eChapters

This chapter presents the conclusions of the research study. Based on these conclusions, recommendations relating to the effective implementation and management of Cyber Reference Service (CRS) in agricultural libraries in Maharashtra are made.

6.1 Introduction

The overall aim of this research was to investigate and analyze CRS in the Agricultural College and University libraries of Maharashtra. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach by combining quantitative and qualitative methods to achieve its aims and objectives. 

Introduction

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important fruit crop in arid and semi arid regions. In India, it is grown commercially in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. India is one of the largest producers of pomegranate in the world. During 2020–2021, pomegranate was cultivated over 2.71 lakh ha with an annual production of 30.88 lakh tonnes and a productivity of 11.39 tonnes/ ha in India. Maharashtra is the leading state, with 63% of the area and 62% of total production. In India, pomegranate is available throughout the year (January–December). India has the largest area of pomegranate cultivation globally.

Pomegranate can tolerate heat, drought, and moisture deficit. The area under pomegranate cultivation in India is increasing daily due to its high demand, hardy nature, low cost of cultivation, high yields, better storage quality, and therapeutic values. It has enormous medicinal and nutritional value and is one of the richest sources of antioxidants. Several processed products such as juices, squash, jelly, anardana, and mouth fresheners are prepared by fruit processing. The fruit is mainly used as an ingredient in cooling and refrigerant mixtures and in the preparation of juice, concentrates, condiments, and pastes. The juice is highly nutritious and is recommended for patients suffering from gastric troubles. It contains 16.5% TSS and 0.33% acidity; total sugars, 13.93; reducing sugars, 13.60 and non-reducing sugars, 0.33%; and 9.27 mg/100 g ascorbic acid.

Historical Background: Mendelian Genetics
 
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), the first geneticist, proposed his principles (Mendel’s laws of inheritance) addressing the question of ‘what is inherited and how?’ based on his experimental results with sweet pea. New scientific discoveries supported Mendel’s principles. The chromosome theory of inheritance was proposed based on the cytological observations that transmission patterns of chromosomes are closely associated with Mendel’s principles (Sutton 1903). T.H. Morgan (1866-1945) provided the empirical evidences of this theory using fruit fly, Drosophilla. He demonstrated that genes located close together on the same chromosome co-segregated in his experimental crosses (i.e. linkage), and could be mapped into linear linkage groups which corresponded to chromosomes (Morgan 1934). Thanks to Morgan’s contributions, the failure of independent assortment in Mendelian inheritance could be explained by linkage. In 1908, the equation describing the expected genotype distribution in a random mating population at equilibrium was derived by Hardy and Weinberg (Crow, 1999).

6.1 Introduction

Scientists and engineers have an experimental data of various variables in an experiment. To know the facts and to formulate related theories, they need exact relationship between such variables. So, they require the exact function which defines the outputs with introducing the inputs. For example,

Ohm’s law: which states that voltage of a circuit is proportional to the current flowing in it i.e.

COTTON (Gossypium spp)
Fungal diseases
1) Damping off
Symptoms: The seeds may rot. Initially the roots and hypocotyls become water soaked and pale green in colour. The hypocotyls become constricted above the soil level and seedlings fall down. Causal organism: Pythium aphanidermatum
Management
i) Seed treatment
ii) Growing of resistant varieties.
2) Root rot
Symptoms: Roots of infected plants rot and show shredding of the bark. The affected plants can be easily pulled out.
Causal organism: Rhizoctonia solani

ABSTRACT

A methodology for depiction of Brown Plant Hopper (BPH) pest incidence on rabi rice crop using Remote Sensing (RS) data was attempted. The reflectance and geographically registered RS images of Feb.12, Mar.13, and April 30, 2009  as well as Feb.23 and March 14, 2007 were used to classify the Godavari district for generation of rabi rice crop area map. The rice crop map thus generated was used as an overlaying layer of rice crop mask in GIS to derive other RS based indices described below over this crop mask. Land Surface Temperature (LST) data product for rice growing areas was generated using rice crop mask. Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI), Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) onices derived from MODIS data and NDWI from AWiFS data were correlated with pest count data for two years 2007 and 2009.

Mastitis is a disease of the mammary gland caused by pathogens that find their way into the lumen of the gland through the teat canal. Our efforts have been focused on developing mastitis resistant dairy cattle for a variety of reasons. Firstly, mastitis is a significant detriment to agricultural productivity. Mastitis is on every dairy farm and affects both the production and post harvest segments of the dairy industry. It is clearly a global disease. Secondly, the incidence of mastitis has not declined appreciably since the implementation of the extensive antibiotic therapy and culling of infected animals. Thirdly, considerable effort has been expended in developing vaccines that have not been as efficacious as hoped. Given these past efforts it is far from certain that a truly effective vaccine will ever be realized. Finally, because of the low heritability of mastitis resistance selective breeding has not been a useful tool for combating mastitis. Additionally, there is a strong desire to reduce the on-farm use of those antibiotics that are also used in human medicine, and certainly not least is a desire to improve the welfare of our dairy animals.

Introduction

According to FAO estimates, about 50% total geographical area in India is under various degraded hazards and about 2.1 million ha of land is getting degraded and deforested annually (Sehgal et al. 1998). Out of that underground water in arid and semi-arid areas is saline or sodic in nature. While spices, medicinal and aromatic plants may be a boon for these areas, which not only withstand under adverse conditions but also could be productive and helps in mitigating these problems. However, other crops are remain less or unproductive in these areas.

Spices are low volume and high value crops and have tremendous export potential, which is witnessed by several invasions faced by this Indian peninsula during ancient time. Medicinal and aromatic plants have unequally market potential with the world demand of herbal products growing at the rate of 7 percent per annum (Aishwath and Tarafdar, 2007). Seed spices and aromatic plants are the natural source of flavour, perfumes and fragrance widely exploited by essential oil industries in the world. Owing to considerably diversity of edaphoclimatic conditions ranging from temperate to tropical and arid to sub-humid that prevails in India and an array of medicinal and aromatic flora occurs in wild state. Many exotic essential oil bearing plants, including mints, citronella, geranium, patchouli, lavender and chamomile have been naturalized in India. As the country has emerged as one of the main producers of seed spices and some of the essential oils, theses plants are significant foreign exchange earners. Some of the aromatic plants especially grasses can sustain both biotic as well as abiotc stresses, even in the areas unsuitable for conventional crops (Aishwath et al., 2008). Most of the seed spices crops are seasonal crops and comes up well with limited moisture and nutrients. Therefore, underutilized natural resources can be utilized profitably by crop diversification.

Introduction

Ber (Zizyphus mauritiana L.) is one of the important fruit crops of arid and semi arid zones of the world. It is known by various other names such as ber, bor, bogori, boroior, kool and ruguin Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali and Telegu respectively. In America, it is called jujube or Chinese date. Ber is popularly called “poor man’s fruit crop” but now its status in tropical fruit culture has improved considerably. The fruit is palatable and delicious and is known for its high nutritive value. The crop is considered as minor fruit in this country on the basis of its production in restricted area; popularity and awareness but recently itbecame an important cash crop in some areas and its acreage and production have increased. The plant is usually a piny, evergreen shrub or small tree up to 15 m high, with trunk diameter around 40 cm or even more; spreading crown; stipular spines and many drooping branches. The ripe fruits are mostly consumed raw (Bal and Uppal, 1992). In India it is extensively grown in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Gujrat and Maharashtra. The fruits are quite nutritious, rich in vitamin C, second only to aonla and guava and much higher than citrus and apple. The ripe fruits have high nutritive value, having 13-24 per cent total soluble solids and up to 160 mg/100g vitamin C. The dehydrated fruits are kept for a long time and are consumed in the off season.

Due to rapid spread of commercial cultivation, the crop has become a target of different biotic and abiotic factors causing serious losses. So far, little attention to the diseases of ber has been given as the importance of the crop generally continues in a locality or a particular state. So, it overlooked the national importance particularly crop protection measures, leading to limited knowledge for management of different diseases both in pre-harvest as well as post-harvest stage. Ber is affected by many serious diseases like powdery mildew, leaf spots (Alternaria, Cercospora, Septoria, Cladosporium, Pestalotiopsis etc.), sooty mold, anthracnose, fruit rot etc.

