eChapters

Plant genetic resource (PGR) is fundamental to crop improvement programme and key to establish future food and nutritional security. In recent times there is a worldwide awakening about the conservation of natural resources viz., land, water and plant genetic resources for the sustainable development of mankind. With the increasing risk from the events like climatic change, natural resource degradation,habitat destruction and environmental pollution etc, now there is an worldwide  debate asking many questions - where the humanity is heading in the this 21st century? Whether the present form of indiscriminate growth pattern is sustainable over a long run?

The sanitation word is derived from a Latin word sanitas, meaning “health.” In true sense sanitation is the creation and maintenance of hygiene and healthful conditions in abattoir or meat processing plant. So that produced food provides full nutrients with minimal contaminations and hazards to the human health. It creates the aesthetic environment in the workplace which ultimately enhances the work efficiency and satisfaction to the workers. It helps in maintenance of clean environment, less pollution, proper waste disposal and improves ecological balance. It is a prerequisite of food safety, good hygienic practices and total quality management.

Avian influenza (AI) is a listed disease of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) that has become a disease of great concern for both animal and human health. Avian influenza (AI) or 'bird flu' is an infectious disease of birds ranging from a mild to a severe form of illness. It is caused by influenza A virus under the family Orthomyxoviridae. It is an enveloped virus with two types of surface projections haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). The haemagglutinin is a rod shaped homotrimer which agglutinates RBCs and neuraminidase is a mushroom shaped homotetramer which releases the virus from cells because of its sialidase activity. There are 17 different H antigens (H1 to H17) and 10 neuraminidase antigens (N1 to N10). The virus also contains 8 single stranded negative sense RNA segments each of which encodes for a protein. Avian influenza virus is generally limited to poultry but an unprecedented epizootic of avian influenza A (H5N1) that is highly pathogenic has crossed the species barrier in Asia to cause many human fatalities and likely to possess an increasing pandemic threat. Zoonotic potential of AI virus was first recorded in 1997 with hospitalization of 18 people (six died) following the infection with HPAI (H5N1) in Hong Kong. This provided the evidence that HPAI strains of chicken can adapt, multiply and even cause death in affected individuals. So, it is the prime time to create awareness about the HPAI and its transmission to human beings so that necessary precautionary measures can be taken to prevent and control the disease efficiently and effectively.

Etiology: Influenza viruses are under the Orthomyxoviridae family and belong to either influenza A or influenza B or influenza C genus. The virus particles are enveloped with glycoprotein projections having haemagglutinin or neuraminidase activity and contain 8 negative sense single stranded RNA. Influenza A viruses are classified into subtypes based on these two surface antigens, haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N ). The haemagglutinin is a rod shaped trimer which agglutinates RBCs and neuraminidase is a mushroom shaped tetramer which releases the virus from cells because of its sialidase activity. Beneath the lipid envelope there is a membrane or matrix (M) protein which surrounds a helical complex containing the nucleoprotein (NP) and polymerases (PB1, PB2, P) protein. There are also two nonstructural protein (NS) present in the virus. There are 17 haemagglutinin antigen (H1 to H17) and 10 neuraminidase antigens (N1 to N10) present in influenza A viruses. Each RNA strand of AI virus code for at least one protein. The H glycoprotein of influenza virus has two important functions which are imperative for the infectivity of the virus (i) it is responsible for attachment of the virus to the host cell receptors of glycoprotein or gangliosides containing sialic acid. (ii) it possesses fusion activity between the host cell membrane and the virus membrane so that virus genetic material is introduced into the host cell. The glycoprotein is produced as a precursor, HAo which requires post translational cleavage to HA1 and HA2, by host proteases before it is able to induce membrane fusion. Then only the B virus particles becomes infectious. Type A viruses include the avian, swine, equine and human influenza A viruses. The large number of subtypes present in the type A influenza viruses are due to fact that viruses often undergo antigenic shift by the process of genetic reassortment.

Only few single sperm viability parameters show a significant correlation with fertility of semen samples. Therefore, need to explore functional in vitro fertility tests having capability to disclose the ability of spermatozoa to undergo complicated processes such as capacitation, binding of zona pellucida, acrosome reaction, fertilization of Oocyte and induction of embryo development invitro have been designed and explored for their correlation with fertility achieved after artificial insemination.

In vitro fertility tests used in evaluation of semen includes: 

14.1 Estimation of membrane integrity
        
    14.1.1 Morphological integrity
        
    14.1.2 Functional integrity
        
    14.1.2.1 Hypoosmotic swelling test
        
    14.1.2.2 Acrosome integrity

14.2     Cervical Mucus Penetration Test

Introduction

Global food production, already under the credit crunch, must double by 2050 to level off hunger. According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), this will be possible only if food security is given top priority. The food security has become a complex issue influenced by climate and non-climate induced stressors which operate independently or in combinations are tackled appropriately. This climate induced stress is further augmented by climate change which affects agriculture and food production in complex ways. It affects food production directly through changes in agro-ecological conditions and indirectly by affecting growth and distribution of incomes, and thus demand for agricultural produce. Climate change has emerged as a major challenge in achieving goals of sustainable agriculture. Climate change refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or/and as a result of human activity (IPCC, 2007). Agriculture impacts climate change with greenhouse gas emissions, and is at the same time impacted by effects of climate change as well. Amongst elements of climate change, the most important relate to increasing uncertainty in availability of water due to increasing frequency of drought and/or excess water events resulting in uneven water availability over time and space. Drought is a normal, recurring feature of the climate in most parts of the world. Drought is defined as the absence of rainfall or supplemental irrigation for a period of time sufficient to deplete soil moisture and injure plants. According to USDA drought occurs when annual precipitation is 75 percent of normal, or monthly precipitation is 60 per cent of normal. Drought stress results when water loss from the plant exceeds the ability of roots to absorb water and when the plant’s water content is reduced enough to interfere with normal plant processes.

In the post-green revolution period, the incessant rice-rice/wheat crop rotation has undoubtedly made the country surplus in cereal production but has marginalized pulses. This has raised serious concern about sustainability of the production system. Recognizing the importance of pulses for meeting dietary requirements of vast vegetarian population on one hand and their role in improving soil health and conserving natural resources on the other, the efforts were made to develop high yielding, short duration and disease resistant varieties of different pulse crops which can help in diversification and intensification of popular cropping systems. As a result, several new cropping systems have been designed, developed and advocated for rainfed and irrigated areas.

INTRODUCTION

India has emerged as second highest producer of potato in the world, after China. The crop has been identified as the most important crop for ensuring food security for the developing countries, and a highly nutritious food providing more calories, vitamins and nutrients per unit area of cropped land than any other staple food. The crop has witnessed phenomenal increase over the seven decades of potato research in India. For a crop which was introduced in the country only in the early 17^th century, and was neither adapted, nor its staple food, the remarkable increase in potato production and productivity is an exceptional achievement of breeding this temperate introduction into the present day potato cultivars.

BREEDING REQUIREMENTS

The table potatoes introduced in India were adapted to long photoperiods of up to 14 hours and crop durations of 140-180 days allowing them to be cultivated only in the hilly regions of India. The unique and diverse agro-climatic condition of the country, comprising of contrasting conditions in the Indian plains, where potato could be grown in the winter months necessitated breeding efforts to develop the potato varieties suitable for the sub-tropical plains and the other potato growing regions. The winters in sub-tropical plains have short photoperiod (with about 10-11 hours sunshine) and the crop duration is limited to 90-100 days because of short and mild winter. Further constraints on photosynthetic activity due to early morning fog, posing a strong limitation on tuber bulking. This is followed immediately by a long hot summer period, which coincides with the post-harvest storage period of potato, creating challenging storage problems. The rapid degeneration of seed stocks, with concomitant decrease in yield due to accumulation of viral diseases and tuber storage and utilization in hot and humid climate thus needed to be addressed, in priority. Besides, these southern, north Bengal and Sikkim hills and the plateau offer agro climatic area specific problems related to the biotic and abiotic stresses prevalent in the regions. Moreover, the unique reproductive biology of the plant made it possible to flower only under the long day conditions of the hills, where hybridization was initiated at Kufri (Shimla), Himachal Pradesh. However, during the initial years, it was not possible to evaluate the breeding progenies in the warmer sub-tropical plains due to the quick degeneration of hill bred progenies and dormancy of hill potatoes.

