SOH MING LUN (202726) 20 OCT 2020

Unit 1: Basic of Crop Production

Jaafar Juju Nakasha

1.1 Introduction
Efficient method in crop production is important to ensure sustainable production. There are
different methods available in cultivating crops such as by using beds, poly begs filled with
planting media, micro propagation and also by water culture. Generally, plants can be
propagated via either sexual (seed) or asexual (stem, root and leaves). Plants that planted by
using seed are non-homogenous compared to each other as the parents come from male and
female gametes. In the case of asexual, or also known as vegetative propagation, the plants
produce are identical and show same traits among each other.

Seed can be planted either direct seeding on the planting media or by transplanting from
germination media to growing media. The ability of the new plant to develop into mature plants
is control by several factors. Factors such as variety, climate, pH, nutrient availability, light and
water are very important for crop establishment. Any stressful condition to the plants can lead
to decreasing its performance and prolong in such condition can cause detrimental effects for
the plants and eventually die. In the case of nutrient availability, grower must be able to
understand label on the fertilizer packaging. Basic elements that are normally written on the
fertilizer is the ratio of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). Elements of N, P and
K are used for different focus which are leaves, roots and flower (and fruits), respectively.

1.2 Objectives
Students will be able to:
1. Understand different propagation techniques
2. Provide suitable growing condition for plant’s establishment
3. Understand the basic nutrient requirement of plant

1.3 Types of Cropping System

A. Soil culture
Soil culture or known as conventional planting culture is a type of cropping system where the
plants are planted on the soil either by using poly bags or beds at either in open field or protected
environment (glass house). Different types of soil available such as sandy soil, loamy soil and
clay soil. Sandy soils are suitable for crops that have underground storage organs (carrot,
cassava and yam). It allows easy development and harvesting of those storage organs.
However, sandy soils have low nutrient and low water holding capacity. Loamy soils are

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suitable for various types of vegetables (spinach, water spinach and eggplant). This is because
it has higher nutrient, water holding capacity and good aeration. As for the clay type of soil, there
are not much of plants that are suitable to be planted (broccoli, lettuce and berries). It is
advisable to add sand in the heavy clayey soil.
B. Soilless culture
Soilless culture is another type of planting medium that is getting popular, especially for urban
agriculture. It is a method of planting plants without the use of any soil materials. Soilless
culture offers a lot of advantages such as:
 No weed and soil-borne disease problems
 Growers do not have to find a fertile soil, so they can plant in any regions.
 Higher yield quality compared to soil culture
 Increase the efficiency on water use

There are two general categories of soilless culture which are substrate culture and water
culture. Substrate culture is in the form of solid material and can be either in organic type or
inorganic type. Examples of organic substrate are peat moss, wood residues, sawdust, barks
and coconut peat. Examples of inorganic substrates are perlite, sand, vermiculite, calcined
clays, pumice, rockwool. As for the water culture, which is another type of soilless culture, it
uses water as the medium. The water is mixed with nutrient solution and it can be either
circulate (Nutrient Film Technique) or non-circulate system (Deep Water Culture).

1.4 Methodology
A. Materials
Planting materials: Spinach, long bean, okra, paddy, chili, cucumber, lettuce, potato and
banana. Example of asexual and sexual propagation is shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: Example of sexual (right) and asexual (left) propagations.

(Source: https://ilps-panama.com/plant-propagation.html and
https://www.78stepshealth.us/flowering-plants/asexual-plant-propagation.html)

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1.5 Activities
Find the information that listed in Table 1.1

Table 1.1: Type of plants propagation technique.

Plant Propagation Types of planting Total days to

methods media harvest
(sexual/ asexual)
Spinach Sexual Soil culture 37-45 days
Long bean Sexual Soil culture 10-14 days
Okra Sexual Soil culture 50-65 days
Paddy Sexual Rice husk, coco peat 130-136 days
Chili (Capsicum) Peat, wood shaving,
Sexual bark sand 100-110 days
Cucumber Sexual Peat 50-70 days
Lettuce Sexual Peat potting substrate 45-55 days
Potato Asexual Soil culture 70-120 days
Banana Asexual Soil culture 75-80 days

1.6 Keywords
Plant’s establishment, asexual, sexual.

1.7 Summary
Cultural practices in crop production is dependent on various factors such as crop species,
crop behavior, life cycle, soil type, cost, location and others. It is important to have knowledge in
basic agriculture in order to meet the requirements for the plants to grow and develop healthily,
as well as sustaining the production and sources. Before choosing any plant to cultivate, it is
necessary to study the details of that particular species. Each species requires different
growing conditions. Optimum growth, development and yield can be achieved if the plant is
growing in suitable environment.

References
Damrosch, B. (2008). The Garden Primer: Second Edition. Workman Publishing Company.

Toogood, A. R. (2019). Royal Horticultural Society: Propagating Plants: How to Create

New Plants For Free. London, United Kingdom, Dorling Kindersley Ltd