eChapters

1. Abrus precatorices

Scientific name     :     Abrus precatorices Linn.
Common name      :     Indian Liquorices
Family      :     Fabaceae
English      :     Indian liquorices
Hindi      :     Gunj
Kannada      :     Gulaganji

Plant habitat and description : It is found in South China, the pacific island, tropical Africa, the West Indies and almost all tropical countries in moist places. In India, it occurs commonly near the ravines of miscellaneous forests, waysides, grass of localities up to 1000 m altitude and throughout warmer regions of country. It is propagated by seeds and can also be propagated by cuttings of firm shoots in sand under glass.
A much branched, perennial climber with woody stem. Leaves are paripinnate leaflets opposite, deciduous, oblong, ligulate, membranous, and glabrous or thincy silky beneath.

The active management of soil nutrients to ensure optimal plant nutrition has been a fundamental practice in agriculture since its inception. For centuries, production of agriculture depended on the organic materials recycling like manure and crop residues. Interest in plant nutrition dates back to ancient times, first captivating philosophers and later becoming a subject of rigorous scientific inquiry. The history of how plants obtain nutrients is marked by numerous misconceptions and incorrect theories. Exploring the long-standing efforts to uncover this essential agricultural process highlights the perseverance and brilliance of early thinkers and scientists. It also underscores that modern understanding, which may now seem straightforward, is the culmination of significant scientific endeavour. The concept of managing fertility of soil to boost yield of crops is far from new—its origins are intertwined with the earliest practices of agriculture. Ancient civilizations recognized the value of applying organic matter such as green manure, farmyard manure, night soil, bone, and wood ashes to enhance soil productivity.

1. Propagation
• Multiplication of plants is termed as propagation.
• Aim to achieve increase in number and preserve essential characteristics of mother plant.
• Most of the horticultural crops are propagated through vegetative means.
• Two types of propagation
• Sexual propagation - through seeds which is formed by sexual reproduction
• Asexual propagation - through vegetative parts or organs of a plant.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Textural assessment has long been used to indicate quality in agricultural soil and although it contains an element of subjective judgement, a skilled surveyor can differentiate many grades of texture. Soil texture correlates with the distribution of particle size in the soil, though this is not the only component in texture. Although particle size distribution is an objective attribute of soils and can, in principle, be measured with accuracy, the determination is in practice quite difficult and certainly laborious, so that it is customary in soil mechanical analysis to divide the soil into several broad fractions: sand, silt and clay are the principal categories. The clay fraction, which comprises the smallest particles in the soil, is generally defined as the fraction smaller than a nominal diameter of 2 jam. The practical division is, however, based on the velocity of fall of soil particles through a fluid, calculating the diameter of the particles from the equation of Stokes

AVOCADO

Persea americana Mill.

F: Lauraceae

Avocado, also known as butter fruit gained importance over years as one of the most nutritive fruits. Demand for this fruit increased over the past few years and now it has become an important fruit in international trade.

Original home of Avocado is Mexico in Central America and grows wild all over South America. The Spanish explorers took this fruit to Spain during 1601. It was introduced to Jamaica in about 1650. Avocado was first reported in Mauritius in 1780, Florida in 1833, California in 1856 and Zanzibar in 1892, but its cultivation started extensively in these areas during 1900 (Purseglove, 1974). It was introduced to South and West Coasts of India about 100 years ago from Ceylon. Avocado is now growing in most of tropical and sub tropical countries.

Avocado is grown commercially in USA, Israel, South Africa and Australia. USA, Israel, and South Africa are main exporters. In India, it is mainly grown in South where it is centred on hill slopes of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Coorg and in selected regions of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Skull: The skull of domestic animals has two sets of bones i.e facial and cranial bones. The facial bones are placed in front and cranial bones are placed caudally.

Facial bones: The paired facial bones are premaxilla, maxilla, nasal, pterygoid, lacrimal, turbinates, malar and palatine bones. The unpaired facial bones are mandible, hyoid and vomer.

Cheese is a milk product of ancient origin and portrays the ethos of civilization and its cultural evolution. Cheese is one of the oldest foods of mankind. It is commonly believed that cheese evolved in the Fertile Crescent between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq some 8000 years ago. The so-called Agricultural Revolution occurred here with the domestication of plants and animals.

It seems that the cheese originated accidentally as a result of the activities of nomadic tribes. Since animal skin bags were a convenient way of storing liquids for nomadic people, these were used for storing surplus milk. Fermentation of the milk sugars in the warm climate prevailing would cause the milk to curdle in the bags. The swaying animals would have broken up the acid curd during journeys, to produce curds and whey. The whey provided a refreshing drink on hot journeys, while the curds, preserved by the acid of fermentation and a handful of salt, became a source of high protein food supplementing the meager meat supply.

