anilFarming system and cropping system Introduction The crops are managed individually. For example, while growing rice crop, we think generally about all the management practices about rice only. We should not forget that other crops will also be grown in the system. This rice may be followed by wheat, berseem, mustard or any other rabi crop. Normally, it looks very easy. But, all the management practices required for one crop affects the response of other crops. We know very well that insect-pests in one crop are harmful for the other crops in the same season as well as in the next season. The environment for weeds in one crop affects the intensity of weeds in other crops. The best example is Phalaris minor (weed) which is most dominant in rice-wheat system of Punjab and adjoining north Indian states. The early, late or timely sowing of one crop also affects the sowing of other crops in a system. Many times, we have to adjust the sowing time for one crop, so that one additional crop may be adjusted in the system. And for that adjustment, again, we have to select different varities of short, medium or longer duration. It could be understood by the example of basmati. Basmati is transplanted in the month of July and harvested at the end of November. In this condition, if we want to grow wheat, the selection of variety is very important here. As the wheat variety PBW 343 and PBW 502 are timely sown varities and cannot be grown successfully in the month of December. For that, now the options are PBW 373 or PBW 509. Except that, the selection of crops is also depends upon the type of enterprise we have. For honey production, the flowering crop like mustard is very important. In case of dairy, we have to select the fodder crops like berseem, oat, bajra, sorghum etc. Important definitions System: A system consists of several components which depend on each other Farming system: It is consists of many enterprises like cropping system, dairy, poultry, bee keeping, fishery, piggery etc. Cropping pattern: It means the proportion of area under various crops at a point of time in a unit area. Crop rotation: It is growing of crops one after another in a sequence on the same piece of land either in a year or for longer period. The examples of one year crop rotation: Rice-wheat, Maize-wheat, Maize-potato-wheat, Rice-wheat-summer moong The example of two year crop rotation: Maize-potato-wheat-rice-wheat-summer moong. Cropping system: The interaction of the crops in a specific area with the farm resources, other farm enterprises and available technology which determine their make up, is the cropping system of that particular area. Rice-wheat is a crop rotation. But in case of Punjab it has become a cropping system as it was adopted four decades ago. And this system has become an integral part of rural life, their way of life, management practices, purchase of machinery like combine, zero seed drills, burning of wheat and rice residue etc. Type of cropping system Mono-cropping: Growing of only one crop on a piece of land year after year Multiple cropping : Growing of two or more crops on the same piece of land in a year. It is desirable system to feed the increasing population as it gives more production and profit from per unit area. Eg Rice-wheat-summer moong Intercropping: Growing two or more crops simultaneously in rows on the same piece of land. Eg wheat and mustard, groundnut and arhar etc. Assessment of cropping system Land equivalent ratio (LER) : It is land area under sole crop that is required to produce the yields achieved in intercropping. Example: If wheat and mustard are intercropped. If wheat yield as intercrop is : 1500 kg/acre If mustard yield as intercrop is : 500 kg/acre If wheat yield as pure crop is : 2000 kg/acre If mustard yield as pure crop is : 700 kg/acre Then LER of wheat = Yield of wheat as intercrop/yield of wheat as pure crop =1500/2000=0.75 Then LER of mustard =Yield of mustard as intercrop/yield of mustard as pure crop =500/700= 0.71 LER of the system = LER of wheat + LER of mustard = 0.75+0.71= 1.46 LER of 1.46 means 46% yield advantage due to intercropping. It shows that 1.46 acre is required if wheat and mustard are grown as sole crops, to get the same level of yield which was obtained by 1.0 acre of intercropped wheat and mustard. One other indicator of land use is cropping intensity Cropping intensity= (Gross cropped area/net cultivated area) x 100 Eg A farmer has land area=10 acre In kharif, he has sown rice= 8 acre In kharif, he has sown berseem= 2 acre In rabi, he has sown wheat = 10 acre In summer, he has sown summer moong=4 acre So, gross cropped area is= 8 + 2+ 10+4=24 Cropping intensity= (24/10)x100 = 240% It means more than 2 crops are being grown by the farmers. More cropping intensity is need of the day as the Indian population is increasing unexpectedly. The cropping intensity of Punjab is almost 188%. It means Punjab farmers are growing almost two crops per year (exactly 1.88 crops). It is much higher than the Indian average. So, Punjab is considered as one of the leading agricultural state of India. It is due to better irrigation facilities that crops are grown one after other. But high cropping intensity specially the rice-wheat system of Punjab has created many problems which are listed below: Problem of rice-wheat system/Punjab agriculture 1. Decline in water table: Continuous growing of rice exhausted the water resources of Punjab and it is dropping @ 30 to 100 cm /year 2. For getting water from deeper layers, the submersible pump is required. Adding the additional cost to the farmers 3. More electricity is required. Although farmers are getting free. But it is paid by us indirectly through taxes. 4. Formation of hard pan in deeper layer due to puddling in rice 5. Phalaris minor (a weed) is a specific problem of rice-wheat system 6. Echinocloa spp. is a dominant weed of rice 7. Resistance of weeds against (eg Phalaris minor has got resistance against isoproturon herbicide) 8. Burning of rice and wheat residue:  Kill the microorganism  Destroy the nutrients  Produce the diseases like eye ailments, asthma etc  Increase the pollution 9. Development of more insect-pest due to repetition of same crops 10. Deficiency of micronutrients eg zinc, iron and manganese etc. Numericals for practical Q 1. A farmer wants to apply 50 kg N, 25 kg P2O5 and 25 kg K2O to his wheat field. The fertilizer available are urea, DAP and MOP. Calculate the fertilizer requirement. As both urea and DAP contains N. In this condition, first of all, we have to calculate the requirement of fertilizer for P2O5. DAP contains 18% N and 46% P2O5. For 46 kg of P2O5, DAP required= 100 kg For 25kg of P2O5, DAP required= (100/46) x 25= 54.34 kg As we know, this 54.34 kg of DAP contains some amount of N also. So, 100 kg of DAP contains= 18 kg N then 54.34 kg contains = (18/100) x 54.34 = 9.78 kg N As we have already applied the 9.78 kg of N while applying the DAP, so the rest of N required to be applied thorough urea is = 50 - 9.78= 40.22 As urea contains 46% N For 40.22 kg of N, the urea required= (100/46)*40.22=84.43 kg As MOP contains 60% K2O For 25 kg K2O, the MOP required= (100/60) x 25=41.67 kg Q 2 solve yourself A farmer has following amount of fertilizer in his store: Urea=10 quintals SSP= 3 quintals DAP= 4 quintals MOP = 2 quintal Calculate the total amount of N, P2O5 and K2O in the farmers’ store. Q 3 Calculate the amount of wheat seed required for sowing of 1500 m2. Recommended seed rate is 40 kg/acre As we know one acre= 4000 m-2 For 4000 m-2 wheat seed required= 40 kg For 1 m-2 the wheat seed required= 40/4000 kg and for 1500 m-2 the wheat seed required= (40/4000) x 1500 =15 kg Q 4 Solve yourself A farmer has 375 kg of wheat in his store. Calculate the area on which it can be sown. Q 5 Calculate the germination % from the following: Total number of seed sown= 80 Number of seed germinated= 63

Given right input, dairying shall yield Ranjit Singh One of the viable options for diversification of agriculture is dairy farming. It can also help face the challenges posed by the WTO. You reap what you sow Ensure Availability of quality breeds Artificial insemination facilities Health care and extension services Availability of feed and fodder Efficient marketing system In spite of India’s position as the highest producer of milk in the world, productivity per animal is very poor at just 987 l/ lactation, as against the 2038 l/ lactation world average. In the rural areas of Punjab, the average milk yield of desi cows (850 l/ lactation), crossbred cows (2750 l) and buffaloes (1800 l) is high as compared to the national average, but very low as compared to exotic breeds of cows (8000-10000 litres). The potential from the available livestock in the state is 4500 l/ lactation for cows and 3100 l for buffaloes. Although there is significant increase in milk production in Punjab, yet there is a lot of scope for further improvement. Punjab being the best grain and fodder producing state of the country, is particularly suited for dairying. An advantage of dairy farming is that it can be practised from the smallest unit of one animal to tens of animals. With proper selection of animals and efficient management, milk yield can be improved significantly. In order to identify various constraints and problems a workshop was organised at the Punjab Agricultural University under the EU-India Cross Cultural Innovation Network in which dairy farmers, university experts and representatives of state departments participated. It was agreed upon that the success of dairy farming depends upon the following main factors: i) availability of quality breeds; ii) artificial insemination facilities; iii) health care and extension services; iv) availability of feed and fodder; and v) efficient marketing system. Support