eChapters

Gender relates to socially assigned roles and responsibilities attributable to men and women. Gender roles are played by both women and men, which are not determined by biological factors, but by the socio-economic and cultural environment or situation (Mollel and Mtenga, 2000).

Women from poor households engage in a variety of income earning activities. In some cases, these activities supplement the contribution by males, while in others they are the primary or the sole source of household livelihoods (Kabeer 2003). Women are twice as likely as men to be involved in agricultural activities (Odame et al., 2002). According to Fernando (1998), activities, resources and opportunities of people are significantly influenced by gender that is, by the socio-economic and cultural dimension of being male or female. Moreover, different types of activities are generally allocated to women and men within the family with a view for subsistence production and marketable production. In most of the societies, tasks related to child bearing and care and maintenance of the household (cooking, fetching water and firewood) are assigned to women.

Pulse production is an integral part of food production, which helps in ensuring nutritional security by way of providing plant protein in human diet. In spite of several efforts, lots of people in third world countries suffer from nutritional deficiencies due to lack of balance diet. The women folk are the most sufferers, who are deprived of taking adequate quantity of protein rich food that helps in growth and development of human body.

Teaching, Research and Extension are interrelated and interwoven in development. It may be in any field, like agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry etc. Whenever we talk of extension, it implies the participation of clients in the program. Extension can never be defined without inclusion of participation of people. Extension approach means application of tools and methods by which we can reach people. The participation is the core value of extension but its use differs from situation to situation bringing out a degree of differences leading to variation in result. In extension the farmers are advised and the blue print prepared for them are recommended to be adopted. Such approach did not yield desirable result, as result regarding realization was under question the impact of extension on farming communities. The studies conducted on extension approaches tend to reveal poor result as the participants failed to own and shape the program designed for them.

Introduction Agriculture plays a vital role in human societies and economies around the world. It is the prime food source for human populations, ensuring a reliable supply of nutritious food for the health and well-being of people everywhere. It is a major contributor to the economy of many countries, particularly in the developing world, where it provides livelihoods for millions of people and supports local and national economies. Agriculture is both impacted by and contributes to climate change. However, sustainable agriculture cultivation can also help to reduce the consequences of climate change by decreasing emissions of greenhouse gas and increasing resilience to extreme weather events.

Introduction

Agriculture is that the back-bone of the economics of eveloping country likes India. It’s additionally the most “culture” for rural families even nowadays agriculture and allied activities build the one largest contribution to gross domestic product. Female are mother of the race and liaison between generations. Female’s role in agriculture and agricultural heritage described and recognized by the United Nations Organization (UNO) that has sustained the expansion of society wrought the long run of states. Within the rising advanced social state of affairs female have a role to play. Rural females are the foremost vital productive hands within the economy of majority of the developing nations together with India. Female are concerned all told the aspects of agriculture. India incorporates a preponderantly rural economy. Seventieth of her population is rural; of these households, have interaction in agriculture as their main supply of financial gain. It’s forever been India’s most vital economic sector. Female plays a significant role during this vital agricultural sector, as a result of it’s for the most part a ménage enterprise. Female in India are major producers of food in terms important, volume and variety of hours worked. Nearly 63% of all economically active men are engaged in agriculture as compared to seventy eight per cent of female. Nearly 50% of rural female employees are classified as agricultural labourers and thirty seventh as cultivators. Concerning 70% of farm work was performed by women. In several countries, women play a major and crucial role in agricultural development and agricultural allied fields together with, main crop production, live-stock production, gardening, post-harvesting operations, agro/social biology, fishing etc. as it is evident; it’s a reality long taken without any consideration however unheeded since ages. Hence, here a try has been created (i) to review the role of female in agriculture and changes in their position at small level, that’s village level (ii) to review the gender discrimination in land, labour and wage market.

Abstract

The paper examines some important issues of gender inequity in Agriculture. The issues are women’s contribution to agricultural GDP and their access to agricultural resources such as land, water, credit and technology. The paper also examines gender discrimination in agricultural wages. The paper is in three parts. The first part examines the contribution of women to agriculture in terms of time spent by women on activities and number of women engaged in productive agricultural activities with the help of the data from time use surveys and the National Sample Survey Organization’s Reports and the 2001 census. The second part of the paper then analyses Women’s poor access to land, water, credit and technology that reduces their productivity. The second part also elaborates how the women’s work is undervalued in the economy resulting in a huge amount of unpaid work in family agricultural enterprises and low wages in paid work. The third part explicitly elaborates the adverse consequences of such imbalance in terms of misallocation of resources to unsustainable agricultural production as against sustainable production.

Relevance of Gender Mainstreaming  in Agriculture

Indian agriculture is characterized by farming systems wherein men and women perform mutually interdependent as well as independent roles right from production, processing, marketing, and decision making as farmer, labourers and entrepreneurs. The extensive contribution by women in wide ranging tasks in production and processing in agriculture, influences household food security and determines national competitiveness in agro industry at large. Even though women make substantial economic contribution towards the sustenance of the farming systems and livelihood security, most often women’s roles remain invisible and their problems and needs are unaccounted and unattended. Historically dictated by social norms, family traditions and economic factors, participation of women and men in various farming contexts in India still remain gender specific and highly women discriminating. Women’s work is considered as unskilled and remains undervalued and underpaid. It is to be appreciated that at international and national level efforts of women empowerment and gender perspectives are being brought in development approaches and the situation during the past few decades is slowly changing as policies, efforts and budget are being specially allocated for the upliftment of rural farm women. But it is to be noticed that most of the programmes are of short term, narrow focussed and without continuity.

