eChapters

Introduction

Fruits and vegetables (F&V) are good sources of phytochemicals like carotenoids, phenolics, dietary fibers, minerals and vitamins and are considered as important components of a healthy diet. These bioactive compounds in fresh F&V have been linked to delay in onset of many diseases including cardiovascular, chronic and other non-communicable diseases. WHO reported an approximate 3.9 million deaths all over the world in 2017 due to insufficient consumption of F&V (WHO, 2019). Hence, health advisors and nutritionists recommend inclusion of fresh fruits and vegetables to complement the daily diet, and WHO recommends the consumption of a minimum of 400g F&V daily in five portions. However, beneficial raw F&V may contain pathogenic microorganisms, such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria that can pose threat to consumer safety. Since fruits and some of the vegetables are eaten raw, there are chances that pathogenic microorganisms may also enter food chain. Nearly a half of food borne illnesses in United States are caused by microbes on fresh produce (CDC, 2019). The F&V are handled by producers, dealers, wholesalers, retailers and several intermediaries, and therefore, are at greater risk of possible contamination till it reaches the consumer.

The ever increasing demand for F&V has led to overexploitation of pesticides usage in the farms, leading to harmful pesticide residues in air, soil, water and on the F&V surfaces. Thus, it is imperative to maintain the quality and safety of F&V all through the supply chain. In this chapter, we discuss various pre and postharvest factors affecting the quality and safety of F&V, storage techniques to extend shelf life and reduce the safety threat as well as methods available for microbial and pesticide decontamination of fresh F&V.

Introduction

Sugarcane is a vital commercial crop of our country that occupies around 5.11 million ha of land with an annual cane production of around 400.16 million tonnes and yield of 78.25 t/ha. Sugarcane occupies 2.67% of the cultivated land area and about 7.5% to the agricultural production in the country (DAC, 2020). This crop is a source of earning and livelihood for about 35 million farmers and approximately equal number of labourers. After textile industry, the sugar industry holds its place for the largest agro-based industry in country. Around 40-50% of the cane is utilised in 435 sugar industries present in India for the manufacture of about 15 million tonnes of sugar.

This crop is also a source of raw material for two important small scale industries, i.e., gur and khandsari. These industries utilises about 50-55% of the sugarcane produced for production of about 10 million tonnes of these products altogether. Besides, sugarcane crop is also the producer of molasses, chief by product, which is the main source for production of alcohol. In the year 2018-19, about 13.79 million tonnes of molasses is produced by our country. Apart from this, the left over fibrous material of sugarcane termed as sugarcane bagasse is also a source of production of electricity in the sugar mills. The left over extra bagasse is now-a-days utilised for even production of paper in paper industries. Also, co-generation of power by this product of sugarcane as fuel is considered to be best practical thing in most of the sugar mills. Using this as a raw material, about 3500 MW power may be generated each year without the use of any extra fuel and money being less than normally utilised in case of fuel production from thermal powers. Press mud is also one of the by-products obtained from sugarcane which is considered to be rich source of organic matter and micro and macro nutrients. Even the green tops of sugarcane are being used as cattle fodder. Besides, the cool sugarcane juice full of energy is in great demands in urban area to quench the thirst of people, especially in hot summer seasons (Anonymous, 2008). The trend of sugarcane production over the years is given

Introduction

Worldwide, salt–affected areas are estimated to range from 340 million ha to 1.2 billion ha (FAO, 2007; Oo et al., 2015; Ahmad et al., 2016; Drake et al., 2016). Millions of hectare of these salt affected soils are suitable for agricultural production but are unexploited because of salinity/sodicity and other soil and water related problems (Abrol et al., 1988). Salt-affected soils are reported to comprise 42.3% of the land area of Australia, 21.0% of Asia, 7.6% of South America, 4.6% of Europe, 3.5% of Africa, 0.9% of North America and 0.7% of Central America (El-Mowellhey, 1998). In India, out of 329 million ha geographical land area of the country about 175 million ha suffers from different problems and is getting further degraded through natural or man-made processes. Majority of these lands is treated as wastelands as their productivity is low due to soil based constraints like water logging, salinity and sodicity. According to FAO, salinization of arable land will result in 30% to 50% land loss by the year 2050 if, remedial actions are not taken. Recent estimates indicate that 6.73 million ha (NRSA and Associates, 1996) land is suffering from salinity and sodicity problems in India. High salt deposits inherited by the soil from the original parent material during soil forming processes and poor drainage are important factors contributing to the development of such soils. These lands occur in different biogeographic zones and therefore consist of diverse morphological, physical, chemical and biological properties. These soils are universally low in fertility and due to the adverse edaphic environment; they are devoid of any vegetation because of excessive exchangeable Na+ associated with high pH (>8.5) which impairs the physical condition of the soils and adversely affects water and air movement, nutritional and hydrological properties of the soils (Suarez et al., 1984; Gupta and Abrol, 1990; Sumner, 1993; Garg, 1998).These lands are largely carbon-depleted but can be brought back to their native carbon-carrying capacity by reforestation through agroforestry systems. The presence of CaCO3 concretions at various depths (caliche bed) causes physical impedance for root proliferation, therefore, making it difficult for tree establishment and restrict the choice of arable crops to be grown (Shukla et al., 2011; Singh et al., 2012a).

Introduction

It is a well known fact that agricultural pests cause substantial crop losses throughout the world. In the past farmers had to manage this problem to secure their basic subsistence needs, and as a response, the farmers practiced and developed cultural and mechanical pest control based on trial and error. Over a period of time, these practices have become a part of their production management system. The first known chemical control dates back to 2,500 years. From the late 1800s to 1940s, the main insecticidal compounds used were oils, soaps and resins, plant-derived poisons and inorganic compounds. The chemical age began in the 1940s with the discovery of dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane (insecticide), ferbam (fungicide), and 2, 4-D (herbicide) (Arneson and Losey, 1997). In 1940s and 1950s, pesticides were thought to be the final word in pest control and their introduction contributed substantially to raising agricultural productivity in many regions of the world. Since then, pesticides have become an integral component of many intensive agricultural systems. Repeated applications of pesticides lead to resistance in the pest (Beaument, 1993). This resistance results in the increased application of pesticides and to the collapse of the agricultural systems characterized by highly resistant pests, with no natural enemies left to control them. Pesticides have been found to causeacute and chronic human health problems, contamination of groundwater, surface water, atmospheric contamination, and negative effects on non-target organisms (Mullen, 1995). Concerns about the negative effects of pesticides led to research and promotion of alternative pest control practices – Integrated Pest Control or simply IPC. This new concept called Integrated Pest Control (IPC) and later Integrated Pest Management (IPM) was stimulated by symposia organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1966. IPM made a paradigm shift in the philosophy of pest control, from pest eradication to pest management. Instead of single tactic control, emphasis was placed on the use of a combination of available tactics in a compatible manner aimed at providing cheap, long term sustainability with minimum of harmful side effect and controls the pest at ETL level.

