eChapters

Introduction

Indian agriculture accounts for nearly 65% of the country’s employment, 23% of the total GDP and nearly 20% of total export earning and supplier of raw material to major industries. Agriculture is not only the backbone of Indian economy and food security but also a way of life, a tradition and anchor of overall livelihood opportunity for about 700 million of our one billion populations. Agriculture, therefore, is and will continue to be central to all strategies for planned socio-economic development of the country.

Losses due to insect pests represent one of the single largest constraints to crop productivity estimated at 14% of the total agricultural production. Besides, insects also serve as vectors of plant pathogens. The annual global cost of pest management through insecticides is more than US$10 billion per annum. However, over-reliance of insecticides creates agricultural, environmental and pest management problems, such as frequent evolution of insect resistance, destabilization of multitrophic interactions and environmental contamination. Broad spectrum insecticides often compound these problems. Insecticides often interfere with biological control, causing secondary pest outbreaks or catastrophic resurgence of insecticide resistant herbivores. The vicious cycle of pesticide treadmill effect is observed when more pesticides lead to insects developing resistance, which in turn necessitates use of more and newer pesticides. Therefore, now it is imperative to develop a holistic system of tackling pests to make it more eco-friendly, economically viable and socially acceptable for the farmers.

Introduction

Vegetables are preferable host to many insects because of their succulence and suitable nutritional status. All vegetables are attacked but degree of damage and number of pests varies depending upon the crop, variety and climate. Pest infestation in vegetables has been the main bottleneck in their economical production. The problem has more socio-economic dimensions because of rapid expansion of area under vegetables, intensive cultivation, round the year cultivation, export enhancement and health consciousness among the people.

The diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L.), is a major pest of brassica crops worldwide. DBM has been estimated globally to cost US$ 1 billion in direct losses and control costs. (Grzywacz et al., 2010)

India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables. The area under fruits alone is 32.05 lakh hectares with a production of 329.55 lakh tones. Jammu and Kashmir is the most important horticultural state with unique temperate fruit and European type of vegetable crop production. The total area during 2005-06 under the fruit crops in the state was 2.83 lakh hectares with a production of 1504.01 thousand metric tones (Table 1). Almost 45 per cent of economic returns under agriculture sector are contributed by horticulture, thereby adding 7 per cent to the Gross State Domestic Product (Anonymous, 2007). Among the fresh and dry fruits, apple and walnut, respectively, are the most important fruit crops in the Jammu and Kashmir. However, there is a wide gap between the present yield and the potential yield of fruits. One of the limiting factors for this gap in fruit production is severe attack of arthropod pests and diseases affecting yield and quality. Unlike agricultural crops, horticultural crops are grown as perennial monocultures, therefore, harbor the insect pest and disease problems that are entirely different and complex in nature. These two factors impose huge losses upon horticulture in terms of alleviated production, reduced quality and cost of management.

Introduction

Aquaculture resources in India is vast in the form of ponds and tanks of 2.35 million ha, reservoirs of 3.15 million ha, oxbow lakes and derelict waters of 1.3 million ha and brakishwaters of 1.24 million ha. At present, the total fish production is 6.4 mmt. Out of which inland fish production is 3.4 mmt. The total aquaculture production of 2.47 million tonnes that constitutes 4.2% of global production was valued at US$ 2.9 billion (FAO, 2006). Ponds and tanks are the prime resources for aquaculture, however only about 0.8 – 0.9 million ha is used for aquaculture currently. Recently, National Fisheries Development Board with huge budget provision has been established to improve production, processing, storage, distribution and marketing of fisheries products (Anon, 2006 a, 2006 b). During 10^th and 11^th plan periods higher fish production targets have been kept evisiging a growth of about 8 percent from inland sector.

Introduction

In India the present population of over 1000 million, accounting for about 18 percent of the world’s population, is estimated to become 1.4 billion by 2025 and 1.7 billion by 2050 AD, needing annually about 380 Mt and 480 Mt food grains respectively (Yadhav 2008). This scenario along with the increasing industrialisation and urbanisation will place tremendous pressure on the shrinking natural resources. However, we still have the capacity to produce enough food to meet the basic requirements of the burgeoning population, but the moot question is whether, we can do so while maintaining our natural resources and preserving the bio diversity at the same time. Land are the basic natural resources which are essential for agriculture.

Introduction

Women empowerment is a global issue and it is the outcome of criticism and debates generated by the women’s movements / feminists. Empowerment is the process by which the powerless gain greater control over the circumstances of their own levels relating to both resources and ideology.

Empowerment means the ability to assert oneself; striving for upward mobility or attaining the psychological status of being powerful. Empowering of women is necessary for sustainable development of a community. Sustainability implies a state of balance and equilibrium in factors related to human life which can be social, political, financial, environmental and even spiritual. (B.K.Singh,2006).

