LUDHIANA, NOVEMBER 28:-----
The second day of the International Conference on "Sustainable Agriculture for Food and Livelihood Security," underway at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), saw discussions amongst the eminent scientists on food processing and nutritional security; and advances in veterinary and animal sciences for sustainable livestock development. Earlier, deliberations on cop protection were also held.
Presenting a world perspective of the contribution of plant pathology, Dr Richard E. Falloon, Scientist from Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, New Zealand; said that plant pathology faces considerable challenges as a contributor to food, clothing and shelter for the world's burgeoning population. Stating that the development of effective integrated disease management requires multidisciplinary research, beyond traditional plant pathology expertise, he stressed that new solutions will increasingly rely on the judicial application of modern biotechnology.
Dr Parwinder S. Grewal, Scientist, Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, USA, said that although integrated pest management has provided an attractive framework for the development and application of sound pest management practices, yet it still relies mainly on judicious use of chemical pesticides. He underlined the need for ecosystem management approach in which ecological interactions and processes are recognized; and carefully engineered to obtain desirable services while sustaining eco-system composition, structure and function.
Dr R. Paul Singh, Professor of Food Engineering, University of California, Davis, USA, said that optimum efficacies of many healthy nutrients in the food are realized only when those nutrients are released in a desired region of the human gastrointestinal tract. He emphasized that there is a need in the food industry to develop predictive capabilities, useful in guiding the development of structural properties of a food during manufacturing and controlled release of embedded nutrients upon digestion.
Dr Zora Singh Khungura from International Institute of Agri-Food Security, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, disclosed that the king of fruits, "mango" is grown over 5.1 million hectare in 94 countries with annual production of 35.9 million tonnes and worth US$ 2150 million. He told that in mango, quantitative post-harvest losses amount to 8.6 million tonnes worth US$ 335.2 million per year, which equates to 30 per cent loss of fresh horticultural produce. Dr Singh said that controlled atmosphere storage seems to be promising in extending storage life, controlling of post-harvest diseases and maintaining fruit quality of mango, thus, offering opportunities to export mango fruit to distant markets using sea freight.
Dr Harjinder Singh from Riddet Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, said that in the developed world, the production-to-consumption food system is largely safe, nutritious, and readily accessible, but the only problem is of over-consumption of food, resulting in food-related health issues like obesity. Suggesting new category of foods i.e. "functional foods" for providing health benefits, he said that continued developments in nanotechnology could provide several benefits through the food manufacturing sectors.
Dr Baljit Singh Gill, Professor and Associate Dean (Research), Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Canada, said that contamination of food and water with chemicals, fertilizers, insecticides and industrial discharge, compromises food safety and adds significantly to the global social and economic burden. He suggested that the problems require application of the concept of One Health, which integrates various aspects of animal, human and environmental health to enable effective responses to associated health challenges of infectious diseases and food safety.
Dr C. S. Prasad, Director, National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bangalore; pointed out that the important concerns around livestock production are emergence of large scale industrial production units, declining grazing base, and increasing relevance of livestock towards climate change. At both community and international levels, it has been recognized that methane reduction policy is a vital element of the overall climate change strategy, said he, while stressing that the abatement strategy for methane in the Indian context with reference to livestock needs to be cost -effective.
Dr R. Venkataraman from Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Hebbal, Bangalore, said that infectious diseases are the major threat to the livestock industry due to their direct effects on productivity. Disease prevention by vaccination has been routinely practiced and is the most beneficial intervention, as it directly activates the animal immune system to fight the infections, he told. At the same time, disease diagnosis is equally important to efficiently apply the therapeutic strategies and intervene in disease spread, he added.
Dr S.S. Chahal, former Vice-Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, highlighted the role of plant pathology in sustainable crop production. He advocated more stress on work related to detection of plant pathogens and their biology, population dynamics of pathogens and work on soil bacteria and development of efficient strains of bio-agents. Considering the importance of molecular techniques in plant pathology, he emphasized on developing their correlation with conventional field studies.
Dr Jagbir Singh from Punjabi University, Patiala, dwelt upon the appearance of new disease vectors, six new mosquito species and vector-borne diseases, during last two decades, as a consequence of climate change. Some insect pests like rice leaf roller, stick bug, autonomal moth and European great moth have expanded northward, he informed, while underlining the need for research to study the effect of climate change on the geographical distribution of various insect-pests.
Dr D. Swarup from Central Institute for Research on Goats, Mathura, India, said that the efficient livestock production in Asian and African countries faces several challenges, especially in the form of the climatic stress, poor nutrition, unscientific animal husbandry practices and emerging health problems. He emphasized the need for empowering professionals and farmers, reviewing legal and policy frameworks, strengthening the capacity of state veterinary services, ensuring quality control monitoring of the private system and promoting professional training and education.
Earlier, in a special symposium lecture, Dr R.S. Paroda, Former Director General of Indian Council Agricultural Research (ICAR), shed light on the post-green revolution farm problems such as declining productivity, deteriorating soil health, depleting under ground water table, increased incidence of diseases and insect-pests, and environmental pollution. To cope up with the challenges, he laid thrust on policy support, institutional infrastructure facilities, competent human resource, technology evolvement and public-private partnership.
Dr Thomas Lumpkin, Director General, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Mexico; chaired the technical session on "Crop Protection" while Dr R.Paul Singh, Professor of Food Engineering, University of California, Davis, USA; chaired the technical session on "Food Processing and Nutritional Security." Dr V.K. Taneja, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), was the chairman of the session "Advances in Veterinary and Animal Sciences for Sustainable Livestock Development."
News From: http://www.7StarNews.com
Thursday, November 29, 2012
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