eChapters

2.1 Introduction

The different breeding strategies (methods) that can be employed for improvement of fruit crops include introduction, open pollinated selection, clonal selection, hybrid breeding, polyploidy breeding, mutation breeding, molecular breeding, in vitro breeding and transgenic breeding. Combining traditional approaches with biotechnological approaches will speed up the rate of genetic improvement. Thus, what is required is to adopt a coordinated approach involving breeders, biotechnologists, horticulturists, pathologists, entomologists and statistician for making the cultivation of fruit crops more scientific and more profitable and thereby contributing more to improving the health of the people in a sustainable manner.

The Annonaceae or custard apple family comprises about 120 genera and more than 2000 species (Leboeuf et al., 1982). The genus Annona is the most economically important one, containing 120 species. The major commercial species throughout the world are: the cherimoya (Annona cherimola), sweetsop (Annona squamosa) and atemoya (a hybrid of Annona cherimola and Annona squamosa). The custard apple species name ‘squamosa’ refers to the knobby appearance of the fruit. Custard apple is a small tropical tree originating in the New World tropics, probably Central America. This species is the most widely grown in the tropical regions of the America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Sweetsop is synonym also named sugar apple and has many other regional names, such as Custard apple (India), anon (Spanish), ata (Portuguese), noi-na (Thailand), stis (The Philippines) and fan-li-chi (Taiwan). Sweetsop is the mostly grown Annona species. The fruit is frequently found in village markets but has not shown much potential for large commercial cultivation due to the small fruit size, frequent cracking at maturity and poor shelf life. The perishable nature and supply shortages make marketing localized or air shipment essential.

The term genome refers to a complete set of DNA, including all of its genes. Each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism. In the nucleus of each cell, the DNA molecule is packaged into thread like structures called chromosomes and each species has specific chromosome number. Most of the plants are diploid and they show in each one of its body cell, twice the number of haploid chromosomes (n) found in the gametes.
There are two main types of chromosomal variation that involve changes in the number. These are euploidy (in Greek “eu”means true or even and “ploid”means unit), which involves the variation of whole sets of chromosomes and aneuploidy(“aneu” means uneven), where a single chromosome within a set varies. This variation may be either increase or decrease in the chromosome number. The euploids include diploid (2n), triploid (3n), tetraploid (4n), hexaploid (6n) or even higher degree of polyploidy. Polyploidy, thus involves more than two genomes and is, therefore, a genometic mutation involving increase in the dose of whole genome. This condition of polyploidy is more common in angiosperms.

In the changing Global scenario, food, nutrition, healthcare and livelihood security are the matter of great concern to human, social and economic development. The global community is increasingly looking towards finding means of sustainable nutrition for the growing population across all countries. The emphasis is on identifying lowresource strategies acceptable to the communities that do not put an unnecessary burden on the environment (FAO, 1993).
Nutritional security denotes the consumption and equitable access to adequate quantities of healthy, safe, affordable and nutritious food by every member of the family essential for optimal health and well-being. Concern for improvement of nutritional quality of vegetables has arisen in the context of providing nutritional security to our everincreasing population because poor nutrition is linked with increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease as well as broader impacts including higher health care costs and decreased productivity.
More than 1.0 billion people globally are hungry due to food insecurity problem and about 3.0 billion people are malnourished due to poor nutrition causing mainly micronutrient deficiency.

Reproduction by asexual means is common among higher plants. The best known means of asexual reproduction are by corms, bulbs, rhizomes, stolons, or other vegetative organs. Plants normally propagated in agricultural practice by these means or by budding or grafting include nearly all fruit and nut trees, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, grapes, pineapples, almost all ornamental shrubs and trees and a few field crops such as sugar cane, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Asexually or clonally propagated plants produce genetically identical progeny. Clones are identical copies of a genotype. Together, they are phenotypically homogeneous. However, individually, they are highly heterozygous and segregate widely upon sexual reproduction. This is not unexpected, because the types selected as commercial cultivars are likely to be vigorous ones, and a positive correlation exists between vigour and heterozygosity in most species.

CATTLE BREEDS The genus Bos is classified into Bos indicus  and Bos taurus. Bos indicus belongs to tropical region and have hump whereas Bos taurus belongs to temperate region and is humpless. Milch breeds are Red Sindhi, Gir, Sahiwal, Tharparkar. Dual purpose or general utility breeds are Nimari, Kankrej, Nellore, Dangi, Rathi, Deoni, Hariana, Krishna Valley, Ongole. Draught breeds are Amritmahal, Nagori, Khillari, Vechur, Bachaur, Siri, Ponwar, Kangayam, Bargur, Malvi, Hallikar. Cross-breeds Jersind = Jersey x Red Sindhi. Frieswal = HF x Sahiwal. Jerthar = Jersey x Tharparkar. Karan Swiss = Brown Swiss x Sahiwal. Karan Fries = HF x Tharparkar. Sunandini = Brown Swiss x Non descript. Jamaica Hope = 80% Jersey, 15% Sahiwal, 5% HF. Taylor = Short horn bull x Native cow. BUFFALO BREEDS (Bubalus bubalis) Buffalo breeds are classified as Riverine type

Animal Genetic Resources

Agricultural biodiversity is the product of thousand years of activity during which humans have sought to meet their needs in a wide range of climatic and ecological conditions. Well adapted livestock have been an essential element of agricultural production systems. For livestock keepers, animal genetic diversity is a resource to be drawn upon to select stocks and develop new breeds. More broadly, genetically diverse livestock populations provide society with a greater range of options to meet future demands, so the wise management of the world’s agricultural biodiversity is becoming an ever greater challenge for the international community. The livestock sector in particular is undergoing dramatic changes as large-scale production expands in response to surging demand for meat, milk and eggs (FAO, 2008).

Animal genetic resources (AnGR) include all animal species, breeds and strains that are of economic, scientific and cultural interest to humankind in terms of food and agricultural production for the present or the future. Domesticated animals are considered to be those species that are bred in captivity and modified from their wild ancestors to make them more useful to humans, who control their reproduction (breeding), care (shelter, protection against predators) and food supply (Diamond, 2002; Mignon-Grasteau, 2005). Only about 40 animal species have been domesticated since the Pleistocene. Common species include cattle, sheep, goat, chicken, duck, pig, horse, buffalo, rabbit, camel, donkey, elephants, various poultry species, reindeer, etc. All these AnGR are vital to the economic development of the majority of countries in the world playing an important role in the subsistence of many communities. Although only a subset of the diversity present in the ancestral species survived in the domestic counterparts, domestic livestock diversity has been continuously evolving.

Communication is a key to understand things between two people. Today’s communication is entirely different from pre-historic era and has taken many evolution throughout the years. Before alphabets, signs, symbols, letters and telephone evolved, communication was restricted to interpersonal interaction (i.e.) from one person to another in the form of gestures. It is in other terms called non-verbal communication. Today, communicating between two or more people has become too easy that one can communicate with more than 10 members at a time which is in technical means called conferencing.

The growth of internet has paved way for innumerable means of communication. In other words it can be told as, communication is re-defined by technology. Texts, email, tweets, tele and video conferencing have widely saved much time of people and made them recipients of today’s fast moving world.

Communication beyond history

Ancient nomads used to communicate with the help of drawings and paintings. Chauvat Cave in France is one such example which proves that communication through cave painting had taken place 30,000 years ago Before Christ (BC). Throughout the world many such cave painting monuments has been discovered. One in South Sulawesi, Indonesia and Coliboaia Cave in Romania gives an idea about how communication would have prevailed among people those days.

Later came symbols. Historical evidences prove that, symbols were used by people around 10,000 B.C. Through rock carvings pictograms were developed by ancient people to tell a story to their next generations through logographic images. It is said that, culture among human groups have evolved through rock carvings. Later, ancient cultures developed ideograms. Egyptians had their own style of communication called Hieroglyphs. Chinese created their own characters. Lastly, the alphabets re-defined language and communication was developed around 2000 BC.

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. The term was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in the 1953 book Applied Imagination. Osborn claimed that brainstorming was more effective than individuals working alone in generating ideas, although more recent research has questioned this conclusion. Today, the term is used as a catch all for all group ideation sessions.

Origin

Advertising executive Alex F. Osborn began developing methods for creative problem solving in 1939. He was frustrated by employees’ inability to develop creative ideas individually for ad campaigns. In response, he began hosting group-thinking sessions and discovered a significant improvement in the quality and quantity of ideas produced by employees.

1) Phomopsis fruit rot or Blight
Diagnostic Symptoms
• Plants are attacked at all stages of growth.
• On leaves, circular to irregular, clearly defined grayish brown spots having light centers appear. The diseased leaves become yellowish in colour and may drop off.
• Several black pycnidiacan be seen on older spots.
• Lesions on stem are dark brown, round to oval and have grayish centers where pycnidia develop.
• At the base of the stem, the fungus causes characteristic constrictions leading to canker development and toppling of plants.
• On fruits, small pale sunken spots appear which on enlargement cover entire fruit surface. These spots become watery leading to soft rot phase of the disease. A large number of dot like pycnidia also develop on such spots.
• Infection of fruit through calyx leads to development of dry rot and fruits appear black and mummified (Fig.1).

