Sustainable agriculture can be defined as the

adoption of various farming and production

management techniques to maximise agricultural
yield.
Implementing such practices would help in
Conserving natural resources
Maintaining environmental balance
Coping with changing human needs
Therefore it is necessary to adopt sustainable
agricultural practices such as mixed farming, crop
rotation, intercropping and integrated farming.

Integrated agriculture implies a combination

of agriculture with other forms of culture
such as
Pisciculture
Aquaculture
Apiculture
Sericulture
Poultry farming
Piggery
Livestock production etc

Achieves the integration of natural biological

cycles and controls
Protects and renews soil fertility and the natural
resource base
Optimizes the management and the use of farm
resources.
Reduces the use of non renewable resources and
purchased production inputs.
Provides an adequate and dependable form of
income.
Promotes opportunity in family farming and farm
communities.

Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on

techniques such as crop rotation, green manure,
compost and biological pest control.
Organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides but
excludes or strictly limits the use of
Manufactured (synthetic) fertilizers
Pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and
fungicides)
Plant growth regulators such as hormones
Livestock antibiotics
Food additives
Genetically modified organisms
Nanomaterials

It prevents pollution of any components of our

environment.
Farm wastes are recycled.
The food obtained from organic farming are
free from pesticides and toxic chemicals.
Organic farming maintains the soil health
The cropping system of organic farming keeps
insects, pests and weeds under check.

Agriculture is the science and practice of

farming which mainly involves
Rearing of livestock
Cultivating land
Rising crops
Harvesting
Marketing the produce.

Seeds
Fruits
Vegetables
Spices
Fodder crops
Other crops

Cereals
Include crops such as wheat , rice etc.
They are a rich source of carbohydrate
Pulses
Legumes such a chick peas and peas
They are a rich source of proteins
Oil seed crops
Include groundnut, sesame and mustard
They are a rich source of fats
Nuts or dry fruits
Includes walnut, pistachios and cashews
They are a rich source of fats and proteins

Include apple, orange, mango, banana,

pineapple, guava etc
They are a god source of
Vitamins
Minerals
Roughage
Proteins
Carbohydrates
Fats

They are edible parts of herbaceous plants.

They are of following types
Roots carrot, radish
Stems bamboo, banana
Leafy vegetables spinach, lettuce
Inflorescence vegetables broccoli, cauliflower
Fruit vegetables tomato, pumpkin

Certain parts of some plants are used to

enhance the palatability of food
They are known as spices.
Fodder crops provide food to cattle oat,
sorghum
Other crops include cotton, tobacco and
chocolates.

Different crops require different climatic

conditions, temperature and photoperiod for
their growth and maturity.
Sunlight is required for photosynthesis.
Photoperiods are duration of sunlight that
influences plant in their growth, flowering,
formation of storage organs, leaf fall etc.
In India there are two main seasons of crop
growth.

They are monsoon or rainy season crops

The crops grow in hot and wet condition
These crops are sown in the beginning of rainy
season in June and July
These crops are harvested during September
and October at the end of monsoon
Examples rice, maize, groundnut, soybean etc

They are non monsoon season crops

The crops grow in cold and nearly dry
conditions
These crops are grown in October and
November when monsoon is retreated.
These crops are harvested in March and April
before the advent of hot season
Example wheat, barley, gram etc

Crop production management refers to

controlling the various aspects of crop
production, to obtain the maximum and best
yield.
It has the following three components
Nutrient management
Irrigation
Cropping pattern

Nutrient management means controlling the

selection, timing and amount of nutrient
supply to the crops
Inorganic elements required by plants for
building their structure and maintaining their
metabolic processes are known as nutrients.
They are of two types
Macronutrients
Micronutrients

They are required in large amounts

Concentration of each macronutrient in plants
is more than 1 mg/gm of dry matter
They take part in building plant body and
different protoplasmic structures.
They have no significant role in enzyme
activity and electron transport
Example N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S

They are required in small amounts

Concentration of each micronutrient in plants
is less than 1 mg/gm of dry matter
They do not take part in building plant body
and different protoplasmic structures.
They have significant role in enzyme activity
and electron transport
Example Fe, Mn, B, Zn, Cu, Mb, Cl

Manures are natural fertilizer

They are bulky sources of organic matter which
supply nutrients in small quantities and
organic matter in large quantities.
Manures are prepared by the decomposed
animal excreta and plant waste.
Manure include farmyard manure(FYM),
compost, green manures, vermicompost etc.

FYM is the decomposed mixture of cattle

excreta, litter and left over organic material
such as roughage or fodder
These waste materials are collected on a daily
basis from the cattle shed and stored in a pit for
decomposition by the microorganisms
FYM contains nitrogen, potassium and
phosphorous

Compost is prepared from farm and town

refuge such as vegetable and animal refuse.
Composting is a biological process in which
both aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms
decompose the organic matter
It takes about 3 to 6 months for decomposition
of organic refuse
It contains nitrogen, phosphorus and
potassium monoxide

The practice of green manuring includes

growing, mulching by ploughing and mixing
of green crops(eg. Cluster beans, lentil or
masur) with soil to improve physical structure
and soil fertility
A green manure supplies
Nitrogen and Phosphorous
Organic matter for improving hydration,
aeration and crumb structure of the soil
It tends to provide protection against erosion
and leaching

Fertilizers provide plant nutrients,

commercially manufactured using chemicals
Fertilizers supply NPK
They are good for vegetative growth thus
giving rise to healthy plants
Fertilizers contain much higher amount of
nutrients in comparison to the manures and are
therefore, used in small quantities

Nitrogenous fertilizers
Phosphatic fertilizers
Potassic fertilizers
Complex fertilizers

Organisms which enrich the soil with nutrients

are called bio fertilizers
They are renewable and non pollutant sources
of plant nutrients such as nitrogen
They are not alternatives to chemical fertilizers
but can play a supplementary role in supplying
nutrients under specific soil conditions.
Nitrogen fixing bacterias are the main type of
bio fertilizers being used in India

Mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association of certain

fungi with roots of higher plants.
Mycorrhiza increases water and nutrient
uptake by plants and increases growth, vigour
and yield of the plants.

The process of supplying water to crop plants

by means of canals, wells, reservoirs, tube wells
etc, is known as irrigation.
Water management is arranging and supplying
required water to crops without harming soil
aeration, change of water table or causing
water logging and soil salinity.

Crop plants are irrigates with freshwater to supply

two essential elements to them, hydrogen and
oxygen. Both these elements are present in water
molecules and are necessary for growth and
development of crop plants.
Irrigation of crop fields is necessary to provide
sufficient moisture for the germination of seeds
Irrigation of crop plants is necessary for the
growth and elongation of the roots of the crop
plants
Irrigation is necessary to increase the number of
aerial branches(called tillers) so as to get a good
crop yield.

Some most commonly used irrigation systems

are the following :
Canal system
Tanks
Wells
River lift system
River valley system
Drip and sprinkler system

In canal system, the human made canals

receive water from one or two reservoirs or
from rivers
This is usually an elaborate and extensive
irrigation system
Thus, main canal is distributed into branch
canals and branch canals further have
distributaries or field channels

Tanks are small storage reservoirs, which catch

and store the runoff of smaller catchment areas
Small dams are built below the higher
elevations of the catchment areas
In the tanks, outflows are controlled according
to the availability of water.
Otherwise it causes an uneven distribution of
water .

Wells are constructed wherever exploitable

ground water is present.
Wells are of two types
Dug wells
Tube wells

River lift system is more useful in those areas

where canal flow is insufficient or irregular due
to inadequate water release
In this system, water is directly drawn from the
rivers for supplement irrigation

Certain parts of the country such as Karnataka

and Kerala which lie along the Western Ghats,
use water that is discharged into the steep and
narrow riverine valleys, during the rainy
season

Overhead pipes for spraying water and

sprinkler system save a lot of water and are
more natural
They however, require a pumping system
These methods are very common in USA,
Britain, Europe and parts of India

Water availability for irrigation can be assured

by augmenting ground water
It is carried out by following two methods
Rain water harvesting
Water shed management

These are models of raising crops which help in

obtaining maximum benefit from the same
piece of land, reduce risk of crop failure,
disease and infestation
Three common types of cropping patterns are
Mixed cropping
Intercropping
Crop rotation

Mixed farming is the practice of growing of

two or more crops simultaneously in the same
piece of land
The basic objective in mixed cropping is to
minimise the risk and insure against the crop
failure due to abnormal weather conditions
Maize and Urad
Cotton and Moong bean

Intercropping is a practice of growing two or

more crops simultaneously in a same field in
definite row patterns with the objective of
increasing productivity per unit area
The practice of intercropping is adopted by
small farmers and where farmers have least
access to irrigation.
Intercropping is an improved of mixed
cropping

Crop rotation is the practice of growing of

different crops on a piece of land in preplanned
succession.
Depending upon the duration crop rotation may
be of the following types:
One year rotation
(maize mustard)
Two year rotation
(maize mustard sugarcane fenugreek)
Three year rotation
(rice wheat moong mustard sugarcane
berseem)

The bumper increase in the yield of food

grains(especially the wheat crop) as during the
1970s, is often termed green revolution
The 1970 Nobel Laureate, American scientist
Dr. N. E. Borlaug was the person behind triple
dwarf Mexican wheat varieties
Their colour was changed to Indian liking
through gamma irradiation (by M. S.
Swaminathan, Father of Green Revolution in
India

The art of recognising valuable traits and

incorporating them into future generationis very
important in plant breeding
Need for higher crop yield
Higher yield
Improved
Biotic and abiotic resistance
Changes in maturity duration
Photo insensitivity and thermo insensitivity
Desirable agronomic traits
Wider adaptability

This refers to transportation of crop plants

from the place of their cultivation to the place
where they were never grown earlier
Thus, the process of introducing new plants
from their growing place to their new region is
called acclimatization
It is a quick method to bring about
improvement with minimum effort and cost.

This process involves selection of the most the

desirable offspring of a variety of plant for
controlled propagation
Selection favours the survival and further
propagation of some plants having more
desirable characters than others.

The crossing between genetically dissimilar

plants to produce a new kind(hybrid) is called
hybridisation.
Crossing may be between two different
varieties, between two different species of the
same genus and between different genera
This method incorporates the desired
characteristics of both parents in one variety.

Mutations are sudden inheritable variations

They are produced at random through gamma
irradiation and a number of other physical and
chemical agents called mutagens
Triple dwarf Mexican varieties of wheat were
developed by N. E. Borlaug (1963) through
incorporation mutations by selective
hybridization

This technology refers transfer of genes from

one organism to another so as to modify the
latter
They are called genetically modified organisms
Bt cotton is a genetically modified crop which
carries bacterial genes that protect plants with
insects
Bt stands for bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis