Overview of Crop Production

Vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, principles, and concepts from the introductory chapter on Crop Production.

Food

The basic requirement of life to survive that provides energy for metabolic activities, aids body growth and repair, and offers protection against diseases.

Plant

Any organism belonging to the Kingdom Plantae, typically lacking active locomotion or obvious nervous and sensory organs, and possessing photosynthetic ability.

Crop

A population of domesticated or cultivated plants of the same kind grown and cultivated on a large scale at one place for profit.

Crop Production (Crop Science)

The discipline concerned with observing and classifying knowledge regarding economically cultivated crops and establishing verifiable principles for their growth and development.

Agronomy

A branch of crop science dealing with the principles and practices of managing field crops and soils, derived from "Agros" (field) and "Nomos" (to manage).

Horticulture

A branch of crop science dealing with gardens and plants within an enclosure, derived from "hortus" (enclosure/yard/garden) and "colere" (to cultivate).

Cultivated Plants

Plants resulting from human achievement and discovery through introduction, breeding, selection, and multiplication to supply food, fiber, and shelter needs.

Modern Agriculture

Agricultural practices based on using fertilizers to augment soil fertility, pesticides to control pests, and plant breeding to develop high-yielding crop varieties.

Economic Yield

The portion of an agricultural yield directly related to human needs, such as grains in cereals and fleshy or tuber roots in root crops.

Biological Yield

The total dry matter produced by a crop, including the economic yield and non-utilized structures such as straw, hulls, roots, herbage, and stover.

Harvest Index

The numerical ratio of economic yield to biological yield: $\text{Harvest Index} = \frac{\text{Economic yield}}{\text{Biological yield}} = \frac{\text{Grain yield}}{\text{Grain yield} + \text{Straw yield, etc.}}$

Peak Oil

The point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which production rate enters terminal decline.

Siltation

An environmental issue resulting in the clogging of bodies of water with accumulated silt deposits.

Sensitivity to Heat Stress in Rice

The varying degrees of susceptibility to heat stress across rice developmental stages, where leaf, tiller, and root development show low sensitivity; panicle development shows high sensitivity; pollination shows peak high sensitivity; and grain filling shows medium sensitivity.