Irrigation: Proper irrigation is very important for the success of crops. Ensuring that the crop gets water at the right stages during their growing season, can increase the expected yield of a crop. Different kinds of irrigation systems include wells, canals, rivers and tanks.

•    Wells: These are of two types namely dug wells and tube wells. 

In a dug well, water is collected from water bearing strata. Tube wells can tap water from the deeper strata. From these wells, water is lifted by pumps for irrigation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•    Canals: A canal system is a network created to move water from one source of water such as a stream or reservoir. The main canal is divided into        branches that spread by through the fields so that water can be distributed everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•    River lift system: In areas where canal flow is insufficient or irregular axle to inadequate reservoir release, the lift system is more rational. Water          is directly drawn from the rivers for supplementing irrigation in areas close to rivers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•    Tanks: These are small storage reservoirs, which intercept and store the run-off of smaller catchment areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crop Protection

When the crop is in the field, it needs protection against weeds, insect pests and other diseases.

Weed: Weeds are unwanted plants in the cultivated field. For example, Xanthium (Gokhroo), Amaranthus (Chaulai), etc.

How weeds are harmful to main crop?

•    They compete for food, space, light and essential nutrients thereby reduce the growth of the main crop.
•    They promote the attack by crop pests and diseases by acting as alternate host to insects and microorganisms.
•    During harvesting, weeds get mixed up with crop to lower down its quality.

Methods of weed control: 
Weeds can be controlled by following ways:

•    Manual removal of weeds.
•    Adopting cultural methods like proper bed preparation, timely sowing of crops, intercropping and crop rotation.
•    Using weedicides like 2,4- D (2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid), MCPA (2-methyl, 4-chlorophenoxy acetic acid), Atrazine and Butachlor.
Insect pests: Insects which destroy or damage crop plants are called insect pests. 
They affect overall health of the crop and reduce yield.

They attack the plants in following three ways:

•    They cut the root, stem and leaves.
•    They suck the cell sap from various parts of the plants.
•    They bore into the stem and fruits.
Methods of insect pests’ control:

Using pesticides: The chemical used to eliminate pests are called pesticides. They include insecticides (for killing the insects), weedicides (for killing the weeds), rodenticides (for killing rats), and fungicides (for killing the fungi).
Using natural insecticides: Like neem, nicotine, pyrethrum, etc.

Storage of Grains
In order to make the seasonal foods available throughout the year, they are stored in safe storage.

During storage, they may get destroyed and wasted by following factors:

1. Biotic factors: The include living organisms like insects, birds, mites, bacteria, fungi.
2. Abiotic factors: They include non-living environmental like moisture contents, humidity of air, improper temperature etc.


Preventive measures to be used while storage of food grains are given below:

•    Drying: The harvested food grains should be dried properly before storage.
•    Cleaning and maintenance of hygiene before storage: The food grains should be properly cleaned and then filled in absolutely dry and clean gunny bags before keeping in godowns, warehouses or stores.
•    Regular check on godowns: Godown, warehouses and stores should be properly cleaned, dried and repaired.
•    Fumigation: Those pesticides which can destroy insects by forming toxic fumes are called fumigants and process of their use is called fumigation.

Fumigants may be solid, liquid or gaseous.

Soil Fertility

Soil fertility is one of the factors necessary for the soil to be able to sustain plant growth and optimize crop yield. Fertility is a combination of essential nutrients and a soil pH level that makes these nutrients available to plants.

Effective ways to improve soil fertility

1. Organic matters

•    It provides additional nutrients and food for the microorganisms that live in your soil. 
•    Organic matters also hold soil particles into aggregates and improve the water holding capacity of the entire soil.

2.Compost

•    Organic material used to help plants grow and fertilize them.
•     They are basically good for the soil and plants because it supplies nutrients as well. However, it is recommended that it is better to mix compost           with fertilizers rather than using it alone.

3.Mixed Cropping

•    It is a cropping pattern in which two or more crops are grown together in the same field.
•    The main aim of this cropping method is to ensure some healed even if one of the crops fails to grow properly.
•    The seeds of different crops are combined and planted together.
•    Same fertilizers are used for all the crops.

4.Crop Rotation

•    In this cropping method, different types of crops are chosen and irrigated on the same piece of land sequentially.
•    The rotation of crops depends upon the soil, climate and water retention of the soil.
Activities that lead to improvement in the crop yield:

•    Crop Variety Improvement
•    Crop Production Improvement
•    Crop Protection Management

Crop Variety Improvement

•    In this approach, crops are selected on the basis of their characteristics. For instance, how well they can respond to fertilizers, can they produce high yield, how they resist diseases and so on.

Different methods of Crop Variety Improvement

1. Hybridisation - In this process, genetically different plants are crossbred.
They can be three types of crossing

•    Inter varietal - Between two varieties of a plant
•    Interspecific - Between two species belonging to same genus
•    Inter Generic - Between species of different genus

2. Introduction of Gene - A gene that can provide the desirable characteristics to a crop are introduced in this process. As a result, we obtain genetically modified crops.

Factors on which Crop Yield Generally Depends

•    The seeds used by the farmers - The seeds that are of similar variety are preferable.
•    Climate or Weather Conditions - Crops that can sustain diverse climatic conditions are preferable.
•    The duality of the Soil - Crops that can survive in a highly saline soil are preferable.
•    Availability of Water - Crops should be grown as per the availability of water in the region.

The factors for which variety of improvement is done are:

•    Higher yield: To increase the productivity of the crop per acre.
•    Improved quality: The quality of crop products varies from crop to crop. E.g., the protein quality is important in pulses, oil quality in oilseeds, preserving quality in fruits and vegetables.
•    Biotic and abiotic resistance: Biotic factors are the diseases, insects and nematodes while abiotic factors are the drought, salinity, waterlogging, heat, cold and frost which affect the crop productivity. Varieties resistant to these factors (stresses) can be improved to increase crop production.
•    Change in maturity duration: shorter maturity period of crop reduces the cost of crop production and makes the variety economical. Uniform maturity makes the harvesting process easy and reduces losses during harvesting.
•    Wider adaptability: It allows the crops to be grown under different climatic conditions in different areas.
•    Desirable agronomic characteristics: It increases productivity, for example, tallness and profuse branching are desirable characters for fodder crops; while dwarfness is desired in cereals, so that less nutrients are consumed by these crops.