CS 1

FUNDAMENTALS
OF CROP SCIENCE
1
Mr. Angelito T. Villarosa
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Definitions:

Science. Systematically accumulated and tested

knowledge. It refers to the ordered knowledge of
natural phenomena and the rational study of the
relationship between the concepts in which
these phenomena are expressed.

It is not a set of facts but a way of giving unity

and intelligibility to the facts of nature so that
nature may be controlled and new facts
predicted.
Plant. Any organism belonging to the
kingdom Plantae, typically lacking of
active locomotion or obvious nervous
system or sensory organs and has
photosynthetic ability.
Crop. Domesticated/cultivated plants
grown for profit. It usually connotes a
group or population of cultivated plants.
Two groups of science practitioners may
be identified: the theoretical,
academic or basic scientist and the
applied scientist.

The basic scientist brings the saturated

solution of knowledge to the point of
crystallization while the applied scientist bring
the idea to practical achievement.
The major applied sciences in crop production
are the following:

Crop science. It is concerned with the

observation and classification of
knowledge concerning economically
cultivated crops and the establishment of
verifiable principles regarding their
growth and development for the purpose
of deriving the optimum benefit from
them.
Agronomy. It came from the Greek word
“agros” meaning field and “nomos”
meaning to manage. Thus agronomy
deals with the principles and practices of
managing field crops and soils.
Horticulture. It came from the Latin
words “hortus”, which means a
“garden”, (a term derived from the
Anglo-saxon word “gyrdan”, which
means “to
enclose”) and “colere”, which means
‘to cultivate”.
The concept of gardens and plants within an
enclosure is distinct from the culture of
field crops, a medieval concept.
CLASSIFICATION OF CROPS

• The most important and commonly used

method of classifying plants is the botanical
method, which is based on descent or the
phylogenetic relationship of plants.

• Approximately more than 300,000 plant

species have already been identified.
• Taxonomy, or the study of plant classification,
is dynamic and it changes as new knowledge
becomes available.

• The four divisions of phyla of the plant

kingdom identified by Eichler in 1833 have
since been expanded by modern taxonomists
to 28 divisions.
The four divisions of the plant kingdom are:

1. Thallophyta – algae, bacteria and fungi

2. Bryophyta – small green plants without true

roots or flowers such as the mosses

3. Pteridophyta – green plants with vascular

tissue, true roots, and usually distinct leaves.
This group includes the psilophytes, club
mosses, horsetails and ferns.
4. Spermatophyta – all seed-bearing plants that
bear true flowers. Majority of the
economically important plants are included
in this division.

The division is subdivided into 2 groups, namely:

a. gymnosperms – all plants with naked seeds
like the pine trees.

b. angiosperms – plants with seed enclosed in a

vessel; further divided into 2 classes;

1) monocotyledon – with one cotyledon

2) dicotyledon – with two cotyledons
An example of a botanical classification of a dent corn is as follows:

Classification unit

Kingdom Plantae
Division Spermatophyta
Subdivi Angiospermae
sion Monocotyledonae
Cla Graminales
s Gramineae
s
Zea
Order
mays
Family
`Ind
Genu entat
s a’Zea mays L.
Scientific
Species name
Type
An example of a botanical classification of a rice is as follows:

Classification unit

Kingdom Plantae
Division Spermatophyta
Subdivi Angiospermae
sion Monocotyledonae
Cla Poales
s
Gramineae
s
Oryza
Order
Family sativa
Mestizo
Genu
s
Scientific
Species name Zea mays L.
Type
• Carl von Linne, better known as Carolus
Linnaeus, was the originator of this
binomial system of plant nomenclature.

• The publication of his book entitled

Genera Plantarum led to the modern
taxonomy or classification of plants.
• The first letter of family names is always
capitalized and more often written
entirely in capital letters.

• Most families names end with –aceae

attached to a genus name; e.g. Rosaceae,
Magnoliaceae, Liliaceae, etc.
• Eight families, however, do not follow
this standard rule. So for the sake of
uniformity and consistency, new names
have been proposed for these families.
The new names appear in parenthesis
following the old names. Either the old or
the new names can be used.
 COMPOSITAE (ASTERACEAE)

CRUCIFERAE (BRASSICACEAE)

GRAMINEAE (POACEAE)

GUTTIFERAE (CLUSIACEAE)

LABIATAE (LAMIACEAE)

LEGUMINOSAE (FABACEAE)

PALMAE (ARECACEAE)

UMBELLIFERAE (APIACEAE)
• In writing scientific names, the first letter of
the genus name is capitalized, while the
species name is in small letter. Scientific
names are italicized or underlined.
In Crop Science, plants are classified in many ways;

• either based on the manner of culture

(agronomic or horticultural)

•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, perennials)

•on their habitat (aquatic, terrestrial, aerial,

arctic.)

•on their photoperiodic response (long-day,

short-day, day-neutral) among others.
 Table 1. Comparison between
agronomic and horticultural crops.
•Examples of agronomic and horticultural
crops based on use are given as follows.
VEGETABLE

• Leafy
– pechay, kangkong, mustard
• Cole/crucifers
– cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli
• Root and bulb
– sweet potato, Irish or white potato, bulb onions,
garlic, ginger
VEGETABLE

• Legumes/pulses
– pole and bush sitao, mungbean
• Solanaceous
– eggplant, bell pepper, tomato
• Cucurbits
– cucumber, muskmelon, watermelon, squash,
ampalaya
FRUITS

