eChapters

Abstract
Marine sponges are a rich source of bioactive compounds with diverse therapeutic properties, including antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflam-matory and antidiabetic effects. These organisms produce a wide range of secondary metabolites that help them survive in harsh marine environments and offer significant potential for drug development. The bioactive molecules derived from sponges, such as anticancer agents like Ara-C and novel antibiotics, are increasingly studied for their applications in pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. This review highlights the importance of marine sponges as valuable sources of functional ingredients with promising health benefits and therapeutic applications.
Keywords: Marine Sponges, Aquatic Environment, Drug Development, Oceanic Bioactive Compound

ABSTRACT

The popular use of local plant wealth among the rural people in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh reflects their greater interest in the traditional medicine and other traditional and commercial purposes. Hamirpur, one of the pioneer Himalayan district is a rich repository of medicinal flora. It is the smallest district of Himachal Pradesh due to its area, surrounded by thick forest area which is rich in diverse vegetation. Medicinal plants are used in the Ayurvedic, Unani and other traditional systems of medicine and in plant-based pharmaceutical industries. The patterns of the use of the local medicinal herbs for the treatment of various diseases and ailments have been an old practice. But the people of the district still depends upon the uses of local plants for their primary health problems treatment. This paper provides the information on the traditional uses of some of the plants such as Asparagus racemosus, Acacia catechu, Albizzia lebbek, Berberis lyceum, Bryonia laciniosa, Azadirachta indica, Adhatoda vasica, Andographis peniculata, Aegle marmelos, Celastrus peniculata, Cymbopogon flexsosus, Cuscuta reflexa and Holarrheana antidysentric of Hamirpur district for the treatment of various disorders such as anthelmintic, anti-fungal, diabetic, antibacterial, cancer, diarrhea, bronchitis, tuberculosis etc. Hence the objective of the study was to document ethnobotanical knowledge primarily of notable herbs employed by the different backward people, whether tribal or rural, in the area under study. Therefore the documentation and recording of traditional knowledge associated is necessary step for the preservation of traditional knowledge about the use of local plant wealth and conservation of plant species of study area. The data would be useful for further scientific exploration.

The increasing awareness of the deleterious effects of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture has led to the adoption of organic farming as an alternative method for conventional farming world-wide. It is gaining gradual momentum across the world and the growing awareness of organic food which is emerging as an attractive source of rural income generation especially in integrated farming systems.

In north west India where rice-wheat, cotton-wheat and pearl millet-wheat cropping systems are most prevalent. But now, these cropping systems are not proving farmers’ friendly due to higher water requirement, declining yield, susceptibility to insects and pests and adverse effect on soil health. Moreover, in the new millennium with the growing demand of agricultural commodities in national as well as international market due to ever increasing population and globalization, Indian farmers are forced to produce higher quantum of quality agricultural commodities at low cost from shrinking land and natural resources.

Mungbean - wheat cropping system requires less water and hence, can be grown in areas where water availability is limited in addition to beneficial effect of mungbean to supply N to the succeeding wheat crop which are favorable for organic farming. Wheat (desi) also known as tall wheat requires less water and is very responsive to low doses of nutrients. The dwarf wheat grown by farmers with the application of chemicals in the form of fertilizers, weedicides, insecticides and pesticides is not preferred by people and therefore, the demand of organic wheat is rising fast in national and international market. This cropping system can be taken successfully in farming systems for higher monetary returns.

There is need to shift a portion of cultivable land with organic farming as an alternate practice technique. Organic farming gives emphasis on sustainability, environmental safety and low cost production techniques over chemical farming. Keeping the issues of 21^st century agriculture in view following aspects also shows importance of organic farming: Reduce the toxic load; keep chemicals out of the air, water, soil and our bodies; reduce if not eliminate off farm pollution; protect future generations; build healthy soil; taste better and truer flavor; assist farmers of all sizes; promote biodiversity; celebrate the culture of agriculture etc.

1. The first impression of a food is usually visual and major part of our willingness to accept a food depends upon its
   1. Size
   2. Shape
   3. Colour
   4. Texture
2. Colour can serve as a useful criterion of
   1. Quality
   2. Nutrition
   3. Texture
   4. Acceptability

Radioactive pollution is largely attributable to radioactivity, a natural property of certain elements, such as radium, uranium, thorium, etc. of spontaneously emitting protons (alpha particles), electrons (beta particles), and gamma rays (short-wave electromagnetic waves) through the disintegration of their atomic nuclei (nuclides).

An alpha particle consists of two protons and two neutrons, which is akin to a helium nucleus. Alpha particles travel at a very slow speed, whereas gamma rays propagate at the speed of light. The alpha particles have less penetration power than the beta and gamma rays. In human tissues, alpha particles can penetrate up to a depth of about 0.005 to 0.008 cm. The gamma rays, on the other hand, are the most penetrating and can easily pass through a human body without striking anything in between. The high penetration power of gamma rays is because they have no charge; therefore, they do not interact with anything as the charged alpha particles would do

4.1 Introduction

According to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (2019), presently there are 275 operational community radio stations. There are ten communi radio stations in the state of Uttarakhand. One is called Kumaon Vani which is licensed to the well known environmental non-profit group called The Energy andResourcesInstitute (TERI) based in Mukteshwar district.The otheris called Radio Khushi licensed to Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School and based in Mussoories and third is Hello Doon licensed to National Institute of Visually Handicapped (NIVH) and based in Dehradun. The fourth is Hevalvaani in Chamba (Tehri Garhwal) whuch is licensed to NGO Aastha Jan Kalyan Evam Vikas Samiti . The fifth is Pantnagar Janvani licensed to Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT) and based in Pantnagar. The six is Himgiri ki Awaaz licensed to Himgiri Nabh Vishwavidyalaya (University of Sky) in Dehradun. The seventh is Radio Zindagee licenced to Graphic Era Educational Society. The eight is Radio Dehradun licenced to one NGO name Swantarta Senani Lokbandhu Ram Murti Pawsey Sewa Nyas Trust. The ninth is Hello Haldwani which is licenced to Uttarakhand Open University. The tenth is Mandakini Ki Awaz in Rudra Parayag which is licenced to NGO Mandakini Ki Awaj Sewa Samiti.

Amino acids are organic molecules made up of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), and nitrogen (N). However, sulfur (S) and selenium (Se) are also found in some cases. Amino acids are essential organic compounds that come together to create proteins, thus making them the fundamental building blocks of proteins. These biomolecules play vital roles in various biological and chemical processes within the human body and are essential for the growth and development of an individual.

Amino acids consist of an acidic group (-COOH), a basic group (-NH2 ), and a side chain (R) or a hydrogen (H) atom, all bonded to the carbon atom. The features of amino acids are due to the side chain because they differ only in their side chain. All amino acids have the same basic structure except proline, which has a cyclic structure.

Various forms of amino acids like alpha (α), beta (β), gamma (γ) or delta (σ) form are found. The position of the amino group (-NH2 ) determines the form of the amino acid, i.e., if the NH2 group is attached to the α-carbon, it is called α-amino acid; if β-carbon, it is called β-amino acid, and so on. Mostly, α-Amino acids are found as the numbering of amino acids is done from the carboxylic group (-COOH).

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is an edible fruit bearing plant native to South America belonging to family Bromeliaceae. Pineapple is grown over an area of 1.06 million hectares with an annual production of 29.36 million metric tonnes (FAO, 2022). Pineapples are rich in vitamin C, minerals, fiber and low in calories. The enzyme bromelain present in pineapple is of considerable importance to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry (Varilla et al., 2021). The market for pineapples has been expanding significantly because of its appealing aroma compounds and nutritional benefits. The climate and distribution of rainfall in tropical and sub-tropical regions make these areas ideal for pineapple cultivation. Worldwide, Brazil is the leading producer of Pineapple followed by Philippines, Thailand, Costa Rica and India (FAO, 2022). In India the leading pineapple producing states are West Bengal, Northeastern region, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra.This ‘Kew’ of Cayenne group and ‘Mauritius’ of the rough leaf Queen group are the two varieties dominating in India (Devi et al., 2013; Joy and Sindhu, 2012).

Botanically, Pineapple is a herbaceous perennial having short stem and tough waxy leaves. It produces a fleshy, edible, yellow fleshed which is a fusion of 100-200 berry like fruitlets. Most of the members of Bromeliaceae family are epiphytes i.e. grown on rocks and living trees though pineapples grow on the soil bearing sensitive adventitious root that cannot regenerate once damage and intolerant to poor soil aeration. The cultivated varieties of pineapple can be categorized into three groups namely, Cayenne, Queen, and Spanish. The Spanish and Cayenne groups can be cultivated for dual purposes viz. fresh fruit and canning. However, the Queen group are only cultivated for fresh fruit markets due to the presence of deep eyes making it unsuitable for canning (Devi et al., 2013).

Ultrasound is important tool for diagnosis and research that can be compared with other tools like radio-immunoassays. This has become an important tool applicable to farm and pet animals. Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of soft tissues and internal organs. Electric current is applied to crystals in the transducer, producing vibrations characteristic of the crystals and resulting in sound waves. The sound beams that pass through the tissues are quite thin and a thin “slice” of tissue is sampled. The two dimensional image produced by ultrasound resemble to histological section. The sound waves are propagated or reflected by various tissues in different ways depending on their thickness and composition. The transducer receives those reflections and converts into electric signals and produces an echo on the ultrasound screen. Grey - scale is the term used for monochrome monitors on which a number of grey shades are distinguishable between black and white and constitute the image of reflected portion of tissue. Non-ecogenic (non echoic) tissues like fluids do not reflect sound waves and appear black on the screen. The echogenic tissues, having dense consistency, appear white as they reflect most portion of sound beam. Sometimes the artifacts create problem in the real image of the organ. These artifacts are created by certain tissues that cause bending or back and forth bouncing or blocking of sound beams. For imaging the reproductive tract of the domestic animals, B-mode (brightness modality), real time scanners are used. The amplitude of returning beams is reflected in the brightness of the dots on the screen. B-mode modulates brightness of the dots or pixels on the screen of echo displayer. The echo signals are presented as brightness of pixel corresponding to the amplitude of signal. The picture should be adjusted for clear display. In B-mode display the time-base brightness should be reduced just below the threshold of visibility so that even the smallest echoes could be visible.

Nucleic acids are complex, chain-like polymers consisting of nucleotides as their monomers. Due to this characteristic, they are often referred to as polynucleotides. The largest molecules present in the biological system are nucleic acids. The two main types of nucleic acids are DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid). The bulk of DNA is confined to the nucleus and some cell organelles like mitochondria and chloroplast. RNA is found in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. In 1869, Johannes Friedrich Miescher isolated a substance from the nuclei of the pus cell (leukocytes). The extracted material was named nuclein, which contained an unusually large amount of phosphorus; in addition to proteins, and devoid of sulfur. Richard Altman later named the nuclein as nucleic acid. These organic molecules are found in living cells and play a crucial role in transmitting genetic information from one generation to another.

Nucleotides

Nucleotides serve as the fundamental constituents of nucleic acids. Nucleotides have flat planar and heterocyclic origin. Nucleotides are small molecules composed of three components:

1. Nitrogenous base,

2. Pentose sugar and

3. Phosphate group.

Abstract
This chapter explores the current landscape and future potential of agricultural exports from Bihar, a state with significant agrarian strengths yet modest global trade participation. Despite contributing robustly to India’s production of fruits, vegetables, rice, and livestock, Bihar’s share in national exports remains below 1%. The chapter presents a comprehensive analysis of Bihar’s agricultural export trends, identifying key commodities such as Shahi Litchi, Katarni Rice, Jardalu mangoes, and millets and highlights emerging opportunities through Geographical Indication (GI) tags and high-value crops. A SWOT analysis underscores Bihar’s strategic advantages, such as fertile soil and agro-climatic diversity, alongside weaknesses like infrastructure deficits, low market integration and poor access to export logistics. The chapter further outlines key threats such as flood prone regions, poor irrigation infrastructure, and limited cold storage capacity, while also examining growth potential through investment in multimodal transport, agriprocessing zones, and farmer training. Policy suggestions include the development of export policies financial incentives and SEZs to boost Bihar’s export readiness. Overall, the chapter emphasizes the importance of targeted strategies to transform Bihar into a competitive agri-export hub benefiting smallholder farmers and enhancing rural livelihoods.
Keywords: Bihar Economy, Geographical Indications, Export Infrastructure, Agri-Export Policy and SWOT Analysis

Molecular characterization involves the use of techniques that are available to analyze variation in plants and animals at the DNA level. Differences in gene sequences can be directly observed and described with a precision previously impossible to achieve. Many of the techniques that have been developed have already been used in evolutionary and taxonomic studies. They have immense value in studies of accessions identity and for the detection of novel useful variation in the plant germplasm. Molecular markers provide genetic information of direct value in key areas of conservation both ex situ and in situ. For ex situ conservation the key issues are:

Through green revolution, we have developed high yielding varieties albeit with high nutrient requirements putting much more reliance on chemical fertilizers. The major challenge facing plant biology right now is to improve crop production and to feed an expanding world population. This is against a background of pressure on agricultural land use and climate change having negative impacts on growing conditions. The adverse effects of agriculture, and specifically fertilizer use, include damage to the environment, a large carbon footprint for the manufacture and use of agrochemicals, and the utilization of non-renewable resources. One solution is to increase the area of land for agriculture, as well as increasing production while maintaining the current rate of inputs; however, this is predicted to have substantial negative impacts on the environment (Tilman et al., 2002), is unsustainable in terms of phosphate use, and would have a huge economic footprint in terms of energy demands for nitrogenous fertilizer production. The challenge is to increase yield, decrease inputs, and improve resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Improving crop nutrient use efficiency ideally requires an understanding of the whole system, from the macro (agro-ecosystem) to the molecular level.

World-wide, both in developing and in developed countries;family farming is one of the most predominant forms of agriculture. It includes a wide spectrum of farm sizes and types. In high-income economies, it ranges from very large land holdings that are easily cultivated by one or two family members with the use of labour-saving machinery and hired labour. In low-income economies,with small holdings of a few hectares or less and that are often oriented towards subsistence with low marketable surplus.

Temperature influences most plant processes, including photosynthesis, transpiration, respiration, germination, flowering, adaptation and distribution of crops. As temperature increases (up to a point), photosynthesis, transpiration, and respiration increase. When combined with day-length, temperature also affects the change from vegetative (leafy) to reproductive (flowering) growth. Depending on the situation and the specific plant, the effect of temperature can either speed up or slow down this transition.

Temperature is the measure of mean kinetic energy per molecule of the molecules in an object, while the heat is the measure of total kinetic energy of all the molecules of that object. A large object may  have a much lower temperature than a small object and may still have greater heat content by virtue of larger number of molecules in it. Thus heat and temperature are not the same.

Introduction

Stress is usually defined as an external factor that exerts a disadvantageous influence on the plant. In most cases, stress is measured in relation to plant survival, crop yield, biomass accumulation or the primary assimilation processes (CO₂ and mineral uptake), which are related to overall growth. Stresses can be biotic, imposed by other organisms or abiotic arising from an excess or deficit in the physical or chemical environment. Biotic stress arises by attack of bacteria, viruses, fungi, invertebrates and even other plants, whereas abiotic stress occurs due to drought, water logging, high or low temperatures, excessive soil salinity, imbalance of mineral nutrients in the soil, heavy metals and too much or too little light. Stresses trigger wide range of plant responses, from altered gene expression and cellular metabolism to changes in growth rates and crop yields.

Abstract

Geomorphology not only provides the panorama on the external architecture of the Earth surface, but also it is the record of the past geological events including the climate, especially of the Quaternary period. Detailed geomorphology map was prepared using the IRS LISS IV FCC and SRTM data showing the tectonic, denudational and fluvial landforms of Kollai hill, Eastern Ghats, Tamil Nadu. The geomorphic features showed that the Kollai hill can be divided into two as northern and southern blocks separated by a NE-SW active sinistral fault in the overall N-S rectangular hill. The integration all the geological , structural and geomorphic features show that the Kolli hill is under the grip of uplift in the south west with hinge towards north easterly. Because of this, the northern block/rim of the hill is fragmented into a series of East-West trending fracture/ fault swarms which are sympathetic tectonic grains to the Attur graben rimming the Kollai hill to its north. This phenomenon seems to control the overall resources and environment of the hill.

