiscriminate use of chemicals ,reduction of pest management cost and enhancement of farm income can be very useful for achieving the ultimate goal of sustainability in rice cultivation. 

Summary

Nanotechnology, the science of nanoscale structures has been applied in various fields including in biomedical sciences. Nanotechnology is being increasingly used to create materials and devices so as to interact with the body at sub-cellular scales with a high degree of specificity. Nanotechnology is used in the fight against cancer, cardiac and neurodegenerative disorders, infection and other diseases. This chapter provides an overview of some of the applications of nanotechnology in the field of biomedical sciences particularly with a focus on tissue engineering and medical diagnostics.

Introduction

Nature has been performing wonderful feats for millions of years. All organisms from microbes to humans are powered by highly evolved molecular and cellular machines that operate at nano scale. The capability to manipulate, control, assemble, functionalise, produce and manufacture things at atomic precision provides an opportunity to understand this new and exciting field of science. Nanotechnology is application of science to control the properties and structure of matter at nanometric scale.

Introduction

Biological systems are complex and are full of mysteries. Understanding function in relation to structure is crucial in many biological systems. A microscope is used to magnify, resolve and visualize a substance that is impossible to see by naked eyes and plays a vital role in various biological studies. We can visualize macroscopic organisms like animals, plants, and insects by the unaided eye but not bacteria, viruses or individual proteins. Biological structures have sizes variable over such a wide range that is not possible for a single microscopic technique to analyze all of them. Therefore, different types of microscopes with varying magnification and resolving abilities were developed to unveil the structural complexities of biomolecules (Fig. 1). Over the last 100 years, several types of microscopes have been designed and used in various fields. The microscopes work on different principles, and have a broad range of applications.

Introduction

Plant diseases are one of the causes of concern in agriculture and horticulture industry. Estimated global crop loss due to plant diseases exceeds hundred billion US$ worldwide (Orke et al. 1994; Narayanasamy, 2010). Plant diseases are caused by microorganism such as fungi, bacteria, viral, viroids and phytoplasma. Most of the plant pathogens are transmitted through seed or planting material, which can spread secondarily through vectors and lead to severe loss to the crop. Among plant diseases, viral diseases cause serious crop losses and affect the quality of products, while the use of virus- free seeds and planting stocks results in a substantial increase in agricultural crop production (Waterworth & Hadidi, 1998; Strange& Scott, 2005).

Introduction
 
Nanotoxicity is a serious concern to be addressed sooner than later as nano-based processes and products in various fields are being extensively exploited. Nanotoxicology is the science of engineered nanodevices and nanostructures that deals with their effects in living organisms (Oberdorster et al., 2005). The unique property of nanoparticles is in its very large surface area to mass ratio, which is considered to be a boon to create novel products. But this distinctive property also challenges the way we identify, understand and address potential risks caused by nanoparticles (Rajkishore et al., 2011). It is sufficient to alert us to the fact that some engineered nanoparticles do indeed behave differently to their more conventional counterparts and may present new and unusual risks. Kahru and Dubourguier (2010) assessed the existing literature on nanotoxicity to main food chain levels (bacteria, algae, crustaceans, ciliates, fish, yeasts and nematodes) and classified the NPs of Ag and ZnO as “extremely toxic”, C60 fullerenes and CuO NP as “very toxic”, SWCNTs and MWCNTs as “toxic” and TiO₂ NP as “harmful”. 

Introduction

The characterization of the potential health impact of engineered materials produced through nanotechnology is an emerging issue of considerable discussion and debate. The current focus on nanotoxicity fails to assess the risk in different local environments and populations. People in developing countries may be more prone to adverse effects of nanoparticles because of underlying health conditions and malnutrition. Moreover, genetic susceptibility to toxic effects varies in diverse ethnic groups and geographical areas. The scientific community needs to identify these information gaps before developing regulations and standard methodologies for nanotoxicity assessment.

Introduction

Engineered nanoparticles are a group of products that are defined by their size, ranging from 1 to 100 nm. Due to the smaller size, the physio-chemical properties of nano particles become very different from those of the same material in a larger form. Total production of nano-materials is expected to increase considerably in the near future. Nanotoxicology is yet another emerging field of science dealing with the effects of nano-devices and engineered nano-particles on living organisms. It has been observed that the materials in nano-dimensions react totally different in comparison to their existence in micro or macro sizes.