eChapters

Introduction

Bamboos are group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Bamboos are the fastest growing woody plants (up to 60 centimeter/day) in the world. Bamboo cultivation, especially in intensively managed and productive plantation has attracted a great interest in recent years leading to huge demand of good quality planting material. The easiest and most common method for propagation is seeds. However, in bamboo due to a long flowering cycles, seeds are not available every year and being a cross-pollinating species seedling population show much variability in characters. Species like Bambusa vulgaris and Bambusa balcooa flowers rarely and do not produce seeds making propagation absolutely dependent on vegetative means. Vegetative propagation offers a tremendous scope for mass multiplication of many commercially important species. Bamboos are vegetatively propagated through clump divisions, rhizomes, offsets, layering, marcotting, culm cutting, branch cutting, macroproliferation and through in vitro techniques. Propagation through clump divisions, rhizomes and offsets yield limited number of plants. Layering and marcotting techniques are not fit for commercial production. In vitro methods offer great scope for mass multiplication, but require high initial cost and skilled manpower and thus are not viable for decentralized forest nurseries.

1.1    General Introduction, History, Ownership of Tangible and Intellectual Property
    
1.2    Patentable Subject Matter
    
1.3    Basic Requirements of Patentability
    
1.4    Novelty, Public Domain, Obviousness and Non Obviousness
    
1.5    Inventive Step (Non-Obviousness) and Industrial Application

1. Introduction
The era of genome sequencing was exploded by the upcoming of Human Genome Project (1989), coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health to identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes, 3 billion chemical base pairs, store this information in databases, improve the tools for data analysis, transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. The dawn of genome sequencing began with Fredric Sanger’s sequencing almost twenty-five years ago. The time consuming and labor intensive gel preparation and their running, as well as the cost of such experiments replaced the conventional sequencing by “shotgun” sequencing.

Abstract

DNA barcoding, an additional global standard taxonomic tool for identifying plant species helps the non-taxonomists also to identify the plant species in a more reliable way with the help of devices including nanotechnology. Researchers proposed various genes or gene portions as potential barcodes either singly or in combination, yet there is no standard/ universal barcode DNA region for plants. The more accurate plant DNA barcode region would have to be from highly variable markers in the nuclear genome preferably from multiple loci and in combination with variable DNA regions of chloroplast genome, to resolve the problems that arise due to hybridization, allopolyploidization and introgression. Nonetheless, the phylogenetically informative sites might not be the potential DNA barcode regions as the former requires synapomorphies unlike autapomorphies with high levels of informative characters in the latter DNA taxonomy, but could provide insights into genetic distances between species.

Abstract
This chapter describes how modern quantum mechanical methods can be applied in a systematic manner to understand pharmacophore and mechanistic aspects of drugs. This chapter also explains why accurate computation of drug-receptor interactions is important for in silico drug designing and testing.

WHY in silico DESIGNING?
Drug designing is the inventive art of finding a new lead compound based on knowledge of its biological target and then its slow conversion to a compound of therapeutic benefit to patient termed as “drug”. This whole process comprises of long sequels of synthesizing compounds followed by their testing and activity evaluation procedures; often a seemingly endless task until desired potency level is achieved.

Introduction 
Plant disease has been highly impacted by the development of new technology. The degree of the impact depends on how much the technology affects the component steps of the system. Many of the steps in plant disease diagnosis and management depend heavily on accurate and timely information and so can greatly benefit from the development of improved methods of accessing and disseminating information. Computers provide a wide range of tools which are extensively used in plant disease diagnosis and management. In fact, they will be a key to improve farm practices in the coming decades as it is scientifically pertinent to organize farm information in spatial databases because agricultural systems are inherently spatial. Biological and physical aspects of agricultural system create spatial heterogeneity, and as a result, patchiness is the rule in the occurrence and distribution of plant pathogens and disease (Campbell and Madden, 1990). In the area of plant diseases computers are useful

Introduction
Science and its development have had a great impact on the biological research. The main problem arises to understand and interpret the data which are the results of the higher dimensional research in the above mentioned field, and it is extremely difficult some times to give answers for complex and tedious biological questions generated through the large datasets. Parallel developments of statistical methods provide relaxation over these issues. The statistical method by bioinformatics presents many new and logical problems for researchers, scientists, and scholars related to these communities. Thus the knowledge of statistical concepts and techniques are prime important in this chain. The effort is made to cover stochastic theory, finite Markov chains in learning models to diffusion processes in population genetics, advanced statistical methods with Hidden Markov model and provide some literature on Bayesian computation like MCMC and their resources. Fortunately the applied aspect of probability theory and theory of stochastic processes seem to have been extensively used in the research and development level of biological field but the lacking of required material is a very problematic aspect in the system with proper and systematic ways.

Origin and history: Apple is a “King of temperate fruits” and it’s belonging to family roasaceae. Plants are deciduous in nature. The apple fruits are well known for its sweet, pomaceous fruits. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe, and were brought to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek and European Christian traditions. Apple is the premier table fruit of the world. It is typical temperate fruit tree, about 40 percent of the world’s supply being produced in China. Major apple growing countries are U.S.A, Italy, west Garmany, France, Japan and China. In India a large number of apple variety were introduce in 1887 by Mr. Alexander Coutts in his orchard called hillock head in Mashobra near Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. It was also introduce in Bangalore and Nilgiri hills (Tamil Nnadu). But it was destroy by woolly aphid in 1897. In India apple is commercially cultivated in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Arunanchal Pradesh.

1.    Marketing Scenario of Fruits and Vegetables
    
2.    Marketing Systems of Fruits and Vegetables
    
3.    Vertical Coordination in Food Chain
    
4.    Supply Chain Management
    
5.    Post Harvest Management
        
References

Livestock diet or ration may be made up of one or several ingredients depending on the species of animal, their physiological state, source of feed and its nutritional composition, nutritional requirements of the animals and voluntary intake of the feed. Chemical and nutrient composition with each ingredient varies tremendously and no single feed ingredient is complete in its nutrient composition with respect to animal’s requirement.  Therefore, animal feed has to be balanced properly to supply required nutrients in appropriate quantity.  Feed formulation is an art of quantitative application of science of nutrition for the optimum supply of all the essential nutrients through actual feeding of animals. This exercise may be as simple as mixing of few ingredients with simple mathematical calculation or preparation of least cost balanced ration by computer programme.  Since the expenditure on feeding is substantial in livestock production, feed formulation needs special attention of nutritionists or feed technologists. The instruments and equipments used for feed formulation and estimation of micro minerals and ingredients like Feed grinder and mixer of capacity 75 kg, Fibertech for fiber estimation, Hammer mill-particle size reduction, Mixer and grinder for feed and fodder (complete feed preparation) of capacity 250 kg, Roughage processing-Chaff cutter, Soxhtech for fat estimation, UV-vis-Spectrophotometer and Voltameter for micro mineral estimation are shown in Fig. 3.1 to 3.8.

Analysis of Variance
    
Completely Randomised Design (C.R.D.)
    
Randomised Block Design (R. B. D.)
    
Latin Square Design

Q.1.    Under what situation, the exact sample tests are required to be used and who discovered it first time ?

INTRODUCTION

Water is one of the most important inputs essential for tree growth, development and fruit production. Fruit trees need it continuously during their life in optimum quantities. It profoundly influences photosynthesis, respiration, absorption, translocation and utilization of mineral nutrients, and cell division besides some other processes. Both its shortage and excess affect the growth and development of a plant directly and, consequently, its yield and quality. In India, however, rainfall is notoriously capricious, causing floods and droughts alternately. Its frequency distribution and amount are not in accordance with the needs of the particular fruit crops. Artificial water supplies through irrigation on one occasion, and the removal of excess water through drainage on another occasion, therefore, become imperative, if the fruit crops are to be raised successfully. Water management in India, thus, comprises irrigation or drainage or both, depending considerably on the environmental conditions, soil, crops and climate. Applying the proper amount of water at the right time is important for reducing costs and maximizing profits. It is essential, therefore, that there be a scientifically sound method for determining when to irrigate and how much water to apply for optimum crop response and efficient use of resources.

INTRODUCTION

Plant tissue culture is basically in vitro culturing of any type of explants such as leaf, root, bud and stem or even single cell except the seed or embryo on a suitable culture medium under controlled environmental conditions. Plant tissue culture employs the totipotency of plant cells to produce whole plant. The term totipotency was coined by German plant physiologist, Haberlandt (1902) who is known as father of tissue culture techniques.

Definition of Micropropagation

Micropropagation is one of the best and most successful examples of commercial application of tissue culture techniques. The concept of micropropagation was first presented to the scientific community in 1960 by Morel, who produced the virus-free cymbidium through meristem culture. It entails in vitro propagation of plants starting with very small plant parts (0.2-10mm) grown aseptically, followed by their establishment in soil under green house conditions. It is the art and science of plant multiplication in vitro. This technique has been standardized and commercialized for various fruits and vegetable crops.

