eChapters

Introduction

Durum or macaroni wheat (T. turgidum var. durum) is an important crop used chiefly for the production of pasta in Western Europe and North America, and two layered bread, single layered bread, burghul, couscous, pasta, frek and feed in other parts of the world (Table 1). In North Africa and the Middle East, durum is also used for producing flat breads. On a global basis only a small amount of durum wheat is used for baking of pan-style and hearth-style bread. Also, durum wheat for baking is often used in blends with common wheat. In India, durum occupies approximately 2.0 mha area and production is estimated to be around 2.5-3.0 million tones annually amounting to 3-4% of the total wheat production. The consumption of pasta is increasing at the rate of around 5% annually and currently it is estimated to be around 10 Lakh tones. The demand for pasta products may increase further due to increasing population and improving standard of living.

A. Answer the following questions

1.    Why vitamin Ais called anti-infective vitamin?

Ans: Vitamin A is concerned with the synthesis of muco-polysaccharides distributed throughout the body as in respiratory tract,alimentary tract,reproductive tract,genitor-urinarytractetc. In thedeficiencyof vitaminA,theepithelium lining of these tracts becomes keratinized with the result that it becomes prone to infection. That’s why it is also called as anti-infective vitamin.

2.    Why ducks are less effective than chickens in converting tryptophan to niacin?

Ans: Ducks have a 3-4 folds higher level of picolinic acid carboxylase than chicken which enzyme converts the tryptophanto picolinic acid instead of niacin.

3.    Whyvitamin Cis dietaryessential tohumans, monkey, guinea pigs?

Ans: In these species, due to lack of L-gulonolactone oxidase enzyme which is required for synthesis of vitamin C (from 6 carbon sugars like glucose/ galactose in liver or kidney),they can not synthesize their own requirement in their bodies.

4.    What is vitamin?

Weeds are unwanted and undesirable plants which interfere with the utilization of land and water resources and thus adversely affect crop production.

Classification of Weeds

Weeds can be classified in three different manner based on morphology, life cycle, habitat and origin.

Abstract

Sustainable landscape and forest management are of utmost concern in alleviating climate change. Fungal mutualism is one of the most significant positive biotic interactions responsible for forest structure and longevity. Coastal sand dunes imitate xeric habitats, while mangroves and river floodplains are often marshy. In spite of such extremities, mycorrhizal fungi are prominent component in coastal vegetation. Studies so far revealed that mycorrhizal association in herbaceous plant species is responsible for dune formation, stabilization and serve as potential inoculum in coastal habitats. Mycorrhizal association facilitates plant species to exploit larger volume of soil, supply nutrients (organic nitrogen, phosphorus and minerals), aggregates soil, provides tolerance to salinity stress, relieves from water stress and protects roots from pathogens. Human interference has severe impacts on plant-mycorrhizal mutualism in coastal habitats. Cultivation of exotic tree species and their uncontrolled exploitation further impoverish the habitats. Protection of native herbaceous flora, cultivation of native tree species and introduction of selected indigenous keystone species in disturbed habitats with mycorrhizal mutualism is an appropriate measure of rehabilitation.

1. Introduction

Dairy industry size and demand precede all other segments of food industry. Reporting milk production of 146.3 million tonnes in 2014-15, India is currently occupying first position in world scenario (NDDB, 2015). In spite of limited shelf-life, milk offers various opportunities of product diversification, processing optimisation and convenient packaging solutions. All categories of dairy products are unique and vary in market value. The operating margins in value-added dairy products are almost twice of liquid milk business due to reduced need of refrigeration and added shelf-life. The appeal and satiety it offers makes them ambrosia for consumers. Baked and fried dairy products (BFDP) are those class of dairy products in which main processing operation is either baking or frying. In addition to preservation of milk solids for longer time at room temperature, manufacture of baked and fried dairy products add value to milk and also provide considerable employment opportunity (Pal and Raju, 2007;Patil, 2011). The characteristic flavour and colour development of the product rely on this unit operation or cooking method and it cannot be replaced. The unique difference in baked and fried dairy products is that in baking dough is prepared and for frying batter is prepared which vary significantly in characteristics (Table 1). The quality of the finished product greatly depends on how the dough or batter is handled.

