eChapters

Introduction

In the environment of dwindling water resources and contention of the other sectors, the share of water allocated to irrigation is likely to be decreased by 10 to 15 per cent in the next two decades. One of the ways of improving water scarcity is by enhancing its use efficiency or productivity. Water use efficiency (WUE) is a broad concept that can be defined in many ways. For farmers or farm irrigators, WUE is the yield of harvested crop produce achieved from the available water to the crop from irrigation, rainfall and soil water storage. Improving WUE in pomegranate will be required an increasing in pomegranate water productivity (i.e. an increasing marketable yield per unit of water used by plants and reduction in water losses from the root zone (Chopde and Gorantiwar, 1998; Chopde et al., 2001; Intrigoli et al., 2011). For comprehensive improvement of WUE, it is necessary to raise the following ratios to their maximum: stored soil water content/water received through rainfall and irrigation, transpiration/water consumption, biomass yield/transpiration, water consumption/soil water storage and economic benefit/biomass yield (Frederick, 1993).

Water is most essential thing to sustain life for plants, human and animals. In fact, land and water are the two important natural resources, which play an important role in horticulture production. Irrigation is the lifeline for any crop production. As Pomegranate is mostly grown under water scarce regions of India, so utilization of available water more effective and efficient irrigation system is need along micro-irrigation system offers the way of using water in a most judicious fashion for irrigation purpose. It is based on the elementary concept on irrigating root zone rather than entire land surface which results in higher water use efficiency and improved crop yield. This technique is now being used to mitigate water scare situation in the pomegranate growing regions of the country in enormous way.

Water is the most critical component of life system. Irrigation plays vital role in rising and stabilizing yield and maintaining quality of fruit crops grown in tropical or sub-tropical climate. Micro irrigation is one of the modern and advanced methods of irrigation which is becoming popular in areas having problems like water scarcity and poor quality of water. Since the competition for water between agricultural and non-agricultural sector is increasing day by day, the efficient management of water resources is very essential to meet the water requirement. It is anticipated to reduce water use for agriculture by 70% in the coming decade, where the present day share is 80%. Demand for water is increasing in non-agricultural sectors like industry, energy, domestic use etc. Hence, policy makers and researchers consider water as the main obstacle for growing enough food crops in the coming years. In India where population is increasing at alarming rate, the area under irrigation should go up from 60 million hectares to 114 million hectares by the year 2050. In this context, micro irrigation plays a major role under limiter water agro ecosystem.

Introduction

Hi Tech horticulture is synonymous to cultivation of commercial horticultural crops using advanced scientific technology to make more profit. India is acclaimed globally for production of high value horticultural crops but there productivity is less as compared to many countries. One of the main reasons for low productivity is poor water and nutrient management. The Task Force on Agricultural Development constituted by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, Government of India in March 2015 has suggested to increase productivity, progress is required along three dimensions: (i) Quality and judicious use of inputs such as water, seeds, fertilizer and pesticides; (ii) judicious and safe exploitation of modern technology; and (iii) shift into high value commodities such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. (Anonymous, 2015).  Hi tech horticulture meeting the entire requirement as suggested by the task force.

Introduction

In the present, India is food secure due to our self-sufficiency in foodgrains, but still,we have to achieve the goal of nutritional security. The horticulture sector is the one which alsoescapes the weather shocks and has the potential to help in poverty alleviation, nutritional security. Again, it has ample scope for farmers to increase their income and helpful in sustaining a large number of agro-based industries which generate a large number of employment opportunities besides helping to achieve the national goal of 4.0 per cent agricultural growth. India with more than 28.2 million tonnes of fruits and 66 million tonnes of vegetables, is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, next only to Brazil and China.Onshares, the world fruit production is 11% and vegetables 7%.

Abstract

The term nano technology, buzzword of present day science owes its origin from the Greek word ‘nano’ literally meaning dwarf. It is expressed in terms of dimension one nanometer equals to one billionth of a meter (1nm=10-9m), work on the principle of particle movement, smallest particle accelerate fast in the system. The nano technology deals with manufacturing, study and manipulation of matter at nano-scale (or atomic scale) in the size range of  1-100 nm, called as nanoparticles (Rajan, 2004). Nano technology is one of the most fascinating and rapidly possessing potential to revolutionize in science and technology of medicine and agriculture. In plant pathology, nano technology has potential scope to detection, diagnosis and management of plant diseases. Micromechanical cantilever arrays for selective immobilization and fast quantitative detection of vital fungal spores (Nugaeva et al., 2005). Micro-fabricated chambers designed to mimic some of the features of xylem vessels and discovered that Xylella fastidiosa migrates via type IV pilus-mediated twitching motility (Meg et al., 2005). Antifungal properties of chitosan, chitosan-saponin and Cu-chitosan nanoparticle reveal against phytopatogenic fungi namely Alternaria alternate, Macrophomina phaseolina and Rhizoctonia solani (Sharan et al. 2013). 

Abstract

The development of nano technology creates an excellent opportunity to address complex technical  issues of food supply chain. Failure to embrace nano technology will deny the horticultural sector an opportunity to capitalize on improved product visibility, food safety, quality and security and associated economic benefits. Agricultural and food supply chain management is complex due to the diverse characteristics of agricultural products. There are numerous types of horticultural crops and products, many of which are perishable. In addition, the degree of standardization of some kinds of fruit products and their management is still low. In this regard, the potential application of nano technology to the horticulture is reviewed. Investigation confirms that incremental applicationof nano technology in the horticulture,

Introduction

Sensors are the key components for enabling any IoT(Internet of Things) application. The concept of IoT came as early as 1990 but the practical implementations of the IoT technology is actually becoming possible as the cost of the devices that are needed to create any IoT application have reduced. Sensors are one of the major hardware components needed to form IoT systems and decrease in its price has given a forward leap in developing IoT applications. Sensors have to be uniquely identifiable devices with a unique device ip address so that they can be easily identifiable over a large network. These have to be active in nature which means that they should be able to collect real time data. These can either work on their own (autonomous in nature) or can be made to work by the user depending on their needs (user controlled).

Abstract

The term “Horticulture” is a part of agriculture system which is concerned with the raising of so called garden crops. At present, fruits, vegetables, flowers etc., are grown not only within the backyards, but also in large areas in open fields on a commercial scale where better visualization can be viewed with GIS. It emerged by calculating the present context which allows us to produce a complex view about the land’s characteristics. Most of the GIS in use today have not been designed to support multimedia data and therefore have very limited capability due to the large data volumes, very rich semantics and very different modelling and processing requirements. Use of Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS in natural resource and environmental monitoring has been advocated strongly in present years. The present review gives an idea about the basic concepts of GIS, its components and applications in the agricultural sector particularly horticulture. GIS has been extensively and successfully exploited in various areas using various software’s which are available in current market.

Abstract

Horticulture crops play significant role in improving the productivity of land, generating employment, enhancing exports, improving economic conditions of the farmers and entrepreneurs and providing food and nutritional security to the people. For better management of the existing crops and to bring more area under horticulture crops, updated and accurate database is necessary for systematic planning and decision making. Remote sensing (RS) is an advanced tool that aids in gathering and updating information to develop scientific management plans. Many types of sensors namely microwave radiometers, laser meters, magnetic sensors and cameras collect electromagnetic information to derive accurate, large-scale information about the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Because these data and images are digital, they can easily be quantified and manipulated using computers. RS can be used in efforts to reduce the risk and minimize damage. The same data can be analyzed in different ways for different applications. A number of studies were aiming at identification of crop, area estimation, disease and pest identification, etc. using satellite data in horticulture. The potential use of RS techniques in Horticulture is briefly reviewed in orde

Introduction

There has been a slow evolution of information technologies in fruit crop production as innovators combined their prior field experience with an attitude of learning by doing while looking for practical applications for farm management. As a suite of technologies became available for use in agriculture production, a new management strategy that combined information with decision making became known as Precision farming. Precision farming is the emerging technology which involves maintaining of crop inputs on site specific basis with reducing waste, increasing the profits and maintaining the quality of environment. The main tools involved in this are Geographical Information System (GIS), Variable Rate Technology (VRT), Global Positioning System (GPS), Yield Monitoring and Remote Sensing.

Abstract

Fruit, Vegetable, Flowers, Medicinal and Aromatic crops are as horticultural crops play significant role in improving the productivity of land, generating employment, enhancing exports, improving economic conditions of the farmers and entrepreneurs and providing food and nutritional security to the people. For better management of the existing crops and to bring more area under horticulture crops, updated and accurate database is necessary for systematic planning and decision making. Remote sensing (RS) is an advanced tool that aids in gathering and updating information to develop scientific management plans. Many types of sensors namely microwave radiometers, laser meters, magnetic sensors and cameras collect electromagnetic information to derive accurate, large-scale information about the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Because these data and images are digital, they can easily be quantified and manipulated using computers. RS can be used in efforts to reduce the risk and minimize damage. The same data can be analyzed in different ways for different applications. A number of studies were aiming at identification of crop, area estimation, disease and pest identification, etc. using satellite data in horticulture. The potential use of RS techniques in Horticulture is briefly reviewed in order to exploit the available techniques for efficient crop management.

Introduction

In India, Fruits and vegetables comprises nearly 90% of the total horticulture production. India is now the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world and leader in several horticultural crops, namely mango, banana, papaya, cashewnut, arecanut, potato, and okra (National Horticulture Board, 2015). The total area occupied by horticultural crops in India was 23.69  million ha and total production was 283 million tonnes in 2015-16 (Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare). Different horticultural crops like fruits, vegetables, spices, medicinal plants and plantation crops comprises a large chunk of the total crop sales value of the country and also secures nutritional security of the persons of the country. For systematic and efficient management of existing crops and to bring more area of the country under the cultivation of horticultural crops to increase overall horticultural production in term of time and area, a database must be created for decision making and planning. 

Introduction

Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa) occupies an important position among commercial ornamental bulbous crops, because of its highly fragrant flowers which can be used in various ways and is essentially a florists flower. The white tubular flowers emit the most popular odour and hence are cultivated on a large scale in some parts of the world for the extraction of its highly valued natural flower oil. The lingering delightful fragrance and excellent keeping quality are the predominant characteristics of this crop. It is popularly known as Rajanigandha, derives its generic name from the greek word Polios, which means white or shinning and anthos meaning a semi perennial bulbous plant. It is commercially cultivated for cut flowers and loose flowers trade and also for extraction of its highly valued natural flower oil. The serene beauty of the flower spikes, bright white flowers, sweetness of blooms and delicacy of fragrance of this ornamental crop, transform the entire area into a nectarine and joyous one. Fresh flowers and value added products of tuberose are exported from India to USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, The Netherland, Japan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Precision Farming

Precision farming is a concept of proper crop management based on the observation, technology, measurement and response during inter and intra field variability in crops. It is also known as satellite farming or site specific crop management (SSCM).It is an application of right things, in right place, in the right way and at the right time. It has three main requirements viz. first identify various field location, second capture, interpret and analyzed the data in a proper scale & frequency and third, adjust the input with farming practices for efficient economic yields. There are 17 Precision Farming Development Centers (PFDC) located in different agro-climatic zones of India. It is mostly exist in SAUS, ICAR Institute and IIT Kharagpur. 

Precision farming is one of the most scientific and modern approach to sustainable agriculture. It involves management of within field variation and helps farmers to grow crops more efficiently. Precision farming is concerned with the management of variability in the dimensions of both space and time. Variability of resources is a key factor of precision farming.   Precision farming is the application of technologies and principle to manage spatial and temporal variability associated with all aspects of horticultural production for improving crop performance and environment quality. Precision farming calls for an efficient management of resources through location specific hi-tech inventions to produce cost-effective and eco-friendly consumer- acceptable quality products (Mondal and Tewari, 2007).

Introduction

Canning is the general term applied to the process of packaging a food in a container and subjecting it to a thermal process for the purpose of extending its useful life. An optimal thermal process will destroy pathogenic (disease-causing) Bacteria, kill or control spoilage organism present and have mineral impact on the nutritional and physical quality of the food. Although we thing of canning in term of steel or possible aluminium cans, the principle apply equally well to a variety of food containers such as glass jar, plastic and foil laminated pouches, semi rigid plastic tray or bowls, as well as metal cans of any one of several shapes, including cylindrical, oval, oblong or rectangular. The concept of aseptic packaging (sterilizing the food and the container prior to filling and sealing) also follows the same principles.

Abstract

Being a great nutrient rich fruit, Dragon fruit has fetched a worldwide attention already and started to emerge as an important cash crop in global market. But the fine tuning between the scheduling of supply and market demand is greatly influenced by postharvest management and storage techniques of the fruit as the fruit has a short storage life. In this review, effect of diversified storage and packaging techniques on the different post harvest quality of fruits viz. fruit firmness, skin colour, its nutritional quality and susceptibility to disease pest during storage is investigated. And it was seen that various alternative and innovative modern techniques such as introduction of  plastic film, plastic crate packaging, modified atmospheric storage, different chemical application and application of edible chitosan coating are proven as effective to extent the durability of storage that widen the room for transport and marketing. Finally it can be said that the advantage of growth in dragon fruit consumption and marketing can be more harnessed through understanding the missing links between harvest and post-harvest handlings and integrating the traditional and modern postharvest approaches.

Abstract

The irradiation process involves exposing the food, either prepackaged or in bulk, to a predetermined level of ionization radiation. In this process, it is important to know sources of ionization radiation, how energy is quantified, and its scope with advantages and limitations.The traditional methods like preservation, such as drying, smoking and salting have been supplemented with pasteurisation (by heat), canning (commercial sterilisation by heat), refrigeration, freezing and chemical preservatives. ‘Food irradiation’ is another technology that can be added to the list. By realizing its importance present chapter highlighted with some basic aspects as well as its applications and other related aspects of food irradiation. Food irradiation involves basic principles like; Pasteurization (Pathogen Reduction) 2. Sterilization 3. Sanitation 4. Disinfestation. As concern to dosage can be applied as  low, medium and high based on type of radiation, type of food, type of packaging material and time of application. It has broader range of application in preservation with this also has few limitations which have become bottlenecks in this technology. Though technology is employing much in developed countries rather than developing once. Prospectus should be given in those countries also.

Introduction

Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. Packaging may be defined as the art and science which involves preparing the articles for transport, storage display and use. India is a land of large varieties of fruits and vegetables due to its vast soil and climatic diversity. With 38 and 71 million tons of production of fruits and vegetables, India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables next to Brazil and China respectively. Apart from the huge value addition and employment involved in these activities, packaging has served the Indian economy by helping preservation of the quality and lengthening the shelf life of innumerable products-ranging from milk and biscuits, to drugs and medicines, processed and semi-processed foods, fruits and vegetables, edible oils, electronic goods etc., besides domestic appliances and industrial machinery and other hardware needing transportation (FAO, 1985).

Introduction

Fresh fruits and vegetables are known for their nutritional and relishing nature. But, their fast perishability and season wise availability make them unavailable for a longer time. To enjoy and get benefited from their unique taste and nutritional value they are further preserved or converted into some value-added products such as jam, jelly, candies, juices, minimally processed fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, pickles etc. There are techniques which are developed to preserve them while in fresh and also when they are made into value-added products. Some require only one technique and other requires more than one in combination so that the product can be preserved for a longer period and available to maximum population even after their period of production/availability is completed.

Ornamental Industry

Floriculture as a multi-billion dollar industry has been undergoing unique revolution in terms of production and marketing of high value ornamentals such as cut flowers, loose flowers, potted and foliage plants there by emerged as fully export oriented activity. Owing to the steady increase in demand of flowers, floriculture has become one of the important commercial businesses in horticulture. Presently, floriculture industry in India has been growing with compound annual growth rate of 25 percent over the past decade (Muthukumaran, 2009). It has been found that commercial floriculture has higher potential per unit area than most of the field crops and therefore, it is a lucrative business. Indian floriculture industry has been shifting from traditional flowers to cut flowers for export purposes.Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Tamilnadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal have emerged as major floriculture production areas. The export of floricultural products from India has been on an increase in the past five years due to high demand for floriculture products in importing countries. The estimated total area under floriculture in India is 2,82,000 ha. Tamil Nadu stands first followed by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana. Approximately 16,57,000 metric tonnes of loose flowers and over 5,20,000 metric tonnes cut flowers are produced in India during 2015-16. Total export of floriculture products is 22,518 MT with value of 479 crores (APEDA, 2015). Major importers of ornamental products from India are USA, Germany, UK, Netherland, and UAE.

Introduction

Horticulture plays a significant role in Indian Agriculture. It contributes 30% GDP from 11.73 % of its arable land area. India is the second largest producer of both fruits and vegetables in the world (52.85 Mt and 108.20 Mt respectively). Being rich source of carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and dietary fibres these constitute an important part of our daily diet. The dietary fibres have several direct and indirect advantages. Not only this, fruits and vegetables provide a variety in taste, interest and aesthetic appeal. Their significance in human life is being recognised increasingly in societies with the objective of minimizing the occurrence of the diseases related with an affluent life style.

Abstract

Vegetable cultivation has been threatened due to limited availability of arable land and frequent vagaries of environment and incidence of soil borne pests and diseases. Development of stress tolerant or climate smart cultivars through conventional breeding methods or dependence upon agrochemicals for mitigation of pest and disease problems for vegetable crops have been practised since time immemorial. Salinity in coastal belts, high or low temperature injury, bacterial wilt in solanaceous vegetables, Fusarium wilt and nematode infestation in cucurbits are common of the many maladies which have caused tremendous loss in productivity and quality of vegetable crops throughout the globe. 

Introduction

Stress is usually defined as an external factor that exerts a disadvantageous influence on the plant. In most cases, stress is measured in relation to plant survival, crop yield, biomass accumulation or the primary assimilation processes (CO₂ and mineral uptake), which are related to overall growth. Stresses can be biotic, imposed by other organisms or abiotic arising from an excess or deficit in the physical or chemical environment. Biotic stress arises by attack of bacteria, viruses, fungi, invertebrates and even other plants, whereas abiotic stress occurs due to drought, water logging, high or low temperatures, excessive soil salinity, imbalance of mineral nutrients in the soil, heavy metals and too much or too little light. Stresses trigger wide range of plant responses, from altered gene expression and cellular metabolism to changes in growth rates and crop yields.

Introduction

Stress in physics is any force applied to an object. Stress in biology is any change in environmental conditions that might reduce or adversely change a plant’s growth or development. ‘Stress’ or ‘pressure’ was introduced into the theory of elasticity as an amount of force for a given unit area. When sufficient force is applied to material, the material bends and the change in length is termed ‘strain’. With increasing stress, the initially linear relationship between stress and strain becomes nonlinear until the proportionality limit, after which the material deforms elastically (it can bend back), then plastically (it cannot bend back) until it ruptures. Since the 1930s, biologists have attempted to apply this terminology to biological systems, albeit the nature of the stresses will vary between nonliving materials and organisms.

1. Introduction

Stress-Any deviation from this optimal condition of any factor essential for its growth will lead to aberrant change in physiological processes and due to this plant body will experience tension and this state can be referred as plant under stress.

In physics, stress is defined as mechanical force per unit area applied to an object. In response to the applied stress, an object undergoes a change in the dimension, which is also as strain. However, the biological stress is defined as an advance force or a condition, which inhibits the normal functioning and well-being of a biological system such as plants. There are several abiotic and biotic factors, which under a given condition, may be perceived as stress by plants.

Introduction

India is gifted with varied agro-climatic conditions for growing an array of vegetable crops to combat the present ill-balanced diet. The brinjal belongs to the family Solanaceous and to the genus Solanum, species melongena. The egg plant, Guinea squash are some synonyms to brinjal. It is a hardy crop and does best in worm and moist climate. The crop is generally grown twice or thrice in a year. The edible part, fruit is of high nutritive value and can well be compared with tomatoes. Insect pest constitute the major limiting factors in the successful production of brinjal. Pest comples of brinjal is very high and aphid (Aphis gossypii) causes heavy damage to the crop. Aphis gossypii (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a tiny insect or greenfly in the superfamily Aphidoidea in the order Hemiptera. It is a true bug and sucks sap from plants. It is a widely distributed pest of a variety of agricultural crops in the families Cucurbitaceae, Rutaceae and Malvaceae.

Introduction

The fruit crop acreage in Kashmir is rapidly increasing and is developing into perennial stretches of monocropping systems. The area of apple in Kashmir 143790 ha. Parallely this has led to increased pests and use of chemical pesticides. As a result, pest resurgence, pesticide residue in fruits, deleterious effect on biological agents and resistance build-up in insects have all complicated pest management (Smith, 1970).In view of the rising export potential of residue free fruits and the crisis situation created by indiscriminate use of pesticides, fruit crops need much more attention in terms of IPM input than what is getting now. It is therefore, necessary to develop and follow a rational approach with greater reliance on IPM to promote sustainability and to reduce the number of application of hazardous chemicals. Integrated pest management requires thorough preplanning even before establishing the fruit orchard which includes selection of suitable site,siol type, improved and pest free scion varieties, resistant rootstock compatible with scion, regular pest and weather monitoring in the orchard, balanced use of fertilizers, water management, proper training and pruning, improved cultural practices,augementation and conservation of parasitoids and predators and need based application of selective insecticides.The various strategies for successful management of economically important pests of temperate fruits are thoroughly discussed.

Introduction

Pests and diseases are very serious issues in vegetable crops and account for nearly 25-30% damage to the expected yields across different crops inspite of high amount of chemical use. Excessive reliance on chemicals has created problems of pest resistance to pesticides, decimated useful fauna and flora as well as imperilled the delicate ecological balance. In addition, pesticide treadmill lures the farmers for ever increasing use of pesticide dosages, thereby encouraging a vicious cycle of environmental pollution. Vegetable crops are one of the major groups of crops that contribute heavily in this regard, being the third major consumers of pesticides after cotton and rice in our country. Insect pests and diseases inflict the horticultural crops especially vegetable crops more than others because of their supple nature, intensive cultivation under high moisture and input regimes, short duration and denser canopy of the crops.

Abstract

We studied the mathematic model of “predator-prey” and„ pest-parasite”. Under the circumstances when these two specious coexist in particular conditions. In that case the components of the system continuously change. We describe the system by two differential equations which conclude into numeral equation by integrators and variables. According these equations we calculate some numeral formulations essential to these changeable populations.
  
We produce the prevalence of predator-prey systems by using analytic and quantitatic methods for massive rage of data. This process as usual is described by the differential equation consisting assembling point. The constructed phase portrait which we need to solve the problem is found by Runge-Kuta method. So the article speaks about the conformity with a law which we receive by permanent change of parameters’ menaings and temporal changes of biological systems’ conditions.

When there is no positive steady state both prey and predator can become extinct. In one particular case both species become extinct regardless on the initial data. In the second, both species will die out only if initial prey/predator ratio is too low. Otherwise, only the predator goes extinct, while prey tends to carrying capacity.

Abstract

Roselle, or Jamaica sorrel (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) is a popular vegetable in many tropical regions, cultivated for its leaves, seeds, stems and calyces of which, the dried calyces are used to prepare tea, syrup, jams, jellies and beverages. It is an annual herbaceous shrub belongs to family Malvaceae originated in old world tropics. The fresh calyces and young leaves are used as a vegetable in various cuisines and the plant also yield industrial bio fibre. It also has nutraceutical potential, high pigment content, and nutritional and medicinal properties. Roselle is a drought tolerant crop and cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics during hot and rainy seasons. China and Thailand are the largest producers and control much of the world supply, where as the best quality roselle comes from Sudan. Many medicinal applications of this plant have been developed around the world. It is used to treat hypertension, pyrexia, dyspepsia, and leukaemia hepato protective, due to its high content of protocatechuic acid. Leaves are emollient and sedative and also show antihypersensitive, antihyperlipidimic, diuretic and anti oxidant properties. Hence, it is an ideal candidate crop for low input multi-cropping system for the food and nutritional security for developing countries.

Abstract
 

Ensure enough food and water to the growing world population and preserve the biodiversity of our planet are among the major challenges of our immediate future. These challenges are essentially addressed to the agricultural world, which is constantly evolving to satisfy the most basic needs of the humankind. The approaches and the possible answers to these big challenges are many and, even if partial, each sustainable solution or innovation can contribute to improve the quality of our life. To overcome the barriers for food and nutritional security microgreens is one of the possible innovative approach in this 21st century. A microgreen is a young vegetable green that is used both as a visual and flavor component or ingredient primarily in fine dining restaurants. Fine dining chefs use microgreens to enhance the attractiveness and taste of their dishes with their delicate textures and distinctive flavors. Smaller than “baby greens,” and harvested later than sprouts, microgreens can provide a variety of leaf flavors, such as sweet and spicy. They are also known for their various colors and textures. Among upscale markets, they are now considered a specialty genre of greens that are good for garnishing salads, soups, plates, and sandwiches.

Abstract

In the recent past we have seen a great upsurge in the production and productivity of food grains as well as horticultural produce which is sufficient to feed our burgeoning population. This way we are self-sufficient to feed our population, but now the major challenge before us is to ensure the nutritional security of each and every individual of the country. Moreover, meeting nutritional security through conventional or molecular breeding demands long time. However, this could be achieved in much shorter period of time i.e., within 2-3 weeks by growing microgreens.Microgreens can be easily characterised by having a central stem with two fully developed cotyledon leaves and mostly one pair of small true leaves.In comparison to their mature counterparts, microgreens of a variety of vegetables and herbs have been reported to be more nutritious. They are rich in ascorbic acids, carotenoids, phylloquinone and tocopherols, which is responsible for its antioxidant properties and also plays a vital role in weight gain modulation, cholesterol metabolism. It may also protects from cardiovascular diseases by preventing hypercholesterolemia. Main problem associated with microgreens are their high price and high perishability and lack of awareness among people about its cultivation practices and health benefits. It demands great attention from the scientific community, to address these problems and make it available in each and every household to ensure the nutritional security of the nation.

Introduction

The demand for agriculture commodity is growing world over and meets the ever increasing targets as per the demand, productivity needs to be raised further. This can be realized in two ways- by increasing area of cultivation and/or through increased efficiency of inputs (both natural and manmade). The scope for the farmer is very limited worldwide and for the latter, the primary input is the solar energy which is most abundant except in few cases like colder regions. In the coming future, the availability of land for cultivation will be a major impendent due to rapid urbanization, hydroelectric projects, dams and rivers, highway roads and also there is a degradation of fertile land due to soil erosion (120.72 million ha), soil salinity and water logging (8.4 million ha) Nath et al., 2007 and Hegde et al. (2015).  Under this situation, multi-storied cropping system will be a viable option to provide food, nutrition and income security to people Awasthi et al., (2008). The available arable land could be effectively utilized for production of field and horticultural crops to achieve nutritional security for the growing population and sustainable income for the farming community. Increasing food production with limited natural resource is a great challenge to the scientific community. Thus, production per unit area of land, time and inputs can be increased by improving efficiency of the rate and extent to which solar energy is harvested for conversion to economic produced.

Introduction

Crop regulation is also known as flowering/ fruiting cycle management. It can also be termed as management of vegetative-reproductive balance. Some of the fruit crops bloom throughout the year without any resting period and produces two or three crops (bahar) in a year but yield and quality is not so good in all crop harvest. It is very essential to understand the flowering and fruiting behavior of crops and which bahar will give good crop with considering all the factors associated with a particular bahar. It is important for the available time to be partitioned to give an appropriate balance between the making of sources of resources which capture and utilized resources efficiently in generating harvestable yield and the filling of sinks for resources; and sink must mature in desired time for harvest. Apart from their importance in the determination of crop yield

The first step of sexual reproduction (Flowering) is of paramount importance in agriculture, horticulture and plant breeding. The change from the vegetative state to the reproductive state is one of the most dramatic events. Flowering leads to an exciting succession of events like anthesis, fruit set, fruit development, maturation and ripening. It provides for the propagation of the species and assists in crop improvement through genetic recombination. Plant growth regulators have remained an important component in horticulture, agriculture from time immemorial, because they were effective means of quantitative as well as qualititative improvement in growth and development of crops. Plant growth and development as well as the responses to environmental factors, are highly regulated by complex and coordinated action of the endogenous hormones (Reddy and Bhagwan, 2014).

Abstract

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is the one of the most important fruit crop of tropics and subtropics. Mango belong to group of plant in which there is an antagonism between vegetative vigour and flowering intensity. Therefore, any factor that reduces vegetative vigour without altering the metabolic activity and favors flowering which can be possible by the use of growth regulator. Growth retardant that has been widely used in mango crop is paclobutrazol (PBZ) or cultar. Paclobutrazol is N-containing heterocyclic, trizole compound which stimulate flowering by inhibiting gibberellic acid pathway by inhibiting oxidation of ent-kaurene to ent-kaurenoic acid by blocking cytochrome P450 dependent monooxygenase enzyme. It is applied at the rate 2-5g/m of canopy diameter 3-4 months prior to desired date of flowering either by foliar spray, soil drench or trunk application. However, soil application is found more efficient on mango quality production than other. Paclobutrazol has pleiotropic response on mango cultivars. It has been found that application of paclobutrazol is effective in enhancing the protein mobilisation, starch, carotenoid, lycopene, phenol and cytokinin, abscisic acid and enzyme content in treated plant that induce flowering. It has been found that paclobutrazol is capable to reduce mango malformation and make plant tolerant in stress condition.

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is one of the most important tropical fruits of the world and is commonly known as the ‘King of fruits’ for its high quality fruits which are very popular among the Indians (Sharma et al., 2008). It is an oldest and extensively cultivated fruit crop in India having high socio-economic significance. India is the home of about more than 1000 mango varieties, which originated in the Indo-Burma region (Mukherjee, 1958). India is the largest producer of mango, grown in about 2.3 million hectares with an annual production of 15.02 million tonnes. However, its productivity is only 6.5 tonnes ha against 30 tonnes per ha in Israel. Improvement of productivity in mango continues to be the foremost issue in mango production (Sauco, 1993). Of late, all the mango importing countries are considering the India as a source of quality mangoes due to its varietal wealth and availability. Hence, it is imperative to improve the productivity and quality of Indian mangoes to meet the global need (Balamohan and Gopu, 2014).

Canopy management is the manipulation of tree canopies to optimize the production of quality and quantity fruits. The canopy management, particularly its components like tree training and pruning, affects the quantity of sunlight intercepted by trees, as tree shape determines incoming radiation. Light is critical for growth and development of trees and their fruits. The green leaves harvest the sunlight to produce carbohydrates and sugars which are transported to the sites where they are needed – buds, flowers and fruits. Better light penetration into the tree canopy improves tree growth, productivity, yield and fruit quality. The density and orientation of planting also impact light penetration in an orchard (Proietti et al., 2000). Generally, in close planting, quicker shading becomes a problem. An east-west row orientation results in more shading as compared to the western and southern orientation of trees. The problem of a fruit grower is initially to build up a strong and balanced framework of the trees, then equips them with appropriate fruiting.

Abstract

Plant architecture, plays a crucial role in gathering multiple resources from the environment. As a plant grows, they change its architecture with the surrounding environment for altering available resources. The architecture of the plant is modified through the distribution of assimilate, which conclude the growth rates of different organs. Plant roots expand to acquire soil water and nutrients (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus) from different soil layers by adjusting their direction in order to growth which transported and allocated to whole plant for maintenance and expansion of plant organs. All plants gradually develop their architecture according to source–sink activities and endogenous signals. This adaptation can result in complex structures. This chapter deals with the importance, different method for changing the architecture   of vegetable crops for improving their yield and quality.

Introduction

High density planting in fruit trees was first introduced in case of apple in Europe during the nineteen sixties, with the development of Malling and Malling - Merton rootstocks. Subsequently, this was experimented in other temperate fruit crops like peach, plum, pear and sweet cherry. Today, majority of new orchards of apple and to some extent that of other fruit crops in Europe, New Zealand, USA and Australia use this intensive system of fruit production profitably Iyer and Kurian (2006). The successful management of trees in any high-density planting system depends on maintaining a balance between vegetative growth and fruiting.

Soil and nutrients are important factors for sustainable crop production in agriculture. Water erosion contributes more than 60% to the area under soil degradation in India. Soil erosion has been a serious threat to sustainable agriculture. However, soil and water conservation measures plays important role in improving the productivity of natural resources. India presently supports 17% of the global population with a geographical area of 329 Mha on merely 2.5% world’s land area and 4% fresh water resources. The net cultivable area in the country is about 140Mha is remaining constant or even squeezing from the pressures of urbanization, industrialization, infrastructure development and to house the ever increasing population. The loss of productive soil is another concern. The loss of fertile top soil by water erosion is estimated to be about 5334 Mt per year with it nearly 8.4 million tonnes (mt) of nutrients was estimated in eroded soil still holds true about in i.e. 2.5 mt nitrogen, 3.3 mt phosphorus and 2.6 mt potassium per hectare is lost due to ill soil and water management practices (Dhruvanarayana and Ram Babu, 1983).

Soil microorganisms are believed to play a major regulatory role in organic carbon dynamics, as key architects in nutrient transformation, and physical engineering of soil structure. The microbial populations of the soil alone encompass an enormous diversity of bacteria, algae, fungi, protozoa, and actinomycetes. Microbial diversity is being regulated by substrate and water availability, temperature, climatic regime and soil structure, which is considered as a transformation agent for soil organic matter and a labile pool of organic and inorganic nutrients. Extensive cultivation with repeated tillage operation often disrupts soil aggregates stability and destroys aggregates carbon and therefore, soil lose their physical properties and nutrient supplying capacity in a long-run.

Introduction 

Conservation tillage has been defined based on percent cover of the soil surface with crop residue (CTIC, 2000). Quantifying crop residue cover on the soil surface is important for improving estimates of surface energy balance, net primary productivity, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. Quantifying crop residue cover is also an important factor in controlling soil erosion and evaluating the effectiveness of conservation tillage practices (Barnes et al., 2003). Collecting this information by conventional method of survey and line transact are time-consuming, labor intensive, costly and can involve destructive sampling (Morrison et al., 1993). Moreover, field data are limited because they provide point, rather than area information. Remote sensing technique revealed as promising tool in providing such spatial data over a large area in a time and cost-effective manner.