Grading is defined as sorting of fruits into different grades according to the size, shape, colour, and volume to fetch high price in market. Grading of fruits after harvesting is an essential step in post-harvest management. Grading of fruits is done on the basis of physical characteristics like weight, size, colour, shape, specific gravity and freedom from diseases. The known methods of grading of fruits and vegetables are manual grading and size grading. Sizing produce is usually a part of grading and is optional for direct marketers, but may be worthwhile if certain size grades receive a higher price than others. Round produce units can be easily graded by sizing rings. Several types of mechanical sizers are available for small-scale operations. Sorting by maturity can maximize the market value of crops such as stone fruits and mangoes .The grades of different fruits suggested by Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) are given in Table 1.

INTRODUCTION

The avocado (Persea americana Mill) is the highly nutritive fruit. Its common names are alligator pear or butter fruit in English; Aguacate, Palta in Spanish and Avokado in Afrikaans. It is an evergreen sub-tropical fruit. 

NUTRITIVE AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Avocado is the most nutritive among fruits. The pulp is rich in proteins and fat, but low in carbohydrates. Avocados have the highest energy value of 245 cal/100 g and reservoir of several vitamins and minerals. Avocado is rich in copper and iron, potassium and is associated with lower blood pressure as it is high in monounsaturated fat. It contains all amino acids. Another benefit is avocados shown to maintain good cholesterol while reducing bad cholesterol and triglyceride level.. Avocado is considered healthy for heart ,good for digestion and vision. It is a natural detoxification fruit and may help in preventing osteoporosis
Avocado is mainly used fresh, in sandwich filling or in salads. It can also be used in ice creams and milk shakes and the pulp may be preserved by freezing. The fat in avocado is similar to olive oil in composition and is widely used in the preparation of cosmetics.

Biotechnology Products and Technologies
    
Bottlenecks in Fast Progress of Animal Biotechnology
    
Why Biotechnology should be Used in Animal Husbandry and Dairy Production
    
Contribution of Livestock Sector to Food Basket
    
Biotechnology and Environment
    
Biotechnology of Nutrient Partitioning
    
Genetic Programming for Better Animals
    
Biotechnology of Reproduction
    
Biotechnology of Animal Health

Environmental Biotechnology
    
Global Warming and Animal Health and Production
    
Genome Mapping
    
Human Genome
    
Livestock Genomics
    
Cattle Genome
    
Pig Genome
    
Bioinformatics
    
Major Branches of Bioinformatics Include
    
List of Bioinformatics Software Commonly Used in Animal Genomics Research
    
Sequence Analysis Software
    
Genetics Analysis Software
    
Functional Genomics Software
    
Biofuels
    
Advantages of Bioethanol
    
Ecological
    
Economical
    
Looking to the Future: The Potential of Second-Generation Biofuels
    
Future Role of Biofuels Depends on Profitability and New Technologies

Bioinformatics can be defined as the application of computer technology for the management and analysis of biological data using computer to gather, store, analyze and merge the biological data. It consists of the organization of many kinds of large-scale biological data, particularly that based on DNA and protein sequence, into web-accessible databases and the methods required analyzing these data. Bioinformatics is a fast growing field within the biological sciences that was developed because of the need to handle large amounts of genetic and biochemical data. The goal of bioinformatics is to uncover the wealth of biological information hidden in the mass of data and to obtain a clearer insight into the fundamental biology of organism. This knowledge can have profound impact on various fields such as human health, agriculture, environment, energy and biotechnology. Bioinformatics involves use of various biological databases, which are archives of consistent data that are stored in a uniform and efficient manner. Biological databases are large collections of data that are relatively different to maintain outside the centers and institutions that produce them. These data are traditionally accessed and analysed using browser-based World Wide Web (www) interfaces. There are two types of databases i.e. Primary database and Secondary database. Primary databases contain information and annotations of DNA and Protein sequences, DNA and Protein structure and DNA and Protein expression profiles catalogued for the end users.

ABSTRACT

Gene expression profiling holds tremendous promise for dissecting the regulatory mechanisms and transcriptional networks that underlie biological processes. Microarray expression analysis has become one of the most widely used functional genomics tools. Typical approaches to gene identification and functional characterization have and continue to involve protein characterization, peptide sequence determination, and identification of the corresponding DNA sequence. More recently, expressed sequence tags (ESTs), microarrays, large-scale gene expression (transcriptome) profiling, and associated informatics technologies are rapidly becoming commonplace in the sciences. These ‘genomic’ approaches typically take advantage of technologies for characterizing large numbers of nucleic acid sequences, bioinformatics, and the expanding collection of nucleic acid sequence data.

