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Karnataka is India’s eighth largest state in geographical area covering 1.92 lakh sq km and accounting for 6.3% of the geographical area of the country. As per the population Census 2011, agriculture supports 13.74 million workers, of which 23.61 per cent are cultivators and 25.67% agricultural workers. A total of 123,100 km² of land is cultivated in Karnataka constituting 64.6% of the total geographical area of the state (Table 1). Of the total cultivated area in the state, about 33.0% is covered by cereals, 42% by pulses and 19% by oilseeds and 6.0% by commercial crops (Savitha and Kunnal, 2015). Agriculture employs more than 60% of Karnataka’s workforce. The large portion of agricultural land in the state is exposed to the vagaries of monsoon with severe agro-climatic and resource constraints.

The state of Madhya Pradesh is one of the high profile maize growing state of the country cultivating maize in about 11.32 lakh hectare area which is ~12% of the total maize area of the country having 90-95% of total maize area having rainfed. Madhya Pradesh is situated in heart of India between 17°-26° N latitudes and 74°-84° E Longitude. The rainfall in maize growing belt varies from 800 to 1600 mm. Due to erratic and uneven rainfall in the state, the production and productivity of maize fluctuates every year. Maize cultivation in the area is associated with resource poor tribal farmers. As the demand for maize is growing globally due to its multiple uses for food, feed and industrial uses, we need to produce more from same or even less resources, which can be achieved through targeting technologies in potential regions.

Besides, monsoon crop due to mild winter conditions the climate allows the cultivation of maize during winter successfully under assured irrigation conditions. At present about 50 thousand ha area is under Rabi cultivation with high productivity levels as compared to monsoon crop. However, the major area increase was achieved during past few years mainly due to adoption of hybrids and shift in acreage under non-traditional areas, replacing soybean crop on farmers field. Uncertain climatic conditions and more disease and pest problem lead farmers to adopt maize in place of soybean.

The trends in area production and productivity of maize in Madhya Pradesh has shown a remarkable increase during four decades. During 1966-67 the maize acreage in the state was very less (5.59 lakh ha) that has grown up by 11.32 lakh ha in 2014-15. Moreover, the productivity also increased dramatically from mere 811 kg/ha during 1966-67 to 1513kg/ha in 2014-15.

Maharashtra is the third largest state in terms of area in the country located in the north-centre of peninsular India. It links the southern part of the northern plains to the southern peninsula. Maharashtra occupies the western and central part of the country with total 3.08 lakh sq. km geographical area and has a long coastline stretching nearly 720 kilometers along the ARabian Sea. The prominent physical trait of the state is its Plateau character, which has up to 1350 meters high altitude. Physiographically this state may be divided into three natural divisions-the coastal strip (the Konkan), the Sahyadri or the Western Ghats and the Plateau. The Sahyadri mountain ranges provide a physical backbone to the state on the west, while the Satpuda hills along the north and Bhamragad-Chiroli-Gaikhuri ranges on the east serve as its natural borders. It has a geographical area of 307713 sq. km and is bounded by north latitude 15°40’ and 22°00’ and east longitudes 72°30’ and 80°30’.

NBSS & LUP has divided the state into 356 soil mapping units and published a map of the soils of Maharashtra. It has broadly categorized as soils of Konkan coast, soils of Western Ghats, soils of upper Maharashtra, soils of lower Maharashtra. The soil status of Maharashtra is residual, derived from the underlying basalts. In the semi-dry Plateau, the regur (black-cotton soil) is clayey, rich in iron and moisture-retentive, though poor in nitrogen and organic matter. The rainy Konkan and the Sahyadri Range, the same basalts give rise to the brick-red laterites, which are productive under a forest cover, but readily stripped into a sterile varkas when devoid of vegetative cover. The soil in the Deccan Plateau is made up of black basalt soil. This type of soil is rich in humus. The soil is commonly known as the black cotton soil because it is best suited for the cultivation of cotton. The volcanic action which had taken place in the Deccan region has given rise to the soil texture and composition. These igneous rocks break down into the black soil which is very fertile. The Wardha-Waliganga river valley has old crystalline rocks and saline soils which make the soil infertile. This type of soil has a natural resistance to wind and water erosion because it is rich in iron and granular in structure. A very important advantage of this type of soil is that it can retain moisture. This makes the soil very reactive to irrigation.

Maize is the only cereal crop which is being used as human food, animal feed and as a source of large number of industrial products. In Odisha traditionally maize is a Kharif season crop and second most important crop next to paddy during Kharif season in terms of both area and production. The Rabi maize is cultivated under irrigated condition, and accounts only 7% of total area and production of the State. While only 24% of the Kharif maize area have irrigation facilities. Irrespective of the season, it is that is the fourth most important food grain crop with respect to area in the state which is next to rice, mungbean and urdbean. Even though maize is grown as a sole crop in the state but, some farmers are also adopting maize based inter-cropping and the major recommended/adopted inter-crops are arhar, cowpea, yam, runner bean, greengram and blackgram. The comparative analysis of compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of area, production and yield of the major crops is the state was done for the years 2004-05 to 2013-14. The CAGR study of major crops revealed that no other major crop including rice has the impressive growth rate a like maize in the state (Fig. 1).

Maize is one of the most important cereal crops of the world. Being a C₄ plant, it is physiologically more efficient than rice, wheat and other important cereal crops which belong to C₃ category. In Punjab, traditionally, maize is grown during Kharif season but from last few years the area under spring maize is increasing because its cultivation is highly profitable and commercially viable after harvesting of potato crop. No doubt, Punjab has been the leading state in contributing to the national food security but simultaneously paddy-wheat rotation resulted in depletion of underground water, deterioration in soil health and environmental pollution. These problems need to be addressed for the sustainability of these natural resources and at the same time meeting the food grain production for the ever-increasing human population. Under such circumstances, maize crop is a viable alternative to replace some area occupied by rice and can help in breaking rice–wheat dominant cropping pattern in the state. Promising maize hybrids possessing high grain yield potential and offering comparable economic returns to the farmers are available with Punjab Agricultural University as well as with the private sector.

In Punjab, maize is commonly used in the form of chapatis, boiled or roasted green cob, breakfast food like cornflakes, popped grains etc. Maize chapatis are used as a delicacy with saag. The high carotene content of yellow grained maize is considered very useful in imparting yellow colour to egg yolk. Therefore, a substantial quantity of maize grain is utilized as an important ingredient of animal/ poultry feed industry. The use of maize grains for such purposes is going to increase as poultry and dairy industries are expanding. Maize plant is extensively used as green as well as dry fodder. The digestibility of maize fodder is better than sorghum, bajra and other non- legume forage crops. Maize plant does not have any anti quality factor hence can be fed to cattle at any stage. Maize can be utilized as an industrial raw material for number of industries viz., starch, ethanol, rubber, paper, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals etc. Quality Protein Maize (QPM) can be promoted for nutritional security of poor masses whereas pop corn, baby corn and sweet corn can help in increasing the farm income due to high market value. In Punjab, major industries which are utilizing maize are The Sukhjit Starch & Chemical Limited, Kapurthala, and M/s Field Fresh Food Pvt. Ltd, Ladhowal, Ludhiana.

Maize (Zea mays L.), the “Queen of Cereals” is one of the most important highly evolved coarse cereal crop originated at Mexico. This is most widely distributed crop of the world cultivated predominantly in tropics and sub-tropics right from sea level to 4000 m altitude as irrigated or rainfed crop. The demand for maize as an animal feed will continue to grow faster than the demand for its use as a human food, particularly in Asia, where, doubling of production is expected from the present level of 165 m t to almost 400 mt.

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important crop of country after rice and wheat and is cultivated round the year. Its grain is used as feed, food and industrial raw material. Enormous progress has been made during last six decades to enhance yield potential through genetic improvement and alleviate effects due to various biotic and abiotic-stresses. In India, it is an important crop not only in terms of acreage but also in context to its versatility for adoption under wide range of agro-climatic conditions. Of the different forms used for human consumption, 45% is consumed as staple food in various forms viz., bread, biscuits, cookies or transformed into corn flakes, soups, fresh-roasted sweets, boiled cobs and vegetables etc. Maize grain is main ration for poultry birds while forage maize is used as fresh or dry fodder for dairy industries. In Rajasthan maize occupies 0.89 m ha area with an annual production of 1.55 mt and productivity of 1.74 t/ha (Govt of Rajasthan, 2015). Being major Kharif crop in Rajasthan, the productivity levels of maize are still below the national average and farmers are not getting better economic returns. However, profitability can be accelerated further by growing recently popular speciality corns.

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important grain crop in India after rice and wheat with respect to area and production. It has wide ecological adaptability and is grown in almost all parts of the country extending from extreme semi-arid to sub-humid and humid regions. The crop is also popular in low and mid-hill areas of Western and North Eastern regions. It has the highest yield potential and used as human food, animal feed and as a source of large number of industrial by-products. Hence, it is called as “Queen of cereals”. In India, about 59% of the total production is used as feed, while the remaining is used as industrial raw material (17%), food (10%), exports (10%), and other purposes (4%).

Tamil Nadu has a total geographical area of 13 million hectares with a coastal line of 922 km and is endowed with 3 per cent of water resources of the country. Out of 13 million hectares of geographical area, the cultivable area in Tamil Nadu is around 7 million hectares and 55 per cent of which is dryland. The State has gross irrigated area of 33.94 lakh ha out of which 79% is under food crops and 21% is under non-food crops. In Tamil Nadu, maize was grown in an area of 0.14 lakh ha during 1970-71 with the annual production of 0.16 lakh tonnes, mainly concentrated in Tanjore, Pudukkottai and Trichy districts. Due to rapid increase in the demand of maize for poultry and animal feed, industrial uses and introduction of high yielding varieties and hybrids, the area under maize has gone up to 3.8 lakh ha with the production of 22.45 lakh tonnes during 2013-14. The major maize growing districts are Perambalur, Tuticorin, Dindigul, Erode, Karur, Ariyalur, Salem and Southern districts of Tamil Nadu. The demand and production of maize is increasing more rapidly as compared to other major commodities. It is estimated that the demand for maize will continue to increase in coming days (Yadav et al., 2016). Thus, in the next 10 years there is a necessity and opportunity for doubling India’s maize production from the current level of approximately 26 million MT.

Uttar Pradesh, a fourth largest state of India geographically, where agriculture is a prime occupation and this is the traditional maize growing state, accounts 7.7% of area and 5.4 percent of total maize production of the country with an average yield of 1791 kg/ha (IIMR Annual Progress Report, Kharif Maize 2015). Maize is mainly taken as a Kharif crop but, gradually Rabi maize is gaining popularity with the availability of high yielding varieties and advanced production technologies. The rice, wheat, potato, sugarcane based cropping is more popular, and maize is given a moderate priority. The current level of growth in productivity definitely fall short to meet the demand of rapidly growing population even it may increase the poverty, unless vigorous measures are taken to accelerate yield, growth, employment generation, increasing the income of farming family and ultimately targeting for the sustainable climate resilient maize production.

Maize is mainly used as a staple food and quality feed for animals. In addition to that it also serves as a basic raw material for several industries like, starch, oil, protein, alcoholic beverages, food sweeteners, pharmaceuticals, cosmetic, textile, gum, package, paper etc. A major portion of the maize produce is directly consumed as a food in the form of boiled or roasted green ears, chapattis, porridges of various forms, popcorn, cornflakes etc. and as livestock feed viz., cattle, poultry and piggery both in

the form of grain and fodder The central rachis of maize cob, to which the grains are attached remains as an agricultural waste after threshing, has many important agricultural and industrial uses. It is approximately 15 to 18% of the total ear weight and contains 35% cellulose, 40% pentose and 15% lignin (used as a raw material in cardboards). Its uses in agriculture includes as a litter for poultry and as a soil conditioner.

