eChapters

Abstract

Rice blast disease (Pyricularia grisea cavara) which is very much weather sensitive, continues to be an enigmatic problem of West Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh, owing to its geographical location and climate. There is an urgent need of a forewarning system which can provide advance information for outbreak of the diseases attack so that protection measures can be implemented before the actual economic damage of the crop occurs. Two most important statistical techniques for disease forecasting viz. regression analysis and artificial neural network were chosen and forecasting models has been developed for the area and analyzed with local weather data to find best fit for the area and also compared with the Support Vector Machine (SVM) based model RB-Pred developed by Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh. The model based on artificial neural network was found to be best with accuracy of 75-80%, with the present data and algorithm. The accuracy can be improved with long archive records and proper implementation and algorithm selection of the hidden layer, of both ANN and SVM based (being special case of ANN) models, for site-specific forecasting.

Abstract

Satellite imagery interpretation has shown the existence of a major Palaeochannel system in the Great Indian desert. These palaeochannels belong to the mythological Sarasvati river, which seems to have flowed southwesterly close to the Aravalli hill ranges and joined the sea in the Great Rann of Kutch. Subsequently it seems to have shifted northwesterly, and more precisely in an anti-clockwise direction and got buried in the desert in Anupgarh plains. While its oldest course is the now misfit Luni river, its final trace is now represented by Ghaggar river. Whereas its overall northwesterly migration is attributed to NE-SW trending cymatogenic arching along the Great Rann of Kutch in the southwest to the Siwalik hills in the northeast, its multivariate palaeodrainage is attributed to block faulting and land subsidence in the Bikaner sector.

Introduction

Fisheries play an important role in our national economy by providing a quality source of protein thus ensuring nutritional security of our people, foreign exchange and employment for about 14 million people. The ocean is continuously subjected to enormous stress through utilization of the marine resources and preservation of biodiversity is often ignored. Precautionary use of living aquatic resources in harmony with the environment leads to responsible fisheries and moreover it’s our responsibility to make fishery wealth as perennial as possible and adoption of responsible method of fishing can take us to a prosperous future. Though various fishing techniques are in practice, line fishing using baited hooks or artificial jigs is an effective method to capture predatory fishes. The catch obtained by line fishing is generally of high quality and commercial value with minimal environmental impact. The supply of fish is highly seasonal, leading to price fluctuations across regions and seasons, even within a day and being exploited by middlemen resulting in reduced welfare of fishermen. The existence of traditionally been highly unorganized and unregulated marketing system is the prime reason for its inefficiency. Various attempts have been made to overcome this problem by fishermen group as well as government agencies in India. But, these kinds of efforts have largely been confined to a few small locations and were highly scattered. Unlike poultry or dairy industry, innovations in fish marketing have not been on a macro level (Ganesh, et al., 2008). Against this background, the study has attempted to have a better understanding the innovative fish marketing practices being adopted by people institutions called “Sangams” in Kombuthurai fishing village and to draw lessons for upscaling and to promote such successful institutions in a similar socio-politico-economic scenario in other parts of the country as well for efficient fish marketing system.

Introduction

Time Series Analysis (TSA)

TSA is a crucial tool in the study of climate change, as it allows researchers to carefully examine patterns and changes in weather parameters over time. By analyzing time series data for temperature, precipitation, and other weather variables, scientists can identify trends and develop models that accurately describe the underlying structure of the series. These models can then be used to make predictions about future changes in weather patterns and the potential impacts of climate change on the environment and human society. The accurate forecasting of climate change using TSA can inform policy decisions and facilitate adaptation strategies to mitigate the effects of a changing climate.

Components of Time Series

When analyzing a time series, we often want to separate the different components that contribute to its overall behavior. The classical decomposition method is a widely used technique that breaks down a time series into four components: trend, seasonal, cyclical, and irregular.

At present, approximately 1.4 million of the world’s species are described, but  majority are still unknown to science. Plant genetic resources have gained global attention in  recent past by agricultural and environmental institutions. Conservation and use of genetic resources attracted considerable attention. Value of biological diversity in economic terms is very important for human society. India is one of the major centers of diversity in world. A small part of plant and their culture is considered as floriculture. India is bestowed with varied types of agro-climatic conditions conductive for growing a wide variety of ornamentals including flowers. India has a rich heritage of ornamental floriculture.

In rural and hilly areas there are different types of colourful flowers and foliage at different seasons round the year. All these colourful flowers and foliage are wasted under natural process. In spite of aesthetic beauty, all these natural resources are totally unutilized due to unawareness of their use. All these flowers are available in wide range of colours but mostly dominated by yellow. The entire seasonal colourful vegetations can be converted into value added products by using simple dehydration technique developed at National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow. The technique is  suitable for dehydration of flowers and foliage. Present chapter will highlight how dehydration techniques can be utilized for preparation of value added products from seasonal unutilized floral vegetation of rural India.

Selection of site for a poultry farm: The following points should be considered while selecting site or location for a poultry farm.

The farm should be located at an elevated area with proper facilities for drainage.

To protect the farm against strong wind, tall trees may be planted surrounding the farm complex.

The farm should be located not too far from city to bring in and take out materials.

The commercial farm should be located near to marketing centres.

The breeder farm should be located in an isolated area away from commercial farm to ensure biosecurity.

The farm should have an easy access to connecting roads.

The site should have provision of electricity.

The desirable soil type for a poultry farm is loamy or sandy loam.

There should be provision of abundant potable water at the site. The water should be tested for various impurities like total solids, microbiological contamination, high percentage of salts of Na, K and Chlorine, nitrite, nitrate etc. Total bacterial count and Coliform count should be 0/ml.

ABSTRACT

Chamba and Kangra districts of Himachal Pradesh are abode to vast natural diversity. The people of the area had developed varied traditionl approaches to live with the nature so that natural resources can be protected for their sustained use. The present paper enumerates some of the ecofriendly life styles, agroforestry systems and water use practices being adopted by the farmers of the region.

Introduction In latest years, there has been an upsurge in customer situation over using artificial colorants in foods, especially on the subject of healthiness and safety issues (Amchova, Kotolova, & Ruda-Kucerova, 2015). Dietary colorants have been banned or regulated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and various other national authorities throughout the world because to their confirmed or suspected link to enhanced cancer progression or adverse reactions. For the same motives, various pigments are being investigated and are most effective provisionally authorized at this time. Consequently, the use of natural additives in food production is becoming increasingly popular among food companies (Schwartz, Joachim, & Giusti, 2007). Red C-PE is the most extensively used colour and has various application in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries; however, because they are rare in nature, they must be synthesized. Therefore, the food sector is expressing an increasing interest in the finding, application, and stabilizing of natural red colorants, which are currently in high demand. A growing number of commercial companies are turning to cyanobacteria for colour extraction, including Spirulina sp. for the extraction of Phycoerythrin, Haematococcus sp. for the extraction of astaxanthin pigments, and Dunaliella sp. for the extraction of beta-carotene pigments (Sharma et al., 2021).

Introduction

Microbial diversity is one of the main factors characterizing natural ecosystems; soil is considered one of the best storehouses of useful microorganisms in the world. Although the role of most of these microorganisms is still unknown, scientific progress is providing a better comprehension of the specific ecological functions of soil microorganisms (Ahmad, I.et al., 2008). Microorganisms in the rhizosphere soil play a key role in maintaining the soil fertility (Yadav et al. 2015), which is key for successful natural crop production to meet the increasing global organic food demand. Soil acts as a reservoir of air, water, and nutrients that is essential for plant growth. Only a few grams of soil contain hundred million to billion microorganisms. Bacteria are the most abundant microbes in soil followed by fungi; however, the actinomycetes are ranges in between bacteria and fungi. Other microbes that are found in smaller numbers are algae, cyanobacteria, protozoa, and nematodes. Soil gives the necessary support for anchorage to plant roots (Yadav et al. 2012; Bhaduri et al. 2015).

Introduction

Time series analysis is a powerful tool for detecting and describing sequential processes, and it has become increasingly important in water resource management, especially in the context of global warming and climate change. Statistical methods have been widely used for analyzing climatological time series, such as precipitation, air temperature, and evapotranspiration, and hydrological time series, such as streamflow and surface water quality. However, most of the linear time series models depend on strict assumptions, such as homogeneity, trend-freeness, stationarity, non-periodicity, and lack of persistence, which are often violated in real-world datasets. Therefore, there is a need to develop new models that are more flexible and can accommodate different types of data (Machiwal & Jha, 2006).

One of the most popular and widely used classical time series models is the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model, which has linear statistical properties and can be built using the Box-Jenkins methodology (Box and Jenkins, 1970). This model adoption is important for hydrological analysis because it can help in accurately characterizing and predicting the behavior of hydrological time series data. ARIMA models can capture complex patterns and trends in the data and can be used to forecast future values of the time series. This can help in better understanding the underlying processes that drive hydrological variability, such as changes in precipitation patterns or land use. Furthermore, hydrological data often exhibit seasonality and long-term trends, which can be accounted for in ARIMA modeling. ARIMA models can also be used for anomaly detection, identifying unusual events that may have significant impacts on water resources. Overall, ARIMA modeling provides a f lexible and powerful framework for analyzing and forecasting hydrological time series, which is essential for effective water resource management in the face of changing environmental conditions.

INTRODUCTION

Phenolic compounds in the wastewater are harmful pollutants which originate as byproducts from several industries like pulp and paper mills, coaking plants, petroleum refineries, tanning industries, phenolic resin manufacturing units etc. Phenolic compounds impart colour and odour to water and are toxic even at a very low level of concentration. The various processes for the removal of phenolics from the wastewater can be grouped into two broad categories. In one category are those processes like microbiological degradation, chemical treatment, incineration etc. which aim at destroying the phenolics, while the other category has processes involving the recovery of phenolics e.g. solvent extraction, activated carbon treatment, uptake by porous polymeric adsorbents etc. Among these various methods polymeric adsorbents are very promising for the removal of phenolic compounds due to following reasons. The efficiency of removal of phenolics by porous polymeric adsorbents and their subsequent elution from the polymer matrix is exceptionally good. The requirement equipment is very simple and the operation is usually trouble free. The operation can be carried out at ambient temperature and the space requirements are comparatively small. Very stringent specifications regarding the quality of the effluent can be met by the use of polymeric adsorbents.

In this section we shall discuss diseases that do not involve any parasitic etiology. Such diseases are now more appropriately called ‘Disorders’. The disorder may be of many kinds but all of them have adverse effects on the normal physiology and total performance of the crop host. They are therefore, more often called ‘Physiological disorders’. Lack of proper soil and environmental conditions, nutrient status, irrigation factors and other parameters for successful crop cultivation may result in such disorders.

Rainfed Agriculture - A historic view

Historically, famines and scarcities have been recorded from the earliest times in India. They were mentioned in the epic Mahabharata, and there is Jain legend of a 12-year famine in the fourth century A.D. During the reign of the Moghul Emperor Shah Jehan in 1630-32, The official historian recorded in ‘Badsha Namah’ that soup Kitchens were opened, a lakh and half coins were given in charity and one eleventh of land revenue was remitted in the drought effected area.

In the remote past, these famines were tided over by saving grains and fodder from years of bumper harvest and by migration of people and cattle to greener pastures. With the rise of population pressure on arable land, the effects of scarcity and famine became progressively severe because the traditional methods of tiding over were no longer adequate. The successive famines in the closing decades of the 19th century closing decades of the 19th century led to the setting up of three Famine commissions.

The Commissions made several suggestions which formed the basis of the Famine Code promulgated in 1883 onwards and adopted by the then provincial governments. Apart from the relief works to be taken up during famine, the Commission recommended protective irrigation projects in dry and scarcity area and establishment of department of agriculture at the center and in the province. Later, the Royal commission on Agriculture (1928) reiterated in its report the problem of dryland agriculture and recommended a close attention by departments of agriculture to these problems.

The first systematic approach was made in 1923 by setting up small plots at Manjri, near Poona. This was followed by a more comprehensive research scheme on dry farming sanctioned by the Imperial (then Indian) Council of Agricultural Research during 1933-35. Under the scheme, research was conducted in low rainfall areas at Rohtak, Solapur, Bijapur, Raichur and Agra. Based on the results of this scheme, a series of dry farming practices were evolved which were known as ‘ the Bombay Dry farming ‘, ‘ the Madras Dry farming ‘ and ‘ the Hyderabad Dry farming ‘ practices. These practices emphasized soil and water conservation as basic to dryland production programs. The Scheme was terminated in 1943, since it was felt that the immediate objectives had been achieved.

Technological change and innovation are fundamental forces shaping our lifestyles, culture, and futures. We devote a substantial proportion of our wealth to research activities that span all areas of society, including agriculture. This investment, particularly in agricultural research, aims primarily to create wealth and conserve natural resources. The returns on our investment in agricultural research—the wealth created and resources conserved—depend significantly on the extent to which primary producers adopt the products of that research.

Maximizing the return on our investment in agricultural research involves identifying which research products are likely to be adopted by primary producers and by how many, as well as determining the processes required to ensure the rapid diffusion of research products among producers. This requires a deep understanding of how research products can better meet the needs of primary producers in their agricultural enterprises.

Melons are annual plants that have up to three meters of climbing, creeping, or trailing vines. Several of them are consumed as dessert fruits while a few varieties/types are used for vegetable purposes. Generally, the fruits of commercial varieties are sweet, juicy, delicious with good nutritional and medicinal properties and a daily intake of 120-150 g can help in weight loss, better eye and skin health (Shivapriya et al., 2021).

Currently, muskmelon is being cultivated throughout the world, especially under tropical and subtropical climatic conditions. In India, muskmelon is grown in 54,000 ha with a production of 1.23 million tons (NHB, 2018). The estimated national seed requirement per year is about 27 tons with a value of about Rs. 27 crores. The crop is cultivated mainly in rabi season (November to February sowings), thus limiting its availability in the market during summer. Rarely, melons are cultivated for the off-season market, and those fetch a premium price. The total value of muskmelon fruits in the domestic market is estimated as Rs.1231 crores.

Manipulation of matter at nanoscale for creating a myriad of new materials having unique optoelectronic and physiochemical attributes is called nanotechnology (Mohanpuria et al., 2008). The term nanotechnology was first coined by Drexler in 1986, in the book “Engines of creation: the coming era of nanotechnology”. In this book, he writes about the building of machines on the scale of molecules, a few nanometers size (motors, robot arm and even computers). Broadly nanotechnology refers to a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme is the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale, normally 1 to 100 nanometers, and the fabrication of devices within that size range. Nanotechnology is multi-disciplinary in nature often involving chemistry, biology, physics and material science. Nanotechnology is one of the budding and emerging fields of 21^st century. Nanoparticles have received increased attention in the recent past due to their unique distinct unusual physical, chemical and biological properties, which are completely different from their bulk materials and individual molecules (Li et al., 2001).

14.1. Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurs Compared to Corporate Entrepreneurs

Prior research has found many parallels between social and commercial entrepreneurs when it comes to personality and behavioural traits (Drucker, 1989; Gitman & McDaniel, 2008; Gordon, 2006). There are some essential personal characteristics of these entrepreneurs that contribute to the success of the venture. A recent empirical study conducted by Sharir and Lerner (2006) identifies eight variables that contribute to success of a social venture. Out of these eight variables, five are directly related to the qualities of the entrepreneur, namely, the entrepreneur’s social network , commitment , previous management experience, ability to integrate the vision and to establish strategic alliances . Similarly, a study of the characteristics of social entrepreneurs in the United States found that social entrepreneurs are more likely to have high social capital (Ryzin, Grossman, DiPadova-Stocks & Bergrud, 2009). Although such studies of the personal characteristics of social entrepreneurs provide useful information about the leadership and organisational skills of such individuals, they do not explain the essence of these traits, why they are important and how social entrepreneurs use them to achieve their social mission and create and sustain social change. More research is required to understand what values, motives and behavioural repertoires distinguish a social entrepreneur from a corporate entrepreneur.

Problems Associated with Rainfed Farming Agriculture

It is a dream desire to eliminate drought from this region. There are many problems that are associated with rainfed farming systems. The problems may be grouped into four major factors: climatic, edaphic, technological and socio- economic.

Climatic

1.Scarcity of rain-water which is low and unpredictable with respect to intensity and distribution;

2.High ET (nearly 3650 mm annually compared to total annual precipitation ranging from 350 to 1400 mm);

3.Extreme thermic values (upto 490C with the mean annual temperature exceeding 180C at some places);

4.High solar incidence (450 to 500 Cal cm² day^-1);

5.High wind velocity with desiccating winds causing a high rate of ET and wind erosion;

6.Low relative humidity;

7.Extensive climatic hazards such as weather aberrations, drought, flood, frost, gale, cyclones and burning winds due to dry, deserted and denuded situations.

Bone grafting is important in the treatment of non-unions, delayed unions, joint arthrodesis, and filling of bone cavities and the replacement of bone lost due to cyst, trauma or tumours. An ideal bone graft or substitutes should be a material that is biologically inert or bioadaptable, a source of osteogenesis, having osteoconductive property, act as a mechanical support, readily available, easily adaptable to the site in term of shape and size and replaceable by the host bone. The beneficial effect upon osteogenesis of impregnating allograft bone with autogenous red marrow or autogenous citrated plasma has been the subject of current research. It is claimed that autogenous fresh bone marrow and citrated plasma are two useful contributors for osteogenesis. Biodegradable and bioadaptable ceramics like ALCAP (Aluminum-calcium-phosphorus oxide) seem to be the most promising biomaterials for correcting bone defects, since these ceramics encourage self-replacement by endogenous bone. However, use of bone grafts and ceramics with autogenous bone marrow or citrated plasma has not been investigated so far. This chapter is undertaken to evaluate bone marrow and plasma impregnated bone allografts and ceramic implants in fracture healing in goats.

Study protocol & grouping

Eighteen, locally available nondescript male/female goats of 12-14 months of age are selected on the basis of their clinical status and are kept under observation for a period of one month before start of experiment. The animals are housed in their shed and are allowed to graze in the surrounding pasture. They are kept on standard feed and fodder throughout the experiment. The animals are randomly divided into six groups consisting of three animals each. Two trials of a similar experiment are performed in each goat. A total of 36 trials are conducted to evaluate different bone grafts and ceramic implants (six trials for each group with three animals each): Group A, frozen decalcified allogenic bone grafts; Group B, frozen decalcified allograft impregnated with autogenous bone marrow (composite bone graft); Group C, frozen decalcified allograft impregnated with autogenous citrated plasma (composite bone graft); Group D, ALCAP ceramics; Group E, ALCAP ceramics impregnated with autogenous bone marrow; Group F, ALCAP ceramics impregnated with autogenous citrated plasma.

Biotechnology is defined as a set of tools that uses living organisms or parts of living organisms to make or modify a product, improve plants, trees or animals or develop microorganism for specific uses. Agricultural biotechnology is the term used in crops and livestock improvement through biotechnology tools. Biotechnology encompasses a number of tools and elements of conventional plant breeding techniques, bioinformatics, microbiology, molecular genetics, biochemistry, plant physiology and molecular biology.