Chapter Food Production from plants

Methods of Management

N aveen has come to his uncle’s village for enjoying his holidays. On his way home,
his uncle showed him his fields. Curiously, Naveen enquired his uncle, what crops
are grown in the village? Uncle said Maize, paddy, wheat, Raagi etc., are being grown in the
fields.

Activity-1
Crops in India
Observe the following map (India). List out the crops that are grown in our country.
Are there many crops that are grown in most of the parts of our country? What are they?

India map

114 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management

 Why such crops are grown all over the Go through your social studies text
country? book or in library, make comparative
From the above list, which of them are statements showing crops largerly grown
grown in your village? in the country.

a. Country ______________________________________________________

b. State ________________________________________________________

c. District ______________________________________________________

d. Your village ___________________________________________________

But don’t forget to add your observations Is time period for all crops the same?
at the end of the table. Which crop needs more duration?
We are mainly dependent on Agriculture
for our food. Most of our food products Activity-2
are obtained from plants. The plants which
are grown in large number to get useful food
Duration of crop
products are known as ‘crops’. The process
Collect information from the farmers of
of growing crops is called ‘Agriculture’.
your village about the period taken to grow
How many days are required for getting different crops. Write the information in
the crops? the table.

Name of the Crop Duration of the crop

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 Some crops like jowar, red gram takes a with farmer give some more examples for
minimum of 180 days or more for short term crops. ..........................................
harvesting. Such crops are called “Long ..................................................................
term crops”. ..................................................................
Based on the above list or the discussion
Activity-3
with farmer give some more examples for
long term crops. .......................................... When do crops are grown
.................................................................. We eat different fruits and vegetables.
.................................................................. Are all the vegetables and fruits available
throughout the year? In a particular season
Some crops like green gram, black gram some are mostly available and some are less
takes 100 days for harvesting and such crops in number. Some are not at all available.
are called “short term crops”. Discuss in groups and make a list of these
Based on the above list or the discussion things for the following table.
Season Vegetables Fruits cereals Pulses

Rainy

Winter

Summer

In which season do you find more Now revisit activity-3. What are the
varieties of vegetables in the market? vegetables, fruits, cereals and pulses you
Why? have written in the table. These crops are
Generally, farmers grow varieties of widely grown in winter season. Are these
vegetables during rainy season. Can you crops require water like Kharif crops? The
guess the reason? crops that are grown only in winter season
You know water is essential for growing are generally called Rabi. We will learn
of crops. In rainy season ponds, wells, more about these crops.
rivers, ditches are pooled with water. Why farmers cultivate different crops
Hence, farmers grow varieties of crops in in Rabi and Kharif season?
this season. Did you know any name for the Crop production is based on flowering
crops that grown in rainy season? The crops of plant. After conducting so many
grown in the rainy season are termed as experiments. Scientists invented those
“Kharif”. main reasons for flowering of plant.

116 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management

 1) The flower will come out from the Wheat plants flowering takes place only in
plant after certain growth. In some plants long night durations.
flowering takes place after growing certain Plants like maize, cotton flowering will
height, branches, nodes and after producing be more when the night duration is more
7-9 leaves. than 12 ½ hours.
2) Flowering of plants also depends 3) In some plants night duration is not
upon the duration of night. The effect of at all the reason for flowering. They can
night duration in flowering plants differs give flowers any time during the year ex:
from plant to plant. In some plants when soyabean
the night duration is 12 ½ hours the Now observe the graph and answer the
flowering will be more. For example following questions.
Prroduction of Yeilding

Months

Why farmers cultivate Wheat crop in The flowering does not take properly at
Rabi season? that time.
What happens if it is cultivated in the If we cultivate wheat in the month of
month of September? the November what will happen?
Why farmers does not cultivate it in Heat is essential for ripening and
Kharif season? development of grains in the plants.
Then when do we get more heat?
If we cultivate wheat crop in the month
of July it takes 8-10 weeks for growing. We get hot climate from February
After that flowering will take place.By that onwards. It is suitable for maturing the
time it would be October . Then the night grains. That is the reason wheat is
duration extends more than 12 ½ hours. cultivated in the Rabi season only.

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 By keeping this in mind farmers cultivate some crops in Rabi and some crops in Kharif
season. You know paddy is cultivated in both Rabi and Kharif seasons. Is there any difference
in production and quality of seeds grown in both seasons?
Activity-4
Production of Paddy
Go to your nearest farmer and collect the information for the following table.
Paddy growing season Paddy Production Per hectare Quality of seeds
Size Weight
Rabi
Kharif
(One hectare is equals to 2.4 acres.) Growing paddy and Agricultural
In which season farmers get more practices
benefits? Rice is the prime, most essential and
Is there any crops which are grown in important staple food crop. ‘It is also called
both Kharif and Rabi Seasons global grain’. Rice was cultivated in the late
In which seasons farmers generally get Mesolithic period (9000-8000 B.C) and in
good quality of seeds. the Harappan civilization (2300 B.C). It is
grown as a Kharif or a Rabi crop from
The quantity of grains is higher in
Rajasthan to Arunachal Pradesh and from
Kharif, lower in Rabi. Do you agree
Kerala to Jammu and Kashmir. Although a
this? Give your reasons.
crop of the warm tropical wet lands, it also
Do you know about third crops. Some
grows in the cooler temperature regions of
of the places in our state growing 3rd
China, Japan and Australia. Of all countries
crop also.
in the world India has the largest area of
Ask your teacher about which crops are land under rice cultivation. Though the
generally grown as 3rd crop. Think why it is production per hectare is low when
not practised in all areas of our state. compared with China and Japan.

