Food Resources Term Paper – This is one of the best term papers on ‘Food Resources’ especially written for school and college students.
Term Paper on Food Resources
Term Paper Contents:
- Term Paper on the Introduction to Food Resources
- Term Paper on the Improvement in Crop Fields
- Term Paper on the Techniques for Improvement of Crop Varieties
- Term Paper on the Crop Production Improvement
- Term Paper on the Crop Protection Management
Term Paper # 1. Introduction to Food Resources:
All of us as organisms require food to grow, get energy for work and to perform functions of body. This food is gained by plants and animals. With the increase in population, the demand for food also increases.
Thus causing the urgent requirement for food development in both factors – quality and quantity. India is the second most populous country in the world. To satisfy its nutritional need, all the available possible land should be cultivated.
However, India is agriculture based country and thus all the cultivable land is being used. As the population is increasing, the need for more food is increasing. Thus, there is a need for increasing the production of food crops, reducing the losses due to various biotic and abiotic factors and improving the crop variety.
In India, food resources are mostly obtained from agriculture and animals like cattle, fish, poultry, etc. Agriculture is a branch of science that deals with the mass production of plants useful to human beings. The crop is a plant grown in the fields on a large scale.
Term Paper # 2. Improvement in Crop Fields:
Agriculture involves production of various food crops which fulfil our nutritional requirements like cereals, such as rice, wheat, sorghum, millet, maize, which are good sources of carbohydrates. The protein sources are obtained from pulses namely lentil (masoor dal) and grams (peas, chana, urad, moong, arhar).
Sunflower, mustard seeds, castor seeds, soybean, sesame, groundnut are all good source of necessary fats as they are oil seeds. Additional mineral and nutrients are obtained from vegetable, spices, and fruits. Some crops are used as food for livestock. These are called as fodder crops. Oats, Sudan grass, berseem are some of the examples.
Other than Kharif and Rabi seasons, summer is also used for cropping. The summer crops can be grown in the areas of the landscape that remain wet over summer or in the coastal regions with a higher proportion of summer rainfall. The summer crops are annual grasses and therefore soil temperature is an important factor for seed germination.
The summer crops include the most common species-sorghum and its hybrids with Sudan grass, maize and several types of millet. These can be directly grazed. Maize and sorghum are excellent for conservation as silage and millets are often grown to produce food for birds or conserved as hay.
Summer crops are seasonal, depending on the climatic conditions, adequate temperature and availability of sunlight. Availability or duration of sunlight is called photoperiod on which plant growth and flowering is mainly dependent.
The following are the factors in farming practices which have brought 25% increase in production of food crops from 1960-2004:
1. Choice of seeds for planting-Crop Variety Improvement
2. Nurturing of the crops-Crop Production Improvement
3. Protection of the growing crops and reaped ones-Crop Protection Management.
Term Paper # 3. Techniques for Improvement of Crop Varieties:
It is an important topic which should be taken care of in the present world scenario where the population is rising with dwindling land resources. Thus, finding a crop variety which gives good yield along with other characteristics like resistant to diseases, effective response to fertilizers, and the quality of the product. With higher inputs farmers get more yields.
The above characters can be incorporated into crops through following techniques:
A. Hybridization:
It is a cross between genetically non similar plants to bring two different characteristics in one plant. The plants chosen should have different desirable characteristics. Then the plants are crossed to produce offspring of combined genes. This is called hybridization.
Cross may be:
i. Inter varietal (two different varieties)
ii. Interspecific (two different species)
iii. Intergeneric (two different genera).
B. Genetic Modification:
Genetically modified crops can be produced by introducing a new gene into the plant.
If a farmer intends to introduce a totally new variety then the variety of seeds should be equal in produce, easily germinal and adaptable to the same climatic conditions.
The variety of crops is not only dependent on the seed quality, farming practices, disease resistance, and other before said qualities but also depend on the major external conditions. Most weather conditions like floods, draught, frost, salinity are unpredictable.
Improvement methods for crop varieties are:
i. Production:
Increase in the production of crop per acre.
ii. Quality of the Crop:
Baking quality of the wheat, protein content in pulses, oil quality in oil seeds and prevention of diseases in fruits and vegetables.
iii. Change in Maturity Duration:
Maturity duration is the time between the sowing and harvesting, which should be short. If the duration is long then the crop is not economical as farmers are unable to grow multiple rounds in a year and cost of production is also more. Uniform maturity matures all the crops at same time reducing the loss and work load during harvesting.
iv. Adaptability:
Adaptability to grow under various rigorous climatic conditions in different areas and yet produce a good yield is always desired. This is called as crop stability.
v. Resistibility:
Crops should be improved such that they can withstand abiotic stress like draught, flood, salinity, frost, heat, cold etc. and resistant to biotic stress like insects, pest, infections, diseases etc.
vi. Agronomical Characteristic:
Cereal crops should be dwarf (short) while fodder crops should be profusely branched and tall. Such characters result in higher productivity.
