Crop Production And Management Class 8 Questions And Answers Pdf Download
Alexander Rodriguez
Over-exposure to chemicals leads to environmental problems; hence, biological methods are preferred for protecting crops from pathogens, insects and rodents, along with increasing production. Since chemicals are harmful to plants and also to the animals which feed on them, bio-pesticides are used as a safe way of crop protection.
crop production and management class 8 questions and answers pdf download
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29. For discussion Despite being one of the growing economies, our country still has a large section of the population going hungry and malnourished. Do you think an efficient crop production mechanism is the only solution to this? Discuss in the class what else needs to be done to root out hunger and malnutrition from our country.
Biotechnology provides farmers with tools that can make production cheaper and more manageable. For example, some biotechnology crops can be engineered to tolerate specific herbicides, which make weed control simpler and more efficient. Other crops have been engineered to be resistant to specific plant diseases and insect pests, which can make pest control more reliable and effective, and/or can decrease the use of synthetic pesticides. These crop production options can help countries keep pace with demands for food while reducing production costs. A number of biotechnology-derived crops that have been deregulated by the USDA and reviewed for food safety by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and/or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been adopted by growers.
Many other types of crops are now in the research and development stages. While it is not possible to know exactly which will come to fruition, certainly biotechnology will have highly varied uses for agriculture in the future. Advances in biotechnology may provide consumers with foods that are nutritionally-enriched or longer-lasting, or that contain lower levels of certain naturally occurring toxicants present in some food plants. Developers are using biotechnology to try to reduce saturated fats in cooking oils, reduce allergens in foods, and increase disease-fighting nutrients in foods. They are also researching ways to use genetically engineered crops in the production of new medicines, which may lead to a new plant-made pharmaceutical industry that could reduce the costs of production using a sustainable resource.
In addition to genetically engineered crops, biotechnology has helped make other improvements in agriculture not involving plants. Examples of such advances include making antibiotic production more efficient through microbial fermentation and producing new animal vaccines through genetic engineering for diseases such as foot and mouth disease and rabies.
The application of biotechnology in agriculture has resulted in benefits to farmers, producers, and consumers. Biotechnology has helped to make both insect pest control and weed management safer and easier while safeguarding crops against disease.
The Grain Systems Certificate (CT) leads graduates into a career in crop management and grain system design. This credential gives students the opportunity to learn about how grain systems affect our food supply, and how to operate and maintain them to help feed our communities.
This document synthesizes information about the warm-season cover crop, sunn hemp. It addresses frequently asked questions for growers and summarizes the expanding body of sunn hemp research. The information is provided so growers in Florida can learn about up-to-date cultivation and management options as well as better understand sunn hemp's practical uses. This document is a follow-up to EDIS publications SL 306 ( ) and ENY-717 ( ).
The aboveground parts of sunn hemp can accumulate up to 300 lb of nitrogen per acre, although planting date and location can affect nitrogen accumulation. The method used to mow and incorporate the crop can affect the decomposition rate and mineralization of nitrogen depending on how intact the crop biomass remains and whether it was left on the surface or buried. Although exact amounts of nitrogen available for subsequent crops vary widely depending on location and management factors, vegetable yields have been shown to respond favorably. Overall nitrogen leaching can be reduced when sunn hemp is incorporated into the soil by increasing soil organic matter. However, nitrogen leaching may also increase shortly after termination due to rapid decomposition of plant residue.
Sunn hemp can become woody and challenging to terminate if grown for too long. A balance between biomass production and ease of field maintenance is important to consider when scheduling and timing sunn hemp management. Timing of subsequent direct-seeded crops is also important to consider in the use of sunn hemp as a cover crop due to allelochemical effects of residues on crop seeds. Sunn hemp is best in rotation with crops that tolerate allelochemicals, or when given sufficient time for residues to decompose before subsequent cropping.
Although sunn hemp is grown in Brazil, India, and Pakistan as a source of fiber, the processing industries needed to produce fiber from the crop are not present in the United States. India is the largest producer of sunn hemp fiber for use in products such as twine, fishing nets, ropes, and floor mats. However, production of sunn hemp for fiber has declined in recent years due to competition from synthetic fiber production.
Water supply and use. In California, an extensive water storage and transfer system has been established which has allowed crop production to expand to very arid regions. In drought years, limited surface water supplies have prompted overdraft of groundwater and consequent intrusion of salt water, or permanent collapse of aquifers. Periodic droughts, some lasting up to 50 years, have occurred in California.
Water quality. The most important issues related to water quality involve salinization and contamination of ground and surface waters by pesticides, nitrates and selenium. Salinity has become a problem wherever water of even relatively low salt content is used on shallow soils in arid regions and/or where the water table is near the root zone of crops. Tile drainage can remove the water and salts, but the disposal of the salts and other contaminants may negatively affect the environment depending upon where they are deposited. Temporary solutions include the use of salt-tolerant crops, low-volume irrigation, and various management techniques to minimize the effects of salts on crops. In the long-term, some farmland may need to be removed from production or converted to other uses. Other uses include conversion of row crop land to production of drought-tolerant forages, the restoration of wildlife habitat or the use of agroforestry to minimize the impacts of salinity and high water tables. Pesticide and nitrate contamination of water can be reduced using many of the practices discussed later in the Plant Production Practices and Animal Production Practices sections.
Sustainable production practices involve a variety of approaches. Specific strategies must take into account topography, soil characteristics, climate, pests, local availability of inputs and the individual grower's goals.
Despite the site-specific and individual nature of sustainable agriculture, several general principles can be applied to help growers select appropriate management practices:
Preventive strategies, adopted early, can reduce inputs and help establish a sustainable production system. When possible, pest-resistant crops should be selected which are tolerant of existing soil or site conditions. When site selection is an option, factors such as soil type and depth, previous crop history, and location (e.g. climate, topography) should be taken into account before planting.
Diversified farms are usually more economically and ecologically resilient. While monoculture farming has advantages in terms of efficiency and ease of management, the loss of the crop in any one year could put a farm out of business and/or seriously disrupt the stability of a community dependent on that crop. By growing a variety of crops, farmers spread economic risk and are less susceptible to the radical price fluctuations associated with changes in supply and demand.
Optimum diversity may be obtained by integrating both crops and livestock in the same farming operation. This was the common practice for centuries until the mid-1900s when technology, government policy and economics compelled farms to become more specialized. Mixed crop and livestock operations have several advantages. First, growing row crops only on more level land and pasture or forages on steeper slopes will reduce soil erosion. Second, pasture and forage crops in rotation enhance soil quality and reduce erosion; livestock manure, in turn, contributes to soil fertility. Third, livestock can buffer the negative impacts of low rainfall periods by consuming crop residue that in "plant only" systems would have been considered crop failures. Finally, feeding and marketing are flexible in animal production systems. This can help cushion farmers against trade and price fluctuations and, in conjunction with cropping operations, make more efficient use of farm labor.
A common philosophy among sustainable agriculture practitioners is that a "healthy" soil is a key component of sustainability; that is, a healthy soil will produce healthy crop plants that have optimum vigor and are less susceptible to pests. While many crops have key pests that attack even the healthiest of plants, proper soil, water and nutrient management can help prevent some pest problems brought on by crop stress or nutrient imbalance. Furthermore, crop management systems that impair soil quality often result in greater inputs of water, nutrients, pesticides, and/or energy for tillage to maintain yields.
In the early part of this century, most farms integrated both crop and livestock operations. Indeed, the two were highly complementary both biologically and economically. The current picture has changed quite drastically since then. Crop and animal producers now are still dependent on one another to some degree, but the integration now most commonly takes place at a higher level--between farmers, through intermediaries, rather than within the farm itself. This is the result of a trend toward separation and specialization of crop and animal production systems. Despite this trend, there are still many farmers, particularly in the Midwest and Northeastern U.S. that integrate crop and animal systems--either on dairy farms, or with range cattle, sheep or hog operations.
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