eChapters

Human communication rarely depends on a single information modality. People simultaneously interpret language, images, sounds, gestures and contextual signals to understand their surroundings. Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) seek to reproduce this capability by integrating text, vision and speech within unified computational frameworks. This chapter introduces the evolution and technological foundations of multimodal intelligence and explains how different data modalities can be aligned through shared representations. It examines the architectural components, training paradigms and evaluation methods used to develop multimodal systems. Applications are discussed across healthcare, autonomous systems, education, accessibility, conversational interfaces and intelligent assistants. For example, healthcare applications can combine electronic health records, spoken clinical interactions and medical images to provide richer contextual understanding. Similarly, autonomous vehicles can integrate visual road information, spoken instructions and textual navigation data. The chapter also considers challenges involving multimodal alignment, computational requirements, data quality, hallucination, interpretability and safety. It concludes by highlighting future research toward more natural, context-aware and human-centered AI systems capable of seeing, listening, reasoning and communicating

Large Language Models have moved beyond experimental research environments and now support conversational agents, coding assistants, recommendation systems and intelligent decision-making applications. However, delivering these services to millions of users requires extremely low latency, high throughput, scalability, security and cost efficiency. This chapter examines the engineering principles required for real-time LLM inference and large-scale deployment. It decomposes end-to-end latency into model execution, network and queuing components and discusses techniques for optimizing each stage. Model-level approaches such as quantization, knowledge distillation, LoRA, QLoRA and speculative decoding are examined for reducing computational requirements while maintaining model quality. At the infrastructure level, tensor and sequence parallelism, GPU and TPU acceleration, efficient batching, autoscaling and cloud-native deployment strategies are considered. Key-value caching and speculative decoding are discussed as important methods for reducing response time in interactive applications. The chapter also addresses privacy, confidential computing, real-time PII protection, energy consumption and monitoring of model performance. Practical deployment examples demonstrate how these techniques can support responsive, secure and efficient AI services at production scale.

The rapid growth of Large Language Models has demonstrated that increasing model size, training data and computational resources can significantly improve performance. This chapter examines the theoretical and empirical foundations of scaling laws and their relationship with optimization strategies used to train and deploy increasingly capable LLMs. It discusses the major scaling dimensions of model parameters, dataset size and computational budget and explains how predictable relationships between these factors influence model development. The chapter considers the foundational work on scaling laws and the subsequent movement toward compute-optimal training approaches. It also examines distributed training, advanced optimization algorithms, memory optimization, data curation, quantization, pruning and efficient inference. Particular attention is given to Mixture-of-Experts architectures, efficient attention mechanisms and inference-aware scaling. The interaction between scaling laws and optimization is presented as a synergistic process in which scaling principles guide resource allocation while optimization techniques improve computational efficiency. The chapter concludes by discussing emerging capabilities, sustainability, hardware requirements and responsible scaling of future foundation models.

Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient and plays a particularly important role in intensively cultivated irrigated systems. This chapter examines nitrogen management in irrigated soils, where assured water availability and intensive cropping can increase nitrogen demand and create significant nutrient losses. The chapter begins with the functions of nitrogen and the forms in which nitrogen occurs in soil, including inorganic and organic forms. Mineralization and immobilization processes are discussed, along with factors affecting nitrogen mineralization and nitrogen transformations under waterlogged conditions. Major pathways of nitrogen loss, particularly volatilization, denitrification and leaching, are examined because they directly influence nitrogen-use efficiency and environmental quality. The chapter discusses different nitrogen fertilizers, including ammonium sulphate, ammonium chloride, ammonium nitrate and slow-release fertilizers. Nitrification inhibitors and strategies for efficient fertilizer use are also considered. Special attention is given to leaching of urea-N, nitrogen-use efficiency and nitrogen balance in the plant–soil system. The chapter therefore emphasizes balanced nitrogen management for sustaining productivity while reducing nutrient losses

Sustainability

Sustainability is a complicated concept. The most often cited definition comes from the U.N. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED): “Sustainable development is the development that fulfills the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their requirements.” Hence, sustainability has been defined as meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Aim: To verify the relationship between the input and output voltage for 3-phase transformer connection in various ways:

A 3-phase transformer can be considered as a set of 3 single-phase transformer bank or as single unit of 3 phase windings. Since three winding are available in both primary and secondary side then there can be different types of connections and so far, different characteristics.

Commercial Building

Commercial buildings consist of government buildings, banks, hospitals, schools, malls, retail, restaurants, and office spaces. Among these, office and retail occupy the major percentage of energy consumption. 

More than 40% of the total final energy consumption and about 30% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are in connection with the civil and residential sector.

Maximum energy consumption in commercial buildings by HVAC system (51% followed by appliances and food service equipment (20%), lighting(12%), electronics and information technology(9%) and water (8%).

Introduction

India has vast livestock resources. Livestock sector includes animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries sector. Livestock provides livelihood to two-third of rural community and employment to about 8.8 % of the population in India. Livestock sector contributes 4.11% GDP and 25.6% of total Agriculture GDP. It provides milk and milk products, meat and meat products, and also constitutes a major supplier of food and food articles, raw materials, and finished products.

Introduction

To address the escalating food demands of the global population, a transformation in the agricultural sector is imperative (Velten et al., 2015; Lampridi et al., 2019). The current overdependence on finite resources is leading to their overexploitation, largely due to irresponsible usage (Velten et al., 2015; Lampridi et al., 2019). By adopting a site-specific approach, farmers can apply inputs only where they are necessary in the field (Velten et al., 2015; Lampridi et al., 2019). This method can enhance output, decrease labor costs, and mitigate the environmental damage caused by excessive input use (Velten et al., 2015; Lampridi et al., 2019).

Climate change impacts

• Climate change is a crucial factor behind cyclone Tauktae

• Global ocean has absorbed 90% of the excess heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions since 1970

• Led to anomalous ocean warming in Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, which in turn makes cyclones intensify rapidly

• India will see more frequent cyclones every year due to global warming

3.1 Overview

3.1.1 Rice straw: What is it?

When harvesting paddy rice, rice straw is produced as a by-product. Approximately 0.7-1.4 kilograms of rice straw can be obtained for each kilogram of milled rice, depending on the variety, moisture content during harvest, and cutting length of the remaining plant stems. The rice straw is separated from the grains after the plants are threshed manually using stationary threshers or with modern combine harvesters, as shown in Figure 3.1.

Rice straw is a type of lignocellulosic biomass comprising cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin. Figure 3.2 illustrates that pretreatment can be used to separate these components. Unlike lignin, which is found in the cell wall, cellulose and hemicellulose are organic fibers.

Quality assurance is fundamental to producing safe, consistent, legally compliant, and commercially successful ice cream. This chapter presents a comprehensive QA framework covering supplier approval, incoming-material inspection, process monitoring, laboratory testing, microbiological control, sanitation, finished-product release, traceability, market quality, and corrective and preventive action. It explains the relationship between quality assurance, quality control, food safety, documentation, and management systems such as HACCP and ISO-based frameworks. The chapter also examines QA department structures, monthly reviews, audits, digitalization, quality culture, and performance indicators. By integrating prevention with measurement and accountability, the chapter demonstrates how effective QA can protect consumers, reduce losses, improve consistency, and strengthen profitability.

Introduction

Eco-friendly interior design is an important consideration for anyone who wants to create a healthy, sustainable, and beautiful space.

Environmental impact: The materials used in interior design can have a significant impact on the environment. Eco-friendly materials are made from renewable resources, reduce waste, and often have a lower carbon footprint than traditional materials.

What is A Smart Energy Home?

Smart homes use internet - connected devices to enable remote monitoring and management of appliances and systems, such as temperature, lighting, and security cameras. Smart energy homes take a step beyond the gadget-filled smart home to focus on bringing smart functionality to major household energy-using systems like HVAC, water heating, and plug loads (including appliances and electronics).

Curriculum development and lesson planning are complex educational processes requiring alignment among learning objectives, competencies, instructional activities, assessment strategies, learner characteristics, and changing societal requirements. Generative AI offers new opportunities to support educators and curriculum designers in managing these processes more efficiently and intelligently. This chapter examines AI-augmented approaches to curriculum development and lesson planning, with emphasis on personalization, competency-based education, adaptive learning, and data-informed instructional design. Generative AI can assist in developing learning objectives, lesson sequences, teaching activities, question banks, assessment rubrics, case studies, and differentiated learning resources. It can also analyze student performance and recommend modifications to curriculum content, learning pathways, and instructional strategies. The chapter considers applications within Indian educational contexts, including curriculum alignment, digital platforms, low-bandwidth environments, and emerging institutional initiatives. It also discusses challenges such as teacher resistance, inadequate AI literacy, interoperability, infrastructure limitations, data privacy, and ethical concerns. Successful implementation requires human review and pedagogical judgment. The chapter ultimately presents AI as a curriculum co-design and teacher-augmentation tool capable of improving efficiency, personalization, scalability, and educational relevance.

Energy is a critical component of the economic infrastructure, as it is the primary input required to support economic growth. Economic development and energy use have a close relationship. The higher a country’s per capita energy usage, the more developed it is and vice versa. Human civilization is dependent on several energy sources.

Definitions of Energy

Energy is a key topic in science and technology, as well as in society in general. In terms of energy, a typical definition found in popular literature as well as textbooks is “energy is the ability to do work” or, much more precisely, “energy is the capacity of a system to do work” [Atkins 1990].

Energy is described as the ability to generate change or carry out work, and that work can be separated into numerous easily identifiable tasks: Energy produces light, heat, motion, sound, growth, power and technology etc.

Energy in Agricultural Context (FAO)

Agriculture’s fundamental and foremost function is to produce food and other primary products, so contributing to food and nutritional security. Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) attempts to promote ecologically non-degrading, technically suitable, commercially successful, and socially acceptable development in the agriculture, fishery and forestry sectors. Achieving food security necessitates policies that promote social, cultural, political, and economic stability. Integrating agriculture’s economic, social, and environmental roles can help to attain these objectives.

Agriculture may provide a variety of non-food commodities and services. This can include its application as a viable, long-term source of energy. According to the FAO, agricultural activities and related land use directly contribute to non-agricultural functions such as social, environmental, economic and cultural products and services. They can have major advantages or disadvantages. Research reveals that, in addition to food security, agriculture contributes significantly to attaining sustainability at the local, national and global levels in rural development, energy and the environment. The efficient operation of the market encourages the identification and strengthening of these many functions, as well as the development of new techniques and technologies. Plant and crop-based resources are utilised as raw materials in a wide range of industrial goods, including wood for paper and board production, starches for adhesives, and vegetable oils for paints and resins.

Healthcare represents one of the most promising yet sensitive application domains for Large Language Models. LLMs can process extensive medical literature, electronic health records, clinical narratives and other forms of biomedical information to support diagnosis, research and patient care. This chapter explores the growing role of LLMs in healthcare, beginning with their development from general language models toward specialized biomedical and clinical systems. It examines applications in disease diagnosis, clinical decision support, medical documentation, literature analysis, drug discovery and personalized medicine. LLMs can assist with differential diagnosis, symptom extraction, medical question answering, clinical trial matching and interpretation of medical information. In drug discovery, they can analyze scientific publications, patents and clinical evidence to identify potential drug candidates, targets and opportunities for drug repositioning. Personalized medicine applications involve integrating genetic, lifestyle and treatment-response information to support patient-specific therapeutic decisions. At the same time, the chapter emphasizes major concerns involving patient privacy, hallucination, explainability, regulatory compliance and human oversight. The discussion highlights the importance of responsible integration of LLMs with clinical expertise and established healthcare practices

Abstract

The increase incidence of plant diseases have created challenging troubles in commercial agriculture and posed economical threats to both conventional and organic farming systems. To combat these problems there has been indiscriminate use of the synthetic chemicals that created different types of environmental and toxicological problems. Therefore attention has been directed towards exploitation of plant products or phytoextracts as novel chemotherapeutants in plant protection. Numerous botanical pesticides have been used globally and more has been discovered in due course of time. Pyrethroids, neem, etc are well established commercially as botanical pesticides and recently some essential oils of higher plants have also been used as antimicrobials as they are safe and widely accepted by the consumers. Use of phytoextracts may thus offer a new source of antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral agents against microorganisms. Botanical pesticides are best fitting for organic food production in industrialized countries and can plays greater role in the production and post-harvest protection of food products in developing countries.

Abstract 

A field investigation entitled, “Studies on growth and yield of aerobic rice in summer season under various moisture regimes and planting techniques in upland condition” was carried out at Regional Research Station, Gayeshpur, Nadia, West Bengal of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya. The field experiment was laid out in a split plot design with three replications. The treatment consisted of three irrigation regimes in main plots viz., IW/CPE =1.0, IW/CPE =1.5 and IW/CPE = 2.0 and four treatments on planting techniques in sub plots viz., P1: Sprouted seeds, P2: Non-sprouted seed, P3: Soaking seeds overnight (12 hrs), P4: Soaking seeds overnight (12 hrs) followed by shade drying.

Abstract
 
The word “sustain” is derived from the Latin verb ‘sustinere’(to keep in existence or maintain) and implies long-term support or permanence. The accepted definition of sustainable agriculture has proved to be elusive, given the extraordinary diversity and complexity of agricultural land use, and the perspective taken including producers, consumers, policy makers and workforces. Sustainable agriculture is defined as ‘the ability of farmland to produce food grain and other agricultural products to satisfy human needs indefinitely as well as having sustainable impacts on the broader environment and maintained equilibrium in productivity level’. That in other words, requires agriculture to avoid severe or irreversible damage to the endogenous or external ecosystem services upon which it depends, notably soil fertility, irrigation water, genetic variability and pollinating agencies and have acceptable impacts on the broader environment under the environmental stewardship.

ABSTRACT
Increased environmental pollution and high demand over supply for conventional fossil fuel sources have led to the exploration of other renewable energy sources. Out of the potential alternatives, methane has come up with a promising unconventional fuel source. Several technologies have been developed to establish methanation, including biomethanation, chemical methanation and gas-to-liquid technology. Several factors like process parameters, catalysts and reactors have been studied for process optimisation and making methane production commercially viable. Although methane as a greenhouse gas is a contributor to global warming, its combustion produces relatively ‘environment friendly’ gas CO₂, and H₂O. The released CO₂ is fixed into biomass by plant through photosynthesis process. Only rarely does methane combustion produces CO when combusted in an oxygen-limited condition. Thus, methane production and combustion are carbon neutral process. This chapter focuses on the application of methane as a source of alternate energy. Various technologies used, recent advances and challenges faced in methanation process are discussed.

Abstract

The bio-drainage system used to control the water logging hazards and restore the ground water table depth at a level favourable for other crops to grow. The water utilization efficiency per unit area of land improved through bio-drainage and associated cropping activities. The huge quantity of shallow and good quality groundwater that remains perpetually unutilized by the prevalent lowland cultivation system was effectively used by the biological drainage system. Thus the bio-drainage is expected to alleviate the land degradation problem due to high depth of water stagnant, to restore the crop cultivation programme on a sustainable way, to improve the water management practices, to improve the economic conditions of the lowland farmers and finally, to conserve the ecological values of this fragile agro-ecosystem.The objectives of efficient bio-drainage system are to evaluate ET and depended on growth characteristics of different trees and vegetation species having bio-drainage potential in the waterlogged land thereby to study the water table behaviour in the land under plantation and in the surrounding region and use the result in developing suitable plantation geometry to ensure desired water table draw-down, to assess interaction between bio-drainage plantation and co-existing crops and/or companion crops, to assess the value of the tree species through fodder, fuel wood and timber use, and to development of a new technology for land reclamation and evaluating its impact on soil, water and plant bodies in the basin.

Abstract
 
Adoption of agricultural practices is cost effective bioremediation techniques to mitigate arsenic problems and can contribute substantially to the cause of removal of arsenic and other heavy metal contamination of soils and water thereby quality enrichment in marketable agricultural produce leading to increased crop productivity in the area of intensive cropping under irrigated eco system. Though the farmers are already practicing some traditional techniques to mitigate the arsenic problems in soils and water, like cultivation of crops which are less affected to arsenic and heavy metals pollution, growing hyper accumulating crops and so many practices wherein the modern methods are not prevalently used by the farmers due to the lack of scientific validity of these techniques, particularly in the context of prevailing socio-economic conditions. Moreover, acceptance of these improved practices by the small farmers of this region is an evolutionary process and should be intensively proved. Hence, extensive studies need for bio or phyto-remediation of heavy metals including arsenic contamination for quality marketable agricultural produce, which ultimately can realize better crop productivity.

ABSTRACT
Methanogens are primarily anaerobic Archaebacteria representing the most primitive earthly creatures, alive since about 3.5 billion years. While oxygen inhibit their activity, they adapt well in a variety of ecological niche, viz., the intestinal tracts of insects and animals including ruminants, sewage digesters, groundwater and deep soil/water, etc. They are involved in biomethanation that converts organic polymers, including the complex recalcitrant lignocelluloses, to CH₄ and CO₂. Enhancing the process by optimising the physical, chemical and molecular parameters is an interesting biotechnology. Molecular research is rapidly progressing on the genomics, gene and its regulation, and methanogenesis as it expresses. Identifying novel species expressing methanogenesis and manipulating the genetic make-up including through cloning in recent years will set goals and leads for future investigations. The biomethanation enzyme Methyl-CoM-reductase (Mcr) constitutes about 10% of the methanogen protein. Due to its abundance and significance, elucidating its structure and its synthesis and regulation mechanism has received much attention recently. Mcr-coding genes from methanogens have been cloned and sequenced. An approach at the molecular level to enhance biomethanation seems to lie in metagenomics. The microbiology, biochemistry, the roles of the participating microbes, their molecular biology and applications in methanogenesis are discussed in this chapter.

ABSTRACT
Biomethanation comprises of four interdependent stages in series, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis. Methanogenesis, the final stage of biomethanation, is accompanied with the reduction of substrates that include organic acids such as CH₃COOH, and others such as CO₂ and CH₃OH to CH₄ by methanogenic and methanotrophic archaea, usually under anaerobic conditions. Strictly anaerobic methanogenic archaea are found in the ruminant intestine, sewage digester, groundwater and deep soil/water etc. In methanogenesis, H₂ acts as the electron donor while substrates CO₂, CH₃OH and probably CoM-S-S-CoB (for CH₃COOH) act as terminal electron acceptors and reduce to methane, a process known as anaerobic respiration. This conversion is associated with the electrogenic proton motive force along with sodium motive force to drive the ATP synthesis by A0A1 ATP synthase, known as respiratory phosphorylation. The mechanism of conversion of methane from CO₂ by methanogens with cytochromes is same as those without cytochromes except that the reduction of heterodisulphide CoM-S-S-CoB is performed by the membrane-bound VhoACG-HdrDE complex for former while by cytoplasmic MvhADG–HdrABC complex for the later.

ABSTRACT
Recent challenges for fossil fuels, associated environmental issues with disposal of organic garbage, and the rising costs for energy has encouraged researchers to search for alternate energy sources. Massive uncontrolled biogas from landfills, sludge and organic material degradation under anoxic conditions is an environmental management issue. Methane emission to atmosphere has a tremendous green house effect, but this can also be a valuable renewable energy resource. Biogas from kitchen wastes through anaerobic digestion by methanogens is such an alternate technology. Kitchen wastes are considered one of the best raw materials for biogasification. Biogas is mainly composed of 50-74% methane (CH₄), 25-28% carbon-di-oxide (CO₂), other volatile compounds including hydrogen sulphide (H₂S), water vapour and other trace gas compounds. The impurities in it, like Hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) which is corrosive, downgrade its quality. Purified biogas of higher calorific value attracts attention as a substitute fuel for additional applications. Its purification using various suitable scalable and economically-viable scrubbing technologies to enhance its quality and performance as an alternate fuel is an important step in this direction. Thus, a technology to generate and purify biogas from kitchen waste has significant prospects in the energy sector, and also as a promising enterprise to employ the youth.

