eChapters

Summary
 
This chapter explores different approaches to manage water in rain-fed and irrigated agricultural systems. The first methods support the retention of water and reduce soil erosion. These methods include mulching – the application of a surface coating over the soil – which is usually organic mater. This reduces the damage to soil caused by rain and wind and reduces water loss to evaporation and helps with infiltration. The other methods explored are bunding and terracing.  These approaches are about stopping the flow of water across land to increase the amount of water infiltration into the soil and to reduce or prevent soil run off.  These approaches are labour intensive. A less labour -intensive approach is contour ploughing. This approach is about encouraging farmers and tractor drivers to plough across sloping fields not up and down them. The second group of technologies refers to the introduction of water through irrigation methods.

Since a method to cultivate VAM fungi in pure culture is not available as yet, clean and high quality VAM inoculum production is not possible. However, VAM technology is gradually getting a place in agriculture as well as reclamation and afforestation programmes. The inoculum currently being used includes infested fields soils, sievings from such soils, soil and roots of greenhouse plants, or pot culture inoculum derived from surface disinfected spores of a single VAM fungus on a host plant grown in a sterilized growth medium. Attempts are being made to manipulate VAM fungi, rooting media, hosts and fertilizers in order to secure superior quality of inoculum by these methods on a large scale. In addition, other techniques like tissue culture, hydroponic system etc. are also being attempted to cultivate VAM fungi in pure culture. The Indian mycorrhizasts have also attempted to devise and develop improved methods for production and storage of commercial VAM inoculum. The following description gives an account of Indian work related to production and storage of consistently high quality disease free VAM inoculum.

Introduction

Indian agriculture was contributing 70% to total GDP of the country at pre-independent time, but it decreased drastically year by year and contributed 66.8% in 1960, 55.6% in 1994, 27.1% in 1997 and now a days, it reached only to 25% in 2001. With the advancement of civilization our population is increased, whereas, the cultivable lands is decreased side by side, thus, on an average income of agriculture is decreased.

Gujarat is the leading state to concern with the productivity, production and the area of the some crops like Groundnut, Castor, Cotton, etc. in India. The major part of the state is surrounded by sea coast border, which is 1600 km. Gujarat is popular for production of oilseed crops like groundnut, cotton ; horticultural crops like mango, chiku, coconut, banana, papaya, citrus; spices crops like chili, cumin, funnel etc.

Mulching

The technique of covering the soil with plastic films or natural crop left over (residues) for soil and water conservations is called mulching.

This technique was practiced by farmers using dry leaves straw, trash, stones etc to conserve water. Presently plastic film have come into use for the purpose of mulching due to inherent advantages.

Introduction

Mankind has been utilizing different animal species from the dawn of civilization for a variety of purposes viz., production of milk, meat, wool, egg and leather. Apart from these, various animal species are also used for draught power, companionship, entertainment, research experimentation, sports, security etc. Livestock sector plays a crucial role in rural economy and livelihood. As per report of the working group on animal husbandry and dairying, 11th five year plan: 2007-12, the livestock sector employs eight percent of the countries labour force, including many small and marginal farmers, women and landless agricultural workers. Milk production alone involves more than 30 million small producers, each raising one or two cows or buffaloes. The organic fertilizer produced by the sector is an important input to crop production and dung from livestock is widely used as fuel in rural areas. Livestock also serves as an insurance substitute, especially for poor rural households; it can easily be sold during time of distress.

The livestock play a significant role in generating gainful employment in rural areas, particularly among the landless and marginal farmers. The Jammu region of state of Jammu and Kashmir possesses a huge livestock population which is maintained under different management systems. The region has a vast diversity in agro-climatic conditions (comprising low altitude, middle altitude and high altitude), and animal husbandry and pasture management practices. Despite having huge livestock, the production potentials are very low. There are various factors related with low production and among them parasitic diseases rank very high.

Cacti

Cacti belong to the family Cactaceae comprising of 130 genera and 2000 species and bear a complex organ, a cushion like structure spirally arranged over the stem called ‘areoles’ from which spines, hairs, flowers and shoots develop. In tribe, Pereskieae, the plants are leafy bushes or shrubby and characterized by areoles on the stem and by the typical flower borne in clusters, e.g. Maihuenia, Pereskia and Rhodocactus.

ABSTRACT

Rural youths represent both a challenge to and an opportunity for reducing rural poverty. To overcome this challenge and seize the opportunity concerted efforts are needed to generate decent employment opportunities. A complementary set of awareness generation, entrepreneurship development, enabling policy, capacity building and technical support activities need to be designed for creating an enabling environment that meets the multi-dimensional needs of rural youths. Sustainable poverty reduction and rural economic development can only be achieved when national enabling environments facilitates and empower young people to achieve their full potential. Agriculture being the core of rural activity, potentiality of farming sector to create employment opportunity both in primary as well as in secondary agriculture needs to be highlighted with proven success before the rural youths. Enabling environment in all aspect needs to be created to motivate the educated youths to live in villages and launch a new agricultural movement based on integrated application of science and social wisdom. The untapped demographic dividend will become our greatest strength when the aspiration turns into reality.

It is agony of the situation that even after attaining food security after a wonderful revolution, we are at a verge of complex combination of several crisis. This notably includes lack of nutritional security, deteriorating genetic base, loss of biological-diversity etc. Therefore at the 66^th session of general assembly of the United Nation 2014 was formally declared to be the “International Year of Family Farming” to reposition family farming at the centre of discussion to address multiple problems existing in agriculture (www.fao.org/family-farming-214/home/what-is-famly-farming/en/).

Family is the basic unit of the society. A self reliant and prosperous society needs self sustaining families which in turn require equitable and creative participation by all members of the family. Family farming is the backbone of agriculture where a rural youth effuse and rejuvenate this backbone through effective participation and obeisance of the tradition through which indigenous technical knowledge is transferred.

ABSTRACT

Economic growth of a country depends upon the skills of its people and the application of knowledge, inherited or acquired by them. Optimum utilization of human resources undoubtedly leads to considerable degree of economic development of a country. There are over one billion youth (aged 15 – 24) in the world today. Eighty five (85) per cent of these youth live in the developing world, where 99 per cent of population growth is occurring. Around 50 per cent of the population in developing countries live in rural areas. Some 61.5 per cent of youth live in Asia. Many youth are unable to reach their potential because of poverty and associated hunger and poor health. Also, education and training is often of poor quality and is irrelevant and inappropriate for the needs of rural youth and of the labour market. So although many youth today are more educated than their parent’s generation, they often do not possess employable skills. Even when good education and training are available and youth have been well trained, obstacles still exist, such as social customs (for example, caste and traditional values), lack of support mechanisms and lack of access to capital. Corruption is also a problem, as are structural impediments (institutional and governmental). Also, because youth numbers are growing faster than the rate of job creation, too few decent employment opportunities are available for the number of youth seeking them. The result is that a large number of youth are unemployed or underemployed. Not only do these youth lack income, they lack a means of gaining respect and a sense of belonging in their communities. Inability to find decent employment means youth often find employment in the informal sector, with poor working conditions and pay. Rural youth will often look to urban areas for employment and move to cities that adversely affect the household farming in India.

ABSTRACT

Income generating activities are considered as those initiatives that affect the economic aspects of rural youth’s lives through the use of economic tools such as credit and subsidy. If the youth in farming is not economically free and self-earning, he has to depend on others or migrate to the urban cities in search of jobs. Agriculture, self-employment and wage employment are the basic tools to fulfill the desire of economic independence. In the past, agriculture was placed on the top position as an income generation option and self-employment and wage employment to rural youth was the 2^nd and 3^rd priority respectively. Income generating activities such as dairy activities, goat and sheep rearing, poultry unit, bamboo products making, pickle making, leaf plate making, keeping powertiller, husking mill cum wheat grinding machine, tractor etc. Further, there are various self employment and wage employment opportunities through rural development programmes like Prime Minister Rojgar Yojana (PMRY), Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), Pradhan Manthri Gram SadakYojana(PMGSY), Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Training of Rural Youth for Self -Employment (TRYSEM) etc. These are the best programmes especially for the upliftment of the rural youth to enhancing their income level. Some of these programmes are now helping rural youths to become more and more independent and free from economic dependence.

INTRODUCTION

According to the World Bank, youth present an opportunity for a sustainedeffort to participate in nation’s development process because they possess greaterenergy and potential and have the capacity to drive positive change. Stimulating growthof employment in the agricultural sector remains paramount priority in countries with alarge agricultural sector, as improvements in agricultural productivity can generatemore and better jobs in most developing countries (World Bank, 2008). Youth who possess non-farm skills are 1.4 times more likely to move out ofagriculture. Their age has significant role in favor of shifting out of agriculture, becauseoccupational mobility was higher among younger farmers (Sharma and Bhaduri, 2012). India has the largest youth population in the world. About 70 per cent of India’spopulation is below the age of 35 years, making India the youngest nation in the World. According to some estimates, the proportion of population under 25 years in India is 51per cent. Some experts refer to this large proportion of youth as “demographicdividend” because greater proportion of the population is young and in the workingage-group which can lead to economic growth. However, out of the youth population of460 million, only 333 million youth in India are literate and unemployment rate ishighest (10.6 per cent) among youth (CIA World Factbook, 2012).

