eChapters

Introduction
Forecasting of future weather conditions are based upon the collection and analysis of meteorological observations. With the help of advanced computing system and satellite data, the accuracy of weather forecasting is improving day by day. Weather forecasts may be classified according to the space and time scale of the predicted phenomena. With advanced technology, the spatial resolution of accurate forecast is enhanced and India Meteorological Department (IMD) has started to issue the Block-level forecast. The meteorological phenomenon can be distinguished among three classes of phenomena with a scale that is larger than the turbulent microscale: the mesoscale, synoptic scale, and planetary scale (Geer et al., 2018). Considering the variability of agro-climatic condition of India, the micro-level weather based agro-advisory has great importance to enhance the farm income. IMD has initiated the Block-level Agromet Advisory Services (AAS) in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research through establishment of District Agromet Units (DAMUs) at various Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s (KVK). Improvisation of the existing District-level Agromet Advisory Services (AAS) and starting of Block-level services are the basic objectives of DAMU. The District Agromet Units will act as nodal centre to prepare and disseminate the crop and locationspecific AAS to farmers at block level. Apart from this, the micro-level Agromet Advisory Service was implemented at NICRA (National Innovation on Climate Resilient Agriculture) villages through a network project of Indian  Council of Agricultural Research (Banerjee et al, 2018; Chakraborty et al., 2018). As a part of the nation-wide program, the feasibility of village level agromet advisory has been assessed. Thus, the importance of micro-level  agromet advisory and advisory on extreme weather events are discussed in this chapter.

The performance of plants is affected by the soil in which it grows and climate and micro climate of its surroundings.

Impact of soil

The soil provides anchorage, nutrients and water for plant growth. Soil fertility status, structure and texture influence the plant growth and productivity.

Classification of soil

On the basis of the organic and inorganic contents and particle size and texture, the soils have been classified. The inorganic matter in the soil constitutes of varying amount of sand, silt and clay, on the basis of which the soils are classified as follows.

Sandy soil

These soils have coarse textured and large pore spaces, have poor water holding capacity. Retention of nutrients in this soil is very poor. This type of soil is suitable for precocious crops. Sandy soils initiate rapid root growth, hence good as propagating medium. Since sandy soils has low in nutrient content, supplementation of adequate nutrition is imperative to achieve good plant growth.

Horticulture is of immense importance for human beings. Among these major ones are nutritional importance, economic importance, medicinal values, environmental balance, aesthetic value and recreation. These are as follows.

1. Nutritional importance: Healthy body maintains a healthy mind. Human body requires vitamins, minerals, proteins, energy, fibers, etc. for its health. Fruits and vegetables are the chief sources of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, organic acids, fibers, etc. Consumption of fruits and vegetables keeps the human body away from several illnessess and hence are recognized as protective foods; necessary for the maintenance of human health. As per the Indian Council of Medical Research; consumption of at least 120 g of fruits and 280-300 g of vegetables per day per capita is essential. Among vegetables, 80-100 g of leafy vegetables, 100-125 g of tubers as energy source and reamaining as other vegetables. However, the consumption of fruits per capita in India is still low. In countries like Italy, France and USA; the daily fruit consumption is 308, 232 and 223 g respectively. 

Horticulture means the cultivation of garden plants. The garden plants are comprised of fruits, vegetables, ornamentals etc. The culture covers the operation from raising and planting of saplings to the ultimate use of the products and, as such, it is the most intensive of all the agricultural sciences. However, the concept of growing plants in garden or in an enclosure does not fit well in the changed perspective where large scale cultivation of fruits, vegetables and flowers extending over several square kilometers, in many a place nowadays, delimits the boundary of garden.

Importance of Horticulture

The importances of horticulture are established not only as a source of nutritious foods but also in many other ways which are narrated in the following points:

Social- Due to the long association, the fruits are seen to have a permanent seat in the social life of man. As a consequence, various fruits have acquired their place in art, music, literature, customs and habits of various nations of the world. The description of fruit as symbolic insertion in the poems and literatures, the use of whole fruit plant or part thereof in various social festive and public gathering, and conferring titles to individuals in the name of fruits or naming a region or whole district after the name of a fruit are nothing but an indication of their popularities and social position in various countries.

Loose flowers occupy an important position in Indian floriculture because of their extensive use in garlands, Veni, Rangoli, worship, festivals, weddings, decoration and perfumery. Crops such as marigold, jasmine, chrysanthemum, tuberose, rose, crossandra and gomphrena provide livelihood opportunities for small and marginal farmers and rural workers. This chapter discusses the cultural, economic and employment significance of loose flowers, along with value-addition opportunities in essential oils, natural pigments, floral waters, cosmetics and food products. It also examines the national and international scenario, production constraints, postharvest challenges, market opportunities, emerging technologies and prospects for entrepreneurship in the loose flower sector.