1.     Animal Biotechnology Laboratory
    
2.    Growing Cells with Serum-Basal Medium Eagle (BME), MEM
    
3.     Media Preparation and Sterilization
    
4.     Contaminations in Animal Tissue Culture

Introduction

Livestock sector plays an important role in the rural economy at national level and this sector is emerging as a driving force in agriculture by contributing towards the income and employment of rural households. Livestock contributed 16% to the income of small farm households that indicates importance of livestock sector as a whole. In 2010-11, livestock generated outputs worth Rs 2075 billion (at 2004-05 prices). Agriculture sector grew at low rate of 4.7% during 2013-14 and contributed 13.9% to National GDP (Economic Survey 2013-14). The livestock sector contributed over 4.1 per cent of the total GDP in 2012-13, that nearly accounts for 29.5% of the agricultural GDP (Economic Survey 2013-14) indicating a significant contribution of the livestock. Sheep and goats are an important livestock species for a large number of rural poor, especially socially backward, marginal and landless labourers in India. Sheep are mostly reared for wool and meat purpose. India ranks third in sheep population and account for nearly 6% of world sheep population, currently India has 65.06 million sheep as per Livestock census 2012.

Introduction

Two types of interactions, i.e. competitive and complementary, are found in ecosystems and agroecosystems (Callaway 1998), which shape community structure, plant diversity and system’s functions (Callaway 1995; Pugnaire et al. 1996; Bruno et al. 2003). Competitive interaction in ecosystems (Wedin and Tilman 1993) and agro-ecosystems (Pandey et al. 1999) is well documented. Mechanism of complementary interaction, however, is not much understood so far. Some studies (Bertness and Callaway 1994; Callaway 1998) argue that complementary interaction is facilitative, either facultative or obligatory, and occur generally in harsh physical environments. This suggests that habitat amelioration by neighbours is a common denominator of positive interactions (Bertness and Callaway 1994; Callaway and Walker 1997). Other studies report that complementary interaction is mutualistic (Boucher et al. 1982). Irrespective of whether facultative or mutualistic, it is now well established that complementary interaction is evolutionary (Bertness and Callaway 1994). But, it is still inconclusive how two species exist together in ecosystems and agroecosystems (Bertness and Callaway 1994).

Introduction

Rain fed agroecosystem occupies 68% of India’s cultivated area and supports 40% of the human beings and 65% of the livestock population. It produces 44% of food requirements, thus has and will continue to play a critical role in India’s agriculture (Singh et al. 2004). Besides their well established role in agriculture, livestock have crucial role in food security and as risk aversion mechanism for sustaining family, whenever there is crop failure. Indian hot arid zone which is about 12% of total geographical area of the landmass of 0.32 million km2 has maximum covering in western Rajasthan i.e. 61% of the total area whereas the other areas in arid region are available in the states of Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka accounting for 20, 5, 4, 7 and 3% of hot arid area whereas the cold arid area of 8.4 million ha lies in the state of Jammu & Kashmir covering the Leh and Ladakh region.

Introduction

Trees play an important role in ecosystem in all terrestrials and provide a range of products and services to rural and urban people (Gogoi 2015). As natural vegetation is cut for agriculture and other types of development, the benefits that trees provide are best sustained by integrating trees into agricultural system - a practice known as agroforestry. Agroforestry focuses on the wide range of trees grown on farms and other rural areas. Among these are fertilizer trees for land regeneration, soil health and food security; fruit trees for nutrition; fodder trees for livestock; timber and energy trees for shelter and fuel wood; medicinal trees to cure diseases and trees for minor products viz. gums, resins or latex products. Many of these trees are multipurpose, providing a range of benefits. Although effective and valuable tools have been introduced to evaluate the risk to construction in areas prone to geo-hydrological hazards, fewer steps have been made in the field of ordinary land use planning at different scales. 

Introduction

Forest cover of India has been estimated to be 7,01,673 km2 (70.17 million ha) which is 21.34 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. The tree cover of the country is estimated to be 92,572 km2 which is 2.82 per cent of geographical area. The total forest and tree cover is 7,94,245 km2 which is 24.16 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. Out of this, 9.14per cent forest cover is in the form of open forests and another 1.26 per cent is scrub forests (FSI 2015). According to National Forest Policy 1988, one-third (33.33%) of the land area should be under the forest cover for sound ecological balance. It means that we have to bring another 11.66 % area under forest cover and at the same time improve quality of the degraded forests. However the horizontal expansion of land under tree cover is not possible. In order to increase the tree cover and fulfill the requirements of the people and industries,

Climate Change has emerged as one of the most serious environmental concerns of recent times. The most imminent climatic change is increase in atmospheric temperature due to increased levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and hydrochlorofluoro carbons (HCFCs). Because of increasing concentrations of the greenhouse gases in atmosphere, there is much concern about future changes in the climate system viz., Atmosphere, Lithosphere, Biosphere, Hydrosphere and Cryosphere. Direct or indirect effects on the society linked sectors like water, forestry, agriculture, animal agriculture, fisheries, land and marine biodiversity and health due to climate change/variability are many-fold and economic impact of climate change is enormous. The recurrent drought and desertification threaten seriously the livelihood of over 1.2 billion people who depend on land for most of their needs.

