Crop Production and Management (Part II)

In the previous post, we have discussed about crop and its types. In this post, we will have a look at the different agricultural practices. 

There are several practices that needs to be taken care of while cultivating a crop. These activities are referred to as agricultural practices. Such activities are as follows:

• Preparation of soil
• Sowing seeds
• Providing nutrients 
• Irrigation
• Protection from weeds
• Harvesting and storage

Of these, we will discuss first four practices in this post while harvesting, protection and storage will be discussed in the next post.

Preparation of soil:

This is the foremost important step before growing a crop. The preparation of soil involves

• Ploughing and 
• Leveling

A. Ploughing: The process of turning and loosening the soil is referred to as ‘ploughing’ or ‘tiling’. This tiling has its own advantages as follows:

1. Penetration of the roots deep into the soil
2. Allows the roots to breathe easily (provides good aeration)
3. Helps in mixing fertilizers uniformly
4. Helps in uprooting the weeds
5. Exposes soil pests to the natural predators
6. Helps in the growth of earthworms, bacteria, fungi which further increases the fertility of soil 

Instruments for Ploughing:

Plough: It is made up of wood. There is a triangular iron strip, called as ploughshare while the long log of wood is called the ploughshaft.

Hoe: It is a tool with a long handle and a broad metal blade at one end and is mainly used for removing weeds. Some use it to loosen soil as well.

Cultivator: It is a large farm machine driven by a tractor which is used to loosen the soil in the modern agricultural method.

B. Leveling:

Leveling is the process where the big mud pieces called crumbs are broken down with the help of leveller. Leveller is used to level the soil for preventing it from getting eroded by the wind and also helps in retaining the moisture. Leveling is also important for properly sowing the seeds and for irrigation purposes. 

Sowing Seeds:

Sowing means, putting the seeds in the soil. Before doing so, it is necessary to take care of the quality of the seeds. The following are the criteria for selecting good and healthy seeds:

• Seed should be healthy meaning, it should be free from infections (by bacteria, viruses, insects, nematodes etc.)
• Seeds should have a good percentage of germination
• Seeds should be sown at the right depth in the soil
• Seeds should be sown at the correct distance from each other so that there is no overcrowding (if sowing is done very near to each other) or wastage of space (if sowing is done very far from each other)
• Seeds should undergo fungicide treatment to prevent seed-borne diseases.
• Seeds should have enough amount of water for its germination as seeds do not germinate in dry soil.

Note: Damaged seeds are hollow and can be identified by soaking in water. Being hollow (light-weighted), they will float, while the healthy seeds will shrink.

There are two main methods of sowing as:

A. Broadcasting: Broadcasting further can be done by three ways:

• By hand
• By traditional method - The traditional method uses a tool which is funnel-shaped. The seed passes through the funnel and the funnel end pierces into the soil thereby placing the seeds there.
• By a seed drill - Seed drill is the modern day equipment is where the seeds are sown with the help of tractors. Seed drills are considered to be better as the seeds are sown at equal distance and depth. After sowing, the seeds are covered with the soil thereby preventing the damage done by the birds. Also, it saves time and labour.

B. Transplanting:  In this case, the young plants are developed in the nursery bed and the seedlings are transferred to the field ensuring that there is proper spacing. It is mainly done in case of paddy crop and bananas.

Providing nutrients:

Continuously growing the same plant on the field makes the soil poor in nutrients. So, the soil needs to be replenished with the nutrients. This is done by two ways:

• Natural methods
• Adding manure and fertilizers

A. Natural Methods: These include the cropping patterns which allows the soil to retain the nutrients some of which are discussed below: 

1. Mixed cropping: It is also called as multiple cropping. This is the practice where two different crops or more are grown simultaneously in the same field. The crops are chosen in such a way that the products and waste material from one crop helps in the growth of the other. This type of cropping leads to improving the fertility of the soil thereby increasing the crop yield. Generally, one crop is of long duration while the other is of short duration. One crop requires more nutrients and water while the other requires lesser nutrients or water. As a result, there is a reduction in the competition between the crops for light, nutrients and water. If one crop fails to grow (due to untimely rain or no rains or shortage of nutrients), then the other crop can cover the risk of this complete failure.
   Example: groundnut and cotton; wheat and gram
2. Crop rotation: Here, different crops are grown alternately on the same land. For example, legumes are alternately grown with wheat. In one season, legumes are grown as fodder which also helps in replenishing the soil with nitrogen. After this, the wheat crop is then grown. It is a good method of replenishing the soil naturally.
3. Intercropping: this is the process of growing two or more crops together in proximity on the same land. As a result, two or more crops are managed at the same time in a definite pattern. This increases the productivity per area and soil erosion is reduced.
4. Field fallow: In this process, the field is left uncultivated for a season or two. This is help in regeneration of the lost nutrients. But it results in the wasting the land for a season and due to high demand these days, this method is no longer used.