Introduction
Crop production is weather dependent and almost every crop has been affected by the changing climate. The favourable weather may result bumper production sometimes or even complete destruction of crop may take place under severe weather aberrations. The number of events of sudden aberrations is increasing in a cropping period with the gradual climate change in the recent past. It has been recorded too severe in case of perennial crops. Ready to harvest crops have several times been completely destroyed due to thunderstorm or cyclone in coastal regions or even in main land. Thus, Indian agriculture is being impacted by the climatic changes, and its affect is very much visible now (Aggarwal, 2008). Horticulture sector is not escaped from its’ ill affect and new challenges are coming for production (Singh et al., 2021). The role of adaptation strategy has now been felt crucial (Babu et al., 2021; Banerjee et al., 2022) and importance of agro advisory not only protects the crops from such types of risks but also provide guidance to farmers about the right time for activities in crop husbandry (Adak et al., 2018). Issuance for improving water productivity in water limited areas (Adak and Babu, 2024), micronutrient management for nutrient richness and enhanced yield (Adak et al., 2023; Shukla et al., 2020), rejuvenating unproductive orchards (Shukla et al., 2021; Mishra et al., 2007), disease (Misra et al., 2013; Shukla et al., 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021a,b; 2022; Kumari et al., 2021) and insect pest (Gundappa et al., 2016; 2018) management are becoming very crucial and essential for the benefit of growers.

Introduction

Medicinal Aromatic Plants (MAPs) play a valuable and important role in economic, social, cultural and ecological aspects of local communities the world over.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) “a medicinal plant is plant which, in one or more of its organs, contains substance that can be used for therapeutic purpose, or which are precursors for chemo- pharmaceutical semi-synthesis”.

However, a simplest definition of the medicinal plant would be “Medicinal plants are those plants which are used in official and various traditional systems of medicines throughout the world”.

Other definition could be “Medicinal plants are plants that provide people with medicines - to prevent disease, maintain health or cure ailments”.

In Indian traditions, all the plants in this earth are considered as medicinal [Jivak in Astanga Hriday (Sutra: 9-10)].

Aromatic plants are a special class of plants used for their aroma and flavour. Many of them are exclusively used also for medicinal purposes in aromatherapy as well as in various systems of medicine.

The term plantation crops refer to those crops which are cultivated on an extensive scale in contiguous area, owned and managed by an individual or a company.

There are two groups of plantation crops namely coconut, arecanut, oil palm, cocoa, cashewnut dealt by Ministry of Agriculture and tea, coffee, rubber dealt by the Ministry of Commerce.

These are high value commercial crops of greater economic importance and play a vital role in improving Indian economy, especially in view of their export potential, employment generation and poverty alleviation particularly in rural sector.

Proper handling, packaging, transportation and storage reduce the post harvest losses of fruits and vegetables. For every one percent reduction in loss will save 5 million tons of fruit and vegetable per year. Processing and preservation technology helps to save excess fruit and vegetable during the glut season (off season). The technology has become a necessity to improve the food safety and strengthen nation’s food security. The technology helps to boost export of agricultural commodities in the form of preserved and value added products e.g. mango, pineapple, citrus, grapes, tomatoes, peas, potato and cucumber being processed on a large scale.

Principles and Methods of Preservation of Fruits

Preservation: Preservation means just protect the foods against the spoilage, but scientifically it may be defined as a science which deals with the process for prevention of decay or spoilage of the food is called preservation. In other words, just controlling the physical, chemical or microbial changes in the foods is called preservation.

• The term Spice and Condiments applies to natural plant or vegetable products or mixtures in whole or ground form, which are used for imparting flavour, aroma and piquancy to the food items.

• Under the act of Parliament, a total of 52 spices are brought under the purview of Spices Board.

• However 109 spices are notified in the ISO list.

• India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices and spice products in the world and produces more than 50 spices.

• The spices production in India is of the order of 5.74 million MT from an area of about 3.07 million ha.

• Chilli is the major spice crop occupying about 25.8 percent of area under cultivation and contributing about 22.7 percent of total spices production in the country.

• Garlic accounts for 21.9% of production and 8.1% of area Turmeric accounts for 16.9% of production and 6.3% of area.

• Rajasthan occupies major area under spices owing to seed spices cultivation in the state followed by Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

• Andhra Pradesh, which is the foremost state producing chilli and turmeric in the country, ranks first in terms of production.

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).

Abscission: The shedding of leaves, flowers or fruits as a result of formation of layer of loosely adhering cells at base that breaks apart readily.

Accent: It is created in the garden to avoid the monotonous view. Mostly unusual object like tall fountain, tree, statue etc are used to create the effect

Acre: A unit of measurement of land area equivalent to 4840 square yards or 0.4047 hactare.