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change  has confirmed that change in climate system is gradually leaving a strong impact. Observations undoubtedly show that there is increasein global temperatures, wide spread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level. Global climate has shown warming of 0.89 [0.69 to 1.08] °C over the period 1901–2012 which is mainly attributed to anthropogenic activities. Scientific findings indicate that warming is more pronounced than expected and the impact would be particularly severe in the tropical areas, which mainly consist of developing countries, including India (Shukla, 2016). Thus, climate change is a great challenge which is continuously being faced by the sustainable economic growth of the India. Climate sensitive sectors like agriculture, forestry, hydrology oriented sectors faces major threat due to projected changes in climate. India Meteorological Department (IMD) in 2012 reportedincreasing temperature trends during last 112 years and increase in heavy rainfall events and decrease in low and medium rainfall events over India.

Introduction

India is a vast country with varied agro-climatic condition favor the growth of wild variety of natural and cultivated flora. The extensive area of forest and millions of acres of cultivated land sustains a large proportion of insects and honey bees (Thakar 1976). The honey bees are social creatures and taught us how we should live and cooperate with each other in the society. People have a high regard for honeybees for their carefulness, unity, sacrifice, tolerance, cooperation, coordination, division of labour, social service and usefulness. They live in large colonies, each consisting of a queen (mother of the colony), a few hundred of drones (males) and several thousand sterile female workers.  Workers, as their name implies, do most of the work ‘work’ around the hive. India has been known as ‘land of honey’. Since centuries, honey is used to tree a diversity of illness through a wide range of applications. Honey has a long history of human consumption, and most commonly consumed in its unprocessed state (i.e. liquid, crystallized or in the comb) in our country. It is taken as medicine, eaten as food, or incorporated as an additive in a variety of food and beverages.

Introduction

All living organisms are subject to infestation or attack by their natural enemies and honeybees of the genus Apis are no exception. Through their long history of evolution by natural selection, they have achieved a high level of eusociality; many thousands of individual bees living together in a tightly knit social organization. Since individual bees have more than frequent content among themselves, and trophallaxis is one of the most important aspects of the bee’s social behaviour in that it allows hormones and pheromones to be widely distributed throughout the colony whenever pathogenic organism is present in the colony it will be spread with great ease. Honeybee diseases create serious problems, which must be met not only by the bee-keeper but also by the bees themselves.

Introduction

In many developing countries including India, agricultural sector is of vital importance to the economy and welfare of the inhabitants. Agriculture contributes to 14% of the Indian GDP and supports the livelihood of two-thirds of the population. Despite tremendous technological developments, vagaries of weather continue to plague the agriculture production. Any shortfall in agricultural production will have its cascading effect on the economy of the country. In recent times, climate change and variability are confounding the troubles already faced by Indian agriculture and the farming community. Loss in crop production and farm income due to unexpected weather hazards is beyond the carrying capacity of resource poor farmers of the country. With the growing commercialization of agriculture, the magnitude of crop loss due to unfavourable weather hazards is increasing leading to suicides of farmers. The State and National governments on their part are coming to rescue of farming community by implementing various relief measures like reduction or suspension of land revenue taxes, loan waiving, relief from calamity relief fund etc. Though these measures are helpful, farmers cannot expect them as a right and they put lot of burden on the country’s exchequer.

Introduction
 
Food production systems in India are becoming increasingly vulner-able to climate variability and change which are largely characterized by altered frequency timing and magnitude of precipitation and temperature that trigger a series of other devastating events. High rates of snow and glacial melting, frequent floods and droughts, heat waves, hail and increased incidence of pests and diseases are already causing widespread damage and losses to agricultural sector in tropical and sub-tropical countries including India. Overwhelming direct damage to crops and livestock within few minutes can be caused by extreme weather events such as hail, wind­storm, or heavy frost. While occurrence, losses and post disaster management have been discussed extensively for natural calamities such as excess rainfall, drought and flood, little attention has been given to hail storm.

