BIOLOGY IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD RESOURCES

Crop Improvement

 Plants and animals are major food sources for us. We obtain food from agriculture and animal
husbandry.

 Keeping in mind the population of India, it is necessary to increase India’s production efficiency for
crops and livestock (Livestock: Animals domesticated to obtain food and other valuable products).

 Efforts to increase efficiency have been successful to some extent by the green and white
revolutions (Green Revolution: Production of hybrid varieties of crops; White Revolution: More milk
yield from livestock).

 This may lead to increased use of natural resources and cause damage to them. Therefore, it is
necessary to practise sustainable management.

 Sustainable management can be defined as the adoption of various farming and production
management techniques to maximise yield in agriculture and animal husbandry.

 Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating soil, producing crops, rearing animals for food and
useful products.

Improvement in Crop Yields

 Plants which are grown by man on a large scale to obtain food, clothing and other useful products
are called crops.

Crops Nutrients we get from crops

Cereals (wheat, maize, millet, sorghum) Carbohydrates
Pulses (gram, pea, black gram, green gram, Proteins
pigeon pea, lentil)
Oil seeds (ground nut, soya bean, mustard, Fats
sesame castor, sunflower, linseed)
Vegetables and fruits Vitamins and minerals

 The requirements of climatic conditions, temperature and photoperiods for growth and completion
of the life cycle vary from crop to crop.

 Based on the season of cultivation, crops are divided into two categories:

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Kharif Crops Rabi Crops

•They are grown in monsoon (June)
and cultivated in autumn (October).
•Grown in hot and wet conditions.
•Examples: Rice, maize, tobacco,
potato, onion, soyabean, millets
(jowar and bajra), sugarcane, cotton,
groundnut, pulses, pigeon pea
•They are grown in November and
are harvested in April.
•Grown in cold and nearly dry
conditions.
•Examples: Wheat, mustard, peas,
barley, gram, linseed

Crop Variety
Improvement

Ways to Improve Crop

Yield

Crop Crop
Protection Production
Management Management

Crop Variety Improvement

 It is the technique or the skill of selection of the best varieties of crops for various desirable characters
and incorporating those characters into the crops of the next generation.

 It involves the selection of varieties of crops with useful characteristics such as

 Disease resistance
 Product quality
 High yield
 Response to fertilisers

1. Hybridisation
 It is the technique of crossing between two genetically dissimilar plants to produce a plant of a new
variety. The variety produced by using this technique is called a hybrid.

 Two ways of cross-breeding during hybridisation are

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 BIOLOGY IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD RESOURCES

Inter-varietal cross-breeding •A cross between two different varities of crops

•A cross between two different species of the

Inter-specific cross-breeding
same genus

 The new varieties of crops obtained by hybridisation are called high-yielding varieties or HYV
seeds.
 Production of HYV seeds has led to an increase in agricultural production, considerably reduced
food shortage and generated more income in the agriculture sector. This is known as the Green
Revolution.

 Examples of hybrid varieties are

Wheat Hira-moti, Kalyan sona, Sonora-64

Rice Padma, Jaya, IR-8, Pusa-205, Basmati
Maize Ganga 5, HIM128, Shakti, Navjot, Vikram
Gram BE 244, ICC 34, K 850, H 208, Pusa 240, Pant 114

2. Genetically Modified Crops

 A gene responsible for desirable characters is transferred from one crop variety to another crop
variety. The crop into which the gene is introduced to obtain the desired result is called genetically
modified crop (GMO) or transgenic plants.
 Example: BT cotton is a genetically modified crop.
BT stands for Bacillus thuringiensis.
The genes of Bacillus thuringiensis which provide resistance against insects are introduced in
crops to make them resistant.
 Other genetically modified crops obtained by using the genes of Bacillus thuringiensis are rice,
tomato, maize, potato, brinjal, cauliflower and cabbage.

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Need for Higher Crop Yield

1. Higher Yield  Improves the commercial production of crops such as grains,

vegetables and fodder.
2. Improved  Improvement in quality of crops. Quality consideration varies
Quality from crop to crop.
 Examples: Baking quality in wheat, protein quality in pulses,
oil quality in oil seeds, preserving the quality of fruits and
vegetables
3. Biotic and  Crops experience biotic and abiotic stresses.
Abiotic  Biotic stresses are disease, pests, nematodes.

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 BIOLOGY IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD RESOURCES

Resistance  Abiotic stresses are drought, floods, heat, cold, frosts,

salinity.
 Crop varieties resistant to such stresses can be developed.
 Example: MUW 318 is HYV of wheat which is resistant to
disease rust.
4. Change in  The shorter the duration of crop from sowing to harvesting,
Maturity the more economical will be the variety of the crop.
Duration  Short duration makes possible multiple rounds of crop
production in a year.
 It also reduces the cost of crop production.
 Uniform maturity is another factor which avoids any loss
during harvesting and it makes harvesting easy.
5. Wider  Development of wider adaptability in crops ensures more
Adaptability sustenance under various environmental conditions.
 This helps to grow one variety under different conditions.
6. Desirable  Developing crops with desired agronomic characters gives
Agronomic higher productivity.
Characteristics  Examples: Tallness and profuse branching in fodder crops,
dwarfness in cereals so that less nutrients are consumed by
these crops.

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