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AGR 101

PRINCIPLES OF AGRON AGRONOMY OMY

(2+1)

Theory Agriculture - Scope of agriculture in India and Tamil Nadu. Agriculture - art, science and business - Branches of agriculture - Development of scientific agriculture in World and India. Agronomy - relationship with other disciplines. Agronomic classification of crops - their economic importance - major crops of India and Tamil Nadu - adaptation and distribution. Factors affecting crop production - Soils and agricultural seasons of India and Tamil Nadu. Systems of farming - wet, irrigated dry and rainfed farming. Factors governing choice of crops and varieties. Intensive cropping - crop rotation - advantages - cropping patterns and cropping systems in India and Tamil Nadu. Sustainable agriculture - integrated farming system - organic farming - ecofriendly agriculture - concepts. Principles and practices of agricultural operations - Tillage and tilth - types of tillage, modern concepts of tillage - tools, implements and machineries for different agricultural operations. Seeds and sowing - factors affecting germination - seed rate seed treatment - methods of sowing - nursery and transplanting - plant population and geometry. After-cultivation - weed management - irrigation - time and methods of irrigation. Manures and fertilizers - types - quantity, time and methods of application and INM. Harvesting - threshing - drying and storage - post harvest techniques. Practical Study of wet, irrigated and dry farming - Identification of crops - seeds manures - fertilizers - agricultural chemicals - green manures - green leaf manures tools, implements and machineries. Practice and acquiring skill in the use of tools, implements and machineries for primary and secondary tillage operations. Nursery preparation - seed treatment - sowing and transplanting. Application of manures, fertilizers and herbicides. Irrigation methods – after-cultivation - harvest and processing. Working out seed rate and fertilizer requirement. Lecture Schedule 1. Agriculture - definition - scope of agriculture in India and Tamil Nadu 2. Agriculture as an art, science and business - Branches of agriculture 3. Development of scientific agriculture in World and India - National and International Institutions for Agricultural Research. 4. Agronomy - definition, relationship with other disciplines, role of agronomist 5. Agronomic classification of crops and their economic importance 6. Major crops of India and Tamil Nadu, their adaptation and distribution 7. Factors affecting crop production - environmental factors - climatic factors - light, temperature, rainfall, relative humidity and wind and their effects 8. Edaphic, biotic, physiographic and socio-economic factors 9. Soils - different types of soils in India and Tamil Nadu and their characteristics for the suitability of crops 10. Agricultural seasons of India and Tamil Nadu - effect of season on crop choice

11. Systems of farming - wet, irrigated, dry and rainfed farming, definitions and main features 12. Factors governing choice of crops and varieties - climate, soil, water, socioeconomic aspects, marketing and economics 13. Intensive cropping - definition, principles and types 14. Crop rotation, definition, advantages - Crop rotation followed in Tamil Nadu and India 15. Cropping patterns and Cropping systems followed in India and Tamil Nadu 16. Sustainable Agriculture, Integrated Farming System, Organic Farming, Eco-friendly Agriculture - Concepts and principles 17. Mid Semester Examination 18. Tillage and tilth - definition, objectives, types of tillage - primary, secondary and inter tillage 19. Factors affecting intensity and depth of tillage - soils, crops, moisture status, irrigation methods special needs 20. Modern concepts in tillage - minimal tillage, zero tillage, conservation tillage, once over tillage, chemical tillage and subsoiling 21. Tools, implements and machineries used for primary, secondary and inter tillage operations - ploughs, harrows, cultivators, levellers, ridger, bund former, wet land implements, sowing implements and weeders. 22. Seeds and sowing, importance and characteristics of good quality seeds - factors affecting germination 23. Seed rate - factors affecting seed rate - seed treatment objectives and methods 24. Methods of sowing - direct sowing by broadcasting, dibbling, sowing behind plough and seed drill - Nursery bed preparation and transplanting 25. Optimum plant population and crop geometry, importance - factors affecting population and crop geometry. 26. After-cultivation - Thinning and gap filling - Weeds, definition, harmful and beneficial effect of weeds and classification of weeds 27. Methods of weed control - Mechanical, cultural, chemical and biological methods Integrated Weed management 28. Irrigation - time of irrigation, methods of irrigation, water requirement of crops 29. Manures and fertilizers - definition, role of manures and fertilizers in crop production - classification 30. Organic manures, inorganic fertilizers, biofertilizers 31. Factors affecting quantity of manures and fertilizers for different crops - forms of fertilizers 32. Time and methods of fertilizers - integrated nutrient management 33. Harvesting - assessing maturity - methods of harvesting, implements and machineries used for harvest threshing, drying and storage of produce 34. Post harvest processing - principles and methods Practical S Schedule chedule 1. 2. 3. 4.

Study of wetland system of farming and identification of crops Study of garden land system of farming and identification of crops Study of dry land system of farming and identification of crops Identification of seeds, fertilizers and bio-fertilizers

5. Identification of tools and implements 6. Practicing and acquiring skill in the use of primary and secondary tillage implements 7. Identification of organic manures, green manures and green leaf manures 8. Study of nursery bed preparation for wet rice 9. Practicing seed treatment 10. 11. Preparing nursery bed for garden land crops, practicing different methods of sowing 12. Practicing different methods of irrigation 13. Practicing thinning and gap filling 14. Practicing weeding in wetland and garden land 15. Practicing different methods of fertilizer application 16. Working out seed rate and fertilizer requirement for important crops 17. Practicing harvesting and processing of important crops 18. Final Practical Examination Assignment 1. Seed collection 2. Herbarium collection -a) b) c)

Crops Weeds Green manures and green leaf manures

Ref References erences Dahama, A.K. 1996. Organic Farming for Sustainable Agriculture. Agri-Botanical Publishers (India), Bikaner. Balsubramaniyan, P. and S.P.Palaniappan, 2001. Principles and Practices of Agronomy. Agrobios. Jothpur - 342 002. Gopal Chandra De. 1997. Fundamentals of Agronomy. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. pvt. Ltd., New Delhi ICAR. 1996. Handbook of Agriculture. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. Kannaiyan, S. and C.Ramasamy, 2002. Agriculture 2002. Science, Agriculture, Policy. TNAU, Coimbatore. Morachan, Y.B. 1980. Crop Production and Management. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Reddy, S.R. 1999. Principles of Agronomy. Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi Sankaran, S. and V.T. Subbiah Mudaliar. 1997. Principles of Agronomy. The Bangalore Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., Bangalore. Singh, S.S 1998. Principles and Practices of Agronomy. Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi. Thakur, C. 1980. Scientific Crop Production Vol. I & II. Metropolitan Book Co. pvt. Ltd. New Delhi Yellamananda Reddy, T. and G.H. Sankara Reddi 1997. Principles of Agronomy. Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi.

Dear Students :

Please go through the following assignments and prepare by referring books and materials from web and try to submit the same Course Teachers AGR 101 12TH SEP 2005 AGR 101.PRINCIPLES OF AGRONOMY (2+1) 1. A farmer has 4.0 ha of irrigated dryland. He is following maize-sunflower-greengram cropping system in 2.0 ha and Cotton-gingelly in 2.0 ha. Calculate the various input requirements and cost involvement for the above cropping system. a. Seed b. Biofertilizer c. Inorganic fertilizer

2. Under Integrated Nutrient Management, suggest suitable green manure crops for different eco-system (wetland, irrigated dryland) to improve soil fertility. Assess the contribution of nutrient supply from green manures and the possible reduction in the quantum of inorganic fertilizer use (as per the TNAU recommended dose/ha) and saving in cost.

3. Analyse the contributing factors for green revolution in India. Review the changes in food grain production trend over decades from 1950 to 2005.

4. Tabulate the details on various primary, secondary and special purpose tillage implements developed in TNAU over years along with purpose, area coverage and cost of implements.

5. Compute the probable yield of the following crops based on the yield parameters from the collected data a.rice b. sugarcane c. Maize d. Soybean e. Groundnut Glossary of Agronomy 1. Acid rain :Atmospheric precipitation with less than pH 5.6 due to inorganic acids such as Nitric and Sulphuric acids are formed when oxides of N and S emitted in the atmosphere

