Crop Production and Management

Crop Production and Management

Terminologies

  • Sustainable Agriculture, Horticulture, Aquaculture, Olericulture, Fumigation, Macro-nutrient, Micro-nutrient, Organic Farming, Vermicomposting, Biofertilizer, Fertigation, Animal husbandry.

Introduction

  • All living organisms require food.
  • Food is essential for growth, development, body repair, disease protection, and energy.
  • Green plants are autotrophs, making their own food through photosynthesis, which converts carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) into carbohydrates using sunlight.
  • Animals and humans are heterotrophs, dependent on plants and animals for food.
  • Different plant parts (root, stem, leaf, etc.) are consumed as cereals, vegetables, spices, and fruits.

Agriculture

  • Agriculture is derived from Latin words "Ager" (land or field) and "Cultura" (cultivation), meaning cultivation of land for producing crops and livestock for economic purposes.
  • Branches of agriculture include:
    • Agronomy: Deals with field crop production and soil management.
    • Horticulture: Deals with fruit and flowering plant growth and management.
    • Olericulture: Refers to growing and managing vegetables.
    • Aquaculture: The farming and harvesting of plants and animals in water bodies for economical purposes.

Source of Food

  • Crops are plants cultivated for food, fodder, fiber, flowers, timber, etc. About 2000 species are cultivated for eating.
  • Edible plant parts include:
    • Seeds: Cereals, pulses, oil seeds, and nuts (dry fruits).
      • Cereals: Rich in carbohydrates (e.g., wheat, rice, maize, barley, sorghum).
      • Pulses: Excellent sources of proteins (e.g., chickpea, pea, black gram, green gram, lentil).
      • Oil seeds: Source of oils, fats, and fatty acids (e.g., cottonseed, niger, sunflower, soybean, flax, rapeseed, groundnut, sesame, mustard, olive).
      • Nuts/Dry fruits: Rich in proteins and fatty acids (e.g., almond, walnut, cashew nut).
    • Fruits: Ripened ovaries, a good source of vitamins, minerals, roughage, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats (e.g., apple, orange, mango, banana, pineapple, pomegranate, pear, peach, apricot, grapes, dates).
    • Vegetables: Edible parts of herbaceous plants, consumed raw or cooked.
      • Roots: Carrot, radish, turnip, sweet potato, beet root.
      • Stems: Mustard, bamboo, banana, asparagus; modified stems like potato, onion, garlic, ginger; sugarcane for cane juice and jaggery.
      • Leafy vegetables: Spinach, lettuce, cabbage, turnip, radish, mustard, methi, bathua, curry leaf.
      • Inflorescence vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower; flowers of banana, fennel, gourd, and saffron.
      • Fruit vegetables: Tomato, pumpkin, brinjal, jack fruit, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, ridged gourd, cluster bean, cucumber, lady's finger.
    • Spices: Enhance food palatability (e.g., chilly, turmeric, black pepper, cumin, fenugreek).
    • Fodder crops: Provide green fodder to cattle (e.g., berseem, oat, sudan grass, sorghum).
    • Other crops: yield fibers (e.g., cotton), tobacco, tea, coffee, chocolate, peppermint, etc.

Improvement in Food Resources

  • Protects and renews soil fertility and the natural resource base.
  • Optimizes the management and use of farm resources.
  • Reduces the use of non-renewable resources and purchased production inputs.
  • Provides an adequate and dependable form of income.
  • Promotes opportunity in family farming and farm communities.

Basic Crop Practicing

  • A crop is a large-scale cultivation of the same kind of plants at one place.
  • Climatic conditions (temperature, humidity, rainfall) vary across India, influencing crop seasons. Photoperiods, the duration of sunlight, also affect plant growth.
  • India has three main crop seasons: Kharif, Rabi, and Zayad.
    • Kharif crops (rainy season): Grown during the monsoon, require warm and wet weather, sown in June/July, harvested in September/October (e.g., rice, jowar, bajra, cotton, groundnut, urad, moong).
    • Rabi crops (winter season): Grown during winter, require cold and dry weather, sown in October/November, harvested in March/April (e.g., wheat, barley, gram, mustard, potato).
    • Zayad crops (summer season): Grown mainly in summer, require warm dry weather, sown in March, harvested in June (e.g., seasonal fruits and vegetables).

Crop Production Management

  • Involves controlling crop production aspects to maximize yield, consisting of:
    • Agricultural practices.
    • Nutrient management.
    • Cropping pattern.

Basic Practices of Crop Production

  • Involve activities undertaken by farmers over time:
    • Preparation of soil.
    • Sowing.
    • Adding manure & fertilizers.
    • Irrigation.
    • Harvesting.
    • Storage.
Preparation of Soil
  • Involves turning and loosening the soil to allow root penetration.
    • Ploughing or Tilling: Loosening and turning the soil using a plough made of wood or iron, loosening the soil aerates the soil.
    • Levelling: Breaking and leveling soil crumbs using a leveler (wooden or iron) to smoothen the soil surface, which facilitates sowing and irrigation.
Agricultural Implements
  • Tools used in cultivation, manually or with animals/machines. Examples:
    • Khurpa: For weeding.
    • Spade: For digging and bunds formation.
    • Seed drill: For sowing.
    • Harrow: For weeding.
    • Wooden plough: For tillage.
    • Soil plank: For breaking crumbs.
    • Sickle: For harvesting.
    • Combines: For harvesting and threshing.
    • Sprayers: For spraying insecticides.
Maintenance and Care of Agricultural Implements
  • Sharpening plough tips regularly.
  • Storing tools indoors during rain.
  • Cleaning rust from iron tools.
  • Servicing tractors and combines.
  • Washing sprayers before and after use.
Sowing
  • Planting seeds in soil. Good quality seeds are selected based on weight and freedom from insects/pests.
  • Methods: Broadcasting (manual, random sowing) and seed drill (uniform sowing at proper distances and depths).
  • Precautions: Proper spacing, fungicide treatment, and correct depth.
  • Transplantation: Transferring seedlings from nurseries to the main field (e.g., paddy).
Nutrient Management
  • Supplying nutrients (from air, water, and soil) for plant growth.
  • Essential nutrients: 16 elements necessary for plant growth.
    • Carbon (C) and Oxygen (O) from air.
    • Hydrogen (H) from water.
    • Remaining 13 minerals from soil (Macro and micronutrients).
  • Macronutrients: Needed in larger quantities (more than 1 ppm) which includes Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca) Magnesium (Mg), Sulphur (S).
  • Micronutrients: Needed in smaller quantities (less than 1 ppm) which includes Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Boron (B), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Molybdenum (Mo), Chlorine (Cl).
  • Mineral Replenishment: Adding manures and fertilizers to replenish minerals in soil.

Manures and Fertilizers

  • Manures: Natural fertilizers from decomposed animal excreta and plant waste (e.g., farmyard manure, compost, green manures, vermicompost).
  • Advantages:
    • Costs less.
    • Increases organic matter.
    • Reduces soil erosion.
    • Enhances water holding capacity.
    • Increases friendly microbes.
    • Makes soil porous.
    • Improves soil texture.
  • Disadvantages:
    • Bulky and not easy to absorb.
    • Low nutrient content
  • Fertilizers: Commercially manufactured plant nutrients, mainly Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (NPK).
  • Advantages:
    • Nutrient-specific.
    • Required in small quantities.
    • Water-soluble.
  • Disadvantages:
    • Cause water pollution.
    • Change soil composition.
    • Cause eutrophication.
  • Types: Nitrogenous (high nitrogen), phosphatic (high phosphate), potassium (high potassium), complex (at least two nutrients).
  • Biofertilizers: Organisms that enrich soil with nutrients (e.g., nitrogen-fixing microorganisms like Rhizobium cultures and blue-green algae).
Irrigation
  • Supplying water to crop plants via canals, reservoirs, wells, etc.
  • Purpose: Provides hydrogen and oxygen, aids seed germination and root elongation, facilitates nutrient absorption.
  • Excessive irrigation causes water logging & increases surface salinity. Plant roots do not get proper aeration.
  • Water resources in India include river basins and groundwater. Many areas depend on rainfall for crop production.
  • Water requirements depend on crop type (e.g., paddy vs. wheat) and soil type (e.g., sandy vs. clay).
  • Judicious water use: Proper crop selection, timing, and weed control.
Irrigation Systems
  • Traditional methods: Lift water from wells, lakes, and canals using human/animal labor (e.g., moat, chain pump, Dekhli, Rahat). Cheaper but less efficient.
  • Modern methods: Economical water use.
    • Sprinkler irrigation system: Uses rotating nozzles to sprinkle water uniformly.
    • Drip-irrigation system: Delivers water drop by drop near roots, minimizing wastage.
Harvesting
  • Cutting crops after maturation manually (sickle) or mechanically (harvester).
  • Threshing: Separating grain seeds from chaff using a 'combine'.
Crop Protection Management
  • Weed Control: Removing unwanted plants (weeds) which compete with crops. Methods include:
    * Manual
    * Cultural
    * Chemical herbicides (e.g., 2,4-D, Atrazine, Fluchloralin, Isoproturon).
    * Biological: Using insects/organisms to destroy weeds (e.g., cochineal insects for prickly-pear cactus).

