CROP PRODUCTION

AND
MANAGEMENT
What are Crops ?
Crop is a plant of the same kind that is
large
grownscale
on a to get useful products and to meet
nutritional needs in an area by man.

The plants which are grown at home or

on small scale of area are not said to be crops.

Types of Crops
There are different types of crops
which are as
follows:
1.Kharif crops
2.Rabi crops
3.Zaid
What are Crops ?
Crop is a plant of the same kind that is
large
grownscale
on a to get useful products and to meet
nutritional needs in an area by man.

The plants which are grown at home or

on small scale of area are not said to be crops.

Types of Crops
There are different types of crops
which are as
follows:
1.Kharif crops
2.Rabi crops
3.Zaid
 Kharif crops
These are the crops grown in rainy
season during the month of June to
October. They are also known as
summer or monsoon crop. Seeds of
these crops are sown in the beginning
of the monsoon season. They are
harvested by September or October.
For example: Maize, sugarcane,
soybean, groundnut and paddy.
Rabi crops
These crops are sown in winter that is
between November and December. These
are known as winter crops. These crops are
harvested in March or April. For example:
Wheat and Barley. These crops require less
water to grow.

Zaid crops
These crops are sown in summer seasons
and are known as summer crops. For example:
watermelon and cucumber. These crops require
excessive heat to grow.
 Agriculture practices
There are different
practices which are used and
these are as follows:
1.Preparation of soil
2.Sowing
3.Apply manures and fertilizers
4.Irrigation
5.Weeding
6.Protection of crops
7.Harvesting, Threshing, and
Winnowing
8.Storage
Preparation of soil
It involves ploughing, leveling, and
manuring. Ploughing is defined as
turning and loosening of soil with a
plough.

Advantages of ploughing
1.It helps in the penetration of roots deeply.
2. Soil gets loose by ploughing and
therefore, air can pass through it. So, we
can say that it aerates the root.
3.It is helpful in removing unwanted plants or weeds.
4.It is helpful in mixing or upturning of soil.
5.It is helpful in destroying harmful organisms.
Leveling
After ploughing, certain lumps are left. Then, leveling helps in
breaking of big lumps of soil. It is done by a leveler.

Advantages of leveling
1.It is helpful in protection of soil from erosion.
2.It promotes irrigation.

Manuring
It is definedas mixing of soil with manure. It is
helpful in increasing soil fertility.
Fertility means soil has sufficient nutrients.
Sowing
It is defined as process of putting seeds in soil.
Seeds are selected on the basis of:
 High yielding variety (HYV) seed is used.
 Seeds should be germinated in nature and
germinated in plant. It should not be dormant and it
means the seeds which is not converted into plant.
 Seeds should be sown at right depth.
 There should be a proper distance maintained
between each seed. Overcrowding should be avoided.
 Seeds should be free from diseases.
 Seeds used should be viable means it should be
converted into plant.
Methods of sowing
There are different methods of sowing which are explained as
follows:
Broad Casting
It is a method in which seeds are sown manually directly by
scattering in soil. Disadvantage of this method is that it leads to
unequal distribution of seeds and thereby reduces crop yield.
Seed drill
In a seed drill, an iron funnel is placed at the top. Seeds are
put in the funnel and then released in soil furrows. The
advantage of this method is that it saves time and seeds are sown
at right depth.
Transplantation
In this method, seeds are sown first in nurseries, and then the
seedlings are transferred to the main field. For example: Paddy.
Manures and Fertilizers

They both play an important role in the

production of healthy growth. These are added
to the soil to maintain the fertility of soil.

Fertile soil is defined as the soil which has

all the nutrients required for the growth of seeds.
Manures
These are the organic substances obtained by the decomposition of
plants and animals waste.
Types of Manures
Farm yard
It consists of cattle dung and urine.
Compost
It is formed by the decomposition of plants and animals. If
decomposition can be done in the presence of earth worm, it is
known as vermicompost.
If decomposition is done in the presence of bacteria, then it is
known as bacterial compost.
Green manure
It consists of decomposed leguminous plants like sunhemp.
Leguminous plants are the plants whose roots have special
bacteria and that bacteria is helpful in nitrogen fixation.
 Advantages of Manure
The advantages of manure are as
 It adds nutrient
follows
to soil.–
 It adds humus to soil.
 It improves the quality of soil.

Fertilizers
These are the inorganic compounds which supply specific
nutrients.
For example: NPK (Nitrogen Phosphorous Potassium),
ammonium sulphate, ammonium phosphate etc.
Manure Fertilizer
It is a organic substance. It is it is an inorganic substance.
It provides all the required or specific
It provides all the essential nutrients to the soil.
nutrients to the soil.
Its action is slow. Its action is fast.
Manure adds humus to the soil. It does not add humus to soil.
Manure is required in very large number. It is required in small numbers.
Manure takes long period of time to show
It shows result in very less period of time.
result.
Manure is difficult to store and transport. FertiFertilizers are easy to store and transport.
Manure is biodegradable. Fertilizer is non-biodegradable.
It is prepared in fields. It is prepared in laboratories.
 Irrigation
It is supplying water to plants.
Sources of irrigation
Water can be obtained from pond, lake,
tube well.
Traditional method of Irrigation

Moat: Water is pulled out from the well and directlysuppliedto

the plants.

Dhekli: In dhekli, buckets are used and then with the help of
rope, water is pulled out from the well.
Rahat: In this method, buckets are knotted with rope on wheel and then bulls rotate the
handle due to which wheel turned up and then water gets filled into the bucket and
used for different purposes.

Chain pump: In this method, two wheels are used. The one wheel is easily visible and
the another wheel at the bottom is slightly dipped into the soil. These two wheels are
connected with each other through chain and buckets are joined with wheel. When
wheels rotate buckets get filled and used for different purposes.
 Modern methods of irrigation: Sprinkler

In this method, water is distributed through a system of perpendicular pipes

usually by pumping.
It is then sprayed into the air over entire soil surface through spray heads
on rotating nozzles so that it breaks up into small water drops which fall
to the ground. This system provides efficient coverage for small to large
areas and is suitable for use on all types of soil. This method of supplying
water is similar to rainfall.
 Modern methods of irrigation: Drip
Irrigation

In this system, water falls drop by drop just at the position of roots. Drip
Irrigation also called trickle irrigation.
A drip irrigation system carries water directly to the base of each
individual plant. Water is allowed to fall drop by drop from a pipe, just
near the roots. It is an ideal watering method. It saves water. It also
reduces soil erosion. Water and nutrients reach directly to the places
where needed. It saves time and labour.
Uses
It is helpful in translocation of food.
It protects the crops from frost and hot
climate.
Disadvantages of excess irrigation
Due to excess irrigation seeds can’t
respire. Due to excess irrigation roots do
not grow well.
Weeds
Weeds are the unwanted
plants that grow with the
main plant.
removing weedsThe process
is called ofFo
weeding. example: Amaranthus, r
grass, wild
Chenopodium oats
(Bathua) . ,

Disadvantages of weeds
Weeds compete with main crops for nutrients,
space, sunlight, water etc. Due to weeds,
main crop gets affected.
Methods of weeding
Manual weeding: It is the
method in which weeding is
done by hands. This process is
time consuming.

Weedicides: These are the

chemicals that are used to kill
weeds. For example: 2-4 D etc.
In this methods we spray the
chemicals.
Protection of crops
Crops are protected from pests
Pests are the organisms that damage
crops. For example: Insects, bacteria
etc.
Pests affect crops in various ways as
follows-
1. They lower the quality of crops.
2. They reduce yield.
3. They bore inside the crops.
Pests are removed by pesticides. Pesticides are the chemicals
Harvesting
The process of cutting and gathering mature crops from the field
with sickle is called harvesting.
Methods of Harvesting
The different methods of harvesting are as follows –
Threshing
It is the process of separating grain from hay. After harvesting,
threshing is done. It is the process of loosening the seeds from the
husk and straw. In olden times, this was done by beating the
grains with sticks or some other objects.
Winnowing
It is the process of separating chaff from grains.