2. Adhesion: The force of attraction that binds the molecules of different kinds. 3. Acid soil: A soil with a pH less than 7. An acid soil has a preponderance of hydrogen ions over hydroxyl ions, and blue litmus paper turns red in contact with moist acid soil. 4. Aerobic: Condition with oxygen gas as a part of the environment. 5. Agriculture: It is an art, science business of producing crops and livestock for economic purposes. 6. Agronomy: An agricultural science deals with principles and practices of soil and crop management. 7. Alfisol: Soils with grey to brown surface horizons, medium to high supply of bases and B horizons of illuvial clay accumulation .These soils formed mostly under forest or savanna vegetation in climates with slight to pronounced seasonal moisture deficit. 8. Alkaline soil: A soil with pH above 7, usually above 8.5 9. Allelopathy : is defined as direct or indirect harmful effect of one plant over other crop species through the exudation of toxic substances from the roots or the decomposition of crop residues 10.Alluvium: type of soil formed near riverbed by the process of deposition. 11. Ammonification: Production of ammonia as a result of the biological decomposition of organic nitrogen compounds. 12.Anaerobic: An organism that survives in the absence of air or molecular oxygen. 13.Anion exchange capacity: The sum total of exchangeable anions that a soil can adsorb expressed as milliequivalent/100 g of soil. 14.Anion: An ion carrying a negative charge. 15.Arid climate: A generally extremely dry climate with an annual precipitation usually less than 250 mm and generally rainfall is well short of evapotranspiration demand of the atmosphere. 16.Aridisol: Minerals soils that have an aridic moisture regime. These are desert soil. 17.Autotrophs: An organism which makes food from inorganic raw materials. e.g green plants. 18.Available water: The portion of water in a soil that can be readily absorbed by plants roots considered by most workers to be that water which is held in the soil against a pressure of up to approximately 15 bars moisture which lies between field capacity and wilting point. 19.Basal application: application fertilizer before sowing or planting the crop. 20.Base saturation capacity: is the soil is saturated with exchangeable cations other than hydrogen and Aluminium. 21.Biological nitrogen fixation: The fixing of the atmospheric nitrogen in to the soil by the help of certain micro organism. 22.Blue revolution: The increase in the production of fishes. 23.border cropping : is growing of crops on the border areas of the plot or field Ex; Safflower as border crop in potato

24.Border strip irrigation: It is an efficient method of irrigation close growing crops and consists essentially of dividing the field by low flat levels into series of strips, each of which is flooded separately. 25.Breeder seed: It is the seed directly controlled by the originating plant institution or individual, and the of the production of seed for the certified classes. It is genetically purest seed. 26.Broadcasting: The process of scattering of Agricultural inputs like seed, fertilizer and manure, on the surface of the soil by hand or by machine. 27.Bulk density: It is the ratio of the mass of the soils solids to the bulk volume of the soil. It is expressed in mass per unit volume, generally g/cc. 28.C:N ratio: The ratio of the weight of organic C to the weight of total N in the soil. 29.C3 plants: A plant in which the 1 st product of CO2 fixation is the 3-carbon compound, phosphoglyceric acid and is comparatively photo synthetically less efficient than C4 plants. e.g wheat, rice. 30.C4 plants: A plant in which the first product of CO 2 fixation is the 4-carbon compound oxalo acetic acid and is photo synthetically more active, than C3 plants. Eg.maize 31.Calcariuos soil- Soils with kankar nodules in the plough zone and subsoil. 32.CAM plants: Crassulacean Acid Metabolism. In these plants during the night the CO2 is stored in the form of malic acid which is broken down to CO2 during the day even when stomata are closed, thus the photosynthesis continues. 33.Capillary water- the water which is held by surface tension forces as a continuous film around the soil particle. It is the water held in the micro pores that is available to plants 34.Cardinal temperature- it is the minimum, optimum and maximum temperature of a plant for it’s growth. 35.Cation exchange capacity: the sum total of exchangeable cation absorbed by the soil expressed by millieqivalent/100 g of soil 36.Cation: an ion having positive charge except H+ 37.Certified seed: The seed produced from foundation seed, which is handled to maintain a satisfactory genetic purity and identity in a manner acceptable to certifying agency. 38.Check basin: It is a method of irrigation with beds and channel for retaining water to form a pond 39.Chilling injury: Injury caused by relatively low temperature above the freezing point 40.Chisel plough: it is sub soil plough to break the hardpan in the subsoil done once in three years 41.Chlorite: it is a 2:2 non expanding clay mineral 42.Clay: a soil particle with a size of less than 0.002mm 43.Clod: A compact mass of soil ranging in size from 5 to 10 mm to as much as 200-250mm produced artificially by the activity of man in ploughing. 44.Cohesion: it is the force of attraction between the same molecule. Eg water

45.Colluvium: A deposit of rock fragments and soil material accumulated at the base of slopes by gravity 46.Conservation tillage: It is a tillage designed to maintain the roughness of the field surface and leave most of the previous crop residues on the surface. 47.Consumptive use: Evaporation +Transpiration + water used for metabolic purposes 48.Contact herbicide: a chemical which kills primarily by contact with plant tissue rather than as a result of translocation. 49.Contour farming: A method of cultivation where all farm operations will be carried along the contour 50.Cover crops: crops which are grown to cover the soil in order to reduce the loss of the moisture from the soil due to leaching and erosion. 51.Critical stage of irrigation: the period or the stage of development of lifecycle of the crop when it is most sensitive to moisture stress, results in yield loss. 52.Crop rotation: The practice of growing different crops in succession on the same land.Ex; Rice-wheat-fallow 53.Cropping pattern: it is the yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of crops and fallow on a given area 54.Cropping system: is the cropping pattern followed in a farm and its interaction with other farm enterprises and available technology which determine their make up. 55.Day neutral plants: the plants which are independent of daylength and can bloom under condition of either long or short days. 56.Deflocculation : it is breaking or separation of soil aggregates into their individual particles. 57.Delta : A triangular area formed at the mouth of the river which contains the deposits of sediments or sand. 58.Denitrification : The biochemical reduction of nitrate or nitrite to gaseous nitrogen in the soil as molecular nitrogen with the help of various denitrifying bacteria. 59.Diffusion : The movement of molecules of from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration 60.Double cropping : Growing two crops in a year in sequence from a same piece of land Eg: rice-wheat 61.Drainage : The removal of excess surface or ground water from land by means of surface or subsurface drains. 62.Drip irrigation: it is an irrigation method that applies water slowly to the roots of plants, by depositing the water either on the soil surface or directly to the root zone using emitters 63.Dryland farming: the practice of crop production entirely with rain water received during the crop season or on conserved soil moisture in low rainfall areas. 64.Duty of water: it is the area irrigated by one cusec discharge of water during the crop period.

65.Ecological agriculture: it is the potential for introducing mutually reinforcing ecological approaches to food production. 66.Effective rainfall: A fraction of total precipitation which forms a part of crop consumptive use. 67.Eluviation: is the leaching of soluble salts and clay particles to the sub soil 68.Erosion: removal of soil particles by natural agents like wind, water and snow. 69.Evaporation: loss of water from the soil due to solar radiation 70.Evapotranspiration: it is loss of moisture from the soil and plant by evaporation and transpiration 71.Exchangeable sodium percentage/ESP: it is the ratio to the amount of exchangeable sodium to the total Cation exchange capacity of the soil multiplied with 100. 72.Fallow: A cultivable land which is not cultivated during the year/season 73.Farming system: A combination of farm enterprises viz cropping system, livestock, poultry, fisheries, forestry and the means available to the farmer to raise them for increasing profitability. 74.Field capacity: it the soil moisture range present in the soil at 0.33 atmosphere or is the maximum level of available soil moisture. 75.Foundation seed: The second link in the certified seed chain produced from breeder seed and handled in such a way as to ensure genetic identity and varietal purity. 76.Freezing injury: Plant tissue is killed when they are exposed to temperature low enough to cause ice formation in them. 77.Furrow irrigation: A method of applying irrigation water to fields or orchards by small ditches or furrows which lead from the supply ditch. 78.Geoponics: cultivation of plants in surface soil 79.Geotropism: A growth movement in response to gravity. Eg Groundnut peg penetration into the soil 80.Global warming: Increase in earth’s atmospheric temperature due to green house effect. 81.Gravitational water: Water that moves freely in response to gravity and drains out of the soil mainly through macrospores not available for plants 82.Green house effect: The entrapment of heat by upper atmospheric gases such as CO2, water vapour, methane etc. Increase in the quantities of these gases will result in preventing escape of long wave radiation thus increase the global temperature which is harmful for mankind 83.Green leaf manure: leaves, twigs and plants collected from other fields and border rows and incorporated into the field. Eg Glyricidia , Calotropis, Tephrosia 84.Green manure: crops grown in the a field and incorporated in the same field eg: daincha, sunhemp 85.Green revolution: Increase in food grain production by the introduction of high yielding wheat and rice cultivars, Dr.Norman E.Borlaug 1967 86.Ground water: Sub surface water in the zone of saturation that is free to move under the influence of gravity

87.Growth regulators: Organic substances which in minute amount may participate in the control of growth processes Ex :Auxins, Cytokinins 88.Halophytes : Plants tolerant to high soil salinity conditions 89.Hard pan : It is a hard and impermeable layer formed in t...