eChapters

Introduction

The demand of cereals to meet the food requirements of the burgeoning population is increasing while on the other hand most vital inputs of agriculture viz. productive arable land, water and labour are depleting day by day. Rice is the major Kharif crop of India and it is estimated that rice is being grown in 43.97 million ha with 104.32 million tonnes of production during 2011-12 (Agricultural Statistics at a glance, 2012). In the eastern region of India, rice is produced by the conventional system of cultivation which involves puddling and transplanting which is basically water, labour and energy intensive thereby adversely affecting the environment. Therefore, to sustain the long term production of rice, more efficient alternative methods of rice productions are needed. For this, conservation agricultural practices which comprises of technologies which are water, labour and energy efficient along with eco-friendly characteristics will be a better alternative to conventional practices (Kumar and Ladha, 2011). 

2.1. The Physical environment
    Light
    Soil temperature
    Water dynamics

2.2. Chemical environment
    Production of phytotoxins

2.3. Biological environment
    Trophic dynamics
    Community structure
    Biodiversity

DNA replication. The double helix is unwound and each strand acts as a template. Bases are matched to synthesize the new partner strands.

DNA replication, the basis for biological inheritance, is a fundamental process occurring in all living organisms to copy their DNA. This process is “replication” in that each strand of the original double-stranded DNA molecule serves as template for the reproduction of the complementary strand. Therefore, following DNA replication, two identical DNA molecules have been produced from a single double-stranded DNA molecule. Cellular proofreading and error toe-checking mechanisms ensure near perfect fidelity for DNA replication.

In a cell, DNA replication begins at specific locations in the genome, called “origins”.

Unwinding of DNA at the origin, and synthesis of new strands, forms a replication fork. In addition to DNA polymerase, the enzyme that synthesizes the new DNA by adding nucleotides matched to the template strand, a number of other proteins are associated with the fork and assist in the initiation and continuation of DNA synthesis.

Solution Preparation

1. Glycerol mix (1 L)

Weigh 25 grams (liquid weight) of glycerol and

Add dH₂O to 1 Liter (Autoclave).

2. Potassium mix (1 L)

170 mL of 1M KH₂PO₄ (monobasic),

720 mL of 1M K₂HPO₄ (dibasic), and

110 mL of dH₂O (Autoclave)

14.1 Introduction

The increasing human population and changing life styles have resulted in a huge demand for processed and packaged foods. As a result of this demand, large amounts of water, air, electricity and fuel are consumed on a daily basis for food processing, transportation and preservation. Although not one of the most heavily polluting, the food industry does contribute to the increase in volume of waste produced [1]. There is an increasing pressure from regulatory bodies through incentives, legislation and financial penalties to minimize waste generation and encourage adoption of eco-friendly options for waste management. Nanotechnology is a panacea for food waste management.

To understand IoT “Internet of Things” it is important to understand internet first. Internet is connecting a device to other device anywhere in the world. When two devices are connected with the Internet, they can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, and video. The high-speed, fiber-optic cables are used, through which the bulk of the Internet data travels. The Internet has revolutionized the communication world. In today’s scenario the internet is an important part for people around the world. The Internet is a global network of billions of electronic devices. The World Wide Web (www) is most widely used part of the Internet.

The “Internet of Things is a potentially integrated part of the ‘Future Internet’. IoT can be defined as a dynamic global network with self - configuring capabilities based on communication protocols where physical and virtual ‘Things’ interact with each other.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is inter-connecting the networks of smart devices. Smart devices may be embedded with vehicles, buildings, or other electronics object with software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity. Network connectivity enables smart devices to collect and exchange data. The Internet of Things (IoT), also referred to as the Internet of Everything (IoE) which comprises of the web-enabled devices. IoT has its applications in smart city, smart surveillance, automated transportation, smarter energy management systems, water distribution, urban security and environmental monitoring. Agriculture is another new area of IoT application.

Due to advancement in technology the processing power and storage capacity has been increased, in the recent years. At the same time technology is making the devices pervasive, wearable and mobile. Smart devices are fitted with sensors, actuators which enable devices to sense, compute and act intelligently. They are able to exchange information with environment.

Industrial Microbiology is the discipline that uses micro organisms, usually grown on large scale, to produce commercial products or carry out important chemical transformations.

The products derived from such processes are

1 Alcohols and alcoholic beverages.
2 Production of pharmaceutical agents like antibiotics, vaccines etc.
3 Food additives
4 Enzymes
5 Chemicals
6 Single cell proteins

6.1 Introduction

Farm ponds used in farmers’ fields are generally square shaped or rectangular shaped pyramidal structures. It has a regular side slope, depth, and top and bottom dimensions. It may be excavated/dugout pond or embankment pond. In excavated pond, the pond is constructed below the ground level. Water is collected in the pond by gravity from the adjacent catchment. In embankment type, the pond is partly above the ground and partly below. This type of pond has higher storage capacity than the dugout type pond. This type of pond has a berm and dyke/embankment around the pond. The embankment has some side slope. The pond has bottom dimensions, dimensions at the ground level as well as some dimensions at the top above the embankment. In this chapter, various dimensions of pond like depth, side slope of the pond, as well as the various dimensions at bottom, ground and top level will be discussed.

19.1 Introduction

Food safety is one of the important factor for food industry, regulatory agencies and consumers. Nowadays consumers are demanding food which is safe and of high quality in terms of nutrition due to a healthier life style. Food safety refers to all those hazards, that make food injurious to the health of the consumer and it is not negotiable. Food may be contaminated physically, chemically or microbiologically, mainly microbial contamination is of high concern in the food industries. Various pathogenic and spoilage causing microorganisms, viruses, insects can deteriorate the food products and cause food borne illnesses. Therefore, there is a need to eliminate these undesirable microorganisms from the food industries to ensure food safety to the consumer. Various methods are available to eliminate these undesirable microorganisms such as thermal technologies like pasteurization, dehydration, retort processing, freezing etc. and non thermal technologies like microwave heating, Pulsed Electric Field (PEF), High Pressure Processing (HPP), Pulsed Light Technology, Ohmic Heating, Ultra sonics, Pulsed X-Rays. But these technologies have certain disadvantages like thermal technologies lowers the nutritional value and leads to unwanted changes in the foods' sensory attributes of the food products whereas non thermal technologies retain better nutritional and sensory quality of food than thermal technologies but they are cost effective, required specialised equipments and trained personnel. Cold plasma technology (CPT) is a non-thermal green technology used now-a-days for variety of application in various industries especially in food industry. It is proposed to be an alternative method for eliminating microorganism from the fresh produce. This technology does not require extreme process conditions and can be used as a good alternative source for food preservation without affecting its nutritional and sensory attributes. Plasma is an ionized gas, consisting of active species like positively and negatively charged ions, electrons, free radicals, and gas atoms, metastable and quanta of electromagnetic radiation (photons). When the energy source is turned off, active species used to disappear immediately, therefore cold plasma technology is environmental friendly and fulfilling all ecological standards. Based on the properties of plasma, it can be applied in various fields like electronics, life sciences, textile, packaging and food industries. In food industries, it is showing promising application by retaining the nutritional, functional, and sensory characteristics thus ensuring the fresh appearance of the food product and satisfying the consumer need.

Sprayer is an equipment in which the spray fluid is broken up into fine droplets and ejected under pressure. Actually, the function of the sprayer is to provide the spray fluid with some energy so that it can be broken into fine droplets through the nozzle and propelled to the target. The energy can be produced manually or with the help of any other source of power. There are a variety of sprayers.

Type of Sprayers: There are a variety of sprayers.

ABSTRACT

Due to the exorbitant price of the popular gelling agent agar, Plant Tissue Culture (PTC) has gradually become a costly technique in recent times. So, alternative sources of agar needs to be popularized which at one hand should be able to meet all the positive properties of agar and on the other hand be cost effective as well. The seed husk obtained from Plantago ovata Forsk. is such an alternative which was successfully used as a gelling agent for media preparation in PTC experiments for in-vitro shoot and root development in Nicotiana tabacum L. and Ocimum gratissimum L. The nodal explants were grown in MS basal medium (MSo) supplemented with 3% sucrose and were gelled with progressive concentrations of isabgol husk to ascertain the optimum concentration for better survival and growth response, while 0.8% agar acted as a negative control. The response of the explants on media gelled with husk was compared to that of media gelled with 0.8% agar. It was inferred that 0.3% husk in the medium was optimum for best growth response which was comparable to that of agar. Consequently, the estimated cost of a liter of MSo reduced by almost Rs.61.15/- (compared to Himedia’s Agar) to Rs.177.57/- (compared to Sigma’s Agar) after using isabgol seed husk as a gelling agent in media preparation.

Abstract: Petunias, popular bedding plants, with variety of forms, sizes and shapes are employed for landscape planning, garden designs and container gardening. The numerous phenotypes viz., Grandifloras, Multifloras, Millifloras, Waves, Hedgifloras, etc. are complex hybrids. The outstanding marketable series of P. x hybrida have been developed for upright, spreading and semi-trailing to trailing habits. The leaf colour ranges from light to dark green and also variegated types. Flower colours with charming shades and patterns, picotte, star and pronounced venation of darker colours are available on world market. Petunias are strictly cross pollinated and progeny can segregate widely for traits due to heterozygosity. Increasing knowledge of the inheritance of traits and molecular genetics techniques are valuable tools aiding modern breeders. Numerous genes have been identified in the genus with some sequenced genes being used to create transformants with modified plant morphology, floral structure development, floral scent, and flower shelf life. Genes involved in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway has enabled precision in the creation of flower colours or modification of pigment production and expression. An exploitation of sterility and incompatibility for production of F₁ hybrid seeds is discusses in detail.

ABSTRACT

Direct shoot organogenesis from several explant types excised from in vitro grown plants of local elite tomato cv. PKM1 was studied in response to zeatin, BAP, IAA and NAA. Cotyledonary leaves were found to be the most responsive explants. High shoot bud induction rate (>25 shoot buds/cotyledonary explant) was obtained in the presence of 2 mg/l zeatin. The organogenic calli were subcultured onto the same shoot bud induction medium for shoot development. Among different growth regulators tested, zeatin @ 2 mg/ l induced more number of shoots per explant compared to BAP, IAA and NAA combinations. Rooting was efficiently induced on half strength MS basal medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/l IAA. The effects of various growth hormones on tomato regeneration on rooting were discussed.

Introduction

Accuracy and uncertainty analysis is an important step in preparation of surface map through geostatistical techniques or digital soil mapping approach. It is because that we rely on a map based on how much accurate it is and the degree of uncertainty associated with the estimates while the map was prepared. Any stakeholder for a soil map especially policy makers is interested in accuracy and uncertainty of the map before taking suitable land management decisions involving soil map as an input. Again the level of accuracy and uncertainty depends on the properties for which the map has been developed. If the property of interest is sensitive to environment or human consumption, then the accuracy level should be very high while the uncertainty level should be very low e.g. heavy metal concentration in soil, quality parameters of water etc.

Wilt

Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. carthami

Economic Importance

• The disease was reported for the first time from America in 1950.
• Wilt is a devastating disease infecting the crop right from seedling to maturity resulting in crop losses to varied degrees depending on the severity of infection.
• The disease incidence has been reported in India to the tune of 80 percent under favorable condition.

1. Introduction

Phytochemists and pharmacologists from all over the world obtain several patents for herbal drugs developed on the basis of the indigenous knowledge systems of different ethnic groups. Many countries rich in traditional medicinal knowledge have been conducting ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants (Patil and Bhaskar, 2006). In India the native people have exploited a variety of herbal medicines for effective curing of various diseases. The plants used, preparation and administration of drug varies from area to area (Rajaram, 2006). The ethnobotanical research still plays its evident scientific role in stimulating further phytochemical and pharmacological studies (Leporatti and Corradi, 2001).

The objective of this study is to interact with Kani traditional healers and document their traditional knowledge. The Kani-tribals are one of the most primitive hill tribes of Western Ghats. They occupy the slopes of the Agasthiarmalai in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India. Some ethnobotanical studies have been done in this area (Anonymous, 1948-76, Chopara et al., 1956, Satyavati, 1976, Jain, 1981, Nagendra Prasad et al., 1996). The impact of deforestation, urbanization and modernization makes the tribals shifting from their natural habitats to urban areas. Documenting the traditional knowledge through ethnobotanical studies is important for the conservation of medicinal plants and traditional medicines.

The Indian arid zone is characterized by high temperature and low and variable precipitation which limit the scope for high crops productivity. However, these conditions greatly favour the development of high quality in a number of fruits such as date palm, ber, aonla, bael, pomegranate, kinnow, lasoda and in vegetables cucurbits, legumes and solanaceous crops, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants. The existing low productivity could be increased by following improved technologies and inputs. It is now realized that there is a limited scope for quantum jump in fruit and vegetable production in the traditional production areas. The amelioration of the extreme conditions is also considered vital for life support to the inhabitants of this area. The recent awareness regarding the potential of these ecologically fragile lands for production of quality produce has not only opened up scope for providing sustainability for the people of this region, but also for bringing in new areas to increase horticultural production. The area expansion and yield potential of arid horticultural crops has increased many folds because of development of new varieties and advancement in production techniques in arid region.