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Mahua botanically known as Bassia latifolia Roxb, (Hindi name: Mahua, Family: Sapotaceae) is an economical and multipurpose tree. Its flowers, fruits and oil obtained from seeds are eaten in various ways. Corolla commonly called mahua flowers is a rich source of sugar, containing appreciable amount of vitamins and minerals. Flowers are used for preparation of distilled liquors and potable spirits. Flowers and spent flowers (after fermentation) are also used as feed for livestock. Fruits are eaten as raw or cooked. Fruit pulp can be used as a source of sugar for alcoholic fermentation, whereas dry fruit husk can be used for preparation of absolute alcohol. Seed is a good source of oil. Amount of oil obtained from seeds is higher than many oil seed crops and oil seed-bearing trees. Oil obtained from kernel is used for edible purpose and used for preparation of vegetable oil. In Mahua oil, linoleic and unsaturated fatty acids are found which are useful for cardiac patients because it reduces cholesterol content in blood serum. Mahua oil is used in manufacture of soap, lubricating grease, fatty alcohols and candles. Mahua fat is a rich source of palmitic acid used in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Mahua seeds can also be used for preparation of defatted flour, which has great potential in bakery products. Saponin obtained after extraction has industrial and commercial applications. Cake obtained after extraction of oil is used as manure and has insecticidal properties. The trees provide quality timber wood for various uses. Every part of Mahua yields an economic product of great potential value; hence it is a very useful tree.

Banded Leaf and Sheath Blight
Diagnostic Symptoms
• From the crop’s seedling stage until crop maturity, this pathogen can infect the plant at any point in its growth.
• The disease initially appears on the first and second leaf sheaths above the ground, and it eventually spreads to the ears, where it results in ear rot.
• The hallmark symptoms of ear rot include the presence of light brown, cottony mycelium on the plant’s ear, small, rounded black sclerotia, early ear drying, and caking of the ear sheath.
• When there is humidity, the infection that first appears on the lower sheath extends to the upper sheaths, causing leaf sheath rot and complete leaf drying.
• When the condition worsens, the majority of the plant’s leaves become blighted, and easily detachable sclerotia form on the lesions.
• The disease manifests as a straw-colored, wet, irregular to roundish patch on both leaf surfaces on the basal sheath.

The biofertilizer technology has paved way for the manufacturers and entrepreuners to establish a biofertilizer production unit due to an increasing demand and awareness among farmers. Biofertilizer production units have already been started with most of them in the southern states of India. The biofertilizers can be produced using different kinds of carrier materials (peat, coal, lignite, clays, inorganic soil), organic materials (composts, soybean meal, wheat bran, sawdust, etc.), or inert materials (e.g., vermiculite, perlite, kaolin, bentonite, silicates). Natural carriers like peat, plant waste materials, composts, sawdust, sludge lignite, clays, coal, vermiculite, perlite and bentonite and mixture of organic and inorganic materials may also be used.

The Government of India is also encouraging a low cost technology by providing a subsidy to establish a biofertilizer production unit . The major equipment’s and other materials required for a biofertilizer production unit with the capacity of 150 metric tonnes/annum are given below

Among subtropical fruit crops mango, guava, bael and aonla are among the most important ones. The productivity of these crops is affected by many factors, among which diseases have their own economic significance. The crops use to suffer from a large number of diseases, however, economically important diseases having significance in agro-advisory are mentioned below.
Mango Wilt and Decline
The mango wilt disease caused by Ceratocystis fimbriata is one of the most devastating diseases (Shukla et al., 2015, 2018b, 2020; Shukla, 2020). Association of Berkeleomyces basicola and Lasidiplodia theobromae in wilt, decline and branch drying has also been observed. Symptoms: Ceratocystis infection on the trees causes dark staining of the affected wood, exudation of gum, leaf drying and ultimately death of the tree (Al Adawi et al., 2003; Shukla et al., 2018b). Later symptoms include vascular discolouration beneath the gummosis (Masood et al., 2008; Shukla et al., 2018b). The symptoms may appear in the form of sudden wilt, decline or branch drying and accordingly the whole tree or branch may die within a period of a fortnight to six months of appearance of first symptom.

There are many manufacturers of biofertilizers in both government and private sectors. Only some of them have been listed here for the information

In India, some of the major horticultural crops productivity is affected by major problems. Some of these have been overcomed by certain control measures strategies. However, a few of them are long lasting and have attained the status of national problems. These are mango malformation, alternate/biennial bearing, spongy tissue in mango, bunchy top of banana, guava wilt, citrus decline, rootwilt of coconut and yellow leaf disease of arecanut.

Mango malformation: Mango malformation was reported for the first time from Darbhanga, Bihar. The disease is more prevalent in northwest than northeast and south India. This disorder is widespread in flowers and vegetative shoots.Three types of symptoms are mainly observed. These are bunchy top phase, floral malformation and vegetative malformation. Bunchy top phase is observed in nursery, bunching of thickened small shoots, bearing small rudimental leaves. Shoots remain short and stunted giving a bunchy top appearance. In vegetative malformation, excessive vegetative branches of limited growth are observed in seedlings. 

Camphor plant is valued for presence of camphor in its wood and leaves. Camphor is chiefly a pharmaceutical product though it is used in preparation of artificial essential oils like lavender and lavendin.  It is used as incense and in balms of various kinds.  It is employed as a masking agent in perfumery and sometimes used to achieve lift in perfume blends. Redistilled brown oil is used directly in soap perfumes for a masking effect. Oil is a source of safrole which is a starting material for production of various perfumery chemicals. In 13th century, Marco Polo noted that camphor oil was highly valued by Chinese as a medicine, scent, and embalming fluid.

Black pepper, christened as “King of spices” and “Black gold” is the most important and the most widely used spice in the world occupying a position that is supreme and unique. It was the lure of Indian pepper that brought the western world to Indian sub continent.

The black pepper of commerce is the dried mature fruit of the tropical perennial climbing plant Piper nigrum. Pepper originated in the tropical evergreen forests of the Western Ghats. The Malabar coast of India was the centre of pepper trade from time immemorial. Black pepper was essentially a minor forest produce in the past, people collected it from forests where it abundened. Domestication of pepper appears to be a much later event. The recorded history shows that Arabs, followed by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British traders took pepper to all over the world and spread its use and cultivation. Initially black pepper was taken from the Malabar coast to the Indonesian islands, then it spread to various Pacific islands, South East Asian countries and later to tropical Africa and America. Currently, pepper is grown in about 26 countries, major being India, Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia and Srilanka. In India, pepper is grown mainly in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and to a little extent in Goa, Orissa, Assam and Andaman group of islands. Kerala is the original home of pepper. This state accounts for 95% of country’s area and production.

India, the land of oldest civilization known through out the world for its vibrant cultures, faiths, lifestyle, traditions, rituals etc. which are interwoven with each other since time immemoral. Here people of different ethnic groups live together who speak different languages and dialects according to their religion and choice. Altogether, 68 million inhabitants belonging to 227 ethnic groups, comprising of 573 tribal communities exists in different part of the country. These people constitute 8.08% of the total population of India (1991 Census of India) and speaks <750 dialects that can be classified into one of the following three language families: Austro-Asiatic (AA), Dravidian (DR), and Tibeto-Burman (TB). When come to think of different tribal community’s inhabiting India, they can be easily divided into six major racial lineages i.e. - Negroid, Mongoloid, Proto-Australoid/ Austrics, Mediterranean or Dravidian, West Brachycephals and Nordic Aryans

Morphological characteristics

Straight bole, longitudinally fissured bark, imparipinnate and elliptic leaves, fragrant flowers in huge panicles, and winged, flat pods distinguish Pterocarpus species in the field. The tree can grow up to 30 metres tall and 2.5 metres wide, with a straight and clean bole. The bark is scaly, tough, and fissured longitudinally. Leaflets are five to seven in number, 8–13 cm long, oblong or elliptic in shape, or rotund in shape, with 15–20 pairs of lateral veins. Kino-gum is a fragrant, brittle, almost black oleo-resin obtained from tree trunks that is angular and glistering and comes in minute flakes..

Floral characteristics

Yellow flowers bloom in panicles that are 1–5 cm long and fragrant. Flat, orbicular, winged pods with a diameter of up to 5 cm. Seeds range from one to three in number, are bony, and have a convex form. Flowering starts in November, and fruits lasts until March.

Distribution

The tree can be found in central and peninsular India, primarily in dry mixed deciduous tropical forests in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, as well as sub-Himalayan tracts, at elevations of up to 1000 metres. Natural populations have plummeted, and there are hardly any fragile young saplings in the forest. Due to a lack of autogenic reproduction, this species is endangered.

7.1. Okra or Bhindi (Abelmoschus esculentus L.)

Okra (Bhindi) is a member of Malvaceae family, earlier known as Hibiscus esculentus, and is an annual vegetable crop grown from seeds in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. Okra, also known as “lady finger” or “gumbo”, is a highly nutritious green edible pod vegetable. Botanically, this perennial flowering plant belongs to the mallow family but is grown as an annual. It is named scientifically as Abelmoschus esculentus. Okra originated in tropical and subtropical Africa and India is suggested to be the secondary centre of origin. There are four species under Abelmoschus genus which includes both cultivated and wild forms. They are A. esculentus, A. manihot, A. caillei and A. moschatus. In India, Okra is widely cultivated in states of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam West Bengal, Orissa, Gujarat and Bihar.

