eChapters

6.1 INTRODUCTION

Water in soils is essential to plant growth, being the medium through which inorganic nutrients are translocated to the root surface and carried through the plant. Most of the water in soils at or near field saturation can be considered as equivalent to bulk water, and only bulk properties need be considered in discussing its movement through soil interstices and its retention in soil capillaries; this is the field with which soil physics deals. But, in the first molecular layer in contact with soil particles, and perhaps for several molecular layers beyond, the behaviour of water molecules is very different from that in the bulk. Strong adsorptive forces can reduce the volatility of these molecules and restrict their mobility. Such an adsorbed layer of water competes with other polar molecules for adsorption sites, and so has an important role in determining the release and retention of fertilizers and pesticides. Such strongly adsorbed layers confer wettability on soils, but hydrophobic surfaces can also be present and these lead to non-wettable soils with serious consequences in run off and inefficient use of precipitation. This region of distinctive molecular interactions between water and soil particles falls within the field of soil chemistry.

Historical Account on Vegetable Cultivation in India

The vegetables have chequered history in India which dates back to prehistoric period before the arrival of Aryans in India (c. 1500-1000 BC). During the pre-historic times before the arrival of Aryans in India, the Proto-Australoids (Nisada) used brinjal, bottle gourd and watermelon as vegetables. Pea existed in India much before the Aryans came to the country and it was already present in Western Asia prior to its cultivation. The pea, most likely the field pea (Pisum sativum subsp. sativum var. arvense L.) was eaten during the Harappan civilization as evidenced from the archaeological excavations of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa (2500-1750 B.C.) in which carbonized pea seeds were discovered. Pea seeds were also found from Neolithic site (last stage of the Stone age) of Chirand in Bihar (situated 10 Km south-east of Chapra), Chacolithic site (period or Copper Age) of Maheshwar Nevdatoli (c. 1200 BC.) in Madhya Pradesh and part of Osmanabad district in Maharashtra. The presence of seeds of melon along with wheat was also recorded from the Harappan excavation. Plant remains of Chenopodium album, Portulaca oleracea and a few species of Solanaceae, Polygonaceae and Labiatae family during Mesolithic times (Middle Stone Age) were found at Mesolithic site of Damdama, Uttar Pradesh (c. 7000-6000 BC). Wood charcoals of plant remains of Lablab purpureus were found from the early phase of Indus-Saraswati (Sarasvati) or Indus Ghaggar-Hakra civilization (c. 3100-2800 BC). Kundru (Coccinia indica), cowpea and field pea were recorded from Hulas in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, late Indus valley civilization archeological site. Carbonized seeds of hyacinth bean (dolichos bean), peas, Phaseolus, Vigna and melon from Rojdi in Gujarat and Chenopodium and amaranth from Surkotada, Gujarat (c. 2300-1800 BC), both being the archaeological sites belonging to the Indus valley civilization also suggested the existence of vegetables in India in the pre-historic times. Among the vegetables eaten during the pre-historic period, like brinjal, bottle gourd, watermelon, peas and melon as mentioned earlier, only brinjal has its origin in India while the other were brought from other countries much before the arrival of the Aryans. It is difficult to understand how a few important Indian native vegetables, like cucumber, Luffa (smooth and ridge gourd), pointed gourd and Dolichos bean (Lablab purpureus) were not known at that time. Similarly okra which has a secondary centre of origin in India has not been mentioned in any ancient literature. However, Abelmoschus moschatus called “Lata kasturika” in Sanskrit as a source of perfume has been recorded in Carak Samhita. The use of bottle gourd, which is not a native vegetable, is known from pre-historic times. Its dried fruit-shell is used as a hand jug (utensils) by saints and monks and in musical string instruments, like ektara, tamboora, tanpura, sitar and veena. Even mythological paintings have always delineated Naradmuni with tamboora in his hand and the goddess Saraswati with Veena which suggest the antiquity of bottle gourd in India. However, its date of introduction and the place from where it came remain unrecorded. It is also not mentioned in any iconography of the Medieval period (9^th and 10^th Century AD).

Food, at the fundamental level, is viewed as a source of nutrition to meet daily requirements at a minimum in order to survive but with an ever greater focus on the desire to thrive. Nutritional security denotes the consumption and physiological use of adequate quantities of safe and nutritious food by every member of the family and encompasses the process of equitable distribution among members of household and communities. This would entail the need to ensure a varied food intake, comprising all the essential macro- and micronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins), plant pigments (lycopene, β- carotene, anthocianin, lutein, capsanthin, zeaxanthin, etc.) and other functional phytochemicals (secondary metabolites, like flavonoids, isothiocyanates, glucosinolates, etc.) through a diversified diet. The growing awareness in recent years of the health promoting food has directed increased attention to vegetables as vital components of daily diets.

Main Nutrient Components of Vegetables

Nutrient components of our food can be grouped into five main divisions, namely, (i) Carbohydrate, (ii) Protein, (iii) Fat, (iv) Vitamins and (v) Minerals. Balanced diet is the food containing all these nutrient components in balanced form to run the physiological process in good tune. So, only eating to one’s heart’s content may not be the criterion of a balanced diet. Our dietary constitution which is mostly cereal based is really alarming. Cereals, which supply chiefly carbohydrate, constitute only a part of the diet. Moreover, the present average carbohydrate supply through cereals is also not adequate. Chief deficiencies in our diet are calories, protein, vitamin A and riboflavin. According to the studies of Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi and National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, meager intake of vegetables, the low cost protective foods, is largely responsible for malnutrition among the majority of our population. The dieticians advocate intake of 125g leafy vegetables, 75g other vegetables and 100g root and tuber vegetables (total 300g) everyday to make our diet balanced. In households below the poverty line, per capita vegetable consumption is very low, apprehended to be even lower than 40g per day.

Classification of Vegetable Crops

Vegetables are defined as herbaceous plant origin product with no calorific value and providing micronutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, fibre and alkaline reaction inside human body. Vegetable crops are not only botanically different but also their cultural and climatic adaptation also shows wide variability. It is, therefore, necessary to classify the vegetable crops for their easy recognition. Vegetable crops can conveniently be classified “Botanically” for the purpose of vegetable breeding and according to “Method of culture” from the point of crop husbandry.

Botanical Classification

Botanical classification involves grouping of plants into kingdom, division, sub-division, phylum, sub-phylum, class, sub-class, order, family, genera, species, sub-species and variety. The broadest group in which vegetables are discussed is family. The genus and species constitute the scientific name. Scientific names are accepted worldwide and there cannot be any confusion as per their nomenclature. All vegetable crops belong to the division Angiospermae. The division Angiospermae has two classes: Monocotyledoneae and Dicotyledoneae.

The crops used for vegetable purpose in the world belong to 1200 species under 78 families and of them, more than 860 species under 59 families belong to dicotyledoneae and about 340 species under 19 families belong to monocotyledoneae. In the tropical and subtropical parts of the world, about 90 species of vegetable crops are cultivated, but hardly 25 of them are commercially important in terms of market demand, development of variety/hybrid and seed production. In the present botanical classification, over 140 different kinds of vegetable crops under 7 monocotyledoneae and 20 dicotyledoneae families have been included.

Development can be defined as the process and timing of differentiation of the component events causing qualitative changes in form and function of the plant and therefore, manifestation of economic plant parts. Sowing is the beginning of the process, after which plants emerge, grow and develop with or without transplanting and may be harvested in vegetative (e.g., cole, bulb, tuber, root, salad crops) or reproductive phase (solanaceous fruits, peas and beans, cucurbits, okra, etc.). Growth and development of plants is dependent on abiotic (physical) and biotic (biological) factors. Abiotic factors include the physical environmental conditions and biotic factors include animals, insects, and diseases. Each plant has certain environmental requirements. To attain the highest potential yields a crop must be grown in an environment that meets these requirements. A crop can be grown with minimal adjustments if it is well matched with its climate or growing condition. Unfavourable environmental conditions can produce a stress on plants resulting in lower yield. In such cases the environment can be artificially modified, as done in protected structures like poly house, shade net house, etc. to meet the crop requirements.

Different abiotic environmental factors viz., light, temperature, water and soil greatly influence plant growth and geographic distribution. These factors determine the suitability of a crop for a particular location, cropping pattern, management practices, and levels of inputs needed. A crop performs best and is least costly to produce if it is grown under the most favourable environmental conditions. To maximize the production of any crop, it is important to understand how these environmental factors affect plant growth and development.

The term ‘Phyto-hormone’ was coined by Thimann in 1948. Phyto-hormones are organic compounds, which are produced naturally in plants, synthesised in one part and usually translocated to the other part where in every small quantity affect the growth and other physiological function of the plants. Auxin was the first hormone to be discovered in plants. At one time, auxin was considered to be the only naturally occurring plant growth hormone however, four other classes of phyto-hormone viz., gibberellins, cytokinin, ethylene and abscisic acid was later discovered. Plant growth regulators include both five specified classes of phyto-hormones (auxin, gibberellins, cytokinin, ethylene and abscisic acid) and other synthetic organic compounds (for example, polyethylene glycol, dinoseb-2-sec butyl 4,6dinitrophenol, proteins and/or amino acids, carboxylic, phenolic acid, humic acids, etc.) having properties of bio-stimulants or bio-inhibitors. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) modify plant physiological processes either by stimulating or inhibiting specific enzymes or enzyme systems to help regulate plant metabolism and thereby enhance yield and product quality. They normally are active at very low concentrations in plants.

Importance of PGRs was first recognized in the 1930s. Since then, wide array of natural and synthetic compounds that alter function, shape and size of crop plants have been discovered. Of the many uses of PGRs, effects on yield are often indirect. A wide range of beneficial effects of PGRs on crop growth and yields are: 1. promotion of germination and/or emergence, 2. stimulation of root growth, 3. promotion, mobilization and translocation of nutrients within plants, 4. modification of flowering, 5. increase in stress tolerance and improvement of water relations in plants, 6. promotion of early maturity, 7. increase in disease resistance, 8. retardation of senescence and 9. improvement of crop yields and/or quality.

It is said that “Success of any production system depends on the kind of seed which are sowing”. It is true for the seedlings also beacause healthy seedlings grown in a well managed nursery will decide the yield and consequently the profit.

Definition of Vegetable Nursery

A vegetable nursery is a place or an establishment for raising or handling of young vegetable seedlings until they are ready for more permanent planting.

Why vegetable nursery is needed

Some vegetable crops require special cares during their early growth period. There are some vegetables with very small sized seeds. Seedlings of many seed propagated vegetable crops like, tomato, brinjal, chillies, sweet pepper, cauliflower, cabbage, knolkhol, broccoli, Brussels sprout, kale, endive, chicory, celery, lettuce, parsley, onion, etc. are first raised in the nursery beds before transplanted in the main field. Many seed propagated vegetable crops viz., okra, peas, beans, radish, carrot, beet, turnip and all the cucurbits (e.g. bitter gourd, bottle gourd, pumpkin, cucumber, watermelon, muskmelon, snake gourd, sponge gourd, ridge gourd, etc.) are conventionally grown through direct seeding in the main field. However, many cucurbits, particularly in the early season are also grown in India using the seedlings raised in polythene packets.

Plant nutrition is the study of the chemical elements and compounds necessary for plant growth, plant metabolism and their external supply. In 1972, Emanuel Epstein defined two criteria for an element to be essential for plant growth:

In its absence the plant is unable to complete a normal life cycle.

The element is part of some essential plant constituent or metabolite.

This is in accordance with Justus von Liebig’s law of the minimum. The essential plant nutrients include carbon, oxygen and hydrogen which are absorbed from the air, whereas other nutrients including nitrogen are typically obtained from the soil.

Relationship Between Plant and Water

Water is the most vital component of the living cells and the basis of plant feeding. Water is also characterized with extraordinary physical properties: it has high specific heat, biggest latent heat of vaporization, very high thermal conductivity and greatest surface tension. Large amounts of heat are tied up with water because of very high specific heat, which contribute to both climatic stability and to heat budgets of the plants and other organisms. Water molecules are integral part of living systems being the solvent for metabolites and structural component of proteins and nucleic acids. In fact, biological macro-molecules cannot exist in their complicated secondary folding or spiralled helixes without the support of hydrogen bonding within their water matrix. The water matrix is also critical for metabolic activity because its properties of hydration permit ready reactivity between molecules in solution as well as between enzymes and their substrates, and the biochemical processes are sensitive to tissue hydration. A reduction of only 20-25 per cent below maximum hydration is sufficient to cause metabolic malfunctioning of many enzymes. It is the substrate for photosynthesis and a product of respiration. Water also helps to buffer plant tissue against fluctuations in the external environment. Plant growth including leaf expansion, organ enlargement, reproductive development and stomata function are all clearly associated with moisture status. Hormonal changes (abscisic acid and cytokinins) in plant body occur with brief reduction in water potential. Water is the also major force in shaping the climatic patterns.

Most of the insect pest and disease (insects, mites, diseases, nematodes, etc.) management problems arise from relying entirely on pesticides for control. Integrated pest management (IPM) is a strategy that draws on a range of management tools with the goal of using the least ecologically disruptive techniques to manage pests within economically acceptable levels. IPM considers the production system in a holistic manner and looks at all aspects of the farming enterprise as potentially increasing or decreasing pest numbers and, where possible, enhancing the activities that reduce these pest populations.

Strategy for Integrated Pest and Disease Management

The basic IPM strategy involves routine crop monitoring to ensure that pesticides are only applied when needed, as well as to ensure appropriate timing of pesticide applications. The most developed bio-intensive IPM relies primarily on beneficial organisms to manage insect pests. When greater pest control is needed, interventions chosen are complementary to the survival of these beneficial organisms. As other pests are incorporated more and more prevention strategies are adopted which reduces the need for direct control practices.

Weeds are unwanted and undesirable plants which interfere with the utilization of land and water resources and thus adversely affect crop production.

Classification of Weeds

Weeds can be classified in three different manner based on morphology, life cycle, habitat and origin.

Green revolution technologies such as greater use of synthetic agrochemicals like fertilizers and pesticides, adoption of nutrient-responsive, high-yielding varieties of crops, greater exploitation of irrigation potentials etc. has boosted the production output in most cases. However, continuous use of these high energy inputs indiscriminately now leads to decline in production and productivity of various crops as well as deterioration of soil health and environments.

Protected cultivation can be defined as a cropping technique wherein the micro-climate surrounding the plant is controlled partially or fully as per the requirement of the plant species during their growth period. This cropping technique is the most modern approach to grow different horticultural crops mainly, vegetable crops and flowers for enhancement of both productivity and product quality. This technology has spread extensively the world over in the last few decades. This technology involves the cultivation of different crops particularly, horticultural crops in a controlled environment wherein the environmental parameters like the temperature, humidity, light, soil, water, plant nutrition, etc. are manipulated for enhancement of production as well as product quality even during off-season which ensures additional return to the growers.

Potato

Potato, Solanum tuberosum L. under the family Solanaceae (Chromosome No. 2n = 4x = 48) is the most important non-grain food crop in the world, ranking 3rd in terms of total production with over 381 million tonnes per year in (FAOSTAT, 2017), after rice and wheat. It is grown in 150 countries spread across both temperate and tropical regions and at elevations from sea level to 4,000 m. It is extensively cultivated in China, Russian Federation, Ukarine, Poland, Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, South America, India and USA. Potato was brought from Peru to Spain by the Spaniards in 1565 when it was widely grown in Spain and Italy. They were probably brought to England in 1586 by Sir Francis Drake. Potato was introduced in India in early 17^th century probably by the Portuguese. Now it is one of the principal cash crops of India.

The crop

The subsection Potato is distinguished from all other subsections within the genus Solanum by “true potatoes whose tubers are borne on underground stolons, which are true stems, not roots”. The series tuberosa is characterised by “imparipinnate or simple leaves, forked peduncle, rotate to pentagonal corolla and round berries”.

The species S.tuberosum is characterised by “pedicel articulation placed in the middle third, short calyx lobes arranged regularly, leaves often slightly arched, leaflets always ovate to lanceolate, about twice as long as broad, tubers with well marked dormancy period”

Potato is an annual herbaceous plant and growth habit varies between and within species. The plant has a rosette or semi-rosette habit. The stem is erect in the early stage but becomes spreading and prostrate later on. The leaves are compound and alternate, irregularly odd pinnate. The tuber is an enlarged portion of an underground stem or stolon. Tuber eyes are the buds from which next season’s growth will emerge. Eyes are concentrated near the apical end of the tuber, with fewer near the stolon or basal end. Eye number and distribution are characteristic of the variety.

Potato is mainly propagated vegetatively by means of tubers and sometimes by botanical seeds, i.e., true potato seeds. Potato has a terminal inflorescence consisting of 1-30 (but usually 7-15) flowers, depending on the cultivar. The five petals give the open flower a star shape. A flower also has a pistil that generally protrudes above a cluster of five large, bright yellow anthers. The corolla colour varies from white to complex range of blue, red and purple. Flowers are self-pollinated but also cross pollination take place by insect. Seeds are produced in the fruit which is botanically called berry. Potato fruits, stems and leaves contain glycoalkaloids, the toxic compounds, of which the most prevalent are solanine and chaconine.

Cropping system is defined as the cropping pattern followed on a farm and its interactions with farm resources, other farm enterprises and production technology. The yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of crops and fallow on a given area is termed as cropping pattern.

India has over 17% of world’s population living on 2.4% of the world’s geographical area. Per capita agricultural land has reduced by 67% from 0.48 ha in 1951 to 0.16 ha in 2008 due to explosive increase in population. In this situation, it is very difficult to get horizontal expansion in vegetable cultivation. Hence, total production per unit area can be increased by increasing the productivity per unit area through (a) growing improved high yielding varieties and hybrids, (b) adequate and scientific crop management practices and (c) increasing cropping intensities following different cropping patterns.

Quality Components of the Produce

Various components of quality are used to evaluate the products in relation to specific grades and standards and responses to various environmental factors and post-harvest treatments. The relative importance of each factor depends upon the commodity and its intended use, fresh or processed. The main quality components of vegetables are mentioned below

Marketing is one of the most important factors in determining the success of any vegetable farming enterprise. Marketing includes all the operations and decisions taken by the producers. These decisions range from determining the most marketable crops for production to deciding how to best deliver quality produce to the consumers at a profit. However, contrary to popular belief, marketing does not begin after a crop is produced. Instead, marketing alternatives need to be considered even before the start of production.

However, vegetable marketing in India has not yet been organised so far. The long route from the grower to the retailer and ultimately to the consumer involves a chain of middlemen, transport contractors and wholesale merchants. Very often, there arises stagnation of the produce in the peak season or in the year of good production. The large number of intermediaries in the vegetable marketing channel grab maximum share of the consumer’s price and as a result, the producers’ profit becomes marginal. Vegetable cultivation is a capital intensive venture, and huge production alone cannot fetch profit for the growers. Organised marketing, storage and transport facilities are the key factors for making vegetable farming profitable which ultimatily boost vegetable cultivation.

Human beings, considered to be the highly evolved living organisms, have been making consistent and constant efforts to lead comfortable life without much concern for the conservation of nature and adversities to other living and nonliving entities existing in the universe. To meet the requirements of food, feed, fibre, timber and other needs, the plants that could supply the above were selected and domesticated. When the useful plant species were cultivated over large areas repeatedly year after year, the problems afflicting plants that were not recognized earlier as constraints for crop cultivation, assumed monstrous proportions wiping out entire crops and ruining the livelihood of the people of that geographical location/country. World history is replete with numerous instances of huge crop losses caused by microbial plant pathogens resulting in malnutrition, hunger and death. Migration of millions of people to other countries for their survival, became unavoidable. Such historical evidences threatening the existence of humans necessitated to investigate the causes of destructive diseases like late blight and heliminthosporiose diseases affecting respectively potato and rice, the staple food of the largest populations of the world. In order to take appropriate measures for minimizing losses due to crop diseases and to mitigate the sufferings of man and the animals, application of various short- and long-term disease management strategies has become indispensable for the profitable cultivation of crops

Occurrence of various diseases affecting agricultural and horticultural crop is known for several centuries. However, critical examination of crop diseases to understand the nature of the causative agents and extent of losses induced by diseases and development of effective disease management systems were possible much later. Any deviation from normal form and function of plants is considered as ‘disease’. Both pathogenic (biotic) and physiogenic (abiotic) causes are involved in diseases of plants. Adverse environmental conditions such as extremes of temperature, light and oxygen, soil moisture, pH and polluted air may alter the physiological conditions of the plants. Nutritional deficiencies also affect various crops leading to considerable losses. Microbial plant pathogens–fungus-like oomycetes, fungi, bacteria, phytoplasmas, viruses and viroids–form the major group of biotic agents that induce different diseases of crop plants in the field as well as during transport and storage (Narayanasamy 2002,2006). Presentation of information in this book is confined to various aspects of the microbial plant pathogens and the diseases caused by them.

Microbial pathogens may induce symptoms that may be visible externally and also in the deep-seated internal tissues which have to be examined using light or electron microscope. In the case of some diseases, the symptoms may be localized in different plant parts such as roots, leaves, stems, floral parts or seeds / fruits / vegetables. Such infections are known as local infection. On the other hand, the pathogen may spread from the point of entry into the host to other plant parts which exhibit characteristic symptoms. These diseases are termed as systemic diseases. In some cases, no recognizable visible symptom is produced although the pathogen is able to develop without inconveniencing the host plant species which are called as carriers and the infection is designated latent infection. Plant viruses are carried symptomlessly by many weed plant species which may serve as sources of infection for crop plants.

Detection and identification of the causes and diagnosis of the diseases rapidly and precisely are the basic requirements for developing effective crop disease management systems suitable for different ecosystems. Incorrect diagnosis leads to failure to contain the disease spread and consequent additional expenditure to the growers. Hence, it is essential that proper diagnostic procedures are followed to achieve the goal of reducing both quantitative and qualitative losses of agricultural and horticultural produce. Morphological, biological, biochemical, physiological, immunological and genomic characteristics of microbial plant pathogens have been carefully considered to develop rapid, sensitive and reliable methods of detection and identification of cause(s) of newly observed disease (s) in the locations concerned. Various methods of establishing the nature of microbial plant pathogens are discussed in detail in earlier publications

Plants are exposed to microbial pathogens at all growth stages from seeds to harvested produce. But they are resistant to numerous pathogens that are present in the environment and susceptible only to some of them. In other words, a plant species has built-in resistance mechanism to avoid or resist the invasion by many microbial pathogens. A pathogen may reach several plant species, but it can infect only a few plant species in the particular location or region. The process of pathogenesis or disease development is initiated when the pathogen reaches the plant surface that allows the initiation of infection. An organism is able to derive its nutrition from the susceptible host plant and becomes pathogenic. The physiological functions of such infected plants deviate from those of the healthy (normal) plants and suffer irreversibly to different magnitudes. The organism adversely affecting the plant growth and other functions to obtain nutrition is the pathogen. It develops rapidly or slowly in proportion to the levels of susceptibility / resistance of the host plant to the pathogen species concerned. Thus a plant species may be susceptible to some pathogens, while remains resistant / immune to other organisms that may be pathogenic to some other plant species. Depletion of compounds from the plants to meet the nutritional requirement of the pathogen leads to different kinds of external symptoms and internal changes due to derangement of normal metabolic functions of the host plant. The process of disease development in a susceptible host plant species is known as pathogenesis.

Although thousands of plant species exist on the earth, only those that were found to be useful for humans as food, feed, fiber, timber and other utility materials have been selected for domestication. When these plant species were affected by various biotic and abiotic causes, the necessity arose to determine the ways and means of protecting the valuable plants species and to understand the host plant defense mechanisms and pathogenic potential of the microbial pathogens causing enormous losses to the cultivators. All plant species have built-in resistance to most microbial plant pathogens existing in the environment. Susceptibility of plants to some of them is an exception, since they are endowed with genes which effectively nullify the possible adverse conditions created by the microorganism. Likewise, microbial pathogens possess genes for survival and pathogenicity to survive in the absence of susceptible plant species and to successfully establish infection in suitable plant species. The microbial pathogens have evolved highly specialized tactics to overcome the defense responses and to rapidly multiply in plants for their survival and perpetuation in a geographic location / ecosystem

Crops are grown with the primary aim of maximizing the profit for the cultivators. To achieve this goal, high yielding cultivars and suitable agricultural practices are selected. But due consideration is not given for the levels of susceptibility of the cultivars and some of the agricultural practices may enhance the chances of disease incidence and consequent losses. Hence, it becomes obligatory to determine the effects of crop cultivar and agricultural practices on the extent of disease incidence and to assess losses caused by microbial pathogens in different crops in an agroecosystem. Crop losses reflect the effects of various factors such as use of disease resistant cultivars, application of chemicals, biocontrol agents and preventive measures to reduce inoculum levels, introduction of new diseases and restriction of disease spread. Assessment of crop losses is essential to choose the most effective short- and long-term strategies of disease management. Disease assessment enables the plant pathologists is to gather quantitative information for evaluating disease management strategies, for undertaking surveys of losses and breeding for disease-resistant cultivars.

Various aspects of micorbial plant pathogens have been studied with the ultimate aim of gathering information that may be useful for development of effective disease management systems. Principles of management of crop diseases caused by microbial pathogens fall into three categories : exclusion, eradication and immunization.

7.1 Exclusion of Microbial Plant Pathogens

Exclusion of microbial pathogens may be expected to reduce the amount or efficacy of the initial population of pathogens that may be introduced into a geographical location / field. Exclusion is an important component of management of diseases, if the initial population of pathogen is large. This approach is particularly effective in the case of monocyclic pathogens that complete their life cycle only once during one cropping season. The methods with the aim of excluding the introduction of pathogens or to prevent the build up of inoculum required for disease spread are generally applied elsewhere. Hence, they have lower level of visibility compared to other approaches. Introduction of new pathogens present in plant and plant materials into another country or locations within a country may be effectively prevented by establishing plant quarantines. Build up of inoculum of microbial pathogens can be reduced considerably by the use of disease-free plants or planting materials supplied through certification agencies. These regulatory programmes have to be manned by trained technical personnel and supported by adequate infrastructure in terms of equipments and mobility (Chapter 8).

Management of crop diseases by various methods of exclusion in order to reduce the pathogen population in a geographical location / country may be achieved by either preventing introduction of pathogens or by growing disease-free seeds and planting materials. In addition, the inoculum of a pathogen reaching newly planted crops may be significantly reduced by adopting appropriate cultural practices also. The contributions of these factors for successful cultivation of crops are discussed hereunder.

8.1 Prevention of Introduction of Microbial Pathogens

Prevention of pathogen introduction is the primary responsibility of plant quarantines. Quarantines have been established by several countries by enacting appropriate laws that regulate the importation of plants, seeds and asexually propagated plant materials. These materials are placed in post-entry quarantines (PEQs) and examined by technical personnel for the presence of pathogens and pests. It is obligatory for the exporting countries to comply with the regulations of the importing countries. As the movement of plant products has increased enormously, following the adoption of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), vigilant enforcement of sanitary and phytosanitary measures has become essential. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) appointed an Expert Consultation on the Harmonization of Plant Quarantine Principles to formulate basic principles to determine standards for plant quarantine principles in relation to international trade (FAO 1991). According to the recommendations of the Expert Consultation, the sovereignty of the importing country is recognized and it has the right to implement the phytosanitary regulations deemed fit by that country. However, cooperation among countries was emphasized for the successful implementation of the recommendations by the member countries belonging to one of the eight regional plant protection organization set up after the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) held in 1951. A plant pathogen is recognized as of quarantine significance (QS), if its exclusion is considered to be essential to protect agriculture and natural vegetation of the importing country which has to be provide necessary infrastructure and trained personnel to prevent or delay its entry along possible routes. Lists of quarantine pathogens and the regulations to be followed are prepared by the importing country and made available to the exporting countries.

Physical and chemical techniques have been applied either alone or in combination with certain cultural practices to enhance the effectiveness of reducing pathogen inoculums and consequent reduction in disease incidence. Seeds and asexually propagated planting materials have been treated with physical and / or chemical methods in order to eliminate the pathogens from them and to build up disease-free stocks. Physical and chemical methods may be applied to reduce the inoculum present in plant debris as well as in the soil and water. Enough attention has not been bestowed to tackle the pathogens that may exist on fallen leaves or shoots from which infectible spores may be produced later.

Crop husbandry includes various cultural practices aimed at enhancing yields from a given unit of land. To achieve this aim, practices such as growing high yielding cultivars which are fertilizer responsive, high density planting and application of large quantities of different nutrients and frequent application of pesticides have been followed. Consequently these practices have been found to be responsible for some problems which were not associated with crops raised by adopting traditional agricultural practices. Thus the benefits of modern methods appeared to be lost, because of the unforeseen problems for which the effective solution have to be found out. Various methods that could be dovetailed with regular cultural practices have been shown to be useful in either reducing the existing pathogen inoculum or avoiding build up of inoculum in the field.

Chemicals have been in use to arrest the ill effects of plant diseases even in the prehistoric periods (1000 B.C.) (Ogawa et al. 1977), although the nature of the causative agent was not known at that time. A combination of chemicals was developed and demonstrated to be effective against the devasting downy mildew disease affecting grapevines by systematic investigations of Millardet (1882) in France. This mixture of copper sulphate and lime was named as Bordeaux mixture after the place where it was developed (Large 1940). Despite the development of hundreds of chemicals over the following decades, for the management of fungal diseases, Bordeaux mixture is still being used against certain diseases. Copper, sulphur - and mercury-based compounds were applied prior to the 1940s. After the end of World War II, several organic chemicals were released into the market to wage a losing war against the plant pathogens. The researchers and industry have now realized that microbial pathogens cannot be entirely suppressed or eliminated by chemicals or by any other means.

Methods of crop disease management are based on the principles of exclusion, eradication and immunization. Various methods of excluding the pathogens primarily through establishing plant quarantines and production of disease-free seeds and asexually propagated planting materials have been discussed earlier (Chapter 8). The pathogens that have been introduced and those that have established in a geographical location have to be eradicated by employing different methods for removal of infected plants, plant debris and alternate and alternative host plants for reducing pathogen inoculum and consequent reduction in disease incidence. Other methods may be broadly divided into two classes as chemical and nonchemical methods. The chemical methods involve the use of chemicals that may act indirectly by creating conditions unfavourable for the development of the disease (Chapter 9) or chemicals that have direct inhibitory activity on the pathogens (Chapter 11). Pathogen populations may be kept under check by adopting cultural practices either alone or in combination with chemical and nonchemical methods (Chapter 10). Biological agents have been employed for reducing pathogen inoculum or for inducing resistance in host plants resulting in different degrees of reduction in disease incidence. The methods involving the use of biological agents as a strategy of crop disease management are discussed in this chapter.

Biological control methods aim to reduce the pathogen inoculum or disease producing activity of a pathogen by employing live microorganisms or using products of biological origin. Use of antagonistic microorganisms, avirulent strains of pathogens, cross-protection induced by mild strains of pathogens in susceptible host plants and induction of resistance in the susceptible crop cultivars are some of the approaches made to reduce the adverse effects of infection by microbial pathogens.

Plant diseases caused by microbial pathogens have been managed by using different methods which need to be applied every year or season, when the susceptible cultivars are grown. These methods are grouped as nongenetic methods, since no change in the host genome can be expected, when physical, chemical, cultural or biological control methods are employed. On the hand, if a change in the host genome is accomplished by either conventional breeding techniques or by biotechnological procedures, the progeny may show higher level of resistance to the target pathogen (s). The genotype or cultivar thus generated will show resistance during subsequent seasons till a new race of pathogen capable of overcoming the effects of resistance gene(s) is produced. Disease management through host resistance is considered as the most preferable option because of several advantages. Crop production is less expensive ; there is no need to apply any procedure for every crop season ; and chances of environmental pollution are absent, when a crop cultivar resistant to the disease (s) is grown. In addition, the build up of pathogen population is progressively reduced. Management of diseases by cultivating resistant varieties may be more effective and economical, if the benefits accumulating over a period of time and enlarging area with lapse of time are taken into consideration.

Resistance to diseases in plants may be enhanced by incorporating resistance genes in susceptible cultivars and this disease management strategy is considered to be the most desirable one. But unavailability of reliable sources of resistance and the requirement of long periods for development of cultivars with built-in resistance have limited the usefulness of this approach. Employing genetic engineering techniques for obtaining resistant cultivars appears to hold promise. However, in the light of expression of concern for the long term effects of genetically modified crops and plant products in several countries, the feasibility of exploiting the genetic engineering methods remains a question mark. In this context, the possibility of inducing natural disease resistance (NDR) mechanisms operating in existing cultivars with high yield potential to provide protection to crops and harvested produce against diseases, has attracted the attention of researchers in several countries. This approach does not involve the introduction of any foreign gene into the plant, but it regulates the expression of defense genes in the susceptible plants. Furthermore this approach is as safe as the use of genetically resistant cultivars for the preservation of environment, since the same mechanisms of resistance are activated in plants with either genetic resistance or induced resistance. Intensive research is being carried out to select effective agents that can be used as inducers of resistance in crop plants to contain various diseases, as alternatives to the development of resistant cultivars through conventional breeding and genetic engineering methods

Diseases are caused by different kinds of microorganisms which may primarily attack specific plant organs initially. They may be either confined to the organs in which infection is successfully initiated and may spread to other organs to cause secondary infection. The plant organs initially affected may not show characteristic symptoms in certain cases as in root rot and wilt diseases. The root infection is recognized much later, when yellowing (chlorosis) of the leaves is observed. It may become very difficult to save the infected plants at this stage, since the pathogen is well established in the deeper tissues of the infected plants. However, the spread of the disease to the adjacent plants may be prevented by protective treatments. Integration of various principles of management of crop diseases has to be followed for successful crop cultivation. The combination of practices that can be applied varies with different types of diseases and the crops affected. Hence, the integrated management of crop diseases is discussed for different groups of diseases affecting primarily different plant organs/ tissues. Fungal and bacterial pathogens remaining in the soil or plant debris left over after harvest of previous crops infect the root system initially and crown or the basal portions of the stem may also be affected later.

Plants have to transport water and nutrients absorbed by the roots from the soil and photosynthetic products from the leaves to other plant parts and storage tissues through the stem tissues. Infection by fungal and bacterial pathogens interferes with the movement of the essential materials leading to the derangement of several physiological functions to varying degrees and even collapse of the aerial plant parts.

16.1 Fungal Pathogens causing Diseases Affecting Stems of Plants

Fungal pathogens cause blight, stem rot, rust, anthracnose, die-back and canker symptoms on the stem tissues of several crops. These pathogens may be soilborne or airborne generally, while some of them may spread through water also.

Several fungal and bacterial pathogens that are airborne settle on the foliar tissues of susceptible host plant species and initiate infection which spreads to other plant parts later. Fungal pathogens cause different types of leaf spots, downy mildews, powdery mildews and rust diseases commonly on various crops. The bacterial pathogens induce blights and rot diseases.

Fungal and bacterial pathogens infecting either directly or causing secondary infection of inflorescence may be responsible for greater losses than the pathogens infecting stems or foliage, if they do not cause the death of plants. The extent of earhead infection by the pathogen(s) is directly correlated to the quantum of yield losses.

Among the microbial pathogens, viral and phytoplasmal pathogens primarily depend on various vector species for their spread from infected plants to healthy plants in the same or distant locations. Hence, management of these diseases depends on the reduction of vector populations, in addition to the disease management strategies applicable to diseases caused by fungal and bacterial pathogens that are not transmitted by vectors.

19.1 Diseases caused by Viruses

Plant viruses are transmitted through seeds, propagative plant materials and vectors such as mites, insects, nematodes and fungi. Hence, the strategies to manage these diseases vary depending on the nature of vectors involved in the transmission of viruses.

Postharvest diseases caused by fungal pathogens are more numerous than those due to bacterial pathogens. Infection by these pathogens may be initiated in the field before harvest, during transit or storage. These pathogens may remain dormant and become active, when the physiological conditions of the produce and environmental conditions become favourable. Symptoms characteristic of the diseases are observed as the produce age or ripen.

INTRODUCTION

Electronic books are one way to enhance the digital library with global 24X7 access to authoritative information, and they enable users access specific research material easily, quickly and effectively. Library users are also able to remotely search, locate and check out e-books from the libraries using online public access catalogs (OPACS). As with any new opportunity new challenges emerge and utilizing the internet to deliver book content is no exception. Integrating e-books into the digital library has created challenges and opportunities for LIS professionals; publishers and e-books providers.

E-BOOKS

An e-book is based both on emulating the basic characteristics of traditional books in an electronic format, as well as leveraging internet technology to make access to e-books easy and efficient to use.