ABSTRACT
There is a quantum global growth in both number and size of dairy industries in recent times. These industries discharge thousands of liters of wastewater characterised by a heavy chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), nutrients, inorganic salts, besides detergents and sanitisers each day (Kushwaha et al., 2011). High carbohydrates, fats and proteins contents in such waste streams originating from milk pose challenge to conventional municipal sewage treatment systems (Demirel et al., 2005). The easily biodegradable dairy effluent leads to precipitation of casein which is toxic and has a strong odour. Without adequate treatment, these effluents could pose serious threats to the receiving water bodies and disturb the ecosystem (Satpathy et al., 2017). For such heavily loaded organic effluents, biogasification through anaerobic digestion seems a promising strategy. This cost-effective energy generation process is also effective in environmental management compared to its other eco-friendly renewable source counterparts, such as, hydro, solar and wind (Satpathy, 2017). The Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactors are the most popular anaerobic systems to treat the fluctuating organic loads in dairy effluents. Anaerobic filter (AF), Upflow Anaerobic Filter (UPAF), Fixed-bed anaerobic reactor, Anaerobic Hybrid Reactor (AHR) etc. are few other systems that are demonstrably competent removing COD upto 90% and generating biogas. Successful anaerobic systems reported yielded (with upto about 85% CH₄ content) 0.32-0.34m3 CH₄/kg COD removed. Biomethanation process and reactors designs are constantly being optimised for effective treatment of the effluents while maximising the biogas production. The energy-rich gas thus obtained could further be utilised for heat and electricity at the domestic level, and also as a vehicular fuel. Residual digestate can also be used as organic manures (Angelidaki et al., 2007).

Abstract

Biological drainage relies on vegetation, rather than engineering mechanisms to remove excess soil water through evapo-transpiration. It is often considered attractive because it requires only an initial investment in site development (planting of a “bio-drainage crop”) and (potentially) returns a benefit when the bio-crop is harvested for fodder, wood or fibre. Presently about one-third of the world’s irrigated area faces the threat of waterlogging. Considering long-term viability of bio-drainage, the systems would be subjected to the same scrutiny as other plant-based biological systems with regards to nutrient and salt-balance and soil considerations. Moreover, large-scale adoption of bio-drainage crops could include considerable tracts of land and socio-economic considerations.

ABSTRACT
Rice straw is one of the most abundant lignocellulosic agricultural wastes in India and can be used as a major resource for biogas production. The structure of rice straw is complex and is made up mainly of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. The lignin physically shields the cellulose and hemicelluloses, the main components which can be converted to energy, and hinders the access of microbial enzymes to these carbohydrate moieties. To overcome this making the straw a potential resource of biogas production, effective pretreatment is necessary that can efficiently hydrolyse the straw and make it accessible to cellulolytic enzymes and methanogens. Various pretreatment methods which are employed currently in the market are discussed here. For a process to be economically feasible it is necessary that the pretreatment be efficient as well as cost effective. To gain some insights into this aspect, the techno-commercial feasibility of Biomethanation of rice straw has been discussed.

ABSTRACT
Nisargruna biogas technology has been developed in BARC for processing different types of biodegradable waste. This technology is based on biphasic separation of aerobic and anaerobic stages. Introduction of aerobic predigester has increased the efficiency of the process in terms of enhancing the quality and quantity of methane and also reducing the retention time of the process. Process parameters of the plant were studied and found that the modified design has proved very effective in faster digestion of complex waste. The technology has been commercialised and has spread across different parts of country for processing variety of wastes including kitchen waste, municipal waste, agriculture waste, textile waste and poultry waste. Microbial population from different stages of the plant was also studied and found their ability to convert waste to biogas, containing mainly methane.

Keywords: biogas, biphasic digestion, green energy, methane, microbial fermentation, Nisargruna, waste management

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in an aericendoaquept (pH, 6.67; organic carbon,  CEC,) to study the relative efficiency of different organic manures on the changes in some selected soil properties growing rape (cv. B-9) in a randomised block design replicated thrice using different combinations of organic and inorganic chemical fertilizers (T1- NPK 100%, T2- Compost 100%, T3- Compost 50% + NPK 50%, T4- Vermicompost 100%, T5- Vermicompost 50% + NPK 50%, T6- FYM 100% and T7- FYM 50% + NPK 50%). However, the objectives of the study was to assess the relative efficiency of organic manures with respect to availability of nutrients in relation to yield of rape affected by combined application of organic manures and chemical fertilizers. The results show that the amount of available N, organic carbon content, CEC and K contents were found highest in the treatment T5 where Vermicompost 50% + NPK 50% was applied combinedly.

Abstract
 
The climate is one of the main determinants of agricultural production. At present, climate change has been appeared as a tremendous global crisis and modern agriculture is responsible for anthropogenic emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) which are important causing factors.  The ill effects of global warming and climate change have been reflected adversely in agriculture causing threat to food productivity and security. Thus there is an urgent need for adoption of ecologically sound and economically viable farming practices to mitigate the adverse effects of global warming as well as climate change. Organic agriculture is one of the most prominent and widely practiced ecologically sound farming systems and it might be a suitable option as it is based on the principles of ‘care, health, ecology and fairness’ with the capability to reduce emission of GHGs. Moreover, organic agriculture provides several gains like contribution to the conservation of biological diversity and animal welfare, supply of local products of natural origin, reduction of fossils fuel energy and protection of the environment from pollution with chemicals, carbon sequestration and restoration of soil fertility, assurance to agricultural sustainability, and thus ensuring food security to ever growing population of the world.

ABSTRACT
The rapid industrialisation and speedy progress towards urbanisation across the world have created the huge demand for energy moreover creating enormous quantity of wastes. The latter is in charge for polluting the environment in an exponential manner, resulting out of the harmful and poisonous compounds released by them. In recent years, there has been a pattern change from ‘waste-to-wealth’, considering the value of high organic fraction accessible in the wastes. The best-accomplished methods are that of anaerobic digestion; contribute to the production of methane (CH₄). Similar biotransformation has partial net energy harvests. Recently, fermentation industries steering their interest towards the production of value added products, viz., biohydrogen (H₂), biopolymers, ethanol, vitamins, acetic acid, enzymes, butanediols, etc. from carbon rich organic waste like cellulosic substrates have been envisioned to flourish in a multi-step process, such as the ‘Biorefinery’. A contemporary development in fermentation technology holds the key to overcome the constraints for such processes that may lead to a sustainable economy. One related technology is electrofermentation that has attracted significant attention recently owing to its capacity to boost the metabolic activities of microbes by means of extracellular electron transfer.

Abstract

Jute is known as golden fibre of Bengal and the most important bast fibre of the world. Jute is a natural fibre crop and is second in the world after cotton in terms of global production, consumption and availability. It is a completely biodegradable, recyclable and eco-friendly lingo-cellulose fibre. The genus Corchorus belongs to the family Tiliaceae, which is composed of approximately 100 species. Two species (Corchorus capsularis L. and Corchorus olitorius L.) are widely cultivated for natural fibre. The field experiment was conducted in Pre-Kharif season of 2014 in Mondouri Research Farm, of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal. This farm is located very close to the tropic of cancer having approximately 89º E longitudes, 23 º N latitude and about 9.75 in altitude above the sea level. The experiment was in a Factorial Randomized Block Design replicated thrice with first factor variety i.e. V1-JRC 321, V2- JRC 698, V3- JRCJ 2 and V4-NDJC 2011 and Second factor fertilizers with three levels i.e. F1-60:13:25, F2-80:17.5: 33.3 and F3- 100:21.8:41.7. The plant height was not significant at the harvest stage. 

Abstract

Water is the elixir of life, livelihood, food security and indispensable to all economic activities. It is going to be a constraint in agriculture in near future due to the competitive demands from other sectors. Agriculture is the largest user of limited water resources. The Gangetic Bengal basin once described as the areas of excess water now suffers from acute dearth of water during the drier months. Water management holds the key for maximum agricultural production through optimizing the utilization of available water resources in a systematic manner. Drip-irrigation provides unique agronomic, water and energy conservation benefits that address many of the challenges facing irrigated agriculture. In intensive agriculture, both fertilizer and irrigation management have contributed immensely in increasing the yield and quality of crops. The method of fertilizer and irrigation application affects the efficiency. Drip-fertigation is the most efficient and less expensive agronomically sound method of fertilizer application along with irrigation water. It has the potential to ensure that the right combination of water and nutrient is available at the active root zone, in synchrony of the plants’ total and temporal requirements and stabilizes the yield and quality of produce. Fertigation saves fertilizer nutrients as it permits applying fertilizer in small quantities at a time matching with the plants’ nutrients’ need. To address these problems, AICRP on Irrigation Water Management, 

Abstract

Nadia district covers 3927 sq km of West Bengal State and forms lower part of Indo-Gangetic alluvium of Quaternary age. The district is entirely affected by arsenic contamination in ground water. Population explosion, rapid agricultural growth and inadequate surface water resources has put tremendous thrust on ground water development. 80% of the population is dependent on agriculture. Ground water plays a key role to yield substantial agricultural growth. Irrigational potential of the district is 3356 sq km, of which major contribution belongs to ground water only, i.e., 3100 sq km. Summer season (boro) (lean period crop) paddy cultivation demands huge ground water. Shallow tube wells within 80 metre depth are major in numbers than deep (beyond 100 metre) tube wells. Dynamic ground water resource calculation indicates that net ground water available in the area is 198948 ham, of that for irrigation purposes ground water draft is 167617 ham. Net ground water available for future irrigation development is 34996 ham. Out of 17 blocks of the district, six blocks have already been listed under semi-critical category. 

ABSTRACT
The ‘steel-drum type’ biogas plant installation programme in Punjab was initiated in the early seventies, whose construction works were entrusted on the Department of Agriculture. Because of their high cost and high failure rates then, only the affluent farmers could afford to install. In the meantime, a cheaper Chinese model, also known as Janta type (dome-type replacing the drum-type) plant, became popular but was still out of the reach of ordinary farmers. With dual objectives of cost reduction and efficient biogas production to make it affordable to small farmers, a coordinated research was initiated. Detailed extension surveys were carried out in Ludhiana district which inferred that the farmers did not install the gas-holding steel drum though they purchased it. A significantly low cost Katcha-Pucca plant model of 15m3/d capacity was developed and installed in Sangrur district. Similar digester was tried for Janta model in which the inlet, outlet and dome (gas holder) were masonry works but the digester was a Katcha pit, the dome of the plant being modified to a semi-circular dome. More than 80 such plants are functional in a single village, and more than 40–50% of the plants installed in Punjab and Haryana are these PAU designs. The chapter deals in greater details on the design aspects and the extensive field works carried out to achieve these successes, along with some relevant facts and figures. The write-up is written as a commentary, rather than a typical chapter, for the benefit and interest to the readers.

ABSTRACT
The global energy demand is increasing day by day. Now-a-days, the supply of global energy is highly dependent on fossil fuels (viz., crude oil, lignite, hard coal, natural gas). But, on one hand the source of fossil fuel is decreasing at a rapid rate, and on the other hand the burning of fossil fuel is also degrading the environment due to huge Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission (FAO/CMS, 2011). Hence, there is an urgent need of an alternate clean energy source that can sustain the future development undeterred while still protecting the environment. Biomass is considered as a sustainable source of clean energy that is useful in steam, fuel and chemicals production. It can be digested in controlled environment to produce biogas. The biogas is a clean, non-polluting and smoke-free fuel (Weiland, 2010) which can be used for applications that include cooking, space cooling/refrigeration, heating, electricity generation and gaseous fuel (CNG) for vehicles (Weiland, 2003). This paper analyses possible alternatives to process and utilise biogas for energy at industrial scale as a petroleum fuels replacement.

Abstract
 
The field experiment was conducted during rabi season at the Baruipur Research Farm of the Calcutta University using treatments as T1-NPK 100%, T2- Compost 100%, T3- Compost 50%+NPK 50%, T4-Vermicompost. 100%, T5- Vermicompost 50%+NPK 50%, T6-FYM 100%, T7-FYM 50%+NPK 50%, in a Randomised Block Design (RBD) replicated thrice.  The results show that the amount of available N content in soil  has been found to be increased with the progress of crop growth upto 45 days of crop growth and thereafter, the amount of the same decreased with the crop growth irrespective of treatments. The amount of P content in soil has been found to be increased with different treatments, being maintained highest amount (18.30 kg/ha) in the treatment Vermicompost 50%+ NPK50% followed by the treatment where 100% NPK and 100 % vermicompost were applied. The results show that the amount of K content in soil was increased initially and thereafter, the amount of the same decreased with the progress of crop growth.

Abstract

Chhotanagpur plateau is well-known for its quality vegetable production, however, indiscriminate uses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in different vegetables lead to more yields but of their inferior quality of produces. The over uses of agro-chemicals also drastically affect the soil bio-physico-chemical properties. In this context, an alternative approach was taken into account through present study in order to address such problems. For the purpose, cabbage cv. Golden Acre was grown in organic experimental plots of the university by using ‘Sasyagavya liquid organic formulation’ to observe its effects over the crop and soil bio-chemical properties of the experimental site.Theexperiment was designed after CRBDby adoptingseven treatments i.e.T1: 1% Sasyagavya; T2: 5% Sasyagavya; T3: 10% Sasyagavya; T4: 15% Sasyagavya; T5: 20% Sasyagavya; T6: 25% Sasyagavya and T7: Absolute Control withtheir three replications. Different growth, yield and quality attributes of the crop and soil bio-chemical properties of the experimental soils were studied. 

Abstract

Water is an indispensable natural resource for sustaining the environment, supporting life and responsible for sustainable agricultural growth and development wherein agricultural sector is the major user of the water resource. The integrated management of water resources could only be possible through adoption of efficient and optimum use of irrigation water, which could only be ensured by judicious and economic use of irrigation potential whatsoever created to increase crop production. The integrated water resources management also includes the concept of rainwater management that has got an immense important on the way to develop the rainfed farming system. Previously, rainfed agriculture was associated primarily with conservational land treatments to check soil erosion and land degradation. But in the areas of medium to heavy rainfall, there is ample scope of tapping excess rain water through suitable water harvesting structures constructed for this purpose for its subsequent uses as irrigation or to apply lifesaving irrigation to the crops which should also come under the purview of water management for crop production.

Abstract 

Rainfed agriculture plays and will continue to play a dominant role in providing food and livestock for an increasing world population. Rainfed agriculture practiced on 80% of the world’ agriculture land area and generates about 70% of the world’s staple food including most of the food in poor communities in developing and least favoured areas. The most recent estimates have put global rainfed croplands at 1.75 billion ha (Bha) at the end of the last millennium, or about 5.5 times the irrigated area in the world . India ranks 1st among the countries that practice rainfed agriculture both in terms of extent 86 (mha) & value production. Agriculture water management deals with the administration of a key input to agricultural production & offers to hope that land and water use will be intensified .Scarcity of water resources and growing ofm competition for water many sectors reduces its availability for irrigation. Effective management of water for crop production in water scare area requires efficient approaches for increasing crop productivity and drought tolerance by genetic improvement and physiological regulation may be the means to achieve efficient & effective use of water. A single approaches would not be able to tackle the forthcoming challenge of producing more food and measures with engineering solutions (water saving ,irrigation method, deficit irrigation, proper deficit sequencing, modernization of irrigation system etc) and agronomic & soil manipulation (seed priming\ seedling age manipulation, direct or wet seeded rice. 

Abstract

Soil acidity poses a great problem for crop production due to very poor fertility status and nutrient imbalances in eastern and north eastern region and hence, it needs a special attention to address such acidity problems in relation to crop production. The integrated nutrient management system for the maintenance of soil fertility, sustainable agricultural productivity and improving profitability through the judicious and efficient use of mineral fertilizers especially secondary and micronutrients, organic matters, green manures, bio-fertilizers in acid soils. Rainwater harvesting, efficient storage of excess rainwater and subsequent uses as supplemental irrigation especially in the areas of rainfed situations as well as selection of crops and cropping systems in different acid soils region need to be developed. The management of secondary and micronutrients in acid soils can be made either by the addition of cost-effective lime or liming materials to counteract the abnormalities of soils by raising pH as the first step and subsequently by modifying agricultural practices and applying balanced fertilizers including limiting nutrients viz. S, B, Mo and Zn at optimal levels based on soil test values for maximum crop production.

ABSTRACT
Methanogenesis is an important biogeochemical process takes place in anaerobic ecological sites. It is the last step of terminal electron accepting process of anaerobic respiration. Methanogens synthesise CH₄ using acetate and CO₂ as precursor molecules. Former types of methanogens are referred as acetoclastic methanogens and the later ones as hydrogenotrophic methanogens. After biogenesis of CH₄, it is emitted to atmosphere and causes global warming. In aerobic ecosystem CH₄ is oxidised by methanotrophs to CO₂ a less global warming molecule. However, in anoxic environment CH4 acts as an electron donor and interacts with various electron acceptors. Methane modulates denitrification, Fe reduction, SO₄ reduction and organic matter decomposition. Manuscript elucidates methanogenesis and highlights the pathways of interaction between methanogenesis and cycling of electron acceptors in various anaerobic ecosystems in relation to global C and N balance.

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

Abstract

Water Crisis or scarcity can be explained as when demand for fresh water goes high in comparison to the supply of fresh water. The condition is the cause when there is a high rate of aggregate demand from all water using sectors like food, agriculture etc. are compared with available supply under prevailing institutional and infrastructural conditions. It is evident from economic competition from water quantity and quality, disputes between users, irreversible depletion of ground water, and negative impacts on the environment. Water crisis is actually a relative and dynamic concept irrespective of any level of supply and demand. It is a social construct and its causes are directly related to human interference with the water cycle. This scarcity varies over time due to natural hydrological variability. But the stronger reasons could be more of functions of prevailing economic policy, planning and management approaches. 

Abstract

Sundarban is the largest mangrove wetland ecosystems in the world. This World Heritage site along the Bay of Bengal has evolved over the millennia through natural deposition of upstream sediments accompanied by intertidal segregation. Indian part of Sundarbans is estimated to be about 4,110 square kilometres of which about 1,700 square kilometres is occupied by water bodies in the form of river, canals and creeks of width varying from a few metres to several kilometres, which together form the complex ecosystem of this Ganges delta.. Rivers in the Sundarbans are confluence points of salt water and freshwater. Environmental crisis is caused by severe cyclones sea level rise and storm surge followed by coastal erosion, flood and earthquake phenomenon. River water is saline. Shallow aquifer is brackish/ saline, which is not suitable for drinking. Fresh potable ground water is occurring in deeper aquifer, the exploitation of which is not cost-effective. Sundarbans houses around 500 different species of mammals, fish, bird and reptiles and it is the largest habitat of royal Bengal tigers. Conservation of flora and fauna in the typical ecosystem of Sundarbans in India with emphasis on judicious use of ground water resources along with retrospection of historical trend and future sustainable management strategies is a pre-requisite.

Abstract

Never ending additional need of farmers have forced them to grow more cash crop along with crops used for the staple food. The prime crops as per the food habit, social need has to be produced in the respective locality. The micro planning for agricultural and food production has to be planned for different blocks of a district to meet above needs. The production planning has to be simulated first and programmed for trial production. After successful trail, the same has to be replicated in larger area. Mathematical model development approach is one of the solutions to predict the need of the people and plan production depending on the availability of the input materials like natural resources and other inputs. In addition to this food and nutrient security for the people living in those different areas are very important in present context. Global population is growing fast with 1.2% per annum. Feeding these people increases the responsibility of farmers for growing more crops without considering the soil health. Improper crop sequencing has resulted in imbalance in soil nutrient which results in unsustainable production of forth coming crops.