eChapters

The techniques used in disease management mainly based on two principles,: Prevention or prophylaxis and cureThe first principle prevention includes disease management tactics applied before infection i.e., the plant is protected from disease. It includes: avoidance, exclusion, eradication, resistant&protection. Second principle curative action: functions with any measure applied after the plant is infectedi.e., the plant is treated for the disease.It includes therapy.

Pesticide use in agriculture has evolved at several stages in the last few decades. Pesticides, as defined by the FAO, are any substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, or control any pest, including vectors of human or animal disease, unwanted species of plants or animals causing harm during or otherwise interfering with the production, processing, storage, transport, or marketing of food, agricultural commodities, wood and wood products, or animal feedstuffs, or substances that may be administered to animals. A plant growth regulator, defoliant, desiccant, or agent used to thin or prevent premature fruit fall, as well as substances applied to crops before or after harvest to prevent them from deteriorating during storage and transportation, are included in this category.

Today’s agrochemistry has a massive challenge: ensuring the availability of high quality active ingredients to enable long-term control of pest species, weeds, and agricultural diseases. The differential uptake and transfer of the active ingredient by target and non-target organisms can contribute to diverse biological activity.

Identification of the insects is the integral part of systematics. It utilises all taxonomic procedures. The collections in the world are the accumulation of past taxonomists and are stored for the future identifications. Every species name is based on a published description or figure and usually on the type specimen. Identification is the association of other specimens with the appropriate description or with type specimen.

The steps in identification are as follows:

1. Preliminary key to orders and families

2. Key to genera and species if recent monographs or faunal works are available

3. Reference to the most recent catalogues

4. Reference to current bibliographies for literature published subsequent to the most recent catalogues

5. Reference to original descriptions

6. Comparison with the authentic described specimens or with types.

4.1 Introduction
Companies that produce tangible items or offer services must drastically increase their productivity in order to maintain their operations in the face of intensifying global competition. A single quantum jump productivity enhancement technique or multiple concurrent incremental improvement productivity strategies can both be used to achieve this goal. If a business chooses the second choice, integrating various tactics for a significant increase in the total productivity would be quite difficult. The first alternative, a single productivity improvement plan, will make it possible for the business to increase productivity with the same or greater success. The only difficulty with this strategy is locating the probable problem area and then using process improvement techniques to achieve the anticipated dramatic increase in productivity. Business process reengineering refers to any significant adjustment of business processes that results in a dramatic increase in an organization’s productivity. Price, quality, after-sales support, adherence to delivery schedules, technological breakthroughs, etc. are some elements that influence market competition. Therefore, the business should focus its efforts on each of these areas in order to achieve notable improvements in terms of decreased operating costs and higher sales revenue from the sale of its goods and services to clients. Improved pricing for a company’s goods or services can provide it an advantage over competitions. Applying various cost-cutting strategies to lower variable costs and overhead costs will lower the price of the good or service. The other elements, viz. quality, after-sales support, delivery schedule adherence, and technological advancements are all directed in this direction

Climate refers to the long-term pattern of temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind and other weather parameters within a geographical region. Human activities such as industrialization, urbanization, deforestation, land-use change and intensive agriculture have accelerated climate change by increasing greenhouse-gas emissions. Rising temperatures, irregular monsoon rainfall, droughts, floods, cyclones and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide now affect crop growth, development and productivity. Different crops and developmental stages vary in their tolerance to these stresses. Consequently, farmers are modifying cropping patterns, sowing periods and crop choices. This chapter examines the effects of changing climatic conditions on major agricultural crops and identifies suitable adaptation and mitigation measures.

Horticultural crops include fruits, vegetables, flowers, plantation crops, spices, aromatic plants and medicinal species. They contribute substantially to nutrition, farm income, employment, exports and livelihood security. However, their productivity and quality are highly sensitive to temperature, rainfall, humidity, drought, flooding, salinity and other climate-related stresses. Changing climatic conditions affect flowering, fruit setting, maturity, nutritional composition, pest incidence and postharvest quality. Annual and perennial crops respond differently depending on their location, growth stage and environmental requirements. This chapter examines the influence of major climatic factors on horticultural production and discusses adaptive practices required to maintain productivity, quality and economic sustainability under changing environmental conditions.

Introduction

Farmers have long used biorationals such as Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) in both crop production and crop protection. This understanding is the result of many generations of interaction within natural and physical environments (Rajasekaran et al., 1991 and Kolawole, 2001). ITK is the unique and local traditional knowledge that is specific to a particular culture or community and is passed down from one generation to the next and every individual has inherited this information from their ancestors. Except for a handful, ITKs are passed down from generation to generation verbally, with no validated written documents. Many definitions of ITK systems have been proposed, but all of them are incomplete because the notion is still relatively young and changing. The ITKs are environmentally friendly and compatible with pest management approaches (Deka et al., 2006). ITK was defined by Wang (1988) as “the whole body of knowledge and practices based on people’s cumulative experiences in resolving situations and issues in a variety of spheres of life and such information and practices are unique to a specific culture.” According to Haverkort, 1995, ITK is the actual knowledge of a given population that reflects the experiences based on tradition and includes more recent experiences with modern technologies. The phrase “indigenous technological knowledge” is frequently disguised with the idea that it is connected to upcoming events and the innovations developed by farmers to address certain issues. Among the associated terms are (i) Indigenous Knowledge (IK), which refers to the participant’s understanding of their social and temporal context. The term “indigenous knowledge” as used here refers to any identifiable community’s knowledge, not just which of indigenous peoples; (ii) The Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) describes a conceptual framework for theories and perceptions of nature and culture. The physical, ecological, social, economic, and ideational surroundings are thus included, together with their definitions, categorizations, and concepts. The cognitive and empirical levels both have a role in IKS dynamics. IKS is evident in institutions, artifacts, and technology on an empirical level. ITK is expressed through stories, songs, folklore, proverbs, dances, myths, cultural values, beliefs, rituals, community regulations, local language and taxonomy, agricultural techniques, tools, materials, plant species, and animal breeds. ITK is stored in people’s memories and activities, and is expressed in the form of stories; ITK is shared and communicated orally, by specific examples, and through culture. An African proverb says “When an old knowledgeable person dies, a whole library dies” indicating the importance of ITKs. It serves as the foundation for local decisions in rural communities on agriculture, health care, food preparation, education, and a variety of other activities. Indigenous knowledge serves as a society’s information hub and helps in decision making and communication. Indigenous information systems are dynamic and constantly affected by both internal innovation and experimentation and interactions with outside systems. The phrase “indigenous technological knowledge” is frequently disguised with the notion that it is connected to upcoming events and the innovations produced by farmers to address certain issues.

Protected Cultivation

Protected cultivation (PC) may be defined as the “modification of the natural environment to achieve optimum plant growth” (Singh, 2005). Modifications can be made to both the aerial and root environments to increase crop yields, extend the growing season and permit plant growth during periods of the year not commonly used to grow open field crops. PC may also indicate comprehensive systems of ‘Controlled Environmental Agriculture’ in which all the aspects of natural environment are modified for maximum plant growth and economic return.

Proteinase inhibitors (PIs) are small proteins that are quite common in nature. They are natural, defense-related proteins often present in seeds and induced in certain plant tissues by herbivory or wounding (Koiwa et al., 1997). PIs are present in multiple forms in numerous tissues of animals and plants as well as in microorganisms. In plants they can be counted among the defensive mechanisms displayed against phytophagous insects and microorganisms. The defensive capacities of plant PIs rely on inhibition of proteases present in insect guts or secreted by microorganisms, causing a reduction in the availability of amino acids necessary for their growth and development. PIs are of common occurrence in the plant kingdom. Plant PIs (PPIs) are generally small proteins that have mainly been described as occurring in storage tissues, such as tubers and seeds, but they have also been found in the aerial parts of plants (De Leo et al., 2002). One of the important defense strategies that are found in plants to combat predators involve PIs which are in particular effective against phytophagous insects and microorganisms. The defensive capabilities of PPIs rely on inhibition of proteases present in insect guts or secreted by microorganisms, causing a reduction in the availability of amino acids necessary for their growth and development (Lawrence and Koundal, 2002).

Quantification of DNA is an essential step after its extraction in conjunction with the confirmation of the quality. NanoDrop spectrophometer is a powerful instrument in determining both purity and concentration of nucleic acids on the basis of absorbance values obtained by adding small amount of sample (1-2 μl) on the measurement surface.

Principle: The instrument works on the basic principle of spectrophotometry, which takes highly sensitive fluorescent measurements of the microvolumes. It takes use of microvolume sample retention technology based on surface tension property of the liquid and fibre optic technology. Together, these features make it possible to detect sample even in microlitres, which is much more than the traditional method that need cuvette-sized sample volume. The concentration of nucleic acid sample is normally determined by measuring its absorbance at 260 nm.

Queen rearing and colony multiplication are central to sustainable and independent beekeeping, especially within the principles of natural farming. The queen bee serves as the core of the colony—ensuring reproduction and maintaining social cohesion through pheromonal signals that influence the behavior and unity of worker bees. A robust and fertile queen guarantees a consistent brood cycle, appropriate worker-to-drone ratios, and overall colony health. In natural systems, queens are raised without artificial grafting or chemical interference, allowing bees to follow their innate biological instincts.

Queen rearing occurs naturally through swarming or supersedure. During swarming, the old queen departs with a group of workers to establish a new colony, while the original hive nurtures a replacement queen. Supersedure takes place when bees sense the current queen is aging or weakening and raise a successor. Natural beekeepers can work in harmony with these processes—observing and supporting the development of queen cells, transferring brood or queen cells to new hives, and letting the colony follow its own cycle of renewal. This method enhances genetic strength and colony resilience.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) stands out as a highly potent technology within the realm of molecular biology. With PCR, particular sequences present within a DNA or cDNA template can undergo replication, termed “amplification,” increasing their quantity manifold, ranging from thousands to millions. This process entails the utilization of sequence-specific oligonucleotides, a DNA polymerase capable of withstanding high temperatures, and thermal cycling.

Real Time PCR, a variant of the standard PCR technique, serves as a prevalent method for quantifying DNA or RNA within a sample. Through the use of sequence-specific primers, the quantity of copies of a specific DNA or RNA sequence can be assessed. This is achieved by monitoring the amount of amplified product at each stage throughout the PCR cycle. Earlier cycles exhibit amplification if a particular sequence (DNA or RNA) is abundant in the sample, while amplification in later cycles indicates scarcity of the sequence.

INTRODUCTION
 
In India tremendous progress has been made in agriculture. In absence of check on population growth, it may cross 1.5 billions by 2030. As a consequence per capita availability of land 0.13 ha will further reduce to 0.1 hectare in 2020 A.D. The demand of growing population for food and fibre require country to produce higher yields from presently cultivated land. Currently an average of 2790 calories of food available each day for every human on the planet, (23 per cent more than in 1961 and enough to feed every one). The production targets and required yield to feed the ever increasing current population with present available resources will require the growth rate of 2.35 and 2.2 per cent in rice and wheat, respectively and as high as 4.45 and 3.38 per cent for pulses and oil seeds, respectively. This requires national average yield to be increased by 30-50 per cent, which is not a cakewalk. India will require producing additional 5-6 million tones annually to keep pace with ever-increasing national food and nutritional requirements. Recurrent famines, starvation death and lack of resources led to green revolution, which as of now has turned our begging bowl to agriculturally advanced cereal exporting country.

Introduction

In India, climatic conditions are very diverse and fruit crops of temperate, sub-tropical and tropical regions are grown. Frequently, the fruit crops of one regional environmental requirement are grown in another region. This type of crop husbandry has some typical pest problems as the insect and mite pests have easy access to any of these regions depending upon the fruit crop. The application of management approaches in isolation of insect pests on fruit crops demand a unified strategy to suppress the different pest populations under the concept of ‘crop management’. Thus, to sustain the crop management for the better fruit quality, a judicious integration of safe chemical/biopesticide molecules must be used with other non-chemical approaches namely host plant resistance, bioagents, cultural and mechanical practices etc.

Introduction

The process of recycling involves the conversion of waste materials into reusable products or materials and aims to reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, minimize energy use, and mitigate trash creation. The primary objective of recycling is to effectively preserve finite resources, safeguard the natural environment, and mitigate the volume of garbage deposited in landfills or subjected to incineration (Lienig et al., 2017). Recycling refers to the systematic transformation of discarded materials into fresh resources and tangible products. The aforementioned term often encompasses the process of extracting energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material is contingent upon its capacity to regain the characteristics it has in its initial form. There exists an alternative approach to garbage disposal that has the potential to save resources and mitigate the release of greenhouse gases. Additionally, it can mitigate the waste of potentially valuable resources and diminish the use of pristine raw materials, therefore reducing energy consumption, air pollution resulting from incineration, and water pollution stemming from landfill practices. The promotion of environmental sustainability is achieved by the removal of raw material input and the redirection of waste output within the economic system. The increasing volumes of trash have given rise to several environmental challenges, including air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, and biodiversity loss. The emission of diverse greenhouse gases from solid waste landfills also contributes to the phenomenon of global warming. At now, the predominant techniques for solid waste disposal are open dumping and landfilling. Various alternative techniques, such as pyrolysis, gasification, anaerobic digestion, composting, and bio-methylation, are used to extract valuable resources from solid waste materials (Griffin et al., 2018).

Arthropods occur up to the height of over 6,080 meters on land and up to the depth of about 59,728 meters in water. Different arthropod species are adapted for living in air, on land, in soil and in fresh, brackish or salt water.

Many insects are economically important for being pests of crops, stored grains, stored food, household goods and clothing etc. Some insects and arachnids are in one way or the other responsible for certain diseases of crops, domestic animals and human beings. Some arthropods, on the other hand, such as crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimps form a part of human diet while, small sized crustaceans are staple food for fishes. Many parts of the world have witnessed some insects and spiders eaten by many land animals including man.

Insects share many characters with other arthropods, but the other arthropods have not been able to exploit these to the extent insects have evolved. The presence of functional wings is a very important character which insects do not share with other arthropods, that is why insects have distinct advantage over other arthropods in their struggle for existence and dominance. A comparative account of Insecta and other arthropod classes is given in Table 1.

Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems provide spatial information for monitoring crops, land, soil and water resources. This chapter introduces their fundamental principles and explains developments involving satellites, UAVs, hyperspectral sensors, thermal imaging and cloud-based geospatial platforms. Analytical techniques include vegetation indices, time-series analysis, spatial modelling and artificial intelligence. Applications cover crop-health monitoring, yield forecasting, irrigation planning, drought assessment, pest and disease identification and soil-resource management. Integration with IoT, automation and other digital technologies improves the timeliness and resolution of agricultural information. These tools support evidence-based decisions responding to food-security, climate-change and natural-resource sustainability challenges.

Introduction

There are a number of estimates of post-harvest losses. The most conservative estimates for the handling losses at about 10 per cent, a quantity good enough to feed at least 60 million people. Storage loss occurs due to quantitative and qualitative damages caused by insects, mites, fungi, rodents, birds, heat, moisture, etc. Several hundred insect species have been reported to be associated with stored grains and milled and processed foods, but some 50 of these species are considered injurious. Under Indian conditions, the most important insect pests of stored grains are Sitophilus oryzae (Rice weevil), Tribolium castaneum (Red flour beetle), Rhizopertha dominica (Lesser grain borer), Callasobruchus spp. (Pulse beetle), etc.

The use of repellents to ward off insects has been a very old practice of mankind. The simple fly swatters, feather dusters, hand fans, mosquito nets etc., are some of the physical repellants still in use. In our own country, mustard oil or turmeric (haldi) water is also used as a mosquito repellent. Fire and smoke are the two oldest insect repellents known to man. To get rid of wasp nests from our dwelling or ward off honeybees during honey extraction, smoke is normally employed. Similarly sandal dhoop is often burnt to purify air (i. e. to ward off insects) in our houses.

Chemicals that prevent insect damage to plants or animals by rendering them unattractive or offensive are called repellents. A more broad-based definition would be: non-poisonous or mildly poisonous chemicals that induce avoiding (oriented movements in insects away from their source. Repellents are more important in the protection of man and his animals from insect attacks than in the protection plants.

Insects show sexual Dimorphism i.e., the sexes are usually separate and are dioecious. Male reproductive system produces sperms, stores them and delivers them i.e., spermatozoa. It also produces the seminal fluid, which provides a suitable environment to the sperms and nourishes them. Male reproductive system also situmilates are the female for oviposition. The female reproductive system produces and stores eggs provide nutrition to them for embryonic development, recieves and stores the sperms, is a site of fertilization. Female reproductive system also deposite eggs and may provide additional protection to the embryos. The reproductive system of both male and female insect’s bearis a gononpore, which is an opening of a pair of gonads. Both the gonads open into the gonopore by a median duct. For the secondry sexual purposes, e.g., formation of spermatophore and egg-case or ootheca, some accessory glands are associated with the reproductive system.