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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. Climatic elements asfactors of crop growth, impact of changing environment on cropping pattern as indicators ofenvironments. 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 andinter-cropping, and their importance in relation to food production. Package of practices for productionof important cereals, pulses, oil seeds, fibers, sugar, commercial and fodder crops grown during Kharifand 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. Modernclassification of Indian soils, Mineral and organic constituents of soils and their role in maintaining soilproductivity. Essential plant nutrients and other beneficial elements in soils and plants. Principles ofsoil fertility and its evaluation for judicious fertiliser use, integrated nutrient management. Losses ofnitrogen in soil, nitrogen-use efficiency in submerged rice soils, nitrogen fixation in soils. Fixation ofphosphorus and potassium in soils and the scope for their efficient use. Problem soils and theirreclamation methods.
Soil conservation planning on watershed basis. Erosion and run-off management in hilly, foot hills, andvalley lands; processes and factors affecting them. Dryland agriculture and its problems. Technology ofstabilising agriculture production in rainfed agriculture area.
Water-use efficiency in relation to crop production, criteria for scheduling irrigations, ways and meansof reducing run-off losses of irrigation water. Drip and sprinkler irrigation. Drainage of water-loggedsoils, quality of irrigation water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution.
Farm management, scope, important and characteristics, farm planning. Optimum resources use andbudgeting. Economics of different types of farming systems. Marketing and pricing of agriculturalinputs 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 androle, methods of evaluation of extension programs, socio-economic survey and status of big, small, andmarginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers; farm mechanization and its role in agriculturalproduction and rural employment. Training programs for extension workers; lab-to-land programs.
Paper-II
Cell Theory, cell structure, cell organelles and their function, cell division, nucleic acids-structure andfunction, gene structure and function. Laws of heredity, their significance in plant breeding.Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations, linkage and cross-over, and their significance inrecombination breeding. Polyploidy, euploid and euploids. Mutation-micro and macro-and their role incrop 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 andevolution 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 majorfield crops. Pure-line selection, pedigree, mass and recurrent selections, combining ability, itssignificance 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 ofbiotechnology in plant breeding. Improved varieties, hybrids, composites of various crop plants. Seedtechnology, its importance. Different kinds of seeds and their seed production and processingtechniques. 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 plantregulators and their mechanism of action and importance in agriculture. Physiology of seeddevelopment and germination; dormancy
Climatic requirements and cultivation of major fruits, plants, vegetable crops and flower plants; thepackage of practices and their scientific basis. Handling and marketing problems of fruit andvegetables. Principal methods of preservation of important fruits and vegetable products, processingtechniques and equipment. Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition. Raising of ornamentalplants, and design and layout of lawns and gardens.
Diseases and pests of field vegetables, orchard and plantation crops of India. Causes and classificationof plant pests and diseases. Principles of control of plant pests and diseases Biological control of pestsand diseases. Integrated pest and disease management. Epidemiology and forecasting.
Pesticides, their formulations and modes of action. Compatibility with rhizobial inoculants. Microbialtoxins.
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 dietarypattern, major deficiencies of calorie and protein