eChapters

5.1 Introduction

Considering the richness of floristic diversity of India represented by 47,513 plant species, of which around are 9,500 reported to be of ethnobotanical botanical significance and around 7,500 - 8900 of ethnomedicinal importance (Anonymous, 1994; Pareek et al., 2005). It has been estimated that of these, around 5,000 plant species have been investigated in some detail in search for potential sources of wellness or health or medicinal drugs to cure various human ailments and diseases. As discussed in the previous sections, the Indian literature on medicinal aromatic plants formally documents information on about 2,500 medicinal and aromatic plants under various traditional systems with sufficient details. In addition, indigenous traditional knowledge exists for another 4,000-4,500 medicinal plant species based on long time experience/observations and their use by various tribes and communities and the individual clan or families in cure of specific ailments. However, this knowledge predominantly exists in oral traditions, which are under danger because of the threat to these traditional orthodox societies and loss of the dialect or languages in which they exist.

2.1 Introduction

India is known for its richness in bio-resources including floristic diversity and the associated cultural diversity that evolved over time and holds a vast amount of indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK) assembled over millenniums. The ability to convert this knowledge into wealth of products for social good through the process of innovation based on validation of available information holds great promise. In-depth studies using the modern technologies and further examination of potential sources will determine the future of India in the 21st century, commonly referred to as the century of scientific knowledge and technological expertise/advancements that belongs to Asia/India. In this regard, five technologies namely, biochemistry, biotechnology, herbal technology, information technology, and nanotechnology are going to be the most powerful elements that are crucial for ensuring prosperity, security, and welfare of the people of the nations and the globe at large. Production of an inventory of the medicinal aromatic plants with the associated knowledge evolved and documented over millenniums under different Indian traditional medicinal systems shall be the key in promoting and strengthening their exploitation and use under various herbal medicinal systems and/or under an integrated innovative combination of these with modern medicinal systems.

7.1 Introduction

The occurrence of different medicinal and aromatic plant species is often associated with a specific ecology and thereby, to a biogeographical or phytogeographical region of the Indian Subcontinent. The Indian Subcontinent is a confluence of at least two biogeographical realms, i.e., Palearctic or Palaearctic (Himalayas) and Oriental (Sino Indian- mainland India to much of insular the Southeast Asia). The most acknowledged classification of biogeographical zones was proposed by Udvardy (1975), which recognized 12 biogeographical provinces in India falling in these two realms. Based on varied climate, terrain, and faunistic information, Roger and Panwar (1988) tried to distinguish India into 10 distinct bio-geographical regions. Their classification did account for distribution of the plant-communities because they provided information about key components to identify the probable habitat for the presence of animals. An attempt for phytogeographical zonation, based on type of vegetation by Gadgil and Meher Homji (1990), distinguished 16 phytogeographical zones. Rodgers et al. (2002) further revised their biogeographical maps using geographical information system (GIS) techniques. They distinguished 10 biogeographical zones and 26 biotic provinces.

4.1 Introduction

The adverse effect of non-vegetarian diet, particularly red meat, on human health and on environment due to destruction/clearing of forest for raising more pasture and to increase the industrial production of grains for animal feed have led to greater greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental pollution due to extensive use of inorganic fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides. Clearing of forest has also caused extinction of plant species. For these reasons, greater interest has been generated in vegetarian diet based on the direct consumption of whole grains, legumes, nuts, fruits, and vegetables that are easily assimilated by the human body, nutritionally more efficient, and have least impact on the environment. In fact, the healthfulness of vegetarian diets has been found to be strongly correlated with sustainability of agriculture because of easy affordability of plant-based foods. Vegetarian people have been often referred to as vegan and pescatarian (including fish and other seafood). Most pescatarians include dairy and eggs as well. Similarly, allopathic medicines, which are synthetic inorganic concentrated drugs, have adverse effect on non-targeted organs, besides being expensive.

6.1 Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) compiled a list of 20,000 medicinal plants used in different parts of the world. An estimated 15,000 medicinal plant species, forming about 21% of the total plant species used for medicinal purposes in the world, fall in the endangered category (Schippmann et al., 2006). In India, medicinal plant species used under different traditional systems to a large extent are still gathered and collected from the wild in from of roots, bark, wood, stem and even the whole plant causing severe destruction of their habitat, resulting in loss of species/populations and erosion of genetic diversity. The remaining few are cultivated as crop plants, but marginally because of lack of assured market and can be safely termed as commercially under utilized and are also under threat. Therefore, despite India being rich in plants species with medicinal properties, genetic diversity within the species and the associated traditional knowledge regarding their use, the lack of awareness regarding the loss of species and genetic diversity due to destructive harvesting from the wild and many other factors, such as infrastructure development, iintroduction of exotic species is causing depletion of genetic diversity or loss of indigenous MAPs.

3.1 Introduction

India is rich in biological diversity as revealed by its floristic diversity comprising 17,926 species of angiosperm, based on which it has been considered one among the 17 mega-biodiverse countries of the world. Also, it is the centre of some of the oldest civilizations of world, starting with Vedic civilization. Using modern day scientific tools and technology backed up with shashtra pramaana, Vedic civilization has been calculated to be as old as 25000 years (Oak, 2018). Because of its rich ecological and biological diversity, Indian Subcontinent has inhabited a large amount of ethnic diversity, consisting of both the indigenous races and those moved from other parts of the world as settlers looking for greener pastures for better living. The major ethnic races are Caucasoid (Aryan), Dravidians, Mongoloid, Negroid, and Australoid. Anthropological Survey of India has identified 461 tribal communities (Xaxa, 1999), belonging to 227 ethnic groups (Pushpangadan et al., 2018) spread over 5000 forest villages. According to the 2001 census of India, the country has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. Figures from different sources vary, primarily due to differences in definition of the term’s “language” and “dialect”. The largest of the language families represented, in terms of speakers, is the Indo-Aryan language family followed by the Dravidian language family.

ABSTRACT

Due to complex hydrogeological conditions it becomes very difficult to prospect the ground water resources especially in drought prone areas where the water table is very deep. The interpretation of geoelectrical sounding curves also becomes ambiguous. A semi empirical method namely theinverse slope method [Shankar Narayan and Ramanujachari, NGRI] is widely used since it is simple to operate without standard curves etc and it gives fairly good results. In some Government organizations like PWD [Ground Water Department] and TWAD Board of Tamilnadu, this inverse slope method is widely used for ground water exploration. Based on this methodology, ample of bore well points have been recommended in complicated hard rock terrains and the success rate is found to be encouraging. The study area, Kavalpatti, of Palani taluk in Dindigul district is a crystalline rock terrain, where geological, hydrogeological and geoelectrical investigations have been carried out to explore the ground water potential zone for agricultural purpose. The bore well drilled to a depth of 32 m has yielded 370 lpm. The interpreted geoelectrical section has been correlated with the litholog of bore well. Some bore well statistics [bore well points recommended based on this method] has been furnished, which reveals that this methodology is encouraging.

Nereistoxin (NTX) was originated from a marine annelid worm Lumbriconereis heteropoda and its analogue pesticides (table 51) including cartap, bensultap, thiocyclam and thiobensultap have been commonly used in agriculture, because of their low toxicity and high insecticidal activity.

• General considerations

 • First hand information and constitution of a team

 • Gathering the disease information from records and the owner

 • Animal data

 • Previous illness

 • Present disease

 • Proforma for animal examination report

 • Observation of team

• Logical clinical examination of animals

 • Disease investigation kit

ABSTRACT

Arunachal Pradesh in Northeastern India covers a major portion of the Eastern Himalayas and is well-known for its rich biological and cultural diversity. The indigenous communities of the state living in close vicinity of forests depend upon wild plant-resources for meeting their various needs like medicine, food, fodder, fuel, etc. The present paper deals with documentation of plant species used by Monpa and Adi community residing in vast ecological range starting from subtropical to alpine ecosystems. A total of 346 species belonging to 215 genera and 102 families used by the two communities as wild vegetables (97 species), wild fruits (39), dye and color (13), spices and condiments (51), hunting and piscicide (40), paper pulp and fiber yielding plants (5) and medicinal use were reported (165). This study highlights the rich diversity of indigenous knowledge among the local communities in utilizing the diverse plant resources around them for their sustenance. Documentation of this knowledge is of utmost importance for identification of useful plant species for value addition, promotion as well as to formulate strategies for their sustainable utilization and conservation. This would also enhance the livelihood of the indigenous communities contribute to biodiversity conservation in these fragile mountain ecosystems.

Abstract

Traditional knowledge on plants and their uses by tribal indigenous culture is helpful in the conservation of biodiversity. During 2017-2018, ethnobotanical investigations of the plants growing in Neelum Valley in District Bandipora (a part of Kashmir Himalaya) were carried out to collect information regarding different usages of the plants species growing in the region through questionnaire and interviews. Floristically, a total of 57 species belonging to 54 genera and 38 families were investigated to be used as medicine, food, fodder, timber, fuel wood, vegetable/edible fruit, resin yield and herbal tea purposes. On the basis of the floristic analysis of the study area, the leading family recorded was Asteraceae with (11%) species co-dominated by Rosaceae (9%). In terms of habit forms, herbaceous (70%) growth form is the most dominant. The most frequently used plant parts are leaves (26%) followed by whole plant (23%) and roots (19%). The plant documented cured different categories of diseases, the most common diseases such as diarrhea, fever, digestive problems, urinary troubles, rheumatism, eye diseases, skin diseases and wounds. Based on investigated knowledge, the data are discussed under sub-head as single, double and multi-diseases curing plants. The present study can provide a baseline data for future researchers, policy makers, common public, land managers, and the other stakeholders to develop scientifically-informed strategies for conservation of natural resources and sustainable use of plant resources in hotspot regions like Himalayas and other similar biodiversity rich sites.

Introduction

The smooth functioning of an organisation depends on its financial resources. For a newly established venture, it is important to accurately predict its financial requirements for the purpose of raising funds and assessing the profitability of the proposal. While the major investment in an organisation could be for short term and long-term purposes, there are multiple sources from which these funds could be raised. The conventional sources mainly include commercial banks and other financial institutions; non-conventional sources include lease financing, angel investors, venture capitalist firms, factoring, and bill discounting.

Finance is the basic requirement for the smooth functioning of any organisation. Finance is required to meet the short-term and long-term requirements of a f irm. While the short-term fund is required to meet day-to-day expenses, long term funds are required for the acquisition of long-term or fixed assets that would yield benefits in the future, financing the permanent part of working capital, and for the growth and expansion of a business.

The quantum of both finances depends upon the nature and size of the business’s organisation, and the sources from which one acquires these funds also have a multi-dimensional range.

In today’s innovation driven economies, turning a great idea or new technology into something investors want to fund takes careful planning. This process is called investor readiness. which means making sure the idea works, has a market, and is presented in a way that makes investors feel confident. Therefore, Investor readiness means the preparedness of an innovation to attract and secure investment from potential investors. It has all the essential parameters in place that an investor would evaluate before deciding to invest. For inventors, this means showcasing innovation’s business potential, potential for growth, and the capability to provide a return on investment. Understanding investor readiness is important because it directly influences scalability and growth of invention. Even the most innovative ideas can struggle to find the financial benefits without showcasing business potential.
Why it is important to discuss investor readiness
Investor readiness is the state in which a technology, its value proposition, and its founding team are significantly prepared to engage with securing funding from potential investors. Without investor readiness, even high-potential innovations may fail to reach the market due to gaps in business clarity, legal assurance, or team maturity. TTOs play an important role in this process by acting as intermediaries between inventor and investors. Modern day TTOs are more inclined to prepare technologies and associated teams to attract investment. This expanded mandate of TTOs and brought in investor readiness. It requires a wellstructured approach focused on aligning academic innovations with investor expectations. TTOs help in creating this readiness by guiding researchers through commercial pathways, derisking technologies, and translating technical advancements into investment suitable.

ABSTRACT

Agriculture can act as a catalyst in accelerating growth and reducing poverty. Agriculture can be an important engine of growth and poverty reduction. But in spite of its futuristic capabilities, the sector is underperforming because the productivity is reduced because of the constraints faced by the women in agriculture and allied sector. The women are the backbone of agricultural workforce but worldwide their hard works have mostly been unpaid. They have to perform most tedious and back breaking part of work in agriculture, animal husbandry and at homes. The tribal women play a significant and crucial role in agricultural development and allied fields including in the main crop production, livestock production, horticulture, post harvest operations, agro / social forestry, fisheries, etc. Tribal women have to manage, often, complex and multiple livelihood strategies. Their activities typically include producing agricultural crops, tending animals, processing and preparing food, working for wages in agricultural or other rural enterprises, collecting fuel and water, engaging in trade and marketing, caring for family members and maintaining their homes. Women’s participation in rural labour markets varies considerably across regions, but invariably women are over represented in unpaid, seasonal and part-time work, and the available evidence suggests that women are often paid less than men, for the same work.

ABSTRACT

Rural youths represent both a challenge to and an opportunity for reducing rural poverty. To overcome this challenge and seize the opportunity concerted efforts are needed to generate decent employment opportunities. A complementary set of awareness generation, entrepreneurship development, enabling policy, capacity building and technical support activities need to be designed for creating an enabling environment that meets the multi-dimensional needs of rural youths. Sustainable poverty reduction and rural economic development can only be achieved when national enabling environments facilitates and empower young people to achieve their full potential. Agriculture being the core of rural activity, potentiality of farming sector to create employment opportunity both in primary as well as in secondary agriculture needs to be highlighted with proven success before the rural youths. Enabling environment in all aspect needs to be created to motivate the educated youths to live in villages and launch a new agricultural movement based on integrated application of science and social wisdom. The untapped demographic dividend will become our greatest strength when the aspiration turns into reality.

13.1 Exchange Capacity

Soil colloidal particles carry both negative and positive charges on their surface which attract and hold equivalent amount of oppositely charged ions to their surface. The total number of negative charges present on a given mass of soil or capacity of a given mass of soil to exchange cations or total number of cation held by a given mass of soil is termed as cation exchange capacity (CEC). Similarly, the capacity of a soil to retain anions is known as anion exchange capacity (AEC). The ion exchange capacity of a soil depends upon the type and amount of colloidal particle (clay and organic matter) present in the soil. Ion exchange capacity (CEC / AEC) is expressed as milliequivalent ion (cation / anion, respectively) per 100 g of soil (meq / 100g). It is also expressed as centimoles of charge (positive / negative) per kg of soil [cmol (±) / kg]. Meq / 100g = cmol (±) / kg of soil.

20.1 Exchange Capacity

Soil colloidal particles carry both negative and positive charges on their surface which attract and hold equivalent amount of oppositely charged ions to their surface. The total number of negative charges present on a given mass of soil or capacity of a given mass of soil to exchange cations or total number of cation held by a given mass of soil is termed as cation exchange capacity (CEC). Similarly, the capacity of a soil to retain anions is known as anion exchange capacity (AEC). The ion exchange capacity of a soil depends upon the type and amount of colloidal particle (clay and organic matter) present in the soil. Ion exchange capacity (CEC/AEC) is expressed as milliequivalent ion (cation/ anion, respectively) per 100 g of soil (meq/100g). It is also expressed as centimoles of charge (positive/negative) per kg of soil [cmol (±) / kg]. Meq/ 100g = cmol (±) / kg of soil.

20.1.1 Determination of Cation Exchange Capacity of Soil Principle

Soil is first saturated with normal ammonium acetate (pH 7.0). Excess ammonium (NH₄⁺) ions and displaced cations are then removed by washing with alcohol. The amount of NH₄⁺ ions retained by the soil is measured by steam distillation of NH₄-saturated soil with MgO. During distillation evolved ammonia is absorbed in a boric acid solution as ammonium borate and the amount ammonium borate formed is determined by titration with standard sulphuric acid in presence of mixed indicator.

This technique is used in the separation of ionised and ionisable compounds.It consists of an insoluble matrix to which charged groups are covalently bound. The charged groups are associated with mobile counter ions. These counter ions can be reversibly exchanged with other ions of the same charge without altering the structure of the matrix.

The ion exchanger is complex and polymeric. The polymer carries an electric charge that is exactly neutralized by the charges on the counter ions. These active ions are cations in a cation exchanger and anions in an anion exchanger. A cation exchanger consists of polymeric anions and active cations whereas anion exchanger consists of polymeric cations and active anions. Amberlite IR 120 and Dowex 50 WX are cation exchangers while Amberlite IRA 400 and Dowex 1X are anion exchangers. Ion exchangers should be insoluble in water and hydrophilic to allow the ions to pass through. It should be chemically stable and should be denser than water when swollen.

Cation Exchange of Clay Minerals in Soil

The term “clay mineral” refers to phyllosilicate minerals and to minerals which impart plasticity to clay and which harden upon drying or firing. Clay minerals are layer silicates that are formed usually as products of chemical weathering of other silicate minerals at the earth’s surface. Clay minerals in soil play a significant role in exchanging cations, which are positively charged ions, and in regulating soil fertility and nutrient availability. Cation exchange capacity (CEC) is a measure of a soil’s ability to exchange cations and is influenced by the type, abundance, and charge properties of clay minerals in the soil. Clay minerals have a high CEC due to the presence of charged surfaces (silanol and alumoxane groups) that can exchange cations with the soil solution. The most common cations exchanged by clay minerals are hydrogen (H+), calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), potassium (K+), and sodium (Na+). When a soil solution comes into contact with clay minerals, cations in the soil solution are adsorbed or attracted to the charged surfaces of the clay particles.

The exchange of ions (cations or anions) are important phenomena in soil for the growth and nutrition of the crops. The oppositely charged ions are being adsorbed by the clay colloids which are subjected to be released or exchanged reversibly from the soil solution. The participating ions in the exchange process are called exchangeable or counter ions. The activity of ions depends on the pH of the soil. Hence, factors like, soil texture, organic matter, concentration of ions could govern the ion exchange phenomena in soil.

6.0 Ion Exchange

Ion exchange is a reversible process where exchange of ions are possible between the two electrolytes or between an electrolyte solution and a complex. The ion exchange processes help in purification, separation, and decontamination of aqueous and other ion-containing solutions. The ion-exchange resins (functionalized porous or gel polymer), zeolites, montmorillonite, clay and soil humus are considered as typical ion exchangers which are either cation exchangers [exchanging positively charged ions (cations)], or anion exchangers [which can exchange negatively charged ions (anions)].