eChapters

A. Anther and Pollen Culture (Production of Haploid Plants)

Haploid plants possess a single set of chromosomes (gametophytic no of chromosomes i.e. n) in the sporophyte in contrast to diploids which contain two sets of chromosomes (2n). The existence of haploid plants was reported by Bergner (1921) in Datura stramonium. Guha and Maheswari (1964) reported the direct development of haploid embryos and plantlets from microspores of Datura inoxia by the cultures of excised anthers. After this, haploid plants have been produced via anther culture in more than 170 species. The anther culture technique is useful in haploid production.

Mulberry (Morus nigra , Family : Moraceae)  also known as toot, shehtoot is a multipurpose tree.  It is found all over India from temperate to tropical regions.  Fig and Jackfruit are other important fruit trees of this family Moraceae. Morus alba is white mulberry mainly used in Sericulture whereas Morus nigra produces black fruits which have tremendous nutritional and medicinal value and are produced for fruit cultivation.  Mulberry is a fast growing, deciduous, woody perennial plant, which is mainly grown in the orchards as windbreak due to its dense foliage. It can be grown on wide range of climate and soil conditions (Hare Krishna et al., 2012). It is not commercially cultivated as fruit crop and trees are planted mainly on road sides, wind breaks and in the orchard for getting shade. In most parts of the country particularly southern states, mulberry is grown for its foliage, which is the only food for the silkworm (Bombyx mori). Mulberry leaf is a major economic component in sericulture since the quality and quantity of leaf produced per unit area has a direct bearing on cocoon harvest.

Abstract

Nadia district covers 3927 sq km of West Bengal State and forms lower part of Indo-Gangetic alluvium of Quaternary age. The district is entirely affected by arsenic contamination in ground water. Population explosion, rapid agricultural growth and inadequate surface water resources has put tremendous thrust on ground water development. 80% of the population is dependent on agriculture. Ground water plays a key role to yield substantial agricultural growth. Irrigational potential of the district is 3356 sq km, of which major contribution belongs to ground water only, i.e., 3100 sq km. Summer season (boro) (lean period crop) paddy cultivation demands huge ground water. Shallow tube wells within 80 metre depth are major in numbers than deep (beyond 100 metre) tube wells. Dynamic ground water resource calculation indicates that net ground water available in the area is 198948 ham, of that for irrigation purposes ground water draft is 167617 ham. Net ground water available for future irrigation development is 34996 ham. Out of 17 blocks of the district, six blocks have already been listed under semi-critical category. 

1. Mechanical Properties of Nanomaterials

Scientific challenges in nanoscience and nanotechnology include the development of nanomaterials with novel mechanical properties. The need for scratch, mar and/or abrasion resistance is well established in various markets, including fingernail polishes, flooring, plastic glazing, headlamp covers and other automotive parts, transportation windows and optical lenses, where clear scratch-resistant coatings are used. Because the nanosize, many of their mechanical properties of the materials is modified, among others, hardness and elastic modulus, fracture toughness, scratch resistance, fatigue strength, and hardness. Energy dissipation, mechanical coupling within arrays of components, and mechanical nonlinearities are influenced by structuring components at the nanometer scale. This includes also the interpretation of unusual mechanical behavior (e.g., strengths approaching the theoretical limit) and the exploration of new ways to integrate diverse classes of mechanically functional materials on the nano-size.

Jam is prepared by boiling the fruit pulp with required quantity of sugar to thick consistency, firm enough to hold fruit tissues in position. It should contain not less than 68.5 per cent soluble solids. Jam may be made from a single fruit (apple, strawberry, banana, pineapple etc.) or from combination of two or more fruits. Jam contains 0.5-0.6% acid and invert sugar should not be more than 40%.

Organic meat food products are choice products for health conscious people. These are the products produced mainly in most natural way without using fertilizers, pesticides and growth regulators in their feed and fodders. In addition, meat animals are also reared without growth hormones, antibiotics drugs etc. and grazing of the animals is a prerequisite in organic farming system.

