Academic literature on the topic 'Agri-Horticultural Society of India (Kolkata, India)'

The trees of parks and gardens support many species, the survival of urban-dwelling species mainly bird species. Birds amongst other species provide a wide range of environmental and social functions to cities and urban dwellers. The present study aims to know bird diversity in two parks as bioindicator of automobile air pollution exposure, landscape changes and/or human interactions. The study areas were selected as per heavily-populated neighborhoods, nearby office buildings, nearby roads and continuous vehicular movements, human interactions as visitors, where high levels of human disturbance are common. The study was carried out at 2 sampling stations viz (i) Elliot park and (ii) Agri-horticulture Society. The bird species diversity was studied by qualitative and quantitative assessment. Indices were Species richness, Index of Dominance, Relative abundance, Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index and Evenness Index for birds for all selected sites were calculated using the statistical formulae. The present results as bioindicators bird species clearly indicate that the bird species are very few in numbers in both the parks. When comparison made between both the parks, it was observed less number of bird varieties (16 types) in Elliot park than varieties (9 types) more less in number in Agri-horticulture society. This study is a preliminary assessment of bird diversity but further researches are needed in relation to biochemical and genetic damage study as well as air pollution load by using instruments. In the present study it was concluded that the less numbers of birds and their different diversity indices were found a decreasing trends, though there no attempt has been made on physico-chemical properties of present air pollutants. The less number of varieties of bird species are as tolerant bioindicators, which may be due to the vehicular pollution and/or human interference and/or landscape changes due to nearby neighborhood blocks, office and residential buildings, continuous movement of vehicles etc

Flower visiting insects attract by the flowers colour, shape, size and fragrance as pollinator. This is a mutual relationship between flowers and insects. The present study aims to know behavioural response or ethology of flower visiting insect in relation to particular flower and/or probable atmospheric changes in two managed parks, Kolkata, India. The study areas were selected as per heavily-populated neighborhoods, nearby office buildings, nearby roads and continuous vehicular movements, human interactions as visitors. The study was carried out at 2 sampling stations viz (i) Elliot park and (ii) Agri-Horticulture Society. The flower species were selected viz. Helianthus annuus (sunflower), Petunia sp. (petunia) and Buganvilia spectabilis (Buganvilia) planting above mentioned areas because these species are more common among other species. In each flower, behavioural response or ethology of visiting insects were studied by visual observation and total 10 flowers of each species were observed randomly. The present results clearly indicate that various insects were majorly showed foraging and feeding behaviour and only mating behaviour was found in two species. This study is a preliminary assessment of flower visiting insects’ ethology but further researches are needed in relation to pollination efficiencies of flower visiting insects in the particular flower and air pollution load nearby area by using instruments. It was concluded that insect visitors are showing foraging and feeding behavior but only two species were showed mating behaviour, which may be due to the vehicular air pollution because two parks are located nearby roads and continuous vehicular movements were observed.

Insects are depends upon autotrophs and they attract by the flowers colour and shape as pollinator. This is a mutual relationship between flowers and insects. The present study aims to determine flower visiting insect diversity as pollinators in two parks as biomonitoring of automobile air pollution exposure, landscape changes and/or human interactions. The study areas were selected as per heavily-populated neighborhoods, nearby office buildings, nearby roads and continuous vehicular movements, human interactions as visitors, where fences and high levels of human disturbance are common. The study was carried out at 2 sampling stations viz (i) Elliot park and (ii) Agri-Horticulture Society. The flower species were selected viz. Helianthus annuus, Petunia sp. and Buganvilia spectabilis planting above mentioned areas because these species are more common among other species. In each flower, diversity of visiting insects were studied by qualitative and quantitative assessment. Indices were Species richness, Index of Dominance, Relative abundance, Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index and Evenness Index for insects for all selected sites were calculated using the statistical formulae. The present results clearly indicate that the flower visiting insects are very less in numbers on three flowering species and index values were decreased. This study is a preliminary assessment of flower visiting insects diversity but further researches are needed in relation to pollination efficiencies of flower visiting insects and biochemical and genetic damage study of flowers as well as air pollution load by using instruments. It was concluded that three flowering species viz. sunflower, petunia and bougainvillea are very common both the parks but insect visitors are common but present less in number, which may be due to the vehicular pollution and/or human interference and/or landscape changes due to nearby neighborhood blocks, office and residential buildings etc.

Abstract The goal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India (founded in 1820) was to create a science for the cultivation of plants in India and use this science to increase agricultural production. This article tracks the ideas of this society in its early decades as it created a highly contested and changing discourse regarding agriculture in India. As the society was based in Calcutta, it had Bengali members who appropriated and modified these ideas according to their own social circumstances. In the first decade of its life, many members envisioned the project of ‘agricultural improvement’ as increasing the production of food and medicine for local consumption as well as agricultural commodities for export. Yet beginning in 1829, this mixed agri-horticultural vision began to change. British members complained that local gardening activities were not remunerative and so the society should focus more on agriculture for export. As a result, agriculture began to be more clearly defined as the large-scale production of commodities for export, separate from the science of horticulture, which concerned growing fruits and vegetables for local consumption. Horticulture increasingly became the lesser science and the society’s focus went towards agriculture for export. Many Bengali members remained more interested in the activities associated with horticulture, proceeding to develop an agri-horticultural knowledge which appropriated new ideas about gardening promoted by the society and combined them in new ways with gardening knowledge from other North Indian networks. This episode reveals the complex world of knowledge about plant cultivation even as the British created an English-language discourse of global capitalist agriculture.

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE INFORMING SCIENCE INSTITUTE. Aim/Purpose.................................................................................................................................................................................................. This research paper attempts to deeply and rationally probe into the present situation, discussing the expected role of the Spices Board of India, which in 1987 started to function replacing the erstwhile Cardamom Board, where the focus was only on the Cardamom plantation sector and export development. Background.................................................................................................................................................................................................. Cardamom, the “Queen of Spices” is the third most expensive of the spices, next only to saffron and vanilla. The Cardamom Plantation and export development sector is now just one of the many focal points of expected action of promotional endeavors of the Spices Board of India. The cardinal problem is the 1990's market threat from Guatemala, which floods the market with Cardamom with cheaper prices, though it is qualitatively inferior to Indian green Cardamom. The second problem for Indian exports is that the higher cost of production coupled with increasing domestic market demand causes lower quantities for exports. Apart from the functional insufficiency of the Spices Board of India, in the view of the Cardamom farmers and secondary and tertiary market intermediaries, the present auction system, the scattered unorganized farming community at large, and other governmental promotional deficiencies together make the complexity of the present situation confounded. Methodology.................................................................................................................................................................................................. It was decided that conventional research methods, using structured survey methods and questionnaire, were not feasible or realistic as collecting data from a wide range of personnel vary from cardamom farmers to wholesalers to market intermediaries including exporters, extractors of oleo resin from cardamom proved arduous. For this study the methodology used to gather information was a mixture of ethnographic and classical statistical sampling methods. The data was mainly collected by interviews as this will help to get an in depth feel of the pulse of all the involved participants. Thus it was felt that a more first-hand personal interactions was really necessary, not to just garner information from quantitative data but also to gauge through the in-person mood and tenor the grievances of all concerned with cardamom industry and to know the expectations of the related parties, especially from the Spices Board of India. Contribution.................................................................................................................................................................................................. This paper attempts to bring into focus the provocations, limitations, and seriousness of the situation of the sector, and to prioritize the steps to be taken to regain the lost glory of the Indian Cardamom. Findings........................................................................................................................................................................................................ The findings and analysis show that the Indian Cardamom Plantation Sector should be aware of the significance and market relevance of the “Organic” method of cultivation of Cardamom. Also there is a need for quality control practices in the sector that enable strict attention to meeting MRL (Maximum Residue Level) as demanded by the importing nations, and attention to the “functional refining factors” and expectations set out by the spices Board of India. All of these are based on the findings which are analyzed, without preconceived notions and authors’ subjective remarks. Recommendations for Practitioners............................................................................................................................................................. This paper reveals the view and understandings of the practitioners in the Indian Cardamom sector. It subtly suggests a certain course of action and serous recognition of flaws and deficiencies in the system that are obvious and emerges and which are critical and must be addressed. It underlines needs to be addressed; flaws in performance, and articulates the grievances. Recommendation for Researchers................................................................................................................................................................. More work needs to be done to have a clear analysis of the market demand of the cardamom products in order to project periods when demands of cardamom fluctuate the market, both domestically and internationally. In addition, it is important to study the various organic methods, which can be adopted by the farmers to produce high quality cardamom, which can meet the demand of the consumer as well as the standard required by various governments around the globe. Impact on Society........................................................................................................................................................................................... It reflects clearly, the general and prevalent concern of the Indian farming community and market intermediaries’ vis-à-vis the promotional role they expect the Spices Board of India to play in order to ameliorate the gravity of the bottlenecks being faced by the Indian Cardamom sector. Future Research................................................................................................................................................................................................ There are many areas to be studied in the Indian Cardamom Industry. This research paper attempts to highlight the unmitigated problems faced by the various strata of farmers, the indispensability of going “Organic”, and the need for the intervention of the Spices Board of India, and other relevant State Agri-Horticultural agencies, marketing Co-operative societies; subsidies and grants to be given by the government to encourage both organic cultivation and value addition using Carbon dioxide extraction of Oleoresins, packing, export market research, etc.

Bougainvillea, native of South American sub-tropics, was first collected by Commerson, a French Botanist, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who named it after Louis Antoine de Bougainville, the French navigator with whom he went on voyage around the world during 1766=1769. From its native sub-tropical regions, bougainvilleas were introduced to temperate regions of European countries, where these were grown in the glasshouse. The history of domestication of bougainvillea is 250 years old and in this period there have been many landmark in the bougainvillea cultivation. In India, Bougainvillea spectabilis was first introduced in Kolkata in 1860 from Europe and the improvement work on bougainvillea started in early 20th century, with the introduction of a few cultivars by the Agri-Horticultural Societies, Kolkata and Chennai. But it achieved its popularity in 1920 with the introduction of the cultivar ‘Mrs. Butt’ in Kolkata from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. Out of 10 species, only B. glabra Choisy, B. spectabilis Willdenow, B. peruviana Humboldt and Bonpland and a natural hybrid B. x buttiana Holttum and Standley, are of horticultural importance. Today, a large number of Bougainvillea cultivars (500 cvs.) are available from three to multibracted ones in various colour and shades to variegated foliage as aresult of natural selection and breeding. 50% of the Bougainvillea cultivars have been evolved in our country. India has been recognized as the International Registration Authority for Bougainvilleas. The Botanic Garden of CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow has rich germplasm collection of Bougainvillea (200 species/cvs) and serves as the reference centre.