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Ripe

This word is derived from Saxon word ‘Ripi’, which means gather or reap. This is the condition of maximum edible quality attained by the fruit following harvest. Only fruit which becomes mature before harvest can become ripe.

Ripening

Ripening involves a series of changes occurring during early stages of senescence of fruits in which structure and composition of unripe fruit is so altered that it becomes acceptable to eat. Ripening is a complex physiological process resulting in softening, colouring, sweetening and increases in aroma compounds so that ripening fruits are ready to eat or process. The associated physiological or biochemical changes are increased rate of respiration and ethylene production, loss of chlorophyll and continued expansion of cells and conversion of complex metabolities into simple molecules.

ABSTRACT

Detection of disease tolerance with enhanced defense mechanism is a practical approach in crop variety improvement programme. Toxins being responsible for pathogenicity and virulence of the fungi, regenerating plants from toxin treated calli is an effective and easy approach. The response of tomato calli to the crude toxins of the foliar pathogens viz., Alternaria solani and Septoria lycopersici was studied and the changes in phenol metabolism due to toxin treatment were analysed. Crude toxins of A. solani and S. lycopersici extracted under optimum conditions were serially diluted and tomato calli were treated with different dilutions of the toxins to find out the optimum dilution at which minimum survival percentage was obtained, based on a 1-4 score. Minimum score of 1 was obtained at 1:10 dilution for A. solani and at 1:20 for S. lycopersici.

The calli of resistant (LE-625) and susceptible (CO-3) tomato varieties were treated with desired dilutions of the toxins of A. solani and S. lycopersici. Total phenolics and ortho- dihydroxy (OD) phenolics were estimated at 24 h interval to study the extent of necrosis on resistant and susceptible calli due to toxin treatment. The total and OD-phenol contents of calli of susceptible cultivar (CO-3) progressively decreased with increase in time interval consequent to the treatment of toxins of A. solani and S. lycopersici. In the resistant calli of LE-625, an initial reduction of total phenol and OD-phenol content was observed following the application of the toxins of A. solani and S. lycopersici at 24 hours after treatment. Later with lapse of time, the total phenol content and OD-phenol contents progressively increased reaching a maximum at 120 h after treatment. The results clearly indicated the enhancement of biochemical defense in the resistant calli and a fall in defense mechanism in the susceptible calli due to toxin treatment. Such techniques are useful in the preliminary screening of resistant genotypes in crops like tomato.

Crop adaption is closely related to genetics and plant physiology. Knowledge of basic of biological evolution and genetics is essential for an understanding of crop adaptation. Natural selection, the fundamental basis of adaptation has been atmost importance in determining the characteristic of present day crops and its still of great significance in modern plant breeding.

Ecology and ecosystem: Ecology and ecosystem influences adaption and distribution of crops. As such basic knowledge of ecology and ecosystem is necessary to understand adaptation and distribution of crops for maximum economic yields through efficient use of natural and applied inputs.

Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of living and non living components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem frame work. This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plant and animals.

Ecology is the scientific study of relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Under ecology we study various ecosystems which are part of the biosphere. An ecosystem includes all the organisms and the non living environment that are found in particular place.

Heart failure is not a disease but it is the end stage of heart diseases. Heart failure in horses is not very common as in dogs and cats. In horses it is characterized by the signs of forward failure, backward failure and fall in blood pressure.

Climate change is a long-lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather pattern triggered by greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. It is caused by natural factors like continental drift, volcanoes, earth’s tilt, and ocean current or manmade factors like urbanization, industrialization, burning of fossil fuel, deforestation and faulty agricultural practices.

The following objectives are accomplished by semen dilution/ extension

• Preservation of semen potential over a long period of time.
• Increase in the number of services per ejaculate. Ideally approximately 40 does can be inseminated from diluted/ extended semen of a single ejaculate.
• Extenders provide the spermatozoa with a medium in which they are able to remain viable and fertile for a prolonged time period. An ideal extender should be able to provide a conducive environment to facilitate sperm survival and modify the sperm structure to prepare them for freezing through the following properties:
• It should be isotonic with blood and should maintain this during preservation.
• It should have capacity of maintenance of pH (6.6-6.8) with high buffering capacity in that range.