Storage of Grain

  • Prevent spoilage and wastage due to:
    * Biotic factors: Insects, rodents, birds, mites.
    * Abiotic factors: Temperature, moisture, humidity.
  • Preventive Measures:
    * Drying before storage.
    * Maintenance of hygiene.
    * Plant product treatment.
    * Prophylactic treatment.
    * Improved storage structures.
    * Fumigation.

Cropping Pattern

  • Models that maximize benefit from land, reduce risk of crop failure, disease infestation.
    * Mixed Cropping: Mixing seeds of two or more crops before sowing with random sowing.
    * Intercropping: Growing two or more crops simultaneously in definite row patterns in same field.
    * Crop Rotation: Growing different crops in succession to avoid nutrient depletion and disease buildup.
    *One year rotation includes: Maize - Mustard.
    *Two year rotation includes: Rice - Wheat
    *Three year rotation includes: Maize - Mustard - Sugarcane-Fenugreek (Methi).

Crop Variety Improvement

*Hybridization: Crossing genetically different plants to produce hybrids. Types:
* Intervarietal: different varieties.
* Interspecific: different species of same genus.
* Intergeneric: different genera.

Differential Agriculture Practice

Organic Farming

  • Raising crops without chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Recycling organic wastes, using biofertilizers (nitrogen-fixing bacteria/algae) and biopesticides (e.g., neem leaves).
  • Advantages:
    • Reduces pollution.
    • Recycles farm wastes.
    • Foods are free from pesticides.
    • Maintains soil health.
    • Controls pests and weeds.

Sustainable Agriculture:

  • Maximizing agricultural yield without endangering future resources. Promotes conserving natural resources, maintaining environmental balance, and meeting human needs.
  • Integrated agriculture: Combining agriculture with pisciculture, aquaculture, apiculture, sericulture, poultry farming, piggery, etc.

Animal Husbandry

  • Managing and breeding domestic animals (cattle, buffalo, yak, etc.) for farm purposes.
  • Father of green revolution M.S. Swaminathan

Microorganisms Friend & Foe

Terminologies

  • Microbiology, Virus, Bacteria, Bacteriophage, Algae, Fungi, Protozoa, Nitrogen cycle, Antibiotics, Vaccination, Food Preservation, pasteurization, Mesosome, Nucleoid.

Introduction

  • Microorganisms are organisms too small to be seen with the naked eye, studied under a microscope. The study of microorganisms is called microbiology.
    *Microorganisms include algae, fungi protozoans and viruses.

Microbes and their Study

  • History:
    • 1677: Anton Van Leeuwenhoek first saw microbes with a simple microscope.
    • Robert Hooke: Observed cork cells.
    • Louis Pasteur: Proved fermentation is a biochemical process.
    • Robert Koch: Discovered Bacillus anthracis for anthrax.
    • Alexander Flemming: Discovered penicillin from Penicillium notatum fungus.
    • Edward Jenner: Discovered smallpox vaccine.

Common Features of Microbes

  • Reproduce independently or require hosts.
  • Tough and survive in extreme conditions by forming hard shells.
  • Vary in size from a few microns to centimeters.
  • Reproduce asexually and sexually.

Habitat of Micro-organisms

  • Found everywhere (air, soil, water, hot springs, snow, food, sewage).
  • Able to bear extremes of temperature and other conditions.
    • Parasites depend on other organisms (e.g., Plasmodium).
    • Symbionts benefit mutually with associated organisms.
    • Saprophytes grow on dead decay matter.

Major Groups of Microorganisms

Virus

  • Small particles composed of protein and nucleic acid.
  • Discovered by Ivanovsky (1892) for tobacco mosaic disease; bacteriophages by Twort (1915) and D'Herelle (1917).
  • Too small to be seen by light microscope; observed with electron microscope.
  • Cannot reproduce by themselves; reproduce inside host cells by using the host's energy.
  • Show both living and non-living characters:
    * Non-living: Absent cell wall, organelles, cytoplasm; cannot grow or metabolize food freely;
    * Living: Can mutate, contain DNA or RNA, respond to heat, chemicals, and radiation, transmit from diseased to healthy host reproducing copies of themselves
  • Viral diseases: Viruses reproduce only inside the cells of the host organism which may be a plant, an animal or even a bacterium.

Bacteria

  • Single-celled organisms with cell walls.
    • Size Visible under the light microscope.
      • Shape: Various shapes
    • Cocci (spherical)
    • Bacilli (rod-shaped)
    • SpirillaComa (,) shaped.
  • Blue green algae are known as Cyanobacteria.

Structure

  • Minute, microscopic, unicellular simple microorganisms without any definitive nucleus. They consist of:
    • Capsule.
    • Cell wall.
    • Plasma membrane.
    • Cytoplasm contains 70s ribosomes, an internal membrane system, storage granules