Improvement of food resources II part
Crop Production Management/ Crop Production
Improvement
The following three criteria’s are necessary to take up different farming
practices.
a) Purchasing power of farmers.
b) Availability of land.
c) Access to information.
These decide whether the farming practices should be no cost, low cost or high
cost. Success of farming depends on three factors
A) NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT
B) IRRIGATION
C) CROPPING PATTERN.
A: Nutrient Management
 Plants need certain elements for their growth. These elements are called
nutrients.
 Nutrients are supplied to plants by air, water and soil.
 There are 16 nutrients which are essential for growth and development
of plants.
 Air supplies carbon and oxygen.
 Hydrogen from water and other 13 nutrients are from soil.
 Six are required in large quantities are called macronutrients.
 The other seven are used by plants in small quantities so micronutrients.
 Macronutrients: Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium,
Sulphur.
 Micronutrients: iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum,
chlorine.
 Availability of nutrients depends upon the type of soil.
 If nutrients are not present in soil in sufficient amount. It limits the plant
growth and cause deficiency disease.
 Deficiency of these nutrients affects the physiological process in plants
including growth, reproduction and susceptibility to diseases. So to
increase crop yield the soil can be enriched by supplying these nutrients
in the form of manure and fertilizers.
Manure
Manures are organic substances obtained by the decomposition of animal
wastes and plant residues by microbes.
 They are used to enrich land.
 They supply large quantities of organic matter to the soil.
Application of manures
1) Enrich soil with nutrients and increase soil fertility.
2) Maintain optimum conditions for the activities of soil microbes.
3) Improving soil structure by increasing water holding and aeration in
sandy soil.
4) It makes use of biological waste materials. Thus it protects our
environment.
5) Avoids water logging in clayey soil.
Limitations of manures
1) They are bulky materials.
2) Not easy to store and transport.
3) Provide more organic matter and less amount of nutrients.
Based on biological waste material used, manures can be classified in to
three types
a) Compost
b) Vermicompost
c) Green manure.
Compost it is a kind of manure which is prepared by degrading the dung of
farm animals and other organic debris in specially designed pits for the desired
period of time. Here decomposition with the help of microorganism. The
product obtained after composting is called compost. It takes 3-6 months.
Green manure: it is a kind of manure which is prepared in the field itself to
enrich the soil in nitrogen and phosphorus. Green plants (sun hemp, cowpea,
sweet cloves, berseem etc. ) are mulched by ploughing and then left in the
field to decompose by the activity of natural decomposers such as bacteria
and fungi.
Vermicompost: it is a kind of manure rich in organic matter and nutrients,
which is derived from organic wastes of plant and animal origin by the
activity of earthworms. It promotes soil aeration.
Fertilizers
These are commercially produced synthetic chemical substances added to the
soil to overcome the deficiency if mineral nutrient and to maintain the fertility
of soil.
Advantages
1) They are used to ensure good vegetation growth.
2) They are one of the factors in the higher yield high cost farming.
3) They are nutrient specific.
4) They are soluble in water so they are readily absorbed by the plants.
5) They have smaller bulk.
Disadvantages
1) Increases the acidity or alkalinity of the soil.
2) Eutrophication.
3) Destroys the soil fertility.
Organic farming
 It is a type of farming system in which the harmful chemicals are either
not used or used only in minimum amount.
 To overcome the losses of the ecological balance the hazards of pollution,
disease and hunger, it is the right time to shift our chemical based
agriculture into organic farming.
 This can be achieved by
1) Maximum use of organic manures
2) Culture of blue-green algae in the preparation of bio fertilizers.
3) Use of neem leaves, tobacco, tulsi, turmeric as biopesticides.
B )Irrigation
 Water is a treasure indispensable to all living organisms. It is a basic
component for all types of agriculture.
 In India, most of the agriculture is rain fed. ie. the productivity of crops in
many areas is largely dependent on the timely monsoon and sufficient
rainfall spread through most of the growing season. The artificial supply
of water to the crops by means of well, tube well, canal, tank, etc. is
called irrigation.
 Natural source of water= rain.
 Artificial source of water
a) Well
b)
i)
Dug well ( water is collected directly from water bearing strata)
ii)
Tube well (water is collected from deeper strata)
Canal: very extensive irrigation system in our country. The canals
receive water from one or more reservoirs or from rivers. The main
canal is divided into branch canals having further distributions.
c) River lift system: in this system water is directly collected
from rivers for supplementing irrigation in areas close to rivers.
d) Tank or small reservoirs: small storage reservoirs which
store the runoff of smaller catchment areas. It is done by constructing
small dams in the catchment areas. The dams are made below the
higher level of catchment area.
Nowadays, rain water harvesting and water shed management are considered
for increasing the water availability for agriculture. For both of these purposes
small check dams are built it performs the major functions.
i)
Increase ground water level
ii)
To stop rainwater from flowing away
iii)
To reduce soil erosion
C) Cropping pattern
certain conditions are necessary for combining the crops to grow together
i)
Nutrient demand
ii)
Water requirement
iii)
Duration
 Different cropping patterns include mixed cropping, inter cropping
and crop rotation
a) Mixed cropping: it is growing two or more crops simultaneously on the
same piece of land
E.g. Wheat+ mustard
Wheat+ gram
Wheat + sunflower
Advantages
 This method reduces risk and gives some insurance against failure of
one of the crops.
 It helps humus formation
 Due to different nutrient requirements of different crops, it avoids
exhaustion of soil nutrients.
 It helps to increase the yield due to complementary effect of one crop
on the other, for example legume crop on cereal crop. Legume crop
adds nitrogen to the soil which increases the total yield.
b) Intercropping: it is growing of two or more crops simultaneously on the
same filed in a definite pattern.
E.g.Maize, cowpea, soyabean
The crops are selected such that their nutrient requirements are different.
Advantages
 Increase productivity per acre
 Both crops can be harvested and threshed separately
 Chances of spreading the disease and pests are less.
 Maximum utilization of the nutrient supplied
c) Crop rotation
The crop rotation means growing different types of crops alternatively in
the same soil. The practice of growing two or more different kinds of
crops on a piece of land in a pre planned succession is known as crop
rotation.
 If crop rotation is done properly then two or three crops cab be
grown in a year with good harvest.