eChapters

The Indian Himalayan region is a well known abode to numerous plants of medicinal significance. The Western Himalayan ranges are home to a diverse flora of variety of endemic medicinal plants making it a biodiversity-rich region (Samant et al., 1998).  The ancient system of traditional medicines has been using these endemic medicinal plants since time immemorial. Of late the resurgence of herbal system of medication has led to an unprecedented rise in extraction of such plants from the wild for medical preparations. Most of the times the plant collection is unscientific and unthoughtful of ecological status of the medicinal plant, especially herbs. As a result, unplanned collection and other human interferences have brought a threat to survival of several important medicinal plants of the IHR an  example being  Brahmakamal.

18.1. Origin and distribution

• Native of wetlands of Southern and Eastern India, Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and South America

• Cultivated throughout tropical and subtropical India.

18.2. Economic importance

• Economic part - Whole plant

• Chemical constituents: Bacosides

• Used as a nerve tonic and for epilepsy and insanity.

• Used as diuretic and for treating rheumatisim, asthma and hoarseness.

6.4.1. Function

The brake is used to stop or slow down the motion of a tractor. It is mounted on the driving axle and operated by two independent pedals. Each pedal can be operated independently to assist turning of the tractor during field work or both the pedals can be locked together.

6.4.2. Principle of operation

The brake works on the principle of friction. When a moving element is brought into contact with a stationary element, the motion of the moving element is affected. This is due to frictional force which acts in the opposite direction of the motion and converts the kinetic energy into heat energy.

INTRODUCTION
The brake is a crucial component used to stop or slow down the movement of a tractor. It is typically mounted on the driving axle and is controlled by two independent pedals. Each pedal can be operated separately to help with turning the tractor during field operations, or they can be locked together using a locking mechanism. The two main types of brakes are: a) Mechanical brake, and b) Hydraulic brake.
The braking system plays a critical role in the transmission system of a tractor, as it is responsible for slowing down or halting the tractor’s movement. Brakes function by converting the kinetic energy of the moving tractor into heat through friction between a rotating and a stationary component. Let’s explore the commonly used braking systems in tractors.

Genus   : Rubus
Species : idaelus L. (European Red
                Raspberry) strigorus Michx. 
                (Red Raspberry occidentalis L. 
                (Black Raspberry)
Family : Rosaceae
Chromosome No. : 2n = 14 
                            (variable 28, 42, 56, 84)

The blackberries, raspberries, dewberries, boysenberry are collectively referred to as bramble fruits.  Mostly found in the north hemisphere. They belong to the family Rosaceae and genus Rubus. The family has nearly 250 species besides also has large number of apomictic segregates. Usually shrub, the woody species has biennial canes i.e. in the first year remains vegetative and in the second year it fruits and dies. Leaves variable in form from simple leaf to pinnately or palmately compound.  Flowers usually occur in clusters and are variable in colour, white pink to red.  Fruit is an aggregate of number of small drupes.

Horticulture includes variety and diversity of crops. Thus, it can be divided into several branches depending upon the crops it deals with. Following are the branches of horticulture.

1. Pomology: The term pomology is a combination of two Latin words pome i.e. fruit and logos i.e. science. Recently it has been designated as ‘Fruit Science’. It deals with the study of fruit crops. It includes all aspects of fruit crops e.g. importance, uses, origin and distribution, area and production, soil and climate requirement, botany, nursery raising, cultivation practices, plant protection measures, stage and methods of harvesting, post-harvest handling, marketing, export, import, etc. e.g. mango, banana, citrus, grape, apple, peach, pomegranate, fig, etc.
2. Olericulture: The term olericulture is also derived from the Latin word. Cultivation of vegetable crops. Recently it has been designated as ‘Vegetable Science’. Vegetables are said to be herbaceous plants of which edible plant parts are used for consumption either cooked or salad. It may be stem, root, leaf, flower, etc. It also includes all aspects of vegetable crops e.g. importance, uses, origin and distribution, area and production, soil and climate requirement, botany, nursery raising, cultivation practices, plant protection measures, stage and method of harvesting, post-harvest handling, marketing, export, import, etc. e.g. tomato, brinjal, chilli, cucumber, red pumpkin, watermelon, cabbage, cauliflower, etc.
3. Ornamental Horticulture: It includes various groups of ornamental plants used to decorate in-door and out-door areas. Ornamental horticulture is the study of growing, arranging and tending decorative plants and flowers. It is further divided into.

Ice cream is an emotional as well as a technical product, often associated with happiness, celebration, indulgence, family experiences, and personal enjoyment. This chapter explores the principles of brand building and marketing strategy in the ice cream industry. It explains the difference between a product, label, and brand and examines consumer understanding, product quality, packaging, pricing, visibility, trade marketing, distribution, and innovation. The chapter also addresses launch strategies for new brands and the role of leadership in building long-term brand equity. A successful ice cream brand must combine a clear consumer promise with consistent product quality, availability, attractive presentation, efficient distribution, and memorable consumer experiences.

Introduction Farmer Producer Company (FPC) is a dynamic form of farmer collective that enables strong backward and forward linkage to the member farmer, leading to enhanced socio-economic status amongst the farming community. As of March 31, 2019, there were 7,374 FPCs with a total of 860.18 crore in Paid-Up Capital (PUC). With a budget of 6,865 crore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare announced in 2021 central scheme to support 10,000 farmer producer organisations. The Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), and f lagship programmes like the Agriculture Investment Fund (AIF) have all contributed to expanding farmers' access to capital (www.livemint.com).

FPCs are effective tools that give smallholder farmers more influence over the trading markets. This improves agricultural output and raises the revenues of small-scale farmers. To fully realise the potential of FPCs, cluster-based business organisations must acknowledge the inherent difficulties that they face and understand how to avoid common management mistakes.

Branding scenario of successful FPCs

There have been very few Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) in India that have been running their businesses professionally and have become sustainable organisations over the years with well-established market linkages. Sahyadri Farmer Producer Company (Nashik, Maharashtra), Indian Organic Producer Company (Kerala), Bhangar Vegetable Producer Company (West Bengal), Madhya Pradesh Women’s Poultry Producer Company Pvt. Ltd. (Madhya Pradesh), Nachalur Farmers Producer Company Limited (Tamil Nadu), Maha Gujarat Agri Cotton Producer Company Ltd. (Gujarat), etc. are some of them, to name a few. A lot of sincere efforts have been put into strengthening their marketing linkages, viz. grading, processing, packaging, branding, distribution, etc. All the FPCs have been able to garner a significant market share because of their immaculate branding exercise. Their success has proved the fact that mere branding won’t guarantee large-scale consumer acceptance and it is brand positioning which is the required engine to drag the product towards consumers.

Branding and packaging play a pivotal role in the fish feed industry by helping companies differentiate their products, build market presence, and earn the trust of fish farmers. In a growing and competitive Indian market, branding enables manufacturers to create a distinct identity through logos, color schemes, quality marks, and promotional messaging focused on elements like scientific formulation, locally sourced ingredients, or eco-frWWiendliness. A well-established brand not only drives sales but also raises awareness among farmers about the advantages of using high-quality, nutritionally balanced feed over inexpensive, inferior options. Packaging, on the other hand, ensures both product protection and information delivery. It preserves feed quality by preventing moisture, contamination, and nutrient loss, thereby maintaining pellet strength and palatability. Properly labeled packaging provides vital details such as nutritional composition, manufacturing and expiry dates, feeding guidelines, batch information, and certifications from regulatory bodies like FSSAI or BIS. Attractive and clear packaging also helps farmers quickly identify the suitable feed for their fish species and rearing systems.

Morphological characteristics

Caesalpinia sappan is a thorny, small to medium-sized plant with prominent spines on the stem and leaf rachis that grows up to 10 metres tall. Branchlets are lenticellate, dull, and usually have paired, recurved stipular prickles. With 9–14 pairs of pinnae, the leaves are big, hairy, or glabrate.

Floral characteristics

The inflorescence is a supra-axillary and terminal raceme with golden yellow flowers that creates a huge panicle. The fruit is an elliptical pod that ranges in colour from brown to black. The peak flowering and fruiting season is from July to September, with November being a rare exception.

Distribution

The crop is native to the Indo-Malayan region. The species can be found throughout the Indian peninsula. It is also produced as a plantation crop in all of the Southern states, as well as in Odisha and Bengal to the north.

Introduction

There are large numbers of wheat based products such as fermented pan bread, flat breads including chapati, biscuits, noodles and pasta products. Each product has its own specific requirements. For example fermented pan bread needs wheat with higher protein content, stronger and extensible gluten. Chapati requires hard wheat with high protein content and medium gluten strength. Waxy wheats have been found associated with improved shelf life of breads. White salted Japanese noodles need partial waxy wheats with soft grain characteristics and medium protein content and gluten strength. Partial waxy wheats with comparatively lower amylose content and higher starch paste viscosity improve texture of white salted noodles. Yellow alkaline noodles need comparatively harder wheat with medium strong gluten and without waxy trait. Pasta made from durum wheats requires stronger gluten, high protein content and higher content of yellow pigments. In this chapter detailed account of both fermented and flat breads will be given.

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) belongs to family Moraceae. The Latin name is derived from Greek words (artos = bread, karpos = fruit), and altilis meaning ‘fat’. Baked or roasted in a fire, the fruit has a starchy texture and fragrance, reminiscent of fresh baked food.

Breadfruit is an important staple crop and component of traditional agro-forestry systems in the Pacific for more than 3,000 years. This species originated in the South Pacific and spread throughout Oceania by intrepid islanders settling the numerous islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Due to efforts of Captain Bligh and French voyagers, a few seedless varieties from Polynesia were introduced to the Caribbean in the late 1700s. These gradually spread to other tropical regions. Breadfruit is now grown in close to 90 countries.

The breadfruit is believed to be native to New Guinea. It is grown throughout the tropics. Breadfruit is a staple food in many tropical regions. Raw breadfruit has a very light fragrant taste that is somewhat like a guava, but not as sweet. The texture of raw breadfruit is rather tough and rubbery. It is used more as a vegetable than as a fruit. It can be eaten ripe as a fruit or under-ripe as a vegetable. Soft or overripe breadfruit is best for making chips and biscuits. The dried fruit can be made into flour. Its flour is much richer than wheat flour in lysine and other essential amino acids. Breadfruit is high in calories and contains a good amount of vitamin C and potassium with smaller amounts of calcium, iron and magnesium. The wood is yellowish or yellow grey with dark markings or orange speckles; light in weight; not very hard but strong, elastic and termite resistant and is used for construction and furniture. Fiber from the bark is highly durable and is used for clothing in Malaysia.

In economics and business, specifically cost accounting, the break-even-point (BEP) is the point at which cost or expenses and revenue are equal: there is no net loss or gain, and one has “broken even”. A profit or a loss has not been made, although opportunity costs have been paid, and capital has received the risk-adjusted, expected return.
For example, if a business sells less than 1000 liters of milk each day, it will make a loss, if it sells more, it will be a profit. With this information, the business managers will then need to see if they expect to be able to process and sell 1000 liters of milk per day.

Object: Breaking of seed dormancy to facilitate germination.

Material required: Seeds, water, sharp needle, sharp razor, sandpaper, acids, Potassium nitrate and gibberellic acid. 

Definition: Inability of a viable seed to respond the favorable environmental conditions for germination is known as dormancy.

ICAR-NDRI, Karnal is running a Kisan Seva Kendra at village Lalukheri of district Muzaffarnagar (UP) to cater the requirement of the farmers for frozen semen doses, crops seed and mineral mixture of villages around the center. This centre was established in year 2005; it started fully functioning in 2015. This centre is providing service to the farmers in ~25 villages around the centre. It provides frozen semen doses of high genetic merit bulls with the aim for making improvement in genetic potential for higher milk production of dairy animals of farmers in villages around the centre. The centre is also making available mineral mixture for improving fertility of dairy animals and also making available fodder crop seed to the farmers for growing quality fodder for their dairy animals. Kisan gosthis and farmers awareness camps are also being organized to increase farmers’ awareness regarding benefits of rearing high producing dairy animals and feeding them balance ration for improving their production and reproduction performance.

Since 2015, center has organised ~35 meetings for farmers awareness for adopting scientific techniques/practicesfor dairy husbandry and animal health checkup camps in ~25 villages for improving production and fertility of dairy animals. The maximum numbers of progenies so far, through the use of frozen semen doses from the centre, have been produced of dairy cows and buffaloes in the village- Bhorakhurd (300), Sonjanikheri (440), Alipur (300), Sotta (250) and Sallakheri (250), total 1540 calves.

Introduction

The performance of any commercial stock (offspring) depends on the careful selection and scientific breeding of their parent stocks, known as “breeders.” Breeders are the backbone of any commercial poultry operation, as they produce the next generation of chickens, ensuring the continuity and quality of the flock. A breeder farm’s primary purpose is to produce a high number of fertile eggs per layer bird and to increase hatchability through proper hygienic handling of these eggs. Effective breeder farm management encompasses several key areas, including:

• Pure Line Management: Focusing on maintaining and improving specific genetic lines.

• Parent Stock Management: Managing the birds that directly produce commercial layers or broilers.

• Grandparent Stock Management: Managing the generation that produces parent stock, critical for maintaining genetic diversity and quality.

Breeder management includes pure line management, parent stock management, and grandparent stock management depending on the context. Except for small variations in management among these stocks basics are common within layer breeder stocks and broiler breeder stocks. The main objective of the breeder management is to produce more fertile eggs per pullet and increasing the hatchability by hygienic handling of these fertile eggs.

Location of the breeder farm

Location of the breeder farm should be away from commercial poultry farms in order to prevent the spread of diseases between the flocks. However, they must be in close vicinity of the city/town to have a good transport facility and other amenities such as water, electricity and availability of labour.

1) Origin and distribution

Pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum (L) Leeke, 2n-14) originated in west Africa from where it was introduced into India. Large variability is still found in Africa. Pearl millet is a dual purpose crop; its grain is used for human consumption and its fodder as cattle feed. It is cultivated mainly in Africa and Asia, primarily as a grain crop in an area of 26 million ha with a production of 13 million tonnes. As a poor man’s bread, it sustains a large population of Africa and Asia. It also contributes to the economy of countries like the U.S.A. where it is grown as a forage crop.

In India, Pennisetum americanum (bajra) is cultivated on 11 to 12 million ha land with a production of about 6 million tonnes. It is grown on marginal lands and in areas of scanty rainfall. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana account for about 90 per cent of the total area under this crop.

No breeding work has so far been done on kewda except selection of some promising morphotypes. Varietal improvement in kewda by breeding poses problems mainly due to dioecious nature and long life cycle of the plants, besides heterozygosity. Lack of promising strains is a major drawback. The wild growing population of kewda has a measure of variation and this has never been documented and utilized, which naturally offer a good scope for improvement of kewda by resorting to selection and subsequently propagating them vegetatively. Since a wide range of variation is available and the plants are mostly propagated by vegetative means, it is worthwhile to collect genetic stocks, access variability in morphological characters and attempt a breeding programme after selecting the desirable types for high flower production as the ultimate economate economic value of the plantations depends on the quantity of flower production to be used industrially in the distillation units.