eChapters

Organic agriculture or farming is very much native to India. Whosoever tries to write a history of organic farming will have to refer India and China. The farmers of these two countries are farmers of 40 centuries and it is organic farming that sustained them. This concept of organic farming is based on following principles:

• Nature is the best role model for farming, since it does not use any inputs nor demand unreasonable quantities of water.
• The entire system is based on intimate understanding of nature’s ways. The system does not believe in mining of the soil of its nutrients and do not degrade it in any way for today’s needs.
• The soil in this system is a living entity.
• The soil’s living population of microbes and other organisms are significant contributors to its fertility on a sustained basis and must be protected and nurtured at all cost.
• The total environment of the soil, from soil structure to soil cover is more important.

Abstract

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi, a group of organism that is different from fruits and vegetables. They are a rich source of good quality protein having more essential amino acids and vitamins with low calories. There are about six commonly known edible mushrooms throughout the world with button mushroom (Agaricus bisporous) being the most familiar and commercially important variety. Mushroom is a highly perishable product with a shelf life limiting to a few days. Soon after harvest, it starts to undergo physiological disorders like shriveling, wilting, liquefaction, browning, textural as well as weight losses and flavour changes. The main responsible factors for the quality deterioration after harvest are respiration rate, browning, bacterial spoilage of mushrooms, temperature and relative humidity. Because of its limited shelf life under ambient conditions of temperature and humidity, the preservation of mushrooms is a matter of concern. Various techniques have been involved in the extension of shelf life of mushrooms including chemical treatments, cooling, modified and controlled atmospheric storage, radiation, drying etc. Drying is one of the most accepted and effective methods for the long term storage of mushrooms. Mushrooms preserved by drying have a pleasant flavour and are used as an important ingredient in several food formulations including salads, instant soups, meats and rice dishes. Various drying processes like sun drying, hot air drying, freeze drying, vacuum drying etc. can be used for the long term storage of mushrooms. As mushrooms are sensitive to temperature, determining the right drying method is the key for the successful and effective operation of the system. The different operating conditions involved in various methods of drying affect product quality considerably. The effect of drying methods on the process and the quality of the dried mushroom is explained in detail in this chapter.

India is blessed with wide range of diverse agro climatic conditions, making it an appropriate place for vegetable cultivation, resulting in increasing vegetable production from has increased from 63.8 MT in 1993 to 168.5 million tonnes in 2015-16 and productivity from 12.6 MT/ha to 17.8 MT/ha (www.indiastat.com). Although the production has increased but still the technology used and practices followed is predominantly traditional resulting in low productivity and inconsistent quality and quantity of produce supplies to various markets in the country. The per capita consumption of vegetables in India is very low against WHO standards and FAO recommendation (135 g/day <180 g/day (WHO standards) < 300 g/ day capita (FAO recommendation).

Introduction

Seed pathology has been recognized as its own specialization for a relatively brief time, and the term “Seed Pathology” was first coined by Mary Noble in the 1940 (Agarwal and Sinclair, 1997). Seed pathology is an essential part of seed technology as well as a sub discipline of plant pathology. According toAgarwal and Sinclair (1997), it may be defined as the study of seed borne disease and pathogens carried with seed. It also includes studies on the mechanisms of seed infection, seed transmission, the role of seed borne inoculum in disease development, methods for the detection of seed borne pathogens and non-pathogens, seed certification standards, mycotoxins and mycotoxicoses, and various methods for control of seed borne disease. Seed pathology includes the study of diseases and deterioration caused by bacteria, fungi, nematodes, viroids, viruses, physiological and mechanical disorders.

Neergaard Paul is considered the father of seed pathology. He was one of the founding father and later served as Director of the Danish Government Institute of Seed Pathology for Developing Countries, Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1956 to 1974. He served as the Chairman of the Plant Disease Committee of the International Seed testing Association (ISTA). During his tenure as Chair of ISTA, he helped standardize methods for the detection of seed borne fungi.Neergaard (1977) authored a two-volume text entitled “A Seed Pathology”. This text has served as a reference and teaching standard for the science of seed pathology throughout the world (Agarwal and Sinclair, 1997). This text focused on a wide variety of seed pathology issues, ranging from the economic significance of seed borne diseases to the assessment of seed borne inoculum.

