eChapters

6.1. The Production Cycle

As ovulation in does is induced by mating and the females are generally kept in different cages from the males, it is the breeder who determines the reproduction rate of the unit. These rates vary from one or two litters a year under the most extensive management to eight to ten litters in an intensive management system. Does are remated either immediately after kindling (intensive system) or about ten days later (semi-intensive). In the semi-intensive system, the does are first presented to the buck at four and a half months. They are then mated 10 to 12 days after the birth of each litter. Weaning takes place at 30 to 35, or even 37 to 38 days. Extensive systems are characterized by a long delay between kindling and mating, and perhaps even until weaning. For example, the young may be weaned at 56 days and the doe mated after weaning.

Soil and moisture conservation measures are a prerequisite for ensuring a good crop stand, growth and development of crop, and higher crop yields. These measures depend mainly on the land (topography and slope), soil type, rainfall pattern, and nature of the crop. The various management practices are:

Tillage

Off-season tillage is necessary to get a weed free seedbed having good tilth and better moisture conservation. Pre-monsoon showers should be utilized for deep ploughing (where necessary) and blade harrowing. This will enable sowing of large areas in limited time- a necessary in dryland areas. Higher yield advantage with deep ploughing (22 cm) has been obtained in case of sorghum, pearl millet, maize, and rice. In case of rice, use of mould board plough to a depth of 30 cm every year increased the rice yield at Ranchi. For small seed crops like finger millet, soil compaction below the seeding zone is absolutely necessary for getting good crop stand establishment and higher yields. Tillage requirement for pulse crops (cowpea, mungbean, black gram) varies with the type of soil on which they are grown. For loamy sand or sandy loam soils, one or two cross cultivation using a sweep harrow, will be enough to provide a good tilth.

The main objective of any cropping system is to utilize available resources efficiently viz., land, water, solar radiation by maintaining stability in production in order to obtain higher net returns. The efficiency is measured by the quantity of produce obtained per unit resource used in a given time. The objective of traditional agriculture was to increase the production by two means

1. By increasing area under cultivation
2. By increasing the productivity per unit area of the crop

But two more dimensions are added to modern agriculture

1. To increase the production per unit time
2. To increase the production per unit space

In the traditional cropping systems, mixtures and rotations were developed by the farmers over years of experience by trial and error to suit specific ecological and sociological conditions to attain yield stability, whereas modern scientific cropping has three pillars viz.

6.1. Management of important farm resources

Factors of production are land, labour, machinery, equipments and buildings.

Systematic management of plant diseases dates back to 1885 with the invent of Bordeaux mixture by Milardet. Thereafter, a number of contact and systemic fungicides have been reported over the years for the management of various plant pathogens, of which many have become obsolete and many are still being used with excellence. However, the ecological hazards caused by the chemical fungicides have prompted scientists to search for other avenues of crop protection. Most of the conventional chemical and biological plant protection procedures, as well as the use of disease-resistant cultivars, tend towards the direct control of pests and diseases by their elimination. But these practices generally and particularly in case of monoculture crops like rice, raise problems. The risk of developing pesticide resistance in plant pathogens is enhanced by the long term use of the same chemical. The resistance genes of the plants can also be overcome by changes in the pathogens. Therefore the situation demands development of new strategies for plant protection which can supplement the use of resistance breeding and chemical control.

Introduction

Salinity in India is a major issue affecting the sustainability of irrigated as well as non-irrigated areas particularly in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa. Salt affected soils are unproductive unless excess salts are reduced or removed. These soils occur most extensively in arid and semi-arid climates, but these soils are also found in coastal sea areas where soils are unundated by ocean or sea water. Soils are said to be saline if they contain an excess of soluble salts and sodic or alkali if they contain an excess of sodium salts. Again soils are said to be saline-sodic or saline-alkali if they contain appreciable amounts of both soluble salts and sodium. The impact of salinity manifests itself in several ways. As the salinity increases, not only does the productivity decline but sensitive crops also go out of cultivation and are replaced by salt-tolerant, low value crops and other plant species.

Vegetable occupy an important place in diversification of agriculture and have played a pivotal role in food and nutritional security of ever growing population of our country. The vegetable requirement of our country is estimated at 225 million tonnes by 2020 (Paroda, 2020) against only 134 million tonnes in 2009-10 (NHB, 2010). India is facing, today, with stagnation in crop productivity and slows down in agricultural growth. Declining soil health and fertility is considered as one of the factor for such a decline. The restoration of soil health and fertility is, therefore, a formidable challenge before us to ensure higher and sustainable productivity, profitability and national food and nutritional security.

Introduction

The Indian agriculture is very complex and carrying out multi-functionalities of providing food, nutrition and ecological security besides employment and livelihood for over 700 million people. Indeed, India has made a marvelous achievement in attaining self-sufficiency in food grain production after the introduction of Green Revolution which eventually resulted in maintaining all-time high buffer stock in warehouses of our country. Such rosy picture in production trends turned to be bleak in the past few years.

The management of storage in open and closed storage is critical before start of any seed processing activities. When seed lots reach the shop floor, they need to be stored properly. Unlike commercial produce seed lots cannot be stored in bulk. These need to be stacked lot wise and there is problem of “stackburn”-resulting from successive layers in building a bag stack. In crops like soyabean-”stackburn” can have detrimental effect on seed quality. The quality parameters like germination and viability can get lost instantly if not properly stacked on the pallets.

The management of a rabbit herd is a crucial aspect that requires careful planning and organization. As part of a larger scheme involving five medium-sized rabbit farms, the production and marketing of live rabbits and rabbit meat were streamlined into a single business. Although this may differ from the usual backyard production system, it serves as an ideal example of how one can modify their approach to suit specific needs. The success of this scheme lies in its detailed design, which ensures efficient management and optimal output for the herd. 