Cultivars/Varieties: Okra varieties differ in growth habit, height of plant, presence of purple pigmentation and ridges on fruit. The popular varieties under cultivation in different parts of the country are Arka Abhay, Arka Anamika, Azad Kranti, Co 1, MDU1, Gujarat Bhindi 1, Harbhajan Bhindi, Hisar Unnat, Parbhani Kranti, Perkins Long Green, Punjab 7, Punjab 8, Punjab Padmini, Pusa A 4, Pusa Makhmali, Pusa Sawani, Red Bhindi, TN Hybrid 8 and Varsha Uphar. Besides, a number of hybride from many private sector agencies/seed companies are marketed. Of these, Varsha, Vijay, Adhunik, Panchali, Hybrid No. 6,7 and 8, Nath Sobha, Supriya, Sungro 35, Aroh 1, - 2, -3, -9 and are more popular.

Uses

Different parts of the plant are used for different purposes. Abelmoschus moschatus Medik. Leaves and seeds are considered as valuable traditional medicine. Abelmoschus moschatus is also called ‘musk okra’ a medicinal plant belonging the same family. The leaves and new shoots of this plant is also used as vegetable. The aromatic seeds of this plant are aphrodisiac, ophthalmic, cardio tonic, antispasmodic and used in the treatment of and intestinal complaints and anxiety.

According to FAO estimates, about 50% total geographical area in India is under various degraded hazards and about 2.1 million ha of land is getting degraded and deforested annually (Sehgal et al. 1998). Out of that underground water in arid and semi-arid areas is saline or sodic in nature. While spices, medicinal and aromatic plants may be a boon for these areas, which not only withstand under adverse conditions but also could be productive and helps in mitigating these problems. However, other crops are remain less or unproductive in these areas.

Spices are low volume and high value crops and have tremendous export potential, which is witnessed by several invasions faced by this Indian peninsula during ancient time. Medicinal and aromatic plants have an equally market potential with the world demand of herbal products growing at the rate of 7 per cent per annum (Aishwath and Tarafdar, 2007). Seed spices and aromatic plants are the natural source of flavour, perfumes and fragrance widely exploited by essential oil industries in the world. Owing to considerable diversity of edaphoclimatic conditions ranging from temperate to tropical and arid to sub- humid that prevails in India and an array of medicinal and aromatic flora occurs in wild state. Many exotic essential oil bearing plants, including mints, citronella, geranium, patchouli, lavender and chamomile have been naturalized in India. As the country has emerged as one of the main producers of seed spices and some of the essential oils, theses plants are significant foreign exchange earners. Some of the aromatic plants especially grasses can sustain both biotic as well as abiotc stresses, even in the areas unsuitable for conventional crops (Aishwath et al., 2008). Most of the seed spices crops are seasonal crops and comes up well with limited moisture and nutrients. Therefore, under utilized natural resources can be utilized profitably by crop diversification.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The bacteria in the genus Ralstonia, Xanthomonas, Agrobacterium, Xylella, Pantoea, Leifsonia, Curtobacterium, Enterobactor, Pseudomonas, Corynebacterium, Erwinia cause the most important bacterial diseases of crop plants. Few of them are directly responsible for post harvests losses during storage or transit and many of them are known to cause disease in the field. These diseases are economically important due their potential to cause crop failure in crops including spice crops. Among the bacteria genus Ralstonia is very important owing to its broad host range across the plant kingdom. Traditionally bacterial diseases of crops are prevented by the principle of ‘Disease Avoidance’ rather than disease control in the field. Their fast rate of multiplication, selective host and rapid spread in the field makes the disease control one of the challenges in the production system. The organic strategies are very well fit in the disease avoidance in the field. The preemptive strategies works exceedingly well for management of bacterial disease in any crop. Few genus such as Ralstonia, Enterobacter and Xanthomonas have been frequented in spice crops.

The potential of Vegetable Genetic Resources (VGR) is vast, offering solutions to future challenges such as food and nutritional security. Achieving this requires the identification, collection, conservation, documentation, and utilization of these resources. The introduction and acceptance of improved varieties have resulted in the replacement of numerous landraces and local crop cultivars across various agri-horticultural crops, with a particular impact on vegetables. The alignment of activities related to the management of plant genetic resources at both global and national levels has enhanced the opportunities for utilizing VGR. India possesses a rich diversity of vegetable genetic resources, comprising indigenous and exotic varieties. Information regarding VGR in the Indian region can be accessed through passport data, conservation records, catalogs detailing characterization and evaluation, as well as insights into local vegetable usage, all of which contribute to strengthening these initiatives. This chapter delves into vegetable genetic resources, focusing on economically significant vegetable crops of India, along with regionally important crops, potential species, and their wild relatives, highlighting efforts undertaken at ICAR, NBPGR for its collection conservation, characterization and utilization.

The vegetables and fruits are largely consumed fresh and day by day, their market demand is increasing due to nutritious quality. However, market supply is not sufficient to meet public demand throughout the year as production is inadequate because crop production has not increased substantially in recent years due to climatic changes. Another important reason for low production is the economic losses incurred due to damages of insect pests and plant diseases.

Since ancient times, reduction in pest and disease incidence is sought by spraying of pesticides including conventional preparations such as tobacco decoction, Bordeaux mixture, neem leaf extract etc. During the green revolution years, the synthetic pesticides were greatly recommended for pest and disease control and thereby increasing crop yields many-fold. Having experienced the spectacular improvement in both yield and quality of marketable produce, farmers were solely dependent on synthetics and ultimately abandoned other control measures.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Plant parasitic nematodes are among the major soil-borne crop pests that cause significant economic losses to a wide variety of crops. They cause an estimated annual crop-yield loss of US$78 billion worldwide which warrants for effective control strategies (Sasser and Freckman, 1987). Nematodes have the greatest impact on crop productivity when they attack the roots of seedlings or young plantlets (Ploeg, 2001). Nematode feeding also creates open wounds that provide entry to a wide variety of plant-pathogenic fungi and bacteria. These microbial infections are often more economically damaging than the direct effects of nematode feeding.

Protozoan parasites are Trypanosomatids of the class Kinetoplastida predominately restricted to invertebrate hosts (i.e. possess a monoxenous lifecycle). However, several genera are pathogenic to humans, animals and plants, and have an invertebrate vector that facilitates their transmission (i.e. possess a dixenous life-cycle).

Organic soils contain _____ % or more of organic matter.

A. 10       B. 15

C. 20      D. 30

Abstract

Plants are an integral component of life in many ethnic communities. Plant-based medicaments have been used since time immemorial as curative and protective agents for prolonging life of humans and animals by combating a plethora of ailments. One such ailment affecting women of reproductive age-group is leucorrhea. The study aimed at systematically documenting the precious traditional knowledge regarding the plants traditionally used for curing leucorrhea in Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 55 infomants (39 females and 16 males) between the age group 25-94 years were selected and interviewed for extracting ethnomedicinal information and 29 plant species belonging to 28 genera and 23 families were observed to be of ethnomedicinal significance in the treatment of leucorrhea in Jammu and Kashmir. Fabaceae was observed to be the frequently encountered family. Bulk of the taxa were observed to grow in wild habitat and majority of them were herbs. Seeds were observed to be of highest therapeutic significance and ethnomedicinal formulations were prepared in the form of powder, decoction, paste, etc and all of these were administered orally. The present study may serve as a base line data for further research and will go a long way in the treatment of leucorrhea thereby promoting well being of women folk. Advanced investigations are required to validate the time-tested information associated with medicinal flora to determine the identity of phytochemicals linked with leucorrhea, so that compounds of pharmacological application having prospective relevance in the alleviation of human maladies may be discovered.

Mango (Mangifera indica L.), the choicest fruit of India, is said to be the king of fruits. Mango belongs to the family Anacardiaceae and genus Mangifera. The fruits are lusciously juicy, with pleasant aroma and sweet taste. In nutritive valve and popularity, no other fruit can match it. It is an outstanding source of vitamin A, a good source of vitamin C, apart from normal minerals and other vitamins. In, India, it occupies the same position as apple does in temperate countries and grapes in certain other regions.

According to de Candolle, mango has been under cultivation in India for over 4000 years. References indicate that Alexander the Great noticed a beautiful mango plantation in the Indus Valley in 327 BC. Early foreign traveller like Huen-tsang (632-645), Ibn-Haukul, (902-968 AD) Ibn- batuta (1325-1349 AD) and Ludovici de Varthema (1503-1508) also praised the mangoes grown in India and mentioned it in their travel notes.

Mango is native to southern Asia, especially eastern India, Burma, and the Andaman Islands. Besides India, mango is cultivated as a commercial crop in many countries, such as, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Fiji Island, Tropical Australia, Egypt, Israel, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, the USA (Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico), Mexico, Brazil, Haiti and West Indies.

Varietie/Hybrids: Dashehari, Langra, Chausa, Fazli, Malda and Bombay Green are the popular varieties in Northern and Central India. Alphonso, Kesar, Pairi, Rajapuri, Jamadar, and Totapuri are widely grown in Western India. Bangenapalli, Suvarnarekha, Neelum, Totapuri, Malgoa and Alphonso are popularly grown in Southern India and Gulabkhas, Kishen Bhog, Himsagar, Zardal, Fazli and Langra are grown mainly in Eastern part of the country. Mallika, Amrapali, Manjeera, Ratna, Niranjan, Neeleshan, Neelishwari, Neelphonso, Arka Aruna, Arka puneet, Arka Anmol, Sidhu and CISH-M1 are some of the hybird varieties available.