Brief description of history and classification of crops for fresher to understand the general and simpler overview

1. BRIEF HISTORY OF AGRONOMY
AND
CLASSIFICATION OF CROPS
BY
Dr. MOHINDER SINGH (Agronomy)
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
SGT University, Gurgoan
9466310014

2. Van Helmont (1577-1644AD) initiated experiments pertaining to plant nutrition in a
systematic way and concluded that water is the main principle of vegetation.
Jethro Tull (1674-1741 AD)
• He conducted several experiments which were mostly on cultural practices.
• He developed seed drill and horse drawn cultivator.
• He published a book entitled „Horse hoeing husbandry’
Aurthur Young (1760-1820 AD)
• He conducted pot culture experiment to increase yield of crops by applying several
materials like poultry dung, nitre, gun powder etc.
• He published his work in 46 volumes as „Annals of Agriculture’.
• In 1809, soil science began with the formation of humus theory.
Scientific Research in agronomy started with the establishment of the first
experiment station by J.B. Boussingault in 1834 and was given further impetus by
Gilbert and Lawes by establishing the famous research facility at Rothamsted
(Rothamsted Experiment Station), England.
• Agronomy has been a distinct and recognized branch of agricultural sciences only
since about 1900. The American Society of Agronomy was organized in 1908. It
had its origins largely in the sciences of botany, chemistry, and physics.

3. Research in plant nutrition and physiology was started in
18th century.
Sir Humphry Davy (1813) published his book
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry.
• Sir Johan Bennet Lawes began to experiment on the
effects of manures on crops.
Justus Von Liebig (1840)
• He started a truly scientific approach to farming. His
classical work on agricultural chemistry and physiology
launched systematic development of agriculture.
• Lawes (1842) patented a process of treating phosphate
rock to produce super phosphate and thus, initiated the
synthetic fertilizer industry.
• Systematic selection of cereal varieties according to
predicted yield was commenced in the 18th century.

4. • Gregor Johann Mendel (1866)
• He discovered the laws of heredity and the ways to cause mutations. It led
to Modern Plant Breeding. Application of genetics to develop new strains
of plants and animals brought major changes in agriculture.
• Charles Darwin (1876) published the results of experiments on cross and
self fertilization in plants.
• Mechanization took hold in Western Europe and the newly settled
countries only after 1850. An efficient seed drill was devised in 1830s.
In1892, the first successful tractor was built in US. Farm implements and
machinery were manufactured industrially on a large scale by 1930s.
• The electricity was applied to agricultural operations due to increase
economic pressure and decrease in labour availability in 1920s.
• The first successful large scale conquest of a pest by chemical means was
the control of grape vine powdery mildew in Europe in 1840s.
• Dr Paul Muller first synthesized DDT in 1874.
• Major advances in the study of plant diseases were recorded in 19th
century.
• Application of agricultural economics and scientific management of farm
commenced in German speaking countries early in the 19th century.
• The US Congress set up Department of Agriculture and provided college
of Agriculture in each state. The key data in the history of agricultural
research and education was published by the US in 1862.

5. • Classification of crops
2. Importance of classifying the crops
• To get acquainted with crops
• To understand the requirement of soil & water for
different crops
• To know adaptability of crops
• To know the growing habit of crops
• To understand climatic requirement of different crops
• To know the economic produce of the crop plant & its
use
• To know the growing season of the crop
• Overall to know the actual condition required to the
cultivation of plant

6. • Ways of classification of crops Classification is done to
generalize similar crop plants as a class for attaining
better understanding of them. Field crops are
classified in the following ways:
• According to range of cultivation
• According to the place of origin
• According to botany of the crop plants
• According to plant products come to commercial field
• According to use of crop plants and their products
• According to season
• According to life cycle of crop plants
• According to cultural requirement
• According to important uses

7. • Classification of crops
1. Range of cultivation
• Garden crops: They are grown on a small
scale in gardens. e.g., onion, brinjal, etc.
• Plantation crops: They are grown on a large
scale in estates and perennial in nature. e.g.,
tea, coffee, cacao, rubber etc.
• Field crops: They are grown on a vast scale
under field condition. They are mostly
seasonal such as rice, wheat, cotton etc.

8. 2. Place of origin
• Native crops: They are grown within the
geographical limits of their origin, e.g., rice,
barely, blackgram, green gram, mustard,
castor, sugarcane and cotton, grown in India,
are native to India.
• Exotic or Introduced crops: They are
introduced from other countries, such as
tobacco, potato, jute, maize, apple, etc.