Seed is the basis of agriculture. It is the cheapest and most critical input for sustainable crop production. The response of all other inputs depends upon the quality of the seed to a large extent. The direct contribution of quality seed alone to crop production is about 15 to 20%, and it can be further raised to 45% with improved crop management practices. Quality seed ensures good germination and vigorous growth, resulting in a good crop stand. The Green Revolution witnessed in the country during the mid-sixties resulted from the seed revolution in wheat and rice. After that, there was a consistent increase and record production in food grains, oilseeds, pulses, and all other crops, including fruits and vegetables, due to the development of high-yielding varieties.

The seed itself is a technology that is inherited in a capsulated form. Therefore, the seed sector plays an essential role in disseminating the most recent technology to farmers through the quality seed of high-yielding varieties. The success of any developmental program in agriculture, like NFSM, RKVY, oilseed mission, horticulture mission, etc., depends upon the availability of good quality seed and planting material. Seed security is a prerequisite for food and nutritional security. Therefore, recognizing the facts, many emphases are being given to seed replacement and varietal replacement rates. The growth of the Indian seed industry is faster than the global rate.

Abstract
Legumes are an excellent group of fertility restorer crops which can be grown either as sole crop or as a component crop in the cropping system. As they are tolerant to drought condition, they can be grown throughout the year. The yield of legume crop is largely depending on pest, diseases and weeds. Among these weeds plays a major role as the weed seed bank inside the soil influence the weed population in the cropping season. Hence it is important to manage the weed seed bank for better productivity of legumes. Though legumes are short duration and fast growing crops, the germination percentage of weed seed bank will determine the final yield of legumes. There are many strategies to which the weed seed bank can be controlled to tolerable level before which the weed seed bank present in the soil has to estimate. Annual weed seed bank can be minimized by killing the weeds before they set seeds, harvest weeds, crop rotation, cover crops, inter cropping and ensiling. Weed seed bank depletion can be done by tillage, tricking the weed seeds, conditioning weed seeds, soil solarisation and herbicide application. Thus integrating various technologies may help in effective controlling of weed seeds to tolerable level thereby enhancing the yield of leguminous crops.
Keywords: Estimation of weed seed bank, legumes, tillage, yield, weed seed bank

Value addition is the most talked about word in food processing industry, particularly in export oriented fish processing industry because of the increased realization of valuable foreign exchange. Value can be added to fish and fishery products according to the requirements of different markets. These products range from live fish and shellfish to ready to serve convenience products. As far as fish processing industry is concerned value addition is one of the possible approaches to raise profitability since this industry is becoming highly competitive and increasingly expensive.

There is great demand for seafood/seafood based products in ready to eat “convenience” form. A number of such diverse products have already invaded the western markets. One factor responsible for such a situation is more and more women getting educated and taking up employment. Reasonably good expendable income, education, awareness and consciousness towards hygiene and health, increased emphasis on leisure pursuits etc. are some of the other reasons.

Marketing of value added products is completely different from the traditional seafood trade. It is dynamic, sensitive, complex and very expensive. Market surveys, packaging and advertising are a few of the very important areas, which ultimately determine the successful movement of a new product. Most of the market channels currently used is not suitable to trade value added products. A new appropriate channel would be the super market chains which want to procure directly from the source of supply. Appearance, packaging and display are all important factors leading to successful marketing of any new value added product. The retail pack must be clean, crisp and clear and make the contents appear attractive to the consumer. The consumer must be given confidence to experiment with a new product launched in the market. Packaging requirements change with product form, target group, market area, species used and so on. The latest packaging must also keep abreast with the latest technology.

Abstract

Prolactin is a hormone secreted predominantly from anterior pituitary and imparts important roles related to development of mammary gland, reproductive behaviour and immune response. The objective of this study was to explore restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) pattern of prolactin gene, to estimate gene and genotype frequencies of different restriction fragments and to study the effect of genotypes on milk production and reproduction traits in crossbred cattle Bos taurus x Bos indicus (Jersey x HF x Sahiwal).The present study investigated RFLP within 156bp amplification products of the bovine prolactin gene exon 3 in 30 crossbred cattles selected randomly from a herd using specific set of primers (Forward primer- 5’- CGA GTC CTT ATG AGC TTG ATT CTT -3’ and reverse primer- 5’- GCC TTC CAG AAG TCG TTT GTT TTC -3’). Restriction enzyme digestion with RsaI revealed three patterns in crossbred cattle, one having 156bp fragment (AA genotype), second having 156bp, 82bp and 74bp fragments (AB genotype) and third having 82bp and 74bp fragments (BB genotype) indicating genetic polymorphism. The gene and genotype frequencies in crossbred cattle were found to be 0.78 and 0.22 for A and B alleles and 0.70, 0.17 and 0.13 for AA, AB and BB genotypes, respectively.

ABSTRACT

The estimation of the water requirement of crop is one of the basic needs for crop planning on the farm and for the planning of any irrigation project. Water requirements of crops include the losses due to Evapotranspiration (ET) plus the losses during the application of irrigation water (unavailable losses) and the quantity of water required for special operations such as transplanting and leaching of excess salts for crop growth. It is therefore necessary to estimate the ET and Crop Water Requirement (CWR) for the efficient use of water and increased crop production. In the present study, meteorological data were collected and the crop ET (ETc) and the CWR were estimated using FAO Penmann – Monteith method for the cropping pattern of the Buthangudy canal command area situated at a distance of 2Km from the popular village Sethiathope, Cuddalore district, of Tamil Nadu, India, which is located in between the Kumbhakonam – Chennai NH – 45 main road. The methodology combines the capability of GIS and CWR to produce maps showing spatial distribution of water resources over large areas.

Introduction

The sun is an abundant source of solar energy (average value on horizontal surface 6 kW m^-2 day^-1), which is freely available. This huge source of energy is non-polluting and inexhaustible in nature. It has the potential of supplementing the conventional energy sources to a great extent. There is acute shortage of conventional energy sources, which affects the overall development. Work on the utilization of such a huge, non-polluting and everlasting energy source has been carried out at CAZRI, Jodhpur for various domestic, industrial and agricultural applications in order to supplement the energy demand. This includes the development of a lot of solar thermal devices, such as, solar still, solar dryer, solar cooker, animal feed solar cooker, solar candle device and cool chamber. The details of some of these devices are given as following.

Introduction

In the animal kingdom, there are many animals with a concrete social system in their ranks. Animals like lions, wolves, and apes have complex social systems in their lives. And what is the most important thing in a functional social system? It’s communication! Communication is the most important function in any social system, which binds that system.

And what organism has the most complex social system? It’s humans. Thus, the human social system requires a very complex communication system.

In genetic studies it is necessary to distinguish two causes of correlation; is chiefly pleiotropy, though linkage is a cause of transient correlation, particularly in populations derived from crosses between divergent strains. Pleiotropy is simply the property of a gene whereby it affects two or more characters, so that if the gene is segregating it causes simultaneous variation in the characters as affects. For example, genes that increase growth rate increase both stature and weight, so that they tend to cause correlation between these two characters. The degree of correlation arising from pleiotropy expresses the extent to which two characters are influenced by the same genes. But the correlation resulting from pleiotropy is the overall, or net, effect of all the segregating genes that affect both characters. Some genes may increase both characters, while others increase one and reduce the other the former tend to cause a positive correlation the latter a negative one. So pleiotropy does not necessarily cause a detectable correlation. The correlation resulting from environmental causes is the overall effect of all the environmental factors that vary; some may tend to cause a positive correlation, others a negative one.

The traditional medicines are actually used in human for number of years and therefore its clinical existence comes as a presumption. However, for bringing more objectivity and also to confirm traditional claims, systematic clinical trials are necessary. In Ayurvedic medicine research, clinical experiences, observations or available data becomes a starting point. In conventional drug research it comes at the last. Thus, the drug discovery based on Ayurveda follows a ‘Reverse Pharmacology’ path546.

Nevertheless, all the critical Pharmacopoeial tests such as dissolution time, microbial, pesticide and heavy metals contamination etc. must be in accordance with global standards. It is important to ensure that all the Ayurvedic medicine manufacture is in accordance with Current Good Manufacturing Procedures for herbal products547,548. There have been concerns about quality standards and safety issues of herbal medicines549. The need for new regulations for botanical medicines has also been frequently stressed and some such regulations are coming in force in different parts of the world550,551.