Introduction to Agriculture and Crop Production

• The science of farming, including soil cultivation and animal rearing, is called agriculture
• Ager means field
• Cultura means cultivation
• Plants of the same kind grown in large quantities in a field are called crop plants
• The product of those cultivated plants is called crop produce (grains, roots, fibre, etc.)
• Main crops grown in India: cereal (grain) crops, fibre crops, pulses, and oil seeds
• Rice, wheat, and maize are the most commonly grown cereal crops

Horticultural Crops

• Hortus* means garden
• Cultura* means cultivation
• Vegetables, fruits, and flowers are grown on a large scale
• Not as large scale as crop plants
• Vegetables and fruits provide minerals and vitamins

Crop Plants Grown in India

• Cereals/grain crops include rice, wheat, maize, barley, and ragi
• Fibre crops include jute and cotton
• Pulses/legumes include grams, peas, and beans
• Oil seeds include mustard, groundnut, sunflower, and soyabean
• Root crops include sweet potato and carrot
• Tuber crops include potato, tapioca, and ginger
• Sugar crops include sugarcane and beetroot
• Plantation crops include coffee, tea, rubber, and coconut
• Tall grasses grown for their nutritious seeds are called cereal plants
• Cereals form a major part of the diet
• Rice, wheat, and maize are the most commonly grown cereal crops
• Rice and wheat mainly provide carbohydrates
• Pulses are richer in proteins
• Coconut, mustard, and sunflower seeds provide oils and fats
• India produces about 200 million tonnes of wheat and rice

Horticultural Crops

• Vegetables include potato, tomato, cabbage, spinach, onion, and radish
• Fruits include orange, bananas, grapes, guava, apple, mango, and papaya
• Decorative plants include crotons, cactus, and bougainvillea
• Flowers include rose, jasmine, marigold, and balsam

Crop Seasons

• Two main crop seasons: rabi and kharif

Rabi Crops

• Rabi crops are sown during winter
• Rabi crop season lasts from October/November to March/April
• Rabi crops are also called winter crops
• Examples: wheat, gram, barley, mustard, and potato

Kharif Crops

• Kharif crops are sown during the rainy season
• Kharif crop season lasts from June/July to September/October
• Kharif crops are also called summer crops
• Examples: paddy, maize, groundnut, cotton, pulses, and jowar

Key Terms

• Horticultural crops involve the large-scale cultivation of vegetables, fruits, and flower plants
• Manuring involves mixing manure with soil
• Transplantation involves shifting seedlings from the nursery to the main field
• Drip irrigation is an irrigation technique where water is released drop-by-drop near plant roots
• Fertilizer is a man-made inorganic compound/mixture providing specific nutrients
• Weedicides are chemicals that destroy weeds without harming crops
• Buffer stock is a reserve of foodgrains maintained by the government for food scarcity
• Apiculture is rearing honeybees on a large scale

Agricultural Implements

• Tools needed for agricultural practices
• Plough is used for loosening and turning the soil
• Traditional ploughs are made of wood or iron and driven by animals or tractors
• A tractor-driven plough is called a cultivator
• A plough contains a thick triangular iron strip: ploughshare
• The main part is a long log of wood: ploughshaft
• Handle at the lower end of the shaft; beam at the upper end
• Hoe is used for removing weeds and loosening soil
• Consists of a long rod of wood/iron with a broad, bent plate at one end
• The plate acts like a blade
• Trowel (Khurpa) and Harrow
• Used for loosening the soil and removing weeds simultaneously
• Seed-drill sows seeds uniformly at proper distances and depths
• Seed-drill consists of tubes with funnel-shaped seed-bowl
• Drill is attached to a plough
• The drill also covers the seeds with soil to prevent loss

Basic Practices of Crop Production

• Crop production involves many steps and conditions
• Tasks performed by a farmer to produce a good crop
• Selection of location and nature of soil
• Preparation of soil by ploughing, levelling, and manuring
• Selection of seeds, sowing by using a seed-drill or transplantation
• Irrigation
• Application of manures, fertilizers, and light irrigation
• Protection from weeds; weeding by using trowel (khurpa), harrow or weedicides
• Crop protection; control pests and plant diseases with pesticides
• Harvesting, threshing, and winnowing with thresher or combine
• Storage of foodgrains

Soil Selection

• Plants need air, sunlight, water, and nutrients for growth
• Different crops need different kinds of soil and nutrients
• Crop field should be open for sufficient air and sunlight

Soil Preparation

• Involves ploughing, levelling, and manuring
• Tilling or ploughing
• Loosens and turns the soil

Advantages of Loosening Soil by Ploughing

• Brings nutrient-rich soil to the surface
• Permits easy and deeper root penetration
• Provides good aeration to the roots
• Promotes the growth of useful soil bacteria and earthworms
• These organisms add humus to the soil
• Levelling
• Leveled and pressed with wooden plank/iron leveller
• Breaks/crushes bigger chunks of dry soil into smaller pieces
• Protects the upper layer of soil from erosion
• Prevents water logging and promotes uniform irrigation

Manuring

• Mixing soil with manure
• Manure: mixture of organic substances from decomposed vegetable and animal wastes
• Manures are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
• Improves physical conditions of thesoil
• Farmyard Manure: animal dung, straw, leaves
• Green Manure: agricultural waste ploughed back into the soil
• Compost Manure: cattle-shed wastes and dry leaves

Selection of Seeds and Sowing

• Suggestions for selecting seeds:
• Good quality, disease-resistant, and high-yield seeds selected
• Treat the seeds with a fungicide
• Seeds are sown using two methods:
• By scattering them (broadcasting, may use mechanical broadcasters)
• By using seed-drills; saves time and labour

Transplantation

• For crops like rice (paddy), tomato, onion, chilli
• Seeds sown in a small seed-bed called nursery
• Seedlings (new plants) are transferred to main field
• Advantages of Transplantation:
• Enables selective cultivation of healthy seedlings
• Better crop production
• Transplantation permits better root penetration
• Allows better shoot development

Irrigation

• Seeds require water to germinate
• Plants need water for nutrients and photosynthesis
• Maintain soil moisture for healthy growth-
• Frequency varies with crops, soil, and season
• Watering crops at different intervals is irrigation

Irrigation Factors

• Higher frequency in summers
• Sandy soil needs more water than clayey soil
• Different crops need different amounts of water at stages of growth
• More water is needed before tilling, at flowering, and grain development
• Wheat, Gram, and Cotton crops need irrigation at regular intervals
• Paddy (rice) needs continuous irrigation in standing water

Sources of Irrigation

• Water from wells, tube-wells, ponds, lakes, rivers, dams, and canals

Methods of Irrigation

• Traditional methods of irrigation and Modern
• Traditional Methods: swinging-basket, moat/simple pulley, water-wheel, chain-pump, dhekli, rahat (lever system)
• Water is lifted by manpower or animal power
• Sprinkler system is useful for uneven dry lands
• Water is released drop-by-drop near roots with the drip system
• Most economical method of irrigation; suitable for water-deficient regions
• Used for fruit and flower plants

Lift Irrigation System

• Used when fields are higher than water sources (rivers, canals)
• Requires construction of an intake well and pipe
• Water-Logging
• Excessive irrigation leads to water accumulation
• Harmful to crops because
• It does not permit aeration for seed/roots and it increases the amount of salts in the soil

Fertilizers and Manures

• Upper soil layer contains nutrients
• Fertilizers are added to the soil if need be to maintain its fertility
• Fertilizers are man-made inorganic compound to supply specific nutrients
• Diammonium phosphate (DAP) supplies nitrogen and phosphorus
• NPK fertilizer supplies nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
• Urea supplies nitrogen
• Superphosphate of lime supplies calcium and phosphate
• Calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) supplies calcium and nitrogen

Fertilizer Advantages

• Provide specific nutrients for crops
• Concentrated source of soil nutrients.
• Easily stored and handled.
• Soluble in water and are easily absorbed by plants
• Fertilizers added by broadcasting (scatter by hand) or through irrigation channels

Fertilizer vs. Manure

Fertilizer:

• Inorganic substance prepared in factories
• Provides a specific nutrient
• High concentration of plant nutrients

Manure:

• Mixture of organic and inorganic substances from decomposed waste
• Provides more than one nutrient
• Low concentration of soil nutrients

Weed Protection

• The process of removing weeds from a crop field is called Weeding
• Weeds are undesirable plants that grow with crops (amaranthus, wild oat, and chenopodium)
• Weeding can be done manually or by spraying weedicides
• Weedicides must be non-harmful to crops (2,4-D, and MCPA)

Protection Of Crops

• Protection from stray animals involves putting up fences
• Protection from birds involves scaring them away
• Protection against diseases is for diseases from fungi, bacteria, and viruses or (fungicides)
• Protection with fungicides from rust and smut on wheat as well as blight
• Also protects from wilt and blast on paddy crops

Pest Protection

• Organisms that damage crops rendering them unfit for human consumption should be protected from
• Types: Rodents (rats), birds, and insects

Harvesting and Threshing

• The process of cutting and gathering a matured crop is harvesting.
• Harvesting happens with machines or tools like sickles
• The separation of threshed yields is called threshing and is done manually through machines called combines
• Separation of yields is called crop production/ yield

Storage of Food Grains

• Crops are seasonal and kept in storage
• Harvested foodgrains contain moisture
• Before storage the foodgrains should be dried and then kept in the sun
• They are at the domestic and commercial level

Two Methods of Storage

• (Domestic): Stored in clay or tin-coated containers
• (Commercially): Stored in gunny bags or grain silos which are tall cylindrical storage structures