ABSTRACT

This study critically examined the access of women farmers to Information and Communications Technology (ICTs) as against their male counterparts. The study was conducted Kapasiaupazila of Gazipur district. A total of 120 respondentswere selected using proportionate random sampling technique and interviewed through structured questionnaires. Data collected were subjected to descriptivestatistics, Chi-square and rank test. The results indicated that the women folk, despite their dominancein agricultural activities, were dominated in terms of access to and full participation in the use of ICTs. In terms of access to agricultural information through ICTs, it was evident that, people in the study area capture the advantages of increased number of ICTs to access information related to their farming business. Most of respondents valued ICTs as easy, fast and convenient way of communicating agricultural information and also allow more contacts among the farmers for family farming along with increase income of the family people in the community. Chi-square analysis on the relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the respondentswith their access to ICTs showed that age, education and innovativeness have significant relationship with therespondents’ access to ICTs. Kruskal Wallis rank test showed that there was a significant difference inthe gender access to and the uses of ICTs (P d” 0.005) with the male dominating the female gender. Chi-squareanalysis revealed that age and educational background and innovativeness of the respondents had significantrelationships with their access to ICTs (P d” 0.005). On the other hand religious/cultural barriers, language barriers and cost of possessing and accessing ICTs were the main reasons for gender disparity in gaining access to ICTs.

ABSTRACT

The main function of extension is to bring a desirable change in human behavior. The extension workers, thus are essentially educators and their most important job is to communicate useful and practical research findings to the farmers in such a way that they understand, accept and adopt. In order to achieve this objective, the extension agencies are disseminating new technologies through different means including mass media like radio, T. V, and print media. Considering the wide areas of coverage, exposure and frequent use by people, the mass media such as television, newspaper and radio play an important role in the transfer of technology. Mass media are increasingly becoming a veritable instrument and tool for transforming agriculture. Hence, mass media play a vital role in agricultural extension. There is a gap between the agricultural researchers and the farmers. A lot of findings from the research institutions and laboratories are not used by the farmers, either because of the information did not reach them, or the received information was not implemented by them. To overcome this problem, mass media play a vital role in diffusing scientific knowledge among the mass. This is used to link researchers and extension workers and collecting the feedback from farming communities. Further, agricultural technology information acquired by farmers through mass media. Generally, the agricultural technology information includes techniques of applying fertilizer, insecticides and fungicides to crops, improved methods of cultivation and conservation techniques of planting, maintenance, harvesting and storage of crops. There are also new technologies of animal husbandry as well as processing and marketing various agricultural products. Hence, mass media is the most effective means of reaching people with new ideas and persuading them to utilize these innovations. The appropriate use can create knowledge and catalyze behavioral change among farming communities for better family farming.

ABSTRACT

Documenting the traditional knowledge system for technology development considers as the first step towards a sustainable agriculture. A study was undertaken in some villages of operational area of KVK, Nalanda district to investigate and document the traditional knowledge system of dairy farmers in the area of Breeding, Feeding, Health care and Management. The findings revealed the materials and practices related to animal husbandry from the study area. The majors among them were like use of Eucalyptus leaves in controlling Haemorrhagic septicemia (Gala ghotu), allowing animal to remain stand in mud for few hours, spread out tobacco leaf power on the infected part of FMD disease, applying brine solution on the animal’s buttock for the treatment of mastitis, feeding banana stem juice in order to controlling diarrohea in dairy animals. Papaya fruits fed to the cattle increases fertility in them, spraying of chhoa for controlling termites, incorporation of tobacco leaf, betel leaf and curry leaf enhances the shelf life of ghee at least by 2 months, use of Eucalyptus leaves in controlling Pneumonia in cattle.

ABSTRACT

Dairy farming plays a significant role in rural economy. It provides more avenues for increasing rural incomes and sustaining livelihood. Milk and other dairy products are a major source of protein and calcium for vast vegetarian population of India and demand is likely to double within a decade. Many of the educated youth in rural areas are going back to dairy farming as a natural choice with passion, getting involved deeply, continuously learning and innovating in the process. However these young and intuitive farmers face many challenges especially with regard to technical input and availability of green fodder round the year. In order to address these problems, this study was conducted in Muktsar district of Punjab. The young farmers selected belong to age group ranging from 24-35 years. Seventy percent of the respondents were graduates, among them 25 percent being technocrats. About 65 percent had medium family size (5 members). Eighty five percent of respondents had small land holding ranging from 5-8 acres. For majority of the respondents’ dairy was the primary occupation. Sixty percent of the respondents had obtained 45 day artificial insemination (AI) training from Dairy Development Board, Punjab and themselves did AI on their farm. Many (75 percent) had herd size of 35-40 animals. Majority of the farmers had hired labour for milking and daily care of animals with family members involved in management of the farm. Most of them (65 percent) believed in preparing their own silage and breed improvement. The study revealed that many educated youth in dairy farming were of progressive and scientific temper with entrepreneurship potential but were facing many impediments like low milk yield (4.5 – 6.5 kg/ animal/day), poor breed up gradation, green fodder shortage, a large number of services per conception (3 in majority cases) with artificial insemination (AI), low competence of veterinary service providers in remote rural areas in addition to high veterinary costs, difficulty in marketing milk from crossbred dairy cows due to low preference. It was felt that if sincere and sustained efforts were made by all the stakeholders involved, dairy farming had the potential for all round socio-economic development of rural areas.

ABSTRACT

Bangladesh is a land of rivers, wet lands and tributaries across her deltaic plains in which aquaculture is a potential arena to meet dietary needs of protein. The main objective of this study was to bring out the dominating factors on adoption of modern aquaculture technologies by the fish farmers. The study was conducted in Kahaloo and Sherpurupazilas of Bogra district. Respondent fish farmers were selected using proportionate random sampling technique. Quantitative data were collected using predesigned interview schedule during August to September 2011. Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents viz. ‘use of information sources’ ‘innovativeness’, ‘social participation’, ‘commercialization’ and hindrances of adoption i.e. ‘lack of technical knowledge’, ‘unavailability of credits in time’, ‘lack of quality fish fry’, ‘comparatively low market price’, ‘fish fry price is high’, ‘unavailability of quality fish feed’, ‘adulteration of fertilizers’ were the major dominating factors on adoption of modern aquaculture technologies. ‘formulated feed is costly’, ‘high production cost’

Introduction

Data Mining is a complex subject that describes a type of database application used to search large amounts of data for patterns using specific tools. Advanced statistical methods and tools such as classification, association rule mining and cluster analysis search large volumes of data for previously unknown relationships within the data. Data Mining can be used to decipher trends in a wide variety of fields such as computer science, the marketing and advertising of goods, services or products, artificial intelligence research, biological sciences and high-level government intelligence. Data mining is a logical process that is used to search through large amounts of information in order to find important data.

Evolution of Computer technology and advent of database concept have provided enormous opportunities to the  scientist, researchers and managers of diverse field  to create, manipulate integrate, link and analyse their data in order to generate information and knowledge. The research projects involving exploration, survey and collection of data, generally create database to maintain and analyze the data.  Almost in every sphere of life and industry this database concept/technology is used in one form or other.  Scientists and researchers of life sciences realized the importance of the database and used this technology to develop databases of different types/groups of living organisms. The database technology has eased the difficulty in designing, developing and maintaining the complex information systems.

Abstract

Genetic resource or germplasm are considered to the be the major building block of new varieties. However, on account of excessive pressures of development, deforestation and increasing  population, the valuable resources are fast eroding and a number of type have already been lost. If this trend is not checked the losses will continue. The germplasm has a pivotal role in the development of the fruit industry, hence, it is very important to, conserve, characterize and utilize the existing genetic resources as genetic resources are the common heritage of mankind and must therefore be made available to those who need them and must be suitably conserved to fulfill today’s and tomorrow’s demand through a systematic and well defined co-operative exchange network.

Abstract

Himachal Pradesh is spread over the altitudinal range varying from 352-6975 m amsl. Horticulture in upper reaches and cereals in valley areas form the major components of land use. Temperate fruits amongst the different fruits grown in the state occupy a major share  with respect to area (68%) and production (90%). About 92 per cent of the total geographical area of the state is directly and indirectly influenced by fruits farming through changes in socio-economic structure. This paper has been prepared to highlight the socio-economic issues, technological issues, growth in the states economy and efficiency of the social indicators. This study shows that majority of the total population (80%) in the state has been affected positively by the apple farming business. The role of women has been considered equally important due to strong interaction between orchard and household management activities majority of the orchardists have been found to be marginal and small covering about 47.1per cent of the total area. Amongst all the temperate fruits grown, apple growers enjoy comparatively a better performance with respect to socio- economic indicators. A tremendous increase in area and production under apple has been found during the previous years.

Abstract

Apple productivity of Himachal Pradesh with effect from 1995 to 2004 varied from 6.99 t/ha to 0.82 t/ha.  Climatic variables such as effective chill units (ECU) and growing degree hours (GDHoC) were estimated at different stages of dormancy and their relationships with productivity was studied. The duration of rest period had negative correlation (r = -0.716) indicating that the increase in the rest period duration decreased the productivity in the corresponding year.  ECU accumulations during peak winters had significant positive correlation (r =+0.642).  However, the GDHoC accumulations during rest period  (r = -0.679) and peak winters (r = -0.771) had significant negative correlation. During the period of rest completion to full bloom, the GDHoC accumulations showed significant positive correlation with productivity (r =+0.645). Total snowfall recorded during winters was also significantly correlated. However, no significant correlations were observed with respect to rains and productivity of apple

Abstract

In the present study, effect of phloroglucinol on the rooting behaviour of three Pyrus rootstocks viz. wild pear [P. pyrifolia (Burm F.) Nakai], kainth (P. pashia Buch. Ham.), shiara (P. serotina  Rehd.) and two scion cultivars viz. Patharnakh (P. pyrifolia (Burm F.) Nakai) and Punjab Beauty (P. pyrifolia x P. communis?) was studied. Supplementation of rooting medium (solid or liquid) with phloroglucinol (PG) had a stimulatory effect on the rooting response of wild pear, but on liquid medium the plants were vitrified with very small roots.  However, in solid medium fortified with NAA + IBA (0.25 mg l-1 each) and PG (160 mg l-1), 86.29 per cent rooting was obtained.  In kainth, Punjab Beauty and shiara supplementation of solid medium with PG had inhibitory effect on root induction.  In liquid medium, PG stimulated root initiation in kainth at 40 and 80 mg l-1, but at 160 mg l-1, it was ineffective.  In Punjab Beauty and shaira, liquid medium fortified with 40 mg l-1 PG was ineffective, whereas, at higher levels (80 and 160 mg l-1), it inhibited root induction.  Patharnakh failed to root at any of the PG level. One week culture of kainth microshoots on ½ MS solid medium supplemented with IBA (0.5 mg l-1) and PG (160 mg l-1) in dark followed by transfer to ½ MS basal liquid medium for three weeks in light resulted in 76 per cent rooting.  While, 58.70 per cent rooting was obtained in Patharnakh with similar treatment, except when IBA (0.5 mg l-1) was replaced by NAA (0.5 mg l-1).

Abstract

Apple plantations in Himachal Pradesh have been ravaged by a unique hitherto unknown problem of premature leaf fall for the last one decade. In this study, the disease survey revealed 21.3 per cent disease incidence of premature leaf fall in July, 2001 which increased to 63.6 per cent by the month of September. Whereas in 2002, this disease appeared in August and the disease severity was 30 per cent in the September month. The pathogenic fungus Marssonina coronaria was isolated in pure culture and its pathogenicity was proved. Considerable number of conidia were formed in over wintered apple leaf litter with 22.7 per cent germinability. Ascosporic stage Diplocarpon mali was also encountered in the infected over-wintered leaves collected from Charna locality in Sirmour district. The sour tasting pollinizer cultivars Rus Pippin, Granny Smith, Tydeman’s Early Worcestor and King Pippin were rated tolerant in the field. Protective sprays of mancozeb, propineb, carbendazim, thiophanate methyl etc. were effective in controlling the disease. An integrated spray schedule was recommended to the growers.

Abstract

Apple orchardist’s are adopting micro irrigation system for irrigation and application of  fertilizers. The feasibility of delivery of pesticides through micro irrigation for the management of diseases and insect pests was evaluated. The minimum root rot incidence (30.55%) was recorded at low fertigation dose + aureofungin (100ppm)+ copper sulphate (100ppm) at two-week intervals as compared to control (61.10%) and it also delayed the symptom appearance by one month. At higher fertigation dose + aureofungin (100ppm) + copper sulphate (100ppm) there was increase in disease incidence as compared to the control (without fertigation). Continuous maintenance of soil moisture at field capacity (FC) enhanced the disease incidence where the overall disease incidence was 63.88 per cent as compared to 27.77 per cent in irrigation at 40 per cent FC. Fungicides applied at bi-weekly interval recorded less disease incidence. The fertigation levels did not affect powdery mildew severity; however, irrigation levels influenced it.  Plants maintained at 40 per cent FC showed less disease severity as compared to those maintained at 100 and 60 per cent FC.  Plants receiving hexaconazole dose at weekly interval depicted less disease than 2 or 4-week interval. The number of colonies and population of woolly aphid were  less on the plants treated with chlorpyriphos.

