Agricultural Science Keywords and Concepts

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering keywords, agricultural schemes, soil science, plant biology, and animal management based on the lecture notes.

CAP

Common Agricultural Policy - EU policy that supports farmers, food production and environmental schemes.

REPS

Rural Environmental Protection Scheme - older Irish agri-environment payment scheme.

ACRES

Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme - current scheme rewarding climate, biodiversity and water-quality actions.

TAMS

Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme - grants for farm buildings, equipment and safety upgrades.

GLAS

Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme - previous scheme for biodiversity, water and climate measures.

DAFM

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency - monitors and protects the environment.

DVO

District Veterinary Office - local animal health and movement office.

LWG

Live weight gain - the weight an animal puts on over a period.

Daily weight gain (DWG/DLG)

Weight gain divided by the number of days.

FCR/FCE

Feed conversion ratio/efficiency - how efficiently feed is converted into live weight gain.

BOD

Biochemical Oxygen Demand - oxygen needed by microbes to break down organic matter in water.

Hydroponics

Growing plants in a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil.

Packing

Damage caused when animals or machinery compress soil, reducing pore space.

Volatilisation

Loss of nitrogen, usually ammonia, from slurry or urea to the atmosphere.

Hygroscopic

A substance that absorbs moisture from the air, e.g. urea left open.

Zoonosis

A disease or infection that can pass from animals to humans.

Pathogen

A disease-causing organism such as bacteria, virus, fungus, or protozoan.

Pheromones

Chemicals released by animals that affect behaviour, often mating behaviour.

Stubble

The remains of cereal crop stems left after harvesting.

Stocking rate

Number of livestock units per hectare.

Carcinogen

A cancer-causing substance; for example, green potatoes contain toxic glycoalkaloids.

Leguminosae

Plant family containing clover, peas and vetch that fix nitrogen with Rhizobium bacteria.

Gramineae

Grass family including wheat, barley, oats, maize and ryegrass.

Antagonistic muscles

Pairs of muscles working opposite each other, such as the biceps and triceps.

Soil texture triangle

A tool used to identify soil type from the percentages of sand, silt and clay.

Leaching

The movement of soluble minerals down through the soil profile, often from the A horizon to the B horizon.

Podzol

An acid soil over sandstone used for forestry or rough grazing where leaching causes a bleached A horizon and iron pan.

Iron pan

A compact impermeable layer in soil that can be corrected using a subsoiler to improve drainage.

Soil pore space

The air and water spaces between soil particles; it is reduced by compaction.

Percentage frequency formula

$$\text{\% frequency} = \frac{\text{number of quadrats containing the plant}}{\text{total quadrats}} \times 100$$

Soil auger

A tool used to take soil samples by collecting cores of soil.

Nitrogen (in plants)

An element needed for chlorophyll, amino acids, proteins, enzymes, DNA and leafy growth.

Potassium (in plants)

An element that helps translocation, enzyme activation, stomata control, disease resistance and crop quality.

Phosphorus deficiency symptoms

Symptoms including slow growth, poor roots, poor flowering/fruiting and blue-purple leaves.

Lime (benefits)

A substance that raises pH, improves nutrient availability, helps clover growth, and improves flocculation and earthworm activity.

Hectare

A unit of area equal to $100\,\text{m} \times 100\,\text{m} = 10,000\,\text{m}^2$; there are $100$ hectares in $1\,\text{km}^2$.

Eutrophication

A process where N and P runoff enter water causing algae to grow and microbes to decompose them, using up oxygen and causing fish kills.

Clay colloids

Tiny negatively charged clay particles with high cation exchange capacity that hold nutrients.

Humus

Dark, stable organic matter formed from decomposed plants and animals that improves soil structure and fertility.

Xylem

Dead, lignified plant tissue that carries water and minerals upwards.

Phloem

Living plant tissue that carries sugars both up and down.

Transpiration

The loss of water vapour from leaves, primarily through the stomata.

Cohesion-tension

The mechanism where water molecules stick together and transpiration creates tension to pull a continuous water column up the xylem.

Phototropism

A growth response to light where shoots grow towards the light source.

Apical dominance

A condition where the terminal bud produces hormones that suppress the growth of side buds.

Catch crop

A crop grown between main crops to utilize nutrients, provide fodder and reduce leaching.

Yield mapping

The use of GPS and harvester data to map area-specific yields for precision fertiliser and seeding decisions.

Timothy grass

A perennial grass with a cylindrical panicle that is palatable and useful in multi-species swards.

Plantain

A perennial herb with long ribbed leaves and parallel veins; it is high in zinc and selenium and has a diuretic effect.

Chitting

The process of pre-sprouting seed potatoes before they are planted.

Phytophthora infestans

The pathogen that causes potato blight, encouraged by warm and humid conditions.

Silage quality indicators

Good silage has leafy grass, high sugars, rapid wilting and anaerobic low pH fermentation; bad silage is dark, wet, slimy and sour.

Animal husbandry

The management and care of farm animals.

Ruminant stomach compartments

The rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum.

Babesia

A protozoan that causes redwater in cattle by destroying blood cells.

Grass tetany

A deficiency disease in livestock caused by a lack of magnesium.

BCS (Body Condition Score)

A measure of animal fatness; for beef cattle, a score of $3.0-3.25$ is ideal before calving.

Compensatory growth

An increased growth rate in animals following a period of feed restriction.

Creep grazing

A grazing management practice where young animals pass through a gate to access fresh grass while older animals are excluded.

Leader-follower grazing

A system where young animals graze fresh pasture first and older animals follow to clean out the remaining grass.

Wether

A castrated male sheep.

Hogget

A young sheep between one and two years of age.

Prolificacy

The number of lambs born or reared per ewe mated.

Terminal sire

A ram breed (like Charolais or Beltex) chosen for traits such as fast growth, good conformation and high carcass quality.

Hybrid vigour

The improved performance in health, fertility and longevity resulting from crossbreeding, such as in Jersey-Friesian crosses.

Embryo transplantation

A process where genetically superior embryos are collected or split and implanted into recipient females for rapid genetic improvement.