eChapters

1. The most effective method of selection is

a) Mass selection

b) Pedigree selection

c) Progeny testing

d) Selection index

2. The intensity of selection depends with number traits considered ‘n’ is

a) 1/n

b) 1/n²

c) n

d) 1/√n

The number of hormones secreted by the body exhibits control over the physiological regulation of glucose sugar level (homeostasis) in the manner needed by the body. Depending upon the situation, hormones may increase or decrease the level of glucose sugar present in the blood or tissues. The glucose is oxidized to yield energy, carbon dioxide, and water.
Glucose, more than the body’s needs, is stored or converted mainly to glycogen and, to some extent, protein and fat. If glucose is less than the need of the body, its denovo synthesis takes place from amino acids or fatty acids, or is formed from the breakdown of stored glycogen. Various hormones are secreted by multiple endocrine glands to control the blood glucose level. If it fails, it leads to hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia conditions. Gluconeogenesis is not developed at birth in the case of a baby pig. Therefore, hypoglycemia in baby pigs is observed within 2 days of age if starved, leading to hypoglycemia, weakness, confusion, and death.
15.1 The Hormones Involved in Homeostatic Regulation of Blood
Glucose Level
The hormones influencing carbohydrate metabolism are explained below:

Introduction 
Ergonomics is the science of adapting workplace conditions and job requirements to match the capabilities of the workforce. Its primary aim is to enhance comfort, improve health, and boost productivity in the work environment. To achieve these goals, ergonomics examines the interaction between workers and their tools, equipment, and furniture, ensuring they are aligned with the tasks being performed. It involves applying scientific knowledge about human behavior and physical needs to design objects, systems, and environments that promote efficiency and safety. Ergonomics is relevant to all activities involving people, including work systems, recreational pursuits, and health and safety measures. By focusing on the relationship between individuals and their work environments, ergonomics plays a crucial role in safeguarding both physical health and workplace safety. The foundation of good ergonomic practices lies in adapting tasks to suit the individual rather than forcing the individual to conform to the job. An ergonomically designed workplace incorporates tools and processes that accommodate workers’ physical abilities and limitations, reducing the risk of injuries and discomfort. The importance of ergonomics has grown as it highlights the connection between certain job activities and the risk of injury. The human body is not designed to remain in awkward or unnatural positions for extended periods without experiencing strain. Ergonomics helps identify harmful postures and movements and provides strategies to prevent associated pain and injuries. In office environments, ergonomic practices are essential for enhancing productivity. A well-designed ergonomic workplace can improve efficiency, boost employee morale, and contribute to overall worker well-being. The various environmental factors affect working people in one or the other way, it may be health, performance and comfort. However they are not independent because, although these aspects are considered independently but their effect likely to be combined. Although human beings are extremely adoptable but still they get affected of the ideal range of tolerance to environmental factors for comfort or for performance is very narrow. Although physiological effects of environmental

Introduction

Agricultural soils harbour a rich variety of nematode fauna, where they coexist with a myriad of other microorganisms. It has been estimated that one cubic meter soil of highly fertile field may contain as many as 3×10¹⁴ bacterial cells (300 g), 5×10⁸ protozoa (39 g), 1×10⁷ nematodes (12 g) and fungi (400 g), besides other organisms. The nemic fauna comprises of free-living (saprophagous and microbivorous), predatory forms and plant parasites (phytophagous). In addition, certain animal and insect parasitic forms may spend a part of their life cycle in soil. Plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) exist in poly-specific communities and attack all types of plants- cultivated or wild. They possess a needle-like stylet or spear at their anterior end, which is used to puncture the plant cells and ingest the cell contents. Majority of PPNs dwell in soil and draw their nutrition from plant roots. Only a few forms attack the above ground plant parts such as stem, leaves, inflorescence and seeds. PPNs may be ectoparasites (feed from outside and do not enter plant tissues) or endoparasites (enter inside the plant tissues). The endoparasites spend a part of their life cycle in soil or may come out into the soil to re-infect the other roots. These may be further categorized into migratory or sedentary types. The migratory forms keep on moving, feeding and laying eggs that are scattered in soil or plant tissues. The sedentary nematodes are more harmful and a particular stage of their life cycle infects the plant and establishes a feeding site by modifying plant tissues by their enzymatic secretions. The females of sedentary nematodes usually attain swollen shapes upon maturity and lay hundreds of eggs in clusters.

