Indian Journal of Agriculture Business

Agricultural extension services are important for transferring knowledge, technologies, and innovations from research to farming communities, enhancing productivity, sustainability, and farmer livelihoods. Recent advancements in these services leverage innovative technologies and approaches, significantly improving efficiency and reach. Digital platforms and mobile apps facilitate real-time information sharing, while satellite and remote sensing technologies provide precise monitoring of crop health and soil conditions. The Internet of Things enables real-time farm management through connected agricultural devices and sensors. Innovative approaches include Farmer Producer Organizations, which enhance farmers’ bargaining power and market access, and Public-Private Partnerships, which improve resource availability and service delivery. Agripreneurship encourages entrepreneurial practices, fostering innovation and sustainability. AI and machine learning tools revolutionize agricultural extension with advanced crop disease detection and yield prediction models, enabling early intervention and accurate forecasting. Community-based innovations like Farmer Field Schools promote participatory training and sustainable practices, while empowering women through targeted extension services enhances productivity and community development. Policy and institutional innovations, such as the National Agriculture Market for online trading and Krishi Vigyan Kendras for training and advisory services, play important roles in disseminating innovative practices. These innovations collectively transform agricultural extension, addressing modern challenges and ensuring the well-being of farming communities. Embracing these advancements is essential for the continued progress and sustainability of global agriculture.

Rosemary, a mediterranean herb with a rich history of medicinal use, has gained recognition for its wide array of health-promoting properties. This chapter explores the medicinal and therapeutic benefits of rosemary, highlighting its active compounds, including rosmarinic acid, carnosic acid, and essential oils, which contribute to its potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. The herb’s neuroprotective effects make it valuable in cognitive enhancement and the potential prevention of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Rosemary also promotes cardiovascular and digestive health, has potential anticancer properties, and offers skin and respiratory benefits. Widely used in aromatherapy, rosemary has been shown to alleviate stress, improve mood, and enhance mental clarity. While generally safe, precautions are advised for certain individuals. This chapter underscores rosemary’s cultivation and its role as a versatile herb in promoting overall health, combining traditional wisdom with modern scientific validation.

The nutritional affluence of meat and meat products makes them susceptible to spoilage, leading to restrictions on their consumption. Microbiological spoilage, chemical oxidation, and physical deterioration are common issues that meat products face through postharvest processing. Therefore, it is crucial to explore the use of functional edible films and coating to extend the shelf life of meat food products. The concept of incorporating active agents into a polymer matrix is growing to produce biodegradable active functional packaging, reducing postharvest spoilage during the storage of meat food products. This paper provides an overview of the composition of composite biodegradable polymers and the techniques used to produce biodegradable active packaging. It also summarizes the interactions between bioactive ingredients and biodegradable polymers, which can result in plasticizing or cross-linking effects.Furthermore, it illustrates the various applications of biodegradable active packaging, such as antibacterial, antioxidant, ethylene removal, barrier, and modified atmosphere packaging, in preserving meat and meat products. These films have the potential to enhance sensory acceptability, improve quality, and extend the shelf life of postharvest products. Lastly, the review addresses the challenges and trends associated with biodegradable active packaging in preservation, aiming to offer new ideas and insights for the development and practical application of novel biodegradable active packaging materials for meat food products.

India is the largest producer of milk in the world, holding a top rank in global milk production. In the 2021-22 period, India contributed approximately 24.64% to global milk production. Over the past nine years, from 2014-15 to 2022-23, milk production in the country has increased by about 58%, reaching 230.58 million tons (MT) in 2022-23. Dairy farming plays a crucial role in ensuring livelihood security, food and nutritional security, social welfare, and the overall health and welfare of both humans and animals. It also provides farmers with a stable income, even during extreme conditions like floods, droughts, and pandemics. In rural India, dairy farming is a vital source of livelihood and helps maintain nutritional security for rural populations. The primary goal of good dairy farming practices is to produce safe, high-quality milk from healthy animals under acceptable conditions. Routine dairy farm management practices include supervision of the farm, grooming, exercising, bathing, cleaning, and disinfecting barns, sheds, and milking equipment. Additionally, personal hygiene and sanitation, regular feeding, fodder cultivation, chaffing and harvesting, milking operations, record keeping, animal identification, clipping, bedding, deworming, vaccination, castration, and weighing are all essential components of dairy farm management. By adopting these practices systematically, farmers can maximize the health, growth, production, and reproductive efficiency of their dairy animals, leading to better overall outcomes for both the animals and the farmers.

Crops are continuously threatened by abiotic and biotic stresses that affect world agriculture productivity. Biotic stress diseases caused by infectious microbes, such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, and nematodes, as well as non-infectious factors, are referred to as “abiotic diseases” or “physiological disorders.” The damage caused by biotic agents and abiotic factors appear very similar, and observation of symptoms in physiological disorders often makes it difficult to diagnose. The identification could be a necessary step in managing the diseases. Biotic agents cause stress to deprive their host of nutrients, while abiotic stresses alter the interactions and enhance host plant susceptibility to pathogenic organisms. Biotic diseases sometimes show signs of the pathogen, while abiotic diseases don’t exhibit any visible signs of disease. Abiotic disorders can reduce plant health, kill plants, and affect farmers’ livelihoods, national economies and food security. Abiotic diseases/disorders arise from various factors that hinder plant growth and productivity worldwide. These include limited space for root growth, availability of air and water pollutants, temperature extremes, drought conditions, salinity, mineral toxicity, moisture presence, heat, light, soil pH, and nutrient availability. Plants’ stress with high salinity can disrupt the Na+/K+ ratio within the cytoplasm of the cell. Plants have developed various defense mechanisms to cope with abiotic stress, especially in their roots. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a crucial role in signaling pathways that help plants respond to different stress conditions. Additionally, stress hormones interact with these pathways to regulate the plant’s physiological responses, promoting survival and adaptation in challenging environments. Understanding these interactions is vital for enhancing plant resilience to abiotic stressors. The abscisic acid primary hormone is involved in many abiotic stresses and biotic stress resistance in plants against disease. The biotic stress defense system in plants involves numerous signal transduction pathways like reactive oxygen and oxidative bursts increasing cell lignifications, and reducing host susceptibility. Salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene play crucial roles in biotic stress signaling. The biotic stress defenses in plants can morphological and structural barriers, chemical compounds, proteins and enzymes. In management practices, it can minimize damage caused by biotic stress factors, and the development of resistant genotypes to yield and quality losses. Molecular work in the plants, mechanisms can stop the different kinds of stress. The yield of vegetables is reducing gradually due to the presence of various factors which cause losses, therefore necessary to diagnose the abiotic and biotic stress that cause diseases/disorders in vegetable crops for management and enhanced productivity.

This study explored the effects of various post-harvest treatments on the shelf life and quality of grape cv. Sultanina, utilizing Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA), Aloe vera gel, paraffin wax, corn starch, Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT), and their combinations. Conducted at the horticulture laboratory of Sant Baba Bhag Singh University, the grapes were treated with these chemicals and stored at temperatures ranging from 0°C to 30°C for 29 days. Key parameters such as weight loss, acidity, decomposition, rachis browning, and pH were closely monitored. Significant differences were noted across all parameters on days 11, 19, and 27. The BHT treatment (T2) resulted in the lowest weight loss (1.7g), followed by Aloe vera gel (T3) with 1.8g, whereas corn starch (T4) exhibited the highest weight loss (66.8g). The highest total soluble solids (TSS) were recorded in grapes treated with Aloe vera gel (23.8), followed by BHA (22.3), with paraffin wax (T5) showing the lowest TSS (9). Acidity loss was most pronounced in treatments T7 and T4 (3.9%), followed by paraffin wax (3.7%), with Aloe vera gel displaying the least acidity loss (3.3%). The greatest increase in pH was observed in BHT-treated grapes (7), followed by a combination of BHT, Aloe vera gel, and BHA (6.2), with BHA alone having the smallest pH increase (2). Corn starch treatment (T4) extended the shelf life to 27 days, followed by BHT (T2) at 25 days, while BHA (T1) had the shortest shelf life at 11 days. Edible coatings such as Aloe vera gel and BHT effectively preserved grape firmness and extended shelf life by reducing moisture loss. Future research should focus on optimizing these coating formulations and evaluating their effects on other fruit varieties.

This study examines the antecedents of the green marketing mix and their impact on the purchase intention of eco-friendly products among consumers in North India. Utilizing data from 447 respondents across five north Indian states, the research employs Exploratory Factor Analysis to identify key factors: Green Products, Green Price, Green Place, Green Promotion, and Purchase Intention. Results highlight high reliability in measurement scales and reveal consumers’ strong preference for sustainability. Insights from this study offer valuable guidance for marketers and policymakers aiming to promote sustainable consumption and address environmental challenges in the region.

Chicken (broiler) meat mince was utilized as a source of protein in the current investigation. Chicken meat mince was added at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% levels in addition to other items that were added as controls. Based on a sensory examination, the chicken biscuits containing twenty percent CMM were the most favored. No reports of chicken-infused biscuits have been made, either in India or beyond. Since cereal (refined wheat flour) has relatively little protein and lacks the important amino acids tryptophan, lysine, and threonine, the majority of biscuits on the market are made using this flour. When eaten in place of cereal biscuits made from refined wheat flour, the biscuits thus created can provide a high amount of nutrients, particularly protein. The items that have been produced have the potential to be utilized in feeding programs at institutions, schools, and for older individuals who are more vulnerable to malnutrition, especially when it comes to deficiencies in critical amino acids and protein. Threonine, tryptophan, and lysine are also abundant in chicken meat.Making chickenincorporated biscuits with wheat flour and chicken flesh would therefore result in a wholesome, practical, and ready-to-eat food item. The purpose of the current study was to create biscuits using chicken meat. It was determined that the biscuits made with 20% chicken meat mince and wheat flour would offer a convenient, ready-to-eat food item that is healthy and contains enough important amino acids (lysine, tryptophan, and threonine). The cost per kg of biscuits produced with 20 percent CMM came to ` 82.40