eChapters

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.