eChapters

Toxic elements like Cadmium (Cd), Fluoride (F), heavy metals, radioactive metals are associated with mainly rock phosphates, other organic wastes like sewage sludge and pollutants. Their chemistry is similar to plant nutrients and replace them in their physiology leading to reduced uptake of nutrients, productivity and contaminated food chain.

Synonyms : Aphthous fever; Contagious aptha;  Panzootic aptha; Vesicular aptha.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is an acute, highly communicable viral disease affecting cloven hoofed animals, both domesticated and wild. It is the most contagious disease known in the animal kingdom. It is characterized by vesicular eruptions in the epithelium of the buccal cavity, tongue, nares, muzzle, feet, teats and udder.

Synonyms : Hog eholera, European swine fever

It is an acute highly infectious viral septicaemia of swine of all ages characterized by rapid and sudden onset, high morbidity and mortality and generalized  haemorrhages. A chronic course  followed by recovery after treatment has been reported in older pigs and appearance of new born pigs with congenital defects.

Etiology : The etiological agent causing hog cholera is a linear  single stranded positive sense RNA virus under the genus Pestivirus and family Flaviviridae. The virions are spherical, 40-50 nm in diameter  and consist of a tightly adherent lipid bilayer envelope covered with glycoprotein peplomers surrounding an icosahedral capsid of 28-35 nm in diameter. The genome is 12 kb in length with 5’end capped but  3’end  not  polyadenylated. The genes for structural proteins are located at 5’ end of genome. The virus replicates in the cytoplasm and matures within cytoplasmic vesicles. Though there is only one antigenic type of the virus, a number of strains of variable virulence and antigenicity has been reported. The causative agent was first thought to be a gram negative bacterium named Salmonella cholera suis. Later, it was confirmed that the disease is caused by a  virus.

Synonym : Hydrophobia, Lyssa, Jalatanka

This is an acute highly fatal viral disease of all warm blooded animals including man characterized by signs of abnormal behaviour, nervous symptoms (increased excitability and irritability), impairment of consciousness, ascending paralysis and death. The disease was variously known as lytta or lyssa coming from the belief that the disease was caused by a worm under the tongue (lytta) or hydrophobia, which describes the thirst and fear of water associated with the disease. The English name rabies derived from Latin word ‘Rabere’ which has been derived from Sanskrit word ‘Rabhas’  meaning raging, furious, savage, madness or   to do violence whereas Greek term hydrophobia is now specifically used  for rabies in man. The symptom hydrophobia (fear of water) is developed due to painful spasm of muscles of deglutition.

Synnoyms : Pseudorinderpest, Goat plaque, Goat catarrhal fever

It is a severe rinderpest like disease of small ruminants viz., sheep, goat and wild ruminants characterized by pyrexia, catarrhal inflammation of ocular and nasal mucous membrane, erosive stomatitis, enteritis and pneumonia. The disease is also called goat plaque, kata, pseudorinderpest and  stomatitis pneumo-enteritis complex. The current and standard name of the disease was chosen by the International Workshop of the disease in Ibadan, Nigeria, 1980.

Synonyms : Variola capra

It is a malignant disease of goats characterized by high rise of body temperature and generalized pock lesions.

Distribution : Goat pox has been reported from all parts of the world. Various workers have reported the  outbreaks of the disease from different states of India. It is widely prevalent in W.B. and may attain epidemic proportion with mortality rate of 80% in kid and ~50% in adults.

Synonyms : Variola ovine, ovine pox

Sheep pox causes a severe and highly contagious disease in sheep which is listed in group A disease of the OIE. It is defined as a malignant pox of sheep characterized by fever and generalized development of pock lesions. Lesions first appear as vesicles which later turn into pustules on the exposed parts of the body. There is high mortality rate in lambs.

Distribution :  The disease is in existence since very long in Asia and Europe. It is prevalent in many areas of middle East countries, Africa, Asia and  Mediterranean countries. There are lot of disease outbreaks in India around the year. European Union with the exception of occasional sporadic outbreak in eastern areas of Greece, U.S.A. and Australia are free from the disease.