Acid soils occupy a considerable area in the country. There are about 90 million ha. of acid soils (27.4 per cent of total geographical area) spread across several states. They are found to occur in the Himalayan region, the eastern and north-eastern plains, peninsular India and the coastal plains under varying environmental conditions of landscape, geology, climate and vegetation. Thirty one million hectare area show severe soil acidity problems (pH 5.5) and 59 million ha. have pH between 5.6 and 6.5 (Sharma and Sarkar, 2005). Laterites and various latosolic soils are the large groups among acid soils. The other groups are podzolic soils, brown forest soils, peaty soils etc., Distribution of acid soils in different states of India is given in (Table 1 and Figure 1). Acid soils usually have problems associated with aluminium, iron and manganese toxicity, low nutrients status, nutrients imbalance and multiple nutrient deficiencies.

• General considerations

 • Ethics for veterinary diagnostic laboratory personnel

 • Safety measures in the laboratory

 • Accidents

 • First aid

 • Acid burns

 • Alkali burns

 • Poisoning

 • Burns caused by heat

 • Injuries caused by broken glass

 • Contamination by infectious materials

 • Bodily damage by electric shock

 • Precautionary measures

In whole of the world, about 6 to 7 m ha of agricultural land is becoming unproductive every year due to one or the other reasons (Gupta, 2018a). This is, however, more so in case of developing countries (Gupta, 2003). Productive lands are utmost important to meet the countryís growing needs for food, fodder, fuel wood, medicinal herbs and timber.

Fish is the most important source of protein for the people of Northeastern India where almost 100% people are fish eaters. So fish culture is very popular in this region. There is a huge demand for fish here and the most popular aquaculture practice is pond culture. The state of Tripura particularly progressed well in fish production and became self sufficient in fish seed production. The state is blessed with 22,895 ha of water bodies where more than 50% (12,895 ha) of area is used for aquaculture purpose. Composite fish culture and integrated aquaculture are very common here. These fish ponds are very productive both in eco-physiological and faunistic point of view. Most of the farmers have a pond area of less than one hectare for fish culture and are unable to go for any supplementary feeding. Average fish productivity is estimated as 1800 kg/ha. Preliminary experiments conducted in the Institute showed that timely application of the fertilizer and/or restricted supplementary feeding improves total production.

Introduction Fishermen of Gulf of Mannar coast were largely depending on traditional fishing gears, and they were mainly exploiting the coastal fishery resources before 1960’s. After the introduction of trawl gears and mechanized fishing boats during 1960’s fishermen were more comfortable with plenty of fish catch, especially the high-valued demersal shrimps. The fishing effort was also increased at a tremendous pace in this region with the addition of stern trawlers. Due to this increment in the fishing effort, the fishery resources and their life-supporting systems such as coral reefs and sea grass beds are seriouslydisturbed.

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted on integrated nutrient management in clitoria at Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Kukma-Bhuj, during 2009 and 2010 with four levels of nitrogen (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha^–1) and phosphorus (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg ha^–1). In another field experiment, response of clitoria to bio-fertilisers (rhizobium, phosphorus solubilising microbes (PSM) and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) was assessed. Other experiments on standardising micronutrient application, seed rate, spacing and intercropping with grasses were also conducted.

Vegetable production in our country is significantly influenced by the seasonality and weather conditions. Extends of abundance and deficiency in production and availability cause considerable fluctuations in the prices and quality of vegetables. Vegetable production, at present, is also characterized by a strong dependence on chemical plant protection with its all inherent environment and health hazards, both for growers and the consumers. Strinking a balance between all-season availability of high quality vegetables with minimum environment impact, and still to remain economically competitive in this time of globalization, is a major challenge for the modern technology of crop production. The crop productivity is influenced by the genetic characteristics of the cultivar and the management practices including nutrients, water and microclimate. Under open field cultivation, while the other factors could be taken care of, it is not possible to effect control on the microclimate around the plant.

Multipurpose trees and shrubs are defined as all woody perennials that are purposefully grown to provide more than one significant contribution to the production and/or service functions of a land-use system that they occupy. In agroforestry systems, different species of trees and shrubs can be planted with many types of crops in a variety of patterns. Thus, it is required to know about the methods of propagation and nursery raising, planting and other silvicultural management practices along with the diverse uses of multipurpose trees and shrubs of tropical and subtropical areas before their selection for forestry and agroforestry activities. It is important to select the most suitable tree species since it is not easy to replace them once they have been planted.

MANGIUM (Acacia mangium)

Acacia mangium is a single-stemmed evergreen tree that grows to 25-35 m in height and up to 60 cm in diameter. The bole is usually straight, often fluted near the base, free of branches for up to half its height. Mangium is native to Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. However, it tolerates varied site conditions and has adaptability to different planting objectives. Mangium shows most vigorous growth on well-drained, fertile soils in high rainfall areas in the humid tropics. It is valued for its rapid growth and has been planted throughout the humid tropics and is a major plantation species in the Asia Pacific. Provenances from Papua New Guinea consistently show better growth in height and diameter.

Multipurpose trees and shrubs are defined as all woody perennials that are purposefully grown to provide more than one significant contribution to the production and/or service functions of a land-use system that they occupy. In agroforestry systems, different species of trees and shrubs can be planted with many types of crops in a variety of patterns. Thus, it is required to know about the methods of propagation and nursery raising, planting and other silvicultural management practices along with the diverse uses of multipurpose trees and shrubs of tropical and subtropical areas before their selection for forestry and agroforestry activities. It is important to select the most suitable tree species since it is not easy to replace them once they have been planted.