eChapters

8.1 INTRODUCTION

Natural methods of vegetative propagation include strategies that the plants have developed for self-multiplication or perpetuation. Natural vegetative propagation is mostly a process found in herbaceous and woody perennial plants, and typically involves structural modifications of the stem, although any horizontal, underground part of a plant (whether stem, leaf, or root) can contribute to vegetative reproduction of a plant. In crops like ginger, turmeric, onion, garlic, gladioli, and dahlia etc. they continue to grow from buds that are present on the surface of the stem. In some plants, like sweet potato adventitious roots can give rise to new plants. In Bryophyllum and Kalanchoe, the leaves have small buds on their margins. On detachment from the plant, they are able to grow into independent plants and they may also start growing into free plants if their leaves were made to grow in the soil. In nature, vegetative reproduction occurs through underground stems, sub-aerial stems, bulbils, leaves and even roots.

INTRODUCTION

Agricultural biodiversity is the basis ofglobal food security. Wide variety of crops, soil and cropping systems are nurtured by human culturaldiversity since times immemorial. Potatois a majorfood crop which is widely acknowledged now. It is consumed by the world’s largest population than any othervegetable, produces more calories and protein per unit of land and time than any other food crop.Potatohas much potentialfor sustainable, non-chemical farming, fits well with many crop rotations,and does very wellwith naturalfertilizers. Over the years chemical based farming has started experiencing reduced production and increased costs, orboth (Singh et al.,2011 and Sreenivasa et al., 2010). Monoculture of crops such as rice, wheat and cotton etc., depletes topsoil of nutrients and reduces diversity of beneficial microbes leading to reduced soil productivity. It is finally making the crop plants vulnerable to parasites and pathogens. Environmental pollution caused bychemical fertilizers and pesticides is posinga serious threat worldwide (Doranet al., 1996). Healthy soil is the foundation upon which sustainable agriculture is built. Farming practices differ mainly based on soil inputs and crop protection measures (Devarinti,2016).Thusthere is growinginterestinorganicallyproducedproducts and farmers are shifting from conventional to organic farming. In India, Sikkim is the firststate where completelyorganic farmingis adopted. Farming practices differ mainly based on soil inputs and crop protection measures (Devarinti, 2016) in different regions. Different types of farming based on use of natural products are described in the chapter.

A nectarine (Prunus persica var. nectarina) is a fuzz less variety of peach. The word nectarine means as sweet as nectar and this is very likely the obvious origin of the name. Though peaches and nectarines are commonly regarded as different fruits with nectarines often erroneously believed to be crossbred between peaches and plums or peach with plum skin. But it is not a cross between a peach and plum. They belong to same species as peaches. The smooth skin of peaches is a minor genetic variation. Fuzziness is a dominant trait of peaches. Occasionally when peach trees are crossed or self pollinated they produce some fruit whose seeds will grow into nectarine trees and others which will be peach trees. Nectarines will some time appear on peach trees, and peaches sometime appear on nectarine trees. It is impossible to tell which seeds from nectarine trees produce nectarine bearing trees, so commercial growers take branches which produce nectarines and graft them on to peach trees. These branches continue to produce nectarine.
 
In appearance, nectarine trees are same as peach trees, and are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Tree size and shape, leaves, and even buds look the same. Nectarines, however, are smaller and smooth skinned (ripe fruits look the same as unripe- the colour does not change significantly,

Vegetables are the largest important constituent of our daily diet as well as high value cash crops for small, marginal and large scale growers. These are rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre which are essential for our normal body functions, prevention of malnutrition and deficiency diseases. Vegetables also play key role in neutralizing the acids produced during digestion of fatty foods and also provide valuable roughages which help in movement of food in intestine.

Crop productivity is largely affected by the several factors; however, biotic stress factor is one of the major concerns. Horticultural crop productivity is low in India as compared to other countries for many reasons including pest problems. Plant parasitic nematodes is one of the potential threat for cultivation of some important crops- root knot and reniform nematodes in vegetables; burrowing nematodes in banana, spices and plantation crops; citrus nematode in citrus; cyst nematodes in potato, foliar and lesion nematodes in flowers etc.

Introduction

Agricultural soils harbour a rich variety of nematode fauna, where they coexist with a myriad of other microorganisms. It has been estimated that one cubic meter soil of highly fertile field may contain as many as 3×10¹⁴ bacterial cells (300 g), 5×10⁸ protozoa (39 g), 1×10⁷ nematodes (12 g) and fungi (400 g), besides other organisms. The nemic fauna comprises of free-living (saprophagous and microbivorous), predatory forms and plant parasites (phytophagous). In addition, certain animal and insect parasitic forms may spend a part of their life cycle in soil. Plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs) exist in poly-specific communities and attack all types of plants- cultivated or wild. They possess a needle-like stylet or spear at their anterior end, which is used to puncture the plant cells and ingest the cell contents. Majority of PPNs dwell in soil and draw their nutrition from plant roots. Only a few forms attack the above ground plant parts such as stem, leaves, inflorescence and seeds. PPNs may be ectoparasites (feed from outside and do not enter plant tissues) or endoparasites (enter inside the plant tissues). The endoparasites spend a part of their life cycle in soil or may come out into the soil to re-infect the other roots. These may be further categorized into migratory or sedentary types. The migratory forms keep on moving, feeding and laying eggs that are scattered in soil or plant tissues. The sedentary nematodes are more harmful and a particular stage of their life cycle infects the plant and establishes a feeding site by modifying plant tissues by their enzymatic secretions. The females of sedentary nematodes usually attain swollen shapes upon maturity and lay hundreds of eggs in clusters.

Plant parasitic nematodes are ubiquitous, and so far, more than 1800 species have been recorded. They are obligate parasites and must feed upon plant hosts, thus, debilitating the plants to some extent. The extent of direct damage by the nematodes to plants depends on several factors viz., nematode density in soil, nature of parasitism (ectoparasite or endoparasite), host susceptibility, cropping pattern, edaphic factors (mainly soil texture and moisture) and ambient climatic conditions (like temperature and relative humidity). Nematodes, by themselves, rarely kill the plants to ensure their own survival. Nematodes also inflict considerable indirect damage to crops by interacting with other plant pathogens (fungi, bacteria and viruses) to cause disease complexes in which nematodes act as incitants, aggravators, or vectors.

1. INTRODUCTION

Wine is an ancient fermented product as revealed by the wine jugs recovered (Plate 1) during excavation from different places. Wine is made all over the world and wine produced in each region from different parts of the world has different characteristics. Development and implementation of practices and policies for sustainable growth of grapes and other fruits is the most essential component for the growth and development of wine industry. The science dealing with wine production, evaluation and consumption is known as 'Oenology'. For the introduction of wine, several aspects influence the wine quality are style, the consumer perception and finally, the marketing are taken in account. Factors related with fruit growing, ripening, micro organisms and other verification factors need to be considered in wine production.

22.1 INTRODUCTION

The life-styles, economic conditions and food habits have a great effect on food marketing. There is an increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables and their processed products. Fruits and vegetables are processed into a variety of products and it is required to be picked at its right stage. For making juice, fruits should be picked at ripe and soft stage, for canning purpose it should be picked at fully mature but firm just before ripe stage. Fruits and vegetables are passed through a long channel before their consumption; which may lead to a number of undesirable changes in their composition. Thus effective post harvest management of fruits and vegetables is essential to provide their acceptable quantity and quality worth consumption. In this regard handling, processing and preservation and value additions form important loci.

Introduction

Landscaping refers to art and science of proper utilization of garden forms, methods and materials for the overall improvement of the place in such a way that it blends with surrounding and creates aesthetics. It is an approach to enhance the appearance of land by altering its contours, and planting trees, shrubs, climbers and various ornamental plants for aesthetic effects. It is the prerequisite for the urban areas that are highly polluted and densely populated. The urbanites now-a-days are facing many problems relating to the health because of imbalance in the environmental conditions.In today’s world, with the rapid pace of urbanization and the growing concern for climate change led to the increasing trend of bringing nature back into cities. Removal of greenery and replaced them with buildings and paved streets increase the surface radiation and air temperature that result to drier and hotter environment for urban cities compared to the rural areas. In this context, the demand for planned and creative exterior landscaping increases which allows the man to re-create an aesthetic environment with breath taking life. Exterior landscaping is the means of bringing man closer to the nature. It is also referred as outdoor landscaping and has gained wide popularity now-a-days because of the expansion of the urban areas along with increase interest of people towards healthier and cleaner environment.

New Seed Policy

Ministry of Agriculture, vide Letter No.11-71/88-SD-1 dated September 16,1988, has brought out ‘New Policy on Seed Development’, with the aim of providing to the farmers the best planting materials available in the world so as to increase productivity and thereby increasing farm income and export earnings. The Policy covers the import of seeds of coarse cereals/pulses/oil seeds; vegetable and flower seeds; bulbs/tubers of flowers; cuttings/ saplings/bud/wood etc., of flowers; and seeds & planting material of fruits. The following are the guidelines for the import of above categories of seed/planting material under the Seed Policy

Import of Seeds of Coarse Cereals/Pulses/Oil Seeds

The import of seeds of coarse cereals/pulses/oil seeds is permitted for a period not exceeding two years by companies that have technical/financial collaboration with companies abroad, provided that the latter agree to supply parental lines/nucleus or breeder seed technology to the Indian firm within two years of first shipment of commercial consignment. The bulk import is permitted by the importer based on the recommendation issued by the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC) after considering the trial/evaluation report of the varieties/hybrids, which he intends to import. PPA or any other officer notified for the said purpose issues the import permit based on the recommendation of DAC. However the recommendation of DAC is not required for import of trial material. The quantities of the seed permitted for import for initial trials by the importer, for ICAR multi-location trials & agronomic trials or combined trials (vide Letter No. 11-71/88/S.D.I dated 30^th January 1989 issued by the Ministry of Agriculture) as per Para 4.3.5 of Seed Policy shall be in accordance with Schedule-XII and also the quantities of seeds of parental lines required to be sampled and submitted in sealed condition for accession to gene bank of National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi (vide Letter No. 11-102/88-S.D.I dated 5^th February 1991) as per Para 4.3.8 of Seed Policy. The imported consignment shall be subjected to detailed testing for a period of 30-35 days and the same purpose the consignment will be held under detention in AAI warehouse or any customs bonded warehouse at the cost of importer.

1. INTRODUCTION

Fruits and vegetables are increasing in popularity in the daily diet of people of both the developed and developing countries. Product quality and quality evaluation methods are extremely important. The decisions concerning harvesting, maturity, ripeness and quality are based mostly on subjective and visual inspection of the external appearance of the fruits. The quality of fruits and vegetable is mostly based on size, shape, colour, gloss, flavour, firmness, texture, taste and freedom from external and internal defect. Many techniques for evaluating the external quality parameters are now available commercially. Internal quality parameters such as sugar content, acidity, oil content and internal defects however, are difficult to evaluate. Methods are needed to predict the internal quality of fruits and vegetable better without destroying them. Recently, there have been an increasing interest in non-destructive method of quality evaluation and a considerable amount of efforts has been made in this direction. The development of science and technology, especially of information technology has made available many non-destructive methods of analysis of materials which can also be applied to fruits and vegetables. The fruit industry needs non-destructive techniques for online sorting and certifying high quality fruit.

Non-destructive method can be classified according to the principle used to detect fruit properties; mechanical, acoustic, optical and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (MRI) Techniques.

Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) is a unique horticultural plant. It has a tremendous demand due to its high medicinal value. Increasing demand has led to commercial farming of the crop. Noni is an ideal plant for mixed farming with other horticultural plantations. Noni is grown as medicinal plant in most of South Indian temples as sacred plant like basil (tulsi). All parts of plants have traditional and modern use, including roots and barks in dye and medicine. Fruit juice is a rich source of vitamin A, C, E, B, B₂, B₆, B₁₂, calcium, iron, niacin, folic acid, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc, copper, chromium, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, potassium and carbohydrates. Noni fruit is a raw source for more than 150 neutraceuticals, required by our body on daily basis.  It is good source of anti-oxidants. Fruit juice purifies blood, protects from toxins and pollutants, promotes self healing mechanism and stimulates production of T-cells in immune system. Noni fruit attained significant economic importance world wide through a variety of health and cosmetic products, made from fruit leaves and fruits.

