eChapters

The muscles of the head (Fig. 2-3 A) are described in four groups viz (1) superficial muscles including the cutaneous muscle. The other muscles in this group of muscles are the muscles of lips, cheeks, nostrils, eyelids and external ear. (2) the orbital muscles (3) the mandibular muscles and (4) the hyoid muscles.

The cutaneous muscle on the head of the ox is well developed and extensive. In most of the regions of the head it is intimately adhered to the skin. The superficial fascia forms a continuous layer beneath the cutaneous muscle in this region except the natural orifices like nostrils, mouth, eyes and the external ear. The deep fascia forms a continuous layer particularly on the temporal, buccal, and the pharyngeal parts of the head. A part of the cutaneous muscle on the frontal region is called the frontalis muscle. The muscle fibres of this muscle blend with the muscles of the eyelids and the contraction of fibres of this muscle causes elevation of the superior eyelid and forms wrinkles to the skin on forehead.

INTRODUCTION

India is endowed with a vast and rich diversity of natural resources particularly soil, water, climate and agro-biodiversity. To realize the optimum potential of the agricultural production system on a sustainable basis, there is a need to bestow a paramount importance in the arena of efficient management of natural resources. India with a geographical area of 329 M ha presently supports 17% of the world’s population on merely 2. 5% of world’s land area and 4% of world’s freshwater resources. India’s economy is predominantly agrarian in nature with about 72. 2% of its 1028 million population (census 2001) living in villages and about 54. 4% people (cultivators) directly depending on agriculture.

Solanum melongena L. (2n = 2x = 24, family Solanaceae, often cross-pollinated) is known as eggplant in the United States and aubergine in France and England. It is one of the few cultivated solanaceous species originating from the Old World. It is known as brinjal in its home country, India, where it was domesticated long ago and where the greatest diversity exists. Widely grown in temperate and tropical Asian countries, eggplant has been also a common crop in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean basin and is now cultivated worldwide. Although an Old World taxon, S. melongena unexpectedly shares strong genetic similarities with New World Solanum species, namely, tomato and potato. These syntenic features have been discovered and will undoubtedly assist in an unlocking of the genes controlling eggplant key horticultural traits (Daunay, 2008).

As per FAOSTAT website-2018 quoted by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, Horticulture Statistics Division (2018), the world production of eggplant was 51.29 million tons from 1.79 million ha with a productivity of 28.65 tons/ha during 2016. Top ten countries in eggplant production during this period were China, India, Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Iran, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, and Philippines. The bulk of eggplant production came from top ranking China (0.78 million ha area, 32.03 million tons production and 41.06 tons/ha productivity) followed by India (0.66 million ha area, 12.60 million tons production and 19.09 tons/ha productivity) occupying the second rank. Productivity-wise, Spain is top rank holder with productivity close to 65 tons. Leading brinjal producing states in India are West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Haryana, Jharkhand and Assam.

General Definitions

    1.    Colour : Colour is the name for all sensations arising from the activity of the retina of the eye and its nervous mechanisms, this activity being a specific response to radiant energy of certain wavelength and intensities. Colour is basically psychological and is not synonymous with wavelength.

    2.    Lambert’s law : Which states that the proportion of radiant energy absorbed by a substance is independent of the intensity of the incident light.

    3.    Beer’s law : Which states that the proportion light absorbed depends only on the total number of absorbing molecules through which it passes independently of their concentration.

    4.    Extinction : Extinction is the logarithmic ratio of the intensity of the incident light to that of the emergent light.

