eChapters

Since commencement of the settlement of world, the search for food had been uppermost, thereby, practising the conservation of food is a basic need for ensuring its ample supply to human being. The problem of food storage is growing fast day by day with the increase in the population. The existing shortage of protein and caloric requirements will not only be solved by growing more food and resorting to family planning measures but also by saving the produce from deterioration and wastage, and its efficient allocation to meet the growing requirement of population. In countries with varied climatic conditions, it is a steady struggle of man with insects, mites, rodents and microbes in getting the food stuff.

Need and Objectives of Storage

Since times immemorial, man adopted a particular system of storage and certain produce storage standards. Some of the storage methods are still in use in several regions, in the capacity varying from one kg to several hundred quintals, like hollowed gourds, skin bags, mud bins, excavated stones, woven baskets, underground pits etc., particularly in the tropics. The problems of storage in developing countries are more acute than that in well developed countries and a considerable disparity seems to be there in food availability. All need a food supply that should be nutritious, clean; free from insects, rodents, birds, other animal filth and harmful chemical residues. There are two types of needs, one immediately after harvest and the other in off season. There is no need of storing the produce for immediate requirement but for the latter case, the need to conserve produce properly is inevitable. Further, the need for storage has always arisen for one reason to distribute commodity in deficit production areas and the other based on improved quality standards. In all the way, therefore; growers, processors, transporters and warehouse owner must assist to comply with these requirements.

Abstract

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) is an important rabi leguminous annual herb with rich source of protein and other balanced nutrition. Lentil is susceptible to many insect-pests and diseases which causes significant yield loss which may range from 50 to 100% leading to one of the most important biotic constraints in productivity. The major fungal diseases in lentil are Fusarium wilt, Ascochyta blight and rust which causes severe losses in lentil production. Other minor diseases like botrytis grey mould, anthracnose, alternaria, stem rot, collar rot and some viral diseases also infect the lentil field under condusive environment conditions. Coming to major insect pests of lentil viz. helicoverpa, aphids, leaf weevils and lygus bugs with several noteworthy minor field pests such as thrips and cutworm with few storage pests that infest the crop. With an integrated blueprint of disease management, one can minimize risk of yield loss by following modified package and practices with need based use of pesticides, thus maximizing profit in lentil production.

Polymerase Chain Reaction

The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique, invented in 1985 by Kary B. Mullis, allowed scientists to make millions of copies of a scarce sample of DNA. The technique has revolutionized many aspects of current research, including the diagnosis of genetic defects and the detection of the AIDS virus in human cells. The technique is also used by criminologists to link specific persons to samples of blood or hair via DNA comparison. PCR also affected evolutionary studies because large quantities of DNA can be manufactured from fossils containing but trace amounts.

Kary Mullis invented the PCR technique in 1985 while working as a chemist at the Cetus Corporation, a biotechnology firm in Emeryville, California. The procedure requires placing a small amount of the DNA containing the desired gene into a test tube. A large batch of loose nucleotides, which link into exact copies of the original gene, is also added to the tube. A pair of synthesized short DNA segments, that match segments on each side of the desired gene, is added. These “primers” find the right portion of the DNA, and serve as starting points for DNA copying. When the enzyme Thermus aquaticus (Taq) is added, the loose nucleotides lock into a DNA sequence dictated by the sequence of that target gene located between the two primers.

The test tube is heated, and the DNA’s double helix separates into two strands. The DNA sequence of each strand of the helix is thus exposed and as the temperature is lowered the primers automatically bind to their complementary portions of the DNA sample. At the same time, the enzyme links the loose nucleotides to the primer and to each of the separated DNA strands in the appropriate sequence. The complete reaction, which takes approximately five minutes, results in two double helices containing the desired portion of the original. The heating and cooling is repeated, doubling the number of DNA copies. After thirty to forty cycles are completed a single copy of a piece of DNA can be multiplied to hundreds of millions.

Allele-Specific PCR

This diagnostic or cloning technique is used to identify or utilize single- nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (single base differences in DNA). It requires prior knowledge of a DNA sequence, including differences between alleles, and uses primers whose 3' ends encompass the SNP. PCR amplification under stringent conditions is much less efficient in the presence of a mismatch between template and primer, so successful amplification with an SNP-specific primer signals presence of the specific SNP in a sequence.

Amplification Refractive Mutation System (ARMS) - PCR

In ARMS, the primer pair is designed so that one of the 3' ends coincides with a variant nucleotide in the target sequence. When the primer mismatches the template the frequency of extension is very low and consequently the effective number of sequence copies available for amplification is greatly reduced. ARMS PCR exploits a thermostable polymerase that lacks 3' exonuclease activity (usually Taq polymerase). Such enzymes extend primers bound to their target sequences very inefficiently when the 3' base is mismatched. Because the 3' exonuclease activity required for mismatch repair is not present, the extension of such primers in PCR is a rare event and amplification is retarded. However, once mismatch extension has occurred amplification proceeds normally from the newly synthesised target strand. Thus an important principle of ARMS is that non-matching (i.e. non-matching at only the 3' end of one primer) template may be amplified. The factors that contribute to this apparent ‘failure’ of ARMS are that when very high numbers of template molecules are added to the reaction, amplification is likely to proceed because the small proportion of mismatched primer extensions reach the sensitivity threshold of the reaction. Second, certain mismatches are extended more efficiently than others so that proportion extended in each PCR cycle varies.

Introduction

The age-old necessities of life are food, clothing and shelter. The 20^th century had dramatized a fourth-energy. Energy starvation of the technological complex that maintains modern society may soon be as crucial a problem as feeding the hungry. Indeed, energy starvation could well precipitate more wide spread food starvation. Solutions for the energy crisis are strongly dependent on the technology of how energy is produced and used. To make a physical change in the world it is necessary to use four resources: energy, matter, space and time. How well a task has been performed can be measured in terms of amount of fuel consumed, the mass of material used, the space occupied, the hours of labour to accomplish it, and the ingenuity with which these resources are utilized. Squandering of irreplaceable energy resources, waste of materials, or large expenditure of space and time cannot be tolerated if the necessities of life are to be provided for all. Energy is intricately linked to development of a country. Growing demand on account of industrialization, urbanization, transportation and also increase consumption in rural areas is putting added pressure on energy supply network. Electricity generation has been increased from 1,400 MW in the year 1947 to 303,118 MW up to August 31, 2016 in India but still there is 10-15% shortage of power in peak hours and all villages are not electrified. Even many electrified villages receive 6 to 8 hours of electricity per day in India. To overcome this shortage there is a need to utilise new and renewable sources of energy. Fortunately, India is blessed with abundant solar energy. The arid parts of India receives much more radiation as compared to the rest of country i.e. maximum solar radiation i.e. 7600-8000 MJm^-2 (2111-2222 kWhm^-2) per annum, followed by semi-arid parts, 7200-7600 MJm^-2 (2000-2111 kWhm^-2), per annum and least on hilly areas where solar radiation is still appreciable i.e. 6000 MJm^-2 (1667 kWhm^-2) per annum (IMD 1985). In this chapter review of different solar thermal technologies in Indian perspective has been carried out.

