Principles of Crop Production

(AEB 107)

Mosenda Enoch
&
Prof. Josiah Kinama
 Course delivery
• Teaching methodology: Lectures, class discussion & Practicals

• Evaluation plan: Assignments and CAT (30%)

Final examination (70%)

Teaching 03/10/2022- 16/12/2022

Christmas Break: 19/12/2022- 06/01/2023
Teaching: 09/01/2023 – 20/01/2023
Exams: 23/01/2023 – 03/02/2023
course references

1. Acquaah G. (2004) Principles of Crop Production: Theory,

Techniques, and Technology. 2nd Edition
2. Chandrasekaran B., K. Annadurai and E. Somasundaram (2010) A
Textbook of Agronomy.
3. Sheaffer, C.C. and K.M. Moncada (2012). Introduction to agronomy:
Food, crops and environment. Second edition.
 Course Objectives
1. Understand the concept of crop production and the various factors that
affect crop production.
2. Describe land preparation practices, their roles and implements for
carrying them out.
3. Understand crop sowing and planting practices.
4. Describe the various practices for soil fertility maintenance.
5. Describe methods of irrigation and drainage management.
6. Identify types and management practices of weeds and diseases.
7. Understand harvesting and post-harvesting operation of crops.
 
 Course Outline
1. Introduction- concept of crop production
2. Energy/biomass transfer systems
3. Environmental factors determining crop performance
4. Cultural/agronomic practices-
• seedbed preparation, cultivation, plant seed & seed rates,
• crop protection, plant population,
• maintenance of soil fertility, organic & inorganic fertilizer,
• soil and water conservation, disease management
5. Cropping systems- crop rotation, intercropping, agro-forestry
6. Production in protected environments and hydroponics-soiless
Course outline/content

1 Introduction
Objectives
2 Factors Affecting Plant Growth
2.1 Climate Factors
2.2 Edaphic Factors
2.3 Plant Factors
3 Crop Rotation: Principles and Advantages
3.1 Guiding Principles
3.2 Advantages
3.3 Multiple Cropping
3.4 Intercropping and Mixed Cropping
4 Weed Control
4.1 Definition
Course outline
4.2 Harmful Effects
4.3 Classification of Weeds
4.4 Methods of Control
10.5 Manures and Fertilizers
5.1 Manures
5.2 Fertilizers
5.3 Methods of Application
5.4 Time of Application
5.5 Increasing Nitrogen [Use Efficiency)
6 Water Management
6.1 Soil Water Plant Relationship
6.2 Irrigation
6.3 Drainage
7.0 Causes of Low Yield
10.8 Summary
Practical
• Identification, usage and maintenance of farm tools and machinery.
• Identification of seedling materials of arable crops propagated by seed,
sett, stem, vine, root, sucker corms and cormel and rhizomes etc.
• Methods of seed viability testing.
• Dormancy: causes and how to overcome them.
• Identification/collection of weed, insects and plant disease of economic
importance.
• Field practice on various cultural management practices: land
preparation, seedling, weeding, insect control fertilization, harvesting etc.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
• This is a compulsory course for all students in the University. In view
of this, students are expected to participate in all the course activities
and have minimum of 75% attendance to be able to write the final
examination.
INTRODUCTION
• AGRICULTURE the science, art, or occupation concerned with
cultivating land, raising crops, and feeding, breeding, and raising
livestock.
Importance of Agriculture
• People depend on a wide range of agricultural products in almost all
aspects of life, e.g,
• nutrition is a key determinant of human health
• provider of energy-fuel-wood and medicinal plants
• Fiber
• Agriculture is key to a healthy biosphere.
• Agriculture is a key economic driver. It is central to:
 Individual livelihoods
Poverty alleviation
Nation’s economic growth, e.g., agriculture contributes between 40 and 60% of the GDP
of many African countries.
CROP PRODUCTION; ART, SCIENCE
AND BUSINESS
• Crop Production is the art and science of the genetic improvement of
crops to produce new varieties with increased productivity and
quality.
• The advanced genetic and molecular techniques have resulted in new
varieties of crop plants, medicinal plants and ornamentals.
MAJOR CROP RESEARCH CENTERS
• The Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an organization
established under FAO, co-ordinates agricultural research on a global basis. Under CGIAR, the
following international research institutes are functioning presently:
• IRRI-International Rice Research Institute, Manila, The Philippines.
• CIMMYT-International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center, Elbaton, Mexico.
• ICRISAT-International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad, India
• IITA-International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria
• CIAT-International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Palmira, Colombia
• CIP-International Potato Center, Lima, Peru
• WARDA- West African Rice Development Research Station, Monrovia, Liberia
• BIODIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL-Biodiversity International, Rome, Italy
• ICARDA-International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, Lebanon, Syria.
1. DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS
• In nature, the origin of plants took place in the wild conditions. During
the course of evolution of agricultural practices, man began to grow
some plants under his control. This process of bringing wild plants
under cultivation is called plant domestication.
2. INTRODUCTION OF PLANTS
• Introduction of plants from other continents, countries, geographical
regions etc to new areas of cultivation is an important process in plant
breeding. The process of introducing new plants from the place of its
origin or cultivation to a place with different climatic conditions is
called plant introduction.
3. ACCLIMATIZATION
• The physiological adaptation of plants to climatic or environmental
changes such as light, soil, temperature or altitude is known as
acclimatization.
4. SELECTION OF PLANTS
• Plants, both domesticated as well as introduced, show considerable
degrees of variations with respect to different characters. Some of
these plants are superior whereas the others are inferior in
performance. The process of selection of superior plants is an
important method for the improvement of cultivated plants, which
lead to the development of new varieties with more advantageous
and superior characters.
5. PLANT HYBRIDIZATION
• Domestication, introduction, acclimatization and selection of plants
help to locate the most promising cultivars from the available
diversity.
• But superior and economically important characters are scattered in
different cultivars.
• Hybridization is the technique of bringing superior characters into a
single variety by way of cross-pollinating them artificially.
6. MUTATION BREEDING
• Desirable characters that are scattered in different varieties can be
brought together by hybridization.
• But, sometimes, induction of new variability (new characters and
character forms) may become necessary since no cultivars with such
traits are available.
• The most common method used to induce new variation is mutation
breeding for which seeds or propagules of plants are treated with
some chemicals or physical agents that are called mutagens.
7. POLYPLOIDY BREEDING
• Usually, plants and animals carry chromosomes in pairs in their
somatic cells.
• But, in some cases, more than two sets (multiple sets) of
chromosomes (three sets, four sets, etc) can be seen.
• Such organisms are called polyploids and the condition is called
polyploidy.
• In the case of some cultivated plants, polyploids show superiority in
characters.
• Breeding of such cultivated plants is called polyploidy breeding.
8. BIOTECHNOLOGICAL BREEDING
• Biotechnology is the latest branch of biology that makes use of
enzymes as tools to accelerate or manipulate biochemical pathways
so as to generate new goods and services based on life and
biomolecules. in vitro culture technology, marker assisted selection,
somatic hybridization, transgenesis and bioreactor technology are the
major tools of biotechnology used in plant breeding.
 Introduction
• What is a crop?

• Crop production is a common practice of growing and producing crops to

use as food, oil or fibre

• Uses/importance of crops??

• Need to know the plant part of interest for different crops- varies

• Different crop parts are used for different purposes

Cont;
Examples
1. Cereal Crops- belong to the grass family. Mostly grown for edible
seeds eg Maize, rice, wheat, millet, barley, Sugarcane??
2. Legumes- Pulses, high in protein eg beans, green grams, pigeon
peas, cowpeas, soybeans
3. Root & tuber crops- grown for enlarged roots or underground
stems (tubers)- cassava, sweet potato, Irish potato, yams, arrow roots
4. Fruits and Vegetables- grown for fleshy fruit or vegetative parts
5. Fibre crops- grown for fibre derived from different parts eg leaf
(Sisal), Seed (cotton)
Others
• Spices
• Oil crops
• Medicinal plants
• Beverages (Stimulant)-coffee, tea
• Forage and pasture crops
• Aesthetic (Ornamental plants)
 HISTORY OF CROP PRODUCTION

• Crop production began with domestication and selection of crops

• Women who did much of domestication
• Shifting cultivation
• Purely subsistence
Major Milestones

1. Agrarian revolution/industrial – 1800

2. Green Revolution – 1700
- Malthus predicted a great starvation
• In response to Malthus prediction, the Ford and Rockefeller
foundations sent Dr Norman Borloug and a team of researchers to
Mexico to work on wheat
The team of researchers came up with superior wheat and rice varieties.
Green Revolution
• Green revolution by adopting improved seeds (high-yielding
varieties/F1 hybrids), inputs (high doses of fertilizers, pesticides, and
weedicides), heavy machinery, and copious water for irrigation was
successful with good soils having abundant irrigation water supply but
failed to address some social and environmental issues.
Positive Impacts GR
• Increased food supply
• Increased nutrition
Increased Food Production
• The green revolution, with the adoption of high-yielding varieties of
seeds, chemical fertilizers, and irrigation, significantly increased
wheat, rice, and maize production and productivity (2.5 times in
wheat).
• From 1960 to 2000, the yields of wheat, rice, and maize in all
developing countries increased by 208, 109, and 157 %, respectively
Increased Nutrition
• From 1960 to 1990, the number of undernourished people and
malnourished children in the world fell significantly. Due to fall in food
prices, the diet diversification even among poor people increased. Other
impacts of green revolution include:
• Adoption of improved package of practices for crop production
• Improvement in standard of living
• Increased employment opportunities (production of seeds, fertilizers,
pesticides, and other inputs; transport and marketing; and food processing)
• Reduction in import of food grains
• Socioeconomic change
Negative Impacts of GR
• Loss of Biodiversity
• Soil quality impact
• Pesticide Hazards
• Soil salinization
• Increase in pests and disease incidence
• Soil compaction
Loss of Biodiversity
• The green revolution has signifi cantly decreased the biodiversity of crops in the world
today.
• The use of few selected genetically uniform crop varieties [particularly dwarf wheat
varieties released from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT),
Mexico; and Taichung Native rice varieties released from the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI), Philippines], in very large areas, has led to mono-cropping.
• Genetic diversity was lost by replacing thousands of wild crop strains with a few
monoculture strains.
• Ninety percent of all human food now comes from only 15 crop species and 8 livestock
species. Before the green revolution, it is estimated that there were over 30,000 different
variants of rice.
• Critics estimate that only ten modifi ed rice variants are used today. Many valuable genetic
traits bred traditional varieties over thousands of years were permanently lost.
Soil quality Impact
• Heavy doses of fertilizers were used for higher production.
• The soil quality is diminished due to increased reliance on synthetic
fertilizers rather than natural fertilizers (FYM, compost, crop residues,
green manures, and other organic amendments) which allowed
replenishing of nutrients.
• Nitrate pollution of water bodies took place due to leaching of
nitrogenous fertilizers.
Pesticide Hazard
• Pesticides travel through food chain and accumulate in higher
organisms (biomagnifi cation).
• They persist in soil, air, and surface and groundwater and continue to
poison them for a long time.
• In 1989, WHO and UNEP estimated that there were about one million
human pesticide poisonings annually, and some 20,000 (mostly in
developing nations) ended in death (Pimentel 1996 ).
• Long-term exposure to pesticides caused cancer in animals (e.g.,
chlorinated hydrocarbons).
Soil salinization
• Intensifi cation of water use for irrigation has led to soil salinization.
This has resulted in land toxicity due to accumulation of sodium ions
in soil solution that adversely affected plant growth.
Increase in pests and disease incidence
• Due to mono-cropping, the pest and disease problems in crops
increased. In order to manage pests, indiscriminate use of pesticides
was adopted.
Soil compaction
• The use of heavy farm machinery for sowing; fertilizer, pesticide, and
herbicide application; and harvesting resulted in soil compaction.
• The environmental degradation makes the green revolution an overall
ineffi cient, short-term solution to the problem of food insecurity.
• Hence, more sustainable and environment friendly agriculture system
needs to be developed to both feed a growing world population
without compromising the needs of future generations and to feed
themselves.
Other negative impacts of green revolution
• Water depletion for irrigation
• Fossil fuels used for running heavy farm machinery

However, without the green revolution, much more land would have
been converted for agriculture, destroying forests, wetlands, and
other ecosystems.
Characteristics of pre-green revolution wheat varieties

1. The wheat was tall and susceptible to lodging

2. It had low harvest index - proportion of grain was very low relative to
the total biomass= 6g/20
3. The varieties did not respond well to fertilizers,
4. The varieties did not respond well to Irrigation,
5. The varieties did not respond well to Mechanization
6. The varieties did not respond well to Pest control
7. They had low yields
8. They were prone to pest and diseases
Characteristics of post-green revolution wheat varieties

• They were semi-dwarf and resistant to lodging

• Responsive to fertilizer
• Had high harvest index
• Had high yield
• Responsive to mechanization, pest control, irrigation and agronomic
management
• High yielding varieties
Drivers of green revolution
• Plant breeding
• Modern agronomy
• Modern Pesticides
• Modern fertilizer
 Outcomes of Green revolution

1. Led to the formation of CGIAR in 1968

2. Dr. Norman Borloug won a Nobel peace prize ward in 1970 because
of his work and great contribution.
3. Green revolution extended to other crops such as maize, cassava,
beans
4. Doubling of yield and reduction in food prices by 70%; this
prevented the mass starvation predicted by Malthus
5. Led to the widening of the gap between small and large scale
farmers (inequity).
6. Countries that adopted the Green revolution had their economies
stimulated
 CGIAR
• Formely; (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research)-1968
• Currently: consortium of international agricultural research centers
• Engaged in research about food security
• To reduce rural poverty, increase food and nutrition security, improve human
health, sustainable management of natural resources
• Examples
1. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)- Nairobi
2. International centre for tropical agriculture (CIAT)- Colombia
3. International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF)- Nairobi
4. International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)- Philippines
5. International Potato Centre (CIP)- Peru
 Why Africa missed the Green Revolution

1. Serious resource constraints. Low input and output production system.

2. Green revolution was based on monoculture; this was not the case in
Africa where polycultural cropping system was being practiced,
3. Illiteracy levels in Africa was high; one of the aspects of Green
revolution was high management skills hence Africa lacked skilled
personnel for the adoption of green revolution
4. The environment in Africa is marginal, soils were degraded and further to
this agriculture was majorly rainfed as opposed to irrigation during the
Green revolution.
5. Government investment to the sector was poor thus research, training,
irrigation could not be effectively practiced.
6. Colonialists invested much on cash crops as opposed to food crops.