eChapters

Insect pests cause huge losses ranging from 5 to 80% of even up to 100%. Acute food shortage following world war –II and Bengal famine (1943) due to failure of rice crop due to a paddy disease indicate the severity of the loss, caused by the pests and diseases. The insects in storage on an average consume and spoil an additional 4 million tones of grains every year. All this indicates the importance of plant protection by which we can save millions of tones of food grains which are otherwise eaten away by different pests. Losses due to insect pests in Indian agriculture are 23.3 per cent. One of the practical means of increasing crop production is to minimize the pest associated losses.

A pest is any organism which occurs in large numbers and conflict with man’s welfare, convenience and profit.

Pests are often controlled with man made chemicals which have many harmful effects, for example:

Weeds can be considered a significant problem because they tend to decrease crop yields by increasing competition for water, sunlight and nutrients while serving as host plants for pests and diseases. Since the invention of herbicides, farmers have used these chemicals to eradicate weeds from their fields. Using herbicides not only increased crop yields but also reduced the labor required to remove weeds. Today, some farmers have a renewed interest in organic methods of managing weeds since the widespread use of agro-chemicals has resulted in purported environment and health problems. It has also been found that in some cases herbicides use can cause some weed species to dominate fields because the weeds develop resistance to herbicides. In addition, some herbicides are capable of destroying weeds that are harmless to crops, resulting in a potential decrease in biodiversity on farmers. It is important to understand that under an organic system of weed control, weeds could never be eliminated but only managed. In organic agriculture weeds are the resources as they are mostly native to the field/areas of existence (Children’s of the soil)

Technical Knowledge (ITK) based special inputs / Techniques for plant growth

Growth of the plant has for long been believed to be due to the minerals absorbed from the soil and the food materials synthesized by the palnt. It is recognized that growth of the plant is very much regulated by certain chemical substances known as growth regulators. These substances are formed in one tissue or organ of the plant and are then transported to other sites where they produce specific effects on growth and development. These materials can be produced organically for improving plant growth.

3.1. Growth Promoting Substances

Are those organic solutions (like Panchagavya, Buttermilk & Coconut milk slurry, Amudhakaraisal) prepared using the plant and animal products, decayed fruit and other agricultural wastes. For example

Manure is the organic material derived from animal, human and plant residues which contain plant nutrients in complex forms. Manures are used as source of plant nutrients. They release nutrient after their decomposition. They are applied in large quantities

Advantages of Organic Manures

• Organic manure provides all the nutrients that are required by plants but in limited quantities.
• It helps in maintaining C:N ratio in the soil and also increases the fertility and productivity of the soil.
• It improves the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil.
• It improves both the structure and texture of the soils.
• It increases the water holding capacity of the soil.
• Due to increase in the biological activity, the nutrients that are in the lower depths are also made available to the plants through manures.
• It acts as mulch, thereby minimizing the evaporation losses of moisture from the soil.

Presently the farming situation urges need to develop farming techniques, which are sustainable from environmental, production, and socio-economic points of view. Modern agricultural production throughout the world does not appear to be sustainable in the long run. Sustainable agricultural development “is the management and conservation of the natural resource base and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner to assure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for the present and future generations”. Such sustainable development in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors, conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable. Such concerns imparted a way to organic farming. It is the need of the day to understand the prospects and problems of organic farming to launch a successful and flawless organic production programme in the farm of environment.

Organic farming

It is the most widely recognized alternative farming system to chemical agriculture evolved during 1940’s largely in response to the publication of J.I Rodale in the U.S., Lady Eve Balfour in England and Sir Albert Howard in India. In 1980, USDA released a landmark report on organic farming. The report defined organic farming as follows;

“Organic farming is a production system, which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives. To the maximum extent feasible, organic farming systems rely upon crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farm organic wastes, mechanical cultivation, mineral bearing rocks, and aspects of biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth to supply plant nutrients, and to control insects, weeds, and other pests”.

11.1 Planning

• Upon receipt of production program verify that crop sowing dates fall into crop windows identified for the particular area and allot accordingly. Check the quality of lots produced in previous season, if available.
• Assign crop location (Open field, Green house, Insect Proof Net / Cage etc) according to crop needs, site conditions and degree to which these conditions can be manipulated efficiently to meet the crop needs. Always adhere to optimum crop conditions.
• Identify material and personnel needs based on the production program and coordinate timely arrival of both. Material and personnel must meet standards established by the production site.
• Identify material quality like A, B, D (First, Second and Dirty) based on the specs.
• Refer standard procedures or formulate some of them. Do not proceed if proper documentation does not exist.
• Plan training for laborers regarding crossing, flower morphology, anthesis, time of stigma receptivity etc.

Inventory management system is a computer based system for creating work orders at a processing plant, tracking inventory levels in the go downs, , sales and seed movement out of the processing plant. These modern systems avoid book maintenance and save lots of space. It will also tool for avoiding overstock or delay in movement of seed material for packaging. In most of the processing plants SAP is the most popular inventory management tool which is more efficient than others. SAP is basically a tool of enterprise resource planning which help in material management. The customised software can be used very effectively in a processing plant for the following operations.

Seeds are having a ability to survive and start a new generation when favourable conditions exists. However like other form of life, they cannot retain their viability indefinitely and eventually deteriorate and die. To retain viability and germination it is important to store in proper storage. Seeds harvested may not be useful for packaging thus making it to store for a period till the need for packaging arises. Seed storage is very critical task of seed processing. The success of seed processing is determined by safe storage. Since the vegetable seeds are expensive need modern techniques of storage. Based on the seed shelf life or longevity vegetable seeds can be divided into two types:

Orthodox Seeds : Orthodox seeds are long-lived seeds. They can be successfully dried to moisture contents as low as 5% without injury and are able to tolerate freezing temperatures. Most orthodox seeds come from annual temperate species adapted to open fields. At physiological maturity they contain moisture content of 30 – 50%. Most of the vegetable seeds are orthodox and hence there is lot of scope for proper storage. E.g-Tomato (6.0 %) and Peppers (7.0%

Recalcitrant Seeds : They are short - lived seeds, which cannot be dried to moisture contents below 30% without injury and are unable to tolerate freezing. They are difficult to ore successfully because of their high moisture content encourages microbial contamination and results in more rapid seed deterioration. Storage of these seeds at subzero temperatures causes the formation of ice crystals, which disrupts cell membranes and causes freezing injury. These seeds are from perennial trees in the mois t tropics such as coconut, coffee, cacao, citrus etc. These seeds mature and exists in their fruits and are covered with fleshy or juicy ariloid layers and impermeable testa. At physiological maturity they contain more moisture content (50- 70%) than orthodox seeds, even though their embryos are only about 15 % of the size of an orthodox seed embryo. In general recalcitrant seeds never go into dormancy but instead continue their development and progress towards germination.

Vegetable seed drying is the most critical stage for any shop floor activities. Only properly dried seed will be taken for processing and all the other activities from seed receipt to storage. Seed producers harvest the seed which will have more moisture than packaged seed. For example onion seed harvested when its moisture at 60% but eventually dried to 10-12% for safe storage and packaging. Seed drying is highly skilled and specialized activity without affecting the seed quality. Proper drying procedures are vital for storage and field performance of seed lots. Drying prevents germination of the seed, the growth of bacteria and mould and it reduces the conditions for development of insects. The moisture content of a seed is influenced by the humidity of the air because they are very hygroscopic in nature. The more moisture in the air, the higher the moisture content of the product. If seed are harvested during warm, humid weather, the moisture content of the seed will be high because the relative humidity of the air is high as well. It is necessary to dry the seed before it can be stored safely. The method of drying depends on the local conditions (climate, season, volume of the seed, type of seed etc)

Vegetable seed drying is the most critical stage for any shop floor activities. Only properly dried seed will be taken for processing and all the other activities from seed receipt to storage. Seed producers harvest the seed which will have more moisture than packaged seed. For example onion seed harvested when its moisture at 60% but eventually dried to 10-12% for safe storage and packaging. Seed drying is highly skilled and specialized activity without affecting the seed quality. Proper drying procedures are vital for storage and field performance of seed lots. Drying prevents germination of the seed, the growth of bacteria and mould and it reduces the conditions for development of insects. The moisture content of a seed is influenced by the humidity of the air because they are very hygroscopic in nature. The more moisture in the air, the higher the moisture content of the product. If seed are harvested during warm, humid weather, the moisture content of the seed will be high because the relative humidity of the air is high as well. It is necessary to dry the seed before it can be stored safely. The method of drying depends on the local conditions (climate, season, volume of the seed, type of seed etc)

Seed treatment is one of the important activities of the shop floor. The seed should be treated with various insecticides, fungicides and additives to protect it up to establishment. Some timesenhance quality parameters like vigour which is critical for better establishment. Since vegetable seeds are of very high value and low volume, investment on seed treatment will yield better not only for the seed seller but to the grower also. More number of plants in a field brings moreincome per unit area. Hence the farmer or grower who buys seed is ready to bear the cost of seed treatment making it an important aspect of seed processing.

