eChapters

Pandemic brought in tough times, especially for different business sectors. However, the floriculture business was one such sector that people embraced, especially in India. In the current scenario, the floriculture industry in India has emerged as a huge trend setter and a survivor, albeit with a drop in earnings and the convenience of working from home. Flower Market report summarizes top key players overview as Syngenta, Floret Flowers, among others. The Indian economy has been starved of sustainable ideas, especially when the outbreak of COVID-19 saw the loss of jobs and the reverse migration of rural people. The floriculture business provided a vast opportunity that involves specific technical know-how and provided flower and allied business as a medium to earn income and generate opportunity for others.

Introduction

The term horticulture first appeared in English literature in 1678 in the treatise “The New World of English” authored by E. Phillips in London. In ancient scriptures, the garden is mentioned in Vatsayan. During the ancient period, gardens were the sole means of recreation, leisure, and pleasure. The planting of trees was undertaken for the purpose of shade, shelter, and fruits. It is quoted the queen of Raja Dashrath made a question that “What is the meaning of planting trees and garden”. Raja Dasharath responds that “the very meaning of planting trees and taking fruit plantation is the shade and fruits to the passersby”

Horticulture accounts for about 30% of India’s GDP from 13.08% of the cropped area. It stands for about 37.1% of the total export of agricultural commodities. The country shares about 13.6% of the fruit production and 14% of vegetable production (Indian Hortic Database, 2014). Horticulture shares for more than 33% of agricultural production. The horticultural production touched the mark of 300.64 million tonne during 2016–2017 which marks the sixth straight year horticultural production outstripping that of food grain production estimated at 276 million tonne in 2016–2017. It stands witness to structural changes in Indian agriculture in which the farmers have increasingly adopted the cultivation of commercial horticultural crops due to increasing market demand and quicker cash flow.

Onion growth, bulb initiation, yield, quality and storage life are strongly influenced by temperature, photoperiod, soil, moisture and crop establishment. Different cultivars require specific day lengths and temperature ranges, making regional variety selection and planting schedules essential. This chapter explains the environmental requirements of onion and the consequences of unsuitable conditions, including premature bolting, double bulbs, poor development and disease susceptibility. It examines soil preparation, planting geometry, direct seeding, transplanting and precision establishment. Modern approaches—including sensor-based environmental monitoring, Internet of Things systems, predictive modelling, precision seeding and machine-learning-supported input management—are presented as tools for improving uniformity, resource efficiency and climate adaptability.

1. INTRODUCTION

Enzymes are proteins with highly specialized catalytic functions responsible for many essential biochemical reactions in microorganisms, plants, animals and human beings. Enzymes play an important role in many aspects of life since the dawn of civilization that have used enzymes for thousands of years without understanding what they were or how they work. Food processing through the use of biological agents/enzymes is historically a well-established approach. The earliest applications go back to 6000 BC or earlier, with the brewing of beer, bread baking, cheese and wine making. Whereas the first purposeful microbial oxidation dates back 2000 BC, with vinegar production. In the late 19^thcentury, Christian Hansen reported the use of rennet for cheese making and production of bacterial amylases was started at Takamine (latter became part of Genencor). Pectinases have been used for juice clarification in the 1930s and during World War II, invertase was also employed the production of invert sugar syrup in a process that pioneered the use of immobilized enzymes in the sugar industry. Still, the large-scale application of enzymes could only be really established in the 1960s, when the traditional acid hydrolysis of starch was replaced by an approach based in the use of amylases and amyloglucosidases (glucoamylases) and glucose (xylose) isomerase. From then onward, the trend for the design and implementation of processes and production of products by the use of enzymes has steadily increased.

Food and beverages and household care industries represent the largest application areas of enzymes, followed by animal feed, biofuels, textile and other technical industries. Recently, several new developments have taken place in the application of enzymes in fruit and vegetable processing. Fruits and vegetables are consumed as fresh or processed into different type of products. Commercial enzyme preparations are used as processing aids in fruit and vegetable processing to improve the process efficiency and product quality, because enzymes show activity on specific substrates under mild processing conditions. Therefore, there has been a striking growth in the enzyme market for applications in the fruit and vegetable industry.

Enzymes are biocatalysts that change the rate of reaction without being changed themselves. All (Most) enzymes are proteins but all proteins are not enzymes. Ribonuclease is the enzyme which is non- protein in nature.