9. 3. Botanical/taxonomical classification According to systematic botany, plants are
classified as order, family etc. Similarly crop plants are grouped into families as:
i. Poaceae (Graminae): Cereals, millets and grasses
ii. Papilionaceae (Legumes):Pulses, legume fodders, vegetables, groundnut, berseem,
green manures etc.
iii. Cruciferae: Mustard, Indian rape seed, radish cabbage, cauliflower etc.
iv. Cucurbitaceae: All gourds, cucumber, pumpkin etc.
v. Malvaceae: Cotton, lady‟s finger, roselle etc.
vi. Solanaceae: Potato, tomato, tobacco, chillies, brinjal
vii. Tiliaceae: Jute
viii. Asteraceae (Compositae): Sunflower, safflower, niger
ix. Chenopodiaceae: Spinach, sugar beet
x. Pedeliaceae: Sesame
xi. Euphorbiaceae: Castor, tapioca
xii. Convolvulaceae: Sweet potato
xiii. Umbelliferae: Coriander, cumin, carrot, anise
xiv. Liliaceae: Onion, garlic
xv. Zingiberaceae: Ginger, turmeric

10. • Commercial classification Based on the plant
products which come into the commercial
field are grouped as:
i. Food crops: Rice, wheat, green gram,
soybean, groundnut, etc.
ii. Food crops/Forage crops: All fodders, oats,
sorghum, maize, napier grass, stylo, Lucerne
etc.
iii. Industrial/Commercial crops: Cotton,
sugarcane, sugar beet, tobacco, jute, etc.
iv. Food adjuvunts: Turmeric, garlic, cumin, etc.

11. • Economic/Agrarian/Agricultural/Agronomical classification
• This classification is based on use of crop plants and their products. This is an important
classification as for as agronomy is concerned.
• i. Cereals
• They are cultivated grasses grown for their edible starchy grains (one seeded fruit– caryopsis).
• Their larger grains are used as staple food e.g. rice, wheat, maize, barley, etc.
• The word cereal was derived from the word ceres, which denotes a goddess who was believed as the giver
of grains by Romans.
• ii. Millets
• Small grained cereals, which form the staple food in drier regions of the developing countries, are
called millets. e.g. major- sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet or ragi. Minor- fox-tail millet,
little millet, common millet, barnyard millet and kodomillet
• iii. Oil seeds: They yield seeds rich in fatty acids, are used to extract vegetable oils.e.g. groundnut or
peanut, sesame or gingelly, sunflower, castor, linseed or flax, niger, safflower, mustard and cotton.
• iv. Pulses: Seeds of leguminous plants used as food. They produce dal rich in protein. e.g., red gram, black
gram, green gram, cowpea, Bengal gram, horse gram, dew gram, soybean, peas or garden
pea and garden-bean.
• v. Feed/Forage: It refers to vegetative matter, fresh or preserved, utilized as feed for animals. It includes
hay, silage, pasturage and fodder. e.g., bajra , napier grass, guinea grass, fodder-sorghum, fodder-
maize, lucerne, desmanthus, etc.
• vi. Fibre crops: Plants are grown for their fibre yield. There are different kinds of fibre. They are: seed
fibre–cotton, (ii) stem fibre-jute, mesta, (iii) leaf fibre–agave, pineapple.
• vii. Sugar and starch crops: They are grown for production of sugar and starch. e.g., sugarcane, sugar
beet, potato, sweet potato, tapioca and asparagus.
• viii. Spices and condiments: Crop plants or their products are used to flavour, taste, and add colour to the
fresh or preserved food. e.g., ginger, garlic, fenugreek, cumin, turmeric, chillies, onion, coriander,
anise and asafetida.
• ix. Drug crops/medicinal plants: They are used for preparation of medicines. e.g., tobacco, mint etc.
• x. Narcotics, fumitories and masticatories: Plants/products are used for stimulating, numbing, drowsing
or relishing effects. e.g. tobacco, ganja, opium poppy.
• xi. Beverages: Products of crops are used for preparation of mild, agreeable and stimulating drinking. e.g.,
tea, coffee, cocoa.

12. • Seasonal classification Crops are grouped under the seasons in
which their major field duration falls.
• i. Kharif or South-west monsoon season crops: Crops are grown
during June–July to September-October, which require a warm
wet weather during their major period of growth and shorter day
length for flowering. e.g., rice, maize, castor and groundnut.
• ii. Rabi crops/post monsoon crops: Crops are grown during
October-November to January-February, require cold dry weather
for their major growth period and longer day length for flowering.
e.g., wheat, mustard, barley, oats, potato, Bengal gram, berseem,
cabbage and cauliflower.
• iii. Zaid or summer crops: Crops are grown during February-March
to May-June which requires warm dry weather for growth and
longer day-length for flowering. e.g., black gram, green gram,
sesame, cowpea etc.
• This classification is not a universal one. It only indicates the
period when a particular crop is raised. e.g., kharif rice, kharif
maize, rabi maize, summer pulse etc.

13. • According to ontogeny It is a classification based on the life cycle of a
plant.
i. Annual crops
• Crop plants that complete life cycle within a season or year.
• They produce seed and die within the season. e.g., wheat, rice, maize,
mustard.
ii. Biennial crops
• Plants that have life span of two consecutive seasons or years.
• First year/Season these plants have purely vegetative growth usually
confined to rosette of leaves.
• The tap root is often fleshy and serves as a food storage organ.
• During the second year/season, they produce flower stocks from the
crown and after producing seeds the plants die. e.g., sugar beet, beet
root, cabbage, radish, carrot, etc.
iii. Perennial crops
• They live for three or more years.
• They may be seed bearing or non-seed bearing. e.g., sugarcane, napier grass.
• In general perennial crops occupy land for more than 30 months.

14. According to cultural requirement of crops
i. According to suitability of toposequence
• a. Crops grown on upland: They are grown on upland leveled elevated
land with drain all around or unbunded leveled land with drains or
drops. Crops that cannot tolerant water stagnation come under this
group. e.g., red gram, groundnut, maize, sorghum, cotton, sesame,
napier etc. Crops that require sufficient soil moisture but cannot tolerate
water stagnation. e.g., potato, sugarcane, upland rice, ragi, wheat, black
gram, Bengal gram.
• b. Crops grown on lowland: They are grown on lowlands provided with
dykes or bunds all around to stagnate water. Crops that require
abundant supply of water and can withstand prolonged water logged
conditions. e.g., rice, daintier, paragrass and jute.
ii. According to source of water
• a. Irrigated crops: The crop cultivation primarily depends upon the
irrigation water for a part/entire growth period of the crop. All crops
irrespective seasons are possible to be raised in this category.
• b. Rainfed crops: The crop cultivation entirely depends upon the rainfall
received. Crop varieties depend upon the season and the rainfall pattern.

15. iii. According to moisture availability in the soil
• a. Wet lands: The soil moisture is allowed to
occupy both macro and microspores. Anaerobic
field condition prevails here. Crops suitable are
those crops, which tolerate water stagnation.
e.g., green manures like sesbania group, grasses
etc.
• b. Dry lands: The soil moisture is allowed only
on to microspores. Macro pores are filled with
air. Magnitude of soil moisture varies according
to the crop. Crops like maize, highly sensitive to
excess moisture and drought, crops tolerant to
drought and temporary stagnation, sorghum are
cultivated in this type of field condition.

16. iv. According to the suitability of the textural groups of soils
a. Crops suitable to sandy to sandy loam (light) soils: Sorghum, bajra, green gram,
sunflower, potato, onion, carrot etc.
b. Crops suitable to silty loam (medium) soils: Jute, sugarcane, maize, cotton,
mustard, tobacco, Bengal gram, red gram, cowpea, etc.
c. Crop suitable to clay loam (heavy) soils: Rice, wheat, barley, linseed, lentil, para
grass, guinea grass, marvel grass etc.
v. According to tolerance to problem soils
a. Tolerant to acidic soils: Wet rice, potato, mustard, etc.
b. Tolerant to saline soils: Chillies, cucurbits, wheat, sorghum, bajra, cluster beans,
barley etc.
c. Tolerant to alkali/sodic soils: Barley, cotton, Bengal gram, berseem, sunflower,
maize, etc.
d. Tolerant to waterlogged soils: Wet rice, daincha, para grass, napier grass, guinea
grass, etc.
e. Crops tolerant to soil erosion: Marvel grass, groundnut, black gram, rice bean,
moth bean, and horse gram, etc.

17. According to method of sowing/planting
a. Direct seeded crop: Where the seeds are sown directly
either dry or sprouted. e.g. upland rice, wheat, jowar, bajra,
groundnut etc.
b. Planted crops: Where plant parts are planted directly.
e.g., sugarcane, potato, sweet potato, napier grass.
c. Transplanted crops: Where seedlings are raised in the
nursery, pulled out and planted in the field. e.g. rice, ragi,
bajra, tobacco, bellary onion, brinjal.