eChapters

Preanesthetic agents are so named because they are usually given to prepare the patient for administration of an anesthetic agent for one or more of the following reasons:

    1.    To reduce the amount of general anesthetic needed and increase the margin of safety.
    2.    To calm the patient so that anesthesia can be administrated without fright or struggling. 
    3.    To reduce secretions of salivary glands (antisialogogue) and mucous glands of the respiratory tract, thus maintaining a free airway. 
    4.    To reduce gastric and intestinal motility and prevent vomiting while the patient is under anesthesia. 
    5.    To block the vagal reflex, thus prevent cardiac slowing or arrest (bradycardia).

Agriculture encounters a complex dynamic system of natural conditions. The meteorological factors among these natural conditions play a pivotal role so far as agriculture is concerned. The rate of growth and development of a bio-system is largely depending upon its ambient temperature and moisture. The plant productivity per unit area, total production, quality of the produce, operational efficiency as well as econometrics are solely governed by the meteorological parameters. Therefore, their through understanding including the computation and the measurement techniques is absolutely essential. It is no less important to have sufficient workable information on weather phenomena as well as climatic resources to determine realizable potential and an appropriate solution for a number of problems faced in agriculture.

1. Introduction

In the field of sustainable agriculture our main aim to produce high quality, safe and affordable food for ever-increasing worldwide population. Today, global agriculture is at crossroads and this is the consequence of climatic change, increased population pressure and detrimental environmental impacts. Furthermore, agricultural growers and producers have the additional constraints of economic profitability and sustainability. During the last couple of decades excessive amounts of chemicals are used to improve plant health, productivity and for management of plant pathogens, which has disturbed the ecological balance of soil and has led to the depletion of nutrients. Therefore, there has been ever-increasing interest to develop new mechanisms to ensure food security through sustainable crop production system that will supply adequate nutrition without harming the agroecosystem. Plant growth in agricultural soil is influenced by many abiotic and biotic factors. There is a thin layer of soil immediately surrounding plant roots that is an extremely important and active area for root activity and metabolism which is known as rhizosphere.

Introduction

Seabuckthorn (Hippophae Spp) a treasure house of vitamins, belonging to the family Elaeagnaceae, and it is a valuable medicinal plant, since its fruit contain high amount of bioactive substances. It is a thorny, temperate bush, tree and is widely distributed throughout the dry temperate regions of Europe and Asia. As the name indicates Seabuckthorn, the plant grows from sea level to high altitude mountain regions but mainly distributed in higher elevations of Indian Himalayas, from Ladakh (J & K) to Lahaul - Spiti (H.P.), Kumaon and Garhwal in Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh (Chauhan 1999). It is seen under natural conditions Seabuckthorn grows on slopes, well drained soil with silt, river banks, lakes, sea shores & waste lands. It is well adapted to dry conditions. Seabuckthorn the wonder plant of cold arid Himalaya, grows in wastelands, dry rocks and along river belts in Indus, Nubra, Chanthang, Suru, zanskar and Lauhal - Spiti valleys in India (Singh and Chaurasia 2000).

There are some weeds which prefer to in crop field and some of them have a distinct association with some crops.

Abstract

The paper examines some important issues of gender inequity in Agriculture. The issues are women’s contribution to agricultural GDP and their access to agricultural resources such as land, water, credit and technology. The paper also examines gender discrimination in agricultural wages. The paper is in three parts. The first part examines the contribution of women to agriculture in terms of time spent by women on activities and number of women engaged in productive agricultural activities with the help of the data from time use surveys and the National Sample Survey Organization’s Reports and the 2001 census. The second part of the paper then analyses Women’s poor access to land, water, credit and technology that reduces their productivity. The second part also elaborates how the women’s work is undervalued in the economy resulting in a huge amount of unpaid work in family agricultural enterprises and low wages in paid work. The third part explicitly elaborates the adverse consequences of such imbalance in terms of misallocation of resources to unsustainable agricultural production as against sustainable production.

Nucleic acids were first discovered in 1868 by Friedrich Meischer. Nucleic acids are high molecular weight polymers that are present in our cells. They  store and transfer genetic material from generation to generation. Knowledge of how genes are expressed and how they can be manipulated is becoming increasingly important for understanding   of nearly every aspect of biochemistry. These macromolecules pass on information for cellular growth and reproduction.  All the genetic information in the cells is called the genome. Every time a cell divides, the information is copied and passed on to the new cells.
 
Nucleic acids fall into two main classes according to the type of sugar they contain: the Deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) and Ribonucleic acids (RNA). Some sections  of  the  DNA  called  genes contain the information to make a protein. RNA translates the genetic information in the DNA to the ribosomes, where the synthesis of proteins takes place.

Carbohydrate metabolism in the cell is essentially the metabolism of glucose and other substances related to glucose in their metabolic processes. The chemical reactions involved in carbohydrate metabolism represents complex groups, sequences, and cycles of reactions which integrate at various points with the reactions concerned in the metabolism of lipids and proteins. The major types of chemical processes involved in carbohydrate metabolism may be grouped as follows: a) Anabolism of starch – Photosynthesis, b) Catabolism of starch, c) Catabolism of glucose – 1. Glycolysis and TCA cycle and 2. Oxidative pentose   phosphate pathway.
 
Plant cells “burn “ glucose for energy. Plants also produce sugars through photosynthesis. This is roughly the reverse of the burning process.

In order to portray the conditions of the migrated rural youth in cities, who otherwise would have been practicing agriculture, a few case studies were conducted to know more about the migrated rural youth, their family background, reasons for migrating, satisfaction after migration, type of support given to the family at the villages, assets created at their village and in the cities, types of problems faced, opinion about the environment, and willingness to go back to their villages for continuing farming. The sample included migrated persons engaged in different jobs in Bangalore city as Hotel workers, Construction Workers, Auto Drivers / Taxi drivers, Security Guards, Garment workers and Vegetable/Fruit Vendors. From each category, five respondents were interviewed by using a simple questionnaire. Following are the case studies.

I. Case Studies on Migrated Rural Youth Working as Building Construction Workers

1. Case of Sri Krishnappa : Muttanna, V.L. Madhuprasad and D. Nanjappa

Sri. Krishnappa S/o Saranappa, aged 30 years from Surapur taluk, Yadagiri district had migrated to Bangalore as a construction labourer. He had completed his primary education and got married at an early age. He has two sons and  two daughters.  After marriage, he continued to live in a pucca house along with his parents, one brother and two sisters.  The family has two acres of dry land, and  farming is main occupation. Desire to earn more money by him and non  co-operation among members of his family are the reasons for Sri Krishnappa’s migration.

Abstract

India has become not only self sufficient in food grains but has also emerged as net exporter of wheat and rice. Acute famines in India have practically been eliminated, thanks to increased food availability at the national level, improved early warning systems and expanding infrastructure for more rapid transport of food grains and other products to needy areas. However, the existing post management system, strategies and policies don’t seem to match new challenges. Despite government intervention in pricing and procurement of food grains, primarily wheat and paddy, India continues to suffer heavily on account of losses and wastages incurred during the post harvest stages, which are more manmade than natural. Some losses have already occurred before the arrival of food grains in the regulated and wholesale markets and continue till food grains reach their destination. What contribute to continuing losses and wastages are improper post harvest handling, government policies and their implementation, which even stifle growth and modernisation of grain markets and processors.

Abstract

Maintaining grain in good condition in storage requires careful, routine inspection and good storage practices. An integrated approach of several management tools and practice factors are necessary to manage stored grain to prevent deterioration and wastage: This includes:1) harvesting, handling, and storage equipment; 2) initial condition of the grain; 3) grain moisture content; 4) grain temperature; 5) aeration system management ; 6) insect and mold control; and 7) monitoring grain condition. An effective management program greatly enhances the likelihood of maintaining top quality grain. A well- designed and properly operated storage system with adequate aeration capacity, storing only clean grain at the proper moisture content and temperature, sanitizing the bin before loading, checking the grain condition regularly and correcting problems before they get out of hand are critical management strategies that must be implemented to prevent grain damage and possible serious economic loss.

For effective and economic control of pests, besides selection of appropriate plant protection chemicals, application of the chemicals at the most vulnerable growth stage of the pests and use of chemicals at the correct dosages, selection of proper plant protection appliances to carry out the operation is also of vital importance so as to ensure uniform application of the chemicals.
 
Plant protection chemicals are mostly used as sprays and dusts using sprayers and dusters respectively. However, in most of the cases spraying is preferred to dusting. Different types of sprayers and dusters are being used for these operations and in both, there are manually operated as well as power operated equipments and in sprayers there are both hydraulic and pneumatic types of sprayers.

The nature of the pesticide formulations to be used and the purpose for which they are used also determine the type of equipment to be used. Dusters are used for dusting insecticidal dust formulations; sprayers are used for spraying insecticidal liquid formulations; granular applicators are used to apply granular formulations; fumigators are used to apply fumigants to fumigate godowns, warehouses, rat holes etc.; soil injectors are used to inject pesticides at a particular depth of soil under pressure; flame throwers are used to throw flames at specified targets.

Introduction

The term ‘lectin’ was coined by William C. Boyd in 1954 for their property of selectivity (Latin ‘legere’, to pick up or choose). In 1888 H. Stillmark of Russia gave the first description of what we now know as lectin. While investigating the toxic effects on blood of extracts of the castor bean (Ricinus communis), Stillmark observed that the red blood cells were being agglutinated by a protein and gave it the name ‘ricin’. Shortly afterward ‘arbin’ was extracted from Arbus precatorius. Because they were first isolated from plants, lectins came to be known as phytohaemaglutinin. Now it has become clear that lectins are present not only in plants but also in some bacteria, vertebrates and invertebrates. However, lectins are most widely distributed in plants, reported in almost 1000 plant species.

Plant lectins are a very heterogeneous group of proteins; as far as their occurrence within the plant kingdom and distribution over tissues are concerned. They show high degree of heterogeneity with respect to biochemical and physiological roles, because of their widely different carbohydrate binding specificities (Etzler 1986; Rüdiger 1988; Goldstein and Hayes, 1978). Besides the fact that they all exhibit carbohydrate binding activity, most of the plant lectins behave as typical storage proteins (Peumans and Van Damme, 1995 b).

Breeds of Rabbit

There are many breeds of domestic rabbits in the world and all have different qualities. Out of the number of breeds and varieties about 38 breeds and 87 varieties are recognized and well established world wide.

For commercial purposes, the most important differences between rabbits are their size, colour breeding ability and suitability to the climate. Examples of several different breeds of rabbits are given below. Some of these might be used for improving local rabbit herds.

Food, furs, research, hobbies, pets – these are the major uses of rabbits around the world. It should be noted that rabbit production for meat and wool has become increasingly important in the last few years.

Angora wool rabbits are a commercial rabbit which is raised for its fine wool and meat as well, but primarily raised for wool production. Cooler climate is most conducive to raising this breed of rabbit. Angora rabbit does not differ from other breeds of rabbit except for its unusual length of valuable fur(wool). This modifies its raising compared to other rabbits.
 
The term ‘Angora’ qualifies those mammals which are covered with fur or wool composed of very soft hair of more than normal length – double or more than double the normal length.

Plant oils are obtained from their plant hosts through a variety of processes commonly called Extraction process. Essential oils are extracted from different parts of the plants. The quality and quantity of the oil is mainly depends on the method of extraction and the quantity of the raw materials used. For example, Lavender is extracted from its flowers, Orange from the rind of its fruit, Frankincense from the resin of its tree, Cinnamon from its bark, Pine from its needles, clove from flower buds and so on. Production of a good quality essential oil, the cultivation factors also play a vital role like soil quality, climatic and geographic conditions etc. As example, Jasmine flowers must be picked by hand at dawn on the very first day they open. A Sandalwood tree must be 30 years old and 30 feet high before it is ready to produce its best quality oil. Further the quantity of the plant materials are also matters for the price and quality of the essential oil. As an example, it takes roughly 12,000 Rose blossoms to produce 5 ml of Rose. Whereas it take 100 kilos of Lavender leaves to produce 3 liters of Lavender. As a result Rose is roughly 24 times more expensive than Lavender.

Introduction

The history of Integrated Pest Control goes back much farther than the mere coining of the term in the early fifties and the subsequent elaboration and clarification of the concept. The origins are deeply rooted in the evolution of pest control practices as developed by Entomologists and Plant Pathologists in the Nineteenth Century.

Human history is a series of attempts to gain increasing control over the environment. At first this control was minimal to the degree that poor shelter and unstable food supplies imposed severe population constraints. The gradual gain in man’s capacity to control his environment parallels the gradual rise of civilization. But as man aggregated into villages near rivers and planted crops near by, he encountered increasingly severe attacks by pests on the crops. For thousands of years, man could do nothing about these pests but appeal to the power of magic and a variety of gods. For the most part, early humans had to live with and tolerate the ravages of plant diseases and insects, but gradually they learned how to improve their conditions through “trial and error” experiences. These improvements included the beginnings of pest control or pest management, the most preferred term today.

Introduction

Although the concept of IPM, with emphasis on minimum use of pesticides; is well established and widely practiced in India pest population still continue to be unabated, often reaching to alarming levels. Out breaks of Spodoptera litura and hairy caterpillar, Amsacta moorei have been recorded in soybean and kharif crops recently during 2002 & 2004 in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, respectively. Outbreaks of Helicoverpa armigera populations are well known, appearing more frequently since past few years (1987-88, 1995-96, 1997-98 & 2001) doing extensive damage in cotton and pulses. in many parts of the country. Failures in controlling these populations, even by most potent insecticides, have raised a serious doubt on the success of present day pest management practices aimed to kill the pest in immature larval / egg stage, when infestation spreads out in large areas. Insecticidal treatments require wide coverage of crop area to control them effectively. Insecticide resistance in pest species and destruction of natural enemies are obvious problems, since chemicals are applied indiscriminately to entire crop ecosystem including the non-target beneficial bicontrol species. How to minimize use of insecticide in pest control is often a question of major concern to the entomologists.

Instrumentation and Advanced Analytical Techniques

    1.    Chromatography is defined as an analytical technique where by a mixture of chemicals may be separated by virtue of their differential affinities for two immiscible phases. One of these, the stationary phase, consists of a fixed bed of small particles with a large surface area, while the other, the mobile phase or “eluant”, is a fluid that moves constantly through, or over the surface of, the fixed phase.

    2.    The chromatogram evaluated qualitatively by determining the Rf or retention factor, for each of the eluted substances.

    3.    The Rf is a measure of that fraction of its total elution time that any compound spends in the mobile phase.

    4.    If the liquid phase is a polar substance (e.g. polyethylene glycol) and the mobile phase is non polar, the process is termed normal-phase chromatography

    5.    When the stationary phase is non polar (e.g. octadecylsilane) and the mobile phase is polar, the process is reversed-phase chromatography

    6.    The chromatographic separation of mixtures of large molecules such as proteins may be accomplished by a mechanism called size exclusion chromatography or gel permeation chromatography.

    7.    Separation of certain molecules is accomplished by a mechanism called affinity Chromatography in which specific binding between an antibody (stationary phase) and antigen (analyte) occur.

The history of the pregnancy test is a meaningful history embedded in magic, myth, politics, and science. From ancient Egyptian to modern times, the pregnancy test holds a cultural omnipresence that forces women to confront their fertility, femininity, and their future. Today we know that a pregnancy test that detects the human hormone known as human chorionic gonadatropin (hCG) offers the quickest and most accurate result for determining pregnancy. HCG is secreted by the placenta after the fertilized egg implants in the uterus and can be detected in both urine and blood. Urine pregnancy tests are convenient for home use, but a doctor may also opt to test blood as it provides a quantitative hCG number. Both methods are highly accurate and common. Pregnancy tests, however, were not always so accurate or so culturally accepted.
 
The diagnosis of pregnancy requires a multifaceted approach using three main diagnostic tools. These are (a) history and physical examination, (b)laboratory evaluation, and (c) ultrasonography. Currently, physicians may use all of these tools to diagnose pregnancy at early gestation and to help rule out other pathologies.

Overpopulation in humans and street dogs to some extent is a global problem of significant magnitude, with grave implications for the future. The overpopulation of dogs and cats is becoming an increasing concern in most countries of the world. As the global human population explodes so to do the staggering numbers of many best friends. Not only does this overpopulation cause millions of deaths each year and immeasurable levels of suffering in unwanted animals, these animals can cause significant risks to human health.

Stray animals particularly dogs are source of dreaded diseases like rabies and other zoonoses, resulting in thousands of deaths annually. The management of wild and domestic animal population is step towards controlling the situation and fertility control techniques play a role in this. However, such technology is still in its infancy is yet to be used on a large scale.

Advancements made in immunology and improved methods for the isolation of antigens specific reproductive system have paved the way for the development of antifertility vaccines in the past two decades. These vaccines are generally based on their ability block an indispensable step in the reproductive process.

Embryo Transfer (ET) refers to the technique by which embryos are collected from the reproductive tract of female (donor) and transferred to that of another female (recipient) which carries it to term. The donor and recipient female are in same stage of estrous cycle. The main objective of ET is the improvement of animal population through maximum utilization of superior females and males. It allows faster progeny testing of both male and females. By obtaining and transferring embryos from pre-pubertal females shorten the generation interval from birth to reproductive age. The superior buffaloes will be sent for slaughter after getting lactation yield in metropolitan cities. Utilizing oocytes for In-vitro maturation (IVM) and In-vitro fertilization (IVF) from such slaughtered superior buffaloes can prevent wastage of genetic material. ET allows preservation of rare and extinct species and breeds of animal. ET can be used as a basic tool for twinning, cloning, sexing and to test chromosomal aberrations.

Aquaculture is the culture of aquatic organisms per unit water area per unit time for maximum profit. The economically important finfishes and shellfishes, whose body physiology is adjustable to varied environmental conditions, are considered as aquaculture candidate species. So, an overall knowledge on the physiology of such species is required to improve the culture practices.

1.1. Finfish

A fish may be defined as a vertebrate, adapted for a purely aquatic life, propelling and balancing itself by means of fins, and obtaining oxygen  (O2) from the water for survival and life processes. As the fishes have fins, they are also known as finfishes. Fish describes a life from rather than a taxonomic group. They share certain features with other vertebrates. These are gill slits, a notochord, a dorsal hollow nerve cord and tail. In number of individuals, and may be also in number of species, fishes are presently superior to other vertebrates, including mammals. There are 20,000 different species of fishes. Fishes form largest group of vertebrates, Pisces. The various types of fishes differ so much in shape, color and size that it is difficult to believe they all belong to the same group of animals. Fish in general are cold-blooded and adjusted either to freshwater, brackishwater or marine environment.

Introduction

Maize (Zea mays Linn) is the most widely distributed crop of the world. It adapts easily to a wide range of production environments and is grown in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions of the world. It holds a unique position in world agriculture ranking third after rice and wheat in terms of area as well as production. In India too, it is the third most important cereal crop and is cultivated in 8. 17 m ha (2007-08) area. It contributes nearly 8% to the national food basket and more than Rs 100 billion to agricultural gross domestic products with an annual production of 19. 73 million tons. It is used as a source of human food (24%) animal feed (11%), poultry feed (52%), starch (11%), brewery and seed (1% each). In India it is largely grown in Northern states where it serves as an important staple food for an economically vulnerable population of submountainarean and hilly regions.

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) or Imli is also called  Indian Date. It is a large broad leaved, tropical tree found in India and many parts of Asia.  Tamarind is native to tropical Africa and grows wild throughout  Sudan. It was introduced to India so long ago that it is now reported as indigenous. Sometimes during  sixteenth century, it was introduced into America and today it is widely grown in Mexico.
 
There are large areas of marginal and waste lands, which are not suitable for cultivation of fruits like banana, citrus, sapota, litchi, mango, pomegranate etc., either due to poor quality of soil or lack of water resources. Such lands are suitable for  cultivation of underutilized fruit crops like tamarind which is not so popular among  farmers due to following reasons:

Kair (Capparis decidua (Forsk.) Edgew, is an under-exploited, drought hardy, multipurpose, perennial, woody shrub or small tree found in hot arid regions of many regions of the world. It is a many branched, leafless and spinose plant capable of growing in different habitats. Due to its xerophytic adaptive nature, the plant grows successfully under harsh climatic conditions of arid regions. The immature fruits are used as fresh vegetables and also in the preparation of pickles. Dehydrated fruits are used in off season as vegetables either alone or in combination with other dried vegetables. Dehydrated kair is one of the important ingredients of ‘panchkuta’, a dehydrated mixture of sangri, kair, kachri, kumat and kamal kakri. However, mature unripe fruits without processing are unpalatable as these contain high concentration of glucosinolates. Ripe fruits are sweet and acrid and enjoyed by children in natives.

The common fig, (Ficus carica L.) is a fruit of warm temperate zone. It is one of the oldest fruits known to man and is mentioned by well known Greek writers Homer and Plato. Mention about this fruit is in the earliest chapter of Bible. Figs belong to family Moraceae, which include many tropical fruits and ornamental species. The fruit is known botanically as ‘syconium’ in which the flowers are borne on the inner walls of a hollow receptacle. It is one of the most salt and drought tolerant amongst fruit trees. Fig is a moderate sized deciduous tree in subtropics but performs as evergreen in tropics. Branches are irregular, shoots develop at base of trunk, leaves are very broad, ovate and long stalked. Fruits mostly long stalked, pear shaped with a velvety or glabrous skin, yellow, brown, purplish or black in colour. 

Introduction

Tripura is situated between 22^º56 ‘to 24^º32’ N latitude and 91^º10’ to 92^º21’ E latitude with tropic of cancer passing through it. The total geographical area of state is about 10,491 Sq.Km of which 58.90 percent area is under forest cover. More than 75 percent of the population either directly or indirectly depends on agriculture. The small and marginal farmers contribute about 90 per cent of total farming community and the average size of land holding is 0.97 ha (1990-91) in comparison to 1.25 ha (1976-77), which is the lowest among the seven other North Eastern states.
 
The state weather is characterized by warm and humid subtropical climate with three distinct seasons viz., summer, monsoon and winter with three different cropping seasons like khariff, rabi, summer and jhum cultivation in forest during pre monsoon and late monsoon periods. This state has many rivers out of which the important ones are Juri, Deo, Manu, Dalai, Thowai, Haora, Mahari, Burigang and Gomati which are mainly seasonal. Tripura receives an average rainfall of 2065 mm.The monsoon breaks in May – June and continues for about 4.5-5.0 months.

Capsicum species are members of family Solanaceae, which include tomato, potato, tobacco and petunia.  Pepper, chile, chili, aji, paprika and capsicum are used interchangeably for plants in the genus Capsicum.  The word Capsicum is reserved for taxonomic discussion (Bosland, 1992). The indigenous people of Americas evolved pepper through breeding and domestication of Capsicum species. Global diversification was facilitated by age of exploration, and subsequent establishment of land races and farmers selections.  Classical genetic and cytogenetic exploitation of Capsicum species began in 1940s and continued throughout the century (Poulos, 1994). Data on crossability and hybrid sterility are developed to reinforce or revise views on the rank of morphologically distinguishable taxa, while studies on chromosomes and isozymes aided in understanding the relationships between domesticated and wild species and the course of evolution within the domesticated species.

Vegetables have got an important place in agriculture development, human diet and economy of the country. All the developed and developing countries realized the importance of vegetables an essential diet due to medicinal and nutritional value for human health. There is a steady upward trend in vegetable production. China is ranking first in the world and currently produces 237 million tonne of vegetables. India has made a quantum jump in vegetable production securing the second position in the world. The total production of vegetable is more than 91 million tonne in the country. Diseases and pests are the most important factors for low vegetable production. Various fungi, bacteria, viruses, phytoplasmas, nematodes and weeds are responsible for causing diseases in vegetables resulting heavy reduction in yield and quality.

Micronutrients play an active role in the plant metabolic processes from cell wall development to respiration, photosynthesis, chlorophyll formation, enzyme activity, hormone synthesis, nitrogen fixation, etc. Micronutrient requirements of crops are relatively small. Use of chemical fertilizers with accompanied changes in soil management practices resulted in steady decrease in micronutrient content in soil. The future of agriculture depends on sustainable management of land, water, flora, fauna and the atmosphere. In order to produce 240 m tones of food grains by the end of twentieth century, removal of major nutrients from soil will be to the tune of 7 m tones N, 2.7 m tones P2O5 and 11.2 m tones K2O. Similarly, a good amount of secondary (Ca, Mg, S) and micronutrients would also be removed proportionately which should be compensated through application of well rotten FYM or micronutrient fertilizers in soil.

Fruits are living commodities which continue to respire and transpire even after harvest. The storage life of fresh fruits is indirectly proportional to the rate of their respiration which in turn depends on the atmospheric gas composition in which they are stored. Normal air contains about 20.9% oxygen (O2), 78.0% Nitrogen (N₂) and 0.03% carbondioxide (CO₂). Lower levels of O₂ and higher levels of CO₂ in the storage environment result in reduced rate of respiration, delayed ripening and increased storage life. The reduction in O₂ concentration and increase in CO₂ concentration in the storage room with precise control and maintenance of these gases throughout the storage period is generally referred as controlled atmosphere (CA) storage.

CA storage is generally used for long term storage or long distance transportation of fruits in combination with low temperature storage. The use of CA storage for extending the post harvest life of fruits has increased steadily worldwide during the past 60 years. This trend is expected to continue with the advancement of technologies in attaining and maintaining CA during transport, storage and marketing of fresh fruits.

Fruit ripening is a highly coordinated, genetically programmed and an irreversible phenomenon involving a series of physiological, biochemical and organoleptic changes which finally lead to the development of a soft edible ripe fruit with desirable quality attributes. Ripening is the process where changes take place in the fleshy fruit and make it edible. It represents the unique coordination of developmental and biochemical pathways leading to changes in colour, texture, aroma and nutritional quality of mature seed-bearing plant organs (Barry and Giovannoni, 2007). Physiologically mature fruit is transformed from an unfavourable state of firmness, texture, colour, flavour and aroma to favourable state for consumption. It is the final phase in the development of fruit and involves major metabolic changes and it is normally an irreversible event. The ripening phase does not start until the fruit has developed considerably from the tissues present at anthesis and it is difficult to stimulate ripening before it attains maturity. The ripening changes which are common during softening are accumulation of pigments and changes in cell wall.

1. Ammonia Nitrogen by Distillation Method
Method I (For Animal Feeds)
Reagents
    1.    Mangnesium oxide (carbonate free)
    2.    Standard sodium hydroxide 0.25 N
    3.    Standard sulphuric acid 0.5 N
    4.    Methyl red indicator

Weigh accurately 2 to 4 g  of the prepared sample. Shake it with water and filter. Wash the residue thoroughly with water. Transfer the filtrate to the distillation flask and dilute to about 200 ml with water. Add about 5 g of the magnesium oxide, Connect the flask to the condenser by means of the connecting bulb tube and distill about 100 ml of liquid into the receiver containing standard sulphuric acid and methyl red indicator solution, Titrate the contents of the receiver with the standard sodium hydroxide solution. Carry out a blank determination using all reagents in the same quantities but without the material to be tested.

DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN RURAL AREAS (DWCRA)

Objectives

  1.    To raise the income level of women poor households.

  2.    Formation of groups of 10-15 women in rural poor for developing of services.

Salient features

  1.    Each group is given one time grant of Rs.25,000/-as revolving fund for infrastructure, purchase of raw materials, marketing, child care etc.

  2.    Fund is in ratio of 50:50 between Central and State government.

  3.    Provision of setting up of District Supply and Marketing Society for women producers.

DISTRICT RURAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (DRDA)

Objective

To professionalise the DRDA so that they are able to effectively manage the antipoverty programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development and interact effectively with other agencies.

Salient Features

•   The DRDA is visualized as a specialized agency capable of managing the anti-poverty programmes and to effectively relate these to the overall efforts of poverty eradication in the district.

•   The DRDA role will be to facilitate the implementation of the programmes, to supervise, oversee and monitor the progress, to receive and send progress reports and maintaining accounts of funds received for various rural development programmes.

•   DRDAs also need to develop synergies among different agencies for the most effective results.

•   The Chairman Zilla Parishad would be the chairman of the governing body of the DRDA.

1. California mastitis test

The California mastitis test (CMT) is conducted during milking of lactating cows. The CMT paddle is used to collect about three to four ml of fore milk from each quarter of cows after discarding few streams to which an equal volume of CMT reagent (composition mentioned below) is mixed immediately by circular motion (Fig. 1). The reaction is graded by intensity of gel formation and color changes as follows:

Introduction

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. The system provides critical capabilities to military, civil, and commercial users around the world. The United States government created the system, maintains it, and makes it freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver. The US began the GPS project in 1973 to overcome the limitations of previous navigation systems, integrating ideas from several predecessors, including a number of classified engineering design studies from the 1960s. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) developed the system, which originally used 24 satellites. It became fully operational in 1995. Roger L. Easton, Ivan A. Getting and Bradford Parkinson of the Applied Physics Laboratory are credited with inventing it.
 
Advances in technology and new demands on the existing system have now led to efforts to modernize the GPS and implement the next generation of GPS Block IIIA satellites and Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX). Announcements from Vice President Al Gore and the White House in 1998 initiated these changes. In 2000, the U.S. Congress authorized the modernization effort, GPS III. In addition to GPS, other systems are in use or under development. The Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) was developed contem-poraneously with GPS, but suffered from incomplete coverage of the globe until the mid-2000s. There are also the planned European Union Galileo positioning system, China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, the Japanese Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, and India’s Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.

SENSORY EVALUATION OF FOOD

When the quality of a food is judged or evaluated by the senses (taste, smell, sight, touch and hearing), it is said to be a sensory evaluation. Since food is prepared for the primary purpose of being eaten and enjoyed through the senses, sensory evaluation is most appropriate. No machine has yet been devised that can totally substitute for the human senses in evaluating the quality of human food. However, the human instrument used in sensory evaluation is very complex and many problems need to be managed as data are collected and analysed. Computers are generally used to analyse data from sensory evaluations and may also be used to collect information firsthand.

Flavour perceptions are difficult to characterise verbally, for example, think about how a strawberry tastes, then try to describe it some one else. In food research small groups of trained individuals called juding panels or sensory panels are commonly used to determine differences among food samples. These panels often consist of from 5 to 15 individuals who have had training and experience in testing the particular food products being evaluated.

INTRODUCTION

COLLOIDS :  The word colloids has actually been derived from Greek language where it means glue like. The science of colloids was founded about 1861 when Thomas Graham published a summary of his work on the diffusion of substances in solution. He classified substances into two groups, viz: crystalloids and colloids, depending on their ability to diffuse through parchment membrane. According to Graham, crystalloids readily passed through parchment membranes while colloids did not. According to modern concept, colloidal solution contain substances whose molecular aggregates possess a diameter greater than 1 mu  and less than 100 mu. If the particle size is greater than 100 mu, a suspension is obtained (Table 1).

Fats are obtained from both animal and vegetable sources. The principal animal fats are cream, butter, egg yolk, the fat of beef, mutton, pork, bone marrow, chicken fat, and codliver oil. Vegetable fats are those derived from fruits and seeds of plant, as olive oil, cottonsed oil, corn oil, peanut oil, soyabean oil and nut oils.

COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIVE VALUE OF FATS

Fats and oils, the most concentrated of fuel foods, were the first of the organic compounds or foods to have their composition determined. They are made up of same three elements which go to produce the carbohydrates, but the oxygen is less in proportion to the carbon. This explains the fact that fat yields more energy per gram than carbohydrates do.

Swine Marketing

The animal population in India is nearly 14 millions which is increasing day by day. The importance of animals in Indian Economy cannot be neglected. The economic benefit from animals is 26% of the total benefit from agriculture. Agricultural farming is not possible without animals. In agricultural profession, animals have an important role. In our country, crores of small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers depend for their life on animals for their livelihood. Poor animal wealth is not a good symptom for a country.

Till today the work which is done on animal wealth by economists and marketing specialists is only limited. Economic and marketing studies on meat producing animals in our country is very less. Pigs are normally reared for meat purposes. Pigs are mostly untouched from this type of research on economic and marketing aspects. Pig population in our country is nearly 12 millions, which is 2.5% of total animal population in India.

Due to lack of studies, it is not possible to give any statement about correct situation of marketing and capacity of pigs.

In 1882, Robert Koch first isolated the organism, stained with alkaline methylene blue and vesuvin as counter stain and proved its etiologic relationship with Tuberculosis.  Ehrlich first developed acid fast stain in 1882 and used for better staining of the bacteria which was adopted by Robert Koch. Later this staining technique was modified by Ziehl-Neelsen, accordingly it is now a day known as Z-N staining. In 1890, Koch prepared a glycerine broth extract of the tubercle bacillus, known as ‘tuberculin’.

      He tried to prepare it as a curative agent; however, it was used later in diagnosis. In 1895, Johne and Frothingham described the first case of paratuberculosis in cattle, later known as ‘Johne’s disease’. Although, the causative agent was first isolated by Twort and Ingram in 1910.

            In India, bovine Tuberculosis was reported from several states since 1959 (Dhanda and Lal, 1959). Whereas bovine paratuberculosis was first reported by Nanda and Singh (1940) in Hissar, Haryana.

Leptospira 

Antony Van Leeuwenhoek (1681) first observed the Spirochaetes under the microscope and described them. In 1833, Ehrenberg used the name Spirochaeta for free living spiral shaped organisms. Obermeir (1873) first described a Spirochaete of pathogenic significance isolated from human patients of relapsing fever. Inada et al. (1916) first isolated Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae from human patients of Weil’s disease. In 1980, Nogochi proposed the name Leptospira.

      In India, Taylor and Goyale (1931) first reported Leptospira from human patients suffering from jaundice in Andaman Islands (Srivastava, 2006). Ayyar (1932) first reported Leptospira from dogs in Chennai city. 

Properties of genus

1. Morphology : Leptospira are gram negative, spiral shaped organisms with hooked ends. Length varies from 6-20 µm with 0.1-0.2 μm diameter (Fig.1). They have a typical double membrane covering. The cytoplasmic membrane and peptidoglycan cell wall are closely associated and are surrounded by an outer membrane. Two periplasmic flagella (endoflagella) are found within the cell and are responsible for the motility. No flagella are present as extracellular appendages. One end of the flagella is attached with the pole of the bacterial cell by insertion disc. Other end extends towards the centre of the cell and may overlap the flagella coming from the opposite end. The endoflagella consists of a solid inner core surrounded by tubular sheaths. The FlaA and FlaB proteins constitute these flagellar sheath and core, respectively.

SUMMARY

Abiotic stress can be reduced by choosing the most appropriate pulse species and adjusting agronomy (sowing time, plant density, soil management) to ensure sensitive crop stages occur at the most favourable time in the season. For example choosing the optimum sowing time, species and cultivars with appropriate phenology can reduce the effect of frost and drought in pulse crops in dry land environments, which termed stress.

             Most appropriate approach of dealing with stresses caused by extremes in the abiotic environment is to develop cultivars resistant to specific stresses. However, breeding and selection for resistance to these stresses is often considerable difficult because of the unpredictability of climatic conditions. Drought and heat escape through earliness in flowering and maturity is probably the characteristic most widely used by breeders for pulses and other crops to escape drought especially in low rainfall, terminal drought environment. Lack of simple and accurate screening procedures to screen parental genotypes and breeding population for various abiotic stresses is the major bottlenecks in the development of stress tolerant cool season pulse crops.

SUMMARY

Multiplicity of cropping systems has been one of the main features of Indian agriculture and it is attributed to rain-fed agriculture and prevailing socio-economic situations of farming community. It has been estimated that more than 250 double cropping systems are followed throughout the country and based on rationale of spread of crops in each district in the country, 30 important cropping systems have been identified. Cropping systems of a region are decided by and large, by a number of soil and climatic parameters which deter mine overall agro ecological setting for nourishment and appropriateness of a crop or set of crops for cultivation. Much of the Madhya Pradesh area also coincides with the rainfed semi-arid agro-ecological region and sub-regions which are upland, forested with low agricultural productivity and predominately tribal population. It would appear that over the centuries – including in recent history tribals have been inexorably moved off the better lands, into areas which from an agricultural perspective have low productive capacity and little potential for growth. Low agricultural productivity is one of the main causes of persistently high poverty rates in the state and the poor masses not only depends upon the farming system but also chosen different alternatives for their sustanability.

Antirrhinum is a genus commonly known as snapdragon belongs to family Scrophulariaceae. Snapdragon is one of the flowering plant present with vast genetic diversity in India. The term Antirrhinum is derived from the Greek word “anti” means like and “rhin” means a nose, referring to the snout like shape of the flower. The cultivated Antirrhinum majus is grown in tropical, subtropical and temperate countries. The common name snapdragon, originates from the flowers reaction to having their throats squeezed, which causes the mouth of the flower to snap open like a dragon’s mouth. Flowers are borne on terminal long spikes of many colours except blue and with numerous shades. It is one of the excellent cut flowers which have long lasting qualities. These are also used as garden plants, bedding plants, in rockeries or herbaceous borders and as potted plants. Plants can be grown for cut flowers in an open field or under protection depending on the climate. The leaves and flowers are antiphlogistic, bitter, resolvent and stimulant (Chiej, 1984).

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

The garden snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) has emerged as a model organism during early studies of inheritance and mutation (Darwin, 1868) because of its diploid inheritance, ease of cultivation and variation in morphology and flower colour. The genus Antirrhinum includes 15 New World species in the section Saerorhinum and 21 Old World species in the sections Antirrhinum and Orontium. A. majus (Snapdragon) is a species of Antirrhinum native to the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern France and East to Turkey and Syria. Most species are found around the Mediterranean Sea and in North America (Stubbe, 1966). The progenitor of the modern snapdragon is from the Mediterranean region and more specifically, it is native to southern France. It was believed that the snapdragon reached Britain with the Romans at an early date, where it has been naturalized on mountainous regions. Thereafter, it spread to different parts of the world from Britain.

The scientific name of the genus Antirrhinum was first defined by Carl von Linne in the year 1753. In the year 1914 Professor Erwin Baur the founder of the MaxPalnck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung in Cologne published a volume called ‘Einführung in die experimentelle Vererbungslehre’ (Introduction to Experimental Genetics) 2nd edition. This book contained several plates with reproductions of water colour paintings of snapdragons as examples. He crossed a white line with a red line resulting in a pink flower. This pink flower then was selfed and the offspring showed the typical distribution of 1 white, 2 pink and 1 red as a demonstration of Mendelian inheritance. Antirrhinum glandulous is native of California. In United States of America, winter flowering cultivars were introduced in 1926 by Frank Volz of Cheviot, Ohio. In 1959, snapdragon were included in the Agricultural Censuses of Horticulturally Special Crops and ranked seventh as a cut flower crop.

The genus Antirrhinum offers an inexhaustible resource for genetics-based studies in developmental biology, biochemistry and evolution (Stubbe, 1966). Wide diversity of Antirrhinum species, combined with classical and molecular genetics, the two traditional strengths of Antirrhinum provides an opportunity for developmental, evolutionary and ecological approaches (Schwarz-Sommer et al., 2003). Transposons responsible for flower variegation were identified in the 1980s. The Max-Planck-Institute in Cologne, Germany, allowing genes involved in flower and leaf development and in pigmentation to be isolated by transposon tagging. Population genetic studies that have been applied to Antirrhinum species show different population sizes, geographic distributions and breeding systems, from self-fertility to obligate out-crossing (Jimenez et al., 2002 and Mateu-Andres and de Paco, 2006). It was introduced to India with the advent of British. Among them, only A. majus has been domesticated as an ornamental.

Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii), a tender, stemless, perennial flowering plant, belongs to family Asteraceae. Gerbera was named in honour of the German botanist and naturalist “Traugott Gerber” who was a friend of Carolus Linnaeus. Gerbera is very popular and widely used as cut flower or as a decorative garden plant. It was discovered in 1878 near Barberton, eastern Transvaal (South Africa), therefore, referred as the Barberton daisy or Transvaal daisy. It is ideal for beds, borders and pots and is the fifth most important cut flower in the world.

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

Gerbera is originated from South Africa. The native distribution of genus Gerbera comprising 30 species, extends to Africa, Madagascar, tropical Asia and South America (Hansen, 1985 and Bremer, 1994). Whereas, it was also reported that gerbera is found in the temperate and tropical parts of Asia and Africa and about 7 species are recorded in India. This plant is distributed in the temperate Himalayas from Kashmir to Nepal. Gerbera is commonly seen on the dry slopes near Shimla and on hillsides above Gulmarg in Kashmir (Anon., 1956). The G. jamesonii is found naturally in grassland in sandy soils in Mpumalanga and Barberton district. The genus Gerbera has approximately 14 southern African species, some of which are found only in Western Cape. G. aurantica is endemic to the mist belt grassland region of KwaZulu-Natal and is known from approximately 9 scattered populations from Helahela in the south to Babanango in the north. This species is under threat of extinction due to habitat fragmentation and degradation. In India they are distributed in temperate Himalayas at altitudes of 1300-3200 metres and observed from Kashmir to Nepal.

The genus Gerbera is named in honour of German naturalist Traugott Gerber who travelled in Russia in 1743 and started first botanical garden in Moscow. However, for species i.e. jamesonii, it is a matter of different opinion. The jamesonii was named for Dr. L. S. Jameson, a British colonial statesman in South Africa who was one of the discoverers of this species, whereas in some literature, the species was named after Robert Jameson who collected live specimens while on a prospecting expedition to the Barberton district in 1884, even though the species collected on three earlier occasions by other people. In 1888, Medley Wood, the curator of the Durban Botanical Garden sent plants to Kew, which subsequently flowered. This is native to South Africa, Madagascar, Asia, South America and Indonesia.

The first official description of South African species G. jamesonii was made by J.D. Hooker in Curtis Botanical magazine with coloured illustration in 1889. An active society on this subject is to be found in Australia under the name W.A. Gerbera Society. The society has used a classification system of gerbera. The breeding of gerbera started at the end of the nineteenth century in Cambridge, England, when two South African sp. were crossed. G. jamesonii native to Natal and Transvaal and G. viridifolia from western Cape were crossed together by R. Irwin Lynch in 1887, after both these species were introduced to Cambridge Botanic Gardens by Jameson and the hybrid was named as G. x cantabrigensis.

Heliconia belongs to family Heliconiaceae is popular as ornamental plants and cut flowers because of their brilliant colours and exotic appearance. The genus name “Heliconia” is derived from “Helicon”, a mountain in southern Greece regarded by the ancient Greeks as the home of the Muses, thus suggesting the relationship between these plants and the bananas, genus Musa (Berry and Kress, 1991). Unique features of the Heliconiaceae are (1) medium to large erect herbs rising from underground rhizomes;(2) each erect shoot is composed of a stem and leaves, whereas the stem is made up of an axis covered by overlapping sheathing leaf bases, technically called a pseudostem;(3) inverted flowers and (4) the presence of a single staminode. Heliconia has long been popular horticulturally because of their showy inflorescences. It was so attractive that early explorers of the tropics returned to Europe with several species that became prized green house specimens. Heliconia, grown in nearly all of the tropical regions of the world, including Africa and Asia. In India, heliconia is grown in North-East region and Kerala.

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

Heliconias are native only to Central and South America and some of the islands of the South Pacific, for horticultural and commercial popularity. Berry and Kress (1991) stated that they are native from Tropical America and found at different altitudes, from sea level up to 2,000 meters in Central and South America, and up to 500 meters in the South Pacific Islands (Criley and Broschat, 1992).

Most of the Heliconia species are distributed primarily in Neotropical areas from the North of Mexico to the South of Brazil (Santos, 1978, Dahlgren et al., 1985 and Kress, 1990). A small Paleotropical group, about eight species, occurs in islands of the South Pacific (Tomlinson, 1969 and Kress, 1985). There are approximately 40 Brazilian species with two primary areas of distribution: the Amazon basin and the Atlantic coastal forest (Kress, 1990). About 100 or more species, native mainly to tropical and subtropical South and Central America (Cronquist, 1981).

Several attempts have been made over the years to sort out the taxonomy of the Old World Heliconia. Baker (1893), followed by Schumann (1900) and Winkler (1930), dealt with the problem of identity and origin of these taxa by assigning them to the neotropical species Heliconia bihai L. Others such as Ridley (1908a, b), Backer (1920) and Green (1969) recognized the distinctive and endemic features of the paleotropical taxa that separated them from the neotropical species. This ornamental rhizomatous herbaceous plant from the Heliconia genus, belongs to the Musaceae family, now constitutes the Heliconiaceae family in the Zingiberales order. The various species of Heliconia are subdivided into five subgenera: Heliconia, Taeniostrobus, Stenochlamys, Heliconiopsis and Griggisia; and 28 sections (Kress et al., 1993).

Kangaroo Paws (Anigozanthos spp.) belongs to family Haemodoraceae. It is commonly known as Sword-like or Iris-like. The word Anigozanthos was coined by French botanist Jacques de La Billardiere. This is derived from Greek words “anoigo” meaning to “expand or unequal” and “anthos” meaning “flower or irregular corolla”. It can be used as cut flower, pot plant, landscape plants or dry flower (Gui et al., 2005). The kangaroo paws is gaining popularity among gardeners, horticulturists, nursery man also in world market due to its beautiful, unique, colourful pattern of flowers and also being perennial in nature.

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

It is originated in Australia. Louden’s Hortus Britanicus, A Catalog of a Plants Endemic, Cultivated or Introduced to Britain, written in 1830, states that in 1808 Anigozanthos manglesii was introduced by Robert Mangles who had possibly received seed from his brothers in New Holland. Anigozanthos rufus was introduced into cultivation in 1824. The Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening dates of the Botanical Magazine Plates are listed as A. flavida 1808 (BM 1151), A. manglesii 1833 BR, A. pulcherrimus 1844 (BM 4507). The first report of introduction of 8-10 species of Anigozanthos under green house from Australia in USA was reported in 1902 edition of Bailey’s Cyclopedia of American Horticulture. The first hybrid Bush Gems was introduced from Australia by Mr. Meyer, he had also made good selection of A. rufus and A. pulcherrimus these were propagated by Oglesby tissue culture lab. Many of them were released for sale at the Huntington Gardens annual plant sale in 1985.

All species of Kangaroo paw are restricted in distribution to the southern areas of Western Australia. Anigozanthos flavidus occurs in the extreme south west of Western Australia growing from Augusta east to Two Peoples Bay and north to Waroona. It can be found on roadsides, river banks, swamps, shallow water and in eucalypt forests, tolerating light shade. The species A. manglesii is widely distributed throughout the Southwest Australian bio geographic regions, preferring white, yellow or grey sand or sandy loam. The occurrence is confirmed in the northernmost part of its range in the Geraldton Sandplains and the Swan Coastal Plain near Perth. Extensive records also exist of occurrence in Jarrah Forest and Warren region to the south but not reaching the southern coasts. It extends inland to the Avon Wheatbelt.

Lisianthus is among top ten cut flower crop of the world. In short duration of 20-30 years it become top ranking flower crop of world due to its beautiful flowers which bears beauty of different top ranking old commercial flower crops with variation in flower colours, shape, size with long vase life. It looks like tulips as they began to open and as poppies when fully opened, gaps between the petals appears like daisy, ruffled petals resemble carnations and the most important one is the flower buds and opened double type lisianthus resemble rose buds and open flower respectively and there is no doubt that this is a primary reason for consumer acceptance. Double flowered lisianthus are more demanded in U.S. as cut flower about 80% of lisianthus market whereas, single flowered are more dominant in Japanese and European markets. In Japan over 129 million cut stems were sold in 2001 placing it on number one position in Europe, over 122 million cut stems were sold in 2001 and placing it in top ten ranking and in the United States over 14 million cut stems were sold in 2002, it is not only popular as a cut flower but also as a bedding plant and a pot plant in market (Grueber et al., 1985, Halevy and Kofranek, 1984, Roh and Lawson, 1987, Tjia and Sheehan, 1984, Tija and Sheehan 1986, Skrzypczak et al., 1993 and Harbaugh, 2007), a plant bears 20-30 flowers per plant (Skrzypczak et al., 1993).

Lisianthus (Eustoma) is herbaceous perennial in some cases annual and biennial (Farina, 1989, Halevy and Kofranek, 1984, Wilkins and Grueber, 1983 and Harbaugh, 2007) belongs to family Gentianaceae (Oren-shamir et al., 1999) and genus “Lisianthus”, which is also used as the common name for Eustoma grandiflorum, the plant was commonly known as Lisianthus russellianus when first listed in seed catalogues in the early 1980’s in the United State, later it was given scientific name Eustoma grandiflorum (Raf.) Shinn. (synonyms Eustoma andrewsii; E. russellianum; Lisianthus russellianus) (Bailey and Baily, 1976, Everett, 1981 and Harbaugh, 2007). However, Lisianthus is also known as the Prairie gentian or Texas bluebell (Markham, 1996 and Harbaugh, 2007) and Prairie Rose (Harbaugh, 2007). Eustoma is named after the two Greek words Eu (beautiful, good, well) and stoma (mouth) (Uddin et al., 2013). It is a self compatible (Harbaugh, 2007 and Markham, 1996), diploid crop (Markham, 1996). The buds are colourless is a great disadvantage as an ornamental growth. The range of flower colours available in commercial lines is limited to white and purple, shades of cream, pink, mauve and purple (Markham, 1996 and Harbaugh, 2007).

E. grandiflorum has a set of pharmacologically active compounds and therefore can be a valuable therapeutic material, or can serve as a source of pure chemical compound, apart from its strictly ornamental uses (Skrzypczak et al., 1993).