Introduction to Agriculture

Flashcards covering basic agricultural definitions, land use, soil science, plant production, and management systems as discussed in the lecture.

Agriculture

The practice and science of farming production of field crops and animals, including the cultivation of land and the rearing of livestock.

Horticulture

The intensive production of fruit, vegetables, and ornamental plants.

Animal production (animal husbandry)

Farming that involves keeping domestic animals and producing milk, meat, wool, and other related products.

Farm

Any tract of land or water used as a unit for the cultivation of crops or for rearing livestock or fish under individual or collective management.

Crop farming (arable farming)

The growing of food crops such as cereals and vegetables, or industrial commercial crops like cotton, on arable land.

Dairy farming

Farming devoted primarily to keeping cows for milk yield, intended for consumption or conversion into products like butter and cheese.

Mixed farming

A form of agriculture in which both crops and livestock are produced on an individual farm.

Peasant farming

Farming performed by a small family unit at or near subsistence level on a small area of land, providing its own labor.

Subsistence farming

Farming where products are grown or raised primarily for the support of the farmer and their dependants, rather than for sale.

Commercial agriculture

Agriculture primarily concerned with the growing of crops or raising of livestock for sale.

Agronomy

The study of growing plants and a branch of agriculture concerned with crop production and soil management.

Arable land

Agricultural land used for growing crops that is tilled, though not necessarily every year.

Fallow land

Cultivated or ploughed land that is not used for growing crops, usually left uncropped for two or more seasons.

Meadow

A piece of land permanently covered with grass, which is sown specifically for hay or silage.

Pasture (grazing)

Land covered with grass and herbs on which livestock can feed directly.

Short ley

Grass grown in rotation with arable crops, usually sown and fertilized for a period of years.

Wasteland

Wild uncultivated land, often on light soils, that is not used for agriculture and fails to yield.

Hectare ($ha$)

A unit of area equal to $10\,000$ square meters or $2.471$ acres.

Acre

A unit for measuring area equal to $4840$ square yards or $4047$ square meters (about $0.4\,ha$).

Are ($a$)

A unit for measuring area equal to $100$ square meters.

Plantation

A large, corporately owned agricultural system, generally a monoculture for producing tropical and subtropical crops like coffee, cotton, or palm oil.

Intensive plants

Crops that require large amounts of inputs per $1\,ha$, such as vegetables and root crops.

Extensive plants

Plants that require very low inputs per $1\,ha$, like cereals and rapeseed.

Photosynthesis

The chemical process by which green plants synthesize organic compounds from carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) and water ($H_2O$) using energy from sunlight.

Gross primary productivity

The rate at which plants assimilate light energy into an ecosystem.

Net primary productivity

The rate at which energy is incorporated into plant tissue, calculated as gross primary production minus the energy used for respiration.

Biomass

The total quantity of matter in organisms, usually expressed as dry weight per unit area.

Annual crop

A plant that completes its entire life cycle, from germination to seed production, within a single year (e.g., wheat, sunflower).

Biennial crop

A plant requiring two growing seasons to complete its life cycle, building food reserves in the first and producing seeds in the second (e.g., carrot, sugar beet).

Perennial crop

A plant that lives for a number of years, either as herbaceous aerial shoots that die back or as woody trees and shrubs.

Abiotic factor

Nonliving environmental factors including edaphic factors (soil composition), climate, and geology.

Biotic factor

Living organisms within an environment that affect others, such as competitors, predators, parasites, or humans.

Photoperiodism

The biological response of an organism to changes in the ratio of light and dark in a $24$-hour cycle.

Growing season

The part of the year when plant growth is active due to favorable temperature, moisture, and daylight.

Drought

A prolonged period of dry weather; in the UK, absolute drought is a period of at least $15$ consecutive days with less than $0.25\,mm$ of rain.

Transpiration

The loss of water vapour from a plant through leaf pores, occurring through living tissue under the influence of plant physiology.

Transpiration coefficient

The amount of water used to produce $1\,kg$ of dry plant matter, typically ranging from $200$ to $700\,kg$.

Soil

The upper layer of the Earth consisting of mineral particles and organic matter in which plants grow.

Humus

Fully decomposed organic matter in soil that improves cation absorption, water retention, and fertility.

Soil structure

The arrangement of individual soil particles into aggregates or peds (e.g., platy, blocky, granular).

Soil texture

The proportion of sand, silt, and clay particle sizes within a soil.

Loam

A fertile soil containing a mixture of sand, silt, and clay (typically $7-30\%$ clay, $28-50\%$ silt, and less than $52\%$ sand).

pH scale

A logarithmic scale from $0$ to $14$ expressing the acidity (below $7$) or alkalinity (above $7$) of a solution or soil.

Soil horizon

A distinctive layer within a soil profile that differs chemically or physically from the layers above and below it.

Podzol (podsol)

A zonal soil formed under cool humid conditions with coniferous vegetation, featuring a heavily leached, ash-colored A horizon.

Chernozem

Highly fertile black earths suited for cereal cultivation, rich in organic matter and developed under temperate grasses.

Fertilizer

A substance added to soil to enrich it with essential chemical elements like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Green manure

A crop, often leguminous, that is ploughed into the soil while still green to improve fertility and structure.

Slurry

A liquid organic fertilizer consisting of a mixture of water, urine, and animal feces.

Bioaccumulation

The increase in concentration of non-biodegradable chemicals, such as pesticides, in the tissues of organisms along the food chain.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

A strategy using biological, chemical, and cultural approaches to keep pests below economic damage thresholds with minimal environmental impact.

Cereals

Cultivated flowering grasses, such as wheat, rye, and barley, whose seeds are used for human and animal food.

Triticale

A fertile hybrid crop resulting from a cross between wheat and rye.

Crop rotation

The practice of growing different crops in systematic succession on the same land to maintain soil fertility and minimize pests.

Monoculture

A farming system given over exclusively to the production of a single product over an extensive area.

Tillage (cultivation)

The preparation of land for growing crops via loosening, turning, stirring, or compacting the soil.

Organic farming

A production system that excludes synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, relying instead on crop rotation, animal manures, and biological pest control.