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• All living organisms require food for health, development, and growth.
• Food provides essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins.
• India's population exceeds one billion and requires more than a quarter billion tonnes of grain per year.
• Improving production efficiency in crops and livestock is essential with limited cultivable land.

Green Revolution

• An initiative to increase food production through modern technology, enhanced irrigation, and improved seeds.

White Revolution

• Dairy development programs have increased milk production.
• Sustainable methods are now needed to enhance crop and livestock efficiency because former agricultural advancements increased natural resource use.

Types of Crops

• Cereals: Wheat, maize, rice, millets, or sorghum which are sources of carbohydrates.
• Pulses: Pigeon pea, lentil, green gram or black gram which are sources of proteins.
• Oilseeds: Mustard, sunflower, sesame, groundnut, castor, or soybean are sources of fats.
• Vegetables, Spices and Fruits are sources of minerals, vitamins, small amounts of fats and carbohydrates..
• Fodder crops: Berseem, oats, and sudan grass are food for livestock.
• Crops need varying conditions like temperature, moisture, and photoperiods for growth.

Crop Seasons

• Kharif crops: Grown in the rainy season (June to October); examples include paddy, soybean, maize, cotton, green gram, and black gram.
• Rabi crops: Grown In the winter in winter (November to April); examples include wheat, peas, gram, mustard, and linseed.
• Zaid crops: Grown in the summer season (March to June); examples include muskmelon, watermelon, cucumber, pumpkin, and bitter gourd.

Ways To Enhance Crop Yield

• Crop Variety Improvement
• Crop Production Improvement
• Crop Protection Improvement

Crop Variety Improvement

• Hybridization: Crossing genetically different plants to get new varieties with good properties of both.
• Intervarietal hybridization occurs between two varieties of a plant.
• Interspecific hybridization occurs between species within the same genus.
• Intergeneric hybridization occurs between species of different genera.
• GMO crops are obtained by Introducing a gene that can provide desirable characteristics to a crop.

Good and Healthy Seeds Characteristics

• Higher Yield: To increase crop productivity per acre.
• Improved Quality: Quality varies across crops.
• Biotic and Abiotic Resistances: Reduce crop loss from biotic and abiotic factors.
• Wider Adaptability: Crops that can grow in diverse conditions.
• Desired Agronomic Traits: Height, branching, and leaves that improve production rate.

Crop Production Improvement

• Farming practices depend on various resources, so farmers can produce crops at different levels:
• No-cost production
• Low-cost production
• High-cost production

Practices for Crop Production Improvement

• Nutrient Management
• Irrigation
• Cropping Patterns

Nutrient Management

• Nutrients supplied by air: Includes carbon and oxygen.
• Nutrients supplied by water: Includes hydrogen and oxygen.
• Nutrients Supplied by soil: Includes macro and micronutrients.
• Yield may be affected, and plants won't be able to reproduce without proper nutrients.
• Plant growth is affected, and plants can get diseases without proper nutrients.
• Plants get nutrients from soil, water and air.
• Air provides both oxygen and carbon.
• Water provides hydrogen.
• Soil provides remaining 13 from macro and micro nutrients.
• Nutrient management involves uses fertilizers and manures to enrich soil with these necessary nutrients.

Macronutrients

• Required in large amounts for plant growth and development.
• Examples include magnesium, sulfur, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen.
• They are essential for cell function, energy transfer, and structure.
• They mostly come from soil, with some from water and air.

Micronutrients

• Required in small (trace mineral) amounts.
• Examples include chlorine, boron, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, and molybdenum.
• They are vital for specific plant processes, photosynthesis, and enzyme function.
• They are mostly found in soil.

Manure

• It enriches the soil by supplying various nutrients.
• It is a source of organic matter.
• It supplies small quantities of nutrients
• Manure is prepared by decomposing plant waste and animal excreta.
• They help in recycling biological waste like animal excreta and plant waste.
• Protects against damage caused by pesticides and fertilizers.
• Adding organic matter to the soil will improve soil fertility.

Types of Manure

• Compost: Animal excreta (e.g. cow dung), kitchen and sewage waste, plant remains, and waste food decompose in pits.
• Vermicompost: Earthworms hasten the decomposition of plant and animal waste.
• Green Manure: Plants like sun hemp and guar are grown, mulched and ploughed to become green manure enriching nitrogen and phosphorus levels.

Fertilizers

• They are made of chemical substances and prepared in factories.
• They have large amounts of nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium.
• They are easily absorbed by plants as they are soluble in water.
• it costly

Differences between Manure and Fertilizers

• Manure is an organic substance, while fertilizers are inorganic.
• Manure is made of plant and animal waste, while fertilizers are made of chemical substances.
• Manure has fewer nutrients, while fertilizers have a lot of nutrients.
• Manure is cheap and prepared in rural homes or fields, while fertilizers are costly and prepared in factories.
• Manures are slowly absorbed because they are insoluble, and fertilizers are easily absorbed because they are soluble.

Organic Farming

• A farming practice that omits artificial chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides relying on organic matter.
• Organic matter used in this farming includes:
• Manure
• Bio-agents: blue-green algae.
• Bio-fertilizers
• Biopesticides: Neem leaves and tumeric

Cropping Patterns

Mixed Cropping

• Two or more crops are grown on the same land.
• Examples: Groundnut & sunflower, wheat & mustard, wheat & gram.

Intercropping

• Two or more crops grown on the same field in a specific pattern.
• Examples: Finger millet (bajra) + cow pea (lobia), and soybean + maize.

Crop Rotation

• Growing different crops one after the other on the same field.
• Examples: Beans (year 1) followed by tomatoes (year 2), and sweet corn (year 3).

Intercropping and Crop Rotation Advantages

• Intercropping maximizes soil nutrient and maintains fertility.
• It also allows the maximum amount of nutrients to be used.
• Crop rotation preserves soil fertility, reduces weeds, and minimizes the need for chemical fertilizers.
• it is a natural process to prevent pests, preserves and maintains fertilizers. The soil properties remain untouched.
• Increased yield

Irrigation

• Supplying water to crop plants.

Methods of Irrigation

• Dug wells
• Tube wells
• Watershed systems
• Canals
• River lift systems
• Tank systems
• Sprinkler irrigation
• Drip irrigation
• Rainwater harvesting

Crop Protection Management

• Protecting crops from organisms and other harmful factors that cause diseases.

Methods To Control The Problems

• Pest control during growth
• Storage of grains

Pest Control During Growth

• Pests are destructive organisms that harm crops or products.
• Types of pests:
  • Weeds: Unwanted plants in cultivated fields like xanthium.
  • Insects: Can harm plants by cutting roots, stems and leaves. As well as sucking cell sap from plant parts.
  • Pathogens: Bacteria, fungi, and viruses that cause diseases in plants. Those organisms are transimitted through water, air and soil.

Storage of Grains

Storage Losses

• Biotic Factors: Insects, bacteria, rodents, mites, and fungi.
• Abiotic Factors: Unsuitable temperatures and moisture.
• Effects of Poor Storage: Reduced germination ability, discoloration, weight loss, and quality deterioration. Preventive Measures: Drying of grains in sunlight followed by shade drying, thorough cleaning of produce, and fumigation.
• Importance of Proper Storage: Ensures availability of seasonal foods year-round and improved marketability by maintaining grain quality.

Animal Husbandry

• It is scientifically managing domestic animals to obtain food and other valuable products.

Types of Animal Husbandry

• Cattle Farming
• Poultry Farming
• Fish Production
• Bee-Keeping

Cattle Farming

• It fulfills main purposes: for bull cart transportation, ploughing fields, and getting milk.

Types of Cattle

• Exotic breeds (foreign): Brown Swiss, Holstein-Friesian and Jersey.
• Indigenous Breeds (local): Red Sindhi and Sahiwal.
• Milch animals include female cattle who produce milk.
• Draught animals do not produce milk and are used for agricultural work.
• Lactation Period: The period of milk production after the birth of a young one to the next pregnancy.
• Enhancing milk production occurs via an increased lactation period in the cattle.
• Crossbreeding local and foreign breeds can create cattle with increased lactation and disease resistance.

Shelter Management

• The shelter has to be neat and clean to make sure the cattle is healthy.
• Cattle needs cleaning and a covered shelter from the harsh weather.
• Keeping the floor dry and clean is a requirement for proper shelter management.
• Regular brushing of the cattle is necessary.

Food Requirement

• Fiber-containing roughage.
• Protein-containing concentrates.
• Enhanced milk production requires food containing micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

Protection From Diseases

• Can cause death and decreased milk production.
• Parasites that live outside or inside, are small organisms that derive food by living as the host of another organism.
• There occurs external that causes skin damages on the cattle.
• Likewise, internal parasites cause issues such worm related intestinal or stomach issues, or liver problems like flukes
• Viruses and bacteria are the source of infectious conditions (readily spread to one another.

Poultry Farming

• Raise birds like chickens and turkeys for meat or eggs.
• Both eggs and meat from poultry farming provide protein.
• Broilers: Birds grown for meat, usable at 6-8 weeks old.
• Layers: Birds grown for eggs, usable after 20 weeks
• Hens should produce good quality and more chicks.
• Hens need to have low maintenance.
• Breeding enhances dwarf broilers (meat-giving birds).
• Biggest expense on poultry farms is feeding costs.
• Dwarf broilers eat less and reduce costs by 30%.
• Can also tolerate heats
• There are different types of breeds in chickens: Aseel, Basara, Brahma, Kadaknath, Chittagong, White leghorn, Black minorcha, Rhode Island Red, and Plymouth
• Layers are to get managed for the function of getting more eggs, broilers are there to get you meat. They serve different purposes.

Fish Production

• Great source of the protein to our diet.
• Capture fishing: Capturing naturally living fish in different parts of water.
• Culture fishing: Fishes of the favourite kind are cultivated in bounded regions to get the heighest amount. Also called aquaculture.
• When aquaculture happens in the oceans, it is regarded as mariculture.
• The fish production on the basis of water source is, marine and inland fisheries.

Types of Fish

• Marine:
  • Pomfret
  • Tuna
  • Mackerel
  • Bombay duck
• Inland
  • Rohu
  • Common Carp
  • Silver carp
• Some marine fishes that are an economical gain
• Seafood, mussels, mussels or oysters are cultivated and farmed in seawater to get products and create value.

Integrated Fish Culture

• Blends fish and crop production with poultry, livestock, beekeeping, or other activities.
• Seeks to increase resource-use effectiveness, environmental impact reduction, and create ecosystem that is balanced for the long run.

Composite Fish Culture

• Also called polyculture, composite fish culture is used for growing varying fishes in the same supply.
• Selected based on their diet to be efficient while reducing costs

Types of Fish Feeders

• Surface: Catla and Silver carp
• Column: Rohu and Grass carp
• Botton: Mrigal and Common carp
• Various species in the pond exist in conjunction and also feed at different levels. The ecosystem within ponds or waterways can be optimised with the approach. Fishing Advantages
• Fishing provides more yield, and is vital to communities and economics around the world. It is critical to ensure that this resource is managed to not damage the environment.

Benefits of Fishing

• Fishing can provide massive yield, for security for the enviornment/nation and nutrition
• Fishing is economical for income for communities, mostly coastal zones.
• Fishing provides catchment, processing, and selling fish sector employments.
• The fish can provide renewable, sustainable resources, and can be managed very well for the population.

Problems of Fishing

• Fish tend to lay their eggs on the monsson season, which limits the increase in population.
• Hormonal stimulation should be used to enhance productivity
• Overfishing: leads to not sustainable, can also cause marine issues.

Bee Keeping

• Taking care and controlling bees for the purpose of acquiring honey and wax for a bigger amount in large scale.
• Farmers use bee-keeping as possible sources of income for them, and are named bee farms or apiaries.
• Apiary: Placing/Setting up numerous of bee hives in safe and sound spot is essential.

Bee Types

• Apis cerana indica
• dorsata
• flora One Italian variant mellifera may also be used India for commercial large scale production.

Mellifera Variant Advantages

• Big volumes of collection for honey
• Fast reproduction
• Less stingy
• Staying in hive for long periods of time

Benefits of Honey

• Used for medicines, or as sugar, or to gain energy