By: Rinku kumari TGT(SS) AECS-2 HYDERABAD
Transcript of By: Rinku kumari TGT(SS) AECS-2 HYDERABAD
By: Rinku kumari
TGT(SS)
AECS-2 HYDERABAD
CHAPTER - 15
IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD RESOURCESMODULE -1
Need for the improvement of the food India is a very populous country. Our population is
more than one billion people, and it is still growing.
As we need food for this growing population, we will
soon need more than a quarter of a billion tonnes of
grain every year.
This can be done by farming on more land. But India
is already intensively cultivated. As a result, we do
not have any major scope for increasing the area of
land under cultivation.
Therefore, it is necessary to increase our
production efficiency for both crops and livestock.
For meeting the demand of the food in the country several revolutions were done like green revolution, white revolution, silver revolution, blue revolution , yellow revolution etc.
These revolutions meant that our natural resources are getting used more intensively.
Therefore, it is important that we should increase food production without degrading our environment and disturbing the balances maintaining it.
There is a need for sustainable practices in agriculture and animal husbandry.
• The production efficiency of crops
and livestock can be increased by
adopting scientific management
practices to improve crop yield,
undertaking mixed farming,
intercropping, and integrated
farming practices like combining
agriculture with livestock, poultry,
fisheries, bee-keeping etc.
Different types of crops : Cereals like rice, wheat, maize, millets, sorghum etc.
provide us carbohydrates.
Pulses like peas, beans, grams, lentils etc. provide
us proteins.
Oil seeds like ground nut, sesame, castor, mustard,
linseed, sunflower etc. provide us fats.
Vegetables, spices and fruits provide us vitamins
and minerals along with small amounts of
carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Fodder crops like berseem, oats or sudan grass are
grown as food for livestock.
Different crops require different climatic conditions,
temperature and duration of sunlight (photoperiod).
Kharif crops:
These are the crops grown during the
rainy season from June to October like
paddy, soyabean, maize, pigeon pea,
green gram, black gram, cotton etc.
Paddy maize pigeon pea green gram black gram
Rabi crops:
These crops are grown during the winter
season from November to April like
wheat, linseed, Gram, peas, mustard
etc.Wheat linseed gram peas mustard
Improvement in the crop yield:Crop yield can be improved by three main
activities. They are:
i) Crop variety improvement
ii) Crop production improvement
iii)Crop protection management
i)Crop variety improvement :
1. Crop variety improvement is done by selecting good varieties of crops. This is done by hybridisation. Hybridisation is the crossing between genetically dissimalar plants to obtain crops having useful characteristics like disease resistance, good quality and high yields.
2. Hybridisation may be intervarietal
(between different varieties,
interspecific (between different
species of the same genus) or
intergeneric (between different
genera).
3. Another way of improving crop
variety is by introducing a gene to
obtain the desired characteristic. This
produces genetically modified crops.
Crop variety improvement is done for the following :-----
i) Higher yield : To increase productivity of crop per acre.
ii) Biotic and abiotic resistance : To increase resistance of crops to biotic factors like insects, diseases etc. and abiotic factors like draught, salinity, heat, cold etc.
iii) Change in maturity duration : To reduce the duration between sowing and harvesting so that farmers can grow multiple crops during the year.
iv) Wider adaptibility : To grow crops in different climatic conditions.
v) Desirable agronomic characters : Characters like tallness and more branching are useful for fodder crops and dwarfness (shortness) is desirable for cereal crops.
ii) Crop production improvement:
Crop production management includes:
i) Nutrient management
ii) Irrigation
iii) Cropping management
i) Nutrient management :-a)Plants get nutrients from air, water and soil. There are
sixteen nutrients required by plants for their propergrowth.
b) Air supplies oxygen and carbon dioxide, water supplieshydrogen and the remaining thirteen nutrients areobtained from the soil.
c) Among the sixteen nutrients required by plants, six arerequired in large quantities and are called macronutrients.
d) The macro nutrients are :- nitrogen, phosphorus,potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur.
e) The other seven are required in small quantities and arecalled micro nutrients. Soil can be enriched bysupplying nutrients in the form of manures andfertilizers.
f) The micro nutrients are :- iron, magnesium, boron, zinc,copper, molybdenum and chlorine.
Manure :-• Manure is prepared by the decomposition of plant and animal
waste. It contains organic matter and nutrients. It helps to increase soil fertility. It also helps to reduce use of fertilizers and recycle farm waste and protects the environment. The bulk of organic matter in manure helps in improving the soil structure. This involves increasing the water holding capacity in sandy soils. In clayey soils, the large quantities of organic matter help in drainage and in avoiding water logging.
NOTE:
There are two main types of manures. They are compost and
green manure.
Compost :-It is prepared by the decomposition of plant and animal waste in compost pits.
Vermicompost:- Compost prepared by using earthworms to hasten the process of decomposition of plant and animal refuse. This is called vermicompost
Green manure :-Before sowing seeds in fields, some
green plants like sun hemp, gaur etc.
are mixed in the soil by ploughing.
• These plants turn into green manure
which makes the soil rich in nitrogen
and phosphorus.
• Fertilisers :-
• Fertilisers are chemical substances made
commercially. They supply nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium and helps to
increase crop yield.
• Fertilisers are nutrient specific. Soluble in
water and they can be easily transported to
one city to other.
• Fertilisers should be used only in required
amounts.
• Excessive use of fertilizers can reduce soil
fertility and also cause water pollution.
Organic Farming
• Organic farming is a farming
system with minimal or no use of
chemicals as fertilizers,
herbicides, pesticides etc. and
with a maximum input of organic
manures, recycled farm wastes,
and bio-agents, with healthy cropping systems.
ii)Irrigation :-+ The supply of water to the crops is called
irrigation. Water is necessary for the proper
growth of plants and helps to increase crop yield.
+ Different kinds if irrigation systems are used to
supply water to agricultural land. They are wells,
canals, rivers, tanks, check dams etc.
i) Wells :- There are two types of wells called dug
wells and tube wells. In dug wells water is
collected from water bearing strata. In tube wells
water is collected from deeper strata.
ii) Canals :- In this system, canals receive water
from reservoirs or rivers and distributes it to
fields.
iii) River lift systems :- In this system water is
lifted from rivers to irrigate fields close to
rivers.
iv) Tanks :- These are small storage
reservoirs which supply water to fields.
v) Check dams :- These are used to stop rain
water from flowing away and helps to
increase groundwater levels and reduce soil erosion.
Cropping patterns :-• There are different types of cropping
pattern that we can practice for the
improvement of the crops as well as for
the high production of the crops to meet
the requirements of the food grains of the
growing population in the country.
• These type include:
i) Mixed cropping
ii) Inter cropping
iii) Crop rotation
i) Mixed cropping:• Mixed cropping is growing two or more
crops simultaneously on the same
piece of land.
For example: wheat + gram, (or) wheat
+ mustard, (or) groundnut + sunflower.
• This reduces risk and gives some
insurance against failure of one of the
crops.
II) intercropping• Inter-cropping is growing two or more crops
simultaneously on the same field in a definite pattern.
• A few rows of one crop alternate with a few rows of a second crop:- for example, soyabean + maize, (or) finger millet (bajra) + cowpea (lobia).
• The crops are selected such that their nutrient requirements are different.
• This ensures maximum utilisation of the nutrients supplied, and also prevents pests and diseases from spreading to all the plants belonging to one crop in a field. This way, both crops can give better returns.
Image of intercropping
IIi) Crop rotation:• The growing of different crops on a piece
of land in a pre-planned succession is known as crop rotation.
• Depending upon the duration, crop rotation is done for different crop combinations. The availability of moisture and irrigation facilities decide the choice of the crop to be cultivated after one harvest. If crop rotation is done properly then two or three crops can be grown in a year with good harvests.
Crop protection management:• Crops in the field are damaged by
weeds, insect pests and diseases.
• Insect, pests attack the plants in three ways:
(i) they cut the root, stem and leaves,
(ii) suck cell sap and
(iii) bore into stems and fruits.
They thus effect the health of the crop and reduce crop yield.
• Diseases in plants are caused by
pathogens like virus, bacteria and fungi
and reduces crop yield
• Insect pests and diseases can be
controlled by using chemicals like
pesticides, fungicides etc.
• Some other preventive measures against
pests are the use of resistant varieties,
and summer ploughing, in which fields
are ploughed deep in summers to
destroy weeds and pests.
Weeds
• Weeds are unwanted plants which grow in the field.
Eg :- Xanthium, Parthenium, Cyperinus rotundusetc.
• They compete with the crop for food, space and sunlight and use nutrients and reduce crop yield.
• Weeds can be controlled by using chemicals like weedicides. They are sprayed on crop plants or used for treating seeds and soil. Since these chemicals are poisionous, excessive use of these chemicals can cause environmental pollution
• Weed control methods also include mechanical removal. Preventive methods such as proper seed bed preparation, timely sowing of crops, intercropping and crop rotation also help in weed control.
Storage grains:• The factors responsible for the damage and
loss of grains are biotic factors like bacteria, fungi, insects, rodents etc. and abiotic factors like moisture and temperature in the place of storage.
• Before storage, the grains are cleaned and dried in sunlight to remove moisture and the storage places are fumigated to kill pests.
• Preventive and control measures are used before grains are stored for future use. They include strict cleaning of the produce before storage, proper drying of the produce first in sunlight and then in shade, and fumigation using chemicals that can kill pests.
Let’s Revise what we have learnt
1.There are several nutrients essential for crops. Of these,some are required in large quantities and are known as macro-nutrients whereas rest of the nutrients are required in small quantities and are known as micro-nutrients.
2. Manure and fertilizers are the main sources of nutrient supply to crops.
3. Mixed farming is a system of farming on a particular farm which includes crop production, raising of livestock etc.
4. Mixed cropping is growing of two or more crops
simultaneously on the same piece of land.
5. Growing two or more crops in definite row
patterns is known as inter-cropping.
6. The growing of different crops on a piece of land
in pre-planned succession is called crop rotation.
7. Varietal improvement is required for higher yield,
good quality, biotic and abiotic resistance,
shortening the maturity duration, wider
adaptability and desirable agronomic
characteristics.
THANK YOU