eChapters

Introduction

Quality of fish is affected by various factors, which are classified into two categories: intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors are the chemical and physical properties inherent to fish. Extrinsic factors are treatments given to fish before and after catch until it reaches the consumer, which includes the method of catch, cross contamination, processing, preservation, and product storage environment (temperature, humidity, packaging). The processing methods such as drying, smoking, chilling, and salting greatly help to minimize the spoilage. The quality of fish is also dependent on cold chain, in which the temperature is managed and monitored at every stage of production, transport, storage and sale.

2.1. Pre-Harvest Factors

Pre-harvest factors relates to the intrinsic factors affecting the quality of fish, as they are beyond the direct control of human. Various intrinsic factors affecting quality are fish species, size, sex, physiological state, parasites, naturally toxic fish, pollutants, and occasional peculiarities. Additionally, some of the extrinsic factors like method of catch and feeding interruption for starvation are also considered as pre-harvest factors affecting the quality of fish.

2.1.1. Species Characteristics

The quality of fish is related to species. For instance, flat fish keep better than round fish. Post-mortem pH varies between species. For example, long rigor period and low pH (5.4-5.6) of very large flatfish and halibut give relatively long iced storage life of 21 days, while mackerel with low post-mortem pH has no effect on shelf life. Some fish are rated as good quality as they are expensive, example, seer fish and pomfret. Fatty fish are rejected sensorial before lean fish due to the appearance of oxidative rancidity. So, lean fish keep longer than fatty fish under aerobic storage. Bony fish are edible longer than cartilaginous fish. Skin of fatty pelagic fish is very thin and contribute to faster

spoilage rate, as it allows enzymes and bacteria to penetrate more rapidly. Thick skin and slime of flatfish contribute for better keepability, as slime contains bacteriolytic enzymes, antibodies and other antibacterial substances.

Vegetables are grown on a limited scale in homesteads for family use and cultivated in an extensive scale for marketing.  Depending on the purpose for which they are developed, vegetable gardens are classified into different types, viz., kitchen garden or nutrition garden, market garden, truck garden, garden for processing, garden for seed production and vegetable forcing or protected cultivation.

Salvia belongs to family Lamiaceae. The genus Salvia comprises about 900 species which are grown for their ornamental flowers since they make excellent and showy borders in gardens. One of the species most commonly grown is Salvia splendens is a tender herbaceous perennial, but grown in India as winter season annual flowering plant. It bears racemes of bright scarlet flowers of large size. It has ability to grow under partial shade condition. It is commonly grown as bedding plant due to varying colours mostly scarlet, purple, orange, lavender and yellow and long lasting flowers. The word salvia was derived from Latin word ‘Salvare’ meaning ‘to heal or to be safe and unharmed’ (Blumenthal et al., 2000 and Kamatou et al., 2008) later it was translated in French as “sauge” or “sage” and in old English “Sawge” (Kamatou et al., 2008). Salvia has several ornamental, culinary and medicinal species (Codd, 1985, Paton, 1991, Gali-Muhtasib et al., 2000, Kamatou et al., 2008 and Bruna et al., 2006). It is also used in preservation of food, mainly meat and cheese, due to its antioxidant properties, as well a spice for flavouring food articles (Topuc, 2006). Chinese use its species to increase longivity and Roman use it in ceremonies as scared herb (Kamatou et al., 2008). The salvia species contain secondary metabolite the main are terpenoids and flavonoids and monoterpenes present in aerial parts of plant like flower and leaves and diterpenoids mostly in roots (Topuc, 2006).

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

The centre of origin of salvia is considered to be Afghanistan and Soviet Central Asia as a large number of primitive morphological species are present but the most of the diversity or species are present in Mexico (Paton, 1991 and Kamatou et al., 2008). The genus is sub-cosmopolitantly distributed worldwide, but is absent in the North and most of the low-lying tropical areas of the world such as the Amazon basin and central and west Africa (Paton, 1991), Jager and Van Staden (2000) and Kamatou et al. (2008) reported its absence not only in western Africa but also in central tropical Africa, Hedge (1974) and Kamatou et al. (2008) reported that West and the southern parts of Africa has greatest number of species (Kamatou et al., 2008).

