eChapters

Introduction

Agricultural productivity during past three decades resulted in depletion of natural resource base besides creating several environmental and ecological problems. In contrast the demand scenario features a growth rate in food requirements to meet the ever-increasing demand of the growing population. The total food grain demand of India by 2020 is estimated at 294 million tones as against the present 224 million tonnes (2010-11), which has to come from the almost static net cultivated area of about 142 million ha. This improvement in food grain production has to be achieved while dealing with the factors affecting the ecological balance and sustainability of Agricultural resources. Soil and water conservation is an important aspect, which needs very careful dealing with proper attention of the researchers and planners particularly in the context of agriculture of rainfed areas. As the water without soils is useless for crop cultivation, the soils without water nothing but desert. At least 20 % of total land is deserted and very difficult to use with another 20 % is sandy and poor in nutrient content subjected to severe soil erosion and excessive land degradation which causes fragile nature of eco-system and threatens food security of such areas. Soil erosion reduces productivity and cuts crop yield and causes at least 10 metric tons of topsoil loss per hectare per year. Now days, soil and water conservation is gaining paramount importance globally due to its obvious reasons. The main objective of the subject to protect soils against damage due to excessive runoff by natural, mechanical, cultural and agronomic measures to be adopted to bring a state of equilibrium between climate, soil, rainfall, slope and vegetation.

Introduction

India is the seventh largest having 329.73 million ha of geographical area and second most populous country having more than a billion population in the world. There is no other substitute other than to use every square inch of land and every drop of water effectively and efficiently. Though there was markedly increase in annual food grain production from 51 (195051) million tones t0 206 million tones (200001), still the death on hunger is visualized.

The demand for food is increasing with everincreasing population growth rate. So there is no option other than to increase food production. There is very little or no scope of horizontal expansion due to land limitation, the question of vertical expansion is the only way to fit with the situation. Genetically improved crop variety, hybrids, mechanized agriculture, higher rate of fertilizers and chemicals application may give one or two more green revolution, but the question lies how far it can sustain greenness?

Adoption of improved crop cultivars, cropping system, increasing cropping intensities, precision farming can hold good to get out of this situation where whole system is to be considered.

The cropping intensities in the states like Assam, Bihar, MP, Orissa, UP and West Bengal are 137.7, 137.8, 125.6, 154.6, 148.6 and 159.6 percent, respectively (FAI, 199495). This indicated that a vast majority of lands remain fallow during dry season due to lack of proper technologies, which are under rainfed conditions, neglected. Except West Bengal, more than half of the arable land remains fallow during rainless period. Increasing cropping intensities in rainfed uplands is not easily achievable but there is great potential of intensification of cropping in rainfed lowland by utilizing natural resources and conserved residual moisture. Pulses like black gram, green gram, lentil, lathyrus, chick pea and oilseeds like linseed, groundnut, rapeseed could not only increase the cropping intensities but also come forward to increase national productivity.

Introduction

Organic agriculture implies growing of agricultural crops and animal husbandry components while not chemical plant food, weed killer and pesticides used. An agricultural practice followed in organic farming squarely measure ruled by the principles of ecology and squarely measure amongst the ecological means that.

Organic agriculture could be a production system that avoids or mostly excludes the employment of synthetically combined fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, placental feed habit-forming and genetically changed organisms. Organic farmers admit crop rotation, inexperienced manures, compost, biological blighter management, and mechanical cultivation to keep up soil productivity and management pests as way as doable and practicable. Organic agriculture could be a distinctive production management system and key issue of maintenance of agricultural property that promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, together with multifariousness, biological cycles and soil biological activity, and this is often accomplished by victimization on-farm science, biological and mechanical ways in exclusion of all artificial off-farm inputs during this context, a serious thrust towards organic cultivation, however, would require variety of alternative initiatives and infrastructural support. Active involvement in learning crops and their diseases, development of organic manure, natural pesticides, coaching of farmers, and provision of storage and property square measure all vital areas to appear into.

Organic farming has become progressively vital in agriculture given the rising variety of issues that use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides squarely measure throwing up GM (genetically modified) crops could give a wonderful yield however their long-run effects square measure hitherto untested and other people aren’t quite able to trust these foods excepting for this, there has been a big rise within the demand for organic food across the globe. Promoting these organic-farming techniques solely leaves India best poised to take advantage on the export potential of those foods.

Introduction

Rainfed agriculture plays and will continue to play a dominant role in providing food and livestock for an increasing world population. Rainfed agriculture practiced on 80% of the world’ agriculture land area and generates about 70% of the world’s staple food including most of the food in poor communities in developing and least favoured areas. The most recent estimates have put global rainfed croplands at 1.75 billion ha (Bha) at the end of the last millennium, or about 5.5 times the irrigated area in the world. India ranks 1^st amongst the countries that practice rainfed agriculture both in terms of extent 86 (mha) and value production. Agriculture water management deals with the administration of a key input to agricultural production and offers to hope that land and water use will be intensified. Scarcity of water resources and growing of competition for water many sectors reduces its availability for irrigation. Effective management of water for crop production in water scarce area requires efficient approaches for increasing crop productivity and drought tolerance by genetic improvement and physiological regulation may be the means to achieve efficient and effective use of water. A single approaches would not be able to tackle the forthcoming challenge of producing more food and measures with engineering solutions (water saving technologies, irrigation methods, deficit irrigations, proper deficit sequencing, modernization of irrigation system) and agronomic and soil manipulation (seed priming, seedling age manipulation, direct or wet seeded rice. proper crop choice, integrating agriculture and aquaculture, increasing soil fertility and addition of organic matter, tillage and soil mulching). The term enhancing water productivity implies how we can most efficiently improve the outcome or yield of a crop with water currently in use, the answer lies in three main pathways of increasing water productivity with multiple use of water. Transpire most of the supplied water (minimization of unwanted loss), exchanged water for carbon dioxide more effectively inproducing biomass, and convert most of the biomass into grin or other farm of harvestable product. Many technologies to improve water productivity and the management of scarce water resource are available, amongst the most promising and efficient proven technique are limited supplemental application of irrigation for optimize the use of limited water and water harvesting for improved farm income in drier environment.Improving (water productivity, however requires exploiting not only water management but also other input such as improved cultivars, fertility management and cultural practice which influence crop productivity and yield.

Introduction

Despite fact that more than two-third of the earth’s surface is covered with water, currently, near about 450 million people in 29 countries are facing severe water shortage and at least 20 percent more water would be required to feed additional 3 billion populations by 2025. About 97.5 percent of ocean-sea water is not available due to its salinity and 2.49 percent is locked up in ice and only 0.01 percent is technologically available and economically accessible water either from surface or ground water sources for human uses. So water saving technologies developed so far is very pertinent to propagate amongst the users. Water is an essential natural resource for sustaining the environment and supporting life where the agriculture is the major user of water resource. Water is an indispensable for sustainable agricultural growth and development. Previously, rainfed agriculturewas associated primarily with conservational land treatments to check soil erosion and land degradation.But in the areas of medium to heavy rainfall, there is ample scope of tapping excess rain water through suitable water harvesting structures constructed for this purpose for its subsequent uses as irrigation or to apply lifesaving irrigation to the crops which should also come under the purview of water management for crop production. Although there is a difference in the objectives of water management where there is abundant availability of water from continuous flow connected with perennial sources or lakes and rivers and that of from restricted or limited supply from collection of excess rain through water harvesting structures.The former is associated with to obtain as much as yield of crop per unit area under water application and later is associated with increasing productivityof crop per unit of water application even under rainwater recycling and its effective management for the purpose of irrigation. Hence, both the rainwater and irrigation water are considered to be equally important to context of agricultural development of the country to get higher water use efficiency and proper utilization of water resources (Zaman,et.al., 2017).

Introduction

On the basis of inputs based ecological principles, the all possible and available resources are allocated to achieve maximum outputs. One of the most promising paradigms of external inputs based agriculture that have emerged for the benefit of small scale resource-poor farmers and that is termed as low external input and sustainable agriculture (LEISA), which can enable such farmers to achieve higher income and attain sustainability by: (i) Optimizing the use of locally available resources, thereby achieving a synergetic effect amongst the various components of the farming system (soil, water, animals, plants, etc.) so that they complement each other in the production of output; and (ii) Minimizing the use of external inputs, except where there is a serious deficiency and where the effect on the system will be to increase recycling of nutrients.

Low External Inputs and Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA): Low external input sustainable agriculture (LEISA) is a way of thinking about farming. It incorporates some ideas found in what people have labelled eco-logical, organic, regenerative, biological, or simply alternative agriculture. Amongst the goals that now drive the interest in low-input sustainable agriculture, two stand out: profitable and productive farming, and protection of resources and environmental quality. Companion objectives include ensuring safe and nutritious food supplies and reducing health risks to farm workers. LEISA involves farmers substituting management, scientific information, and on-farm resources for some of the purchased inputs they currently depend on maintain production sustainability. Sustainability has been defined, for the purpose of including resource-poor as well as resource-rich farmers, as managing agricultural productivity while maintaining or improving the resource base. This means that agriculture must be environmentally solid, economically feasible, socially scrupulous, and flexible (for future needs).

Introduction

The sustainable agriculture begins with ideal soil health with minerals and organic matters. The sustainable farming practices enhance and protect soil health, water quality and water quantity, biodiversity, manage insect pests, disease and weeds. The Indian council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) set up an All India Soil Survey Committee in 1953 which divided the Indian soils into eight major groups. (i) Alluvial soils (ii) Black (or Regur soil) (iii) Red and Yellow soils (iv) Laterite soils (v) Arid and desert soils (vi) Saline and alkaline soils (vii) Peaty and marshy soils and (viii) Forest and mountain soils.

Introduction

India’s food problem dates back prior to independence. In the beginning, India’s food problem was one of scarcity, shortage of rice after the separation of Myanmar (Burma) from India in 1937 and shortage of wheat, also after the partition of the country in 1947. Initially, the major concern was to increase the domestic supplies either through increased production or through imports or through both. In the second half of the 1950s and during the 1960s the major concern was shifted to control of food grains prices. The Government of India entered into an agreement in 1956 with the USA known as PL 480 agreement for the import of rice and wheat. The Government found the PL 480 food imports a good tool to stabilize food prices in the country. Infact, PL 480 imports were the basis of our agricultural and industrial development. The frequent occurrence of flood and drought, food shortage resulted famine in several corners of the country during pre-independence period and even after independence.

Introduction

The creation of first humane life forms has been evidenced since 4 million years ago. They were reportedly called hunter gathers and hunted animals and collected seeds and fruits from wild plants for their livelihood maintenance as food stuff. These nomadic people moved from one place to another place as they depleted the resources of an area. The trial-and-error experimentation and manipulation of species, the scene was set for domestication of plants and animals. In addition, these hunter-gatherer societies probably paved the way for domestication by developing the social structures (later on promoted to village organizations and cooperation) as well as knowledge of cultivation techniques (later on institutes and knowledge centre).

Early Farming (1650 & Before)

Around 12-10,000 years ago human being started farmingin search of food stuff for maintain their livelihood.

It was reported that the roots of farming began within the gift day of Turkey and Middle East the geographical region, referred to as Fertile Crescent of the geographical region. Cultivation and replantation involves the deliberate sowing or alternative management of plants, that don’t essentially take issue from wild populations. The beginning of farming is primarily associated with the domestications of several species; it involves genetic change of wild varieties through conscious or unconscious human selection, the start of farming is primarily related to the domestications of many species; it involves genetic amendment of untamed varieties through aware or unconscious human choice. 2 of the earliest settlements area unit referred to as Cata Huyuk and Jericho, as reported. Folks began to taking regarding wild grasses and mistreatment the seeds for food and planting for following year’s food. These seeds area unit currently referred to as cereals and compose an outsized proportion of the world’s food provide. Water was 1st primary demand of existence of life whereby Jericho, like several early cities was set around a uniform water supply, a spring that created over a thousand gallons each minute. Reportedly, around 2 to 3 thousand folks lived there. Farming of wheat, barley, peas, and lentils supported these folks were found there.

Introduction

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions amongst organisms and between organisms and their environment. India exhibits a spread of landscape and climate that are mirrored within the evolution of various soils and vegetation. These also exists a significant relationship among the soils, land form climate and vegetation. These additionally exists a big relationship amongst the soils, land type climate and vegetation. Regions are diagrammatic such everyone is as uniform as potential with relevancy physiographic, climate, length of growing amount (LGP) and soils for macro level and land use designing and effective transfer of agro-technology varied Agro environmental condition Zones diagrammatic in line with the design commission which are explained together with the classification by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

State of Jammu and Kashmir is located almost in the middle of three climatic regimes of Asia. The chapter introduces the agro-climatic zones of Jammu and Kashmir based on physiography. Each province of the state of Jammu and Kashmir has been further delineated into micro agro-climatic zones.

Conservation Agriculture

The agronomic measures for water conservation helps to control the evapotranspiration loss from soil and plant surface, reduces the splash effect of raindrops, checks topsoil erosion and runoff losses, permits a better intake of rainwater by improving the better soil physical environment and thereby conserves higher soil moisture for better plant growth and yield.

1. Mulching : It protects the top soil from erosion loss by controlling runoff, facilitates rainwater absorption by soil, increases the consumptive use of water by crops and hence the water use efficiency, regulates the hydrothermal regime of soil, reduces the evaporation component of the evapotranspiration, prevents soil crusting and plant nutritional losses and keep down the weed infestation. Dry soil mulch as created by stirring the soil surface with the inter-culturing implements helps to minimize evaporation loss from soil surface. Use of cover mulches like black polythene sheets or organic residues or crop stubbles on soil surface will act as barrier to reduce the evaporation losses. Post-rainy season crops (rabi crops) which live primarily on soil stored moisture derive more benefit from mulching.
2. Anti-evaporants : These are used to reduce the evaporation from the soil surface. Straw, sawdust, paddy husk, wood bark etc are used to arrest the evaporation from soil surface. Hexadecanol, a long-chain alcohol, is also used to retard the evaporation from soil surface. This chemical is resistant to microbial activity and degradation and remains active in the soil for more than a year. The main limitation in soil surface mulching is high cost involvement.

Introduction

Farming system is complicated inter-related with soil, plants, animals, implements, power, labour, capital and alternative inputs controlled partly by farming families and influenced to varied degrees by political, economic, institutional and social forces that operate at several levels. The farm is viewed during a holistic manner. The farmers are subjected to several socio-economic, biophysical, institutional, body and technological constraints. Farming system conceptually may be a set of components or parts that are reticulate that act amongst themselves. At the centre of the interaction is that the farmer exercise management and selection concerning the sort and results of interaction. It’s the human setting that gives ample condition for development and utilization of a specific system. A farming system clearly is incredibly complicated system. Therefore, any agricultural technology compatible to a specific agroecological state of affairs and socio-economic environment might not be adopted by alternative farmers. Unless each natural and human environment is thought-about, agricultural analysis won’t end in relevant agricultural technology. The income from cropping alone in tiny and marginal farms is hardly ample to sustain the farmers’ family. With the decline in farm size (0.15 ha) because of explosion of population, it’d be more and more tough to provide enough food for the family by the tip of the century. Therefore, the farmer, to be assured of an everyday income for a good living (above the poverty line), a considered mixture of anybody or additional of those enterprises with agronomic crops ought to complement the farm income and facilitate in usage the farm residue/waste. The choice of enterprises should be supported the cardinal principle of minimizing the competition and maximizing the complementarily between the enterprises.

Introduction

India, only occupies 3.29 million km² bounded geographical areas, which forms 2.4% of the world’s land acreage area; it support over 15% of the world’s population. The population of India as on 1 March 2016 stood at 1332 billion. Thus, India supports about 1/ 6th of world population, 1/50th of world’s land acreage and 1/25th of world’s water resources. The country as well has a livestock population of 500 million, which is about 20% of the world’s absolute livestock population. More than half of these are cattle, forming basic the backbone of Indian agriculture. The absolute accessible water assets of the country are adjourned as 1086 km³. Total bounded breadth of alone Eastern India occupies 28% of country’s absolute breadth of 328.73 m ha. The share of forest area to geographical area ranges from 33 to 54% for North Eastern hill states, in Assam. The per capita land availability decreased from 0.50 ha in 1981 to 0.33 ha in 2000 due to proportionate increase of land use for non-agriculture purpose and increasing population density. Rice, maize, wheat, rapeseeds, groundnut, pulses, sugarcane, potato, jute, jowar and bajra are the major crops grown in this region amongst which rice is the principle crop. India has a long history of agriculture since civilization. Then the agriculture was based on traditional practices and the local varieties were being grown without much care. Population densities usually didn’t pose much difficulty to supply food grains. Rice both under low/up land ecosystem is primarily grown under rainfed conditions having production constraints of entirely opposite in nature. Very low productivity under rainfed eco-system is mainly due to yield depressing factors caused by biotic stresses across the rice ecology, either resulted from excess or deficit water due to uneven and erratic distribution of annual rainfall. The cropping intensities in the states like Assam, Bihar, MP, Orissa, UP and West Bengal are 137.7, 137.8, 125.6, 154.6, 148.6 and 159.6 per cent, respectively. This indicated that a vast majority of lands remain fallow during dry (winter/rabi)season due to lack of proper technologies, which are under rainfed conditions, specifically lack of available moisture and or rainfall during this period. That is more than half of the arable land remains fallow during rainless period. Increasing cropping intensities in rainfed uplands is not easily achievable but there is great potential of intensification of cropping in rainfed lowland by utilizing natural resources and conserved residual moisture. Pulses like black gram, green gram, lentil, lathyrus, chick pea and oilseeds like linseed, groundnut, and rapeseed could not only increase the cropping intensities but also come forward to increase national productivity. Adoption of improved crop cultivars, cropping system, increasing cropping intensities, precision farming can hold good to get out of this situation where whole system is to be considered.

Introduction

A system is a set of inter-related, interacting and committal elements acting calm for an accepted purpose and able of reacting as an accomplished to alien stimuli. It is artless by its own achievement and it has alien boundaries based on all cogent augment backs.

Farms are systems because several activities are carefully accompanying to anniversary added by the accepted use of the Grassland labour, Grassland and capital, by accident administration and by the collective use of the farmer’s administration capacity. The assay of farms is absolutely important to the accountable of development.

Relevance of the farming systems approach: Choosing behavior for agronomical development requires the use of advice about the absolute farming situation. After-effects of farming system from a circuitous alternation of committal and committal apparatus of elements that the agronomical enterprises of the rural household. At the centermost is the agriculturalist who takes accommodation in an attack to accomplish his aspirations, goals and adapted objectives aural the banned of technologies accessible to him. Uses inputs to get outputs in acknowledgment to the abstruse elements which are the accustomed ability award in any accustomed breadth akin what the farming system can be. The human aspect provides the framework for development and appliance of an accurate farming system.

Introduction

Farming system that advised integrated the needs of the ancestors the economic factors like profitability, amusing acceptability and economically active and technically achievable enterprises in a accumulated furnishings wherein availability of acreage resources, basement and institutions such as irrigation, marketing facility business accessories including storage and transportation and credit besides the agro biological application namely interdependence. Technically achievable enterprises and the achievement of individual farmers are to be advised as above factors in farming system approach. Farming system, therefore, designates a set of agronomical activities organized while attention acreage productivity, anatomy superior and advancement adorable similar of biological assortment and ecological stability. The accent is added on a system rather than on gross output. In added words farming system is an ability administration action to accomplish bread-and-butter and sustain agronomical accumulation to be accommodated a sorted claim of the acreage domiciliary while attention the ability and advancement top quality. Farming system in its absolute faculty will advise the afterward agency to lift the abridgement of Indian farming and accepted of active of the farmers. Farming system distinctively refers to an accumulation aggregate of enterprises in which the articles and or the byproducts of one action serve as the inputs for accumulation of added enterprise. Farming systems access has appear after than that farming came into actuality getting strategically activated as breadth specific suitability. Farming systems decidedly contributed to the re-silence of farming and as able-bodied as affluence farming, organic farming and inorganic farming. Agro-climatic regions of the country are abounding adapted and differed from breadth to breadth wherein types of farming are as well different. Somewhere, the farming is based on horticulture, ley farming, agroforestry and abounding added like farming of agronomic crops. India’s bounded locations are amenable for such variations, as the assertive locations acquaintance altered climates, appropriately affecting anniversary region’s agronomical abundance differently. India is actual abased on its vagaries of cloud burst abundantly to accord satisfactory crop yields. India’s farming has all-encompassing accomplishments which go aback to at organic 10 thousand years. Reportedly, the country holds the additional position currently in agronomical accumulation in the world. In 2007, farming and affiliated industries fabricated up added than 16% of India’s GDP. Despite the abiding abatement in agriculture’s addition to the country’s GDP, now the farming is getting advised as the bigger activities antecedent of alimentation in the country and plays a key role in the socio-economic advance of the country. Now a day, India is the additional bigger ambassador of wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, silk, groundnuts, and of abounding more. It is as well the bigger farming of vegetables and fruit, apery 8.6% and 10.9% of all-embracing production, respectively. The above fruits produced are mangoes, papayas, sapota, and bananas. India as well has the bigger amount of livestock in the world, captivation 281 million. The country housed the additional bigger amount of animals in the tune with 175 million in the year 2008. In this accomplishments the apperception of farming system, appropriately was demography application as aggregate of agri-horti and animals, veterinary including fisheries taken into account as integrated approach.

Fermentation

The term fermentation is loosely used to denote any process in which microorganisms are involved, regards of whether or not the organism is growing in the presence of molecular oxygen. Thus, it can be defined as 'an ATP generating metabolic process in which organic compounds serve both as electron donor (becoming oxidized) and electron acceptor(becoming reduced). Energetically, fermentations are poor energy yielding process and products have lower energy content then the substrates. Since there is no net oxidation in fermentation, the number of molecules of C, H and O remain the same in products as in the substrate.

14.1 Culture from Urine

Infection of urinary tract due to microorganisms affect patient of all age group and both sex., and they vary in severity from an unsuspected infection to a condition of severe systemic disease. Urine is a ordinarily excellent culture medium for the multiplication of common pathogen of urinary tract. Most bacteria found in the urine are due to contamination of skin flora during passage and they tend to increase greatly, exceeding 10⁶/ml. When the bacterial count exceeds 10⁵ per ml of urine it indicates significant bacteriuria and is indicative of a urinary tract infection. Infection of the urinary tract may be limited to a single tissue/ organ or they may spread upward and involve the entire urinary system. Escherichia coli is the most common urinary tract pathogen. Pseudomonas aeroginosa causes another important urinary tract infection, which is characterized by blue green pus. Cystitis (inflammation of urinary bladder), Pyelonephritis (inflammation of the kidney) are permanent diseases of urinary tract.

Urinary tract infections are generally characterized by bacteriuria, bacteria in the urine. Quantitative microbiological assay of urine can identify the probable pathogen. For this purpose, calibrated loop- direct streak method and pour plate method are routinely used. Now-a-days commercially prepared special plastic device called the urine dip slide and diagnostic urine–culture called Bacturcult is being used for isolation and identification of microorganisms from genitourinary tract infections. The Bacturcult is a sterile disposable plastic tube coated with a special medium on its inner side for detection and identification of bacteriuria.

With increasing industrialization, water sources available for consumption as potable water are being adulterated with industrial, animal and human wastes. As a result water has become a formidable factor in disease transmission. Polluted water usually contains large amount of organic matter which forms nutritional base for growth and multiplication of microorganisms. Usually the water with non-pathogenic organisms, like autotrophs and saprophytic heterotrophs, are not of major concern, but presence of intestinal contaminants of fecal origin are of great concern. These pathogens are responsible for intestinal infection such as bacillary dysentery, typhoid fever, cholera and paratyphoid fever.