This activity gave rise to the assumption that cheese was evolved from fermented milks. It is perhaps more probable that the crude fermentations progressed in two ways. In one direction towards the production of liquid fermented milks such as dahi, yoghurt, laban, koumis and Kefir and in the other direction through the drainage of whey through a cloth or perforated bowls, to leave solid curds which when salted became cheese.

It was a prominent article of the Greek and Roman diet as much as 2500 years ago. It is referred to in the Old Testament several times.

The cattle skeleton, like that of other mammals, is a complex structure that provides support, protection, and mobility. The skeleton for study purposes is divided into two main parts: the axial skeleton and the appendicular skeleton. The axial skeleton forms the central axis of the body and includes bones such as the skull, vertebral column, ribs, and sternum. The appendicular skeleton comprises the bones of the forelimb (scapula, humerus, radius-ulna, carpals, metacarpals and phalanges) and hindlimb (os coxae, femur, patella, tibia-fibula, tarsals, metatarsals and phalanges).

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The complete soil organic fraction is made up of live organisms, and their undecomposed, partly decomposed and completely transformed remains. Soil organic matter is the term used to refer more specifically to the non-living components which are a heterogeneous mixture composed largely of products resulting from microbial and chemical transformations of organic debris. These transformations, known collectively as the humification process, give rise to humus, a mixture of substances which have a degree of resistance to further microbial attack.

Floriculture is the aesthetic branch of horticulture which deals not only with the cultivation of ornamentals, annuals, biennials and perennial plants but also with their marketing. Flowers symbolize beauty, purity, peace and love. In India, it is a dynamic and expanding industry showing an impressive annual growth rate.

Classification of Flower Crops

The flowering plants can be classified broadly on the basis of their species, genus, family, plant part used or type of flower plants. They are further classified as cutflowers, cut foliage, turfgrasses, groundcovers, hedges, accents, specimen plants, avenue trees, screens, topiaries, fillers and others.

A. Diseases

1. Bacterial Disease: Angular leaf Spot

Occurrence & severity status

Angular leaf spot disease, also known as ‘Black arm disease’ or ‘Bacterial blight’ is a disease of cotton potentially destructive in all cotton-growing areas of the world. The disease became prevalent in the USA during the 1950s (Schnathorst et al., 1960) and in India in the 1970s (Verma, 1986). In the USA, losses of between 34 and 59% were reported (Leyendecker, 1950; Bird, 1959). In India, losses of 5-20% were common in crops (Verma and Singh, 1971). Late and very late sowing of crops resulted in more yield reductions (Meshram and Raj, 1992). In general, losses due to bacterial blight in India are ranged between 1% and 27% depending on the cultivar and crop age (Mishra and Krishna, 2001). In Africa, data on crop losses is available for only a few countries. In Sudan, losses of 20% were common from severe infection (Last, 1960). However, nowadays, due to the wide availability of resistant varieties, its importance has been declined, with certain deviations where proliferation of new races has occurred as in Australia (Anonymous, 1980).

Introduction

Fresh fruit journey from the farm to the consumer’s table is an intricate process which needs a lot of attention. The way that the produce is harvested and handled is of supreme importance in relation to its quality shelf life and general market attractiveness. Improper handling practices during these critical stages can bring both quantitative and qualitative loses hence the perishable produce will lose its commercial value and appeal to the consumers (Kader, 2005). No doubt the significance of successful harvesting and post-harvest handling practices is crucial and has an impact on quality features and safety in case of fresh fruits. Poor management can cause physical assault ripening speed and more susceptibility to the growth of micro-organisms which makes the produce unsuitable for consumption or processing.

Medicinal plants constitute a group of industrially important crops which are of great value for domestic use and for export. Plant-best drugs are being increasingly preferred in medical science. The use of various parts of several drug plants to cure specific ailments has been in vogue from ancient times on our indigenous medicine.

We are fortunate to have rich heritage in the form of information available from tribal areas gathered by the tribals through experience of generation in the form of folklore medicine. It is however unfortunate that full potential of these crops has not been scientifically explored. As compared to agricultural crops on which researches have been done for getting better varieties for high yields diseases resistance and better quality comparatively, little work has been done on the medicinal plants. The Ethnomedicinal plants are enumerated in subsequent pages and in Table 1 with their local name and families.