eChapters

Pest resurgence is defined as the rapid reappearance of a pest population in injurious numbers following pesticide application. Use of persistent and broad spectrum pesticides that kills the beneficial natural enemies is thought to be the leading cause of pest resurgence. However, resurgence is known to occur due to several reasons, for instance, increase in feeding and reproductive rates of insect pests, due to application of sub lethal doses of pesticides and sometimes elimination of a primary pest provides favorable conditions for the secondary pest to become primary pests (Harsh Garg, 2014). There are several pesticide induced pest outbreaks reported in walnut, hemlock, cotton and soybean. Among these, brown plant hopper in rice cultivation has gained a major importance in Asian countries. In general, natural BPH populations were kept under check by natural enemies including mired bugs, ladybird beetles, spiders and other pathogens. Pesticides, however, not only have destroyed the natural enemies, but have influenced the fecun

1.    Operations Research provides ___________.

(a) Earliest solution

(b) Feasible solutions

(c) Scientific approach to solutions

(d) Statistical approach to solutions

2.    Operations Research totally eliminates ___________.

(a) Quantitative approach

(b) Intuitive approach

(c) Qualitative approach

(d) Decision makers ability

COMMON INSECT PESTS AND THEIR CONTROL

Since, insects are the most successful and one among the strongest rivals of man in the competition of existence. Due to their immense tendency of producing numerous viable propagules (eggs) i.e., their high fecundity, their population graph takes a sharp peak in a very short span of time.

A time reaches when the population of an insect type reaches to the level where from it starts causing inconvenience or injury to man, plants, domesticated animals and other human belongings, at such a juncture they are termed as insect pests.

Many, workers are of the view that “insects capable of causing 5 or more than 5% of damage to the crops, stored products, domesticated animals and other human dependences will be termed as pests”. Thus, if an insect causes a loss of less than 5% will not be considered as a pest. Moreover insect pests which cause a damage of 5-10% are said to be minor pests and those which cause a loss of more than 10% of yield are said to be major pests.

Abstract

The chapter examines the relationship between the agricultural value chain and mobile apps. Using email survey data from mobile app developers, supplemented with basic desk research, the chapter reviews and analyzes 55 mobile apps based on their location within the value chain, the format of content delivery, the types of device used, the stage of deployment as of  2012, the type of business model used, and the geographic focus of the app. The analysis generally reveals an even distribution of apps within the three main components of the agricultural value chain but when it comes to the sub-categories within the agricultural value chain, skewed distribution was observed. Feature phones remain the dominant device for delivering agricultural information to users, however, increasing number of smartphone-specific applications gaining market. Most of the devices use text format for content delivery with voice, image and video as supplements.

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are obligate parasites that infect and kill insects. Their short life cycles, simple rearing requirements, and straightforward molecular manipulations render them ideal to study host– parasite interactions. Additionally, their efficacy in reducing herbivore damage in the field contributed to their use as biological control agents in agriculture (Xi Zhang et al., 2021). EPNs comprise three genera, Heterorhabditis, Steinernema, and Oscheius. Infective juveniles (IJs) are third-stage free-living nematode larvae (iL3) that locate, select, and infect a host by entering through a natural orifice or by penetrating through the cuticle. Upon infection, IJs release venom proteins and regurgitate an endosymbiotic entomopathogenic bacterium, leading to a fatal toxemia and septicemia of the host. Juveniles then undergo a transition from free-living to parasitic lifestyle and resume growth and development by feeding on the infected flesh. Adult nematodes reproduce inside the host generating several new generations of nematodes. Resource depletion and elevated nematode densities induce the production of ascaroside C11 ethanolamine, an ascaroside triggering the production of next generation IJs, often through Endotokia matricida. The newly hatched IJs emerge from the resource-depleted host and search to infect new hosts.
Juvenile host-seeking strategies are typically classified along a gradient ranging from ambushing to cruising (Xi Zhang et al., 2021). Ambusher nematodes are stationary and infect mobile hosts. Attachment to a mobile host can be achieved through nictation, which corresponds to the nematode standing on its tail, curling, and propelling itself in the air. Cruiser nematodes disperse in the soil and locate sedentary hosts. Nematodes with intermediate strategies can ambush or disperse depending on the soil matrix and host