The general circulation of the atmosphere explains the formation of pressure belts and wind systems in the earth’s atmosphere. It is known that the earth receives more solar radiation near the equator and gets heated more. Consequently, the air gets heated more and rises vertically upwards. As there is more convection of the air near the equator, the atmospheric pressure will be less. The warm air which moves upwards up to a height about 14 km near the equator gets cooled and move towards the poles.

The upper air gets gradually cooled when it reaches a latitude of 30°N in the northern hemisphere and 30°S in the southern hemisphere. At about 30°latitude the cold air descends to the earth’s surface. Some of the cold air after descending to earth’s surface moves towards the equator. The circulation of air between the equator and 30°N or 30°S latitudes is called Hadley cells (Fig. 8.1).

The winds blowing from 30° latitude towards the equator at surface level are called trade winds. These trade winds which move towards the equator in both northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere converge near the equator and the zone of the convergence of these winds is called Inter Tropical Zone of Convergence. As the convergence of air takes place, due to convection of heat as a result of high temperatures leads to vertical lifting of moist air. Therefore, the Equatorial regions receive more rainfall and there are tropical forests in this region.

Analytical Reagents

Chemical reagents are supplied in different grades and each grade has a distinct purpose and range of uses. The purest grade is analytical reagent (AR), the second is laboratory reagent (LR), the third is guaranteed reagent (GR) and fourth is technical grade. Second and third form of reagents have a lot of impurities. Therefore, for the determination of micronutrients, AR grade reagents should be used.

Distilled Water

Distilled water is always used in chemical analysis. The quality of distilled water varies from single distilled water to double or triple distilled water depending upon the requirement of analytical technique(s) e.g. double distilled water (glass distilled) is always recommended for micro nutrient and heavy metal analysis.

Introduction
Project title:
Objective (S):

Volumetric Analysis Precautions

1. Use Clean Glassware: Ensure all glassware, such as burettes, pipettes, and volumetric flasks, is thoroughly cleaned and rinsed with distilled water to avoid contamination and ensure accurate measurements.

2. Clean Glassware Properly: Before use, all glass apparatus should be thoroughly cleaned with a cleansing mixture of potassium dichromate (K2 Cr2 O7 ) and concentrated sulfuric acid (H2 SO4 ) to remove any residual contaminants. After cleaning, rinse the glassware thoroughly with distilled water to ensure no traces of the cleansing mixture remain.

3. Proper Calibration: Calibrate all measuring instruments, including burettes, pipettes, and balances, before use to maintain accuracy in measurements.

4. Avoid Parallax Error: When reading the meniscus level in a burette or volumetric flask, ensure the eye is at the same level as the meniscus to prevent parallax error.

5. Use Correct Indicators: Choose the appropriate indicator for the titration based on the type of reaction and the pH range of the endpoint to ensure precise determination of the endpoint.

Introduction

The microorganisms exist as single cell or cluster of cells capable of orderly growth, metabolism and reproduction in two identical daughter cells. These includes cellular organisms {protozoa, algae and fungi (Eukaryotes), bacteria and archaea (Prokaryotes)} and viruses (non cellular entities). The study of microorganisms contribute to understanding of :

1. Basic biological sciences - It acts as a tool for providing the basic information for life processes. The discovery of DNA, RNA, proteins and enzyme functions all came from microbial study.
2. Applied biological sciences - Medicine, agriculture, industry, plant and animal pathology, immunology, plant and animal nutrition, biotechnology all have origin from the understanding of the cell function and metabolism of microorganisms.

A pH meter is very commonly used for the measurement of the reaction of a solution or a medium. The pH determination with the help of a pH meter is based on the measurement of the electromotive force (e.m.f) of a pH cell consisting of an electrode sensitive to W ions and a reference electrode.

Current Status of Seed Production

Organized seed production in India became possible with the formation of National Seed Corporation (NSC) during 1963, which paved the way for a sound seed industry to come as a consequence of the introduction of hybrid technology during 1961-65. The release of high yielding dwarf varieties of wheat and rice by the 1960’s gave further impetus to the growth of the seed industry in the country. For the total area under cultivation of 26.7 m ha and 65 per cent of the area) insect, disease and weeds (10-40 per cent loss) and also poor shelf-life. Hybrid technology have defined solution in several crop plants specially vegetables, cotton, rice etc. with the development of appropriate hybridization and seed production. In 1990-91, the area planted to ‘bought seed’ was about 10.35 per cent. The total ‘bought seed’ was estimated at around 5.91 lakh tonnes valued at Rs 679.80 crores. 

Historical Development of Soil Science/Agriculture

Francis Bacon (1561-1624 A.D.): Found the water as nutrient of plants.

Van Helmont (1577-1644): Give the ideas about the role of soil as a simple source of water and minerals for the plants.

Abstract

Rural women play a vital role in farming system operations and contribute substantially in the physical aspect of farming, livestock management, postharvest and allied activities. Around 43% of the agricultural labour force of developing countries is composed of women dependency. India has achieved self sufficiency in agricultural production, but a considerable amount of production gets spoiled in every year due to inadequate post-harvest management, processing, infrastructure and skill. To uplift the livelihood and economic conditions of the rural women there is an urgent need to impart trainings for skill development regarding the value addition of horticultural crops. This offers tremendous opportunities for women occupation but also inculcate entrepreneurial characteristics in them. Trainings and skill development are useful for rural women as they can add more value to the seasonal fruits and vegetables and generate varieties of products namely Pickle, Murabbaa, Chutney, Jam, Sharbat etc. These efforts enhance their family income by around 30-40 thousands per annum as they fetch more prices of raw produce after processing. Moreover during peak production times glut only promote produce and profit loss. Instead of direct marketing of their produce they can do value addition of their produce and then sell them in market, it not only increases the value of their products but the prices also enhance by many folds. After giving training to rural women, they are motivated to go for self marketing of their produce at domestic and village level. Similar way these trainings can transform the life style and income level of farming families comprehensively.

Introduction 
Augmented energy demand as well as impacts of employment of fossil coals on human health and environment, stresses and imposes the need to lessen the use of conventional fuels or replace them. Equally, global warming has stretched to a distressing level due to many diverse anthropogenic actions leading to increased pollution. The alternate energy sources are desirable that might be the conspicuous and sustainable approach of enabling environmental remediation, besides meeting the global energy call (Grosser et al 2016, Kanchanasutha et al 2016). A potential solution is generation of Biofuels, either conventional biofuels produced from agricultural crops or advanced biofuels produced from wastes, inedible crops or forestry products (Sreedevi Sarsan et al 2021). Advanced biofuels production especially by the utilization of agricultural and animal wastes using new technologies and processes are gaining increased interest among researchers and general public all over the world. Food waste, municipal trash, animal waste and other wastes can all be utilised as feedstocks to create biogas, a clean and sustainable energy source and thus may be the ideal replacement for traditional energy sources. The raw biomass may be converted into fuel products like biogas by briquetting, gasification, and anaerobic digestion, among other processes (Deepanraj et al 2015). In comparison to landfills, incinerations, and composting processes, anaerobic digestion (AD) is suggested as an inexpensive and environmentally benign technique for the generation of renewable energy (Van Forest et al 2012; Nishio et al 2007; Capson-Tojo et al 2016; Xu, F et al 2018; Cha, M et al 2020). The production of energy-rich biogas and alleviation of issues related to the removal of organic waste are all achieved by anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic solids (Sonakya et al 2001). This is since AD is a highly energy-efficient and ecologically benign technique. In an atmosphere devoid of oxygen, the AD system uses anaerobic microbes to transform the naturally occurring substances in the biomass into biogas. The primary byproduct of AD, biogas, has a methane content of roughly 50-70% by volume and 30- 40% atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) when feedstocks are digested under anaerobic circumstances, with small levels of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) (0.1-3% v/v), humidity, and other trace pollutants also present (Sahota et al. 2018). The generation of biogas is known to be influenced by factors such as waste types, pretreatment procedures, the microorganisms or enzymes added, operation circumstances and design of the digestors (Mao et al 2015).

Introduction

Spectral signature: A spectral signature is the unique pattern of reflection and emission of a target at different wavelengths. This difference helps to classify remote sensing images based on the spectral signatures of different objects.

Electromagnetic (EM) spectrum: The EM spectrum is the range of all types of EM radiation. Some examples are visible light from a lamp, radio waves from a radio station, microwaves, infrared light, ultraviolet light, X-rays, and gamma rays.

Spectral response patterns: A spectral response pattern is the amount of energy that an object reflects or emits at different wavelengths. It shows how the object interacts with the EM radiation.

Acid soils are found in India in about 93 million hectares ( Table 1) and they occur in the Himalayan region, the great Indo-Gangetic and Brahmaputra plains, peninsular plateau and uplands and the coastal plains including island eco-systems under varying environmental conditions of landscape, geology, climate and vegetation. Conditions which are conducive for the formation of acid soils, such as high rainfall coupled with high temperature encouraging intense weathering and loss of alkali and alkaline earth metals with a simultaneous accumulation of iron and aluminium hydroxy compounds or the formation of free acidic substances in the humid forest foot hill regions, exist in some region or other in almost all the states in India.  A soil with pH less than 7.0 is deemed as an acid soil (Soil Survey Staff,1951). However, for characterization and classification, acid soils may be defined as those having pH less than 5.5 in 1:1 water extract (Soil Survey Staff, 1999).

Abstract

Most of the sorghum accessions are landraces, and much of the cultivated area of sorghum is under local land races. The local land races are highly adapted to specific environmental conditions and are useful sources of genetic variation. Under the present investigation one hundred and two local land races of sorghum collected from different geographical origins were evaluated during kharif 2010 and kharif 2011 in order to assess the genetic diversity. The analysis of variances showed highly significant differences among the accessions for all the characters studied.

Abstract

The genetic divergence among 249 germplasm lines of maize was assessed by D2statistics based on nine parameters at Agricultural Research Station, Karimnagar. The germplasm lines were grouped into eleven clusters. Clusters I and II were the largest clusters with 73 and 79 genotypes, respectively. The highest inter cluster distance was observed between cluster X and XI followed by cluster V and XI indicating more variability in the genetic makeup of inbreds included in these clusters. Cluster V showed highest mean values for grain yield/plant and ear length. Cluster XI had the lowest mean values for plant height and ear height and these two characters showed maximum contribution towards total divergence among different characters. Based on inter cluster distances, inter crossing among the genotypes belonging to cluster V, IX, X and XI has the chance of getting high yielding hybrids with higher heterosis.

Abstract

Genetic diversity of thirty two rice genotypes from different states of India was evaluated through Mahalanobis’s D2statistic under integrated fertilizer management for fourteen yield and quality characters. The genotypes were grouped in to seven different clusters. Cluster I had nine genotypes. Three genotypes each were included in cluster II, cluster IV and cluster VII, whereas six and seven genotypes in cluster III and cluster V, respectively while the cluster VI had only one genotype. The results revealed that the geographic diversity might not always be related to genetic diversity. Kernel length after cooking, days to maturity and kernel breadth contributed maximum towards divergence indicating their importance in choice of parents for the hybridization programme.

Ralstonia solanacearum is a phytopathogenic bacterium belong ing to the b subdivision of the Proteobacteria (Yabuuchi et al., 1995) having a wide geographical distribution ranging from tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions (Liu et al., 2009). It has broad host range and infects around 54 plant families and 450 plant species (Hayward, 1991; Wicker et al., 2007). 

Early attempts to study the diversity present in the R. solanacearum species complex resulted in separate race and biovar systems. R. solanacearum has been phenotypically classified into 5 races based on the host range at the plant species level and into five biovars based on the metabolic profiles related to the ability to reduce three disaccharides and three hexose alcohols (Wicker et al., 2007).

Abstract
Understanding genetic diversity is essential for achieving genetic improvement and conservation of grain legumes. These crops serve as important pulses grown and consumed all over the world, especially in Africa, South East Asia and America. Legumes serve as a good source of carbohydrates, oil, fibre and proteins. Grain legumes are a major source of food and nutrition globally. However, it has not been possible to enhance gain legume production to the required level, primarily due to the narrow genetic base of most of the legume crops, coupled with changing climatic conditions. Most grain legumes are lacking in desired plant ideotypes and resistance sources for various biotic and abiotic stresses. The genetic diversity conserved in gene banks globally is a major resource for crop breeding programs, but it
is utilized only marginally. Therefore, in order to broaden the genetic base of grain legume crops and enhance the genetic gains made in improvement programs, conventional approaches and modern scientific tools should be integrated in a phased and carefully judged manner. The first phase should focus on the search for desired traits and the infusion of diversity into the cultivated gene pool through use of landraces and CWRs. The second phase should focus on the utilization of advanced selection tools, such as genomics, high-throughput precision phenotyping, and artificial intelligence, to exploit the hidden potential of the available genetic diversity; and the third phase should involve technologies such as mutational breeding, genome editing, and transgenic technologies to improve, modify any novel or alien traits that are not available in the entire crop gene pool. We presume that enrichment of the genetic diversity of cultivated grain legume gene pools, along with simultaneous improvements in their yield and plant type with the aid of advanced scientific tools, will enhance grain legume crop yields to the required level.
Keywords: Crop improvement, Genetic diversity, Genome editing, Legume, Phenotyping

Development of sophisticated procedures for the isolation, manipulation and expression of genetic materials is a field called genetic engineering. Genetic engineering has applications in both basic and applied research. In basic research, genetic engineering techniques are used to study the mechanisms of gene replication and expression in prokaryotes, eukaryotes and viruses. For applied research, genetic engineering used for development of microbial cultures capable of producing valuable products such as human insulins, growth hormones, interferons, vaccines, enzymes etc. The commercial application of genetic engineering is sometimes referred as Biotechnology. In broad sense, Biotechnology refers the use of living organisms to carry out defined chemical processes for industrial application.

The process of isolation, purification and replication of specific DNA fragment is called molecular cloning or gene cloning. Molecular cloning is the base of most of the genetic engineering procedures. The purpose of molecular cloning is to isolate large quantity of specific genes in pure form. Thus molecular cloning is very important in genetic engineering and can be divided into several steps depends on the purpose. The steps are as follows:

Introduction

One of the main environmental problems is the improper disposal of agricultural waste, which has a negative impact on ecosystems when it is carelessly dumped into the environment. According to the majority of publications, burning, dumping, or storing the untreated and unused agro-industrial waste in a landfill are the methods used for disposal (Neh, 2020). Untreated trash increases the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, which in turn aggravates climate change in a number of ways. This has detrimental consequences on the climate in addition to releasing more unwanted gaseous byproducts (Toop et al., 2017). As a result, substantial interventions are needed to use agro-waste sustainably. This can be achieved through the development of bioproducts with added value and sustainable energy technologies. Increased garbage output worldwide has put more stress on the environment, causing harm to soil, air, and water resources (Rao and Rathod, 2018). These effects jeopardize population health and the long-term sustainability of ecosystems. According to Zeidabadi et al. (2018), the agriculture sector produces between 21 and 37 percent of greenhouse emissions. A sustainable development paradigm that advocates for significant changes to traditional agricultural production techniques and waste management has emerged in response to this new reality. According to Torres-león et al. (2018), agro-wastes contain high amounts of complex carbohydrates, proteins, fibers, polyphenolic components, bioactive substances, etc. Organic compound wastes can be used as a raw material for a variety of agricultural, food, and pharmaceutical products, even if they are hazardous to the environment (Uzodinma et al., 2007). Because of their high nutrient content, agro-residues are not seen as trash; rather, they are exploited as a source material for new goods. The cost-effectiveness of conversion procedures for the development of bioproducts can be increased by using efficient pre-treatment technologies for agro-waste biomass, as well as by utilizing its biochemical properties and sophisticated conversion processes (Yusuf, 2017). The bioconversion of agricultural waste into enzymes and other bioactive compounds for the pharmaceutical industry, vermicompost, organic fertilizers, and biofuels for the agriculture sector, as well as nutraceuticals and food products, is greatly aided by microbial biotechnology and nanotechnology (Beltrán-Ramírez et al., 2019: Samborska et al., 2019). In the food and healthcare sectors, nanotechnology is being studied more and more because of its numerous potential uses. As previously indicated, the increased bioavailability and quantities of bioactive compounds significantly improve the potential for targeted delivery of bioactive compounds to particular tissues or organs. Nano-structured materials’ distinctive qualities and vast surface area make them potentially revolutionary for the food industry. Although the potential advantages of nanotechnology for society at large have been well acknowledged, food science has only lately started to investigate its uses (Del Rio Osorio et al., 2021).

Introduction
Genetic engineering is the process of modifying an organism’s genome, frequently to add or eliminate desired features. This field is developing quickly and has many uses in biological sciences, the agricultural sector and medicine. Gene therapy is a medical application of genetic engineering that corrects or replaces malfunctioning genes using beneficial ones to alleviate genetic illnesses. It is used in gene therapy and medicine to treat hereditary illnesses by introducing therapeutic genes into the body or fixing defective genes. Generating genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture as crops enhanced to withstand pests or environmental conditions also depends significantly on it. Over the last 10 to 20 years, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been incorporated into the system of agriculture and products for the consumer sector. This developed in the USA but has since spread to poorer nations. Since genetic engineering was discovered, its ability to alter the genetic material of living things’ DNA has been identified. The debates have taken place worldwide but have gained the most traction in the European Union due to mistrust in scientists, regulatory bodies and technology decisions. The genetic hinders can potentially enter a new cell through bacteria or viruses. Transgenic plants are those created using transformation techniques (such as Agrobacterium-mediated transformation or direct gene transfer) that insert specific foreign nucleotide or gene sequence regions into their genome (Grifths et al. 2005).
Agrobacterium rhizogenes and A. tumefaciens are common vectors used in plant-to-plant gene transfer. The desired gene inserted into the bacteria’s DNA will be transferred to the plants by the bacteria when they infect them with an individual plasmid in the soil. Vector transmission of genes is a natural environmental alteration, the favored modification technique. A curious field at the intersection of biotechnology and genomics is the field of genetic engineering. To put it bluntly, it’s the process of modifying an organism’s DNA to introduce new or altered features. Altering the DNA is a technique that allows for inserting, deleting or modifying particular genes to modify property or add new functions. Genetic engineering has many valuable and significant applications. It is used in agriculture to produce crops with better nutrient content and increased resilience to pests, diseases and environmental stress. According to studies, tissue-specific, promoters-especially stress-inducible promoters, which limit transgene expression to the stress period-improve the phenotypes of transgenic plants when compared to constitutive promoters (Shavrukov et al., 2016). Biotechnology also involves genetic engineering in producing illicit substances, enzymatic agents and bioenergy.

Technologiocal intervention is essential for improving pulse productivity through introduction of suitable high yielding varieties (Masood Ali and Shiv Kumar 2009). This is only possible through: (i) development of high yielding varieties with multiple resistance/tolerance to major diseases like mung bean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV), powdery mildew (PM) and Cercospora in mung bean and urdbean; (ii) development of varieties having resistance and tolerance to pre-harvest sprouting in mung bean, (iii) development of efficient plant type with high biomass and harvest index, (iv) development of varieties suited for intercropping system, (v) broadening genetic base of developed varieties, (vi) development of 50-55 days varieties of mung bean having 1 tonne/ha productivity and resistance to YMV for summer cultivation, (vii) development of high yielding and early maturity varieties of peas having resistance to powdery mildew, (viii) developing rajmash genotypes resistant to bean common mosaic virus and sclerotia rot, tolerant to high/low temperature and shattering resistance are important ones for increasing production through varieties intervention (AICRP MuLLaRP, http://iipr.res.in/mullarp).

Genetic purity is the vital determinant in continuing the genetic integrity in seed from generation to generation. This is the basis of variety purity maintenance. The genetic purity depends upon the purity of the seeds planted. The genetic purity of the seeds planted must exceed or equal to the final product purity standards required as the purity generally decreases with subsequent generations of propagation. The improved varieties loose their identity and healthiness unless properly maintained. Maintenance selection can prevent the seed quality deterioration.

