Handbook of crop production : theory, techniques, and technology
Handbook of crop production : theory, techniques, and technology
- London Koros Press Limited 2014
- 304 pages : illus.
1. Crop production and crop losses –
Methods of plant breeding –
Genetic engineering –
Control insects in croplands –
Evolutionary and ecological aspects –
Chemical aspects –
Comments about some experimental approaches –
2. Crop-livestock technologies –
Integrating crops and livestock –
Crop residue and soil management –
Dung and urine use and the cycling of nutrients –
Cropping patterns, livestock and nutrients –
Energy, biogas and nutrients –
Agroforestry and soil fertility –
Concluding comments –
3. Farm management: development of modern agriculture –
Primitive agriculture –
British agriculture –
American agriculture –
Meaning of farm management –
Types of farming –
The business side of farming –
Exercises for pupils –
The farmstead –
Land tenure –
Planning the farm –
Farm equipment –
Relation of live stock to farm management –
4. Plant protection practices –
Ploughing, hoeing and basin preparation –
Use of wood ash on and around vegetable crops –
Use of walnut and swetflag leaves against pests in stored grains –
The role of pesticides in plant and crop protection –
Minimisation and the voluntary initiative for pesticides –
5. Pest risk assessments: tools, resources and key challenges –
Introduction –
Assessing economic, environmental and social impacts –
Acceleration of plant growth –
Recommended methods of frost protection –
Plant nutrition management –
Surface irrigation –
Combination methods –
Passive protection methods –
Avoiding soil cultivation –
Soil covers –
6. Farmer decision making and genetic diversity –
Linking institutions, disciplines, and methodologies –
Morocco –
Burkina faso –
Nepal –
Agro-morphological characteristics –
Farming management practices –
Intensive and extensive farming –
Intensive farming –
7. Conservation tillage for sustainable crop production systems –
Introduction –
Methodology –
Effects on plants, soil, pests and diseases –
Effects of CO2 enrichment –
Effects of increased temperatures –
Effects of changes in soil moisture –
Effects on impacts from climatic extremes –
Effects on soil fertility and erosion –
Effects on pests and diseases –
8. Improved crop production technologies by small farmers –
Background –
Methodology –
Results –
Wheat –
Beans –
Implications for project design –
Further analysis of the case of maize –
Methodological conclusion –
Traditional technologies-types and suitability –
Types of technology –
Mixed farming and the communal ideotype –
Concluding comments –
9. Genetic resources and breeding patterns –
Origin and distribution –
Diversity in species and cultivars –
Germplasm collections –
Reproduction and breeding –
Outlook for the future –
Strategies for collecting –
Strategy for germplasm collecting –
Needs of users –
Types of collecting missions –
Output of collecting missions –
The target diversity –
Essential pre-requisites –
Decision-making process –
Conclusions –
Assessing diversity using molecular techniques –
10. Genetic principles –
Different types of reproductions –
Maintenance of allelic richness –
Genetic aspects and field genebank –
Different kinds of genetic data –
Applications of genetics to field genebank management –
Genetic diversity, breeding and utilization of citrus fruits –
Genetic diversity, breeding and utilization of the genepool of Litchi –
Rootstock evaluation, conservation and use –
Other tropical fruits –
Cataloguing and documentation.
"In the recent years, the looming food scarcity problem has highlighted plant sciences as an emerging discipline committed to devise new strategies for enhanced crop productivity. The major factors causing food scarcity are biotic and abiotic stresses such as plant pathogens, salinity, drought, flooding, nutrient deficiency or toxicity which substantially limit crop productivity world-wide. In this scenario, strategies should be adopted to achieve maximum productivity and economic crop returns. In the past two decades scientific research has made a considerable contribution to augmenting the world's food supplies. The greater use of fertilizers and the introduction of new varieties of crops, especially cereals led to an estimated increase in food production of at least 50% during this period. A chain of well equipped international institutes has made a conspicuous contribution but major problems remain. Because of the rapid rise in population, food production per capita increased little in many developing countries and on average the productivity of farms is much below that which would be possible if the results of past research were more fully implemented. Some of the causes of this 'yield gap', and opportunities for overcoming them, are examined. It is concluded that the development of simple procedures which enable farmers to apply existing knowledge deserve high priority side by side with continued basic research.
The productivity of a region's farms is important for many reasons. Aside from providing more food, increasing the productivity of farms affects the region's prospects for growth and competitiveness on the agricultural market, income distribution and savings, and labour migration. An increase in a region's agricultural productivity implies a more efficient distribution of scarce resources. As farmers adopt new techniques and differences in productivity arise, the more productive farmers benefit from an increase in their welfare while farmers who are not productive enough will exit the market to seek success elsewhere. As a region's farms become more productive, its comparative advantage in agricultural products increases, which means that it can produce these products at a lower opportunity cost than can other regions. Therefore, the region becomes more competitive on the worldmarket, which means that it can attract more consumers since they are able to buy more of the products offered for the same amount of money. Increases in agricultural productivity lead also to agricultural growth and can help to alleviate poverty in poor and developing countries, where agriculture often employs the greatest portion of the population. As farms become more productive, the wages earned by those who work in agriculture increase. At the same time, food prices decrease and food supplies become more stable. Labourers therefore have more money to spend on food as well as other products. This also leads to agricultural growth. People see that there is a greater opportunity earn their living by farming and are attracted to agriculture either as owners of farms themselves or as labourers. Diversity in agricultural production is one key to productivity, as it enables risk management and preserves potentials for adaptation and change. Monoculture is an example of such a nondiverse production system. In a monocultural system a farmer may produce only crops, but no livestock, or only livestock and no crop.
The book covers the scientific techniques that can be used to provide intelligent use of the science in crop production. Efforts have been made to present each chapter in an useful way and readable manner for quick understanding. The contents of the book will be of immense value to students of agriculture, researchers and decision makers."
-Editor
9781781632697
Crop production.
Ref H19 2014
1. Crop production and crop losses –
Methods of plant breeding –
Genetic engineering –
Control insects in croplands –
Evolutionary and ecological aspects –
Chemical aspects –
Comments about some experimental approaches –
2. Crop-livestock technologies –
Integrating crops and livestock –
Crop residue and soil management –
Dung and urine use and the cycling of nutrients –
Cropping patterns, livestock and nutrients –
Energy, biogas and nutrients –
Agroforestry and soil fertility –
Concluding comments –
3. Farm management: development of modern agriculture –
Primitive agriculture –
British agriculture –
American agriculture –
Meaning of farm management –
Types of farming –
The business side of farming –
Exercises for pupils –
The farmstead –
Land tenure –
Planning the farm –
Farm equipment –
Relation of live stock to farm management –
4. Plant protection practices –
Ploughing, hoeing and basin preparation –
Use of wood ash on and around vegetable crops –
Use of walnut and swetflag leaves against pests in stored grains –
The role of pesticides in plant and crop protection –
Minimisation and the voluntary initiative for pesticides –
5. Pest risk assessments: tools, resources and key challenges –
Introduction –
Assessing economic, environmental and social impacts –
Acceleration of plant growth –
Recommended methods of frost protection –
Plant nutrition management –
Surface irrigation –
Combination methods –
Passive protection methods –
Avoiding soil cultivation –
Soil covers –
6. Farmer decision making and genetic diversity –
Linking institutions, disciplines, and methodologies –
Morocco –
Burkina faso –
Nepal –
Agro-morphological characteristics –
Farming management practices –
Intensive and extensive farming –
Intensive farming –
7. Conservation tillage for sustainable crop production systems –
Introduction –
Methodology –
Effects on plants, soil, pests and diseases –
Effects of CO2 enrichment –
Effects of increased temperatures –
Effects of changes in soil moisture –
Effects on impacts from climatic extremes –
Effects on soil fertility and erosion –
Effects on pests and diseases –
8. Improved crop production technologies by small farmers –
Background –
Methodology –
Results –
Wheat –
Beans –
Implications for project design –
Further analysis of the case of maize –
Methodological conclusion –
Traditional technologies-types and suitability –
Types of technology –
Mixed farming and the communal ideotype –
Concluding comments –
9. Genetic resources and breeding patterns –
Origin and distribution –
Diversity in species and cultivars –
Germplasm collections –
Reproduction and breeding –
Outlook for the future –
Strategies for collecting –
Strategy for germplasm collecting –
Needs of users –
Types of collecting missions –
Output of collecting missions –
The target diversity –
Essential pre-requisites –
Decision-making process –
Conclusions –
Assessing diversity using molecular techniques –
10. Genetic principles –
Different types of reproductions –
Maintenance of allelic richness –
Genetic aspects and field genebank –
Different kinds of genetic data –
Applications of genetics to field genebank management –
Genetic diversity, breeding and utilization of citrus fruits –
Genetic diversity, breeding and utilization of the genepool of Litchi –
Rootstock evaluation, conservation and use –
Other tropical fruits –
Cataloguing and documentation.
"In the recent years, the looming food scarcity problem has highlighted plant sciences as an emerging discipline committed to devise new strategies for enhanced crop productivity. The major factors causing food scarcity are biotic and abiotic stresses such as plant pathogens, salinity, drought, flooding, nutrient deficiency or toxicity which substantially limit crop productivity world-wide. In this scenario, strategies should be adopted to achieve maximum productivity and economic crop returns. In the past two decades scientific research has made a considerable contribution to augmenting the world's food supplies. The greater use of fertilizers and the introduction of new varieties of crops, especially cereals led to an estimated increase in food production of at least 50% during this period. A chain of well equipped international institutes has made a conspicuous contribution but major problems remain. Because of the rapid rise in population, food production per capita increased little in many developing countries and on average the productivity of farms is much below that which would be possible if the results of past research were more fully implemented. Some of the causes of this 'yield gap', and opportunities for overcoming them, are examined. It is concluded that the development of simple procedures which enable farmers to apply existing knowledge deserve high priority side by side with continued basic research.
The productivity of a region's farms is important for many reasons. Aside from providing more food, increasing the productivity of farms affects the region's prospects for growth and competitiveness on the agricultural market, income distribution and savings, and labour migration. An increase in a region's agricultural productivity implies a more efficient distribution of scarce resources. As farmers adopt new techniques and differences in productivity arise, the more productive farmers benefit from an increase in their welfare while farmers who are not productive enough will exit the market to seek success elsewhere. As a region's farms become more productive, its comparative advantage in agricultural products increases, which means that it can produce these products at a lower opportunity cost than can other regions. Therefore, the region becomes more competitive on the worldmarket, which means that it can attract more consumers since they are able to buy more of the products offered for the same amount of money. Increases in agricultural productivity lead also to agricultural growth and can help to alleviate poverty in poor and developing countries, where agriculture often employs the greatest portion of the population. As farms become more productive, the wages earned by those who work in agriculture increase. At the same time, food prices decrease and food supplies become more stable. Labourers therefore have more money to spend on food as well as other products. This also leads to agricultural growth. People see that there is a greater opportunity earn their living by farming and are attracted to agriculture either as owners of farms themselves or as labourers. Diversity in agricultural production is one key to productivity, as it enables risk management and preserves potentials for adaptation and change. Monoculture is an example of such a nondiverse production system. In a monocultural system a farmer may produce only crops, but no livestock, or only livestock and no crop.
The book covers the scientific techniques that can be used to provide intelligent use of the science in crop production. Efforts have been made to present each chapter in an useful way and readable manner for quick understanding. The contents of the book will be of immense value to students of agriculture, researchers and decision makers."
-Editor
9781781632697
Crop production.
Ref H19 2014