eChapters

5.1. Precision Farming Precision farming is an emerging concept in modern agriculture. It is micro management system to arrive at improved agriculture and land management decisions that result from using information delivered by geospatial technologies. In other words it is “Digital Agriculture” involving very large scale farm level mapping, comprehensive data base creation on required resources generated through space based inputs and field observations and making a detailed plan of work for maximizing the yield and reducing the cost on inputs using the decision support system. Precision farming means to do the right thing, in the right place and in right time. It is also called site-specific management (SSM), is the management of an agricultural crop at a spatial scale smaller than the individual field. In many fields, the crop’s environment varies substantially from one part to another

6.20. Role of Micro Nutrients in Vegetable Production 6.20.1. Born 6.20.1.1. Importance Warington first demonstrated the essentiality of boron in plants in 1923 in broad bean (Vigna fava L.). Boron markedly affects nitrogen uptake and the metabolism of nitrogen compounds. The protein contents of young leaves decrease and soluble nitrogen compounds, particularly nitrate accumulate under the condition of severe boron deficiencyBoth with and without boron added, nitrate reductase activity was obviously higher with Ca (NO3 )2 than with (NH4 )2 SO4 . With boron added, nitrate reductase activity in leaves increased from the basal to the top parts of the plant.

1. Education 1.1. Some Landmarks of Agricultural Education Including Vegetable Science Year Landmarks 1952 Indian Council of Agricultural Education (ICAE) set up (worked up to 1964 under ICAR). 1958 First ‘Deemed University‘ status bestowed on Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). 1959 Chief of Agricultural Education and ex-officio Secretary to ICAE appointed. 1960 Emergence of SAUs, starting with Pantnagar, based on the recommendations of Joint Indo-American Teams. 1965 Standing Committee on Agricultural Education replaced the Education Panel. 1965 ICAR reorganization with four Divisions including Agricultural Education 1966 ICAR developed Model Act for Agricultural Universities in India.

Introduction

Quality seed plays seminal role in augmenting agricultural production as well as productivity. Only by using good quality seeds, productivity can be enhanced up to the tune of 15-20 per cent alone, but under optimum management, the increment may touch upon up to 45 per cent depending upon the crops since the efficiency and efficacy of all other inputs in the production technology gamut are contingent upon the quality of seeds being used. Since antiquity the importance of quality seed to enhance agricultural productivity is well evident as mentioned in old testimonials, literatures, scriptures, treatises, epics, and many other ancient documents.

Seed quality is the major decisive factor governing stand establishment of any crop and thus having immense importance and bears utmost priority in case of high value, low volume crops like vegetables in particular and for high volume low value crops in general for enhanced productivity and production as well (Mandal et al., 2015). A number of diverse materials/ treatments at varying doses have been used to increase the rate and uniformity of seedling emergence in wheat and rice, which are generally categorized for seed enhancement, which is a kind of value addition.

Seed enhancement may be defined as post-harvest treatments that improve germination and seedling growth or facilitate the delivery of seeds and other inputs/materials required at the time of sowing smoothly. Seed enhancement technology predominantly possess a central objective to further improve seed performance by treating with specific additives/ chemical/ organics/ botanicals, etc. under very specific regimes and with the aid of certain planting equipments to grow uniform crop obviously to harness higher productivity and production (Halmer, 2006). Various techniques have been employed to assure superior performance of additives in different crops and most have been found to have immense commercial application (TeKrony, 2006). This includes three general areas of enhancement: pre sowing hydration treatment (priming), coating, pelleting technologies and seed conditioning.

Introduction

Seed as an input is the precursor for agricultural development as it alone can guarantee 20-30 per cent share of crop productivity (Koudinya and Kumar, 2014). Rigveda, the world’s most ancient scripture available, prescribes the importance of seeds as “Subeejam Sukshetre Jayate Sampadyate” which literally means, “A good seed in a good field can lead to the prosperity and posterity of the entire human race”. Seed production is indeed important to take care of a country’s food and nutritional security needs. At the same time, seed export across countries is vital for ensuring competitiveness in the domestic seed industry besides generating employment and valuable foreign exchange which in turn can be used for scaling up the seed sector’s efficiency itself (Poonia, 2013). As a matter of fact, seed trade is one of the reasons for huge advances made in the Indian seed industry through development and exchange of genetic transformation, marker-assisted breeding and nanotechnology (Nandi et al., 2013). As of 2014-15, global seed industry has reached USD 45 billion in which international seed export alone was worth USD 10 billion. Further, with the estimated growth rate of 9.2 per cent during 2015-2020, the world seed business is expected to be over USD 92 billion. Presently, USA, China, France, Netherlands and Brazil are the top markets comprising more than 66 per cent of the global share in seed trade. Corn, soybean and vegetables account for more than 75 per cent of the total global seed market volume. As of 2014-15, the value of the Asian vegetable seed market was USD 6.75 billion in which China had a major share (41 per cent) and the Indian share was around 7 per cent. Moreover, the world vegetable seed market alone is expected to grow at the rate of 7 -8 per cent per annum and reach USD 8.8 billion by the year 2020 (Parashar and Kumar, 2016).

Introduction

Seed is a critical and vital input that draws an explicit line between the success and failure of any agricultural production programme. In fact progressive history of agriculture has been a history of seed development and production. The mankind has been attempting to select better seed and employ better seed production techniques volitionally or in-volitionally ever since it divested nomadic life for the settled one. Initial attempts were confined to selection of useful crops followed by selection of better sorts and land races among the available native genetic resources. The introductions, hybridization followed by selection of better types and modern breeding tools inclusive biotechnological interventions have been extensively employed to breed better seed. Considering that research in crop improvement can turn little stone unless the quality seed with desired attributes is made available to the farmers. Government of India set up enforcement of provisions of Seed Act, 1966 for certification of seed as per prescribed minimum standards. Central Seed Certification Board was established in 1972 to exhort the central and state governments for producing genetically and physically pure and physiologically viable seed. The seed production programmes and rules were progressively honed to meet the ground situations. Initially the seed was considered as the exclusive bastion of public sector but the private sector got actively involved in seed production. WTO the seed still became a very open subject and the Seed Act was modified in 1988 and 2001 to permit import and export of quality seed, respectively. Despite of all these positive developments in seed sector, the availability of seed is still far from satisfactory. As on today private sector dabbles in low volume high cost seed due to economics and storage factors but the high volume less cost is still a virgin for private sector and is predominantly done by the public sector. Crop improvement is no more an art and science of improving hereditary of crop plants but has become a starker and competitive business under which the stronger would survive and the weaker get eliminated.

Business was abysmally shattered at the terminal end of the Second World War. This forced some nations to sign some tariff related global

Organic agriculture or farming is very much native to India. Whosoever tries to write a history of organic farming will have to refer India and China. The farmers of these two countries are farmers of 40 centuries and it is organic farming that sustained them. This concept of organic farming is based on following principles:

• Nature is the best role model for farming, since it does not use any inputs nor demand unreasonable quantities of water.
• The entire system is based on intimate understanding of nature’s ways. The system does not believe in mining of the soil of its nutrients and do not degrade it in any way for today’s needs.
• The soil in this system is a living entity.
• The soil’s living population of microbes and other organisms are significant contributors to its fertility on a sustained basis and must be protected and nurtured at all cost.
• The total environment of the soil, from soil structure to soil cover is more important.

Introduction

Seed pathology has been recognized as its own specialization for a relatively brief time, and the term “Seed Pathology” was first coined by Mary Noble in the 1940 (Agarwal and Sinclair, 1997). Seed pathology is an essential part of seed technology as well as a sub discipline of plant pathology. According toAgarwal and Sinclair (1997), it may be defined as the study of seed borne disease and pathogens carried with seed. It also includes studies on the mechanisms of seed infection, seed transmission, the role of seed borne inoculum in disease development, methods for the detection of seed borne pathogens and non-pathogens, seed certification standards, mycotoxins and mycotoxicoses, and various methods for control of seed borne disease. Seed pathology includes the study of diseases and deterioration caused by bacteria, fungi, nematodes, viroids, viruses, physiological and mechanical disorders.

Neergaard Paul is considered the father of seed pathology. He was one of the founding father and later served as Director of the Danish Government Institute of Seed Pathology for Developing Countries, Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1956 to 1974. He served as the Chairman of the Plant Disease Committee of the International Seed testing Association (ISTA). During his tenure as Chair of ISTA, he helped standardize methods for the detection of seed borne fungi.Neergaard (1977) authored a two-volume text entitled “A Seed Pathology”. This text has served as a reference and teaching standard for the science of seed pathology throughout the world (Agarwal and Sinclair, 1997). This text focused on a wide variety of seed pathology issues, ranging from the economic significance of seed borne diseases to the assessment of seed borne inoculum.

The Indian centre of origin and diversity of cultivated plants represent an outstandingly rich reservoir of nature’s wealth of plant species which include a large number of economically important species including Vegetable Crops. Common vegetables like okra and brinjal are native to this region. Out of the recorded 110 genera and 640 species of cucurbits, 100 species representing 36 genera occur in India. Twenty of these species are endemic. Adoption of high yielding crop varieties and hybrids along with changing land use patterns have led to rapid replacement of native cultivars in most cases. Conserving and sustainable utilization of locally adapted types and primitive landraces are, hence, now major concerns at the national and global levels.

The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) at New Delhi is the nodal organization in India with the national mandate to plan, conduct, promote and coordinate all activities concerning plant exploration and collection, germ plasm import and exchange, plant quarantine, germplasm multiplication and distribution, evaluation and characterization, documentation and conservation of both indigenous and introduced genetic variability in cultivated plants and their wild relatives.

The challenging job of collecting, genetic evaluation and utilization of plant genetic resources cannot be satisfactorily accomplished by one organization. The enormous task of safeguarding and promoting greater utilization of these valuable resources can be best achieved through a networking approach. Professional development is the key to success of this endeavour. NBPGR organizes regularly short-term training courses on various aspects of PGR to impart latest knowledge and techniques to scientists and technicians engaged in crop improvement programmes and handling germpalsm collections.

8.1. INTRODUCTION

Exploitation of heterosis through development of hybrid wheat is one of the most attractive options to increase wheat productivity. The efforts on developments of hybrid wheat started in early fifties (Kihara, 1951; Fukasawa, 1953) through cytoplasmic male sterility system (Livers and Heyne, 1968). Later, in seventies, research works from public as well as private sectors have shifted their efforts to the use of gametocide (chemically hybridizing agent-CHA), and a number of gametocides were tested in eighties. In wheat, heterosis is especially interesting for grain yield and for the resistance of plants to both parasites and climate risks (Rousset, 1986). With this advantage in mind, the first phase of hybrid wheat development started in the United States in 1975. Chronological events of wheat hybrid development have been given in Table 8.1. Subsequently, a number of hybrid wheat has been released in countries such as Argentina, France, and United States (Pickett, 1993).

5.1. INTRODUCTION
     
Rice is an important provider of nourishment for the world’s population. Indian scented rice, ‘Basmati’ has dominated the domestic and international market for aroma. Aromatic rice is an important commodity worldwide and command premium price over non-scented varieties. Most of the trade in aromatic rice is from India, Pakistan and Thailand. Bulk of aromatic rice from India and Pakistan consist of Basmati, while Thailand is the supplier of Jasmine rice. The Indian subcontinent has the Natural Gift of basmati rice that has been accepted as the best scented, long and slender grain in the world markets and gets high price. In addition to Basmati, many local landraces are grown traditionally, which excel in aroma, grain quality and cooking quality. Most of these genotypes are short bold to medium bold grain and hence not traded in the international market. However, in the domestic market its demand is greater than the Basmati rice. These are mainly used for special preparation, such as Khir in Bengal.

14.1. INTRODUCTION

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L. emend. Bowden) is one the most important ancient crops and played very important role in the development of agriculture and human civilization. It has also played crucial role in the progress of science of agriculture, physiology, genetics, plant breeding and malting and brewing science. It is the fourth most cereal crop after rice, wheat and maize in acreages and production in the world.  It is grown and used all around the world in many countries and has fed livestock, poultry and people since ancient time.  Barley was domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East. Fertile Crescent is considered the first of at least seven primary centres of agriculture origin in the world (Smith, 1998; Baik and Ulrich, 2008). Barley is best known around the world as a feed grain and a premier grains for malting and brewing. When most people think of composition of beer, they only think of barley over other cereals. Although utilization of barley for food is relatively low as compared to other cereals today, throughout its history barley has remained an important and major food source poor people living in Western and Eastern Asia and Northern and Eastern Himalayan region nation like Tibet, Nepal and in Northern and Eastern Africa (Newman and Newman, 2006, 2008). Moreover, there has been resurgence of interest and use of barley as food primarily in the developed world due to an increasing emphasis on incorporating the diversity in consumption of whole grain in people’s diets due to its health benefits.

15.1. INTRODUCTION

Finger millet Eleusine indica (L.) is an Old World cereal grass commonly known as ‘finger millet’, is one of the staple food crop especially in India and Africa, which is widely grown in the arid regions of Asia and Africa and important minor millet grown in India.  Eleusine, the generic name, is obtained after the “Eleusine” the Greek Goddess of cereals and the common name finger millet is derived from the finger like branching of the panicle. It is also know by Goosegrass, Yardgrass, Wiregrass, Silver Crabgrass, Crowfoot Grass. It is commonly known as Finger millet in English, Kelvaragu in Tamil, Nachani in Marathi etc. Some Indian varieties of finger millet are Kempu ragi, Ragalli shivalli, Pichakaddi etc.  This crop is one among the hardiest crops which can with stand severe drought conditions and can also grow well under scanty rainfall condition. However with good irrigation facilities the yield of finger millet matches with crops like rice. Finger millet seeds remain free of pests and insects for a long duration extending up to 50 years hence serving as a food reserve in case of tough situations like famine.

3.1. INTRODUCTION

Heterosis is the superiority of the F1s over the parental forms. The term heterosis was first used by Shull (1910) to describe the interpretation of increased vigour, size, fruitfulness, speed of development, resistance to diseases and insect pests or some other characteristics manifested by out-breeding organisms as compared to corresponding inbreds. Exploitation of heterosis is gaining momentum due to increased yield, quality, uniformity, better desirable traits and management of biotic stresses. The future of most of the economic crops will be for hybrids for sustainable development of higher economic returns to the farmers. Sustainable increase in area under hybrid crops is witnessed by its popularity and adoption by the farmers.

1.1. INTRODUCTION

During the last 30 years, India’s food production nearly doubled from 102 million tons. Almost all of this increase resulted from higher yield in all food grains rather than increase in area, particularly wheat, rice, maize and some extent in pulses and oil seed crops. This has contributed to a significant reduction in poverty from 55% to 26% (Dar, 2011). The increase in yield is the result of scientific innovations in India and other parts of the world and their adoption in India.

In 1871, the Government of India created Department of Agriculture. The impact of these departments in enhancement of crop productivity was not remarkable. Later, the Government of India established the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute in 1905 in Pusa, Bihar to enhance the agricultural research and education. Later, the headquarter of Imperial Agricultural Research Institute has been shifted to New Delhi in the year 1936. The name of the institute has been changed in 1946 as Indian Agricultural Research Institute. To boost the agricultural Research activities, Imperial Council of Agricultural Research was established in the year 1929, subsequently, the name of Imperial Council of Agricultural Research has been changed to its present form of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in 1946. Since then, ICAR playing significant role in all sphere of agricultural research, education and extension. A number of varieties and hybrids of different crops have been developed and released by the scientists of ICAR. To test the outcome of the agricultural research, ICAR has started All India Coordinated Crop Improvement Projects, which provide an efficient channel for multilocation testing of newly evolved strains.

10.1. INTRODUCTION

The development of hybrid breeding methodology in maize and its successful application to exploit heterosis is considered as significant achievement of plant breeding in the present century. 
Even though Beal (1880) suggested for commercial cultivation of F1 varietal hybrids. It was Shull (1909) on the basis of his experiment gave pure line method of corn breeding, which laid foundation for present day hybrid breeding. Pure line methods of maize breeding involve three steps. 
    
·    Large scale inbreeding to obtain many homozygous/nearly homozygous inbred lines. 
    
·    Testing the selected inbred lines in all possible crosses.
    
·    Practical utilization of inbred lines in seed production of single cross hybrids.