11.1 Section-A : Write True / False

Q.1 Some assumptions or guesses made about the unknown population parameters, is know as "Statistical hypothesis".

Q.2 For the normal distribution N(μ, σ²), the statement (1) μ = 25.0 and (ii) σ² = 37.0, are known as statistical hypotheses.

Q.3 Let p = 0.5 is the probability of getting a head in single throw of a coin. Ten, this statement is not a statistical hypothesis.

Q.4 The statistical hypothesis under consideration (under test), is known as "Null hypothesis".

Q.5 The null hypothesis is denoted by "Ho".

2.1 Introduction

In a fiber optic sensor the heart of the sensor is an optical fiber. An optical fiber in its simplest form is a cylindrical symmetric structure consisting of a central ‘core’ glass/plastic of uniform refractive index and of diameter 4-600 µm. It is surrounded by a ‘cladding’ glass/plastic of slightly lower refractive index. To provide the mechanical and environmental protection to the fiber, the cladding is covered with an external plastic coating (seeFig. 2.1). The light in the fiber propagates by bouncing back and forth from the core-cladding interface. The design of the fiber optic sensor depends critically on the choice of optical fiber. Telecommunication fibers are inexpensive but may not be the right choice for sensors. Some of the fiber optic sensors dictate the use of application-specific optical fibers. In this chapter we shall first describe ray analysis for the light propagation in the fiber. The modes propagation, numerical aperture of the fiber, fiber characteristics and different kinds of optical fibers used for sensing will be described later.

1. Introduction

In the last few decades there has been worldwide revival on the use of herbal drugs/phytochemical for diverse purposes including medicinal, nutritional and as cosmetic. The revival of interest in natural drugs and the herbal products was due to the widespread belief that ‘green’ medicine is healthier than synthetic products. This has led to the rapid spurt of demand for health products like herbal tea, ginseng and such products of traditional medicine during the 1980s. The health promotion and disease prevention strategy in treatment is widely prevalent in oriental systems, especially the Indian (‘Ayurveda’, ‘Siddha’, ‘Unani and ‘Amchi’) and the Chinese systems of medicine, which are finding increasing popularity and acceptance in the world over. Because of this sweeping ‘greenwave’ a large number of herbal drugs and the plant derived herbal products are sold in the health food shops all over the developed countries. Export– Import Bank reports revealed that the global trade of plant-derived and plant originated products is around US $60 billion (with growth of 7% per annum) where India holds stake of US $1 billion which is expected to reach 3 trillion US$ by the end of 2015 (Pandey et al. 2008). These targets can be achieved by providing scientifically validated, safe and standardized herbal products in domestic and international markets.

Standardization is an important step for the establishment of a consistent biological activity, a consistent chemical profile, or simply a quality assurance programme for production and manufacturing of herbal drugs. It is now well known that the pharmacological activity of a medicinal plants is due to the presence of certain bioactive phytochemicals, which are either primary or secondary metabolites. Amount of these compounds are controlled and conditioned by a variety of factors such as its genetic predisposition, habitat of the plant agro climatic conditions, season and also the stage of growth and development of the plant etc. Therefore, it is desirable to study the effect of these on secondary metabolites to get the right/optimum amount of secondary metabolites in the plant part/raw drug. The formation of herbal drug based on the traditional knowledge using modern tools is the requirement of the present day. WHO’s specific guidelines for the assessment of the safety, efficacy and quality of herbal medicines as a prerequisite for global harmonization are of utmost importance. Considering the importance of the herbal drugs/products, quality assurance of raw drug/formulation and developing botanical and chemical parameters for assuring their quality, have become major riders on the pharma or drug research and industry.

12.1 Section-A : Write True / False

Q.1 Almost all biological data e.g. crop yield, plant height, seed weight, seed size, protein content in pulse, oil content in oil seed etc. are assumed to be normaly distributed.

Q.2 Let X be a normal variable with N(μ, σ²). The random variable Z def ned as Z = (x - μ)/σ, is known as standard normal variable.

Q.3 The standard normal variable Z is denoted as Z ~ N (0, 1).

Q.4 The p.d.f. of random variable Z is given as

Camels could be exploited for augmenting the country’s milk production capacity as a supplementary milk resource in India for the benefit of increasing human population. Since milk production potential of camels in India have remained unexploited and considering its therapeutic utility it can fetch good prices. Camels are raised for milk, meat, fibre (wool and hair), transport and other work; their dung is used as fuel. Milk is often the most important camel product and is the staple food of nomads.

The camel is an important species of the Indian fragile desert ecosystem, a proven icon of adaptation with its unique bio-physiological characteristics and has formidable ways of living in harsh situations of arid and semi-arid regions. The proverbial Ship of Desert earned its epithet on account of its indispensability as a mode of transportation and draught ability in desert. However, its utilities are subject to continuous social and economic changes. The camel has also played a significant role in civil law and order, defence and battles from the ancient times till date. Camels formed an important component of the Mauryan Army (C.322-232 BC) and continued through the Mughal period (1200-1700 AD) to the present times.

Introduction
In India acid soils occur in the high rainfall areas covering about 25 million hectares of land with a pH below 5.5 and 23 million hectares of land with a pH between 5.6 and 6.5. In India, acid soils occur in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, NEFA, Manipur, Tripura, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, MP, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat are the only states in India where acid soils do not occur. Soil acidity is a limiting factor affecting the growth and yield of many crops all over the world. The basic problems concerning chemical properties of more acid soils are, besides acidity itself, the presence of toxic compounds and elements, such as soluble forms of Al, Fe and Mn, nitrites and various toxic organic acids. Aluminium (Al) toxicity is one of the major constraints on crop productivity on acid soils, which occur on up to 40% of the arable lands of the world. Al is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust and is toxic to plants when solubilised into soil solution at acidic pH values. Very few plants can grow well in strong acid soils. Soil acidity below pH value 5.5 is generally injurious to plants. Plant roots are badly affected if the pH value exceeds limits of tolerance for particular crops. High degree of soil acidity (pH 5.0 to 6.5) decreases the availability of plant nutrients particularly phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, molybdenum, iron, manganese, potassium sulphur nitrogen, boron, copper and zinc. It also affects adversely the important microbiological processes, such as nitrogen fixation by Azotobacter, Clostridium and nodule inhabiting bacteria (Rhizobia) of leguminous plants

The rapid adoption of Large Language Models requires organizations to manage not only model performance but also ethical, regulatory, operational and lifecycle risks. This chapter presents an integrated perspective on governance, optimization and lifecycle management of LLMs. It examines governance principles based on fairness, accountability, transparency, human-centered design and responsible AI. Regulatory developments and policy gaps are considered alongside the challenges of auditing opaque models, controlling hallucinations and establishing accountability across organizations and jurisdictions. The chapter also explores optimization methods such as pruning, quantization, model compression, instruction tuning, LoRA and QLoRA to improve efficiency while maintaining useful capabilities. Lifecycle management extends from data collection and model design through training, evaluation, deployment, monitoring, updating and eventual decommissioning. Real-world cases demonstrate the importance of continuous testing, feedback, security controls and governance throughout the model lifecycle. Emerging threats, including prompt injection, data poisoning, misinformation, privacy leakage and malicious use, further emphasize the need for coordinated oversight. The chapter ultimately advocates a lifecycle-based governance framework combining technical optimization, regulatory compliance, ethical safeguards and continuous monitoring

Plants have been a major source of therapeutic agents since time immemorial. The increasing acceptance of traditional herbal systems of medicine, like Ayurveda, within India and outside has resulted in the revival of ancient traditions of medicine. Medicinal plants and their derivatives are thus looked upon not only as a source of affordable healthcare but also as an important commodity item of international trade and commerce. As per World Health Organization estimates, traditional medicines, mostly plant drugs, cater to the health needs of nearly 80% of the world population. The medicinal plant related trade is growing rapidly every year due to the growing recognition of natural products being non-narcotic, with relatively less side effects and being easily available at affordable costs.

In India, medicinal plant sector has traditionally occupied an important position in the socio-economic, cultural and spiritual arena of rural and tribal lives. About 8000 flowering plants, 650 lichens, 650 algae, 200 pteridophytes and 150 bryophytes are attributed with medicinal properties. The Indian coded systems encompasses a large number of treaties on recognized systems of medicine viz. Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. The Ayurvedic system of medicine, which cater to the health needs of a major segment of population currently utilizes as many as 1000 single drugs and over 8000 compound formulations of recognized merit. Other systems of medicine viz. Siddha, Unani and Amchi (Tibetan) systems of medicine together utilize about 1800-1900 medicinal species. Many medicinal plants are the source of clinically useful prescription drugs being used in modern systems of medicine. Also incredible knowledge on phyto medicine is acquired in non-coded form by tribals and rural community, as is clear from evidences related to folklore medicine. Recognizing their importance, medicinal plant sector has been identified as one of the key areas by the Government of India and the Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy.

14.1 Section-A : Write True / False

Q.1 If sample size n is small ie n < 30, then the small sample test is applicable.

Q.2 The exact sample test (small sample test) can be applied to large sample test but the converse is not plaussible.

Q.3 If (x²1 , x²2 ) are two independent chi-square variates with (V1, V₂) degree of freedom then F statistic is def ned as

Introduction

Alstroemeria also known as the lily of the Incas, Peruvian lily or Inca lily, has been grown mainly as a cut flower crop. Recently, it has become popular as a garden flower and also as a potted flowering plant. The plants produce beautiful large inflorescence in many different colours viz. lavender, orange, yellow to dark yellow, white, pink, red, purple and bi-colors. Flowers are characterized by black dots at the base of the petals and throats. The cut flowers have a long post harvest life, up-to two weeks. These valuable characteristics have made Alstroemeria one of the top cut flowers at the Dutch Flower Auction Centers. The plants produce high yield and possess an ever blooming habit after flower initiation has occurred but in general most cultivars flower best during spring and early summer. The straight, un-branched shoots emerge from underground rhizomes which also produce enlarged storage roots. It is gaining popularity in Indian flower market due to long stem flowers and prolonged vase life. Recently flower growers have shown great interest about its production as a cut flower crop.

Significant achievements have been made in the food availability throughout the world over the last few decades. The estimated number of people in developing regions suffering from chronic malnutrition has declined (from 946 million people in 1969-71 to 870 million people in 2010-12), as the proportion of malnourished people from 36 percent to 20 percent, even though the world population has increased. Global food supplies (if distributed according to individual requirements) are sufficient to fulfill the energy needs. An estimated 20 percent of the people in developing world are chronically under nourished, consuming too little food to meet even the minimal energy needs. Approximately 192 million children under the age of five years suffer from acute or chronic protein energy malnutrition. According to WHO, 6.9 million children under the age of five died in 2011, from direct or indirect result of hunger and malnutrition. Moreover, more than 2 billion people, mostly women and children are deficient in one or more micronutrients, babies continue to be born mentally retarded as a result of iodine deficiency, children go blind from vitamin-A deficiency and enormous number of women and children are adversely affected by iron deficiency.

The overall growth in food availability resulting from the green revolution over the last two decades has eliminated the threat of famine for India’s entire population. Country’s production of food grains has reached over 257.07 million tonnes. However, malnutrition is still a serious problem in this region. Evidences suggest that micronutrient deficiency is far more prevalent in the area than protein energy malnutrition. The International Food Policy Research Institute has reported a rising trend in micronutrient deficiencies, which is becoming more serious than malnutrition from lack of major nutrients. Thus, the emphasis is now shifting from supply of basic food (calories & protein) towards supply of balanced diet (calories, protein & micronutrients which includes vitamins and minerals).

Introduction
Ecological behavioral responses encompass a diverse array of adaptive behaviors exhibited by organisms in response to their dynamic environments. This interdisciplinary field integrates concepts from ecology and behavioral science to unravel the intricate ways in which organisms interact with and respond to their surroundings. This abstract provides a concise overview of key aspects within this burgeoning field.Firstly, behavioral
responses to environmental stimuli are essential for the survival and reproduction of organisms. From foraging strategies and predator avoidance to mating rituals and territorial defense, the behaviors exhibited by individuals are often finely tuned to the ecological challenges they face. Understanding the mechanisms underlying these responses sheds light on the evolutionary processes shaping behavioral adaptations.Furthermore, the role of
communication in ecological behavior cannot be overstated. Species communicate through a variety of means, including visual displays, vocalizations, chemical signals, and tactile interactions. These communication strategies facilitate intra and inter-species interactions, influencing mating choices, warning of potential threats, and establishing social hierarchies. Another critical aspect of ecological behavioral responses is the ability of organisms to adjust their behaviors in the face of environmental changes. Whether prompted by alterations in climate, resource availability, or human-induced disturbances, organisms exhibit plasticity in their behaviors. Such adaptability is crucial for species survival and underscores the importance of considering behavioral responses in conservation efforts and environmental management.Moreover, the study of behavioral responses provides valuable insights into ecosystem dynamics.

Abstract

Water is an essential and vital component for our life support system. Drought and floods are the extreme events of rainfall and the vagaries of monsoon and hydrogeological framework in the country are highly variable from place to place. The water resources available in the country are also not uniformly distributed. The changing Landuse pattern and population growth and the resultant water resources development has lead to water stress at many places. In such areas, the extraction of excessive quantities of groundwater has resulted in the drying up of wells, damages of ecosystems, land subsidence, salt-water intrusion and other related problems. Agricultural, urban & industrial wastes are increasingly threatening the groundwater quality, which is likely to become a more serious issue in the coming years. Considering the seriousness of the groundwater contamination, Central Ground Water Board has carried out detailed studies in few hot spots in the state of Tamil Nadu. The issues related to the water resources contamination and the findings of the studies in parts of Tamil Nadu are summarized in this paper.

1. Introduction

Product development is a basic activity in the food industry. Each company has a product mix, often including hundreds of products, which are constantly evolving - old products dying, products reaching maturity, products contributing to rapid growth and new products being introduced.

In the food industry, just as any other industry, product and process development is considered a vital part – indeed the lifeblood – of smart business strategy. Failure to develop new and improved products relegates firms to competing solely on price which favours the players with access to the lowest cost inputs (land, labour etc). Product and process development (commonly referred to as product development) is systematic, commercially oriented research to develop products and processes satisfying a known or suspected consumer need. Product development is a method of industrial research in its own right. There are essentially four basic stages in the model product development process.

Greenhouse technology development has made good progress in India during the last two decades, and steps necessary for promoting greenhouse cultivation of flower and vegetable crops have been started. Energy-efficient greenhouse cultivation continues to be an area of active research and development, and this is sought to be achieved through precision equipment and protocols. While the gap between the demand and supply of most horticultural crops remains wide and the country plans to double the production of horticultural crops by 2012, the protected cultivation technology holds the key to meet the targets. It clearly emerges that greenhouse technology has multipurpose application for sustainable development of a hilly zone. During harsh winter which otherwise threatens the survival of human beings in these remote hilly areas, popularization and further improvements in greenhouse management could provide a sign of relief in solitude of white snow cover.