eChapters

21.1 Introduction

Cashewnut or cashew is an export-oriented crop grown for its nuts, a true drupe. It is often referred to as ‘wonder nut’. It is highly delicious and nutritive. Its nutritional composition compares well with almond, hazelnut and walnut. The economic part is kernel which is a unique combination of fats (47%), protein (21%), carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. Nutritionally it is equivalent to milk, egg and meat, it is good appetizer, an excellent nerve tonic, stimulant, body builder. India is the largest producer, processor and exporter; and second largest consumer in the world. Cashew is grown in Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra along the west coast and in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal along the east coast.

22.1 Introduction

Tea is the most important non-alcoholic beverage gaining further popularity as an important “health drink”. It is consumed as a morning drink by 2/3rd of world population. Tea was initially used as a medicine and subsequently as beverage and now has proven to be a potential raw material for pharmaceutical industry. Tea is mainly consumed in the form of ‘fermented tea’ or ‘black tea’, ‘non-fermented tea’ or ‘green tea’ and ‘semi-fermented tea’ or ‘oolong tea’. Green leaves are also used as vegetables such as ‘leppet tea’ in Burma and ‘meing tea’ in Thailand. Tea leaves have more than 700 chemical constituents among which flavonoids, amino acids, vitamins (C, E, K), caffeine and polysaccharides are important to human health. The stimulating effect of tea is due to caffeine (1.25-4.5%). Per cup value of caffeine in tea is three and half times less than that of coffee and is less harmful than coffee. Importantly, the vitamin C content in leaves is comparable to that of lemon.

23.1 Introduction

Coffee is the second important popular beverage for its aroma and mild stimulant action. Its dried beans are roasted, ground and brewed to make a stimulating and refreshing beverage. Use of coffee has evolved from original chewing of leaves and beans of the plant to relieve pain, hunger and fatigue to the present more sophisticated uses, like espresso and decaffeinated coffees. Its use was first discovered in Arabia around mid-15th century.

24.1 Introduction

In India, the commercial cultivation of oil palm started during 1970. Today about 16 countries of tropics cultivate oil palm. The palm oil has been safe and nutritious source of edible oil for human consumption for 1000 years. Palm oil and its liquid fraction palmolein is consumed worldwide as cooking oil. Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Columbia started to grow oil palm in a large scale during 1980. The commercial producing countries are Liberia, Peru, Angola, Senegal, Ghana, etc.

German Prof. Peter Laurenberg conceived first the word horticulture. The term “Horticulture” is known in written form first in seventeenth century in a book entitled “New World of Words” by Phillips.

Etymologically the word “Horticulture” is derived from two Latin words viz. ‘Hortus’ [garden or enclosure] and ‘Cultura’ [cultivation]. So, literally horticulture means ‘garden or enclosure culture’ or ‘cultivation of garden crops within protected enclosures’.

Garden: Garden is a broad term derived from the Latin word Gyrdan meaning “to enclose”.

DIVISIONS AND DEFINITION OF HORTICULTURE

Pomology: (pomum = fruits, logy = science) It is a branch of horticulture which deals with study or cultivation of fruit crops starting from raising of saplings and intercultural to harvesting operations. The ‘pomology’ term is derived from latin word pomum (means fruits) and greek word logy (means science).

Horticulture has emerged as one of the potential agricultural enterprises in accelerating the growth of economy in India. It offers not only a wide range of options to the farmers for crop diversification, but also provides ample scope for sustaining large number of agro-industries which generate huge employment opportunities. Horticulture has been evolving in form of horticulture industry in our country owing to its significant role in nutritional security, poverty alleviation and employment generation. The production of fruits, vegetables and flowers has acquired much importance in recent times due to their increasing demand. India has a wide variety of climate and soil on which different horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, medicinal and aromatic plants, plantation crops and spices are cultivated successfully.

HORTICULTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS

The Horticultural crops are majorly classified on the basis of its consumption and uses as fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, medicinal, aromatic and plantation crops. Moreover, these crops have been further classified into various groups on the basis of their habitat, growth pattern, edapho-climatic requirements and uses. All branches of horticulture classified specifically as hereunder:

A Classification of fruits

1. Based on Climatic adaptability
   1. Tropical fruits: These fruit crops are grown in tropical climatic regions which are geographically located between the parallels of 23° 27' South (Tropic of Capricorn) and 23° 27' North (Tropic of the Cancer) of the equator. They are generally evergreen and very sensitive to cold. Eg. Mango, Pineapple, Banana, Papaya, Citrus, Sapota, Avocado etc.
   2. Sub-tropical fruits: Fruit crops are grown in between temperate and tropical climatic regions. They may be either deciduous or evergreen nature. Eg. Mango, guava, citrus, durian, jackfruit, bread fruit etc.

A seed (in some plants, referred to as a kernel) is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant. The formation of the seed completes the process of reproduction in seed plants (started with the development of flowers and pollination), with the embryo developed from the zygote and the seed coat from the integuments of the ovule. In broad sense, seed is a material which is used for planting or regeneration purpose. Seed technological point of view, seed may be sexually produced matured ovule consisting of an intact embryo, endosperm and or cotyledon with protective covering (seed coat). It also refers to propagating materials of healthy seedlings, tuber, bulbs, rhizome, roots, cuttings, sets, slips, all types of grafts and vegetatively propagating materials used for production purpose. Quality seed, therefore, can be defined as the seed which fulfills the minimum requirements of getentic and physical purity, seed germination and vigour freedom from weeds and other crop seeds and other relevant seed standards.

A nursery is a place, where seedling, saplings, trees, shrubs, and other plant materials are grown and maintained until they are placed in a permanent place.

Advantages of Nursery

1. The area being small and compact, it is convenient and easy to grow large number of seedlings per unit area.
2. Management of favourable growing conditions becomes easy and feasible.
3. Easy management of pests and diseases in compact area.
4. Establishment of disease free and virus free scion bank.
5. Ensure optimum utilization of labour, water, nutrients and other inputs.
6. Ensure easy and cheap availability of plants.
7. Promotion of export through supply and processing of quality plant materials.

Plant Propagation is a technique through which multiplication or production of new individuals take place from selected propagules. The methods of propagation are broadly divided in two categories:

1. Sexual method
2. Asexual method

1. Sexual method of Propagation

In this method, plants are produced from seeds and such plants are called seedlings. Seed is considered as a dormant plant which develops into a complete plant if subjected to congenial environment.

Advantages

1. This is very simple, cheap and easy method of propagation.
2. Some species of fruits, ornamental annuals and vegetables which cannot be propagated by asexual means should be propagated by this method. e.g. papaya, marigold, tomato etc.
3. Hybrid seeds can be developed by this method.

Layout of an orchard

Layout means the way by which something is arranged or laid out. The purpose of designing a layout for an rchard is to assign the actual position for trees/ plantations, roads, water channels, buildings etc. The layout should be planned very carefully and implemented properly to facilitate proper care and maintenance of an orchard. The plan should provide optimum number of trees per unit area as well as sufficient space to each of the tree for proper development and ease in various cultural operations of the orchard.

Materials required for layout

Measuring tape, rope, pegs, poles and planting board.

Based on agro-climatic conditions, the following system of planting are generally followed for planting of fruit trees:

1. Square
2. Rectangular

The fruit trees are grown for optimum production of quality fruits that fulfill our requirement. Therefore, proper care and management of trees is mandatory to manipulate plant growth and plant environment. Training and pruning are important operations that provide not only the proper framework to the tree but also the favourable environment leading to desired plant growth and reduction in disease and pest attack.

Training

It is a physical manipulation technique that provides proper shape, size and direction to the plant in initial stage of growth. The techniques like tying, fastening, staking, supporting over a trellis or pergola in a certain fashion or pruning of some parts are are followed.

Objectives

• To improve physical appearance and usefulness of plant by providing appropriate shape and size to the plant and maintaining proper root-shoot balance.
• To facilitate easy cultural operations including canopy management, inter-cropping, plant protection and harvesting.
• To develop strong scaffold branches with better crotch angles in all directions that are capable of bearing heavy crops over the years without breakage of limbs.
• To provide adequate sunlight and air to the centre of the tree.

The high density planting (HDP) in fruit crops is one of the new concepts of increasing the productivity without affecting the quality of fruits. The concept of high density planting was pioneered in temperate fruits in Europe at the end of 1960, since then there is rise in establishment of commercial high density orchards throughout the world. Initially HDP was followed mostly in temperate fruits e.g., apple. HDP is defined as a method of planting wherein more numbers of plants are planted per unit area as compared to conventional planting density or it is a modern method of fruit cultivation involving planting of fruit trees densely, allowing small or dwarf trees with modified canopy for better light interception and distribution and ease of mechanised field operations. It is one of the important methods to achieve high productivity per unit area both in short duration and perennial fruit crops.

Now-a-days, new orchards of fruits are planted in this system with a view to produce higher fruit yield and increased profitably. In addition, there is also a need to feed the growing population and provide them nutritional security and land resources are shrinking simultaneously due to the industrialization, urbanization etc., hence it is required to develop the modern facilities to compete with the developed nation. The success of this technology in most of the fruit crops is dependent on the use of methods to control shoot growth so as to maximize light interception. The main aim of HDP is to obtain the twin prerequisites of productivity by maintaining a balance between vegetative and reproductive growth without sacrificing plant health and fruit quality.

Irrigation is one facet of the inputs which need to be carefully managed so that profits are maximized. Irrigation plays a major role in any agriculture crop production. One should be aware of different types of irrigation adapted in orchards or crop cultivation to become a successful grower. Irrigation is very important component of crop cultivation as sufficient moisture must be maintained in the soil for obtaining the optimum growth and good quality yield. The aim of irrigating a plant should be to wet the entire root zone without allowing any wastage of water beyond the root zone. The irrigation systems have to be properly devised so that the water requirements of the trees are met at the minimum expenditure without any wastage of water. Irrigation practices can be improved if a range of important factors like crop type, crop water requirements, climatic conditions, soil type, water quality, method of irrigation are taken into account.

