eChapters

INTRODUCTION

Potato is a crop of major significance in human nutrition, ranking fourth in world production, after wheat, maize and rice. Potatoes are grown on over 44 million acres in more than 125 countries, with annual production of about 250 million tons. Potatoes are grown across India, with production concentrated in several areas of the North Indian plains and West Bengal. Indian potato production is significant and accounts for 8.5 per cent of the world total (Dahiya et al., 1999).

The potato has hundreds of recognized pests including many insects, mites, nematodes and rodents. Some of these were transported to new locations alongwith seed tubers. Others were already present in locations where the potato was introduced and then proliferated on this new host plant. Because a potato crop is vegetatively propagated from tubers, which easily carry some pathogens and pests, many pest problems have followed potatoes to areas wherever they are grown. The potato tuber moth was introduced accidentally into India from Italy in 1906, probably through seed potatoes (Lefroy, 1907), and by the middle of century had become well established throughout India (Kumar and Nirula, 1967). Of all the major food crops, potato is heaviest user of chemical pesticides, which often total up to 20 per cent of its cost of production (Anonymous, 1991).

Introduction

India ranks second in the production of vegetables after China. The existing area under vegetable cultivation in India is around 4.5 million ha. There is a need of around 5-6 million tons of food to feed 1.3 billion India’s population by 2020 AD. The major constraint in vegetable production, include the extensive crop losses due to increased pest infestations directly or due to viral diseases vectored by insects. The extent of crop losses in vegetables varies with the plant type, location, damage potential of the pest involved and cropping season. Vegetables are more prone to insect pests and diseases mainly due to their succulence as compared to other crops. The crop losses to the tune of 40 per cent have been observed in vegetable crops. The increased demand and limited productivity of local cultivars, led to introduction of high yielding varieties and hybrids. As a result, dramatic changes in pest scenario occurred like minor pests assuming major status (eg., Serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolii a serious problem in tomato hybrids). Chemical pesticides are the sole panacea to mange the pest by vegetable farmers even today. Indiscriminate use of pesticides has led to severe ecological consequences like destruction of natural enemy fauna, effect on non-target organisms, pesticide residues in vegetables and resistance of the pest to pesticides. The modern pest management is aimed at educating the farmers on various issues of pest management like identification of the pests, natural enemies, judicious use of pesticides with alternate methods of pest control like cultural, mechanical, biological and behavioral (pheromones) management.

Introduction

In India, climatic conditions are very diverse and fruit crops of temperate, sub-tropical and tropical regions are grown. Frequently, the fruit crops of one regional environmental requirement are grown in another region. This type of crop husbandry has some typical pest problems as the insect and mite pests have easy access to any of these regions depending upon the fruit crop. The application of management approaches in isolation of insect pests on fruit crops demand a unified strategy to suppress the different pest populations under the concept of ‘crop management’. Thus, to sustain the crop management for the better fruit quality, a judicious integration of safe chemical/biopesticide molecules must be used with other non-chemical approaches namely host plant resistance, bioagents, cultural and mechanical practices etc.

INTORDUCTION

Spices are strongly flavored aromatic substances of plant origin which are commonly used for seasoning, cooking food and for preserving other food stuffs. There are about 70 species of spices grown in various parts of the world. Those which are used most commonly throughout the world are grown in India and other parts of South Asia.

The seed spices are annual herbs, whose dried fruits or seeds are mostly used as spices. The seed spices are used for culinary, confectionary, perfumery, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industry. There are about 20 seed spices grown in India (Table 1) and nine out of them are prominent. The most important among them are belongs to family Apiaceae (coriander, cumin, fennel etc). about 9 lakh ha area is growing in seed spices in the country with annual production of about 5-6 lakh tones (Anonymous, 2003). India is the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of seed spices. The foreign exchange earned through export of seed spices is more than Rs 200 crores annually. India exports raw spices as well as value added items to nearly 70 countries in the world and is meeting 51% of the global demand of these commodities. There is good potential for increasing export of seed spices, if production as well as quality is increased. The level of productivity in various seed spices is comparatively low as compared to other countries. There are many production constrains attributed to low productivity. The lake of suitable high yielding varieties suiting to different agro-ecological regions and more incidences of diseases and insect pests. Among different insect pests, coriander aphid, Hydaphis coriandari (Das) is one of the most destructive and widely distributed pest of coriander (Jain, 1984 and Jain and Yadav, 1989). Recently brown wheat mite was observed attacking coriander and other spices (Jain and Yadav, 1986 and 1989).

INTRODUCTION

Cotton is an important commercial crop and plays a key role in the economy of country. Cotton is grown in different states of India viz Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In India the area under cotton crop is 8.76 m ha and the productivity is 436 Kg lint/ha as against the world average of 682 kg lint/ha (Anonymous, 2005). The productivity of cotton is variable in the country in the range of 287 to 720 kg lint/ha (Anonymous, 2005). The major constraints in cotton cultivation in India are as follows
 
MAJOR CONSTRAINTS IN COTTON CULTIVATION IN INDIA
    i.    Abnormal weather conditions 
    ii.    Cultivation of cotton under rainfed condition 
    iii.    Cultivation of large number of susceptible and undescript cultivars with varied growth pattern. 
    iv.    Poor soil health
    v.    Long duration of crop 
    vi.    Long sowing period 
    vii.    Indeterminate nature of cotton plant 
    viii.    Intensive cultivation 
    ix.    Imbalance use of fertilizers 
    x.    Non judicious use of irrigation water 
    xi.    Higher incidence of insect pests due to 

