eChapters

Introduction Livestock plays a vital role in rural economy. Apart from milk, which is a significant economic contributor, efficient use of livestock resources and byproducts like Manure/dung in biogas systems can help generate localised clean cooking energy for rural masses. At the same time, biogas spent slurry; a by-product of biogas plant is a potential source of major and micronutrients besides organic matter. Its proper utilisation after processing has a vast potential in meeting the nutrient requirement of the crops and thereby reducing use of chemical fertilizers besides providing sustenance to soil health. It is estimated that about 443.5 lakh tonnes of solid bio-slurry could be made available from dairy animals. This bio slurry can be processed to produce bio fertilizers which can meet the India’s requirement of NPK and micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu) by about 4.5% and 0.4% respectively. Vermicomposting is the best technique to convert livestock waste into a resource. In India livestock manure is managed basically in three ways:

A. Majority cases dung/manure excreted by livestock are removed and dumped into heaps nearby cattle sheds. The heaps remained for some time when they get converted into manures, which are spread subsequently in the fields as an organic matter.

B. Manure/dung is utilized for energy purpose in village level where the dung is made into small cakes and dried and later on used as a fuel for cooking purposes. This is a great wastage of organic matter which needs to be utilized or managed in other ways so that both the energy and manure can be obtained from the livestock waste.

C. This method of manure utilization is popularized both by central and state government through bio-gas plant where manure is used for the production of methane under anaerobic (lack of oxygen) conditions. The methane gas is used for cooking purpose as well as the slurry after methane extraction is used as farm manure. This management and technique reduce methane emission in environment utilized the methane for cooking purpose and at the same time the valuable waste is utilized as a farm manure.

Introduction

Despite recent significant increases in global food production Sustainable development goal- “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” seems unachievable. Globally, 1 in 9 people are undernourished, the vast majority of whom live in developing countries. Under nutrition causes wasting or severe wasting of 52 million children worldwide. It contributes to nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children per.Today, the majority of the world’s hungry people—nearly 870 million—live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Climate change impacts on food security and livelihoods are already alarming and affecting millions of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (FAO, 2016).

In view of today’s 795 million hungry and the additional 2 billion people expected by 2050, there is an urgent need for a change of global food and agriculture systems in order to sustainably increase food production (UN, 2016). This will exert intense pressure on agro-ecosystems that are already overburdened, particularly in developing countries as most of those increases in production have to occur in this part of the world. The environmental impacts of satisfying this increased food demand will be further aggravated by climate change. With increased frequency and severity of droughts, extreme heat conditions and over dependence on rainfed agriculture, there is a growing agricultural productivity crisis, dwindling household food availability and the economic prosperity of countries whose national economies are dependent on agriculture. Considering that climate change impacts are felt differently within regions, context-specific adaptation measures are required to reduce risks and build adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers (Altieri, M.Aet al.2017).

Lipids are naturally occurring fat like substances insoluble in water but are soluble in organic solvents like alcohol, ether, and chloroform etc. Some of the phospholipids are even soluble in water. All the lipids do not resemble fats.
Lipids are an important component of living cells. Together with carbohydrates and proteins, lipids are the main constituents of animal cells. Lipids include fatty acids, neutral fats, waxes and steroids (like cortisone). Compound lipids (lipids complexed with another type of chemical compound) comprise the lipoproteins, glycolipids and phospholipids.
Properties of lipids
Lipids are non-polar molecules a family of organic compounds, composed of fats and oils yield high energy and are responsible for different functions within the body. It is stored in the adipose tissue of the body. Lipids are a heterogeneous group of compounds, mainly composed of hydrocarbon chains. Lipids are energy-rich organic molecules, which provide energy for different life processes. Lipids are a class of compounds distinguished by their insolubility in water and solubility in nonpolar solvents. It is important constituent of cell membrane in biological systems, a mechanical barrier that divides a cell from the external environment.
Most of the lipids or fats are demonstrated by using fat soluble dyes. The lipid soluble dyes have greater affinity for fats, lipids, lipoproteins and triglycerides. The fat soluble dyes are:

1.1. History and Origins of Rabbits

The existence of rabbit with human being remained from time immemorial. Romans were the first to domesticate wild rabbits in the 5th century by the monks of the Champagne region in France as a readily available food source. Rabbits were introduced to Britain during the 12th Century, and during the Middle Ages, the breeding and farming of rabbits for meat and fur became widespread throughout Europe. Sources suggest that some women among the Medieval gentry even kept rabbits as pets. The selective breeding of European rabbits meant that distinct breeds arose in different regions, and the origins of many old breeds can be traced back several centuries.

