CROP PRODUCTION & MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
- All organisms require food for their growth and survival.
- Food is the combination of various organic and inorganic substances which are capable of providing energy for the various metabolic activities.
- In all cases the food for animals comes directly or indirectly from plants.
SOURCES OF FOOD
(i)Cereals : These are rich in carbohydrate and thus provide energy.
eg. – Rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, barley, millets.
(ii)Pulses : These are rich in protein and thus helpful for body building.
eg. – Gram, moong, pea, lentil, urd, pigeon pea.
(iii) Oil seed crops :– These are rich in oil and fatty acids.
eg. – Groundnut, sunflower, soyabean, mustard, sesame.
(iv) Vegetable crops : These provide vitamins, minerals along with small quantities of carbohydrate protein and oils.
Leaves : Cabbage, spinach, trigonella, lettuce
Roots : Carrot, radish, turnip, sweet potato
Stems : Potato, corms, rhizomes (ginger)
Bulbs : Onion, garlic
Fruits : Tomato, brinjal, gourd, cucumber
Flowers : Cauliflower, bauhinia, banana
(v) Fodder crops : These provide green fodder to the cattle.
eg. – Berseem, sorghum, maize, oat, sudan grass, alfalfa.
1.Crops : Plants of same kind which are grown and cultivated at one place on a large scale are known as crops.
- Different types of crops require different climatic conditions like temperature, humidity and photoperiods.
- Crops are divided into two groups on the basis of growing season.
- Kharif crops : These crops are sown in the months of June/July and harvested in September/October every year. eg- Paddy, maize, sugarcane, sorghum, pearl millet.
- Rabi crops : These crops are sown in the months of October/November and harvested in March/April every year. eg- Wheat, oat, barley and pea.
2. Agriculture :– Word agriculture has come from two Latin words, ager meaning field or soil : culture meaning cultivation. Agriculture or farming is the
cultivation of the soil. It includes growing of plant crops and rearing of animals.
* It is an applied biological science which deals with the production of plants and raising of livestock for human use.
