eChapters

13.1. Quarantine Inspection and Certification

13.1.1. Scope/Purpose

Provides guidance and describes the standard operating procedures for certification of facilities for growing imported plants/plant material including transgenic plant material and other regulated articles such as biological control agents/beneficial organisms and living modified organisms under post-entry quarantine and inspecting the same to ensure free from quarantine pests and other regulated non-quarantine pests.

The purpose is to facilitate adoption of standard operating procedures by all the inspection authorities notified by the Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Agriculture & Cooperation)/PQOs (with PEQ responsibilities) for undertaking certification of post-entry quarantine inspection facilities as well as conducting postentry quarantine inspection of growing plants and other regulated articles under the supervision of concerned inspection authority/ PQOs (with PEQ responsibilities) in accordance with phytosanitary requirements specified under the Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order, 2003 and amendments issued there under to prevent the introduction and spread of destructive pests that affects plants and other regulated articles such as biological control agents and beneficial organisms.

A rock is the home for minerals. In other words, naturally occurring coherent aggregate of minerals (or glassy mass) will constitute a rock. Like in a family, more often, there are several members(minerals) within a rock but occasionally just one mineral also makes a rock( olivine in dunite, quartz in quartzite and calcite in marble). The root word petros is of Greek origin, meaning rock and a petrologist is one who specializes in the study of rocks. The three main categories of rocks are distinguished on the basis of their origin. Igneous rocks are the ones that have solidified from a molten state in deep seated conditions, as also on the surface while Sedimentary rocks are formed from the erosion of preexisting rocks and subsequent re-deposition or precipitation of the resulting material at or near the surface. Metamorphic rocks on the other hand, are formed by the action of heat or pressure or both on preexisting rocks.

The theme of rocks is split into five chapters. The first chapter introduces the theme of petrology, petrography and petrogenesis., presents rocks as the storehouses of minerals and their grouping into three classes. The second chapter presents all the important aspects of igneous rocks( plutonic, hypabasal and volcanic) including their forms, texture, structure, chemistry and classification and variation diagrams. It also presents a somewhat sufficient description of different kinds of igneous rocks under the categories of ultrabasic, basic, intermediate acid and alkalic rocks. The chapter ends with an introduction to some of the peculiar kinds of igneous rocks and also presents a brief account of causes of diversity among igneous rocks.

Chapter III is devoted to the study of sedimentary rocks beginning with nature and categories of sediments and general factors that affect sedimentary process. Sequence of breakdown, sedimentary minerals, depositional environment , classification of sediments and sedimentary rocks is the next theme followed by primary and secondary and biogenic structures. The next theme is a description of important sedimentary rocks under different categories ( rudaceous, arenaceous, asrgillaceous and rocks of biogenic origin). The chapter ends with introducing sedimentary rocks as the home for natural resources.

Chapter IV dwells on metamorphic rocks distinguishing between metamorphism and metasomatism. Metamorphic minerals and naming metamorphic rocks is the next theme. Next, agents and types of metamorphism is followed by grade, zones, index minerals and metamorphic facies. Textures, structures and the description of metamorphic rocks comes next. The use of triangular plots in metamorphic petrology is introduced and ends with considering metamorphic process in the light of global tectonics.

The last chapter is a short but important chapter- The Rock Cycle which combines the three important geo-processes of igneous activity, sedimentary process and metamorphism while presenting a birds eye view of them. It considers the movement, not only of matter but also the energy that drives the rock cycle. The chapter closes with introducing the rock-cycle-mineral deposits relationship.

Annuals are the group of plants that complete their life cycle in one season or in one year during which they grow, flower and produce seed; and after this they wither out. A true annual (like zinnia) is a plant that will grow from seeds, flower, produce seeds and die in one season. Zinnias provide a succession of flowers for summer colour in any sunny location with good soil drainage.

The chapter covers some important terms and their concepts connected to the research that are necessary to effectively communicate the study’s ideas, as well as to give a theoretical foundation for the empirical investigation and direction for the selection of pertinent predicting factors.
3.1. Health, hygiene, nutrition
For the development of human resources, prerequisites include education, health, cleanliness, and nutrition. Women have trouble determining their level of hygiene and wellness. Proper nutrition and basic cleanliness are essential for maintaining a decent health status. Health is more than just the absence of sickness and disability; it is of overall physical, mental and social wellbeing. A nation’s female population’s health has a significant impact on children’s health and education, as well as the household’s economic well-being. According to the WHO, hygiene is the practice of particular behaviors to preserve good health on both a personal level including personal hygiene, cleanliness, exercise, proper rest, sleep, bathing, avoiding smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs and a community level. The state of human society’s health is significantly impacted by hygiene practices. Accordingto WHO, ?Nutrition isthe intake of food, considered in relation to the body’s dietary needs. ''An important health indicator for both children and adults is proper nutrition. The lack of primary and specialized care is one of several problems affecting all rural women. Chronic disorders like cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases are alsomore prevalent in rural settings.
3.2. Hunger and malnutrition
Malnutrition includes both overeating and undereating and involves an insufficient, excessive, or unbalanced intake of nutrients for healthy tissue and organ function. Inadequate care, such as inadequate breastfeeding or poor dietaryintake during pregnancy, as well as a lack of public health services and access to clean water, are some of the underlying causes of malnutrition. These factors may also contribute to inadequate care and poor nutrition. Global hunger has increased since 2016, affecting 815 million people, according to a United Nations assessment on world food security and nutrition. According to WHO,98 million children under the age offive, or around one in every six children, are underweight. This increase attributed to climate change and rising violence. According to the director of the world food program ?In the fight against hunger we could now be facing a perfect storm of challenges, including climate change and increasingly severe droughts and floods, soaring food prices and the tightest supplies in recent history, decline levels of food aid, and HIV/AIDS, which is also aggravates food insecurity?.

5.1 Introduction

Quality is one of the major positioning tools of the commodity for marketability, profitability and for consumer satisfaction. The relative importance of each quality component depends upon the commodity and its intended use and varies among growers, handlers and consumers. To growers a given commodity must have high yield and good appearance and must withstand long distance transportation to market whereas, appearance of quality and longevity is important from the point of view of wholesale and retail marketers. Terms commonly used in measurement of keeping quality of cut flowers are longevity, shelf-life, vase-life, and lasting quality. In addition to these, several criteria have been used for evaluation of post harvest flower quality like:

In addition to cultivated oilseeds, many other seeds and related plant products serve as sources of vegetable oils. They are obtained from large trees, shrubs or from different crops and their products. It may be the seeds or the husk, or the germ or other parts of the fruit or seed which are rich in oil. These are in general, referred to as non-conventional vegetable oil sources. They are highly important for the food/feed and non-food industries. Non- food and industrial uses are plenty.

But for the availability of these non- traditional oilseeds and their products, there would have been great pressure on the cultivated seeds. The products, mainly oil, help run our machines and protect them from getting rusted. Some of them protect our crops from pests and deseases. They even serve as beauty aids in the form of cosmetics. Some of them serve as sources of medicine for men and animals.

In recent years, some non-conventional/ non-edible oilseeds have become the raw material for biofuel/bioenergy. They have gained prominence, due to shortage of conventional oils. Seeds of more than 100 species occurring in the wild or cultivated are known to contain oil in considerable quantities. There is a vast scope for production and utilization of oil from these sources (Ambasta, 1986, Bhattacharya, 2002 and Vimal and Naphade, 1980).

In this chapter, the major non-conventional oilseeds of tree origin, by product oilseeds or other minor sources, are being dealt with. They are ricebran, corn, sal, mahua, jatropha, kokum, melia, rubber, mango kernel, kusum, simarouba, neem, karanj, crambe, moringa, tumba, jojoba and tobacco seed etc. Emphasis is given to the composition and quality of oil, cake and other plant parts. Their food, non-food and medicinal uses are presented. Oil extraction and related post harvest technological aspects are also discussed.

1.1 Write True/False

Q.1    The process of knowing all the relevant information from the known sample to the unknown population, is known as “Statistical Inference.”
Q.2    An enquier may be completely unknown to some feature of the population but he may want to guess completely about that feature based on a random sample drawn from the population. This type of problem is known as the “Problem of Estimation.”

Distribution of Mangroves in India

Mangrove forests in India are found along the coastline of 9 States and 4 Union Territories (Fig. 5). The mangrove habitats are broadly classified into three namely, Deltaic (Eastern Coast Mangroves), Estuarine & Backwater (Western Coast Mangroves) and Insular mangroves (A & N Islands) (Mandal and Naskar 2008). India has a total mangrove cover of 4975 km²; of which, 57% is present along the east coast (Bay of Bengal); 31% along the west coast (Arabian Sea) and the remaining 12% in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (FSI 2019).

7.1 Introduction

In this chapter, process, outcome and impact evaluation of the vegetable integrated pest management programme (IPM) implemented in the subtropical area of the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) state during 2008-09 and 2009-10 was studied. There are many research designs employed for impact evaluation. These include one group before and after comparison design, one group time-series design, non-equivalent control group design and ex-post facto research design. Social scientists most often used before and after IPM (longitudinal) comparisons, with and without IPM, and control group (latitudinal) comparisons, and a combination of the two (longitudinal and latitudinal). A robust measure of the impact of a programme, however, is the difference-in-differences (Ashenfelter and Card, 1985) quasi-experimental design, a statistical technique used in econometrics and quantitative sociology to determine the difference between the treatment (with) and control group (without) over time. The difference-in-differences quasi-experimental design, also called double difference (DD), used to compare the treatment (with IPM) and control group (without IPM) over time. The objective of our quasi-experimental empirical study was to determine the impact of the vegetable IPM programme on the adoption of non-chemical pest management practices, pesticide use, and field use environmental impact in the sub-tropical region of the J&K state. Difference-in-difference quasi-experimental control group design (with/without, before/after) was used to compare the changes before and after the IPM programme between the IPM trained farmers and the non-IPM farmers. The DD model was employed to identify the impact of the IPM programme on the adoption of non-pesticide IPM practices, pesticide use by weight (a.i.), pesticide use frequency, farmers’ knowledge regarding safe use and handling of the pesticides, and field use environmental impact to address the bias introduced by a non-random sampling procedure as the farmers from FFS were selected intentionally (Table 1). The DD model also eliminated the in-built, systematic or seasonal effects other than the training effect.

Good Practices for Drought Management
    7.1    Drought Planning and Preparedness
    7.1.1    Drought Planning in India
    7.2    Global Experiences in Drought Planning
    7.2.1    USA
    7.2.2    South Africa
    7.2.3    African Nations
    7.2.4    Namibia
    7.2.5    Ethiopia
    7.2.6    Botswana
Drought management plans in Europe
    7.2.7    Spain
    7.2.8    England and Wales
    7.2.9    Portugal
    7.2.10    Australia
    7.2.11    China
    7.2.12    Palestine
    7.2.13    Global Initiatives
    7.3    Drought Preparedness Action Plans in India
    7.3.1    Drought Preparedness Checklist
    7.4    Drought Preparedness Action Plans in Different Countries
    7.4.1    Arizona State in USA
    7.4.2    Texas State in USA
    7.4.3    Italy
    7.4.4    Mediterranean Region
    7.4.5    Pakistan
    7.4.6    Darfur in Sudan
    7.4.7    Bangladesh
    7.5    Indigenous Knowledge for Drought Management
    7.5.1    Astro Meteorological Methods
    7.5.2    Traditional Knowledge in Weather Prediction
     7.5.3    Traditional wisdom in Drought Risk Region (DRR)
        Rajasthan and Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh
    7.5.4    Indigenous technologies for moisture conservation 
        in dry lands of semi-arid regions of India
    7.6    Traditional Wisdom for Drought Management in a few selected countries
    7.7    Role of Weather-based Agro-advisories
    7.7.1    Strategies for dissemination of advisories
    7.7.2    Role of ICAR and AICRPAM on Agromet Services
    7.7.3    Agromet Advisory services through mobile phone
    7.7.4    Status of Agromet Advisory Services in other Countries
    7.8    Value Addition to Agromet Information
    7.8.1    AICRP on Agrometeorology
    7.8.2    Thumb rules for weather-pest/diseases
    7.9    Contingency Crop Planning for Minimizing Risks
    7.9.1    Contingency Crop Planning for Rainfed Regions of India
    7.10    Drought Proofing Mechanisms
    7.10.1    Watershed Development for Drought Management
    7.10.2    Watershed Development in India
    7.10.3    The Success Stories of Watershed as a Drought Proofing Mechanism
    7.10.4    Watershed Policies and Recommendations
    7.10.5    Farm Ponds for Drought Management
    7.10.6    Success Stories of Farm Ponds
    7.11    Rainfed Technologies for the Drought Management in different agro climatic region
    7.12    Farmer’s Awareness on Climate Management
    7.12.1    India
    7.12.2    In other Countries
    7.13    Role of ICT in Climate Risk Management through AAS
    7.13.1    India
    7.13.2    Application of ICT in Providing Advisories in other Countries
    7.14    Integrated Drought Management Strategies through Farming Systems Approach
    7.14.1    Drought Adaptation Strategies in Rajasthan and in Maharashtra
    7.14.2    Improvement and Rural Livelihood
    7.15    Drought Mitigation Measures
    7.15.1    Drought Mitigation Plans
    7.15.2    Soil water Conservation and Recharging of Ground water Methods
    7.15.3    Traditional Water Harvesting and Conservation 
        Techniques
        References

1. Ginger (Zingiber officinale)

‘Ginger’, which originated in Southeast Asia has a long history that goes back over 5000 years when the Indians and Ancient Chinese considered it as a tonic root for all ailments. At an early date it was exported to Ancient Rome from India and was used extensively by the Romans. Subsequently it was cultivated in several other countries for its medicinal value. Ginger is cultivated in most of the states of India. Kerala and Meghalaya are the major ginger growing states. India’s production of ginger constitutes about 50 per cent of the total world’s production.

Ginger is an erect, herbaceous , perennial, flowering plant, the rhizome of which is used as a spice. Ginger is an ancient spice and is a common ingredient in many Asian foods and is used in soups, curries, noodles, stews etc. It is widely used to flavor beverages, such as tea, coffee, lemonades, cocktails etc. In many places across the world ginger is used in sweets, alcoholic beverages, such as ginger beer and wine. Ginger has powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Further it has many other health related benefits, such as ability to help with arthritis, osteoarthritis, relieves nausea and pain, prevents cancer, improves respiratory conditions and reduces flatulence. It also boosts bone health, strengthens the immune system and increases appetite.

A. General
        
B. Leaves and Floral Terminologies
        
C. Diversity in the Flower
        
D. Diversity in Fruits
        
E. Terminologies Related to Seed

6.1. Data Interpretation and Visualization of West Bengal

Any kind of production management system or decision-making process is being organised in social ecology. No variable cannot behave discrete or free without having any kind of influence as well as impact from the vary operating ecosystem. That is how it is imperative to know and visualize the basic features in terms of its distributive characters. The distribution of features in variables through this networking and interactions ultimately contribute to a holistic visualization of social ecologization under study.

Table 6.1.1 represents the distribution of variables in terms of range i.e. maximum and minimum values, mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation for Terai Zone, Old Alluvial Zone and New Alluvial Zone of West Bengal.

The average age (x1) of the respondent stands at 49.02. It denotes that so far as responsibility of agriculture and age base livelihood runs at the population so far as the respondent under study is peaks are at the hands of farmers approaching or passing through old ages. On the contrary the absence of young population or withdrawal of young age farmers from agriculture have got a serious implecation near and far. The cv value runs at 25.78 per cent to indicate that the distribution of variable is highly consistant.