INTRODUCTION

India has varied agroclimatic conditions, which favour the cultivation of various horticultural crops. Based on the adaptability and system of cultivation, the horticulture can be grouped into four major class such as Temperate, Sub-tropical, Tropical and Arid. India has become the second largest producer of both fruits and vegetables with a total production of 46. 75 million tonnes of fruits from an area of 4. 56 million ha and 93. 16 million tonnes of vegetables from 6. 30 million ha (2003-2004). Besides, there is a tremendous scope for increasing the production of flowers, spices and condiments, plantation crops and medicinal and aromatic plants. Floriculture has emerged as a viable agribusiness. The commercial cultivation of flowers in open field conditions was much popular than protected cultivation in India. But, now- a-days, the protected cultivation has brought a great revolution in Indian floriculture and it helps for the quality production and export to earn sizeable amount of foreign exchange. India has approximately 350 ha under green house cultivation with export value of approximately Rs. 330 crores during 2003-04(APEDA). On the other hand, the prevailing climatic conditions in India are highly suitable for cultivation of the almost all spices from tropical black pepper to temperate saffron. The major spices are mainly grown in humid tropics like Western Ghats and NE States. Out of 21 agro-ecological sub regions in India, spices are grown in 14 different agro ecological sub regions. Fruits, vegetables, flowers spices and condiments, plantation crops and medicinal plants are widely distributed across the country, while plantation crops are restricted to a few regions.

Pre-cooling is an essential process in the post-harvest stage of perishable produce. It involves swiftly removing heat from freshly harvested fruits and vegetables, reducing quality loss and extending shelf life. The advantages of precooling are evident not only in the enhanced quality of the produce but also in the increased profitability for growers.
In addition to improving quality and shelf life, pre-cooling helps curb the growth of microorganisms. Lower temperatures effectively prevent the growth of both existing and potential microbes, aiding in the preservation of the produce.
Field heat, which refers to the temperature difference between the freshly harvested produce and its optimal storage temperature, highlights the importance of precooling. The method of precooling selected depends on the perishability of the produce and the refrigeration equipment available, emphasizing the need for a customized approach.
Many studies stress the importance of precooling for storing and transporting produce over long distances. In this context, the focus is not on whether to precool, but on how to choose and implement the most effective method. This underlines the critical role of precooling in maintaining the quality, shelf life, and marketability of harvested produce.
Precooling fruits and vegetables is a vital post-harvest procedure aimed at rapidly reducing the produce’s temperature to slow down metabolic processes and prolong freshness. The ideal precooling temperature varies based on the type and maturity of the produce but is typically lower than the surrounding temperature. Various methods such as hydro-cooling, vacuum cooling, and forced-air cooling can be used for precooling. Properly understanding and applying these techniques is key to preserving the quality and freshness of fruits and vegetables from the farm to the consumer.

1. INTRODUCTION

Micropropagation is a specific aspect of plant tissue culture dealing with the aseptic vegetative multiplication of plants in-vitro and is divided into several major stages:

Stage 0: Stock plant selection and preparation

Stage 1: Initiation and establishment of an aseptic culture

Stage 2: Multiplication

Stage 3: In-vitro rooting and conditioning

Stage 4: Acclimatization to ex-vitro environment. (Hartmann et al., 1990)

Workflow Optimization is the process of improving the way work is done by making it faster, more efficient, and more organized. In every organization, work is completed through a series of steps. These steps together form a workflow. If the workflow is not properly organized, it can lead to delays, errors, confusion, and increased costs. Workflow optimization helps in improving these processes so that work can be completed in less time, with fewer errors, and with better results. In the modern digital world, workflow optimization has become very important because organizations are handling large amounts of data and complex tasks. With the help of AI tools and automation software, workflows can be optimized and automated. Workflow optimization

Abstract

The coastal zones are very fragile owing to the reason that these form the junction between the continents and the oceans. Further the multivariate tectonic, fluvial, marine and aeolian processes, which vary independently in their degrees and duration in space and time, act in different permutations and combinations with each other and keep on constructing and destroying the landforms along the coasts. Again, as coastal zones are heavily populated; it adds further pressure on the coastal systems. The paper deals about the hierarchy of issues faced by the coastal zones like tectonic emergence and subsidence and it‘s impacts and the ways, means and needs for measuring the rate of such movements; marine regression and the need for the time series models on the land-ocean boundaries for drawing the sea level curve for India, the Quaternary deltas and the essentiality for understanding the mixture of fluvial and marine forces for the possible future forecasting models; back water modifications, the related issues and the demands for the sediment-chemo dynamics modelling; disaster vulnerabilities and mapping methodologies etc; all using the unexplored vistas of Geomatics technology. The concept has been explained by taking Tamilnadu coast as the reference region.

Introduction

The coastal zones are always fragile as these are formed by the tectonic, fluvial, marine and aeolian processes, which act independently in varying degrees and duration and occur cumulatively in different permutations and combinations along the different parts of the coasts. In addition to such inherent fragility, the coastal zones stand vulnerably exposed to various natural and anthropogenic disasters like seismicity and earth movements, tsunamis, floods, sea level rise, cyclones, coastal erosion etc. Further, owing to the enriched land and water resources, enjoyable eco systems and avenues for intra and intercontinental trades, more than 70% of the global population and the related infrastructure are clustered in the coastal zones. Hence the scientists from all over the world have started showing more attention towards the coastal regions (Ahmed, 1972). The advent of Geomatics technology comprising multi spectral and hyper spectral remote sensing, GIS, GPS, Interferometry, etc. have opened up exhaustive newer vistas in unfurling the hidden complexities of the coastal zones and to provide solutions. From amongst many, the remote sensing based studies carried out by Shailesh Nayak and his team (2004) have brought out many first time information to light about the Indian coasts. But still we will have to go a long way, as the global coasts in general and the Indian coasts in particular are confronted with a hierarchy of challenges and the Geomatics technology can provide answers for these challenging issues owing to its unique virtues. The paper narrates the unique issues of the Indian coasts and how effectively the geomatics technology can be used in solving them. This has been done by taking Tamil Nadu coast as the test area.

1. INTRODUCTION

Vegetables play a significant role in human nutrition, especially as sources of vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and antioxidants. Consumption of vegetables on a daily basis is highly recommended because of its associated health benefits, which include reduced risk of chronic diseases.

Due to perishable nature of vegetables, the post harvest losses of these commodities are four to five times higher than those of food grains. The post harvest losses from vegetables accounts to a tune of Rs. 23,000 crores per year. Both quantitative and qualitative losses occur in horticultural commodities between harvest and consumption. Qualitative losses, such as palatability, nutritional quality, caloric value and consumer acceptability of fresh produce, are much more difficult to assess than the quantitative losses.

Postharvest losses vary greatly across commodity types, with area and the season of production. In contrast, the range of produce losses in developing countries varies widely. Losses at the retail, food service and consumer levels are estimated at approximately 20 per cent in developed countries and about 10 per cent in developing countries. Overall, about one third of horticultural crops produced are never consumed by humans. Reduction of post-harvest losses can increase food availability to the growing world population, decrease the area needed for production and conserve the natural resources.

Abstract

Drainages have characteristic pattern and life histories with youthful stage in hilly areas, mature stage in plains and old stage in the coastal zones. The deviations from their normal life histories, especially aberrations in their flow pattern in the form of various drainage anomalies have been inferred to be the indications of dominantly the Eustatic and Isostatic changes. This, especially after the advent of Earth Observing Satellites, has attracted the geoscientists from all over the world, for studying such drainage anomalies. In this connection, a study has been undertaken in parts of South India falling south of 14° south latitude to comprehensively map some drainage anomalies like deflected drainages, eyed drainages and compressed meanders and to evolve the tectonic scenario therefrom. The mapping of such mega drainage anomalies and the related lineaments/faults from the satellite digital data and the integration of such lineaments/faults with the overall lineament map of South India showed that the study area is marked by active N–S block faults and NE–SW sinistral and NW–SE dextral strike slip faults. Such an architecture of active tectonic grains indicates that the northerly directed compressive force which has originally drifted the Indian plate towards northerly is still active and deforming the Indian plate.

