Agriculture Study Notes: Farm Safety, Agronomy, Botany, Soils, and Poultry

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering farm safety, crop management, plant biology, soil classification, poultry anatomy, egg production, and biosecurity protocols.

Agriculture

The practice of growing crops and raising livestock for food, fiber, and products, which began roughly 12,000 years ago.

Hazard

Something dangerous that can cause harm, injury, or illness.

Germination

Seed development triggered by proper temperature, oxygen, and water.

Seeding Rate

The number or weight of seeds planted per unit area.

Annuals

Plants completing their entire lifecycle in one single year.

Perennials

Plants that live and produce for two years or more.

Transplanting

Moving a living plant from one growth location to another.

Sowing Depth

How deep a seed is buried for proper moisture and safety.

Row Spacing

The space between crop rows for machinery access and airflow.

Plant Spacing

The distance between individual plants in a row to reduce competition.

Fertilizer

A soil additive supplying Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K).

Irrigation

The artificial application of water to soil.

Photosynthesis

The process where plants use sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to make food (glucose) and release oxygen: $6\text{CO}_2 + 6\text{H}_2\text{O} \rightarrow \text{C}_6\text{H}_{12}\text{O}_6 + 6\text{O}_2$.

Drip Irrigation

A highly water-efficient irrigation method providing low-evaporation drip watering directly at the plant roots.

Center Pivot Irrigation

An irrigation system using big, revolving sprinklers spinning around a center pin for flat fields.

Mulching

Material (such as bark, wood chips, straw, or plastic sheeting) covering the topsoil layer around crops to stop water evaporation, suppress weeds, and level soil temperature.

Weed

A plant growing out of place (e.g., Bindi, Clover), characterized by fast growth, heavy seed production, and extreme resilience.

Cabbage White Butterfly

A pest attacking brassicas (cabbage, broccoli) that causes large chewing holes and dark green droppings, controlled by scraping eggs and using exclusion netting.

Powdery Mildew

A disease that attacks cucurbits (zucchini, cucumber), appearing as white/grey powder spots on leaves and controlled by removing and destroying infected foliage.

Clay

A soil fraction with tiny particles that is heavy, locks onto water, holds high nutrients, turns sticky when wet, and becomes rock-hard when dry.

Silt

A fertile soil fraction with medium particles that feels soapy and smooth when wet, and dust-like when dry.

Sand

A soil fraction with large particles that drains fast, holds minimal nutrients, and is excellent for root vegetables.

Crop (Poultry)

A food storage sack that feeds small amounts of ingested feed down to the stomach.

Proventriculus

The glandular stomach of poultry that releases acid and pepsin to initiate chemical breakdown of food.

Gizzard

A thick muscular organ that uses consumed shell grit or gravel to mechanically crush hard food.

Caeca

Two blind pockets in poultry using microflora fermentation to break apart plant fibers.

Cloaca

The single shared exit lane for the urinary, digestive, and reproductive tracts in poultry.

Infundibulum

The part of the poultry oviduct that catches the yolk and holds it for 15 minutes.

Magnum

The segment of the poultry oviduct that coats the yolk in thick albumen (egg white) over a period of 3 hours.

Isthmus

The segment of the poultry oviduct that wraps the egg in internal shell membranes over 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Shell Gland (Uterus)

The organ in the poultry oviduct that builds the hard calcium outer shell of an egg over 20–21 hours.

Biosecurity

A system protecting agricultural operations against pests, diseases, weeds, and contaminants.