eChapters

Underutilized crops can be found in many different agricultural ecosystems, but they are mainly grown by small landholders in the marginal areas especially in hill agriculture. Some crops remain underutilized because they are in some way not competitive with other species in the same agricultural environment. They are usually characterized by having local importance in consumption and production systems, requiring relatively low inputs, adapting to specific agro-ecological niches, receiving scarce attention by national agricultural and biodiversity conservation efforts, mainly consisting of local types or landraces, and being cultivated with indigenous knowledge. Many underutilized species are adapted to low-input agriculture and depended on by a large number of people in marginal areas in hill agriculture of developing countries.

This chapter attempts to provide a detail picture of one such underutilized crop i.e. Grain Amaranth. In an effort to explain the decrease in grain amaranth cultivation, fanciful myths have arisen. The mystery is especially intriguing when one considers that maize, with which amaranth co-evolved, was selected and developed into a major world crop. The small seed size of amaranth may have been a partial cause for the reduction in amaranth cultivation. A small seeded crop, such as amaranth, requires greater attention to detail in the early parts of the growing season than does a larger seeded crop, such as maize.

This chapter discussed all the factors related to its cultivation, the constraints in the production and importance of grain amaranth in the economy of hill agriculture etc.

Abstract
 
Grains are usually harvested above 20% (wb) moisture level and they are prone to microbial attack at high moisture level. In order to avoid both qualitative and quantitative losses that arise from microbial growth, grains are usually dried to safe moisture level. The safe storage moisture content may vary from 8-16% (wb), depending upon the grain and climate type. Therefore, drying is a necessary step in preventing these losses. Drying also reduces the bulk weight of the materials, thus easing transportation and storage. Drying can occur in thin layer or in deep bed. Different drying theories are proposed to characterize these drying processes. Theoretical as well empirical drying equations have been developed.

Grain engorgement syndrome, also known as grain overload, lactic acidosis, ruminal acidosis, or carbohydrate overload, is a metabolic condition primarily affecting ruminant animals such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats. It occurs when animals consume excessive amounts of readily fermentable carbohydrates, commonly found in grains such as wheat, barley, and corn, or feed concentrates. The sudden overload leads to rapid fermentation in the rumen, causing a cascade of physiological disturbances that can be lifethreatening if not promptly managed.
This condition is of significant importance in livestock farming, particularly where intensive feeding systems, grain supplementation, or unintentional access to stored grains occurs. Proper understanding of the pathophysiology, clinical signs, diagnosis, and nutritional management is crucial for preventing mortality and economic losses in affected herds.
Pathophysiology
Ruminants rely on a microbial ecosystem in their rumen to digest fibre and carbohydrates. The rumen contains a diverse population of bacteria, protozoa, and fungi that ferment ingested feed, producing volatile fatty acids (VFAs) such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate. These VFAs provide energy to the animal. When ruminants ingest a sudden excess of high-starch grains or other fermentable carbohydrates, the balance of the rumen ecosystem is disrupted:
Rapid fermentation: The high starch content is rapidly fermented by grampositive bacteria such as Streptococcus bovis. This leads to a sudden and excessive production of lactic acid.

Q. 1 While operating a combine harvester, the grain not collected by the
machine is called
(A) Field loss         (B) Shattering loss
(C) Gathering loss (D) Reel loss

Abstract
Grain legumes, also known as pulses, are vital to sustainable agriculture due to their roles in enhancing soil fertility, providing essential nutrition, and supporting environmental sustainability. By establishing symbiotic relationships with nitrogen fixing bacteria, legumes naturally enrich soil with nitrogen, reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers and fostering sustainable farming practices. Their inclusion in crop rotations not only boosts soil health but also supports food security, especially in developing countries where they are a key source of plant based protein and nutrients. The impact of climate change, including rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and increased frequency of extreme weather events, presents significant challenges to agriculture. In this context, grain legumes demonstrate considerable climate resilience. Their drought tolerance, heat resistance, and ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen make them well-suited to withstand climate stress. Legumes exhibit mechanisms such as deep root systems, efficient water use, and adaptability to diverse environmental conditions, contributing to their robustness in the face of climate variability. To bolster the role of grain legumes in climate-resilient agriculture, climate-smart practices and technological advancements are essential. These include optimizing planting strategies, adopting water-efficient methods, and breeding for improved resilience traits. Addressing challenges such as climate variability, pest pressures, and resource limitations is crucial for maintaining the benefits of legumes. Future efforts should focus on developing robust management
practices and improved varieties to ensure the continued contribution of grain legumes to food security and environmental sustainability.
Keywords: Climate Resilience, Drought Tolerance, Grain Legumes, Heat Resistance, Sustainable Agriculture, Water Use Efficiency