Introduction

The current population of our country is about 1.27 billion and the world population is predicted to grow from 6.9 billion in 2010 to 8.3 billion in 2030 and to 9.1 billion in 2050. By 2030, food demand is predicted to increase by 50% (70% by 2050). The main challenge facing the agricultural sector is not so much growing 70% more food in 40 years, but making 70% more food available on the plate (UNDESA, 2014). This rising food demand automatically put burden on the shoulder of formers especially for ASEAN countries such as India where population growth rate is high while resources are limited. India has about 141 million hectares area under cultivation out of its geographical area which 329 million hectares (Raghuwanshi, 2012; Parikh and James, 2012). Consequently, agriculture is, thus, one of the most important factors contributing to the economic growth of India (Kniivila, 2007). The production of the agricultural produce should be up to the mark to maintain this contribution. In order to enhance the crop production, fertilizers are needed because they supply the nutrients to the soil. By adding fertilizers, crop yields can often be doubled or even tripled.

Introduction

In livestock production system, it is traditional to feed cereals, cakes and meals in the ration. With increase in human population and urbanization the area under fodder or cereal production cannot be increased. There is a huge gap between demand and supply of all kinds of feeds and fodders. Also, rise in global temperature is threatening food and fodder security as a whole. Climate change affects natural resources (such as water sources, land and pastures), biodiversity and livestock health. This has a direct effect on livestock production and livestock systems and as such it is not desirable for the livelihood of the people especially those residing in hilly region. The situation is acute in developing countries where annual feed deficits and increasing animal populations are major problems.

Global warming is the biggest long term threat to life on earth. Rise in temperature may drive thousands of species to extinction, trigger more frequent floods and droughts and sink low lying islands and coastal areas by rising sea levels. It is the result of rising atmospheric content of CO₂ mainly owing to burning of hydrocarbons or fossil fuels like as petrol and diesel. Destruction of forests and their degradation too contribute to rise in carbon dioxide levels. The IPCC (2006) projected the rate of warming for the 21st century to be between 0.8 and 4.4^ºC at various stabilized CO₂ levels in atmosphere and it is most likely to be 3°C by the end of this century. It could cost global economy almost $7 trillion by 2050, is equivalent to a 20% fall in growth if no action is taken on greenhouse gas emissions. If action is taken, it will cost only $350 billion due to climate change already taken place, just 1% of the global GDP. The winter 2007 was the warmest and recorded 0.85^ºC above average of 12oC and the previous highest was 0.71^ºC, which occurred in 2002 in Northern Hemisphere. The entire Europe Union recorded the warm winter, having more than 2^ºC above average. New York experienced the highest temperature of 21.7^ºC on a day in January, 2007 and the second highest was recorded as 17.2^ºC in 1950. The year 2007 was the warmest winter in the NHS. However, floods and excess rains were also noticed due to hurricanes and tropical storms worldwide in 2007. The year 2010 was the warmest year in India, followed by 2009. It was the second warmest year globally after 1998. It was also one of the wettest years globally in recent years and it was a landmark in annals of climatology.

Yak (Poephagus grunniens)is the most remarkable and multipurpose domestic animal living at high altitudes of the Himalayas. Features common to the environment in which yak live are extreme cold, mountainous terrain, high altitudes with reduced oxygen in the air, high solar radiation and short growing seasons for herbageanda variable assortment of herbage, sparse insome areas. Generally, the yak habitat ranges from 3000-6000 m abovemean sea level (msl), where the alpine pastures are found and there is no absolutely frost-free period during any part of the year. Wilted herbage provides some sustenance for the yak at other times of year, but not insufficient quantity for their requirements (Fig. 9.1). Many of thecharacteristics of the yak can be regarded as adaptations to these conditions, in which cattle of other species have difficulty in surviving (Wiener et al., 2003).The yaks are considered as the life line of the highlanders in remote terrain because yak is the only sustainable livelihood due to non-availability of arable land for major agriculture. Yak husbandry is one of the important and indispensable aspects of the Indianstates, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Garhwal hills of Uttarakhand where other livestock species can hardly live but yaks can survive, reproduce and produce milk, meat, wool and other by-products.

Wheat (T. aestivum) is a staple food of the vast majority of the human population in most part of the world; Europe, West Asia, South East Asia, Americas and North Africa. It provides more nourishment than any other food crop and leads all other food crops-rice, maize and potato on a global basis. The wide varieties of food products prepared from it make the crop popular and also a reason for its expansion even to non-traditional wheat cultivated areas. As a leading cereal crop, it is cultivated widely under varied agro-ecological regions and cropping systems throughout the world. It is one of the first plants domesticated and cultivated by humans, which played a critical role in the transition from hunter–gatherer groups to stabilized societies with an agrarian foundation. Wheat is harvested every month of the year somewhere in the world, from as far south as Argentina and as far north as Finland, and it is grown over a substantial area in almost every country of North and South America, Europe, and Asia (Fig. 32.1). Even though, the normal planting period of wheat falls in the same month across different countries, the harvesting period is different (Fig. 32.2).

Introduction

Agriculture is one of the promising sectors which offers marvelous potential for sustainable growth and play a key role in the economy of the country. Many of the foods that are already common in our diet are obtained from plant varieties that were developed using conventional genetic techniques of breeding and selection. Increase in the world population and limited food supply strained researchers to introduce and advance agriculture management and modern technologies along with conventional practices to attain highest possible crop productivity. Agricultural technology is based on the domestication of wild plants to create the crops that we have come to depend upon. Humans invented agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago when they began to harvest and cultivate specific plants to produce food. The improved plant traits selected by early agriculturalists were transmitted genetically to succeeding generations of plants. Both public institutions and private companies are now involved in crop genetic improvement.

Abstract

Brassica vegetables belonging to family Brassicaceae are one of the most important groups of cool season vegetables. Initially, these crops were confined to Europe and other temperate regions. But, after the Second World War, their cultivation has spread to tropics and sub tropics as well. All the members of this group have originated primarily from the common ancestor wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. oleracea) and are fully cross-compatible with each other. In general, these are highly cross pollinated crops and have shown preponderance of non-additive gene action for most of the economic traits thereby suggesting the relevance of heterosis breeding. In the absence of appropriate genetic mechanism for the production of hybrid seed with ease at relatively lower cost, heterosis in a crop is of no practical value. Fortunately, the presence of natural genetic phenomenon of sporophytic self incompatibility and male sterility (particularly CMS) in brassica vegetables has proved instrumental in commercialization of hybrid seed production.

Introduction

Controlled perpetuation of plants is known as plant propagation. Plant propagation can be broadly classified in two types: sexual and asexual. In sexual propagation, the fusion of male and female gametes gives rise to a new plant, whereas in asexual propagation which is also known as vegetative propagation, the development of new plants takes place without the fusion of male and female gametes, that is, the new plant develops from vegetative plant parts. Various techniques of asexual propagation are adopted in plant propagation, such as: grafting, budding, layering, cutting, etc. So far cutting and layering are concerned; the new plants are developed on their own root system, but in grafting and budding on the others’ root system. It means that in these two techniques (grafting and budding), two plant parts are joined to form new plants; the one which forms the root system is known as rootstock and the one forming the shoot system is known as scion. Plant propagation is both a science and an art. The science of plant propagation requires knowledge of plant physiology, nursery cultural practices, and characteristics of the particular plant that you want to grow. The art of plant propagation cannot be taught in a book or classroom, however, because it consists of specific technical skills that must be acquired through innate ability or experience and often requires a certain feel.

Abstract

India is primarily agrarian country and this sector provides livelihood to a major part of the population. The indiscriminate use of agro chemicals since green revolution resulted in adverse effect on the soil fertility; crop productivity; quality of produce and more specifically on the environment system. Organic cultivation is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, and biofertilizers which helps to maintain soil productivity. Organic farming excludes or strictly limits the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides (herbicide, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators, livestock feed additives, antibiotics and genetically modified organisms. Thus, the importance of organic sources of nutrients was recognized in current scenario in order to get higher yield without disturbing soil health. In this context integrated use of inorganic and organic sources of nutrients in crop production is becoming very crucial for assurance of food security on sustainable basis, which in turn not only improve the soil fertility for sustained crop productivity but also to reduce the cost of inorganic fertilizers.

Introduction

Agriculture is the most important sector in India accounting for 13.7 per cent of the country’s GDP and employs more than 60 per cent of the labour force. Our country has recorded the highest food grain production of 257 million tonnes during 2012-13, under favourable weather conditions those prevailed throughout the year. The mission of increasing food grain production, though realized to a commendable extent at present, but under risk due to climatic aberrations and reduced availability of land, water, nutrients along with poor and continuous degradation of the resources to cope up with the demands of increasing population. Although the country had attained self sufficiency in food grain production through intensification of agriculture with high–yielding varieties, fertilizer application and chemical pest control during the green revolution, productivity is still low and is stagnating.