6.1. INTRODUCTION

After introduction of TN-1 (Taichung Native-1), Jaya, IR8 and other high yielding rice varieties during sixties and seventies, the productivity increased drastically and remained at plateau since last three decades. With no possibility to extend land area for rice cultivation in Asia, there is some scope for production advantages in rice through further expansion of high yielding varieties coverage in Pakistan, Thailand and India, expansion of area under irrigation in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, or expansion of boro rice in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. Thus, utilization of heterosis has become one of the main methods for increasing yield. Hybrid is one of the viable and proven technologies to improve rice productivity. China is the first successful country to produce hybrid rice in appreciable quantity. This technology not only helped China to increase the rice productivity, but also to save land for crop diversification. The 'National Food Security Mission' has been launched envisaging increase of annual rice production by 10 million tons by 2011-'12. Here, hybrid rice may play important role to achieve the assigned target.

18.1. INTRODUCTION

Plant genetic resources (PGRs) are the foundation for the development of a food and nutritionally secured society. Food is the foremost important to sustain life and livelihood followed by shelter and cloth. Thus, the slogan of 3Fs may be modified as, “Food, Frame (shelter) and Fibre (cloth)”. All these 3Fs we can get from PGRs. There must be balance between demands and resources. Gradually the demand for basic needs increasing. So, we have to improve the PGRs to cope with the increasing demands. PGRs are the foundation for the development of these 3Fs. India is a country rich in crop biodiversity and genetic resources. The status of Germplasm accessions in the National Gene Bank is being presented in Table 18.1.

The forest cover in most tropical countries has been under severe pressure and is diminishing at an alarming speed; consequently, they are experiencing severe biodiversity losses, reverting to a mature state at a slower rate with low resiliency. These tropical countries are aware of the danger causing due to the loss of forests, and large afforestation programmes have been launched by forest departments, private companies, and donor-supported projects. Nevertheless, plantation activities have rarely been able to keep pace with the deforestation rate, not to mention replacing what has been lost during the past. Plantation programme through afforestation activity is not only the matter of the forest department alone but also the combined responsibility of all the foresters. The appeal of forest planting has changed over the years following the broader demand spectrum.

To some extent, the forest plantations fail to create the diversity of plants and wildlife that has been lost. Hitherto, large-scale plantations are still necessary both directly to cater to the needs of industrial wood and help to minimize the pressure on the remaining natural forests. During the past decades, many government programmes have emphasized using 

9.1. INTRODUCTION

Maize (Zea mays L. ssp. mays 2n = 20), known as corn in some countries is an important cereal crop of the world. The scientific name from Greek word ‘Zea’ for a kind of grain and West Indian word ‘malnis’ for corn. Maize was domesticated in Mesoamerica and hence formed the Mesoamerican people’s identity and later it spread throughout American continent. Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world and a greater weight of maize is produced each year than any other cereal grain. USA produces almost half of the world’s harvest (42.5%) and other top producing countries include China, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, India and France. During the year 2007, worldwide maize productivity was around 4970 kg per ha. Maize is the only cereal that can be harvested and used at various stages of plant development. The crop can be cultivated on a wide area from 580 N to 400 S from below sea level to altitudes higher than 3000 m and in areas with 250 mm to more than 5000 mm of rainfall per year (Shaw, 1988, Dowswell et al., 1996).

13.1. INTRODUCTION

Pearl millet crop has a wide adaptability to local environments. It is hardy and can be grown in areas which are very hot and dry and on soils too poor for sorghum. Pearl millet is considered more efficient in utilization of soil moisture and has a higher level of heat tolerance than even sorghum and maize. It is adapted to warm and dry climate but most of the area under the crop is in drought- prone areas of the world. In these areas, pearl millet is usually grown with limited inputs, sparse rainfall, low soil fertility, and also face disease and pest problems, with correspondingly poor yields.
 
The low average yields are primarily a result of the hot, dry conditions where pearl millet is mostly grown, rather than pearl millet plant’s capability. Pearl millet hybrids grown under better conditions yield 3000 to 4000 kg/ha compared to 300 to 800 kg/ha when moisture and soil fertility become limiting factors. A majority of the subsistence farmers who typically cultivate this crop are unable to take advantage of high yield potential because they have limited options for improving their management practices. Pearl millet production can be increased through growing varieties/hybrids with improved tolerance to drought, diseases and responding to higher rates of fertilizer applications.

2.1. INTRODUCTION

Pollination is the process of mating in plants, that is, the transfer of pollen from anther to stigma. In flowers, pollen delivered to the stigma through a wide range of mechanisms that ensure an appropriate balance in the genetic makeup of the species. Most plant species have evolved ways to ensure an appropriate degree of interchange of genetic material between individuals in the population, and cross-pollination is the normal type of pollination. Plants benefit most by being pollinated by other individuals because this broadens the genetic characteristics of individual plants. As a result, they are more adaptable to necessary changes. Self- and often-pollinated crops evolved from cross pollinated crops.

Pollination followed by fertilization is important in agriculture, particularly for the crops whose economic part is either fruit or seed, such as, rice, wheat, fruit vegetables etc. For other crops, these events are also important for production of seed for cultivation of next generation, for examples, green vegetables (amaranth, palak, cabbage, cauliflower etc).

The study of pollination brings together many disciplines, such as botany, plant breeding, horticulture, entomology, and ecology. The pollination process as an interaction between flower and vector was first addressed in the 18th century by Christian Konrad Sprengel. It is important in horticulture and agriculture, because fruiting is dependent on fertilization, which is the end result of pollination.

4.1. INTRODUCTION

Rice (Oryza sativa) is the major food crop in the world. Nearly 40% of the world population consumes rice as the major staple food. Most of the people, who depend on rice as primary food, live in the less developed countries.  Archeological evidence on rice in India dates back to 1500-1000 B.C. Since the dawn of civilization, rice has served humans as a life-giving cereal in the humid regions of Asia and, to a lesser extent, in West Africa. Introduction of rice into Europe and the America has led to its increased use in human diets. There are 42 rice producing countries throughout the world but China and India are major rice production centers. Rice is grown in wide range of agro-climatic conditions ranging from mountainous (Jammu) lands to low land delta areas (Sundarban), spanning an area from 53° latitude north to 35° south of the world but about 90% of the crop is grown and consumed in Asia. Rice provides fully 60% of the food intake in Southeast Asia and about 35% in East Asia and South Asia. The highest level of per capita rice consumption (130-180 kg per year, 55-80% of total caloric source) takes place in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Vietnam (Kenneth and Kriemhild, 2000). In many cultures of the world rice is the central part of people’s life and culture. Rice is an excellent food and is an excellent source of carbohydrates and energy.

Seed handling ensures the potential utilization of seed material. Collection and utilization of quality seeds are indispensable in producing quality planting material and better seedling establishment. After selecting the quality seed source, collecting good quality seeds physiologically and genetically is considered the first step in seed handling, followed by processing seeds, testing, storage, and pre-treatment for germination. The main goal of seed handling is to attain an excellent seed survival rate. The chances of seeds getting damaged during any stages of seed handling because of careless or rough approaches are very high.

From the regeneration point of view, the quantity of seed production per tree correspondingly has a vital role to play. If considered virtually, only one successful seed (or two if the species is dioecious) would serve to replace the parent tree(s); hence the production of seeds during the lifetime of a tree is absurd. A full-grown Eucalyptus camaldulensis tree may produce a million or more seeds per year and live further, producing seeds for over a century. Each year’s production could help afforest

16.1. INTRODUCTION

Millets are a large part of the basic diet for farm households in the world's poorest people in the poorest countries. The production of millets on average for the 5 years have been given in Table 16.1. Top consuming countries are India, Nigeria, Niger and China. However, just because a country is a top global consumer does not mean that millet is a significant source of calories for them. India and China are rank as the 1st and 4th consumers of millet, but due to their population size they rank 11th and 38th in per-capita consumption, accordingly.

Millet particularly the finger millet) is an excellent dietary source of calcium, iron, manganese, and methionine-  an amino acid lacking in the diets of hundred of millions of the poor who live on starchy foods such as cassava, plantain, polished rice, and maize meal. Millet use is diverse, including in cereals (including porridge and kasha), soups, breads and stuffings, fermented beverages, and baby food.

11.1. INTRODUCTION

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is the fifth most important cereal crop and is the dietary staple of more than 500 million people in over 90 countries, primarily in the developing world. It is grown on 47 m ha in 104 countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Among those, USA, Nigeria, India, Mexico, Sudan, China, and Argentina are the major sorghum producers globally. Sorghum grain is mostly used directly for food (55%), and is consumed in the form of porridges (thick or thin) and flat breads; however sorghum is also an important feed grain (33%), especially in Australia and the Americas. Stover (crop residue after grain harvest) is an important fodder source to both milch and draft animals in mixed crop-livestock systems. Sorghum is also a good source of green fodder due to its quick growth and high yield and quality of biomass. Of late, sorghum with sugar-rich juicy stalks (called sweet sorghum) is emerging as an important biofuel crop. Thus sorghum is a unique crop with multiple uses as food, feed, fodder, fuel and fiber. Sorghum is generally grown in rainy season (spring) but in India it is grown in both rainy and postrainy seasons. The postrainy season sorghum grain is prized for its food value (Reddy et al., 2009).

12.1. INTRODUCTION

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is an important food/feed/fodder crop in more than 90 countries across the world and it is one of the cheapest sources of energy and micronutrients (Reddy et al., 2009; Ashok Kumar et al., 2011). Considerable efforts have been made to improve sorghum productivity through genetic enhancement and crop production and protection research all over the globe. Sorghum being an often cross-pollinated crop with cross pollination up to 2-15% depending on genotype and environment (House 1985), initially, pure-lines were the target products although phenomenon of heterosis was demonstrated in sorghum as early as in 1927 (Conner and Karper, 1927). Predominant self-pollinating nature of sorghum with tiny florets with single seed per emasculation and pollination prevented commercial exploitation of heterosis for commercial sorghum production. However, the discovery of a stable and heritable cytoplasmic-nuclear male-sterility (CMS) mechanism (Stephens and Holland, 1954), enabling large-scale, economic hybrid seed production gave a fillip to the exploitation of heterosis since early 1960s. The first commercial sorghum hybrid CSH 1 was released in 1964 in India. Using CMS mechanism, large number of commercial hybrids have been developed and released/marketed for commercial cultivation in all sorghum growing regions with strong Indian National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS).

7.1. INTRODUCTION

The cultivation of wheat (Triticum spp.) reaches far back into history. Wheat was one of the first domesticated food crops and for 8000 years has been the basic staple food of the major civilizations of Europe, West Asia and North Africa. Today, wheat is grown on more land area than any other commercial crop and continues to be the most important food grain source for humans. Its production leads all crops, including rice, maize and potatoes.

Wheat is special in several ways. It is grown on more than 240 million ha, larger than for any other crop, and world trade is greater than for all other crops combined. The raised bread loaf is possible because the wheat kernel contains gluten, an elastic form of protein that traps minute bubbles of carbon dioxide when fermentation occurs in leavened dough, causing the dough to rise (Hanson et al., 1982). It is the best of the cereal foods and provides more nourishment for humans than any other food source. Wheat is a major diet component because of the wheat plant’s agronomic adaptability, ease of grain storage and ease of converting grain into flour for making edible, palatable, interesting and satisfying foods.

