eChapters

The choice of hormones and drugs acting on reproductive system are important as therapeutic agents during reproductive disorders like anoestrus, metritis, pyometra, repeat breeder, retention of fetal membranes, delayed puberty, ovarian disorders etc.  The administration of specific chemotherapeutic agent is of paramount importance in treating reproductive disorders in dairy animals.  The dosage, route, frequency and indications of chemotherapeutic agents acting on reproductive system are mentioned in tabular form as below.

Introduction

Agroforestry is a land-use management system where trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or in pasture lands. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land use systems.
India has been at the forefront of agroforestry research ever since organized research in this area started worldwide about 25 years ago. Considering the country’s unique land use, demographic, political and socio-cultural characteristics as well as its strong contributions to agricultural and forestry research, India’s experience in agroforestry research has proved important to agroforestry development especially in developing countries.

Introduction

Indian agriculture is entering in a new phase. The major research and development efforts in the Green revolution era focused on enhancing production and productivity of selected food grains crops and only in Indo-Gangetic plains. The new challenges demand that issues of resource and input use efficiency receive high priority to ensure past gains can be sustained and further enhanced to meet the emerging needs. Issues of conservation have assumed importance in view of widespread resource degradation and the need to reduce production costs, increase profitability and make agriculture more competitive. The conventional mode of agriculture through intensive agricultural practices was successful in achieving goals of production, but simultaneously led to degradation of natural resources. The growing concerns for sustainable agriculture have been seen as a positive response to limit both low-input, traditional agriculture and intensive modern agriculture (relying on high levels of inputs for crop production). Sustainable agriculture relies on practices that help to maintain ecological equilibrium and encourage natural regenerative processes. Agricultural systems relying on such approaches are not only able to support high productivity, but also preserve biodiversity and safeguard the environment. Conservation agriculture has come up as a new paradigm to achieve goal of sustained agricultural production. It is a major step toward transition to sustainable agriculture.

A fair number of practical breeding experiments were done in ancient times

People knew there was a connection between sex and reproduction

The idea had developed that “like begets like”

By selecting certain plants and animals and breeding them many domestic varieties of plants and animals had been developed

Example: corn was developed from a wild grass in Mexico and Central America, probably about 5000 years ago

149 of the top 150 plant crops were domesticated by primitive man

PCR Principles and Procedure

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique that allows the generation of large amounts of a single DNA sequence from a mixture of sequences; the fragment generated can be designed to contain specific starting and ending positions based on the needs of the experiment. PCR is used to amplify specific regions of a DNA strand (the DNA target). This can be a single gene, a part of a gene, or a non-coding sequence. Most PCR methods typically amplify DNA fragments of up to 10 kilo base pairs (kb), although some techniques allow for amplification of fragments up to 40 kb in size.

A basic PCR set up requires several components and reagents. These components include:

10.1 Introduction

Edible oil production is a separate sector of the food processing industry. There are several species of plants in the world whose oil can be utilized for human consumption for edible and non-edible uses. Though around 40 oilseeds are known, only around a dozen oilseed crops have become commercially important including ten seed crops and three tree crops. These oil seed crops (mostly annual) of commercial importance are groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sesame, soybean, sunflower, cottonseed, safflower, niger, castor and linseed. The three major tree oil crops are palm, olive and coconut [63]. Besides these, the kernels of some other tree crops i.e. apricot, almond, walnut, hazelnut, olive (fruits are used), peach, can also be utilized for oil extraction purposes for edible and non-edible uses. Besides oil of the oilseed crops, the oils of tree fruits and kernels are also becoming popular very fast for various food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Large scale requirement and local shortages of oils for various edible and non-edible uses have prompted the identification of many new sources of oil during the last few decades. They are ricebran, corn, sal, mahua, jatropha, kokum, melia, rubber, mango kernel, kusum, simarouba, neem, karanj, crambe, moringa, tumba, jojoba and tobacco seed etc. Most of these oilseeds and their products have wide utility in the specialty oils sector and are mostly used for non-edible purposes. Soaps and detergents, paint and varnish, lubricants, pesticides and medicines, cosmetics, bio-diesel fuel industry are the major consumers of these non-traditional oilseeds. All the oil crops will gain greater attention in future as they are renewable and biodegradable in nature [63]. List of oil crops have been given in Table 1.

1. INTRODUCTION

Agricultural Extension in Trinidad and Tobago is searching for a way to effectively use Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve the delivery of services to the farming community. The notion of a demand-driven extension service seems to appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture, and many believe that ICT has the potential to become a primary enabler to improving the extension service.

The country has a population of 1.3 million with one of the highest per capita incomes in Latin American and the Caribbean (US$16,090 in 2007). Oil and gas account for 40 per cent of GDP and 80 per cent of exports. The unemployment rate is 5 per cent, and the labour market is characterized by chronic shortage, high price and low productivity particularly in the agricultural sector (Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, 2008). One of the government’s objectives is to develop a vibrant agriculture sector to reverse the decline of agriculture. The government’s operational plan 2007-2010 identifies a model for transformation which includes joint ventures with the private sector, investments to develop farms via Government to Government arrangements, and improvements in infrastructure and communication (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, 2007).

Virus can be defined as a genetic element containing either DNA or RNA that replicates in host cells as intracellular parasites but is characterized by having an extracellular state.

Virus can use the metabolic machinery of the host cell and can modify the genetics of the host cell. Virus has both extracellular and intracellular state.

Extracellular State

Outside the host cell, the virus is a minute particle containing nucleic acid surrounded by protein, which is referred as virions or virus particles. Virions are inert and have no biosynthetic and metabolic functions. Extracellular state or virus particle is the perfect stage of virus to study the morphology and chemistry.

Intracellular State

The active state in which the virus replicate in the host cell. When the virus nucleic acid is introduced to host cell and replication starts, the process is referred as infection. The cell in which infection of virus and replication takes place is referred as host cell.

2.1 Introduction

Farm ponds are the most commonly used source of ex-situ water harvesting structures. It has wide adaptability in farmers’ fields and used as handy source for water supply to crop fields. It has been used since time immemorial not only as an assured source of water supply to crops but also to meet demands in other sectors. However, these ponds have wide variations in shape and size as per the method of construction and their suitability for different topographic conditions. Most of the ponds, initially constructed in fields have regular shape. However, as time progresses and because of the poor or no repair and maintenance, these ponds loose their regular shape and become irregular.

15.1 Introduction

Color of food is the most sensitive part of any commodity as it is the one of the organoleptic characteristic to be noticed and one of the main ways of visually assessing a food before it is consumed. The people associate certain colors with certain flavors and the color of food can influence the perceived flavor in anything from confectionary to beverages. For this reason, food manufacturers add dyes to their products. Sometimes the aim is to simulate a color that is perceived by the consumer as natural, such as adding red coloring to glace cherries, but sometimes it is for effect, like the green ketchup that was launched by Heinz in 2000. If the flavor of a food product is inconsistent with the color, the flavor can often be perceived incorrectly, for example an orange flavored drink colored green could be perceived to taste of lime. In addition, the color of a food substance is important indicator of its freshness. While all of us are aware that food with bright or unnatural colors likely contains food coloring but only few people know that natural foods such as oranges and salmon are sometimes also dyed to mask natural variations in color. The color variation in foods throughout the seasons and the effects of processing and storage often make color addition commercially advantageous to maintain the color expected or preferred by the consumer. Some of the primary reasons include:

1. Bordeaux Mixture

It was invented in the Bordeaux region of France by PM Millardet (1982).

Also called Bordo Mix.

Mixture of Copper sulfate (CuSO₄), Slaked lime and Water.

It is known locally in France as Bouillie Bordelaise.

ABSTRACT

Bunium persicum (Boiss.) Fedtsch., (Family: Apiaceae) is an important plant of temperate regions and its seeds are used as carminative substance in various food recipes. The seeds of the species act as a good source of economy to the hilly and mountain people. As the species is restricted in its habitat, therefore, it requires mass cultivation practices. Many attempts are already made to cultivate species near to its natural habitat. In recent years some efforts have been done to domesticate this plant in certain areas of India like Shong area in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, India, but the cultivation remained very limited. Therefore, in addition to its collection from the wild sources the species needs more scientific intervention in agriculture sector. This species has typical Palaeo-Mediterranean distribution. In India the species is distributed in wild only in North West Himalaya (J&K, HP and UK) which makes its ocurrence rarity in the country. The species restricted its distribution between 1850-3100 meters above mean sea level. Phylogenetically the species is near to Carum carvi L., therefore, C. carvi is the potential adulterant of B. persicum.

Abstract: Among the annual flowers, marigold is commercially important loose flower crop in India. Marigold types with odourless foliage with orange to light lemon colour are available in world market. Being cross pollinating and seed propagated, progeny can segregate widely for traits due to heterozygosity. Improvements in marigold as cut flowers, larger flowers, more intense flower colour, an expanded flower colour range, more uniform plant habit, earlier flowering, more xanthophylls and extended bloom time are future breeding objectives. The use of intraand interspecific hybridization, heterosis, polyploidy and genetics of traits have been presented with a focus on creating novel transformations for this crop in future.

ABSTRACT

Astudy was undertaken to evaluate the performance of tissue culture derived plants vis a vis open pollinated seedlings of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton). A total of 102.5 ha (units) covering 50 ha in Kerala, 37.5 ha in Karnataka and 15 ha in Tamil Nadu was selected for the present study out of which each demonstration plot (unit) had an area of one hectare in which 80% of the plants are tissue cultured and 20% are open pollinated. Elite cardamom clones were subjected to in vitro multiplication and their respective open pollinated seedlings were compared. The planting was initiated in 1989 and completed with 1991 in all the zones identified. Plant growth characters such as number of tillers, number of bearing tillers and panicles per clump were recorded and compared. The yield was recorded in 1993-94 and 94-95 seasons after its stabilisation. Results indicated that tissue culture plants performed better compared to open pollinated seedlings with regard to growth attributes and yield irrespective of the seasons and zones. In Kerala region tissue culture plants exhibited a yield increase of 24.3 and 36% over open pollinated seedlings for the 1989 and 1990 plantings respectively. Similar trend was observed in Tamil Nadu for 1989 and 1990 planting where the percentage increase in yield became 130 and 21 respectively. In Kerala, the yield performance of tissue culture plants and open pollinated seedlings was on par during 1990 planting but in the subsequent year (1991) tissue culture plants showed 24% increase in yield compared to their respective open pollinated ones. Further, the study enabled to identify cardamom clones suited to in various zones of the cardamom tract. Accordingly 14 clones with a yield potential of over 750 kg/ha under moderate management were identified and this indicated that cardamom clones are highly location specific in their performance.

Introduction

In geographical location, the observations taken in proximity tend to be more alike than observations made at points that are far apart-that is, the values tend to be correlated. An area of study that takes this sort of spatial consideration into account is called geostatistics. A primary motivation for sampling is to make meaningful estimates of values at nearby positions in space and time. When values are assumed independent, the best estimate for an unmeasured point will be the mean. However, for correlated values nearby values are estimated by interpolation. The simplest interpolation scheme is a nearest neighbor estimate for which the unknown values are based on the closest measured location. Inverse distance is another sort of interpolation technique where weights are estimated based on the inverse distance squared. Kriging is a geostatistical interpolation technique that considers both the distance and the degree of variation between known data points when estimating values in unknown areas.

It makes the best use of existing knowledge by taking account of the way that a property varies in space through the variogram model. In its original formulation a kriged estimate at a place was simply a linear sum or weighted average of the data in its neighbourhood. Weights are based on the distance between the measured points, the prediction locations, and the overall spatial arrangement among the measured points. Since then kriging has been elaborated to tackle increasingly complex problems in mining, petroleum engineering, pollution control and abatement, and public health. The term is now generic, embracing several distinct kinds of kriging, both linear and non-linear.

White Rust

Albugo candida

Economic Importance

• White rust is an important disease affecting mustard crop in world.
• Countries where the disease occurs include the Brazil, Canada, Fiji, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Turkey and UK.
• Up to 60 per cent or more yield losses on B. rapa and B. juncea from this disease have been reported in India.

ABSTRACT

Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase (PNP) is an enzyme that functions in the purine salvage pathway by catalyzing the phosphorolysis of purine nucleoside thereby releasing the purine bases and phosphorylated sugar. Interest in PNP as a drug target arises from its role in T-cell proliferation and T-cell mediated autoimmune diseases. Recently, we have isolated the compound, coixol, from the plant Scoparia dulcis L. and its three-dimensional structure has been elucidated. As the structure of the coixol mimics the structure of PNP inhibitors, we have undertaken the molecular modeling studies of this compound with Human PNP, as a screening test for further in vivo studies. Generally PNP inhibitors have been synthesized with a ribose sugar moiety attached to them. As the plant Scoparia dulcis L. contains glucose and rhamnose (six membered ring), these sugar moieties are also included along with ribose in the presen study. In order to understand the binding mode and interactions of the isolated compound attached with different sugar groups, we have carried out the docking studies with Human PNP. The interactions between the ligand molecules and active site residues of Human PNP are similar to those of solved complexes and the energy values are also comparable, which clearly indicate that these ligands may act as inhibitors.