Why should we bother about knowing Agriculture? The single most important reason I would give is that "It feeds us and we must know how it works and what is its state of affairs to be continually supplied food". News about agriculture is taking prominence across the world and everybody from the politician to the corporate honchos are taking note of it. They are seeing growth and business opportunities in the vast field of Agriculture. If Agriculture improves, more than 805 million people of the world will not sleep hungry, more than 161 million of children will not remain severely malnourished, farmers will get due compensation, cheap and quality products will reach the consumers and the whole ecosystem around the food supply-chain in the world will gain strength and vitality. So, we need to know all we can about Agriculture to secure our own future.
Agriculture [कृषि]
It is defined as "cultivation of land, including horticulture, fruit growing, crop and seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding."
Cultivation [खेती]
It means "to dig and manure the soil to ready for growing crops".
Soil [मिट्टी]
It is the thin layer of surface earth. It is composed of mineral particles, decayed organic matter and water.
Topsoil :- It is the upper part of the soil. Water washes away the organic matter and minerals from the topsoil to the subsoil.
Topsoil can be sub-classified into the following.
Subsoil :- It is the lower part of the soil beneath the topsoil.
Substratum :- It is the layer of rocks beneath the subsoil.
In waterless and sun-dried regions, there is often no difference between the topsoil and the subsoil.
How is soil formed?
At first the earth surface was solid rock. The simple but giant-strong agents that beat the rocks into powder or soil with a clublike force millionfold more powerful than the force of Hercules club were chiefly - 1). heat and cold, 2). water, frost and ice, 3). a very low form of vegetable life and 4). tiny organisms. In some cases, these forces acted singly, in some other, all acted together to rend and crumble the unbroken stretch of rock.
Humus [खाद मिट्टी]
It is the fibrous organic matter in the soil formed from the decomposed plants and animal remains, which makes the soil dark and binds them together.
Tillage [जुताई]
It is act of preparing the soil for cultivation. The stirring of the soil enables the air to circulate through it freely, and permits a breaking down of compounds that contain the elements necessary to plant growth.
Zero Tillage
It is a technique using herbicides instead of tilling the soil before sowing an arable crop by direct drilling.
Plough [हल]
It is an implement or machine used to turn over the surface of the soil in order to cultivate crops. The machine uses a strong blade which is fit at the end of a beam.
The modern plough is usually fully mounted on a tractor's hydraulic system, though some are semi-mounted, with the rear supported by one or more wheels, and some may be trailed. The principal parts of a plough are the beam or frame, made of steel, to which are attached a number of parts which engage the soil, such as the disc coulter, the share and the mouldboard which turns the furrow slice.
There are three main types of plough - conventional with right-handed mouldboards, reversible with left or right-handed mouldboards and disc ploughs.
The three main methods of ploughing are systematic, where the field is divided into lands by shallow furrows, round and round ploughing, in which fields are ploughed from the center to the outside or from the edge to the center, reversible ploughing, where the field is ploughed up and down the same furrow, giving a very level surface. Square ploughing is another method suitable for large areas. A piece of land is ploughed in the center of a field and then the field is ploughed in a clockwise direction starting from this central point.
Importance of Tilling and Ploughing
If the soil is fertile and if deep plowing has always been done, good crops will result, other conditions being favorable. If, however, the tillage is poor, scanty harvests will always result. For most soils a two-horse plow is necessary to break up and pulverize the land.
A shallow soil can always be improved by properly deepening it. The principle of greatest importance in soil-preparation is the gradual deepening of the soil in order that plant-roots may have more comfortable homes. If the farmer has been accustomed to plow but four inches deep, he should adjust the plow so as to turn five inches at the next plowing, then six, and so on until the seed-bed is nine or ten inches deep. This gradual deepening will not injure the soil but will put it quickly in good condition. If to good tillage rotation of crops be added, the soil will become more fertile with each succeeding year.
Soil Moisture Deficit
It is the difference between the amount of water that is in a soil and the amount needed for crops to grow successfully. Abbreviation. SMD
It is defined as "cultivation of land, including horticulture, fruit growing, crop and seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding."
Cultivation [खेती]
It means "to dig and manure the soil to ready for growing crops".
Soil [मिट्टी]
It is the thin layer of surface earth. It is composed of mineral particles, decayed organic matter and water.
Topsoil :- It is the upper part of the soil. Water washes away the organic matter and minerals from the topsoil to the subsoil.
Topsoil can be sub-classified into the following.
- Chernozem :- A dark fertile topsoil, rich in organic matter, found in the temperate grass-covered plains of Russia, North and South America. It is also known as black earth.
- Loess :- A fine fertile soil formed of tiny clay and slit particles deposited by the wind. It is most commonly found in Mississippi Valey and Europe and Asia.
- Podsol :- A type of acid soil where organic matter and mineral elements have been leached from the light-coloured top layer into a darker lower layer through which water does not flow and which contains little organic matter. On the whole podsols make poor agricultural soils, owing to their low nutrient status and the frequent presence of an iron pan. Large areas of the coniferous forest regions of Canada and Russia are covered with podsols.
Subsoil :- It is the lower part of the soil beneath the topsoil.
Substratum :- It is the layer of rocks beneath the subsoil.
In waterless and sun-dried regions, there is often no difference between the topsoil and the subsoil.
How is soil formed?
At first the earth surface was solid rock. The simple but giant-strong agents that beat the rocks into powder or soil with a clublike force millionfold more powerful than the force of Hercules club were chiefly - 1). heat and cold, 2). water, frost and ice, 3). a very low form of vegetable life and 4). tiny organisms. In some cases, these forces acted singly, in some other, all acted together to rend and crumble the unbroken stretch of rock.
Humus [खाद मिट्टी]
It is the fibrous organic matter in the soil formed from the decomposed plants and animal remains, which makes the soil dark and binds them together.
Tillage [जुताई]
It is act of preparing the soil for cultivation. The stirring of the soil enables the air to circulate through it freely, and permits a breaking down of compounds that contain the elements necessary to plant growth.
Zero Tillage
It is a technique using herbicides instead of tilling the soil before sowing an arable crop by direct drilling.
Plough [हल]
 |
| Wooden Indian Plough |
 |
| Plough attached to a tractor |
It is an implement or machine used to turn over the surface of the soil in order to cultivate crops. The machine uses a strong blade which is fit at the end of a beam.
The modern plough is usually fully mounted on a tractor's hydraulic system, though some are semi-mounted, with the rear supported by one or more wheels, and some may be trailed. The principal parts of a plough are the beam or frame, made of steel, to which are attached a number of parts which engage the soil, such as the disc coulter, the share and the mouldboard which turns the furrow slice.
There are three main types of plough - conventional with right-handed mouldboards, reversible with left or right-handed mouldboards and disc ploughs.
The three main methods of ploughing are systematic, where the field is divided into lands by shallow furrows, round and round ploughing, in which fields are ploughed from the center to the outside or from the edge to the center, reversible ploughing, where the field is ploughed up and down the same furrow, giving a very level surface. Square ploughing is another method suitable for large areas. A piece of land is ploughed in the center of a field and then the field is ploughed in a clockwise direction starting from this central point.
Importance of Tilling and Ploughing
If the soil is fertile and if deep plowing has always been done, good crops will result, other conditions being favorable. If, however, the tillage is poor, scanty harvests will always result. For most soils a two-horse plow is necessary to break up and pulverize the land.
A shallow soil can always be improved by properly deepening it. The principle of greatest importance in soil-preparation is the gradual deepening of the soil in order that plant-roots may have more comfortable homes. If the farmer has been accustomed to plow but four inches deep, he should adjust the plow so as to turn five inches at the next plowing, then six, and so on until the seed-bed is nine or ten inches deep. This gradual deepening will not injure the soil but will put it quickly in good condition. If to good tillage rotation of crops be added, the soil will become more fertile with each succeeding year.
Soil Moisture Deficit
It is the difference between the amount of water that is in a soil and the amount needed for crops to grow successfully. Abbreviation. SMD
TO BE CONTINUED
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