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ROP Roduction AND Anagement
ROP Roduction AND Anagement
P
aheli and Boojho went to their
uncle’s house during the summer
vacation. Their uncle is a farmer.
One day they saw some tools like khurpi, Food has to be
produced on a large
sickle, shovel, plough, etc., in the field.
scale.
beam
ploughshaft
ploughshare
Selection of Seeds
3. A fertiliser does not provide Manure provides a lot of humus to the soil.
any humus to the soil.
Table 1.1 gives the differences each part of the plant. Water also
between a fertiliser and manure. protects the crop from both frost and
hot air currents. To maintain the
Advantages of Manure : The organic
moisture of the soil for healthy crop
manure is considered better than
growth, fields have to be watered
fertilisers. This is because
regularly.
l it enhances the water holding The supply of water to crops at
capacity of the soil. different intervals is called irrigation.
l it makes the soil porous due to which The time and frequency of irrigation
exchange of gases becomes easy. varies from crop to crop, soil to soil and
l it increases the number of friendly season to season. In summer, the
microbes. frequency of watering is higher. Why is
l it improves the texture of the soil. it so? Could it be due to the increased
rate of evaporation of water from the soil
1.6 Irrigation
and the leaves?
All living beings need water to live.
Water is important for proper growth
and development of flowers, fruits and I am very careful this
seeds of plants. Water is absorbed by year about watering
the plant roots. Along with water, the plants. Last
minerals and fertilisers are also summer my plants
absorbed. Plants contain nearly 90% dried up and died.
water. Water is essential because
germination of seeds does not take place Sources of irrigation : The sources of
under dry conditions. Nutrients irrigation are— wells, tubewells, ponds,
dissolved in water get transported to lakes, rivers, dams and canals.
CROP PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT 7
Traditional Methods of
Irrigation
The water available in wells,
lakes and canals is lifted up
by different methods in
different regions, for taking it
to the fields.
Cattle or human labour is
used in these methods. So
these methods are cheaper,
but less efficient. The various
traditional ways are:
(i) moat (pulley -system)
(ii) chain pump
10 SCIENCE
from the chaff. This process is called Harvest Festivals
threshing. This is carried out with the
help of a machine called ‘combine’ which After three or four months of hard
work there comes the day of the
is in fact a combined harvester and
harvest. The sight of golden fields
thresher (Fig. 1.8). of standing crop, laden with grain,
fills the hearts of farmers with joy
a n d a s e n s e o f w e l l -b e i n g . T h e
efforts of the past season have
borne fruit and it is time to relax
and enjoy a little. The period of
harvest is, thus, of great joy and
happiness in all parts of India.
Men and women celebrate it with
great enthusiasm. Special
festivals associated with the
h a r v e s t s e a s o n are P o n g a l ,
Baisakhi, Holi, Diwali, Nabanya
Fig. 1.8 : Combine and Bihu.
1.9 Storage
After harvesting, sometimes
Storage of produce is an important task.
stubs are left in the field, which
are burnt by farmers. Paheli is If the crop grains are to be kept for
worried. She knows that it longer time, they should be safe from
causes pollution. It may also moisture, insects, rats and
catch fire and damage the crops microorganisms. The fresh crop has
lying in the fields. more moisture. If freshly harvested
grains (seeds) are stored without drying,
Farmers with small holdings of land
they may get spoilt or attacked by
do the separation of grain and chaff by
organisms, losing their germination
winnowing (Fig. 1.9). You have already
studied this in Class VI. capacity. Hence, before storing them,
the grains are properly dried in the sun
to reduce the moisture in them. This
prevents the attack by insect pests,
bacteria and fungi. Farmers store
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KEYWORDS WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNT
AGRICULTURAL Ü In order to provide food to our growing
PRACTICES population, we need to adopt certain
agricultural practices.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
Ü Same kind of plants grown and cultivated at
CROP a place constitute a crop.
Ü In India, crops can be broadly categorised into
FERTILISER
two types based on seasons - rabi and kharif
GRANARIES crops.
Ü It is necessary to prepare soil by tilling and
HARVESTING levelling. Ploughs and levellers are used for
this purpose.
IRRIGATION
Ü Sowing of seeds at appropriate depths and
KHARIF distances gives good yield. Good variety of
seeds are sown after selection of healthy seeds.
MANURE Sowing is done by seed drills.
Ü Soil needs replenishment and enrichment
PLOUGH
through the use of organic manure and
RABI fertilisers. Use of chemical fertilisers has
increased tremendously with the introduction
SEEDS of new crop varieties.
Ü Supply of water to crops at appropriate
SILO
intervals is called irrigation.
SOWING Ü Weeding involves removal of unwanted and
uncultivated plants called weeds.
STORAGE Ü Harvesting is the cutting of the mature crop
manually or by machines.
THRESHING
Ü Separation of the grains from the chaff is called
WEEDS threshing.
Ü Proper storage of grains is necessary to protect
WEEDICIDE them from pests and microorganisms.
Ü Food is also obtained from animals for which
WINNOWING
animals are reared. This is called animal
husbandry.
Exercises
1. Select the correct word from the following list and fill in the blanks.
float, water, crop, nutrients, preparation
(a) The same kind of plants grown and cultivated on a large scale at a
place is called _____________.
(b) The first step before growing crops is _____________ of the soil.
EXERCISES
(d) For growing a crop, sufficient sunlight and _____________ and
_____________ from the soil are essential.
2. Match items in column A with those in column B.
A B
10. Arrange the following boxes in proper order to make a flow chart of
sugarcane crop production.
Sending crop to
Irrigation Harvesting Sowing
sugar factory
1 2 3 4
5 6 7
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11. Complete the following word puzzle with the help of clues given below.
EXERCISES Down
1. Providing water to the crops.
2. Keeping crop grains for a long time under proper conditions.
5. Certain plants of the same kind grown on a large scale.
Across
3. A machine used for cutting the matured crop.
4. A rabi crop that is also one of the pulses.
6. A process of separating the grain from chaff.
16 SCIENCE