eChapters

ACID SOILS: Acid soils with pH below 6.5 are widespread. Main limitations of these acid soils are low pH, low CEC, low status of bases, especially Ca, Mg, and K along with toxicity of Al and Mn. Use of acidifying fertilizers aggravates this situation.

ABSORPTION ACTIVE: Movement of ions and water into the plant root as a result of metabolic processes by the root, frequently against an electrochemical potential gradient.

ALLIC: soil family class term used in Oxisols as a calcareous and reaction class category. Soils placed in the allic class are acid and have low CEC with high amounts of KCl-extractable aluminum in a layer at least 30 cm thick within the control section. If used for agriculture, these Oxisols require large inputs of lime to displace the aluminum and raise pH.

ACID-FORMING FERTILIZER: A term applied to commercial fertilizers which leave an acid residue in the soil. The amount of calcium carbonate required to neutralize the acid residue is referred to its equivalent acidity.

AGRICULTURAL WASTE: The characteristics of the agricultural waste materials make them important in respect of their use and economic value. Agricultural wastes can he put to use because (1) Farm development (improvement of soil health, soil fertility, soil physical conditions and plant protection), it is the source of energy and power, (3) it acts as animal feed and fodder, (4) it is the human food

ACTIVATION ENERGY: The energy required before the reaction of concern will proceed. Often, heating will supply the needed energy. Enzymes or other catalysts lower the activation energy of a reaction.

ABIOTIC FACTORS: Environmental influences produced other than by living organisms for example, temperature, humidity, pH and other physical and chemical influences. Contrast it with ‘biotic factors’ - meaning effects due to biological components.

1. The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the Earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants. - Soil Science Society of America

1. Project is __________

a) Investment activity

b) Create productive assets

c) Realising benefits over time

d) All of these

Management is the coordination and administration of tasks to achieve a goal. Management is a built-in function of business. It is essentially a decision-making process based on information and experience, in order to achieve desired goals and objectives. It involves creating an internal environment. It is the management which puts into use the various factors of production. Therefore, it is the responsibility of management to create such conditions which are conducive to maximum efforts so that people are able to perform their task efficiently and effectively.

Project appraisal technique gives details of cost and return of the proposed business. It involves investment of huge amount of capital. There are different project appraisal technique but the most common one is investment analysis or capital budgeting. With this, we can evaluate economic feasibility of different projects.

Project evaluation is a systematic and objective assessment of an ongoing or completed project. The aim is to determine the relevance and level of achievement of project objectives, development effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. It is a time bound exercise that attempt to access, systematically and objectively, the relevant / performance and success of a programme / project.

Project monitoring is the process of keeping a close eye on the entire project management life cycle and ensuring project activities are on the right track. It is a continuous function that aims primary to provide functionaries with required feedback and early indication of progress or lack of their achievements of intended results.

It is a process by which a act of predetermined activities is carried out in a planned manner, with a view to achieve certain establish objectives.

To implement a project means to carry out activities proposed with the aim to achieve project objectives and deliver results and outputs. It is a highly complex process and it involves a relationship among several system and variables

Stakeholder is an individual or group that has an interest in any decision or activity of an organization. A stakeholder is a member of groups without whose support the organizationwould cease to exist. Stakeholders are important to every project. Stakeholders are very important because they can have a positive or negative influence on the project with their decisions. A stakeholder is either an individual, group or organization who is impacted by the outcome of a project.

The word market is derived from the latin word “marcatus” which means “merchandise or trade or a place where business is conducted “. The term market has been widely used in various means, such as:

• A place or a building where commodities are bought and sold (e.g. Super market)

Designing is a creative activity. Think of fashion designers or interior decorators, who design clothes or decorate homes. Think of the people who design sports cars or bikes, or the interiors of fancy hotels or corporate offices. They take simple things like fabric, or steel, or plastic and using colors create things that are attractive, useful and a pleasure to live with. Designing a project is equally creative - selecting inputs and managing them in a certain way to achieve objectives.

A well planned projects requires pre-feasibility study to explore the opportunity to find out problems, avenues of co-ordination etc. A government being a regulation spells out priotize for national and regional economy and by the frameworks for resource allocation.

Agricultural project is an investment activity in which financial resources are expended to create capital assets that produce benefits over an extended period of time. Projects are the building blocks of investment plan. The whole complex of activities in the undertaking that uses resources to gain benefits constitutes the agricultural project.

The word mulch was coined by Wagganor in 1960. It is derived from the German word ‘molsch’ means “easy to decay,” and mulches have widely been used for vegetable production since ancient times (Lightfoot 1994). Therefore the term mulching refers to the practice of covering the soil surface with different organic and inorganic materials, known as mulch materials to reduce moisture loss, balance wide variations in diurnal soil temperatures especially in the root zone, control weeds, insect-pests and diseases and finally enhance crop yield (Nalayini 2007; Kader et al. 2019).

Increasing population, declining natural resources, changing climate and political stability are the major threat to our food, nutritional as well as environmental security. It is expected that India’s population will boom to 1.5 billion by 2030 and to feed them we need approximately 341mt food grain including 315 mt cereals and 26mt pulses) (Kumar et al., 2016).

Due to continuous pressure on our food security even after independence, the cultivation has been expanded to marginal and sub marginal lands that are prone to different types of erosion. Though the rainfed farming is based on the erratic and uneven rainfall, it contributes nearly 50% food grain, 90% oilseeds and pulses and 65% cotton production.

Rainfed agriculture occupies about 1.22 billion hectare (Bha) area worldwide, which is about 82% of total area (1.5 Bha) under agriculture (Yadav et al., 2006) and contributes nearly 58% to the global food basket. It is practiced under a wide variety of agro-climatic, edaphic and socio-economic conditions and globally, rainfed agriculture accounts for more than 95% of farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa, 90% in Latin America, 75% in the Near East and North Africa; 65% in East Asia and 60% in South Asia (Singh et al., 2018). 

Drought is a recurrent feature of climate or climatic anomaly or weather related natural disaster. It occurs when the precipitation remains deficient over an extended period of time, usually for a season or more and affects water shortage in water bodies, streams, soil moisture, ground water etc. resulting into low crop production and economic performance of large regions or entire country. Drought occurs in virtually all regions varying its severity, low and high from regions to regions.

Land, water and weather are natural resources that are critical for survival. Modern agriculture requires precise information on various agro-climatic parameters like soil, crop, climate and water resources for formulating efficient agricultural planning. Out of these, water is considered most scarce input in agriculture because its availability is reducing drastically for agriculture as well as drinking purposes. Besides, declining water tables and deteriorating quality of water resources caused pollution and sewage and effluents have further multiplied the problems.

Out of 329 m ha geographical area in the country, 187.8 m ha or 53% is affected by various forms of degradation process which include 148.9 m ha affected by water erosion, 13.5 m ha by wind erosion, 13.8 m ha by chemical deterioration and 11.6 m ha by physical deterioration. The annual loss of topsoil is nearly 16.0 t/ha/year resulted in to 8.4 m t/year total nutrient loss. 

Bread, cloth and house (Roti, Kapra and Makan) are the basic need of human life and linked directly with agriculture because agriculture provides livelihood for nearly two-thirds of the population in India and it currently accounts for 14.2% of the GDP and also employs 55% of country’s total workforce. The sharp fluctuations in agricultural growth are mainly attributed to the vagaries of monsoon. Rainfed agriculture is spread over 55% of net cultivated area, contributing over 40% to the national agricultural production.

Soil is generally defined as the upper layer of earth in which plants grow. It is regarded as a source of nourishment to all animals, moving or static. From agriculture or crop production point of view, soil is loose earth surface that supports vegetation, its quality, type and density. It is generally treated as a dynamic living entity and its physic-biochemical properties are responsible for its nutritional index. Precision production technology with suitable management is the key factors for its longer sustainability.

India comes in a tropical region and so it has a tropical monsoonal climate. The climate of India is governed by mountain ranges as well as direction of rain winds like south-west and north-east monsoon and alternate season is the main feature of Indian climate. Climate in South India is generally hotter and extremely humid than that of North India.

Water is essential for life and most of the civilization flourished on bank of rivers like Indus valley, Mesopotamia, May, INCA and also destroyed in lack of water. Scarcities and famines were the common phenomena of the world civilization. Systematic dry cultivation started around 1850 and improved techniques were started in use in USA. 

Rainfed agriculture constitutes 80% of global agriculture and plays a critical role in achieving global food security. However, growing world population, water scarcity, and climate change threaten rainfed farming through increased vulnerability to 1 droughts and other extreme weather events. Out of the total population of 7.3 billion, about 1 billion are food insecure and 60% of these live in South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa.

Symptoms of pale or yellow-green leaves (chlorosis) first occur in the older leaves. At the leaf margins reaching toward the midrib or central vein, reddish tints gradually emerge. The leaves are thin. Growth overall is markedly reduced. Deficiency results in rhizome yield loss.

Black nose is used for the unusually shrinking and darker date end. The most susceptible cultivars for this physiological state are Deglet Nour and Hayani. The black nose result is an over exam of the epidermis, in particular many little cross-sectional exams or ruptures near the end of the style of the foetus. There is a substantial shrinkage and darkening in proportion to the quantity of the controls and moist conditions on Khalaal level are related to them.

The presence of nuts in the kernel is known as stubborn nuts or seedless or imperfect nuts and is frequent in coconut (Cocos nucifera L.). The nozzles impacted are oblong compared with the typical circular form of the nozzles and less than normal husk is generated. The often-breaking shell over the course of the development is the most typical feature of the barren nut. 

Little leaf of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is caused due to the deficiency of zinc. The leaves remain small in size giving rosette appearance.

Smaller leaves are produced and finally a rosette is formed. Internodal length reduction and apex-tapering of the stem. Most of the nuts are tiny and deformed, assuming they are produced. Drainage is poor and soil and pan/hard clay pan fertility are low.

An anomaly characterized by numerous leaves, short petioles and small laminae that offer a bushy appearance known as bushiness to some gerbera cultivars. The nodes are not clearly differentiated and no elongation of the internode is seen.

The calyx may be either half or entirely broken. The petals are stripped of their support, which contributes to the petals being bent down. The continuity of the form and arrangement of the flower is thus lost. Splitting, particularly where light and temperature fluctuate is correlated with weather. By maintaining the night temperature at 5 ° F, some reduction in splitting can be achieved. More calyx splits were caused by high plant density per unit area. 

Gladiolus is a fluoride pollution indicator plant, as it expresses the effects of fluorine at very low levels. Symptoms of scorching of the leaves look like drying of the tips of the leaves. A strong application of super phosphate is also associated with fluoride toxicity. By spraying 5 percent lime or Magnesium sulphate, it decreases

Leaves in the centres appear bleached and may have brown edges. Shade should be provided to reduce the light level to 1800-2500-foot candles to control this problem.

The normal blooming stem on the greenhouse rose has fully developed sepals, petals and reproductive organs. The inability to build a bloom at the apical end of the stem is a typical phenomenon which in such shoots is termed blind. There are sepals and petals; however, they are not complete or aborted in the reproductive portions.

Ordinarily, fruit bears a single crown, but fruit bears more than one in some cases. The top of the fruit will therefore be smooth and wide and the fruit will not be ideal for canning. These fruits have an insipid taste and are corky. It is intended to be an inherited character, often found in the Cayenne group to which the Kew variety belongs.

Fruit cracking is a serious problem of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) particularly in arid climate. Cracked fruits are sweet but unfit for long distance transportation. Incidence of cracked fruits varies from 10 to 70 % depending upon the prevailing environmental conditions. Longitudinal or radial splitting of rind surface occurs.

Fruit cracking is an important physiological disorder found in some commercial cultivars of Bael (Aegle marmelos), which occurs just before the ripening stage. It is correlated with abrupt changes, such as temperature and humidity, in weather conditions. Heavy irrigation or precipitation is also one of the causes of this disease after prolonged drought.

Internal necrosis has been observed in Aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) fruits. Francis cultivar, preceded by Banarsi, is highly susceptible. The symptoms begin with browning of the inner majority of the mesocarpic tissue in the 2nd or 3rd week of September at the time of endocarp hardening, which later spreads to the epicarp, resulting in brownish black flesh appearance. Internal fruit necrosis is associated with boron deficiency during the fruit development.

Twitching is a condition occurring predominantly on the surface of the fruit which is exposed to direct sunlight; however, it is not well understood what the source of the disease is. Growth in immature fruits cannot be detected during later stages of fruit maturity. On cv. Golden Solo Party there are a few examples. This is termed the “frog skin” or “fox skin.” It shows on the fruit’s surface as the Dark Brown Flecks. 

Bronzing is a complex nutritional condition in guava (Psidium guajava L.). It manifests in the interveinal tissue of older leaves as bronze or copper colour development, while terminal leaves remain green. This is attributable to the inadequacy of elements P, K and Zn. Bad management and low soil fertility coupled with soil acidity are often due to it.

This is primarily a physiological condition and, after heavy rains or heavy irrigation during hot weather, is mostly due to high atmospheric humidity. Two forms of splitting have been found, namely radial and transverse. There is more frequent radial cracking than transverse cracking. While splitting down to the inner core is very unusual, partial splitting is more prevalent.

It’s because it impacts the active development of the plant at a low temperature. Yellowing of the leaves and severe destruction of the tissue. In cases of flowering plants, the stalk carrying the bunches freely lengthens and drapes down the complete inflorescence.

In grape growing areas in many parts of the world this illness is a very popular disorder. In this disorder, a bold beer is surrounded by shoot berries, and the name of the hen and of the chicken disorder is like a hen, as bold berry and chicken. The fruit has a sour taste. The signs are the death of rising tips, falling leaves and the fragility of new shoots. With the development of interveinal chlorosis between the edges, the leaves may be deformed, and this is particularly evident after fruiting.