eChapters

Introduction

Carbon is an essential building block of life. It has always been transported from one form or ecosystem to another as a basic part of natural processes. Examples include its transport, through soil erosion, into aquatic ecosystems, or the undersea formation of limestone, the chief component of which is carbon. Much of the world’s carbon is held in soils, including agricultural soils. Another significant carbon pool is in the atmosphere, as carbon dioxide. Ever since agriculture began, between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago, the balance between these two pools has been changing. The loss of soil carbon through soil disturbance has augmented the atmospheric carbon pool. Since about 1750, the burning of fossil fuels has accelerated the process. Carbon dioxide is the largest single agent of climate change.

Climate change is a major issue facing society today with extensive studies being undertaken to find ways to mitigate its effects and impacts in the future. A key factor contributing to climate change is excessive levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and global efforts are focussed on both reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases and increasing the storage (sequestration) of atmospheric carbon.

Introduction

Increasing carbon content in the soil, through better management practices, produce a number of benefits in terms of soil biodiversity, soil fertility and soil water storage capacity and hence productivity. Soil carbon sequestration through the restoration of soil organic matter can further reverse land degradation and restore soil “health” through restoring soil biota and the array of associated ecological processes. In particular, through improved soil water storage and nutrient cycling, land use practices that sequester carbon will also contribute to stabilizing or enhancing food production and optimizing the use of synthetic fertilizer inputs, thereby reducing emissions of nitrous oxides from agricultural land. Conservation tillage practices also reduce significantly the use of fuel and hence gaseous emissions. Soil carbon sequestration is thus very cost effective and could take effect very quickly (FAO, 2008). It also constitutes a valuable win-win approach combining mitigation (CO₂ is removed from the atmosphere) and adaptation, through both increased agro-ecosystem resilience to climate variability and more reliable and better yields (production and income generation). Under climate change scenarios, increased temperature may enhance soil organic matter mineralization in colder regions of the world, releasing carbon dioxide from soils (FAO, 2008). Improved soil management will mitigate the effects of global warming by improved and permanent soil cover. Soil carbon storage was hitherto left out of international negotiations because of envisaged difficulties of validation of amounts and duration/permanency of sequestration. 

Carbon sequestration implies removing atmosphere carbon and storing it in natural reservoirs for extended periods (Lal, 2011). Soil carbon sequestration is the process of transferring carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the soil through crop residues and other organic solids, and in a form that is not immediately remitted. This transfer or “sequestering” of carbon helps off-set emissions from fossil fuel combustion and other carbon-emitting activities while enhancing soil quality and long-term agronomic productivity. Soil carbon has gained increased interest in the recent past owing to its importance in carbon sequestration studies and its potential impact on sustainable crop production. However, accuracy in estimating soil carbon sequestration to determine best management practices is hindered by inherent variability of soil properties (Srinivasarao et al., 2008 and 2009b). Maintaining or arresting the decline in soil organic matter (SOM) is the most potent weapon in fighting against soil degradation and for ensuring sustainability of agriculture in tropical regions. In India, 65 per cent of agriculture is rainfed, covering the categories of arid, semi-arid and sub-humid climatic zones. Consequences of depletion of organic matter are poor soil physical health, loss of favorable biology and occurrence of multiple nutrient deficiencies. It was stated that in rainfed arid, semi-arid and sub-humid tracts, next to poor rain water management, depletion of nutrients caused by organic matter deficiency is an important cause of soil degradation. Improving organic matter is, therefore, crucial to sustenance of soil quality and future agricultural productivity. Humus is known to favor many useful physical, chemical and biological processes that occur within the soil (Srinivasarao et al., 2011c). Accordingly, 

INTRODUCTION

Soil is one of the most important factors associated with the success or failure of fruit production. Orchard soil management refers to those practices in the soil that aim at getting maximum productivity/production of quality fruits within the limits of soil, water and fertility management over the years. The decision regarding the practices of orchard management should always be taken well in advance before planting of an orchard. The practices for orchard management should be executed in a timely manner during the lifetime of the orchard. An efficient orchard management system always ensures higher return to the grower. However, no single management practice can be recommended for all orchards. The management systems varies from orchard to orchard, locality to locality, soil to soil, from one set of climatic conditions to another set of climatic conditions etc. These systems also have their own merits and demerits. Thus the choice of best suitable system depends on many factors such as climate, topography, rainfall, tree spacing, planting system/ orchard design, root depth of tree, economic condition of orchardists, fertility status of soil and type of main fruit crop etc.However, it should be combined with pruning, nutrient and water management, provision for pollination, fruit thinning and disease and pest management in order to obtain desirable tree growth and vigour with the aim to promote precocity with high productivity. The objectives of an ideal soil management system should be:

5.1. Nature and role of soil enzymes
    General account
    Role in terrestrial ecosystems
    Role in aquatic ecosystems

