eChapters

Abstract

Land development in urbanized watersheds poses a potential of increasing storm runoff rates, and therefore increasing the risk of flooding in the downstream areas of a watershed. To investigate the impact of change in land use practices on the watershed hydrology, an hydrological analysis was conducted on Little Kitten Creek watershed located near Manhattan city of Riley county, Kansas, USA. Prior to development, land use types in the watershed included woodland, pasture, and fallow land. However, rapid development has occurred in the watershed in the last ten years. Post development land use practices include commercial development, residential housing, and conservation (woodland and grasslands). Data collected and analyzed included digital elevation model (DEM) of study site, stream network and soil data using ArcGIS (ESRI, 2006) and Arc-Hydro Software (Maidment, 2000). Watershed characteristics such as slopes, channel length, circularity ratios, and drainage density were also computed. The delineated watershed boundary, stream segments and soil data layers were over laid to produce soil maps. Time of concentration (Tc) was determined for the pre and post development conditions in the watershed using seven different methods. The time of concentration values computed using Kerby, Federal Aviation Agency, Kinematic Wave and NRCS (SCS) methods found more reasonable compared to the remaining three methods used.

These computed time of concentration values were observed to be shorter for the post-development condition when compared to the pre-development condition of the watershed. The reduced time of concentration in the post development condition is attributed to increase in percentage of impervious areas due to increased residential development in the watershed; therefore increased rates of runoff in the watershed are expected.

Keywords: Rezoning, Time of Concentration, DEM, Kinematic Wave, Drainage density, Circularity ratio.

Abstract

Conventional wisdom holds that variability in rainfall represents a significant variability of agriculture production. But urbanization of the cities on one hand and climate change on theother hand areaffecting the agriculture. Surprisingly, there have been very few analyses exploring the link between rainfall variability and urbanization on agriculture production. Therefore an attempt is made in this paper to know the affect of rainfall variability and urbanisation on the cropping area. For this purposeNDVI analysis is carried out in the catchments of Osmansagar and Himayathsagar Reservoirs by using the medium to high spatial resolution multi spectral data provided by remote sensing satellites, such as Landsat TM, IRS-1C/1D LISS-III and IRS-P6 LISS-III has been used for the years1989, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2008 for Kharif season, 1975, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2003 and 2008 for rabi season which is collected from NRSC (National Remote Sensing Centre). From this analysis it is found that the increment is more in rabi season compared to kharif season due to the increment of non-monsoon rainfall intensities and ground water withdrawal structures. The increased utilization of the groundwater is causing the reduction of inflows to the reservoirs in the recent years because whatever the rainfall that occurs in the catchment, first utilised for meeting the depleted soil moisture and ground water consequently reducing the surface runoff.

Keywords : Climate change, Urbanisation, Inflows, Cropping area, NDVI

Abstract

The rapid development and integration of spatial technologies viz., Geographical Information System (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS) along with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) provide functional alternatives to revolutionize the conventional entomological approaches like surveillance, spatial/temporal distribution of insect populations, pest distribution mapping and predictive modeling. Application of these technologies for insect problems is well established in the fields of forest, range land, medical and agricultural entomology elsewhere. Nevertheless, in India its field relevance in agricultural entomology is still limited owing to lack of proven field prototype studies and collaborative efforts among stakeholders. It’s time to gain real momentum to integrate these progressive technologies to formulate sustainable integrated pest management programs.

Key words: GIS, Remote Sensing, Insect Populations, Field Applications

Abstract

Carrying out effective and sustainable agriculture has become an important issue in recent years. A key to this is the usage of modern technologies for precision agriculture. Recent technological developments allowed envisioning sensor devices with distributed ambient sensory network, which could be a potential technology for monitoring various natural phenomena (weather parameters, soil moisture, etc.) at micro level. As more and more agricultural data are virtually being harvested along with the crops and are being collected/ stored in databases, the same can be used in productive decision making if appropriate data mining techniques are developed/applied. As a case study for this, an experiment was conducted with four consecutive agricultural (Kharif and Rabi) seasons in a semi-arid region of India to understand the crop-weather-environment-pest/diseases relations using wireless sensory and field-level surveillance data on closely related and interdependent pest/disease dynamics of groundnut crop. Association rule and multivariate regression mining techniques/algorithms were propose developed /tailor-made to turn the data into useful information/ knowledge/relations/trends to know crop-weather- environment-pest/disease continuum. These findings have been used for development of prediction models (cumulative and non-cumulative) followed by a web based pest/disease decision support system.

Keywords : Data Mining, Pest/Disease Management, Precession Protection, Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Remote sensing is the art and science of obtaining information about an object or phenomenon without having any contact with the object concerned. Geographical information system is a tool to create, manage, retrieve and query spatial databases. Remote sensing in conjunction with Geographical Information System (GIS) has wide applications in all spheres of life and especially in agriculture. Specifically, this paper reveals some of the applications of remote sensing and GIS in the field of crop condition assessment viz., crop type classification, crop stress detection, crop yield estimation and pest and disease monitoring.

Keywords : Remote Sensing, GIS, Yield Forecasting, Crop Stress, Pest and Disease Monitoring

1.0 Introduction

Remote sensing is the art and science of obtaining information about an object or phenomenon without there being any physical contact. The information is so collected using a device called a sensor. The sensors are mounted on a platform at an advantageous position. Accordingly the remote sensing is called ground based (sensor is hand held or mounted on mast), air borne (sensor is on a balloon or aero plane) or space borne (sensor is mounted on a satellite). The basic principle in remote sensing is that each and every object has unique reflecting property like human thumb impression and when the solar energy is falling on an object a part of it gets reflected, which carries the information about the object. The reflected light is converted in to reflection percentage of incoming solar radiation. This percentage of reflection can be used to work out the vegetation indices which are surrogate measure of crop condition.

Geographical Information System (GIS) is software system which enable Collection of large volume of data with spatial relation Integration of data from different source is possible Analyze such data for our requirement Present the data in different formats (maps, table and reports)

Abstract

The present study discusses the cropping pattern changes in Andhra Pradesh agriculture will leads to crop diversification and crop concentration using with Geographical Information System (GIS). Crop data were compiled for the triennium ending period 1980-81, 1990-91, 2000-01 and 2004-05 from various statistical abstracts of Andhra Pradesh. For measuring the crop diversification indices, we have used the Herfindahle index and for crop specialization is measured by using the Location quotient method. The level of crop diversification in the some districts of the state in the eighties is very high. However with the advent of green revolution, there had been a moderate crop unification or crop concentration in the eighties. This trend of crop unification is found to be reversed after 1990-91, though the magnitude of the change is not very striking. The crop diversification is observed to differ across the districts. The level of crop diversification is high in the agricultural backward regions of Rayalaseema and Telangana districts and low in the agriculturally progressive Coastal Andhra districts. During the period 1990-91 to 2004-05, the major trends in crop concentration are increase in the concentration of rice in the districts where it is popularly grown and decline in the concentration of coarse cereal crops, pulses and oilseeds. The concentration of spice crops and fruits and vegetables are also on an increasing trend, which they are popularly grown in their respective districts.

Keywords : Cropping Pattern, Diversification, Location Quotient, Andhra Pradesh, GIS

Abstract

Food security to the increasing population on one side and the increasing export of food grains on the other side has lead to the immediate attention on to raise the food production in our country. The decreasing land availability for agriculture due to the increased degraded lands and use of agricultural lands for non agricultural purposes has still worsened the situation. In order to match with the food requirement from decreasing agricultural lands, Indian agriculture has been pushed towards indiscriminate use of farm inputs exploiting the non renewable natural resources without any concern to the environmental ill effects leading to further degrading of the situation. Even though the concept of sustainability is age old, the importance is felt recently. Sustainable use of resources at farm level can magnify the effect of conserving non renewable resources and reducing ill effects on the environment at state level and to the country. Sustained farm production is a key to manage our resources and environment. Adoption of new information technologies with the conventional agronomic practices to increase farm production is made inevitable due to our past experience. The advancement in the technology tools like Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System, Global Positioning System and Decision Support Systems have paved way for better and effective management of crop production at farm level. 46 Geospatial Technologies for Natural Resources Management

A systematic approach of management involving advanced technologies and conventional agronomic practices through understanding the factors like soil variability, weather parameters and crops that contribute for the sustainable farm production is need of the hour. The spatial and temporal variability of the farm production parameters are to be studied and mapped in relation to historical data of the farm for successful site specific management. Site specific management tools may improve decisions related to site conditions, thereby reducing the aspect of uncertainty in the management system. This approach of farm management using advanced technologies viz., Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System, Global Positioning System, Variable rate technology, crop production modeling and Decision Support System can enable sustainable farm production with beneficial effect on the environment in future.

Keywords : Remote sensing, GIS, Sustainable Farm production, Site Specific Management

Abstract

Soil Resource Appraisal helps in characterizing the existing land resources, assessing their suitability for various land uses and then helping the user to prepare a rational land use plan suitable for the integrated development of the area. Application of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) helps not only in the characterization of the resource base, but also in the generation of various thematic maps and preparation of land use and action plans for effective implementation of various developmental plans at farm level.

Keywords : Soil Resource Appraisal, Land Use Plan, Farm level Developmental Plans

1.0 Introduction

A thorough knowledge and understanding of soils is basic to the development and management of agricultural resources. About 100 years ago, man began systematic study of soils in the field and tried to separate, classify and map their geographic distri­bution. Today we have sufficient knowledge about soils; however the characterisation, classification and mapping of soils is still tedious, time consuming and costly affair. Therefore the need for adopting new and more rapid and accurate methods of mapping soils has resulted in the use of satellite images with image interpretation techniques for soil survey and map­ping.

In India for the country as a whole, soil and other land resources information is available at 1:1 M scale, which was generated from the state level mapping done at 1:250,000 scale under the Soil Resources Mapping Project of India during the period from 1986 to 1995. This information is of general nature and useful for planning on a wide canvas and not particularly useful for farm or watershed level planning in the country. For site-specific needs and for developmental works at watershed level, we need detailed farm level database at 1:10,000 scale. Once this type of information is generated at village/watershed level, this will be useful for identifying site specific constraints, generation of area and site specific agro technologies, land-use options based on soil site suitability assessment, wasteland identification, identification of prime farm lands and farm clusters for zoning and Strategic planning, preparation of farm level development plans by line departments and proactive advice and technology transfer to farmers.

Abstract

The ever increasing population in India and the world, impeding threats from the climate change scenario and the increasing demand for land resources from the industrial sector calls for improved resource efficiency. The production strategies are changing from input intensive to integrated resource management strategies. The shift is towards adopting the precision farming technologies like addressing the site specific variability and crop needs. Remote sensing technology coupled with GIS has been recognized as reliable tool in agriculture to guide application of fertilizer, pesticides and other farm inputs. With precision farming, technologies such as grid soil sampling, remote sensing, on- the-go sensing, and electronic yield monitoring help farmers gather very detailed information about the heterogeneous makeup of a farm field. Site specific applications means application of required input only where it is required rather than entire fields or adjusting application rates accordingly. This chapter discussed the input management based on the time of intervention - Input management prior to crop sowing, in season crop management and end of the season.

Keywords : Management zones, soil variability and Remote Sensing

1.0 Overview

Natural resources sustain life and are critical for economic development of nations. In developing countries like India where more than half the population is rural, economic development is inextricably linked with agricultural development. In these countries, the food and livelihoods security of the poor are critically associated with access to the services provided by the natural resources - land, soil, water, biodiversity and climate resources. The natural resources are finite, and with increasing population, economic growth, urbanization, and demands for food and other agricultural commodities, these are being increasingly strained. As a result, the productive capacity of the natural resource base is shrinking and deteriorating. Sustaining the productive capacity of natural resources for future generations, while meeting the food and other demands of the growing populations, is the major development challenge of the twenty first century.

In India, during the last forty years the net sown area under agriculture has remained nearly constant at 141 million ha. In the same period, the population has more than doubled (from 541 million in 1970 to 1186 million in 2010) and per capita income grew by more than 3.5 times (from Rs 14824 in 1970 to Rs 53331 in 2010). As available land resources for agriculture are finite, increases in agricultural production to meet the growing demands of the population have to come from intensification of agriculture on the same lands. As a result, the quality of soils on these lands is gradually deteriorating both at the farm and ecosystem levels. The major threats to soil quality come from loss of organic carbon, erosion, nutrient imbalance, compaction, salinization, water-logging, decline in soil bio-diversity, urbanization, and contamination with heavy metals. More than 100 million ha of the total cultivated land of 141 million ha is stated to be under some form of soil degradation.

Similarly, utilizable fresh water resources of India are finite at about 1123 billion cubic meters (BSM), of which about 690 BCM are from surface water resources and 433 BCM are from groundwater. This supply is shared among multiple uses: human and animal consumption, agriculture, urban uses, industry and for provision of environmental services. The total water demand in 2010 is estimated at 710 BCM and is projected to increase to 1180 BCM by 2050. Several parts of India are already facing severe water shortages as a result of the growing demand for water. The quality of water resources is also impacted by agricultural intensification and development, and is increasingly a matter of concern. By the year 2050, when population is expected to stabilize, the shortages will only intensify. The country as whole can be on the verge of becoming a water scarce country, with nearly all the presently estimated utilizable water resources being put to use.

Biodiversity natural resources refer to the abundance of different species and ecosystems in nature. These resources are the primary sources of present and future productive agriculture and human well being, as they provide the basic resources for use in breeding crops and livestock, soil formation and structure, soil fertility, nutrient cycling and the provision of water services. India is among the 12 mega diversity regions of the world. It is known to have more than 18,000 species of higher plants including, 160 major and minor crop species and 325 of their wild relatives. Increasing pressure from human population growth, agricultural intensification, urbanization, pollution and degradation of land, soil and water resources are having a negative impact on the plant, animal and microbial biodiversity resources of the country and their productivity.

The science of agrometeorology has great practical utility in protection against, or avoidance of adverse climate risks of crop production. Agrometeorological information can be used in efficient land use planning, determining suitable crops for a region, risk analysis of climate hazards and profit calculations in farming, production and harvest forecasts, and in adoption of farming methods and choice of farm machinery. Meteorological instruments are the equipments used to sample the state of the atmosphere at a given time. Meteorology does not use much laboratory equipments but relies more on field-mode in situ observation and remote sensing equipments. Rain was one of the first weather parameter to be measured historically. Two other accurately measured weather-related variables are wind and humidity.

An agrometeorological observatory or station is a place where all the necessary instruments and structures are installed and maintained to observe and record the weather parameters at stipulated time interval.

Many aspects of the global climate are changing rapidly. Evidence for changes in the climate system abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans. The climate system is the highly complex system consisting of five major components; the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the land surface and the biosphere, and the interactions among them. The climate system evolves in time under the influence of its own internal dynamics and because of external forcings such as volcanic eruptions, solar variations and human-induced forcings such as the changing composition of the atmosphere and land-use.

The term ‘climate variability’ is often used to denote deviations of climatic statistics over a given period of time (e.g., a month, season or year) from the long-term statistics relating to the corresponding calendar period. In this sense, climate variability is measured by those deviations, which are usually termed anomalies.

‘Climate change’ refers to a statistically significant variation in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting for an extended period (typically decades or longer). Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or due to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. The United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines ‘climate change’ as ‘a change of climate behaviour which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods’. The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between ‘climate change’ attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and ‘climate variability’ attributable to natural causes. Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions measured by changes in temperature, precipitation, wind, snow cover, and other indicators. It can involve both changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including, for example, changes in extreme conditions.

A key difference between climate variability and change is in persistence of ‘anomalous’ conditions. In other words, events that are used to be rare occur more frequently, or vice versa. Occasionally, an event or sequence of events occurs that has never been recorded before, such as the exceptional tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 or hurricane season in the Atlantic in 2005. Yet even that could be a part of natural climate variability. If such a season does not recur within the next 30 years, by looking back it could be called as an exceptional year, but not a ‘climate change’. Only a persistent series of unusual events taken in the context of regional climate parameters can suggest that a potential change in climate has occurred.

Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Weather forecasts are made by collecting quantitative data about the past and current state of the atmosphere on a given place and using scientific understanding of atmospheric processes to project how the atmosphere will evolve on that place. Weather warnings are important forecasts because they are used to protect life and property. Forecasts based on temperature and precipitation is important to agriculture.

Agricultural production is highly dependent on weather, climate and water availability, and is adversely affected by weather and climate related disasters. In many developing countries where rainfed agriculture is the norm, a good rainy season means good crop production, enhanced food security and a healthy economy. Failure of rains and occurrence of natural disasters such as floods and droughts can lead to crop failures, food insecurity, famine, loss of property and life, mass migration, and negative national economic growth (Sivakumar, 2006).

Farming in many parts of the world, especially in the arid and semiarid regions is risky, because climate is highly variable. In some developing countries as much as 80% of the variability in agricultural production is due to the variability in weather conditions. This production variability in agriculture has immediate and important macroeconomic impacts. A timely seasonal forecast of favourable conditions could permit farmers to adjust cropping patterns and input use in order to benefit fully from these conditions. Also, a timely forecast could give the marketing system and downstream users, such as the food processing industry, time to prepare for a bountiful harvest (Arndt et al., 2000). It is important to remember that under rainfed conditions, even a less reliable, but earlier forecast may be more valuable than an accurate but late forecast (Mjelde et al., 1998).

Different crops are grown over a wide range of agroecosystems. Though the crops are raised in varied climates, ranging from very hot to very cold, and very wet to very dry, across temperate, tropical and semiarid zones, they are very sensitive to climate. The crop production is dependent on climatic parameters like rainfall, light, temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentration. Each kind of cultivated crop plants has its own optimum growth requirements. Breeding and selection of new cultivars have allowed for a greater adaptability to less favourable growing conditions than was possible in the past, but the inherent climatic requirements of a specific kind of crop have not changed materially.

CLIMATIC NORMALS FOR CROPS

Crop management is very much about managing climate risk so as to have financially viable and sustainable agricultural systems. Professor Henry Nix of the Australian National University posed three questions that need to be addressed when considering what crop can be grown where (Nix, 1981).

1. For any given crop which areas offer the greatest biophysical advantages?
2. For any given area which crops offer the greatest advantages?
3. For any given crop and area how much productivity be raised and sustained?

A weather hazard is an extreme weather event that threatens people or property. There are various weather hazards that affect agricultural productions. These hazards vary from one climatic zone to another and occur at different times, although some regions are more vulnerable to certain hazards than other. These weather hazards depend on the latitude of the place on the world map. These hazards affect crops and agricultural productivity negatively if they are not checked. Every agricultural zone has one particular hazard that is associated with it and in most cases affects the crop productions and reduces the annual crop yield. Weather hazards include cyclones, droughts, f loods, hailstorms, heat-waves and cold-waves.

The hazard is distinguished from an extreme event and a disaster. An extreme event is simply an unusual event; it does not necessarily cause harm. A disaster is an event that does cause harm in significant amounts. Weather hazards are often called as natural hazards. The natural hazards become natural disasters when people’s lives and livelihoods are destroyed.

Hydrologic hazards are the result of either excess or a severe lack of water, i.e., flood or drought. Hydrometeorological hazard is a process or phenomenon of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic nature that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage. Human and material losses caused by natural disasters are a major obstacle to sustainable development. By issuing accurate forecasts and warnings in a form that is readily understood and by educating people about how to prepare against such hazards, before they become disasters, lives and property can be protected.

The word ‘monsoon’ is derived from the Arabic word mawsim meaning season. The Arabs during their travel towards India recognised that by June strong southwesterly winds commence over the Arabian Sea and bring a lot of rains to the subcontinent. The term was first used in English in British India and neighbouring countries to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy rainfall to the area. In the Indian subcontinent, monsoon is one of the oldest weather observations, an economically important weather pattern over June through September every year, and the most anticipated weather event and unique weather phenomenon. Due to its effects on agriculture, flora and fauna, and other economic, social, and environmental effects, a monsoon is keenly followed and studied. It has significant impact on the overall well-being of subcontinent residents.

The term ‘monsoon’ is customarily used in India to refer to the rainy season during the northern hemisphere summer from June to September and is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea. Now the term monsoon has been broadened to include almost all of the phenomena associated with the annual weather cycle within the tropical and subtropical land regions of the earth.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes monsoon as a tropical and subtropical seasonal reversal in both the surface winds and associated precipitation, caused by differential heating between a continental-scale land mass and the adjacent ocean. India Meteorological Department defines it as the seasonal reversals of the wind direction along the shores of the Indian Ocean, especially in the Arabian Sea, that blow from the southwest during one half of the year and from the northeast during the other half.

The definitions include major wind systems that change direction seasonally. The cyclic change of wind and rain can be separated into the summer monsoon period characterised by warm and humid southwest winds, and the winter monsoon period characterised by dry and cool northeast winds. In fact, monsoon systems are a major feature of the general circulation of the atmosphere in subtropical latitudes of most regions of the world.

Precipitation is water in liquid or solid forms, falling on to the earth. In other words, precipitation is the deposition of atmospheric moisture on earth. Formation of clouds does not mean precipitation. Precipitation involves condensation, growth of hygroscopic nuclei, cooling of nuclei at different stages and their fall on to the earth’s surface. There may be several clouds but no precipitation. If the cloud particles are too small and remain suspended in the sky, they may not fall on the earth. Under certain conditions, water particles formed tend to fall but do not reach the surface since they get evaporated on the way. Only when the cloud droplets or ice crystals grow to certain size and can no more remain floating due to buoyancy of air, do they fall as precipitation.

Precipitation is the major source of water to all the living organisms on the earth. All the water sources on the earth depend on precipitation only.

FORMS OF PRECIPITATION

Precipitation form is the state that the moisture is in, i.e., liquid, freezing, or frozen (solid). Different forms of precipitation may occur together, such as mixed rain and snow; but such an occurrence is simply a mixture of forms, not a separate form of precipitation. Because atmospheric conditions vary greatly both geographically and seasonally, several different forms of precipitation are possible. All forms of precipitation are collectively termed hydrometeors. Hydrometeors have been classified into 50 specific types. Out of these precipitation forms, only rain (liquid form) and snow (solid form) make significant contribution to total precipitation. In many parts of the world, the term rainfall is used interchangeably with precipitation.

Clouds are visible mass of little drops of water or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the earth. The World Meteorological Organisation defined cloud as a visible aggregate of minute particles of water or ice or both, in the free air. This aggregate may include larger particles of water or ice and particles such as those present in fumes, smoke or dust.

Clouds are the most important form of suspended water droplets caused by condensation. The typical size of these water droplets and ice crystals range from less than 1 µm to 50 µm. When surrounded by billions of other droplets or crystals, they become visible as clouds. In the atmosphere sufficient moisture is required to allow condensation to take place. Then, moisture needs a suitable surface upon which it can condense. In free air, condensation begins on hygroscopic nuclei such as aerosols. These are microscopic particles and include dust, smoke, salts and chemical compounds. Nuclei range in size from 0.001 µm radius to over 10 µm. On an average, oceanic air contains one million condensation nuclei per litre and land air holds some 5 or 6 millions. On hygroscopic particles such as sea salts, condensation can begin before the air is saturated. Supersaturation in clouds rarely exceeds one per cent. On average, clouds contain only four per cent of the total water in the atmosphere at any one time. Almost all clouds exist in the troposphere, although the tops of some severe thunderstorms occasionally extend to the stratosphere. Clouds move along with the wind and remain stationary in calm winds. They grow vertically and horizontally, depending on the temperature of the cloud and its ambient temperature. They may dissipate or precipitate. Under favourable atmospheric conditions, they burst and fall as rain. Clouds are essential to the earth-atmosphere system. They complete the following functions.

Water is the only substance that exists in the atmosphere in all the three phases, i.e., solid, liquid and gas. The moisture on the earth’s surface is in a constant phase change. The moisture content of the atmosphere is about 0.035% of all fresh water. The atmosphere receives its supply of moisture from the earth’s surface through evaporation from oceans, lakes, rivers, damp soil, etc. and through transpiration from vegetation. Water vapour is the gaseous state of water and is invisible.

The amount of water vapour present in the atmosphere is called atmospheric moisture or humidity. It is a measure of the amount of water vapour dissolved in the air, not including any liquid water or ice falling through the air. While humidity itself is a climate variable, it also interacts strongly with other climate variables. The humidity is affected by winds and by rainfall. Moisture content is determined by the local rate of evaporation, air temperature and the horizontal transport of moisture. Humidity indicates the likelihood of precipitation, dew or fog. It also plays a major role in the heat budget and the weather phenomenon of the atmosphere.

Temperature is the physical property of an object that quantitatively expresses the hotness or coldness. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot. When a heat transfer path between them is open, heat spontaneously flows from bodies of a higher temperature to bodies of lower temperature. If no net heat flow occurs between two objects, the objects have the same temperature which are then said to be in ‘thermal equilibrium’. Temperature plays an important role in all fields of natural and applied sciences. Most of the weather parameters are dependent on it, directly or indirectly. It has important role to play in the development and growth of all living organisms in all stages of their growth.

Atmosphere receives the heat energy from the sun and its temperature increases. Due to different amount of heat energy receipt at different places, the air temperatures at different places also vary. The variation in air temperature basically results into air motion, so as to equalise the energy content of the different regions of the earth. Thus, atmospheric temperature is one of the basic elements of weather and climate.

Sun is the prime source of energy injected into the earth’s atmosphere. The sun is the nearest star to the earth. It is a hot ball of glowing gases at the heart of the solar system. Its radiant energy is practically the only energy source to the earth. Very small and insignificant quantities of energy are available from other sources such as the interior of the earth, the moon, and other stars. Without the sun’s intense energy and heat, there would be no life on earth.

NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF SOLAR RADIATION

The mean distance of the sun from the earth, also known as one astronomical unit (1 AU), is approximately 1.496 × 10⁸ km, though the distance varies as the earth revolves round the sun in an elliptical orbit. At this average distance, light travels from the sun to earth in about 8 minutes and 19 seconds. The energy of the sunlight supports almost all life on earth by photosynthesis, and drives earth’s climate and weather. The minimum sun-earth distance is about 0.983 AU and the maximum is approximately 1.017 AU. The earth is at its closest point to the sun (perihelion) on around January 3 and at its farthest point (aphelion) on around July 4.

A big layer of air called the atmosphere surrounds the earth. The air within this layer moves from place to place when it warms up or cools down. This moving air is known as wind. In other words, air in motion is called wind. Winds move moisture and heat around the world and also produce much of our weather.

The strength of the wind can vary enormously. Sometimes air moves slowly and the wind is barely noticeable. When the weather is clear there may be a gentle breeze. When the wind is still very light, but it can be felt and there may be rustlings by leaves. At other times, the air can move very quickly and become a gale or hurricane, blowing down trees and damaging electric poles and buildings.

Winds are part of a global air circulation system that acts to balance temperature and pressure around the world. Different parts of the world receive different amounts of heat from the sun. This differential heating in turn results in differences in temperature and air pressure around the world, which drives the world’s winds.

As equatorial areas are heated most, the air above them warms and rises as it becomes lighter than the surrounding air, causing an area of low pressure. In cooler areas, the air sinks because it is heavier and results in an area of high pressure. Winds will blow as air is squashed out by the sinking cold air and drawn in under the rising warm air. Any difference in temperature like this will always cause a difference in air pressure, and therefore winds will blow. These movements result in a global wind pattern, with air moving between different areas around the world and also at different heights in the atmosphere. Colder air from the poles tends to sink and move towards the equator closer to the surface of the earth. In contrast, warm air from the equator rises and moves towards the poles high in the atmosphere because it is lighter.

Atmospheric pressure is the force per unit area exerted on a surface by the weight of air above that surface in the atmosphere of earth. The gas molecules of the atmosphere are pulled towards the earth by the force of gravity and hence exert a force on earth surface. In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is closely approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above the measurement point. Atmospheric pressure inf luences other weather elements in a significant way. Small changes in air pressure may not be felt, but they are important for bringing a change in weather. Atmospheric pressure can be calculated as the summed weight of all gas molecules between a horizontal plane and top of the atmosphere and divided by the area of the plane. Low pressure areas have less atmospheric mass above their location, whereas high pressure areas have more atmospheric mass above their location.

FACTORS AFFECTING ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE

Air pressure never remains constant. Air pressure is greatly influenced by air temperature, altitude, water vapour presence in the air, rotation of earth, etc. However, these factors are not independent of each other in affecting the atmospheric pressure.

Temperature: Hot air expands and exerts low pressure. Cold air contracts and exerts high pressure. Thus, increase in temperature decreases the air pressure. Places nearer to equator experience low pressure due to prevalence of high temperature. The air being cold and heavy throughout the year a high pressure belt is created in both polar regions.

Altitude: Pressure varies smoothly from the earth’s surface to the top of the mesosphere. The pressure depends on the density or mass of the air. The density of air depends on its temperature. The density of air decreases with increase in height so the pressure also decreases with increase in height. At low altitudes above the sea level, the pressure decreases by about 1.2 kPa for every 100 metres.

Water vapour: Water vapour content of air is low in cold areas than that in dry areas. Hence, moist air of high temperature in dry areas exerts less pressure compared to cold air.

The dynamic layer surrounding the earth above its surface containing various gases, moisture, aerosols, etc. is called atmosphere. Atmosphere can be defined as the gaseous envelope surrounding the earth. It is retained by earth’s gravity.

