eChapters

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed during late 1960s and early 1970s. Today it is a widely accepted separation technique for both sample analysis and purification in a variety of areas. HPLC, basically a highly improved form of column chromatography and popularly known as liquid chromatography, like other forms of chromatography, whether paper, thin layer or gas chromatography, needs two essential components, the stationary and the mobile phase. It has the unique ability to separate and quantitate residues of polar, non volatile and heat labile chemical compounds. HPLC uses high pressure pumps up to 400 atmospheres that makes it much faster, short and narrow columns packed with micro particulate phase and a detector. To affect a separation, mixture to be analysed is dissolved in a solvent (ideally this solvent is identical to mobile phase) and then forced to flow through analytical column along with mobile phase. In the column the constituents of mixture get resolved and are detected with a suitable detector by a proper choice of column, mobile phase and detector. HPLC is a technique having high degree of versatility. There are several excellent texts published over the last decade which may be consulted for general information on the instrumentation in liquid chromatography

Agricultural scientists and policy makers have understood that continuation of modern agriculture might lead to severe ecological and economic problems. We are also convinced that modern agriculture may not be able to meet the requirements of the ever increasing population in the future. So, we are searching for alternative technologies. Several alternatives have been proposed such as low external input agriculture, sustainable agriculture, organic farming, biodynamic farming etc. However, they require, some times little or considerable external inputs whose availability may be uncertain in future.

Hence for the developing countries, the other alternative viz., traditional methods have special advantages over modern agricultural techniques. Also the capital and technological skill requirements in the use of traditional technologies are generally low and their adoption often requires little restructure of the traditional societies. The traditional technologies are nothing but indigenous technical knowledge. By adopting such indigenous knowledge, our ancestors did not face any problem of large-scale pest out break or economic crisis unlike the today’s farmers.

Multiple cropping includes both inter and sequential cropping systems and here the main objective is to utilize the available resources effectively in a given environment. Number of indices are available for assessing land use and the yield advantage of crop mixtures compared to pure stands. These indices not only reflect the difference in criteria used to appraise advantages often encompassing aspects of quality or values as well as yield, but also reflects the different reasons for which an assessment is made.

1. Rotational intensity (RI): Crops are grown in a recurring sequence on the same piece of land with sufficient diversity and intensity. Crop rotations to control erosion/ to improve or maintain soil fertility and to manage weeds, insects and disease. Lower values of rotational intensity indicate mono cropping and higher values of rotational intensity indicates more rotation.

1.1 Weather

Firstly, what is weather? Simply, the conditions in the atmosphere above the earth is called weather. It refers to the conditions such as wind, rain and temperature, prevailing at a particular location during periods of hours or days. We often ask “what’s the weather like today”? Any individual can answer to this question as it requires only a short term experience or say exposure to the atmosphere. The TV news forecasters predict weather each day and inform about the temperature, cloudiness, humidity, or possibility of storm in the next few days. Weather is localised, say, it’s a hot and cloudy weather in one part of the country and dry and windy on the other part.

1.1.1 What are the factors that influence weather?

Before we try to understand the factors that influence weather, we must understand what the components that describe a weather conditions are? Is it the rains, or the air temperature or both? The answer to this question is not so easy, and it’s a bit complicated. There are many components that constitute weather. Weather components include rain, cloud cover, sunshine, winds, hail, snow, sleet, storms, thunderstorms, heat waves and many more. These components are sometimes referred as weather parameters or climate elements. Each of these components define weather patterns of a particular area. These components determine the status of local atmospheric conditions. Again, as a basic definition, weather is the state of the atmosphere and majority of weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the atmosphere, called as the troposphere. Does it mean that ground conditions such as the topography, water bodies and vegetation of a particular area has nothing to do with it? No, it is not so. The state of the atmosphere is subjected to various processes taking place not only in the atmosphere but also in the ocean, the sea-ice, the vegetation, etc. Weather parameters or the components of weather form a sequence of events, and the influences are far reaching and they do not remain solely in the atmosphere. For example, terrestrial radiation impacts the air temperature, air pressure and humidity. The terrestrial location also influences the cloud formation. The clouds may or may not turn into precipitation depending on the outcome (cloud or rain), which is by and large governed by troposphere. Likewise, a lack of precipitation affects not only weather conditions, but also soil moisture conditions that may result in lowering of water levels (ground water table) in soil. Wind speed and direction are governed by the atmospheric pressure and air temperature. So, all these parameters or components are interrelated and the weather conditions are the outcome of their interactions. Therefore, we can say that, the three main components of weather are temperature, precipitation and solar radiation. These components are influenced by different factors.

Climate change is caused by both natural as well as anthropogenic causes and it has been changing since the inception of earth-atmosphere (Figure 2.1). In a broader sense, anthropogenic activities (human activities) also must be considered as natural one in longer time scale as human and their activities are also a part of natural-ecosystem-functions. Among the natural phenomena, volcanic eruptions and continental drifts significantly affect the earth’s precipitation and temperature. A huge volume of CO₂ is released due to volcanic eruption at a little span of time-period which heated up the earth-atmosphere. Climate variability is primarily governed by rise in sea temperature, movement of warm water from the Western Pacific towards Peru, and El Nino which occurs at an intervals of 3-7 years. Climate variability also influenced the alteration in temperature and precipitation world wide. And persistent climate variability cause long term climate change. Therefore, basically three drivers that causes climate change are, the alteration in the energy of sun received by earth-atmosphere (natural causes), variations of ref lectivity of earth-surface- atmosphere system (natural as well as anthropogenic causes) and fluctuations in the greenhouse effect (natural as well as anthropogenic causes).

Global warming has become a worldwide concern after feeling the rise of temperature much more clearly after 1990. Global warming has negatively affected agricultural production throughout the world attributed by the climate change parameters. Effects of climate change on horticultural crops reported nowadays include problems of biotic and abiotic stress, yield loss, quality loss, etc. To understand the impact of climate change problems in horticulture, it is prerequisite to comprehend the issues related to global carbon cycle, climate change phenomenon, relationship between climate change variables and direct as well as indirect climate change effects.