5.2. Environmental conditions and microbial enzyme activity

Abstract: This chapter reports soil and nutrient loss due to water erosion from five major land uses, i.e. vegetable fields, coconut plantation, arecanut plantation, home garden and moist evergreen forest on the undulating topography of the island. Soil loss under the land uses was quantified using replicated runoff plots. Vegetative methods, i e Gliricidia hedgerow + crop, hedgerow + mulch + crop, hedgerow + mulch + crop + grass barrier, for vegetable field under till conditions, and Pueraria cover crop (coconut + Pueraria phaseoloides  cover crop) for coconut plantation were tested to know their potential to arrest soil erosion in the respective system. Soil loss from the vegetable field under No till conditions, coconut plantation, arecanut plantation, home garden and forest was 3.8, 12.4, 10.6, 8.4 and 2.3 tonnes/ha, respectively. Soil working in vegetable fields (till + crop treatment) provoked soil loss to124 tonnes / ha. Erodibility was the lowest (0.06) in the forest and highest (0.26) in the vegetable field under till condition.  Among the nutrients, the highest loss, across the treatments, occurred for nitrogen and lowest for phosphorus. The hedgerow alone in vegetable fields reduced the soil loss substantially (66 %). However, it together with mulch and grass barrier reduced the soil loss nearly equal to that found in the forest. Like wise, Pueraria cover crop (19 years old) brought down the soil loss under the coconut plantation equal to that in the forest. These observations suggest that Gliricidia hedgerows for vegetable cultivation and cover crop for coconut plantation may be good vegetative methods for soil erosion control in the island.

Abstract

In a developing country like India with exploding population pressure and shrinking availability of resources per capita, agricultural intensification maintain soil health is the only way to solve hunger and poverty. Soil is a fundamental resource base for agricultural production systems. Besides being primary medium for crop growth, soil functions to sustain crop productivity, maintain environmental quality and provide for plant, animal and human health. Soil organic matter (SOM) content is frequently identified as a primary attributes of soil quality assessment. It is evident that SOM influences various soil physical,chemical and biological properties. Besides, SOM serves as a slow release reserviour for macro-, secondary and micronutrients to plants.

Soil is formed by disintegration and decomposition of rocks, minerals and organic matter, Soil is a habitant for plant growth and serves as a storehouse of water and food nutrients for plants, Soil is not same everywhere and varies morphologically, physically, chemically and mineralogically from one point to another both in horizontal and vertical directions. Development of soil informatics is necessary to classify the soils, to assess the productivity of soils for various crop productions and to use the soil for various purposes such as land capability classification, soil irrigability classification, soil rating and soil mapping.

Morphologically soil may appear red, yellow, black, brown or ashy in colour. Soil may vary from sandy to clayey in texture. Depending upon the nutrient reserve capacity, the soil may be fertile or infertile. On the basis of climate, a soil may be classified as laterite soil. Red earth and red loam soil, podzol soil or desert soil.

Different kinds of soil contain minerals of various types and amounts and so exhibit distinct physio co-chemical properties. Although various methods have been used in the past to classify the soils, the most modern and scientific methods is based on dominants pedogenic processes acting on a place to from a soil. The new method of soil classification has two important characteristics-Firstly soil classification is based on certain diagnostic parameters which could be estimated quantatively, and secondly depending on diagnostic parameters, a scientific method is being followed to classify a soil from higher to lower levels such as order, suborder, great group, subgroup, family and series.

Introduction

Soil organic matter is an important component of soil quality and productivity; however, its measurement alone does not adequately reflect changes in soil quality and nutrient status. Instead, measurements of biologically active fractions of organic matter, such as microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, and potential C and N mineralization, could better reflect changes in soil quality and productivity that alter nutrient dynamics. Therefore, measuring microbial biomass is a valuable tool for understanding and predicting long-term effects on changes in land use and associated soil conditions.

Introduction

The basic principle of conservation agriculture is to minimize soil disturbance in order to stabilize the soil structure, increase the fertility and balance the eco-system. Applied together, conservation agriculture practices – no tillage, permanent soil cover, use of crop cover and crop rotation, residue management- have complementary positive outcomes; no tillage maintains soil structure and biological activity; a permanent soil cover protects the soil surface from erosion and creates a stable and favourable micro-climate; cover crops and residue management provides organic matter, reduce soil erosion and improves soil fertility. Management of the soil water balance should be considered as a positive for cover crops and improvement of soil water infiltration, reduction in soil water evaporation, and decreasing water extraction from the soil would impact subsequent plant growth.

1.     Concentration

Multistage Sampling

Multistage sampling is a form of random sampling where samples are selected in a sequence of stages. Where each sample is drawn from the exclusive previously selected samples. This sampling is not done once but at multiple stages. It differs from cluster sampling in the sense that cluster uses all the subjects within a cluster whereas multistage selects a sample from within the selected group. Groups are randomly chosen from a population; subgroups from these groups are randomly chosen and then randomly chosen to be surveyed.