The genus Salvia contains at least 900 species, because they readily cross pollinate, innumerable hybrids - both natural and manmade. Salvias are found on almost every continent in the world. Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist, wrote about their healing qualities back in the first century. In the early 17^th century, the English botanist John Gerard, in his famous Herbal, described a number of sages, including common garden sage and one that sounds similar to what we now call ‘Tricolor’ sage. He referred to the healing powers of these herbs as well. Until the 19^th century, most gardeners focused on growing plants for medicinal or culinary purposes; beauty was a secondary, much less important consideration.

The results of plant exploration in the 18^th and 19^th centuries brought scores of new salvias to English and European gardeners from Mexico, China and Africa. One, Salvia buchananii, was found in Mexico by an English woman, who gave it to a man serving in the army. Salvia coccinea, indigenous to Mexico and South America, was grown for decades as a wildflower. Both scarlet sage and mealy cup sage were discovered in the early 1800’s, the former in Brazil, the latter in Texas.

Grading is defined as sorting of fruits into different grades according to the size, shape, colour, and volume to fetch high price in market. Grading of fruits after harvesting is an essential step in post-harvest management. Grading of fruits is done on the basis of physical characteristics like weight, size, colour, shape, specific gravity and freedom from diseases. The known methods of grading of fruits and vegetables are manual grading and size grading. Sizing produce is usually a part of grading and is optional for direct marketers, but may be worthwhile if certain size grades receive a higher price than others. Round produce units can be easily graded by sizing rings. Several types of mechanical sizers are available for small-scale operations. Sorting by maturity can maximize the market value of crops such as stone fruits and mangoes .The grades of different fruits suggested by Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) are given in Table 1.

Mechanization is viewed as package of technology to increase land productivity by improved timeliness of operations, reduced crop losses and improved quality of agro-produce to increase efficiency of inputs used through their efficient measurement and placement, to increase labour productivity by using labour saving and drudgery reducing devices and reduce cost of cultivation. echnology and machinery enhanced the ability, quality, accuracy and efficiency of the human being. By using technology in any field the rate production and quality automatically increases. The country witnessed unprecedented growth in agriculture which has helped India to graduate from hunger to self sufficiency in food grains by increasing the food grain production from 51 million tonnes to 208 million tones. The estimated contributions of improved agricultural tools and equipment in augmenting total food production of India is encouraging; savings in seeds: 15-20%; savings in fertilizers: 15-20%; savings in time: 20-30%; reduction in labour: 20-30%; increase in cropping intensity: 5-20%, and increase in productivity 10-15 per cent. The major issues before Indian agriculture with respect to mechanization are; tractorization vs mechanization, custom hiring and contract farming, horticultural mechanization, effective extension activity, sugarcane mechanization, hill agriculture and industry institution interaction. The main technologies which can be taken to farmers’ field for enhancing productivity and production Aqua-ferti seed drill, two row powered seeder, okra planter, tractor mounted inclined plate planter, tractor mounted rotary tiller (Rotavator), tractor mounted zero-till drill, tractor mounted raised bed planter, tractor mounted sett cutter planter for sugarcane, pneumatic planter, vegetable transplanter, low land manual rice seeder, self-propelled rice transplanted, self-propelled power weeder, tractor operated aero blast sprayer, tractor mounted vertical conveyor reaper, maize dehusker-cum-sheller, tractor operated straw reaper (combine) and tractor operated fodder harvester. These technologies need to be introduced after necessary modifications and adjustments, depending upon the agroclimatic and terrain and soil conditions, through proper mode e.g. as individual /group ownership, on custom hiring basis or mechanization package for contract farming.

H orticultural crops are most important ones incurring huge amount of pesticides in our country. The intensity of esticides on them is highest per unit area. However research on integrated pest management has not matched the progress and problems of plant protection at large and protected cultivation in particular. The USA, UK, Israel and Russia, pioneers in protected cultivation, are able to harvest productivity of up to 500 tonnes/ha of tomato and 200 tonnes/ha each of cucumber and capsicum, while in India up to 300 tonnes/ha of tomato and 100 tonnes/ha each of cucumber and capsicum are obtained, has compared to normal open field where their yield ranges from 40 to 60 and 10 to 20 tonnes/ha in India, respectively.

The sustainability of an agro-ecosystem is represented by its ability to maintain a given level of productivity over time and a given quantitative-qualitative level of environmental resources (Loucks, 1977). The greenhouse is also a form of agro-ecosystem, where unlike other agro-ecosystems, environment has been adapted to crop in order to maximize its productivity. The greenhouse system has to take maximum advantage of natural benefits offered by location in certain latitudes while minimizing the disadvantages (Castilla, 2002). Higher productivity under such protected cultivation is attainable mainly on account of reduced competition, healthy environment, better nutrient management, increased surface area and longer crop duration. However, ideal and stable environment with warm, humid and abundant food under protected conditions provides an excellent platform for pest development often more than open field crops, leading to severe pest situations in greenhouses, as revealed by extensive surveys.

23.1 Introduction

Cultural methods have been in practice for pest management in traditional systems of agriculture since time immemorial. The worldwide awareness of safe environment provided the impetus to foster non-chemical pest management strategies. Of these strategies, cultural control constitutes the most farmer-oriented approach, where the weak points in the biology and behaviour of insects are exploited and pressure is exerted on the population by manipulating the environment.  In addition to the cultural practices, the other widely used approach is the use of physical control methods which hold promise and provide an attractive alternative to current practices, particularly when integrated into a general control scheme incorporating cultural methods, plant breeding, biological or behavioural methods and pesticides. In physical control methods, the physical environment of the pest is modified in such a way that the insects no longer pose a threat to the agricultural crop.

Introduction

Having decided to become an agri-preneur, the next task is to decide what business to venture into, the product or range of products that shall be taken up for manufacture and in what quantity. This may sound simple, it is the hardest and the single most important decision one will take in this whole business of setting up a small-scale enterprise. As the old saying goes “well begun is half done”, and if the decision to select a product is right, basically enterprise will do well, if not there are likely to be troubles ahead. One of the reasons why many small scale units become “sick” is that no serious thought is given by the entrepreneur before starting the unit on whether there is reasonable chance of succeeding in the product selected.

Even after one has taken a correct decision, all sorts of things can happen and upset the plans, but in such cases, one can retrieve the situation, provided the product selected is intrinsically sound. There could be factors beyond control and one must be prepared to face them.

Water melon is tender to frost and most of cultivars require relatively long growing season. Plant growth and fruit development are fallowed by higher temperature and abundant sunlight. Atmospheric humidity greatly regulates fruit and foliage diseases.

Taxonomy and Origin: Ealier it was classified as Citrullus Vulgaris Schrod. But in 1963 Thieret called attention to the correct name, C. lanatus (Thumb) Mansf. Africa is centre of origin of the genus. In 1857 David Living Stone, the famous missionary explorer found both bitter and sweet melons grown together in Africa and native people used them as source of water. Cultivation is prehistoric as there are pictures made in ancient Egypt. Early cultivation occurred in Mediterranean area and as far as India also and It was brought to USA by European colonist as early as 1629.

1. SEED

A seed is defined as a ‘mature ovule’ or a reproductive unit formed from fertilized ovule, consisting of an embryo, reserve food and a protective cover.

Seed is the basic input in agriculture upon which other inputs are applied. A good vigorous seed utilities all the resources and realized as a reasonable output to the grower. It is wealth to the farmer, it is the yesterday’s harvest and tomorrow’s hope. Good seed in good soil realize good yield.

Seeds exhibit a great range of variation in shape, size, colour and behaviour. The most essential factor for the success of plantation is the ready availability of quality seeds. The quality of seed is totally responsible for the future return / performance of each and every seedling.

Microgreens, popularly known as “vegetable confetti,” are tender young greens that are grown from seeds of cereals, vegetables, and herbs. These shoots are typically harvested 7-21 days after germination when they are just (2.5-7.5 cm tall. At this stage, microgreens have a central stalk, two mature cotyledon leaves, and a second pair of tender true leaves. Compared to baby greens and sprouts, they are bigger than sprouts and smaller than baby greens. Their distinctive color, texture, and flavour can be either sweet or spicy.). Microgreens are especially important because of their high amount of micronutrients and bioactive substances.

Lac insect is an insect of commercial importance like silk worm and honey bee. The silkworm produces silk, honeybee produces honey and wax whereas, lac insect produces three products namely resin, dye and wax of great commercial importance. The resin commonly called lac, is only one of animal origin and commercially available in the market as shellac or seed lac or as a button lac. The resin is in fact the hardened secretory product of lac insect secreted as a protective covering of an insect. Lac culture is one of the important sources of livelihood and rural economy for poor resource constraint people particularly inhabiting in forest and sub-forest areas. It is one of the important sources of livelihood security in many parts of the country in states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, NE regions etc (Pal et al., 2007). It has also high potential for generating employment for both men and women in forest and sub-forest areas of the country. It is a very remunerative crop, paying high economic returns to the farmers and also foreign exchange for the country through its export.

Q. 1 Choose the most appropriate word from the options given below to complete the following sentence:
His rather casual remarks on politics ………. his lack of seriousness about the subject.
(A) Masked        (B) Belied
(C) Betrayed       (D) Suppressed

1. Introduction

Web 2.0 speaks about the second version of web advancement and draft that aims to make it easier to communicate and safer to share information, as well as to make the web more interoperable and user-centered. Social networking sites, video-sharing sites, Wikis, blogs, and folksonomies are just a few of the web-based communities, hosted services, and apps that have grown and changed because of Web 2.0 ideas. (King and Brown, 2009; Wikipedia, 2010c). According to Birdsall (2007) web 2.0 is a social revolution since these tools have brought new changes in the society. According to O'Reilly (2005) the advent of Web 2.0 has revolutionized the way individuals and organizations interact with the internet, marking a significant shift from a static web experience to a dynamic, user-driven environment. This transformation is characterized by the emergence of platforms and tools that empower users not only to consume content but also to create, share, and collaborate on it. As a result, Web 2.0 has fostered a more participatory online culture, where users actively engage in the generation and dissemination of information.

Steps in the Estimation of Trace Elements
Estimation of trace elements in feeds and fodders and other biological materials involves the following steps :

    1.    Production of an acidic solution of the inorganic elements in the biological samples after removal of the organic matter by dry ashing or wet oxidation.

    2.    Removal or masking of interfering substances.

    3.    Determination of the selected elements, usually by using colorimetry.

Results of trace elements determinations are expressed as parts per million (ppm), mg/kg or µg/g dry matter.

Introduction

Three hundred million poor people in Asia depend on livestock for their livelihoods and there are opportunities for improvement in livestock related livelihoods due to the rapid and dynamic changes that the livestock sector in Asia is undergoing (Njuki et al. 2010). Piggery farming has been recognized as one of the profitable venture among the rural masses. This venture has proved to be one of the most important livelihood option. Generally the pigs are reared for pork, considering the increasing trend of pork consumers in India; Piggery farming will certainly take a industrial form of livelihood in India in future. There are more than 12.8 million pigs in our country, out of which approximately 14.5% are graded and of exotic variety. There are 120 pig breeding farms in the country whereas pigs of exotic breeds are maintained. China ranks first in the world in pig rearing where number is around 300 million or 1/3 of the world pig population.Pig production is basically an enterprise which is able to convert inedible or inferior quality food into the food rich in animal protein. Pig is considered a machine because they convert grain, pasture and other low quality feed into Pork which is used as human food (Rahman, 2008) . Despite the fact that pig rearing is a profitable enterprise most of the progressive farmers even today hesitate to adopt it due to prejudice sentiments in our society against pig farming. For many others there is religious taboo against pig. A majority of meat eaters also and cheap source of protein. Pork as a source of animal protein is gaining popularity in India and pork products will be in greater demands in years to come. The high carcass yield attracts the farmers because of the better returns within the shortest possible time. High fertility in pigs assumes income to the rearer round the year. To bring about improvement in the productivity of pork and other piggery products extensive crossbreeding programme has been taken up to develop animals of large size, better feed conversion efficiency, high dressing percentage and better quality pork. Pig keeping also contributes to socio-cultural obligations and risk diversification and converts existing resources and low value waste products into high-value animal source food for home consumption and/or sale (NEPED, 2008).

Introduction

The risk assessment is gaining importance as the scientifically-based approach for the development of food safety and quality standards. It is a logical extension of HACCP revolution. In hazard analysis, first the hazards likely to occur in foods are identified, then an assessment is made of the severity of each hazard, and an evaluation is done of its likelihood to occur. Severity and likelihood are the two factors involved in risk assessment. Second, the increase in international trade has raised new safety and quality challenges. New approaches address the risk of cross-border transmission of infectious and hazardous agents with emerging food-borne diseases and quality problems. This has led to the development of a new safety and quality regulatory framework in 1995, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In these two Agreements, two provisions are of importance to fish safety and quality:

• National SPS and quality requirements should reflect standards agreed on in the international standards setting bodies i.e. Codex Alimentarius for food quality and safety.

• Domestic standards can be developed based on scientific risk assessment.

Risk assessment of microbiological hazards is identified as a priority area by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). In 1999, the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) in the 32nd session, identified a list of 21 pathogen commodity combinations that require expert risk assessment advice. FAO and WHO jointly launched a programme with the objective to provide an expert advice on risk assessment of microbiological hazards in foods to their member countries and to the CAC. Under which, expert groups are established to examine four priority pathogens: product pairings, e.g. Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat food; Salmonella in eggs and broiler chickens; Campylobacter spp. in broiler chickens; and Vibrio spp. in seafoods. Risk assessment is therefore important throughout all aspects of the seafood industry - for companies, national governments and for international regulators.

Geranium (Pelargonium spp.) belongs to the family Geraniaceae. The name Pelargonium was introduced by Johannes Burman a Dutch Botanist in 1738, from the Greek word “Pelargos” means stork because the seed head looks like a stork’s beak. Due to their long and beak-shaped fruits, they are also known by the name of cranesbills. Geraniums are popular flowering plants and grown as decorative pot plants for indoor and outdoor. There is a world demand for the rose geranium essential oil of Pelargonium species which contains geraniol, linalool and citronellol, substitutes for the expensive attar of roses in the perfume trade. Pelargonium species was known for their medicinal value by the earliest indigenous people (Swanepoel, 2009).

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

The plants originated from South Africa (Swanepoel, 2009), as well as Reunion, Madagascar, Egypt and Morocco and were introduced to European countries such as Italy, Spain and France in the 17^th century. Geranium includes around 422 species of flowering annual, biennial and perennial plants. Both Geranium and Pelargonium are genera in the Family Geraniaceae. Linnaeus originally included all the species in one genus. Geranium, but they were later separated into two genera by Charles L’ Heritier in 1789. Although members of the Pelargonium genus are often referred to as ‘Pelargoniums’ to try to avoid confusion, many people still use the older common name of ‘Geranium’.

Most of the Pelargonium plants cultivated in Europe and North America have their origins in South Africa. Geranium robertianum is found throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa where it grows on a variety of soils, rocks, tree trunks and decaying organic matter such as logs. It is a component of virtually all forest types there. In the Pacific Northwest it is primarily found west of the Cascade crest although it extends along the Columbia River in Klickitat County. Ecological structure of Geranium robertianum L. populations under natural conditions and in the garden in Poland. Geranium farreri found in China, in south Gansu and north-west Sichuan.

2.1 Introduction

Weather has always been a popular topic but in the recent past it has received wide attention and debate as the public concern has increased about unforeseen changes in our climate. Over the 20^th century the average temperature of the earth has increased by 0.4 -0.8^oC. This increase is expected to continue and by 2100 the average global temperature is likely to be 1.4 - 5.8 ^oC warmer. One of the anticipated effects of climate change is the possible increase in both frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as heat waves, cold waves, hurricanes, floods and drought spells. The warming of the earth may fuel interactions between the ocean and atmosphere that will amplify the frequency and intensity extreme weather events. The possible changes in the frequency, distribution and intensity of extreme climate events have a significant influence at local, regional and global scales due to their multi-sectoral impacts on the overall economy.

21.1 INTRODUCTION

High population pressure has forced us to plough 46 per cent of our country area for food production. The present productivity is 12.36 tonnes/ha of fruits needs to be raised to 40.0 tonnes/ha by using N : P₂O₅: K₂O with other inputs, since recommended ratio is 0.75:0.50:1.00 only.

Since cost of the inputs like fertilizers and manures are very high, hence, efficient nutrient management is essential for sustainable fruit production and protection of the environment from different types of hazards occurring due to misuse of costly fertilizers.

The soils of India and especially of arid and semi-arid regions are impoverished to plant nutrients. Considering economy, energy and environment, it is imperative to use nutrients effectively by adopting the appropriate doses proper, placement and correct timings of application and to sustain the available nutrients in soil at the optimum level.