m) Block plans will be based on village plans and district plans on block plans, and the district plans will be made the state plans.

n) Panchayats and panchayat samithis have better finances.

o) The panchayat samithis are given power to levy surcharges on taxes levied by the panchayats. This will help the panchayat samithis to build up their resources.

p) The main function of the popular institutions will be planning and execution of all schemes of rural development on the twin principles of self-help and mutual co-operation.

## Lessons learnt

(1) Panchayat raj representative had a feeling that there is a dilution of their authorities and responsibilities in actual functioning.

(2) There were cases which utilised directly the services of block level technical staff without involving the non-official.

(3) Frequent transfer of staff gave poor image to the bodies.

(4) Failure to mobilise resources to the extent necessary.

## Target area approach

### Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP)

Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) is the earliest area development programme launched by the Central Government in 1970 to tackle the special problems faced by those fragile areas, which are constantly affected by severe drought conditions and aims at mitigating the adverse effects of drought on the production of crops and livestock and productivity of land, water and human resources. It strives to encourage restoration of ecological balance and seeks to improve the economic and social conditions of the poor and the disadvantaged sections of the rural community.

### Hill Area Development Program

Hill Area Development Program (HADP) introduced by the Government of India to initiate socio economic development in the hill areas of India in 1970.

The main objective of HADP is eco-restoration, eco-development and eco-preservation. While taking care of the socio economic and developmental needs of the District, the HADP is to develop land use planning for forest areas to cultivable areas to conserve soil, water and increase productivity of land, economic upliftment of tribals in an isolated settlement and also to ensure peoples participation in all developmental activities. This translated on the field consist of the following components:

1. To preserve and conserve grasslands of hill area.

2. Development of land use plan for forest area as well as cultivated areas.

3. Conserve soil and water to increase productivity of the land by using vegetative methods and changing the cropping pattern.
4. Promote non-land based economic activities to uplift the poor people and to ensure environment Protection.

5. Economic up-liftment of tribals in isolated locations, settlements.

6. To evolve a comprehensive human settlement policy and discourage migration.

7. 7. "Area based Approach" adopted and integrated plans to be prepared for all watersheds and high priority watershed shall be chosen for treatment.

8. Use of scientific interventions will be encouraged i.e. Application of Remote sensing, etc.,

9. Promotion of Non-Conventional Energy sources i.e. Solar, Hydro, Bio-gas, etc.,

## Target group approach

### Small Farmer's development Agency (SFDA)

The aims of the SFDA are to identify the problems of the small farmers, to prepare appropriate programmes to overcome them and ensure the availability of inputs and credit. In all, about 50 SFDA projects have been established through out the country under the Fourth Five-Year Plan and Rs.68 crores were allotted for these projects during the Fourth Plan.

### Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labour's Projects

The principal objective of this scheme is to assist the marginal cultivators in making the maximum productive use of their small holdings by undertaking horticulture, animal husbandry and dairying. Efforts are also to be directed towards bringing in larger incomes by channeling credits, improved inputs and improved practices. Under this scheme, 41 projects were scheduled to be established throughout the country in the Fourth Five-Year Plan to cover farmers having holdings of not more than one hectare and agricultural laborer's having a homestead and earning half or more of their income from agricultural wages. Each Project aimed at covering about 20,000 households during the Fourth Five-Year Plan, of which about two-thirds would be from the marginal farmers and the rest from agricultural Labourers.

## Technological Development Approach:

Agricultural development was visualized as an instrument for rural development and emphasis was placed on the transfer of improved technology and increases the production.

### Intensive Agricultural District Programme (Package Programme)

Under the Community Development Programme, the production efforts and the available resources were diffused over the entire country. The educational and extension efforts among the millions of farmers to be tackled remained thin and restricted. By the middle of the Third Five-Year Plan, it became increasingly evident that agricultural development was not making satisfactory progress. As a result of the report of the Ford
Foundation team, known as "India's Food Crisis and Steps to Meet It", a significant departure took place during the period and a new Programme known as the "Intensive Agricultural District Programme", based on the principles of concentration and better management of resources and efforts in potential and responsive areas, with assured water supply, was started in 1960. Since then, at least one district in each state has been covered under this Programme. The scheme not only involves the adoption of a package of new practices, but also ensures the availability of credit and production inputs, adequate research information, training and education of farmers and extension personnel, storage and marketing arrangements and price assurance which would encourage the farmers to adopt scientific methods of farming. Each Intensive Agricultural District Programme district is the charge of the project officer who is assisted by an assistant project officer, four or five subject-matter specialists and other supporting staff. At the block level, besides a block development officer, there are four agricultural extension officers, two co-operative extension officers and a few officials from other fields. The number of VLWs is 20 in each block. A little later, a similar programme, but less in intensity and thinner in staffing pattern, was started in 1964. This programme is known as the "Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP)." Now about 10 per cent of the total cultivated area in the country is under the Intensive Agricultural District Programme and Intensive Agricultural Area Programme.

### Intensive Agricultural Area Programme (IAAP)

IAAP was started in 1964. The two major points of difference between the IADP and IAAP programmes were that the latter was crop oriented and the additional staff provided was on a reduced scale. Both the programmes made good progress and significant beginning because for the first time, a fairly large proportion of cropped area in the country possessing adequate production potential was brought under intensive production efforts. The intensive area approach acquired new potency with the emergence of exotic high yielding varieties of cereal crops and technological improvements. These were incorporated in the High yielding varieties programme.

### High-yielding varieties programme

A new dimension which was created in the community development programme has been the Agricultural Production Programme, known as the High-Yielding Varieties Programme of wheat and paddy and hybrids of maize, sorghum and *bajra* evolved and introduced in the country since 1965-66. To start with, 100 districts were selected for this purpose, but later on it spread to other areas also. This programme aimed at covering 13.162 hectares by 1970-71. This significant development has a vital bearing on the increasing of agricultural production and the bumper harvest of over 108 million tons of food grains during 1970-71 has clearly shown the impact of this new strategy.
## Multiple-cropping programme

Yet another strategy recently introduced in the country is of multiple-cropping which aims at maximizing production per unit of land and per unit of time by taking three or four crops from the same piece of land in a year. This has been made possible because of the new short-duration, high-yielding varieties and improved agricultural technology.

## Training and Visit System (1974)

It was felt that sustained high levels of agricultural production and incomes could not be possible without an effective agricultural extension service supported by agricultural research that is relevant to farmer's needs. With this concept Daniel Benor, the World Bank expert developed the Training and Visit (T and V) system for extension services to a wide range of agricultural and administrative environments in developing countries.

In India it was implemented during the year 1974 in Rajasthan Canal areas of Rajasthan and Chambal canal areas in Madhya Pradesh. Before it was introduced in India, it was in operation in more than 40 countries in the world. West Bengal was the first state to adopt this system throughout the state. In Tamil Nadu this system was introduces as a pilot project in Madurai district and Sivagangai divisions of the then Ramnad district on 1.4.1980. This system was extended to all the districts of the state from 1.9.1981. This scheme was aided by world bank.

## Salient Features

### Professionalism

Appropriate advice would help farmers to increase their income. This would come from an extension service that is professional at all levels. Extension staff must keep in close touch with relevant scientific developments and research in order to formulate specific recommendations. This can be achieved only if each extension worker is fully and continuously trained. The T and V system fulfills this requirement.

### Single line of Command

The extension service must be under single line of technical and administrative command ie., under the Department of Agriculture. However, support is required from teaching and research institutions, input supply and other agricultural support organisations and local government bodies, but all extension workers should be responsible administratively and technically to a unit within only one department.
## Concentration of Effort

Only by concentrating on the tasks at hand the impact of extension become visible and progress can be sustained. All staff of the department will only work on agricultural extension.

Non-extension activities like supply of inputs, data collection, etc., will dilute the concentration of effort. These supporting activities are, of course, important to agriculture, but are the responsibility of other specialist staff who are trained and work full time in these fields.

## Time-bound work

Messages and skills must be taught to farmers in a regular, timely fashion, so that farmers will make best use of the resources at their command. Subjects for two fortnights are learned by the Subject Matter Specialist (SMS) at monthly zonal workshops. These recommendations are then presented to VEWs at the two fortnightly training sessions. VEW visit his farmers regularly on a fixed day once in a fortnight and teach the messages and skills.

## Field and Farmer Orientation

To serve farmers effectively, an extension service must be in contact with them. This contact must be regular and, on a schedule, known to farmers. Under this system, farmers served by a VEW are divided into groups; each group is visited on a fixed day once in every two weeks by the VEW. All other extension workers, including SMS, are to spend a large apart of their time in farmer's field.

## Regular and Continuous Training

Regular and continuous training of extension staff is required both to teach, and discuss with them. The training sessions ie., fortnightly training and monthly workshops are key means of bringing actual farmers problems to the attention of research.

## Linkage with Research

Effective extension depends on close linkages with research. Linkages are two- ways. Problems faced by farmers that can not be solved by extension workers are passed on to researchers for an immediate solution or investigation. The joint effort of research and extension staff help to formulate production recommendation.

## Working Pattern

T and V system was introduced in 1974 in Rajasthan Canal areas in Rajasthan and Chambal Area in Madhya Pradesh. Then 13 states introduced this system. All the States extended this system in 1985.
# Organisation Pattern (Administrative Structures)

## Training Pattern

The monthly zonal workshop is the main venue of in-service training for SMS and of regular contact between extension and research workers. The chief means of continuously upgrading and updating the professional skills of VEWs and AOs is the fortnightly training sessions.

## Pre-Seasonal Trainings

Before the commencement of Kharif and Rabi seasons, pre-season trainings are conducted every year at research stations. The latest techniques pertaining to the season are passed on to the extension functionaries in this training programme.

## Monthly Zonal Workshop (MZW)

This MZW is held for two days to build up the technical skills of SMS regularly in the field of their specialization.

The objective of this MZW is to cover six basic activities:

1. to review the rate of adoption of recommended practices by farmers, and the problems in adoption of recommended practices;

2. to note the difficulties faced by SMS in presenting and explaining recommendations;

3. to formulate and discuss recommended practices for major crops for the ensuing two fortnights;

4. to review the climatic, input and marketing situations of the area that may affect the adoption of recommended practices;

5. in the practical and field sessions, train SMS to carry out recommended practices themselves; and

6. to discuss the progress and results of the farm trials.

Monthly Workshops should be held at research station that is conveniently located in the district from which participants are drawn. It is held for two days. The day of MZW should not be the days of fortnightly training sessions at sub-division level. Two full days are recommended for the workshop to discuss carefully the topics presented and their own work experiences, reviews current field problems, finalise recommendation, etc. The maximum number of participants should be about thirty-five.

The participants are from extension service and university scientists. The participating extension staff would by the ADAs, SMS at the district and divisional level (taluk). The JDA will be the coordinator and he is responsible for overall effective planning of the workshop. The trainers will be researchers from SAUs and research station who are thoroughly conversant with local crops and technology as well as an experienced person working on major crops of the area. Guest trainers can also be included.
The MZW comes out with recommendations for the next two fortnights. SMS will teach these recommendations to Aos and AAOs in fortnightly training session.

## Fortnightly Training

All Village Extension Workers (VEWs or AAOs) and Agricultural Officers (Aos) participate in one-full day training for each fortnight. This is the chief means of continuously upgrading the professional skills of extension workers and of infusing them with confidence to meet farmers. With an effective training the extension workers learn the specific recommendation that will be discussed with farmers over the coming fortnight. Without these recommendations, their visits are likely to be generalized and undirected and, therefore, of little use to farmers.

**Fortnightly training sessions have two main objectives:** one is to present specific recommended practices for the coming fortnight to the AO s and AAOs. The other objective is to act as a link between field level extension staff and research via SMS. This session is also used for regulating the input supplies.

This session can be held in research station, department farms or farmers field depending on the facilities available. AO s and AAOs must learn and practice the skills involved in the recommended technologies. Materials and equipment's needed for teaching should be brought to the training site for each sessions.

## Visit Schedules

### Contact Farmers

Frequent contact between a Village Extension Worker (VEW) or AAO and all farmers in his area is not possible. Therefore, visit of VEW focuses on a small, selected number of farmers called ‘contact farmers’ in each farmers’ group and along with any other farmers who are willing and interested to attend his visit and seek his advises. The contact farmers, normally, constitute about 10 per cent. These contact farmers are selected by VEW based on the following characteristics: they should represent proportionately to main socio-economic and farming conditions of their group and regarded by other farmers as able and worthy of imitation; they should be practicing farmers; they should be willing to adopt the recommendations in their land and allow other farmers to observe the practices and explain the practices to them; as far as size and composition of farmers’ groups, they must come from different families; and their farms should be dispersed throughout the group area.

### Purpose of Visit

VEW's field visits have two chief purposes. One purpose; which is primary, is to advise and teach farmers and encourage them to adopt improved agricultural technology that is relevant to their resources and skills; the second purpose is to enable extension staff and through them, researchers to be closely and continuously acquainted with farm conditions and problems so that production recommendations and
agricultural research are relevant to actual farmers' needs. On field visits, all extension
workers should listen as much as they talk.

Formation of circles

First step to organize visit schedule of VEW is to define the circle of his
operation. The circle should be a compact and continuous area. Each VEW is
responsible for a manageable number of farm families. The number of farm families
per VEW may range from 300 to 1500 depending on the actual field situations. Under
the present conditions of Tamil Nadu, a VEW may cover effectively 800 to 1000 farm
families. The criteria fixed in hilly tracts is 1:250 farm families; 1:400 farm families in
irrigated areas and 1:800 farm families in dry areas.

Conduct of Visits

Visits should be field oriented. Most of the farmers who meet VEW should meet him in their fields. The time of the visit should be the time when farmers are in their fields. VEW makes field visits in the forenoon and meets as many farmers as possible and in the afternoon, he makes himself available in a common place in the village so that farmers who want to discuss with him can do so.

Demerits of T & V System

1. The approach was too staff-intensive, some states faced difficulty t provide such a large number of staff members.

2. The emphasis was only on the development of agriculture, thus, neglecting other enterprises and aspects of family and rural development.

3. The approach is mainly confined to the farmers.

4. There was a problem of coordination with the research institutions and supply agencies.

5. The system was more suitable to the institutions where the process of development was just started. It has less relevance to the developed areas.

6. Information for the farmers in many cases were of routine type, which made sustenance of their interest in the programme difficult.

7. In training, emphasis was on technology and very little on extension methods, management techniques etc., which are also needed.

8. Emphasis was on personal contact of the extension worker with a few selected farmers, to the exclusion of almost all other extension methods and aids.

9. The existing village leadership and village institutions have been neglected.

10. Inadequate linkage with first-line extension programmes of the ICAR and Agricultural Universities.
**Broad Based Extension Approach**

(Introduced under Tamil Nadu Agricultural Development Project – TNADP)

This system has been introduced in Tamil Nadu State from 1.4.1991.
Government of Tamil Nadu has entered into an agreement with World Bank through
Government of India for implementing the project for seven years from 1991.

Need for Broad Based System

The Training and Visit system recognized the farm family approach rather than 'crop approach' and 'area approach'. In irrigated areas the village extension workers have full time job because the agricultural crops occupy 9-10 months in a year. In dryland the village extension workers do not have full time opportunities since the crops occupy 4-6 months. The messages delivered to the farmers were crop oriented and less importance was given to allied activities.

How broad-based extension is an important over T & V System?

This system aims at rectifying the defects. Role of subject matter specialist is amplified and they are invited to formulate messages suitable to their land-based activities. The village extension workers will have full time job by offering messages during lean season. The concept of broad-based education lies in formulating and delivering composite messages to the farmers to meet the needs of their full agricultural environment.

Principles of broad-based extension

1. Adoption of an integrated farming systems approach for the generation of relevant composite messages.

2. Broadening the range of subjects from agricultural crops to all allied subjects.

3. Improvement of the effective communication of the farming community.

4. Introduction of resource-based planning down to sub-division level.

5. Encourages participation of non-governmental organisation in all agricultural extension activities.

Objectives of the broad-based extension

1. To increase the farm income.

2. To solve problems of the farming community.

3. To make extension system more cost effective.

4. To upgrade the quality of the extension workers.

5. To popularise integrated farming system approach.
**Scope of the broad-based extension system**

The activities of all land-based departments will be unified in the long run. Duplication of efforts and unhealthy competitions will be avoided. Agricultural department offers full support to the activities of all the line departments.

**Methodology:**

Broad based extension system help the farmers in getting multiple message needed to improve their overall economy besides helping to grow agricultural crops. Thus, the farmers are encouraged in sericultural activities, growing good fodders, animal husbandry activities and growing fish in the farm ponds etc. These activities enable the farm community to get extra income.

**Need for the broad-based extension:**

This system was formed to encourage the activities of the farmers. Different departments compete with one another and they have proposed to increase the staff component to contact as many farmers as possible. World Bank and Government of India thought to utilise the well-established extension agency and bringing all extension and land-based activities together.

**Role of Subject Matter Specialist:**

District level subject matter specialists were positioned under the T & V system. They were SMS agronomy, SMS plant protection, SMS information and training and SMS training and visit. One additional SMS is responsible for the activities of oilseeds, horticulture etc., SMS have to expand their horizon. For instance, SMS agronomy has to expand his activities to areas like mulberry cultivation, fruit trees, fodder cultivation etc. In areas where SMS is not available trainers from that particular department will act as SMS in that particular department will act as SMS in that particular subject.

**Organisational set up:**

The extension system created under T & V system will be maintained. The VEW, AO, Taluk level SMS, District level SMS will be operating. There will be only marginal changes in the strength of field functionaries. The ratio of one VEW to farm families will be brought down and thus there will be marginal increase of VEW.

**Operational guidelines:**

The monthly zonal workshop, fortnightly training, and fixed programme of field visits will be continued without any change. In the monthly zonal workshop SMS will help to formulate messages which are location specific.
Implementation of broad-based extension system in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is the pioneer state which has implemented this system from 1993.
An agreement has been signed with World Bank for executing a seven-year contract.
The GOI and State Government have organised regional level workshops to discuss and
finalise training programme. The state level institute at Kudumianmalai will help the
officers to understand this system much more effectively. Ultimately the VEW will be
trained fully in all aspects of broad-based extension system.

Training Programme:

A comprehensive training programme is envisaged. All land-based departments
will identify five numbers of state level and district level trainers who are SMS. They
are responsible for conducting classes fully or partly. The district level trainers will
attend the monthly zonal workshop. They will help to solve the field problems faced by
the extension agents. Trainers from sister department will be made to participate in this
programme.

Role of Agricultural Department and Line Department

Broad based extension involves the coordination of line departments with the
agricultural department. Agricultural department will serve as nodal department. For
eg. In NWDPRA areas messages delivered will cover agricultural department,
agricultural engineering department and forest department for land treatment,
vegetative bunding crop and trees. In hilly areas messages will be delivered by
horticultural department. In areas where silk industries are predominant sericulture
department will take a leading role. Agricultural department will be the nodal
department to initiate activities.

It can be concluded that the broad-based extension system will help the farmer
to obtain composite messages suitable to agriculture as well as to allied activities. The
agricultural extension system will work in close coordination with sister and line
departments. The farmer is expected to derived maximum benefit from this system.

Single window approach

New Strategies for Agricultural Extension (ATMA)

Due to globalization, the farmers have to be fit with the information related to
production, marketing and export, which enables the farmers to overcome the
difficulties in production and marketing. The earlier programmes like, community
development programme, Intensive Agricultural Development Programme (IADP),
High Yielding Varieties Programme were concentrated on few crops and selected areas,
even though it has given desired results initially but in course of time, the projects can
not cope up with the changes which has resulted sum undesirable consequences in the
farming sector and also on society as a whole.
In the earlier projects the policies were made at higher level and pass on the ultimate user, which were not conducive for the farmers to adopt. So, in course of time keeping in mind, the causes for failure of the programme, the present Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) is one of the innovation technology dissemination component at national level was implemented.

It was initially implemented at pilot study in 6 states, covering 24 districts of our country. The ATMA, act as an integrated strategic technology plan for the district, that would specify, short- and medium-term adoptive research as well as technology validation and refinement making extension priorities, for the district.

To fulfil the above requirements the ATMA includes the concept of participatory management providing representatives of the department of agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture and fisheries along with each research extension units to support its institutional identity and the management component.

**ATMA, the main objectives are,**

i. To strengthen research – extension – farmer linkages

ii. To provide an effective mechanism for coordination and management of activities of different agencies involved in technology adoption / validation and dissemination at the district level and below

iii. To increase the quality and type of technologies being disseminated

iv. To move towards shared ownership of the agricultural technology system by key shareholders

v. To develop new partnerships with the private institutions including NGOs.

A centre coordinates the activities of technology development, adoption and dissemination at district level and below.

Since, the government may not be in a position to finance fully for any of the development programme, the involvement of joint partnership programme, with private institution, including NGO was incorporated as a component. Under ATMA the key functions are

* To carry out the activities of participating unit providing feedback and direction for the various research and extension activities, being carried out with in the district.

* ATMA act as a centre of activity for the development of Farmers Interest Groups and Farmers Organization with in the district.

* Its emphasis, the involvement of private sectors, private firms to provide inputs, technical support, agro forestry and marketing services to farmer. It also
encourages agriculture lending institution to increase the availability of capital to
resource poor and marginal farmers, children and women farmers.

References:-

1. Uthamasamy, S. et. al. 2002. New Dimensions in Transfer of Technology. King's Graphics, Coimbatore.

2. Kareem, M.A. 2007. Farming Systems Approach, Study material, MANAGE, Hyderabad.

3. Manjunath et al. 2014. Integrated Farming System – A Holistic Approach: A Review. Research & Reviews: *Journal of Agriculture and Allied Sciences*, 3(4):30-38

4. Ponnusamy, K. and Kousalya Devi, M. 2017. Impact of Integrated Farming System Approach on

5. Doubling Farmers’ Income. *Agricultural Economics Research Review*. 30:233-240.

6. 5.G.L Ray, 2018. Extension Communication and Management.

7. A.K Singh, 2016. Dimensions of Agricultural Extension.
# PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION EDUCATION

Akanksha Singh¹ and Girijesh Yadav²

¹⁻²(Research Scholar, Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, U.P., India)

Mobile no.- 7052992105

Email id- ak.singh16031994@gmail.com

## Abstract

Participatory Action Research is an approach to research and learning that uses different methods to address issues or possibilities identified and defined by a community. PAR is “A participatory, democratic process that seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people in their communities” (Reason & Bradbury, 2001). Participatory action research initiatives are typically designed and led by local practitioners and community members, though they may collaborate with professional researchers and evaluators on both the design and execution of the process. Here participants work with a facilitator to identify a community problem, develop research methodology, collect data, and analyze findings. The data is then used to make recommendations about how the problem should be resolved. The end result is to alleviate oppression or improve community or service quality and ultimately lead to sustainable rural development.

**Key Words**- PAR, Facilitator, Community, Research methodology, Rural development

## Introduction

**Participatory Action Research** is an approach to research and learning that uses different methods to address issues or possibilities identified and defined by a community. It is basically a set of principles and practices for originating, designing, conducting, analysing and acting on a piece of research. It focuses ultimately on the improvement of practice and the creation of knowledge in social groups. It creates new ways of working, interacting, and knowing. According to Paul Chatterton, Duncan Fuller & Paul Routledge (2007) PAR is about jointly producing knowledge with others
to produce critical interpretations and readings of the world, which are accessible,
understandable to all those involved and actionable.

Participatory action research is a form of action research in which professional social researchers operate as full collaborators with members of organizations in studying and transforming those organizations. It is an ongoing organizational learning process, a research approach that emphasizes co-learning, participation and organizational transformation (Greenwood *et al*, 1993). PAR seeks to understand and improve the world by changing it. At its heart is collective, self-reflective inquiry that researchers and participants undertake, so they can understand and improve upon the practices in which they participate and the situations in which they find themselves. The reflective process is directly linked to action, influenced by understanding of history, culture, and local context and embedded in social relationships. The process of PAR should be empowering and lead to people having increased control over their lives (adapted from Minkler, Wallerstein and Grbich, 2003).

PAR is distinct from all other research approaches as it is driven by participants (a group of people who have a stake in the environmental issue being researched), rather than an outside sponsor, funder or academic (although they may be invited to help), offers a democratic model of who can produce, own and use knowledge, is collaborative at every stage, involving discussion, pooling skills and working together, and is intended to result in some action, change or improvement on the issue being researched.( Kindon S, Pain R and Kesby M, 2007).

Origin of PAR

Action Research developed as an academic discipline of social psychology in the United States during the late 1940s. Action research became known as a result of Paolo Freire's educational approach to raising the political awareness of disadvantaged groups in Latin America. Adult educators in low-income countries drew on the intellectual perspectives to develop a form of research that was sympathetic to the participatory nature of adult learning. This perspective was strongly supported by the work of Freire who used PAR to encourage poor and deprived communities to examine and analyse the structural reasons for their oppression. From these roots PAR grew as a methodology enabling researchers to work in partnership with communities in a manner that leads to action for change. PAR has a number of antecedents. It reflects questioning about the nature of knowledge and the extent to which knowledge can represent the interests of the powerful and serve to reinforce their positions in society. It affirms that experience can be a basis of knowing and that experiential learning can lead to a legitimate form of knowledge that influences practice. So Participatory Action Research was developed in social science circles in Latin America, and has been used since the early 1980s in the FAO's Peoples 'Participation Programs.
## Areas of Application

Participatory Action Research is a collaborative research, education and action used to gather information to use for change on social or environmental issues. It involves people who are concerned about or affected by an issue taking a leading role in producing and using knowledge about it (Mc Taggart, 1997). It is used by a whole range of community groups and organisations (where people already know each other and/or work together), and also by groups that come together for the purposes of research and action on a particular issue. Participatory action research might be used to shape the design of a new initiative, inform the execution of an organizing campaign, provide evidence supporting a particular political position, or increase understanding of a local issue or problem. Areas in which it has been successfully applied are community development and rural organizations, adult education and for concretization and mobilization in grass-root movements.

## Purpose of PAR

PAR is a learning process that focuses on learning by planning, doing, observing and reflecting. In addition, it is a good approach for assisting in the process of raising economic development, increasing awareness of natural resource-dependency and capacity-building on a group level. Jean MacNiff and Jack Whithead postulated that the aim of action research is to improve social or personal situations, rather than just understanding and proposing theories about the causes of the external situation. Participatory Action Research focuses on minimizing power differences between researchers and constituents, increasing the knowledge of participants, promoting social change, reducing harmful effects of oppression by involving members of powerless groups in construction of knowledge and putting research capabilities in the hands of the deprived and disenfranchised people so that they can transform their lives for themselves.

## Characteristics of Participatory Action Research

**People-oriented**- Participatory action research is people-oriented in the sense that it is the people who believe and feel that there is a problem. Everybody is involved in solving the problem from the planning stage to the implementation stage.

**Community involvement** - It is owned and controlled by the community. (The community may choose to hire outside evaluators to assist with their evaluation efforts, but the community maintains control over the process.)

**Defined by a need for action**—A community initiates the project to address an issue or act on a possibility, and the action is guided by that goal. The research is
assessed based on the extent to which it helps the community reach that goal or, in some cases, to redefine the goal. The research is, in the best cases, creative and transformative.

**Useful and meaningful**—PAR creates knowledge that is useful and meaningful. It validates local knowledge. It recognizes that participants are capable of analyzing the situation and developing solutions to the challenges that face them. It also questions common assumptions about what counts as knowledge. It recognizes that knowledge is the meaning that people attribute to their experiences.

**Group-research** - The group is composed of the research team and the research participants should cooperate with each other to solve the social problems, from planning stage to implementation stage.

**Reflexive about the creation of meaning**-The research team questions its own activities regularly. Why do we do research? Who benefits from it? Who uses it, for what purposes? Who is included or excluded from the process?

**Political involvement**-The politicians such as the congressman, governor, mayor, barangay captains, and many others should get involved in the research process to make the solving of the social problems easier and faster.

**Flexible and interactive**—The shape and focus of the research may change as participants focus and refocus their understandings of what is really happening and what is important to them. Throughout the process, new questions, understandings, and directions may arise and reshape the course of action. The research proceeds through interactive cycles of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting.

## Assumptions of PAR

* People who experience the problem are in the best position to conduct research on the issue.

* All people can learn basic research skills.

* Participants can establish equal partnerships with researchers that can be used to address community problems.

* PAR related activities help empower members of powerless groups.

* Participation in the PAR process is a critical component of community interventions.

* Participatory action research claims that this methodology “researches with people, rather than on, people”.
* According to Baldwin (2012) PAR is "transformative" rather than merely informative".

## Tools and Techniques

* Structured one-on-one interviews that may use a standard protocol and questionnaire.

* Facilitated small-group or focus-group conversations with stakeholders (in some cases, PAR focus groups will include representatives of a single stakeholder group, such as students, while in other cases the participants will be selected from multiple groups).

* Facilitated dialogues or community forums with larger groups of stakeholders in which opinions, ideas, or recommendations are documented.

* Stakeholder surveys, especially surveys that include open-ended responses that allow respondents to describe their viewpoints or surveys that are design, executed, and analyzed by members of the groups being surveyed.

* Observations of relevant activities such as teacher-student or teacher-parent interactions using a standardized observation process or set of criteria.

* Group processes that identify and document—sometimes using illustrations, diagrams, or maps—school, community, or organizational problems, resources, or cultural dynamics.

* Analyses of documents such as reports, policies, curricula, news coverage, or stakeholder narratives.

* Photo, video, or audio documentaries and oral histories produced by stakeholders.

* Historical and ethnographic inquiries.

## Requirement

The PAR process requires a team leader or facilitator with some expertise in group process and research.

### Facilitator may be-:

* A university-based researcher

* A social worker or community organizer

* A paid consultant

* A member of the constituency group who has previous training/experience with the process
**Skills needed for facilitation-:**

* Interpersonal skills such as engagement.

* Cultural competency

* Group facilitation and consensus building

* Research skills

* Knowledge of service delivery systems, community processes, power, and economic & political systems.

**Framework for Participatory Action Research**

**Identification of the problem and community-** The problem and the community that come across the problem should be identified to know if the people who reside in the said community really believe and feel that the problem is common to them.

**Statement of the goals/objectives-** The goals and objectives of the participatory action research projects should be explicitly stated to serve as guide for the research team and research participants.

**Identification of participants-** Participants of the research include all members of the community as well as researchers. They will be divided into groups according to their experiences, knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the tasks assigned to them.

**Organization of the research team-** When participants have been identified, then the research team should be organized to serve as governing body of the research process to oversee the remedial measures and solutions to the problems.

**Establishment of timetable-** The research team and research participants should be given a timetable to complete the task assigned to them.

**Conduct of the participatory action research project-** The research team and research participants should cooperate with each other to conduct the participatory research project in order to find solution to a problem.

**Evaluation of results-** The research team should evaluate the integrative output of the different group of participants. In other words, each committee should submit their results to the research team for evaluation and review.
**Interpretation of the findings-** After reviewing and evaluating the research output, research team should interpret the findings.

**Implications / recommendations:** -The research team should cite the implications of the present problem to another problem based on the findings of the study.

**Implementation:** -The research team and research participants should implement as soon as possible the solution to the problem based on the findings and recommendations.

**Phases of developing a collaborative inquiry process-:**

**Forming a collaborative inquiry group**

* Engaging a diverse group of community members

* Developing the inquiry project

* Framing the research question

* Designing the research project

* Establishing collective leadership

* Reflecting on group processes

**Creating the conditions for group learning**

* Agreeing on a constitution for collaboration

* Repeating cycles of action and reflection to generate learning

**Acting on the inquiry question**

* Putting plans and designs into practice

* Keeping reflective records

* Respecting ownership of group ideas

* Questioning honestly

* Practicing dialogue and reflection

**Making meaning (capturing and interpreting the group's experiences)**

* Understanding the experience

* Selecting a method for interpreting diverse experiences

* Avoiding common assumptions and questioning dominant values

* Checking validity by considering multiple perspectives and methods

* Celebrating meaningful collaboration

* Communicating to the public arena
Continue the cycle by reconsidering the group, recreating the conditions for group
learning, and so on.

PAR is “learning-by-doing” approach in which the investigator places his/her
knowledge at the disposal of local groups. Smith (1997) describes a PAR model in
which an external researcher/facilitator uses a 5-stage process for goal attainment-

* The researcher collects information about the community and its problems.

* The researcher uses dialogue to engage the group in a process of problem identification.

* Group members develop an understanding of the social, economic, and political context or origins of the problem. They identify questions that they want answered.

* The group identifies theories about problem origins, designs data collection methods and generates possible solutions to address the problem.

* The group takes action.

<figure><img src="image_21.png" /><figcaption>Fig 1 Source: McNiff & Whitehead (2011), All You Need to Know About Action Research.</figcaption></figure>
According to Jean McNiff and Jack Whitehead, “Action research aims to be a disciplined, systematic process” in which action researchers follow a cycle of observation, reflection, action, evaluation, and modification. Rather than a closed circle that would illustrate a repeating process, however, a cycle of action research is more accurately represented as a spirling coil that takes groups, organizations, and communities in new directions. In this way, research in PAR typically goes through a cycle: **Planning, Action, Reflection, Evaluation**. You may undertake these cycles every time you meet, or you may, for example, save the evaluation until the action is complete.

## Participatory and conventional research: a comparison of process

(Cornwall and Jewkes 1995)

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>Participatory research</th><th>Conventional research</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>What is the research for?</td><td>Action.</td><td>Understanding with perhaps action later.</td></tr><tr><td>Who is the research for?</td><td>Local people.</td><td>Institutional, personal and professional interests.</td></tr><tr><td>Whose knowledge counts?</td><td>Local people's.</td><td>Scientists.</td></tr><tr><td>Topic choice influenced by?</td><td>Local priorities.</td><td>Funding priorities, institutional agendas, professional interests.</td></tr><tr><td>Role of researcher</td><td>Facilitator, catalyst.</td><td>Director.</td></tr><tr><td>Methodology chosen for?</td><td>Empowerment, mutual learning.</td><td>Disciplinary conventions, 'objectivity' and 'truth'.</td></tr></tbody></table>

ESRC/DfID Poverty Alleviation Conference
9/9/14

4

## Table 1 Adapted from Cornwall and Jewkes 1995

In traditional research, the researcher is an external observer who proposes theories, while in participatory action research (PAR) the “objects of research”, or the community, are integral parts of the research as they generate their own living theory of practice. Participatory action research claims that this methodology “researches with, rather than on, people”.
## Advantages of PAR

* Increases feelings of participant ownership of process/programs.

* Increases likelihood that data will be used.

* Increases likelihood that the resulting program or intervention will meet needs of stakeholders and be culturally appropriate.

* Participants develop skills and confidence. They gain knowledge and information and thus become empowered

## Limitations of PAR

* Distrust and conflict among participants.

* Length of time needed to develop consensus around goals, mission, and methods.

* The need for training around research methods, data collection, and analysis.

* The need for skilled facilitation, coordination, and follow-up on task completion.

* Money and an organizational structure are needed to do all these things.

* The group must be able to apply findings in order to achieve an outcome

## Conditions for successful PAR process

* Trusting relationships among members must be developed in order for a consensus about project goals, data collection methods, an analysis of findings, and recommendations can be reached.

* Training about research methods, data collection, and analysis must be provided for the participants.

* Establishing a good organizational structure to support the work team

* The provision of strong administrative support and adequate resources for the project

* A skilled facilitator to coordinate the process.

## Conclusion

PAR is an approach used to involve community residents, clients, and other constituents in social change-oriented research. Here participants work with a facilitator to identify a community problem, develop research methodology, collect data, and analyze findings. The data is then used to make recommendations about how the problem should be resolved. In this approach participants advocate for funding, legislation, or government action to adopt the findings. The end result is to alleviate oppression or improve community or service quality. Studies of dependencies at the local, national and international levels are intended to reveal solutions for disadvantaged groups to enable them to become more independent and able to negotiate when dealing with various strategic groups.
References

1. Baldwin, M. (2012). *Participatory action research*. In M. Grey, J. Midgley, & S.A. Webb. (Eds.), *The SAGE handbook of social work*. (pp. 467–482). London: Sage Publications.

2. Chataway, C. (1997). An examination of the constraints on mutual inquiry in a Participatory Action Research project. (Transforming Psychology: interpretive and Participatory Research Methods). *Journal of issue, V4. No53 p747* (19).

3. Cousins, B. J., & Whitmore, E. (1998). *Framing participatory evaluation*. New Directions for Evaluation, 80, p. 5-23.

4. Danley, K.S. & Ellison, M.L. (1999). “*A handbook for participatory action researchers*” in *Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center Publications and Presentations*. Boston: Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Boston University.

5. Freire P. (1972). *Pedagogy of the oppressed*. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

6. Kindon. S, Pain. R and Kesby. M. (2007). Participatory action research approaches and methods: connecting people, participation and place. Routledge.

7. Lugones, M., & Spelman, E. (1983). Have we got a theory for you! Feminist theory, cultural imperialism and the demand for “the woman’s voice.”. *Women’s a Studies International Forum 6*(6), 573–581.