The atmosphere protects life on earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention and reducing temperature extremes between day and night. The common name given to the atmospheric gases used in breathing and photosynthesis is air. The atmosphere has a mass of about 5.15 × 10¹⁸ kg, three quarters of which is within about 11 km of the surface. The atmosphere becomes thinner and thinner with increasing altitude, with no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. The imaginary ‘Karman line’ lies at an altitude of 100 km above the earth’s sea level, and commonly represents the boundary between the earth’s atmosphere and outer space. The study of earth’s atmosphere and its processes is called atmospheric science or ‘aerology’.

Meteorology is derived from the Greek word meteoro which means above the earth’s surface; i.e., the atmosphere. The state of the atmosphere experienced at a given time, in any location on the surface of the earth is known as weather. Thus meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere or the weather. It is a branch of physics dealing with atmosphere and it is often quoted as the ‘physics of the lower atmosphere’. The main focus of meteorology is to understand the weather processes and forecast the weather. Solar radiation, the air mass and moisture are the three key ingredients that make up weather. The exchange of heat, moisture and momentum between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere determines the characteristic of weather. The observable weather events are known as meteorological phenomena and are defined by a set of variables called weather elements. Atmospheric temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, wind and visibility, etc. are examples of such weather elements. The weather elements are not separate entities. They are closely related with each other and are highly variable in nature. Meteorology explains and analyses the changes of these weather elements.

METEOROLOGY

The major subdivisions of meteorology are dynamic meteorology (or atmospheric dynamics) and physical meteorology (or atmospheric physics). The dynamic meteorology is concerned with the analysis and interpretation of the three-dimensional, time-varying, macro scale motions and energy transformations in the atmosphere. The science of dynamic meteorology is meant to develop models based on the hydrodynamic and thermodynamic equations. The physical meteorology is concerned with the processes that alter the physical properties and the chemical composition of air parcels as they move through the atmosphere.

8.1 INTRODUCTION

To implement a good GIS project, a well structured project design and management are essential. Well planned project will give fruitful result within the stipulated time. Project not completed in time will not incur more cost and also the time delay will add negative value to the project. Hence all the elements in project planning and implementation should be considered to have a desired result. Some of the issues are also present in GIS and they will be rectified in the next decade.

8.2 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Any project is coming into reality due to necessity. If water scarcity is more in a hard rock region with sufficient rainfall, it is important to augment groundwater resource using rain water harvesting structures. It is important to build water harvesting structures like check dam, percolation pond in suitable locations so that groundwater recharge will be more. Hence a problem is identified and the project work may be carried out by a government or private organisation and the result is given to the government to implement the project. Likewise many area may require a project in GIS environment for planning. Once a project is created any development taking place can be added and GIS database is updated.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

Web technology revolutionised information technology and GIS of no exception. Analysis of maps available in internet through remote personal computer is called as web GIS. The term web is GIS synonymous with the term internet GIS. Most of the software vendors in the field of GIS have developed their GIS compatible to internet. The advantage of internet GIS is no need to own a GIS software in the personal computer. Maps available in a web site can be analysed for GIS functions as one could do with GIS in standalone personal computer. Applications of web GIS is not limited. Most of the governmental agencies, business people and others put their data in their server and the data could be analysed spatially for the users requirement. Internet mapping is simple, cost effective and reach vast audience.

Internet GIS is useful in field like civil engineering, government organisations, forestry, environment, goescience, utility planning etc.

6.1 INTRODUCTION

Besides simple analysis, GIS is useful to do advanced analysis like network analysis, spatial analysis, 3D analysis and modeling. Different softwares are available to perform such analysis and the above mentioned analysis is done in separate modules of the softwares.

6.2 NETWORK ANALYSIS

Network consists of well connected linear features. Roads, railway line, water distribution system, sewer line, streams are some of the examples of networks. These networks consists of nodes and arcs with designated directions and connection with other linear features. Networks are topology based with attributes for the flow of objects like traffic. Road network will be considered for explaining network analysis.

Road map is digitised with nodes and arcs. Signals, accidents are represented as points. Road is represented as line and two or more roads intersect at nodes. Attributes are added to the nodes and lines. Dynamic segmentation model is used for network analysis. It is built on lines of network. In road network analysis, attributes for travel time, one way street, two way street, right turn, impedance are added to the nodes and arcs. A link is the line running between two nodes. Link impedance is the cost of passing through the link. Travel time is different in links in cities due to varying traffic at different locations. Time taken to pass through a known length of link may give the cost but the travel time in a link is not uniform because of varying speed designated in the link as 20 km per hour and 30 km per hour. Hence it is important to consider the length of link and also the travel time. If the speed limit is 20 miles per hour for a length of 2 miles, then the travel time is 6 minutes (2/20x60 minutes). Also tuning in the network is considered. A road may have a maximum of 12 possible turns excluding U turns. There are right turn, left turn, straight way for each road. Also U turn is possible. This turning takes different time depending on the signal. Straight way takes less time but left and right turn may require some more time. If signals is available then signal time should also be taken into account. Fig 6.1 show the possible turns in a road.

5.1 INTRODUCTION

A GIS database without single error is reliable for decision making. There are various possible sources of errors in GIS. If an error is not removed during scanning, the final output will also have that error. Besides whatever the work has been carried on wrongly scanned map it will add to errors because the source map itself's erroneous. This is like garbage in garbage out proverb. If wrong data is taken for analysis it will only result in wrong output. Hence it is important to remove error at every stage of GIS work. It is important to locate the sources of errors so that due care may be taken while handling a project.

5.2 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF ERRORS

All the equipments which give attributed data and spatial data will give errors. Before going to field or before collecting data all the related instruments should be calibrated properly. Also the instrument should not cross the permissible error. Besides these while using data from diversified sources errors pertaining to those instruments are mixed to give a different result. When very good accuracy is desired data should be collected from high end equipments. Even if one adds the data from a comparbly less accurate instrument to the data of many accurate instrument is then the result obtained finally will not reliable enough. Global Positioning System (GPS) is available with mm accuracy to meters accuracy. Also surveying with suitable map projection and datum is important; otherwise the result will be wrong. Survey instruments posses some inaccuracy and when a person is using it he should have the accuracy over the instrumental like rain gauge, water level recorders which give attributed data which should be checked for instrumental inaccuracies and method of data collection before using it. Likewise satellite and aerial sensors miss some data and some error are inherent. Such errors should be removed before moving ahead. Errors are resulted due to map reduction, enlargement, data editing and computation method adopted. At the same mapping instruments also possess inaccuracies. When after certain interval a person is going for survey, the registered object may have been changed. Many new features might have come up. Hence the established control points are changed and if the wrongly placed control points are taken for survey then the result itself will be wrong. If proper resolution is not available in the instruments, then the instruments may not capture the minute details which are required.

4.1 INTRODUCTION

Database management system is a computer program to store, search, manipulate retrieve and give the result. Vast amount of spatial data are available and it is necessary to arrange them, store them for retrieval and analysis. Attribute data adds intelligent to GIS. Without database, a GIS will be just a Cad software. Cad softwares do not have database. GIS softwares have their own databases besides it has the potential to link with external database like Oracle, MS Access, MS Excel, Informix, INGRESS, Sybase and dbase. The data available in paper has to be digitally stored in a proper order. Previously the data were stored in a a flat file format where the data was stored without any structure. But to search and retrieve and analyse the database, database structures were developed. There are of 4 types of database structures namely Hierarchical, Network, Relational database and Object orientation.

Tables are made of rows and columns. Rows represent a map feature. Columns represents characteristic of map feature. Row is called a record or a tupule column is a field or an item. Table 4.1 is a table where rows 1, 2 and 3 represent the locations with the soil types. A column soil type represents various soil types.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Geographic Information System handles large volumes of data. It is important to know the nature of data, instruments from which the data is collected and represented in computers. GIS data is either spatial or aspatial. Data is an important component in GIS. Digital data are available for some projects. but for many projects, input data may not be available. Now-a-days, data is supplied by many government, private organizations and also available on internet. If data for a particular project is not available, then the user has to collect the data from satellite imageries, GPS and other instruments and maps from various sources.

Spatial Data

All locations in the earth surface are spatial data. Location of a city, location of a river, location of a lake are represented in earth by their latitude or longitude in global coordinate system or as x,y coordinate in Cartesian coordinate system. Spatial data consists of location, shape and size in earth. A village boundary is represented as a polygon in map. The village is having certain shape of irregular polygon with definite area. As all these are mappable , they are called as spatial data. But name of the village, revenue of a village and description about a village and called as non-spatial or aspatial data.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

GIS is a tool that can be used in varied disciplines ranging from civil engineering to business. Remote sensing data is often brought into GIS to have a complete data set in many natural resource application areas. Full capability of GIS is not used widely. Many a times people use GIS only for digitising maps and to do simple query on maps. But it can also be used in modeling, simulation and forecasting, only then one may regard GIS technology is utilised to its full potential. Some GIS softwares handle simple problems for location based services while other complex softwares posses advanced modules to do all types of spatial, network and 3D analysis. Integration of softwares used in natural resources study are being interfaced with GIS to create scenarios.

Remote sensing and GIS technology is useful in the following fields:

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Geographic Information System (GIS) is the new emerging field and grows at very rapid pace. Now GIS is a billion dollar industry with applications in varied disciplines. At present, GIS is being used by professionals from various disciplines. In this decade, GIS is being used by experts who are good in GIS technology for various applications. The development trend indicates that GIS will be used by common man in near future and at the same time, advanced GIS analysis will be carried out by GIS experts.

Any technology is developed out of necessity and GIS is of no exception. When a large amount of data were available for water distribution systems, road network, sewer lines, telecom lines, electricity lines, gas pipe lines, state wise population, natural resources etc, it is important to store, maintain and retrieve the data for applications. It is not possible to manually browse through the large amount of paper records. Also even if the data is available in an unorganized way in the computerized environment, it is not useful. Hence if the data are referred to locations in earth surface and the data are stored in an organized way, it is possible to retrieve and analyse the data for applications. Hence the solution is GIS and developed today into reality. Developed countries are using GIS widely in many areas but developing countries are moving towards the development of GIS database for their resources.

Remote sensing, aerial photography, cartography, surveying and other field instruments for attribute data collection contributes to the data acquisition. Cartography, surveying, geography, geodesy contributes for mapping process. Disciplines like computer science and statistics, mathematics involved in processing and analysing data . Computer science and mathematics involved in storing the data structure.

GIS maps are intelligent. It has many advantages compared with paper map in this digital age.

Spatial data means data which are referenced to earth. Maps, satellite imageries, aerial photographs are example of spatial data. Attribute data which are attached to spatial data are called as aspatial data or non-spatial data.

If these data are brought into GIS then it is stored in a standard format, it is possible to update, share, retrieve, manipulate and analyse quickly. Much of the time and money is saved in case of reproduction and better decisions could be made

Introduction

In India, almost 85 % of our population resides in rural areas and the same proportion is dependent on agriculture for sustenance and animal husbandry for additional income. Distribution of livestock is more equitable compared to that of land and about 85 percent of livestock are owned by the landless, marginal and small landholding families. This sector provides employment for the farmers through livestock farming as well as in processing, value addition and marketing of livestock products.

Rapid population, economic growth, increased demand for livestock products such as meat and dairy products, in?uences the present livestock production systemtowards intensive production. There is increased con?ict over scarce resources such as land, water, food grains etc. Losing livestock assets for rural communities might lead to abject poverty with serious effect ontheir livelihoods. The climate change impact will worsen the vulnerability of livestock systems and those farmers depending on livestock, particularly the poor.

Introduction

Statistics generally refers to information about an activity or a process that is expressed in quantitate as well as qualitative traits. The quantitative research process is well structured whereas the qualitative one is fairly unstructured. It depends upon how a piece of information have been collected and analyzed. A good researchers need to have both types of skill. This article highlights about the operational procedure, about methods, procedures and techniques that are used in analysis of climate related data.

Parameter vs Statistic

When a data is collected with survey of all the individuals (like in a census) and analysed for certain values, it is called a parameter. But when, we guess the same value with a random sample and interpret for whole population it is called a statistic. Environmental parameters are: mean, variance, correlation, regression, heritability, repeatability etc. Again, there are two types of variables: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative variables can take any value in a specified range. So, they are of continuous type. But qualitative variables are very few types ( 2 ,3 or 4 types) and they are of discrete type. Body weight is an example of quantitative variable whereas, comb type is a qualitative variable.

Introduction

R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It is a GNU project which is similar to the S language and environment which was developed at Bell Laboratories (formerly AT&T, now Lucent Technologies) by John Chambers and colleagues. R can be considered as a different implementation of S. There are some important differences, but much code written for S runs unaltered under R.

R provides a wide variety of statistical (linear and nonlinear modelling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering) and graphical techniques, and is highly extensible. The S language is often the vehicle of choice for research in statistical methodology, and R provides an Open Source route to participation in that activity. In a nutshell, R is an open-source software environment for statistical computing that is rapidly becoming the tool of choice for data analysis in the life sciences and elsewhere. It’s developed by a large international community of scientists and programmers and is at the forefront of new developments in statistical computing.

Introduction

Aquatic ecosystems are critical components of the global environment and provide a variety of resources for human population, including food, water for drinking and irrigation, recreational opportunities, and habitat for economically important fisheries. Fish is the main source of animal protein for 3 billion people worldwide, providing a valuable protein complement to the food platter worldwide. Fish is also an important source of essential vitamins and fatty acids. Furthermore, it provides an important source of cash income for many poor households and holds a great potential as a source of foreign exchange. However, aquatic ecosystems are increasingly being threatened directly and indirectly by climate change. Global warming with consequent climate variability and extreme weather conditions has a great impact on the aquatic ecosystems resulting in increased temperature variation, ocean acidification and freshwater salinization etc. As per report of IPCC 2018, global warming of 1.5 ºC above pre-industrial levels has been declared (IPCC, 2018) and expected to rise further in future. Thus, variations in temperature, salinity, acidity and dissolved oxygen along with the effects of other anthropogenic activities may exert strong in?uences on aquatic ecosystems and the aquatic animls will be facing these climate-related stressors in near future. Such environmental stressors is projected to alter fundamental ecological processes, geographic distribution of aquatic species, reproductive and immunological performance of species etc.

