ICAR AIEEA PG – Major Subject Group:
AGRONOMY (Code 05)
Sub-Subject: 5.1 Agronomy
1 UNIT I: General Agriculture
• Importance of Agriculture in national economy
• Basic principles of crop production
• Cultivation practices of:
– Rice, wheat, chickpea, pigeon-pea, sugarcane, groundnut, rapeseed and mus-
tard, potato
• Role of NPK and their deficiency symptoms
• Structure and function of cell organelles
• Mitosis and meiosis
• Mendelian genetics
• Elementary knowledge of:
– Photosynthesis, respiration, photorespiration, transpiration
– Structure and functions of carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, enzymes,
vitamins
• Major pests and diseases of rice, wheat, cotton, chickpea, sugarcane and their
management
• Important rural development programmes in India
• Organisational setup of agricultural research, education and extension in India
• Elements of statistics
2 UNIT II: Principles of Agronomy, Crop Ecology, and Agricul-
tural Meteorology
• Agronomy — meaning and scope
• National and International agricultural research institutes in India
• Agro-climatic zones of India
• Tillage, crop stand establishment, planting geometry and their effect on crops
• Physiological limits of crop yield and variability in relation to ecological optima
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• Organic farming, precision farming, integrated farming systems
• Principles of field experimentation
• Principles of crop ecology and crop adaptation
• Climate shift and its ecological implications
• Agro-ecological regions in India
• Geographical distribution of crop plants
• Greenhouse effect
• Climatic factors and their effect on plant processes and crop productivity
• Role of GIS and GPS in agriculture
• Weather and climate
• Earth’s atmosphere
• Solar radiation
• Atmospheric temperature and global warming
• Crops and atmospheric humidity
• Weather forecasting
3 UNIT III: Field Crops
• Origin, distribution, economic importance, soil and climatic requirements, va-
rieties, cultural practices and yield of:
– Cereals: Rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, minor millets, barley
– Pulses: Chickpea, lentil, peas, pigeon pea, mungbean, urdbean
– Oilseeds: Groundnut, sesame, soybean, rapeseed & mustard, sunflower, saf-
flower, linseed
– Fibre Crops: Cotton, jute, sunhemp
– Sugar Crops: Sugarcane
– Fodder & Forage Crops: Sorghum, maize, napier, berseem, lucerne, oats
– Medicinal & Aromatic Plants: Mentha, lemon grass, isabgol
– Commercial Crops: Potato, tobacco
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4 UNIT IV: Weed Management
• Principles of weed management
• Classification, biology and ecology of weeds
• Crop-weed competition and allelopathy
• Concepts and methods of weed control
• Integrated weed management (IWM)
• Classification, formulations, selectivity and resistance of herbicides
• Herbicide persistence in soil and plants
• Application methods and equipment
• Weed flora shifts in cropping systems
• Special and problematic weeds and their management in cropped and non-
cropped situations
• Weed management in field crops
5 UNIT V: Water Management
• Principles of irrigation
• Water resources and irrigation development in India
• Water and irrigation requirements
• Concepts and approaches of irrigation scheduling
• Methods of irrigation
• Measurement of irrigation water
• Application, distribution and use efficiencies
• Conjunctive use of water
• Irrigation water quality and its management
• Water management in major field crops (rice, wheat, maize, groundnut, sug-
arcane)
• Agricultural drainage
6 UNIT VI: Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Use
• Essential plant nutrients and their deficiency symptoms
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• Concept of essentiality of plant nutrients
• Indicators of soil fertility and productivity
• Fertilizer materials and their availability to plants
• Slow release fertilizers
• Nitrification inhibitors
• Principles and methods of fertilizer application
• Integrated nutrient management (INM)
• Site-specific nutrient management (SSNM)
7 UNIT VII: Dryland Agronomy
• Characteristics of dryland farming and delineation of dryland tracts
• Constraints of dryland farming in India
• Types of drought and their management
• Contingency crop planning and mid-season corrections for aberrant weather
• Recycling of rainwater
• Watershed management
8 UNIT VIII: Problem Soils
• Problem soils and their distribution in India
• Characteristics and reclamation of problem soils
• Crop production techniques in problem soils
9 UNIT IX: Sustainable Land Use Systems
• Sustainable agriculture: parameters and indicators
• Conservation agriculture
• Safe disposal of agri-industrial waste for crop production
• Agroforestry systems
• Shifting cultivation
• Alternate land use systems
• Wastelands and their remediation for crop production
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10 UNIT X: Soil Science Basics
10.1 1. Rocks and its Weathering
• Igneous rocks, Sedimentary rocks, Metamorphic rocks
• Rock minerals: Quartz, Feldspars, Mica, Olivine, Tourmaline
• Sources of plant nutrients
• Primary and secondary minerals
• Weathering of rocks – Physical, Chemical and Biological
• Development of mineral profile
10.2 2. Soil Formation
• Factors of soil formation: Parent materials, Topography, Climate, Organisms,
Time
• Soil forming processes: Eluviation, Illuviation, Gypsification, Podzolisation,
Laterisation, Gleization, Solonization, Pedoturbation
10.3 3. Soil and its Physical Properties
• Soil and its concept: Pedology and Edaphology, Regolith, Regosol, Organic &
mineral soil, Soil profile
• Physical properties: Texture (Sand, Silt, Clay), Textural classes
• Soil structure and its types; Factors affecting soil structure
• Particle and bulk density, Pore space, Soil consistence, Soil colour, Soil air, Soil
temperature
• Soil water: Hygroscopic, Capillary, Gravitational water
• Available water, Field capacity, Permanent wilting point, Hygroscopic coeffi-
cient, Moisture equivalent
• Soil water retention layers
10.4 4. Soil Colloids and Silicate Clay Minerals
• Meaning and composition of clay minerals
• Micelles, Acid nature of clay, Sesquioxide clays
• Silica-sesquioxide ratio
• Silicate clay types: 1:1, 2:1, 2:2
• Sources of negative charge: Isomorphic substitution and crystal edges
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10.5 5. Soil Taxonomy and Soils of India
• Modern classification
• Cat clays, Catena, Caliche
• Indian soils: Alluvial, Black, Red, Laterite, Desert soils
10.6 6. Soil Organic Matter
• Nature of soil organic matter: Humic and non-humic substances
• Characteristics of humus
• Factors affecting decomposition
• C:N ratio and its significance
• Muck and peat soils
• Role of organic matter
• Mineralisation and immobilisation
• Mineralisation of organic nitrogen: Aminization, Ammonification, Nitrifica-
tion
• Nitrogen loss: Volatilisation, Microbial denitrification
