Insights of Agricultural Sciences

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.
net/publication/364552623
Insights of Agricultural Sciences Editors
Chapter · October 2022
CITATIONS READS
0 138
3 authors:
Bickram Panja Subhajit Pal

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
1 PUBLICATION 0 CITATIONS 6 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE
Md Wahiduzzaman
Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
2 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
All content following this page was uploaded by Bickram Panja on 21 October 2022.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Insights of Agricultural Sciences
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Editors
Dr. Ankit Singh Mr. Vivek Kumar Patel

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central
Agricultural University, Agricultural University,
Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar-848125 Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar-848125
Mr. Saipayan Ghosh Mr. Anshuman Das

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central ICFRE- Institute of Forest
Agricultural University, Productivity, Ranchi,
Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar-848125 Jharkhand- 835303
2022
First Edition: 2022
ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2
 Copyright reserved by the Editor
Publication, Distribution and Promotion Rights reserved by Bhumi Publishing, Nigave Khalasa,
Kolhapur
Despite every effort, there may still be chances for some errors and omissions to have crept in
inadvertently.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically,
mechanically, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
publishers.
The views and results expressed in various articles are those of the authors and not of editors or
publisher of the book.
Published by:
Bhumi Publishing,
Nigave Khalasa, Kolhapur 416207, Maharashtra, India
Website: www.bhumipublishing.com
E-mail: bhumipublishing@gmail.com
Book Available online at:
https://www.bhumipublishing.com/books/
PREFACE
Agriculture plays a pivotal role in the economy and developmentof India. The
agricultural sector has a foremost role to play in safeguarding food security
and economic development. This sector is responsible for producing nutrient
enrich food and affordable to a growing world population. It has also roleto
play for generating revenue and employment for a large number of people
involved. On the other hand, environmental risk, aggravated by climate change,
is one of the important factors that negatively affects the ability of primary
producers to produce products that meet the above requirements. There is a
sudden change in the distribution and intensity of rainfall all around the world
due to climate change. It has a major adverse impact on agricultural
production. The frequent incidence of insects, pests and diseases has also gone
up. Overuse of chemicals and pesticides plays an important role in polluting the
environment. Agricultural experts have to adapt to find innovative ways to
mitigate the impact of climate change and associated risks in farming system.
Agricultural production also contributes significantly to environmental

degradation. Thus there is urgent need of compliance with sustainable
production practices. It is important to efficiently manage the the limited
resources of the country for increasing production and productivity. This is only
possible by having comprehensive information on the different agricultural
disciplines.However, agriculture production is compromised due to fixed
cropping patterns for longer period of time, dependenceon a few major crops,
narrow genetic pools, and the changing climate. This demands a
holisticapproach to develop different strategies for agriculture in order to
improve the livelihood of the farmers without affecting the environment.This
bookprovides critical analyses in various disciplines of agriculture by discussing
on present trends, shortfalls in agriculture, strategic planning required for
sustainable agriculture, keeping in view the natural resources, agricultural
production technologies.
- Editors
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Agriculture contributes around 17% to GDP and continues to be among the

most important and successful sectors in India. Around 58% of theIndian
populationlivelihood is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture.
Agriculture also provides almost 10% of total export earnings apart from other
supply of raw materials to local suppliers for processing. However, to support
the remarkable Indian economic growth in future, agriculture will have to
contribute more towards value addition, productivity enhancement, high
quality products and trained manpower to successfully tackle these challenges.
The most significant contribution to this manual has been made by farmers.
They are the backbone of agriculture. Apart from that, we would like to thank
all the authors and co-authors for contributing their valuable thoughts and
understanding in making this comprehensive book on agriculture covering all
aspects of agricultural production.Much encouragement and advice was
received for publishing of this book. The editors are indebted to those who
personally contributed material for this book.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the people and institutions
which supported this project and enabled making information available. This is
a useful source of information for farmers, students, scientists, teachers,
research scholars, trainers, and other interested persons to improve not only
the agriculture but also the livelihood of the farming community.
Editors
Dr. Ankit Singh
Mr. Vivek Kumar Patel
Mr. Saipayan Ghosh
Mr. Anshuman Das
CONTENT
Sr. No. Chapter and Author(s) Page No.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE:
A WAY TOWARDS BETTER TOMORROW
1. 1 – 13
Akhilesh Kushwaha, Samiksha,
Prachi Tamrakar and Vivek Kumar Patel
ADVANCEMENTS OF PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY IN CROP
2. PRODUCTION 14 – 35
Jeet Roy, Sachin Phogat and Ankur Poudel
ADVANCES IN AGRICULTURAL ENTOMOLOGY BY USING
3. MODERN INTEGRATED APPROACH IN PEST MANAGEMENT 36 – 49
Manasij Das and Sharmila Biswas
EFFICIENT INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM FOR
DRYLAND REGION
4. 50 – 61
Manthan Chaudhary, Rajan Kumar,
Abhinav Yadav and Sudhir Kumar
MICROBES MEDIATED MINERAL WEATHERING AND
5. ASSOCIATED NUTRIENT RELEASE 62 – 79
Pallabi Kalita, Marami Dutta, Samiron Dutta and Bipul Deka
UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF CONSERVATION
AGRICULTURE WITH CROP DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY
6. 80 – 95
IN NORTH BENGAL ECONOMY
Poushali Nag, Achyoung Lepcha and Kalyan Kanti Das
SEED BIOPRIMING WITH TRICHODERMA: A TAILORED
APPROACH TOWARDS AGRICULTURE SUSTAINABILITY
7. 96 – 108
Priya Singh, Md. Minnatullah,
Inkresh Kumar Verma and Vivek Kumar Patel
RECENT ADVANCES IN DAIRY INDUSTRY:
8. FROM PRODUCTION TO PACKAGING 109 – 126
Riya Barthwal and Kanchan Bhatt
FUNCTIONS OF MICRONUTRIENTS IN THE SOIL-PLANT
SYSTEM AND THEIR MANAGEMENT TOWARDS
9. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE 127 – 143
Samrat Adhikary, Panchashree Das,
Bappa Paramanik, and Debashis Roy
RADIONUCLIDES IN AGRICULTURE
10. Subhajit Pal, Md Wahiduzzaman, 144 – 155
Dipak Pakhre and Bickram Panja
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Chapter SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE:

A WAY TOWARDS BETTER TOMORROW
Akhilesh Kushwaha*1, Samiksha1,
Prachi Tamrakar1 and Vivek Kumar Patel2
1Department of Horticulture,
SHUATS, Naini, Prayagraj, (U.P.), 211007
2Department of Plant Pathology,
PGCA, RPCAU, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, 848125
*Corresponding Author: akhileshkushwaha8726@gmail.com
Abstract:
Particularly after World War II's end, the agricultural industry has seen significant
upheaval. Productivity improvements in the food and fiber industries can be attributed to new
technologies, mechanization, greater chemical use, specialization, and government initiatives
that encourage maximizing output. In many parts of the world, sustainable agriculture is a topic
of great interest and vigorous debate. The majority of agriculturalists concur that the idea of
sustainable agriculture is crucial to the survival of our biosphere and its rapidly expanding
human population. This essay aims to define the concepts, methods, and regulations that make
up the idea of sustainable agriculture.
Keywords: History, Concept, Method, Economic etc.
History of Agriculture:-
Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), as defined by the FAO
(Food and Agriculture Organization of the UNO), are: "Remarkable land use systems and
landscapes which are rich in globally significant biological diversity evolving from the co-
adaptation of a community with its environment and its needs and aspirations for sustainable
development". Agriculture independently emerged in several parts of the world, involving a vast
range of species. There were at least eleven distinct independent sites of origin in both the Old
and New Worlds. The development of agriculture approximately 12,000 years ago revolutionised
human existence. They changed from living as nomadic hunters and gatherers to farming and
1
Bhumi Publishing, India
stable settlements. The gathering and consumption of wild grains dates back at least 105,000
years. The Eastern Mediterranean region was home to the eight Neolithic founder crops by about
9500 BC, including emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch,
chickpeas, and flax. By 6200 BC, China had domesticated rice, mung, soy, and azuki beans.
History of Indian Agriculture:
Indian agriculture was developed about 9000 BCE as a result of early plant domestication
and crop and animal domestication. A settled existence quickly followed, and agricultural tools
and methods were created. Due to two monsoons, two harvests were obtained in one year.
Foreign crops were brought to India, and Indian goods quickly spread around the world thanks to
established trading networks. The plants and animals that the Indians believed were necessary for
their survival eventually came to be revered and praised. Under the patronage of Islam, irrigation
routes in India reached a new degree of sophistication during the mediaeval centuries, and Indian
crops had an impact on the economies of other parts of the world. Systems for managing land
and water were created with the intention of promoting uniform growth. The independent
Republic of India was able to create a comprehensive agricultural policy despite some stagnation
in the later modern age.
Heritage of Agriculture in India:
No other civilization has a heritage like ours. We should be proud of our rich cultural
heritage as Indian citizens. In India, agriculture has existed for a very long time, going all the
way back to the Neolithic period, which lasted from 7500 to 4000 B.C. It transformed early
man's wandering lifestyle from one of foraging for wild fruit and roots to one of cultivating land.
Great saints' knowledge and teachings are beneficial to agriculture. Generation after generation
has passed along the knowledge acquired and the practises embraced. Traditional farmers have
created farming techniques that are friendly to the environment, such as crop rotation, mixed
farming, and mixed cropping. The degree of knowledge that the older Indian farmers held is
reflected in the great epics of antiquity.
Many inherited sustainable agricultural methods have been passed down from one
generation to the next. Additionally, for many Indian tribes, agriculture is a way of life rather
than a profession. Therefore, it is important for the younger generation to be informed of our old
2
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
and ancient agricultural ways. This will make it possible for us to develop our future research
approach.
Concept of Sustainable Agriculture:
The concept of sustainable agriculture is to produce enough food to feed the world's
population today without depleting the soil's fertility or permanently harming the ecosystem.
Low input agriculture or organic farming are examples of farming systems that are least
hazardous and energy demanding while still maintaining productivity and profitability. So,
Sustainable Agriculture is one that:-
 supports gainful production,
 protects environmental value
 uses natural resources competently;
 provides consumers with reasonable, high-quality products;
 decreases reliance on non-renewable resources
 enhances the quality of life for farmers and rural communities;
 and will last for generations to come
History of Sustainable Agriculture:
The advantages of sustainable agriculture were covered by American author Franklin H.
King in his book Farmers of Forty Centuries in 1907, and he issued a dire warning that such
methods would become increasingly important to farming in the future. The Australian
agronomic Gordon McClymont is credited with coining the term "sustainable agriculture.". In
the later 1980s, the phrase gained popularity. The International Society of Horticultural Science
hosted a global symposium on sustainability in horticulture during the 2002 International
Horticultural Congress in Toronto. Further discussion of the principles took place at the
subsequent conference in Seoul in 2006. The widespread concern that the planet's carrying
capacity, in terms of its ability to feed humanity, has been reached or even exceeded, is related to
the rising popularity of sustainable agriculture. Since the English political economist Thomas
Malthus in the early 1800s, there has been concern about the probable future incapacity to feed
the world's population, but this issue has recently taken on greater significance. This topic was
heavily debated in the U.S. beginning at the very end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st
century as a result of mounting concerns over a fast expanding world population. The largest
3
industry in the world for a long time, agriculture needs a lot of land, water, and manpower.
Experts questioned the industry's capacity to keep up with population expansion at the beginning
of the twenty-first century. Concerns about "curing hunger" and global food insecurity emerged
from this discussion. Most people agree that sustainable agriculture is the most practical
approach to feed a growing population. Future costs to the environment and the communities that
farming practises support must be taken into account in order to sustainably feed the planet's
population. The adoption of technology within the sustainability industry to boost farm output
was motivated by the worry that we wouldn't be able to provide enough resources for everyone.
The ability to feed the world's constantly expanding population is the best outcome of
technological advancement.
Sustainable Agriculture:-
Sustainable agriculture is the practise of farming in a way that satisfies society's current
demands for food and textiles without endangering the ability of present or future generations to
meet their own needs. It might be founded on knowledge of ecosystem services. There are
numerous ways to improve agriculture's sustainability. Flexible business procedures and farming
techniques are crucial when establishing agriculture within sustainable food systems. A large
portion of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to food systems, which
have a considerable impact on climate change, water scarcity, water pollution, land degradation,
deforestation, and other environmental processes. It is both affecting the environment and
changing it at the same time. Sustainable agriculture refers to farming practises that protect the
environment while yet allowing for the production of crops or livestock without causing harm to
people or the ecosystem. It entails guarding against negative consequences on the farm's
workers, residents, the environment, water, biodiversity, upstream resources, and soil.
Permaculture, agroforestry, mixed agriculture, multiple cropping, and crop rotation are examples
of sustainable agriculture practises. The sustainability of the human population is enhanced
through the development of sustainable food systems. For instance, developing sustainable food
systems based on sustainable agriculture is one of the best strategies to lessen the effects of
climate change. A potential option for agricultural systems to feed a growing population while
adjusting to changing environmental conditions is sustainable agriculture.
Factors Affecting Sustainable Agriculture:
4
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Excessive tilling of the soil (which promotes erosion) and irrigation without appropriate
drainage are two practises that can harm soil over time (leading to salinization) Climate, soil,
nutrients, and water availability are the most crucial elements for a farming location. The
conservation of water and soil is the one that may be influenced by humans the most. Farmers
deplete the soil of some nutrients when they cultivate and harvest their crops. Without
replenishment, the soil loses nutrients and either becomes useless or produces less as a result.
Rebuilding the soil is essential to sustainable agriculture, as is reducing the need for or usage of
non-renewable resources like mineral ores or natural gas.
Agriculture that can "yield forever" but has adverse consequences on other areas of the
ecosystem is not sustainable. The use of fertiliser or manure, which might increase farm output
but can damage surrounding rivers and coastal seas, is an example of a situation in which a
global perspective may be justified (eutrophication). The problem of low food yields caused by
the depletion of nutrients in the soil has been linked to the destruction of rainforests, therefore
the other extreme can also be unfavourable.
Nutrients:-
Nitrates: Sources of nitrates in soil
 Reusing livestock manure, processed human waste, and agricultural waste.
 Raising forages and legumes like peanuts or alfalfa that symbiotically fix nitrogen in the
soil using bacteria called rhizobia.
 The Haber process employs hydrogen, which is now generated from natural gas, to
industrially produce nitrogen..
 Genetically engineering (non-legume) crops to form nitrogen-fixing symbioses or fix
nitrogen without microbial symbionts.
Phosphate:
 Fertilizer's main ingredient is phosphate. It is frequently a limiting factor and is the
second-most crucial nutrient for plants after nitrogen.
 It is significant for sustainable agriculture as it can advance soil fertility and crop yields.
 Phosphorus is concerned in all major metabolic processes including photosynthesis,
energy transfer, signal transduction, macromolecular biosynthesis, and respiration.
5
 People have turned to alternative sources because the prolonged use of phosphate-
containing chemical fertilisers results in eutrophication and the depletion of soil
microbial life.
Potassium:
 This nutrient is crucial for agriculture since it increases crop productivity, disease
resistance, flavour, colour, and nutrient value..
 Because of the increase in soil salinity, imbalance in the availability of nutrients, and the
biocidal action of this ion on soil organisms, the use of KCl results in high concentrations
of chloride (Cl-) in soil that are harmful to the soil's health.
 Chloride-free fertilizers are a viable alternative to KCl, and their application should take
into account the nutritional requirements of plants and the improvement of soil health..
Methods of Sustainable Agriculture:
Chemical fertilisers, insecticides, and other enhancers are widely used in industrial
agriculture. The vast bulk of the food we consumed in the last ten years was produced in this
way. However, in the last couple of years, due to the negative characteristics of the technology,
there has been a modest trend towards the employment of sustainable farming methods. Some of
the methods which leads to the sustainable agriculture are as follows:-
1. Intensification: Intensification aims to increase production. Sustainable
intensification includes particular agricultural practises that boost output while also
contributing to better environmental results. The farm's objectives are met without the
need to cultivate more land or destroy natural habitat; instead, the system
performance is improved at no net environmental cost. The UN has made sustainable
intensification a top objective. The way that sustainable intensification differs from
earlier intensification techniques is by emphasising wider environmental outcomes. In
order to maintain high crop yields while preserving soil health and ecosystem
services, sustainable intensive farming practises are required in light of worries about
food security, human population expansion, and the shrinking amount of land suitable
for cultivation. There has been much discussion regarding the ability of ecosystem
services to be strong enough to permit a decrease in the usage of non-renewable
inputs while maintaining or increasing yields.
6
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
2. Water: By adopting alternative methods and less irrigation, water efficiency can be
increased. These include studying crops that can withstand drought, keeping track of
plant transpiration, and lowering soil evaporation. A solution to the problem of water
scarcity has been extensively studied: drought-resistant crops. They have undergone
genetic modification to enable them to adapt to a dry environment. This is
advantageous since it lessens the demand for irrigation and promotes water
conservation. Despite substantial research, little has been accomplished because the
majority of the successful species will not have a significant overall influence on
water conservation. However, some cereals, like rice, have successfully undergone
genetic modification to become drought resistant.
3. Soil and Nutrients: Utilizing compost from recycling facilities is one form of soil
improvement. Compost made from kitchen and yard trash makes use of local
resources. Reduced soil water evaporation and soil erosion are achieved by forgoing
soil tillage before planting and leaving plant residue after harvest. Reduced water
evaporation, a lower surface soil temperature, and a reduction in the impacts of wind
may be the results of crop residues remaining on the soil's surface.
4. Pests: Chemical soil sterilising methods can be replaced by soil steaming. To
eradicate pests and improve soil health, it is possible to introduce steam into the
ground using a variety of techniques. The similar idea underlies solarizing, which
raises soil warmth to eradicate pests and pathogens. When crushed, ploughed into the
soil, and covered in plastic for four weeks, some plants can be grown for use as
biofumigants, "natural" fumigants that release substances that reduce pests. Toxic
substances like methyl isothiocyanates are released in huge quantities by plants of the
Brassicaceae family.
5. Crop rotation: Crop rotation may also be a component of sustainability. [96]
Rotation of crops and cover crops shield topsoil from wind and water, preventing soil
erosion. Effective crop rotation can replenish soil nutrients and lessen the insect
impact on crops. As a result, fewer herbicides and fertilisers are required. Since many
pests like certain crops, it aids in the fight against pest issues. The population of the
pests can grow significantly if there is a consistent supply of food. Rotation disrupts
7
the bugs' reproductive cycles. Farmers can plant specific crops during rotation to
restore plant nutrients. The need of chemical fertilisers is decreased by these crops.
6. Practice of Traditional Agriculture: Some traditional methods combine
sustainability with polyculture. Rice-fish systems on rice paddies have raised
freshwater fish as well as rice in South-East Asia, creating an additional good while
lowering the eutrophication of nearby rivers.
In one variation, rice, fish, ducks, and water fern are combined with rice in Indonesia;
the ducks consume weeds that would otherwise inhibit rice growth, saving labour and
herbicides, and the duck and fish faeces serves as a substitute for fertiliser.
Crop rotations, agroforestry, and water collection are more examples of traditional
farming. One of the biggest and most popular techniques is collecting water, which is
especially useful in dry regions and during certain seasons. Harvesting rainwater is
regarded as a cheap option. During times of heavy rain, this method of harvesting
gathers and stores water from roof tops for use later.
7. Indigenous Agriculture: Multiple crops are planted together in the same area and is
a practise that many indigenous people used for their agriculture. Through the
exchange of nutrients, maintenance of soil moisture, and mutual physical support, this
technique enables crops to aid one another in growing. The crops that are grown
together in intercropping frequently do not compete for resources in a way that is
detrimental to either crop's success. For instance, a lot of tribes used intercropping in
the Three Sisters Garden. This method of gardening uses corn, beans, and squash. As
the corn stalk supports the beans, the beans provide nitrogen, and the squash holds
moisture, these crops grow together. Intercropping is a natural method of controlling
pests and halting the growth of weeds. Intercropping is a sustainable, natural farming
technique that frequently boosts plant and soil health overall. Additionally, it raises
crop yield. Indigenous people's traditional ecological knowledge of harvesting is one
of the most crucial components of sustainable agriculture. The “Anishinaabe tribes”
follow an ideology known as "the Honorable Harvest". The Honorable Harvest is a
set of practices that emphasize the idea that people should "take only what you
need and use everything you take.
8
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
8. Polyculture: Using perennial crop types to create polyculture systems is one strategy
towards sustainability. Such variants are being created for sunflowers, wheat,
sorghum, and rice. It will be possible to add nitrogen fixation to the system, lowering
the requirement for fertiliser and pesticides, if these can be grown in polyculture with
a leguminous cover crop like alfalfa.
9. Organic agriculture: An agricultural approach known as organic farming
emphasises methods like crop rotation and companion planting and uses organic
fertilisers including compost manure, green manure, and bone meal. It began in the
early 20th century as a response to drastically altering farming techniques..
10. Regenerative Agriculture: A conservation and repair strategy for food and farming
systems is known as regenerative agriculture. Its main goals are to regenerate topsoil,
boost biodiversity, improve the water cycle, improve ecosystem services, enhance
biosequestration, boost climate change resilience, and improve the health and vitality
of agricultural soil. As much farm trash as possible is recycled, and composted
material from outside the farm is also included.
11. Permaculture: A food production system using permaculture reduces resource waste
and increases production efficiency through design, planning, and smart farming.
Permaculture is a method of land management and community planning that imitates
the structures found in thriving natural ecosystems. In permaculture, all flowing
materials and energies that influence or are influenced by proposed modifications are
taken into account. These procedures are founded on whole-systems thinking.
Practically speaking, it means that both upstream and downstream consequences in
the short and long terms must be thoroughly taken into account before making
changes to, say, over land water flow. Alternatively, when examining a "issue," such
as brushy vegetation, one should think about how its removal or modification may
impact the soil and the animals, as well as how these interrelated forces will change
through time and distance. When constructing a house, one considers deconstructing
the house. It focuses on using perennial plants, including fruit trees, nut trees, and
shrubs, in a system that is supposed to work similarly to how plants in a natural
ecosystem might.
9
Sustainability Standards: Organic certification, Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade, UTZ Certified,
Global GAP, Bird Friendly, and the Common Code for the Coffee Community are just a few of
the sustainability standards and certification programmes that exist. These standards lay out the
guidelines that suppliers, manufacturers, and traders must go by to ensure that the products they
create, manufacture, or grow do not harm people or the environment. Voluntary Sustainability
Standards (VSS), which are private standards with a focus on economic, social, and
environmental sustainability, are another name for these requirements. Currently, about 500 VSS
are used to regulate important exports from many developing nations, including organic agri-
foods, coffee, tea, bananas, cocoa, palm oil, lumber, and tea. [136] Eutrophication, water usage,
greenhouse gas emissions, and natural ecosystem conversion are all reduced by VSS.
Development of Rural Economic: Sustainable agriculture makes an effort to provide a
comprehensive solution to many issues. Sustainable agricultural practises aim to increase crop
production and, consequently, food production while reducing environmental damage brought on
by farming. To boost rural economic growth within small agricultural communities, a variety of
solutions are being tried that incorporate sustainable farming methods. Sustainable economic
growth is a viable strategy for reducing rural poverty in agricultural communities; its key
component is to consistently integrate the poorest farmers in the growth of the economy as a
whole by stabilising small-scale agricultural economies.
Merit of Sustainable Agriculture:
 Petroleum in particular is a major source of non-renewable energy for modern
agriculture. In order to the extent that it is economically viable, renewable energy
sources or human labour are substituted for non-renewable energy sources in sustainable
agricultural systems.
 Air quality is impacted by numerous farming practises. Among them are nitrous oxide
emissions from the usage of nitrogen fertiliser, smoke from agricultural burning, dust
from tillage, traffic, and harvest, pesticide drift, and dust from tillage. Crop residue can
be added to the soil, the right amount of tillage can be used, and wind breaks, cover
crops, or strips of local perennial grasses can be planted to reduce dust.
 We still face a severe threat from soil erosion to our ability to produce enough food.
Reducing or eliminating tillage, controlling irrigation to decrease runoff, and keeping
10
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
the soil covered with plants or mulch are just a few of the strategies that have been
developed to keep soil in place.
 Crop output can be increased by carefully choosing species and types that are best suited
to the farm's location and environmental conditions, as well as by diversifying the farm's
crops (including livestock) and cultural methods to increase the farm's biological and
financial stability.
 Sustainable livestock production also includes optimal species selection, nutrition for
animals, reproduction, herd health, and grazing management, all of which contribute to
the long-term growth of livestock as a whole.
Demerits of Sustainable Agriculture:
 The biggest drawback is the sparse utilisation of land, which makes it challenging to
grow huge amounts of food. Because of this, mass production is not feasible.
 Plant manufacturing requires more time and labour because machines are used less
or not at all, which slows down production.
 Food produced responsibly has a shorter shelf life since decomposition happens
more quickly. There is a good probability that a shipment will never reach the store
since it will already be spoilt if it is delayed.
 It is challenging to improve soil fertility just through crop rotation without applying
fertilisers or other chemicals..
 The income from farming is quite restricted because the land is used sparingly..
Challenges of Sustainable Agriculture:
The perception that sustainable agriculture offers little advantages is a significant
impediment to adoption. Many advantages are not immediately apparent or visible, and it takes
time to bring about improvements like decreased rates of soil and nutrient loss, enhanced soil
structure, and increased quantities of advantageous microbes. In conventional agriculture, the
advantages are plain to see because there are no weeds, pests, etc., while the costs to the soil and
the ecosystems nearby are concealed and "externalised." According to the author James Howard
Kunstler, practically all contemporary technology is detrimental and that traditional farming
practises are the only way to ensure sustainability. The sustainability community supports efforts
to promote more environmentally friendly agriculture, however these are frequently only seen as
11
baby steps and not as a solution.. Some predict that a true sustainable steady state economy will
look substantially different from the one we currently have: it will use far less energy, leave a
smaller environmental footprint, produce more home and community gardens, buy locally, and
have shorter food supply chains.
Economics Perspective of Sustainable Agriculture:-
Sustainable agriculture synthesizes a variety of concepts associated with agricultural
practices and their socio-economic impacts. Sustainability is mostly perceived as the
combination of environmental, social and economic performance; while still remain difficulties
in defining sustainable economic development. Economic growth may result in an improvement
in the standard of living related to a small proportion of the population whilst the majority of the
population remains poor. It is how the economic growth is distributed amongst the population
that determines the level of development. The concept of sustainable development has become a
widely recognized goal for human society of the 21st century.
These are the following characteristic features to economic development:-
 It is only one part of the total development of society, and can be distinguished
and analyzed separately.
 Its quantitative dimension is associated with economic accumulation, or growth in
real per capita income
 Its qualitative dimension is associated with technological and institutional change
or innovation broadly defined
 It should ideally be measurable i.e. economic development is associated with
direct and readily measurable economic gain.
Conclusion:
Maintaining parity between the demands on food supply and consumption as they rise in
the future would need sustainable agriculture. Future population food demand will change as a
result of population increase, shifting economic demographics, and shifting dietary preferences.
In addition, climate change and growing worries about the depletion of non-renewable energy
sources have compelled scientists and policymakers to develop new strategies for sustaining the
available resources and continuing to supply the rising demand for food. The solution to these
12
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
issues is sustainable agriculture, which creates a new integrated type of agriculture that
approaches food production holistically.
References:
Batie, S. S., ‘Sustainable Development: Challenges to Profession of Agricultural
Economics’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, vol. 71, no. 5, 1989: 1083-
1101.
FAO, (2017). The future of food and agriculture–Trends and challenges. Annual Report.
Flora C. B., "Building Sustainable Agriculture: A New Application of Farming Systems
Research and Extension," Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, vol. 2, pp. 37-50, 1992.
George K. P., "Do We Have a Moral Responsibility to Practice a Sustainable Agriculture?,"
Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, vol. 1, pp. 81-95, 1990
Keeney D. R., "Toward a Sustainable Agriculture: Need for Clarification of Concepts and
Terminology," American Journal Alternative Agriculture vol. 4, p. 101, 1989.
Reeve, J. R.,Carpenter-Boggs, L., & Sehmsdorf, H. (2011). Sustainable agriculture: A case study
of a small Lopez Island farm. Agricultural Systems, 104 (7), 572-579.
Sharma, S. K., Laddha, K. C., Sharma, R. K., Gupt, P. K., Chatt, L. K., &Pareeek, P. (2012).
Application of biodynamic preparations and organic manures for organic production of
cumin (Cuminumcyminum L.). International Journal of Seed Spices, 2 (01), 7-11
Townsend, C., ‘Technology for Sustainable Agriculture.‘ Florida Gulf Coast University, 1998.
Web.
United Nations, ‘Green technology for sustainable agriculture development‘, United Nations
Asian And Pacific Centre For Agricultural Engineering And Machinery, 2010. Web.
13
Chapter ADVANCEMENTS OF PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY IN

CROP PRODUCTION
Jeet Roy1,2, Sachin Phogat1,2 and Ankur Poudel1,2,3
1 ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi, India
2 ICAR- National Institute of Plant Biotechnology, Pusa, New Delhi India
3Lamjung Campus, Institute of Agriculture & Animal Sciences,
Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Abstract:
Agriculture is now seriously threatened by climate change. Stresses that are both biotic
and abiotic provide a constant threat to plants. Pyramiding favored agricultural features for stress
resistance from their natural lineages is a contemporary strategy in plant breeding. However,
these methods take a lot of time, and exclusive trait selection reduces biodiversity. Even though
attempts have been made to address stress tolerance, biotic stress tolerance has seen some
improvement, but abiotic stress tolerance continues to be of great concern. Enhancing stress
resistance in crops is hampered by the complex nature of inheritance of these numerous abiotic
stress tolerant genes and their environment interaction. As a result, efforts to find accurate and
trustworthy methods other than traditional breeding to improve stress tolerance in crops
continue. This problem may be solved by recent developments in genome editing tools as ZFNs,
TALENs, and CRISPR-Cas systems. There are CRISPR-Cas procedures that are more reliable,
accurate, simple, rapid, and produce heritable modifications. By removing negative genetic
sections governing undesirable agronomic traits, gain of function mutations, base editing,
multiplex editing, etc., CRISPR Cas has created crop plants with desired modifications in their
genomes.Cereal crops like wheat, rice, maize have already been developed with sufficient
tolerance to drought and salinity using CRISPR/Cas9 technique to cope with a constantly
changing environment.
Since this system can be rapidly improved in flexibility and accuracy, it guarantees
broader and more effective future applications. Along with the traits like stress tolerance,
nutritional improvement, yield, pest resistance and so on still there are ample number of traits
14
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
need to change to make climate smart crop by this technique. Also, CRISPR Cas tool can be
used for improving traits of wind species/orphan crops so they could be domesticated. This will
also aid in global food security.
Keywords: CRISPR, Cereals, genome editing
Introduction:
Since the earliest cultivation began at least ten thousand years ago, agriculture has
witnessed considerable advancements in every prospect of it. Among these prospects agricultural
crop production is heavily guided by many factors, including soil, water, environment,
management practices, and genetic diversity of crops. Since the dawn of agriculture, abundant
genetic diversity has been utilized and partially preserved in the process of crop cultivation. It is
estimated that less than 15% of the world's potential diversity is not yet utilized. Thousands of
valuable allelic mutations in economically important traits remain undeveloped in almost all
crops. These possibilities can be discovered and used effectively to address existing and
emerging challenges that threaten global food security. Unfortunately, this genetic abundance is
being eroded by negligence and overfishing. Current development activities and land use plans
are destroying natural habitats, replacingnative and native varieties with improved cultivars,
leading to reduced cultivar diversity. The major crop species (rice, wheat, corn and other millets)
were most affected by the Green Revolution. To successfully meet future food demands, ongoing
genetic erosion must be addressed and issues of gene conservation and optimal use of the
remaining genetic diversity of critical crops must be addressed.
The climate is changing abruptly over past few decades. The pattern of many climatic
phenomena such as temperature, rainfall, and so on have altered dramatically over time.
Anthropogenic activity is the major contributor to climate change. Human actions that are
indiscriminate have caused an imbalance in the planetary atmosphere. (Parry et al., 2007).These
extreme changes inthe climate bring a severe adverse influence on biodiversity. It is most likely
that some crops/varieties native of region might not adapt to changing scenario of climate thus
resulting in crop failure. Climate change also show detrimental effecton agricultural crop Like
shortening of lifespan. Increased temperature has led to shortening of crop duration by almost 2-
3 weeks in annual crops while in many winter crops show reduction in productivity due to high
temperature during reproductive stages (anthesis, pollination, fertilization). Similarly, erratic
15
rainfall (inadequate/excessive) has also lead crop losses.Since 1982, climate change has resulted
in yield losses of up to 70% (Boyer, 1982)and crop yields are anticipated to drop by about 20%
by 2020 (Vaughan et al., 2018). High temperatures have resulted in a yield loss of around 6%
for each degree increase in temperature in wheat (Asseng et al., 2015). Stress brought on by
high temperatures in plants has an impact on numerous significant enzymes. The RUBISCO
enzyme's activity is disturbed at temperatures above 35oC, which causes plants to stop
photosynthesis. (Griffin et al., 2004). When two or more stress combinedly act on plants, effects
are more damaging. Under both heat and drought stress function of photosystem II is found to be
reduced in Leymuschinensis (Xu & Zhou, 2006). In wheat drought stress is responsible to
decrease yield 1-30% under mild stress whereas almost 90% yield reduction is seen under
prolonged drought stress during anthesis and post anthesis stage (de Oliveira et al., 2012) . In
the case of maize, a fall in yield was observed above 29 0C and it decreased by 8.3 percent for
every 10C increase in temperature. (Lobell & Field, 2007, Schlenker & Roberts, 2009).In
addition, interactions among agricultural ecosystem components such as pollinators, predator-
prey balance, and so on has been disrupted (Shukla et al., 2019).
On one hand climate continues to change while on other hand population keeps on
increasing whilearable cultivable land keeps on decreasing (Stamm et al., 2011). As a result,
agriculture must be prepared to feed an ever-increasing population while dealing with the effects
of climate change and other factors. Agriculture must be equipped to accept rising food demand
in the coming decade. As a result, it is crucial to protect the long-term utilization natural
resources. Therefore, various adaptations, mitigation methods, and initiatives are needed to react
to the changing climate and safeguard the particularly susceptible agricultural sector. One such
technique is climate resilient agriculture (CRA), which integrates landscapes, crops, animals,
lands, forests, and fisheries to address the challenges of climate change and food security.
Agriculture practices that can tolerate and withstand the stress of a changing environment and
extreme weather are the subject of research on "climate resilient agriculture." It is the integration
of mitigation, adaptation, and other techniques to fend off and quickly recover from climate-
related damage. Increasing production, building resilience to biotic and abiotic challenges,
reducing emissions, and carbon sequestration are all key components of CRA, an integrated
approach.
16
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Conventional climate change adaptation in agriculture
For a conventional climate change adaptation in agriculture refers to the modification of
an agricultural system to a changing environment to make it sustain to unpredicted
environmental conditions. This adaptation is accomplished by either improving a package of
cultivation practises, such as integrated farming, water/nutrient management, crop
diversification, pest surveillance, integrated pest control, stress tolerant variety breeding, and so
on, or by risk coverage through insurance, social networking and community-based adaptation,
agrometerology advisory, international collaboration, and so on. (Godfray & Garnett, 2014).
The incorporation and maintenance of high soil organic matter, the use of regional crop
genetic diversity, the integration of crops and livestock, mixed cropping, multiple cropping,
reducing top soil erosion, and soil moisture maintenance are all examples of on-farm practices
for coping with climate change (Altieri & Koohafkan, 2008). To avoid soil erosion windbreaks,
hedge rows, cover crops etc. are planted. In a similar manner, mulching, terracing, micro
irrigation, and water harvesting assist in lowering moisture losses and abrasive surface
temperatures. Changes in tillage practices have been proven in enhancing irrigation water
efficiency by 66-100 percent and temperatures by 1-40C lower in surface of soil. Over the past
seven years, zero tillage with residue retention has also increased soil organic content by 4.66
tonnes per hectare (Sapkota et al., 2017).
It is also a proven fact that a diverse production system with crop diversification is more
resilient in enhancing food and nutritional security by nutrient recycling, reducing greenhouse
gas emissions, control ofhydrological processes, lowers risk of disease and pest and improves
soil health ( Lin, 2011; Chivenge et al., 2015).
Conventional techniques for developing climate resilient crop
Utilizing traditional crop development methods, high yielding crop types are created by
farmers and breeders for countless years. These include artificial selection approach based on
morphological characters, introgression of traits from wild relatives, conventional breeding
where offspring with superior desirable characters were selected and hybridization-based
methods. A significant constraint is the length of time and labor it takes to develop a new crop
variety with desirable traits. These methods merely take advantage of the variety that exists in
nature. Only pyramiding or recombining the more desirable traits already existing in nature was
17
used to improve crops. (Ahmar et al., 2020; Khusg, 2013). Some proven tolerant genotypes are
listed below which aid in yield enhancement and climate change adaptation.
Application Genotypes Crop
Drought tolerance Sahabhagidhan, DRR Dhan 42, 43 and 44 Rice
Submergence tolerance Sambhamahsuri, CR1009 Rice
Submergence and SukkhaDhan 6, CR Dhan 801, CR Dhan 802 Rice

drought tolerance
Drought tolerance Pusa Hybrid Makka 1, HM 4, Pusa Hybrid Makka 5 Maize
Heat tolerance RCRMH2, Lall-454 Maize

Cold & frost tolerant HQPM-1, HHM-1, HM-1 Maize
However, with the world's population expanding, it is almost impossible to feed everyone
with solely traditional crop development methods. The present demand is to develop resilience
crops that can endure biotic and abiotic challenges in an everchanging climate. The genetic
variety has reduced as a result of the widespread cultivation of some common modified types
which create the opportunity of creating variation by employing some chemicals and radiation,
often known as mutagens, to create new, nonexistent traits, variation in breeding that can be
utilized to introduce them into crop cultivar. (Acquaah, 2016; Steinwand & Ronald, 2020).
Advancement in science and technology with time, conventional breeding methods are assisted
bymolecular techniques of molecular breeding.Among these are next-generation sequencing
techniques, which offer a thorough understanding of the genome, allele mining tells regarding
the dissection of allelic differences in candidate genes, Genome wide association study (GWAS),
molecular marker assisted selection like marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) and marker-
assisted recurrent selection (MARS) allows SNP detection and Quantitative trait loci association
analysis (Oladosu et al., 2019). When combined with conventional crop improvement
techniques, the enhanced understanding of genetics and bioinformatics can address the main
issues causing food scarcity and give better production of biotic and abiotic stress resistance
crops (Singh et al., 2016).
18
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Development of functional genomics improved the understanding of gene function,
genetic make-up and phenotypic characteristics of significant crops which have been the subject
of much research. Modern approaches that can alter the genetic make-up of plants to increase
their usefulness include somaclonal variation, somatic hybridization, genetic engineering, plant
transformation with novel genes across species, and plant tissue culture for regeneration and
transformation. The most recent developments include the creation of particular nucleases like
ZFN, TALENs, and CRISPR/Cas systems that can edit or modify the genomes by using their
molecular machinery at certain predetermined places. These recently developed modified
nuclease attract mind of researcher for their specific activity, easy, costfriendly, lesser time
usability which help in time efficient improved crop production.
Utilizing genetic engineering methods of creating climate-smart crops
Genetic engineering (GE) is a useful technique which can directly introduce the
agronomically important traits like insect pest resistance, herbicide tolerant, efficient nutrient use
by modifing the genetic material of any organism within short period time as compared to
conventional and molecular breeding techniques. Genetic material can be transferred across
species in a few generations even in vegetative propagated plants (Dong & Ronald, 2019;
Kumar et al., 2020).
RNAi and gene expression control
RNA interference (RNAi) utilizes small noncoding 20-24 nucleotides RNAs like small
interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) which has the power of precise gene
regulation without affecting the expression of other genes. MiRNA and SiRNA have differences
in their biogenesis, precursors and their mechanism of action.RNAi is a reverse genetics tools,
has been employed to uncover gene functions from the phenotype of engineered plants (Gaj et
al., 2013). By adjusting gene expression patterns using this method, nutritional properties related
to bio-fortification and removal of anti-nutritional components in crops have been improved. By
reducing biotic (virus, fungi, bacteria, nematodes, etc.) and abiotic (drought, salinity, cold, etc.)
stresses and extending the shelf life of many fruits and vegetables, RNAi has demonstrated its
significance in crop enhancement programme (Saurabh et al., 2014, Younis et al., 2014).
19
Type of RNAi Application Crop Reference

molecules
dsRNAs Down-regulation of target Seed of A. thaliana, Li et al.,2015
Mob1A and WRKY23 rice, and maize
endogenous gene
dsRNAs Virus resistance Tobacco Tenllado and Diaz-
Ruiz 2001; Carbonell
et al., 2008
dsRNA Down-regulation of target Dendrobium hybrid Lau et al., 2015
DhMYB1 endogenous
gene
dsRNA, sRNAs Fungal resistance Hordeum vulgare Koch et al. 2016
derived from
DICERcleaved
dsRNA
dsRNA Fungal resistance Brassica napus and Mclaughlin et al.,
Arabidopsis, C. 2018
sativus, Glycine max,
Hordeum vulgare, and
Triticum aestivum
Unfortunately, because RNAi primarily targets at the mRNA level, it is inefficient for
actual usage in repressing genes.
4.2 Gene editing with nucleases: ZFNs, TALENS, CRISPR
Gene editing allows for extremely precise genetic alterations to be introduced to living
things, thereby modifying their genetic composition. In order to remove existing DNA and insert
replacement DNA, gene editing is carried out utilizing enzymes, notably nucleases that have
been specifically designed to target a particular DNA sequence.
In presence scenario, as a key component of functional genomics and crop enhancement
programs, gene editing is a versatile approach that elevates genetic engineering to the level of
20
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
advanced biotechnology (Hillary & Ceasar, 2019). With thisemerging editing technology make
possible and easier to improve almost any significant desired agronomic feature in plants by
using of available of sequencing data for certain main crops (Jaganathan et al., 2018). The main
component of editing technology is the modified endonucleases which cause double-stranded
breaks in genomic target DNA and repaired by the cell repair system utilizing error-prone Non-
Homologous End Joining (NHEJ). This editing result causes frameshift mutations in gene
sequence. Homology Directed Repair (HDR), by providing the insert with homology at flanking
regions which results in gene insertion or could be used for insertional mutagenesis (H. X.
Jaganathan et al., 2019). As a result of the mRNA codons' modified frame, the wrong amino
acids were added when the protein was extended. A frameshift mutation will cause the
production of an ineffective protein, which frequently leads to gene knockouts and genetic
knockouts. These mutant lines can be applied to agriculture as well as functional and reverse
genetic studies (Malzahn et al., 2017; H. Zhang et al., 2017). Modern researchers favor site
directed nucleases because of its more sophisticated instrumentation. Based on the availability of
template DNA during the repair of cleaved DNA by particular endonucleases, these are divided
into three categories called SDN1, SDN2, and SDN3.ZFNs Zinc Finger Nucleases, TALENs
Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly interspaced
short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) associated with Cas protein variants are the most recent and
advanced programmable nucleases that can efficiently and precisely target the gene of interest.
ZFNs and TALENs, which are easily programmable and have sequence-specific DNA binding
domains coupled to non-specific DNA cleaving nucleases, are the first-generation editing tools.
Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs)
ZFNs are composed of a dimer in which each monomer contains a Zinc finger DNA
binding domain and a DNA cleaving endonuclease FokI restriction enzymes. (Cai et al., 2009).
Three to four zinc fingers combine to form a zinc finger monomer that can recognise about 12
nucleotides. The zinc finger domain is made up of repeating groups of cystine and histidine
residues and can recognise three nucleotides. A lengthy nucleotide stretch could be recognised
by combining several zinc fingers (Gaj et al., 2013; Petolino, 2015; Davies et al., 2017).
ZFNs enlighten a new way of editing crop genome and give an insight view of crop
improvement for making climate resilient crop with lesser time. ZFNs have been used to
21
integrate DNA at particular transgenic and native loci. Targeting Dicer-like and RNA-silencing
genes cloned in vectors driven by the inducible oestrogen promoter allowed researchers to assess
the mutagenesis efficiency of ZFNs. It has been reported that ZFN-induced plant transformation
in soybean results in mutations in the Dicer-like DCL4a and DCL4b genes, which are then
passed down to the following generation. (Curtin et al., 2011).
Crop Application Reference
Maize Herbicide tolerant V. K. Shukla et al., 2009
Bread Herbicide resistant Ran et al., 2018
wheat
Tobacco Herbicide resistance Cai et al., 2009
4.2.2 TALENS
Transcriptional activator-like effectors (TALEs), which are produced by plant pathogenic
bacteria of the genus Xanthomonas, have an effect on plants' transcriptional machinery and
mimic transcription factors. They use DNA binding tandem repeat domains with 33–35 amino
acid residues to detect a single base pair in the promoter region. Repeat variable di-residues
(RVD), which are hypervariable and reprogrammable, are the 12th and 13th amino acid residues.
These RVDs specify the various nucleotides, such as NI for A, NG for T, HD for C, and NN for
G or A. (Boch & Bonas, 2010). TALEs are now incorporated into genome editing methods after
their DNA recognition code and DNA binding mechanism were discovered. TALEs and FokI
nuclease were combined to generate TALENs, a novel technology featuring a site-specific DNA
binding domain and a nuclease that nicks DNA. Neighboring nicks on the dimer form of
TALENs are programmed to result in a DNA break (Cermak et al., 2011; T. Li & Yang, 2013).
To conduct TALEN-related assays, a simple technique, reagents, software, and constructs with
customizable repeats are created. Using TALENs to modify the HPRT1 gene in human cells and
the ADH1 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana protoplasts has been achieved (Cermak et al., 2011). A
novel and more effective hybrid TALE nuclease based on Hax3 has been created, and it may be
tailored to any particular genomic target. In tobacco leaves, a transient expression study reveals
mutations caused by NHEJ repair after DSB caused by hybrid TALENs (Mahfouz et al., 2011).
Designer TALEs (dTALEs), a different variety of common TALENs that can control gene
22
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
expression, have been developed. Targeting the Acetolactate Synthase gene in tobacco
protoplasts using TALENs led to base substitution and gene replacement in the ALS gene in
protoplast cells as well as tobacco calli that were grown in the protoplasts (Yong Zhang et al.,
2013).
4.2.3 CRISPR
CRISPR-Cas9, a potent tool developed in 2012 by American scientist Jennifer Doudna,
French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier, and associates, and improved by American scientist
Feng Zhang and associates, is crucial among gene-editing tools. With the help of CRISPR-Cas9,
scientists were able to precisely delete and insert DNA where it was needed.
When bacteria and archaea are challenged with bacteriophages, the bacteriophages'
invasive genetic material is silenced by a unique immune response called the Clustered regularly
interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) systems, which give
bacteria and archaea adaptive immunity. Each time a new viral attack occurred, fresh spacers
made from viral genomic sequences were inserted into the genomic areas of the bacterial host.
When these spacers are translated into mature crispr RNA (CrRNA), they form an RNAfold
structure with trans-activating crRNA (tracrRNA). The active domains of the CRISPR-
associated protein Cas protein are directed by this dual RNA toward the viral genome's CrRNA
similarity sequence target, causing double strand breaks in the invader genome. (Barrangou et
al., 2007; Bhaya et al., 2011; Sampson et al., 2013). Dual-tracrRNA:crRNA also directs
sequence-specific Cas9 dsDNA degradation when it is generated as a single RNA hybrid (Jinek
et al., 2012). The error-prone NHEJ and HDR DNA repair mechanisms in cells operate to repair
the DSBs, resulting in mutations and sequence replacement (H. Zhang et al., 2017). Because of
variations in protein composition, genomic locus placement and architecture, effector molecule
structure, and pre-CRISPR (cr)RNA processing and silencing methods, the CRISPR-Cas systems
are challenging to define. Still, class 1 and class 2 are the two main divisions of the CRISPR/Cas
bacterial defence systems (Chaudhuri et al., 2022). Class 1 is composed of multi-subunit
effectors but class 2 contains single unit effector molecules. Type I, Type III, and Type IV are
the three subtypes of Class 1, and Type II, Type V, and Type VI are the three subtypes of Class
2. In type I, there are eight distinct Cas operons; in type II, there are four distinct Cas operons
and trans-activating CRISPR RNA (tracRNA: crRNA); in type III, there are eight distinct Cas
23
operons and Csm/Cmr complexes; in type IV, there are two distinct Cas operons and four
DinG/Csf proteins; in type V, there are four distinct Cas operons and four Cpf2 proteins; The
Cas9 protein, which is a component of the type II CRISPR/Cas defensive system, has been
widely exploited as a straightforward programmed genome editing tool despite the fact that
CRISPR/Cas systems have a lot of Cas operons. (Butiuc-Keul et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2020;
Makarova et al., 2015). This CRISPR-Cas9 approach, which was inspired by bacterial adaptive
immunity, is more robust, precise in editing, affordable, simple to design, takes less time, and
produces heritable alterations.
CRISPR/Cas9
Natural mature crRNA and tracrRNA are synthesized and combine to create a single
guide RNA (sgRNA) that may direct the Cas9 nuclease to the target protospacer DNA and create
double stranded breaks by cutting about three base pairs upstream of a PAM protospacer
adjacent motif (PAM). Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), which generates minor indels, or
homology directed repair (HDR), which permits precise gene or nucleotide substitution, are two
methods for repairing broken DNA ends (H. Zhang et al., 2017). The engineered sgRNA
consists of two parts: a target sequence that is 18 to 20 nucleotides long and replaces crRNA, and
a GuideRNA scaffold that takes the place of tracrRNA. As a result, it is an RNA-guided DNA
endonuclease (RGEN). The PAM sequence improves Cas9 endonuclease efficiency and aids in
the recognition of the target sequence. Different Cas nucleases use a different PAM sequence
(Mojica et al., 2009). The Ruv-C-like domain of Cas9, which cleaves at target strands
comparable to GuideRNA, and the HNH nuclease domain, which produces a cut in a target
sequence complementary to SgRNA, are its two active domains. (Jinek et al., 2012; Shan et al.,
2013). CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease is a versatile tool of genome editing technologies. CRiSPR/Cas
systems employ different techniques like single gene knockout, multiple gene knockout, large
deletions, to create desired point mutations, correction of point mutation in gene (precise base
editing), transcriptional regulation (overexpression and repression) (H. Zhang et al., 2017).
24
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
CRISPR systems, Cas variant, type of cleavage, target, PAM sequence and mutation
System Name Cas Nuclease Cleavage Target PAM References
Type sequence
CRISPR/Cas9 Cas9 DSB dsDNA NGG Jinek et al.,
(2012)
CRISPR/Cas9n Cas9nickase Nick dsDNA NGG Cong, (2013)
CRISPR/Cas9d Deactivated Non-cleavage dsDNA NGG Gilbert et al.,

Cas9 activity (2013)
CRISPR dCas9 fused Repression dsDNA NGG (Gilbert et al.,
interference with 2013; Lowder
CRISPRi transcriptional et al., 2015)
repressor
CRISPR dCas9 fused overexpression dsDNA NGG (Gilbert et al.,
activator with 2013; Lowder
CRISPRa transcriptional et al., 2015)
Activator
CRISPR/cpf1 Cpf1 Cohesive DSB dsDNA TTTN Kim et al.,
(2017).
CRISPR- Cas12b/C2c1 Cohesive DSB dsDNA TTN, Ming et al.,

Cas12b/C2c1 ATTN, (2020)
CRISPR-Cas13/ Cas13/ C2c2 Cleave Single ssRNA PFS (Wolter &
C2c2 Stranded RNA (Protospacer Puchta, 2018).
Flanking
Sequence)
CRISPR/Dead Dead No cleavage ssRNA PFS (Wolter &
Cas13/C2c2 Cas13/C2c2 Puchta, 2018)
CRISPR- Cas14a/ Cleave ssDNA ssDNA No PAM Harrington et
Cas14a/ Cas14f Cas14f Required al., (2018)
25
Application of CRISPR/Cas in Cereals

Several crop enhancement programmes have used CRISPR/Cas9 with tremendous
results. Biotechnologists created the modified Cas9, which is codon optimized for each of the
major crops. Currently CRISPR/Cas systems have been used in crop enhancement projects
considering yield, quality, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, and herbicide resistance traits.
Cereal crops like wheat, rice, and maize have already been developed with sufficient
tolerance to Drought and Salinity using CRISPR- Cas9 technique to cope with a constantly
changing climate (Hillary & Ceasar, 2019). Different outcomes of CRISPR Cas genome editing
on different cereals have been summarized on table.
CRISPR Cas gene editing in cereals
SN Crop Gene Outcome Reference
1 Rice OsMPK5 Enhanced resistance to disease Xie & Yang, (2013)
2 Rice OsEBP89 Improved seed germination under Zhang et al., (2020)

submerged conditions and also
enhanced the tolerance to drought
stress
3 Rice OsMYB30 Increased cold tolerance Lv et al., (2017)
4 Rice TIFY1a/TIFY1b Increased cold tolerance Huang et al., (2017)
5 Rice OsDST Moderate level tolerance to osmotic Santosh Kumar et

stress and high level of salt stress in al., (2020)
seedling
6 Rice OsSAPK2 Elucidated functional properties of Lou et al., (2017)
SAPK2 using loss-of-function mutants
produced with the CRISPR/Cas9
system
7 Rice OsRR22 Salinity Tolerance Zhang et al., (2019)
26
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
8 Rice qSOR1 Better root structure in saline soil Kitomi et al., (2020)
9 Rice OsNramp5 Low Cd-accumulating indica rice Tang et al., (2017)

without compromising yield
10 Rice OsLCT1 Less Cd accumulation in grains Songmei et al.,
(2019)
11 Maize ARGOS8 Improved grain yield under drought Shi et al., (2017)
stress conditions
12 Wheat TaDREB2, Improved survival under severe Kim et al., (2018)
TaERF3 drought conditions
13 Wheat TaHAG1 Increased salt tolerance Zheng et al., (2021)
14 Wheat TaARE1 Enhanced NUE and Guo et al., (2021)

improved grain yield
Advance plant biotechnology tools in crop production

RNAi – RNA interference, TALENs – Transcriptional Activator-like Effectors Nucleases, ZFNs
- Zinc Finger Nucleases, CRISPR/Cas – Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic
Rerpeats and associated Proteins , DSBs - Double Stranded Breaks, SDN – Site Directed
Nucleases, qSOR1- quantitative trait locus for SOIL SURFACE ROOTING 1), OsRR22 - Oryza
27
sativa response regulators 22, OsDST - Oryza sativa Drought and Salt tolerance, TaHAG1 –
Histone Acetyltransferase, a putative ortholog of AtHAG1/GCN5 in Arabidopsis, ARGOS8 -
Auxin-Regulated gene involved in Organ Size,ZmHKT1 – Zea mays High-affinity Potassium
Transporter, OsERF109 – Oryza sativa ethylene responsive factor 109, TaERF3 - Triticum
aestivumethylene responsive factor 3, OsEBP89 – Oryza sativa Ethylene-responsive element
binding protein, clone 89, TaDREB – Triticum aestivumdehydration responsive element binding
protein, EPLF9 – Oryza sativa Epidermal Patterning Factor like-9, OsSRL1 – Oryza sativa Semi-
Rolled Leaves, OsMYB30 – Oryza sativa, TIFY1a/b - Transcription Factors in TIFY Domain,
OsAnn3 – Oryza sativa Annexin gene, ZmCDPK – Zea mays Calcium‐Dependent Protein
Kinase, SLMAPK3 – Solanum lycopersicumMitogen-activated protein kinases
Conclusion:
Since the beginning of cultivation agriculture has witnessed considerable advancements
in every prospect of it. These advancements become necessary to fight back effectively against
existing and emerging challenges that threaten global food security. Unfortunately, the major
crop species (rice, wheat, corn and other millets) are cannot cope up with the growing future
food demands under continuous environmental threats which create the desire to make climate
resilient crop to sustain food production. Advance biotechnology tools like RNAi, ZFNs,
TALENs, CRISPR/Cas show the foresight of making good climate resilient crop. They typically
have a large amount of power to change the plant genomes at specific sites.
ZFNs and TALENs depend on DNA-Protein interaction for target specificity while
CRISPR Cas systems interact with RNA-DNA interaction. DNA breaks caused by ZFNs,
TALENs, and the CRISPR Cas system start the cellular endogenous repair process, which uses
risky Non-Homologous End Repair. NHEJ and homology-guided repair pathways are combined
to repair the damage. The frameshift mutation that results in altered gene function is caused by
NHEJ, which leads to single nucleotide reshuffle, deletion, and insertion of nucleotides.
(Bonawitz et al., 2019; Gaj et al., 2013). Due to monomer repeating nature, ZFNs and TALENs
are very time-consuming, expensive processes with numerous unknown off-targets. ZFNs and
TALENs required complex protein engineering techniques for their design and programming,
but CRISPR, a more sophisticated technology, is more user-friendly and cost-effective. Of
comparison to earlier nucleases, the construct designing and programming in CRISPR is not
28
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
overly laborious. However, despite of versatility and flexibility of genome editing tool, all need
for genome manipulation is yet to achieve. Since some traits are governed by QTLs where
editing single gene will not produce desired phenotypic change. Thus, it would be better to
develop CRISPR Cas mediated targeted insertion and chromosome rearrangement technology to
combine mutated allele. In addition to applications of CRISPR Cas, new avenues can be
unlocked by editing mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes, studying pattern of development via
cell lineages, signal integration and transduction by genetic circuits, plant biosensor development
to detect internal and external signals and other application in plant biotechnology (Zhu et al.,
2020).
For the benefit of humanity, several biotechnological approaches for genetic
manipulation and genome engineering are in use now. Though few good achievements have be
obtained but for future still need to develop new efficient techniques and tools to make a better
food secure future and world with zero hunger.
References:
Acquaah, G. (2016). Conventional plant breeding principles and techniques. In Advances in
Plant Breeding Strategies: Breeding, Biotechnology and Molecular Tools (Vol. 1, pp. 115–
158). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22521-0_5
Ahmar, S., Gill, R. A., Jung, K. H., Faheem, A., Qasim, M. U., Mubeen, M., & Zhou, W. (2020).
Conventional and molecular techniques from simple breeding to speed breeding in crop
plants: Recent advances and future outlook. In International Journal of Molecular Sciences
(Vol. 21, Issue 7). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21072590
Altieri, M. A., & Koohafkan, P. (2008). Enduring farms: climate change, smallholders and
traditional farming communities (Vol. 6). Third World Network (TWN) Penang.
Asseng, S., Ewert, F., Martre, P., Rötter, R. P., Lobell, D. B., Cammarano, D., Kimball, B. A.,
Ottman, M. J., Wall, G. W., & White, J. W. (2015). Rising temperatures reduce global
wheat production. Nature Climate Change, 5 (2), 143–147.
Boch, J., & Bonas, U. (2010). Xanthomonas AvrBs3 family-type III effectors: Discovery and
function. In Annual Review of Phytopathology (Vol. 48, pp. 419–436).
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-phyto-080508-081936
Bonawitz, N. D., Ainley, W. M., Itaya, A., Chennareddy, S. R., Cicak, T., Effinger, K., Jiang, K.,
29
Mall, T. K., Marri, P. R., Samuel, J. P., Sardesai, N., Simpson, M., Folkerts, O., Sarria, R.,
Webb, S. R., Gonzalez, D. O., Simmonds, D. H., & Pareddy, D. R. (2019). Zinc finger
nuclease-mediated targeting of multiple transgenes to an endogenous soybean genomic
locus via non-homologous end joining. In Plant Biotechnology Journal (Vol. 17, Issue 4,
pp. 750–761). https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13012
Butiuc-Keul, A., Farkas, A., Carpa, R., & Iordache, D. (2021). CRISPR-Cas System: The
Powerful Modulator of Accessory Genomes in Prokaryotes. In Microbial Physiology.
https://doi.org/10.1159/000516643
Cai, C. Q., Doyon, Y., Ainley, W. M., Miller, J. C., DeKelver, R. C., Moehle, E. A., Rock, J. M.,
Lee, Y. L., Garrison, R., Schulenberg, L., Blue, R., Worden, A., Baker, L., Faraji, F.,
Zhang, L., Holmes, M. C., Rebar, E. J., Collingwood, T. N., Rubin-Wilson, B., …
Petolino, J. F. (2009). Targeted transgene integration in plant cells using designed zinc
finger nucleases. In Plant Molecular Biology (Vol. 69, Issue 6, pp. 699–709).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-008-9449-7
Cermak, T., Doyle, E. L., Christian, M., Wang, L., Zhang, Y., Schmidt, C., Baller, J. A., Somia,
N. V., Bogdanove, A. J., & Voytas, D. F. (2011). Efficient design and assembly of custom
TALEN and other TAL effector-based constructs for DNA targeting. In Nucleic Acids
Research (Vol. 39, Issue 12). https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkr218
Chaudhuri, A., Halder, K., & Datta, A. (2022). Classification of CRISPR/Cas system and its
application in tomato breeding. In Theoretical and Applied Genetics (Vol. 135, Issue 2, pp.
367–387). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-021-03984-y
Chivenge, P., Mabhaudhi, T., Modi, A. T., & Mafongoya, P. (2015). The potential role of
neglected and underutilised crop species as future crops under water scarce conditions in
Sub-Saharan Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,
12 (6), 5685–5711.
Cong, L. (2013). Multiplex Genome Engineering Using. In Science (Vol. 25, Issue 7, pp. 778–
785). http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nbt1319
Curtin, S. J., Zhang, F., Sander, J. D., Haun, W. J., Starker, C., Baltes, N. J., Reyon, D.,
Dahlborg, E. J., Goodwin, M. J., Coffman, A. P., Dobbs, D., Joung, J. K., Voytas, D. F., &
Stupar, R. M. (2011). Targeted mutagenesis of duplicated genes in soybean with zinc-
finger nucleases. In Plant Physiology (Vol. 156, Issue 2, pp. 466–473).
30
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.111.172981
Davies, J. P., Kumar, S., & Sastry-Dent, L. (2017). Use of Zinc-Finger Nucleases for Crop
Improvement. In Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science (Vol. 149, pp.
47–63). https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pmbts.2017.03.006
de Oliveira, E. D., Bramley, H., Siddique, K. H. M., Henty, S., Berger, J., & Palta, J. A. (2012).
Can elevated CO2 combined with high temperature ameliorate the effect of terminal
drought in wheat? Functional Plant Biology, 40 (2), 160–171.
Dong, O. X., & Ronald, P. C. (2019). Genetic engineering for disease resistance in plants:
Recent progress and future perspectives. In Plant Physiology (Vol. 180, Issue 1, pp. 26–
38). https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.18.01224
Doudna, J. A., & Charpentier, E. (2014). The new frontier of genome engineering with CRISPR-
Cas9. Science, 346 (6213), 1258096.
Gaj, T., Gersbach, C. A., & Barbas, C. F. (2013). ZFN, TALEN, and CRISPR/Cas-based
methods for genome engineering. In Trends in Biotechnology (Vol. 31, Issue 7, pp. 397–
405). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2013.04.004
Gao, Y., & Zhao, Y. (2014). Self-processing of ribozyme-flanked RNAs into guide RNAs in
vitro and in vivo for CRISPR-mediated genome editing. In Journal of Integrative Plant
Biology (Vol. 56, Issue 4, pp. 343–349). https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.12152
Gilbert, L. A., Larson, M. H., Morsut, L., Liu, Z., Brar, G. A., Torres, S. E., Stern-Ginossar, N.,
Brandman, O., Whitehead, E. H., & Doudna, J. A. (2013). CRISPR-mediated modular
RNA-guided regulation of transcription in eukaryotes. Cell, 154 (2), 442–451.
Godfray, H. C. J., & Garnett, T. (2014). Food security and sustainable intensification.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369 (1639),
20120273.
Griffin, J. J., Ranney, T. G., & Pharr, D. M. (2004). Heat and drought influence photosynthesis,
water relations, and soluble carbohydrates of two ecotypes of redbud (Cercis canadensis).
Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 129 (4), 497–502.
Guo, M., Wang, Q., Zong, Y., Nian, J., Li, H., Li, J., Wang, T., Gao, C., & Zuo, J. (2021).
Genetic manipulations of TaARE1 boost nitrogen utilization and grain yield in wheat.
Journal of Genetics and Genomics= Yi Chuan Xue Bao, 48 (10), 950–953.
Harrington, L. B., Burstein, D., Chen, J. S., Paez-Espino, D., Ma, E., Witte, I. P., Cofsky, J. C.,
31
Kyrpides, N. C., Banfield, J. F., & Doudna, J. A. (2018). Programmed DNA destruction by
miniature CRISPR-Cas14 enzymes. In Science (Vol. 362, Issue 6416, pp. 839–842).
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav4294
Hillary, V. E., & Ceasar, S. A. (2019). Application of CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing System in
Cereal Crops. In The Open Biotechnology Journal (Vol. 13, Issue 1, pp. 173–179).
https://doi.org/10.2174/1874070701913010173
Jaganathan, D., Ramasamy, K., Sellamuthu, G., Jayabalan, S., & Venkataraman, G. (2018).
CRISPR for crop improvement: An update review. In Frontiers in Plant Science.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.00985
Jinek, M., Chylinski, K., Fonfara, I., Hauer, M., Doudna, J. A., & Charpentier, E. (2012). A
programmable dual-RNA-guided DNA endonuclease in adaptive bacterial immunity.
Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1225829
Khusg, G. (2013). Strategies for increasing the yield potential of cereals: case of rice as an
example. In Plant Breeding (Vol. 132, pp. 433–436).
Kim, D., Alptekin, B., & Budak, H. (2018). CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in wheat. Functional
& Integrative Genomics, 18 (1), 31–41.
Kim, H., Kim, S.-T., Ryu, J., Kang, B.-C., Kim, J.-S., & Kim, S.-G. (2017). CRISPR/Cpf1-
mediated DNA-free plant genome editing. Nature Communications, 8 (1), 1–7.
Kitomi, Y., Hanzawa, E., Kuya, N., Inoue, H., Hara, N., Kawai, S., Kanno, N., Endo, M.,
Sugimoto, K., & Yamazaki, T. (2020). Root angle modifications by the DRO1 homolog
improve rice yields in saline paddy fields. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 117 (35), 21242–21250.
Kumar, K., Gambhir, G., Dass, A., Tripathi, A. K., Singh, A., Jha, A. K., Yadava, P., Choudhary,
M., & Rakshit, S. (2020). Genetically modified crops: current status and future prospects.
In Planta (Vol. 251, Issue 4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-020-03372-8
Li, M., Li, X., Zhou, Z., Wu, P., Fang, M., Pan, X., Lin, Q., Luo, W., Wu, G., & Li, H. (2016).
Reassessment of the four yield-related genes Gn1a, DEP1, GS3, and IPA1 in rice using a
CRISPR/Cas9 system. In Frontiers in Plant Science (Vol. 7, Issue MAR2016).
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.00377
Li, T., & Yang, B. (2013). TAL effector nuclease (TALEN) engineering. In Methods in
Molecular Biology (Vol. 978, pp. 63–72). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-293-3_5
32
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Liu, Z., Dong, H., Cui, Y., Cong, L., & Zhang, D. (2020). Application of different types of
CRISPR/Cas-based systems in bacteria. In Microbial Cell Factories (Vol. 19, Issue 1).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-020-01431-z
Lobell, D. B., & Field, C. B. (2007). Global scale climate–crop yield relationships and the
impacts of recent warming. Environmental Research Letters, 2 (1), 14002.
Lou, D., Wang, H., Liang, G., & Yu, D. (2017). OsSAPK2 confers abscisic acid sensitivity and
tolerance to drought stress in rice. Frontiers in Plant Science, 8, 993.
Lowder, L. G., Zhang, D., Baltes, N. J., Paul, J. W., Tang, X., Zheng, X., Voytas, D. F., Hsieh,
T. F., Zhang, Y., & Qi, Y. (2015). A CRISPR/Cas9 toolbox for multiplexed plant genome
editing and transcriptional regulation. In Plant Physiology (Vol. 169, Issue 2, pp. 971–
985). https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.15.00636
Lv, Y., Yang, M., Hu, D., Yang, Z., Ma, S., Li, X., & Xiong, L. (2017). The OsMYB30
transcription factor suppresses cold tolerance by interacting with a JAZ protein and
suppressing β-amylase expression. Plant Physiology, 173 (2), 1475–1491.
Mahfouz, M. M., Li, L., Shamimuzzaman, M., Wibowo, A., Fang, X., & Zhu, J.-K. (2011). De
novo-engineered transcription activator-like effector (TALE) hybrid nuclease with novel
DNA binding specificity creates double-strand breaks. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 108 (6), 2623–2628.
Makarova, K. S., Wolf, Y. I., Alkhnbashi, O. S., Costa, F., Shah, S. A., Saunders, S. J.,
Barrangou, R., Brouns, S. J. J., Charpentier, E., Haft, D. H., Horvath, P., Moineau, S.,
Mojica, F. J. M., Terns, R. M., Terns, M. P., White, M. F., Yakunin, A. F., Garrett, R. A.,
Van Der Oost, J., … Koonin, E. V. (2015). An updated evolutionary classification of
CRISPR-Cas systems. In Nature Reviews Microbiology (Vol. 13, Issue 11, pp. 722–736).
https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3569
Malzahn, A., Lowder, L., & Qi, Y. (2017). Plant genome editing with TALEN and CRISPR. In
Cell and Bioscience (Vol. 7, Issue 1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13578-017-0148-4
Ming, M., Ren, Q., Pan, C., He, Y., Zhang, Y., Liu, S., Zhong, Z., Wang, J., Malzahn, A. A., &
Wu, J. (2020). CRISPR–Cas12b enables efficient plant genome engineering. Nature
Plants, 6 (3), 202–208.
Oladosu, Y., Rafii, M. Y., Samuel, C., Fatai, A., Magaji, U., Kareem, I., Kamarudin, Z. S.,
Muhammad, I., & Kolapo, K. (2019). Drought Resistance in Rice from Conventional to
33
Molecular Breeding: A Review. In International Journal of Molecular Sciences (Vol. 20,

Issue 14). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20143519
Petolino, J. F. (2015). Genome editing in plants via designed zinc finger nucleases. In In Vitro
Cellular and Developmental Biology - Plant (Vol. 51, Issue 1).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11627-015-9663-3
Santosh Kumar, V. V., Verma, R. K., Yadav, S. K., Yadav, P., Watts, A., Rao, M. V., &
Chinnusamy, V. (2020). CRISPR-Cas9 mediated genome editing of drought and salt
tolerance (OsDST) gene in indica mega rice cultivar MTU1010. In Physiology and
Molecular Biology of Plants (Vol. 26, Issue 6, pp. 1099–1110).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-020-00819-w
Sapkota, T. B., Jat, R. K., Singh, R. G., Jat, M. L., Stirling, C. M., Jat, M. K., Bijarniya, D.,
Kumar, M., Saharawat, Y. S., & Gupta, R. K. (2017). Soil organic carbon changes after
seven years of conservation agriculture in a rice–wheat system of the eastern
Indo‐Gangetic Plains. Soil Use and Management, 33 (1), 81–89.
Saurabh, S., Vidyarthi, A. S., & Prasad, D. (2014). RNA interference: Concept to reality in crop
improvement. In Planta (Vol. 239, Issue 3, pp. 543–564). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-
013-2019-5
Schlenker, W., & Roberts, M. J. (2009). Nonlinear temperature effects indicate severe damages
to US crop yields under climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
106 (37), 15594–15598.
Shi, J., Gao, H., Wang, H., Lafitte, H. R., Archibald, R. L., Yang, M., Hakimi, S. M., Mo, H., &
Habben, J. E. (2017). ARGOS8 variants generated by CRISPR-Cas9 improve maize grain
yield under field drought stress conditions. In Plant Biotechnology Journal (Vol. 15, Issue
2, pp. 207–216). https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.12603
Shukla, P. R., Skeg, J., Buendia, E. C., Masson-Delmotte, V., Pörtner, H.-O., Roberts, D. C.,
Zhai, P., Slade, R., Connors, S., & van Diemen, S. (2019). Climate Change and Land: an
IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land
management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems.
Shukla, V. K., Doyon, Y., Miller, J. C., Dekelver, R. C., Moehle, E. A., Worden, S. E., Mitchell,
J. C., Arnold, N. L., Gopalan, S., Meng, X., Choi, V. M., Rock, J. M., Wu, Y. Y., Katibah,
G. E., Zhifang, G., McCaskill, D., Simpson, M. A., Blakeslee, B., Greenwalt, S. A., …
34
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Urnov, F. D. (2009). Precise genome modification in the crop species Zea mays using zinc-
finger nucleases. Nature, 459 (7245), 437–441. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07992
Songmei, L., Jie, J., Yang, L., Jun, M., Shouling, X., Yuanyuan, T., Youfa, L., Qingyao, S., &
Jianzhong, H. (2019). Characterization and evaluation of OsLCT1 and OsNramp5 mutants
generated through CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis for breeding low Cd rice. Rice
Science, 26 (2), 88–97.
Steinwand, M. A., & Ronald, P. C. (2020). Crop biotechnology and the future of food. In Nature
Food (Vol. 1, Issue 5, pp. 273–283). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0072-3
Tang, L., Mao, B., Li, Y., Lv, Q., Zhang, L., Chen, C., He, H., Wang, W., Zeng, X., Shao, Y.,
Pan, Y., Hu, Y., Peng, Y., Fu, X., Li, H., Xia, S., & Zhao, B. (2017). Knockout of
OsNramp5 using the CRISPR/Cas9 system produces low Cd-accumulating indica rice
without compromising yield. In Scientific Reports (Vol. 7, Issue 1).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-14832-9
Vaughan, M. M., Block, A., Christensen, S. A., Allen, L. H., & Schmelz, E. A. (2018). The
effects of climate change associated abiotic stresses on maize phytochemical defenses.
Phytochemistry Reviews, 17 (1), 37–49.
Wolter, F., & Puchta, H. (2018). The CRISPR/Cas revolution reaches the RNA world: Cas13, a
new Swiss Army knife for plant biologists. In Plant Journal (Vol. 94, Issue 5, pp. 767–
775). https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13899
Xie, K., & Yang, Y. (2013). RNA-guided genome editing in plants using a CRISPR–Cas system.
Molecular Plant, 6 (6), 1975–1983.
Younis, A., Siddique, M. I., Kim, C. K., & Lim, K. B. (2014). RNA interference (RNAi) induced
gene silencing: A promising approach of hi-tech plant breeding. In International Journal of
Biological Sciences (Vol. 10, Issue 10, pp. 1150–1158). https://doi.org/10.7150/ijbs.10452
Zhang, Yong, Zhang, F., Li, X., Baller, J. A., Qi, Y., Starker, C. G., Bogdanove, A. J., & Voytas,
D. F. (2013). Transcription activator-like effector nucleases enable efficient plant genome
engineering. In Plant Physiology (Vol. 161, Issue 1, pp. 20–27).
https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.112.205179
Zhu, H., Li, C., & Gao, C. (2020). Applications of CRISPR–Cas in agriculture and plant
biotechnology. In Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (Vol. 21, Issue 11, pp. 661–
677). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-020-00288-9
35
Chapter ADVANCES IN AGRICULTURAL ENTOMOLOGY BY USING

