eChapters

Introduction

Quantification of costs and revenues is necessary to evaluate farm performance in aquaculture at experimental station level. Such calculations aided by economic engineering methods can help in determining the most appropriate package of technologies for different categories of farmers in different geographical locations. The method described below is based on the works of T.V.R. Pillay (Aquaculture: Principles and Practices). The computation of capital cost (initial cost), annual operating cost (variable cost plus fixed cost), and gross revenue (income) shows the performance of aquaculture farms. In this chapter an attempt has been made to illustrate the above mentioned useful fundamental economic indicators along with the computational procedure of assessment of economic feasibility of aquacultural projects which is very important for any entrepreneur.

Vegetables are defined as edible herbaceous plants or parts of plants consumed as raw or after cooking and are rich in vitamins and minerals, low in calorific value and neutralize the acid substances produced during digestion of high energy foods.  Olericulture is a branch of Horticulture that deals with production, storage, processing and marketing of vegetables and has its origin when man started growing vegetables for consumption. The term Olericulture comes from Latin words holus-holeris = any kind of culinary vegetable, pot herb, and cultura = to cultivate.

Increasing evidences over the past few decades indicate that significant changes in climate are occurring across various regions of the globe in the form of increased occurrence of extreme weather events. The significant cause to this sustained increase in climate variability, known as climate change has been a resultant of increased level of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. The reason for this increase is mainly ascribed to enhanced human activities such as industrialization, uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels, increased use of refrigerants and changed land use patterns and practices. Most significantly, the concentrations of GHGs like CO₂ has already crossed the 400 ppm mark, while other potential contributors like methane and nitrous oxide also show significant rise. As a result of the heat absorbing capacity of these gases, there has been a considerable rise in global mean temperatures, more so in the recent decade and more. The increase in mean air temperatures of the globe was 0.76^ºC during the past 100 years. This rate of increase has been higher during the past two decades and the recent period recorded the warmest years in sequence, the latest being the 2017.

1. Introduction

Kiwi fruit (KF) is very much acceptable for preservation by freeze-drying (FD) technique, since it has very much health benefits such as low calorific value, low glycemic index (GI), more vitamins (particularly vitamin C), maximum load of potassium, presence of variety of pigments, few important enzymes, low allergic response (AR) and finally it is rich in natural antioxidants, polyphenols. It is translucent, green pulp and many black seeds arranged nicely with covered by hairy and brown skin. The KF seeds are small sizes and black colored surround inner circularly through the whole pulp. It gives a nice crunch during consumption and provides a number of essential nutrients. Therefore, it will be remembered that seeds cannot be discarded during processing of KF unlike other fruit (jamun etc. ) seeds.

INTRODUCTION

Edible mushrooms are higher fungi occurring seasonally all over the world in various habitats varying from sandy plains to thick forests. About 2000 fungal species in the world have been identified as edible, of which, only a few (20) are cultivated commercially (Chang and Miles, 1991). These mushrooms are generally considered as the good source of protein, vitamins and minerals in addition to their flavour and condiment value. About 3.

This practical assignment is related with listening, note taking, writing and oral presentation skill, after completion of these assignment students will improve their listening, notes taking, writing skills and will also acquires good presentation skills.

PURPOSE

 To get acquainted the students about the listening, note taking, writing skills and oral presentation skills. After completion of this assignment student will improve their listening skill.

Components of biodiversity are all the various forms of life on Earth including ecosystems, animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms, and genetic diversity. Ecosystems, species and genetic resources should be used for the benefit of humans, but in a way that does not lead to the decline of biodiversity. Substantial investments are required to conserve biodiversity, but it will bring significant environmental, economic and social benefits in return. To address these challenges various initiatives were taken in the past such as Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 1971, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973, 1979 Bonn Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) in 1979.

In the nursery seedlings, saplings, cuttings and grafts are raised, propagated and multiplied under favorable condition for transplanting in the main field. In nursery, plants are nurtured by providing them with optimum growing condition to ensure germination.

Benefits of Raising Seedlings in Nursery

1. Tender seedlings are looked after very conveniently.

2. Seedlings canbe protected very easliy from pests and diseases.

3. Land can be properly utilised (duration in the main field is reduced).

4. Costly and small size seeds can be raised effeciently without any wastage.

5. Uniformity in the crop can be be maintained by selecting healthy, uniform and vigorous seedlings from the nursery.

Abstract

The temperate fruits have shown a remarkable progress as about 68 per cent of the total area under fruits and about 91 per cent of the total production of the fruits in the State is contributed by these fruits. The economic analysis of secondary data shows the increasing trend of area under fruits, vegetables as well as production of these crops in the State over a period of time.  Although maximum increase has been found during the last about 5 decades in case of fruits (about 236 times) yet production of vegetables has shown an increase of about 83 per cent  during the last about ½ decade. Similarly flower crops cultivation has also been increasing in the State which has been clear from the increasing number of flowers growing cooperative societies (48 in no.) in the State along with area  (129 ha) under different flower crops (Anon., 2004-05). More emphasis has been laid on diversification of crops so as to make proper use of limited land and other critical inputs. Economic analysis of primary data has shown benefit-cost ratios of fruits, vegetables and flower crops almost in the same range, i.e. maximum Rs. 4.50:1 to minimum 1.53:1, so with meager holding size, vegetable crops and floriculture have been found to be the best option of diversifying crops along with fruits growing so as to reap better remuneration from use of scarce resources.

