Agronomy : Agronomy is derived from a Greek word 'agros' meaning 'field' and 'nomos' meaning 'management'. Principles of agronomy deal with scientific facts in relations to environment in which crop are produced.
Agronomy : It is defined as an agricultural science deals with principles and practices of crop production and field management.
With a 16% contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP), agriculture still provides livelihood support to about 49% of country's population.
Evolution of man and Agriculture
There are different stages in development of agriculture, which is oriented with human civilization.
➤ Hunting - It was the primary source of food in old days. It is the important occupation and it existed for a very long period.
➤ Pastoral - Human obtained his food through domestication animals, e.g. dogs, horse, cow, buffalo etc.
➤ Crop culture - By living near the riverbed, he had enough water for his animals and domesticated crops and started cultivation. Thus, he has started to settle in a place. Agriculture became civilized from crop culture stage.
➤ Trade - When he started producing more than his requirement the excess was exchanged, this is the basis for trade. When agriculture has flourished, trad developed. This led to infrastructure development like road, routes, etc
Some important events for different periods that lead to development of scientific agriculture.
Period - Events
❖ <10000 BC - Hunting & gathering
❖7500 BC - Cultivation of crops- Wheat & Barley
❖ 3400 BC - Wheel was invented
❖ 3000 BC - Bronze used for making tools
❖ 2900 BC - Plough was invented, irrigated farming
❖ 2300 BC - started Cultivation of chickpea, cotton, mustard
❖ 2200 BC - Cultivation of rice
❖ 1500 BC - Cultivation of sugarcane
❖ 1400 BC - Use of iron
❖ 1000 BC - Use of iron plough
❖ 1500 AD - Cultivation of orange, brinjal, pomegranate
❖ 1600 AD Introduction of several crops to India
i.e. potato, tapioca, tomato, chillies, pineapple, groundnut, tobacco, rubber, American cotton
Milestones
1880 - Department of Agriculture was established
1905 - Imperial Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) was started at Pusa, Bihar
1912-Sugarcane Breeding Institute was established in Coimbatore
1929 - Imperial Council of Agricultural Research at New Delhi (then ICAR) after independence becomes ICAR
1936 - Due to earth quake in Bihar, IARI was shifted to New Delhi and the place was called with original name Pusa
1962- First Agricultural University was started at Pantnagar
1965-67 - Green revolution in India due to introduction of HYV-Wheat, rice, use of fertilizers, construction of Dams and use of pesticides
Agro-climatic zones
An agro-climatic zone is a land unit uniform in respect of climate and length of growing period (LGP) which is climatically suitable for a certain and cultivars (FAO, 1983). range of crops
Classification by Planning Commission
❖ Planning Commission of India (1989) made an attempt to delineate the country into different agro climatic regions based on homogeneity in rainfall, temperature, topography, cropping and farming systems and water resources. India is divided into 15 agro-climatic regions.
❖ Classification by ICAR
The State Agricultural Universities were advised to divide each state into sub zones, under the National Agricultural Research Project (NARP) under ICAR. Based on the rainfall pattern, cropping pattern and administrative units, 127 Agro-climatic zones are classified.
1. Western Himalayan zone
This zone consists of three distinct sub zones of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh hills.
The region consists of skeletal soils of cold region, podsolic mountain meadow soils and hilly brown soils.
Lands of the region have steep slopes in undulating terrain.
Soils are generally silty loams and these are prone to erosion hazards.
1 Western Himalayan Region 2 Eastern Himalayan Region - J&K, HP, UP, Utranchal
2 Eastern Himalayan Region - Assam Sikkim, West Bengal & North-Eastern states
3 Lower Gangetic Plains Region - West Bengal
4 Middle Gangetic Plains Region - UP, Bihar
5 Upper Gangetic Plains Region - UP
6 Trans-Gangetic Plains Region - Punjab, Haryana, Delhi & Rajasthan
7 Eastern Plateau and Hills Region - Maharastra, UP, Orissa & West Bengal
8 Central Plateau and Hills Region - MP, Rajasthan, UP
9 Western Plateau and Hills Region - Maharastra, MP & Rajasthan
11 East Coast Plains and Hills Region - Orissa, AP, TN, & Pondichery
10 Southern Plateau and Hills Region 11 East Coast Plains and Hills Region - AP, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
12 West Coast Plains and Ghat Region - TN, Kerala, Goa, Karnataka, Maharastra
13 Gujarat Plains and Hills Region - Gujarat
14 Western Dry Region - Rajasthan
15 The Islands Region - Andman & Nicaobar, Lakshya Deep