Acropetal: Developing sequentially from basal to the apical position.

Acrylic: It is a glassy thermoplastic that is incorporated in rigid plastic to enhance wither ability.

Aestivation: The use of high temperature to promote flowering.

After-ripening: Physiological changes that take place within a dormant seed or bud during dormancy or It is a type of embryo maturation which enables germination of seeds.

India, internationally recognized as the principal producer, consumer and exporter of spices globally, is often referred to as the spice bowl of the world. A total of 75 spices out of 109 are cultivated in the country, among which
pepper, cardamom, chillies, ginger, turmeric, coriander, cumin, and fenugreek are of significant importance. The approximate export of spices during 2021- 22 was 15,31,154 MT valued at 30,576.44 crore (US $4,102.29 million)
compared to 17,58,985 MT valued at 30,973.32 crore (US $ 4,178.80 million) during the previous financial year. Indian spices are exported to more than 180 destinations, with the leading importers being USA, China, Bangladesh, Thailand, UAE, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, UK, Indonesia, and Germany. The key spice-producing states of India include Himachal Pradesh (ginger), Haryana (garlic), Karnataka (pepper, ginger, cardamom (small), chilli, turmeric and garlic), Orissa (ginger, chilli, turmeric, and garlic), Kerala (pepper, chilli, turmeric, nutmeg, mace, and clove) and Rajasthan (coriander, chilli, cumin, garlic, fenugreek, fennel, and ajwain).
Seed Spices in Rajasthan Economy
Of the 75 spices grown in India, 20 are classified as seed spices, where the economically important part is the seed.

India is emerging as a major stakeholder in the global horticulture scenario accounting for 10.00 % of the world production of fruits. This has been made possible due to concerted efforts of scientists and progressive farming community. In recent years, there is considerable awareness about the nutritional security and food safety. Underutilized fruit trees not only provide nutrition and income security to the people but can also ameliorate the harsh environment of the semi-arid and arid region. Jamun has been named as diabetes fighter for its hypoglycemic (lowering blood sugar) properties.The minor fruits like bael, karonda, khirni, mahua, tamarind, mulberry, pilu, chironji, phalsa and wood apple have tremendous scope for their proper utilization. These fruits are nutritionally rich in bioactive compounds and some of these are of great medicinal value, processing quality and other uses. They have a growing demand in local as well as export market and for processing besides diversification in agriculture in the wake of global changes in weather conditions.

ABSTRACT

Commercially valuable plants are one of the main sources of economy. Growth, development and yield of these plants are severely affected by various environmental factors, which depend on dynamic fluctuations in different parameters. To counteract these responses, plants try to adapt evolutionarily but one form of adaptation is never going to suffice the simultaneous attack of multiple stresses. Crossing and plant breeding approaches came to practice, which is quite beneficial but requires lot of screening and is manpower consuming. In recent era new approaches have been developed combining recombinant DNA technology with tissue culture techniques to obtain improved varieties with specific desired traits. This method had an edge over other technologies but it still carries lot of complications. It is evident that genes do not act alone but act cooperatively and remain in continuous influence of other factors. So to target a particular gene for improved variety development requires a lot of detailed micro-details. In this communication, an attempt have been made to discuss mainly how transcription factors (TFs) have been targeted for this purpose. TFs in many occasions act as master regulators or central players of a particular pathway. This is attained by their ability to interact with multiple cis-elements present in the promoters of downstream stress or metabolism responsive genes. This behavior sometime leads to occurrence of some unwanted traits, which should be kept in mind to develop transgenics. Here, we focused mainly on important TF families such as ERF, WRKY, NAC and bHLH. We have been an attempt to analyzed how these TFs influence growth, yield and stress response of commercially valuable plants such as rice, wheat, tomato and cotton. This section will help to understand the genetic manipulation of plants can be targeted for improved variety development.

Introduction

The semiarid and arid ecosystem is not only neglected in India but also the whole world in respect of socio-economic and scientific development. Middlefon and Thomas, 1997) reported the arid and semi arid covers 47% of land surface of the plant and home town to 1/3 of human population. Conventional plant breeding so far only increased the yield of crops grown under arid tropics at about half the rate achieved for crops grown in temperate regions (Turner, 2004, b). The major crop of other ecosystem are considered as under exploited crop of arid ecosystem. Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), is one such crop, which was domesticated in ancient Peru, has become the most popular and widely consumed vegetable in the world today, for its rich flavor and high nutritional value (Vitamins A and C)

An overwhelming proportion of plant material used for compounding herbal medicines and nutraceuticals is currently collected from the wild. With traditional health care systems gaining increasing popularity, the enormous amount of plant material extracted from the limited plant populations available in natural stands is a cause of justifiable alarm. The unscrupulous plunder of plant populations growing in the wild is pushing increasing number of important species to the endangered category and many to the verge of extinction. Also, unethical practices like adulteration and storage of medicinal plants under unacceptable conditions are rampant. All this is happening, when the consumer is becoming increasingly quality conscious and is demanding traceability of source material used for formulations and adherence to good practices for the entire chain of manufacturing process for herbal drugs and plant-based nutraceuticals. Clearly, solution to this problem lies in replacing the ‘collection from the wild ’ paradigm to ‘production by cultivation ’. An essential prerequisite for meeting this objective is a well thought out research agenda which not only tackles productivity enhancement goals for the targeted plant species but also addresses the validity of the entrenched notion among healers who use the traditional medical systems, that only material collected from the wild produces the desired results. The reason advanced in support of this argument is that phytomedicines are derived from plant populations growing in the wild under organic conditions and under their natural rhizosphere and rhizoplane. The associated soil-microbial complexes, and a variety of endophytic microorganisms, may be the initiators or modifiers of the production and expression of medicinal properties.

It also so happens that a majority of medicinal plants are shade loving, C4 types and will necessarily require their species-specific ambient environment for elicitation of the medicinally relevant moities.

An overwhelming proportion of plant material used for compounding herbal medicines and nutraceuticals is currently collected from the wild. With traditional health care systems gaining increasing popularity, the enormous amount of plant material extracted from the limited plant populations available in natural stands is a cause of justifiable alarm. The unscrupulous plunder of plant populations growing in the wild is pushing increasing number of important species to the endangered category and many to the verge of extinction. Also, unethical practices like adulteration and storage of medicinal plants under unacceptable conditions are rampant. All this is happening, when the consumer is becoming increasingly quality conscious and is demanding traceability of source material used for formulations and adherence to good practices for the entire chain of manufacturing process for herbal drugs and plant-based nutraceuticals. Clearly, solution to this problem lies in replacing the ‘collection from the wild’ paradigm to ‘production by cultivation’. An essential prerequisite for meeting this objective is a well thought out research agenda which not only tackles productivity enhancement goals for the targeted plant species but also addresses the validity of the entrenched notion among healers who use the traditional medical systems, that only material collected from the wild produces the desired results. The reason advanced in support of this argument is that phytomedicines are derived from plant populations growing in the wild under organic conditions and under their natural rhizosphere and rhizoplane. The associated soil-microbial complexes, and a variety of endophytic microorganisms, may be the initiators or modifiers of the production and expression of medicinal properties.

ABSTRACT

Successful in vitro clonal propagation of mature tree of Lasoda (Cordia myxa Roxb) has been achieved through single node explant. Both types of organogenesis of shoot and root formation were obtained by placing nodal explant on shoot induction medium and subsequently on rooting medium. More than 90% culture were responsive for in-vitro axillary shoot proliferation on MS media supplemented with 30g Sucrose 8.0 g agar and a combination of 2.0 mg BA and 0.1 mg NAA per litre. After culture period of 6-8 week, the nodal explants with micro shoot were rooted on the MS media supplemented with30 g Sucrose + 3g activated charcol and different level of NAA (0, 1, 3 and 6 mg/ litre). The season and position of explant on the mother plant was also shown to influence in vitro performance of the regeneration in terms of establishment of aseptic culture, percentage of responsive explants and intensity of leaching of growth inhibitory phenolic chemicals.

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants are the most important source of life saving drugs for the majority of the world’s population. Therefore the biotechnological tools are important to select, multiply and conserve the critical genotypes of medicinal plants. With the increase in the demand for the crude drugs, the plants are being overexploited, threatening the survival of many rare species. Also, many medicinal plant species are disappearing at an alarming rate due to rapid agricultural and urban development, uncontrolled deforestation, and indiscriminate collection. Advanced biotechnological methods of culturing plant cells and tissues should provide new means for conserving and rapidly propagating valuable, rare, and endangered medicinal plants. Maintenance of germplasm in the green house or in the field has many difficulties and so there is a need for the in vitro conservation of these plant germplasm. In the present paper we report the in vitro conservation of two medicinal plants and each of it has its own medicinal value. The tuberous roots of Holostemma are medicinally important and are utilized as a major ingredient of the drug ‘jivanthi’. Tylophora is used as a herbal medicine and the plant has been traditionally used as a folk remedy for the treatment of bronchial asthma, bronchitis and dermatitis. Shoot buds of these plants were cultured in Murashige and Skoog’s (1962) medium with different strengths and with different concentrations of sucrose and mannitol. The different treatments induced varied response with respect to the slowing of growth of cultures. Sucrose was found essential in combination with mannitol to induce maximum reduction in the growth of the plant tissues. The cultures could be maintained without sub culturing for over one year and resumed normal growth on transfer to mannitol free medium. This method of conservation has many advantages.