The domestication of oxen in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization, perhaps as early as the 6th millennium B.C. provided mankind with the draft power necessary to develop the early plough into the larger, animal-drawn true ard (or scratch plough). Some of the earliest evidence of ploughing from around 2800 B.C.was found at the Indus Valley site of Kalibangan. Subsequent archaeological finds in Prague, Czech Republic, push the oldest known ploughed field even further back to 3500-3800 B.C. All food produce was planted and harvested by hand: seeds were scattered by hand and planted grains were brought from the field to be threshed on the dooryard. Milking a small herd of cows or goats was also done by hand. This continued for centuries. Then man discovered electricity.

In 1746, just a few years before Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia sent a kite to catch lightning in a storm, a Doctor von Maimbray gave talk to the Royal Society of London where he described his experiment of electrifying the myrtle bush (Morella cerifera) which then put forth new branches in October, something which had never happened before. This news inspired others in Europe to carry out similar experiments. In 1749, Abbot Jean Antoine Nollet of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris France, inventor of the electroscope, published a pamphlet on “The Harmful Effects or Advantageous of Electrical Phenomena on Plants.”¹Isolated experiments continued until in 1783 Father Pierre Bertholon de Saint-Lazare of Montpellier published “About the Electricity of Plants”, a work in which he dealt with the effect of atmospheric electricity on plants, taking in their medicinal and nutritive-electrical virtues and but in particular the practical means of applying it usefully to agriculture.²He even built an electro-vegetometer, a device for collecting atmospheric electricity to distribute it in the soil and then to the plants, but he met with little success. Bertholon also conceived of subjecting plants to “electric rain” by connecting a large syringe to an electric source. A gardener, standing on a slab of insulating material in a wagon, carried a sprinkling can electrified by means of a wire leading to a static machine. “By means of this process, strange for the times, the good Abbé Bertholon, who was considered something of a sorcerer, obtained lettuces of an extraordinary size.”3

Bael is one of the oldest and nutritional fruits of India (John and Stevenson, 1979). The tree is very hardy and thrives in almost all types of soil and climate. The ripe fruits of bael are rich in protein, fat, minerals, riboflavin, carotene, thiamine, niacin and vitamin C. The ripe fruit is lucrative while unripe fruit is prescribed for diarrhoea and dysentery (Mitra 1999, Roy, 1996, Singh and Ali, 1992, Singh, 2000). The marmelos in is most probably the therapeutically active principle of bael fruits.

18.1.1 Centre of diversity

The Bael tree has its origin from Eastern Ghats and central India. Its indigenous to Indian subcontinent and mainly found in tropical and subtropical regions. Even though it is native to India, it is found throughout Southeast Asia (Neeraj et al., 2017). The tree is also found as a wild tree, in lower ranges of Himalayas up to an elevation of 500 meters. Bael is also found growing along foothills of Himalayas, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and the Deccan Plateau and along the east coast (Sharma et al., 2007).

Farming System of India

Based on how income is derived from a farming enterprise: Specialized farming, diversified farming and mixed farming.

Based on mode of ownership and organization of farms: Individually owned, co-operative farming and collective farming

Based on scale of operations: Small scale farming and Large scale farming.

Goods and services are created through process of production. After production they have to be transferred or moved from the original producers to the final consumers. This involves the creation of market and the undertaking of number of activities such as buying, assembling, transportation warehousing, risk bearing, financing, selling etc. This constitutes the subject matter of marketing. Hence there is the need for the study of market.

What is market?

Market is derived from the Latin word “Marcatus” meaning trade, merchandise, ware, traffic or place of business. In the ordinary language, market is a place where buyers and sellers meet personally and make their purchases or sales. But in the language of economics, market need not be a place but it may be an area or region meant for potential exchange between a group of buyers and sellers interested in negotiating the terms of purchase and sale of goods and services and such negotiations may be done face to face at a certain place or may be done through other means of communication such as mail, phone, cable, television or through business middle men. What ever may be the means of communication there will be free exchange or perfect communication between buyers and sellers so that a fairly uniform price prevails for a particular commodity over the whole area at any given time.

Watershed

A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. John Wesley Powell, scientist geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is: “that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.”

Watershed is defined as a hydro-geological unit of area from which the rainwater drains through a single outlet. Watershed development refers to the conservation, regeneration and judicious use of all the natural resources (like land, water, plants, animals) by human beings. Watershed Management brings about the best possible balance between natural resources on the one side and human beings on the other. Human beings and the ecology are interdependent. The changes in the environment directly affect the lives of the people depending on it. A degraded environment means a degraded quality of life of the people. This degradation can be tackled effectively through the holistic development of the watershed. A watershed provides a natural geo-hydrological unit for planning any developmental initiative. The approach would be treatment from “ridge to valley”.

A watershed, also called a drainage basin or catchment area, is defined as an area in which all water flowing into it goes to a common outlet. People and livestock are the integral part of watershed and their activities affect the productive status of watersheds and vice versa. From the hydrological point of view, the different phases of hydrological cycle in a watershed are dependent on the various natural features and human activities. Watershed is not simply the hydrological unit but also socio-political-ecological entity which plays crucial role in determining food, social, and economical security and provides life support services to rural people.

Drainage - definition

Agricultural drainage is the artificial removal and safe disposal of excess water either from the land surface or soil profile, more specifically, the removal and safe disposal of excess gravitational water from the crop root zone to create favourable conditions for crop growth to enhance agricultural production.

Benefits of drainage

a)It provides better soil environment for plant growth by creating favourable soil aeration conditions.

b)It improves the soil structure and in turn increases the soil infiltration.

c)High infiltration capacity reduces soil erosion.

d)It hastens the warming of the soils and maintains desirable soil temperature, which accelerates plant growth and bacterial activity.

e)It promotes increased leaching of salts and prevents accumulation of salts in the crop root zone.

f)In well drained soils, less time and less labour are required for tillage operations.

9.1 INTRODUCTION

India is the second largest producer of fruit crops with annual production of 68.4 million metric tonnes from an area of 6.1million ha (Anon 2010). The national horticulture mission commenced in 2005 had fixed a target to double the horticultural production by 2011-12. According to the available production data of horticultural crops, it seems that we are very close to achieve our target. But, if the loss caused by biotic and abiotic stresses is accounted, a sound conclusion can be drawn that still there is a huge scope for productivity improvement in fruit crops.

Among biotic factors bacteria, fungi, nematodes, viruses and insect pests, diseases and other pests are widely recognized as the biggest threat to the sustainable production of fruit crops. Every fruit crop is infected with one or other pathogen/pest, which causes a significant reduction in yield. The disease alone both in field and storage accounts for 25-30 per cent losses (Rangaswami and Mahadevan 2002). Along with diseases, insect-pests also cause reduction in the yield. About 600 insect and mite pests have been reported in temperate fruits alone in India (Sharma and Singh 2006).

Beside biotic factors, abiotic factors (salt, drought, low and high temperature) also limit the potential yield of fruit crops. It is estimated that nearly 10 million ha is affected by salinity/alkalinity in India (Singh 2006). Moreover, fruit cultivars are also to be modified for yield and traits of consumers preference e.g. seedlessness in grapes and citrus.

Genetic improvement can be achieved by following the conventional breeding approaches, when the gene of interest is present in related cultivars/species and the crop is sexually crossable. But due to long juvenility and genetically prevalent problems like incompatibility, sterility in most of the fruit crops and apomixis in citrus, mango and apple, conventional techniques seem to have limited role in the improvement of fruit crops.

Various biotechnological approaches either alone or in combination with conventional breeding approaches can provide a direct solution for the genetic improvement of fruit crops.

Protected cultivation is a specialized agricultural system in which a certain control of the soil–climate ecosystem is exercised modifying its conditions (soil, temperature, solar radiation, wind, humidity and air composition). Plants are cultivated by means of these techniques modifying their natural environment to prolong the harvesting period, alter the conventional cropping cycles, increase yields, improve product quality, stabilize production and provide products when open field cultivation is limited (Wittwer and Castilla, 1995). It is the most contemporary approach to produce mainly, horticultural crops qualitatively and quantitatively and has spread extensively the world over in the last few decades. Protected cultivation also known as controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is highly productive, conservative of water and land and also protective of the environment (Jensen, 2002). Protected cultivation is now becoming popular in Kerala experiencing humid tropical climate with the adoption of locally suitable green house technologies.

Protected cultivation has rapidly expanded in many regions across the globe as early as 1960, when plastics were introduced/used in agriculture and subsequently during 1970’s, when the rise in oil prices resulted in increase of energy costs. About 115 countries in the world are into greenhouse vegetable production commercially (Sabir and Singh, 2013). The world scenario shows the area under protected cultivation to be nearly 6,23,302 ha. while total estimated world greenhouse vegetable production area is 4,02,981 ha. Of the total world greenhouse vegetable area, soilless/hydroponic culture systems account for 95,000 ha (Hickman, 2011).

The advent of protected cultivation technology in India materialized during the early nineties, post globalization. In India, area under protected cultivation is presently around 25,000 ha while the greenhouse vegetable cultivation area is about 2,000 ha. Faced with constraints of land holdings, rapid urbanization, declining crop production, declining biodiversity and ever increasing population, demand for food, especially vegetables has increased manifold and protected cultivation has offered a new dimension to produce more in a limited area. Today Dutch protected cultivation is one of the most intensive farming systems in the world with high levels of output by using the latest technologies (Goncharova, 2004).

Weed Biology

Weed biology is the study of the establishment, growth, reproduction, and life cycles of weed species and weed societies/vegetation. Weed biology is an integrated science with the aim of minimizing the negative effects, as well as using and developing the positive effects, of weeds.

Life Cycle - Based on life cycle weeds are classified as annuals, biennials or perennials.

Annuals

Annuals complete their life cycle from seed in less than one year. There are two types: summer and winter annuals. Summer annuals germinate in the spring, mature, produce flowers and seeds and die before fall. Winter annuals germinate in the fall, overwinter in a seedling or rosette stage, mature, produce flowers and seeds, and die in the spring or early summer. Because of the seedling stage, annual weeds are generally easy to control. There are usually few annual weeds present in low bush blueberry fields.

Biennials

Biennials generally complete their life cycle over two years. The first year the seeds germinate and form a basal cluster of leaves and a tap root. The plant overwinters in this stage. During the second year the weed produces a flower stalk, sets seed and dies. Examples of biennial weed are evening primrose and wild carrot.

Livestock manure is principally composed of organic material. When this organic material decomposes in an anaerobic environment, methanogenic bacteria produce methane. These conditions often occur when large numbers of animals are managed in confined areas (e.g. dairy, swine, and poultry farms, and beef feedlots, where manure is typically stored in large piles or disposed off in storage of lagoons or tanks).

Manure management will always be a part of livestock production. Management practices will have a significant impact on the environment regardless of the size of the operation. Producers who make wise manure management decisions help to maintain a healthy environment now and for generations to come. To reduce the risk of air or water quality damage from manure, understand how manure impacts air and water quality, keep the public in mind when locating, expanding or maintaining a facility, reduce the amount of material entering the waste stream, collect and store manure to preserve nutrients and minimize gas/odour emissions, apply manure to fields in a way that most fully utilizes the available nutrients, follow compositing to increase manure value, establish bio-gas unit as an alternate energy source and for the electricity generation and if possible integrate with fish production to augment income.

Based on the observations a model system of waste management was designed by systematic and scientific integration of a bio-fuel unit, settlement and slurry processing unit, aerobic composting, traditional composting, and preparation of value added products like Panchagavya, Jeevamritham, packed dried dung and fresh cow urine. There were no reports of odour or water pollution from nearby water sources. The overall results of the waste management indicated that this integrated system can be recommended as a model for waste management in dairy enterprises with beneficial effects on economic efficiency, environmental hygiene and quality control.

The immediate objective of the programme was to achieve rapid increase in food grain production to meet the food grain requirement of the country. The programme was implemented in the district having potential irrigation facilities with less prone to natural hazards. Integrated and intensive approaches were adopted to solve the problems of agriculture production in the areas which were more responsive to such production effort. The programme sought to achieve rapid increase in the level of agricultural production through a concentration of financial technical, extension and administrative resources. In the long run it aimed at a self - generating break through in productivity and raising the production potential by stimulating the human and physical process of change.

IADP was a demonstrational programme which showed how to increase production more rapidly on one hand and a path finding experimental programme which facilitated the development of new innovations, new ideas and procedures for wider adoption in agriculture development.

One of the major drawbacks of IADP was its neglect of the equity aspect of the development. Even though this drawback, the spectacular results in improved production yield obtained in IADP, prompted Government to extending the benefit of the programme to other districts of the country with less cost and reduced staff strength. This resulted in launching of the Intensive Agriculture Area Programme (IAAP) in 1964.

India is the largest producer of pulses and contributes around 25% of total global pulse production. In addition, it is also world’s biggest consumer (27% of world consumption) and importer (14%) of pulses in the world. Pulses account for around 20 per cent of the area under food grains and contribute around 7-10 per cent of the total food grains production in India. Though, pulses are grown in both Kharif and Rabi seasons, Rabi pulses contribute more than 60 per cent of the total production. Gram is the most dominant pulse having a share of around 40 per cent in the total production followed by tur/arhar at 15 to 20 per cent and urad and moong at around 8-10 per cent each. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are the top five pulses producing states in India. Considering the nutritional importance of pulses and its products in Indian diet, the production and availability are not sufficient. Since independence, grain production has grown dramatically but pulses production and its availability have declined. On the other hand, the per capita availability of cereal and millets has increased in spite of a four-fold increase in population. The consumption ratio of cereal-to-pulse has risen from 6:1 to 12:1.

Pulse processing is the major need of developing nations as it is the most acceptable and cheap source of protein and hence can help combating Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM). In addition, the identification and recognition of various newer and improved processing methods can provide the basis for further development of legume processing industry. Traditionally, home cooking is applied for consumption of pulses since ages. Modernization has no doubt created a lot of ease and developed various techniques to make different edible forms of legumes/pulses. Many advancements have been happened in traditional processing methods (milling, fermentation, roasting, boiling, steaming etc). and resulted into new products. Improved techniques for efficient milling of legumes into dhal (dehusked splits) are an important area of investigation. A systematic method that eliminates wastes and losses has great significance in the Indian dietary pattern. New systems for processing legumes come under several main categories, namely, improved decortications and milling techniques; quick-cooking pulses; canned pulses; pulse flakes, expanded snack foods etc. Such new and innovative processing technologies presented in this chapter can be applied and used in developing nations. Present chapter will discuss both traditional and non-traditional means of pulse processing.

Introduction

Quality is the ultimate criterion of the desirability of any food product to the consumer. Overall quality depends on quantity, nutritional and other hidden attributes along with sensory quality. Sensory quality is of great importance to both processors and consumers, since it attracts consumers; it satisfies consumers’ aesthetics and gustatory sense. Sensory quality is the combination of sensory senses of perception responsible for choosing and eating a food.

According to Institute of Food Technologists and the American Society for Testing and Materials, sensory evaluation is a scientific method used to evoke measure, analyze, and explain those responses to products as perceived through different senses like sense of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing (Stone and Sidel, 2004). Sensory evaluation gives a general rule for the preparation and serving of samples under controlled conditions so that unfair decisions are minimized. People for sensory evaluation are often placed in individual test booths so that the judgments they give are true and do not reflect the opinions of those around them.

Samples with random numbers are given to the evaluators so that they do not form judgments based upon labels, but rather on their sensory experiences. Products may be given in different orders to each evaluator to help measure and to ensure internal validity by controlling the potential confounds created by sequence and order effects. To control unwanted variation and to improve test precision, standard procedures may be established for sample temperature, volume, and spacing in time, as needed.

Sensory evaluation or testing is a quantitative science in which numerical data are collected to establish lawful and specific relationships between product characteristics and human perception. Sensory methods draw heavily from the techniques of behavioural research in observing and quantifying human responses. For example, we can assess the proportion of times people are able to discriminate small product changes or the proportion of a group that expresses liking for one product over another. Another example is having people generate numerical responses reflecting their perception of products taste and smell.

Weaning foods

Introduction

Breast milk is natural and best for the growth and development of newborn babies. Although breast milk is adequate to provide an optimum nutrient till the age of six months but after that it is not sufficient to sustain optimum growth and fulfill their nutritional requirements. Various nutrients are required to supplement milk until child is ready to eat adult meal. This additional food along with the breast milk is referred as “complementary Food”. With adequate amount of complementary feeding breast-feeding continues up to two years of age and beyond so, referred as complementary feeding period.

Appropriate and adequate amount of complementary feeding helps in preventing malnutrition stunting and promoting growth. Introduction of this complementary food is called as weaning.

Weaning is the process of introducing adult food and beverage to the infant to support their growth and development. This is very crucial period in infant’s life. This is a period for diet transition as the nutrition requirements for growth and brain development is quite high. Introduction of various taste and texture promotes biting and chewing skills (Guthrie, 1975). Most six-month age children start eating semisolid foods. Weaning homogenized infant foods play a major role in the nutrition of infants (Martinez, 2004).As infants grow, their nutritional requirements also increase. To keep up this growing demand WHO recommends that infants start eating solid, semi-solid or soft foods at the age of 6 months to ensure sufficient nutrient intake.

Fertilizers have played a pivotal role in enhancing food grain production in India especially after the introduction of high yielding and fertilizer responsive crop varieties during the green revolution era. However, there are certain problems associated with fertilizers because of their relatively low nutrient use efficiency (NUE) or nutrient uptake by crops. The fertilizer use efficiency is 30-50% for N, 15-20% for P, 70-80% for K and 8-10% for S. In case of micronutrients, the use efficiency is only 1-2%. The low NUE is typically the result of higher release rate of fertilizers than the absorption rate by plants, and/or transformation of fertilizers/ nutrients to forms that are not bioavailable to crops.

Application of N and P fertilizers at levels exceeding plant requirements due to low acquisition efficiency leads to significant environmental consequences in many parts of the world due to losses, such as nitrate (NO₃^-) leaching, NH₃ volatilization, and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission. Excessive use of fertilizer N affects the groundwater. Similarly, excessive use of N and P fertilizers leads to surface runoff which in turn causes eutrophication in aquatic ecosystems. These negative environmental consequences associated with fertilizer inputs further emphasize the need of technological approaches to improve nutrient management in modern agriculture. As such, there is great need in developing innovative fertilizers to minimize the losses of nutrients and increase their efficiencies.

In addition, current agricultural activities contribute up to 20-30% to the annual atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). Even higher contribution is being noted for N₂O (about 60%), which is a potent GHG and catalyst for stratospheric ozone depletion, with more than 300 times the global warming potential than CO₂. Its emission is closely related to mineral fertilizer input. High fertilization rates lead to N and P losses with negative impacts on atmospheric GHGs concentrations and water quality.

There is an urgent need to improve NUE in agricultural systems, and to manage biogeochemical cycles in a sustainable way. This includes the development and application of modern technology as alternatives to conventional fertilization. There is a need to reduce the use of fertilizers/nutrients in agricultural systems by increasing NUE. The recent development in smart fertilizer delivery systems including nanofertilizers or the new generation fertilizers is a good alternative to commercially available fertilizers to improve the NUE and enhance resource utilization. Smart fertilizers may be a solution to enhance food production and environmental quality.

The Fertilizer (Control) Order

The Fertilizer (Control) Order (FCO) is a set of legally enforceable executive orders issued by the Govt. of India under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 passed by the Parliament. This order came into force in 1957, essentially to regulate the sale, price and quality of fertilizers in India. Amendments are made from time to time as per the exigencies and need of the hour and therefore a large number of amendments were made over a period of time. Consequently, after an overall review of the various provisions of the order, a revised Fertilizer (Control) Order 1985, was issued, which came into effect on September 25, 1985. The FCO consists of five Schedules comprising of different activities as mentioned in Figure 8.1, besides forms of registrations and appendices.

Schedule I comprises Part A and B. While Part A contains the specifications of different fertilizers (e.g. minimum nutrient content, maximum moisture content, range of physical parameters, maximum levels of impurities/ contaminants, etc.), that can be marketed in India (no material not performs the specifications as in the FCO cannot be sold as fertilizer), Part B lists the tolerance limits in plant nutrients and physical parameters for various fertilizers. Schedule II encompasses again two parts, with Part A describing the procedures for drawal of samples of fertilizers, and Part B describing detailed methods of analysis of fertilizers.

Schedule III encompasses four parts namely, Part-A, Part-B, Part-C and Part-D. While Part-A contains specifications of different biofertilizers, Part-B contains tolerance limits of biofertilizers, Part-C describes the procedures for drawal of sample of biofertilizers, Part-D describes the methods of analysis of biofertilizers. Schedule IV also encompasses four parts. Part-A contains specifications of organic fertilizers, Part-B contains tolerance limits of organic fertilizers, Part-C describes the procedures for drawal of sample of organic fertilizers, and Part-D describes the methods of analysis of organic fertilizers. Schedule V also contains of four parts. Part-A contains specifications of non-edible de-oiled cake fertilizers, Part-B contains tolerance limits of non-edible de-oiled cake fertilizers, Part-C describes the procedures for drawal of sample of non-edible de-oiled cake fertilizers, and Part-D describes the methods of analysis of non-edible de-oiled cake fertilizers.