Among garden plants, herbaceous perennials that produce perennating structures like bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes or fascicled tuberous roots are called bulbous plants. They belong to various plant families such as Amaryllidaceae, Cannaceae, Heliconiaceae, Iridaceae, Liliaeceae, Musaceae, Ranunculaeceae and Zingiberaceae. The possession of perennating structures that are modifications of plant parts- mostly stems- is common to these plants. These modifications aid in their vegetative propagation as the dormant buds associated with them regenerate when conditions are favourable to result in new plants. In both tropical and temperate climate zones, bulbous plants have evolved and naturalized in several ecological ‘niches’. Many of these have been domesticated centuries ago and are familiar garden plants. Generally, bulbous plats are adapted to grow vegetatively putting forth shoots carrying a limited number of leaves. When further vegetative growth has ceased these shoots produce terminal or basal inflorescences. Bulbous plants are grown and displayed in clumps.

Based on the requirement of relatively low or high temperatures for sprouting and flowering they are classified into warm- season bulbous plants and cool-season bulbous plants. These groupings are not exclusive and many plants have evolved varieties that thrive in both seasonal conditions.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

Grafting and budding are horticultural techniques used to join parts from two or more plants so that they appear to grow as a single plant. In grafting, the upper part (scion) of one plant grows on the root system (rootstock) of another plant. In the budding process, a bud is taken from one plant and grown on another. The practice of grafting can be traced back 4,000 years to ancient China and Mesopotamia. As early as 2,000 years ago, people recognized the incompatibility problems that may occur when grafting olives and other fruiting trees.

7.2 ROOT STOCK

The part of the graft that provides root system to the grafted plant is known as rootstock. It is, normally, raised by seeds in the seedbed and then, transplanted in the nursery bed for budding and grafting. Rootstocks are also raised in pots and polythene bags.

INTRODUCTION

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is 3^rd most important noncereal food crop in the world, after rice and wheat, and popularly known as ‘the king of vegetables’. Potatoes are considered as a nonfattening, nutritious and wholesome food, which supply important nutrients to the human diet. Tubers contain significant concentrations of vitamin C and essential amino acids. Potatoes can be consumed in many ways, including baking, boiling, roasting, frying, steaming, and microwaving. It is integral part of food and traditional cousins and likely to find more importance in the dietary habit. Potatoes are either consumed directly or they are processed to give products such as chips and French fries, mashed and canned potatoes. Besides being important in human diet, potatoes are also used as animal feed and as raw material for starch and alcohol production. Potato was an occasional dish of the affluent class at the time of independence but now it is the most abundantly consumed horticulture based food by the poorest of the poor in the country. At present about 68% are utilized for table purpose, 7.5% for processing; 8.5% for seed and remaining 16% produce goes waste due to pre and postharvest handling.

INTRODUCTION

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the most importantnon-grain food crop of the world and is central to global food security, offeringhigher yields in calories per acre thanany grain.More than 2 billion people worldwide are estimated to be dependent on potato for food, feed or income. Global potato breeding concentrates on the objectives of increasing the yields through resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses along with improving quality traits but the cultivated potato is an auto-tetraploid (2n=4x=48), clonally propagated, highly heterozygous, and suffers acute inbreeding depression. All these characters complicate genetics/genomic studies as well as breeding efforts to improve important traits such as disease/pest resistance, processing quality and nutritive value.This has lead to the need of high quality, well annotated genome sequence of potato along with high resolution mapsfor aiding the identification of allelic variants for important agronomic traits in potato. Multiple linkage maps have beenconstructedfor potato usingvarious molecularmarkers like RFLPs, AFLPs and SSRs in an effort to develop markers for marker assisted breeding and facilitate map based cloning. These earlierefforts got unequivocal boost when an internationalcollaborationof13countriesviz.Argentina, Brazil,China, Chile, India, Ireland, The Netherlands,New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States came together to form the Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium (PGSC) with aim to decipher the potato genome (Xu et al., 2011). The potato genome sequence has provided a major boost to gaining a better understanding of potato trait biology, underpinning future breeding efforts. This would greatly help in enhancing the breeding techniques by implementing the genome assisted methods for imparting the greatertolerance to various biotic and abiotic stressesand ultimately increasing the yields. The knowledge of the complete genome sequence is an invaluable resource for the identificationof genes and variant/novel alleles of genes for everytrait ofinterest to potato breeders. This is very much required for feeding the ever burgeoning global population.

Abstract

Wild plants of medicinal value are the embodiment of knowledge perception gift from our ancestors and these plays a significant role in curing various human health disorders. This gifted knowledge of economic plants used by the local people usually has long narrations for use in their daily activities. Considering the value of indigenous knowledge associated with plants, a study was undertaken on herbaceous communities in Atraulia area (Burhanpur tehsil), district Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. During the investigation, a total of 71 informants (22 females and 49 males) were interviewed and data regarding ethnobotanical information on wild plant species were documented and analysed. The results indicated a total of 169 species belonging to 41 families used in indigenous herbal preparation as medicine from Atraulia area by local tribal people. The dominant growth forms were the annual herbs represented by 91 species, followed by 46 species of perennial nature and 32 species of biennial growth. Therefore, we can conclude that this region is rich in herbaceous plants and plant used as medicine is wide spread in the study area. This communication deals with demography of the informants, botanical name of herbaceous plants, family, part used, disease cure, use report, frequency of use and recommendation for conservation of unique valueable resources.

Abstract

India is known as hub of medicinal plants in recent years due to availability of variety of species in different regions which is used in treatment of frequently occurred local diseases. Family a pocynaceae is one of frequently used angiosperm members as medicine in different Indian system of medicine. At present, the genus Rauvolfia is represented by 77 species distributed across the globe, known to contains various unique active phytochemicals in the form of flavonoids, phytosterols, oleoresins, steroids, tannins and alkaloids. R. serpentina (also known as Indian snake root or sarpaghandha) and R. tetraphylla (also known as devil root or barachandrika) are two very important distinctive medicinal shrubs growing in India having wide application in traditional system of medicine for curing human disease and various herbal formulations available in market using these plants. In the present communication, we have discussed the biology, chemistry, pharmacology, cultivation practices and future perspectives of R. serpentina and R. tetraphylla for conservation and as a potential plants for future application in herbal medicine discovery.

Abstract

High Tech interventions begin with acute desire and demand for high productivity and profit from Agricultural activity. High Tech cultivation implies judicious use of space, time and inputs; nothing more and nothing less. It is interesting to note that the different components that were listed in each case above are known to scientists and extension workers and to a lesser extent to farmers also. Piecing them together to formulate a practise is the novel thing. The major components of high tech cultivation assume the highest priority by virtue of the fact that the country has shortage for water and fertilizer and both are essential for any type of crops. Different components of high tech intervention can be used for growing crops, also for the growers to enhance production and quality .High tech intervention includes a number of components like- uniform virus free planting material, drip fertigation technology, assistance to post harvest management, and training and guidance to farmers, value addition opportunity, technical support to the farmers etc. These high tech interventions are introduced to other crops- a host of vegetables, fruits like Pomegranate, Cashew and Guava, and agricultural crops like, Cotton, Pulses, Sugarcane, and even cereals like, maize, wheat and rice. Another important aspect of such interventions is that only if concomitant interventions in marketing of produce are made, the whole exercise would bring profit to the farmers.

Abstract

Greenhouse vegetable cultivation is gaining popularity for reasons such as high productivity of quality produce round the year with enhanced input use efficiency. As agriculture has a major share in our economy and if India has to emerge as an economic power in the world, the productivity should substantially increase from the present levels. We need a new and effective technology which can constantly improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of our major farming systems. One such technology is the green house vegetable production technology. At Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangaluru, research on greenhouse vegetable production is in progress since the year 2000, resulting in the development of many technologies which have made possible to realize high yield levels in tomato, capsicum and cucurbits that are comparable to international standards of greenhouse productivity. Tomato and bell pepper yields have touched 300 tonnes and 200tonnes/ha/year, respectively and cucurbits 80 to 100 tonnes/ha/crop of 3 months. Vegetable cultivation in cost effective greenhouse is a technical reality in India, which is being adopted by resourceful farmers in and around big towns and cities as a peri-urban horticultural system. Such production systems have not only extended the growing season of vegetables and made their availability round the year but also opened the possibilities of growing new vegetables such as coloured capsicums, cherry tomatoes, seedless watermelons, icebox melons, sweet cucumbers, coloured cabbage, etc., besides tomato, cucumber, eggplant and climbing beans. Quality seedling production is one more important greenhouse activity in the present agricultural scenario as more and more F₁ hybrids are being adopted by the farmers.

This chapter focuses on the statistical methods used for method development. These are categories as follow :

1.SUPAC- Scale-Up and Post-Approval Changes

2.PAT -Process Analytical Technique

1. SUPAC - The acronym “ SUPAC “stands for “Scale-Up and Post- Approval Changes” . It refers to the FDA-recommended testing and filing actions to be taken by a pharmaceutical firm when it changes the manufacturing processes of a drug product that has been approved via a New Drug Application (NDA), an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA), or an Abbreviated Antibiotic Drug Application (AADA). FDA has provided its recommendations to industry in the form of SUPAC Guidances or supac guidelines.

2.1. Downy mildew of Sorghum
Pathogen: Peronosclerospora sorghi (W. Weston & Uppal) C.G. Shaw, (1978)
Host plants
Major hosts: Sorghum bicolor (sorghum), Sorghum caffrorum, Sorghum Sudanese (sudan grass), Zea diploperennis, Zea mays. 
Minor hosts: Andropogon sorghi, Panicum trypheron, Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet), Sorghum halepense (Johnson grass), Zea mexicana (teosinte) 
Geographic Distribution
It is found worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions. Sorghum downy mildew is widely distributed in following countries.
Asia: Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Yemen (CMI, 1988; Jeger et al., 1998).In India though the losses are reported from the states of U.P. and Madhya Pradesh, the disease is very common and destructive in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra

Complete block designs become less efficient as the number of treatments increases,primarily because block size increases proportionally with the number of treatments,and the homogeneity of experimental plots within a large block is difficult to maintain.That is , the experimental error of a complete block design is generally expected to increase with the number of treatments.

An alternative set of designs for single –factor experiments having a large number of treatments is the incomplete block design.As the name implies, each block in an incomplete block design does not contain all treatments and a reasonably small block size can be maintained even if the number of treatments is large.With smaller blocks,the homogeneity of experimental units in the same block is easier to maintain and a higher degree of precision can generally be expected.

Propagation

Plant propagation means multiplication of plant by sexual or asexual method. The success in plant propagation depends on a thorough knowledge of the growth of plants, choice of suitable method and technical skill. The propagation of plants may be done either by the gametes or from the somatic cell, tissues or organs. In other words, propagation may be done by sexual methods or by asexual methods. The details of the methods are presented below.

The scale of human settlements is dynamic; it ranges from farmstead to village to town to city and to metropolis. There is thus, a broad hierarchy of settlements. These hierarchies can be grouped according to size and function. Size hierarchies are ranked from the highest to the smallest settlements only in terms of population while functional hierarchies are essentially based on the extent to which settlements have an economic impact on their surrounding areas. Functional hierarchies rank the settlement according to the number of shops, the number of specialised services available or the most dominant financial organisations. Such hierarchies mayor may not have similar sized market areas. Despite their having the same population, one town might surpass another in functional importance.

In this context, two theories have been propounded-the Central Place Theory by Walter Christaller and its modified version by August Losch. These theories are two of the most important examples of the scientific approach to the study of settlements. These theories suggest that there is a definite link between the functions of a settlement and its spatial locations with regularity in the distribution pattern within an urban system.

The Himalayan region extends all along the Northern boundary of India. It experiences harsh environmental conditions, coupled with unfavourable climate, poor physical capacity of soil and threaten habitat. However, low and mid altitude areas provide environment ranging from sub tropical to temperate, where plant life thrives. The diverse eco-habitat of Himalayan region hosts a wide range of plant diversity as well as crop diversity on which native people rely for their food and nutritional security. Among them, amaranth, buckwheat, chenopod, job’s tear millet and rice bean are the potential crop species of the region as they can easily be grown in harsh environments and degraded lands. These crops possess an exceptionally high nutritional value with higher content of protein, lipids and minerals as well as balanced composition of essential amino acid as compared to other cereals. Majority of people in the country are unaware of the nutritive values of underutilized crops. The chapter provides information on taxonomy, origin and distribution, nutritive value, uses, improved varieties, production and protection technology of the major underutilized crops grown in Himalayan region.

Underutilized crops are well adapted to the lands of Himalayan region and provide food and nutritional security to millions of impoverished people who do not have access to modern agricultural inputs. Owing to their nutritional superiority, underutilized crops are becoming popular in urban area as well as in developed countries as for example Amaranth in USA. With constantly increasing awareness for health products, the demand of underutilized crops is likely to grow in near future. Accelerated research and development are, therefore, essential for increasing production as well as productivity of underutilized crops along with mechanization and value addition.

As long ago as 1881 Charles Darwin wrote: “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures”.

