eChapters

This chapter introduces the principles involved in designing and erecting protected structures for floricultural production. It examines structural safety, dead and live loads, wind and snow loads, site selection, orientation, foundation, greenhouse components and suitable covering materials. The chapter also identifies flower and foliage crops suitable for protected cultivation and relates structural design to crop characteristics and climatic conditions. These principles help growers develop efficient, safe and productive greenhouse systems

Global demand for cut flowers is increasing steadily at around 10 per cent per annum. The share of India in this flourishing trade estimate at over US$ 40 billion per annum is negligible at 0.4 per cent. Floriculture include cut flowers, pot plants, cut foliage, seeds, bulbs, tubers, rooted cuttings and dried flowers or leaves. At international cut flower trade, flowers such as rose, carnation, Chrysanthemum, gerberas, gladiolus, gypsophilla, liatris, nerine, orchids, anthurium, tulips and lilies are preferred. Roses, gerberas and carnation are grown in greenhouses. The open field crops are Chrysanthemum, roses, gaillardia, lily, marigold, aster, tuberose etc. In India, floriculture is emerging as an important economic activity, earning foreign exchange. It has become a potential farm income enterprise. The domestic markets for high-quality flowers have been growing at 10- 20 per cent per year for the last few years. India’s flower business is estimated to be worth $ 400 million at retail, and about $ 100 million in international trade. Flower exports are about $ 30 million, constituting mainly of roses and dried flowers. Both Central and State Governments have been more than proactive and have made large investments in this industry in assisting production and marketing.

A large variety of floricultural crops can be produced in protected environment as economic cash crops for the benefit of farmers. Problems associated with floriculture in hills are small, scattered land holdings and sparsely located population. There is a lack of irrigation facilities due to scarce availability of water resources; widespread natural vagaries like drought, hail storms, frost etc. There is a serious gaps in application of advanced floricultural technologies for improving quality and productivity; high pressure on land use for different purposes like cereal crop production, fodder production, etc. due to low per capita land availability; difficulty in technology dissemination due to difficult terrain, hostile climate, poor communication facilities and sparsely located population. Consuming markets within the state are very less which result in dependence upon distant markets of the county. There is a high post-harvest losses due to lack of modern post-harvest management system; very high temperature differentials in production areas and consumer markets; perishable nature of flowers, resulting in high post-harvest losses during transportation; and distant location of production areas from main roads. High cost of marketing, lack of organised system of marketing, lack of bargaining power with individual growers due to small production levels; inadequate availability of market intelligence to farmers resulting in imbalances in distribution of produce in different markets.

The Indian Society for Protected Cultivation (ISPC) has organized a National Seminar on ‘Advances in Protected Cultivation’ at the NASC Complex, DPS Marg, Pusa, New Delhi, on 21 March 2013, with an objective of collection and collation of scientific advances made in protected cultivation in India and dissemination of these among policy-planners, farmers, students, scientists, industry and other stakeholders. In spite of the fact that protected cultivation is in its state of infancy in the country in terms of scientific engagements, more than 120 delegates from distant parts of the country registered for the seminar besides good number of policy-planners, recognized names in agriculture and higher officials from industry particularly corporate associate life members of the society.

In the inaugural session, Dr Brahma Singh, President, ISPC and Chairman, Organizing Committee welcomed the Chief Guest Padama Bhushan, Dr R S Paroda, formerly Secretary and Director-General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi and Chairman Haryana Kisan Ayog, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University , Hisar ; Guests of Honour Dr M M Pandey, Deputy Director-General (Agricultural Engineering), ICAR and Dr H S Gupta, Director, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, other dignitaries on and off the dais, delegates, press and media. He also highlighted that this seminar intended to review the advances made in protected cultivation in India with a purpose to accelerate the same. He emphasized that protected cultivation offers opportunities to earn more from the limited land, water and other resources. It also enables production of quality products which fetch more prices and pride, besides being a potential practice for provisioning disease-free quality planting material for horticultural crops.

17.1. Introduction

Tea (Camellia sinensis L), coffee (Coffea arabica L.) and rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) are known as estate crops or conventional plantation crops. These plantation crops are perennial in nature and cultivation of these crops generates considerable employment opportunities during on farm and off farm processing activities. The plantation crops are high value industrial crops contributing about 25% of AGDP. India is a largest consumer of tea accounts for 22% global tea consumption and also accounts for one-fifth of global tea area. Indian coffee industry also have prime place among plantation crops and also contributing 4% coffee to global market. Similarly, rubber plantations also provides basic raw material to toys, balloon, tyres, seed oil cake and rubber wood factory. The plantation crops along with main processed products also produce large quantity of biomass like husk, coir dust, coffee husk, tea waste, shedding etc which can effectively used to reduce nutrient requirements of crops. Parchment coffee prepared by using the wet method is generally favoured by the market. Cherry coffee, due to its very nature of preparation and longer contact with the mucilage and fruit skin, is usually associated with a characteristic fermenting flavour.

16.1. Introduction

Plantation crops are high value industrial crops grown in the tropics play a vital role in agricultural economy and export trade of developing countries. Plantation crops have great potential for utilization of waste land like rainfed dry land, hilly, arid and coastal areas to provide nutritional security, earn foreign exchange and to ensure livelihood security. The major plantation crops grown in India are tea (Camellia sinensis L), coffee (Coffea arabica L.), rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), coconut (Cocos nucifera), arecanut (Areca catechu L.), oilpalm (Elaeis guinensis), cashewnut (Anacardium occidentale L.), cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) and cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum). India is the leading producer of most of these plantation crops. Among all fruit crops, the processing plays an important role in plantation crops as they are generally consumed only after processing. In addition to primary products which are exported largely, some by-products from these crops also have industrial as well as commercial uses. Coconut, arecanut, cashewnut, black pepper and cardamom are known as small holder plantations whereas, crops like rubber, tea and coffee are known as estate crops or conventional plantation crop. Coir, wood and shell from coconut, leaf sheath in arecanut, cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) and feni from cashew are some of by-products with a great impact and demand in the market.

44.1. Aim

To conduct practical on processing of tea and coffee.

44.2. Theory

Tea is an evergreen woody perennial grown in many Asian countries including China, Japan, Java, Sumatra and India. The plant produces dark green, small shiny leaves with white blossom. In post harvest and manufacturing practices for tea, only mechanical and physical processes are allowed with natural fermentation. It can be manufactured by orthodox, CTC (crush, tear and curl) processing.

Coffee is an important beverage used all over the world. Brazil and Columbia are the largest coffee producers in the world. Coffee is harvested in one of two ways; strip picking (entire crop is harvested at one time either by machine or by hand); selective picking (only the ripe berries are picked individually by hand) during dry season when cherries are bright red, glossy and firm. After picking, the coffee can be prepared either by dry method which produces natural coffee or by wet method which produces washed coffee.

India is bestowed with varied climatic conditions and a variety of horticultural crops are produced. It is estimated that 20-30% of the produce is lost before consumption because of various reasons including improper storage and this is where the need of processing for preservation arises. There are various ways of preserving the produce and various ways to process it.

Preservation is defined as methods of extending the shelf life of the produce in its original form or in a different usable form. The basic principle of preservation involves strategies which aim at reducing the spoilage. The horticulture produce is spoiled by microbial infection or infestation. Prevention of microbial damage can be achieved by keeping the produce away from microbes, by removing the microbes, obstructing the proliferation and by killing the microbes. Infestation in the harvested fruits may lead to other microbial infection and spoilage due to rotting.

Introduction

Floriculture is a fast emerging, rapidly expanding industry in the present scenario. The importance of flowers has been realized throughout the world and now it has been developed into an intensive form of agriculture. Flowers play an integral role in life of each and every human being. They are the part and parcel of day to day activities. There is common saying with flowers that a man is born with flowers, live with flowers and dies with flowers. This shows the importance of flowers in our lives since time immemorial. The flowers create an atmosphere of beauty, happiness and harmony. With the fast changing lifestyles, floriculture can become a lucrative business in India in view of low labour cost, varied agro climatic conditions and large collection of plant wealth.

Among flowers, loose flowers hold an important place in terms of high demand for usage in various religious and social ceremonies. They are mainly used for worshipping, making floral garlands, floral decorations in wedding, religious functions, interior decoration, self adornment etc. The earlier trend of using flowers for aesthetic value is changing slowly into business with the realization of its vast economic potential as value addition of flowers by drying, extraction of essential oils, colouring pigments, antioxidants etc. is also gaining importance.

In India, mostly loose flowers dominate the domestic market. Marigold, jasmine, tuberose, crossandra and china aster are the major loose flowers grown in India. Production technology of these flowers is described as:

India is the second largest producer of vegetable crops with a total production of 146.5 million tonnes (2010-11). More than 60 vegetable crops belonging to, Solanacious, Cucurbitaceous, Leguminous, Cruciferous (cole crops), root crops and leafy vegetables are grown in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions. The demand of vegetables will be 225 million tonnes by 2020 and 350 million tonnes by 2030. A larger quantity of quality seed of vegetable crops will be required in order to achieve the demands of vegetables. The limiting factors which reduce seed yield under open field condition are biotic and abiotic stresses, requirement of isolation distance and generation system of seed multiplication etc. These problems can be effectively managed when we go for seed production under protected structures.

In spite of considerable progress achieved during the last four decades in vegetable production in India, average productivity of vegetable crops is still low as compared to national and world level, indicating the scope to enhance their yield potential of quality produce. This is because of an appealing gap between potential yield and actual yield. In many vegetables, yield realized is even lesser than 50 % of potential yield. Sometime, farmers growing vegetable crops during main season do not get back their cost of cultivation. The prices of the same vegetable produce is very high during off-season. Several biotic and abiotic stresses are major factors responsible for low productivity and poor quality in different vegetable crops under open field cultivation, especifically in rainy and post-rainy seasons. The increasing demand of off-season high quality vegetables in various markets of big cities has called the attention of vegetable growers for diversification from traditional techniques of vegetable cultivation to modern systems of cultivation.

Protected cultivation of vegetable crops offers best choice for diversification. Production of crops under protected conditions has great potential in augmenting production and quality of vegetables, in main and off-season, maximizing water and nutrient-use efficiency under varied agroclimatic conditions. This technology has great potential especially in peri-urban areas, since it can be profitably used for growing high- value vegetables like tomato, cheery tomato, coloured Capsicum and parthenocarpic cucumbers, and healthy and virus-free seedlings in agri-entrepreneurial models.

Orchids are perennial ornamental crop, grows well in shady and humid places in wild habitat. The same growing conditions can be achieved by making special structures known as orchidaria or orchid houses.
Basics for Orchid House Cultivation
The following points should be considered during the construction of orchid houses:-
    ·    Topography of land.
    ·    Climate of region.
    ·    Type of soil and water.
    ·    Accessibility of area, transport and marketing facilities.
    ·    Proper drainage facilities.
    ·    Availability of good quality irrigation water.
    ·    A good infrastructure like availability of electricity.

India is a natural reservoir of the several fruit species. The several less known fruit species, which have the potential for commercial exploitation, are yet to be utilized to their potential. An attention to the less known fruit would play a significant role in increasing the income, providing employment opportunities, uplifting of the poor, small and marginal farmers and the development of value added products. These fruits are well known for their medicinal and nutritive value. There is a great need to develop and popularize not only for their domestic market but also for their export. Some of the less known fruits are described here with respect to their cultivation technology.

Barleria L. (Acanthaceae) is a pantropical genus of herbs and shrubs comprising about 300 species, occurring mainly in Africa and Asia. In India, the genus is represented by about 32 species of which 24 are endemic to India.  About 80 % of the species are found in Peninsular India. Many species of Barleria are of ornamental value and can be grown for their foliage and showy colorful flowers. There are certain indigenous species which show good growth performance in cultivation and have economic importance as ornamentals. Moreover, some species fall under IUCN categories of threatened plants which need immediate attention for their conservation. Considering the horticultural importance especially in landscape gardening and rarity of Barlerias, various species found in India are collected and cultivated through various methods in the Botanical Garden of Shivaji University, Kolhapur.

Facilities required for propagating many plant species by seed, cuttings, or grafting and budding include two basic units namely a structure with temperature control and ample light such as a greenhouse or hot bed where seeds can be germinated or cuttings rooted. The second unit is a structure into which the young tender plants can be moved for hardening preparatory to transplanting and cold frames or lath houses are useful for this purpose.Greenhouses: There are different types of greenhouse namely low cost greenhouse and commercial greenhouses. In all polyhouses/ greenhouses means of providing air movement and air exchange is necessary to aid in controlling temperature and humidity It is best, if possible, to have in the greenhouse heating and self-opening ventilators and evaporative cooling systems. Plastic greenhouses covered with various types of plastic film have become very popular among nursery men.

Media for plant growth and seed germination has great significance in nursery business. It is the basic need of the propagation industry. The material for rooting and growing media may be used either alone or incorporated with one or more products in combination. The materials used for rooting media may be naturally occurring or may be manufactured artificially.

Characteristics of an ideal rooting medium: These are as follows.

1. The medium must be sufficiently firm and dense to hold the cuttings or seeds in place during rooting or germination.
2. It must retain sufficient water and air, allowing sufficient drainage.
3. It should be highly decomposed and stable.
4. It must be free from weed seeds, insect pests and diseases.
5. Acidity or alkalinity should be the optimum for different species.
6. Its volume must be fairly constant, when either wet or dry.
7. It must be capable of being sterilized.

Plant propagation techniques refer to the methods by which the plants are multiplied and increased in number.

Methods of Propagation

i) Sexual Method of Propagation - Seeds are used as propagating material.

ii) Asexual Methods of Propagation - Plant parts, other than seeds are used for plant propagation.

Kewda is exclusively propagated through ground suckers and leaf bearing terminal cuttings. In kewda growing areas, predominantly the terminal shoot cuttings are used in commercial plantations. However, the seeds are also capable to germinate and give rise to plants, but it is not in practice due to hard mesocarp and seed coat (Bailey, 1950, Deshaprabhu, 1966, Mott, 1975, Maharana and Jagadev, 1993).

Seed propagation

In kewda, the flowers develop into berries, which fuse to form a multiple fruit. The receptacle and bracts are included in the fruit. The seeds are deep seated and very difficult to extract, hence seeds are sown along with the fibrous drupes. Each drupe contains 2-9 seeds. Seeds collected from ripe fruits are sown during spring. The seeds normally, take about 3 months for germination due to the hard seed coat and impervious fibrous covering. Experimentally, it was observed that one hour sulphuric acid scarification treatment of the drupes reduced the germination period by about one month increasing the germination percentage as compared to direct sowing, however, scarification for more than one hour was deterimental (Table 14) (Maharana and Jagadev, 1993). Bailey (1950) reported that seed soaking in tepid water for 24 hours would aid the germination. The seed propagated plants (Plate-27) take about 2-3 years more for flowering as compared to vegetatively propagated plants.

The Indian arid zone is characterized by high temperature and low and variable precipitation which limit the scope for high crops productivity. However, these conditions greatly favour the development of high quality in a number of fruits such as date palm, ber, aonla, bael, pomegranate, kinnow, lasoda and in vegetables cucurbits, legumes and solanaceous crops, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants. The existing low productivity could be increased by following improved technologies and inputs. It is now realized that there is a limited scope for quantum jump in fruit and vegetable production in the traditional production areas. The amelioration of the extreme conditions is also considered vital for life support to the inhabitants of this area. The recent awareness regarding the potential of these ecologically fragile lands for production of quality produce has not only opened up scope for providing sustainability for the people of this region, but also for bringing in new areas to increase horticultural production. The area expansion and yield potential of arid horticultural crops has increased many folds because of development of new varieties and advancement in production techniques in arid region.

This chapter introduces the concept, importance and prospects of protected floriculture in India. It explains how greenhouses and other protected structures help overcome limitations associated with temperature, photoperiod, humidity, carbon dioxide, nutrients and wind. The chapter examines the global and Indian development of protected cultivation, its role in year-round production, resource optimization, quality improvement and higher productivity. It also discusses present challenges, technological developments, automation, soilless cultivation, smart greenhouses and future opportunities for climate-resilient and sustainable flower production

1. Introduction

As purveyors of ornamentation, inciters of attraction, symbols of inspiration and peace as well as repositories of beauty, flowers hold special roles worldwide. Flowers have always been associated with mankind since time immemorial because they were used in religious offerings and other social ceremonies. Today; floriculture has emerged as one of the most lucrative business profession and as a major diversification options in the agri-businessin many countries of the world due to higher income per unit area. Floriculture is also known as sunrise sector of agriculture because of its fast growing and increasing demand. In India, about 3,09,000 hectares across the country was used for floriculture and produced 23,88,000 metric tonnes (MT) of loose flowers. India is second largest flower producer after China.

Vegetables are short duration crops and provide more returns per unit area and time besides, they play a major role in balancing human diet, thus, helping in alleviating hunger and malnutrition (Annon., 2009). In the previous few years, India has attained quantum jump in vegetable production and present estimated vegetable production is around 162.9 mt in an area of about 9.4 mha (NHB, 2014), and holds second position at global level. But this level of vegetable production is insufficient to meet the recommended daily intake (~300 g per capita per day) for a huge population of the country. This is mainly due to lower average productivity (17.5 t/ha) of the nation. There are several crop diminishing factors such as soil borne- and foliar- diseases, insect-pests and nematodes as biotic factors, and soil or water salinity, alkalinity, metal toxicity and heat and moisture stress as abiotic factors, which greatly affect vegetable crops yield in almost all growing areas, especially in fragile arid and semi arid regions.

The floriculture industry, at present, comprises of the cultivation and trade of cut and loose flowers, potted plants, foliage and bedding plants and dried flowers under open field as well as under protected environment conditions. Globally, more than 145 countries are involved in cultivation of floriculture crops. Though the art of growing flowers is not new to India, large scale commercial cultivation especially protected cultivation in poly houses is relatively new in India. Enormous genetic diversity, varied agroclimatic conditions and versatile human resources offers India a unique scope for diversification in to new avenues which were not explored to a greater extent. India also has a strong dry flower industry which contributes a major share to the overall trade. Other segments like fillers, potted plants, seeds and planting material turf grass industry and value added products also contribute a share in the overall growth of floriculture sector.

Cut flower production is a growing business in most Asian countries as the result of higher per capita income of people. Technology for production is well known and has been utilized to the maximum in many countries. As a consequence, cut flowers are commercially produced in larger quantities in these countries resulting in surpluses during normal periods of blooming, end result of which is a lower price for cut flowers. On the other hand, such prices are much higher during periods of needs such as certain special occasions, or off-season.

Indian floriculture industry is shifting from traditional flowers to cut flowers for export purpose. The liberalized economy has given an impetus to Indian entrepreneurs for establishing export oriented units (EOUs) under controlled climatic conditions.

The wide variation in the agro climatic conditions in India permit us to grow various types of tropical and subtropical plants and flowers. Though such plants grow successfully without cover, they fail to meet the export requirements of being seldom blemish free. High quality ornamental plants meant for export should be scientifically grown only in plastic, glass or fiberglass greenhouses, or at least under partial cover. Though initial investment is high in protected cultivation, the products in them will obtain far more attractive prices.

The beginning of protected cultivation in the country has paved the way for export of horticultural produce, especially of flowers to earn valuable foreign exchange. The technology also became handy for quality production of flowers and F₁ hybrid seeds for domestic and export markets. In view of the globalization of international market and tremendous boost that is being given for export of flowers, there has been a spurt in the demand for protected cultivation technology. Low-cost polyhouses are quite popular in the North-East and in the northern plains, flowers are being raised in polyhouses either for capturing the early markets or to improve the quality of seedlings. Several commercial floriculture ventures are coming up in Uttrakhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to meet the demands of both domestic and export markets. There has been a substantial increase in area under protected cultivation of different flower crops. Though there were initial hitches owing to the cost sharing, farmers of some states have taken maximum benefits of the existing schemes and adopted the technology. Protected cultivation technology is one of the most useful technology inputs which hold promise to transform Indian floriculture and bring in the “Colour Revolution”.

Nearly, 40 countries are involved in protected cultivation of flower and vegetable crops. New production centers are being added constantly, mostly from developing nations. Today, majority of production is from developing countries like Zimbabwe, Morocco, Kenya, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico, Singapore, Malaysia and India. In developed world, USA has an area of about 6,000 ha under greenhouses which are mostly used for floriculture. The Netherland is traditional exporter of greenhouse grown flowers all over the world. Israel, the largest exporter of cut flowers, has wide range of crops under greenhouses. About 1,000 ha area is under protected cultivation. Approximately, 98% of flowers are grown under open field cultivation and hardly 2% under the greenhouse cultivation.

Growing population, rapid urbanization and changing climate have created a global challenge to meet the food and nutritional needs. In India, rapid urbanization is not only taking place in larger cities, but satellite towns are competing for food, water, transportation and above all adding to pollution of the environment. As warming of the climate gathers alarming pace, posing a danger to agriculture, greenhouse cultivation is the only answer to save crops of flowers and vegetables. The yield under polyhouse cultivation can be achieved to the level of 5-8 times as compared to open field cultivation.

PROTECTED STRUCTURES

Protected cultivation is unique and specialized form of agriculture. Protected or greenhouse cultivation of vegetables is one of the means for clean vegetable production in peri-urban areas. The protected cultivation facilitates year-round production of high- quality produce with minimum labour and irrigation water, and almost wards off pest problem. In peri-urban regions, where climate prevents or does not favour year-round production of crops in open field, vegetable production can be taken up in protected environment. Use of protected structure for cultivation of crops as a commercial venture is a recent phenomenon, especially in the tropical areas.

Introduction

Alstroemeria also known as the lily of the Incas, Peruvian lily or Inca lily, has been grown mainly as a cut flower crop. Recently, it has become popular as a garden flower and also as a potted flowering plant. The plants produce beautiful large inflorescence in many different colours viz. lavender, orange, yellow to dark yellow, white, pink, red, purple and bi-colors. Flowers are characterized by black dots at the base of the petals and throats. The cut flowers have a long post harvest life, up-to two weeks. These valuable characteristics have made Alstroemeria one of the top cut flowers at the Dutch Flower Auction Centers. The plants produce high yield and possess an ever blooming habit after flower initiation has occurred but in general most cultivars flower best during spring and early summer. The straight, un-branched shoots emerge from underground rhizomes which also produce enlarged storage roots. It is gaining popularity in Indian flower market due to long stem flowers and prolonged vase life. Recently flower growers have shown great interest about its production as a cut flower crop.

Introduction

India is a land of diverse agro climatic zones and each of these zones offer a great potential for cultivation of wide range of crops across all seasons. Vegetables form major and important part of our dietary requirements, which are widely grown in the rural and peri-urban areas. Hi-tech horticulture including protected cultivation of high value and exotic vegetables has been on the increase, targeting high end domestic and export market. Of late, due to the population pressure, fragmentation of land holdings and urbanization has led to decline in cultivable area, more so in urban and peri-urban areas. Production of vegetables under protected cultivation system results in effective use of the land resources, besides being able to increase the production of quality vegetables both for the export and domestic markets by offsetting biotic and abiotic stresses to a great extent that otherwise is prevalent in open cultivation. Under protected cultivation, vegetables are widely grown due to higher productivity and economic feasibility.

Greenhouses are frames or inflated structures covered with a transparent or translucent material in which crops can be grown under partially controlled or totally controlled conditions of atleast. It is large enough to permit persons to work within, to carry out cultural operations. Greenhouse cultivation as well as other modes of controlled environment cultivation has been evolved to create favourable microclimate, for the crop production all through the year or during off season, when the produce is highly priced and remunerative. Green house is a broader term of protected structures which includes different types of structures according to the need. Green houses vary in size and complexity from small home or hobby structures to large commercial units, from solar green house to sophisticated environment controlled ones.

Duff and  Daly (2002) briefly describes the commonly found orchid diseases. These include the Bacterial soft rot caused by Erwinia carotovora, black leg or slow decline caused by Fusarium spp., petal blight caused by Curvularia eragrostidis [PseudocochlioBolus eragrostidis] and Alternaria alternata, top rot/shoot rot caused by Phytophthora parasitica, and stem rot caused by Sclerotium rolfsii [Athelia rolfsii].

Introduction

Pruning is the practise of cutting back, shaping, or removing branches, shoots, or leaves from plants in order to improve their overall health, regulate their development, make them seem nicer, or increase their output. Thinking about the plant’s requirements, growth habits, and intended results is essential in this horticulture discipline. Pruning is an essential tool in arboriculture, gardening, and agriculture; its use varies from plant to plant and from purpose to goal, from encouraging strong development to improving the plant’s aesthetic appeal. In the grand scheme of things, pruning is a deliberate action taken to improve the health and productivity of plants in their natural habitats.

Pruning is a regular part of plant maintenance involving the selective removal of specific plant parts. Although shoots and branches are the main targets for removal, roots, flower buds, fruits and seed pods may also be pruned. Pruning wounds plants, but plants respond differently to wounding than do animals. In plants, damaged areas are covered by callus tissue to close wounds. Another response to pruning occurs inside plants. Chemical boundaries form around wounded areas, walling off or compartmentalizing the wounds. Compartmentalization limits any decay that results from wounding, or from the natural death of branches. Use pruning techniques that minimize plant wounding and speed wound closure.

7.1 Economics and Valuation of ghgs emissions

Since the late 20^th century, it has been largely accepted that cause of high concentration of GHGs in atmosphere is induced by human activities. Greenhouse gas emissions and related climate change has opened up debate on overall economic losses and ways to reduce these loses. Moreover, apart from curbing monetary losses; the global political leaders as well as reputed economists are looking towards making money by saving the emissions. Recently, the researchers have started to emphasize on the actual value added to the ecosystem by curbing emissions, discrete of the economic benefits. This section will discuss the economics and ecosystem services related to the management of GHG emissions.

Origin

The initiative to curb the emissions started in 1992 with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The Convention took place from 3 to 14 June, 1992. The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty designed to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. The UNFCCC had non-binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and the framework was only meant for formulating precise international treaties (called “Protocols” or “Agreements”). It contained no execution mechanisms, however, it considered some negotiations and suggestions to formulate the action plans and regulation guidelines under UNFCCC to fulfill the objective of reduction of GHG emissions to the desired level.

Essential oils are products of secondary metabolism and are secreted by specialized cells located in specified parts of most plants. By virtue of certain characteristic properties, they have wide spread use in perfumery, flavouring and medicine. Essential oils are variable mixtures of terpenoids. Since these oils are produced by plants, composition varies with species and variety of plant besides geography, climate and cultivation practices. Since, chemical components are highly reactive, physical and chemical environment to which oil is subjected to during the processes of its extraction, processing and storage have a great influence on final composition. Entire chain of activities from cultivation, extraction, processing, storage to packing has to be perfectly standardized and regulated to assure end product consistency. Being a valuable item of trade, this is important from the point of view of delivering desired activity as well as safety to consumer.

56.1. Aim

To determine quality characteristics of dried and dehydrated fruits and vegetables.

56.2. Theory

The quality of dried/dehydrated products can be measured by estimating moisture contents, preservatives level, acid insoluble ash contents and most importantly enzyme reactions.

56.3. Estimation of Acid insoluble ash

1. To total ash add 25 ml of dilute HCl (10% w/w)

2. Cover with a watch glass and boil gently over a low flame for 5 minutes

3. Filter and wash the filter paper thoroughly with hot water

4. Return the paper to the original dish, ignite, cool and weigh the insoluble ash

1.introduction

The total sum of foods or mixture of foods which an individual consumes each day is referred to as his diet (Okey, 1992). Vegetables that are used as food has nourishing substances called nutrients namely carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins. The nutritive value of different vegetables varies sufficiently and the usage of variety of vegetables ensures all the necessary nutrients required in the diet and its lack in daily menu may result in various disease and deficiencies (Saxena, 1970).  They contain a great variety of all other phytochemicals, some of which claimed to have antioxidant, antimicrobial and also anti-carcinogenic properties (Grudha et al., 1996). But when soaking is done in water either plain or salted with sodium chloride, water soluble nutrients may be leached into the water (Srilakshmi, 1999). An attempt was made in the present study to find out the effect of soaking of some selected vegetables in water for one hour after cutting them into pieces and its nutrient loss.

19.1. Introduction

Quality is a measure of the degree of excellence or degree of acceptability by the consumer. It is also defined as the combination of attributes or characteristics of the products that has significance in determining the degree of acceptability of the product to a user. Industry defines quality as the measure of purity, strength, flavour, colour, size, maturity, workmanship or any other distinctive attribute or characteristics of the product. According to USDA Marketing Workshop Report (1951) quality is the combination of attributes or characteristics of a product that have significance in determining the degree of acceptability of the product to the user . The quality standards of fresh and processed fruit or vegetable products vary with their intended use. For marketing purposes; size, attractiveness, maturity, organoleptic quality and freedom from defects are to be kept in mind. While for processing, physico chemical attributes of raw material such as presence of soluble solids, development of uniform colour, flavour, juiciness, uniform maturity, tenderness in some vegetables etc are taken into consideration. During processing of fruit or vegetables into value added products; colour, flavour and texture etc also become important.

The Ramayana written by sage Valmiki is one of the great epics of the Sanskrit language. It is most religiously regarded and popular book in Hinduism. The book is believed to be complied between 300 B.C.E. – 200 AD. However, the original story could be as old 500 B.C.E. (Goldman, 1984). There are many other versions of the epic in various regional languages found in India and South Asia (Raghunathan, 1981; Arya,1998; Dutt, 2004; Mukherjee, 2015; Sharma and Arya, 2022).

As per literature references, the name ‘Ramanaya’ is composed of two words, ‘Rama’ and ‘Aya?a’. Rama, the name of the main character of the Epic, has two contextual meanings. In the Atharvaveda, it means 'dark’, dark-coloured, ‘black' and is related to the word ‘ratri’ (night) which means 'darkness of night'. The other meaning, which can be found in the Mahabharata, is 'pleasing’, pleasant, charming, lovely, beautiful. The word ‘Ayana’ means travel or journey. Thus, Ramaya?a means ‘Rama's Journey’ from his kingdom to various places, forests during his life time (Anonymous, 1960; Tulsidas, 1966; Murthy, 2003; Kishore, 2007; Rajagopalachari, 2013).

Ramayana contains over 24,000 couplet verses, in its full form, which are divided into following seven ‘Ka??as’ (booklets) - Balaka??a, Ayodhyaka??a, Ara?yaka??a, Ki?kindhaka??a, Sundaraka??a, Yuddhaka??a, Uttaraka??a and about 500 sargas (chapters). It is regarded as one of the longest epic poems written in history (Keshavadas, 1988; Debroy, 2017; Gupta, 2021).

morally right man in the world? Narada replied that such a man is Rama, son of King Dasharatha of Ayodhya. Valmiki wanted to know more about Rama and proceeded to take bath when he saw two birds in playful mood and was happy. Suddenly, a hunter hiding in the bush shot one of the two birds. Valmiki became painful and chanted some dialogues in curse which ultimately created a new form of sloka. This was the beginning of the main narrative (Goldman, 1984; Sachithanantham, 2004).

This family is represented by about 62 genera and 2,252 species, chiefly distributed in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Eastern Asia and eastern North America are the regions of their most common occurrence. The common genera, of which over 150 or more species have so far been reported, include Ranunculus (400), Aconitum (300), Delphinium (250), Clematis (250), Anemone (150) and Thalictrum (150). Some species occur in Arctic and Alpine zones. However, they are rare in tropics. Twenty genera and over 165 species of this family have so far been reported from India. Plants of this family flower mainly during winter in our country. Selected Indian Genera and Species
• Ornamentals: Many Ranunculaceae have showy flowers and are grown as ornamentals in gardens. Some of such ornamentals are Aconitum napellus (aconite), Anemone parviflora (wind flower), Aquilegia coerulea (columbine), Caltha palustris (Marsh marigold), Clematis virginiana (traveller’s joy), Delphinium ajacis (larkspur), Helleborus (Christmas rose), Nigella damascena (love-in-a-mist), Paeonia emodi (Peony), Ranunculus aquatilis, R. seleratus (cedery peaved crow foot).

37.1. Aim

To prepare ready to serve drink from fruits.

37.2. Theory

Ready to serve (RTS) drink is a type of fruit beverage which contains at least 10% of fruit juice and 10 degree Brix total soluble solids (TSS) with 0.3% acidity. It is not diluted before serving, hence it is known as ready to serve beverage. Mango drink, guava drink, pineapple drink are the commercial products available in the market.

Sweetened fruit juice is categorized as ready to serve beverage in which the minimum juice content shall be 85% with a minimum TSS of 10%, while unsweetened juice is a natural juice having 100% fruit juice with natural total soluble solids. These are preserved by heat processing method. Sweetened apple, pear juices are commercially manufactured.

1. Introduction

Coriander is a vital spice crop with a grave role in delicious food test. It is a tropical crop and cultivated as a major in Rabi season in chill free extents through the blossoming phase. Especially, all portions of the plant are comestible, but the fresh shrubberies and the desiccated seeds are the parts conventionally used in culinary. Approximately of the diverse forms of coriander are greenery, blossom and capsules. Coriander leaves are mainly ironic in vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K, with moderate pleased of nutritional minerals. Though seeds usually have inferior happy of vitamins, they do widely provide significant quantities of nutritional fibre, calcium, selenium, iron, magnesium and manganese. Mostly, coriander plant productivity is around one and three-fourth tonnes per acre of seed. The root is crushed and used as a condiment in useable form.

Genome editing has emerged as a powerful tool for accelerating crop improvement in horticultural crops by enabling precise modifications in their genetic architecture. Considering the development and advantages of genomeediting technologies in improving diverse characteristics of horticultural crops, substantial increase has been reported in recent years including ZFN, TALEN, and especially CRISPR/Cas systems. The CRISPR/Cas technology has proved its potential in altering many genes of interest in horticultural plants including fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants for improving agronomically important traits and attributes such as growth rate, seed size, flowering time, flower color, storage time, resistance to biotic stresses, tolerance to abiotic stresses, herbicide tolerance, metabolism, fruit color, fruit ripening etc. This technology opens new avenues for more favorable and precise manipulation of plant genomes to improve crop performance.
Genome editing has emerged as a powerful biotechnological tool with transformative potential for horticultural crops. It involves the precise modification of plant DNA to enhance desired traits, increase crop yield, and confer resistance to pests, diseases, and environmental stresses. Molecular tools like CRISPR-Cas9, TALENs, and ZFNs act as molecular scissors, allowing for the targeted alteration of specific DNA sequences with unprecedented accuracy. This technology allows scientists to introduce or enhance beneficial traits in crops, including disease resistance, improved nutrition, and drought tolerance. Horticulture is a critical component of global food production and human well-being as it involves cultivation and management of plants for food, aesthetics, and medicinal purposes. Horticultural crops comprising fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, and medicinal herbs, not only contribute to nutritional needs of populations worldwide but also enhance the visual appeal of our surroundings. However, productivity and quality of horticultural crops face significant constraints due to challenges such as biotic and abiotic stresses, limited genetic variation, and increasing demands for improved traits. Plant breeders have employed various techniques, such as hybridization, selection, and genetic manipulation, to enhance horticultural crops. These approaches have contributed to improved yield, disease resistance, and other desirable traits.

Table 19.1: Reference Guide for Landscape Plants.

There are different crop specific societies in different countries for registering new varieties. This does not provide any intellectual property right. It serves as a documental proof of new variety, author, mode of origin, place and date. For example, there is The American Rose Society which serves as the International Cultivar Registration Authority for Roses; The Royal Horticultural Society, International Registration Authority for the genus Dahlia; Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi -110 012, India for Bougainvillea. Each society either follows the rules set forth by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants or they are having their own rules and regulations for registration (Anonymous 1981, Choudhury 1973, Singh 1983, 1986, 1987, 1999, Singh et al., 1999, Sindhu 2015, Singh 2007). Newly evolved Bougainvilleas are being registered by the Division of Vegetable Crops and Floriculture, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, since 1966. A check list of all the existing important cultivars based on the available information from literature as well as from amateurs, professional traders and other sources from different countries are available.

India has witnessed tremendous increase in the production of horticultural crops especially fruits since independence. Due to specialized scientific interventions and application of latest research tools, the country is now among the top fruit producing countries of the world ranking second next only to China. However, the productivity has still remained low as against area under the fruit cultivation. Several neglecting issues related to the production technology have remained unattended so far. The old and senile orchards are now reverting towards a declining trend of production because of plant age factor, non-compatible varieties and poor canopy management (Baba et al., 2011).

In the recent past declining productivity of old and dense orchards existing in abundance has become a matter of serious concern for the orchardists, traders as well as scientists. In India 30-35 per cent area under fruit crops is occupied by old, dense and diseased orchards. For overcoming the problem of unproductive and uneconomic orchards existing in abundance, large scale uprooting and replacement with new plantations (rehabilitation) will be a long term and expensive strategy. Therefore research efforts were initiated to standardize a technology for restoring the production potential of existing plantations by a technique called Rejuvenation. The term ‘Rejuvenation’ means renewal or making new or young again. As applied to the orchard tree it would mean restoring the productive capacity of the fruit trees. The meaning of ‘Rejuvenation’ according to Chamber’s dictionary is ‘to recover youth character or to grow again’. Obviously, this would apply to those plants which have attained a stage where they are no more profitable from the grower’s point of view.

18.1 INTRODUCTION

The decline in productivity of old and senile orchards existing in abundance has become a matter of serious concern for the orchardists, traders as well as scientists. In India 30-35% area under fruit crops is occupied by old, senile, and pest-and-disease- affected orchards. For overcoming the problem of unproductive and uneconomic orchards existing in abundance, large scale uprooting and replacement with new plantations will be a long term and expensive strategy. Thus, rejuvenation of old and senile orchards is a good alternative.

India has achieved tremendous increase in horticulture production after independence. Adoption of several production technologies developed by several agricultural universities across the countries boosted the production of the horticulture sector both by increasing area under various fruit crops as well as by elevating productivity. Though the country has acquired second position in world fruit production; the productivity is less than many under developed countries.Several reasons can be attributed for declining productivity; few of them are enlisted below.

• Cultivation of old and less bearing varieties
• Improper and unscientific management of fruit crops
• Large number of old and senile orchards with declining productivity
• Problems in flowering and fruiting due to aberrant climate especially during flowering and fruiting

Retrospection

India is a unique country in the world with many religions and cultural diversity. Indian culture has been continuing through the ages because of its adjustability with others and openness. Unity in diversity is one of the major characteristics of Indian culture. It is a diverse nation where people of many religions live together peacefully. Religion in India is characterized by the diversity of religious beliefs and practices. In Indian history, religion has played an important role in the cultural set up of the country.

Hinduism is the main Indian religion and considered as a universal order, a way of life which is followed by the people. The origin for Hinduism is very old having no exact date of its inception. This is a belief and practices followed by people through the ages and considered as a process of humanity. The earliest known sacred text of Hinduism is ‘Vedas’ which dates back to at least 3000 BCE. However, it is believed that these texts are of divine origin and timeless. Hinduism was more philosophically and theoretically described in Upanishads, written roughly between 800 and 400 BCE. The Mahabharata and Bhagavad-Gita are other best-known book and widely cited on Hinduism. The Ramayana is the other most important epic book on Hinduism which teaches about life, principles, duty, justice etc. through the life-story of Rama.

Dasharatha was a great Hindu king of the Kosala kingdom and Ayodhya was the capital from where He ruled. He was the son of King Aja of Kosala and Queen Indumati of Vidarbha. Dasharatha had three primary queens namely - Kausalya, Sumitra, and Kaikeyi. Unfortunately, the King had no sons to continue his dynasty after him. Despaired Dasharatha summoned Rishyashringa, a forest rishi for a ritual to fulfill his desire of have sons. By that way, the King had four sons. Queen Kaushalya gave birth Rama and similarly, Kaikeyi gave birth Bharata and Sumitra gave birth two sons, namely - Lakshmana and Shatrughna. Lakshmana was very much attached and devoted to Rama while Shatrughna was devoted to Bharata.