eChapters

Introduction

Canning is the general term applied to the process of packaging a food in a container and subjecting it to a thermal process for the purpose of extending its useful life. An optimal thermal process will destroy pathogenic (disease-causing) Bacteria, kill or control spoilage organism present and have mineral impact on the nutritional and physical quality of the food. Although we thing of canning in term of steel or possible aluminium cans, the principle apply equally well to a variety of food containers such as glass jar, plastic and foil laminated pouches, semi rigid plastic tray or bowls, as well as metal cans of any one of several shapes, including cylindrical, oval, oblong or rectangular. The concept of aseptic packaging (sterilizing the food and the container prior to filling and sealing) also follows the same principles.

Introduction

There are both ants and white-ants present in this world since long. Although wrongly called, white ants or termites are responsible for substantial losses due to their infestation or attack not only to agriculturally important crops, but also to buildings and constructions, which in other way creates a hurdle to advancement of civilization. It will be an injustice if the beneficial role of them rendered to the society is remained unmentioned. Their ability to digest cellulose helps these insects recycle the entire base of the nutrient of this earth. But in terms of wastage and destruction, particularly in buildings and constructions, it surpasses the other damages mainly in the sectors like agriculture. In a latest literature, it was estimated that the world suffered an annual loss of 40 billion USD, owing to the attack of termites on various constructions (Liston, 2015).

Test for Significance for Population Mean
    
Test for Significance of Population Proportion

A fundamental problem facing researchers today is how to make effective use of available wealth of online background domain knowledge to improve their understanding of complex biological system. Effective use of such online background domain knowledge plays a crucial role in all stages of integrated biological studies.

In the past years, research in molecular biology and molecular medicine has accumulated enormous amounts of data. This includes genomic sequences gathered by the Human Genome Project, gene expression data from micro array experiments, protein identification and quantification data from proteomics experiments, and SNP data from high-throughput SNP arrays. However, the understanding of the biological processes underlying these data lags behind. There is a strong interest in employing methods of knowledge discovery and data mining to generate models of biological systems. Mining biological databases put forward challenges which knowledge discovery and data mining have to address in the future. Important background knowledge in bioinformatics is often contained in documents, such as scientific publications or database annotations. Analyzing data from biological databases often requires the consideration of data from multiple relations rather than from one single table. Recently, approaches (such as propositionalization algorithms) are being studied that utilize multi-relational data and yet meet the efficiency requirements of large-scale data mining problems.

INTRODUCTION

The avocado (Persea americana Mill) is the highly nutritive fruit. Its common names are alligator pear or butter fruit in English; Aguacate, Palta in Spanish and Avokado in Afrikaans. It is an evergreen sub-tropical fruit. 

NUTRITIVE AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Avocado is the most nutritive among fruits. The pulp is rich in proteins and fat, but low in carbohydrates. Avocados have the highest energy value of 245 cal/100 g and reservoir of several vitamins and minerals. Avocado is rich in copper and iron, potassium and is associated with lower blood pressure as it is high in monounsaturated fat. It contains all amino acids. Another benefit is avocados shown to maintain good cholesterol while reducing bad cholesterol and triglyceride level.. Avocado is considered healthy for heart ,good for digestion and vision. It is a natural detoxification fruit and may help in preventing osteoporosis
Avocado is mainly used fresh, in sandwich filling or in salads. It can also be used in ice creams and milk shakes and the pulp may be preserved by freezing. The fat in avocado is similar to olive oil in composition and is widely used in the preparation of cosmetics.

INTRODUCTION

The ber or Indian jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) in the most common fruit crop grown in arid and irrigated zones of Indian sub-continent. It is one of ancient fruits of India which is cultivated practically all over the country for its fresh consumption. Ber is a tropical as well as subtropical fruit and can be successfully cultivated even in the most marginal eco-system of tropics and subtropics. Ber is a hardy fruit tree and is best known for growing under adverse soil and climatic conditions. It can thrive well even in drought, water-logged and salinity conditions. It is common notion among the people that ber is a poor man’s fruit. It is one of the most nutritious fruit compared to other ones. The grafted varieties of ber fetch even higher price in the market than several other fruits. Hence, ber stands no longer the poor man’s fruit. Now, ber growing has received a great attention and preferred as a commercial fruit crop in North Indian states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh on account of its potential for higher yield and good economic return to the growers. Moreover, the tree has less water need in the summer months during the period of dormancy, thus considered an ideal fruit for cultivation in the arid and semi-arid regions of North India. Apart from ber, no other fruit trees grow wild so extensively in this region, thus it is becoming popular among the growers.

2.1     Regulation of the Cell Cycle 
    
2.2     Mitosis
    
2.3     Meiosis

1.1     Prokaryotic 
    
1.2     Eukaryotic
    
1.3     Cell orgenellie

INTRODUCTION

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) belonging to Family Anacardiaceae is the most important commercially grown evergreen tree of tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Due to its wide range of adaptability, high nutritive value, colorful fruits, richness in variety, delicious juicy taste and excellent flavor, it possesses high commercial value. It is sometimes also called ‘apple of the tropics’. It is believed that cultivation of mango originally started in South East Asia where it is being cultivated for last four to six thousand years. Now, it is cultivated in 112 countries of the world. India has the richest collection of mango cultivars.

Introduction

There is a growing interest in the role of different types of land use systems in stabilizing the atmospheric CO₂ concentration and reducing the CO₂ emissions or on increasing the carbon sink of forestry and agroforestry systems. Forestry has been recognized as a means to reduce CO₂ emissions as well as enhancing carbon sinks. There is considerable interest to increase the carbon storage capacity of terrestrial vegetation through land-use practices such as afforestation, reforestation, and natural regeneration of forests, silvicultural systems and agroforestry (Brown 1996; Canadell and Raupach 2008). Agroforestry systems are very important given the area currently under agriculture, the number of people who depend on land for their livelihoods, and the need for integrating food production with environmental services (Garrity 2004; Makundi and Sathaye 2004).

Abstract
This paper presents a lucid and application-oriented delineation of the theory of probability which has proved itself as a basic tool in the theoretical and applied researches in almost all disciplines of science, specially, in the problems encompassing the real-life issues. Bio-informatics has recently emerged as a potential discipline of science and, needless to mention that the application of the probability theory has delved deep to elucidate the laws under its ambit. The inference procedures based on biochemical systems require the formulation of stochastic models (owing to the prevalence of low to moderate levels of stochasticity and noise in their dynamics) which, in turn, are developed using the probability laws in abundance. In Systems Biology, the estimation of parameters poses a prime task in biokinetic models developed on experimental data, and such estimation procedures have been possible only by applying appropriate tools derived using probability. Likelihood-free Bayesian inference that explicitly accounts for discrepancies between the model and the data, termed Approximate Bayesian Computation under model uncertainty is an off-shoot of the celebrated, Bayes' theorem of probability.

Preliminaries and Test Based on N. P. Lemma
    
More on Testing of Hypothesis

Infertility means reduced fertility or the cow is ultimately capable of becoming pregnant and giving birth to a live calf but the interval may be much longer than 12 months. 

I. Problems leading to infertility

1. No signs of estrus

When the animal is pregnant and for a short time after calving the cows may not show estrus signs. A thorough palpation of the ovaries and tubular genital tract should be performed and a repeat examination may be necessary.

The camel is an important animal component of the fragile desert eco-system. With its unique bio-physiological characteristics, the camel has become an icon of adaptation to challenging ways of living in arid and semi-arid regions. The proverbial Ship of Desert earned its epithet on account of its indispensability as a mode of transportation and draught power in desert but the utilities are many and are subject to continuous social and economic changes. The camel has played a significant role in civil law and order, defence and battles from the ancient times till date. The world famous Ganga-Risala of erstwhile Bikaner State was accepted as Imperial Service Troup and participated in World War I and II.

INTRODUCTION

Plant tissue culture is basically in vitro culturing of any type of explants such as leaf, root, bud and stem or even single cell except the seed or embryo on a suitable culture medium under controlled environmental conditions. Plant tissue culture employs the totipotency of plant cells to produce whole plant. The term totipotency was coined by German plant physiologist, Haberlandt (1902) who is known as father of tissue culture techniques.

Definition of Micropropagation

Micropropagation is one of the best and most successful examples of commercial application of tissue culture techniques. The concept of micropropagation was first presented to the scientific community in 1960 by Morel, who produced the virus-free cymbidium through meristem culture. It entails in vitro propagation of plants starting with very small plant parts (0.2-10mm) grown aseptically, followed by their establishment in soil under green house conditions. It is the art and science of plant multiplication in vitro. This technique has been standardized and commercialized for various fruits and vegetable crops.

4.1    Importance of Banana in International Trade
    
4.2    Major Exporting Countries
    
4.3    Major Importing Countries
    
4.4    World Market Structure for Fresh Bananas
    
4.5    Domestic Trade
    
4.6    Banana Trade Wars : A Glimpse
    
4.7    Fair Trade Bananas

Introduction

India has a long tradition of agroforestry which is widely practiced in all ecological and geographical regions of the country. Traditional agroforestry systems are broadly based on indigenous knowledge and the species are selected as a part of the cultural patterns of the community. The farmers and land owners in different parts of the country integrate a variety of woody perennials in the crop and livestock production systems depending upon the agro-climatic conditions and local requirements.

Introduction

Agriculture has always been vulnerable to fragile environmental conditions of dry areas, where droughts of varying amplitude and frequency influenced by insufficient and uncertain rainfall are common features. Recent anthropogenic activities have accelerated the rate of green house gas (GHGs) accumulation in atmosphere influencing atmospheric temperature and local patterns of temperature and precipitation, which ultimately affect agricultural production and food securities. About 35.5 percent of the total world’s population resides in dry areas, which is facing the problems of land degradation and food securities.

Introduction

Agroforestry refers to practices, which deliberately or intentionally mix or retain woody perennials on the crop/animal production systems. It combines elements of agriculture, crops and/ or animals with elements of forestry in production system in a unit of land, either simultaneously or sequentially. The term woody perennials includes tree, shrubs, bushes, palm, bamboos, etc. which in agroforestry context are often referred to as multipurpose trees and shrubs (Wood, 1988). The word deliberate has significance a few trees remaining during the process of land clearance for agriculture is not agroforestry. To qualify as agroforestry, a system should actively promote the woody perennials for a particular purpose, or purposes, on the farm (Bhatt et al., 2001). This land use system is particularly suitable for resource poor marginal farmers became diverse needs are fulfilled by one system with escape routes during natural calamities. In hill agro-ecosystems, agroforestry plays an important role in sustainable resource conservation and food security. It is also used to diversify and intensify farming systems through integration of indigenous tree-crops.

Abstract: The size of the homegardens ranged between 0.10-1.00 ha; they were located in tropical region with multi-storied structure, commonly containing three layers but sometimes with four layers. Individual households were the sampling units and for each homegarden, the area was measured and crop composition, species richness and uses of plant species was enumerated through direct observation and interviews with the farmers. The composition and richness of species varied between the homegardens but was related to site characteristics and size of the garden. A total of 231 plant species (105 tree species, 50 shrubs and 76 herbs) belonging to 88 families were recorded from the gardens among which 27% species were common to all gardens. Among the trees, as many as 24 species (23%) were common to all the homegardens. The vegetable species constituted the major functional group followed by fruits. Homegardens were found to be a good reservoir of plant genetic resources that preserve diverse landraces, cultivars, and many more ecologically and economically important plant species. Our study depicts that the homegardens can play an important role in food security and sustainable livelihood support of this hilly people in a variety of ways and can be an alternative to shifting cultivation.

7.1.    Single Action Gene
    
    7.1.1.    Osmoprotectants
    7.1.2.    Detoxifying Genes
    7.1.3.    Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) Protein
    7.1.4.    Transporter Genes
    7.1.5.    Multifunctional Genes for Lipid Biosynthesis
    7.1.6.    Heat -shock Protein Genes
    
7.2.    Regulatory Gene
    
    7.2.1.    Transcription Factors
    7.2.2.    Signal Transduction Genes
    
7.3.    Choice of Promoters
    
7.4.    Physiological Evaluation of Stress Effect
    
7.5.    Conclusions
        
References

In post-harvest management of horticultural crops, post-harvest treatments play an important role in maintaining the quality and enhancing the shelf life. There are number of treatments viz non-chemical, chemical and biological treatments which are being used commercially depending on the requirement of trade. Fresh fruits are living tissues subject to continuous change after harvest. Some changes are desirable from consumer point of view but most are not. Post-harvest changes in fresh fruit cannot be stopped, but these can be slowed down within certain limits to enhance the shelf life of fruits
 
1. Low Temperature Treatment

Pre-cooling: Pre-cooling refers to the rapid removal of field heat from freshly harvested fruits in order to slow ripening and reduce the deterioration prior to storage and transportation. The major effect of pre-cooling consists in reducing respiration rate, retarding the growth of decay organisms and reduces wilting and shrivelling, since transpiration and evaporation occur more slowly at low temperature. The harvesting of many perishable crops is done at evening or early morning to avoid excessive field heat.

Introduction

Homegardens are traditional agricultural systems, particularly common in the tropics characterized by a high plant diversity (Kumar and Nair 2004, 2006; Scales and Marsden 2008; Galluzzi et al. 2010), maintain high level of productivity, stability, sustainability and equitability (Soemarwoto and Conway 1992), serve as a refuge for wildlife (Perfecto and Vandermeer 2008), contributing significantly to the household diet by producing a large variety of food commodities (Kumar and Nair 2004; Wiersum 2006; Pulido et al. 2008; Kortright and Wakefield 2011; Kumar 2017; Kumar and Tripathi 2017), nutritional supplies (Mendez et al. 2001; Perrault and Coomes 2008; Vlkova et al. 2010; Balooni et al. 2014), supplementary cash income for owner (Huai et al. 2011; Arifin et al. 2012; Yang et al. 2014) and important spaces for transmission of cultural heritage (Galluzzi et al. 2010). Many native or endangered species can be found in homegardens (Albuquerque et al. 2005; Akinnifesi et al. 2010; Milow et al. 2013), and they are niches for domesticating semi-wild species (Akinnifesi et al. 2010). Plants grown, intentionally or unintentionally, in homegardens are important for household subsistence and economy.

Introduction
 
Historically, foresters did not view trees as typical plants having the systems of heredity similar to all other living organisms. Previously it was felt that the tree development depended only upon the environment in which it was grown. Recently, the “forest tree parentage” in the tree improvement programme has gained importance.  Although there are several breeding methods for improvement of any crop, the most commonly used breeding method in tree improvement is “selection” of superior trees from existing or established population. The objective of selection programme is to obtain significant amount of genetic gain as quickly and inexpensively as possible, while at the same time maintaining a broad genetic base to ensure the future genetic general principle; that is choosing the most desirable individuals for the use as parent in breeding and production programmes.

The most successful tree improvement programmes are those in which proper vegetative propagules and provenances are used. Success in the establishment and productivity of forest plantations is determined largely by the species used and the source of seed or vegetative propagules used within the population.

1.    Botanical Background/Classification
    
2.    Nutritive and Medicinal Values of Fruits
    
3.    Genetic Resources
    
4.    Plant Propagation
    
5.    Design and Orchard Management
    
6.    Physiology of Fruit Trees
        
References

Case Study    :    Indian Ocean Tsunami - 2004

1.    Introduction
    
2.    Indian Initiatives in Tuna Fishery
    
3.    Tuna Harvesting Techniques
    3.1    Locating tuna
    3.2    Fishing gear and machinery
    3.3    Post harvest catch handling and storage techniques
    
4.    Post Harvest Handling Techniques for the Production of Sashimi Quality Tuna
        
    4.1    Killing and cleaning tools
    4.2    The ten easy steps to sashimi quality tuna
    
Acknowledgements
    
References

The United Nations had declared the decade of 90s (1990-1999) as the International Decade for National Disaster Risk Reduction to enable developing countries to build up their capacity to cope up with disasters. The Government of India also set up a High Powered Committee (HPC), in August 1999, to review the preparedness and mitigation of natural and manmade disasters and recommend measures for strengthening the organisational structures and a comprehensive model plan for management of disasters at national, state and district level. The HPC after due deliberatons submitted the report in Feb. 2001. The HPC identified the disasters under the following types (categories) :

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is one of the most important tropical fruits of the world and is commonly known as the ‘King of fruits’ for its high quality fruits which are very popular among the Indians (Sharma et al., 2008). It is an oldest and extensively cultivated fruit crop in India having high socio-economic significance. India is the home of about more than 1000 mango varieties, which originated in the Indo-Burma region (Mukherjee, 1958). India is the largest producer of mango, grown in about 2.3 million hectares with an annual production of 15.02 million tonnes. However, its productivity is only 6.5 tonnes ha against 30 tonnes per ha in Israel. Improvement of productivity in mango continues to be the foremost issue in mango production (Sauco, 1993). Of late, all the mango importing countries are considering the India as a source of quality mangoes due to its varietal wealth and availability. Hence, it is imperative to improve the productivity and quality of Indian mangoes to meet the global need (Balamohan and Gopu, 2014).

The ultrasonography is a technique which uses sound waves of very high frequency to scan the various organs of the body. The ultrasound waves of 2-10 mHz frequency are used in veterinary practice. A quartz crystal when stimulated by short pulse current ultrasound waves are emitted. The ultrasound waves emitted are directed towards a specific target organ are reflected back as echoes. The echoes are received by the same quartz crystal and are processed in the electronic circuit and finally displayed as image on the monitor.

Abstract

We studied the mathematic model of “predator-prey” and„ pest-parasite”. Under the circumstances when these two specious coexist in particular conditions. In that case the components of the system continuously change. We describe the system by two differential equations which conclude into numeral equation by integrators and variables. According these equations we calculate some numeral formulations essential to these changeable populations.
  
We produce the prevalence of predator-prey systems by using analytic and quantitatic methods for massive rage of data. This process as usual is described by the differential equation consisting assembling point. The constructed phase portrait which we need to solve the problem is found by Runge-Kuta method. So the article speaks about the conformity with a law which we receive by permanent change of parameters’ menaings and temporal changes of biological systems’ conditions.

When there is no positive steady state both prey and predator can become extinct. In one particular case both species become extinct regardless on the initial data. In the second, both species will die out only if initial prey/predator ratio is too low. Otherwise, only the predator goes extinct, while prey tends to carrying capacity.

Advancement of both biological sciences and computer technology gave birth today’s one of the hottest area known as bioinformatics. Gradually bioinformatics analysis has become an essential component to the continued improvement and development of any kind of biological research work. It has various applications in medicine, biotechnology, agriculture etc. Some of the applications of bioinformatics related to biological information analysis are as follows [1]
    
·    Information related to bio-molecules can be mapped (e.g.), the sequences can be parsed to find sites where so-called “restriction enzymes” will cut them.
    
·    Sequences can be compared, usually by aligning corresponding segments and looking for matching and mismatching letters in their sequences. Genes or proteins that are sufficiently similar are likely to be related and are therefore said to be “homologous” to each other.
    
·    If a homologous exists then a newly discovered protein may be modeled - that is 3D structure of the gene product can be predicted without doing laboratory experiments.
    
·    Bioinformatics is used to attempt to predict the function of actual gene products.

The advances in science and technology are deeply intertwined. Researchers can use the semiconductor manufacturing techniques that underlie miniaturization to build radios and exceptionally small mechanical structures that sense fields and forces in the physical world. These inexpensive, low-power communication devices can be deployed throughout a physical space, providing dense sensing close to physical phenomena, processing and communicating this information, and coordinating actions with other nodes. These multifunction devices are battery operated and are connected wirelessly with sensing, processing and communicating capabilities and are known as the wireless sensors. If we use these sensors with biological issues or Biotechnology, then we can find the new concepts biosensors. If we really implement these concepts in real life we can get rid of many diseases like heart attack, blood sugar level, gene reaction and other changes that happens in our body much before its shows to outside.

Introduction
 
Safety is one of the first, and most important, things to consider when we decide to apply the pesticides indoors to treat or prevent a pest infestation. If proper safety measures are not followed, the outcome may be harmful or fatal. Perhaps all of us more or less aware about the fact that there is no pesticide which is “absolutely safe” to human or other non target organisms. But we may call some are safer than others.

We usually use pesticide of various kinds in and around our home. We use these products to control insects (insecticides), termites (termiticides), rodents (rodenticides), fungi (fungicides) and microbes (disinfectants).

Horticulture value chains are facing growing consumer expectations for variety, food safety and security. Most horticulture supply chains operate in a push-based approach rather than demand driven or pull based, which leads to a mismatch between demand expectations and supply side capabilities. In developed markets in, India, horticulture supply chains are experiencing by excess capacity, lack of differentiation and lower prices and ultimately leading to glut. Last year the 326 MT of Horticultural production for year ending 2019-20, emerging market challenges are more related to supply shortage, lack of product variety, and safety and quality of the produce. All this leads to low income among hortipreneurs, who lack visioning and strategy for production and value addition opportunities in horticulture.

Water is most essential thing to sustain life for plants, human and animals. In fact, land and water are the two important natural resources, which play an important role in horticulture production. Irrigation is the lifeline for any crop production. As Pomegranate is mostly grown under water scarce regions of India, so utilization of available water more effective and efficient irrigation system is need along micro-irrigation system offers the way of using water in a most judicious fashion for irrigation purpose. It is based on the elementary concept on irrigating root zone rather than entire land surface which results in higher water use efficiency and improved crop yield. This technique is now being used to mitigate water scare situation in the pomegranate growing regions of the country in enormous way.

16.1    Banana Alcohol
    
16.2    Banana Pseudostem Fibre and Fibre Reinforced Products
    
16.3    Banana Pseudostem Juice
    
16.4    Banana Starch
    
16.5    Banana Waste for Mushroom Production
    
16.6    Paper and Pulp from Banana Waste
    
16.7    Vermicompost and Vermiwash from Banana Waste
    
16.8    Animal Feed from Banana Waste
    
16.9    Banana Leaf

ABSTRACT
The annual accumulating organic wastes generated through milling, brewing and various other agro-industrial and agri-processing activities in India amount to about 500 MMT. Most of these contain three major structural biopolymers, viz., cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, a large proportion of which is carbohydrate and phenolic in nature. Massive accumulations of this kind of recalcitrant biomass not only deteriorate the environment, but also generate huge amount of potentially useful materials. Biological transformation has globally become increasingly popular among researchers and academicians in treating agricultural, industrial, organic and toxic wastes these days. About 60% by weight of the original pineapple fruit in forms of peeled skin, core, crown end, etc. resulting from the pineapple processing remains unutilised being discharged as waste, causing disposal and pollution owes. Of the 10% dry matter content of such waste, about 96% is organic and 4% is inorganic. Being rich in cellulose and hemicellulose, it can be a valuable resource for numerous value-added products by bioconverting it to valuable products, including bioenergy. Biomethane is one such energy resource that can be produced by valorizing pineapple wastes by employing various bioconversion technologies. This chapter focuses on the bioconverstion technologies to produce biomethane from pineapple wastes.

Introduction

Horticulture plays a significant role in Indian Agriculture. It contributes 30% GDP from 11.73 % of its arable land area. India is the second largest producer of both fruits and vegetables in the world (52.85 Mt and 108.20 Mt respectively). Being rich source of carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and dietary fibres these constitute an important part of our daily diet. The dietary fibres have several direct and indirect advantages. Not only this, fruits and vegetables provide a variety in taste, interest and aesthetic appeal. Their significance in human life is being recognised increasingly in societies with the objective of minimizing the occurrence of the diseases related with an affluent life style.

1.    Introduction
    
2.    Different Forms of Value Added Products
    
3.    Production of Fish Steaks
    
4.    Battered and Breaded Products
    
5.    Minced Fish Based Products
    5.1    Fish cakes
    5.2    Fish cutlets
    5.3    Fish sausage
    5.4    Dehydrated salted fish cakes
    5.5    Fish fingers
    5.6    Fish burgers
    5.7    Fish balls
    5.8    Fish wafers
    5.9    Fish soup powder
    
6.    Surimi and Surimi Based Products
    6.1    Kamaboko
    6.2    Chikuwa
    6.3    Tempura
    6.4    Hampen
    
7.    Modern Seafood Analog Products
    7.1    Imitation crab meat
    
8.    Marinated Fish Products
    
9.    Fermented Fish Products
    9.1    Fish pickle
    
10.    Sous Vide Cook-Chill Products
    
11.    Precooked Seafood Entrees
    
12.    Future Needs
    
References

Principal Scientist and I/c Head, Division of Social Sciences and Training IIHR, Hessaraghatta Lake Post, Bangalore – 560 089, Karnataka

A value chain is a series of consecutive steps that go into the creation of a finished product, from its initial design to its arrival at a customer’s door. The chain identifies each step in the process at which value is added, including the sourcing, manufacturing, and marketing stages of its production. A company conducts a value-chain analysis by evaluating the detailed procedures involved in each step of its business. The purpose of a value-chain analysis is to increase production efficiency so that a company can deliver maximum value for the least possible cost.

Edible bananas are classified into several main groups and subgroups. In the first place is the diploid M. acuminata group which originated in Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Southern India, East Africa, Burma, Thailand, the West Indies, Colombia and Brazil. This group is characterized by dark-brown sheaths of pseudostem,  and the leaves are nearly free from wax. The bunches are small and the fruits small, thin-skinned and sweet. Cultivars of this group are more important in New Guinea than any where else. Lady Finger which was popular in Queensland and New South Wales belonged to this group.

In second place, there was a group represented by the prominent and widely cultivated ‘Gros Michel’ originally from Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Indonesia and Ceylon. It was introduced into Martinique early in the 19th Century by a French naval officer and, a few years later, was taken to Jamaica; from there it was carried to Fiji, Nicaragua, Hawaii and Australia, in that sequence. It is a large, tall plant bearing long bunches of large, yellow fruits, and it was formerly the leading commercial cultivar in Central Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, but has been phased out because of its great susceptibility to Panama disease. It has given rise to several named sports or mutants (Mortan, 1987). 

10.1 Plasmids
    
10.2 Retrovirus

1.    Vegetables for Nutritional and Health Security
    
2.    Status of Vegetable Production
    
3.    Classification of Vegetable Crops
    
4.    Influence of Environment on Vegetable Production
    
5.    Management of Seedlings in Nursery
    
6.    Vegetables Based Cropping System
    
7.    Water Management
    
8.    Plant Nutrients and Integrated Nutrients Management
    
9.    Micro-Irrigation and Fertigation
    
10.    Pollination Management
    
11.    Integrated Pest Management
    
12.    Biological Management of Diseases
    
13.    Mechanisms of Biocontrol
    
14.    Weed Management
    
15.    Management of Vegetable Crops Under Polyhouse
    
16.    Post Harvest Handling and Storage of Vegetables
    
17.    Marketing and Export of Vegetables
    
18.    Export Trade of Vegetables in India
    
19.    Seed Technology
        
References

Abstract

India is primarily agrarian country and this sector provides livelihood to a major part of the population. The indiscriminate use of agro chemicals since green revolution resulted in adverse effect on the soil fertility; crop productivity; quality of produce and more specifically on the environment system. Organic cultivation is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, and biofertilizers which helps to maintain soil productivity. Organic farming excludes or strictly limits the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides (herbicide, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators, livestock feed additives, antibiotics and genetically modified organisms. Thus, the importance of organic sources of nutrients was recognized in current scenario in order to get higher yield without disturbing soil health. In this context integrated use of inorganic and organic sources of nutrients in crop production is becoming very crucial for assurance of food security on sustainable basis, which in turn not only improve the soil fertility for sustained crop productivity but also to reduce the cost of inorganic fertilizers.

INTRODUCTION

Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) is of great importance across worldwide where nuts are harvested from wild stands, backyard gardens and rarely from commercial orchards that vary considerably in their size and degree of management. Nuts are collected for home consumption, sale at local roadside stands and markets and for shipping to cities. Walnut trees are further utilized for their high quality timber to make a wide array of products. The leaves, bark and other plant parts are used for medicinal remedies and trees are grown and maintained for soil conservation purposes (Mamadjanov, 2006b). A diverse mix of seedlings, local selections, and advanced cultivars are grown for nut production, many with unknown origins, including some of which are the direct result of selection from the wild.

The UN designation of 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation aptly demonstrates growing gap between water supply and demand. These symptoms, which are already visible in a few regions around India, are soon to assume a national proportion and may become permanent feature of the water sector in the country, unless suitable policies are adopted quickly to manage water demand and supply at different levels. Water demand is growing fast due to a rapid population growth and economic activity, but water supply is not growing at the same rate because of serious ûnancial and physical limits for supply augmentation. Water resources developed at present amount to about 680 km³, which constitutes 61% of the utilizable potential of 1122 km³. However, it is difficult to add supply beyond this level due to heavy costs, environmental concerns and interstate water conûicts. In contrast, the total demand for water is projected to reach 784–843 km3 by 2025 and 973–1180 km³ by 2050 (Ministry of Water Resources, 2000). Recent research studies predict that, if the demand– supply gap continues to increase, nine basins that have over four-ûfths of the total water use in India will face physical water scarcity by 2050 (see Amarasinghe et al., 2007). For a heavily populated, monsoon-dependent and rural-based country, such as India, water scarcity of this magnitude will not only lead to serious water conûicts among sectors and regions, but also have a devastating effect on the food and livelihood fronts.

Introduction

Arid lands are among the world’s most fragile ecosystems, made more so by periodic droughts and increasing over exploitation of meagre resources. Arid and semi-arid lands cover around one-third of the world’s land area and are inhabited by about one billion people, a large proportion of whom are among the poorest in the world (Malagnoux et al. 2007). Arid environments are extremely diverse in terms of their land forms, soils, fauna, flora, water, and human activities. Aridity is usually expressed as ratio of mean annual precipitation (P) to the mean annual potential evapotranspiration (EPT) where potential evapotranspiration is calculated by method of Penman, taking into account atmospheric humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed. UNEP (1997) has recognized four main classes of aridity: hyper-arid (P/EPT < 0.03), arid (0.03 < P/EPT < 0.20), semi-arid (0.20 < P/EPT < 0.50), and dry sub-humid (0.50 < P/EPT < 0.65). Of the total land area of the world, the hyper-arid zone covers 4.2 %, the arid zone 14.6 %, and the semi-arid zone 12.2 % (FAO 1989). Therefore, almost one-third of the total area of the world is “arid land”. 

India has shown to the world that with 2.4 % of the land and 4 % of the water resources available at the global level, it can provide the food security to its millions. A record production of almost 265 million tonnes in 2013-14 is a testimony to the strides taken in the field of agriculture. However, the agriculture sector faces many new challenges in the future and climate change (global warming) is perhaps the most formidable one.

The new emerging demands of the relatively more-affluent Indian population, particularly its middle class, coupled with a net cultivated area unlikely to exceed 143 Mha in 2050 as well as an estimated rainfed agriculture to cover around 45 % of the net sown area, are further compounded with the harsh reality that highly productive agricultural land is being continuously lost out to the industry and urban sectors. How will the country meet the target of 400 Mt of food grain production is the mute question, in a situation where natural resource base is continuously degrading and climate change with its attendant impact is adversely affecting the agricultural production system (Singh, 2014).