Storage
If storage is not done in well maintained order, our crops get destroyed.

Methods Employed for storage

Drying: Seeds can be stored by drying as by doing this, moisture gets removed and it prevents
the growth of microorganisms.

Maintaining storage containers

Gunny bags, earthen pots, etc should not be used repeatedly. It should always be new, without cracks
etc. By doing this, microorganisms will not grow and seeds can be saved for a longer period of time.

Chemical treatment
Godowns, etc. should be sprayed with fumigants and there should be no seepage so that crops
can be stored properly. If water is present in godowns, it may lead to formation of microorganisms and
these microorganisms might spread diseases. Thus, it can harm storage.
 Uses of improved storage structures
The storage structures that are airtight, rat proof, can maintain steady
temperature etc should be used. For example: silos.
Advantages of storage
1. Food does not get spoiled.
2. It is helpful in availability of fruits & vegetable whole year.
3. It is also helpful in maintenance of emergency stock like during
flood.
Storage
 Dry storage
There are certain seeds that need dry storage. For example: Food grain etc.
 Cold storage
There are certain seeds that need cold temperature for its storage. For
example: Fruits including apples, banana, pear etc.
Crop rotation
Method of growing crops alternatively on same land is known as crop rotation.
For example: Cauliflower is sown and harvested. Let us suppose
cauliflower used nitrogen from soil. It means that the soil has less nitrogen
and then we need to grow that crop which has high nitrogen and does not
require nitrogen for its growth.
Crop rotation has a lot of benefits
1. The land gets utilized in a better way.
2. Soil fertility is maintained.
3. Farmer has variety of crops for selling.
 Example of crop rotation
Legumes include pea, beans, grams and pulses are grown in first season
and wheat should be grown next to it. In roots of legumes, rhizobium
(bacteria) is present and this rhizobium is helpful in fixing of atmospheric
nitrogen. It means that it converted it into nitrogen compound and add it in
the soil. Thus, soil will have not nitrogen deficiency. Then wheat should be
sown and requires nitrogen. Then, again we can grow legumes to maintain
nitrogen level in soil.
The legume crops (has nitrogen fixing bacteria) uses up different nutrients
from the soil but it fixes atmospheric nitrogen and makes the soil richer in
nitrogen and maintain the fertility of soil.
Multiple cropping
Criteria of selecting crops
Crops with different maturation period are chosen. The crop which
gets mature first will be harvested first and then the crop that
will mature later will be harvested accordingly. For example:
sugarcane, legumes.
Problems faced by farmers
1. Difficulty in harvesting.
2. Difficulty in supplying fertilizers.
3. Can spread pest.
4. Can lower the quality of crops.
For better results: Multiple cropping can be converted into
intercropping.
Intercropping is defined as growing different crops in definite
pattern. For example: By making rows. By this method, pest will
not spread and easy to harvest.
All limitations of multiple cropping are overcome by intercropping.
Nitrogen Cycle
It is the process by which
nitrogen is converted to its
forms. Thisvarious
transformation
can
chemicalbe carried out
biologic
through
al and both
physical
processes. in
processes Important
the nitrogen
cycle include–

Nitrogen Fixation: The conversion of nitrogen into nitrates is
known as nitrogen fixation.

Nitrate Assimilation: Plants absorb nitrates from the soil
through their root system and convert them into plant
proteins. When animals eat these plants, the plant proteins
are converted into animal proteins.

Ammonification: The process of conversion of plant and
animal proteins into ammonium compounds by putrefying
bacteria in soil is called ammonification.

Nitrification: The ammonium salts are converted into
nitrites by Nitrosomonas bacteria. The nitrites are then
converted into nitrates by Nitro bacteria. This process is
called nitrification.

Dentrification: The conversion of nitrates into free nitrogen