eChapters

1.    Introduction

2.    Materials for Boat Construction

3.    Engines and Propellers

4.    Fuel Saving

5.    Development of Computer Aided Designing (CAD)

6.    Type and Size of Boats
    
    6.1    Trawlers
    6.2    Otter trawlers
    6.3    Side trawlers
    6.4    Stern trawlers
    6.5    Freezer trawlers
    6.6    Purse seiners
    6.7    Long liners
    
7.    Fishing Equipment
    
    7.1    Echo sounders and sonars
    7.2    Global positioning system (GPS)
    
8.    Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)
    
    8.1    Advantages of the GMDSS over the current system
    8.2    Implementation of the GMDSS requirements
    8.3    The main types of equipment used in GMDSS
    
9.    Distress Alert Transmitters (DAT)
    
10.    Automatic Identification System (AIS)
    
11.    Handling Equipments
    
    11.1    Advances in deck machinery
    11.2    Automated long line system
    11.3    Automated squid jigging machines
    11.4    Net haulers
    11.5    Net drums
    11.6    Gantries
    11.7    Stern ramp
    
12.    Side Thruster
    
13.    Satellites and Remote Sensing
    
14.    Vessel Monitoring System (VMS)
    
References

GENERAL CHARACTERS

• The members are terrestrial, and saprophytic or parasitic.
• The mycelium is well developed, branched and septate. The mycelium is of primary, secondary and tertiary type.
• Dolipore septum is present except rusts and smuts.
• Clamp connections present.
• Cell wall consists of chitin and glucans.
• Basidiomycetes reproduce asexually by conidia, arthrospores, oidia, fragmentation or budding.
• No specialized sex organs develop in Basidiomycetes.
• Plasmogamy takes place by somatogamy or spermatization.
• Sexual spores are basidiospores.
• They are exogenously produced on basidium.
• Usually four basidiospores are develop on basidium.
  The Basidiomycotina includes rusts, smuts, mushrooms, jelly fungi, puffballs, shelf fungi, toadstools, bird’s nest fungi, bracket fungi and earth stars.

1. INTRODUCTION

India produces a large variety of fruits and vegetable due to varied agro-climatic conditions. These include mango, citrus, banana, apple grapes, strawberry, pineapple, litchi, guava, papaya, plum, peach, pear apricot etc. Astonishingly, it may appear but it is a fact that postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables in India are staggering. Infact the postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables are equivalent to the annual consumption of fruits and vegetables in U.K. In this article, a focus is made on the causes of postharvest losses of fruits, overview of various techniques used to prevent the postharvest losses constrains in postharvest technology and future strategies.

1. Introduction

The agriculture sector in Asia and the Pacific plays a vital role in the rural economy, making significant contributions to both GDP and employment. This sector serves as a cornerstone for food production, economic growth and poverty reduction in the region. Understanding the importance of farming in the region’s rural economy, as well as the need for viable farming systems particularly for smallholder farms, is essential for sustainable development.

Importance of Farming in the Rural Economy

Farming has a substantial impact on the rural economy of Asia and the Pacific. It serves as a primary source of income and livelihood for rural populations, contributing significantly to the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The agricultural sector encompasses a wide range of activities, including crop production, livestock farming, fisheries, and forestry, providing diverse opportunities for economic development.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), farming accounts for 29 percent of the region’s GDP (FAO, 2021). This demonstrates the significant economic value that agriculture brings to the region, making it a crucial sector for sustainable development. The revenue generated from agricultural activities supports not only farmers but also other stakeholders in the value chain, including agro-industries, distributors, and exporters.

Cucumber, Cucumis sativus under the family Cucurbitaceae (Chromosome No: 2n = 2× =14) is grown throughout the world for consumption of fresh and tender fruits as slicing cucumber, and for pickles as pickling cucumber. Slicing cucumbers are usually larger and have thicker skins, while pickling cucumbers are usually smaller and have thinner skins. The flesh of cucumbers is rich vitamin C, and folic acid, fibre and a range of minerals including magnesium, molybdenum and potassium.
Origin, domestication and adaptation in India
The genus Cucumis, which includes cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and melon (Cucumis melo), has numerous wild African species, and it has therefore been assumed that
melon originated in Africa. For cucumber, this seemed less likely because wild cucumbers exist in India and a closely related species, Cucumis hystrix is available in the Eastern Himalayas. Using DNA sequences from plastid and nuclear markers for some 100 Cucumis accessions from Africa, Australia, and Asia, Sebastian et al (2010) concluded that melon and cucumber are of Asian origin and have numerous previously overlooked species-level relatives in Australia and around the Indian Ocean.

In an era defined by increasing climate variability and the urgent need for sustainable food production, the science of Agricultural Meteorology has risen to unprecedented importance. This chapter, “Agricultural Meteorology: An Essential Associate for Natural Farming,” synthesizes the principles and applications we have explored, highlighting their critical role by providing timely, location-specific insights into weather and climate - factors that directly influence crop growth, soil health, and ecological balance. Unlike conventional farming, which often relies on synthetic inputs to manage uncertainty, natural farming depends heavily on understanding and adapting to natural rhythms. Here, agrometeorology becomes an indispensable ally.
Natural farming systems are sensitive to changes in temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind, and solar radiation. Agrometeorology helps farmers monitor and interpret these parameters, enabling them to make informed decisions such as when to sow, irrigate, mulch, or harvest — all without chemical interventions. For instance, knowing the onset of monsoon or forecasted dry spells helps in planning sowing operations or preparing natural plant protection measures like cow dung-based formulations.

Introduction

The original concept of feeding bacterial direct fed microbial (DFM) to livestock was based primarily on potential post–ruminal effects, including improved establishment of beneficial gut microflora (Fuller, 1999). Calves fed Lactobacillus acidophilus have been reported to have reduced incidence of diarrhoea (Beecham et al., 1977) and reduced intestinal coli form count (Bruce et al., 1979). But now it is known that certain bacterial DFM also have beneficial effects in the rumen and one of the important groups of this type of bacteria is propionic acid producing bacteria (Elsden, 1945; Johns, 1951a; Langa, 2010). This group of bacteria includes Propionibacterium spp., Veillonella spp., Megasphaera spp., Selenomonas spp. and Succiniclasticum spp. (Table 1). Propionic acid producing bacteria (PAPB) are secondary bacteria which enhance propionate production by utilizing the end products of primary fibrolytic or starch utilizing bacteria which produce succinic acid and lactic acid (Swenson and Reece, 1996). Inoculation of in vitro fermentation with the lactate utilizing ruminal bacterium Megasphaera elsdenii prevented lactate accumulation and produced propionic acid when a highly fermentable substrate was used (Kung and Hession, 1995). Propionibacteria are also rumen active bacteria which can produce propionic acid by utilizing glucose, lactic acid and succinic acid (Elsden, 1945; Grinstead and Barefoot, 1992; Hugenholtz et al., 2002). Ghorbani et al. (2002) also reported that Propionibacteria convert lactate and glucose to acetate, propionate and CO₂. They also reduce nitrate to nitrite and reduce nitrite load by 40-60% and minimize changes in blood nitrite and met hemoglobin (Rehberger et al., 1993). Succinic acid is an important end–product, but in practice this is converted into propionic acid by other bacteria such as Selenomonas ruminantium (Swenson and Reece, 1996; McDonald et al., 2002; Langa, 2010); such interactions between microorganisms are an important feature of rumen fermentation. Veillonella gazogenes are also active in the rumen and produce propionic acid by fermenting succinic acid (Johns, 1951a). Moreover in low quality forage-based diet Fibrobacter succinogenes are predominant fibrolytic bacteria which digest fibre faster and produce sufficient amounts of succinic acid in the rumen (Cheng et al., 1984; Miron and Ben-Ghedalia., 1992) and synergistic increases in propionate production and fiber digestion was found in co-cultures of Fibrobacter succinogenes and Selenomonas ruminantium (Sawanon et al,2003), and of Ruminococcus flavefaciens and Selenomonas ruminantium (Sawanon et al., 2006). These findings suggest that positive interactions occur between bacteria, mostly via metabolite exchange.

15.1 Introduction

It is important that we understand some terms like clay, mineral, clay mineral, activated clay, and nanocomposite clearly. In fact, “clay” is a soil separate consisting of particles of <2 µm (equivalent to <0.002 mm) in equivalent diameter (Brady & Weil, 2002; pages 18-19) in both USDA and International systems. While in nanotechnology, uniqueness of micro- and nana- aggregates is of crucial consideration. (In Chapter 8: The Colloidal Fraction (Brady & Weil, 2002) size dimensions of minerals are given eliminating any chance of confusion.) Now let us look at some definitions provided in the Glossary of the Clay Minerals Society (CMS) Nomenclature Committee – Clay Science Project (www.clay.org; August 2011).

Abstract

Ten GPS stations have been set up in campaign mode in North Bengal in the Himalayan foothills and frontal zone, of which 7 have been reoccupied. Data from these 7 GPS stations over the period December, 2005 – January, 2007 have been processed using GAMIT/GLOBK suite of software and the velocities of these stations have been estimated. Since the data obtained so far cover a span of one year only, the conclusions derived from them are to be considered as preliminary. The stations are found to be moving at the rate of ~ 40-55 mm/yr in ITRF05 reference frame towards NNE. The baseline between LHAS (Lhasa) and IISC (Bangalore) is estimated to be shortened by ~10.2 mm over the period of our measurement. The southernmost station in our study, NBUV, at Siliguri is more or less collinear with LHAS-IISC baseline. The shortening of NBUV-IISC line is estimated to be ~ 3.8 mm over this period and that of NBUV-LHAS line is ~ 6.4 mm for the same period. These GPS stations were set up across the parallel set of previously marked fault scarps named Matiali (MT), Chalsa (CL) and Baradighi (BD) faults in North Bengal between longitudes 88⁰ E and 89⁰ E. The results from the GPS measurements show that stations to the south of the BD fault are moving at a faster rate than those to the north of MT fault. The baseline between stations AMBK (Ambiok) and NBUV has shortened by ~3 mm over the period of our observation. These two are the northernmost and southernmost stations respectively with respect to the three E-W running parallel faults and thus the shortening of baseline AMBK-NBUV is due to movements on the set of three faults taken together. A N-S to NNE-SSW running line of discontinuity between 88.5⁰ E and 89⁰ E longitudes separates the velocity vectors of the set of stations SAMS, JITI, PMSM, BRDH to the east of the line and the set of stations NBUV, BGKT, AMBK to the west. The line of demarcation of the two blocks containing the two sets of stations appears to coincide with the Gish transverse zone (GTZ).

Irrigation

Irrigation is defined as the artificial application of water to the soil for the purpose of crop production in supplement to rainfall and ground water contribution.

Time of Irrigation

The time schedule which indicates when irrigation water is to be applied and the quantity of water to be applied at that time is called irrigation schedule. There are several approaches for scheduling irrigation:

1. Soil moisture depletion approach based on the available soil moisture in the root zone.
2. Climatological approach based on the amount of water lost by evapotranspiration.
3. Combination approach based on soil moisture depletion and climatological approaches.
4. Critical stage approach which indicates the growth stages at which moisture stress leads to yield loss. These stages are known as critical period or moisture sensitive period. In cereals and millets panicle initiation and flowering stages are moisture sensitive stages. In pulses and oilseeds, flowering and pod development stages are critical stages. In sugarcane active tillering or formative stage is critical and in cotton boll development is the critical stage.

Banana is one of the most important major fruit crops grown in India and is as old as Indian civilization. It seems that it is one of the earliest fruit crops grown by mankind at the dawn of civilization. In India, bananas are so predominant and popular among people that it is liked both by poor and rich alike. It is the cheapest among all other fruits in the country. Considering the year round availability of fruits, unlike the seasonal availability of other tree fruits, it has become an inevitable necessity in any house hold in India, for all cultural occasions.

The bananas were grown in Southern Asia even before the prehistoric periods and the world’s largest diversity in banana population is found in this area. Hence, it is generally agreed that all the edible bananas and plantains are indigenous to the warm, moist regions of tropical Asia comprising the regions of India, Myanmar, Thailand and Indo China. Historical evidences show that the Arabs have introduced the banana from India to Palestine and Egypt perhaps in seventh century A.D. (Hayes, 1953). It soon became popular in those areas and later spread to East coast of Africa at a very early date and subsequently spread throughout the African continent. Bananas were reported to have introduced to Central America in 1516 A.D., where it spread rapidly and attained commercial significance. The spread of bananas to West Indian Islands was through Christian missionaries and wherever it reached it assumed economic importance due to its greater adaptability and commercial value.

1. INTRODUCTION

Every fruit or vegetable is harvested keeping in view, its intended use. At what stage it should be harvested, is indicated by the maturity index. The chapter focuses on these and postharvest quality of fruits and vegetables.

2. FRUIT MATURITY

"Maturity of a fruit can be defined as that stage at which a commodity has reached a sufficient stage of development that after harvesting and postharvest handling, its quality will be at least the minimum acceptable to the ultimate consumer”. Maturity is of two types:

1. Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) belongs to the family:

 a) Anacardiaceae b) Caricaceae

 c) Rosaceae d) Clusiaceae

 2. Amrit Sagar is a variety of:

 a) Aonla b) Bael

 c) Banana d) Grape

 3. Nendran banana belongs to which genomic group?

 a) AAA b) AAB

 c) ABB d) AB

Abstract

More than one-third of food is lost or wasted in post-harvest operations in India. Decreasing the post-harvest losses (PHL) may be a sustainable solution to increasing food availability and improving farmers’livelihoods. As per Associated Chambers of Commerce of India, India loses approximately US$ 14.33 billion annually on account of PHL (ASSOCHAM, 2017). The objective of this study is to analyse the agricultural wastes that are produced in the value chain for a modern trade retailer, identify their causes, and discuss methods for minimising field wastages. A case study approach has been used to depict the agricultural value chain (vegetable segment). A field visit was conducted to a farmland and a privately operated Collection Center in Barasat area of West Bengal. The author discusses solutions towards minimising harvest wastages in the farm by focusing on waste reduction. Post-harvest wastages beyond the farm can be reduced by undertaking measures that focus on waste management. Going forward, adoption of technologies by farmers may lessen inefficiencies such as wastages and improve their income. Further scope for research lies in exploring joint interventions by private players, government agencies, non-profit organisations and entrepreneurs through public-private partnership models or through development of clusters for creating sustainable value chains and achieving greater profitability.

1. Pineapple is commercially propagated by:

 a) Slips b) Suckers

 c) Crown d) Runners

 2. Colt is a dwarfing rootstock of:

 a) Cherry b) Peach

 c) Plum d) Apricot

 3. Palmette system of training is a modification of:

 a) Central leader b) Spindle bush

 c) Dwarf pyramid d) Open center

Introduction

Enzymes are globular proteins that act as biological catalysts. They are produced by living cells to bring about specific biochemical reactions. Digestive enzymes catalyze the degradative reactions by which substrates (i.e., feedstuffs) are digested into their chemical components (e.g., simple sugars, amino acids, fatty acids) which in turn, are used for different body functions. Different enzymes are utilized for the complete digestion of complex feed. The enzymes are being used in the feeding industry from last several decades. Various digestive enzymes have been studied for use as feed additives to enhance animal performance They are commonly used to improve the nutritive value of feeds for non-ruminants (especially, poultry and swine). They are not routinely used in adult ruminant diets because the fibrolytic activity within the rumen environment is normally very high, and it is assumed that exogenous enzymes cannot survive proteolysis in the rumen (Kopency et al., 1987). Forages are the main feed component that serve as the major source of energy available to the animal in ruminant production system. However, due to slow or incomplete digestion of fibrous substrates only 10 to 35% of energy intake is available as net energy that significantly limits livestock performance and profits in production systems. To improve the ruminal fibre degradability many strategies have been developed to stimulate the digestion of the fibrous components in ruminant feeds. That includes, use of various feed additives which stimulates fiber digestion, physical and chemical processing of feeds in order to enhance the rate and extent of fiber digestion. However, the use of “natural” product to enhance production efficiency is highly recommended that can potentially play some role in replacing performance benefits vacated by antibiotics and hormones. Enzymes are proteins that are ultimately digested or excreted by the animal, leaving no residues in products, which was a major drawback in the use of antibiotics and hormones.

Ethnobotany deals with different aspects of man-plant relationship with special emphasis on ethnic community of a region, nay country or any geographical territory. This perhaps gives us a new dimension, orientation and objectives to make it complete with vivid information on people and their resource use pattern including science background behind scientific use. The new form of ethno-botany is now reformed and re-oriented as beta-ethnobotany. Earlier taxonomists, anthropologists and social workers have made their work on a wide field of man-plant relationship which was very loose in the sense that no specification or special focus was there which has its origin so called alpha-ethnobotany. Beta-ethnobotany deals with objective based oriented studies, divine, dynamic and quantitative ethno-botany with special emphasis to assessment of credibility of folk claims, ethno pharmacology, ethno-pharmacotherapy and ethno-medicine. Presently scientists estimated that out of over 5000 plants have been used in ethno-medicine much less than 1000 are utilized in herbal drug industry in different indigenous systems of medicine like ayurveda, homoeopathy, unani and siddha. A wide variation of use and conservation strategies on that medicine or the raw sources of these materials are available in the lower tract of Chotanagpur plateau in red lateritic part of West Bengal so called the ‘ rarh’ region. Tribal people like santal, kol, sabar, kheria, oraon, munda etc. inhabiting the rarh region use the medicine as ethno-medicine since time immemorial and conserve the plants and similar plant propagules in their home gardens and nearby sal (Shorea robusta) dominated forests for future generation. Wide application and conservation strategies of a large number of ethno-medicine and ethno-medicinal plants have been presented here with special emphasis on landscape conservation to make the ecosystem pristine rather than degraded in near future.

7.1 Determination of Hydraulic Conductivity of Saturated Soil Laboratory Methods

Hydraulic conductivity of a saturated soil indicates the ease with which water is transmitted through the soil pores. If a constant water head (h) is maintained on a saturated soil column of length (L) and the volume of water (V) percolating per unit time (t) through per unit cross sectional area (A) to the other end, then according to Darcy’s Law, the rate of flow of liquid or flux (q) is proportional to the hydraulic gradient (ÄH/L) across the length of soil column.

Abstract

Packaging industry is considered to be one of the world’s largest industrial sectors. In the past few years, food processing has undergone several paradigm changes with respect to production, distribution, storage, processing and retailing. This increasing dynamism in the food industry, while on one hand placing a lot of challenges on the packaging industries, is on the other hand opening up opportunities for entrepreneurs to foray into food processing and also packaging industries and develop appropriate solutions in response to the needs of the market and environment. This study aims at exploring the state of packaging industry and packaging technologies in developing countries, with special emphasis on India, against the backdrop of increasing concern for prevention of food losses and therefore highlighting the need for new innovative ideas for food packaging. The authors posit that customer awareness about safety of processed food has given rise to tremendous possibilities of entrepreneurship opportunities in the area of safe and hygiene packaging. However market preferences, state reputations and cost benefit analysis play major roles in packaging of processed food products.

5.1. Importance of Secondary Nutrients in Agriculture

Secondary nutrients such as sulphur (S), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) are the macronutrients that are required in relatively large amounts for crop growth. Among the secondary nutrients, Ca is the 5^th most abundant element in the earth’s crust while, Mg and S are ranked 8^th and 13^th, respectively. The average S content of the earth’s crust ranges from 0.06 to 0.10%; whereas, Ca in soil solution of temperate region soils is 30 to 300 ppm and soils of tropical areas is 8 to 45 ppm (Tisdale et al., 1997). In case of Mg, its’ concentration ranges from 5-50 in temperate region and 120-2400 ppm in tropical region. The Ca and Mg are the most abundant cations occupying the exchange sites of the soil colloids. Thus, most soils with the possible exception of highly weathered, leached acid soils, contain enough Ca and Mg for crop growth. In soils, occurrence and reactions of S are different from those of Ca and Mg. The plant available S is SO₄^2- ion which is relatively mobile in soil solution. Like nitrogen (N), S is also subjected to chemical and biological oxidation-reduction reactions. On the other hand, Ca and Mg are much more stable and they exist in soil as Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ cations and present in association with soil colloidal fraction similar to that of K. In general, Ca and Mg are the most abundant cations occupying in the exchange site.

Secondary nutrients in soils may be lost due to several reasons such as (i) crop removal, (ii) leaching, (iii) erosion, and (iv) volatilization. The amount of Ca and Mg attain importance in areas where soils are either strongly alkaline or acidic. These soils are often deficient in Ca and Mg. The Ca deficiency is most widespread in acidic soils. The alluvial soils of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP), being neutral to moderately alkaline in reaction, have sufficient bases on their exchange complex and Ca deficiency is, therefore, rarely found in these soils. However, alkali soils may contain inadequate quantities of Ca due to dominance of Na⁺ on the exchange complex. Magnesium deficiency is found in sandy soils with low exchangeable Mg²⁺, acid soils and those with high in native or applied K. Alkali soils have high exchangeable Na⁺. The Ca²⁺ is a suitable ion to replace this Na⁺ from the exchange complex when Ca²⁺ is supplied through gypsum (CaSO₄.2H₂O). The replaced Na⁺ forms Na₂SO₄ which is then leached down to remove the salt away from the root zone of the crops. Gypsum also reacts with Na₂CO₃ to form CaCO₃ and Na₂SO₄ which is leached down the profile. A thorough leaching of the soil with irrigation water should be done after application of gypsum to free it from Na₂SO₄.