eChapters

Introduction

• Agriculture with its allied activities is the largest sector in India with 70% dependency of its rural households for their livelihood and 82% of farmers in the country are small and marginal.
• Agriculture sector alone contributes about 14.5% towards gross domestic product (GDP) of India.
• Food grain production has experienced a considerable jump from about 51 million tonne during 1950 to 291.95 million tonne in 2019-20 as per second advance estimates. The production of horticulture products has doubled over the past quarter century and the value of global trade in horticulture crops now exceeds that of cereals. For the first time, horticulture production surpassed food production in India during 2013-14 and continues to excel currently.
• India is characteristically a country of small agricultural farms, where approximately 80% of total land holdings in the country are less than 2 ha (5 acres) with 30% irrigated land only.
• India produces wide variety of agricultural products because of its varied agro-climatic regions but low farm productivity is major concern, which is around 33% of the best agricultural farms world over. Indian farmers can get more remuneration from the same piece of land with fewer inputs, once the productivity gets increased.

The Himalayan region is recognized amongst the 34 global biodiversity hotspots. The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) comprises of five biogeographic provinces, covers approximately an area of 591 thousand km² and extends from Jammu and Kashmir in the north-west to the Arunachal Pradesh in the east. The IHR is a source of great diversity of food, fuel, fodder, timber, dye and medicinal plants. It comprises about 18% of India and is more than 2,800 km long and 220 to 300 km wide, with altitudinal range of 200–8,000 m. The IHR alone supports about 8,000 species of angiosperms, 44 species of gymnosperms, 600 species of pteridophytes, 1,737 species of bryophytes, 1,159 species of lichens and 6,900 species of fungi. The state Himachal Pradesh is divided into four conspicuous zones, namely Shivalik/lower montain zone, mid-hills/middle mountain zone, high hills/temperate zone and cold dry zone. Five rivers namely Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Yamuna and Chenab with a large number of their tributaries flow through the state. The flora of the state consists of about 180 families comprising about 1,038 genera and about 3,400 species. The region is facing greater and more difficult challenges than ever before in achieving balanced economic growth, alleviating poverty, and sustainably managing the renewable natural resources. People’s dependence on forest and related natural resources is historic, cultural, and inevitable as other viable alternatives for earning a living have been few. The consequence of this trend has been the commercialization of forest products, mainly non-timber forest products (NTFPs). The NTFPs are the major bioresources among various natural resources available and provide various ecosystems services to the mankind. Like other parts of the IHR, in Himachal Pradesh people earn their livelihood from the forests in many ways i.e., earning cash income; satisfying their needs for fuel, medicine, shelter, and supplementary food; using traditional agricultural inputs such as leaf litter, fodder, small tools, and water; and cultivating land inside the forest boundaries as forest encroachers. Their dependence on forest resources is both historic and cultural to the extant that it is an integral component of the forest ecosystem of the region. Although, large amounts of NTFPs are collected by different communities in the state, no comprehensive study on the amount collected, number of people engaged in collection and trading, and the marketing chain involved has been carried out to date. Therefore, the present study focuses on conservation and sustainable utilization and market potential of different tradable medicinal plants/(NTFPs) in Himachal Pradesh, north western Himalaya.

Earthworms have been on the earth for over 20 million years. In this time they have faithfully done their part to keep the cycle of life continuously moving. Their purpose is simple but very important. They are nature’s way of recycling organic nutrients from dead tissues back to living organisms. Many have recognized the value of these worms. Ancient civilizations, including Greece and Egypt valued the role of earthworms played in soil. The Egyptian Pharaoh, Cleopatra said, “Earthworms are sacred”

4.1 Earthworms

Earthworms belong to Phylum Annelida of animal Kingdom. They are long and cylindrical shape, length of earthworms vary from a few mm to nearly 3mtr as noted in case of Megas colex species found in Australia. The body of earthworms has a large number of grooves. Due to these grooves the body of the earthworm is divided into number of compartments called segments. In mature earthworms, few anterior segments appear swollen due to glandular thickening. This part is called as clitellum. The segments are not clearly seen in this part. There are 2500 to 3,000 species of earthworms in the world which are adapted to range of environment. More than 350 species have been identified in India. The species of earthworms are differentiated mostly on the basis of external features such as length of earthworms, number of segments, position of clitellum and external aperture present on the body. Earthworms were referred by Aristotle as “the intestines of earth and the restoring agents of soil fertility”

4.1 INTRODUCTION

It has been suggested that the relationship of surface chemistry to soil science is similar to that of biochemistry to biology. Certainly the fact that surfaces of soil particles are extensive and reactive leads to a dominance of surface chemistry in soil behaviour, but it is not an exclusive relationship, because many precipitation reactions, oxidation and reduction processes, and biological reactions take place more or less independently of the surface processes. Nevertheless it is difficult to understand soil properties fully without an appreciation of the nature and extent of the surfaces of the soil constituents, and this chapter is devoted to a discussion of this topic.

Introduction

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the most important food crop of the world. Potato is a temperate crop grown under subtropical conditions in India. The potato is a crop which has always been the ‘poor man’s friend’. Potato is being cultivated in the country for the last more than 300 years. For vegetable purposes it has become one of the most popular crops in this country. Potatoes are an economical food; they provide a source of low cost energy to the human diet. Potatoes are a rich source of starch, vitamins especially C and B1 and minerals. They contain 20.6 per cent carbohydrates, 2.1 per cent protein, 0.3 per cent fat, 1.1 per cent crude fibre and 0.9 per cent ash. They also contain a good amount of essential amino acids like leucine, tryptophane and isoleucine etc.

Potatoes are used for several industrial purposes such as for the production of starch and alcohol. Potato starch (farina) is used in laundries and for sizing yarn in textile mills. Potatoes are also used for the production of dextrin and glucose. As a food product itself, potatoes are converted into dried products such as ‘potato chips’, ‘sliced’ or ‘shredded potatoes’.

Potato is grown almost in all states of India. However, the major potato rowing states are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam.

The main constraint to potato farming in India are: It is vulnerable to control the pests hence implying a high risk of failure, growing potatoes requires substantial capital and the crop needs intensive care and attention. However, a proper Biointensive insect pest management programme will minimize losses to potato crop.

6.1 Introduction

India experienced an impressive growth and productivity gains in agriculture since Independence reflecting our farmers’ resilience against multiple odds and challenges. Despite a structural transformation post-Green Revolution, characterized by a consumer centric and food security policy objective, the regular distress and crises in the recent past pose a severe threat to income and livelihood security of farmers. The income realised from agriculture compared to nonagriculture, has been too low with a wide variation across regions. The average income of an agricultural household during 2012-13 has been estimated as low as at `6426 per month, marginally higher than the average consumption expenditure (`6223). Further, around 23 per cent of the farmers still live below the poverty line (DFI Committee, 2017a). Estimates from the Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) indicated that the annual growth in gross value added from agriculture has reduced drastically from as high as 6.9% (October-December, 2016) to a mere 2.3% (April-June, 2017) at 2011-12 prices in the recent past ten quarters. Shockingly, the growth was lower in nominal terms in comparison to real prices during the April-June, 2017 quarter indicating the creeping deflation in farm sector.

3.1 Redgram or Pigeon Pea

In any production programme, the importance of quality seed needs hardly be emphasized. In fact, the major bottleneck in the pigeon pea cultivation programme is the restricted or poor availability of quality seeds of the desirable varieties. The seed has been considered as the ‘vehicle of change’. With better attention paid to their interaction among water, fertilizer and seed of improved varieties, the production can be maximized. Although a numbers of improved varieties of pigeon pea have been released since 1970, organized seed production programmes have been rather limited. Most of our national efforts in this direction continue to be centralized on cereal crops like wheat, rice and hybrid millets. Moreover, the benefits of the current research will not reach the farmers unless large-scale seed multiplication programmes are organized. Most farmers continue to use seeds of traditional varieties and consequently have not been able to expedite the higher production potential of the new strains.

The word market is derived from the latin word “marcatus” which means “merchandise or trade or a place where business is conducted “. The term market has been widely used in various means, such as:

• A place or a building where commodities are bought and sold (e.g. Super market)

Introduction

Tropical tuber crops viz., cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), taro (Colocasia esculenta), yams (Dioscorea sp.), Elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius), arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea) etc., are the important sources of starch after cereals and are used as staple or supplementary food in many of the tropical and sub tropical countries. Being the crops with adaptability to wide range of soil, climate and environment of the tropics and sub tropics and requiring minimum agronomic input and care for growth, they can be very well fitted into the prevailing cropping systems. They are the most efficient converters of solar energy and have the ability to reserve energy in the form of carbohydrate in the bulky roots and hence tuber crops are also called as calorie density crops. Tuber crops, though branded as poor man’s crops in rural areas have considerable unrealized potential for processing into high end products for food, feed and industrial uses. They are generally consumed as vegetable after boiling it in water and eaten along with some spicy curry or by extracting starch or flour. Besides serving as an insurance crop during times of food scarcity, it can also function as an industrial raw material for a wide spectrum of products

This deals with the description, identification and naming of plants, and their classification into different groups according to their resemblances and differences, mainly in their morphological characteristics. So far as angiosperms or higher ‘flowering plants’ are concerned, it has been estimated that over 199,000 species are already known to us, and that thousands mor have yet to be discovered and recorded. The object of systematic botany or taxonomy is to describe, name and classify plants in such a manner that their relationship with regard to their descent from a common ancestry may be brought out. The ultimate object of classification is to arrange plants in such a way as to give us an idea of their phylogenetic relationships, i.e. the sequence of their origin and evolution from simpler, earlier and more primitive types to more complex, recent and advanced types during different periods. The earlier classification of plants were based on their economic uses, e.g. medicinal plants, cereals, fibre yielding plants, oil yielding plants, etc. or on gross structural resemblances, e.g. herbs, shrubs, trees, climbers, etc. These classifications were incomplete and fragmentary as plants that did not fit into such classifications or were of no economic value were usually ignored. Therefore, an ideal system of classification should not only indicate the actual genetic relationship but should also be reasonably convenient for practical purposes.

ABSTRACT
Methanogenesis is a ubiquitous process primarily encountered in anaerobic environments. Methanogens are a group of diverse obligate anaerobic bacteria that produce methane from complex organic matter. Despite their differences in morphological characters and habitat, they show coherence in terms of methane-producing metabolic activity. Being distinctive from all other classical prokaryotes, these are grouped under another kingdom of Archea. Other distinctions of the members are based on their unique cell wall structures and membrane components, as well as differences in their highly conserved gene sequences. Methanogens likely owe their cosmopolitan status to their unique mode of energy metabolism of methane generation. They are active in various ecological niches, from rumens of animals to submarine volcanic vents, sewage digestors and landfills. Methanogenic bacteria are abundant in habitats where high affinity electron acceptors are negligible. Methane fermentation involves bacteria that obtain energy by catalysing anaerobically degradable organic matter to CH₄ and CO₂ by consuming H₂, CO₂, and low-carbon organic acids as their substrates. The gaseous products of methanogenesis are greenhouse gases, thus are major contributors to global warming. Methanogens could be used to produce renewable carbon-neutral energy substitute, biogas. Methane cycling archaea play a major role in global methane production as energy for the future.

Introduction

Milk, an integral component of our staple diet is nature's most ideal and complete food. There is a long history and tradition of high consumption of dairy products in India. Consumption pattern of dairy products in India is quite unique and is centred on traditional products; however, novel products are gradually gaining momentum in urban areas. Despite being the largest milk producing country in the world, India accounts for a negligible share in the worldwide dairy trade. Domestic demand for dairy products is showing an increasing trend and it is expected that demand-supply gap will further widen which might transform India being a net importer of dairy products. The domestic demand for dairy products is showing an increasing trend and it is expected that demand-supply gap will get further widened. India, world’s largest milk producer has enough scope for diversified value addition as this can definitely assure a better margin of profit. However, for this, one has to maintain reputation and competitiveness in the market. To emerge as a leader in this competitive global market, continuous improvement of quality is highly essential. Safety, just as the other side of the coin is also of utmost importance to reinforce consumer confidence. Nowadays, quality is not a matter of choice but a necessity and even a responsibility of all stake holders. In the case of food, the term, 'Quality' refers to physical, chemical, microbiological, technological, economic and aesthetic characteristics. From consumer point of view, the word, 'Quality' embraces mostly the organoleptic characteristics like body, texture and flavour than the objective properties like fat, protein, lactose and acidity as determined by science based tests.

Introduction

Humans have primarily consumed "meat/meat products based on where they lived and how they evolved. According to Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, “meat means fresh meat, poultry and game meat which could be in the form of whole pieces, cuts or comminuted (minced etc.), whereas, meat products are those that have been processed by various methods so that they no longer resemble fresh meat”. These products include meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts that are cured salted and dried, processed by non-heat treatment, fermented non-heat treated products, heat treated or frozen products. Edible casings used for sausages etc. also come in the category of meat and meat products. Through a notification dated 12^th September, 2017, the FSSAI has included domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation 2011 in the regulation under meat and meat products.

With the advent of globalisation, there has been an increase in food trade which has led to the introduction of exotic meat and meat products. Moreover, rapidly growing economies like India, now demonstrate a growing appetite for meat. As the consumer demand for high quality meat is increasing in most countries, the meat industry should consistently produce and supply quality meat that is safe and healthy for the consumer to ensure continued consumption of meat products.

Enzymes are remarkable biological macromolecules that catalyze chemical reactions with extraordinary efficiency, playing an essential role in sustaining life. These large protein molecules and certain catalytic RNA molecules known as ribozymes accelerate reactions by lowering activation energy, enabling them to occur at rates necessary for biological processes. Their specificity is just as impressive as their speed as enzymes are often highly regioselective and, in many cases, absolutely stereospecific, traits that synthetic chemists strive to replicate. They are vital in metabolism, DNA replication, signal transduction, and cellular respiration, operating under mild physiological conditions. Factors such as temperature, pH, substrate concentration, and the presence of inhibitors or activators influence their activity. Given their significance, enzymes have garnered attention in fields like drug design, disease treatment, and industrial applications. The modern study of enzymes continues to provide groundbreaking insights into chemistry and biology, advancing both scientific understanding and human welfare. Brief History of Enzymes The existence of enzymes was first inferred when specific biochemical reactions were observed to occur only after the addition of cell extracts, even though the enzymes themselves could not be directly identified like typical molecules. In the early days, enzymes within these extracts were highly impure and present in low concentrations, as advanced protein

AI-based content creation refers to the use of Artificial Intelligence technologies to generate, edit, optimize, and publish content automatically or semi-automatically. Content can include text, images, videos, audio, presentations, reports, emails, and social media posts. AI content creation tools use technologies such as Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computer Vision, and Deep Learning to create content that looks like it was created by humans. In the modern digital world, content plays a very important role in education, business, marketing, communication, and entertainment. Earlier, content creation was completely manual and required a lot of time, effort, and human resources. Writers, designers, editors, and analysts had to work for many hours to create a single report, article, or presentation. But now, with the help of AI tools, content can be created in minutes instead of hours

India is an agricultural country and nearly 70% of its population is dependent directly or indirectly on agriculture and related activities. At present, about 173 million hectares of land is under agriculture of which about 143 million hectare are cultivated without fallow. Mounting pressures of teeming population and shrinking land (due to urbanization) have necessitated the production of increasingly more food per unit area. In the efforts to increase the food production and make the country self-sufficient in food grains, modern technology adopted since ‘Green Revolution’ in the middle sixties has paid a significant role. Higher yields in almost all crops were possible with exotic and high yielding genotypes and availability of seeds, heavy doses of fertilizers, frequent irrigation, labour and repeated applications of pesticides. However, several genotypes particularly hybrids proved to be susceptible to pests and disease pathogens. Insect-pests, diseases and weeds are important biotic-constraints inflicting 20-25% losses in agricultural production. Farmers were therefore compelled to use pesticides extensively and frequently.

Plant protection is an integral part of the crop production and pesticides proved to be valuable means in plant protection to ensure plenty food. However, some of the pesticides are highly hazardous and their residue remains undetected and posses risk to human safety and health. Moreover, the repeated and incorrect applications without following need-based criteria have resulted in several secondary side effects ². For instance, increased resistance of pests to insecticides, harmful to beneficial and non-target insects and animals, undesirable effects on crop plants and environmental hazards. Safety has become a major worry in factories and outside the working places. Besides these, repeated and heavy pesticide applications add to the cost of production and misery to farmer. These ill effects of synthetic pesticides have aroused interest in alternate methods of plant protection.

Summary

Plants produce over 200,000 metabolites, which are important source of drugs and industrial materials. They have been traditionally classified as primary and secondary metabolites. The primary metabolites like sugars, amino acids and fatty acids that are needed for general growth and physiological development of plants are widely distributed in nature and are also utilized as food by man. Secondary metabolites are natural products, the absence of which does not result in immediate death, but in long term their impairment may lead to malfunction and reduced survivability. These plant secondary metabolites can be divided into groups that share the same core substructure, originated from the same biosynthetic pathways. Secondary metabolites play a major role in the adaptation of plants to the changing environment and in overcoming stress constraints. In this chapter we discussed the structure, properties, classification and functions of some of the important groups of plant secondary metabolites such as phenols, flavonoids, terpenoids and alkaloids. A brief overview of some of the important fungal secondary metabolites, their structures and importance has also been discussed. Biotechnological approaches which can be adopted to engineer plants for production of secondary metabolites have also been discussed.

13.1 Introduction

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have become an increasingly important topic worldwide due to their effects on global warming and climate change. The effects of GHG emissions on the ecological and socioeconomic vulnerability have already been noticed and will continue to grow regionally and globally in the years to come (IPCC 2007). Carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons, perflourocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride are the important GHGs that are monitored by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC 2008). Global GHG emissions due to human activities (anthropogenic) have grown since the beginning of the industrial revolution with an increase of 70% between 1970 and 2004 (IPCC, 2007).

3.1 Land Use and Land Cover Analysis

Concept and Importance: Understanding the significance of land use and land cover analysis in watershed management for assessing spatial patterns of human activities and natural ecosystems.

Land use and land cover analysis is a fundamental tool in watershed management, providing valuable insights into the spatial patterns of human activities and natural ecosystems within watersheds. Here's an exploration of the concept and importance of land use and land cover analysis in watershed management:

a. Concept: Land use refers to the human activities and practices conducted on the land, including residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational, and conservation activities. Land cover, on the other hand, refers to the physical and biological features of the land surface, including vegetation, water bodies, bare soil, impervious surfaces, and artificial structures. Land use and land cover analysis involves mapping, classifying, and quantifying the spatial distribution and temporal changes of different land use and land cover types within watersheds using remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and field surveys.

b. Significance: Land use and land cover analysis is essential for watershed management due to its significance in understanding the interactions between human activities and natural processes, assessing environmental impacts, and guiding land management decisions. Key reasons for the importance of land use and land cover analysis in watershed management include:

Remotely gathered data are available from a range of sources and data collection techniques is often one type of tool that is not always found within the public domain easily. This is larger due to the fact that most of the data are acquired by equipment is expensive to build and maintain. However, there are many types of basic imagery, high-quality imageries are readily available widely at subsidized costs, particularly the purpose intented.