Ecology and its relevance to man, natural resources, their sustainable
management and conservation.
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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 pattern.
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, 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 multiplication; cultural, biological and chemical control of weeds.
Soil-physical, chemical and biological properties. Processes and factors of
soil formation. Modern classification of Indian soils, Mineral and organic
constituents of soils and their role in maintaining soil 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-logged soils, quality of irrigation
water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution.
Farm management, scope, important 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-economic survey and status of big, small, and
marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers; farm mechanization and its
role in agricultural productioin 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, euploid 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 and
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, vegetable
crops and flower plants; the package of practices and their scientific basis.
Handling and marketing problems of fruit and vegetables. Principal methods of
preservation of important fruits and vegetable products, processing techniques
and equipment. Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutriton. 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 plant pests and diseases. Principles of
control of plant 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.
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