eChapters

12.1 Introduction

Walnut (Juglans regia L.), called “the magic tree” since ancient times, is one of the most economically significant and widely distributed cultivated species for its timber and nutritious nuts all over the world. It is an important source for food, medicines, phytotherapeutic products, raw material in the wood industry and biomass. The nuts are also known as “King of Nuts”. Walnut is known to be trees with a high market potential. Its nutritious nuts and good quality timber are highly valued and the market demand is correspondingly high. It is known for its high-quality nuts and timber. It makes it an economically and nutritionally important tree species. Almost all plant parts and their by products have been used in one or other way. It is the most widespread nut tree in the world (Sharma, 2022). It is relatively fast-growing reaching a total height of 18-30 m and a canopy width of 12-18 m. Roots are sensitive to oxygen depletion which can occur in wet conditions.

Introduction

Among the various countries worldwide, such as China, Kenya, and Sri Lanka, India stands as a significant player. In 2016, China and India collectively accounted for over 60% of the world’s total tea production. Furthermore, India holds the distinction of being the foremost producer of black tea, while China and Japan lead in green tea production. In India, Assam and Darjeeling are recognized as the primary states for tea production, while the Nilgiris and North-East regions also contribute significantly, playing a crucial role in boosting the country’s economic growth.

Assam annually produces over 400 million kilograms of tea, making it the largest tea-growing region globally.Assam has the world’s biggest tea plantations, which are important for India’s economy. The state is near the Brahmaputra River and shares borders with Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Because of its geographical location, this region encounters significant rainfall, especially during the monsoon season, with daily precipitation reaching as high as 250 to 300 mm (10 to 12 inches).A daytime temperature reaches to around 36 °C (96.8 °F), fostering greenhouse-like conditions of intense humidity and heat. The unique malty flavor for which Assam tea is renowned is shaped by the pivotal role played by its tropical climate.

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Centre of origin is Peru, Bolivia, and South America in the Central Andean region.
• Introduced into India in early 17^th Century
• In India, cultivation of potato began first in Nilgiris in 1822.
• Mainly grown in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Karnataka, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.
• Commercial potato species - Solanum andigenum - not very common. Plants are thin and long stem, small and narrow leaflets. Flowers more profuse, long stolons and mostly coloured deep eyed tubers.
• Solanum tuberosum: More common, plants shorter and thicker stem,

14.1 Introduction

Hazelnut is also known as Cob nut or Filbert nut. In its natural form the hazelnut is a deciduous, monoecious, multi-stemmed bush, but commercially should be grown as a single trunk tree. Tree sizes are up to 6 m tall in the commercial state. The term ‘Hazel’ was derived from Anglo-Saxon word ‘Haesel’ meaning bonnet, whereas ‘Corylus’ was derived from Greek word ‘Korys’ meaning Hood or helmet. There are nine widely recognized species. five of those are shrubs: C. avellana, C americana, C. cornuta, C. heterophylla, and C. sieboldiana, and four are trees: C.columa, C. jacquemontii, C. chinensis, and C. ferox (Thompson et al., 1996). The nuts of C. avellana are large with superior quality; this species is less hardy and used in breeding programs either exclusively or combination with other species (Thompson et al., 1996). Hazelnuts are deciduous trees or shrubs, grown for their edible nuts. Hazelnuts are large multi-stemmed shrubs or small trees with rounded leaves which possess a doubly serrated margin (each tooth bears another tooth). Hazelnut can reach a height of 3–8 m (10–26 ft) and can live for many years, although its commercial life span is usually about 40 years.

13.0 Introduction

Cucurbits belong to the family Cucurbitaceae, commonly known as the melon or gourd family. The term cucurbits was coined by Dr Bailey. From nutritional point of view, cucurbit seeds are valued for their high oil and protein contents. Seed proteins and methionine of cucurbits are higher than legumes. Vegetatively propagated cucurbits are pointed gourd, ivy gourd and chow-chow. Long day of 16 hours and high temperature result in maleness. Short day of 9 hours results in femaleness. They are widely distributed in the tropics and warm temperate regions of south, southeast and East Asia, Africa including Madagascar, and central and south America. Cucurbitaceae family is represented by about 117 genera and 825 species. The most common uses of cucurbits are as vegetables and fruits. They are valuable sources of vitamins and minerals. The important cucurbits that are cultivated commercially are cucumber, watermelon, musk melon, long melon, round melon, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, ash gourd, ridge gourd, sponge gourd, pumpkin, squash, snake gourd, pointed gourd, spine gourd, ivy gourd and chow-chow etc. Cucurbits are used as vegetable, salads, dessert and pickle, and for making of sweets.

Introduction

The term “green intellectual property” (IP) is used to describe the legal protections afforded to environmentally friendly innovations. It’s a strategy for saving the planet by stimulating development of environmentally friendly products and methods. For a very long time, plastic consumption has been a huge environmental problem. A report on single-use plastics has been released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), outlining steps towards environmental sustainability. This research analyses the efforts made at the national, state, and local levels to reduce the usage of disposable plastics. Policymakers considering restricting the manufacturing and use of single-use plastics may find the insights it presents helpful. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By 2030, the world’s population should be free of poverty, the planet would be in good shape, and people would live in peace and prosperity. Several of these targets address plastic use; for example, 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, 13: Climate Action, 14: Life Below Water, and 15: Life on Land.

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Centre of origin is Central Asia, the Near East, Ethiopia and the Mediterranean
• There are two sub-species
  • Pisum sativum sub. sp hortense, the garden pea
  • Pisum sativum sub. sp arvense, the field pea

15.1 Introduction

The genus Castanea, (chestnuts and chinkapins), belongs to the family Fagaceae, which includes other important timber producing genera such as Quercus and Fagus. The chestnuts are native of Western Asia, Europe and Northern America. Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) is a native of China, Japanese chestnut (Castanea crenata) is native of Japan and South Korea and European chestnut is native of Mediterranean countries of South Europe and Asia miner (Conedera et al., 2004; Davis et al., 2006). The Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima), Japanese chestnut (Castanea crenata), American chestnut (Castanea dentata), and European chestnut (Castanea sativa) are widely cultivated owing to the economic relevance for their fruits (Larue et al., 2021 and Song et al., 2021). Interspecific hybrids which have emerged from disease resistance work are used for nut, timber and as rootstock.

14.1 Introduction

Drumstick is one of the most popular perennial tree vegetables in the south Indian households and known as miracle tree. This perennial vegetable survives for several years and goes on yielding vegetables without much care and attention, and is planted on the side of the kitchen garden without much interference with tillage operations of other annual crops. The fruits, leaves and flowers are used in culinary preparation. Immature fruits are cut into pieces and used in several culinary dishes. Fruits are rich in Vitamin C, carotene, Phosphorus and minerals like Mg, K, S, Cl etc. Tender leaves and flowers are comparable to that of Colocasia in vitamins and minerals. Drumstick leaves contain high amount of vitamin A (four times more than carrot), vitamin C (seven times more than orange), protein (5-10%), calcium (four times more than milk) and potassium (three times more than banana).The roots of the plant are used for seasoning pickles. Its roots are a good substitute for Horse Radish so called as Horse radish tree. It is highly valued for the distinct and appealing flavour for its tender fruits. They are rich source of protein, minerals and vitamins. Seeds contain an oil called ben or behen oil which has been much used for illumination, soap industry and highly priced for lubricating watches, computers, delicate machinery and so known as Ben oil tree. Seeds contain 38-40% of non-drying oil which is clear and odourless, that never becoming rancid. The oil contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, especially oleic acid up to 67.8%. It is edible and useful in the manufacture of perfumes and hair dressing. The press cake remaining after oil extraction is high in saponin, not edible, but utilized as manure. The oil cake is a water coagulant and used for purifying effluent water. It is used as organic substitute for water purifying chemicals such as aluminium sulphate. Wood yields blue dye and coarse fibre. The plant is used for treatment of rheumatism and as cardiac and circulating system stimulants. It has fragile and cory stem. The trunk is gaining importance as a raw material for paper making. The gum of stem has medicinal properties. The leaves are usually tri-pinnate with elliptic leaflets. Seeds are trigonous with wings on angles. Flowers are produced on current seasons growth on large and erect panicles or monocladial cymes. Flowers are yellowish creamy white and sweet smelling. It is a cross-pollinated crop. Pollinator is carpenter bees, bumble bee, honey bee and flee beetle. Flowering mostly varies from place to place and is greatly influenced by rain, temperature, humidity, wind, soil moisture and soil temperature etc. Peak period of flowering in central parts of India and Kerala is December-January while in southern part it is February-March and July-August with maximum flowering in February-March. Fruits take 60 days for horticultural maturity during rainy season while 30 days in summer.

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Centres of diversity - Central and South America, India, South East Asia with secondary centres of diversity in West and East Africa.
• Leaf amaranth - native of India
• A. tricolor L. (Syn A. gangeticus L), A. mangostanus, A. polygonoides, A. dubius, A. blitum (Syn: A. lividus)
• A. tristis L., A. viridis L. - Wild leaf types
• A. spinosus L., A. cruentus L., A. caudatus L. - Cultivated grain types

Introduction Salmonella is a gram-negative, rod shaped bacteria, facultative anaerobe and non-spore forming. Motile by peritrichous flagella, except S. Gallinarum & S. Pullorum. Salmonella is a genus consists two species called S. enterica and S. bongori and six subspecies viz., enterica I, salamae II, arizonae IIIa, diarizonae IIIb, houtenae IV, indica VI and bongori V. the sub species were categorized into serotypes based on serological characters like somatic (O) - lipopolysaccharides (LPS) on the external surface of the bacterial outer membrane, flagellin (H) – globular protein peritrichous flagella and capsular (Vi) – polysaccharide - O acetylated α 1-4, linked N- acetyl galactosaminuronic acids occurs only in S. Typhi, S. Paratyphi and S. Dublin. Salmonella plays an important role in affecting the safety of foods as it survives in a wider range of environmental conditions (Finn et al., 2013). Seafood are often contaminated with Salmonella (Duran and Marshall, 2005) and their presence causes negative impact on seafood export. During 2020-21, India exported 1.15 MMT of seafood worth US$ 5.96 billion mainly to the USA, China and EU, which are the major importers of Indian seafood (MPEDA, 2022).

10.2. Breeding Objectives 10.2.1. Tomato • To develop early , high yielding and consumer preference varieties / hybrids. • Large round fruit with adequate firmness and shelf-life, uniform fruit sizes shape, red colour and freedom from external blemishes or abnormalities for fresh market. • Large fruit size, high fruit quality and continuous production for home garden tomatoes. • Deep, uniformly red coloured tomatoes , pH below 4.4, high total soluble solid (4.5-7) and high alcohol solids (AIS) in processing tomatoes. • To evolve varieties / hybrid resistant to diseases like fusarium wilt, verticillum wilt, late blight, early blight, septoria leaf spot, anthracnose, bacterial wilt, bacterial canker and tomato leaf curl virus. • To develop varieties/ hybrids resistant to root-knot nematodes. • To breed varieties/ hybrids suitable for abiotic stresses like low Day (K10o C) and high temperatures (day 35+2o C) excess and moisture deficient, salt etc. • To develop varieties/ hybrids for prolonged storage and transportation

Sectioning of tissue is carried out by using an instrument called microtome and the procedure is known as microtomy. Most commonly used microtome is HYPERLINK http://paramedicsworld.com/microtome/ rotary microtome which allows the perfect sectioning of the paraffin-embedded tissue specimens. For histological purposes, section cutting is done at the thickness of 4-6 microns whereas for histochemical staining techniques, the thickness of sections may be increased.
Pre-steps involved in tissue section cutting
1. Ensure that microtome is placed on an even surface so that it will not be shaken during the procedure of section cutting
2. Ensure that Knob for the rotating handle of microtome is locked to avoid cutting the fingers of handler of microtome while fixing the blade in its holder
3. Ensure that paraffin shavings from the previous section cutting were removed from the various parts of microtome for smooth functioning of microtome
4. Thermostatically controlled water bath or tissue flotation bath should be kept ready with filled water to heat
5. Ice cubes should be kept ready in the refrigerator. Success of sectioning can be greatly improved by cooling the wax blocks before subjecting them to cut. To properly cool the blocks, placing them on a piece of aluminum foil on a levelled tray of ice for at least five minutes before sectioning is preferable. Chilled paraffin wax is harder and in general it allows thinner and higher quality sections .Cooling both the tissue and wax giving them a similar consistency, in addition to a smaller amount of water will be absorbed into the tissue and making sectioning easier.

