Vegetable samples of brinjal, okra, green chilli, crucifers, and cucurbits collected from farmers' field were tested for the presence of organochlorine (OC), organophosphorus (OP), and synthetic pyrethroid (SP) compounds using a gas chromatograph equipped with electron capture and flame thermionic detectors. Of the samples tested, 34.0% were found to have pesticide residues. Among the OC compounds, α-endosulfan, β-endosulfan, and endosulfan sulfate were detected in 14.5% of the samples with residues. These were taken from crucifer, okra, green chilli, and cucurbit samples. SP compound residues, such as α-cypermethrin, fenvalerate I, fluvalinate I, deltamethrin, and λ-cyhalothrin were detected in 32% of the samples with residues. OP compound residues such as chlorpyrifos, profenofos, monocrotophos, triazophos, ethion, dimethoate, and acephate were found in 54% of the samples with residues, which were taken from all vegetable samples. Of the positive samples, 15.3% were found to contain residues exceeding the prescribed maximum residue limit. The average pesticide residue content across all the vegetable samples was 0.108 ppm, with values ranging from 0.008 to 2.099 ppm. Multiple residues of more than one compound were detected in 34.1% of samples containing residues.

The fresh water constitute only 3% of the total water on earth out of which underground water constitute 29 and <1% is in the form of lakes and rivers on the earth surface. Considering the rapidly increasing human population and demand for diverse food items crop production must increase substantially. At the same time arable land and good quality irrigation water resources are being depleted at faster rate particularly in the arid, semi-arid and tropical regions. Over the years the salinization of soil and water has steadily increased due to various causes and the increase in food production has essentially depends on this degrading resources. Since the balance between water demand and water availability has reached critical level in many regions of the world a sustainable approach to water resources and salinity management has become imperative. This chapter highlights global water resources, its demand and supply, salinity and its causes, effect of climate change and its management for sustainable use.

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Geo-spatial mapping of soil organic carbon using regression kriging was performed for Lalo khala sub-watershed (a part of Solani watershed) located in western Uttar Pradesh, India. Soil organic carbon was predicted using eight predictor variables derived from the advanced space borne thermal emission and reflection radiometer satellite images and digital elevation model. The soil organic carbon was determined in 248 soil samples collected randomly within a 300 m 2 grid overlaid on the study area. Out of the eight predictor variables used in simple regression, the normalized difference vegetation index has the maximum correlation with the soil organic carbon (0.64) followed by vegetation temperature condition index (0.60), brightness index (-0.60), greenness index (0.57) and wetness index (0.51). Standardized principle components of the predictor variables were used in the prediction model so as to address the multicollinearity problem. The regression kriging predicted SOC value ranged from 0.19 to 1.93% with a mean value of 0.64 and standard deviation of 0.29. The SOC values were higher in upper piedmont with moderate forest followed by Siwalik hills while low values were found in the upper alluvial plains. The RMSE of the predicted SOC map was only 0.196 indicating the closeness of predicted values to the observed values. Regression kriging predicted SOC map can be used for spatial agriculture planning and consider as an ideal input for spatially distributed models. The higher efforts for its preparation are justified when quality, spatial distribution and accuracy are considered.

India has a rich repository of flora and fauna, but the rapid decline of wildlife and threat to its habitat has been a serious cause of concern. Hence, protected areas have been set up to achieve specific conservation objectives to facilitate timely and reliable information on forest types and its composition, degradation status and their suitability for different species of flora and fauna. In the present study, evaluation of tiger habitat in Corbett Tiger reserve is carried out using remote sensing, ground and other ancillary sources and is integrated using GIS using multi-criteria model. The results indicated that sal, mixed sal, miscellaneous forest, plantation, grassland, agriculture and scrub land are the major land use/land cover types and majority of the study area is covered under dense forest. Tiger habitat suitability analysis showed that large proportion of the area (51.4%) was found to be highly suitable followed by moderately suitable area (31%). Further, the correlation drawn between range-wise suitability area and actual tiger population in Corbett Tiger Reserve CTR indicated a positive correlation of 0.73. Disturbance to wildlife habitat, vegetation degradation and shrinking passage corridor are the major concern in CTR.