Abstract
Grain legumes, a group of crops which belong to Fabaceae family, are primarily grown for their edible seeds. Pulses contain a high amount of protein (20-25%), vitamins, and minerals. Consumption of pulses can be beneficial for cardiovascular health, weight management, for diabetics, cancer management, bone health etc. So, grain legumes can play a significant role to address future global food security, environmental sustainability, and nutritional needs. The nutritional value of grain legumes can be significantly enhanced through biofortification, agronomic intervention, processing, and value addition. So, diversification of food habit with pulses and cereals can solve the prolong problem of malnutrition in developing countries including India. Despite such great importance, global food legume production has
been found to increase at a very slow pace. Keywords: Biofortification, Environmental sustainability, Food security, Grain legumes, Nutritional security
Introduction
Grain legumes or pulses are a group of crops which belong to family Fabaceae, are primarily grown for their edible seeds. The common examples of grain legumes include: bean (Phaseolus spp.), lentil (Lens culinaris), chickpea (Cicer arietinum), pea (Pisum sativum), soybean (Glycine max), lupin (Lupinus spp.), broad bean (Vicia faba), igeon pea (Cajanus cajan), grass pea (Lathyrus sativus), black gram (Vigna mungo), green gram (Vigna radiata). Grain legumes can play a significant role to address future global food security, environmental sustainability, and nutritional needs. Pulses are the second most important food crop after cereals and an important source of proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Pulses are popularly known as “Poor man’s meat” and “Rich man’s vegetable”. Pulses contain a high amount of protein (20-25%), which is almost double and triple of the protein content of wheat and rice, respectively and so can contribute significantly to the nutritional security of the country. Besides, they may serve the purpose of protein rich fodder and good quality green manure crop. Pulses can thrive well in low and marginal land with less external inputs. They act as erosion resisting crops because of its deep tap root
system, leafy growth, and close spacing. Pulses can also be grown as paira crop or inter-crop in different growing situations. Being a leguminous crop, it can fix atmospheric nitrogen with the help of its root nodules, resulting in low requirement of external fertilizer. Keeping the importance of pulses in mind, United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) also declared 2016 as the ‘International Year of Pulses’.

3.1 Introduction

The production of food grains in India is around 200 million tonnes and most of the grains are converted to primary products after primary processing such as threshing, dehulling, de-branning. Some of the grains are converted to secondary products such as flour or grits. The yields of primary and secondary products range between 65-80% indicating a wastage of 20-35%. These wastes lead to unclean surroundings and air pollution due to fine dust. Hence, proper waste management/utilization of food grain processing industries has become a societal need for a clean environment.

The term ‘waste’ has different meanings to different people. It can be retractions from the main process or less utilizable by-products or undesirable waste material depending on the commodity. All food-processing industries generate wastes and create problems for its management. The best way the food processing industry can treat its waste is to avoid producing it. Much of the waste now being produced or generated in some food processing plants can become a managed resource for producing economic credits. In fact, waste utilization is one of the world’s prominent industries and its activities cut across the normal divisions into which industries are placed. Similarly, there will be wastes from agriculture, animal and meat industries, textile, rubber etc. Even the local governmental activities that collect and dispose the household wastes become apparent in terms of the huge size of it.

Abstract

Grain size distribution patterns of five rivers – Hooghly, Bhagirathi, Damodar, Ajoy and the Usri, were critically analyzed and compared with three model distributions: log-normal, log-hyperbolic and log-skew-Laplace. The log-normal and log-skew-Laplace are the limiting distributions of log-hyperbolic family. The Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system from where the sand samples were collected is tidal in nature whereas the other three rivers are non-tidal. The tidal effect on grain size distribution patterns was also studied. Bed load samples were collected from the foreset of different bedform sizes. A total number of 126 sediment samples were collected from different sections of the rivers under study.

It is observed that the grain size distribution pattern of the tidal stretch of the Hooghly-Bhagirathi river system has a tendency of attaining a log-skew-Laplace distribution model whereas the other three non-tidal river sediments show a clear log-normal distribution pattern as a best-fit statistical model.