8. Macqueen, D., Baral, S., Chakrabart, L., Dangal, S., Plessi, P., Griffith, A. (2012). *Supportingsmall forest enterprises, A facilitator’s toolkit, Pocket guidance not*. Edinburgh, UK.: IIED Small and Medium Forest Enterprise Series №29.

9. McNiff, J. & Whitehead, J. (2011). *All you need to know about action research*. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

10. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.). (2008). *The SAGE handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice*. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

11. Sagor, R. (2000). *Guiding school improvement with action research*. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

12. Sommer R. & Sommer B. (2002). A Practical Guide to Behavioral Research. (5th edition) Oxford University Press.Website Action Research and Participation. Available at http://www.aral.com.au/resources/partic.html (accessed May 2, 2021).
QUALITY PLANTING MATERIAL
PRODUCTION OF SPINE/TEASLE GOURD

Dr. Gulab Chand Yadav¹, Dr. Praveen Kumar Maurya², Pradip Kumar³ and Adesh Kumar⁴

²Research Associate, Defence Research Laboratory, DRDO, Detachment Tawang, Arunanchal Pradesh

¹Associate Professor, Department of Vegetable Science, Plant Pathology³, Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering⁴, Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology Kumarganj, Ayodhya (UP) India.

Email: gcy1972@gmail.com

‘Sweet gourd’, ‘Spine gourd’ or ‘Teasle gourd’ whatever may be called are known in diverse vernacular names (Begum *et al.* 1999) and regarded as an important vegetatively propagated cucurbit across India. However, the same species is known under different botanical names and different species identified by the same scientific name. However, a detailed study conducted by Joseph John *et al.* (2007) clearly indicated that dioecious species of *Momordica* is classified as three morphologically distinct species, representing distinct geographical regions in India viz., (i) *Momordica subangulata* Blume subsp. *renigera* (G. Don) de Wilde from North Eastern Region of India and Bengal, (ii) *Momordica sahyadrica*, nom. prov. from mid and high elevation of Western Ghats, (iii) *Momordica dioica* Roxb. from low elevation of Western Ghats, Deccan plateau, Central India and North Indian plains. Another species, *M. cochinchinensis* has localized distribution in Andamans and few localities in the eastern and north eastern states (Bharathi *et al.* 2011). Though these species are nutritious fruit vegetables (Maharana and Tripathi 1990; Ram *et al.* 2001; Singh *et al.* 2009; Bharathi *et al.* 2010), but they are still regarded as minor/underutilized crops in India.

Present production scenario and varieties developed in India

Apart from humid Bengal basins, *M. subangulata* ssp. *renigera* is also reported to occur in South China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, North, West and Central Thailand (De Wilde and Duyfjes 2002; Joseph John *et al.* 2007), to a limited extent in NE India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Joseph John *et al.* 2007) and on a commercial scale particularly in two Districts (Nadia
and North 24-Parganas) of West Bengal, Bokajan in Assam and Jessore District of Bangladesh (Joseph John *et al.* 2007).

Three broad types of teasle gourd (*M. subangulata* spp. *renigera*), yellowish-green oblong type, dark green round type and bright orange-green oblong type are mostly available in India.

**Improved varieties**

**Kashi Gautam:** It is developed at IIVR, Varanasi. It is as an early maturing and high yielding variety with better quality fruits, bearing 45-63g medium sized, elliptical shaped light green fruits/plant with medium conical spines having consumer preference, yielding 2.5-4.5 kg/plant.

**Indira Kankoda-1:** It is released by IGAU, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Its fruits are attractive dark green in colour, weighing about 14g.

**Kashi Haritika :** It is identified at IIVR, Varanasi as an early maturing and high yielding variety with better quality fruits, bearing 65-95 ovoid/round shaped dark green fruits/plant with dense soft spines having consumer preference, yielding 1.9-2.55 kg/plant and having yield potential 30-35t /ha.

**Neelanchal Sree:** It is released by CHES, Bhubaneshwar (IIHR), Odisha. Its fruits are elliptical shaped, medium spiny and of light green colour. It produces 4-5kg fruits per plant.

**BCSG-1:** It is a clonal selection developed at BCKV, Kalyani, West Bengal. It is also a prolific bearing teasle gourd genotype having 80-85 g ovoid shaped dark green fruits, rich in antioxidant vitamins (Lalramhlimi 2017).

**Techniques of quality planting material production**

**a. Climate and Soil**

The crops grow well in hot, humid areas but also grow well in subtropical climate. They are almost day neutral and grow from the plains to an altitude of 1500 m. The stems of perennial species are killed by frost and water stress. But in case of perennial species, new shoots sprout from surviving underground stem tissue (tuberous roots) after cessation of winter. A temperature range of 25-30°C and 1500-2500 mm rainfall is ideal for the growth and development of teasel gourd and spine gourd (Ram *et al.* 2002a, Joseph, 2008). In South Andaman Islands, characterised by a temperature range of 22-30°C with an average rainfall of 3000-3500 mm received from May to December and very high relative humidity of 82-85 % throughout the year, a good population of sweet gourd is found to thrive in the wild (Joseph and Bharathi 2008). *M. sahyadrica* prefers a temperature range of 20-25°C and 2500-3000 mm rainfall prevailing in the high ranges of Western Ghats of India (Joseph 2005).
They prefer a well-drained sandy loam soil of shallow to medium depth (50–150 cm), rich in humus or organic matter with a pH of 6.0–6.5. Sweet gourd can tolerate soil salinity up to <4 dS/m (Joseph and Bharathi 2008). Sandy loams, well-drained alluvial soils and worked out laterite soils of pH 6–8 are ideal for the growth of teasel gourd (Joseph 2008).

b. Land Preparation

The selected land with good drainage facility is preferred for this crop. The field is prepared by digging shallow pits at a distance of 1.50 m in both ways. The pit is filled with 500 g vermicompost and 5g Carbofuran 3G to prevent termites. Raised beds of 20–30 cm height are prepared using a plough or mechanical bed shaper.

c. Planting time

Mid-February to mid-March is the best time for planting of *M. dioica* and *M. sahyadrica* tubers under Kerala condition, whereas *M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera* can be planted throughout the year under tropical humid region. The field should be well ploughed and harrowed twice to remove weeds and other plant debris in the field. A spacing of 2 m between rows and 1 m between plants of *M. dioica* produced higher yield per plant (Patro and Reddy 2009). Tuberous roots/ vine cuttings of perennial species may be planted with pre-monsoon showers in pits of 60 × 60 × 60 cm size prepared at a spacing of 1.5 × 1.5 m (*M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera*) and 1.0 × 1.0 m (*M. dioica*). Provision of 10% male plants in the field are considered imperative for good fruit set (Bharathi *et al*. 2006, Joseph, 2008, Joseph and Bharathi 2008).

d. Requirement of planting materials

Root cuttings from one year old matured female and male clones of spine gourd are collected separately after the senescence of the crop and dumped in a dig covered with soil under shady situation. About 4500-5000 tuberous roots / rooted vine cuttings per hectare is required for *M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera* and 5000-5500 tuberous roots/ rooted vine cuttings per hectare for *M. dioica*.

Seed propagation

The seeds of perennial taxa remain viable in soil for more than a year and occasionally one or two plants germinate before and after the peak germination. All the dioecious taxa exhibit varying degrees of gradual release of seed dormancy. *M. dioica* and *M. sahyadrica* shows strong dormancy while *M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera* shows intermediate behavior
with staggered germination, having differential dormancy in different seeds of the same fruit. Cent percent viability is noticed through tetrazolium staining test and the poor germination percentage of fresh seeds indicated presence of strong dormancy factors (Joseph 2005). Hard seededness and the lack of simultaneous germination prevent the establishment of uniform stand of seedlings. Treatments applied to break this dormancy are highly species specific (Bhattacharya and Saha 1990). Application of GA3 (100-200 ppm) and thiourea (100 ppm) caused early germination in M. dioica (Bhuyar et al. 2000; Patro and Reddy 2009). Sowing of 6-month-old seeds after deshelling showed quick germination within 4-7 days. The seeds on deshelling show better germination indicating quiniscence, a condition where seeds fail to germinate due to unfavourable environment.

## Vegetative propagation

**Root tubers:** Tuber pieces are commercially used as planting material in M. subangulata subsp. renigera. An average plant produces 20-25 adventitious tubers of 60-80 g. Large tubers can be cut into pieces and used as propagule. Cut surface should be treated with fungicide solution (Mancozeb + Carbendazim mixture @ 0.25 %) and shade dried for wound healing before planting. Tubers have a short dormancy of 2-3 months, which can be broken by exposure to air, light and room temperature. In M. dioica, tuberous roots of 150-200 g size are usually planted and dipping in 1% thiourea to increase sprouting (Panda et al., 1994). Use of tubers has been advocated for commercial cultivation of M. dioica (Mishra and Sahoo 1983, Mishra et al. 1988, Shadeque and Baruah 1984, Ram et al. 2002a) and M. cymbalaria (Reddy et al. 2007). M. subangulata subsp. renigera has the highest reproductive efficiency through root tubers, whereas in M. dioica, M. sahyadrica and M. cymbalaria one tuber (tap root) gives rise to one plant only or the maximum of 2-4 plants. In M. cochinchinensis, the tap root becomes gigantic and woody which is not amenable to uprooting or transplant. Dormancy of the tubers is observed in all species and M. subangulata subsp. renigera has the shortest tuber dormancy of 1 month, whereas M. dioica has 5 months dormancy and M. sahyadrica has about 4-4.5 months dormancy.

**Vine cutting:** All the species are amenable to rooting from vine cuttings. However, there is difference between species, M. subangulata subsp. renigera being most efficient. Vine cuttings of M. dioica and M. sahyadrica developed few sessile root tubers, whereas M. subangulata subsp. renigera develops many root tubers, both sessile and non sessile. Such adventitious root tubers in M. dioica and M. sahyadrica did not germinate and remain intact in soil over the
years, whereas in *M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera*, it sprouted vigorously (Joseph 2005). In sweet gourd, a better and reliable method is to use rooted vine cuttings as propagules. Mid and top level cuttings root well with rooting hormone treatment. Closed Media Sachet technique may be adopted for home gardens (Joseph and Bharathi 2008). Rooted vine cuttings can also be used in *M. subangulata* subsp. renigera, but yield will be higher in tuber raised plants. In case of *M. dioica* and *M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera* 2-3 node cuttings from the basal portion of vine gives better rooting, plant growth and yield (Tripathy *et al*. 1994, Ram *et al*. 2002). However, the cuttings should be taken from vigorously growing mother plants at early flowering stage and before axillary flower buds emerge.

**e. Manuring and fertilization**

For *M. dioica*, basal application of 4-5 kg well-decomposed farmyard manure or compost, 100 g neem or castor cake, 50 g Urea, 225 g single super phosphate and 90 g muriate of Potash, along with one-fourth sand and remaining quantity of soil per basin has been found to produce optimum growth of the plant. At 25 and 40 days after planting 50 g Urea should be added to each basin. The subsequent nitrogenous fertilizer dose should be applied 15 cm away from the plant and incorporated well to the basin soil. The plant is sensitive to potassium deficiency. Therefore spraying of sulphate of potash @ 2 g/lit is recommended whenever the symptom is noticed. For teasle gourd, fertilizers at the rate of 40 kg N in the form of urea, 50 kg P as single super phosphate and 50 kg K as muriate of potash per hectare are to be applied as basal and rest 40 kg N is to be applied in two split doses at the time of peak vegetative stage and flowering,

**f. Training**

There are several methods of trellising viz., single line trellis, double line trellis, pandal/bower type, lean-to type, archtype, single plant staking, etc. For the single row vertical trellis, the trellis should be about 6 feet high, constructed from stakes 2 m apart, with a system of vertical strings between horizontal wires. The bottom horizontal line is fixed at three feet height and the subsequent lines at one feet interval. Train the vines on the vertical trellis regularly by tying the vines to the trellis.
## g. Irrigation

The crops do not require irrigation if regular rainfall is received. In case of uneven rains, light irrigation at 7-10 days interval will be advantageous. They are highly sensitive to water logging.

## h. Management of biotic stresses

**Root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita)**: Incidence of root-knot nematode is observed in *M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera*, whereas *M. dioica* and *M. sahyadrica* are free from nematode attack (Joseph 2005). Root system of the nematode infested plant is heavily knotted and growth of vines is severely arrested. The leaves appear yellow and leaf size is reduced and majority of the veins become dry and wither.

### Control measures

Dipping of root tubers in Carbosulfan @ 500 ppm for 6 h before planting and application of neem cake (500 g) and *Paecilomyces lilacinus* (Bionematon) (10 g) per pit as basal application with FYM is effective in reducing the severity of the infestation. A second dose of Bionematon @ 10 g/basin at 40 days after planting (DAP) may also be applied to reduce infestation.

**Red pumpkin beetle (Aulacophora foveicollis):**

Adult beetle eats the leaves, makes holes on foliage and causes damage to roots and leaves. Leaf damage due to this beetle is severe in *M. dioica* (Joseph 2005).

### Control measures

Effective control can be achieved by spraying of Chlorpyriphos (2.5 ml/L).

**Downy mildew (Pseudoperonospora cubensis)**

This fungal disease is prevalent in high humidity, especially when summer rains occurs regularly particularly in teasle gourd. The diseases is characterized by formation of yellow, more or less angular spots on the upper surface of the leaves, white-purplish spores appear on the upper surface of the leaves. The disease spreads rapidly killing the plant quickly through rapid defoliation.

### Control measures

Removal of infected leaves and spray the crop with 0.25% Mancozeb 3 to 4 times at 10 days interval. Two alternate sprays of 0.25% Fosetyl Al or Cyamoxanil- Mancozeb or Metalaxyl- Mancozeb at 10 days interval are found effective.
## Anthracnose (Colletotrichum lagenarium)

The disease is reported to be severe in *M. dioica* (Sawant *et al.* 2000). The small yellowish spot appears on leaves as water-soaked areas, which enlarges in size, coalesce and turn brown to black in colour.

## Control measure

The disease can be effectively controlled by repeated spray of Mancozeb @ 2.5 g/L at 5–7 days interval.

## Micropropagation

*In vitro* propagation: Tissue culture propagation would be of immense importance for production of *M. dioica* and *M. sahyadrica* where propagation through stem cuttings, root tubers and seeds are difficult. As most of the Asian species are dioecious in nature, micro propagation could be useful for rapid multiplication of genetically uniform planting material of known sex for commercial cultivation. Tissue culture methods from various plant parts like shoot tip, nodal segments, cotyledon, root segment, etc., have been used for regeneration in *M. dioica* and *M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera*.

Both the micro propagation and organogenesis of shoot have been established using shoot apices, nodal and internodal explants (Agarwal and Kamal 2004). Because of ambiguity in taxonomic identity most of the studies on tissue culture pertaining to *M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera* has been reported under the name of *M. dioica*. Among the different explants of *M. subangulata* subsp. *renigera* studied, cotyledon shows high performance in callus induction than shoot tip, leaf and nodal segments (Nabi *et al.* 2002). The concentration of 1.0 mg/l BAP and 0.1 mg/l NAA give best response on callus formation (Karim and Ahmad 2010). The best response of shoot proliferation is obtained in medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l BA + 0.2 mg/l NAA (Hoque and Rahman 2003). Hoque *et al.* (2007) obtains in vitro adventitious shoot regeneration from embryo axes of seeds from a homosexual hybrid.

## Concentrations of hormones used for callus formation and shoot regeneration in dioicious

### Momordica species

<table><thead><tr><th>Species</th><th>Callus formation</th><th>Shoot regeneration</th><th>References</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><i>M. subangulata</i><br>subsp. <i>renigera</i></td><td>-</td><td>1.5 mg/l BA and 0.1 mg/l NAA</td><td><b>Hoque et al.</b> (1995)</td></tr><tr><td>1.0 mg/l BAP and<br>0.1 mg/l NAA</td><td>1.0 mg/l BAP and 0.1 mg/l NAA</td><td><b>Nabi et al.</b> (2002)</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>-</td><td>2.0 mg/l BA + 0.2 mg/l NAA</td><td>Hoque and Rahman (2003)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>-</td><td>10.8 mg/l BA + 1.08 mg/l NAA + 0.54 mg/l GA<sub>3</sub> (embryo explants)<br/>16.2 mg/l BA + 2.7 mg/l NAA + 0.54 mg/l GA<sub>3</sub> (Cotyledon)</td><td>Hoque et al. (2007)</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="6"><i>M. dioica</i></td><td>1.0 mg/l-1 BAP + 0.1 mg/l-1 NAA</td><td>-</td><td>Karim and Ahmad (2010)</td></tr><tr><td>1.0 mg/l 2,4-D + 2.0 mg/l BAP</td><td>1.5 mg/l BAP + 1.5 mg/l Kn.</td><td>Devendra et al. (2009)</td></tr><tr><td>10 mg/l BA + 5 mg/l IBA</td><td>3 mg NAA/litre + 0.2 % activated charcoal</td><td>Pawar et al. (2004)</td></tr><tr><td>-</td><td>0.9 lM BA + 200 mg/l CH</td><td>Rai et al. (2012)</td></tr><tr><td>1.5 mg/l BAP + 10 mg/l NAA</td><td>70 mg/l AdSO<sub>4</sub> + 1 mg/l BAP + 1 mg/l NAA</td><td>Ghive et al. (2006)</td></tr><tr><td>-</td><td>0.05 mg/l GA<sub>3</sub> + 0.1 mg/l TDZ</td><td>Meemaduma and Ramanayake (2002)</td></tr></table>

Adopted from *Momordica* Genus in Asia: An Overview, (Eds. L. K. Bharathi and K. J. John), 2013

References:

* Ahmad N. and Anis M. 2005. In vitro mass propagation of *Cucumis sativus* L. from nodal segments. *Turk. J. Bot.* **29**:237–240

* Ahmad, T, Kumar V, Patel, NL, Kapadiac V, Suthar KP and Singh D. 2014. Effect of different plant hormones on node culture in pointed gourd. *Journal of Cell & Tissue Research*, **14**: 4323.

* Ali M, Okubo H, Fujii T and Fujieda K. 1991. Techniques for Propagation and Breeding of Kakrol Momordica-Dioica Roxb. *Scientia Horticulturae* **47**: 335-44.

* Begum M, Razzaque MA and Abdulla M. 1999. Development of Horticulture in the SAARC Countries. Paper presented at the 17th meeting of the SAARC Technical Committee on Agriculture, 15–17 Feb., New Delhi.