The biosecurity risk assessment informs the biosecurity plan, which documents the mitigation measures put in place to address risks. Risks that fall outside of the risk tolerance threshold should be controlled through additional or enhanced mitigation measures. A cost-benefit analysis can assist in determining the mitigation measures in which to invest. Financial constraints and resource limitations may present challenges when looking to manage unacceptable risks. As a starting point, senior management may choose to initially focus mitigation measures on the most consequential risks and then control remaining risks as resources become available. In other instances, if the risks are determined to be too high or costly to mitigate, the organization’s project or program may need to be modified or cancelled. Recommendations for mitigation measures should be documented in the final report of the biosecurity risk assessment.

Introduction

Ground water (GW) resources in most areas of world are shrinking at an alarming rate and may not meet the ever increasing demands from agriculture and industry in future. Large decreases in GW levels (up to 200 m in some places) have been observed due to over exploitation (Toze, 2006). It accounts for more than 65% irrigation water and 85% of drinking water supplies lies in a critical state. Many areas of the world, already experiencing stress on water availability, which placed severe strains on existing resources with resulting environmental impacts. Half of the population of the developing world suffers from at least one disease caused by insufficient water supply and sanitation.

Sun is the prime source of energy injected into the earth’s atmosphere. The sun is the nearest star to the earth. It is a hot ball of glowing gases at the heart of the solar system. Its radiant energy is practically the only energy source to the earth. Very small and insignificant quantities of energy are available from other sources such as the interior of the earth, the moon, and other stars. Without the sun’s intense energy and heat, there would be no life on earth.

NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF SOLAR RADIATION

The mean distance of the sun from the earth, also known as one astronomical unit (1 AU), is approximately 1.496 × 10⁸ km, though the distance varies as the earth revolves round the sun in an elliptical orbit. At this average distance, light travels from the sun to earth in about 8 minutes and 19 seconds. The energy of the sunlight supports almost all life on earth by photosynthesis, and drives earth’s climate and weather. The minimum sun-earth distance is about 0.983 AU and the maximum is approximately 1.017 AU. The earth is at its closest point to the sun (perihelion) on around January 3 and at its farthest point (aphelion) on around July 4.

1.1 Introduction

Horticulture is defined as “The science and art of growing vegetables, fruits, flowers, ornamental plants and landscaping of gardens and surroundings in small and commercial gardens”. The Latin word “horticulture” comprises two parts: “hortus” (which means “garden”) and “cultura” (which means “cultivation”). In other words, horticulture is the nurturing of gardens. Pomology, olericulture, floriculture, and landscaping are the main aspects of horticulture. Horticulture is becoming more and more important since it produces greater output per unit of land and provides humans with nourishing food, improving their quality of life and enhancing the visual beauty of nature. Regarding the worth of the goods, one of the main branches of horticulture is vegetable growing.

Technically speaking, every component of a vegetable is edible. However, the phrase is typically used to refer to edible plants that include reserves of food in the form of roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, petioles, leaves, buds, flowers, fruits, and seeds that can be consumed either cooked or raw. Growing vegetables is crucial not only for supplying food that is protective but also for serving as a substantial auxiliary food that contributes more significantly to food consumption. They are vital parts of a balanced diet since they are nutrient-rich.

Abstract

It’s relatively frequent to hear about the customary consumption and commercialization of wild and cultivated mushrooms in European, North American and Asian tempered zones. In contrast, such a phenomenon has been widely unrecognized in Mesoamerican lowlands. The scarce interest for leading ethnomicological studies in these zones may be caused by a preconception according to which peoples inhabiting them do not use macroscopic fungi. Yet, archaeological evidence shows a relation between fungi and Mayan peoples existed during pre-Hispanic times.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease and considered to be a major health problem globally. It is also called break-bone fever, dandy fever, denguero bouquet fever, giraffe fever, Polka fever and 5 days or 7 days fever. There are two important manifestations, namely dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) which are responsible for heavy morbidity and mortality every year causing serious concern to health. It is an important disease caused by an arbovirus worldwide especially in the tropical and subtropical regions. The severity of the disease can be judged from simple statistics that over 40 per cent (2.5 billion) of the world's population in 100 countries continue to live under threat of contracting dengue infection. Annually, dengue virus infections are responsible for up to 100 million cases of dengue fever and more than 500,000 cases of haemorrhagic fever. Besides, every year the disease forces nearly 500,000 people to hospitalization of which 90% are children and causing 24,000 deaths. Mostly these deaths are due to lack of early diagnosis of dengue virus infection. In DHF case fatality rate generally exceeds 20 per cent in a non-endemic population and it can be reduced to less than 1 per cent with the aid of modern supportive therapy based on early diagnosis of the type of viral infection.

Dengue fever (DF) is an acute febrile viral disease characterized by headaches, bone or joint and muscular pains, rash and leucopenia as symptoms. Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) is characterized by four major clinical manifestations: high fever, haemorrhagic phenomena, 73 often with hepatomegaly and in severe cases, signs of circulatory failure. Such patients may develop hypovolaemic shock resulting from plasma leakage. This is called dengue shock syndrome (DSS) and can be fatal.

The year 2001 witnessed unprecedented global dengue epidemic activity in the American hemisphere, the Pacific Islands and continental Asia. During 2002, more than 30 Latin American countries reported over 1 million DF cases with large number of DHF cases. This has been followed by extensive epidemics of DHF in several parts of India during 2003.

Dengue fever (DF) is caused by ingestion of viraemic blood containing dengue virus by mosquitoes of Aedes sp. followed by passage to a second human host. An extrinsic incubation period is required before the virus appears in the saliva of the transmitting female Aedes mosquitoes. After the bite, there is an incubation period of 3 to 14 days (average 4 to 7 days) followed by the onset of fever and nonspecific signs and symptoms (frontal headache, retro-orbital pain, body aches, nausea and vomiting, joint pains, weakness and rash). The febrile phase is self limiting and may last for 2 to 10 days followed by remission of fever in most cases. Laboratory abnormalities include neutropenia followed by a lymphocytosis and thrombocytopenia.

Pulses are known for their soil fertility restoration value. Deep rooting, nitrogen fixation, leaf shedding ability and mobilization of insoluble soil nutrients are some of the unique characteristics of pulses. By improving chemical, biological and physical environment in the soil, pulses can arrest the declining trend in productivity of cereal-cereal system. Inclusion of pulses in intensive cereal based system itself is a component of integrated plant nutrient supply system. Therefore, pulses have become viable alternative to improve the soil health and conserve the natural resources and agricultural sustainability. Pulses in the cereal/oilseed based cropping systems are introduced to break the monotony of crop rotation. Pulses being rainfed low input crop provide safeguard against crop failure due to scanty rainfall and adverse weather conditions. Apart from enriching soil fertility, introduction of pulses in cropping system also improves nitrogen economy. Early pigeonpea-wheat sequence was evaluated and found promising than traditional rice-wheat cropping system in irrigated areas of Punjab, Haryana, central and western Uttar Pradesh.

The fascia covering the hind limb is the superficial and deep fascia. The superficial fascia is very scanty lies beneath the skin. It has the same general disposition as in other regions of the body. The deep fascia is in the form of a thick strong sheet covering the superficial layer of muscles over the medial aspect of the hind limb. From this sheet extend several septa that pass between different muscles or muscle groups in the thigh region. The deep fascia of the leg region continues cranially with the fascia of the thoracolumbar region. Caudally it is attached to the aponeurotic tendon of insertion of sartorius and gracilis muscles. The part of the deep fascia that continues on the lateral aspect of the thigh is the fascia lata which is continuous with the gluteal fascia dorsally.

The muscles of the hind limb (Fig. 6-3 A and B) are arranged into different regional, positional as well as functional groups. The muscles of hip and thigh region are arranged in the lateral, medial and cranial groups. The muscles of leg and foot are arranged in dorsolateral and plantar groups. The dorsolateral muscles are generally the extensors of tarsus and digits while the plantar muscles are the flexors of tarsus and digits.