Crop type

The type of horticultural crops grown influences irrigation practices. Annual vegetable and melon crops have high water requirement, hence irrigation management is extremely critical to their productivity during their relatively short life span (10-20 weeks). Perennial fruit crops tend to require less water and management, although critical, is not generally as critical as for annual crops.

Fertilizer is a substance of natural or synthetic origin, applied to soils or to plant tissues (usually leaves) for the supply of one or more nutrients essential to the plant. It is classified in two types, inorganic fertilizers and organic fertilizers. Both the fertilizers play major role to the crops if they are properly and appropriately applied. To obtain maximum benefits, it is important to apply fertilizers at an appropriate time, amount and in a precise manner. The method of fertilizer application should be selected appropriately taking into consideration the age and stage of crop plants, their root extensibility, type of orchard management, kind and amount of fertilizers to be applied. The fertilizers should be given over the area of crop plants, where their active roots are spread. In fruit trees, fertilizer should be given in restricted area i.e. in the surrounding area of about 1 to 1.5 m away from the trunk of the trees in active root zone.

When to apply the fertilizers?

Majority of the crops require nutrients at different stages like growth & development, flowering and fruit setting time. In fruit crops, stages like new flushes emergence, floral buds differentiation and fruit development require more nutrients. Time of application of fertilizers may also vary depending on types of fertilizers, need of the crops, soil and climate.

Juvenility

Juvenility is referred to the phase of plant growth following germination from seed during which flowering does not occur and the bud meristem is not competent to respond to seasonal environmental inductive cues, and hence plant remains vegetative. The changes from juvenile to mature characteristics are well known as phase changes phenomenon. Plants are unable to initiate flowering after germination and have to undergo in a juvenile developmental phase. This transition period (phase) is a gradual and continuous process until the flowering takes place. The length of this phase varies considerably between different species. In annuals like Arabidopsis, the juvenile phase is typically very short, whereas in perennials like hybrid aspen, it is several years.

A plant is considered juvenile from the time it is at seedling stage until it is mature and capable of initiating flowering. Length of juvenile period in most of woody plants is still considered as a big problem. Indeed, it affects the plant breeding efficiency, plant propagation, and selection of new cultivars. In fact, juvenility is a complex phenomenon still not fully understood. Juvenility period extends from seed germination until the plant attains the ability to flower. Furthermore, all the stages namely seed germination, juvenile growth period and transition to the reproductive stage until fruitful inflorescence development are long and not always synchronous in the seedling population. It arrives at the age 30-40 years in Fagus sylvatica L., and at l0 years or even more in olives. Juvenile period is affected by both environmental and genetic factors. Attempts made in past to overcome juvenile period in most woody plants on the environmental level have shown very limited success.

The world ‘‘Unfruitfulness’’ means a state or character of being unfruitful or barrenness. It is a vital constraint in so many fruit crops leading to a great loss to the farming community. In contrary, ‘Fruitfulness’ is the state where a fruit plant is not only having the ability of flowering and fruiting, but also carry on these fruits up to maturity. The inability of the plant to do so is known as ‘unfruitfulness’ or ‘barrenness’. Despite of profuse flowering, poor fruit retention in an orchard has been found owing to poor fruit setting at initial stage and subsequently abscission of the fruitlets. All the trees of an orchard do not bear flowers and fruits in the same extent or regularly and sometimes fail to bear flowers and fruits under similar conditions while other trees bears heavily. Such type of characteristics of trees may be attributed to unfruitfulness. Thus, all the problems affecting fruit retention upto final stage can be considered under unfruitfulness of a tree. Therefore, it is a very complex problem of an orchard and needs proper understanding for economical and effective management to maintain sustainable production of fruit crops.

CAUSES OF UNFRUITFULNESS

There are innumerable causes perceived behind unfruitfulness. Majorly, It may be due to poor root shoot ratio, lack of balance between vegetative and reproductive (fruiting) growth, heavy crop load which leads to restriction of fruit bud production and finally short of the crop in the following years.

Fruits and vegetables account for nearly 90% of total horticulture production in the country. India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world and the leader in several horticultural crops namely Mango, Banana, Papaya, Cashewnut, Arecanut, Potato and Okra. However, the nature of horticultural crops being such that it’s not easy to make assessment of their production. These crops, especially vegetables are grown in small plots, fields or in the backyard of the houses; do not have single harvesting in most of the cases which makes their assessment difficult. Many horticultural crops have multiple pickings in a single season. Similarly many fruit trees are scattered, which do not count for assessment.

India has witnessed increase in horticulture production over the last few years. Significant progress has been made in area expansion resulting in higher production. Over the last decade, the area under horticulture grew by 2.6% per annum and annual production increased by 4.8%. During 2017-18, the production of horticulture crops was 311.71 Million Tonnes from an area of 25.43 Million Hectares. The production of vegetables has increased from 101.2 Million Tonnes to 184.40 Million Tonnes since 2004-05 to 2017-18 and production of fruits has increased from 50.9 Million Tonnes to 97.35 Million Tonnes since 2004-05 to 2017-18.

The horticultural produce includes fruits, vegetables, flowers, plantation crops and spices. However, fruits and vegetables are the most consumed and important commodity among them. Morphologically and physiologically, the fruits and vegetables are highly variable and may come from a root, stem, leaf, immature or fully mature and ripe fruits. They have variable shelf life and require different suitable conditions during marketing. All fresh horticultural crops are high in water content and are subjected to desiccation (wilting, shrivelling) and to mechanical injury. Various authorities have estimated that 20-30% of fresh horticultural produce is lost after harvest and these losses can assume considerable economic and social importance.

Maturity

It is the state of reaching a stage of full or advanced development of tissue of fruits and vegetables, after which it will ripen normally. During the process of maturation, the fruit receives a regular supply of food material from the plant and at maturity, the abscission or corky layer formed at the stem end stops this inflow. Afterwards, the fruit depend on its own reserves, and carbohydrates are dehydrated and sugars start accumulating until the sugar acid ratio formation. In addition to this, typical flavour and characteristic colour also develop. It has been determined that the stage of maturity at the time of picking influence the storage life and quality of fruit, when picked immature like mango develop white patches or air pockets during ripening, thus lacks in in normal brix acid ratio or sugar acid ratio, taste and flavour. On the other hand, if the fruits are harvested over mature or full ripe, then they are easily susceptible to microbial and physiological spoilage and their storage life is considerably reduced. Such fruits continue to show numerous problems during handling, storage and transportation. Therefore, it is necessary or essential to pick up the fruits or vegetables at correct stage of maturity to facilitate proper ripening, distant transportation and to obtain maximum storage life.

Introduction

• Agriculture with its allied activities is the largest sector in India with 70% dependency of its rural households for their livelihood and 82% of farmers in the country are small and marginal.
• Agriculture sector alone contributes about 14.5% towards gross domestic product (GDP) of India.
• Food grain production has experienced a considerable jump from about 51 million tonne during 1950 to 291.95 million tonne in 2019-20 as per second advance estimates. The production of horticulture products has doubled over the past quarter century and the value of global trade in horticulture crops now exceeds that of cereals. For the first time, horticulture production surpassed food production in India during 2013-14 and continues to excel currently.
• India is characteristically a country of small agricultural farms, where approximately 80% of total land holdings in the country are less than 2 ha (5 acres) with 30% irrigated land only.
• India produces wide variety of agricultural products because of its varied agro-climatic regions but low farm productivity is major concern, which is around 33% of the best agricultural farms world over. Indian farmers can get more remuneration from the same piece of land with fewer inputs, once the productivity gets increased.

1. INSECT- PESTS OF MANGO

1. Mango hoppers: Idioscopus niveosparus, I. clypealis, Amritodus atkinsoni (Cicadellidae: Hemiptera)

Management

• Avoid close planting, as the incidence becomes very severe in overcrowded orchards.
• Orchards must be kept clean by ploughing and removal of weeds.
• Pruning of dense canopy to facilitate aeration and sunlight.
• Avoid excess use of nitrogenous fertilizers.
• Immediately after withdrawal of monsoon (September-October), off-seasonal trunk spraying with Malathion 50 EC @ 15 ml in 10 lit of water suppresses the adult hoppers from multiplying further and hinders their oviposition and also kills the newly hatched nymphs.
• Avoid application of all other synthetic pyrethroids as they have been reported to cause resurgence of hoppers.
• If overlapping generations of hoppers are found, spray imidacloprid @ 3 ml or acetamaprid 4 gm in 10 litres of water at panicle emergence stage.

1. DISEASES OF MANGO

Mango is considered to be the king of fruit. India is the largest producer and exporter of mango in the world. Mango possess unique nutritional and medicinal qualities apart from being a rich source of vitamins A & C, besides its attractive form and appearance, delicious taste and appetizing flavor, the ripe mango fruit according to nutritional experts is also highly invigorating, fattening, laxative and diuretic. Every part of mango from root to tip is used in a variety of ways. This crop is affected by many fungal, bacterial and other non parasitic diseases.

1. Mango Malformation Disease (MMD)

Mango Malformation Disease is a fungal disease of mango caused by several species of Fusarium, some yet to be described. Mango is the only known host of the disease. The disease spreads on a tree very slowly, but if left unchecked, can severely reduce yields. The main method of spreading MMD to new areas is through infected vegetative planting material. There is no evidence that the disease can spread on fruit or the seeds, or that it affects human health. It usually associated with the bud mite, Aceria mangiferae but the mites have been shown to spread the disease within a tree and not between the trees. Mango malformation, also known as bunchy top, is a very serious threat to the mango industry, particularly in northern India. The Etiology of the disease still remains obscure and diverse claims have been made about its causes, e.g., physiological, viral, fungal, acarological and nutritional.

