eChapters

‘To a people famishing and idle, the only acceptable form in which God can dare appear is work and promise of food as wages’ — these were the words of Mahatma Gandhi when he was healing the wounds arising from the Hindu-Muslim divide at Naokhali in 1946. He thus stressed the symbiotic bonds among work, income and food security.
 
Eradication of hunger and poverty is also the first among the UN Millennium Development Goals, which in my view represent a Global Common Minimum Programme for human security and well-being.
 
Achieving this goal is fundamental for achieving the other goals relating to education, gender equality, child mortality, control of HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases and, above all, environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, progress in the reduction of hunger and poverty is poor in most developing countries excepting a few like China. FAO estimates that as a result of the rise in the prices of basic staples, about 75 million more people have been added to the list of those going to bed hungry during 2007. As a single nation, we in India have the largest number of malnourished persons in the world.

A genome is an organism’s complete genetic signature and the collection of information that an organism can pass on to its offspring. Genomics, the study of the structure, function, and evolution of entire genomes is principally dealing with genetic information which helps us to understand how organisms and ecosystems work, how theymalfunction, or how they might be melded to human needs. The model organisms used in genomics have, in general, small genomes and short generation times. To meaningfully analyze the gene-to-phenotype relationships, a large amount of sequencing information is necessary. Progress in DNA sequencing technologies leads to accumulate Information about structures of genomes (Mohan Kumar, 2007).

HISTORY OF INSECT GENOMICS

Commencing from the publication of the entire nucleotide sequence of the genome of Haemophilus influenzae in 1995, a complete genome sequence of many organisms, including lower and higher eukaryotes, have been reported. The cost-effective way to get sufficient sequence information to address the questions is to sequence a high-quality reference genome and then map sequences from other genomes onto the reference sequence. Insects constitute the vast majority of known species with their importance including biodiversity, agricultural, and human health concerns. Hence, a study of Insect genomics is imperative to elucidate information to other organisms.

INTRODUCTION

Andries Van Dam of Brown University, USA coined the term electronic book. E-books are print versions of books, which exist in electronic formats and can be read on a machine. The development of e-book started around 1960s by Alan Kay, called the Dyna Book. Stephen King’s ‘Riding the Bullet’ was one of the most popular electronic books available on the web. The electronic documents are easy to access, easy to search, inexpensive and economy in storage. An e-book can be purchased/borrowed, downloaded, and used immediately, whereas to buy a printed book, one must go to a bookshop, or library etc. It can reduce photocopying activities. The concept of Digital library was created based on the electronic documents.

The transfer of ownership of an e-book author is very difficult, whereas such transfer is possible in printed books. It is cheaper and easier for authors to self-publish e-books when compared to printed form. In electronic format there is no hold on licensing. The problems with e-documents are lack of long term access, dependence on the computer, lack of standardization and less permanent. Digital Right Management system is one of the most important development of electronic publishing. It has control over intellectual property. The e-publishers are more concerned about rights. They are offering limited usage for printing, downloading and copying.

Introduction

Horticulture crops cover large varieties of fruits, vegetables, flowers and plantation and spices crops. Among these, vegetable cultivation is the major attraction to farmers as it is comparatively more remunerative the field crops. Vegetables not only provide maximum output but also give more income per unit area of land. Vegetable cultivation among small land holders has always been source of supplementary source of income and provides gainful employment through intensive cultivation and thus vegetable growers are normally more prosperous than those who grow cereals, because of higher returns.

Brinjal (Solanummelongena L) is a commercial vegetable crop belongs to the family of solanaceae. It is a nannual crop. It is mainly used for culinary purpose. Brinjal has been considered as one of the important vegetable crop. The brinjal growers can increase production of brinjal through adoption of new varieties and with improved technologies. A first-hand knowledge regarding existing status of adoption of improved technology helpful to the extension workers for concentrating their efforts to create favorable condition for better adoption of the innovations of brinjal cultivation. Arvind kumar singh (2017) revealed that more than half of the respondents belong to middle age group, educated up to higher secondary, had medium level ofland holding, medium level of annual income, sources of information and low level of material possession. Further headded, that he possessed low level of farm power.

Goat is considered as KAMDHENU of small and marginal farmers in India. Agroforestry plays a very important role in three phase goat production system for the demand for natural/organic livestock product. Three phase goat production system i.e. extensive system, semi-intensive system and intensive system are very much supported by agroforestry systems. Goat farming contributes significantly to the family economy, sustainable livelihoods and poverty.

Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In agroforestry systems there are both ecological and economical interactions between the different components. Agroforestry can also be defined as a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resource management system that, through the integration of trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits for land users at all levels. In particular, agroforestry is crucial to smallholder farmers and other rural people because it can enhance their food supply, income and health. Agroforestry systems are multifunctional systems that can provide a wide range of economic, sociocultural, and environmental benefits. (FAO, 2015)

Production of Indole-3 Acetic acid (IAA) and mineral phosphate solubilization (MPS) are two predominant and direct mechanisms used by plant growth promoting rhizobacterial strains (PGPR). These traits are widespread among bacteria. Moreover, the role of IAA in plant-microbe interactions is diverse varying from pathogenesis to phytostimulation, to its role as a signaling molecule in microorganisms. With the advent of high performance analytics, molecular tools and recombinant methods, it has become feasible to investigate biochemical pathways of bacterial IAA synthesis at the genetic, biochemical and chemical levels. In the current study, we isolated several PGPRs from Western Ghats region, India.  Of all the efficient isolates, Serratia marcescens SM15 emerged as the most efficient PGPR isolate based on in vitro plant growth assays and ability to express PGPR traits.

Pan Coefficient (Kp) : It is the ratio between reference evapotranspiration (ET_o ) and water loss by evaporation from an open water surface of a pan (E_pan ).
    K_p = ET_o / E_pan

Peat soil : An organic soil containing more than 50 per cent organic matter.

Pan Evaporation : is the value of evaporation from an open pan evaporimeter (usually from standard USWB, class ‘A’ pan evaporimeter) during a day or specified period at a place.

Parcel : A volume of air small enough to contain uniform distribution of its meteorological properties and large enough to remain relatively self-contained and respond to all meteorological processes.

This is a very special type of garden for the visually impaired and disabled persons. The pleasure of seeing beauty of the nature like meadows, sky, sea, mountain and plants has always fascinated mankind who has vision. Unfortunately, people who are not able to see are entirely deprived of the pleasure associated with seeing such visual objects. Their world is entirely different from the others. However, they have got better sense of touch, smell and hearing ability to compensate loss of vision.

Disabled persons are also not in a position to enjoy fully the beauty of nature and plants due to restricted mobility. In addition, most of the ornamental gardens are not fully accessable by disabled persons particularly on wheel chairs.

The ‘Touch-‘N‘-Smell Garden’ is very rare and unique kind of garden meant for the visually impaired and disabled persons enabling them to learn about the diversity of plant species by touch and smell. In India, there are three such gardens. One in the Botanic Garden, CSIR- National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow and the others are at M.S. Swaminathan Foundation, Chennai and Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Similar such sensory gardens of the world are in Berlin (Germany), Kyoto (Japan), New York (U.S.A.), Nanjing (China) and Warsaw (Poland).

WHY, WHEN AND HOW FISH GET PARASITES

Parasites pose a real risk to fishes

All fish are potential hosts to many different species of parasites. Small numbers of parasites are common and probably do little harm. However, all parasites have tremendous reproductive potential and can, under ideal conditions, quickly overwhelm fish in the confines of a tank or pond.

Types of parasites

We can broadly class parasites into two groups. Ectoparasites are found on the external surfaces such as skin, fins and gills, while endoparasites are found in the internal tissues and organs.

Endoparasites are uncommon in ornamental fish. However, there is a wide diversity of blood parasites, worms that colonize the intestines and other parasites that can invade various organs and tissues. Many require an intermediate host, such as snails, birds or the introduction of an infected fish, and so are rare in pond/ aquarium fish. There are a variety of clinical signs which might indicate the presence of endoparasites. Lethargy accompanied by emaciation is a common sign, as are worms protruding from the anus. Identification of sporozoan and protozoan endoparasites often requires microscopic examination of tissues (Chanratchakool et al. 1994).

Potato has special seed production problems as the quality characteristics of seed potatoes are influenced by a number of factors and important amongst them are the diseases and pests namely, viruses, fungi, bacteria and nematodes. Once the seed tuber is infected the pathogens, specially viruses, permeate through the plant system. The plant growth, therefore declines and the yield reduces progressively. It is therefore, important that seed stocks should not only be genetically pure but also should be in right physiological condition and disease free at the time of planting. Seed production technology developed for seed potato production, thus aims at producing disease free, genetically pure seed. There are now two independent channels of seed production for hills and plains.

Hill seed : The seed produced in hills (2500 metres above sea level) at suitable locations is called ‘Hill Seed’.

Plain seed : The seed produced in plains at suitable locations is called ‘plain seed’. Northern plains have emerged as an important source of potato seed production. The low aphid, plains seed is in right physiological condition at the planting time and yields higher than the traditional hill grown seed.

Once healthy seed potatoes are introduced into the system of growing them during low Aphid period accompanied by a systematic insecticide application, roguing and removal of haulms before the aphids attain critical number and the re growth is checked, the health standards for the seed crop could be maintained for a number of generations. This system of seed potato production has been designated as ‘Seed Plot Technique’.

INTRODUCTION

The Digital Library concept has evolved to provide solutions for storage, access, dissemination, content delivery and it paved way to mobile library, as we can browse and share content while on the move. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has given a new shape to the learning process, which includes reading, understanding and gaining information, which becomes knowledge. As the type of format of information changed from written to e-format, libraries assumed the role of digital libraries.

The library is a place which holds the information resources in print and digital formats. The concept of digital library is a major success as it came out of closed four walls of library and reached readers in their home, workplace and even while traveling, with the help of mobile electronic gadgets like laptop, palmtop, e-Book reader etc. e-Learning technology is a wonderful gift provided by the present day technological advancement and innovations. e-Learning is the convergence of learning and the Internet’ and it has brought about profound changes around the globe in the way people learn and train, allowing them to do it anywhere, any time. Through the World Wide Web the users can access e-content from any point, off or in campus, through a computer and connectivity.

The biofilm formation is usually assayed by using Congo Red Agar (CRA) plate test. According to a method developed by Freeman et al., (1989) the isolates are stored in nutrient agar slants and screened for biofilm formation ability using CRA plates. Biofilm forming strains are observed as dark black colonies while others as red colonies on the CRA plates. Recently, the concept of these biofims have changed with new imaging technologies, biochemical methods and molecular ecosystem biology tools. A biofilm structure can be observed in 3-D form to the nano-scale level (Neu and Lawrence, 2015). A lot of studies are being conducted on the physiology of the biofilm cells, the genotypic and phenotypic variation among the biofilm community, as well as the biofilm metabolome, proteome and transcriptome (Raes and Bork, 2008). This will help in the the development of efficient methods to control deleterious biofilms (clinical biofilms, food contaminants, biofouling on industrial equipment and on ship hulls) and to enhance and modulate beneficial ones

India is regarded as a horticulture paradise due to growing of tropical, subtropical and temperate fruit crops in varied soil and climatic conditions. However, increasing pressure on land owing to diversion of orchard lands to various other obvious reasons as well as rising energy and land-costs, together with mounting demand for fruits have made HDP imperative to achieve higher productivity from limited space.

There is a shift in farmers’ perception from production to productivity and profitability, which can be achieved through high density planting. India is the second largest producer of fruits in the world. However, the average productivity of various fruit crops in the country is quite less. Low productivity can be attributed to many reasons such as old and senile orchards, lack of canopy management practices, planting of poor yielding varieties, low or no adoption of recommended package of practices by the farmer leading to poor orchard management, etc.

Sexual behavior

The pattern of courtship, display, motor activities and postures are directed to bring the male and female gametes together to ensure fertilization and pregnancy. The components of copulatory patterns are sexual arousal, courtship (sexual display), erection, penile protrusion, mounting, intromission, ejaculation, dismounting and refractoriness. The duration of courtship and copulation varies with the species both events are shorter in cattle and sheep than in swine and horses. The males sniff and lick the genitalia of female are more common and an important way of chemical communication through olfaction. Except in swine, the males smell the female’s urine and then raise head, with lips curled, in the ritualized “Flehmen’s reaction”. In sheep, goat and cattle, tactile stimulation of the female is made by nuzzling and licking the perineal region, whereas with the horse, the stallion often bites the female’s neck and in swine, the boar noses her flanks.

Canning is a process of sealing food stuffs hermatically in containers and sterilizing them by heat for long storage is known as canning.