• General considerations

 • Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE)

 • SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS PAGE)

• Nucleic acid hybridization

 • Radio labelled probes

 • Biotin labelled probes

 • DNA finger printing

 • Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

 • Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR)

Basmati Rice

Basmati Rice is a simple grain, yet throughout history it has been on royal menus of various cultures as the main dish. From the pilav of Turkey, polou of Persia, pilafs of the Steppes, the isotos and paellas of the Mediterranean, to the pulau of India it has been served to great sultans, maharajahs, shahs and emperors. Spices, nuts, dried fruits, vegetables and herbs are a natural for Basmati rice. Basmati rice transforms rice dishes into extraordinary meals. Also known as the “Queen of Rice”, this highly aromatic grain that is long and elegantly thin, has originated from Vasumati which means earth recognized by its fragrance. The full exposition of the word is from Hindi. Bas originating from Prakrit Vas which has a sanskrit root- Vasay connoting aroma; and mati from mayup meaning ingrained from the origin. Common usage has changed Vas to Bas while joining bas and mayup the latter changed to mati.. Thus the word Basmati originated.

Abstract

The paper presents an approach of selecting suitable areas for artificial groundwater recharge structures through remote sensing and integrated terrain analysis by statistical method. The study area “Ayyar basin” is an aquifer system of gneisses and charnockite litho-units in Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu. The area has witnessed a steady decline in groundwater table. Hence, the scope for artificial groundwater recharge was studied in this area with the help of Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCS&T).

Introduction

A huge increase in the demand of animal production is expected in the next decades. Food and water security will be one of the other priorities for humankind in the 21st century. Over the same period the World will experience a change in the global climate that will cause shifts in local climate that will impact on local and global agriculture (Nardone et al. 2010). Global climate change is expected to alter temperature, precipitation, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and water availability in ways that will affect the productivity of crop and livestock systems (Hatfield et al. 2008). For livestock systems, climate change could affect the costs and returns of production by altering the thermal environment of animals thereby affecting animal health, reproduction, and the efficiency by which livestock convert feed into retained products (especially meat and milk).

Introduction 
There are terrible consequences of climate change for the planet and all human endeavors. According to statistics provided by the Bureau of Social and Economic Affairs which indicate the rate of increase in global human population is frightening; by 2050 (Rebello et al., 2010), the population is expected to surpass 9.8 billion people. Thus, throughout the course of 30 years from now, the community will encounter several issues that will threaten the survival of the majority of living things on Earth. These issues include the shortage of energy, global warming, greenhouse effects, poisonous gas emissions, and abrupt changes in the environment. The usage of natural fuels as our primary source of energy has raised issues in international scientific organizations, which are working to address one of the key causes of these problems (Zhu et al., 2016). The one method to address the issue is to find an environmentally sustainable fossil fuel replacement that can meet the world’s expanding energy needs (Dincer et al., 2000). Biofuels are one of the viable options and it is an alternative to fossil fuels since they are affordable and harmless to the surroundings (Ma et al., 2014). Various countries around the world are utilizing them to partially substitute the consumption of natural fuels. For example, Brazil uses sugarcane, while parts of Asia and Europe primarily rely on palm oil for production. In the case of biofuels made from microalgae, the United States, Brazil, China, and Japan are the biggest producers. Currently, biofuel generation predominantly relies on three distinct generations of raw organic resources, as outlined by Zhu et al. (2016) and Brennan et al. (2016). These groups represent different sources and technologies utilized to produce biofuels on a global scale. Biofuels classified as first-generation are those derived from feedstocks that are suitable for human intake, such as wheat, sugarcane, maize, palm oil, and sugar beet. Biofuels classified as secondgeneration are derived from lignin and cellulosic feedstock, which consists of non-food crop portions including husks, stems, and leaves that are often thrown away (Kalnes et al., 2007 ; Naik et al., 2010 ; Zhu et al., 2016). However, these biofuel sources can partially fulfill the world’s energy demands. One method to overcome this limitation involves third-generation biofuels, which are generated by cultivating single-celled photosynthetic microorganisms capable of converting carbon dioxide and sunlight into biomass and lipid molecules used in biofuel production (Abomohra et al., 2017).