Advances in seed production techniques have revolutionized brinjal cultivation, enhancing productivity, quality, and sustainability. Traditional methods, such as manual emasculation and pollination, have been supplemented and in some cases replaced by innovative approaches, contributing to increased efficiency and reduced labor costs. Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) and grafting technologies have emerged as valuable tools, offering novel avenues for enhancing breeding efficiency and managing soil-borne pathogens. These advancements have facilitated the development of high-yielding F1 hybrids and improved pure-line varieties with enhanced resilience to pests and diseases. Furthermore, the adoption of precision agriculture techniques, including controlled environment agriculture and hydroponics, has enabled year-round seed production, mitigating the impact of seasonal fluctuations and adverse weather conditions. Integrated pest management (IPM) strategies have been integrated into seed production protocols, minimizing chemical inputs and promoting environmentally sustainable practices. Additionally, innovations in seed extraction methods, such as mechanical extraction and dry extraction techniques, have streamlined the seed processing workflow, resulting in higher seed purity and improved germination rates.

Brinjal is the fifth most economically important Solanaceous crop after potato, tomato, chilli, and tobacco. Apart from the well-known brinjal species (Solanum melongena L.), two other under-utilized species, the scarlet eggplant (S. aethiopicum L.) and the gboma eggplant S. macrocarpon are also cultivated. Brinjal, also known as aubergine or eggplant, under the family Solanaceae (Chromosome No.: 2n = 2x =24) is one of th important vegetables of the tropical countries particularly India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Japan, Indonesia, Thiland, Malaysia and the Philippines. Brinjal is the most common, popular and principal vegetable crop grown widely in India for its various shape, size and colour of fruits. Brinjals are rich sources of potential antioxidants: anthocyanin and phenolic compounds.
Origin, domestication and adaptation in India
Brinjal (Solanum melongena) is believed to have been originated in Indo-Burma region and perhaps China is the secondary centre of origin of this crop. Various data indicate, that from the several species that evolved in Africa, one (S. insanum), gave rise to a distinct species which spread to South-East Asia as the wild ancestor of S. melongena (Lester 1998; Ranil et al., 2017). This wild progenitor of the cultivated species has wide distribution in at least 10 habitats in India which amply suggests India being the centre of origin of brinjal.

Creating a brochure for public relations involves several important steps—from planning the content to designing the layout effectively. Here’s a guide to help you create an impactful PR brochure:
Define Your Purpose and Audience
• Identify the Objective: What message do you want to convey? Is it to inform, persuade, or promote?
• Understand Your Audience: Who are you trying to reach? Tailor your language, tone, and visuals to resonate with your target demographic.
Content Development
• Key Information: Include crucial details such as your organization’s mission, key services, achievements, testimonials, and contact information.
• Compelling Headline: Create an engaging headline that captures attention and summarizes the key message.
• Clear and Concise Copy: Use simple language and short sentences. Aim for clarity and brevity.
• Call-to-Action: Encourage the reader to take the next step, whether it’s visiting a website, contacting for more information, or participating in an event.
Brochure Layout and Design
• Type of Brochure: Choose a format (bi-fold, tri-fold, Z-fold, etc.).
• Visual Hierarchy: Use headings, subheadings, and bullet points to organize information.
• Consistent Branding: Ensure the brochure follows your brand’s colour scheme, fonts, and logos.

Broodstock management is a cornerstone of sustainable aquaculture. It involves the careful selection, conditioning, and maintenance of mature fish to ensure the consistent production of high-quality eggs and sperm. The health and reproductive success of broodstock directly influence the quality of fry and fingerlings, which are vital for successful fish farming operations. Effective broodstock management focuses on creating an optimal environment to promote gonadal development, fecundity, and survival. Key environmental factors such as water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and photoperiod are closely regulated. Additionally, species-specific nutrition—particularly diets rich in protein, essential fatty acids, and vitamins—is essential for gamete development and reproductive performance. In captive environments, many fish species face reproductive dysfunction, especially in the final stages of oocyte maturation. Hormonal treatments are commonly used to induce final maturation and spawning. For instance, in salmonids, eggs must be stripped at the precise time of ovulation to prevent overripening, which can occur within hours. Thus, hormonal manipulation is crucial to ensure precise timing and improve spawning outcomes. Species selection for broodstock is based on biological characteristics such as size at maturity, reproductive behavior, feeding habits, and environmental tolerance. Farms may choose to rear their own broodstock from juvenile stages or collect them from wild populations. Those that raise their own become selfsustaining units, independent of external genetic inputs. Broodstock are typically reared in controlled ponds or tanks, with conditions tailored to their specific needs. This includes sex separation when necessary, as different sexes may require distinct environmental or hormonal cues. For example, male and female sturgeons respond to different hormone treatments. Water parameters are continually adjusted to meet species-specific requirements

Bulb crops include onion, garlic, leek, shallot, welsh onion and chive- all belonging to the genus Allium. This genus was earlier included in the family Liliaceae due to its superior ovary. It was later shifted to Amaryllidaceae as flowers are bom in a bracted umbel on top of a scape. Being the typical genus in the family Amaryllidaceae, a new separate family status was given to all the specious under Allium as Alliaceae.

