Agriculture: Practices and Crop Types

• Agriculture involves growing crops and raising animals on a large scale.

Basic Agricultural Practices

• Preparation of soil is the first step.
• Selection and sowing of seeds follows soil preparation.
• Addition of manure and fertilizers enriches the soil.
• Irrigation provides necessary water.
• Protection from weeds and pests ensures healthy growth.
• Harvesting, threshing, and winnowing are done to collect and process the crop.
• Storage preserves the harvested crop.

Kharif and Rabi Crops

• Kharif crops are grown during the monsoon season (June-July) and harvested in September-October, e.g., rice and cotton.
• Rabi crops are grown during October-November and harvested in March-April, e.g., wheat and gram.

Levelling of Soil

• Ploughing leaves soil with crumbs that must be crushed.
• Soil is levelled before sowing seeds to ensure an even surface.

Seed Drill vs. Broadcasting

• Seed drills ensure seeds are sown at proper distances.
• Broadcasting results in uneven spacing.
• Seed drills offer advantages over broadcasting due to consistent spacing.

Weeds

• Weeds are unwanted plants that compete with crops for resources.
• They take up nutrients, space, water, and sunlight, so they must be removed.

Disadvantages of DDT

• DDT harms wildlife, and pests can develop resistance.
• Excessive DDT use increases soil acidity and can cause skin infections and respiratory issues.
• Prolonged use of DDT is undesirable due to these negative effects.

Agricultural Terms

• Apiary: big boxes in which honeybees are reared.
• Dairy animals: animals that give milk.
• Plant breeding: breeding two different crops to get a desired quality.

Weedicides and Pesticides

• Weedicides are chemicals used to stop weed growth.
• Pesticides are chemicals used to control and destroy pests.

Manure vs Fertilizers

• Manure is organic, fertilizer is not
• Manure provides long term nutrients, fertilizers do not
• Transporation of manure is hard, transporation of fertilizers is not
• Soulability of manure is low, souability of fertilizers is not
• Manure is not harmful, fertilizers are

Manual Weeding

• Manual weeding involves removing weeds by hand or with tools like trowels or harrows.
• Weedicides are chemicals used to kill weeds.
• Some plants like sunflower and soybean release toxins that inhibit weed growth.

Importance of Ploughing

• Ploughing loosens and turns the soil, allowing roots to penetrate deeply.
• It improves oxygen availability to plants and enhances soil fertility.
• Ploughing aids in mixing manure and fertilizers and helps water sink deep into the soil.

Other Methods

• Crop rotation can defend against pests
• Natural predators are other options

Pisciculture and Apiculture

• Pisciculture: rearing and breeding fish on a large scale.
• Apiculture: rearing honeybees on a large scale.

Harvesting, Threshing, and Winnowing

• Harvesting: cutting and gathering mature crops.
• Threshing: separating grains from the husk.
• Winnowing: separating lighter chaff from heavier grains.

Field Fallow

• Field fallow: leaving soil uncultivated to replenish it.
• This increases soil fertility through natural decomposition.