Distribution channels are behind every product and service that consumers and business buyers purchase everywhere. Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Usually, combination on institutions specializing in manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing and many other areas join force in Distribution channels. A Distribution channels are a set of inter-dependent organization involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption. Distribution channels decisions play a role of Strategic importance in the overall presence and success a company enjoys in the market palace.

Honeybees are marvelous insects known to mankind since the prehistoric times. The art of their scientific management is called as apiculture or beekeeping and the place where hives are maintained is called apiary. Beekeeping is a decentralized, forest and rural agriculture based industry, which does not require any raw material. The raw material needed is in the form of nectar and pollen, which is freely available from flowers in nature. Bee hives neither demand additional land space nor do they compete with agriculture or animal husbandry for any input. The beekeeper only needs to spare a few hours in a week to look after his bee colonies. Beekeeping is therefore ideally suited to him as a part-time occupation. Beekeeping constitutes a source of sustainable income for the rural and tribal farmers. It also provides them valuable nutrition in the form of honey. However, in addition to honey, production of bees wax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly, pedigree queen bees, package bees and renting out honey bee colonies for crop pollination are some of the potential areas of apicultural diversification in India (TOI, 2012).

Derivation & Meaning-Skills required-Method or procedure-Guidelines; Summarising-Meaning-Steps to write a summary.

Derivation

‘Precis’ is a French word which means to cut off, to be brief.

Meaning

A precise is a summary or the gist of the main ideas of written matter. Thus, precise writing means summarising. It is an exercise in concentration, comprehension and condensation. In order to make a summary of an article, a speech or a story, one has to read it carefully and grasp its meaning. Precise-writing forces one to concentrate on the material which is to be summarised. In summarising a passage, though the length of the precise is not fixed, it is generally expected that the it should be one third the length of the passage. The summary is known as precise and precise writing means summarising. A precise is not a paraphrase. At the same time, the essential points of the main passage must be presented in the precise in such a manner that reader may easily grasp the main ideas of the passage.

A better precise can be written with more and more practice. Before writing a precise, it is important that you take care of a few essential points.

Also, make sure that all the important points of the passage are conveyed in the precise. Focus on language and try and make it as clear, crisp and concise as possible. There is no fixed pattern to write a precise. But we must follow certain rules and procedure so that the precise can be more effective. Follow the right diction and you will be able to write a good precise.

Community

1. A community is a group of people, who live in a geographical area and have an interest in each other for the purpose of making a living. It is a form of social organization existing between the family and state.
2. The people with common interests living in a particular area
3. An interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location
4. A group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society

PPVFR act is an effective system for protection of plant varieties, the rights of farmers and plant breeders and to encourage the development of new varieties of plants. Stimulate investment for research and development to produce new plant varieties.Facilitate the growth of the seed industry that will ensure the availability of high quality seeds and planting material to the farmers. Registration of a plant variety gives protection only in India. Provides the exclusive right to produce, sell, market, distribute, import, or export the variety.

Milestones in Seed Sector

• 1957- First AICRP

• 1963 -NSC established

• 1966 -Seed act passed

• 1968- Operational

• 1971- Indian Minimum Seed Certification Standards adopted

• 1975- GSSC established

• 1977- AIC NSP launched

• 1980- GSSCA Established

• 2001- PPVFR Act passed

Environmental concerns have brought nutrient management in floriculture under increased scrutiny. A goal of sound nutrient management is to maximize the proportion of applied nutrients that is used by the crop (nutrient use efficiency). Soil sampling is a best management practice (BMP) for fertilizer management that will help improve nutrient use efficiency and protect the environment. Soil sampling is also one of the most important steps in a sound crop fertilization program. Poor soil sampling procedures account for more than 90 percent of all errors in fertilizer recommendations based on soil tests. Soil test results are only as good as the soil sample. Once you take a good sample, you must also handle it properly for it to remain a good sample. A good soil testing program can be divided into four Operations: (1) taking the sample, (2) analyzing the sample, (3) interpreting the sample analyses and (4) making the fertilizer recommendations. This chapter focuses on the first step, collecting the soil sample, once you take a sample, you must send it to a laboratory for analysis.

(A) Enumeration of Microbial Growth by Turbidity Measurement
Method and Estimation of Generation Time
Introduction
Bacterial growth usually refers to reproduction-increase in population sizerather than to enlargement of mycelia cells. “Reproduction in bacteria occurs mainly through binary (binary means one cell becomes two) or transverse fission that results in the formation of two daughter cells. This is repeated at intervals by each new daughter cell in turn, or with each successive round of division. The population increases (Fig. 1). The time required for a complete fission cycle i.e. parent cell to two daughter cells is called the generation or doubling time. In bacteria, it is a doubling process in which each new fission cycle or generation increases the population by a factor of 2. So the parent stage consists of 2 cells, the second of 4, then 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 and so on (Fig. 2). Thus the population will double, over and over again as long as the environment remains favorable for growth. The length of generation time is a measure of the growth rate of an organism. The average generation time in bacteria is 30-60 minutes under optimum conditions. Some species have very rapid growth rate and short generation time (5-10 minutes) and others have very slow growth rates and long generation times (measured in days). Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella enteritidis, both causes of food poisoning, are examples of pathogens having relatively short doubling times of 20-30 minutes, which result in a few million cells from a few cells in a few hours in the infested food. The longest generation time occurs in species of Mycobacterium, particularly Mycobacterium leprae (the cause of leprosy) of 10-30 days as long as in some animals.

The Asia-Pacific region is highly vulnerable to climate change, with impacts such as more frequent natural disasters, sea-level rise, floods, droughts, and changing weather patterns. Rural areas, particularly those reliant on agriculture, are disproportionately and non-identically affected. The Asia-Pacific region, home to over 60% of the world's population, is among the most vulnerable to climate change due to its diverse geography, dense coastal populations, and socioeconomic disparities [IPCC, 2022a], Climate change is an emerging threat that affects all countries to varying degrees. The recently released IPCC Assessment Report identified agriculture as one of the critical sectors both susceptible to climate change and contributing to it through Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are investing significant resources to strengthen agriculture on various fronts. These investments focus on the research and development of new varieties and agro-technologies to adapt agriculture to emerging climatic threats and, simultaneously, mitigate GHG emissions from the agricultural and allied sectors. These initiatives are in their early stages, and there is a need to assess the current status of countries' vulnerability to climate change and the measures taken to address

Cerebrospinal fluid examination is an important diagnostic procedure for evaluating diseases affecting the central nervous system. This chapter describes techniques for CSF collection, including appropriate sampling approaches and precautions. Collected fluid may be submitted for physical, chemical, cytological and microbial examination. Important parameters include colour, turbidity, protein concentration, glucose, chloride, enzymes and nucleated cell counts. Cytological evaluation and culture may assist in identifying inflammatory or infectious processes. Proper sample handling and timely processing are emphasized because cellular and biochemical characteristics can change after collection. CSF findings should be interpreted alongside neurological examination and other diagnostic investigations.

Mushrooms are fleshy fungi constituting a purely vegetarian diet, which is very tasty and nutritious. Some mushrooms are edible whereas others are poisonous. So far, more than 1600 types of mushrooms are known of which, nearly 100 have been accepted as food worldwide. Diversification in any farming system imparts sustainability. Mushrooms are one such component that not only impart diversification but also help in addressing the problems of quality food, health and environment related issues. One of the major areas that can contribute towards goal of conservation of natural resources as well as increased productivity is recycling of agro-wastes including agro-industrial waste. Utilising these wastes for growing mushrooms can enhance income and impart higher level of sustainability (Manjit Singh et al., 2011).

Mushroom cultivation activities can play an important role in supporting the local economy by contributing to subsistence food security, nutrition, generating additional employment and income through local, regional and national trade; and also offering opportunities for processing enterprises. Among the 33 globally cultivated types of mushrooms 3 mushrooms i.e. white button, oyster and paddy straw mushrooms are popularly grown in India.

Introduction

Fiber is that part of plant food which is not digested when eaten. Since it is not absorbed into the body, dietary fiber is not a nutrient. Nevertheless, fiber is a very important component of a healthy diet. Fiber, also called “roughage” helps prevent constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticular disease. Some types of fiber have a cholesterol-lowering effect, which could lead to reduced risk of heart disease.

Dietary fiber has been defined as plant cell wall material resistant to the intestinal secretions of the host. This definition gives the appearance of precision and allows gravimetric and chemical measurements. However, a proportion of other non-fibre dietary constituents (e.g, retrograded starch, protein, and fat) pass along the gut, without absorption or metabolism, to the caecum. Chemical analysis or quantitative measurements of the fibre content of specific diets do not allow prediction of their biological action. The physiological effects of dietary fibre depend predominantly on physical properties unrelated in any simple or direct way to chemical composition. Quantitative measurement of dietary fibre does not allow for diverse effects on nutrient absorption, sterol metabolism, fermentation in the colon, and stool weight. We still do not know whether to restrict the definition of “dietary fibre” to non-starch polysaccharides or to include related materials such as resistant starch, lignin, and the complex assemblies typical of plant tissues, where polysaccharides occur in close association with other molecules. An alternative to defining fibre in terms of chemical composition would be to develop measurements of physical properties relevant to physiological action in the intestine. This approach could be extended to other polymeric constituents, in particular proteins (ingested and secreted) and mucous glycoproteins.

Polysaccharides are the main constituents of dietary fibre and show a wide spectrum of physical, properties that reflect the nature and extent of intermolecular association. Dietary fibre can be likened to a water-laden hydrated mass passing along the gut. Physical properties that influence function are a combination of the rheological and colligative properties of the water-soluble fibre components, the surface characteristics of the water-insoluble components, and the network properties of the swollen hydrated components. Such features include viscosity, water holding, cation exchange, organic acid adsorption, gel filtration, and particle size distribution.