eChapters

12.1 Introduction

Dipnoans are commonly referred to as ‘lungfish’. Dipnoi owes its name to the presence of two internal nostrils. Dipnoans, which stand on the basic piscine platform, have many interesting features that the early fishes went through to become land vertebrates, particularly amphibians. As a result, the group’s systematic position becomes contentious. Dipnoans evolved during the middle Devonian period and thrived during the Permian and Triassic periods. They became scarce after the Triassic period and are now represented by three specialised genera. According to Young (1981), dipnoans have acquired special characteristics through paedomrphosis.

Introduction

A payment gateway is a server that is located between the web server of the merchant and the web server of the acquiring bank. When a merchant receives an order, it is transferred to the payment gateway by the merchant server.

The payments sector in India is set to reach USD 100 trillion in volume and USD 50 trillion in transactional value by the end of 2030. The payment gateways, which are also a part of the payments sector are set to reach USD 1.21 billion in India, growing at a CAGR of 17.6% between 2024-2029. The global payment gateway landscape as of 2024 stands at USD 16.27 billion growing at a CAGR of 16.43%. Payment gateways across the world are credit card-based gateways, with the introduction of card readers in mobile phones. The Fintech and payments sector boom in India cannot be justified without mentioning UPI (Unified Payments Interface), which has encompassed payment solutions for small street vendors to large conglomerates with its user-friendly interface and QR-code-based payments. UPI is one of the major payment gateways in India, in addition to IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), and NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) and many more.

Introduction

India has a big challenge in fruit production in the current backdrop of decreasing per capita land holding and static fruit productivity. In recent years, China has surpassed and secured top position in the fruit production in the world accounting for 4,44,651 mt production followed by India and Brazil.  Now Chinese share in the fruit production is around 13 per cent while India contributes 10.2 per cent, Brazil 8 per cent and USA 6 per cent of total fruit production.

India is bestowed with a wide variety of agro-climatic conditions and enjoys an enviable position in the horticultural map of the world. Almost all types of fruit crops (tropical, sub-tropical and temperate) are grown in one or other part in the country.  The major tropical and sub-tropical fruits grown in India include mango, banana, papaya, orange, mosambi, guava, grape, pineapple, coconut, sapota, ber, pomegranate, litchi, aonla, bael, jackfruit etc.  Cashew nut cultivation has a big potential and its production, productivity and export has increased significantly in recent decades. Indian grape has recorded highest productivity per unit area in the world. The productivity of fruit per unit area in India has increased nearly from 10 t/ha to 12 t/ha in almost one decade.  However, the average productivity in most of the fruit crops is far below than satisfactory except grape and banana in few states.  It is paradox to record that India’s contribution in the overseas market is almost (0.11 per cent) negligible (Chadha, 2000). However, other countries like Mexico, Philippines and Venezuela, which produce far less, export 4 per cent of their total production.

Introduction

Mushrooms are fleshy spore-bearing fruiting bodies of fungi, produced above ground on soil or on their food sources. Total number of useful fungi having edible and medicinal values is over 2,300 species. Like green plants, they do not contain chlorophyll and as a result cannot manufacture their own food. In this respect, they are like animals because; they feed themselves by digesting other organic matter. They are a large heterogeneous group having various shapes, size, appearance and edibility.

The use of mushrooms as food is very old. People harvested mushrooms from the wild for thousands of years for food and medicine. The Egyptians regarded mushrooms as food for pharaohs. The Greeks and Romans described them as food for God and served only on festive occasions. The first professional growers of mushrooms were the Chinese. China is the major producer and consumer of both edible and medicinal mushrooms. As early as 1313, a document was published which described the cultivation method for Shiitake on wood logs. Even older is the cultivation of the wood ear mushroom (Auricularia spp) of which sources indicates that it was cultivated from the year 600 A.D. onwards. The white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, was domesticated in France.

