eChapters

Olericulture is Latin term ‘Olerus’ meaning ‘pot herb’ and ‘Cultra’ meaning ‘cultivation’.

Definition: Vegetables are those plants wherein parts such as leaf, stem or root can be used for food.

Herbs: Are those plants that are used for food, medicine, scent or flavour.

Potato

Potato, Solanum tuberosum L. under the family Solanaceae (Chromosome No. 2n = 4x = 48) is the most important non-grain food crop in the world, ranking 3rd in terms of total production with over 381 million tonnes per year in (FAOSTAT, 2017), after rice and wheat. It is grown in 150 countries spread across both temperate and tropical regions and at elevations from sea level to 4,000 m. It is extensively cultivated in China, Russian Federation, Ukarine, Poland, Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, South America, India and USA. Potato was brought from Peru to Spain by the Spaniards in 1565 when it was widely grown in Spain and Italy. They were probably brought to England in 1586 by Sir Francis Drake. Potato was introduced in India in early 17^th century probably by the Portuguese. Now it is one of the principal cash crops of India.

The crop

The subsection Potato is distinguished from all other subsections within the genus Solanum by “true potatoes whose tubers are borne on underground stolons, which are true stems, not roots”. The series tuberosa is characterised by “imparipinnate or simple leaves, forked peduncle, rotate to pentagonal corolla and round berries”.

The species S.tuberosum is characterised by “pedicel articulation placed in the middle third, short calyx lobes arranged regularly, leaves often slightly arched, leaflets always ovate to lanceolate, about twice as long as broad, tubers with well marked dormancy period”

Potato is an annual herbaceous plant and growth habit varies between and within species. The plant has a rosette or semi-rosette habit. The stem is erect in the early stage but becomes spreading and prostrate later on. The leaves are compound and alternate, irregularly odd pinnate. The tuber is an enlarged portion of an underground stem or stolon. Tuber eyes are the buds from which next season’s growth will emerge. Eyes are concentrated near the apical end of the tuber, with fewer near the stolon or basal end. Eye number and distribution are characteristic of the variety.

Potato is mainly propagated vegetatively by means of tubers and sometimes by botanical seeds, i.e., true potato seeds. Potato has a terminal inflorescence consisting of 1-30 (but usually 7-15) flowers, depending on the cultivar. The five petals give the open flower a star shape. A flower also has a pistil that generally protrudes above a cluster of five large, bright yellow anthers. The corolla colour varies from white to complex range of blue, red and purple. Flowers are self-pollinated but also cross pollination take place by insect. Seeds are produced in the fruit which is botanically called berry. Potato fruits, stems and leaves contain glycoalkaloids, the toxic compounds, of which the most prevalent are solanine and chaconine.

GENERAL POMOLOGY

Word pomology: Derived from Greek word ëpomeí means ëdevelopment of fruit from inferior ovaryí and ëlogosí means ëto studyí.

Father of systematic pomology: De Candolle.

T. A. Knight attempted 1st artificial hybridization in fruit crops

Agarwood Oil

Biological Source : Wood of Aquilaria agalloch, Aquilaria crassna, A. Khasiana.
Family : Thymelaeaceae
Common names : Agarwood, Aloeswood, Eaglewood, Gaharu or Oudh.

Plant Introduction : Aquilaria is a fast-growing, archaic tropical forest tree, which occurs in South and Southeast Asia, from the foothills of the Himalayas to the rainforests of Papua New Guinea. Agarwood is a fast growing, evergreen tree, that normally grows to 18 - 21 m but sometimes up to 40 m in height. It bears sweetly-scented, snow-white flowers. The trees occasionally become infected with a parasite mould and begin to produce an aromatic resin in response to this attack. As the fungus grows, the tree produces a very rich, dark resin within the heartwood. The tree grows in natural forests at an altitude of a few meters above sea level to about 1000 meters, and it grows best around 500 meters. It can grow on a wide range of soils, including poor sandy soil. Seedlings need a lot of shade and water. Trees grow very fast, and start producing flowers and seeds as early as four years old.

1. Potato

Scientific name: Solanum tuberosum L.

Family: Solanaceae

Origin: South America

Chromosome No.: 2n = 4x = 48

Introduction

Potato is one of the four major food crops of the world and is also a very popular vegetable crop. It is extensively cultivated in China, Russian Federation, Ukarine, Poland, Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, South America, India and USA. Potato was brought from Peru to Spain by the Spaniards in 1565 when it was widely grown in Spain and Italy. They were probably brought to England about 1586 by Sir Francis Drake. Potato was introduced in India in early 17^th century probably by the Portuguese. Now it is one of the principal cash crops of India.

Importance and use

• Potato is the fourth major food crops of the world after rice, wheat and maize.
• Being a major source of carbohydrate it is often used as a substitute for cereals.
• It is one of the major vegetable crops of the world and is grown in almost every country.
• In India, it is considered as a staple vegetable and used either alone or mixed with other vegetables.
• Potato is used as vegetable in various forms such as, boiled, mashed, baked, fried and cooked in sambar and different curries of vegetable, fish and meat.
• Potato is processed into different commercially used dehydrated, canned and fried products like, shredded potato, sliced potato, chips, flakes, French fries, finger chips, granules, disc, cubes, flour, etc.
• It is used for several industrial purposes such as production of starch, alcohol, dextrin, glucose, etc.
• Potato starch is a large grained starch and contains 25 % amylase and 73 % amylopectin and high phosphate content.

Introduction

Plantation crops are high value industrial crops with great economic importance and play vital role in trade. It contributes to environment protection and sustains a large number of agrobased industries. It has great potential for utilization of waste lands in varied agro-ecosystems like rainfed, dryland, hilly, arid and coastal, providing higher employment opportunities, nutritional security, eco-friendly, high potential for foreign exchange earnings and above all providing livelihood security to people. They contribute 25% of AGDP. Major plantation crops grown in India are coconut,cardamom,cinchona, arecanut, oilpalm, cashew, palmyra, rubber, cocoa, tea and coffee. These crops grown between 20° N and 20° S of equator occupy nearly 3.2 million ha with a production of 9.8 million tonnes. All these crops are perennial in nature and demand  labour round the year. All plantation crops enter international trade and all of them have a long juvenile period. Coconut, arecanut and cashew are cultivated by individual land  owners who are not organized to the same extent as  planters of tea, coffee and rubber.

This chapter contains the description of the Indigenous Traditional Knowledge practices as subject wise manner viz, Traditional varieties, Crop management, Crop protection measures, Post harvest methods, Storage structures, Farm tools, Medicinal plants, Ethnoveterinary practices, Fisheries and others related to agriculture.

Definition of Plant Pathology

‘Plant pathology’ may be defined as ‘the study of microorganisms and of the environmental factors that cause disease in plants; of the mechanisms by which these factors induce disease in plants; and of the methods of preventing or controlling disease and reducing the damage it causes’. Plant Pathology or ‘Phytopathology’ is a branch of Biological Science, which exclusively deals with plant diseases and various aspects connected with plant diseases. The term Phytopathology had been derived from the Latin language. The Latin word ‘PHYTON‘ means plants; ‘PATHOS‘ means suffering and ‘LOGOS‘ means Science. So, Phytopathology means the Science dealing with suffering plants. Trees, shrubs, grasses etc., whether cultivated or wild are termed as plants and they form the majority of the earth’s living environment. These plants, which are so vital for humans, animals and insects are vulnerable to attack by numerous microorganisms, called ‘plant pathogens’. Some environmental factors are also detrimental to the normal growth of plants, resulting in diseases. Diseased plants exhibit some type of abnormalities and these abnormalities are termed as ‘disease symptoms’. Depending upon the pathogens attacking the plants or adverse environmental factors the disease symptoms vary markedly.

The Science of Plant Pathology has four main objectives:

1. To acquire knowledge about biotic plant pathogens and abiotic environmental factors, which are responsible for causing diseases.
2. To know more about the occurrence and mode of spread of the pathogens on a large scale.
3. To study the interaction between the host and the pathogen with respect to environmental factors.
4. To adopt suitable methods of preventing or controlling the diseases, thereby reducing the damage caused by the pathogens.

Systematic knowledge about Plant Pathology will be of much help in protecting the plants from attack by the pathogens, thereby allowing the plants to grow and attain maturity according to their genetic potential.

Agathi is a fast growing tree upto 10m. tall. Branching is drooping. The stem bark is deeply furrowing forming cork like plates. Leaves are compound, pinnae, 20 to 30 cm. long glabresence to pubescent. Leaflet oblong rounded 18 to 24 pairs of leaflets that are green to dark green mostly, bitter free. Inflorescence is a raceme 4 to 7 cm long and bearing 2 to 5 flowers that are white, red, yellowish and pink. Flowers are 5 to 10 cm long, 3cm wide, curved calyx bell shaped 2 cm long, 2 lobed, fine teeth like serration, fleshy. 

CEREALS

Rice (Oryza sativa)

1. Rice blast
Pyricularia oryzae

‘Rice blast’ occurs in more than 80 countries across the world. The disease is more prevalent in Thailand, Japan, America, Guyana, Philippines and India. It is particularly serious in places, where rice is irrigated or receives heavy rainfall and where high levels of nitrogenous fertilizers are applied. Rice blast was first reported in China in 1637, in Japan in 1704 and in India in 1913. In India, it is found in all rice growing states, particularly in Telungu Desam, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh. Assam, Tripura, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry and causes considerable damage to rice crop. In Tamil Nadu, the disease occurs in all rice growing districts and attains epidemic proportions in some seasons. Several rice blast epidemics have occurred in different parts of the world, causing yield losses ranging from 50 to 90 %. In Tamil Nadu, a serious epidemic of the disease occurred in 1919 in the Thanjavur Delta.

Symptoms. The disease, though chiefly a foliage disease, attacks other parts of rice plants, such as leaf sheath, rachis, joints of the culms and even the glumes. On the leaves, the initial symptoms appear as small bluish or grayish specks, which remain circular in older leaves. On young leaves, they enlarge and become eye-shaped, diamond-shaped or spindle-shaped spots, extending over several centimeters in length and about 1.0 cm. in width. The central portion of the lesion appears pale green or grayish green and water-soaked in the beginning. In older spots, the center becomes white to gray with a dark-brown margin surrounded by a yellow hallow. The lesions may coalesce, cover large area of the leaves and eventually the entire leaves are killed. The shape, size and color of the spots vary depending upon the variety, growth stage of the plants and environmental conditions. Similar spots may be formed on the leaf sheath also. During severe incidence, large areas of the leaves dry and die and the entire crop presents a burnt appearance. Hence the disease is known as ‘blast disease’. Leaf blast is more severe during the seedling and maximum tillering stages. In the nursery, the seedlings show numerous spots on the leaves, which wither and die. In case of severe infection, large number of seedlings may die. Blast also affects the leaf collar, which results in the death of the entire leaf.

The disease attacks the stem-nodes at the heading stage leading to production of ‘white panicles’ or the stem may break at the infected node. Rarely the internodes are affected. Further, at heading the fungus also attacks the panicle neck, which is girdled and becomes shining black and shrivelled. This is the most destructive phase of the disease and is known as ‘neck blast’, ‘neck rot’ or ‘panicle blast’. If infection of the panicle neck occurs early, the grains become chaffy and the panicle remains erect. If panicle neck infection occurs late, the grains become partially filled and because of the weight of the grains, the panicle breaks at the neck- node and droops. Sometimes, only parts of the panicle and joints of the culms and some glumes are infected and develop brown to black spots (Fig. 1).

Under conditions highly favorable for the pathogen, even the varieties resistant to the fungus under normal conditions are also attacked and small, round or short elliptical spots develop. However, the spots normally do not enlarge as typical blast spots.

USA ranks 17th in per capita cut flowers consumption.

India ranks 2nd in flower cultivation next to China.

India stands 14th in the world in exporting floricultural products, while the Netherlands and Columbia rank 1st and 2nd, respectively

Vegetables are rich source of vitamins, minerals than other than nutrients. In India, vegetables occupy only 2.8% of the total cropped area. Vegetables are (except mushroom) grown for their succulent and edible parts such as the roots, stems, leaves, young tops, fruits or seeds which are used in culinary preparations either fresh or preserved in the fresh state.

These crops are further classified into different groupings according to similarities in edible parts, growth habits, methods of culture and botanical family.

Aloe, known for laxative property is one of the old natural remedies that have emerged as modern miracle drug. Popularly known as ‘nature’s sun screen’ has growing use as skin tonic in cosmetic industry and as a nutraceutical. Aloes are also quite popular among succulent ornamental plants because of their stiff, harsh and rugged habit and are commonly grown in deserts and other dry situations. Genus Aloe is indigenous to African continent and Mediterranean countries such as Greece and Southern Italy, and got naturalized in arid tracts of India. In India, Aloe barbadensis is cultivated on a small scale in Rajastan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat (CSIR, 1998).

Botany

Genus Aloe belonging to Liliaceae comprises 275 species distributed in Africa, Asia and America. Forty-two species belong to Madagascar region, 12-15 to Arabian Peninsula and rest are distributed over tropical South Africa. Aloe barbadensis, A. ferox and A. arborescens are used as herbal drugs. In India, only four species occur and of these, Aloe barbadensis is the most widely naturalized species. These taxa comprise several varieties viz., officinalis, chinensis, littoralis and they cross freely and several intermediary forms occur in semi wild state.

1. INTRODUCTION

India is principally an agricultural country with seventy per cent of its population living in villages and fifty nine per cent of the total work force dependent on agriculture for its daily bread. Almost 20% of the gross GDP is contributed by agriculture. A steep surge in production since late 1960s has made country self-reliant in food grain production with buffer stocks full to the brim. Since independence, 0.66% growth/ year in gross agricultural area combined with 2.67%/year increases in food grain production led to a net increase in per capita food grain availability from 395 g/ day to 475 g/ day. An outstanding achievement, as it happened despite an unabated population build up at a rate of 2.15 %/ year or 13 million more mouths to be fed every year. Not only in food grain production, the country has made revolutionary progress in milk, fish, eggs, fruits and vegetable production also (NAAS, 2004).

Needless to say that the economic growth of our country depends largely on the prosperity of the agriculture. The agricultural sector acts as a bulwark in maintaining food security as well as national security. The first and the foremost role of agricultural is its promotion of economic progress in the country by enlarging the savings of the rural sector and making them available for the development of industries. Gandhiji, the father of the nation called “Agriculture as the soul of India”. Also, agriculture has been termed as “The mother of all industries and the maintainer of human life standing at the need of all sciences and arts, indeed, at the head of civilization and progress”. The significance of agriculture in India arises also from the fact that the development in agriculture is an essential condition for the development of the national economy. Thus any change in the agriculture sector- positive or negative- has a multiplier effect on the entire economy (Rekha & Rangappa, 2010).

Over 70 years ago, Mahatma Gandhi made the following observations while addressing youth who wanted to serve rural India:

‘The fact is that the villagers have lost all hope. They suspect that every stranger’s hand is at their throats and that he goes to them only to exploit them. The divorce between intellect and labour has paralyzed our agriculture. The worker should enter a village full of love and hope, feeling sure that where men and women labour unintelligently and remain unemployed half the year around, he working all the year round and combining labour with intelligence cannot fail to win the confidence of the villagers’.

This message is as relevant today as it was 60 years ago. Integrating brain and brawn in farm enterprises should hence be the purpose of agricultural education. (ICAR, 1997)

FRUIT CROPS

Banana (Musa species)

1. Panama disease of banana
Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense

‘Panama disease’, ‘Fusarium wilt’ or ’vascular wilt’ of banana is one of the most serious and destructive diseases of the crop. The disease was first reported from Australia in 1874. Now, it is widely distributed all over the world, including America, Africa, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hawai, Fiji, the Philippines, India, Australia and New Zealand. In India, it is prevalent in the states of Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telungu Desam, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

Symptoms. Usually the symptoms are manifested, when the banana plants are about 5 months old. However, under highly favorable conditions for the pathogen, even 2 - 3 months old plants show wilt symptoms. Initial visible symptoms appear as pale yellow streaks, lengthwise in the petioles of the oldest, lowermost leaves. Two types of symptoms follow this. In the first type, the old leaves turn yellow progressively and finally they break from the petiole and hang down. In the second type, the leaves break from the petiole and hang down, without becoming chlorotic. Gradually, all the leaves collapse and hang down, except the crown, which alone stands upright. The newly formed leaves show yellow blotches and wrinkling of the lamina. Often, the leaf sheaths covering the pseudostem show longitudinal splitting above the ground level. But, sometimes this symptom may not appear. The affected plants may die completely in about 4-6 weeks after the appearance of yellow streaks on the petioles.

The vascular strands show discoloration varying from yellow to dark- brown, which is the characteristic internal symptom of the disease. The discoloration usually appears first in the outer leaf sheaths and extends to the vascular strands of the pseudostem. Vascular discoloration is more pronounced in the corms, but is not common in the roots. When the rhizome of an infected plant is cut transversely, the discoloration of the vascular bundles is distinctly seen as numerous, pin-point like dots all over the cut surface. The roots of affected plants become black and rotten. The suckers growing from the diseased corms are systemically affected and they wilt and die very soon (Fig. 71).

The causal organism. The mycelium of the fungus is hyaline, septate, much branched and mostly intracellular. Few hyphae may also be present in the intercellular spaces. The hyphae are largely confined to the vascular bundles, often filling the cavity of the vessels. The fungus produces three types of spores viz., macroconidia, microconidia and chlamydospores. The sporodochia bearing conidiophores and conidia emerge through the stomata on the petioles and leaves. The conidiophores are vertically branched. Macroconidia are borne at the apical ends of the main and lateral branches and are formed in succession one after another. They are thin-walled, hyaline, pedicellate, sickle-shaped, with both ends somewhat pointed, 2 - 5 septate, mostly 3-septate and measure 22.0 - 36.0 x 4.0 - 5.0µ in size. Microconidia are produced from the branches of conidiophores or from the tips of hyphae in very large numbers. They are single-celled or two-celled, thin-walled, hyaline, ovate or elongated and measure 5.0 - 7.0 x 2.5 - 3.0µ in size. Terminal or intercalary chlamydospores are formed from the hyphae, as well as from the conidial cells. They are oval or spherical, thick-walled and usually occur in pairs. They measure 7.0 - 13.0 x 7.0 - 8.0µ in size (Fig. 71).

The fungus is a facultative parasite. It can invade the host mainly through wounds in the corms or roots. After entry, the fungus develops extensively in the vascular tissue of the corm and then proceeds systemically to the leaf sheaths and pseudostem through the vascular system. The fungus colonizes the vascular bundles and produces masses of mycelium, which bear conidia and chlamydospores, filling the cavity of the vessels. The plugging of vascular elements by the fungus obstructs the translocation of water and nutrients to the aboveground parts of the plant leading to wilting and death of affected plants.

Mode of survival, spread and epidemiology. The fungus is soil-borne in nature. It can survive saprophytically in the diseased corms and other plant parts for prolonged periods and cause fresh infection. The chlamydospores can also remain in a viable state in the soil and diseased plant parts for a long time. The disease can be easily spread through spores present in the infected banana trash and soil, which may be carried in surface flooded water. Suckers used for planting from diseased areas to other places spread the disease easily. Contact of the roots of healthy plants with the roots of diseased plants carrying the spores also leads to fresh infection. The entry of the pathogen is mostly through wounds in the roots or corms, especially deep wounds up to the xylem vessels, caused incidentally during cultural operations or by soil-inhabiting pests, particularly nematodes.

Light textured, sandy loam soils, with acid reaction and low soil moisture of 25 % favor the occurrence and development of the disease. Ratooning of infected banana plants increases the disease incidence to a great extent and leads to continuous accumulation of soil inoculum.

As milk to a cow or fruit to a tree, ore is to Earth Sciences. Different academic and scientific aspects of geology are of no consequence to a common man. Ores and ore minerals from which valuable constituents could be extracted profitably is what the world is after- be it the continental masses, oceanic depths, desolate icy Antarctic tracts or now, even other planets of the solar system. The subject of economic geology is thus a subject of greatest interest among other natural sciences.

This last section will dwell on the theme of metallic and non metallic ore deposits. The first chapter begins with fundamental definitions, signifying the importance of minerals in human affairs. It also looks at ore minerals against the background of average crustal composition and presents a glossary of important terms in economic geology. The second chapter is a lengthy chapter devoted to the ways ore deposits are formed ( ore genesis). Broadly, the processes are described under two categories, the internal processes and the surface processes. Fuel minerals are taken separately towards the end of this chapter. Chapter III briefly introduces the relationship between location of minerals deposits to the revolutionary theme of global tectonics which attempts to answer why a mineral deposits occurs where it occurs.

The fourth chapter is devoted entirely to the Indian Mineral Deposits. It begins with a few important themes of mineral economics and dwells on the description of important Indian Mineral Deposits as to their geology, geography and economic potential. Lastly, the fifth chapter exclusively deals with the facts and figures of the Indian Mineral Industry presenting recent available data of resources, production, import, export and future prospects. It also gives a brief introduction to the important geo-scientific organizations of the country.

Classification refers to grouping of individuals with similar identities related to genetic make up, evolution or climatic requirements. The major units are order, family, sub-family, genus, species, variety/cultivar and strain. Monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous are two major classes and most of the fruits are covered under dicotyledonous family. Different basis of classification of fruits are: Botanical; Ecological; Stem morphology; Fruit morphology; Flowering habit; Respiration rate; Photoperiodism; Shade tolerance; Drought tolerance; Soil texture and topography; Soil reaction; Soil tolerance; Horticultural; Bearing habit; Inflorescence type; pollination types; Type of self incompatibility; Type of dichogamy; Edible parts; Center of origin; Ploidy levels; Longevity of fruit crops; Fruit size and Nutrient contents of fruits.

Minerals are the building blocks of the earth’s crust. Derived inorganically, either as chemical elements or more often as chemical compounds, minerals are essentially solid. Minerals often form crystals, while aggregate of minerals constitute a rock. Mineralogy is the discipline devoted to the study of minerals including their formation, occurrence, properties, composition and classification . Needless to say, the subject of mineralogy is the foundation of crystallography, petrology and other branches of geology.

Section A dealing with Minerals comprises nine chapters. Chapter I presents salient features of the earth including composition. and structure of the crust mantle and core. Chapter II presents their categories and the how minerals derive their names. Since minerals are essentially a combination of atoms and molecules the significance of chapter III which deals with crystal chemistry cannot be over emphasized.. Chapter IV and V deal with physical and optical properties of minerals which are crucial in identifying them in hand specimens and under the polarising microscope. Classification of minerals and their occurrence is dealt in a general way in chapter VI while descriptive mineralogy is presented in Chapters VII ( Silicate Mnerals) and VIII ( Non-Silicate Mnerals). Minerals are no doubt a subject of serious scientific curiosity but ultimately their use to man is by far the most important theme. Chapter IX therefore is devoted exclusively to different uses that are minerals are put to. The chapter ends with eye opening information as to the quantum of minerals that man uses, taking one of the most industrialized nation USA as an example.

Introduction

Spices hold a special place in world trade and were a catalyst in many historical events, discoveries, wars and inventions. It has even been cited as an important element in the spread of knowledge and culture. Spices are non-leafy parts of plants used as a flavoring or seasoning. Asia is known as ‘Land of Spices’ as it is the place of origin, production, consumption and export of most spices. Out of the world’s 70 plant species grown as spices, 13 are considered major spices produced in Asia. Spices had many uses, from adding flavour to food to medicinal properties, but only grew in a few places. In the last decade, the annual average growth in spice production was 4.3% and trade in spices grew at an average of 5.8% /year. More sophisticated consumers, health-conscious eating habits (but also the rise in the amount of processed foods that use herbs and spices as inputs), rising incomes, increased world trade and globalisation are driving this new era of profitability. Spices are ideal commodities for international trade. They are normally exported in raw or dried form and are usually easy to store and transport. Consequently they do not need expensive infrastructure such as cold chain management or advanced storage facilities and they are not particularly time sensitive. In addition, they are recognised as high value products that can be produced relatively easily on small farms and do not require investments in advanced technology and machinery.

Introduction

Fruits are undoubtedly God’s gift to mankind. Fruits are protective foods as they contain vitamins, minerals and enzymes, necessary for better functioning of human body and for fighting diseases. History of fruits is as old as that of Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden apple. Date palm seems to be the earliest fruit cultivated by man as early as 7000 B.C. Pomegranate is also one of the oldest fruits which was under cultivation as early as 3500 B.C. During ancient times, monks survived solely on fruits and milk giving an indication about importance of fruits and antiquity of fruits in India. India is the place of origin of mango, banana, phalsa, jack fruit, bael, aonla and a few citrus fruits whereas all other fruits are introduced from foreign countries. Litchi, loquat, persimmon, peach and sweet orange are from China; papaya, guava, sapota, avocado, custard apple and pineapple are from tropical America; and apple, plum, pear, date palm, mangosteen, strawberry, cherry, almond, walnut, apricot, grape and pomegranate are from the Central Asiatic Regions.

1.1. Origin and distribution
• South East Asia, with the greatest number of species found in Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and Malay Peninsula.
1.2. Varieties
• Neelum, Bangalora, Alphonso, Rumani, Banganapalli, Kalepad, Peter, PKM 1, PKM 2, Senthura, Jahangir, Mulgoa, Himayuddin, Paiyur 1, Mallika, Amrapali, Salem Bangalora, Arka Anmol, Arka Aruna, Arka Neelkiran, Arka Puneeth, Sindhu, Ratna and Arka Suprabath

1. GENERAL POMOLOGY

Word pomology: Derived from Greek word ‘pome’ meaning development of fruit from inferior ovary and ‘logos’ meaning to study.

Father of systematic pomology: De Candolle.

Temperate fruits are popularly known in India as hill fruits or cold region fruits.

India ranks 1^st in productivity of grapes, banana and papaya.

Ratio of Chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b is highest in C⁴ plants.

Gibberellic acid is enhanced by exposing plants to red light.

The life line tree of ‘Thar Desert’ is Prosopis cineraria.

Grape of the desert is Salvadora oleoides.

