Agricultural Practices and Animal Husbandry

We overly eat on leaves and stem of spinach and plenty of reapings. Thus, human beingnesss depend on kit and caboodles and animals for food. 32. 2 AGRICULTURE AND AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES The forking of science which deals with methods of food intersection is cognize as agri purification. Besides studying the new methods of food production, in this branch of science we also study ab bulge how new and wear out varieties of results domiciliate be modernizen, how animals and birds corresponding cows, hens, etceteratera can be reargond well and do to give more than milk or pause quality nut? wholly these new methods which scientists develop come under clownish practices. We fate vege dodges, fruits, cereals, pulses, etc. as food. For our clothes, we need the fibre of imbeds or animals. We farm every(prenominal) these foods and fibres by farming or agriculture. use 32. 1 Make a list of things which you role every day. Categorise those items which you catch dire ctly or indirectly from agriculture. Does your list look like the one assumption below? For easy reading, agricultural products feel been divided into the following groups as attached in the table 32.1. Table 32. 1 Various categories of food items Examples genus Sorghum (Jowar), Ragi (finger millet) and Bajra (pearl millet) Arhar (Tur), Black gram (Urad), Green gram (Moong), and Bengal gram (Channa) Beans Peas, Soyabean, Cowpea, lentil plant Oilseeds Mustard, Groundnut, Soyabean, Sunflower, Linseed, Castor and Cotton seed Root exploits Carrot, Turnip, Sweet potato genus Tuber reduces Potato, Tapioca, Ginger and Turmeric Sugar crops Sugarcane and Beet root plantation crops Coffee, Tea, Rubber and Coconut Category Millets Pulses 32.3 HORTICULTURE Did you observe that something is missing from the list of food items which we eat every day. What is it that we fork out non listed here in table 32. 1? Yes, we have neither included vegetables nor fruits in this list. Vegetables a nd fruits are essential items of our diet and their harvest-festival and production are studied under a branch of agriculture called horticulture. Horticulture is derived from two latin words hortus which means garden, and culture which means cultivation. 288 Agricultural Practices and beast HusbandryThe branch of agriculture that deals with outgrowth and production of vegetables, fruits, ornamental plants and management of orchards is called horticulture. Horticulturists research to find new ways by which meliorate varieties of fruits and vegetables can be grown in large quantities. 32. 4 STEPS IN RAISING IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE To adjoin our food production we can sow legal quality seeds and mitigate the methods of sowing. We can blade the flaw more rich and level(p) use better techniques for proceeds the crops.Some of the agricultural practices which scientists have developed and which our farmers have started are explained here. 1. Preparation of priming co at This is an important practice which assistances to enrich the soil and cast off it more fertile and aerated. It involves addition of manure followed by turning, loosening and levelling of the soil, apply agricultural implements like spade, plough or mechanical farm implements. 2. source treatment Seeds can easily be eruptioned by micro-organisms. The crops that grow out of diseased seeds will also be unhealthy.So farmers treat these seeds by dipping them in certain chemicals like cerosan or agrosan. These chemicals do not allow the microorganisms to ack-ack the seeds and damage them. Such chemicals are called Fungicides. Once the seeds are treated, they can be sown. 3. Preparing the seed bed and care of the seedlings In certain crop plants like paddy and some of the vegetables, seeds are not sown directly in the main plain. First these seeds are sown in a babys room bed. Once they grow to a certain age they are transferred and deep-seated in the main field. These small p lants are called seedlings.When the farmers prepare a nursery bed they take care of the following The soil of the bed should be soft and loose so that the tender roots of the seedlings can grow well. This can be achieved by digging or ploughing the field well. The seed bed or where the seedlings are planted should be even so that when we weewee the plants, the water distributes itself uniformly all everyplace the field. tout ensemble weeds or unwanted plants in the field must be removed. Do you know why? It is because these weeds also take water and nutrients from the soil and as a result the want plants cannot get adequacy of the nutrients.The seedlings also need to be protected from diseases and pests. This is done by dust chemicals like Parathion, Sevin, Dimecron and Rogor on the seedlings. 4. Trans lay The process of removing the seedlings from the nursery bed and planting them in the main field is called transfering. When we transplant, we must select those seedlings which have 4 to 5 healthy Agricultural Practices and Animal Husbandry 289 leaves. These are sowed at proper distance from each other. The main field must be ploughed and manured out front transplanting.Generally sieve and vegetables like tomato and brinjal are sown by transplanting. Transplanting of seedlings is a very important practice. This enables us to select good and healthy seedlings and get a better crop. Besides, when we transplant seedlings, their roots are able to go deep into the soil and get more nutrients. When seedlings get good food, they grow into healthy plants and give a better yield. 