eChapters

Globally, agriculture productivity is challenged by abiotic and biotic stresses, but abiotic stresses in particular (Gong et al., 2013) affect spreading of plant species across different environmental zones (Chaves et al., 2003). The changing climate is expected to worsen abiotic factors globally and adaptation strategies need to be established for target crops to specific environments (Beebe et al., 2011). Connect between different stress factors will likely surge harm to crop yields (Beebe, 2012). Soil salinity is a major environmental constraint to agricultural productivity (Greenway and Munns, 1980; Rhoades and Loveday, 1990). High concentrations of different types of salts, including chlorides, carbonates, and sulfates of magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium, characterize different saline soil areas around the world. Moreover, for each type of naturally occurring salinity, constantly changing environmental conditions, such as temperature and precipitation, as well as agricultural practices cause rapid modifications in levels of salinity and salt distribution patterns. Sodium and chloride are the predominant ions in the vast majority of saline areas.

During evolution, various species of plants, known as halophytes, readapted to life in high-salinity environments, but a large majority of plant species grown in non-saline areas are salt-sensitive (referred to as glycophytes). These glycophytic plants, including the majority of crop species, differ greatly in their tolerance to salt stress (Greenway and Munns, 1980; Flowers and Colmer, 2008).

Sample Design

Sample design is a specific system for obtaining a sample from a given population. For the effective planning and sample survey, this sample design is the framework or road map that serves as the basis for the selection of the survey sample and affects many other important aspects of a survey as well. It is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. Sampling design refers to the procedure that the researcher would adopt in selecting items as the sample. Also, sampling design is a working plan that specifies the sample frame, sample size, sample selection and estimation method in detail. The blueprint for obtaining a sample from the sampling frame and this technique used in drawing a sample is known as sample design or sampling design. This whole process is done before the determination of data collection.

Introduction

In some practical field situations, the results are described by some percentages or proportions. In agricultural field conditions, if any disease prevalence is to find then in the form of percentage or proportion, we can say how much disease rate is present i.e., 10 % or may be any other. So, in those situations, we need to describe our results in proportions. Similarly, in many fields such as medical sciences, social sciences and other allied sciences this type of results in proportions we need to describe.

Yet now we have discussed probability sampling techniques in which sampling units are assigned with equal probabilities. But sometimes in practice if want to draw a sample with unequal probabilities i.e., every sampling unit is assigned with varying probabilities and we draw a sample from these units with the help of equal probability methods, then the results are not as much efficient as compared to unequal probability sampling.

Simple random sampling is a procedure wherein the chance of selection of every unit in the required sample is equal. However, the use of simple random sampling is not advisable when the units differ substantially in size as the significance of unit size is ignored.

The basic idea of this type of probability technique is that chance of each unit of a population being selected in the sampling is proportional to its size. The units vary significantly in size and the variable under study is largely related to the size of the unit. Therefore, the probabilities fixed for each unit are proportional to their sizes.

INTRODUCTION

Sapota [Manilkara zapota (L) P. Royen] commonly known as chiku in India, is an exotic fruit crop originated in Tropical America. The name sapodilla is derived from the Spanish word zapotilla, meaning “small sapote.” Tree have dark green beautiful radiating canopy with central flag having aesthetic values.It is a popular crop widely cultivated in most tropical countries. The cultivation of sapota is a profitable venture as it does not need much spraying, pruning and it is a long-life fruit tree. Moreover, the fruit fetches good price in market as it ripens in April and May in North India, when mango and litchi fruits are scarce. At international level in India crop attained an important place in fruit industry. In India this fruit species is cultivated only for its delicious fruit for table purpose but in South America, it is cultivated for chickle the “gutta parcha” which is used as base material for chewing gum.This is extracted from bark. Sapota fruit present a climacteric behavior. In India farmer from Bordi village near Gholwad, late Sri Gopal Rao Patil realized the commercial potential of this evergreen and ever fruiting tree and procured a few plants and began to propagate for distribution among poor farmers of this area and within short time it had spread from Palghar in Maharashtra to Amalsad in Gujarat. Subsequently commercial cultivation in his region was helped by lranis and Marwari settlers. The best sapota orchards in this area belong to lranis and Marwaris. It is from this area that this fruit went to various other parts of the country like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana etc. In India crop become very popular among farmers as a cash crop. There is a possibility of extending cultivation of this crop into warm and humid climate of all tropical regions of the world. In India area under this crop increasing every year. Therefore, in recent years, it has attained the status of major fruit in peninsular India. Popularity of this fruit is on increase due to high production per unit area and continuous fruiting throught out the year.

Appendix-'K'    :    Supreme Court Directions on School Safety
    
Case Study    :    Kumbakonam School Fire Tragedy

1.    Major Branches of Horticultural Science

    
2.    Potential Production Zones of Various Horticultural Crops in India
    
3.    Indian Horticulture
    
4.    Current Production and Projected Demand of  Horticultural Products
    
5.    Extent of Value Addition in Fruits and Vegetables
    
6.    Horticulture as Profession
    
7.    Projected Demand for Horticulture Professionals in 2020
    
8.    Major Career Opportunities in Horticulture
    
9.    Level of Employment (%) in Horticultural Processing Sector
    
10.    Conclusion
        
References

Abstract: This article gives an overview of the possibility and scope of successful cultivation of medicinal and aromatic herbs as intercrops with multipurpose tree species under agroforestry conditions. The challenges are many. Sustainable production under any agroforestry system is the main goal to be achieved through short and long term strategies. Diversification of the existing conventional cropping sequences coupled with developing of suitable technology packages is the need of the hour to cope up with ever increasing demand for diversified products. The hypothesis is, if intercropping of annuals, biennials and perennial medicinal plants in association with fuel, fodder, timber, pulp, fruit trees including tree species with medicinal values on the farmland, an alternate land use system; can provide economically viable option for sustainable systems. This chapter describes the potential and benefits of medicinal plants based agroforestry. Our experience is that planting timber, fuel and fodder or fruit tree species in combination with medicinal crops paves the way for diversified products and better economic returns to the farmers. Multipurpose tree species outside the forest have played very important role in catering to the day to day requirements of the rural population. Different farming systems consisting of crops + trees have yielded encouraging results and have not only helped diversification but enhanced productivity of land per unit area. Intercropping medicinal and aromatic herb species further makes agroforestry more remunerative.

Introduction

Agroforestry offers both adaptation and mitigation options to climate change especially for the poor rural communities in the developing world. It is now getting ample attention from different investors, scientists, policy makers and international bodies due to its multiple benefits to the environment; and remain an important component of sustainable land use in agricultural production. Agroforestry provides economic, environmental, and social security to the vulnerable communities who are dependent on agricultural production for their livelihoods, and on forest/ trees for their energy requirement. Agricultual production is vulnerable to climate change, and there is a need to cushion these communities to be less vulnerable to climate change, or natural hazards. The suitable, sustainable and smart method is agroforestry based agriculture which offer host of ecosystem services to cope the vagaries of climate change, particularly in rural areas.

8.1 Introduction

Common onion, Allium cepa L., is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. It has been cultivated for more than 5000 years. However, its wild species do not exist. Allium is a Greek word. Onion is native of Central Asia. According to Vavilov onion originated in Pakistan, however, others opined it to have domesticated in the mountainous regions of Central Asia comprising Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and north Iran. Jones and Mann proposed the area comprising Pakistan and Iran or South East Asia as the centre of origin. Onion is very important in cookery. 

11.1 Introduction

The word Raphanus has been originated from Greek, meaning quick appearing, refers to its very rapid germination and growth characteristics. It is grown chiefly for its succulent and fleshy edible taproot eaten raw as salad or cooked. The leafy tops are very rich in vitamins A, B and C, and minerals particularly calcium and iron. Major sugar present in radish is glucose. It is a short duration crop and highly productive, so preferred as intercrop or in relay and sequential cropping. 

15.1 Introduction

It is an important vegetable grown since long and used as fresh vegetable. It is an important legume vegetable rich in proteins. The crop is usually grown for its green pods which contains immature seed and are cooked as vegetable, alone or mixed with others. It prefers cool weather and it does not grow well during intense heat of the summer season, especially the wrinkled seeded cultivars which are tender, sweet and of much better quality than the smooth cultivars. 

17.1 Introduction

Lettuce is one of the most important vegetable crops in temperate countries. However, it occupies an important position for its cultivation in tropical and subtropical countries also. In the world, the largest consumer and producer is USA. Lettuce is also grown on large areas in South Eastern Australia, Japan, China, Israel, Northern Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Peru. Probable ancestor of lettuce is Lactuca serriola L. The crop was spread throughout the 

20.1 Introduction

Asparagus is a herbaceous perennial plant with an erect branched stem growing to 1-3 m height and is grown in large areas in countries like USA, Germany, Spain and France, while India’s contribution is meagre. The tender shoots called ‘spears’ are used as vegetable and in preparation of soup. It is also eaten as salad. The canned and frozen spears are also used as processed foods. Once asparagus starts producing, it continues to give economic yield for 10-15 years. The tender shoots contain a white crystalline substance, asparagine, which is used in medicine as diuretic in cardiac dropsy and chronic gout. It has good potential as fresh vegetable.

SEED GERMINATION

Germination is the growth of a plant contained within a seed; it results in the formation of the seedling, it is also the process of reactivation of metabolic machinery of the seed resulting in the emergence of radicle and plumule. The seed of a vascular plant is a small package produced in a fruit or cone after the union of male and female reproductive cells. All fully developed seeds contain an embryo and, in most plant species some store of food reserves, wrapped in a seed coat. Some plants produce varying numbers of seeds that lack embryos; these are called empty seeds and never germinate. Dormant seeds are ripe seeds that do not germinate because they are subject to external environmental conditions that prevent the initiation of metabolic processes and cell growth. Under proper conditions, the seed begins to germinate and the embryonic tissues resume growth, developing towards a seedling.

