Rashtriya Krishi (English)

Arvind Nagar ¹, Rahul Kumar ¹, Shriti Kumari ²

Affiliations
1 Division of Vegetable Science, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa (New Delhi), IN
2 Department of Agriculture Biotechnology, Junagadh Agriculture University, Junagadh (Gujarat), IN

Abstract

With over half of humanity’s calorific and protein need being met by only three crops maize, wheat and rice. Thus food basket has reached in a highly vulnerable situation and an urgent action to promote crop diversification is needed. Underutilized vegetable cops are rich source of vitamins such as beta carotene, ascorbic acid, folic acid and riboflavin as well as minerals such as iron, calcium and phosphorus. They also contain an immense variety of bioactive nonnutritive health promoting compounds such as antioxidants and phytochemicals, which provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Underutilized vegetable crops not only supply the protective nutrients and add variety to a monotonous diet, but also have an alternative taste, attractive colour, pleasing appearance and aroma. Some leafy vegetables especially, amaranth, fenugreek, palak and spinach has attained commercial status and its cultivation is wide spread in India. Because of their low production cost and high yield, Underutilized vegetable crops especially leafy vegetables are considered to be one of the cheapest vegetables in the market and it could be rightly described as ‘poor man’s vegetables’.

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Rahul Kumar ¹, Shriti Kumari ², Arvind Nagar ¹

Affiliations
1 Division of Vegetable Science, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa (New Delhi), IN
2 Department of Agriculture Biotechnology, Junagadh Agriculture University, Junagadh (Gujarat), IN

Abstract

Cancer is a disease that begins in the cells of the body. In normal situations, the cells grow and divide as the body needs them. No more, no less. This orderly process is disturbed when new cells form that the body were not needed and old cells don’t die when they should. These extra cells lump together to form a growth or tumor. Approximately 200 studies that examined the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and cancers of the lung, colon, breast, cervix, esophagus, oral cavity, stomach, bladder, pancreas, and ovary are reviewed.Plants have been used as a source of medicine throughout history and continue to serve as the basis for many pharmaceuticals used today. Although the modern pharmaceutical industry was born from botanical medicine, synthetic approaches to drug discovery have become standard. However, this modern approach has led to a decline in new drug development in  recent years and a growing market for botanical therapeutics that are currently available as dietary supplements, drugs, or botanical drugs. Most botanical therapeutics are derived from medicinal plants that have been cultivated for increased yields of bioactive components. The phytochemical composition of many plants has changed over time, with domestication of agricultural crops resulting in the enhanced content of some bioactive compounds and diminished content of others. Plants continue to serve as a valuable source of therapeutic compounds because of their vast biosynthetic capacity. A primary advantage of botanicals is their complex composition consisting of collections of related compounds having multiple activities that interact for a greater total activity.

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Jitendra Kumar Meena ¹, Rahul Kumar ²

Affiliations
1 Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi, IN
2 Division of Vegetable Science, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi, IN

Abstract

Pre-breeding includes basic research to achieve wide crosses, and activities that facilitate the use of exotic materials or wild relatives. Pre-breeding consists of identifying a useful character, capturing its genetic diversity and putting those genes into usable form. Pre-breeding activities degined to transferring resistance gene(s) to major diseases and insects, and tolerance to abiotic stresses, from wild relatives into cultivated through using introgression and incorporation techniques. Pre-breeding aims to provide breeders ready to use materials with specific traits of interest as well as a means to broaden the diversity of improved germplasm. It does not differ significantly from general framework of plant breeding and is considered as prior step of sustainable plant breeding.

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