Introduction

Rice is the staple food of about 50% of the world’s population that resides in Asia, where 90 % of the world’s rice is grown and consumed. In the International year of Rice celebrated in 2004 the theme was “Rice is life” which reflects the importance of rice as a primary food source of human beings. In the world, annually rice is cultivated in about 151.54 million hectares with an annual production of 593 metric tonnes and average productivity of 3.91 tonnes/ha (Rai, 2004). From its Asian homeland, it is now cultivated in 113 countries and plays a variety of roles related to important aspects of food security as well as rural and economic development. In Asia this crop is grown in 136.07 million ha followed by 7.67 million ha in Africa and 5.09 million ha in Latin America with a production of 539.84, 16.97 and 19.54 metric tonnes and productivity of 2.97, 2.21 and 2.84 tonnes, respectively (Rai, 2004). In India, rice is the staple food for more than 65 % people (Pasalu and Katti, 2004). Rice is grown under various geographical, climatic and cultural conditions. The current level of rice production in the country is around 90 million tonnes. Based on the present rate of population growth @ 1.5 % and per capita consumption of 250 g of rice/day in the country, the demand for rice production is expected to be about 100-105 million tonnes by 2010 and 130-140 million tonnes by 2025. To achieve this target, it requires increasing productivity per unit area by the adoption of modern and intensive agricultural practices, such as use of high yielding varieties and improved cultural and management practices. Experience of post green revolution period in last four decades indicates that these practices often aggravate other biotic constraints such as insects, diseases and weeds. However, insect pests are considered to be the major limiting factor in enhancing the productivity of rice.

Introduction

The introduction of high yielding varieties and hybrids in late sixties led to accumulation of insect pest problems in cereals. The varieties and hybrids developed during green revolution era with the sole objective to enhance production to feed increasing population were better in quality parameters than traditional locals but were highly susceptible to insect pests. Over 200 pests attack different cereals and insects that were not known or were of minor importance have now become major pests and several new insect pests have appeared on cereals. Out breaks are frequent due to several obvious reasons. Major pests are serious, perennially occurring and persistent species which cause considerable loss in yields every year in large areas require control measures. Occasional pests attack the crops sporadically but cause potential damage and sufficient loss, though in some localities or only in some seasons, so as to warrant human intervention.

INTRODUCTION

Insecticide resistance poses a severe threat to agricultural productivity in India and in other countries of the world. Humans have had the ingenuity to develop thousands of pesticides to protect foodstuffs, livestock, and health and the use of these poisons has triggered a rapid evolutionary response in many target species and some nontarget species of invertebrates, microorganisms, higher plants and vertebrates. Insecticide exposure led to nullify their toxic effects through genetic selection for individuals with the biochemistry or behaviour. Continual development of new compounds and its greater use and increase in input insecticide cost is mainly due increase in resistance. Reduction in insecticide efficacy from insect resistance has major economic, environmental and human health implications. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a convenient descriptor for wide range of still-evaluating pest control program that emerged from chemical prophylaxis practiced. IPM theory has fostered a transition from primarily chemical control to programs tempered with biological information and input tailored to each agro ecosystem, crop and pest situation in production.

Introduction

Although the concept of IPM, with emphasis on minimum use of pesticides; is well established and widely practiced in India pest population still continue to be unabated, often reaching to alarming levels. Out breaks of Spodoptera litura and hairy caterpillar, Amsacta moorei have been recorded in soybean and kharif crops recently during 2002 & 2004 in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, respectively. Outbreaks of Helicoverpa armigera populations are well known, appearing more frequently since past few years (1987-88, 1995-96, 1997-98 & 2001) doing extensive damage in cotton and pulses. in many parts of the country. Failures in controlling these populations, even by most potent insecticides, have raised a serious doubt on the success of present day pest management practices aimed to kill the pest in immature larval / egg stage, when infestation spreads out in large areas. Insecticidal treatments require wide coverage of crop area to control them effectively. Insecticide resistance in pest species and destruction of natural enemies are obvious problems, since chemicals are applied indiscriminately to entire crop ecosystem including the non-target beneficial bicontrol species. How to minimize use of insecticide in pest control is often a question of major concern to the entomologists.

INTRODUCTION

“An insect is like an old-fashion soldier: it does what it is ordered to do, and when it has no orders it does nothing” (a citation from Wright, 1963). The orders are very often given as chemical signals that induce certain behaviour or change the course of development in the insect. Chemical communication appears to be the primary mode of information transfer in insects. These chemicals are able to modify the behaviour of a perceiving organism at sub-micro/nanogram levels and are known as semiochemicals. The term is derived from the Greek Word Simeone, meaning a mark of a signal. These behaviour modifying chemicals are divided into two broad categories.

Introduction

The world of living organisms essentially consists of the kingdoms of plants and animals. Myriads of organisms representing these two, interact among them, ranging from symbiosis and mutualism to competition and predator-prey interactions. The last mentioned process is one the important components of ecological dynamics, that determine the balance of nature or equilibrium among the biota. To this category belong the predators, parasites (parasitoids), pathogens, and so on, all of which live at the cost of another organism, without affording any benefit to the ‘victim’, hence the victim is termed the ‘prey’. In an agroecosystem, when an organism, explodes into an unusually high number, devouring cultivated plants it often becomes a ‘pest’ from a man’s point of view. Sometimes the pest can be a human nuisance too. It is here, that the role of predators and parasitoids become relevant as biological agents against the pests.
 