A possible reason has been attributed. During prolonged transport of bed material, the coarser and finer sediments are separated in the following manner: coarser sediments are buried below the advancing ripple fronts whereas the finer sediments are transported further downstream as suspension load. As a result, sediments of a narrow range of size classes are active in the distribution pattern giving rise to symmetric and unimodal distribution patterns which are the main criteria of log-normality. On the other hand, due to the upstream and downstream movement during sediment transportation in tidal reaches, the same sediments are constantly reworked and the segregation of different size fractions is hindered causing a log-skew-Laplace distribution pattern.

Food is a vital requirement for all living beings, as it provides the essential nutrients necessary for growth, development, and recovery. Humans depend on both plants and animals for nourishment, which we acquire through agricultural practices and animal farming. With the increasing global demand for food, crop yields have risen, which has led to a greater reliance on warehouses for grain storage. However, merely increasing food production is insufficient to combat hunger and malnutrition, as food security also heavily depends on ensuring that food is accessible to everyone. Crops, however, are exposed to various threats, such as pests, weeds, and diseases, which can drastically reduce yields if not managed adequately.
A significant issue is storage losses, which are driven by both biological elements (such as fungi, insects, and rodents) and environmental factors (such as unsuitable storage conditions or extreme temperatures). These losses result in various negative consequences, including:
• Reduced food quality
• Lower seed germination rates
• Loss of weight in crops
• Discolored produce
These problems can impede the marketing of harvested crops, leading to unsold goods and considerable losses for farmers and distributors.
To reduce these losses, it’s crucial to adopt proper measures like efficient treatments and continuous monitoring of storage conditions. Grains should be stored in environments that prevent deterioration. This can be achieved by ensuring thorough cleaning before storage, drying grains thoroughly (both under the sun and in the shade), and taking steps to control pests, including fumigation.

11.1 Grainage
Grainages are establishments where disease free and quality seeds are produced on scientific lines.
11.2 Grainage Activities
• Procurement of seed cocoons
Within the cocoon market, the government can buy the necessary number of multivoltine cocoons from the seed cocoon market. The purpose of a grainage is to produce attractive seeds. This method involves unique procedures, such as the manufacture of silkworm seeds for the market. Half of the bivoltine cocoons should also be obtained from bivoltine cocoon marketplaces to guide hybrid seeds.
• The seed cocoons are packed
Loosely in perforated packing containers or bamboo baskets in small portions and are transported all through cooler hours of the day. Initially the seed cocoons arriving on the grainages are subjected to inflexible selection. In selection only sound and uniform cocoons conforming to the characteristics of the race are selected and defective cocoons and so forth., are rejected. Strengthen detection of pebrine disease, if any before the commencement of operation of each batch enables in keeping off excellent loss to the grainages.

15.1 Fondant

The word fondant is said to come from the French verb fondre to dissolve. Confectionery fondants are normally made by boiling a sugar and glucose syrup in order to concentrate it before the mixture is cooled with beating to produce fine sucrose crystals. Some fondants used in baking are made by mixing icing sugar with a sucrose and glucose mixture. The icing sugar has a small particle size because it has been milled whereas the sucrose in a crystallised fondant has small crystals. It is possible to make a fondant using dextrose instead of sucrose. Crystalline dextrose has a positive heat of solution, i.e. heat is absorbed, and this produces a marked cooling effect which goes well with a peppermint flavour, but one which is not particularly attractive economically, but they can be in some other countries.

1.    The outer layer of cereals is called

(a) Pericarp

(b) Germ

(c) Seed coat

(d) Endosperm

2.    The grain or edible seed of a cereal is known botanically as a

(a) Testa

(b) Caryopsis

(c) Seed coat

(d) Endocarp

Cereals and pulses are the staple food in India, thus it has to be stored by producers in their homes and by traders and government agencies. Variations in the season i.e., warm and high humidity weather is highly conducive to proper development and rapid multiplication of storage insect pests. Almost all insect pests of stored grains have a remarkably high rate of multiplication and within one season, they may destroy 9-10% of the grains and contaminate the rest with undesirable odors and flavors. The type of insects infesting grains vary and include weevils, moths and beetles. Apart from this it is necessary to control or kill egg, larval, pupal and adult stages of the insect. After proper cleaning and drying the produce is stored where damage can be caused due to cross-infestation or infestation already left in the produce. Grains are stored in different types of receptacles and to protect it, different protectants are being used since from the early days. The success in the use of these protectants (organic, inorganic or inert) depends upon the effect on the grain, killing of the insects, practicability, period of storage and lastly the physical and chemical state of treated seeds.

1. Inert dusts

Inert dusts are fine powders chemically inactive but cause considerable insecticidal activity by mechanical abrassing and physical absorption of moisture proofing layers of insect integument. The use of inert dust was initiated sometimes during World War II. Some common inert dusts are ashes, clays, gypsum, lime, magnesite, Nakki, silica, talk, phosphates, diatomaceous earth. It was reported that though most of the dust proved effective and convenient to use but it is difficult to remove it and clean as it goes inside the infested and damaged grains. The dust can only kill larvae and adults moving in between the grains. Once any stage of insects entered inside the grain, it is beyond the reach of the dust.

Ascochyta Blight
Diagnostic Symptoms
• All above ground parts of the plant are infected.
• Round or elongated lesions, bearing irregularly depressed brown spot and surrounded by a brownish red margin on leaf.
• Similar spots may appear on the stem and pods.
• Spots on the stem and pods have pycnidia arranged in concentric circles as minute black dots.
• When the lesions girdle the stem, the portion above the point of attack rapidly dies.
• If the main stem is girdles at the collar region, the whole plant dies (Fig.1).
Etiology
Scientific Classification
Kingdom : Fungi
Division : Eumycota

Properties

1. Bacteroides, Dichelobacter and Fusobacterium are major gram negative anaerobes isolated from human and animals. Other gram negative anaerobes are listed below (Table-1).

       2.   They are tolerant to oxygen in comparison to strict anaerobes. They do not die after oxygen exposure

       3.         They naturally inhabit the intestine and mucosal surfaces of human and animals. Majority of them are opportunistic pathogens. Often they cause mixed bacterial infection along with aerobes. Aerobes remove oxygen and create an anaerobic condition favourable for their growth. Aerobes may also supply other growth requirements. For e.g. Porphyromonas asaccharolytica requires vitamin K for its growth, supplied by another bacterium, not the host.

1. Downy mildew
Diagnostic Symptoms
• Symptoms appear on all aerial and tender parts of the vine.
• Irregular, yellowish, translucent spots on the upper surface of the leaves.
• Correspondingly on the lower surface, dirty white, powdery growth of fungus appears.
• Affected leaves become, yellow and brown and gets dried due to necrosis
• Premature defoliation.
• Dwarfing of tender shoots.
• Infected leaves, shoots and tendrils are covered by whitish growth of the fungus.
• White growth of fungus on berries which subsequently becomes leathery and shrivels. Infected berries turn hard, bluish green and then brown.
• Later infection of berries results in soft rot symptoms. Normally, the fully grown or maturing berries do not contact fresh infection as stomata turn non-functional.
• No cracking of the skin of the berries (Fig.1). 

Grape cultivation is one of the most remunerative farming enterprises in India. Considered the “Food of Gods” by the ancients, the little juicy ball holds more mysteries than we can think of. Classified by biologists as a ‘true’ berry, it has fleshy insides all the way to the tiny seed, making it a strong powerhouse of nutrition and energy. As one of nature’s richest source of antioxidants, the grape is priceless in its nutritional value. In fact many dieticians believe that it helps lower the incidence of two of the deadliest diseases in the urban world- coronary disease and cancer. In its juice form, the grape is known to cleanse the liver and remove excess uric acid from the body. One interesting but little known fact is that grape seeds are healthier than the fruit itself. They contain powerful antioxidants serving to prevent premature ageing, disease and decay. Grapes, one of the most delicious fruits, are rich sources of vitamins A, C, and B6. In addition to this they contain essential minerals like potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus and magnesium.

The disease attacks all the growth stages of plant affecting all above-ground parts. Plant covered with powdery patches leads to distortion, malformation and discolouration of leaves especially young leaves. Powdery patches gradually turn to grey and fi nally dark colour. Affected fl ower fails to develop fruit. Young berries turn black, irregular in shape and develop cracks. Sometimes berries ripe partially and rot. Vines get wilted.

Grapevine stem girdler:  Sthenias grisator : Cerambycidae

This is a pest that can also survive on mango, rose, cocoa, coffee, almond, and mulberry. The ovipositing adult causes wilting of branches and then the entire vine. Adults are medium-sized, grey coloured beetles with a white spot at the center of each elytron. They are active at night.

Eggs are deposited in clusters of 2-4, underneath loose bark of girdled branches. Eggs are oval and enveloped in a white parchment like covering. Adults emerge out and start ovipositing individual eggs at a point in the vine in a circular fashion so that the vine dries up above this point. Egg period takes about 8 days. The grub has dark brown head and mouth has a pair of prominent mandibles, each with two teeth. The grub continues its life as a semi saprophyte and pupates in the same tunnel. A single generation can occupy one year.