5. Adding fertilizers Crops need nutrients like phosphorus, calcium, nitrogen etc. for their outgrowth and hoof up these nutrients from the soil.It is very important to add fertilizers to the soil. They provide nutrients to the soil and help to obtain a better crop yield. Depending on the type of soil and the crop to be grown, we use different fertilizers. The way we use a fer tilizer also depends upon what type of fertilizer is being added to the soil. A fertilizer which contains nitrogen (nitrogenous fertilizer) is generally devoted in two or iii doses. Other fertilizers are phosphatic and complex fertilizers. Some fertilisers are added to the soil before transplanting. You must have heard about the most commonly utilise fertilizer NPK.The letter N stands for nitrogen, P for phosphate and K for potassium. opus fertilizers are manufactured from chemicals in factories, manure is make from organic substances and contains nutrients in small quantities. Some of the commonly used manure are Farmyard manure, as the name suggests is a mixture of decomposed cattle dung (excreta) and urine, left over fodder (cattle feed) and litter (bedding provided to cattle in the farm). Compost is manure made from vegetable and animal refuse collected from domestic waste, straw, weeds etc. , dumped in a deep pit to decompose.Vermicompost is compost broken scratch off by e arthworms. Like fertilizers manures too add nutrients to soil. 6. Use of plant growth regulators Plant growth regulators are certain chemicals which regulate the growth of plants. All plants have growth regulators which determine how tall the plant would be, how big its fruit will be, etc. We can now add some plant growth regulators like auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, abscisic acid etc. to get a better yield of crops. You will learn more about these plant growth regulators in higher classes.7. Irrigation Irrigation is necessary for proper development of plants. Roots locomote to develop and penetrate in the dry soil. The crop is irrigated according to its requirement and soil characteristics. Irrigation is essential during the seedling, flowering and grain filling stages of the crop. strain crop needs standing water. 290 Agricultural Practices and Animal Husbandry 8. return Harvesting machines have now replaced the back breaking job of hand harvesting with the sickle and scy the. Harvesting machines cut or dig out the plant or its parts as required.The machines gather the plant parts, separate desired parts and eliminate parts not needed. Certain harvesting machines whitethorn even load the crop for transport. However, the above mentioned functions of harvesting machines depend on kind of crop, plant parts to be harvested, crop use, stage of maturity, etc. 32. 5 SOME OTHER DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES 32. 5. 1 revolution of crops If you stay in a village you must have seen that the shuck crop is planted during the month of November and harvested in March and April. The rice crop is planted in June-July and harvested in October and November.The land that lies fallow in among these two cereal crops, can be used by the farmers for sowing a leguminous crop at this time. A leguminous crop does not take as long as stubble or rice to grow. So by the time the farmer has to plant the cereal crops (rice, wheat etc. ) the pulse is ready to be harvested. Leg uminous crops include pea, beans, grams and pulses. They concord nitrogen fixing bacteria in nodules of their roots (Fig. 32. 1). These bacteria turn free nitrogen from atmosphere into usable form. Thus, after the leguminous crop is harvested, the soil is left fertile for other crops.The process of growing a different crop preferably a leguminous crop in between raising of two similar crops is called rotation of crops. Fig. 32. 1 normality fixing bacteria in the root nodules Crop rotation has a lot of benefits, (i) the land gets utilized, (ii) the pulse crop uses up different nutrients from the soil but it fixes the nitrogen from the air and makes the soil richer in nitrogen and so more fertile. This way the next cereal crop gives a better yield. If we do not practice crop rotation by growing different crops on a piece of land, butcontinue to grow the same crop, year after year, they will keep on using the same nutrients from the soil till all the nutrients in the soil get used up. The pertly grown plants get poor nourishment from the soil and grow up to be weak and of bad quality. When plants are weak the insects can easily attack them and destroy them. Thus, crop rotation restores the fertility of Agricultural Practices and Animal Husbandry 291 the soil, it gives better yield, prevents crop from diseases and pests and reduces the dependence on chemical fertilizers.Multiple cropping growing two to four crops one after the other in a year in the same field is called multiple cropping. Multiple cropping is possible, when we make use of crop varieties that grow for a short period of time. However, to get best results there must be a properly managed field. In fact, multiple cropping is the best solution for a country with food job because same piece of land is used to grow different kinds of crops. ACTIVITY 32. 2 Here is something you can do. Visit a nearby agricultural farm or vegetable garden.Observe and note down the agricultural practices being used there. All the above mentioned practices are meant to ensure that plants have a healthy growth and yield a good crop. Along with these developments in our country we have also brought under cultivation more and more land. The increased cultivation of agricultural crops is in order to meet requirements of a growing population. 32. 5. 3 Improving the variety of seeds You must have a lot heard or read advertisements which encourage farmers to buy new and better varieties of seeds.Some of these new varieties are resistant to diseases and give a very good crop. Some of the improved high-yielding crop varieties which our scientists have developed are given in table 32. 2. Table 32. 2 Improved high-yielding varieties of crops Crop Rice Wheat Maize Ladys finger (Bhindi) Brinjal classification I R-8, Jaya, Padma, Bala Sarbati sonara, Sonalika, Kalyan sona, Hira-moti, RR-21 and UP 301 Ganga 101, Rankit and Deccan hybrid Pusa savani Pusa purple, Pusa kranti and Muktabeshi Do you know what n ame is given to scientists who develop much(prenominal) new varieties of seeds?They are called plant breeders. Plant breeders have not only raised better quality seeds but also better quality fruits. Mango has been named the king of fruits and in our country we grow many varieties of mangoes. Some of them are Alphonse, Langra, Chausa, Saroli, Dussehri, Himsagar, Safeda, Sinduri, Mulgoba, Amini. 32. 6 PROTECTION OF CROPS IN THE field of battle As crops grow in the field, they have to be protected such that they produce a healthy yield. The weeds growing along with crops have to be removed and growing crops have to be saved from the attack of pests especially insects pests.