LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

AGRICULTURAL CROPS PRODUCTION NCII

PLANTING CROPS
Second Quarter, Week 4

Name of Learner: ___________________________Date:__________________________

Grade Level /Section: __________________________

Conduct Land Preparation According to Crop Requirement

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR LEARNERS

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel,
medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agriculture is also
define as the science that deals with the soil cultivation or a process of tilling the land for crop
production and animal raising to provide foods and other products.

LAND PREPARATION

Cultivation or land preparation is based on the requirement of the plant to be planted,

topography of the soil, availability of equipment and water requirements. Land preparation and
crop establishment go together.
Land preparation has changed from a traditional or manual to a power-assisted activity
over the centuries. Land preparation is a process of preparing soil for planting to provide
favorable soil environment for plant germination and growth. Land preparation influence the
ability of the crop to emerge and produce a good, uniform crop stand. Good and uniform crop
stand is a major pre-requisite for a good yield.
Land preparation facilitates mixing of organic matter such as rice straw, weeds and
stubbles with the soil which promotes decomposition. This ensures a soil surface that is weed
free, soft and level to make transplanting easier. It is accomplished through tillage. Today tractors
provide a major power source for tillage that allows many different variations.

What Is Tillage?

Tillage is the process of mechanically altering some physical characteristics of the soil
to be ideal for growing crops.

Three Kinds of Tillage Techniques

A. Zero tillage - otherwise called no tillage is a simplified form of minimum tillage. It involves
only opening a narrow strip about 2 to 3cm wide or hole in the ground for seed or seedling
placement. Zero tillage is no pre-planting seedbed preparation. Weeds are taken care of with

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 the use of herbicides & cutlass without disturbing the land. The crop is then planted directly
without tilling or plowing the soil. This process is highly effective under sloppy lands where
soil & water erosion are heavy.

B. Minimum tillage - is the small manipulation of the soil. It is otherwise referred to as

traditional tillage process. It is not as sophisticated and technical as the conventional tillage.
It involves the use of the cutlass to slash weeds and vegetation regrowth on the farm, the less
manipulation is done with the hoe and rake.

C. Conventional tillage - is the sequence of operations traditionally or most generally used in a

given geographic area to produce a given crop. The operations used vary considerably for
different crops and in different regions.

Types of Tillage
A. Primary tillage. It is the initial cutting of the soil where crop has been grown and harvested.
It can be done by using plow (animal drawn, tractor-pulled), disc-harrow (tractor-pulled) or
rotovator (tractor-mounted). It can also be done in its simplest way manually in a small area
using a pick-mattock, crowbar, or spading-fork.

B. Secondary tillage. It is the subsequent cultivation of soil after primary tillage. This operation
breaks soil clods, incorporate materials thoroughly into the soil. It can be done using harrow
(animal drawn, tractor-pulled) or rotovator (tractor-mounted). It can also be done in its
simplest way manually in a small area or garden using a grab-hoe, hand-fork, or rake.

Ways in Preparing or Tilling the Field

A. Wetland tillage – usual way of preparing lowland fields for planting
rice. It is surrounded with dikes to impound rain or irrigation water.
Soil is tilled in saturated or flooded condition.

B. Dryland tillage – This is done in upland (field with no standing water)

or rainfed (irrigation water mainly comes from the rainfall) fields to
obtain mellow, firm seedbed for seed to germinate, control weeds, and
incorporate materials into the soil. This commonly when planting
vegetables and upland crops like sugarcane, corn, eggplant, tomato,
chili, sweet potato, peanut and other similar crops.

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Wetland Tillage Benefits
● Control weeds effectively
● Incorporate organic materials into the soil
● Incorporate soil amendments such as fertilizer
● Turn the soil into a soft puddle to make seeding/transplanting easier
● Form a hard layer (plow pan) which reduces water loss during subsequent flooding

Dryland Tillage Benefits

● Control weeds
● Improve soil aeration
● Incorporate organic materials into the soil
● Improve infiltration capacity
● Conserve irrigation water
● Reduce number of operation/passing (4)
● Easier in mobility for the 4-wheel tractor during operation
● Reduce golden apple snail populations

Steps in preparing the land

Good land preparation is achieved by following these listed procedures:
1. Clear the land from heavy trashes like big stones, tall grasses, branches of trees and others.
This facilitates tilling and to avoid the destruction of farm tools/implements/equipment.
2. Plow and harrow the field (2 – 3 times). After the first plowing and harrowing, leave the field
for sometimes (about 1-2 wks) to let weed seeds to germinate and after they have germinated
plow and harrow again to eradicate them. The number of operations may be reduce when
using rotovator which is a combination of plowing and harrowing in one passing or operation.
3. At the last harrowing where final pulverizing and leveling of the land, incorporate of organic
matter for better growth of the vegetable crops.
4. Make the furrows based on the recommended distance of planting or construct the beds if it
is necessary.
5. Steps 1-4 are mainly done in dryland tillage usually when planting vegetable crops. In wetland
tillage, the operations sometimes reduce to only 1-time plowing, 2-times harrowing and 1-
time leveling. Making furrows is not done.

Plowing is the process of breaking up the soil usually 15 cm deep to incorporate and cover
inorganic matter. It can be accomplished with a disc plow or moldboard plow hitched to a carabao
or power tiller (hand tractor).

Harrowing is the operation which pulverizes, smoothens, and makes the soil ready for planting.
Soil clods were break and pulverize to attain a better soil tilth for the seed germination and
growth.

Leveling the field can be done by scraping the soil or mud from high spots moving it to move to
the low spots. A bamboo pole maybe attached to the base of the harrow teeth to aid in levelling.
In wetland tillage, an implement or attachment is use when levelling and is called leveler.

Rotavation. This method is employed with the use of a rotary tiller or rotavator drawn by or
attached to a tractor. A rotary tiller may take the place of a plow and harrow because it changes
the soil into fine tilt having sufficient depth.

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Characteristics of a Well Prepared Field
● Weeds, rice straw and stubbles are thoroughly decomposed.
● Land is well puddled and leveled for uniform water distribution.

LEARNING COMPETENCY

LO 1. Conduct land preparation according to crop requirement TLE_AFAACP9-12PLCR-IVa-

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ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 1

Directions: Arrange the jumbled letters to provide what is asked in the following statements.
Write your answer in the space provided.

1 DLAN PPREAARTOIN 6 POLWGIN

2 AGRCIULTRUE 7 WGINARROH

3 EGALLIT 8 ROATVATOIN

4 RIPRYMA EGALLIT 9 LENILEVG

5 DARYONCSE EGALLIT 10 Z R E O E G A L L I T
__________1. The process of preparing soil for
planting to provide favorable soil environment for plant germination and growth.
__________2. Define as the science that deals with the soil cultivation or a process of tilling the
land for crop production and animal raising to provide foods and other products.
__________3. The process of mechanically altering some physical characteristics of the soil to
be ideal for growing crops.
__________4. It is the initial cutting of the soil where crop has been grown and harvested.
__________5. It is the subsequent cultivation and this operation breaks soil clods, incorporate
materials thoroughly into the soil.
__________6. The process of breaking up the soil usually 15 cm deep to incorporate and cover
inorganic matter.
__________7. This operation pulverizes, smoothens, and makes the soil ready for planting.

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__________8. This method is employed with the use of a rotary tiller or rotavator drawn by or
attached to a tractor.
__________9. A process of scraping the soil or mud from high spots moving it to the low
spots.
__________10. A simplified form of minimum tillage otherwise called as no tillage.

ACTIVITY 2

Directions: Go around your locality and look for at least five (5) crops planted. Also identify the
land preparation requirement or ways of tilling the field as either Wetland Tillage or Dryland
Tillage.

Crops Planted Ways of Tilling the Field

(Wetland Tillage or Dryland)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

REFLECTION
Is the lesson valuable in real life situation? What do you think are the importance of a
well prepared field prior to planting crops?
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REFERENCES

https://www.agrifarming.in/land-preparation-types-methods-objectives-advantages
https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/agri_nutrientmgt_methosoffertilizerappln.html. Retrieved
on January 4, 2021
http://www.fao.org/3/Y4360E/y4360e0a.htm
https://www.google.com/search?q=basal+fertilizer+aplication&oq=basal+fertilizer+aplication
&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i13i457j0i8i13i30l3.18996j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
https://www.hydrofert.it/en/news/basal-
fertilization/#:~:text=Basal%20fertilization%2C%20also%20known%20as,big%20quantities%
20of%20lacking%20nutrients.&text=before%20planting%20a%20woody%20crop,%2C%20fr
uit%20and%20olive%20trees).
http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/step-by-step-production/pre-planting/land-
preparation#:~:text=It%20typically%20involves%20(1)%20plowing,harvest%20or%20during
%20fallow%20period.

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