MODERN INTEGRATED APPROACH IN PEST MANAGEMENT
Manasij Das* and Sharmila Biswas
Department of Agricultural Entomology,
School of Agriculture,
Seacom Skills University,
*Corresponding author E-mail: manasijentossu13@gmail.com,
Introduction:
Different pests have developed resistance against chemical inputs in agriculture. For that
integration of modern concepts with different methodology to manage the pest is necessary. The
main objective of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is to manage the pest in an efficient and
eco-friendly manner instead of eradication (Galea, 2010). To minimize pesticidal effect on crop,
some traditional techniques have incorporated which leads to manage pest population below
damage boundary.
According to degree of injury level, pest can be categorized as-
a) Negligible- injury level below 5% in terms of yield loss
b) Minor- injury level 5-10%
c) Major- injury level more than 10%
Different categories of insect pests:
The different categories of insect pests are-
1. Regular pest: Occur most frequently (regularly) in a crop and have a close association with
that particular crop. e.g: Chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis; brinjal shoot and fruit borer-
Leucinodes orbonalis
2. Occasional pests: Close relationship with a particular type of crop is absent and frequency of
occurrence is less. e.g: Rice case worm-Nymphula depuctalis; castor slug caterpillar-Parasa
lepida; mango stem borer Batocera rufamaculata
36
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
3. Seasonal pests: They are found in particular season of the year, and usually the incidence
depends upon climatic conditions. Eg: Red hairy caterpillar on groundnut from June to July, Rice
grasshoppers from June to July and Paddy climbing cutworms
4. Persistent pests: Showing dominance in a crop almost throughout the year. e.g: Scales and
mealybugs on many crops, thrips on chillies and paddy stem borer on paddy.
5. Sporadic pests: In a few isolated localities, their habitat is developed. e.g: coconut slug
caterpillar-Macroplectra nararia, Rice earhead bug-Leptocorisa acuta, castor slug caterpillar- L.
lepida.
6. Epidemic pest: In a devastating form in a particular region or country at specific time of the
year only. e.g: Rice hispa-Dicladispa armigera, rice leaf roller- Cnaphalocrocis medinalis
7. Endemic pest: Regular frequency of occurrence in a defined area. e.g: Red hairy caterpillar-
Amsacta albistriga on groundnut, rice stem borers, and paddy gall fly.
Integrated pest management
Modern concept of pest management is based on ecological principles and integration of
different control tactics into a pest management system. Integrated control was defined by Stern
et al., (1959) as applied pest control which combines and integrates the biological and chemical
control. Later the concept of pest management has gained importance. The idea of managing
pest population was proposed by Geier and Clark (1961).
In 1972 the term IPM was accepted by CEQ (Council of Environmental Quality) where
IPM includes:
I: Integration that is harmonious use of multiple methods to control the impact of single pest as
well as multiple pests
P: Pest-any organism that cause economically detrimental to humans, including vertebrates and
invertebrate or weed or pathogens.
M: Management refers to a set of decisions or rules based on ecological principles, economic
and social consideration.
The backbone of management of pest in an agricultural ecosystem is the concept of
economic injury level (It is the level of the pest up to which the damage can be tolerable).
According to Luckmann and Metcalf (1994) IPM is defined as the intelligent selection and use of
37
pest control tactics that will ensure all possible favorable economical, ecological and sociological
consequences.
According to FAO (1967), IPM was defined as “a pest management system in the context
of associated environment and population dynamics in pest species. It utilizes all suitable
techniques and methods in as compatible manner as possible and maintains the pest population at
levels below those cause economic injury.
Necessity of IPM:
1. Development of Pesticide Resistance:
Rachel Carson (1962) cited the excessive use of pesticide having several negative side
effects on environment and biodiversity on her book named Silent Spring. Blind believe
on chemical pesticides lead to resistance development against pesticides. Minor pest
evolved as major pest as well as natural enemies gradually eliminated creating imbalance
in nature.
2. Stages of Crop Protection:
Different stages in cotton agro ecosystem having system of crop protection (Smith, 1978)
like-
a. Subsistence stage
Generally crop is grown without irrigation system. Crop is unable to penetrate global
market and leads to village consumption. Low yield of crop and this stage is
indicating that crop has protected through pest outbreak due to resurgence, host plant
resistance, natural pressure and other method including cultural practices and limited
application of chemical pesticides.
b. Exploitation stage
Production level of agricultural commodities is get higher with increase of demand in
market. Crop protection mainly focused on chemical insecticides. In a particular
period of time intervals these pesticides are used in an intense manner. Excessive uses
of new synthetic insecticides with implementation of new application techniques give
a result of higher yields.
38
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
c. Crisis stage
Continuation of exploitation stage give control more efficiently with higher frequency
of application concentrated with higher dose. Rapid resurgence of pest population is
occurred and this phenomenon give assured output of pesticide tolerance. Substitution
of pesticides also gets reflection of resistance development among pest population
resulting minor pest into major pest status.
For example,
i) Organophosphate insecticides causing resurgence of Brown Plant Hopper
(BPH) population in rice.
ii) Helicoverpa armigera has developed resistance against Synthetic pyrethroid
which causing outbreak of secondary insect population like whitefly.
iii) Deterioration of natural enemy population and adverse effect on non-target
creatures.
iv) More frequency in application of chemical inputs results higher production
cost with less profit percentage.
d. Disaster stage
Detrimental effects show the higher graph of production cost and non profitable outfit
of failure and rejection from market due to pesticide residues and collapse the pest
control system.
e. Integrated stage
In this stage the pest management strategies is targeted to be optimum condition to
avoid crisis and disaster stage by amalgamation of all the techniques which is to be
optimized with effective utilization of all the resources and proper analyzing of eco-
factors by identifying the best management condition.
3. Environmental circumstances
Pesticide residues in food of organisms caused major concern. To avoid several
contaminations of the environment and natural habitation, use of limited dose of pesticide
is required.
39
Goals of IPM
To regulate the use of pesticides in agro-ecosystem associated with the adverse effect on
environment IPM set the goal to maximization of social, economical and ecological benefits.
1. Clear perception about agro-based ecosystems:
Agricultural ecosystem is quietly differ from forest or other dense habitat consist of less
biodiversity including 2-3 major crop species and 8-12 major pest species. Agro
ecosystem is mainly cause interpretation of anthropogenic activities with such
alternative approach like ploughing, intercultural operations and application of
chemical pesticides. Such practices have a great impact on pest population. Agro
ecosystem get susceptibility to damage the pest population as well as pest outbreak
causing lack of plant & insect species diversity with the intervention of climatic factors.
2. Proper planning of agro-ecosystem:
Planning of IPM programme in agricultural ecosystem involves the minimization of
problems caused by pests and integration of crop protection with crop production
system. Avoidance of cultivation susceptible varieties and identification of alternate
host plants is required.
For example, Okra followed by cotton increase the incidence of spotted borer and
Groundnut followed by soybean increase the incidence of leaf miner.
3. Cost benefit ratio:
Prediction of possible damage by pest with implementation the concept of economic
threshold level push to emphasize on cost benefit ratio. The life table of crop provides
detailed information with analysis of level of pest damage as well as cost benefit ratio
in management of crop pests. Risk analysis also imparts social as well as environmental
benefits in terms of chemical pesticide application in agro-ecosystem.
4. Tolerance of pest damage:
Eradication of pest population is not required in terms of high yield as well as not suit
in insect pest management concept. Castor can tolerate up to 25% defoliation. Though
there is some exception in case of plant disease transmission by vectors. The
relationship between density of pest population and effective profitable control
40
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
measures is expressed in terms of threshold values. The terms used to express the level
of pest population are-
a. Economic Injury Level (EIL):
It is the lowest level of population where pest will cause economic damage which can no
longer tolerated and beyond the level economic damage cannot be recovered and initiation
of control measures is required. The amount of injury which can give proper justification
the artificial control is termed as economic damage. EIL can be usually expressed by the
number of insects per unit area.
b. Economic Threshold Level (ETL):
It is the index where pest management decisions are made. ETL can be defined as the
population density at which application of control measures is taken into action to prevent
the increasing pest population from reaching the economic injury level.
Relationship between EIL and ETL can be expressed as when no action is taken at ETL
the population can attend or cross EIL. For example, ETL value for Brown Plant Hopper
(BPH) in rice is 25 insects/ hill; Grasshoppers or cutworms are 1 insect/ hill; rice stem
borer 5% dead hearts; Gall midge of rice 5% silver shoots.
c. General Equilibrium Position (GEP):
It is the average population density of insect over a long period of time unaffected by
temporary interventions of pest control. However, the economic injury level may be at any
level well above or below the general equilibrium.
Based on these, insects can be categorized into four group like-
i) Negligible pest: Population density of this type of pests never exceeds the economic
injury level.
ii) Occasional pest: Density of pest population reaches occasionally where the
population gets affected by adverse climatic conditions or injudicious application of
41
insecticides. At the peaks of their population density, to some extent of insecticide

application is required to reduce the population into tolerable levels.
iii) Perennial pest: EIL’s are slightly above the GEP where intervention is necessary at
nearly every upward population fluctuation. Application of insecticides is necessary
to modify the population density below the EIL.
iv) Severe pest: The GEP is higher than EIL. As a result, regular interventions with
insecticides are required. There is a reciprocal relationship between EIL and Crop
value depending upon the stage of crop & pests.
5. Leaving a pest residue:

Due to indiscriminate use of pesticides, lacking of insect hosts is leading to
elimination of natural enemy population. So, the important aspects in pest management
are to leave a permanent percentage of pest residues below ETL as required for survival
of natural enemy.
42
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
6. Timing of pesticide treatments:
Need based application of pesticide is required by reducing the frequency of number of
sprays which will be timely scheduled with proper blending of modern techniques of
pest management.
For example, use of pheromone traps for pest population monitoring.
7. Proper understanding and acceptance by public:
Beside the manipulation of application of pesticide activities, it is essential for effective
communication with the people for proper understanding and acceptance of IPM
strategies which should be economical and sustainable.
Limitations of IPM:
a. Requirement of advance planning about uses of pesticides and higher degree of
management strategies.
b. Analysis of crop field history is required to anticipate what type of pest problems might
be, choosing of crop variety whether it is resistant or tolerant to pest damage, adopting
tillage systems against the higher yield potential of the selected crop is essential.
c. It is more labour intensive and taking much more time depending upon the consistency
and field scouting accuracy.
d. Collection of information is required for decision making system in pest management.
e. Abiotic factors like weather may interpret the scheduled IPM programme. So that a
good IPM planner with scientific back up plans is required.
Tools of IPM:
1. Pest survey and surveillance
2. Cultural Practices:
i) Farm level practices:
Sl. No. Cropping Techniques Pest Checked
1 Ploughing Red hairy caterpillar
2 Puddling Rice mealy bug
3 Trimming & Plastering Rice grasshopper
4 Pest free seed material Potato tuber moth
5 High seed rate Sorghum shootfly
43
6 Rogue space planning Rice brown plant hopper

7 Plant density Rice brown plant hopper
8 Earthing up Mango fruit fly
9 Detrashing Sugarcane whitefly
10 Destruction of weed hosts Citrus fruit sucking moth
11 Destruction of alternate host Cotton whitefly
12 Flooding Rice armyworm
13 Trash mulching Sugarcane early shoot borer
14 Prunning/ Topping Rice stem borer
15 Intercropping Sorghum stem borer
16 Trap cropping Diamond back moth
17 Water management Brown plant hopper
18 Judicious application of fertilizers Rice leaf folder
19 Timely harvesting Sweet potato weevil
20 Clipping Rice yellow stem borer
ii) Community level practices:

a. Synchronized sowing: To dilute pest infestation e.g. Rice, Cotton
b. Crop rotation: Breaks the life cycle of insect e.g. Rice-Potato-Maize-Rice
c. Crop Sanitation:
 Destruction of infested parts by insects, e.g. Mealy bug in Brinjal
 Removal of fallen plant parts, e.g. Cotton squares
 Destruction of crop residues, e.g. Rice yellow stem borer, Cotton stem weevil.
3. Physical methods: Use of physical factors like temperature, moisture etc. to minimize
the infestation caused by insect pests.
A. Manipulation of temperature:
a. Sun drying of seeds to kill storage pest eggs.
b. Hot water treatment (50-550C for 15 min) against rice white tip nematode
c. Flame throwers against locusts
d. Burning torch against hairy caterpillars
44
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
e. Cold storage of fruits and vegetables to kill fruit flies (1-2 0C for 12-20 days)
B. Manipulation of moisture:
a. Flooding the field for control of cutworms
b. Alternate drying and wetting rice fields against BPH
c. Drying seeds (below 10% moisture level ) affects insect development
C. Manipulation of light:
a. Use of Infra Red (IR) light to kill stored grain insects, e.g. Infra-Red seed treatment unit
b. Providing light in storage go downs reducing the fertility of Indian meal moth, Plodia
c. Light trapping
D. Manipulation of air
a. Increasing the CO2 concentration in the controlled atmosphere of stored grains to cause
asphyxiation in stored product pests
E. Use of irradiation
Co60 gamma irradiation is used for sterilization of the insects in the laboratory which
compete with fertile males for mating at the of release in natural condition, e.g. cattle screw
worm fly, Cochliomyia hominivorax control of Curacao Island by E.F. Knipling.
F. Use of Greasing material:
To prevent the oviposition and hatching of eggs, pulses are treated with vegetable
oils.e.g. bruchid adults.
G. Use of Visible radiation:
Yellow colour is preferred by aphids and yellow sticky trap is used.
H. Use of abrasive dusts:
a. Red earth treatment of Pigeon pea: Injury to insect wax layer
b. Activated clay: Wax layer injury leads to death due to moisture loss in case of stored
grain pests.
c. Drie-die: It is kind of porous finely divided silica gel which is mainly used to control
storage insects using light trap, regulating light and irradiation.
4. Mechanical methods:
Mechanical devices are used for destruction or exclusion of different life stages of
pests.
45
A. Manual force:
1. Hand picking: Caterpillars
2. Beating: Swatting housefly and mosquito
3. Sieving: Red flour beetle
4. Winnowing: Rice weevil
5. Shaking plants: Dislodging of case worm by passing rope and June beetles dislodging
by shaking neem tree.
6. Hooking: Use of iron hook against coconut rhinoceros beetle.
7. Crushing: Bed bugs & lice.
8. Combing: Head louse delousing
9. Brushing: Woolen fabrics for clothes moth, carpet beetle
B. Mechanical force:
1. Entoletter: Killing of insect stages of storage pests by breaking infested kernels
through centrifugal force is done.
2. Hoper dozer: Locust nymphs are killed by hording into trenches followed by filling
with soil.
3. Tillage implements: Soil borne insects, red hairy caterpillar
4. Mechanical trap: Various shaped rat traps like box trap, back break trap, wonder
trap, tanjore bow trap etc.
C. Mechanical barriers:
1. Wrapping of fruits: Polythene bag covering against pomegranate fruit borer.
2. Banding: Banding with grease or polythene sheets- mango mealy bug
3. Netting: Mosquitoes, vector control in polyhouse
4. Trenching: Marching larvae of army worm, grasshopper.
5. Sand barrier: Stored grains protection by giving sand layer on the top.
6. Water barrier: Ant pans for ant control
7. Tin barrier: Tin band use in coconut against rat damage
8. Electric fencing: Low voltage electric fences against rats. In India, West Bengal is
the first state for using electric fence against elephants.
46
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
5. Biological methods:
 Introduction, augmentation and conservation of natural enemies includes parasitoids
(like Trichogramma sp., Bracon sp.etc) and predators (like Coccinella sp.,
Chryptoleimus sp. etc)
 Several insect pathogens like virus (NPV), bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis), fungi
(Beauveria sp.) and protozoa
 Use of botanicals like neem (azadirachtin), Karanj (Pongamin) etc.
6. Legislative methods:
Insecticide act (1968) having some rules and regulations as demarcating the use of
resistant, restricted and banned pesticides.
7. Chemical methods:
Attractants, Repellents, Insecticides like Organochlorine (OC),
Organaophosphate (OP), Carbamates, Insect growth regulators, Chemosterilants etc.
8. Behavioural methods:
Allelochemicals and pheromone (pest monitoring and mating disruption)
9. Genetic method:
Release of genetically sterile pests and transgenic plants
10. Regulatory method:
Plant quarantine, eradication and several suppression programme
Traps (appliances) used in IPM:
1. Light trap:
The principle of insect attraction towards light in night is used for trapping the insect in a
mechanical device.
a. Incandescent light trap:
Radiation of ultraviolet or yellow & red light by heating the tungsten filament is
used. For example, Simple incandescent light trap where kerosenated water pan is
used under the light source.
b. Mercury vapour lamp light trap:
Radiation having ultraviolet, blue and green with little red is used to catch
nocturnal flying insects. For example, Robinson trap (discovered by Robinson, 1952)
where mercury lamp (125 W) is used in funnel shaped galvanized iron cone
47
terminating in a collection jar containing cotton soaked in dichlorvos insecticide

which kill the insect.
c. Black light trap:
Radiation of ultraviolet energy having wavelengths of 320-380nm is used with
electric grids where noctuids get touched, electrified and killed. For example, Pest-O-
Flash, Keet-O-Flash is popular and available in the market.
2. Pheromone trap:
Sex pheromones are produced synthetically known as lure, placing into traps to
attract male insect population. The septa which is rubberized containing lure is used in
pest monitoring or mass trapping programme. For example, sticky trap, water pan trap
and funnel type models are available for using integrated approach based programmes.
3. Yellow sticky trap:
Aphids and whitefly prefers yellow colour which is painted on tin boxes and castor
oil or Vaseline is smeared on the surface so that they can trapped on the sticky material.
4. Bait trap:
Attractants are placed in trap combining with insecticide to kill the pests. For
example, in case of fishmeal trap, moistened fish meal is placed in polythene bags inside
the tin along with cotton soaked insecticide (DDVP) to kill sorghum shoot fly.
5. Pitfall trap:
Soil dwelling insects like spring tails, spiders, ground beetles etc. are trapped where
kerosene is placed in sinking glass jar attached with funnel inside the plastic jar keeping
on soil surface area.
6. Probe trap:
This is kept under grain surface to trap stored product pests.
7. Emergence trap:
One wooden frame shaped like house roof and covered with wire mesh is placed on
soil surface to catch emerging pests from pupation in soil and collected in a plastic
beaker.
8. Indicator device:
Cup shaped indicator has been designed recently for prediction the occurrence of
pulse beetle (Callosobruchus spp.) imparting information about the emergence time of
48
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
pulse beetle and helping to take action like sun drying in proper time which can destroy
all the eggs.
Some examples of successful IPM programme on worldwide basis:
1. In Philippines, in 1993, IPM farmers obtained 4.7 to 62% higher rice yield followed by
15% reduction of pesticide use compared to non-IPM.
2. In India, in 1995, IPM farmers obtained 6.2 to 42.1% increased rice yield with reduction
of pesticide use by 50% compared to non-IPM.
3. In India, adoption of IPM technology in cotton resulted 73.7 and 12.4% reduction in the
number of insecticide sprays against sucking pests and bollworms respectively resulting
21-27% higher yield production compared to non-IPM with upsurge of natural enemy
population by 3 folds.
4. In Thailand, in 1993, adoption of IPM technology gave result of 14.5% increase in net
profit in IPM fields over non-IPM fields of cruciferous vegetables.
5. IPM is also found effective and economical in high value, plantation crops like tea,
coffee, coconut and cashew nut in India.
References:
Dhaliwal GS, Arora Ramesh., (2014) Integrated Pest Management. Kalyani publishers, New
Delhi, p: 67-88.
FAO., (1967), Report of the first session of the FAO panel of experts on integrated pest control.
Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome
Geier PW, Clark LR. (1961) An ecological approach to pest control. In: Proceedings of the
Eighth Technical Meeting. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources, Warsaw, Poland, p:10-18.
Luckman WH, Metcalf RL. (1994) The pest management concept. In: Metcalf RL, Luckman
WH (eds.). Introduction to Insect Pest Management. John Wiley & Sons, New York, p: 1-
34.
Smith RF. (1978) History and complexity of integrated pest management. In: Smith EH,
Pimentel D. Pest Control Strategies. Academic Press, Inc., New York, p: 41-53.
Stern VM, Smith RF, Van Den Bosch R, Hagen KS. (1959) The integration of chemical and
biological control of the spotted alfalfa aphid, The integrated control concept. Hilgardia. p:
29(1):81-101
49
Chapter EFFICIENT INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM FOR

DRYLAND REGION
Manthan Chaudhary*1, Rajan Kumar2, Abhinav Yadav3 and Sudhir Kumar4
1School of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
RIMT University, Mandi Gobindgarh 147301 (Punjab), India
2Department of Agronomy, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture,
Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj 211007 (Uttar Pradesh), India
3Department of Agronomy, COA, Banda University of Agriculture and
Technology, Banda 210001 (Uttar Pradesh), India
4Rukmani Devi College of Agriculture, Dausa, (Rajasthan), India
*Corresponding author E-mail: chaudharyx007@gmail.com
Problems of Present Agriculture

 Scarcity of capital: The sustainable growth of farmers, enterprises, and nations is
impacted by the declining availability of both renewable and nonrenewable natural
resources. External costs associated with the destruction of natural capital are borne by
society and future generations.
 Decline in factor productivity: Total factor productivity, a gauge of economic efficiency,
explains some of the variations in per-capita income between nations. The rate of factor
productivity growth is computed by deducting the growth rates of labour and capital
inputs from the growth rates of output since lower output and higher input tend to result
in lower factor productivity growth.
 Decline in agriculture growth rate: Deficient rainfall combined with fewer land holdings
has resulted in increased expenses for farmers as well as reduced productivity and
income. This drop in the growth rate and production of agriculture and related industries.
The average operational land holding size for the state has decreased over time from 4.28
hectares to 1.44 hectares.
 Shrinkage in land holding: 80% of farmers fall into the categories of marginal and small
farmers as a result of land fragmentation and inheritance rules.
50
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
 Increasing malnutrition: Malnutrition has several different root causes, many of which
interact, including poverty, food costs, dietary habits, and agricultural production.
 Increasing environmental pollution: The ecology is severely impacted by overuse of
pesticides and fertilizers. Water pollution contributes significantly to environmental
degradation of the soil, and residue from fertilizers and pesticides depletes groundwater.
 Low farm income: Since farming is entirely market-oriented nowadays, there is an
increase in production costs, which leads to a fall in net returns or low farm income.
 Depleting groundwater table: As Nitrate fertilizer leaches into the groundwater, a
condition known as Blue baby syndrome develops, which has devastating effects on
infants under the age of one.
 Increases cost of production: The cost of production has increased due to the rising costs
of fertilizers, herbicides, diesel transportation fees, and expensive startup costs for
agricultural equipment.
 Problems of large scale migration: These facts all play a part in the large-scale migration
since farmers are losing faith in agriculture due to the tremendous workload and low
returns. Since the farming that our farmers conduct does not guarantee the security of
food.
 Solution: Integrated Farming System
Integrated farming system represents an appropriate combination of farm enterprises viz.,
cropping system, horticulture, livestock, fishery, poultry and the means available to the farmer to
raise them for profitability. On the one hand, it interacts with the environment without upsetting
the ecological and socioeconomic balance, while on the other; it tries to fulfill the country's need
for food, fibre, fodder and fuel.
Advantages of IFS
 Productivity: By intensifying crops and related businesses, farming systems offer the
chance to enhance economic yield per unit area per unit time. Space concept is created by
increasing the vertical dimension through crops and related businesses, while time
concept is achieved through agricultural intensification.
51
 Profitability: The system occasionally offers a low-cost option to utilize waste or

produce from one business. As a result, the benefit cost ratio is high due to the reduction
in production costs.
 Sustainability: As a result of poor agricultural management practices, such as the
excessive use of inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, high intensity irrigation, etc.,
soil health, a crucial component of sustainability, is deteriorating and becoming polluted.
With regard to the farming system, organic supplementation is achieved by the efficient
use of manures and waste recycling, offering the chance to sustain the potentialilty basis
for a significantly longer period of time.
 Balanced food: With the use of enterprise diversification, the malnutrition issue affecting
marginal and sub-marginal farming households can be resolved by producing various
nutritional supplies, such as proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and minerals, from the same
plot of land.
 Environmental safety: By products or waste products from one component of a farming
system can be used or conserved as inputs in another component and bio-control methods
can be used to manage pests and diseases. These environmentally friendly methods
reduce the need of excessive amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, which
gravely contaminate the soil, water, and environment. As opposed to this, the Integrated
Farming System (IFS) will significantly minimize environmental contamination..
 Income round the year: An IFS enables cash flow throughout the year through the sale
of products from various enterprises, such as eggs from poultry, milk from dairy, fish
from fisheries, silkworm cocoons from sericulture, honey from apiculture, etc., in
contrast to conventional single enterprise crop activities where the income is expected
only at the time of disposal of economic produce after several months depending on the
duration of the crop. This not only increases the farmer's purchasing power but also gives
him or her chance to invest in more advanced technologies for higher-quality produce.
 Saving energy: The globe may be suffering from a lack of fossil fuel by 2030 AD as a
result of the rapid decline in fossil fuel availability. Effective recycling of organic wastes
in farming systems to produce energy from biogas plants can somewhat alleviates this
energy shortage.
52
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
 Meeting fodder crisis: Every square inch of the land is effectively used in IFS. Alley
cropping, growing fodder legumes near borders or water sources, intensifying cropping,
and adding fodder legumes in cropping systems all serve to produce the necessary fodder
and significantly alleviate the issue of the livestock component of the farming system's
lack of access to fodder.
 Solving timber and fuel crisis: With the introduction of an agro-forestry component into
the farming system, the present production needs to be increased without negatively
impacting crop productivity. Additionally, it will lessen deforestation, aiding in the
preservation of our natural habitat.
 Scope for establishing of agro-industries: The problem of underemployment might be
resolved by implementing various farm enterprises, such as crop + livestock or any other
related enterprise in the farming system. An IFS offers enough flexibility to hire seasonal
family labour.
 Enhancement in input use efficiency: IFS efficiently utilizes the each and every unit of
land as Sponge guard raised on the fencing act as shelter break. The vacant space on
bunds is being utilized by growing forages which will be feed for livestock as well
controls the erosion.
Employment generation in various components of IFS as per IIFSR, Modipuram

Sr. No. Farm component No of persons/year
1. Crop / ha 189
2. Livestock (5-12 units) 315
3. Orchards (2300 m²) 100
4. Fisheries(1000 m²) 42
5. Apiculture(10-15 boxes) 38
6. Goat farming(15 units) 71
7. Vermicompost(100 m²) 40
Total 795
53
Prerequisites for selecting the components in IFS

1. Geographic factors: It includes location specific requirement as river is nearby then including
components which require high water as Fishery as a major component can be choosen up.
2. Climatic factors: It requires the knowledge of climatic conditions of a specific are where IFS
have to be installed as taking the considerations of Temperature, Relative Humidity, Rainfall
etc., accordingly which components have to be selected.
3. Edaphic factors: Soil factors have to be taken into consideration as texture of soil is
important for retention of water An abiotic factor relating to the physical or chemical
composition of the soil found in a particular area. For example, very alkaline soil may be an
edaphic factor limiting the variety of plants growing in a region.
4. Socioeconomic factors: It includes literacy rate, managerial skill, , occupation, culture,
economic condition of farmer taking into considerations before selecting the components for
Integrated Farming system
Components of IFS in dryland region
1) Farm pond
2) Cropping system (Cereals, legumes, oilseeds etc.)
3) Horticulture (Orchard, vegetable, flower)
4) Fodder
5) Agro-forestry
6) Pond-fishery
7) Apiculture
8) Cultivation of fruits and vegetables along the pond borders
9) Bio-fencing
10) Livestock
11) Mushroom cultivation
12) Recycling of residues
13) Value addition
Components
1) Farm Pond: Ponds are the base for fishing besides providing water for irrigation, recharge the
groundwater table and thus, water is available round the year for crops through uplifting. They
54
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
are ecologically feasible as support and maintain environmental sustainability as well in dryland
provides water for birds. The ponds can be used for fish seed production if they are of seasonal
nature or for table size fish production if they retain water for long duration or throughout the
year.
2) Cropping system: It is known as the backbone of farming system, as it can be implemented
in all type of lands with suitable management practices. Cultivation of cereal, pulses, oilseed,
fibre, fodder and cash crops to minimize the risk of crop failure there is need to increase the
cropping intensity with maximum utilization of land with high cropping intensity, improved
varieties, short duration varieties, intercropping with the pulses to maintain the soil fertility
status.
3) Horticulture: The demand and production curve of different horticultural crops including
with fruit, flower and vegetable crops is observed to increasing day to day. For the fulfillment of
market demand and receiving higher economic return, a large amount of farmers included
cultivation of horticultural crops as a component of farming system in garden land and dry land
area as well as by providing nutritional security and daily source of income.
4) Fodder: Fodder is the source of quality feed for the milch animals which can be of different
types in different seasons with high nutritive value as well providing round the year forage and
also from fodder silage or hey can be prepared.
5) Agro-forestry: Cultivation of forest trees combining with cultivation of agronomical crops to
fulfill the food, fodder, fiber and fuel needs of farmer is known as agro-forestry. It is the best
component for dry land farming system to uprising the economical and social condition of
farmers with maintaining the sustainability.
6) Pond Fishery: The rural farmhouse ponds that dot the countryside are used for bathing,
cleaning household items, washing, and subsistence fish farming. However, with the aid of
modern developments, it is now possible to manage these ponds in a way that will boost their
fish output. The ponds can be utilized for the generation of fish seed if they are seasonal or for
the development of table-sized fish if they hold water for a long time or all year. The agricultural
labour force mostly has employment for about 180-225 days/ year. The remaining time could be
utilized for aquaculture activities (net making, culture of fish fry, fingerlings, table fish, prawn
culture crab culture and frog rearing).
55
7) Apiculture: Beekeeping is a career option that can be pursued either full- or part-time. Small,
medium, and large-scale farming systems can benefit from it. Additionally, it offers full-time job
near to home. Infrastructure and investment requirements are minimal. Both cash income and
very nutritious honey are produced there. Since hive products are locally produced, special
storage facilities are not necessary. It provides foreign exchange. It improves the quantity and
quality of crops grown for use as feed, horticulture, and agriculture. It promotes pollination,
preserves the variety of the plant kingdom, and boosts output.
8) Cultivation of fruits and vegetables along the pond borders : The remaining space near the
ponds are being utilized by planting of the fruit crops such as banana which requires high water
and vegetables also used for household purpose as well by providing some extra income.
9) Bio-fencing: A way of establishing of boundary with planting a line of shrubs and trees at
relatively closes spacing and protects the crops from animals. Apart from their protective role
they play an important role in environment management, nutritional balance, employment
generation and economic security.
10) Livestock
A) Cow: Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy and within agriculture livestock plays
a vital role in providing sustainable income to farmers throughout the year. Due to failure of
monsoon, crop production is becoming difficult and many farmers are shifting their activities to
livestock and agro-forestry. Animals provides Milk, etc. that support farmers family financially
and nutritionally. FYM from animal dung reduces the dependency on chemical fertilizers and
ultimately shifting towards Organic farming.
B) Duck Farming: Duck lays 40–50 more eggs than chicken does. The duck egg weighs 15-20
g more than the hen egg. Ducks don't need as much care. By scavenging on fallen grains in
paddy fields that have been harvested, insects, snails, earthworms, small fish, and other aquatic
elements in lakes and ponds, ducks supplement their diet at a fair cost. Ducks live longer and
produce well, even in their second year. Ducks don't need fancy housing like chickens, which
lowers startup expenses. Ducks are more resilient to common bird illnesses, more easily brooded,
and quite hardy. Duck farming works well in marshy riverbank, wetland, and barren
environments when chicken or any other forms of stock do not thrive. Ducks do not have
problem of cannibalism behavior. Ducks lay 95-98 % of their eggs early in the morning before 9
56
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
a.m. thus saving a lot of time and labour. Ducks are useful in controlling unwanted plants in
ponds, lakes and streams like green algae, duckweed, pond weed, musk grass, arrow head, wild
celery etc. (5-10 ducks/0,40 ha of water area) as well adds the oxygen to the Pond through
swimming.
C) Goat farming: India is fortunate to have the most goats in the world (about 35%of the world
population). The moment has arrived to use goat farming as a tool in an integrated farming
system to produce profitable and reliable returns. A viable goat herd consists of 50 does and 2
bucks. Goat farms can be set up in multiples of 50 + 2, 100 + 4, 200 + 8, etc. Goats are little and
simple to handle animals. The bones, hooves, glands, offal, fibre, urine, and droppings of goats
are also edible. All year long, goats can find enough grass.
d) Poultry: With the ability to provide egg, meat, manure, and some weed and insect control,
poultry is one of the food businesses with one of the fastest growing global economies. The
effectiveness of the bird's feed conservation is greater than that of other animals.
11) Mushroom cultivation: Mushrooms are a low-cost, high-quality protein source that can be
used for the family's nutrition as well as a secondary source of money from worthless
agricultural waste.
12) Recycling of residue: Recycling organic waste in the form of plant and animal wastes may
help increase the productivity and health of the soil over a longer period of time with fewer
environmental risks. Regular utilization of organic waste can fully eliminate the need for
fertilizers.
13) Value addition: With its parallel economy and increased employment opportunities, the
food processing industry is likewise growing on the foundation of this component. A person
engaged in business can reach their aim through value addition of various crops, such as pickles,
jam, jelly, etc. of various items. Value addition tends to increase income.
57
Relative profitability of integrated and conventional farming systems

Sr. Location/System Profitability % increase over Reference
No. conventional
farming
1 Rajasthan, Jodhpur NR : 3600/ha +61 Harsh and
CFS: Sole pearl millet NR : 5782/ha Tewari (2007)
IFS: Pearl millet + Acacia
senegal (140 plant ha-1)
2 Haryana NR : 83000 for 7/ha + 193 Tanwar et al.
CFS : Arable crops NR : 243000 for 7/ha (2016)
IFS : IFS comprising
arable crops+ tree + fruit
crop (ber)+ grass + (4 cow,
8 ducks and 4 rams)
3 Uttar Pradesh NR : 66371/ha NR : +56 Gill et al.
CFS: Cropping 103615/ha NR : +62 (2009)
IFS1: Crops + dairy 107467/ha +102
IFS2: Crop + dairy + NR : 134382/ha +110
horticulture NR : 139472/ha
IFS3: Crop + dairy +
apiculture
IFS4: Crop + dairy +
vermicomposting
4 Karnataka, Northern dry NR : 5630/ha NR : +190 Yaragattikar
zone, rainfed 5485/ha NR : +171 and Itnal
CFS : Sole Bengal gram 16330/ha NR : (2003)
Sole safflower 14840/ha
IFS : Ber + Bengal gram
Ber + safflower
5 Haryana, Bawal NR : 15935/ha +381 Kaushik et al.
CFS : Clusterbean - NR : 76650/ha (2017
barley
IFS : Khejri + Guava +
Clusterbean - barley
58
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Details of total allotted area, gross income and net income of different components
Farm Unit 1 Hectare Model 1 Acre (0.4 ha) Model
Alloted area Gross Net Income Alloted area Gross Net