Properties of Enzymes

The following equipment and types of machinery are generally used in the food processing plant which specifically deals with the processing of fruits and vegetables;
I. Machinery/Equipment for general purpose
1. Weighing Balance (Precision balance for chemical and heavy duty for fruits/raw material) 1-500mg, 1kg,10kg,100kg.
2. Cutting Knife (SS), coring knife, pitting knife, peeling knife
3. Abrasive peeler (carborundum crystal) for potato,carrot,ginger etc.,
4. Working Table with Stainless steel/Aluminium top
5. Buckets/ Water tubs/jugs (Plastic/Stainless Steel)
6. LPG/Diesel Bhatti/furnace/Stove
7. Utensils/Bhagona (Aluminium /Stainless steel); 10, 50,100 kg capacity
8. Spoon, ladle (heavy duty), grater,`
9. Belt conveyors

1. SEED TESTING

The science of evaluating the planting value of seed has been developed to achieve the following objectives for minimizing the risks of planting low quality seeds.

To determine the seed quality and its suitability for planting

To identify seed quality problems and their probable cause.

To determine the need for drying and processing, if any.

To determine if seed meets established quality standards for labeling.

To establish quality and provide a basis for price and consumer discrimination among lots in the market.

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

An orchard is the place where different kinds of fruit crops are grown in large scale. An orchard is a long-term investment and needs lot of planning and expertise. The orchard crops are generally trees, which ultimately have a large spread, so when they are planted, the distance between plants and rows is kept keeping in mind the final spread of the tree. So, before the trees attain their full growth, some suitable crops which are of short duration, like vegetables, flowers, spices and herbs are grown as intercrops.

Fruit trees are perennial, may be tropical, sub tropical and temperate types and thus require proper environmental conditions and suitable management practices for their successful growth.

ABSTRACT

Haploids are of great importance in breeding programmes for the production of homozygous diploid lines. This technique reduces the time span in developing new varieties and fixes the traits including recessive ones in the homozygous condition. The haploid embryos or doubled haploid plants could be used in mutation breeding, genetic engineering, biochemical and physiological studies. Isolated microspore culture for the production of haploids has not yet been reported in Hevea brasiliensis. Hence the present work was initiated with the view of producing haploid plants by the culture of isolated pollen grains. The flower bud of the clone RRII 105 at the late uninucleate to early binucleate stage was used for culture initiation. Different pretreatment solutions were tried at different temperatures (4°C, 27°C and 33°C) with the macronutrients of N6 media. Three kinds of callus induction media were used viz. N6, WPM and Hunters medium supplemented with myoinositol (200 mg^-1), glutamate (150 mg^-1), phenyl acetic acid (7.0 mg^-1), sucrose (70 g^-1) and growth regulators. Induction medium include moving liquid, static liquid and semi- solid medium. The ovary co-culture was also tried in the induction medium to increase the frequency of callus formation. Pretreatment of the anther with 0.3 M mannitol at 33°C promoted the division of microspores. Static liquid cultures improved the formation of multicellular microspores compared to semi-solid or moving liquid cultures. N₆ basal medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l 2.4-D and 1.0 mg/l KIN induced microcalli formation. When the ovary co-culture was included in the callus induction medium, the rate of cell proliferation was increased considerably and the duration of callus formation was reduced from 3 months to 14 days. The results of the present study throws light towards the possibility of regenerating doubled haploids in future.

1. INTRODUCTION

Field run seeds obtained from the seed production field posses high moisture and physical contaminants like trash and other inert materials (sand, stones, soil etc.,), diseased and pest damaged seeds, other crop seeds, weed seeds, deteriorated and damaged seeds, off-size and ill filled seeds, plant remnants etc. Seed processing is must to dry the seeds to safe moisture level, remove unwanted and inert materials as detailed above.

Seed qualities such as vigour and viability are improved by certain physical characteristics of the seed i.e., shape, size, large, denser and sound seed, etc. So, if grading is done to obtain a particular range of size, shape, length and density of the seeds, the quality of the lot is upgraded.

Seed processing refers to all the steps necessary for preparation of harvested seed for marketing namely handling, drying, shelling, preconditioning, cleaning, size grading, treating and packaging.

29.1. Aim

To estimate ascorbic acid in fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products.

29.2. Theory and Principle

Fruit, vegetables and their products are important sources of ascorbic acid. The ascorbic acid is present in sufficient quantity in aonla, guava, grapefruit, lemon, pineapple, strawberry fruits etc. Barbados cherry is the chief source of vitamin C. The products manufactured from these fruits are also considered as rich in ascorbic acid and the contents available in the commodities can be detected by using 2, 6 dichloro-phenol - indophenol visual titration method.

25.1. Aim

To estimate the ash content in fresh and processed products.

25.2. Theory and principle

Estimation of ash contents is important as it gives an idea about the presence of minerals in the food samples. Determination of ash is also required to evaluate fruit chutneys as the maximum limit for ash in this product shall not exceed 5% as per FPO specifications.

25.3. Apparatus/instruments/equipment

1. Crucibles

2. Muffle furnace

3. Sensitive balance

4. Heating plate

5. Desiccators

22.1. Aim

To estimate the fruit firmness.

22.2. Apparatus/machineries/equipments required

• Magness Taylor Pressure Tester

• Penetrometer

22.3. Theory and principle

Fruit firmness is an important feature of maturity. During ripening, fruits may soften and become too soft at the overripe stage. The changes are detected by touching or by using devices like texture analyzers and pressure testers to measure texture of fruits and vegetable.

24.1 Aim

To determine the moisture content in fresh and processed products

24.2 Theory

Estimation of moisture in fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products is important for evaluating their nutritive composition as well as to optimize method for their processing like drying, preparation of different products viz; jams, preserve, candies etc. Moisture is determined by drying the weighed sample to a constant weight in hot air oven and measuring the loss in weight to express the moisture content in percent. This method is used for estimation of moisture in all food products which do not decompose at 100ºC. Moisture content of some commodities (Table 4.1) is as under:

The estimation of moisture in foods is one of the most important and most widely used measurements in the processing and testing of food products. It is used to determine the nutritive value of food, to express results of analytical determinations on a uniform basis, and to meet compositional standards or food laws. The level of moisture in different fruits and vegetables varies widely. Most fresh fruits contain more than 85-90% moisture in edible portions. Broad range of moisture content in common fruit, vegetables and their products as general guideline are given in Table 3.1.
Estimation of Moisture content in food products: Moisture content in foods can be estimated by following methods.
i. By Drying in an oven
ii. By distillation with an immiscible solvent
iii. By Chemical and physical methods (Infra-red heating method)

The physical properties of seeds are a basic activity for designing processing equipments and precision planters. Since these characters vary with crop or variety, one needs to have the data handy to be used on shop floor. This data also helps to quantify processing efficiency, presence of dormancy and suitability for seed treatments for all existing and new crops or varieties.

There are stages in seed supply chain where seed losses happen at harvesting and post harvest stage. These losses may occur due to higher moisture at harvest, due to harvesting methods, processing methods, at seed storage, during transport etc. Estimation of these losses is an important function of seed inventory management. Estimating seed losses help to improve processing and seed distribution efficiency. These simple statistical tools will help to measure quantitative post harvest seed losses. Seed testing can be used for measuring qualitative post harvest seed losses.

Vegetables form an important component of our daily diet as they provide necessary nutrients to the diet and they add colour, texture and flavour to it. Vegetables contain very high content of water (about 78 to 98%) and are reasonably good source of starch, sugar, cellulose, hemicellulose, pentosans and pectic substances. They also contribute minerals, vitamins and indigestible fibers to our diet. The yellow, orange and dark green leafy vegetables are rich source of carotenes- the precursors of vitamin A. Non-volatile acids, such as citric, malic, oxalic and succinic acids, contribute to their flavour. The very strong flavour characteristics of some vegetables like onion, garlic, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. are due to certain sulfur containing volatile compounds. However, vegetables, in general, are poor source of protein and amino acids.

India has made significant progress in the production of vegetables since independence because its diverse agro-climatic zones ranging from tropical to temperate allow the production of a wide spectrum of vegetables.At present, the country is producing about 108 million tonnes of vegetables and considered the second largest producer in the world (Venkatesan et al., 2006). Currently, the plant breeders are focusing their efforts to produce high yielding varieties having resistance against diseases and herbicides and tolerance against drought and salinity. Therefore, the physical aspects of quality, i.e., shape, size, texture, colour, tenderness, etc. are given due priority in the breeding programme with no emphasis to the biochemical and nutritional quality parameters, which include dry matter, proteins, vitamins, sugars, flavouring compounds, alkaloids, flavonoids, etc. However, under present set up of World Trade Organization (WTO), the country will have to compete with quality conscious European and developed countries, and with inferior quality product, it would not be possible to penetrate the foreign market. Therefore, breeding programme in a country like India with future-plans of globalization of agriculture produce must be aimed at achieving good nutritional quality. In different types of vegetable, a varied set of biochemical parameters determines the quality. In this chapter, the methods for qualitative and quantitative determination of these parameters in vegetables have been described.

30.1. Aim

To estimate the salt contents in given samples by using Mohr method.

30.2. Theory and principle

Common salt is used during preparation of pickles, sauces, ketchup, fruit chutney and appetizers. Besides, imparting taste, the salt in appropriate concentration also acts as a preservative. In different products, it is estimated by using Mohr method. The sample is titrated with standard solution of silver nitrate for estimation of salt by using potassium chromate as an indicator. From the titre the concentration of salt is estimated by using a standard expression.