Agriculture

Preliminary Examination:

Agriculture, its importance in national economy.
Factors determining agroecological zones and geographic
distribution of crop plants.

Importance of crop plants, cultural practices for cereal,
pulses, oilseed, fibre, sugar, tuber and fodder crops and
scientific basis for these crop rotations, multiple and
relay cropping, intercropping and mixed cropping.

Soil as medium of plant growth and its composition, mineral
and organic constituents of the soil and their role in crop
production; chemical, physical and microbiological properties
of soils. Essential plant nutrients (macro and micro)–their
functions, occurrence, cycling in soils Principles of soil
fertility and its evaluation for judicious fertilizer use.
Organic manures and bio-fertilizers, inorganic fertilizers,
integrated nutrient management.

Principles of plant physiology with reference to plant nutrition,
absorption, transactions, and metabolism of nutrients.

Diagnosis of nutrient deficiencies and their amelioration
photosynthesis and respiration, growth and development,
auxins and hormones in plant growth.

Cell and cell organelles. Cell division. Reproductive cycle,
Principles of genetics, gene-interaction, sex determination,
linkage and recombination, mutation, extra chromosomal inheritance,
polyploidy. Origin and domestication of crop plants.
Genetic resources-conservation and utilization.
Floral biology in relation to selfing and crossing.

Genetic basis of plant breeding pureline selection, mass selection,
male sterility and incompatibility and their use in plant breeding.
Pedigree selection, back-cross method of selection. Heterosis and
its exploitation. Development of hybrids, composites and synthetic,
Important varieties, hybrids, composites and synthetic of major crops.
Seeds and seed-production techniques.

Important fruit and vegetable crops of India, method of propagation–Sexual and asexual. Package and practices and their scientific basis. Crop rotation, intercropping, companion crops, role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition, post-harvest handling and processing of fruits and vegetables. Landscaping and ornamental horticulture, commercial floriculture. Medicinal and aromatic plants. Serious pests and diseases affecting major crops. Principles of control of crop pests and diseases, integrated management. Proper use and maintenance of plant protection equipment.

Principles of economics as applied to agriculture. Farm planning and optimum resource–use efficiency and maximising income and employment. Farm systems and their spatial distribution, their significant roles in regional economic development..

Main Examination Syllabus

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. 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.