Electronic books offer creative possibilities for extending access as well as changing learning behavior and academic research. Content can always be accessible regardless of time or place, to be read on Pc or on portable book readers, books need never go out of print and new editions can be easily created. One can carry several times at once on a portable reader and over time build a personal library, features such as full text searching, changeable font size, mark up, citation creation and note taking will enhance usability. Print text can be integrated with multi dimensional object, sound to create a whole new kind of monographic work.

INTRODUCTION

The goal of the libraries is to provide an effective combination of print, non-print and electronic resources, and the integration of the use of these resources in support of teaching, learning and research at the university. Electronic resources, however, pose challenges not encountered with the acquisitions of traditional library materials, such as access, interface, technical support and licensing. The libraries therefore need to formulate separate Electronic Resources Collection Development policy to address these issues. The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines in choosing appropriate electronic resources and to establish consistency and priorities in managing this important part of the libraries’ collection.

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

“Electronic resources” refer to those materials that require computer access, whether through microcomputer, mainframe, or other types of computers, and that may either be locally mounted or accessed remotely via the Internet. These resources cover both free Internet resources and electronic resources purchased or licensed by the libraries from a commercial source, a non-profit organization, a professional organization or any external institution.

INTRODUCTION

Digital divide is the gap in opportunities experienced by those with listed accessibility to technology especially, the Internet. This digital divide can be bridged by facility access to scholarly e-resources to the people of developing and undeveloped countries. Apart from the fact that most of the print journals are expensive and there is steep rise in the subscription price of journals and databases, financial constraint because of static/shrinking budget available to higher educational institutions have forced the libraries to cut their subscription drastically.

ELECTRONIC SUBSCRIPTION OF JOURNALS

With globalization of education and competitive research, demand for journals has increased over the years. Due to insufficient funds libraries have been forced to cut subscriptions of journals which has titled them towards the internet to cover the gap between demand and supply by way of e-journals that can be subscribed online. Most of the journals are available in electronic form. These journals are available over UGC INFONET to all the universities, thereby quality information is made accessible to the academic scholar-base speedily across the country, at an affordable price.

INTRODUCTION

The contribution of the church in the field of the health services has been well appreciated by all sections of the people as well as by government. Quite a few church personnel are fully involved in public health services, nutritional programmes and hygiene and sanitation programmes. There are mobile clinic and awareness programmes run in the rural areas. In the field of medical care the contribution of the Christianity is meritorious. The healing mission received some priority in the agenda of the missionaries and churches. Health centers run by Christians originally meant to serve the poor. Many of well equipped and well established hospitals render service in rural areas and slums others do not reach. Educational service of the Christianity has been a highly valued service to the nation.

CHRISTIAN MISSION HOSPITALS IN INDIA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TAMIL NADU

From the middle of the nineteenth century, the mission world in Britain began to change. There were many missionaries who held university degrees. They provided a wholly new context to evangelism by their emphasis first upon the importance of education and later, by being the pioneers at least in Asia and Africa, of Western scientific hospitals, organized by missionaries, ultimately developed. The full-fledged teaching hospitals were without doubt a high point of missionary achievement. American medical missionaries who were in Sri Lanka prior to the mid-nineteenth century did not belong to the artisan or mechanic class or other lower middle-class groups. John Scudder, a physician, grandfather of the founder of the Vellore College, left for the East in 1819 and worked first in Sri Lanka before moving to India. John Scudder’s father has been described by one of his biographers, as a ‘gentleman of the old school’ and his mother it is said was a ‘lady of high culture’.

INTRODUCTION

The 21^st century has witnessed the emergence of information revolution in a dramatic way that has shaped the human lives in a new direction. Information revolution has not only made tremendous changes in the social-economic and political life of the people but also given a dramatic boost for scientific community for its right uses in their research and academic work. The society has experienced a fast change. McGarry has presented the relative rapidity of such changes in saying that progress is at glacial speed. The striking changes in the information society are also depicted by Alvin Toffler in his three books. He advocated that the chief agent of transformation of society is information and its related technologies. Moreover, it is acknowledged that information and knowledge become the principal generators of wealth in the form of educational institutions, research and development organizations, scientific establishments and information dissemination agents.

With agriculture in the present century moving rapidly away from an artisanal, labour- extensive, traditional activity towards a sophisticated, information-intensive sector of the global economy, access to information and modern communication technologies has become a necessity for the farmers of the global sphere especially in developing countries. The agriculture of the future will entail more efficient and sustainable production systems, making optimal use of land, water and other natural resources. Sustainable food production will rely more and more on agricultural information management and communication technologies.

INTRODUCTION

Providing access to the nascent information is the main motto of the library. Electronic resources management (ERM) is the latest phenomenon in the field of Library and Information Science. In a nutshell it is responsible for the evaluation, selection, pricing, securing, maintenance and provision of electronic resources to the users. As electronic resource collections continue to expand, allied workflows and processes encompass growth in complexity. Advances in printing technology and information communication technology (ICT) have resulted in transforming the publishing industry into e-publishing. It has resulted in considerable impact on the library collection building process in terms of print collection, electronic and online resources.

Now a days many reputed publishers have started e-publishing and many of them are now issuing their publications in electronic version besides conventional printing. The libraries are upgrading their collection in terms of documentary resources and electronic resources and infrastructure to sustain in the fast moving knowledge society.

INTRODUCTION

Knowledge Resource Centres play a very important role in this fast changing e-environment of publishing. Their role includes identification and selection of information, its organization and management, storage, retrieval and dissemination to right users at the right time at right place at right price and in right format. The dawn of information revolution is considered to be one of the marvels of 21st century. It is well known that paper and printing were originated in China in the 2^nd and 5^th century of Christian era, respectively.(1) There is a “ wordless heaven book”, “ published in oral or paper less form among the Chinese. The word less book is actually an adaptation and extension of “the song of baked dough by Pie-wen Lu” (2) of the 14^th century. The “elite” in every generation have access to the timelessly flexibly text of the heaven-book to interpret the contents and to predict, accordingly, the great events of the world, particularly when it is in chaos. The world refers to, of course, the “middle kingdom,” which is China in Chinese. Although the work is only a legend, the wordless heaven-book can be considered as the pioneer prototype of modern electronic publishing and as the earliest idea of the recently developed hypertext.

