eChapters

Abstract
India shares one fourth of global annual grain legume production and is also largest consumer of it. Weeds are the most severe and widespread biological constraint on agricultural production systems and cause damage to cropped and non-cropped lands. They reduce crop yield and degrade the quality of the produce, besides raising the cost of production. The grain legumesare commonly grown under rainfed/dry land conditions and hence do not receive the best management practices that are required for maximization of crop productivity. Among various production inputs, weed management was found to be the most important one contributing about 31% in pigeon pea, 110% in urdbean and 60 % in mungbean towards total productivity. Effective weed management in grain legumes is essential for optimizing
crop yield and quality. This process involves a multi-faceted approach that integrates cultural, mechanical, and chemical methods to address the challenges posed by diverse weed species and varying environmental conditions. Traditional single-method approaches often fall short due to the complexity and variability of weed problems like development of resistance in weeds. Therefore, an integrated weed management approach becomes effective, combining timely interventions with adaptive strategies to manage weed competition throughout the growing season. This approach not only enhances crop competitiveness and yield but also offers economic and environmental benefits by reducing reliance on broad-spectrum herbicides and promoting sustainable practices. Continuous monitoring and adjustment
of weed management strategies are crucial to effectively tackle evolving weed populations and changing conditions, ensuring long-term success in grain legume cultivation.
Keywords: Broad-spectrum herbicides, Crop productivity, Crop weed competition, Grain legume, Integrated weed management

1. DEFINITIONS

Various definations of weed have been proposed. Weed is defined as a valueless plant growing wild, especially one that grows on cultivated ground to the exclusion or injury of the desired crop. Weed means any undesirable or troublesome plant, especially one that grows profusely where it is not wanted. The weed have also been defined a plant considered undesirable. Weeds are commonly unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, such as farm fields, gardens, lawns and parks. A weed may be any plant that grows or reproduces aggressively, or is outside its native habitat. Some plants that often are considered to be weeds are Bermuda grass, creeping Charlie, dandelion, golden rod, poison ivy, ragweed, wild carrot, wood sorrel, nutsedge etc.

Onion is highly vulnerable to weed competition because of its slow early growth, shallow roots, narrow upright leaves and limited canopy development. Weeds compete for light, water, nutrients and space while also harbouring pests and pathogens. Severe infestation during the critical competition period can cause substantial yield reduction. This chapter describes major onion weeds and evaluates cultural, physical, mechanical, biological and chemical control methods. Timely planting, suitable spacing, mulching, raised beds, manual weeding, mechanical tools, herbicides and biological agents are discussed. Integrated Weed Management is recommended as a smart approach combining complementary methods to improve weed control, protect soil health and sustain onion productivity.

Abstract
Legumes are an excellent group of fertility restorer crops which can be grown either as sole crop or as a component crop in the cropping system. As they are tolerant to drought condition, they can be grown throughout the year. The yield of legume crop is largely depending on pest, diseases and weeds. Among these weeds plays a major role as the weed seed bank inside the soil influence the weed population in the cropping season. Hence it is important to manage the weed seed bank for better productivity of legumes. Though legumes are short duration and fast growing crops, the germination percentage of weed seed bank will determine the final yield of legumes. There are many strategies to which the weed seed bank can be controlled to tolerable level before which the weed seed bank present in the soil has to estimate. Annual weed seed bank can be minimized by killing the weeds before they set seeds, harvest weeds, crop rotation, cover crops, inter cropping and ensiling. Weed seed bank depletion can be done by tillage, tricking the weed seeds, conditioning weed seeds, soil solarisation and herbicide application. Thus integrating various technologies may help in effective controlling of weed seeds to tolerable level thereby enhancing the yield of leguminous crops.
Keywords: Estimation of weed seed bank, legumes, tillage, yield, weed seed bank

Introduction

In a research laboratory, we frequently need weigh chemicals and prepare different solutions of varying strength, as per the requirements. Accuracy in weighing and preparation of solution, with respect to weight/volume and strength, determines the success of experiment. In turn, the accuracy depends on weighing of solid chemical and/or measuring the volume of liquid chemical/making up the volume. In this Chapter, weighing of chemicals using appropriate weighing balance, preparation of solutions of different strength, their dilution, and precautions while preparing will be discuss in brief.

Weighing of Chemical

The primary method to determine the amount of chemicals to be used is weighing the chemical by using a balance.

In general, there are two types of balances to weigh chemicals in a laboratory:

1. Standard laboratory balance

2. Analytical balance

Standard Laboratory Balance

Generally, a standard laboratory balance is used for weighing a chemical when an error of ±0.02 g is acceptable. It is also used for pre-weighing, where approximate mass needs to be determined. Precise mass of the chemical is then determined using an analytical balance. Following are the steps in using a weighing balance in a laboratory.

When certain disease-causing bacteria or pathogens contaminate food, they can cause foodborne illness, often called “food poisoning”. Foods that are contaminated may not look, taste or smell any different from foods that are safe to eat. Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria and Escherichia coli are common bacteria causing foodborne illness. Some foodborne illnesses are mild where most people get better within a few days, but illness can sometimes be more severe and fatal. Bacillus cereus can form heat resistant spores. On cooking the food with these spores the heat resistant toxin is left at room temperature. Reheating or lightly cooking the food does not destroy these toxins. Most types of foodborne illnesses cause symptoms like nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramps. Fever and/or the presence of blood or mucus in the stool are signs of bacterial infection that may require a medical consultation. Proper food handling is vital to prevent most foodborne illnesses and diseases. WHO has given keys towards safer food which should be followed. Unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances, causes more than 200 diseases which range from diarrhoea to cancers. Foodborne and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases kill around 2 million people worldwide annually, including many children. A single foodborne bacterium can grow into more than two million bacteria in just seven hours under the right conditions. Foodborne pathogen called Listeria sp. can survive and sometimes grow on foods being stored in the refrigerator. Hepatitis A virus can cause long-lasting liver disease and spreads typically through raw or undercooked seafood or contaminated raw produce. It is estimated that more than 250 million people worldwide suffer food allergies. The boiling temperature (smoke point) of cooking oil is above 200 °C. The boiling point of water is 100 °C.

According to the World Health Day (WHO,2015) food contamination happens when food are corrupted with another substance. It can happen during the process of production, transportation, packaging, storage, sales and cooking process. The contamination can be physical, chemical and biological. Faulde et al., (2013) studied the infection caused to patients by mothfly

It is a discipline of science that describes handling, preparation and storage of food that can prevent food-borne diseases. When there are two or more cases of a similar illness from the ingestion of the same common food it is known as a food-borne disease outbreak (FSN, 2018). In order to avoid potential health hazards, food safety is very important. This needs safety between industry, market and the consumer. For food safety the labelling on food material is vital. This includes the origin of food, steps taken for food hygiene, food additives, pesticide residues, policies on biotechnology, food guidelines for the management of governmental import, export inspection and certification systems for foods. The food should be safe in the market with safe preparation and delivery of the food for the consumer. Foegeding et al., (1996) have done an assessment of risk factors with food borne pathogens.Warnock et al., (2007) have reported intervention to food safety.

When pathogens are in the food they may be transmitted to the consumer. It may result in an illness or death of the person or other animals. The pathogens include bacteria, viruses, molds and fungus. These multiply in the food medium. Joon et al., (2012) have found pathogenic bacteria in meat products of Korea. The developed countries have high intricate standards for the preparation of food; however, in the developing countries there are less standards and enforcement of the standards which are followed. Apart from food another major source of infection is water, which is very critical in spreading many diseases. It is possible to prevent food poisoning if good water is used for all purposes. However, it becomes difficult as in the food supply chain a large number of persons are involved apart from the fact that pathogens can be introduced into foods no matter how much precautions are taken. Cowden (2000) has studied the notification on food poisoning to improve health. Frenkel et al., (2015) studied the amount of wastes from food processing industries.