The detection of all the intestinal pathogens on a routine basis would be a tedious and difficult task, however, it would be easy to demonstrate the presence of some of the nonpathogenic intestinal organisms like Escherichia coli and Streptococcus faecalis. These are always found in intestine but their detection confirms the contamination of water with fecal material. Such organisms are also called pollution indicator.

Viruses are smaller than bacteria and require living cell for their growth. They can be detected through the bacteria to which they parasitise. Viruses are associated with both eukaryotes as well as prokaryotes and contain either DNA or RNA; only few have both DNA and RNA.

Viruses that infect bacteria are called bacteriophage. They consist of head or capsid and a tail. The head may be round, oval, polyhedral and is made up of proteins while tail is hollow and provides an exit for nucleic acid to enter in bacterial cell. The tail also helps in attachment to the cell wall surface of bacteria. After injection of the nucleic acid into bacteria they multiply and form large number of bacteriophage particles which cause lysis of the bacterial cell wall releasing many bacteriophages. Phages that cause lysis are known as lytic phages and that do not cause lysis are called temperate phage. The most common lytic phage is E.coli – a coliphage.

Identification of enteric bacilli is of prime importance for controlling intestinal infections. This can be achieved by preventing contamination of food and water by a group of bacteria belonging to family – Enterobacteriaceae which are found in the intestinal tract of human beings and lower mammals. The microorganisms of this family are short, gram negative, non spore forming bacilli. Such common enteric bacteria are a) pathogens such as species of Salmonella and Shigella b) occasional pathogens like species of Proteus and Klebsiella and c) normal intestinal flora like species of Escherichia and Enterobactor.

10.1 Transformation of E. coli by electroporation Principle

Preparation of electro-competent bacteria is considerably easier than preparing cells for transformation by chemical methods. Bacteria are simply grown to mid –log phase, chilled, centrifuged, washed extensively with ice cold buffer containing 10% glycerol. DNA may be introduced immediately into the bacteria by exposing them to a short high voltage electrical discharge. Alternatively, the cell suspension may be snap frozen and stored at-70^oC for 6 months before electroporation, without loss of transforming efficiency.

Since E.coli cells are small, they require very high strengths (12.5- 15KV cm^-1) for electroporation as compared to those used to introduce DNA into eukaryotic cells. Electroporation is temperature dependent and is best carried out at 0-4°C.

The highest efficiency of transformation is obtained when the concentration of input DNA is high (1-10 μg/ml) and when the length and intensity of the electrical pulse are such that only 30-50% of the cells survive in the procedure. Under these conditions, as many as 80% of the surviving cells may be transformed. Higher frequencies of transformation (colonies/ molecules input DNA) are obtained when the DNA concentration is low (?10pg/ml).

The method outlined in this protocol is followed with most strains of E.coli and with plasmids <15kb in size. However, substantial variation in the efficiency of transformation between the strains of E. coli. has been reported. As in case with chemical transformation, linear plasmid DNAs introduced into E.coli by a pulsed electrical discharge transform very efficiently from 10 to 1000 fold but less efficiently than the corresponding closed circular DNA – perhaps because the exposed terminal of linear DNA are susceptible to attack by intracellular nucleases.

Antibiotics are produced by some true bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi that destroy or inhibit the growth of other microorganisms. Some antibiotics are synthesized or modified in the laboratory; however, their origins are always in living cells.

9.1 Assay of Antibiotics

Soil serves as the major repository of microorganisms some of which produces antibiotics. Four groups of soil microorganisms viz; Streptomyces, Bacillus, Penicillium and Cephalosporium represent three microbial types, namely, actinomycetes, true bacteria and molds respectively.

Following procedure may be applied to isolate antibiotic-producing microorganisms from soil:

Our exposure to wide variety of chemicals has increased markedly in the recent past. Most of these compounds are mutagenic as well as potential carcinogens. Emphasis is being laid to develop method for detection of environmental carcinogens so that their use can be avoided.

Despite the fact that mammalian cell structure and human enzymatic pathways differ from those in bacteria, the chemical nature of DNA is common to all organisms; this permits the use of bacterial test systems for rapid detection of possible mutagens.

The Ames test which was developed by Bruce Ames in 1970, at the University of California, U.S.A. is a mutational reversion assay employing several special strains of Salmonella typhimurium, each of which has a different mutation in the amino acid histidine biosynthesis operon.

S. typhimurium, the indicator organism, used in this test is the mutant strain that cannot synthesize histidine (His^-), lack the enzyme to repair DNA so that mutation shows up readily and has leaky cell wall that permit the rapid entry of chemicals. In addition, this S. typhimurium strain carries mutation enhanced plasmid, the combined effect of these characters increase the sensitivity of the organism to mutagenic treatments.

The term growth for bacteria and other microorganism usually refers to changes in the total population rather than an increase in size or mass of an individual organism. As the mechanism of conservation and dissipation of heat generated during metabolism lacks in bacteria, the enzyme system in bacteria gets directly influenced by temperature. The purpose of studying the bacterial growth curve is a) to become familiar with the population growth dynamics of bacterial culture and b) to plot a growth curve and determine the generation time of bacterial culture.

A number of methods are now available for measuring bacterial growth. Some important ones are

1)By colony counting or cell counting

2)By weighing the cells

3)By cell activity (turbidity method)

The science dealing with the measurement of size of any microscopically visible microorganism is known as micrometry which is based on the principle of physics. Before measuring a cell, the diameter of the microscopic field must be established by means of optic devices, namely an ocular micrometer and a stage micrometer.

a)Ocular micrometer : It is a circular disc that is placed in the eyepiece. The disc is graduated in to several small divisions marked from 0 to 100.It is placed inside the eyepiece of the microscope. The distance varies according to the objective of the microscope which can be easily determined by using a stage micrometer.

b)Stage micrometer : It is a glass slide graduated in 1 mm. Again 1mm is divided into 10 large divisions and 100 small divisions (10 x 10 = 100 divisions). These divisions are equally placed therefore 1 small division is equal to 0.01 mm or 10 μm.

Generally microorganisms are so small and colourless in their natural state that it becomes difficult to observe them clearly under microscope. Stains and dyes, which are colouring agents, are used by biologist for better understanding of the morphological and anatomical structures of the organisms under study. Stains are prepared with great care and specification to get satisfactory result, while dyes are not as exacting in their characteristics.

Dyes are of two types, natural and synthetic. The natural dyes are used for histological purposes, whereas the synthetic dyes for bacterial stain. Usually dyes which are derivatives of cyclic compound benzene of benzole, are prepared from one or more substances found in coal-tar, and so are called coal-tar dyes. Chemically dyes are organic compounds containing both chromophore and auxochrome groups linked to benzene rings. Chromophore group provides the compounds the property of colour and thus benzene containing chromophores are called chromogens. It has no affinity to combine with fibres or tissue and as such not called dye. For being a dye, compound should contain an auxillary group which provides the compounds the properties of electrolytic dissociation.

The dyes may be acidic, basic or neutral. The acidic dyes are eosin, acid fuchsine and picric acid whereas the basic dyes are safranin, methylene blue, crystal violet etc. The acidic dyes ionize to give the dye portion of molecule a negative electrical charge. They are salts of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium etc. The basic dyes ionize to give the dye portion of molecule a positive electrical charge and are salts of chlorides, sulphates or acetates.

4.1 From Soil

Soil contains varied group of microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, actinomycetes, algae and protozoa. The type of nutrients available, moisture, temperature and pH of the soil determine the nature of microbial population in soil. Different laboratory techniques for isolation of microorganisms have been detailed in chapter-III. These are used in particular for the isolation of specific type of microorganisms. All the techniques adopted are just to segregate the pathogens/ microorganisms from the mixture of microbial population present in nature.

