eChapters

Abstract

The potent greenhouse gases N₂O and CO₂ are relased by aerobic/anaerobic respiring bacteria, archaea, fungi and protists in increasing amounts from converting virgin rain forest and permafrost soils, over fertilized agricultural fields and grasslands including animal husbandry, compost/waste water treatment plants, oceans, savannahs, forests of the temperate climate zones in annual amounts of 0.5 to 4.2 terragrams (Tg) N₂O-N into the atmosphere after autotrophic and hetreotrophic NH₄⁺ to NO₃- oxidation. With estimated 0.25% industries contribute to the annual atmospheric N₂O-N concentration increase.

Plant pigments impart colour to the different components like leaves, flowers, fruits etc. They in turn are responsible for the colour of raw food, we eat. Pigments like chlorophyll, anthocyanins, flavonoids, tannins, xanthones etc. are the different pigments that are present in plants. The primary function of pigments in plants is photosynthesis, which uses the green pigment chlorophyll along with several red and yellow pigments that help to capture as much light energy as possible. Chlorophyll is green in colour. Carotenoids like a, b, and g, carotenoids are yellow in colour. Lycopene is red in colour. Flavones and falvonols are also yellow in colour. Anthocyanins are purple and magenta in colour. Other functions of pigments in plants include attracting insects to flowers to encourage pollination. The assay of pigments is mostly based on their native colour.

In this section we shall discuss diseases that do not involve any parasitic etiology. Such diseases are now more appropriately called ‘Disorders’. The disorder may be of many kinds but all of them have adverse effects on the normal physiology and total performance of the crop host. They are therefore, more often called ‘Physiological disorders’. Lack of proper soil and environmental conditions, nutrient status, irrigation factors and other parameters for successful crop cultivation may result in such disorders.

Introduction

Only after the discovery of restriction endonucleases it became possible to digest any DNA molecule at a specific site and any two pieces of DNA could be joined together with the help of another modifying enzyme, the DNA ligase. Consequently, a new branch of molecular biology, namely genetic engineering has been developed. With the help of genetic engineering techniques, it is now possible to identify and isolate the gene (for a protein of interest and insert it into the genome of another organism with the help of a suitable vehicle. The foreign gene thus cloned, can be amplified to produce millions of its copies. The insert gene can be expressed by the host to synthesize the gene product. The technique can also be used for understanding the regulation of expression of the cloned gene. The possibilities are endless and probably sky is the only limit. In this chapter we will briefly discuss the basic principles and protocol involved in gene cloning.

ABSTRACT

The concept and nature of intellectual property have undergone a paradigm shift during the last few decades. The importance of effective IPR governance has attracted the attention of its stakeholders. Hence, this paper focuses on the role of IPR governance and management practices for improving the quality of relationships among stakeholders besides documenting current and future trends of IPR governance and management.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS – AN INTRODUCTION

Intellectual property rights refer to the privileges granted by the government to any individual or organization for creative prowess. In recent years, such rights have gained immense importance. The laws in existence for protection and enforcement of these rights are meant to foster innovation and for regulating the use of inventions.

Plant breeding is considered as current phase of crop evolution. It is a combination of art and science, which involves designers activity, conventionally, economically important traits dispersed in different parental lines are combined together to develop a new variety or cultivar and to change the genetic constitution of a plant to make it more suitable for human need with available scientific knowledge. Although plant breeding has been existing since time immemorial, modern plant breeding methods are based on scientific principles begins only with the rediscovery of Mendel’s laws of inheritance in 1900 and chromosomal theory of inheritance in 1902. Significant achievements have been made in crop improvement through phenotypic selections for agronomically important traits, considerable difficulties are often encountered during this process, primarily due to genotype-environment interactions.

Tissue culture is the culture and maintenance of plant cells or organs in sterile, nutritionally and environmentally supportive conditions (in vitro). Conventional breeding methods are the most widely used for crop improvement. But in certain situations these methods have to be supplemented with plant tissue culture techniques, either to increase their efficiency or to achieve an objective not possible through conventional methods.

