eChapters

Common name    :    English- Marigold
        Hindi- Genda 
        Odia- Gendu

Family    :    Asteraceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (Fig. 82 a) commonly cultivated in gardens. It is a very popular flowering plant commonly found in India and other countries.

General Characters
The plant is a very popular aromatic annual herb with 50-100 cm in height. The leaves are pinnately divided, in to oblong or lanceolate. Flowers are yellow, orange in colour, and large head with 3-5 inches across. The plant flowers mainly during cold season.

Family: Talinaceae

Flowering: September-October

Fruiting: November-December

Botanical description: The plan is an erect, stout, fleshy herb, growing up to 0.5-1 m in height. Leaves are elliptic to obovate, 5-15 cm long, 1.5-5 cm wide, tip pointed to tapering. The flowers are borne in 2-5-branched, raceme like clusters, 3-20 cm long with a stalk about 8-11 mm long. Petals are pink, obovate, up to 1 cm long. Capsules are pale yellow, ellipsoid, 6-7 mm long. Then plant flowers and bears fruits during September-December.

Common name    :    English- Tamarind
        Hindi- Imli 
        Odia- Tentuli

Family    :    Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a large tree (Fig. 83 a), fairly common, planted or self sown. It is widely distributed throughout India, also cultivated and self-sown.

General Characters
It is a large tree which grows up to 30-50 m height with spreading crown up to 12 m in diameter. The leaves are up to 5 cm long and composed of numerous small leaflets. Leaflets are 10-20 pairs, small and close. The flowers are about 1 cm across, pale yellow with purple or red veins. Fruits are brown, short haired, sausage like, contain an acidic pulp that surrounds the seeds, extremely sour. The plant flowers during April-June and bears fruits during December-March.

Common name    :    English- Teak
        Hindi- Sagun
        Odia- Sagwan 

Family    :    Verbenaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 84 a), naturally confined to south-western part of Orissa, also widely planted all over the state. The plant commonly distributed in central India to Orissa, also widely planted.

General Characters
It is a large deciduous and very popular timber tree. Leaves of the tree are large, opposite with 30-60 cm long and 15-30 cm broad. The flowers appear in large numbers in lax clusters at the end of branches with white colour. The fruit is about 15 mm across, spongy and enclosed in persistent calyx. The plant flowers during July-August and bears fruit during December-April. 

5.1 Definitions

The erodibility of soil is its vulnerability or susceptibility to erosion, that is the reciprocal of its resistance to erosion. A soil with a high erodibility will suffer more erosion than a soil with low erodibility if both are exposed to the same rainfall. Whereas the erosivity of rainfall was shown in chapter 4 to be a fairly straightforward measure of the rain’s physical properties, the assessment of erodibility is more complicated because it depends upon many variables. There are alternative uses of the term erodibility. In the widest sense it can be used to include all the variables which effect erosion except the erosivity of rain, as in the first line of figure 2.2. It is also used in the narrower sense as a measure only of the effect of physical characteristics of the soil, as in the erodibility index K of the Universal Soil Loss Equation, where the effects of land management and crop management are assessed separately, as shown in the last line of figure 2.2.

5.2 Factors influencing erodibility

In this chapter we will look at the three broad groups of factors which affect erodibility. First, there are the physical features of the soil, including the chemical and physical composition. Second, there are the topographic features, such as the slope of the land. Third, there is the management of the land, i.e. how it is used.

6.1 Quantities and rates of runoff

Before a start can be made on the design of the channels and ditches and other works which can deal with surface runoff we need to know the probable quantity of water. If the object is to impound or store the runoff then it may be sufficient to know the total volume of water to be expected, but the usual conservation problem is conveying water from one place to another, and in that case the rate of runoff is more important, and particularly the maximum rate at which runoff is likely to occur. That is the flow which a channel must be designed to accommodate.