Water is absolute necessary constituents for the survival and growth of all the living substances on earth. It is the most essential ingredients for many of the physiological and metabolic process in plants, like photosynthesis to form sugars, translocation of cell constituents and maintenance of cell turgidity. Soil, being an adsorbent of water received from precipitation or rainfall acts as reservoir to meet requirement by plant during growing season. Water retained in the soil serves as solvent to dissolve salts and nutrients and as a carrier to translocate them for absorption by plants. It plays significant role in weathering reaction, soil forming processes and profile development. Water is also important for growth and activities of microorganisms influencing decomposition of organic matter, transformation of mineral nutrients and other physical, chemical and biological properties in soil. This chapter deals with the retention and movement of water in soils to obtain better understanding of soil-water-plant-atmosphere relationships.

Heart failure in canine is being recognized with an increasing frequency throughout the world. It is the end stage pathological event progressively occurring in heart diseases. Heart failure is the condition in which heart is unable to meet the metabolic and nutritional demands of the tissues of the body due to insufficient cardiac output. Heart failure has also been observed with normal cardiac output in conditions like hyperthyroidism or anemia where tissue metabolic needs are increased.

Abstract

Ethnobotany is the area of study which include direct interaction of human and plants. This communication compiles and evaluates 301 ethnobotanically important medicinal plants used by ethnic tribes for the treatment of different ailments living in Uttarakhand Himalaya. The state is a home of five major tribes, viz., Bhoxa, Bhotiya, Tharu, Raji, and Jaunsari. These tribal people have age-old relations with plants, and their indigenous knowledge passed from one generation to another. In this communication, a total of 90 plant families were reviewed and recorded that Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Rosaceae, Fabaceae, Amaranthaceae Apiaceae, Combretaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Anacardiaceae and Malvaceae members are frequently used as medicinal plants. Total 68 roots of different species, followed by leaves of 55 species, whole plants of 29 species, fruits of 26 species and 28 types of seeds of different plants families used by locals for the treatment of various diseases such as fever, cold, cough, diabetes, skin problems, digestive problems and other associated ailments. The mode of application of herbal formulations varies from tribe to tribe. Herbaceous communities belonging to 160 species were the frequently used plant groups followed by trees, shrubs, and lianas. The decoction was recorded as the most frequently used method of preparation. Medicinal plants sold in the market was not primary for local people rather herbal plants locally available used as food, spice and beverages preparations. Therefore, there is a need for proper documentation and conservation planting of these unique medicinal plants growing in the Himalayas.

Popularly the term management is used to refer to the group of managerial personnel of an enterprise. But the use of the term management in this sense is not correct, because the managerial personnel of an enterprise are usually designated as ‘managers’, ‘executives’ or administrators. Strictly speaking the term management refers to functional concept of management. Management refers to the sum total of all those functions or activities, which relate to the laying down of policies, plans and purposes, securing men, money, machinery needed for the achievement of the organisational objectives, putting all of them into operation and supervising and checking their performances in order to ensure the productive use of human and material resources for the maximum benefit or profit of the organisation, its employees and society in general.

Management is the sum total of five principal functions namely planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. The functional areas of management include: a) Financial management, b) Personnel management, c) material management, d) Production management, e) marketing management and f) Office management.

Definition of Demand
Demand refers to the desire for a commodity that is backed by both purchasing power and willingness to pay at a given price within a specific period. In economics, we consider effective demand—not just absolute desire. A product is in demand only when individuals are willing and able to purchase it.
For example, many farmers may desire to buy cow mats, but if they lack the financial resources or are unwilling to spend on them, it does not count as effective demand.
Demand is formally defined as a “schedule or curve that shows the various quantities of a commodity that consumers are willing and able to purchase at different prices, within a specific time frame and market conditions.”
Law of Demand
The Law of Demand states that, ceteris paribus (all other factors remaining constant), the quantity demanded of a commodity varies inversely with its price. In simpler terms:
When the price of a commodity rises, the quantity demanded decreases. When the price of a commodity falls, the quantity demanded increases. This inverse relationship occurs because consumers tend to buy less of an expensive product and more of a cheaper one, provided other factors like income, preferences, and the price of related goods remain unchanged.

Origin of weeds : Weeds originated together with crop plants. They have been there since the man started cultivating crops about 10,000 BC. Man during his stage of development, explored certain crop plant to suit his own taste and fancy and cultivated them as ‘crops’. The unexplored / unwanted / troublesome plants which are interfering with his activities are considered as weeds. About 30,000 plants species have been identified as definite weeds in the World. Which are infesting crop lands, water bodies, gardens, orchards, road sides, railway lines, irrigation channels etc.

Plants are differentiated into

a) Crops: Which meet the needs of human being.

b) Weeds: Which compete or interfere in human affairs.

Jethrotull is the first person to use the word weed.

Gullies convey runoff and sediment from upstream catchments, but uncontrolled flow enlarges their beds and banks, removes productive land, and may ultimately create ravines. Their development depends on rainfall intensity, runoff volume, catchment size, land use, soil properties, topography, and channel characteristics. Effective treatment requires reducing runoff generation, diverting excess water where appropriate, stabilizing the gully, and restoring vegetation. This chapter presents the principles of gully control and classifies interventions into upstream and downstream measures. It discusses agronomic practices, diversion structures, check dams, drop structures, chute spillways, bank protection, revegetation, and maintenance requirements for safely controlling water velocity, erosion, and sediment transport.

SUMMARY

Plant tissue culture mainly comprises a set of in vitro techniques, methods and strategies that are part of the group of technologies called plant biotechnology. Tissue culture has been exploited not only to create genetic variability from which crop plants can be improved but also to improve the state of health of the planted material and to increase the number of desirable germ plasms available to the plant breeder through a shorter duration in cost effective manner. Tissue-culture protocols are available for most crop species, although continued optimization is still required for many crops, especially cereals and woody plants. Tissue culture techniques, in combination with molecular techniques, have been successfully used to incorporate specific traits through gene transfer. In vitro techniques for the culture of protoplasts, anthers, microspores, ovules and embryos have been used to create new genetic variation in the breeding lines, often via haploid production. Cell culture has also produced somaclonal and gametoclonal variants with crop-improvement potential. The culture of single cells and meristems can be effectively used to eradicate pathogens from planting material and thereby dramatically improve the yield of established cultivars. Large-scale  micropropagation laboratories are providing millions of plants for the commercial ornamental market and the agricultural, clonally-propagated crop market. With selected laboratory material typically taking one or two decades to reach the commercial market through plant breeding, this technology can be expected to have an ever increasing impact on crop improvement as we approach for the need of the hour .

Cucurbits form an important and a big group of vegetable crops cultivated extensively in this country. This group consists of a wide range of vegetables, either used as salads (cucumber) or for cooking (all the gourds) or for pickling (cucumber) or as dessert fruits (muskmelon and watermelon) or candied or preserved (ash gourd). They are of tremendous economic importance as food plants.

2.1. Ash Gourd (Benincasa hispida)

Ash gourd (Benincasa hispida L.) belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. The winter melon, also called white gourd, ash gourd, or “fuzzy melon”, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is the only member of the genus Benincasa. This is a monotypic genus and the only cultivated species is Benincasa hispida (Thunb) Cogn, commonly known as ash gourd or petha. It has a Sanskrit equivalent ‘Kooshmanda’ indicating its antiquity in India.

Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, the ash gourd is widely grown in China, India and other parts of East Asia. The immature melon has thick white flesh that is sweet when eaten. By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd, and providing a long shelf life. The ash gourd is known by many other names in India regional wise like komora (Assamese), pethakaddu (Hindi), boodagumbala (Kannada), Kumbalanga (Malayalam), Kohla (Marathi), neer poosanikai (Tamil) and Boodida gummadikaya (Telugu).

Uses

Ash gourd have enormous medicinal properties as it makes a valuable place as a popular natural cure of ailments in traditional medicinal practice. Being low in calories it is an ideal vegetable for diabetic patients and good for weight control. It also acts as a good detoxifying agent.

As per Ayurveda, ash gourd is used to treat epilepsy, asthma, lung diseases, urine retention, internal haemorrhage, and cough. It is said that the fruit juice is also effective in cases of mercury poisoning and snakebite. It could also treat mouth cancer, protecting teeth and gums when a mouth gargle of the juice is done regularly. It is also effective in bleeding of gums. Ash gourd is easily digestible and keeps the body cool. It is a natural blood purifier.