Introduction

Nanotechnology and nanoparticles are increasingly recognized for their potential applications in various aspects of human animal and animal welfare like development of various healthcare or cosmetic products, nano-electronics and techniques for environmental remediation, and many consumer products. Nanoparticles, by definition, are structures that have one dimension in the 1–100 nm range. Nanotechnology involves the application of materials at the nanoscale to new products or processes. Over the past few decades, inorganic nanoparticles, whose structures exhibit significantly novel and improved physical, chemical, and biological properties, phenomena and functionality due to their nanoscale size, have elicited much interest. Nanophasic and nanostructure materials are attracting a great deal of attention because of their potential for achieving specific processes and selectivity, especially in biological and pharmaceutical applications. Nanotechnology has made a new generation industrial revolution by developing product and formulations for medical, agriculture (nano-fertilizers, nano-herbicides, nano-pesticides, recalcitrant contaminants from water, nano-scale carriers, nanosensors), veterinary care, fisheries and aquaculture, detection of nutrient deficiencies, preservation, photocatalysis, nanobarcode, quantum dots etc. It is a rapidly growing industry currently worth billions of U.S. dollars, with many potential benefits to society. Nanotechnology has the environmental applications to protect climate change and environmental pollution as nanocatalyst, light weight nanocomposite materials, nanocoatings, improved renewables and nanosensors.

This fast growing technology is already having a significant commercial impact, which will certainly increase in the future. Because of their widespread application, the commercial nanotechnology industry is predicted to increase significantly to more $3 trillion in few years. While nanotechnologies offer many opportunities for innovation, the use of nanomaterials in food, agriculture and environment has also raised a number of safety, environmental, ethical, policy and regulatory issues.

Introduction

Poultry production is one of the fastest growing sectors of livestock industry in developing countries. Environmental variation is one of the major factors that affect sustainability of poultry production systems in tropical climate (Sinha et al., 2017a). Adverse climatic stress declines the production performance of chicken which causes high economic loss to the enterprises as well as the farmers. Heat stress has an adverse effect on egg production, egg weight and shell quality of laying hen (Whitehead et al., 1998). Climatic variables like temperature, humidity, radiation and wind speed that directly affect the mechanism of thermoregulation and rates of heat exchange by all animals (NRC, 2001). Heat stress is a major factor that decreases productivity and reproductive efficiency of livestock due to lower feed intake and negative energy balance (De Rensis and Scaramuzzi, 2003). Moreover, it badly affect the production due to decline feed digestibility such as proteins, fats, starch (Bonnet et al., 1997). In addition, the acute heat stress drastically decreases the reproductive performance of hens due to alterations in acid-base balance and ion exchange mechanism (Mahmoud et al., 1996). Climate change in?uences the emergence of disease and their transmission due to increases vectors, pathogens. All the above effects impact a huge economic loss to the farmers as well as the country.

Blood Sample collection

Blood samples (5 ml per goat) will be collected aseptically from the jugular vein in a vacutainer tube (B.D. Bioscience, Germany) containing EDTA as anticoagulant and transferred to the laboratory in an ice box.

Isolation of Genomic DNA

The Genomic DNA will be isolated from the blood samples by ‘Phenol: chloroform isolation’ method as described by Sambrook and Russel (2001). The steps for isolation of genomic DNA are as follows:

Introduction

There is an ongoing debate on global warming worldwide as it is seriously impacting climate change. The global temperature has been increased by 0.74±0.18°C during the last century and the climate model projections summarized in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report indicate that the global surface temperature will probably rise a further 1.1 to 6.4°C during the twenty-first century (IPCC, 2007). High ambient temperature is one of the most important stressors to poultry, which has a direct relationship on profitability of chicken meat and egg production. A seasonal problem in many parts of the world, high environmental temperature (35-43^oC in tropical countries) causes economic losses through reducing feed intake while decreasing nutrient utilization, live weight gain, egg production, egg quality and feed efficiency in poultry (Corzo et al., 2003; Panda et al., 2007a; 2008). The ideal temperature for broilers is 10-22^oC for optimum body weight and 15-27^oC for feed efficiency (NRC, 1994). Layers will produce egg constantly in the temperature range of 10-30^oC. Above 30^oC, performance in terms of growth and egg production declines.

Introduction

The egg production in India is 75 billion and the broiler production is 4.2 million tonnes per annum. The growth rate of layer market is 6-7 percent per annum and broiler market is 8-10 percent per annum. The Indian poultry sector is valued at INR 1 lakh cr or USD 15.38 bn. Approx. 80 percent of egg production is contributed by commercial poultry farms, remaining comes from household/ backyard poultry. Backyard poultry plays a key role in supplementary income generation and family nutrition to the poorest of the poor. It is estimated that there are around 30 million farmers engaged in backyard poultry as per 19^th Livestock Census. Backyard poultry are being practiced for its inherent strengths. Free range birds reared by the farmers have the advantage of small body size, coloured plumage, broodiness to hatch chicks, adaptation to harsh climatic condition, lower diseases and production with least investment. The birds are scavenging in the backyard, supplemented by kitchen waste and are kept in low height houses for shelter using locally available materials. It helps to improve the nutritional status of rural poor and also improve the subsidiary income of the poor people. Such stocks make minimal use of land, labour and capital and integrate well into the backyard. Backyard poultry production system is self-sustaining because of minimal needs and can be afforded by poor people of the rural areas. The high yielding white feathered chicken varieties being reared in the intensive poultry farming are not suitable for backyard / free range backyard poultry farming due to the adverse climatic and high pathogen load prevailing in such rearing practices. Backyard poultry farming is an in-separable part of the poor tribal people and it will continue to be due to its advantages. Although backyard poultry production is not an occupation per se, it often supplements household income, primarily for poor families. Strengthening backyard poultry production may help overcome poverty and malnutrition in impoverished communities. However, the effect of climate change on these birds needs to be studied for its sustenance.

Introduction

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2013) emphasized that warming of the climatic system is unequivocal and that anthropogenic warming will continue for centuries to come due to timescales associated with climate processes and feedbacks. While stresses caused by climate change are likely to negatively impact the agricultural and livestock sector and escalate existing small-scale farming challenges; agricultural and livestock productivity and sustainability have to improve to meet the needs of the growing human population (DEA, 2013; Zamykal and Everingham, 2009). Climate change is seen as a major threat to the survival of many species, ecosystems and the sustainability of poultry production systems in many parts of the world. Nevertheless, global demand for poultry products is expected to increase, as a result of the growing human population, and its growing af?uence. The extreme climatic conditions impose various stresses on poultry birds which adversely affect their growth, production and reproduction.

While climate change is a global phenomenon, its negative impacts are more severely felt by poor people in developing countries who rely mostly on the natural resource base for their livelihoods. Moreover, rural poor communities rely greatly for their survival on agriculture and poultry which belong to the most climate-sensitive economic sectors. Climate change is expected to intensify existing problems and create new combinations of risks and shift hazard zones. The incidences of draughts, snow-storms and blizzard like events have risen. The situation is made worst due to factors such as widespread poverty, inequitable land distribution, limited access to capital and technology inadequate infrastructure, long term weather forecasts and inadequate research and extension. Intensive poultry production has much less impact on global warming than organic or free-range production (Van der Sluis, 2007). Seo and Mendelsohn (2006) reported that small farms of poultry are better able to adapt to warming. However, organic egg production needs more energy than non-organic and increases most environmental burdens. The most disadvantageous, from environmental point of view, is litter-free breeding of birds which causes great amounts of liquid manure.

Introduction

Birds lack sweat glands; hence non-evaporative cooling mechanism (radiation, conduction and convection) is the major route of heat dissipation within thermoneutral range. Beyond this TNZ, majority of heat loss occurs as insensible heat loss i.e., Panting. Panting is one of the visible responses in poultry during exposure to heat stress associated with considerable energy expenditure. This specialized form of respiration dissipates heat by evaporative cooling at the surface of the mouth and respiratory passage. Panting increase, the loss of CO2 from the lungs, this leads to a reduction in the partial pressure of CO2 and also reduces bicarbonate levels in blood plasma. In turn, the lowered concentration of hydrogen ions leads to rise in plasma pH, a condition generally referred to alkalosis (Daghir, 2009). Birds also respond by reducing their feed intake and thus metabolizable energy (ME) intake to reduce thermo genesis as an adoptive mechanism. If panting fails to prevent their body temperatures from rising, the birds become listless, comatose and soon die due to respiratory, circulatory or electrolyte imbalances (Saif et al., 2003).

Introduction

Diversity connotes multiplicity of variety. In a given ecosystem, diversity refers to presence of number of different species of ?ora and fauna that have ecological niches in agreement with the environment. Scaling up, there exists diversity between different ecosystems. All life forms of ?ora and fauna on earth contains genetic material, that is the repository of an immense amount of genetic information in the form of traits, characteristics, etc. Focusing on the species level, genetic diversity refers to genetic variation that is observed in a population. Thus, genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. This provides in built latitude to the nature and/or the livestock breeders (including farmers) to manoeuvre/ manipulate so as evolve an improved population of desired qualities and traits. Further, genetic diversity is essential because the presence of adequate and appropriate genes in a population will make the species tide over adversaries owing to climate change and other emerging threats like new disease outbreaks. The ‘desired’ divergent gene pool provides the inherent resilient mechanism that equip the species to cope with likely challenging situation.

Over the years, with human interventions, the genetic diversity has been interfered with to meet specific needs; mostly with respect to garnering higher production and productivity. In the process, the diversity has been compromised for achieving the unitary goal. In certain cases, geographical barriers and other bio-physical constraints have also led to loss of diversity within a population. Studies on impact of climate change especially the effect of rise in environmental temperature on milk production of dairy animals indicate that global warming will negatively impact milk production. During 2020, the annual loss in milk production of cattle and buffaloes due to thermal stress will be around 3.2 million tonnes of milk costing more than Rs 5000 Crore at current price. Similarly, there would be prevalence of many emerging diseases including those with zoonotic implications owing to change in climatic conditions. Thus, the present day society is confronted with an imminent development dilemma of ecology vs. economics more specifically genetic diversity vs. higher production. It has led to volume of debates and discussions on the livestock development agenda to be pursued. The apparently con?icting interests has also generated antipathy amongst two schools of development.

Introduction

Climate change represents a threat not only to the existence of individual species, but also to the genetic diversity hidden within them. The finding promises to complicate assessments of how climate change will affect biodiversity, as well as conservationists’ task in preserving it.

Climate change comes as an additional factor affecting a livestock sector that is already highly dynamic and facing many challenges. Important objectives of AnGR management include ensuring that AnGR are effectively deployed to meet these challenges (i.e. are well matched to the production environments in which they are kept) and that the genetic diversity needed to adapt production systems to future changes is maintained. Climate change is likely to create a number of problems in many areas of animal husbandry (housing, feeding, health care, etc.) and threaten the sustainability of many livestock production systems and their associated AnGR. At the same time, many of the specific challenges associated with climate change (high temperatures, disruptions to feed supplies, disease outbreaks, etc,) as well as the general unpredictability it brings to the future of the livestock sector, highlight the importance of retaining diverse genetic options for the future. The upper critical temperature of dairy cattle is lower than other livestock species (Wathes et al.,1983).

Livestock farming is an important activity to a large population of small and marginal farmers as well as landless agricultural labourers of Tamil Nadu. It also provides employment opportunities for most of the unemployed and underemployed in the rural areas. Tamil Nadu is bounded by the Eastern Ghats on the north, by the Nilgiris, the Anamalai Hills and Kerala on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, and by the Indian Ocean on the south. Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area. The land area has been classified into seven agro-climatic zones based on soil characteristics, rainfall distribution, irrigation pattern, cropping pattern and other ecological and social characteristics. Tamil Nadu endowed with 13.97 per cent of recognised breeds of the domestic ruminants (cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats) with 22.55 millions of population (19^thLivestock Census-2012).

The extreme weather events being experienced at a greater frequency now a days are due to accelerated climate change caused mostly due to global warming. Global warming is basically a change in the climatic conditions of the Earth, brought about by a considerable rise in the near-surface temperature of the planet. Earth’s surface and the troposphere become warmer due to absorption of infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface by Green House Gases(GHGs). The important green house gases include carbon dioxide(CO₂),methane(CH₄) nitrous oxide(N₂O), chloro-?uoro-carbons(CFCs), ozone(O₃) and water vapour(H₂O). Various climate models predict major changes in our weather patterns, environment, and way of life in absence of efforts for substantial reductions in GHG emissions. The CO₂ gas concentration of atmosphere has increased to 385 ppm as against the normal concentration of 300 ppm. The atmosphere contains only 1 % of the total global carbon pool. The undesirable changes can be reversed by increasing soil and eco system carbon pools, increasing mean resident time(MRT) of sequestered carbon and decreasing GHG emission to atmosphere.

Introduction

Climate change and pollution are the two major concerns that retard growth in animal sector particularly in a developing country like India. Pollution is directly contributed by human beings, while the former is also an after effect of continuous abuse of nature and natural resources. Hence these two areas are to be looked into seriously for country’s growth in general and animal production in particular.

Stress Effect

Stress is nothing but inability of an animal to cope with its environment, a phenomenon that is often ends up with a failure to achieve the full genetic potential. Stress may be from any origin and can even be a disease itself. There exists a variety of endocrine regulatory points of stress which limits the efficiency of production and reproduction. A simple transport produces an immediate constant increase in arginine, vasopressin and corticotrophinreleasing hormone secretion in animals. However, adenocorticotrophic hormone reaches a maximum in the first hour, while cortisol is highest during the second hour. Contrastingly, the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal response is delayed occurring only after glucose decreases below a threshold in an insulin treated animal. Negative feedback effects appear to operate mainly at the pituitary level during transport but at the hypothalamus during hypoglycaemia.

Introduction

Climate change is one of the important areas of concern for world to ensure food and nutrition security to the growing population. The impacts of climate change are global but development countries like India are highly vulnerable as large population depends upon agriculture and allied service. As per the latest report, the global average temperature rises is 0.99⁰C (NASA, 2016) since pre-industrial time (1850). The year 2016 ranks as the warmest year, 16 of the 17 warmest years in the 136 years record all have occurred since 2001. The predicted temperature rise for India is in the range 0.5-1.2⁰C by 2020, 0.88-3.16⁰C by 2050 and 1.56-5.44⁰C by the year 2080. Studies in India showed significant negative impacts of climate change, predicted to reduce yields by 4.5 to 9.0%, depending on the magnitude and distribution of warming. Agriculture sector is contributing about 17.4% of India’s GDP, a 4.5-9.0% negative impact on production implies a cost of climate change to be roughly up to 1.5% GDP per year. Therefore, Govt. of India has accorded high priority on research and development to cope with the climate change in general and agriculture and allied sector. The Prime Ministers National Action Plan on Climate Change has Identified Agriculture and allied sector as one of the 8 national Missions. Agriculture and the future of global food security figure very importantly in climate change negotiations. As stated in Article II of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the goal is to ensure stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. With this background to meet the challenges of sustaining domestic food production in the face of changing climate and to generate information on adaptation and mitigation in agriculture to contribute to global for a like UNFCCC, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched a flagship network project National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) during XI plan in February 2011, and during XII Plan it is referred as National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA).