eChapters

1. Introduction 
Among the innumerable gifts of nature, plants, animals and minerals have been the basis of treatment of human diseases. Generally it is either of prebiotic origin or originating from microbes, plants or animal sources. More likely they are the natural expression of the increase in complexity of organisms. Beside animals, plants are one of the most important sources of natural products. From the very beginning of their existence, man has acquainted himself with plants and used them in a variety of ways throughout the ages. In search of food and to cope successfully with human sufferings, ancient man began to distinguish those plants suitable for nutritional purposes from others with definitive therapeutic action. Some plants are widely used as food while others showed beneficial effects against various human sufferings such as injuries and diseases. This relationship has grown between plants and man, and many plants have come to be used as drugs. The use of plant as a drug can be divided broadly into five periods. The early period covers the Indian, Chinese, Sumerian, Egyptian and Assyrian civilizations followed by the Greco-Roman, Arabian, Medieval and modern periods (Buchnman, 1980). Among ancient civilisations, India has been known to be rich repository of medicinal plants as the forest in India is the principal repository of large number of medicinal and aromatic plants, which are largely collected as raw materials for manufacture of drugs and perfumery products. About 8,000 herbal remedies have been codified in Ayurveda. The Rigveda (5000 BC) has recorded 67 medicinal plants (Chopra et al., 1956), Yajurveda 81 species and Atharvaveda (4500-2500 BC) 290 species. Charak Samhita (700 BC) and Sushrut Samhita (200 BC) had described properties and uses of 1100 and 1270 species, respectively (Kirtikar & Basu, 1918; Baquar, 1989) in compounding of drugs and these are still used in the classical formulations, in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. Before the availability of synthetic drugs, medicinal plants were used as the most primary source of medicine and continue to provide the mankind with new remedies for many diseases. These were used in crude forms like expressed juice, powder, decoction or infusion. As the plant have specialized biochemical capabilities they are able to synthesize and accumulate a vast array of primary and secondary chemical constituents or phytochemicals (Ghazanfar, 1994). Phytochemicals are responsible for metabolic activities and used for defense purpose. They are produced by specific biochemical pathways, which occur inside the plant cells. Due to their physical characteristic and chemical properties these chemical constituents are highly beneficial to the mankind and most importantly in primary health care. The first chemical substance isolated from plants was benzoic acid (Figure 1) discovered in 1560. The potent pain-killer, morphine (Figure 1) was separated from the dried latex of Papaver somniferum L. (opium) by F. W Serturner (1783-1814). The bioactive molecule, ephedrine (Figure 1) is one of the most potent plant based medicine and was isolated from Ephedra sinica (Ma huang). It was used in the form of various salts to combat bronchial asthma (Tang & Eisenbrand, 1992). Reserpine (Figure 1) an indole alkaloid, obtained from the roots of Indian plant, Rauwolfia serpentina, was used to treat hypertension. Taxol (Figure 1) is a diterpenoid first isolated from the stem bark of pacific Yew, Taxus brevifolia and used against ovarian for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Halophytes are salt-resistant or salt-tolerant plants which thrive and complete their life cycles in terrestrial or aquatic habitats having high salt concentrations. Aronson (1989) compiled a partial list of halophytes containing 1560 species in 550 genera and 117 families. Menzel and Lieth (1999) listed as many as 2600 plants under salt tolerant flora. Although halophytes represent only 2% of terrestrial plant species, they are present in about half the higher plant families and represent a wide diversity of plant forms. Because of their diversity, halophytes are regarded as a rich source of potential new crops. Halophytes are tested as vegetables, fodder and oilseed crops under field trials. The oilseed halophyte, Salicornia bigelovii, yields 2 tones/ha of seed containing 28% oil and 31% protein, similar to soybean yield and seed quality.

INTRODUCTION

Carnation is one of the most beautiful and commercially important flower crop. It occupies prime position in the international cut flower trade and is a good commercial cut flower for internal market as well. Carnation flower can easily withstand long distance transportation as it has an excellent kee in ualit Its cut flowers with a 70 to 90 cm stem length, healthy and bright flower commands a better price. Carnations have a sweet fragrance and also commercially utilized for extraction of oil in France and the Netherlands. The volatile oil of carnation contain 40% benzyl benzoate, 30% eugenol, 7% phenylethyl alcohol, 5% benzyl salicylate and 1% methyl salicylate. It is used only in sophisticated perfumes. Carnation flowers round the year and have wider colour range like red, salmon, pink, purple, yellow, orange, bicolour, stripped, white and fancy combinations. The major break through in carnation flower industry was evolvement of cultivar William Sim. This cultivar was produced in 1938 to 1939 by William Sim of the USA. From this red variety there have been mutations to white, pink, orange and different variegated forms. The first genetically modified carnation variety Moon Dust is released in Australia by a plant biotechnology company Florigene. There are several distinct types of carnations and each of these can be grown in cooler parts of the plains and at medium to higher elevation. Carnations are cultivated under glasshouses in temperate countries and in the open or in semi-protected conditions under polythene cover, in both tropical and sub-tropical regions. Because of strong emphasis on quality in both export and domestic market, commercial production of spray and standard carnations is considered as a crop of protected conditions. Before being planted in the greenhouse, the crop must be carefully planted so that it will meet the demands of the international markets.

1. Introduction

Refrigeration may be defined as the process of achieving and maintaining a temperature below that of the surroundings. The aim being to cool some product or space to the required temperature. Refrigerated system or a room system is maintained at a temperature which is lower than the atmospheric temperature. Due to higher temperature of atmosphere, heat enters the system. To keep the temperature of the system constant, heat must be removed continuously from the system. Heat removed must be equal to the heat transferred to the system. One of the most important applications of refrigeration has been the preservation of perishable food products by storing them at low temperatures. Refrigeration systems are also used extensively for providing thermal comfort to human beings by means of air conditioning.

Nowadays, revolutionary changes in entire globe have led to the economic, cultural and scientific development in our society and have augmented considerable changes in our food habits and life-style. Continuously growing population had noticeably increased the pressure on land, water and energy resources. All these resources are scarce and going to be exhausted in coming decades at the present rate of consumption. Undoubtedly, production of food is more imperative than the production of energy or any other bioproducts. Moreover, with the world population rising to 9 Billion in 2050, with many inspiring to a western life style and diet, this challenge should be addressed urgently (Draismaa et al., 2013). The challenge to produce about 70% more food by 2050 for a growing and increasingly affluent world population has motivated several review papers addressing the different dimensions of the food system and food security (Verburg et al., 2013). Presently, human beings consume approximately 2.5 billion tons of dry weight of harvested crops which include approximately 2.3 billion tons of cereals (e.g., rice, wheat, and corn kernels) and grass from managed pastures (Smil, 2000).

1. Classification of weeds based on life cycle (Ontogony)

(i) Annuals: Weeds that  complete their life cycle within a year or season are called annual weeds. They are associated with annual crops and propagated mainly through seeds. Annual weeds are subdivided according to the season of prevalence as follows:

(a) Kharif season  annuals or Kharif  weeds: The weeds that grow during the summer and complete their life cycle during Kharif or rainy season are called Kharif season annuals or Kharif weeds. The kharif weeds complete their life cycle during the warm wet season (i.e. from the month of June to September) and attain maturity with the onset of winter and finally dies.

Insects came into existence in this world some 250 - 500 million years ago, while man appeared in this planet only about a million years ago and intruded into the domain of insects. From this time onwards, a rapport had started between the insects and man. Man considered insects obnoxious and not worth consideration in the early days. However, the real impact of insects on the activities of man became manifested to a greater extent only during the past few thousands of years. Gradually man began to understand the nature of insects and started looking at insects, both as his adversaries and as his beneficiaries. He started exploiting the useful insects for his own benefit and tried to destroy those, which are harmful to him.
 
There are numerous references in the ‘Ancient Epics’ and ‘Puranas’ such as, ‘Ramayana’, ‘Mahabharata’ etc. to show man’s acquaintance with insects even from very early days. Several references to insects are found in the ‘Holy Bible’ also. Ancient people of India were quite aware of insects, which provide honey, lac and silk. They were familiar with honeybees and gathering of honey and bee wax from hives. Honey was used in most of the religious rituals. Honey and bee wax were used in many Ayurvedic medicines against various diseases. The story of the lac palace constructed by the Cauravas to destroy the Pandavas by setting the wax palace on fire at night as narrated in Mahabharata is quite well known. The ancient Indians knew how to manufacture silk from silk thread produced by silkworms. Records show that an Indian king had sent some silken stuff to a Persian ruler even as early as in 3870 BC. References to insects such as, flies, beetles, bees, wasps, moths, ants etc. are found in old Sanskrit literature. The Ancient people also used some Mercury, Arsenic and Sulfur compounds for the control of some of the harmful insects. Numerous references to insects are found in the ‘Holy Bible’ also. King Solomon, the wise (971 BC), who ruled Israel had told his people to learn from the ways of ants, which are so active and orderly (‘Proverbs’, Chapter 6). He had mentioned as to how the ants gather and store food at the time of harvest, when food is available in plenty to be used in summer when food is scarce (‘Proverbs’, Chapter 30).

Today, when the collection of biological data has been increasing at explosive rate, the processing of these data is needed. It would be extremely valuable if the specialists who know what the data mean were also able to imagine ways to collect, process and exploit these data. Biological and agricultural scientists should note that concepts from computer science, discrete mathematics and statistics are being used increasingly to study and describe biological systems. The specialists, who know the subjects of mathematics, statistics and computer programming, are needed for solving the computational problems in biology. Statistical data mining approaches seem ideally suited for bioinformatics, since it is data rich, but lacks a comprehensive theory of life organization at molecular level, or in the words of I.E. Alcamo “ Keeping up with the directions and application of DNA is a never ending job.” Starting with possible definitions of statistical data mining and bioinformatics, this chapter will give a general side view of both the fields on the statistical data mining part and its technologies and discuss how statistical data mining may be used in bioinformatics.

ABSTRACT

Minerals are important raw materials for the economic development of any nation. However, unscientific mining for minerals poses a serious threat to the environment. Mine spoils from outer Uttaranchal Himalaya are highly variable from loose to hard and compact at places. Rehabilitation technology for degraded mine sites consist of several steps, each of them playing an important role. Rehabilitation of these spoils is imperative to meet our demand of fuel, fodder, timber, reduce soil erosion and improve environmental pollution. The paper presents the efforts of rehabilitation of mine spoils in Uttaranchal Himalayas both mechanical as well as vegetative measures. Agroforestry techniques used in rehabilitation of mine spoils has been given in this paper.

INTRODUCTION

Himalayan region which constitute about 54 million ha (16.5%) area of the country is characterized by marginality, inaccessibility and fragility, compounded by high intensity erratic rainfall, steep slopes, large scale deforestation and faulty management practices. Natural resources in the region are under great stress due to mounting human and livestock populations. The increasing frequency of natural disasters, e.g. landslides, floods, droughts and deterioration of water bodies due to accelerated deforestation, conversion of marginal/forest land into agriculture and unscientific developmental activities e.g. mining, roads etc. further aggravate the problem. Soil erosion is the major constraint in crop production. High intensity rains in the monsoon season cause excessive runoff and soil loss. On erosion-prone steep slopes, about 50 per cent of the rainfall is lost as runoff, carrying with it 20 t ha-l soil.

Oilseed crops are crops which are rich in fatty acid, cultivated for the production of vegetable oil. They are used either for edible or industrial or medicinal purposes. The important oilseeds are groundnut or peanut, sesame or gingelly, sunflower, rapeseed and mustard, soybean, castor, linseed or flax, niger and safflower.

1. Introduction

Cleaning and grading are the first and vital post harvest operations undertaken to remove foreign and undesirable materials such as crop seed, chaff, mud, stones, straws, immature grains, dust, husk and even iron and steel particles from grains as well as fruits and vegetables and to separate the products into various fractions. Generally, the hand threshing and the traditional handling used in most developing countries cause a larger percentage of foreign matter with these crops. Thus, more cleaning is required. Cleaning is essentially a separation process, in which some difference in physical properties of the contaminants and the food units is exploited. 

Introduction

The floriculture industry is changing quickly around the world. Due of globalization’s impact on revenue generation in various regions of the world, flowers are consumed per person in the majority of nations. Floriculture has a long history in India. Ancient Sanskrit classics like the Rig Veda (C 3000-2000 BC), Ramayana (C 1200-1300 BC), Mahabharata (before the 4th Century BC), Shudraka (C 100 BC), Ashvagodha (C 100 AD), Kalidasa (C 400 AD), and Sarangdhara (C. 400 AD) all make mention of flowers and gardens (C 1200 AD)(Dadlani, 2021).In many nations around the world, growing flowers is one of the industries’ tactics. India began producing flowers a few years ago, and the industry is now one of the nation’s major areas for expansion and change. Both socially and economically, floriculture is very advantageous. The trade in cut flowers has grown dramatically recently, both domestically and internationally. The freshness of the flowers for a longer period of time without losing their aesthetic value is what gives a flower its attractiveness. There is a massive loss in the value of cut flowers along the marketing channel, which may be 50% of the farm’s worth (Bhattacharjee, 1999).

Introduction The urinary system of poultry, consisting of the kidneys, ureters, and cloaca, is essential for removing waste products and maintaining fluid balance. However, this system can be susceptible to various disorders that can impact the health and productivity of the flock. This chapter will discuss some of the most common urinary system disorders in poultry.

Urinary system disorders can have significant negative impacts on poultry health and productivity (Klybeck, n.d; Mississippi State University Extension, n.d; Poultry Hub, n. d.). Some of the key ways these disorders affect poultry include:

1. Gout: Renal diseases often lead to gout in poultry, which is a metabolic disorder resulting in hyperuricemia and deposition of uric acid or urates in tissues (Klybeck, n.d.). This can further damage the kidneys or other body systems.

2. Reduced productivity: Gout has a direct effect on productivity by lowering weight gain, increasing feed conversion ratio (FCR), and causing mortality which may reach 11-30% (Klybeck, n.d)

3. Organ damage: Accumulation of uric acid can lead to swelling and damage of kidney cells, as well as visceral gout where whitish deposits are found on the surface of organs like the heart, liver, intestines, and lungs (Klybeck, n.d; Mississippi State University Extension, n.d.).

4. Mortality: Severe kidney damage and dysfunction can quickly lead to debilitation and death in poultry (Poultry Hub, n.d.). Acute septicemic coliform infections may also cause sudden death (Mississippi State University Extension, n.d.)

5. Respiratory issues: Infectious bronchitis virus can affect both the respiratory and urinary systems, causing inflammation and damage to the kidneys (Mississippi State University Extension, n.d.).

1. Introduction
Organic polymers are large, chain-like molecules made up of repeating structural units (monomers) that are primarily carbon-based. These polymers are found both in nature and can be synthesized in labs, and they form the basis of many materials we use daily. Here are some main types of organic polymers (Harris, F. W., 1981).
2. Natural Organic Polymers
These are polymers found in nature. Examples include:
• Proteins: Polymers made up of amino acid monomers, serving as the building blocks for tissues and enzymes in organisms.
• Nucleic Acids: DNA and RNA, which are composed of nucleotide monomers, store genetic information in cells.
• Polysaccharides: Carbohydrate polymers like cellulose (found in plant cell walls), starch (energy storage in plants), and glycogen (energy storage in animals).
• Natural Rubber: Derived from latex in plants, primarily from the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis).
3. Synthetic Organic Polymers
These are human-made polymers produced through chemical synthesis.
Common examples include:
• Polyethylene: A plastic used in bags and containers, made from ethylene monomers.
• Polystyrene: Used in packaging, insulation, and disposable cutlery, made from styrene monomers.
• Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): A durable polymer used in pipes, cables, and construction, made from vinyl chloride monomers.
• Nylon and Polyester: Common synthetic fi bers used in textiles.

Micropropagation refers to the production of plants from very small plant parts, tissues or cells, grown aseptically in a test tube or containers under controlled nutritional, environmental and aseptic conditions. It is also called as in vitro propagation, which implies clonal, true-to-type propagation of plants by a variety of tissue and cell culture methods and is considered as the most efficient and commercial method of plant propagation. Tissue culture or in vitro culture is two broadly used terms for micropropagation, which basically include aseptic culture of various plant parts. Micropropagation was developed as the result of accidental findings of French Professor G. Morel in 1958, when he was attempting to obtain virus-free plants through meristem culture in dahlia and orchids. All the biological principles of micropropagation technique are based on the phenomenon of totipotency of cell, in which a cell of a plant has the capacity to regenerate in to a full-fledged plant having different organs. German plant physiologist, Haberlandt (1902) is known as the father of tissue culture technique, who for the first time coined the term totipotency.

The development of bio-informatics started with the working of computers and accumulation of data on genes and proteins. There are 100,000 proteins in the human body or 1 million. In the last decade the number of protein sequences gathered in databases increased tremendously, but the key to understand the function of a protein is not its sequence but its structure. Experimental determination of 3 dimensional native folded structure of a protein usually can be done via crystallography techniques. But such experiments are time consuming. Currently there are hundreds of different fully automated approaches to protein 3D structure prediction.

All proteins are polymers of Amino acids. The polymers also known as polypeptides consist of a sequence of 20 different L-m-amino acids also referred to as residues. For chains under 40 residues the term peptide is frequently used instead of protein. To be able to perform their biological function, proteins fold into one that is driven by a number of non covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding, ionic interaction, Vander Waal’s forces and hydrophobic packing. In order to understand the functions of proteins at a molecular level, it is often necessary to determine the three dimensional structure of proteins. The modern Information Technology techniques like Artificial Intelligence have opened new pathways to researchers. Once ANN has been trained it is capable of producing accurate output for the unknown inputs. Many researchers have tried to analyze the large sequence sized gene to determine the protein, predict the secondary structure of the protein and model its three dimensional (3D) view [11].