Introduction

Food security at the national level refers to the capacity of a country to provide sufficient food for its population, and will depend on such factors as food production in relation to the population, food aid and within-country food distribution. The ability to withstand emergencies arising from drought, floods, and such other calamities, also fall in its purview. While many definitions of household security exist, they agree on a household’s ability to get sufficient food to the household. Gillespie & Mason (1991) gave a more lucid account and defined household level food security as access to food that is adequate in terms of quality, quantity, safety and cultural acceptability, for all household members. Two main factors determining household food security are income generated by the members of the family from the avenues available and food prices in operation at the given point of time. The cost of achieving and maintaining food security is important.

Food security takes into account only the nutritional requirements of the individuals in the society, which is basic to all the living beings for keeping the body and soul intact. Our needs go beyond this and necessarily include fiber and shelter, not only to be called civilized but also to face vagaries of weather. Once we add these dimensions to the food security then it can be termed as livelihood security. In this century, many driving forces are added in the process of evolution of strategies. Loss of biodiversity, global climatic change and information dissemination are some of the major factors that drive the rate of livelihood changes and determine the direction of its evolution.

The growing integration of Large Language Models into healthcare, education, business and cybersecurity has created new opportunities while introducing significant security and privacy risks. This chapter provides a comprehensive examination of vulnerabilities across the LLM lifecycle, from training and inference to deployment and integration with external applications. It discusses threats including prompt injection, jailbreak attacks, model extraction, membership inference, privacy-attribute inference and adversarial prompting. Deployment environments introduce additional risks involving unauthorized API access, misconfiguration, insecure integrations, logging-related data leakage and supply-chain attacks. The chapter also considers availability and integrity threats, including denial-of-service attacks and attempts to manipulate or remove AI-generated content watermarks. Privacy protection mechanisms such as differential privacy, anonymization, de-identification and encryption are examined as potential safeguards. Legal and regulatory considerations are also addressed, including data protection requirements and organizational governance. Because LLM applications may process sensitive personal and business information, security cannot be treated as an isolated technical feature. The chapter emphasizes continuous monitoring, secure architecture, privacy-preserving techniques, access controls and responsible governance for trustworthy LLM deployment.

Dairy industry has long dealt with issues of food pathogens and inadvertent adulteration; it is time to review the plant systems with a new perspective. Each plant has its own handling protocols, physical lay-out and employee policies. Milk and other materials entering the facilities, till the distribution of the finished product needs special attention.
 
I. INCOMING MATERIALS

In general, start by considering the milk, food ingredients, packaging, chemicals and other materials that come into plant facility and warehouses, and ensure that these product streams are secure, and that materials are stored in asecure place.

The drug conventionally used for sedation is xylazine, which is an alpha-2 agonist (Dugdale, 2010; Rankin, 2015). Dexmedetomidine is the latest drug of the same class used for sedation, and is more specific to alpha2 receptors than xylazine (Ishyama et al., 1995). Doses of 1-2 mg per kg body weight of xylazine (Hall and Clarke, 2001) and upto 20 mcg per kg body weight of dexmedetomidine (Ko, 2013) are required for sedation when used alone (Hall and Clarke, 2001; Rankin, 2015). Similar degrees of sedation could still be achieved at lower doses of xylazine (0.2 to 0.4 mg per kg body weight) and dexmedetomidine (2.5 to 5 mcg per kg) if administered in combination with any opioid drug like hydromorphone / oxymorphone / fentanyl / buprenorphine / butorphanol / nalbuphine / tramadol at their usual doses (Hunt et al., 2013). Another drug - acepromazine, which is a phenothiazine tranquiliser, is used at its doses of 0.01 to 0.05 mg/kg combined with an opioid for achieving sedation (Smith et al., 2001; Dugdale, 2020; Ko, 2013). Combination of an opioid with either a phenothiazine tranquiliser or an alpha2 agonist sedative drug provides neurolept anaesthesia/analgesia (Dugdale, 2020; Rankin, 2015). An anticholinergic drug - glycopyrrolate is administered in combination with acepromazine and opioid to prevent bradycardia (Dyson and James-Davies, 1999). Anticholinergics are generally not recommended with sedative cocktails containing dexmedetomidine, but preferred with sedative cocktails containing xylazine (Congdon et al., 2011; Billah et al., 2017). If sedation is to be achieved with acepromazine alone, higher doses need to be administered where there will be an increase in its dose dependent side effects, and hence not preferred (Simon and Steagall, 2020). Benzodiazepines are another class of sedative drugs, which generally doesn’t provide predictable sedation in animals. Paradoxical excitement is caused in healthy adults when these drugs are used alone (Herron et al., 2008). Predictable sedation is achieved when these drugs are administered in combination with any opioids (KuKanich and Wiese, 2015). Also, benzodiazepines can be combined with an alpha2-opioid combination to enhance the overall sedation (Maze et al., 1992). Various balanced sedative cocktails prepared with the drugs available for a veterinary practitioner in India, are presented. The balanced sedative cocktails are prepared with either

I. FILL UPS

1. The seed act was passed in the year_____.
2. _____ advise the central and state government regarding suitability of seed testing laboratories.
3. _____deals with all the problems related seed certification and to coordinate the work of state seed certification agencies.
4. _____ agencies take sample to inspect seed lot and certify seeds of any notified kind of varieties.
5. _____ initiate testing program and collaborate with state seed laboratory and designed to promote uniformity in test results between all seed laboratories in India.
6. _____ look into the grievances of certified seed producers against a seed certification officials.

Any new variety produced by the Scientist has to be multiplied to many times to meet the needs of the farmers. In order to ensure the availability of quality seeds, Government of India have enacted Seed Act 1966 and Seed Rules, 1968. The Seed (Control) order 1983 was promulgated under essential commodities act, 1955 in order to ensure the production, marketing and distribution of the seeds.

1. SEED ACT 1966

The objective of Seed Act is for regulating the quality of certain notified kind / varieties of seeds for sale and for matters connected therewith. The Seed Act passed by the Indian Parliament in 1966 was designed to create a ‘climate’ in which the seeds man could operate effectively and to make good quality seed available to cultivators. Seed Rules under the Act were notified in September 1968 and the act was implemented in October 1969. This act extent to the whole of India and it has 25 sections.

10.1. Seed Act (1966) and Seed Rules

To ensure the availability of quality seeds, GOI has enacted Seed Act in October 1966 and Seed Rules in September 1968.

Seed Act passed by the Indian Parliament in 1966.

The Seed Act 1966 was passed by the Indian Parliament on 29th December 1966 and it came into force from 2nd October, 1969. In addition, Seed Regulation Order was also passed in December 1983.

Seed

A seed is a mature ovule consisting of an embryo together with stored food, all enclosed by a protective coat. It is product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which results as a consequence of fertilization and some growth within the mother plant formation of seed completes the cycle of reproduction. The embryo develops from zygote and the seed coat from the integument of ovule. A seed has three main parts these are seed coat, endosperm and embryo. Embryo includes the root, the cotyledon and embryonic leaves. Seed is located inside fruit and a fruit is a mature ovary. In broad sense any plant part which is used for commercial multiplication of crop is called seed. Thus in case of potato stem and tuber are also known as seed. Improved seed results in (1) Better germination (2) Vigorous seedling growth (3) Higher crop stand (4) Better quality of produce (5) Ultimately in higher crop yield.

