technology in agriculture

Wheat is a cereal crop of immense importance to us, and the demand is fulfilled at the cost of soil poisoning and contamination through a number of pesticides, herbicides and excess of fertilizers. Zero tillage has become popular among the progressive farmers and serves as an economical method to conserve soil moisture, nutrients and labor force. Mulching on the other hand has benefits of conserving moisture in the field and others. Adaptive Research Farms, Gujranwala, Pakistan have published a three year field experiment study   to evaluate the possible merits of rice mulching in the zero tillage wheat fields. The outcome of the study are very promising and can be put to practical use. The research group evaluated that rice mulching in the field not only has its own merits but it also checks the weed growing in the field as well as improves the available phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in the field. The study was conducted over a period of 3 successive seasons (2008-2011) at the...

Weeds , the plants out of their proper place, have been known to cause many damages andlosses to crops and some are also known to cause health hazards. A number of management strategies for weeds are also adopted. But there are some uses of these weeds.  Latana camara inflorescence  Here are the highlights of some of the many advantages of these unwanted plants. 1. Use in Human Food Some of the weeds are used as vegetables such as Bathu ( ?????)  ( Chinopodium album ) is cooked with sarsoon in Pakistan. Similarly other weeds includes Amaranthus viridis and Digeria arvensis . 2. Use as Fodder Many weeds are used as fodder for milch animals and other domesticated animals. Common weeds used as fodder are Convolvulus arvensis (field bind weed), Clitoria ternatea are good fodders for animals. 3. Use as green manure Most of the times field is irrigated for preparation and weeds are allowed to grown in the fields, and when the weeds appear, they are ploughed down. This not o...

A weed is defined as a plant of its proper place or where it is not required. A weed has more potential than the crop, compete with the crop, seed formation and distribution is before the seed and fruit production from the crop.  Cotton field infested with Cynodon dactylon and other weeds Here are the few characteristics which must be present in any plant to call them infestation and problematic for the crop (because there are some cropping systems such as relay cropping and intercropping where 2,3 crops are in the same field.) IDEAL CHARACTERISTICS OF WEED 1. They have ability to grow well under many environmental conditions. 2. Rapid growth rate both in vegetative and flowering stage. 3. Cross-pollination is very common which enable new genetic recombination better suited to the environment. 4. The seed production continues till the condition remains favorable. 5. Self-compatibility but not complete autogamy or apomixy. 6. Greater longevity of the seeds. 7. Discontinuous germi...

Cotton suffers sever attack from the serious attack of pests and virus. These viruses and pests are firstly present on the weeds present along the banks of fields, water channels and roads. The management of these weeds is important w.r.t control of pests and virus on cotton. The common weeds of cotton are: Common Weeds of Cotton Petty spurge - ????? ( Euphorbia prostrata ) Euphorbia prostrata Field bindweed - ???? ( Convolvulus arvensis ) -  Convolvulus arvensis Bermuda grass - ????? ????( Cynodon dactylon ) Cynodon dactylon Purple nutsedge - ???? ( Cyperus rotundus ) Cyperus rotundus Common purslane - ????  ( Portulaca oleracea ) Portulaca oleracea Jhonson grass - ???? ( Sorghum halepense ) Sorghum halepense Horse purslane - ?? ??( Trianthema portulacastrum ) Trianthema portulacastrum Green amaranth - ????? ??????( Amaranthus viridis ) Amaranthus virisdis Jungle rice - ?????? ???? ( Echinochloa colonum ) Echinochloa colonum Green foxtail - ...

Cotton is the major fiber and non-grain crop in Pakistan and it contribution is 1.6% in GDP of Pakistan. Bt cotton varieties have been developed in the last decade which are high yielding and insect resistant. The Bt cotton production technology as per the government agriculture department in Punjab is given as under. SEEDBED PREPARATION Seedbed preparation is the most important phase for the successful yield from a land. The soil selected for the cultivation for cotton should be well prepared before sowing the seed. The soil should be porous in nature and allow root penetration for normal plant stand. The residues of previous crops should be mixed well in the soil with some rotavator, disc plough or some other plough. Seedbed should be prepared through deep ploughing followed by laser land levelling.  The soil should have good water holding capacity and there should be no hard pan in the subsoil layer. In case of green manure crops , the crop should be ploughed into the soi...

Weeds are the unwanted plants in a community of plant aka crops or some recreational place or any other place where they are not desired and they are as harmful and devastating for crops as the diseases so their management is a must step in a healthy crop stand. Practically there are three ways for weed management in agriculture in regard to the crop stand. 1. Prevention 2. Control 3. Eradication A farmer plowing the field to uproot weeds and prepare to sow next crop Prevention To prevent the weeds from coming to the crop fields is more dutiful but perhaps the most practical method with good results. The method of preventing a given weed from contaminating a given area can be accomplished by any of the following method; i) Preventing the mixing of weed seeds in crop seeds ii) Preventing the weed seeds to come in animal feed iii) Cleaning the agriculture machinery before and after bringing to use in field they may be contaminated with weed seeds iv) Preventing the vegetatively reprod...

Weeds not only cause problems in our agricultural fields, but they also make the life troublesome for the common man, infesting the home gardens, health issues like allergies due to pollen, polluting the water bodies and so on. The following article is in the continuation of weed science and we will see the troubles caused by weeds. A gardener using sword to eradicate weeds from fallow land 1. Lower Crop Yields Weeds in the agricultural fields provide competition to the crop plants in a number of ways, for example, for nutrients, light, water and allelopathic compounds. This reduces the crop growth and yields. Management of these weeds is an expensive but necessary part of modern day agriculture; hence increasing the cost of production. 2. Lower Animal/ Livestock Yields Livestock yields are also reduced due to weeds. The presence of weeds in the agricultural land reduces fodder crops or range forage additionally presence of poisonous weeds may can health hazards, reduced growth of an...

Weed science is the scientific discipline that deals with the study of weeds or plants that interfere with human activities. But first of all we must try to establish what is a weed because weed is defined in a variety of ways depending upon the situation. But the most common definition is that; A weed is a plant growing where it is not desired or a plant out of proper place. Weeds are included into the pests of plants, crops, water courses and gardens. Hence, they require proper management and control options. The chemicals used to control pests are called pesticides , whereas the chemicals used to control weeds specifically are called herbicides . While a herbicide targeting a particular weed or a group is called weedicide . A piece of land infest with Convolvulus arvensis Weed control is an offshoot of weed science which is most significant, well learnt and practiced. The application depends upon available information, resources, environmental conditions and economic status of t...