Abstract

The field of bioinformatics emerged as a tool to facilitate biological discoveries more than 10 years ago. The ability to capture, manage, process, analyze and interpret data became more important than ever. Bioinformatics in agricultural science has many complex aspects and problems that must be resolved due to the involvement of a wide variety of fields and subjects. Consequently, the establishment of interdisciplinary research areas is required, which should include collaboration among experimental and informatics researchers in different fields within industry, academia, and government. Thus, the Agricultural Bioinformatics Special Interest Group was established to promote interaction among researchers and provide an opportunity to report on bioinformatics studies in agricultural science: design and analysis of functional foods, scientific testing of food safety, breeding of agricultural organisms, development of environmental friendly agricultural chemicals, bioremediation and production of useful chemical materials using microorganisms, measuring and monitoring biodiversity, statistical genetics in resource ecology, and so on. The activities of the Agricultural Bioinformatics Special Interest Group include (1) Studies of applied bioinformatics in the agricultural science (2) Development of new research areas in agricultural science using bioinformatics (3) Practical application of bioinformatics technologies in the field of agricultural science (4) Development of new bioinformatics technologies characteristic of agricultural science.

Plant propagation is one of the important fundamental aspects since the time of Rigveda (1400 B.C.) in the horticulture industry. It refers to the multiplication or perpetuation of individual or group of plants having specific value. Agriculture began, when ancient people started domestication of certain plants by growing around them and now these are cultivated in much improved form due to continuous selection and maintenance of better plant types. During the process of civilization; many plant types were selected for food and other purposes and are classified as food crops, fodder crops, fruit crops, vegetable crops, spices and condiments, aromatic and medicinal plants, etc. Now due modern plant sciences; newer and better plant types came into commercialization for cultivation. However, to maintain their qualities; it needs their propagation to keep their original form. Thus, it indicates that plant propagation has paramount importance in the horticulture industry to supply true-to-type sapling to farmers.

7.1 Introduction

Flood is an unusually high stage in a river resulted due to high rainfall or snow melt which causes large flow of runoff in it. During flood, the river overflows the banks and inundates the adjoining areas. Flood causes heavy damages to buildings and hydraulic structures besides causing catastrophic loss to human life and property. It causes great economic loss due to disruption of many structures and damage to agricultural fields. Many forest and aquatic lives are affected by the flood. Hundreds of crores of rupees are spent every year to control, forecast and manage the flood.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton.) acclaimed as the ‘Queen of Spices’ is the true cardamom belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. The cardamom of commerce is the dried ripe fruit and is one of the most important valued spices next only to saffron. It is native of evergreen forests of Western Ghats of South India. Cardamom is a shade loving plant (Pseophyte) thriving well in elevations up to 600-1200 m above MSL under an average annual rainfall of 1500-4000 mm and temperature range of 10-350C. India has been the world’s largest producer of cardamom until 1979-80. Later, Guatemala emerged as world’s premier producer and the exporter of cardamom accounting for about 90 per cent of the global trade. Cardamom is also grown lesser extent in Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania.

INTRODUCTION

The Ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba) is the only living representative of the order Ginkgoales, a group of gymnosperms of the family Ginkgoaceae. Ginkgo tree can live for as long as 1000 years and has been present for over 250 million years (“Living Fossil”). The name Ginkgo is believed to have come from the Chinese word sankyo or yin-kuo, meaning “hill apricot” or “silver apricot”. The species name “biloba,” meaning two lobes, refers to the unique twolobed, fanlike leaves. Ginkgo has been used as both food and medicine for thousands of years. It is the only tree to have survived atomic blast in Hiroshima (Singh et al., 2008).Seeds of Ginkgo were recorded in the early Chinese records on herbals as a medicine.

G. biloba extract (GBE), is the extracts of Ginkgo leaves, and is available as filmcoated tablets, liquid formulations or injectable in markets of Europe and America.

Standardized extract of the leaves of the G. biloba, labeled EGb761, is one of the popular herbal supplements. GBE has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries for treating circulatory disorders, asthma, tinnitus, vertigo, and cognitive problems. Currently, GBE is among the most commonly taken phytomedicines globally, and is approved in Germany for treatment of cerebral insufficiency (memory loss associated with Alzheimer, vascular or multiinfarct dementia) and conditions such as, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), vertigo and intermittent claudication that results in poor circulation (Mohanta, 2012).