Abstract

Vitamin C is one of the most important phytochemicals and can be found in almost all fruits and vegetables. Since it covers almost all eventualities, being water solute and prone to leaching from cells, thermally labile (one of the most labile vitamins), pH-, metal ion-, light-sensitive, as well as readily oxidizable by ascorbic acid oxidase, vitamin C is selected as the most frequently measured nutrient to evaluate the nutrients loss during thermal processing. It is generally accepted that if vitamin C is well preserved, the other nutrients are also well retained. Higher retention of vitamin C in processed products is highly desired. Herein this chapter reviews the degradation mechanism and kinetics of vitamin C of fruits and vegetables during thermal processing, such as blanching, drying, cooking and frying. It starts with an overview of the functions of vitamin C in human’s health. Then the current status for understanding of the degradation kinetics of vitamin C during thermal processing was outlined, followed by the discussion of its degradation mechanism. At last, potential strategies or alternatives to keep vitamin C are identified and discussed.

Introduction

Thar Desert is unique both from floristic and climatic parameters. Biodiversity in this region survives on a very/ fragile ecosysytem under a highly hostile environment. Major area consists of dry undulating mass of loose sand, thus, leading to shifting sand dunes. The sandy plain is full of sand-hills with serve as low depressions where salt and soda are deposited after drying. The whole area is inhospitable and sterile. Trees are rather a few and far between (Bhandari, 2005).

The Thar Desert of western India is known for its rich and ancient culture system and traditions. The communities have long been part of the Thar Desert ecosystem and have evolved specific strategies to live in harmony with its hostile environment. Orans have remained mainstay in balancing this arid ecosystem. Man of this region has never been greedy as he is today. Orans were repositories of ancient system of gene pool conservation. But, there are unregulated encroachment on the marginal lands and over-exploitation of groundwater resources. Orans has been part and parcel of the lifestyle of the Thar Desert inhabitants. Orans are used to provide vital grazing land for livestock, water, minor forest produce, medicinal plants and green cover for the villages. They were worshipped as devbhumi. Orans preserve the endemic, endangered or threatened species, medicinal plants and wild variety of cultivars found.

Common name:     English – Lady’s finger
    Hindi – Bhindi
    Odia- Bhendi      
Family:     Malvaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 1 a), widely cultivated as vegetable in the tropical countries including India.

Common name: English- Indian liquorice
                           Hindi- Ratti/Gunchi 
                           Odia- Kaincha
Family : Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a common weed (Fig. 2 a) found in forest and it is also seen growing on road sides, gardens, waste places and sometimes planted in gardens.

Common name    :    English- Indian mallow
        Hindi- Kanghi 
        Odia- Pedipedica

Family    :    Malvaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a shrub (Fig.3 a) commonly found in waste places, along road sides, as weeds in garden and in forests. It is distributed throughout India.

Common name    :    English- Red hot cat’s tail
        Odia- Bilei lanja
Family    :    Euphorbiaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant usually seen along the road sides and often grown in gardens (fig 4 a).

General Characters
It is a bushy shrub grows up to 1.8 to 3.7 meters in height. The leaves are ever green, oval, 10-23 cm long and 7.5-10 cm in width with pointed ends. Flowers are borne in attractive shades, ranging in colour from deep purple to bright red and clustered in velvety catkins, which are about 30-50 cm long. The plant flowers throughout the year.

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Flowering: July-September

Fruiting: September-December

Botanical description: The plant is a small erect herb, growing up to 60 cm or more. The ascending branches are angled and velvet-hairy. Leaves are broadly ovate, nearly triangular, rather coarsely toothed. Leaf stalks are as long as or longer than the 3-5 cm long blades. Flowers are stalkless, borne on erect axillary spikes longer than the leaves. Male flowers are minute, crowded distally. Female flowers are scattered along the inflorescence axis, each subtended by a conspicuous semicupular leaf-like toothed green bract nearly 7 mm long. Capsule is bristly and1 mm broad.

Ecology: It is mostly found in hot, low to medium altitude, sandy margins of rivers, seasonal water courses and pans, usually in shade of thickets, on rocky hillsides and often in disturbed ground and as a weed of cultivation.

Family : Amaranthaceae

Flowering : October-December

Fruiting : December-January

Botanical description

The plant is an erect, straggling or subscandant herb. The leaves are ovate, elliptic, obtuse, acute and finely attached to the stem on both sides. The flowers are greenish white in colour, bracteolate having membranous blade and seeds are reddish brown in colour, sub-cylindric at apex and rounded at the base.

Common name    :    English- Prickly chaff flower
        Hindi- Chirchita 
        Odia- Apamaranga
Family    :    Amaranthaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig 5 a), fairly common weed that grows on waste lands and distributed throughout India.

Lignieres and Spitz first isolated Actinobacillus from the cattle with actinomycosis like condition in Argentina in 1902. The findings were also confirmed by Nocard in 1902. Later the isolated bacterium from the cattle was named as Actinobacillus lignieresii in memory of Lignieres.

Pfeiffer (1892) first isolated Haemophilus influenzae as a cause of human influenza and it is also known as ‘Pfeiffer’s bacillus’. Other workers isolated and described different species of the genus Haemophilus from animals and birds. In 1903, Friedberger, a research assistant of Pfeiffer, isolated similar kind of bacteria from prepuce of dogs which was described later as Haemophilus canis. In 1925, Mitchell isolated Haemophilus ovis from the respiratory tract of sheep. Lewis and Shope (1931) isolated and illustrated Haemophilus suis from the infected pigs. Glasser found the association between fibrinous serositis, polyarthritis in pigs (Glasser’s disease) and a small gram-negative rod as early as 1910, later became known as Haemophilus parasuis. The bacteria was first isolated by Hjarre and Wramby in 1943. De Blieck (1931) isolated a hemophilic bacterium from the birds suffering with ‘infectious coryza’ and named the bacteria as Bacillus haemoglobinophilus coryzae gallinarum. Later it became known as Haemophilus paragallinarum (Avibacterium paragallinarum).

Cohn (1875) first observed and described a branching filamentous microorganism in the ‘concretions’ (coagulated mass) taken from a lacrimal canal, later identified as Actinomyces israelii. Bollinger first reported the yellow granules in jaw tissues of the cattle in 1877 and established the significance of the bacteria as the etiological agent. In 1878, Israel described the first human case. In 1879, Hartz observed the microscopic appearance of granules of Actinomyces and suggested the name Actinomyces bovis. Mosselman & Lihnaux (1890) and Wolf & Israel (1891) first isolated the bacteria in artificial laboratory media from lumpy jaw cases of cattle and human actinomycosis, respectively.

Common name    :    English- Red Lucky Seed
        Hindi- Badi gumchi
         Odia- Manda kaincha

Family    :    Mimosaceae 

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a tree (Fig. 6a) often found in gardens and village sides and distributed in different states of India.

General Characters: 
It is a large tree with grey bark. The leaves are compound bipinnate, green when young, turning yellow when old and having 5-6 pairs of leaflets. The flowers are yellowish, small and grow in dense drooping and about 5-15 cm long. Fruits are curved, hanging, green pods that turn brown, coil up and split open as they ripen to reveal small bright red seeds. The plant flowers during March-May.

Family : Rutaceae

Flowering: March-April

Fruiting: (Next Year) April-June

Botanical Description: The plant is a medium sized tree with spines of 1-2 cm long. The leaf is composed of three leaflets. The leaflets are oval, elliptic with 2.5-6.5 cm petiole, terminal one is larger. Flowers of the tree are white or greenish-white. The fruits are ovoid, hard and about 5-7.5 cm in diameter. The flowers appear during March-April and the tree bears fruits towards October, ripening in April.

Common name    :    English- Wood apple
        Hindi- Bel
        Odia- Bela
Family    :    Rutaceae

Habit & Distribution 
It is a tree, (Fig 8 a) common in scrub and open forests, also planted near temples and villages. The plant is usually distributed throughout the greater part of India.

Family : Amaranthaceae

Flowering: August-October

Fruiting: November-January

Botanical description: The plant is a perennial sub-erect, diffuse or prostrate herb, growing upto 0.3-2 meter high, branched from the base and often also from above. Stem and branches are densely woolly with whitish or yellowish, shaggy hairs. Leaves are alternately arranged, nearly circular to lanceo shaped-elliptic, wedge-shaped at the base, rounded to sharp at the tip. Flower spikes are stalkless, solitary or usually in clusters in leaf axils, silky white to creamy in colour, forming a long inflorescence leafy to the ultimate spikes.

Ecology: This plant is commonly found in open forests on mountain slopes, on waste and disturbed ground and coastal scrubs. The plant is widespread in drier parts of the tropics and subtropics.

Use: Leaves are collected, fried and then eaten

Common name    :    English- Pith plant
        Hindi- Sola
        Odia- Sola
Family    :    Fabaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (Fig.7a), commonly found in ponds, swampy areas, lakes and other water bodies. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is an erect, perennial herb. Its stem is about 2 cm in diameter. The leaves are sessile reaching up to 15 cm long, leaflets 25-50 pairs, alternate or opposite. The flowers are yellow in colour and about 8 cm long, broadly ovate and acute. The plant flowers between August and October.