Table Of Content

Growing Food Growing Food A Guide to Food Production By Tony Winch Hereford, UK dua, Italy AC.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-10 1-4020-4827-0 (HB) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4827-2 (HB) ISBN-10 1-4020-4975-7 (e-book) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4975-0 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AADordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com Front Cover: Top left - Beans for seed - Vincent Johnson Top right - Long grain rice - Keith Weller, ARS/USDA Lower left - Cambodian vegetable gardener - Vincent Johnson Lower right - Maize cobs from South America - Keith Weller, ARS/USDA Back Cover: Potato seedling in the hand - Scott Bauer, ARS/USDA Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2006 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1 THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES USED IN AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE A Plant Growth 1 a Plant Propagation 1 b Plant Population 4 c Leaf Area Index 5 d The Root System 6 e The Nitrogen Cycle 6 B Arid Regions 8 a Plant/Soil/Water Relationships 8 b Plant Reaction to Stress 9 c Crop Management in Arid Regions 10 C Soil 11 a Saline Soils 15 b Soil Analysis 18 c Acid Soils/pH value 20 d Trace Elements 23 D Fertiliser 29 E The Plant 36 a Annual/Biennial/Perennial 36 b Botanical Classification/Taxonomy 36 c Cultivar/Variety 38 d Photosynthesis/Respiration 39 e Transpiration 39 f Wilting 39 g Shade Plants/Sun Plants 40 h Vegetative Reproduction 40 i Determinate/Indeterminate 42 j Day length/Photoperiodism 42 k Growth Period 43 l Tuber 44 m Rogue Plants 45 n Volunteer Plants 45 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS F The Seed 45 a Germination 46 b Seed Rate 52 c Hybrids 52 d Composite Varieties 53 e Inoculation/Nitrogen Fixation 54 f Seed Treatment (Dressing) 57 g Vernalisation 59 G Crops 59 a Cropping Calendar 59 b Break Crops 61 c Catch Crops 62 d Climbing Crops 62 e Companion Crops 63 f Cover Crops 63 g Pioneer Crops 64 h Smother Crops 64 i Shade Crops 64 H Farming Systems 65 a Rotation 65 b Mixed Cropping 66 c Alley Cropping 68 d Green Manure 69 e Mulch 70 f Silage 72 g Hay 72 h Land Area Measurement 74 I The Harvest 76 a Maturity 76 b Yield 76 c Haulm 77 J Insects 78 K Diseases 81 L Weeds 88 TABLE OF CONTENTS vii M Tools 92 N Irrigation 93 O Storage 100 SECTION2 DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAIN FOOD CROPS A Cereals 105 Barley 107 Buckwheat 110 Maize 113 Millets 119 Oats 125 Rice 128 Rye 133 Sorghum 135 Teff 140 Wheat 143 B Legumes 150 Broad Bean (Horse Bean or Field Bean) 152 Chickpea 155 Cowpea 158 Field pea 161 Groundnut 164 Haricot (French) Bean 167 Lentil 171 Lima Bean 174 Mung Bean 177 Pigeon Pea 179 Soybean 182 Vetch (Grass Pea or Chickling Pea) 186 C Oilseeds 188 Castor 190 Linseed 193 Niger Seed 196 Sesame 198 Sunflower 201 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS D Root Crops 204 Cassava/Manioc 205 Irish Potato 208 Sweet Potato 212 Taro 215 Yam 217 E Vegetables 221 Cabbage 222 Carrot 225 Cucurbits 228 Okra 231 Onion 234 Peppers 237 Tomato 240 F Fruits 243 Avocado 244 Banana 247 Citrus 253 Guava 256 Mango 259 Papaya (Pawpaw) 261 Watermelon 264 G Under Exploited Food Crops 266 Amaranth 268 Bambara Groundnut 271 Buffalo Gourd 273 Leucaena 275 Lupin 278 Tepary Bean 282 Winged Bean (Four-angled Bean) 284 TABLE OF CONTENTS ix SECTION 3 A Naming and Classification of Food Crops 288 B Seed Purchase Procedures 310 C Conversion Tables and Statistics 313 D Some Issues to Consider When Planning or Assessing Agricultural Development or Rehabilation Programmes 317 Bibliography 324 Index 327 SECTION 1 THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES USED IN AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE 1A. PLANT GROWTH Green plants need to have an adequate supply of water, warmth, light, air and nutrients in order to grow properly and produce healthy crops. Food growers have some control over all of these factors: • Water and Warmth—the time of planting can be chosen so that plants at each stage of their life are growing when the temperature and rainfall are as near to optimum as possible. Irrigation can sometimes also be used—see pages 93–100. • Light and Air—farmers and other food growers can select the planting date and plant spacing so that adequate light and air is available to the plants–discussed on page 4 “Plant Population” andpage 42 “Day length / Photoperiodism”. • Nutrients—see pages 11–29 “Soil” and pages 29–36 “Fertilizer”. The following subsection on plant growth discusses five topics that are of particular interest to food growers: plant propagation, plant population, leaf area index, the root system and the Nitrogen Cycle. 1Aa. Plant Propagation Plants reproduce themselves, or “propagate”, either sexually by means of seeds, or asexually by various processes of vegetative reproduction, described on pages 40–41. Some plant species, such as onions, can propagate themselves by both methods, using either seed or bulbs (“sets” ). Seed, or “grain”, provides the biggest proportion of the world’s food, especially in poorer countries and, as a result, seed is discussed at greater length in this book than other plant food sources such as root and oilseed crops, fruit and vegetables. Sexual reproduction in plants, by which they produce seed, is represented in Figure 1. Key to the terms used in the drawing of a flower, Figure 1 overleaf: Pollen—contains the male gametophytes, and is produced in the anthers. When mature, pollen is released into the air and comes into contact with the stigma of either the same flower, or flower of the same plant, in a process known as self-pollination. When the pollen comes into contact with the stigma in a flower of another plant, this process is known as cross-pollination. Pollen Tube—a long hollow tube that provides a passageway for the male pollen, containing two male nuclei, to the female ovule, entering via the micropyle. Pistil—the female part of the flower, consisting of the ovary, stigma and style, around which the other flower parts are arranged. 1