The term organic farming was first time used by Lord Northbourne. The term organic farming was derived from his concept of “the farm as organism”. It is a holistic, ecologically balanced approach to farming. In 1991, the European Commission formulated the first government system to regulate organic labelling. In India, standards for organic agriculture were announced in May 2001 and the National Programme on Organic Production (NPOP) is administered under the Ministry of Commerce. The concept of organic meat food products has been emphasized now a day due to animal welfare point of view, consumer’s conscious ness, less residue level of chemicals, antibiotics and drugs, Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), Foot and mouth disease (FMD), genetically modified food etc.

Organic meat food products as a whole are dependent on the life stages of the livestock like its origin, feeding, housing, health, breeding, transportation and slaughter. The other factors accounting for organic foods are its production, harvesting, preservation and processing. Inspite of low growth rate of organic red meat globally, growth in dairy, egg and poultry is increasing day by day. At present 1.2 million hectares (0.6%) of Indian land is producing organic products (Willer and Kelcher, 2011).

Botany

Several vernacular names of kewda are reported in different languages all over the world ; viz.

Keora, Ketgi, Keura, Gagandhul in Hindi; Keya, Ketaki, Kea, Ketkikea in Bengali; Kiya, Kia in Odia; Kewoda in Gujrati; Ato, Keto, Covasso in Konkani; Keoda, Keora in Marathi; Talemara in Kannada; Gedaji, Gedangimogali, Gojjangi, Ketaki, Mugali, Mogali in Telugu; Kaidai, Talhai, Thasai, Thazh, Kechiya, Kedagi, Kedagai, Muchali in Tamil; Kaita, Ketaki, Palliyambu in Malayalam; Gandhapuspa, Dalapushpa, Shivadvishta, Ketaki, Suchika pushpa in Sanskrit; Leram in Nicoberese; Mudukeyiya, wetakey in Sinhalese; Keora in Urdu; Gulkiri, Kader, Kadi in Persian; Satthapu, Tsatthapu in Burmese; Nalu in Nepalese; Togenashiadan in Japanese; Kadar, Kadhi, Kazi in Arabic Kaide, Kedige, Ketaki, Gedege, Mundige in Canarese; Kedgi in Deccan; Vaquois odorant in French and Schrauben palme in German. (Kirtikar and Basu, 1935; Randhawa and Mukhopadhyay, 1986; Kapoor, 1990).

Introduction

It can be grown as a mixed crop in most of the orchards, as a hedge plant or as a pure crop. monocotyledonous, monocarpic, xerophytic, CAM, herbaceous perennial herb. It is drought-tolerant and suitable for marginal lands. Pineapple does not contain starch. Pineapple is a Spanish word, botanically it is called syncarpous (Sorosis) fruit. Brazilian Pineapple, Ananas microstachys is considered to ancestor of cultivated (A. comosuss). The pineapple is a tropical fruit and is known as the “Golden Queen” all over the globe. It can be grown as a mixed crop in most of the orchards, as a hedge plant or as a pure crop. Fruits are relished as dessert in the form of slices, either fresh or canned, juice, squash, jam and mixed jam. Candy is prepared from fruit cores.

Introduction
Three districts of South Gujarat i.e., Surat, Navsari and Valsad are front-runners in horticulture cultivation. These are also part of an agri-export zone for fruits and vegetables. But, the life of these fruit- farmers was made miserable by tiny fruit fly which is a major pest of mango, sapota and cucurbits. Intensity of damage recorded was as high as over 30 per cent in mango and sapota, and between 20-40 per cent in cucurbitaceous vegetables. Fruit flies cause heavy damage in terms of quality and quantity to the farmers every year. Insecticidal sprays, control infestation little bit, but they are not only uneconomical but they leave residual effect much above tolerance limit, adversely affecting the prospects of export of such fruits and vegetables. Fruit flies are a modern-day pestilence which ravage production. These flies, moreover, are good fliers and therefore their spread is extensive. Hence, area wide adoption of management strategy is required. Male Annihilation Technique (MAT), an Integrated Pest Management Technique (IPM), which uses sexual lures to capture males of fruit flies and kill them, is the only way to control growth and spread of fruit flies. This however, requires a community approach for implementation. Navsari Agricultural University designed, developed and commercialized an eco-friendly, economical and easily adoptable fruit fly trap popularly known as “Nauroji-Stonehouse Fruit Fly Trap”. The trap uses Methyl Eugenol and Cue lure as par pheromones well-known for fruit flies. In this trap, plywood blocks are soaked in the solution of lures + solvent + insecticide. Such traps remain effective for 5 to 6 months, which cover the entire fruiting period in mangos, sapota as well as cucurbitaceous vegetables and no recharge is necessary. It is eco- friendly, economical and easily adoptable. It was decided to adopt this technology and spread it in the Surat- Navsari- Valsad belt for controlling and managing the fruit fly problem. It was also recognized that wide area adoption would help in developing this zone as a Pest Free Area (PFA). The project was taken up under RKVY.
About the Technology Addressed and Extension Management Practices
Nauroji-Stonehouse Fruits Fly Traps are prepared in food quality Testing Laboratory, NAU Navsari. Six talukas viz, Gandevi, Chikhali, Valsad, Pardi, Dharampur and Kaprada of Navsari and Valsad districts were selected for the purpose. A block of orchards in each village in each Taluka was selected for first year implementation. Other blocks were selected during the following years.

Kair also known as Karil or Ker {Capparis decidua (Forsk) Edgew} is an economic desertic plant species, which grows well on sand dunes. The plant is adopted so well under hot arid ecosystem that during extreme of summer when it is difficult to survive by many other vegetation, it produces flowers and fruits. Ker is indigenous to India and growing wildly in arid and semi-arid regions of the country. In India, it is found growing naturally in arid and semiarid tracts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and southern part of Deccan Peninsula. Besides India, it is found in tropical Africa, Arabia, Sind, Baluchistan, Socotra, South Persia, Pakistan (Sind), Sudan and Egypt. The natural habitat of ker is pediments plains all over dry regions and its density ranges from 8-44 bushes ha-1 (Pareek, 1978). The population density of Capparis decidua on different land forms have been reported by Gupta et al., (1989) as the population varies from 9-70 bushes/ ha. They recorded highest population density on older alluvial plains (81 plant/ ha) and minimum on the periphery of runs (20 plants/ha).  In semi-arid of Pali region, 20-40 bushes /ha was noted in rangeland area (Singh,1993). In recent decade, the natural population of ker bushes has been declined due to increase in population pressure of man and animals and increase in cropping area due to canal irrigation in north-western Rajasthan.

Abstract

Women in India constitute a larger proportion of total unemployed population and hence it is imperative to find out the entrepreneurial problems faced by them. A study was conducted with the objectives to ascertain the financial, marketing and production problems faced by women in their enterprises and assessment of their health status and work place facilities. Boutiques, beauty parlors, embroidery units, fruit and vegetable preservation units and artificial jewelry making were the enterprises selected for study. The results of the study revealed that women faced problems in areas like finance, marketing, health, work place and production. Some recommendations of the study are a) Women entrepreneurs should keep abreast of knowledge about new techniques, financial institutions, training institutions and marketing linkages. b) Information about site or location, physical facilities, transportation etc. must be collected prior to selection of area for development of an enterprise. c) Self help mutually aided groups must be formulated for overcoming common entrepreneurial problems. d) Women should shift to the non-traditional sectors of entrepreneurship in order to earn more.