Development of seeds: Successful pollination and fertilization are the prerequisites to produce a viable seed. During pollination the pollen grains are transferred from anther to the stigma and get stuck there in the sticky fluid secreted by the stigma. The fluid contains sugar which induces germination of pollen grains. The pollen tube grows downward through the style in the ovary until it reaches the embryo sac and discharges two male gametes-one is fused with a female gamete and forms the zygote (2n) and the other is united with two pollar nuclei to produce endosperm (3n). The zygote develops and gives rise to embryo embedded in nutritive tissue developed from endosperm. The nucellus tissues surrounding these structures provide necessary energy for their proper development. Like fruit, the seed also exhibits sigmoid and sometimes double sigmoid pattern of growth. Various changes occur during the course of seed development and the sequences of development may vary from species to species keeping the basic theme unaltered.

2.1. Seed

Defined as a mature ovule or a reproductive unit formed from fertilized ovule, consisting of an embryo, reserve food and a protective cover.

I. FILL UPS

1. A seed is defined as a _____ or a reproductive unit formed from fertilized ovule, consisting of an embryo, reserve food and a protective cover.
2. A seed is defined as a mature ovule or a reproductive unit formed from _____ consisting of an embryo, reserve food and a protective cover.
3. A seed is defined as a mature ovule, or a reproductive unit formed from fertilized ovule, consisting of an _____, reserve food and a protective cover.
4. A seed is defined as a mature ovule or a reproductive unit formed from fertilized ovule, consisting of an embryo, _____ and a protective cover.
5. Seed acts as a carrier of _____.
6. Seed must ensure high _____ (true to type).
7. Seed must be viable and have good _____ capacity

1. SEED

A seed is defined as a ‘mature ovule’ or a reproductive unit formed from fertilized ovule, consisting of an embryo, reserve food and a protective cover.

Seed is the basic input in agriculture upon which other inputs are applied. A good vigorous seed utilities all the resources and realized as a reasonable output to the grower. It is wealth to the farmer, it is the yesterday’s harvest and tomorrow’s hope. Good seed in good soil realize good yield.

Seeds exhibit a great range of variation in shape, size, colour and behaviour. The most essential factor for the success of plantation is the ready availability of quality seeds. The quality of seed is totally responsible for the future return / performance of each and every seedling.

Seed
The seed, in botany is a mature ovule, consisting of an embryo together with a store of food all surrounded by a protective coat and bear ability to develop a new plant on optimum conditions of soil, moisture and light. It usually develops after the fertilization on an egg cell by male generative cell from a pollen grain. Seeds of some species develop without the intervention of the male cell, formed entirely of ‘mother’ tissue. Such seeds are called apogamic seeds. In seed technology, the seed is seed or any vegetatively propagated material produced from seed crop in accordance to Indian seed standards and has potential to develop new crop in presence of soil, moisture and light.

Archaeobotany

Botany as far as it is relevant in archaeology mainly denotes all types of ancient organic material (in particular ancient plant remains) collected from excavation sites. The deliberate study of the interrelationship between humans and plants and the environmental context in which this occurred has been called archaeobotany.

Introduction

Since beginning of this century genetic diversity of agricultural crop has been lost due to several reasons (Marla, 2012). Genetic erosion is caused by human intervention, mono culture, green revolution especially due to commercialization of plant breeding. So there is urgent need to collect, conserve plant genetic & genomic resource for further use.

A seed bank stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity. There are many reasons to store seeds. One reason is to have on-hand the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, nutritional quality, etc. of plants used in agriculture (i.e., crops or domesticated species). Another reason is to forestall loss of genetic diversity in rare or imperiled plant species in an effort to conserve biodiversity ex situ and in situ. Many plants that were used centuries ago by humans are used less frequently now and seed banks offer a way to preserve that historical and cultural value. Collections of seeds stored at constant low temperature and moisture guard against loss of genetic resources that are otherwise maintained in situ or in field collections. These alternative ‘living’ collections can be damaged by natural disasters, outbreaks of disease or war. Seed banks are considered seed libraries and contain valuable information about evolved strategies to combat plant stress or produce novel products. The work of seed banks spans decades and even centuries. Most seed banks are publicly funded and seeds are usually available for research that benefits the public.

5.1. SEED AND SEED PRODUCTION

Origin of Plentiful Yield is the Seed - Parashara 400BC

Good Seed in Good Soil Yield Abundantly - Manu Smriti 200BC

Botanically seed is a matured ovule containing an embryo in arrested state of development with a food reserve (endosperm) and protective coat (seed coat). In albuminous seeds the endosperm is present eg. rice, wheat, castor (cereals). Whereas, exalbuminous seeds the endosperm is absent eg. onion and pea (pulses).

Types of fruit/ seed

Seed bearing plants

Seed-bearing plants are broadly categorized in two major types: the gymnosperms and the angiosperms which are together grouped in Division Spermatophyta in the older system of classification for the plant kingdom. Consequently, seed plants are presently classified into multiple phyla. Still, for the purpose of learning basic concepts, it is convenient to group plants informally as spermatophytes (sperm "seed" + phyte "plant"). The spermatophytes are the most complex and evolutionarily advanced plants. Unlike ferns and bryophytes which reproduce and disperse by unicellular spores, spermatophytes reproduce and disperse by means of multi-cellular seeds which consist a protective seed coat surrounding an embryonic sporophyte and its food supply. This group of seed plants exhibits an alternation of generations in which the sporophyte is dominant. Furthermore, the gametophyte is microscopic and heterosporous with the latter term meaning that these seed plants produce two types of spores: microspores and megaspores that give rise to separate male gametophytes (micro-gametophytes) and female gametophytes (mega-gametophytes) respectively. The megaspore is never released from the sporangium; thus, the female gametophyte develops within the sporangium while being still attached to the sporophyte.

Methods in Seed Blending

For good seed blending there are three methods and details of which given as below:

The term seed blending is nothing but seed mixing done based on certain principles. It is simply combining two or more seed lots of same variety or hybrid of specified quality. The blendingmayinvolve lots which mayhave different quality in terms of germination. Usually individual seed lots are much better compared to blended lots but from the point of efficient inventory management blending is advisable. The main purpose of blending is to pool all the variable lots in to a larger bulk and mix the constituents effectively so that each pocket of seed has a uniform quality.

I. FILL UPS

1. _____ are also called ed-worms.
2. _____ nematode causes discolouration in groundnut.
3. _____ in rice is caused by Aphelenchoides besseyi.
4. The ear cockle disease is caused _____.

1. NEMATODES

Nematodes, also called eel-worms, are wormlike in appearance, but quite distinct taxonomically from true worms. They live freely in fresh or salt water or in soil. They are saprozoic and also parasitize animals (including man) and plants. Many species of nemotdes parasitize higher plants and cause disease symptoms. Plant parasitic nematodes are small (invisible to the naked eye), long, tubular, round in the cross section, unsegmented and smooth invertebrates. They inhibit different parts of plants, namely, roots, stem, flower buds and seeds. Depending on the host-parasite relationship, plant parasitic nematodes may be sedentary or migratory and ectoparasitic and/or endoparasitic in their feeding habits.

1.1. Nematodes

Seed-borne nematodes may be internal or may occur as seed infestation. Several saprozoic soil nematodes occur in beds of soil mixed with seed. Seed infestation by nematodes does not produce any specific symptoms on seed, but in those that occur as endoparasites, the floral structure may be modified into a seed gall (Anguina spp.) may produce symptoms such as discoloration of testa in groundnut (Ditylenchus destructor) or may be symptomless as in paddy kernels infected by Aphelenchoides besseyi. Neergaard (1979) listed five genera - Anguina, Aphelenchoides, Ditylenchus, Heterodora and Rhadinaphelenchus - that are seed-transmitted. Heterodora and Rhadinaphelenchus occur as endoparasites in roots, stems, and leaves. The latter also affects the growing apex, inflorescence and husks of dropped nuts.

Indian Council of Food and Agriculture organized SEED WORLD-2019 (World Seed Trade and Technology Congress) from 18-21 September, 2019 at The Hotel Lalit Ashok, Bangalore and presented SEED INDUSTRY SCENARIO REPORT (ICFA, 2019; www.icfa.org.inwww.seedworld.in). The information as given below is largely based on this report and other presentations made during the congress, particularly one by Kapur (2019).

1. In bhendi field, the permissible limits for wild bhendi for Foundation and certified seed production is

   a) 0.10, 1.00

   b) 0.05, 0.10

   c) 0.1, 1.5

   d) None

2. Weed seed, other crop seed and inert matter are the fractions of

   a) Purity analysis

   b) Germination

   c) Seed viability test

   d) All

1. MINIMUM SEED CERTIFICATION STANDARDS

In a seed quality control programme through seed certification, the minimum seed certification standards, in fact, are the minimum standard conditions which must be met. The minimum seed certification standards, thus are the standards required for the certification of seeds by the certification agencies.

The minimum seed certification standards can be broadly grouped into two groups.

Previous Year Questions

1. Different Classes of Seeds?

2. Various parameters of field & seed standards for breeder seed production?

3. Factors that affect the longevity of seeds during storage in warehouses?

4. Initial Seed Quality?

5. Seed Testing?

Different Classes of Seeds

1. Nucleus Seed: It is handful of seed maintained by concerned breeder for further multiplication. The nucleus seed will have all the characters that the breeder has placed in it and it is of highest genetic purity. The quantity of nucleus seed is in kilograms.

2. Breeder Seed (BS): Breeder seed is a seed or vegetative propagating material directly controlled by the originating or sponsoring plant breeder of the breeding programme or institution and or seed whose production is personally supervised by a qualified plant breeder and which provides the source for the initial and recurring increase of foundation seed. Breeder seed is exempted from certification. However, the breeder seed crop is being inspected at appropriate stages by a Monitoring Team consisting of breeder, representative of NSC and representative of Seed Certification Agency. The breeder seed lots are affixed with Golden Yellow tags. The genetic purity of breeder seed crop should be maintained at 100 per cent.

Seed certification is a legal programme to maintain and make available to the public high quality seeds and planting material of genetically distinct crop varieties. Under seed production programme, quality seed is produced by govt. farms research stations, progressive farmers and seed producers using careful quality control, pedigreed plant stock, field inspections during the growing season and seed inspections after the harvest. Certification is an officially recognized method for maintaining varietal identity of the seed. In India certification is carried out by State Seed Certification Agencies.

Seed multiplication and production was controlled by a legally sanctioned system called Seed Certification. Seed certification procedures and designed to ensure physical and genetic purity, freedom from weed seeds and diseases and good germinability of the certified seed. Seed certification is done by the Seed Certification Agency (SSCA) of the concerned state or by NSC.
 
Objectives of Seed Certification

The objective of seed certification programme was formulated by Douglas, 1971
 
i)    to ensure genuineness and quality of seed.
ii)    The identification and their rapid increase of new varieties under accepted names.
iii)    The systematic increase of superior varieties
iv)    Continuing supply of quality material and their maintenance.

I. FILL UPS

1. _____ is a legally sanctioned system for quality control on seed multiplication and production.
2. Certification consists of _____ phases.
3. In single application, the maximum area that can be offered for certification is _____.
4. AOSCA stands for_____.

Seed certification

It is a legally sanctioned system for quality control and seed multiplication and production. It involves field inspection, pre and post control tests and seed quality tests. As per Indian Seed Act seed certification is voluntary and it is not compulsory. The seed that is sold in the market is of two types certified seed or truthfully labelled seed. Whereas truthfully labelled seed is one which is being produced and marketed by the producing company by maintaining the labelling standards.

Introduction

Seed certification is a legally approved system for quality control of seed multiplication and production. Seed certification procedures are designed to ensure physical and genetic purity, freedom from other crop seeds, objectionable and other weed seeds and designated diseases with good germinability of the foundation and certified seed. Seed certification is done by the State Seed Certification Agency of the concerned state (SSCA) notified under section 8 of the Seeds Act, 1966 or by National Seed Corporation (NSC), where State Seed Certification Agency does not exist. The General Seed Certification Standards are applicable to all crops, which are eligible for certification, while field and seed standards are applicable to individual crop, constituted as the minimum seed certification standards. The word ‘seed’ or ‘seeds’ as used in these standards also includes all the propagating materials. Seeds or propagating material, which does not meet the standards of seed certification prescribed in the Indian Minimum Seeds Certification Standards, 2013 (Gunasekaran and Trivedi, 2013), are not certified by the Seed Certification Agency. The general seed and field standards for various crops are given at the end of this chapter.