A lion, which preys on herb-feeding antelopes, is also a predator. But, its roles become restricted to maintaining the balance of the antelope population. Left undeterred, antelopes can explode to levels that can threaten grasslands. Here lions play a very crucial role in maintaining (through hunting antelopes) the equilibrium of the grasslands, just sufficient for these plants to surge with every rain. Otherwise, the grasslands potentially may get denuded by the antelopes, or conversely it may override other ecosystems. This is part of the ‘food web’ and is found in every ecosystems; desert, aquatic, mountains, forests, agro-ecosystems, etc.

Introduction

Pesticide in broad term refers to “killer of pests” but is an agent used to control, prevent, destroy, repel and mitigate a pest. Pesticides are thus poisonous substances intentionally applied in situations, which harbour so-called pests. Agriculture including poultry and veterinary (i.e. raising of crops and protection of produce and storage), health (public places-hospitals, restaurants, gardens cinema halls etc.), transportation (shipment, air rail and road transport) are some areas where pesticides are used extensively as spot application, fumigation, aerial and field sprays, soil treatments etc. Plant protection comes to be recognized as an equally important factor of agriculture production as improved seeds, fertilizers and irrigation. Pesticides over time get accumulated in the environment and contaminate all systems i.e. air, water, soil, plants, animals and micro-organisms on being transported from one system to another leading to biomagnifications.

The fate of a pesticide in the environment and the entities, which come in contact, is depicted in the Fig. 1 reflecting the pollution and contamination. Pesticides during manufacturing, transportation, storage and actual use enter the biotic and abiotic components of the environment through air, water and soil and disturb the cohesion causing great disaster sometimes. Pollution is defined as undesirable change in physical, chemical and biological characteristics of air, land and water. This change may or will harmfully affect human life or that of desirable species, industrial process, living conditions and cultural assets. It may or will waste or deteriorate our raw material resources. Pollution increases burden of human society causing loss of resources through unnecessary wasteful exploitation, the cost of pollution abatement and deterioration of human health.

INTRODUCTION

While the world has been changing during the last few years both politically and economically in unexpected and remarkable way, food security remains an unfulfilled dream of billions of people. With the world population crossing six billion marks, the demand for food grains is increasing at an alarming rate. Increasing population, on the other hand, has led to decrease in cropping area. In order to meet the global food demand we have to increase the productivity. Insects have always been a major cause of yield-loss in agriculture. They account for 20-30% of crop-loss. Several approaches e.g. physical, chemical and biological have been used with varying degree of success to reduce such losses.
 
The insect pest management is one of the most important yield destabilizing factors in almost all the crops. While for some insects, genetic sources of resistance are available in the respective plant germplasm, for many others germplasm is almost devoid of effective resistance genes. It is because of this factor that conventional breeding strategies have not been successful in breeding insect pest’s resistant varieties. The only means available at present for managing the insect is extensive application of insecticides and pesticides. Excessive usage of the pesticides causes, on one hand, environmental pollution and on the other, it forces the insects to develop resistance against these chemicals. Application of the pesticides also imposes additional economic burden on the farmers.

INTRODUCTION
 
In India tremendous progress has been made in agriculture. In absence of check on population growth, it may cross 1.5 billions by 2030. As a consequence per capita availability of land 0.13 ha will further reduce to 0.1 hectare in 2020 A.D. The demand of growing population for food and fibre require country to produce higher yields from presently cultivated land. Currently an average of 2790 calories of food available each day for every human on the planet, (23 per cent more than in 1961 and enough to feed every one). The production targets and required yield to feed the ever increasing current population with present available resources will require the growth rate of 2.35 and 2.2 per cent in rice and wheat, respectively and as high as 4.45 and 3.38 per cent for pulses and oil seeds, respectively. This requires national average yield to be increased by 30-50 per cent, which is not a cakewalk. India will require producing additional 5-6 million tones annually to keep pace with ever-increasing national food and nutritional requirements. Recurrent famines, starvation death and lack of resources led to green revolution, which as of now has turned our begging bowl to agriculturally advanced cereal exporting country.

Introduction

Advent of agriculture in India dates back to around 2000 BC, the period of Indus Valley Civilization. South and East Asia also witnessed the start of agriculture around the same time. The crops were grown only during the monsoons. Winters served as a closed period for crops as well as for the pests. Even at that time a number of insect pests were known to cause serious damage to different crops. Agriculture has been revolutionized during the few decades since World War II (Kupatt et al., 2005). Introduction of high yielding varieties and associated technology resulted in tremendous increase in the production from the same piece of land. The results of these changes include a dramatic reduction in time and resources needed to provide an unprecedented quantity of quality food and fiber. The initial introduction of plant protection agents as wonder material did not lasted long, as very soon their ill effects on human health and environment were witnessed.

INTRODUCTION

The first significant economic contribution of host plant resistance in agriculture was made in 1890 when European grape vines were successfully grafted on resistant root stock to save the French Wine industry from viteus vilifaliac (Fitch). Studies from the past century have led to the development of resistant varieties in about 15 crops to about 50 key insect pests. During the last 20 years alone, more than 500 insect resistant cultivars of rice, maize, cotton, sorghum, alfalfa and wheat have been developed and released world wide (Dhaliwal and Arora, 2001). The insect resistant varieties are grown on millions of ha. annually and help the farmers to save billions of dollars in insecticide costs (Dhaliwal and Arora, 2001). The role of Host Plant Resistance in Integrated Pest Management is discussed below.

Introduction

Humans have inhabited the earth for nearly 2 million years. For over 90 per cent of this period, the maximum population numbered about 200,000 and the growth rate was only about 0.01 percent per year. The use of fire and the development of tools were the first major changes affecting human population growth which increased to about 5 million individuals about 100,000 years ago. The population remained fluctuating about this mean value for the next 90,000 years depending upon the food supply. Up to this time people were hunterer-gatherers and depended exclusively on the natural ecosystem for their food. Then about 10,000 years ago, humans began to cultivate crops for food. With established agriculture came an increased and stable food supply. This contributed to an increased growth rate of the human population (Dhaliwal et al., 1998).

INTRODUCTION

Management of several of the important insect-pests of crops is becoming increasingly difficult owing to a number of factors by which pests have been able to offset the effect of control interventions. Several of the present day pest management problems may be ascribed to the excessive and indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides during the last about three decades. Routine application of insecticides for controlling insect-pests, without taking into consideration whether economic damage to the crops is being inflicted by the pest or not, has resulted into several problems like pest resistance, pest resurgence, pest replacement, killing of natural enemies of pests, presence of toxic residues in food, and soil and environmental pollution, etc., apart from increase in the cost of plant protection. Entomologists have been trying to find solution to these problems through integrated pest management of which monitoring of insect activity through regular surveys is an important component. In fact, knowledge of insect activity is indispensable since pest management system can not operate without accurate estimates of pests and natural enemies population or without reliable assessment of plant damage and its effect on yield.

Introduction

The history of Integrated Pest Control goes back much farther than the mere coining of the term in the early fifties and the subsequent elaboration and clarification of the concept. The origins are deeply rooted in the evolution of pest control practices as developed by Entomologists and Plant Pathologists in the Nineteenth Century.

Human history is a series of attempts to gain increasing control over the environment. At first this control was minimal to the degree that poor shelter and unstable food supplies imposed severe population constraints. The gradual gain in man’s capacity to control his environment parallels the gradual rise of civilization. But as man aggregated into villages near rivers and planted crops near by, he encountered increasingly severe attacks by pests on the crops. For thousands of years, man could do nothing about these pests but appeal to the power of magic and a variety of gods. For the most part, early humans had to live with and tolerate the ravages of plant diseases and insects, but gradually they learned how to improve their conditions through “trial and error” experiences. These improvements included the beginnings of pest control or pest management, the most preferred term today.

Words like rDNA (recombinant DNA) technology, cloning, genetically modified organism (GMO), living modified organism (LMO) and transgenics are of today’s common knowledge. However rather than scientific interest, debates on biosafety issues have made these terms more agnized among general people. Global, sectorial and individual protests against transgenic plants and animals are enunciated allover the world raising issues and concerns over risks and health hazards of using these organisms. Despite these protests and concerns, commercial use of transgenic organism as food, feed or other purposes are increasing at an exponential rate. Although there is not much scientific evidence where transgenics have caused havocs on ecological balance or human health, the biosafety issues need to be solved to provide a safer environment rather than be sorry and lament in the future for today’s mistakes. One of the major problems in supporting use of GMOs lies in the incapability of biosafety science to draw reliable and widely acceptable conclusions for labeling a safe tag on these organisms and their derivatives.

Food is the basic requirement for maintaining the life process. Plants supply the bulk of foods required for human and animal. With limited cultivable area and ever increasing pressure of human population, the demand for food is constantly rising which can not be alone met by conventional plant breeding technologies. Novel techniques like plant genetic engineering are gaining momentum for production of superior plants or yield enhancement of a species.  It has been observed that the most commercially successful application of recombinant DNA technology is in genetic engineering of plants, which led development of multinational seed companies deriving monetary benefit from genetically modified crop and food products. From production of herbicide resistant or insect pest tolerant plants to alter the inherent quality composition of human food, plant genetic engineering has established firmly the commercial viability of recombinant DNA technology.

Preternatural development of recombinant DNA technology has established genetic engineering in animals the most important field in application of biology for human benefit, from production of genetically modified animals to providing crucial technologies to medical science sector. On the basis of the nature of the target tissues, genetic engineering may target single cell line, particular tissue sectors or the organism as a whole. The purpose of transformation may be basic research involving elucidation of gene function, study effect of directed mutations, examination of physiological and developmental processes in animals or may be target oriented, such as production of proteins or metabolites in large quantities in a cell line, incorporating rDNA in the germline cells, gene therapy, use of rDNA in disease diagnostics, or production of transgenic animals for specific purposes.

Molecular markers or DNA markers are considered to be one of the most successfully applied component of molecular biology techniques that have relevance in almost every sphere of biology, from paleobotany to transgenic technology. In true sense, a marker is a characteristic of an individual that differentiates the individual from others. Morphological descriptions like cotyledon colour of Pea, eye colour of Drosophila, shape and size of fruits in summer squash etc. are examples of typical morphological markers. However, a single morphological marker is not sufficient for describing the uniqueness of an individual, for many pea plants will have green cotyledon or many Drosophila may have red eye. To define the uniqueness of an individual, we have to find a number of marker traits characteristic of that individual. Unfortunately, morphological variations are not sufficient to differentiate between a large number of individuals, or between groups or sub groups within a species, simply because the level of polymorphism is low. Besides, morphological characters or phenotypic expressions are affected by environmental changes, so stability of expression is low and sometimes uncertain.

While structural genomics aims to describe the protein structures coded by the genes present in the genome, functional genomics deciphers meaning of the coded information at transcriptome, proteome and interactome level. In the previous chapter we have seen how a gene can be identified by creation of mutants, genetic and physical mapping, and by sequencing the gene. Another source of possible gene structures come from genome sequence information, which by using computational algorithms identifies a number of ORFs that have the structural configuration of a gene. A third option of identifying a gene is identification of differences between wild type and mutant at RNA level, by analyzing the transcriptome. If we are able to identify differences in RNA expression pattern between these two, the information can be used to search back the gene sequences responsible for the differences. From proteome analysis inferences on expression of proteins and their interaction in the functional network of the cell with other proteins, DNA, RNA and cellular 

The primary target of genomics is identification and characterization of genes and gene products. Starting point of genomics may be a whole genome sequence, from which gene and protein structures can be predicted by computational and bioinformatics approaches (in silico genomics), or genes can be identified step by step starting from identification of a phenotype by induction and detection of mutation, construction of a genetic map demarkating the position of the character, physical location, identification of the gene, cloning and characterization of the gene or genome sequence by sequencing followed by expression analysis to correlate the phenotypic expression (in vivo genomics). Alternatively, genes can be identified by developing knockout mutants by random or site directed disruption of a reading frame and then determining the protein product as well as phenotypic expression.

One of the primary targets of genome analysis is to manipulate it at the level of genes, the units of inheritance. Genes, as explained earlier have distinct positions and sequence configurations in the genome which are expressed in the form of RNA or proteins controlling the functionality and identity of an organism. To understand the function of a gene several methodologies may be adopted. As genes have conserved sequences like promoters preceding the reading frame, initiation sequences, exon-intron junctions and end sequences, these features can be used to screen genome sequence to identify the regions containing genes. An open reading frame (ORF) is the sequence of a gene for which functions have been assigned, i.e., the sequence codes for a protein or RNA. On the other hand, an unassigned reading frame (URF) is a sequence which has structural features of a gene, but no function has yet been assigned to it.

The information that drives the process of life is encoded in the genome of the organism. Structurally defined, a genome is an organization of genetic information consisting of nucleic acids (deoxyribonucleic acid or ribonucleic acid). Arrangement of nitrogenous bases in the nucleic acid codes the information for execution of cellular processes. Four types of bases (Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine) are present in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) while in RNA Uracil replaces thymine group of any three bases on transcribed RNA represent a codon. With four types of bases, sixty four types of codons can be formed. Genetic information encrypted in these codons is released in the form of arrangement of polypeptides consisting proteins via mRNA intermediate. This universal process of flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to protein is known as the central dogma of life. The whole set of information coded in 64 codons, out of which 61 codes for one or more amino acids (building block of polypeptides/proteins) and three indicating where to stop is called the book of life or genetic code.

Process of life of an organism is defined, driven and depicted by its genetic constitution, or the genome. A genome is a collection of genetic material present in the cell as nuclear or organelle DNA. To be precise, it is the sum of all single copy genetic materials present in the cellular subcompartments. Thus a diploid organism having two copies of each chromosome contains genetic material constituting two copies of the genome, while a gamete of the same organism contains single copy of the same. Organelle genome is shared by chloroplast and mitochondria. In these two organelle genetic material is present in single copy per organelle, although many copies of organelle ensures that a cell harbours many copies of mitochondrial or plastid genome. Unraveling the structure and function of the genome is, therefore, the central objective of biological science. Technologies that would help to understand the basis of genetic, biochemical and physiological processes are pivotal to execute the knowledge for the betterment of mankind and environment.

Medicinal and aromatic plants have been known for millennia and are rich source of therapeutic and cosmetic agents for the prevention of health diseases and critical skin ailments. India is the rich source for the medicinal and aromatic plants and export many plant parts for the research work to the many countries as raw materials. The major market in the world for essential oils is the United States, followed by Japan and Europe. However, production continues to be concentrated in Europe, with seven of the world’s largest essential oil processing firms. In the United States, the major users of essential oils are the soft drink companies. Japan accounts for 10 % of the world demand. The Canadian market is domi­nated by the United States perfume and flavouring industry. France is dominating the world perfumery market, and Switzerland is one of the leaders in the pharma-ceutical field. Britain and India are known to feature strongly in the flavouring sector. The essential oil industry is characterised by a number of difficulties, including lack of stable quality, inconsistent supplies, and variability of active ingredients owing to environmental effects. Even though according to World Health Organization, herbal medicines are lucrative globally and represent a steady high market value in every year.

Agarwood Oil

Biological Source : Wood of Aquilaria agalloch, Aquilaria crassna, A. Khasiana.
Family : Thymelaeaceae
Common names : Agarwood, Aloeswood, Eaglewood, Gaharu or Oudh.

Plant Introduction : Aquilaria is a fast-growing, archaic tropical forest tree, which occurs in South and Southeast Asia, from the foothills of the Himalayas to the rainforests of Papua New Guinea. Agarwood is a fast growing, evergreen tree, that normally grows to 18 - 21 m but sometimes up to 40 m in height. It bears sweetly-scented, snow-white flowers. The trees occasionally become infected with a parasite mould and begin to produce an aromatic resin in response to this attack. As the fungus grows, the tree produces a very rich, dark resin within the heartwood. The tree grows in natural forests at an altitude of a few meters above sea level to about 1000 meters, and it grows best around 500 meters. It can grow on a wide range of soils, including poor sandy soil. Seedlings need a lot of shade and water. Trees grow very fast, and start producing flowers and seeds as early as four years old.

A concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds obtained from aromatic plants is referred to as essential oil. It is so-called to indicate that the oil is the fragrant essence of the plant from which it is extracted generally through various distillation methods. The economics working behind essential oils has three components. First, the cultivation of herbs and plants used to extract essential oils; second, the actual process of extraction of the oils; and, third, the marketing and actual sale of these oils. But the major emphasis is often given to the agrotechnology, since the crop yield and yield of the essential oil depends on the quality of cultivation. The cost of cultivation of herbs in the developing countries per hectare is estimated at US $ 600 to 1100. This cost mainly comprises labour cost and as such this industry is uniquely suitable only for developing nations. The revenue from essential oils after the extraction per hectare is estimated to be around US $ 2500 to US $ 6500. According to industry sources, more than 3,500 essential oils are known. Out of these, some 400 are used for commercial purposes on a regular basis. These are obtained mostly from agricultural plants, some from wild plants that may be seasonal or perennial. Oil can be extracted from any part of plants—from leaves, flowers, fruits, roots etc. Whatever the source of essential oils, they have complex compositions, containing alcohol, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, esters, ethers and turpenes in varying proportions.

Plant oils are obtained from their plant hosts through a variety of processes commonly called Extraction process. Essential oils are extracted from different parts of the plants. The quality and quantity of the oil is mainly depends on the method of extraction and the quantity of the raw materials used. For example, Lavender is extracted from its flowers, Orange from the rind of its fruit, Frankincense from the resin of its tree, Cinnamon from its bark, Pine from its needles, clove from flower buds and so on. Production of a good quality essential oil, the cultivation factors also play a vital role like soil quality, climatic and geographic conditions etc. As example, Jasmine flowers must be picked by hand at dawn on the very first day they open. A Sandalwood tree must be 30 years old and 30 feet high before it is ready to produce its best quality oil. Further the quantity of the plant materials are also matters for the price and quality of the essential oil. As an example, it takes roughly 12,000 Rose blossoms to produce 5 ml of Rose. Whereas it take 100 kilos of Lavender leaves to produce 3 liters of Lavender. As a result Rose is roughly 24 times more expensive than Lavender.

The concern for nature and the focuss for all things which are basic and natural has been spearheading to a green movement of everything natural and nature-based consumer products all over the world. God has given diseases and remidies also in the nature only we have to properly find out. In today’s world of consumer boom, the role of essential oils has increased many folds. Uptil now known applications of essential oils, more and more areas are opening up which will benefit the industry. Use of essential oils in therapeutics is becoming popular in India, China, Japan and European countries. Aromatherapy involves the use of essential oils and aromatics derived from plants to cure diseases. These plants are known as aromatic plants. Aromatic plants possess odorous volatile substances which occur as essential oil, gum exudate, balsam and oleoresin in one or more parts, namely, root, wood, bark, stem, foliage, flower and fruit. The characteristic aroma is due to a variety of complex chemical compounds. The term essential oil is concomitant to fragrance or perfumes because these fragrances are oily in nature and they represent the essence or the active constituents of the plants. They are called volatile or ethereal oils as they evaporate when exposed to air at ordinary temperatures. Essential oils are highly concentrated, low volume, high value products.

The North Eastern Region of India possesses unique potential for fishery activities. The region represents all agro-climatic zones ranging from warm water drainage system to cold water conditions facilitating freshwater fishing and is identified as the hot spot of freshwater biodiversity. So far about 267 fish species have been reported to be present in the region, which is approximately 33.13% of the total Indian fresh water fishes (Munilkumar and Nandeesha, 2007). The total land coverage of the region is 2.55 lakh sq. km. which is about 7.76% of the country, out of which 70% is hilly terrain (Mahanta and Tyagi, 2003). The main fishery resources of the region comprises of rivers (18,968 km), reservoirs (8,019 ha), beels/lakes (1,48,491 ha) and tanks and ponds (42,782 ha) (Ghosh and Ponniah, 2008).

The North Eastern Region of India with its large fish eating population, needs planned sustainable development of its existing as well as potential fishery resources. A challenging environment for fisheries development prevails in the region by way of very high demand and price of fish. Given the socio-economic conditions and vast fishery resources of the region, there is a strong chance for diversion of work force to productive sectors like fisheries thus transforming the economy of the region and further socio-economic development.

Introduction

Aquaculture has been shown to offer high potential to fill the gap between supply and demand for fish and fish products to mitigate the problems of malnutrition with ever increasing world population. Globally, aquaculture has been growing rapidly in the last decade, approximately at 10-15% per year. The total aquaculture production, which was 26.7 million metric tonnes in 1996 increased to 37.5 million metric tonnes in 2001, in which tropical countries have been particularly contributing well, with the Asian component exceeding 80% (Ayyappan and Jayanthi, 2004).

The country has varied and enormous aquatic resources (coastline: 8041kms, EEZ: 2.02 million sq. km., river & canals: 171334 km., brackish water area: 1.422 million ha., reservoirs: 2.050 million ha., ponds: 2.855 million ha., beels & oxbow lakes: 0.788 million ha) (Gopakumar, 2000). The North-Eastern region of India is endowed with rich diversity of aquatic and biotic resources, which needs judicious and scientific exploitation for diversification of farm practices so as to mitigate the problem of demand and supply of quality food.

Introduction

Pearls have been favourite jewel of humanbeing since ancient times. Pearl is a natural gem and is produced by living organisms, the pearl oysters and mussels (Molluscs), unlike other precious stones. It is perhaps, the only gem that does not require the treatment by lapidary. According to our Indian system of gemmology, of the nine maharatnas (Heera, Mukta, Manikya, Pravala/Munga, Gomeda, Indra-neela, Vaidurya, Pushyaraga, and Panna) pearl (Mukta) is only next to diamond (Heera). The science of pearl culture has not been widely popular, however, the art and trade form has reached the zenith.

With the turn of the last century, the demand for pearls increased, but their supplies from the existing fishing grounds have diminished due to overexploitation and pollution. Such a situation necessitated tremendous research attention in the following decades with support from state and trade sectors, the world over. This led to the evolution of culture pearl technology as a booming aquaculture enterprise in Japan and China. These two countries have a monopolistic control over pearl trade.

The aquaculture sector showed an overwhelming growth of 468% during the last two decades and is presently playing a key role in the changing Indian economic growth. The contribution from aquaculture is 21.6% by volume and 49.3% by value to the total fisheries exports. Inland fisheries sector had shown consistent growth of over 5% per annum over the period of 1999-2005. High demand of aquaculture products in the world has forced the aquaculturist to change the culture system from extensive to intensive. This has led aquaculturist to lose millions of dollars due to fish mortalities associated with fish disease and related conditions. Out break of disease has been considered as a major stumbling block in intensive aquaculture practices.

Disease is a very complex interaction between three important factors, namely the susceptible fish, the disease causing agents (pathogen) and the environment. These three factors are most important and must be considered in any fish disease outbreak. The environment in which the causative agent of diseases and their host fish interacts, may favour one or the other. Changes in the environment, whether natural or artificial, may shift the balance from one side to the other and will often determine whether the host will survive or succumb. Understanding and managing the stress and their causative factors are thus the key factors for successful aquaculture.

Introduction

Packing and transportation forms an important component in fish trade whether live fish, fish seed, fresh fish, iced fish or dried fish. There are few reasons necessitating packing and transportation.

    ·    The movement of fry/juvenile for stocking into farms or restocking into natural environment.
    ·    The movements of fish to markets for sale selling/consumption.
    ·    The movements of ornamental aquarium live fish for trade.
    ·    The movement of aquatic animals for research purpose.

Availability of quality fish seed is the critical and basic input for successful fish culture operations. Till the sixties, a major part of the seed required for culture was being collected from the riverine sources, which had several disadvantages. Indian major carps viz. Catla, Rohu & Mrigal and Chinese carps viz. Silver carp & Grass carp mature in the pond but do not spawn or lay eggs in standing waters. Usually they breed or spawn naturally in flowing rivers during monsoon months. In artificial breeding, certain inducing agent (hormone) is injected to fish for successful spawning.

In India, the first successful induced breeding of carp was achieved through use of pituitary hormone in 1957. Increased seed production of fish today is a direct result of improved technologies of breeding, hatching and rearing.

Three decades ago, earthen “pit” hatcheries were used for hatching eggs around bunds. Today large commercial hatcheries exist, where all activities such as raising of brood stock, breeding and fry rearing can be undertaken. This has certainly marked the growth of the industry. Commercial Chinese hatchery facilitates not only large-scale production of fish seeds but also improves the survival percentage of seed.

Background

In simple term, what agriculture is to land aquaculture is to water and can be defined as the art, science, and business of cultivating plants and animals in water. Considering scope of inland aquaculture in the present discussion would be limited mostly to grow desirable fish/prawn (hence forth termed as fish) in fresh water ponds and to some extent to their seed production in hatcheries. The important activities in aquaculture includes deliberate interventions during the rearing process or life cycle of the stock, management of the culture system and production process so as to increase survival and production of stock. Since, the main goal of aquaculture is to maximize the fish production per unit land/water resources per unit time which primarily depends on the degree of management and intervention. The important forms of intervention and management practices are regular stocking, fertilization, feeding, liming etc. The degree of care taken or effort put in these aspects would determine the level of production.

Fish culture is an age old tradition modified and improved by several scientific inventions. Farmers can easily take up fish culture in village ponds, tanks or any water body and can improve their financial position substantially. Pond aquaculture is the most common method of fish culture throughout the world. For successful aquaculture of fish, molluscs, crustacean and even aquatic plants, the water and soil in which fish are grown should have favourable conditions for their growth which, in turn, is intimately linked with several physical, chemical, biological characteristics of water and management practices adopted. Physical and chemical characters of the soil and water will affect the primary and secondary production of water bodies.

The survival and production of fish in a pond is dependent on the primary and secondary production. Primary production depends on the water quality parameters. Phytoplankton make carbohydrate using sunlight and releases oxygen. This is the major source of energy and oxygen in the ecosystem. Zooplankton which feed on the phytoplankton form major source of food for the fishes.

Fish production of the country has improved considerably in the post-independent India with the total production going up from 7.52 lakh tons in 1950-51 to 90.4 lakh tons in 2010-11, with an average growth rate of 4.35% per year after 1990. The real jump has come from inland aquaculture sector. Production from inland waters which used to be less than 30% of the total till sixtees, gradually rose at a fast pace and crossed the 50% mark by the end of 20th century. The present contribution of inland sector to the country’s total fish production of 52.09 lakh tons is 58% recording an average annual growth rate of 8.4% per year after 2011.

This increase in contribution from inland sector is because of the quantum jump in production from freshwater aquaculture, made possible mainly due to development of technologies of hypophysation of Indian Major carps and composite fish culture during late fiftees and sixties respectively. Development of these two technologies, along with their wide extension through Fish Farmer’s Development Agency, initiated by Govt. of India in latter part of 1970s, have in fact revolutionised freshwater aquaculture scenario of the country. It is presently contributing to over 70% of the total fish production  from inland resources of this country.

Introduction

In present times aquaculture is being practiced using both conventional or non-conventional methods with considerable variations. Aquaculture can be termed as – extensive, semi-intensive and intensive based on operations and involvements. An increase in the intensity of aquaculture requires an increase in capital as well as operational costs.

Here we will examine the three main levels of aquaculture used in various habitats and later consider the conventional methods of aquaculture.

Different Levels of Aquaculture

Fish culture practices can be classified into three different kinds or levels on the basis of the intensity of aquaculture in terms of capital as well as operational costs. The chances of crop failure often increase with increasing intensity of aquaculture, which may involve: 

Fish is the most important source of protein for the people of Northeastern India where almost 100% people are fish eaters. So fish culture is very popular in this region. There is a huge demand for fish here and the most popular aquaculture practice is pond culture. The state of Tripura particularly progressed well in fish production and became self sufficient in fish seed production. The state is blessed with 22,895 ha of water bodies where more than 50% (12,895 ha) of area is used for aquaculture purpose. Composite fish culture and integrated aquaculture are very common here. These fish ponds are very productive both in eco-physiological and faunistic point of view. Most of the farmers have a pond area of less than one hectare for fish culture and are unable to go for any supplementary feeding. Average fish productivity is estimated as 1800 kg/ha. Preliminary experiments conducted in the Institute showed that timely application of the fertilizer and/or restricted supplementary feeding improves total production.

Introduction

In recent years aquaculture has become the fastest growing food production sector in the world with 10% annual growth rate in comparison with 3% for livestock and 1.6% for capture fisheries. FAO (2000) estimates that by 2030, over half of the fish consumed by the world’s people will be produced by aquaculture. It is not only the demand for animal protein but the high returns associated with aquafarming when compared with agriculture or animal  husbandry that has accelerated the growth of aquaculture. Thus, in the last two decades aquaculture with greater emphasis on shrimp farming made fast strides among Asian countries including India. The culture of carps in freshwater and shrimps in brackishwater are the two main culture practices followed in India. During nineties around 10% of 2.7m ha. brackishwater area has been put under farming along with a number of other supporting and ancillary units viz.; hatcheries, feed mills, processing and packaging industry etc.

Health care is an important way of making sure that rabbits stay productive. Every rabbit keeper should know how to recognize and, if possible, prevent and cure illnesses which can affect rabbits.

It is always better to prevent disease incidence than to let animals get ill and then try to treat them. Allowing rabbits to get sick is expensive for several reasons, sick animals stops growing and reproducing so money is lost with this decrease in production, some disease results in the death of rabbits, replacing the dead rabbits is expensive , treatment for the ill rabbits is usually expensive.

Normal Physiology
Rectal Temperature    :    38.6 to 40.1ºC (AV: 39.5ºC)

Food, furs, research, hobbies, pets – these are the major uses of rabbits around the world. It should be noted that rabbit production for meat and wool has become increasingly important in the last few years.

Angora wool rabbits are a commercial rabbit which is raised for its fine wool and meat as well, but primarily raised for wool production. Cooler climate is most conducive to raising this breed of rabbit. Angora rabbit does not differ from other breeds of rabbit except for its unusual length of valuable fur(wool). This modifies its raising compared to other rabbits.
 
The term ‘Angora’ qualifies those mammals which are covered with fur or wool composed of very soft hair of more than normal length – double or more than double the normal length.

Important by product from Rabbit are meat, wool, fur and skin. It can be made highly profitable if products are properly processed and marketed. Many rabbit products are wasted because people do have not enough knowledge about processing.
 
Slaughtering: Know when and how.

Skinning

Familiar with how to remove skin and carcass preparation. How the skin has to be processed and how the products which can be obtained from skin.

Manure collection and preservation.

Slaughtering : It depends on demand, type of animal where meat is consumed more, it can be achieved in 2 methods.

Sanitation in the Rabbitry is the best disease-prevention system. Daily cleaning of cages or hutches, containers and surrounding is the easiest way to ensure sanitary condition and hence control disease. The most common diseases found in rabbits are cocciodosis. Pasteurella type pneumonia and enteritis. There are generally caused by lack of sanitation in the rabbitry. With strict sanitation practices such as cleaning all cages and water containers everyday, removal of manure, soiled bedding. Contaminated feed and collecting roughage from uncontaminated areas can drastically reduces chances of any disease in the rabbitry.