eChapters

1. INTRODUCTION

The concept of product management in market research is all about tradeoffs. Whether the objective is to increase market share, profit margin or revenue, every product manager makes trade-offs—quality vs. cost, time to market vs. breadth of features, richness of the offering vs. ease of use, etc. So, how does anybody know what the market wants? What market segments exist? What those segments prefer? What will they pay? or what trade-offs to make? The answer is to get the market to make the trade-offs. The conjoint analysis is the tool to measure the trade-off i.e. to understand customer preferences, values and choices. Conjoint analysis is used for many marketing decisions, including new product development process, selecting among alternative product designs, targeting, and pricing. It is also used to predict their choices for future products and services. Conjoint Analysis assumes that a product can be “broken down” into its component attributes. For example, a car has attributes such as colour, price, size, miles-per-gallon, and model style. Using Conjoint Analysis, the value that individuals place on any product is equivalent to the sum of the utility they derive from all the attributes making up a product. Further, it assumes that the preference for a product and the likelihood to purchase it are in proportion to the utility an individual gains from the product. It is generally inappropriate for products which are evaluated by consumers on the basis of their “image”, such as beer or cigarettes, rather than on the basis of their constituent attributes. It is so widely used in market research that helps to understand the market’s preferences including product development, competitive positioning, pricing, product line analysis, segmentation and resource allocation.That gives the better insight to the market revenue, share, profit which in turn helps to provide the better market intelligence. The present chapter deals with the genesis, usefulness and analysis procedure of conjoint analysis in different software with example.

In today’s technology driven 21^st century, software has become an integral part of our day to day work. Starting from checking day’s schedule in tablet after waking up in the morning till setting up alarm before going to bed at night, we are using numerous software applications in a day without even realizing the efforts spent to make those applications work perfectly every time we use it. If we look deeply, each software application in computer or in any electronic/computer controlled device go through multiple rigorous cycles of testing to ensure that it is working as intended after it was built by developers and before it was launched in market for public use. In software industry, this process is termed as software quality assurance (QA) or software testing which is being considered as one of the most flourishing verticals of IT software services sectors in 21^st century.

Software testing is one of the most important phases of software development life cycle and it consumes anything between 10% to 45% of project budget depending on the type of the software and methodology followed in the development and testing life cycle. There are different types testing e.g. unit testing, integration testing, system testing, user acceptance testing, alpha, beta testing which are exercised during the testing phase and QA team needs to provide the sign off before any product is released and implemented in production or in consumer market. With the ever increasing complexity of today’s software products along with the competitive market due to easy availability of multiple product options/vendors, the importance and awareness of software quality assurance has increased over years. Consequently, various software testing methodologies have been evolved in last two decades in order to perform testing in more structured and controlled manner. In addition, there is a continuous urge for improving the operational efficiency of the testing process in the organizations in order to produce better quality software at less cost.

Rainfed farming has a distinct place in Indian Agriculture, occupying 67% of the cultivated area, contributing 44% of the food grains and supporting 40% of the human and 65% of the livestock population. It is characterized by resource poor farmers, poor infrastructure and low investment in technology inputs (Singh, 1999). The land use in rainfed areas is quite diverse with a variety of crops, cropping systems, agroforestry and livestock farming. The productivity levels have remained low over the years and the share of rainfed crops in the total food grain production has been declining. The rainfed ecosystem suffers from the problems of (i) frequent droughts due to high variability in the quantum and distribution of rainfall, (ii) poor soil health due to continued degradation and inadequate replenishment of nutrient exhaustion, (iii) low animal productivity due to an acute scarcity of fodder and (iv) low risk bearing capacity of farmers due to poor socio-economic base, credit availability and infrastructure.

4.1 Introduction

There is no widely accepted methodology for evaluation of IPM programmes. It would be fair to say that commonly accepted methodology for evaluation of the IPM programmes is still under development. Three international workshops supported by the Global IPM Facility were held to discuss and review progress in the development of methodologies and guidelines for the evaluation of IPM, particularly of those programmes/projects using the FFS approach (van den Berg and Jiggins, 2007). The need to combine economic and social science approaches was identified by the participants as a major challenge (Waibel et al., 1999). The recommendations of these workshops are:

“Firstly, the methods of impact assessment and evaluation presented by experts from different fields revealed that despite for the many definitions’ about IPM, there was broad consensus that IPM is about avoiding pesticides dependence and about achieving a socially defined level of pesticide use even though there are many types of IPM intervention. They range from ordinary farmer training to sophisticated ‘Farmer Field School’ approaches. Effective communicated research results that challenge existing paradigms and case studies that draw the attention of politicians and civil society can be subsumed under IPM intervention.

Secondly, need for a document that outlines good practices for IPM evaluation is urgent, because of the diversity of IPM intervention that already exist and that can be further expected. Virtually all groups involved in crop protection, including the chemical companies, label their own concept of IPM as it is a free good that can be taken, reproduced and modified by anyone. Hence, IPM can only be measured by its results and no longer by its inputs.

Thirdly, the different groups who participated in the workshop advocated different approaches to evaluation. There were those who see cost-benefit analysis (CAB) as the major tool of evaluation and wanted to refine this tool by adding economic evaluation of environmental impacts and by applying contingent valuation methods and willingness to pay concepts. Others believe that evaluation should not be a checking procedure but should be designed in the spirit of a joint learning experience. Thus, there was a difference of opinion among the economists on the one hand and anthropologists’ and extension specialists on the other hand. But, lastly, it was concluded that there is a need to set standards which must be met if CBA is going to provide the information that facilitates decision-making.

8.1 Introduction

There are many theories that deal with the generation of innovations, their diffusion and adoption or non-adoption by the end users. Such theories include actor-network theory, knowledge systems and network theory, strategic niche management theory and adoption and diffusion of innovations theory (Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971; Rogers, 1983, 1993, 2003). Among the different theories, the diffusion and adoption theory has achieved a prominent position in the field of anthropology, sociology, public health, medical sociology, communication, marketing and management, economics, public administration, industrial engineering, geography and many other disciplines all over the world for more than half a century. The main elements of diffusion of innovation as identified by Rogers (1962) are: i) An innovation, ii) Communication channels, iii) Time and iv) Social system. This shows that diffusion of any innovation will take place only if a new idea or practice exists which is accepted by an individual or a group of people over a period of time. The rate of diffusion depends upon the availability of communication channels and structure of the social system. But, in 1966, Fliegal and Kivlin complained that the diffusion of innovation has the status of a basted child with respect to parent’s interest in social and cultural change: Too big to ignore but unlikely to give full recognition.

The sustainable agricultural practices include integrated pest management (IPM), integrated nutrient management (INM), soil conservation and water management. However, there is not a single technological innovation were the innovator/company that commercializes a technology is not interested whether it is adopted/purchased by the consumer.

PLANT EXPLORATION AND GERMPLASM COLLECTION OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES

Plant exploration and collection activities have been undertaken for a wide range of needs - by naturalists, travelers and plant hunters over the past several centuries in the quest for new and better economic plants in the southeast Asian region, ornamentals in the Himalayas and many others; by taxonomists for working out plant diversity and delineating phyto- geographic differences, and providing a basis for pinpointing areas with high species diversity and changes over time; world-wide collection, augmentation and characterization of crop plant diversity by Vavilov and co-workers (1926) for understanding the patterns of crop plant diversity and delineating centres of diversity; search for wild forms of species, and wild relatives of crop plants for working out primary centres of origin and crop genepools; biosystematic study, survey and in situ study and collection in protected areas for determining patterns of diversity build-up in crop and wild species. Concept of centres of origin of crop plants, importance of the wild genepool of crops, dependence on wild plants as a source of edible and otherwise useful species ensuing from these efforts provide the basis for systematic exploration and collection of plant genetic resources.

Intellectual property: It can be defined as creations of intellectual brain which has value, utility/application in the society and can be traded in commerce for economic benefits.

Significance of Intellectual Property: The significance of protection of Intellectual Property has been realized for wealth and value creation in a knowledge-based economy. The agricultural scientists are comparatively little aware of IPR issues because their primary mandate has always been the free delivery of technology to the end users particularly the farmers. After the implementation of TRIPS Agreement during 1995, the worldwide focus of scientists and planners was shifted on the development of time appropriate technologies, protection of inventions/ technologies and real time technology transfer through licensing for industrial and agricultural growth leading to overall economic development. Under the changing scenario of global trade, where national governments are entering into bilateral agreements for tackling IPR issues to promote trade, agricultural scientists must also look for managing their intellectual properties in tune with the existing IP legislation of the country.

INTRODUCTION

Genetic engineering (GE) and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) provide powerful tools for sustainable development in agriculture, healthcare and many other industries. GMOs are those which were genetically engineered in a laboratory by incorporating a small foreign DNA fragment carrying a gene of interest into the native DNA of the organism. The foreign gene is attached with the necessary regulatory elements to help its expression in the new genetic environment. Genetically modified (GM) crops currently account for some 16 percent of the world’s land planted with soybean, maize, cotton and canola. The global demand for food is increasing because of the growing world population and decreasing arable land. At the same time food and agricultural systems have to respond to several changes such as increasing international competition, globalization and rising consumer demands for improved food quality, safety, health enhancement and convenience. Modern biotechnology involving the use of rDNA technology/genetic engineering has emerged as a powerful tool with many potential application for improving the quantity and quality of food supply. Foods derived from genetically modified crops, commonly referred to as genetically modified food and food ingredients have already become available worldwide with aim of enhancing productivity, decreasing the use of certain agricultural chemicals, modifying the inherent properties of crops, improving the nutritional value or even increasing shelf life. Results of DNA modification may not be limited only to the particular characteristics of the replaced gene. It is therefore important to ensure that when these organisms are released into nature they do not harm the environment or human health [EFSA, 2006]. Such concerns have led to broader interests in the theme of risk assessment in the release of GMOs. A cautious approach is necessary to assess environmental risks which may occur due to introduction of recombinant organisms in the natural environment [Johnson et al., 2007].

Abstract

Worldwide trend in fruit crops has shifted to high density or meadow orcharding to manage tree size for desired architecture to allow better light interception and easy in operations such as pruning, pest control and harvesting. The meadow orcharding facilitates increase production as well as quality of fruits. High density planting (HDP) is one of the recent and novel concepts of increasing the productivity without affecting the quality of fruits. The HDP has been successfully demonstrated in fruit crops such as apple, mango, citrus, banana, pineapple and guava. However, for more location specific benefit research must continue on appropriate plant canopy, integrated nutrient management suitable varieties, ageing of orchard and tree replacement. HDP accommodates more number of trees per unit area ranging from 500-10,000 plants/ha depending on the type of fruit crop and the level of density such as medium high density 500-1500 plants/ha, optimum high density 1,500-10,000 plants/ha ultra-high density 10,000-1,00,000 plants/ha. High density orcharding is a highly technical entrepreneurship where nutrient management, irrigation and canopy management practices widely vary from traditional orchards hence growers must have full execution knowledge of this technology in present as well as future perspective. Post harvest, storage and marketing are closely associated with the success of HDP technology. Fruit yield increases 2 to 4 times vertically enhancing income of fruit growers.

Abstract

Biochar is the product of thermal degradation of organic materials in the absence of air (pyrolysis), and is distinguished from charcoal by its use as a soil amendment. Biochar is generally alkaline in pH and may increase soil pH with greater increase observed in sandy and loamy soils than in clayey soils. Biochar addition can increase cation exchange capacity, base saturation, exchangeable bases and organic carbon content as well as decreases in Al saturation in acid soils. Biochar enhances soil productivity by improving the physical, chemical and biological soil conditions. Improvement in soil structure increase soil water retention. A comparative study of soil fertility and leaching losses of nutrients between an Anthrosol and an adjacent unamended Ferralsols revealed that the Anthrasol had significantly higher P, Ca, Mn and Zn availability than the Ferralsol, and an increased biomass of both cowpea and rice by 38–45% without fertilization. More experimentation is needed to substantiate multiple benefits of biochar application in relevant soil-environment-climate-management factors and minimize any possible drawbacks in Indian perspective. Efficient use of biochar in agricultural system is one viable option that can enhance natural rates of carbon sequestration in the soil, reduce farm waste, enhance crop yield with concomitant improvement in soil quality.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

Gardening is a practice of growing different kinds of horticultural crops in a particular land area as a part of horticulture either for consumption or sale, export, beautification etc. Basing on the crops grown, gardens are named accordingly, e.g., for raising vegetables, it is vegetable gardens; for fruit crops, it is orchard; for plantation crops, it is estate plantation; for ornamental plants, it is gardening and landscape etc. The history of gardening is not new. In ancient time kings, emperors, rulers, sages were establishing different types of gardens for different purposes.

Abstract

Conventional wisdom holds that variability in rainfall represents a significant variability of agriculture production. But urbanization of the cities on one hand and climate change on theother hand areaffecting the agriculture. Surprisingly, there have been very few analyses exploring the link between rainfall variability and urbanization on agriculture production. Therefore an attempt is made in this paper to know the affect of rainfall variability and urbanisation on the cropping area. For this purposeNDVI analysis is carried out in the catchments of Osmansagar and Himayathsagar Reservoirs by using the medium to high spatial resolution multi spectral data provided by remote sensing satellites, such as Landsat TM, IRS-1C/1D LISS-III and IRS-P6 LISS-III has been used for the years1989, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2008 for Kharif season, 1975, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2003 and 2008 for rabi season which is collected from NRSC (National Remote Sensing Centre). From this analysis it is found that the increment is more in rabi season compared to kharif season due to the increment of non-monsoon rainfall intensities and ground water withdrawal structures. The increased utilization of the groundwater is causing the reduction of inflows to the reservoirs in the recent years because whatever the rainfall that occurs in the catchment, first utilised for meeting the depleted soil moisture and ground water consequently reducing the surface runoff.

Keywords : Climate change, Urbanisation, Inflows, Cropping area, NDVI

Abstract

Runoff from rainfall is an important component of the hydrological cycle. Estimation of runoff is critical for the design of hydrological structures and drainage systems in watersheds. Different soils, land use, and water management practices affect runoff differently. In real watersheds, land use, soils and weather conditions vary spatially over the geographical area of the watershed leading to spatial variations in runoff. Also, most watersheds form a part of larger drainage basin or a large watershed consisting of several such subwatersheds. Each subwatershed is hydrologically connected to the other subwatersheds of the basin. A comprehensive GIS based decision support system (DSS) for estimation of runoff that includes the spatial variations in rainfall and natural resources is presented. The DSS is developed as a deployable application by integrating independent GIS layers of watershed features created in ArcGIS with MapObjects in VB, for a case study watershed - the KK3 watershed in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The DSS generates thematic maps of spatial variations in runoff on individual rainy days for the subwatersheds.

Keywords : GIS, GUI, Land use, Rainfall, Remote Sensing, Runoff, Soil, Sub-watershed, Watershed 228 Geospatial Technologies for Natural Resources Management

Abstract

Higher temperature and altered rainfall patterns accompanied by extreme weather events are being considered indications of climate change. These factors impact vegetation growth in natural forest, open scrub and in agriculture land. Vegetation index based on satellite data was used to analyse agricultural vulnerability in India to understand impact of rainfall variability. Time-series Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data products obtained from AVHRR (1982 to 2006) and MODIS (2000-2011) were analyzed to assess spatial and temporal variability. Coefficient of variation of maximum NDVI was assessed for the study period and results were corroborated with Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) instead of actual rainfall. Resolution of AVHRR time-series data facilitated study at regional-scale while MODIS datasets with 250m pixel resolution helped in identifying vulnerability at district-level. Study indicated that over 241 Mha areas in the country may not be vulnerable to rainfall variability induced climate change while over 81.3 Mha in arid, semi-arid and dry sub- humid regions may be vulnerable. Study indicated that over 12.1 and 1.81 Mha of Kharif cropland would be mildly and severally vulnerable while 6.86 and 0.5 Mha of Rabi cropland may be adversely affected in a similar manner. Study indicated that length of cropping season was decreasing due to delay in start of season. The paper also presents analysis of variations in SPI and resultant NDVI in typical drought and flood years in the country.

Keywords: MODIS, AVHRR, NDVI, Rainf ed Agricul ture, Vulnerability, Climate Change

In recent times, the interpretations cover a wide spectrum of soil uses, both for agricultural and non agricultural (sewage and human waste disposal, high way construction, water and gas supply, recreation, wild life, urban and industrial structures) and many specialized uses. Soil survey if correctly carried out according to scientific principles, can provide the data base for various interpretations. This is because the same soil properties determine the behaviour of a soil for a variety of different uses. For instance, the content of clay, silt and sand, the shrink and swell behaviour, the permeability of soil to water and air, content of calcium carbonate, salts, organic matter, gypsum, soil depth, depth of ground water, hard pan formation, co-efficient of linear extensibility, water holding capacity etc. are examples of such properties that are important to plant growth and these properties also strongly influence non farm uses. Some examples in support are

A hard or petrocalcic horizon or other slowly permeable layer (clay-pan) in a soil restricts the movement of air and water, thus adversely affecting the plant root growth. Such a layer limits the soils suitability for septic tanks and other onsite waste disposal. It also makes a poor sub grade for high way construction.

A soil high in soluble salts is a poor medium for plant growth; it is also corrosive to iron and steel structures, such as pipelines and fences, causing high maintenance and repair costs.

High organic matter content is generally favourable to plant growth, but it is a limitation for road construction.

The strongly gypsiferous soils (gypsum content >10%) are considered unsuitable for arable crop cultivation because of its dissolution under irrigated or even moderate rainfall and making the surfaces uneven through the developments of sink holes. Such soils are unsuitable for irrigation and drainage canal networks and also for construction of roads, bridges etc.

The shrink- swell soils of India (vertisols) because of summer monsoon rains are suitable for growing a “kharif” crop but are very dangerous for construction of roads, air strips, buildings, laying gas, water pipelines which get distorted, develop cracks and lead to sunken floors etc.

West Bengal is the fifth largest state in terms of (GSDP) Gross State Domestic Product after Maharastra, UP, TN and AP and is the third largest contributor in agriculture sector of real GDP. West Bengal has 3% of India land mass and 8% population with population density of 1029 per km².

Agriculture accounts for about 17% (2013-14) GSDP and provides employment to over 55% of workers. About 64% of the geographical area of West Bengal is under cultivation. There is little scope for further increase the current cultivable area. Because it is difficult to maintain the growth rate in the absence of adequate infrastructure support, crop diversification and market access.

Food production remained stagnant as the green revolution by-passed the state. However, there has been a significant increase in food production since 1980’s and the state is now one of the few Indian states with a surplus in food production, producing nearly 20% of the rice and 33% of potato. Agriculture accounts the largest share of the labour force. Rice, potato, jute, sugarcane and wheat are the top five crops of the state, while other major food crops include maize, pulses, oilseeds, wheat, barley and vegetables. In recent years, significant changes have occurred in maize production and utilization due to increasing commercial orientation of maize crop and rising demand for diversified end users, specially for feed and industrial uses. A sizable number of districts in West Bengal have potential for growing winter maize. Though maize favourably responds to better crop management both in Kharif and Rabi season, the erratic rainfall pattern of the south-west monsoon comes in the way of timely field operations of Kharif season. In absence of any major environmental impediments in Rabi, the desired field operations can be planned and executed at the most desired time. Moreover, the various environmental factors including absence of any major disease and insect pests in this season, helps in realizing the better profits from every additional unit of monetary inputs. Hence, future of Rabi maize in West Bengal is bright.

Maize ranks fourth after rice, wheat and bajara with respect to area and production, and grown on 4.23 lakh ha average with 6.72 lakh tones production and yield 1589 kg/ha in the Gujarat (2014-15). The state has 38.0% lower than national yield. It mainly grown in Panchmahal, Dahod, Mahisagar, Vadodara, Chhota Udepur, Kheda, Sabarkantha, Banaskantha and Aravali districts as rainfed Kharif and irrigated winter/Rabi crop for food, feed and industrial raw materials.

It is staple food and feed of tribal and grown as sole and intercrops with pigeon pea, black gram and soybean in Kharif season. The white and yellow flints to semi-flint maize are preferred to prepare bread and other food preparations

Foodgrains are a fine example of diversity of nature with many varieties and varied features. They are storable food commodities and lend themselves to numerous processing manipulations. Nutritionally foodgrains are rich source of almost all known nutrients and several phyto-chemicals. The increasing incidence of metabolic diseases are attributed to unbalanced energy rich diets lacking in fiber and protective bioactive compounds such as micronutrients and phyto-chemicals (Prakash, 2013). Cereals along with pulse combinations constitute an important part of human diet in many parts of the world because of easy availability, low cost, long shelf life and nutritional balance. During recent past, India has made significant progress in improving the food security of its masses. The green revolution of 60’s helped the country in achieving the food security by improving the availability and access components (Kaul et al., 2016). However, surplus quantity of food produced is not uniformly distributed and the quality component is not addressed properly which has a direct impact on nutrition. In spite of surplus production of foodgrains still malnutrition persists. However, it can suitably be overcome by combining cereals with good quality pulses and other value addition techniques which will go long way in solving the problem of malnutrition. Even though country is producing large quantity of coarse grains particularly maize but its utilization for direct consumption is very low which is mainly due to poor quality of protein. Although maize contains higher proportion of protein (10-12 %), its quality is poor as compared to that of protein in rice due to presence of high concentration of alcohol soluble protein fraction ‘prolamine’ also known as ‘Zein’ in the endosperm. Zein is very low in some essential amino acids, mainly lysine and tryptophan which contribute to more than 50% of the total protein. On the other hand, very high amount of leucine and imbalanced proportion of isoleucine contribute to poor quality of protein in normal maize. To overcome such deficiencies, scientists developed Quality Protein Maize (QPM) where the quality of protein is not only higher than the common maize, but also significantly higher than that of other cereal grains. In the recent past QPM has got special distinction among the cereals due to presence of high amount of essential amino acids like lysine and tryptophan. QPM can be utilized for diversified purposes in food and nutritional security as infant food, health food, convenience food, specialty food and emergency ration. In India maize is consumed mainly in the form of boiled corn or roasted as pop corn. In order to increase the proportion of maize for direct consumption, several traditional food-processing and preparation methods can be used at household level to enhance the bioavailability of micronutrients in maize based diets. These methods include alkali cooking, thermal processing, mechanical processing, soaking, germination/ malting and fermentation. In countries like Central America and Africa, it is converted into food products by grinding, alkali processing, boiling, cooking and fermentation (Srilakshmi, 2008).

Significant achievements have been made in the food availability throughout the world over the last few decades. The estimated number of people in developing regions suffering from chronic malnutrition has declined (from 946 million people in 1969-71 to 870 million people in 2010-12), as the proportion of malnourished people from 36 percent to 20 percent, even though the world population has increased. Global food supplies (if distributed according to individual requirements) are sufficient to fulfill the energy needs. An estimated 20 percent of the people in developing world are chronically under nourished, consuming too little food to meet even the minimal energy needs. Approximately 192 million children under the age of five years suffer from acute or chronic protein energy malnutrition. According to WHO, 6.9 million children under the age of five died in 2011, from direct or indirect result of hunger and malnutrition. Moreover, more than 2 billion people, mostly women and children are deficient in one or more micronutrients, babies continue to be born mentally retarded as a result of iodine deficiency, children go blind from vitamin-A deficiency and enormous number of women and children are adversely affected by iron deficiency.

The overall growth in food availability resulting from the green revolution over the last two decades has eliminated the threat of famine for India’s entire population. Country’s production of food grains has reached over 257.07 million tonnes. However, malnutrition is still a serious problem in this region. Evidences suggest that micronutrient deficiency is far more prevalent in the area than protein energy malnutrition. The International Food Policy Research Institute has reported a rising trend in micronutrient deficiencies, which is becoming more serious than malnutrition from lack of major nutrients. Thus, the emphasis is now shifting from supply of basic food (calories & protein) towards supply of balanced diet (calories, protein & micronutrients which includes vitamins and minerals).

Improved Varieties of OKRA (Bhindi)

Electrophoresis is a method of separating out large molecule ( DNA or protein). An electric current is passed through a medium containing the molecules, and each molecule travels at a different rate depending on its electrical charge, size and shape. Separation by electrophoresis is based on these differences. In electrophoresis, agarose and acrylamide gels are used for electrophoresis of nucleic acids and proteins.

What is Gel Electrophoresis?

A gel is a solid form. The term electrophoresis describes the migration of charged particle under the influence of an electric field. Electro refers to the energy of electricity. Phoresis, from the Greek verb phoros, means “to carry across.” Thus, gel electrophoresis refers to the technique in which molecules are forced across a span of gel, motivated by an electrical current. Activated electrodes at either end of the gel provide the driving force. A molecule’s properties determine how rapidly an electric field can move the molecule through a gelatinous medium.

Forage crops are plant species used to feed domestic animals (such as cattle, sheep, goat, pig, and poultry). Both cultivated and wild plants can serve as forage. The domestic animals feed on forages either by grazing or stall feeding (cut fodder eaten in stalls).

Grazing, that is pasturing of animals, is cheaper and allows production of both livestock and dairy produce at a lower cost because no expense is involved in growing, cutting, transporting or feeding. In North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and in many other temperate countries pastures are widespread and popular because sufficient land is available. While land is cheap and plentiful, labour is scarce and expensive; hence management of natural, and in recent years sown pastures has received much attention.

Until about fifty years ago, the natural grasslands in the Western countries met the minimum needs of the farmers and grassland management was operated at a level comparable to subsistence agriculture of many developing countries. In other words, emphasis was laid on exploitation of natural productivity of the grassland, using a low level of management based on minimum use of inputs like chemical fertilizers. However, it was soon realized that productivity of native grasslands will have to be greatly improved if the high demands for meat and milk were to be adequately met.

In India, however, out of a total cultivable area of about 131.11 million ha less than 2 per cent is utilized for forage crops because feeding the large human population takes the first preference for land use to produce grain and cash crops. It is, therefore, necessary to intensify efforts, particularly in over-populated countries, for a more efficient production of high yielding forage crops to get maximum return out of minimum land.

Unsupervised classification is the technique of classification of raster data in which no prior information is provided by the user. Raster data is classified based on their spectral characteristics such that the pixels having similar spectral properties in the multispectral feature space are grouped together in one class. Unsupervised classification is mainly performed by clustering algorithms. The purpose of these algorithms is to minimize within cluster variability and maximize between clusters variability. The user must interpret and label the classes after performing unsupervised classification. This method of classification requires minimum data which makes it easy and quick, but user has toput efforts in identification of the classes. This method could be useful when user doesn’t have any prior knowledge about the study area. This method removes subjectivity and enables us to get the unique classes which might be unrecognized by the user. K-means is the most commonly used method for performing unsupervised classification. In this chapter, we have discussed K- means, CLARA and unsupervised random forest method for classification of raster data in R.

Weed is a plant that is growing in the wrong place. Weeds have many mechanisms and characteristics that enable them to compete, having thick waxy cuticle leaves that can be resistant to some chemicals, fast reproduction methods, the ability to reseed in 6 week cycles and deep tap roots enabling the weed to survive in compacted dry ground conditions.

There are many reasons to control weeds in annuals/biennial and perennial ornamentals. Weeds compete with the plants by absorbing essential nutrients and water, or by blocking light or air circulation. Weeds dramatic reduce the growth of the plants. The greatest damage is often done when the weeds and ornamental plants are small. Weeds also interfere with harvesting by physically hindering. They lower flower quality further by harbouring insects, such as whiteflies, thrips mites, slugs, snails and/or diseases.

Growing under optimal conditions for the flower will reduce the ability of weeds to compete against the crop. Controlling humidity/ventilation, water, light, pH, nutrients and temperature all figure prominently in providing flower optimal conditions. A plant health strategy to greenhouse weed control contains three principal elements, prevention/sanitation, evaluation of water quality and using all controls available physical, cultural and chemical. Prevention and sanitation can include the use of mulches in orchidhouse weed control. Rice hulls, perlite, pumice, corn gluten meal bark, Penn Mulch - pelletized recycled paper and human hair have all been used for this purpose. Prevention also includes, eliminating air borne weed seeds from entering the greenhouse by screening vents and other openings and preventing perennial weeds from growing under foundations. A 1-3 meter weed free zone should be maintained immediately adjacent to the greenhouse.

Pruning is a regular part of plant maintenance involving the selective removal of specific plant parts. Although shoots and branches are the main targets for removal, roots, flower buds, fruits and seed pods may also be pruned. Pruning wounds plants, but plants respond differently to wounding than do animals. In plants, damaged areas are covered by callus tissue to close wounds. Another response to pruning occurs inside plants. Chemical boundaries form around wounded areas, walling off or compartmentalizing the wounds. Compartmentalization limits any decay that results from wounding, or from the natural death of branches. Use pruning techniques that minimize plant wounding and speed wound closure.

Lawn

The lawn is a plot of closely mowed grasses. It is composed of thousands of individual plants crowded and forced into a very unnatural growth habit. It is an integral part of the garden. It is basically an area of land planted between gardens covered with grass and other low lying plants.

Lawn is one of the most important features of a garden. A well kept lawn makes a garden look extremely beautiful. It looks like a beautiful green carpet amidst colourful flowers in a garden. Lawn can be called as turf, pitch, field or green depending upon its plantation and usage. Selection of lawn grass depends upon it usage and its season of plantation. Though a well maintained lawn requires a little of patience and care, the final results are always very beautiful and soothing. Scientific reports say that lawns reduce energy consumption through it soothing effects and the green grass prevents soil erosion as well as cut down noise pollution in the urban areas.

Any substance or mixture of substances intended through physiological action, for accelerating or retarding the rate of growth or maturation, or otherwise altering the behaviour of plants or the produce thereof are known as plant growth regulators. It does not include plant nutrients, trace elements, nutritional chemicals, plant inoculants and soil amendments.

Plant hormones are organic compounds other than nutrients, synthesize by plants and regulate plant growth and development. They are active in very low concentrations, produced in certain parts of the plants and are usually transported to other parts where they elicit specific biochemical, physiological and morphological responses. They are also active in tissues where they are produced. The term plant growth regulator is usually used to denote a synthetic plant hormone, but most of the synthetic compounds with structures similar to those of the natural hormones have also been called hormones. For instance, the synthetic cytokinin, kinetin is considered a hormone.

Estimation of organic carbon in soil (Walkley and Black, 1934)

Principle: Soil organic carbon is oxidized to CO₂ by heat of dilution obtained when a known amount of soil is treated with excess of standard K₂Cr₂O₇ in the presence of concentrated H₂SO₄. The excess of K₂Cr₂O₇ not reduced by the organic matter is back titrated with standard ferrous ammonium sulphate in the presence of phosphoric acid or sodium fluoride using diphenyl indicator. At the point colour changes from violet to blue or bright green.

Apparatus: 500 ml conical flasks, Pipettes of 10 and 20 ml, Burette, Balance, Measuring cylinder, Asbestos sheet.

1.1 Introduction

The word ‘computer’comes from the word ‘compute’, which means to calculate or perform a sequence of operations. Hence, a computer is normally considered to be a calculating device, which can perform arithmetic operations at enormous speed.

In other words, a computer takes information (or input), processes it according to a set of instructions (or process), and gives back a result (or output). In this respect, it is very similar to a calculator, but obviously somewhat more complex.

A computer is a multi-function platform. The same machine can perform many different tasks by using different programs. The programs (also termed as applications) are written to do everything imaginable. In other words, we can say that a program is a set of instructions issued to a computer in order to get the desired output.

Definition

A Computer can defined as an electronic device that takes input from its user, stores, processes data and generates the required output as per the processing instructions given to it by the user.

2.1 Definition and Concept

An operating system (abbreviated as ‘OS’) is the program that, manages all the other programs in a computer. Every general-purpose computer must have an operating system. It provides support for the loading and execution of other programs which are known as Application Programs.

5.1 Introduction

According to Croxton and Cowden, “Either for one’s own use or for the use of other, the data must be presented in some suitable form”.

Now – a – days everybody uses tables in one form or another, and accountants use them quite often. The work become tedious, especially if you had to do for 12 columns for the 12 months of the year, and more so if there were some modification to be done after having set up the entire table. The Americans have a special name for such tables- spreadsheet which makes life easy.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak two young Americans in 1976 AD developed the first desktop computer – The Apple which was not user friendly and needed programming for useful work. Dan Bricklin, Robert Frankston and Dan Fylstra proposed a program to turn the computer’s memory into a giant virtual spreadsheet where necessary corrections and modifications could be done fairly, quickly and easily and marketed the program in 1978 under the trade name VisiCalc. VisiCalc was soon succeeded by Sugercal and other computer programs which were more user friendly. The Lotus 1-2-3 designed and developed by Larry Kaplan put further step, which set the standard for many applications under the IBM, Now a days Microsoft under the leadership of Bill Gates had been working on the sidelines perfecting graphical user Interface (GUI) packages for the PC range of computers that would widen its reach. Now Microsoft office program Suite the integrated word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and data base management.

The spreadsheet package in Microsoft office is called Excel – our basic software, or program for this manual.

Solution:

Steps used for plotting the bar graph are as:

Step 1: Open Excel sheet and feed the above data as given in figure. 9.1.

Step 2: Select data and go to insert menu and select column chart. (figure 9.2)

Step 3: Select 2-D column, option first from dialog Box (figure 9.3).

Step 4: The desired output will be as shown (figure 9.4).

Remark The data labels, axis name, title of the graph etc. can be inserted through selecting option formatting chart area and add data labels by right clicking on the graph output (figure 9.5).

The brain, (Figure 2-7 A) a command centre of the body, is a complex organ. The substance of the brain is made of the grey matter and the white matter. The grey matter is often identified as cerebral cortex but other parts of the brain also contain the grey matter. Inside the brain, the grey matter is organized into large accumulations of neurons which are called the nuclei of the brain. Each nucleus is associated with a specific function. In addition to neurons, there is other type of cells the glial cells called neuroglia. The neurons are responsible for sending and receiving impulses or signals. The glial cells are nonneuronal and provide support and nutrition to neuronal cells, form myelin and facilitate signal transmission in the nervous system. The white matter is made of millions of nerve fibres that are coming from neurons and are going to establish communications with different parts of the brain and spinal cord. Since these nerve fibres are coated with myelin sheath around them these appear white and the area occupied by these nerve fibres become the white matter of the brain. The brain has three basic components, the forebrain, midbrain and the hindbrain.

Fore brain: The forebrain (Prosencephalon) is the rostral portion of the brain. It consists of cerebrum (Telencephalon) and the thalamus, hypothalamus and pineal gland together constituting the interbrain (Diencephalon).

Mid brain: The midbrain (Mesencephalon) is the middle portion of the brain. It is in the centre lying between the interbrain and hindbrain. It consists of a cranial part of brain stem.

Hind brain: The hindbrain (Rhombencephalon) is the caudal most portion of the brain. It consists of remaining (caudal) part of the brain stem, the medulla oblongata (Myelencephalon) and the cerebellum and pons (Metencephalon).

Zoonoses

Zoonoses are those diseases and infections which are transmitted between vertebrate animals and humans under natural conditions. The emergence of a pathogen into a new host species is called disease invasion or “disease emergence”.

Anthrax is a notifiable disease and primarily occurs in herbivores but it is a type of bio-terrorism agent and called as malignant pustule, malignant edema, woolsorters disease, ragpickers disease, maladi charbon, splenic fever etc. Causative agent is Bacillus anthracis contains vegetative spore and lethal dose is 2,500 to 55,000 spores.

Brucellosis is one of the world’s most widespread zoonoses caused by the genus Brucella. In human it is called Malta fever, Undulant fever, Mediterranean fever, Rock Fever of Gibraltar and Gastric Fever while in animals it is called Bang’s disease, Enzootic abortion, Epizootic abortion, Slinking of calves, Ram epididymitis and Contagious abortion etc. it is also called occupational disease.

Leptospirosis is a disease of animal sand humanbeings caused by genus Leptospira and called as Weil’s syndrome, Canicola fever, Canefield fever, 7-day fever, Rat Catcher’s Yellows, Autumn fever, black jaundice). Fletcher’s EMJH media is used to culture the organism.

Abstract

Political participation of women, on equal terms with men, at all levels of decision-making is essential to achieve the principles of equality, sustainable development, peace and prosperity. Participation is a development approach, which comprises the involvement of disadvantage segments of population in the design and implementation of policies concerning their wellbeing. To achieve gender equality by 2030 requires urgent action to eliminate the many root causes of discrimination that still curtail women’s rights in private and public spheres. Discriminatory laws need to be changed and legislation adopted to proactively advance equality. 49 countries still lack laws protecting women from domestic violence, while 39 bar equal inheritance rights for daughters and sons. Based on data from 87 countries, 1 in 5 women and girls under the age of 50 will have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner within the last 12 months. International efforts through UN are being encouraged throughout the world but are constrained by lack of national policy, cultural factors, social factors, religious factors, economical factors and role of gender base patriarchy. Secular and sustainable democracy prevails only when women experience benefits equally with their male counterparts. Creating adequate space in politics for women participation is essential to sustain real democracy and oblige mothers, wives, daughters and sisters and Gender Responsive Governance is the best strategy for this which embodies measures, attitudes and practices of different stakeholders, both men and women, at different levels of governance with a clear purpose to impact issues that foster women’s empowerment and promote gender equity and social justice. It is a process that promotes and sustains the ability of women to fully participate in the governance and development process, enhances their ability to raise critical questions about inequality and violence against them without fear and pressure.

Abstract

Women work two-third of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food yet 60% of the world’s hungry are women. They earn only 10% of the world’s income and own less than one per cent of the world’s property. It reveals deep-rooted gender disparity in human society. But I perceive the secondary agriculture an emerging area with vast opportunities for socio-economic transformation and women empowerment across the globe in a way that conventional agriculture doesn’t have. Secondary agriculture is less affected by climatic factors, relatively stable and more amenable to feminization because of off-field nature. If properly supported it could be an effective tool to promote women empowerment and narrow down gender disparity in rural areas. Secondary Agriculture is not a Secondary Sector economic activity and it broadly embraces to product development through agro-processing (food and nonfood), within the all enterprise classes of small or medium or large scale industry. Being entrepreneurial in nature it assures better remuneration and socio-economic security than primary agriculture. An orientation from production agriculture to product development is an essential pathway to sustainable women empowerment as it will lead to shift from subsistence farming to business farming. Later has the potential to contribute to a range of social and economic developments such as employment generation, income generation, poverty reduction and improvements in family nutrition, health and overall food security to the persons engaged in agri-business farming.

1. Introduction

This information is collected and complied by the authors from various websites for the motivation of readers particularly women. In no way it is exclusive and we do not claim accuracy of facts described here. Mere purpose is to disclose the fact that miracles do not happen but they are conditioned to manifest when determinations are reinforced by confidence. Live not to spend the time but to use it to spread your manifestations the world over.

Abstract

Women Technology Park is a technology modulation and a training centre to show case livelihood technologies for women. The aim of Women Technology Park is to create awareness among rural farming community and give trainings of proven technology to reap maximum benefits from their existing resources. Its objective is to make them aware about “processing” that can enhance their income in multiple times. In this direction, the first ever Women Technology Park (WTP) of Jammu and Kashmir was sponsored by SEED division of Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and endorsed by Livestock Products Division FVSc, SKUAST-Jammu. It was inaugurated by Vice chancellor of SKUAST- Jammu at Deoli Village of Bishnah Block, Jammu and Kashmir. 12 groups of women were screened out and trainings were imparted to them for a week. More than 75 training cum awareness programs have been organized with more than 1500 beneficiaries. There are more than 50 beneficiaries who received start up grant in the form of goods essential for preparing livestock products and started up their own micro-enterprises and became self-reliant and set an example for other women to come up and take up processing of livestock products as profession to earn their livelihood.

Historically the first and still the most conclusive evidence for the existence of genes comes from the phenomenon of segregation of traits observed in the offspring of hybrids between individuals or strains that differ in some recognizable respect. The principle of segregation was formulated by Gregor Johann Mendel in 1866 under such peculiar circumstances that the scientific world failed to recognize it until after a lapse of 34 years. In the first place Gregor Mendel was not primarily a biologist but a Monk in the Augustinian monastery at Bruenn, Austria (now Brno, Moravia in Czech Republic). During his childhood, Mendel worked as a gardener and studied beekeeping. He became part time monk because it enabled him to obtain an education without having to pay for it himself. From 1840 to 1843 he studied Practical and Theoretical Philosophy and Physics at the Philosophical Institute of the University of Olomouc. Upon recommendation of his teacher, Mendel entered the Augustinian St. Thomas Abbey in Brno and began his training as a Priest. Born Johann Mendel, he took the name Gregor upon entering religious life. Mendel worked also as a substitute High School teacher. In 1850, he failed the oral part of his examination and could not become a certified High School Teacher. In 1851, he was sent to the University of Vienna to study further so that he could get formal education. Mendel returned to his Abbey in 1853 as a Physics teacher. In 1856, he took the examination to become a certified teacher but again failed the oral part.

The transfer foreign gene to the plant cell is a very crucial method to production of transgenic plant. So improvement of plant quality requires to transfer our interest gene or we can say useful for production of our interest product. To achieve genetic transformation in plants, we need the construction of a vector (genetic vehicle) which transports the genes of interest, flanked by the necessary controlling sequences i.e. promoter and terminator, and deliver the genes into the host plant. The two kinds of gene transfer methods in plants are.

1. Vector-mediated or Indirect Gene Transfer

Among the various vectors used in plant transformation, the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens has been widely used. This bacteria is known as “natural genetic engineer” of plants because these bacteria have natural ability to transfer T-DNA of their plasmids into plant genome upon infection of cells at the wound site and cause an unorganized growth of a cell mass known as crown gall. Ti plasmids are used as gene vectors for delivering useful foreign genes into target plant cells and tissues. The foreign gene is cloned in the T-DNA region of Ti-plasmid in place of unwanted sequences.

To transform plants, leaf discs (in case of dicots) or embryogenic callus (in case of monocots) are collected and infected with Agrobacterium carrying recombinant disarmed Ti-plasmid vector. The infected tissue is then cultured (co-cultivation) on shoot regeneration medium for 2-3 days during which time the transfer of T-DNA along with foreign genes takes place. After this, the transformed tissues (leaf discs/calli) are transferred onto selection cum plant regeneration medium supplemented with usually lethal concentration of an antibiotic to selectively eliminate non-transformed tissues. After 3-5 weeks, the regenerated shoots (from leaf discs) are transferred to root-inducing medium, and after another 3-4 weeks, complete plants are transferred to soil following the hardening (acclimatization) of regenerated plants. The molecular techniques like PCR and southern hybridization are used to detect the presence of foreign genes in the transgenic plants.

Importance of Rainfed Farming

In India, rain dependent areas are vast and they have a great contribution to make in agricultural production, with just 1/40^th of the world land. India supports over half of its buffaloes and over one seventh of its cattle and goats that also share land utilization with humans and add to the national wealth. The second largest number (after Africa) of drought victims of the world live in India, out of 143 m ha cultivated land about 43 m ha are under irrigation and the rest of the area (about 70%) is rainfed but all is not too dry. About 90% of it located in the north-west part, out of which 60% is located in Rajasthan and sustains a human population of 20 million and a total livestock population of 23 million. The dry land areas contribute about 42% of food grains, almost all the coarse grains and about 75% of pulses and oil seeds of the total production of the country. About 2/3 of rice and rapeseed mustard and 1/3 of wheat are grown in rainfed areas. A large portion of industrially important crops such as cotton, groundnut and castor are cultivated under dry land conditions and has a great contribution to make to the production of food, fibre, fuel and furniture timber etc. Dry land agriculture may be classified into three groups on the basis of annual rainfall.

a) Dry farming : Cultivation of crops in areas where annual rainfall is less then 750 mm and crop failures due to prolonged dry spells during crop period are most common. Dry farming is practiced in arid regions with the help of moisture conservation practices. Alternate land use system is suggested in this region.

b) Dryland farming: Cultivation of crops in areas where annual rainfall is more than 750 mm but less than 1150 mm is called dryland farming. Dry spells may occur, but crop failures are less frequent. Higher evapotranspiration (ET) than the total precipitation is the main reason for moisture deficit in these areas. The soil and moisture conservation measures are the key for dryland farming practice in semi-arid regions. Drainage facility may be required especially in black soils.

Natural resources conservation and their management hold key to sustainable agriculture and livestock production. It is all the more crucial for countries with predominant agrarian economies where development of sustainable agriculture is essential for overall growth, redressal of poverty and security. Conservation of both soil and rain water as very crucial and basic resources have been practiced since ancient times in India. However, there has been renewed emphasis on conservation and efficient utilization of these resources in the recent past. The fact that 70% of the arable area of India is rainfed with precarious supply of water and that rainfed agriculture supports 44% of India’s human population and contributes 90 per cent of coarse cereals and pulses, 80 per cent of oilseeds and 65 per cent of cotton and growing realization that further gains in productivity of crops and livestock will emanate from rainfed regions, leave no room for complacency in this regard.

Year after year, the fate of a vast majority of Indian farmers hangs in balance, as success with rainfed agriculture continues to be a gamble. It is evident that crop yields in semi-arid areas depended more on rainfall distribution than on total rainfall and lack of serious efforts to create the water supply for crops through scientific management of rainwater is a factor favoring this avoidable uncertainty. In rainfed agriculture no other input can perhaps enhance the yield without effectively tackling of the rainfall aberration related sub-optimal moisture availability. Therefore a prerequisite for substantial improvement in the agriculture production in the semi-arid region is to manage runoff water and to use it either at the time of moisture stress even during the monsoon or in next season. It has been reported that only one supplementary irrigation at proper stage can double of rabi crops. But supplemental water is a developed resource and is more expensive than the natural resources. Hence, it is all the more necessary to use this water judiciously and efficiently. Standardization of techniques by which as much of precipitation as possible can be conserved for crop use, either directly in the soil profile through infiltration or through runoff collection and recycling is an area of priority in research.

Definition

Soil erosion is the process of detachment of soil particles from the top soil and transportation of the detached soil particles by wind and / or water. The agents causing erosion are wind and water. The detaching agents are falling raindrop, channel flow and wind. The transporting agents are flowing water, rain splash and wind.

Erosion is the process by which soil and rock are removed from the Earth’s surface by exogenic processes such as wind or water flow, and then transported and deposited in other locations.

While erosion is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times the rate at which erosion is occurring globally. Excessive erosion causes problems such as desertification, decreases in agricultural productivity due to land degradation, sedimentation of waterways, and ecological collapse due to loss of the nutrient rich upper soil layers. Water and wind erosion are now the two primary causes of land degradation; combined, they are responsible for 84% of degraded acreage, making excessive erosion one of the most significant global environmental problems.

Industrial agriculture, deforestation, roads, anthropogenic climate change and urban sprawl are amongst the most significant human activities in regard to their effect on stimulating erosion. However, there are many prevention and remediation practices that can curtail or limit erosion of denuded soils.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

Production of temperate-zone fruits in subtropics may seem fanciful to be initiated, but it is a practice that has existed in localized regions for generations. Seedling peaches are grown in Venezuela, Northern Thailand, and Southern Mexico. No one knows precisely when these species were introduced, but local selection has produced cultivars adapted to areas with little or no chilling temperatures. Rest either does not occur or is sufficiently shallow to be broken by stress induced by defoliation or drought. Commercial cultivations of temperate-zone fruits are well-established in subtropical areas, where winter temperatures allow partial breaking of the rest period. In areas of Northern Mexico, Southern Africa, and Israel, for example, chemical treatments are regularly applied to supplement the effects of limited chilling. Because temperature declines with increasing elevations, many microclimates exist in the subtropics where temperate-zone fruits are not currently grown, but could be. Subtropical regions where temperate fruits are grown include the southern past of California (Mediterranean type), the low deserts of the Southwest USA (hot arid type), the Gulf Coast and most of Florida (humid type), the Southern Mediterranean and Northern Sahara, Northern India, Southeast China, the middle part of South America, and much of Australia. Similar potential climatic conditions are also available in subtropics of India.

10.1 INTRODUCTION

Agriculture is a very important sector for the sustained growth of the Indian economy. About 70 per cent of the rural households and 8 per cent of urban households are still dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Though, industrialization of the Indian economy has adversely affected the share of agriculture in the GDP, the fact can not be ignored that India has undergone a series of successful agricultural revolutions-starting with the ‘green’ revolution in wheat and rice in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the ‘white’ revolution in milk to the ‘yellow’ revolution in oilseeds in 1980’s. As a result, India has achieved self-sufficiency in agriculture. Applications of agricultural inputs at uniform rates across the field without due regard to in-field variations in soil fertility and crop conditions does not yield desirable results in terms of crop yield. The management of in-field variability in soil fertility and crop conditions for improving the crop production and minimizing the environmental impact is the crux of precision farming. Geographically, India is widely distributed into several agro-climatic zones, and the information needs for the farming systems in these areas are entirely different. Integrating the application of available technologies to realize farmers’ goals requires a systems approach to farming.

22.1 INTRODUCTION

The life-styles, economic conditions and food habits have a great effect on food marketing. There is an increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables and their processed products. Fruits and vegetables are processed into a variety of products and it is required to be picked at its right stage. For making juice, fruits should be picked at ripe and soft stage, for canning purpose it should be picked at fully mature but firm just before ripe stage. Fruits and vegetables are passed through a long channel before their consumption; which may lead to a number of undesirable changes in their composition. Thus effective post harvest management of fruits and vegetables is essential to provide their acceptable quantity and quality worth consumption. In this regard handling, processing and preservation and value additions form important loci.

Greenhouse technology development has made good progress in India during the last two decades, and steps necessary for promoting greenhouse cultivation of flower and vegetable crops have been started. Energy-efficient greenhouse cultivation continues to be an area of active research and development, and this is sought to be achieved through precision equipment and protocols. While the gap between the demand and supply of most horticultural crops remains wide and the country plans to double the production of horticultural crops by 2012, the protected cultivation technology holds the key to meet the targets. It clearly emerges that greenhouse technology has multipurpose application for sustainable development of a hilly zone. During harsh winter which otherwise threatens the survival of human beings in these remote hilly areas, popularization and further improvements in greenhouse management could provide a sign of relief in solitude of white snow cover.

Introduction

At the time of inception of CPRI, in the year 1949, India used to produce 1.54 million tonnes potatoes from 0.234 million ha area at an average productivity level of 6.58 tonne/ ha. As per the first advance estimate of the NHB, the potato production in India during 2018-19 was 52.5 million tonnes from 2.18 million ha area at 24 tonnes/ ha productivity. The potato production, area and productivity increased over 7 decades by 34, 9.3 and 3.7 times, respectively. ICAR-CPRI has been adequately recognised by the nation on several occasions for this stupendous contribution. However, potato in India still has to transform from simply a vegetable supplement to serious food security option. Ability of potato to produce highest nutrition and dry matter on per unit area and time basis, among major food crops, made FAO to declare it the crop to address future global food security and poverty alleviation during 2008. Rising number of working couples, rapid rate of urbanization, enhanced tendency of eating out of home, higher disposable income levels of people and important place of potato in fast food items, create an ideal situation for expansion of potato consumption in the near and distant future.

A perusal of various R&D efforts and outcomes in the field of agriculture in general and, more specifically the potato, reveals that “Business as Usual” scenario would not hold much longer. We have to anticipate and get ready to tackle much more complex and diverse future challenges in our respective fields. As the time lag between research and development efforts and the final application/ adoption of the output may stretch over decades, a long term vision and blueprint of action plan is highly important. This chapter attempts to envisage long term state of affairs of potato industry in India and formulate a strategy to fulfil national needs through a well-documented plan to tackle anticipated challenges.