eChapters

Sample Preparation

a) Plain products: Sample should be softened at room temperature. Since the melted fat tends to separate and rise to the surface, it is not advisable to soften the sample by heating on a water bath or oven or flame. Mix thoroughly by stirring with spoon or eggbeater or by pouring back and forth between beakers.

b) Ice-cream containing Fruits and Nuts: Fill one third part of the cup with ice cream sample. Melt the product at room temperature and mix until insoluble particles are finely divided (about 3-5 minutes for fruit pieces and upto 7 minutes for nut pieces). Otherwise, the product may be ground in a porcelain or glass pestle and mortar. Don’t let temperature exceed 25oC at any time during softening and mixing steps. If fat separation occurs, discard sample otherwise immediately pour mixture into wide jar and cap tightly. If allowed to stand, shake vigorously before taking sample for analysis.

Introduction

The primary problem facing humanity at the start of the new millennium is to provide sufficient sustenance for every person living on this continent, given the rapidly growing populations of the majority of Asian countries. As the amount of land per person continues to decline, several strategies are being used to boost agricultural output from these finite resources in order to satisfy the growing demand of the population. But maintaining adequate soil health levels to support healthy plant development is the fundamental requirement for maintaining food production from these shrinking land areas. Questions concerning the over-reliance on mineral fertilizers to maintain the health and, consequently, the productivity of this continent’s arable soils are frequently raised by the recent trend of consistently decreasing the use efficiency of mineral fertilizers under highly productive systems coupled with issues of gradual deterioration of soil health due to indiscriminate use of fertilizers. It is widely acknowledged that mineral fertilizers are limited to providing plant nutrients to soils; they are not able to address other physical, chemical, or biological aspects of soil health. Conversely, organic materials are far more beneficial in this regard. In light of this, the idea of an integrated plant nutrition system that incorporates both organic and inorganic nutrient sources has been developed and is gaining traction (Chattopadhyay, 2005). Because most tropical and subtropical nations’ arable soils have low levels of organic matter due to high temperatures and increased microbial activity, the integration of mineral fertilizers and organic manures is particularly important for many Asian countries (Gaur, 2006).

Introduction

The growing interest in agricultural production over the past few decades has resulted in more farming systems that rely on chemical pesticides or chemical fertilizers, which has seriously harmed the soil, water, air, and climate while paying little attention to quality or concern for the agricultural system’s negative effects on ecosystems. But as time went on, scientific research began to focus on sustainable agriculture, organic farming, clean agriculture, and other ideas that eventually evolved into agricultural systems that maintain the balance in all areas of the agricultural and production process, as well as consumer and environmental concerns. These agricultural approaches have attracted the attention of numerous farmers, and many large farms are now interested in organic farming in the context of sustainable agriculture. The idea of sustainable agriculture is simply the production of food, fiber, other plant products, or even animal products using agricultural techniques that protect the environment, public health, and human societies from the detrimental effects arising from carrying out that process using the standard format as well as technology that also takes into account animal welfare, such that this type of agriculture will enable us to produce healthy foods without compromise (Bahlai et al., 2010; Muller et al., 2017, and Palmgren et al., 2015).

The Future of Sustainable Agriculture

The adoption of sustainable agriculture was made to raise awareness of their significance and to support the governments of plantations and businesses that operate within the parameters of sustainability, in particular organic agriculture, which is clean and recently devoted a lot of studies and research as well as major scientific conferences on sustainable agriculture, as were a lot of major exhibitions for organic goods and food made from organic ingredients around the world. Specifically, the potential role that organic agriculture could play in reducing the adverse effects of climate change, reducing deforestation rates, maintaining biological risk, and also arranging the steady increase in the world’s population, attracted attention to the level of international policy.

Introduction

Spoilage in agricultural products due to mould growth can occur at various stages of production and storage and is significant in terms of trade economics, food safety and public health (Shephard, 2008). It has been reported that 5–10 % of agricultural products in the world are spoiled by mould contamination to the extent that they cannot be consumed by humans or animals. Mould growth decreases the quality of food and also creates a potential risk for human health because of the production of toxic secondary metabolites known as “mycotoxins”. Foods contaminated by mycotoxins, when consumed by humans and animals causes a disease called “mycotoxicosis”, resulting in death (Wagacha and Muthomi, 2008).

Plant genetic resources are the key components of crop improvement because of development of precision breeding system through biotechnological approaches as well as conventional system of breeding like selection and hybridization. Breeding system of hybridization is replaced by cybrid technology that facilitates transferring more qualitative and quantitative traits rapidly within incompatible genotypes. Aonla is mainly recognized for its high nutritive, medicinal and therapeutic properties. It contains high amount of vitamin-C (500-1500mg/100g), it is also rich in pectin, iron, calcium and phosphorus. Dried fruits of aonla can be used in curing haemorrhage, diarrhea, chronic dysentery, diabetes, jaundice, dyspepsia and cough. Recently, aonla gained more popularity in arid and semi- arid region of the country because of its hardy nature, prolific bearing capacity and ability to grow under various adversities as a remunerative crop (Shukla et al.2002). Aonla is the main ingredient of Chavanprash and Triphala powder, used for curing different   human ailments. Fruit contains a chemical substance gallic acid and leucoanthocyanin, having antioxidant property.

1. Introduction

Cucurbits are group of plants belongs to family Cucurbitaceae which are mostly creeping or crawling in nature and distributed in tropical and subtropical zone of the globe. The family cucurbitaceae has around 120 genera and more than 800 species (Swarup, 2016). It holds the highest rank amongst all other plant families considering number and percentage of species used for human consumption either as fruit of the tender leaves and stems. Cucurbits have diverse daily use such as salad (cucumber and long melon); dessert (watermelon and muskmelon), curry or boil (bottle gourd, bitter gourd, sponge gourd, ridge gourd, summer squash, squash melon, pumpkin etc.); candy (wax gourd); pickles (pickling cucumber, pointed gourd); jam (pumpkin); utensil (bottle gourd), musical instruments (bottle gourd). From plant breeding point of view, the crops are cross pollinated and entomophilies.

Abstract

Trade Related Agreements on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) widely affects the agricultural sector which is largely unorganised in India. At the same time this sector remains the bread winner for majority of the population of the country. The Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) affect the extensive and intensive margins in agricultural trade. This paper draws attention of enterprises in the field of agricultural biotechnology which has genetic modification (GM) as one of its core activity. GM is of benefit in terms of value additive features but also of great concern for the community in conservation of biodiversity. Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO), being aware of the pitfalls of implementing IPRs in agriculture, constituted an expert panel to study the issues pertaining to the sector. They came up with very clear directives to the FAO on the course of action. This paper aims to focus on this area to identify the micro-level dynamics of IPRs in agriculture and its effects on the rural enterprises in India. The impact of IPRs and its ramifications, the issues of agricultural productivity and its future trajectory, are to be understood from the perspective of an entrepreneur’s policy decisions. This will lead to identification of policies that would help in harnessing IPRs for the growth of Indian agriculture.

Introduction

The right to food is the most fundamental among the human rights. Food production, distribution and consumption is an important issue for developing countries. The dimensions of food problem in Asia have been changing since the food crisis of sixties and seventies. The lesson of those years is well-learnt, and attaining self-reliance in food came to be recognized as a key goal of development. Most of the Asian countries have been suffering with many problems such as slow growth rate in cereal production, large share of agriculture in the gross domestic product, weak infrastructure, low purchasing power and massive rural poverty which had made the South Asia region as a whole food deficit (Plumb, 1998).The possibility of impending world food crisis looms largely from increasing pressure on national agricultural sector to meet the demands triggered by rising population, growth in people’s income and change in expenditure and consumption pattern (Ghosh, 2001).

15.1 Introduction

Statistics is mostly used as a tool for assessing the capability of the system. Statistics refers to facts shown in numbers. Modern statistical methods and data are being found increasingly useful in research in different fields such as hydrology, biology, water quality and forestry etc. Statistics when used effectively becomes so intertwined in the whole fabric of the subjects to which it is applied. Statistics assists in planning the initial observations, organizing them and formulating hypothesis from them and in judging whether the new observations agree sufficiently well with the predictions from the hypothesis. In statistical methods, there is an operation of multiple causes and the investigator has only limited control over there. But statistical methods are found extremely useful in predicting the consequences of a situation. It requires skill for acquiring and handling data. There is a methodology to deal with the data and analysis of data is based on scientific and engineering strategies (Ramakrishnan, 1995).

In a huge rainfall data over a period of 300 years, it is not possible to observe all the items. Statistical methods are developed to estimate the error or deflection from the true or real value when we are taking inference from a sample for a hydrological data.

In the modern world where life sciences is getting more and more importance. To meet our environmental problems and energy requirements due to rapid industrialization and population growth, scop of life science has taken its new shape. Based on statistical analysis, new field like environmental sciences, hydrology, genetic engineering, biotechnology and biosociology have been evolved. Experiments about crop yields with different types of fertilizers and different types of soils or the growth of animal life and plant life under different environmental conditions and diets are very often designed and analyzed according to statistical method. Even in the field of medicine and public health, statistical methods are used for testing the efficacy of new medicine and method of treatments. As a matter of fact, for a research worker in any field, which is concern with numerical results, a study of statistical method is not only useful but also necessary. Hence it can be rightly by remarked “Science without statistics bears no fruit, statistics without science have no root”.

1. Introduction

The increasing global population has intensified the challenges associated with land and freshwater scarcity (Dutta, 2019). The unpredictable supply of water bodies has prompted a significant shift among farmers towards the utilization of private tube wells, exerting increased pressure on groundwater resources (Ahmad et al., 2003; Ahmad et al., 2007). Due to inadequate water management practices and excessive extraction of groundwater, leading to a decline in water tables, irrigation is increasingly exerting a detrimental influence on the ecosystem (Pingali and Shah 2001; Qureshi et al., 2003). Therefore, agricultural technologies that contribute to water conservation, cost reduction, and increased productivity are gaining increasing importance (Gupta et al., 1997; Gupta et al., 2002).

Zero tillage fish farming, a groundbreaking approach in aquaculture, has emerged as a sustainable and efficient method for cultivating fish without disturbing the aquatic environment. Zero tillage fish farming is an innovative and sustainable aquaculture method that minimizes soil disturbance and preserves natural pond ecology (Hussan et al., 2019). In contrast to traditional practices involving pond bottom dredging, zero tillage maintains water quality, supports biodiversity, and enhances overall environmental sustainability (FAO AQUASTAT 2009). By avoiding disruptive practices, this approach promotes self-sustaining aquatic ecosystems, contributing to increased productivity, cost-effectiveness, and resilience in fish cultivation. Zero tillage fish farming represents a significant shift towards responsible and eco-friendly aquaculture, addressing challenges such as environmental degradation, food security, and the impact of climate change. This chapter explores the principles, benefits, and importance of zero-tillage fish farming, shedding light on its potential to transform the aquaculture industry.

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.

Ber (Chinese date, Chinese fig or bore) (Ziziphus xylopyrus) is an important minor fruit of India. It is a hardy fruit tree cultivated all over India and also known as poor man’s fruit. It is widely cultivated in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Ber does well even under marginal growing conditions and provides quality yields at low cost (Shukla, 1996). Fruits are eaten fresh but the other forms like dried, candied and squash can also be prepared from ber. Stem bark, root and leaves have medicinal values. Leaves of ber are used as fodder in dry regions. Ber tree is a host plant for rearing the Tachardia laccad, a lac insect (Sharma and Kore, 1990).

Water is indispensable for our life. About 2/3 of earth is covered with water. No organism can survive without water. So keeping water free from any pollutant is very important. Water is said to be  “polluted” when it is hanged in its quality and composition directly or indirectly by man’s activity so that it becomes less suitable for drinking, domestic, agricultural or any other purpose. Polluted water transmits a large number of diseases in man. They are cholera, typhoid, dysentery, jaundice and other bacterial or viral diseases.  Water becomes polluted by the presence or addition on inorganic or organic substances or biological agents. Soil erosion, leaching of minerals from rocks, decaying of organic matter are natural sources of water pollution. There has been an alarming increase in the degradation of water quality in the recent past in the large cities and industrial areas.

Water pollution can be studied under the following heads—  (i) medium in which it occurs (surface water, ground water); (ii) habitat (lakes, estuaries and open seas); and (iii) type of pollutants (bacterial, metallic, thermal and radioactive).

ABSTRACT

Coastal zones are credited for the important role they play in the economic, industrial and commercial activities of many countries. Starting from the early fifties of the last century, coastal zones have attracted greater attention from the earth scientists owing to the discovery of huge hydrocarbon deposits in the Persian Gulf, Africa and South America. In addition, coastal zones especially those bordering Precambrian Cratons house significant quantities of economically important placer minerals which are being explored and exploited vigorously. In the present paper, sedimentary basins located along the continental margins of Tamil Nadu state, their geology and hydrocarbon potential are discussed. In addition, an attempt has also been made to demonstrate the usefulness of remote sensing techniques in the exploration of this strategic mineral.

Abstract

The landslides of the hill ecosystems are either due to the natural morphotectonic and morphodynamics processes of the planet earth or due to the anthropogenic effects or due to the combinations of the both. In the Indian subcontinent, the landslides are reported from three major provinces viz: Himalayas, Westernghats and The Nilgiris. While the landslides of the Himalayas are demonstrated to be predominantly due to active tectonics, the landslides of the Westernghats are attributed to excessive weathering and rock fall. On the contrary the landslides of the Nilgiris have been thought to be due to extensive deforestation and the related increase in the pore pressure during rainy seasons. But the studies carried out in the recent years show that not only in the Nilgiris but also in other hill systems of Tamil Nadu, the landslides seem to be related to the recent earth movements. This is very significant in the context of fastly recurring seismicities in South India and hence this aspect warrants detailed studies for landslide mitigation.

1 Detection of Starch Introduction

Starch is widely available in several forms such as wheat flour, corn flour and commercially manufactured starch. It is extensively used by adulterators to raise the SNF content in the milk. When high amounts of starch are added to milk, it can cause diarrhea due to the indigestion of starch in colon. Apart from this, accumulation of starch in the body may prove very fatal for diabetic patients. In this method, starch in milk can be detected by using iodine solution. Iodine from the iodine solution gets absorbed on the starch molecule surface and resultant product of adsorption has deep blue colour.

Reagents

 • Potassium iodide

 • Iodine solution - 1% (Add 1 g of iodine and 5 g of potassium iodide in

distilled water and dilute to 100 ml)

Since the Green Revolution of 1960s, Indian agriculture have been highly dependent on chemical fertilizers, exploitation of ground water for irrigation, intensive tillage etc. to raise the food grain production of the country towards ensuring food security for all. The consequences of these practices resulted in declined and degraded soil health, soil erosion and dried up water capillaries - ultimately posing threat to the sustainability of the future production. This invites the need of affordable changes in the agricultural practices without hampering the production. Conservation Agriculture, as put forward by FAO, is a set of sustainable agricultural practices, aims to conserve, improve and make efficient use of natural resources through management of soil, water and biological resources in aid with external inputs. The three basic principles of Conservation Agriculture include - minimum soil disturbances, permanent soil cover and crop rotation or crop diversification.

Introduction

Animal waste or manures are the solid, semisolid, and liquid generated by the animals reared for the diverse aims such as production of milk, meat eggs and for other agricultural work. Animal wastes comprises of faeces urine, bedding materials (straw, sawdust, rice hulls), and other materials associated with animal production, such as leftover feed, soil, wash waters and any chemical or physical amendments used during manure handling and storage. An adult bovine weighing 400 kg approximately discharge 15-20 kg dung and 15-20 liters urine per day. The dung produced is discharged from the farm leads to the clogging of drainage pipes and act as a breeding site for the mosquitoes. Additionally, the animal manure contains a wide range of microorganism which can be hazardous to the health of humans and animal. These microorganisms can contaminate food, epidemics and risk to the public health. Contrary to this animal manure are eco-friendly source of plant nutrition to enrich & restore soil nutrients, conserve the micro-fauna of soil and act as a natural surface purifier. Dung manure contains basic elements critical to plant health i.e., nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) and several micro nutrients. Also, animal manure imparts beneficial qualities to the soil such as improves the physical and biological properties of soil, improves aeration and thus enhance the water holding capacity. However, in recent pass it has been observed that a lot problem of environment arises due to nitrates present in manure connected with irrational use of natural fertilizers used in the agriculture land. The natural fertilizers contain large quantity of organic nitrogen which coverts in to inorganic form through the process of mineralization and possess a serious risk to the environment. In addition to this the nitrogen may leach to the ground and surface water as compared to chemical fertilizer.

Introduction

According to research released not too long ago by the United Nations, the population of the entire planet is expected to reach around 8 billion by the end of the year 2022. As a consequence, the future demand for the production and distribution of food must be satisfied to provide sustenance for the expanding population of the world and to alleviate human suffering. However, in countries like India, food is wasted at an alarmingly high rate every year because there are insufficient facilities for cooling and storing food once it has been harvested. The majority of the losses began on the farm level since the fresh produce, which requires fast refrigeration after harvest in large quantities, was unable to be given, which led to the spoilage of the food. It is especially vital to shorten the amount of time between harvesting and first cooling to slow down the rate at which newly harvested fruits and vegetables breathe out carbon dioxide and exhale it. When keeping fresh fruits and vegetables, the two most important controlling parameters are temperature and relative humidity. These two factors work together to minimize the amount of water that is lost and to keep the product quality from deteriorating. Following their preferred ranges of temperature and relative humidity, fruits and vegetables can be divided into the following categories: (Table 15.1). For the objectives of on-farm cooling, the majority of fresh fruits and vegetables that are classified as belonging to groups 1 and 2 need to be concentrated, which necessitates maintaining an ideal temperature of less than 10°C and a relative humidity of more than 90%.

Introduction

Mahatma Gandhi once said “India lives in its villages” and looking at the present scenario from the social, economical and political perspectives this statement seems valid even today. According to the World Bank collection of development indicators,around 65.33 percent of total population of India was reported to be Rural population in year 2019. Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by National Statistical offices. Since more than half of the total population of India resides in rural areas Rural Development which is concerned with economic growth and social justice, improvement in the living standard of the rural people by providing adequate and quality social services and minimum basic needs becomes essential.

Superficially, rural development seems to be a simple task but, in reality, it is not. Rural development is based on sustainable development with available resources. Post- Independence era has seen many rural development programmes through different five-year plans. Alleviating poverty, employment generation, more opportunities for generating income, and infrastructure facilities are emphasized through the policies and programmes of the government. Along with this, the panchayat raj institutions have also been initiated by the government to strengthen the democracy at grass roots level. But in India, the scope of development is not narrow but very wide, as it includes not just the economic development but the growth on social front, quality of life, empowerment, women and child development, education and awareness of its citizens. The task of development is so huge and complicated that just implementing government plans is not sufficient to fix the problem. To achieve this, a holistic vision and collaborative efforts was needed which involves various departments, agencies and even NGOs. Owing to such a great need, the number of NGOs in India is increasing rapidly and, large number of NGOs are working for improving the livelihood of rural people.