(a) Isolation of Fungi

Soil contains large number of fungi and constitutes a major place of microbial population. They can be isolated in pure form by following the methods given below:

Under natural habitats microorganisms usually grow in mixed populations containing several species. This is really a problem for microbiologists because a single type of microorganism can not be studied adequately in a mixed culture. In laboratories these populations can be separated into pure cultures. The pure cultures contain only one type of organism and are thus suitable for studying the cultural, morphological and biochemical characters of an individual species. In the present days there are several ways of developing pure cultures in laboratories. Some of which are as follows:

Microorganisms, being ubiquitous, are found in soil, air, water, food, sewage, on body surfaces as well as on degrading and decomposing substances. Their survival and continued growth mostly depend on an adequate supply of nutrients and favourable growth environments. The culture media (nutrients) consisting of chemicals support the growth of microorganisms in a given condition. They are devised in such a way that the organism should get all the nutritional requirements. These are usually prepared in laboratory by weighing and dispensing the individual ingredients. Generally, the common media contain both inorganic and organic nutrients; however, for the cultivation of large number of microorganisms, specialized media are required.

Basically the culture media are of three types: (1) Natural, (2) Semi synthetic and (3) Synthetic.

Microbiology is a branch of science dealing with the study of organisms which are too small to be seen clearly by unaided eye. Roughly the organisms with a diameter of 0.1mm or less, which can not be seen by the human eyes unaided, come under the domain of microorganisms.

Thus, the laboratory work dealing with the microorganisms needs special care to avoid infection and infusion for maintaining good health. In fact all microorganisms should be treated as potential pathogens. Thus, for working with microorganisms aseptic techniques must be followed by students as well as by the laboratory assistants and teachers.

Introduction

Farming system conceptually is an integrated set of activities that farmers perform in their farm with available resources and circumstances to maximise productivity and net farm income on a sustainable basis. The system approach suggest a judicious mix of enterprises and activities based on the cardinal principle of minimising the competition and maximising complimentarity taking into account the components of soil, water, crops, livestock, labour, capital, energy and other resources. With all the resources, enterprises and external forces interacting in the system, the farmer operate at the centre of the farm household to take decisions observing variability, profitability, stability and sustainability. It is not the technology alone, but a set of social, political, institutional and economical forces influence the decision making process in a farming system leading to a model or acceptable combination of enterprises for overall development of the farm household.

Though science and technology have played a vital role in finding out innovations in the farming system approach through addition of new enterprise leading to profitability; new technologies ensuring stability and sustainability, the basic philosophy of the approach based on set principles is being pursued since initiation of agriculture in the civilisation.

In general farming system approach is more of a thought, a movement, a philosophy than simply choosing enterprise or combination of so to improve upon the standard of living. The interaction of bio-physical and socio-economic values plays an important role in up-scaling farming system approach and the adoption behaviour largely depend on the human values rather than material gain.

With the changing scenario, several factors like increasing instability in production, market price, high cost of production inputs, labour and negative impact of climate change, degradation of natural resources directly or indirectly warrants the use of sustainable rather regenerating technologies, compatible and noncompetitive farm enterprises to bring in sustainability and enhancement in production and income. For more than a century, programmes and activities have been designed to address the vulnerability of rural poor and are often targeted towards improving agricultural practices as means of increasing productivity, efficiency and ultimately income. In majority of the TOT cases technology has taken the centre stage even though the basic fundamental question like ‘whether the farmer adopt the offered technology and, if they do, whether they do it in ideal combination and for a considerable length of time needed to produce designed result remains unanswered. More importantly, in general the technology in isolation can not be recommended to all categories of farmers operating under varying situations. On the other hand acceptance and continuity of the technology is a dynamic process and varies both with the quality of the technology being promoted and the adoption behaviour of the individual farmer.

Farming System Development (FSD) is better perceived as a means of facilitating interactive links between the actors (Table-1) who play significant roles in the process. A system perspective is needed in designing and evaluating suitable technologies as well as in designing policy / support system that improve both productivity and sustainability. Considerable challenges do exist in modifying the conventional top-down orientation characteristics of extension services. This requires the fundamental principle of FSD i.e. interactive mode of operation.

Indian agriculture has the challenge of providing national as well as household food and nutritional security to its ever increasing population with the average size of land holdings shrinking due to increasing fragmentation. Modern agriculture is facing multiple challenges of plateauing genetic potential of major crops, declining productivity in vast tracts of rainfed/ dryland areas, ill-effects of green revolution technologies in all intensively cultivated areas, climatic aberrations etc., which is threatening the sustainability of the important agricultural production systems and national food security. The assets of a small and marginal farmer is of various kinds – a small piece of land, a homestead garden, few chickens and ducks, 1 or 2 cows/pig etc which has to be managed judiciously to sustain the production productivity and livelihood of the farmer. Farmers take decisions as to crop and livestock management given their access to knowledge and information, personal circumstances, and in the context of the broader socioeconomic, institutional and political environment. Under such conditions, some farmers are painstakingly trying to make a livelihood out of their small pieces of land. However, unable to produce sufficiently, some have sold off or leased out their land to big commercial farmers. Such farmers have become a daily labour or shared cropper in their own land, or even migrated to cities in search of livelihood.

To overcome the problems of small resource poor farmers under diverse and risk prone environments a more holistic, resource based, client oriented and interacting approach, popularly known as Integrated Farming System (IFS) has been developed. This system defines output as total biomass outcome of the system. Integrated farming system is a reliable way of obtaining high productivity with substantial nutrient economy in combination with maximum compatibility and replenishment of organic matter by way of effective recycling of organic residues/wastes etc. obtained through integration of various land- based enterprises.

Introduction

In India about 8.6 per cent of population enlisted in the category as ‘Scheduled Tribes’ under Article 342 of the Constitution of India, but they constitute almost 16 per cent of the poor. Lakshadweep is the most populous state with respect to proportion of tribal to total population (94.8 per cent) whereas, in Uttar Pradesh tribal population is lowest with only 0.6 per cent of the total. In Odisha tribal constitutes 22.8 per cent of total population. In India literacy rate of tribal is 59 per cent as against that of general category is 69 per cent. Tribal people are observed to be strongly associated with the forests, hills and remote areas, practising a unique life style, having a unique set of cultural and religious beliefs. Over the generations these communities have evolved time tested farming systems, which are purely subsistence in approach and are keeping pace in perfect harmony with nature. Over the recent few decades, however, population growth and lack of harmony between different agriculture and developmental policies have threatened these traditional agricultural systems for extinction. The encroachment of local Governments and private interests on forest and mineral resources has pushed the tribal groups on to increasingly degraded land, thus their survival became a constant struggle.

The primitive societies have passed through several stages of economic development everywhere in the world. Thus one can find the stages of food gathering, hunting and fishing, farming, etc. among the Indian tribes. The tribes living in the forests and hills usually earn their livelihood by means of food gathering, hunting and fishing. Such is the life of Kadar of Kerala, Birhor and Kharia of Bihar and other tribes. The tribes living in dense forests, full of wild beasts, live on hunting, such as the tribes of Naga, Kuki, Bhil, Santhal and Gond. The hunters leave the females to carry out household activities in the morning and return in the evening after hunting. In some tribes there is a usual custom of hunting collectively. The Nagas use spears, arrows and bows. The Bhils are very much specialized in shooting by arrow. The tribes living near rivers and seas usually earn their livelihood by catching fish. The hilly tribes rear the cattle, an example of which are Goojars and the tribes of Chamba. The Todas of Nilgiri rear buffaloes. Some tribes also carry out cultivation, but they are generally shifting from one place to another. So shifting cultivation is an intrinsic part of tribal system and tradition. Among the cultivating tribes are the Santhals and Gonds. Tribal groups mostly do not have land ownership and have a limited option to adopt agricultural operations in forest areas. Considering their sustenance Government of Odisha has passed an Act “Schedule Tribes and other forest dwellers Forest Right Act” in 2006. It permits ownership of tribals on forest land up to 4 ha. for forest use and subsistence agricultural activity without any penalty. Cottage industries, such as weaving cloths, preparing ropes and skins and utensils of different metals are prevalent in many tribes. The Kharia people are very much specialized to cottage industries. Their living standard is very poor in spite of their hard work.