Country Land under rice cultivation Total production Production per area
millions of hectare Million metric tones Kg/ hectare
India 40 79 1975
China 37 130 3534
Japan 2.5 16 6250

118 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management

Let us disscuss the following questions : certain songs. Do you sing such songs?
What is the reason for high production Collect those songs from your village and
in Japan? sing them in your School Theatre day.
What is the reason for low production Sowing to storing
in India?
The cultivation of paddy involves a series
For understanding these issues we have
of activities. Did you know these practices?
to know more details about the cultivation
Write in your note book. Let us study the
of paddy.
practices that are followed as follows.
How paddy grown in fields?
1. Preparing the Soil
Let us know about the agricultural
2. Sowing of seeds
practices for paddy.
3. Applying manure
The paddy growing field is divided into
4. Facilitate water(Irrigation)
so many plots (Kayyalu or Madulu). Why
5. Weeding
they do like this? Leveling the land and
providing water for the crop is easy within 6. Crop harvesting
these plots (Kayyalu). 7. Storage
Agriculture practices are carried out
To obtain better yield farmers prepare a
either using manpower or through special
plan before hand. While planning they take
tools. The above practices are common for
into account the nature of the soil,
Kharif, Rabi and third crop also. These
humidity, rainfall and temperature into
practices are not only for paddy growing
consideration, because they vary from
but also for other crops.
time to time and place to place. They
cultivate the crops accordingly. In general 1. Preparing the soil
farmers starts agricultural works before You know that supply of air and water to
monsoon reaches (May, June months). At the plants through the roots is important.
that time farmers celebrate festivals like To germinate the seeds properly, and for
Eruvaka. Ask your parents about this. uniform supply of water, soil should be
Rice growing is a seasonal task and prepared well. For this ploughing and
associated with many festivals. The leveling are done.
sowing and transplanting is associated a) Ploughing and applying manure
with Akshaya Trithiya and harvesting Farmers make the nursery in so many
associated with Pongal and Onam. plots by bounds. Then the nursery is first
Indian cultures are often described in harrowed and ploughed. Plough and soil
stories and songs. Agricultural tasks are plank being pulled by a pair of bullocks. The
carried out to the tune and rhythm of nursery might be first covered with manure
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 Some Foe Micro organisms die due to
and then flooded. Flooding submerges the
the sunrays.
old weeds and stubble which decompose
releasing nutrients and also making a soft Plough
seed bed. This tool is used for ploughing. This is
Are you find any relation between nail made up of Iron and wood. The shape of
length and sowing? plough is like T. It is also used for weeding.
Do all crops cultivated like this way?
Is there any difference in the way the
soil is prepared ?
Can you say what the advantages of
ploughing are?

Fig-2 Iron plough

At the end of the plough a sharp chisel like

iron nail is attached, which helps in
penetrating the soil.
How many nails does a wooden plough
Fig-1 Wooden plough
have? How much depth farmer plough his
field? Go to a nearby farmer measure the
Before growing crops ploughing the soil length of nail of the plough. If he used
properly is necessary. Ploughing loosens tractor measure its plough nail’s length.
thes soil and it helps in easier transportation The ‘V’shaped ridges are formed while
of air and water. ploughing. Think, why these ridges are ‘V’
Water is stored deeply for a long time shaped only? This helps for better watering
as the soil is soft. the crops.
Roots penetrate in the deep and can b) Leveling the soil
respire well as the air enters easily into The fields have a lot of ups and downs
the soil. even after ploughing. So, a leveler is used
Friendly micro organisms and earth for leveling the soil. By leveling the soil
worms can grow well when the soil is water and nutrients can be reached to every
soft.

120 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management

 Fig-3 Iron leveller & Preparing field for sowing

part of the land. It also helps in sowing In olden days farmers preserved their
seeds and planting. own seeds. How did they preserve?
The leveler is made of a log and iron Discuss with your teacher in your
blade. This is tied to bullocks with a rope. classroom. After that collect
information about their own seeds from
2. Sowing the seeds
your elders.
Sowing of seeds in the field is an
important task. Farmers are aware of seeds. Do you know how to select or
Production of crop is mostly dependent on separate good seeds?
quality of seeds. Drop seeds into a bucket of water.
Selection of seeds is an important step Some seeds float on water. Remove all the
in agriculture. Ask your elders where they floated seeds and soak the remaining seeds
buy seeds for crops? in water for a day and dry and keep to sprout
in warm, moist and dark place.
Before sowing, farmers select the
seeds. The healthy seed gives healthy crop. Did you ever eat sprouts salad? Ask your
After harvesting the farmers select wrinkle friends how to make sprouts to eat in their
free, round shaped and more weighing home?
seeds and store them for future use. This Why some seeds float on water? Why
is called selection. The rest of crop either we remove the floated seeds from the
they will sell or use as food. water? Why do we soaking seeds in water
for a day?

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 Do you know?
The name Oryza for paddy- which was named by Linnaeus. Thousands of varieties of
paddy are available throughout the world. Oryza sativa is cultivated in Asia. Oryza
glaberrima is cultivated in Africa. Oryza glumaepatula is cultivated in America. In our
state we have hundreds of varieties of paddy. Molagolukulu is the traditional good variety
which is grown in coastal areas of Nellore. Amrita Sari, Bangaru Teega, Kolleti Kusuma,
Potti Basangi, Sona masuri are some of our traditional varieties.

Activity-5
Selection of Seeds
Take some water in glass. Drop a fist of seeds in it. You can observe some seeds floating
on water. Collect those seeds and observe with hand lens and compare with seeds sink
under the water. Write your observations in the table.
Seed character Sank seed Floated seed
Good colour
Wrinkled and rough shaped
Smooth and round shaped
More weight
Less weight
What are the differences you observed in both seeds?
Do you know why the floated seeds are light in weight?

Activity-6
Germination and selection
Sow both the seeds in different pots and provide water uniformly, observe the growth of
the plants in two pots and make a report.
Which seeds germinate well? Why?
Which seeds do not germinate properly? Why?
Were all seeds tested like this?
Do you know how the paddy seeds germinate?
There are different stages in sprouting of the soaked rice seeds before it is planted.
Observe a sprout of paddy. Can you say which part becomes root? Which part become
shoot in the picture?

122 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management

Seed crisis
Farmers in our state generally purchase seeds in the nearby market. The grains that
are available in the packets play vital role in agriculture. Sometimes the rate of germination
of the seeds is not up to the mark, which was labeled on the packet. Sometimes never
germinate too. At times grow into plants, but they may be sterile. Some multinational
companies sell genetically modified seeds. Every year farmers are imposed to purchase
seeds from the companies only, because the seeds produced by the plants may again be
sterile. National Seed Development Corporation of India preserves and promotes
different varieties of seeds. Now-a-days our traditional varieties are almost disappearing.
Think why does this kind of situation take place? How to get sustainability in seed
availability at the level of farmers? While dependency of farmers on seeds from market.

What are the major

practices in your
village before
sowing paddy
seeds? Write in
your note book.

Fig Fungicides

Types of Seeding
The medicated, germinating seeds of
Fig-4 Sprouting paddy seeds paddy are sprinkled on the paddy fields.
Selection of seeds free from pests is This is one of the practice in some places
also important issue in agriculture. of our state. Are all the seed dispersed like
Sometimes farmers wash seeds with this? Most of the time farmers develop
chemicals to protect from pests. seeds beds to grow paddy plantlets (naru).
These grown plantlets are uprooted and
Can you guess the answer? Discuss with
planted throughout the field (naatlu).
your friends and teachers and write the
reasons in your note book. Discuss with your friends and make a
list of crops that we cultivate by sowing
Medication is done to keep seeds away
plantlets.
from the harmful micro organisms like
bacteria, fungus etc. So, generally farmers Different types of sowing of seeds
medicate seeds before making them to Some seeds are directly sowed by seed
germinate. drill. And some seeds sowed with hands.
Free distribution by A.P. Government 123
 Activity-7
Seedings Methods
Collect information from the nearby farmers and fill the table.
Seeding by dispersal Sowing with hands Seeding with seed drill

Did you find any disadvantages with this?

Think, how to solve this and discuss with
your nearby farmers about your findings.
How will your ideas help them?
Do you know how many kilograms of
paddy grains are required for an acre to
plant? Is it equal for all varieties of paddy?
Ask your elders, collect information and
Fig-5 Broad casting discuss in your class.
The method of dispersing seeds by Can you say why seeds were covered
sprinkling is called broadcasting. with soil? Discuss with your teacher.
Modern seed drill
Seed drill
Seed drill is an instrument used to sow
seeds in the soil. There is a funnel like
device on the top of the seed harrow.
Farmers pour the seeds in the funnel. They
travel through pipes helping the seeds to
be sowed uniformly in the land. Generally
there are three pipes in the seed drill. Based
on the roots and distance between plants,
farmers select 3 to 6 piped seed drills. Fig-6 Modern tractor seed drill
After that farmers cover the seeds with soil.
124 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management
 Now a days farmers use the Why the seedlings are replanted at
sophisticated seed drill used with the help proper distances?
of tractor. Do all the crops grow when replanted?
This seed drill is attached to a tractor Why not?
and helps to so seeds in 5 or 6 rows. It also See annexure for more details about sri
covers the sown seeds with soil vari in the chapter challenges in agriculture
in class IX.
immediately with the help of a blade
attached to it. It is time saving and easiest
way of sowing the seeds.
Seeds that are broadcasted in a plot will
grow. The growing seedlings need to have
their roots constantly submerged in water.
When the seedlings have grown 4 – 5 leaves
they can readily be transplanted.
This stage might have taken from 14 to
40 days depending on the type of rice,
temperature and availability of water. In the
Fig-7 Transplantation
meanwhile the remaining plots are leveled,
ploughed and manured. Do you know, what a Paddy planter is?
Observe this picture
Removing seedlings from the
nursery plot
When the plants grow to certain height,
farmers pick out the seedlings from the
plots and make bundles. Some farmers
purchase these bundles to replant in their
fields also. Do you know how many bundles
of plantlets are required for one acre?
Paddy plants are sown in proper distances.
This is called transplanting. (Naru etlu)
Fig-8 Paddy planter
The paddy variety ‘Sri Vari’ requires
much gap between the plants. Ask your This is paddy planter. It is useful for
elders, how many plantlets are planted at farmers those who cultivate paddy in large
one place? Is it one or 5 to 6 plants as a areas. it is easy to maintain proper distance
group? sowing the seedlings.It is time saving and
money saving process.

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3. Applying manure and pesticides:
The growing rice crop is attractive food for
moth caterpillars, paddy beetles and their larva,
paddy grasshoppers and aphids. Some eat the
leaves others bore through the root and stem or
suck the juice from the tender rice grain. To
control these pests, pesticides might be dusted
or sprayed on the crop.
Fig-9 Diseases in paddy
Activity-8
Crops and diseases
Form a group with 4 to 5 of your classmates, visit nearby field, discuss with farmers
about diseases effected by, and how to control them. If you do not know the name of the
disease, write its local name or its characters.
S. Name of the Crop Observed Name of the Results Remarks
No. farmer grown diseases pesticides used

Do all the farmers use the same Crop protection management.

pesticides for the same crop?
Pests damage the crops
Is there any disease that you find in all
fields? Do you agree that plants also fall ill like
Where do they buy pesticides? us? In agriculture along with weeds, pests
What are the appliances used to spray also damage the crops. Almost all crops are
pesticides? generally effected by pests. Sometimes
Did you find any other living organisms caterpillars suddenly appear on the leaves
dying along with pests due to pesticides of the plants and eat them.
What are they?

126 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management

 Activity-9
Identification of pests
Observe the plants in a nearby field or in your school garden. Closely observe the leaves
and stems to collect the following information.
Name of the plant/crop : ...................................
Place : ...................................

Leaves Stem
Twilted Scars

Rolled Beetles

Spots appear Spots appear

Colour Colour

Fleshy spots Fleshy spots

Powdery spots Powdery spots

Caterpillars Caterpillars

Scars Wilting

Others Others

Do all the leaves of plant have spots?

Draw the leaf with those spots.
What is your reason for the leaves which have cutting edges?
Do you find any twilted leaves with insects? How are they?
Are the scars on the stems are same as spots on leaves?
Collect powdery substance of the spots on leaves and observe under microscope. Write
down your observations.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………
Do you think there is some relation between these spots and caterpillars? These
infections are caused by different viruses, bacteria and fungi.
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 Wheat, paddy and sugarcane are A farmer remove the affected leaves
generally affected by fungal diseases. The from the plant and burnts them.
leaves and stems of these plants have spots Which of the above practices is good?
and scars on them. Why do you think so? Discuss with your
Particularly in groundnut all leaves of classmates.
the affected plant have powdery spots. The A farmer used pesticides Dithane M-45
whole plant becomes wilted. This fungal and Eldrine. He sprayed both of them by a
disease is called Tikka disease. If you sprayer on the plant. Why did he use two
uproot the plant you will notice that the pesticides at a time? That year pests were
roots have rotted and emit a foul smell. Do controlled. Next year he also used the same.
you think there is a connection in spreading But the pests are not controlled. Why does
disease from root to leaf? this happen?
Collect and observe leaves and fruits of If we use pesticides unwisely, pests
lemon tree which contains spots on them. become resistant to the pesticides. What
How are they? Is there any powdery like will we do to solve this problem?
substance? These are because of virus.
Sometimes we see white brown colour Activity-10
spots on fruits and leaves. This is because
Pest controling practices
of bacteria. Along with these diseases leaf
In your village farmers control pests by
miner, citrus butterfly, epids, mites can be
using different pesticides and insecticides
seen on lemon plants. They are the carriers
for different crops. For this they use
of disease causing virus, bacteria and fungi.
different practices. Ask your elders the
How can these pests can be controlled.
names of pesticides that they use in the
Controlling pests: following pest controlling practices.
Observe the following pest controlling 1. Spraying ................................................
practices. ................................................................
A farmered removes the affected leaves 2. Dusting...................................................
from the plant and puts them under that ................................................................
plant only. 3. Put in the soil........................................
A farmer removes the affected leaves ................................................................
from the plant and puts them aside in 4. Burning, picking are also the practices
the field. where they use these.............................
A farmer removes the affected leaves 5. Bio pesticides .......................................
from the plant and puts them in a dump Small holes and tears in leaves are
and covers with soil. evidence of damage caused by insects, often
128 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management
caterpillars. A wart or swelling may hold are grown in one place, making it easy for
insects inside it. A crumpled or twisted leaf pests to spread from one plant to the
might show that ephids have been sucking another, multiply further into large number
its juice. A fungal infection is usually seen and thus destroy the crop.
as white, black, yellow, brown spots or a Insects are the most common
fluffy or powdery coating on leaves. Some agricultural pests. They multiply rapidly
discolouration also could be caused by when food is plenty. At other times they
bacteria or viral infections. Root infections stay dormant or their numbers small. For
like boring worms, insects or fungus are example the desert locust occurs in India
not seen above the ground. But they lead to in regular cycles. The Deccan wingless
wilting of plants. grasshopper is seen only in the Kharif
season. Many pests are abundant in the
Every plant has characteristic insects and
monsoons. At the end of the season they
other living things depending on it. Some
lay their eggs in the soil to hatch only in
of these associations might be useful or
the next monsoon. Do you know, why
harmful for the plants. For example these farmers plough the field and leave it for
helps in pollination, wasps and lady bugs sometime under the sun.
eat more harmful insects. In small number
Some insects like aphids and the white
even the pests may not cause much harm. fly besides sucking plant sap also carry viral
In the wild they might actually serve to infections. Other crop pests might be
keep in check the plant population. But the carried by mammals like rats, bats,
large numbers of these pests cause monkeys, rabbits and squirrels etc. and even
immense harm. In farms and plantations the round worms mites, crabs, millipedes,
large numbers of the same kind of plants snails and slugs.

Aphids Virus Tikka Disease

A wide variety of agricultural and garden living things. Others are inorganic
pesticides are available. A few derived from pesticides like compounds of arsenic, zinc,
plants like neem, tobacco and sulphur, phosphorous and fluorine. A wide
chrysanthemum are less dangerous to other variety of organic synthetic pesticides are

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commonly used. DDT (Dichloro diphenyl Why do we supply manure?
trichloro ethane), BHC (Benzene hexa We know that plants require nutrients to
chloride), Chlordane, Endrin, Aldrin, grow which are obtained from soil. Our
Endosulfan and Diazinon pesticides are present agricultural lands have been used
usually dusted or sprayed on crops while since long time. Guess, what would happen
some types are put in the soil. if a farmer grows same type of crop, in the
Some pesticides act on particular same field every year?
species of pests , but most are also harmful If you do so, the nutrients of the soil
to other harmless are useful animals. decrease and becomes infertile. In order
Do you know? to overcome this problem, farmers add
In 1960 Rachael Carson wrote a book manure to the soil. Manure is needed for
called ‘silent spring’ in which she pointed healthy growth of the plants. Manure
out the dangers of pesticides. Pesticides contains Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potash
get into the bodies of microscopic plants etc.
and animals in the soil and water. When Farmers add manure to the soil.
these plants and animals are eaten by fish What they used to add?
the pesticides get into their bodies. Even Do you have a compost pit in your
if the fish are not seriously poisoned with school / house?
each successive meal pesticides buildup Manure is of two types
inside their bodies. 1. Natural Manure (Bio fertilizers)
A bird that eat these fish might get a 2. Artificial Manure (Chemical
concentrated lethal dose. DDT also fertilizers)
accumulates in the egg shells weakening
them and making the shells break before
Natural Manure
hatching. There are just two out of the This is also called Bio Fertilizers.
numerous ways that pesticides are eaten, These fertilizers are formed by
passed down the food chain, and decomposing plant and animal wastes. In
accumulate in the bodies of higher rural areas farmers keep these plant and
animals including human beings causing animal wastes outside the village in open
sickness and sometimes death. Think, space. Some bacteria like Azatobacter,
how dangerous the pesticides are...! Nitrobacter decompose and it becomes
How do farmers get high yield? manure which contain nutrients. Wherever
the manure is added to the soil, there it
In addition to control pests and diseases
provides nutrients to the plants.
proper manuring is also an important
activity in agriculture.
130 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management
Artificial Manure/Chemical fertilizers:
These are prepared in factories. These
are also called chemical fertilizers. These
are sold in the market by the names Urea,
Nitrogen
D.A.P, Superphosphate, Potash, which are
enriched with Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Phosphorus
Potash.
Discuss – Have you ever heard or read Potash

in the newspapers of fighting for fertilizers.