Introduction

Rivers have characteristic pattern and life histories with (1) short and straight drainages performing only erosion in the hilly catchments, (2) meandering and sinuous paths doing both erosion and deposition in the plains and (3) Brownian pattern of movement doing only dumping of sediments and building up of deltas in the coastal zones. Such characteristic life history of the rivers with youthful stage in the hills, mature stage in the plains and the old stage in the coastal zones in general are controlled by the base level of erosion or Mean Sea Level (Thornbury, 1985). But, the rock types and the geological structures of the terrain related to palaeo, time transgressive and ongoing tectonism too significantly control the drainage pattern and the related river flow dynamics in all these three stages. Hence, geoscientists from all over the world have all along been showing greater interest in understanding the drainage architecture in general and their anomalies in particular. That too, after the advent of Earth Observing Satellite technology, mapping of drainage pattern and their anomalies like dentritic, semi dentritic, trellis, parallel, annular, radial, deflected, pirated, avulted, eyed, compressed, preferentially migrated and other drainage anomalies have gained greater momentum, since, besides lithology, tectonics and sea level changes, these drainage anomalies have the credibility of providing information on the flood histories, seismic vulnerability, past climates and anthropogenic phenomenon too (Chitale, 1970; Chen and Stanley, 1995; Lillesand, 1989; Matmon et al., 1999; Miller, 1937; Reid, 1992; Saintot et al., 1999; Smith et al., 1997; Twidale, 2004; Thornbury, 1985 and many others). In different parts of the Indian sub-continent too, studies have been carried out on the drainage anomalies using topographic sheets, black and white panchromatic aerial photographs and orbital multimode and multispectral satellite data, to elucidate the structural fabric, tectonic processes, climatological and other phenomenon of especially the Quaternary period (Amalkar, 1988; Babu, 1975; Bakliwal and Sharma, 1980; Barooah and Bhattacharya, 1989; Mitra et al., 2005; Murty and Mishra, 1981; Narasimhan, 1990; Oldham et al., 1901; Philip et al., 1989; Rajaguru and Kale, 1985; Ramasamy, 1991, 2006; Ramasamy and Kumanan, 2000; Ramasamy et al., 1987, 1991, 2006; Singh et al., 1996; Sood et al., 1982; Thirunaranan, 1938; Vaidyanadhan, 1971; Yashpal et al., 1980).

6.1. Introduction

A river is a large natural waterway. The source of a river may be a lake, a spring, or a collection of small streams, known as headwaters. From their source, all rivers flow downhill, typically terminating in the ocean. The mouth, or lower end, of a river is known as its base level.

A river water is confined to a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. Most rainfall on land passes through a river on its way to the ocean. Smaller side streams that join a river are tributaries. The scientific term for any flowing natural waterway is a stream; so in technical language, the term river is just a shorthand way to refer to a large stream. Rivers throughout history have been the source and support for civilization, and many major cities today are near a river of some sort (Fig. 6.1).

6.1.1 Topography

A river conducts water by constantly flowing from a higher to a lower elevation, thereby converting the potential energy of the water into kinetic energy. It starts to form loops and snakes through the plain by eroding the river banks. Sometimes the river will cut off a loop, shortening the channel and forming an oxbow lake from the cut off section. Rivers that carry large amounts of sediment may develop conspicuous deltas at their mouths, if conditions permit. Rivers, whose mouths are in saline tidal waters, may form estuaries. River mouths may also be rias.

The capacity to reproduce is one of the most important characteristics of all living beings. Reproduction is a process of producing offspring and is aimed to preserve individual species. This is known for self-perpetuation. There are several modes of reproduction, which vary from species to species, in available conditions. All the reproductive methods of plants are broadly classified into two types, i.e., (i) asexual reproduction (apomixis) and (ii) sexual reproduction (amphimixis). In asexual reproduction, the new individuals are produced by any means other than the fusion of sex gametes. In sexual reproduction, the gametes from male (androecium) and female organs (gynoecium) of the flower are fused to produce a zygote (Schranz et al., 2005; Rodrigues et al., 2008). Amphmixis and apomixis are the two sides of same coin (Curtis and Grossniklaus, 2007).