Millets are the staple food cropsacross the globe. The ability to thrive in harsh conditions established them as most suitable for current climate adversaries. The nutritional richness of millet reminded the need for adding them to our food basket.Despite possessing several desirable traits their cultivation is limited to a few pockets across the globe.Though significant progress has been achieved by conventional and transgenic breeding programs inmillets, there is a need for rapid improvement to meet the current needs.In order to accelerate the pace of breeding efforts, several molecular biology and biotechnology tools are being deployed by plant breeders. In the meantime, genome editing techniques like CRISPR, TALENS, ZFNs, Base and Prime editing have revolutionized the methods of genome engineering among which CRISPR has emerged as the most rapid, convenient and effective mechanism. The availability ofwhole genome sequence information, identified candidate genesfor various traits and successful transformation methods of millets promoted the application of CRISPR and resulted in the improvement of several traits. Initially, its application has been limited due to the restricted policies across the globe but the gradual change in the policies promoted genome editing across several parts of the globe. Thus, the application of genome editing for millet crop improvement can bring back those ancient grains to our food basket.

Abstract

The balance between resources and population constitute the solid base for drawing the future map of sustainable development in the study area in all developmental sectors such as agriculture, industry, tourism, and commercial sectors. Geoenvironmental hazards such as erosion, sea level changes, sand dune encroachment, siltation of the navigation channel of the Damietta harbor, salinization of the soils, the negative effects of the protective structures and bad management of the coastal areas must be studied in details before making the future planning for any area. The main geomorphologic units in this area are: beaches, sand dunes, wetlands, urban areas, reclamation lands and lagoons.

The rate of erosion from 1984 to 2000 in the Rosetta beach is -117.6 m/yr, while it is -17.6 m/yr in the Damietta beach. On the other hand, the rate of erosion in the period from 1984 to 2005 is -104.6 m/yr and -11.4 m/yr in Rosetta and Damietta beaches, respectively. Since, Nile Delta is a typical wave dominated delta (Coleman et al., 1981) and Tide is a semi-diurnal microtidal regime with a maximum tidal range of 50 cm (UNESCO/UNDP, 1978), the erosion and accretion are very dangerous hazard in the area.

Due to the reclamation of vast areas of the coastal dunes, the lagoons and wetlands, the new reclaimed lands are added to the agricultural deltaic land. Thus, the coastal sand dunes, lagoons and wetlands are decreased. The main urban centers have expanded, and new urban centers (Damietta harbor, the New Damietta city and Mansoura city in near future) have been constructed at the expense of vast areas of lagoons, coastal dunes, and backshore flats. The siltation of the navigation canal of the Damietta harbor, salting of the soil (new and old) and sand dune encroachment are very important hazards in the study area. All the previous geoenvironmental hazards and others threaten the sustainable development in the study area.

ABSTRACT

Groundwater geochemistry is largely a function of mineral composition of aquifer through which water flows thus, differences in aquifer composition are reflected as differences in groundwater chemistry. To understand water quality and flow pattern multivariate statistical analysis are used due to its relative importance in combining chemical variables and organize voluminous data and group into variables of similar characters. R-mode factor analysis is used in the field of hydrogeochemistry to interpret complex hydrogeological process. A total of 216 samples representing complete lithology like peninsular gneiss, Charnockite and calc gneiss for four different seasons was collected and analyzed for major ions like Ca, Mg, Na, K, HCO₃, Cl, SO₄, NO₃, PO₄, F and H₄SiO₄. Correlation analysis reveals Mg, Cl and Na are spinal and others seasonal. Factor analysis indicates ascendancy of anthropogenic basis followed by lithological weight. Factor score superimpose indicate governing hydrogeochemical regimes spread in western and eastern part. In southern part the same has superior influence than northern part.

Abstract

Water has become a scarce resource all over the World. Water resources of Earth can be classified as surface water and groundwater in which groundwater is the main source for the drinking, domestic and agriculture. The Pudukkottai district is one of the chronic drought prone areas in Tamil Nadu. But, at the same time, the district is pitted with over 5,400 tanks/water bodies widely distributed throughout in general and clustered more in Vellar delta in particular, as the interlobel depressions have provided basic depressions for the surface water to accumulate. However, these surface water bodies are heavily silted. In Pudukkottai district, there are three divergent aquifer systems, hard rock aquifer system in the western, sedimentary aquifer system constituted by the Tertiary Sandstone (Cuddalore Sandstone) in the central and Quaternary aquifer system constituted by fluvial, fluvio-marine and marine systems in the eastern parts of the district.

Introduction to GIS

QGIS (Quantum GIS) is an open-source Geographic Information System (GIS) software has been used to showcase various exercises pertaining to viewing, editing, analyzing, and printing of the geospatial data. QGIS helps to allow the users to easily access and manage geographic data stored in folders on local disks or relational databases available on the user’s network. QGIS supports raster, vector, and mesh layers. QGIS also allows using data from external sources with the help of web services such as Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service. QGIS is a constantly developing software as anyone can add new features or update existing tools. Newer versions of QGIS are frequently released on the official website. It is a cross-platform software that can be installed in Windows, Linux, and MacOS.

More information, more accurate and timely decision. In present high tech world, the more information you have it is easier to make an accurate decision. The information comes in many different ways, from reports to digital photos. A new way to analyze data is a geographic information system (GIS). GIS allows to bring all types of data together based on the geographic and locational component of the data. GIS is a useful tool for seeking innovative ways to solve the problems.

