eChapters

Abstract

Indian agriculture made a rapid stride, converting the country from food scarcity to sufficiency. But challenges for the Indian agriculture in 21st century are much greater than before. The growing population has to be fed and surplus has to be produced with declining land, water and threat of climate change. Food and livelihood security of increasing population is a cause of concern and has received focused attention across the globe. Food security emphasizes access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for an active and healthy life. Similarly, livelihood security has the emphasis on income and other resources to enable households to meet their fair needs.

The horticulture which includes fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers and medicinal and aromatic plants, has proved beyond doubt its potentiality for gainful diversification. Initiatives taken by Government and other stakeholders have impacted the development in terms of increased production, productivity and availability of horticultural crops. One of the significant developments is that horticulture has moved from rural confine to commercial production and this changing scenario has encouraged private sector investment in production system management. Now the horticulture sector contributes 29.65 per cent to agricultural GDP that has achieved a growth rate of 5-6 per cent during the decade. India has emerged as the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables and has first position in several horticultural crops. Production and export of flowers have increased manifold and the country has a major stake in global trade of spices and cashew nuts. Exports of medicinal plants, fruits and vegetables have also exhibited rising trend.

Research is the basics which have changed human life and surrounding environment what existed on earth million years ago into present form. As soon as man realized himself as a separate entity from other animals, he started thinking about himself, creatures co-inhabiting with him and the universe. In that sense, biological science is the oldest subject which fascinated man, though it was called natural sciences in ancient times. Perhaps, the first curiosity was about himself, his birth, death and alike matters. As soon as he realized mortality of life or faced death of his dear ones, he attempted to become immortal or ‘amar’. This is reflected by worshiping of ‘Asur ’(Hirnakashyap, Bhasmasur, Ravan etc) to ‘Brahma’ or ‘Shiva’ for receiving the blessings of becoming immortal . However, even God refrained to bless these personalities becoming ‘amar’ confirming the realization by all that life is strongly linked with death ; as such they were blessed with certain conditional ties which may lead their death. Eventually, they met with their death under specific circumstances (3). When God or His little part (Ansh) took birth on earth as incarnation, He also followed all the rules and regulations of cosmic laws. But He never tried to become immortal and left His body on the earth, after finishing His duties.

One Health is defined as “the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment.” The concept of ‘One Health’ dates back to the Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460 BCE–a.370) who in his text “On Airs, Waters and Places” stated:

Whoever wishes to investigate medicine properly, should proceed thus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year, and what effects each of them produces, for they are not all alike, but differ much from themselves in regard to their changes.

History of jute in India: In Mahabharata times the mention has been made regarding Jute garments as pattagam (patta produced) for jute fibre products and kitajam (insect produced) for silk products. In Ain-e-Akbari, there is mention of sack cloth made from jute, in Rangapur district.

English name : Saffron
Botanical name : Crocus sativus L.
Family : Iridaceae
Chromosome number : 2n =3x= 24
Centre of origin : Southern Europe
Saffron (Kesar) comprises the dried, tri-lobed stigmas of Crocus sativus L., a bulbous perennial of the Iridaceae family. Saffron, one of the oldest and costliest spices in the world, is often confused with meadow saffron (Colchicum automnale L., family Liliaceae) or safflower, also called bastard saffron (Carthamus tinctorius L., family Compositae), which are sometimes used as adulterants. Producing one pound of saffron requires harvesting 75,000 flowers by hand to obtain 2,25,000 to 5,00,000 dried stigmas. Saffron is characterized by its vibrant yellow-red colour, a distinct, intense aroma, and a slightly bitter, exotic taste.

In his classic book ‘The Ascent of Man’, Bronowski has written, “When I was a young man, we all thought that mastery came from man’s domination of his physical environment. Now we have learned that real mastery comes from understanding and moulding the living environment.” Our Biosphere, the living environment that supports us all, has problems and we humans are mainly responsible. We do not live ‘gently’ on the earth. The seven billion of us require air, water, food, energy, housing and amenities and we have developed the earth to provide them and have also created problems. That the problems exist are serious is the bad news. That we are recognizing them and that man has shown ability to organize and grow in ascending order from time to time is the good news.

Macroclimate : It deals with the study of atmosphere over large areas of the earth and with the large scale atmospheric motions that cause weather. It helps in forecasting weather. OR Climate of a continent or over the complete globe.
 
Macrometeorology : A branch of meteorology concerned with the study of large scale meteorological phenomena over a continent or the entire globe.

Macroscale : The meteorological scale covering an area ranging from the size of a continent to the entire globe.
 
Marine climate : Almost similar and on many occasions used as a synonym to maritime climate. The climate is basically influenced by adjacent seas and oceans.
 
Maritime Climate : The climate experienced in areas and regions near the oceans and seas. It is characterised by hot dry summers and mild wet winters. The diurnal variations of temperature are small and air is with high relative humidity.

INTRODUCTION

Freesias are extremely popular bulbous plants that are best known as florist flowers. They bear bell-shaped tubular flower and are grown commercially on a vast scale. They are grown both for flower trade as well as in house gardens. Freesias are suitable for pots, shallow pans, beds, indoor decoration and window boxes. Freesia flowers are prized for their curious elegant form, peculiar arrangement of the blossoms on their stalks and a vast range of delicate colours ranging from creamy white to yellow, orange, red, purple, brown, lavender and vermillion. They are highly valued cut flowers.

Freesia flowers are so strongly scented that only a few potted or cut blossoms can bring fragrance to an entire room. Its unusual appealing shapes make them suitable line flowers for any arrangement. They also make fragrant additions to bouquets and their wide range of colours increases their versatility for design uses.

Physiological disorders refer to non-parasitic or inanimate disease of fruit crops, or it is the breakdown of tissue that is not caused by either invasion by pathogens or by mechanical damage. They may develop in response to an adverse environment, especially temperature or to a nutritional deficiency during growth and development. Physiological disorder is broadly classified into two broad categories. They are:

Forages: The term forages denote plants that are used for feeding the animals that are cultivated in the farm, or it may be a wild used for stock feeding grown for the vegetative purpose. The vegetative phase is encouraged and the reproductive phase is suppressed.

Introduction

Strategy is to achieve a particular goal or set of goals through plan of action. Importance of strategy: Strategy helps organizations to focus on their longterm goals and objectives, and to allocate their resources in the most effectiveway to achieve those goals.

 Types of strategy: There are several types of strategies, including corporatestrategy, business-level strategy, functional-level strategy, and operationalstrategy.

 The strategy development process: The strategy development processtypically involves several steps, including analyzing the external and internalenvironment, setting objectives, formulating a strategy, implementing thestrategy, and evaluating the results.

 Organizational strategy tools and techniques: Numerous tools andtechniques exist for organizations to foster and execute their strategies. These encompass SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, Porter's Five Forces analysis, and the Balanced Scorecard.

28.1. Aim

Estimation of reducing sugars in fresh fruits and processed products using Lane and Eynon method.

28.2. Theory

Sugars are inherently present in different fruits and vegetables or added during preparation of different products. They are added to the fruit products to improve the taste and also to act as a preservative. Glucose and fructose in the fruits represent reducing sugars while sucrose or cane sugar added represents the non-reducing sugar. They are estimated by using Lane and Eynon method which measures sugar as reducing sugar and total sugar as invert sugar.

Large Animals The collection and evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in farm animals with signs of diseases of nervous system provides very valuable diagnostic and prognostic information. Routinely, CSF is evaluated for total protein level, erythrocyte and leukocyte counts, and a differential cell count. Additional tests are available for specific neurologic conditions. CSF is primarily produced by the choroid plexuses in the lateral, third, and fourth ventricles through plasma ultra filtration and active transport across the blood-brain barrier. Smaller amounts of CSF are generated by the ependymal lining, pia arachnoid, meningeal blood vessels, and spinal cord’s central canal. The turnover rate is about 1% per minute, meaning systemic electrolyte or acid-base changes take several minutes to affect CSF

Abstract

Soils of various depth ranges were identified at the experimental farm of Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Kukma-Bhuj, Gujarat. Different depth range of soils included in this study were shallow soil (effective soil depth <15 cm), moderately deep soil (effective soil depth15- 25 cm), deep (effective soil depth 25-70 cm), and very deep (effective soil depth 70 to >1m). The soils are developed from calcareous and ferruginous sand stone and mud stone. A field experiment was carried out to study the performance of different crops and grasses under variable soil depths. Crops namely, clusterbean (Maruguar), greengram (K 851), sesame (GT2), groundnut (GG2) and pearl millet (Pusa 23) and grasses C .ciliaris (CAZRI-75) and L. sindicus (CAZRI 30-5) were grown in these four different soil depths.

Any kind of garden established on roof top of the building is known as ‘Roof Garden’. The concept of roof gardening is not new. There are references that in ancient Mesopotamia (600 BC) plants were grown on terraces. During Roman period also ‘Villa of the Mysteries’ in Pompeii had plants on elevated terraces. However, in 21^st century, scarcity of land has driven us again towards development roof gardens.

With the advancement of time, necessity and utility, the concept of roof gardening has also completely changed. In urban environment, development of ornamental roof garden or green roof top is a necessity as it helps in temperature reduction, minimizing environmental pollution and, above all, a source of unlimited enjoyment with greens and flowers. Therefore, building architects are now include roof gardens while planning new building. The environmental issues and aesthetic benefits of the cities by way of developing roof gardens are the prime consideration.

The spermosphere represents a short-lived, rapidly changing, and microbiologically dynamic zone of soil surrounding a germinating seed. It is analogous to the rhizosphere, being established largely by the carbon compounds released into the soil once the seed begins to hydrate. These seed exudations drive the microbial activities that take place in the spermosphere, many of which can have long-lasting impacts on plant growth and development as well as on plant health.

14.1 Introduction

In this chapter, we have to present the review matters related to the theory of the “Classical Linear Regression Model (C.L.R.M.) and Testing of Significance of Statistical Hypothesis”. Here, I have to provide the references about the topics and the names of the books from where the readers can refer about the availability of the subject matters (preliminaries, procedures and interpretations) of numerical results obtained through the statistical analysis carried out for the empirical studies considered there in.

Animal nutrition involves providing balanced diets to farm animals to maintain their health, support growth, facilitate reproduction, and ensure high productivity. In the context of natural farming, this discipline emphasizes the useof local, naturally available feed resources, steering clear  of synthetic or commercial formulations. A sound understanding of basic nutrition and digestive physiology is crucial for creating sustainable and effective feeding strategies.
Farm animals need six fundamental nutrient groups: water, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Each plays a vital role—whether in producing energy, repairing tissues, maintaining immunity, or supporting reproductive and lactation processes. Nutritional needs are influenced by species, age, physiological status (such as growth, pregnancy, or milk production), and the animal’s activity level.
Animals vary in digestive anatomy, which affects how they process feed. Ruminants—including cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats—have a four-part stomach (rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum) that enables them to digest fibrous plant matter efficiently through microbial fermentation. In the rumen, microbes break down cellulose and produce volatile fatty acids (VFAs), which serve as a primary energy source.
On the other hand, monogastric animals like pigs and poultry have a single-chambered stomach. They depend more heavily on readily digestible carbohydrates and proteins, making grains and high-protein plants ideal for their diets. Recognizing these physiological distinctions allows farmers to select feed resources appropriately—roughages and crop residues for ruminants, and concentrated energy and protein sources for monogastrics.
In natural farming systems, nutrition is supplied through a diverse mix of green fodder, leguminous leaves, tree foliage, crop by-products, and fermented inputs like Jeevamrit. These methods maintain animal health and productivity without resorting to synthetic additives, antibiotics, or hormones.

Little and Watts (1994) define contract farming as a system of vertical coordination between growers and buyers, in which production decisions are directly shaped by contractual agreements. These contracts specify obligations related to market parameters such as volume, value, quality and in some cases price. Beyond market terms, contracts often extend to the supply of inputs, technical guidance and a degree of control exercised by the contracting firm over the farmer’s production process. At its core, a contract serves as a mechanism for risk-sharing between the farmer and the contracting firm. It is not merely a transaction but a reflection of the broader relationship between the two parties. Importantly, the nature and effectiveness of such contracts are influenced by the larger political and economic environment in which they operate. Thus, while contracts provide structure and certainty, their success ultimately depends on contextual factors such as governance, market stability and institutional support. In practice, contract farming typically involves the purchaser providing production support-supplying inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and even technical advice-while committing to purchase the produce at pre-agreed conditions. Farmers, in turn, commit to supplying the required crop or livestock product of specified quality, within a defined timeline and in the agreed quantity.
Dimensions of contractual agreements
The intensity and complexity of contractual agreements vary, often depending on the scope of support provided by the contracting firm. The provisions generally include:
1. Market provision: A binding agreement on the future sale and purchase of a particular crop or livestock product.
2. Resource provision: In addition to marketing arrangements, the buyers may provide essential inputs, such as seeds, fertilizers or even land preparations and technical advice.
3. Management Specification: The farmers agree to follow recommended cultivation and harvesting practices, input usage norms and other quality control measures.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are diverse biopolyesters synthesized by many bacteria as carbon and energy reserved materials under unbalanced growth conditions. Sand-dunes have low nutrient contents especially nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) thus could harbor potential PHA accumulating bacteria. There is no report of isolation of PHA producing bacteria from the sand-dunes environment.  Sand samples of rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere regions of the coastal sand-dunes were processed on Nutrient Agar and TYG-Agar media for isolation of heterotrophic bacteria.