Classification of crops

Classifications of crop

life
* On the basis economic use -

9) Cereals Ceres-godess
·
Cultived for edible
grasses grown starchy grain
· 70 % of Starch

·
high sources of Carbohydrate ,

· economic Grain
portion :

1) Major
:
grown in
large area
.

b) Millet
2) Minor : in small area
grown .

small cereals
grain
·
.

· Staple food in drier

regoing
economic Grain
·
portion :

C) Pulses :

seed of food
·
leguminous crop used as .
· Economic portion = Pod + Grain

d) Oilseed Crop

Those crop which rich in

fatty
·
are acid
.

* On the basis of
germination
9) Epigeal =
germination of
·
The
take above
plant place
the
ground.

·
Generally pulses & Dicotseed
have
epigal germination
b) Hypogeal =
The plant of soil.
germination take
place in
·

· Monocot seed Cereals

& crop
* Based on Season

9 Kharif crop :
·
I
nown
during June-July to September ·

October
short
They day plant
are

.e.g. Paddy, Maize, Soybean, Sorghum,

Groundnut, Cotton, Urd etc
* Photoperiodism = The Respons of Plant to

b]
↑

Rabi Crop= flowering

the

·
October-November * Short Plant : The which
grown during Day cros

<12 ho for their

required
to
January-Feb Sunlight

longWheat, flowering
i
·
Plant
Day
Chickpea, Pea, Sunflower,
Safflower, Mustard etc. *
long Day Plant- 12 h for
flowering

7) Summer Crop/Zaid Crop :

growing during February March to May June

*
- to

longday Plant
B

~j
e.g. Paddy, Groundnut, Moong, Sunflower, Maize etc.
 Classification According to Special Purpose

1. Arable crops: Crops which are cultivated on ploughed land. They are annual
crops and include cereals, root crops, tobacco, sugarcane, maize and potatoes.

2 . Aromatic crops: The crop/plants contain odoriferous and volatile substances,

which occur as essential oils, gum exudates, balsam and oleoresin in one or more
part of plant,viz. wood, bark, foliage, flower and fruit are called Aromatic plants.

3.Alley Crops: Alley crops orhedge-row intercrops is grown under an agroforestry

practice in which perennial, preferably leguminous trees or shrubs are grown
simultaneously with arable crop. The trees, managed as hedgerows, are grown in
wide rows and the crop is planted in the interspace or ‘alley’ between the tree rows.
e.g. Sweet potato, Black gram, Turmeric & Ginger are grown in the passages
formed by the rows of Eucalyptus, Subabul and Cassia etc.

4. Augment Crops: S uch crops are grown to supplement the yield of the main crops.
e.g. Japanese mustard with berseem.

5. Avenue Crops: S uch crops are grown along farm roads and fences e.g. P igeon
pea, Glyricidia sisal etc.

6 . Border/Guard Crops: Such crops protect another crops from trespassing of

animals or restrict the speed of wind and are mainly grown as border e.g. safflower
(thorny oilseed crop) is planted around the field of gram.

7. Cash Crops: A crop, such as tobacco, grown for direct sale rather than for
livestock feed or a crop grown by a farmer primarily for sale to others rather than
for his or her own use e.g. sugarcane, cotton, jute, tobacco etc.

8 . Catch/Contingent Crops: Such crops are cultivated to catch the forthcoming

season when main crop is failed e.g. Linseed, toria, urd, moong, cowpea etc.

9. Contour Crops: Crops are grown on or along the contour line to protect the land
from soil erosion e.g. marvel grass etc.

10. Cover Crops: A close-growing crop grown primarily to improve and protect the
soil from erosion through their ground covering foliage and/or rootmats between
periods of regular crop production e.g. Lobia, groundnut, urd, sweet potato, methi
etc.

11. Complementary Crops: Both main and intercrop is benefited to each other e.g.
Jowar + Lobia.

12. Competitive Crops: Such crops compete to each other and are unsuitable for
13.Exhaustive C.rops: These crops leave the field exhaustive after growinge.g.
Cereals (Rice)

14.Energy Crops: ' An energy crop is a plant grown as a low cost and low
maintenance harvest used to make biofuels, or directly exploited for its energy
content e,g, sugarcane, potato, maize, topioca.

15. Fouling Crops: S uch crops whose culture practices allow the infestation of
weeds intensively e.g. direct seeded upland rice.

16. Ley Crops: Any crop or combination of crops is grown for grazing or
harvesting for immediate or future feeding to livestock e.g. Berseem +
Mustard.

17. Medicinal crops: The crop/plant contain alkaloids, glycosides, steroids or

other groups of compounds of medicinal value, which is used commercially,
such plants are called Medicinal plants.

18. Mulch Crops: Such crops are grown to conserve the soil moisture through
their ground covering foliage e.g. cowpea.

19. Nurse Crops: A crop of trees (nurse trees), shrubs or other plants
introduced to foster or nourishment of another crops by i.e. shading it,
protecting it from frost, insolation or wind. The widest use of nurse crops is in
the establishment of leguminaceous plants such as alfalfa, clovere.g. Sunhemp
in sugarcane, Jowar in cowpea, Rai in pea.

20. Paira/Utera Crops: The seed of succeeding crops like lentil, gram, pea,
lathyrus, berseem, linseed etc. is sown broadcast at 10 to 15 days before
harvesting rice crop. This practice saves time; money (to be spent on land
preparation etc.) utilizes residual fertility. This practice is common in both
upland and lowland rice culture.

21. Paired row Crops: Generally the third row of crop is removed or growing of
crop in pair row and the third row is escaped with an object to conserve the
soil moisture in Dryland areas.

22.Restorative Crops: Restorative crops are crops that help in maintaining the
fertility of the soil, for e.g. pulses and legumes.

23.Silage Crops: Such crops like corn, legumes, and grasses that have been
harvested at early maturity, finely chopped, packed tightly to exclude air, and
stored in tower silos, pits, or trenches for properly fermentation which is used
as animal feed during lean period or offseason e.g. Maize, cowpea, Jowar etc.

24.Smother Crops: Smother crops are specialized cover crops being ability to
suppress weeds by providing dense foliage and quick growing abilitye.g.
buckwheat, mustard, cowpea, urd etc.