In a hypothetical catchment area* with an impervious surface and no losses the maximum rate of runoff would be directly proportional to the rate of rainfall. In natural catchments there are other factors: some of the rain is intercepted by vegetation, some infiltrates into the soil, some starts moving over the surface but is trapped in depressions, and some is lost by evaporation. Estimates of rates of surface runoff therefore depend on two processes: estimating the rate of rainfall, and estimating how much of the rainfall becomes runoff.

There are several empirical methods for doing both and for combining the two factors, but because they are empirical two points must be stressed. Firstly, as with all empirical solutions, data, tables, and formulae developed in one situation should not be applied in different conditions without careful checks on whether the method is valid in the new situation. Secondly, each of the three main methods which will be

Common name    :    English- Indian Tinospora
        Hindi- Gulbel
        Odia- Gulochi

Family    :    Menispermaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a shrub/climber (Fig. 85 a), frequently found in forests and widely distributed throught tropical India.

General Characters
The plant is a climber, with stems about 5 cm diameters with light grey and papery bark. The leaves are about 7.5-14 cm long, broadly ovate or orbicular, deeply heart shaped at the base. Flowers are racemes which are 7-14 cm in long, greenish yellow in colour and arranged in 3+3 sepals in 2 layers, the outer one are small, the inner one are large. Fruits are red, globose to subglobose with 6-8 mm across. The plant flowers during August-December and bears fruits during March-May.

Family: Apiaceae

Flowering: November-January

Fruiting: February-April

Botanical description: The plant is an erect, freely branching annual herb with finely dissected, lacy, blue-green leaves. The leaves are about 1 ft long and divided pinnately three or four times into thread like segments each about 1 in long. The dill plant grows about 3-5 ft tall.

Family : Lythraceae

Flowering: August-September

Fruiting: November-December

Botanical description: The water chestnut is an annual aquatic herb with a rosette of floating leaves and submerged, anchored into the mud by very fine roots. It has two types of leaves, finely divided, feather-like submerged leaves borne along the length of the stem, and undivided floating leaves borne in a rosette at the water’s surface. The floating leaves have saw-tooth edges and are ovoid or triangular in shape, 2-3 cm long, on inflated leaf-stalks 5-9 cm long, which provide added buoyancy for the leafy portion. Flowers are white in colour, with Four petals and are borne for a long period. The fruit is a nut with barbed spines. Seeds can remain viable up to 12 years, although most germinate within the first two years.

Common name    :    English- False white teak
        Hindi- Pindar
        Odia- Jandakhai

Family    :    Euphorbiaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 86 a), commonly found along riverbanks, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It is a large deciduous tree, growing up to 10-20 m tall, with a smooth grey bark. The leaves are oppositely arranged ovate, 7-17 cm long and are heart- shaped at the base and have tapering tips. Leaf-stalks are 3-7 cm long. Flowers are small and greenish. Male flowers are borne in 7-19 cm long racemes and are carried on slender stalks. Female flowers are borne singly on long stalks. Fruit is round, with 2-4 compartments, 2-4 cm in diameter, smooth or hairy, exocarp thick and fleshy. The plant flowers and bears fruits during December-March.

Family: Aizoaceae

Flowering: July-September

Fruiting: October-December

Botanical description: The plant is a succulent herb with prostrate forked branches, growing up to 20-45 cm long. Stems are prostrate or rising, somewhat succulent, up to 50 cm long or more, smooth or sparsely velvety. Leaves are flat, elliptic to obovate, 1-2 cm long, 0.4-2 cm wide, margins entire, tip blunt with rounded base. Leaf stalks are 0.5-2.5 cm long, expanded into a sheath joined with leaf base to form a cup. Flowers are pinkish or white in colour, borne solitary, stalkless, largely hidden in leaf axils. Capsule with a lower scarious or membranous portion and an upper brown. Seeds are black in colour with muricate concentric lines.

Common name    :    English- Coat buttons
        Hindi- Khal-Muriya
        Odia- Bisalya karani

Family    :    Asteraceae
 
Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 87 a), usually found in dry locations, especially sandy and rocky sites like roadsides, railways, dunes and waste places. It is widely distributed throughout India.
 
General Characters
The plant is a perennial herb that stands about 30-60 cm in height and has slightly hairy stem. The leaves are ovate or lanceolate with toothed edges. Flowers are small, creamy or white in colour having 5 petals that are notched in the outer edges. The centre of the flower is yellow. The plant flowers and bears fruits all the year round.

Family: Fabaceae

Flowering: September-October

Fruiting: November-January

Botanical description: Thye plant is a small diffused herb, with erect to creeping habit. Leaflets are 1-4 cm long, 8-35 mm broad, obovate to oblong-wedge-shaped, tip rounded to notched. The flowers of the plant yellow in colour, bloom in 8-20-flowered clusters, with a stalks 3 mm long and sepals nearly equal, shorter than or as long as the tube. The fruit is 1-2 cm long, 2-3 mm broad, linear, sharp tipped, curved and 4-8-seeded.

Family: Fabaceae

Flowering: December-January

Fruiting: February-March

Botanical description: The plant is an erect, annual and strongly smelling herb growing up to 10-50 cm in height. The Leaves are trifoliate with leaflets 1-3 cm long, 5-15 mm broad, obovate to inverted-lanceo shaped. Flowers are cream or yellowish-white, in colour, 1-2 together in leaf axils and 1.2-1.8 cm long. Pods are oblong, straight or falcate with age, 7.5-10 cm long with a long beak and 20 seeded.

Common name    :    English- Burr Bush
        Hindi- Chikti
        Odia- Badya chana pata/tatatatia

Family    :    Tiliaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 88 a), fairly common weed, distributed throughout tropical and subtropical India.

General Characters
It is an erect woody herb, grows up to 30-90 cm. leaves are simple, alternate, broadly ovate to sub orbicular. Flowers are yellow, small and clustered on leaf axils. Fruit is a subglobose and about 3-4 mm in diameter, covered with 75-100 hooked spines of 1.0 to 1.5 mm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during July-January.

Family: Fabaceae

Flowering: December-January

Fruiting: February-March

Botanical description: The plant is a scrambling and climbing herb, with stems almost hairless, up to 3 ft tall. The leaves are compound with 5-6 pairs of opposite leaflets and 1 terminal tendril. Leaflets are narrow, linear, 2.5-3.0 cm long, 2-3 mm wide. Flowers are borne singly or in pairs on short stalks arising at the base of the leaves, blue to purple in colour, large, up to 2 cm long. Seed pods are mainly black, linear, 4-6 mm broad, containing 10-12 round or angulated small seeds. The plant flowers and bears fruits during December-March.

Common name    :    English- Common Cocklebur
        Hindi- Chhota dhatura/Ghagra
        Odia- Mendhaguli

Family    :    Asteraceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 90 a), found in cultivated lands, coastal dunes, water resources, roadsides, waste places and field edges. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant has large and broad leaves, light and bright green in colour in an alternate pattern with irregular lobes. Stem turns maroon to black when mature, with hairy appearance. The flowers are white or green, numerous and covered with hooked bristles. The fruit is obovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm long and covered with hooked spines of 2-4 mm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during August-September.

Family : Rhamnaceae

Flowering: July-September

Fruiting: October-January

Botanical Description: Jackal Jujube is a very thorny straggling shrub with rusty-velvety young branches with paired thorns. Thorns are, one straight and the other recurved. Alternately arranged simple leaves are ovate to ovatelancelike, often oblique, with three prominent nerves and numerous transverse nervules. Tiny green flowers are borne in nearly stalkless velvety cymes in leaf axils. Fruits are spherical or obovoid drupes, black, shining, seeds woody.

Abstract

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

Introduction

Much of the world’s agricultural biodiversity is found in environments marginal for agricultural production. It is in such environments where management of high levels of diversity can become a central part of the livelihood management strategies of farmers and the survival of their communities. Abiotic stress can be termed as the negative impact of environmental factors on the organisms in a specific situation. It is a natural phenomenon that occurs in multiples and interdependent, and its impact varies across the sectors of agriculture. Abiotic stress is the primary cause of crop loss worldwide, reducing average yields for most major crop plants by more than 50%. Drought and salinity are becoming particularly widespread in many regions, and may cause serious salinization of more than 50% of all arable lands by the year 2050 (Wang  2003). Environmental stresses such as erratic and insufficient rainfall, extreme temperatures, salinity, alkalinity, aluminium toxicity, acidity, stoniness and others limit yield and productivity of many cultivated crop plants. Not only are such problems serious today, it seems they are inevitably worsening.

Mammals are homeothermic, meaning that they have the ability to control their body temperature within a narrow range in an environment whose temperature may change over a wide range.

India is experiencing a phenomenal spurt in the growth of livestock and poultry sectors through various timely and quality measures scientifically over a few decades. Milk production rose by a large leap from about 17.0 million tones in 1950 to about nearly 100 million tones in 2005 standing first in the world for maximum quantum of milk production. From about a ‘naught’ during 1950, the commercial layers have increased to 220 millions in 2005 producing 4500 crores of eggs every yearranking 5th in the world. The meat production is absolutely fascinating with 20 million birds in 1960 to about 2100 million in 2005 (Table 10.1).

Increase in ambient temperature, drought, rainfall, desert, feed and fodder scarcity, water scarcity and other climatic stresses are very common to tropical climatic conditions. The animals living in tropical climate have to undergo some modification for their survival under such extreme conditions. Interestingly, higher percentage of livestock is found in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. These areas are rich in animal resources. There are several descriptive and non-descriptive breeds of bovine distributed in different agro-climatic conditions of India. They possess several traits which make them adaptive to such climatic conditions. Identifying those traits and propagation of such traits is beneficial in near future in respect of climate change scenario. Climate change is the major concern for the improvement and sustainability of livestock under tropical climatic conditions. The rising of temperature and humidity is one of the major threats to animal’s productive performance that leads to great economic losses. Upadhyay et al. (2009) estimated 2% loss of milk production due to thermal stress in India. It has also been expected that 3.2 million tons reduction by 2020 and more than 15 million tons by 2050. The decline in milk production reported to be higher in crossbreds (0.63%) followed by buffaloes (0.5%) and indigenous cattle (0.4%) (Upadhyay et al., 2009). 

The climatic changes and global warming may impact the economic viability of livestock production systems in a significant manner. The possible consequences of increased ambient temperature on the livestock include reduced feed intake, reduced weight gains, lower milk production and lower conception rates during summer periods. Though animals can, to some extent, adapt to higher temperatures with prolonged exposure, the production losses are likely to be exhibited in response to higher temperature events. However, potential direct and indirect impacts of climate change on livestock production have not yet been thoroughly explored. Changes in availability and quality of fodder have also been identified as one of the major impacts of climate changes leading to lowered productivity of livestock species. Climate change could also affect the distribution of vector-borne livestock diseases. These changes occur as a result of shifts in the geographical ranges of ticks, mosquitoes, flies and other vectors.

The greenhouse effect is thought to be due to the absorption of solar infrared (IR) radiation by gases and the earth’s surfaces, which, as a result, is heated and then reemit IR radiation at low frequency with a high absorptive power. In fact greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are essential for maintaining life on earth, as without them the planet would be permanently frozen because all of the incoming heat from the sun would be radiated back into space by the earth’s surface (Moss, 1993). The threshold concentration of these gases at which their greenhouse effect would be minimized is not known, but it is accepted that their concentrations in the atmosphere should not be allowed to continue to rise. In recent years, there has been an increase in public concern over environmental damage originating from animal feeding operations.

Introduction

Agriculture plays a crucial role in ensuring food security, accounting for a significant share of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Agriculture is not just about food production alone, since it is a complex multi-dimensional and multi-faceted sector which concerns the efficient use of the natural resources, productivity enhancement, and preservation of the ecosystems in a manner that can sustain the needs and improvements of human livelihoods (Devendra, 2012). It is also a most vulnerable sector to climate change which has been recognized as one of the most serious challenge for the world- its people, the environment and its economies. Increased incidence of abiotic stresses (drought, high & low temperature, salinity, submergence and oxidative stress) and biotic stresses (pest and diseases) have became major cause for stagnation of productivity in major crops (Grover et al., 2011). Abiotic stresses are directly correlated with the change in climate while biotic stresses are indirectly correlated as the pattern and incidence of disease varies with the variation in climatic condition. Also, crop productivity rely on extent and type of stress in the particular area.

Abstract 

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

• Agriculture Database Concepts and Importance
• The Orientation of Topic Selection for the Construction of the Agricultural Database
• The Principle of Specialization in the Construction of the Agricultural Database
• Top Quality Principle of Building Databases
• Agriculture Database Types
• Agriculture Libraries
• Agriculture Journals
• Technical Reports
• Conference Papers
• E-Books in Agriculture

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

• Agriculture Information Systems
• Major Trends
• Agriculture Information System
• Importance
• Internet Based Agriculture Information System
• Support Provided by Agriculture Information System
• AGRIS/CARIS
• AGROVOC
• Agriculture Research Information System (ARIS)
• Agriculture Research Information Center

Introduction

North Eastern Himalaya region of India comprises of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura (Kukreti, 2000) lies between 21.5° N to 29.5° N latitude and 85.5° E to 97.5° E longitude. The total area of the region is 1,83,753 km2 thousand hectares of which about 9,729 ha (52.95%) is estimated to be under various type of forest including fallow land under regeneration in shifting cultivation with 220 different ethnic groups (Moral, 1997) and a total population of 1,01,39,990 (Table 1.) Northeast India is mountainous and a unique ethnic region with typical land tenure system with climate ranging from tropical to alpine type and altitudinal variation from 15 m to 5000 m amsl. Sustainable realizations of equitable livelihood in the region call upon conservation of bio-resources, environmental externalities, management of fragility and social sensitivities. Traditionally several niche based agroforestry systems of harmonizing woody biomass growth, crop production, livestock rearing and micro-enterprising have been evolved and indigenous technical knowledge generated to enhance income, employment and subsistence.

Introduction

Agroforestry is a land-use management system where trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or in pasture lands. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land use systems.
India has been at the forefront of agroforestry research ever since organized research in this area started worldwide about 25 years ago. Considering the country’s unique land use, demographic, political and socio-cultural characteristics as well as its strong contributions to agricultural and forestry research, India’s experience in agroforestry research has proved important to agroforestry development especially in developing countries.

Introduction

Agriculture expanded and forest dwindled. That eventually occurred with the expansion of civilization. Clearing of forests, granted in past, continued in modern times. Cutting of forests reached to such an alarming level that thinking of people turned back to create more forests. Sometimes over extraction of forest resources made forests unstable to yield perpetually according to necessity in future for which forests are turned unsupportive for livelihood and people tried for innovative means to enhance forest productivity in future (Nair 1993). Also with time agriculture faced the similar unfortunate condition towards intensive cultivation. So, peoples’ thinking turned back in agriculture how to make it stable and more supportive for livelihood year after year. Culturally human societies are connected both with agriculture and as well as forests from the time immemorial.

Introduction

Agroforestry is the intentional combination of agriculture and forestry technologies to create integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, and sustainable land-use systems (Rietveld 1995). It creates complex systems with impacts ranging from the site or practice level up to the landscape and beyond (Ellis, 2004). It is one of the most conspicuous land use systems that consists of annual and perennial plants, which are often integrated with livestock. It provides ecosystem services and reduces anthropological impacts on natural forests, arrests soil degradation, enhance soil fertility in many situations and improve farm resilience (Thangataa and Hildebrand 2012; Tewari et al. 2013). Agroforestry is a land management and farming system that are not only capable of fulfilling household needs but also maintaining and improving environmental quality. Itplays a vital role in achieving integrated rural and urban development. The changing climate has potential impacts on ecosystem goods and services by means of increased variability with greater risk of extreme weather events, such as prolonged drought, storms and floods (Lindner et al. 2010). Agroecosystem and forests are the ecosystems which are the most adversely affected by climate change by means of prevalence of pests, diseases, invasive species, species endangerment and high levels of food insecurity.

Introduction

Arid environs are delineated by extreme and harsh weather conditions due to excessive heat and inadequate, variable precipitation; however, contrasts in climate occur. These climatic disparities are the result of temperature variation, distribution and season of rainfall and the degree of aridity. Moreover, high evapo-transpiration, periodic droughts, low organic matter levels, different associations of vegetative cover and soil enhances the problems of these regions. In general, hot arid climates have excessive heat and strong prevailing winds, unhampered by obstacles on the ground and as result aeolian erosion is common with frequent seasonal drought occurrence (Sharma and Tewari 2005). These climatic limitations make very difficult place for the inhabitants to attain their livelihood. People of these areas have spent their life within these constraints for centuries. They have faced serious challenges due to lack of sufficient resources and very low productivity which has added to the vulnerability of the region. 

In recent past, extreme weather events are causing great concern in different sectors contributing to Indian economy. India Meteorological Department is doing yeomen’s service by providing advance information including monitoring of the extreme events longs with proper advisories to the farming community by using state of art instruments & technology through efficient delivering mechanism of the information and ultimately help the farmers from incurring great loss. In many cases, the most severe impacts are felt when several extreme events occur together. The major extreme weather events related to agriculture are Tropical cyclones, floods, heavy rain and landslides, cold waves, fog, snow storms, Heat waves, Hailstorms, thunderstorms and dust storms, drought.

6.1 Introduction

One of the key challenges in the 21^st century is that Agromet Advisory Services (AAS) have to respond to an unpredictable and changing climate. In India Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) is the umbrella project for Agromet Advisory Services (AAS) and it intends to link AAS to different sources of knowledge and innovations to respond to the climate change at root level farmers. The main aim of GKMS is to create effective, efficient and synergistic linkages to improve the delivery of these AAS to the farmers. GKMS works under the frame work of India Meteorological Department (IMD) which seeks to enhance the livelihood of every Indian farmer. 

The District-wise weekly agroadvisory service based on medium range weather forecasting (3 to 10 days) has been made operational by the State Agricultural Universities in collaboration with National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), India Meteorological Department. The Agroadvisory Bulletin (AAB) contains three parts. The first part of AAB consists of weather events occurred during the past week and weather forecast for three days ahead. These forecasts provide expected weather on cloud amount, rainfall, average wind speed, wind direction, maximum and minimum temperatures and cumulative rainfall. The second part contains the factual information on the varieties of crops, their state and stage, ongoing agricultural operations and occurrence of insect pest and diseases of crops.

Introduction

The green revolution in mid-sixties stirred by research based new technological developments involving new materials, models and ways of organizing farm inputs (water, fertilizer, chemical etc) and government’s policies transformed the agriculture dramatically. The outcome chewed a many fold increase in production and productivity viz. food grain production of 211 million tonnes (which was only 74.23 million tonnes in 1966-67) and food grain productivity of 1697 kg ha-1 (which was only 644 kg ha-1 in 1966-67). The country thus became self-sufficient in food production despite tremendous pressure to sustain 16% of world human population and 10% of cattle population with just 2.4% of total land.

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

• What is Intelligence?
• What is Artificial Intelligence?
• Branches of AI
• Natural–Language
• Natural Language Processing 
• Natural Language Recognition
• Simple Natural Language Grammar
• Intelligent Technologies in Agriculture
• Intelligent Animal Houses
• Agricultural Robots

• What is a Neural Network?
• How does an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) work?
• Characteristics of Neural Networks 
• Architectures of Artificial Neural Networks
• Learning Process
• Classification of Learning Algorithms
• Artificial Neural Networks in Agriculture -Intelligent Agent 
• Classes of Intelligent Agents
• Characteristic of Intelligent Agents

Introduction

Modern agriculture has been of great help in alleviating hunger from the world, because the world population more than doubled itself during the last half of the 20th century; it increased from 2.5 billion in AD 1950 to 7.1 billion in 2012 (USCB, 2013). It is predicted that the world population will again double itself by the end of the 21st century and will touch the 12 billion mark. Most of this increase in population has been, and will be, in the developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America. India occupies 2.4 percent of the total land area of the world, but supports 16.7 per cent of the world population. Like many other developing countries in the world, population in India is increased from 345 million in 1947 to 1210 million as per the 2011 census with a growth rate of 1.76 during last decade. Therefore, pressure on land has been mounting up at an alarming rate. Population growth coupled with live stock population expansion, urbanization and industrialization are major contributory factors to it. The unscientific and unplanned exploitation of this limited resource takes its toll in terms of degrading the land. A large proportion of the land area shows clear evidence of advanced and continuing degradation seriously affecting the country’s productive resource base (Abrol and Sehgal, 1994). Jammu & Kashmir and  Nagaland  have maximum share of their land (94%) under degradation. This is primarily due to large areas under mountains, cold deserts and other such degraded lands. In the agriculturally prominent states like Uttar Pradesh (63%), Madhya Pradesh (50%) and Karnataka (46%) (Shalander Kumar, 2011) the extent of land degradation is of great concern and posing a big threat to the natural resources, resulting in almost 5 billion tonnes soil and 6 million tones of nutrient loss every year (Singh, 2009).

Introduction

Road traffic in cold snowy regions during winter season faces problems, like icing of road, snow compaction and snow storms that obstruct visibility. In snowy region there is also danger of damage due to snow avalanches. Avalanches often severely damage road service facilities or road structures. Quick response and corrective actions are required to cope with the damages, if any avalanche occurs.

Abstract

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

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

Introduction

The organic matter added to soil externally as FYM, crop residues, leaf fall, root deposition etc. has been a part and parcel of Indian agriculture. The total carbon added to soil is subject to microbial decay and slowly the major portion of it finds way back to the atmosphere. There is every possibility that atmospheric CO₂ concentration will increase in near future; that will further lead to increased attention of scientific community to make soil a possible sink for atmospheric CO2. when the carbon sequestration is thought with the perspective of reducing carbon dioxide emission for healthy atmosphere at one hand and improving soil health on the other, there is utmost need to opt for technologies that can fulfill both these objectives. There is growing interest in the use of charcoal or ‘biochar’ to sequester carbon in soil and improve soil fertility (Lehmann and Joseph, 2009). There are many types of soil additives and fertilizers used to improve the structure and functions of soil. Biochar has re-emerged as an issue in the last ten years as everyone is looking for sustainable ways to improve soils and decrease use of chemical fertilizers. 

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

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

Introduction

The current population of our country is about 1.27 billion and the world population is predicted to grow from 6.9 billion in 2010 to 8.3 billion in 2030 and to 9.1 billion in 2050. By 2030, food demand is predicted to increase by 50% (70% by 2050). The main challenge facing the agricultural sector is not so much growing 70% more food in 40 years, but making 70% more food available on the plate (UNDESA, 2014). This rising food demand automatically put burden on the shoulder of formers especially for ASEAN countries such as India where population growth rate is high while resources are limited. India has about 141 million hectares area under cultivation out of its geographical area which 329 million hectares (Raghuwanshi, 2012; Parikh and James, 2012). Consequently, agriculture is, thus, one of the most important factors contributing to the economic growth of India (Kniivila, 2007). The production of the agricultural produce should be up to the mark to maintain this contribution. In order to enhance the crop production, fertilizers are needed because they supply the nutrients to the soil. By adding fertilizers, crop yields can often be doubled or even tripled.