eChapters

American Ecologist Whittaker (1969) proposed the five kingdom system of classification. In his ‘Five Kingdom System’, he added three more kingdoms in to Linnean model of two kingdom system. These were: Monera, Protista and Fungi. Whittaker succeeded to overcome the difficulties as well as demerits of two, three and four kingdom systems and to represent the living organisms according to the evolutionary relationships among themselves. He also defined the kingdoms by a number of special characteristics such as whether the organisms possessed a true nucleus or not. Whittaker’s five kingdom system of classification is based on (a) mode of nutrition (b) cell structure and complexity (c) phylogenetic relationship (d) body organization and (e) reproduction.

The large branches within the Animal Kingdom evolutionary tree are ‘phyla’ (the singular being ‘phylum’). ‘Animal phyla’ outlines thirty three phyla, although there are still disputes and disagreements concerning how many phyla are needed to classify the less well-known species. The most easily recognised are Porifera, Cnidaria, Arthropoda, Nematoda, Annelida, Mollusca, Platyhelminthes, Echinodermata, and Chordata. Animal phyla each comprise a branch of the evolutionary tree and these branches are always connected to other branches.

With increasing demand from consumers for organically produced and certified food products in the country, organic agriculturein India is growing steadily as more and more farmers are adopting organic practices to meet the increasing demand.. Starting with organic tea and spices, it’s grown to organic f lour, breakfast cereals, fruits, vegetables and many more, the number of food categories sold as organic is growing rapidly in India. Of late, the consumer demand for organically produced livestock products like milk, eggs and meat is also on the rise.

Domestic organic food products market in India is witnessing a growth rate of around 20% CAGR in the recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to consumer awareness about the quality of foods and contributed to the growth of organic food market in the country. As a result, informal markets for organic products are getting established to serve the niche consumers and simultaneously, producer to consumer market is also gaining momentum. Local markets are also now vending perishable organic foods like fruits and vegetables. During 2020-21 in India, there were around 16 lakh organic producers under NPOP production system producing 34.9 lakh tons of organic products in 43.3 lakh hectares of land including 16.8 lakh hectares under wild harvest. During this period, 8.88 lakh tons of organic products worth Rs.7078 crores were exported from India. Under Participatory Guaranty System (PGS) in India, as of September 2021, there are about 42 thousand organic farmer groups comprising of around 12 lakh farmers producing organic products in 75 lakh hectares of land. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are the major organic production states in the country and the major commodities produced are oil seeds, fibre, sugar, cereals, millets, spices and condiments. USA, EU, Canada and Australia are major export destinations of Indian organic products and the major organic products exported from India are processed foods, oil seeds, cereals, millets, spices and tea.

17.1. Theories of Population
The theory of population is studied because the supply of labour depends upon population and its growth. Observing the abnormal growth of population and consequent fall in the standard of living, Thomas Malthus (1760 – 1834) an English Clergyman first studied population growth in various countries of Europe. Later he wrote a book entitled “An Essay on the Principles of Population” in 1798. His observations compelled him to foresee a gloomy future for the human race and hence emphasized the immediate need to keep the population growth under check. Now his theory is popularly known as Malthusian theory of population. To quote the theory in his own words “By nature human food increases in a slow arithmetic ratio, man himself increases in a quick geometric ratio unless want and vice stop him.”
17.1.2. Propositions of Malthusian Theory
These are briefly presented below:
1. Population is necessarily limited by means of subsistence (food supply). According to Malthus in a country the size of population depends on its food production. Greater the food production, larger would be the size of population, which a country can support and smaller the food production then the country would be in a position to support smaller population only.
2. The power of population is infinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for men. He further adds that population growth always overtakes food production, since agricultural production is constrained by the law of diminishing returns. This prevents the food production to grow as faster as that of population. As such, there is no limit to the growth of population.
3. Population increases in geometric progression, whereas food production increases in arithmetic progression. This means that population tends to grow in quick geometric progression i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc., while,

Agriculture is increasingly being looked through the angle of environment and sustainability now. On global scale, the move is towards a balanced need for food production and ecological factors. Green revolution made a huge contribution for food security but now we face the following challenges.
1. Since the green revolution, land has witnessed an indiscriminate and prolonged use of chemicals and the strong need for moving away to more eco-friendly farming is felt.
2. We need to promote eco technologies which integrate the principles of ecology in technology development and dissemination. We also need to promote production and use of biological software for sustainable agriculture and food security.
Therefore, the terms like Regenerative Agriculture, Nature base solutions, Agro Ecology, Eco Agriculture, Conservation Agriculture, Organic Farming, Holistic Resource Management, Climate Smart Agriculture, Prakrutik Kheti etc etc have been gaining prominence in policy and funding spaces related to food systems. Global policy floors like the UN Food Systems Summit and the UN Climate and biodiversity conferences have used these terms as bywords for Sustainable Development. Different Names – Eco Agriculture Revolution Encompasses all ! Regenerative Agriculture is defined by many in ways that closely resemble Agro Ecology / Eco Agriculture. Broadly it describes farming, ranching and pastoral practices that stabilize our planet’s climate and carbon cycles by rehabilitating organic matter and microbial activity in the soil, thereby increasing carbon storage, retaining moisture and safeguarding bio diversity and living systems.

Weeds are unwanted and undesirable plants which interfere with the utilization of land and water resources and thus adversely affect human welfare. They can also be referred as plants out of place. Weeds rank first among different agricultural pests causing crop loss. About 30,000 species of weeds have been listed in the world, out of which 18,000 cause serious damage in different ways resulting in considerable loss to agricultural production.

Fruit Maturity Criteria
 
    1.    The fruit takes about 135 to 170 days to mature depending on the variety.

    2.    In summer, mature fruit turns yellow and is dark pink in winter and rainy season.

    3.    The calyx at the bottom of the fruit turns hard and curves inwards.

    4.    The fruit shape gets compact

    5.    The fruit skin becomes hard.

    6.    The color of the aril turns dark red or pink and is full of juice and sweetness.

Bioconversion refers to the recycling and reprocessing of organic waste materials using the system of biological decomposition or biodegradation into value added products. Composting is one way of conversion of organic waste into manures. It is defined as a method of solid waste management whereby the organic component of the solid waste stream is biologically decomposed under controlled conditions to a state in which it can be handled, stored or applied to the land without adversely affecting the environment.

Composting provides a partial solution to an issue of great concern in many communities. All around the world, landfills are filling up, garbage incineration is becoming increasingly unpopular, and other waste disposal options are becoming ever harder to find. Composting provides a way not only of reducing the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of, but also of converting it into a product that is useful for agriculture. Composting reduces waste, makes us less dependent on landfills, and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. Composting recycles essential nutrients back into the soil and promotes a prolific soil ecosystem.

INTRODUCTION

Information has now become one of the basic needs of human being in addition to air, water, food and shelter. There is no human activity in the world without information. It is a basic raw material for right decision making from the governmental level to the personal level. It is an indispensable tool for teachers and research scholars.

Now-a-days, ICT advancements and developments have changed the libraries from mere store house of printed materials into gateways to knowledge of the world of information. The collection of modern library is not restricted to print media only but libraries are adding e-resources to their existing collections. Users need not come to library to meet their information needs. They may use online catalogue, web based database, online e-journals etc remote from library. In view of the above, information need and seeking pattern of users particularly research scholars are likely to change. Based on this, an attempt has been made to study on use pattern of electronic resources by Physics and Chemistry research scholars.

Legumes
Mutualistic bacteria, such as Rhizobium, form symbiotic relationships with leguminous plants, including various species within the pea family. The Leguminoseae family is particularly recognized for its ability to engage in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and its resilience to drought conditions. Among pasture legumes, clovers (Trifolium spp.) are predominant, with red clover (Trifolium pratense) and white clover (Trifolium repens) being the most prevalent species in cooler, wetter regions like Europe and New Zealand. Clovers exhibit a higher protein and mineral content compared to grasses, particularly in terms of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, copper and cobalt, although their nutritional value tends to diminish as they mature.
The sugars found in clovers are akin to those in grasses, with sucrose being the primary sugar. While fructans are typically absent, starch is present, with concentrations in dried red clover leaves reaching up to 50 g/kg DM. In the UK, lucerne is characterized by its high fiber content, especially in the stems, which can reach crude fiber levels of 500 g/kg DM at the late flowering stage. Lucerne cultivars are categorized based on their flowering times, with early-flowering varieties recommended for UK conditions. These varieties generally bloom in the second week of June; however, to ensure acceptable digestibility, the initial harvest should occur at the early bud stage (end of May), when the anticipated digestible organic matter (DOM) content is between 620 and 640 g/kg DM. Subsequent cuts should be made at intervals of 6 to 8 weeks, yielding DOM values of 560 to 600 g/kg DM. In Britain, the limited area of lucerne cultivated is primarily harvested for silage or artificial drying, whereas in other regions, particularly the USA, where it is referred to as alfalfa, the crop is also utilized for grazing. Berseem, also known as Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum), is a significant leguminous plant cultivated primarily in the Mediterranean region and India. Its rapid growth during the cooler winter months in subtropical climates is highly regarded, along with its ability to recover effectively after being cut or grazed. The nutritional profile
of berseem is comparable to that of lucerne. Additionally, crops such as peas (Pisum sativum) and faba beans (Vicia faba) are occasionally cultivated as green fodder. When harvested at the early flowering stage, these crops exhibit a nutritive value akin to that of other legumes.

18.1. Meaning
When the human civilization was not developed, people used to exchange those goods which they produced for those which others produced. Such an act of exchanging goods for goods is called barter. But as the years rolled by and when the social organization became more complex, barter system was found to be not practicable. The following are the main difficulties which were found in the barter system.
1. Double coincidence of wants
2. Lack of a standard unit of account
3. Impossibility of subdivision of goods
4. Lack of information
5. Production of large and very costly goods not feasible
The difficulties in barter system were replaced with the introduction of money. Money has been defined as the medium of exchange. According to Robertson money is defined as “Anything which is widely acceptable in discharge of obligations”. The different stages in the development of money are as follows.
1. Commodity Money: The earliest form of money consisted of goods like rice, wheat, cattle, skins, elephant tusks etc. These were accepted as they were all desired by all the people.
2. Metallic Money: As the civilization advanced, people found it difficult to carry on the exchange transaction with commodities, as they were found to be very inconvenient. Commodity money gave way for the metals to be used as money. These metals include gold, silver, copper, bronze, etc. From the beginning of their introduction, Government kept the right to issue coins and certify their weight and quality. Metals were converted into coins for this purpose.

This is a special kind of garden made with help of vertical structures and plants are grown / trained in special manner. Besides, roofs can also be converted into green roof. Restricted availability of ground space, modification of residential places and quest for growing plants have given birth of vertical gardening. Practically, this type of gardening has widened the scope of growing plants. Small spaces can also be converted into a lively place with proper design. Even bare walls can be converted into an attractive green wall with proper structure and designing with plants.

Advantages

Vertical gardening is ideal for urban areas especially for people living in the apartments. Following advantages have been recorded.

Ber (Zizyphus mauritiana Lamk), is an ancient fruit crop of India. It is relished for its sweet and sour fruits. The fruits are nutritious containing high amount of vitamins like C, A and B complex. The genus Zizyphus belongs to the family Rhamnaceae, consisting of 40 species of tropical and subtropical regions of northern hemisphere (Yadav et al., 2005). The one Zizyphus jujube (Chinese jujube) and the other Zizyphus mauritiana (Indian ber) are the two important species grown widely in temperate, tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The ruggosa and nummalaria are other important species.

PRESENT STATUS

Ber, a popular fruit, is being grown as almost commercially important fruit crop. It has better adaptability in marginal soils in arid region of subtropics. It is mainly grown in India as well as different countries in central Asia, China and Taiwan. It has been truly called as poor man‘s fruit/poor man‘s apple. Ber can suitably be grown almost in all the parts of north Indian plains in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. Seedling ber trees are found extensively growing widely in arid and semi arid areas.

Pesticides are the chemical substances that kill pests and herbicides are the chemicals that kill weeds. In the context of soil, pests are fungi, bacteria, insects, worms, and nematodes etc. that cause damage to field crops. Thus, in broad sense pesticides are insecticides, fungicides, bactericides, herbicides and nematicides that are used to control or inhibit plant diseases and insect pests. Although wide-scale application of pesticides and herbicides is an essential part of augmenting crop yields; excessive use of these chemicals leads to the microbial imbalance, environmental pollution and health hazards. An ideal pesticide should have the ability to destroy target pest quickly and should be able to degrade nontoxic substances as quickly as possible.

The ultimate “sink” of the pesticides applied in agriculture is soil. Soil being the storehouse of multitudes of microbes, in quantity and quality, receives the chemicals in various forms and acts as a scavenger of harmful substances. The efficiency and the competence to handle the chemicals vary with the soil and its physical, chemical and biological characteristics.

Introduction

Agriculture is the back bone of Indian economy. About 18.8 percent (2021-22) of the national income originates from the agriculture sector. Approximately 60 percent of India’s population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for livelihood. A large number of important industries like jute, textiles, edible oils, tobacco, sugar etc. receive the raw materials produced by agriculture sector. India occupies second position in the production of fruits and vegetables in the world after China (National Horticulture Database 2019 2020) It is grown almost in all the states of the country.

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis) like all other Brassicaceae family crops has descended through introgression, mutation, human selection and adaptation from a single wild predecessor Brassica oleracea L. var. sylvestris which is still found growing in western and southern Europe and North Africa. The name cauliflower consists of two Latin words namely ‘caulis’ means cabbage and ‘floris’ means flower. It is grown throughout the country for its highly suppressed ‘prefloral fleshy apical meristem’ called “Curd” which is used as vegetable, soup and for pickling (Choudhury, 2006). Cauliflower is the pride of cole crops because of its good taste, flavour and nutritional value. It contains good amount of vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin C and fair amount of proteins and fibers. The cauliflower is also a good source of minerals like Ca, Mg, P, Fe, Na, and S.

India is bestowed with huge livestock population reared under diverse production systems and agro-climatic conditions. Livestock sector is great importance for the sustainability of rural economies and many ecosystems. The economic importance of livestock activity is reflected by the weight of the agricultural sector in the national gross domestic product. The share of livestock sector to the national GDP has increased more than 56% over the span of ten years to 6.17% in 2020-21 from 3.94% in 2010-11. The contribution of the livestock sector, mean while, to total agriculture GVA has increased to 30.87 per cent from 20 per cent during the corresponding period. The livestock sector employs about 8.8% of the population and provides livelihood to two third of rural communities in India.

India occupies first position in terms of goat population and milk production. Since ancient times goat milk has traditionally been known for its medicinal properties and has recently gained importance in human health due to its proximity to human milk for easy digestibility and it’s all round health promoting traits. The goats are also important for chevon production; the most preferred and relished meat in India. As per 20th Livestock Census, the total population of goats in the country is estimated at 148.88 million numbers. Goat milk has continued to play an important role in human nutrition in the area acknowledged as the cradle of modern civilization (Hatziminaoglou and Boyazoglu, 2004). Goat milk is having better digestibility, alkalinity, buffering capacity and certain therapeutic values in medicine and human nutrition in comparison to cow’s or human milk. Goat milk is considered the best milk for infants because of predominance of smaller fat globules causing faster lipase activity which results in easy digestibility of goat milk (Chandan et al.,1992).

Eyes Anatomy The eye has following important structures. •     Choroid is the layer containing blood vessels that lines the back of the eye and is located between the retina and the sclera. •     Ciliary body is the structure containing muscle and is located behind the iris (that assist in focusing the lens). •     Cornea is the clear outer layer at the front of the eye that transmits and focuses (i.e., sharpness or clarity) light into the eye. •     Fovea is the depression in the inner retinal surface, the photoreceptor layer of which is entirely cones specialized for maximum visual acuity (sharp vision). •     Iris is the colored part of the eye regulating the amount of light entering the eye. In bright light,

ABSTRACT

Income generating activities are considered as those initiatives that affect the economic aspects of rural youth’s lives through the use of economic tools such as credit and subsidy. If the youth in farming is not economically free and self-earning, he has to depend on others or migrate to the urban cities in search of jobs. Agriculture, self-employment and wage employment are the basic tools to fulfill the desire of economic independence. In the past, agriculture was placed on the top position as an income generation option and self-employment and wage employment to rural youth was the 2^nd and 3^rd priority respectively. Income generating activities such as dairy activities, goat and sheep rearing, poultry unit, bamboo products making, pickle making, leaf plate making, keeping powertiller, husking mill cum wheat grinding machine, tractor etc. Further, there are various self employment and wage employment opportunities through rural development programmes like Prime Minister Rojgar Yojana (PMRY), Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), Pradhan Manthri Gram SadakYojana(PMGSY), Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Training of Rural Youth for Self -Employment (TRYSEM) etc. These are the best programmes especially for the upliftment of the rural youth to enhancing their income level. Some of these programmes are now helping rural youths to become more and more independent and free from economic dependence.

Introduction

Mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, filariasis, Japaneseencephalitis, chikungunya and dengue hemorrhagic fever cause extensive morbidity and take heavy toll of life in the developing nations particularly in the tropics. Every year about 300-500 million people are estimated to be affected by malaria alone (WHO report, 2000). In India around two million cases of malaria are being reported annually although real burden is many fold higher (Kumar et al. 2007). Similarly, lymphatic filariasis caused by Wuchereria bancrofti affects about 120 million people worldwide. India contributes about 40%  to  the total global burden of filariasis and accounts for about 50% of the people at risk of infection (ICMR bulletin, 2002). Anopheles stephensi is recognized as a major vector for urban malaria in India (Kumar 1997).

Export

India is one of the largest producer of the pomegranate. Apart from India, Spain, Iran, Egypt, Peru, Israel, Pakistan, Afganisthan, Turkey and America are the countries where the crop is cultivated. World production of Pomegranate is around 10 Lakh tones out of which India’s share is 40-45 percent .At present Spain is the maximum producer and exporter of pomegranate due to high quality and low transport cost capturing most of the European market. The total demand for pomegranate in the world is around 1.5 Lakh tones, which is increasing day by day. Spain contributes 75,000 to 80,000 tones (75%)of the total demand followed by Iran 25,000 tones and India 10000 tones (5%). Thus to increase the export there is only one way to improve the quality.

Horticulture deals with the art, science, business and technology of cultivation and management of horticultural plants. The word Horticulture is derived from two Latin words viz. ‘Hortus’ (means garden) and ‘Culture’ (means growing). Horticulture is an aesthetic science that deals with cultivation of fruit, vegetable, spice, plantation, medicinal, aromatic and flower crops. There is a vast therapeutic use of horticulture wherein gardening and aroma therapy are used to deal with new age maladies like depression and various addictions.

In ancient times, huge gardening spaces to grow large number of fruits, vegetables and flowers were available and these areas were demarcated with the help of high walls. This enclosed area was referred to as garden. This led to the term garden culture. The land area is decreasing due to industrialization and population growth, at the same time, there is a drastic increase in demand for horticultural produce. To meet the increased demand for horticultural produce and to cope up with the space constraints, multitier cropping systems, vertical gardening and other intensive cultivation practices are being resorted to. Hence, horticulture may also be described as the “Practice of growing and manipulating plants in a relatively intensive manner”.

Presently, fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamentals are grown not only within the home premises, but also in large quantities on a commercial scale. In other words, many horticultural crops throughout the world are grown primarily as business enterprises. Thus, horticulture has two aspects in general i.e., the amateur and the professional. In addition, with the establishment of horticultural experiment stations as an integral part of colleges and universities, comparatively a large amount of scientific information on the behaviour and cultivation of horticultural plants and products is freely available. This information or literature, constitutes the science of horticulture, and the application of this scientific information constitutes the “Technology of Horticulture.” Thus, present day horticulture may be defined as the science and technology of production, processing and merchandising of fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamentals where each crop has its own science and technology. Consequently, horticulture may appear differently to different people. To a teacher, professor, research scientist, extension official and landscape architect, it is an applied science and a profession, while to a commercial producer, wholesaler, a retailer of horticultural products, or to the manufacturers or seller of horticultural products, it is a business. It is also a fascinating hobby for connoisscur.