Lecture 1

1. To describe the concept and implementation strategies in enhancing the main factors that influence crop production

2. To highlight the importance of production systems in the management of crops

• Agriculture: The science and art of producing crops and animals under supervision of humans in a specific location

• The traditional purpose of agriculture is the production of food and fibre for humans and feed for livestock

• Conventional agriculture is the term for the predominant farming practices, methods, and systems of crop production adopted by producers

in a region of production. In technologically advanced regions, these production systems are generally capital-intensive and chemical dependent. Crop productivity is significantly increased but a cost to the environment and human health. Agrochemicals build up in the environment and pollute groundwater and the air. Chemical residues in food are health hazards to humans and animals

The way forward now is for Sustainable Agriculture.

Sustainable Agriculture seeks to increase crop productivity without the adverse effects to environment and society as a whole.

Since this is a concept that emphasizes a goal rather than a set of practices, producers adopt various farm-based innovations to accomplish the general goal

The general goals of sustainable agriculture: 1. Increased profitability of crop production 2. Natural resource conservation in crop production 3. Use of environmentally prudent farming systems

in crop production The innovative aspect of sustainable agriculture

comes about because there is no one correct way to arrive at the general goal

That is because each producer’s farming

situation is different, regarding soils, climate, cropping system, method of production, and market needs

Sustainable agriculture calls for the use of the best production technology in a productive, cost-effective, environmentally responsible manner.

Crop producers as managers combine scientific know-how with on-farm resources for highest possible productivity without adverse consequence or erosion of natural

resources. Natural resources and production technologies are integrated to develop a particular production system.

The sustainable farmer must be knowledgeable to be able to develop a site-specific, integrated, and sustainable system of production

On-farm cycles that are managed in sustainable agriculture include crop rotations, nitrogen fixation, genetic resistance in crops, and several others.

30 Major Food Crops of the World• 1. Wheat 11. Sorghum 21. Apples• 2. Rice 12. Sugarcane 22. Yam• 3. Corn 13. Millets 23. Peanut• 4. Potato 14. Banana 24. Melon• 5. Barley 15. Tomato 25. Cabbage• 6. Sw. potato 16. Sugarbeet 26. Onion• 7. Cassava 17. Rye 27.Beans• 8. Grapes 18. Oranges 28.Peas• 9. Soybeans 19. Coconut 29.Sunflower• 10.Oats 20. C’seed oil 30.Mango

Rice• Country Proportion(%)• China 33.1• India 21.1• Indonesia 7.3• Bangladesh 5.9• Japan 4.9• Sri Lanka 4.6• Thailand 3.9• Italy 3.3• Brazil 2.0• S. Korea 1.9• USA 1.3

• Rice is mostly concentrated in Asia

Corn

Country Proportion(%) USA 46.0 China 8.0 Brazil 4.8 Former Soviet 4.2 Mexico 3.9 S. Africa 3.5 France 3.4 Argentina 3.2 Yugoslavia 2.6

Map of corn producing countries

The top 3 cereal grains crops are wheat, rice and corn. Others are sorghum, barley and oats. Of these, corn, oats, barley and grain sorghum are used extensively as feed grain in USA. In term of human consumption, about 75% of world’s sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is used for this purpose.

Corn and wheat are widely distributed; they are grown in high concentration in certain regions in North America, Central and South America

Wheat

Rice

Corn

• Rice is mostly concentrated in Asia• Cereal crops are relatively cheaper and easier to

produce and are suitable for combating hunger and population explosion. Cereal and potato together supply over 75% of world’s food calories. This proportion is even greater in certain parts of Asia, reaching 90% in some regions

• The greater dependence on cereals for food has led to an improvement in the fortification of cereal products with minerals and vitamins (eg iron, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin)

Plant breeders have genetically improved the lysine and trytophan content of corn with the development of opaque-2 high-lysine mutant corn.

On average, cereal grains have high caloric value of above 300 cal/100g. The average protein content is between 7.5 – 14.2%, while the average fat content is between 1.0 and 7.4%

Monocots store food primarily in their endosperm. This tissue contains starch and small quantities of protein and other nutrients

Dicots (legumes and oil seeds) that are utilized as grain crops store food in their cotyledons. The cotyledons lack starch and stead have amounts of protein, oil, and some carbohydrates. The most important food and feed legume or oil seed grains are soybean, peanut, beans and peas. Dicot protein, however is low in certain amino acids, esp methionine. Sesame seed protein is high in methionine

• Cereal grains are widely used to feed livestock and poultry as an energy source.

• Cereal grain in developed nations is used for feed, while in developing countries, most of it is used for food.

• Corn, sorghum, barley and oats are usually fed to livestock as whole grain or after a litthe processing

• To improve the nutritional quality of cereal grains, they are fed to animals as mixtures with protein supplements

Sometimes roughage such as hay or silage is added to slow the otherwise rapid passage of cereal meal through the digestive system of animals.

Apart from whole grain, the byproducts of grain processing (eg bran) and spent grain (from breweries) are used as feed

• Major oil crops include olive (Olea europaea), linseed (Linum usitatissimum), sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) sunflower (Helianthus annus L.), soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.), coconut (Cocos nucifera L.), palm (Elaeis guineensis), corn (Zea mays L.), and peanut (Arachis hypogeae L.)

• Plant-derived oils are used for food as well as industrial purposes

• Oils supply 3 essential fatty acids (arachidonic, linoleic, and linolenic acids) and vitamins A,K,D and E.

Linum usitatissimum

Helianthus annus L

Glycine max L. Merr

COCOS

NUCIFERA

COCONUT

Elaeis guineensis

Zea mays L

Arachis hypogeae L

Crop Oil content(%) Iodine No.

Semidrying oil Soybean 17-18 115-140 Sunflower 29-35 120-135 Corn 50-57 115-130 Cottonseed 15-25 100-116 Rapeseed 33-45 96-106

Crop Oil content(%) Iodine No.

Nondrying oil• Sesame 52-57 104-118• Peanut 47-50 92-100• Castorbean 35-55 82-90• Coconut 67-70 8-12• Olive - 86-90• Palm - 49-59• Palm kernel - 204-207

Oil and fats are chemically made up of units called triglycerides. A triglyceride consists of glycerine and three fatty acids.

A fatty acid also consists of a long chain of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. A fatty acid is describe as saturated if the carbon atoms are bonded to hydrogen or other carbon atoms.

In some cases, not enough hydrogen atoms are incorporated, resulting in double bonds. The fatty acid is the describe as unsaturated.

• The degree of saturation is measured by the iodine value: the lower the value, the more saturated the fatty acid

• Saturated fats and oils are known to increase blood cholestrol

• Oils are extracted from seeds by method of extrusion (uses mechanical press to squeeze oil out) or solvent extraction. The byproduct of these processes is called the oil seed meal. It is high in protein and widely used as protein supplement in feeds for poultry and other livestock

• Important forage crops include alfalfa (lucerne), clovers, timothy (Phleum pratense), sudangrass (Sorghum sudanese), Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), guinea grass (Panicum spp.), napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) and signal grass (Brachiaria decumbens).

• Cereal grain crops may be grown and used for livestock feed during its early vegetative stages. Forage crops are grown for their vegetative parts that are used for feeding livestock

LUCERNE

CLOVERS

Sorghum sudanese

Sorghum halepense

PANICUM SPP

Pennisetum

purpureum

Brachiaria decumbens

• The quality of forage is determined by the voluntary intake of digestible energy. Feeds are classified by their crude protein and crude fibre content

• Forage crops are sources of vitamins A and E, and numerous essential nutrients including sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur, copper,zinc,and iron. Forages are very important in ruminant production, accounting for about 75% digestible energy