eChapters

Fertilizers are required where soils are deficient in plant food elements. When land is planted to crops over a long period of time, the plant food elements slowly get reduced and productivity of crop goes down. Sandy soil looses plant food elements rapidly because heavy rainfall or application of irrigation water leaches these elements out from the soil. Adding chemical fertilizer increases fertility of soil. Principally nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are added to the soil to promote greater yields. Uniform distribution and proper placement of fertilizer in the soil have become increasingly important factor in providing maximum crop response at minimum cost. Placing the fertilizer near the seeds at the time of sowing results in more effective utilization of nutrients. In the row crops side dressing of fertilizer is done which has immediate benefit when placed in the moist soil within the root zone.

Abstract
 
This work aimed to evaluate agromicrobes preponderance and activity in maize ecosystem of same soil types (diara land/fragile land) under different agricultural practices. We conducted a five year field survey of grower’s field to investigate the effect of tillage system, maize plant genotypes and soil organic carbon level on preponderance of diazotroph (Azotobacter), plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (Pseudomonas) and arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) colonization of maize ecosystem. No tillage, traditional maize cultivar and soil organic carbon (>1%) appear to support the preponderance of targeted diazotrophs, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in maize rhizosphere and AM colonization of maize root. Elevation in the preponderance of bacteria, Azospirillum population in maize root, AM colonization, microbial biomass, nitrogen mineralization, phosphate solubilising microbes, cellulose hydrolyzing microbes and acetylene reducing assay (ARA)  of maize root appeared due to organic fertilization of maize crop.

Abstract

Nitrogen is the most important element in terms of nutrition for plants, nitrate being the most preferred form. Nitrate not only acts as nutritional element but also as a signal to modulate metabolism and plant architecture. Nitrate sensing mostly happens in the root tip through a hitherto unknown mechanism, but its response can be demonstrated on an organism-wide scale. Functional genomic studies revealed over a thousand nitrate-responsive genes, involved not only in N and C metabolism, but also in various other physio-logical processes. Identification of nitrate response element/s common to all these genes could pave the way to unravel the mechanism of nitrate signaling, but findings in this direction have remained inconclusive so far. Several trans-acting factors have been implicated in N signaling and response, but none of these have been convincingly demonstrated to be specific to this response. Nitrate uptake, which is sometimes associated with nitrate sensing, is also highly regulated process and involves multiple transport systems like HATS, LATS and dual affinity transporters.

4.1. Flower and flowering in pigeonpea

Growth habit: Primarily, there are two major growth types in pigeonpea. These are determinate and non-determinate. The determinate growth in the pigeonpea plants is characterized by flowers in bunches at the top of the canopy (Fig 17a). In this case the epical growing points are transformed in to reproductive buds and bunches of flowers appear on the top of the canopy. Such cultivars are not popular as the management of insects such as Helicoverpa and Maruca becomes very difficult. Most of the cultivated types belong to another growth category called as non-determinate. In such genotypes the apical growing points remain vegetative and the plants keep growing under favorable conditions and it results in tall canopy with many spreading or compact branches. The inflorescence in this case emerges from the axil of secondary and tertiary branches (Fig 17b); and hang sideways. These types show less susceptibility to insects due to non-clustering nature of flowers.

DNA Isolation Protocol
Introduction

Most of the all procedures involved in molecular biology experiments require the purified form of nucleic acid. It forms a fundamental requirements for genome characterization, gene mapping and for identification and isolation of gene for genetic engineering. The most important step involved in removal of proteins which is carried out in different ways. The following protocol is one of the most commonly used protocols in animal, plant and microbial samples.

Summary

This review addresses various defense strategies evolved by plants to resist pathogen attack.Of the different defensive strategies, pathogen attack either induces or enhances constitutively the synthesis of a spectrum of diverse chemical compounds in various plant species. These chemical compounds also called secondary metabolites are classified broadly as nitrogen compounds, terpenoids and phenolics and have been documented to possess broad range antifungal, antimicrobial and pesticidal activities. Such defensive compounds could be extracted and developed as eco-friendly biopesticides/microbicides because of their natural occurrence, ephemeral nature and biodegradability. These will be favorable alternative strategies compared to chemical pesticides that are fraught with various harmful side effects.

Summary

The huge accumulation of agro-industrial waste-materials generated by the milling, brewing and various agriculture and food based industries which in total amount to be about 500 million tones per year in India. Most of these by-products contain three major structural polymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. These are also the main source of feed for domestic animals. A high proportion of this waste material is carbohydrate and phenolic compounds. Accumulation of this kind of biomass not only results in the deterioration of the environment, but also loss of potentially important materials. Biological degradation, now-a-days, has become an increasingly popular alternative for the treatment of agricultural, industrial, organic as well as toxic wastes. Cellulose and hemicellulose being the major constituents of these materials can be referred to as valuable resources for a number of reasons, mainly due to the fact that they can be bio-converted easily into valuable products. These wastes can be processed to yield a number of value added products, such as biofuels like biohydrogen, bioethanol along with a variety of chemicals. Various treatment methods such as physical, chemical, biological are employed for the production of value-added compounds. Various phenolics like ferulic acid and vanillin are world’s most prized flavor compound mostly obtained through microbial treatment of agro-wastes.

Summary

Human being is dependent on nature and natural resources to combat diseases from time immemorial. Ayurveda describes the use of traditional herbs in medicinal preparations in ancient India. Such types of evidences are there in classical Chinese and Greek records also. Nowadays, modern tools are used to identify and purify the active principle from the herbal composition having the therapeutic effect. Bioinformatics tools are often used to screen the drug efficacy of natural products. Using computational and Bioinformatics tools, the efficacy of lead molecules can be screened. Moreover, drug targets can be identified using Bioinformatics and proteomics approach. QSAR and molecular docking tools are used to study the probable activity and mode of action of drug molecule. This approach has minimized the cost and time involved in the drug discovery process.

Summary

One of the most seductive lures of the genomic revolution is the promise of personalized medicine. The rapid identification of tens of thousands of human genes and hundreds of thousands of DNA variations that might influence disease susceptibility has spawned a new field Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics deal with the genetic basis underlying variable drug response in individual patients. The traditional pharmacogenetic approach relies on studying sequence variations in candidate genes suspected of affecting drug response i.e. single or few genes. On the other hand, pharmacogenomic studies encompass the sum of all genes, i.e., the genome. Numerous genes may play a role in drug response and toxicity, introducing a daunting level of complexity into the search for candidate genes. The high speed and specificity associated with newly emerging genomic technologies enable the search for relevant genes and their variants to include the entire genome.

Summary

Molecular evolution is the process of evolution at the scale of DNA, RNA, and Protein. Molecular evolution emerged as a scientific field in the 1960s as researchers from molecular biology, evolutionary biology, and population genetics sought to understand recent discoveries on the structure and function of nucleic acids and protein. It covers two broad areas of study : the evolution of macromolecules, and reconstruction of the evolutionary history of genes and organisms. The evolution of macromolecules refer to the characterization of the changes in the genetic material (DNA or RNA sequences) and its products (Proteins of RNA molecules) during evolutionary process, and to the rates and patterns with which such changes occur, and also the mechanism responsible for such changes. The second area also known as “molecular phylogenetics”, deals with the evolutionary history of organisms and macromolecules as inferred from molecular data and the methodology of tree reconstruction.

Indian Agriculture is facing a wide spectrum of constraints such as burgeoning population, shrinking farm land, restricted water availability, imbalanced fertilization, low soil organic carbon, besides experiencing the fatigue of green revolution and vagaries of climate change. To address all the challenges ahead, we should think of an alternate technology such as “nanotechnology” to precisely detect and deliver the correct quantity of nutrients or other inputs required by crops that promote productivity while ensuring environmental safety. The word “nano” refers to the size of one-billionth of a metre or one-millionth of a millimeter in any one of the dimension. We are aware that all materials are made up of atoms which are the smallest units and for example, ten hydrogen atoms put together will measure one nanometer. As the size gets reduced, the surface area gets increased by several folds.

Summary

ISFM is important, cost-effective and has the potential of improving farming efficiency and crop productivity. This is only possible when farmers understand the concept and follow recommended practices in the ISFM approach.
 
The challenge is how to effectively disseminate ISFM practices to farmers for sustainable crop production.

Summary

Reaching large-scale implementation should be the overriding objective of all projects that have successfully ISFM practices to share provide markets support them. All too often ISFM results are only reported in peer-reviewed journals that are not accessible outside the research community.
 
Funding agencies often fail to make the production of extension materials an integral and mandatory requirement of research projects.
Unfortunately, in the past, adoption of economically proven technology has often been poor. Some of the reasons include:

Abstract

A transect was performed along the Chubut River (Patagonia) from the Atlantic towards the Andes measuring major water parameters of this drainage area. Samples were taken at different locations of the Chubut River, and also brooks several Andes lakes in the Chubut and Río Negro Provinces as well as from several Andes rivers and mountain creeks. For comparison, the Laguna Cacique Chiquichano in Trelew (Chubut) was investigated. Several physico-chemical parameters were determined (pH, oxygen, nitrogen compounds, conductivity, redox potential, water hardness and spectral transmission), as well as photosynthesis by means of PAM fluorimetry. Water toxicity was assessed with a bioassay based on toxicity-induced changes of the movement behavior of a flagellate.

Livestock sector has emerged as one of the key components of agricultural growth in developing countries in last few decades. This sector plays a significant role in the economic progress of India as it contributes 26% to the agricultural GDP and provides employment to around 18 million people. Over 70% of the rural households in India depends on livestock farming for supplementary income and is considered as an important instrument in poverty alleviation. It provides the major extra contribution to agriculture through manure, fuel fertilizer, apart from meat and milk that grant a regular supplementary income and employment not only to producers but also to huge size of the population engaged in secondary and tertiary business related to livestock. The economy of Jammu and Kashmir is also agriculture dependent and is the main occupation of majority of the rural people who earn their livelihood from it. Census figures 2011 signify that about 73% of the population of J&K lives in rural areas and are associated with agriculture and allied sectors including livestock rearing as main occupation.

Aquaculture is the cultivation of fish, molluscs, crustaceans (shell fish) and aquatic plants in controlled conditions, provides an increasingly significant proportion of food production globally. The sector has represented the greatest growth of all food production systems in the last two decades and an estimated 10% yearly increase in output is likely to bring productivity to a predicted 47 million tonnes in the year 2010 (Pedini and Shehadeh, 1997). Significantly, the greatest contribution to total production and the greatest rate of uptake of aquaculture activity is in the developing world. More than 82% of the total global yield in 1999 was produced by developing countries (GESAMP, 2000) and growth rates between 1984 and 1995 were six times higher than that from developed countries (Rana, 1997; Tacon, 1996).

Bulb crops include onion, garlic, leek, shallot, welsh onion and chive all belonging to the genus Allium.  This genus was earlier included in the family Liliaceae due to its superior ovary.  It was later shifted to Amaryllidaceae as flowers are born in a bracted umbel on top of a scape.  Being the typical genus in the family Amaryllidaceae, a new separate family status was given to all the specious under Allium as Alliaceae.

Abstract

The history of the development of the tea plantation industry in the Darjeeling district dates back to the early fifties of the nineteenth century when the English entrepreneurs took lease of extensive land on the mountain slopes of the Darjeeling Himalaya and started tea plantations. During the formative years of the introduction of the plantation industry the region was sparsely populated so, laborers from various parts of India and her neighboring countries were encouraged to settle in the fringe areas of the Tea gardens. Over the last 160 years many changes have taken place in their lifestyle. The main purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the history of Darjeeling tea and to explore the life of people in the Darjeeling region and also to learn how the local populace adjusted themselves with the given environment with the changing scenario of the area.

INTRODUCTION

Farming acts as the primary occupation of majority of the population in India. According to National Sample Survey Estimate, about 49% of the Indian population is dependent on agriculture and allied industries (GOI, 2014, CIA, 2012) making it the largest source of employment to the people of India. Although, being a second largest food producing country in the world (Sarkar, 2009), the contribution of agriculture to the GDP has been declining. The contribution of agriculture to Indian GDP has declined from 30% in 1991 to 15% in 2011-2012 to 13.7% in 2013 (Economic Survey. 2013-2014). This decline is also accompanied by a decline in the participation of people in Indian farming sector. In fact between 2001 and 2011 about 9 million people have quit farming, which is about 2 million more than the decline noted in the previous decade (GOI, 2011). This figure equates to about 2035 farmers quitting farming per day. The recent census (GOI, 2011) also highlighted that for the first time in four decades an absolute decline (about 7%) in the cultivators has been noted.

Databases

A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can easily be accessed, managed, and updated. Databases can be classified according to types of content: bibliographic, full-text, numeric and images and by their application area, for example: accounting, music compositions, movies, banking, manufacturing, or insurance. The term database may be narrowed to specify particular aspects of organized collection of data and may refer to the logical database, to the physical database as data content in computer data storage or to many other database sub-definitions.

1. Introduction

Antheraea assamensis is lepidopteron insects of Assam which is commercially utilized for the heritage golden silk “muga”. Rearing of muga silkworm is one of the most significant traditional handloom industries restricted only to the North Eastern Region of India (N.E. India) and plays a major role in the rural economy.  Considering the ecological conditions, food plant distribution, presence of eco-types and species of diverse nature in co-existence, it is speculated that this region is a possible home of origin of Antharaea, from where radiations would have occurred (Neog et. al., 2010). Despite the fact that N.E. India is the original home of muga, earlier studies have shown that the population is declining due to depletion in genetic variability (www.cdfd.org.in/wildsilkbase/info_moths.php).

Introduction
 
Intellectual property is a cluster of legally recognized rights associated with innovation and creativity, the works of the mind, as against physical products, land and other tangible resources. Even though it is intangible, intellectual property (IP) is often recognized as personal property, to be sold and traded like other forms of property. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to various markets, machines, musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and applications. But national laws normally don’t define ‘intellectual property’ as a single property right. Instead, ‘intellectual property’ is used as a convenient general term describing a range of distinct legal rights, relating to literary, artistic and scientific works; performances of performing artists; phonograms, and broadcasts; inventions in all fields of human endeavour; scientific discoveries; industrial designs; trademarks, service marks, and commercial names and designations; protection against unfair competition and all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields.

Cytokines are the chemical messengers that are involved in interactions between the cells of innate and adaptive immune responses. They are secreted by leukocytes and many other cells in the body. They are low molecular weight proteins or glycoproteins which are produced in response to various kinds of stimuli. Cytokines have important role in immune and inflammatory responses.  Their functions are not limited to immune system only.They also stimulate the development of hematopoietic cells and also act as therapeutic agents.

The immune system has been designed to provide protection to the body from various diseases. But the same system which is aimed to provide protection may sometimes become harmful to the body and may even life-threatening. There are situations when immune response against harmless and inert antigens is exaggerated and actually causes diseases. Such a condition is called hypersensitivity or commonly as allergy. Though the term ‘hypersensitivity’ indicates an increased response but the immune response is not always heightened, instead it may be an inappropriate response to an antigen.

One of the greatest achievements in science is the development of vaccines. Vaccines have been revolutionary for the prevention of infectious diseases. They have prevented a large number of deaths caused, every year, by dreadful diseases like smallpox, polio, hepatitis etc. Diseases like smallpox and polio have been successfully eradicated by vaccination. Normally, when the body encounters a microbe, both humoral and cytotoxic immune responses are induced to neutralize its effect. In addition to eliminate the invader, body forms memory cells which help the body to protect itself from the same pathogen, in future. Vaccines not only function to kill the pathogens but they also stimulate the body to form memory cells which provide immunity against a specific pathogen

Many techniques are used in immunology to detect specific proteins (antigens) or antibodies in biological samples. These techniques are called immunotechniques. These methods are used for research and diagnostic purpose in many fields such as microbiology, biochemistry, endocrinology, hematology and in pathological laboratories. The techniques can be used to estimate proteins, drugs, hormones and toxic substances in a sample. Immunological techniques are highly specific, precise and reliable. These methods are simple and safe. Antigen and antibody reaction is highly specific in nature and this forms the base of the immunological methods. There are many immunotechniques which are used for the qualitative and quantitative estimation of antigens and antibodies in a sample. Some of commonly used techniques in immunology are:

Introduction

The rumen ecosystem is essentially a fermentation system that houses a vast array of different microbes. Ruminants typically browse low energy forages, such as grasses or other plant material, rich in fibre but not easily accessible to the ruminant without rumen fermentation. These forages are literally food for the microbes present in the rumen first and then, in turn, the products of these microbes are the feed for the ruminant. Microbes break down forage in the anaerobic rumen environment and the products of microbial fermentation provide the ruminant with metabolisable compounds, such as short chain fatty acids, while the microbes themselves account for around 90% of the amino acids entering the lower intestine. There are many significant challenges to investigate rumen ecology.

The organic quality is based on standards, inspection, certification and accreditation. All organic food is produced and handled according to strict rules called ‘Organic Standards’. Organic standards do not define a quality status which can be measured in the final products (e.g. quantity of pesticides residues, heavy metals, etc). They define the way of production (e.g. that no chemical pesticides and fertiliser are used).

The success of rabbit farming depends upon the location and design of the rabbit house. Rabbit is a burrowing animal and has sharp reflexes. It is easily disturbed by any new and sudden noise. The farm should be located in a peaceful environment away from the hustle and bustle of human population.  A good housing facility with adequate arrangement of ventilation is the most important factor in rabbit house.

Hill cattle in Uttarakhand are multipurpose animals. They are used for milk, draft, manures and ceremonial purposes. Improvement for these attributes depends on definition and subsequent selection for various traits. Based on the criteria for improvement and detailed literature analysis, it is believed that the hill cattle of Uttarakhand is one of the potential population for milk in the state specially in the remote and high altitude areas.. Hill cattle have also been used for dairy improvement as a dam breed for crossbreeding in some cases in the state. It has been observed that hill cattle in the state mostly reared as dual purpose animal i.e milk and draft. Therefore, the hill cattle could be improved for both milk and draft. The aim of the present study is to know the status, characterstics and performance  and to suggest the possible options for improvement in milk productivity of hill cattle in the state.

Bioinformatics is a branch of biological science which deals with the study of methods for storing, retrieving and analyzing biological data, such as nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) and protein sequence, structure, function, pathways and genetic interactions. It generates new knowledge that is useful in such fields as drug design and development of new software tools to create that knowledge. Bioinformatics also deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, structural biology, software engineering, data mining, image processing, modeling and simulation, discrete mathematics, control and system theory, circuit theory, and statistics.

Rural poultry production constitutes vital component of agricultural economy in India. The organized sector of poultry industry is contributing nearly 70% of the total output and the rest 30% by the unorganized sector. In unorganised sector, poultry are reared in free range extensive system with very little input in the form of grain or farm by-products, birds have to scavenge from limited amount of feed resource. The productive out put of these birds are very low (60-70 eggs per bird per annum; 2.0 kg. and 1.5 kg. body weight per bird in males and females, respectively). Moreover, still more than 50 % population of poultry in India comprises of non-descript / deshi birds.

Under natural conditions, the largest source of labile carbon (C) inputs to the soil is root exudates (Bertin et al., 2003; Hutsch et al., 2002; Kuzyakov 2002). Roots exude a variety of low-molecular weight organic compounds, including sugars, amino acids, organic acids (Bertin et al., 2003), but also contain hormones, vitamins, amino compounds, phenolics and sugar phosphate esters (Uren, 2001). These compounds are rapidly metabolized; for example, Hutsch et al., (2002) found that 64–86% of maize root exudates were respired by soil microorganisms. The effect of root exudates depends on the distance that they can diffuse away from rhizoplane (Gupta and Mukerji, 2002).

Fertility of a soil can be assessed by analyzing various available nutrients present in the soil. Fertilizer recommendations for various crops and cropping sequences can be made on the basis of fertility status of a soil. Besides this, problematic soil can be ameliorated on the basis of soil test values. Among the various steps of soil testing programmes, soil sampling is the most vital step.

Particulate Matter

Anthropogenic emissions of particulate matter include fossil fuel (diesel and petrol) combustion from mobile and stationary sources (Rogge et. al., 1993a-c), biomass burning (Forest fires, landfills, agricultural activities and incinerators) (Oros and Simoneit, 1999) natural gas (Rogee et. al., 1993c), wood (McDonald et. al., 2000) and coal combustion (Mastral and Callen, 2000).

True/False

Q.1.    A hypothesis that sets the fundamental objective of scientific study is called the “Research hypothesis”.
Q.2.     A statistical assumption or statement about the unknown parameters of a population is known as Statistical hypothesis.

True/False

Q.1.    According to Prof. RA Fisher “ANOVA” is the separation of variance assignable to one group of causes from the variance assignable to other group of causes.
Q.2.    The basic purpose of ANOVA technique is to test the equality (homogeneity) of several population means from the same 
experiment.

Abstract

As we have entered in the post genomic era where we have successfully completed the full genome sequencing of many important crop species and now the future challenge is to ascertain the functions of all genes present in plant genome.

SYNOPSIS

India has been conspicuous as one of the most malnourished nations, as every child out of two is malnourished. Moreover, the levels of under nourishment is substantially high among tribal communities. The present investigation has been made to examine the levels of food insecurity at the micro level in four regions identified in the tribal dominated areas of Maharashtra on the basis of macro level indicators. A comparison of food insecurity between the two communities reveals a high incidence of food insecurity among the tribal as compared to that of non-tribal. The nutritional status of tribal children is much lower than that of their non-tribal counterparts.

Abstract

There are several empirical models to describe deep bed drying dividing the domain into many thin layers. Empirical equations are seen as a resource that only serves to describe the thin layer drying kinetics of an agricultural product. Normally an empirical model is used to determine drying rate. The validity of following thin-layer drying models are accounted by coefficient of correlation (R2), standard error of estimated (SEE), root mean square error (RMSE). The properties of dried foods vary substantially depending upon the type of product, moisture content, drying type and ultimately drying conditions. To take care all above variables, a promising approach is to use Artificial Neural Network (ANN). In process control, the main objectives are food safety, high quality and yield at minimal costs. To obtain high quality products, on-line control techniques are required. Most food processes are highly nonlinear, with time varying dynamics, which complicates food automation. However, the recent developments in artificial intelligence based advanced control tools such as ANN to food processing have opened up novel possibilities for processing industries.

Abstract

Fruit leather is a concentrated source of nutrient, energy and minerals processed from fruits in the form of sheet or leather. It is eaten as a desert or snack since ancient time. Fruit leathers have a greater benefit than fresh fruits if equilibrium ingredients are established and seasonal surplus of fruits are utilized and contributed to minimize post-harvest losses. The process of making fruit leathers involve making fruit puree and adding additives and preservatives for the purpose of enhancing taste and shelf-life. Drying, the key unit operation in making fruit leathers, is the most energy intensive and time consuming step in the process, modern drying techniques can be implemented to overcome the limitations. By novel means of processing technologies or enrichment could lead fruit leather to introduce high quality food product in the market. Continuous research and development can lead to a new era of production and development of fruit processing and overcome the obstacles during processing. In addition study on chemical and biochemical hazards involved in overall process will guide to ensure product safety. Market research tools e.g. quality function deployment method and other market analysis methods could be applied to understand the product trend, demand, consumer expectations and the scopes of improvement.

Abstract

Application of solar energy for drying of agricultural food products is one of the most attractive and cost-effective drying techniques. However, the intermittent nature of the solar energy is one of the major shortcomings of the solar drying system that can be alleviated by storing excess energy during the peak time and using it in off sun hours or when the direct availability of solar energy is inadequate. The use of sensible and latent heat storage systems in solar dryer is an effective way of storing thermal energy for drying purpose. This chapter will present information on different thermal energy storage (TES) materials, their advantages and disadvantages. The information available in the literature regarding the studies conducted on TES assisted solar drying systems is also covered in this chapter. In addition, some of the models that have been used by different researchers to test the performance of different TES materials are also reviewed.

Abstract

Water, the most important component of common foods, is considered to be desirable as well as undesirable in the different food systems. Water-solid interaction in food systems controls various biological, biochemical and biophysical reactions affecting their acceptability. The retention or release of water from solid has been quantified in the terms of sorption isotherm. Sorption isotherm techniques have been used to characterize and identify the type of water-solid interaction in different food products. Sorption isotherm provides various information useful in designing and optimization of drying, storage, packaging, predicting quality and shelf life of the product.

Climate Change has emerged as one of the most serious environmental concerns of recent times. The most imminent climate 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.

Introduction

To meet the food needs of the burgeoning population, India will need to produce 300 million tonnes of food grains by 2020. At present more than 75% of the total food grains produced in the country are of rice and wheat. Use of nitrogenous fertilizers has contributed much to the remarkable increase in production of rice and wheat in India that has occurred during the past three decades. During the last half-decade or so while fertilizer N consumption is touching new heights, the production of both rice and wheat is showing a trend of plateauing.

Introduction

Phosphorus (P) is a major nutrient in crop production, but is also a major constraint due to its low bioavailability in soils. It is 11th most abundant element on earth’s crust and a  vital component of DNA, RNA, ATP and photosynthetic system and catalyses a number of biochemical reactions from the beginning of seedling growth through to the formation of grain and maturity. Many factors influence soil P availability like type of parent material from which the soil is derived, degree of weathering and climatic conditions.

Introduction

Crop production system includes the components like soil, climate and plant (genetic) material. Within a particular genetic make up of the crop, productivity of the system is limited either by climatic factors, that is, radiation, temperature and rainfall (water), or by inherent edaphic environment that govern the root development and consequent uptake of water and nutrients. Where soils are cultivated over long periods, the edaphic conditions reach at its low levels. When water, nutrients and CO2 are plentiful, yield is determined by radiation and temperature regimes during the growing season. However, under actual field situations, the yields are limited by factors other than climate, which is water and nutrients. These are not only limited in amounts but also are becoming costlier every year. It is, therefore, important that available fertilizers be used efficiently.

Introduction
 
In India, most of the agricultural soils are deficient in one or more of the essential plant nutrients required for raising healthy crops and harvesting potential yield. Acidity, alkalinity, salinity, anthropogenic processes, nature of farming, and erosion are the main factors that can lead to soil degradation either alone or in combination of more than one factors.

Trees are perennial in nature and are valuable elements in a landscape. Trees provide shade, privacy and beauty but a tree in a wrong place may create problem in years to come. To avoid this, care should be taken while selecting trees for landscape. The ultimate size and shape of the mature tree, how much annual maintenance it requires, location and purpose are major considerations while selecting a tree. Matured tree height and tree diameter should fit it into the space when tree is planted. Shape of canopy, colour of flower and season of flowering are also to be considered.

Large parts of the country perennially reel under recurring drought. Over 68% of India is vulnerable to drought. The ‘chronically drought-prone areas’ – around 33%, receive less than 750 mm of rainfall, while 35%, classified as ‘drought-prone’ receive rainfall of 750-1,125 mm. The drought-prone areas of the country are confined to peninsular and western India – primarily arid, semi-arid and sub-humid regions. Approximately 218.1 thousand square kilometers of land in India under sub-tropical semi-arid and arid conditions are spread over the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh (Anonymous, 1974). Agriculture is predominantly rainfed and the region is drought-prone. Less than 23% of land is irrigated. Forest cover is <5% and waste and fallow areas occupy 42% of the land.