eChapters

Introduction

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a widely cultivated and essential staple crop globally, known for its versatile culinary applications and nutritional value. With the exception of Kerala, potatoes are grown in practically every state in India under a variety of climatic circumstances. During the brief winter months, which span from October to March, 82% of potatoes are grown in plains. In West Bengal, potatoes are the most widely grown crop after grains (Chakraborty, 2012). Originating from the Andes region of South America, potatoes have become a crucial part of diets worldwide, providing carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. With a rich history dating back to ancient civilizations, including the Irish potato famine, this crop has played a significant role in shaping agricultural practices and food security.

Introduction
Angiosperms produce attractive and intricately structured flowers, within which their reproductive process occurs. In flowering plants, as in other plant groups, a diploid spore-producing generation (sporophyte) alternates with a haploid gamete-producing generation (gametophyte). The flower contains specialized structures, such as the stamen (or androecium) and the pistil (or gynoecium), where the respective male and female gametophytes are formed. The pollen grain serves as the male gametophyte, while the embryo sac serves as the female gametophyte. These gametophytes are responsible for producing sperm and egg cells, respectively facilitating their union during fertilization. The pollen grain contains the male gametophyte in angiosperms or gymnosperms. Conversely, spores function as a resting and dispersal phase for cryptogams (Moore et al., 1991). The study of pollen grains (produced by seed plants, angiosperms and gymnosperms) and spores (produced by pteridophytes, bryophytes, algae and fungi) is known as palynology. This discipline examines the structure and formation of pollen grains and spores, their dispersal and their preservation under various environmental conditions. Palynology serves as a valuable research tool for understanding many aspects of plant and animal metabolism. Moreover, a deeper understanding of pollen can aid plant breeders in enhancing efforts to improve global food and fiber supplies. In the anthers of higher plants, neither the developing pollen nor the surrounding tissues exhibit autonomous growth and development. Instead, the developing anther functions as a system where the gametophytic and sporophytic generations of the plant communicate, coordinate and co-participate in development. This chapter aims to understand the various aspects of gene activity that occur during pollen development.

Abstract

Micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiencies affect more than 2 billion people worldwide and are especially prevalent in developing countries including India. Conditions due to vitamin mineral deficiencies account for 7.3 percent of the global disease burden.Iron deficiency (anemia), vitamin A and iodine deficiency disorders continue to be a grim public health problem. Thus, elimination of vitamin and mineral deficiencies is essential to improve the overall health of the masses as well as to sustain economic growth and national development. Food fortification is an effective intervention to deliver vitamin and mineral rich foods to large populations. In addition to the prevention of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, food fortification is an effective measure to raise vitamin and mineral levels by moving the population towards consuming recommended dietary allowances for most micronutrients-making it a long–term and a sustainable strategy. India is the largest producer of milk in the world with 146.3 million tonnes and the consumption rate of milk and milk products by all age groups of people are high.Therefore, fortification of milk with mineral and vitamins could be a safe and effective strategy to fight these micronutrient deficiencies.

Introduction
Fossil fuels are finite and as population growth drives energy demands, the need for renewable energy solutions has become paramount. Among the many ways of producing biofuels, the use of algae has emerged as a promising source. Algae particularly, microalgae are photosynthetic organisms that can convert CO2 into fuel compounds. This innovative way of using microalgae to produce biofuels can address both sustainability as well as the depletion of fossil fuels.
1.1 Microalgae as energy source
Microalgae can be used over conventional biomass as they have several advantages. One of the biggest advantages is their rapid growth rate. They are easy to grow and multiply very quickly. Other benefits include high oil yield and their adaptability to different growth conditions. They also use CO2 to grow making them carbon neutral. Conventional biomass obtained from sugar bagasse or corn needs a lot of resources for a small yield, such as land, water, and electricity whereas microalgae do not require these high investment costs or land. However, the advantages of microalgae do not stop with biofuel production. Researchers have established the use of microalgae across various industries. Commonly, spirulina has been used as a source of protein surpassing protein content per 100 g compared to other protein-rich sources. Similarly, various other microalgae have been used for extracting vitamins, and essential fatty acids, and some are also used as feed for livestock. In recent years, microalgae have also been used in cosmetics for their antioxidant, collagen-boosting properties that can lead to anti-aging benefits. In the supplement industry, microalgae have been used in research as alternatives to mainstream ingredients. Microalgae also have other environmental benefits as they can be used to treat wastewater due to their ability to degrade pollutants and excess nutrients that concentrate in water bodies. With these benefits at hand, they can also be used as an excellent input for the production of biofuels (Razzak et al, 2022; Ramaraj et al, 2015). The figure below shows the various applications of microalgae such as the production of proteins, carbohydrates, biofuels, materials production, etc.

Abstract
 
India shares 16% of the world population, while its land is only 2% of the total geographical area of the world. Naturally, the pressure on the land is often beyond its carrying capacity. Therefore, the productive lands, especially the farmlands in the India are in the constant process of various degrees of degradation and are fast turning into wastelands. At present, approximately 68.35 million hectare area of the land is lying as wastelands in India. Out of these lands, approximately 50% lands are such non-forest lands, which can be made fertile again if treated properly. It was unprotected non-forestlands, which suffered the maximum degradation mainly due to the tremendous biotic pressure on it. In the last 50 years it is India's lush green village forests and woodlots have been deforested to the maximum. 

Introduction

The general recommendation for intake of fruits and vegetables is at least 400 g/ person as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO), which amounts to five servings of 80 g/day or about 146 g/person/annum. For vegetables, the recommended intake requirement is at least 300 g per day per individual. This 300 g requirement must include 50 g leafy vegetables, 50 g roots and tubers and 200 g other vegetables (Kapur, 2016). Current annual vegetable production including potato, based on recent three years (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18) average is around 177 million tonnes from 10 million ha giving a productivity of 17.7 tonnes/ha. With this average and stagnating production and assuming Indian population at 133 crores (1.33 billion) and 25% post-harvest losses, per capita per day availability of vegetables comes to 273 g leaving a gap of 27 g between the recommended dose and the availability of vegetables/head/day in India. By 2050, the projected population of India is 1.5 billion and to meet the requirement of this population, vegetable production will have be 220 million tonnes, of course making allowance of 25% post-harvest losses. Considering all kind of constraints on the available land area of vegetables, the vegetable area will be around 10 million ha and consequently, major gain of production will have to come from productivity increase from current level of about 18 to 22 tonnes/ha and this seems to be a gigantic task as during last several years, the productivity of vegetables in India has been between 17 and 18 tonnes/ha, an indication that perhaps productivity has reached to a plateau. This situation will call fall massive interventions on technological fronts in terms of innovative products with focus on better hybrids with higher yields, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses coupled with horizontal scaling up of modern production technologies. This chapter looks into the modern production technologies as applicable to vegetable crops in India to boost the productivity further from current 18 tonnes/ha to at least 22 tonnes/ha.

15.1 Introduction

It is an important vegetable grown since long and used as fresh vegetable. It is an important legume vegetable rich in proteins. The crop is usually grown for its green pods which contains immature seed and are cooked as vegetable, alone or mixed with others. It prefers cool weather and it does not grow well during intense heat of the summer season, especially the wrinkled seeded cultivars which are tender, sweet and of much better quality than the smooth cultivars. 

An ice cream plant is a highly interconnected operation in which quality, food safety, productivity, maintenance, cost, cold-chain performance, and business results influence one another. This chapter presents plant audits as management tools rather than simple compliance exercises. It provides a structured monthly audit system covering raw materials, production, quality assurance, hygiene, maintenance, productivity, cost control, warehouse operations, cold chain, documentation, and KPI performance. Department-wise scoring enables management to compare performance, identify weaknesses, prioritize corrective actions, and track improvement. The chapter also discusses common audit mistakes and best practices. A disciplined audit system strengthens accountability, reduces losses, improves operational control, and supports continuous improvement.

INTRODUCTION

Total forest cover in India is 70.17 million ha or 21.34% of the total geographical area according to the State of Forest Report 2015. Of this, 8.59 million ha (2.61%) is very dense forest, 31.54 million ha (9.59%) is moderately dense and rest of 30.04 million ha (9.14%) is open. The trees outside forest (TOF) are estimated to cover 9.26 million ha area which constitutes about 2.82% of the total geographical area of the country.  Thus the total forest and tree cover of the country is 24.16% of the total geographical area. The estimates of total growing stock of forest and TOF are 4.195 billion m3 and 1.573 billion m3, respectively. The total growing stock of wood in the county is estimated to be at 5.678 billion m3 which implies an average growing stock of 72.63 m3 ha-1 in 79.42 million ha of forest and tree cover (FSI 2016).

The accumulation of nitrogen under non-leguminous and cereal cropping systems seem to be generally universal at least in the tropics. Free-living heterotrophic nitrogen fixing bacteria are very widely distributed taxonomically, geographically and ecologically. But only a few genera and species are known to possess the potential for high amount of nitrogen fixation. Azospirillum has shown high nitrogen fixation attributes. The association of Spirillum lipoperum (Azospirillum brasilense) and Digitaria decumbens was reported by Dobereiner and Day (1974).

I. Spirillum

The description of members of genus Spirillum was available as early as 1670s by Leeuwenhoek (Dobell 1960 and Muller 1773). But the genus Spirillurn was created in 1832 by distinguishing it from phototrophic spirilla which were placed in a separate genus Thiospirillum (Ehrenberg, 1838). The subsequent developments of the taxonomy of the chemo- heterotrophic spirilla which generated knowledge of their characteristics, were extensively reviewed by Giesberger (1936) and Williams (1959 a, b).

Shelf life is a critical measure of ice cream quality and depends on formulation, processing, hardening, packaging, storage, and distribution conditions. This chapter explains the concept of shelf life and follows the movement of ice cream through the storage and distribution chain. It identifies temperature fluctuation and thermal abuse as major causes of quality deterioration, particularly through ice recrystallization and structural damage. The chapter examines hardening, formulation stability, cold-chain controls, shelf-life KPIs, and formal shelf-life studies. Common defects and their causes are also discussed. By understanding how temperature and handling influence product stability over time, manufacturers can establish better controls and protect texture, flavour, appearance, packaging integrity, and consumer acceptance.

The application of agricultural chemicals for control of insects, pests, fungi, weeds and plant diseases plays an important role in crop production. Before 1980 few chemicals were known for control of plant pests.  The chemical pesticides have played an important role in the rapid advancement of agricultural production. Chemical pesticides are getting popular due to non availability of labours especially for weeding operation during kharif season. The chemical pesticides and herbicides are applied with the help of different types of sprayers and dusters.

1. Introduction

A cooperative agricultural extension service has been implemented in Japan by both national and prefectural governments to support small-scale farmers who emerged as a result of land reform after the Second World War (Yamada, 2008).  In recent years, however, the scope and level of agricultural extension advisors’ activities have become more sophisticated and diversified because of technological progress and a wider range of activities, from production and selling to promoting relevant political measures.  On the other hand, the number of agricultural extension advisors has been decreasing for several years because of a cut in government expenditure for the cooperative extension service.  For this reason, information and communication technology (ICT) is needed to promote advanced and efficient extension activities (Yamada, 2010).

Cyanobacteria have been identified as one of the most promising groups of organisms from which novel and biochemically active natural products are isolated. Cyanobacteria such as Microcystis, Anabaena, Nostoc and Oscillatoria produce a great variety of secondary metabolites. The only group comparable to cyanobacteria is actinomycetes, which has yielded a tremendous number of secondary metabolites. The rate of discovery from traditional microbial drug producer like actinomycetes, which is in the focus of pharmaceutical research for decades, is decreasing and it is the time to turn to cyanobacteria and exploit their potential. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in cyanobacteria as a potential source of new drugs (Glombitza and Koch, 1989; Schwartz et al., 1990). This is of paramount importance to fight increasingly resistant pathogens and newly emergent diseases (Hayashi et al., 1994).

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms that have flourished on earth for more than 3 billion years with some genera showing only minor morphological changes since that time (Hagmann and Juttner, 1996). The medicinal and nutrient qualities of cyanobacteria were first appreciated as early as 1500 BC, when Nostoc species were used to treat gout, fistula and several forms of cancer (Pietra, 1990; Bladon, 2002; Liu and Chen, 2003).

1    General post mortem examination and detection of date and time of death

2    Pathogenomonic lesions of different diseases

3    Livestock insurance

4    Pet-dog insurance

Abstract
 
Nigeria has a very large domestic market, but consumers, farmers, processors and other agribusiness investors are often faced with challenges getting timely and relevant information. However, it has been found out that in Nigeria many people preferred receiving information over a mobile phone than a computer. The problems farmers encounter in exchanging information and that more than half of Nigeria’s population are mobile phone subscribers of which majority of them are farmers necessitate overview of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)  and agricultural development in Nigeria. Literatures were consulted, secondary data, and personal observations were tools used to compile the chapter contribution.

Introduction

Saffron is a naturally derived plant product from the dried stigma of the Crocus sativus flower  (Gresta et al., 2009).The saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is an Iridaceae family member, herbal perennial, sterile (2n=3x=24) geophyte, traditionally propagated by vegetative corms. Its cultivation dates back to late Bronze Age in the Mediterranean region (Negbi, 1999) in Anatolia since the ancient times (Arslan et al., 2007) and for at least 3500 years in Egypt and Middle East. Saffron contains more than 150 volatile and aroma yielding compounds. The chemical components mainly include carotenoids, crocin, picrocrocin, safranal etc (Abdullaev, 1993, Tarantalis et al., 1995, Karaoglu 
et al., 2007). Saffron is mostly used as spice, food colorant, dye or perfume. The dried stigmas introduce unique color, taste and fragrance and thus making it the world’s most expensive spice (Baghlian et al., 2010). Saffron has been used in folklore herbal medicines for centuries (Basker and Negbi, 1983).

Increasing evidence over the past few decades indicate that significant changes in climate are taking place worldwide as a result of enhanced human activities. The inventions that were discovered during last few centuries, more so in the last century has altered the concentration of atmospheric constituents that lead to global warming. The major cause to climate change has been ascribed to the increased levels of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxides (NO₂), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) beyond their natural levels due to the uncontrolled activities such as burning of fossil fuels, increased use of refrigerants, and enhanced agricultural related practices. The temperature increase is widespread over the globe and is greater at higher northern latitudes. Land regions have warmed faster than the oceans. January 2000 to December 2009 was the warmest decade on recordreported by NASA. These activities accelerated the processes of climate change and increased the average global temperatures by about 0.8°C (1.5°F) since 1880 (NASA,2010). Global average sea level has risen since 1961 at an average rate of 1.8 [1.3 to 2.3] mm/yr and since 1993 at 3.1 [2.4 to 3.8] mm/yr, with contributions from thermal expansion, melting glaciers and ice caps, and the polar ice sheets. Satellite data since 1978 show that annual average Arctic sea ice extent has shrunk by 2.7 % [2.1 to 3.3%] per decade, with larger decreases in summer of 7.4% [5.0 to 9.8%] per decade. Mountain glaciers and snow cover on average have declined in both hemispheres. It has also induced increased climatic variability and occurrence of extreme weather events in many parts of the world.

Water is a critical input for crop production. Its optimum availability is important in augmenting and sustaining crop productivity. Lack of adequate supply of water can limit crop yields ranging from 10 to 90% or even be subjected to mortality if moisture go below permanent wilting point. It is also observed that the moisture shortage during some critical crop growth stages would cause severe detrimental effect. This necessitates us to provide irrigation to crops at right quantity and frequency. In other words, irrigation schedule plays key role in optimizing or maximizing crop yield. Moreover, judicious use of irrigation water has potential to enhance the agricultural productivity which in turn would lead to food security. As water resources are getting diminished day by day, the application of water saving techniques would be needed for addressing the food security objectives of the nation.

Hausman (1920a) worked on the microscopic structure of hair from the commercial fur. The hair samples of 27 different species of animals were used for the study. He described in detail the structural features of guard hair. He classified medulla of hair into 4 different types as discontinuous, continuous, fragmental and interrupted on the basis of composition of medullar cells. He also classified the cuticular scale pattern into two types as imbricate interrupted and imbricate coronal. He mentioned in detail the methods for the preparation of slides for the study of microscopic structures of hair. He also studied the cortex and pigment granules.