Immunology involves all the defence mechanisms occurring in the body after the invasion of any infectious agent and the ability to resist this infection is referred to as immunity. The early and later response towards the infection are termed as innate and adaptive immunity. The cells of immune system like neutrophils, macrophages, cytokines, lymphocytes etc. protect human body from various infectious agents like pathogenic micro-organisms, toxins, food borne allergens and other injuries or wounds. The origin of these cells is in the bone marrow from where they are distributed as circulating cells in the blood and lymph. Various food components have an immunomodulatory effect on the immune function and adequate nutrition is required for the proper functioning of immune system. The micronutrients like essential proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins (A, B6, B12, C, D, E and folic acid), fatty acids, minerals (iron, selenium, zinc and copper) and certain phytochemicals are of prime importance towards healthy immune system. In addition to these nutritional components intestinal microflora and certain bacteria (probiotic bacteria), also play an important role in the modulation of healthy immune system. However, over reaction of immune system leads towards the hypersensitivity reactions like autoimmunity which ultimately causes auto immune diseases and allergic reactions.

The objective of this study was to develop guava chips applying vacuum frying technique. Guava slices were vacuum fried at 85oC for 55 minutes, at 100oC for 50 minutes and 110oC for 40 minutes at 9 kPa pressure. The prepared chips were analyzed for quality attributes such as oil content, ascorbic acid content, total phenolic content, crude fibre, colour, texture, browning index. The guava chips fried at 85oC and 9 kPa pressure for 55 min demonstrated maximum acceptability to consumer panellists with 8.2 score on nine-point hedonic scale. The composition of vacuum fried guava chips showed 18.66% oil, 27.1% crude fibre, 5120 mg/100gm total phenolic content and 448.36mg /100gm ascorbic acid. The colour values L*, a* and b* were 79.62, 1.74 and 20.95, respectively. The resistance force required to break chips was 1051 gm and fracturability 32.75 mm. The vacuum frying can be better alternative to produce guava chips with high nutritional values and desired quality attributes.

The study is assessment of pesticide residues in water bodies/ponds of agriculture intensive areas, as the principal source of pesticides in crops and animal /poultry feed are soil and water. The farmers dump the remaining pesticide solutions and wash the containers with pond water near to their fields after spraying the pesticide on their crops. These measurements can be used as baseline levels to monitor and to predict their impact on the population of the area. The determination of organochlorine (OC), pyrethroids and organophosphorous (OP) insecticide residues was carried out in the samples collected from different village ponds of six districts of Haryana and analyzed at Department of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, COVS, LUVAS, Hisar. A gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector (GC-ECD) for OC and pyrethroids and nitrogen phosphorous detector (GC–NPD) for OP’s was employed for analysis. The testing protocol was standardized w.r.t. system precision, specificity and accuracy. The system precision values indicated a good consistency in response by the GC instrument used during present study. A good linearity was noted for standards and spiked tissue samples. Absence of interfering peaks in blank samples indicates good specificity of extraction and clean up method. Accuracy and precision of the method were in accepted range in comparison with international guidelines. Out of 50 samples, none of the sample was found to be positive for OC and Pyrethroid pesticide residues; but 16 pond water samples were detected with OP pesticide residues with prevalence rate of 32%. Monocrotophos and chlorpyriphos were detected in a maximum of eight samples each. Four samples out of 5 from Rohtak, 3 out of 5 from Jind, 3 out of 12 from Mahendergarh and 2 out of 8 from Hisar were found positive for different OP pesticide residues. All the 10 pond water samples from Ambala were found to be below detectable limit for all of the OP pesticides in study. The concentration of 16 positive samples was compared with the MRL’s of drinking water, and it was observed that 4 samples, 2 each from Rohtak and Jind for monocrotophos (3.99 & 1.99 ηg/ml from Rohtak and 1.82 & 6.88 ηg/ml from Jind) violated the normal MRL values (0.5 ηg/ml). The investigation revealed that the pond water samples of Rohtak and Sirsa were found to be most contaminated with OP pesticides, mainly with Monocrotophos followed by Chlorpyriphos which indicates the excessive and irresponsible use of these pesticides in these two districts.

An Attempt was made to prepare wine from mandarin fruit juice using commercial yeast powder and by adjusting the initial TSS of the must at 20, 24, 28 and 32° Brix and SO2 concentration at 100 and 200 ppm. The must having 32° Brix and 100 ppm SO2 had the maximum fermentation rate (1.90). The physico-chemical and sensory quality of wine differed with various treatments. During maturation period, the TSS, acidity and phenol content of the wine decreased while alcohol content increased. After 3 months of maturation period, the wine prepared from the ‘must’ having an initial TSS of 24° Brix and 100 ppm SO2 was found superior with respect to biochemical attributes having 6.67 per cent TSS, 8.89 per cent ethanol and the maximum overall sensory score (7.89/9.00).

Fig is an underutilized fruit in-spite of having several health benefits. The most simple and practical approach for extending the shelf-life of fig fruit is by drying. For this purpose, the fruits were halved and quarter as per oven and oven dried for 6 hrs @ 60±2°C. The fresh as well as dried fruits were subjected to analysis of various physico-chemical characteristics. The results show that there was a loss of ascorbic acid in dried fruits. It was 5.6 mg/100g in dried fruits whereas in fresh fruits it was 10.52 mg/100g. The dried fruits had a rehydration ratio of 3.13:1. Antioxidant activity was higher in fresh fruits compared to the dried fruits. Textural property (i.e. hardness) was almost doubled after drying. Sensory analysis showed that dried fruits obtained better scores over fresh fruits for different characteristics. Drying of figs has been found to be a cost effective and an easy method to reduce the bulk and to increase the shelf-life of fruits.