Abstract

Bhadawari is one of the recognized buffalo breeds of India and is famous for high milk fat content. The main breeding tract is Agra and Etawah in Uttar Pradesh and Bhind and Morena districts in Madhya   Pradesh. The tract was a part of the erstwhile Bhadawar estate from where the name of these animals originated. Bhadawari, the brown beauty of ravines and predominantly the only breed adapted to the harsh conditions of the ravines with undulating topography, thorny and scanty bushes, climatic stress and draught conditions. Breed is said to be resistant to many tropical bovine diseases and also known for eating less and producing more. Calf mortality is significantly lower than the other breeds of buffaloes. Male animals are good for agriculture work especially for ploughing in rice fields.

1. Introduction

Medicinal plants are well known for their secondary metabolites which are alternatively called as active principles responsible for curing of diseases and disorders. India is a biodiversity rich country belongs within 12 mega diversity zones of the world and possesses four biodiversity hot spots, 8 phyto-geographic regions and 10 vegetation zones (Khandekar and Srivastava, 2014). This subcontinent holds 47000 different species of plants out of which 8000 plants are medicinal in nature (Hamilton, 2004, Owolabi et al., 2007). High rate of endemism and 426 habitats for specific species are the unique resource of the country (BSI, 2009; Khandekar and Srivastava, 2014). Still majority of the herbal raw materials are wildcrafted and hence habitat destruction and wildcrafting pose a serious problem to the natural population particularly where roots are the targeted plant part as the percentage of root yielding medicinal plants are higher in the subcontinent. Since these plants are purely industrial and not having alternative uses the commercial production is not flourishing at a higher pace. Still the production of medicinal and aromatic plants in India has reached 1031000 tonnes from 634000 hectares.

In the post-CBD regime with global developments in aspects of Plant Genetic Resources and Intellectual Property Rights, the outlook towards these lesser exploited species has been changed to bioprospecting from collection and documentation.Here lies the importance of value addition in medicinal plants. Value addition means a change of state of the produce which will give a manifold return than the additional investment. Value-added products can be obtained through processing of raw herb or crude drug which will improve its look and also increase its quality, longevity, efficacy and obviously the return.

Origin and history : Banana is an important fruit of tropics. The fruit is recognized as the fourth most important global food commodity. India’s share is 32 per cent of the total fruit production. This is the only tropical fruit which is exported in large quantities and is leading fruit in the international trade. It is one of the oldest and commonest of the Indian fruit that has been cultivated since ancient times. Eve was said to have used banana leaves to covers her modesty in the garden of paradise. Banana is thus called apple of paradise. It is also known as “Adam’s fig or tree of wisdom”. It is used as staple fruit in most of the African countries and is used as ripe (table) or raw fruit (cooking). This fruit is available throughout the year. All the plant parts are being used. Banana is monocotyledonous plant true stem is rhizome which is a modified form of stem fruit is seedless due to parthenocarpy and the development of fruit is due to auxin stimulation. India has more than 300 germplasms, out of 600 reported worldwide. Edible banana has arisen as a result of natural crosses between two wild progenitors viz,. Musa paradisiaca and Musa balbisiana. Banana is being grown in many of the African countries between 300 N and 500 S latitudes. Important countries are India (1st place).

Soil moisture is the water retained within soil pores and represents a critical link between precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, infiltration and groundwater recharge. It provides the principal water supply for plant growth and strongly influences crop establishment, nutrient availability and yield. This chapter discusses soil-moisture storage, field capacity, permanent wilting point, available water, infiltration, percolation and root-zone dynamics. It examines methods of measurement, estimation and monitoring and explains how soil texture, structure, organic matter, vegetation and weather influence moisture conditions. Effective soil-moisture management supports irrigation scheduling, drought mitigation, water-use efficiency and prevention of waterlogging, thereby strengthening agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability.

Domestication of the rabbit is relatively recent and most of today’s breeds have been bred by man in the last 200 to 300 years.

The rabbit has been used as an experimental animal in genetics, reproduction and physiology since the beginning of the century, but it was not until 1950 that the first findings on quantitative genetics were published in Venge’s study of maternal influence on rabbit birth weight.

ABSTRACT

Recent advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have changed the way we live, learn and interact.  They have transformed the way knowledge is produced, processed, retrieved and transferred between different stakeholders. The innovative ICT applications are dominating and driving the development scholarship and thinking in agriculture sector. The increasing availability and use of the Information and Communication Technologies offers the Extension System and all its stakeholders/partners an undeniable opportunity to redefine the way it provides information and interacts with farmers. ICTs are not just a new tool for information dissemination; it is empowering and changing the very culture of society’s information-seeking behavior. And Extension must change, too.

The aquaculture sector showed an overwhelming growth of 468% during the last two decades and is presently playing a key role in the changing Indian economic growth. The contribution from aquaculture is 21.6% by volume and 49.3% by value to the total fisheries exports. Inland fisheries sector had shown consistent growth of over 5% per annum over the period of 1999-2005. High demand of aquaculture products in the world has forced the aquaculturist to change the culture system from extensive to intensive. This has led aquaculturist to lose millions of dollars due to fish mortalities associated with fish disease and related conditions. Out break of disease has been considered as a major stumbling block in intensive aquaculture practices.

Disease is a very complex interaction between three important factors, namely the susceptible fish, the disease causing agents (pathogen) and the environment. These three factors are most important and must be considered in any fish disease outbreak. The environment in which the causative agent of diseases and their host fish interacts, may favour one or the other. Changes in the environment, whether natural or artificial, may shift the balance from one side to the other and will often determine whether the host will survive or succumb. Understanding and managing the stress and their causative factors are thus the key factors for successful aquaculture.

ABSTRACT

Mapping and exploration of iron ore deposits in parts of Salem District is carried out based on the detailed field work and the interpretations of IRS-1C PAN data in the scale of 1:12,500 and aerial photographs (NRSA, Scale 1:4,000). The study results that the major rock types of the study area are banded magnetite quartzite, garnetiferous pyroxene granulite, amphibolite, garnetiferous pyroxenite, charnokite, talc tremolite, actionalite and dunite rocks. The Banded Magnetite Quartzite’s (BMQ) occur as enclaves within the hornblende gneisses at several parts of the study area. Topographically, the rocks constitute small low-lying linear ridges at some places it is found to be closely associated with garnet pyroxene granulites. A remarkable feature about the mode of occurrence of magnetite quartzite is its linear nature and the physical form, which could be described as a “Band”. All the bands possess an ENE-WSW strike and the dip is found to be steep (above 70 degrees) towards north. The rock in the hills of Godumalai, Vellalagundam, and Singipuram are highly deformed and contact with garnetiferous pyroxene granulite and hornblende gneisses. In hand specimen, the magnetite quartzite rock exhibits fine banding. In general no variation in grain size or thickness of banding could be seen megascopically. However, occasional increase in size of magnetite might be possible as seen from the coarser magnetite pebbles strewn in the channels of the area. There are two types of folds observed namely F1 and F2. The axial plane trace of the F1 varies in trend from WNW-ESE to WSW – ENE. The joints are traced in the directions of NNW-SSE to NNE – SSW and WNW – ESE to ENE-WSW. The interpretation of lineaments shows their trend directions of NNE-SSW, NE-SWand NNW-SSE. The above said work has carried out through detailed field work and interpretations using by IRS-1C PAN data in the scale of 1:12,500 and aerial photographs of NRSA, in the scale of 1:4,000 for the study area.

Agricultural extension is a term that has long been used to describe a non-formal educational system aimed at improving the livelihood of farmers. Extension education aims at three main types of behavioural changes in relation to knowledge (things known), attitudes (things felt) and skills (how to implement the things). This can be achieved through persuasion and motivation for the changes. The core activities in extension are education and training. Extension is now being regarded as a much wider task of integrating indigenous and new skills and techniques, derived from study or research, into an overall framework of discussion and cooperation between the people and the extension organisation. The extension worker is primarily engaged in the ‘selling’ of ideas to bring about changes in the knowledge, attitudes and skills of the individual. Functions of extension in a broader sense include

Abstract

Extension and Advisory Services (EAS) are delivered by millions of extension professionals representing the public, private and civil society located across the globe and have been helping in addressing farmers’ needs over the years. However, public sector has been a major agency dealing with EAS in India and is facing several challenges and constraints to fulfill the demands of farmers on timely basis. The challenge today is to change the organizational culture to incorporate innovation as a core value and to institutionalize the emerging paradigms. Further, different strategies and measures need to be taken to ensure timely and quality EAS by reorienting extension priorities. This paper has highlighted on strengthening extension and feedback mechanism, improving research- extension linkages, capacity building, public-private partnership (PPP), developing infrastructure, mass media support and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) etc. to improve the efficiency as the time demands. The paper concludes that reorienting extension priorities is very essential with a vast network of various stakeholders by adapting effective approaches like utilization of social media, human resource development, PPP, farmer groups etc. during and post pandemic scenario. Further, empirical efforts are also needed to develop reliable, location-specific, participatory, gender-sensitive and inexpensive extension methodologies and materials to meet the emerging demands. Further, developing countries like India have to invest in terms of various resources like financial, human resource etc. for promoting higher productivity and sustainability through EAS.

Introduction

We, the participants of ITAF 2023 along with Dr. B. R. Chavan and Dr. Prashant Bodake visited Farm Song Nam under the guidance of Asst. Prof. Dr. Naphat Panthukumbol and Dr. Sorawit Powtongsookon 18/10/23 at 01:00 pm. This research station is under NSTDA (National Science and Technology Development Agency). The purpose of the visit was to learn about the latest developments in aquaculture technologies.

Dr. Sorawit explains that this system is able to monitor water quality, floc sedimentation, the current age of shrimp, quantity in the pond, total weight, density, size, total amount of water used, pond volume, and volume of water in the pond at a time. This system is equipped with cloud backup that can store all recorded pieces of information. After monitoring, the available information is automatically uploaded to the cloud and accessible through mobile by simply visiting the website. The key feature of Aqua-IoT is the integration of key data– physical, chemical, and biological water qualities and weather – into one single dashboard that enables users to understand the relationship between the data, analyze the data, and make informed decisions.

1. Aquaculture and Shrimp farming

Considering the current population explosion and the speed of human-centered land encroachment, scientists have expressed concern about the availability and production of food to meet global demand. The agricultural sector alone would not be able to cope with such a huge global demand of 7.6 billion people, which does not seem to be decreasing in any way. Approximately 20% of the global population consumes fish, which originate in the aquaculture sector. On the other hand, it has grown many fold with advancements in science and technologies in fish production and post-harvest, which has become a prominent commercial sector. The fisheries sector is broadly classified into two types: marine and inland. In marine fisheries, fishermen venture into the sea to fish with their fishing vessels and gear to harvest fish, whereas in inland f isheries, fishermen go fishing in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. However, with advancements in technology and growing demand for fish as food sources, people have started growing fish in captivity under controlled and semi controlled conditions in ponds. The history of fish culture tracks back to 2000 BC, which originated in China, where they started growing carp in captivity by providing the required conditions for fish growth. Providing suitable conditions in captivity means providing the required physical and chemical environment in the culture system by keeping the physicochemical parameters at the optimum level as required by the species cultured. Physicochemical parameters of soil and water are key to the successful culture of fish, which is why emphasis has been placed on the scientific study of the physical and chemical parameters of soil and water.

Thermochemical conversion is a process that uses heat to transform biomass and agricultural waste into energy and valuable byproducts. This approach involves the decomposition of organic materials under high temperatures, with or without the presence of oxygen, to produce fuels, chemicals, and thermal energy. The key thermochemical methods include combustion, pyrolysis, gasification, torrefaction, and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). In the pursuit of sustainable energy and environmental protection, biomass has emerged as a vital renewable resource. Thermochemical conversion technologies have gained prominence due to their high efficiency, rapid processing rates, and ability to handle a wide range of feedstocks—including lignocellulosic and low-moisture materials. Unlike biological processes, which depend on microbial activity and require longer processing times, thermochemical methods offer faster and scalable solutions suitable for industrial applications. Each thermochemical pathway offers unique advantages and outputs. Combustion is the most widely used method, involving the burning of biomass in the presence of excess oxygen to generate heat. This heat can be used directly or converted into electricity, making combustion especially common in rural and semi-urban settings. Other methods like pyrolysis and gasification produce intermediate products such as bio-oil, syngas, and biochar, which can be further refined or utilized as fuels and soil amendments. Hydrothermal liquefaction and torrefaction operate under specific conditions to produce high-energy-density products and improve biomass handling and storage characteristics. Overall, thermochemical conversion presents a robust strategy for managing agricultural waste while contributing to renewable energy generation and circular economy goals.
Pyrolysis, Gasification, and Hydrothermal Processing
Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process that involves the decomposition of biomass by heating it in the absence of oxygen, typically at temperatures between 300°C and 700°C. This process converts organic material into three main products:
1. Bio-oil (liquid)
2. Syngas (gas)
3. Biochar (solid)

Origin and history: Citrus is the leading fruit crop in the world. In India, citrus ranks second in area sharing 12.8% of the total area under fruit crops with 9.6% share in production. Under citrus group, mandarins are the most important, occupying 50% of the total area under citrus followed by sweet orange and limes. Citrus fruits are grown mainly in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka and North-Eastern region. 

1.    Nagpur mandarin was introduced in India in 1894 by Shriji Raja Bhosle. 

2.    Kinnow can be grown in high density planting by using the cultivar  Troyer Citrange'  as a root stock by spacing the plants at 1.8 x 1.8 m2. 

3.    Classification of citrus was given by Tanaka and Swingle. 

4.    Grape fruit is also known as Forbidden fruit, Breakfast food.

A Flame Photometer has long been in use for analysis of elements; however, it is now being gradually replaced by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The reason being, that the former can analyze only a few elements such as sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), barium (Ba) and lithium (Li), whereas the later can be used to analyze almost all the elements known, provided a specific Hollow Cathode Lamp (HC), for a specific element, is available. In addition, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer is more precise and accurate in measurement as compared to Flame Photometer.

In this chapter, we shall deal with the operation techniques, working principles and a brief description of each and every component/constituent unit of a Flame Photometer as well as an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer.