Agriculture Quiz on Crop Production and Intercropping

Crop Production and Management

• Crop production is the practice of growing and harvesting crops.
• It is considered both an art and a science.
• Key physical activities include land preparation, sowing/planting, weeding/cultivation, harvesting, and seed cleaning.
• The science of crop production relies on improved agricultural inputs, developed through research.

Agricultural Inputs

• Quality seeds of improved varieties
• Fertilizers to enhance soil fertility
• Herbicides for weed control
• Fungicides to combat fungal diseases (examples: rust, smut, blight, mildew)
• Insecticides to control insects (e.g., stalk borer, army worm, aphids, boll worm)
• Agricultural machinery for tasks such as land preparation, chemical spraying, harvesting, and processing.

Need for Crop Production

• Global population has increased significantly since 100 years ago
• From 1 billion to 3 billion in 1960 then 5 billion in 1987, 6 billion in 1999, 7 billion in 2011 and projected to reach 9 billion in 2025.
• This increasing population necessitates a higher production of food.
• Plants are the primary producers of food.

Increasing Crop Production

• Increased production can be achieved through both extensive and intensive approaches.
• Extensive production methods have now nearly reached the limit of arable land.
• Focus has shifted to intensive production methods (increasing production per unit of area).

Yield Limiting Factors

• Crop yield is a function of genetic potential, environmental factors, and management.
• Genetic potential can be enhanced through natural and artificial selection.
• Environmental factors include temperature, rainfall, humidity, sunlight, altitude, water, air, soil type, nutrients, and physicochemical characteristics.

Crop Management

• Agronomic management (sowing date, planting population, spacing, weeding, etc.)
• Crop protection
• Storage
• Improved genetic potential, suitable environmental (climate) factors and excellent management practices result in higher productivity per unit area.

Crop Production Objectives

• Produce substantial and high-quality yields without depleting the land.
• This has been achieved using various crop production methods.

Methods of Crop Production

• Shifting cultivation (bush fallow): Involves clearing and cultivating land, then abandoning it until natural vegetation grows back. Returning to previously cleared land after a period of fallow to regain soil fertility.
• Bare fallow cultivation: A modification of shifting cultivation where fields are left fallow for a period to improve soil fertility.
• Continuous cropping: Cultivating the same land repeatedly with crops. Techniques utilized include the application of industrial fertilizers, organic products like FYM and compost, and crop rotation/intercropping.

Types of Continuous Cropping

• Monoculture (mono-cropping): Cultivating the same crop continuously.
• Crop rotation: Cultivating different types of crops in a planned sequence.
• Intercropping: Growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same land. This can be achieved through row intercropping, mixed intercropping, or relay intercropping.

Crop Rotation Importance

• Maintains soil fertility.
• Minimizes insect and disease infestations.
• Minimizes weed spread.
• Improves soil physical properties.

Sole Cropping and Intercropping

• Sole cropping: Cultivating only one crop variety.
• Intercropping: Cultivating two or more crops simultaneously. Row, mixed, and relay are types of intercropping.

Types of Inter-cropping (Spatial Arrangement)

• Row intercropping: Crops are planted in separate rows.
• Mixed intercropping: Crops are planted mixed together.
• Relay intercropping: One crop is planted after another.

Agronomic Classification of Crops

• Classified based on the intended use:
  • Cereals (grasses for edible seeds)
  • Pulses/legumes
  • Vegetables
  • Root crops
  • Sugar crops
  • Oil crops
  • Fiber crops
  • Forage crops
  • Tuber crops
  • Stimulant crops

Growth and Development of Plants

• Plant life cycle begins with seed germination.
• Germination requires favorable environmental conditions (moisture, oxygen, temperature, sometimes sunlight).
• Soil temperature above 15°C and proper drainage are vital.
• Starch is converted to sugar for use in plant development.

Emergence of Seedlings

• Epigeal: Cotyledons pushed above the soil surface.
• Hypogeal: Cotyledons remain below the soil.

Environmental Stresses

• Environmental stresses affecting crop production are classified as biotic (diseases, insects, weeds) and abiotic (climate, soil).

Methods for Increasing Crop Yields

• Extensive farming: Expanding arable land through new cultivation, irrigation, or drainage.
• Intensive farming: Improving productivity in existing arable land utilizing sound crop production principles (seed-bed preparation through proper yield grain storage).

Problems and Solutions

• Problems: Political instability, poverty, famine, low yield, shortage of land, soil erosion, pests, diseases, poor field management, drought, flood, population pressure, needs of parents.
• Solutions: Peace, food security, high yield production, proper field management, irrigation, soil fertility, soil conservation, improved inputs utilization, drainage, afforestation, family planning, education.

Principles of Crop Production/Packaging Approach

• Preparation of soil
• Sowing
• Adding manures and fertilizers
• Irrigation
• Storage
• Threshing
• Harvesting
• Weeding

Good Land Preparation

• The land should be ready for planting; soil conditions must be right. Elements to be considered:
• Sowing of seeds
• Germination of seeds
• Emergence of seedlings
• Subsequent growth and development
• Absence of weeds
• Level surfaces, and smaller soil clods.

Quality seed characteristics

• True-to-type: Variety should be appropriate for the environmental requirements
• Pure-to-type: Seeds should contain only seeds of their designated varieties, without any weeds or seeds of other varieties.

Crop Production Factors

• Optimum fertilizer rates
• Proper planting depth
• Timely weed control
• Timely insect and disease control
• Timely harvesting
• Drying grains to required moisture levels.
• Proper storage.