The average of functional education (x2) of the respondent stands at 8.20.The variable education charecterization the social ecology speaks that the most of the respondents are having mid level school education.So, this has got spil over effect on the function and operation of other variables i.e. precisely the perception variables.The cv value stands at 43.69 per cent that’s good enough to infer that the distribution of the variable is highly consistent.

Nanotoxicity is the study of the toxicity of nanomaterials that focuses on how the size and unique properties of nanoparticles influences their impact on plant helath, human health and the environment. Plants are essential fundamental components of all ecosystems and the interaction between nanoparticles (NPs) and plants is an indispensable aspect of the risk assessment. NP phytotoxicity, an important precondition to promote the application of nanotechnology and to avoid the potential ecological risks was reviewed (Jie Yang et al., 2017). 

The wind blows over the water, changing its surface into ripples and then to waves. Thus most of the normal waves are wind-driven. As waves grow in height, the wind pushes them along faster and higher. Sometimes waves can become unexpectedly strong and destructive. As waves enter shallow water, they become taller and slow down, eventually break on the shore.

Agri-nanotechnology is a new branch of biology that has originated due to the compatibility of nanosized inorganic and organic particles with biological functions. Based on enhanced effectiveness, the new age drugs are nanoparticles of polymers, metals, or ceramics, which can facilitate several biological applications. Plant diseases are caused by pathogens including fungi, bacteria, mycoplasma, viruses and viroids, nematodes, parasitic plants, and protozoa. 

A. Case study: Breeding for disease resistance and yield improvement in Black pepper (Piper nigrum)
Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is one of the most important spice crops globally, often referred to as the “King of Spices.” However, its production is frequently threatened by various diseases, particularly Phytophthora foot rot, which can cause significant yield losses. Over the years, extensive breeding efforts have focused on developing disease-resistant and high-yielding varieties of black pepper.
1. Background
• Primary disease concern: Phytophthora foot rot (caused by Phytophthora capsici) is a major disease affecting black pepper, leading to root and stem rot, defoliation, and ultimately, plant death. Other diseases include slow
decline (caused by nematodes and fungal pathogens) and viral infections.
• Yield challenges: The average yield of black pepper is relatively low, primarily due to the susceptibility of many traditional varieties to diseases and pests, along with poor management practices and climatic challenges.
2. Objectives of breeding programs
• Disease resistance: To develop varieties resistant to Phytophthora foot rot and other significant diseases.
• Yield improvement: To increase the overall productivity of black pepper plants, focusing on higher berry yield, larger berries, and better quality.
• Quality enhancement: To maintain or improve the quality of black pepper in terms of essential oil content, piperine content, and other flavour components.
 

3.1 Introduction

India is rich in biological diversity as revealed by its floristic diversity comprising 17,926 species of angiosperm, based on which it has been considered one among the 17 mega-biodiverse countries of the world. Also, it is the centre of some of the oldest civilizations of world, starting with Vedic civilization. Using modern day scientific tools and technology backed up with shashtra pramaana, Vedic civilization has been calculated to be as old as 25000 years (Oak, 2018). Because of its rich ecological and biological diversity, Indian Subcontinent has inhabited a large amount of ethnic diversity, consisting of both the indigenous races and those moved from other parts of the world as settlers looking for greener pastures for better living. The major ethnic races are Caucasoid (Aryan), Dravidians, Mongoloid, Negroid, and Australoid. Anthropological Survey of India has identified 461 tribal communities (Xaxa, 1999), belonging to 227 ethnic groups (Pushpangadan et al., 2018) spread over 5000 forest villages. According to the 2001 census of India, the country has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. Figures from different sources vary, primarily due to differences in definition of the term’s “language” and “dialect”. The largest of the language families represented, in terms of speakers, is the Indo-Aryan language family followed by the Dravidian language family.