Mostly goats are reared in extensive small holder systems in developing countries. Goat breeding programmes in these environments have been limited, amongst other factors, by the non availability of pedigree and performance records for traits of economic importance. Cross-breeding and selection play an important role in increasing production in the goats.The development of breeding strategy for the improvement of goats should be based on genetic parameter estimates of economically important traits. Biological, cultural, statistical, socio-economical and management aspects should also be an important component of the selection process.

Goats were domesticated for the triple purpose of milk, meat and hair. Although the development of milk and hair producing animals did not go together, the development of meat and hair together worked very well and there are several breeds like Angora which in addition to providing fiber, are excellent meat animals too. The development of meat breeds was favored by natural selection. The characters which aided to this aspect were high fertility rates and the relatively more active life which goats were forced to lead in order to get enough of nutrition in poor agricultural lands, deserts etc. where these animals were domesticated. These animals were exposed to the vagaries of the environment resulting in decline in production traits such as milk, meat etc. But meat production was not. Most of the breeds of Asia and Africa are thus predominant meat breeds which have been improved little by conscious effort of breeders. Some of them still have slow growth rate and feed conversion efficiency. The preference for goat meat had eroded the dairy potential of Indian goats, as the fastest growing males are slaughtered for meat purposes and only poor animals are retained for breeding purposes. Careful selection and utilisation of breeding males can alleviate this problem to a large measure and animals for both milk and meat production can be developed.There are several goat breeds that have good potential for meat production. Generally, there have been limited planned selection and breeding programs carried out by animal scientists to improve rate of growth and carcass composition of goats. As a result, many goat breeds deposit less intramuscular and subcutaneous fat. In the past, domesticated meat animals were selected for heavier mature weight and greater rate of gain. Selection for such parameters usually resulted in undesirable characteristics because some of the animals had not only gained weight faster and were heavier at maturity, but also had more subcutaneous and intramascular fat. Since consumers currently prefer leaner red meat, the livestock industry is making significant changes to satisfy these demands. Goat meat has unique attributes which will be beneficial to the present day consumer. Goat meat has 10% more lean carcass than cattle. At the same time the fat content is lower by 47% than beef. These qualities of the goat meat need to be emphasized so that the general public can become aware of this useful product.

Parks occupy a unique position in our social life and a common facility to the community for pleasure and utility. The importance of park in urban areas is much more than other areas as these are the only outing places for urban people. Designing park needs careful consideration regarding features, plants and facilities for utility purpose. Roads for public movement, sitting arrangements, flowering and shady trees, flower beds, children’s corner are some of the basic requirements. Free flowering ornamentals requiring less maintenance should be included in the design.

Purpose

Parks are very purposeful in our daily life especially in urban areas. At present provision of parks in a city is must as these provide an open space and an opportunity for outing. Relaxation of body and mind after stressful working or even daily routine work is a must. Parks are the ideal places for such activities, especially very useful for children and elderly people.

Classification

Parks are generally classified according to its type and fulfillment of purposes. Sometimes, a particular theme or type of plantation is followed. Parks are finally categoriesed and named accordingly. Various common classifications are as follows.

Aonla or Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Gaertn), belongs to family Euphorbiaceae, is indigenous to Indian subcontinents (Morton, 1960). It has become an important commercial fruit crop in India, due to its hardy nature, suitability to various waste lands, high productivity, nutritive and therapeutic values (Singh et al., 2003). In its processed form, is very popular among the social elites (Singh, 2012). As an indigenous fruit, it has extensive adaptability to grow in diverse climatic and soil conditions ranging from plain lands to hills. The climate ranging from hot tropical plains to humid subtropical mid-elevation hills has been found suitable for its cultivation. It is successfully raised in arid, semi-arid, coastal and warm temperate conditions. Similarly it grows well in saline, alkaline and degraded as well as in sandy, red and clay soils (Singh, 2012).

It is not merely a source of nutrients and medicines but its cultivation is also highly remunerative for small and marginal farmers. Traditionally, aonla has been a common crop of forest or household, but during the last decade or two, unprecedented expansion has been witnessed in the sphere of aonla cultivation across the country, utilizing the wasteland. Many small and big orchards have been established. This has resulted in efficient utilization or resources culminating in increase in farmers’ income and nutritional security coupled with enhanced employment and better utilization of wastelands.

The earlier view was that the cultivated sesame originated from Ethiopia. But Bedigian and Harlen (1984) established evidence to indicate that sesame is native of India. In vedic period, liberal mention about Til (Gingelly seed) and Taila (Gingelly oil) are mentioned. The Charred seeds of Gingelly were extracted from Harappa (2500-1500 B.C).