2.1 Introduction

The great impact of increase in population as well as rapid economic growth has given us cause for concern about the future situation of the earth in recent years. Desertification as well as deforestation is continuously changing the landscape. Irrigated areas are being damaged by salinization. The effect to increase arable lands cannot match with the speed of these deteriorating processes. Weather is also being changed gradually by urbanization. In the new millennium, the challenges in the agricultural sector are very different from those met in the previous decades. The enormous pressure to produce more food from less land with shrinking natural resources is a tough task for the farmers. This calls for special effort to manage the key input without eroding the ecological assets and sound knowledge base to sustain agricultural productivity and profitability.

The maximum crop response depends on the level of the balanced environmental parameters. The natural environment and input availability may not be optimum for a given crop. The environmental factors which affect plant growth includes air temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration soil temperature and moisture content to the soil. The micro-climate can be artificially controlled by means of plastic covering structure like greenhouse. The plastic covered greenhouse is the only mechanism, which transmits the useful wavelengths of the light spectrum for photosynthetic activity. Further, it also reduces the air movement, which is of great importance for the plant growth and often used to control the spread of plant diseases.

As far as plant propagation is concerned sunlight provides the primary energy for photosynthesis, the food chain and all human nutrition. The expansion of crop and flower production in various types of greenhouse during the recent years has enabled the growth of agricultural products throughout the year. An agricultural greenhouse consists of frames of metallic or wooden structure covered with a transparent material preferably plastic which provide a suitable environment for the intensive production of various crops. A greenhouse is essentially an enclosed structure, which traps the short wavelength solar radiation and convert and finally stores the long wavelength thermal radiation to create a favorable microclimate for higher productivity. Open field agricultural farming has no control on the environmental parameters such as sunlight, air composition and temperature that influence the plant escalation. Hence, a large number of winter vegetables, flowers and other horticultural crops have to be transported from distant places. Future greenhouse systems in moderate climates will have to be energy efficient. Greenhouses will have decreased transmission for long-wave length radiation and increased transmission for short-wave-radiation compared with common shelters.

Introduction

In man’s continued effort to enhance food production, new high yielding crop varieties and new techniques for crop and field management are being constantly evolved resulting in a parallel increase in disease occurrence which calls for their efficient management. Of the various management strategies available for disease management, the chemical strategies have so far dominated our thinking. Over emphasis on chemical control of plant diseases has caused serious imbalances in the agro-ecosystem^1-2.

The shift to exploration of non-chemical strategies is likely to correct the imbalance in our approach and subsequently improve the understanding of Integrated Disease Management (IDM). IDM is defined as ‘a disease management system that utilizes all suitable techniques in a compatible manner to reduce and maintain pest pathogen population at levels below those causing economic injury.’ Fungi are the important group of pathogens.

In continuation of our work on natural pest management agents the present investigation aims at the preparation of different types of aqueous extracts of locally available four Indian medicinal plants viz., Datura stramonium Linn (Datura), Ricinus communis Linn. (Castor), Vitex trifolia Linn. (Nirgudi) and Nerium indicum Mill. (Kanher); study of stability of these extracts at room temperature; and evaluation of their anti-fungal potencies. This study will help to preserve and increase the pest management potency and efficacy of natural products.

One of the attractions of ornamental fish keeping is to multiply the fishes in captivity. Although techniques used for ornamental fish breeding are not much difficult, the breeding methods for specific ornamental fish species are closely guarded secrets. Farmers have operated almost entirely on their own, developing their own methods and rely on many years of experimentation. In India, the most important breeding centres for ornamental species are located in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Kochi. Ornamental fishes are broadly classified into two groups based on their breeding methods- Egg layer or oviparous and live bearer or viviparous species. Oviparous fishes lay floating, adhesive or non-adhesive eggs that may be scattered, laid in bubble nests or deposited on substrates or in shallow pits. The breeding and rearing of live bearers are easier than egg layers, which begin with handling the live bearers.

Introduction

Climate change effect is global and one of the most pressing issues of the 21^st century. It has now emerged as a significant global environmental challenge affecting crop, animal, fish, egg and milk production, water availability, human health, and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Evidences of changes in climate, particularly to the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation and temperature are many and as a result, uncertainty, risks and farmers distress have increased manifold over the current years. India, a developing nation and primarily an agriculturally based country will be highly affected due to greater dependence on agriculture for livelihood of larger proportion of population (Johnson and Hutton, 2014). Anthropogenic forces like rise in population, economic activities, consumption patterns, social behaviour, energy resource utilization and land-use changes in terms of deforestation, use of fossil fuels, industrialization, and race towards development, high concentration of green house gases (GHG) has been released resulting in global warming, a major factor leading to climate change. This heat of climate change has been experienced globally and has affected all forms of life on earth in many ways (Campbell-Lendrum et al, 2015).

As per the fifth assessment report of IPCC (2014), proportional sharing in GHGs emission of various sectors are energy production (34%), and agriculture, forestry and land-use (AFOLU) (24%), mainly contributed by biomass burning and resource intensive agronomic activities (Houghton et al., 2012; Tubiello et al., 2015). Global food security has been threatened by climate change more so in developing nations through changes in soil properties, and is one of the most important challenges in the 21^st century to supply food for the increasing population.

Since climate change is inevitable, we must consider how best we can adapt it, so as to minimize its harmful consequences on the society. For subsistence farmers in India, adaptation in response to changes in climate patterns can be the difference between survival and calamity. There is a need to bring innovations on climate smart agriculture and also necessary agricultural reforms for emerging of a self-reliant India.

The sun is a hot ball of glowing gases at the heart of the solar system. Its radiant energy is practically the only energy source to the earth. Very small and insignificant quantities of energy are available from other sources such as the interior of the earth, the moon, and other stars. Without the sun’s intense energy and heat, there would be no life on earth.

PROPERTIES OF SOLAR RADIATION

The mean distance of the sun from the earth, also known as one astronomical unit (1 AU), is approximately 1.496 × 10⁸ km, though the distance varies as the earth revolves round the sun in an elliptical orbit. At this average distance, light travels from the sun to earth in about 8 minutes and 19 seconds. The energy of the sunlight supports almost all life on earth by photosynthesis, and drives earth’s climate and weather. The minimum sun-earth distance is about 0.983 AU and the maximum is approximately 1.017 AU. The earth is at its closest point to the sun (perihelion) on around January 3 and at its farthest point (aphelion) on around July 4.

The sun makes up about 99.86% of the mass of the entire solar system. The visible disk or photosphere has a radius of 6.599 × 10⁵ km, and the solar mass is 1.989 × 10³⁰ kg. The sun is a completely gaseous body. The chemical composition (by mass) of the outer layers of sun is 71% hydrogen, 26.5% helium, and 2.5% heavier elements like oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron among others. Since the sun is not a solid body, different parts of the sun rotate at different rates. At the equator, the sun spins once about every 25 earth days, but at its poles the sun rotates once on its axis every 36 days.

Introduction

Citrus (Citrus spp, Fam: Rutaceace, sub-family Aurantioidae) is considered as one of the most remunerative fruit crops in India occupying 953.4 thousand ha with an annual productivity of 11655 thousand tonnes fruit , thereby ranking 4^th at global level (Meena et al., 2018). Citrus is the third most important fruit crop in the world after apple and banana accounting for the production of about 135.76 million tonnes with massive area of cultivation spreading over 9.68 million hectares worldwide (Meena et al., 2018). It is believed that most species under the genus Citrus are originated from tropical and sub-tropical regions of Southeast Asia particularly India, South China, Indonesia and Peninsular Malaysia. The North-eastern states of India is recognized as one of the primary gene centre or natural home and reservoir of 17 Citrus species of which 8 species are indigenous to the region (Bhattacharya and Dutta, 1949).

The crop is commercially cultivated in all the four geographical zones viz. northwest, central, south and northeast, producing different kinds of mandarins (Citrus reticulata), sweet orange (C. sinensis), acid lime (C. aurantifolia), sweet lemon (C. limettoides) and lemon (C. lemon) (Biswas, 2010). They are universally propagated by budding onto seedling rootstocks, seed and propagating materials influencing the chances of pathogen infection, thereby, affecting citrus production nationally and internationally. Citrus production is subjected to variety of diseases caused by various microorganisms’ viz. fungi, bacteria, virus, viroids and nematodes. The present review gives a brief highlight about most important citrus diseases viz. canker, greening, quick decline, gummosis, exocortis, slow decline etc along with their characteristic symptoms, causal organisms, disease cycle, epidemiology as well as integrated management approaches.

Citrus Canker- Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri

Banana (Musa spp.) is one of the most important fruit crops grown in tropical and subtropical regions in the world. The word ‘banana’ is a general term embracing a number of species or hybrids between Musa acuminata and M. balbisiana in the genus Musa and family Musaceae (Perrier et al., 2011). India is known to be one of the origins for bananas and it was grown even before the Vedic period (c.1500 - c.500 BCE). It is referred as “Kalpatharu” (Plant of virtues) due to its multifaceted uses (Mishra et al., 2012). It has been estimated that one medium-sized banana contains about 105 calories (Bjarnadottir, 2017). Raw bananas contain 75% water, 23% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and negligible amount of fat (USDA, 2018). However, carbohydrate, protein and moisture content of banana depend upon the variety, genotype and climatic conditions (Mohapatra et al., 2010). Banana fruits are rich source of antioxidants and vitamins such as vitamin A, B, C, E and P-carotene (Paul and Southgate, 1978; Kanazawa and Sakakibara, 2000; Waller,2005), minerals like potassium and calcium (Mohapatra et al., 2010) and contains a fair amount of fibre (Bjarnadottir, 2017).

Banana is the major staple food crop for millions of people in Central, East and West Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2016, world production of bananas and plantains was 148 million tonnes, led by India and China with a combined total (only for bananas) of 28% of global production with the adoption of advanced technologies like drip irrigation, use of quality tissue culture plants, fertigation and integrated plant protection technologies lead the country to be number one in area and production. Other major producers were the Philippines, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Brazil, together accounting for 20 per cent of the world total of bananas and plantains. In India, banana ranks first in production followed by mango and third in area among fruit crops after mango and citrus. Banana production accounts about 30.4 M tonnes from an area of 0.86 M ha with an average productivity of 35.4 tonnes/ha (Anon, 2017). Banana crop is a year round food security crop and source of income to a large group of farmers and has tremendous potential as cash and export commodity for most banana growing countries. However diseases and pests constitute major limiting factor for increasing its production and productivity. Banana cultivation is almost evenly spread out across the world and there is a remarkable low genetic variation among plantations, owing to the popularity of a select few cultivars. This exposes monocultures to increasing damage caused by pests and diseases (Ghag et al., 2015).

Guava, Psidium guajava L. (Family: Myrtaceae), is native to South America and the West Indies but it is also grown other parts of the tropics and subtropics including India. It is considered to be important hardy crop grown in neglected soil. It is commonly known as ‘Amrood’ or Safed Safari’ in Hindi, which is an important fruit plant of India. It is grown all over the country for its fruits which are nutritive, rich in vitamin C, highly flavoured and delicious. Leading producers are Brazil, India and Mexico. The cultivated varieties of guava are attacked by several pathogens which cause considerable loss in yield and reduce market value.

Wilt

Wilt is one of the most destructive disease of guava in India and there is a significant yield loss. In India, guava wilt was first reported in 1935 from Babakkarpur (Allahabad). Das Gupta and Rai (1947) reported the disease in a severe form in orchards of Lucknow, while Dey (1948) reported it from Allahabad, Kanpur and Lucknow. The work so far done on wilt disease has been reviewed by Prakash and Misra (1993), Misra (1995), Misra and Pandey (1996), Misra (2001) and Negi et al. (2001). Chattopadhyay and Bhattachaijya (1968a) reported up to 80% yield losses due to serious wilt in the commercially grown guava orchards in West Bengal. About 150 and 300 acres of guava orchards in the Punjab and Haryana was forced uprooting during 1979-81 (Jhooty et al., 1984). Wilt infection of 15 to 30% trees in Allahabad, Farrukhabad and Unnao, 5-15% in Kanpur and Jaunpur and less than 5% in Gorakhpur, Balia, Hardoi and Varanasi districts (Mathur, 1956).

2.1 Ecosystem

An ecosystem can be defined as a dynamic entity composed of a biological community and its associated abiotic environment. Often the dynamic interactions that occur within an ecosystem are numerous and complex. Ecosystems are also always undergoing changes or alterations to their biotic and abiotic components. Some of these alterations begin first with a change in the state of one component of the ecosystem which then cascades and sometimes amplifies into other components because of relationships.

The human activities of various kinds have resulted in caused a number of dramatic changes to a variety of ecosystems found on the Earth. Humans use and modify natural ecosystems through agriculture, forestry, recreation, urbanization, and industry. The most obvious impact of humans on ecosystems is the loss of biodiversity. The number of extinctions caused by human domination of ecosystems has been steadily increasing since the start of the Industrial revolution. The frequency of species extinctions is correlated to the size of human population on the Earth which is directly related to resource consumption, land-use change, and environmental degradation. Other human impacts to ecosystems include species invasions to new habitats, changes to the abundance and dominance of species in communities, modification of biogeochemical, and modification of hydrologic cycling, pollution, and climatic change.

The planet earth harbors a total population of 7,530,687,482 (as on 7^th September 2017 at 1345hrs) in which Asia and Africa share 4,486,207,286 and 1,252,251,830, respectively. In majority of the countries in Asia and Africa surveillance programs for detection and source tracking of human health hazard bacteria in foods is scant and in some cases do not exist. Hence, the task is much more complicated especially catering to needs of food, nutritional security and microbial safety of foods of more than 5,738,459,116 or 76.2 % of the total population of the world. The continued occurrence of foodborne illness is not evidence of the failure of our food safety system. In fact, many of our prevention and control efforts have been and continue to be highly effective. In advanced countries like US where food supply is one of the safest in the world, however, significant food borne illness continues do occur. Despite great strides in the area of microbiological food safety, much remains to be done.

