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Cropping System SS Rana & MC Rana "If a better system is thine, impart it; if not, make use of mine. " - Horace Department of Agronomy, Forages and Grassland Management College of Agriculture, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176062 (India) Cropping System S S Rana Sr Scientist MC Rana Associate Professor Department of Agronomy, Forages and Grassland Management, COA, CSK HPKV, Palampur-176062 Copyright 2011 SS Rana , Sr Scientist, Department of Agronomy, Forages and Grassland Management, Coll ege of Agriculture, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur- 176062. No part of this pub lication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitt ed, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the writt en permiss ion of the authors . Citation Rana S S and M C Rana. 2011. Cropping System . Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur , 80 pages. Preface Prosperity of any country depends upon the prosperity of its people. Economy of most countries, is directly or indirectly dependant on their agriculture. All over the world, farmers work hard but do not make money, especially small farmers because there is very little left after they pay for all inputs. Agriculture being dependant of monsoon, the crop productivity is variable every year. To increase productivity continuous efforts need to be made in conduct of research on different aspects of crop production, post harvest and marketing of the value added products. The emergence of system approach has enabled us to increase production without deteriorating the resource base. There is every possibility of saving resources following system approach in cropping. Cropping system is a commonly and broadly used word to explain a more integrated approach to cropping as compared to monoculture approaches. The text book constitutes of Cropping systems: definition, indices and its importance; physical resources, soil and water management in cropping systems; assessment of land use; Concept of sustainability in cropping systems and farming systems, scope and objectives; production potential under monoculture cropping, multiple cropping, alley cropping, sequential cropping and intercropping, mechanism of yield advantage in intercropping systems; above and below ground interactions and allelopathic effects; competition relations; multi- storeyed cropping and yield stability in intercropping, role of non-monetary inputs and low cost technologies; research need on sustainable agriculture; crop diversification for sustainability; role of organic matter in maintenance of soil fertility; crop residue management; fertilizer use efficiency and concept of fertilizer use in intensive cropping system; plant ideotypes for drylands; and plant growth regulators and their role in sustainability. This book is intended as a professional b a s i c textbook for post-graduate level students of cropping System . At the undergraduate level also it will be very useful for students of agriculture and economics in particular and forestry, animal sciences, fisheries, horticulture and social sciences in general . In addition the text book will be a valuable reference on cropping system for the candidates appearing in competitive examinations including agricultural research services. Professional training institutes like KVKs, polytechnics, rural institutes etc dealing in farmers would also find this text book of immense value. The book is written in a very simple form with up to date data and statistics. It is a comprehensive basic text book on cropping systems and will specifically meet out the requirement of the students of Agron 511. We hope that our friends, well wishers and students will provide motivation and support for constructive criticism to make this book more meaningful. The authors would also welcome suggestions from the other readers to improve the text book. Palampur S S Rana MC Rana AGRON 511 CROPPING SYSTEMS 2+0 Objective To acquaint the students about prevailing cropping systems in the country and practices to improve their productivity Theory UNIT I Cropping systems: definition, indices and its importance; physical resources, soil and water management in cropping systems; assessment of land use. UNIT II Concept of sustainability in cropping systems and farming systems, scope and objectives; production potential under monoculture cropping, multiple cropping, alley cropping, sequential cropping and intercropping, mechanism of yield advantage in intercropping systems. UNIT III Above and below ground interactions and allelopathic effects; competition relations; multi- storeyed cropping and yield stability in intercropping, role of non-monetary inputs and low cost technologies; research need on sustainable agriculture. UNIT IV Crop diversification for sustainability; role of organic matter in maintenance of soil fertility; crop residue management; fertilizer use efficiency and concept of fertilizer use in intensive cropping system. UNIT V Plant ideotypes for drylands; plant growth regulators and their role in sustainability. Suggested Readings Palaniappan SP & Sivaraman K. 1996. Cropping Systems in the Tropics; Principles and Management. New Age. Panda SC. 2003. Cropping and Farming Systems . Agrobios. Reddy SR. 2000. Principles of Crop Production . Kalyani. Sankaran S & Mudaliar TVS. 1997. Principles of Agronomy. The Bangalore Printing & Publ. Co. Singh SS. 2006. Principles and Practices of Agronomy . Kalyani. Tisdale SL, Nelson WL, Beaton JD & Havlin JL. 1997. Soil Fertility and Fertilizers . Prentice Hall. Schedule of lectures SN Topic(s) Number of Pages lectures 1 UNIT I 7 1-18 Cropping systems: definition, indices and its importance; physical resources, soil and water management in cropping systems; assessment of land use. 2 UNIT II 8 19-40 Concept of sustainability in cropping systems and farming systems, scope and objectives; production potential under monoculture cropping, multiple cropping, alley cropping, sequential cropping and intercropping, mechanism of yield advantage in intercropping systems. 3 UNIT III 7 41-53 Above and below ground interactions and allelopathic effects; competition relations; multi- storeyed cropping and yield stability in intercropping, role of non-monetary inputs and low cost technologies; research need on sustainable agriculture. 4 UNIT IV 7 54-73 Crop diversification for sustainability; role of organic matter in maintenance of soil fertility; crop residue management; fertilizer use efficiency and concept of fertilizer use in intensive cropping system. 5 UNIT V 4 74-80 Plant ideotypes for drylands; plant growth regulators and their role in sustainability. UNIT I Cropping systems: definition, indices and its importance; physical resources, soil and water management in cropping systems; assessment of land use What is a System? A system is a group of interacting components, operating "If a better system is thine, impart it; together for a common purpose, capable of reacting as a whole if not, make use of mine. " - Horace to external stimuli: it is unaffected directly by its own outputs and has a specified boundary based on the inclusion of all "The system isn't stupid, but the significant feedbacks. For example, the human body is a people in it are. " - Thomas Szasz system-it has a boundary (e.g., the skin) enclosing a number of components (heart, lungs) that interact (the heart pumps blood to the lungs) for a common purpose (to maintain and operate the living body). Collection of unrelated items does not constitute a system. A bag of marbles is not a system: if a marble is added or subtracted, a bag of marbles remains and may be almost completely unaffected by the change. The marbles only behave as a whole if the whole bag is influenced, for example by dropping it, but if it bursts the constituent parts go their own ways. It is the properties of the system that chiefly matter and they may be summarized in the phrase ‘behavior as a whole in response to stimuli to any part’. Ecosystem : Any collection of organisms that interact or have the potential to interact along with the physical environment in which they live, form an ecological system or ecosystem. Ecosystems are not static entities they are dynamic systems with characteristic pattern of energy flow, nutrient cycling and structural change. Agro-ecosystem: Agro-ecosystems are ecological systems modified by human beings to produce food, fibre or other agricultural products. Like the ecological systems they replace, agro-ecosystems are structurally and dynamically complex. But their complexity arises from the interaction between socio- economic and ecological processes. Crop system : An arrangement of crop populations that transform solar energy, nutrients, water and other inputs into useful biomass ie. food, feed, fuel and fibre. Crop system comprised of soils, crop, weed, pathogen and insect subsystems. The crop can be of different species and variety, but they only constitute one crop system if they are managed as a single unit. The crop system is a subsystem of cropping system. For example, in the maize crop system, maize is the dominant crop which is grown in association with other crops. Cropping Systems : Cropping systems, an important component of a farming system, represents a cropping pattern used on a farm and their interaction with farm resources, other farm enterprises and available technology, which determine their make up. It is defined, as the
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