Synonyms : Catarrhal fever, Sore mouth, Epizootic catarrh, Sore muzzle, Pseudo foot and mouth disease, Malarial catarrhal fever.

It is an infectious, noncontagious arthropod borne viral disease of domestic and wild ruminants namely sheep, goat , cattle, camels, llamas, deer and antelopes. This is predominantly a disease of sheep but occasionally cattle and  goats are subclinically affected. The disease is characterized by high fever, catarrhal stomatitis, rhinitis, enteritis and lameness due to inflammation of the coronary bands and sensitive laminae of the feet. There are at least  25 serotypes of bluetongue virus worldwide within the BTV serogroup. Genetic variability occurs within a group due to genetic drift of individual gene segments and genetic reassortment when ruminants or other vectors are infected with more than one strain.

Synonyms :  Viral bovi. rhinotracheitis, Red nose, I.B.R, Infectious pustular vulvovaginits (IPV), Coital exanthema, Infectious pustular balanoposthitis (IPB), Bovine herpes virus 1(BHV 1).

It is a highly infectious disease of bovine characterized by high fever, rhinotracheitis, conjunctivitis, with a short course and high recovery rate. Encephalitis, the systemic form of the disease in new born calves, infectious pustular vulvovaginits/balanoposthitis are other syndromes caused by the same virus. Genetic isolates of various clinical isolates has found subtypes of BHV 1; a respiratory subtype BHV 1.1, a genital subtype BHV1.2 and an encephalatic subtype BHV 1.3, which is now termed as BHV 5.

Synonyms :  Three days sickness, Stiff  sickness,  Dengu fever of cattle, Bovine epizootic fever and Lazy man’s disease.

Bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) is a viral disease of cattle, Bos Taurus, Bos indicus and Bos javanicus and water buffalo Bubalus bubalis, although  subclinically infect a greater range of ruminant species. Although the disease has a variety of names, bovine ephemeral fever is most commonly used  and is very apt. The disease in cattle is characterized  by acute febrile reaction, stiffness, lameness and spontaneous recovery in three days.  The morbidity may be high but the mortality is low. It mainly occurs in subtropical and temperate regions of Africa, Asia and Australia.

Canine parvovirus 2 (CPV-2), the causative agent of  acute haemorrhagic enteritis and myocarditis in dogs, is one of the most important  pathogenic viruses. It is a highly contagious  and often fatal disease.  CPV-2 was first recognized in 1977 and since then it has been well established as an enteric pathogen of dogs throughout the world causing  high morbidity (100%) and frequent mortality up to 10%.   The disease is characterized by 2 prominent clinical forms (i)  enteritis with vomition and diarrhea in dogs of all ages (ii) myocarditis and subsequent heart failure in pups of less than  3 months of age. The virus was named CPV-2 in order to differentiate it from a closely related parvovirus of canine known as CPV-1 or minute  virus of canine (MVC). MVC, a completely different parvovirus, had not been associated with   natural disease until 1992.

Synonyms : Black leg, quarter ill
This is an acute infectious but non contagious disease of cattle, goat, sheep, swine and deer  caused by Cl. chauvoei characterized by development of focal gangrenous and emphysematous myositis. This gives rise to crepitation and serosanguinous swelling in heavy muscles especially in gluteal muscles and associated with severe toxaemia and high mortality.

Synonymous  :  Pearl’s disease, scrofula

It is a chronic insidious contagious disease of man and animals caused by  tubercle bacilli characterized by development of tubercles in lung tissue, lymph nodes or other organs resulting in caseation and calcification. The tubercles are frequently located in lungs and lymph nodes. But they may be formed in the liver, spleen, intestine, peritoneum, meninges and long bones.

Synonyms : Bang’s disease, Contagious abortion, Infectious abortion, Enzootic abortion, Undulant fever, Malta fever, Mediterranean fever

Brucellosis, one of the most ancient diseases,  continues to be a problem for humans and animals throughout the world causing enormous economic losses and significant human morbidity in endemic areas. The bacterial pathogen is classified by the CDC as a category B pathogen that has the potential for development as a bioweapon. It is one of the important zoonotic disease and considered  as the most common laboratory acquired pathogen with >5 lakh human cases reported  annually  around the world. Brucellosis is a chronic infection which can result in infertility, delayed heat, interrupted lactation, loss of calves, wool, meat and milk production in animals and undulant fever in humans.

Synonyms : Farcy, Pacin, Carn

Glanders is a contagious, acute or chronic, usually fatal anthropo-zoonotic disease of Equidae caused by Burkholderia mallei and characterized by serial development of ulcerating nodules that are most commonly found in the upper respiratory tract, lungs, and skin. The first recorded description of glanders is from the third century from Aristotle. In 1664, glanders was recognized as a contagious disease and in 1830, it’s zoonotic potential was suspected. In the late 1800’s, the Mallein test (1891) was developed for diagnosis of glanders. By 1910, the U.S., Canada and Great Britain all implemented glanders-control programs. B. mallei was eradicated from the United States in 1929.

Synonyms : Pasteurellosis, shipping fever, Stockyardis disease, Stockyardis pneumonia, Barbone disease

Hemorrhagic septicaemia is a particular form of pasteurellosis caused by Pasteurella multocida and manifested by an acute and highly fatal septicaemia mainly in  cattle and water buffaloes. The disease includes pneumonic pasteurellosis (shipping or transport fever), a disease caused mainly by P. haemolytica, although various serotypes of P. multocida are occasionally involved. Although the morbidity of pneumonic pasteurellosis of cattle can be high, the mortality rate is much less than that of hemorrhagic septicemia.

Synonyms :  Weil’s disease, Stuttgart disease, Infectious jaundice, Haemoglobinuria, Rice field worker’s disease, Swine handler’s disease, Sugarcane worker’s disease, Canine typhus

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis. According to the occupational groups involved and the nature of the disease presentations, different names have been used, e.g. seven-day fever found commonly in Japan, Cane cutter’s disease in Australia, Rice field Leptospirosis in Indonesia and Fort Bragg fever, which appeared as an outbreak in the US. Weil’s disease, which is one of the severe forms of this disease, occurs in many countries, including India and other South-East Asian Countries, China, continental Europe and England. Leptospirosis exists in all the five inhabited continents and in a large number of countries. It occurs in tropical, subtropical and temperate zones.  Leptospirosis is also an important cause of abortions, stillbirths and reproductive failures in cattle and pigs.  Periodic ophthalmia in horse is commonly associated with leptospiral infections. Leptospirosis was first recognized in humans in 1886 by Weil and characterized by icterus.  Leptospira have been isolated from a variety of animal species and humans manifesting various clinical syndromes such as mud fever and swine herd disease.

Synonyms : Infectious adenitis, Equine distemper
It is  an acute infectious disease of equines characterized by catarrhal inflammation of the upper respiratory tract with suppuration and abscessation of the associated lymph node.
 
Etiology :  Strepococcus  equi subspecies equi is a Gm+ cocci that produces a -b haemolysin characterized by clear haemolysis surrounding colonies growing on blood agar. It is a biovar or genovar of S. zooepidemicus. Equines are very much susceptible and different genetic clones occur geographically. S. equi varies in virulence which is related to M protein and hyaluronic capsule produced. S. equi variant without capsule causes mild disease.

Synonyms :  Splenic fever, wool sorter’s disease, Tarka
It is an  infectious disease of livestock and worldwide in distribution. This is a zoonotic disease. It is also  known as splenic fever because of enlargement of the spleen (splenomegaly).

Etiology : It is caused by a rod shaped bacteria of 4-8 µm X 1-1.2 µm known as Bacillus anthracis. It is non-motile, capsulated, aerobic, spore bearing and Gm+  in nature. The organisms  remain in chains. It was the first pathogenic bacterium to be observed under the microscope, the first communicable disease to be transmitted by inoculation of infected blood, the first bacillus to be isolated in pure culture and shown to possess spores and the first bacterium used for  preparation of an attenuated vaccine.

Synonyms : Johne’s disease, Chronic  specific enteritis of cattle, Chronic bacillary dysentery
 
Paratuberculosis (Johne’s disease), an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), has been recognized as a major disease of ruminants for over a century. It is primarily a disease of domestic and wild ruminants and causes heavy economic losses  in cattle, sheep and goat industry. It is spreading insidiously among animal population worldwide.  Recently it has been shown  that  the disease is not restricted to ruminants only and the host range is expanding to cause disease in other species including Crohn’s disease in humans. In India, the  disease has been occurring  since early 1930s in cattle, sheep and goats in almost every state. The disease in ruminants is clinically characterized by chronic intermittent profuse diarrhea, weight loss, emaciation and finally death.

For the laboratory diagnosis of the parasitic infections, it is essential to examine various excretory-secretory products, viz., faeces, urine and nasal discharges as  examination of such material is essential for clinical diagnosis. It is extremely rare to get an animal completely free from parasites and at the same time all animals may not show signs of disease. Since, most of the important helminths and coccidia inhabit intestinal tract, therefore, clinical diagnosis of gut dwelling helminths and coccidia depends mainly on identification of ova/oocyst in faecal samples.

Examination of faecal sample for helminthic infections

Gross Examination: It precedes the microscopic examination of faecal sample and includes collection of information as below:
    a)    Consistency: Condition of the faeces should be noted as soft, watery (diarrhoeic) or hard but it should be kept in mind that the description varies with the concerned animal species.
    b)    Colour: It is to report the unusual faecal colour, if any as mud coloured foul  smelling faeces in calves indicate ascarid infection; tarry coloured faeces in dog is pinpointing of hookworm infection.

Mange or parasitic dermatitis is caused by the infestation of mange mites e.g. Sarcoptes, Psoroptes, Demodex spp. and a range of other mites. The condition is characterized by itching, rubbing of the infested parts of the body against hard objects. Lesions include hair loss, dry, rough, thickened and wrinkled skin accompanied by the presence of scab and foul odour in some cases. Some mites burrow into the host epidermis (Sarcoptes) while others spend their entire life cycle on the skin surface (Psoroptes). Most mites are microscopic or less than 1mm in length; therefore skin scrapings are taken from the affected area of animals suspected to be suffering from mange or parasitic dermatitis.

Collection of blood

Blood sample should be collected in a capped clean and dry vial containing an appropriate amount of anticoagulant. The commonly used anticoagulants are ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) @ 1-2 mg/ml and heparin @ 5 I.U./ml of blood.

HELMINTHS 
Collection of parasites

Fresh helminth parasites should be collected, as far as possible to achieve better results in staining. This can best be done by conducting a post­mortem examination of the animal for which the procedure given below should be followed. On opening the body and before removal of the viscera, examine the body cavity (for free lying parasites, e.g. Setaria), subcutaneous tissue (for Parafilaria and Hypoderma larvae) and the surfaces of internal organs for spot or nodules that might contain parasites. Remove them for histopathological examination (in 10 % formalin). Remove the visceral organs separately and place them in different sized enamel trays.

Diagnosis of parasitic infections is routinely done with conventional parasitological techniques as described earlier. However, when the parasitaemia is too low to be detected by the conventional methods as in subclinical infections and/or carrier animals advanced diagnostic tools are used for the early, sensitive as well as specific diagnosis.

Serological techniques

Diagnostic techniques used mostly in laboratories need various reagents and equipments to perform the test. However, a diagnostic kit is the extrapolation of the same method by packing it in a user friendly format, accompanied by all or most of the reagents required to perform the test and can also be done outside the laboratory or under field conditions.

Introduction

The tenet “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” said by Hippocrates nearly 2,500 years ago, is receiving renewed interest. In particular, there has been an explosion of consumer interest in the health enhancing role of specific foods or physiologically active food components called as functional foods [1]. Clearly, all foods are functional, as they provide taste, aroma, or nutritive value. Within the last decade, however, the term functional as it applies to food has adopted a different meaning - that of providing an additional physiological benefit beyond that of meeting basic nutritional needs.

Introduction

Vast proportions of the population of the world are dependent on plants as their principal source of food either directly or indirectly. Recent decades have also seen increased numbers of people turning to alternative medical therapy based upon traditional folk medicine or food as a form of medicine. These alternative therapies emphasise the importance of a ‘good diet’ in maintaining and restoring health. Under these circumstances, vast majority of population may see diet therapy, dietary supplements and non-invasive alternative therapies as a safer, less technological and more natural way of maintaining health and treating and preventing individuals from illness. These alternatives may be seen as empowering the consumer and shifting the locus of control away from the medical establishment. This chapter covers many crucial topics to understand the chemistry and bioactivity of the active compounds of plant origin. It also aims to cover the latest research on the bioactive compounds.

Introduction
 
Dairy ingredients are of significant importance in the formulation of many food products. Additionally, the incorporation of dairy ingredients, comprehensively recognized by the consumer as “natural” intensifies the odds of success of packaged foods and adds functional properties of the dairy ingredients in the targeted product. Dairy ingredients can be extracted from fluid milk in the form of cream, butter, condensed milk, dry milk, cheese, and whey products [1]. They provide beneficial functionality to foods, such as delivery of key nutrients, water management, fat-holding capacity, emulsification capability, viscosity creation, gel formation, and foam generation apart from providing desirable attributes of texture and flavour. Various ingredients and claims associated with dairy foods are shown in Table 3.1.

Introduction

The term probiotic is derived from Greek and means ‘for life’ as opposed to antibiotics which means ‘against life’. The history of probiotics began with the consumption of fermented foods which was first observed in ancient Greeks and Romans [1]. The term, probiotic, as is used today was first used by Parker in 1974. Parker defined ‘probiotic’ as substances and organisms which contribute to intestinal microbial balance. In 1989, the term was modified further by Fuller. Thus, probiotic is a live microbial supplement which affects the host’s health positively by improving its intestinal microbial balance. This definition was broadened to include mono or mixed culture of live microorganisms which benefits animals or man by improving the properties of the indigenous microflora [2]. Some authors have interpreted probiotics as microbial cell preparations or components of microbial cells that have a beneficial effect on the health and well-being of the host.

Introduction
 
Whilst food has long been used to improve health, our knowledge of the relationship between food components and health is now being used to improve food. Although most foods can be considered “functional”, in the context of this review, the term is reserved for foods and food components that have been demonstrated to provide specific health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Widespread interest in select foods that might promote health has resulted in the use of the term “functional foods”. Seaweeds are known for their richness in polysaccharides, minerals and certain vitamins [1], but they also contain bioactive substances like polysaccharides, proteins, lipids and polyphenols, with antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal, as well as many such other properties [2]. This gives seaweed great potential as a supplement in functional food or for the extraction of compounds. Physiologically active substances in marine algae are classified into two types based on the difference in the mechanisms viz. (i) non-absorbed high-molecular materials like dietary fibres, and (ii) low molecular materials, which are absorbed and which affect the maintenance of human homeostasis directly. Seaweeds are among the first marine organisms chemically analyzed, with more than 3,600 articles published describing 3,300 secondary metabolites from marine plants and algae, and they still remain an almost endless source of new bioactive compounds [3].

Introduction

Spices and aromatic herbs have been used since antiquity as preservatives, colorants, and flavour enhancers. Spices, which have long been the basis of traditional medicine in many countries, have also been the subject of study, particularly by the chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries, because of their potential use for improving health. Both in-vitro and in-vivo studies have demonstrated how these substances act as antioxidants, digestive stimulants, and hypolipidemics and show antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anti-carcenogenic activities. These beneficial physiological effects may also have possible preventative applications in a variety of pathologies. The chapter presents an overview of the potential of spices and aromatic herbs as functional foods ingredients.

Introduction

Encapsulation may be defined as a process to entrap one substance (active agent) within another substance (wall material). The encapsulated substance, except active agent, can be called the core, fill, active, internal or payload phase. The substance that is encapsulating is often called the coating, membrane, shell, capsule, carrier material, external phase, or matrix. In the food industry, encapsulation process can be applied for a variety of reasons. Encapsulation is a useful tool to improve delivery of bioactive molecules (e.g. antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, phytosterols, lutein, fatty acids, lycopene) and living cells  (e.g. probiotics) into foods [1]. In most cases, encapsulation refers to a technology in which the bioactive components are completely enveloped, covered and protected by a physical barrier, without any protrusion of the bioactive components. Also, encapsulation has been defined as a technology of packaging solids, liquids, or gaseous materials in small capsules that release their contents at controlled rates over prolonged periods and under specific conditions. Produced particles usually have diameters of a few nm to a few mm.

Introduction
 
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the functional foods because they can provide physiological benefits additional to nutritional and energetic, as for instance, antihypertensive, antioxidant or anti-inflammatory [1]. A functional food can be defined as a food that produces a beneficial effect in one or more physiological functions, increases the welfare and/or decreases the risk of suffering a particular disease. Furthermore, new types of products, derived from food, called nutraceuticals have recently been developed. These products, usually employed as food supplements, are marketed as tablets and pills, and can provide important health benefits.

Introduction

Spray drying process has been used for decades to encapsulate food ingredients such as flavors, lipids, and carotenoids. During this drying process, the evaporation of solvent, that is most often water, is rapid and the entrapment of the interest compound occurs quasi-instantaneously. This required property imposes a strict screening of the encapsulating materials to be used in addition to an optimization of the operating conditions. Likewise, if the encapsulated compound is of hydrophobic nature, the stability of the feed emulsion before drying should also be considered.

Introduction

Since 1990, there has been a lot of interest in functional foods and nutraceuticals, particularly because of their impact effects on human health and the prevention of certain diseases. Apart from growing good quality natural products, there are challenges in extracting, refining, analyzing active ingredients, and evaluating safety before an effective, reliable product is made [1,2]. Special attention needs to be focused on separation and purification mainly because 40-80% of the cost of production is assigned to separation and purification unit operations in making functional foods and nutraceuticals. There are also several carotenoids and polyphenol products that have been identified from various plants and a single plant could contain highly complex profiles of these compounds. These are labile to heat, air, and light, and they may exist at low concentrations in the plants. This makes the separation and detection of nutraceuticals a challenging task. The membrane techniques used for the separation of nutraceuticals from the natural products, as well as their applications and influencing factors are discussed in this chapter [3, 4].

Introduction

The emerging functional foods market presents a considerable challenge to all manufacturers to keep abreast of the use of adequate packaging materials for their products. The interest in functional foods is intrinsically linked to the potential health benefits of their bioactive components. Preserving these bioactive components is, therefore, a crucial factor to providing the anticipated health benefits of functional foods. However, recurring failure in maintaining the quality of functional foods has been reported. Functional foods include a wide variety of products such as prebiotics and probiotics, dried foods (fibers, tea, herbs, etc.), fermented products (yogurts, kefirs, vegetables), and fresh fruits and vegetables. Their bioactive components (minerals, vitamins, fibers, peptides, proteins, w–3 polyunsaturated fats, antioxidants, enzymes, and symbiotics) range from very simple molecules to complex living organisms such as bacteria.

Introduction
 
The emerging functional foods market presents a considerable challenge to all manufacturers to keep abreast of the use of adequate packaging materials for their products. The interest in functional foods is intrinsically linked to the potential health benefits of their bioactive components. Preserving these bioactive components is, therefore, a crucial factor to providing the anticipated health benefits of functional foods. However, recurring failure in maintaining the quality of functional foods has been reported. Functional foods include a wide variety of products such as prebiotics and probiotics, dried foods (fibers, probiotics, tea, herbs, etc.), fermented products (yogurts, kefirs, vegetables), and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Introduction
 
Developments in innovative food packaging technologies have evolved in response to the need for protection of the food product containing bioactive component from both external and internal environments and in response to consumer expectations for health claims, convenience and product safety. Consumers around the world are willing to pay extra for guaranteed product freshness delivered by the type of packaging. Many new packaging developments have focused on extending the shelf life of the product and on delivering a higher quality product to the consumer. These developments would not be possible without significant advances in the materials used in packaging and the incorporation of various types of sensors into food packaging. This chapter outlines the innovative packaing solutions in the production of functional food.

Introduction
 
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still a major cause of death in Western populations and is becoming an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Thanks to advanced medical knowledge and treatments, many patients survive an initial event. Because of that, prevention of secondary CVD is a growing task for nutritionists and other health professionals. Cardiovascular risk can be reduced by lifestyle changes, one of which is diet. There is now substantial evidence from epidemiological and clinical studies that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, unrefined grains, fish and low-fat dairy products, and low in saturated fats and sodium, can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and hypertension.

Introduction
 
Diabetes shows a wide range of variation in prevalence around the world and it is expected to affect 300 million by the year 2025. In a prevention framework where banning policies and educational strategies lead the interventions, functional foods (FFs) with their specific health effects could, in the future, indicate a new mode of thinking about the relationships between food and health in everyday life. Functional ingredients, such as stevioside, cinnamon, bitter melon, garlic and onion, ginseng, Gymnema sylvestre and fenugreek, have been addressed for their specific actions towards different reactions involved in diabetes development. New strategies involving the use of FF should be validated through large scale population trials, considering validated surrogate end points to evaluate the effect of FF in prevention of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Introduction

The search for weight controlling foods began in the mid 19^th century when industrialization led to widespread obesity. Over the years, people have tried to lose weight by avoiding particular food groups like carbohydrates, eating specific foods such as cabbage soup, or adding a certain ingredient, like vinegar or grapefruit to each meal. Recently scientists have demonstrated that green tea, dairy products, and cinnamon have the potential to improve weight control by altering fat and/or carbohydrate metabolism at the sub-cellular level. Considerable research is needed, however, before these food items can be used to develop effective weight management products.

Introduction
 
The future of functional foods is bright and there are several reasons for the growing interest in “functional” foods, such as awareness of personal health deterioration, led by busy lifestyles with poor choices of convenience foods and insufficient exercise; increased incidence of self-medication; increased level of information from health authorities and media on nutrition and the link between diet and health; scientific developments in nutrition research; and a crowded and competitive food market, characterized by pressurized margins. Now, the consumer is well aware of the relationship between diet and health. Consumers understand that the risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, colon cancer, and type II diabetes is possibly preventable by modification in their diet pattern. This scientific progress in understanding the relationship of diet to disease, along with increasing health care costs and the consumer’s desire to initiate healthy eating and lifestyle habits, makes this a potentially fertile ground for the development of food products that meet these demands.

In most countries there is no legislative definition of the term drawing a border line between conventional and functional foods is challenging even for nutrition and food experts. Functional foods do not have a specific place in food law; consequently there is a great deal of confusion about what they are, could or should be. A common perception is that functional foods are foodstuffs either with one or more specific added ingredients (components), or certain substances of common ingredients (components) removed and which are claimed to have a positive influence on human health or well being. The term ‘functional foods’ for this group of products is considered to be an unfortunate one since all foodstuffs are or should be functional and a more appropriate term might be helpful.

R is a software package / language / environment for statistical analysis and graphics.

It Reads Any Type of Data *.txt, .csv, .dat, etc.), You can also scrape (collect) data from websites and execute SQL queries It Supports Large Data Sets. Reproducibility.  R allows you to add comments to your scripts to make it clear to you and others on what you’re doing as data and analysis are separated in R. As R is fully free you can use the latest version on any / as many computers so you and your student can work on the same version. You can use R on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix. Anyone (Including You) Can Contribute Packages to the Community to Improve its Functionality.

You can download R from : http://cran.r-project.org. R has a command line interface and that is a huge hurdle for many users, but believe us you will find that using a command line is also easy. However we strongly recommend the R Studio text editor for working with R scripts (http://www.rstudio.com/ide/download).

WORLD HISTORY

Work on ornamental crops was first initiated in Krelage Nursery founded by Ernst Heinrich Krelage for bulbs, lilium and dahlias in 1811. During 1895, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute was established for ornamental crops. The first yellow corn Golden Bnatam was listed in Burpee’s Catalogue in 1902. In 1909 Primadonna F1 hybrid variety of begonia was released by the Benary Seed Company in Germany and in the same year Atlee established seed farms at Floradale in California, Erfurt in Germany Anglia in UK and Kashmir valley in India for annual garden flowers. Luther Burbank did excellent breeding works on ornamental trees, flowers and fruits in 1926.

INTRODUCTION

Various procedures which are used for genetic improvement of crop plants are known as breeding methods. The breeding approaches that are more commonly used for genetic improvement of crop plants are called conventional breeding methods. Following conventional breeding methods were followed in improvement of crops.
    (A)    Plant introduction
    (B)    Pureline selection
    (C)    Mass selection
    (D)    Progeny selection
    (E)    Synthetic and composite breeding
    (F)    Pedigree method
    (G)    Bulk method
    (H)    Backcross method
    (I)    Heterosis breeding
    (J)    Clonal selection

MUTATION BREEDING

Mutation refers to sudden heritable change in phenotype of an organism or permanent change in the number, kind and sequence of nucleotides in genetic material, while individuals showing these changes are known as mutants. Mutation was first discovered by Wright in 1791 in male lamb which had short legs. Hugo de vries coined the term mutation. In crop improvement the breeders are always look for wide range of variability and stabilization of desirable traits. Mutation breeding is very useful in inducing new variability, which is an essential requirement of any plant breeding programme. The modern day cultivars are the resultants of various breeding techniques like selection, hybridization, tissue culture and mutagenesis including some biotechnological tools. Novelty in commercial traits like colour, size, shape, length, post harvest life of flowers etc. are always valued and preferred by consumers. Mutation breeding by exposing planting material with irradiation has play vital role in inducing novelty in a number of flower crops.

MOLECULAR BREEDING

Molecular breeding is the application of molecular biology tools, often in plant breeding.

Genetic markers

Genetic marker is defined as a gene whose phenotypic expression is usually easily discerned, used to identify an individual or a cell that carries it, or as a probe to mark a nucleus, chromosomes or locus (King and Stansfield, 1990). Three broad classes of genetic markers are morphological markers, biochemical markers and DNA or molecular markers.
 
(1) Morphological markers

Morphological markers are based on the visually assessable traits viz., morphological and agronomic traits. However, they are limited in number.

INTRODUCTION

Hybrid crops are derived from an established and well-proven breeding method used in ornamental sectors. The development of hybrid crops has been one of the major factors behind a dramatic increase in global crop yields. Hybrid is produced by crossing between two genetically dissimilar parents. Pollen from male parent called pollen parent will pollinate, fertilize and set seeds in female called seed parent to produce F1 hybrid seeds. For production of a hybrid, crossing between two parents is important, the crossing process will results in heterosis or hybrid vigour. Heterosis is defined as the increase in size or vigour of a hybrid over its parent. This boost in performance, combining the best yield, quality and agronomic characters from each parent, is the result of hybrid breeding.