What is Crop Management.
Crop management is the set of agricultural practices performed to improve the growth, development and yield of crops. It begins with a seedbed preparation, sowing of seeds and crop maintenance; and ends with crop harvest, storage and marketing at national as well as international level.
Importance Of Crop Management.
Adoption of best crop management practices improves crop productivity and can contribute to greater yields with improved quality. Crop management is the set of agricultural practices performed to improve the growth , development and yield of crops. It begins with a seedbed preparation, sowing of seeds and crop maintenance; and ends with crop harvest, storage and marketing. The timing and sequence of agricultural practices depend upon several factors, such as winter or spring crops; harvested compounds such as grain, hay and silage; sowing methods-broadcast and row-crops; and, plants age, soil, climate and weather conditions.
What are the steps involved in crop production?
Ploughing.
Sowing.
Adding manures.
Irrigation.
Harvesting.
Storage.
Depending upon the usage crops are divided into four categories-
Food Crops- Rice, wheat, pulses, etc.
Cash Crops- Tobacco, cotton, jute, etc.
Plantation Crops- Tea, coffee, rubber, etc.
Horticulture crops- It includes fruits and vegetables.
In developing countries like India, crops are also divided on the basis of the season in which they are grown. There are two sowing seasons- monsoon and winter. On the basis of this, crops are divided as follows:
Kharif Crops
These are grown in the monsoon season, mostly in the month of June and harvested by the month of November. Examples- rice, jowar, bajra.
Rabi Crops
These are grown in the winter season, mostly in the month of October and harvested by the month of March. Examples- Wheat, barley, mustard.
There are many other crops that can be grown in Kharif as well as the rabi season. Example- Castor seed, jowar bajra etc.
Methods of Crop Production
India is an agriculture-based country. More than half of the population in our country is dependent on agriculture. Therefore, the production and management of crops are very important to keep up agricultural productivity.
The methods involved in crop production are as follows-
Preparation of Soil
The agricultural land has to be prepared before starting the process. So that it offers maximum benefits to the crops and gives good produce. For this, the agricultural land is ploughed or loosened first. Also, the cultivated land from the previous harvest contains the remains of the harvest which need to be removed. Many times, there are big solid lumps of soil that need to be loosened. There should be good aeration in the soil to allow the roots to grow and breathe. Ploughing of the soil also brings up the nutrients of the soil that lie beneath. Thus, the first method is the loosening of the soil by ploughing.
Sowing of Seeds
Farmers usually get high productivity and good quality seeds in bulk and sow them in the agricultural land. Seeds can either be sown directly on the field or first sown in the nursery and then transplanted to the field. There are various ways of sowing seeds. Listed below are different seed sowing techniques
Broadcasting
Dibbling
Sowing behind the country plough
Planting
Transplanting
Hill Dropping
Check row planting
Why is the production and management of food from plants necessary?
Crops are the primary source of food for humans. Thus, crop production and management play an important role. To feed the ever-growing population, it is essential to ensure large-scale production, proper management, and distribution of crops. All of our basic meals include crops. Wheat, rice, pulses, etc. make up our everyday meal. Crops are an integral source of food for all of us. Thus, crop production and management are very important.
Conclusion of management of crops
This review evaluates management practices that may minimize yield reduction under saline conditions according to three strategies: (I) control of root-zone salinity; (II) reduced damage to the crop; (III) reduced damage to individual plants. Plant response to salinity is described by an unchanged yield up to a threshold soil salinity (a), then a linear reduction in relative yield (b), to a maximum soil salinity that corresponds to zero yield (Y0). Strategies I and II do not take into consideration any change in the parameters of the response curve, while strategy III is aimed at modifying them.
Control of root zone salinity is obtained by irrigation and leaching. From the review of existing data it is concluded that the effective soil salinity parameter should be taken as the mean electrical conductivity of the saturated paste extract or of the soil solution over time and space. Several irrigation and leaching practices are discussed. It is shown that intermittent leaching is more advantageous than leaching at each irrigation. Specific cultivation and irrigation practices that result in soil salinity reduction adjacent to young seedlings and the use of water of low salinity at specifically sensitive growth stages may be highly beneficial. Recent data do not show that reduced irrigation intervals improve crop response more under saline than under nonsaline irrigation. Alternate use of water of different salt concentrations results in mixing in the soil and the crop responds to the mean water salinity.
Reduced damage at the field level when soil or irrigation water salinity is too high to maintain full yield of single plants requires a larger crop stand. For row crops reduced inter-row spacing is more effective than reduced intra-row spacing.
Reduced damage at the plant level while the salinity tolerance of the plants remains constant shows up in the response curve parameters as larger threshold and slope and constant salinity at zero yield. This is the effect of a reduced atmospheric water demand that results in reduced stress in the plant under given salinity. Management can also change the salt tolerance of the crop. This will show up as higher salinity at zero yield, as well as changes in threshold and slope. Such changes in the response curve were found at different growth stages, under different atmospheric CO2, under different fertilization, and when sprinkler irrigation was compared with drip irrigation.
Key words
Climate
CO2 concentration
Drip
Fertilization
Irrigation interval
Leaching
Salt tolerance
Salinity
Represented By: SM & GM MANAGEMENT GROUP'S
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