Principle of Canning

Destruction of spoilage organism within the sealed container by means of heat.

Selection of Fruit and Vegetable

For canning fruit should be ripe but firm and uniformity mature and vegetables except tomato should be tender.

Grading

Selected fruit and vegetable are graded according to size and colour to obtain uniform quality. This is done by hand or machines such as screw grader and roller grader.

The biological diversity of each country is a valuable and vulnerable natural resource. Sampling, identifying, and studying biological specimens are among the first steps toward protecting and benefiting from biodiversity. Knowledge about biodiversity and the ability to identify organisms that comes with it are global public goods. That is, this knowledge can create benefits for all countries - benefits that no one country can create by itself.

DNA Barcoding: Documenting Biodiversity with a Gene Sequence

“DNA barcoding” is an exciting new tool for taxonomic research. The DNA barcode is a very short, standardized DNA sequence in a well-known gene. It provides a way to identify the species to which a plant, animal or fungus belongs. The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) is promoting international partnerships that will enable people in all countries to better understand and protect their biodiversity.

DNA barcoding is a taxonomic method that uses a short genetic marker in an organism’s mitochondrial DNA to identify it as belonging to a particular species. It is based on a relatively simple concept: most eukaryote cells contain mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has a relatively fast mutation rate, which results in significant variance in mtDNA sequences between species and, in principle, a comparatively small variance within species.

Soil is the largest terrestrial ecosystem where a wide variety of relationships exists between different types of soil organisms. The associations existing between different soil microorganisms, whether of a symbiotic or antagonistic nature, influence the activities of microorganisms in the soil. Microflora composition of any habitat is governed by the biological equilibrium created by the associations and interactions of all individuals found in the community. In soil, many microorganisms live in close proximity and interact among them-selves in a different ways. Some of the interactions or associations are mutually beneficial, or mutually detrimental or neutral.

The oxygen content may be measured either chemically or electronically. The normal chemical method is the so-called Winkler method which is a titration method, consisting of adding certain chemicals to the water and observing a colour change which will be directly related to the oxygen concentration.

Insects development

Once an insect hatches from the egg it is usually able to survive on its own, but it is small, wingless, and sexually immature. Its primary role in life is to eat and grow. If it survives, it will periodically outgrow and replace its exoskeleton (a process known as molting). In many species, there are other physical changes that also occur as the insect gets older (growth of wings and development of external genitalia, for example). Collectively, all changes that involve growth, molting, and maturation are known as morphogenesis.

Metamorphosis

• Metamorphosis actually means change in form Metamorphosis is derived from Greek word ‘Meta’ = Change, ‘morph’ = form or structure.

• The changes in the development from egg to adult, collectively called Metamorphosis (life cycle).

• Post-embryonic changes in form are collectively called as metamorphosis.

• Metamorphosis refers to the way that insects develop, grow, and change form. Metamorphosis include three developmental processes namely growth, differentiation and reproduction which takes place in larval, pupal and adult stages, respectively.

• Majority of insects pass through profound metamorphosis. The growth of an immature insect is accompanied by a series of molts or ecdysis, in which the cuticle is shed off and renewed. The number of molts varies in most insects from 4-8. However some undergo as many as 20 or more molts. A few insects like Bristle tail silver fish (apterygota) may continue molting even after reaching the adult stage. But most of the insects neither molt nor increase in size once then adult stage is reached. The intervals between the ecdysis are called Stadia. The term instar is applied to form of an insect during stadium. In numbering the instar, the form assumed by the insect between hatching from the egg and the first post embryonic molt is termed “First Instar”.

Man has tendency to classify everything in a hierarchical manner for example, ships may be classified on size, weight, what they carry or naval versus merchant or passenger. Any of these classification is as valid as any other.

But classification of biological species is unusual in that a predefined system exists i.e. the evolutionary relationships among organisms. But evolutionary relationships can only be estimated; and contrary to popular belief, even a good fossil record does not conclusively show the phylogeny or evolutionary tree of a group species.

Numerical taxonomy can be defined as “Numerical evaluation of the affinity or similarity between taxonomic units and ordering of these units into taxa on the basis of their affinities”. The term includes drawing of phylogenetic inferences from the data by statistical or other mathematical methods to the extent to which this should prove possible. The practice involves a number of fundamental assumptions and philosophical attitudes toward taxonomic work.