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When plants are cultivated on a large scale is called crop. Example: rice and wheat.
There are mainly two types of crops:
Kharif crops are sown in rainy season, which lasts from June to September. Example of kharif crops are maize, paddy, and soyabean.
Rabi crops are sown in winter season, which lasts from October to March. Example of Rabi crops are wheat, gram, and pea.
Agricultural practices are a set of steps taken in order to grow crops. These steps are as follows:
The first step is to prepare the soil for sowing the seeds. In order to do that, the farmers plough the soil either with help of tractor or plough. The primary reason of ploughing is to make the soil loose and remove the weeds out of it.
Sometimes, large pieces of soil are left out, so they have to be manually broken down into small pieces.
The next step is to sow the seed. A farmer may use both traditional and modern methods of sowing.
*Seed is the part of the plant that can grow into another new plant.
The traditional method includes the use of a funnel, which is connected with a tube until the end. It is a slow method of sowing.
The modern method of sowing includes the use of seed drills, which are used with the tractor. It speeds up the process of sowing.
Manure and fertilizer both help the seeds to yield better crops by providing them required nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous etc.
Difference between manure and fertilizer
|
Fertilizer |
Manure |
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It is a chemical based inorganic substance. |
It is a organic substance made from animal and vegetable wastes. |
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It is manufactured in factories. |
It is prepared in fields. |
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It doesn’t provide humus to soil. |
It provides humus to soil. |
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It is provides better nutrients such as nitrogen and potassium. |
It provides less nutrients to plants. |
*Crop rotation:
It is a method of switching between crops that require varying amount of nutrients from the soil. that the nutrients get enough time to replenish. Example: In one season a farmer may grow wheat (which consume more nutrients) while in other season he may grow Bajra (which consume less nutrients).
*Advantages of using manure:
Irrigation is the process of giving water to the crops at a regular interval. It is the most important factor in crop production that ensures better yielding of crops. Rain is the primary source of irrigation in India. However, there are mainly two methods of irrigation, which are:
Traditional methods of irrigation include dhelki, moat, lakes, ponds, chain pump etc. These methods are not efficient and require more labor work.
*Disadvantages of traditional methods of irrigation:
Modern methods of irrigation include the following:
Sprinkler system consist a several pipes laid down in the fields and several perpendicular pipes standing straight on these pipes. These perpendicular pipes sprinkle water into the field whenever the water is send from the source.
Drip irrigation system consist several pipes laid down in the fields and small holes are made so that when the water is released from the source it drips from these holes onto the roots of the plants.
*Advantage of modern methods
*Weeds are the unwanted grass that grows in the field. These weeds use the nutrients of the soil that may lead to shortage for crops. Thus, it becomes necessary to remove them.
Weedicides (which is a chemical) can be used to remove these weeds by spraying it on them. However, many farmer manually remove them with the help of Khurpi.
*Insects are the next biggest problems that may destroy the crops. To protect the crops from insects insecticides are used. These insecticides are made from chemicals, which keeps the insects away from the crops.
After the crop is mature, the harvesting is done either with the help of sickle or *harvester.
*Harvester is a kind of machine that is used for harvesting the crops. It takes less time to harvest the crop as compared harvesting manually with the help sickle.
*Combine is a machine that does both the harvesting and *threshing work.
*Threshing is process of separating the chaff from the seeds of crops.
*Winnowing is the manual process of removing chaff from its seeds by using the natural wind or man-made fans.
After harvesting, storage of grains is necessary to protect them from rain, insects, rats and other factors so that they can be used in the long run. For the storage of these grains, silos and granaries are used.
*Silos are the giant cylindrical containers that are used for the storage of food grains.
*Granaries are the storehouse where grains are stored.
Before storing in the granaries, dry Neem leaves are placed there so that no insect and rat can spoil the grains.
Animal husbandry: A place where animals are reared for their milk and hair is called animal husbandry. In these husbandries, animals are provided shelter and proper food.