Improvements in Food Resources

• Kharif crops: These crops are grown during the rainy season ie from June to October.
• Rabi crops: These crops are grown from November to April. Rabi crops are also called winter crops.

CROP PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

• Crop production management refers to crop improvement for higher yield through genetic manipulation and crop protection management is three scientific approaches to obtain high crop yield
• It has the following three components:
  • Nutrient Management
  • Irrigation
  • Cropping pattern.

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

Nutrient management means controlling the selection, timing and amount of nutrient supply to the crops. Air supplies carbon and oxygen to plants. Water supplies hydrogen and oxygen to plants. Plants get their remaining 13 nutrients from the soil.

Types of Essential Nutrients

• Macronutrients (Macroelements) – The essential elements which are present in plants in easily detectable quantities are called macronutrients or macroelements. There are six macronutrients in plants. They are nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur.
• Micronutrients (Microelements) – The essential elements which are present in plants in small quantities are called micronutrients or microelements. There are seven  micronutrients viz. iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum and chlorine.

MANURES

Manures are natural fertilizers that are bulk sources of organic matters that supply nutrients in small quantities but organic matter in large quantities

ADVANTAGES OF MANURES

Manures affect the soil in following three ways:

• They enrich the soil with nutrients– Manures tend to replenish the general deficiency of nutrients in the soil. As manures contain fewer nutrients, they need to be used in large quantities.
• They add organic matter (called humus) to the soil -Manures restore the soil texture, for better retention of water and aeration of soil. For eg, organic matter present in the manures increases the water holding capacity in sandy soils and drainage in clayey soil. They also prevent water logging in clay soils.
• Provide food for soil organisms- The organic matter present in manures provide food for the soil organisms, (decomposers such as bacteria, fungi, etc) which in turn, helps in providing nutrients to plants.

DISADVANTAGES OF MANURES

• Manures are bulky and possess low nutrient content.
• These nutrients are released slowly and so are unable to fulfill the high and rapid demand of nutrients required by improved high-yielding hybrid varieties of crops.
• They are inconvenient to handle, store and transport.
• Manures are not nutrient specific.

TYPES OF MANURES

• Farmyard manure (FYM) – This type of manure is a decomposed mixture of cattle excreta or dung and urine along with litter and the leftover organic matter such as roughage or fodder.
• Compost- Compost is prepared by decomposing farm waste, vegetable waste, and domestic and sewage waste in pits by the process of composting.
• Green manure – The practice of green manuring includes growing, mulching by ploughing and mixing of green crops with soil, to improve physical structure and soil fertility.

FERTILIZERS

Fertilizers provide plant, nutrients, commercially manufactured using chemicals. Fertilizers supply Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK)