Agriculture
Paper-I
Ecology and its relevance to man,
natural resources, their sustainable management and conservation. Physical and
social environment as factors of crop distribution and production.
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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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