Klebsiella pneumoniae (also known as Friedlander’s bacillus) is a Gramnegative, non-motile, encapsulated, lactose fermenting, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped bacterium found in the normal flora of the mouth, skin, and intestines.
Klebsiella spp. are Gram-negative, nonmotile, usually encapsulated rod-shaped bacteria, belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae. These bacteria produce lysine decarboxylase but not ornithine decarboxylase and are generally positive in the Voges-Proskauer test. Members of the Enterobacteriaceae family are generally facultative anaerobic, and range from 0.3 to 1.0 μm in width and 0.6
to 6.0 μm in length. Klebsiella spp. often occurs in mucoid colonies. The genus consists of 77 capsular antigens (K antigens), leading to different serogroups. Morphology of Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae)
• Shape – Klebsiella pneumoniae is a short, plump, straight rod shape (bacillus) bacterium.
• Size – The size of Klebsiella pneumoniae is about 1–2 μm × 0.5–0.8 μm (micrometer).
• Arrangement Of Cells – K. pneumoniae is arranged singly, in pairs, or in short chains and sometimes in clusters.
• Motility – Klebsiella pneumoniae is a non-motile bacterium.
• Flagella – K. pneumoniae is a non-flagellated bacterium.
• Spores – The Klebsiella pneumoniae is a non–sporing bacterium.
• Capsule – Capsules are present in Klebsiella pneumoniae which can easily be demonstrated using India ink preparation, appear as a clear halo in a dark background.
• Gram Staining Reaction – Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram -ve (Negative) bacterium.

1. Introduction:- Overview of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP)
1.1 Definition and Scope of GLP
GLP refers to a set of standards that govern the organizational processes, personnel responsibilities, and conditions under which laboratory studies are conducted. It aims to regulate research environments and ensure the generation of high-quality, traceable, and reproducible results. The scope of GLP encompasses a wide range of scientific fields including pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, veterinary products, and environmental safety assessments. Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) regulations were developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and well adopted by regulatory agencies world-wide. The primary objective of GLP is to promote high standards of accuracy and integrity in non-clinical research to protect human health and the environment.
1.2 Principles of GLP
The fundamental principles of GLP include:
• Study Planning and Protocol Development: Every study must have a clear plan and defined objectives, which should be outlined in a comprehensive protocol.
• Personnel Responsibilities: The roles of study directors, scientists, quality assurance personnel, and support staff are clearly defined.
• Test Systems and Facilities: Laboratories must maintain appropriate facilities and control systems for conducting studies. These include properly calibrated equipment, controlled environments, and standardized procedures.
• Data Integrity and Reporting: Data must be meticulously recorded, verified, and archived, ensuring it is traceable and reproducible.
• Study Documentation and Archiving: All records, raw data, and reports must be stored and accessible for a period defined by regulations, ensuring transparency and reproducibility.

In contrast to the traditional universities, agricultural universities have been entrusted with the Herculean task of technology dissemination at the grass root level such that the package of practices evolved by the agricultural scientists should reach out the end-users, viz. farmers , for adopting in the field, with consequent increment in the farm productivity and farmer’s income. This unique mandate has been assigned to agricultural universities on the pattern of land grant colleges of the United States. Such vision and trust, envisaged by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and his devout lieutenants, herald creation of state agricultural universities (SAUs) in the early 1960s. The key role played by SAUs in the first green revolution and agricultural human resources development have been regarded as the milestones in the history of India post-independence, that made the country self-sufficient in food production and, in turn, to self reliance in milk, vegetables, fruits and inland fish production. Today, India has set fourth into commanding position as a global economic power, with primary and secondary sectors, viz. agriculture and industry, contributing modestly. At the current pace of the growth rate, I would not hesitate to predict that by the year 2020, we will accomplish the top lines both in terms of productivity and sustainability, by transforming hitherto deemed liability of population into a formidable asset of human resource capital.
Hunger-free World
Agriculture is a vital development tool for achieving the Millennium Development Goals that call for halving by 2015 the number of people, suffering from extreme poverty and hunger. We also note that more than 50% of the people in the world are small and resource-poor farmers and another 20% rural land less. The challenge is to transform this

Haboob : Sudanese name for duststorm or sandstorm with strong winds that carry small particles of dirt or sand into the air, particularly severe in areas of drought.
 
Habitat : A place where a plant or a community of plants or a crop is existing.

Hadley Cell : A mean thermally driven atmospheric circulation in which warm air rises and flows away from the equator at upper level and descends at the tropics. Wind moves from the tropics back to equator poleward. In many cases this term is also referred to as ‘Hadley circulation’.

Hail : Solid precipitation in the form of balls or pieces if ice (hailstones) with diameter ranging from 5 mm to 50 mm or even more. 
Hailstorm : A storm, often too long and severe, consisting largely of hail or frozen rain drops ranging in diameter from 5 mm to 10 mm or more. 

Weeds are the plants which grow where they are not wanted or simply plants growing out of place. A plant may be desirable in one situation and a weed in another situation. Those plants that interfere with human activity in crop and non-crop areas are considered weeds. Weeds compete with crops for soil nutrients, water and light; they host insects and plant pathogens harmful to crop plants, and their root exudates and/or leaf leachates may be toxic to crop plants. Weeds also hinder crop harvest and increase the costs of such operations. In addition, at harvest, weed seeds often contaminate the crop produce. Thus, the presence of weeds in crop areas reduces the efficiency of inputs such as fertilizer and irrigation water, enhances the density of other pest organisms, and finally severely reduces crop yield and quality (Labrada and Parker 1999).  Weeds are serious menace in crop production.

An ancient Chinese proverb says

If you are thinking one year ahead, plant rice
If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant trees
If you are thinking hundred years ahead, educate the people

Subramanya Bharati, a great Tamil poet, wrote decades ago that nutrition and education were the two legs of a human being — nutrition for the body and education for the mind. We must, therefore, foster a movement for integrating academic excellence and social relevance in the curricula of our educational institutions. Our universities should promote the growth of the science of ecotechnology, which is the product of the integration of traditional knowledge with frontier science. This will need a mind-set change in relation to the knowledge and wisdom of our tribal and rural families.

In the 1990s, I developed the Iwokrama Rain Forest Programme, which represents the world’s largest adventure in the sustainable management of rainforests. The local Amerindian population welcomed me to Iwokrama with a song, which translates thus:

ABSTRACT

Apot culture experiment was conducted on tomato with cadmium and lead to identify the selective retention sites of the metals. For this a completely randomized design with five treatments and four replications were laid out at the College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara. The different levels of treatment ranged from 0.5 to 2.0 mg kg -1 soil. Cadmium and lead were directly supplied as a water-soluble source through cadmium chloride and lead nitrate respectively. In tomato the growth and fruiting was permitted only at lower levels of cadmium application. At 1.5 mg kg-1 soil, fruiting failed. While at 2.0 mg kg-1 soil, the very establishment of plant was totally affected. At higher levels of application, cadmium preferred to get accumulated in roots while on the contrary at lower levels, cadmium uptake increased in shoots than in roots with the least content of the metal in fruits. However, in the case of lead, all levels of application in soil permitted growth and fruiting. With increase in rate of lead application, significant selective retention was observed in roots (1.48-6.69 ppm), shoot (0.29-1.62 ppm) and fruits (0.39-1.45 ppm). On comparison of retention sites of lead in tomato, it could be seen that fruits maintained the maximum lead uptake (637.2-2933.0 mg pot-1). Hence, the consumption of such tomato fruits contaminated with heavy metals may result in kidney damage, lack of memory, dissolution of phosphorus in the bones etc.

Problem soils are an important ecological entity of arid, semiarid or humid climate of our country. In India saline and sodic soils are serious threat to produce enough food grains for growing population. The other main problem is acid and acid sulphate soil, spread in one third of cultivated land.

Problem soils are either deficient in plant nutrients or the nutrient availability is inhibited by the antagonistic effect of the nutrient element present in excessive amounts as soluble or exchangeable ions.

Introduction

Southern blotting was named after Edward M. Southern who developed this procedure at Edinburgh University in the 1970s. To oversimplify, DNA molecules are transferred from an agarose gel onto a membrane. Southern blotting is designed to locate a particular sequence of DNA within a complex mixture. For example, Southern Blotting could be used to locate a particular gene within an entire genome. The amount of DNA needed for this technique is dependent on the size and specific activity of the probe. Short probes tend to be more specific. Under optimal conditions, you can expect to detect 0.1 pg of the DNA for which you are probing.

This diagram shows the basic steps involved in a Southern blot.

Soil quality is the capacity of the soil to function, within its natural or managed ecosystems, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, support human and animal health and habitation. This is not limited to agriculture, though most work and evaluation has occurred on agricultural lands.

Soil health refers to the condition of the soil and its potential to sustain biological functions, maintain environmental quality and promote plant and animal health. Healthy soils are the key to food security and sustainable future. They support sustainable food production, mitigate and adapt to climate changes, filter water, enhance resilience to floods and droughts and so much more.

With an increase in domestication of rabbits, a leporine, as pet in urban dwellings and their increased life span, risk of cardiac diseases has also increased. Heart diseases are being diagnosed in rabbits with an increasing frequency. The development of clinical signs of heart failure is gradual in rabbits causing late recognition of the heart disease.

Oats originated in the Mediterranean region and from there it spread to most of the countries of the world like U.S.A., Russia, Canada, Poland, Australia, France and Germany.

The semen evaluation is of great importance in predicting fertility of the male. There are several parameters to evaluate the semen quality. Usually bucks with good semen samples have good fertility and bucks with poor or very poor semen samples are invariably infertile or sterile. A single test is never sufficient to assess the semen quality and the examiner should be acquainted with several tests to evaluate the semen. The semen should be examined with in a shortest possible period after ejaculation and the ejaculate must be properly protected and handled until examination. Semen can be evaluated by following methods

1. Macroscopic test
2. Microscopic test
3. Metabolic test

Brassica oleracea variety italica is a type of cabbage from the mustard family (Brassicaceae) that is grown for its delicious blossom buds and stalk. Sprouting broccoli, which is native to the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor, was first planted in ancient Rome and then imported to England and America in the 1700s.

Botany & taxonomy Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) is an edible green plant belonging to the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus Brassica) that is grown for its enormous blooming head, stalk, and small accompanying leaves. Sprouting and heading broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) are two varieties of broccoli. After the terminal heads are removed in sprouting kinds, axillary shoots with smaller flower heads normally grow. Heading type produces cauliflower-like heads that can be a variety of colours.