This is an extension of cluster sampling, which is carried out in multiple stages say two, three or four stages. In the first stage, the universe is divided into some clusters from which certain clusters are selected at random at the first stage samples. In the second stage, the selected first stage samples are again subdivided into some clusters from which again certain clusters are selected at random as the second stage samples. In the third stage, the selected second stage samples are again subdivided into some clusters from which certain clusters are again selected at random as the third stage samples.

11.1. INTRODUCTION

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is the fifth most important cereal crop and is the dietary staple of more than 500 million people in over 90 countries, primarily in the developing world. It is grown on 47 m ha in 104 countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Among those, USA, Nigeria, India, Mexico, Sudan, China, and Argentina are the major sorghum producers globally. Sorghum grain is mostly used directly for food (55%), and is consumed in the form of porridges (thick or thin) and flat breads; however sorghum is also an important feed grain (33%), especially in Australia and the Americas. Stover (crop residue after grain harvest) is an important fodder source to both milch and draft animals in mixed crop-livestock systems. Sorghum is also a good source of green fodder due to its quick growth and high yield and quality of biomass. Of late, sorghum with sugar-rich juicy stalks (called sweet sorghum) is emerging as an important biofuel crop. Thus sorghum is a unique crop with multiple uses as food, feed, fodder, fuel and fiber. Sorghum is generally grown in rainy season (spring) but in India it is grown in both rainy and postrainy seasons. The postrainy season sorghum grain is prized for its food value (Reddy et al., 2009).

12.1. INTRODUCTION

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is an important food/feed/fodder crop in more than 90 countries across the world and it is one of the cheapest sources of energy and micronutrients (Reddy et al., 2009; Ashok Kumar et al., 2011). Considerable efforts have been made to improve sorghum productivity through genetic enhancement and crop production and protection research all over the globe. Sorghum being an often cross-pollinated crop with cross pollination up to 2-15% depending on genotype and environment (House 1985), initially, pure-lines were the target products although phenomenon of heterosis was demonstrated in sorghum as early as in 1927 (Conner and Karper, 1927). Predominant self-pollinating nature of sorghum with tiny florets with single seed per emasculation and pollination prevented commercial exploitation of heterosis for commercial sorghum production. However, the discovery of a stable and heritable cytoplasmic-nuclear male-sterility (CMS) mechanism (Stephens and Holland, 1954), enabling large-scale, economic hybrid seed production gave a fillip to the exploitation of heterosis since early 1960s. The first commercial sorghum hybrid CSH 1 was released in 1964 in India. Using CMS mechanism, large number of commercial hybrids have been developed and released/marketed for commercial cultivation in all sorghum growing regions with strong Indian National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS).

1.    List of Spices
    
2.    Biotechnological Interventions in Spices
    
3.    Micropropagation
    
4.    Protocols for in vitro Multiplication of Some Spices
    
5.    Factors Affecting Large Scale Propagation Systems
    
6.    Field Performance of Tissue Culture Plants
    
7.    Other Tissue Culture Techniques
    
8.    Secondary Metabolites Production
    
9.    in vitro Germplasm Conservation
    
10.    Somaclonal Variation
    
11.    Molecular Marker Studies
    
12.    Disease Diagnostics
    
13.    Genetic Engineering
    
14.    Identification of Adulterants
    
15.    Future Prospects
        
References

Q.1.    What is split plot experiment ?

    Answer
    
    If one has to study two type of factors say A and B in the same experiment where A requires larger plot size and B requires smaller plot size then the structure of the experiment will be that of plots within blocks are known as split plots and blocks within replication are known as main (whole) plots. Such a layout of the experiment is known as split plot experiment.

8.1    History of Sprinkler Irrigation
    
8.2    Advantage and Limitations of Sprinkler Irrigation
    
8.3    Scope of Sprinkler Irrigation in India
    
8.4    Type of Sprinkler System and Components
    
8.5    Design of Sprinkler Irrigation System
        
Questions and Problems
        
References

Principal Scientist and I/c Head, Division of Social Sciences and Training, IIHR, Hessaraghatta Lake Post, Bangalore – 560 089, Karnataka

Introduction…. A few key things to know

India is predominantly an agrarian economy which employs around 43% of its workforce in the agriculture sector, but it contributes only 16 % to the GDP (FY2020) and the sector contributes to 12 % of the country’s export.

The Food and Agri startup space constitutes agritech and food tech companies, incubators, accelerators, investors, farmers and MSME, etc.

Owing to the rising interest and conducive environment for business (esp. start ups), investment activity in this space has been increasing over the years.

We are still at a nascent stage. w.r.t to investment and market penetration.

Principal Scientist and I/c Head, Division of Social Sciences and Training IIHR, Hessaraghatta Lake Post, Bangalore – 560 089, Karnataka

What is a funding pitch?

A pitch deck lets you present your business plan to potential investors when new funding is needed to develop the business. You don’t need a pitch deck to attract funding if your business is successful, growing organically and at the right level and scale for the market and your ambitions.

Today, when the collection of biological data has been increasing at explosive rate, the processing of these data is needed. It would be extremely valuable if the specialists who know what the data mean were also able to imagine ways to collect, process and exploit these data. Biological and agricultural scientists should note that concepts from computer science, discrete mathematics and statistics are being used increasingly to study and describe biological systems. The specialists, who know the subjects of mathematics, statistics and computer programming, are needed for solving the computational problems in biology. Statistical data mining approaches seem ideally suited for bioinformatics, since it is data rich, but lacks a comprehensive theory of life organization at molecular level, or in the words of I.E. Alcamo “ Keeping up with the directions and application of DNA is a never ending job.” Starting with possible definitions of statistical data mining and bioinformatics, this chapter will give a general side view of both the fields on the statistical data mining part and its technologies and discuss how statistical data mining may be used in bioinformatics.

ANALYSIS OF CODON USAGE VARIATION

Multivariate analysis methods such as Correspondence Analysis and Principle Component Analysis have often been used to identify major trends of variation in synonymous codon usage among inter or intra specific genes. Genetic codes are degenerate meaning most of amino acids can be encoded by more than one codon (triplet of nucleotides); such codons are synonymous and usually differ by one nucleotide in the third position. The alternative synonymous codons are not used with similar frequency and their usage varies among different genes. Hence there is the presence of Relative Synonymous Codon Usage values. 

SEQUENCE DATA

The gene sequences downloaded from Genbank of National Center for Biotechnology Information that is the nucleotide sequence repository known worldwide, serves as the secondary data used for analysis. Relative synonymous codon usage value of each gene is extracted separately using the Codon Usage software of Sequence Manipulation Suite. These are the raw data which needs to be normalized to be used before application of various multivariate analysis.

Abstract: Economy of Bihar is solely dependent on agriculture. Only 7% area is under forest as against a minimum 33% required for ecological balance. To counter the environmental degradation and to provide fuel, fodder and timber, different tree-crop combinations were tried for accessing their compatibility. As a result some agroforestry systems have been recommended and are discussed in this paper. Economics of some of the successful system has also been discussed. A detailed account of prevalent agroforestry practices in Bihar is also given. Agri-horticulture system is most popular system adopted by large and medium farmers in the region. Finally, constraints in adopting and carrying out research in agroforestry along with future strategies to extend agroforestry in Bihar are also given in the paper.

Introduction

Agroforestry land use system is one of the most important means for improving productivity of rural resources. People’s perception about agroforestry varies with their use perspectives. Only 7 % area is under forest as against a minimum 33 % required for ecological balance. Per capita consumption of wood fuel in Bihar is 0.27 m3 per year and industrial wood is 0.054 m3. One of the studies, on demand and supply of wood in Bihar conducted by Division of Forestry

12.1    Shelf Life
    
12.2    Pre-Treatments Vs. Shelf Life/Storage (Hot Water, Fungicides, Coatings and other Chemicals)
    
12.3    Surface Coatings
    
12.4    1-MCP Gas Exposure
    
12.5    Use of Botanicals
    
12.6    Other Chemicals/Methods
    
12.7    Evaporative Cool Storage
    
12.8    Modified Atmosphere Storage (MAS)
    
12.9    Controlled Atmosphere Storage (CAS)
    
12.10    Vacuum Packaging
    
12.11    Hypobaric Storage
    
12.12    Irradiation
    
12.13    Chilling Injury (CI)

INTRODUCTION
 
Once a crop is harvested, it is almost impossible to improve its quality. Therefore, proper storage conditions—temperature and humidity—are needed to lengthen storage life and maintain quality once the crop has been cooled to the optimum storage temperature. In modern times, the storage of perishables has become more sophisticated because of the demand for a wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables at all the times of the year and because of need to spread peaks of production over longer periods to maximize profit and reduce waste. But in our conditions, storage of fruits and vegetables is practiced to avoid the low prices during the glut season in anticipation that prices will increase during the lean period or off-season. Certain crops like potatoes and apples can be stored for long period whereas for the crops peach and plum, the storage period is very short. However, for both long-term as well as short-term storage, high level of technical know-how about the crop is necessary for successful storage. There are a few important factors, which need to be taken into account before storage of the produce.

Abstract
 
Rice fallows are those land which remain uncultivated during rabi after harvesting of kharif paddy. Several reason for not taking second crops such as early withdrawal of monsoon rains leading to soil moisture stress at planting time of rabi crops, water logging and excessive moisture in the months of November and December, lack of appropriate varieties of winter crops for late planting, and socio-economic problems like stray cattle, blue bulls etc. India accounts for 11.65 million ha (79%) of the total rice fallows of South Asia. The rice fallows offer good scope for area expansion of chickpea. The residual soil moisture left in the soil after rice harvest is often sufficient to grow chickpea in low to medium land soil. It is also beneficial for chickpea where short duration paddy grown which vacate fields in September-October. In long duration paddy, chickpea could be grown under Utera cultivation (relay cropping) in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Assam. Optimum plant population can only be ensuring in well levelled land, sufficient soil moisture and good seed under Paira (Utera) cropping. 

Increasing evidences over the past few decades indicate that significant changes in climate are occurring across various regions of the globe in the form of increased occurrence of extreme weather events. The significant cause to this sustained increase in climate variability, known as climate change has been a resultant of increased level of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. The reason for this increase is mainly ascribed to enhanced human activities such as industrialization, uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels, increased use of refrigerants and changed land use patterns and practices. Most significantly, the concentrations of GHGs like CO₂ has already crossed the 400 ppm mark, while other potential contributors like methane and nitrous oxide also show significant rise. As a result of the heat absorbing capacity of these gases, there has been a considerable rise in global mean temperatures, more so in the recent decade and more. The increase in mean air temperatures of the globe was 0.76^ºC during the past 100 years. This rate of increase has been higher during the past two decades and the recent period recorded the warmest years in sequence, the latest being the 2017.

Soils are the basis of food production. Ninety five percent of our food is directly or indirectly produced on our soil. A healthy soil maintain a diverse community of organisms that helps in controlling pests (insects, weeds, and fungus) but also form beneficial symbiotic association with plant roots, recycle essential plant nutrients and improve soil structure. A healthy soil can also be a strategic ally in mitigating and adapting to climate change, as soil sequesters CO₂ and prevent to escape into the atmosphere. Beside this, it contributes to mitigate climate change by maintaining or increasing its carbon content. This can be said that the proportion of organic carbon is available more in the soil than combining both atmosphere and ground vegetation. Most of the soil organic carbon (SOC) stored in the first metre of the soil in the form of organic matter. However, organic matter degrades due to deforestation; deplete soil biodiversity, loss of nutrients as consumed by crop plants, soil compaction due to excessive use of agricultural machineries, soil erosion, water logging conditions, and urbanization, which release greenhouse gases like CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O into the atmosphere causing global warming and climate change. One third of all CO₂ emissions come from changes in land use (deforestation, shifting cultivation, and intensification of agriculture) whereas two-thirds of CH₄ and majority of N₂O emitted through agricultural practices (Kotschi and Müller-Sämann, 2004).

Stratified Sampling (Meaning and Concept)

The word ‘stratify’ comes from the Latin word, meaning ‘to make layers’, thus in stratified sampling the whole population is considered to be classified into some mutually exclusive layers or subgroups or classes also called strata. The strata do not overlap and they constitute the whole population.

Why the population is considered to be divided into different strata (or layers or subgroups or classes)?

INTRODUCTION

The modern cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) is one of the most widely distributed soft fruits of the world due to its genotypic diversity, highly heterozygous nature and broad range of environmental adaptations. It is one of the most delicious and refreshing soft fruit. Its plant is cherished in gardens as well as in commercial fields for its beautiful red fruit that has tantalizing aroma. Being nutritionally rich, strawberry has now become an important table fruit of millions of people around the globe. Its fruit is different from other fruits as their seeds are produced on outside of the fruit. Strawberry is unique fruit crop, which gives quicker and very high return per unit area on the capital investment, as the crop is ready for harvesting within six months of planting.

The strawberry fruits are highly perishable in nature and need quick disposal after harvest thus it has remarkable scope for its cultivation near the towns, cities and processing units where the fruits can be utilized or processed immediately after harvest. Over the last few years, continuous progress has been made in strawberry cultivation due to the use of micropropagation technique for plant propagation, day neutral cultivar, protected cultivation for multiple crops in a year and low tunnels in open field, which are useful for exploiting the tremendous potential of this small fruit crop.

Abstract

Vegetable cultivation has been threatened due to limited availability of arable land and frequent vagaries of environment and incidence of soil borne pests and diseases. Development of stress tolerant or climate smart cultivars through conventional breeding methods or dependence upon agrochemicals for mitigation of pest and disease problems for vegetable crops have been practised since time immemorial. Salinity in coastal belts, high or low temperature injury, bacterial wilt in solanaceous vegetables, Fusarium wilt and nematode infestation in cucurbits are common of the many maladies which have caused tremendous loss in productivity and quality of vegetable crops throughout the globe. 

Q.1.    Define strip plot design ?

    Answer
    
    There is a variant of the split plot design in which both factors A and B will be applied to the larger strips by dividing the experimental field into as many rows as the number of levels of one factor A and into as many columns as the number of levels of second factor B. Then the two factors will be applied at random to the rows and columns. Such a layout is known as strip plot design.

Bioinformatics can be defined as “the collection, archiving, organization and interpretation of biological data” (Orengo et al., 2003). By extension, structural bioinformatics deals with the collection, archiving, organization and interpretation of 3-D structural data of bio macromolecules. Structural bioinformatics emerged with the first crystal structures of haemoglobin and myoglobin. These structures were analyzed and contributed significantly to our understanding of the principles of life at a molecular level. A repository of all publicly accessible protein crystal structures, the Protein Data Bank (PDB) was established by Walter Hamilton et al., at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1971. Until the late 1980s, structural biologists often knew all the available structures of bio macromolecules and much of the analysis, such as structure comparison and hydrogen-bonding analysis was done manually without much computer intervention. As the number of available structures increased, so did the need for software tools for structure analysis. Structural bioinformatics encompasses a wide variety of applications, including structure visualization, validation, classification, structure-based function prediction, identification of targets for structural genomics projects and prediction of the structures of individual bio macromolecules and complexes as well the binding modes of small molecules inside proteins of pharmaceutical or biotechnological interestStructural and theoretical analyses of proteins are central to the understanding of complex molecular mechanisms and are fundamental to the drug discovery process.

Introduction

Zymomonas mobilis, a gram negative, anaerobic, micro aerotolerant, ethanologenic bacterium metabolizes glucose, fructose, and sucrose. One of the major factor that limits the usage of Z. mobilis is the narrow substrate range. Moreover, there are no obvious genes reported for using lactose, maltose or cellobiose. Our preliminary sequence analysis of the Zymomonas mobilis ZM4 genome indicated the presence of a putative beta-galactosidase (bga) gene. However, the mechanism of beta-galactosidase (Bga) function is still unknown. Hence, Bioinformatics analysis was made to predict the physicochemical, biochemical and biophysical properties, domains, secondary and tertiary structures of the putative beta-galactosidase. These studies suggested that the putative beta-galactosidase gene was poorly expressed from its native promoter in Z. mobilis. The absence of beta-galactoside transacetylase and permease genes in Z. mobilis led to its inability to metabolize lactose. Hence, function predictions of Bga are performed because of the fact that it has a homologous partner.

1. Introduction

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a tuberous root crops. It is known as “U mangra” in Manipuri. It is also known as mandioca or tapioca, yucca, mosioc. Cassava belongs to Euphorbiaceae family The cassava plant is of perennial woody shrub in nature. (CGIR 2011; FAO-2015, Zhu 2015). Like paddy and wheat as staple food crops, cassava is also staple food crops for many countries. It supports millions of population especially in South American and African countries. It is also known as food security crop because of its ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions when other food crops cannot sustain and destroy. It can grow in low fertility soil, marginal land with less agricultural maintenance. It resists to pest and diseases so cultivation is easy to carry out with less expenditure. Cassava is abundantly grown in Manipur mostly in hilly areas. To some extent, it is consumed as snacks item either by burnt in fire or charcoal or boiled form with little addition of salt. The fresh young leaves and roots after removing its cover is used as ingredients of “singju” a salad type traditional snack items of Manipur. Out of cassava sweet snack item locally called “manghra heingan” in Manipur is also prepared. For making this sweet item, cassava is boiled with sugarcane molasses until it is cooked and reach certain sugar consistency of molasses. This sweet item is similar with murabba available in Indian market.

1. Introduction

Rasogolla is a sweetened dairy product which is made from milk mainly from casein protein. Generally rasogolla is made by heating the raw milk around 80-850C ,then slowly cool the milk around 650C and acid coagulation of the milk is done. Then separate the channa (mainly casein) and whey, and drained the whey followed by the pressing of the channa to remove the excess water. Then channa is thoroughly kneaded and are rolled to balls and cooked in sugar syrup and get the rasogulla. Total value of 1000 billion for Indian dairy output in 2001, the output of traditional dairy products is estimated at over 400 billion. The share of the organized sector in the indigenous products is at present only 50 billion only (Patil, 2005).

2.1 Manufacturing Process of Sugar

There are a number of steps in producing raw sugar from cane

1. Sugarcane receiving and unloading (receive the cane at the factory and unload it from the transport vehicles)
2. Sugarcane preparation (cutting and shredding cane to prepare it for juice extraction)
3. Extraction of Sugarcane Juice (two technologies are in common use; milling or diffusion)
4. Juice clarification (remove suspended solids from

INTRODUCTION

The planning of new orchard is very important aspect of fruit glowing which needs special attention and care to make it more profitable venture. The climate and soil of particular area are the major chief natural factors in the orchard establishment. The proper combination of this governs the success of fruit growing
 
A. SUITABILTY OF CLIMATE FOR FRUIT PLANTS

Climate refers to an average condition of the atmosphere over a long period, whereas, the term weather refers to the current and temporary atmospheric conditions of an area. Climate is the principal factor for optimum vegetative and reproductive growth of plants. The success or failure of crop in a particular locality depends upon the prevailing climatic conditions. In our environment it is fundamental force which includes various components of climate like temperature, humidity, wind, light, rainfall, hail and frost. These factors should be taken care of for successful fruit production. All cultivated crops including fruit crops have certain natural threshold limits of the climatic parameters for their normal growth. The important climatic components which affect fruit crop production are given below:

1    Ideal surgical pack

2    Nerve blocks

3    Commonly used pre-anaesthetics and anaesthetics

1.    What is Surimi?
    
2.    Fisheries Resources for Surimi Production

    
3.    Historical Perspective of the Surimi Industry
    
4.    Present World Scenario of Surimi Industry

5.    Surimi Industry in India
    
6.    Processing Technology for Surimi from Light Muscle Fish 
    6.1     Types of fish used for surimi
    6.2     Heading, gutting, and deboning
    6.3     Mincing
    6.4     Washing and dewatering
    6.5     Stabilizing surimi with cryoprotectants
    6.6      Rapid freezing and packaging
    
7.    Surimi Processing from Dark Muscle Fish
    
8.    Quality Evaluation of Surimi
    
9.    Microbial Quality of Surimi
    
10.    Surimi based Products
    10.1     Fish cakes
    10.2     Fish balls
    10.3     Crab analogs (Crab leg meat analog)
    
11.    Scallop Analogs
    
12.    Moulded Products
    
13.    Important Considerations in Surimi and Surimi based Products
    13.1    Gelation
    
14.    Functional Properties of Surimi

15.    Cryoprotectants in Surimi
    15.1    Mechanism of action of cryoprotectants
    
16.    Future Development in Fish Protein Stabilization
    
References

Introduction

Sustainable agriculture is the production of food, fiber, or other plant or animal products using farming techniques (including agroforestry) that protect the environment, public health, human communities, and animal welfare. This form of agriculture enables us to produce healthy food without compromising future generations ability to do the same. Sustainable agriculture describes farming systems that are capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely. Such systems must be resource-conserving, socially supportive, commercially competitive and environmentally sound. It is a system of agriculture that will maintain its productivity over the long run. Sustainable farming could be organic farming, biodynamic, perma-culture, agro-ecological systems and low input. The goal of sustainable agriculture is to minimize adverse impacts to the immediate and off-farm environments while providing a sustained level of production and profit. Sustainable agriculture is influenced by environmental climate, soil types and the various crops and types of farm practices employed (Olorunfemi, 2013).

Introduction

India is gifted with varied agro-climatic conditions for growing an array of vegetable crops to combat the present ill-balanced diet. The brinjal belongs to the family Solanaceous and to the genus Solanum, species melongena. The egg plant, Guinea squash are some synonyms to brinjal. It is a hardy crop and does best in worm and moist climate. The crop is generally grown twice or thrice in a year. The edible part, fruit is of high nutritive value and can well be compared with tomatoes. Insect pest constitute the major limiting factors in the successful production of brinjal. Pest comples of brinjal is very high and aphid (Aphis gossypii) causes heavy damage to the crop. Aphis gossypii (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a tiny insect or greenfly in the superfamily Aphidoidea in the order Hemiptera. It is a true bug and sucks sap from plants. It is a widely distributed pest of a variety of agricultural crops in the families Cucurbitaceae, Rutaceae and Malvaceae.

Introduction

The vast majority of climate change impacts and the overall impact of climate change on rice production are likely to be negative. Overwhelming scientific research and evidence have shown that the climate is ongoing. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) report Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation forecasts there will be an increase in the net price of rice between 32 and 37% as a result of climate change by 2050. They also show that yield losses in rice could be between 10 and 15%. While there is still ongoing scientific exploration into climate change, IRRI recognizes two universal trends predicted by all climate change models viz., temperatures will increase, resulting in more heat stress and rising sea levels and there will be more frequent and severe climate extremes.

Abstract 

The on-farm programme on SRI was carried out in the village Narayanpur under RLI command area in Karimpur II Block of Nadia district in the year 2016 during summer season. The soil of farmland is clay loam and situated having latitude of 23°54’26.5"Nlongitude 88°30’24.1"Eat an average elevation of 9.75 m above the mean sea level. Monsoon ceases during October and cool season sets in by November. The average rainfall of this region is about 1500 mm and normal monsoon breaks in the first week of June. Though water resources in this area are generally satisfactory and 90% of these resources are tapped form the ground water source through deep and shallow tube wells. However, due to faulty crop planning and lack of scientific water management approach, a significant portion of agricultural area is identified as gray zone from hydrological point of view. Even many tube wells are becoming dry due to over exploitation of valuable water from the lower depths of confined aquifers. Rice is predominant crop during kharif season becoming less profitable because of high input costs involved. Summer rice gave satisfactory yield but also profitable proposition because of more input cost and less farm gate prices.  