B. Adding manures and fertilizers: Manures and fertilizers are the substances which are added to the soil in the form of nutrients in order to make the soil more fertile for the healthy growth of the plants.

Manure is natural organic substances which are produced by the decomposition of cow dung and other animal wastes and plant residues while the fertilizers are chemical inorganic substances which are rich in specific nutrients.

The following differences will further clearly explain the fertilizers and manures:

Manures	Fertilizers
Natural organic substance	Inorganic chemical Substance
Made by the decomposition of animal and plant wastes in open pits by the microbes	Made in factories (like, NPK, Super-phosphate, Potash)
Less rich in specific nutrients but replenishes the soil with all the nutrients in a balanced way	Rich in specific nutrients, which are required by particular crops
Provides humus to the soil thereby making it fertile	Does not provide humus to the soil and adds nothing to the fertility of the soil
Required in large quantities	Required in small quantity
Maintains the soil texture, makes it porous and promotes water retention	Does not maintain the soil texture or improve water retention properties of the soil
Non-polluting and maintains the ecosystem	Pollutes water as the salts present in the fertilizers contaminates the ground water table
Difficult to transport, store and apply	Easy to handle, transport, store and apply
If applied in large quantities, they do not harm the plants	If applied in large quantities, they do harm the plants

 Manures are again divided into three different types:

1. Farm yard manure – This type of manure consists of dung, urine, leaves and other farmyard wastes.
2. Compost – This type of manure is obtained by the decomposition of dead plants and animal wastes, sewage waste etc. All the organic material is buried in a pit with alternative layers of soil and is allowed to rot.
3. Green manure – This type of manure is formed by the decomposition of the leguminous plants like sunhemp and guar. These plants are grown and are sown back into the same soil.

Manures are however, considered better than fertilizers because of the following reasons:

• Improves the texture of the soil as being organic in nature, adds to the fertility of the soil.
• Makes the soil porous which makes the exchange of the gases easier
• Increases the water retention capacity of the soil
• Increases the number of friendly organisms like bacteria, earthworms etc.

Irrigation:

Irrigation is referred to as the supply of water to plants at different intervals. Irrigation is important because:

1. Water gets absorbed by the roots of the plants and along with water, several nutrients and fertilizers also get absorbed which are then transported to various parts of the plants.
2. Water is necessary for the germination of the seeds.
3. Water protects the crop from hot-air currents as well as from the frost.

Methods of irrigation:

The methods of irrigation are distributed as:

• Traditional methods of irrigation
• Modern methods of irrigation

Traditional method of irrigation involves:

Chain pump: It consists of two large wheels of which the bottom wheel is half immersed in water source and both the wheels are connected by an endless chain. When the wheel turns, the connected bucket dips into the water source and collects the water. The chain then lifts them to the upper wheel, where water from the bucket is transferred to the pool where it gets collected. The chain then again carries the empty buckets back down to be refilled and this cycle continues.

Moat system of irrigation – It is also called as pulley system. It is a manual irrigation method where water is directly taken out from the wells with the help of pulley and is used for irrigation.

Dhekli system of irrigation – Here, a rope and a bucket are connected to pole to obtain water from the well. The rope and bucket is connected to one end of a heavy stick at one end and a heavy counter weight at the other end.

Rahat system of irrigation: By this method, water is drawn out of the well with the help of animals. Animals like cow, buffalo, ox are connected to the wheel and when the animals move, the wheel draws water from the well.

Modern Methods of Irrigation: These methods are more sophisticated and require less efforts as the pumps are used to lift water.  These use biogas, diesel, electricity and solar energy for lifting water. They are more efficient and use water economically. Such modern methods include:

Furrow Irrigation: Here, the water is allowed to pass into the field through a furrow or channels made between two rows of the crop.

Basin Irrigation: Here, the filed is just filled with water as in the case of paddy crop.

Sprinkler System: This consists of a network of perpendicular pipes having rotating nozzles at their top. These pipes are joined to the main pipeline at regular intervals. Water when flows through the main pipe under pressure, it escapes from the rotating nozzles. As a result, water gets sprinkled on the crop (similar to how rains occur). This system works better on the uneven land where sufficient water is not available or where the soil cannot retain water for a long time.

Drip System: As the name suggests, this system provides water drop by drop at the position of the roots (at the root zone). It is also called trickle-irrigation or micro-irrigation. This is the best technique to water fruit plants, gardens and trees as water is not wasted at all and is very efficient.

Importance of Irrigation:

All crop plants require water at some or the other stage of development. And it is necessary to provide right amount of water at the right time.

• Excess of water may cause waterlogging in the soil which in turn, will inhibit the germination of the seeds as seeds will not get sufficient amount of air to respire.
• Waterlogging also causes poor growth of the roots.
• The fully matured crop, when irrigated, gets damaged. The plants which are not able to resist the strong winds and excessive water, fall down. This falling down of the crop due to untimely irrigation is called lodging and this affects the yield of the crop. 

This is in reference to the CBSE class VIII Biology.