17.1. INTRODUCTION

Yam bean is one of the adaptable, low-maintenance, and nutritious food crop grown in moderate soil. It has many synonyms, in India it is known as Mishrikand (Hindi), Keshar or Ram-kaseru or Shankalu (Bengali). The root crops produced by legumes have long recognized as important and the FAO (1979) has recommended them as a source of human nutrition. The tuber is rich in starch (15-20%), 3-4% sugar, and have considerable amount of protein (2-3%). The harvested crop keeps well for months under ambient temperature. Kale (2006) observed relatively high iron contents in storage roots (up to 130 mg/kg of storage root dry matter). It can also be used for alcohol production.

The crop is very hardy, resistant to common insect pests and diseases. Most important is that the crop is not grazed neither by goats nor cows. The crop grows well in hot-humid environment and requires long, warm frost-free growing season. A moist, light textural soil is preferred for production of tuberous roots. As a legume crop, it can be grown without nitrogen fertilizer. Under good growing condition its root nodules habour symbiotic colonies of nitrogen-fixing bacteria- Rhizobium spp. (Nielsen et al., 1998b). A season crop of yam beans can release as much as 53 tons of usable nitrogen per acre into the soil. Mycorrhyzae also associated with the crop, thus facilitating phosphorus uptake. Thus, yam bean is highly suited to the needs of small farmers, and from both an ecological and a socioeconomic perspective

The success of a TTO relies on a systematic approach encircling factors like assessment, valuation, marketing, negotiation, and post-transfer management (fi gure 8). This chapter covers the activities that are essential for the effective functioning of a TTO. Other activies Technology Assessement /Valuation Financial Managemnt Major Activities of technology transfer office Commercialization IP Management Fostering Innovation
Fig 8: Various activities of TTOs.
3.1 Technology assessment - A pillar of innovation commercialization
The process of transitioning an innovative technology to commercial reality requires a stringent and formal process known as technology assessment. This early stage is crucial as it determines the viability of an invention by analysing practicability of the invention as well as its uniqueness and the likelihood of it being adopted in the target markets. In the absence of this preliminary examination, the chance of technology’s potential being mismatched to the market can arise.
a) Scientific merit and technical feasibility
A key benchmark in assessing technologies involves the identification of
scientific validity and technical performance. An innovation’s viability depends on the fact that it complies with good scientific practice or the innovative application of a new paradigm that has empirically confirmable validity. It is important to determine whether the invention’s underlying mechanism can be reliably proven through established scientific practice. A working prototype allows for empirical testing in different conditions and serves as proof of practical application. In addition to that, scalability has to be tested critically. It often happens that innovations perform well in a controlled laboratory setting but lose efficiency or cost-effectiveness in the case of mass production. The viability of the implementation on a grand scale becomes a core concern in this phase of the evaluation.

9.1 Magnetic seed separator

These machines use a magnetic force to separate damaged seeds or other particles from the good seeds. This is used to solve special problems in seed lots that can not be taken out with our other basic seed cleaning equipment. Most of the time it is used for vegetable and field seeds that have problems in seed damage (fish mouth in cucumber or melon seeds / cracked radish or cabbage seeds), insect damage (beetle holes in cotton seeds) or contamination with soil or plant parts (white plant parts in onion seed) etc.

Introduction

In India, around 70 per cent of cultivated land is under rainfed condition, but it accounts for about 42 per cent of the total quantity of produced food grains (Sujatha et al., 2013). It was estimated that using quality seeds, productivity can be enhanced up to the extent of 15-20 per cent and under optimum management, the increment may touch upon up to 45 per cent depending upon the crops. Quality seeds play a major role, along with improved package of practices leading to enhanced productivity. Crops propagated with seeds face many problems: Poor seed germination, poor seedling establishment under several abiotic stresses such as, drought, salinity and poor seedling vigour. The capacity of a crop propagated with seeds to grow depends on its genetic constituent and its interaction with the environmental biotic stresses. A number of diverse materials/ treatments at varying doses have been used to increase the rate and uniformity of seedling emergence in many field crops, which are generally categorized for seed enhancement. Seed enhancement may be defined as “post-harvest treatments that improve germination and seedling growth or facilitate the delivery of seeds and other inputs/materials required at the time of sowing smoothly”. Seed enhancement technology predominantly possess a central objective to further improve seed performance by treating with specific additives/chemical/organics/botanicals etc. under very specific regimes and with the aid of certain planting equipments to grow uniform crop obviously to harness higher productivity and production (Halmer, 2006). There are several ways and means to enhance vigour of germinating seedlings while emerging from the seed, which produce a uniform crop stand and finally substantially more yield is achieved by adopting simple techniques.

Amaranth is an annual herb with erect growth and scarce to profuse branching habit. Flowers are borne terminally and in axils of leaves in clusters. Basic unit of inflorescence is called as glomerule. Flowers are small, unisexual and monoecious. Proportion of male and female flowers varies in an inflorescence. Each glomerule consists of a staminate flower and a number of pistillate flowers. The extent of cross pollination is governed by proportion of male and female flowers in an inflorescence and position of inflorescence in plant

Botany: Emblica officinalis belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae commonly known as Amla or Indian Gooseberry or Nelli is an important crop with high medicinal value. The fruits have the richest source of vitamin-C (700 mg per 100 g of fruits) and is considered to be good liver tonic. The various preparations using Amla include Chyavanprash, Triphala churna, Brahma Rasayana and Madumegha churna. The fruit is valued as an antiscorbutic, diuretic, laxative, antibiotic and anti-dysentric. Phyllemblin, obtainedfrom fruit pulp has been found to have mild depressent action on central nervous system. It has good demand from the industries for the preparation of various health care products also like hair oil, dye, shampoo, face creams and tooth powder.

Soil: Light as well as medium heavy soils except purely sandy soil is ideal for amla cultivation. The tree is well adopted to dry regions and can also be grown in moderate alkaline soils.

Climate: It is a tropical plant. Annual rainfall of 630-800 mm is ideal for its growth. The young plant upto the age of 3 years should be protected from hot wind during May-June and from frost during winter months. The mature plants can tolerate freezing temperature as well as a high temperature upto 46^OC.

Varieties: The varieties recommended for cultivation are Banarasi, Chakaiya, Francis, NA-4 (Krishna) NA 5 (Kanchan), NA-6, NA-7, NA-10 and BSR-1 (Bhavanisagar).

1.1 Introduction

Fruit breeding is an ancient technology with dynamic current technology and an exciting future (Janick and Moore 1975, 1996). In its broadest sense, fruit breeding refers to the purposeful genetic improvement of fruit crops through various techniques including selection, hybridization, mutation induction and molecular techniques. Its origins trace to the domestication process in prehistory and antiquity, where useful species were chosen and cultivated, and improved by continuous selection (Janick 2005, 2011). Through the millennia genetic improvement of these species have been achieved by grower selection, first from natural seedling populations and then from grower field that continued unique genotypes fixed by vegetative propagation. Spontaneous hybridization between wild plants and cultivated clones was critical to the early domestication of fruits.

3.1 Tomato

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is an important vegetable crop. Its 2n= 24.

Floral biology

Flowers are borne in small forked racemose cyme. Anthesis starts at 6.30 a.m. and continues up to 11.00 a.m. Anther dehiscence is longitudinal. It occurs 1-2 days after opening of corolla. The stamen sheds its pollen when the style grows up through anther tube, thus self-pollination occurs. When the stigma protrudes above the anther tube, chances of cross pollination through bees increases. The optimum temperature for pollination is around 21°C.

I. FILL UPS

1. _____ is the period during which a flower is fully open and functional, in terms of pollen maturation and dispersal.
2. Flowers with _____ anthesis generally have brightly coloured flowers to attract insects, such as butterflies.
3. Flowers with _____ anthesis generally have white or less colourful flowers.
4. _____ is the mechanism, in which the stamens and pistil of a flower mature at different times.
5. The best example for protandry is _____.
6. _____ is the mechanism in which the stigma become receptive before pollen release.
7. _____ is the process by which plant pollen is transferred from the male reproductive organs to the female reproductive organs to form seeds.
8. In Bengal gram, the method of pollination is _____.
9. Red gram is _____ pollinated crop.

I. FILL UPS

1. Development of seed without fertilization is called _____.
2. _____ is the substitution for any sexual nuclear fusion.
3. Apomitic seed will have genetic material only from the _____ plant.
4. In _____ apomixis type, the megaspore cell undergoes the usual meiotic division and forms a haploid embryo sac.
5. The process of seed formation without sexual fusion is known as _____.
6. _____ is defined as the development of embryo from some other cell of embryo sac other than egg.
7. Haploid embryo arises from the egg without fertilization is called_____.

1. APOMIXIS

Development of seed without fertilization. When the seed formation occurs without sexual fusion, the process is known as apomixis. This occurs by several mechanism, however all apomitic seed have genetic material only from the female plant Apomixis may or may not require pollination and pollen tube germination to initiate seed formation, however sexual union.

The “falling number” is a measurement used by plant breeders and grain quality specialists to determine the soundness of wheat, which is primarily influenced by the degree of sprouting in a grain sample. Hagberg Falling Number is the full name of this international standard of sprout measurement.  The term “falling numbers” refers to the amount of time it takes for the Hagberg steel ball in this sprout analysis tool to fall through a flour/water slurry that has been heated to release the starch from water. 

Botany: The ash gourd(Benincasa hispida) belonging to the family cucurbitaceae is an annual creeping vine that can either climb structures or be allowed to spread out on the ground. This plant features large green leaves and thick stems covered with coarse hairs. The showy, golden yellow blooms appear early in the summer, and female flowers give way to round or spherical fruits. Young ash gourds are covered with a soft down that disappears with maturity. Fully matured gourds have a white, waxy coating covering the surface.

Field preparation:The field selected for seed production must not have been sown with ashguard in the previous season. This is done to avoid volunteer plants that cause admixture.After proper ploughing, at a spacing of 2.5 x 2 m distance take pits having 45 cm length, width and height. Ten days after that, apply 10 kg FYM and urea 30 g. Super phosphate 72 g and potash 19 g per pit. Then mix the above nutrients with soil and fill the pits and level them.

Soil and climate:Soil with neutral pH must be selected. Loam or clay loam soils are best suited. Higher organic matter will lead to production of vigorous seed.Seed is very sensitive to whether. Hence selecting the right season is necessary. Though ashgourd can grow through out the year, seed crop should be grown such that the seed matures in cool dry climate. This will facilitate proper ripening of fruits and reduce the pest and disease infection. Seasons are selected with this idea in mind. In

I. FILL UPS

1. Ashgourd is a _____ crop.
2. Stigma receptivity is for _____.
3. Ashgourd is a _____ pollinated crop.
4. Ashgourd fruit is a _____.
5. The isolation distance for ashgourd certified seed production is_____.

Botany

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), also known as Indian ginseng belonging to the family Solanaceae, is an important ancient plant, the roots of which have been employed in Indian traditional systems of medicine, Ayurveda and Unani to cure asthma, fever, chest complaints. It is an erect branching undershrub reaching about 1.50 m in height. It grows in dry and sub-tropical regions. Being hardy and drought tolerant species with its enormous biocompounds, its usage is forever regarded and continuous to enjoy the monopoly in many parts of India, particularly in Madhya Pradesh. It grows in dry parts in sub-tropical regions. Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are the major Ashwagandha producing states of the country. Roots are fleshy, tapering, whitish brown. Leaves are ovate and flowers are greenish. The mature fruits are orange-red berries.

Varieties:Poshita and Rakshita are high yielding varieties released by CSIRCIMAP, Lucknow. Jawahar 20 is cultivated in Madhya Pradesh. WSR is another variety released by CSIR-Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu. Nagori is a local variety with starchy roots

The processing operations are carried out based on the principle of physical differences found in a seed lot.

Origin

Beet root originated from Beta vulgaris L. ssp. maritima by hybridization with B. patula. Crop has site of origin probably in Europe. Earlier types were with long roots like that of carrot. Beet root, sugar beet and palak belong to species B. vulgaris and are cross compatible.

Botany

Beet root is a biennial, producing a fleshy elongated hypocotyls and a rosette of leaves in first year and flowers in second year. Upper portion of fleshy root develops from hypocotyls and basal part from tap root. Concentric rings seen in cross section of root are as a result of alternate formation of vascular tissues and storage parenchyma tissues. Root skin colour varies from orange red to dark purple red. Colour of beet root is due to presence of red violet pigments of â cyanins and a yellow pigment, â xanthin. It has extensive tap root system and tap root grows as deep as 3m. Rosette leaves develop in a close sp

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Bhendi is known by many local names in different parts of the World. For example it is called Lady’s finger in England, Gumbo in USA, bhendi in India Okra (Abelmochus esculentus L. 2n= 1 30) belongs to the family Malvaceae. Origin of okra is West Africa. Okra plant is an erect, herbaceous annual, 1-2 meter tall and forms fairly heavy tap root.

Plant biodiversity is the single greatest resource that man garnered from nature during the long cultural development phase. More than 2.5 lakh species of mosses, ferns, conifers and flowering plants and more than 50,000 plant species are yet to be documented, primarily in the remote and less studied reaches of tropical forests.

Vegetable crops in which rich diversity occurs in India are Cowpea, Common bean, Cole crops, Okra, Brinjal, Sweet potato, Taros, Yams, Sword bean, Velvet bean and Elephant foot yam. Wide diversity was observed in chives, leeks and other Allium spp in Kumaoun and Garhwal Himalayas; cluster bean in Western arid zone; lab lab bean in Deccan plateau; cucurbits in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and leaf vegetables like Amaranth and Fagopyrum in Western Himalayan region. Tropical vegetables consist of solanaceus fruits (tomato, hot pepper, brinjal), cucurbits (water melon, muskmelon, cucumber, pumpkins and squashes, bottle gourd, chow-chow, ivy gourd, bitter gourd, ash gourd, round gourd, snake gourd, pointed gourd, sponge gourd, ridge gourd), malvaceous vegetables (Okra),legumes (common bean, lima bean, dolichos bean, cowpea, sword bean, winged bean), allium (onion, shallot, garlic, leek) and leaf vegetables (amaranth, spinach beet, Ceylon spinach). The indigenous vegetables both cultivated and wild have important role in household nutrition, economy and food security. There are 25 hot spots of biodiversity of which Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayan region are the most important ones. Indo-Myanmar region is one of the largest hot spots of the world and is the centre of origin of tuber crops like yams, taro, Amorphophallus and Alocasia. Tropical tuber crops form an important group of subsistence crops especially to those living in tropics and sub tropical zones. Tuber crops are the third important food crops after cereals and grain legumes. Major tuber crops are cassava, sweet potato, Asiatic yam, African yam, lesser yam, elephant foot yam, taro, tannia and country potato. Minor tuber crops are arrowroot, winged bean, yam bean, canna, safed musli and Jerusalem artichoke. Sweet potato is one of the world’s highest yielding crops.

Biodiversity is the origin of all species of crops and domesticated and the variety within them. It is also the foundation of ecosystem services essential to sustain agriculture and human well-being. Today’s crop and livestock biodiversity are the result of many thousands years of human intervention. The biodiversity in vegetable crops is composed by the genetic diversity, as species diversity (inter specific diversity) and as diversity of genes within a species (intra specific diversity) referring to the vegetable grown varieties, and by the diversity of agro-ecosystems (agro-biodiversity).

Crop diversity is the variance in genetic and phenotypic characteristics of plants used in agriculture. Over the past 50 years, there has been a major decline in two components of crop diversity; genetic diversity within each crop and the number of species commonly grown.

Increasing food need, decreasing land availability and concurrently attenuating synthetic nutrients supply envisage the use of alternate supplementary inputs for the cultivation of crops. India is among the few nations where systematic farming started thousands of years ago. It was not only the source of income but was also a way of life. Agricultural activities and the techniques adapted to suit local needs and conditions. Different farming systems were followed by the farmers in different areas according to their needs and weather conditions. The produce was usually shared with other communities of the society involved in other professions. Almost all the nutrients removed by the crops were recycled to the soil directly or indirectly (Yadav and Mowade, 2005). In economic terms, the system followed by the then farming community was highly cost effective since all the inputs needed were locally available and practically no expenditure was incurred except labour. The traditional agriculture was though less productive but self-sufficient. With the advent of modern scientific discoveries, agriculture also changed its face, and with the introduction of high yielding varieties, synthetic fertilizers and effective plant protection measures through chemicals, Indian agriculture made rapid strides in the shape of Green Revolution. As an upshot of Green Revolution, the grain production increased two and a half folds in about three decades with a marginal increase in net-area under cultivation.