The common features of bulb crops are:

1. The stem is under ground and rudimentary. The edible portion, bulb is formed by fleshy leaf bases in onion, fleshy axillary buds within thin foliage in garlic, blanched stem and leaves in leek etc.
2. All the bulb crops have a characteristic order due to presence of allyl - propyl - disulphide.
3. All are cool season vegetables and are grown during winter months in plains.

Improved Varieties of Bulb Crops

A. ONION

Bulbous and rhizomatous plants refer a large group which include both flowering and foliage types. Plants having underground modified stems in the form of bulb, corm, rhizome and tuber generally come under this category. This group effectively contributes beautification of the gardens by their flowers and is very popular. BuIbous and rhizomatus plants are perennial in nature, hardy and require less maintenance. In summer when there are few flowers in the garden, these plants help to keep the gardens in a presentable form by their magnificent flowers. Large number of bulbous and rhizomatous plants are in use for this purpose. The common flowering genera include - Amaryllis, Anthurium, Canna, Cooperia, Crinum, Eucharis, Gladiolus, Haemanthus, Hedychium, Hemerocallis, Lilium, Narcissus, Ornithogalum, Pancratium, Polianthes and Zephyranthus. Some of the popular genera of foliage type are - Alocasia, Asparagus, Caladium, Calathea, Kaempferia.

Classification

According to the climatic requirement for growth and flowering, these are grouped into following two main classes.

Warm Climate - These bulbous plants produce flowers during summer-rainy season. The important ones are - Amaryllis, Crinum, Canna, Haemanthus, Hedychium, Hemerocallis, Ornithogalum, Pancratium, Polianthes, Zephyranthus etc.

The wide range of climatic conditions in India provides a choice of various bulbous crops to grow them in different parts of country. The term bulbous includes a wide array of perennial plants that are grown from underground organs, including bulbs, corms, tubers and rhizomes. Any plant described as bulbous will normally have a swollen root or stem or even leaves underground. A large number of these plants producing attractive flowers are commercially grown now days. Normally bulbous plant has a three phases during a year growth, flowering and dormancy. Bulbous plants are grown commonly in beds, shrubbery, herbaceous border, grassy land and in pots and bowl. A brief description of some common bulbous crops is given below.

1. Amaryllis: Common name (CN): Belladonna lily, King or Star lily, Botanical name (BN): Amaryllis spp., Family (F): Amaryllidaceae, Origin (O): South Africa.

Amaryllis is an excellent bulbous plant with deciduous foliage. Leaves are produced after cessation of flowering. It is suitable for bedding, pot, window boxes, greenhouses, borders, etc. Flowers are sold in the market as cut flowers. The flowers are large, trumpet shaped and are borne in umbels having 3-7 florets in small flowered varieties whereas 2-4 florets of giant size in Dutch hybrids. Amaryllis is propagated by vegetative means. They are mostly propagated through bulbs. They are also commercially propagated through tissue culture. Important species are Amaryllis belladonna, A. angustifolia, A. leopolidii, A. moreliana, A. papilio, A. striata, A. miniata and A. traubii.

Among garden plants, herbaceous perennials that produce perennating structures like bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes or fascicled tuberous roots are called bulbous plants. They belong to various plant families such as Amaryllidaceae, Cannaceae, Heliconiaceae, Iridaceae, Liliaeceae, Musaceae, Ranunculaeceae and Zingiberaceae. The possession of perennating structures that are modifications of plant parts- mostly stems- is common to these plants. These modifications aid in their vegetative propagation as the dormant buds associated with them regenerate when conditions are favourable to result in new plants. In both tropical and temperate climate zones, bulbous plants have evolved and naturalized in several ecological ‘niches’. Many of these have been domesticated centuries ago and are familiar garden plants. Generally, bulbous plats are adapted to grow vegetatively putting forth shoots carrying a limited number of leaves. When further vegetative growth has ceased these shoots produce terminal or basal inflorescences. Bulbous plants are grown and displayed in clumps.

Based on the requirement of relatively low or high temperatures for sprouting and flowering they are classified into warm- season bulbous plants and cool-season bulbous plants. These groupings are not exclusive and many plants have evolved varieties that thrive in both seasonal conditions.