Women empowerment often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities. Empowerment, probably, the totality of the following or similar capabilities (social welfare,2010).

Tactile: Referring to the sense of touch.

Taenidium (pl. taenidia): The spiral thickening of the tracheal wall that prevents collapse; helical fold in the cuticular lining of tracheae and tracheoles (Fig. 230); cuticular ridges that support the walls of tracheae; a spiral or circular thickening of the inner surface of the tracheae.

Abnormal combustion: Combustion that does not proceed in the normal way, in which knock, pre-ignition, run-on or surface ignition occurs. Refer knock.

Abrasion: It is the surface discontinuity brought to any solid by the process of removal of surface material through friction of another solid, liquid or gas or combined thereof.

Absolute or specific humidity: It is the mass of water vapour present in a unit mass of dry air. It is also called as humidity ratio.

Absolute instrument: It is an instrument, which measures a quantity (such as pressure, temperature etc.) in absolute units by means of simple physical measurements on the instrument.

Absolute pressure: It is the actual pressure at a given position and it is measured relative to absolute vacuum (i.e., absolute zero pressure). Absolute pressure = pressure shown on the pressure gauge + atmospheric pressure. At sea level, atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psi (1.033kg/cm²).

Babbitt: 1. A tin base alloy containing 88% tin, 8% antimony and 4% copper. 2. In machinery, to line, bush, fill or face with Babbitt metal, e.g. to babbit a bearing.

Back furrow: A raised ridge left at the centre of the strip of land when ploughing is started from centre to side. See Fig. 1B.

Backfire: The accidental explosion of an overly rich mixture in the exhaust manifold of a spark-ignition engine. Backfire conditions can also develop if the premature ignition occurs near the fuel intake valve and the resultant flame travels back into the induction system.

Backlash: The clearance or play between two parts, such as meshed gears.

Ear plug: A device made of a pliable substance, which fits into the ear opening; used to protect an ear from excessive noise or from water.

Ear protector: A device, such as a plug or ear muff, used to protect the human ear from loud noise that may be injurious to hearing, such as that of jet engines.

Earned value: The budgeted cost of the work performed for a given project.

Earth moving: Tillage action and transport operations utilized to loosen, load, carry and unload the soil.

Earthmover: A machine used to excavate, transport, or push earth.

Gadget: A slang word applied to any small, handy appliances or devices.

Gagging tape: A metal measuring tape used to determine the depth of liquid in a tank.

Gal.: The unit of acceleration in the centimeter-gram-second system, equal to 1 centimeter per second square; commonly used in geodetic measurement. Formerly known as Galileo, symbolized as Gal.

Galling: A characteristic of metals, which causes them to seize when, brought into intimate contact with each other. A material, which is subjected to galling, is one, which will seize or ‘freeze’ when brought into close contact with like material under pressure and no lubricant.

Gallows plough: An animal-drawn plough, the end of the beam rests freely on a bolster fixed to two front wheels, which is drawn through the front wheel assembly.

Galvanic corrosion: The accelerated corrosion of one metal when it is connected with a more noble metal, e.g. if steel and copper are connected together in seawater, the steel will suffer accelerated corrosion and the copper will be protected.

Half round file: A file, which is flat on one side and curved on the other. The amount of convexity never equals a semicircle.

Half section: In mechanical drawing, a sectional view that terminates at the centreline, showing an external view on one side of the centerline and on the other side an interior view.

Hammer: An instrument or tool used for striking blows in metalworking, driving nails, etc. Hammers are of various kinds, each bearing a name according to the purpose it has to serve.

Hammer mill: 1. A type of impact mill or crusher in which materials are reduced in size by hammers revolving rapidly in a vertical plane within a steel casing. Also known as beater mill. 2. A grinding machine, which pulverizes feed and other products by several rows of thin, hammers revolving at high speed.

Bougainvillea can grow in almost all kinds of edaphic conditions except in the water lodged regions. They grow well in the degraded soils (black cotton soils, red soils, crevices of rocks, to some extent in sandy soils, water stress conditions, high and low pH soils). Open sunny location is most suitable for best performance. Full sunshine helps for producing brilliant colours in masses. But young plants must be protected from heat. Kuzmina-Medova (1986) estimated that Bougainvillea require more than 2000 lux light for satisfactory growth. Different floricultural crops are propagated/multiplied by different means like sexual propagation (by seeds), asexual propagation (cuttings, layering, grafting, budding) and micropropagation. Bougainvillea is mostly propagated by vegetative propagation i.e. hard wood cuttings but it can also be propagated by different conventional propagation methods (Watson and Criley 1973, Iredell 1994, Srinivas 1995, Sindhu and Dagar 2015, Rajan et al., 1998, Tavares et al., 1998, Criley 1997, Pertuit 1999, Gilman 1999, Hackett et al., 1972, Schoellhorn and Alvarez 2002, Hamilton and Midcap 2003).

The problem soils are those which, due to its land or soil characteristics, cannot be economically used for the cultivation of crops without adopting proper reclamation measures. 
Classification of  Problem Soils:  The problem soils are divided into 3 groups. 
    ·    Highly Eroded Soils 
    ·    Saline and Alkali Soils 
    ·    Acid Soils 
Highly Eroded Soils
These soils are called ‘Usar’ in U.P., ‘Kallar or Thur’ in Punjab and ‘Luni’ in Rajasthan. In India, area under saline alkali soils is 7.0 mha. When the chloride (Cl), sulphate (SO₄^2-), carbonate (CO^₃2-) and bicarbonate(HCO₃-) salts of sodium (Na⁺), calcium (Ca²⁺) and magnesium (Mg²⁺) are increased in the soil, the soil become saline and alkaline. On the basis of amount of soluble salts, average quantity of exchangeable Na and pH, they are classified into 3 groups

Abstract

This research has analyzed the “Factors Affecting Shoes ‘Consumer Preference In Nekemte Town:-An Econometric Analysis” considering different age level, income level high grade completed, social status, and sex with an objectives of identifying determinants of preference of consumers between domestic goods and import close substitute goods. The study was under taken on the consumer goods that are produced in domestic industrial and imported from abroad because of international trade. The goods in this study are only shoes. The data is collected from 100 respondents with different age, income level, educational level and sex through both questionnaire and interview. More than half (51%) of respondents prefer to use locally substituted foreign products that were allowed to choose either foreign or domestic shoes. Proud of and conformity to one’s life styles have statistical significant positive association with preference of buying locally produced shoes. Youth especially youth females have strong attachment with foreign products. People considering the quality have preferred the current generation.

Abstract
India is second among all nations in total entrepreneurship activity as per the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report 2012. The liberalization of the economy since 1991 has paved the way for a huge number of people to become   entrepreneurs. Developing countries like India are striving to be outward looking global economies rather than inward looking local economies. This will be possible only if small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are encouraged. The 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) represents the 17th annual global survey of entrepreneurial activity across multiple phases of the business process; the characteristics, motivations and ambitions of entrepreneurs; the attitudes societies have toward this activity; and the quality of entrepreneurship ecosystems in different economies. Sixty-two economies participated in the 2015 survey.
Entrepreneurship plays an eminent function in creating an avenue for employability for rural communities, providing self-employment for those who have started-up a business of their own and enhancing the economic status of the rural sector as well.  Entrepreneurship has transformed many entrepreneurs into successful business persons and generated income for rural communities.

Abstract

Women are amoungst one of the most vulnerable groups, being impacted by climate change. Socio- cultural barriers and traditionally ascribed roles make them the key person responsible for arranging primary resources such as fuel, water, food which face a serious threat from environmental stresses such as climate change. Women with the potential in terms of experience and a strong body of indigenous knowledge to combat the increased disaster risks enable their families to cope with climate change. To deal with these stressful situations women both at the local and global level adopt various coping strategies. The coping strategies adopted by them generally involves considerable amount of risk taking as they interfered not only with the household work but also with their income generating activities, education of girls and other opportunities for skill development. This chapter gives a comprehensive view of the gendered impact of climate change, as well as the coping strategies of women. The chapter also highlights the need of developing coping mechanisms into adaptive mechanism and strategies to provide a sustainable solution to deal with the issue of climate change.

Keywords: Coping strategies, Climate change, Gendered impact, Women

Introduction
India possesses wide range of climatic and physio-geographical conditions, which are favourable for the production of various kinds of horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, nuts, spices, plantation crops (coco nut, cashew nut and cocoa) etc. The production of fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) in India is 81.2 million tonnes and 162.2 million tonnes from an area of 6.9 million hectares and 9.2 million hectares respectively during 2012-13 (NHB, 2013).  India is the second largest producer of F&Vs in the world after China. India’s share in the world production of F&Vs is 11.84 per cent and 13.36 per cent respectively (Lagzi, 2013). The importance of horticultural sector can be gauged from the fact that the contribution of horticulture sector in agricultural gross domestic product (agri-GDP) stands at around 30 per cent (Economic Survey, 2013-14).

