eChapters

Fundamentals of Nanotechnology in Packaging • Overview of Nanotechnology in Packaging: Nanotechnology in packaging refers to using materials manipulated at an extremely small scale (1-100 nanometers) to boost the performance and capabilities of packaging. Techniques like nanoparticles, nanofibers, and nanocomposites are integrated into packaging materials to improve their physical properties, prolong shelf life, and introduce new functions like antimicrobial features. Mechanisms and Key Materials • Nanoparticles: Small particles added to packaging to enhance strength, f lexibility, and barrier properties. Common types include silver, titanium dioxide, and zinc oxide nanoparticles. • Nanofibers: Made from substances such as chitosan, cellulose, or polymers, these fibers increase strength and are useful in active packaging coatings. • Nanoclays: Dispersed in polymers, these increase resistance to gases and moisture, enhancing barrier performance

1. INTRODUCTION

Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) has become a widely practiced Hi-tech horticulture practice. It refers to maintenance of soil fertility and plant nutrient supply to an optimum level for sustaining the desired crop productivity through optimization of the benefits from all possible sources of plant nutrients in an integrated manner. Another important aspect of INM is for enhancing of the fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) by proper placement of fertilizer in close proximity to the rhizosphere of the highest root activity. Today, Integrated Nutrient Management has become one of the common practices among progressive horticulture producers.

INM involves proper combination of chemical fertilizers, organic manures, crop residues, nitrogen fixing crops and bio-fertilizers suitable to the system of land use under ecological, social and economic conditions. INM involves maintenance or adjustment of plant nutrient supply to an optimum level for sustaining the desired crop productivity.

Animal breeding data is unique in terms of volume, statistical analysis, type of information required etc. The large volume of data extended spatially and temporally warrants additional tools in the form of databases to handle data and enable accuracy, retrieval, efficient utilization and adaptability to software. This chapter explains the nature of animal breeding data and the importance of databases with examples and explanations.

Animals are raised for some utility including meat, milk, hide, wool etc., and efforts are on to continuously improve the quality and quantity of these products. Some of the important economic traits in this regard were already discussed in earlier chapters. Record maintenance is primary for decision-making with respect to the selection of animals. The details of record maintenance including the format of registers are already explained in chapter 2. Apart from the actual information required for economic traits, pedigree information forms an important part of animal breeding data.

Introduction of Training and Visit System

This Training and Visit system was developed by World Bank Expert Daniel Benor. Initially (13) Major states in India adopted Training and Visit system but later on most of the states are practicing this system since 1984 onwards.

Indian subcontinent is a mega-center of crop plant diversity, as well as wild relatives and other useful taxa (Zeven and de Wet 1982). Diverse agroclimatic conditions, agricultural practices, and ethnic diversification have resulted in the development of a rich diversity of crop plants among native and introduced taxa (Arora 1991). Fruit crops contribute significantly to nutrition and health because they are high in dietary energy and contain a significant amount of vitamins and minerals (Pareek et al., 1998). Most of these species serve multiple functions, such as food, shelter, timber, fuel, medicine etc. As a result of their numerous applications, tropical fruits significantly contribute to food and nutritional security, income generation, ecosystem and environmental sustainability.

Introduction

India possesses rich fish germplasm resources, accounting for about one-tenth of the 20,000 and odd species of fish known in the world. The Ganga network of rivers in the North, the Brahmaputra and the Mahanadi in the East, the Sutlej, the Narmada & the Tapti in the West and, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Cauvery in the South are very rich sources, harbouring bulk of the important fish fauna. (Jhingran, 1982).

The major carps of India which are also referred to as Gangetic carps are the most important among the commercial fish species and form the major component of the aquaculture system in the country (Jhingran, 1982). Since the last two to two and a half decades, there was a steady progress in carp farming in India due to the availability of seed of the major carps and the development of different packages of culture technologies (Chaudhuri et al. 1975).

Biodiversity, coined by W. G. Rosen in 1985, is the variety of life on Earth. It is the occurrence of different kinds of organisms and the complete range of varieties adapted to different climates, environments and areas being constituents of food chains and food web of biotic interrelationship. Biodiversity refers to totality of genes species and ecosystems of a region. Biodiversity differs from place to place. Biodiversity is the biological wealth of world.

There is continuous depletion of biodiversity due to increasing population resources consumption, urbanization and pollution. The basic reason for concern is that biodiversity is being lost even before it attains its size. Loss of biodiversity would check evolutionary capability of biota to cope up with environmental loss.

In spite of considerable progress achieved during the last four decades in vegetable production in India, average productivity of vegetable crops is still low as compared to national and world level, indicating the scope to enhance their yield potential of quality produce. This is because of an appealing gap between potential yield and actual yield. In many vegetables, yield realized is even lesser than 50 % of potential yield. Sometime, farmers growing vegetable crops during main season do not get back their cost of cultivation. The prices of the same vegetable produce is very high during off-season. Several biotic and abiotic stresses are major factors responsible for low productivity and poor quality in different vegetable crops under open field cultivation, especifically in rainy and post-rainy seasons. The increasing demand of off-season high quality vegetables in various markets of big cities has called the attention of vegetable growers for diversification from traditional techniques of vegetable cultivation to modern systems of cultivation.

Protected cultivation of vegetable crops offers best choice for diversification. Production of crops under protected conditions has great potential in augmenting production and quality of vegetables, in main and off-season, maximizing water and nutrient-use efficiency under varied agroclimatic conditions. This technology has great potential especially in peri-urban areas, since it can be profitably used for growing high- value vegetables like tomato, cheery tomato, coloured Capsicum and parthenocarpic cucumbers, and healthy and virus-free seedlings in agri-entrepreneurial models.

3.1 Introduction
Irrigation efficiency evaluates how effectively the water has been distributed for the purpose of crop production. Water is conveyed to crop field through canal water courses and channels. During this process considerable amounts of water get lost through run off, deep percolation, evaporation, etc. The losses of water greatly depend on the skill of the irrigator, degree of land preparation, and design and planning of the system. The extent of water losses starting to diversion of water from its source to crop field though conveyance and ultimate application and distribution of water in crop field which can be estimated separately. The estimation of these efficiencies enables one to identify the step(s) where improvement is required. The method of measurement and evaluation for its efficiency is prerequisite for proper use of water. Irrigation efficiency in developing countries in general is poor particularly in gravity irrigation methods. However, water is become more and more scarce. Due to pressing need of it judicious and efficient management is one of the vital issues to be solved on priority basis.

The general distribution of density in the oceans is like a two layer ocean as shown in Fig.5.1 below. A layer of more or less uniform density (nearly vertical) near the surface called as isopycnal layer and a deeper layer of higher density below with sharp increase of density is called as pycnocline.

Perennial fruit crops are largely cultivated under borderline conditions leading to various physiological disarrays. An environment-friendly technique for escaping or reducing losses in production due to biotic and abiotic stresses is their propagation onto rootstocks, which can reduce the adverse effects of external stresses. The scion and rootstock grow together, although genetically different but working infusion and grow as a single entity. The rootstock provides the root system, thus anchoring the tree and acts as an absorbing organ for water and mineral nutrients. The rootstock also influences the tree size, precocity in bearing, fruit quality and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

The livelihoods of millions of rural households in the semi-arid areas depend mainly on natural resources such as soil, rainwater, vegetation, livestock and the like. The major source of livelihood in these areas solely depends on the arrival, distribution and cessation of monsoons, which are erratic and ill distributed. However, management of natural resources like soil and vegetation in a way that these are used to optimally to produce maximum output. This requires new knowledge, better skills and improved management strategies. In this context, building the capacity of the rural households particularly the youth holds key to improving productivity and profitability ot the enterprise. Keeping these in view, the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) sub project on “Sustainable Rural Livelihoods through Enhanced Farming Systems Productivity and Efficient Support Systems in Rainfed Areas” being implemented by a consortium led by CRIDA has introduced several interventions aimed at involving rural youth right from the beginning of the project.  The project is being implemented in eight backward districts (Adilabad, Anantapur, Kadapa, Khammam, Mahabubngar, Nalgonda, Rangareddy and Warangal) of Andhra Pradesh in selected clusters of villages.

INTRODUCTION

Plant tissue culture is basically in vitro culturing of any type of explants such as leaf, root, bud and stem or even single cell except the seed or embryo on a suitable culture medium under controlled environmental conditions. Plant tissue culture employs the totipotency of plant cells to produce whole plant. The term totipotency was coined by German plant physiologist, Haberlandt (1902) who is known as father of tissue culture techniques.

Definition of Micropropagation

Micropropagation is one of the best and most successful examples of commercial application of tissue culture techniques. The concept of micropropagation was first presented to the scientific community in 1960 by Morel, who produced the virus-free cymbidium through meristem culture. It entails in vitro propagation of plants starting with very small plant parts (0.2-10mm) grown aseptically, followed by their establishment in soil under green house conditions. It is the art and science of plant multiplication in vitro. This technique has been standardized and commercialized for various fruits and vegetable crops.

Abstract

Tremendous changes in lifestyle, eating habits and shifting rural habitations are causing an irreversible change that is leading to manifold multiplication of health problems and these health issues have attracted the attention of every segment of the society in the recent past. Today foods are not intended to only satisfy hunger and to provide necessary nutrients for humans but also to prevent nutrition-related diseases and improve physical and mental well-being of the consumers. Due to increasing control over nutrition and health, consumers are becoming more proactive towards their health. In this regard, functional foods play an outstanding role and they are gaining public acceptance and there is great scope for value-added as well as health promoting food products in developing countries. Various terms have used for functional foods throughout the world such as designer foods, medicinal foods, nutraceuticals, therapeutic foods, superfoods, foodiceuticals, and medifoods. People are interested in foods which boost immune system, reduce the risk of diseases and improve health. The increasing demand of such foods can be explained by the increasing cost of healthcare, the steady increase in life expectancy, and the desire of older people for improved quality of their later years. Typically, a food marketed as functional contains added, technologically developed ingredients with a specific health benefit. These range of products cannot be truly classified as ‘food’ and a new hybrid term between nutrients and pharmaceuticals, ‘nutraceuticals’, has been coined to designate them. The development of functional foods involves the application of various food processing techniques such as microencapsulation of functional ingredients for controlled release, nanotechnology for the development of nanostructured (or nanotextured) food ingredients and delivery systems for nutrients and supplements etc. Inclusion of probiotic bacteria and probiotic supplements in various food systems has also become very popular and this is becoming a very vital sector in functional food market. Systematic RandD efforts are, therefore, required to develop health promoting foods for all segments of the society at affordable cost. Prior to promoting the developed health foods, it is of utmost importance to conduct clinical trials to ascertain safety and efficacy, and also establish appropriate regulatory framework for their distribution to masses. All these issues have been discussed in this paper and recommendations were drawn to formulate future research.

Correlations and regression are important components of animal breeding analysis. The genetic correlation is an important genetic parameter that is useful in the planning of breeding programs involving multiple traits. In this chapter, the basic concepts of correlation and regression including method of estimation, assumptions and test of significance are presented. An example using SPSS software is also given at the end for better understanding.

The following scientists greatly contributed to the wind driven circulation. Out of all Ekman, Sverdrup, Stommel and Munk are most important and ever remembered for their work. So in the following pages discussion is mostly concentrated on these four scientists theories.

Prevailing climate and weather conditions play crucial role in production and quality of various fruits including mango (Mangifera indica L.). In India, mango has 2.3 million ha area with annual production of 20.5 million tonnes and average productivity of 8.9 t/ha. However, erratic precipitation and high temperature during flowering and fruit setting induced mainly due to climatic disturbance in the recent past had adversely impacted the production potential of mango in subtropics. Analysis of twenty years (2001-02 to 2021-22) weather data of ICAR CISH, Lucknow, indicated that average annual rainfall of the region is 956.41 mm spread over 25-30 number of rainydays.

Introduction

India is an agriculture dominated country. According to the report of the Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households by the NSO, 54.6% of the total workforce is engaged in agriculture and allied sectors which encompasses for 17.8% of India’s total GVA for the year 2019-20. The number of operational holdings in the country is estimated at 14.64 crores (Agriculture Census 2016). As we can see from Figure 1 the operational landholding of Indian farmers is increasing day by day. The average size of operational holdings was 1.15 hectares in 2010-11 which has declined to 1.08 hectares in the year 2015-16 (Agriculture Statistics at a Glance, 2021).

Pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.] is an important commercial tropical fruit crop under the family Bromeliaceae. Centre of origin of this fruit can be traced back to Brazil, South America. It is eulogized as “Queen of Fruit” or “Friendship Fruit” or “Haven Fruit” or “Golden Queen”. The word ‘Pineapple’ came from the Spanish word “Pina” based on appearance of fruit which resembles a pine cone. Now, pineapple is termed as “Boon for dry land agriculture”. Pineapple is an introduced crop in India and was first introduced in Goa by Portuguese. The largest producer of pineapple is Thailand and India ranks 6th in the world pineapple production. In India, Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala are the leading pineapple producers. Pineapple is a CAM (Crassulacean Acid Metabolism), monocarpic (each stem flowers only once and dies after fruiting), herbaceous perennial plant (Baruwa, 2013) and is suitable for cultivation in xerophytic conditions (Baraily and Deb, 2018).

The earliest written references to pineapple are found in the reference of Christopher Columbus, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, and Sir Walter Raleigh. They found pineapple growing in the West Indies mainly for for food and wine making. The Portuguese sailors were responsible for early dissemination of the pineapple and introduced it to Saint Helena in 1502. They also carried it to Africa and India by about 1550. Cultivation of pineapple had spread over most of the tropical countries including some of the islands of the South Pacific before the end of the 16th century. Costa Rica, Brazil, China, India, and Thailand are now major growers of pineapple.

Fish has a vital role to play in mitigating the protein deficiency in developing countries. Fish has been described as the meat of the third world, and fish contributes significantly in developing and developed countries as a source of employment, income generation and foreign exchange earnings. The minimum per capita consumption of fish of an average Indian should be 11 kg per annum, as recommended by the ICMR. However, the per-capita consumption of fish in India is only 5 kg per annum, whereas, per capita consumption of fish in Japan was 62.6 kg, China - 30 kg and Bangladesh - 35 kg (Goswami et al., 2012).