Improvement in Crop Yields

The improvement in crop yields refers to enhancing the quantity and quality of crops produced per unit of land area or effort. Understanding the methods and need for improving crop variety helps in enhancing agricultural productivity and ensuring food security.

In this article, we will cover methods and the need for improvement in crop yields in detail.

Improvement in Crop Yields

Crop yield refers to the amount of agricultural product harvested per unit of land area or effort. Crop yields can be increased through advancements in crop selection, cultivation, and protection. Different crops require different climatic conditions, temperatures, and photoperiods.

Crop

Rabi crops including wheat, gram, peas, and linseed, are sown from November to April during the winter season, while fodder crops like berseem, oats, or Sudan grass are cultivated to feed livestock. Similarly, Kharif crops, such as paddy, soybean, maize, cotton, green gram, and black gram, are planted during the rainy season, lasting from June to October.

Types of Crop

Improved agricultural practices, such as selecting suitable seeds, providing adequate plant nutrition, protection against diseases and pests, and proper post-harvest storage can increase crop yields. Some of the ways of improving crops are:

1. Crop Variety Improvement
2. Crop Production Management
3. Nutrient Management

Now, let’s discuss each point in detail.

Crop Variety Improvement

Crop management is the process used to efficiently grow and harvest crops. The methods used for crop production depends on the farmer’s budget and can be categorized as ‘no cost’, ‘low cost’, and ‘high cost’ practices.

Key practices include:

• Nutrient Management: Providing plants with essential nutrients from air, water, and soil.
• Crop Patterns: Using techniques like crop rotation and intercropping to improve yields.
• Irrigation: Ensuring crops get enough water, especially in areas with low rainfall, through systems like wells, canals, and check dams.

Now, let’s study each one of them in detail.

Nutrient Management for Crop Variety Improvement

Plants get their nutrients from the air, water, and soil. There are sixteen essential nutrients for plants. Air provides carbon and oxygen, water provides hydrogen, and soil provides the other thirteen nutrients. Nutrient management involves supplying the soil with these necessary nutrients by adding compost and fertilizers.

Fertilizers

Fertilizers are commercially made nutrients for plants, mainly providing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to the soil. They are more expensive than manure and can cause water pollution (eutrophication) if overused. Continuous use of fertilizers can reduce soil fertility by not replenishing organic matter and harming soil microorganisms. Sustainable farming can be achieved through organic farming.

Manure

Manure is organic matter derived from animal and human waste, sewage, decayed plants, and agricultural waste like dry leaves and twigs. It contains many nutrients, improves soil quality, and increases healthy crop yields.

Crop Patterns

Planting a variety of crops instead of just one helps prevent crop failure and can offer additional benefits. Different crops with varying nutrient needs are planted in alternating rows to maximize nutrient use. Intercropping, or planting different crops together, also prevents pests and diseases from spreading to all plants of one type, resulting in better yields for both crops.

Crop rotation involves growing different crops on the same land in a planned sequence. Depending on the length of the rotation, different combinations of crops are used.

Cropping Pattern

Irrigation

Providing enough water is important for maintaining crop yield. In areas with low rainfall, various irrigation methods like wells, canals, river lift systems, and tanks can be used to supply water. Building check dams helps harvest water and also prevents soil erosion. Drip irrigation and sprinkler systems are efficient methods that minimize water wastage and ensure even distribution. Efficient irrigation practices also help in maintaining soil health and improving crop resilience against drought conditions.

Sprinkler Irrigation

Also Read: Modern Methods of Irrigation

Crop Variety Management

Improving crop yields depends on finding crop varieties with desirable traits like disease resistance, fertilizer response, product quality, and high yield. This can be achieved through hybridization and genetic modification.

Hybridization: Hybridization involves crossing genetically different parents to create improved crops. There are two types:

• Interspecific hybridization: Crossing different species within the same genus.
• Intergeneric hybridization: Crossing plants from different genera.

Genetically Modified Crops: This process enhances crop yield by introducing genes that provide desired traits.

Improvement Factors: Crop variety improvements focus on:

• Biotic resistance: Resistance to diseases, pests, and nematodes.
• Abiotic resistance: Tolerance to drought, salinity, waterlogging, heat, cold, and frost.

Benefits of Improved Varieties of Crop

The many benefits of improved crop variety are:

• Higher Yield: Increased productivity.
• Improved Quality: Better qualities like baking quality in wheat, protein content in pulses, and oil content in oilseeds, along with longer shelf life in fruits and vegetables.
• Shorter Growth Duration: Uniform growth leads to cost-effective harvests.
• Wider Adaptability: Ability to grow in diverse climates and regions.
• Desirable Agronomic Traits: Traits like height, bushiness, and dwarfness in certain crops.

By selecting and improving crop varieties through these methods, farmers can achieve better yields and quality, ensuring more efficient and sustainable agriculture.

Crop Protection Improvement

Crop protection involves safeguarding crops from pests, weeds, diseases, and other harmful organisms. To ensure high crop yields, farmers must protect their crops before, during, and after growth. Fields often face threats from weeds, rodents, fungi, insects, and disease-causing microbes, all of which can damage crops.

Grain Storage

Proper storage of grains is crucial to prevent quality loss and financial damage. Grain loss can occur due to:

• Biotic factors: insects, rodents, mites, and microbes.
• Abiotic factors: high temperature and moisture.

These factors can reduce grain quality, weight, germination ability, color, and market value. To avoid these issues, grains should be dried, cleaned, and treated before storage.

Methods of Pest and Disease Control

Pests attack plants in three main ways:

• Cutting the roots, stems, and leaves.
• Sucking the cell sap from plant parts.
• Boring into stems and fruits.

Plant diseases are caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Weeds, pests, and diseases can be controlled through various methods, with pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides) being the most common. Other methods include:

• Mechanical processes for weed control.
• Preventive measures such as proper seed-bed preparation, timely planting, intercropping, and crop rotation.

Conclusion – Improvement in Crop Yields

Improving crop yields is vital for food security and involves several key practices. By selecting suitable crop varieties, managing nutrients, implementing effective irrigation, and protecting crops from pests and diseases, farmers can enhance productivity. Crop rotation, intercropping, and the use of organic manures contribute to sustainable farming. Proper storage of harvested grains is essential to maintain quality and prevent loss. Overall, adopting these advanced agricultural techniques ensures higher crop yields and supports sustainable agriculture.

Also Read:

• Crop Protection
• Basic Practices of Crop Production
• Crop Variety Improvement
• Crop Production and Management
• Crop Protection and Weeding
• Food Crops – Methods Used for Crop Variety Improvements