(ha) Income (Rs/Year) (ha) Income Income
(Rs/Year) (Rs/Year) (Rs/Year)
1 Crop 0.72 170200 105128 0.34 77160 47658
2 Dairy+Vermic 0.06+0.01 189360 108310 0.02+0.01 94680 54155

ompost
3 Horticulture 0.18 57272 21560 - - -
4 Apiculture 0.01 42000 26000 0.01 42000 26000
5 Mushroom 0.02 60000 40000 0.02 60000 40000
Total 1.00 518832 300998 0.4 273480 167813
Reference: IIFSR, Modipuram
Proposed IFS models

The selection of enterprises must be based on the cardinal principle of minimizing the
competition and maximizing the complementarity between the enterprises.
• In Uttar Pradesh, it was observed that crop + dairy + goat farming followed by crop +
goat farming had the maximum potential (Singh and Sharma, 1987).
• For one hectare area of dry land, integration of sorghum + cowpea (grain), sorghum +
cowpea (fodder) and Cenchrus glaucus each in 0.33 ha intercropped in Emblica
officinalis with tellicherry goat (5+1) in 0.01 ha could be recommended against raising
sorghum crop alone observed by Radhamani (2001) for Western Zone of Tamil Nadu.
59
• Farming system with enterprise combination of cropping, pigeon (10 pairs), goat (5+1),
buffaloes (two milking buffaloes + one calf), agroforestry and farm pond could be
recommended for the dry land tracts of Western Zone of Tamil Nadu.
• Study of fishery based integrated farming system in combination with horticulture, Agro
forestry and crops was done during 2016-17 and 2017-18 at KVK, Chitrakoot. The units
established under this system are fishery, fruit plant, Agroforestry, Vegetables on bunds
in multi story system. Agro forestry, fruit plants, Crops and vegetable. (Shukla et al,
2020).
Constraints for adopting integrated farming system and relevant solutions
• Long transition time may be required for implementation of multi- enterprise agriculture
model.
• High start-up costs may restrain farmers from switching to multi- enterprise system and enjoy
the benefits of resource integration.
• Unavailability of proper government schemes to support farmer.
Strategies:
• Government provides subsidies for various components which you have to take subsidies
by contacting in nearby agriculture department as Krishi raksha ikai Kendra.
• Dissemination of the Technology by suitable extension methods viz. demonstrations to
the farmer that they can aware about the benefits of the newly introduced practices and
technologies.
• Policy should be distributed for specific region as district wise evaluation is necessary.
• Need not to integrate all the components at a time. The components should be introduced
as per farmer’s profit and convenience.
Conclusion:
Increase in productivity and profitability along with higher resource use efficiency,
environmental sustainability, food, nutritional security and higher socio-economic standard of
farmers in dryland region can be achieved through practically convenient and economically
feasible Integrated Farming system with suitable components.
60
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
References:
Archer, D.W., Franco Jr, J.G., Halvorson, J.J., Pokharel, K.P. (2018). Integrated farming
systems. Fath, B. editor. Encylopedia of Ecology (2nd Edition). Oxford, UK: Elsevierp.
508-514
Dasgupta, P., Goswami, R., Ali, M.N., Chakraborty. S. and Saha, S.K. (2015). Multifunctional
Role of Integrated Farming System in Developing Countries. International Journal of Bio-
resource and Stress Management. , 6(3):424-432
Gill, M.S., Singh, J.P. and Gangwar, K.S. (2009). Integrated farming system and agriculture
sustainability. Indian Journal of Agronomy 54:128–39.
Harsh L N and Tewari J C. 2007. Agroforestry system in arid region (Rajasthan) of India. (In):
Agroforestry Systems and Practices, pp 175–90. Puri S and Panwar P (Eds).New India
Publishing Agency, New Delhi.
Kalhapure, A., Dhonde, M. and Shete, B. (2014). A text book of Farming System and
Sustainable Agriculture.
Kaushik, N., Tikkoo, A., Yadav, P.K., Deswal, R.P.S. and Singh, S. (2017). Agri-silvi-horti
systems for semi-arid regions of North west India. Agricultural Research 62: 150–8.
Rathore, V.S., Tanwar, S.P.S., Kumar, P. and Yadav, O.P. (2019). Integrated Farming System:
Key to sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions. Indian Journal of Agricultural
Sciences., 89 (2): 181–92
Shasyadhara Agriculture, Agriculture science nature and environment.
Shukla, K.S., Tripathi, C.M. and Kumar, M. (2020). Study of fishery based integrated farming
system approaches for doubling farmer’s income in Bundelkhand region. Journal of
Entomology and Zoology Studies; 8(5): 387-390
Tanwar, S.P.S., Singh, A., Patidar, M., Mathur, B.K. and Lal, K. (2016). Integrated farming
system with alternate land uses for achieving economic resilience in arid zone farming. (In)
Extended summaries, Vol I of 4th International Agronomy Congress, held at New Delhi,
November 22–26:246–7.
61
Chapter MICROBES MEDIATED MINERAL WEATHERING AND

ASSOCIATED NUTRIENT RELEASE
Pallabi Kalita1, Marami Dutta2, Samiron Dutta2 and Bipul Deka2
1Sardar Vallabbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut
2Department of Soil Science, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat - 785 013
Abstract:
The important nutrients needed for feeding of both plants and soil microorganisms are
released from primary minerals by soil microbes, who are crucial in this process. Fungi are the
primary microbes that weather rocks and minerals (Gehrmann and Krumbein., 1994). It has been
proposed that the primary causes of mineral weathering in soils are mycorrhizal fungus
(Landeweert et al., 2001). For mineral weathering, the microorganisms employ both
biogeophysical and biogeochemical techniques. By creating slime in muscovite mica, B.
mucilaginosus solubilized more potassium (Sugumaran & Janarthanam, 2007). Metal
accumulation by fungal biomass was important in the degradation of Muscovite and Serpentine,
as well as the release of Al, K, Mg, and Si by two Penicillium sp (Crawford et al., 2000).
Numerous soil fungi, including endophytic/entomopathogenic Beauveria caledonica, used
acidolysis and complexolysis to dissolve zinc phosphate and pyromorphite. These fungi
represented ericoid and ectomycorrhizal plant symbionts (Fomina et al., 2004).The weathering
of feldspar and biotite is caused by the bacterium Rhizobium tropici Q34's synergistic action of
organic acids and extracellular polysaccharides (Wang et al., 2015). If scientists can better
comprehend the ecology of mineral weathering processes mediated by the microbiome, they may
have a real chance to develop novel solutions to developing agricultural challenges.
Introduction:
According to renowned microbiologist Jacob Lipman “A soil devoid of microorganisms
is a dead soil”. At the Earth's surface, no mineral can escape weathering. With the exception of
nitrogen and carbon, this process is the main source of all the components that are necessary for
living. Soil microorganisms play a significant task in the environment by assisting in the release
of essential nutrients from primary minerals that are requisite for own nutrition as well as that of
plants.
62
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Fungi are the primary microbes that weather rocks and minerals (Gehrmann and
Krumbein., 1994). Mycorrhizal fungi, which have a close connection to solar energy through
their symbiotic relationship with plants, have indeed been proposed as the primary agents of
mineral weathering in soil (Landeweert et al., 2001). Through the use of proton-based and
ligand-based compounds, fungi weather rocks and minerals chemically (Hoffland, 2002). CO2,
which creates carbonic acid, and other acids created in the vicinity of the fungal hyphae's tips are
proton-based agents. Lichen acids, organic acids, and other acid polysaccharides are examples of
ligand-based agents. Eubacteria and Archaea, which are recognised for their oxido-reduction,
chelation, and acidolysis processes, are also involved in the weathering of minerals.
In this report, a brief discussion has been made of the various characteristics of soil
microorganisms and their function in the weathering of minerals and the release of nutrients into
the soil.
Mechanism of Fungal weathering
Both biogeochemical and biogeophysical mechanisms are employed.
Biogeo-physical mechanism
Fungal appressoria generate pressures of up to 10–20 N/m2 via osmotic pressure.
Chemical tools are required since such forces are likely insufficient to let the hyphal tip puncture
a rock on its own.
Biogeo-chemical mechanism
Fungi produce two different types of chemical weathering agents: proton-based and
ligand-based agents. Respiratory CO2/carbonic acid and other acids created in the vicinity of the
tips of fungal hyphae or the ectomycorrhizal roots are examples of proton-based agents. Lichen
acids, organic anions, siderophores, various polyphenolic acids, and acid polysaccharides are
examples of ligand-based weathering agents.
Mechanisms of Bacterial Weathering
1. Oxido-reduction
In this process, the reduction or oxidation of a chemical molecule trapped in intricate
rock formations causes the mineral crystal to become unstable, leading to its dissolution.
63
2. Acidolysis
One of the main elements affecting mineral stability is proton production by
microorganisms. These acids' protons cause the mineral's pH to drop and cause the discharge of
cations like iron, potassium, and magnesium (Uroz et al., 2009).
3. Chelation
Chelation is a biological process in which living things create organic compounds called
chelates that can break down minerals and rocks by removing metallic cations. The capacity of
bacteria to make siderophores with high chelating properties has been widely observed.
Mechanisms of algal weathering
Algae weather minerals by both physical and chemical mechanisms. Physically by
hyphal penetration, Chemicaly by exudation of organic acids.
Performances of soil microbes in context of mineral weathering and nutrient availability
Fungal mineral weathering
1. Wallander (2000) compared the amounts of apatite weathered in pot systems with non-
mycorrhizal (NM) Pinus sylvestris seedlings with amounts weathered in systems containing
seedlings colonised by one of three EM fungal species grown for 210 days in pots containing
both root containing & root free apartment. The EM mycelium was allowed to colonize the root
free apartment wher P had been added as a P source. Also he related the exudation of organic
acids by mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal roots to the uptake of P from apatite.
Table 1: Weathering budgets based on the uptake of P and Sr from apatite in non-
mycorrhizal seedlings and seedlings colonised by S. variegatus or an unidentified EM
fungus
Mycorrhizal Amount of Amount Fraction of Amount of Amount of Fraction
status P from of Apatite apatite Sr from Apatite of apatite
weathering weathered weathered weathering weathered weathered
(mg) (mg) (% of (mg) (mg) (% of
added) added)
Non 1.1 6.7 0.3 17±1 2.9 0.1
mycorrhizal
S. variegatus 1 1.6 9.9 0.5 25±8 4.2 0.2
S. variegatus 2 2.7 16.8 0.8 29±8 4.9 0.2
Unidentified 3.0 18.9 0.9 34±9 5.7 0.3
64
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
According to the weathering budget calculated using P absorption, between 6.7 and 18.9
mg of apatite had weathered. The budget based on Sr absorption showed that less apatite
weathering had occurred than expected (between 2.7 and 5.9 mg). Considerably more apatite
was weathered by S. variegatus 2 and the unidentified fungus-colonized seedlings in compared
to non-mycorrhizal seedlings and seedlings colonised by S. variegatus 1.
Table 2: pH and concentration of oxalic acid (µM) in the soil solution of root-free soil.
n.m., denotes not measured
Mycorrhizal status Mineral addition Oxalic acid (M) pH
Non-mycorrhizal apatite 1.2±0.1 5.1±0.05
S. variegatus 1 apatite 2.0±0.6 4.9±0.06
S. variegatus 2 apatite 3.8±0.9 5.2±0.1
Unidentified apatite 2.4±0.4 5.2±0.05
Non-mycorrhizal Control n.m 4.7±0.09
S. variegatus 1 Control n.m 4.8±0.03
S. variegatus 2 Control n.m 4.7±0.05
Unidentified Control n.m 4.7±0.1
Oxalic acid concentrations were substantially greater in S. variegatus2-colonized soils

than in NM soils. The pH of the root-free soil was high in containers where apatite had been
included in the potting mixture. The pH of the rootless soil was not significantly impacted by
mycorrhizal colonisation. The primary cause of the ectomycorrhyzal srains release of P from
apatite was thought to be oxalic acid.
2. With the help of symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi, Quirk et al. (2012) conducted field trials with
mature trees and showed that weathering may be intensified. Basalt, which is rich in calcium,
was used to measure mycorrhiza-driven weathering.
With the transition from arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) to later, separately formed
ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi, and from gymnosperm to angiosperm hosts with both fungal
groups, preferential hyphal colonizationof the calcium silicate-bearing rock, basalt, gradually
increased.
65
Further set of basalt bags recovered after 14 months and oxide & carbonate bound Ca
fractions were determined
12
10
8
Basalt
6
Granite
4 Quartz
0
AM gymnosperms AM angiosperms EM gymnosperms EM angiosperms
Graph (a) Hyphal lengths colonizing rock grains after 5 months burial of bags
Table 3: Estimated Ca dissolution rates from basalt

Mycorrhiza Tree Species/treat Basalt Oxide Carbonat Ca : Sr Ca : Sr
group ment bag bound Ca e bound (oxide (carbona
solution dissolution Ca fraction) te
pH (ngg-1h-1) dissolutio (µmol : fraction)
n µmol) (µmol :
(ngg-1h-1) µmol)
None none unweathere n.a n.a n.a 149±1.8 1101±95
d basalt
AM gym S. 7.4±0.1 non- 40±20 125±14 1070±17
semperviren detected 1
s
AM gym M. 7.7±0.1 10±3.7 97±39\ 109±16 822±72
glyptostrob
oides
EM gym P. sylvestris 6.9±0.2 21±1.9 173±30 88±8.9 926±236
EM angio B. pendula 6.2±0.1 22+±1.6 229±9.1 86±9.6 520±31
EM angio N. dombeyi 7.0±0.1 15±3.5 136±28 87±9.2 868±85
Results= Mean±SD
66
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Calcium dissolution from the oxide and carbonate fractions drastically increased when
EM-angiosperm trees were compared to AM-gymnosperm trees, which is reliable with more
extensive basalt colonisation and surface alteration of silicates by EM hyphae.
3. Crawford et al. (2000) conducted a experiment to record the release of Al, K, Si & Mg from
the degradation of Muscovite & Serpentine
Table 4: Release of (Al), (K), (Si) & (Mg) after incubation of rhizospheric or
nonrhizospheric Penicillium sp. with serpentine for 3 weeks
Treatment Al( mg/l) K (mg/l) Si (mg/l) Mg (mg/l)
Serpentine+Pr - - 11.86 8.23
Serpentine+Pn - - 12.42 11.13
Control (Pr) 0.23 9.5 0.87 0.79
Control (Pn) 0.25 0.21 0.73 0.11
Table 5: Release of (Al), (K), (Si) & (Mg) after incubation of rhizospheric or
nonrhizospheric Penicillium sp. with Muscovite for 3 weeks
Treatment Al( mg/l) K (mg/l) Si (mg/l) Mg (mg/l)
Muscovite+Pr 1.13 9.84 3.9 -
Muscovite+Pn 5.50 1.09 6.87 -
Control (Pr) 0.23 9.5 0.87 0.79
Control (Pn) 0.25 0.21 0.73 0.11
No significant release of Si & Mg by Rhizospheric & non-Rhizospheric Penicillium from

Serpentine. But significant release of Al, K, Si from Muscovite by both rhizospheric & non-
rhizospheric strains.
Along with the release of Al, K, Si & Mg the strains accumulated much of the released
cations into their tissues. Metal accumulation is the considered mechanism for the release of Al,
67
K, Si & Mg from Serpentine & Muscovite by the rhizospheric & non-rhizospheric Penicillium
sp.
Table 6: After 3 weeks of incubation with muscovite or serpentine, the presence of (Al), (K),
and (Mg) in the fungal mycelium
Rock Fungus Al (%) K (%) Mg (%)
Serpentine Pr 0.01 0.03 0.45
Serpentine Pn 0.00 0.00 3.22
Muscovite Pr 0.10 0.05 0.00
Muscovite Pn 0.38 0.43 0.00
4. Fomina et al. (2004), conducted a experiment on the solubilisation of zinc phosphate and
pyromorphite involving agroup of soil symbiotic fungi.. Fungal cultures used- ErM (DGC3 –
Hymenoscyphus ericae DGC3(UZ) , OmCd – Oidiodendron maius ),Entomopathogenic
/endophyte Bc4 – Beauveria caledonica 4 , EcM ( Ll8 – Laccaria laccata 8, Pi23– Paxillus
involutus 23 , Pi15 – Paxillus involutus 15 , Slu21 – Suillus luteus 21 , Slu 33 – S. luteus 33,
MG1 – S. bovinus MG1, LSt8 – S. bovinus Lst8, Tt – Thelephora terrestris)
68
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Graph (A)Biomass Yield (Dry weight)

Graph (B)Tolerance index
Graph (C )pH values of culture filtrate for
fungi grown for 20 days
Biomass increased with increased tolerance index in case of pyromorphite. Pyromorphite

appeared less toxic to fungi than Zinc phosphate. Biomass recorded highest in case of the strains
DGC3, Ll8 & MG1, along with highest tolerance indexes and reduced pH. So acidolysis was
considered the reason for toxical metal tolerance by the strains.
% of fungal isolates able to excrete different organic acids when grown for 20 days on
control, Zn phosphate & Pyromorphite
Almost half of the isolates produced acetic & fumaric acids. Oxalic acid was produced by
only B.caledonica 4 in the prevalence of Pyromorphite. The earlier Zinc tolerant strains
solubilised Zinc Phosphate to almost 100% and the strain B.caledonica4 solubilized
pyromorphite. Acidolysis & Complexolysis were the mechanisms for solublilization of Zinc
phosphate & Pyromorphite.
69
Mobilization index (A) Zinc to initial Zinc Mobilization index (A) Lead to initial
Pyromorphite for fungi after 20 days
Phosphate for fungi after 20 days of growth
of growth
Bacterial mineral weathering

(1) Sugumaran and Janarthanam (2007) examined the effect of Bacillus mucilaginosus
(MCRCp1) on solubilisation of microcline, orthoclase and muscovite mica minerals and. The
maximum potassium sollubilization (4.29 mg L-1 ) was found in muscovite mica..
Table 7: Potassium released from 3 minerals by Bacillus mucilaginosus after 4 days
incubation at 28ᴼC(mgL-1)
Treatments Muscovite mica Microcline Orthoclase
Control 3.18±0.01 0.19±0.05 0.29±0.01
Inoculation 4.29±0.03 1.26±0.03 0.85±0.02
Results represent mean± SD of three replicates
Table 8: Effect of inoculated Bacillus mucilaginosus on bacterial population

Character Control Inoculation
Total bacterial no. 10.2 28.4
Slime forming bacterial no.(104cfug-1) 0.74 4960
K release from muscovite was attributed to slime production by Bacillus mucilaginosus.
70
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
2. Ghaderi et al., 2008 conducted a study on the release of P from Variable charge mineral
(FeIII Goethite) by using 3 isolates Pseudomas putida, Pseudomonas fluorescence Chao &
P.f.Tabriz.
0.8 6
0.6 4 Bacterial
0.4 isolates
2
0.2
0
0
P.putida P.f.Chao P.f.Tabriz
Inorganic P (mg/50ml) Organic P (mg/50ml)
Inorganic P highest in case of Pseudomonas putida meaning capable of supplying P to

pants from variable charge mineral.
Organic P highest in case of the strains P.putida& P.f.Tabriz meaning they would be able
to supply P only in presence of Phosphatase activity
Table 9: Percantage of total P in supernatant & proportion of P assimilation by the
bacterial isolates
P. putida P. fluorescence Chao P. fluorescence Tabriz
(TPS/TPR)*100 67% 23% 50%
TPS/BP 1.89 0.33 1.10
TPS-Total P in supernatant, TPR- Total P released, BP- Biomass P

Both the ratios were higher in case of the two isolates P. putida, P. f. Tabriz
Since the isolates P.putida & P.f.Tabriz showed highest proton production so acidolysis
was considered the main mechanism for P release from the mineral by the two isolates.
Siderophore & Phosphatase activity was highest in case of P.f.Chao but it was not able to release
P from the variable charged mineral (FeIII Goethite)
71
Table 10: Production of H⁺, Siderophore, acid & alkaline phosphatase by isolates
(Data are ratio of halo to colony diameter)
H⁺ Siderop Alkaline Acid

production hore Phosphatase Phosphatase
P. putida 2.2 2.0 1.1 1.1
P. fluorescence Chao 1.7 2.4 2.0 2.2
P. Fluorescence 2.3 2.1 1.0 1.0

Tabriz
3. Wang et al., 2015, conducted a study on the release of Si & K from feldspar and biotite by
incubation with Rhizobium tropici Q34 for 20 days
The release of Si & K from feldspar showed a fluctuating pattern which might be due to
the redissolution or reprecipitation of secondary minerals. The release of Si & K from biotite
consistently increased from the start of the experiment till the end of the experiment.
Influence of Rhizobium tropici Q34 on Si (j) and (k) K releases in the medium 20 days of
incubation
Tartaric & Citric acids are considered the main acids for the release of Si & k from
feldspar & biotite. Production of Polysaccharides was highest in the presence of Feldspar.
72
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Table 11: The impact of minerals on the production of organic acids and polysaccharides
by strain Q34 after 10 days of incubation in liquid cultures
Oxalic Tartaric Maleic Citric Succinic Content of

acid(mg/l) acid(mg/l) acid(mg/l) acid(mg/l) Acid(mg/l) polysaccharid
e(g/l)
No 31 ± 0.1 533 ± 57 148 ± 7 BDL 131 ± 16 4.7 ± 0.4

mineral
Feldspar 40 ± 7.6 1431 ± 39 169 ± 17 51 ± 3 212 ± 41 6.7 ± 1.2
Biotite 35 ± 11 659 ± 27 151 ± 5 71 ± 3 216 ± 42 5.5 ± 0.2
Average ± standard deviation from three separate experiments

BDL - below the detection limit
Bacterial metabolites' effects on Si and K releases in the feldspar and biotite added solution
When organic acids and polysaccharides work together synergistically rather than
separately, the highest amount of Si and K is released from both feldspar and biotite.
Algal mineral weathering
Welton et al., 2002 conducted an experiment for the effect of algae on mineral dissolution.
Minerals used-Calcite, Siderite.
 Mix of three axenic algal cultures Chlorella vulgaris , Scenedesmus obliquus and
Stichococcus bacillaris .
 Sample= Mineral powder+ strain+ water.
73
 Cationic output from algae without mineral=strain+water

 Blank=only water
Table 12: Variation of pH in the aqueous medium over time
Day 0 Day 7 Day 14 Day 21 Day 28
Water only 6.8 6.7 6.9 6.7 6.8
Water + Algae 6.7 6.7 6.6 6.8 6.9
Calcite + water 7 6.8 7 6.8 7.3
Calcite + Algae 6.8 6.9 7.5 7.2 7.3
Siderite + water 6.8 7.1 7.1 6.8 6.7
Siderite + Algae 7.1 6.9 6.7 6.9 7.3
No significant change in pH till 7 days. After 14 days significant changes in pH with the
addition of algae in both water + algae and minerals+algae components.
Table 13: Elemental concentrations (mgl-1) in water+algae samples and the water only
experimental blanks (italicised) over time
Detection
Day 0 Day 7 Day 14 Day 21
limit
Al 0.007(0.004) 0.002(0.032) 0.041(0.001) 0.0291(0.002) 0.044
Ca 0.607(0.055) 0.400(0.547) 1.074(0.045) 0.4465(0.150) 0.041
Fe 0.002(0.001) 0.001 (0.00) 0.003(0.000 0.0119(0.000) 0.024
K 1.393(0.332) 0.840(0.271) 0.421(0.472) 0.3454(0.363) 0.100
Mg 0.158(0.011) 0.106(0.064) 0.139(0.008) 0.0967(0.023) 0.027
Mn 0.00(0.00) 0.024(0.001) 0.003(0.00) 0.00(0.00) 0.024
a 4.642(1.389) 4.252(2.859) 4.130(1.215) 1.357(1.009) 0.033
P 0.797(0.093) 0.134(0.166) 0.024(0.125) 0.018(0.193) 0.69
74
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Table 14: Elemental concentrations (mg/l) in aqueous medium containing calcite and algae
over time (Figures in brackets are for water and calcite with no algae)
Al 0.037(0.057) 0.030(0.060) 0.197(0.093) 0.086(0.058)
Ca 14.568(8.219) 28.805(7.882) 8.544(7.391) 16.967(17.243)
Fe 0.00(0.002) 0.001(0.00) 0.004(0.001) 0.005(0.003)
K 5.828(0.860) 0.586(0.591) 1.046(0.436) 1.154(0.520)
Mg 0.301(0.133) 0.394(0.167) 0.583(0.158) 0.419(0.127)
Mn 0.014(0.002) 0.040(0.003) 0.000(0.013) 0.012(0.003)
Na 18.363(4.611) 2.967(5.572) 4.984(6.504) 2.953(3.332)
P 0.843(0.061) 0.010(0.128) 0.258(0.025) 0.079(0.000)

Concentration of Ca released increased with decreasing pH by comparing with table
no.11, so Calcite dissolution with release of Ca appeared to be a function of pH clearly proving
acidolysis mechanism of Ca release from Calcite.
Table 15: Elemental concentrations (mg/L) in water+siderite and water with siderite+algae
samples over time. Figures in brackets are water+siderite only
Al 0.002(0.000) 0.059(0.000) 0.167(0.011) 0.068(0.019)
Ca 1.771(2.172) 2.097(1.701) 1.789(2.156) 1.653(1.786)
Fe 0.000(0.004) 0.014(0.001) 0.042(0.002) 0.031(0.009)
K 0.874(1.091) 1.585(1.149) 0.961(0.744) 0.725(0.900)
Mg 6.585(6.952) 8.798(14.050) 6.856(8.541) 7.043(11.584)
Mn 0.890(0.855) 1.193(2.872) 0.009(1.106) 0.070(2.496)
Na 2.720(4.857) 6.475(5.636) 3.211(6.157) 2.784(3.632)
P 0.042(0.030) 0.193(0.211) 0.334(0.015) 0.026(0.000)
75
Ca concentration rises at day 14th which may be due to Ca release by algae; Mg

concentration rises might be due to decomposition of dead algae releasing Mg from porphyrin
component of chlorophyll. Aqueous Fe concentrations increased which might be due to algae
causing release of Fe from siderite.Thus culture of green algae used in the experiment were able
to cause dissolution of the minerals Calcite & Siderite releasing significant amount of Ca & Fe .
Factors influencing microbial mineral weathering
1. pH
The microbes excrete acids and the protons associated with these acids reduce the pH of
the minerals thus lowering the movement of the free cations in the soil promoting dissolution of
minerals.The dissolution of minerals is maximum in strong bases or strong acids and minimal at
near neutral. Phosphorus solubilisation by bacteria is maximum at pH near neutral but fungi
require pH of 4-5 for maximum Phosphorus solubilisation.
2. Chemical and crystallographic characteristics of minerals and the microbes itself
When the crystallographic characteristics of minerals are different it means difference
exists in the arrangement of atoms in the crystal, the environment in which they grow thus
obviously microbial mineral weathering will be also different with different microbes. Arrieta &
Grez (1971) conducted solubilisation of minerals with different crystallochemistry and
determined the Iron solubilized µg per 100 mg of mineral in 5ml of medium.
Table 16: Iron solubilized by the interaction of different minerals and soil fungi after 21
days of incubation at 30⁰C
Fungus Augite Magnetite Haematite
Control 0 1 0
Penicillium(1) 10 81 106
Mucor(2) 19.5 19.5 59.5
Aspergillus(3) 24 305 46
Aspergillus(4) 7 220.5 9
Aspergillus(5) 38.5 91 27.5
Cephalosporium(6) 29.5 49.5 13.5
Cephalosporium(7) 19 20.5 169.5
Cephalosporium(8) 15.5 37 229.5
Fusarium(9) 35.5 82.5 27
Penicillium(10) 3.5 24.5 30.5
76
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
For the same microorganism the amount of iron solubilised was different for minerals
with different crystallochemistry. Also the solubilisation potential differed among the different
microbes clearly showing that microbial mineral weathering depends on the mineral
crystallochemistry and the microbes itself.
3. Rhizosphere
Mineral weathering microbial population more in rhizosphere soil. Thus microbial
mineral weathering can be expected to be more in rhizosphere than in bulk soil without roots
(Calvaruso et al., 2006). Zhang et al., (2016) conducted a study to record the amount of Si, Al, K
& Fe solubilized from K feldspar by using both rhizospheric & nonrhizospheric isolates.Highly
efficient Si, Al, K & Fe mobilizers along with highly acid producing isolates were present in
rhizosphere soil isolates.Thus microbial mineral weathering will be more in rhizosphere.
80%
60%
40% Rhizosphere
20% iolates
0%
Bulk soil
isolates
Bacterial population highly effective in Proportion of bacteria with with high,

Solubilizing Si, Al, K, Fe from K feldspar moderate & poor ability to acidify the liquid
4. Carbon & Nitogen sources

The ability of bacteria to weather minerals can be greatly modified or even blocked,
demonstrating the existence of functional plasticity. It was shown by Uroz et al. (2007) that
bacteria's ability to weather minerals was lost when mannitol served as the only carbon source.
Mannitol is a sugar alcohol that is widely found in plants and fungi. Also proved that Collimonas
strains could weather minerals utilising trehalose, a sugar polyol produced from a fungus.
Conclusion:
Because of their ability to start soil development and assist plant establishment and
growth, microorganisms are recommended as essential tools to stop the spread of arid areas and
77
increase crop yield. Overall, the increasing field of environmental biotechnology may be
propelled forward by the investigation and use of the metabolic traits of microbial communities
skilled of weathering. It can be concluded that the amalgamation of microbial inoculants with
fewer fertiliser should be taken into consideration in numerous circumstances in the integrated
nutrient management (INM) system because it promises great crop production and agricultural
sustainability. The practical application of PGPR must also wait for the advancement of coating
technology to enhance techniques for applying and preserving microorganisms without
compromising their viability. Novel, genetically modified soil and region-specific micobial
therapies and technologies must be developed, evaluated in the field, and made available to
farmers quickly. The quest for novel strains of advantageous microorganisms for bio-fertilizer
and the creation of microbial diversity maps for any location, similar to nutrient mapping, may
also be helpful.
References:
Arrieta, L. and Grez, R. (1971). Solubilization of iron-containing minerals by soil micro-
organisms. Applied Microbiology, 22(4): 487-490.
Calvaruso, C., Turpault, M.P. and Frey-Klett, P. (2006). Root-associated bacteria contribute to
mineral-weathering and to mineral nutrition in trees, a budgeting analysis. Appl. Environ.
Microbiol. 72: 1258-1266.
Crawford, R.H. (2000). Degradation of Serpentine and Muscovite Rock minerals and
immobilization of cations by soil Penicillium spp. Phyton-Ann Rei Bot A. 40: 315-321.
Fomina, M.A., Alexander, I.J., Hillier, S. and Gadd, G.M. (2004). Zinc phosphate and
pyromorphite solubilization by soil plant-symbiotic fungi. Geomicrobiol. J. 21: 351–
366.
Gehrmann, C. and Krumbein, W.E. (1994). Interactions between epilithic and endolithic lichens
and carbonate rocks, in: V. Fassina, H. Ott, F. Zezza (Eds.) Proceedings of the 3rd
international Symposium. The Conservation of Monuments in the Mediterranean Basin.
Venecia, pp. 311-316.
Ghaderi, A., Aliasgharzad, N., Oustan, S. and Olsson, P.A. (2008). Efficiency of the three
pseudomonas isolates in releasing phosphate from an artificial variable charge mineral
(IronIII hydroxide). Soil & Environ. 27(1): 71-76.
78
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Hoffland, E., Giesler, R., Jongmans, T., van Breemen, N. (2002). Increasing feldspar tunneling
by fungi across a north Sweden podzol chronosequence. Ecosystems 5: 11–22.
Landeweert, R., Hofflund, E., Finlay, R.D. and Van Breemen, N. (2001). Linking plants to
rocks: Ectomycorrhizal fungi mobilize nutrients from minerals. Trends in Ecology and
Evolution. vol. 16: 248-254.
Quirk, J., Beerling, D.J., Banwart, S.A, Kakonyi, G., Romero-Gonzalez ME and Leake, J.R.
(2012). Evolution of trees and mycorrhizal fungi intensifies silicate mineral
weathering. Biol. Lett. 8: 1006–1011.
Sugumaran, P. and Janarthanam, B. (2007). Solubilization of Potassium containing minerals by
bacteria and their effect on plant growth. World Journal of Agricultural Sciences 3 (3):
350-355.
Uroz, S., Calvaruso, C., Turpault, M.P. and Frey-Klett, P. (2009) Mineral Weathering by
Bacteria: Ecology, Actors and Mechanisms. Trends in Microbiol. 17: 378-387.
Uroz, S., Calvaruso, C., Turpault, M.P., Pierrat, J.C., Mustin, C. and Frey-Klett, P. (2007). Effect
of the mycorrhizosphere on the genotypic and metabolic diversity of the soil bacterial
communities involved in mineral-weathering in a forest soil. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73:
3019-3027.
Wallander, H. (2000). Uptake of P from apatite by Pinus sylvestris seedlings colonized by
different ectomycorrhizal fungi. Plant and Soil 218: 249–256.
Wang, R.R., Wang, Q., He, L.Y., Qiu, G. and Shang, X.F. (2015). Isolation and the interaction
between a mineral-weathering Rhizobium tropici Q34 and silicate minerals. World J
Microbiol Biotechnol. 31:747-753.
Welton, R.G., Cuthbert, S.J., Hursthouse, A., Mclean, R. and Hughes, J. (2002). The Effect of
Algae on Mineral Powder Dissolution Rates. DBMC, pp. 1-8.
Zhang, Z., Huang, J., He, L. and Sheng, X. (2016) Distinct Weathering Ability and Populations
of Culturable Mineral-Weathering Bacteria in the Rhizosphere and Bulk Soils of Morus
Alba. Geomicrobiol. J. 33(1): 39-45.
79
Chapter UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE

WITH CROP DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY IN
NORTH BENGAL ECONOMY
Poushali Nag1, Achyoung Lepcha1 and Kalyan Kanti Das2
1Department of Agricultural Economics, Seacom Skills Unversity
2Department of Agricultural Economics, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Corresponding author E-mai: poushalinag454@gmail.com,
achyounglepcha@gmail.com, daskk3@gmail.com
Introduction:
Agriculture, globally is facing numerous challenges. Most Asian countries with its
persistent growing population, apart from alleviating poverty tasks, attaining food security is the
fundamental work. Non- sustainability of the agriculture is indicated with the growing intensity
of soil erosion, reduction in soil organic matter and soil salinization chiefly because of intensive
agriculture and extreme use of input. Depletion of natural resources have a grave consequence of
meeting the future demand for food, fodder and fibre. There is a serious threat to livelihood
opportunities of poor and underprivileged farmers. A study revealed by Food and Agriculture
Organization of United Nations (FAO) estimates 1.5 billion people depend directly on land that
is degrading. As indicated by FAO Land degradation is worsening rather than improving, with
declining trends revealed across some 24 per cent of global land area. The recent fuel and food
crisis have forced global community to take appropriate measures to significantly enhance food
production in a sustainable manner to feed the growing population.
India with a population of 1.27 billion and an area of 3.288 million sq kms, is a home to a
diverse agro- ecology having almost varied weather conditions, soil types and capable of
growing a variety of crops. India is a largest producer of pulses and jute, and ranks as the second
largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, vegetables, fruit and cotton. It is also one of the
leading producers of spices, fish, poultry, livestock and plantation crops. India is primarily an
agrarian economy as largest source of livelihood in India is agriculture and its allied sector,
according to (census 2011) 70% of rural household depends on Agriculture. As per Land Use
80
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Statistics 2016-17, the total geographical area of the country is 328.7 million hectares, 139.4
million hectares is the reported net sown area and 200.2 million hectares is the gross cropped
area with a cropping intensity of 143.6%. Net sown area works out to be 42.4% of the total
geographical area. Average size of operational holding is 1.08 ha, the small and marginal
holdings taken together (0.00-2.00 ha) constituted majority (86.08%) of the total land holdings in
2015-16 (Agricultural Census 2015-16). Since the onset of green revolution in the late sixties,
India had an impressive accomplishment in agriculture and attained self- sufficiency in food. In
FY20, 296.65 million tonnes were the total food grain production in the country as recorded by
the economic survey of India 2020-21, 11.44 million tonnes more compared with 285.21 million
tonnes in FY19.
Agriculture and allied sector share 17.6% of country’s GDP (CSO 2019) halved during
last 30 years. Nevertheless, the agricultural sector was the most resilient to the Covid-19 shock
as it recorded a growth in 2020-21 and improved to 20.2 % (NSO 2021-22). It still employs more
than 50% of the total workforce, which accounted for 18.8 per cent in Gross Value Added
(GVA) of the country for 2021-22. The production of rice, wheat and coarse cereals has
increased at compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of 2.7, 2.9 and 4.8 per cent respectively
during last six years i.e. 2015-16 to 2020-21. The CAGR for pulses, oilseeds and cotton has been
7.9, 6.1 and 2.8 per cent, respectively during the same period. Gross Capital Formation (GCF) is
an indicator of level of investment activity in the sector and is critical to the growth of the sector
has since recovered and has improved in agricultural sector to 16.4 % in 2018-19 from 14.7 % in
2015-16.
Located in the eastern side of the country, West Bengal is an Indian state inhabited by
over 91,347,736 populations as of 2011. With an area of 88,752 km2 and population density of
1029/km2, it is India’s fourth most populous state and fourteenth largest Indian state. Agriculture
plays a fundamental role in the economy of West Bengal. The state has a gross cropped area of
9.6 million hectares during 2014-15 and contributed around 18.81percent to the gross state
domestic product (GSDP) in 2014-15 (Government of India, 2016). The state is the major
producer of paddy, wheat and jute including fruits and vegetables and large population depends
on agriculture. The situation in Northern Tract of West Bengal mirrors the state’s dependency on
agriculture. North Bengal is an economically crawling region and is very much dominated by
81
agriculture, it comprises of 8 districts with varied topography, soil, climate and culture covering
three agro- climatic zones viz. (i) Hill Zone, (ii) Terai Zone, (iii) Old- Alluvial Zone. In North
Bengal 2011-12, 28.63 % was contributed by agriculture in Net District Domestic Product
(NDDP) with cropping intensity of 178.7%. The major population is dependent on agriculture as
54 % of total workforce hinge on agriculture for 2011-12 (lepcha et al., 2020). Cropping system
in North Bengal loops around aman and boro paddy and the cropping intensity is 178.7 %
(Statistical Abstract 2012). Although agriculture is the main source of livelihood for majority,
the agrarian scenario lags behind, curtailed by the steady surge in the population, the unreliable
climatic prevalence and the absence of any large industry, the status quo can retain longer. The
worsening circumstances can be witnessed from the consistent lower yield from the principal
crop kharif paddy 4-15% since 1980-81 (Lepcha et al., 2020). The decline in gross return due to
unstable selling price and the consistent decline in the area allocation of pulse as (Lepcha et al.,
2020) accounts rate of its decline faster in North Bengal than in the state. (Kumar and Yadav,
2018; Gan et al., 2015; Ganeshamurthy et al., 2006 and others) report the valuable role of pulse
crops in the diversifying cropping system is beyond doubt and this continued decline has
amplified the prospect of degradation of soil health. Area allocation under jute too is fluctuating
and declining overall in North Bengal zone (Lepcha et al., 2020). The climate of North Bengal,
being favourable for jute cultivation (Mondal and Bandopadhyay, 2014; Kumari et al., 2018), it
is traditionally an important cash crop and plays a tremendous role in its farm economy (Kalita
and Bhuyan, 2018; Chapke, 2013). Although agriculture is the backbone of North Bengal’s
economy, the growth rate is low (Lepcha et al., 2020) however positive, the CAGR for yield of
pulse crops, rape, wheat, and mustard, summer (boro) paddy remains almost stagnant (around 1.0
per cent per annum) in the zone and typically, less than that of the state figure. Kharif (aman)
paddy and jute (the two most important components in cropping system), CAGR of their yield
hovers around 3% per annum but the yield level still remains below the national or state figure
and the increase in area allocation of potato and maize 3.16 % and 4.53 % (Lepcha et al., 2022)
demonstrates the potential role these crops can play in the farm economy of North Bengal.
These sluggishness in output of the crops disrupts the farming communities and
aggravates them. The ever-rising cost, farmer’s desperation and their need to hold on to any
possible means and the resource intensive ways of agriculture has led to soil degradation and
82
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
questioned the sustainability of the resources. Depleting natural resources, soil erosion,
deteriorating of soil organic matter the erratic climate and its undesirable impact coupled with
rising input cost are the challenges that North Bengal faces and is in a dire need of a feasible
opportunity perhaps a change in “agricultural practices”.
Conservation Agriculture
Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a concept for resource saving agricultural crop
production that strives to achieve acceptable profits together with high and sustained production
levels while concurrently conserving the environment (FAO 2007). Conservation Agriculture is a
set of technologies that is characterized by minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover,
diversified crop rotations and integrated weed management. (Kasam et al., 2009). A concept
progressed as an answer to concerns of sustainability of agriculture globally, has gradually
amplified worldwide to cover about 8% of the world arable land (124.8 M ha) (FAO, 2012). A
range of practice have been developed and promoted among the farmers under the banner of
Conservation Agriculture to mitigate the problem of food security, farm profitability and land
degradation (Kasam et al, 2018). Tillage as a soil management was first questioned in the
1930, when the dust bowls devastated wide areas of the mid-west United States,. With time
tillage contributed negatively to soil quality and the conservation of soil with reduced tillage
came into existence. Seeding machinery developments in the 1940s allowed then, to seed
directly without any soil tillage. But only in the 1960s did no-tillage enter into farming
practice in the USA. In the early 1970s as the result of uncontrollable erosion problems in
the southern states, no-tillage reached Brazil, where farmers together with scientists trans-
formed the technology into the system which today is called CA. The spread of CA
accelerated in the early 1990s, which transformed farming systems in Argentina, Southern Brazil
and Paraguay (Friedrich et al 2012)). Kasam et al 2018 accounted that globally CA is being
practiced on about 180 M ha and countries like USA, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and Australia
are the major CA practicing countries. CA adoption is still in the initial phases in India and over
the past few years, adoption of zero tillage and CA has expanded to cover over 1.5 million
hectares. Kasam et al 2018 reported South America with largest area under conservation
agriculture 69.90 M ha (38.7 % of total global area under conservation agriculture) followed by
North America (63.18 M ha, 35.0%). Australia and New Zealand with 22.67 M ha (12.6%), Asia
83
13.93 M ha (7.7%), Europe 3.56 M ha (2.0%) and Africa 1.51 M ha (0.8%).CA is now a
worldwide phenomenon and has gathered momentum all over the globe. Kasam et al 2018
reported that the spread of CA worldwide appears to have been expanding at the rate of 10 M ha
per annum since 2008/09. In Asia, a large share (10.76 %) of the conservation agriculture is
confined in India, and that is in the Indo- Gangetic plain. The area under zero tillage in Indo-
Gangetic plains of India was estimated to be 1.90 million hectares in 2005, which increased to 2.5
million hectares in 2007 (Kasam et al 2009). Zero-till (ZT) wheat in the rice-wheat (RW) system
is the major CA based technologies being adopted in the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP). In other
crops and cropping systems, the conventional agriculture-based crop management systems are
gradually undergoing a paradigm shift from intensive tillage to reduced/zero-tillage operations
(Jat et al., 2012).
Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification: CASI in North Bengal
In North Bengal, as discussed earlier of the aggravated farming situation threatening
livelihood security and the sustainability issues, (lepcha et al ., 2020) the project "Sustainable
and Resilient farming Systems Intensification in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (SRFSI) was
implemented by International organizations like International Maize and Wheat Improvement
Centre (CIMMYT), Mexico with an attempt to promote and out-scale the concept of CA
technology (popularly known as CASI : Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification)
as an alternative to conventional agriculture in North Bengal region with funding from Australian
Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Australia and direct collaboration with
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya (UBKV), West Bengal and Department of Agriculture
(DoA), Government of West Bengal. SRFSI project reached out to approximately 70000 farming
households making smallholder agriculture more productive, profitable and also involving
women. The successful demonstration of the 'technology' along with its physical, economic, and
environmental merits was tried for adoption in larger scale. The extension efforts, both private as
well as government were made to popularize the technology. 'What If' analysis (Lepcha et al.,
2020) displays that if about 0.5% of allocated acreage under the major crops is brought under
conservation agriculture, an additional farm income of about 73 million rupees may be amassed
(estimation is based on participatory trial data for consecutive three years, i.e., 2013-14 to 2015-
16 in North Bengal region under the SRFSI project. Allocated area for respective crop (ACA) has
84
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
been assumed on the basis of latest available data (i.e., 2014-15) for all the North Bengal districts
(Lepcha et al., 2020). Home for 1.36 million farming households, agriculture is the pillar for the
North Bengal Economy, thus an alternative like Conservation Agriculture and systematic crop
diversification may recover the allocation scenario and so also net return.
Why crop diversification?
During 1990s, the most important reason for the emergence of agrarian distress in the
country was the low level of absolute income as well as large and deteriorating divergence
between income of a farmer and non-agricultural worker, which turned even more serious in
latest years. That’s why over the past few decades or so, the main concern for agricultural
development was mainly to increase the agricultural production and to ensure the food security.
With great satisfaction, Indian farmers were able to achieve that goal by introducing ‘Green
Revolution’ and ‘Rainbow Revolution’ with the help of agricultural scientists and policy maker.
Soon India was established as a self-sufficient country in agriculture, which brought smiles to the
face of millions of Indians and also the reformation of Indian agriculture in world map was
promoted. An increase in productivity through intervention of better crop production
technologies and varieties was one of the strategies involved among others. Date based study
showed that there was a 45 % increase in per person food production which resulted in, India as
a food self-sustained and net food exporting country. Most importantly, during the last half
century, India's food production has multiplied 3.7-fold. But in many developing countries
including India, the population is ever increasing. Therefore, the requirement for additional basic
needs i.e food, fibre, oil supplies is also increasing which is - enacting as a serious challenge to/
putting a pressure on the agricultural scientists to increase/ improve the productivity from
confined, decreasing and degraded land & water resources. It is expected that by 2050, the
population will have increased by 50 % also the global demand would have doubled. Also
consistent low-level income of farmers might cause a significant and adverse effect on the future
of agrarian economy of India. To secure the future of India’s agriculture and to upgrade the
livelihood status of the farmers, ample attention should be given to enhance the welfare of
farmers and increase the farm income.Therefore, sustainable agricultural practices should be
introduced to the farmers which are concerned with various modern approaches. Introduction,
adaption and acceptance of new varieties as well as new and forthcoming production
85
technologies can possibly strengthen farmers’ cropping systems by increasing yields, improving
drought resilience, boosting resistance to pests and diseases and also by capturing new market
opportunities. However, the strategies could not acknowledge the necessity to uplift the farmers'
income and there was no direct relation to encourage farmers' welfare. In this context, the goal
was set to double the farmer’s income by 2022-23, which might play a pivotal role in promoting
farmers welfare, reducing agrarian distress and bringing parity between farm and off-farm
incomes. Niti Ayog reported that to double the real farm income of the farmers till 2022-23, over
the base year of 2015-16, 10.41 % of annual growth is required in farmer’s income. Therefore,
effective measures should be taken in order to utilize all possible sources of growth in farmer’s
income inside as well as outside the agricultural sector. According to the Central Government,
improvement in productivity, resource use efficiency, increase in cropping intensity,
diversification towards high value crops etc, has been described as the fundamental source for
the growth of agricultural sector. Though, doubling farmers’ income by 2022 looks quite
challenging but it is needed and is attainable. High demand of lands for non-agricultural sector,
low profitability of most of the crops, huge yield gap of different crops among the states, less
adaption of developed technologies and lack of modernization of farms might result in low
income level of farmers. Therefore, crop diversification is one of the most important approach
for sustainable agriculture development. Beside enhancing the net returns of the farmers, it has a
lot of advantages like minimizing inputs, conserve the resources, boost land -use efficiency &
crop productivity, promotes the interaction of beneficial soil bacteria, maximize yields, increase
farm income & employment generation and last but not least reduce the risk. Farmers are mainly
shifting from low value low yielding crops to high value high yielding crops for diversification.
Conclusively / Precisely we can say that crop diversification has the robust ability to achieve the
goal of food security, increasing income & employment above all sustainable agriculture
development Medium and big farmers, associated with small and marginal farmers might think
of taking up agriculture differently i.e. diversification of crops and integrated farming system,
which might turn more economic and where less risk is involved. Among all the different
strategies and technologies, crop diversification and incorporation of new varieties are the
important/ essential extensive technology to increase the farm income and profitability.Hence, in
this book chapter we are trying to give an idea or overview regarding the topic crop
86
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
diversification and also how crop diversification along with conservation agriculture can increase
the productivity as well as income and how risk can be reduced.
Concept of crop diversification
Agricultural diversification is believed to be a natural response to the surrounding
economic and political environments inside and outside the sector (Barghouti et al., 2004).
Agricultural crop diversification is considered as a major option for economic growth of the
farming community.Crop diversification mainly aims at crop rotation, multiple cropping or inter
cropping with an objective of improving the productivity, sustainability and managing the supply
of natural resources. Crop diversification refers to the addition of new crops or cropping systems
to agricultural production on a particular farm taking into account the different returns from
value added crops with complementary marketing opportunities.It can also be defined as
substitution of one or more agricultural products for another.In other way we can also say that
crop diversification is actually a method of reinvesting the productive farm resources into new
enterprises. Crop diversification may be looked both from ‘narrow’ & ‘broad’ perspective. From
a narrow perspective, agricultural diversification implies increasing the types of agricultural
outputs (commodities) produced at the farm level. It may be market driven or may be due to
biotic/abiotic stress conditions (Goletti, 1999). From broader point of view, agricultural
diversification entails more than merely growing crops other than rice. It involves the entire rural
economy and entails broadening the income sources of rural households (Goletti, 1999). It is to
say that rural diversification encompasses both agricultural diversification and the stimulation of
rural non-farm source of income (Goletti and Rich, 1998). Pingali and Rosengrant (1995)
defined diversification as “change in product (or enterprise) choice and input use decisions based
on market forces and the principles of profit maximization”. On the other hand, Joshi et al.,
(2004) have defined “agricultural diversification as movement of production portfolio from a
low-value commodity mix (crop and livestock) to high-value commodity-mix (crops and
livestock)”. In reality, the farmers, in general, are guided/influenced by differential
intents/rationale to select agricultural diversification as a farming strategy. The economic
objective of different kinds of diversification, as has been narrated by Sen et al., 2017 is
presented in Table 1
87
Table 1: Economic intent of different kinds of diversification

Concept of Definition/ Strategy Economic objective
diversification
Horizontal Farmer producer adds more crops Home consumption/ Risk
Diversification to existing crop-mix in cropping reduction
pattern
Vertical Diversification Farmer producer engages different activities within its own farm
value-added activities within its Income augmentation
own farm
Spatial Diversification Growing different crop – mix in a To capture benefit of
larger area integrated farming
approach
Temporal Diversifying existing crop- mix for Sustainability of cropping
Diversification a particular farm, over time system
Structural Makes crops within field more Risk reduction (Pest attack)
Diversification structurally diverse ( Hossain et al.,
2001)
Genetic Diversification Growing mixed variety of species Risk reduction
in monoculture (Zhu et al., 2001) (Disease attack)
Crop rotation Rotating fixed number of crops in Enhancement of total
same filed over time (Krupinsky et production/ Risk reduction
al., 2002; Smith et al., 2008 )
Source: Taken from Ágricultural diversification and its impact on farm income – A case study of
Bihar’ by Sen et al., 2017.
The main aim of crop diversification is to increase crop portfolio so that farmers should
not depend on a single crop to generate their income. When farmers go for single crop type they
are basically exposed to high risks as an effect of unforeseen climate events that could
enormously impact the agricultural production, such as emergence of pests and the sudden onset
of frost or drought. In India, crop diversification is generally considered as a shifting from
traditionally grown less remunerative crop(s) to more remunerative crop(s). Crop diversification
88
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
and growing of large number of crops are mostly practiced in dryland areas to reduce the risk
factor of crop failures due to recurring droughts. Crop substitution and crop shift are also taking
place in the areas suffering with some specific soil related problems, like salinity, sodicity,
acidity etc. Risk and uncertainty are common and inherent to any kinds of ‘venture’ – be it an
agricultural or industrial unit. Crop farming involves uncertainty in various forms (chiefly,
production, climate, price) and degrees (may be mild, moderate, severe). The end result of the
endeavor and the risk involvement is relatively less return and consequently, low farm income.
Diversification is thought to be a risk management strategy that mixes a wide variety of
investments within a portfolio (Dasgupta and Bhaumik, 2014; Sichoongwe, 2014; Mamai and
Yinghua, 2017; Khanam et al., 2018). The rationale behind this technique is to lower the overall
risk and to make up one’s loss with other’s gain (yielding possible higher return or reduced loss).
Crop diversification is a not so new concept that integrates spatial, temporal, value addition, and
resource-complementary techniques, as well as a shift from traditional and less-remunerative
crops (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Basic Concept of Crop Diversification
Diversification scenario in West Bengal

Crop diversification seems to have started in West Bengal way back in 1983-84
(Dasgupta and Bhowmik, 2014), when the growth of cereals production in India started showing
signs of stagnation. Dominance of cereal production slowly tilted towards allocation of crop
acreage in favour of high value and non-cereal crops in the country (Mallik et al., 2017; Joshi et
al., 2003, Kumar and Gupta, 2015; Mithiya et al., 2018 and many others). This happens because
89
of two main reasons. First, it has been observed that the benefits of the new technology or green
revolution in cereals gets exhausted after an ‘optimum’ level is reached (Dasgupta and Bhaumik,
2014). Secondly, the small and the marginal farmer’s desperate intent to lessen production risk
by adopting a diversified crop portfolio (Vyas, 1996). Crop diversification has a role in reducing
poverty, enhancing nutritional intake, increasing employment and better management of
renewable resources (Bhattacharya, 2008; Ligon and Sadoulet, 2008; Montalvo and
Ravallion,2009; Ravallion and Chen, 2007; Kumar et al., 2011; Sharma and Kumar, 2011). The
study by Mithiya and Mandal, 2018 identified the district of Jalpaiguri under highly diversified
(0.70 ≥ Simpson Index ≤ 1.0) category with jute, potato and seasonal vegetables as emerging
crops. Similar kind of observation (on Jalpaiguri district) was made by Basu and Barman,
2014.Changes are seen in the continuous up-rise in allocation of acreage under horticultural
crops; percentage of acreage share of this sector rose to 13% during triennium ending year 2016-
17 from less than 11% during triennium ending year 2000-01. Potato (major component of
miscellaneous crops) is emerging as a major crop in the district.
Mithiya et al. (2018) observed the agricultural activities in 17 major districts of West
Bengal and found out the crop diversification as well as crop concentration in agriculture. The
paper has been studied on the basis of secondary data during the time period 1990-91 to 2013-14
and reveals that the degree of crop diversification in all the districts and state of West Bengal is
higher in the present year (2013) comparatively to the past year (1990) indicating cropping
pattern of the state to diversify towards high value non-cereal crops. Bisai et al. (2016) analysed
the crop diversification over West Medinipur district on the basis of two years data (2007-08 and
2010-11) and found that the diversification index in the whole district rose from 39.95% (in
2007-08) to 38.75% (in 2010-11). The researchers used the formulae of Index of Crop
Diversification which is inversely equivalent to the degree of diversification. They observed
positive growth in crop diversification in all the blocks. They concluded that due to high
population density, the overall value of crop diversification index is not so high. They felt that
crop diversification must be practiced in a scientific and eco-friendly way and active
participation of local government should ensure that. The idea and extent of crop diversification
i.e., shifting from less profitable crop or enterprises to more profitable crop or enterprises (Saha,
2013), can be had by computing Diversification Index. To assess the magnitude of
90
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Diversification Index, several methods like Simpson Index, Entropy Index, Modified Entropy
index, Composite Entropy Index, Herfindahl Index, Maglef Index, Bhatia’s method,
Transformed Herfindahl Index, Ogive Index are used by several authors. Each particular method
has some unique characteristics and also some constraints. Nag et al. (2020) carried out a study
in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal and found out that from the block-wise comparison that
Dhupguri block has the highest level of crop diversification index among seven blocks of newer
form of erstwhile Jalpaiguri district. Dhupguri block has the value of Herfindahl Index 0.2692,
Entropy Index 0.6958 and Simpson Index 0.7308 during 2018-19 which was 0.3148, 0.66 and
0.6852 respectively during 2008-09. After identifying the diversification indices based on
secondary data, attempt is made to validate it from the representative primary data. The district,
having cultivation practice of a number of crops (n = 25+), showed a very good picture of
diversification index (similar observations were made by Mithiya and Mandal, 2018; Basu and
Barman, 2014). The study also finds a close proximity in between corresponding indices
measured with different methods which re-establishes the rank and progress of Dhupguri block
with respect to diversification context. Respondent farmers are put into four different categories
[Low (SDI < 0.60), medium (SDI 0.601-0.70), high (SDI 0.701-0.80), very high (SDI >0.80)]
basing on their respective Simpson Diversification Indices (SDI) for further analysis. The study
identifies that the diversification index increases with the increased percentage of joint family
orientation, increased number of educated family member and the corresponding increase in
number of adult family members but with regard to age and farming experience of decision-
making heads, it fails to identify any definite pattern in relation to diversification. They have also
found out/ observed that as the cultivable land increases and the average distance between their
crop plots and residence closes down, crop diversification possibility enhances. Finally, the
highly diversified farmers are relatively richer due to greater income from crop farming itself. In
other words, greater crop diversification may lead to better farm income situation and the vice
versa (Sen et al., 2017; Joshi et al., 2003; Singh &Sahoo, 2007; Rao et al., 2004 & 2006 ; Joshi
et al., 2004; Abro, 2012). It can be concluded that agriculture (crop cultivation) is moderately
diversified in this pre-dominantly agrarian economy of Jalpaiguri district. Basically, it is
‘horizontal diversification’ and seems to be market driven rather than led due to consuming need
of a farm family.
91
Table: 2 Diversification Indices in Jalpaiguri over the years (secondary data)

Year Diversification Index
Herfindal Index Simpson Index Entropy Index
2000-01 0.2014 0.7986 0.8786
2005-06 0.1837 0.8163 0.9187
2010-11 0.1467 0.8533 0.9035
2015-16 0.2048 0.7952 0.8863
2018-19 0.2117 0.7883 0.8723
Source: Nag et al., (2020) Determinants and extent of crop diversification among small holder
farmers in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal.
The possible road map

There is a need for a radical change in agriculture and will require a strong policy
instrument. Conservation agriculture with crop diversification are the upcoming strategies for
sustainable agriculture. CA not only reverses the degradation of natural resources but there are
also economic benefits (saving inputs, reducing cost of production, increasing farm income) and
enhances the yield level (though, marginally) of crops. CA also offers opportunities for crop
diversification which largely reduces risks of crop production, gives more income options to the
farmer, and makes production on the farm more stable. As may be evidenced from various parts
of the country, diversification in favour of high-value crops (including vegetables) is
increasingly becoming important. We need be-fitting CA based production technologies for these
crops.
Much progress and effort have been done to extend the use of CA (Conservation
Technology) in North Bengal and the potentiality of its adoption have been demonstrated.
Although the CA research and the exertion to popularize it have increased, adoption at an
optimum level is a serious concern. (Farooq and Siddique, 2015) states that adoption of CA is a
paradigm shift requiring huge efforts and trade-offs at individual and institutional level. A
collective psychological change in all the key stakeholders from traditional operation towards a
sustainable practice can help farmers to get over the biases towards longstanding cultivation
practices and change their attitude towards new technologies. The general tendency of a farmer
92
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
is to abide by the conventional practices and any new unfamiliar technology or practices without
proper knowledge about it is difficult to adopt, thus adequate dissemination of information and
the technology’s beneficial results should be demonstrated, as convincing the farmers is the
major hurdle. North Bengal has small and medium farmers (Lepcha et al., 2020) and availing
machines are beyond their capacity, therefore efforts should be made to easy accessibility of
conservation agriculture requisite machineries/input. Managing conservation agriculture system
requires a good capacity of scientists, researchers, extensionist and all the important players for
building a strong relationship/ partnership as the question of reliability, trust building is of
utmost importance. There is also a need to provide subsidy by the government to avail the CA
machineries and imparting effective training to farmers. In terms crop diversification decision,
desperate zeal for enhancement of farm income and risk reduction also seem to interplay. Over
the years, acreage allocation pattern undergoes changes. But crop diversification is not out-
rightly tilting towards horticultural crops as has been experienced in many other parts of the
country. Alongside horticultural crops (mainly, seasonal vegetables), acreage allocation
increasingly favors commercial crops like potato, maize (rabi), chilli etc. which are potentially
having better return aspect per rupee investment. For promoting diversification, sustained
training and awareness campaign/programme of feasible members (inclusive of farm female) of
farm family may play crucial role. Decision making (farming or non-farming) is no more a
unilateral process; rather, it is regarded as a collective effort now a days. It may enrich the
cumulative knowledge and information basket (of farm family) and facilitate better decision-
making outcome. Necessary efforts and arrangements need to be supplemented. Proximity of
crop field(s) needed to be as close as possible to the residence of the farming households. It gives
leverage/scope for better ‘control’ and ‘supervision’ of the crop management aspects/schedule
leading to greater farm income. The key question here is effective ‘monitoring’ which needs to
be ensured for better crop diversification picture. Again, a greater number of adults (may be male
or female) give the scope of not only family labour participation (especially, in farming). More
but also, scope of frequent visit to the crop field(s). Alongside, there needs simultaneous
peripheral arrangement for getting a better crop diversification picture in an economy. Key
infrastructures (like road, supply chain management mechanism, information communication,
etc.) development and better institutional arrangement (exposure visits, access to farm credit,
93
mechanization) are essential for promoting positive intent on crop diversification among farming
folks.
Conclusion:
Ensuring food security is the utmost priority globally, more so in the developing
countries, with depleting natural resources, CA is a new paradigm for agricultural practices from
the conventional one. Persistent increase in population and land degradation is a threat to
livelihood of many, thus sustainable crop intensification strategies like CA with crop
diversification in favourable crops is the need of the hour. Conservation Agriculture has benefits
in terms of return to the farmers, reduce in exhaustion of resource and the utmost benefit of high
productivity. The traditional approach of low input-based extensive and diversified agricultural
practices termed as ‘crop diversification’ could be an alternate approach that might be used to
save farming as a counter-strategy for farming bio-socio-psychological abnormalities. Crop
diversification is a strategy which is applied to grow more diverse crops from decreasing land
resources with an increase in productivity in the same arable land. It is evident that longer
rotation, less income, more extensive management and limited adoption are limiting the
expansion of the system contrary to monoculture for ease of management. In a country like
India, agriculture is livelihood or subsistence for most farmers, not business. Thus,by introducing
diverse crops and cropping patterns, we can break the pattern of mono- cropping which will help
in reviving the soil health and increasing the resource-use efficiency. Therefore, there is an
urgent need to change the crops and cropping pattern (in favour of high value horticultural
crops), that is crop diversification.
References:
Agricultural Census. (2015). Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare New Delhi.
Basu, P.R. and Barman, U.K. (2014). Crop Concentration and Diversification in Jalpaiguri
District of West Bengal: A Case Study. International Journal of Food Agriculture and
Veterinary Sciences. 4(3): 5-9.
Bhattacharya, R. (2008). Crop Diversification: A search for an alternative income of the farmers
in the state of West Bengal in India. International Conference on Applied Economics. 83-
94.
94
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Bisai, D., Chatterjee, S., Sau, S., Samanta, R. and Saha, S. (2016). Analysis of Crop-
Diversification with Spatio Temporal Concept Over Paschim Medinipur District, West
Bengal, India. International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology.
3(4): 363-369.
Farooq, M. & Siddique, K. H. (2015). Conservation agriculture: concepts, brief history, and
impacts on agricultural systems. In Conservation agriculture (pp. 3-17). Springer, Cham.
Friedrich, T., Derpsch, R. and Kassam, A. H. (2012). Global overview of the spread of
conservation agriculture. FACTS Rep. The Journal of Field Actions. 6: 1-7.
Jat, M. L., Malik, R.K., Saharawat, Y.S., Gupta, R. Bhag, M. & Raj Paroda. (2012). Proceedings
of Regional Dialogue on Conservation Agricultural in South Asia, New Delhi, India,
APAARI, CIMMYT, ICAR, p 32.
Joshi, P.K., Gulati, A., Birthal P.S. and Tiwari L. (2004). Agriculture diversification in South
Asia: Pattern, determinants and policy implications. Economic and Political Weekly. 39
(24): 2457-2467.
Lepcha, A., Nag, P. and Das, K.K. (2020). Can Conservation Agriculture be the Savior of Farm
Economy? – A Study in North Bengal. Journal of Crop and Weed. 16(3): 123-128.
Nag, P., Lepcha, A. and Das, K.K. (2020). Determinants and extent of crop diversification
among small holder farmers in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. Journal of Crop and
Weed. 17 (2) : 197-205.
95
Chapter SEED BIOPRIMING WITH TRICHODERMA: A TAILORED

APPROACH TOWARDS AGRICULTURE SUSTAINABILITY
Priya Singh*1, Md. Minnatullah2,
Inkresh Kumar Verma1 and Vivek Kumar Patel1
1Department of Plant Pathology and Nematology, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central
Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 848125
2Sugarcane Research Institute, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural
University, Pusa, Samastipur, 848125
Corresponding author E-mail: singhikv95@gmail.com
Abstract:
Seeds are the most important input in agriculture as most of the food crops are grown
from the seeds. However, numerous phytopathogens can be seed transmitted and seed
distribution is an efficient method of pathogen introduction into new areas as well means of
survival between the growing seasons. Under the current situation, food security is in jeopardy
due to several biotic and abiotic stresses faced by the crop plants arising from the infected seeds.
The diseases are responsible for serious ravages in crop plants leading to reduced production and
environmental stresses are another challenge for lowering crop yield. The chemical treatment of
the seed is the reason behind development of resistance, toxicity to human and environment.
Among the pre-sowing techniques, bio-priming has emerged out as most popular approach of
seed treatment which involves inoculation with several beneficial fungal and bacterial
microorganisms to protect the seed from numerous pathogen and environmental stresses.
Bioagents can be used as preventive and remedial method in allevation of plant threats. Seed
biopriming with Trichoderma has potential advantages to encourage uniform aster and
synchronized seed germination, seedling vigour, plant growth promotion and stress tolerance
activities in almost all the crops across the globe. The production of phytoharmones, secondary
metabolites, antibiotics, mycoparasitism, solubilization of nutrients, competition for food and
space, production of phytoalexin, PR proteins and defense related compounds are few of
96
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
mechanisms involved in role of bio-primed seeds. Biopriming is most simple, cost-effective and
eco-friendly strategy to harness multiple benefits from the nature based solution. This chapter
shed some light on comparison of seed priming methods, methodology of biopriming and effect
of Trichoderma spp. as seed biopriming agent in agriculture.
Introduction:
The crop production which is sole source of survival for small and marginal farmers, is
threatened by several biotic (pests and diseases) and abiotic (soil acidity, salinity or alkalinity,
waterlogging, drought and extremes of temperature) factors leading to heavy losses. Most of the
pest and pathogens attacking the crops are soil borne in nature (Ghanem et al., 2011). Although
myriads of chemical are available in the market to manage these seed and soil borne pathogens,
but they are less effective and inconsistent under field conditions apart from their harmful effects
on human and environment. The most seed treatment chemicals being contact in their nature are
unable to protect the crop from foliar pathogens. Seed biopriming is an innovative technique that
integrates biological (seed inoculation with beneficial organisms) as well as physiological (seed
hydration) facets of seed germination (Reddy, 2012) and thereby provides potential substitute to
chemicals control in suppressing seed borne, soil borne and foliar pathogens. The microbes
colonize the rhizosphere by continuous multiplication and proliferation and form a protective
biofilm around the root surfaces of plants and potentially suppress soil borne pathogens
throughout the crop-growth period (Mondal and Bose, 2014). Moreover, these microbes also
protect the crop from the foliar pathogen by eliciting systemic resistance in the plants during
later stages of their growth and development (Haas and Defago, 2005). The popularization of
seed biopriming technique among the farmers is utmost important as it will not only ensure seed
and crop health but also aid in ensuring ecological sustainability. Furthermore, nutritional and
physiological characteristics of seeds are also improved leading to better germination and
adaptation under different environmental conditions.
Methods of seed priming
There are several methods of seed priming which are developed in order enhance
germination, seedling stand and impart tolerance under different environmental conditions.
97
Hydropriming
It is simple, cheap and eco-friendly seed priming method, which involves soaking of
seeds in normal water followed by re-drying to their original moisture content prior to sowing
(Singh et al., 2015). This technique is used commonly in dry farming areas. Despite its
advantages, irregular and uncontrolled water uptake by seed is the main disadvantage, which can
result in non-uniform seed germination (Di Girolamo and Barbanti, 2012). Thus, the main factors
like soaking duration, temperature and volume of water should be accurately defined to prevent
radical emergence from the seed.
Osmopriming
It involves soaking of seeds in low osmotic solutions like polyethylene glycol, mannitol,
glycerol, sorbitol etc. for certain duration which is followed by drying of seeds prior to sowing.
The osmotic potential of solution varied from -1 to -2 MPa (Lutts et al., 2016). The low water
potential of solutions permits partial hydration of seed and provide opportunity for initiation of
pre-germination metabolic activities (Pill et al., 2001). This method is more advantageous in
comparison to hydropriming as it results in early seed germination and seedling emergence apart
from imparting tolerance against stresses like salt and chilling (Moradi et al., 2009).
Solid matrix priming
It refers to incubating seeds in solid insoluble matrix such as peat moss, sand, charcoal,
vermiculite, clay and diatomaceous earth with limited quantity of water. Afterwards, seeds are
removed from the matrix followed by thorough washing and drying (McDonald, 2000). The
superior performance of priming can be obtained only when duration of treatment and optimum
water content is accurately defined separately for each matrix (Mereddy et al., 2000).
Hormonal priming
It involves soaking seeds in solution containing different plant harmones like ascorbate,
kinetin, salicylic acid, auxins, abscisic acid, gibberellins, polyamines and ethylene. It imparts
tolerance to crops for abotic stresses like elevated temperature and drought condition (Bakhtavar
et al., 2015).
Nutrient priming
It is a technique in which seeds are soaked in solution containing the nutrients like
macronutrients (P, K, Ca, Mg, etc.) and micronutrients (Zn, B, Mn, Fe, etc.). The main idea is to
98
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
improve seed quality, germination and seedling emergence by obtaining nutritional as well as
biochemical advantages of biopriming altogether (Farooq et al., 2012). The micronutrients play
crucial role in plant growth as they are key components of photosynthesis and respiration and
also impart tolerance to several environmental stresses.
Chemical priming
It is a method which involves seed treatment with different chemical solutions of natural
and synthetic origin. The chemicals like putrescine, chitosan, paclobutrazol, choline, copper
sulphate, zinc sulphate, selenium, urea, thiourea, hydrogen peroxide, mannose, fungicides and
antioxidants viz., tocopherol, ascorbic acid, melatonin, glutathione and proline, etc. to improve
germination, seedling stand and impart abiotic stress tolerance.
Plant extracts priming
It is method which involves soaking seeds in solution of plant leaf extracts such as
sunflower, moringa, sorghum, etc. they are important source of plant protein and growth
promoters. They improve germination, seedling establishment, growth, vigour and uniformity
leading to better crop stand in various crops.
Smoke priming
It is a low-cost and effective method of seed priming with smoke solution to increase
germination, seedling growth and vigour (Brown and Botha, 2004). Moreover, it also exhibit
beneficial effect on flowering and somatic embryogenesis (Senaratna et al., 1999) and tolerances
to environmental stresses like salinity (Malook et al., 2017).
Nano priming
It is a new technique of seed priming in which nanoparticles such as silver nanoparticle,
iron oxide, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, etc. are used for seed priming. The fertilizers or
nutrients which are applied to plants are not taken by them as they are washed away or degraded
by exposure to heat and light. The nanoparticulate nutrient application to plants provide optimum
and restricted nutrients to them at a specific site needed for increasing plant growth (Alam et al.,
2015).
Bioprimimg
It is method which involves seed imbibitions with beneficial microorganisms like fungi
and bacteria in the priming solution. The most commonly used microorganisms used for priming
99
are include Trichoderma, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Azotobactor, Azospirillum and Agrobacterium.

They protect the plant from several seed borne, soil-borne and foliar pathogens as well provide
tolerance against environmental stresses. Moreover, it also improves overall plant health by
enhanced germination, seedling stand, vigour and other plant growth attributes.
Role of Trichoderma spp. in seed biopriming
Trichoderma are free living, filamentous fungi and facultative anaerobes. They are
cosmopolitan in nature, opportunistic avirulent plant symbionts, profuse root colonizers and
highly interactive in soil, root and foliar environment. Several fungi have been tested for their
biocontrol efficacy against plant pathogens. However, Trichoderma is most widely researched
and used fungi in suppressing plant pathogens. Seed bio-priming with Trichoderma spp. have
potential benefits in alleviating physiological and pathological stresses in plants. They are
gaining momentum as prime biocontrol agent due to their easy multiplication, fast colonization
and cheap, eco-friendly nature and potential to control wide array of pathogens. Bio-priming is
an effective tool for improving inducing resistance in plants that helps in protection against
pathogens. The bioprimed seeds have potential advantages over simple seed coating in terms of
seed quality, viability, germination, seedling vigour indices, plant growth, yield, protection
against seed borne and soil-borne, foliar pathogens as well as imparting tolerance against adverse
environmental conditions.
Alleviation of biotic stress
The seed biopriming with Trichoderma spp. helps to alleviate several seed borne, soil
borne pathogens apart from foliar pathogens such as Pythium, Fusarium, Macrophomina,
Rhizoctonia, Sclerotium, Magnaporthe, etc. as given in Table 1. The suppression of plant
pathogens is due to production of metabolites like trichodermin, trichothecenes, trichorzianins
and gliotoxins (Mukherjee et al., 2013), competition for space and nutrients (Celar, 2003),
Antibiosis (Swain and Mukherjee, 2020) and mycoparasitic activity (Punja and Utkhede, 2003)
and stimulation of plant defenses against pathogen attack (Hermosa et al., 2012). Trichoderma
spp. are known.
100
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Table 1: Effect of seed biopriming with Trichoderma spp. in alleviating biotic stress
Plant Trichoderma species Pathogen controlled Disease References

Trichoderma
Macrophomina
Seasmum harzianum and T. charcoal rot Elad et al. (1983)
phaseolina
hamatum
Malathi and
Groundnut Trichoderma sp. M. phaseolina Root rot Doraisamy
(2004)
Fusarium solani, M.
El-Mohamedy et
Cowpea T. harzianum phaseolina and root rot
al. (2006)
Rhizoctonia solani
F. verticillioides and Nayaka et al.
Maize T. harzianum Ear rot
fumonisins tolerance (2008)
downy Nagaraju et al.
Sunflower T. harzianum Plasmopara halstedii
mildew (2012)
Devi and
Pythium
Cucumber T. harzianum Damping off Shivaprakash
aphanidermatum
(2013)
T. harzianum and T. F. oxysporum f. sp. Kumar et al.
Chickpea wilt
viride ciceri (2014)
F. solani, R. solani, S.
T. harzianum and T. Mona et al.
Soybean rolfsii and M. Root rot
viride (2017)
phaseolina
Bala and Singh
Chickpea T. harzianum M. phaseolina Dry root rot
(2018)
F. verticillioides and Ferrigo et al.
Maize T. harzianum Ear rot
F. graminearum (2020)
F. oxysporum f. sp. Fusarium Singh et al.
Tomato T. asperellum
lycopersici Wilt (2020)
sheath
blight,
T. hebeiensis and T. R. solani, S. oryzae, S. seedling Swain et al.
Rice
erinaceum rolfsii and S. delphinii blight, foot (2021)
rot and
seedling rot
Finger Rawat et al.
T. asperellum M. grisea blast disease
millet (2022)
101
As good rhizosphere competent and efficient soil colonizers and proliferate in the soil
effectively by competing for space, nutrients, water and oxygen against other soil microflora.
The low molecular weight diffusible compounds or antibiotics produced by Trichoderma impart
antifungal and antibacterial properties. These substances can interrupt in the growth, uptake of
nutrients, sporulation, production of metabolites of the target fungus (Howell, 1998) and cell
wall synthesis inhibition (Lorito et al., 1996) by penetrating inside the host cell. Weindling
(1932) observed parasitism of Rhizoctonia solani hyphae by the hyphae of Trichoderma virens.
The mycoparasitism of Trichoderma spp. have also been observed against pathogens like
Pythium ultimum and Sclerotium rolfsii (Papavizas, 1985). The resistance against foliage disease
of beans caused by Colletotrichum lindemuthianum and Botrytis cinerea was reported by
Bigirimana et al. (1997) which was manifested due to induced resistance in the plants.
Alleviation of abiotic stress
There are several abiotic stresses that affect the seed quality and yield by reducing
germination, seedling establishment, vigour and crop stand in the field. Seed biopriming with
Trichoderma spp. can impart tolerance to adverse environmental stresses, viz. drought, high and
low temperature, salinity, nutrient deficiency, heavy metal contamination, etc. as given in Table
2. The phytoharmones released by Trichoderma impart drought tolerance (Harman, 2006) by
enhancing the activity of L-phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and root vigor and production of
reactive oxygen species scavengers (Shukla et al., 2014). The secondary metabolites produced
may act as activator of plant resistance resulting in synthesis of phytoalexins, pathogenesis
related proteins and other compounds exhibiting resistance to abiotic conditions (Harman et al.,
2004). The salinity tolerance is manifested by bioprimed Trichoderma seeds which may be due
to expression of catalase and Mn/Cu-dependent superoxide dismutase genes in the plants
(Viterbo et al., 2001).
102
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Table 2: Effect of seed biopriming with Trichoderma spp. in alleviating abiotic stress
Plant Trichoderma species Response References
Osmosis, salinity, chilling
Tomato T. harzianum and high temperature Mansouri et al. (2010)
tolerance
Cacao T. hamatum Drought tolerance Bae et al. ( 2009 )
Onion T. harzianum Salinity tolerance Hanci et al. ( 2014 )
Wheat T. harzianum Drought tolerance Shukla et al. (2013)
Maize T. citrinoviride Salinity tolerance Abdullah et al. (2018)
Rice T. harzianum Salinity tolerance Rawat et al. (2012)
Enhancement of plant growth parameters

Trichoderma spp. also improves plant health apart from controlling plant diseases. The
growth promotion activity may be attributed to production of several phytoharmones like auxin,
gibberellins, cytokinin or increased nutrient solubilization and uptake by the plants (Chet et al.,
1993). The auxin produced by Trichoderma spp. aid in crop bloom and root growth and
development (Swain et al., 2018). They also produce several secondary metabolites such as
harzianopyridone, harzianolide, harzianic acid, trichocaranes, koninginins, cyclonerodiolar and
6-pentyl-α-pyrone that are responsible for plant growth and development (Swain and Mukherjee,
2020). The root colonization of Trichoderma leads to solubilization of minerals like rock
phosphate, manganese, iron, copper and zinc apart from enhancing nitrogen use efficiency
(Harman, 2000). The boosting of plant growth is directly by availability of the nutrients to the
plants and indirectly by competition with other micro-floras for limited nutrient uptake. Several
workers have reported enhanced germination, seedling growth, root, shoot growth and other
growth attributes as presented in Table 3.
103
Table 3: Effect of seed biopriming with Trichoderma spp. in enhancement of plant growth
attributes
Trichoderma
Plant Response References
species
Increase in shoot length, root length,
number of leaves, shoot fresh weight,
Pea T. asperellum Singh et al. (2016)
root fresh weight, shoot dry weight
and root dry weight
Enhanced number of effective tillers,
Wheat T. harzianum Meena et al. (2016)
chlorophyll content and root length
Increased germination and plant
Chickpea T. harzianum Kumar et al. (2014)
growth parameters
Enhanced number of leaves, leaf area
Rice T. harzianum Rawat et al. (2012)
and chlorophyll content
Enhanced germination, root length,
T. viride and T. Mukhopadhyay and
Radish shoot length, fresh and dry weight of
harzianum Pan (2012)
root and shoot
T. harzianum Increased germination, plant survival
Chickpea Kumar et al. (2014)
and T. viride and yield
Trichoderma Increased germination, root weight Tancic-Zivanov et
Pepper
spp. and shoot weight al. (2020)
Procedure of seed biopriming

The method of seed biopriming is very easy and it involves seed soaking in normal water for
12 hours. Afterwards, selected bioagent product formulations at the rate of 10 g per kg seed are
mixed with the pre-soaked seeds. The seeds are heaped together and covered with moist jute bag
and incubated at 25 to 32 °C for about 48 hours to maintain high humidity. The microorganisms
adhered to the seed surface grows profusely under optimum moisture condition and cover the
seed surface from all sides and form a protective layer around seed coat. These bioprimed seeds
can be directly sown in the field or can be stored for two months under appropriate condition.
104
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
This technique is advantageous as compared to simple seed coating as it leads to early and
uniform seedling emergence as well as reduces the amount of bioagents applied to the seed. The
commonly used microorganisms for seed biopriming are Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus
polymyxa, Trichoderma harzianum, T. viride and Gliocladium species.
Conclusion:
Seed biopriming provide protection against a wide range of soil- and seed-borne
pathogen as well as foliar phytopathogens. It is comparable or superior to fungicides in providing
protection against several stresses in plants. So, biopriming may be commercially used as an
alternative to fungicides. However, there is need to identify suitable microbial strain to develop
their commercial formulation, to identify proper delivery mode that are suitable for different
locations. Apart from this, research is required regarding viability of microorganisms to improve
their viability and storage for longer duration. Moreover, farmers need to be trained regarding
proper information on application, duration of biopriming for various crops. The government
policies regarding commercialization and mass production of bio-inoculants will aid in
popularization of this method. The innovative art of seed biopriming can be exploited by the seed
companies and organic farmers for the benefit of human kind as a cheap and eco-friendly
approach to achieve milestone of agricultural sustainability.
References:
Abdullah M.Y., Necla P., Nuran D., Sengul A.K. (2018). Trichoderma citrinoviride: A Potent
Biopriming Agent for the Alleviation of Salt Stress in Maize. J. Biol. & Chem., 46 (1):
101-111.
Alam, M.J., Sultana, F. and Iqbal, M.T. (2015). Potential of iron nanoparticles to increase
germination and growth of wheat seedling. Journal of Nanoscience with Advanced
Technology, 1: 14-20.
Bae, H., Sicher, R.C., Kim, M.S., Kim, S.H., Strem MD and Melnick, R.L. (2009). The
beneficial endophyte Trichoderma hamatum isolate DIS 219b promotes growth and delays
the onset of the drought response in Theobroma cacao. J. Exp. Bot., 60: 3279-3295.
Bakhtavar, M.A., Afzal, I., Basra, S.M.A., Ahmad, A.U.H. and Noor, M.A. (2015).
Physiological Strategies to Improve the Performance of Spring Maize (Zea mays L.)
Planted under Early and Optimum Sowing Conditions. PLoS ONE, 10: e0124441.
105
Bala, A. and Singh, N. (2018). Biocontrol potential of Trichoderma harzianum as seed bio-
priming against dry root rot of chickpea. Agricultural Research Journal, 55(1): 179-181.
Bigirimana, J., De Meyer, G., Poppe, J., Elad, Y. and Hofte, M. (1997). Induction of systemic
resistance on bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) by Trichoderma harzianum. Med Fac Landbouww
University Gent, 62: 1001–1007.
Brown, N.A.C. and Botha, P.A. (2004) Smoke seed germination studies and a guide to seed
propagation of plants from the major families of the Cape Floristic Region. South African
Journal of Botany, 70: 559–581.
Celar, F. (2003). Competition for ammonium and nitrate forms of nitrogen between some
phytopathogenic and antagonistic soil fungi. Biol. Control, 28: 19-24.
Chet, I. (1993). Biotechnology in Plant Disease Control. Wiley-Liss, New York, pp 373.
Devi, T.S. and Shivaprakash, M.K. (2013). Biopriming of cucumber seeds with Trichoderma
harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens for enhanced plant defense against Pythium
aphanidermatum. Green Farming, 4: 489-492.
Di Girolamo, G. and Barbanti, L. (2012). Treatment conditions and biochemical processes
influencing seed priming effectiveness. Italian Journal of Agronomy 7: e25.
Elad, Y., Barak, R., Chet, I. and Henis, Y. (1983). Ultrastructural studies of the interaction
between Trichoderma spp and plant pathogenic fungi. Phytopathologosche Z, 107(2): 168-
175.
El-Mohamedy, R.S.R., Abd Alla, M.A., Badiaa, R.I. (2006). Soil amendment and seed bio-
priming treatments as alternative fungicides for controlling root rot diseases on cowpea
plants in Nobaria Province. Res J Agri Biol Sci, 2: 391-398.
Farooq, M., Wahid, A. and Siddique, K.H.M. (2012). Micronutrients application through seed
treatments – a review. Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 12: 125-142.
Ferrigoa, D., Mondina, M., Ladurnerb, E., Fiorentinib, F., Causina, R. and Raiolaa, A. (2020).
Effect of seed biopriming with Trichoderma harzianum strain INAT11 on Fusarium ear rot
and Gibberella ear rot diseases. Biological Control, 147: 104286.
Ghanem, M.E., Hichri, I., Smigocki, A.C., Albacete, A., Fauconnier, M., Diatloff, E., Martinez-
Andujar, C., Lutts, S., Dodd, I.C. and Pérez-Alfocea, F. (2011) Root-targeted
106
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
biotechnology to mediate hormonal signalling and improve crop stress tolerance. Plant
Cell Rep, 30(5): 807-823.
Haas, D. and Defago, G. (2005). Biological control of soil-borne pathogens by fluorescent
pseudomonads. Nat Rev Microbiol, 10: 1-13.
Hanci, F., Cebeci, E. and Polat, Z. (2014). The effects of Trichoderma harzianum on germination
of onion (Allium cepa L.) seeds under salt stress conditions. Tarım Bilimleri Araştırma
Dergisi, 7(1): 45-48.
Harman, G.E. (2000). Myths and Dogmas of Biocontrol Changes in perceptions derived from
research on Trichoderma harzianum T-22. Plant Disease, 84: 377-393.
Harman, G.E. (2006). Overview of mechanism and uses of Trichoderma spp. Phytopathology,
96: 190-194.
Harman, G.E., Howell, C.R., Viterbo, A., Chet, I. and Lorito, M. (2004). Trichoderma species -
Opportunistic, Avirulent Plant Symbionts. Nature Reveiws, 2: 43
Hermosa, R., Viterbo, A., Chet, I. and Monte, E. (2012). Plant-beneficial effects of Trichoderma
and of its genes. Microbiology, 158: 17-25.
Howell, C.R. (1998). The role of antibiosis in biocontrol. Trichoderma and Gliocladium, Taylor
and Francis, London, pp. 173-184.
Kumar, V., Shahid, M., Singh, A., Srivastava, M., Mishra, A., Srivastava, Y. K., et al. (2014).
Effect of biopriming with biocontrol agents Trichoderma harzianum (Th. Azad) and
Trichoderma viride (01pp) on chickpea Genotype (Radhey). J. Plant Pathol Microb. 5: 2.
Lorito, M., Woo, S.L., D’Ambrosio, M., Harman, G.E., Hayes, C.K., Kubicek, C.P. and Scala, F.
(1996). Synergistic interaction between cell wall degrading enzymes and membrane
affecting compounds. Molecular Plant and Microbe Interaction, 9: 206-213.
Lutts, S., Benincasa, P., Wojtyla, L., Szymon, Kubala, S., Pace, R., Lechowska, K., Quinet, M.
and Garnczarska, M. (2016). Seed priming: new comprehensive approaches for an old
empirical technique. New Challenges in Seed Biology - Basic and Translational Research
Driving Seed Technology. IntechOpen. doi:10.5772/64420.doi:10.5772/64420.
Malathi, P. and Doraisamy, S. (2004). Effect of seed priming with Trichoderma on seed borne
infection of Macrophomina phaseolina and seed quality in groundnut. Annals of Plant
Protection Sciences, 12: 87-91.
107
Malook, I., Shah, G., Jan, M., Shinwari, K.I., Aslam, M.M., Rehman, S. and Jamil M. (2017).
Smoke priming regulates growth and the expression of myeloblastosis and zinc-finger
genes in rice under salt stress. Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, 42: 2207-
2215.
Mansouri, F., Bjorkman, T. and Harman, G.E. (2010). Seed treatment with Trichoderma
harzianum alleviates biotic, abiotic and physiological stress in germinating seed and
seedling. Phytopathology, 100: 1213-1221.
McDonald, M.B. (2000). Seed priming. In: Black M, Bewley JD, editors. Seed Technology and
its Biological Basis. Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press, pp. 287-325.
Meena, S.K., Rakshit, A. and Meena, V.S. (2016). Effect of seed bio-priming and N doses under
varied soil type on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under
greenhouse conditions. Biocatal. Agric. Biotechnol. 6: 68–75.
Mereddy, R., Wu, L., Hallgren, S.W. and Conway, K.E. (2000). Solid matrix priming improves
vigor of okra seeds. Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science, 80: 1-5.
Mona, M.M.R., Ashour, A.M.A, El-Mohamedy, R.S.R., Morsy, A.A. and Hanafy, E.K. (2017).
Seed Bio priming as Biological Approach for Controlling - Root Rot Soil Born Fungi on
Soybean (Glycine max L.) Plant. International Journal of Agricultural Technology, 13(5):
771-788.
Mondal, S. and Bose, B. (2014). An impact of seed priming on disease resistance: a review. In:
Kharwar, R.N., Upadhyay, R.S., Dubey, N.K. and Raghuwanshi, R. (eds). Microbial
diversity and biotechnology in food security. Springer, New Delhi, pp. 193-203.
Moradi, A. and Younesi, O. (2009). Effects of osmo-and hydro-priming on seed parameters of
grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.). Aust. J. Basic Appl. Sci., 3: 1696-1700.
Mukherjee, P.K., Horwitz, B.A., Singh, U., Shankar, Mukherjee, M. and Schmoll, M. (2013).
Trichoderma: Biology and Applications. London: CAB International.
Mukhopadhyay, R. and Pan, S. (2012). Effect of biopriming of radish (Raphanus sativus) seed
with some antagonistic isolates of Trichoderma. The Journal of Plant Protection Sciences,
4(2): 46-50.
108
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Chapter RECENT ADVANCES IN DAIRY INDUSTRY:

FROM PRODUCTION TO PACKAGING
Riya Barthwal*1 and Kanchan Bhatt2
1Department of Food Science and Technology, GB Pant University of
Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar-263145, Uttarakhand, India
2Department of Food Science and Technology, Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar
University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India
*Corresponding author E-mail: riyabarthwal2@gmail.com
Abstract:
India is the largest producer and consumer of milk in the world. Milk and its derivatives
are regarded as boon for people of every age specially, infants and adolescents. Milk is
considered as complete food due to its abundance of protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and
various minerals which are pre-requisites for sustaining life and maintaining good health.
Processing of milk and milk products can lead to degradation of various proteins and water
soluble vitamins. This can however, be reduced by usage of different membrane technologies
like microfilteration, ultrafilteration, nanofilteration, reverse osmosis etc. Today, dairy industry
is not only focusing on quality milk but also on increasing the quantity of milk by using Robotic
or automatic milking systems (AMS) without compromising cattle health. Various novel dairy
products with nutraceuticals, alternative sweeteners, new flavours or which are free from fat are
gaining importance day by day. Besides, novel packaging materials with active, intelligent and
eco-friendly packaging, edible coatings for cheese are revolutionary enough to create positive
impact on dairy market. Moreover, milk analogues are becoming popular among people with
bovine milk allergy, lactose intolerance, calorie and health concerns. Dairy sector has seen
tremendous growth in recent years and will seek more in coming years as it is luring people by
providing them job opportunities and health alternatives.
Keywords: Dairy sector, Milk, Milk analogue, Novel technologies, packaging
109
Introduction:
Milk, also known as complete food is a calorie dense white lacteal secretion which is
vital component of diet of around 6 billion people. Besides, fresh milk is processed into various
other dairy products like butter, buttermilk, cream, cheese, kefir, yoghurt etc. which are also
cherished by people and are integral part of dairy industry. Milk contains numerous macro and
micro nutrients like carbohydrates, fats, proteins, calcium, selenium, riboflavin, vitamin B12 and
pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) which is why it is categorized as wholesome food (Makinen et al.,
2016). As soon as milk comes in contact with atmosphere it is acted upon by several micro-
organisms and other foreign particles which compromise the organoleptic and nutritional quality
of milk. Due to this, milk is subjected to thermization, pasteurization, and sterilization and other
thermal treatments to get rid of spoilage microorganism. However, thermal processing can lead
to various undesirable changes like browning, development of a cooked flavor, loss of nutrients,
inactivation of bacterial inhibitors and impairment of rennet ability (Walstra et al., 1999). Thus,
non-thermal processing technologies like high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric field, cold
plasma, ultraviolet light, various membranes like microfilteration, ultrafilteration,
nanofilteration, and reverse osmosis are being used today to maintain nutritional quality of milk.
But lately, membrane technology has created itself a higher position as compared to other
methods. Besides, focusing on the quality of milk, researchers have developed automatic milking
system which deals with increasing its quantity as well. This automation basically deals with
managing dairy herd health, efficacy in milk production, feed distribution with reduced labour
charges. The demand of packaged food that too without preservatives is increasing day by day,
so, development of novel packaging materials is needed to fulfil the requirement in order to
maintain quality of these dairy products (Zabihzadeh Khajavi et al., 2020). Different tools of
active and intelligent packaging are being used in dairy industry like oxygen absorbers, lactose
remover, cholesterol absorber, edible films, freshness indicators etc. so that customers can
monitor the quality of their products throughout the supply chain. Nowadays, plant based dairy
alternatives substitutes/milk analogues are gaining importance due to lactose intolerance,
cholesterol problems, cow’s milk allergy, antibiotic residues, vegetarianism and vegan diets.
These non bovine milks include Soy bean, oat, almond, peanut, cocoa, rice, kidney, coconut,
hemp milk and are ruling dairy market nowadays. This chapter basically deals with the recent
110
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
advances in dairy sector which basically includes novel processing techniques related to milk,
automated milking system, novel value added dairy products and their packaging novelties.
Overview of milk production
The milk industry recruits around 150 million people globally. Small holders produce milk
in the majority of developing countries, which helps to support their household livelihoods, food
security, and nutrition. Milk provides fairly rapid returns to small-scale farmers and is a
substantial source of financial earnings. Over the past three decades, global milk output
increased by more than 59 %, from 530 million tonnes in 1988 to 843 million tonnes in 2018.
India is the world's leading milk producer, accounting for 22 % of global output, followed by the
United States of America, China, Pakistan, and Brazil.
Milk production in India

200
Production (Million Tonnes)
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Year
Source: Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics, DAHD and F, GoI

Membrane technology
Different types of membranes are used in the dairy industry for a variety of purposes,
including extending the shelf life of milk without heat treatment, standardising the major
components of milk for customising new products, increasing yield and quality of dairy
products, and concentrating, fractionating, and purifying milk components, particularly valuable
milk proteins, in their natural state. Membranes used in the cheese business boost cheese yield
111
and quality while controlling whey volume by concentrating the cheese milk. With the
introduction of superior quality membranes, the major limitation of membranes, fouling or
blockage has been overcome to a greater extent. The cold membrane filtering procedure using
CO2 improves the quality and shelf life of dairy products. According to reports,
microfiltration rejects fat and microorganisms while allowing other milk ingredients to pass
through, resulting in (theoretically) fat-free, bacteria-free milk.
Application of different membranes in extending milk’s shelf life
Extended shelf life (ESL) milk products are treated to lower the microbial count beyond
regular pasteurisation, packed under strict sanitary conditions, and have a longer shelf life when
refrigerated. Microfiltration is an alternative to heat treatment for reducing germs and improving
the microbiological safety of dairy products while keeping flavour. Milk may be made bacteria-
free by making appropriate changes to the membrane's structure, design, and content.
Membranes are more effective than bactofugation at removing bacteria and spores. Using
coupled microfiltration and high heat treatment procedures, somatic cell count can be reduced by
up to 100 % (Zhang, 2021). Small pore diameters in smooth inert silicon nitride surface micro
sieves increase selectivity and permeability to pass liquids, reducing fouling and bacteria count
in milk significantly.
Application of membranes in whey processing
Whey is a dairy by product produced during the manufacturing of milk products such as
cheese, paneer, and casein. The typical process of separating or concentrating whey nutrients is
laborious and time consuming. The nutrients in whey are concentrated, fractionalized, or purified
into marketable products using various membrane filtering technologies. Bacterial and spore
membrane separation results in the production of high grade whey protein concentrate (WPC)
and whey protein isolates (WPI), having essential functional characteristics of whey. Whey
proteins are employed in the food industry because of their high biological value and capacity to
improve the functional qualities (emulsifying, foaming, and gelling) of food items. Using
membrane technology, it is feasible to concentrate and separate whey proteins in their original
state with excellent functional properties in native whey when compared to standard sweet
cheese whey. Natural whey protein concentrates (NWPC) and isolates (NWPI) are created by
ultrafiltration concentrating native whey and exhibit good gelling, foaming, and reconstitutability
112
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
after drying (Henriques, 2017). At the moment, these native whey proteins are widely used in
human nutrition as an important component of weight-controlling products and infant meals due
to the decreased danger of hyperthreoninemia caused by a lack of glycomacropeptides, which are
rich in threonine.
Application of membranes in cheese industry
Membrane filtration technology has wide range of applications in the cheese industry,
including improving nutritive quality, better yield and compositional control of cheese by
increasing total solid content, utilising whey during cheese preparation, and reducing the need
for rennet and starter culture. Concentrating milk prior to making cheese lowers the cost and
speeds up the entire process. Membrane filters readily maintain the quality of cheese brine by
removing bacteria and spores as well as other extraneous substances and maintaining the
chemical balance of brine, resulting in the manufacture of high quality cheese with better flavour
and shelf life (Kumar, 2013). Ultrafiltration and microfiltration are often used in the cheese
manufacturing. It is feasible to create cheese without whey by removing the water during milk
concentration using membrane filtration technology, eliminating the need for a cheese vat and
avoiding the tedious processing processes of whey removal and draining. Ultrafiltration of milk
is performed to save money while making semi-hard and hard cheese by raising the salt and
whey protein content. Due to its better microbiological quality obtained after eradicating bacteria
and spores from milk, as well as optimization of the various primary milk components,
microfiltered casein concentrated milk is extremely ideal for various cheese recipes. The
microfiltration pre-treatment of cheese milk enhances curd firmness, accelerates ripening,
reduces the number of additives, and allows for greater temperature heating (Heino, 2010).
Application of membranes in milk protein processing
Milk proteins, particularly caseins, contribute significantly to the white turbid appearance
and viscosity of milk. By eliminating water, the quantity of protein concentration in milk is
altered without the addition of any external protein source. This results in the preservation of the
milk's composition, nutritional value, physicochemical qualities, and sensory features, regardless
of genetic or environmental variance. Milk protein concentrate (MPC) comprising 50 to 58 %
functional proteins are produced using microfiltration, ultrafiltration and diafiltration
technologies alone or in combination (Salunke, 2021). Dairy proteins are important products that
113
are employed as high-value food additives, nutritional supplements, and medicines.

Microfiltration separates casein micelles from whey proteins. The use of a membrane technique
in combination with other modern technologies such as liquid chromatography results in the
purification of casein-derived bioactive peptides with cardiovascular and immunostimulatory
properties. Attempts have been made to exploit the emerging health food industry by extracting
immunoglobulins and growth factors from colostrum using microfiltration and ultrafiltration
with appropriate modifications.
Application of membranes in milk fat processing
Traditionally, cream is separated from whole milk via energy-intensive centrifugation, in
which lighter fat globules travel to the centre and heavier skim milk goes to the periphery due to
centrifugal force. Cream separation is also achievable utilising energy-saving membrane
technology, which produces skim milk with acceptable storage quality and better sensory
qualities of cream without inflicting any harm to fat globular membranes. Cream with fewer fat
globules has finer texture and better flavour than cream with larger fat globules.
Control of microbial growth
Microbial growth management is one of the most critical parts of milk processing because
bacteria can ruin milk and dairy systems. The most popular method for destroying
microorganisms and deactivating spoilage organisms is heat treatment. However, heat treatment
procedures can cause heat-induced chemical and physicochemical changes in milk, such as
protein denaturation, sensory attribute degradation, and nonenzymatic Maillard browning (Muir,
2011). Microfiltration is a non-thermal method of eliminating microorganisms and spores from
milk and milk products. Because of their great thermal stability, longevity, and ability to endure
a wide variety of chemicals and pH, inorganic membranes (typically ceramic) are employed in
the dairy sector. Prior to protein fractionation or cheese manufacturing, microfiltration can
eliminate bacterial food-borne pathogens such as Salmonellae and Listeria, as well as normal
non-pathogenic flora from milk (Madec et al., 1992). Producing inhomogeneous ceramic
membranes with a gradient of membrane resistance is a modern way to achieve uniform
permeates flow. Microfiltered drinking milk is primarily available in Germany, Switzerland, and
Austria.
114
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Cheese brine purification
Salting/brining is an important step for manufacturing semi-hard and hard cheeses.
Microorganisms in cheese brine include gas-producing lactobacilli, pathogenic bacteria
(Staphylococci and Listeria), yeast and moulds. Microfiltration is an effective way to sanitize
and maintain cheese brine as it can remove bacteria, spores and maintain the chemical balance
between NaCl, calcium salts, lactose, lactic acid, and soluble and denaturated whey proteins.
Ceramic membranes, microfiltration membranes and ultrafiltration membranes are used to pre-
treat cheese brine by removing suspended solids.
Waste treatment
Dairy processing generates 0.211 litre of wastewater for every litre of processed milk.
Typical wastewaters include milk spills, cleaning chemicals, product rejections, biological
treatment sludge, and plant wastewater. To reduce the organic load and related waste charges,
dairy effluent is often treated onsite in biological treatment plants. Many of these wastewaters
can become beneficial by using membrane technology. A blend of membrane technologies,
including microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and nanofiltration, is effective for renewing cleaning
solutions while lowering water, chemical, and energy usage. For example, pre-rinsing water from
the first phase of CIP is frequently filtered using ultrafiltration, nanofiltration or RO to recover
milk components for re-processing or animal feed production while also lowering organic loads
in the plant effluent. Following that, the clean permeate stream is ready to be utilised in future
cleaning cycles. Membrane technology may also be used to treat high salinity dairy effluent. A
considerable portion of the additional salt (50-65 %) generates a saline stream known as salty
whey. Salty streams produced by dairy processing operations include chromatography wastes,
CIP wastewater, acid whey, and waste from whey. Ultra-Osmosis selectively eliminates the
dissolved salts from salty whey, resulting in a retentate stream with a mineral composition
similar to that of sweet whey. The retentate is subsequently put into the regular whey processing
activities. This can lower the volume of waste brine, allowing for salt recovery via crystallisation
procedures.
Robotic or automatic milking systems (AMS)
AMS is growing more prevalent in dairy farming. AMS equipment automatically milk
cows at any time, even without a human worker. Cows decide when they want to be milked,
115
enter the robot, get milked, and then return to the herd. This technique has the potential to
increase milk output while also benefiting animal health and welfare and farmer working
conditions. Scientists and firms working on the development of robotic technology have had to
deal with a variety of challenges related to the system's implementation, sanitation, the way the
robot 'learns' to adapt to diverse udder shapes, herd management, and the consequences of AMS
for cow health (Butler et al., 2012).
Novel dairy products
Low sugar dairy products
Sugar is considered as an unhealthy portion in foods, especially dairy products, by health-
conscious people. According to studies, additional sugar consumption throughout adolescence
causes weight gain, diabetes, hypertension, and risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Dairy
producers and the dairy industry have taken note of this current trend and developed products
with no or extremely little added sugar content. They are also seeking for nutraceutical
alternative sweeteners that may substitute sugar while having the least influence on product
quality or organoleptic properties of dairy products.
New flavoured dairy products
Carbonated beverages face intense competition from flavoured milk. To make it taste
better, it is prepared using milk, sugars, flavours, colorings, and preservatives. It is regarded as
the world's second most popular dairy product and provides essential elements such as calcium,
protein, and vitamins. Furthermore, it is available in a variety of varieties and milk types,
including fat-free and low-fat milk.
Clean labels products
Clean labels are now the "new supreme" for dairy goods. Clean label items are
distinguished by the absence of additives, artificial preservatives, or chemicals. Clean label has
compelled the dairy and food industries to disclose if a certain ingredient or preservative is
missing or whether the food has been treated in a more "natural" manner. It is assisting dairy
businesses in increasing customer confidence, mitigating brand risk, and producing cleaner
goods in response to the emerging trend.
116
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Advances in Packaging Material
Dairy product packaging evolves parallelly with improvements in material technology,
which are in turn a reaction to customer needs. Novel dairy packaging systems include modified
atmosphere packaging (MAP), edible packaging, intelligent packaging, antimicrobial packaging,
nanomaterials and active packaging. The use of edible packaging might drastically cut cheese
packaging costs by lowering the quantity of normally necessary packaging material. Oxygen
scavengers, carbon dioxide absorbers, moisture/odour/taint absorbers, releasing compounds
(antioxidants, carbon dioxide, ethanol, preservatives), and antimicrobial packaging are examples
of active packaging relevant to dairy foods (Foltynowicz and Rikhie, 2020). Antimicrobial
packaging is gaining popularity among scientists and industries because of its potential to
provide quality and safety advantages. To meet specific demands, new types of active and
intelligent packaging systems (time-temperature indicators, gas detectors, and freshness and/or
ripening indicators) are being developed.
Modified and controlled atmosphere packaging
Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is the replacement of air in a pack with a single
gas or mixture of gases (mainly CO2, N2 and O2) whereas controlled atmosphere storage refers to
the continuous supervision and manipulation of gas levels within air tight stores or vessels. In
terms of microbiological and sensory features, MAP has demonstrated to be effective in
extending the shelf life of cheese samples. CO2 is a unique natural antibacterial and processing
agent since it can be simply added and removed from dairy products with no negative
consequences. The incorporation of CO2 to dairy products, along with increased barrier qualities
of the containers, is commercially effective and economically feasible with cottage cheese,
resulting in a 200-400 % increase in shelf life. Moreover, MAP has been shown in several
studies to be particularly effective in suppressing mould formation, aflatoxin activity, and
extending the shelf life of various types of cheese. In conclusion, though MAP technology
is beneficial in extending the shelf life of cheeses, it must be emphasised that the choice of gas
mixtures is heavily dependent on various aspects, including cheese type, production method,
packing materials, and so on.
117
Smart/intelligent packaging and active packaging

Smart packaging systems generate enhanced product that are safer, more nutritious, or
more attractive, all while being ecologically sustainable. Intelligent packaging includes a device,
either inside or outside the packaging, that monitor the status of the product, package, or
packaging environment. Active packaging is a subcategory of smart packaging that refers to the
inclusion of certain active components into packaging film or within packing containers with the
goal of not only maintaining and enhancing product shelf life, but also improving packaged
product safety. Commonly used and commercialised type of active packaging applied in dairy
industry are for cheese and belong to group of ethanol vapour generators, desicant-containing
pouches and enzyme based systems for moisture control. For example, the presence of lactase
enzyme reduces the lactose level of milk, which is beneficial for customers who are lactase
deficient. Blending 40 % calcium carbonate (chalk) with standard polypropylene and
polyethylene for production of special pouches results in whiteness, stiffness, reduced weight of
the package, and is a good gas and light barrier. Similarly, packaging containing antimicrobial
components aids in the prevention of butter spoilage. Multi-layered materials like NUPAK
containers, with oxygen absorbers provide the best protection for probiotic foods. Indeed, active
technologies enable the achievement of a desired technical impact on packaged dairy. Yet, most
published findings do not include the possibility of unforeseen negative impacts on dairy quality.
Active packaging techniques
Absorbing system Releasing system
Carbon dioxide absorber/scavanger Antimicrobial releaser
Cholesterol absorber Antioxidant releaser
Humidity/moisture absorber Carbon dioxide emitter
Lactose remover Ethanol emitter
Off flavour/odour absorber
Oxygen absorber/scavanger
Carbon dioxide absorber/scavenger

The CO2 absorber/scavenging sachet contains calcium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide,
potassium hydroxide, calcium oxide and silica gel, which absorb the trapped CO2 that would
118
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
otherwise cause the package to rupture if not removed during storage. It is used in coffee and
cheese.
Cholesterol and lactose absorber
Immobilized cholesterol reductase is incorporated into the packaging material to reduce
cholesterol. Beta-galactosidase (lactase) is used for lactose absorbance for people suffering from
lactose intolerance and thus used in milk and other dairy products.
Humidity/moisture absorber
Moisture absorbers include silica gel, molecular sieves, natural clay, calcium oxide,
calcium chloride, and modified starch. To regulate excessive water, humectants can be placed
between two layers of a plastic film that is extremely permeable to water vapour. Moisture can
be controlled by utilising deliquescent salts (CaCl2, MgCl2) in packing materials to control
relative humidity (RH).
Off flavours/odours absorber
Inclusion of cellulose triacetate, acetylated paper, citric acid, ferrous salt, activated carbon,
clays and zeolites in to packaging material absorbs off flavours, odours and improve the
organoleptic quality of the product.
Oxygen absorber/scavanger
The oxygen scavenger eliminates oxygen from the package. Iron, sulfites, boron,
photosensitive dyes, and enzymes are embraced into packages that chemically combine to
efficiently remove oxygen from the inner package environment. Ageless, Zero2, Fresilizer,
Oxyguard, PureSeal, Bioka, Vitalon and Sanso-cut are commercially available oxygen
scavengers. During storage, UHT milk packed with oxygen scavenging film shows a reduction in
dissolved oxygen concentration (23 percent -28 percent) as well as in stale flavour volatiles.
Moreover, application of oxygen scavengers can help in extending shelf life of cheese spread.
Antimicrobial releaser
Antimicrobial packaging is done to control and prevent the growth of undesired and
spoilage microorganisms by releasing antimicrobial substances. It extends the lag phase and
reduces the growth phase of microorganisms. Antimicrobial compounds include acid anhydride,
polysaccharide, bacteriocin, antibiotic, organic acid, etc. In Emmental cheese, chitosan coating
films show reduction of Pseudomonas by more than 2 log units which improves its storage life
119
(El-Sisi, 2015). Commercially available antimicrobial materials are AgIONTM, MicroFreeTM,

Zeomic® and MicroGardTM.
Antioxidant releaser
This is accomplished by the use of herbs, aromatic plants, natural vitamins (C, E), and
polyphenols. Synthetic antioxidants like BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated
hydroxytoluene) are also added to polyolefin films for dry products. Also, multilayer active
packaging films, containing vitamin E (α-tocopherol) when used for whole milk powder helps in
delaying lipid oxidation.
Carbon dioxide emitter
Ferrous carbonate or a mixture of ascorbic acid and sodium bicarbonate are used as CO 2
emitters. Commercially available CO2 emitters are Ageless and FreshPax®.
Ethanol emitter
Ethanol denatures the proteins of moulds and yeasts at high concentration and it exhibits
antimicrobial and anti-staling effects even at low levels. A sachet called Ethicap® generates
ethanol vapour and can be used for various food products.
Time temperature indicators (TTIs)
TTIs are devices that exhibit an irreversible change in a physical property, often colour or
shape, in response to a change in a predetermined temperature. The overall impact of the
product's temperature history is continually monitored and recorded. MonitorMarkTM,
Timestrip®, Fresh-Check®, and Checkpoint® are the commercially available TTIs.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags
RFID uses tags (data carriers), receivers, and computer systems (software, hardware,
networking, and databases) to wirelessly track goods and provide information about their quality.
Oxygen indicator
Luminescence based oxygen indicators, colorimetric redox dye based indicators and
oxygen binding complexes based indicators, indicate rise or fall in oxygen levels, based on the
colour changes caused by chemical or enzymatic reaction.
Freshness indicator
It indicates the degradation or loss of freshness of packed food items by volatile
compounds such diacetyl, amines, ammonia, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide. The change
120
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
in titratable acidity, measured by the colour of the indicator, helps in showing whether a food
item is fermented or not.
Bio Sensors
These are analytical instruments that detect, record, and communicate data on biological
reactions. Bioreceptors (such as enzymes, antigens, microorganisms, hormones, nucleic acids)
and transducers make up this system. Toxin Guard by Toxin Alert (antibody-based and capable
of identifying specific pathogens) and Food Sentinel System (based on immunological responses
and identifies contamination) are two commercially marketed biosensor systems.
Eco-friendly packaging
Reduce, recycle, renew, reuse, and repurpose are essential attributes for eco-friendly
materials that may be obtained from natural resources such as starches (such as cellulose, chitin),
proteins (such as gluten, soy protein, whey protein), and so on. Polylactic acid plastic (PLA), a
biodegradable thermoplastic generated from lactic acid, and AJI-NO-MOTO® jar manufactured
from sugarcane are commonly used eco-friendly packaging, which may help safeguard human
health, the environment, and natural resources by reducing food waste.
Edible coatings and films
Edible coatings are consumable films which provide supporting structures and protective
layers, fresh appearance, firmness and shine to the food, thus adding value to the product.
Various substances suitable for edible coatings are hydrocolloids based on proteins of animal or
plant sources, polysaccharides, lipids or even synthetic polymers. Within dairy products, edible
packaging materials are mostly used for cheese. Besides, providing better quality and preserving
freshness, edible packaging significantly reduces the final costs of cheese packaging by reducing
the amount of usually required packaging material. Polysaccharides, such as galactomannan and
chitosan and protein materials such as collagen, corn zein, wheat gluten, soy protein isolate, fish
proteins, ovalbumin, whey protein isolate and casein are used as cheese coatings (Lacroix and
Vu, 2014). However, it is important to note that the applied coatings need to be neutral
considering sensory characteristics as they could interfere with sensory characteristics of the
packaged cheese.
121
Antimicrobial packaging
Antimicrobial packaging, which combines an edible film or coating with an antimicrobial
component, is extensively used in cheese packaging. A multilayered film with antimicrobial
properties typically has four layers: the control layer, barrier layer, outer layer and a matrix layer
into which an antimicrobial substance is imbedded. Organic acids, alcohols, parabens, sulphites,
enzymes, chlorides, phosphates, ozone, nitrites, hydrogen peroxide, epoxides, diethyl
pyrocarbonate and bacteriocins are examples of chemical preservatives that are used in active
antimicrobial-releasing systems. Lysozyme enzyme is one of the most utilized antimicrobials in
the dairy industry for cheese preservation and the prevention of hole development in those
cheese where it is an undesirable quality. Polyethylene films incorporated with nisin significantly
improve shelf life of soft unripened cheese and prevent the growth of Listeria innocua and
Lysteria monocytogenes in semi hard Babybell cheese and Ricotta cheese, respectively (Cao-
Hoang, et al., 2010; Martins et al., 2010). Similarly packaging skim milk into bottles coated with
nisin and polylactic acid protect it from L. moncytogenes contamination (Jin, 2010). Nowadays,
essential oils derived from cinnamon, thyme, bergamont oils, and their isolates such as
cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, linalool, sabinene, thymol, eugenol, menthol, and camphene are
commonly utilised as natural preservatives to enhance dairy shelf life.
Bioactive compounds and different coatings applied in different cheese
Bioactive component Film/coating type Cheese
Chitosan Chitosan Ricotta
Linalool Starch Cheddar
Lysozyme Chitosan, Zein Mozarella, Kashar
Natamycin Chitosan, Cellulose Sliced mozarella
Nisin Tapioca starch Port Salut
Olive leaf extract Methylcellulose Kasar
Nano particles Used in Dairy Industry

Nano particles are frequently used to improve some properties of existing packaging
materials such as mechanical, thermal and barrier properties. They can be carrier of antibacterial
compounds that are immobilized in the polymer matrix and coated on the product surface. In the
122
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
dairy sector, one of most frequently used properties of nanotechnology is enhancement of
oxygen barrier properties with bactericidal, antimicrobial and self-sterilizing properties.
Nanoclays and nanocrystals embedded in the plastic films and bottles block oxygen, carbon
dioxide and moisture transfer thus avoiding them to reach packed food products (milk and dairy
products), offering better shelf life. Metal-based nanoparticles have also shown great
antibacterial activity, for example, silver montmorillonite nano particles, when embedded into an
agar based matrix, prolongs the shelf life of Fior di Latte cheese (Icoronato et al., 2011). The
nanoparticles used are inert, so there is no risk of their detaching or leaking from the packaging
and coming into contact with the milk. Furthermore, in the domain of smart packaging, plastic
materials with nanosensors are aimed to detect off-flavours and gases produced by spoiled food
item and the packaging itself changes colour to emit an alert. Nonetheless, there are concerns
regarding the safety of nanotechnology-based dairy foods on people's health. As a result, before
commercialization, nanofoods must be tested extensively.
Dairy waste to value added products
Dairy waste is full of organic matter and may thus be employed as a substrate for the
synthesis of a variety of chemicals. The substances derived from dairy waste are extremely
important in the food, agricultural, petroleum, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical sectors, as well as
for sustainable development. Various value added products like single cell protein, biofertilizers,
biopolymers, biomass for feed, ethano, biosurfactants and biofuel. Waste from the dairy sector,
including wastewater and sludge, as well as other wastes, are potential substrates for the
synthesis of hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4). Dairy waste may be used efficiently as a
substrate in Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC) in the hunt for alternate innovative sources of electric
energy generation (Logan, 2004).
Impact of plant based non dairy alternatives
Bovine milk allergy, lactose intolerance, calorie concerns, and the incidence of
hypercholesterolemia have prompted some people to choose bovine milk substitutes such as soy,
almond and oat milk in recent years. This current trend of customer preference for a healthier
lifestyle has affected the dairy sector a lot. Plant-based milk alternatives are becoming more
popular, particularly among vegetarians, and are serving as a low-cost option for poorer regions
with limited access to cow's milk. However, the most of these milk substitutes lack nutritional
123
balance when compared to bovine milk, despite the fact that they include functionally active
health promoting components that appeal to health-conscious customers (Park, 2021).
Furthermore, due to their low sensory acceptance, these plant-based milk replacements have
limited appeal. On the other hand, various scientific studies and publications have shown that
real milk has more beneficial nutrients and bioactive components than artificially produced
plant-derived milks. Man-made or designed plant-based beverage products cannot replace the
biochemical and nutritional benefits and capabilities of natural dairy milk.
Conclusion:
Milk and its derivatives are the global household food, which have marked their presence
right from breakfast to dinner. With increase in the health concerns, wellness, hygiene and
quality there is spike in the demand of novel processing techniques and value added dairy
products. Due to recent pandemic, industries have publicized milk as functional food, we can see
‘Haldi doodh’ in the market. Due to veganism, plant based dairy alternative are gaining enough
limelight. Innovative yet easy packaging, door to door marketing and e-commerce, dairy waste
management, digitalization of dairy market, has made us think that it is just starting of dairy
industry and we need to far ahead than we can think today.
References:
Butler, D., Holloway, L., and Bear, C. (2012). The impact of technological change in dairy
farming: robotic milking systems and the changing role of the stockperson. Journal of the
Royal Agricultural Society of England, 173(622), 1-15.
Cao-Hoang, L., Chaine, A., Grégoire, L., and Waché, Y. (2010). Potential of nisin-incorporated
sodium caseinate films to control Listeria in artificially contaminated cheese. Food
Microbiology, 27(7), 940-944.
El-Sisi, A. S., Gapr, A. M., and Kamaly, K. M. (2015). Use of chitosan as an edible coating in
RAS cheese. Biolife, 3(2), 564-570.
Foltynowicz, Z., and Rikhie, A. (2020). Oxygen scavengers applications in the dairy industry.
Journal of Dairy Research and Technology, 3, 16-25.
Heino, A. (2010). Microfiltration in cheese and whey processing. 112 p.
124
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Henriques, M., Gomes, D., and Pereira, C. (2017). Liquid whey protein concentrates produced
by ultrafiltration as primary raw materials for thermal dairy gels. Food Technology and
Biotechnology, 55(4), 454-461.
Incoronato, A. L., Conte, A., Buonocore, G. G., and Del Nobile, M. A. (2011). Agar hydrogel
with silver nanoparticles to prolong the shelf life of Fior di Latte cheese. Journal of Dairy
Science, 94(4), 1697-1704.
Jin, T. (2010). Inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes in skim milk and liquid egg white by
antimicrobial bottle coating with polylactic acid and nisin. Journal of Food Science, 75(2),
83-88.
Kumar, P., Sharma, N., Ranjan, R., Kumar, S., Bhat, Z. F., and Jeong, D. K. (2013). Perspective
of membrane technology in dairy industry: A review. Asian-Australasian Journal of
Animal Sciences, 26(9), 134-147.
Lacroix, M., and Vu, K. D. (2014). Edible coating and film materials: proteins. In Innovations in
food packaging, Academic Press., pp. 277-304.
Logan, B. E. (2004). Biologically extracting energy from wastewater: biohydrogen production
and microbial fuel cells. Environment Science and Technology, 38(9), 160-167.
Madec, M.N., Mejean, S., Maubois, J.L. (1992). Retention of Listeria and Salmonella cells
contaminating skim milk by tangential membrane microfiltration (“Bactocatch” process).
Lait, 72(3), 323-332.
Makinen, O. E., V. Wanhalinna, E. Zannini, and E. K. Arendt. (2016). Foods for special dietary
needs: non-dairy plant-based milk substitutes and fermented dairy-type products. Critical
Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 56(3), 339-49.
Martins, J. T., Cerqueira, M. A., Souza, B. W., Carmo Avides, M. D., and Vicente, A. A. (2010).
Shelf life extension of ricotta cheese using coatings of galactomannans from
nonconventional sources incorporating nisin against Listeria monocytogenes. Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 58(3), 1884-1891.
Muir, D.D. (2011). The stability and shelf life of milk and milk products. Food and Beverage
Stability and ShelfLife. Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge, pp. 755-778.
Park, Y. W. (2021). The impact of plant-based non-dairy alternative milk on the dairy industry.
Food Science of Animal Resources, 41(1), 8-15.
125
Salunke, P., Marella, C., and Metzger, L. E. (2021). Microfiltration and ultrafiltration process to
produce micellar casein and milk protein concentrates with 80 % crude protein content:
Partitioning of various protein fractions and constituents. Dairy, 2(3), 367-384.
Walstra, P., Geurts, T.J., Noomen, A., Jellema, A. and Boekel M. (1999). Heat treatment. Dairy
Technology-Principles of Milk Properties and Processes pp. 189.
Zabihzadeh Khajavi, M., A. Ebrahimi, M. Yousefi, S. Ahmadi, M. Farhoodi, A. Mirza Alizadeh,
and M. Taslikh. (2020). Strategies for producing improved oxygen barrier materials
appropriate for the food packaging sector. Food Engineering Reviews 12(3), 346-63.
Zhang, W., Liu, Y., Li, Z., Xu, S., Zhang, J., Hettinga, K., and Zhou, P. (2021). Effects of
microfiltration combined with ultrasonication on shelf life and bioactive protein of skim
milk. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 77, 105-118.
126
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Chapter FUNCTIONS OF MICRONUTRIENTS IN THE SOIL-PLANT SYSTEM

AND THEIR MANAGEMENT TOWARDS
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Samrat Adhikary*1, Panchashree Das2,
Bappa Paramanik3, and Debashis Roy4
1,4Dhaanya Ganga Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda
Educational and Research Institute, Murshidabad, West Bengal 742408, India
2Centurion University of Technology and Management,
Paralakhemundi, Odisha 761211, India
3Subject Matter Specialist (Soil Science), Dakshin Dinajpur KVK, Uttar Banga
Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Dakshin Dinajpur, West Bengal 733133, India
*Corresponding author E-mail: samratadhikarysoil@gmail.com
Abstract:
Micronutrients are responsible for maintaining soil health and sustainable food
production. Globally, more than 33% of people suffer from at least one form of micronutrient
that is present in soil and plant systems in different concentrations depending on the
environment. In India, intensive cropping of high-yielding varieties (HYV) with the use of
micronutrient-free high-responsive fertilizers to enhance food grain production has catalyzed the
rapid depletion of available micronutrients fromthe soil. Each micronutrient plays a significant
role in the growth and development of the plant, human, and animal health. Depletion of
micronutrients from soil has aggravated the lack of application of fertilizers containing
micronutrients, organic amendments such as farmyard manure (FYM) and compost, and the use
of marginal lands for crop production. Micronutrient availability in soils and plant systems is
mainly governed by soil pH, organic matter content, calcareousness, soil texture, cation
exchange capacity (C.E.C.), erosion, soil moisture, temperature, and crop ecology, cropping
management practice followed.Status of various forms of micronutrients declining nature in soil
and crop throughout India..Forsound management of micronutrients in the soil is required
127
adequate scientific knowledge about the relationship that exists between different macronutrients
and micronutrients and within different micronutrients.In specific agro-ecological situations,
each crop is needed to design the specific fertilizer formulation technology for their optimum
production and productivity. Satisfying the growing population nowadays requires suitable
policies to create apprehension amongst the farming community for determining micronutrient
deficiency precisely, and ensure balanced fertilization, which is especially required to maintain
the health of soil along with crop security.
Keywords: Micronutrients, high-yielding varieties, soil pH, soil texture, crop ecology,balanced
fertilization
Introduction:
Micronutrients are necessary for retaining soil fitness and growing productivity. The
significance of micronutrients in the agricultural production system has been identified over the
last three decades, with tremendous micronutrient deficiencies discovered in most of the soils of
India, the place intensive agriculture is practiced. Micronutrient deficiency in soil is both due to
non-stop elimination of micronutrients from the soil by way of currently added fertilizer
responsive and high-yielding sorts of plants or the use of micronutrient-free high-analysis
fertilizers that disturb the nutrient stability in the soil, ensuing in micronutrients deficiency as
limiting component for crop growth and developments. In spite of their small content,
micronutrients in soil options are integral for plant nutrition. The availability of the crucial
micronutrients to plants is frequently poorly associated with their total quantity present in soils
(Panwar et al., 2017). Every micronutrient has a certain specific role to play in the plant which
justifies their essentiality. Their presence in an optimum concentration is essential for the plants
to complete their life cycle which ends with maturity and harvesting of the economic production.
The levels of available soil micronutrients are emphatically impacted through cropping sequence
and methods of fertilization (Li et al., 2007). Through their contribution in different enzymes and
other physiologically dynamic particles, these micronutrients are significant for gene expression,
biosynthesis of proteins, nucleic acids, growth substances, chlorophyll and secondary
metabolites, digestion of carbs, and lipids, stress resilience, etc. (Gao et al., 2008). Hundreds of
thousands of hectares of arable land within the global showed that have low availability of
micronutrients in soils. Micronutrient cycling is quite different compare to other environmental
128
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
ecosystems. The lack or overabundance of micronutrients, for example, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn and B in
the furrow layer might bring about decrease in crop yield or potentially quality. Consequently,it
is necessary to hold soil micronutrientsat suitable levels to fulfill plant needs and forestall any
potential buildup of positive nutrients to maintain agricultural production. The micronutrient
accessibility in soils is a component of pace of renewal from soil solids to the soil solution. In all
soils, micronutrients recharge from earth minerals presents in pedosphere or lithosphere. The
pedospheric variations because of parent material, topography, climate, etc. and so on lead to
spatial variation of micronutrients in soils (Katyal and Sharma, 1991). The availability of the
micronutrients in soil is also affected by the soil physico-chemical properties including soil pH,
soil EC, nature of organic matter, free lime, soil moisture, amount of clay and silt fractions, type
of clay, concentrations of interacting ions etc. (Priyanka et al., 2017).Subsequently, the
introduction of micronutrients into the soil in their bioavailable forms may want to make
contributions to combat the pernicious effects of their deficiency in the soil, plants, and human
being (Cakmak, 2008). However, environmental change has irritated the disadvantages of abiotic
stresses, particularly drought and temperature stresses, and food insecurity. Therefore, the role of
micronutrients underneath high ranges of local weather vulnerability has a dire need for food
protection and dietary quality. For this, micronutrient enhancement of soil and crop is a
sustainable budget-friendly method to improve the nutritional position of crops (Ansari and
Thapa, 2019). Therefore, management of micronutrient deficiency in soil-plant system is of very
much significance for improving crop productivity, producing micronutrient enriched
agricultural produce and maintaining animal/human health.Status of various forms of
micronutrients declining nature in soil and crop throughout India. Balanced application with
micronutrient-containing fertilizer response positive result in food grain production.
Effect of micronutrients on plants, animals, and human health
Plants
Soil fills in as the main supply of integral plant supplements to finish its life cycle. The
significance of Zn was once diagnosed throughSommer and Lipman (1926) in dwarf sunflowers.
Znplaysan important function in regulation of carbonic anhydrase for addition of carbs in plants,
advancement of digestion of carb, protein, auxin, and pollen formation of safety from oxidative
stress by means ofsuperoxide dismutase (SOD). The exceptional role of Cu in plant increase
129
makes it an essential element for plant life because it controls multiple biochemical responses.
The vitality of Cu, as a steady cofactor of different catalysts and proteins, in tomato plants has
been seen by Arnon and Stout (1939). Because of different oxidation states like Cu2+ in histidine
and Cu1+ in cysteine/methionine, it acts as an electron transporter in a number of
redoxreactionstaking place in chloroplasts, mitochondria, and oxidative pressure reactions. Iron
is fourth most plentiful component on the earthcrust after Si, O2 and Al and it is perceived as a
fundamental micronutrient for plant growth. The essentiality of Fe was once first diagnosed
through E. Gris (1843) as it supported plant growth and eradicated the deleterious impact of
chlorosis. It’sa unique role inplant metabolic cycle including lipid digestion, respiration, gene
regulation, DNA biosynthesis, photosynthesis and chlorophyll biosynthesis (Adamski et al.,
2012). In nature, Mn exists in few oxidation states, alternatively, II, III and IV are viewed as
ideal for biological systems, particularly in the case of photosynthesis. Because of several
oxidationstates, its bioavailability is affectedby the pH of soil and redox conditions, it assumes a
basic part in photosynthesis as it takes part in the oxygen evolution step and photolysis of water
(Millaleo et al., 2010). Theessentiality of B was first introduced by Warington (1923) as it
worked on the ideal development of plant cell and reinforced the cell walls. Boron uptake in
plants through soil is usually in the compound form i.e., boric acid (H3BO3)and which alsohelps
different physiological and biological cycles like vegetative development, tissue separation,
membrane integrity, phenolic digestion,and it is also involved in nitrogen fixation, root
development (Flow Chart: -1).
Animal health
Each of the microelements has at least playafundamental role in the physiological and
metabolic functioning of the animals and also, and they go about as cofactors to proteinsand co-
enzymes. Enzymes that are associated with micronutrients and dependent on them are often
termed ‘metallo-enzymes’ (McDonald et al., 1981). Since, forage vegetation like Napier grass,
Deenanath grass, and to positive extent cereals also constitute a primary feedstuff of
animals.Anyway, less arable land is utilized for grain production since the bigger region has been
redirected for crop production to fulfill food security needs. Also, it appears to be that the
unpredictable utilization of high-analysis fertilizers has declined crop productivity because of the
restriction of at least one or more micronutrients. Thelack of micronutrient in forages ultimately
130
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
cause a deficiency of micronutrient in the animals and influences their physiological and
metabolic capabilities. Indeed, even an abundanceof micronutrients in livestock also adverse
impact on animal health.Copper, Iron, and Zinc are imperative for thyroid hormones as they have
a role in the synthesis or conversion of thyroid hormones (Abdollahi et al., 2013). Consequently,
Cu deficiency regularly occurs in domesticated animalsresulting in diarrhea, fragile bones,
weight loss, and issues with solid joints. Anemia due to Fe deficiency is of universal concern,
especially in newborn pigs (Miller et al., 1991). Lack of iron brings down thyroid peroxidase
(TPO) movement and subsequently impedes iodine digestion in the thyroid (Hess et al., 2002).
In any case, there is proof that B is required in bone development (Bergman, 1981). Boron is
relatedto Ca processes in plant cells and this may additionally also be the case in mammalian
bone.Boron boosts up the immune system and it also acts in the animal body system for the
functioning of hormones, steroids, vitamins, and minerals.
Human health
Micronutrients have a vital impact on digestionand the maintenance of tissue
characteristics. An optimum intake, therefore, is necessary, but the provision of extra dietary
supplements to people who no longer need them may additionally be detrimental. It reported that
Zinc inadequacy has impacted more than 33% of the worldwide populace. Its sufficient intake is
compulsory to carry out different physiological roles in the human body like immunity fertility,
normal vision, and wound restorationand also for proper growth in childhood to inhibit the
infections like malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea (Cakmak, 2008). Lack of iron is one more
overall issue concerning wholesome problems in diet. It is known for its functionon hemoglobin
and development of red platelets. Absence of Fe diet in the human body lead to iron deficiency
and hindered physical and mental advancement that further enhances the susceptibility to
malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (Scott and Murray-Kolb, 2016).It is discovered that all
body tissues and assume a pivotal part in making red platelets and keeping up with nerve cells
and the immune system. Most copper in the body is tracked down in the liver, mind, heart,
kidneys, and skeletal muscle. In grown-ups, Cu unevenness has been connected to Alzheimer's
sickness bootcut harmfulness brings about Fenton-type redox responses that lead to oxidative
cell damage and cell death (Bost et al., 2016). The capability of Mn initiation of certain
metalloenzymes, immunological function, energy digestion, nervous system capability,
131
antioxidant enzymes, that scavenge free radicals is well known was observed that Boron is
consumed from the gastrointestinal plot totally and present in the body as boric acid. It is
engaged with steroid hormone digestion, cell film support, and solid bone development (Uluisik
et al., 2018). The lack of Mo cofactor in the human body brings about an extreme characteristic
mistake of digestion that prompts youth passing. Molybdenum in molybdopterin, ties to the
dynamic site of xanthine oxidase/xanthine dehydrogenase, sulfite oxidase and aldehyde oxidase
to control their movement (Blanco and Blanco, 2017Iodine is known for its capability in the
union of thyroid chemicals and it lack prompts goiter issues in the human populace otherwise
called iodine deficiency disorders. Itlacks a far-reaching hunger issue in this manner its
organization is vital. Folates, a gathering of water-dissolvable B nutrients, play a transcendent
part in essential digestion, in this way impeding physiological impacts happen upon folate lack.
Chemicals use folate in thymidylate, purine union and pantothenate (vit. B5) development. In
plants, folates crucial job includes in photorespiration, chlorophyll, plastoquinone, tocopherol,
gelatin and lignin union. Other than the normal job of selenoproteins in the cancer prevention
agent guard framework, Se assumes a fundamental part in the safe framework, and
cardiovascular sicknesses.Its lack is related with Keshan illness disappointment and Kashin-Beck
sickness (Sarwar et al., 2019). Consequently, the concept of nutritional securitystep by step has
emerged as a central issue where there is a high dependence on staple crops.
Plants Micro- Human Animal
nutrients
1. Carbohydrate and protein Zn 1. Constituents of several Enzyme functions
synthesis enzymes
2. Pollen formation 2. Immune function,
3. Membrane integrity protein synthesis, DNA
4. Auxin synthesis synthesis and cell
function
1. Imparting disease Cu 1. Compoment of various 1.Hae myoglobin
resistant to the plants redox enzymes, formation
2. Enhances the fertility of including the 2.Enzyme function
male flower cytochrome C oxidase
132
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
1. Essential role in nucleic Fe 1.Required for many 1.Protein and
acid metabolism enzymes and proteins, enzyme function
2. synthesis and notably the hemoglobin 2.Hemoglobin
maintenance of to prevent anemia formation
chlorophyll
1. Important role in the mn 1. Activation of Enzyme activation
photosynthesis metalloenzymes
2. Detoxification of Super 2. Immunological system
Oxide free radicles function, energy
metabolism and nervous
system
3.Antioxidant enzyme
1. Pollen germination and B 1.Steroid hormone Enzyme function
pollen tube growth metabolism
2. Cell wall formation and 2. Cell membrane
Xylem differentiation maintenance
3.Healthy bone
development
Flowchart 1: Role of Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn, and B in soil, plant, and human (Clark et al., 1972)
Status of micronutrients under different soils and crops

In the present context, micronutrientvariation is the most significant limitation in crop
production and productivityin India.
Soils
Present-day farming practices like rigorous cropping system, modern agrarian automation, high
return responsive genotypes, and raising utilization of macronutrient composts since the green
revolution, brought about higher crop productivity. Nonetheless, the higher supplement interest
for high-yielding harvests has mined micronutrients alongside macronutrients from the soil.
Micronutrient exhaustion from soil has disturbed the absence of use of composts containing
micronutrients, organic amendments such as farmyard manure (FYM) and enriched compost,
and utilization of negligible lands for crop production (Fageria et al., 2002). Universally, the
133
micronutrient lack in agrarian soils has been assessed as 49% insufficient in Zn, 15% in Mo,
31% inadequate in B, 10% inadequate in Mn, and 14% insufficient in Cu and 3 percent
inadequate in Fe (Sillanpa, 1990). Gupta (2005) detailed that around 48% of Indian soils are
lacking in DTPA-Zn, 11% in Fe, 7% in Cu, and 5 percent in Mn. (Fig. 1). In India, light-textured
soils of rice-wheat cropping system generally seem to lack Fe and Mn (Dhaliwal et al., 2012).
Among microelements, Cu lack in the soil going to turn into an arising issue in close to future.
Other than these micronutrients, lacks of B and Mo have likewise been accounted for in certain
portions of India. Soils under semi-arid tropical states of India are mostly lacking of Zn than in
the humid and sub-humid tropics. In any case, this has brought about a decrease in Zn lack by
15-45 percent quite a number of areas of India in contrast with the mid-1980s (Singh and Saha,
1994). Shukla et al. (2021), based on their experimentation found that at least 37 percent of
Indian soils are Zn-insufficient due to several constraints (Fig. 1).
40
35
30
Deficiency (%)
25
20
15
10
5
0
Zinc Boron Iron Manganese Copper
Figure 1: Micronutrient deficiency in Indian soils. (Shukla et al., 2021)
The accessibility of micronutrients is controlled by a few factors like soil

physicochemical reaction, pH, organic matter, and soil-plant interaction (Agrawal et al., 2016).
In semi-arid tropical circumstances, lack of micronutrients is a significant issue to keep up with
sustainable crop production separated from water deficiency. There, for the most part, lacks of B
and Zn are more pervasive. Different soil components assume a critical part in the accessibility
of micronutrient content under various climatic situations. Micronutrient deficiency is more
continuous during dry season after moister stress and other significant requirement restricting
134
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
crop production because of the inaccessibility of micronutrients for the crop’s intake due to
calcareousness, and high pH (>7.0-8.5), and low organic substances (<1 percent). Global basis, it
appears to be that Boron toxicity is a foremost concern in arid and semi-arid regions. Boron lacks
have additionally prevailed in Indian territories of Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Gujarat.
Soil formation from molten magma, granite, acidic, and metamorphic sedimentation are
normally poor in B (Singh et al., 2017).It was observed that Soils with lower solubility Zn
content might be low in absolute Zn content (drained acidic soils). In soil, the chemistry of
micronutrients with phosphates and carbonates contents forms precipitates, or complexes with
soil components that cause inaccessibility for crop uptake (Marschner, 2012). The soil that has
been enriched with organic components are having higher accessibility to micronutrients in soil
(Dhaliwal et al., 2012). But it also found that a high amount of organic matter in soils leans
toward the complexation of micronutrients (Dhaliwal et al., 2019a). Copper in the soil is for the
most part present as divalent cation Cu2+ and decreased to Cu+ and Cu0 under reducing
conditions. Soil organic matter fills in as a significant sink for Cu2+ because of composite
compound development between them (McBride, 1994). Molybdenum is seldom present in soils
and is exceptionally dissolvable in oxicenvironments. Nonstop consumption of bioavailable
types of micronutrients in different soil biological systems is more conspicuous.
Crops
Today, micronutrient content in the consumable portions of various plants declined
because of the reduction of plant-intake forms in the soil system. Thus, it causes deficient
micronutrient concentrations in the food chain in progressive nations to satisfy the demands of
their people (McIntyre et al., 2001). It likewise detailed that crop cultivated in about a portion of
the nation's soil suffer from at least one micronutrient problem. The lack of micronutrients is
common in cereal, vegetable crops, pulse, and oilseeds, which confined the ideal crop production
throughout the long term (Singh, 2004). An enormous piece of the developed region in India is
busy with significant yields like rice, wheat, maize, cotton, sorghum, sugarcane, soybean, potato,
and different pulses. These yields are significantly open to macronutrient and micronutrient
treatment. Furthermore, India positions third among fertilizer-consuming countries in the world
and the fertilizer use is significantly disproportionate (FAI, 2002).A deficit of micronutrients
ultimately causes yield reduction, which is more prominent in basic soil (Singh and Abrol,
135
1986). Satisfying the food security needs of this developing community by expanding the
productivity of crops will additionally build the micronutrient lacking in soil and yields and may
represent a danger to sustainable production. Among the micronutrients, especially Zn, Fe, Cu,
and B are significantly lacking in both plants and soils. Parent materials and environment,
cropping patterns, and following management practices also act as a primary role in solubility
and availability of micronutrients in the soil. Soil formation from parent materials, for example,
quartz sand contains a lower level of Zn and is exceptionally inclined to Zn inadequacy. In basic
soil, more of the utilization of Nitrogen preparation is the reason for expanded to the uptake of
Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn. This outcome may be because of a decrease in soil pH byenhancing the
utilization of nitrogenous fertilizer. Liming of acid soils, sandy loamy soil, low organic matter,
high rates of P fertilization, and failure to recycle crop residues may lead to a Zn deficit in plants.
In soil imbalance application of macronutrients, fertilizers may antagonisticallyaffectvarious
formsof micronutrients. For soil management to meetoptimum crop productivity, organic
inputslike FYM, crop residue applicationalong with inorganic fertilizer can enhanceNutrient use
efficiency (Rezig et al., 2013). In light-textured,free CaCO3 and alkaline upland soils grown
crops reported better responses after application of Fe than those cultivated under waterlogging
conditions.In soil, Manganese is present invarious forms like, water-soluble, exchangeable, and
reducible. Clay and organic matter are main component to hold divalent Mn+2. Solubility of
Mn2+ in soil affects by aerobic and anaerobic processes and thereby, its intake depends on that
environment (Singh 2008). Crops are grown in red and laterite soils and terai region are
generally more vulnerable to B deficiency. In today’s context, Freundlich isotherm has been used
by several researchers to testthe level of micronutrients in a crop depending on different soil
characteristics (Tulasi et al., 2015). Dinic et al. (2019) also reported bioavailabilityof Zn, Cu, and
Mn from their DTPA extractable was significantly influencedby soil pH, soil organic matter, and
clay fractions using Freundlich model.
Factors affecting the availability of micronutrients in Indian soil
Among the micronutrients Iron, manganese, copper, zinc and nickel are called
micronutrient cations as these carry positive charges and Boron, molybdenum and chlorine occur
as anions and carry negative charges during their ionic state. It was showed that generally,
influence of soil environment on micronutrient actions is different from those are anions. Based
136
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
on their reaction the influence of soil factors on the solubility of micronutrient cations and anions
will be separately explained.In soil systems, Micronutrient solubility and availability for plants
are mainly governed by too many factors i.e., soil pH (Fig.2.), organic substance, calcareousness,
sandy loamy, cation exchange capacity (C.E.C.), surface loss, soil moisture, temperature,and
cropecology, parent materials, climatic vulnerability, cropping management practiced followed.
Figure 2: Availability of micronutrients govern by soil pH. (Truog. 1946)
Role of Micronutrients in food grain production

It has also been noticed that, over the years, the consumption of micronutrient fertilizer
for cultivation purposes has increased in India (Fig.3.).
Figure 3: Micronutrient fertilizer consumption vis-a-vis food grain production in India

(Behera et al., 2019)
In the market various types of micronutrient carriers are available which need to be
applied at required doses in the right way at the appropriate time, depending upon the ecology of
crops, soil, and management system.In the case of fertilizer vs food grain production, an
137
increasing trend was shown by the application of micronutrient-containing fertilizer in the

country over the years of sustainable food production. To enhances, system productivity
researchers developed location-specific advanced technologies that are based on efficient
management of nutrients through thousands of experiments conducted at farmers’ fields in India.
Crop responses to micronutrient application
There are numerouscomponentsare involved that influence crop response to
micronutrient application in soil or plant, andthat reaction to micronutrients is often less
predictable than response to major macronutrients, such as Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and
Potassium (K). Responses against the application of micronutrient fertilizer might be dramatic,
assuming the nutrient is the deficit, yet on a more regular basis, reactions are gradual yield
increments or even just development or quality enhancements. Micronutrient science in the soil
system is complicated and there are various connections with soil parts and different nutrients
and ecological circumstances. While the consistency of micronutrient reaction might be not
exactly a few different supplements, it tends to be improved by considering the communications
with a portion of the variables influencing crop nutrient response.Crop responses to
micronutrient application was recorded in the study in micronutrient deficient soils and it varies
widely depending upon soil and crop type (Flowchart 2).
Flow chart 2: Schematic diagram of steps in management of micronutrients in soil-plant

system (Behera et al., 2019)
138
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Soil management for maintenance of adequate levels of micronutrients
Best micronutrient management practices comprise demand and supply of micronutrients
in the soil-plant system is needed for ameliorating micronutrient deficiency in soil-plant system.
For sound management of micronutrients in soil, adequate knowledge of the relationship that
exists between different macronutrients and micronutrients and within different micronutrients is
essential. Certain synergistic and antagonistic relationships between micronutrients have been
established. The antagonism between different nutrient ions has received more attention in the
last few years.It is, therefore, essential to understand the mechanism of micronutrient interaction
in soil and plant systems.
a. Micronutrient Interaction d. Transport of micronutrients to plant roots
b. Management in soil-plant systeme. Common micronutrient carriers and rates of application
c. Soil test for micronutrients f. Depletion of Micronutrients by crops
Conclusion:
India should increase its agricultural efficiency to satisfy the needs of its developing
population. In the present context, Indian agriculture during the last past 50 years has four times
grown by adopting modern agricultural practices like fertilizer responsive high yielding varieties
(HYV) of cereals crops, balanced application of macro, secondary, and micronutrients, and crop
diversification, etc. The importance of micronutrients in agriculture systems have been realized
middle of the 20th century but not intensively yet practiced in many crops. Micronutrients play a
major biochemical role in plant, human, and animal health. In considering different progressive
studies, foliar methods of micronutrients show better results to increase crop productivity under
different abiotic stresses, particularly in arid or semiarid regions of the world. Meanwhile, the
nutrient interactions in soil and plant systems also significantly affect the nutrient absorption
mechanism. In specific agro-ecological situations, each crop needed to design the specific
fertilizer formulation technology for their optimum production and productivity. Based on crop
type, environment, and cropping patterns research to assessthe relationship of micronutrients
with other minerals, physicochemicaland ecological factors, plant stress, and disease need to
entrap on enhancing their efficiency and reducing input costs. Tosatisfying the growing
population nowadays requires suitable policies to create apprehension amongst the farming
139
community for determining micronutrient deficiency precisely, and ensure balanced fertilization,
which is especially requiredto maintain the health of soil along with crop security.
References:
Abdollahi, E., Kohram, H., Shahir, M.H. (2013). Plasma concentrations of essential trace
microminerals and thyroid hormones during single or twin pregnancies in fat-tailed ewes.
Small Rumin. Res. 113 (2–3), 360–364.
Adamski, J.M., Danieloski, R., Deuner, S., Braga, E.J., de Castro, L.A., Peters, J.A.
(2012).Responses to excess iron in sweet potato: impacts on growth, enzyme activities,
mineralconcentrations, and anatomy. Acta Physiol. Plant. 34 (5), 1827–1836.
Agrawal, R., Kumar, B., Priyanka, K., Narayan, C., Shukla, K., Sarkar, J., Anshumali.(2016).
Micronutrient fractionation in coal mine-affected agricultural soils, India. Bull. Environ.
Contam. Toxicol. 96 (4), 449–457.
Alloway,B. J. (2008). Micronutrient Deficiencies in Global Crop Production || Micronutrient
Deficiencies in Crops and Soils in India. 7(Chapter 4), 93–125.
Ansari, S.A., Thapa, S. (2019). Biofortification of food crops: an approach towards improving
nutritional security in South Asia. Int. J. Adv. Agric. Sci. Technol. 6 (12), 23–33.
Arnon, D.I., Stout, P.R. (1939). The essentiality of certain elements in minute quantity for plant
with special reference to copper. Plant Physiol. 14 (2), 371–375.
BeheraS. K., Shukla A.K. and PatraA. K. (2019). Best micronutrient management practicesfor
ameliorating micronutrient deficiency and enhance crop productivity.Indian Farming
69(04): 11–16.
Behera S.K.,Singh V.S., Lakaria B.L.(2019). Micronutrients deficiencies in Indian soils and their
amelioration through fertilization. Indian Farming.
Bost, M., Houdart, S., Oberli, M., Kalonji, E., Huneau, J.F., Margaritis, I. (2016). Dietary copper
and human health: current evidence and unresolved issues. J. Trace Elem. Med. Biol. 35,
107–115.
Cakmak, I. (2008). Enrichment of cereal grains with zinc: agronomic or genetic biofortification?
Plant Soil 302, 1–17.
140
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Dhaliwal, M.K., Dhaliwal, S.S., Shukla, A.K. (2019a). Long term effect of manure and fertilizers
on chemical fractions of Fe and Mn in surface soils under rice-wheat system. Int. J. Curr.
Microbiol. App. Sci. 8 (2), 3165–3178.
Dhaliwal, S.S., Sadana, U.S., Walia, S.S., Sidhu, S.S. (2012). Long term effects of manures and
fertilizers on chemical fractions of Fe and Mn and their uptake under rice-wheat cropping
system in North-west India. Int. J. Agric. Sci. 8, 98–107.
Dinic, Z., Maksimovic, J., Stanojkovic-Sebic, A., Pivic, R. (2019). Prediction models for
bioavailability of Mn, Cu, Zn, Ni and Pb in soils of Republic of Serbia. Agronomy 9 (12),
856.
Fageria, N.K., Baligar, V.C., Clark, R.B. (2002). Micronutrients in crop production. Adv. Agron.
77, 185–268.
FAI (2002). Fertilizer Use and Crop Production. Fertilizer Statistics, Fertilizer Association of
India, New Delhi, pp. 1–100.
Gao, S., Yan, R., Cao, M., Yang, M., Wang, S. and Chen, F. (2008). Effects of copper on growth,
antioxidant enzymes and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activities in Jatrophacurcas L.
seedling. Plant Soil Environ., 54: 117–122.
Gris, E. (1843). M.emoirrelatifa`l’action des composes solublesferrugineux sur la vegetation.
Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris 17, 679.
Hess, S.Y., Zimmermann, M.B., Arnold, M., Langhans, W., Hurrell, R.F. (2002). Iron deficiency
anemia reduces thyroid peroxidase activity in rats. J. Nutr. 132, 1951–1955.
Katyal, J. C. and Sharma, B. D. (1991). DTPA-extractable and total Zn, Cu, Mn, and Fe in Indian
soils and their association with some soil properties. Geoderma., 49(1-2), 165-179.
Li, B.Y., Zhou, D. M., Cang, L., Zhang, H. L., Fan, X. H. and Qin, S. W. (2007). Soil
micronutrient availability to crops as affected by long-term inorganic and organic fertilizer
applications. Soil Till Res., 96(1-2), 166-173.
McBride, M.B. 1994. Environmental Chemistry of Soils. Oxford University Press, New York.
McIntyre, B.D., Bouldin, D.R., Urey, G.H., Kizito, F. (2001). Modeling cropping strategies to
improve human nutrition in Uganda. Agric. Syst. 67, 105–120.
141
Millaleo, R., Reyes-Dı´az, M., Ivanov, A.G., Mora, M.L., Alberdi, M. (2010). Manganese as
essential and toxic element for plants: transport, accumulation and resistance mechanisms.
J. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr. 10 (4), 470–481.
Miller, E.R., Lei, X., Ullrey, D.E. (1991). Trace elements in animal nutrition. In: Mortvedt, J.J.,
Giordano, P.M., Lindsay, W.L. (Eds.), Micronutrients in Agriculture, second ed. SSSA
Book Series No. 4, Soil Sci. Soc. America Inc, pp. 593–662.
Panwar, S., Dwivedi, A. K., Dwivedi, B. S. and Nagwanshi, A. (2017). Distribution of zinc pools
as influenced by long-term application of fertilizers and manure in a Vertisol. Int. J. Chem.
Stud., 5, 1931-4.
Pilon, M., Abdel-Ghany, S.E., Cohu, C.M., Gogolin, K.A., Ye, H. (2006). Copper cofactor
delivery in plant cells. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 9, 1–8.
Priyanka, S. K. and Meena, R. H. (2017). Fractionation and distribution of zinc under integrated
nutrient management system on maize-wheat cropping system in Typic Haplustepts. J.
Pharmacogn. Phytochem., 6(6), 2301-2305.
Rezig, F.A.M., Elhadi, E.A., Mubarak, A.R. (2013). Impact of organic residues and mineral
fertilizer application on soil-crop systems 1: yield and nutrients content. Arch. Agron. Soil
Sci. 59 (9), 1229–1243.
Sarwar, M., Saleem, M.F., Ullah, N., Ali, S., Rizwan, M., Shahid, M.R., Alyemeni, M.N.,
Alamri, S.A., Ahmad, P. (2019). Role of mineral nutrition in alleviation of heat stress in
cotton plants grown in glasshouse and field conditions. Sci. Rep. 9, 13022.
Scott, S.P., Murray-Kolb, L.E. (2016). Iron status is associated with performance on executive
functioning tasks in nonanemic young women. J. Nutr. 146 (1), 30–37.
Shenkin, A. (2006). Micronutrients in health and disease. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 82(971),
559–567.
Shukla A.K., Behera, S.K., Majumder, K. (2019).Importance of Micronutrients in Indian
Agriculture, Better crops, South Asia.
Shukla, A.K., Behera, S.K., Prakash, C., Patra, A.K., Rao, C.S., Chaudhari, S.K., Das, S., Singh,
A.K., Green, A. (2021). Assessing multi-micronutrients deficiency in agricultural soils of
India. Sustainability 13, 9136.
142
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Sillanpaa, M. (1990). Micronutrient assessment at country level: an international study. In: Soils
Bulletin No. 63. FAO, Rome. ferti-fortification of wheat grains with manganese and
copper. Indian J. Fert. 7 (11), 48–55.
Singh, M.V. (2004). Micronutrients seed treatment to nourish the crop plants at critical stages of
growth. Res. Bull. IISS, Bhopal 2, 1–87.
Singh, M.V., Abrol, I.P. (1986). Transformation and availability of zinc in alkali soils. Fert.
News 31 (7), 17–27.
Singh, M.V., Saha, J.K. (1994). Annual report of AICRP of micro- and secondary nutrients in
soils and plants. IISS, Bhopal 26, 1–86.
Singh, U., Dutta, S.K., Majumdar, K. (2017). 4R Nutrient stewardship guidelines for sustainable
pulse production—an overview. In: SATSA Mukhaptra Annual Technical Issue. 21, pp.
142–153.
Sommer, A.L., Lipman, C.B. (1926). Evidence on the indispensable nature of zinc and boron for
higher green plants. Plant Physiol. 1, 231–249.
Truog, E. (1946).Soil Reaction Influence on Availability of Plant Nutrients. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.,
11, 305–308.
Tulasi, G., Veronica, N., Ramesh, T., Narender, S. (2015). Crop nutrition management with nano
fertilizers. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 1 (1), 4–6.
Uluisik, I., Karakaya, H.C., Koc, A. (2018). The importance of boron in biological systems. J.
Trace Elem. Med. Biol. 45, 156–162.
Warington, K. (1923). The effect of boric acid and borax on the broadbean and certain other
plants. Ann. Bot. London 37 (1), 629–672.
143
Chapter RADIONUCLIDES IN AGRICULTURE

Subhajit Pal1, Md Wahiduzzaman1, Dipak Pakhre1 and Bickram Panja2
1Department of Soil Science,
2Department of Agronomy,
Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, West Bengal
Introduction:
The isotopes (two element having same proton numbers but different neutron numbers)
of an element having unstable nucleus is regarded as radioisotope. The word radioisotope can be
interchangeably used with radionuclide. More than 3000 radionuclides have been discovered so
far. Excess energy of the nucleus makes the whole atom unstable, and thus it tries to achieve a
stable state by emitting energy and/or particles, and it either results in formation of a stable
nuclide, or a daughter radionuclide. The capture of this liberated energy by the unstable
radionuclide, by some sophisticated instruments, makes the detection of that element quite
simple rather than its non-radioactive isotopic counter-parts.
The most common emission occurs via. Alpha ray emission, Beta ray emission and
gamma ray emission. The emission of Alpha ray, the high-speed particles carrying positive
charges, results in decrease in protons and neutrons by two units. As a result of its high mass and
charge, that it carries, it gets absorbed by materials, and can travel only few centimeters in air.
They can hardly penetrate beyond the outer human skin layer. The beta rays, the high-speed
electrons, are emitted from the nucleus results in increase in the proton content of the original
atom by one unit. These rays have high penetrating power than the alpha rays. Gamma rays
having neither charge nor mass is an electromagnetic wave originates along with changes in
nuclear levels. It has the highest penetrating power among all the three mentioned rays.
Another type of particle found to be emitted as a positively charged particle but with
mass of electron, which are named as positrons. They possess a very short life within the vicinity
of other matters and are easily attracted by electrons. The positron upon meeting electron
converts into energy as two gamma rays. (Graham, 1964)
144
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Most radioisotopes are produced artificially in research reactors and accelerators by
exposing a target material to particles as neutrons or protons, followed by various chemical
processes to bring them into required chemical form. The natural radionuclides include the
primordial radioactive elements (nuclides that exist since the formation of earth) in the earth’s
crust, their radioactive decay materials, and the radionuclides produced by cosmic-radiation
interactions.
Radionuclides in biosphere:
A considerable portion of the natural radionuclides is occupied by the isotopes of
Potassium, Thorium, and Uranium. These account more than 10 ppm in the earth’s crust, on
weight basis, while the rest of natural radionuclides occupies not more than 1/1000 times of the
natural radioactive content of the earth’s crust. Graham (1964) mentioned a kilogram of the crust
contains on an average of 26g of radioactive potassium, 0.02 g of radioactive thorium, 0.08g of
radioactive uranium. Although by weight potassium plays a significant role, but in terms of the
radioactivity Potassium contributes the least. Among these three isotopes, 90% of the natural
radioactivity is contributed by uranium, 5% by thorium and 4.9% by potassium and others by
<0.1% (Graham, 1964)
Among the natural radioisotopes the one that would be absorbed by the plant from the
soil and sending it back to the soil would be of prime importance in the biosphere. The isotopes
of Carbon (C14), Hydrogen (H3) and Potassium (K40) are to be mentioned in this context. The
formation of C14 is due to the reaction of cosmic rays with nitrogen gas in the atmosphere. The
reaction may be summarized as:
N14 (in atmosphere) + 0n1 (from cosmic rays) = C14 + proton + 620 KeV
Again, this Nitrogen gas may also react with fast moving neutron to generate Tritium (H3).
N14 + 0n1 = H3 + C12
Though both the reaction occurs in nature, the production of C14 is generally much higher than
that of the H3 (Graham 1964).
Artificial radionuclides in the environment:
The origins of the artificial radionuclides are mainly from the fallouts. Various testing in
middle of 19’s and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, provided as a cause for introduction of
radionuclides in the atmosphere. The isotopes of cesium (Cs137) and strontium (Sr90) are the most
145
studied artificial radionuclides; which can be deposited by rain and can be up taken by grasses.
Such a condition is mentioned by Rahola et al. (2006) in which they have stated that the milk
was found to be contaminated with the above-mentioned radionuclides. The uptake of the
radioisotopes by the grasses, and the consequent use of grass as feed for the cows have resulted
in the detection of the isotopes in milk.
Use of radionuclides in agriculture
Water Resource Management:
Adequate potable water is essential for life. However, fresh water has never been
abundant everywhere in the world and in some places, it is even getting worse. A reliable supply
of clean water is essential for any new growth, whether it is in the agricultural, industrial or
human settlement sectors.
With 30% of world’s freshwater coming from groundwater, it is the largest source. The
natural variation in the composition of water resources is taken advantage of by isotope
hydrology. A certain source of water will have a particular composition or isotopic “fingerprint”.
The isotopes present in a source may be stable or unstable, natural or synthetic.
Stable isotopes can be used to establish the source's history, rainfall conditions,
mixing/interaction features of adjacent water bodies, pollution processes, and evaporation
processes. Radioisotopes such as tritium (1H3) and carbon (6C14) are used to assess the age of
water. For surface waters, they can provide data on sedimentation rates, leakages through
irrigation channels and dams, lake and reservoir dynamics, flow rates, and river discharges.
Neutron probes have the ability to assess soil moisture very precisely, allowing for better
management of salinity-affected property, especially with regard to irrigation.
Table 1: Various hydrological investigations by using Isotopes
Element Isotope Use in Hydrology
Hydrogen H2 Origin of water
Oxygen O18 Origin of water
Carbon C14 Groundwater dating
Nitrogen N15 Source of Pollution
Chlorine Cl37 Source of Pollution
146
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Crop improvement:
Stadler made the first attempt to use X-rays to cause plant mutations in 1930. Later,
ionising radiations like neutron and gamma rays were used. This technique of using radiation
energy to cause mutations in plants has been extensively employed to add desired or better
characteristics to a crop variety. A proper choice of mutant types can result in increased
effectiveness and calibre. Genetic variation of beneficial traits is very important for improvement
of any crop. Different types of radiation may be used to result in mutations (Sood et al., 2010) to
develop desired mutant line which are resistant to diseases, favoured earlier ripening and produce
a higher yield.X-rays, gamma and neutron radiation were employed as ionizing radiations. This
method of making use of radiation gives the opportunity of inducing favoured characters that
both cannot be located in nature. A right selection of mutant varieties can result to best quality
and productivity.Radiation-induced mutations have increased during the last few decades. Many
more contributed to the development of crop varieties and it has established itself as an
approaches of plant breeding. In various country radiation induced mutation experiments result a
better yield of a crop variety.The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has developed a
variety of black gram, green gram, groundnut, rice and jute by utilizing radiation energy to
induce mutation. By using induced mutation some varieties are developed and it has been
appreciated by many countries so they have been released and approved for economical
production.
Plant nutrition:
Fertilizers are so costly; it is crucial to use is of great significance to lower the cost of
production of agricultural crops. It is essential that a maximum quantity of manure is used
through cultivation finds its way into the plant and that the minimum is lost. Radioisotopes are
very valuable in estimating the quantity of phosphorous and nitrogen available in the soil. This
estimation helps in determining the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers that should
be applied to soil. Radioactive isotopes like phosphorous-32 and nitrogen-15 have been labelled
to some fertilizers and have been used to study the uptake, retention and usage of fertilizer.
Environment and biodiversity are affected by the excessive use of fertilizer.These isotopes
provide a means to determine about quantity of fertilizer taken and lost to the environment by the
plant (Harderson, 1990). Only the little amount of fertilizer is applied to the soil is taken by the
147
plant and the rest is lost through several process or remain in the soil. FAO and IAEA have
collaborated a number of research projects in order to effectively use of radioactive isotopes for
fertilizer management methods in important agricultural crops like wheat, rice and maize (Hera,
1995). Designing efficient farming practises requires well known study of the soil characteristics.
Radioactive isotopes can be used as "tags" to track how much soil-based critical nutrients plants
are absorbing and using (IAEA, 1996). This method enables scientists to determine the precise
fertiliser and water requirements of a crop under certain circumstances. The availability of a
sufficient water supply is important for good crop production. Nuclear moisture density gauges
can track and assess the soil's moisture content, which reveals the precise irrigation requirements
of a specific area.Such researches have been substantially aided by nuclear science and
technology, which is now extensively used in soil plant nutrition research to make the most use
of scarce water resources. The use of radiation to eliminate soil microorganisms that cause
diseases and are harmful to plant life is currently receiving a lot of attention. Ionizing radiation is
also used to sterilise the soil.
Insect pest management:
Insect pest are responsible for a major reduction in agricultural crop production globally
(Alphey, 2007). Insect pest are serious threat to the production of agriculture. In addition to
reducing the crop yield, they also spread disease to farmed crops. To track the persistence of
pesticide residues in food, soil, ground water, and the environment, radiolabel insecticides were
used. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) proposed by Knipling in 1995 (Knipling, 1995).These
investigations have assisted in identifying and reducing the negative impacts of pesticides and
insecticides. This technique uses ionising radiation to sterilise male insects effectively while
without impairing their ability to function in the wild and mate effectively with wild female
insects. Large number of male sterile insects of the target species in the field crop is release in
this sterile insect technique.It is a particularly precise type of birth control that, after two or three
generations, reduces and eradicates the insect population. During sexual reproduction, sterile
male insects compete with the general male population, and because the eggs they create from
mating are infertile, they are unable to produce children (Morrison et al., 2010). It has been
effectively used to eradicate screw worm infestation in the US and Mexico as well as the
Mediterranean fruit fly from the US, Mexico, and Chile.
148
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
Assessment of soil erosion:
Soil erosion can be assessed by isotopic technique based on the use of fallout
radionuclides (FRN). Properties of radioactive Caesium-137 make it unique as a tracer for
studying erosion and sedimentation. There are no natural sources of Cs-137. Caesium-137 is
produced during nuclear fission. Thus, its presence in the environment is due to nuclear testing
or to releases from nuclear reactors (Wise, 1980). Artificial radioisotope Caesium-137 is used to
estimate rate of soil erosion (Ritchie et al., 1974). Radioisotopes, 4Be10, 13Al26 and 6C14 produced
cosmogenically in-situ in soil can also be used to monitoring soil erosion.
Soil fertility evaluation:
In agriculture, radioisotopes are used in the nutritional studies of major and minor
elements, mechanism of photosynthesis studies, and uptake of nutrients and ions mobility in soil.
Assessment of the available soil nutrient is of considerable importance in planning optimum
fertilizer use. Use of N15 in organic fertilizer studies has significantly advanced the
understanding of nitrogen release from organic materials. Crop residue or green manure studies
are relatively simple. These techniques have been extremely useful in determining how residue
quality parameters affect mineralization values (Hauck and Bremner, 1976). P 32 isotope use for
quantification of phosphorus mobilization and absorption. C14 carbon dating is a method of
obtaining age estimates on organic materials. This is often used for dating buried soils.
Radioisotopes are used to improve the quality and productivity of agricultural products as well as
optimum utilization of fertilizers without harmful effect to plants and mankind (Kumar 2013).
Radioactive waste management
“When one studies strongly radioactive substances special precautions must be taken. Dust, the
air of the room, and one's clothes, all become radioactive” - Marie Curie
Radioactive waste can be classified in the following ways:
 According to the level of activity:
i) High-level waste ii) Medium level waste iii) Low-level waste
 According to the form:
i) Solid waste ii) Liquid waste iii) Gaseous Waste
 According to half-life:
149
i) Long half-life waste (Half-life more than a month) ii) Short half-life waste (Half-life less
than a month)
The hospital radioactive waste is mostly composed of low-level waste and occasional
medium-level waste with short half-lives. The high-level waste is usually associated with the
nuclear industry and nuclear reactors.
Approaches to radioactive waste disposal:
Landfills, incineration, and recycling are the three well-known ways used to dispose of
solid waste, such as municipal trash. Radioactive waste is handled by landfills using
sophisticated techniques. However, fly ash, toxic fumes, and chemical pollutants are released
into the air during the combustion of regular garbage. If radioactive waste is handled in this way,
radioactive particle matter would be released into the atmosphere. As a result, when modified,
fine particulate filters are used, and the gaseous effluents are diluted and discharged. Recycling is
possible to some extent. The reprocessing method, which recovers valuable radioactive materials
for cyclic usage, has already been discussed. However, some of the high-level radioactive waste
is still left behind. In addition to maintaining radioactive source sites clean, radioactive waste
management entails reducing radioactive residues, processing waste-packing properly, storing,
and safely disposing of trash. Future issues are a result of poor habits. Therefore, in addition to
technical know-how and financial resources, choosing the places where radioactivity is to be
controlled properly is equally vital to producing safe and environmentally friendly solutions. The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is promoting the acceptance of some basic tenets
by all countries for radioactive waste management. These include: (i) securing an acceptable
level of protection of human health; (ii) provision of an acceptable level of protection of the
environment; (iii) while envisaging (i) and (ii), assurance of negligible effects beyond national
boundaries;(iv) acceptable impact on future generations; and (v) no undue burden on future
generations. Other factors include those related to law, control, generation, safety, and
management. We then go over a few methods for getting rid of radioactive waste. The first step
in the management of radioactive waste is to take into account the nature of the radioactive
elements involved in terms of their half-lives before selecting the best treatment strategy. The
"delay and decay" technique, which entails storing radioactive waste for a long enough period
that the radioactivity will decay in the interim, is used when the concentrations of radioactive
150
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
materials are mostly short-lived. A second strategy is to "dilute and scatter" to reduce the
environmental risk. However, the only method that works when the radioactivity is long-lived is
to "concentrate and contain" the activity. Chemical precipitation, ion exchange, reverse osmosis,
natural or steam evaporation, centrifuging, etc. are used to concentrate the waste (often sludge).
The resulting solids have a lot of radioactivity contained in them. We'll go over a few of the
strategies that are being promoted or are already being used in the following. However, mining
operations become significant in managing radioactive waste to the extent that they "bring the
radiation to the surface and change its chemical and physical structure that may increase its
mobility in the environment." Because the tailings contain long-lived isotopes like Th230 and
Ra226 as well as uranium's decay products, the tailings must be contained. Transuranic waste and
low-level radioactive waste are frequently buried. In shallow landfills, low-level radioactive
waste and even transuranic waste are frequently buried. Any potential groundwater
contamination as a result of this must be taken seriously. It is anticipated that the highly
radioactive liquid effluents will eventually solidify into borosilicate glass, which is relatively
robust in the sense that it is chemically resistant, resistant to radiolysis, and relatively insensitive
to fluctuations in waste composition, and simple to process remotely. Glass is also expected to be
leach-resistant. (Other options that are used to some extent include immobilization in cement
matrices, bituminization, and polymerization. To avoid the risk of criticality or recovery for
covert reasons, plutonium must only be loaded in trace amounts because it does not attach to the
glass matrix very firmly. Then, this glass is put in canisters constructed of particular alloys. The
final location where the garbage will be disposed of will determine the type of canister material
to use. For instance, the alloy used must have low corrosion rates at the environmental
temperature, pressure, oxygen content, etc., if the final disposal is in the oceans. Studies have
been conducted in this area. For instance, it has been discovered that the corrosion rates of 1018
mild steel, copper, lead, 50:10 cupro-nickel, Inconel 600, and Ticode 12 are 11.0, 5.0, 1.0, 0.7,
0.1, and 0.06 mm/year, respectively, in oxygenated seawater at 250°C, 7 mega Pascals pressure,
and 1750 ppm of dissolved oxygen. To contain radioactivity for periods of 10,000–100,000
years, one aims to dispose of high-level radioactive waste packages enclosed in several metal-
barrier canisters within man-made or natural barriers. The barrier is a device or medium that
"stops or greatly slows down the movement of emplaced radioactive materials or restricts or
151
prevents access to the radioactive materials." It is clear that using several barriers can ensure the
long-term safety of radioactive materials that have been inserted. Along with natural barriers,
man-made barriers exist in the form in which trash is reduced, such as in glassy form, and the
canister along with excessive packing. When choosing natural barriers, land-based mining
depositories are preferable over very stable geologic formations over ocean disposal. However,
despite the 50-year accumulation of radioactive waste, societal and environmental concerns have
prevented the landroute from being implemented in nations like the USA. As a result,
suggestions to use the ocean route have been suggested, and there too the options range from just
placing the canisters over the seabed to placing them within the sub-seabed sediments and even
within the basement rocks. Options being aired for disposing ofradioactivity.The following
options have been aired sometime or the other. Each one of the options demands serious studies
and technical assessments:
 Deep geological repositories
 Ocean dumping
 Seabed burial
 Sub-seabed disposal
 Subductive waste disposal method
 Transforming radioactive waste to non-radioactive stable waste
 Dispatching to the Sun.
Radioactive waste management in India
Nuclear energy can be seen as a minimal indicator of the amount of radioactive waste
that a nation generates and, consequently, the scope of radioactive waste management, just as per
capita electricity consumption is correlated with a nation's standard of living. India is fourth from
the bottom in a group of around 30 nations in terms of the proportion of nuclear power used in
generating electricity. As of the year 2021, India’s share of nuclear electricity generation in the
total electricity generation in the country was 3.3% compared to 70.6%, 29.8%, 29.6%, 5,1%,
11.3%, 14.5%, 19.7%, 20.6% and 14.6% of France, Sweden, South Korea, Japan, Germany,
UK, USA, Russia and Canada, respectively. The reactors in operation produce net Gigawatts
(one billion (109) watts) (E) in the latter countries nearly 61.4, 6.9, 24.4, 31.7, 4.1, 6.8, 94.7, 27.7
152
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
and 13.6, respectively; India’s reactors in operation yield 6.8 on this scale (World Nuclear
Performance Report, 2021).
Therefore, the amount of radioactive waste management in India may be negligible in
comparison to that in other nations, especially when one considers the existing nuclear arsenal in
the nuclear weapons countries. The management of radioactive waste is a growing concern as
more power reactors come online and weaponization progresses along deeper paths. In this
regard, lessons from other nations' experiences might be helpful. The management of radioactive
waste has been an essential component of India's nuclear fuel cycle. Reactor and fuel
reprocessing facility operations produce low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. After
chemical treatment, the low-level radioactive waste liquid is maintained as sludge, resulting in
decontamination factors between 10 and 1000. Depending on the type of waste, solid radioactive
waste is compacted, billed, or burned. Depending on the type of waste, reverse osmosis, solar
evaporation of liquid waste, and immobilization utilizing cement matrix are all used. Solid
garbage is disposed of at near-surface disposal facilities using underground designed ditches,
which are constantly monitored and observed. To reduce airborne radioactivity, high-efficiency
particulate air (HEPA) filters are employed. Along with the expansion of nuclear power and fuel-
reprocessing plants during the past forty years, radioactive waste management facilities have
been built in Trombay, Tarapore, Rawatbhata, Kalpakkam, Narora, Kakrapara, Hyderabad, and
Jaduguda. When processing solid waste, multiple barriers are used. Reprocessing the burnt
carbide fuel from the Kalpakkam fast breeder test reactor is necessary after it has been put into
service. Due to this fuel's predicted burn-up being in the range of 100 MWD/kg, which is almost
an order of magnitude higher than that of thermal reactors, and the short cooling period before
reprocessing, the amount of a given activity that can be handled will be significantly increased.
The reprocessing cycle would produce new chemical forms if carbide fuel was used. These
present fresh difficulties for the recycling of fast reactor fuel.
Conclusion:
Agriculture have already been bestowed with the beneficial effect of radionuclides. The
impact on agriculture is quite significant. Though the benefits, however sometimes remain
unnoticed outside the group that are directly involved in research. Therefore, an adequate effort
must be put, so that the results reach the farmers, and the impact of radionuclides becomes
153
clearly visible. To mention some, International Atomic Energy Agency (IEAE 1996) have helped
Dominican Republic to curb the spread of Mediterranean fruit fly, that threatened the fruit and
vegetable production in the entire Caribbean Region. The farmers in the Suth East Asia are
harvesting more rice from new varieties of crop developed using nuclear techniques.
Radionuclides can offer techniques and option to provide food security via increased
productivity, while conserving the valuable natural resources around the globe. International
Atomic Energy Agency and Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations are jointly
playing a crucial forefront role in developing technologies for sustaining food security that
involves nuclear methods. The organisations lay emphasis on the use of radionuclides and its
radiation through various co-ordinated research project in the field of soil fertility, irrigation and
crop production, insect control, livestock production and food preservation. IEAE (1996) states
that to meet the current and upcoming challenges for food production and security can be meet
by the peaceful use of atomic energy. Though the use of radioisotopes has gained some
momentum, but its potential is yet to be explored in the near future.
References:
Alphey, L. (2007). Engineering insects for the Sterile Insect Technique. In Area-wide control of
insect pests: from research to field implementation, M. Vreysen, A. Robinson, and J.
Hendrichs, eds. (Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Springer), pp. 51-60.
Graham, E.R., (1964): Chemistry of the Soil, United Book Prints, 2nd edition,pp. 445-473.
Harderson, G. (1990). Use of nuclear Techniques in Soil Plant Relationships, Training Course
Series No. 2, IAEA, Vienna
Hauck, R.D, Bremner J.M, (1976). Use of tracers for soil and fertiliser nitrogen research.
Advances in Agronomy. (28): 219-266.
Hera, C., 1995. Contribution of nuclear techniques to the assessment of nutrient availability for
crops. In: FAO Fertilizer and Plant Nutrition Bulletin No 12. Integrated plant nutrition
systems. Rome, Italy: 307-331.
IEAE, International Atomic Energy Agency, 1996. Isotope studies on plant productivity. IAEA-
TECDOC - 889. Vienna, Austria.
154
(ISBN: 978-93-91768-36-2)
IAEA,International Atomic Energy Agency, 2001. Use of isotope and radiation methods in soil
and water management and crop nutrition. IAEA Training Course Series No. 14, IAEA,
Vienna, Austria.
Kumar, D. (2013). Role of radioisotopes in soil plant system. International Journal of Agronomy
and Plant Production. 4(12): 3348-3351
Morrison, N.I. Franz, G., Koukidou, M., Miller, T.A., Saccone, G., Alphey, L.S., Beech, C.J.,
Nagaraju, J., Simmons, G.S., Polito, L.C. (2010) Genetic Improvements to the Sterile
Insect Technique for Agricultural Pests Asia Pacific J. Mol. Biol. Biotechnol. 18 (2): 275-
295
Rahola, T., Saxen, R., Kostiainen, E., &Puhakainen, M. (2006). Artificial radioactivity in human
body and the environment. Radiochemistry, 48(6), 626-631.
Rao, K. R. (2001). Radioactive waste: The problem and its management. Current Science,
81(12), 1534-1546.
Ritchie, J.C., J.A. Spraberry, and J.R. McHenry (1974). Estimating soil erosion from the
redistribution of fallout Cs137. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 38: 137-139.
Sood, D.D., Reddy, A.V.R. and Ramamoorthy, N. (2010) Applications of radioisotopes in
agriculture and Industry. In Fundamentals of Radiochemistry
Wise, S.M. (1977). Caesium-137 and lead-210: A review of techniques and some applications in
geomorphology. p. 109-127. In R.A. Cullingford et al. (ed.) Timescales in geomorphology.
John Wiley & Sons. New York.
World Nuclear Association, World Nuclear Performance Report 2021
155
View publication stats

Insights of Agricultural Sciences

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

Insights of Agricultural Sciences

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Insights of Agricultural Sciences

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

Insights of Agricultural Sciences Editors

Chapter · October 2022

Bickram Panja Subhajit Pal

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Dr. Ankit Singh Mr. Vivek Kumar Patel

Mr. Saipayan Ghosh Mr. Anshuman Das

 Copyright reserved by the Editor

Agricultural production also contributes significantly to environmental

Agriculture contributes around 17% to GDP and continues to be among the

Sr. No. Chapter and Author(s) Page No.

Chapter SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE:

Chapter ADVANCEMENTS OF PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY IN

Submergence and SukkhaDhan 6, CR Dhan 801, CR Dhan 802 Rice

Heat tolerance RCRMH2, Lall-454 Maize

Type of RNAi Application Crop Reference

CRISPR/Cas9d Deactivated Non-cleavage dsDNA NGG Gilbert et al.,

CRISPR- Cas12b/C2c1 Cohesive DSB dsDNA TTN, Ming et al.,

Application of CRISPR/Cas in Cereals

1 Rice OsMPK5 Enhanced resistance to disease Xie & Yang, (2013)

2 Rice OsEBP89 Improved seed germination under Zhang et al., (2020)

4 Rice TIFY1a/TIFY1b Increased cold tolerance Huang et al., (2017)

5 Rice OsDST Moderate level tolerance to osmotic Santosh Kumar et

9 Rice OsNramp5 Low Cd-accumulating indica rice Tang et al., (2017)

14 Wheat TaARE1 Enhanced NUE and Guo et al., (2021)

Advance plant biotechnology tools in crop production

Molecular Breeding: A Review. In International Journal of Molecular Sciences (Vol. 20,

Chapter ADVANCES IN AGRICULTURAL ENTOMOLOGY BY USING

insecticides. At the peaks of their population density, to some extent of insecticide

5. Leaving a pest residue:

6 Rogue space planning Rice brown plant hopper

ii) Community level practices:

terminating in a collection jar containing cotton soaked in dichlorvos insecticide

Chapter EFFICIENT INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM FOR

Problems of Present Agriculture

 Profitability: The system occasionally offers a low-cost option to utilize waste or

Employment generation in various components of IFS as per IIFSR, Modipuram

Prerequisites for selecting the components in IFS

Relative profitability of integrated and conventional farming systems

Alloted area Gross Net Income Alloted area Gross Net

2 Dairy+Vermic 0.06+0.01 189360 108310 0.02+0.01 94680 54155

3 Horticulture 0.18 57272 21560 - - -

4 Apiculture 0.01 42000 26000 0.01 42000 26000

5 Mushroom 0.02 60000 40000 0.02 60000 40000

Total 1.00 518832 300998 0.4 273480 167813

Reference: IIFSR, Modipuram

Proposed IFS models

Chapter MICROBES MEDIATED MINERAL WEATHERING AND

Oxalic acid concentrations were substantially greater in S. variegatus2-colonized soils

Table 3: Estimated Ca dissolution rates from basalt

Treatment Al( mg/l) K (mg/l) Si (mg/l) Mg (mg/l)

Serpentine+Pr - - 11.86 8.23

Serpentine+Pn - - 12.42 11.13

Control (Pr) 0.23 9.5 0.87 0.79

Control (Pn) 0.25 0.21 0.73 0.11

Treatment Al( mg/l) K (mg/l) Si (mg/l) Mg (mg/l)

Muscovite+Pr 1.13 9.84 3.9 -