Salient Features of India constitution especially power and functions
Agronomic Crops Classification - Agriculture
1. Unit I Introduction to Agriculture
Dr. S. Marimuthu., Ph.D.
Asst. Professor (AGR)
Agronomy: relationship with other disciplines
Classification of crops
2. Agronomy
• Pivotal position - “Mother branch or primary branch”
• Integrated and applied aspect of different disciplines of pure
sciences
• (i) Crop Science, (ii) Soil Science, and (iii) Environmental Science
3. Relationship with other discipline
• Crop science - Plant breeding, crop physiology and
biochemistry etc.,
• Soil science - Soil fertilizers, manures etc.,
• Environmental science - Meteorology and crop ecology.
4. Crops
• Organism grown or harvested for yield
• Agronomy - “Plant cultivated for economic purpose”
Classification of crops
• Similar crop plants - better understanding of them
5. Classification types used in crops
• Based on ontogeny (life cycle)
• Economic use (Agronomic)
• Botany (Scientific
Classification)
• Based on seasons
• Based on climate
6. Based on Ontogeny (life cycle)
Annual crops:
• Complete life cycle within a season for year
• Eg. Wheat, Rice, Maize, Mustard
Biennial crops:
• Life span of two consecutive seasons or years
• First years/ season - purely vegetative growth
• Second year / season - Reproductive development -
Eg. Sugar beet, Beetroot, Cabbage, Radish, Carrot, etc.
7. Based on Ontogeny (life cycle)
Perennial crops:
• Three or more years
• Seed bearing or non-seed bearing
• Eg. Napier fodder grass, coconut etc
8. Based on economic use (Agronomic)
Cereals - Poaceae
• Stable food - World (only 5% from
root crops)
• Cultivated as grasses - edible starchy
(60-70%)
• Vitamin E, 20% to 30% minerals of
selenium, Ca, Zinc & Cu
• Straw – feed to animals
• Eg. …………………
19. Pulses
• Seeds of leguminous plants - food, more
protein
• N fixation – Rhizobium – Root Nodule
• Pod - economic portion
• Mostly used in cropping system
• Green manure, High value cattle feed (Crops &
seed coat)
• As vegetables, e.g., cowpea, lablab
• Wastes or stalk - ‘Haulm’ or ‘Stover’
29. Oil seeds
• Rich in fatty acid - vegetable oil
• Edible/industrial/medicinal purposes
• Oil content - 20% to 50%
• Protein, Vit A, B and B2
• Oil cake - manure and feed for cattle
• Haulms are feed to livestock
40. Fodder / Forage crops
• Vegetative matter, fresh or preserved,
utilized as feed for animals
• Hay, silage, pasturage and fodder
• Eg. Grasses = Bajra napier grass,
Guinea grass, Fodder sorghum, Fodder
maize, etc
• Legumes = Lucerne, Desmanthus,
Fodder cowpea, etc.
41. Spices and Condiments
• Crop plants or their products used
as flavour, taste and add colour to
the fresh or preserved food
• Eg. Ginger, Garlic, Fenugreek,
Cumin, Turmeric Chillies, Onion,
Coriander etc.
45. Exsitu - Green leaf manures
Turning into the soil
green leaves and tender
twigs collected from
shrubs and trees grown
on bunds, waste lands
and near by forest areas
47. Scientific or Botanical classification
• Botanical or scientific names of plants which consist of genus and species
- universally accepted
• Carolus Linnaeus (Swedish botanist ) “Binomial system of classification”
48. Based on Seasons
• Kharif: June - July to Sep - October
(Warm wet & shorter day length for
flowering)
• Eg. Rice, Maize, Castor, Groundnut
• Rabi Crops
• Oct. – Nov. to Jan - Feb (Cold dry &
longer day)
• Eg. Wheat, Mustard, Barley, Oats,
Potato, Bengal gram, Berseem,
Cabbage and Cauliflower
• Summer (Zaid crops)
• Feb. - March to May - (Warm dry &
longer day)
• Eg. Black gram, Greengram,
Seasame, Cowpea etc.
• Classification is not a universal
one. Indicate the period for
particular crops grown
• Eg. Kharif rice, Kharif maize, Rabi
maize, Summer pulse etc.
51. Classification based on cultural method/water
• Rain fed: crops grow only on rain water
• E.g. Jowar, Bajara, Mung etc.
• Irrigated crops: Crops grows with help of irrigation
water - Chili, sugarcane, Banana, Papaya etc.
52. Classification based on root system
• Tap root system: Main root goes
deep into soil
• E.g. Tur, Grape, Cotton etc.
• Adventitious or Fiber rooted:
Shallow & spreading into the soil
• E.g. Cereal crops, wheat, rice etc.
53. Classification based on economic importance
• Cash crop: Grown for earning money
• E.g. Sugarcane, cotton etc.
• Food crops: Grown for raising food grain
& fodder for cattle
• E.g. Jowar, Wheat, Rice etc.
54. Classification based on photosynthesis
• C3 Plants: Photo respiration is high and low WUE
• E.g. Rice, soybeans, wheat, barley, cotton, potato.
• C4 plants: High photosynthetic, WUE, Drought resistant
• E.g. Sorghum, Maize, Napier grass, Sesame etc.
• CAM plants: Stomata opening at night, High WUE and
drought resistant
• E.g. Pineapple, Sisal and Agave
55. Classification based on length of photoperiod
• Photoperiodism: Required relative length of
the day & night, for floral initiation
• Short-day: Flower initiation required <10 hrs
• E.g. Rice, Jowar, green gram, black gram etc.
• Long day’s plants: Flower initiation - >10 hrs
E.g. Wheat, Barley
• Day neutral plants: Photoperiod does not
influence for phase change of plants. E.g.
Cotton, sunflower.