In view of fast development of industrial sector and rapid urbanization, the vegetable gardening of various types has great scope for providing food and nutritional security, promoting health, solving employment problem and raising the economic status of an individual and the country as a whole. In many of the developing countries, protein-energy malnutrition is the most important health problem, which has long-term ailing consequences. Iron and vitamin A deficiencies are also potent contributors towards morbidity, mortality, underweight and stunted growth of individuals. Vegetables from homestead gardens can combat these dreaded social nuisances. In many cases, indigenous vegetables, gathered or grown wild, are more nutritious than foreign high value exotic species (Drescher, 1998). Various types of vegetable farming are being practiced the world over depending on the area available and objectives for the disposal of the produce. Based on the mode of disposal, the vegetable gardening can be categorized into two types:

Soil fertility and crop production can be maintained only by efficient and judicious management of nutrients addition to the soil from external sources. Of the two sources most widely used all over the world, one is organic in nature- the organic manures, simply called manures, and the other comprises the synthetic or naturally occurring chemical fertilizers, simply called fertilizers. A brief account of manures is described hereunder:

The word manure came from Middle English manuren meaning to cultivate land, and initially, from French word manoeuvre meaning hand work alluding to the work which involved manuring land. The term manure originally meant that which was worked by hand (Fr. manoeuvre), but gradually, came to apply to any process by which the soil peroperties could be improved. Prominent among such processes was that of directly applying manure to the land, manure in this sense being what is now called farmyard manure or dung, the excreta of farm animals mixed with straw or other litter. Ronald Fisher seems to have used the word manure systematically for what we would call fertilizer today.

Uses of Manure

Manure has been used for centuries as a fertilizer for farming since it is rich in nitrogen and other nutrients, which facilitate growth of the plants. Liquid manure from pig or hog operations is usually knifed (injected) directly into the soil to reduce the unpleasant odours. Manure prepared from hogs and cattle is spread on fields using a manure spreader. Due to the relatively lower level of proteins in grasses, which herbivores eat, cattle manure has a milder smell than the dung of carnivores, e.g., elephant dung is practically odourless. However, due to the quantity of manure applied to fields, odour can be a problem in some agricultural regions. Poultry droppings are harmful to plants when fresh but after a period of composting are valuable fertilizers.

The dried manure of animals has been used as fuel throughout history. Dried manure (usually known as dung) of cow was and still is an important fuel source in countries such as India, while camel dung may be used in treeless regions such as deserts.

5.1 Introduction

A Crop Simulation Model is a mathematical model which describes crop growth and development processes as a function of environment, soil conditions, and crop management. Simulation model is a schematic representation which works on set of underlying assumptions, equations and algorithms, closely replicating the behaviour of the agricultural systems. A crop growth simulation model predicts the harvestable yield. Apart from this final state of crop production, the model also provides a host of quantitative information about major processes involved in the various stages of crop development. The information covers each component of the crop such as leaves, stems, roots and harvestable products as they change over time, including the changes in soil moisture and nutrient status.

An increase in the population, demands an increase in agricultural production with available resources. Efficient management of available resources under varying weather conditions is important for increasing agricultural productivity. Besides that, the emphasis of agricultural production changes from quantity to quality and sustainability (Aggarwal et al., 2000). Solution of these new challenges lies in understanding the interaction of the numerous elements affecting the plant growth and generating a crop growth model. This extremely complicated information needs to be processed and interpreted on a spatial scale. Information technology which has unleashed new frontiers in data analysis and automation is the driving force behind this model generation. These powerful computer programmes simulate the crop growth or yield of crops under various management regimes and provide near real time information to help farmers to make strategic decision in the management of their crops.

Introduction

Food and nutraceuticals are obtained from various agricultural resources available in this planet. Many types of bio-active compounds are available in small quantities in the plants and animals which are evidenced to improve performance of various organs, increase in immunity and cure for some diseases. Last decade evidences several advancements in developing phytochemical formulations which can be used as a cure for many diseases as well as helps in boosting immunity in human being. Such materials exist in different form, structure and chemical compositions. Examples of such chemicals are phenolic and organosulphur compound (Pascall 2011). The vegetables, fruits and seeds are used without further processing. Some plants are subjected to cooking before its consumption. Many industries are carried out extraction of bioactive compounds and developed products in the form of tablets, powders and liquids which are available in the market. In order to make commercial process more economic and feasible, long term storage of plant residues (Raw materials) as well as the prevention of the extracts emerges as essential requirement for the industries. Moreover, the products requires suitable packaging solution to increase its self-life, preventing it from the influences of environment, and to make viable solution for easy access which makes it more user-friendly. Suitable packaging solution is required for mainly the three reasons: (i) prevention. (ii) protection and (iii) presentation. Prevention is required in-order to avoid deterioration of the packaged items due to microbial growth, loss in moisture and enzymatic action. Protection is required for the purpose of protecting the packaging materials from the contamination as well as from the environment impact and rough handling. Presentation is equally important to provide it an aesthetic look to make it more approachable to the consumers. Moreover, packaging also offers “labelling for easy identification, warnings, instructions, and nutritional information, ease of transportation” (Pascall 2013).

Healthcare organizations require collaborative learning methods that protect sensitive patient information. This chapter introduces federated learning as a framework for training models across decentralized institutions without transferring raw clinical data. Horizontal, vertical and hybrid federated architectures are examined alongside communication protocols, threat models and security requirements. Privacy-enhancing methods—including differential privacy, secure aggregation, cryptographic techniques and trusted execution environments—are discussed. Applications in medical imaging, electronic health-record analysis, wearable devices and remote patient monitoring demonstrate the framework’s practical value. The chapter also evaluates accuracy, privacy, communication cost, scalability and robustness while addressing data heterogeneity, fairness, explainability, legal compliance and ethical challenges in collaborative healthcare analytics.

6.1 Introduction

Irrigation is the process of applying water to soil, primarily to meet the water requirement of plants. Irrigation is mostly done when rain water availability in the soil for plant is insufficient. Water from different sources like rivers, lakes, reservoirs or aquifers is pumped or flows by gravity through pipes, canals, ditches or even natural streams. Irrigating the fields enhances the quantity, quality and reliability of crop production. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, irrigation contributes to about 40% of the world’s food production on 20% of the world’s cultivated land (Bjorneberg, 2013).

Though nearly 75% of the total area on the earth’s surface is occupied by water, 97.3% of the water is in oceans and seas, and only 2.47% is the fresh water. Water is a vital factor and natural resource for the growth of any living organism, and is a limiting factor for plant growth. Plants require water for their better growth and production. Where there is shortage of water, particularly during critical stages like fowering and fruiting, there can be drastic reduction in yield. Hence, the necessity of irrigation is to make up this deficiency of water.

Climate change is altering insect-pest development, reproduction, feeding, survival, distribution, host preference and interactions with natural enemies. These shifts may make conventional control measures and existing integrated pest-management programmes less reliable. Climate-resilient IPM must therefore combine continuous pest surveillance, forecasting, biological control, resistant cultivars, cultural practices, habitat management and the careful use of pesticides. Management decisions should account for changing pest phenology, emerging invasive species and regional climate risks. This chapter examines how climate change affects established IPM components and proposes adaptive, knowledge-based approaches for sustainable pest suppression, reduced pesticide dependence, ecosystem protection and long-term food security.