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Agriculture Main 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. Agro ecology; croppingpattern as indicators of environments. Environmental pollution and associated hazards to crops, animalsand humans. Climate change - International conventions and global initiatives. Green house effect andglobal warming. Advance tools for ecosystem analysis - Remote sensing (RS) and GeographicInformation Systems (GIS).
Cropping patterns in different agro-climatic zones of the country. Impact of highyielding and short-duration varieties on shifts in cropping patterns. Concepts of various cropping and farming systems.Organic and Precision farming. Package of practices for production of important cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fibres, sugar, commercial and fodder crops.
Important features and scope of various types of forestry plantations such as social forestry, agro-forestry, and natural forests. Propagation of forest plants. Forest products. Agro forestry and valueaddition. Conservation of forest flora and fauna.
Weeds, their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their multiplications;cultural, biological, and chemical control of weeds. Soil- physical, chemical and biological properties.Processes and factors of soil formation. Soils of India. Mineral and organic constituents of soils andtheir role in maintaining soil productivity. Essential plant nutrients and other beneficial elements insoils and plants. Principles of soil fertility, soil testing and fertilizer recommendations, integratednutrient management. Biofertilizers. Losses of nitrogen in soil, nitrogen-use efficiency in submergedrice soils, nitrogen fixation in soils. Efficient phosphorus and potassium use. Problem soils and theirreclamation. Soil factors affecting greenhouse gas emission.
Soil conservation, integrated watershed management. Soil erosion and its management. Dry landagriculture and its problems. Technology for stabilizing agriculture production in rain fed areas. Water-use efficiency in relation to crop production, criteria for scheduling irrigations, ways and means ofreducing runoff losses of irrigation water. Rainwater harvesting. Drip and sprinkler irrigation. Drainageof waterlogged soils, quality of irrigation water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and waterpollution. Irrigation projects in India.
Farm management, scope, importance and characteristics, farm planning. Optimum resource use andbudgeting. Economics of different types of farming systems. Marketing management - strategies fordevelopment, market intelligence. Price fluctuations and their cost; role of co-operatives in agriculturaleconomy; types and systems of farming and factors affecting them. Agricultural price policy. CropInsurance.
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.Training programmes for extension workers. Role of Krishi Vigyan Kendra's (KVK) in disseminationof Agricultural technologies. Non Government Organization (NGO) and self-help group approach forrural development.
Paper-II
Cell structure, function and cell cycle. Synthesis, structure and function of genetic material. Laws ofheredity. Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations, linkage and cross-over, and theirsignificance in recombination breeding. Polyploidy, euploids and aneuploids. Mutations - and their rolein crop improvement. Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification and their application incrop improvement. Cytoplasmic inheritance, sex-linked, sex-influenced and sex-limited characters.
History of plant breeding. Modes of reproduction, selfing and crossing techniques. Origin, evolutionand domestication of crop plants, center of origin, law of homologous series, crop geneticresourcesconservation and utilization. Application of principles of plant breeding, improvement of cropplants. Molecular markers and their application in plant improvement. Pure-line selection, pedigree,mass and recurrent selections, combining ability, its significance in plant breeding. Heterosis and itsexploitation. Somatic hybridization. Breeding for disease and pest resistance. Role of interspecific andintergeneric hybridization. Role of genetic engineering and biotechnology in crop improvement.Genetically modified crop plants.
Seed production and processing technologies. Seed certification, seed testing and storage. DNA fingerprinting and seed registration. Role of public and private sectors in seed production and marketing.Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues, WTO issues and its impact on Agriculture.
Principles of Plant Physiology with reference to plant nutrition, absorption, translocation andmetabolism of nutrients. Soil - water- plant relationship.
Enzymes and plant pigments; photosynthesis- modern concepts and factors affecting the process,aerobic and anaerobic respiration; C3, C4 and CAM mechanisms. Carbohydrate, protein and fatmetabolism. Growth and development; photoperiodism and vernalilzation. Plant growth substances andtheir role in crop production. Physiology of seed development and germination; dormancy. Stressphysiology - draught, salt and water stress.
Major fruits, plantation crops, vegetables, spices and flower crops. Package practices of majorhorticultural crops. Protected cultivation and high tech horticulture. Post harvest technology and valueaddition of fruits and vegetables. Landscaping and commercial floriculture. Medicinal and aromaticplants. Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition.
Diagnosis of pests and diseases of field crops, vegetables, orchard and plantation crops and theireconomic importance. Classification of pests and diseases and their management. Integrated pest anddisease management. Storage pests and their management. Biological control of pests and diseases.Epidemiology and forecasting of major crop pests and diseases. Plant quarantine measures. Pesticides,their formulation and modes of action.
Food production and consumption trends in India. Food security and growing population - vision 2020.Reasons for grain surplus. National and international food policies. Production, procurement,distribution constraints. Availability of food grains, per capita expenditure on food. Trends in poverty,Public Distribution System and Below Poverty Line population, Targeted Public Distribution System(PDS), policy implementation in context to globalization. Processing constraints. Relation of foodproduction to National Dietary Guidelines and food consumption pattern. Food based dietaryapproaches to eliminate hunger. Nutrient deficiency - Micro nutrient deficiency : Protein EnergyMalnutrition or Protein Calorie Malnutrition (PEM or PCM), Micro nutrient deficiency and HRD incontext of work capacity of women and children. Food grain productivity and food security.