Crop production and management

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Why do you take this course ?????

 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. What is agriculture??

 two Latin words : ‘agri’=soil and culture=cultivation.

 includes
 crop production,
 livestock farming, Natural resource

 fisheries, and forestry.

 Convert natural and artificial inputs =usable product

 What led to binging of agriculture?

≈cultivation and domestication of plants and animals.
The late agriculture

Soilless agriculture
 History of agriculture

 How has started ?: domestication, cultivation  and

dissemination of plants and animals .
 existed in  Old and New World  as independent centers of
origin.

 Bings in the Bronze Age (300 BC), in civilizations of

 Mesopotamian, the Indus river,  China, Egypt and Greece.

 What is Old world ?: wheat,  barley,  peas,  lentils, vetch, chickpeas,

and flax 
 History of agriculture ……..

 During the Iron Age (classical antiquity): the expansion of  both

Rome's to whole Mediterranean and Western Europe built-up the existing
systems of agriculture.

 In the Middle Ages: by Arab Agricultural Revolution in Europe,

agriculture was transformed with improved techniques and the
dissemination of crop plant

 After the voyages of Christopher Columbus (1492), it has brought:

 Old World crops: wheat, barley, rice, and carotes to the America.
 New World crops: maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes to Europe,
 History of agriculture ……..

 During Neolithic Revolution: Irrigation, crop rotation,

and fertilizers were introduced and  developed with the British
Agricultural Revolution.
 Since 1900, agriculture in the developed and developing nations, has
seen large productivity due to the use of :  mechanization, synthetic
chemicals and selective breeding.
 Despite this development, Modern agriculture Questioned? By:
♣ Overpopulation and urbanization= ???
♣ environmental pollution and degradation↔climate change?? 
♣ genetically modified organisms (GMO)=????
♣ Higher costs of production==????
 Agriculture in Ethiopian

It is the backbone of the country's economy .

Role of agriculture
 Constraints:
90%
o periodic natural
80% resources degradation,
70% o drought and
Relative Contribution

60% o poor infrastructure

50%
40%
30%  Opportunities:
20% o human resource,
10%
o natural resource and
0%
GDP EXPORT EMPLOYMENT o demand driven
Food Production and Population Growth
Wear your mask;
Avoid handshake!

By: Wolie G. (MSc. Agronomy

What is Food self-sufficiency and food security?
What Measures to balance population growth and food security ?

 farmers will need new technologies to produce more from less

land, with fewer hands
 Increasing investment in research and development for
sustainable productivity and resource management.
 Enhancing investment in sustainable agricultural production
capacity and rural development.
 Promoting agricultural technology change and productivity
growth
 Enhancing crop loss and processing.
Chapter 2: CROP AND CROP PRODUCTION

What is plant and crop???

Branches of plant sciences?????????

 Plant organization : molecules – organelles- cells – tissue- organs –
organism- population- ecosystems = remember: (MOCTO OP)
Organism
Organelles and cell Tissue

Population Eco system

 Definition and scope of crop production

 Crop science deals world's major food, feed and

fiber crops and their environment.
 It is a broad discipline encompassing: agronomy, breeding,
and plant protection.
 Agronomy is derived from Greek words agros meaning 'field'
and nomos meaning 'to manage‘=
 Therefore, agronomy deals with principles and practices of
soil, water, and crop management.
 It is an art and sciences
 Crop production as an art and sciences
As a sciences:
 Utilizes all technologies developed on scientific principles such as crop
breeding, production techniques, crop protection, economics etc.

As an art:

 It embraces traditional knowledge of the way to perform the operations of

the farm in a skillful manner .
As the business:

 Maximize net return through the management of land labour, water and
capital, employing the knowledge of various sciences for production of
food, feed, fiber and fuel.
 3. Origins of cultivated plants /crops

 Where and when do you think the existing crops came from ?

 What center of origin mean ??

 What is center of diversity of crop plants ?

 D/c center of origin and center of diversity of crop plants.

 Why center of origin and diversity are important ???

Table 1. The eight Vavilovian Centers of origin of most common cultivated crops

Crops Center of origin crop center of origin

Figure millet Abssinynian Orange India
Barley Abyssinian Rice Indian
Sorghum Abyssinian Sugar cane Indian
Chick pea Abyssinian Banana Indian
Pearl millet Abyssinian Mango Indian
Okra Abyssinian Durum wheat Mediterranean
Sesame Abyssinian Lettuce Mediterranean
Flax Abyssinian Cabbage Mediterranean
Coffee Abyssinian Bread Wheat Near east (fertile crescent )
Nigure seed Abyssinian Fenugreek Near-Eastern
Linseed Abyssinian Two row barley Near-Eastern
Garlic Asiatic Potato South American
Apple Asiatic Tomato South American
Onion Asiatic Maize South Mexican and Central American
common name Center of origin Papaya South Mexican and Central American
pea Central Asiatic Pepper South Mexican and Central American
Faba bean Chinese Cotton SouthAmerican
Lentil Chinese    

Source: Vavilov (1943)

 138

38 
4. Crop classification

A. Botanical Classification
Remember it as:
 B . Use/Agronomic classification

 Cereal crops: 
 stimulant crops: 
 Pulse/legume
 Spices crops: 
crops: 
 Industrial crops:   Vegetables crops: 
 Forage Crop: 
 Medicinal crops
 Roots and tuber
 Temperate and tropical
crops:
 Fruit crops   ginger, garlic, chili, onion,
 C. Classification based on life span of crops:

Annual crops:  Perennial crops:   Biennial crops: 

 5. Classification based on economic importance:

Food crops: 
Cash crop: 
6. Classification based on No. of
cotyledons:
 7. Classification based on photosynthesis

a. C3 Plants:   The majority of plants and crop plants

 Mostly  highland crops

 High rate of photorespiration

 
 Less efficiency in photosynthesis

 3-Carbone (ribulose-1,-Biophospate carboxylose).

 have lower water use efficiency

b. C4 plants:    4-C molecule (malic acid)
produced .
 Photosynthetic rates are
higher
 drought resistant
 translate photosynthates
rapidly. 
 Lowland crops
 Which type of plants could fit the global warming??
c. CAM plants:
 Cassulacean acid metabolism
plants

 the stomata open at night .

 there is negligible transpiration.

 have high water use efficiency.

 These are highly drought

resistant. 

Pineapple
 8. Classification based on length of photoperiod
required for floral initiation:

 Have you ever wondered why certain flowers bloom only in

certain seasons?
 Why do we get certain fruits in one particular season and not the
others???????????

 Short-day plants:  e.g. soybean, tobacco. 

 Long day’s plants:  E.g. Wheat, Barley,
 Day neutral plants: . E.g. Cotton, sunflower,
cucumbers, roses, and tomatoes,
 9. Crop Classification based on Purpose in the Field

 Catch crops or Contingent Crops

 Smother Crops
 Restorative Crops
 Nurse Crops
 Exhaustive Crops
 Trap Crops
 Residual or Paira Crops
 Cover crops
 Alley Crops  Barrier or Guard crops
 Catch crops (emergency ) Crops  Trap Crops
diverting the harmful insects
catch the forthcoming season nematodes or weeds.
  Exhaustive Crops  Cover crops
Have a potential to hold the soil
consuming the soil contents more particles together to protect against
aggressively  soil erosion through wind and water

eggplant
  Nurse / restorative Crops

enhance or maintain the fertility  fix the atmospheric nitrogen

  Smother Crops
 They check weed growth because of
their quick growth, dense foliage and
heavy tillering or trailing habit.
 Alley Crops
 are planted in the ‘alleys’
 Restore soil fertility and
reduce soil erosion
 e nd
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