Introduction

The mountains are not only the store houses of natural resources like minerals, water, geothermal springs, forest & biomass etc., but also possesses unique & self-styled ecosystems drafting the mankind from the plains for comfort and livelihood. Further, the tourists are highly attracted by the mountain regions due to the ecosystems, climate and scenic beauty. Due to all these, the resources of the mountains are exponentially exploited during the recent 6–7 decades thus causing phenomenal depletion of natural resources and initiation of chains of environmental disorders, viz., deforestation triggered soil erosion, landslides, debris dumping along the slopes and foot hills, sedimentation of the downhill reservoirs & drainages, all of which in turn induce haphazard flooding. Hence, the Union and various Federal Governments have started working on the restoration of the ecosystems of their respective mountain regions in several nations. In the Indian sub- continent too, both under the Centrally sponsored schemes and the State funding, number of Hill Area Development Programmes have been initiated and going on especially in Himalayas, Easternghats and Westernghats. The state of Tamil Nadu possesses both Easternghats and Westernghats. While the Westernghats are found along the western part of the state with NNW-SSE orientation, the Easternghats represented by the Kollai- Pachhamalai hills, Shevroy - Chitteri – Kalrayan hills and Javadi hills, aligned in N-S direction, are traversing the Central part of Tamil Nadu. To comprehensively understand the resources, hazards potential, the ecosystems and also the modern geological processes which only control and tutor them, a geomatics based study was carried out in Kollai hills so that it can be used as a reference study to all those who are engaged in eco-restoration and hill area development programmes in India.

Abstract

The use of biosensors is growing in the food industry as a means to ensure food safety and quality because of its versatility in determining biological compounds. It is defined as analytical technique used for detection of analyte that combines a biological component with a physico-chemical detector. The most important contribution of biosensors in the food sectors is to control production processes and ensure food quality and safety by reliable, fast and cost effective procedures. Biosensors have been useful for the evaluation of food composition, particularly in functional food products fortified with phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals.. Biosensors are replacing conventional analytical tools since they offer advantages in size, cost, specificity, rapid response, precision and sensitivity. Future progress in the biosensor technology involves the development of nutraceutical release technology within packaging material where it can be used to trigger the controllable release of bioactive components and targeted delivery of protective agents into the food product. The growing consumer demands for safe and quality food has led the food industries to search for quick and reliable methods for which the applications of the biosensor technique in the field of food processing and quality control are found to be promising.

Introduction

India, only occupies 3.29 million km² bounded geographical areas, which forms 2.4% of the world’s land acreage area; it support over 15% of the world’s population. The population of India as on 1 March 2016 stood at 1332 billion. Thus, India supports about 1/ 6th of world population, 1/50th of world’s land acreage and 1/25th of world’s water resources. The country as well has a livestock population of 500 million, which is about 20% of the world’s absolute livestock population. More than half of these are cattle, forming basic the backbone of Indian agriculture. The absolute accessible water assets of the country are adjourned as 1086 km³. Total bounded breadth of alone Eastern India occupies 28% of country’s absolute breadth of 328.73 m ha. The share of forest area to geographical area ranges from 33 to 54% for North Eastern hill states, in Assam. The per capita land availability decreased from 0.50 ha in 1981 to 0.33 ha in 2000 due to proportionate increase of land use for non-agriculture purpose and increasing population density. Rice, maize, wheat, rapeseeds, groundnut, pulses, sugarcane, potato, jute, jowar and bajra are the major crops grown in this region amongst which rice is the principle crop. India has a long history of agriculture since civilization. Then the agriculture was based on traditional practices and the local varieties were being grown without much care. Population densities usually didn’t pose much difficulty to supply food grains. Rice both under low/up land ecosystem is primarily grown under rainfed conditions having production constraints of entirely opposite in nature. Very low productivity under rainfed eco-system is mainly due to yield depressing factors caused by biotic stresses across the rice ecology, either resulted from excess or deficit water due to uneven and erratic distribution of annual rainfall. The cropping intensities in the states like Assam, Bihar, MP, Orissa, UP and West Bengal are 137.7, 137.8, 125.6, 154.6, 148.6 and 159.6 per cent, respectively. This indicated that a vast majority of lands remain fallow during dry (winter/rabi)season due to lack of proper technologies, which are under rainfed conditions, specifically lack of available moisture and or rainfall during this period. That is more than half of the arable land remains fallow during rainless period. Increasing cropping intensities in rainfed uplands is not easily achievable but there is great potential of intensification of cropping in rainfed lowland by utilizing natural resources and conserved residual moisture. Pulses like black gram, green gram, lentil, lathyrus, chick pea and oilseeds like linseed, groundnut, and rapeseed could not only increase the cropping intensities but also come forward to increase national productivity. Adoption of improved crop cultivars, cropping system, increasing cropping intensities, precision farming can hold good to get out of this situation where whole system is to be considered.