PESTS OF CEREALS

Rice (Oryza sativa)

Rice is the staple food of a vast majority of people throughout the world, especially in India. Rice crop is grown in about 75 million acres, which is about one-third of the total world area under rice. The warm and humid environment for the rice crop is best suited for invasion by several insect pests and as many as 85 species of insects are known to infest this crop. The damages caused by different pests extend from the seedling to harvest stages of the crop. Some of these pests are widely distributed and cause extensive damage. The more important pests are described below:

1. Rice stem borer or Rice yellow stem borer

Scirpophaga (Tryporyza) incertulas

Order - Lepidoptera

Family - Pyraustidae

Among the pests, which ravage rice crop, ‘rice stem borer’ is a major one and infests rice crop at all growth stages, from seedling to flowering. It is a specific pest of rice alone and is more serious during the months of October-January. The pest has a wide distribution in all Asian countries. The damages caused by this pest ranges from 5-20 per cent. Generally, late varieties of rice are more severely infested than the early maturing varieties, because of the possibility of the pest multiplying in larger numbers by the time the late varieties come to maturity. Cold weather with high humidity and low temperature prevalent during October-December is found to be conducive for the multiplication of the insect.

Leaves are alternate in distichous arrangement; lamina long and linear and leaf sheath covering the internodes; ligule membranous and auricle claw shaped. The inflorescence is a spike and florets are borne on rachis node. Each spikelet has three florets. In two row barely, lateral spikelets become sterile.

1. General Olericulture

Olericulture is Latin term ‘Olerus’ meaning herb.

China, India, USA, Turkey and Italy: Major vegetable producers.

Indian subcontinent has 80 species of major and minor vegetables apart from several wild species consumed as vegetable.

About 175 different types of vegetables are grown in India, includes 82 leafy vegetables and 41 root (tuber and bulb) crops.

Cucurbits, taros, yams, brinjal and okra have rich diversity in Indian gene centre.

USA is leading importer of cucumber and gherkins, assorted canned vegetables and other dehydrated vegetables from India.

Germany leads in import of preserved onion, green pepper in brine and dehydrated onion flakes/powder.

Singapore leads in import of dried asparagus; Japan in dehydrated garlic flakes; UAE in dehydrated garlic powder; Bangladesh in peas and Switzerland in dried mushrooms including morels.

Mizoram is the largest producer of chow chow.

6.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter is concerned with the interactions which retain mobile chemical species in the soil environment. Emphasis is centred on the binding of small organic chemicals to soil particles of colloidal dimensions, and on the associations between polymeric materials and inorganic colloids which strongly influence the physical and chemical behaviour of soils. These interactions are also involved in the retention by soil of water, discussed by Farmer (1978) in the companion volume to this book, and in ion and ligand exchange reactions, and in mass flow and diffusion discussed in preceding chapters.

The term colloidal refers to particles and discontinuities of matter (e.g. pore spaces or thin films) of dimensions in the range of 1 nm to 1 jxm (IUPAC, 1972). For such finely divided systems the properties of the interfaces are very important because these largely control the behaviour of the colloidal systems. The term phase is used to describe the homogeneous parts of a system and an interface or surface is the boundary region between any two phases; the relevant interfaces are solid/gas, solid/liquid, liquid/liquid, and liquid/vapour. Where none of the solid, liquid, or vapour phases in a system are finely divided the ratios of the interfacial areas to the bulk volumes of the phases are small, and the effects of the interface between neighbouring phases can be neglected.

The most extensive surfaces in soils are contained in domains and micro- aggregates of colloidal particles (cf. Greenland and Hayes, 1978; Greenland and Mott, 1978), These surfaces are accessible from the pore spaces between solid particles. Under normal field conditions these spaces remain filled with water. Thus, although modern fertilizers, and chemicals for the control of plant growth, pests, and diseases are applied to soils as solids, liquids, and gases, most of the interactions with the soil colloidal constituents take place at the solid/liquid interface. We shall be primarily concerned here with uptake from the liquid phase by solid soil components, although interactions at the solid/gas interface can sometimes be important.

Introduction

India has a long history in the cultivation of vegetable crops and it sustains the livelihood of a large section of population directly or indirectly. Vegetable crops offer high returns,  have a potential to alleviate the poverty of people, provide nutritional security and essential raw materials for agro industries. These crops also offer greater rural employment opportunity and have high potential for foreign exchange earning. India bestowed with varied soil and high climatic conditions has excellent potential for growing both tropical and temperate vegetables. India is the second largest producer of vegetables in the world after China. The total area under vegetables is estimated 5.9 million ha which contributes more than 2.5% of total cropped area. The production is estimated  90.83 milion tonnes. China having a production of about 278.59 million tonnes  is the largest producer of vegetable crops in the world. The annual growth rate in vegetables is of the order of 2.6%. Potato, brinjal, tomato, chilli, cabbage, onion, cauliflower,okra and peas are grown on commercial scale. West Bengal, Uttar Predesh, Bihar, Orissa and Karnataka are the leading vegetable producing states. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Andra Pradesh are the leading states in onion production where as West Bengal, Uttar Predesh and Bihar are the leading potato producing states. Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Assam are the leading brinjal producing states.

1.    Vegetables for Nutritional and Health Security
    
2.    Status of Vegetable Production
    
3.    Classification of Vegetable Crops
    
4.    Influence of Environment on Vegetable Production
    
5.    Management of Seedlings in Nursery
    
6.    Vegetables Based Cropping System
    
7.    Water Management
    
8.    Plant Nutrients and Integrated Nutrients Management
    
9.    Micro-Irrigation and Fertigation
    
10.    Pollination Management
    
11.    Integrated Pest Management
    
12.    Biological Management of Diseases
    
13.    Mechanisms of Biocontrol
    
14.    Weed Management
    
15.    Management of Vegetable Crops Under Polyhouse
    
16.    Post Harvest Handling and Storage of Vegetables
    
17.    Marketing and Export of Vegetables
    
18.    Export Trade of Vegetables in India
    
19.    Seed Technology
        
References

2.1 Insect Pests

Insects are often a major obstacle to the successful production of cucurbits (York, 1992). They can severely reduce yield, injure or kill plants, spread diseases and adversely affect fruit quality. A number of insect pests, mites and nematodes have been found to infest cucurbitaceous vegetables but fortunately, in India, fruit flies and a few species of beetles are of economic importance; aphids and blister beetles though of regular occurrence, seldom cause severe damage.
 
Other insect pests reported to infest the cucurbitaceous vegetables are pumpkin caterpillar, Diaphania indica (Sounders), snake gourd semilooper, Plusia peponis Fab., white fly, Bemisia tabaci Genn., stink bugs, Apspongopus spp. and flea beetle, Phyllotreta spp. etc. These biotic pressures on the crops are increasing day by day due to round-the-year intensive cultivation of photo and thermo insensitive cultivars as well as indiscriminate use of toxic agro-chemicals in the present era of chemicalized agriculture.

Groundnut

Groundnut roundnut is believed to have originated in Brazil and later spread to many countries all over the world. It is known to humanity since 950BC. Groundnut crop and its products have multiple uses. Being a leguminous crop it enriches the soil with nitrogen through symbiotic biological fixation by rizhobium. The economic product, groundnut in shell, contains the seeds, which are edible. The shell as well as the haulms serve as fuel and fodder. The seed oil serves as a good cooking oil while the cakes are good sources of protein for animals and even humans. Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L,) belongs to leguminosae family and papilionacea sub family. It consists of two sub species each with two varieties. The first one hypogaea has the variety hypogaea (virginia group) and variety hirsuta kohla while the second one fastigiata has the variety fastigiata (valencia group ) and the variety vulgaris (spanish group). Hypogaea varieties are spreading types with branching and lack infloresence on the main stem. They are of longer duration and have fresh seed dormancy . Varieties of the fastigiata are of erect type with branching and flowering on the main stem also. The crop is of shorter duration than hypogaea types, but with little fresh seed dermancy.

The major groundnut producing countries of the world are China, India, Nigeria, U.S.A. Indonesia, Argentina, Sudan, Senegal and Myanmar. The cultivation is spread in tropical and sub-ropical regions. Groundnut is a self- pollinated crop and pollination takes place in the morning. After fertilization an elongated stalk namely peg develops which enters the soil, bends horizontally and swells to become a pod. Within the pod, two, three or four kernels are formed. The crop can be grown under rainfall conditions ranging from 50-125cm, with good distribution during flowering and pegging stages. Sandy loams, loamy soils, and black soils with good drainage are suitable for growing the crop.

THE AGRO-ECOSYSTEM CONCEPT

An agro-ecosystem is a site of agricultural production farm, for example- understood as an ecosystem. The agro-ecosystem concept provides a framework with which to analyze food production systems as wholes, including their complex sets of inputs and outputs and the interconnection of their component parts.

Because the concept of the agro-ecosystem is based on ecological principles and our understanding of natural ecosystems, the first topic of discussion in this chapter is the ecosystem. We examine the structural aspects of ecosystems their parts and the relationships among the parts and then turn to their functional aspects how ecosystems work. Agro-ecosystems are then described in terms of how they compare, structurally and functionally, with natural ecosystems.

Structure of Natural Ecosystem

An ecosystem can be defined as a functional system of complementary relations between living organisms and their environment, delimited by arbitrarily chosen boundaries, which in space and time appear to maintain a steady yet dynamic equilibrium. An ecosystem thus has physical parts with particular relationshipsthe structure of the system that together take part in dynamic processes the function of the system.

The most basic structural components of ecosystems are biotic factors, living organisms that interact in the environment, and abiotic factors, nonliving physical and chemical components of the environment such as soil, light, moisture and temperature.

1.1. Establishment of orchard
• A long term investment and deserves a very critical planning.
1.1.1. Location and site
• Well established fruit growing region, because one could get benefit of experience of other growers.
• Market should be close to the area with assured demand.
• Climate should be suitable to grow the chosen fruit crops; free from cyclones, frost, hailstorms and strong hot winds.
• Adequate and good quality water supply should be available round the year.

4.1 Seeding equipment

Sowing is an art of placing seeds in the soil to have good germination in the field and thereby gives better productivity. Seeding is one of the most important farm operations after soil preparation because the time of sowing and the way in which it is done decisively influence germination of the seed and growth of the seedling during its early stages. This in turn affects the subsequent time of weeding and inter-culture, harvesting and threshing and finally the yield. Seed needs an adequate supply of moisture, temperature, air and protected environment for good germination.

Crop sowing refers to broadcasting seeds on the surface of soil, placement of seeds in the soil or transplanting seedlings in the soil, under optimum conditions. The primary functions of any planting operation are to establish an optimum plant population and spacing, the ultimate goal being to obtain the maximum net return per unit area. Plant population and spacing requirements are affected by various factors such as the crop type and variety, soil type, soil fertility level, soil moisture and row spacing upon the cost and convenience of operations such as thinning, weed control etc. In order to get better returns, the right amount of seed should be placed at the right time and at a predetermined depth and spacing in the soil. Usually the depth of sowing depends upon the moisture availability and seed emergence capacity. The amount of seeds to be sown varies according to the size of seeds, percentage germination etc.

7.1 Harvesting and threshing equipment for cereal crops

Harvesting and threshing is an important operation in the farming. This can be done either manually or with the help of power operated machinery. Harvesting of field crops continues to be one of the most labour intensive operations in agricultural production system. Harvesting of crop is generally done by hand using sickle in India. Power operated harvesting machinery has not caught up with Indian farmers because of limited size of land holdings, economic constraints and non-uniformity of field conditions. Manual harvesting with different hand tools continues to be dominant, which takes 170-200 man-hours to harvest one hectare of paddy crop. Due to high labour demand at the time of harvesting, the operation continues for weeks together, resulting in over drying of crops in the field causes grain losses to the extent of 5 to 15 percent and even results in loss of crop due to untimely rain during harvesting. Mechanical devices to harvest wheat and paddy crops have become popular especially in northern India to minimize the field losses resulting from shattering, unfavourable weather conditions and pilferage.

1. Abrus precatorices

Scientific name     :     Abrus precatorices Linn.
Common name      :     Indian Liquorices
Family      :     Fabaceae
English      :     Indian liquorices
Hindi      :     Gunj
Kannada      :     Gulaganji

Plant habitat and description : It is found in South China, the pacific island, tropical Africa, the West Indies and almost all tropical countries in moist places. In India, it occurs commonly near the ravines of miscellaneous forests, waysides, grass of localities up to 1000 m altitude and throughout warmer regions of country. It is propagated by seeds and can also be propagated by cuttings of firm shoots in sand under glass.
A much branched, perennial climber with woody stem. Leaves are paripinnate leaflets opposite, deciduous, oblong, ligulate, membranous, and glabrous or thincy silky beneath.

AVOCADO

Persea americana Mill.

F: Lauraceae

Avocado, also known as butter fruit gained importance over years as one of the most nutritive fruits. Demand for this fruit increased over the past few years and now it has become an important fruit in international trade.

Original home of Avocado is Mexico in Central America and grows wild all over South America. The Spanish explorers took this fruit to Spain during 1601. It was introduced to Jamaica in about 1650. Avocado was first reported in Mauritius in 1780, Florida in 1833, California in 1856 and Zanzibar in 1892, but its cultivation started extensively in these areas during 1900 (Purseglove, 1974). It was introduced to South and West Coasts of India about 100 years ago from Ceylon. Avocado is now growing in most of tropical and sub tropical countries.

Avocado is grown commercially in USA, Israel, South Africa and Australia. USA, Israel, and South Africa are main exporters. In India, it is mainly grown in South where it is centred on hill slopes of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Coorg and in selected regions of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Textural assessment has long been used to indicate quality in agricultural soil and although it contains an element of subjective judgement, a skilled surveyor can differentiate many grades of texture. Soil texture correlates with the distribution of particle size in the soil, though this is not the only component in texture. Although particle size distribution is an objective attribute of soils and can, in principle, be measured with accuracy, the determination is in practice quite difficult and certainly laborious, so that it is customary in soil mechanical analysis to divide the soil into several broad fractions: sand, silt and clay are the principal categories. The clay fraction, which comprises the smallest particles in the soil, is generally defined as the fraction smaller than a nominal diameter of 2 jam. The practical division is, however, based on the velocity of fall of soil particles through a fluid, calculating the diameter of the particles from the equation of Stokes

Skull: The skull of domestic animals has two sets of bones i.e facial and cranial bones. The facial bones are placed in front and cranial bones are placed caudally.

Facial bones: The paired facial bones are premaxilla, maxilla, nasal, pterygoid, lacrimal, turbinates, malar and palatine bones. The unpaired facial bones are mandible, hyoid and vomer.

1. Propagation
• Multiplication of plants is termed as propagation.
• Aim to achieve increase in number and preserve essential characteristics of mother plant.
• Most of the horticultural crops are propagated through vegetative means.
• Two types of propagation
• Sexual propagation - through seeds which is formed by sexual reproduction
• Asexual propagation - through vegetative parts or organs of a plant.

Cheese is a milk product of ancient origin and portrays the ethos of civilization and its cultural evolution. Cheese is one of the oldest foods of mankind. It is commonly believed that cheese evolved in the Fertile Crescent between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq some 8000 years ago. The so-called Agricultural Revolution occurred here with the domestication of plants and animals.

It seems that the cheese originated accidentally as a result of the activities of nomadic tribes. Since animal skin bags were a convenient way of storing liquids for nomadic people, these were used for storing surplus milk. Fermentation of the milk sugars in the warm climate prevailing would cause the milk to curdle in the bags. The swaying animals would have broken up the acid curd during journeys, to produce curds and whey. The whey provided a refreshing drink on hot journeys, while the curds, preserved by the acid of fermentation and a handful of salt, became a source of high protein food supplementing the meager meat supply.

This activity gave rise to the assumption that cheese was evolved from fermented milks. It is perhaps more probable that the crude fermentations progressed in two ways. In one direction towards the production of liquid fermented milks such as dahi, yoghurt, laban, koumis and Kefir and in the other direction through the drainage of whey through a cloth or perforated bowls, to leave solid curds which when salted became cheese.

It was a prominent article of the Greek and Roman diet as much as 2500 years ago. It is referred to in the Old Testament several times.