Maize is an important crop of Uttarakhand and is cultivated in about 22 thousand ha in both hills and plains. The crop is grown for food, feed and fodder and forms an integral constituent of all major cropping systems prevalent in the state. Kharif (June-September) is the main grown season in the hills, whereas in the foothills and tarai plains, the crop is grown during zaid (Feb-May) as well. The crop is grown broadly for two different end products – grain and green ears. In areas where maize forms staple diet, the crop is grown for grain, whereas in areas adjoining/en route popular tourist destinations and towns, the crop is grown mainly for green ears. The crop is also gaining importance as an industrial crops following establishment of maize processing industry in the state.

The major maize growing districts of the state are Dehradun, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Pauri, Tehri and Almora (Fig. 1), which together comprise about 90% of total

West Bengal is the fifth largest state in terms of (GSDP) Gross State Domestic Product after Maharastra, UP, TN and AP and is the third largest contributor in agriculture sector of real GDP. West Bengal has 3% of India land mass and 8% population with population density of 1029 per km².

Agriculture accounts for about 17% (2013-14) GSDP and provides employment to over 55% of workers. About 64% of the geographical area of West Bengal is under cultivation. There is little scope for further increase the current cultivable area. Because it is difficult to maintain the growth rate in the absence of adequate infrastructure support, crop diversification and market access.

Food production remained stagnant as the green revolution by-passed the state. However, there has been a significant increase in food production since 1980’s and the state is now one of the few Indian states with a surplus in food production, producing nearly 20% of the rice and 33% of potato. Agriculture accounts the largest share of the labour force. Rice, potato, jute, sugarcane and wheat are the top five crops of the state, while other major food crops include maize, pulses, oilseeds, wheat, barley and vegetables. In recent years, significant changes have occurred in maize production and utilization due to increasing commercial orientation of maize crop and rising demand for diversified end users, specially for feed and industrial uses. A sizable number of districts in West Bengal have potential for growing winter maize. Though maize favourably responds to better crop management both in Kharif and Rabi season, the erratic rainfall pattern of the south-west monsoon comes in the way of timely field operations of Kharif season. In absence of any major environmental impediments in Rabi, the desired field operations can be planned and executed at the most desired time. Moreover, the various environmental factors including absence of any major disease and insect pests in this season, helps in realizing the better profits from every additional unit of monetary inputs. Hence, future of Rabi maize in West Bengal is bright.

Maize (Zea mays L., 2n=20) is a cereal crop that is grown widely in more than 165 countries in a range of agro-ecological environments. Even in Asia, the rapid increase in maize acreage in the last decade is an indication that it is winning the battle as compared with rice. The Asian region will see itself as a major global player in the near term. In the past it was mainly confined to food in India and many other countries however, now it has become the industrial crop. Maize has several industrial applications and more than 1000 products are being developed from maize in India and around 3500 products in USA and other countries. It is a raw material for many of the important industries viz. pharma, textile, paper, film, tyre food, processing, packing and biofuel, etc. The growth rate of poultry, livestock, fish, wet and dry milling industries are very high therefore, maize demand will continue to increase in year to come.

Global Maize Scenario

Globally, maize is primarily used as feed livestock and has many industrial uses; however in many developing countries it is still used as a food crop. Small-scale farmers in both sub-Saharan Africa and Mesoamerica generally grow maize as a food crop for household consumption and for saline urban markets. Maize is particularly important in the diets of the rural and urban poor in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Globally, maize is grown in 165 countries in a total of 185.1 million hectares area with 1018.1 million tones of production and 5.52 tonnes/ha productivity (Anonymous 2015-16). Almost 70% of the total maize production in the developing world is coming from low and lower middle income countries. In Asia, maize has recorded the fastest annual growth (around 4%), as compared to other cereals. Maximum maize production was in USA (353.7 million tonnes) followed by China (218.6 million tonnes) and Brazil (80.3 million tonnes) (Fig. 1), while the area under maize cultivation was in China (36.3 million hectare) followed by USA (35.5 million hectare) and Brazil (15.3 million hectare) (Fig. 2). The average world maize productivity is 5500 kg/ha, but the highest productivity of maize was achieved in USA (9970 kg/ha) followed by Canada (9591 kg/ha) and France (8137 kg/ha) (Fig. 3).

SYNOPSIS

Vegetables are essential for well-balanced diet since they supply phytonutriceuticals. About 3 billion people in the world are malnourished due to imbalanced diets. Regular consumption of a vegetable rich diet has undeniable effects on health since they have been strongly associated with improvement of gastrointestinal health, good vision, and reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, chronic diseases such as diabetes, and some forms of cancer.

Introduction

 India, situated between the latitude of 08004’ and 37006’ N and longitudes of

68007’ to 97025’ E, has a geographical area of 329 Mha. Physiographically, it

can be divided into three broad regions, viz., Peninsula (a triangular Plateau in

the Deccan and South of the Vindhyas), Mountain region of the Himalalayas

(Extra-Penninsula), and the Indo-Gangetic Plain separating these two regions.

Geologically, a great part of the Penninsula is occupied by the gneiss, schists

and other rocks of diverse nature. Red soils (Alfisols) generally predominate in

this region. The western and central parts predominate in basaltic rock having

Black cotton soils of different thickness (Vertisols, Inceptisols). The mountain

region shows the development of marine sediments of all ages, especially, in

north of the Himalayas. The vast Indo-Gangetic and other plains of Pleistocene

origin are composed of alluvium of the great river systems flowing in this

region. The alluvial soils of this region depend on the age of alluvia and degree

of development.

Climatically, India shows three distinct seasons:

 i) Cool and mainly dry winters from November to February

ii) Hot and mainly dry summers from March to June

iii) Monsoon rainy season from mid-June to September.

Fertilizer recommendations are generally made on the basis of soil test. Recommendations of fertilizer for top-dressing are best made on tissue testing.

SOIL TEST

A number of approaches have been adopted to increase the precision of soil-test values in making fertilizer recommendations. Four most important ones are discussed.

Low-Medium-High Approach

Making fertilizer recommendations based on soil test for a nutrient involves conducting a large number of ?eld experiments on soils similar to those which are intended for making recommendations. For an individual nutrient (say P for example) experiments are conducted with graded doses of P on a crop for which the fertilizer recommendations are to be made. Thus, agronomic experiments are to be conducted for each crop on each kind of soil. The response curve can then be divided into three sections: a, low soil-test value and high response to fertilizer zone; b, medium soil-test value and medium response to fertilizer zone; and c, high soil-test values and no response to fertilizer zone. In India, this was done

Male sterility is a situation where the male reproductive parts of a plant are either absent, aborted, or non-functional; and therefore, they fail to participate in the process of natural sexual reproduction. This situation generally arises due to some developmental defect that occurs at any stage of microsporogenesis (process of development or release of pollen grains) in the plants. Since male sterility is the manifestation of abnormal growth and development and can occur at any point of time, the action of genes controlling male sterility is also be variable and inconsistent across the genotypes. Based on the type of malfunctioning of androecium, the male sterility systems have been classified as structural (absence or deformity of anthers), sporogenous (defective microsporogenesis), and functional (failure of mature pollen to germinate). In addition, on the basis of genetic control mechanism of the male sterility, it has also been classified as genetic, cytoplasmic, and cytoplasmic nuclear (or genetic) male sterility. With respect to utilization of male sterility in crop breeding, it is essential that individuals with altered male fertility keep their female fertility intact. The fertilization of such plants takes place with pollen grains from other plant that is transferred with the help of external agencies such as wind, insects, or human beings.

In his classic book ‘The Ascent of Man’, Bronowski has written, “When I was a young man, we all thought that mastery came from man’s domination of his physical environment. Now we have learned that real mastery comes from understanding and moulding the living environment.” Our Biosphere, the living environment that supports us all, has problems and we humans are mainly responsible. We do not live ‘gently’ on the earth. The seven billion of us require air, water, food, energy, housing and amenities and we have developed the earth to provide them and have also created problems. That the problems exist are serious is the bad news. That we are recognizing them and that man has shown ability to organize and grow in ascending order from time to time is the good news.

1.1 The relation between man and the earth’s resources

The balance between the demand which a community of plants or animals makes on its environment and the ability to satisfy those demands is not the static equilibrium of a laboratory balance with equal weights on either side. It is more like the unstable balancing of a circus acrobat - a series of swings and overcorrections, resulting in an oscillation on either side of the true balance point. Thus a species of wild life increases in number according to the availability of its food supplies, but then goes beyond the optimum number. The natural correcting factors of starvation or migration reduce the population, but there is an overcorrection, and soon the cycle starts again with increasing numbers.

1.1.1 The Malthusian Thesis

In primitive societies the human population also oscillates about a mean as the limiting factors of starvation, disease, and war, maintain an uneasy balance against the natural tendency to increase. A serious imbalance arises when man learns how to modify the limiting factors, but allows the natural increase to go unchecked. The essence of the Malthusian Thesis is that the resulting instability is the inevitable order for mankind. The thesis is named after the English political economist Thomas Malthus who first gave it formal expression in MALTHUS (1966). In an age when significant improvements in health, hygiene, and the standard of living were just becoming possible, Malthus aroused great argument when he pointed out that these very improvements could lead to mi sery through overpopulation. The key point of Malthus’s argument is that population increases in what he called geometric ratio, what today we would call an exponential curve, because whenever there is an increase in population there are more people to produce the next generation, so the rate of population growth accelerates - in modelling terms a positive feedback loop. On the other hand, when we increase food production there is no feed-back loop, the best we can hope for is for a constant linear increase. The natural sequence is therefore for food demand to increase faster than food supply, leading at some point to food shortage.

Background and Technology Intervention

Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) describes planned storage and treatment of water in aquifers which can provide cheapest form of new safe water supply for towns and small communities (British Geological Survey, 2006). It is a part of a groundwater manager’s tool which is useful for replenishing and re-pressurising depleted aquifers, controlling saline intrusion or land subsidence as well as improving water quality through filtration and chemical and biological processes. MAR can enhance volumes of groundwater abstracted through different package of measures and restore groundwater balance. It also plays a vital role in smoothing out supply and demand fluctuations, stabilizing over-exploited groundwater levels, reducing evaporation losses and runoff, maintaining environmental flows in streams and rivers, improving water quality and augmenting the reuse of waste and storm water. In recent times, MAR uptake has been very limited.

Calcareous soils

In arid regions, calcareous soils are developed from limestone or marl parent materials. The content of calcium and magnesium carbonate may be as high as 60 to 70 per cent of the total soil mass. In calcareous soil lime content may vary from a small amount in some places in the profile to appreciable amounts throughout the profile.

Calcium carbonate coatings occur in sand, silt and clay size fractions of calcareous soils. In sub soil, large amounts of lime forms hardpan under high water tables.

In general, pH of the soil increases to alkaline pH with increasing the proportion of water to soil ratio. This may happen in part from a reduction of CO₂ pressure. The dilution of salts in soil solution also permits greater hydrolysis of calcium clay. The dilution of calcium carbonate with production of hydroxyl ions may lead to higher pH as: