eChapters

Done for both biotic and abiotic stresses.

Biotic stresses are disease and insect pests.

Abiotic stresses are drought, salt, flood, heat, cold, etc.

Livestock has been essential for Indian agriculture since prehistoric times. Livestock is crucial for tripling farmers’ revenue, for bovines—particularly cattle and buffaloes—play a crucial role in the economy. India has the
largest number of livestock owners, with a wide variety of livestock and poultry breeds that are essential to the socioeconomic advancement of rural communities. The production of consumables and maintaining the country’s food security are inextricably related to the livestock and agricultural sectors. Numerous illnesses have a detrimental effect on the health and productivity of livestock and are highly significant economically. Livestock illnesses have negative effects on producers, costing them money in upkeep, resources, and production.
Protozoal infections are a major contributor to the global burden of infectious diseases and have a profound effect on health, society, and the economy. Nearly one-sixth of the world’s population is at risk of dying from serious diseases like malaria (Plasmodium spp.), African sleeping sickness (Trypanosoma brucei), Chagas’ disease (Trypanosoma cruzi) and various forms of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis (Leishmania spp.). Although the burden of protozoal diseases primarily affects tropical and subtropical regions, environmental changes and ecological modifications brought about by both natural and manmade factors have had and are likely to continue to have a significant impact on the emergence and spread of these infections in high-income nations.

    7.1 Introduction
By passing an electrical current through two pieces of plain metal, they can be joined together using resistance welding. The electrical resistance of the metals due to the contact resistance between them, and the electrical current combine to produce the required welding heat. The manufacturing sector frequently uses resistance welding, a type of welding, to join metal sheets and components. In order to create a weld, a high current must be passed through the metal combination to heat it up and eventually melt the metal at a localised points that are chosen based on the electrode and/or workpiece designs. To limit the contact area at the weld interfaces and, in certain cases, to forge the workpieces, a force is always provided prior to, during, and following the application of current. The resistance welding process is classified into the following types.
i. Resistance spot welding (RSW)
ii. Resistance seam welding (RSEW)
iii. Upset welding (UW)
iv. Projection welding (PW)
v. Percussion welding (PEW)
vi. Flash welding (FW)
7.2 Resistance Spot Welding (RSW)
The automotive and aviation industries make extensive use of resistance spot welding, or simply spot welding. Extremely low voltage and very high current are used in this kind of welding. A wide variety of metals, including copper (Cu), titanium (Ti), magnesium (Mg), aluminium (Al), and their alloys are welded by this welding method. RSW is typically used to join thin sheets of metal, either similar or different, in a lap joint form. A few drawbacks of RSW include electrode degradation, misalignment, voids, and cracking. RSW welding of thicker metal sheets is typically challenging due to the ease with which the heat flows in the surrounding metal.

Introduction

Resistance to antibiotics in the bacterial world is a genetically determined phenomenon that was first observed within a few years after the introduction of antibiotics for therapeutic purposes. In Nature, ARGs are believed to have originated about three billion years ago as an intrinsic defense mechanism in antibiotic-producing bacteria (Perry et al., 2016; Iskandar et al., 2022), and subsequently, evolved by complex and quantum jump trajectories to mobilize, diversify and interconnect all ecosystems in the micro-biosphere. Bacterial genomes exhibit plasticity and continue to evolve under the selection pressure of antibiotics and other stressors (Patel, 2016). The ARGs in circulation at present are thus a mixture of ancient and modern counterparts. Recently, the interplay between bacterial metabolism and antibiotic resistance has also been revealed (Zampieri, 2021).

The use of antimicrobials in health management, livestock, and food industry is driving the emergence of resistant microbes at a rapid pace (Wall et al., 2016; Adegoke et al., 2016; Hu et al., 2017). As a result, AR pathogens have spread globally to cause loss of lives, production, productivity, and negatively impact economic growth. Recently, AR pathogens in a large study have been found directly responsible for millions of deaths, and the figures are likely to increase in the coming decades (Murray et al., 2022). The pace of the emergence of AR can however be slowed down by improving human interventions. The global and local AR combat plans implemented during the past few years have enhanced the mass awareness of the pandemic problem (WHO, 2015; FAO, 2016; NAP, GOI, 2017; WHO, 2022; WOAH, 2022). These Action Plans on AR containment encourage avoiding of indiscriminate use of antibiotics for the treatment of sick humans and animals, recommend the ban on the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in food animals, promote AR surveillance and monitoring, and support the ‘One-Health’ strategy and application of the biosecurity principles for containment of the resistant microbes.

Of all kinds of resources; financial, natural, physical and human resources, the most critical resources for any endeavor are the human resources involved in it. Physical, natural and economic resources are important for facilitating development of any nation but the most important are the human resources. Human resources are the most significant of all the resources to convert all other available resources into production and economic entities. Capable, efficient and motivated human resources can bring about the tremendous positive change towards progress. No doubt, it is equally true that inefficient people can wither away a whole empire and squander away its precious wealth and abundance. People are the real wealth of nations.

Resource appraisal is very significant for micro-enterprise development especially in rural areas. A developing economy like India needs entrepreneurs who are competent to perceive new opportunities and are willing to incur the necessary risks in exploiting them. Rural areas are infrastructurally poor and to take up any entrepreneurial venture in such a scenario appears to be enormous to the simple farmer who has been engaged in cultivating the land in a traditional manner. Developing agri-enterprises is needed urgently to enhance the productivity and incomes of the farmers from their ever shrinking agricultural lands.

Sustainable agriculture can be defined as a tool of using the natural resources for meeting the present needs without jeopardizing the future potential, increasing per capita productivity without causing degradation of soil and water resources, enhancing profitability without reducing total production and reducing excessive dependence on off farm inputs. Thus the holistic view of sustainability is an approach which is ecologically sound, economically profitable and socially equitable. Theoretically this is an ideal concept and of recent origin. But the real danger to sustainable agriculture stem from the compelling needs of increasing population for food, fuel, fodder on one hand and limited natural resource base of land and water on the other.

Characterisation of Natural Resources

The objective of food security can be met by promoting sustainable agricultural production systems. Increasing agricultural production should not be at the cost of degrading soil and depicting the water bodies. If the basic needs of people are to be met on a sustainable basis, the earth’s natural resource base must be conserved and enhanced. In other words, for food security and sustainable livelihoods, ecological security is necessary. Areas under ecological stress need attention, pressure on natural resources increases with population increase in order to fulfill the demand.

Introduction

The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), with geographical coverage of over 5.3 lakh km², constitutes a large proportion of the hotspot and, therefore, contributes greatly to richness and representativeness of its biodiversity components at all levels. Out of this 5.3 lakh km², 33.13 million ha area is being constituted by the North-Western Himalayas.^. Further, most of the water used to grow maize crop in the sub-humid foothill region of northwest Himalayas, is derived from rainfall. Erratic rains, fragile ecosystems and traditional indigenous management practices are mainly responsible for the current situation (Kukal and Bhatt, 2010). IHR covers 11 states entirely (i.e. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya), and two states partially (i.e. hilly districts of Assam and West Bengal). The region represents nearly 3.8% of total human population of the country and exhibits diversity of ethnic groups which inhabit remote terrains. Further it is reported that the Northwestern Himalayan region (NWHR) which spreads to an approximate area of 33.13 million ha, comprising of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand is 10.1% of country’s total geographical area, supports 2.4% and 4% of human and cattle population of the country, respectively. This region has a diverse climate, topography, vegetation, ecology and land use pattern. The annual average rainfall varies from 80 mm in Ladakh to over 200 cm in some parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The major natural resources are water, forests, floral, and faunal biodiversity. Forests constitute the major share in the land use of the region with only 15% of the net sown area and 162% cropping intensity (Bhatt, 2011).