Introduction

Vetiver, commonly known as Khus grass is a perennial grass of Indian origin. Vetiver roots contain fragrant essential oil, which is a perfume by itself. Aroma chemicals such as vetriverol, vetriverone and vetriveryl acetate are prepared from this volatile oil. In India, it is mainly used in perfumes, cosmetics, and aromatherapy, food and f lavouring industries. Since the plant has extensive finely structured fibrous roots, it is useful in both soil and water conservation and the plant itself is drought tolerant. The world production of vetiver oil is around 300 tons per annum of which India contributes about 20-25 tons only. The world major producers are Haiti, India, Java and Reunion. In India, it is cultivated in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with an annual production of about 20 tons of oil. The present consumption of vetiver oil in India is about 100 tons and 80% of the domestic consumption is met by export only. As the internal demand for vetiver oil is very high, concerns are risingover the improved production and quality of raw materials used. Vetiver is a miracle crop and a big boon for the farmers to increase incomes. This would increase farmer’s income by three to four times. This crop has demand not only in India but also across the world. India is gaining big ground in cultivation of vetiver.

A sample is said to be small sample if the sample size(n) is less than 30. Various small sample tests are: (i) t-test (ii) F-test

t-test performs the following tests for small sample(s).

1. To test the equality between a single sample mean and the assumed population mean.
2. To test the equality of two independent sample means.
3. To test the equality of two paired sample means.
4. To test the equality between sample correlation coefficient and the assumed population correlation coefficient

Water is the only substance that exists in the atmosphere in all the three phases, i.e., solid, liquid and gas. The moisture on the earth’s surface is in a constant phase change. The moisture content of the atmosphere is about 0.035% of all fresh water. The atmosphere receives its supply of moisture from the earth’s surface through evaporation from oceans, lakes, rivers, damp soil, etc. and through transpiration from vegetation. Water vapour is the gaseous state of water and is invisible.

The amount of water vapour present in the atmosphere is called atmospheric moisture or humidity. It is a measure of the amount of water vapour dissolved in the air, not including any liquid water or ice falling through the air. While humidity itself is a climate variable, it also interacts strongly with other climate variables. The humidity is affected by winds and by rainfall. Moisture content is determined by the local rate of evaporation, air temperature and the horizontal transport of moisture. Humidity indicates the likelihood of precipitation, dew or fog. It also plays a major role in the heat budget and the weather phenomenon of the atmosphere.

6.1 INTRODUCTION

The Climate and soil play important role in growth and development of the plant. Growers in general and fruit growers in particular should have adequate knowledge of the effect of various soil and climatic conditions on raising horticultural crops. Horticultural crops cannot be grown in all types of soil and climate. Hence zone- wise cultivation is made. Climate includes a number of parameters like temperature, rainfall, atmospheric humidity, wind, hail and light whereas soil covers factors like moisture content, texture, soil reaction, nutrient content, chemical composition and soil temperature.

6.2 SOIL

Soil is a thin outer covering of the earth surface. It is the natural resource directly developed by different natural forces acting on natural materials. Soil serves as a base and support for plant growth. It is a basic medium for plant growth and supplies nutrients for growing plants. Soil is the home of the plant root and the reservoir for essential nutrients and water for growth and development of crop plants.

10.1 INTRODUCTION

Most botanists identify trees by their leaves, f lowers and fruit. However, the plant architecture specialist is interested in trunks, branches and twigs. All types of fruit tree do not require pruning, e.g., mango, sapota, while some fruit trees can grow well naturally, e.g., pineapple, papaya as they do not require pruning. Most deciduous trees like apple, pear, almond etc. and grapes, ber, fig, citrus, pomegranate, guava etc. require pruning to train them for desired shape.

10.2 TRAINING

Training is an operation by which the plant is made to develop an orderly structure or frame work. This is done by staking, tying, supporting, propping, trailing or spreading on certain structure with or without pruning of plant. Training is usually done when plants are young. Bending, twisting, decapitations are done by using springs of hard wire, where it is required. It is a physical technique which controls the shape, size and direction of plant growth known as training or in other words, training in effect is orientation of plant in space through techniques like tying, fastening, staking, supporting over a trellis or pergola in a certain fashion or pruning of some parts.

Horse

The skull of horse is also pyramidal in shape like that of ox but the base of the pyramid is less wide than that of the ox. It is shorter in length and narrower in width than that of the ox. The cranium is smaller externally, however, the cavity of cranium is larger than that of the ox. The nasal cavity is divided into two chambers by nasal septum. The floor of the nasal cavity is shorter and less concave than that of the ox. The left and the right nasal chambers are completely separated and do not communicate with each other. The horn core is absent.

The occipital bone is placed at the extreme caudal part of the skull, caudal condyloid foramen is absent, the basi occipital is longer and prismatic and the squamous occipital is crossed by a nuchal crest. The sphenoid bone has two parts, the pre and post sphenoid, as that in case of ox. The wing of the post sphenoid presents three notches, carotid, oval and spinosal for internal carotid artery, ventral maxillary nerve and spheno-spinous artery respectively. The foramen orbitale and the foramen rotundum are not united. There are no major differences in the ethmoid bone of ox and horse. The frontal bones are less expansive than those of ox. These are situated between parietals caudally and nasals rostrally. The supraorbital foramen perforates the root of the supra orbital process that joins the zygomatic process of the squamous temporal. The horn core is absent. The ventral borders of the frontal bones of the opposite sides form a projection which fits into the notch formed by the two nasal bones. The temporal bone in horse has three parts, the squamous, petrous and tympanic as against two parts, the squamous and petrous of the ox. The squamous part is much more developed than that of ox. It has three parts, the body, zygomatic process and the occipital (pyramidal) process. The later one arises from the caudal part of the squamous. The stylomastoid foramen is between the hyoid and the mastoid processes and the auditory bulla is smaller. The interparietal is a single bone as that of ox.

Mouth

The mouth is bounded dorsally (roof) by hard palate (2-5 B) and behind that the soft palate, ventrally (floor) by the body of the mandible along with the mylohyoide muscles and laterally by the cheeks (Fig. 2-5 C). The entrance of mouth cavity is bounded by lips and it is called as rima oris, while its caudal opening into the pharynx is called as aditus pharyngis or isthmus faucium. The cavity of the mouth (cavum oris) is subdivided into two parts by the teeth and alveolar processes (the alveoli) of the mandible. The inner part i.e. the space within the teeth and alveoli is termed as mouth cavity proper, while the space between the cheeks and lips and that between the teeth and alveoli is called the vestibule of the mouth. The mucous membrane of the mouth cavity is continuous with the margin of the lips and the common integument and caudally it continues with the mucous membrane of the pharynx.

