Information sheet for grade 9 Crop Production Students

1. Lesson 5: Following and Clarifying
Instructions and Directions
On Giving Instructions:
1. Think before you speak – make sure you have outlined what you want to say before you
say it and have covered all the points that are relevant.
2. Provide context and be specific – Try your best to be as detailed as you can and provide
any background to help the person have a better understanding of how the task should be
done.
3. Ask politely instead of barking orders - Speak at a reasonable tone and voice volume
and use kind, respectful words. Always say “please” and avoid negative language.
4. Give the listener opportunity to ask questions – check whether the listener has fully
understood what to do. If not, and give him/her a chance to ask questions. The better
understanding of the task at hand, the greater chance for a successful accomplishment.
5. Resist any urge to micromanage – If you have given clear instructions and directions,
instill faith in someone doing the task to perform in the best way she/he can without your
close supervision. When the task is done, provide positive feedback, affirm and praise the
person. If the task is done improperly, give clear helpful and constructive criticism to help
improve the performance next time.
On Following Instructions and Directions:
1. Listen actively – listening is different from just simply hearing. In listening, you have to
concentrate on what the speaker is saying even with distractions present taking notice of the
whole context of what the speaker is trying to convey.
2. Take notes – you may need to reinforce what you remember by taking notes of the
instructions you heard. Keeping notes also shows that you are prepared, organized and ready
to do the job correctly.
3. Ask questions – if you are not sure about something, never be afraid or ashamed to ask
questions. Make sure that you are given the time to find all the details you need.
4. Respond with good attitude – Just as the person giving instruction needs to speak with
respect, you also need respond to the person with respect. If you go into a conversation with a
bad attitude or disrespectful, it will be more likely that your accomplishment of the task will
be difficult and challenging.
5. Before starting the task, make a checklist – if the task at hand requires several steps,
try to make a to-do list. Check things off so that nothing is missed out. Review everything
after you’re done.

2. Lesson 6: 2.2: Undertake nursery work in a safe, appropriate
and environmentally-sound manner according to nursery
guidelines
Vocabulary Lists
Propagation – is the process which grows new plants from a variety of sources: seeds, cuttings, and
other plant parts.
Plant Viability – the measure of how many seeds or how much plant material in a lot are alive and
could develop into plants that will reproduce under appropriate field conditions.
Germination – refers to the process by which an organism grows from a seed or a spore.
Vegetative - relating to or denoting reproduction or propagation achieved by asexual means, either
naturally (budding, rhizomes, runners, bulbs, etc.) or artificially (grafting, layering, or taking
cuttings)
TYPES OF PLANTING MATERIALS (PROPAGULES)
The planting materials or propagules can be prepared through seeds and by asexual means. The asexual means of
propagation in most instances is preferred, but there are plant species that do not lend themselves to this method of
propagation. Some species can only be multiplied through the use of seeds.
METHODS OF PLANT PROPAGATION͒
A. Propagation by seed – The use of seed is the most practical and even the cheapest way of
propagation. Fruits like jackfruit, pili, papaya, guyabano, and plantation crops like coconut and
cacao are commercially propagated by seeds. Rootstocks that are used in grafting are propagated by
seeds.
Advantages of using seeds
a. Most practical and cheapest way ͒
b. Stronger anchorage (for fruit trees grown from seed) which makes the tree resistant to strong
winds ͒
Disadvantages of using seeds
a. Fruit trees take a longer time to bear fruits. ͒
b. The resulting plant does not retain the characteristics of the parents because of gene segregation.
c. Plants tend to grow into large trees. ͒
Seed Quality/Viability
Seeds can be categorized into two types based on the initial moisture content during extraction and
the way viability is influenced by reduction in moisture while at storage. They are:
1. Recalcitrant Seeds – here the moisture content is initially high and the loss by drying below the
critical level (20%) will lead to rapid loss of viability.
Examples are mango, lanzones, santol, jackfruit, rubber and oil palm͒
2. Orthodox Seeds – these seeds can be dried to prevent respiratory processes and placed in air
tight containers to exclude oxygen. Refrigeration and the use of desiccants in ordinary room storage
will ensure viability to be extended for a year.
Germination Test
One way of assessing the viability of seeds is by performing germination test. Most seeds especially fruits and
plantation crops are enclosed by a hard seed coat or a mucilaginous material that prevents the entry of water into
the seed. Water imbibition or absorption is the first step in seed germination. Mucilaginous materials normally
contain germination inhibitors. To stimulate

3. seed germination, the following steps can be done.
1. Scarification – This procedure can be done chemically (dipping in sulfuric or hydrochloric acids for less than
minute; mechanically (soaking the seeds in plain water until the seed swell); dipping in
boiling water for around 5 seconds; use of nail cutter to remove a small portion of seed to allow water to enter;
physical cracking or rubbing the seed in sandpaper.
2. Removal of the mucilaginous substance by soaking the seeds (papaya) overnight; rubbing with fine sand for
cacao and santol. ͒
B. Vegetative or Asexual Propagation
The planting materials used here are vegetative propagules obtained from roots, stems leaves and asexually
propagated seedlings.
The advantages in the use of vegetative propagated materials are:
1. They produce true-to-type plants ͒
2. suitable for plant species that do not normally produce seeds or may also produce seeds but are difficult to
germinate ͒
3. trees are smaller compared to those propagated by seeds and they bear fruits much earlier ͒
4. highly useful for species with distinct maleness and femaleness (example: rambutan)
Kinds of vegetative propagules
1. Runners- these are specialized growing stem parts that arise from the leaf axils of the plant and form roots of
their own that render them excellent propagating materials like strawberry and black pepper ͒
2. Slips- leafy shoots that arise from axillary buds produced
at the base of the plant
3. Suckers – adventitious roots that arise from underground stems below the ground.
Separation of banana sucker from the mother plant
4. Corms – underground solid stem structures that contain nodes and internodes; the corm can be further divided
into several seed pieces ͒

4. 5. Root cuttings – these are used in propagating breadfruit ͒
6. Leaf bud cuttings – these are derived from axillary buds in the stem and leaf; the ͒stem bearing buds are cut into
pieces and inserted in a rooting medium ͒(example: black pepper)
7. Stem cuttings – these can be used in propagating grapes, vanilla ͒
8. Asexually propagated materials produced from layering, marcotting, graftage, budding
PRACTICES AND OPERATIONS IN A NURSERY
The nursery is a facility where planting materials are grown, cared and maintained until the propagules are ready
to be transferred to a permanent site for commercial growing. The common practices or operations in a nursery
include the following:
1. Preparation, use and maintenance of germination or rooting beds to be used only for germinating seeds or
rooting of cuttings.
2. Pottingorthetransferofyoungseedlingstoindividualcontainerslikethick black plastic bags in various sizes. The
size of the plastic bag varies
with the size of the seed; black plastic bags for atis (sugar apple) are smaller compared to the ones to be used for
coconut or rambutan. This practice provides an advantage of giving the seedling the vigor and the condition for
robust root ramification and development. ͒
3. Care and maintenance of seedlings ready for transplanting. Normally seedlings are ready for transplanting when
they have attained around 30 cm in height and at least 3-4 mature leaves but this varies with
species and variety. For specific crops, the basis is age in months. They are as follows: ͒
a. Papaya - 2 to 3 e. Cacao – 3 to 6
b. Jackfruit and guyabano - 4 to 6 f. Coffee – 6 to 10
c. Guava - 3 to 4 g. Coconut – 6 to 0
d. Lanzones - 6 to 8
4. Management of light (solar energy in͒ some form of shade is needed by some seedlings while in the early stages
of growth and development and also those that are in the rooting beds. Crops that can be exposed to direct sunlight
after transferring to polybags or thick plastic bags include mango, coconuts and citrus. Those crops that need 25 to
50% partial shade include coffee, cacao, rambutan and lanzones.͒The shade can be provided naturally in conditions
provided by the canopy of coconuts and artificial structure like nets, bamboo slats or used plastics in improvised
screen houses.