By: Rinku kumari

TGT(SS)

AECS-2 HYDERABAD

CHAPTER - 15

IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD RESOURCESMODULE -1

Need for the improvement of the food India is a very populous country. Our population is

more than one billion people, and it is still growing.

As we need food for this growing population, we will

soon need more than a quarter of a billion tonnes of

grain every year.

This can be done by farming on more land. But India

is already intensively cultivated. As a result, we do

not have any major scope for increasing the area of

land under cultivation.

Therefore, it is necessary to increase our

production efficiency for both crops and livestock.

For meeting the demand of the food in the country several revolutions were done like green revolution, white revolution, silver revolution, blue revolution , yellow revolution etc.

These revolutions meant that our natural resources are getting used more intensively.

Therefore, it is important that we should increase food production without degrading our environment and disturbing the balances maintaining it.

There is a need for sustainable practices in agriculture and animal husbandry.

• The production efficiency of crops

and livestock can be increased by

adopting scientific management

practices to improve crop yield,

undertaking mixed farming,

intercropping, and integrated

farming practices like combining

agriculture with livestock, poultry,

fisheries, bee-keeping etc.

Different types of crops : Cereals like rice, wheat, maize, millets, sorghum etc.

provide us carbohydrates.

Pulses like peas, beans, grams, lentils etc. provide

us proteins.

Oil seeds like ground nut, sesame, castor, mustard,

linseed, sunflower etc. provide us fats.

Vegetables, spices and fruits provide us vitamins

and minerals along with small amounts of

carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

Fodder crops like berseem, oats or sudan grass are

grown as food for livestock.

Different crops require different climatic conditions,

temperature and duration of sunlight (photoperiod).

Kharif crops:

These are the crops grown during the

rainy season from June to October like

paddy, soyabean, maize, pigeon pea,

green gram, black gram, cotton etc.

Paddy maize pigeon pea green gram black gram

Rabi crops:

These crops are grown during the winter

season from November to April like

wheat, linseed, Gram, peas, mustard

etc.Wheat linseed gram peas mustard

Improvement in the crop yield:Crop yield can be improved by three main

activities. They are:

i) Crop variety improvement

ii) Crop production improvement

iii)Crop protection management

i)Crop variety improvement :

1. Crop variety improvement is done by selecting good varieties of crops. This is done by hybridisation. Hybridisation is the crossing between genetically dissimalar plants to obtain crops having useful characteristics like disease resistance, good quality and high yields.

2. Hybridisation may be intervarietal

(between different varieties,

interspecific (between different

species of the same genus) or

intergeneric (between different

genera).

3. Another way of improving crop

variety is by introducing a gene to

obtain the desired characteristic. This

produces genetically modified crops.

Crop variety improvement is done for the following :-----

i) Higher yield : To increase productivity of crop per acre.

ii) Biotic and abiotic resistance : To increase resistance of crops to biotic factors like insects, diseases etc. and abiotic factors like draught, salinity, heat, cold etc.

iii) Change in maturity duration : To reduce the duration between sowing and harvesting so that farmers can grow multiple crops during the year.

iv) Wider adaptibility : To grow crops in different climatic conditions.

v) Desirable agronomic characters : Characters like tallness and more branching are useful for fodder crops and dwarfness (shortness) is desirable for cereal crops.

ii) Crop production improvement:

Crop production management includes:

i) Nutrient management

ii) Irrigation

iii) Cropping management

i) Nutrient management :-a)Plants get nutrients from air, water and soil. There are

sixteen nutrients required by plants for their propergrowth.

b) Air supplies oxygen and carbon dioxide, water supplieshydrogen and the remaining thirteen nutrients areobtained from the soil.

c) Among the sixteen nutrients required by plants, six arerequired in large quantities and are called macronutrients.

d) The macro nutrients are :- nitrogen, phosphorus,potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur.

e) The other seven are required in small quantities and arecalled micro nutrients. Soil can be enriched bysupplying nutrients in the form of manures andfertilizers.

f) The micro nutrients are :- iron, magnesium, boron, zinc,copper, molybdenum and chlorine.

Manure :-• Manure is prepared by the decomposition of plant and animal

waste. It contains organic matter and nutrients. It helps to increase soil fertility. It also helps to reduce use of fertilizers and recycle farm waste and protects the environment. The bulk of organic matter in manure helps in improving the soil structure. This involves increasing the water holding capacity in sandy soils. In clayey soils, the large quantities of organic matter help in drainage and in avoiding water logging.

NOTE:

There are two main types of manures. They are compost and

green manure.

Compost :-It is prepared by the decomposition of plant and animal waste in compost pits.

Vermicompost:- Compost prepared by using earthworms to hasten the process of decomposition of plant and animal refuse. This is called vermicompost

Green manure :-Before sowing seeds in fields, some

green plants like sun hemp, gaur etc.

are mixed in the soil by ploughing.

• These plants turn into green manure

which makes the soil rich in nitrogen

and phosphorus.

• Fertilisers :-

• Fertilisers are chemical substances made

commercially. They supply nitrogen,

phosphorus and potassium and helps to

increase crop yield.

• Fertilisers are nutrient specific. Soluble in

water and they can be easily transported to

one city to other.

• Fertilisers should be used only in required

amounts.

• Excessive use of fertilizers can reduce soil

fertility and also cause water pollution.

Organic Farming

• Organic farming is a farming

system with minimal or no use of

chemicals as fertilizers,

herbicides, pesticides etc. and

with a maximum input of organic

manures, recycled farm wastes,

and bio-agents, with healthy cropping systems.

ii)Irrigation :-+ The supply of water to the crops is called

irrigation. Water is necessary for the proper

growth of plants and helps to increase crop yield.

+ Different kinds if irrigation systems are used to

supply water to agricultural land. They are wells,

canals, rivers, tanks, check dams etc.

i) Wells :- There are two types of wells called dug

wells and tube wells. In dug wells water is

collected from water bearing strata. In tube wells

water is collected from deeper strata.

ii) Canals :- In this system, canals receive water

from reservoirs or rivers and distributes it to

fields.

iii) River lift systems :- In this system water is

lifted from rivers to irrigate fields close to

rivers.

iv) Tanks :- These are small storage

reservoirs which supply water to fields.

v) Check dams :- These are used to stop rain

water from flowing away and helps to

increase groundwater levels and reduce soil erosion.

Cropping patterns :-• There are different types of cropping

pattern that we can practice for the

improvement of the crops as well as for

the high production of the crops to meet

the requirements of the food grains of the

growing population in the country.

• These type include:

i) Mixed cropping

ii) Inter cropping

iii) Crop rotation

i) Mixed cropping:• Mixed cropping is growing two or more

crops simultaneously on the same

piece of land.

For example: wheat + gram, (or) wheat

+ mustard, (or) groundnut + sunflower.

• This reduces risk and gives some

insurance against failure of one of the

crops.

II) intercropping• Inter-cropping is growing two or more crops

simultaneously on the same field in a definite pattern.

• A few rows of one crop alternate with a few rows of a second crop:- for example, soyabean + maize, (or) finger millet (bajra) + cowpea (lobia).

• The crops are selected such that their nutrient requirements are different.

• This ensures maximum utilisation of the nutrients supplied, and also prevents pests and diseases from spreading to all the plants belonging to one crop in a field. This way, both crops can give better returns.

Image of intercropping

IIi) Crop rotation:• The growing of different crops on a piece

of land in a pre-planned succession is known as crop rotation.

• Depending upon the duration, crop rotation is done for different crop combinations. The availability of moisture and irrigation facilities decide the choice of the crop to be cultivated after one harvest. If crop rotation is done properly then two or three crops can be grown in a year with good harvests.

Crop protection management:• Crops in the field are damaged by

weeds, insect pests and diseases.

• Insect, pests attack the plants in three ways:

(i) they cut the root, stem and leaves,

(ii) suck cell sap and

(iii) bore into stems and fruits.

They thus effect the health of the crop and reduce crop yield.

• Diseases in plants are caused by

pathogens like virus, bacteria and fungi

and reduces crop yield

• Insect pests and diseases can be

controlled by using chemicals like

pesticides, fungicides etc.

• Some other preventive measures against

pests are the use of resistant varieties,

and summer ploughing, in which fields

are ploughed deep in summers to

destroy weeds and pests.

Weeds

• Weeds are unwanted plants which grow in the field.

Eg :- Xanthium, Parthenium, Cyperinus rotundusetc.

• They compete with the crop for food, space and sunlight and use nutrients and reduce crop yield.

• Weeds can be controlled by using chemicals like weedicides. They are sprayed on crop plants or used for treating seeds and soil. Since these chemicals are poisionous, excessive use of these chemicals can cause environmental pollution

• Weed control methods also include mechanical removal. Preventive methods such as proper seed bed preparation, timely sowing of crops, intercropping and crop rotation also help in weed control.

Storage grains:• The factors responsible for the damage and

loss of grains are biotic factors like bacteria, fungi, insects, rodents etc. and abiotic factors like moisture and temperature in the place of storage.

• Before storage, the grains are cleaned and dried in sunlight to remove moisture and the storage places are fumigated to kill pests.

• Preventive and control measures are used before grains are stored for future use. They include strict cleaning of the produce before storage, proper drying of the produce first in sunlight and then in shade, and fumigation using chemicals that can kill pests.

Let’s Revise what we have learnt

1.There are several nutrients essential for crops. Of these,some are required in large quantities and are known as macro-nutrients whereas rest of the nutrients are required in small quantities and are known as micro-nutrients.

2. Manure and fertilizers are the main sources of nutrient supply to crops.

3. Mixed farming is a system of farming on a particular farm which includes crop production, raising of livestock etc.

4. Mixed cropping is growing of two or more crops

simultaneously on the same piece of land.

5. Growing two or more crops in definite row

patterns is known as inter-cropping.

6. The growing of different crops on a piece of land

in pre-planned succession is called crop rotation.

7. Varietal improvement is required for higher yield,

good quality, biotic and abiotic resistance,

shortening the maturity duration, wider

adaptability and desirable agronomic

characteristics.

THANK YOU