A. Bhattacharya

2.1.    Seed Germination
    
    2.1.1.        Drought Tolerance in Plants
    2.1.2.        Osmotic Adjustment
    2.1.3.        Cell membrane Stability
    2.1.4.        Epicuticular Wax
    2.1.5.        Partitioning and Stem Reserve Mobilization
    2.1.6.        Salt Stress and Seed Germination
    
2.2.    Seedling Drought Traits
    
2.3.    Seed Germination Under Abiotic Stress

2.4.    Salt Stress and Seed Germination

2.5.    Seedling Growth

2.6.    Stress Effects on Seedling Growth
    
    2.6.1.        Temperature
    2.6.2.        Nutrition, Salinity, and pH
    2.6.3.        Water
    2.6.4.        Under Flooding Condition
    
2.7.    Drought Stress and Abscisic acid (ABA)
    
2.8.    Salt Stress on Seedling Length
    
    2.8.1.        Salt Stress on Seedling Dry Weight
    2.8.2.        Mechanism of Salt Stress on Germination
    2.8.3.        Root Establishment Methods
    
2.9.    Root Development
    
    2.9.1.        Root System Development and Abiotic Stress
    
2.10.    Root Development Under Abiotic Stress
    
    2.10.1.        Drought Stress
    2.10.2.        Regulation of Root System Architecture by Water Availability and Salinity Stress
    2.10.3.        Regulation of Root System Architecture by Nutrients
    2.10.4.        Phosphate Starvation
    2.10.5.        Nitrogen
    2.10.6.        Potasium and Iron
    2.10.7.        Meristematic Activity Regulation by Abiotic Stress
    2.10.8.        Waterlogging Stress
    2.10.9.        Salt Stress
    2.10.10.    Temperature Stress
    2.10.11.    Illumination Stress
    2.10.12.    Nutrient Deficiency or Excess
    2.10.13.    Heavy Metal Stress
    2.10.14.    Elevated Atmospheric Levels of CO2
    2.10.15.    Mechanical Stress
    
2.11.    Biochemical Regulation of Root
        
References

Seed handling ensures the potential utilization of seed material. Collection and utilization of quality seeds are indispensable in producing quality planting material and better seedling establishment. After selecting the quality seed source, collecting good quality seeds physiologically and genetically is considered the first step in seed handling, followed by processing seeds, testing, storage, and pre-treatment for germination. The main goal of seed handling is to attain an excellent seed survival rate. The chances of seeds getting damaged during any stages of seed handling because of careless or rough approaches are very high.

From the regeneration point of view, the quantity of seed production per tree correspondingly has a vital role to play. If considered virtually, only one successful seed (or two if the species is dioecious) would serve to replace the parent tree(s); hence the production of seeds during the lifetime of a tree is absurd. A full-grown Eucalyptus camaldulensis tree may produce a million or more seeds per year and live further, producing seeds for over a century. Each year’s production could help afforest

India is the largest goat producing countries in the world exhibiting rich diversity between and within goat breeds. The implementation of a genetic improvement programme requires a clear breed-based breeding objectives and selection criteria, tailored to the needs of goat farming community. Indigenous goat breeds bear a great degree of adaptability for climatic stress, tropical diseases and low quality feed resources, require low inputs for enhancing productivity, thus, little investment along with use of high merit bucks bring a great change in the economy of the farmers. There are currently 37 recognized goat breeds in the country which are kept mostly in small herds on extensive or partial semi-intensive feeding system. Productivity of Indigenous goats, however, observed less than their actual genetic potential and attributed to low input system, lack of suitable breed specific structural genetic improvement programme and poor adoption of technologies. A buck is the most important animal in the herd. A breeding male or buck contributes 50% of the genetic merit of the herd and also determine the future improvement rate.

Hygienic collection of semen is an integral part of the artificial insemination process. Semen collection implies mounting a teaser doe or a dummy. Therefore, proper semen collection deserves the utmost attention. Sexual efficiency is measured by the percentage or successful semen collections among attempted collections. When males are allowed to female teaser, the male exhibits characteristic behavioural symptoms such as sniffing, nudging or mounting at that time it is necessary for the operator to attempt an approach. This approach has to be done quietly to avoid a fear reflex in the male. The male, even if it mounts the female, deviation of its penis into the receptacle. Under the circumstances, the operator should not more from his squatting position, so that the male does not associate the two events. The animal generally comes back by itself to attempt remounting the female and will serve the artificial vagina. The operator should also stimulate the male by voice.

The semen evaluation is of great importance in predicting fertility of the male. There are several parameters to evaluate the semen quality. Usually bucks with good semen samples have good fertility and bucks with poor or very poor semen samples are invariably infertile or sterile. A single test is never sufficient to assess the semen quality and the examiner should be acquainted with several tests to evaluate the semen. The semen should be examined with in a shortest possible period after ejaculation and the ejaculate must be properly protected and handled until examination. Semen can be evaluated by following methods

1. Macroscopic test
2. Microscopic test
3. Metabolic test