improvement in food resourse

 Improvement in Food Resources

All living organisms need food because:

·         It provides carbohydrates, fats vitamins and minerals

·         It allows development of the organisms

·         It is needed to gain energy for everyday tasks

 Main sources of food:

·         Plants – obtained from agriculture

·         Animals – obtained from animal husbandry

 The efficiency of crops and livestock is required in India because:

·         The population of India is growing at a faster rate hence more amount of food is required to meet the rising demand.

·         The agricultural land is limited as compared to the growing population.

 

Efforts made to meet the increase in food demands

1.    Green revolution: for increase in food grain production.

Father of green revolution –1965-700

Father of green revolution in India – Mr. M.S.Swaminathan

2.   Blue revolution: for increase in fish production. (1985-90)

3.   White revolution: for increase in milk production.(1970-75)

4.   Yellow revolution: for increase in oil production.1986-87

5.   Golden revolution: for increase in pulse production. 1991-2003

 Different types of crops and their Nutritional Value

Crop	Examples	Value
Cereals	Wheat, rice, maize, millets, sorghum	Carbohydrates  (provide energy)
Pulses	Gram, black gram, green gram, pigeon pea, lentil	Proteins
Oilseeds	Soybean, groundnut, sesame, castor, mustard, sunflower	Fats
Vegetables, Spices and Fruits	Carrot, Cinnamon, orange, spinach	Minerals, vitamins and small amounts of Carbohydrates, fats and proteins
Fodder crops	Berseem, oats, sudan grass	Food for Livestock

 

Different crops grow in different Seasons because they require a particular climate temperature and photoperiod for their growth.

Crop	Season	Example
Kharif	Rainy (June to October)	Rice, maize, millets
Rabi	Winter (November to April)	Soybean, pigeon pea, wheat
Zaid	Summer (March to June)	Sugarcane, Watermelon, Cucumber

 

Activities that lead to improvement in the crop yield:

·         Crop Variety Improvement

·         Crop Production Improvement

·         Crop Production Management

1. CROP VARIETY IMPROVEMENT: 

Improve the variety of crop it mean crop has following characteristics:

·         Higher yield: To increase the productivity of the crop per acre.

·         Improved quality: The quality of crop products vary from crop to crop. E.g., the protein quality is important in pulses, oil quality in oilseeds, preserving quality in fruits and vegetables.

·         Biotic and abiotic resistance: Biotic factors are the diseases, insects and nematodes while abiotic factors are the drought, salinity, waterlogging, heat, cold and frost which affect the crop productivity. Varieties resistant to these factors (stresses) can be improved to increase crop production.

·         Change in maturity duration: Shorter maturity period of crop reduces the cost of crop production and makes the variety economical. Uniform maturity makes the harvesting process easy and reduces losses during harvesting.

·         Wider adaptability: It allows the crops to be grown under different climatic conditions in different areas.

·         Desirable agronomic characteristics: It increases productivity, for example, tallness and profuse branching are desirable characters for fodder crops; while dwarfness is desired in cereals, so that less nutrients are consumed by these crops.

·          

Different methods of Crop Variety Improvement:

Hybridization technology: It is the process of cross – breeding two different varieties of crops to produce a new variety with good properties of both the crops.

Genetic Improvement: In genetic improvement, genes of a crop are modified so that desired properties are retained and undesired properties are suppressed.

 2.    Crop Production Improvement

 

It involves different practices carried out by farmer to achieve higher standards of crop production.

1. Nutrient Management

2. Irrigation

3. Cropping Patterns

 Nutrient Management

Like other organisms, plants also require some elements for their growth. These elements are called Nutrients.

Sources	Nutrients
Air	Carbon, oxygen
Water	Hydrogen, oxygen
Soil	1.    Macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur. 2.    Micronutrients: iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, chlorine

Macronutrients: Macronutrients are the nutrients required by plants in large amount.
Micronutrients are the nutrients required by small plants in small amount.

 Harmful effects of lack of nutrients:

1.    No proper growth.

2.    Low resistance to diseases.

3.    No proper fruits and flowers.

 

Sources of plant nutrients:

 Air – Carbon, Oxygen

Water – Hydrogen

Soil – N2, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, Bo, Zn, Co, Mo, Cl

 “Most important nutrients needed for growth of plants are N2, P, and K”.

 

Manure & Fertilizer

Plant nutrients and organic matter in the soil can be increased by adding manures and fertilizers to the soil.

Manure
It is defined as the decomposition of animal excreta and plant waste. Manure mainly contains organic matter and also some nutrients in small amount. Based on the biological material used, manures are of three types.

1.    Compost: Animal excreta (like cow dung etc.), kitchen waste, plant remains, waste wood, etc are left in pit for long time. They decompose slowly to form compost. This compost is used as manure. This process is called composting.

2.    Vermi Compost: To make the decomposition process fast, earthworms are left in the pit. Earthworms eat up the waste and excrete organic matter as there excreta. The compost thus formed is called vermi – compost. This process is vermin – compositing

3.    .Green Manure:
Fast growing plants like sun hemp, guar are grown. They are then mulched into the soil by ploughing. They decay to form organic matter. After sometime, the main plants are grown. Remains of the old plant enrich the soil with nitrogen and phosphorus.

 

Advantage  of  manure:

·         It provides lots of organic matter which makes soil porous.

·         It increases soil fertility in general.

·         It provides some nutrients in small amounts.

·         As it is made from waste products, so environment is cleaned.

 Fertilizers

Fertilizers are chemicals manufactured in factories. They are chemicals highly rich in nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

They provide large amount of nutrients and thus ensure better growth of plants.

 Disadvantages of fertilizers:

1. Fertilizers beings chemicals can harm the micro – organism and insects in soil.

2. Fertilizers do not provide much organic matter.

3. Excessive use of fertilizers for a long period of time can damage soil fertility.

4. If excessive irrigation is done, some fertilizers can flow with excess water to water bodies. As fertilizers are chemicals, they will cause water pollution.

 

Manure	Fertilizers
Easily made using animal & plant waste	Made in factories in well defined way
No harmful effect as fully natural.	Side effects as it is a chemical.
Provides mainly organic matter.	Provides mainly nutrients.
Good for long term soil fertility	Not good for long term soil fertility if used in excessive amount.
Not as effective as fertilizers.	Very effective in obtaining fast result
Cheap	Costly

 

Irrigation

It is a process of application of water in controlled amounts at regular intervals to the crops. Irrigation methods are adopted at various places especially in areas of low rainfall to ensure the proper growth of crops. 

Importance of irrigation:

 1.   Irrigation water supplies two essential elements to crops i.e. Hydrogen and Oxygen.

2.   Moisture available in the soil leads to germination of seeds.

3.   Water made available to field by the process of irrigation helps in absorption of nutrients by plants from the soil.

 

Irrigation Methods

Wells: two types of wells are used for irrigation: ·         Tubewell: tube wells are tube-like structures that are used to extract the underground water. ·         Dug Wells: dug wells are the wells dug in the ground in order to extract the underground water. Water from dug well and tubewell both is lifted by using pumps.
Canals: A canal system is a network created to move water from one source of water such as a stream or reservoir. The main canal is divided into branches that spread by through the fields so that water can be distributed everywhere.
River Lift System: A river lift system is used to draw water from the rivers directly for irrigational purposes. This system is successful in areas where the canal system is not successful.
Tanks: farmers often use small storage reservoir that can store as well as supply water in the small fields.
Rainwater Harvesting: Instead of just letting the rainwater flow away farmers often store it in the reservoir tank. This water can we for the used for irrigational purposes.
Watershed Management: Small dams are built on the rivers and streams in order to increase the ground levels of the area. These check dams prevent water from flowing away and causing soil erosion.

 

CROPPING  PATTERN:  Following  ways  of  growing  crops  can  be  used  to  give maximum benefits

 

1.   Mixed cropping

2.   Inter cropping

3.   Crop rotation

Mixed Cropping

·         It is a cropping pattern in which two or more crops are grown together in the same field.

·         The main aim of this cropping method is to ensure some healed even if one of the crops fails to grow properly.

·         The seeds of different crops are combined and planted together.

·         Same fertilizers are used for all the crops.

·         For Example, wheat and gram, wheat and mustard, groundnut and sunflower.

 

Advantages of mixed cropping:

1.   Multiple cropping saves time in sawing and labour of farmers.

2.   It helps in optimum utilisation of the soil.

3.   It avoids depletion of soil nutrients due to different nutrient requirement of different crops in the same field.

4.   The waste material and product released by one crop may be beneficial to the other crop in mixed cropping.

5.   When two crops of different nature are grown simultaneously, risk of total crop failure is minimised due to uncertainty in monsoon.

6.   It  results  in  increase in  yield  because  growing  of legume crop along  with  cereals  will increase the yield of cereals due to coverage of nitrogen deficiency in soil.

 Disadvantages of mixed cropping:

 1.    It is impossible to use any labour saving equipment or machinery on the field.

 

Intercropping

·         It is a cropping method in which two or more crops are grown together in a field but in a specific pattern.

·         The seeds of these crops are not combined before plantation.

·         Both the crops used different kinds of fertilizers depending upon their own requirements.

·         The main objective of this method is to ensure the maximum productivity of the crops.

·         Since the crops have different nutrient requirements they would use maximum nutrients from the soil.

·         Diseases and pest would also not easily spread to all the crops.

·         For Example, soybean and maize, finger millets and cowpea.

Crop Rotation

·         In this cropping method, different types of crops are chosen and irrigated on the same piece of land sequentially.

·         The rotation of crops depends upon the soil, climate and water retention of the soil.

Advantages of crop rotation:

1.   Improves the fertility of the soil and results in the increase in the food production.

2.   It helps in pest control.

3.   It improves crop quality.

4.   It keeps the land occupied with greater part of time with crops.

 

Mixed cropping	Inter cropping
1.  It  has  the  target  to  minimize  total  crop failure	1.It has the target to improve productivity`
2.Seeds of two crops are mixed before sowing	2.Seeds of two crops are not mixed
3.It involves no set pattern of rows of crops	3.It involves  set pattern of rows of crops
4.  In  this  method  there  is  a  difficulty  of fertilizer application to individual crop.	4.In  this  method  fertilizer can  be applied  as per need of the crops
5.Harvesting and threshing of crops separately is not possible, thus marketing & consumption of only mixed produce is possible	5.  Both  crops  can  be  easily  harvested  & threshed separately thus each crop can be marketed & consumed separately.

 

Weed Control Methods:

·         Weedicides are sprayed on the fields that can kill them as they do not harm any crops.

·         Weeds can be uprooted manually by the farmers.

·         The crop is sown timely are not affected by weeds.

·         Using different methods of cropping suggest crop rotation and intercropping also reduce the chances of growing weeds.

 

2. Pests: Several insects and pests can affect the crops in different ways:

·      They can cut the parts of the crops like fruits, leaves and stems.

·      They can get into the stems and roots of the plants.

·      They suck the cell sap of the plants and hence destroy them.

 

Pest Controlling Methods:

·      Pesticides and insecticides are sprayed on the fields to kill the germs.

·      Crops should be checked timely to ensure safety against pests.

·      Usage of effective cropping methods such as crop rotation ensures insect management in the fields.

·      Sometimes summer ploughing is also used to destroy the weeds and pests.

 

Diseases: Microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria and viruses often attack the crops and affect them. These pathogens can be transmitted to the crops via soil, water or air.

Disease Management Methods

·         Selecting the crop that suits the temperature and climatic conditions of the place.

·         Planting the seeds on right time and in an environment that favours their growth.

·         Using herbicides such as dicamba and glufosinate ammonium and fertilizers such as ammonium nitrate, potassium sulfate.

·         Using crop rotation method and mixed cropping.

 

Storage of Grains

Factors that lead to storage losses of crops are:

·         Biotic Factors: Like insects, fungi, bacteria, rodents and mites

·         Abiotic Factors: Like excessive temperature and moisture.

 

prevent storage loss

·         Maintaining the storage houses properly

·         Cleaning the grains properly before storage

·         Drying the grains properly before storage in sunlight as well as in the shade

 Organic Farming

Use of fertilizers and pesticides has their own disadvantages. They cause pollution, damage soil fertility in long run. Grains, fruits, vegetables obtained may contain harmful chemical in small amount.

Organic farming is farming system with no or very little use of chemicals like fertilizers and pesticides.

 Process of Organic Farming

·         Use of manure.

·         Use of bio fertilizers: blue – green algae (organism). They fix nitrogen from atmosphere to soil. Some micro – organism can also kill pests. They are intentionally put in soil to kill pests. They act as bio fertilizers.

·         Use of bio pesticides: Neem and turmeric can kill some pests.

·         Weed & Pest control systems are used. So that use of pesticides is not required.

Use different cropping pattern like mixed Cropping, intercropping and crop Rotation

Animal Husbandry

Animal husbandry is the scientific management of animal livestock. It includes various aspects such as feeding, breeding and disease control.

 Main elements of animal husbandry are:

1. Proper feeding of animals.

2. Providing fresh water and good shelter to animals.

3. Proper health and protection against diseases.

4. Proper breeding of animals.

 Need of Animal Husbandry: As the population increases and as living standards increase, the demand for milk, eggs and meat is also going up.

On the basis of utility animals have been categorized into following four types:

1. Milch (milk-yielding) animals: e.g.- cow, buffalo, goat

2. Meat and Egg-yielding animals: e.g.- goat, sheep, pig, fish, chicken, duck, etc

3. Draught (working) animals: e.g.- horse, bullock, camel, donkey, mule, elephant

4. Hair and skin: yielding animals; e.g.- sheep, goat, rabbit, cow, buffalo etc.

  CATTLE FARMING

Cattle farming is done for two purposes: - milk production and bullock labour (e.g.- tilling, irrigation, and carting).

 Indian cattle belong to two different species, Bos indicus (cows), and Bos bubalis, (buffaloes).

Lactation period: the period of milk production after the birth of a calf is called lactation period. So, milk production can be increased by increasing the lactation period.

Exotic or foreign breeds are selected for long lactation periods, while Indian/ local breeds are selected for excellent resistance to diseases. The two can be cross-bred to get animals with both the desired qualities.

 

Exotic or foreign breeds: Jersey (Island of Jersey of England), Brown Swiss(Switzerland)
Indian local breeds: Red Sindhi, Sahiwal, karan

Cross breeds of cow:- eg- Brown Swiss-Sahiwal, Jersey-Sindhi, Karan-Swiss etc.

 

Characteristics of good animal shelter :

1. It should protect the animals from heat, cold, and rain and also from other animals.

2. It should be clean, dry, airy, and well ventilated.

3. It should have proper sunlight during the day.

4. It should have proper arrangement for clean drinking water.

5. It should be spacious so as to provide enough space for each animal to stay comfortabely.

6. It should have a sloping floor for the hygienic disposal of animal excreta.

7. Regular brushing of animals to remove dirt and loose hair.

 

The animal food requirement is divided into two categories:

1. Maintenance requirement: food which supports the basic function of the life .

2. Milk- producing requirement: food which increase the milk production.

 

The animal feed is of two types:

Roughage: contains large amount of fibres with low nutrition. Eg- hay, fodder, silage, legumes like barseem, lucrene, cowpea; etc. it also includes fodder grasses, like Napier grass, Guinea grass and Elephant grass.

Concentrate: They are rich in protein and other nutrients. It contains mixture of cereals, like maize, jowar, broken grass, rice polish, cotton seed, molasses, oilseed cake etc.

 

Cattle need balanced rations containing all nutrients in proportionate amounts.  Feed additives containing micronutrients promote the health and milk output of dairy animals.

 

Cattle suffer from a number of diseases. The diseases can cause death or reduce milk production.

if animal feeds irregularly and has abnormal posture then Cattle suffer from a diseases .

 

Parasites of cattle: external parasites and internal parasites.

External parasites: live on the skin and mainly cause skin diseases.

The internal parasites like worms, affect stomach and intestine while flukes damage the liver.

 

Bacteria and viruses also cause Infectious diseases. Vaccinations are given to farm animals against many major viral and bacterial diseases.

 

Some common animal disease:

·         Bacterial: Anthrax, Tuberculosis, Rinderpest.

·         Viral: Rabies, Cowpox, Encephalitis, Foot & mouth disease.

·         Fungal: Ring worm

·         Worms: Ascariasis.

 

POULTRY FARMING

Poultry is the branch of animal husbandry concerned with rearing of birds for eggs and meet.

Egg laying birds are called LAYERS while meat-yielding birds are called BROILERS. It includes chickens (fowls), ducks, turkeys, pigeons etc. among these fowls are most widely domesticated birds in India.

 

Poultry breeds:

Indigenous: Assel, Peela, Yakub, Nurie, Ghagus, Basara, Chittagong

Exotic: white leghorn cock, white leghorn hen, rhode island red hen,

Cross bread: IBL-80, B-77, HH-260, etc.

 

Desired traits for improved verities:

1. Quality and quantity of chicks.

2. Dwarf broiler parent for commercial chick production.

3. Summer adaptability capacity / tolerance to high temperature.

4. Low maintenance requirement.

5. Reduction in size of egg laying birds with ability to utilise more fibrous cheaper diets

 

Management practices to prevent poultry from diseases:

 

1. They should be kept in spacious, airy, and ventilated shelter.

2. The shelter should be clean properly and regularly.

3. Quick and hygienic disposal of excreta should be ensured.

4. Disinfectant should be sprayed regularly.

5. Animal should be vaccinated at regular interval to minimize it from common infection and disease.

 

FISH FARMING (PISCICULTURE)

Pisciculture or fishery or fish farming involves the rearing and breeding of fish scientifically by man in ponds, tanks, etc.

 

·         Fish is a cheap source of animal protein for our food

·         Fish production includes the finned true fish as well as shellfish such as prawns and molluscs.

 

TYPE OF FISH FARMING:

On the basis of nature of source of fishes:

1. Capture fisheries: fish caught directly from their natural resources.

2. Culture fisheries: fish is cultivated in artificial water bodies called breeding ponds

 

Mariculture:  a practice of culture fisheries to met the demand called mariculture. This is done due to depletion of marine fish stock

 

On the basis of nature of water sources:

1.    Marine fisheries: it involves fish production in marine waters.  India’s marine fishery resources are 7500 km long coastline and the deep sea. Marine fish are caught using many kinds of fishing nets from fishing boats. To increase the yields large schools of fish are located using Satellites and echo-sounders

·         Popular marine fish varieties: pomphret, mackerel, tuna, sardines, and Bombay duck.

·         High economic value finned fishes :  mullets, bhetki, and pearl spots,

·         High economic value shellfish : prawns, mussels and oysters (for cultivated the pearls) ,seaweed.

 

2. Freshwater/ Inland fisheries:

Fresh water resources include canals, ponds, reservoirs and rivers

Brackish waters resources (seawater and fresh water mix together) like estuaries and lagoons.

 

The yield is not high Capture fishing is also done in such inland water bodies,.

 

Breeds of fishes:

Indigenous breeds: - fresh water: katla, rohu, calbusa, mrigla. Salt water fish-chanos, mullets

Exotic breeds: - fresh water- common carp, mirror carp, Chinese carp, silver carp and grass carp

 

Fish culture is sometimes done in combination with a rice crop, so that fish are grown in the water in the paddy field.

 

COMPOSITE FISH CULTURE (POLYCULTURE): in this method many types of local and imported fish species are cultured together into a pond or water body. a combination of five or six fish species is used in a single fishpond. These species are selected having different types of food habits. the food available in all the parts of the pond is used. For example Catlas are surface feeders, Rohusm feed in the middle-zone of the pond, Mrigalsn and Common Carps are bottom feeders, and Grass Carps feed on the weeds, together these species can use all the food in the pond without competing with each other. This increases the fish yield from the pond.

 

ADVANTAGES OF POLYCULTURE

·         Increases employment opportunities.

·  Intensive polyculture of fish is fully controlled by the farmer.

·  More fish can be cultivated and produced within a small water body

.·  Fish polyculture enhances the pond productivity.

·  Maintains water quality.

·  There will be no competition between different species because they have different habits e.g.- catla is a surface feeder, rohu is a column feeder, cirrhinus is a bottom feeder.

·  Complete utilization of habitats.

·  Fishes can be grown as per market preference.

·  Various species combined in polyculture framework adequately contribute to improve

 

problem

·         many of these fish breed only during monsoon.

·         the lack of availability of goodquality seed.

 

Solution:  hormonal stimulation is used to breed these fish in ponds. This has ensured the supply of pure fish seed in desired quantities.