History of

Agriculture
➢early civilizations of the Near
East grew up in the Fertile
Crescent, an area that ran
northwards from the Persian
Gulf then west and south to
the Nile Valley.
➢a Shaduf is used to raise
water for irrigation. A weight
on one end of the pole
balances the water-filled
leather bucket on the other
end.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE
❖Agriculture is an art and science of raising useful plants
and livestock under the management of man.
➢it is an art because raising plants and animals requires
skills and practice to produce beauty and pleasant
arrangements of plant and animals combination to satisfy
man’s aspiration for perfection of his environment.
➢it is a science, because knowledge and skills are learned
through systematic discovery of facts and principles.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE
❖Agriculture - the industry engaged in the production
of plants and animals for food and fiber, the provision
for agricultural supplies and services, and the
processing, marketing and distribution of agricultural
products.
❖The development of agriculture arose from man’s
realization of the difference between him and other
forms of life.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE
❖Hunting or collectional economy- man lived on the
gift of nature, gathering wild plants for their
medicinal, cosmetic, aphrodisiac properties as well as
for their food value.
New Stone Age or Neolithic Age
➢ Discovered the relation of
seed to plant
➢Domestication of plants and
animals
➢Domestication has proved to
be the single most
important intervention man
has ever made in his
enviroment
➢Villages began to grow and
man made the transition
from foo collection to the
deliberate raising of crops.
New Stone Age or Neolithic Age
➢They practice both “seed” agriculture and
“vegeculture”
➢Seed agriculture includes most of the cereals and
grain legumes whose culture require the cleaning of
vast areas and seeds are sown in mass and harvested
at the same time. they consist mostly of plants with a
life cycle of less than a year or one season.
New Stone Age or Neolithic Age
➢Vegeculture refers to vegetatively propagated plants
like taro, sweet potato, yam, banana, arrow root etc.
History of Agriculture
History of agriculture is difficult to trace due to lack of
historian in the ancient era.
➢Theory of evolution and the theory of creation could be
used to explain the beginning of agriculture.
➢The Bible tells us of the creation of Adam and Eve in the
“Garden of Eden”
➢Evolutionists believed that when the last glacier ice melted,
animals and fishes died and thus primitive man had to
migrate to another places i search for food
History of Agriculture
➢In the Bible the melting of the ice could be
considered the “deluged” as punishment of God and
only Noah and his followers were saved after 40 days
of rain.
➢Primitive man was not] an agriculturist but was a
hunter and gatherer of food. When food was
exhausted in one area, he moved to another area.
• perhaps during hunting, he discovered by accident that certain
plants, chiefly, herbaceous annuals such as wheat, rice, barley, rye
and peas dropped near the camp site grew far from their natural
habitat and reproduced as in the wilds
History of Agriculture
• He discovered that some plants possessed seeds and
these seeds could reproduce new plants.
• Those who migrated in Europe discovered some
tubers could reproduce new plants.
• Those in Asia discovered seeds of wheat and rice
could reproduce new plants.
History of Agriculture
This was the beginning of crop domestication and
the birth of Agriculture.
•Credit for the earliest domestication which seems to
have occured in the Middle East; is generally given to
a remarkable race of people called “Cushites”.
•Cushites wh not only experimented with plants as
food source, but also attempted their culture; in
effect these people maybe regarded as the first
agriculturist.
History of Agriculture
➢ The first civilization flourished near the Nile river,
Indus, and Tigris Euphrates as primitive men began to
settle and had division of labor.
➢Evidences of progress and civilization could be seen
by the six wonders of the world such as The Hanging
Garden of Babylon, Pyramid of Egypt, Leaning Tower
of Pizza, The Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of of China and
the Rice Terraces of the Philippines.
History of Agriculture
➢precisely where the first plants were cultivated is
unknown
➢the first production of food by crop cultivated and
actual domestication dates back 7,ooo to 10,000 years
ago
History of Agriculture
➢According to Archeological evidence, Agriculture had its
origin somewhere in the well-watered highlands of Indus,
Tigris Euphrates and Nile rivers
➢early man realized that in a vegetative diet the needed three
major components:
Carbohydrates - for energy
Protein - for muscle development
Supplementaries - to augment different types of
proteins and minerals
History of Agriculture

➢two plant families achieved absolute dominance in

regard to carbohydrate and protein sources
Graminae - carbohydrate source
Leguminoceae - protein source
Center of Origin of Some Important Crops
(According to Vavilov)
1. China- where 136 important species originated,
include the following: millet, buckwheat,
soybeans, a number of legues and many
vegetables.
2. India- Indo Malayan Center including the Philippines
with 117 species especially rice, sugarcane
and a large number of legumes and many
tropical fruits such as mangoes and citrus.
Center of Origin of Some Important Crops
(According to Vavilov)

3. Central Asia with 42 species such as wheat, peas,

lentils, several oil plants and cotton
4. Near East with 83 species including wheat, rye,
grapes, peas, cherry and almond
5. Mediterranean center with 84 species such as St.
John’s bread, beet and many vegetables
6. Ethiopia with 83 species, the most important of
which are barley and wheat
Center of Origin of Some Important Crops
(According to Vavilov)
7. South Mexico and Central America where 49 species
were demonstrated including corn, beans, squash,
chili-pepper, numerous fruits, cacao and cotton
8. South America (Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia) with sub
center in Chile, Brazil and Paraguay where 45
species originated including white potato, cassava,
peanut, pineapple, cashew, beans, cucurbits and
rubber tree.
The Origin and Domestication of Soybean
• Glycine max (scientific name of soybean) a member of
Leguminoceae family and sub-family Papilionoideae
• Beginning its history as a human food, later develop as hay
and forage crop and finally as vegetable oil and protein
source.
• it now occupies a position of pre-eminence as the world’s
largest source of vegetable oil.
• Center of Origin was Asia (China) where wild soybean is
abundant
• from China reach to Korea, Japan, Asia and 1804 in USA.
The Origin and Domestication of SORGHUM
• Sorghum vulgare ranks 4th behind wheat, rice, and
maize
• According to reports cultivated sorghums originated
from Abyssinia (Norteast Africa) and were probably
first domesticated about 3-4,000 B.C. in Africa and
Ethiopia by the Cushites.
• the earliest establishment from the first
domestication appears to have been in India. From
India spread down the trade routes of S.E. Asia
through Malaya and Indonesia to China.
The Origin and Domestication of SORGHUM
• The discovery of natural dwarf mutants among the
earlier populations introduced, established the
sorghum in the Americas as a grain crop.
• The final evolutionary development has occurred in
Texas area during the past 40 years in the
development of temperate type hybrids which are
those now grown extensively in America, South Africa,
Australia, the USSR and much of the Middle Eastern
Countries.
The Origin and Domestication of Corn
• Maize (Zea mays) has the central and southern
portion of the Americas (Mexico through Andean
regions of Latin America) as the center of origin.
• Zea mays is a gramminaceaous grass of the tribe
Maydeae
• Between 5,200-3,400 B.C. the wild maize was
gathered as food in the Tehuacan Valley, perhaps the
first site for plant domestication in the New World.
• By the 15th century A.D. the crop was a primary food
source for many people of the American continent.
The Origin and Domestication of Corn
• Spain and to a lesser extent Portugal became a major
center for distribution in Europe, in Africa, in India and
to Japan and South East Asia.
• Today, maize occupies a position among the world’s
cereal food grains
• the main international research center for maize is
CMMYT (Centro International de Meyoramiente de
Maize y Trigo) in Mexico
The Origin and Domestication of Rice
• Oryza sativa is a semi-aquatic annual grass that grows erect.
• it has been cultivated for several thousand years as the
principal cereal of Southeast Asia
• the major producers are China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh,
Japan and Thailand
• Oryza sativa is thought to have been domesticated in India
more than 4,000 years ago from the wild species of O.
perennis
• the only other cultivated species in the genus is O.
glaberrima, African rice which probably originated around
the swampy headwaters of the Niger river in West Africa
The Origin and Domestication of Rice
• Three sub-species recognized in Oryza sativa; Oryza indica,
Oryza japonica and Oryza javanica.
• Based on the chemical characteristics of the starch and grain
aroma, rice maybe classified as: a) waxy or glutinous
(endosperm contains no amylase, b) common type
(endosperm contains 1/4 amylase and 3/4 amylopectin, and
c) aromatic or scented types.
• They may also be classified as either lowland rice (grown in
continuously irrigated or pond flooded condition) and upland
rice (non-irrigated or irrigated but not pond flooded.)
The Origin and Domestication of Rice
• Another way of classifying rice is based on maturity (the
number of days required to reach 50% heading); 1) very
early maturing cultivars (less than 90 days), 2) early maturing
cultivars (90-105 days); 3) late maturing cultivars (more than
105 days).
The Origin and Domestication of Peanut
• Native to South America. It was introduced into Africa where
along with bananas.
The Origin and Domestication of Coconut
• Cocos nucifera have a center of diversity in Northwest
South America, which has been suggested as in which
coconut was domesticated.
• the current view differs from this and suggests that,
though the wild ancestors may have been South
America, it was dispersed widely before coconuts
were eventually domesticated in Papua New Guinea-
Fiji region of the Pacific
The Origin and Domestication of Coconut
• the means and the routes by which the crop has spread so
widely from its center of origin have been the subject of
controversy for many years.
• it seems likely that it was carried by man as a source of food
in ocean currents and germinated after they were washed
ashore in new locations.
Vegetable Crops
1. Beans, snap or green and Lima beans- probably native to tropical
america. Phaseolus vulgaris is the most widely grown of the 4
cultivated species of Phaseolus. The most important grain legume for
human consumption of the world.
2. Eggplant- also known as eggfruit, aubergine or guinea squash is
probably native to South and Eastern Asia, but was also grown in China
for many centuries. It is thought to have been domesticated in India
where wild plants now grow, but it has spread throughout the warm
tropics.
Vegetable Crops
3. Muskmelon (reticulata group)- is believed to have originated in Asia,
particularly in Iran and India.
4. Okra- also called gumbo, gombo, gobo or Lady’s finger is either Asian
or African in origin.
5. Tomatoes- native to tropical Central and South America where it was
cultivated in pre Columbian times. Its wild progenitor is thought to
have been the Cherry tomato which now grows in the wild in Peru-
Ecuador area though tomatoes were probably domesticated from
weedy forms which had spread as far as Mexico.
• Asparagus- thought to be native to Southern Russia, has been found
growing wild in Europe, England, Poland and around the
Mediterranean Sea.
• Onion- an ancient crop thought to have been domesticated in Central
Asia, though its wild ancestor is unknown, nor do onions occur as wild
plants.
Cultivated Tropical Fruits
• Bananas- appear to have originated in Southeast Asia, spreading to
India, Africa and finally to tropical America.
• Citrus- original home of the genus Citrus is not known with certainty,
but the history of the cultivated species suggests that they may have
been domesticated in the drier tropics of South-east Asia. Though the
crop is of tropical origin, it is now cultivated more extensively in the
sub-tropics.
• Mango- originated in the India-Bangladesh-Burma region, and had
spread into cultivation and common use in the Indian sub-continent
by 2,000 B.C.
• Pineapple- native to tropical regions of South America and was grown
in the New World
• Papaya- probably originated in Central America, perhaps as a natural
hybrid between other species.
Origin of Some Cutflowers
• Chrysanthemum- native to China and was brought to Europe sometime in
1789 by Captain M. Blanchard of Marseilles.
• Carnation- indigenous to the Mediterranean area. Cultivated by man for
over 2,000 years. Man’s improvement of the native Dianthus (Greek word
which means Divine flower) began in the 16th century. The perpetual
flowering race which gave rise to the American types developed in France
in 1840.
• Rose- native to the Northern temperate zone. The earliest recd of a rose is
thought to be of a Damascene rose, a natural hybrid between Rosa gallica
and Rosa phoenicea, found in frescoes at Knossos, a ruined ciy on the
island of Crete and at one time capital of the Minoan civilizaion., about
3,000-1100 B.C.
• Depending upon the taxonomic system followed, the hybrid tea rose
of today traces its ancestry back to Rosa gigantea and Rosa chinensis,
which were interbreed in China before 1800 to produce Tea China or
China roses. All present hybrids are designated as Rosa hybrida.
• Gladiolus- gladiolus species were recognized over 2,000 years growing
in the field of Asia Minor and were called “