eChapters

Genus : Ananas 
Species : comosus L. Merr
Family : Bromeliaceae
Chromosome No. : 2n = 50, 75, 100

Pineapple (Ananas comosus L) ‘Golden Queen’ belongs to order Farinosae and family Bromeliaceae. The name is derived from genus Bromelia in honour of Olaus Bromel, a Swedish botanist. Herbs or sub-shrubs  mostly epiphytic, has the distinction to be one of the major food plants of the world, which was selected, domesticated and developed by the early pre-historic people, who passed this valuable knowledge gathered for hundreds of years through earlier civilization. Pineapple developed to its present form in its natural habitat – New World, and was not know to the Old world before Columbus discovered America. Red Indians the local inhabitants of South America at that early time had already developed and named number of varieties which were partially selected by them or their ancestors based upon various desirable horticultural traits like fruit size and quality, earliness, long storage, and absence of seeds etc.

1. Introduction

Okara is a by-product generated during processing soybean into soymilk or tofu. Okara is rich in fibre and protein. It contains most of the carbohydrates, some of the protein and a small portion of the oil from soybeans. Okara contains approximately 50% fibre, 27% protein, and 10% fat on dry basis (Li et al., 2012). About 1. 2 kg of fresh okara is produced from every kilogram of soybean processed for soymilk (Vishwanathan et al., 2011). Fresh okara from soymilk production has about 80% moisture. The protein present in okara has good nutritional quality and superior protein efficiency ratio. Other soy components that are also likely present in okara include isoflavones (genistein and daidzein), lignans, phytosterols, coumestans, saponins, and phytates (Li et al., 2012). The most common method of utilization of okara is in the form of animal feed. Tofu or soymilk processing plants primarily dump okara as landfill or resort to burning. Okara can be utilized as a fertilizer as it contains various nutrients required for growth of plants. It can be used as a fermentation substrate for production of ethanol. Okara can also be used in pet foods as it contains high levels of extenders and protein. Apart from these, okara can be used in a variety of food products. It can be used in various food products. Utilization of okara is still in the initial stage. It can be used as a replacement of wheat flour in baked products. It can also be used in various soups, salads or vegetable preparations.

Resistant starch refers to the portion of starch and starch products that resist digestion as they pass through the gastrointestinal tract. Resistant starch is the fraction of starch which is not hydrolysed to D-glucose in the small intestine within 120 min of being consumed, but which is fermented in the colon. It can be used as a functional ingredient in various food formulations (Fuentes-Zaragoza et al., 2010). RS has desirable physicochemical properties (Fausto et al., 1997) such as swelling, viscosity increase, gel formation and water-binding capacity, making it useful in a variety of foods. It helps in improving the appearance, texture, and mouthfeel of the final product compared to conventional fibres. Resistant starch can act as a prebiotic for gut microflora (Sajilata et al., 2006). It has hypocholesterolemic effects, is hypoglycaemic and prevents gall stone formation.

Abstract

Quinoa is a pseudo-cereal which belongs to family Chenopodiaceae. Quinoa can act as highly potential crop for areas where ecological conditions do not support other food crops because of its rusticity, tolerance to frost, salinity, drought and ability to grow in marginal soils. Recently, much attention is focused on quinoa for people with celiac disease and allergic to gluten. Quinoa contains high-quality protein, complete with all essential amino acids and is a good source of carbohydrates, lipids, vitamin C, vitamin E (natural antioxidants) and adequate amount of important micronutrients such as minerals. Carbohydrates of quinoa possess excellentfreeze-thaw stability and can be used as thickener in frozen foods.

Quinoa also consists of bioactive components such as phytosterols, squalene, fagopyritols and polyphenols which act as powerful anti-oxidants in-vitro and thus couldprevent degenerative diseases such as coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. Fibre accounts for 6% of the grains total weight, and quinoa intake therefore promotes intestinal transit, regulates cholesterol, stimulates the development of beneficial bacterial flora and helps prevent colon cancer. The quinoa grain can be used to combat liver disease, angina and cystitis. The radical scavenging ability and Angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition activity of quinoa is higher than that of amaranth, rice and wheat. Recent studies have identified significant amounts of ecdysteroids, kaempferol, quercetin, two phytoestrogen - daidzein and cenistema in quinoa. Ethanolic extract of quinoa was observed to have Antioxidant and antihypertensive activity.

The importance of air in human life is well known as air is required for running different biological processes in human body. Unfortunately, the same life giving air or oxygen can cause harmful side effects like generation of oxidants or free radicals in our body. Reactive oxygen species, by product of respirative cycle of oxidative phosphorylation, are well known to interfere with cytoplasmic function and bio-molecules and for inflicting damages on cellular bio-molecules, which pre-disposes cells to several anomalies like mutagenic aberration, cell ageing, diseases, cancerous tumour growth and development of various lethal diseases such as cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, atherosclerosis etc. (Gorinstein and others 2001; Apak and others 2004). Free radicals disrupt the proper membrane function, denature proteins and inhibit enzyme function. Antioxidants, naturally present in food, play a vital role in trapping the radicals and; therefore, effective in reducing the risk of heart diseases, immune system decline, different inflammatory reactions etc. (Silici and others 2010).

Free radicals are unstable because they are missing an electron and they try to become stable by attaching to cell membranes in the body, snatching away electrons from them. This, in turn, sets free radicle molecules on an electron snatching spree and starts a chain reaction that ultimately leads to cell death. On the other hand, antioxidants (such as carotenoids, anthocyanins, ascorbic acid, flavonols, flavonoids, polyphenols etc.), present in our foods can prevent or slow down the oxidative damage by donating one of their own electrons, ending the electron-stealing reaction. Epidemiological evidences suggests that intake of antioxidants helps in scavenging free radicals, cause of a broad spectrum damages to biological system (Vertuani and others 2002). This has led consumers to look for a diet, derived from natural sources as well as rich in antioxidants as an strategy to counteract the cellular damages wreak by oxidative stress.

Introduction

Climate change has been realised during 1840s when indisputable evidence of former ice ages was obtained. The climate has altered sufficiently in many parts of the world even within the last few decades which will affect the possibilities for agriculture and settlement. Reliable weather records have been kept only during the last hundred years or so, but proxy indicators of past conditions from tree rings, pollen in bog and lake sediments, ice core records of physical and chemical parameters, and ocean foraminifera in sediments provide a wealth of paleoclimatic data. The standard interval adopted by the World Meteorological Organization for climatic statistics is thirty years:1901–30, 1931–60, for example. However, for historical records and proxy indicators of climate, longer, arbitrary time intervals may be necessary to calculate average values. Tree rings and ice cores can give seasonal/annual records, while peat bog and ocean sediments may provide records with only 100- to 1,000-year time resolution. Hence, short-term changes and the true rates of change may, or may not, be identifiable.

The present climatic state is usually described in terms of an average value (arithmetic mean, or the median value in a frequency distribution), a measure of variation about the mean (the standard deviation, or interquartile range), the extreme values, and often the shape of the frequency distribution. A change in climate can occur in several different ways, for example, there may be a shift in the mean level, or a gradual trend in the mean values. The variability may be periodic, quasi-periodic or non-periodic, or alternatively it may show a progressive trend . First, it is important to determine whether such changes are real or whether they are an artefact of changes in instrumentation, observational practices, station location, or the surroundings of the instrumental site, or due to errors in the transcribed data. Even when changes are real, it may be difficult to ascribe them to unique causes because of the complexity of the climate system. Natural variability operates over a wide range of time scales, and superimposed on these natural variations in climate are the effects of human activities.

1. SEED MATURITY

Harvesting should be done after the attainment of physiological maturity, when the seeds reached complete maturity to avoid harvesting of immature and ill-filled seeds.

1.1. Physiological maturity

It is the stage of accumulation of maximum drymatter within the seeds. It is expressed by maximum seed weight, germination and vigour potential. The moisture content of the seed at this stage is around 25-30% depending up on the species.

1.2. Harvestable maturity

The physiological maturity is represented to a seed and this maturity will not be the same for all the seeds of a single plant / population, due to continuous differential flowering habit. Hence, the stage of attainment of physiological maturity by 80% of the population is considered as the harvestable maturity stage. The moisture content of the seed will be lesser than the physiological maturity stage (18-20%).

Introduction

Sheeps were first domesticated by human being, many thousands of years ago for their wool, meat and skins. It provides a source of income to the shepherds through sale of wool and animal. Sheep do not need expensive building to house them and require less labour than other kinds of livestock. The foundation stock is relatively cheap and the flock can be multiplied rapidly. Sheep are economical convertor of grass into meat and wool. Sheep will eat varied kinds of plants compared to other kind of livestock. This makes them excellent weed destroyer. Unlike goats sheep hardly damage any tree. The production of wool, meat and manure provides three different source of income to the shepherd. The structure of their lips helps them to clean grains lost at harvest time and thus convert waste feed into profitable products.

The Export-Import (EXIM) Committee was constituted in the Seeds Division to deal with application for exports/imports of seeds and planting materials in accordance with the New Policy on Seed Development and EXIM regulation.

The Policy reiterated that all imports of seeds and planting material would be regulated under the Plant Quarantine Order 2003 and amendments made their under, Import licences would be granted by DGFT/PPA on the recommendations of DAC.

The composition of the EXIM Committee is as under: (i) Secretary (A&C) - Chairperson (ii) Agriculture Commissioner (iii) DDG (CS), ICAR (iv) DDG (Hort.), ICAR (v) JS (IC) (vi) JS (PP) (vii) Horticulture Commissioner (viii) Animal Husbandry Commissioner, Deptt. of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (proposed to incorporate by the 94th Exim Committee) (ix) Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) (x) Plant Protection Adviser (xi) Economics and Statistical Adviser (xii) JS (Seeds) - Member Secretary

A small quantity of seeds sought to be imported would be given to ICAR, or farms accredited by ICAR, for trial and evaluation for one crop season. On receipt of applications for commercial import, DAC would consider the trial/ evaluation report on the performance of the seed and their resistance to seed/ soil borne diseases. DAC is required to either reject or recommend the application to DGFT for grant of import licence within 30 days of receipt.

Introduction

Agriculture is the foundation of India’s economy, as it provides food to people, feed to cattle, raw materials to primary and secondary industries, contributes upto 19 percent of GDP and employs 54.6 percent of the workforce (Kirti and Prasad, 2016). Due to diverse soil and climate conditions, vast varieties of crops such as cereals, pulses, spices , millets, oilseeds, flowers and fruits are being grown in India. Among these crops grown, India is among the leading producers of pulses, cereals and spices in the world (Mishra et al., 2021). India is the fourth largest oilseed economy in the world. Among oilseeds, there are nine crops that are the primary sources of oils in the country, out of which seven are edible oils (soybean, rapeseed-mustard , groundnut, sunflower, sesame, niger and safflower) and two are non-edible (linseed and castor).

11.1. Fruit Rots

11.1.1. Alternaria

Please refer “Alternaria” section in Chapter 10.

11.1.2. Colletotrichum

Please refer “Colletotrichum” section in Chapter 9.

11.1.3. Fusarium

Please refer “Fusarium” section in Chapter 10.

The Indian farm women have extensive workloads with triple responsibility for farm, household and community. Gradually their work is becoming harder due to climate change, degradation of natural resources, natural calamities, male migration and changing agricultural technologies. Women are extensively involved in crop production, horticulture, livestock management, post harvest operation, fisheries, agroforestry and household activities. Majority of their time is devoted towards collection of fuel, fodder and water, growing vegetables in homestead and rearing backyard poultry. They also considerably contribute for household income as agriculture wage earners and through cottage industry.

Women play a significant and crucial role in agricultural development and allied fields. The nature and extent of women’s involvement in agriculture varies greatly from region to region. But regardless of these variations, women are actively involved in various agricultural activities.

As per Census 2011, out of total female main workers, 55 per cent were agricultural labourers and 24 per cent were cultivators. However, only 12.8 per cent of the operational holdings were owned by women, which reflect the gender disparity in ownership of landholdings in agriculture. Moreover, there is concentration of operational holdings (25.7 per cent) by women in the marginal and small holdings categories. Worker Population Ratio (WPR) of women (24 %) is lower as against men (54.4 %) in the country. The workforce participation rate for rural females is higher at 30.5 percent against urban women participation rate of 20.20 percent (Mo SPI, 2022-23). As per the Annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Report 2022-23, agriculture had the highest estimated percentage distribution of female workers, ie. 64.3 %, with 76.2 % in rural areas and 11.7 % in urban areas.

Objectives
• Understand the concept and structure of analogy-based questions.
• Recognize different types of analogies used in reasoning.
• Develop strategies to approach analogy questions effectively.
• Enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills through practice.
Introduction
An analogy is a comparison between two things that highlights a relationship or similarity between them. Analogical reasoning is frequently used in verbal reasoning sections of competitive exams, as well as in day-to-day problemsolving.
In analogy-based questions, pairs of words are given, and the goal is to identify the relationship between them and apply the same relationship to another pair. Analogies test your ability to comprehend relationships, draw logical inferences, and think critically.

Plants require altogether 17 essential elements to nourish themselves and to complete their reproduction and life cycle. Among them nine elements are required in large amounts for their growth, the so called macro nutrients like C, H, O, N, P, K, Ca Mg and S.  The former three elements (C, H and O) are available to the plants through air and water over which we have relatively little control either in their application rates or uptake into plant system.

Introduction

The achievements in agriculture and its allied areas has made our country self sufficient economically. Our country has many landmarks in production of the grains, milk, meat, flower, vegetable etc which not only fulfill our own demands but even earning a lot of foreign exchange from export. Unemployment is a major problem effecting the growth of our country. The reasons for higher state of unemployment in rural areas can be attributed to poverty, law education and lack of job appointment. Alternatively, if the youths are self employed in the agrobased enterprises, then the problem of unemployment could be reduced to a certain limit, especially in the villages. There are so many vocations in which youth could be engaged such as dairy farming, poultry, piggery, beekeeping, mushroom cultivation, flower cultivation etc.

Introduction

The mankind in the past two centuries has witnessed several technology revolutions: industrial, agricultural, medical, info-tech, biotech etc. Nanotechnology is recent one in the series. Nanotechnology is the manipulation or self-assembly of individual atoms, molecules, or molecular clusters into structures to create materials and devices with new or vastly different properties. It uses techniques, processes and materials at the supramolecular level, approximately in a range between 1-100 nanometres (nm), in order to create new properties and to stimulate particular desired functionalities. For the food industry, nanotechnology applications include: release systems for pesticides or fertilizers in agriculture; antibacterial or easy-to-clean surfaces in food processing machines; food additives such as anti-caking in salt, powders and coffee creamers; anti-foaming agents for beer; natural colour additives for beverages; encapsulated nutraceuticals(antioxidants, vitamins) for dietary supplements; and, micelle systems for low-fat foods. It is predicted that in the foreseeable future nanotechnology will transform the entire food industry, changing the way food is produced, processed, packaged, transported, and consumed. The word “nano,” derived from the Greek “nano” signifying “dwarf,” is becoming increasingly too vast in terms of its huge potential in agriculture, health and the environment. In the agricultural sector, nanotech research and development is likely to facilitate next stage of development of genetically modified crops, farm and animal protection and production inputs, food processing, nutraceuticals etc. India is bestowed with a variety of crops, vegetables, fruits, flowers but food sector is handicapped due to inefficiencies in production, processing, storage and packaging. Most of the processing and packaging in industry and agriculture leaves behind a trail of environmental hazards, which if not tackled at this juncture, will add to long term ecological problems.

Introduction

Escherichia coli (E. coli) infections are responsible for significant economic losses to the poultry industry, worldwide. Disease conditions caused purely or partly by E. coli are as under:

Introduction

Goat is being raised for centuries as poor man’s cow due to its importance of providing employment in rural areas by producing meat and healthy meat. Goats also play major role in agriculture economy of India. Goat is excellent source of additional income for poor and landless owners. Farm can start from 1 male goat and 1 female goat. The goat milk is nutritious and easily digestible milk to their kids. Goats are easy to maintain as they can graze on open land. Goat farming is an excellent option where fodder and forage is limited. Goat farmers can get good returns with successful goat rearing. Now a day, goat farming has become more commercial and many people are taking up as a challenge to meet the demand and supply. There is good encouragement from governments and providing subsidies on especially stall fed goat farming. Most of the farmers, choosing stall fed goat farming as it has its own advantages as compared to open grazing methods.

a) Definition

Fungus is Latin word meaning ‘mushroom’

Alexopoulus and Mims 1979 defined fungus as eukaryotic, achlorophyllous organism generally produced by sexual or asexual method and whose filamentous branched somatic structure is typically covered by cell wall.

Plant tissue culture is the process in which mass multiplication is possible from the somatic cells of the plant by utilizing the principle of totipotency. Each plant cell can grow into a plant by converting the somatic nature of the cells to embryogenic ones. In tissue culture, plantlets can be produced either directly through organogenesis or indirectly by somatic embryogenesis. Organogenesis is the process in which shoots develop from the explants directly and then rooting is induced. In indirect somatic embryogenesis, the explant cells pass through a callusing stage where the cells get multiplied. These cells then obtain embryogenic potential and develop somatic embryos. These somatic embryos later germinate and develop into plantlets

Previous year questions

1. Introduction?

2. Role of private? Introduction

• The Indian seed industry used to be dominated by public sector seed companies. However, following the easing of government regulations and the implementation of a new seed policy in 1988, the private sector seed companies have started playing a major role in seed development and marketing.

• More recently, the government’s decision to embrace biotechnology as a means of achieving food security has attracted several leading biotechnology-focused multinational seed companies to India.

• The composition of the seed industry, by volume of turnover, has reportedly reached a ratio of 60:40 between the private and public sectors.