Term Paper # 4. Crop Production Improvement:
India is an agriculture based country where adapting new agricultural practices and technology directly depends on the financial capacity of the farmer. So, we can say that farmer’s purchasing capacity, cropping system and output are all directly proportional to each other. ‘No cost’, ‘low cost’ and ‘high cost’ are the types of production practices.
To avail high production in yield a farmer has to manage:
A. Nutrients
B. Irrigation
C. Cropping patterns
A. Nutrient Management:
Like humans, plants also require nutrients which they obtain from soil (13 nutrients), water (hydrogen), and air (carbon, oxygen). The nutrients which are required in small quantities are micronutrients.
Iron, manganese, copper, chlorine, zinc, boron and molybdenum are micronutrients. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur are the six macronutrients, which are required in large quantities.
If there is a deficiency or absence of nutrients in the soil, it is replenished with the external addition of nutrients in the form of manure or fertilizers. The deficiency of nutrients affects growth, production, and makes the plant more disease prone by reducing its immunity.
1. Manure:
Manure is made from decomposing dead plants, plant waste and animal excreta. Thus, it is organic in nature. Using manure helps in recycling the farm waste and reducing the soil pollution, which generally occurs by excessive use of fertilizers.
Uses:
a. Increases soil fertility.
b. Improves soil structure.
c. In sandy soils, it increases water holding capacity.
d. In clayey soils, it helps in drainage and water lodging.
5. Prevents soil pollution.
f. Provides humus to the soil.
Manure is of two types:
i. Compost and Vermicompost:
Compost requires a pit which is dug and filled with vegetable waste, weeds from the field, animal excreta, cow dung, straw, etc. and covering it with soil. After some time, with enzymatic action of microbes in the soil, the waste decomposes and turns into compost or manure with enriched nutrients. If compost pit waste is covered with soil containing worms and insects, which help in decomposing and making compost, then it is called as vermicompost.
ii. Green Manure:
Plants like sun hemp and guar (nitrogen and phosphorous) are mulched and ploughed under the soil before planting the seeds. These plants later turn into green manure and enrich the soil.
Organic Farming:
These days when we go to supermarkets, we come across organic fruits and vegetables and other foods. How is organic different from the other food available in the market? Growing crops, vegetables without using fertilizers and chemicals or herbicides or pesticides and using green manure is called as organic farming.
Culture of blue green algae is used as bio fertilizers. Neem and turmeric act as bio- pesticides and can be used in grain storage. Crop rotation and mixed cropping also helps in getting rid of bio pesticides.
2. Fertilizers:
Fertilizers are any solid, liquid or gaseous substances containing one or more plant nutrients in known amount. These are applied to the soil, directly on the plant or added to aqueous solutions to maintain soil fertility, improve crop development, yield and/or crop quality.
NPK is a fertilizer produced commercially which supplements Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. It ensures the healthy vegetative growth i.e. of leaves, branches, and flowers.
Advantages:
The purpose of fertilizer use, especially for higher yields, is identical in temperate and tropical climates:
1. They are nutrient specific and easy to store, compact and are required in small amounts.
2. To supplement the natural soil nutrient supply and build up soil fertility in order to satisfy the demand of crops with a high yield potential.
3. To compensate for the nutrients exported by the harvested products or lost by unavoidable leakages to the environment in order to maintain good soil conditions for cropping.
B. Irrigation:
Most of the agriculture is rain based. But, lands where rains are inadequate or not uniform, other irrigational sources are used to supply water to meet the demands. The irrigation method ensures proper and regulate the continuous supply of water to farms.
Following are the various irrigational methods which are adapted:
1. Wells:
i. Dug Wells:
The wells are dug up and water is tapped from surface. The traditional wells which we see in villages are dug wells.
ii. Tube Wells:
A thick pipe is inserted in the deep well which pumps the water to the top. Example of tube wells are hand-pumps which draws water through a tube that run deep into the ground of the well.
2. Canals:
Canals are the channels of waters which are well interconnected with reservoirs or river nearby and help in the distribution of water for irrigational purposes.
3. Tanks:
An irrigation tank or tank is an artificial reservoir of any size. It can also have a natural or man-made spring included as part of a structure. Tanks are part of an ancient tradition of harvesting and preserving the local rainfall and water from streams and rivers for later use, primarily for agriculture and drinking water.
4. River Lift System:
In this type of irrigation, water is not transported by natural means like gravity fed canals, but water is lifted using pumps and other sources.
Nowadays rain water harvesting, check dams, other water conserving activities are encouraged. This helps in supplying water for irrigation whenever needed, maintains the ground water level, and stops soil erosion which is caused by running water or rains.
Importance of Irrigation:
1. It makes the soil soft which enables easy ploughing.
2. It provides moisture for germination and no loss of seeds by dry non-germination.
3. Water availability helps in nutrient absorption from soil as water and nutrients are in solution form in the soil.
4. Proper water supply ensures growth and elongation of roots and stem.
C. Cropping Patterns:
In future, most of the additional food requirements may be satisfied from higher production from land already being farmed. This can be derived by increasing the number of crops produced in a year on the same land using improved varieties.
This helps in preventing land degradation which causes depletion of particular nutrients used by same crop if repeated farming is done and increases the chance of weed occurrence. Multiple cropping also increases food production.
In India, this theory of cropping systems is as old as agriculture. Farmers choose mixed cropping, particularly under dry land conditions, to minimize the risk of total crop failure. Even in Vedas, there is a reference of first and second crops, showing the presence of sequential cropping.
The cropping pattern is the sequence of crops and its arrangement in a given area annually.
Intercropping:
Growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same field. Crop growth is in both time and space dimensions. In this, few rows of soya bean alternates with few rows of maize and again few rows soya bean and this pattern repeats itself. Other crops which can be intercropped are finger millet (bajra) with cow pea (lobia).
Mixed Cropping:
Growing two or more crops simultaneously with no distinct row arrangement. For example, sorghum, pearl millet and cow pea are mixed and broadcasted in rain fed conditions. Other examples are wheat and gram, groundnut and sunflower, wheat and mustard.
Advantages:
i. Better use of growth resources comprising light, nutrients and water.
ii. Weed suppression.
iii. Yield stability; even if one crop fails due to unpredicted situations, another crop will harvest and give income.
iv. Successful intercropping gives higher equivalent yields (yield of base crop + yield of intercrop), higher cropping intensity.
v. Incidence of pest and disease will be reduced.
vi. Upgrading soil health and agro-eco system.
Term Paper # 5. Crop Protection Management:
Crop protection keeps crops safe from attack by insects, weeds and diseases. They also help in making better use of scarce resources such as land, water and labor. It is estimated that 40 percent of the world’s food would not exist without crop protection. Sometimes loss of entire crop is observed due to the lack of preventive measures to stop pest and diseases.
Weeds:
Weed is unwanted plant in a crop field which basically is useless and also absorbs many nutrients thus making the soil less fertile and affecting the crop growth. Examples are Parthenium (gajar grass), Xanthium also called as gookroo and Cyperinusrotundus (motha). Weed control includes mechanical removal of weed.
It is the best to remove it young as we have learnt intercropping and mixed cropping helps in weed eradication. Other techniques involve ploughing of fields in summer and proper seed bed preparation. Herbicides remove weeds which compete with a farmer’s crops for important nutrients, light, and water.
Pests:
Pest are insects that attack the plants. These insects eat away the leaves, roots, stem or suck the sap of the plant or make small holes and bore inside the plant or fruit. Insecticides or pesticides control insect pests such as aphids that can kill a crop.
Pesticide is the chemical which is sprayed on the crops. This chemical kills insects but cannot be used frequently as it is harmful to humans and animals who eat such crops. Frequent spraying of pesticide also increases the chance of pesticide resistant insects.
Diseases:
Disease can be caused by bacteria, pest, fungus or virus. These are called as pathogen.
These pathogens have habitats in soil, air, water and some reside in anaerobic conditions as well. Crops should be protected from these pathogens to have good healthy crops. Fungicides protect plants from fungal diseases such as blight or mildew.
Storage of Grains:
Protection of crops after harvesting is very important. If unable to do so, then the entire harvest is lost and the efforts are also in vain. Biotic factors like, rats, insects, rodents, bacteria, fungus, mites and abiotic factors like temperature, inappropriate moisture can cause damage. Poor marketing ability and financial loss is incurred due to loss in weight, discoloration of grains, poor germination power, and degraded quality crops.
Control and Preventive Measure:
1. Cleaning of grains before storage.
2. Fumigation of storage areas using chemicals.
3. Clean, dry area of storage with adequate sunlight supply and adequate temperatures.