Resource Conservation Technologies are essential for addressing environmental challenges, reducing resource depletion, and achieving sustainability goals. By efficiently managing and preserving these resources, we can minimize negative impacts on the environment, reduce costs, and ensure that these resources are available for future generations.

Resource Conservation Technologies (RCT) are practices, methods, and technologies used in various industries, primarily in agriculture and natural resource management, to efficiently and sustainably utilize and preserve valuable resources such as water, soil, energy, and biodiversity. These technologies aim to reduce waste, minimize environmental impact, and enhance the overall productivity and sustainability of resource-dependent activities. Here are some key aspects of resource conservation technologies:

Water Conservation Technologies: RCTs for water conservation focus on efficient water use in agriculture, industrial processes, and domestic settings. Examples include drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and the use of sensors to optimize water application.

1.1 Introduction

Broadcasting seed and harvesting meagre yields was a common method of ancient agriculture. High use of developed crop varieties, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and farm mechanization is the main thrust of modern agriculture. Therefore, modern agriculture is an energy intensive farming system (Khan et al., 2010). Though modern technology based agriculture is achieving success to meet food demand of increasing global population, yet it creates many environmental issues such as loss of soil fertility, salinization and water scarcity.

Rice-wheat cropping system is the most important food production system in India. This system has enabled the country to attain food security during last three decades and provided livelihood to millions of farming families in recent times. The productivity of this system has now started showing signs of decline or stagnation at many places. There are also concerns of declining soil health and other related environmental problems. At the same time, food demand is rapidly increasing due to increasing population and income growth. During the past 30 years, agricultural production has been able to keep pace with population demand for food. This came about through significant area and yield growth. Area growth was a result of new lands being farmed and through increases in cropping intensity, from a single crop to double or even triple crops per calendar year. Area growth will be less important in its contribution to production growth in the future as more land is used for urban areas and industry. Yield growth will have to be the mainstay for providing the means for meeting future food demands unless food imports start to play a major role. Total factor productivity is declining and farmers have to apply more fertilizer to obtain the same yields. There is, therefore, a huge challenge ahead to meet future food demands without damaging the natural resource base on which agriculture depends, producing food at a cost that is affordable by the poor, and with incentives to farmers that allow them to improve their livelihoods. Water will become a major limiting factor for sustained production in the next decade. Rapidly growing urban areas and industry will compete with agriculture for good quality water. There are already reports of declining water tables in some areas leading to more costly pumping of groundwater and increased costs of production.

This chapter describes various conservation agriculture technologies to attain the goal of increasing productivity and meeting food security needs while at the same time efficiently using natural resources, including water, providing environmental benefits and improving the rural livelihoods of farmers. The major success in the last few years has been the development and deployment of conservation agriculture technologies (CATs) with farmers in the rice-wheat systems. CATs range from simple surface seeding, where wheat seed is broadcast on the non-ploughed soil; no-till with a special opener for placing seed in the soil also without ploughing; reduced tillage and bed planting. This has benefited farmers through less cost, more yields and more income. CATs are defined as any practice that will result in improvement of the efficiency of natural resources. These technologies are rapidly gaining popularity among farmers as they result in higher production at less cost with significant benefits to the environment and more efficient use of natural resources. This ultimately results in higher profits, cheaper food, and improved farmer livelihoods. Crop diversification is also easier as less land is needed to produce staple cereals, freeing up land for other crops.

2.1 Introduction

Present day agriculture is facing more challenges like negative impacts of climate change, depletion of natural resources, increase of input costs etc. The major causes for steady decline in agricultural sustainability include intensive cultivation with conventional tillage practices, reduction of soil organic matter, soil loss by water and wind erosion, reduction in infiltration rate, formation of soil crust and continuous practice of mono-cropping. Over the years, soil and water resources are continuously overexploited leading to reduction in use efficiency of irrigation and energy.

5.1 Introduction

Indian agriculture is now at crossroads. We have come a long way. Over the past five decades our strategies, policies and actions were guided by goals of ‘self sufficiency’ in foodgrain production with main focus on rice and wheat. Indian agriculture has been successful in achieving higher production of food grains to secure food security of the nation. While, the success for increasing food grain production has been achieved without major jump in the production and productivity of pulses in the country, this was accompanied by widespread problems of resource degradation, which now poses serious challenges to meet the demands of an increasing population and lifting our people above the poverty line.

Introduction

Resource Conserving Technology refers to any management approach or technology that increases factor productivity including land, labour, capital and inputs. The resource conserving technologies (RCTs) involving no or minimum tillage, direct seeding, bed planting and crop diversification with innovations in residues management are the possible alternatives to the conventional energy and input-intensive agriculture. The RCTs with innovations in residue management avoid straw burning, improve soil organic C, enhance input efficiency and have the potential to reduce GHGs emissions (Pathak et al., 2011). Conservation agriculture is one the effective Resource Conservation Technologies, which is based on three principles which are minimum soil disturbance, maintenance of permanent soil covers by the use of crop residues and cover crops and diverse plant associations which included crop rotations. Globally, Conservation Agriculture is being practiced in about 125 M ha area. USA with 26.5 M ha contributes to the major CA-practicing countries followed by Brazil (25.5 M ha), Argentina (25.5 M ha), Canada (13.5 M ha) and Australia (17.0 M ha). However, in the context of climate change to increase the production and productivity, India’s CA adoption is still in preliminary phases in area of 1.5 million ha with adoption of Zero Tillage (Jat et al., 2012, www.fao.org/ag/ca/6c.html). The major CA-based technologies being adopted is zero-tillage (ZT) wheat in the rice-wheat system of Indo-Gangetic Plains.

3.1 Introduction

Rice is the main staple food for most of the world’s population and plays a key role to maintain food security of many countries. More than 90% of the rice production globally comes from Asia and also more than 90% of rice consumption is done in Asia (IRRI, 1997). In Asia, more than two billion people get almost 60-70 percent of their daily energy requirement from rice and its products (Yogeswari and Porpavai, 2018). As for India, since independence the country has witnessed a remarkable progress in rice production.

Indian agriculture has the challenge of providing national as well as household food and nutritional security to its ever increasing population with the average size of land holdings shrinking due to increasing fragmentation. Modern agriculture is facing multiple challenges of plateauing genetic potential of major crops, declining productivity in vast tracts of rainfed/ dryland areas, ill-effects of green revolution technologies in all intensively cultivated areas, climatic aberrations etc., which is threatening the sustainability of the important agricultural production systems and national food security. The assets of a small and marginal farmer is of various kinds – a small piece of land, a homestead garden, few chickens and ducks, 1 or 2 cows/pig etc which has to be managed judiciously to sustain the production productivity and livelihood of the farmer. Farmers take decisions as to crop and livestock management given their access to knowledge and information, personal circumstances, and in the context of the broader socioeconomic, institutional and political environment. Under such conditions, some farmers are painstakingly trying to make a livelihood out of their small pieces of land. However, unable to produce sufficiently, some have sold off or leased out their land to big commercial farmers. Such farmers have become a daily labour or shared cropper in their own land, or even migrated to cities in search of livelihood.

To overcome the problems of small resource poor farmers under diverse and risk prone environments a more holistic, resource based, client oriented and interacting approach, popularly known as Integrated Farming System (IFS) has been developed. This system defines output as total biomass outcome of the system. Integrated farming system is a reliable way of obtaining high productivity with substantial nutrient economy in combination with maximum compatibility and replenishment of organic matter by way of effective recycling of organic residues/wastes etc. obtained through integration of various land- based enterprises.

Resource use efficiency in Indian agriculture

Resource use efficiency in agriculture is defined to include the concepts of technical efficiency, allocative efficiency and environmental efficiency. Public investment, subsidies and credit for agriculture are used in an efficient manner. There are large scale inter regional as well as inter farm variations in factor productivity due to varying influence of different factors in different regions. A number of management factors such as timeliness and method of sowing, transplanting, irrigation and application of right doses of inputs and input mix play an important role in influencing inter-farm variation in crop productivity. Growing marginalization and fragmentation of land holdings coupled with rising incidence of informal tenancies and poor rural infrastructure such as road, electricity, markets and education affect factor productivity. The availability of good quality irrigation water coupled with flexibility of irrigation and drainage system and appropriate methods of application as well as pricing of irrigation water is crucial for sustainable use of land and water resources.

The stochastic frontier production function to analyse the resource use efficiency of urban farmers in Uyo, Southeastern Nigeria was done. The result shows that 65% of urban farmers were 70% technology efficient; maximum efficiency is 0.91, while minimum efficiency in urban farm is 0.43.

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur to assess the effect of weed management practices on production, resource use efficiency and monetary benefit in cumin. The experimental field was predominantly infested with weed species such as Chenopodium murale, C. album, Asphodelus tenuifolius and Heliotropium oralifolium.

Introduction
Food is a basic human need that is necessary for survival. The three main sources of our food are fishing, farming, and animal husbandry. Modern agricultural practices are unsustainable and employ enormous amounts of pesticides and fertilizers, which pollute the environment. October 16th has been designated as World Food Day.
Global Food Issues
• The rate of food production is not keeping up with the increasing demand.
• There are significant differences in the accessibility of wholesome food. Malnutrition is still a major issue for several tribes, particularly for women and children.
• Our rich soils are being depleted more quickly than they can replenish themselves.
• The conversion of wetlands, meadows, and forests to agricultural usage has resulted in significant ecological issues.
• There is an indication of exhaustion in our upland and marine fish resources.

One of the most significant natural resources is water. The water cycle sustains hydrological systems, which give rise to rivers and lakes and a range of aquatic habitats, through evaporation and precipitation. Only 3% of the water on Earth is freshwater, although making up 70% of the planet’s surface. Just 1% of this is useable water found in rivers, lakes, and subsurface aquifers, while 2% of it is represented by polar ice caps. Approximately 25% of water is used for industry globally, 70% of it for agriculture, and only 5% for residential consumption. In India, 7% is used for industry, 90% is used for agriculture, and 3% is used for household use. World Water Day is on March 22nd.
There are five oceans on Earth. oceans: the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic, Arctic, and Southern. One of the main saltwater bodies in the hydrosphere is called an ocean. The average salinity of the ocean is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt), or 3.5%. A river is a naturally occurring waterway that is longer than 18 meters (60 feet), usually freshwater, that flows toward one or more rivers, lakes, seas, or oceans. A component of the hydrological cycle are rivers.
A steam is a current-filled body of water that is contained between the banks of a stream and a bed. Typically, the watercourse’s width is under eighteen meters. It reunites disparate environments. Creeks are tributaries of streams that join rivers or other streams but do not flow into the ocean.
A lake, derived from the Latin lacus, is an inland body of water that receives waterfrom a river and is deeper and larger than a pond.

The respiration of animals includes the exchange of gases either at the surface of the body or through the internal processes involving circulatory system. The gases that are exchanged are oxygen (O₂), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and the inert gas like nitrogen. When the organism respires, the O₂ that is taken up from the external environment is transported by the vascular system to individual cells within the tissues. At the same time this system picks up CO₂, an end product of cellular metabolism, and releases it to the environment. Thus respiration is a term applicable either to a whole organism or one of its cells. The mechanical process, by which respiration is achieved, is called ventilation.  This ventilation rate of aquatic organisms is controlled directly by the concentration of dissolve oxygen (DO₂) in water.

Respiration in aquatic medium is produced by a water current passing in a single direction. The area of respiratory surface is thus an important limiting factor in the movement and growth of the animal. For aquatic animals, if the water is at all deficient in O₂, the rate of breathing is naturally accelerated, and the animal appears to respire hurriedly. Other factors, which lead to an increased rate of respiration, are the stresses.