eChapters

Improved Varieties of Tuber Vegetables

A. POTATO

Solid wastes, the unavoidable consequences of civilization, are the useless and unwanted heterogeneous solid materials discarded by human being. Human greed is the major factor in creation of unwanted solid wastes. With increase in human population and its demands, there is an increase in production of various types of wastes. When human being did not come to the earth there was very little wastes like tree leaves, animal excreta or dead parts which nature used to digest and produces something beautiful every time. Still there are certain remote areas free from wastes where human being could not reach due to inaccessible condition of terrain, forests and islands. Now–a-days wastes are found even in the top of Mt. Everest or in the interior of Antarctica.

Role of Biotechnological Approaches

In our fore-going chapters, we have studied variety of plant products such as alkaloids, glycosides, volatile or essential oils, gums and mucilage and oleoresins with varied role to play to the plants as well as to human.Knowledge of plants and knowledge of healing have been closely linked. It is well established that industries have many direct and indirect effects on human population. Increased stress is most evident at the same time health awareness goes parallel in the recent times. Most of the natural plant products are compounds biosynthetically derived from primary metabolites such as amino acids, carbohydrate metabolic intermediates and fatty acids. These secondary metabolites are the major sources of pharmaceuticals, food additives, fragrance and pesticides.

Application of biotechnology know how helps to synthesize the novel molecules and also could be beneficial to enhance the production of secondary metabolites. Classical definition of biotechnology states that it is “The use of living organisms or their products to enhance our lives and our environment.” The word Pharming is commonly use to describe genetically engineered plants or livestock to produce medically useful products –predominantly protein drugs. Plants or animals are genetically engineered to contain genes capable of producing a biologic or drug compound. Therapeutic proteins are designed to treat illness includes serum proteins, cytokines, growth regulators, anti coagulants, antbiotics, lysosomal enzymes and plant secondary metabolites.

• Nutritional diseases

 • Viral diseases

 • Prion, Mycoplasmal, Rickettsial, Chlamydial, Spirochaetal and Bacterial

diseases

 • Fungal diseases

 • Parasitic diseases

 • Toxic conditions

 • Miscellaneous conditions

Shrubs are main filler plants of the gardens and have wide range of variation with regard to growth, leaf texture and flower (shape, size and colour). They continue to bloom all most round the year and help to keep the gardens presentable. These are the reasons for selecting shrubs for plantation in every type of garden. The way shrubs influence general landscape with their exquisite shape, size, foliage, flower and fragrance are incredible. In residential and small gardens, there may be limited room for planting trees but accommodating shrubs is never a problem as they occupy small space. Similarly, large parks and gardens are also ideal place where the shrubs can be fully utilized in various ways.

Classification

Availability of shrubs is large in numbers. Selection of right type as per design of the garden, is an important task as these are main filler plants of the gardens. Basic knowledge on growth habit and flowering is necessary for their judicious use. Therefore, shrubs have been classified on the basis of height, growth habit, foliage, flower colour, fragrance etc. for facilitating proper selection.

Paeonia emodi Royle. (Paeoniaceae): Eng.- Himalayan Paeony; HindiUdsalap; Kash.- Mamekh [W]. A shurby perennial, found in W. Himalayas from Kashmir to Kumoan at 2400- 3300 m altitudes. Flowers yellowish white with a bunch of orange-yellow stamens.

Salt affected soils can be defined as the soils containing excess amount soluble salts in their profiles in a proportion that adversely affect to soil properties and ultimately on crop growth. The soluble salts present in these soils are composed primarily with calcium, magnesium and sodium as cationic and chlorides sulfates and carbonates as anionic constituents along with the presence of potassium, nitrate and others as minor quantities. All soils invariably contain some soluble salts, but they cause harmful effects on crop growth only when accumulates in excess amount in soil solution or increase their concentration in exchange complex of the soil. Based on the presence of sodium salts and the predominance of sodium in the exchange complex, salt affected soils are classified into main categories of 1) Saline soils – contain excess soluble sodium in soil solution with little or no sodium content in exchange complex, 2) Alkaline (Sodic) soils – contain appreciable quantity of sodium adsorbed in exchange complex of soil but may or may not contain soluble sodium salts in soil solution. These soils are also divided into following types –

Supply is the amount of a good or service sellers are willing to offer for sale at a specific price, in a specific market, over a specific time.
Stock vs. Supply
• Stock: All the milk a farmer has—say, 1,000L in tanks.
• Supply: What he sells—500L at Rs 50/L today. Supply is different from stock, as stock refers to the total quantity of a commodity that exists in the market, while supply is the quantity that is usually offered for sale at a particular price.
Law of Supply
The law of supply explains the functional relationship between the price of a good and its supply. When all other factors remain constant, an increase in price leads to an increase in supply. This means there is a direct proportional relationship between price and supply.
Exceptions
1. Land, rare goods, and labour supply in certain cases do not follow the law of supply.
2. The supply of rare goods cannot be changed with price fluctuations.

