Ecology, Ecosystem, Environment, and Evolution

Rooted firmly in the principles of ecology, the agricultural enterprise, even though having been exposed to the impact of environmental problems arising from land degradation, soil erosion, groundwater depletion and pollution and loss of biological diversity, has so far stood firm and survived to meet the food requirements of the growing population, so much so that there have been some striking instances of food glut in several countries, including some that used to suffer famines only half a century ago. All this has resulted from the uncommon opportunities in improving yield and quality of major crops because of striking advances in biotechnology, informatics, plant breeding, plant pathology, and the green revolution based on high-yield dwarf varieties.