eChapters

Increasing pressure on freshwater resources has created interest in the use of saline water for agricultural production, particularly where high-quality irrigation water is limited. This chapter examines the management possibilities associated with using saline water while addressing the risks of salinity to soil and crops. It focuses on the role of selected nutrients and soil amendments in improving crop performance under saline conditions. The roles of potassium and phosphorus are discussed in relation to plant nutrition and tolerance to salinity. Zinc is also considered for its importance in maintaining plant nutritional balance under saline conditions. The chapter further examines gypsum as an amendment and its role in managing saline soil conditions. Organic matter is discussed for its contribution to soil physical, chemical and biological properties, while biofertilizers are considered as a component of management under saline environments. The integrated use of nutrients, amendments, organic materials and biological inputs provides approaches for improving the productivity of saline soils. The chapter therefore links saline-water use with appropriate soil and nutrient management for sustainable crop production

Maps make it easier to interpret and communicate the results of any GIS analysis. R has a large number of packages for making thematic maps. Static mapping is straightforward with plot()methods provided by core spatial packages sf and raster. The use of plot() function have been discussed in the previous chapters. Another package for mapping isspwithspplot() having enough options for producing good quality thematic maps.It is also possible to create advanced maps using ggplot2. This chapter discusses, separately, preparing thematic maps from vectors and rasters with the above mentioned packages. A dedicated map-making package tmaphas been given special focus in this chapter.

Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a form of groundwater pollution that is often due to naturally occurring high concentrations of arsenic in deeper levels of groundwater. The Ganges Delta’s usage of deep tube wells for water delivery has raised awareness of the issue because it has led to widespread arsenic poisoning in significant numbers of people. During the weathering of rocks and minerals, which is followed by subsequent leaching and runoff, arsenic (As) is released into the soil and groundwater. Additionally, anthropogenic sources can transfer it into the soil and groundwater. Six West Bengal districts with a combined area of 34000 km2 and a population of 30 million have been determined to have groundwater levels of arsenic over the WHO maximum allowable limit of 0.05 mg l1. (Alam et al.,2002)

At present, 37 administrative blocks by the side of the river Ganga and adjoining areas are affected. Areas affected by arsenic contamination in groundwater are all located in the upper delta plain and are mostly in the abandoned meander belt. More than 800 000 people from 312 villages/wards are drinking arsenic-contaminated water and amongst them, at least 175 000 people show arsenical skin lesions. Thousands of tube well water in these six districts have been analysed for arsenic species. Hair, nails, scales, urine, and liver tissue analyses show elevated concentrations of arsenic in people drinking arsenic-contaminated water for a longer period. Arsenic comes from a geological source. Only a few soil strata have high arsenic contents, which are determined to be linked to iron-pyrites according to investigations of bore hole silt. Arsenical skin lesions in various areas cause a variety of societal issues. (Das et al.,1996)

The last century has witnessed a global change in agricultural practices. From high dependency on external input agriculture, the world is now shifting towards low external input sustainable agriculture (LEISA). The history of dustbowl devastation in 1930s in America has put agricultural practices, tillage in particular, to question (Friedrich et al., 2012). Traditionally, tillage was believed to be a primary farm operation for preparing a good seedbed, nutrient mobilization, weed management, moisture availability, crop residue incorporation (Hobbs et al., 2008), thereby improving the overall soil health with increased production (Farooq et al., 2011a). The dust bowl devastation of 1930s gave rise to the concept of protecting soil by reducing tillage operation and maintaining ground cover, popularized as conservation tillage (Friedrich et al., 2012). Economic and ecological sufferings caused by the disastrous droughts in USA during 1930s drove the shift towards conservation agriculture (CA) (Haggblade and Tembo, 2003).

1. Introduction
Crop health valuation plays a vital part in modern agriculture as it positively stimulates food security, economic constancy, and ecological sustainability. This process involves monitoring and evaluating the growth and development of crops, finding possible stressors or diseases, and executing suitable management practices. Judicious and precise evaluation of crop health permits early exposure of diseases, pests, and other irregularities. Detecting these problems at their early growth stages can aid prevent extensive occurrences and decrease the need for unnecessary pesticide use, indorsing justifiable crop management practices. Assessing crop health on a regular basis help in enhancing yields by detecting factors that could inhibit crop productivity. Agricultural systems can be made resource-efficient by incorporating tools, modern technologies and information management systems that come under the precision agriculture concept. Modern scientific improvements, comprising Global Positioning System (GPS), grain yield monitoring system, Variable Rate Technologies (VRT), sensor networks, and Femote Sensing (RS), have assisted farmers to detect in-field heterogeneity of crop and soil and adopt site-specific farm management practices. Varying the application of inputs with VRT can decrease the cost of inputs and labor, increase productivity, and decrease the potential environmental influences from the overuse of farm inputs. However, the success rate of VRT needs precise and consistent information on the location and extent of crop and soil health conditions, such as crop nutrient shortages, soil and crop water deficiency, and injury caused by insect pests, weeds, or pathogens. So far, the dominant remote sensing technologies that the farming sector has used are visible (VIS), Near-Infrared (NIR), and short-wave infrared (SWIR) sensors. The use of thermal sensors in agriculture is to some extent narrow despite its wide use in the areas of medical science (Ring and Ammer, 2012), intelligence/military (Hinz and Stilla, 2006), and the food processing sector (Vadivambal and Jayas, 2011). By providing temperature variations of soil and crop canopy, thermal remote sensing has the prospective to be used for various

Temperature regulates germination, plant growth, flowering, maturity and many insect and disease processes. Thermal indices integrate temperature over time to quantify biological development more effectively than simple temperature averages. This chapter introduces growing degree days, heat units, photothermal units, heliothermal units and related measures. It explains base, optimum and maximum temperatures and connects accumulated thermal time with crop phenology. These indices help predict development stages, adjust sowing dates, estimate harvest periods, schedule farm operations and assess varietal suitability. Thermal-index analysis is particularly valuable under climate variability because it enables researchers and farmers to anticipate shifts in crop development and improve climate-responsive agricultural management.

In this chapter we will talk about the tools which are required to make project in artificial intelligence. All this bellow discussed tools are uses python programming language for making any project in any respective field. We have discussed about how anyone can install and use the tools to built a real time project in artificial Intelligence.

Using Python IDE

To download and install Python visit the official website of Python https://www.python.org/downloads/and choose your version. We have chosen Python version as per requirement all the codes in this book were on python version 3.6 as you can see in the Fig. 7.1.

Efficient horticultural production depends greatly on appropriate tools, implements, and timely cultural operations. This chapter introduces the major equipment used for land preparation, planting, weeding, pruning, propagation, irrigation, harvesting, and routine crop management. It emphasizes correct tool selection according to crop, operation, plant structure, and working conditions. Digging tools, secateurs, loppers, pruning saws, grafting knives, and other specialized implements are discussed along with principles of maintenance, sharpening, sterilization, and safe handling. The chapter also explains important cultural operations that influence crop establishment and productivity. Proper use of tools improves precision, reduces labour, prevents plant injury, and increases operational efficiency in horticultural systems.

Fundamentally toposheet represents a kind of map in which topographic features of particular area is given details on the map features in two dimensional land surfaces. It shows both horizontal and vertical portion of the terrain with a combination of contour lines, contours, symbols, labels and related representation together in one piece of paper. Toposheet portray the shapes, location of mountains, many natural and manmade features, and the toposheet combinedly uses for extracting accurate information about particular area containing land surface features.

Hardness is the total soluble Ca and Mg Salts (in same cases Fe salts). It includes sulphates and chlorides along with carbonate, bicarbonate and hydroxide salts. Soft water: 0-100 mg/L, Hard water: 100 - 300 mg/L, Very hard water: > 300 mg/L CaCO3. Total hardness should be 50- 300 mg/L. Very hard water causes osmoregulatory stress to fish. Hardness below 50 mg/L reduces growth of plankton.
Reagents
1. 10.01M EDTA solution: Dissolve 3.72 g disodium salt of EDTA in distilled water and make the volume 1L by shaking.
2. Eriochrome Black T (EBT) Indicator: Add 0.2 g dry Eriochrome powder to 50 ml of triethyl amine. Add 5 ml absolute alcohol and shake it.
3. Ammonium chloride-Ammonium hydroxide buffer solution: Dissolve 17.5g ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) in 142 ml of ammonia solution (NH4OH). Add distilled water to make the volume 250 ml.
Procedure
1. Take 50ml water sample in a 250 ml conical flask.
2. Add 2 ml buffer solution and 5 drops of EBT indicator.
3. Wine-red colour will appear.
4. Titrate against 0.01M EDTA till the colour changes into bright greenish blue.

In dry combustion technique, the combustion of soil sample (about 250 mg and mm sieved) is carried out at high temperature (about 1000 ºC) through feeding in an inert boat in the electric furnace. The CO₂ produced from the oxidation of carbon present in the soil sample at high temperature is carried towards non dispersive infrared detector (NDIR) by a carrier gas where it is quantified and total carbon content is determined.

Phosphorus is nearly exclusive found as phosphates in waters and wastewater and it categorised in to: a) orthophosphate, (b) organically bound phosphate and (c) condensed phosphates. Theses all three forms of phosphorus occur in solution, in the body of aquatic organisms through food chain. All the forms of phosphorous, whether dissolved or particulate are converted to inorganic forms (phosphate) after digestion of sample. Various methods use for the digestion of the sample including use of perchloric acid, H2SO4- K2SO4, H2SO4- HNO3 etc. The H2SO4- HNO3 digestion technique is discussed here.
Reagents
1. Phenolphthalein indicator
2. Conc. sulphuric acid (H2SO4)
3. Conc. nitric acid (HNO3)
4. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), 1 N: Dissolve take 40 g of NaOH in 1000 ml of distilled water
Procedure
Digestion
1. Take 50 ml of sample in a Kjeldahl flask
2. Add 1 ml H2SO4 and 5 ml HNO3
3. Once the HNO completely removed, digest the sample on a hot plate until the volume approaches 5 ml. Then, keep heating the solution until it loses colour (you may also heat it in a beaker covered with a watch glass to prevent excessive evaporation).

The total plate count (TPC) is also called the Bacterial plate count (BPC), aerobic plate count, standard plate count (SPC), total viable count (TVC) or mesophilic count represents the number of colony forming units (CFU) per g (or per mL) of growing microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast and mold on a nonspecific solid bacteriological growth medium under the specified conditions. Temperature, incubating time, medium type, and any other conditions used in the enumeration varies upon reference standards and laboratory objectives. Laboratories participating in the program choose their own routine conditions.
Principle
Usually direct count of too many bacteria in a sample is difficult but the bacterial colonies may be used as a measure of the bacterial cells in the known serially dilution and plated out on an agar surface in such a way that single isolated bacteria form visible isolated colonies. However, colony-forming unit might actually consist of a chain of bacteria rather than a single bacterium if the organism often develops various cell configurations, such chains. Furthermore, a portion of the bacteria might be grouped together. Thus, typically refer to the process of using the plate count technique as a means of estimating the number of colony forming units (CFUs) in that known solution. Then further this figure use to extrapolate the total amount of CFUs present in the original sample.

Principle
The estimation of all solids, including dissolved, volatile, and suspended solids, is called total solids (TS). The residue that remains after the unfiltered sample evaporates between 103 and 105°C can be used to estimate total solids. Total dissolved solids (TDS) and Total suspended solids (TSS) are its two constituent components. After heating to 550°C, each fraction is separated once more into fixed solids and volatile suspended solids (VSS). The percentage of ash that remains is called fixed solids, while VSS is the organic proportion that was lost as CO2.
Apparatus
1. Ceramic or platinum evaporating dishes 100 mL volume.
2. Dessicator contain CuSO4.5H2O. Desiccator, provided with a desiccant containing a colour indicator of moisture (CuSO4.5H2O).
3. Analytical balance
4. Hot air oven
Procedure
1. Take a clean evaporating beaker or dish of required volume and dry it at hot air oven at 103 to 105oC for 1h, then cool and store it in a desiccator until needed. Immediately weigh before use. Note » the initial weight (Wi) in mg.
2. Take 250-300 ml or required volume of unfiltered well mixed sample in it (beaker or dish).
3. Place it in hot air oven at 103 to 105 oC for 2 h.
4. Cool it in a desiccator and take the final weight (Wf) in mg.
5. Replication the above process until a constant weight is achieved

Practically every aspect of the chemistry of heavy metals in soil is related to the formation of complexes with organic matter. While monovalent cations (Na+, K+, etc.) are held mainly by simple cation exchange through the formation of salts with COOH groups (RCOONa, RCOOK), multivalent cations (Cu²+, Zn²+, Mn²+, etc.) form coordinate linkages with organic molecules.

A schematic diagram showing organic matter reactions involving metal ions in soils is given in Fig. 9.1. The metals present in the solution phase as charged species and as soluble metal-organic complexes (MChe), are shown to be influenced by the activities of higher plants and microbes, both of which serve as sources of water-soluble ligands for complex formation; some metals are held in insoluble organic complexes and are non-leachable and relatively unavailable to plants.

Nitrogen ranks fourth element in cell composition after C, H and O. It forms main components of amino acids, the building blocks of peptides and proteins. Besides, it is present in the genetic material of cell as well as in the chlorophyll and cell wall in the form of chitin and mucopeptides. Plant growth in soil is often limited by less supply of nitrogen, therefore a major nutrient limiting factor in crop production. About 26 x 10⁶ Mg N is globally applied to soil each year to enhance crop productivity.

Phosphorus, an essential element, plays a central role in cell metabolism and reproduction. It is a structural component of energy transferring molecules (ATP, ADP and AMP), nucleic acids, coenzymes, phosphoproteins, phospholipids and sugar phosphates. In soils, the phosphorus does not occur as abundantly as nitrogen or potassium. The total phosphorus in an average arable soil is estimated to be about 0.05% (by weight) with an average of approximately 1100 kg P ha-1 (range 200-2000 kg P ha^-1). But only a meager proportion (only ~0.1-1.0%) of it is available for use by plants and microorganisms because phosphorus has poor solubility and gets fixed in soil. Not only the native inorganic phosphates but even the added soluble phosphates of fertilizers and manure readily combine with the cations present in soil solution to form low solubility products. Fixation reactions in soils allow only a small fraction (10-15%) of phosphorus fertilizer to be taken up by the plants in the year of its application.

N-Transformation and availability in soils     
    a.    N-Cycle 
    b.    N transformation in  soils 
Phosphorus transformation & availability in soils: 
    a.    P-Cycle 
    b.    P transformation in soils 
K-transformations& availability in soils: 
    a.    K-Cycle 
    b.    K-Transformations

Raster transformations involve mathematical manipulation of raster layers to generate new raster images. These transformed raster images either contain the information of interest or highlight the features which are not discernible in the original image. Transformations are also performed to preserve the essential information in reduced number of dimensions or layers. In this chapter, we are going to discuss few most commonly used transformation tools listed below:

The Secchi disc is named after its Italian inventor Pietro Angelo Secchi. Transparency is a water-quality characteristic of lakes and reservoirs and can be measured quickly and easily using simple equipment. This characteristic varies with the combined effects of colour and turbidity. Some variation may also occur with light intensity and with the apparatus used.
Procedure
1. Morning (early) or afternoon (late) is suitable time to check transparency
2. Lower the Secchi disc and observed the depth at which it just disappears from view (L1)
3. Then further lift up slowly till it just reappears (L2).