Abstract

A considerable difference of gap has been observed between the generated technology and the technology available with the farmers. In order to find the possible causes or low production, a comprehensive bench mark survey of four Panchayats of Kandaghat block namely Sirinagar, Mahi, Kawarag and Bisha involving 500 farm families was done using PRA technique to ascertain the extent and gap in the generated technology and the technology adopted by the farmers. All the important components of the technology were assessed and the gap in adoption as well as the approximate cost of the gaps was estimated. In tomato and capsicum, it was observed that the farmers prepared their fields well, transplanted at the right time, performed the required intercultural operations and harvested the fruits at proper time. They however, did not treat the seed and the seed bed, applied sub-optimal/excess doses of fertilizes and adopted excessive plant protection measures against pests and diseases. In case of Cauliflower, the farmers used the recommended variety, prepared their fields well, transplanted at optimum time, adopted all cultural operations from time to time but they did not pay attention for protecting the crop against pest and diseases.They also applied ample quantity of fertilizers but did not follow proper spacing. If the farmers adopt the recommended practices, they are likely to gain around Rs 62,688/ha in tomato, Rs.55,563/ha in capsicum and Rs.54,188/ha in cauliflower.

Antigen-antibody interaction is very specific one in which an antibody recognizes an antigen through complementarities of shapes on paratope and epitope.  It is like lock and key, as occurs in case of enzyme-substrate reaction. It does not involve covalent linkage rather a spatial complementarity occurs between antigen and antibody. For example, when antibodies, raised against m-amino benzene sulphonate, are tested for their ability to bind with ortho-, meta- and para-isomers of the hapten, the antibodies show highest strength with meta than ortho- isomer.  Antibodies show poor reactivity with para isomer. This is because though chemically all these molecules are same but structurally they are different.

All blood cells arise from a basic cell called the hematopoietic stem cell. Stem cells are undifferentiated embryonic cells.They are self renewing and their population by cell division. Stem cells have the ability to develop into any type of blood cell. The formation of blood cells begins in the embryonic yolk sac during the first week of development. Every mature cell is derived from the same type of stem cell. In contrast to an unipotent cell which differentiates into a single cell type, a hematopoietic stem cell is multipotent or pluripotent. In the mammalian embryo, the blood corpuscles are normally formed in yolk sac, liver, spleen and thymus gland.

The immune system protects the body from harmful substances by recognizing and responding to antigens. Antigens are the protein molecules which are present on bacteria, virus, fungi or some other microorganisms.Some toxins can also be antigens. These antigens are recognized by immune system. The destruction of antigens by producing antibody is called antibody-mediated immune response. As antibodies are present in the body fluids i.e. humors,this type of response is called humoral immune response.

Immunity is defined as the resistance to infection. This is carried out by the process of identification and removal of non-self material. In contrast to this, our body has to maintain immune tolerance to our own cells and tissues and develop the ability to distinguish these self-antigensfrom non-self (foreign) antigens. Tolerance means unresponsiveness of the immune system to an antigen. Immune tolerance is the process by which the immune system does not destroy an antigen. Tolerance can be either natural or induced.

Transplantation refers to the implantation of a tissue or organ from one site  to another site in an individual or from one individual to another.It involves implanting of organs or grafting of tissues to repair defects and to stimulate regeneration. Auto-transplantation or autoplasty of the skin, cartilage, bone, muscle, tendon, nerve and fatty tissue is used in plastic and cosmetic surgery. The replacement of a diseased organ by a transplant of a healthy tissue is called transplantation.

Term rendering is generally used to recover the fat from animal material by heating. However, today rendering word is applied in broad sense in by-products industry to recover stock feed, fertilizers and fats from slaughter house offals, parts and condemned material from animal body. Today many products are recovered by rendering process and can be utilized in different ways. Some of them may be categorized as edible and inedible. The major examples are lard and tallow which may be edible and inedible depending on the processing. Other valuable products include chemicals, meat meals and bone meals. To get these valuable products, various animal by-products are processed like viscera, bones, trimmings, dead stock, feather and other poultry materials.

Blood is a first by-product of animal slaughter house. It accounts about 5-7 percent of animals live weight. It is highly nutritious material particularly rich in protein (17-18%) and essential nutrients. Blood is a rich source of amino acids like leucine, lysine, valine, phenylalanine, histidine etc. It is also rich in haem iron which is biologically most available form of iron. Protein efficiency ratio of plasma is 2.5 while 1.0 for globin. It contains about 80 percent water and responsible for effluent problems. It is a great source of pollution because BOD₅ of whole blood is 250000 mg/litre. It should be collected and processed as soon as possible because whole blood clots easily and is capable to clogs the drainage system, grease traps and septic tank of meat plant or abattoir.

Shearing is an operation of clipping the wool from sheep body. It is essential to get the wool from animals as well as to provide comfort to the sheep and enhance the economic status of sheep farm. The time of shearing is twice in a year preferably once at beginning of summer (march-April) and second at the start of winter (September – October). However, for veterinary reasons and other requirements of animals, shearing can be performed any time.

BGA belong to a class of prokaryotic photosynthetic microorganisms also known, as cyanobacteria are capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen aerobically. Most abundantly found in tropical zone, never form fibrous growth and are enveloped by a sheath. The trophic independence of algae for C and N makes them responsible for a natural fertility buildup of rice field soils. The nitrogen fixing ability of BGA was first recognized by Frank and Prantil in 1889. The occurrence of the BGA in the rice field was reported by FE Fritsch in 1907.

Introduction

Mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, filariasis, Japaneseencephalitis, chikungunya and dengue hemorrhagic fever cause extensive morbidity and take heavy toll of life in the developing nations particularly in the tropics. Every year about 300-500 million people are estimated to be affected by malaria alone (WHO report, 2000). In India around two million cases of malaria are being reported annually although real burden is many fold higher (Kumar et al. 2007). Similarly, lymphatic filariasis caused by Wuchereria bancrofti affects about 120 million people worldwide. India contributes about 40%  to  the total global burden of filariasis and accounts for about 50% of the people at risk of infection (ICMR bulletin, 2002). Anopheles stephensi is recognized as a major vector for urban malaria in India (Kumar 1997).

Ralstonia solanacearum is a phytopathogenic bacterium belong ing to the b subdivision of the Proteobacteria (Yabuuchi et al., 1995) having a wide geographical distribution ranging from tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions (Liu et al., 2009). It has broad host range and infects around 54 plant families and 450 plant species (Hayward, 1991; Wicker et al., 2007). 

Early attempts to study the diversity present in the R. solanacearum species complex resulted in separate race and biovar systems. R. solanacearum has been phenotypically classified into 5 races based on the host range at the plant species level and into five biovars based on the metabolic profiles related to the ability to reduce three disaccharides and three hexose alcohols (Wicker et al., 2007).

PGPR have shown potentiality against pests and diseases oc curring on crop plants. Wilt and collar rot diseases are caused by soilborne pathogens viz., Fusarium oxysporum fsp. lycopersici (FOL) and Sclerotium rolfsii respectively in vegetables. An attempt was made to manage the diseases with PGPR microbes and 142 PGPR strains were isolated from different vegetable crops. Among them two isolates viz., Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (BA1) and B. subtilis (BS2) were found highly effective in controlling the diseases.  Apart from the disease control, the isolates BA1 and BS2 also registered enhanced crop growth and yield in cowpea under field conditions. Species level identification of BA1 and BS2 was done through PCR amplification and sequencing of 16s rRNA. Both BA1 and BS2 clustered with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and B. subtilis respectively.

Ambasankar, K. and Balakrishnan, V. 2011. Influence of protected sardine oil on in vitro rumen fermentation and nutrient digestibility of complete diet. Indian J.  Anim. Sci., 81(1): 
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Amrutkar, S.A., Thakur, S.S. and Pawar, S.P. 2014. Economics of supplementing rumen protected methionine and lysine in the ration of lactating crossbred cows. Indian J. Anim. Nutr., 31 (1) : 14-19.
AOAC, 2005. Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Official Methods of Analysis. Washington, DC.
Arewad, G. R., Thube, H. A., Pandya, P. R., Parnerkar S. and Shankhpal S. 2011. Effect of feeding bypass protein based total mixed ration on performance of growing crossbred calves. Indian J. Anim. Nutr. 2011.28 (3) : 303-308.

1.1. History and Origins of Rabbits

The existence of rabbit with human being remained from time immemorial. Romans were the first to domesticate wild rabbits in the 5th century by the monks of the Champagne region in France as a readily available food source. Rabbits were introduced to Britain during the 12th Century, and during the Middle Ages, the breeding and farming of rabbits for meat and fur became widespread throughout Europe. Sources suggest that some women among the Medieval gentry even kept rabbits as pets. The selective breeding of European rabbits meant that distinct breeds arose in different regions, and the origins of many old breeds can be traced back several centuries.

Domestication of the rabbit is relatively recent and most of today’s breeds have been bred by man in the last 200 to 300 years.

The rabbit has been used as an experimental animal in genetics, reproduction and physiology since the beginning of the century, but it was not until 1950 that the first findings on quantitative genetics were published in Venge’s study of maternal influence on rabbit birth weight.

6.1. The Production Cycle

As ovulation in does is induced by mating and the females are generally kept in different cages from the males, it is the breeder who determines the reproduction rate of the unit. These rates vary from one or two litters a year under the most extensive management to eight to ten litters in an intensive management system. Does are remated either immediately after kindling (intensive system) or about ten days later (semi-intensive). In the semi-intensive system, the does are first presented to the buck at four and a half months. They are then mated 10 to 12 days after the birth of each litter. Weaning takes place at 30 to 35, or even 37 to 38 days. Extensive systems are characterized by a long delay between kindling and mating, and perhaps even until weaning. For example, the young may be weaned at 56 days and the doe mated after weaning.

Milk fermentation is process by which a change is produced in milk through the activity of microorganism. As milk leaves the udder it serves as a medium for the growth of many species and accordingly undergoes a series of changes, the processes producing these changes constitute the milk fermentation.

Fermentation of organic compounds, especially in the lack of oxygen leads to the rapid break-down of ‘biopolymers’ to produce ‘anaerobic food chains’.

Introduction

Numerous characteristics of food determine its acceptability to consumers and to regulatory officials. Before accepting a food for consumption, it must be attractively presented, must have desirable odour and flavour characteristics and other qualities and must be free from potential pathogens or their toxic products. The ultimate nutritive qualities, flavour and appearance have been preserved and no harmful organisms or substances are present to affect the consumer adversely. If the quality of the product is good, its keeping quality is also likely to be substantial. Conversely, there are more chances of spoilage of an inferior quality food product during storage.

Introduction

India is a vast country comprised of different agro-ecological regions with diverse climate, natural vegetation resources, topography, possesses almost all domesticated animal species, landraces and crops with different production systems. Domestic animals provide a considerable amount of   food requirements for mankind. India ranks first in milk production with 112.5 million tonnes milk produced in 2010-11. As India is a tropical country, in summer the temperature hikes about 40-48°C in various parts of the country. Such a temperature is certainly not within the comfort range of animals and thus the animals respond to the stress imposed by temperature on them in various ways to combat the stress and to maintain the homeostasis.

Introduction

Over decades, improvement of domestic animal species has been done by selecting superior animals, mainly based on individual performance and their subsequent breeding to get progenies with higher production potential. Within the 20th century, understanding of inheritance of economic traits, factors influencing genetic potential and their interactions provided better criteria for selection and this has resulted into faster genetic gains. Several selection criteria which were composite ones based on the individuals as well as its relative performances were being used.

Poultry has been extensively used for various biological experiments and its contributions to science are impressive. Among poultry species, chickens have made fundamental contributions to our current understanding of many immunological processes and it ranks high in the biological world. It still serves as an animal model to investigate immunogenetic aspects of disease resistance and tumor regression. Among the major contribution from poultry, the first evidence for viral induced tumor came from chicken (Rous, 1911; Nobel prize, 1966), reverse transcriptase enzyme was isolated from Avian Leukosis virus (Tamin and Baltimore, 1963; Nobel Prize, 1975), oncogenes in virus are from host cells (Bishop & Harold Varmus; Nobel Prize, 1989) and major two arms of immune response i.e. the T and B cells were first discovered in chicken.

Stress is described as the cumulative detrimental effect of a variety of factors on the health and performance of living beings (Rosales, 1994). Heat stress arises when there is an imbalance between heat production within the body and its dissipation. Homeotherms can maintain their body temperature within a relatively narrow range and both physiological and behavioural responses help in thermoregulation. Stress occurs when an animal suddenly faces a change in its environment. Heat stress during summer and post summer months in tropical countries is a problem of great concern among farmers and livestock producers as it costs both production and reproduction of animals.

The possibility of making genetic changes in the laboratory in plants, animals and microbes used in food started almost 10,000 years ago. Along with natural changes taken place during the evolution totally different species have come into existence. This has helped in increased food production with better taste and nutrition. The losses caused by biotic and abiotic stresses from fungi and bacterial pathogens have reduced.

The acts for Environment Protection are :

        The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
        The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
        The Wildlife Protection Act
        Forest Conservation Act
        Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)
        Citizens Actions and Action Groups
        Public Awareness and Awakening