IMPORTANT TERMS

Agriculture                   Science that deals with the growth of plants and rearing of animals for food, clothing and other products.

Animal Husbandry        Rearing of animals on a large scale for foods and other needs.

Horticulture                  Art of cultivating fruits, flowers, vegetables and ornamental plants.

Weeds                         Undesirable plants that grow naturally along with the crops.

Weeding                      Process of removing the undesirable plants.

Weedicides                  Substances sprayed in the fields to kill the weeds.

Pest                            Insects and animals that cause damage to the crops.

Pesticides                    Chemicals sprayed on the crops to protect them from insects and pests.

Crop Rotation               Growing two or more dissimilar crops in the same field, one after the other.

Mixed Cultivation          Growing two or more types of crops together on the same piece of land at the same time.

Granary                       A building or store house for storing the grains.

Silos                                      Specially designed large containers for bulk storage of grains.

 

SEASONAL CROPS

Plants of the same kind grown and cultivated at one place in large quantities are known as crops. Crops are classified into Kharif and Rabi crops on the basis of seasons in which they are grown.

• Kharif Crops – Crops that are sown in rainy season are called kharif crops. E.g. Rice, jowar, bajra, jute, peanut, millet, maize etc.

• Rabi crops - Crops that are sown in winter are called rabi crops. E.g. Wheat, gram, peas etc.

 

AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES

For growing crops, farmers perform a series of activities, in a particular sequence. These activities are known as agricultural practices.

SOIL PREPARATION

The first step for growing crops is the preparation of the soil. Preparation includes, ploughing, levelling and applying fertilisers.

Ploughing is the process of loosening and turning up the soil. It is also called tilling.

The ploughed field may contain big lumps of soil called crumbs, which are crushed using planks. This process is called levelling.

Substances that are added to the soil for the healthy growth of plants are called manure and fertilisers.

ADDING MANURES AND FERTILISERS

Manures and fertilisers are added by the farmers to replenish the soil with nutrients and to increase the crop production. They are added to the soil to increase its fertility.

Manures

• Manure is a natural substance obtained from decomposition of dead plants and animal wastes.
• It can be prepared in field.
• Manure provides a lot of humus to the soil.
• Organic manure makes the soil porous because of which exchange of gases becomes easy.
• This process of adding manures to the soil is known as manuring. Compost, bone meal are the examples of natural fertilisers.

 

Chemical Fertiliser

• It is an inorganic substance prepared in factories.
• Chemical fertilisers do not provide any humus to the soil.
• Urea, NPK, Ammonium Sulphate etc. are the examples of chemical fertilisers.

 

SOWING

Sowing is the process of placing seeds in the soil.

Seeds that are selected for growing should be of good quality.

The seeds should be sown at appropriate distance from each other.

Farrow are the long narrow trench made in the ground for sowing seeds or irrigation.

Manual Process - The process of directly sprinkling seeds into the soil is also known as broadcasting.

 

Mechanical Process - A seed drill is used for sowing the seeds evenly.

IRRIGATION

• Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the soil for assisting the growth of crops.
• The fields should be watered carefully as excess water on the field can cause water logging, which may harm the crops by decreasing the amount of air available to the roots.
• The sources of irrigation are rivers, wells, ponds etc.

 

Traditional Methods of Irrigation

• Swing Basket method – In this method, a basket made of bamboo or leather sheet is attached to four ropes. Two people fill the water into the basket from the river and the water is then emptied into an irrigation channel from where it flows to the fields.
• Persian wheel method - Bullocks move in a circle to turn a drum and raise the water. It is a very inefficient method in which lot of water is wasted.
• Pulley system – In this method animals or humans pull the rope attached to a bucket passed over a pulley, to draw water from a well.

 

Modern Methods of Irrigation

• Drip system – It is the most efficient method for irrigation because there is no wastage of water. In this system water falls drop by drop directly at the base of each plant through a network of pipes.

• Sprinkler irrigation – This is a method, in which water is sprayed to mimic natural rainfall. It consists of a pipe, which has rotating nozzles. Water is sprayed into the air through these nozzles so that it breaks up into small water drops, which fall to the ground.

 

HARVESTING                

The process of cutting and gathering of the ripened crops is called harvesting. It can be done manually with a sickle or with the help of a machine called ‘Harvester’. 

THRESHING

After the crops have been harvested, the grains need to be separated from the stalks (the dried stems). The process that is used to separate the grains from the stalks is known as threshing. In this process, the stalks are beaten to remove the grain seeds. It is done either manually, by beating with sticks or with the help of a machine called ‘Thresher’.

WINNOWING

The method used to separate the chaff from the grains by wind or by blowing air is called winnowing. This method is used by farmers to separate lighter husk (Outer covering of a seed) particles from heavier seeds of grain. The direction of the wind plays an important role in this process.

STORAGE OF GRAINS

• After harvesting, crops must be protected from moisture since the presence of moisture can rotten the harvest.
• The grains should be dried properly in the sun and then stored otherwise they may get spoilt or attacked by the insects.
• The grains should be stored at a clean and dry place.
• The grains should be stored in silos or granaries to protect them from pests such as rats, insects etc.

 

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS

• Trowel is an implement used for removing the weeds.
• Plough is used for tilling the soil, adding fertilisers etc. It is made of wood or iron.
• A cultivator is an implement that is used for ploughing. It is driven by a tractor.
• Hoe is a tool that is used for removing weeds and for loosening the soil.
• A sickle is an implement used for manual harvesting.
• Harvester is a machine to harvest crops.
• Thresher is a machine to separate grain from stalk.
• Combine is a machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans a cereal crop in one operation.

 

NITROGEN FIXATION

Nitrogen fixation is the process in which nitrogen present in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia. In plants, it is done by bacteria and blue-green algae. Leguminous plants such as soya bean, pea have the nitrogen fixing bacteria Rhizobium within their root nodules.

 

NITROGEN CYCLE

Nitrogen cycle is a natural cyclic process in which atmospheric nitrogen enters the soil and becomes a part of living organisms, before returning to the atmosphere.

FOOD FROM ANIMALS

Animals also serve as a source of food. Many kind of food items are obtained from animals by different methods. All these methods are part of animal husbandry.    

• Apiculture is the practice of rearing honeybees for honey.
• Poultry farming is raising of domesticated birds such as chicken, geese for the purpose of meat, eggs etc.
• Rearing and management of fishes on a large scale for food is known as Pisciculture.
• Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for production of milk. In a dairy farm, animals such as cows, buffaloes are raised for the production of milk and other dairy products.

 

INTERESTING FACTS

• The earth has more than 80,000 species of edible plants.

• A cash crop is any crop that a farmer sells for money, rather than holding it for use by his own family.

• M.S. Swaminathan is known as the father of the Green Revolution in India.

• Potatoes were the first vegetable grown in space.

• A honeybee has to travel over 55,000 miles and visits approx. 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey.

• The first fertilizer factory was set up by Sir John Lawes in Britain in 1843. He made superphosphate by dissolving bones in acid.