Varietal release and notification comes under the purview of the Seeds Act which is intended to provide for regulating the quality of certain notified seeds for sale and for marketing and for the matters connected therewith. Released and notified varieties are offered for seed certification by the seed certification agencies which ensure that the varieties under certification meet certain prescribed field and seed standards failing which they stand to be rejected during the process of seed certification.

Purpose of Release

The purpose of release of cultivars is to introduce the newly evolved varieties to the public for general cultivation in the region in which it is suitable. It enables the farmers to choose cultivars for cultivation in a region. In other words, release of a cultivar is in the nature of a recommendation to the farmers for its adoption. Therefore, notification of a variety is linked to the release of a variety, though the release process itself does not have statutory cover.

Principle

Good documentation constitutes an essential part of the quality assurance system. Clearly written documentation prevents errors from spoken communication and permits tracing of batch history. Specifications, Manufacturing Formulae and instructions, procedures, and records must be free from errors and available in writing. The legibility of documents is of paramount importance.

General

Specifications describe in detail the requirements with which the products or materials used or obtained during manufacture have to conform. They serve as a basis for quality evaluation. Manufacturing Formulae, Processing and Packaging Instructions state all the starting materials used and lay down all processing and packaging operations.

Procedures give directions for performing certain operations e.g. cleaning, clothing, environmental control, sampling, testing, and equipment operations.

Records provide a history of each batch of product, including its distribution, and also of all other relevant circumstances pertinent for the quality of the final product.

6.1 INTRODUCTION

Capsicum is mostly consumed raw in green mature forms unlike in Europe and US where they are consumed in red ripe form in salads, cooked, mixed and stuffed vegetables. It is known as bell pepper because of its fruit shape. The fruits of capsicum are non-pungent, so popularly known as sweet pepper; but some cultivars are slightly pungent. Capsicums are grown throughout the Old world and New world as a commercial crop mainly in mid-hill regions or protected structures. Its cultivation is restricted to cooler regions of the world. In Spain, it is referred to as ‘pimientos’ due its red colour and sweet taste. Fruits are rich in vitamins C and D (beneficial to the vascular system), as well as vitamins A, B₁, and B₂. It has four different colours such as green, red, yellow and purple. The oleoresin extracted from bell pepper is of better quality than that extracted from Chilli.

If there is scarcity of food, potato can come to the rescue because of its virtue of high yielding (40-50 t/ha) and is a staple food. It produces more calories per unit area and per unit time than any other major food crops. Potato which is the staple food of Europeans and Americans belong to the highlands of Andean mountainous regions of Peru and Bolivia where it has been cultivated since 6000 years.
 
Origin: Peru, Bolivia. Many wild species occur at Mexico and Central America. Potato was introduced to Europe in 16th century by Spaniards (Salaman, 1966) and in early 17th century to India most probably by Portuguese. There are some suggestions based on linguistic and botanical evidences that potato might have been introduced in India directly from South America across the Pacific Ocean. Earlier potatoes were grown in hilly areas of North and South since British settlers brought the varieties continuously from UK and these were bred for long day temperate conditions of Europe. But in India potatoes are grown in short day-subtropical plains. The seed stocks used to degenerate due to accumulation of viruses and loose their yield potentiality. Seed potatoes were mainly imported from Europe i.e. U.K., Italy and Netherlands and Burma till the beginning of Second World War and the imports gradually reduced.

Leguminous vegetables include peas, French bean, Lima bean, broad bean, cowpea, hyacinth bean, winged bean etc. They belong to the family Fabaceae (Syn. Leguminosae). These are cultivated either as sole crop is sometimes as intercrop. In some areas they are used in backyard cultivation also. Most of them are short duration crops and are self pollinated.

8.1. Peas (Pisum sativum L.)

The pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a very common nutritioius vegetable grown in cool season throughout the world. It belongs to the family Fabaceae (Syn. Leguminaceae) and genus Pisum. A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seedpod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum L. The pea cultivars are grouped into several groups based on shape of seed, plant height, maturity and use of pods. This crop is cultivated for its tender and immature pods for use as vegetable and mature dry pods for use as a pulse. In both the cases the seeds are separated and used as vegetable or pulse. The central Asia is regarded as the place of origin for all legumes including pea. Based on the genetic diversity, Central Asia, the Near East, Abyssinia and the Mediterranean is considered to be its centre of Origin. Cultivated garden pea is not seen in wild state and it might have been originated from wild field pea or other related species. In India it widely cultivated states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa and Karnataka. Followed by Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Jharkhand.

Cultivars/Varietie: Peas varieties are grouped based on maturity (early, mid season and late) plant height (Bush or dwarf, medium tall and tall). The major cultivars under cultivation in different parts of the country are Arkel, Bonneville, Harbhajan, FC-1, Arka Ajit, UN 53-6 (whole edible type), Jawahar Matar 1, Jawahar Matar 2, Jawahar Matar 3, Jawahar Matar 4, Jawahar Matar 5, Jawahar Peas 83, JP 4 (JM 6), JP 19, Lincoin, Mattar Ageta 6, Pantnagar Matar 2, Pant Uphar (IP 3), P 88, PRS 4,Ooty-1 and VL 3.

9.1. Onion (Allium cepa L.)

The onion (Allium cepa), which is also known as the bulb onion, or common onion is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. It has been used as food since time immemorial and is an important vegetable all over the world. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion (A. fistulosum), Egyptian onion (A. proliferum), and Canada onion (A. canadense). The vast majority of cultivars of A. cepa belong to the “common onion group” (A. cepa var. cepa) and are usually referred to simply as “onions”. The Aggregatum Group of cultivars (A. cepa var. aggregatum) includes both shallots and potato onions. Onion is suggested to have been originated in Asia, particularly Pakistan and Iran.

China is the largest onion producer in the world followed by India. Largest area under onion is in India followed by China. The major onion producing state are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

Cultivars/Varieites: Onion varieties differ in size, colour of skin, pungency and maturation. The most popular varieties under cultivation are Agrifound Dark Red, Agrifound Light Red, Agrifound Red, Agrifound Rose, Arka Bindu, Arka Kalyan, Arka Niketan, Arka Pragati, Baswant 780, Brown Spanish, Co-1, Co-2 Co- 3, Co-4, Early Grano, Hisar II, Kalyanpur Red Round, MDU 1 N-2-4-1, N-53, N-257-9-1, Punjab 48 (S 48), Pusa Madhavi, Punjab Red Round, Punjab Selection, Pusa Ratnar, Pusa Red, Pusa White Flat, Pusa White Round, Udaipur 101, 102 & 103.

