Agriculture : Optional Subject of Main Examination Exams in India

 Paper-I

Ecology and its relevance to man, natural resources, their sustainable management and conservation. Physical and social environment as factors of crop distribution and production. Climatic elements as factors of crop growth, impact of changing environment on cropping pattern as indicators of environments. Environmental pollution and associated hazards to crops, animals and humans.

Cropping pattern in different agro-climatic zones of the country. Impact of high-yielding and short duration varieties on shifts in cropping patterns. Concepts of multiple cropping, multistorey, relay and inter-cropping and their importance in relation to food production. Package of practices for production of important cereals, pulses, oil seeds, fibres, sugar and commercial and fodder crops grown during Kharif and Rabi seasons in different regions of the country.

Important features, scope and propagation of various types of forestry plantations, such as extension, social forestry, agro-forestry and natural , forests.
Weeds, their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their multiplications; cultural, biological and chemical control of weeds.
Soil - physical, chemical and biologicai properties. Processes and factors of soil formation. Modern classification of Indian soils, Mineral and organic constituents of productivity. Essential plant nutrients and other beneficial elements in soils and plants. Principles of soil fertility and its evaluation for judicious fertiliser use, integrated nutrient management. Losses of nitrogen in soil, nitrogen-use efficiency in submerged rice soils, nitrogen fixation in soils. Fixation of phosphorus and potassium in soils and the scope for their efficient use. Problem soils and their reclamation methods.

Soil conservation planning on watershed basis. Erosion and run off management in hilly, foot hills and valley lands; processes and factors affecting them. Dryland agriculture and its problems. Technology of stabilising agriculture production in rainfed agriculture area.

Water use efficiency in relation to crop production, criteria for scheduling irrigations, ways and means of reducing run-off losses of irrigation water. Drip and sprinkler irrigation. Drainage of water-iogged soils, quality of irrigation water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution.
Farm management, scope, importance and characteristics, farm planning. Optimum resources use and budgeting. Economics of different types of farming systems.
Marketing and pricing of agricultural inputs and outputs, price fluctuations and their cost; role of co-operatives in agricultural economy; types and systems of farming and factors, affecting them.

Agricultural extension, its importance and role, methods of evaluation of extension programmes, socio-economics survey and status of big, small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers; farm mechanization and its role in agricultural production .and rural employment. Training programmes for extension workers; lab-to-land programmes.

Paper II

Cell Theory, cell structure, cell organelles and their function, cell division, nucleic acids structure and function, gene structure and function. Laws of heredity, their significance in plant breeding. Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations, linkage and cross-over and their significance in recombination breeding. Polyploidy, euploids and an euploids. Mutation-micro and macro-and their role in crop improvement. Variation, components of variation. Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification and their application in crop improvement. Cytoplasmic inheritance, sex-linked, sex-influenced and sex-limited characters.

History of plant breeding. Modes of reproduction, selfing and crossing techniques. Origin and evolution of crop plants, centre of origin, law of homologous series, crop genetic resources conservation and utilization. Application of principles of plant breeding to the improvement of major field crops. Pure-line selection, pedigree, mass and recurrent selections, combining ability, its significance in plant breeding. Hybrid vigour and its exploitation, backcross method of breeding, breeding for disease and pest resistance, role of interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. Role of biotechnology in plant breeding. Improved varieties, hybrids, composites of various crop plants.Seed technology, its importance. Different kinds of seeds and their seed production and processing techniques. Role of public and private sectors in seed production, processing and marketing in India.

Physiology and its significance in agriculture. Imbibition, surface tension, diffusion and osmosis. Absorption and translocation of water, transpiration of water economy.

Enzymes and plant pigments; photosynthesis modern concepts and factors affecting the process, aerobic and nonaerobic respiration; C, C and CAM mechanisms. Carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism.
Growth and development; photoperiodism and vernalization. Auxins, hormones and other plant regulators and their mechanism of action and importance in agriculture. Physiology of seed development and germination; dormancy.

Climatic requirements and cultivation of major fruits, plants and vegetable crops and flower plants; the package of practices and their scientific basis. Handling and marketing problems of fruits and vegetables. Principal methods of preservation of important fruits and vegetables products, processing techniques and equipment. Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition. Raising of ornamental plants and design and layout of lawns and gardens.

Diseases and pests of field vegetables, orchard and plantation crops of India. Causes and classification of plants pests and diseases. Biological control of pests and diseases. Integrated pest and disease management. Epidemiology and forecasting.

Pesticides, their formulations and modes of action. Compatibility with rhizobial inoculants. Microbial toxins.
Storage pests and diseases of cereals and pulses, and their control.
Food production and consumption trends in India. National and international food policies. Production procurement, distribution and processing constraints. Relation of food production to national dietary pattern, major deficiencies of calorie and protein.