PAPER – I
Section – A
Cropping pattern in different a g r o -climatic zones of the country. Crop diversification. 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 of cereals, pulses, oil seeds, fibres, sugar, tuber and fodder crops grown during Kharif and Rabi seasons in different regions of the country. Organic farming – principles and practices.
Water-use efficiency in relation to crop production, criteria for scheduling irrigation, 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.
Weeds, their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their multiplication; cultural, biological and chemical control of weeds. Important features, scope and propagation of various types of forestry plantations such as extension, social forestry, agro-forestry, and natural forests.
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 management.
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 for stabilising agricultural production in rainfed areas.
Section – B
Ecology and its relevance to man. Biodiversity – 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. Farm management, scope, importance and characteristics, farm planning and budgetting. Economics of different types of farming systems and factors affecting it.
Marketing and pricing of agricultural inputs and outputs, price fluctuation and their cost; role of co-operatives in agricultural economy. Agriculture export zone. World Trade Organisation, General Agreement on Trade and Tariff, Intellectual Property Rights in relation to agriculture.
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 i t s role in agricultural production and rural employment. Training programmes for extension workers. Institution village linkage programme.
PAPER – II
Section – A
Cell theory, structure, organells and their function. Cell division, nucleic acidsstructure 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 aneuploids.
Induction of mutation – micro- and macro-mutation and their role in crop improvement. Variation, components of variation, heritability, sterility and incompatibility 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. Plant biodiversity – crop genetic resources conservation and utilization.
Application of principles of plant breeding to the improvement of major field crops. Pureline, 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-tissue culture and molecular
approach. Improved varieties, hybrids, composites of various crop plants.Seed technology, its importance. Different kinds of seeds. Seed production and processing techniques. Role of public and private sectors in seed production, processing and marketing in India.
Plant 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 anaerobic respiration; C3, C4 and CAM mechanisms. Carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism. Growth and development; photoperiodism and vernalization. Auxins, hormones, and other plant regulators and their mode of action and importance in agriculture. Physiology of seed development and germination; dormancy.
Section – B
Climatic requirement and cultivation of major fruits, vegetable crops and flower and ornamental plants. Dryland and Hightech horticulture. Handling and marketing problems of fruit and vegetables. Methods of preservation of important fruits and vegetable products, processing techniques and equipment. Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutriton. Land scaping – design and layout of lawns and gardens.
Diseases and pests of field crops, 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 of diseases and pest. Pesticides, their formulations and mode of action. Compatibility with rhizobial inoculants. Microbial toxins. Storage pests and diseases of cereals, oilseeds and pulses and their control.
Commercial cultivation of mushroom and bee keeping. 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. Protein – calorie malnutrition.