Introduction

The term ‘biodiversity’ comes from the words biological diversity and quite simply means the variety of all living things, including microbes, plants and animals– from single-celled organisms to the largest mammals and trees. Biodiversity also refers to genetic diversity within a species (essential for evolution) and also the diversity of the woodlands, wetlands and other habitats which provide the food, water and shelter for these species. Human life itself depends upon healthy ecosystems (e.g. wetlands, forests and grasslands) and the biodiversity that they contain. Biodiversity gives us many of the essentials of life – water, oxygen, food, clothing, and medicines, without which we could not survive, and therefore contributes greatly to our economy. Access to nature is also a popular form of relaxation that greatly enriches our lives and helps to keep us healthy. Species are linked in an infinite number of ways via food-webs and the habitats they share. If one species becomes extinct, it may affect many more. If too many species become extinct then whole ecosystems can collapse, with severe consequences for the way we live. Across the world, biodiversity is under threat from human activity such as over-intensive or inappropriate farming, large-scale commercial forestry, forest clearance, mineral extraction, pollution and urban development. Conservation of plant diversity assumes greater importance when the world is facing unprecedented loss of biological diversity. As per an estimate about 60,000 out of 2, 87, 655 species of plants known in the world are facing the threat of extinction.

Agro-ecosystems are defined as ecological and socio-economic system comprising domesticated plants and/or animals and the people who husband them, intended for the purpose of producing food, fiber, or other agricultural products. Agro-ecosystems are ecological systems transformed and simplified for the purpose of agriculture. In the case of agro-ecosystems productivity, these systems have Holling resilience if, in some state, they are able to maintain productivity and withstand stress or external shocks (e.g., due to lower rainfall and droughts). In many situations, biodiversity provides the link between stress and loss of resilience is a system (Perrings et al., 1995). Genetic variation within species and within population increases the ability to respond to the challenges of environmental stress (Mainwaring, 2001).

Introduction

Vegetable crops include a large number of species, mainly used as an essential complement to the daily diet, providing vitamins, minerals, fiber, specific amino-acids and other active metabolites. Largely emphasizing the need to accumulate and conserve in gene banks the genetic diversity that is most useful to breeders. One of the primary reasons to sustain conservation of plant genetic resources in gene banks is to prevent the loss of genetic diversity. The great diversity of types in cultivation is also considered a genetic resource itself, to be maintained or increased, since it adds to the diversity of vegetables being grown and consumed and could serve to replace more established but similar crops in case of need (Crisp and Astley, 1985). The risk of genetic erosion due to the introduction of single new cultivars was considered especially high by Crisp and Astley (1985) for those vegetables that are built on a narrow genetic base, such as garlic, broccoli, tomato, cucumber, etc. Genetic erosion is difficult to document with solid data available in vegetable crops. On a global level, efforts of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR, now IPGRI) to conserve vegetable crop germplasm began in 1980, with the definition of a number of priority crops for conservation, according to their importance for rural development and to their economic value for farmers in the tropics (Abelmoschus esculentus and related species, Allium spp., Amaranthus spp., Brassica spp., Capsicum spp., Cucurbita spp., Lycopersicon esculentum, Momordica charantia and related species, and Solanum melongena). During last six–seven decades, germplasm of promising and profitable varieties have been built up and developed by different agencies, initially assembling local types and selecting from them and by introducing promising types from other parts of the world. The introduction and acclimatization of vegetable germplasm from within the country and all over the world is important for exploitation and incorporation of useful characters such as early maturity, high yielding capacity, resistance to diseases and pests and tolerance to different climatic hazards, viz., drought, heat, cold and flood situations.

Introduction

Carrot (Daucus carota L., 2n=2x=18) is a cool-season root vegetable grown all over the world in temperate as well as sub-tropical climates. In India, it is cultivated over an area of 24,000 hectares with an annual production of 3,50,000 metric tones with a productivity much lower (14.58 t/ha) than the world average (22.17 t/ha) as per FAO, 2004. Carrots are used for human consumption as well as for animal feed. Carrot can thus be used for augmenting fresh fodder supply to milch animals during the lean winter in Kashmir (Hussan and Ahmed, 1999). Carrot has a significant place as an ingredient in soups and sauces and in dietary composition and also as a salad. A sweet preparation called Gajar Halwa is very famous dish in North India. Besides canning, it is also used in preparation of pickles. It is also exported in the form of fresh roots to the countries like Kuwait and Sharjah. Carrot is a rich source of á and â- carotene. The total carotenoid content in the edible portion of carrot roots ranges from 6.00 to 54.80 mg/100g. The yellow and orange coloured roots contain relatively more carotenoid. Carrot roots contain protein, fat, carbohydrate, minerals (especially Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cu, S etc.) besides vitamin A, B₁, B₂, nicotinic acid and vitamin C. In carrot roots, sucrose is the most abundant with endogenous sugar contents 10 times than those of glucose and fructose.

Asia minor, Afghanistan, North West India, Iran and Turkey are the centers of origin of carrot. As per Encyclopedia Britannica, carrots have originated from Afghanistan, Punjab and Kashmir with secondary centers in Ethiopia and North America. The European carotene carrot (syn. Western carotene carrot, temperate carrot) has been derived from the Asiatic anthocyanin containing forms of carrot (syn. Eastern anthocyanin carrot, tropical carrot). Afghanistan is the centre of diversity of the purple coloured carrot (anthocyanin carrot) and as such this country is suggested as the primary centre for origin. Integration between the Asiatic and European carrots has given the present day forms which are fleshy, smoother, less forked and better coloured.

Punjab and Kashmir are also considered as primary centre of origin with secondary centers in Ethopia and North America. It is still found in its wild form in Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir valley where wild animals especially brown bear feed on its roots. People still eat the wild carrots in some parts of Kashmir (Yawalkar, 1980). In north India highly coloured types of carrots are found which are not available in Europe. The colour of carrot ranges from absolute colourless to light lemon, light orange, orange and deep orange, light purple, deep purple and almost black. It is also an indication of this region being a primary centre of origin of carrot.

Iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), boron (B), molybdenum (Mo) and chloride (Cl) elements are known as micronutrients. The micronutrients are also called as trace elements or minor elements as they are required very small quantities by plants. The elements Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn and Ni are known as micronutrient cations and B, Mo and Cl are known as micronutrient anions and they behave accordingly in soils. Among these elements, Fe content in soil as well as plant is the highest and sometimes higher than phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S). In plant, the concentration of micronutrients often found up to 100 mg kg^-1, except that of Fe and Mn which may go up to 500 mg kg^-1 (dry weight basis). Another element, cobalt (Co) is also regarded to be essential for the growth of certain higher plants and animals, and likely to be included in the list of micronutrients. The importance of micronutrients has been realized during the past four decades when micronutrient deficiencies were observed in most of the soils in our country, where intensive agriculture is practiced.

Abstract

The milk from non-bovine species is gaining considerable attention mainly due to the fact that it is consumed by sensitive consumers (infants and elderly). Donkey milk possesses various health benefits, namely, anti-microbial activity, immunomodulation, hypoallergenicity, prevention of cardiovascular diseases which are elaborated in details here. Similarity in nutrition profile among donkey and human milk is discussed in detail. The donkey milk’s yield, its milking technique, effect of lactation on chemical composition and the microbial aspect is also described. As, availability of donkey milk is limited, therefore its processing becomes essential for its usage over a long period of time. Preparation of various donkey milk products like yoghurt, ice cream and cheese are also described here.

Introduction

Today, concerns regarding environmental safety and sustainability of land productivity are increasing amongst the scientists, administrators and environmentalists. It is doubted whether the strategy adopted during the so-called green revolution era could be continued any longer under the challenging conditions of this new century. Already, a section of people in the world is questioning the propriety of conventional agriculture, and a few of them are advocating alternative practices that are perceived to lay foundation for sustained production. On these lines, systems like alternative agriculture, natural farming and organic farming were proposed at various conventions. However, the scientists harping on the success of green revolution continue to doubt whether such a system can really be functional, productive and meet the growing demands for agricultural products in this e-age. These emphasize the need to develop new strategy of living with the nature and nurturing it for sustainable production

Speculation on Indian agriculture

The spectacular observations made in the Economic Survey of 2015-16 that “Indian agriculture, is in a way, a victim of its own accomplished success and in abnormality the green revolution”, shows the absoluteness of the agricultural planning at present and the calamity that has been wreaked by the green revolution. The green revolution, which is generally characterized by the addition of high-yielding varieties of seeds and fertilizers uses, assuredly added the higher quantity of crop coverage considerably. There has been acceptance of destroying ecological balance furnishings in the composition in felling down water table, discharge of greenhouse gases, and the contamination of ground water. Needless to say, the agricultural area is in an accompaniment of distress, which is acutely affecting peasants and bordering farmers, and burning action interventions are adapted to assure their interests. The government has responded to constitute basic panel, which will acclaim organization to increase the assets of farmers by 2022. This might be a frankly insistent target, if not wish to make addition of stagnated agronomical advance in open face to be made. However, there are flourishing hurdles that to be accepted if to wish accomplishment of this objective.

It is tropical fruit which is commercially cultivated in humid areas of India. Fruits are very tasty, sweet and rich in sugar. Trees are ever light green, slow growing and it attains a height of about eight meters.

Origin and Distribution

Sapota is native to Central and South America, specifically from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico to Costa Rica, where the largest population of native trees still exists (Gilly 1943). It is now widespread throughout the tropical regions of the world, including Central and South America, the West Indies, India, and Florida in the United States.

Sapota is grown on a commercial basis in India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, and some other Central American countries. India is the largest producer of sapota fruit with current production around 24,000 ha (Chadha 1992). Sapota is widely planted in south Florida, where the fruit is marketed locally and shipped to northern and eastern U.S. markets. The fruit, however, is not commonly seen in the United States. In southern Mexico and Central America where sapodilla is native, it is considered to be one of the best of the tropical fruits.

Medicinal plants especially underutilized fruit are the nature’s gift to arid zone. Many of fruits are popular in this area but aonla posses an important place among all. Aonla or Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Gaertn) is native to tropical south-eastern Asia mainly peninsular of central and southern India. The tree is known as Amla, Amlaki, Amli, Ambala, Amalakamu and Nelli in different parts of India. It is a very hardy tree and can be grown under diverse soil and agro-climatic conditions without much care. Aonla fruits has been reported to have potential of antioxidant, free radical scavenging capacity, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, immune modulation properties, which is used to cure various cancer, diabetes, liver and heart related diseases

Aonla has been regarded as a sacred tree in India. It has religious value and it is medicinally very important since ancient time. It has hallowed position in Indian medicine system called as Ayurveda as a protective remedy for several mankind problems. The tree was worshipped as Mother Earth and is believed to nurture humankind because the fruit are very nourishing. Kartik Mahatma and Vrat Kaumudi order the worship of this tree. The leaves are offered to the Lord of Shri Satyanarayana Vrata, Samba on Shri Shanipradosha Vrata and Shiva and Gowri on Nitya Somvara Vrata. The fruit and flowers are also used in worship. Fruits of aonla are processed in various forms like Juice, Murabba, Chayvanprash, candy, powder and flakes which has significant role in mitigating several malnourished disorders. Aonla cultivation has gained special attention of researcher community due to its significant role in medicinal industry as well as processing potential.

The ber is an important indigenous fruit and growing in semi arid conditions in the country. Ber is grown in China for the last 4000 years and under sub tropical to tropical as well as Mediterranean regions of the world. It is cultivated widely for its resistance to grow in drought and other diversified climatic and soil conditions, so it is also known as ‘King of fruit’ of arid.

Origin and Distribution

The origin of ber is said to be India to South-western Asia. The ber is being cultivated in Northern India, central India and peninsular India. Hisar, Rohtak, Panipat, Gurgaon, Jind, Mahindergarh in Haryana. In Rajasthan it is cultivated in district of Bharatpur Alwer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Palib and Gnaganagar Jaipur in area 82, 73, 59, 53, 53, 53,41 hectare with production 365, 395,133, 294, 340, 597, 826 metric tones, respectively. However total cultivated area in Rajasthan is 738 hectare with production 5248 metic tones under ber during 2017–18 (Anonymous, 2018).

The area Sangrur and Patiala in Punjab; Banaskantha and Sabarmati in Gujarat; Bijapur and Bellary in Karnataka; Tirunalveli, Ramanathapuram and Salem in Tamil Nadu are major ber growing areas in the country. Besides India, ber is grown in Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Burma, Australia, USA, Russia, Italy, France, Spain and Northern Africa.

Pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) is an important commercial fruit crop belongs to family Bromeliaceae. It is one of the choicest fruits all over the world because of its characteristic taste and pleasant flavour. Plant is herbaceous in nature with narrow pointed leaves and 50–100 cm height. The inflorescence composed of 150–200 flowers arranged in a compact spiral cluster. The flowers are perfect with three short fleshy sepals and petals, six stamens, floral bract and ovary with three locules. The plant bears a single fruit of cylindrical shape terminally on a peduncle come out from the centre of the rosette. Pineapple fruit is a multiple or sorosis type fruit formed by the partial fusion of numerous fleshy segments from several separate flowers and edible part of fruit mainly consists of the ovaries, bases of sepals, bracts and cortex of the axis. Commercial varieties are self sterile but easily crossable with plants outside their varietal group. The apex of fruit bears a compressed, leafy and spiny shoot known as crown. The fruit weight ranged from 1.00–2.50 kg and has outer colour yellow and very golden yellow flesh inside. Pineapple fruits are mainly consumed as fresh fruit, juice purpose and also used for canning. The typically yellow fruit flesh is found suitable for fresh consumption when sweet (10 to 18% sugar) and moderately acid (0.5 to 1.6%). Fruits are processed in various value added products like pineapple chunks, crushed pineapple, diced pineapple, slices, juices, syrups, jams, etc. The pineapple possess crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), a photosynthetic carbon assimilation pathway with high water-use efficiency

There are many cherry species, but only a few have been domesticated. The sweet cherry trees are large (30–40 feet tall) and usually pyramid shaped. Branches grow upright. The fruits are large, have a deep stem cavity, vary in colour from light yellow to dark red to purplish black. Flowers arise from clusters of 2 to 5 flowers on short spurs with multiple buds at tips; the distal bud develops into a leafy shoot. The flesh ranges in texture from tender to firm, and is sweet. Most sweet cherries are consumed as fresh fruit. The tart cherry, is sometime called “red cherry” or “sour cherry” and may have arisen from an unreduced pollen grain of Prunus avium crossed with Prunus fruiticosa. Trees are very cold hardy, but are shorter lived than sweet cherry. The fruit is relatively small, and have higher acid and lower sugar content than sweet cherry. Tart cherries are used for processing, jam, and pie filling. The Duke cherry is a hybrid of Prunus avium and Prunus cerasus and all gradations between the two species exist, but most varieties more closely resemble sweet cherry. Sweet cherries are the variety most often found in markets. They have a thick, rich, and almost plumb-like texture. Sour cherries are not usually eaten raw, but are widely used for making preserves, candy etc. Sour cherries are much smaller than sweet cherries and all varieties are self-fertile. Cherries are cultivated all over the world and the top 3 producers of cherry are Turkey, USA and Iran. The cultivated forms are of the species sweet cherry (Prunus avium) to which most cherry cultivars belong, and the another sour cherry (P. cerasus), which is used mainly for making preserve etc. Both species originate in Europe and western Asia; they do not cross pollinate. Some other species, although having edible fruit, are not grown extensively for consumption, except in northern regions where the two main species will not grow.

The general recommendation for intake of fruits and vegetables is at least 400 g per person as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO), five servings of 80 g per day or about 146 kg per person per annum. For vegetables, the recommended intake requirement is at least 300 g per day per individual. This 300 g requirement must include 50 g leafy vegetables, 50 g roots and tubers and 200 g other vegetables (Kapur, 2016). Current annual vegetable production including potato, based on recent three years (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18) average is around 177 million tons from 10 million ha giving a productivity of 17.7 ton/ha. With this average and stagnating production and assuming Indian population at 133 CR (1.33 billion) and 25% postharvest losses, per capita per day availability of vegetables comes to 273 g leaving a gap of 27 g between the recommended dose and the availability of vegetables per head per day in India. By 2050, the projected population of India is 1.5 billion and to meet the requirement of this population, vegetable production will have be 220 million tons, of course making allowance of 25% post-harvest losses. Considering all kind of constraints on the available land area of vegetables, the vegetable area will be around 10 million ha and consequently, major gain of production will have to come from productivity increase from current level of about 18 tons/ha to 22 tons/ha and this seems to be a gigantic task as during last several years, the productivity of vegetables in India has been between 17 and 18 tons/ha, an indication that it has reached to a plateau. This situation calls for fall massive interventions on technological fronts in terms of innovative products with focus on better hybrids with higher yields, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses deploying precision breeding technologies using more of marker assisted breeding, genomics and gene editing tools and delivering high quality seeds to the farmers with assurance of high performance. This chapter looks into the present seed scenario and the emerging trends with respect to new seeds and new technologies and examines the need to facilitate rules, regulations and IPR environment for more investment in vegetable research and development and quality seed production and distribution. Improved seed with shift towards hybrid seed will be the key driver to increase vegetable production and productivity in India.

The term agriculture is derived from the Latin words ager or agri meaning soils and cultura means cultivation. Agriculture is the art, science and business of crop production. It encompasses all aspects of crop production, livestock farming, fishery and forestry. Agriculture is the conversion of solar energy into the chemical energy. Crop production is the conversion of environmental inputs like solar energy, carbon dioxide, water and nutrients in soil to economic products in the form of human or animal food or industrial raw materials.

Agriculture is a science, an art and business of crop production

Agriculture is a science of farming. Scientific principles are employed to find ways of making it as efficient as possible. Through scientific principles plants and animals are transformed genetically and most favorable environment is provided to harvest higher yields of good quality with least expense of energy. The scientific principles of various branches viz. soil science, genetics and plant breeding, entomology, plant pathology, microbiology, agricultural engineering etc. were employed in agriculture. Agriculture like any other science is a body of truths synthesized and systematized and arranged in such a way as to show the operation of general laws and principles.

Agriculture is an art which embraces knowledge of the way to perform the operation of a farm in a skillful manner. The physical and mental skills are involved in agriculture. The skills may be acquired through years of experience viz. ploughing, stacking hay bundles, handling animals, sowing seeds, transplanting, driving a tractor etc. Mental skills are those involved in decision making for example when to plough the land, selection of appropriate crops, seed selection etc.

Agriculture is a business which is no longer a way of living or subsistence agriculture, where production is intended to meet the home requirements. Agriculture is intended to earn more income. Land, labour, capital are judiciously used. Like in any industry the farming industry should forecast the demand, tailor the production with demand to earn more profits. It involves processing, value addition, transportation, packing and storage in scientific way. Knowledge of employee and employer relationship or human resource management, export and imports, taxation, customs, tariffs and trade are required. All these aspects demand business knowledge in addition to the production and managerial skills. Traditional agriculture is no longer relevant for success in agriculture. Commercial agriculture or corporate farming, agribusiness development corporations demand entrepreneurs in agriculture rather than technologists alone.

Crop growth is influenced by internal factors and external factors. Internal factors are controlled by the genes and hereditary. External factors are climate, edaphic, biotic, physiographic and anthropic.

Genetic Factors

Genetic factors are controlled by the genes. Plant height, yield, size and color of the grains or fruit etc. The productivity and quality of the crop can be improved by breeding through conventional methods or by biotechnological approaches.

Environmental factors Climate

Precipitation occurs in the form of rainfall, snow, hail and fog.

Fog: Consists of water droplets so small that their fall velocity is negligible. Fog particles contact vegetation and may adhere, coalesce with other droplets and eventually form a drop which is large enough to fall to ground.

Ginger is used extensively as a spice in cuisines throughout the world. Ginger belongs to Zingiberaceae family and an English botanist William Roscoe (1753-1831) gave this plant the name Zingiber officinale in the year 1807. The name of the genus Zingiber derives from a Sanskrit word denoting “horn shaped” in reference to the protusions on the rhizomes (Ghosh et al., 2011). It is an oldest rhizome widely domesticated as a spice where the edible part is the swollen underground stem or rhizome. The Zingiberaceous plants have strong aromatic and medicinal properties and are characterized by their tuberous or non-tuberous rhizomes (Chen et al., 2008). Ginger is a medicinal plant that has been widely used all over the world, since antiquity, for a wide array of unrelated ailments including arthritis, cramps, rheumatism, sprains, sore throats, muscular aches, pains, constipation, vomiting, hypertension, indigestion, dementia, fever and infectious diseases (Ali et al., 2008). Ginger has direct anti-microbial activity and thus can be used in treatment of bacterial infections (Tan and Vanitha, 2004).

The fruits and vegetables are highly perishable in nature. The losses in harvested fruits and vegetables start immediately after harvesting and the resulting spoilage caused by biochemical changes (enzymatic) and activity of microorganisms such as bacteria, moulds and yeast. The losses caused by the microorganism in fruits and vegetables products can be prevented by controlling or destroying these organisms in order to preserve fruits and vegetables by processing and preservation means. The processing and preservation is one of the most important activities among various types of activities of Horticultural Science.

Processing: The processing can be defined as an activity, which is performed to maintain or improve the quality or to change the form or characteristics of the product. Processing operations are undertaken to add value to horticultural produce after their production. The main purpose of processing is to minimize the qualitative and quantitative deterioration of produce after harvest.

Preservation: Preservation can be defined as the science which deals with the methods of prevention of decay or spoilage of produce and allow it to be stored in a fit condition for future use.

Fruits and vegetables can be preserved for short and long term. For short term preservation can be achieved by proper handling of produce and low temperature storage. Long term preservation can be achieved by canning, drying and dehydration, fermentation and by using chemical preservatives.

5.1 Definitions

The erodibility of soil is its vulnerability or susceptibility to erosion, that is the reciprocal of its resistance to erosion. A soil with a high erodibility will suffer more erosion than a soil with low erodibility if both are exposed to the same rainfall. Whereas the erosivity of rainfall was shown in chapter 4 to be a fairly straightforward measure of the rain’s physical properties, the assessment of erodibility is more complicated because it depends upon many variables. There are alternative uses of the term erodibility. In the widest sense it can be used to include all the variables which effect erosion except the erosivity of rain, as in the first line of figure 2.2. It is also used in the narrower sense as a measure only of the effect of physical characteristics of the soil, as in the erodibility index K of the Universal Soil Loss Equation, where the effects of land management and crop management are assessed separately, as shown in the last line of figure 2.2.

5.2 Factors influencing erodibility

In this chapter we will look at the three broad groups of factors which affect erodibility. First, there are the physical features of the soil, including the chemical and physical composition. Second, there are the topographic features, such as the slope of the land. Third, there is the management of the land, i.e. how it is used.

LIVESTOCK INSURANCE SCHEME

Livestock farming is the main source of livelihood for millions of people in India. Animal husbandry as live resources primarily depends on monsoon-based feeds and fodder production along with the widespread incidence of diseases, droughts floods and fluctuations of market price in livestock products which makes it a risky venture. The natural, social and human risk and uncertainty in livestock farming hamper yield and production as a result of mortality and morbidity of animals to every farmer in the country. This risk is simply future issues that can be mitigated or avoided as a probability issue, whereas uncertainty is the lack of complete certainty with more than one possibility of true outcome or state or result or value as unknown. Individual farmers with limited resources are unable to face such risk and uncertainty of disastrous lost. To mitigate this nature-induced risk, livestock insurance has introduced as an institutional response in the countries in October 1965 as Crop Insurance and in later in 1970 the livestock insurance was started by the government of India.

Introduction

Food security is defined as "a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" (The State of Food Insecurity, 2001) (see http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story028/en/). As of 2015, the concept of food security has mostly focused on food calories rather than the quality and nutrition of food. Thus, food security usually emphasizes food quantity and therefore "nutrition security" is used for the quality dimension. The concept of food security has four dimensions: availability, accessibility, utilization and vulnerability. The interactions among them determine how food secure a country is or how adequate, steady and risk-free food consumption is at the household and individual levels (Kumar and Ayyappan, 2014). Though substantial progress has been achieved in reducing food insecurity, maintaining food security at the national and household level is a major challenge for India (Singh, 2014). The present article briefs about global and Indian scenarios on food security aspects, and the key role of livestock in achieving zero hunger by means of livestock-derived foods such as milk, egg and meat products.

Livestock poisoning by plants is often a result of management errors, range conditions, or the type of animal, rather than just the presence of poisonous plants. Forage availability can be influenced by drought, overgrazing and snow storms, or altered grazing patterns. Animals can become overly hungry during transportation or other management activities that deprive them of food and water for extended periods of time, thus making them more likely to graze toxic plants. Grazing during the wrong season may compromise an animal's ability to select adequate and non-toxic forages (James, 1994).

The toxicity of plants varies with environmental factors such as site, temperature, precipitation, and light, time of day and stage of growth. For example, mature oak leaves are less toxic than young leaves. Cyanogenic plants such as arrow grass are more toxic following a frost or drought condition. Nitrates can be higher in plants following heavy nitrogen fertilisation or during a drought. Certain animal factors must also be considered in livestock poisoning by plants. For example, goats are considered to be comparatively resistant to lantana poisoning than cattle. A hungry animal is more susceptible to poisoning than a full one. A full rumen slows consumption and also dilutes the toxin. Though the animals are exposed to a large number of toxic plants when they are left for grazing, five will be discussed in detail in this chapter. These include lantana, ageratum, eupatorium, oak and ferns (James, 1994).