Abstract

Impact of climate change and related stresses on plant productivity are being witnessed worldwide with developing countries being more vulnerable due to more dependency on agriculture. Microorganisms can play important role as economic and farmer’s friendly strategy to combat abiotic stress in agriculture. A wide range of microorganisms associate with plants, and many of them confer beneficial effects to their hosts through different mechanisms like production of growth promoting substances, nutrient acquisition, protection against plant pathogens etc. In the last few decades, role of microorganisms in imparting tolerance to plants against different abiotic stress has been reported in many crop plants. Under stresses conditions, plant-microbe interactions become more common towards coping with the stress. Selection and application of efficient abiotic stress tolerant microorganisms can be a fruitful strategy to alleviate negative effects of abiotic stresses in plants.

Summary

Synthetic seed technology is an alternative to traditional micropropagation for the production and delivery of cloned plantlets. Several aspects of the technique are still underdeveloped and hinder its commercial application. This technology may be of greater value in breeding programs and allows the propagation of many elite genotype-derived plants in a short time and would provide an easy and novel propagation system for the elite as well as difficult to root species. Also, encapsulation of propagules that were produced in vitro could reduce the cost of micropropagation of plantlets for commercialization and final delivery to the farmer field. This technology also employed for germplasm storage and exchange purposes.

Summary

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells which have the potential to divide and multiply indefinitely and can be differentiated to any type of cell of the body of an organism. Due to its peculiar characteristics stem cells are being experimentally used to cure certain dreaded diseases of the humans including different haemoglobinopathies. The stem cells isolated from bone marrow have been cultured, modified and differentiated to get various blood cells like erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes etc. Recently haematopoietic stem cells have been transplanted to the sickle cell and beta thalassaemia patients successfully. Gene therapy using the embryonic and cord blood stem cells have been experimentally tried successfully to cure transgenic sickle as well as thalassaemic mice. Induced Pluripotent stem cells (iPS) generated from autologous skin has also been used successfully for treatment of transgenic sickle cell anaemia mouse.

At times, we hear our young generation questioning the need for obtaining degrees for conducting any research work. To some extend they are right. If we look back, there are many examples where persons without any former degree attained what is impossible by many degree holders. Tulsidas has written ‘Ramacharitmanas’, incorporating so many principles of Vedas and stories from Puranas without obtaining any degree. Srinivasa Ramanujan (21) narrated mathematics theorems without any degree in mathematics. His achievements may be appreciated by the fact that we celebrate his birthday 22nd December as National Mathematical day.

Introduction to Nano-materials

Nano-sized materials are naturally present from forest fires and volcanoes, but are also generated unintentionally from anthropogenic sources as a by-product of combustion and deliberately as manufactured nanomaterials. Nanoparticles have been used for centuries. The coloured glass that we see in many old cathedrals from the middle age was made of gold nanosized clusters that created different colour depending on the size of the nanoparticles. The most prominent example of engineered nanoparticulate material is carbon black which has been around us for decades in applications like printing inks, toners, coatings, plastics, paper, tires and building products.
 
Two of the major factors why nanoparticles have different properties (optical, electrical, magnetic, chemical and mechanical) than bulk material are because in this size-range, the quantum effects start to predominate and the surface area to volume ratio is increased.

Introduction

Seed is the key input in agriculture deciding the fate of productivity of any crops. Indeed, seed is referred as a nature’s “nano-gift” for agriculture. Seed is a smart delivery system where we shall make manipulation to achieve the desirable goals. The seed technologists in the country were trying to find a second or third generation technologies to address the issues of seed science. Nanotechnology is one of the cutting edge research areas that has enormous potentials to solve the unresolved field problems. The application of nanotechnology to the agricultural and food industries was first addressed by a United States Department of Agriculture roadmap published in September 2000. Nanotechnology in the agricultural front has been more useful in improving the existing crop management techniques. Most of the applications of nanotechnology spearhead around nano encapsulated agrochemicals, herbicides, nano coated gene delivery and nano fertilizers (Nair et al., 2010).

Nanotechnology is an emerging of field of science which is being highly exploited in the sphere of medicine where “nano” plays a vital role in delivery of drugs or chemical molecules to the point it is required in précised quantities in right proportions. Nanoscience infuses intelligence to the truck load of chemical constituents that are to be delivered at appropriate locations and cleave from the site after the task is complete. Such process will likely to reduce the cost besides ensuring environmental safety. Nanoscale devices with its unique properties make the agricultural system more smart and effective; such devices are capable of responding to different situations by themselves, thus taking appropriate remedial action with the need of external directions from humans. In short, these devices act as a detectors and if need arises serve as a solution/remedy for the particular issue. These smart delivery systems of chemicals in controlled and targeted manner can be considered synonymous to the proposed nano-drug delivery system in human (Patolsky et al., 2006).

