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6:49 AM

AGRONOMY

Scientific crop production is called Agronomy.

CROP

Community of plants to produce yield, which are economically important, called Crop.

OBJECTIVES OF CROP

To provide the food to the human beings and also useful to animals.

GENOTYPE

Genotype are the new varieties and cultivars.

  • Poor yield    =      poor genotype +         good environment
  • Poor yield    =      poor genotype +         poor environment
  • Poor yield    =      good genotype +         poor environment
  • Good yield   =      good genotype +         good environment

FACTORS EFFECTING GENOTYPE

These are the factors effecting genotype

  • Vulnerability of seed.
  • Viability of seed.
  • Poor storability.

SOIL

It is a layer of lithosphere. Soil is composed of aluminium and silica is 1:1 or 1:2 ratio.

Soil is the basic medium for plant growth.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOIL

Physical properties of soil are
  • Bulk density
  • Porosity
  • Soil texture and structure.

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF SOIL

Chemical properties of soil are

  • Cation (-), Anion (+) exchange capacity
  • Soil ph.
  • Soil salts or electrical conductivity
  • Soil types.

CROPING SEASONS

We have two cropping seasons

RABI CROPS

Those crops which growing season starts in winter

For example; Wheat, Barley etc.

KHARIF CROPSBasic concepts in crop production 300x300 Basic concepts in crop production

Those crops which growing season starts in summer

For example; Cotton, Rice etc.

TYPES OF PLANTS ON THE BASIS OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC SYSTEMS

There are two types of plants on the basis of photosynthetic systems
  • C3 Plants (Mesophyllous photosynthetic system)
  • C4 Plants (PEP carboxyl’s photosynthetic system)

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF C3 AND C4 PLANTS

  • C4 are tropical plants.
  • C4 plants productivity is greater than C3 plants.
  • C4 plants are Sugar cane, Sorghum, Milit, Maize, and Weeds.
  • C4 plants does not utilize its own chloroplast whether C3 plants does use it.

SOIL COMPOSITION

Soil is the basic medium for plant growth.

Soil contain

  • 25% moisture
  • 25% Airspace
  • 5% Organic matter
  • 45% Minerals.

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF COMMON MICROORGANISMS PER GRAM OF SOIL.

  • Bacteria                           3,000,000 to 500,000,000
  • Actinomycetes                  1,000,000 to 20,000,000
  • Fungi                               5,000 to 1000,000
  • Protozoa                          1,000 to 500,000
  • Algae                               1,000 to 500,000

CN RATIO (CARBON TO NITROGEN RATIO)

CN ratio indicates the decomposition of organic matter. Number of carbon units utilizes to produce nitrogen unit.

Crop Name

C

:

N
· Green Legumes

12

:

1

· Compost (decompose form of O.matter)

15

:

1

· Garbage

25

:

1

· Sugar Cane thrash

50

:

1

· Weeds

80

:

1

· Rice straw

80

:

1

· Saw dust

500

:

1
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9:48 AM
By Dr Rashid Ahmad, Bilal Hassan & Khawar Jabran
GRAIN crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, sunflower, dry beans, soybean and lentils constitute essential source of proteins and carbohydrates. Per hectare grain yield of these crops is far below international standards. Harvest index of modern cultivars of these intensively cultivated grain crops fall within the range of 0.4 to 0.6. Improving crop harvest index: agrinfobank.comLow grain crop harvest index could be attributed to cultivation of non-recommended crop cultivars, unapproved seed used for sowing, late sowing, imperfect sowing methods, low plant population, poor plant protection, and proliferation of weeds, imbalanced use of fertiliser and non-availability of water for irrigation at critical crop growth stages.
Low crop harvest index is the major cause of less crop yield. Therefore, harvest index could be used as a yardstick for determining the gap between potential and actual yields. By definition, potential yield is the yield of a cultivar when grown in an ideal environment, with adequate nutrients and moisture, and stresses like pests, diseases, weeds, lodging are effectively controlled. On the other, actual yield is the maximum yield which could be obtained under given environmental conditions and with available inputs.
Harvest index of important grain crops is given in the table.
Harvest Index  Crop
0.40 - 0.55      Wheat
0.40 - 0.55      Maize
0.30 - 0.35      Sunflower
0.45 - 0.55      Dry Beans
0.45 - 0.55      Lentils
0.25 - 0.35      Soybean
0.40 - 0.55      Sorghum
What is grain crop harvest index? How it could be improved? These are the questions to be answered. Simply harvest index is calculated dividing total grain yield by total plant yield. Here total plant yield takes into account grain yield as well as vegetative parts of crop plants above the soil surface. Thus economic yield / total plant yield gives harvest index.
Improving yield of grain crops is a need of the hour to ensure steady supply of food to the rapidly increasing population. However, without improving harvest index, increase in yield could not be materialized. It is clear that directing maximum dry matter produced in the season to the harvesting portion would help to improve yield. It is important to mention that reduction in stem and leaf sheath dry matter to half current average values and a reallocation of this dry matter to the ear could raise the harvest index from about 0.5 to 0.62.
It is worth-mentioning that characteristics features of source sink relationship greatly alter the harvest index. Determining whether the economic yield of a crop is source limited or sink limited is more complicated because during the development and growth of the sink, the relationship between source and sink inevitably changes.
If photosynthesis is allowed full expression, sink limitation prevails. On the other, in the presence of any severe stress such as moisture, disease or insect/ pest etc. that may alter plant growth, then source efficiency may be the yield limiting factor. However, sink limitation may be eliminated by a genetic programme including increase in grain size, number of grains per unit area and individual grain weight. Thus source-sink relationship influences yield determinants of grain crops.
Even harvest index of existing crops has approached to upper limits, future yield gains will have to be sought by increased biomass production. Efficient crop and soil management practices could also improve grain crop harvest index.
Weeds impose stress on plant growth and impair growth as weed-crop competition for nutrients, moisture, light, space etc., gets intensified. Knowingly or unknowingly, the growers with the exception of some progressive ones don’t pay heed to weed control. In addition, weeds harbour insect /pest and pathogens. Thus role of weeds in declining crop harvest index is obvious. Importantly, creating awareness among the growers by using all available measures is crucial. Integrated weed management approach is considered best against weeds.
Insect/pests attack at different crop growth stages cause heavy toll on yield. On one hand, these biotic agents cause direct damage to plant while on the other hand reduce plant growth by decreasing irrigation and fertilisers efficiency. Appropriate crop and management techniques need to be adopted to keep insect/pests under control.
Balanced use of inputs like seed, fertilisers and moisture is essential for improving harvest index of grain crops. Sadly, the distribution of these inputs remained lopsided during the last seven years.
Though distribution of certified seed has increased from 194.3 million tons to 253.9 million tons from 1999-00 to 2005-06 but local grain crop seed is used on large scale that needs to be abandoned totally. It is because uncertified seed gives poor germination and less plant population.
Characteristics like high seed germination percentage, physical and genetic purity, vigour and viability are important to optimize crop harvest index. For this purpose, seed regulation scheme needs to be enacted in letter and spirits to ensure steady supply of quality seed. Seed and seed supplying-agents should follow international seed testing standards. The Federal Seed Certification Authority must be aligned to the seed requirements of the farming community and should control the escalating business of fake seed, declining quality of certified seeds and frequent crop failures due to poor quality seeds.
High prices, occasional shortages in the market and adulteration are the problems associated with fertilisers. Moreover, factors including leaching, fixation and evaporation are contributing to low fertilizer use efficiency. However, using appropriate fertiliser resource in balanced amount in accordance with crop type and soil fertility level would help to improve harvest index.
Adequate irrigation at critical crop growth stage is essential for crop growth and development. Non-availability of irrigation at critical growth stage significantly reduces crop harvest index. Extremely low grain crop harvest index during 2000-01 and 2001-02 was due to unprecedented drought. Importantly, land leveling, tillage, mulching and use of manures, time and sowing method, optimum plant population, weed eradication and insect and pests and diseases control are inevitable agronomic measures for improving grain crop harvest index. Late sowing is a major yield limiting factor of grain crops because short vegetative period adversely affect source-sink relationship.
Last but no the least, precision land leveling improves water use efficiency by curtailing irrigation application losses up to 50 per cent, enhances crop yield by 20 per cent, controls water logging and salinity, facilitates efficient use of agricultural machinery, ensures uniform uptake of nutrients, promotes judicious use of inputs, lowers cost of production, optimises land and water resources, establishes uniform crop stand, increase efficiency of cultural practices such as weeding, spraying and harvesting and thus improves harvest index considerably.
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2:17 AM
Written by Fahim Nawaz
A GROWTH rate of 1.2 per cent was estimated in the agriculture sector of the country during 2010-11 with a significant increase in staple food crops like wheat, maize and sugarcane.
Crop biofortificationThese crops are grown to feed the country’s ever increasing population with little awareness about the hidden malnutrition. No real effort has been made to enrich crops with nutritional value required for improving human health.
Most farmers are illiterate and do not have knowledge about modern farming. This is a real challenge for the extension workers, breeders and researchers to create awareness among them. Farmers need to be encouraged to replace modern varieties periodically, as these lose their resistance to new evolving strains of disease.
In this respect, the role of plant breeders is very important and challenging. Plant breeding technology has great impact as breeding of micronutrient dense staple food crops can deliver most of the micronutrients. Micronutrient dense staple food crops can be introduced by using best traditional practices and biotechnology to achieve pro-vitamin A, zinc and iron concentrations.
Plant breeders can work with nutritionists to introduce high nutrient traits into agronomically superior varieties and to determine the quantity of a nutrient required in a crop to improve human nutrition. The loss of nutrients also occurs during harvesting, storage, processing, or cooking and these losses must be considered before determining breeding target levels.
International research organisations like Future Harvest Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research have been working in the country to evaluate the feasibility of using modern breeding techniques to develop micronutrient-enriched new varieties of staple crops.
Another international organisation Harvest Plus is working in collaboration with the scientists of Aga Khan University, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, to develop zinc-fed wheat crop. The scientists in these research organisations are working on the breeding strategy to incorporate high zinc and iron traits into wheat varieties resistant to new strains of yellow and stem rust but their efforts would not bear fruit until farmers realise the importance of bio-fortification of crops.
The enrichment of food crops with nutrients can also be achieved by adaptation of suitable agronomic practices. A recent research has shown that trace minerals also help plants to resist disease and biotic stresses. The survival of more seedlings will ensure rapid initial growth which ultimately results in higher yields particularly in trace mineral ‘deficient’ soils in arid regions.
This suggests the dual benefit of enrichment of crops with nutrients.
The extension workers can play a pivotal role in introducing new technology among farming communities. The best agronomic practices would help preserve and enhance nutrient balance of micronutrient dense seeds. In fact, biofortification would help increase farm productivity in an environmentally-beneficial way.
It is time that agriculture and nutrition disciplines collaborate to improve human nutrition. A multidisciplinary research team of scientists from different disciplines should be made to work in this direction.
Plant breeders should be encouraged to include micronutrients in their breeding portfolios along with higher yield, disease resistance and other agronomic traits. Public health officials must understand the importance of micronutrients consumption in food and help end micronutrient malnutrition.
The biofortification of crops would get support among farmers, research scientists, health professionals, and policymakers, once it is proven a viable, cost-efficient and effective solution for combating micronutrient malnutrition.
Courtesy: Dawn

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9:29 AM

Ali AhsanBajwa, Dr. Muhammad Farooq and Zahid Ata Cheema

Allelopathy Lab, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
allopathic interactionIncreasing global population demands high crop production to meet the food requirements. Sustainable agriculture ensures the food security, food safety and environmental protection simultaneously. Allelopathy is one of the key processes being used in organically managed agro-ecosystems. It is a natural ecological phenomenon in which plants or micro organisms influence the growth and functioning of others in their vicinity by releasing specific chemicals known as allelochemicals. These chemicals are released in environment by volatilization, leaching, decomposition and root exudation.

Allelopathy has two dimensions; inhibitory and promotory. Inhibitory role of allelopathy has been intensively studied and has been utilized effectively in organic weed management. But its growth stimulatory effects are less explored and this novel aspect was neglected so far. Allelochemicals are naturally released in aerial and soil environment but the use of allelopathic crop water extracts as foliage application has shown good results regarding weed control. Allelochemicals are concentration dependent. They increase crop growth at low concentrations while suppress the growth at high concentrations. Recent research has shown that water extracts of sorghum, brassica, sunflower, rice and moringa improve growth of different arable crops and vegetables, when applied at low concentrations. Scientific studies show that low concentrations of such chemicals improve and regulate different physiological processes like seed germination, root growth, chlorophyll accumulation, photosynthesis, transpiration, leaf expansion and genetic encodings and subsequently growth and yield.

alleopathic effectAllelopathy can be employed for crop growth promotion and yield maximization in modern agriculture avoiding the environmental hazards of chemical growth regulators. Scientists have done a lot of work on synthetic plant growth regulators but did not get much success regarding their adoption in farming community especially in developing countries like us. This failure is mainly due to high prices of such growth promoters. Whereas, allelopathic water extracts are cost effective, eco friendly and efficient. They have no negative impact on environment and are already present at the door step of farmer. We just have to optimize their concentration which can perform best in the field. This work is in augmenting progress at Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Faisalabad and encouraging research findings are reinforcing the concept and its application in today’s agriculture.

In near future the use of allelopathy for crop growth promotion will be the most acceptable and applicable option because of its numerous and long term advantages. In the long run it can ensure the provision of wholesome and nutritious food around the clock.
Article Published with Special Permission of Author, Article also Published in http://www.technologytimes.pk/ on March 2, 2013.
_________________________________

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ALI AHSAN BAJWA is a Student of M.Sc (Hons) Agronomy at Department of Agronomy University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Dr. Muhammad Farooq and Zahid Ata Cheema, are associated with Allelopathy Lab, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.Contact Information Email: aliahsan2195@gmail.com

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4:22 AM

By: Hussain N., G. Sarwar, H. Schmeisky, Salim Al-Rawa

The predicted global climatic changes anticipate rise in temperature, cyclones, floods, variability and unpredictability of rainfall, droughts, and melting of ice. Expected desiccation and rise in temperature will be resulting in high evapo-transpiration. The drier regions of the globe may become further drier. Consequently, it will become highly difficult for water scarce countries to face this challenge. Surface water scarcity will divert pressure on utilization of groundwater, the major part of which is not of safe and usablequality. Hence, soil and water salinity/ sodicty may enhance that will negatively affect soil characteristics (chemical and physical) and consequently reduce growth and yield of crops. Legumes are the most sensitive group in this regard and are expected to affect largely.
salinityTherefore, special management practices must be adopted to cope with the global climatic changes. Suitable hydraulic options (leaching and drainage), appropriate agronomic practices like; leveling, deep plowing, rainfall harvesting, application of organic matter, balanced nutrients, suitable sowing methods, mulching and planting geometry and appropriate irrigation technologies; scheduling, modification of irrigation system (shifting from surface irrigation to drip, sprinkler or sub-surface), cyclic use of good quality and brackish water have to be adopted. The changing situations will also require wise decisions like; selection of crop sequences that can withstand salinity stresses and inclusion of legumes in the crop rotations. Understanding of genetic variability with respect to salt tolerance will be necessary. Starting strong breeding programs to achieve this objective supported with modern approaches; Biotechnology, Mutation and Genetic Engineering will necessarily be desired from right now
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