Food-borne disease outbreaks are defined as the occurrence of 2 or more cases of a similar illness resulting from ingestion of a common food or observed number of cases of a particular disease exceeds the expected number. These can be confirmed (when at least one causal agent is identified) or suspected (based on clinical and epidemiological information). Although most cases are sporadic, these diseases draw attention to themselves due to outbreaks, thorough investigation of which can help in identifying control measures.Annual burden of foodborne diseases in the WHO South- East Asia Region includes more than: 150 million illness, 175 000 deaths, 12 million DALYs (Source: FERG Report 2010).

What is an Average ?

The word “average” is used in everyday life to describe where the middle number of a data set is. It’s the typical number you would except to find in a series of numbers. In statistics, the average is called the “arithmetic mean” usually just shortened to the mean. Both the average and the mean use the same formula :

Avg = total sum of all the numbers/ number of items in the set.

In other word, to find the average, add up all of the numbers in the set, and then divide by however many items you have. Let’s say you have 5, 10, and 15. Add them all up to get 5 + 10 + 15 = 30, then divide by 3(the number of items). The answer is 30/3 = 10.

In probability and statistics, you’ll see the following formula used

Aptitude questions related to ages are commonly asked in various competitive exams, so you should definitely solve few questions for exercise. Now let us go through the different types of statements used in this topic.

Let us find the age of Rakesh by understanding his statement. Let us take the kid’s current age as X. So as per statement given by him, X = 1.5(X – 10). Solving for X, we get the value of X as 30. Hence current age of Rakesh’s son is 30 years.

Introduction to sustainable livestock

Sustainable development has been defined by FAO as “the management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. In other words, the development that meets up the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Such sustainable development (in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors) conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable”. (FAO Council, 1989). Hence, sustainable livestock farming is “the efficient production of safe, high quality products, in a way that protects and improves the natural environment, the social and economic conditions of farmers, their employees and local communities, and safeguards the health and welfare of all farmed species”.

Introduction

Fermentation is the process in which edible microorganisms invade food substrates and convert them into fermented foods including beverages, using their enzymatic and metabolic processes. These end products will have nontoxic flavors, aroma and texture which enhance the palatability. The word “fermentation” is originated from a Latin word fermentare, defined as “to leaven” (Frias et al., 2016). It is one of the oldest food processing technologies used by humans to preserve perishable food materials for long time, dated back to ancient human civilization (Hutkins, 2008). Globally, more than 5000 varieties of fermented foods are currently in use which includes traditionally fermented dairy products such as Dahi in India to industrial production of wines from fruits (Tamang, 2010) (Table 1 and Figure 1). Biochemically, fermentation is a metabolic process in which energy is derived from organic compounds without the involvement of an exogenous oxidizing agent. Fermentation may result in the production of many by-products such as carbon dioxide, alcohol, organic acids (lactic acid, acetic acid), vitamins, enzymes etc. which are now having more importance in food industries (Caplice and Fitzgerald 1999).

Introduction

Cereals are grown over 73% of the total world harvested area and contribute over 60% to the world food production providing dietary fibre, proteins, energy, minerals and vitamins required for human health. Cereals like rice, maize, wheat, barley, sorghum, and oats are chiefly used in the preparation of traditional fermented foods and beverages. However, the nutritional quality of cereals and the sensory properties of their products are sometimes inferior in comparison with dairy products. The reasons behind this the lower protein content, deficiency of certain essential amino acids, the presence of determined anti-nutrients (phytic acid, tanins and polyphenols) and the coarse nature.

Introduction

Off late our understanding of the composition and functions of the human gut microbiota has increased exponentially and there is a great interest in producing healthy foods in particular that which have an impact in improving the gastrointestinal health such as probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics. Many of these functional foods are dairy based and have been accepted greatly worldwide. Nonertheless, there has been a need for the development of nondairy probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic products (Salmeron 2017). This has prompted food scientists and food industrialists to study the feasibility of applying other fermenting substrates such as cereals for the development of innovative nondairy fermented functional foods. The importance of including nanoscience and nanotechnology techniques for the creation of fermented cereal beverages that contain specific bioactive nanoparticles and their role in food packaging systems will be discussed.

6.1. What is colloid and colloidal system?

A colloidal particle may be defined as a substance which is microscopically dispersed evenly throughout another phase and is possessing a size of 10^-7 to 10^-3 mm and representing a larger surface area per unit mass. Thus, a colloidal system refers to a two-phase system in which small particles of one phase which might be of solid, liquid or gas is suspended evenly in the second phase of solid, liquid or gaseous material. These colloidal systems may be of solid in liquid or solid in gas or liquid in liquid or liquid in gas. Unique examples of liquid in liquid colloidal system includes the fat droplets dispersed in water of milk. When you put floor disinfectant liquid in water, it forms a white emulsion. Thus, emulsion becomes a colloidal system of liquid in liquid. Likewise, in fog, water droplets are suspended in gaseous air. So, fog is an example of a colloidal system, constituting of liquid dispersed in gas. When we refer smoke, it contains carbon particles (solid) suspended in air (colloidal system of solid and gas). However, smog is composed of smoke and fog. In case of soil colloidal system, soil colloids, which are of tiny particles (<0.001 mm size) and may be of organic and inorganic nature, are suspended in soil solution (water) and referred to as sol. Colloidal chemistry, which involves in the surface reactivity and charge characteristics of colloids, plays a pivotal role in total soil chemistry.

13.1. Introduction

Water is chemically benign. However, its interference in free gas exchange in soil becomes detrimental to crop growth when soils are subjected to waterlogging or plants are submerged with water.Waterlogging of soil refers to a soil condition when the soil attains a moisture regime to such an extent that oxygen is not available in the pore space in enough quantity for plant roots to respire adequately. On the contrary, detrimental gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen sulphide, ethylene etc. accumulate in the root zone and adversely influence the growth of plants. Thus, anaerobic condition prevails in waterlogged soil causing depletion of oxygen and increase of CO₂ in root zone, which severely affects aerobic micro-organisms while harmful organisms proliferate and restrict the plant growth. Waterlogging leads to nutrient deficiencies or nutrient toxicities, root tip decomposition and eventually, reduced growth or death of the plant. Physical, chemical and biological activities in the soil are also disturbed due to low temperature. However, this is important to note that plants differ among themselves in their demand for oxygen. Even oxygen demand for same plants differs with its growth stage. Therefore, it is well understood that there is no universal level of soil oxygen that can identify waterlogged conditions for all plants. Mostly waterlogging prevails in the land due to non-permeability of the soil material, the presence of an impervious layer in soil horizon, or a high-water table.

2.1 Introduction

Rain and snow are the two chief sources of water of the earth. In-situ conservation of rainwater helps the plants to meet some of their consumptive uses directly. Not all the amount of rainwater that falls at a point is conserved by the soil reservoir to support the plant growth. Some part of it flows over the soil surface as surface runoff and some seeps down as infiltration and finally adds to the underground reservoir. Therefore, rain or snow, which is not used directly by the plants, becomes a potential source of either surface or ground water for irrigation. In areas with extreme low temperature, snow contributes major source of water supply wherever, in humid and sub humid regions, rain is the principal source. Precipitation, rain or snow, is the first stage of the continual cycle of water in its round from atmosphere to the earth and return by evaporation from water bodies, snow surfaces and land surfaces. The continual cycle of distribution of water is governed by the process called as hydrologic cycle. Thus, precipitation or atmospheric water is the first form of water above the earth’s surface, the second form being the surface water on earth and the third form is the subsurface water or underground water. The study of occurrence, distribution and circulation of precipitation through the unending hydrologic cycle forms the basic part of study of hydrology. As mentioned above, the part of precipitation that is not used by the plants in-situ flows over the soil surface as runoff and contributes to either surface or ground water supply.

Engineering hydrology is the science that deals with the estimation of runoff and its transmission from one place to the other, besides dealing with the properties of water in nature. For, an engineer, surface and groundwater are the two most important components to deal with. But due to lack of data of stream flow, it is usually necessary to study precipitation, evaporation and percolation to indirectly determine the availability of surface and groundwater. For planning and management of water resources systems, an engineer has to estimate (i) water resources potential of a basin, (ii) dependable yield for irrigation and hydel power generation and industrial water demand (iii) probability of occurrence of floods with their magnitude, (iv) sediment yield and transportation (v) hydrometeorology (vi) new sources of water for irrigation (vii) stream flow forecasting by use of precipitation data (viii) water control, navigation, control of soil erosion and control of pollution of water bodies and (ix) operation and maintenance of river valley projects. For estimation of the above mentioned parameters, it is important to understand the hydrologic cycle properly.

7.1 Introduction

The entire amount of water that is diverted at the canal head regulator does not reach at the field for use of irrigation. Major amount of it is lost on way during its movement in the canal systems. During the passage of water from main canal to outlet at the head of the water course, water may be lost either by evaporation from the surface or by seepage through the peripheries of the channel. These losses are sometimes very high, and may go up to 50 % of the total water diverted into the main canal. Evaporation losses are low and may go to a maximum of about 7 percent of total losses. The major loss of water in the conveyance system is the seepage loss. Seepage loss depends on the channel geometry and evaporation loss is proportional to the area of free surface. In determining the designed channel capacity, a provision of these water losses must be made. The provision for the water lost in the watercourses and in the field however, already made in the outlet discharge factor, and hence no extra provision is made on that account. However, excluding the above two losses, there is operational loss which when added to the evaporation and seepage losses, the total losses goes up the maximum 50 percent level. The operational loss includes spillage, over-toping, leakage through rodent holes, dead storage, initial infiltration and evapotranspiration from the vegetation along the watercourse. Evaporation and seepage losses of the canals are discussed below.

2.1 Introduction

Government provides various subsidies for agricultural produce. And seeds are also subsidized products. Anyone would like to buy for cheap. Can you imagine what role the government can play in making a product subsidized and making it available for consumption? Let's look at seeds in particular. To understand how the government reaches the rural corners, we need to understand the government model for distribution and control. Every District has a District Development Administrator (DDA) / District Agriculture Officer (DAO). Every district comprises of approximately five Block Offices. Now every Block office has a Subject Matter Specialists (SMS), an Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) and some Agriculture Extension Officer (AEO). Each AEO is assigned a circle to work in (i.e. a designated area). The AEO collects the demand of his circle and reports to the ADO. The ADO confirms the same from every AEO and sends the final report to the SMS. The SMS forwards the demand to the DDA. Every block office is in charge of at least 50 panchayats and every panchayat has 5 villages. So this is how the government reaches the rural population.

Saline and alkali soils occur commonly under arid climate due either to the presence of an excess of soluble sodium salts or to the predominance of sodium among the exchangeable bases.

Saline and alkali soils have been classified as follows

1. Saline soils

Saline soils were originally called “White alkali” soils. Russians term them as “Solonchak” soils.

The soils are classified as saline if the electrical conductivity of saturated soil paste is more than 4 dS /m at 25⁰C, exchangeable sodium is less than 15 percent and pH is less than 8.5.

2. Alkali soils

The soils have been classified as alkali if the electrical conductivity of saturated soil paste is less than 4 dS/m, exchangeable sodium is more than 15 percent and pH is 8.5 to 10.0.

1. INTRODUCTION

Wine is an ancient fermented product as revealed by the wine jugs recovered (Plate 1) during excavation from different places. Wine is made all over the world and wine produced in each region from different parts of the world has different characteristics. Development and implementation of practices and policies for sustainable growth of grapes and other fruits is the most essential component for the growth and development of wine industry. The science dealing with wine production, evaluation and consumption is known as 'Oenology'. For the introduction of wine, several aspects influence the wine quality are style, the consumer perception and finally, the marketing are taken in account. Factors related with fruit growing, ripening, micro organisms and other verification factors need to be considered in wine production.

1.1 Introduction

Irrespective of caste, creed, culture, sex, age or religion people like garden. A well-maintained garden serves as lungs of the city or locality as it is a prime source of plenty of oxygen and people enjoy the surrounding and feel happy by fresh air. In holy books of Hindu religion, the importance of plants as well as gardens are explained very beautifully. In the holy Bible it is mentioned that Adam and eve lived in garden. In Quran it is explained as the paradise on earth. So, scriptures of all religions explain about gardens. It shows gardens and plants are closely related to human from the origin of human belief.

10.1 INTRODUCTION

The fate of plant nutrients in fertilizers added to soils is to be: (1) taken up by crops; (2) retained by the soil; (3) removed in solution in drainage water; (4) lost as a gas; or (5) removed by erosion. These five processes are discussed in this chapter. The purpose of using fertilizers is to increase crop growth and they fail in this unless they are taken up by plants. Table 10.1 gives FAO (1972) data which show that large fertilizer use is restricted to the developed countries which use 65 times the amount used per hectare in developing countries. Within the group of ‘developed’ countries most of North-West Europe uses much fertilizer; outside of Europe large use per hectare is confined to a few countries such as Japan and USA. It is in the developed countries where much fertilizer is applied that efficient uptake of plant nutrients is already important to national economies, and where nutrients lost from agriculture cause eutrophication of natural waters and are regarded as pollutants.

Minor fruit crops are considered important for their food, fibre, fodder, oil or medicinal properties, but have been reduced in value over time owing to particular supply and use constraints. These can include poor shelf life, unrecognized nutritional value, poor consumer awareness and reputational problems food or “poor people’s food”. The main products consumed by people are fruit cordial, jam, fruit drinks, chutney, candy, pickle and squash concentrate crop species. The entire country is mainly depend on handful of crop species neglecting large number of vegetables, fruits and other crop species with high nutritional and medicinal values which were grown traditionally in the past, resulting these valuable crop species are critically facing the state of speedy disappearing.

Who discovered bacteria?

a) Leeuwen hock b) Ledge berg

c) Walkman and Zinder d) None