Systematic Sampling (Meaning and Concept)

In this chapter, we are going to discuss the systematic random sampling technique. This is a random / probability / quantitative sampling method. In our previous chapter, we discussed the stratified random sampling technique. We have said that this technique is used when the population is heterogeneous and needs to be stratified into homogeneous groups. We have also discussed steps to be followed when using stratified random sampling as well as the strengths and limitations of stratified random sampling. Systematic sampling is a commonly employed technique if a complete and up-to-date list of the sampling units is available. The procedure involves choosing the very first object arbitrarily and the remaining members of the sample will be selected naturally according to any pre-decided sequence containing regular spacing of units. In this method, units of the population are numerically, geographically, and alphabetically arranged either in ascending or descending order (generally ascending order is preferred). When the ordering of the elements is related to the characteristic of interest,

Introduction
The major non-mulberry silkworms include the following

1.    Tasar silkworm Tasar silkworm is wild. Larva of tasar silkworm spins a ring like structure around the twig and a long peduncle before constructing the cocoon. Cocoons are large, thick and pedunculate. Cocoons are referred as ‘Hens’s eggs’. They are made of a single unbroken filament and hence are reelable. Tasar silkworm is bi/ tri/ tetra/ pentavoltine. This silk is brown colored silk. Monia or Mauni vessel, a palm leaved vessel is used to rear tasar silkworm in olden days.

a)    Indian Tropical Tasar, Antheraea mylitta (Saturniidae: Lepidoptera) This silkworm commonly found in tropical India. It is polyphagous and feeds on a number of food plants. Its principal host plants are asan (Terminalia tomentosa), arjun (T.arjuna) and Sal (Shorea robusta). Secondarily it feeds on Ber (Zizyphus sp.) The cocoons are grey white, tough and pedunculate.

r DNA Biotechnology
    
Concept of r DNA
    
DNA Preparation from Tissue
    
Reagents
    
Preparation
    
DNA Buffer (Tris-EDTA)
    
RNase A (20 mg/ml)
    
Toe DNA Preparation for Southern Blots
    
Southern Blot
    
PCR
    
Polymerase Chain Reaction
    
The Cycling Reactions
    
Denaturation at 94°C
    
Annealing at 54°C
    
Extension at 72°C
    
DNA Sequencing
    
The Sequencing Reaction
    
Denaturation at 94°C
    
Annealing at 50°C
    
Extension at 60°C
    
Separation of the Molecules
    
Detection on An Automated Sequencer
    
Assembling of The Sequenced Parts of a Gene
    
Freezing of Buffalo Semen (Jindal, 1995)
    
Tissue Culture
    
Preparation of Media
    
Laboratory Procedure for IVF (Kharche et al., 2008)
    
Source of Oocytes
    
Preparation of Estrous Goat Serum
    
Collection of Oocytes
    
Laparoscopic Ovum Pick-up
    
Oocyte Retrieval from Ovaries Collected form Slaughter 
    
House
    
Slicing Technique
    
Follicle Puncture Technique
    
Follicle Aspiration Technique
    
Follicle Isolation Technique
    
Evaluation of Oocytes
    
In vitro Maturation of Oocytes
    
Preparation of Cells for Co-culture
    
Assessment of Nuclear Maturation After in vitro Maturation of Oocytes
    
Analysis of Nuclear Status is Ascribed to One of the Following
    
Sperm Preparation for in vitro Fertilization of Oocytes
    
In vitro Fertilization of Oocytes
    
Assessment of in vitro Fertilization of Oocytes
    
Assessment of Cleavage
    
In vitro embryo culture

7.1 Gel Electrophoresis
    
7.2 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
    
7.3 Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs)
    
7.4 Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)
    
7.5 Amplified Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP)

Abstract

Being a great nutrient rich fruit, Dragon fruit has fetched a worldwide attention already and started to emerge as an important cash crop in global market. But the fine tuning between the scheduling of supply and market demand is greatly influenced by postharvest management and storage techniques of the fruit as the fruit has a short storage life. In this review, effect of diversified storage and packaging techniques on the different post harvest quality of fruits viz. fruit firmness, skin colour, its nutritional quality and susceptibility to disease pest during storage is investigated. And it was seen that various alternative and innovative modern techniques such as introduction of  plastic film, plastic crate packaging, modified atmospheric storage, different chemical application and application of edible chitosan coating are proven as effective to extent the durability of storage that widen the room for transport and marketing. Finally it can be said that the advantage of growth in dragon fruit consumption and marketing can be more harnessed through understanding the missing links between harvest and post-harvest handlings and integrating the traditional and modern postharvest approaches.

1.    Introduction
    
2.     Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
    
3.     Technologies for Responsible Fishing
    3.1     Technology for bycatch reduction in trawl fisheries
    3.2     Technology for by catch reduction in purse seine fisheries
    3.3     Technology for by catch reduction in gillnet fisheries
    3.4     Technology for by catch reduction in hook and line fisheries
    3.5     Technology for by catch reduction in trap fisheries
    
4.     Environment-Friendly Fishing Gears
    4.1     Reducing bottom impact of towed gears
    4.2     Semi-pelagic trawl system
    4.3     Benthic release panels
    4.4     Remote controlled otter boards (smart trawling)
    4.5     Ground gear modifications
    4.6     Otter boards bridles and sweeps
    
5.     Energy Conservation in Fishing
    5.1     Fishing gear and methods
    5.2     Vessel technology
    5.3    Engines
    5.4    Reduction gear, propeller and nozzle
    5.5     Sail-assisted propulsion
    5.6     Adoption of advanced technology
    5.7    Conservation, management and enhancement of fishery resources
    
6.     Conclusion
    
References