A process control system that identifies the hazardous points in the food production process is known as HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point). It puts into place many stringent actions to prevent any hazards from occurring. In any food process if there is strict monitoring and controlling steps, the chances for hazards are minimum. Today, HACCP is an integral part of modern food industry that identifies and controls the major food risks. These are like microbiological, chemical and physical contaminants. These can also be practiced at home scale by checking proper storage, handling, cooking and cleaning procedures. These steps have resulted in industries taking greater responsibility for and controlling the food safety risk factors. This helps in better consumer protection, agriculture, the food processing industries and promotes domestic and international food trade.

The temperature of food storage is important. Below 4⁰C the food pathogens do not grow. Above 60⁰C some colonies begin to die. However, almost all die at 71⁰C. How hot is the food served is important for food safety. The size of the piece is important to how quickly it will cook all the way through. The smaller the piece the faster it will cook. Large or thicker pieces take a longer time to be cooked. Otherwise cooking for a longer time is better so that pathogenic microorganisms do not grow. In case of a thicker piece the color must be checked inside to outside after cooking which should be consistent. If the meat has the bone, check the color/temperature closest to the bone in the thickest part. In case of meat the contamination usually gets introduced while butchering and the practices used. The street food on a cart is perhaps the most contaminated as it has some level of bacteria in it. The meat in the decorated malls also has pathogenic bacteria. The environment plays a very pivotal role which can recontaminate the food even after proper cooking. The amount of harmful pathogens keeps growing in number with the passage of time. Fresh from the grill is the best, an hour or two is not ideal, half a day or overnight could make a person sick. Due to the reason that consumers do not know the time and temperature of cooking it is important to eat food which is freshly prepared.

Introduction

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most widely cultivated and consumed crops in the world. Wheat is perhaps best known for its different end-use baking properties as determined by grain texture, protein content and quality. Wheat is generally traded by and classified into “hard” and “soft” market classes on the basis of grain hardness or texture of the wheat kernel (caryopsis). Soft wheats have softer endosperm texture that fractures easily, therefore requiring less energy to mill, yields smaller particles, and has less starch damage after milling when compared to hard wheats. Hard and soft are used with slightly different connotations in different parts of the world. In Western Europe, hard is applied primarily to durum wheats and the soft applied to bread wheat. Elsewhere the term is applied to different cultivars within the species Triticum aestivum. In general, hard wheats are used for bread baking, while soft wheats are used for cookies and cake making. Hard wheat requires more force to crack the kernel, maintains a larger particle size, passes through sieves more easily and has more damaged starch MacRitchie (1980). Higher starch damage is required for good bread making quality Tipples et al. (1994) but is detrimental to the biscuit making quality.

Abstract

Wheat is unique among cereals because of its ability to form viscoelastic dough. Variety of products such as leavened and unleavened breads, pasta, cookies, and breakfast cereals are prepared using wheat. The viscoelastic property of dough is mainly due to the presence of gluten proteins viz., gliadins and glutenins. Variations among these proteins play a significant role in determining the quality of wheat. Although considerable studies have been carried out on quantity and quality of protein and their relation to bread quality, very little work has been reported on their relation with quality of Indian traditional products like chapati and tandoori roti. Results indicate that ratio between gliadins and glutenins are important in determining the chapati quality. It has been found that varieties having 5+10 HMW glutenin subunits with IBL/ IRS chromosomes are more suitable for the preparation of chapati and roti. This article is focused on the relation between protein and its subunit composition and the quality of chapatti and roti quality.

Introduction

Carbohydrates constitute nearly 80% of the total dry matter of wheat kernel. Starch is the predominant form, with cellulose, hemicellulose and pentosans present in lesser amount. Starch is present in discrete granules within the cells of the endosperm. Starch content is available in the range of 65% to 75% and generally related negatively to the protein content. Starch structure is a crucial determinant of many end-product uses of wheat. While the amylose /amylopectin ratio is a useful descriptor of starch structure, a more complete analysis of the population of the molecules which constitute a particular starch is considerably more revealing. The molecules range from the high degree of polymerization (10⁷ – 109 glucose units) and heavily branched amylopectin population, to the lower degree of polymerization (103 -106 glucose units), and infrequently branched amylopectin population. Starches with widely differing structures are suited to particular end uses. For example, starches with no amylose, the so called waxy starches are particularly suited to use as thickeners or gel forming agents because they form a clear stable gel with little retrogradation. In contrast, starch with high amylose content form hydrogen bonded insoluble aggregations which are suited to use in adhesives, plastics and as a source of dietary-fibre starch. The size and branching pattern of starch are also important determinants of the suitability of starches for particular end-uses due to the effects these parameters have on gelatinization temperature, starch swelling and viscosity.

Definition

‘Whipping agent’ are a wide variety of materials to describe their role in confectionery manufacture as a means of holding air introduced into a product, to produce a uniform dispersion of air cells within the confection leading to a lower specific weight and considerable modification to the texture.

Stable foams cannot be obtained by whipping high concentration sugar solutions without the presence of a ‘surface-active’ agent.

Many types of proteins have whipping properties and those used in the sweet industry are:

(a) Egg albumen, crystal powdered and spray dried;

(b) High Bloom gelatine and gelatine hydrolysates;

(c) Skimmed milk in spray dried form;

(d) Whey, or whey in a mixture with skimmed milk;

1. INTRODUCTION

Wine is the alcoholic product obtained by fermentation of fruits like grape, plum, peach, pear, apple and apricot (see chapter 25). Different types of wine which can be made from various fruits are:

• Table wines
• Fortified wines
• Sparkling wines

In preparation of table, fortified and sparkling wine many steps are common. It is out of scope of this text to discuss these specialized wines. But the general steps involved to in wine making are described here.

Apart from the job content and specialization, the conditions or the atmosphere in which employees work is critical to their productivity. Work environment includes the tools and equipment provided to perform the job, the atmosphere at the work place, worker motivation etc.

Tools and Equipments

The quality of tools and equipment provided to a worker has a profound effect on the worker’s contribution to his job. A poorly designed tool can cause excessive physical burden on the worker and may result in fatigue. A faulty computer monitor can cause severe eyestrain, which might affect productivity in an office environment. Hence, tools and equipment should be appropriate for the production task. The design should consider ergonomic factors like grasping pressure, size, weight, ease of use etc. when designed properly, tools enable users to work efficiently, resulting in higher productivity. The equipment installed should be able to meet the capacity requirements of the job, have safety features and be easy to use. The use of the right tools and equipment can improve productivity in an organization substantially.

Pollution emanating from industrial units has become a major problem globally and it is generally monitored by some government agencies. These agencies enforce various laws and regularly carry out checks at the industrial units. Same is true with regards to slaughterhouses or abattoirs. Pollution parameters are parameters against which the effluents coming out of the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) of slaughterhouse or any industrial entity is measured against. Effluent generated during various processes of the slaughterhouse is directed towards the ETP and it undergoes different processes to reduce the pollutants level in the effluent. Then, the effluent is tested against the pollution parameters and the effluent must have less than the maximum permissible level of the pollution parameters. The effluent must not have more than the permissible maximum level of the pollutants after coming out of ETP before being discharged into the municipal sewage system or some natural water bodies.
 Pollution parameters are
1. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
2. Chemical oxygen demand (COD)
3. Chloride (Cl)
4. Dry matter (DM) or total solids (TS)
5. Grease, fat and oil
6. pH
7. Total nitrogen (N)
8. Pathogenic bacteria

Introduction

Wheat is an important cereal crop and is widely cultivated across the world. Wheat is consumed in different forms and major products are chapati, bread, biscuit, noodles and pasta products. Wheat has three groups of cultivated species namely bread, durum and dicoccum wheats. The common or bread wheats account for approximately 95% of world production. Nearly all of the remaining 5% cultivated varieties are durum wheats used for pasta products and couscous and dicoccums represent very little of the total wheat production. The bread wheat is divided into two broad classes based on grain texture; hard and soft. Hard wheats with high protein content and strong gluten are used for making bread and some noodles while soft wheats with lower protein content and weak gluten for biscuit, cakes and pretzels. Semi-hard wheats having some combinations of the above characteristics are utilized for making unleavened breads such as chapati, Asian steamed bread and some noodles. There can be large disparity within wheats of various classes; therefore to provide consistent quality, it is divided into grades. The grading is determined by the test weight, protein content, moisture and foreign material. The major wheat exporting countries have distinct grading patterns designed to provide wheat for specific purposes and consistent quality.

Xanthan gum: It is a polysaccharide that is produced by fermentation of carbohydrates by a gram-negative bacterium (Xanthomonas campestris) and is a thickening and suspending agent used in pharmaceuticals and prepared foods. It is also called xanthan. Xanthan is a stabilizer produced by Xanthomonas compestris (Plate 671). Xanthan is not hydrolysed or degraded by humans.

Xanthones: It is a group of yellow pigments e.g. mangiferin in mango,

Xanthophyll: Yellow hydroxyl carotene derivative which is present in all green leaves together with chlorophyll and carotene. Xanthophyll is a pigment containing O2 derived from carotene (Plate 672).

Xerophilous: An organism which is thriving in or tolerant to a xeric environment is called xerophilous.

Yabby: It is one of the burrowing Australian crayfishes (Cherax destructor) that are used for food.

Yakitori: A bite-size marinated pieces of beef, seafood, or chicken on skewers is called yakitori.

Yam: It is edible starchy tuberous root of plants (genus Dioscorea of the family Dioscoreaceae) used as a staple food in tropical areas (Plate 676).

Yautia: It is one of the aroid plants (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) chiefly of tropical America with starchy edible shaggy brown tubers that are cooked and eaten like yams or potatoes (Plate 677).

Yearling mutton: Meat obtained from 12-20 month aged sheep. It is also called Earling mutton.

Yeast: Unicellular plant body, very minute in size containing cell wall, cytoplasm with one or more vacuoles and a single nucleus, cause alcoholic fermentation (Plate 678). Yeast usually has little or no mycelium, and reproduces by budding. It results in production of yellowish surface froth or sediment that occurs in saccharine liquids (fruit juices) in which it promotes alcoholic fermentation, consists largely of cells of a fungus (as the saccharomyces, Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and is used in the making of alcoholic liquors and as a leaven in baking.

Yeasts

Yeasts are non filamentous, unicellular fungi that are typically spherical or oval. Like molds, yeasts are widely distributed in nature; they are frequently found as a white powdery coating on fruits and leaves.

Zeatin: Zeatin is a cytokinin C10 H13 N5 O first isolated from the endosperm of Indian corn.

Zeaxanthin: Zeaxanthin is an isomer of lutein occurring in fruits and vegetables (spinach and corn) (Plate 682, 683 and 684).

Zein: Zein is a protein from Indian corn that lacks lysine and tryptophan and is used in making textile fibers, plastics, printing inks, edible coatings, adhesives and sizes.

Zeolite: It is clay embedded in the plastic film to adsorb ethylene. It is used in Japan. Zeolite is anhydrous silicates that is analogous in composition to the feldspars and used in water softening, adsorbents and catalysts. Or Zeolite is one of various hydrous silicates that are analogous in composition to the feldspars, occur as secondary minerals in cavities of lavas, and can act as ion-exchangers. These are used especially in water softening and as adsorbents and catalysts (Plate 685).

Zero 2: It is Australian oxygen scavenging plastic packaging materials.