eChapters

Introduction

Planning is a “dynamic act of reflecting about, thinking about, and choosing among various options regarding the goals and objectives and the route to journey i.e. educational experience, we should follow to reach those destinations” (Forest and Baker, 1994). It offers opportunity to people to “participate” and “contribute” in the process. Therefore, it is understood that “planning extension programs has become an increasingly accepted practice among national authorities” (Maalouf, in Rivera, 1987, p. 116 as cited by Cristovao et al?, 1997).

Introduction

Agricultural organic waste residues pose a significant challenge in India, generating approximately 700 million tonnes annually, with agri-residue trash reaching around 998 million tonnes per year (Kannan and Kallapiran, 2022; FAO, 2022). These wastes, including sugarcane bagasse, paddy and wheat straw, husk, vegetable and food waste, jute fibers, crop stalks, and other materials, often face improper disposal methods such as burning or dumping, which contribute to environmental pollution and health hazards (Singh et al., 2020; Sharma and Patel, 2019). Proper management and treatment of agricultural waste are crucial for sustainable agriculture and environmental protection (Kumar et al., 2021). Composting is a cost-effective biological treatment that converts these residues into valuable resources like plant nutrients, reducing the carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio and enhancing soil productivity (Kannan and Kallapiran, 2022; Gupta et al., 2020). Aerobic microbes play a key role in breaking down complex organic materials during the composting process, leading to ecological succession of microbial communities. This transformation can be measured through various quality and stability indicators, such as the C:N ratio, temperature, pH, moisture content, and the presence of pathogens like coliform bacteria (FAO, 2012; Patel and Verma, 2021).

Introduction

The process of recycling involves the conversion of waste materials into reusable products or materials and aims to reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, minimize energy use, and mitigate trash creation. The primary objective of recycling is to effectively preserve finite resources, safeguard the natural environment, and mitigate the volume of garbage deposited in landfills or subjected to incineration (Lienig et al., 2017). Recycling refers to the systematic transformation of discarded materials into fresh resources and tangible products. The aforementioned term often encompasses the process of extracting energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material is contingent upon its capacity to regain the characteristics it has in its initial form. There exists an alternative approach to garbage disposal that has the potential to save resources and mitigate the release of greenhouse gases. Additionally, it can mitigate the waste of potentially valuable resources and diminish the use of pristine raw materials, therefore reducing energy consumption, air pollution resulting from incineration, and water pollution stemming from landfill practices. The promotion of environmental sustainability is achieved by the removal of raw material input and the redirection of waste output within the economic system. The increasing volumes of trash have given rise to several environmental challenges, including air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, and biodiversity loss. The emission of diverse greenhouse gases from solid waste landfills also contributes to the phenomenon of global warming. At now, the predominant techniques for solid waste disposal are open dumping and landfilling. Various alternative techniques, such as pyrolysis, gasification, anaerobic digestion, composting, and bio-methylation, are used to extract valuable resources from solid waste materials (Griffin et al., 2018).

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

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.

Netting yarns for the fabrication of fishing gear are either of textile or non-textile origin. Textile materials compose of netting, twine and rope while non-textile origin materials constitute floats, sinkers, hooks etc. Raw material for fish netting consists of fibres which can be distinguished into two groups: natural fibres and man-made fibres. Different kinds of fibres originating from plant and animal body parts have been used for production of textiles and other products and are termed as natural fibres. Natural fibres such as cotton, manila, sisal, jute and coir were the materials exclusively used in earlier days for fishing gear fabrication.

Later, the invention of polymers resulted in synthetic fibres the use of which revolutionalized the fishing industry. In recent decades advances have taken place in fiber technology, along with the introduction of other modern materials. With the introduction of man-made synthetic fibers in India in the late 1950s, natural fibers used for the fishing gears have been substituted by these synthetic materials due to their high breaking strength, low maintenance cost, long service life and better uniformity in characteristics. Most important synthetic fibres used in fisheries are polyamide (PA), polyester (PES), polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). Other synthetic fibres, which are less widely used and generally restricted to Japanese fisheries, are polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyvinylidene chloride (PVD). Earlier, netting used to be fabricated manually, which is laborious and time consuming while the introduction of synthetic fibres paved way for machine made nettings which are almost exclusively used in fishing net fabrication.

Introduction

Reviving the agricultural economy is a crucial endeavor with far-reaching implications for food security, economic prosperity, and sustainable development. Several key strategies can be adopted to achieve this goal. First, policymakers must prioritize agriculture by providing necessary f inancial support, infrastructure development, and research and development investments. Adequate credit facilities and subsidies can help farmers access essential resources and modern technology, boosting productivity and efficiency (Asian Development Bank, 2018). Promoting sustainable agricultural practices is vital to ensure long-term viability. Encouraging the adoption of eco-friendly methods such as organic farming, crop rotation, and water-efficient irrigation can enhance environmental resilience while safeguarding natural resources for future generations. Empowering farmers through training and education is essential. Equipping them with the latest knowledge and techniques enhances their capacity to adapt to changing conditions and make informed decisions about crop selection, pest control, and market opportunities. Furthermore, enhancing market linkages is critical to connect farmers with consumers and ensure fair prices for agricultural produce (African Development Bank, 2022). Developing efficient supply chains and reducing post-harvest losses can improve income prospects for farmers and attract more youth to the sector. Lastly, encouraging private sector involvement and investment in agriculture can accelerate growth and innovation. Public-private partnerships can create opportunities for technological advancements, value addition, and market expansion (Liu & Lee, 2018). Reviving the agricultural economy requires a collaborative effort involving governments, farmers, the private sector, and civil society. By addressing challenges, investing in modernization, and promoting sustainable practices, nations can create a thriving agricultural sector that contributes to food security, economic development, and environmental sustainability (Brown, 2021).

Key facts

    
•    Agriculture is the major land use across the globe. Agriculture production (plant growth) is highly dependent on climate since crop growth is influenced by solar radiation, temperature and precipitation. Agriculture is also sensitive to climate variability and weather extremes (droughts, floods, severe storms).
    
•    The yields of C₃ crops (rice, wheat, and soybean) is expected to increase (10-20%) with predicted doubling of CO₂ concentrations compared to C₄ crops (maize, sorghum, millet, sugarcane) since C₃ plants respond readily/positively to increased CO₂ levels. Therefore, CO₂ enrichment may benefit temperate and humid tropical agriculture compared to semi-arid tropics.
    
•    The predicted rise of temperature could impact crop and horticulture yield if it exceeds optimal temperature range. For example, low latitudes crops are being grown near the limits of temperature tolerance and global warming may put them to higher stress.
    
•    On a world wide basis, global warming would benefit the mid to high latitude zones for agriculture (for a small change of temperature of 1-3^ºC), whereas low latitudes, semi-arid and tropical areas will have much reduced crop and livestock yields. However, adaptation measures may reduce such impacts.

Safety is a primary concern regarding traditional and complementary therapies. There are two aspects of safety evaluations. First, to ensure that the right quality of material and apt possesses are used from sourcing to marketing; and second, there is no contamination, adulteration or spiking. Few studies have reported adulteration with steroids in some traditional Chinese dermatological preparations. In an analysis of Chinese herbal creams prescribed for dermatological conditions, Keane et al. found that eight of eleven creams analyzed contained steroids194. Spiking with corticostreoinds has been observed in some market preparations claimed to be useful in the treatment of arthritis and asthma195. Recently, Saper et al. from Harvard Medical School have reported heavy metal content of Ayurvedic herbal preparations and have recommended mandatory toxic heavy metal testing196. There have been few reports of heavy metal toxicity following traditional medicine use197,198. Such studies are important and needed, however they are more related to the quality control failures of the mass manufacturing activities. Often they are wrongly used to limit the use of TM. In reality, such a QC failure should not be considered as a general negative notion to create a bias against TM. We certainly need effective QC and regulation of herbal medicines, without limiting public access to these preparations and ensuring public interest and constituting restrictive trade practice.

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.

Modern fruit and vegetable processing industry is by and large, employing sophisticated machinery and equipment and efficient technique of production. There is still a scope for expansion of the industry by developing and exporting value-added products and on more foreign exchange. The choice of products to be manufactured will depend on the readily availability of raw materials in the area where the Processing Unit is supposed to be set up and the consumer preference in the neighbouring market. Preservation of food has to be established in the developing countries for other reasons also such as to generate both rural and urban employment, improve farmers nutrition by allowing them to consume their own processed fruits and vegetables during the off- season, stimulate agricultural production by obtaining marketable products, reduction of imports and meeting of export demand and to develop new value-added products. The food processing industry has now become more of a necessity than being a luxury. It plays an important role in the conservation and better utilisation of fruits and vegetables. To avoid the glut and utilise the surplus during the season, it is necessary to employ modern methods to extend storage life for better distribution and processing techniques to preserve them for utilisation in the off season on both large scale and small scale. Fruit and vegetable processing was first started in an organised manner in 1857, mainly to make pickles and chutneys with a view to meeting the export requirement.
Mango Processing Technologies
Mangoes are processed at two stages of maturity. Green fruit is used to make chutney, pickles, curries and dehydrated products. The green fruit should be freshly picked from the tree. Fruit that is bruised, damaged, or that has prematurely fallen to the ground should not be used.

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

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.

Plant diseases comprise a major factor in the culture of papaya. Adequate control measures are necessary to intensify the production of papaya. There are over 17 diseases caused by fungi, viruses, mycoplasma and nematodes, which affect papaya plant all over the world. Of these about 5-6 diseases like collar rot, damping off, anthracnose, mosaic and leaf curl are serious problems in many papaya growing areas of the world. They can reduce yield greatly and impair marketability of fruits. They must be checked and losses due to them must be minimized in order to increase the economics of papaya production.

Anthracnose

Economic Importance

Anthracnose is considered as one of the principle postharvest disease of papaya occurring worldwide and has been noted to cause huge losses in countries like Brazil, Hawaii (USA) and Mexico. It is one ofthe most ubiquitous and destructive disease of papaya, mainly during storage. The fungus infects various parts of the plant but mainly occurs in fruits, which later becomes unfit for commercialization. It is a major limitation to papaya production of about 90% along with the exportation of the fruit to bigger overseas market. The disease can have serious effect on refrigerated fruit for export. The use of inappropriate postharvest methods can result in production of up to 100% diseased fruits from some orchards.

1. Horticulture sector covers % of total cropped area.

 a) 10% b) 15%

 c) 20% d) 25%

 2. Which of the following is / are pre-emergence herbicide(s)?

 a) Diquat b) Paraquat

 c) Diuron d) All of these

 3. Potassium plays an important role in:

 a) Osmotic regulation b) Opening and closing of stomata

 c) Sugar translocation d) All of these

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) includes antimicrobial use and abuse in human, animal and environmental sectors. It also covers the spread of resistant bacteria and resistance determinants within and between these sectors and as global phenomenon. Most of the classes of antimicrobials used to treat bacterial infections in humans are also used in animals. Major concerns in the animal health are treatment of animals with antimicrobials that are critically important for humans too, such as third-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. Another important issue is the use of medically important antimicrobials in feed for long term, such as colistin, tetracyclines, and macrolides, for growth promotion. Inappropriate use and unprofessional choice of antibiotics without performing antibiotic susceptibility test in animals results into higher occurrence of antimicrobial resistance. Given the important and interdependent human, animal and environmental dimensions of AMR, it is logical to take a One Health approach when addressing this problem. One Health is the multidisciplinary, collaborative, scientific and coordinated approach to address health threat at human, animal and environment interface, the aim of One Health approach is to understanding and designing interventions and policies to combat AMR. WHO recently has launched new guidelines on the use of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals, recommending that farmers and the food industry stop using antimicrobials routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in healthy animals. Thus these guidelines will help to preserve the effectiveness of antimicrobials that are important for human medicine by reducing their use in animals.

1. Horticulture sector covers % of total cropped area.

 a) 10% b) 15%

 c) 20% d) 25%

 2. World Trade Organization is situated at:

 a) Geneva b) Rome

 c) Paris d) Brazil

 3. AVRDC is situated at:

 a) Phillipines b) Taiwan

 c) Japan d) India

Mites
Subclass: Acari
Order: Parasitiformes 
Suborder: Gamasida/Mesostigmata
Characters
1. Mites of this group have the stigmata or spiracles in the middle of the body, hence suborder Gamasida is also called suborder mesostigmata. Mites of this group are referred as gamasid mite.
2. Size of these mites are large about 0.6-2.5 mm in length and hence visible via naked eye.
3. They parasitisize birds and mammals.

Metabolic disorders in cattle, such as Milk Fever, Ketosis, Fat Cow Syndrome, and Hypomagnesaemia, affect dairy cows post-calving, disrupting blood metabolites and health. Triggers include diet changes, calving stress, and mineral deficiencies. Untreated, these disorders can lead to mild discomfort or severe complications.
Metabolic diseases are most prevalent in high-producing dairy cows due to the breeding and feeding practices aimed at maximizing milk yield. The period from calving to peak lactation is particularly susceptible to these conditions due to the high turnover of fluids and organic materials. The transition period, defined as 3 weeks before and after calving, is crucial for managing nutrient requirements and preventing metabolic disorders.
As milk production per cow has increased over the years, the complexity of nutrition and management for high-producing cows has also risen. The shift from forage-based to concentrate-rich diets at calving challenges rumen adaptation and can lead to negative energy balance. Balancing milk yield and reproduction becomes a critical aspect of dairy farming success.
Given the interconnected nature of these disorders, herd health management strategies are essential for prevention. Regular monitoring and understanding of metabolic diseases are vital for the successful operation of a dairy farm.
Milk Fever
Milk fever, also known as parturient paresis or hypocalcaemia, is a prevalent metabolic disorder in high-producing dairy animals worldwide. This condition primarily affects dairy cows close to calving and is caused by a low level of calcium in the blood (hypocalcaemia). It is a result of dietary errors and can lead to decreased productivity and economic losses for farmers. Milk fever is a significant concern for dairy industry professionals as it can significantly affect milk production, reproduction, and overall herd health.

Traditional media channels have served as the backbone of agricultural communication in India for decades, playing a crucial role in disseminating information about farming practices, government schemes, and technological innovations to rural communities. These conventional platforms, including radio, television, print media, and community-based communication methods, continue to remain relevant and effective for promoting natural farming practices, despite the emergence of digital technologies. Understanding the strengths, limitations, and optimal utilization strategies for traditional media is essential for developing comprehensive communication programs that can reach diverse farming populations across various geographical and socio economic contexts. Radio broadcasting represents one of the most successful and enduring traditional media platforms for agricultural extension in India. All India Radio (AIR) has been actively playing a unique role in bridging the digital divide and supporting agricultural extension programmes in India since the experiment in 1952-53 with ‘An Indian Experiment in Farm Radio Forums’ at Poona (now Pune). The effectiveness of radio stems from its accessibility, affordability, and ability to reach illiterate farmers who may face barriers with text-based information sources. Radio programs dedicated to agriculture have evolved significantly from simple one-way