Professional Documents
Culture Documents
• Pulses- Gram, Pea, Black gram, green gram, pigeon pea, lentils(provide
proteins)
Crops grown in Rainy season (June to October) are called Kharif Crops.
eg. Paddy, Soyabean, pigeon pea, Maize, cotton, green
gram, black gram.
Crops grown in winter season (November to April ) are called Rabi Crops.
e.g. Wheat, gram, peas, mustard, linseed
Questions
Hybridisation:-
It is a natural or artificial process that results in the formation of a hybrid. Two
genetically dissimilar* plants are taken. These plants have a set of desirable
characters. These plants have a set of desirable characters. These plants are cross-
bred (means pollen of one plant used to fertilize ovule of another plant.
The resultant plant i.e. the hybrid may have favourable characters from both parent
plants.
*Genetically dissimilar plants are those that do not have the same genes. For eg. A variety of wheat
that is growing in the wild and is low yielding and disease resistant will be genetically dissimilar to a
variety of wheat that is being grown in the field and is high yielding but not resistant to diseases.
Crossing may be
Making GMO’s
GMO is a genetically modified crop (organism) A gene for a desirable
character is introduced in a plant using scientific technique. The resultant
plant is a GMO.
Q. When new varieties of crops are made by scientists, the main features
kept in mind are:
a)Crop should give high yield in different climatic conditions.
b) The seeds provided should be of the same variety and should germinate
under same conditions.
• Type of nutrient:
Macronutrients (6) – required in large quantities (C, H, O, N, P, K, Ca, Mg,
S)
Micronutrients (7) – required in less quantities (Fe, Mn, B, Zn, Cu, Mo, Cl)
The acronym C. HOPKiN'S CaFe Mg (to be used as C. Hopkins coffee mug) is used by some
students to remember the list as: Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Potassium (K),
Nitrogen, Sulphur, Calcium, Iron (Fe), and Magnesium (Mg). (Please note that iron is a micro
nutrient)
Silicon, chloride, sodium, copper, zinc, and molybdenum are considered micronutrients.
Manures Fertilizers
1. Not nutrient specific-Supply 1. Nutrient Specific: Supply specific
nutrients to soil (specific amount nutrients in specific quantities.
of nutrients or type of nutrient is
difficult to determine)
2. Bulky and voluminous, therefore 2. Compact, use less space, so easy to
difficult to store. store
3. Manures increase organic matter 3. Fertilizers have no such effects on soil
content of soil and improve soil texture and water holding capacity of
texture and water holding capacity soil
of soil
4. Manures are prepared in open spaces/ 4. Fertilizers are usually prepared in
fields industries.
5. Preparing Manures is a good 5. No such advantage in preparing
method of recycling farm waste fertilizers
6. Excessive use of manures is usually 6. Excessive use of fertilizers cause soil
not harmful to the plants. and water pollution especially in the
near-by water bodies.
I t may also increase soil salinity.
7. Manures do not affect the soil 7. Fertilizers are harmful for the useful
organisms like earthworm. soil organisms like earthworm.
8. Usually, manures are cheaper than 8. Usually, fertilizers are more expensive
fertilizers than manures.
Based on the kind of biological material used, manures can be classified as-
• Compost
• Vermicompost
• Green manure
Compost is a finely divided, loose material consisting of decomposed organic matter. It is
primarily used as a plant nutrient and soil conditioner to stimulate crop growth.
Vermicompost: The method of composting becomes faster by using certain species of
earthworms.
Organic Farming: Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on crop rotation,
green manure, compost, biological pest control, and mechanical cultivation to maintain soil
productivity and control pests, excluding or strictly limiting the use of synthetic fertilizers
and synthetic pesticides and plant growth regulators.
Advantages of Organic Farming: Most organic farms use fewer pesticides than most
conventional farms.The farm waste is effectively recycled and crops are grown in a manner
that is environment Friendly.
Green Manure: green manure is a type of cover crop grown primarily to add nutrients and
organic matter to the soil. Typically, a green manure crop is grown for a specific period, and
then plowed under and incorporated into the soil. Green manures usually perform multiple
functions, that include soil improvement and soil protection:
• Leguminous green manures contain nitrogen-fixing symbiotic bacteria in root nodules
that fix atmospheric nitrogen in a form that plants can use.
• Green manures increase the percentage of organic matter (biomass) in the soil,
thereby improving water retention, aeration, and other soil characteristics.
IRRIGATION:
Irrigation is application of water to the soil usually for assisting in growing crops.
Agriculture that relies only on direct rainfall is referred to as rain-fed farming. Ensuring that
crops get water at the right stages during their life cycle can improve crop production.
Various types of irrigation systems are adopted to supply water to the fields depending upon
the type of water resources. These water resources are:
WELLS: A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground ––by digging,
driving, boring or drilling to access water in underground aquifers .Wells help to tap ground
water. There are two types of wells: Dug wells and tube wells.
Dug wells tap water from water bearing strata in lower levels of soil.
Tube wells, however, tap water from deeper strata. Water from these lower layers is lifted by
pumps to the surface for irrigation.
CANALS: are a network of channels that connect the field to a water body/ water source
that may be a river, a water reservoir or a dam.
River Lift Systems: this is required in areas where canal flow is insufficient. Water is
directly drawn from the rivers to irrigate the fields in close vicinity.
Tanks: Tanks are small water reservoirs that store run-off from small catchment areas.(A
catchment area acts like a funnel, collecting all the water within the area covered by the
basin and channeling it into a waterway.)
Fresh initiatives to improve irrigation facilities:
CROPPING PATTERNS:
Row- type intercropping cropping involves the component crops arranged in alternate rows.
This may also be called alley cropping. A variation of row cropping is strip cropping, where
multiple rows (or a strip) of one crop are alternated with multiple rows of another crop.
Intercropping also uses the practice of sowing a fast growing crop with a slow growing crop,
so that the fast growing crop is harvested before the slow growing crop starts to mature.
Besides the advantages mentioned for mixed cropping, Intercropping has the following
additional advantages:
Application of pesticides and fertilizers is more convenient due to well defined patterns of
crops. Harvesting of crops is also easier.
• Crop Rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the
same area in sequential seasons for various benefits such as to avoid the build up of
pathogens and pests that often occurs when one species is continuously cropped.
Crop rotation also seeks to balance the fertility demands of various crops to avoid
excessive depletion of soil nutrients. A traditional component of crop rotation is the
replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals
and other crops. Crop rotation can also improve soil structure and fertility by
alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants.
Advantages:
Crop rotation avoids a decrease in soil fertility, as growing the same crop repeatedly in the
same place eventually depletes the soil of various nutrients. A crop that leaches the soil of
one kind of nutrient is followed during the next growing season by a dissimilar crop that
returns that nutrient to the soil or draws a different ratio of nutrients, for example, rices
followed by cottons. By crop rotation farmers can keep their fields under continuous
production, without the need to let them lay fallow, and reducing the need for artificial
fertilizers, both of which can be expensive. Rotating crops adds nutrients to the soil.
Key:
Crop
-1
Crop-2