1.1. Definition of Small-scale Enterprises

According to Shonekan’s keynote address at the Faculty of Business Administration Conference (1992), captured with the theme: “Management of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria.” He said,

“While it is difficult to have one universal definition of SMEs since there are usually many non-constant factors and variables, the spin-off industries are usually small or medium scale. In practical terms, SMEs constitute the bedrock of our national economy. They are our industrial feedstock, the engine of production for the bigger industries. The thriving economies of the world have a record of carefully structured SMEs. In Japan for instance, the bulk of manufacturing is at the small and medium scale levels. This situation also obtains in the ‘Asian Tigers’ (i.e. Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, etc).”

1. No Tillage (No Ploughing or Turning of the Soil)
• The principle of No Tillage in natural farming refers to the practice of avoiding the mechanical disturbance of the soil, such as ploughing, turning, or tilling. This approach is central to natural farming because it allows the soil to maintain its natural structure, preserves its biodiversity, and enhances its ability to support plant growth sustainably.
• Tillage disrupts the natural layers of the soil. When the soil is left undisturbed, its structure remains intact, allowing for better water infiltration, root penetration, and nutrient availability. A well-structured soil is more resilient to erosion and compaction.
• Soil is home to a vast network of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, and earthworms, that play crucial roles in nutrient cycling and plant health. Tilling can destroy these delicate ecosystems, reducing the soil’s fertility. No tillage preserves these beneficial organisms, promoting natural soil regeneration.
• In natural farming, organic matter (like dead plants, mulch, and crop residues) is left on the surface of the soil. As it decomposes, it contributes to the formation of humus, a rich organic material that improves soil fertility and helps retain moisture. Tillage disrupts this process, speeding up the decomposition of organic matter and reducing its long-termbenefits.
• No tillage improves the soil’s ability to absorb and retain water, which reduces the need for irrigation and helps crops withstand drought conditions. Additionally, undisturbed soil is more resistant to erosion because plant roots and soil structure act as a barrier against wind and water erosion.

Plant diseases have been documented since ancient times. Fossil data suggests that plants were impacted by illness 250 million years ago. The Indian Vedic text and Bible refer to diseases like rusts, mildews, and blights that have led to famine and significant economic impacts throughout history. Plant pathology or Phytopathology (Greek Phyto-plant pathos- suffering or ailment; logos- knowledge/study/discourse) is a division of agricultural sciences focused on the examination of plant diseases. It encompasses the recognition, comprehension, prevention, and management of plant diseases caused by different pathogens as fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and other microbes. Plant pathology is the nature, cause and prevention of plant diseases. Plant disease refers to the physiological functioning of the plants that are irritated by prolonged, phytopathogenic organisms biotic or infectious disease causing agents and abiotic or non-infectious causes such as edaphic, environmental, plant nutrition etc. covered under disorders. Plant disease can also be defined as it is a malfunctioning process in plant body caused by continuous irritation induced by some causal agent that alters the physiology of the plants and results in some suffering or symptom production. It may be other way stated that it is a sum total of the altered and induced biochemical reactions in plant system or part brought about by any biotic, mesobiotic agents or abiotic factor leading to malfunctioning of biological processes and ultimately manifesting at cellular and/or morphological level.

ABSTRACT

Mining is an important activity for economic development. However, it is associated with land degradation, pollution of air and water, droughts, floods, land slides and land slips, silting of reservoirs, chocking of bridges and disruption of communications are some of the very serious environmental hazards. The need of the hour is to scientifically extract the mineral coupled with adopting mechanical and vegetative measures to rehabilitate the mine spoils. In the present paper effect of mining on natural resources has been detailed, also techniques adopted and standardized for rehabilitation Sahastradhara mined area of Dehra Dun valley over two decades have been clubbed.

Introduction

Disaster may be defined as a sudden event that causes damage to life, property and destroy the economic, social and cultural life of people. It could be of natural or anthropogenic origin. Disasters impact the poor and the most vulnerable section of the community. Over the past 30 years, more than 2.5 million people and nearly $4 trillion have been lost to natural disasters in India; globally the losses jumped from $50 billion a year in the 1980s to $200 billion in the last decade (NIDM, 2019).According to a World Bank report, nearly 75% of the losses are attributable to extreme weather events and climate change threatening to push an additional 100 million people into the extreme poverty by 2030 (Hallegatte et al., 2016). The Bank’s Unbreakable report finds that natural disasters had larger and long-lasting impacts on the poverty. Population growth and rapid urbanization are major driving factors for an increase in the disaster risks.

The United Nations estimates that more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050 (NIDM, 2019). This could put 1.3 billion people and $158 trillion assets at risk from river and coastal floods alone. According to the Bank’s Investing in Urban Resilience report (2016), by 2030, without significant investment into making cities more resilient, natural disasters may cost cities worldwide $314 billion each year.

Minimally processed fruits and vegetables are products that have the attributes of convenience and fresh like quality. Their forms vary widely, depending on nature of unprocessed commodity and how it is normally consumed. In many cases, minimally processed product is raw and cells of tissues are alive, but these characteristics are  not regarded as essential. It is important that products have fresh-like character, regardless of   state of cells.  Minimally processed products for both retail and food service applications have increasingly appeared in market place recently.  In coming years, it is commonly perceived that this industry will have unprecedented growth.

ABSTRACT

Fodder availability is a serious concern during winter season in hilly areas as land for growing fodder crops is hardly available unlike plains. Bhimal as an agroforestry species is being cultivated in the Himalayas since long, however, genetic improvement of the species was hardly undertaken in the past barring a few reports on tree improvement of the species. Seeds were used to be usually collected from crooked trees which are easy to climb or swept from the forest floor. Since agroforestry systems have great promise to improve the productivity of both agricultural and tree crops, therefore, keeping that in view, seven provenances (I.C. Bhaintan , I.C. Chamba, I.C. Katkor, I.C. Malas, I.C. Nauni, I.C. Naur, I.C. Tachla) were collected from different regions of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and evaluated for 10 years (1995-2004). Significant differences in the productivity potential of Bhimal provenances were noticed and the high yielding fodder provenances identified (I.C. Bhaintan , I.C. Chamba and I.C. Malas), yielding as high as 35 q ha^-1 thus fodder productivity could be increased to 25% by planting high yielding provenances. Likewise high yielding provenaces (HYPs) for fuelwood and fibre were identified which can increase the productivity potential of the agroforestry system. In 2005, more than 1200 saplings of HYPs were multiplied in a polyhouse and planted at different elevations in the Himalayas under prevailing agroforestry systems. Differential responses of HYPs in respect of growth and productivity at different locations have been monitored. The rooting behaviour of HYPs was also investigated and it was found that all the three provenances viz., I.C. Bhaintan, I.C. Chamba and I.C. Malas have high soil binding characteristics, thus revealing that apart from production, this tree species plays an important role in soil conservation. Further, high regression of soil binding on above ground biomass and specific root length was recorded among these provenaces. Looking at the performance of such provenances on the farmers’ fields, the demand of high yielding provenaces is increasing. Unlike Eucalyptus, Bhimal had the minimal effect on the performance of field crops and the overall system productivity of the Grewia optiva based agroforestry system was profitable along with insurance against aberrant monsoon conditions.

Introduction
Infection prevention and control refers to prevention and control of infections and their transmission in healthcare settings. Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) are one of the most common adverse events in delivery of care and a major public health problem with an impact on morbidity, mortality and quality of life. Up to 7% of patients in developed and 10% in developing countries acquire at least one HAI. These infections also present a significant economic burden for the health system.1It is evident that HAIs result in prolonged hospital stays, long-term disability, increased resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobials, additional cost on health systems, high cost for patients and their family, and preventable deaths.
The core components of IPC2
• IPC programme at the national and health facility level
• National and facility level evidence-based guidelines on IPC
• Education and training
• HAI surveillance
• Multimodal strategies
• Monitoring and audit of IPC practices and feedback
• Workload, staffing and bed occupancy
• Built environment, materials and equipment for IPC
HAI Burden
HAI are one of the most common adverse events in healthcare delivery and a major public health problem with an impact on morbidity, mortality and

Introduction

Rice contains essential micronutrients such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), etc. which are generally lower when compared with other staple crops like wheat, maize, legumes, and tubers (Adeyeye et al. 2000). The most crucial micronutrients are iron and zinc, whose inadequacy is a leading cause of malnutrition. In this chapter we discuss estimation methodologies and diversity of Fe and Zn, its genetic basis, and improvement for micronutrient content through breeding techniques.

Procedure of Estimation of Fe and Zn Content in Rice Grain

Iron and zinc concentrations in rice samples were generally estimated by colorimetric method Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectrometry is extremely helpful in the non-destructive estimation of relative Zn and Fe concentration in rice breeding lines and large germplasm collection (Paltridge et al. 2012). The majority of biofortification programs employ XRF as a metal analysis tool. For estimation of Fe and Zn, panicles of middle row plants of each replication were harvested, sun-dried for 4-5 days to reduce the moisture content to 11-12 %, and then seeds were dehusked. Each brown rice sample of about 5g was subjected to energy dispersive X-ray fluorescent spectrophotometer (ED-XRF) as per standard protocol (Stangoulis and Sison 2008, Rao et al. 2014) and expressed in ppm (µg g-1).

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most commercially important vegetable crops globally, with a significant demand for high-yielding hybrids and improved open-pollinated varieties. Efficient seed production methodologies play a crucial role in ensuring the availability of genetically pure and high-quality seeds for commercial cultivation. Traditional hand emasculation and pollination remain widely used despite being labor intensive, given their economic feasibility due to high seed yield per fruit. Hybrid seed production is further refined through mechanized pollen collection and controlled pollination techniques, enhancing efficiency. Seed quality management, including rigorous isolation protocols, field inspections, and breeder and foundation seed production standards, ensures genetic purity and viability. Advances in molecular breeding and the application of marker-assisted selection (MAS) have enhanced the efficiency of parental line development and hybrid seed production. This chapter provides an in-depth review of tomato seed production methodologies, covering botanical characteristics, genetic resources, and breeding objectives aimed at improving disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, and fruit quality traits. It further discusses varietal advancements in the public and private sectors, highlighting elite hybrids and open-pollinated cultivars tailored for different agro-climatic conditions. Additionally, the package of practices for seed production in tomato underscores the importance of isolation, field inspections, seed extraction methods, processing techniques, and quality assurance standards to maintain genetic purity and seed viability.

Use of morphological markers has continued till today for characterization of several crops including horticultural crops with the Mendel’s principles of inheritance by following visible traits in the progenies of sexual crosses. Genetic markers play an essential role  in the study of variability and diversity, in the construction of linkage maps, and in the diagnosis of individuals or lines carrying certain linked genes. Within this context, the limitations of morphological markers became quickly apparent. They tend to be restricted to relatively a few traits, display a low degree of polymorphism, are often environmentally variable in their manifestation, and can depend on the expression of several unlinked genes. Furthermore, some may affect plant viability or seed set, distorting gene frequencies in the progeny. Morphological markers were largely supplemented by biochemical markers, particularly isoenzymes that could be easily scored by electrophoresis (Ganapathy and Scandalios 1973; Tanksley 1983). The limitations of isoenzmyes as markers, in particular both the limited number of polymorphic enzymes that can be conveniently stained and the environmental effects on expression pattern, were apparent already twenty years ago (Tanksley 1983).

5.1 Introduction

The densification of biomass involves transforming loose and low-density organic materials, such as wood residues, agricultural waste, and plant-based materials, into compact and energy-dense forms. This process is necessary because natural biomass can be challenging to handle, transport, and store. Densification uses mechanical, thermal, or chemical processes to increase the material’s density and energy characteristics. The resulting products, such as pellets, briquettes, or cubes, offer several advantages, including higher energy content per unit volume, efficient storage and transportation, reduced moisture content, and improved combustion efficiency. These products are utilized in various industries, including energy production, residential heating, waste management, and industrial applications. Biomass densification promotes sustainable practices by effectively utilizing biomass resources, reducing waste, and promoting the use of renewable energy sources while mitigating environmental impacts.

INTRODUCTION TO DRONES USED FOR EARLY PEST AND DISEASE DETECTION
The utilization of drones for the early detection of pests and diseases in agriculture represents a novel and effective strategy that enables farmers to proactively oversee crop health. Drones outfitted with sophisticated sensors can consistently surveil fields, delivering real-time data and facilitating the prompt detection of possible dangers.
Agricultural drones are employed to identify pests and illnesses at an early stage by capturing aerial imagery of crops. This enables farmers to respond swiftly to safeguard their crops, perhaps resulting in increased yields and reduced environmental impact.
The utilization of drones in agricultural pest management presents numerous benefits compared to conventional techniques. Drones outfitted with infrared cameras can furnish farmers with real-time information on crop health, facilitating the early identification of possible problems such as pests, illnesses, or nutritional deficits.
Pathology can adversely affect plant vitality prior to the manifestation of any obvious indicators such as foliar discoloration. Although these pressures are imperceptible to the unaided eye, cameras equipped with specialized filters may identify these nuanced variations.
Researchers at the Department of Life Sciences and Computing are collaborating with the agricultural services firm Agrii to develop cameras placed on drones. These cameras can autonomously identify early signs of disease and notify farmers when to apply treatments, prior to crop harm.
Applying fungicides promptly in the appropriate locations would enable farmers to utilize them effectively and optimize their application. They are

Quality is an increasingly important factor in the production and marketing of biological products. Consumers are becoming more discerning as their affluence increases, and would be suppliers of products must meet these demands if they are to maintain or increase market share. The term ‘quality’ is one of the most defined terms in use in food industry today. Quality may be defined as ‘The totality of features and characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy a given need’. The first part, ‘The totality of features and characteristics of a product…..’ concerns objective factors related to the product.  The second part, ‘…… to satisfy a given need’, concerns subjective factors related to user or consumer of goods.

Ethylene is a primary plant hormone involved in the senescence of plant tissues including flowers and leaves. In carnation flowers, inhibition of the synthesis or action of ethylene delays the onset of senescence symptoms and lengthens the vase life of flowers. Leaves of cut chrysanthemum of some cultivars frequently become yellow, sometimes prior to the onset of flower senescence, in response to exogenous ethylene. Generation of transgenic plants with suppressed production or action of ethylene is an excellent way to lengthen the longevity of these ornamental plants. This paper reviews our studies on generation and characterization of carnations with reduced ethylene production and chrysanthemum with reduced sensitivity to ethylene.

8.0. Introduction

Food additives are the substances not normally consumed as a food by itself and contain or not contain nutritive value but are added to food to improve freshness, sensory and keeping quality of food. So, a food additive is defined as a substance or a mixture of substances other than the food stuff incorporated in food either directly or indirectly as a result of any phase of production, processing, storage or packaging to improve or maintain the nutritional value, enhance quality, consumer acceptability and facilitate the preparation of materials e.g., acid, alkali, bleaching agents, emulsifying & sterilizing agents, flavours, colours, nutrient supplements, clarifying agents, humectants, chemical preservatives etc. Every food available in the market or at home contains food additives. So, now the question arises that whether additives are safe from consumption/toxicological point of view or not? What are the facts or fictions, if additives are to be used in the food preparation? These are the most important questions to be answered and discussed before their use in food industry.