eChapters

Physical Properties of Soil

Physical properties of soil have many important roles in the crop production. The basic requirements for germination, seedling emergence and root development are adequate moisture and aeration, optimum temperature and absence of mechanical hindrance. After germination the further development of plant is also governed by physical conditions of soil. Soil texture, soil structure, soil density, soil consistence, soil water, soil air, soil temperature and soil colour are main physical properties of soils also affecting mechanical behaviour of soils. These are described here.

1. Soil Texture

The weathering divides larger particles of rocks and minerals in to the smaller ones. This process goes continuously. Thus, particles of different sizes ranging from large fragments of rocks to the very fine clay minerals are found in soil. However, for texture particles less than 2mm diameter is considered. The relative amount of these particles indicates the soil type also. Such as sandy soils contain more amounts of coarse particles i.e., sand and clayey soils are rich in fine particles. The rock and mineral particles having diameter less than 2.0 mm and come between specifies size are called as soil separates. International society of soil science (ISSS) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) systems are Generally, followed to classify the soil separates. This classification is given in table 3.1.

Nano-material possess unique properties such as dimension, shape, specific surface area, surface mass ratio etc., that are highly influenced by the mechanical and physical properties. It is pertinent to understand the basic physical properties of nano-materials in order to apply them in a wide array of functions. In this context, this chapter is devoted to provide basic information on physical, mechanical and photo-luminescence properties of nano-materials.

Nano-materials are to be extensively studied and characterized prior to their application in material science, biological science, electrical and electronics. In addition to the basic physical properties of the nano-materials, other characteristics such as paramagnetism, ferromagnetism, supermagnetism, optical properties, quantum size effects and electrical properties have to be studied. With a view to provide the fundamental information on these aspects this chapter is dedicated.

In India rice is cultivated under two land situations. In uplands, rice is grown under rainfed conditions and the yield is normally low. In medium or low land conditions rice is grown under wet condition where plenty of rain water or irrigation water is available. Here an intensive tillage is practiced in wet to create a soft puddle condition and then paddy is transplanted. Land submergence is thus an essential condition for successful rice cultivation.

Rice soils are not necessarily soils with water at or near the surface. Many soils have a fairly deep water table, but their surface is kept under submergence maintaining depth of 3-5 cm water. This condition is maintained either by puddling when wet or by having a compacted layer in the sub surface.

A rice soil is characterized by reducing conditions, when it is cropped with rice during wet season and oxidizing conditions during dry season, when the land remained fallow or planted with dry season crops if, irrigation water is available.

Since the 1960s, the world population has doubled from three to seven billion, and this trend will persist in the coming decades. Because of this rapid expansion, a massive increase in crop production is required to meet the food and energy demands of future generations. Potassium is the third important plant nutrient after nitrogen and phosphorous. It is seventh most abundant element in the lithosphere. Being chemically active metal, it is never found in its pure elemental state in nature. Potassium (K) plays a particularly crucial role in a number of physiological processes vital to growth, yield, quality, and stress resistance of all crops. The K content of Indian soils varies from less than 0.5–3.0%. The average total potassium content of those soils is 1.52% (Mengel and Kirkby 1987).

Introduction

Protected cultivation practices can be defined as a cropping technique where in the micro environment surrounding the plant body is controlled partially or fully as per plant need during their period of growth to maximize the yield and resource saving. Protected structures can play important role to minimize the impact of temperature fluctuation, over/under precipitation, fluctuating sun shine hour and infestation of disease and pest. The controlled environment can be utilized for growing early season /off-season vegetables and high value vegetables. This may become relevant to those farmers having small land holding who would be benefitted by a technology, which helps them to grow more crops each year and save them from adverse situation. Vegetable crops are very sensitive to climatic vagaries and sudden rise in temperature as well as irregular precipitation at any phase of crop growth can affect the normal growth, flowering, pollination, fruit development and subsequently decreased the crop yield. Apart from that high input cost and higher labor wages make vegetable cultivation less profitable under open field condition. Again, in the present scenario, more people are demanding early season/off-season vegetables and high value vegetables at higher price which are not possible to grow under open field situation.

Present status in world: In world, China has the largest area (2,760 thousand hectares) under greenhouse cultivation followed by Korea having 57.44 thousand hectares (Nair and Barche, 2014). The advent of protected cultivation technology in India materialized during the early nineties, post globalization.

India: India is the second largest producers of vegetable in the world, however as per medical council of India, the production is much less than the requirement if balanced diet are to be provided to every individual. The advent of protected cultivation technology in India materialized during the early nineties, post globalization. In India, the area under protected cultivation faced with constraints of land holdings, rapid urbanization, declining crop production, declining biodiversity and ever increasing population, demand for food, especially vegetables has increased manifold and protected cultivation has offered a new dimension to produce more in a limited area. Today Dutch protected cultivation is one of the most intensive farming systems in the world with high levels of output by using the latest technologies.

Protected cultivation provides controlled or modified growing environments that enable horticultural crops to be produced beyond their normal climatic limitations. This chapter covers greenhouses, polyhouses, shade nets, insect-proof structures, tunnels, and other protected systems. It explains environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, light, ventilation, carbon dioxide, irrigation, and fertigation. Protected cultivation can improve productivity, quality, resource-use efficiency, and production timing while reducing exposure to adverse weather and certain pests. The chapter also discusses crop selection, substrate culture, automation, and integrated management. Proper environmental control and economic planning are essential because protected systems involve higher initial investment but can generate high returns through quality produce and extended market opportunities.

14.1. PPVFR Act

TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement of WTO (World Trade Organization) was signed.

Enacted PPVFR act in 2001.

Regulation formulated in 2003.

1. Introduction:- Overview of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP)
1.1 Definition and Scope of GLP
GLP refers to a set of standards that govern the organizational processes, personnel responsibilities, and conditions under which laboratory studies are conducted. It aims to regulate research environments and ensure the generation of high-quality, traceable, and reproducible results. The scope of GLP encompasses a wide range of scientific fields including pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, veterinary products, and environmental safety assessments. Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) regulations were developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and well adopted by regulatory agencies world-wide. The primary objective of GLP is to promote high standards of accuracy and integrity in non-clinical research to protect human health and the environment.
1.2 Principles of GLP
The fundamental principles of GLP include:
• Study Planning and Protocol Development: Every study must have a clear plan and defined objectives, which should be outlined in a comprehensive protocol.
• Personnel Responsibilities: The roles of study directors, scientists, quality assurance personnel, and support staff are clearly defined.
• Test Systems and Facilities: Laboratories must maintain appropriate facilities and control systems for conducting studies. These include properly calibrated equipment, controlled environments, and standardized procedures.
• Data Integrity and Reporting: Data must be meticulously recorded, verified, and archived, ensuring it is traceable and reproducible.
• Study Documentation and Archiving: All records, raw data, and reports must be stored and accessible for a period defined by regulations, ensuring transparency and reproducibility.

Biofertilizers are one of the important components of organic farming and sustainable agriculture. Awareness among farmers is increasing on the biological fertilizers. But, the success of biofertilizer inoculation depends on the quality of the inoculant used. Because farmers are unable to judge the quality of the inoculants at the time of purchase or even at use. The inoculant producers are negligent to institute quality control programmes. Unfortunately much of the inoculant produced in the world today is relatively of poor quality. In such situation maintaining high quality inoculant products depend on the internal implementation of effective quality control systems by manufacturer. A major goal of a quality standard is to control the quality of inoculant to be used in any country.

Quality Control addresses the standards and management practices required to ensure reliable and effective biofertilizer products. It introduces general quality concepts, quality-control parameters, microbial functions, and properties of microbial products. The chapter then explains quality-management procedures for important biofertilizer groups, including Rhizobium, nonsymbiotic nitrogen fixers, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria. Quality-control measures are linked to product performance, consistency, storage, and application suitability. By emphasizing systematic assessment and management, the chapter highlights why quality assurance is essential for maintaining viable microbial populations and delivering predictable agricultural benefits from biofertilizers and related biological inputs. across production and distribution systems effectively today.

Introduction

It is necessary to ascertain the quality of irrigation water so as to gauge the possible effects of this water on the soil. The irrigation water often results in water logging, salinity and alkalinity problems. It is therefore very important to know its quality. Following are the basic criteria or characteristics on which irrigation water quality is judged.

1. Presence of total soluble salts in irrigation water.
2. Proportion of carbonates and bicarbonates in relation to calcium and magnesium in irrigation water.
3. Proportion of sodium in relation to other cations in irrigation water.
4. Concentration of specific ions in irrigation water.

Several parameters are employed to judge the quality of irrigation waters No parameter in complete in judging the quality of irrigation water. Further the quality of water should be judged by considering the crop and soil factors. Any judgment without considering the above factors may not be useful. Researchers devised many parameters by following above said criteria. Some of the commonly adopted parameters used to judge the quality of irrigation water are:

Water used for irrigation contain some salts, but quantities and kinds vary greatly depending on the source of water. Since sodic status of soils can be greatly influenced by salts in irrigation waters, successful irrigation practices require the evaluation system to judge irrigation water quality and methods employed. The actual damage done by salt to plants or soils depends on the concentration in soil solution rather than the quality of irrigation water applied. Thus, the use of some water source for irrigation might lead to severe salt problem in soils where drainage is restricted.

Criteria for evaluation of irrigation water

Various criteria considered in evaluating the quality of irrigation water are:

1. Salinity hazard

The most satisfactory method for rating the salt content of irrigation water involves measuring electrical conductivity. Various conductivity limits have been proposed to indicate the degree of salinity problems that might be anticipated with use of irrigation water on crops. There are four classes of salinity hazard such as C₁, C₂, C₃, and C₄.

1. Introduction
Ecosystem Services (ES) are actually the benefits human beings derive from their interaction with nature (Reyers et al., 2013; Ernstson, 2013). Around 400 BC, Plato observed how important service provided to Attica by the forests and subsequent loss of forests lead to drying spring and soil erosion (Mooney and Ehrlich, 1997). Thus, the work of Plato highlights that how the people were even then aware of the critical services provided by nature much before the industrial revolution (Rapidel et al., 2011). These ES are categorised into mainly provisioning, supporting, regulating and cultural services as per the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005). In fact, the increasing population warrants more and more set of ES (Biggs et al., 2015). A combination of factors responsible for delivery of ES like geology, climate, ecosystem, management scenarios, society, techniques, skills etc. that led to ES in an agricultural ecosystem (Kroll et al., 2012; Swinton et al., 2007). The ordinary nature largely comprised of agricultural lands (i.e., intensive crops, species poor, artificial pasture) that covers around 37.4% of total Earths’ land surface (FAOSTAT, 2016; Leff et al., 2004). Converting large tract of pristine lands into agricultural land and other competing uses considered to be one of the main reasons for biodiversity loss and land degradation (Tilman et al., 2001). Thus, meeting the challenge of working with limited arable land to feed our population in an eco-friendly manner requires our proper understanding of processes/mechanisms involved in nutrient availability/dynamics including fixation/ release pattern and refining the best management practices (Kumar et al., 2022a). The production of food has been targeted at the cost of other ES like supporting, cultural and non-marketable provisioning services (Muller et al., 2016; Foley et al., 2005; MEA, 2005). There is complex interaction between ecosystem and societal changes in an agricultural landscape. One is intermittently connected to other. Thus, it requires thorough understanding of the processes and biophysical factors that affect ES research, in particular and social-ecosystem, in general (Reed
et al., 2013; Carpenter et al., 2006; Plieninger et al., 2013). The ES that contribute to the agricultural production are mostly linked to aspect of soil fertility, biological control as well as pollination (Bommarco et al., 2013; Duru et al., 2015).

Radiation Chemistry is a branch of nuclear chemistry that deals with the study of chemical effects of radiation on matter.

Radio activity is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing radiations (a, b, g radiations). It may be of

An atom consists of a positively charged nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The positive nuclear charge is due to the presence of protons which carry a mass of 1 and a charge of +1. Besides protons in the nucleus, there are neutrons which are heavier than protons. They carry no charge. Comparatively electrons have no mass (1836 times lesser than that of a proton) but they carry a charge of –1. Hence, the whole mass of an atom is likely to be concentrated in the nucleus.

Soil testing kit is developed to determine the available nutrient status of soil by rapid test methods. With this system of soil testing, a farmer can test his own soil as often and, in as many places as he feels necessary, and after gauging the need of his soil, he can apply the fertilizers as required. The present mode of soil testing in laboratories usually takes few days and sometime weeks and the farmers may have to travel long distances to submit the soil sample.

The crop growth and productivity is conditioned by many factors of which, the nutrient status (Content) of plant parts such as leaf, stem, etc play a critical role. Moreover the leaf and stem are considered as the indicator parts of plants for assessing the nutrients content of plant. Each crop plant requires the essential element at a specific concentration at different growth stages and it is known as ‘critical level’. When the nutrient content of plant depletes below the critical level the plants may exhibit some symptoms. The requirement or otherwise the availability of nutrients can be assessed by i) plant diagnosis ii) soil analysis and iii) plant analysis by two methods a) by qualitative test and b) by quantitative estimation. Based on the plant or soil tests, the required nutrients can be applied for crops to sustain the growth and rectify the deficiency disorders. The rapid tissue test would pave way for rectifying the nutritional problems for quick recovery, however the quantitative estimation of both plant and soil for nutrients concentration will be more useful and economic for applying fertilizers either as basal or foliar and would be the long term strategy to cope up with nutritional problems.

For rapid tissue test to assess the nutrient status, different parts of plant should be taken as indicator tissue and some of the representative crops are furnished below:

3.1. Reserve Bank of India

Established in April 1, 1935 as per RBI Act, 1934.

Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) organized in 1935 coordinated Bank’s operations with State Co-operative Banks and other banks and organization dealing with agricultural credit

Financing agriculture by commercial banks is looked after by Department of Banking Operations and Development (DBOD)

While, ACD continued to take care of co-operative credit

The chemistry of humic substances is the least comprehended in the field of Soil Science. The many important functions of humus will remain obscure if the structural chemistry of the humic and fulvic acids is not known. A variety of functional groups have been reported in humic substances. However, considerable disagreement still exists in respect of the exact amounts present and, in some cases, proof of existence is lacking.

Some important structural groups of organic molecules are given below: