NCERT CBSE CHAPTER 1

CROP PRODUCTION & MANAGEMENT

CLASS: VIII STUDY NOTES SCIENCE

Agriculture:
The branch which deals with cultivation of plants and rearing of animals is called agriculture.
Generally, the art or practice of cultivating land is referred as agriculture.

Crops:
When plants of the same kind are grown in the fields on a large scale to obtain foods like cereals,
pulses, vegetables and fruits are called as a crop.

Types of crops are also classified on the basis of the seasons as given below:

Kharif Crops:
The crops which are grown during the monsoon (rainy) season (June-September) are called
kharif crops. For example maize, millet (bajra), soyabean, groundnut and cotton crops. Seeds of
these crops are sown in the beginning of the monsoon season. After maturation, these crops are
harvested at the end of the monsoon season (Oct.-Nov.)

Rabi Crops:
Crops which are grown during the winter season (October-March) are called rabi crops. For
example wheat, peas, gram, linseed and mustard. Seeds of these crops are sown in the beginning
of the winter season. After maturation of crops, they are harvested at the end of the winter season
(April- May).

Zaid Crops:
The crops that grow in summer season are Zaid crops. These crops are grown on irrigated lands
and do not have to wait for monsoons. Some examples of Zaid types of crops are pumpkin,
cucumber, bitter gourd.

Agricultural Practices:
All activities which farmers do for the cultivation of plants are called agricultural practices.
For doing various activities, a farmer needs different types of tools. These tools which are
involved in cultivation of plants are called agricultural implements. Farmers perform agricultural
practices in a sequence.

1
Various Agricultural Practices:
1. Preparation of soil
2. Sowing
3. Adding manure and fertilizers
4. Irrigation
5. Protection from weeds
6. Harvesting
7. Storage.

Basic Practices of Crop Production

1. Preparation of Soil:
The soil is prepared for sowing the seeds of the crop by
• Ploughing
• Levelling
• Manuring.
The process of loosing and turning the soil is called ploughing or tilling.

The loosing of soil by ploughing is beneficial for following reasons:

• It allows roots of the plants to penetrate freely and deeper into the soil.
• It allows roots of plants to breathe easily.
• It helps in growth of worms and microbes.
• It uproots and buries the weeds standing in the field and thereby suffocates them to death.
• It brings nutrition rich soil to the top so that the plants can use these nutrients.

The ploughed soil is then levelled by pressing it with wooden leveller.

The levelling of ploughed soil is beneficial for following reasons:
• It prevents the fertile soil from being carried away.
• It helps in the uniform distribution of water in the fields during irrigation.
• It helps in preventing the loss of moisture from the ploughed soil.

Agricultural implements:
Plough: A large farming implement with one or more blades fixed in a frame, used to turn over
and cut furrows in soil, is called plough. Plough may be made of only wood, wood and iron, and
of iron only.
Ploughshare: The main cutting blade of a plough.
Hoe: A tool which is used for removing weeds and for loosening the soil.
Cultivator: Nowadays ploughing is done by a tractor driven cultivator. The use of cultivator
saves labour and time.
Seed drill: It is a tool for sowing seeds.

2. Sowing of Seeds:
The process of scattering of seeds in the ground soil for growing the crop plants is called sowing.
Methods of sowing seeds:
• Sowing by hands

2
 • Sowing with seed drill
The sowing of seeds by hand is called broadcasting.
The implement used for sowing is seed drill.
Advantages of using seed drill:
• The tool sows the seeds uniformly at proper distances and depths.
• It ensures that seeds get covered by the soil after sowing.
• It saves time and labour.
• An appropriate distance between the seeds is important to avoid overcrowding of plants
that allows sufficient sunlight, nutrients and water from the soil.

Precautions for sowing seeds:

• The seeds should be sown at right depth in the soil suitable for germination.
• It should be shown at right intervals.
• It should not be sown in dry soil.
• It should not be sown in highly wet soil.

Transplantation:
The process of transferring the seedlings from nursery to the main field by hand is called
transplantation.

Advantages of transplantation:
• It enables us to select only better and healthy seedlings for crops.
• It allows better penetration of the roots in the soil.
• It promotes better development of the shoot system of plants.
• It allows seedlings at right spacing so that plants may get uniform sunlight, water and
nutrients.

Farmers select seeds from their own crop. For selection of seeds of most of the crops, seeds are
put into a bucket of water. The seeds which float on water are rejected. These seeds are
defective. The seeds which remain submerged in water are selected for sowing. The selected
seeds are treated with chemicals such as agrosan or ceresan. This chemical treatment protects
seedling from seed-borne diseases. Seeds are sown either by hand-broadcasting (spreading) or by
seed drills. A type of seed drill, commonly used, is a long iron pipe having a funnel at the top. It
is tied at the back of the plough.
A farmer does ploughing and simultaneously releases seeds from the funnel. Seeds thus released
pass through iron pipe to the soil furrows which are formed by the plough.

3. Adding Manure and Fertilizers:

Like other plants, crop plants also obtain their mineral nutrients from the soil. Continuous
growing of crop in the field causes deficiency of mineral nutrients in the soil. So, the manure is
added to the soil to make up the deficiency of mineral nutrients. This process is called manuring.

3
Manure:
A manure is a natural substance obtained by decomposition of animal waste, cow dung, human
waste and plant residue which supplies essential elements and humus to the soil and makes it
more fertile.
Sometimes, soil becomes deficient in particular mineral nutrients. This happens when
same crop is grown in the same field year after year. For example, a particular crop takes more
phosphate. If this crop is grown in a field every year, the soil will become deficient in
phosphorus nutrient. This type of deficiency of a particular nutrient is made up by adding
chemical substances called fertilizers.

Chemical fertilizers:
A chemical fertilizer is a salt or an organic compound containing the necessary plant nutrients
like nitrogen, phosphorous or potassium to make the soil more fertile.
For example: urea, super phosphate, potash, ammonium sulphate and NPK (Nitrogen,
Phosphorus, Potassium).

Harmful effects of excessive use of fertilizers:

• It changes the chemical nature of the soil and makes the soil less fertile.
• It causes water pollution to the ponds, rivers, lakes, etc.

Difference between manure and fertilize r:

Sr.
Manure Fertilizer
no.

1. It is made using animal and plant waste It is salt or organic compound

It is not rich in essential plant nutrients like It is rich in plant nutrients like nitrogen,
2.
nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium phosphorous and potassium

Provides mainly organic matter Provides mainly nutrients and doesn’t

3.
and provide humus to the soil provide humus to the soil.

Not good for long term soil fertility,

4. Good for long term soil fertility
If uses in excessive amount

It is absorbed slowly by plants It is absorbed fast by plants because

5.
because it is not soluble in water it is soluble in water

6. It can be prepared in the fields. They are prepared in factories.

Advantages of using manure:

• It adds humus to the soil and increases its water holding capacity.
• Improves soil texture.
• Makes soil porous which makes exchange of gases easier.
• Increases the number of friendly microbes.

4
Crop rotation:
The practice in which different types of crops are grown alternately in the same field or soil is
called crop rotation.
In India, farmers used to grow legumes in one season as fodder and wheat in the next season.
This helped the soil to get replenished with nitrogen.
The pulses, peas, beans, groundnut, gram and clover are leguminous crops.
Root nodules of leguminous plants have Rhizobium bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen and
make it usable by plants.

Advantages of crop rotation:

• It improves the fertility of the soil by replenishing it with nitrogen and hence brings about an
increase in the production of food grains.
• It saves lot of nitrogenous fertilizers.

4. Irrigation:
The supply of water to crops at different intervals is called irrigation.

Significance of Irrigation:
• Water is important for proper growth and development of plants.
• Water is essential because germination of seeds does not take place under dry conditions.
• Nutrients dissolved in water get transported to each part of the plant.
• Water also protects the crop from both frost and hot air currents. The supply of water to
crops at different intervals is called irrigation.

Factors affecting of irrigation requirements of crops:

• Nature of the crop,
• Nature of the soil and
• Season (In summers, watering has to be done more frequency due to the increased rate of
evaporation from the soil and leaves).
Two important types of soil in which crops are grown are sandy soil and clayey soil.
Due to water retaining capacity of the sandy soil, the crops cultivated in sandy soil needs more
frequent irrigation. Due to better water retaining capacity of the clayey soil, the crops cultivated
in clayey soil need less irrigation.
Sources of Irrigation:
Wells, Tube wells, Ponds, Lakes, Rivers, Dams and Canals are the sources of Irrigation.
• Traditional Methods of Irrigation:
The water available in wells, lakes and canals is lifted up by different methods in different
regions, for taking it to the fields. Here various traditional methods are:

5
Modern Methods of Irrigation:
(i) Sprinkler System:
In this system, perpendicular pipes, having rotating nozzles on top, are joined to the main
pipeline at regular intervals. When water is allowed to flow through the main pipe under pressure
with the help of a pump, it sprinkles from the rotating nozzles. It gets sprinkled on the crop as if
it is raining. It is helpful on uneven land.

(ii) Drip system:

In this system, the water falls drop by drop just at the position of the roots. So it is called drip
system.

Advantages of drip irrigation:

• It provides water drop by drop at the position of roots of the plants.
• It minimise the use of water in agriculture. So, drip irrigation is very useful in the region
where availability of water is poor.

6
 5. Weeds:
Weeds are the undesirable plants which may grow naturally along with the crop in the field.
The removal of weeds is called weeding. Weeding is necessary because they affect the growth
of the crop by compete with the crop plants for water, nutrients, space and light.

Weed Control:
Farmers use many ways to remove weeds and control their growth. Tilling before sowing of
crops helps in uprooting and killing of weeds, which may then dry up and get mixed with the
soil. The best time for the removal of weeds is before they produce flowers and seeds.

Methods of controlling weeds are as follows:

• Physical method:
(i) Manually- removal of weeds by uprooting or cutting them close to the ground.
(ii)By implement- using a khurpi(trowel). i.e. by cutting or digging close to the ground.
• Chemical method: Weeds are also controlled by spraying certain chemicals called
weedicides, in the fields to kill the weeds. Such as 2,4-D, MCPA and Butachlor. They do not
damage the crops.
• Biological method: By chochneal insects for prickly pear i.e. cactus which produce prickly.

6. Harvesting:
• The cutting of crop after it is mature is called harvesting. In harvesting, crops are pulled out
or cut close to the ground. Harvesting is also done manually by sickle or by a machine called
harvester.
• The process of beating out the grains from the harvested crop plants is called threshing.
Harvested crop is further dried and then animals such as bullocks, buffaloes, camels are
made to walk over it.
• The grains are separated from chaff with the help of wind is called winnowing.
• A combine is a huge machine which cuts the standing cereal crop like wheat in the fields,
threshes it and separates the chaff from grain in one operation.
• One of the disadvantages of using combine is it reduces the yield of hay which is used as a
fodder for [Link] stubs of crop plants left in the fields after harvesting are sometimes
burnt by the farmers.

Harmful effects of burning stubs in the fields:

• It causes air pollution.
• It may cause accidental fire in the field.

7
Special festivals associated with the harvest seasons are: Pongal, Baishakhi, Holi, Diwali,
Nabanya and Bihu.

7. Storage:
Storage of produce is an important task. If the crop grains are to be kept for longer time, they
should be safe from moisture, insects, rats and microorganisms. The fresh crop has more
moisture. If freshly harvested grains (seeds) are stored without drying, they may get spoilt or
attacked by organisms, losing their germination capacity. Hence, before storing them, the grains
are properly dried in the sun to reduce the moisture in them. This prevents the attack by insect
pests, bacteria and fungi. Farmers keep dried grains in jute bags or metallic bins or mud bins. For
storing large quantities of grains in big godowns, specific chemical treatments are used to protect
them from pests and microorganisms.
Large scale storage of grains is done in two ways:
• In grain silos
• In gunny bags in granaries

Food and animals:

Food is also obtained from animals for which animals are reared and provided with proper food,
shelter and care.
Animals which provide us food are mainly of two types:
• Milk yielding animals.
• Meat and egg yielding animals.

Examples of milk yielding animals are: Cow, buffalo and goat.

Examples of meat and egg yielding animals are: Goat, sheep, fish and poultry animals.
Honey is another nutritious food obtained from animals called bees.

Animal husbandry:
The branch of agriculture which deals with the feeding, shelter, health and breeding of domestic
animals is called animal husbandry.
The various practices necessary for raising animals for food and other purposes are:
• Proper feeding of animals.
• Proper shelter for animals.
• Prevention and cure of animal diseases.
• Proper breeding of animals.

Fish as food:
Fish is an important source of food. Fish is rich in proteins. It is highly nutritious and easily
digestible food. Fish liver oil is rich in vitamin A and D. For example, cod liver oil.