The development of Agriculture

Agriculture

- is the systematic raising of useful plants & livestock under the management of man.

- It engaged in the production of plants and animals for food, fiber, the provision for agricultural supplies
and services, & the processing, marketing & distribution of agricultural products.

A. Ancient Agriculture

•Before the development of agriculture, primitive man got his food by hunting, fishing and gathering of
wild plants.

•When the food supply was exhausted in one area, he moved to another.

•When domestication of animals and plants ensured a steady source of food, the primitive man stopped
wandering and settle down in one place.

✓Man’s first attempts at agriculture can be traced back to about thousands of years ago, when he first
domesticated animals and fowls.

✓1st crop plantings were made by digging the earth with pointed sticks.

✓Gradually, these pointed sticks were tipped with bones, then replaced by metals.

✓About 3,000 B.C, the Egyptians used the primitive hoes which were replaced by plows with ropes
harnessed and pulled steadily by man.

✓With available domesticated animals, man later learned to use the oxen to pull the plow.

✓Archaeological findings suggested that the first successful domestication of plants was in Thailand
where remnants of rice and soybeans from 10,000 years ago were discovered.

✓The primitive husbandmen removed by hand the destructive insects in their fields or practiced mystic
rites to drive away the evil spirits they believed to be the cause of plant diseases.

✓With advancing civilization, materials like sulfur, brine, white-wash soap and vinegar were applied to
plants to suppress diseases or insects.

✓ Improved cultural methods doubtless followed observations made by primitive farmers.

✓ They found better crops in:

1. spots where manure, ashes or broken limestone had been dropped

2. where weeds are not allowed to grow
3. where the soil was dark, deep and wellwatered
4. when one crop followed certain other crops.
B. Scientific and Modern Agriculture

- had its beginning in England in the 18th century.

- The British first established botanical gardens in England in 1720 and Africa at the later part
of 19th century.
Prominent Agriculturists:
Jethro Tull (1674-1741)
- published a book entitled “Horsehoeing Husbandry” principles of row crop cultivation
- father of modern tillage
- developed a horse-drawn seed drill and hoe.
Arthur Young (1741-1820)
- published the Annals of Agriculture in 46 volumes.
Robert Hooke (1635-1703)
- who first describe the plant cells.
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
- illustrated genetic inheritance by using garden pea.
- Father of genetics
John Bennet Lawes & Joseph Henry Gilbert
– first agricultural researchers.
Louis Pasteur
- found that microorganism causes diseases.
- discovered the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation & pasteurization.

- In the last quarter of 18th century, U.S. technology and research was improved vastly and
created the “Agricultural revolution”.
- This was the radical change from the use of wooden plow to better iron plow and further
the beginning of mechanized farming.
- More areas were cultivated by the use of tractors reducing labor cost.
- By the 1920’s, the U.S. experienced a tremendous increase in corn and other crop yields as a
result of high technology agriculture which include:
✓increased fertilizer and pesticide use
✓improved irrigation
✓productive cultivars
✓improved cultural practices and
✓shifting of many crops to more productive areas.
- The 1960’s became known as the decade of “Green Revolution” when increased in yield was
repeated for some grain crops.
- The indigenous people in the Philippines (Pygmies or Negritos) who came to the Philippines
from Central Asia, 25,000 years ago were not agriculturists.
- They wandered from place to place and derived their food from hunting, fishing and
gathering wild fruits.
 Stages of Development
a. Pre-colonial period
✓ The second migrants to the Philippines, Indo-Malayan who came from Southeastern
Asia 5,000 years ago, brought with them wet-rice agriculture.
✓ Carabao was also used as source of animal power for cultivation.
✓This type of agriculture predominated near bodies of water like rivers and lakes.
✓ Kaingin farming or slash and burn predominated other areas.
- This indicated shifting agriculture rather than sedentary type of rice culture and the
tribe were mainly nomadic.
✓ Main crops were consisted of rice, gabi, yam, banana, corn, coconut, ginger, and
citrus.
✓ The pattern of agriculture was chiefly subsistence.
✓ Farms were small, chiefly backyard in coastal and riverbank settlements.
b. Colonial period
✓ Plants that were introduced include mulberry, cocoa, wheat, cucumber, watermelon,
coffee, new varieties of cereals, peas and other vegetables.
✓ The development of haciendas allowed for the introduction of technological
innovations in production and processing.
e.g steam or hydraulic-powered sugar mills.
✓ In March 6, 1909, the College of Agriculture was founded in Los Banos, Laguna as a
unit of the University of the Philippines.
c. Post-war period
✓ Introduction of technological improvements
✓ 1950’s – campaign for use of modern farm inputs and farm mechanization
✓ 1960’s – building up of markets for tractors and power tillers
- establishment of IRRI
- introduction of high yielding varieties
✓ 1960’s
- further development and expansion of international agriculture trading esp. for
coconut and its by-products, tobacco, sugar, pineapple, etc.

1.Soybean

✓ originated from Asia where its close relative and likely progenitor , Lysine ussuriensis (wild soybean) is
abundant.

2. Sorghum

✓ originated from Abyssinia (Northeast Africa)

✓ Sorghum vulgare ranks 4th behind wheat, rice, and maize.

3. Corn

✓ originated from Mexico

✓ second most important crop in Philippines

4.Rice

✓domesticated in India more than 4,000 years ago from the wild species of Oryza perennis.

✓ The top producers are China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Thailand, (Statista, 2022).

Oil Crops

✓ include both annual and perennial plants whose seeds, fruits or mesocarp and nuts are valued mainly
for the edible or industrial oils that are extracted from them.

Vegetable Crops

- any plant whose fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, flowers, and other parts are used as food.

1. Green bean and lima bean

– native to tropical America

2. Eggplant (also known as eggfruit, aubergine or guinea squash)

–is probably native to South and Eastern Asia but was also grown in China for many centuries

3. Muskmelon

– originated in Asia, particularly in Iran and India.

4.Okra

– also called gumbo, gobo or lady’s finger is either Asian or African in origin.

5. Tomatoes

- native to tropical Central and South America. - Its wild progenitor is thought to have been the cherry
tomato which now grows in the wild in Peru-Ecuador area.

6. Asparagus

- native to Southern Russia.

7. Onion

- an ancient crop thought to have been domesticated in Central Asia.

Cultivated Tropical Fruits

Bananas

- originated in Southeast Asia, spreading to India, Africa and finally to tropical America.

Citrus

- The crop is of tropical origin, it is now cultivated more extensively in the subtropics with
Mediterranean climate.

Mango

- originated in the India-BangladeshBurma region and had been spread into cultivation and common use
in the Indian sub-continent by 2,000 B.C

Pineapple

- originated from tropical regions of South America.

Papaya

- originated in Central America

➢ In 1990, Phil. population was estimated to be more than 60 million & increasing at an annual rate of
2.6%, the highest in Southeast Asia.

➢ As of 2017, Philippine population was more than 103 million.

➢The world can be divided into “have” (developed) and the “have not” (developing countries).

Botanical method

➢ the most important and commonly used method of classifying plants w/c is based on descent and
phylogenetic relationship of plants.

✓ Approximately 300,000 plant species identified and classified into 4 main divisions in the plant
kingdom:

1. Thallophytes - e.i algae and fungi

2. Bryophytes – e.i mosses

3. Pteridophytes – e.i ferns, horsetails

4. Spermatophytes

Spermatophytes

– all seed bearing plants divided into 2 subdivision:

1. Gymnosperm – all plants with naked seeds like the pine trees.
2. Angiosperm – seeds enclosed in a vessel and divided into 2 classes:

a. Monocots – one cotyledons

b. Dicotyledons – two cotyledons

Carl von Linne’

– better known as Carolous Linnaeus was the originator of the binomial system of plant nomenclature

- Published a book “ Genera Plantarum” led to the modern taxonomy or classification of plants

✓ In Crop Science, plants are classified in many ways:

• based on the manner or culture (agronomic or horticultural)

• based on their use (food, fiber, beverage, oil, medicinal)

• on their climatic requirement (temperate, sub-temperate, tropical)

• on the length of their life cycle (annuals, biennials, or perennials)

• on their habitat ( aquatic, terrestrial, or aerial, etc)

Horticultural Crops
1. Vegetables
– crops grown for culinary purposes.
a. Leafy vegetable
– pechay, kangkong, mustard
b. Cole crop or crucifers
– cabbage, chinese cabbage, cauliflower, brocolli
c. Root and bulb crops
– sweet potato, irish potato, bulb onions, garlic, etc.
d. Legumes or pulses
– sitao, bush sitao, pole sitao
e. Solanaceous vegetables
– eggplant, pepper, tomato
f. Cucurbits
– cucumber, muskmelon, watermelon, squash, ampalaya, etc.

2. Fruits

- consists of those tissues which support the ovules of a plant, and whose development is dependent
upon physiological changes occuring in these ovules.
- Some fruits in their juvenile or immature stage are used as vegetable (e.i. jackfruit and papaya).

a. Tree fruit

– mango, durian, lanzones, santol

b. Nut fruits – pili, cashew

c. Small fruits – strawberry, grapes

3. Ornamentals

– all plants that are used for their aesthetic qualities or for decorative purposes.

a. Cutflowers

– roses, chrysanthemum, anthurium, gladiolus, carnation, etc.

b. Flowering pot plants

– roses especially the miniature type, chrysanthemum, poinsettia, bougainvillea

c. Foliage (both potted and as cut foliage)

– fern, asparagus, cordyline, palmera, pepperomia, deiffenbachia, aglaonema

d. Landscape plants

– consisting of trees (both flowering and evergreens) and shrubs

e. Turf grass

– lawn grass and other species used in recreational areas.

4. Plantation crops

–crops usually perennial and require minor changes in the structure of the product (primary processing)
before utilization.

a. Oil crops – coconut, african oil palm, castor bean

b. Beverage – coffee, cacao

c. Spices – black pepper, vanilla

d. Fiber crops – abaca, buri, kapok, cotton, maguey, kenaf, ramie

e.Medicinal crops – niyog-niyugan, sambung, tsang gubat, etc.

f. Latex or resin – pili, rubber, almaciga

Agronomic Plants

– are grouped according to the way or ways they are used:

1. Cereals – e.i. corn, rice, barley, oats, rye, sorghum, wheat

2. Seed legumes (pulses) - e.i. soybeans, mungbeans, peas

3. Forage – feed for animals in the form of hay, silage or pasture

4. Fiber – grown for their fiber e.i cotton, abaca

5. Drug and beverage – e.i. cichona, tobacco, tea, coffee

6. Sugar – grown for their sweet syrup e.i. sugarcane, sweet sorghum, sugar beets

7. Oil - e.i. flax, sunflower, coconut

Special purpose classification:

1. Green manure
– legumes especially soybeans, cowpeas and other crops which are grown then plowed under to
improve soil fertility.

2. Silage (corn and sorghum)

- crops grown to be cut and preserved in a succulent condition for silage

3.Green crop

– corn, sundagrass, soybean and many other crops which are cut when green and succulent and are fed
to livestock without curing.

4.Catch/emergency crop

– sundagrass, buckwheat, millet and other short-season crops used to fill-in when regular crops have
failed or when planting is for some reason delayed.

5. Cover crop

– crops seeded on land needing protection against wind and water erosion and nutrient loss through
leaching. E.i Rye and tropical kudzu

6. Supplement

–crop grown as secondary crop e.i sundagrass when used to provide grazing at a time when other
pastures can’t be used or are not sufficiently productive

7. Companion crop

- small grain like clover, alfalfa and crop is now used instead of the farmer’s term nurse crop, instead of
nursing the new seedlings such crop really compete with them.
Plant

– any organism belonging to the kingdom plantae, lacking of active locomotion and has the ability to
manufacture its own food (Photosynthesis/put together with light).

Crop

- domesticated/cultivated plant or plant with economic value. It denotes plant under cultivation.

Science

- systematically accumulated and tested knowledge, the ordered knowledge of natural phenomena.

Crop Science

– define as a science that deals with the observation and classification of knowledge concerning
economically cultivated plants and the establishment of verifiable principles regarding their growth and
development.

Crop production as a science, art and business

Crop production

- is the cultivation of crops that are utilized by man for any purpose in order to survive.

• Its specific connotation, crop production could simply mean, the management of useful plants.

Two disciplines of crop production

1. Agronomy - deals with the principles and practices of field crop production and soil management.

The term derived from 2 Greek words: “agros” means field and “nomos” or to manage

2. Horticulture

- the study and cultivation of fruits (Pomology), vegetables (Olericulture), flowers (Floriculture), nursery
management and landscape gardening.

-the term is derived from 2 Latin words “hortos” means garden and “cultura” means to cultivate.

As a science

▪ Modern crop production is not based on guess-work or trial and error method.

▪ Its science is derived from the application or adoption of the basic sciences of chemistry, mathematics,
physics and from various applied sciences like physiology, meteorology, anatomy, plant breeding and
etc.

As an art

✓ it is an art because it requires skills to produce crops even if one has little or no scientific training.
✓ The art of crop science reaches its greatest expression in horticulture specifically in ornamental
horticulture where plants are raised for their aesthetic qualities (e.g. floral arts and landscaping).

• As a business

✓ plants are not grown simply to satisfy the needs of man but to realize some profits in the process of
producing it.

✓Thus, maximization of output relative to production input is one of the guiding principles of
production.

✓ Scientific knowledge about plants is utilized so that they are produced at the time when the demand
and the best prices could be obtained when sold

• Man’s need for raw materials required to meet their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.

• The increasing requirements of the processing and food industry have served as incentives to further
improve crop production practices.

• Early recognition of the importance of agricultural research was made by the British empire by the
establishment of agricultural research stations.

• Similarly, the U.S experiment stations were established upon establishment of landgrant state
colleges.

• In the Philippines, agricultural research has been establish through schools and experiment stations,
both private and public such as:

1.State Colleges and Universities of Agriculture

2. Dept. of Agriculture Research Institution

3. Commodity Research Centers

CRDI- Cotton Research and Development Institute

PTRTC- Philippine Tobacco Research and Training Center

FPRDI- Forest Product Research and Development Institute

3. Commodity Research Centers

PRRI – Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice)

4. Specialized Research Centers

IPB- Institute of Plant Breeding

NCPC- National Crop Protection Center

NPGRL- National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory

FSSRI- Farming Systems and Soils Research Institute

5. International Research Organization

IRRI- International Rice Research Institute

CIMMYT- Centro International de Meyoramiente de Maize Y Trigo

CIP- Centro International de Patatas

CHAPTER 2:
A. Photosynthesis

It is the process in which CO2 and water are converted into carbon-containing, energy-rich organic
compound by chlorophyllous cells in the presence of light.

It has been said that crop production is basically a system of exploiting solar energy through
photosynthesis. Photosynthesis, therefore, is the most important process on earth because it is the
connecting link between energy and life on earth.