Plant parasitic nematodes are ubiquitous, and so far, more than 1800 species have been recorded. They are obligate parasites and must feed upon plant hosts, thus, debilitating the plants to some extent. The extent of direct damage by the nematodes to plants depends on several factors viz., nematode density in soil, nature of parasitism (ectoparasite or endoparasite), host susceptibility, cropping pattern, edaphic factors (mainly soil texture and moisture) and ambient climatic conditions (like temperature and relative humidity). Nematodes, by themselves, rarely kill the plants to ensure their own survival. Nematodes also inflict considerable indirect damage to crops by interacting with other plant pathogens (fungi, bacteria and viruses) to cause disease complexes in which nematodes act as incitants, aggravators, or vectors.

Introduction

The arid regions in India occupy 38.7 million ha (Mha), comprising 31.7 and 7 Mha under hot and cold arid region, respectively. The major part (90%) of the hot arid region lies in Northwest (NW) India and the rest in geographically isolated pockets in South India. The NW arid region extends from 22°30” to 32°50” N and 68°50” to 75°45”E , bounded by Aravalli hills in the east, Thar desert in the west the irrigated Indus plain in the north and the alluvial plains of the Sabarmati river in the south. The region mostly lies in western Rajasthan covering 12 districts (196150 km², 68.7%) followed six districts in northwest Gujarat (62180 km² 21.8%), five districts in southwest Haryana in (12840 km² 4.5%), and six districts in southwest Punjab in (14510 km², 5.0%) (Fig.1). The region is characterized by low rainfall (100 to 400 mm yr-1), that is also erratic and highly unpredictable (coefficient of variation, CV = 30 to 70%); high evaporation (1600 to 2000 mm yr-1); temperature extremes (-5.7° C to 50°C); frequent droughts (once in 2.5-5.0 years); strong winds (20-50 km h-1) during summer; and short crop growing period (8 to 15 weeks) (Moharana et al., 2016). Despite the common characteristics of aridity and extremes of temperatures, there are enormous spatial variations in terms of rainfall pattern, physiography, soils, amount of available surface and ground water, and extent of vegetation cover (Joshi, 2012). Accordingly, the NW hot arid region has been classified in 4 sub-regions, 11 zones and 34 sub zones (Faroda et al., 1999).

Despite these intimidating conditions, the region supports a large human and livestock population and biodiversity. However, the ever-increasing human and livestock population and developmental activities exert enormous biophysical pressure on the slender natural resource base of the region. A major challenge is desertification due to wind erosion/deposition, water erosion, water logging and salinity. Degradation of permanent pastures has led to loss of fodder resources constraining livestock husbandry, the backbone of the economy of the region. Of late, industrial effluents and mining are also contributing to desertification.

Introduction

A revolution is coming to the more than a century-old automobile industry. Electric vehicles (EVs) are viewed as a solution to a variety of problems, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, fostering sustainable economic growth, improving air quality, and reducing the importation of fossil fuels. The demand for electric automobiles in India is rising. Incentives and programs have been launched by the federal and state governments to promote the usage of electric vehicles, and there are also regulations and standards in place. A consumer is a person or group that plans to purchase something, actually does so, or utilizes it for primarily social, family, domestic, or other non business or entrepreneurial activity-related objectives.

An asset that is an important criterion for evaluating the status of the consumer economy can be used to estimate consumer savings.

The concept of electric cars has been around for a while, but in the past ten years, it has gained a lot of attention due to the expanding carbon footprint and other environmental implications of fuel-powered cars. In contrast to an internal combustion engine, which generates power by burning a mixture of fuel and gases, an electric vehicle (EV) is propelled by an electric motor. When electricity was one of the favored sources of motor vehicle power in the late 19th century, electric vehicles (EVs) first made their appearance, providing a degree of comfort and usability that gasoline cars of the day were unable to equal.

Introduction

To keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for crop yield by the exploding population, use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agricultural production has become indispensable.  Production cost of agriculture has skyrocketed owing to the abandoning of green, organic farmyard manure and use of chemicals. However, the problems associated with chemical pesticides are abundant. The excessive application of chemical fertilizers causes soil sealing, fertility diminishing and residual problems. The leftover chemical fertilizers and pesticides have seriously affected the quality of agricultural products, people’s health and caused environmental pollution.  The over use of fertilizers has also damaged the soil’s original micro-ecological balance and deteriorated the diseases spread by soil.  While some pesticides must be abandoned because of their unacceptable non-target effect, there will always be a need in agriculture for safe and selective chemicals to limit the effects of pests.  More significantly, it is becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive to find new kinds of synthetic chemical pesticides.  Implications of chemical pesticides in ecological, environmental and human health problems have increased public awareness and concern regarding the continued use of agrichemicals that are damaging to human or  environmental health thereby obviating the search for effective alternative approaches which have minimal deleterious effects, more environmentally friendly, and will contribute to the goal of sustainability in agriculture.  In this line Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) present immense potential and promise as effective substitutes for chemicals.  PGPR enhance plant growth and survival, control soil-borne fungi, and induces systemic resistance to phytopathogens and is used as inoculants for biofertilization, phytostimulation and biocontrol.

Introduction

India is one of the major producers and exporters of honey. Diversity of bee flora and varied agro-climatic conditions in the country offers enormous potential for the development and growth of apiculture. Honey is a supersaturated sugary material produced mainly by honey bees from the sweet substances of plants (floral or extra-floral nectaries) or insect. Honey bee forager (field bee/worker honey bee) collects the nectar and converts the same into honey by a process of regurgitation and evaporation and stores in the honey comb. The sweetness of the honey is largely by monosaccharide viz., fructose and glucose. Honey is either monofloral or polyfloral as it is collected by the bees. The physical properties of the harvested honey depend upon the source from it is derived, water content, temperature, proportion of the simple sugars present and the method of processing. At low temperature (below 17°C), honey gets crystallized. Honey is also hygroscopic, capable of absorbing water from the atmosphere. India produces approx. 65,000 mt of honey per year (Kejariwal, 2015).

Introduction

A recent study investigated the feasibility of sustaining current and increased per capita fish consumption rates in 2050, based on extensive data with respect to the changes in global and regional climate, marine ecosystem and fisheries production estimates, human population estimates, fishmeal and oil price estimations and projections of the technological advancement in aquaculture technology. The study concludes that meeting current and larger consumption rates is feasible only if fish resources are managed sustainably and fisheries management are effective (1). Aquaculture Farm Managers facing uncertainty has to make decisions every day. Some decisions have vital consequences for farm business, while others are not as crucial. These decisions mainly relates to seed, feed, fertilisers and regular water intake as management tools of farm. The choices made today may have an immediate impact on the aquaculture business or may take much longer to have an effect. These decisions may involve any facet of the farm business, including production, personnel or financing. The bottom line is that irrespective of the size or scope of any single decision, nearly all decisions may have important implications for the immediate and future success of the farm business. Because many decisions have such important impacts, farm managers need to analyze alternatives in a methodical fashion. Some alternatives can easily be analyzed, and a decision can be made quickly. In other cases, farm managers must take more time to recognize and evaluate all potential effects of that decision. To do this, farm managers need a framework for analyzing the relevant trade-offs. Agricultural economists are usually members of multidisciplinary teams, engaged in solving problems of fisheries. The economist applies economic concepts and tools to estimate economic profitability of a technology. This input can be made during any phase of the research process, technology development, testing and evaluation on farm. This paper will focus on partial budgeting as a tool that can be used by non-economists. This paper discusses on the concept of partial budgeting, a useful and easily implementable framework for such analysis.

12.1 Introduction

Dipnoans are commonly referred to as ‘lungfish’. Dipnoi owes its name to the presence of two internal nostrils. Dipnoans, which stand on the basic piscine platform, have many interesting features that the early fishes went through to become land vertebrates, particularly amphibians. As a result, the group’s systematic position becomes contentious. Dipnoans evolved during the middle Devonian period and thrived during the Permian and Triassic periods. They became scarce after the Triassic period and are now represented by three specialised genera. According to Young (1981), dipnoans have acquired special characteristics through paedomrphosis.

Introduction

A payment gateway is a server that is located between the web server of the merchant and the web server of the acquiring bank. When a merchant receives an order, it is transferred to the payment gateway by the merchant server.

The payments sector in India is set to reach USD 100 trillion in volume and USD 50 trillion in transactional value by the end of 2030. The payment gateways, which are also a part of the payments sector are set to reach USD 1.21 billion in India, growing at a CAGR of 17.6% between 2024-2029. The global payment gateway landscape as of 2024 stands at USD 16.27 billion growing at a CAGR of 16.43%. Payment gateways across the world are credit card-based gateways, with the introduction of card readers in mobile phones. The Fintech and payments sector boom in India cannot be justified without mentioning UPI (Unified Payments Interface), which has encompassed payment solutions for small street vendors to large conglomerates with its user-friendly interface and QR-code-based payments. UPI is one of the major payment gateways in India, in addition to IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), and NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) and many more.

Introduction

India has a big challenge in fruit production in the current backdrop of decreasing per capita land holding and static fruit productivity. In recent years, China has surpassed and secured top position in the fruit production in the world accounting for 4,44,651 mt production followed by India and Brazil.  Now Chinese share in the fruit production is around 13 per cent while India contributes 10.2 per cent, Brazil 8 per cent and USA 6 per cent of total fruit production.

India is bestowed with a wide variety of agro-climatic conditions and enjoys an enviable position in the horticultural map of the world. Almost all types of fruit crops (tropical, sub-tropical and temperate) are grown in one or other part in the country.  The major tropical and sub-tropical fruits grown in India include mango, banana, papaya, orange, mosambi, guava, grape, pineapple, coconut, sapota, ber, pomegranate, litchi, aonla, bael, jackfruit etc.  Cashew nut cultivation has a big potential and its production, productivity and export has increased significantly in recent decades. Indian grape has recorded highest productivity per unit area in the world. The productivity of fruit per unit area in India has increased nearly from 10 t/ha to 12 t/ha in almost one decade.  However, the average productivity in most of the fruit crops is far below than satisfactory except grape and banana in few states.  It is paradox to record that India’s contribution in the overseas market is almost (0.11 per cent) negligible (Chadha, 2000). However, other countries like Mexico, Philippines and Venezuela, which produce far less, export 4 per cent of their total production.

Introduction

Mushrooms are fleshy spore-bearing fruiting bodies of fungi, produced above ground on soil or on their food sources. Total number of useful fungi having edible and medicinal values is over 2,300 species. Like green plants, they do not contain chlorophyll and as a result cannot manufacture their own food. In this respect, they are like animals because; they feed themselves by digesting other organic matter. They are a large heterogeneous group having various shapes, size, appearance and edibility.

The use of mushrooms as food is very old. People harvested mushrooms from the wild for thousands of years for food and medicine. The Egyptians regarded mushrooms as food for pharaohs. The Greeks and Romans described them as food for God and served only on festive occasions. The first professional growers of mushrooms were the Chinese. China is the major producer and consumer of both edible and medicinal mushrooms. As early as 1313, a document was published which described the cultivation method for Shiitake on wood logs. Even older is the cultivation of the wood ear mushroom (Auricularia spp) of which sources indicates that it was cultivated from the year 600 A.D. onwards. The white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, was domesticated in France.

1.1. Definition of Small-scale Enterprises

According to Shonekan’s keynote address at the Faculty of Business Administration Conference (1992), captured with the theme: “Management of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria.” He said,

“While it is difficult to have one universal definition of SMEs since there are usually many non-constant factors and variables, the spin-off industries are usually small or medium scale. In practical terms, SMEs constitute the bedrock of our national economy. They are our industrial feedstock, the engine of production for the bigger industries. The thriving economies of the world have a record of carefully structured SMEs. In Japan for instance, the bulk of manufacturing is at the small and medium scale levels. This situation also obtains in the ‘Asian Tigers’ (i.e. Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, etc).”

1. No Tillage (No Ploughing or Turning of the Soil)
• The principle of No Tillage in natural farming refers to the practice of avoiding the mechanical disturbance of the soil, such as ploughing, turning, or tilling. This approach is central to natural farming because it allows the soil to maintain its natural structure, preserves its biodiversity, and enhances its ability to support plant growth sustainably.
• Tillage disrupts the natural layers of the soil. When the soil is left undisturbed, its structure remains intact, allowing for better water infiltration, root penetration, and nutrient availability. A well-structured soil is more resilient to erosion and compaction.
• Soil is home to a vast network of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, and earthworms, that play crucial roles in nutrient cycling and plant health. Tilling can destroy these delicate ecosystems, reducing the soil’s fertility. No tillage preserves these beneficial organisms, promoting natural soil regeneration.
• In natural farming, organic matter (like dead plants, mulch, and crop residues) is left on the surface of the soil. As it decomposes, it contributes to the formation of humus, a rich organic material that improves soil fertility and helps retain moisture. Tillage disrupts this process, speeding up the decomposition of organic matter and reducing its long-termbenefits.
• No tillage improves the soil’s ability to absorb and retain water, which reduces the need for irrigation and helps crops withstand drought conditions. Additionally, undisturbed soil is more resistant to erosion because plant roots and soil structure act as a barrier against wind and water erosion.

Plant diseases have been documented since ancient times. Fossil data suggests that plants were impacted by illness 250 million years ago. The Indian Vedic text and Bible refer to diseases like rusts, mildews, and blights that have led to famine and significant economic impacts throughout history. Plant pathology or Phytopathology (Greek Phyto-plant pathos- suffering or ailment; logos- knowledge/study/discourse) is a division of agricultural sciences focused on the examination of plant diseases. It encompasses the recognition, comprehension, prevention, and management of plant diseases caused by different pathogens as fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and other microbes. Plant pathology is the nature, cause and prevention of plant diseases. Plant disease refers to the physiological functioning of the plants that are irritated by prolonged, phytopathogenic organisms biotic or infectious disease causing agents and abiotic or non-infectious causes such as edaphic, environmental, plant nutrition etc. covered under disorders. Plant disease can also be defined as it is a malfunctioning process in plant body caused by continuous irritation induced by some causal agent that alters the physiology of the plants and results in some suffering or symptom production. It may be other way stated that it is a sum total of the altered and induced biochemical reactions in plant system or part brought about by any biotic, mesobiotic agents or abiotic factor leading to malfunctioning of biological processes and ultimately manifesting at cellular and/or morphological level.

ABSTRACT

Mining is an important activity for economic development. However, it is associated with land degradation, pollution of air and water, droughts, floods, land slides and land slips, silting of reservoirs, chocking of bridges and disruption of communications are some of the very serious environmental hazards. The need of the hour is to scientifically extract the mineral coupled with adopting mechanical and vegetative measures to rehabilitate the mine spoils. In the present paper effect of mining on natural resources has been detailed, also techniques adopted and standardized for rehabilitation Sahastradhara mined area of Dehra Dun valley over two decades have been clubbed.

Introduction

Disaster may be defined as a sudden event that causes damage to life, property and destroy the economic, social and cultural life of people. It could be of natural or anthropogenic origin. Disasters impact the poor and the most vulnerable section of the community. Over the past 30 years, more than 2.5 million people and nearly $4 trillion have been lost to natural disasters in India; globally the losses jumped from $50 billion a year in the 1980s to $200 billion in the last decade (NIDM, 2019).According to a World Bank report, nearly 75% of the losses are attributable to extreme weather events and climate change threatening to push an additional 100 million people into the extreme poverty by 2030 (Hallegatte et al., 2016). The Bank’s Unbreakable report finds that natural disasters had larger and long-lasting impacts on the poverty. Population growth and rapid urbanization are major driving factors for an increase in the disaster risks.

The United Nations estimates that more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050 (NIDM, 2019). This could put 1.3 billion people and $158 trillion assets at risk from river and coastal floods alone. According to the Bank’s Investing in Urban Resilience report (2016), by 2030, without significant investment into making cities more resilient, natural disasters may cost cities worldwide $314 billion each year.

Minimally processed fruits and vegetables are products that have the attributes of convenience and fresh like quality. Their forms vary widely, depending on nature of unprocessed commodity and how it is normally consumed. In many cases, minimally processed product is raw and cells of tissues are alive, but these characteristics are  not regarded as essential. It is important that products have fresh-like character, regardless of   state of cells.  Minimally processed products for both retail and food service applications have increasingly appeared in market place recently.  In coming years, it is commonly perceived that this industry will have unprecedented growth.

ABSTRACT

Fodder availability is a serious concern during winter season in hilly areas as land for growing fodder crops is hardly available unlike plains. Bhimal as an agroforestry species is being cultivated in the Himalayas since long, however, genetic improvement of the species was hardly undertaken in the past barring a few reports on tree improvement of the species. Seeds were used to be usually collected from crooked trees which are easy to climb or swept from the forest floor. Since agroforestry systems have great promise to improve the productivity of both agricultural and tree crops, therefore, keeping that in view, seven provenances (I.C. Bhaintan , I.C. Chamba, I.C. Katkor, I.C. Malas, I.C. Nauni, I.C. Naur, I.C. Tachla) were collected from different regions of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and evaluated for 10 years (1995-2004). Significant differences in the productivity potential of Bhimal provenances were noticed and the high yielding fodder provenances identified (I.C. Bhaintan , I.C. Chamba and I.C. Malas), yielding as high as 35 q ha^-1 thus fodder productivity could be increased to 25% by planting high yielding provenances. Likewise high yielding provenaces (HYPs) for fuelwood and fibre were identified which can increase the productivity potential of the agroforestry system. In 2005, more than 1200 saplings of HYPs were multiplied in a polyhouse and planted at different elevations in the Himalayas under prevailing agroforestry systems. Differential responses of HYPs in respect of growth and productivity at different locations have been monitored. The rooting behaviour of HYPs was also investigated and it was found that all the three provenances viz., I.C. Bhaintan, I.C. Chamba and I.C. Malas have high soil binding characteristics, thus revealing that apart from production, this tree species plays an important role in soil conservation. Further, high regression of soil binding on above ground biomass and specific root length was recorded among these provenaces. Looking at the performance of such provenances on the farmers’ fields, the demand of high yielding provenaces is increasing. Unlike Eucalyptus, Bhimal had the minimal effect on the performance of field crops and the overall system productivity of the Grewia optiva based agroforestry system was profitable along with insurance against aberrant monsoon conditions.