Introduction

In general economic model, technological change in agriculture is expected to cause the commodity supply curve to shift down and out against a stationary demand curve, giving rise to an increase in quantity produced and consumed, and at a relatively lower price. Agricultural economists have used supply and demand models of commodity markets to represent agricultural research impacts, beginning with Schultz (1953) and Griliches (1958), with important subsequent contributions by Duncan and Tisdell (1971), Akino and Hayami (1975), among others. Such a model is explicitly used in many studies. However, low crop productivity, food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition; inadequate farming knowledge and skills, implements and inputs are characteristic of smallholder agriculture in developing countries including India. Many researchers argue that conservation agriculture can guarantee higher crop productivity, food security, improved net income of the farmers and environmental protection, better than the traditional systems of cultivation practices.

Introduction

Modern agriculture has been of great help in alleviating hunger from the world, because the world population more than doubled itself during the last half of the 20th century; it increased from 2.5 billion in AD 1950 to 7.1 billion in 2012 (USCB, 2013). It is predicted that the world population will again double itself by the end of the 21st century and will touch the 12 billion mark. Most of this increase in population has been, and will be, in the developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America. India occupies 2.4 percent of the total land area of the world, but supports 16.7 per cent of the world population. Like many other developing countries in the world, population in India is increased from 345 million in 1947 to 1210 million as per the 2011 census with a growth rate of 1.76 during last decade. Therefore, pressure on land has been mounting up at an alarming rate. Population growth coupled with live stock population expansion, urbanization and industrialization are major contributory factors to it. The unscientific and unplanned exploitation of this limited resource takes its toll in terms of degrading the land. A large proportion of the land area shows clear evidence of advanced and continuing degradation seriously affecting the country’s productive resource base (Abrol and Sehgal, 1994). Jammu & Kashmir and  Nagaland  have maximum share of their land (94%) under degradation. This is primarily due to large areas under mountains, cold deserts and other such degraded lands. In the agriculturally prominent states like Uttar Pradesh (63%), Madhya Pradesh (50%) and Karnataka (46%) (Shalander Kumar, 2011) the extent of land degradation is of great concern and posing a big threat to the natural resources, resulting in almost 5 billion tonnes soil and 6 million tones of nutrient loss every year (Singh, 2009).

Introduction

With the advent of agricultural intensification, soil quality has been the important concern for the scientists, environmentalists and the planners at the global level. Research efforts have been made at the experimental fields, research laboratories and few specific locations, in order to establish the yardsticks, standards and critical values of soil parameters to ascertain the quality of the soil. The primary aim is the management of soil resources as per the need and their rejuvenation through best practices in hand. The idea, as it was aimed at, has now percolated down to the minds of end users-the farmers. The state and Central governments have been sensitized and are attaching great priority to the soil health. In states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Goa, Uttar Pradesh crores of farmers are given “Soil Health Cards”. Central Govt. has the plan to issue these cards to all farmers in the country, detailing the deficiencies in soil and the amount of fertilizer needed.

Introduction

The organic matter added to soil externally as FYM, crop residues, leaf fall, root deposition etc. has been a part and parcel of Indian agriculture. The total carbon added to soil is subject to microbial decay and slowly the major portion of it finds way back to the atmosphere. There is every possibility that atmospheric CO₂ concentration will increase in near future; that will further lead to increased attention of scientific community to make soil a possible sink for atmospheric CO2. when the carbon sequestration is thought with the perspective of reducing carbon dioxide emission for healthy atmosphere at one hand and improving soil health on the other, there is utmost need to opt for technologies that can fulfill both these objectives. There is growing interest in the use of charcoal or ‘biochar’ to sequester carbon in soil and improve soil fertility (Lehmann and Joseph, 2009). There are many types of soil additives and fertilizers used to improve the structure and functions of soil. Biochar has re-emerged as an issue in the last ten years as everyone is looking for sustainable ways to improve soils and decrease use of chemical fertilizers. 

Increasing consciousness about environmental and coupled health hazards with agrochemical usage in farming and resultant consumers’ preference to safe and chemical-free food are the major factors that lead to the interest in eco-friendly forms of farming in the world. Organic agriculture is one such broad spectrum of production methods in consonance with conservation agriculture that are supportive of the environment and is now practiced in not less than 130 countries to the tune of 30.4 mha in 0.7 million organic farms. In India, about 1.02 mha area is reported to be under organic farming (certified area and area under conversion) with nearly 0.5 lakh certified organic farms. It is believed that adoption of ecologically sustainable farming practices can provide twin benefits of reversing the declining trends in crop productivity and protecting the environment. The demand for organic food is showing an increasing trend with an average growth rate of 20-25% per annum.