9.1 What is GIS?

A geographic information system (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store manipulate, analyze, manage and present all types of geographically referenced data. GIS can be defined as a computer-based system for digital entry, storage, transformation, analysis and display of spatial data. A geographic information system integrates hardware, software and geographically referenced data for further analysis. GIS allows users to interpret the georeferenced data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns and trends.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Geographic Information System (GIS) is the new emerging field and grows at very rapid pace. Now GIS is a billion dollar industry with applications in varied disciplines. At present, GIS is being used by professionals from various disciplines. In this decade, GIS is being used by experts who are good in GIS technology for various applications. The development trend indicates that GIS will be used by common man in near future and at the same time, advanced GIS analysis will be carried out by GIS experts.

Any technology is developed out of necessity and GIS is of no exception. When a large amount of data were available for water distribution systems, road network, sewer lines, telecom lines, electricity lines, gas pipe lines, state wise population, natural resources etc, it is important to store, maintain and retrieve the data for applications. It is not possible to manually browse through the large amount of paper records. Also even if the data is available in an unorganized way in the computerized environment, it is not useful. Hence if the data are referred to locations in earth surface and the data are stored in an organized way, it is possible to retrieve and analyse the data for applications. Hence the solution is GIS and developed today into reality. Developed countries are using GIS widely in many areas but developing countries are moving towards the development of GIS database for their resources.

Remote sensing, aerial photography, cartography, surveying and other field instruments for attribute data collection contributes to the data acquisition. Cartography, surveying, geography, geodesy contributes for mapping process. Disciplines like computer science and statistics, mathematics involved in processing and analysing data . Computer science and mathematics involved in storing the data structure.

GIS maps are intelligent. It has many advantages compared with paper map in this digital age.

Spatial data means data which are referenced to earth. Maps, satellite imageries, aerial photographs are example of spatial data. Attribute data which are attached to spatial data are called as aspatial data or non-spatial data.

If these data are brought into GIS then it is stored in a standard format, it is possible to update, share, retrieve, manipulate and analyse quickly. Much of the time and money is saved in case of reproduction and better decisions could be made

In modem days, many informations receive through electronic media with instant connecting by satellite based information on social, economical, environmental etc. the informations are coded with feasible electronic encrypt and delivered to people. Similarly remote sensing, GIS (Geographical Information System) and GPS (Global Positioning System) also serve world for better understanding the ground reality along with reducing cost of operation, transforming data through electronic webs easily. In earlier phase, ground related information was not easily obtained because all kind of work had been done manually using analog maps of earth; even map draw was done by drafting from totposheet or hand maps, no interface of analog and digital world.

Introduction

A geographical information system (GIS) is a kind of database that has software tools for handling, analyzing, and presenting spatial data and descriptions of phenomena that have a location component. This system can also involve human users and support staff, procedures and workflows, a body of knowledge about relevant concepts and methods, and institutional organizations in a wider sense. GIS technology is a key part of spatial data infrastructure, which the White House describes as “the policies, technologies, standards, human resources, and related activities that are necessary to acquire, process, distribute, use, maintain, and preserve spatial data.”

Geography plays a vital role in understanding the complex dynamics of fisheries, encompassing both marine and inland ecosystems. The spatial distribution of fish populations, habitats, and environmental factors are all critical components that influence the productivity and sustainability of fisheries. By examining the geographical aspects of fisheries, researchers and managers can gain valuable insights into the interactions between fish populations, their environment, and human activities.
12.1 Importance of Geography in Fisheries
Geography is essential for understanding the spatial dynamics of fisheries, including:
• Habitat mapping: Identifying and mapping fish habitats, such as coral reefs, estuaries, and wetlands, is crucial for managing fisheries sustainably.
• Fish migration patterns: Understanding the migration patterns of fish populations helps researchers and managers develop effective conservation and management strategies.
• Environmental factors: Geography helps researchers understand the impact of environmental factors, such as climate change, ocean acidification, and water quality, on fish populations and ecosystems.
• Human activities: Geography also helps researchers understand the impact of human activities, such as fishing, coastal development, and pollution, on fisheries and ecosystems.

Key words : NRSA, Natural Resource and Disaster Management, Agricultural Drought, Ecosystems, Biodiversity Information System, Water Resources, Sea Surface Temperature.

Introduction

A few decades ago, paper maps were the principal means to synthesize and represent geographic information. Manipulating this information was limited to a manual, non-interactive process. Since then the rapid development of new technologies to collect and digitize geographic data, together with an increasing demand for both interactive manipulation and analysis of this data, has generated a need for dedicated software’s namely geographic information systems (GISs).

A GIS is more than a cartographic tool to produce maps. It stores geographic data, retrieves and combines this data to create new representations of geographic space, provides tools for spatial analysis, and performs simulations to help expert users to organize their work in many areas like public administration, transportation networks, military applications and environmental information systems. These above mentioned are few among many others where we are concerned with geographical locations, their present status, its potential for developmental activities, patterns of change over the years and the processes on the surface of the earth.

Geographic information technology is used to manipulate objects in geographic space, and to acquire knowledge from spatial facts. Spatial information theory provides a basis for GIS by bringing together fields that deal with spatial reasoning, the representation of space, and human understanding of space.

Key words : Flood Plains Agro-ecosystem, GIS, RS, Spatial Cropping Pattern, Radiometric Normalization, NDVI, Agricultural Systems.

Introduction

Of late, evidence is accumulating to suggest that high productivity and growth rates achieved during the Green Revolution era in the well-endowed regions of the country (i.e North West India) are no longer being sustained to meet the needs of still increasing population in the country. Past growth sources have nearly exhausted and there is also no scope for expansion of crop land. Indeed pressure for competing land uses will likely reduce area under food grain crops. Shrinking natural resource base (per capita availability of land and water devoted to agriculture), declining quality of resources and environmental degradation issues will imply increasing threat to our ability to meet the basic needs of the growing population of the region unless we shift our effort to potential regions like flood plains of the country for improving productivity.

The flood plain riverine lands of India covering approximately 42 m.ha though most endowed with natural resources and has all the potential of becoming rich, is still economically backward. The reason behind this paradox of extent of poverty in the midst of richness of resources is that the natural resources of the region are not being productively harnessed into the process of the economic development and thus are not delivering their potential and commensurate benefits to the people. The Green Revolution technologies evolved during of 60’s and 70’s had little or no impact in this region of the country. Undesirable spatio-temporal distribution of flood in these areas keeps agriculture under uncertainty and risks. These are also the areas where the poorest are concentrated and agriculture largely continues to be more of subsistence. The nature of agricultural problems are highly variable due to great diversity in the production system as also in the socio-economic conditions of the communities requiring location specific approaches to address the problems and enhance the productivity.

Key words : Glaciers, Glacial Lakes, Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF), Himachal Pradesh, Glacial Inventory, Glacier Recession.

Introduction

Glaciers are large masses of snow, re-crystallized ice and rock debris that accumulate in great quantities and begin to flow outwards and downwards under the pressure of their own weight. Glaciers form when yearly snowfall in a region far exceeds the amount of snow and ice that melts in a given summer. In this way, massive quantities of glacial material accumulate in relatively small periods of geologic time. The glaciers exist in environments of high and low precipitation and in many temperature regimes; they are found on all the continents except Australia and they span the globe from high altitudes in equatorial regions to the polar ice caps. Presently, 10% of the Earth’s land area (5.8 million square miles) is covered with glaciers storing about 75% of the world’s freshwater. However, during the last Ice Age, glaciers covered 32% of the total land area of the planet.

Introduction

Precision Farming (PF) revolves around the idea that any agricultural land contains wide spatial variations in soil types, nutrient availability, and other important factors. If these variations are not taken into account, then there may be a loss in productivity. Precision farming is one of the most scientific and modern approaches to sustainable agriculture that has gained momentum in 21^st century. Consider the situation: ‘A farmer goes to his/her field with his/her Global Positioning System (GPS) guided tractor. The GPS senses the exact location of the tractor within the field. It sends the signal to a computer on the tractor that has a Geographical Information System (GIS), storing the soil nutrient requirements map in it. GIS, in consultation with a Decision Support System, decides what is the exact requirement of the fertilizer for a given location and then commands a variable rate fertilizer applicator, attached with the tractor, to apply the exact dose at that precise location. All this is done within a second, before the tractor moves further.’ This may sound like an excerpt from a scientific fiction, but this is what precision farming means to the large growers of the United States or European countries and day is not far off when it will be feasible for large Indian farmers as well.

PF refers to a developing agricultural management system that promotes variable management practices within a field according to site or soil conditions. Within a short span of time, this concept has been described with various names viz. farming by soil; farming soil, not fields; farming by the foot; spatially prescriptive farming; computer aided farming; farming by computer; farming by satellite; high-tech sustainable agriculture; soil-specific crop management; site-specific farming; and site-specific crop management.

Key words : Wasteland Reclamation, Poverty Indicators, Food Insecurity, Alternate Livelihood Systems, Rural Infrastructure Index.

Introduction

The countries of Asia and the Pacific region accounts for nearly two-thirds of the chronically poor and undernourished in the world. FAO estimates indicate that, by 2010, Asia will still account for about one-half of the world’s malnourished population (FAO 2000). In Asia, poverty has mainly been rural phenomenon and nearly three-fourth of the poor live in rural areas, with large majority of them dependent on natural resources for employment and income. South Asia, which had a poverty incidence of 43 percent (or about 520 million people), contributed about 40 percent of the world’s poor. Development of natural resources thus offers a potentially enormous means of poverty reduction.

In developing countries poverty and environmental deterioration are often viable in proximity to each other, and have led many to infer that a two-way causality exists between human and environmental degradation. Environmental degradation usually occurs when production and consumption activities of growing population irreversibly weaken nature’s recycling capabilities. These economic activities are also attributed to the development of markets, the advent of modern technology, and the spatial integration of inaccessible areas to market systems. In many developing countries, however, environmental degradation such as soil erosion, deforestation and pollution are most visible around poor settlements, leading some policy makers to highlight the direct links between poverty and the environment.

One has to recognize that both poverty and the environment are descriptions of states of human and natural resource attributes and cannot be reduced to simple one-dimensional cause-effect relationships. Apart from conceptual difficulties in modeling linkages, another handicap has been the absence of adequate or reliable data sets on poverty and environment characteristics. The challenge for operational research is exploring how circumstantial evidence and inductive logic can be used to explain the nature of interactions between the two states. Based on nationwide wasteland statistics vis-à-vis state and district wise poverty estimates available with the concerned agencies, this study is one such attempt, and evaluates the incidence of poverty with the backdrop of natural resources degradation and role of institutional interventions with illustrations from India.