Why this happens? Why farmers want to
get more bags of fertilizers? Do you have
any solution for this? Make a note on your
ideas about this and display in the Wall Nitrogen ( %)
Magazine.
Phosphorus ( %)
Look at the picture given below and
Potash ( %)
write the constituents in it?
Which manure is better?
Let us compare chemical, natural fertilizers, which manure is beneficial?
Chemical fertilizers Natural fertilizers
1. These are made up of inorganic salts 1.These are made by the decomposition of
plants and animal (organic) wastes.
2.These are prepared in factories 2. These are prepared in open places.
3. No humus can be found. 3. Deposits of humus layer is found in the
soil.
4. More amount of Nitrogen, Phosphorus 4. Less amount of Nitrogen, phosphorus and
and Potash deposits in the soil. Potash deposits in the soil.

Observe the table carefully, discuss with your teacher and conclude which fertilizer is
best to the farmers and why?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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What would happen if over dosage Which crops were irrigated in this
of manure is added to soil? method? Discuss with your friends and
Generally, farmers should use write in your note book.
fertilizers keeping in view the nature of the Basin Irrigation
soil and the crops he wants to grow. Some
In this method of irrigation the field is
times in order to get more quantity of crops
just filled with water as in the case of paddy.
he uses more amounts of fertilizers. In
Canals, tanks and wells are the water
turn, this leads to soil pollution and water
resources in most of the areas of our state.
pollution. After some time soil becomes
Farmers dig small canals from tank to
either acidic or alkaline. Thus it brings only
fields to supply water.
grief to the farmers.
Preparing of canal bunds and removing
Irrigation of water flow barriers like Pistia plants is
The process of watering crop plants in a major job in irrigation. Do you know about
the field is known as irrigation. The source ‘Saagu Neeti Sahakara Sangham’ in your
of water should be at a higher level. So that village?
each and every part of the field gets water. Ask your village elders about the
Wells and canals are common sources of activities taken up by the Water users
water. Farmers irrigate their fields either association in your village and make a
manually using bullocks or by using pumps. report on it.
There are three methods of irrigation which
are commonly practised in our country.
Furrow Irrigation
In this method of irrigation, the water is
allowed to enter the field through channels
or furrows made between two rows of crop.

Fig-11
Sometimes field gets excess water
which the soil is unable to absorbs. This
condition is called water logging. Water
logging is harmful to most crops as it does
not allow the roots to breathe. Therefore
provision should be made for draining the
Fig-10 excess amount of water from the fields.

132 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management

Farmers learn from experience as to when transported to the plants properly. For this
and how many times to irrigate a field. it should be dissolved in water. When
When do farmers irrigate the land? nutrients dissolved, they can easily be
List out the water resources of your transported to the plants with the help of
village. its roots. That’s why farmers water their
Are they useful to your farmers? field after adding manure to it.
In what way the farmers of your village
Activity-11
get water to the fields?
Why water is essential for plants?
When should farmers irrigate the field?
Have you ever observed the plants
Consult the farmers and fill the table
blossom if you water them properly? Why?
with the information to how and when they
The nutrients in the soil should be
provide water to various crops.

Name of the crop Stages of providing water

Are all the crops provided with equal amount of water ?

Providing water to fields in different stages is called irrigation. Irrigation should be
done according to nature of the soil, and the type of crop to be grown.

Do you know?
Paddy requires high quantity of water. That is why paddy grown in areas where plenty
of water is available. Because of marketing and supporting price, paddy is grown all over
the country irrespective of water availability. For this farmers dig bore wells and use
ground water wherever water is not sufficient.. There is a need to shift to those crops
which require less water. In some areas, recently farmers grow fishes in paddy growing
fields.

Why does the farmers do provide more water to the summer crops?
Observe the following pictures

Free distribution by A.P. Government 133

 It is used for conserving water in
Agriculture in the areas where water is
scarcely available, these sprinklers are
handy to use. It provides uniform watering
all over the field. It works on the principle
of force of water. Observe a sprinkler if
possible or ask your teacher, How does it
Fig-12 Ancient irrigation techniques
works? It is beneficial in the way that every
In the Ancient practices of agriculture, drop of water reaches to every plant in a
farmers used to cultivate lands by using field. It is mainly beneficial in sandy
mota, yatam, chain pump etc. soil.Government encourage sprinklers, drip
The Water available in wells, lakes and irrigation systemsby giving huge subsidy.
canals is lifted up by different methods in Drip irrigation:
different regions, for taking it to the fields. This method is employed when the
Cattle or human labour is used in these availability of water is poor. As the water
methods. So, these methods are cheaper, reaches the plants drop by drop this is called
but less efficient. Drip irrigation. A long tube followed by small
tubes attached to a motor. Holes are made
Nowadays pumps are commonly used
in the tubes. So, that water comes out from
for lifting water. Diesel, Bio gas, electricity
the holes. The holes are arranged in such a
are used to run these pumps. way that it provide water exactly at the place
What are the ways that the farmers of where plant roots could receive water.
your place supply water to the fields?
3. Modern methods of Irrigation:
During irrigation large amounts of water
absorbed by the canal soil before reaching
to the plant. Do you have any idea to protect
this water loss? A modern device of
Fig-14 Drip irrigation system
watering plants is called “Sprinkler”.
Activity-11
Visit a nearby nursery and observe
sprinklers and drip system. Prepare your
own report. This should contains apparatus,
instruments used, water supplying process,
water resource, investment and
maintenance, merits and demerits. For this
Fig-13 Sprinkler project you need to talk with the farmer.
134 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management
5.Weeding: Can you name any weed that you see in
If you observe a groundnut field with a paddy field? Generally some weeds
standing crop of ground nut plants you will commonly grow with some crops.
find that some other plants growing there Garika, Wanza, Varipilla Gaddi, Sukha
side by side. These are undesirable plants, Bhogi, Dharaka, Buradha Thung grow along
called Weeds. They should be removed with paddy.
immediately. We can see plants like Gunugu, Gaddi
Why they should be removed? Chamanthi, Jeeluga are in vegetable crop
The weeds compete with the primary weeds.
crops for nutrients, water and light. Pogaku Malle in tobacco, Puli Chinta in
Because of these plants the prime plants Mirchi and Cotton fields are the common
may not grow properly. Hence, they should weeds.
be removed.
Activity-12
Besides competition for food, light and
water they also work as carriers for Ask your nearby farmers and know the
different diseases. They also serve as a host weeds that grow in different crops. Make a
for different pests. Some weeds disperse table in your notebook.
pollen grains to air which in turn cause How is weeding done?
respiratory diseases. Weeding is done by different methods
Parthenium harmful to environment by the farmers. Most of the weeds are up
See the picture. Have you seen such rooted at the time of tilling or ploughing.
plants in your surroundings? Do you Those which still remain after tilling are
know that some of your friends may have manually uprooted. It is better to root out
got allergy because of the pollen grains the weeds before flowering. Why?
of this plant. Incidentally, this weed has
been imported along with wheat from
Australia long before.

Fig-16 Weed harrow

Sometimes weeds are removed with the
Fig-15 Parthenium
help of weed harrow. Dante or Guntaka is
Free distribution by A.P. Government 135
generally used by the farmers to remove First crop for best friends.
weeds from the fields. Do you know, why Before harvesting, paddy farmers
farmers keep weight (stone) on it? Draw particularly young children in the family,
the diagrams of the material used by the collect riped grain (Pachi Kankulu). They
farmers to remove the weeds in your make a bundle and hang it at the roof of
village? Do not forget to write their names. the varanda. Do you know, for whom is
When the crop is fully grown the above this? Yes- this is for farmer’s family
methods may not be suitable for uprooting friend ‘sparrow’. The little bird sparrow
weeds. So, farmers use weedicides like 2- makes a nest in the roof and eats those
4D (2-4 Di Chloro Phenoxy acetic acid) grains. And say thanks to the family by
to control the weeds. But these weeds do its chirping. That is the way the farmers
not work on monocotyledons. love the nature. Think, how nice all the
By spraying weedicides, weeds are actions of those people?
killed, but not the crop plants why?
6. Harvesting: Do you know?
How do farmers harvest the crop? To meet the food requirement of
growing population there should be an
This is the most important task in
increase in the cultivated land. But now
agriculture. Collecting grains from the crop
a days parts of the agriculture land in
by cutting the matured plant is called
rural areas remain uncultivated land
Harvesting. During harvesting crops are because of non availability of seeds,
either pulled out or cut close to the ground. power, water supply, market problems.
After cutting they are dried in the sunlight. Farmers thinking that agriculture is a non
After the moisture has evaporated farmers profitable task.
collect the seeds. Harvesting is done either
Actually agriculture is the flesh and
manually or by using machines.
blood of our country. So young
Harvesting of paddy generation should develop more passion
For a paddy crop harvesting can be done towards agriculture which would be the
by hand, using a sickle. After cutting , the only benificial profession in near future.
grain is sent out to dry in the field for 2 to
3 days.
If the paddy is not dried well enough.
What will happen?

Why farmers go for machinary for

harvesting crops? Fig-17

136 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management

Threshing
manual winnower by using chaata and fan
The dry plants stocks are beaten on a or winnowing machine.
hard surface to remove the grain. Threshing
is also done with the help of bullocks,
which trample the grain.

Fig-19 Modern Harvester

Fig-18
Have you ever seen farmers harvesting
Winnowing
the crops on the roads?
In winnowing the grains are poured out
In some villages farmers used to harvest
of a basket or tray held high up the wind
their crops on the roads insted of using
blows the chaff, dust and lighter seeds aside
bullocks. It is a dangerous practice. Some
while the heavy grains collect below.
times accidients may occur.

Fig-20 Winnowing
Modern harvesting Machine Fig-21 Harvesting on roads
(Harvester) Where do farmers harvest the crops
Now a days it is a common practice to in your village ?
harvest the crop with the help of a harvester. Is harvesting same for all crops?
After the collection of seeds farmers Harvesting is also an important task
separate the grain and chaff by the method in agriculture. Farmers generally used
called winnowing. For this they use a traditional methods to harvest.

Free distribution by A.P. Government 137

 Activity-13
Find out the methods of harvesting in and around your village and fill in the table.
Name of the crop Type of harvesting Tools used

7. Storage of grains: To overcome this problem farmers dry

Where does your mother store rice, the grains for 2 to 3 days in sun. After drying
Bengal gram, jowar wheat etc.? How does they keep the grains in a jute bags and
she store them? preserve them in a godown.
Usually in our houses the grains are
stored in a tin after drying them in hot
sunlight. Storage of grain is an important
task, because we do not consume the entire
crop at a time. Farmers store the food and
wait for the reasonable market price.
How do farmers store the grain?
There are different storage practices in
our state. Naturally food produce can be
Fig-23
damaged by fungi, pests, rats and bacteria.
If moisture is also there in the grains it Few decades back, farmers used to store
helps to develop moulds (fungi). Such the grains in metallic and bamboo bins. Now
grains neither germinates nor suitable to a days, specific chemical treatments are
eat. employed for storage of grains in order to
protect them from pests and micro
organisms.
It is a Cold Storage Unit . Here the
vegetables, fruits, tamarind, chillies and
other products that are usually damaged
and decoloured within a short time are
stored. As the temperature is very low here,
the vegetables and fruits can be kept for a
Fig-22 Cold storage unit longer time in the cold storage units.
138 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management
 Key words
Crop, Agriculture, crop production, long term crops, short term crops, Kharif
season.Rabi season, Night duration, Global grain, Ploughing, plots, leveling,
Sowing, selection, seed crisis, sprouting, seed dispersal, broadcasting , seed drill,
nursery plot, Mannure, pesticides, paddy planter, Bio fertilizers, chemical
fertilizers, Irrigation, Furrow irrigation, Basin Irrigation, sprinklers, Drip
irrigation, weeding, weedicides, Harvesting, threshing, winnowing, cold storage
units, godowns.

What we have learnt

Crops that take 180 days and above for harvesting are called long term crops.
Crops that take 100 days and below for harvesting are called short term crops.
The crops grown in the rainy season are termed as Kharif. It starts from June to
October.
The crops grown in winter season are called Rabi.It starts from November to April.
In some plants flowering depends on the duration of night.When the night duration
is more than 12½ hours, flowering will be better.
In some plants night duration is not at all a reason for flowering. They can flower
any time during the year.
Preparation of soil is fundamental practice in Agriculture.
Ploughing makes soil loosen and soft, so that air and water can be transported easily.
Levelling the soil is useful for irrigation of fields.
Farmers sow the seeds after testing and treating with fungicides.
Manure is of 2 types. 1. Natural manure ( Bio fertilizers) 2. Artificial Manure
(Chemical fertilizers).
Sprinklers and Drip irrigation techniques are used in drought prone areas.
Weeding increases crop yield. 2-4 Di Chloro phenoxy acetic acid is used for
removing Dicot weeds.
Proper storage of grains reduces the damage of grain by bacteria, fungi, pests, rats,
etc,

Improve your learning

1. Wheat is cultivated in Kharif season only. Can you tell the reasons? ( AS 1)

Free distribution by A.P. Government 139

2. Ramaiahs field is flattened. Somaiah’s field has many up and downs. Who will get
more crop? ( AS 1)
3. What are the advantages of ploughing? ( AS 1)
4. Treating with fungicides before sowing the seed is necessary. Why? ( AS 1)
5. Rajendar cultivated cotton crop in his field. He did not get sufficient yield. Can you
guess the reasons. ( AS 2)
6. What do you observe in the experiment of dropping a fist of Bengal gram seeds in
water? ( AS 3)
- What are the differences you observed in the both seeds?
- Do you know why the floated seeds are lighter in weight?
- Which seeds germinate well? Why?
- Which seeds would not germinate properly? why?
7. How do you appreciate the irrigation systems used in the drought prone areas?(6)
8. I am a plant. I grow in crop fields. Farmers pluck me. I do not know the reason. Can
you tell who am I? ( AS 2)
9. Why do farmers dry the paddy crop after cutting them from fields? ( AS 1)
10. Give some examples of plants that grow after replanting? ( AS 1)
11. Rahim removed weeds in his crop field, but David did not.Guess who get more
yield. Why? ( AS 1)
12. Narendra sprayed over dose of pesticides on his cotton crop. Ramesh says it is a
hazard to bio diversity and crop yield.Can you support Ramesh? How? ( AS 7)
13. Venkatesh observed the irrigation method for paddy field. He wanted to follow the
same practice for his Maize crop.What sugesssions do you give him. ( AS 7)
14. Go to your nearest fertilizer shop and collect the information about chemical
fertilizers and fill the table. Copy the following table in your note book. ( AS 4)

Name of the fertiliser % of Nutrients Name of the crops used

N P K

15. What is natural manure? How to prepare it and give two examples? ( AS 1)

140 Food Production from Plants Methods of Management