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# ORGANIC VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN INDIA: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES

Amit Kumar¹, Pawan Kumar², Girijesh Yadav³

¹Department of Horticulture, ²Department of Entomology, ³Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut U.P. ¹,²,³

Email id: amit0455501@gmail.com

## Abstract

The advance agriculture technology and development have enabled our country to provide food security. But advance agriculture has made our ecosystem unbalanced. Over the years, the use of heavy chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers had created problem for both human and environment. Therefore, there is a need to go back to traditional method of farming i.e., free from fertilizers, chemicals and pesticides. Organic vegetable production is capable of optimize health and produce high nutritional quality food and in sufficient quantities. Organic vegetable production and its quality bring more income to the farmers. In India, the main principles of organic and practicing organic vegetable production will be encountered at the present time.

## Introduction

India is second largest populous country after china with an estimated population of 1.39 billion. It is estimated that with 1.0 percent annual population growth by 2050, the Indian population will be the largest in the world (1.64 billion). Vegetable crops are more productive than other crops, which have potential of providing more food per unit area. According to the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR), New Delhi and the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad (NIN) are recommended the at least 300 g of vegetable should consume as a part of balanced diet, comprising 125-gram leafy vegetables, 100-gram root vegetable and 75-gram other vegetables per person every day for good health. Vegetables provide all the nutrients ingredients viz., vitamins, minerals and protein that are essential for balanced diet and presence of good amount of minerals and vitamins in vegetables makes them protective food. Many vegetables provide good amount of nutraceutical properties and having capabilities to ensure good health. India is second largest producer of vegetables with annual production of 184.3 million tonnes (NHB, 2018). The per capita gross availability of vegetable is 393.76 g/day whereas per capita net availability of vegetable (25% loss + 5% exports and processing) is 277.73 g/day (Horticultural Statistics at a Glance, DAC&FW, 2018).
There is a need to increase vegetable productivity (17.97 MT/ha) (NHB, 2018) with limited resources for rapid growing population. The demand for high vegetable production will never end due to increasing population, hence excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides. Life, plants and animals are adversely affected due to higher application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The use of high levels of chemical fertilizers increases higher nitrate levels, which contaminates land and irrigation water. Therefore, there is need to maintain a natural balance with a sustainable strategy to produce more vegetables from limited resources with less application of chemicals in small amounts of fertilizer and pesticides for less harmful effects to the soil and the environment. Organic vegetable farming not only provides one of the most permanent famine systems with recurring benefits for long-term soil health, but also provides a sustainable stability in production by importing better resistance against various biological biotic and abiotic stresses.

## World Scenario of Organic Farming

According to the FIBL survey on organic farming worldwide, there were 72.2 million hectares of organic agricultural land in 2019. The region with the largest area of organic agriculture land is Oceania 35.9 million hectares (50 percent) followed by Europe 16.5 million hectares (23 percent), Latin America 8.3 million hectares (11 percent), Asia 5.9 million hectares (8 percent), North America 3.6 million hectares (5 percent) and Africa 2 million hectares (3 percent). The largest area of organic agricultural land in Australia is 35.7 million hectares followed by Argentina 3.7 million hectares and Spain 2 million hectares.

According to the International Resource Statistics of Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FIBL) and International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) 2020, India ranks 9th position in certified agricultural land with 1.94 million ha (2018-19). In India, it accounts for 30 percent of the total organic producers in the world, but according to the organic agriculture report (2020), only 2.59 percent (1.5 million hectares) of the 57.8 million hectares organic farming area is used for organic farming. In 2020, the area of cultivable land under organic farming was more than 29.17 lakh hectares. India produced 2.75 million MT of certified organic products and contributes to 1.7 percent of the total global imports of organic products which includes Cereals, Sugarcane, Vegetable, Fruits, Dry fruits, processed products etc. In India, Madhya Pradesh is the largest producer of organic products and followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

## Definition of Organic Farming-

In simple words, organic agriculture is the farming system without the addition of artificial chemicals. Various scientists have elaborated the concept of Organic Farming; which is as follows:
According to USDA, "Organic Farming is a system in which synthetic inputs such as hormones, fertilizers, pesticides, feed additives etc can be avoided to a great extent and to the maximum extent possible depending on crop residues, off-farm organic waste, crop rotations, animal manures, mineral rock additives and biological systems of plant protection and nutrient mobilization".

According to FAO, "Organic agriculture is a unique production management system that promotes the health of agro-ecosystems, including biological cycles, soil biological activity and biodiversity and in the exclusion of all synthetic off-farm inputs and inorganic farming is accomplished using all on-farm agronomic, mechanical and biological methods."

According to Funtilana (1990), "Organic Farming is giving back to the nature what is taken from it". It is not mere non-chemicals in agriculture; it is a system of farming based on integral relationship. Therefore, one should know the relationship among soil, plant and water micro flora and overall relationship between plants and animals.

According to Lampkin (1990), "Organic Farming is a production system that avoids the use of synthetic fertilizers, growth regulators and live-stock feed additives. To the maximum extent, a viable organic farming system depends on aspects of crop residues, crop rotations, green manures, animal manures, legumes, off farm organic wastes and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and provide nutrients to plant. It also controls weeds, insect-pests, and diseases.

## Characteristics of Organic Farming Systems

The management of organic farming is focused on the entire agricultural system and its interactions with environment, climate and social as well as economic conditions, not involving individual enterprises. Some important characteristics discussed as a follow:

* Supplying nutrients to crops using sources of nutrients needed to supply nutrients to crops, which are indirectly made available to the plants indirectly but with no effect on microorganisms and chemical reactions of the soil.

* Nitrogen is self-reliant through legumes and biological nitrogen fixation; nitrogen is effective to recycling organic materials with livestock wastes and crop residues.

* The long-term fertility of the soil has to be protected while maintaining organic matter, soil biological activity and careful mechanical intervention.

* Weed, disease and pests control mainly depend on natural predators, crop diversity, organic manuring, crop rotation, use of resistant varieties and limited thermal, biological and chemical intervention.

* Maximal but sustainable use of local resources like- Manure, compost, neem cake etc.
* To pay attention to conservation of wildlife and natural habitats and the impact of the agriculture system on the wider environment.

* The extensive management of livestock, their evolutionary adaptations, behavioral needs, and animal welfare issues in relation to health, nutrition, breading, housing and rearing plays a full relationship.

## Principles of Organic Farming

A set is outlined by the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) for the guiding principles of organic farming. This is as follows:

* **Principle of health:** Organic vegetable production should make the health of soil, plant, animal and human being one and inseparable.

* **Principle of ecology:** Organic vegetable production should be based on living ecological cycles and systems work with them and help to sustain them. Food production itself is a component of the local ecology. The more in tune the production process is with that ecology, the less likely there are serious problems.

* **Principle of fairness:** Organic vegetable production should be built upon relationships that ensure seriousness in relation to the general environment and life opportunities. This theory considers human and social issues as well as the concept of environmental.

* **Principle of care:** Organic vegetable production should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner so as to protect the health and well-being of present and future generations and the environment.

## Practices of Organic Vegetable Production

### 1. Organic conversion period

It takes a minimum of three years to convert a non-organic/conventional farm to organic farm. The transition period starts from the date of signing the contract with certifying agency and after completion of first year produce can be sold as a "conversion to organic agriculture" and from the second-year crops are "organic" can be sold in the form.

### 2. Selection of site

Site selection is the most important criteria for organic production of vegetables. Site selection includes suitable soil and climate, regular supply of good quality irrigation water, availability of labour, transportation and marketing facility. The site for organic vegetable production should be free from pests and diseases of the crops. For example, in the areas where there is excess rainfall and large monocultures of similar crops are grown, growing organic vegetables can cause infestation of insect-pests and disease.
### 3. Crop nutrition and Selection of Soil

Most vegetable crops require well drained loam or clay-loam soil with a pH range of 6.0 to 7.5. Balanced nutritional requirements are needed before sowing or planting the crop. The soil should also be tested for pesticides residues and fertilizers and contamination with heavy metal. If the soil has an unacceptable level and yield may be excluded from organic certification or special crops such as root vegetables may be excluded from growing.

### 4. Soil fertility management in organic vegetable production

Soil fertility should be high for successful organic vegetable production. The main objective of organic farming is to build nutrient reserves in the soil and to establish a system of nutrient cycling. The primary aim of organic farmers should be to supply such crops and animal nutrition that takes care of the soil and conserves soil nutrients and enhances soil life. This includes the development of both short-term and long-term strategies to advance soil health and supply crop nutrition. The organic fertility system involves a combination of practices such as green manure, organic manure, rock phosphate, lime and complementary organic fertilizers.

#### 4.1 Organic manures (composts, vermicompost and FYM)

Compost is an important nutritional requirement for organic vegetable production. The C:N ratio should be about 20:1 in compost. It improves the soil structure and stimulates the beneficial micro-organisms. Compost may include crop residues and animal manures, but these should be free from excessive pesticide and heavy metals. The special area of the field should be kept for compost production. The organic manures should be given as a basal dose @ 25-38 t/ha through FYM, fish manures, poultry manures, sheep composts and goat composts etc. The use of organic cakes from mustard, neem, castor and groundnut is mandatory for organic vegetable production. The different number of elements found in organic manures is given in table 1.

<table><caption>Table:1. List of nutrient content in organic manures</caption><thead><tr><th colspan="2">Organic manure</th><th>N<sub>2</sub> (%)</th><th>P<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> (%)</th><th>K<sub>2</sub>O (%)</th><th>Ca (%)</th><th>Organic matter (%)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2">Composts</td><td>Urban</td><td>1</td><td>0.5</td><td>1</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Rural</td><td>0.5</td><td>0.5</td><td>1</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Vermicompost</td><td></td><td>3</td><td>1</td><td>1.5</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>FYM</td><td></td><td>0.5</td><td>0.25</td><td>0.5</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2">Animal manures</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">Cattle</td><td>Dried</td><td>2.0</td><td>1.5</td><td>2.2</td><td>2.9</td><td>70</td></tr><tr><td>Undried</td><td>0.5</td><td>0.3</td><td>0.5</td><td>0.3</td><td>17</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2">Sheep</td><td>Dried</td><td>1.9</td><td>1.4</td><td>2.9</td><td>3.3</td><td>54</td></tr><tr><td>Undried</td><td>0.9</td><td>0.5</td><td>0.8</td><td>0.2</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">Poultry</td><td>Dried</td><td>4.5</td><td>2.7</td><td>1.4</td><td>2.9</td><td>59</td></tr><tr><td>Undried</td><td>0.9</td><td>0.5</td><td>0.8</td><td>0.4</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>Horse</td><td></td><td>0.5</td><td>0.3</td><td>0.6</td><td>0.3</td><td>27</td></tr><tr><td>Swine</td><td></td><td>0.6</td><td>0.5</td><td>0.4</td><td>0.2</td><td>16</td></tr><tr><td colspan="7">Other organic fertilizer</td></tr><tr><td>Bone meal</td><td></td><td>2</td><td>15</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Soyabean</td><td></td><td>7</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Fish meal</td><td></td><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Wood ashes</td><td></td><td>0</td><td>2</td><td>5</td><td>20</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Rock Phosphate</td><td></td><td>0</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>25</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Gypsum</td><td></td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>22</td><td>16 (S)</td></tr></tbody></table>

(Source: Deptt. Of Vegetable Science, CCSHAU, Haryana)

## 4.2 Green manuring

Green manure crops are raised and then ploughed or turned at 40-45 days after sowing into the soil for decomposition. It increases organic matter or organic nutrients in the soil and also to enhance microbial activities. Many leguminous crops such as dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata), pillipesara (Phaseolus trilobus), sunnhemp (Crotalaria juncea), cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) given in table 2. It should be incorporated 20-30 cm deep into the soil with a tractor mould board plough. Some farmers cultivating organic vegetables also apply foliar sprays of sugar, jiggery or compost tea leaves before turning of the green manure crop. It is believed that this practice provides added energy for soil microorganisms, which favours rapid breakdown of green matter before planting the subsequently vegetable crop.

<table><caption>Table:2. Nutrient content in some important green manure</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">Green manure crops</th><th colspan="3">Nutrient content (%)</th></tr><tr><th>N<sub>2</sub></th><th>P<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub></th><th>K<sub>2</sub>O</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Sesbania (Sesbania speciosa)</td><td>2.71</td><td>0.53</td><td>2.21</td></tr><tr><td>Sunhemp (Crotalaria juncea)</td><td>2.30</td><td>0.50</td><td>1.80</td></tr><tr><td>Dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata)</td><td>3.50</td><td>0.60</td><td>1.20</td></tr><tr><td>Pongamia leaf (Pongamia glabra)</td><td>3.31</td><td>0.44</td><td>2.39</td></tr><tr><td>Green weed</td><td>0.80</td><td>0.30</td><td>0.20</td></tr></tbody></table>
## 4.3. Biofertilizers

Biofertilizers are the carrier-based preparation with beneficial micro-organisms in the intended stage for seed, seedling or soil inoculation. The major role of biofertilizers in vegetable production is to increase atmospheric nitrogen stabilization, decompose organic wastes, reduces environmental pollution, increase soil health and reduction in production cost. Inoculation by improved strains of non-symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria i.e., PSB helps in increased availability of phosphorous in the soil. Azospirillum increased nitrogen uptake and also helps in reducing nitrogenous fertilizers. Azotobacter significantly increased the productivity of different vegetables.

### 4.3.1. How to use of biofertilizers in organic vegetable production

The biofertilizers are applied in vegetable crops at various stages: -

(a) **Direct application:** To apply the biofertilizers directly in the soil approximately 2-3 kg of bio-fertilizer is mixed in 40-60 kg of soil or compost or FYM. This mixture is broadcasted in one acre of land either 24 hr before sowing or at time of sowing. The application of phosphate-solubilizers via this method is very common.

(b) **Seed treatment:** The seeds of leguminous vegetable crops are treated with rhizobium culture (250g per acre) by mixing them well in culture with 5% gur solution. To obtain uniform coating on each seed, the above mixture is first poured on seeds which are spread on the polythene sheet or cement floor and then mixed properly hands properly. These seeds are then spread in shade for drying for at least 10-15 minutes. After that they are immediately sown in the soil.

(c) **Seedlings treatment:** This method is recommended for brinjal, tomato, okra, chilli, onion and other vegetables etc. In this method the suspension is prepared by dissolving 1 kg of culture for one acre in 10 liters water and arranged in bundles and immersed in suspension for 15-20 minutes before transplanting. Immediately after this the seedlings are transplanted into the soil.

## 5. Supply of nutritional requirements

The required quantity of additional nutrients is supplied into the transition period and during the growth period of the crop for successful production of organic vegetables.

**Nitrogen**-Short duration vegetables may be able to complete their entire requirement of nitrogen from green manure, organic fertilizers, compost that have been applied before transplanting. The required additional nitrogen should be given 6 to 8 weeks at growing season, which applied as a foliar spray or side dressing. Commonly used sources for nitrogen are fish emulsion, worm juice and compost teas.
**Phosphorus**-Organic phosphorus sources are rock phosphate, guano like- accumulated excrement of seabirds, seals, or cave-dwelling bats, fish meal and bone meal etc.

**Potassium**- Organic sources of potassium are compost, seawood, basic slag, wood ash, and sulphate.

**Other nutrients**- Gypsum is source of calcium and sulfur, Lime is a source of calcium and dolomite a source of calcium and magnesium.

**6. Variety and crop selection**

The essential criteria for variety and crop selection should be noted for the availability of seed and seedlings, resistance to pest and disease, suitable market for fresh produce supply, physiological characteristics and environmental suitability. These varieties should be popular among vegetable growers for high yielding, pest resistance, disease resistance and superior seedling vigour and the seed or seedlings of these varieties should be certified. Some varieties of each vegetable crop perform very well when limited resources are available and show resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses. In organic vegetable production, these varieties can be grown to reduce the cost of cultivation. These varieties will meet the standards in organic vegetable cultivation, as they do not require any type of pesticides for insect-pest control. It has been observed that vigorous vegetable crop varieties hamper the growth of weed plants. The resistance variety of different crops is given in table 3.

<table><caption>Table:3. Insect and disease resistance variety of different crops</caption><thead><tr><th>S.No</th><th>Crop</th><th>Pest/Disease</th><th>Varieties</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="4">1.</td><td rowspan="4">Brinjal</td><td>Aphids & Jassids</td><td>GB-1, GB-6, PBR-91</td></tr><tr><td>Bacterial wilt</td><td>Arka Keshav, Arka Nidhi, Annamalai, Pusa Purple Cluster</td></tr><tr><td>Phomopsis rot</td><td>Pusa Bhairav</td></tr><tr><td>Shoot & fruit borer</td><td>Pusa Purple Round (PPR), Punjab Neelam</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3">2.</td><td rowspan="3">Chilli</td><td>Aphids</td><td>Pant C-1, Pusa Jwala</td></tr><tr><td>Bacterial wilt</td><td>Pant C-1, Punjab lal</td></tr><tr><td>CMV, LCV, TMV</td><td>Pusa Jwala, Pant Sadabahar, Punjab lal</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">3.</td><td rowspan="2">Cabbage</td><td>Aphids</td><td>Express Mail, Red Drum Head</td></tr><tr><td>Black rot</td><td>Pusa Mukta</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">4.</td><td rowspan="2">Cauliflower</td><td>Black rot</td><td>Pusa Subhra</td></tr><tr><td>Stem Borer</td><td>EMS-3, KW-5, KW-8</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">5.</td><td rowspan="2">French bean</td><td>Mosaic virus</td><td>Pusa Anupama</td></tr><tr><td>Rust</td><td>Arka Bold, Pant Bean-2</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><tr><td rowspan="2">6.</td><td rowspan="2">Musk Melon</td><td>Downy mildew</td><td>Punjab Rasila</td></tr><tr><td>Powdery mildew</td><td>Arka Rajhans</td></tr><tr><td>7.</td><td>Onion</td><td>Purple blotch</td><td>Arka Kalyan, Nasik Red</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">8.</td><td rowspan="2">Okra</td><td>Jassids</td><td>Punjab Padmini</td></tr><tr><td>YVMV</td><td>Arka Anamika, Arka Abhay, Hissar Unnat, Azad Kranti, Punjab-8</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">9.</td><td rowspan="2">Tomato</td><td>Bacterial wilt</td><td>Arka Alok, Arka Ananya, Arka Vardhan, Arka Rakshak, Arka Samart</td></tr><tr><td>Early & Late blight</td><td>Arka Samart, Arka Shreshta, TRB-1, TRB-2</td></tr><tr><td>10.</td><td>Water melon</td><td>Anthracnose, Mildew</td><td>Arka Manik</td></tr></table>

## 7. Mulching

The covering of soil surface by a layer of inorganic or organic material is called mulching. It prevents soil erosion, inhibits weed growth, enhances activity of soil microorganism and modifies soil environment. Organic mulches such as plant or animal residue or by-products such as straw, sugarcane bagasse, sawdust, leaves, animal manure etc. increases the organic matter content in the soil and improving physical and chemical properties. The use of black plastic film in mulching reduces the solar radiation in the soil which helps in reducing weed intensity by preventing germination and growth. Reflective plastic mulches such as yellow, white, silver, aluminum coated etc. have been reported to reduce aphids and other pest population in organic vegetable production.

## 8. Crop rotation

The various legume crops such as beans, cowpea, peas etc should be included in crop rotation. By which they are improving soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen and increase the yield up to 30-35%. Inoculation of specific rhizobial strains of legume crop may further improve their N- fixing ability. The quantity of N fixed by different legume crops is given in the below of table 4:

<table><caption>Table:4. Nitrogen content and estimated nitrogen fixation by legume crops</caption><thead><tr><td>S.No</td><td>Crop</td><td>Nitrogen (%)</td><td>Estimated N (kg/ha)</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1.</td><td>Berseem</td><td>0.43</td><td>65-69</td></tr><tr><td>2.</td><td>Cowpea</td><td>0.49</td><td>74-78</td></tr><tr><td>3.</td><td>Dhaincha</td><td>0.43</td><td>86-95</td></tr><tr><td>4.</td><td>Green Gram</td><td>0.53</td><td>42-48</td></tr><tr><td>5.</td><td>Sunhemp</td><td>0.43</td><td>52-56</td></tr></tbody></table>
## 9. Weed management

Effective weed management in organic vegetable production is the most challenging aspects to incorporate locally available organic manure to maintain fertility in the soil. The competition of weeds for high organic vegetable production should be suppressed during the critical period of crops. Crop rotation is an effective for suppressing weeds in vegetable production. Also, in addition to the different mechanical methods viz., use of black plastic mulch, deep ploughing in summer, hand weeding different cultural practices such as composting of manures and cover cropping with other crops are the simplest method to reduce weed pressure in organic vegetable production.

## 10. Insect pest management

Insect-pest management relies on various integrated insect management to maintain the pest population at economic threshold level in the crops. To avoid or reduce the risk of damage from pest's infestation, it is necessary to follow mechanical practices, develop planting strategies and crop rotation that includes planting time, planting material quality and planting material source. A crop that is susceptible to a particular insect or disease at a site should be avoided at a site in which the history of the insect or disease is already known. The different biological control of insect is given in table 5.

### 10.1. Pheromone traps

Pheromone trap is a type of insect trap. This uses pheromones to lure insects. Sex pheromones and aggregating pheromones are the most common types of pheromones. These traps used as a monitor and mass-trap or disrupt the mating process of insect pests. Pheromone traps are effectively used for control of cucurbits fruit fly, brinjal shoot and fruit borer and tomato fruit borer.

### 10.2. Trap crops

Trap crops is also known as sacrificial crops, which are planted around or in the middle the main crop to attract insect and pests where they can be managed more efficiently and reduces pest losses in the main crops. When onion in carrot decreases the carrot root fly outbreak and also garlic decreases the outbreak of carrot root fly, African marigold planted in tomato field attracts fruit borer and Diamond back moth attracts when the Chinese cabbage or collard cabbage planted in cabbage field.

### 10.3. Biological control of pests

Pest population is managed by natural enemies such as parasitoids, predators and pathogens in this method. Various biological control agents are used for effective pest management in organic vegetable production.
<table><caption>Table:5. Biological control of Insect-pests</caption><thead><tr><td>S.No</td><td>Pest</td><td>Bioagents</td><td>Application</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1.</td><td>Diamond black moth</td><td>Larval parasitoids</td><td>Release adult parasitoids @ 15000 per ha at weekly interval during larval damage</td></tr><tr><td>2.</td><td>Tobacco caterpillar</td><td>Entomopathogenic fungus</td><td>Sprayed on the crop during evening hours of fungus, diluted in water and mixed in Tween 80 (0.04%) and</td></tr><tr><td>3.</td><td>Aphids</td><td>Lady bird beetles</td><td>Adult beetle @ 30/sq. m</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">4.</td><td rowspan="2">Tomato fruit borer</td><td>Egg parasitoid: Trichogramma chilonis</td><td>Parasitoids are released as adult or in parasitized egg form @ 50,000/ha from 45 days after transplanting</td></tr><tr><td>H.armigera (HaNPV)</td><td>250 liters of water, 1% jiggery and 0.1% teeepol during evening hours</td></tr><tr><td>5.</td><td>Mites</td><td>Predatory mites (Amblyseius tetranychivorus)</td><td>100 mites/sq. m or @10-60 mites/plant</td></tr></tbody></table>

## 11. Disease management

Disease management are combination of cultural practices, natural remedies, IPM practices, organic soil management practice and limited use of permitted chemicals in organic vegetable production. Fungicides may be permitted that includes copper and sulphur compounds and biological fungicides containing species of Bacillus, Trichoderma, Gliocladium, Pseudomonas, Streptomyces and other beneficial microbes. Application of Trichoderma harzianum @ 10 g/lit for foliar spray or 10-12 kg/ha for basal dressing or Trichoderma viride @10 g/kg seed is effective against wilt and rot diseases in vegetables production. Copper and sulphur-based products are the only used in organic certification. Copper are labelled for bacterial speck, grey leaf mold, bacterial spot, early and late blight, septoria leaf spot and anthracnose, whereas sulphur labelled for powdery mildew.

## 12. Irrigation Water and Labour

The good quality water supply should be available and water testing is must determine its suitability for irrigation. Irrigation water also be tested for chemical contamination, particularly if the source comes from a well, irrigation channel or river.

Labour is generally an intensive venture particularly organic vegetable production. Often one-hectare mixed organic vegetable enterprise can be efficiently operated by one labour. The additional labour is required during extensive weeding
operations and peak harvesting periods. If the producer is doing agricultural value
addition then will be need additional labours.

13. Transport

Transport is essential for supply of fresh produce from farm to market. Highly perishable vegetable crops are grown in the farm then transportation facility should be refrigerated. Transport operators should be kept in the mind that organic produce and conventional produce should be kept separately which should reduce the risk of contamination.

14. Market suitability

Market research is an essential part for organic vegetable production, which selection of crop and variety is generally depending on the consumers. It is also important to find out which vegetable is required in the market at particular time and when it is required because sometimes vegetables may be undersupplied. It will be possible to fill the seasonal gap in restaurants vegetables for example cherry tomato, yellow capsicum and red capsicum. Some processing factories are preferred cultivars for processing and for the fresh-food market.

Method to Get Certificate of Organic Vegetable Produce

This is process of certification for organic food produce and other related organic
products. Any person doing organic food production can be certified, including farmers,
food processors, suppliers of seed and retailers. It has a production standard for growing
of crops, their storage, convert into processed products, packaging and transportation
that exclude genetically modified organisms and the use of synthetic chemical inputs
(Such as fertilizer, pesticides, food additives, antibiotics etc). This generally allows for
chemicals free farming for three or more than three years. This keeps record in detail
for production and sales and strictly maintaining non-certified products and organic
products.

Purpose of certification

Organic certification is essential for increasing worldwide demand of organic vegetable produce. It necessary for prevention from fraud products and also assure product quality. Organic producers identify suppliers of approved products for use in certified operations for certification. Many certification bodies operate organic standards that meet the minimum requirements of the National government.

Procedure of Certification

Farmer is required to participate in new activities for farm certification: (Source: NPOF, Agriculture and Cooperation Department, Government of India)
* Application form is given by the applicant with details in the prescribed format to the certification agency.

* Screening of application by certification agency.

* Cost estimate including certification fees, laboratory fees, inspection fees, reporting cost and travel cost etc is sent for acceptance.

* Acceptance of cost by the organic vegetable producer.

* Signing of agreement between organic vegetable producer with certification agency.

* Certification agency calls for cropping/production/cultivation/processing scheme and provides a copy of the standards for the producer to follow.

* Certification agency asks the organic vegetable producer to release 50 percent of the certification cost in advance.

* Organic vegetable producer pays the 50 percent fees.

* Inspection is carried out at one or more than one times.

* Inspection report submitted to the certification agency committee.

* Certification agency asks for final payment and organic vegetable producer pays the final payment.

* Certification agency gives certificate to organic vegetable producer.

* Organic vegetable producer releases the stock for sale with Certification Mark (India Organic Logo).

Reference:

* Annonymous (2018). Indian Horticulture Database 2018. National Horticulture Board Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India.

* Ansari, M.T. and Ramjan, Md. (2018). Organic Vegetable production in North East India. *Indian Farmer* 5(12): 1455-1457

* Barik, A. K. (2017). Organic Farming in India: Present Status, Challenges and Technological Break Through. *International Journal of Economic Plants*. 04(04):182-189

* Bhattacharyva, P. and Chakraborty, G. (2005). Current Status of Organic Farming in India and other Countries. *Indian Journal of Fertilisers*. Vol. 1 (9). PP.111-123

* Brennan, E. B., Martinez, V.A. (2019). Cover Crops and Compost Influence Soil Enzymes during Six Years of Tillage-Intensive, Organic Vegetable Production. *Soil Science Society of America Journal*. 83:624–637

* Dahama, A. K. (2002). Organic Farming for Sustainable Agriculture, Agribios (India), Jodhpur.

* https://www.krishisewa.com/organic-agriculture/330-organic-vegetables.html. Yadav, L.P., Aniket, C., Sharma, P. and Singh, A., (Organic production of vegetable crops, Department of vegetable science, college of Agriculture, CCHAU,Hisar

* Gaskell, M., Fouche, B., Koike, S., Lanini, T., Mitchell, J. and Smith, R. (2000). Organic Vegetable Production in California—Science and Practice. *Hortitechnology* 10(4), Page 699-713
* Ilakiya, t., Parameswari, E., Davamani, V. and Yazhini, G. (2020). Organic Vegetable Production. *Research Biotica*. 2(2):50-54

* Luan, H., Gao, W., Huang, S., Tang, J., Li, M., Zhang, H., Chen, X. and Masiliūnas, D. (2020). Organic amendment increases soil respiration in a greenhouse vegetable production system through decreasing soil organic carbon recalcitrance and increasing carbon-degrading microbial activity. *Journal of Soils and Sediments, Germany*

* Maity, T.K. and Tripathy, P (.).Organic farming of vegetables in India: problems and prospects. Department of Vegetable Crops Faculty of Horticulture Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, pp. 1-23

* Ndungu, S. K., Macharia, I., Gathu, R. K. and Wahome, R. G. (2013). Impact of Organic Vegetable Production System in Kiambu and Kajiado Counties of Kenya. *Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering*. pp. 256-266

* Palaniappan, S.P. and Annadurai, K. (1999). Organic Farming Theory and Practice. Scientific Publications, Jodhpur, India.

* Panwar, A.S., Dutta, D., Ravisankar, N., Kumar, A., Meena, L. K. and Meena A. L. (2019). Modern Concepts and Practices of Organic Farming for Safe Secured and Sustainable Food Production, ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research Modipuram, Meerut - 250 110, India pp. 333-349

* Ramanjaneyulu, A.V., Maiti, R., Ghosh, B., Sarkar, N. C. and Mandal, D. (2018). Organic Farming Enhances Productivity And Soil Health. *Research Trends in Bioresource Management and Technology, American Academic Press*, USA. pp.34-47

* Shiva, V., Pande, P and Singh, J. (2004). Principles of Organic Farming (Renewing the Earth's Harvest). Navdanya Publisher, New Delhi.

* Suryawanshi, O.K., Bansode S.B. and Sachchan, T. K. (2019). Organic Farming in India: An overview. *Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research*. Vol. 6(5):64-67

* Yadav, A.K. (2005). Organic farming (Concept, Scenario, Principals and Practices): relevance, problems and constraints. National Project on Organic farming. Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Govt of India.
# INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM - A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TOWARDS DOUBLING FARM INCOME AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY OF SMALL AND MARGINAL FARMERS

Monika Menia*¹ and Ranjeet Singh Bochalya²

*¹Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir
University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology- Jammu, Main
Campus, Chatha- 180009, Jammu & Kashmir

*¹Corresponding author's e-mail Id.: monikamenia2019@gmail.com

## Abstract

Agriculture is the main enterprise of the farmers in India which provides approximately 65% employment to the population of the country. The current scenario in the country indicates that area under cultivation may dwindle and more than 20% of current cultivable area will be converted for non-agricultural purposes by 2030 (Gill et al., 2005). Crop cultivation along with livestock is the predominant farming system existing in the country and the livelihood of 117 million marginal and small farm holdings revolves around this system. The farmers are often faced weather vagaries like flood, drought and other natural calamities and farming remains risky. Vertical expansion in these marginal and small farms holdings is possible by integrating synergetic farming system components requiring less space and time and can ensure periodic income to the farmers. Integrated farming system is considered to be a powerful tool and holds the key for ensuring income, employment, livelihood and nutritional security in a sustainable mode for small and marginal farmers (Anonymous, 2015). To fulfill basic needs of these farm families including food (cereal, pulses, oilseeds, milk, fruit, honey, meat etc.), feed fodder, fibre and fuel warrant an attention about integrated farming system (IFS). IFS refer to agricultural systems that integrate livestock and crop production or integrate fish and livestock and may sometimes be known as integrated bio systems. In this system, an inter-related set of enterprises are used so that the waste from one component becomes an input for other enterprises of the system, which reduces cost and improves production and thereby income. Recycling of waste products as input/ resources in agricultural production, diversification with
different crops and enterprises bringing in stability, meeting the diversified needs of the farm family offer of an insurance against crop/ market risk and overall sustainability of soil have proven advantages over the monocropped situation (Manjunath and Singh, 2012). Kumar *et al*. (2012) studied different components of IFS at Bihar and identified rice-wheat + vegetable + dairy + fish as the best integrated farming system in terms of net income (Rs. 1,50,865) over other combinations. One-hectare integrated farming system model developed by AICRP- IFS, Chatha, Jammu in 2016 for marginal and small farmers gave net returns by deducting all variable costs were Rs. 283474/ha and generating employment of 502-man days/ha/year. The source- sink relationship of net GHG in terms of CO2-e (kg) is concerned the Agroforestry and horticulture plants contributed for maximum carbon sink (13585.2 kg) out of 15146.5 kg as compared to source (7070.9 kg), thereby, showing reduction in the GHG emission under IFS model to the tune of 8075.6 kg/year. Based on the research works conducted all over the country, it is clear that cropping system alone can't fulfil the demand of food and nutritional requirement and we have to focus on multi-component farming as it is the only way of efficient resource recycling within the system with increased economic profitability, economic stability, enhanced soil sustainability and preserving environmental quality and maintaining biological diversity.

**Key words:** IFS, livestock, horticulture, poultry and GHG emission

**Introduction**

Indian economy is mainly agriculture oriented. Small and marginal farmers are the core of the Indian farming community constituting more than 80% possessing only 32.5% of the total operational area (GoI, 2014). The average size of operational land holdings has reduced by half from 1970-71 to 2016-17. The operational farm holding in India is still declining. Siddeswaran *et al*. (2012) reported that the declining trend of per capita land availability poses a serious challenge to the sustainability and profitability of farming. Due to ever increasing population and shrinking land resources in the country, practically there is hardly any scope for horizontal expansion of land for agriculture. Only vertical expansion is possible by integrating appropriate farming components that require lesser space and time to ensure reasonable periodic income to farm families. The income from single season field crop is hardly sufficient to sustain the small farmer's family. The current scenario in the country indicates that area under cultivation may further dwindle and more than 20% of current cultivable area will be converted for non-agricultural purposes by 2030 (Gill *et al*., 2005).

The Integrated Farming Systems (IFS), therefore, assumes greater importance for sound management of farm resources to enhance the farm productivity and reduce the environmental degradation, improve the quality of life of resource poor farmers and maintain sustainability. In order to sustain a positive growth rate in agriculture, a holistic approach is the need of the hour. Farming system is a mix of farm enterprises in which
farm families allocate resources for efficient utilization of the existing enterprises for enhancing productivity and profitability of the farm. These farm enterprises are crop, livestock, aquaculture, agro-forestry, agri-horticulture and sericulture (Singh, 2004). Integrated farming system approach is not only a reliable way of obtaining fairly high productivity with considerable scope for resource recycling, but also concept of ecological soundness leading to sustainable agriculture. With increasing energy crisis due to shrinking of non-renewable fossil-fuel based sources, the fertilizer nutrient costs have increased steeply and with gradual withdrawal of fertilizer subsidy. It is expected to have further hike in the cost of fertilizers. This will leave the farmers with no option but to fully explore the potential alternate sources of plant nutrients at least for the partial substitution of the fertilizer nutrients for individual crops and in the cropping systems (Manjunatha *et al.*, 2014).

**Rationale of Integrated Farming System**

The rationale behind integrated farming is to minimize wastes from the various subsystems on the farm. Wastes or by-products from each subsystem are used as inputs to other subsystems to improve the productivity and lower the cost of production of the outputs of the various subsystems. IFS seems to be the possible solution with the changing agrarian scenario of India. Land fragmentation, scarcity of agricultural inputs and changing climatic scenario of the country necessitates the follow up of the holistic perspective in agricultural use. Integrated farming system provides an opportunity to increase the economic yield per unit area per unit time by virtue of intensification and diversification of crops and integration of allied enterprises. It also offers enough scope to nutrient recycling within the system to economize and sustain the system and minimizes the dependence on chemical fertilizers for crop production to earn more profit. This may also generate more employment for the family members throughout the year (Kumar *et al.*, 2015). Recycling of waste products as input/ resources in agricultural production, diversification with different crops and enterprises bringing in stability, meeting the diversified needs of the farm family offer of an insurance against crop/ market risk and overall sustainability of soil have proven advantages over the monocropped situation (Manjunath and Singh, 2012). IFS is an attempt to reconcile agricultural methods with the principles of sustainable development by balancing, in the words of 'FARRE', food production, profitability, safety, animal welfare, social responsibility and environmental care. Overall an integrated farming system fulfill the multiple objective of making farmers self-sufficient by ensuring the family members a balance diet, improving the standard of living through maximizing the total net returns and provide more employment, minimizing the risk and uncertainties and keeping harmony with environment (Mali *et al.*, 2014). Simultaneous production of fish in ponds, with pigs, duck or chicken rearing in pens, beside or over the ponds constitutes a continuous organic fertilization of the pond by the livestock. This practice increases
the efficiency and rentability of both livestock farming and fish culture through the
profitable utilization of animal and feed wastes.

Need and Approach for Integrated Farming Systems

Adoption of Integrated Farming System leads to sustainability and stability in farm income through multiple enterprises that aim at maximum utilization of available natural resources to meet the family needs. It aims at generating a threshold level of farm income required for the farm family to maintain sustained interest in farming thus preventing migration of people from farming sector. Integrated farming system, which is a synonym to family farming, provides an opportunity to profitably engage the available man power in the farm family to the fullest extent throughout the year leading to higher income and family satisfaction. A good IFS aims at least dependence on external inputs and efficient recycling of available farm resources. Though IFS can be explained as a system comprised of several mutually cohesive and complementary agro-based enterprises, no common model can be suitable for all the situations. IFS models have to be developed based on the agro-climatic situations, holding size, availability of resources like land, water, labour, marketing facilities, risk factors, family size, ability of the farm family members to participate in the farming activity, their knowledge/skill level etc.

Desirable change in the existing system towards more balanced
cropping/farming system to meet ever increasing demand of food, feed, fibre, fuel and
fertilizer on the one hand and maintenance of agro-ecosystem on the other.
Diversification is considered to be a good alternative to improve system yield with
enhanced profitability. Further, the farming systems approach is a "highly location
specific approach involving appropriate combinations of complimentary farm
enterprises viz., cropping systems, livestock, fisheries, forests, poultry and the means
available to the farmers to raise them for profitability". Two approaches of farming
systems such as holistic and innovative are considered to be a powerful tool to increase
the income and employment opportunities for the farm family. Holistic approach deals
with improving the productivity of existing components in totality while innovative
approach aims for improving the profitability of existing farming systems with user-
perception based introduction of new components.

Different components of IFS

Crop production

In farming system, there is a need to encourage adoption of integrated farm
practices, methods and technologies which can increase productivity and income in
different ways which are cost effective and ecologically protective. The cultivation of
cereals, vegetables, fruits with other enterprises should be integrated in such a way that
Advanced Farming

various parts can be complimentary and supportive to each other. Irrigation is an
extremely important input for higher and sustainable agricultural production in the state
along with quality seeds of High Yielding Varieties (Malhotra, 2017).

Livestock

Animal husbandry has a major role in doubling farmers’ income. It is now unanimously accepted by farmers that integrating animal husbandry activities with agriculture can double the income. Animal husbandry is an important integral component of Indian agriculture supporting livelihood of the rural population. Livestock farming can increase their income by adopting the new methodology, good animal husbandry practices, modern and innovative farming techniques in animal husbandry practices as well as IFS in animal husbandry practices (Prabhakar and Bharti, 2018).

Fisheries

Some strategies are adopted for fisheries development such as establishment of fish hatchery in aquaculture and use of seasonal and perennial pond for stocking and throughout availability of good quality fingerlings and yearlings, to start the integrated fish farming cum refine aquaculture technology etc.

Sericulture

Sericulture is an agro-industry of rural communities, the end product of which is silk. Sericulture involves three activities viz., cultivation of mulberry, rearing, of silkworm from the cocoons formed by the worms. The second largest producer of mulberry silk is India after china (Anonymous, 2017b). Sericulture is practiced both in tropical and temperate climates. India exports silk mainly to USA, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Singapore, Canada, UAE, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, Japan, Thailand etc. (Anonymous, 2013).

Agro-forestry

Agriculture and forest are always vulnerable to unfavourable climatic condition. Natural calamities, such as floods, drought, water logging etc. occur almost every year, combined with the effects of deforestation, forest degradation and erosion in India. Agroforestry is an integrated self-sustained land management system, which involves deliberate introduction of materials like timber, pulp, pole, fuel wood, food and medicine with agricultural crops on the same unit of land, meeting the ecological and socioeconomic needs of farmers. This system also provides to varied needs of the farmer enhance employment opportunities by spreading labour needs which otherwise are concentrated in the farming system (Anonymous, 2013). The perennial characteristic of trees helps to make the best use of crop land through plantation on corner boundaries with well managed.
## Apiculture

Honey bees act as excellent pollinators and therefore improve the yield of various agricultural crops. By adopting of migratory beekeeping, beekeepers may harvest different honey flows as well as their income.

## Mushroom production

Nutritional level of poor farmers can be improved by increasing mushroom production. There is considerable demand of medicinal mushrooms in addition to edible mushroom species. Straw is being better utilized by promoting mushroom production. For this, the availability of mushroom seeds and quality compost is important. The production is being encouraged by setting up a group of mushrooms producing farmers, especially the women farmers. The production is being linked to market. The government has also targeted to setup 20 mushroom production units and 10 mushroom span units by 2022.

## Role of Farming System approaches

IFS is a multidisciplinary whole farm approach and very effective in solving the problems of small and marginal farmers. The approach aims at increasing income and employment from small-holding by integrating various farm enterprises and recycling crop residues and by products within the farm itself. Increased productivity, profitability and sustainability are ensured with protective food and environmental safety.

### a) Food security

Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live-in hunger or fear of starvation. Economic and ecological access to food could be only ensured by adopting farming system approach. Integrated use and management of land, water and human resources prove to maximize income and employment.

### b) Provides balanced food

There is need of farming system which has several components like dairy, poultry, goatry, fisheries etc. along with crop production. In this way, farming system would not only meet the food demand but also cater the need of protein, fat, vitamins and minerals required for good health. Incorporation of horticulture and agroforestry with cropping would ensure seasonal access to fruits, fuel, fodder and fibre.

### c) Quality food basket

As the living status is improved, the requirement of cereals will be decreased and supplemented by other items viz. milk, egg, meat, fruit etc. Integration of allied enterprises with cropping increases the nutritive value of the products.
**d) Higher productivity and enhanced farm income**

Integration of fish in rice system decreased rice grain yield due to the presence of fish trenches occupying 10% of the rice area; however, additional income increases. The profit can be increased more when fish, vegetables and livestock are included in rice-rice farming system.

**e) Effective recycling of resources**

The effective recycling of farm resources is possible by adoption of farming system research. Crop by-product is utilized as fodder for animals, and animal by-product i.e., milk, and dung may be utilized for increasing income and soil fertility, respectively.

**f) Minimize environmental pollution**

The burning of rice residue is common practice in Punjab, Haryana, western Utter Pradesh and Bihar, which increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in atmosphere, in addition to huge amount of nutrient loss. Such situation could be avoided by introduction of some more enterprises like animal husbandry on the farm. Rice straw may be used as animal feed.

**g) Employment generation**

Since crop-based agriculture is highly season specific and time bond, the intensity of labour requirement increases during sowing and harvesting time of crops. For rest of the time, farmers sit idle if they do not have off-farm activities. This leisure time could be utilized effectively by adoption of farming system, which keeps the whole family busy throughout the year.

**What can we do to double farmer's income?**

Strategies for doubling the income of farmers:

**a) By increasing productivity of crops**

i. Timely supply of good quality seeds prior to season

ii. Adapting Good Agricultural Practices

iii. Timely availability of good quality inputs

iv. Providing short duration and high yielding varieties

v. Promoting farm mechanization

vi. Adaption of integrated nutrient management

vii. Use of integrated pest management

viii. Increasing irrigation facilities

**b) By increasing cropping intensity**

According to land situation, irrigation and other facilities farm plan should be prepared for Kharif, Rabi and Zaid for 03 years e.g.
Paddy - wheat/pulses/Maize

Maize - Wheat/Pulses/Maize

Maize - Wheat/Pulses/Maize - Mung

Vegetable (cauliflower) - potato - onion - mung

Maize/Vegetable - Potato-Onion - Mung

Paddy (short duration) - vegetable - onion - maize

Paddy - vegetable - maize etc.

### c) Diversification of farming system with high value crops

Crop diversification includes lot of promises in alleviating the problem of low productivity, sustainability, soil health, low income, etc. through fulfilling the basic needs and regulating farm income, with standing weather aberrations, controlling price fluctuation, ensuring balance food supply, conserving natural resources, reducing the chemical fertilizer and pesticide loads, environmental safety and creating employment opportunity. Strategic diversification of crops and enterprises is needed to provide higher inclusive development.

### d) By reducing cost of production

i. Provision of subsidy on farm inputs, mechanization cost and diesel

ii. Provision of subsidy on HYV/ hybrid seeds

iii. Application of balance dose of fertilizer on the basis of soil testing

iv. Use of green manuring e.g. Dhaincha, Moong, Cowpea, Sunhemp etc.

v. Use of bio fertilizers e.g. Rhizobium, PSB, Azotobactor, Azolla, Blue green Algae, Mycorrhiza etc. Subsidy on transport

vi. Use of renewable energy sources i.e. Solar energy, Gobar/Bio gas etc.

vii. Promotion of DSR/Zero tillage technology

viii. Promotion of custom hiring system

ix. Promotion of integrated farming system: Synergise blending of crops/horticulture, dairy, fishery, and poultry to provide regular income.

### e) Protected cultivation of vegetables and flowers with micro irrigation

Protected cultivation of high value vegetables and flowers with micro irrigation has great potential to double or more the farmer's income. These technologies are very useful for small landholder growers which help to maximize their productivity levels to boost up economic relevance and sustain social stability.

## Research outcomes

**Crop-aquaculture farming system:** Balusamy *et al.* (2003) explained that rice + Azolla cum-fish culture is one of the economical option in the area of Tamil Nadu. Monoculture system rely mainly on external inputs while in integrated system, recycling of nutrients takes place that help in reducing the cost of production for economic yield. The fish in rice field utilized the untapped aquatic productivity of rice ecosystem as the rice bottom is highly fertilized on account of the production of zoo
and phytoplankton and these resources are fully utilized by the fish. The gross income obtained in rice + Azolla + fish was 25.7% more over the rice crop and 6.9% more over the rice + fish. The net income followed the same trend as shown in Table 1. Thus, rice + Azolla + fish on an average gave Rs. 8817/ha more over the rice monoculture and Rs. 3219/ha over the rice + fish.

<table><caption>**Table 1: Economics of rice- Azolla - fish integrated farming system**</caption><thead><tr><th rowspan="2">System</th><th colspan="3">Gross income (Rs.)</th><th rowspan="2">Total cost of cultivation (Rs.)</th><th rowspan="2">Net income (Rs.)</th></tr><tr><th>Crop</th><th>Fish</th><th>Total</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Rice</td><td>43291</td><td>-</td><td>43291</td><td>20320</td><td>22971</td></tr><tr><td>Rice + fish</td><td>39447</td><td>11422</td><td>50869</td><td>22300</td><td>28569</td></tr><tr><td>Rice + Azolla + fish</td><td>40752</td><td>13649</td><td>54401</td><td>22613</td><td>31788</td></tr></tbody></table>

IFS model developed at SKUAST-J, Chatha: AICRP-IFS Annual Report (2018) showed that one hectare IFS model comprising of cropping systems (rice-wheat-green manuring, rice-potato-blackgram, rice-mustard-greengram and berseem+oat-maize+sorghum with hybrid napier on bund) in 0.38 ha + horticulture (guava as main crop, lemon and mango as boundary crop and broccoli, knolkhol, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, okra as intercrops) in 0.37 ha + dairy including 2 m³ biogas and vermicompost unit in 0.08 ha + fish cum poultry in 0.1 ha + fodder block in 0.07 ha + mushroom unit (0.02 ha) developed for the mid to high altitude plain zone (JK-1) in Western Himalayas provides round the year average production (22.32 t REY/year), net profit (Rs. 2,83,474 lakhs/year) and employment (502 man-days/year). It indicates that the integrated farming is far much better than the prevailing rice- wheat cropping system as it provides higher net returns and helps in ensuring regular income and sustainability of farmers.

This IFS model was developed by Thakur *et al.* (2018) at SKUAST-J, Chatha found that the livestock contributed 67% net emission of CO₂-e (4709.7) kg, whereas 24% of the net emission of CO₂-e was estimated under rice based cropping system and remaining 9% contributed from fodder, horticulture crops, poultry and fishery component. The source-sink relationship of net-Greenhouse Gas in terms of CO₂-e (kg) is concerned the Agro-forestry and horticulture plants contributed for maximum carbon sink (13585.2 kg) out of 15146.5 kg as compared to source (7070.9 kg), thereby, showing a reduction in the GHG emission under IFS model to the tune of 8075.6 kg/year (Table 2). It indicates that there is having a potential not to doubling farmer income as compared to existing farming system but showing a reduction in GHG emission from IFS model which leads towards sustainability issue.
<table><caption>Table 2: Net GHG emission in IFS Model (CO₂-e in Kg)</caption><thead><tr><th>Carbon Sources</th><th>Enterprises</th><th>CO₂-e(kg)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td></td><td>Cropping System</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>CS₁</td><td>Rice-wheat-Green Manuring</td><td>427.4</td></tr><tr><td>CS₂</td><td>Rice-Potato-Mash</td><td>116.9</td></tr><tr><td>CS₃</td><td>Rice-Mustard-Mash</td><td>104.7</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Fodder crops</td><td>90.3</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Horticultural-Vegetable crops</td><td>223.9</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Paddy-special</td><td>1020.6</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Livestock (Cattle and buffalo)</td><td>4709.7</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Sheep</td><td>0.0</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Goat</td><td>0.0</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Poultry</td><td>77.5</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Pig</td><td>0.0</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Kitchen garden</td><td>0.0</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Fish Pond</td><td>299.9</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Border plantation and agroforestry</td><td>0.0</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Energy used for household</td><td>0.0</td></tr><tr><td>Carbon Sink</td><td>Agro-Forestry- SINK</td><td>13582.2</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Total Biomass/compost added - SINK</td><td>1564.4</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Total SOURCE</td><td>7070.9</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Total SINK</td><td>15146.5</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>GHG-IFS</td><td>-8075.6</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Rice based farming systems:** Sarangi *et al.* (2016) at West Bengal found that the gross return and net return obtained from IFS model of rice crop when integrate with duckery, fishery and mushroom which was much higher than the returns obtained from conventional cropping for marginal farmer (Table 3).

<table><caption>Table 3: Economics of rice based farming systems for marginal farmer (0.4 ha area)</caption><thead><tr><th>Component</th><th>Expenditure (Rs.)</th><th>Gross return (Rs.)</th><th>Net return (Rs.)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Crop</td><td>33000</td><td>60000</td><td>27000</td></tr><tr><td>Duckery</td><td>6000</td><td>9000</td><td>3000</td></tr><tr><td>Fishery</td><td>4500</td><td>10500</td><td>6000</td></tr><tr><td>Mushroom</td><td>15000</td><td>18000</td><td>3000</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>58500</td><td>97500</td><td>39000</td></tr><tr><td>Conventional cropping</td><td>21000</td><td>39000</td><td>18000</td></tr></tbody></table>
**Conclusion:**

The study shall help in identifying the highly productive, profitable and employment generating Integrated farming systems, which will reduce environment degradation and improve the quality of life of resource poor farmers and to maintain agricultural sustainability. Efficient recycling of farm and animal wastes of one enterprise becomes the input of another and minimizing the nutrient losses and maximizing the resource use efficiencies following efficient cropping systems and crop rotations and complementary combination of farm enterprises to maintained sustainable production with increase farmer's income.

Doubling real income of farmers still 2022 or over, required annual agricultural growth rate of more than 10 per cent against the present growth rate of about 2.1 per cent. This indicates that the current and previously achieved growth rate has to be sharply accelerated. Concluded that adoption of farming system approaches combined with allied innovative approaches plays a crucial role to meet the present day's challenges in agriculture. It needs transformation to provide divers set of services that support diversification with short duration and high value crops, agricultural livelihoods and offering relevant technologies that are integrated with appropriate credit support smart farming as well as policies implementation with MSP reform. IFS is an eco-friendly approach for doubling farmer's income which will be a land mark proposition for encouraging vertical growth in agriculture in the present day scenario of shrinking land resources and increasing population.

**Future thrust:**

o Development of ecologically stable, environmentally sound and location specific low cost viable IFS modules for different holding sizes which are socially acceptable is required.

o On -farm testing and refinement of the developed modules according to the farmer's need and requirement as it is a continuous process i.e. addition of profitable components and replacement of less profitable components with time, choice of the farmers and availability of market.

o Need to study the sustainability of the developed or identified farming systems under different agro- climatic situations in the long run including high value crops.

o Need to study the nutrient dynamics of soil, accumulation of carbon and carbon sequestration with continuous cropping and recycling of organic resources in form of plant or animal wastes with different systems over time.

o Need to identify the constraints in adoption of identified integrated farming systems for particular area or locality.
References:

* Anonymous. 2013. Farming Systems for Sustainable Agriculture. Sustainable Livelihood in Agriculture. National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad – 500 030, Andhra Pradesh, India pp 7-24.

* Anonymous. 2015. *Farming Systems Research: Success stories*. N. Ravisankar, B. Gangwar, K. Prasad, R. Singh and R. Singh (Eds.). ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, Modipuram, Meerut.

* Anonymous. 2017b. Department of Economics, University of Jammu, 2017. National Conference on "Roadmap for Doubling Farmers' Income by 2022: Towards Addressing Agriculture Sustainability and Ways Forward. 29-30 March, Jammu.

* Balusamy, M., Shanmugham, P. M. and Baskaran, R. 2003. Mixed farming an ideal farming. *Intensive Agriculture* **41** (11-12): 20-5.

* Gill, M. S., Samra, J. S. and Singh, G. 2005. Integrated farming system for realizing high productivity under shallow water-table conditions. Research bulletins, Department of Agronomy, PAU, Ludhiana 1-29.

* GoI. 2014. *Agricultural statistics at a glance*, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

* Kumar, S., Bhatt, B. P., Dwivedi, S. K. and Shivani. 2015. Family farming- A mechanism to contribute towards global food security. *Indian Farming* **64** (12): 13-18.

* Kumar, S., Singh, S. S., Meena, M. K., Shivani and Dey, A. 2012. Resource recycling and their management under integrated farming system for lowlands of Bihar. *Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences* **82**(6): 504-10.

* Malhotra, S. K. 2017. Initiatives and Option in Transition for Doubling Farmers Income. Shodh Granth. National Conference on Technological Changes and Innovations in Agriculture for Enhancing Farmer's Income organized by JAU, Junagadh, Gujarat. pp 1-13. May 28-30, 2017.

* Mali, H., Kumar, A. and Katara, P. 2014. Integrated farming system for irrigated and rainfed conditions. (In) *Proceedings of National Symposium on Agricultural Diversification for Sustainable Livelihood and Environmental Security*, held during 18-20 November 2014 at Ludhiana, Punjab, p 546.

* Manjunath, B. L. and Singh, M. P. 2012. Farming system options for different topographical situations of west coast region. *Extended Summaries Vol. 3: 3rd International Agronomy Congress*, held during 26-30 November 2012 at New Delhi, pp 988-90.

* Manjunatha, S. B., Shivmurthy, D., Sunil Satyareddi A., Nagaraj M. V. and Basavesha, K. N. 2014. Integrated Farming System - An Holistic Approach: A Review. *Research and Reviews: Journal of Agriculture and Allied Sciences*, **3** (4):1-9.

* Prabhakar, P. and Bharti, M. K. 2018. Role of veterinary doctors in doubling farmer's income. Animal Husbandry.
https://krishijagran.com/animalhusbandry/role-of-veterinary-doctorsin-doubling-farmers-income/

* Sarangi, S. K., Maji, B., Mahanta, K. K., Burman, D., Mandal, S., Mandal, U. K., Raut, S., Lama, T.D. and Sharma, D. K. 2016. Integrated farming system: a holistic approach for farm income optimization and risk minimization in coastal region of India. *Journal of the Indian Society of Coastal Agricultural Research*, **34**(2): 15-21.

* Siddeswaran, K., Sangetha, S. P. and Shanmugam, P. M. 2012. Integrated farming system for the small irrigated upland farmers of Tamil Nadu. *Extended Summaries Vol 3: 3rd International Agronomy Congress*, held during 26-30 November 2012 at New Delhi, pp 992-3.

* Singh G. 2004. Farming systems options in sustainable management of national resources. *In: Proceedings National Symposium on Alternative Farming Systems*, held at PDCSR, Modipuram, 16-18 September, 2004.

* Thakur, N.P., Kachroo, D., Khajuria, V., Gupta, A. K., Kumar, P., Kour, G., Singh, P., Sharma, R. and Masud, S. 2018. *National Symposium on Integrated Farming Systems for 3Es*. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), New Delhi.
# BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS

Poonam W. Nawalkar¹, Dr. A. A. Bhopale², Dr. S.J. Gahukar³ and Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh⁴

Junior Research Assistant¹, Field Officer², Incharge Biotechnology Center
Agril Prices and Costs Scheme³, Krishi Vidyapeeth Akola⁴

Email: poonamnawalkar@gmail.com

## Introduction:

* Biotechnology is technology that utilizes biological systems, living organisms or parts of this to develop or create different products.

* Brewing and baking bread are examples of processes that fall within the concept of biotechnology (use of yeast (= living organism) to produce the desired product).

* Such traditional processes usually utilize the living organisms in their natural form (or further developed by breeding), while the more modern form of biotechnology will generally involve a more advanced modification of the biological system or organism.

* With the development of genetic engineering in the 1970s, research in the biotechnology (and other related areas such as medicine, biology etc.) developed rapidly because of the new possibility to make changes in the organisms' genetic material (DNA).

* Biotechnology deals with industrial scale production of biopharmaceuticals and biologicals using genetically modified microbes, fungi, plants and animals.

* The applications of biotechnology include therapeutics, diagnostics, genetically modified crops for agriculture, processed food, bioremediation, waste treatment, and energy production.

* Three critical research areas of biotechnology are:

(i) Providing the best catalyst in the form of improved organism usually a microbe or pure enzyme.

(ii) Downstream processing technologies to purify the protein/organic compound

Biotechnological
application in

✓ Agriculture

✓ Medicine

✓ Molecular Diagnosis

✓ Genetically
Engineered Insulin

✓ Gene Therapy

✓ Molecular Diagnosis

✓ Transgenic Animals
(iii) Creating optimal conditions through engineering for a catalyst to act

Let us now learn how human beings have used biotechnology to improve the quality of human life, especially in the field of food production and health.

**Biotechnological Applications in Agriculture**

Let us take a look at the three options that can be thought for increasing food production

(i) agro-chemical based agriculture;

ii) genetically engineered crop-based agriculture and

(iii) organic agriculture.

The **Green Revolution** succeeded in tripling the food supply but yet it was not enough to feed the growing human population. Increased yields have partly been due to the use of improved crop varieties, but mainly due to the use of better management practices and use of agrochemicals (fertilizers and pesticides). However, for farmers in the developing world, agrochemicals are often too expensive, and further increases in yield with existing varieties are not possible using conventional breeding. Is there any alternative path that our understanding of genetics can show so that farmers may obtain maximum yield from their fields? Is there a way to minimize the use of fertilizers and chemicals so that their harmful effects on the environment are reduced? Use of genetically modified crops is a possible solution.

Plants, bacteria, fungi and animals whose genes have been altered by manipulation are called **Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)**.

GM plants have been useful in many ways. Genetic modification has:

(i) made crops more tolerant to abiotic stresses (cold, drought, salt, heat).

(ii) reduced reliance on chemical pesticides (pest-resistant crops).

(iii) helped to reduce post-harvest losses.

(iv) increased efficiency of mineral usage by plants.

(v) enhanced nutritional value of food, e.g., Vitamin ‘A’ enriched rice.

In addition to these uses, GM has been used to create tailor-made plants to supply alternative resources to industries, in the form of starches; fuels and pharmaceuticals. Some of the applications of biotechnology in agriculture that you will study in detail are the production of pest resistant plants, which could decrease the amount of pesticide used. Bt toxin is produced by a bacterium called *Bacillus thuringenesis* (Bt* for short). Bt toxin gene has been cloned from the bacteria and been expressed in plants to provide resistance to insects without
the need for insecticides; in effect created a bio-pesticide. Examples are Bt cotton,
Bt corn, rice, tomato, potato and soyabean etc.

**Bt Cotton:** Some strains of *Bacillus thuringenesis* produce proteins that kill certain insects such as lepidopterans (tobacco budworm, armyworm), coleopterans (beetles) and dipterans (flies, mosquitoes). *B. thuringenesis* forms protein crystals during a particular phase of their growth. These crystals contain a toxic **insecticidal protein**. Why does this toxin not kill the *Bacillus*? Actually, the Bt toxin protein exist as inactive *protoxins* but once an insect ingests the inactive toxin, it is converted into an active form of toxin due to the alkaline pH of the gut which solubilise the crystals. The activated toxin binds to the surface of midgut epithelial cells and create pores that cause cell swelling and lysis and eventually cause death of the insect.

Specific Bt toxin genes were isolated from *Bacillus thuringenesis* and incorporated into the several crop plants such as cotton (Figure 12.1). The choice of genes depends upon the crop and the targeted pest, as most Bt toxins are insect-group specific. The toxin is coded by a gene named cry. There are a number of them, for example, the proteins encoded by the genes *cryIAc* and *cryIIAb* control the cotton bollworms, that of *cryIAb* controls corn borer.

<figure><img src="image_22.png" /><figcaption>**Figure** Cotton boll: (a) destroyed by bollworms; (b) a fully mature cotton boll</figcaption></figure>

**Pest Resistant Plants:** Several nematodes parasitise a wide variety of plants and animals including human beings. A nematode *Meloidegyne incognitia* infects the roots of tobacco plants and causes a great reduction in yield. A novel strategy was adopted to prevent this infestation which was based on the process of **RNA interference** (RNAi). RNAi takes place in all eukaryotic organisms as a method of cellular defense. This method involves silencing of a specific mRNA due to a complementary dsRNA molecule that binds to and prevents translation of the
mRNA (silencing). The source of this complementary RNA could be from an
infection by viruses having RNA genomes or mobile genetic elements
(transposons) that replicate via an RNA intermediate.

Using *Agrobacterium* vectors, nematode-specific genes were introduced
into the host plant. The introduction of DNA was such that it produced both
sense and anti-sense RNA in the host cells. This two RNA's being complementary
to each other formed a double stranded (dsRNA) that initiated RNAi and thus, silenced
the specific mRNA

**Biotechnological Applications in Medicine**

The recombinant DNA technological processes have made immense impact in the area of healthcare by enabling mass production of safe and more effective therapeutic drugs. Further, the recombinant therapeutics do not induce unwanted immunological responses as is common in case of similar products isolated from non-human sources. At present, about 30 recombinant therapeutics have been approved for human-use the world over. In India, 12 of these are presently being marketed.

Genetically Engineered Insulin

Management of adult-onset diabetes is possible by taking insulin at regular time intervals. What would a diabetic patient do if enough human-insulin was not available? If you discuss this, you would soon realize that one would have to isolate and use insulin from other animals. Would the insulin isolated from other animals be just as effective as that secreted by the human body itself and would it not elicit an immune response in the human body? Now, imagine if bacterium were available that could make human insulin. Suddenly the whole process becomes so simple. You can easily grow a large quantity of the bacteria and make as much insulin as you need.

Insulin used for diabetes was earlier extracted from pancreas of slaughtered
cattle and pigs. Insulin from an animal source, though caused some patients to
develop allergy or other types of reactions to the foreign protein. Insulin
consists of two short polypeptide chains: chain A and chain B, that are linked
together by disulphide bridges. In mammals, including humans, insulin is
synthesized as a pro-hormone (like a pro-enzyme, the pro-hormone also needs to be
processed before it becomes a fully mature and functional hormone) which contains
an extra stretch called the **C peptide**. This C peptide is not present in the mature
insulin and is removed during maturation into insulin. The main challenge
for production of insulin using rDNA techniques was getting insulin assembled
into a mature form.
In 1983, Eli Lilly an American company prepared two DNA sequences corresponding to A and B, chains of human insulin and introduced them in plasmids of *E. coli* to produce insulin chains. Chains A and B were produced separately, extracted and combined by creating disulfide bonds to form human insulin.

## Gene Therapy

If a person is born with a hereditary disease, can a corrective therapy be taken for such a disease? Gene therapy is an attempt to do this. Gene therapy is a collection of methods that allows correction of a gene defect that has been diagnosed in a child/embryo. Here genes are inserted into a person's cells and tissues to treat a disease. Correction of a genetic defect involves delivery of a normal gene into the individual or embryo to take over the function of and compensate for the non-functional gene.

The first clinical gene therapy was given in 1990 to a 4-year-old girl with adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency. This enzyme is crucial for the immune system to function. The disorder is caused due to the deletion of the gene for adenosine deaminase. In some children ADA deficiency can be cured by bone marrow transplantation; in others it can be treated by enzyme replacement therapy, in which functional ADA is given to the patient by injection. But the problem with both of these approaches that they are not completely curative. As a first step towards gene therapy, lymphocytes from the blood of the patient are grown in a culture outside the body. A functional ADA cDNA (using a retroviral vector) is then introduced into these lymphocytes, which are subsequently returned to the patient. However, as these cells are not immortal, the patient requires periodic infusion of such genetically engineered lymphocytes. However, if the gene isolate from marrow cells producing ADA is introduced into cells at early embryonic stages, it could be a permanent cure.

## Molecular Diagnosis

You know that for effective treatment of a disease, early diagnosis and understanding its pathophysiology is very important. Using conventional methods of diagnosis (serum and urine analysis, etc.) early detection is not possible. Recombinant DNA technology, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELISA) are some of the techniques that serve the purpose of early diagnosis.

Presence of a pathogen (bacteria, viruses, etc.) is normally suspected only when the pathogen has produced a disease symptom. By this time the concentration of pathogen is already very high in the body. However, very low concentration of a bacteria or virus (at a time when the symptoms of the disease are not yet visible) can be detected by amplification of their nucleic acid by PCR. Can you explain how
*PCR can detect very low amounts of DNA?* PCR is now routinely used to detect HIV in suspected AIDS patients. It is being used to detect mutations in genes in suspected cancer patients too. It is a powerful technique to identify many other genetic disorders.

A single stranded DNA or RNA, tagged with a radioactive molecule (probe) is allowed to hybridize to its complementary DNA in a clone of cells followed by detection using autoradiography. The clone having the mutated gene will hence not appear on the photographic film, because the probe will not have complementarity with the mutated gene.

ELISA is based on the principle of antigen-antibody interaction. Infection by pathogen can be detected by the presence of antigens (proteins, glycoproteins, etc.) or by detecting the antibodies synthesized against the pathogen.

## Transgenic Animals

Animals that have had their DNA manipulated to possess and express an extra (foreign) gene are known as **transgenic animals**. Transgenic rats, rabbits, pigs, sheep, cows and fish have been produced, although over 95 per cent of all existing transgenic animals are mice.

Following are some of the common reasons for producing transgenic animals-

## Normal physiology and development:

Transgenic animals can be specifically designed to allow the study of how genes are regulated, and how they affect the normal functions of the body and its development, e.g., study of complex factors involved in growth such as insulin-like growth factor. By introducing genes from other species that alter the formation of this factor and studying the biological effects obtained about the biological role of the factor in the body.

### Study of disease:

Many transgenic animals are designed to increase our understanding of how genes contribute to the development of disease. These are specially made to serve as models for human diseases so that investigation of new treatments for diseases is made possible. Today transgenic models exist for many human diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer's.

**Biological products:** Medicines required to treat certain human diseases can contain biological products, but such products are often expensive to make. Transgenic animals that produce useful biological products can be created by the introduction of the portion of DNA (or genes) which codes for a particular product such as human protein (α-1-antitrypsin) used to treat emphysema. Similar attempts are being made for treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU) and cystic fibrosis. In 1997, the first transgenic cow, Rosie, produced human protein-enriched milk (2.4 grams per liter). The milk contained the human
alpha-lactalbumin and was nutritionally a more balanced product for human babies than natural cow-milk.

**Vaccine safety:** Transgenic mice are being developed for use infesting the safety of vaccines before they are used on humans. Transgenic mice are being used to test the safety of the polio vaccine. If successful and found to be reliable, they could replace the use of monkeys to test the safety of batches of the vaccine.

**Chemical safety testing:** This is known as toxicity/safety testing. The procedure is the same as that used for testing toxicity of drugs. Transgenic animals are made that carry genes which make them more sensitive to toxic substances than non-transgenic animals. They are then exposed to the toxic substances and the effects studied. Toxicity testing in such animals will allow us to obtain results in less time.

## Ethical Issues

The manipulation of living organisms by the human race cannot go on any further, without regulation. Some ethical standards are required to evaluate the morality of all human activities that might help or harm living organisms.

Going beyond the morality of such issues, the biological significance of such things is also important. Genetic modification of organisms can have unpredictable results when such organisms are introduced into the ecosystem.

Therefore, the Indian Government has set up organizations such as GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee), which will make decisions regarding the validity of GM research and the safety of introducing GM-organisms for public services. The modification/usage of living organisms for public services (as food and medicine sources, for example) has also created problems with patents granted for the same. There is growing public anger that certain companies are being granted patents for products and technologies that make use of the genetic materials, plants and other biological resources that have long been identified, developed and used by farmers and indigenous people of a specific region/country.

Rice is an important food grain, the presence of which goes back thousands of years in Asia's agricultural history. There are an estimated 200,000 varieties of rice in India alone. The diversity of rice in India is one of the richest in the world. Basmati rice is distinct for its unique aroma and flavour and 27 documented varieties of Basmati are grown in India. There is reference to Basmati in ancient texts, folklore and poetry, as it has been grown for centuries. In 1997, an American company got patent rights on Basmati rice through the US Patent and Trademark Office. This allowed the company to sell a 'new'
variety of Basmati, in the US and abroad. This 'new' variety of Basmati had actually been derived from Indian farmer's varieties. Indian Basmati was crossed with semi-dwarf varieties and claimed as an invention or a novelty. The patent extends to functional equivalents, implying that other people selling Basmati rice could be restricted by the patent. Several attempts have also been made to patent uses, products and processes based on Indian traditional herbal medicines, e.g., turmeric neem. If we are not vigilant and we do not immediately counter these patent applications, other countries/individuals may encash on our rich legacy and we may not be able to do anything about it.

**Biopiracy** is the term used to refer to the use of bio-resources by multinational companies and other organizations without proper authorization from the countries and people concerned without compensatory payment.

Most of the industrialized nations are rich financially but poor in biodiversity and traditional knowledge. In contrast the developing and the underdeveloped world is rich in biodiversity and traditional knowledge related to bio-resources. Traditional knowledge related to bio-resources can be exploited to develop modern applications and can also be used to save time, effort and expenditure during their commercialization.

There has been growing realization of the injustice, inadequate compensation and benefit sharing between developed and developing countries. Therefore, some nations are developing laws to prevent such unauthorized exploitation of their bio-resources and traditional knowledge.

The Indian Parliament has recently cleared the second amendment of the Indian Patents Bill, that takes such issues into consideration, including patent terms emergency provisions and research and development initiative.

## SUMMARY

Biotechnology has given to humans several useful products by using microbes, plant, animals and their metabolic machinery. Recombinant DNA technology has made it possible to engineer microbes, plants and animals such that they have novel capabilities. Genetically Modified Organisms have been created by using methods other than natural methods to transfer one or more genes from one organism to another, generally using techniques such as recombinant DNA technology.

GM plants have been useful in increasing crop yields, reduce post-harvest losses and make crops more tolerant of stresses. There are several GM crop plants with improved nutritional value of foods and reduced the reliance on chemical pesticides (pest-resistant crops).
Recombinant DNA technological processes have made immense impact in the area of healthcare by enabling mass production of safe and more effective therapeutics. Since the recombinant therapeutics are identical to human proteins, they do not induce unwanted immunological responses and are free from risk of infection as was observed in case of similar products isolated from non-human sources. Human insulin is made in bacteria yet its structure is absolutely identical to that of the natural molecule.

Transgenic animals are also used to understand how genes contribute to the development of a disease by serving as models for human diseases, such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer's.

Gene therapy is the insertion of genes into an individual's cells and tissues to treat diseases especially hereditary diseases. It does so by replacing a defective mutant allele with a functional one or gene targeting which involves gene amplification. Viruses that attack their hosts and introduce their genetic material into the host cell as part of their replication cycle are used as vectors to transfer healthy genes or more recently portions of the gene.

Reference:

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2. Biotechnology policies – Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Oecd.org. Retrieved on March 20, 2013.

3. "History, scope and development of biotechnology". iopscience.iop.org. Retrieved October 30, 2018

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# MITIGATION OF ABIOTIC STRESSES IN AGRICULTURAL CROPS BY RHIZOBACTERIA

Adesh Kumar

¹Department of Plant molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, College of Agriculture, A.N.D.U.A.&T. Kumarganj, Ayodhya -224229

Email: gcy1972@gmail.com

## Abstract

Extreme events like prolonged droughts, intense rains and flooding, heat waves and frost damages are likely to further increase in future due to climate change. A wide range of adaptations and mitigation strategies are required to cope with such impacts. Efficient resource management and crop improvement for evolving better varieties can help to overcome abiotic stresses to some extent. However, such strategies being long drawn and cost intensive, there is a need to develop simple and low-cost biological methods for the management of abiotic stress, which can be used on short term basis. Microorganisms could play an important role in adaptation strategies and increase of tolerance to abiotic stresses in agricultural crops. Plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) mitigate most effectively the impact of abiotic stresses such as drought, low temperature, and salinity and high temperatures on crops through the production of exopolysaccharates and bio-film formation. PGPR mitigate the impact of drought on crops through a process so called induced systemic tolerance which includes bacterial production of cytokinins, production of antioxidants and degradation of the ethylene precursor ACC by bacterial ACC deaminase. These microbes also provide excellent models for understanding the stress tolerance, adaptation and response mechanisms that can be subsequently engineered into crops to mitigate the abiotic stress induced by climate change.

**Keywords** – Rhizobacteria, Abiotic stress, tolerance, Crops, Climate change

## 1. Introduction

Abiotic stresses affect the productivity of agricultural crops as well as the microbial activity in soil. Extreme conditions such as prolonged drought, intense rains flooding, high temperatures, frost and low temperatures, which are expected to intensify in the future due to climate changes, will significantly affect plants and soil microorganisms. Crop production in tropical regions is facing increasing stresses caused due to natural and anthropogenic factors. Increased incidence of abiotic and
biotic stresses due to climate change has become major cause for stagnation of productivity in principal crops. The average temperature in the Indian sub-continent has risen by 0.57 °C in the last 100 years and models project that it is likely to rise further to a maximum of 2.5 °C by 2050 and 5.8 °C by 2100 (Grover *et al.* 2010). Irrigation requirement in arid and semi-arid regions is estimated to increase by 10% with every 1 °C rise in temperature. Besides high temperature, droughts, elevated CO2, extreme rainfall events, more floods, cold waves, heat waves, and cyclones are the other important natural disasters that cause serious economic losses, are likely to be witnessed as a result of global warming. These factors are likely to cause serious negative impacts on crop growth and yields and impose severe pressure on our land and water resources. The principal abiotic stresses in India are drought or soil moisture stress that affects nearly two-thirds area forming parts of the arid and semi-arid eco systems, high temperatures, soil salinity/alkalinity, low pH and metal toxicity. Nearly 11 m ha area is affected by salinity, a chemical stress and another 16 m ha by water logging, a physical stress. Evolving efficient, low cost, easily adaptable methods for the abiotic stress management is a major challenge. Worldwide, extensive research is being carried out, to develop strategies to cope with abiotic stresses, through development of heat and drought tolerant varieties, shifting the crop calendars, resource management practices etc. (Venkateswarlu and Shanker 2009) while most of these technologies are cost intensive. Recent studies indicate that microorganisms can also help crops to cope with abiotic stresses. The role of microorganisms in plant growth promotion, nutrient management and disease control is well known. Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are associated with plant roots and mitigate most effectively the impact of abiotic stresses like drought, low temperature, salinity, metal toxicity, and high temperatures on crops through the production of exopolysaccharates and bio-film formation. When crops are exposed to stress conditions, rhizospheric microorganisms affect plant cells by different mechanisms like induction of osmoprotectors and heat shock proteins. However, the role of microbes in management of biotic and abiotic stresses is gaining importance. The term Induced Systemic Tolerance (IST) has been proposed for PGPR-induced physical and chemical changes that result in enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress. The present article addresses the role of microorganisms in helping crops to cope with various abiotic stresses like heat stress, salt stress, drought, and chilling injury and water-logging, the most common stresses caused due to climate change.

## 2. Adaptation of rhizobacteria as a response to abiotic stresses

Abiotic and biotic factors affect plant growth in agricultural soil. Light, water, carbon, and mineral nutrients are the major factors that regulate plant growth, development, and reproduction (Lata et al., 2018). However, when these environmental conditions reach extremities plants undergo physiological and morphological
modifications to adapt to these abrupt changes (Shukla et al., 2012). Major abiotic stresses that affect plant growth and agricultural productivity are drought, salinity, water logging, etc. In addition, fluctuation in optimum temperature also affects growth and yield of plants. Abiotic stress can lead to 20%50% loss in crop yield (Shrivastava and Kumar, 2015), depending on the type of crop and place it is grown such as in arid and semiarid regions or where salinity is normally high, resulting in low growth rate of aboveground biomass, and also affecting the photosynthetic ability of crops due to lowered water uptake.

**2.1. Drought**

It has been estimated that by 2050 drought will cause serious plant growth problems for 50% of arable land (Vinocur and Altman, 2005). Furthermore, with global climate change frequent and for long-lasting droughts are expected (Overpeck and Cole, 2006). Naveed et al. (2014) showed how drought adversely affects the physiological, biochemical, and growth parameters of wheat seedlings through decreased CO2 assimilation, stomatal conductance, relative water content, transpiration rate, and chlorophyll content. Nutrient availability and transport are affected due to drought as nutrients are carried to the roots by water (Vurukonda et al., 2016) Water-soluble nutrients such as nitrate, sulphate, Ca, Mg, and Si become unavailable to due to obstruction of nutrient diffusion and their mass flow (Selvakumar et al., 2012). Due to lower uptake of nitrate from soil the activity of nitrate reductase declines (Caravaca et al., 2005). Generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals such as superoxide radicals, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radicals result in oxidative stress. ROS most likely cause lipid peroxidation and membrane deterioration and degrade proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids in plants at high concentrations (Nair et al., 2008). Role of Plant Growth Promoting Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture and Nanotechnology heightens biosynthesis of ethylene, which inhibits plant growth through several mechanisms affecting quantity and quality of yield in plants (Ali et al., 2009). High salt concentration and scarcity of water are the main causes of balance disturbance in osmotic maintenance in plant cells, which ultimately negatively affects growth. As can be seen, osmotic imbalance greatly affects the growth and development of plants (Zhu, 2002). A variety of responses (physiological, cellular, and molecular) are triggered due to the osmotic imbalance caused by biotic or abiotic stresses such as an increase in the development of the below-ground system, reduction in the growth of above-ground system, changes in transport of ions (uptake, extrusion, and compartmentalization) and changes in metabolic activities such as photosynthesis. These physiological, molecular, or cellular responses are the result of direct or indirect signals of stress. While osmotic imbalance acts as direct signal others such as the production of ROS, abscisic acid, ethylene, and phospholipids like secondary messengers, act as indirect signals. Root-derived abscisic acid (ABA) may not be
confined to the primary stress sites and can ascend with transpiration flow to regulate stomatal aperture in leaves under drought. Maintaining optimum water content in rhizosphere is a prerequisite for good plant growth and development in a water deficient stress environment.

## 2.2. Salinity

Salinity is biggest stressor that suppresses agricultural productivity. Soil salinity is an enormous problem for 7% of the world's total land (Szabolcs, 1994). In salinity affected areas, most crops are grown under irrigation, and to exacerbate the problem, inadequate irrigation management leads to secondary salinization that affects 20% of irrigated land worldwide (Glick et al., 2007). Ion toxicity, nutrient deficiency (N, Ca, K, P, Fe, and Zn), and oxidative stress on plants are the major drawbacks of salinity, which eventually limits water uptake from soil (Shrivastava and Kumar, 2015). Soil salinity significantly reduces plant phosphorus (P) uptake because phosphate ions precipitate with Ca ions (Bano and Fatima, 2009). Some elements, such as sodium, chlorine, and boron, have specific toxic effects on plants. Excessive accumulation of sodium in cell walls can rapidly lead to osmotic stress and cell death. Salinity affects almost all aspects of plant development (germination, vegetative growth, and reproductive development) and photosynthetic efficiency (Netondo et al., 2004). Salinity adversely affects reproductive development by inhibiting microsporogenesis and stamen filament elongation, enhancing programed cell death in some tissue types, ovule abortion, and senescence of fertilized embryos. The saline growth medium causes many adverse effects on plant growth, due to a low osmotic potential of soil solution (osmotic stress), specific ion effects (salt stress), nutritional imbalances, or a combination of these factors. The negative effects of salinity on the growth of plants can also occur due to disturbance in the transport of phytohormones as well as photosynthetic products to the developing plant tissue (Ashraf, 2004).

## 2.3. Temperature fluctuations

Both high- and low-temperature stresses can seriously impair of plant physiology. Membrane fluidity, nucleic acid, and protein structures, as well as metabolite and osmolyte concentrations are affected due to rapid change in temperature. High temperature causes elevation in ROS concentrations, thus leading to oxidative damage and cell death (Zinn et al., 2010). Low temperature impairs physiological and biochemical machineries in plants resulting in visible symptoms (wilting, necrosis, or chlorosis) (Ruelland and Zachowski, 2010), which may also lead to transformation in the structure of cell membrane and its lipid content (Uemura and Steponkus, 1999). These changes may cause loss of electrolytic content from the cytoplasm resulting in the activation of optional pathways to regulate electron flow (Seo et al., 2010). Knight et al. (1998) reported a change in the concentration of calcium ions inside the cell
content is also caused by temperature fluctuations. Ruelland and Zachowski (2010) observed that variation in temperature may also affect the enzymatic activity of proteins and their overall content in cells, cause changes in the structure of cell organelles (thylakoid membrane and plastids), phosphorylation of the proteins found in mitochondria and thylakoid unit.

**3.0. Mechanisms for abiotic stress mitigation in crops induced by rhizobacteria**

Rhizobacteria can impart some degree of tolerance to plants towards abiotic stresses like drought, chilling injury, salinity, metal toxicity and high temperature. Bacteria belonging to different genera including Rhizobium, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Pantoea, Paenibacillus, Burkholderia, Achromobacter, Azospirillum, Microbacterium, Methylobacterium, variovorax, Enterobacter etc. have been reported to provide tolerance to host plants under different abiotic stress environments. Use of these microorganisms can alleviate stresses in agriculture thus opening a new and emerging application of microorganisms. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed behind microbial elicited stress tolerance in crops.

**3.1 Drought**

The role of rhizobacteria has been studied to understand the adaptation of living organisms to extreme environments (Marulanda *et al.*, 2010). The plant growth-promoting endophytic bacteria Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN was used to investigate the potential to ameliorate the effects of drought stress on the growth, physiology, and yield of wheat (*Triticum aestivum* L.) under natural field conditions. Inoculation of wheat with PsJN significantly diluted the adverse effects of drought on relative water content and CO2 assimilation rate, thus improving the photosynthetic rate, water-use efficiency, and chlorophyll content over the uninoculated control. Grain yield was also decreased when plants were exposed to drought stress at the tillering and flowering stage, but inoculation resulted in better grain yield (up to 21% and 18% higher, respectively) than the respective uninoculated control (Naveed *et al.*, 2014). Achromobacter piechaudii ARV8, which produced 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase, conferred IST (induced systemic tolerance) against drought and salt stress in pepper and tomato (Mayak *et al.*, 2004). Waqas et al. (2012) reported an increase in plant biomass, assimilation of essential nutrients, and reduced the sodium toxicity in cucumber by endophytic Phoma glomerata and Penicillium sp. under sodium chloride and polyethylene glycol induced salinity and drought stress when compared with control plants. Nadeem *et al.* (2017) showed that application of Pseudomonas fluorescens alone and in combination with biochar and/or compost reduced the negative impact of water-deficit stress on cucumber growth, improved relative water content of leaves, and reduced the electrolyte leakage. The findings of Aslam *et al.* (2018) indicated that drought-tolerant carbonic anhydrase-producing
bacteria improved chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, and relative water content and biomass of wheat seedlings under water-deficit conditions compared to uninoculated plants

**3.2 Salinity**

Plants have inbuilt mechanisms to tolerate salinity such as synthesis of osmolytes and polyamines, reducing ROS, the antioxidant defense mechanism, ion transport (Zhu, 2002), and compartmentalization (Gaxiola *et al.*, 1999). Tank and Saraf (2010) isolated a few PGPR strains from tomato fields and adapted their cultures to 6% NaCl concentration after which they showed phosphate solubilization potential and produced phytohormones, siderophores, and ACC deaminase enzyme in potcultured tomato plants. The three PGPR isolates, Pseudomonas alcaligenes PsA15, Bacillus polymyxa BcP26, and Mycobacterium phlei MbP18, conferred tolerance against high temperature and salt stress to maize growing in nutrient-deficient calcisol soil (Egamberdiyeva, 2007). On constant exposure to 500 mM NaCl solution (seawater levels to mimic exposure of plants in their native beach habitat), nonsymbiotic plants Leymus mollis (dunegrass) became severely wilted and desiccated within 7 days and were dead after 14 days. Exopolysaccharides produced by bacteria impart increased resistance to water and salinity stress by improving soil structure (Sandhya *et al.*, 2009).

**3.3. Tolerating changes in temperature**

The fluctuating temperature causes damage to the physiochemical properties of plant cell membrane. To avoid oxidative damage due to high temperature, plants adapt to de novo synthesis of organic compatible solutes or osmolytes and accumulate several secondary metabolites like polyphenols to ameliorate stress responses (Cheruiyot *et al.*, 2007). Antioxidants like reduced glutathione prevent damages to important cellular components upon exposure to ROS invasion. When cucumber plants inoculated with bacteria Paecilomyces formosus LHL10 were exposed to high temperature (38°C), the plants showed higher growth attributes. Plants respond to a sudden increase in temperature by inducing the synthesis of specific group of polypeptides known as heat shock proteins (HSPs). HSPs consist of chaperons (such as GroEL, DnaK, DnaJ, GroES, ClpB, ClpA, ClpX, small heat shock proteins (sHSP) and proteases). Chaperons are involved in the proper folding of denatured proteins and proteases are required for the degradation of irreversibly damaged proteins (Munchbach *et al.* 1999). A thermotolerant P. aeruginosa strain AMK-P6 isolated from semi-arid location showed induction of HSPs when exposed to high temperature (Ali *et al.* 2009). The activity of such chaperones is essential for cell survival during heat shock and for subsequent recovery. Similarly, cold tolerant bacteria respond to a decrease in temperature by induction of cryoprotective protein (Koda *et al.* 2001).
Conclusion

Rhizabactria help agricultural crops to increase their tolerance and adaptation to abiotic stresses. The complex and dynamic interactions between microorganisms and plant roots under conditions of abiotic stress affect not only the plants but also the physical, chemical, and structural properties of soil. The possibility of mitigation of abiotic stresses in crops opens a new chapter in the application of microorganisms in agriculture. Some microbial species and strains could play an important role for understanding plant tolerance to stress, adaptation to stress, and mechanisms that develop in crops under stress conditions. Selection of microorganisms from stressed ecosystems and their inoculation to alleviate stresses in plants could be a more cost effective environmentally friendly option which could be available in a shorter time frame.

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# ROLE OF BENEFICIAL RHIZOSPHERIC BACTERIA IN PLANT GROWTH

Adesh Kumar

¹Department of Plant molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, College of Agriculture, A.N.D.U.A.& T., Kumarganj, Ayodhya -224229

*Corresponding author- adeshkumar1977@gmail.com

## Abstract:

Climate change and the highly growing world population becomes a huge challenge to feed the whole population. To overcome this challenge and increase the crop yield, a large number of fertilizers are applied but these have many side effects. Instead of these, scientists have discovered beneficial rhizobacteria, which are environmentally friendly and may increase crop yield and plant growth. The microbial population of the rhizosphere shows a pivotal role in plant development by inducing its physiology. Plant depends upon the valuable interactions among the roots and microbes for the growth, nutrients availability, growth promotion, disease suppression and other important roles for plants. Recently numerous secrets of microbes in the rhizosphere have been revealed due to huge development in molecular and microscopic technologies. The current knowledge on the development, maintenance, interactions of Rhizobacterial populations and various proposed mechanisms normally used by PGPR in the rhizosphere that encouraging the plant growth and alleviating the stress conditions in plants.

## Introduction

Rhizosphere is an area around the plant roots and surrounding soil. Microbial population present in this region is comparatively diverse from that of its bulk soil because of root exudates which function as a source of nourishment for microbes (Burdman et al., 2000). Research has shown that several plants associated microbes can have concentrating effects on plant growth, nutrients, seed germination and disease management (Gevers et al., 2012). In plant-microbe association, plants could be regarded as a super organism that relies on microbes for their particular functions as well as traits. In response, plants deposited their photosynthetic carbon in their surroundings rhizosphere (Berendsen et al., 2012). Thus, the plant-microbe association is beneficial in nourishing the microbial population and prompting its composition and activities. So far, the interactions among the plants and microbes have been studied
comprehensively in many leaf pathogens, Rhizobacteria Nevertheless, for the majority
of plant-associated microbes, limited data exists on its effects on plant growth and
development, disease management. Therefore, plant-microbe interactions are extremely
important to identify the beneficial microbes that could improve plant growth.

Source of beneficial microorganisms

The rhizosphere is enriched in bacteria other than nearby bulk soil (Hiltner et al., 1904). The population in rhizosphere mainly comprises bacteria, actinomycetes, algae, protozoa and fungi. However, rhizobacterial communities prodigiously occur in the rhizosphere (Vejan et al., 2016). The development of plant growth via the use of these microorganisms is well known (Ojuederie et al., 2019). Nevertheless, to maintain the positive effects of the microbes in the rhizosphere, bacteria need to compete well with other rhizobacterial for minerals produced through roots exudates. Interactions among the plant as well as rhizosphere are important to acquire water and nutriment from the soil and these interactions are favourable to both plant roots and rhizosphere (Gouda et al., 2003). Studies using molecular techniques have assessed that above 4 000 bacterial species exist in one gram of the soil (Montesinos 2003). Actinobacteria is recognized as one of the significant microbial populations in the rhizosphere which can protect its roots from phytopathogens (Bhattacharyya and Jha 2012). These microbes in the rhizosphere can influence the plant growth either positively or negatively (Kumar et al., 2017). However, the rhizosphere affects plant development and sustains the stress as well as its significant role needs more attention (Mendes et al., 2013). Non-culture able methods have revealed that the microbial population in soil and rhizosphere is extremely under rated. The next-generation sequencing has established that only a smaller amount of bacterial population has been cultured through the current approaches and a major ratio of bacterial phyla identified through these tools has no cultured representative so far (Hao et al., 2019). Developments in sequencing mechanisms have helped to explore rhizosphere studies (Schlaeppi and Bulgarelli 2015). Some studies have concentrated its focus on the number and diversity of the bacterial taxa in the rhizosphere. In a meta-analysis, 19 clones of libraries were obtained from the rhizosphere of 14 plant species and have shown about 1200 different bacterial taxa from the 35 diverse taxonomic orders (Hawkes et al., 2007). The study of beneficial properties of the culturable and non-culturable microbial diversity of rhizosphere needs to develop the advanced screening and identifying technology and sequencing techniques. Moreover, the factors, for example, the soil, texture, type, soil moisture, soil temperature, soil pH, humidity affect the rhizosphere. Recently (Olanrewaju et al., 2017) it was also investigated that through various means microbes alter the local pH as well as physical properties of the rhizosphere.