Introduction in Agriculture

1. COURSE OUTLINE
a. Agricultural Development
b. Origin, Domestication and History of some important crops
c. World Food situation and centers of production
d. Philippine Agriculture
e. Major Crops of the Philippines and their geographic
distribution
f. Meaning and Scope of Crop Science

2. Crop science
- is the study of the world's major food, feed, turf, and
fiber crops and their environment. It is a broad discipline
encompassing breeding, genetics, production, and
management.

3. Agriculture is derived from Latin words:
Ager and Cultura
Ager means land or field and
Cultura means –cultivation
 Agriculture is the systematic raising of useful
plants and livestock under the management of
man.

4. Agriculture is a purposeful work through
which the elements of nature are harnessed
to produce plants and animals to meet
human needs.
The broad industry engaged in the
production of plants and animals for food
and fiber, the provision for agricultural
supplies and services, and the processing,
marketing and distribution of agricultural
products.

5. STAGES OF AGRICULTURAL
DEVELOPMENT

6. Pastoral stage
Hunting and fishing are the dominant means of gathering food.
Using randomly acquired weapons, man lived on the gift of nature,
gathering wild plants for their medicinal, cosmetic, aphrodisiac
properties, as well as for their food value.
For communities near bodies of water, fishes are caught by hand.

7. - characterized by a) use of bow and arrow; b)
catching, drying and storage of fish; c) stored seeds,
nuts and fruits.
Middle stone age

8. New stone age or neolithic age
 Discovery of the relation of seed to plant
 Domestication of plants and animals- it has proved
to be the single most important intervention man
has ever made in his environment.
 Villages began to grow and man made the transition
from food collection to the deliberate raising of crops.
 They practiced both “seed” agriculture and
“vegeculture”.

9.  The latter refers to vegetatively propagated plants
like taro, sweet potato, yam, banana, etc. while the
former includes most of the cereals and grain
legumes whose culture require the clearing of vast
areas and seeds are sown and harvested at the same
time.
 They consist mostly of annuals or plants with a life
cycle of less than a year or one season.

11. ORIGIN, DOMESTICATION AND HISTORY OF
THE MAJOR CROPS OF THE WORLD

12. According to Matheson et. al. credit for the earliest
domestication, seems to have occurred in the Middle
East, is generally given to a remarkable race of people
called Cushites, who not only experimented with plants
as a food source, but also attempted their culture.
In effect, these people may be regarded as the first
agriculturists.
Cushites are semi-nomadic.

13.  Early man intuitively realized that in a vegetative
diet he needed three major components, i.e.,
carbohydrates for energy, protein for muscle
development, and vitamins to augment different
types of proteins and minerals.
 Two plant families achieved absolute dominance in
regard to carbohydrate and protein sources, namely
Graminae and the Leguminoceae respectively.

14. The Americas -maize and peanuts
Africa - sorghum and beans
The Middle East - wheat, barley and beans
Asia - rice and soybeans

15. Soybean (Glysine max)
Soybean (Glycine max) is a member of the
Leguminoceae family.
Beginning its history as a human food, later
developing as a hay and forage crop and finally
as a vegetable oil and protein source, it now
occupies a position of pre-eminence as the
world’s largest source of vegetable oil.
Its center was in Asia (Eastern half of
China). By 1968 the U.S. Produced 76% of the
world’s soybean crop, whereas China produced
17%. Other areas with large areas are Brazil,
Indonesia, South Korea, the U.S.S.R.

16. Sorghum (Sorghum vulgare)
 In order of importance of world cereal grains,
Sorghum vulgare ranks 4th behind wheat, rice and
maize.
 Dogget concluded that the cultivated sorghums
originated from Abyssinia (Northeast Africa) and
were probably first domesticated in Africa around
Ethiopia by the Cushites.

17. Corn (Zea mays)
 Maize has the Central and Southern portion of the
Americas (Mexico) as its center of origin.
 By the 15th century, maize was a primary food
source for many people of the American continent.
 Spain and to a lesser extent Portugal became major
centers for distribution in Europe, in Africa, in India
and to Japan, Southeast Asia and the Pacific region.

18.  Today maize occupies a position of pre-eminence
among the world’s cereal food grains.
 It is adapted to a wide range of environments and
has a high yield potential higher than any other
cereal.

19. Rice (Oryza sativa)
 The cultivated rice, Oryza sativa, is a semi-aquatic,
erect, annual grass.
 It has been cultivated for several thousand years as the
principal cereal of Southeast Asia.
 In terms of hectarage, the major producers are China,
India, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand.

20.  Oryza sativa is thought to have been domesticated
in India more than 4, 000 years ago from wild
species of O. perennis.
 The only cultivated species in the genus is O.
glaberrima or African rice, which probably
originated around swampy headquarters of the
Niger River in West Africa.

21.  Based on the chemical characteristics of the starch and
grain aroma, rice may be classified as either:
a) waxy or glutinous (endosperm contains no
amylose),
b) common type (endosperm contains ¼
amylose and ¾ amylopectin) and
c) aromatic or scented types.

22. They may also classified as either:
Lowland rice (grown in continuously irrigated or
pond flooded condition) and;
Upland rice (non-irrigated or irrigated but not pond
flooded.)
Another way of classifying rice is based on
maturity (the number of days required to reach
50% heading). Very early maturing cultivars
requires less than 90 days, early maturing require
90-105 days and late maturing cultivars require
more than 105 days.

23. ORIGIN & DOMESTICATION OF SOME
IMPORTANT CROPS OF THE PHILIPINES

24. 1. Oil Crops
2. Vegetable Crops
3. Cultivated Tropical Fruits
4. Cutflowers

25. Oil Crops
a. Peanut- native to South America. It was
introduced to Africa where along with bananas,
it forms a large part of the diet of the people.
a. Coconut- have a center of diversity in Northwest
South America.

26. Vegetable Crops
a. Beans, snap or green and lima beans- probably
native to tropical America. Phaseolus vulgaris is the
most widely grown for the four cultivated species of
Phaseolus. It is the most important grain legume for
human consumption.

27. b. Eggplant- also known as eggfruit, aubergine,
guinea squash. It is probably native to South and
Eastern Asia, but was also grown in China for
many centuries. It is thought to have been
domesticated in India where wild plants now
grow, but it has spread throughout the tropics.

28. c. Muskmelon- believed to have originated in Asia,
particularly in Iran and India.
d. Okra- also called gumbo, gombo or lady’s finger,
it is either Asian or African in origin.

29. e. Tomatoes- native to tropical Central and South
America where it was cultivated in pre-Columbian
times. Its progenitor is thought to have been the
cherry tomato which now grows in the wild in
Peru-Ecuador area though tomatoes were probably
domesticated from weedy forms which had spread
as far as Mexico.

30. f. Asparagus- thought to be native to southern Russia,
has been found growing wild in Europe, England,
Poland, and around the Mediterranean sea.
g. Onion- an ancient crop thought to have been
domesticated in Central Asia though its wild
ancestor is unknown, nor do onions occur as wild
plants.

31. Cultivated Tropical Fruits
a. Bananas- appear to have originated in Southeast
Asia, spreading to India, Africa and finally to
tropical America.
a. Citrus- they may have been domesticated in in the
drier tropics of Southeast Asia. Though the crops
is of tropical origin, it is now cultivated
extensively in the sub-tropics with Mediterranean
climate.

32. c. Mango- originated in the India-Bangladesh-Burma
region, and had spread into cultivation and common
use in the Indian sub-continent by 2,000 B.C.
d. Pineapple- native to tropical regions of South
America, and was grown in the New World for food,
for its medicinal properties and for the production
of wine long before the discovery of the New World.
e. Papaya- probably originated in Central America,
perhaps as a natural hybrid between other species.

33. Assignments:
1. What are the major crops in the Philippines and
their top producing regions or provinces?
a.) Cereals
b.) Fruit crops
c.)Non food and Industrial crops
d.) Vegetables
e.) Root crops