Abstract

Lean season ornamentals of Shimla are observed for two years. Out of them, the flowering plants include those blooming more or less throughout the year, those having extended flowering up to early winter i.e. November, those begins to flower well before their actual flowering season i.e. spring and those which yield flowers mostly in winter. Some plants having good stalk length, keeping quality and attractive flower such as Reinwardtia indica, Asclepias curassavica and Spermadictyon suaveolens can be tried as cut flower. Some of foliage plants during spring produce beautiful flowers. Planting of these dual purpose plants will have the advantage of beautifying these temperate hills all the year round. Others are evergreen foliage plants with insignificant flower value. All the above plants belong to various utilitarian groups viz. annuals, herbaceous perennials, trees, climbers etc. and can be put into different uses. Some are potential multipurpose economic plants. This preliminary treatise reveals that there are adequate plants available within the premises of Shimla for lean season beautification. The ways to proceed further are also detailed.

Notified Varieties of Different Seed Spices

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.

ABSTRACT

The black pepper, ‘the king of spices’ cultivation fetches foreign exchange worth millions of rupees annually, has been constrained by the quick wilt disease caused by the fungal pathogen Phytophthora capsici. Peptides with systematic variations in cationicity, hydrophobicity and amphipathicity were designed based on Chou-Fasmann parameters and sequential alterations of amino acids were tested for antifungal activity against Phytophthora. The antifungal properties of these biodegradable and ecofriendly peptide peptides were evaluated following in vitro microplate titre assay using Phytophthora zoospores. Two peptides LD1 and LD4 showed very low MIC value as compared to that of well-known antifungal peptides and standard chemical fungicides. Fluorescent staining technique using fluorescent brightener-28 and propidium iodide dyes has revealed that the site of action of the designed peptides is the cell membrane. These peptides showed very low haemolytic potential inspite of their potent antifungal activity. The in vivo evaluation of the peptides on fungi infected detached pepper leaves has demonstrated their high antifungal potential.

With the increasing health consciousness of consumers, there has been an increasing concern over the use of thermal processing methods like blanching, pasteurization, sterilization etc. for enhancing the shelf life of foods as these methods fail to preserve the fresh like nutritional, therapeutical and sensory qualities of the food. With the increased consumer demand for fresh and fresh-like foods, interest in minimal processing of foods is increasing. The trend is also shifting from the traditional heat processing to those technologies that employ no or minimum heat application, thereby retaining the quality to a maximum level. One of the ways to accomplish this is via use of non-thermal processes. Over the past few years a number of non-thermal processes or cold preservation methods have been invented and developed. These methods are being evaluated in pasteurization and sterilization of various foods or in the extension of shelf life of various packaged foods. Some of such novel technologies and the products prepared, have been discussed here under.

1. Extrusion

Extrusion is a size enlargement process wherein small granular food or powdered particles are re-formed into larger pieces with different shapes, textures, colours and flavours from the basic ingredients. In extrusion food is compressed and forced to pass through a fine opening (die). As soon as it comes out of the opening, the outside pressure is very less as compared to the pressure inside the screw of extruder and the food expands instantaneously. If the food is heated the process is called as extrusion cooking. It is a process which combines several unit operations including cooking, mixing, kneading, shearing, compressing, shaping and forming. Extrusion adds a variety to the products by changing shape, size, texture and even some of the minor ingredients of the food and at a reduced cost than most of the other processing methods. Extrusion cooking (not extrusion) is a high temperature short time (HTST) process that reduces microbial contamination and inactivates enzymes.

A. Concentrated Organic Manures

Leaves are alternate in distichous arrangement; lamina long and linear and leaf sheath covering the internodes; ligule membranous and auricle claw shaped. The inflorescence is a spike and florets are borne on rachis node. Each spikelet has three florets. In two row barely, lateral spikelets become sterile.

Agathi is a fast growing tree upto 10m. tall. Branching is drooping. The stem bark is deeply furrowing forming cork like plates. Leaves are compound, pinnae, 20 to 30 cm. long glabresence to pubescent. Leaflet oblong rounded 18 to 24 pairs of leaflets that are green to dark green mostly, bitter free. Inflorescence is a raceme 4 to 7 cm long and bearing 2 to 5 flowers that are white, red, yellowish and pink. Flowers are 5 to 10 cm long, 3cm wide, curved calyx bell shaped 2 cm long, 2 lobed, fine teeth like serration, fleshy.