Seed treatment refers to the application of fungicide, insecticide or both to the seeds to disinfect(deep seated) and disinfest (over seed coat) them from seed borne or soil borne pathogenic organisms and storage insects. It also refers treating seed for enhancing quality by subjecting the seed to solar energy exposure or immersion in hot water or dry heat treatment or priming also.

The term seed blending is nothing but seed mixing done based on certain principles. It is simply combining two or more seed lots of same variety or hybrid of specified quality. The blendingmayinvolve lots which mayhave different quality in terms of germination. Usually individual seed lots are much better compared to blended lots but from the point of efficient inventory management blending is advisable. The main purpose of blending is to pool all the variable lots in to a larger bulk and mix the constituents effectively so that each pocket of seed has a uniform quality.

Seed processing is specialized activity and also a tool to improve seed quality further to an acceptable standard. Seed quality parameters like germination, vigour or genetic purity can be improved using processing. Say a seed lot having a minimum standard of 90% germination, but the competition in the market offering seed quality 92 or 95 % then to meet the market demand we can process the seed lots using re-milling or re-conditioning techniques. Also sometimes simple techniques like liquid density separation which uses specific density of the seed to separate good seed from inferior quality can be considered. Various case studies on processing to improve seed quality are given here.

The processing of the seed refers to mainly pre-cleaning and sizing. The sizing is up gradation of seed lots based on size, shape or length. In this chapter processing with main reference to sizing or upgrading is given. Sizing or upgrading is done by using different screens in an air screen cleaner, gravity separator, seed blower, indent disc cylinder, belt grader or some time colour sorter. Here specific tasks like use of screens in an air screen cleaner, rubber belt angles when using a belt grader, disc type when using indent disc cylinder or special arrangements in a gravity separator are given. The details of the machines or equipments with the principles of working were already covered in Chapter-3.

Vegetable seed cleaning and processing are two important aspects of seed post-harvest management. These steps are very essential to maintain the quality of the seed till its next sowing season. The quality of seed produced is dependent on the moisture content and various admixtures. To provide quality seed to farmers, it is very essential to clean seed to its maximum quality. The seed quality attributes like moisture, free water activity, to be controlled in germination, vigor and viability are upgraded during seed cleaning.

Seed cleaning is the term used as a part of processing means separation of admixtures from a particular seed lot. The physical characters like bigger clods, sand, soil, chaffy material, inert matter etc. will be removed during seed cleaning. Seed processing on the other hand is relatively broad term referring to the process of removal of dockage in a seed lot and preparation of seed for marketing is called seed processing. The price and quality of seed is inversely related to dockage, which should not exceed a maximum level permitted for different crops for seed certification. Due to the operation of processing the level of heterogeneity of seed lot gets narrowed down. The heterogeneity occurs in a seed lot due to following reasons:

The vegetable seed production in India work on the principle of buy back or contract farming where the production agent or organizer distribute the plots of seed production to growers. The grower is responsible for the rising of seed crop till harvesting or pre-conditioning. The organizerguides the growers regarding the plant protection, roguing and pre-conditioning. The harvesting is entirely a responsibility of the grower but facility for pre-conditioning may be established by the seed organizer. The seed pre-conditioning includes activities like acid treatment on wet seed bases or operations which make seed ready for procurement. After the harvesting or pre-conditioning the seed will be procured by the organizer and head for the processing yard for grading & packaging.

2.1 Harvesting and Pre-conditioning

The methods of harvesting and pre-conditioning various with crop to crop. There are mainly two types of vegetables in terms of type of harvesting.

1.1 Introducution

Growing of vegetables is one of the most profitable allied activities of agriculture especially in small-medium land holdings and with limited water resources. Use of improved varieties and hybrids is very critical to make smaller land holdings profitable. Seeds of improved varieties and hybrids not only increase income to the tune of more than 30% but also reduce the use of plant protection chemicals. India being the second largest producer of vegetables in the world with 6.2 m ha of land and 85m MT production-use of improved seed is very important. The annual requirement of vegetables is estimated to be over 135m MT which can be only achieved through use of quality seed. India is predominantly vegetarian country and depends upon vegetables for their nutrients and minerals.

Vegetable cultivation is labour intensive, gives high returns and ensures nutritional security. To ensure these the supply of quality seed is very vital. Apart from seed production, its processing for seed quality to give the end user is of high importance. Unlike seed processing of field crops, vegetable seed processing is very technology driven since the volume is less and involve costly material. Improved processing efficiency brings more income for the grower and seller. The vegetable seed being low volume needs better technology for upgrading, size grading, blending, conditioning, processing, treatment and packaging. Vegetable seed processing is set of activities as mentioned here each of having a special focus on the quality.

Institutes under ICAR

1. Deemed Universities - 4
2. Institutions - 64
3. National Research Centres - 15
4. National Bureaus - 6
5. Directorates/Project Directorates - 13 State Agricultural Universities

1. The normal gestation period of buffalo is

   a) 280 days

   b) 290 days

   c) 300 days

   d) 310 days

2. The best crop of silage making is

   a) Maize

   b) Jowar

   c) Bajra

   d) Lucerne

1. The goal of —————— is to gather commodity from the field at proper stage of maturity With minimum damage.

   a) Harvesting

   b) Grading

   c) Sorting

   d) Handling

2. Harvesting in rose is done at —————— stage

   a) Loose bud

   b) Tight bud

   c) Fully open

   d) Partially open

1. Botanical name of All spice is__________ _________.

   a) Piper nigrum

   b) Zinziber officinale

   c) Curcuma longa

   d) Pimenta dioica

2. Saffron belongs to family _________

   a) Piperaceae

   b) Myrtaceae

   c) Iridaceae

   d) Orchidaceae

1. This is fragrant rose variety

   a) Blue Moon

   b) First Red

   c) Gladiator

   d) None

2. Rose belong to family

   a) Amaryllidaceae

   b) Compositae

   c) Rosaceae

   d) None

1. Formal garden has a ———— layout.

   a) Odd

   b) Natural

   c) Symmetric

   d) Irregular

2. Foutain is located in —— of building.

   a) Backside

   b) Front

   c) Lateral side

   d) None of these

1. Onion belongs to the family ...........................

   a) Alliaceae

   b) Brussicaceac

   c) Crucifereae

   d) Chno podoceae

2. Pungency in onion is due to ...........................

   a) Dially / disulphide

   b) Carbonates

   c) Sulphonates

   d) Allypropyl Disulfide

1. _________________ work for grape fruit setting.

   a) Alar

   b) IAA

   c) Cytokinin

   d) Abscissic acid

2. A fruits that develops from a hollow pear-shaped fleshy receptacle (hypanthodium) which encloses a number of minute male and female flowers in known as :

   a) Aggregate fruit

   b) Hesperidium

   c) Pome fruit

   d) Syconus fruit

1. Pomology word is derived from a—————————

   a) Greek word

   b) Latin word

   c) English word

   d) None of these

2. Deficiency of ————————vitamin causes scurvy.

   a) A

   b) B

   c) C

   d) D

1. ……….. is the study of human relationship in rural environment.

   a) Sociology

   b) Rural sociology

   c) Indian sociology

   d) None of the above

2. Journal of Extension is published from ………….

   a) UK

   b) USA

   c) Germany

   d) Holland

1. “Statistics is a science of calculations and averages”, the definition was given by :

   a) R.A. Fisher

   b) Boddington

   c) Bowley

   d) Anderson

2. “Statistics is a study of population, variation and methods of data reduction” is the definition of statistics according to:

   a) A.L. Bowley

   b) R.A. Fisher

   c) Boddington

   d) None of these

1. ______ an application of the accounting principles to the business of farming.

   a) Farm planning

   b) Farm budgeting

   c) Farm accounting

   d) Marketing

2. ‘Beef’ and ‘hides’ are examples of:

   a) Independent enterprise

   b) Joint enterprise

   c) Supplementary enterprise

   d) Compitative enterprise

1. In bhendi field, the permissible limits for wild bhendi for Foundation and certified seed production is

   a) 0.10, 1.00

   b) 0.05, 0.10

   c) 0.1, 1.5

   d) None

2. Weed seed, other crop seed and inert matter are the fractions of

   a) Purity analysis

   b) Germination

   c) Seed viability test

   d) All

1. Hallow heart in pea occurs due to

   a) Calcium deficiency

   b) Molybdenum deficiency

   c) Boron deficiency

   d) Zinc deficiency

2. Presence of pathogen on the surface of the seed is termed as

   a) Admixture

   b) Infestation

   c) Infection

   d) Contamination

1. Decorticator is used for shelling pods in

   a) Bhendi

   b) Maize

   c) Groundnut

   d) Sunflower

2. Debearders are used in processing of

   a) Barley

   b) Oats

   c) Wheat

   d) Rice

1. The nucleus seed in cereals is produced by

   a) Ear to Row method

   b) Plant selection

   c) Progeny selection

   d) Head selection

2. Foundation seed is the progeny of

   a) Truthfully Labeled seed

   b) Foundation seed stage I

   c) Nucleus seed

   d) Breeder seed

1. Genetic principles of seed production were given by

   a) Feistritzer (1975)

   b) Kadam (1942)

   c) Kadam (1936)

   d) Swaminathan (1970)

2. Objectionable weed seed in wheat seed production is

   a) Chandvel

   b) Johnsoon grass

   c) Sudan grass

   d) Wild rice

1. International Rice Research Institute is located at

   a) Mexico

   b) Philippines

   c) Nigeria

   d) Columbia

2. Use of combining ability as a measure of gene action was first suggested by

   a) Wright (1921)

   b) Griffing (1956)

   c) Sprague and Tatum (1942)

   d) Hayman (1954)

1. ………… is the father of plant pathology.

   a) T J Burril

   c) Anton De Barry

   b) Needham

   d) E J Butler

2. ……… first time reported that plant diseases are caused by bacterium.

   a) Robert Koch

   c) Kuhn

   b) E F Smith

   d) T J Burril

1. A man supplied excess fertilizer and water the grass well. After sometime the leaves turn brown because

   a) Due to water logging

   b) It decreases photosynthesis

   c) Fertilizer is drained in lower layer of soil

   d) Osmosis occurs in root and root dies

2. If roots of plant are removed and plant is placed in water, then what will be happen?

   a) Passive absorption will continue

   b) Imbibition will continue

   c) Active absorption will continue

   d) None of these

1. The rice plant belongs to

   a) Short day plant

   b) Long day plant.

   c) Day neutral plant

   d) Etiolated

2. Cycoceal is a growth

   a) Growth inhibitor

   b) Growth hormone

   c) Growth regulator

   d) Growth stimulant

1. Mendel presented his results in the form of

   a) Two paper in French langua

   b) Two paper in German language

   c) One paper in German language

   d) None of the above

2. The alternative forms of a gene are called

   a) Allelomorph

   b) Gene

   c) Alleles

   d) None of these

1. Important objective of biotechnology in agriculture sector is

   a) To increase the nitrogen content

   b) To decrease the seed number

   c) To produce pest resistant varieties of plants

   d) To increase the plant weight

2. The main technology involved in agriculture biotechnology is called

   a) Tissue culture

   b) Plant breeding

   c) Transformation

   d) DNA replication

1. The initiator of a food web is

   a) Carnivores

   b) Herbivores

   c) Plants

   d) Decomposers

2. Fauna is term for

   a) Plant kingdom

   c) Animals

   b) Both (plant and animals)

   d) None of the above

1. Length of Gunter’s chain is……..ft

   a) 15

   b) 25

   c) 66

   d) 30

2. Chain is made up of thick galvanized iron wire of…..... mm in diameter

   a) 2

   b) 4

   c) 3.5

   d) 5

1. The example of trisaccharide is—————————.

   a) Raffinose

   b) Maltose

   c) Glucose

   d) Sucrose

2. Betaoxidation of fatty acid was proposed by ———————.

   a) Rose

   b) Knoop

   c) J.B Sumner

   d) Bloor

1. The Fraction of incident radiation which is reflected back is called as.................

   a) Short wave radiation

   b) Long wave radiation

   c) Albedo

   d) U.V radiation

2. Hulling percent in Rice crop.........

   a) 60-70%

   b) 40-50%

   c) 80-90%

   d) 20-25%

I. FILL UPS

1. _____ refers to the actual acquisition and selling packed seeds, intermediate storage delivery and sales promotional activities.
2. _____ entails using marketing information for the purpose of planning.
3. _____ is one of the major channel through which bulk of paddy seeds, pulses seeds and oil seeds are marketed in the state.

I. FILL UPS

1. RCA stands for _____.
2. Expert standing committee was set up in _____.
3. In _____year, All India Co-ordinated maize improvement programme was started.
4. First maize hybrid was released in the year _____.
5. All India co-ordinated bajra and sorghum improvement programme was started in _____.
6. First sorghum hybrid was released in the year _____.

I. FILL UPS

1. _____ are also called ed-worms.
2. _____ nematode causes discolouration in groundnut.
3. _____ in rice is caused by Aphelenchoides besseyi.
4. The ear cockle disease is caused _____.

I. FILL UPS

1. _____ is the most important primary pests of cereals.
2. _____ causes serious damage in maize cob.
3. _____ is the field pest of pulses.
4. _____ feeds on already damaged.

I. FILL UPS

1. _____ refers to the health status of a seed.
2. A group of fungi that infects developing seeds on the plant in the field, but before it is threshed is called as _____.
3. _____ fungi invade seeds at (or) after harvest.
4. _____ method is used particularly for smut and bunt fungi in gramineous host.
5. _____ method is used for detection of karnal bunt of wheat.