Another classic concept of e-publishing can be traced in Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift first published in 1726. The work has a passage describing a writing machine developed by the Lagadonians in the Grand Academy of Lagado. The Lagadonian writing machine used the method of a fixed syntactic structure and the filling in of that structure with contents by a random procedure (3).

INTRODUCTION

During the last three decades, libraries have shown a considerable degree of momentum in the collection building and readership programme activities involving considerable expenditure of funds. This rapid development of libraries as a consequence, generated several evaluative studies on the usefulness of libraries to society. Until recently evaluations were subjective, based purely on opinions expressed by an individual or group. However, developments in the field of mathematics, statistics, operations research, management science, economics and system analysis have led to a minimization of this subjectivity. In particular, the systems analysis approach has led to the identification and application of appropriate quantitative measuring techniques for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the information services offered by the librarians. This has generated a new field in library and information science viz; ‘Bibliometrics’.

Bibliometric analysis which has now become a well established part of information research and quantitative approach to the description of documents and examination of services is gaining ground both in research and practice. Librarians are facing the problems arising out of ever increasing cost of different types of reading materials and decreasing budgets of libraries.

Bibliometric studies are helpful in solving the problems of librarians. Pritichard¹ defines Bibliometrics as “application of mathematical and statistical methods to books and other media of communication”.

USER EDUCATION

User Education can be defined as a program to guide and to instruct the potential users either individually or collectively. User education is an action taken by the Library staff to train / educate their users so as to make full use of the existing knowledge to develop their community.

ALA Glossary defines user education as it encompasses all types of activities designed to teach users about library services, facilities and organizations library resources and search strategy.

User education can be defined in the context of electronic sources of Information as educating the users how to operate computer and searching Information on Net using various search strategies and to educate them how to use electronic sources of information and various databases.

Users of the library must be convinced that continuing learning is worthwhile and that the process of education does not end with examination. They must have confidence to be learners and to stand of their own, to possess autonomy to select and to direct their own future study experience. User education has been defined by Mews as “instruction given to readers to help them to make best use of library”. User education was not solely to stimulate library use as this but one of the sources of Information. According to Nancy, Fjalbarnt and Lan Malley “ User Education is concerned with the whole Information and communication process and one part if this involves the total interaction of the users the library. This should be a continuous process starting with schools and public libraries and with possibility of extension to academic and specialized libraries. According to Jacques Tacathan, Director of UNESCO general Information Program “User Education is to include any effort or program which will guide and instruct existing and potential user in the recognition and information service and their assessment.

INTRODUCTION

Libraries have become Library and Information Centers (LIC) and Knowledge Resource Centers (KRC). Many LICs and KRCs have stepped forward towards establishing Digital Libraries and Digital Repositories. These wings require the professionals with adequate qualifications and should have good command over the latest technologies. The trained candidates prior to their recruitment may immediately take up a project with a challenge. The professionals who are in service may enhance their skills through sponsorships to long term / short term programs.

In the present era, LIS is treated as multi-disciplinary subject and has integration with all newly emerging subjects. The other side, the LIS departments in the Universities have to respond properly (towards requirement) in incorporating suitable latest topics in their curricula and implement it very strictly. The research activity in LIS field in the country has to grow suitably along with the developed countries. In Andhra Pradesh, similar response is needed from the Government in providing and releasing funds to the state universities to start LIS departments. The preference has to be given by the State Government to LIS research in public libraries in proportionate with Science, Humanities and Social Science libraries. In future, it is expected that the LIS research should lead.

INTRODUCTION

The emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has made the libraries more powerful in the collection development, processing and retrieval of information. The advent of internet has not only made it possible to connect the libraries over the world, but also to search a huge repository of databases. The technology has developed to online system to connect commercialize vendors as well as learned societies with the databases to seek and obtain the needed information. The use of computer and digital technologies in teaching and learning has been evolved not just through the increase of distance learning or virtual courses but through the use of cyber education as an adjunct to the traditional classroom. This increased the trend of access to technology in Library and Information Centers and has given the opportunity to use those resources and improve the skill. In order to acquaint themselves with the new technological environment, the users are required to be more conversant with those skills.

Libraries & Information Centers play an important role in supporting the teaching, learning, research and extension programme of universities. These are made possible by building and developing good collection of selected documents both in print as well as digital form and by supporting it with various services for their dissemination. There is such an exponential growth of information in today’s era that students, faculties, research scholars often lack the scope of getting proper education or instruction to use those resources to the optimum possible limit. To overcome this difficulty and to maximize the use of such resources proper library instruction must be imparted to the user community which is otherwise known as Library User Education.

INTRODUCTION

Research and teaching increasingly rely on global networks for the creation, storage, evaluate, and disseminate the knowledge. The 21^st century has brought enormous change in higher education throughout the world as a result of new information and technological developments. We are outfitting our schools, libraries, and homes with electronic technologies, but are we preparing our students and teachers for the onslaught of information that is provided by these technologies? What happens when the student can get more information from the Internet than previously conveyed by a teacher or a textbook? What should a student do when faced with so many informational possibilities ? Which of the information is credible and which is not?

The teacher’s role must evolve from the giver of knowledge into being more of a coach or guide. Teachers, librarians, administrators, and the community must collaborate to develop ways to involve the student not only in using classroom materials but also in using resources from the broader community and the mass media.

Teachers must be prepared to teach student to become critical thinkers, intellectually curious observers, creators, and users of information. In this context university libraries need to be dynamic, take a leading role in assessing the information literacy and computer literacy competence of the teachers and plan for conducting such programmes to improve the situation. One such attempt has been made by the Authors and the result is reported here.

INTRODUCTION

Library and information centers are primarily service institutions which are expected to provide information to the entire satisfaction of user groups. However, in recent times, it is observed that there is conglomeration of several services in a pin-pointed manner in which the libraries are facing problem of confusion. Therefore, leading library and information centers have started adopting emerging management principles and practices in their functions and operations. Among all these new traits of management the concept of quality management appears to have a dynamic impact upon the improvement of organizational objective and functions. Since agriculture libraries are vibrant information organizations their quality of services needs to be improved in the modern technological era. The application of Total Quality Management (TQM) is one of the vital aspects of the management techniques that appears to be very much applicable and can bring about a great transformation in quality of library services. The present paper makes an analytic discussion on the applicability of TQM in Agriculture Libraries in India.