BRANCHES OF AGRICULTURE

BRANCHES OF AGRICULTURE

Agriculture has 3 main spheres viz., Geoponic (Cultivation in earth-soil), Aeroponic (cultivation in the air) and Hydroponic (cultivation in water).

Agriculture is the branch of science encompassing the applied aspects of basic sciences. The applied aspects of agricultural science consist of the study of field crops and their management (Arviculture) including soil management.

To be very concise, there are five major branches as follows:

1] Crop production – 

• It deals with the production of various crops, which includes food crops, fodder crops, fibre crops, sugar, oilseeds, etc.
• It includes agronomy, soil science, entomology, pathology, microbiology, etc. The aim is to have better food production and how to control the diseases.

2] Horticulture –

• Branch of agriculture deals with the production of flowers, fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, spices, condiments (includes narcotic crops-opium, etc., which has medicinal value) and beverages.

3] Agricultural Engineering –

• It is an important component for crop production and horticulture particularly to provide tools and implements.
• It is aiming to produce modified tools to facilitate proper animal husbandry and crop production tools, implements and machinery in animal production.

4] Forestry –

• It deals with production of large scale cultivation of perennial trees for supplying wood,
  timber, rubber, etc. and also raw materials for industries.

5] Animal Husbandry –

• The animals being produced, maintained, etc. Maintenance of various types of livestock for direct energy (work energy).
• Husbandry is common for both crop and animals.
• The objective is to get maximum output by feeding, rearing, etc.
• The arrangement of crops is done to get minimum requirement of light or air. This arrangement is called geometry.
• Husbandry is for direct and indirect energy.

6] Fishery Science –

• It is for marine fish and inland fishes including shrimps and prawns.

7] Home Science –

• Application and utilization of agricultural produces in a better manner.
• When utilization is enhanced production is also enhanced. e.g., a crop once in use in south was found that it had many uses now.

On integration, all the seven branches,

first three is grouped as for crop production group and next

two for animal management and last

two as allied agriculture branches.

• Broadly in practice, agriculture is grouped in four major categories as,

A. Crop Improvement

(i) Plant breeding and genetics
(ii) Bio-technology

B. Crop Management

(i) Agronomy
(ii) Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry
(iii) Seed technology
(iv) Agricultural Microbiology
(v) Crop-Physiology
(vi) Agricultural Engineering
(vii) Environmental Sciences
(viii) Agricultural Meteorology

C. Crop Protection

(i) Agricultural Entomology
(ii) Plant Pathology
(iii) Nematology

D. Social Sciences

(i) Agricultural Extension
(ii) Agricultural Economics

Allied disciplines

(i) Agricultural Statistics
(ii) English and Tamil
(iii) Mathematics
(iv) Bio-Chemistry etc.