In the last sixty years, there has been an alarming decline in food quality and a decrease in a wide variety of nutritionally essential minerals and nutraceutical compounds in imperative fruits, vegetables, and food crops. The potential causes behind the decline in the nutritional quality of foods have been identified worldwide as chaotic mineral nutrient application, the preference for less nutritious cultivars/crops, the use of high-yielding varieties, and agronomic issues associated with a shift from natural farming to chemical farming. Likewise, the rise in atmospheric or synthetically elevated carbon dioxide could contribute to the extensive reductions in the nutritional quality of fruits, vegetables, and food crops. Since ancient times, nutrient-intense crops such as millets, conventional fruits, and vegetables have been broadly grown and are the most important staple food, but the area dedicated to these crops has been declining steadily over the past few decades and hastily after the green revolution era due to their poorer economic competitiveness with major commodities such as high-yielding varieties of potato, tomato, maize, wheat, and rice. The majority of the population in underdeveloped and developing countries have lower immune systems, are severely malnourished, and have multiple nutrient deficiency disorders due to poor dietary intake and less nutritious foods because of ignorance about the importance of our traditional nutrient-rich diets and ecofriendly organic farming methods. This critical review emphasizes the importance of balance and adequate nutrition as well as the need to improve soil biodiversity and fertility: those are main causes behind the decline in nutritional density. There is also emphasis on a possible way out of alleviating the decline nutritional density of food crops for the health and well-being of future generations.

The post-harvest shelf life of maximum of fruits and vegetables is very limited due to their perishable nature. In India more then 20–25 percent of fruits and vegetables are spoiled before utilization. Despite being the world's second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, in India only 1.5 percent of the total fruits and vegetables produced are processed. Maximum amounts of fruit and vegetable juices turn bitter after extraction due to conversion of chemical compounds. In spite of being under utilized, the utilization of highly nutritive fruits and vegetables is very limited due to high acidity, astringency, bitterness, and some other factors. While improving flavor, palatability, and nutritive and medicinal value of various fruit juices such as aonla, mango, papaya, pineapple, citrus, ber, pear, apple, watermelon, and vegetables including bottle gourd, carrot, beet root, bitter gourd, medicinal plants like aloe vera and spices can also be used for juice blending. All these natural products are valued very highly for their refreshing juice, nutritional value, pleasant flavor, and medicinal properties. Fruits and vegetables are also a rich source of sugars, vitamins, and minerals. However, some fruits and vegetables have an off flavor and bitterness although they are an excellent source of vitamins, enzymes, and minerals. Therefore, blending of two or more fruit and vegetable juices with spices extract for the preparation of nutritive ready-to-serve (RTS), beverages is thought to be a convenient and economic alternative for utilization of these fruits and vegetables. Moreover, one could think of a new product development through blending in the form of a natural health drink, which may also serve as an appetizer. The present review focuses on the blending of fruits, under-utilized fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants, and spices in appropriate proportions for the preparation of natural fruit and vegetable based nutritive beverages.

Mulching is an agricultural and horticultural technique in which the use of organic is involved. This technique is very useful in protecting the roots of the plants from heat, cold. Mulch is used to cover soil surface around the plants to create congenial condition for the growth. This may include temperature moderation, reduce salinity and weed control. It exerts decisive effects on earliness, yield and quality of the crop. Mulching is also applicable to most field crops. However, it is preferred in fruit orchard, flower and vegetable production, nurseries and forest where frequent cultivation is not required for raising the crops. Black plastic mulch is most commonly used in agriculture. Clear plastic mulch is used in some areas due to its increased soil warming characteristics. Research has shown that white or aluminum reflective mulch also repelsaphids which spread some virus diseases in vine crops such as squash. So, mulching can be effective change in increasing horticultural crop production in water scarcity regions.

This study was carried out to explore the effect of growing media on seed germination and seedling growth of papaya (Carrica papaya). The research was conducted at the model nursery of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sirohi during two successive seasons from July to August 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. This research was arranged in a complete randomized design with nine treatment combinations and three replications. The treatments were combination between types of media with level of cocopeat. Each treatment has 100 poly bags. The results showed that the medium of vermicompost + sand + pond soil (1:1:1) with 2 cm cocopeat in top of the poly bags (T9) gave maximum speed of emergence (277.6 and 709.09), highest germination percent (95.27 and 90.15%), highest seed vigour (91.97 and 86.69), maximum germination index (7.15 and 7.22), germination value (17.33 and 33.83) and least time required for imbibition (9.45 and 9.30 days) and minimum germination period (3.70 and 2.75 days), respectively in both years of experimentation. This medium was also found to be the best medium for the growth of papaya seedlings as it gave the highest parameters in term of seedling height (23.43 and 22.67 cm), leaf area (349.33 and 329.20 cm2), number of leaves (10.02 and 9.67), stem girth (3.16 and 3.48 mm), number of roots (17.20 and 16.17), root length (10.20 and 9.67 cm), production of total biomass (5.02 and 4.77 g/plant) and least root/shoot ratio (0.22 and 0.20). This treatment also significantly reduces the seedling mortality and produce maximum healthy seedlings (92.23 and 93.15%) in minimum days (35.33 and 35.15) with highest net profit (Rs. 3493.30/1000 seedling and Rs. 3448.00/ 1000 seedling) and B:C ratio (1.85 and 1.84) of seedlings, in both years (2008-09 and 2009-10), respectively. Key words: Seedling, plant growth, cocopeat, pond soil, vermicompost, B:C ratio.

The product. Fruit juices have attained an important place in the modern diets of people belonging to different communities and classes world over. It is the unfermented but fermentable liquid obtained from the edible part of sound, appropriately mature and fresh fruit. Bioactive compounds. Fruit juices contain nutrients like vitamins, minerals, trace elements, energy and phytochemicals including flavonoids, polyphenols and antioxidants that have been shown to have varied health benefits. Medicinal properties. The mode of action of these fruit juice compounds in most cases seems to be by modulating gene activities. Fruit juice as part of a balanced diet offers both good health and profound disease risk reduction properties. As a result, there is high demand as alternative medicine for different kinds of illnesses such as chronic inflammation, arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle aches and pains, menstrual difficulties, headaches, heart disease, AIDS, cancers, gastric ulcers, sprains, mental depression, poor digestion, arteriosclerosis, blood vessel problems, and drug addiction. Furthermore, to identify fruit juices as non-consumable in the context of obesity and dental health would deprive the consumer of a perfectly healthy and nutritious food, and would be completely contrary to the evidence noted in the scientific community. Discussion and conclusion. Fruit juices are an excellent choice of drink when consumed moderately as per recommendations.

The intensive use of chemical fertilizers for vegetable cultivation to achieve higher productivity causes soil degradation, resulting in an alarming decline (25–50%) in nutritional quality and a reduction in a wide variety of nutritionally essential minerals and nutraceutical compounds in high-yielding vegetable crops over the last few decades. To restore the physio-chemical and biological qualities of soil as well as the nutritional and nutraceutical qualities of fresh produce, there is a growing desire to investigate the remedial impacts of organic sources of nutrition. This study specifically focused on the impact of six different ratios of chemical fertilizers and organic sources with microbial inoculation on vegetable productivity, nutrition quality, and soil health parameters. Results show that replacing chemical fertilizers with organic sources in the presence of a microbial consortium supports the proliferation of the microbial population in the soil rhizosphere and improves the nutritional status and physico-chemical quality of soil, which is the area around the roots of plants where maximum nutrient uptake occurs. This combination of factors significantly recovers overall soil quality, increasing crop productivity by 13.58 to 18.32 percent in tomato, brinjal, and okra. Experimental findings likewise indicate that an assortment of organic sources with a microbial consortium significantly recovers the abundance of beneficial microbes and earthworms in the rhizosphere, which leads to an improvement in nutritional, organoleptic, and nutraceutical quality, with higher antioxidant contents in all three vegetables grown in arid climate conditions.