Smart Farming is a hi-tech and effective system of doing agriculture and growing food in a sustainable way. It is an application of implementing connected devices and innovative technologies together into agriculture. Smart Farming majorly depends on IoT thus eliminating the need of physical work of farmers and growers and thus increasing the productivity in every possible manner.

With the recent agriculture trends dependent on agriculture, Internet of Things has brought huge benefits like efficient use of water, optimization of inputs and many more. 

Training: The Concept

For any kind ofdevelopment, resource is the basic condition and necessity. Every resource should undergo a process of refinement, up gradation, and integration for being able to contribute to a proper functioning and accomplishment. No exception to human resources, the most splendid and creative resource of the earth. While human resources are unique? The following are the reason:

(a) It can think and create

(b) It can integrate and coordinate

(c) It can ideate and communication

(d) It can support and sustain

Motivation of staff both in private and public organizations, leads to greater effectively leading to higher productivity and better performance. Motivation is the performance or procedure of presenting an intention that leads a person to capture some accomplishment (Quratul, 2011). Veterinary institutions like other organizations also seek to achieve better performance level. This requires providing motivation as an incentive or within the veterinarian as an individual to be self-motivated. There is a good scope for veterinarians to be more committed to work. McGregor argued that management has the responsibility to ensure that the productive elements of the enterprises are organized, such as money, materials and people with the purpose of meeting economic ends. People have an inborn dislike to work and tend to avoid it whenever an opportunity arises. It is also observed that people are born selfish; indifferent to the needs of the organization; hence people’s efforts need to be directed through coercion, controlling their action and modification of their behaviors to attain organizational goals. Hence, people in the organization need to be directed to take responsibility. To achieve organizational objectives, people need to be persuaded, rewarded, coerced, controlled, directed or threatened with punishment. While another theory is opposable to it. It is believed that if vets are motivated they would reach greatest potential. As extension specialist we need to motivate our peer and farmers aiming to improve performance and increased satisfaction.

Homestead is a small scale, supplementary food production system; it has the potential to produce high value crops including various spices condiments by and large for the household members. A typical home garden is an adjunct to the house, where selected trees, shrubs are grown, not only edible fruits / vegetables, but also for medicinal, ornamental, socioeconomic and ecological benefits. Homestead exhibit a multi tired canopy structure somewhat identical to the tropical evergreen forest formations. The vertical stratification provides a gradient in light and relative humidity, which creates different niches for enabling various spices/groups to exploit them .Mostly shade tolerant crops constitute the lower stratum, the shade intolerant trees the layer and spices with varying degree of shade tolerance in the intermediate strata .These multi strata system are structurally and functionally the closest mimics of natural forests yet attained The structural and floristic diversity of tropical home gardens are perhaps aided by the biophysical environment, socio-culture factors and economic consideration. 

3.1. Origin and distribution

• Origin is in South Asia - Malaysia, Pacific.

• In the Pacific, cultivated on islands in Southeast Asia - Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia.

• In the Indian Ocean, centre of cultivation is southern periphery of India including Sri Lanka, Maldives and Laccadives.

• In India, coconut palms are grown on the entire coastal belt of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu followed by Goa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha.

• Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are the major coconut producing states accounting for more than 90% of area and production

1. Introduction

India has diverse agro-climatic conditions which, widely promote the cultivation of different types of fruit crop. A wide variety of fruit crops are grown across the country such as banana, mango, citrus, papaya, guava, grapes, pomegranate, apple etc. Globally, we rank second in fruit production after China. The total area under fruit crops is 66.64 lakh ha with a production of 99.06 million Mt (Anon., 2018). However, the average productivity (13.03 t/ha) in fruit crops is quite low than other countries. Further, the per capita fruits availability in our country is 207.9 g/ day which is below than the recommended quantity of 230 g/capita/day (Anon., 2018). 

1. Introduction

A lawn is an indispensable feature of a landscape with a sizeable proportion of space relative to other garden features. It is regarded as the heart of a garden that enhances the beauty of a landscape providing both functional and aesthetic utility. A well maintained lawn at a residential, public or institutional places can be used both for active and passive recreation. It enhance the beauty of surroundings and contribute to real estate value. The turf industry is being viewed as an integrated sector of ornamental horticulture in the developed countries like USA, Australia, China, Netherland, UK, Japan and Denmark. Globally, the turf grass industry has employed skilled workforce for maintaining more than 700,000 athletic fields and over 17,000 golf courses, with an annual worth of $ 20 million each year (Aldous and Chivers, 2002).

1. Introduction

India is known as seed spices hub because as far as International level of concern, our country is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of seed spices. Seed spices contribute about 51.79 % of total area and 19.06 % of production of total spices in the country. The area under seed spices is about 1.74 million hectare and production is about 1.45 million tons (Lal, 2018). In our national economy, seed spices are play an important role, the demand is increasing not only due to its large domestic consumption, but also for export. Since long, huge demand of seed spices and importing countries in global market look at India for quality produce of seed spices. The ISO has been listed a total of 109 spices, out of which 63 spices are being grown in India and 20 spices are being classified as seed spices. 

1. Introduction

Agriculture in India is livelihood for a majority of the population and can never be underestimated. Increasing population, increasing average income and globalisation effects in India will increase demand for quantity, quality and nutritious food, and variety of food. Therefore, pressure on decreasing available cultivable land to produce more quantity, variety and quality of food will keep on increasing. India’s food security depends on producing cereal crops, as well as increasing its production of fruits, vegetables and milk to meet the demands of a growing population with rising incomes. To reach world-wide food security, improved food production and food productivity, we need to approve innovative and futuristic advances and technologies to improve crop cultivation, yield and productivity.

1. Introduction

Spices play an important role in human life since time immemorial. Mainly in India, it is not only important as dietary or health product but few spices also have its religious significance. India is being not only largest producer and consumer but exporter of spices also and hence having potential to enhance the economic value of spices. According to Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, Spices production in the country grew from 67.64 lakh tonnes in 2014-15 to 106.79 lakh tonnes around 2020-21 having annual increase of 7.90%, along with increase in area from 32.24 lakh hectares to 45.28 lakh hectares. With this increase in production and increasing demand of spices because of their health benefits, spices do have economic benefits and farmers can earn better through it.