Introduction

Spoilage in agricultural products due to mould growth can occur at various stages of production and storage and is significant in terms of trade economics, food safety and public health (Shephard, 2008). It has been reported that 5–10 % of agricultural products in the world are spoiled by mould contamination to the extent that they cannot be consumed by humans or animals. Mould growth decreases the quality of food and also creates a potential risk for human health because of the production of toxic secondary metabolites known as “mycotoxins”. Foods contaminated by mycotoxins, when consumed by humans and animals causes a disease called “mycotoxicosis”, resulting in death (Wagacha and Muthomi, 2008).

Introduction
 
Maintaining and restoring the quality of air, water and soil is one of the great challenges of our time. Most countries face serious environmental problems, such as the availability of drinking water, the treatment of waste and wastewater, air pollution and the contamination of soil and groundwater. There are two main approaches to these problems: the first is to control pollution at source to minimize or eliminate waste production or harmful emissions; the second is to remedy the pollutants that accumulate in the environment. Considering the enormous scale of soil and groundwater contamination, the complexity of the task seems intractable. In many cases, conventional remediation and treatment technologies have shown only limited effectiveness in reducing the levels of pollutants, especially in soil and water (Rickerby and Morrison, 2007).

Summary

Soil fertility is the ability of the soil to support plant growth. The productive capacity of the soil depends on complex interactions between biological, chemical and physical properties of the soil. In essence, soil fertility does not refer only to plant nutrients but also soil organic matter, structure and maintenance of thriving soil organisms. Good farm practices aim at managing the various factors that make up each of these three properties to optimize yields of crops in an environmentally friendly manner. The debate on soil fertility is often erroneously limited to issues relating to plant nutrients.

Abstract

Twelve different cyanobacteria strains from different locations in Syria were collected and analyzed. They were identified as strains from Anabaena, Nostoc, Phormidium and Chroococcus. All strains produce mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) as UV-screens upon UV-radiation. Composition of the MAAs and amount of UV-induced MAA production differ between the strains. In order to evaluate the long-term stability of completely encapsulated cyanobacteria aliquots were transferred into hermetically closed vessels. The survival was non-invasively determined by means of pulse-amplitude modulated fluorescence and by delayed fluorescence detection. It was found that 4 strains (one Chroococcus, two Anabaena and one Nostoc species) show photosynthetic performance after 4 years of encapsulation. In addition, many cyanobacteria are desiccation tolerant and are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen. They may play an important role in biological life support systems e.g. in space research.

Agricultural land drainage is adopted for removal of excess surface and subsurface water, either from irrigation or rainfall in order to improve the profitability of land use.  Drainage also plays a role in removal of salts from the root zone. Therefore, land drainage is closely linked to irrigation in arid and semi arid regions. India has a long history of practicing irrigation and drainage in its semi arid irrigated regions. During the ancient times in the Indus Valley dams and drainage system were built for cultivation of different crops. The earlier experience of drainage was more concerned with surface drainage because from time immemorial India has been experiencing floods of varying magnitudes.

For better yield irrigation water must be free from soluble salts and from concentration of specific chemical substances that may hazard to soil with respect to salinity, sodicity, alkalinity and toxicity. Water analytical data which helpful to predict the magnitude of the effect of irrigation water on soil and plant growth under specific environmental circumstances so irrigation water must be analyzed for EC, pH, Na+, Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺, Cl^-, CO₃–, HCO₃-  and SO₄.^– 

The Gujarat state is located on the north-west of India between 20^o6' N and 24^o42' N latitude and 60^o24' E to 74^o24' longitude. The climate of Gujarat is semi-arid tropical . the summers are very hot, the winter season is uncertain and irregular. The Arabian sea and Gulf of cambay have a moderating effect on the climate of the coastal areas of the state.

The state has a coastline of 1600 km (27% of the country) out of which Saurashtra and Kutch has about 1125 km long coastal line. The total coastal cropped area of the state is 8.75 lakh ha (9.11% of total cultivated area) spread over three agro-climatic regions of the state, out of which 91% comes under arid and semiarid climate type (Table 1). The important crops of the region are groundnut, bajara, sorghum, cotton, and wheat. The ground water availability is also scare. In the state recently the soil degradation through salinity has caught hold over 1.2 m ha of land, of which, about 0.3 m ha occurs in the coastal area. About 1125 km long coastal line is in Saurashtra and Kutch which comprises about 0.1079 m ha of saline land which needs to be treated for salinity reduction.
 

Potato is fourth major food crop after rice, wheat and maize in the world.  It produces the highest dry matter, well balanced protein and more calories/unit area and time.  Unlike other food crops, potato tubers contain vitamin-c (17 mg/100 g). It provides carbohydrates, minerals, fibre and a number of vitamin-B groups.  Potato protein is comparable to that of milk and egg.  Unlike European countries, in tropics and sub-tropics, the crop is of short duration and fits well in intensive cropping system.  It can be grown in a wide range of climatic and soil conditions and tubers are available throughout the year. Tubers can be left un-harvested in the soil for some time and are also suitable for long distance transport and storage. Several products like chips, flakes, French-fries, finger chips, granule, disc, cubes and flour are made out of potato tubers.

Perennial vegetables live/survive in field for several years and go on yielding vegetables without much care and attention.  They are usually planted on the side of kitchen garden without much interference with tillage operations of other annual crops.  Tender leaves, shoots, fruits or tubers of a number of perennial crops are used for vegetable purpose in different agro-climatic conditions. They may be trees or shrubs as in bread fruit, jack fruit, drumstick, etc. or bushes as in colocasia or trailing plants as in yams, chow-chow and ivy gourd.

Helminths include the nematodes (roundworms), trematodes (flukes) and the cestodes (tapeworms). The adult worms live in intestine and discharge the eggs or larvae that comes out with the faeces. Therefore, diagnosis is based on the detection of eggs or larvae in faecal samples.

Overview of Nematode infections in humans and animals

The phylum Nematoda, (roundworms), is the second largest phylum in the animal kingdom, encompassing up to 500,000 species. Members of Nematoda are elongated, with bilaterally symmetric bodies that contain an intestinal system and a large body cavity. According to a report approximately 60 species of roundworms parasitize humans. Intestinal roundworm infections constitute the largest group of helminthic diseases in humans. According to 2005 report of World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 0.807-1.221 billion humans suffers from ascariasis, 604-795 million from trichuriasis and 576-740 million from hookworm infections worldwide.

Collection of faecal samples: To diagnose gastro-intestinal parasites of ruminants or other animals, the parasites or their eggs/larvae must be recovered from the digestive tract of animal or human or from the faecal/stool material.
 
The faecal samples for parasitological examination should be collected from the rectum of animals. If rectum samples cannot be obtained, fresh faecal samples may be collected from the pastures. Several samples should be collected and immediately dispatched to the diagnostic laboratory in suitable containers such as:

A broad class of polypeptides and proteins occur in plants and other life forms, which inhibit the action of proteolytic enzymes and are known therefore as proteinase inhibitors and this includes those which specifically inhibit the important digestive enzyme trypsin. Others inhibit a related enzyme chymotrypsin. The subject of proteinase inhibitors was reviewed by Ryan (1981). The occurrence of these inhibitors has nutritional implications for human and animal feeding as they are found in many important food plants eaten both raw and cooked. The first known plant proteinase inhibitor was the trypsin inhibitor crystallized from soybeans (Kunitz, 1945). Other proteinase inhibitors have since been described in a variety of plants, especially the Graminae, Leguminosae and Solanaceae families. The exact physiological function of proteinase inhibitors in plants is thought to be in plant protection by inhibiting digestive enzymes of invading insect pests or pathogens (Ryan, 1981).

After attaining a rich experience over a period of time, our forefathers have developed very pertinent primitive knowledge in a wide variety of fields (Rohilla et al., 1999). These location specific wisdom are known as indigenous traditional knowleges (ITKs). Indigenous traditional knowledge are the upshots of the pragmatic approach by our sons of the soil. As such, there are many ITKs emerged due to the incremental and cumulative learning among societies living in close connection with nature. The traditional communities are often called as indigenous or local or ethinic people. They have accumulated lots of empirical knowledge gained from the day-to-day life. The variations in availability of raw materials and environmental conditions clubbed with time tested traditional knowledge and wisdom, have made people of different regions of the North Eastern hill states to formulate, develop and perpetuate consumption of a wide range of traditional foods and beverages unique to its places since ages (Savitri and Bhalla, 2007).

ABSTRACT

Agriculture is an important economic activity in India, contributing around 50% for the employment generation and 14% to the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the nation. Being a subsistence activity, agriculture shares maximum contribution in the national economy. However, the income generated from agriculture is not sufficient to engage the rural youth in farming profession. Lack of economic incentives coupled with other factors like lack of infrastructure for education, and opportunities for employment lead to the migration of the rural youth to the urban areas. Migration of human population can be both interstate as well as intrastate to establish a new permanent or semi-permanent residence. According to the 2001 census, total number of migrants is 314 million by the last residence. Of these 85% of the migration is intrastate while 13% migration is interstate. Approximately 20 million people have migrated from rural areas to urban areas; the reason for migration was predominantly marriage for females, and employment and education for males. This phenomenon has resulted in decrease in the work force in the villages leading over labour population in urban areas – those results in low wages due to competition and wide spread poverty. The situation becomes worse when the youth drop out from the formal education system and move to the urban areas in search of better employment opportunities. This unskilled labour constitute the labour class in the urban areas, and due to the low wages received by them, they remain economically vulnerable. This situation is aggravated by the biased government policies for the rural youth, lack of awareness and ever spreading poverty. Thus, it is important to understand the factors responsible for the youth migration from rural to urban areas and effect of this migration on both rural and urban economy. This paper highlights the issue of youth migration from rural areas to urban areas in search of better education and employment opportunities and its consequences. Further, the policies are described in brief for the involvement of the rural youth in rural economy.

ABSTRACT

Agriculture can act as a catalyst in accelerating growth and reducing poverty. Agriculture can be an important engine of growth and poverty reduction. But in spite of its futuristic capabilities, the sector is underperforming because the productivity is reduced because of the constraints faced by the women in agriculture and allied sector. The women are the backbone of agricultural workforce but worldwide their hard works have mostly been unpaid. They have to perform most tedious and back breaking part of work in agriculture, animal husbandry and at homes. The tribal women play a significant and crucial role in agricultural development and allied fields including in the main crop production, livestock production, horticulture, post harvest operations, agro / social forestry, fisheries, etc. Tribal women have to manage, often, complex and multiple livelihood strategies. Their activities typically include producing agricultural crops, tending animals, processing and preparing food, working for wages in agricultural or other rural enterprises, collecting fuel and water, engaging in trade and marketing, caring for family members and maintaining their homes. Women’s participation in rural labour markets varies considerably across regions, but invariably women are over represented in unpaid, seasonal and part-time work, and the available evidence suggests that women are often paid less than men, for the same work.

ABSTRACT

Indian agriculture is an economic symbiosis of crop and cattle population. Millions of family dairy farming dominates India’s dairy industry, contributing 62 percent of total milk produced in the country. So, encouraging family dairy farming in rural areas is necessary to increase the milk production at national level and increase the socioeconomic status of landless and marginal farmer. In rural areas there is a major problem of milk marketing. In urban scarcity of quality milk, other side in villages especially faraway from city there is surplus milk and farmers are not interested to rear more dairy animals. Marketing of surplus milk is main problem because milk is a highly perishable item and farmers not having time and also due to less quantity of surplus milk (3-5 liter) they are not interested to go market. For this we can work in group and collect milk at one place from all members and one person go to market for selling of milk. Extra milk can be used to manufacture other milk products like ghee, peda, paneeretc by other member. Some members also engaged in other work like treatment of animals, collect information of different schemes from related offices. While engaging with rural communities, we recognised that village women are the primary caretakers of cattle and play a significant role in dairy farming. As a result, the Village Woman Dairy DevelopmentProgramme - an initiative focusing on empowering village women engaged in dairy farming. Benefits in dairy farming depend on cost of feeding, medicines, labour and income from sale of milk. Milk price is fixed and not in farmers control so we increase the income through reducing the cost of milk production. Approx 70% cost of milk production on feeding of animals. To reduce cost of feeding and medicine we fed balanced ration to dairy animals. Also reducing cost of production by feeding locally available unconventional feeds through total mixed ration feeding and urea mineral molasses block supplementation.

Introduction

Individual bits or “bytes” of “raw” biological data (e.g. the number of individual plants of a given species at a given location) do not by themselves inform the human mind. However, drawing various data together within an appropriate context yields information that may be useful (e.g. the distribution and abundance of the plant species at various points in space and time). In turn, this information helps foster the quality of knowing (e.g. whether the plant species is increasing or decreasing in distribution and abundance over space and time). Knowledge and experience blend to become wisdom—the power of applying these attributes critically or practically to make decisions. This quotation is from the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre, a non-profit organization established in 1999.Thus, we are led to think about Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom as we explore the capabilities and limitations of IT systems.

1. Introduction

Protein–protein interactions serve as the hub of the functioning of a living cell, coordinate biological processes as well as form core for interactomics system of living organisms. Various biological processes as signal transduction, cell-cell communication, ingestion or expulsion of any macromolecule, host parasite interaction, diseases as cancer and many other metabolic networks employ protein–protein interactions. During such a process two or more proteins interact transiently with each other or form complex for a long period of time. Thus attempts have been made for years to study comprehensive mechanism of such protein–protein interactions by various branches of sciences such as biochemistry, quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics, chemical biology and signal transduction. The availability of three-dimensional (3D) structure of proteins is a prerequisite for understanding functions of protein complexes at a molecular level as well as amino acid interactions within a complex.

1. Introduction

An expert system is defined as “a computer program designed to model the problem solving ability of a human expert” (Durkin, 1994). It is also defined as “a system that uses human knowledge captured in a computer to solve problems that ordinarily require human expertise”. An intelligent computer program that uses knowledge and inference procedures to solve problems that was difficult enough to acquire significant human expertise for their solutions. It is a computer application that solves complicated problems that would require extensive human expertise. To do so, it simulates the human reasoning process by applying specific knowledge and interfaces. Expert system also uses human knowledge to solve problems that normally

What is Indigenous Knowledge?

Indigenous knowledge (IK) is the local knowledge which is considered as the social capital of the poor. It is their main asset to invest in the struggle for survival, to produce food, to provide for shelter and to achieve control of their own lives. Indigenous knowledge is a cumulative body of knowledge, practices and manifestations maintained and developed by people with long histories of interaction with their natural environment. It forms the basis for local-level decision-making in agriculture, health, natural resource management and other activities, especially for the poor, and provides problem-solving strategies for communities (World Bank, 1998). IK is a tacit knowledge that is not easily codifiable and unique to a particular culture and society.

Abstract

Himachal Pradesh has achieved a transformation in the horticulture sector during the last fifty years. The total area under fruits, which was only 793 hectares in 1950 has increased to 1.82 lakh Hectares during 2003-04, out of which temperate fruits alone cover an area of 1.20 lakh hectares. Fruit production has also increased from 1200 M.T. in 1950 to 6.92 lakh MT during 2004-05, with temperate fruits accounting for 5.92 lakh MT.  Around 4.64 lakh farmers are estimated to be involved in the fruit production programme and the fruit industry generates a gross domestic income of about Rs. 1000 crores annually. The existing problems and constraints have been identified and the remedial measures required to provide the desired impetus to the horticulture industry of the State, elaborated.

Abstract

The North-West Himalaya is bestowed with rich genetic diversity of minor temperate fruits representing the genera viz. Malus, Prunus, Pyrus, Rubus, Ribes, Sorbus, Cotoneaster, Myrica, Corylus, Crataegus, Punica, Hippophae, Elaeagnus, Viburnum, Vitis, Ficus, Citrus, Ziziphus, Morus,, Olea, etc. These species are known for their hardiness, adaptability to wastelands and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Apart from their easy availability, they assure some sustained yield and make our diet more diverse. Some indigenous species having potential for diversifying temperate fruit production are Pyrus pyrifolia, Diospyros lotus, Rubus ellipticus , R. lasiocarpus, R.. fruiticosus, Corylus colurna, Citrus pseudolimon, Hippophae rhamnoides and Pinus gerardiana. Some of the exotic temperate fruits viz. pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana), Chinese ber (Ziziphus jujuba), Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki), Rubus spp., Ribes spp, quince (Cydonia oblonga), medlar (Mespilus spp.), pecan nut (Carya illinoensis), hazelnut (Corylus avellana), husk tomato (Physalis spp.) and tree tomato (Cyphomendra betacea) have shown good performance at National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources  Regional Station, Shimla.

Cell mediated immune response performs different functions in protecting the immune system. When antigens are destroyed by cells, without producing antibodies, the immunity is called cell-mediated immunity (CMI) or cellular immunity. In this immunity T cells play a major role. The principal role of cell mediated immunity is to detect and eliminate the cells that have intracellular pathogens. When the antigen remains inside the cell the antibody cannot handle them. The intracellular pathogens are controlled by cell- mediated immunity. CMI is invited by the recognition of antigens by T cells. T cell lymphocytes recognize protein antigens of intracellular microbes that are displayed on the cell surface of infected cells. It is also important for elimination of cells which express foreign MHC molecules. Antigen specific and nonspecific cells can contribute to the cell-mediated immune response. The activities of both specific and non-specific components usually depend on effective local concentration of cytokines.

Slaughter is an act of killing or destruction of animals for food purpose and includes all processes and operations on all such animals in order to prepare it for being slaughtered. It is an expert act requires expertise and willingness. Slaughter is necessarily to be performed in a slaughter house recognized or licensed by authority empowered under law for the time being in force to do so.  Only authorized animals are to be slaughtered for food purpose and restricted animals or animals prohibited for slaughter should not be converted into meat in any case. Animals in pregnancy, has offspring less than three months or under the age of three months, animals not certified by veterinarian for fitness should never be slaughtered. Slaughterman should also have a valid license or authorization issued by municipal or other authority. The persons below eighteen years of age and suffering from communicable or infectious diseases shall not be permitted to slaughter an animal.

Slaughtering and dressing of different kinds of animals and birds is an age old practice. Initially slaughtering was done by cutting the throat or stabbing the throat or breast. But today’s world of progress and scientific evolution slaughter methods has undergone material changes. Scientifically there are two essentials of slaughtering i.e. humane slaughter to avoid unnecessary pain and sufferings to the animals and complete bleeding. Legislations require stunning of animals to render them unconscious before bleeding except in Jewish and Muslim slaughter. The animals subjected to slaughter must be clean which is generally achieved by cleaning. The premises and transportation vehicles should also be maintained in good hygienic and sanitary conditions. All the facilities required for slaughter animals and birds arranged well in advance. In commercial plants and export units, slaughtering and dressing is performed on overhead rails but for domestic use, booth and simple rails may serve the purpose due to low throughput. The requirements and systems of overhead rail are mentioned in chapter 1. Some of the requirements are listed in following table

Stomach and intestines are important part of animal body.  Stomach mainly constitutes rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasums. In which rumen, reticulum and omasum are utilized in form of edible uses, petfood and meat meal while abomasums can be converted into petfood and meat meal but abomasums of suckling calf can be utilized in extraction of rennet. Sheep rumen can also be utilized as haggis casings and pig stomach can be processed as petfood, pepsin, haggis casings and chitterlings. Organic content obtained from stomach and intestines can be utilized in form of compost, fertilizer and sometimes as feed. Intestine is also constitutes large intestine (colon, caecum and rectum), small intestine and oesophagus. In which large intestine and small intestine if not in condition to convert in casings can be utilized by rendering in form of meat meal.

Animal Fibers                   The animal materials like wool, hair, fur, mohair and silk used for weaving, knitting or felting into a fabric are                                                      generally termed as animal fibers. Animals used for the purpose are sheep, goat, llama, alpaca, camel, vicuna                                                and silk worm.

Wool is a thick and wavy animal fiber makes fibrinous protective covering of sheep. There are 170 different types of proteins are found in wool but the major and foremost protein is keratin. It is insoluble in nature and forms most of the part of wool. True wool fiber is basically modified hair that is not shed like the hair of most farm animals and medulla is absent in true wool. Wool contains excessively scaly surface but hair surface is mostly smooth, less elastic. The matured keratinized fiber extruding above the skin is considered dead tissue. Wool fiber is basically originated from follicle situated in dermis or middle layer of skin. Wool fiber is elastic, hygroscopic, retains warmness, durable, non inflammable and transmits ultra-violet light.

Wool is a fibre basically composed of amino acids and have excellent absorbency, moisture regain capacity, tend to warm the human body if used in form of cloths and others, good in elasticity and resiliency but poor in resistance to alkali but acid tolerance is good. To get better utilization of wool, they may be classified into various categories based on their origin, fleece quality, fineness of wool fibres etc.

1. Introduction

For the last years, Peru’s GDP has been continuously growing, and in 2010 the agricultural sector has played a significant role in this process. According to the National System on Agricultural Innovation, the sector has an important contribution in economic and social aspects.Regarding the former, national agrarian production represents 8% of global GDP.
 
Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture of Peru show that the agricultural sector includes 31% (3 million people approximately) of the country’s Economically Active Population (EAP), and 65% of the EAP in rural areas. The latest agrarian census indicates that almost 5.5 million hectares are used for agricultural activities, which accounts for 15% of the total surface.

The first species of the genus Azotobacter, named Azotobacter chroococcum family Azotobacteriaceae, was isolated from the soil in Holland in 1901. Azotobacter represents the main group of heterotrophic free living nitrogen-fixing bacteria principally inhabiting neutral or alkaline soils. Azotobacter chroococcum and Azotobacter agilis were studied by Beijerinck (1901). In subsequent years several other types of Azotobacter group have been found in the soil and rhizosphere such as Azotobacter vinelandii, Lipman (1903); Azotobacter beijernckii, Lipman (1904); Azotobacter paspali, Döbereiner (1966), Azotobacter nigricans, Krasil’nikov (1949); Azotobacter armenicus, Thompson and Skerman (1981); Azotobacter salinestris, Page and Shivprasad (1991). A. paspali while A. agilis was categorized  under the genus Azomonas (Table 7.1).

Most trees legumes thrive in tropical regions but N2 fixing non leguminous trees are prevalent in temperature conditions. Callatiam and coworkers from U.K. cultivated Frankia for the first time in 1978 in pure culture. A number of non-leguminous shrubs and trees as Alnus, Myrics, Hippophae, Casuarina and Elaeagnus are nodulated by N₂ fixing Actinomycetes, Frankia with Frankiaceae (Actinomycetes), the only acyinomycete reported to fix nitrogen to date. The so called actinorhizal plants include 7 orders, 8 families, 17 genera and 173 species of dicotyledons plants reported by Gaur, (2010), whereas 200 plants and 23 genera were reported by Diagne et al. (2013). Some of the important non-leguminous families and genera are given in Table 12.1.

The microbial community is a gold mine for gene(s) and pathway(s) that encode novel biocatalysts for biosynthetic or biodegradation processes, including degradation of pollutants, synthesis of biofuels and production of novel drugs. Sequencing of the microbial genome will also provide insights into the ecology of  microorganisms that are beneficial to, or threaten, crop production, and that ensure the quality and provision of ecosystem services. These unique genetic and biosynthetic capabilities of microorganisms have made them likely  candidates for solving particular difficult problems in the agriculture. For many years microbiologist and microbial  ecologists have tended to differentiate microorganisms as beneficial and harmful according to their function and how they affect soil quality, plant growth, and yield and plant health.

The quest for drugs from the sea has yielded a remarkable di versity of natural products mostly from invertebrates such as sponges, tunicates, bryozoans etc. These molecules are either in late stages of clinical trials or have already entered the market. There has been an increased emphasis on marine microorganisms as sources of bioactive compounds over the past decade. Marine bacteria alone constitute 10% of the total living biomass carbon of the Earth’s biosphere and they have unique metabolic and physiological capabilities to ensure their survival in diverse habitats. In the marine environment, some microorganisms associate with living and non-living surfaces and the competition amongst these microbes for space and nutrients leads to the production of bioactive secondary metabolites.

Introduction
 
Biodiversity a term to describe variability between organisms or populations of organisms, has different facets depending on the level of diversity considered (Species, population, ecosystem) or the organisms concerned (Barbault, 1992). Biodiversity can be exploited in many ways at scientific levels, the best known and the most ancient no doubt being in taxonomy and systematics, and more recently for studies of population biology, evolution and conservation of ecosystems, or for selection of materials for biotechnology.

Introduction

Foraminifera or forams for short are the most abundant, diverse and widely distributed Protists in marine realm. They are found in all marine environments, from the inter-tidal to the deepest ocean trenches, and from the tropics to the poles (Todo et al., 2005). In some places, foraminifera are so abundant that the sediment on the bottom is mostly made up of their shells. For example, tourists from all over the world get attracted to the pink sands of Bermuda. These sands get their colour from the shells of Homotrema rubrum which has pink to red-colored shells. Living representatives of foraminifera provide ecological data and their mineralized tests are a geochemical record of palaeoclimatic conditions.