Introduction

The Himalayan Moutains that is relatively a younger formation and geologically a very complex occupies most of the Arunachal Pradesh. The mountain terrain covers an area of about 86000 sq. km with elevation ranging from 400 to 6000 m above mean sea level (Satapathy and Dutta 1999). The wet tropical and sub-tropical climate which prevails in most part of the Arunachal Pradesh, there is usual phenomenon of erosion and land degradation by the action of water. It is estimated by the application of USLE for Arunachal Pradesh that the total amount of about 669.35 million tones of soil is eroded annually with an average rate of 90.7 tonnes /ha/year (Singh, 1999).

Arunachal Pradesh falls under upper Brahamaputra river system constituted by 10 major river basins. They are Tawang, Kameng, Dikrong, Subansiri, Siang, Sesseri, Dibang-Tellu, and Tirap-Tiso. In Arunachal Pradesh, Dikrong river is named after joining of two main rivers Pachin and Para . In the catchments of Dikrong river light textured unstable soils with the prevalent practice of Jhum Cultivation makes the entire catchments susceptible to erosion. In every monsoon the river Dilrong carries tremendous amount of silt, gravel, small boulder and causes flood in some parts of the catchments susceptible to erosion. Singh (1999) observed that loss rate through Dikrong River was 100.98 tones/ha/year. This indicates serious threat to soil resources and there is need for urgent treatment for sediment control in Dikrong river bash.

India is bestowed with a wide range of agro-climatic and soil conditions. Therefore, almost all types of fruits can be grown in one or the other parts of the country. India is the second largest producer of fruits next to China. In India, fruit crops occupied 6.5 million hectares and it produces 96.75 million metric tonnes of fruits. India has exported fruits worth Rs. 4817.35 crores (692.01 USD Millions) (National Horticulture Board).

Improvement of fruit crops is difficult because of long gestation period, high heterozygosity, scanty information on inheritance pattern, often cross pollination, excessive fruit drop, parthenocarpy and less number of seeds restricting the availability of hybrid seedlings for evaluation. Even though, planned hybridization and clonal selections have been attempted in a number of fruit crops and these efforts have resulted in the development of promising varieties (mango, grape, guava, papaya, sapota, banana, etc). However, systematic and dedicated efforts are still required for the development of ideal varieties through modern tools in fruit crops.

In future, search for desired gene, critical study of inheritance pattern and use of biotechnological tools require due attention in combining ideal characteristics in varietal improvement programme of fruit crops.

1. The nucleus seed in cereals is produced by

   a) Ear to Row method

   b) Plant selection

   c) Progeny selection

   d) Head selection

2. Foundation seed is the progeny of

   a) Truthfully Labeled seed

   b) Foundation seed stage I

   c) Nucleus seed

   d) Breeder seed

Though many of the insect species are injurious to man, his crops and his livestock in different ways, not all the insects are injurious. Some insect species are beneficial to man in many ways.  A  few  are  productive insects and yield materials directly useful to man. Of these, the most important ones are the honeybees, which give honey and bee wax, the silkworms, which give silk and the lac insects, which give lac. Some other insects are useful to man indirectly in many ways.

productive insects

1. Honeybees (Apis species)
Order - Hymenoptera
Family - Apidae

Kinds of honeybees

There are five kinds of honeybees in India. They are :
Apis dorsata - the rock bee
Apis florea - the little bee
Apis indica - the Indian bee
Apis mellifera - the European bee
Melipona iridipennis - the dammer or stingless bee

Multipurpose trees and shrubs are defined as all woody perennials that are purposefully grown to provide more than one significant contribution to the production and/or service functions of a land-use system that they occupy. In agroforestry systems, different species of trees and shrubs can be planted with many types of crops in a variety of patterns. Thus, it is required to know about the methods of propagation and nursery raising, planting and other silvicultural management practices along with the diverse uses of multipurpose trees and shrubs of tropical and subtropical areas before their selection for forestry and agroforestry activities. It is important to select the most suitable tree species since it is not easy to replace them once they have been planted.

In the context of a thesis, theoretical orientation refers to the conceptual or theoretical framework or perspective that informs and shapes the overall approach and analysis of the research (Natalie, 2022). It involves selecting and adopting a specific set of theories, concepts, or models that provide a foundation for understanding and interpreting the research topic. The theoretical orientation helps to guide the methodology, and provide a coherent framework for organizing and analysing the data.

Theoretical orientation in a thesis serves several purposes. It helps to establish a theoretical basis for the study, providing a context for the research and connecting it to existing knowledge and theories in the field. It also helps to guide the selection of appropriate research methods and data analysis techniques. The theoretical orientation shapes the overall structure and content of the thesis, ensuring that the study is grounded in relevant theories and concepts and contributes to the existing body of knowledge. By adopting a specific theoretical orientation, the researcher can provide a clear and systematic framework for understanding and interpreting the findings of the study. This orientation also helps to establish credibility and validity for the research, as it demonstrates the researcher’s awareness of and engagement with the existing theoretical perspectives in the field.

This chapter addresses crucial terminology and concepts essential for effectively communicating the ideas of the current study. It lays the groundwork for empirical investigation and aids in the selection of predictor variables. Additionally, this section involves a scholarly and theoretical exercise that influences the operational definition and content of the research. It combines conceptual inputs, axiomatic inputs, logical discussions, and the pursuit of knowledge to construct a theory that aligns with the research objectives and designs.

The greenhouse technology is all about the controlling of ambient climatic factors to create a favourable ‘micro-climate’ for the crop growth. The magnitude of such control may differ from minimal to maximum. It may control single (like rain) to multiple aspects (like rain, temperature, humidity, sun-light, wind, carbon-di-oxide, etc in combination). It can simply be done by manipulating natural factors using the suitable/appropriate design of the greenhouse or can be done in complex form by using/installing different devices and packages (may be software) with necessary automation in a specifically designed greenhouse.

It is a vast subject and very difficult to have a thumb-rule for such climate control mechanism due to seasonal climatic variations and most importantly due to the inter-relation effect between each and every climatic factors. Thus, it should be given sufficient space to maneuver the mechanism designed for a specific greenhouse targeting a specific crop.

Ways to control these climatic factors in a greenhouse

There are two basic ways to control the climate inside greenhouse.

Primarily, through a suitable design of the greenhouse itself, the inside microclimate can be controlled, obviously up to a certain level. Through manipulation of the design, particularly the naturally ventilated system, the rain water, temperature, humidity, CO_2, wind, etc can be controlled up to a certain level in favour of the crop.

Secondarily, by introducing equipments, tools, devices, etc we can control the micro-climate of a greenhouse. In most cases, it can take care of a number of climatic factors, like temperature and humidity, sun-light and temperature, etc simultaneously to provide a crop-wise micro-climate inside.

Frequently we use both the basic controlling methods, in combination, to achieve the required climate control system in a particular greenhouse.

We have already discussed about the different climatic factors that affect the crop micro-climate. Now we will discuss the basic control mechanism of each and every climatic factors and the related technology that can be utilized for greenhouse.

Pongamia pinnata or Mellettia pinnata or Pongamia glabra or Derris indica (2n=2x=22) is a tropical ever green fast growing leguminous tree, with glabrous, glossy and deciduous leaves. The tree is native to India and South Asia and also found in Oceania.

Alimentary canal of an insect is a tubular structure passing through the body that provides the special internal environment for the food to be mechanically and chemically disintegrated and brought to the vicinity of absorbent cells. Hence, it is involved in the transport of nutrients to the individual cells. It is concerned with ingestion, trituration (chewing), digestion, absorption of nutrient material into haemolymph and egestion of unused food materials. It is tubular structure, which extends from mouth to the anus. It is divided into three distinct regions, namely fore-gut (stomodaeum), mid-gut (mesenteron) and hind-gut (proctodaeum). The fore- and hind-guts are ectodermal in origin and the mid-gut is endodermal.

Longitudinal and circular (intrinsic) muscles are usually associated with each of these three regions and by means peristaltic contractions move the food along the alimentary canal. The functional stomach is the mesenteron usually a circular valve-like fold separates the cavities between stomodaeum and mesenteron is known as stomodael or cardiac valve, and the one closing the entrance to the proctodaeum as the proctodaeum or pyloric valve.

Fore-gut

An insect’s mouth, located centrally at the base of the mouthparts, is a muscular valve (sphincter) that marks the “front” of the foregut. Food in the buccal cavity is sucked through the mouth opening and into the pharynx by contractile action of cibarial muscles. These muscles, located between the head capsule and the anterior wall of the pharynx, create suction by enlarging the volume of the pharynx (like opening a bellows). This “suction pump” mechanism is called the cibarial pump. It is especially well-developed in insects with piercing/sucking mouthparts.

‘Nematodes’, otherwise known as ‘eel worms’, ‘thread worms’, ‘round worms’, and ‘nemas’ are unsegmented, smooth-bodied, mostly minute, worm-like metazoan organisms. They are classified under the Phylum - Nematoda. The term ‘Nematode’ has been derived from the two Greek words ‘Nema’ = thread and ‘Eidos’ = form, which means thread-like organisms. At present, the nematodes, which are exclusively parasitic on man and livestock are studied under ‘Helminthology’ or ‘Parasitology’, while the plant parasitic or phytonematodes, as well as free-living nematodes are studied under ‘Nematology’, a branch of biological science that exclusively deals with nematodes. Cobb coined the term Nematology in about 1920.

Nematodes are ubiquitous and are found every where life can sustain. They can survive in any type of environment and are found from the arctics to the tropics and from the oceans to the top of hills. Though basically aquatic, nematodes have adopted terrestrial habits. They are mostly found in the soil around the rhizosphere of roots of plants. They constitute 80 - 90 per cent of all multicellular organisms and the number of nematodes may vary from 1.8 - 120.0 million per sq. m. of soil according to Kevan (1965). At present the number of established species is about 15,000, but there may be several thousands more.

Formulation of meat and sea food products requires various ingredients which are commonly known as food additives. Food additives are those non-meat ingredients which are used to enhance colour, flavour, aroma and texture of the meat and sea food products. These food products can fulfil the demand of modern consumers. As per the definition of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food additives are those substance which are used to provide a technical effect in foods. The use of food additives has become more prominent in recent years, due to the increased production of prepared, processed, and convenience foods. Additives are used for flavour and appeal, food preparation and processing, freshness, and safety. These additives can be classified as curing ingredients, extenders and binders, flavour enhancers and other additives. For the formulation of different products both raw materials and ingredients should be of food grade and sound hygienic strength. In the starting of this chapter we will discuss about ingredients used then the specific formulations will be discussed for better understanding of meat and sea food processing.

Curing Ingredients

Curing agents such as salt, phosphate, sugars, nitrite and nitrate, sodium ascorbate and erythorbate etc. have traditionally been used in various meat formulations from long back. The details of these ingredients have already been discussed in chapter-8 of this book. So we will try to discuss other ingredients which are relevant for meat and sea food products other than these ingredients. Cure accelerators such as ascorbates and erythorbates are used to speed the curing process. They also stabilize the colour of the final product. The examples are ascorbic acid, erythorbic acid, sodium erythorbate, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, glucono delta lactone (GDL) etc. Glucono-delta-lactone (GDL) acts as a curing accelerator in meat and meat products. It is permissible up to 1% in sausages and up to this level it lowers the pH about 0.5 thus inhibits the growth of spoilage micro-organisms. GDL also facilitate the cured colour development.

Soil and water are the basic resources in drylands. Soil supports plant life by providing a medium for their growth and development. It is a non-renewable natural resource and susceptible to rapid degradation through various forms of erosion processes. Worldwide, around 52% of total productive land has been degraded by various kinds of degradation processes and almost 80% of the terrestrial land is affected by water erosion .Further, annually ~10 million hectares (Mha) of cropland becomes an unproductive at the global level due to soil erosion with an average rate of 30 t ha−1 year−1 soil erosion .In India, out of 328 million hectares of geographical area, 68 million hectares are critically degraded while 107 million hectares are severely eroded. Soil degradation in India is estimated to be occurring on 147 million hectares (Mha) of land, including 94 Mha from water erosion, 16 Mha from acidification, 14 Mha from flooding, 9 Mha from wind erosion, 6 Mha from salinity, and 7 Mha from a combination of factors (Battacharya et al., 2015).