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Originated in Peru, Ecuador, Bolvia of South America and name came from Aztec word Tomato.
• First report from Italy in 1544.
• Leading producers in India - UP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar.

1.2. Economic importance

• Rich source of minerals like calcium, sodium, trace elements like copper, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B complex (thiamine), essential amino acids and healthy organic acids like malic, citric, formic, oxalic and acetic acids.
• Attractive red colour due to lycopene and yellow colour due to carotenes.
• Peculiar flavour due to presence of ethanol, acetaldehyde and volatile flavour in fruit.

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Also known as balsam pear or bitter cucumber.
• Old world origin and native of tropical Asia, particularly in Indo Burma region
• Widely grown in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and tropical Africa
• In India, it is cultivated in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

1.2. Economic importance

• Bitter gourd contains bitter principle (Glucoside) momordicin.
• Important vegetable in South Indian states, particularly in Kerala and grown for immature tuberculate fruits a unique bitter taste
• Fruits are
  • Rich source of vitamins and minerals

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Originated from wild non heading type, Cliff cabbage or Cole wort (Brassica oleracea var. sylvestris).
• Native to Mediterranean region.
• Three cultivated forms
  • Brassica oleracea var capitata f. alba- White cabbage
  • Brassica oleracea var capitata f. rubra- Red cabbage
  • Brassica oleracea var capitata f. sabauda- Savoy cabbage
• Major cabbage producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

1.2. Economic importance

• Contains all essential amino acids, particularly sulphur containing amino acids.
• Red cabbage is rich source of anthocyanin.

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Originated in Asia namely North West India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Western Tien Shan
• According to Vavilov (1951), it was originated in Pakistan.
• Jones and Mann (1963) stated that areas comprising Pakistan, Iran and mountain areas to the North India are primary centres of origin
• India is the second largest producer in the world, next to China and ranks third in export of onions, next to Netherlands and Spain.
• Maharashtra is the leading onion producing state in India, followed by Karnataka and Gujarat.
• Grown in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Bihar

1.2. Onion types in India

• Common onion (Allium cepa var. cepa) - Large bulbs born singly and propagated through seeds. Used as salad or in curries.
• Multiplier onion or potato onion (Allium cepa var. aggregatum) -Producing small bulbs, borne in clusters and generally propagated through small bulbs. Used for seasoning curries.

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Centre of origin is Peru, Bolivia, and South America in the Central Andean region.
• Introduced into India in early 17^th Century
• In India, cultivation of potato began first in Nilgiris in 1822.
• Mainly grown in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Karnataka, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.
• Commercial potato species - Solanum andigenum - not very common. Plants are thin and long stem, small and narrow leaflets. Flowers more profuse, long stolons and mostly coloured deep eyed tubers.
• Solanum tuberosum: More common, plants shorter and thicker stem,

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Centre of origin is Central Asia, the Near East, Ethiopia and the Mediterranean
• There are two sub-species
  • Pisum sativum sub. sp hortense, the garden pea
  • Pisum sativum sub. sp arvense, the field pea

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Centres of diversity - Central and South America, India, South East Asia with secondary centres of diversity in West and East Africa.
• Leaf amaranth - native of India
• A. tricolor L. (Syn A. gangeticus L), A. mangostanus, A. polygonoides, A. dubius, A. blitum (Syn: A. lividus)
• A. tristis L., A. viridis L. - Wild leaf types
• A. spinosus L., A. cruentus L., A. caudatus L. - Cultivated grain types

1.1. Origin and distribution

• Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers are native to Europe, North America and North Western Africa.
• China roses are the ancestor of the present day popular roses.
• Native of Himalayan regions, Asia, China, Japan, Europe and North America.

1.2. Economic importance

• King of flowers
• Symbol of beauty, fragrance and used to convey of love.

1.1. Terms and definitions

1.1.1. Landscape gardening

• Branch of floriculture deals with the study of ornamental gardening or garden features.
• Bringing an area or piece of land into a garden using naturally existing features like undulations, terraces and plain surface to have more naturalistic effect than artificial.

1.1.2. Ornamental gardening

• Place for growing plants which are consciously directed for ornamental or practical use.

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.

The hot arid regions of India are spread over 32 million hectares in the states of Rajasthan (61%), Gujarat (20%), Punjab (5%), Haryana (4%), Karnataka (3%) and Andhra Pradesh (7%). The arid regions of western Rajasthan experience an annual rain fall between 100-500 mm with a coefficient of variations varying from 40-70 per cent. Low and erratic rainfall coupled with extreme temperature results in complete or partial crop failure, considerably affects the agricultural economy of the region. High wind velocity causes wind erosion and shifting of sand dunes covers the fertile agricultural land and canals (Rao and Singh,1998). The rise in temperature begins from March onward and attains its peak in May as high as 46°C. The transpiration is low during winters but during summer in months (May & June), it reaches up to 16 mm per day. The annual estimated potential evapotranspiration values ranges from 1600 mm in eastern part and 1800 mm in western part of the region.

In the arid regions of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and eastern part of arid Gujarat the soils have developed from alluvial and aeolian parent materials. In context to the type of soils light brown sandy soils with dune dominance is 30.6 per cent and associated others 34 per cent area, light brown soils 1.7 per cent, Grey brown soils 13.6 per cent hard pan in 5.9 per cent and seirozems in 1.7 per cent area (Dhir, 1977). Kolarker et al. (1989) reported that in 12 district of Rajasthan sandy soils dominated in 14.3 million ha. These soils are poor in fertility very low organic carbon (0.03-0.1%), light in texture called desert soils (north western) in the order of aridisols. It has undulated topography with the dominance of sand dunes inter-dunal plains. About 80 per cent area falls under rain fed cropping and moth bean, cluster bean, pearl millet, and sesame are the main crops grown during kharif season after the onset of monsoon. Under the vagaries of monsoon and recurrent drought the rain fed cropping becomes a gamble, which creates severe food and fodder scarcity in the region.

Rajasthan has geographical area of 3.42 lakh sq. km has attained the status of being the largest state of India. The state represents 10.4% land surface area with 5.5% population of India, 66% is dependent on agricultural for their livelihood. The state is divided into 33, districts, which are further subdivided into 338 Tehsils and 295 Panchayat Samitis. The total cultivable area is around 220.00 lakh ha. The average rainfall of the State is 575 mm, out of which about 532 mm precipitation occurs in the rainy season i.e. June to September. The average rainfall of eastern Rajasthan is about 704 mm and that of western Rajasthan is about 310 mm which reflects a vast variation. Rivers in Rajasthan are non-perennial except for Chambal and Mahi rivers. The State is presently divided into 33 administrative districts and has 10 agro-climatic zones. Agriculture in Rajasthan is primarily rain fed covering country’s 13.27 per cent of available land. Groundwater is getting depleted as well as polluted. In general, every third year is a drought year. Despite these, the State has made significant achievements since independence and has attained self-sufficiency in food- grains. Rajasthan is located in the north-western part of the subcontinent. It is bounded on the west and north-west by Pakistan, on the north and north-east by the states of Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, on the east; in the south- east by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and on the south- west by the state of Gujarat. The Tropic of Cancer passes through its southern tip in the Banswara district. In the west, Rajasthan is relatively dry and infertile: this area includes some of the Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert. In the south-western part of the state, land is wetter, hilly, and more fertile.

Vegetables are of short duration, have higher productivity and give more return per unit area, besides giving nutritious food to human being and can be fitted in different farming systems. They also play a major role in balancing human diet, thereby helping in alleviating hunger, poverty and malnutrition. Because of the public awareness for the significance of vegetable consumption, the demand of vegetables in the global market has increased immensely. Thus, vegetable farming is becoming profitable venture globally, opening avenues of self employment and revenue generation (Anon., 2009). At global level, India holds second position, next only to China in vegetables production with a share of about 14%. The present annual vegetables production of country is about 175 million tons from an area about 10.3 million ha with a productivity of 17.1 t/ha. India grows largest number of vegetables in the world, as having a spectrum of wide range of agro-climatic situations, ranging from dry temperate to humid tropics between the altitudes from sea level to snow line.

The Indian hot arid region is one of the most important arid ecosystems of the world in terms of biodiversity it possesses. This arid region spreads over 31.7 mha, occupies major part of north western India including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana, which together contribute 73% of arid region. High temperature, wind velocity, low humidity, low and erratic rainfall and high potential evapotranspiration are important characteristics of this region which narrowed down the choice for vegetables, besides permit their low productivity.

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.

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.

With the culmination of green revolution, the yield in agriculture is almost static with the use of even great deal of inputs and resources with appearing decadence in nature. The agriculture, if continuous on with same trend, will no longer productive and sustainable. Heterogenity being vested with best survival and sustenance, attempt is underway towards crop diversification deploying remunerative crops and techniques so as to keep pace with rising demand of mankind. Added to this, dwindling land : man ratio (0.13 ha during 1990s), harvesting more return from a unit area of land, disguised unemployment, improper availability of fruits and vegetables (40 g and 120 g respectively as against 120 g and 280 g for fruits and vegetables, respectively), generating employment (143 man-days/ha in cereals, 860 man-days/ha in fruit production and 1000-2500 man-days/ha in cultural intensive fruit crops), are major concerns for high density planting (HDP). It is a holistic production system which helps in promoting and preserving dynamic agro-ecosystem. HDP is also an aid to biodiversity, biological cycles and organic farming. As an alternative to raise production and productivity especially to compete global trade, HDP is worth adoption.

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.

The arid zone of India covers about 12% of the country’s geographical area and occupies over 31.7 mha of hot desert and about 7 m ha under cold desert. The arid regions of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana together constitute the Great Indian Desert known as Thar Desert that accounts for 89.6% of hot arid regions of India. In Gujarat, 6.22 m ha area is under arid zone which constitute 19.6% of the arid area of country (Fig 1). In Gujarat, eight districts fall under arid zone, namely, Kachchh (100% of district area), Jamnagar (80%), Surendranagar (29%), Junagadh (20%), Banaskantha (18%), Mehsana (7%), Ahmedabad (6%) and Rajkot 6%).

Since time immemorial India has been leader in respect to spice, area, production and consumption. India is known as ‘Land of spices. Out of 109 spices listed by the ISO, India produce as many as 63 owing to its varied agroclimatic regions. Almost all the state and union territory of the country grow one or the other spices. Spices are the sources of livelihood and employment for large number of people in the country. Seed spices are annual herbs, whose dried seeds or fruit are used as spices. Spices are the nature’s gift to mankind and since antiquity, spices have been considered indispensable in the culinary art, as they are used to flavour foods and beverages The important seed spices are coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek. ajwain, dill,, celery, anise, nigella and caraway. The other seed spices s are poppy seed, rai, yellow mustard, white mustard, parsley and sesame. In India, Rajasthan and Gujarat has emerged as “Seed spice bowl” and together contributes more than 80 percent of total seed spices.

Burgeoning population exerts pressure on limited precious natural resources for enhancing production of food, fodder and fuel. In order to meet out increasing demand for food, fruit, vegetables, oilseeds, fodder and timber wood for burgeoning population, it is necessary to utilize each unit of natural rsesource very efficiently. The productivity of the precious natural resources is to be enhanced per unit time per unit area by agronomic ally managing stresses soil and land ecosystem to harvest more benefit. The cropping system as well as intercropping system practised by using different trees, fruits, vegetables, crops are the very efficient enterprises for realising higher productivity of natural resources available with in specified ecosystem.

The arid zone eco-system of Rajasthan is very fragile and is prone to serious imbalance even with the slightest disturbance due to mismanagement of resources. Among the eastern margin of the mean annual rainfall is 500 mm, while in the western most part it is 100 mm. The rainfall is monsoon driven. It comes between June and September (in 9-21 short spells). Large coefficient of variation (40-60%) and erratic distribution during the monsoon are characteristics features of the rainfall, leading often to prolong drought and failure of rainfed crops (More and Samadia, 2007). Temperature as low as 4.4° C, and as high as 50° C has been recorded in Western Rajasthan. Farming system and cropping system approach for sustainable use of farm resources and reduced risks have been successfully demonstrated in perennial horticulture. There is great pressure of livestock on available feed and fodder, as land available for fodder production has been decreasing. The requirement of dry and green fodder by 2025 would be 1170 mt and 650 mt while supply is expected around 411.3 mt and 488 mt deficit will be 64.87 % green fodder and 24.92 % dry fodder (Table 1).

Henna or Mehandi (Lawsonia inermis L.) a perennial shrub belongs to family Lythraceae. It is commonly cultivated as a commercial dye crop possess natural dyeing properties and are used for hair dyeing and for staining of palm, feet and other body parts since times immemorial. The plant finds their importance due to presence of orange red dye in its leaves and essential oil in its flower. Oil extracted from leaves and flower called ‘Otto of henna’ which is utilized as perfume (Jaimini et al., 2005). It can grow well in harsh climate of arid and semiarid regions. In India, over 90 percent of the henna production comes from Sojat region of Pali district of Rajasthan and Sojat is only center for its processing and trading in India. In India it occupies about 40,000 ha area out of which 35,000 ha alone is in Pali district (Sojat and adjoining tehsils).

Geographical distribution

It occurs naturally in North Africa mainly in countries of Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Sahara and Yemen. It is naturally occurring in many of these countries along the water courses and semi-arid regions where it can with stand dryness as well as drought. It has been introduced into countries like Australia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Chad, Congo, China, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain, Sudan, Togo and Zanzibar (Suresh Kumar et al., 2005).

Distribution

Several countries grow henna on a commercial scale for its dye-bearing leaves, notably India, Egypt, Iran, Niger, Sudan and Pakistan. In India, it was once grown extensively in Punjab and Gujarat. However, gradually the major cultivation has shifted to the arid fringes of Rajasthan, with Pali district having the maximum area under henna. It is taken as an annual Ratoon crop under rainfed conditions. Presently over 39,000 ha of henna plantations in the district with nearly 70 per cent occurring in the Sojat area produce around 20,000 t dry leaves worth Rs. 40 crores. Besides this, leaf cuttings are also collected from existing farms and field boundary plantations in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh henna is grown for its scented flowers used in the essence industry. Kannauj, Lucknow, and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh are reputed centres for the commercial extraction of mehndi oil from flowers and its use in traditional essence. Since henna is grown as a dryland crop under limited moisture conditions greater use of available moisture by the plants is possible.

India is a huge importer of crude oil and spends about Rs. 1,200 billion of foreign exchange every year to meet 75% of its oil needs (Anand, 2006). This has affected its balance of payment adversely, especially after the unprecedented rise incrude oil prices. Being an agricultural country endowed with varied climates, nutrient-rich soil and ability to grow many different crops, India offers a great promise as a producer of surplus raw material for biodiesel and bioethanol production. India’s biofuel production currently accounts for only 1 percent of global production (Shinoj et al., 2012). Although all oils can be used, edible oils as a source for biodiesel production have to be ruled out because they are required for cooking and food purposes. Therefore, non-edible oils are the premier raw material for biodiesel production in India. Seeds rich in these oils are mostly produced by perennial species. Hence these trees are referred to as tree-borne oilseed species (TBOS) and they produce TBOs (Aurora and Kumar, 2015). TBOs are cultivated/grown in the country under different agro-climatic conditions in a scattered form in forest and non-forest areas as well as in waste land/deserts/hilly areas. The country has enormous potential of oilseeds of tree origin like mahua (Madhuca indica),neem (Azadirachta indica), simarouba (Simarouba glauca), karanja (Pongamia pinnata), ratanjyot (Jatropha curcas), jojoba (Simmondsia chinesis), cheura (Diploknema butyracea), kokum (Garcinia indica),wild apricot (Prunus armeniaca), wild walnut (Aleurites molucana), kusum (Schleichera oleosa), tung (Vernicia fordii), etc. The best characteristic is that it can be grown and established in the wasteland and have varied agro-climatic conditions. (Aurora and Kumar, 2015)

Of the total land area of the world, arid zones account for 18.8%. Throughout the arid zones, there is no dearth of problems, but rapidly increasing desertification (some call it land degradation) is a problem of worldwide dimension. Water is a scare commodity in arid zones. Much of rainfall is lost by evapo-transpiration and as a result, ground water recharged only by seepage through soil profile. However, it is a common phenomenon in arid zones of the worlds that ground water is frequently used at the rate that exceeds recharge. The situation in arid tropics of India, which is spread over an area of 31.7 million ha, is no more different.

Agriculture is the human enterprise that is most vulnerable to climate change. Tropical agriculture including agriculture in arid tropics, particularly subsistence agriculture is vulnerable, as farmers do not have adequate resources to adapt to climate change. Land-use options that increase livelihood security and reduce vulnerability to climate and environmental change are necessary. Rural folk in arid western Rajasthan, the principal hot arid region of the country have been practising arable cropping in association with these scattered trees on crop fields since time immemorial. This combined protective-productive system of integration of trees into farming system rooted in the principles of ecology, productivity, economics and sustainability, is generally referred as agroforestry. In fragile ecosystems of hot arid regions of India

Rainfed farming has a distinct place in Indian Agriculture, occupying 67% of the cultivated area, contributing 44% of the food grains and supporting 40% of the human and 65% of the livestock population. It is characterized by resource poor farmers, poor infrastructure and low investment in technology inputs (Singh, 1999). The land use in rainfed areas is quite diverse with a variety of crops, cropping systems, agroforestry and livestock farming. The productivity levels have remained low over the years and the share of rainfed crops in the total food grain production has been declining. The rainfed ecosystem suffers from the problems of (i) frequent droughts due to high variability in the quantum and distribution of rainfall, (ii) poor soil health due to continued degradation and inadequate replenishment of nutrient exhaustion, (iii) low animal productivity due to an acute scarcity of fodder and (iv) low risk bearing capacity of farmers due to poor socio-economic base, credit availability and infrastructure.

Indian hot arid zone which is about 12% of total geographical area of the landmass of 0.32 million km² has maximum covering in western Rajasthan i.e. 61% of the total area whereas the other areas in arid region are available in the states of Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka accounting for 20, 5, 4, 7 and 3% of hot arid area whereas the cold arid area of 8.4 million ha lies in the state of Jammu & Kashmir covering the Leh and Ladakh region.

The hot arid area is characterized by frequent droughts of 47% of frequency in the last century of moderate to severe nature. Due to higher occurrence frequency of droughts in this region of state, the livestock assumes great importance as a drought management measure as agriculture is at the mercy of rainfall pattern which is very uncertain in amount as well as distribution coupled with poor soil condition, higher evapotranspiration and higher wind velocity causing the soil erosion.

For arid region of Rajasthanthe general climatic conditions, topographical features and biotic factors do not encourage agricultural operations in the absence of extractive industry the peasantry has to fall upon animal husbandry as their main occupation. Rearing some of the finest breed of cattle, camel, sheep and goats known for their endurance making much use of the meagre feed resources which are grasses ,herbs, shrubs, tree leaves and cultivated feed and fodder crops. Livestock farming has some in built superiority over crop farming as far as growth; stability and resource conservation are concerned. On an average, the region experiences 3 years of drought in every 10 years. The natural forces constituting the soil-climatic complex, which conspire to reduce the crop productivity and cause instability in agricultural production, have much less impact on livestock farming. This is due to differences in the nutritive value of natural vegetation, which mainly sustains livestock.