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

Inappropriate land use and cultivation practices are one of the main reasons for the poverty and food insecurity faced by smallholders in most parts of the rural regions in India and other developing countries. Unsustainable agricultural practices lead to an exhaustion of soil resources, which results in reduced land productivity, aggravated land degradation, and a reduction in biodiversity. Conservation agriculture (CA),  has shown to improve, conserve and use natural resources in a more efficient way through integrated management of available soil, water and biological resources. It is now widely recognized as a viable concept for sustainable agriculture due to its comprehensive benefits in economic, environmental and social terms. Its ability to increase grain yields to provide better economic performance and reduce production risks and to improve energy use efficiency has been well-documented. 

Introduction

The demand for agriculture commodity is growing world over and meets the ever increasing targets as per the demand, productivity needs to be raised further. This can be realized in two ways- by increasing area of cultivation and/or through increased efficiency of inputs (both natural and manmade). The scope for the farmer is very limited worldwide and for the latter, the primary input is the solar energy which is most abundant except in few cases like colder regions. In the coming future, the availability of land for cultivation will be a major impendent due to rapid urbanization, hydroelectric projects, dams and rivers, highway roads and also there is a degradation of fertile land due to soil erosion (120.72 million ha), soil salinity and water logging (8.4 million ha) Nath et al., 2007 and Hegde et al. (2015).  Under this situation, multi-storied cropping system will be a viable option to provide food, nutrition and income security to people Awasthi et al., (2008). The available arable land could be effectively utilized for production of field and horticultural crops to achieve nutritional security for the growing population and sustainable income for the farming community. Increasing food production with limited natural resource is a great challenge to the scientific community. Thus, production per unit area of land, time and inputs can be increased by improving efficiency of the rate and extent to which solar energy is harvested for conversion to economic produced.

Abstract

Horticulture crops play significant role in improving the productivity of land, generating employment, enhancing exports, improving economic conditions of the farmers and entrepreneurs and providing food and nutritional security to the people. For better management of the existing crops and to bring more area under horticulture crops, updated and accurate database is necessary for systematic planning and decision making. Remote sensing (RS) is an advanced tool that aids in gathering and updating information to develop scientific management plans. Many types of sensors namely microwave radiometers, laser meters, magnetic sensors and cameras collect electromagnetic information to derive accurate, large-scale information about the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Because these data and images are digital, they can easily be quantified and manipulated using computers. RS can be used in efforts to reduce the risk and minimize damage. The same data can be analyzed in different ways for different applications. A number of studies were aiming at identification of crop, area estimation, disease and pest identification, etc. using satellite data in horticulture. The potential use of RS techniques in Horticulture is briefly reviewed in orde

Abstract

The term “Horticulture” is a part of agriculture system which is concerned with the raising of so called garden crops. At present, fruits, vegetables, flowers etc., are grown not only within the backyards, but also in large areas in open fields on a commercial scale where better visualization can be viewed with GIS. It emerged by calculating the present context which allows us to produce a complex view about the land’s characteristics. Most of the GIS in use today have not been designed to support multimedia data and therefore have very limited capability due to the large data volumes, very rich semantics and very different modelling and processing requirements. Use of Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS in natural resource and environmental monitoring has been advocated strongly in present years. The present review gives an idea about the basic concepts of GIS, its components and applications in the agricultural sector particularly horticulture. GIS has been extensively and successfully exploited in various areas using various software’s which are available in current market.

Introduction

In the present, India is food secure due to our self-sufficiency in foodgrains, but still,we have to achieve the goal of nutritional security. The horticulture sector is the one which alsoescapes the weather shocks and has the potential to help in poverty alleviation, nutritional security. Again, it has ample scope for farmers to increase their income and helpful in sustaining a large number of agro-based industries which generate a large number of employment opportunities besides helping to achieve the national goal of 4.0 per cent agricultural growth. India with more than 28.2 million tonnes of fruits and 66 million tonnes of vegetables, is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, next only to Brazil and China.Onshares, the world fruit production is 11% and vegetables 7%.

3.1    Factors Contributing to Climate Change
    3.1.1    Natural Causes to Climate Change
    3.1.2    Human Causes to Climate Change
    
3.2    Climatic Trends
    3.2.1    Global level
    3.2.2    National level
    
3.3    Climate Projections
    3.3.1    Global level Projections on Future Changes in Climate
    3.3.2    Climate Projections at the National level
    3.3.3    Climate Projections at the Regional level
    3.3.4    Projections of Extremes in Rainfall and Temperature
    
3.4    Consequences of Climate Change on Droughts and Agriculture
    3.4.1    Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture in some States of India
    
References

1.    Late blight
        
2.    Early blight
        
3.    Black scurf
        
4.    Common scab
        
5.    Bacterial Brown rot
        
6.    Wart
        
7.    Black leg (Soft rot)
        
8.    Viral diseases
        
9.    Potato spindle tuber