The soil of the food bowl states of our country viz. Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and plains of Uttarakhand have become deficient in organic matter, macro and micro nutrients and trace elements. Now soil has become non living due to death of earthworms and beneficial micro organism. Farmers are using mainly nitrogen and phosphorus in crop production. However 17 elements are essential for plants nutrition for growing of crops. To get maximum yield and output from the crop plants, a vicious cycle of using the maximum amount of chemical amendments is going on. In the chemical amendments, indiscriminate use of both fertilizers and pesticides are included. Due to this indiscriminate use of these fertilizers and pesticides, our environment is being polluted and living organisms on this planet are experiencing the deleterious effects of all this on their health. These chemicals also exert their influence on soil flora and fauna, therefore the balance of macro and micronutrients release in soil is being disturbed and as a consequence soil fertility and productivity is decreasing day by day. Therefore, for sustainable agriculture healthy farming is fast becoming an urgent necessity.

The problems being faced are the destruction of the soil health leading to reduction in production potential, failure of pest control strategies due to the development of pesticide resistance, biomagnification of pesticides such as reside problems in food and water. The food grain produced and assessed with attributes of fertilizers, the fertilizer efficiency seems to be decreasing. In 1970-71 it was 17.1%, declined in 1980-81 to 10.3% and in 1988-89 reached to 8.1%. Now a day, farmers are not properly using organic, green and compost manures in crop husbandry. Soil fertility and ground water level has been declining very fast by adopting intensive farming. If soil health of any country has been depleted, then the food grain production will also tend to decrease.

“Biodiversity, the planet’s most valuable resource, is on loan to us from our children.”

The significance of Plant Genetic Resources (PGR’s) is on top of agenda of all those who are concerned with food, nutritional and environmental security by using the Earth’s plant - biodiversity judiciously in a vital form. Agro-biodiversity is the backbone of a nation’s food security and the basis of economic development as a whole. The top-down system of agricultural research, where farmers are seen merely as recipients of research rather than as participants in it, has contributed to an increased dependence on a relatively few plant varieties. Global cooperation from farmers to agricultural scientist is critical for maintaining the balance across the agricultural landscape. Over the years this diversity in India is under pressure due to the massive commercialization of agriculture leading to the almost extinction of traditional farming systems and plant- biodiversity is under immediate threat. Behind this commercialization there lies the interest of the breeders for obtaining intellectual property rights. Around 1.6 billion people depend on farm-saved seed, yet up to 75 per cent of varieties of some key crops have already been lost this century. The rate of loss may well increase as global trade rules, intellectual property rights regimes, the concentration of agricultural research and development on inappropriate technological‘solutions’, and now the introduction and promotion of genetically engineered products, all combine to erode local resources from the fields of smallholder farmers. At the moment, it should call for a balancing on research into modern biotechnology, in favour of a redirection of research and development resources into sustainable, environmentally-friendly technologies that, sustain poor people’s livelihoods, agricultural biodiversity and agro-ecosystem functions. In this context, the importance of farmer-derived Agricultural Biodiversity that includes the variety and variability of plants and micro-organisms which are necessary to maintain the structure, processes and key functions of the agricultural ecosystem for, and in support of, food production and food security.

Milk is a product of biological origin and is a suitable vehicle to accommodate any additive without apparent changes in its look. The quality of milk and its products depends upon quality of raw milk used in their manufacture, processing and handling conditions. It is therefore, necessary to check quality of raw milk to assess its suitability for processing, through various quick tests called “Platform Tests”

Raw milk quality assessment

(A) At collection center: - Milk from various suppliers is generally collected at dairy factory or privately owned collection centers located in marked area of milk sheds. The quantum of supply may vary from 2 – 100 Liters. As each supplier has to be paid in relation to quantity and quality of his produce, it is important to draw samples and ascertain its quality by performing quick tests for the purpose of acceptance or rejection.

Sampling procedures - The sampling procedure differs according to the nature of material and the purpose for which the sample is required. The sample collected for chemical analysis should be representative of the entire batch. Thorough mixing with proper instrument is essential to ensure representative sample. Samples for chemical analysis are to be delivered the same day for testing. If un-avoided, add small amount of preservative (Formaldehyde) to prevent deterioration and bear label to the effect.

Sample from single container – The procedure involved is thorough mixing of contents. If it is small container the contents should be poured from one vessel to another with swirling. In case of can the contents should be mixed with the help of plunger which should be moved up and down and sideways for about 10-15 times. The sample is then drawn with the help of dipper from different levels and collected in clean and dry sample bottles.

A. Estimation of Calcium

Requirements : Pottasium permanganate solution (0.1N) – Dissolve by heating 33g of potassium permanganate in 1000ml distilled water and allow to stand in coloured bottle for several days. Filter contents through 6mm thick film of asbestos mat on Gooch crucible.

Asbestos mat – Digest asbestos with dilute hydrochloric acid(1:3) for 2-3 days, wash free from acid and digest with 10% sodium hydroxide for few days, wash free from alkali. Digest with dilute Nitric acid(1:3) for several hours and wash. Shake with water into fine pulp and digest with 0.1N potassium permanganate solution that has been acidified with dilute sulphuric acid (1:3), for 1 hour and wash. Use this pulp for layering 6mm film on Gooch crucible.

Dilute hydrochloric acid (1:4), Ammonium hydroxide solution (1:1), Saturated ammonium oxalate solution, Diluted sulphuric acid (1:4)

1. PLANT DOMESTICATION AND INTRODUCTION

Domestication is the process of bringing wild species under human management. Under domestciation, the crop species have changed considerably as compared to the wild species from which they originated.

Extension Teaching

It is now evident that the extension is an educational process which attempts to produce desirable changes in the human behaviour. This educational process is nothing but teaching-learning process and this is explained by Leagans (1961) as follows:

Teaching is the process of arranging situations that stimulate and guide the learning activity towards the goals that specify the desired changes in the behaviour of people. Teaching consists of providing situations in which the things to be learnt are brought to the attention of the learners, their interest is developed, desire aroused, conviction created, action promoted and satisfaction ensured.

Learning is the process by which an individual, through his own activity, changes his behaviour.

Process means a course of procedures, something that occurs in a series of actions or events conducting to the desired end.

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) is a modified programme of erstwhile Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), Desert Development Programme (DDP) and Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP) of the Department of Land Resources. The scheme was launched during 2009-10. The programme is being implemented as per Common Guidelines for Watershed Development Projects 2008. The main objectives of the IWMP are to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water. The outcomes are prevention of soil erosion, regeneration of natural vegetation, rain water harvesting and recharging of the ground water table. This enables multi-cropping and the introduction of diverse agro-based activities, which help to provide sustainable livelihoods to the people residing in the watershed areas.

Introduction

Cereals and cereal products comprise a long history of consumption by humans. Cereals are the important source of nutrients and non nutritive health beneficial components and for that reason cereal based food products are consumed as staple food in human diet in developed as well as developing countries. The cereal grains mainly cultivated and consumed as food include rice, maize, wheat, sorghum rye, barley, oats, and millet. Products obtained from cereal grains are flours, grits, semolina, breakfast cereals, extruded product like pasta, puffs and flakes, and bakery products such as bread, biscuits, cakes and tortillas. Moreover, cereals or their components are used as ingredients in the preparation of various food products such as beverages infant foods coatings and processed meats. Initially cereals are consumed as whole or with minimal processing like boiling, grinding and roasting. However, processing like salting, drying, steeping and fermentation of cereals for preparation of cereals based beverages and foods has been practiced since the initiation of cereals consumption as food by human. Increasing consumer awareness and commercialization of cereal products have created interest of food manufacturers in utilization of novel and more efficient technologies with optimized conditions, development of convenient and more health beneficial foods with satisfactory sensory properties and wide variety of foods to ease the choice of consumers. Market full of diverse range of snack foods, breakfast cereals, ready to eat and ready to cook foods, and novel functional foods with variation in appearance, texture and flavor is an indication of evolution of food industry from basic to complicated form focused on efficient and automated operations. In ancient times, fermentation of food was done with the aim of enhancement of shelf life and palatability without clearly knowing the role of microorganisms. Modern fermentation technology uses various operations and specific strains of microorganisms for conversion of bulky and perishable materials into novel foods with more pleasing flavour, enhanced functional properties and extended shelf life. In addition to basic bread, new varieties of bread developed with improved functionality like sourdough bread, gluten free breads and high fibre breads is an example of innovation in cereal fermented foods indicating modification in ingredients, microbial culture and processing technologies as compare to traditional fermentation process. The word “extrudate” is derived from the Latin word “ex” meaning ‘out’ and “trudere” meaning ‘to thrust’. Extrusion technology is turning out to be very popular in food industry due to its versatility, usefulness and cost efficiency. It is well-organized state-of-art technology and plays important role in various food industrial processes such as cooking, mixing, conveying, shearing and shaping of end products. Extrusion cooking is high temperature short time (HTST) with high pressure process, is especially used for preparation of cereal based snacks, fat replacers, breakfast cereals, infant formula, gluten free foods, starch and protein rich cereals food products. A wider range of ready to eat food products with different texture, size and shape is produced by fast and easy extrusion cooking. In epidemiological studies it is stated that whole grain consumption is more health beneficial than refined grains and the reason behind it is that dietary fibre and phytochemicals located in germ and seed coat are generally removed during milling or polishing. Various technologies are developed by food scientists and technologists to preserves the bioactive compounds during processing and or to supplement processed food products with the bioactive compounds during food preparation to maintain the bioactivity and functionality of final products. Utilisation of whole grain flours, composite flours, supplementation of cereal foods with ingredients from fruits, vegetables, plant extracts and legumes, bio-fortification of crops, implementation of genetic engineering to produce crops rich in bioactive compounds are some technologies which are being used in modern food industry to develop value added cereal food products.

Introduction

The farm to fork approach utilizes agricultural products as raw material for processing by industries to obtained value-added products (Mijinyawa et al., 2007). Processing that transforms animal, vegetable, or marine materials into value-added food products for consumers and forms an integral part of agriculture for storage or size reduction into fine particles. One of the major problems associated with processing is the unavailability of processing facilities including appropriate engineering materials for the transformation of agro-based produce into different forms (Ogwuagwu, 2007). This transformation process mainly includes operations like particle size reduction, milling or comminution, etc. utilizing different size reduction forces without making alterations in chemical properties (Enrique, 2012). This enhances the eating quality or appropriateness of foods for advance processing with a more varied range of available products.

Grains are dried small seeds with adhered or removed husks or outer layers processed for consumption (FAO, 2011). The two major types of commercial grain crops include cereals (such as millet, corn, sorghum, wheat, rye and so on) and legumes (such as beans, groundnuts and soya beans). These grain crops are subjected to a milling operation to break them into smaller pieces or more practically appropriate form. The grinding process involves the application of different mechanical forces to overcome the interior bonding forces bringing change in the state of solid grains to different desirable forms such as flour or meal (Kaul and Egbo, 1985). As a result, the physical state of these grains is modified due to a reduction in size and change of shape (Ryan and Spencer, 2008). Most of the actual milling processing that is used in various industries is based on simple operations. But now various technological progress has been initiated that involves the adoption of computer control for various milling operations to improve efficiency and quality while minimizing labor requirements. Hence, the present text highlights the various technological advancements and evaluation techniques employed in milling operations.

Potassium is the third important essential nutrient element after nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) required by all living organisms, including plants and animals. Potassium is essential for many metabolic activities like carbohydrate metabolism, nitrogen metabolism. It is required for the activation of over 60 enzymes in plants. It controls/regulates the activities of various essential nutrients. It is vital to photosynthesis, and synthesis of carbohydrates, starch and proteins in plants. It plays vital role in controlling the opening and closing of stomata in photosynthesis. It also helps in controlling water use by plants by regulating the osmotic pressure of guard cells during transpiration. It plays a major role in transport of water and nutrients throughout the plant in xylem. Potassium improves crop yield and quality of flowers, fruits, vegetables and other field crops in terms of size, shape, colour, taste, shelf-life, and fibre quality. Potassium stimulates the growth of strong stems and provides strength to the plant against some disease by promoting thickness of the outer cell walls. It is required for translocation of assimilates. Under reduced K supply, translocation of NO₃^-, PO₄^3-, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and amino acids is hampered. It also imparts resistance against environmental stresses such as drought, cold and frost. Adequate K can reduce moisture loss from growing plants, thereby giving some drought resistance. It reduces lodging of crops and enhances their winter-hardiness.

It is taken up by the plants as K⁺. Being a basic element, it takes part in neutralization of the acidity in plants caused by several organic acids produced. It does not form organic compounds in the plant system. It is the most mobile element in the plant. Thus, it can move through all the plant system due to osmotic pressure. When any plant sample is dipped into water, some K comes out. This shows that it is highly mobile.

Potassium is also required for animal nutrition and human beings. Potassium is essential for many metabolic functions. It maintains salt balance between cells and body fluids. Adequate K is essential for nerve function and preventing muscle cramps. It is routinely added to many animal feeds. Since K⁺ is not stored in the human body, dietary replacement is required on a regular basis. Government agencies state that diets containing foods that are good sources of K and low in Na may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

Baking is no different from any other area of cooking, and as in other sectors only the best and the freshest raw material can guarantee good results. So selection of right kind of ingredients is of utmost importance. Another basic need of a professional baker and confectioner is to purchase the equipment required. The design and size depends upon the volume of sale expected. So in this chapter we are going to learn about the ingredients required for running a bakery.

Introduction

The arid regions in India occupy 38.7 million ha (Mha), comprising 31.7 and 7 Mha under hot and cold arid region, respectively. The major part (90%) of the hot arid region lies in Northwest (NW) India and the rest in geographically isolated pockets in South India. The NW arid region extends from 22°30” to 32°50” N and 68°50” to 75°45”E , bounded by Aravalli hills in the east, Thar desert in the west the irrigated Indus plain in the north and the alluvial plains of the Sabarmati river in the south. The region mostly lies in western Rajasthan covering 12 districts (196150 km², 68.7%) followed six districts in northwest Gujarat (62180 km² 21.8%), five districts in southwest Haryana in (12840 km² 4.5%), and six districts in southwest Punjab in (14510 km², 5.0%) (Fig.1). The region is characterized by low rainfall (100 to 400 mm yr-1), that is also erratic and highly unpredictable (coefficient of variation, CV = 30 to 70%); high evaporation (1600 to 2000 mm yr-1); temperature extremes (-5.7° C to 50°C); frequent droughts (once in 2.5-5.0 years); strong winds (20-50 km h-1) during summer; and short crop growing period (8 to 15 weeks) (Moharana et al., 2016). Despite the common characteristics of aridity and extremes of temperatures, there are enormous spatial variations in terms of rainfall pattern, physiography, soils, amount of available surface and ground water, and extent of vegetation cover (Joshi, 2012). Accordingly, the NW hot arid region has been classified in 4 sub-regions, 11 zones and 34 sub zones (Faroda et al., 1999).

Despite these intimidating conditions, the region supports a large human and livestock population and biodiversity. However, the ever-increasing human and livestock population and developmental activities exert enormous biophysical pressure on the slender natural resource base of the region. A major challenge is desertification due to wind erosion/deposition, water erosion, water logging and salinity. Degradation of permanent pastures has led to loss of fodder resources constraining livestock husbandry, the backbone of the economy of the region. Of late, industrial effluents and mining are also contributing to desertification.

Introduction

Disaster may be defined as a sudden event that causes damage to life, property and destroy the economic, social and cultural life of people. It could be of natural or anthropogenic origin. Disasters impact the poor and the most vulnerable section of the community. Over the past 30 years, more than 2.5 million people and nearly $4 trillion have been lost to natural disasters in India; globally the losses jumped from $50 billion a year in the 1980s to $200 billion in the last decade (NIDM, 2019).According to a World Bank report, nearly 75% of the losses are attributable to extreme weather events and climate change threatening to push an additional 100 million people into the extreme poverty by 2030 (Hallegatte et al., 2016). The Bank’s Unbreakable report finds that natural disasters had larger and long-lasting impacts on the poverty. Population growth and rapid urbanization are major driving factors for an increase in the disaster risks.

The United Nations estimates that more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050 (NIDM, 2019). This could put 1.3 billion people and $158 trillion assets at risk from river and coastal floods alone. According to the Bank’s Investing in Urban Resilience report (2016), by 2030, without significant investment into making cities more resilient, natural disasters may cost cities worldwide $314 billion each year.

Introduction and Background

Agriculture at present has the trend of using an industrialized production model, where crops and animals are produced in systems that are increasingly specialized, simplified and concentrated, to address growing food, feed and fibre demands. Within this model, external inputs (e.g. irrigation, synthetic fertilizers chemical pest control, feeds, and growth hormones) have been utilized to achieve production goals, often at the expense of environmental quality and key ecosystem services. Continuation of this model of agricultural production has resulted in loss of ecosystem services, increased ecosystem simplification and species extinction. Responses to future challenges in agriculture should include the development of novel systems that are highly productive, minimize damage to the environment and effectively utilize renewable resources. Achieving these multiple goals will be a momentous task, as it will require development and implementation of more complex, diverse and management-intensive production systems than currently employed. Furthermore, future agricultural production systems will need to be adaptable to respond to unforeseen environmental challenges. Integrated agricultural systems have been purported to possess attributes to address these challenges. Agro-chemicals, fuel-based mechanization and irrigation operations are the heart of industrial agriculture which is derived entirely from dwindling and ever more expensive fossil fuels. Intensification of agriculture by the use of high yielding crop varieties, fertilization, irrigations and pesticides are impact heavily on natural resources with serious health and environmental implications. Practice of monoculture in some parts of the country and the world has an adverse environmental impact due to lack of ecological regulation mechanisms and heavily dependent on external inputs.

Introduction

The Indian fisheries sector is set in a unique and diverse set of resources ranging from the pristine waters of the Himalayas to the sprawling Indian Ocean. The fisheries biodiversity of the country encompasses a wide spectrum of physical and biological components that support the livelihoods of millions of people. Fisheries resources are set in different ecosystems. With growing population and the increasing demand for fish protein, the need for sustainable development of aquatic resources is now felt much more than ever before.

Fisheries and aquaculture remain important sources of food, nutrition, income and livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people around the world. Global capture and culture fish production during 2019 were 97 and 82 million tonnes, respectively with India being second largest producer of fish in the world after China. From 0.75 million tonnes in 1950-51, total fish production of India touched 12.59 million tonnes in 2018-19 with a contribution of 8.90 million tonnes (70.60%) from inland sector. The sunrise fisheries sector contributes about 0.96 % to National Gross Value Added (GVA) and 5.37% to agricultural GVA (2018-19) while engaging over 14.5 million people (2003 census) at the primary level and almost twice the number along the value chain. During 2018-19 the export of marine products that includes production from aquaculture reached 13,77,244 tonnes valued at INR 46589 crore (US $ 6.93 billion). The inland sector grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 6.5% between 1979 and 2018, while overall fish production witnessed 4.5% growth, which is double the growth rate of food grains production in India.

Introduction

The food production in India has been on a rising trajectory and the country is among the top producers of several crops. It is the highest producer of milk and second highest producer of fruits and vegetables. Total food grain production in the country is estimated at record 291.95 million tonnes (MT; Second Advance Estimates for 2019-20) which is 6.74 MT higher over 2018-19. While enhanced field productivity is an essential component of agricultural sector, improved postharvest handling, marketing and processing is equally essential to reduce the waste, particularly in a country where such losses are substantial and add stress on limited farming resources, appropriate agrilogistic is needed. Post-production management and marketing infrastructure is therefore, not only vital but a priority. Such infrastructure and the services they provide are essential not only for the efficient performance of various marketing functions, but also for effective expansion of the size of markets which allows for growth.An efficient post-harvest logistics network not only ensures that produce will reach destination markets in quality and quantity, but should also trigger a steady reverse flow of market information to the source.

Trees are amazing nature’s creations that are not only important for mankind but also sustain ecological balance in nature. They are the source of livelihood and provide valuable raw material for manufacture of household utility products. They are important from spiritual aspect and have been exhaustively described in ancient Indian texts with their significant Ayurvedic and other potential health benefits. Botanically a “tree.” is a large, long-lived (perennial) woody plant that attains a height of at least 6 m (20 ft) at maturity. A tree possess certain characteristic features such as a trunk (single main self-supporting stem) which gives off spreading branches, twigs and foliage to make a crown. Since the diameter at breast height (dbh) of trees is determined internationally at 1.35 m (4.5 ft) above the ground, a tree must be un-branched at least up to 1.5 m (5 ft) from the ground.

Lily is one of the most beautiful and popular ornamental bulbous flowers. They belong to the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which comprises of 110 species classified into seven taxonomic sections: Lilium, Pseudolirium, Martagon, Sinomartagon, Archelirion, Leucolirion and Oxypetalum. All species are distributed over the mountainous area in the Northern Hemisphere (10° to 60°), mainly in Asia, North America and Europe. Especially, China, Nepal, Korea and Japan are the major centres of lilium gene pool around the world. Being second amongst the bulbous flower crops in the commercial market, Lilium has 4^th position among cut flowers in Flora Holland (Flora Holland Annual Report 2017). In the language of flowers lily is known as symbol of purity and innocence. Majority of cultivated lilies are either hybrids or selections. A large number of species and hybrids can be used in ornamental gardens even though the lily requires little more attention than any other bulbs. Many species of lily (L. leichtlinii, L. lancifolium, Lilium candidum and L. auratum) are also edible and having medicinal value.

Importance and uses

Lilies are one of the most important bulbous ornamental plants with varies uses, grown in border, beds, pots, landscape gardens and are excellent cut flowers of magnificent appearance and beautiful flowers. Roman naturalist and writer, Plinius, recorded that salves and oils were prepared from leaves and flowers of the Madonna lily, or L. candidium. Some species are also known for medicinal and food values, which increased its economic importance many folds. The mucilaginous substance coming out from the bulbs while cooking is used as an ointment for tumours, ulcers and inflammations. The plant was really more of a miniature household pharmacy. Different compounds have been reported in this genus, such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, amino acids, vitamins, alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, sterols, steroidal saponins, and steroidal glycoalkaloids. Alkaloids, steroidal saponins, flavonoids and polysaccharides have been isolated from L. lancifolium and L. brownii var. colchesteri bulbs. Flowers of Lilium candidium contain an alkaloid. Extract of Lilium polyphyllum bulb has been used as refrigerant, expectorant, aphrodisiac, diuretic, antipyretic and tonic (Warrier et al., 1997; Dhyani, 2007). In the customary system of medicine, this species reported to restore health immediately and works as antioxidant in the body. Lily oil is an aid in childbirth. The white lily was also renowned as a cosmetic.

Blackrot of Cabbage

Economic Importance

Blackrot is an important bacterial disease of cabbage and other crucifer crops worldwide. The disease was first described in New York on turnips in 1893, and has been a common problem for growers for over 100 years (Smart and Lang, 2013). Blackrot has been given many names such as bacterial blight,black stem, black vein, stem rot or stump rot (Pfeufer and Davis, 2019). These pathogen is particularly damaging to cabbage and cauliflower, but turnip, rutabaga, collard, kohlrabi and Chinese cabbage are also susceptible. Broccoli and radish aregenerally resistant to Blackrot (Flynn,1999).

Introduction

India is the second largest producer of vegetable in the world after China. Every year diseases cause economic losses (8-23%) and also post-harvest losses (20-25 %) in vegetable crops. Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a nutritionally important and remunerative crop grown throughout the world and is consumed both as a vegetable, shelled green beans as well as dry beans. It is known commonly known as french bean, common bean, kidney bean, field bean, snapbean, dry bean etc on the basis of its variety and edible purpose. The crop is infected by a number of diseases. Common bacterial blight, Anthracnose, White mold, Bean Common Mosaic, Bean yellow mosaic, Web Blight, Halo blight, Dry root rot and wilt, Bean Rust are some of the major diseases.

Bacterial Blight of Bean

Three types of bacterial blight are found to occur in beans viz. Common bacterial blight or Bacterial blight, Halo blight and Bacterial brown spot. These three diseases affect leaves, pods, stems and seeds in similar manner such that it is usually impossible to distinguish the diseases from one another based on the visual symptoms. While common blight is usually more prevalent in warmer weather, the other two occur more in cool weather.

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is considered as the important pulse and popular leguminous vegetable in India. Pea belongs to the genus Pisum, a member of family papilionaceae. Rhizobium bacterium found in root nodules that fixing atmospheric nitrogen and helps in soil fertility. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) originated in the near East and Mediterranean regions. Pea diseases are affect the crop both quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Pea crop diseases caused by the fungal (rust, powdery mildew, downy mildew, aschochyta blight, septoria blight, fusarium root rot, aphanomyces root rot, alternaria blight, wilt, anthracnose, cercospora leaf spot, damping off, seedling rot), bacterial (bacterial blight and brown spot), nematode (root-knot nematode, cyst nematode and lesion nematode) and viral diseases (pea enation mosaic, pea mosaic, pea seed borne mosaic, pea early browning virus, pea streak, pea stunt and cucumber mosaic virus). India is the largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses in the world.

Fish as a cheap source of protein, bioavailable minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids, ensures global nutritional security. India witnessed around 14-fold increment in fish production from 0.7 million tonnes in 1950’s to 10.43 million tonnes in 2014-15. With a contribution of 5.05% to world’s capture production and 6.6% of total aquaculture fish production, India emerged as one among the most progressive fish producing countries in the world. Fisheries as a major agricultural sector, constitutes 0.92% of total GDP and 5.58% of total agricultural GDP of India. With the global fish export value of 148,147 million USD, India ranked seventh position among the top fish exporters of the world. The sector is crucial in securing food supply, job opportunities, nutritional needs and earning foreign exchange for the country, cataloguing it as a sunrise sector of Indian economy.

Technological developments in harvest sector

Introduction of new materials for fishing gears, mechanization of fishing crafts and modern electronic technologies for navigation and fish location, paved way for the significant increase in fish production in India over the years. ICAR-CIFT, Cochin has been involved in the design and optimization of a range of crafts and gears since its inception, which gave a major fillip to the harvest sector of Indian fisheries. Considering the plateauing/decline in catches perceptible since last two decades, ICAR-CIFT has shifted its focus from increasing production to responsible harvest of resources. As a result a large number of technologies for sustainable harvest and green technologies with reduced emissions were developed.

Food Safety has been the buzz word in recent days as there are increasing consumer awareness on hazards present in food as well as the ombudsmen role played by independent media. Although regulatory regime across the world has taken proactive steps, in most of the cases it has been a knee-jerk reaction to the impending crisis. Defining the actual goal of food safety has been an arduous task as there are umpteen interrelated factors that influence the intended goals. Some of the definitions on food safety put forward by international agencies are as follows:

Introduction

In the past few decades, there has been a considerable demand for certain air-breathing fishes from India, mainly in the research laboratories of western countries. This is probably due to their unique modifications, especially in the respiratory and circulatory systems. Though, the air-breathing fishes are capable of extracting oxygen both from water as well as air, yet their transportation to long distances in living conditions posed several problems, such as hypoxia, injury, disease and finally death.

Proper sanitization of all the equipment and accessories is one of the essential steps for the study of the structure of gills, determination of oxygen uptake of fishes under normal conditions, under the association, under anaesthetization, under ammonia toxicity and all other steps of packing and transportation in this pandemic of COVID-19.

For effective live fish transportation, inside and out comprehension on the ideal ecological conditions for negligible pressure and greatest endurance is required. At the point when the fish leaves its normal climate, it should be in a self-supportable climate that provisions important necessities, for example, ideal temperature, oxygen and so forth.

Transportation of different life cycle stages (spawn, hatchlings, fry, fingerlings and adults) of fish is traditionally done in different types of containers. The age-old practice of transportation entails heavy mortality probably due to depletion of oxygen, hypertension of carbon dioxide, the toxicity of accumulating wastes, hyperactive strain and exhaustion, infection, injury and variation in pH, temperature, salinity and hardness etc (Jhingran, 1985). A portion of dissolved oxygen is utilized both by the fish and other microorganisms for their metabolism. As a result, the system becomes gradually deplete of oxygen and affects the fish. To overcome the problem of high mortality during transportation, it is essential to evaluate suitable conditions for their transportation. An inexpensive or less expensive method of live fish transport will help our aqua-culturists in many ways.

India is on the progressive path of development and its rural population is an integral part of this growth trajectory. As India gears up for an era of increased digitalisation, the issue of holistic and inclusive economic growth remains a pivotal concern. Hitachi, one of the leading Japanese conglomerate with a global footprint and a forerunner in digital innovation, has been an active contributor in transforming millions of Indian lives, its services reaching far beyond citizens within city limits. While India is one of the world’s fastest-developing economy, equitable growth remains a critical imperative. The rural population today constitutes above 45% of the national income. In 2050, despite urbanization, over half of India’s population will still be rural. Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi has prioritized radical digitalisation to induce economic inclusiveness through a host of initiatives. ‘Digital India’, ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’ provide for impetus and opportunity to rural citizens, to ensure they are equal participants in India’s growth story. Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It’s also a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure. In many developed countries, farming has been modernized by a wave of technologies, adopted at farm level.

Digital technologies are finding increasing use in the agricultural value system, and High-tech farming is becoming the standard, thanks to use of sensors, logic controlled systems, data analytics, etc. In India, the increasing availability of energy and internet connectivity to the large rural landscape is further accelerating such changes. Digitised information systems allow remote access to knowledge, has given rise to group sharing and continue even now to revamp how societal exchanges happen interpersonally, commercially and in the extension services system. The digital spectrogram can be compared against a large database and spectral analysis can diagnose the contents of the sample. This analysis can happen in the cloud, and results communicated to the farmers almost instantaneously. There exist various similar technologies where a sample from a field, gets converted into digital information, is promptly analysed to provide accurate results, which then allows farmers to take decisions best suited to the land they farm on. The availability of satellite imagery, infrared imagery, and a myriad of remote inputs allow for more accurate weather forecasts, advance warnings on pest infestation and similar, and more. Instead of traditional homilies about temperature and rainfall events, the farmers now consult and share the advisories and forecasts of the same.

The numerical based on simple mathematics like divide, multiply, sum, deduction, under root, percentage etc are given below to sharpen the inherent ability of the students. This simplication is a very good exercise to aqcquaint the students about basic mathmetics so that they can solve tough questions quickly. Therefore some tips are given below for solving the questions.

Introduction

Plant growth in agricultural soils is inf luenced by a myriad of abiotic and biotic factors. As a routine practice growers normally use physical and chemical approaches to manage the soil environment to improve crop yields while the application of microbial products for this purpose is less common. An exception to this is the use of rhizobial inoculants for legumes to ensure efficient nitrogen fixation; a practice that has been occurring in North America for over 100 years (Smith, 1997). The region around the root, the rhizosphere, is relatively rich in nutrients, in expense of as much as 40% of plant photosynthates from the roots (Lynch and Whipps, 1991). Consequently, the rhizosphere supports large and active microbial populations capable of exerting beneficial, neutral, or detrimental effects on plant growth. The importance of rhizosphere microbial populations for maintenance of root health, nutrient uptake, and tolerance of environmental stress is now recognized (Bowen and Rovira, 1999; Cook, 2002). These beneficial microorganisms can be a significant component of management practices to achieve the attainable yield for in other words a crop yield limited only by the natural physical environment of the crop and its innate genetic potential (Cook, 2002).

The prospect of manipulating crop rhizosphere microbial populations by inoculation of beneficial bacteria to increase plant growth has shown considerable promise in laboratory and greenhouse studies however, responses have been variable in the field (Bowen and Rovira, 1999). The potential environmental benefits of this approach, leading to a reduction in the use of agricultural chemicals are fitting the sustainable management practices. Realizing the biological interactions occurring in the rhizosphere, recent progress are in need to fulfill the practical requirements of inoculant formulation and timely delivery which would increase the technology’s reliability in the field and facilitate its commercial development.

Agroforestry is a land use system that involves two or more plant species at least one of which must be a woody perennial. When perennial woody and herbaceous components are grown together on the same piece of land their performance would largely depend on their ability to share various growth resources in a given environmental situation. Due to difference in growth pattern and resource requirement of the components in agroforestry situation, a close interactive relation is obvious. Thus, careful management practices for the components are required to establish a successful agroforestry system. The characteristics of the trees and crops, and their interactions, can be modified with good management practices in order to take advantage of the positive characteristics and minimize the effects of the negative ones. Effective and efficient agroforestry management may be divided into two groups; tree management and agricultural crop management.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE SELECTION OF TREE SPECIES

Trees in an agroforestry system contribute significantly to the total output of the system and therefore, success of the system depends on the selection of the tree species. The following factors are to be considered to choose the best tree species for the agroforestry systems in a particular site.

Introduction

Fermentation has been an integral part of food processing throughout the history of mankind. In beginning, it was mainly preservation method, then it became key process in substantial sensory characteristic development and now it is utilized to improve overall properties of outcome from major industries like bakery, dairy, beverages, etc. The human understanding of controlled fermentation process changes its fundamental objective by exploring its success in development of rheological and texture characteristics.

The biochemical transformation of raw food due to fermentation affects the organoleptic as well as rheological properties of a product. The changes in rheological as well as sensory properties is related with the modification of major component by the action of microorganism. For example, transformation of polysaccharides in bread dough by action of yeast produce ethanol, CO₂ and other simple compound which modify sensory as well as rheology of dough. The major micro-structural, bio-compositional and bio-chemical changes are due to microbial action are frequently described to understand the effect of fermentation on rheological as well as sensory properties of food products. The rate and quality of these associated major changes mainly depends upon concentration of saccharides for growth of microorganism as well as nature and existing microflorae. Hence, a proper monitoring of changes in rheological and sensory properties is necessary to optimize the controlled fermentation as well as design of process parameters from engineering and consumer point of view.

The biochemical changes directly responsible for changes in basic rheological and sensory characteristic including flow behavior, consistency, viscoelastic properties, hardness, adhesiveness, color, aroma, flavor and mouthfeel. The food industry is so diverse and exploring new and possibilities to catch diverse consumer worldwide, a proper understanding of effect of fermentation on mentioned properties will be key to hold competitive market. Hence, the present chapter will cover the basics of rheology and its role in food industry, effect of fermentation on rheological and sensory attributes of major class of food.