Introduction

The challenge of increased food production to meet food security needs still persists 50 years after the start of the Green Revolution as population growth continues to increase in many developing countries. There appears to be no alternative but to increase agricultural productivity and the associated individual factor productivities (such as water, labor, nutrients, energy and capital) to meet the food demand by 2050 and to alleviate poverty and hunger. Thus, needs technological initiatives for further agricultural intensification. But already happening negative effect of crop production intensification on essential natural resources such as soil, water, biodiversity, and associated ecosystem services has forced agriculture stakeholders to search for novel initiatives that focus on sustainable production optimization rather than just intensification. Furthermore increased food supply is a necessity though not sufficient for eliminating hunger and poverty. What is important is who produces the food, has access to the technology and knowledge to produce it, and has the purchasing power to acquire it. Of the developing world’s 5.5 billion people, 3 billion live in rural areas – nearly half of humanity. Of these rural inhabitants, an estimated 2.5 billion are in households involved in agriculture, and 1.5 billion are in smallholder households (World Bank, 2008 and Herren, 2010). Poor farmers need low-cost and readily available technologies and practices to increase local food production and to raise their income. At the same time, land and water degradation is increasingly posing a threat to food security and the livelihoods of rural people who generally live on degradation-prone lands. There are several other key issues while relating the situation to Indian context.

Introduction

It is obvious beyond doubt that the climate is changing. Climate has also been changing in the past, but its rate of change has been unprecedented in recent past years. It is true that no one could stop the climate from changing, but could do a lot for mitigating some of its effects and formulate adaptation mechanisms to it. Agriculture, especially the small holder producers have been at the receiving end of the climate change effects, resulting into not only in the fluctuating and unstable productivity, loss of natural resources and consequent livelihoods, but also to their survival.

Climate change and food insecurity are two most pressing challenges human beings are facing today and has emerged as the biggest twin challenge of this century. There are evidences that the increase in greenhouse gases caused by human activities is responsible for global warming and consequent climate change (FAO, 2007). Under the six emissions scenarios the global average surface temperatures are expected to increase by 1.1°C - 6.4°C this century [IPCC, 2007]. Climate change has its impact on almost everything on the earth and so on the food production. The agriculture plays a very important role in the economy of most of the nations of the developing world. For India, agriculture is the base of nation’s economy, largely rainfed and dominated by smallholders (Singh 2008 and 2010). As per reports from a number of governments, non-government and intergovernmental organizations, the countries and agriculture especially practiced by smallholders are particularly vulnerable to climatic changes and they have least capacity to adapt to these changes. In most of the developing countries of the world, the agriculture is not merely a matter of cultural practice but it is the source of livelihoods of millions of smallholders and their dependents. Changing climate as predicted will not only affect the agricultural productivity but also heavily hit the lives and livelihoods of the smallholder families and ultimately lead to food insecurity to the concerned nation and the world (Singh et al. 2012). Business-as-usual scenarios of population growth and food consumption patterns indicate that agricultural production will need to increase by 70 percent by 2050 to meet global demand for food. South-Asian countries made tremendous progress in food production in 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. with an impressive growth of food production, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal transformed themselves from countries with a chronic food deficit to countries that were almost self sufficient in early 1990s. Except Afghanistan, all these countries had exported some quantities of food grain in late 1990s. The dynamic growth in the agriculture sector has, however, recently been lost. Productivity of major food grains has slowed and has been decline for some crops (Kumar et al. 2008) with food production failing to keep pace with population growth (G. Rasul and A. Schild 2009). As a result, South-Asian countries are now finding it difficult to meet their population most basic food and nutritional needs and remain vulnerable to food insecurity (Tab.1).

Mechanization of agriculture is essential for optimal utilization of vital inputs for crop production system such as soil, water, seed, fertilizer, pesticide and labour force leading to higher productivity and reduced cost of production for greater profitability. Thus with the support of mechanization, the agrarian sector as an enterprise needs to become sustainable and economically competitive which coincides with the objectives of the Integrated farming System concept. Mechanization also imparts capacity to the farmers to carry out farm operations with dignity, comfort and freedom from drudgery, making the farming agreeable vocation for educated rural youth as well. It helps the farmers to achieve timeliness and precisely meter and apply costly input for better efficacy and achieve higher productivity with reduced application of inputs. Small and marginal farmers now make use of high capacity agricultural machines on custom hire basis to enjoy the economic benefits. As such, the broad subject of agriculture can be understood as production agriculture, which takes care the field operations in the crop production system for higher productivity and post production agriculture, better known as post harvest technology which looks for reducing the loss of produce and value addition for economic gains. The IFS outlines the need of sustainability for farmers with limited resources of land, water and economy while mechanization aims at maximizing the profitability in agricultural system with a commercial attitude. Since the availability of labour force during peak hours of need and hike in wage very often creates hindrance in production and post production agriculture, mechanization can be the right answer to harness the benefits of IFS approach.

Commercialization is essential for agricultural development, which, amongst other things, entails mechanization of agriculture to reduce the cost of production and to increase the yield of crops. In some instances, agricultural commercialization may take place even without mechanization. However, due to the ever increasing agricultural labor scarcity in developing countries, an extensive scale agricultural commercialization may not be possible without mechanization.

The various farm operations involved in crop production system are land leveling, tillage for seed bed preparation, sowing and planting, weeding and interculture, spraying, harvesting and threshing. The mechanization of all these operation has been appreciated by the farmers which are discussed in the following paragraphs.

The stages through which the commodity passes from harvest till consumption are considered as post harvest stages. Post harvest management is one important component of agriculture and is the key to make more food and nutrition available to people. In integrated farming system, varieties of foods are produced. However, if they are not stored properly and/or processed, there may be both quantitative and qualitative losses. The produce may be attacked by different extraneous organisms including microorganisms, birds, rodents, etc. These spoilage agents may impair the quality of food, degrade the nutritional value and even make the food unfit for consumption. Besides, value addition of the food produce is another area where the overall profitability of the farming system can be improved. Thus proper management of post harvest operations and value addition are very important.

Importance of post harvest management and value addition

It has been estimated that about 10% of the food grains and about 30-40% of the fruits and vegetables are lost every year in a country like India due to improper post harvest management and lack of value addition. New avenues to increase food production are being explored to meet the demand of growing population of the country. However, prevention of post harvest losses is one basic step that can be taken up to make more food available for the people. In addition, proper post harvest management and food processing can help in the following aspects.

Introduction

Honey bees are the most fascinating creature found in the nature and are very closely associated with our cultural heritage. They have been evolved with structural perfection and behavioral instinct to render their service as the best pollinator and enable to realize the potential yields of several cross pollinated crops under various agro-ecological situations. They are indispensable for human survival. The words of the great scientist Albert Einstein quoted below is very pertinent in this context “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man”.(Thakur, 2011). Thus, starting from honey hunting since time immemorial to traditional bee keeping and its present transformation to scientific bee keeping has been a continuous endeavor of human for harnessing both direct and indirect benefits from bee keeping activities. Bee keeping has been a very popular agro based enterprise which does not compete with any resource of farming system rather acts as an integral component of Integrated farming system. Now-a-days it has not only attracted the attention of a diverse group of people, administrators and institutions for various purposes but also it has been the point of attraction of the rural poor and youth for their livelihood improvement.

Mushrooms have been part of fungal diversity for around 300 million years. A mushroom is a macro fungus with a distinctive fruiting body, which can either be epigeous (above ground) or hypogeous (underground) and large enough to be seen by naked eye and to be picked up by hands. They lack the green matter (chlorophyll) present in plants and grow on dead and decaying organic materials, as phytoparasite or in mycorrhizal association with plants. From these decaying substrate, they absorb their nutrition with the help of fine thread like structures (mycelium), which penetrate into the substratum and are generally not visible on the surface. After the mycelium has grown profusely and absorbed sufficient food materials, it forms the reproductive structure which generally comes out of the substrate and forms fruiting body, commonly known as mushroom. Mushrooms can be divided into four categories (i) Those that are fleshy and edible fall into the edible mushroom category i.e., Agaricus bisporus; (ii) Mushroom that are considered to have medicinal applications are referred to as medicinal mushrooms i.e., Ganoderma lucidum; (iii) Those that are proved to be or poisonous or suspected of being poisonous are named poisonous mushrooms i.e., Amanita phalloides; (iv) those in a miscellaneous category, which include a large number of mushrooms whose properties remains less defined. The toxic/poisonous species commonly referred to as ‘toadstools’ are objects of fear and distrust and have led to certain amount of inhibition and taboo towards mushroom consumption.

Use of mushrooms as food by man has been practiced since time immemorial and probably predates any historical records. The early civilizations of Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, Chinese and Mexican appreciated mushroom as delicacy, knew something about their therapeutic value, often used them in religious ceremonies. Greeks regarded them as strength food for warriors while Romans considered them as ‘Food of Gods’ and Chinese regarded mushrooms as ‘Elixir of life’. Much referred ‘Somrus’ in ancient Indian literature is actually a decoction of mushroom. Archeological and other accounts reveal that ancient man used mushroom in religious ceremonies. The Aztecs of South America referred mushroom as ‘teononacte’ (God’s flesh) and worshipped a group of mushrooms as being divine. The high esteem in which mushrooms were held in different civilizations is also indicated by the restriction of the use of many species to the rulers.

Currently 14000 mushroom species are known to exist. Of these about 50 % or 7000 species are considered to posses varying degrees of edibility and almost 3000 species from 31 genera are regarded as prime edible mushrooms. To date only 200 of them are experimentally grown, 100 of them economically cultivated, approximately 60 commercially cultivated and about 10 have reached to industrial scale production in many countries. Furthermore, about 2000 are medicinal mushrooms with varieties of health attributes. The number of poisonous mushroom is usually reported to be relatively small (approximately 1 %), but there is an estimate that about 10 % may have poisonous attributes while 30 species are considered to be lethal.

Introduction

Agriculture has been the joint venture of both men and women since the time immemorial. Women play a significant role in agriculture and are responsible for half of the world’s food production in most of the developing countries. According to International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), women play a central role as producer of food, managers of natural resources, income earners and care takers of household food and nutrition security. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) studies also confirm that women are the mainstay of small scale agriculture, the farm labour force and day to day family subsistence. About 70 per cent of agricultural workers, 80 per cent of food producers and 10 per cent of those who process basic foodstuffs are women and thus making up more than two-third of the workforce in agriculture production. They currently account for 60-70 % of all food production in all the developing countries. Other than agriculture and allied sectors like dairy, poultry, fishery, goatery and sericulture, women are also skilled in handicrafts, wooden works and various other types of small enterprises which boost the rural economy. They are also involved in small scale enterprises like rope making, broom making, bamboo works. All women in rural areas, irrespective to their age, size of their family, size of land holding, caste and community, perform major agricultural tasks. The rural women form the most important productive work force in the economy of majority of the developing nations like India. Agriculture sector employs 4/5^th of all economically active women in the country and 48 per cent of India’s self employed farmers are women (Kumar, 2013). In present scenario, nearly 84 per cent of economically active women in India are engaged in agriculture and allied activities. In a study undertaken by DRWA (Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture) in low land and rainfed rice in Odisha revealed that under low lying situation, women spent nearly 20 days in uprooting and transplanting, 10 days in intercultural operations and 20 days in harvesting and transportation. In up land rainfed rice women were involved for 40 days mainly in gap filling, weeding, harvesting threshing etc. (Arya, 2008). The rural women of low-income category and lower caste perform more work in farm related field activities while the women of higher income groups perform more work in post harvest processing like storing of food grains, parboiling, winnowing, preparing puffed rice etc. In tribal areas, women participate in all agricultural operations except ploughing. They are seen to do more hard work in the fields than men. Depending upon the socio-cultural variations among different tribal communities, Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) are collected by tribal women. They collect food, fodder, fuel, medicinal plants, building materials and other household materials. Every day during off seasons, they go to forest for collecting NTFPs and sell it in the local hats (market) for day to day expenditure of their family. Sal and kendu leaves are also collected by them for their livelihood support. Ladies are the decision makers in farming sector as well as on other domestic affairs because of their greater contribution of household income. Marketing of their produce and also other materials collected from forest by them are exclusively done by the women group. Tribes mostly depend on forest and forest products during the dry period of the year. Now-a-days non-availability of NTFPs has shifted women from self employed to wage employment.

In recent years, there is gradual realization of the role of women in the field of agriculture & allied areas. Besides domestic work, they are involved in various types of field works relating to production of crops, milk, fish meat, egg, mushrooms & honey bee and other material. Employees in agriculture sector of the country, contributes nearby 80% of all economically active women (Bhatt, 2013). Therefore, rural India is now going through a process of “Feminization of Agriculture”.

Women are critical to the well-being of farm households. Besides child bearing and rearing, women are expected to prepare all meals, maintain the household jobs and assist in crop and animal production. Perhaps, ironically, it is because women who have so many responsibilities that they have been over-looked by agriculturalists and policy makers–it has been more convenient to label men as farmers and women as child raisers and cooks. Rural women form the most important productive work force in the economy of majority of the developing nations including India.

In spite of several efforts there still exists gender gap in the field of agriculture and allied areas. Closing the gender gap is not only the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do for improved agriculture and food security for all. This was a key message for family farming interventions to close the gender gap.

World wide women play a major role in agriculture; including fisheries, forestry and livestock production. The nature and extent of their involvement is different in various agro production systems. Their role is diversified from management to landless labourer. In overall farm production, on an average women’s contribution is estimated at 55 to 66 per cent of the total labour (Singh, 2013).

The vulnerability of agriculture to climate change has become an important issue resulting in reduced productivity due to adverse climatic changes. The overall purpose is to assess farming systems change to enable adaptation to climate change. It deals with the predicted climate change scenarios and the adaptations necessary to reduce climate change impacts and examines improvement of indigenous breeds for adaptation to climate change. It also explores the use of crop modeling as avenues to address adaptations of crop production systems and draws the recommendations to outlines of future research needs.

Although the adverse effects of climate change are likely to be borne disproportionately by the small farmers of the developing world, it is the integrated farming systems with their high degree of biodiversity which are best equipped to withstand the shocks of climatic extremes. Apart from the landless and urban poor, small farmers are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the developing world. It is obvious that climate-related environmental stresses are likely to affect individual households differently compared to more market-oriented farmers. The climate change reduces crop yields. The effects on the welfare of subsistence farming families may be quite severe, especially if the subsistence component of productivity is reduced. Changes in quality and quantity of production may affect the labour productivity of the farmer and negatively influence his/her family health(Rosenzweig and Hillel 1998).

Organic farming primarily aimed at cultivating the land and raising crops in such a way so as to keep the soil alive and in good health by use of organic wastes and beneficial microbes. Organic farming is performed with an intension for maintaining diversity of crops, keeping soil healthy for future years, producing high quality products and recycling nutrients. Unlike modern agriculture, organic farming is not depended on synthetic chemicals. Instead, it depends on natural products to boost soil fertility through microbial activity. Organic farming uses a multiple cropping system, which benefits from growing several crops. This crop diversity supports a range of plants, insects, soil micro-organisms and animals that add to a healthy farming system. Organic farmings are of different types such as bio-farming, nature farming, eco-farming and biodynamic farming. Organic agriculture is developed with concented efforts by various people to create the symbiotic relationship between the nature and man. In the present day, organic agriculture has shown potentiality in commercial, social and environmental sector.

Organic farming is a production management system, which promotes agro-ecosystem and agrobiodiversity. The objective of organic farming is to generate all the required plant nutrients inside the farm and adopt crop protection using local resources. Organic farming emphasizes on the use of farm yard manure, crop residues, composts, vermi-compost and bio-fertilizers to enrich soil fertility and use of bio-control measures to manage insect and diseases. In particular, organic agriculture is intended to produce high quality, nutritious food which helps in preventive health care. Organic farming increases biodiversity at every level i.e. from micro-organism to mammals. It strengthens biodiversity by using bio-pesticides and inorganic fertilizers.

Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies in which woody perennials including trees, shrubs, bamboos etc. are deliberately combined on the same land-management unit with herbaceous crops or animals either in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In agroforestry system there are both ecological and economic interactions amongst the different components (Lundgren and Raintree, 1982). The origin of agroforestry practices, i.e. growing trees with food crops and grasses, is believed to have been during Vedic era (Ancient period, 1000 B.C.), the agro-forestry as a science is introduced only recently. Agro-forestry is the science of designing and developing integrated, self-sustainable, land-management systems that involves the introduction and retention of woody components such as trees, shrubs, bamboos, canes and palms along with agricultural crops including pastures or animals, simultaneously or sequentially on the same unit of land and time, to satisfy the ecological as well as socio-economic needs of people. This practice of growing trees and arable crops together on the same piece of land is an age-old practice with the dry land farmers. Agroforestry results in multiple products, increases income, reduces runoff and soil loss, utilizes off-season rainfall and radiation and gives stability to dry land agriculture. Further it makes the future generation farmers to inherit not only the land of their predecessors, but also the wealth of standing biomass of trees.

National Forest Policy (1988) has set a goal that 33% of the country’s geographical area should be under forest and tree cover. Under Tenth Five Year Plan, the Government of India has set a target to increase the country’s forest cover up to 25%. According to the latest report of Forest Survey of India (2013), the forest cover in the country is 697,898 km², constituting 21.23% of its total geographical area. Out of this, dense forest constitutes 12.24 % and open forest 8.99 %. The only solution to achieve these targets is through the practice of agroforestry. Therefore, in the quest of optimising productivity, the multi-tier system came into existence.

Introduction

Poultry farming is an emerging activity for enhancing nutrition and providing livelihood support to the farmers of this country. Since two decades, this component emerge as the fastest growing segment of agriculture where the broiler segment having a growth rate of more than 10% and the egg production 5-6% per year. As per the report by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, India has one of the world’s largest and fastest growing poultry, ranked third in egg production (FAOSTAT) and sixth in broiler meat production. Poultry farming is lucrative because there is minimum investment to start, rapid return, high feed conversion ratio and provides continuous source of income for the farm.

Introduction

Agriculture accounts for a large share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), exports, and employs more than 60% of the work force in India (FAO, 2001). The failure or success of agriculture determines the economic growth of the country. As human population grows so does the demand for food and, therefore, demand for land to grow food. Ironically, the demand to convert agricultural land to commercial and residential developments is also very high due to population growth and urbanization. This is reducing the amount of land available for agricultural purpose. This scenario is being noticed in most of the developing countries like India. Against this background, agriculture will be expected to meet food, feed, and fiber demands of a world population that is anticipated to grow from approximately 6 billion in 1999 to 11 billion by 2050 (USDA, 2010). Small and fragmented land holdings do not allow farmers to have independent farm resources like draught animals, tractors, bore wells, tube wells and other sophisticated farm machineries for various cultural operations. While crop production is the primary farming enterprise in the country, livestock raising serves as an auxiliary activity to crop production. About 90% of livestock population are in the hands of the smallholders where adequate supply of high quality forage is a common problem. Integrated farming system (IFS) models developed in different parts of the country involving dairy, duckery, poultry, horticulture, apiary, pisciculture and plantation crops viz. coconut, cocoa, nutmeg, banana, pineapple etc. along with crops, have been found to increase net profit significantly as compared to cropping alone.

Today the world is facing a variety of interrelated problems such as food production, energy use, pollution, unemployment and urbanization, mainly because the developmental strategies contravene the basic philosophy of ecology. The world ecosystem is becoming increasingly more unstable through an ever growing dependence on finite resources of fossil fuels. Food production system in developed countries, both terrestrial agriculture and fisheries are energy intensive and are thus, not entirely suitable for developing countries. An alternative strategy to an increasing reliance on fossil for agriculture development should depend on locally available sources of renewable energy and resources. A significant effect could be made through recycling organic wastes into fish. Organic wastes can be recycled in ecologically sound pond based systems fueled by solar energy. The reuse of wastes would safeguard the environment from pollution and lead to a reduction in diseases of insanitation. Recycling of animal wastes is the cheapest way of protein production by reducing cost of production. Fish farming in Europe, Israel and USA is energy intensive, since more farmers use commercially prepared feed formulations which resulted in cost to feed often exceeding 50% of the total operating costs.

In recycling of waste through fish culture, fish is considered to have a great potential to change raw protein into high energetic edible protein. The rationale behind raising fish on organic manure is that about 72.98% of the nitrogen, 62.87% of phosphorus and 82.92% of potassium in the feed rations fed to animals are recovered in their excreta. In most of the world, cereals and legumes account for most of the proteins and calories consumed, but fish produced cheaply by recycling wastes would provide a low energy way to produce an animal product and diversify the diet. Fish, being the cheap source of animal protein is now widely accepted to meet the persistent and widespread malnutrition in developing countries.

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector in the world with annual growth in excess of 10% over the last two decades. Much of this development has occurred in Asia, which also has the greatest variety of cultured species and systems. Asia is also perceived as the ‘home’ of aquaculture, as aquaculture has a long history in several regions and knowledge of traditional systems and is most widespread.

Introduction

Since times immemorial, world agriculture is following the traditional agri-horticultural methods for livelihood support. With unusual growth of population and faster development of industrial sector, a steep competition surfaced among the domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors for land, water and other natural resources. Though agriculture uses a major chunk of land and water for crop production, it becomes insufficient to provide food, nutritional and aesthetic security to the growing millions at global level in general and the third world nations in particular. Hence, there lies a need to take the avenue of Integrated Farming practices by following the logics of Precision Farming. All over the world, farmers work hard but do not make money, especially small farmers because there is very little left after they pay for all inputs (seeds, livestock breeds, fertilizers, pesticides, energy, feed, labour, etc.). The emergence of Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) based on horticulture farming could help to develop a framework for an alternative development model to improve the feasibility of small sized farming operations in relation to larger ones. Integrated farming system (or integrated agriculture) is a commonly and broadly used word to explain a more integrated approach to farming as compared to monoculture approaches.

Indian agriculture is characterized by small farm holdings. The average per capita land holding is speculated to squeeze to 0.10 ha by 2050. The proportion of marginal holdings is to swell more due to the growing population, inheritance laws of division of land and diversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural purposes. But we need around 457 Mt food grains to feed our nation by 2050 as against the present level production of about 257 Mt. Significant changes are also taking place in domestic and international demand for crop products due to improvement in income and standard of living, fast urbanization, and changing life styles and food preference patterns. The food demand is projected to grow annually at 2.0 % for cereals as against 3-4 % for edible oils and pulses, 4-5% for milk and milk products, meat, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, sugar and gur. In contrast, association of emerging problems like declining per capita land availability, increasing nutritional insecurity, decrease in factor productivity, increasing risk with individual farm component, unsustainability of cropping systems and unwillingness of young farmers towards farming lead to an apprehension in achieving the target. Farming system which aims at long term productivity, profitability, recycling of resources and employment generation, comes out as a major strategy to tackle all such problems. In farming system, various components of farming are integrated based on the cardinal principles of minimizing the competition and maximizing the complementarity between the enterprises so as to improve productivity and profitability as well as resource conservation along with maintenance of the environment. A survey conducted by the AICRP on Integrated Farming Systems indicates existence of 19 predominant farming systems with majority (85%) as crop + livestock (Gangwar and Ravisankar, 2014). Crop dominant farming systems are existing in most of the states such as Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, North-East, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal while livestock dominant systems, are present in Rajasthan and Parts of Gujarat. West Bengal, parts of Odisha and Assam states have the fisheries as a major source of income to the existing farming systems. The scope for promotion of horticulture (fruit) based systems exists in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, parts of Uttar Pradesh and in Sikkim while plantation dominant systems, are available in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Kerala. Further, the contribution of crop and livestock to gross income of existing farming systems in 732 marginal households in 30 districts of 20 states in various NARP zones of India indicates that in majority of the place crop component contributes more than 50 % while at few districts such as Samba (Jammu), Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Mehsana and Panchmahal (Gujarat), livestock component contributes either equally or more. Thus cropping systems play a pivotal role in most of the farming systems of India.