Abstract

Hills and mountains are an important agro-ecosystem, which have lagged  behind the plains in respect of agricultural development. The plains of India witnessed green revolution followed by white, yellow and blue revolutions, which not only increased production and productivity of food crops but helped in bringing about overall development that led to livelihood security in the rural India. The hills, however, remained technologically backward resulting in low agricultural productivity, which brought about livelihood insecurity in these areas. And this has happened despite the fact that a large number of top class institutions of the CSIR, ICAR, ICFRE, Atomic Energy 
Commission, GSI and BSI along with State Agricultural Universities have been present (in the region) and were engaged in developing technology relevant to agriculture and allied areas. However, these technologies did not reach to the end user i.e. the hill farmer for a variety of reasons. Therefore, technology development and dissemination have been accorded high priority by the state governments.

Abstract

Extreme weather conditions often cause considerable damage. Much of this damage can be mitigated if people are better prepared for impending disasters. Therefore, public authorities and private enterprises have been investing in Early Warning Systems (EWS). Environmental degradation and destruction of natural resources has been faced by humans and other organisms for hundreds of years. Some of these incidences have been caused by natural climatic and geologic processes and others by human activities. These natural disasters have been increasing over time due to factors such as urbanization, population growth, destruction of natural environment and climatic change. Biogenic and anthropogenic related environmental and natural resources degradation has direct economic and health impacts on affected regions. Land and water degradation as well as disasters such as floods and droughts have led to famine, hunger, disease, death and created many other problems. It is necessary, therefore, to keep focused on the ultimate goal of reducing disasters by all possible means. India must invest generously on infrastructure and resources for preparation of early warning systems and disaster preparedness.

Abstract

Agricultural produce, such as vegetables, flowers and some fruits capture higher market price if they can be produced ahead or later than the main crop season. The demand of such unseasonal products is particularly high in the fashionable markets of big cities. Good quality of the product is, however, an essential requirement to realise this price advantage. Modern technologies can pave the way to take the full advantage of high price realisation. Growing crops under protected covers is being popularised and the application of various approaches of greenhouse technology can further extend this advantage because it offers greater control over the production environment and timing of crops. There has been a consistent increase in area under greenhouse cultivation nationally and is turning out to be a useful technology for resource efficient agriculture. The types of greenhouse structures range from hi-tech climate controlled systems to very elementary trenches or solar greenhouses used in high altitude cold desert regions of the Himalayas. Greenhouse vegetable production on a commercial scale is a capital and labour intensive production system and requires proper planning for sustainable production. Higher yield, efficient resource use, earliness, off-season availability and superior quality is the hallmark of greenhouse grown vegetables. Greenhouse vegetable production can be done from very basic soil based planting to fully automated hydroponic or soilless systems. This production system requires specialised crops and cultivars which should meet the demand of high value markets.

It is estimated that the country needs about 245mt of food grains, 30mt of sugar and jaggery, 7 lakh of tea, 1.7 lakh t of coffee, 10mt of vegetable oil and 17m bales of cotton. For realizing this, irrigated agriculture has to play an important role. To achieve this water use efficiency (WUE) in the irrigation sector has to be improved considerably as bulk of the available water is used in agriculture. But, with the ever-increasing population and industrialization problems, the demand for water by these sectors is bound to increase manyfolds in future. The requirement of water by different sectors during 2025 is estimated to be 105 m ham, which is 30 m ha m more than the present one. The share of water utilization for agriculture is expected to get reduced from the present percentage of 8~ to a value of 73 by 2025. Further, the demand for water for agricultural purposes is estimated to increase from 470 krrr’ to 740 krrr’ in a period of four decades (Table 1). During the same period there will be four­fold increase in the water demand for non-agriculture purposes.

5.1 Introduction

Phosphorus fertilization is a problem in acid soils due to the high fixation characteristics of these soils. Soluble phosphorus carriers such as triple super phosphate tend to get reverted into insoluble and slowly soluble forms, for e.g. iron and aluminium phosphates.  Some soils in Mauritius have been shown to fix up to 90% of applied phosphorus. The fixation characteristics as related to soil properties have been studied for some soils of Mauritius. Rock phosphate offers a good alternative or complement to triple super phosphate.  In volcanic soils of Chile it is recommended to apply rock phosphate in combination with triple super phosphate because of the high phosphorus-retention capacity of these soils.  However, in Western Australia it has been shown that rock phosphate response is low. Possible explanations are slow dissolution of rock phosphate due to the moderately acid pH (5.5 -6.5), low pH-buffering capacity, low calcium absorption in soil, which increases concentration of calcium in soil solution, and poor water holding capacity of these soils.

Sulphur in nature follows similar cycle as that of nitrogen and shares many common features with it. In soils, decomposition of organic matter releases major portion of nitrogen and sulphur bound in proteins, as cystine or methionine amino acids, or vitamins, etc. In proteins, on an average, for every 36 atoms of nitrogen one atom of sulphur is present. Mineralization supplies a large fraction of nitrogen and sulphur to the plants. Secondly, both nitrogen and sulphur have several chemical forms under different soil conditions (Table 8.1) and both are subject to microbial reduction. Thirdly, both can enter or leave soil in gaseous form and both are subject to some degree of leaching in the anionic form.

10.1 Introduction

Grain legumes such as chickpea, pigeonpea, cowpea, field pea , lentil, ,  and Phaseolus beans are the principal source of dietary protein among vegetarians, and are an integral part of daily diet in several forms worldwide. They are an important component of cropping systems to maintain soil fertility because of their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, extract water and nutrients from the deeper layers of the soil as compared to cereals, and add organic matter into the soil through leaf drop. However, grain legumes are mainly grown under rainfed conditions and the productivity levels are quite low mainly because of severe losses due to insect pests and diseases.  Average grain yield of pulses (0.86 t/ha) is only about one-fourth the average yields of cereals (3.54 t/ha).  Production and productivity of grain legumes is constrained by several biotic and abiotic factors, and suffer an average of 31.9 to 69.6% loss in crop productivity due to insects, diseases, drought, weeds,  and soil fertility. Pod borers (Helicoverpa and Maruca), Fusarium wilts, viral diseases, Ascochyta blight and Botrytis gray mold (Chen et al., 2011).

24.1 Introduction

Taxonomy, which includes identification and classification has transformed into systematics and biosystematics in the recent times and is integrating itself into the biodiversity, which is now a global phenomenon occupying the main thrust of human life (Narendran, 2001). The magnitude and cause of this biodiversity is the central problem of taxonomy and one of the key problems of science as a whole, not to speak of pest management. The science of taxonomy started in the late eighteenth century by a Swedish biologist, Carl Linnaeus who with a small number of similar minded scientists pioneered a standard system of using two Latin names for an organism, denoting “genus” and “species” which is still in vogue. This led to referring of biological organisms by an universally agreed name and identity, and further providing means for their realistic classifications. When these identifications and classifications got strengthened further with accumulated biological knowledge, it allowed the development of modern biology on a sustainable and stable base.

INTRODUCTION

By the turn of the century, consumers have been more demanding, sophisticated and discretionary. They want much safer, higher quality, and more convenient to foods. The food processor need to get the best from their existing processing technology in addition to looking for newer ones. New and alternative food processing methods and/or novel combinations of existing methods are continually being investigated by the industry in pursuit of producing better quality foods more economically. Thermal processing is one of the most important food preservation techniques that was first introduced at the beginning of 1800 and has evolved itself in to one of the most scientific mature food processing techniques of recent times. Both science and technology have gone through tremendous transformation in the last two centuries and today it is the most reliable method to assure food safety and stability. Developments in thermal processing and evolution of non-thermal processing technologies like high pressure processing, pulsed electric field, pulsed light etc. have enhanced the utility of thermal processing principles and increased the awareness of possible alternative processing technologies.

INTRODUCTION

Now-a-days, food products with maximum health benefits and ease in preparation are gaining popularity globally, the reason being changing awareness level about food and dietary habits. Since ages, a number of methods like cooking, baking, drying etc. have been used to thermally process the food materials. Electrical sources of electromagnetic waves are very promising because of advances in nuclear and hydroelectric power as well as ongoing cost rises in traditional forms of fuel, of which there are only restricted reserves. The heating aids include use of wooden fuel, gaseous fuel, electric energy etc.; but the new era of electromagnetic rays had introduced new horizons of food processing by utilizing it in various unit operations (Sakai and Hanzawa 1994). Though, these radiations are gaining popularity in various walks of life; their destructive impact is much dominating. Hence, one should handle these radiations with utmost care as well as comprehensive understanding of the know-how and control over the process.

Abstract

This study was aimed to document the Dawro people’s ethnobotanical knowledge, identify Non-Cultivated Food Plants (NCFPs) and associated challenges to their consumption. Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, market survey and field observations were conducted to gather the ethnobotanical data. The study documented a total of 47 non-cultivated food plant species belonging to 44 genera and 34 families. Shrubs (36.7%) and herbs (32. 7%) make up the highest proportion of these plants. The two most frequently used parts were fruits (62%) and leaves (18.4%).Over 70% of the species analyzed have additional uses, primarily for medicine, construction, and firewood. Most (68%) of the recorded species are consumed fresh without further processing and they are mainly fruits. The study found that non-cultivated food plants play a vital role to the Dawro people during food shortages.

Abstract

Leafy vegetables have largely been portrayed as fulfilling an important nutritional supplement in local people’s diets, as a safety net function to rural households during periods when agricultural production is low and as a food supplement for the poverty stricken. In this paper we present evidence to show that the consumption of wild leafy vegetables (pot-herbs) represents more then just an important source of nutrition and/or a safety net function for poor households, but that they also fulfil an important cultural function for both poor and wealthy Xhosa speaking people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. We show that the consumption of food needs to be studied as a bio-cultural phenomenon which includes both nutritional and anthropological understanding.

Introducton

The Working Group Report of Fifth Assessment Report 2013, by UN’s Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says, that to limit warming to a rise of 2ºC above pre industrial levels, 1000 gigatones (trillion tons) is the upper limit of CO₂ that can be emitted. However, by 2011, we have already emitted 531 gigatones since last 260 yrs and in next 25 years, we will cross 1000 gigatones limit. There is a clear long-term global warming trend. Notably, the 20 warmest years have all occurred since 1981, and the 10 warmest have all occurred in the past 12 years.

Introduction

Survey sampling is a method of drawing inference about the characteristics of a population by securing a sample. Sample survey techniques are extensively used by government bodies throughout the world and researchers for assessing, for planning and for projection future economy.In a sample survey, the final step of the analysis and drawing inferences from a sample to a population is a very vital and fascinating issue. Since the results of the survey are the basis for policy making, it is the most essential part of the sample survey and should be handled carefully.The object of designing a sample survey is to minimize the error in the final estimates. Any survey involving data collection and analysis of the data is subject to a variety of errors. The errors may be classified into two groups viz., (i) non-sampling errors (ii) sampling errors.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Among tree spices, nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt) belonging to the family Myristicaceae is the most important, providing two spices, i.e. the nutmeg (dried seed) and the mace (dried aril covering the seed). The latter is more important. Nutmeg is cultivated mostly in the tropical areas of Indonesia and West Indies. The world annual production of nutmeg and mace is around 12000 tonnes and 2000 tonnes, respectively (Krishnamoorthy and Rema, 2001). A native of the Moluccas (The Banda Islands of East Indonesia), nutmeg is presently cultivated in several countries such as Grenada, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Fiji, some Caribbean Islands, Africa and China including India. Of late, Brazil also started its cultivation. The Indonesian nutmeg known as East Indian nutmeg shares 75% and Grenadian known as West Indian nutmeg shares 25% of world market and they are major suppliers in the world. The East Indian nutmeg is highly aromatic which is preferred by the USA. West Indian type is of mild flavour and is preferred in Europe. The major importers are USA, Canada, Japan and European countries. In USA, the oil is generally preferred whereas the Europeans consume it as whole spice.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is important seed spices belonging to family Apiaceae, and a native of Southern Europe and Mediterranean area. Later it spread to the far East and far north in Europe. To the ancient Greeks, fennel represented success and so it was called “Marathon” in reference to the battle, fought in fennel field where the Greeks defeated the Persians in 490 B.C. Fennel was also a symbol of success to the Romans. During the thirteenth century in England, fennel was considered as a royal spice and was served to kings with fruits, bread and pickled fish seasoned with fennel seeds. Fennel was even described by Longfellow in his poem The Goblet of Life. According to early Sanskrit writings, fennel has been described as Madhurika and was known as far back as 2000 BC for its cultivation in India.

Data mining is a powerful technology which helps in extracting future trends and behaviour from large databases. Thereby it helps decision makers to make knowledge-driven decisions. One common form of real-world data is time series. The suitable models are required to analyze time series data. This chapter provides a short introduction to stochastic system, uncertainty, basic statistics time series analysis and some stochastic models.

The artificial neural network (ANN), a data driven model, is inherently suited to the problems that are mathematically difficult to describe. An ANN is a flexible mathematical structure that is capable of identifying complex nonlinear relationships between input and output data sets, where explicit knowledge of the internal processes is not available. In this chapter general structure of ANN is described and also explained briefly with a case study.

7.1 What is Artificial Neural Network?

An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is an information processing paradigm that is inspired by the way biological nervous system, such as brain process the information. An ANN is an adaptive (Adaptive means that the system parameters are changed during operation i.e. training phase), most often nonlinear system that learns to perform a function (an input/output map) from data. In more practical term, neural networks are non-linear statistical data modeling tools. They can be used to model complex relationships between inputs and outputs or to find out patterns in the data.

The green pepper or chilli is reported to be the native of tropical America (Thompson and Kelly, 1957). This was widely cultivated in Central and South America in early times and was unknown in Europe prior to the discovery of America. The chilli belongs to the family Solanaceae and genus Capsicum. Only four species are under cultivation, out of which the cultivation of the two, Capsicum pendulum and Capsicum pubescens, are restricted to South and Central America. The other two, Capsicum annuum and Capsicum fruitescens are commercially cultivated throughout the world. Capsicum annuum is the most commonly cultivated species and all green chillies in the market and most dry chillies belong to this group. Most of the small and highly pungent chillies belong to Capsicum fruitescens.

Leafy vegetables are the herbs that are grown for their edible greens (leaves). Leafy vegetables are also called pot-herbs, greens, vegetable greens, and leafy greens are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. They come from a very wide variety of plants. As per Singh and Arora (1978), about 220 species belonging to the families, Amaranthaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Araceae, Asteraceae, Convolvulaceae, Malvaceae, Nymphalaceae, Papilionaceae etc. occur in India. Although most of them are grown wild, a few are regularly cultivated and consumed as cooked vegetables.

Plants have been a major source of therapeutic agents since time immemorial. The increasing acceptance of traditional herbal systems of medicine, like Ayurveda, within India and outside has resulted in the revival of ancient traditions of medicine. Medicinal plants and their derivatives are thus looked upon not only as a source of affordable healthcare but also as an important commodity item of international trade and commerce. As per World Health Organization estimates, traditional medicines, mostly plant drugs, cater to the health needs of nearly 80% of the world population. The medicinal plant related trade is growing rapidly every year due to the growing recognition of natural products being non-narcotic, with relatively less side effects and being easily available at affordable costs.

In India, medicinal plant sector has traditionally occupied an important position in the socio-economic, cultural and spiritual arena of rural and tribal lives. About 8000 flowering plants, 650 lichens, 650 algae, 200 pteridophytes and 150 bryophytes are attributed with medicinal properties. The Indian coded systems encompasses a large number of treaties on recognized systems of medicine viz. Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. The Ayurvedic system of medicine, which cater to the health needs of a major segment of population currently utilizes as many as 1000 single drugs and over 8000 compound formulations of recognized merit. Other systems of medicine viz. Siddha, Unani and Amchi (Tibetan) systems of medicine together utilize about 1800-1900 medicinal species. Many medicinal plants are the source of clinically useful prescription drugs being used in modern systems of medicine. Also incredible knowledge on phyto medicine is acquired in non-coded form by tribals and rural community, as is clear from evidences related to folklore medicine. Recognizing their importance, medicinal plant sector has been identified as one of the key areas by the Government of India and the Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy.

Vegetables
Peas
1. Rust
Pathogen
Uromyces fabae (Pers.) de Bary
Symptoms 
The fungus produces characteristics rust pustules on the host. Pustules are mostly found on the leaf blade, though often they may be found on the petiole and stem of pea plants. The sori are small, roundish, open, and powdery as well as brown coloured. In severe infections, the leaf may wither, resulting in considerable damage to the crop. As the plants near maturity, the fungus produces the telial stage on the host.

Abstract

Insect pests, fungi, bacteria and other injuries are found in all types of environment and affect the growth, production and survival of both plants and animal species in one way or other. Similarly a large number of insects belonging to different orders, families and genera feed on pods and seeds in natural/ during storage and cause injuries. Regeneration failure in several broad leaved and conifers in India and other countries by heavy insect attack in the natural stands at the time of inflorescence and seed formation and on the ground after seed shedding causes heavy loss to number of afforestation programmes. Several methods like chemical, cultural, natural and biological are available for reduction in loss caused to seeds by insects. Generally, earlier the control measure, the smaller the destruction. Forest seeds can be stored safely by taking some precautions before their final storage, viz. inspection of the seeds for their moisture content, visual examination of cleaning method, scanning through soft X-ray technique, thermotherapy or treatments with chemicals, etc. The present chapter has covered review regarding damage caused to seeds by different insect pests and their management options.

Introduction

Agricultural research and development in the past 50 years has primarily focused on increasing productivity through intensification of input use to  maximize grower income and  minimize hunger and food shortage (Andow et al., 2009). The full environmental costs of this policy such as water and soil pollution, soil and resources impoverishment (Tegtmeier & Duffy, 2004), only recently became apparent, and this awareness has led to the beginning of a change in philosophy away from purely production-oriented practices towards those that are more environmentally sustainable (Alexanian, Metera, & Schuler, 2009). In addition, agriculture and its interactions with the natural environment have begun to emerge more strongly in political, economic and social agendas reflecting the increasing importance of sustainability to consumers. Consumers are now demanding food that are of high quality, locally produced, regionally specialized, organic, fairly traded, and are humanly and ethically produced. Achieving all or some of these goals with fewer resources is now the objective of modern sustainable agriculture (Mason, 2003).

Rajasthan is the largest state covering about 34.2 million hectare geographical area of the country, of which 27.1 million ha (79 %) is under arid and semi-arid sub-tropic hot climate and spread over 21 districts. The land-scape of Aravali range provides boundary for arid western, semi-arid eastern and sub-humid to humid areas of the state. In-spite of several environmental restrictions and bio-physical constraints in most of the parts, the state can be classified into three distinct agro-climatic region i.e. hot arid, semi-arid and sum-humid from horticultural perspective. On the basis of research experiences and SWOT analysis over last two decades for R&D road-map of Rajasthan Horticulture, the classified zones have excellent vegetable development potential with wide and varied opportunities of crops and utilization of resources.

Introduction

Food is the most basic necessity for man. Plants are primary producers of food. Plants are the very pivot of our existence on earth and without plants the earth would be without life. The success or failure of crop production relies on interaction among varieties/genotypes, inputs used, environment and management factors. Plant diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, viruses, phytoplasmas and nematodes reduce crop yields (Khoury and Makkouk, 2010). Arid fruit crops like ber, aonla, date palm, pomegranate and vegetables like watermelon/mateera, kachri, snapmelon, muskmelon, ridge gourd and sponge gourd are mostly grown in Central and Western India. Horticultural crops can be infected by wilt, leaf spots (due to excessive moisture), mosaic and post harvest fruit rots. These diseases are major challenges in the cultivation of horticultural crops in India. Disease incidence in a crop is governed with the seed materials used and environment surrounding seed/plant.

3.1 Introduction

One of the most important objectives of statistical analysis is to summaries the information contained in the data which may be considered either as a population or as a sample (or sub-population). If the set of data consists of all conceivably possible (or hypothetically possible) observations of a certain phenomenon or a variable, we call it as population. If a set of data contains only a part of these observations, that is selected values of a variable, we call it as sample. Frequency distribution and graphical representation summarize to some extent.  They reduce a mass of data to a more understandable form but not to a single value. The aim of this lesson is to determine descriptive measures or statistical constants which will describe the nature of the data.

In day-to-day life, one comes across many statements which create doubt about certain happenings and one may want to determine the chance of occurrence of a particular happening, e.g., if one desires to know the chance of rain based on some metrological observations.  In the case of coin tossing, one wants to know what will be the chance of winning if a person always stakes for head in a fixed number of tossing. There can be innumerable such queries which one would like to make and meanwhile evaluate mathematically the chance of the occurrence of such possibilities.  This invoked the need of probability theory. The theory of probability came in existence when problems of games were referred to mathematicians like Karl Pearson, Laplace and others. Complicated applications involving advanced theory of probability and axionmatic approach of probability are not dealt within this book.

Introduction

A system is a simplified version of reality and is defined as a collection of interrelated parts that work together. Most systems share certain common characteristics. These common characteristics include the following:
Systems have a structure that is defined by its parts and processes. Systems are generalizations of reality.
Systems tend to function in the same way as nature. This involves inputs getting changed in a process and realization of new outputs.
The various parts of a system have functional as well as structural relationships between each other.
Owing to the functional relationships that exist between the parts there is a flow and transfer of some type of energy and/or matter. In case of information systems there is a flow of information in the structure.
The parts that make up a system show certain degree of integration. In other words the parts work well together.

Seed is the most important component for productive agriculture. Significant advances have been made in production of food crops in India during the last four decades. The quantum jump in the food production primarily accounted for by increased productivity and production in rice and wheat was the result of introduction of improved varieties and their seeds often nicknamed as Green Revolution. The food production which was nearly 50 million tones during 1950 – 51 reached to a level of 210 million tones during 2003 – 04. During the same period the productivity increased about 3 folds (Table 20.1).

Hybrid Rice

People’s Republic of China announced the successful development and use of F1 rice hybrids in the late 1970s. The first hybrid rice combinations were put into commercial production in China in 1976. Since then commercial exploitation of hybrid rice attracted the attention of researchers around the world. It is accepted that about 20% yield advantage of hybrid rice would be usually required to meet the extra cost of seed production and the future rice demands of a growing world population. Realizing the prospects of hybrid rice, IRRI intensified research on this and organized an ‘International Symposium on Hybrid Rice’ on 6-10 October 1986 at the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Centre, Changsha, China where Prof. Yuan Longping and his co-workers had made their names in development of hybrid rice. The proceedings were brought out in form of a book entitled ‘Hybrid Rice’ in 1988 by International Rice Research Institute, Philippines. This book documents the information exchanged, and presents for the first time, in English, much of the Chinese literature on hybrid rice.

Many developing countries, for example India, China, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt and South Africa, utilise the so-called modern biotechnology, based on genetic engineering and genomics. Agricultural biotechnology is the most widespread biotechnology in developing countries, but only a few of them are able to carry out all of the research and development activities leading to the commercialization of genetically modified seeds. These include basic research in molecular and cell biology and genetics, greenhouse and field trials according to  internationally agreed biosafety standards, risk assessment and management, respect for intellectual property rights relating to the transferred genes and to the creation of new crop varieties, production of genetically modified (GM) seeds by private corporations or working in cooperation with the public agricultural research sector, extension activities aiming at delivering the new seeds to the farmers and biovigilance in the fields of GM crops so as to detect any abnormalities or any hazards caused to the environment and to conventional crops (Sasson and Elliot, 2004).