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India produces 146 million tons of vegetables (NHB report, 2011) and the total area under vegetable cultivation is around 8.5 million ha. Potato, tomato, onion, cabbage and brinjal account for around 60 per cent of the total vegetable production in terms of quantity. India’s annual fruit production is 75 million tons (NHB report, 2011) and the total area under fruit cultivation is around 6.3 million ha. The major Indian fruits are mango, banana, citrus fruits, apple, guava, papaya, pineapple, and grapes. Fresh fruits and vegetables play a vital role in Indian context and their marketing works as an influencing force in the economy. Though retailing of fresh fruit and vegetables is a low margin business, the market potential is very large in a country like India. This factor has attracted many corporates into this sector. Marketing of agricultural produce is different and more challenging than many industrial products because of the perishability, seasonality, and bulkiness. The very nature of small size of land holdings by the farmers, varied climatic conditions, production spread over wide geographical area, mainly in remote villages, diversified consumption patterns/habits of the Indian consumers and poor Supply Chain (SC) infrastructure makes marketing for fruits and vegetables more complicated. At the same time, Indian consumers demand fresh fruits and vegetables. Thus, Management plays a crucial role in marketing fruits and vegetables. Supply Chain efficiency not only helps in increased production and per capita consumption, but also contributes to economic development of the country. As a result, Supply Chain Management (SCM) throws both challenges and opportunities in marketing of fruits and vegetables. Efficient SCM in marketing, not only increases the profitability and efficiency of retailers, but also adds value to different stakeholders like cultivators (farmers), consolidators and consumers. Traditional Retail Model of fruit and vegetables is predominantly followed in unorganized retail sector. Players involved in this model are commission agents, auctioneers, wholesalers, traditional retailer of all type of formats family run ‘mom and pop’ stores, roadside shops, pavement shops and cart vendors apart from farmers and customers.

Botanically fruits are ripened ovary. It is a plant part that may or may not be purely derived from ovary of the flowers may be fleshy or pulpy in character, often juicy, predominantly sweet. With somewhat acidic taste, fragrance, aromatic flavours, fruits are generally not consumed during principal part of meals. Whereas vegetable is plant part which is less sweet, generally non acidic and consumed either cooked or raw during the principal part of our main meals. Vegetables may be fruit, root, stem flower, or leaf part of a plant or their modification.
Fruits and vegetables are valued in in human diet as an important source of protective nutrients like Minerals and vitamins. Apart from their nutritive value they add variety to the diet and improve acceptability of meal due to presence of different shades of colours, flavours, and texture. However, the major role in food preservation is played by their moisture content. For the same reason they are classified as
1. Perishable: Those which deteriorate quickly after harvesting such as tomatoes, mangoes, papaya, peaches, plums, juicy fruits and vegetables. They have high degree of moisture content and are highly susceptible to spoilage.
2. Semi perishable: These have less moisture content as compared to perishable one’s example 30 carrots, peace, green beans, apple etc. These foods are containing certain natural inhibitors to spoilage.

The term food processing covers an enormous field from simple boiling to the use of irradiation to predict the consequences on the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables. Generally, the food processing methods can be categorized as in intentional processing method (milling, peeling, washing trimming etc.), inevitable processing method (blanching, sterilizing, cooking, shredding, and drying) and accidental (inept processing or system). The nutritional losses associated with fruits and vegetable processing with different processing techniques and conditions employed. For example, the heavily processed products are although safe for human consumption but allied with reduced nutritive value. In this regard access to safe and nutritious food is considered as a basic right of humans as it is one of the ways to prevent various ailments by building better health and enforcing immunity. Escalating help awareness has guided the processes to opt for minimal processing food in recent years.
Food commodities subjected to minimal processing are capturing the market Suring to widespread concept that they might help in meeting the current requirement of vital nutrients. Development of minimally processed commodities especially fruits and vegetables have augmented at both retail and consumer levels during last years. Various organisations WHO, FAO, USDA boost up the utilization of minimally processed perishable commodities including vegetables and fruits to lessen the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Changes occurring in the eating habits have been quoted due to high anxiety for on time availability of these minimally processed fruits and vegetables. Sales of fresh cut fruits and vegetables continue to burgeon and food industries are persistently expanding primary because of consumers’ trend of health realization.

India is known as the food basket of the world. It is the second largest producer of fruit till now after China, but its contribution to the Global market of fruit processing is just 1per cent. This is due to the fact that there is deficiency of skilled manpower, poor cold storage facilities, inefficient post-harvest management and minimal technological interventions.
Deficiency of the skilled manpower: In-spite of market size of US dollar 181 billion, expenditure on food and food products being 21per cent of India’s GDP and more than 31per cent share of wallet by consumers, there is resultant apprehension about the emergency emerging skill shortages due to mismatch between the demand for specific skills and available supply. Shortage of skilled, Semi- skilled and unskilled workers has emerged as a critical factor impacting the competitiveness of Indian food industry. Efficient man-power is one such critical element to improve to foster the growth. As the food industry advances and adopts various levels of automation the demand of skilled manpower will increase phenomenally. Hence if, the Indian food industry must achieve projected growth target set and become globally competitive, the need to develop and train the human resource efficiently would be essential.

Millets are the staple food cropsacross the globe. The ability to thrive in harsh conditions established them as most suitable for current climate adversaries. The nutritional richness of millet reminded the need for adding them to our food basket.Despite possessing several desirable traits their cultivation is limited to a few pockets across the globe.Though significant progress has been achieved by conventional and transgenic breeding programs inmillets, there is a need for rapid improvement to meet the current needs.In order to accelerate the pace of breeding efforts, several molecular biology and biotechnology tools are being deployed by plant breeders. In the meantime, genome editing techniques like CRISPR, TALENS, ZFNs, Base and Prime editing have revolutionized the methods of genome engineering among which CRISPR has emerged as the most rapid, convenient and effective mechanism. The availability ofwhole genome sequence information, identified candidate genesfor various traits and successful transformation methods of millets promoted the application of CRISPR and resulted in the improvement of several traits. Initially, its application has been limited due to the restricted policies across the globe but the gradual change in the policies promoted genome editing across several parts of the globe. Thus, the application of genome editing for millet crop improvement can bring back those ancient grains to our food basket.

Agriculture is the support for the sustainable health and economic growth of the country. With the frequent changes in climatic conditions and increase of global population, it is important to come up with new varieties and nutrient rich crops. In this context, underutilized and neglected millets, considered as “nutri-cereals” or “smart foods” due to better adaptation in diverse environmental stresses and tolerance to insect pests and diseases, also a staple crop for hunger-stricken areas. Millet production is limited by the lack of intensive farming and deployment of genetic tools for trait and nutrition improvement. The recent advancement in machine learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are key to depict plant response to environmental perturbation in huge data sets. Therefore, precision agriculture or smart farming is necessary to explore the genetic makeup of the neglected millets. AI has a substantial potential to handle numerous challenges in the formation of knowledge-based farming systems. The next agricultural revolution would emphasize more on farm machinery using AI integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT). In Smart agriculture, deep learning facilitates fast and interesting data analysis and provides support to researchers and farmers by the outcomes generated from the analysis. Here, we emphasize on the advancement of AI and its application to monitor the underutilized and neglected millets quality, yield and disease assessment. This chapter summarizes how AI can contribute to the improvement of sustainable productivity and quality of underutilized and neglected millet.

The demand of day by day increasing population there is lacking of nutritious food to peoples all around world. Underutilized crops like small or minor millets are having more nutrition and providing calories up to 2000 to 3000 calories per person per day than our staple crops i.e wheat, rice, and maize etc. Small Millets are the most underutilized crop in the world possessing high nutrient-cereal qualities and potential for the improvement of food security, nation income and generate the employment for the rural peoples. Millets are rich in nutrients such as proteins, fibers, carbohydrates, fats, vitamin-B, and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, potassium, and zinc etc.They are highly nutritive crop, non-acid forming, glutan free and help in reducing blood sugar level, blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. They also help in preventing asthma and migraines sufferings and fighting malnutrition in children s and adults.S mall millets are considered the forgotten crop species because of lower yield compared to other millets i.e. Sorghum and Pearl millet and cereals i.e. rice, wheat, maize etc. Being a highly nutritive cereal crop, easy to digest, high fibers and low glycine-max content, environment friendly and prevent the human hazards small millets still remained neglected and underutilized crop. Out of 200 underutilized crops identified 29 are small millets species (NAS USA, ICUC). Considering the food demand of common peoples, emerging health consciousness and nutrient demand for food security emerged small millets to limelight because of ecologically sound to climate. Still, the harvest of crop demands combination of computational technologies to full-fill food needs of population. Recognizing the potential of small millets in improving the national income UN-FAO announced the year 2023 as International Year of Millets. This chapter focused on application of climate smart agricultural methods such as artificial intelligence for the improvement of small millets to achieve future food security.

Millets have potential as both food and fodders crops. Foods made from millet are abundant in micronutrients and necessary amino acids for regulatory functions. Since, millets were traditionally grown under adverse conditions, a great amount of polymorphism was preserved, making millet crops naturally resistant to abiotic and biotic stresses. Using data-driven technology to increase genetic gain in breeding operations can improve traditional breeding. Artificial intelligence can be used to create varieties that are adapted to certain soil and climatic conditions. In order to achieve breeding goals, machine learning (ML) is crucial in data mining and analysis, providing information for decision-making. We have been able to generate information on interesting genes using data mining and allele identification methods. For the exploitation of the natural variation and the identification of target genes, advances in high-throughput sequencing for the detection of genetic variations as well as the role of phenomics in genomics-assisted breeding can be employed. QTLs and marker-trait correlations can be identified via genome-wide association analyses. Multiple loci and genes that control agronomic traits have can be studied by comparative and functional genomics. Model selection is crucial for ML algorithms in smart breeding, which depends on knowledge in genotype, phenotype, and G×E interaction to be handled through computer science.

Millets are an essential food in the world’s semi-arid and arid regions. These are effective energy providers. They provide dietary fibre, polyphenols, fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and protein. The production of tropical crops is highly risky due to the pest outbreaks and increased abiotic pressures triggered by the climate change. Despite the fact that conventional breeding methods have greatly enhanced crop yield and output, new strategies are needed to further enhance crop productivity in order to fulfil the world’s expanding need for the food. The use of site-specific nucleases like zinc finger nuclease (ZFN), transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat associated proteins 9 (CRISPR-Cas9) are the genome editing technologies developing very fast. The advancement of plant genome research and its use in plant breeding are significantly aided by such achievements. CRISPR/Cas9 and related genome editing methods are emerging as appropriate methods to reduce the negative consequences of climate change and assure the long-term food security of tropical countries’ growing populations.

Millets categorized as cereal crops are rich sources of nutrients, mostly cultivated across arid and semiarid areas of the world, specifically in southeast Asia and Africa. Millets are easy to cultivate, demands minimal field input and have appreciable market values. Despite of great value of millets, their production is limited mainly because of climate change which triggers multiple abiotic stresses like drought, high temperature, salinity, etc. Even though millets can withstand the majority of abiotic stresses, it necessitates their further improvement to develop more resilience against unprecedented effects of climate change by incorporating or enhancing stress tolerance characteristics. It is currently not attainable to create stress tolerant and high yielding varieties through conventional breeding techniques and thus modern approaches like genome editing become inevitable to achieve this goal. Also, available data for genome sequences of millets in these years promotes genome editing. The technique has drawn tremendous attention recently due to its potential in precise modification of alleles and is considerable to speed-up crop breeding by targeting important traits with precision. Additionally, many stress-resistant genes are identified in related monocots and are reported to be orthologs of millets which could assist genome editing for developing stress resilience and productivity in millets. Above all, the technique has also gained legal acceptance and has potential to revolutionary counter climatic challenges.

Due to their remarkable health benefits, such as their low glycemic index, rich amino acid profiles, and abundance of B vitamins and antioxidants, little millets, formerly hailed as nutri-cereals, are once again becoming important dietary staples. These crops, which include a variety of species like finger millet, foxtail millet, and barnyard millet, have stimulated innovation in the food business by producing value-added goods like rice analogs, noodles, and biscuits. Additionally, their medicinal qualities could help advance research on nutraceuticals. Small millets are essential to climate-smart agriculture because of their renowned resilience, which allows them to flourish on marginal soils and in difficult climates. Breeding efforts seeking to create climate-resilient, high-yielding, and lucrative cultivars can benefit greatly from their extensive genetic diversity, which is conserved in traditional landraces and farmer-managed cultivars. Even with their potential, small millets’ genetic development projects are still in their early stages, requiring concentrated efforts to find trait-specific donors and enhance breeding techniques. In addition to preserving their ethnobotanical and cultural heritage, the conservation of their genetic resources supports international initiatives for environmental sustainability and food security. Small millets have the potential to become a vital component of sustainable and nutritionally enhanced agricultural systems by incorporating cutting edge agricultural techniques and speeding up breeding improvements.

Introduction

Millets, which are small-seeded grasses belonging to the Poaceae family, have a rich historical and cultural significance as they have been cultivated for thousands of years (Goron and Raizada, 2015; Wen et al., 2014; Cheng, 2018). They remain an important crop in various regions worldwide, particularly in developing countries where they serve as a staple food for millions, especially in rural areas. Millets offer several advantages as they are gluten free and provide valuable protein, fiber, and minerals, making them highly nutritious for both human consumption and animal feed. The diverse range of millets includes pearl millet (Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone), foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P.Beauv.), proso millet (Panicum dichotomiflorum Michx.; syn. Panicum miliaceum Walter), finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.), barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea Link), kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.), little millet (Panicum sumatrense Roth), and more (Ahmad et al., 2018; Bora et al., 2019). These grains have a significant historical presence globally, with evidence of cultivation in ancient China, Greece, and Rome (Li et al., 2020a; Huan et al., 2022). In India, millets have maintained their importance as a vital crop for thousands of years and continue to be an integral part of the diet in many regions of the country today (Padulosi et al., 2015; Li et al., 2020b).

Millets are highly nutritious and play a significant role in many people’s diets around the world. They have traditionally been transformed into a range of products through fermentation and malting for centuries. In the era of sustainable development, we still lag in using millets as a primary source of nutrition even after knowing that they are rich in terms of nutrition and other essential elements as compared to cereals. Today we have lots of information regarding different millets; nutrition content, methods of preservation, fermentation, malting, its products etc. Foods made from millet are regarded as potential prebiotics because they can improve the availability or functionality of probiotics, which has major positive effects on health. Foods have been fermented in order to enhance their flavor, texture and palatability. Although fermentation can result in a variety of products, the most prevalent ones are ethanol, lactic acid, carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas (H2 ). Commercial applications for these materials include use in food, vitamins, medications and industrial chemicals. Additionally, fermentation increases the amount of protein present, improves the accessibility of carbohydrates and reduces antinutritional components like tannin and phytic acid. Even though it has some drawbacks, such as the potential for contamination with dangerous microbes, fermentation technology is proven to enhance the nutritional quality of food products. This chapter covers the millet fermentation technology’s effects on the nutritional composition of the millets, contemporary developments in fermented millet-based products and technological improvements examined in the millet fermentation technology.

Millions of people worldwide suffer from food insecurity and malnutrition, which are exacerbated by issues including pollution, overcrowding, climate change, and economic hardship. These problems highlight the necessity of changing food systems for better immunity and health since they lead to both undernutrition and overnutrition. Essential carbs, fiber, fats, and important micronutrients including iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, and magnesium are all found in nutrient-dense grains such as foxtail, kodo, proso, tiny, and pearl millets. These millets are widely accessible and have several health advantages. For example, pearl millet is high in amylose starch and contains essential minerals like phosphorus and magnesium, whereas proso millet is a good source of iron, calcium, potassium, and B-vitamins. B vitamins, iron, calcium, and zinc are all found in kodo millet, while finger millet is a great provider of calcium, iron and magnesium. The nutritional profile of millets is further improved by processing methods like milling, germination, extrusion, and fermentation. Prominent research organizations, including as ICRISAT, ICAR, and CGIAR, are actively working to conserve millet and create better types to combat chronic illnesses and malnutrition. Targeted improvements in disease resistance and nutrient content are now possible because to biotechnology advancements. For improved worldwide health outcomes, dietary patterns must nonetheless be changed and these nutrient rich grains incorporated into contemporary food systems, notwithstanding current advancements.

Minor millets, that belong to members of the cereal grass family, are advantageous in areas where large crops like Bread wheat, Rice paddy, and maize are relatively ineffective because they have a wide range of genetic diversity and thrive in marginal environments. The varied soil types, temperatures, heat and light cycles, and rainfall patterns across India all support the cultivation of minor millets. Finger millet, barnyard millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, and many more types of minor millet are used in agriculture. The majority of those who depend on these millets for sustenance and income are small-scale indigenous farmers and dwellers of rainfed areas, mainly among impoverished tribal populations numbering in the millions. Coarse cereals,now a days known as Nutri cereals or nutraceutical flora and are no longer known as coarse cereals as a potential global answer to malnutrition and unrecognized hunger. Minor millets have long been an essential component of Indian tribal societies’ agricultural systems and practices. They have used little millets for both famine prevention and ethnomedicine since the beginning of time. This chapter focuses on how little millet could help people have access to food and nutrition security while reducing hunger and malnutrition.

Millets which are also known as “Shree Anna” are a type of grass with small seeds that belongs to the Poaceae family and are widely grown throughout the world. Millets have high levels of proteins, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants that why they are known to be climate-change-resilient crops. Proteins are essential amino acids that the body cannot synthesize and are used as a nitrogen source during embryo development following germination. Millets are high in dietary fibre and are important staple crop in many parts of the world. They are versatile grains that can be used to make a variety of food products, including millet flour. Millets are good for cardiac health, weight management, antioxidant activity, and may have anti-cancerous properties. They are nutrient- dense, provide sustained energy, and contain antioxidants such as polyphenols and flavonoids. Millets are considered safe and have a variety of health benefits. Surprisingly, millets perform major non-millet cereals in terms of nutrition. They are particularly high in dietary fibres, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and polyphenols, all of which have broad-spectrum positive effects on human health.

Millets are a type of minor cereals found in the Poaceae family. Millets are often described as “Nutri-Cereals” since they contain more nutrients than commonly produced main cereals. They are an important part of human’s diet in the world. These are foods with a high nutritional content, gluten-free and have nutraceutical qualities. The adequate amount of protein (essential amino acid), micronutrients and phytochemicals are found in millets. The phytochemicals found in millet grains enhance human health by lowering cholesterol and phytates in the body. Millets are full of antioxidants, minerals including dietary fibre, iron, calcium and magnesium that are vital for battling a variety of diseases. These are beneficial to include in our daily diet because the grain is healthy and nutritious. They decrease blood pressure, prevent cancer and lessen the chance of tumour growth. The rich nutrient content in millet has many health advantages such as cancer, obesity, lower risk of cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal issues, migraines and asthma. People utilise millet-based products to fight a variety of nutritional deficiencies and diseases.

a) A Key GDP Contributor: Dairy and Livestock sector form the backbone of agriculture with 28 per cent contribution in GDP and the progress in this sector is dependent on innovative measures to increase the value for farmers as well as customers.

b) Doubling Farmer’s Income : Doubling Farmer’s Income by 2022 can be achieved by improving crop and livestock productivity, efficiency to utilize resources, increased intensity of cultivation and diversification in high value cash crops, processing and value addition of food and animal products. This price realization can be assured through market reforms and efficient market linkages.

c) Unorganised sector – a challenge : The Indian dairy sector is still characterized by strong presence of unorganized sector. Apart from the Cooperative dairy sector, in the last few years there has been a considerable growth in Private Dairy sector and Milk Producers Organization like Maahi in Gujarat. If small dairy farmers are provided with sufficient ‘value addition’ training and support, they can increase their income considerably.

d) Value addition : Further, the milk processing plants can also go for value addition and innovation and in turn pay remunerative prices to milk producers.

7.1. Challenges in Milk Quality

Demand for milk and milk products in India is growing very rapidly, owing to urbanization, customer convenience, and the change from loose to packaged milk products. At present, the dairy sector is rising at about 10-12 per cent annually. Based on population growth projections and an increase in urbanization over the next four decades, India is projected to need approximately 600 million tonnes of milk per year to meet the demand for milk and milk products. This means that India’s milk production needs to grow at around 3.2 per cent CAGR for the next 40 years (FICCI, 2020).

Main reason of poor quantity of milk is due to unhygienic and poor condition of animal farms and dairies. Even due to high demand in foreign country we cannot export such poor quality of milk product. Many times, Indian milk products get rejected in foreign nations due to unhygienic milking milk contains high number of microbial counts. Reasons behind the quality affected in India are due to poor health of animal, polluted water and food and Unclean surrounding in farm. So, it is necessary to consider all this challenges in improving milk production. Currently most of the milking animals are not screened on regular interval of time. So, there is lots of chances that some diseases can transmitted to human beings. Farmers use antibiotics and chemical drugs to increase the production of milk this will also affect the quality of milk. These issues can be avoided by regular screening of animals in animal husbandry and also maintaining history records of health, feed etc. Quality of feed should be checked regularly. There must be pollution control in the feed and water used in cattle farms (Bhagyalaxmi, 2020).

The GOI is pushing to strengthen infrastructure for the production of quality milk, as well as for procurement, processing, and marketing of milk and milk products through the following Dairy Development Schemes:

6.1. Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS)

Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS) was started in September 2010. This scheme is being implemented through NABARD which provides financial assistance to commercially bankable projects with loans from Commercial, Cooperative, Urban and Rural banks.

Objective of the scheme

To generate self-employment and provide infrastructure for the dairy sector, to set up modern dairy farms and infrastructure for the production of clean milk, to encourage heifer calf rearing for conservation and development of good breeding stock, to bring structural changes in the unorganized sector so that initial processing of milk can be taken up at the village level, to upgrade traditional technology to handle milk on a commercial scale, to provide value addition to milk through processing and production of milk products.

Livestock is considered one of the essential variables in the revenue of a farmer. The sector (excluding fisheries) contributes 30 per cent to India’s agriculture gross domestic product, and it is valued at more than Rs. 9 lakh crores. India is also one of the largest producers of milk in the world; around 70 million rural households are engaged in professions linked to dairy. India is also the second largest exporter of bovine meat after Brazil. This sector provides a substantial income to farmers and supports the economy by generating enough demand in the rural and semi-urban regions. This animal husbandry sector comprising dairy and poultry is extremely valuable for farmer’s income security, and Covid-19 has the potential to disrupt this sector.

In developing countries such as India, where dairy farming is one of the most important sources of livelihood for 60 million rural households, 80 per cent of whom are landless, small and marginal farmers who depend on dairy for daily income, the crisis is extreme. Thus, even a small decline in the growth of the dairy sector significantly affects a large chunk of our population which are already vulnerable due to low income, poor savings, and lack of livelihood alternatives. Small production in multiple households leads to more reliance on efficient transportation for procurement. In addition to this, the Indian dairy sector is still dominated by the unorganized sector which handles more than 50 per cent of the marketable surplus. Milkman and vendors collect a small quantity of loose milk from different households and then supply it to urban consumers, roadside eateries, hotels, and sweetshops. Closure of shops and restrictions on transportation has ruthlessly disturbed this arrangement. Even in the formal sector out of the total milk processed 65 to 70 per cent is sold as liquid milk which is immediately vended after packing and only 30 per cent is processed into other dairy products like ghee, butter, cheese, curd, ice-cream, milk powder, etc. Thus, the formal sector also lacks sufficient infrastructure and storage facilities for processing and storing surplus milk after value addition.

In monetary terms, value-added’ per unit of the product is the margin between its selling price and cost of production. However, in the dairy and food industry, value addition refers to, extra, features of a product that are beyond the expectations of a consumer at little or no extra cost. In this context, the addition of value to milk can involve monetary value added to a liter of milk by turning it into milk products, enhancing the convenience of quality, shelf life, or health characteristics using processing and packaging interventions.

4.1. Conversion of Milk into Conventional Products

It is an age-old tradition to add value to milk by processing it into milk products. The primary aim was to increase the shelf life of milk that would otherwise be highly perishable. With inadequate facilities to preserve liquid milk fresh in the rural areas’ conversion of milk into a variety of milk products would be an ideal option to effectively preserve the huge quantities of milk procured during the flush season’ In the processing of milk products such as cream, butter, cheese and ghee, by-products such as skim milk, buttermilk, whey, and ghee residue are obtained’ Many of the dairy plants, particularly in India’ are usually confronted with the problem of by-products utilization, especially that of whey and ghee residue in an economical manner. Membrane separation processes have presented new possibilities for the production of newer intermediate products from dairy by-products that can be used for value addition in dairy and food industries.

Cheese, butter, whole milk powder, and skimmed milk powder are a major part of the world’s dairy trade. The demand for worldwide dairy exports is highly concentrated. With a share of 12 per cent, New Zealand is the largest exporter of dairy products, followed by Germany, Netherlands, France and the US. Germany has been the world’s major dairy importer as well with a share of 10 per cent. Other large dairy product importers are China, Netherlands, France, Italy and Belgium.

Before 1999, India was a net importer of dairy products. The successful implementation of the ‘Operation Flood’ program and trade reforms caused the direction of India’s dairy trade to change marginally. India has been a net exporter of dairy products since 2000. Statistics show that India’s export share of dairy products over world dairy exports increased marginally from 0.1 per cent in 2001 to 0.5 per cent in 2019, while its import share of dairy products over world dairy imports increased marginally from 0.018 per cent in 2001 to 0.04 per cent in 2019. The Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, and the USA are the major markets for India’s dairy products. Conversely, India is a favorable market for the European Union, New Zealand, Australia, UAE, and US dairy products.

In India, about 46 per cent of the milk produced is either consumed at the producer level or sold to non-producers in the rural area, the balance 54 per cent of the milk is available for sale to organized and unorganized players. The organized sector comprises of Government, Producers’ Owned Institutions (Milk Cooperatives & Producer Companies), and Private players which provides a fair and transparent system of milk collection round the year at the village level. The unorganized/informal sector involves local milkmen, dudhias, contractors, etc. and they are mostly found to be opportunistic, as there is no uniformity of milk price paid to producers and it varies depending upon the situation. The possibility of adulteration of milk is higher among these unorganized groups. In the areas where competition is high and the presence of the formal sector is strong, the unorganized sector generally gives higher prices and at the same time, the unorganized sector doesn’t offer remunerative prices to the producers where the organized sector is not present.

1.1. Global Dairy Scenario

Global milk production is forecast at 852 million tonnes in 2019, an increase of 1.4 per cent from 2018 (DAHD, 2019) – a smaller rate of growth, reflecting downward revisions made for India and the European Union. Much of the anticipated output expansion will originate in India, Pakistan, China, the European Union, and Brazil, partially offset by declines in some countries including Australia, Colombia, and Argentina. In India and Pakistan, herd expansions drive output growth, while in China, farm efficiency improvements underpin higher growth. The output is increasing in the European Union, although slowly as dry weather limited the supply of milk during the summer, whilst rising dairy herds and stable milk prices are supporting higher production in Brazil. By contrast, the output may decline in Australia and Colombia due to dry weather, whereas in Argentina, rising feed costs and restrained consumer demand may dampen production. Elsewhere, in the United States, higher milk yields hold up the growth momentum, whereas, in New Zealand, favourable weather corroborates a positive production outlook (DAHD,19).

Like other sectors of the economy food processing sector also suffers from certain constraints. The challenges for the food conservation, distribution and processing sectors are diverse and demanding, which need to be addressed to leverage the growth of agriculture and food processing sector. Following are the major challenges and strategies are suggested to overcome the challenges (Sakina, 2019).

6.1. Domestic Constraints in the Development of Food Processing Industry in India

Despite the significant economic potential of the FPI in India, it still faces massive domestic challenges, which include low level of processing, fragmented structure of the industry, consumer perception and lack of skilled manpower. Firstly, low level of processing means that at industrial level, less food is processed, as compared to household level. Most of the traditional food items like jams, jellies, pickles etc. are prepared at small manufacturing units or by households (Agarwal & Neogi, 2017).

Secondly, consumer perception with regard to processed food in India is not very optimistic and they consider that packaged food is not fresh, thus, leading to low consumption of processed food. Thirdly, food processing sector is still highly fragmented and unorganised. This led to the inefficacies in the sector and has failed to achieve the economies of scale (Agarwal & Neogi, 2017).

The Government of India has accorded ‘high priority’ status to the food processing industry. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) has been set up as a nodal agency for formulation and implementation of the policies and plans for the food processing industries.

With an overall objective of positioning India as the ‘Food Basket’ to the world, several initiatives have been undertaken with the objective of promoting investments, innovation and bringing best practices. This vision is in line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government (CII, 2019).

5.1. Policy Interventions (MOFPI, 2019)

5.1.1. Infrastructure Development

Fragmented, inadequate, and inefficient infrastructure along the supply chain has been identified as one of major factor inhibiting growth of food processing sector. As adequate investment for infrastructure has not been forthcoming from private sector, government will continue to assist, participate and incentivize creation of supply chain infrastructure for food processing sector.

Trade in fruit and vegetable products has been among the most dynamic areas of national as well as international agricultural trade, stimulated by rising incomes and growing consumer interest in product variety, freshness, convenience, and year-round availability. Advances in production, postharvest handling, processing, and logistical technologies—along with increased levels of international investments have played a facilitating role.

4.1. Global Trade of Processed Fruits & Vegetables

4.1.1. Country Wise Trends of Export in Value-Added Fruits

Table 4.1 shows the processed fruits export of top 15 countries in the global market. The USA remained the largest exporter at global level with the exports valued at USD 15089573 thousand with a share of about 12 per cent. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR %) of the USA was noted 7.58 per cent. Spain is the second largest exporter of processed fruits and vegetables with the CAGR of 6.14 per cent and share of 8 per cent. Some other dominant exporting nations are namely, Mexico, Netherlands, China, and Chile, showing a CAGR nearly, 13 per cent, 11 per cent, 16 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively.

3.1. General Introduction

Value addition refers to the conversion of a raw commodity or commodities into a processed product through the use of raw materials, labour, time and technology, all mixed in a way that ensures increased economic return. Even if the amount of processing in a product is much less, for example, any canned fruit can be considered as a processed product. Value added processing of horticultural food crops, mainly involves actions which changes fresh fruits and vegetables to create a greater value-added product for human consumption, which mostly includes canned products, juices, soups, sauces and dehydrated fruits and vegetables (Sharan, 2018). It results in diversification of agricultural activities, improves value addition opportunities and creates surplus for export of processed agro products. Processing often goes with perishable products like meat, milk, poultry, fruits and vegetables, often termed as High Value Products (HVPs), are in greater demand of processing (Sanal & Krishna, 2017). The demands for processed products are particularly strong in developing countries like China and India; mainly due to increasing industrialization and rapid urbanization, followed by elevated income levels, greater diversity in diets, and affinity towards premium-branded products (Sharan, 2018).

Horticulture is increasingly recognized as a sunrise sector, owing to its potential to raise farm income, provide livelihood security and earn foreign exchange through export. The diverse agro-climatic conditions and rich diversity in crops and genetic resources enable India to produce a wide range of horticultural crops round the year. To cite an example, India produces tropical fruit like mango and sub-tropical fruit like an apple at the same season in a year (Jha et al., 2019). The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of crops like fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, plantation crops like coconut, beverages like tea and coffee, and some medicinal and aromatic plants. Statistics provided by National Horticulture Development Board showed that India is the second largest producer of the commodities, after China, accounting for 13 per cent of the global production of fruits and 21 per cent of vegetables. (DAC&FW, 2017).

Economic reforms and policies further increased the speed of diversification in favor of horticulture crops (Jha et al., 2019). This is on account of the increased domestic demand from high-value food commodities as well as for export markets. The diversification process that is seen within the agricultural sector also got transmitted to the horticultural sector. In line with the emerging demands, India has taken several technical and policy initiatives for promoting horticulture. The most important among is the newer technology packages spanning from production to postharvest (Jha et al., 2019).

Indian Food Processing Industry (FPI) is one of the most untapped industries with abundant raw material to grow at a higher rate. FPI has been identified as a priority list in the “MAKE IN INDIA” program by the Government of India to boost its domestic manufacturing and export share. In the last few years, FPI has emerged as a high-growth and high-profit sector due to its immense potential for value addition while processing food products at various stages. The degree of processing of value addition to agricultural produce in India (20 %) is very low as compared to other countries, such as China (40 %), Brazil (70 %), and Malaysia (80 %). In India, the degree of processed food products ranges between 2 per cent (fruits and vegetables) and 35 per cent (milk) for various agriculture products. Hence there exist a huge potential for the growth of this sector in India. The export value of FPI was US$29.12 billion in 2016 and its share in world import was 2.18 per cent (Agarwal & Neogi, 2017).

India’s food processing sector covers fruit and vegetables; spices; meat and poultry; milk and milk products, alcoholic beverages, fisheries, plantation, grain processing, and other consumer product groups like confectionery, chocolates and cocoa products, soya-based products, mineral water, high protein foods, etc. The output of India’s food processing sector is expected to reach USD 535 Billion by 2025-26 (Invest India, 2020). Out of this, foreign investment is around Rs.10,000 crores (APEDA, 2020). Besides this, Government has also approved proposals for joint ventures; foreign collaboration, industrial licenses, and 100 per cent export-oriented units envisaging an investment.

Introduction

The gut microbiota is the complex and dynamic community of microorganisms that includes various bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms, proliferate and lead a symbiotic/mutual relationship with the host system. These microorganisms protect the host against pathogens by unique mechanisms, helps to maintain shape and strengthen the intestinal epithelium and boost immune response. Diverse bacterial metabolites can immigrate the host bloodstream and other parts of the body via various channels in humans and animals, such as gut-microbiota-brain, gut microbiota-skin, gut-vagina, gut liver, gut-bones etc. However, many aspects of modern lifestyle would alter the gut microbiota and lead to numerous diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Probiotics and other beneficial microbes exert many beneficial effects on their hosts by modulating the gut microbiota. While the term probiotic is reserved only for well-characterised strains with clinically proven health benefits, other beneficial microorganisms include, organisms responsible for the fermentation of foods viz. yogurt, kefir, kombucha, kimchi and many others that have been shown to have distinct health benefits. Interestingly, major group of these beneficial organisms belong to lactic acid bacteria.

Introduction

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are characterized as Gram-positive cocci or rods, non-aerobic but aerotolerant, able to ferment carbohydrates for production of energy and lactic acid. Lactic acid bacteria includes different major genera: Lactococcus, Enterococcus, Lactosphaera, euconostoc, Melissococcus, Oenococcus, Pediococcus, Streptococcus, Tetragenococcus, Vagococcus and Weissella. Other genera are Aerococcus, Microbacterium, Propionibacterium and Bifidobacterium. Through carbohydrate fermentation along with lactic acid, various organic acids are produced due to which there is a fall in pH level and creates unfavorable environment or inhibits growth of some undesired microorganisms. The low pH makes organic acids lipo -soluble, allowing them to invade into cytoplasm of pathogens by rupturing cell membrane. LAB are generally regarded as safe (GRAS), and have a significant role in the preservation of foods and fermented products. Under controlled conditions they can be used as natural competitive microbiota or as specific starter cultures. Antagonistic substance like bacteriocins are produced from lactic acid bacteria that inhibits the activity and growth of other bacteria and these bacteriocins are active against various pathogens in minimum concentration. These are antimicrobial peptides modified by post -translational mechanisms and exported to the extracellular medium. Till date about 239 bacteriocin producing LAB genome and 789 putative bacteriocin producing genes cluster are stored in the public databases. Many gram positive and gram negative bacteria in the environment produce bacteriocins.

Introduction

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food- the age-old quote by Hippocrates, is certainly the tenet of today. Microbial cultures have been used for millenniums in food and alcoholic fermentations and in the past century have undergone scientific scrutiny for their ability to prevent and cure a variety of diseases. Later it became popular in improving human and farm animal nutritive values and recently in aquaculture also. The growing interest in the understanding the role of food in human health has moved from its primary role as a source of energy to the subtle action of biologically active food components on human health. Henceforth functional foods or nutraceuticals are of great demand in present time. The growing scientific evidence suggests that the food supplements containing beneficial bacteria can provide an array of benefits to the host. Now a day’s probiotic fermented foods are in great demand due to the awareness of beneficial aspects of probiotics among people. Several industries focused on the improvement of conventional fermented foods scientifically in order to fetch good market for their products. Particularly, animal feed companies and researchers have been looking for alternative products and strategies that can help to maintain animal gut health in order to prevent or reduce the prevalence of pathogens in the food chain. After understanding the mechanism and beneficial aspects of probiotics in detail at molecular level in earlier chapters, now it is relevant to discuss the applied part of probiotics. In this chapter, commercial importance of probiotics and probiotics derived products at industrial level are emphasized.

Diversity of gut microbial community

The human microbiota (the collection of microbes that live on and inside us) consists of about 100 trillion microbial cells that outnumber our ‘‘human’’ cells 10 to 1, and that provide a wide range of metabolic functions that we lack. It has been estimated that they encode 100-fold more unique genes than our own genome. Furthermore, the gut microbes contribute to energy harvest from food, and changes of gut microbiome may be associated with bowel diseases or obesity. To understand and exploit the impact of the gut microbes on human health and well-being it is necessary to decipher the content, diversity and functioning of the microbial gut community. If we consider ourselves as superior organisms encompassing these microbial symbionts, by far the majority of genes in the system are microbial. In this sense, completing the human genome also requires the characterization of the microbiome (the collection of genes in the microbiota).

Methods of counting viable and non-viable bacteria in gut

Before the advent of genome sequencing and genome-wide analysis method, our knowledge of molecular characteristics of diverse gut microbial population was extremely limited. To obtain an estimate of cultivability, microbial ecologists generally compare microscopic counts with total viable counts. The total viable count made on a nonselective agar based medium estimates the number of colony forming units (cfu) per gram of sample. The finding that total viable counts are typically lower than total microscopic counts was thought to be due to the number of dead cells. Indeed, dead bacteria in feces may constitute up to one third of the total bacterial community. However, recent nucleic acid based studies indicated that a majority of bacteria in a variety of ecosystems are different from those described in culture.

Introduction

It became clear from the discussions of previous chapters that probiotics perform metabolic functions such as fermenting indigestible dietary residues and endogenous mucus, production of vitamins, and absorption of minerals. They also play key role in intestinal epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation, and the homeostasis of the immune system. Further, probiotics are also known to involve in modifying gut pH, antagonizing pathogens through the production of antimicrobial compounds, competing with pathogens for recept or sites as well as for available nutrients and growth factors, stimulating immunomodulatory cells of the host, and produce a wide range of enzymes such as lactase, amylase, lipase, protease, phytase and so on. The molecular mechanisms of probiotics are largely unknown and opens avenue for research in probiotics. Moreover, current research in probiotics and health consciousness in the public lead to an increased interest towards probiotics from the public, researchers, governmental organizations (such as the WHO/FAO) and medicine and food companies. In this chapter, application of probiotics in treating various diseases and disorders are discussed.

Introduction

Cell surface components such as adhesins, polysaccharides, and proteins play major roles in the adherence of probiotic bacteria to the intestinal epithelium, interactions that might lead to pathogen exclusion and immunomodulation of host cells. Probiotic bacteria have the ability to produce exocellular polymers called Exopolysachcharides (EPSs). These exocellular polymers present in the surface of many lactic acid bacteria, including Lactobacilli.The adhesive properties of lactobacilli are directly linked to their surface properties which are influenced by the structure and composition of their cell wall. The cell envelope of lactobacilli, bacteria, is composed of the bilipidic plasma membrane with embedded proteins encompassed by the cell wall. The bacterial cell wall consists of a thick multilayered sacculus made of peptidoglycan (PG) with teichoic acids (wall teichoic acids (WTA) and/or lipoteichoic acids (LTA)), exopolysaccharides (EPS), proteinaceous filaments called pili, and proteins that are anchored to the cell wall through different mechanisms (Figure 1).

Some species of lactobacilli possess an additional paracrystalline layer of proteins surrounding the PG layer, referred to as the S layer. These macromolecules together may play crucial roles in determining species and strain-specific characteristics of lactobacilli by influencing host-microbe interactions and microbial adaptations to the changing host environment. Several studies implicate that cell surface components, either individually or collectively, involve in host-microbe interactions. Lactobacilli beneficially affect the host in many ways by producing abundant variety of EPSs through the activity of extracellular glycosyl transferases. Approximately 30 species of lactobacilli are described as EPS producers. Among them, the best known are L. casei, L. acidophilus, L.brevis, L. curvatus, L. delbrueckii bulgaricus, L. helveticus, L. rhamnosus, L. plantarum, L. johnsonii, etc.

Introduction

Preceding chapters discuss the essentials of probiotics, their role in maintaining gut health in combination with prebiotics and significance of systematic classification of probiotic isolates. Further, to draw an idea how probiotics function in the gut, it is essential to know the interaction of probiotics with other microorganisms in the gastrointestinal milieu - the site of their probiotic action. Knowledge in the ecology of probiotic microorganisms in host environment such as gut gives an ideal picture of their functioning manner and the factors (both host and microbial) responsible for it.

Study of microbial ecology in the gastrointestinal tract is very difficult since gut harbors highly diversified microflora that varies not only at species level but also at individual level. The diversity of gut microflora in two healthy individuals of same species may exhibit variations in their composition and it may be influenced by geodemographic factors also. In this regard, the present chapter deals with the study of ecology of Lactobacillus- most commonly used probiotic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract which in turn helps in framing selection criteria for screening of potential probiotics.

Recent studies on interaction between human and gut microflora discussed that co-evolution between microorganisms and their host have contributed for the development of a very complex microbial diversity in the gut. Highly diversified microflora in the human gut is a consequence of natural selection at two levels, top-down and bottom-up selection pressure. Hierarchy theory expounds that higher levels compel lower levels for possible organizational solutions i. e. organisms at the higher levels govern the structure or population dynamics of an ecosystem while on contrary lower levels control the structure of ecology when bottom-up level is the selection pressure. In case of interaction between human and gut microflora, being host human is at higher level in the hierarchy for selection and as mentioned above, top down selection pressure is driven by higher levels; host selects the beneficial microorganisms for functional redundancy leading to the development of a microbial community with divergent microbial divisions. Chances for lateral gene transfer also thought to influence the selection process and there by structure of the microbial community. On the other hand, competition among the members of host selected microbiota exert bottom up selection pressure resulting in the development of highly specialized genomes with functionally prominent set of genes. Natural selection at host level obviously favors functionally constant microbial communities which benefits the host with functional redundancy encoded in their genomes. Mean while bottom-up cell-level selection pressure aspire to favor niche specialization to avoid competition between the members of microbial community. In order to be a part of specialized niche, to become more potent microorganisms adapt a particular set of abiotic and biotic factors within the habitat by acquiring new sets of genes essential for their survival and thus escape the competition from decrepit microbial species.

Introduction

From earlier chapters, it is evident that Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria are the two important genera that have potent applications in food microbiology and human nutrition due to their role in food and feed production, preservation and also due to probiotic potentialities. Most of the bacterial species are still unknown indicating that the identification and classification of bacteria is a hard task since the beginning of microbiology and consequently our knowledge about bacterial ecology is very low. Mean while the expectations about novel bacterial products are high. Therefore, bacterial identification has become a growing field of interest in microbiology. Since, Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria genera include a large number of species and strains exhibiting important properties in an applied context, chiefly in the area of probiotics as food and therapeutics, an updated list of species belonging to these two genera, their phylogenetic relationships and other relevant taxonomic information are of great significance. The classification and identification of a probiotic isolate at strain level point out its typical habitat and origin. Moreover, the species, or genus name, may also indicates the strain’s safety and technical applicability for its use in probiotic products. Taxonomy helps to place a newly identified organism in a relevant group and enables the scientific communication. Further it facilitates the construction of databases that can be used for rapid identification of organisms at laboratory level easily. Thus, taxonomy of Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria helps to study these organisms scientifically and allows characterizing and arranging them in an orderly manner which promote the scientific community to explore the benefits from those organisms for the betterment of mankind.

Introduction

Probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics are interrelated terms. Probiotic is discussed in detail in previous chapter. In this chapter, prebiotics and its effect on gut along with probiotics are emphasized. Prebiotics can be defined as non digestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth and/or activity of bacteria in the digestive system in ways claimed to be beneficial to health. They were f irst identified and named by Marcel Roberfroid in 1995. He defined prebiotic as a selectively fermented ingredient that allows specific changes, both in the composition and/or activity in the gastrointestinal microflora that confers benefits upon host well-being and health. Further, FAO defined prebiotic as “a non-viable food component that confers a health benefit on the host associated with modulation of the microbiota.”Whereas the term synbiotics refers to a product that contains both probiotics and prebiotics in the form of synergism. A synbiotic has been defined as “a mixture of prebiotics and probiotics that beneficially affect the host by improving the survival and implantation of live microbial dietary supplements in the gastrointestinal tract, by selectively stimulating the growth and activating the metabolism of one or a limited number of health promoting bacteria, and thus improving host welfare”. As described above, the combined use of prebiotics and probiotics is often described as synbiotic, but the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommends that the term “synbiotic” be used only if the net health benefit is synergistic.

The term probiotic means “for life” and it is currently used to refer bacteria that are associated with beneficial effects for humans and animals. The credit for first observation made on the positive role of some selected bacteria was attributed to Eli Metchnikoff, the Russian born Nobel Prize recipient, worked at the Pasteur Institute in the beginning of the last century. Metchnikoff suggested that - “the dependence of the intestinal microbes on the food makes it possible to adopt measures to modify the microflora in our bodies and to replace the harmful microbes by useful microbes”. Interim Henry Tissier, a French paediatrician, observed that children with diarrhea in their stools had a low number of bacteria which are characterized by a peculiar Y shaped morphology. On the contrary, these “bifid” bacteria were abundant in healthy children. Based on these observations, Tissier suggested that “bifid” bacteria could be administered to patients with diarrhoea to help restore a healthy gut microflora. These two scientists were the first to give scientific intimation for the use of probiotics when even the term probiotics was not coined. Later in 1965, the term probiotics is coined by Lilly and Stillwell to describe substances produced by one microorganism, that stimulate the growth of another. Subsequently, Parker defined probiotics as organisms and substances that contribute to intestinal balance. Further, Fuller (1989) improved the Parker’s definition of probiotics as “live microbial feed supplements which beneficially affect the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance”. Havenaar and Huis in’t Veld (1992) extended the probiotic definition with the description: “A viable mono or mixed culture of microorganisms which, applied to animal or man, beneficially affects the host by improving the properties of the indigenous microflora”. At the end of the millennium, Salminen and his coworkers (1999) proposed the following definition: “probiotics are microbial cell preparations or components of microbial cells that have a beneficial effect on the health & well- being of host”. Whereas FAO/WHO (2001) defined probiotics as “living bacteria that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host”. This definition for probiotics is widely accepted.

Sanitation

Sanitation and maintaining good hygiene conditions are the important aspect of seed storage in storage godowns. Maintenance of good hygiene conditions will maintain the quality of produce in the long run (Mahapatra et al., 2014) and these practices should not be overlooked. The threshing floors should be cleaned properly before the operation so that there is no mixing of seeds or any insect-pests or pathogens. Harvesting and threshing should be followed by cleanliness of godowns to protect the seeds from the harmful pest and pathogens (Upadhyay and Ahmad, 2011). The storage godowns should be well lighted and the area should be preferably sunny, free from weeds and mostly situated at elevated areas. Damp areas should not be selected for building storage godowns as it will affect the moisture per cent of seeds thereby enabling easy growth of insect-pests and diseases (Parimala et al., 2013). Before bringing the new produce to the storage godowns, they should be cleaned properly. The cracks and crevices of storage godowns if any should be sealed ahead and the walls of the godowns should be whitewashed (Hazam and Kumar, 2022). The new seed lots should not be mixed with the older lots. The floors should be disinfected, and it should be cleaned regularly.

Stored grain pests are one of the major constraints in obtaining quality seeds. They cause substantial yield loss in storage conditions affecting both the quality and quantity of the produce. Apart from causing direct loss to the grains, they also make them unfit for consumption through their excreta, scales and wings resulting in development of unpleasant odour (Upadhyay and Ahmad, 2011). They also act as a source of medium for growth of fungi or bacteria (Daglish et al., 2018). The method of infestation of stored gain pests is different from the insect pests infesting crops under field condition. Generally, the infestation of storage pests starts after harvesting. It has been reported that in India, there is a loss of about 14 million tons worth Rs. 7000 crores due to the infestation by different storage pests (Chaubey, 2022). The post-harvest loss in terms of quantity and quality by different storage insect-pests accounts for about 10-30 per cent (Rajasri and Kavitha, 2015; Yaseen et al., 2019).

Concept: A few of the numerous environmental elements that affect seed quality maintenance are moisture, temperature, humidity, and storage conditions. When some seedborne diseases or pests like insects are taken into consideration, seed quality can still be negatively impacted. Applying one or more pesticides to seed is the most economical and efficient way to keep pests away and improve seed quality.

Because pesticides are harmful, handling treated seeds after application requires additional caution and safety measures.

Definition of Treated Seed

The definition of “treated” is “application of a pesticide or subject seed to a process intended to reduce, control, or repel insects, disease organisms, or other pests which attack the seed or seedlings.”

Pre-Treatment Before Sowing

The natural conditions necessary for seeds to germinate are increased by pre sowing seed treatment. Many plants and trees’ seeds require a specific amount of time to mature in their immature portions and to overcome dormancy, which is the absence of certain elements that impede germination, so that the seeds can sprout. Depending on the type of seed, different environmental factors promote different levels of germination. For example, some seeds need to be kept in a very damp, cold environment, while others need to be kept in a dry, hot environment. Different techniques are employed to support seed survival and speed up germination, depending on the size of the lot, the species, the local conditions, and the availability of pertinent tools and facilities. Many species’ seeds don’t germinate successfully unless they are exposed to specific circumstances. Dormancy is the state in which seeds do not germinate unless certain circumstances are met. Conditions in the natural world could include being near fire or being eaten by animals.

Concept: Seed blending is the process of merging two or more types of the same species, for as Kentucky bluegrass cultivars Merion, Baron, and Park. Contrarily, seed mixing refers to the blending of two or more species, however every species may have more than one variation represented, such as Jamestown and Cascade chewing fescue combined with Merion and Fylking Kentucky bluegrass. Seed is typically distributed in blends, primarily Kentucky bluegrass blends, for sod growing purposes. For home lawns, parks, and other utility areas where upkeep levels would not be adequate to maintain pure Kentucky bluegrass turf, mixes of different grasses are typically employed. Naturally, when it comes to pure seed quality, no blend of grass seeds is superior to the individual ingredients. Every time a new blend needs to be made; extreme caution must be taken to ensure that the mixing equipment can be completely cleaned to prevent any contamination from unwanted species—bent grasses are perhaps the most challenging to deal with.

Objective

Vegetable seed separation requires specialized training. A little carelessness during the seed extraction process can seriously harm the plant’s viability and vigor in addition to its outward look. Inadequate extraction methods can also result in in-situ germination. The seed can be separated by the following methods.

1. Manual Method

(a) Maceration e.g., watermelon,

(b) Crushing e.g., brinjal,

(c) Scraping e.g., cucumber

(d) Separated e.g., muskmelon,

(e) Scooping e.g., pumpkins and

(f) Extraction e.g., squashes.

During processing seeds are cleaned, dried, and graded which are then treated with specific fungicide and insecticide. Seed at this stage is at best quality, which are then packaged into various packaging materials in a specific weight. Packaging or bagging of processed and treated seed is a requisite for easy handling of the bulk seed. Seed packaging can be defined as filling with seed, weighing and sealing the container whereas seed package as storage container where the seeds are kept for marketing or shipping or till the next sowing time.

The Packaging of Seed Involves

1. Filling bags/ containers of uniform size with seeds of known weight.

2. Providing leaflets inside the package with information about any specific cultural practices needed.

3. Attaching labels or certification tags having information regarding all the quality parameters.

4. Temper-proof sealing of the bag.

5. Storage or transportation of the bags.