eChapters

It is a must for the research scholars to attend scientific conferences of the Parasitology associations, after being members. It is advisable to become life-members of all three Parasitology associations, in India i.e. Indian Society of Parasitology, Lucknow, Indian Association for Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology, IVRI, Izatnagar and Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology, JIPMER, Pondicherry. The annual conferences expose better chances to interlink with Parasitologists of the country and at times foreign scientists.

Introduction

Lentil is one of the important Rabi pulses. It is one of the oldest pulses crops and the most nutritious of the pulses. It has the potential to cover the risk of dryland agriculture. It is also used as a cover crop to check the soil erosion in problem areas. It is mostly eaten as ‘dal’. Lentil can also be used as green fodder. Its straw is also used as cattle. Being a leguminous crop, it restores the soil fertility.

Area of cultivation

Lentil is mostly cultivated in the northern and central parts of India. The important lentil growing states are Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and Assam. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh together contribute 78% towards total national area as well as production.

Climatic requirements: Lentil requires cold climate during growth and warm temperature at the time of maturity. It can tolerate cold and frost winter up to great extent. The optimum temperature for growth is 18-30 degree centigrade. Excessive drought and/or high temperatures during the flowering and pod-fill period also reduce yields.

Soil: Lentil can be grown on a variety of soils such as light loams; alluvial soils and black cotton soils. This crop is also suited to the poorer types of soils, low lying areas such as paddy fields. Lentil does not tolerate flooded or waterlogged soils. Good drainage is required, because even short periods of exposure to waterlogged or flooded field conditions kill plants. A soil pH near 7.0 is best for lentil production. Acidic soils are not fit for growing lentil.

Rice is the most important cereal crop of India occupying about 44.0 million hectares land. It provides food and employment to millions of people in the country. Despite development of high yielding varieties and technological interventions the yield of rice is still low (3.20 tonnes/ha) in India. The reasons for low yield of rice are:

Lesser area under high yielding varieties

Limited availability of quality seed

Increased acidity/ sodicity in some parts of the country

Declined soil fertility

Unavailability of inputs, like fertilizers and seed, in time

Inefficient nutrient management including imbalanced use of nutrients

Improper crop rotations

Reduced availability of irrigation water

Inefficient management of weeds, diseases and insect-pests

1. The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the Earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants. - Soil Science Society of America

The study of animal nutrition is a complex and important field that requires a detailed understanding of the various nutrients that are essential for the proper functioning of an animal’s body. These nutrients, including proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fats, play a crucial role in metabolism and serve different functions such as providing energy, promoting growth and development, maintaining bodily functions, and supporting immunity. It is imperative to have a thorough knowledge of their quantitative requirements and the sources from which they can be obtained for scientific feeding practices. This knowledge has been gained through extensive research and experience over the years. Therefore, it is crucial for students studying nutrition to understand the methods used to acquire this knowledge and how it continues to evolve through ongoing research. This in-depth understanding will enable them to make informed decisions when it comes to providing optimal nutrition for animals.
Advantages of Scientific Feeding
Scientific feeding offers numerous advantages compared to standard feeding practices.
1. It guarantees that animals receive the correct amount and balance of nutrients, leading to improved health and a decreased risk of metabolic disorders.
2. It enhances feed utilization efficiency, resulting in lower production costs and reduced environmental impact in animal agriculture.
3. It improves the quality and safety of animal products, boosting their market value and consumer acceptance.
Challenges of Scientific Feeding
Despite its benefits, scientific feeding also encounters some challenges.
1. It requires skills and knowledge that small farmers may not have or can’t afford.

Lac insect is an insect of commercial importance like silk worm and honey bee. The silkworm produces silk, honeybee produces honey and wax whereas, lac insect produces three products namely resin, dye and wax of great commercial importance. The resin commonly called lac, is only one of animal origin and commercially available in the market as shellac or seed lac or as a button lac. The resin is in fact the hardened secretory product of lac insect secreted as a protective covering of an insect. Lac culture is one of the important sources of livelihood and rural economy for poor resource constraint people particularly inhabiting in forest and sub-forest areas. It is one of the important sources of livelihood security in many parts of the country in states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, NE regions etc (Pal et al., 2007). It has also high potential for generating employment for both men and women in forest and sub-forest areas of the country. It is a very remunerative crop, paying high economic returns to the farmers and also foreign exchange for the country through its export.

Heifers are future cows of the herd. Production and reproduction performance of cows depends on the care and management during calf and heifer stage. Rearing period of heifers can be divided into two stages, viz. from weaning to first service and service to calving.

Care of calf before birth

During the last 2-3 months of gestation the fetus grows rapidly. Calf draws a significant quantity of nutrients from the mothers system. It has to be replenished by additional feeding of the cow. A cow should be fed well-balanced ration for maintenance.

Introduction

Modern life style has taken the fitness out of the men. In ancient times, our life was labour oriented, whereas now we have lots of gadgetry to support our day to day living, thus making our life least labour oriented and we are now more susceptible to diseases diabetes, blood pressure and asthma were, until recently, associated with rich people only, however, these have now become common in urban and even rural areas irrespective of social status and age. The minimum physical exercise, coupled with carbohydrate and fat rich and fiber free diet and lots of tension in day to day life has given way to these diseases.

Since ages, plants have been mainstay medicinal support either in the form of herbal therapy (Like Ayurveda, Unani) or in the form of isolated active substances as being used in allopathic system of medicine. As per a WHO calculation, at least 80% population, in developing world, is dependent on direct use of medicinal plants.

Many of herbal therapies are very simple to use. It is therefore worthwhile to know about some of medicinal plants available commonly around us. The herbal preparations from these plants may not be dramatically effective to palliate disease, as allopathic medicines do, however, with judicious and regular use, we can avoid conversion of some of simple diseases into a major treatment problem.

It is fortunate that side effects of allopathic medicines have compelled us to reconsider the use of herbal remedies and physical exercise in the form of ‘Yoga’, aerobics or whatever you call it. The arid region of Northwest Rajasthan, although vegetated sparsely, is rich in medicinal plants. Some of the species, which are abound in the extreme arid ecosystem, have unique curative and therapeutic properties and some of them are getting a lot of mileage as nutraceuticals as well.

10.1 Introduction

The objective of this chapter is to develop a data logger and indicator for fire detection in agriculture field. The data logger is designed with the help of Scilab. The system comprises of Ardiuini Nano, light sensor, MQ6, MQ135, IR sensor, temperature sensor, power supply. The system is designed to take sensory data on Scilab with serial communication. Fig.10.1 shows block diagram for a system. Table.10.1 shows the component list required to develop the system.

3.1 What is environment ?

The word environment is derived from a French word “environne” means to encircle or surround. Environment is defined as the circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms. It is also defined as the complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or community. Since humans inhabit the natural world and they build social, cultural and technological world, all constitute important parts of our environment.

Introduction

Horticulture is the science and art of propagation, production, utilization, improvement, harvesting and marketing of crops such as fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, spices & condiments, medicinal & aromatic plants, plantation crops, postharvest technology etc. The term is derived from the Latin word hortus mean garden and cultura means to cultivate. These crops are diverse which includes annuals to perennials, edible to ornamentals, temperate to tropical, humid to desert, etc. Horticultural plants help to sustain and enrich people by providing nutritious food, medicines, enhances the beauty of surroundings, besides reducing carbon footprint. They also serves as raw material for various industries, such as processing, pharmaceutical, perfumery and cosmetics, chemical, confectionery, oils and paints, etc.

Importance of Horticultural Crops

The horticulture crops are a source of variability in farm produce as well as human diets. The comparative production per unit area of horticultural crops is much higher than field crops. They are not only a source of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, flavour, aroma and dietary fibres, but also contains health benefiting compounds and medicines. Ornamental horticulture have aesthetic value and protects the environment. These crops are also useful for cultivation in wasteland, poor quality soil, slopy, uneven or undulating lands. Mango and cashew nut are cultivated on a large scale in hilly and hill back areas. Such crops are of high value, labour intensive and generate employment throughout the year. Further they have national and international demand and are a good source of foreign exchange.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

India is the seventh largest country in the world in total geographical area and has second largest population next to China. Around 55 to 60 per cent of its population depend on agriculture and allied activities. Horticultural crops constitute a significant component of total agricultural production in the country. They require very intensive care in planting, carrying out different cultural operations, manipulating growth, harvesting, packing, transportation, marketing, storage and processing.

1.2 AGRICULTURE

The term agriculture broadly refers to the technology of raising plants and animals. Agriculture is the science, art or practice of cultivating soil, producing crops and raising livestock in varying degree of proportion followed by marketing. In other words, it is the activity of man to produce three basic needs of human being, i.e., food, fuel and fibre (3F) by using terrestrial resources optimally. The term agriculture is derived from two Latin words ager meaning field or land and cultura meaning cultivation or growing.

Introduction

Attaining food and nutritional security for a growing population and reducing poverty while sustaining agricultural production under the current scenario of depleting natural resources, increasing cost of inputs and impending negative impacts of climatic change are the major challenges the country is currently facing (FAO, 2009). In addition to these challenges, decline in soil organic matter, consequent deterioration of soil health, large scale erosion of fertile top-soil are the other bottle-necks for increasing agricultural productivity from a finite land resource base. These constraints are evolving mainly due to: (1) intensive tillage induced soil organic matter decline, soil structural degradation, water and wind erosion, reduced water infiltration, surface sealing and crusting, soil compaction, (2) insufficient return of organic material to soil owing to prevalent crop residue removal and burning (Prasad et al., 1999) and (3) mono-cropping. Conservation agricultural (CA) is a panacea to address these challenges the farming community of this country is presently facing. The CA system incorporates a holistic approach to agriculture that results in improved soil health and water quality, lower water and nutrient consumption, reduced soil loss, strategic land use and healthy biodiversity. It involves minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover through crop residues or cover crops, and crop rotations for achieving higher productivity (Hobbs et al., 2008).

Vertical farming is a system of growing crops in multiple layers in skyscrapers, to maximize the use of land by having a vertical design, whereby plants, animals, fungi and other life forms are cultivated for food, fuel and fibre by artificially stacking them vertically above each other (Despommier, 2009; Kalantari et al., 2017). It is estimated that nine acres in a horizontal farm is equal to 1 acre in a vertical farm. The concept of vertical farming started during the mid 90s by Dr Dickson Despomier, professor of Public and Environmental Health at Columbia University

1. Introduction

Fruits and vegetables represent highly perishable items of agriculture, mainly because of their high water content in fresh form. Their production, yield and management under agriculture is dealt essentially under horticulture. They abound in species and varieties in different geographic regions of the world, influenced by the agro-climatic conditions. Some are endemic and confined to certain geographic regions only. Accordingly, they may be tropical, sub-tropical or temperate, depending on their requirements of temperature for growth and yield.

1. Introduction

Today, all the organisations rely on assessments of data provided by their users, consumers, internal procedures, and day to day operations to find new avenues for betterment and expansion of the product and services. These insights provide a large and intricate set of professionally generated, maintained, analyzed, and modified facts. "Big Data" refers to the vast amount of data (Bansal, 2022, April 6). For instance, social media platforms facilitate human contact every day and millions of people connect and share a vast array of diverse types of information through these platforms. Big Data is viewed as "incredibly significant" in academic research. In the Big Data context, data visualization tools and technologies are essential for analyzing large amounts of data and making decisions based on facts (Adilin Beatrice, 2021, March 2). Information and data are represented graphically in data visualization. By using visual components like charts, graphs, and maps, data visualization tools provide an intuitive way to observe and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data. The process is called Big Data Analytics that describes the process of uncovering trends, patterns, and correlations in large amounts of raw data to help make data-informed decisions in various research works.

INTRODUCTION

The state of Manipur is located at the easternmost border of India and is characterized by flat valleys comprising of four valley districts (Bishnupur, Imphal East, Imphal West and Thoubal) surrounded by five mild to steep slope hill districts (Chandel, Churachanpur, Senapati, Tamenglong, and Ukhrul). The state is geographically bordered by Nagaland in the north, Burma in the east, Mizoram in the south and Assam in the west. The total geographical area of the state is 22, 327sq. km divided into 20, 089sq. km in the hills and 2, 238sq. km. in the valley. More than 98% of the population in the hill is in rural areas whereas around 60% of the population in the valley is in rural and around 40% are in the urban areas.

The AAS Unit, Imphal is located at 24045' N latitude, 93054' E longitude at an altitude of 774m above msl. The agro-climatic zone of the state covers sub tropical plain zone, sub tropical hill zone, temperate hill zone and sub temperate zone.

Introduction

Conservation of biodiversity and mitigation of global warming are two major environmental challenges today. In the context of climate change and the global carbon cycle, the relationship between plant biodiversity and soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration has become a subject of considerable scientific interest. The Earth’s terrestrial vegetation plays a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle. Not only are tremendous amounts of carbon stored in the terrestrial vegetation, but large amounts are also actively exchanged between vegetation and the atmosphere. Anthropogenic perturbations exacerbate the emission of CO₂ from soil caused by decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) or soil respiration (Schlesinger, 2000). The emissions are accentuated by agricultural activities including tropical deforestation and biomass burning, plowing, drainage of wetlands and low-input farming or shifting cultivation. In addition to its impact on decomposition of SOM, macroclimate has a large impact on a fraction of the SOC pool which is active. Conversion of natural to agricultural ecosystems increases maximum soil temperature and decreases soil moisture storage in the root zone, especially in drained agricultural soils (Lal, 1996). Thus, land use history has a strong impact on the SOC pool (Pulleman et al., 2000). The dynamic relationship between plant biodiversity and SOC depicts that any land use practices that increase vegetative cover, or reduce its removal, could have an influence on the global carbon budget by increasing the terrestrial carbon sink.

Introduction
Cocoa, Theobroma cacao L. popularly known as ‘Food of Gods’, the original source of chocolate, is indigenous to tropical humid forests on the lower eastern equatorial slopes of the Andes in South America. Cocoa spread to all over the tropical regions of the world from 18^th century onwards and is now grown in 58 countries covering 6.9 million ha worldwide, producing 4 million tons of cocoa. Cocoa is an important agricultural commodity and the key raw material in chocolate manufacture. Unlike large, industrialized crops, 80 to 90% of cocoa comes from small, family-run farms, with approximately five to six million cocoa farmers worldwide. Total production has increased by 13% from 4.3 million metric tons in 2008 to 4.8 million metric tons in 2012. This represents an average year-over-year production increase of 3.1%. This rate of increase may slow in the coming years, as cocoa trees are sensitive to changing weather patterns. Periods of drought and of excessive rain or wind can negatively impact the yield, and will continue to fluctuate as climate change intensifies. Most of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa (70%) followed by Asia and Oceania (15.6%) and Latin America (14.1%). World leaders in cocoa bean production are Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil, Ecuador, The Dominican Republic, and Malaysia, supplying 90% of the world production.

Introduction

Coconut is a versatile crop with several uses to mankind. Apart from the main product, the by-products obtained from the coconut crop have many alternative uses, thus, adding to the total value of the crop (Popenoe, 1969). A tremendous scope exists for use of coconut in a variety of non-food products. The development of cottage industries to produce such products is recommended to increase income of coconut growers. For historical reasons, cultivation of coconut and value addition of non-food products from coconut have taken deep roots in the state of Kerala. The rapid expansion of coconut cultivation in non-traditional areas increased the production of coconut and the industry has also developed gradually in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Among the non-food products of coconut, charcoal, activated carbon, and shell powder and coir or coconut fibre assume commercial importance. Other parts of the palm especially coconut wood and leaves are recently gaining attention.