Unit I Introduction to Agriculture
Classification of crops
Agronomy: relationship with other disciplines
Dr. S. Marimuthu., Ph.D.
Asst. Professor (AGR)
Agronomy
• It occupies a pivotal position and is regarded as the mother
branch or primary branch
• It is an integrated and applied aspect of different disciplines of
pure sciences
• (i) Crop Science, (ii) Soil Science, and (iii) Environmental Science
Relationship with other discipline
• Crop science - Plant breeding, crop physiology and
biochemistry etc.,
• Soil science - soil fertilizers, manures etc.,
• Environmental science - Meteorology and crop ecology.
Crops
• In general, crop is an organism grown or harvested
for obtaining yield
• Agronomically crop is a plant cultivated for
economic purpose
Classification of crops
• Classification is done to generalize similar crop
plants as a class for better understanding of them
Classification types used in crops
• Based on ontogeny (life cycle)
• Based on economic use
(Agronomic)
• Based on Botany (Scientific
Classification)
• Based on seasons
• Based on climate
Based on Ontogeny (life cycle)
Annual crops:
• Crops that complete life cycle within a season for year
• Eg. Wheat, Rice, Maize, Mustard
Biennial crops:
• Plants that have life span of two consecutive seasons
or years
• First years/ season - purely vegetative growth
• Second year / season - Reproductive development -
producing seeds the plants die
• Eg. Sugar beet, Beetroot, Cabbage, Radish, Carrot,
etc.
Based on Ontogeny (life cycle)
Perennial crops:
• They live for three or more years
• They may be seed bearing or non-seed bearing
• Eg. Napier fodder grass, coconut etc
Based on economic use (Agronomic)
Cereals - Poaceae
• Stable food - over the world (only 5% from root crops)
• Cultivated as grasses used for edible starchy grains
• 60% to 70% starch - energy rich foods for humans
• Excellent source of fat soluble vitamin E, 20% to 30% of
the daily required minerals of selenium, Ca, Zinc & Cu
• Eg. Rice, Wheat, Maize, Barley, Oats, Triticale & Rye
Nutri-Cereals or Millets
• Small grained cereals - staple food in drier regions of
the developing countries are called millets
• Annual grasses - grown in lesser area
• Staple, human food for poor countries
• Grains for all the minor millets - Panicle
• Sorghum, cumbu - Ear heads
• Used after ‘Dehusking’
• Flour is used for making many delicious food items
• Mostly used as fodder crops
Millets or Nutri-Cereals
Major millets
• Sorghum /Jowar/Cholam - Sorghum bicolor
• Pearl Millet /Bajra/cumbu - Pennisetum glaucum
• Finger millet or ragi - Eleusine coracona
Minor millets
• Fox tail millet / Thenai - Setaria italica
• Little millet / Samai - Panicum miliare
• Common millet / Panivaraugu - Panicum miliaceum
• Barnyard millet / Kudiraivali - Echinchloa colona var
frumentaceae
• Kodomillet / Varagu - Paspalum scrobiculatum
Millets or Nutri-Cereals
Sorghum Pearl millet Finger millet
Foxtail millet Barnyard millet Common millet
Kodo millet
Little millet
Pulses
• Seeds of leguminous plants used as food, dhal rich in protein
• Pod containing grain is the economic portion
• Economic important in cropping system
• Green manure, High value cattle feed
• Green pods used as vegetables, e.g., cowpea, lablab
• Seed coat of pulses are nutritious cattle feed
• The wastes or stalk is called the ‘Haulm’ or ‘Stover’
Redgram - Cajanus cajan
Blackgram - Vigna mungo
Greengram - Vigna radiata
Chick pea - Cicer arietinum
Cowpea - Vigna unguiculata
Horsegram - Macrotyloma uniflorum
Soybean - Glycine max
Peas - Pisum sativum
Lab lab – Lablab purpuris
Oil seeds
• Rich in fatty acid are cultivated for the production of
vegetable oil
• Used either for edible or industrial or medicinal purposes
• Oil content range from 20% to 50%
• Rich in protein, Vit A, B and B2
• Residual oil cake used as manure and feed for cattle
• Haulms are feed to livestock
Oil seed crops
• Groundnut or peanut - Arachis hypogeae
• Sesamum or gingelly - Sesamum indicum
• Sunflower - Helianthus annuus
• Castor - Ricinus communis
• Linseed or flax - Linum usitatissimum
• Niger - Guizotia abyssinia
• Safflower - Carthamus tinctorius
• Rapeseed & Mustard
• Brown or Indian Mustard - Brassica juncea
• Sarson - Brassica sp.
Groundnut or peanut - Arachis hypogeae
Sesamum or gingelly – Sesamum indicum
Sunflower - Helianthus annuus
Castor - Ricinus communis
Linseed or flax- Linum usitatissimum
Niger - Guizotia abyssinia
Safflower - Carthamus tinctorius
Rapeseed & Mustard- Brassica juncea
Sugar Crops
• Crops cultivated for sugar
• Juice extracted from stem used for Jaggery or sugar
• Number of by products like Molasses (Alcohol &
Yeast formation), Bagasse (Paper making & Fuel),
Pressmud (Soil amendment)
• Trash (green leaf + dry foliage) - cattle feed
• Sugar beet - Tuber for extraction of sugar
• Tubers and tops are used as a fodder for cattle feed
• Sugarcane - Saccharum officinarum
• Sugar beet - Beta vulgaris
Fibre crops
• Plants grown for their fibre yield
• Seed fibre - Cotton (Gossypium spp.)
• Stem / Bast fibre - Jute (Carthamus tintorius),
Mesta (Hibiscus cannabinus)
• Leaf fibre - Agave (Agave americana) Pineapple
(Ananas comosus)
Fodder / Forage crops
• It refers to vegetative matter, fresh or
preserved, utilized as feed for animals
• It includes hay, silage, pasturage and fodder
• Eg. Grasses = Bajra napier grass, Guinea grass,
Fodder sorghum, Fodder maize, etc
• Legumes = Lucerne, Desmanthus, Fodder
cowpea, etc.
Spices and Condiments
• Crop plants or their products used
to season, flavour, taste and add
colour to the fresh or preserved
food
• Eg. Ginger, Garlic, Fenugreek,
Cumin, Turmeric Chillies, Onion,
Coriander etc.
Medicinal plants
• Crops used for preparation of medicines Eg.
Mint, Thulsi etc
Beverages
• Products of crops used for preparation of mild, agreeable and simulating
drinking
• Eg. Tea, Coffee, Cocoa (Plantation crops)
Scientific or Botanical classification
• Botanical or scientific names of plants which consist of genus and species and
are universally accepted
• Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, was responsible for the binomial system
of classification
Based on Seasons
Based on Seasons
• Kharif: June - July to September - • Summer crops (Zaid crops):
October (Warm wet weather and February - March to May - (Warm
shorter day length for flowering) dry weather and longer day length
• Eg. Rice, Maize, Castor, Groundnut for flowering) Eg. Black gram,
etc. Greengram, Seasame, Cowpea etc.
• Rabi Crops: October - November to • Classification is not a universal
January - February (Cold dry and one. Indicate the period for
longer day length for flowering) particular crops grown
• Eg. Wheat, Mustard, Barley, Oats, • Eg. Kharif rice, Kharif maize, Rabi
Potato, Bengal gram, Berseem, maize, Summer pulse etc.
Cabbage and Cauliflower
Based on climatic condition
• Tropical crop : Coconut, sugarcane
• Sub-tropical crop : Rice, cotton
• Temperate crop : Wheat, barley
• Polar crop : All pines, pasture grasses
Classification based on cultural method/water
• Rain fed: crops grow only on rain water
• E.g. Jowar, Bajara, Mung etc.
• Irrigated crops: Crops grows with the help of irrigation water
• E.g. Chili, sugarcane, Banana, Papaya etc.
Classification based on root system
• Tap root system: The main root goes deep
into the soil.
• E.g. Tur, Grape, Cotton etc.
• Adventitious/Fiber rooted: The crops
whose roots are fibrous shallow &
spreading into the soil
• E.g. Cereal crops, wheat, rice etc.
Classification based on economic importance
• Cash crop: Grown for earning money
• E.g. Sugarcane, cotton etc.
• Food crops: Grown for raising food grain
for the population and & fodder for cattle
• E.g. Jowar, Wheat, Rice etc.
Classification based on photosynthesis
• C3 Plants: Photo respiration is high and low WUE
• E.g. Rice, soybeans, wheat, barley, cotton, potato.
• C4 plants: High photosynthetic, WUE, Drought resistant
• E.g. Sorghum, Maize, Napier grass, Sesame etc.
• CAM plants: Stomata opening at night, High WUE and
drought resistant
• E.g. Pineapple, Sisal and Agave
Comparison of C3, C4 and CAM plants
Classification based on length of photoperiod
• Photoperiodism (Required relative length of the day & night,
especially for floral initiation)
• Short-day plants: Flower initiation required <10 hrs
• E.g. rice, Jowar, green gram, black gram etc.
• Long day’s plants: Flower initiation – >10 hrs E.g. Wheat,
Barley,
• Day neutral plants: Photoperiod does not have much influence
for phase change for these plants. E.g. Cotton, sunflower.
Thanks a
lot