• Tree
– mango, durian, lanzones, santol, citrus,
mangosteen, guava, jackfruit
• Nut
– pili, cashew
• Small
– strawberry, grapes, pineapple
• Herbaceous
– banana, papaya
PLANTATION
• Oil
– coconut, African oil palm, castor bean
• Beverage
– coffee, cacao, tea
• Herbs and spices
– basil, coriander,
rosemary,
tarragon, black
pepper
• Fiber
– abaca, sisal,
PLANTATION

• Medicinal
– sambong, lagundi, tsaang-gubat, garlic, pansit-
pansitan, ampalaya, yerba-buena, guava, banaba,
akapulko, niyug-niyogan
• Essences/flavoring
– vanilla, anise, bay leaf, cinnamon
• Latex and resin
– rubber, pili, sawoe
ORNAMENTALS
• Cutflower
– rose, chrysanthemum, anthurium, dendrobium,
gladiolus, carnations, lilies, gerbera, heliconia,
curcuma, bird-of-paradise
• Flowering pot plants
– miniature roses, dwarf chrysanthemums,
bougainvillea, poinsettia, mussaenda, African
violet
• Foliage
– Aglaonema, asplenium, caladium, dieffenbachia,
philodendron, anthurium, croton
ORNAMENTALS

• Cutfoliage
– ferns, palmera, anthurium, asparagus, selom, fortune
plant, dracaena
• Bedding plant
– celosia, salvia, begonia, cosmos, impatiens, petunia,
marigold, zinnia, periwinkle, ground orchid
• Landscape plants
– yucca, palms, flowering and evergreen trees
• Turf grass
– Bermuda grass, bluegrass, manila grass, carabao
grass
OTHER

• Cereals
– rice, corn, sorghum, wheat, millet
• Field legumes
– mungbean, ricebean, cowpea
• Fiber
– cotton, ramie, jute, kenaf
• Drug
– tobacco
OTHER
• Oil
– soybeans, sunflower, safflower (kasubha)
• Sweeteners
– sugarcane, sugar beet
• Forage and pasture
– Stylosanthes sp., Centrosema sp., guinea grass,
paragrass, napier grass
• Biofuel
– jatropha, coconut, sweet sorghum, sugarcane,
cassava
Special Purpose Classification

1. Green manure – crop usually leguminous

crops grown for a specific period of time and
then plowed under into the soil to improve
soil fertility

2. Silage – forage crops harvested, processed

and stored for animal feeds
3. Soilage – forage crops which are cut when
green and succulent and are directly fed to
livestock

4. Catch crop – fast-growing crop grown

simultaneously with or between successive
plantings of a main crop

5. Cover crop - grown primarily to provide

ground cover to improve soil properties,
control erosion and minimize weeds
6. Companion crop –planting one plant in
proximity to another due the benefits it
bestows on the other crop like insect-
repelling qualities

7. Trap crop – a crop grown to protect the main

crop from biotic and abiotic factors
 CROP PRODUCTION AS
A SCIENCE, ART AND BUSINESS
AND ITS DEVELOPMENT
As a science.

Modern crop production is not based on

guess-work or trial and method. Its
error
science is derived from the
adoption of theorbasic sciences of chemistry,
application
mathematics, physics and from various
applied sciences like physiology, meteorology,
anatomy, plant breeding, etc.
As an art.

• It is an art because it requires skills to produce

crops even with 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., in
floral arts as well as in landscaping.
As a business.

•Plants are not grown simply to satisfy the

needs of man but to realize some profit in the
process of producing it. Thus, maximization
of output relative to production input is one
of the guiding principles of production.
•Scientific knowledge utilized to produce
plants at the time when there is demand and
when the best prices could be obtained when
sold, e.g., production of off-season tomatoes
and flowers and raising disease-resistant field
crops to reduce the cost of crop protectant
chemicals.
•Man’s needs for raw materials required to
meet his basic needs for food, clothing and
shelter and 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, in the U.S. experiment stations were

also established in the land-grant state colleges.
It may therefore be presumed that the formal
start of scientific agriculture dates back to the
time when these agricultural experiment
research stations were established.
 Agricultural research in the Philippines has been
established through schools and experiment
stations, both private and public. These are:

1. State Colleges and Universities offering

degrees in Agriculture.

2. Department of Agriculture Research

Networks
3. National Commodity Research Centers
FIDA – Fiber Industry Development Authority
NTA – National Tobacco Administration
PhilRice– Philippine Rice Research Institute
PCA – Philippine Coconut Authority
SRA – Sugar Regulatory Administration
PRCRTC – Philippine Rootcrops Research and
Training Center
NPRCRTC- Northern Philippines Rootcrops
Research and Training Center
NARC –National Abaca Research Center
4. Specialized Discipline Oriented Research
Centers
IPB – Institute of Plant Breeding
NCPC – National Crop Protection Center
NPGRL – National Plant Genetic Resources
Laboratory
PHTRC – Postharvest Horticulture Training and
Research Center
BIOTECH – National Institutes of Molecular
Biology and Biotechnology
5. Major International Research Organizations

IRRI – International Rice Research Institute

(Philippines)
CIMMYT – Centro International de
Mejoramiente de Maize y Trigo (Mexico)
CIP – Centro International de Patatas
(Peru)
ICRISAT – International Center for Semi-Arid
Tropics (India)
CIAT – Centro de International de Agricultural
Tropical (Colombia)
ICARDA – International Center for Agricultural
Research for Dry Areas (Syria)
IITA – International Institute for Tropical
Agriculture (Nigeria)
ICRAF – International Center for Research on
Agroforestry (Kenya)
AVRDC – Asian Vegetable Research and
Development Center (Taiwan)
Bioversity – formerly International Plant
Genetic Resources Institute (Italy)
6. Private Seed Companies

East west
Syngenta
Pioneer
Monsanto
Allied Botanicals