Phenotypic Diversity

Phenotypic diversity measures the portion of genetic diversity which is expressed phenotypically. So it varies with the character under study and the genetic background and the environment in which it is measured. The measures of genetic diversity based on variance of quantitative traits may be unreliable indicators of diversity in a population at the level of individual gene. But diversity at the molecular level (isozymes, RFLPs) may be a reasonable estimate of phenotypic diversity. The degree of differentiation is related to several biological attributes such as breeding system, mode of pollination and seed dispersal, life history, geographical range, successional stages, etc. The outbreeding populations are much less differentiated whereas the selfers or apomictic are strongly differentiated. Populations of outbreeders contain different alleles especially the rare alleles which contribute little to the diversity. Inbreeders should have greater interpopulations diversity and less intrapopulation diversity than the comparable outbreeders. Further, inbreeders are more prone to show an even distribution of their genetic diversity among populations and this makes their optimum sampling more difficult and any evidence of the geographic pattern of this diversity levels would greatly improve sampling efficiency but geographical and environmental factors rarely explain more than 50% variation.

Plant growth regulators are defined as chemicals other than nutrients and vitamins which regulate (or) modify the physiological process ofthe plant. A plant hormones or phytohormones are chemical substances which are naturally produced by plant in specific organs and are translocated from site of synthesis to the site of action. They bring about specific physiological response, even in very low concentration. The quantity of synthesis of these hormones differ from plant to plant, plant internal and external factors. They are readily absorbed and these chemicals move rapidly through the tissues when applied to different parts of the plant. A plant growth hormone may be termed as a plant growth regulator, but not vice - versa, since other than natural plant hormones, plant growth regulators are synthetically manufactured chemicals.

Plant growth regulators have a diverse chemical composition. Based on the general response the chemical mediates in the plant system, they are classified as growthpromoters and growth inhibitors/retardants. However, a particular growth regulator may be growth promoter at a lower concentration and growth inhibitor at higher concentration.

Most of the starch sources are cereals (40 to 90%), tubers (65 to 85%), roots (30 to 70%), legumes (25 to 50%) which contain nearly 70% of starch on dry basis (Santana & Meireles, 2014). Major application of starch is seen in food production, where it is used as a thickening agent, for stabilization, adsorption, gelling, for binding aromatic compounds and as a film forming agent as well (Subaric et al., 2007). About 0.8-3.2 tons of CO2 per ton of plastic can be saved by using starch-based plastics (Patel 1999).

(A) Anatomy of Lens

The lens is anoptically clear, avascular, biconvex structure of crystalline appearance with an anterior surfaceless curved than the posterior surface, placed between the iris and the vitreous. It is suspended by the suspensory ligament of the lens which is attached to the ciliary body and equator of the lens.

The lens consists of a central nucleus surrounded by the lens fibres and anterior epithelium, encapsulated in an elastic lens capsule. The anterior surface of the lens is in contact with the posterior surface of the iris whereas posterior surface is in contact with the vitreous. As the adult lens does not have a blood supply, its metabolic needs are met by the aqueous humour. The lens is composed of 65% water, 35% protein with scant amounts of electrolytes. The proteins can besubdivided into soluble proteins,

Introduction

Winter hardy and highly drought tolerant. This is an excellent choice crop for the arid and semi-arid conditions of India. Maharashtra is the leading state in India for pomegranate cultivation: Maharashtra. NRC of Pomegranate, Kesaon, Solapur, Maharashtra: Established in 2005. Because of the presence of anthocyanin, the aril and skin have a red color. Dried seeds with pulp are known as ‘Anardana’: It is widely used as a condiment, prepared from a sour type of wild pomegranate is called as Daru. Commonly found in the Himalayan region, has a long productive cycle and is resistant to bacterial blight. Double flower type ornamental plant in it modification of stamens into petals makes them look like rose flowers. Nana or dwarf type is called Bonsai pomegranate, exclusively used for ornamental purposes.

Introduction

While experimenting with chemicals, sometimes we need to dry the chemical/ solution (solid, liquid or gas) using a process like evaporation or distillation, mainly to remove water or different solvents. Drying is the process of evaporation or distillation to remove water/solvent from a solution, solid or even from gas. Generally, a drying agent (usually an anhydrous inorganic salt) is used for this process, which reacts with the water (present in the chemical/ solvent to be dried) to form a hydrate. For example, anhydrous MgSO4 is one of the drying agents. The drying agents are recognized by their capacity (the rate at which they absorb water) and their intensity (the amount of water left behind in the solvent at equilibrium). No chemical reaction or change in phase occurs during the drying process.

Type of Solvents

Apart from water (a universal solvent), there are three families of organic solvents used in laboratories.

1) Oxygenated solvents: Alcohols, Ketones, Glycol ethers, Glycol esters, etc.

2) Hydrocarbon solvents: Aliphatic and Aromatic hydrocarbons.

3) Halogenated solvents: Chlorinated hydrocarbons.

Lasoda (Cordia myxa L.) known by many names viz., cherry of desert, assyrian palm, sebestene plum,  lasura, lehsua, gonda and naruvilli, is an underutilized, multipurpose fruit tree distributed in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Arid regions are considered under the category of wastelands which are not being used to their fullest potential. Among the arid region crops, lasoda is very suitable crop for cultivation in Rajasthan as it can withstand drought to a very great extent and can tolerate temperature as high as 48 to 50°C during summer months. Lasoda thrives well on neglected, low fertile, sandy, gravelly, saline, alkaline soils and hence can be used for forestation of waste lands. However, it grows vigorously in moist sandy loam soils and gives high productivity.

Plant genetic resources are the most valuable and essential basic raw material to meet the current and future need of crop improvement programme. A wider genetic base assume the priority in plant breeding research aimed as developing new varieties for increased crop production. PGR for food and agriculture are a reservoir of genetic adoptability, which act as buffer against environmental changes and economical challenges. The erosion of these resources results in a severe threat to the world long term food securities. The fundamental objective of the genetic resource conservation is the maintenance of genetic diversity within each of the species. In general PGR include all species which contribute to people by providing food, medicine, feed, fiber etc. PGR is our heritage which needs conservation for prosperity.

Genetic resources management is a complex process starting from the identification of a target gene pool for conservation to the use of genetic resources. Many of these activities not only generate but also require geo-referenced data (Spatial data). Analysis of these data can lead to a greater understanding of the eco-geographic representation of existing collections, increasing the efficiency of conserving and managing genetic resources and broadening our understanding of the distribution of genetic diversity. Genetic resource databases could potentially serve as an information resource to a broader scientific community, providing relatively independent global data sets to meet the unique needs of researcher. GIS can merge genetic diversity information with other georeferenced data such as population density, climate, topography and soils, adding value to genetic resources. GIS analysis can help develop conservation strategies, monitor genetic diversity, select potential collecting sites, design in situ reserves and enhance genetic resources use. Currently, GIS use is constrained by limited georeferenced information.

Pigeon pea seeds discovered in historical tombs suggest it was farmed in Egypt circa 2000 BC. Vavilov (1939) concluded that India is the primary origin of the cultivated pigeon pea due to the wide diversity of germplasm available. It’s a crucial location in rain-fed agriculture. It is grown on 4.92 million hectares worldwide, including 3.58 million hectares (72.7 percent) in India alone. Although the crop is planted in 22 nations, it is only cultivated in considerable areas in a handful of them. Its seeds have become a widespread food in Asia, Africa, and Latin America since its domestication in the Indian subcontinent at least 3,500 years ago. It is an important source of protein for the Indian subcontinent’s people and is consumed on a big scale in South Asia. India is a major producer of pigeon peas. Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Mozambique, and Tanzania are major producers of pigeon pea on the African continent.