What do you mean by weeding?

1. Agriculture:

A branch of science dealing with the cultivation or growing of plants and raising of animals which are useful to us in the field is called agriculture.

2. Agricultural Practices:

(i) Plants of the same kind grown and cultivated in a field are called crop plants or crops.

(ii) Crops are mainly cultivated in two seasons: Rabi (sown in winter; winter season crops; examples: wheat, barley, gram) and Kharif (sown at the beginning of the rainy season; examples: rice, maize, jowar, pulses).

(iii) The crops which are grown in summer are called Zaid crops.

3. Basic Practices of Crop Production:

(i) Broadcasting is the practice of sowing seeds by hand.

(ii) Fallowing is the practice of leaving the field uncultivated.

(iii) Harvesting is the cutting down of the mature crop.

(iv) The supply of water to crops at different intervals is called irrigation.

(v) Threshing is the removal of the grains from the chaff.

(vi) Winnowing is the separation of grains from the hay (chaff) by wind.

(vi) Ploughing or tilling helps in many ways — it aerates the soil, improves soil drainage, uproots the weeds and loosens the soil helping in easy root penetration.

(vii) Seeds have to be grown at appropriate distances and depths to get good yield.

(viii) Weeding involves removal of weeds (unwanted and uncultivated plants).

(ix) Manures are organic nutrients, whereas fertilisers are inorganic substances (like NPK, CAN).

(x) Fields need to be irrigated from time to time depending on the need of the crop.

(xi) Proper storage of grains is necessary to protect them from pests and microorganisms.

4. Rotation of Crops:

(i) Crop rotation is planting a series of different crops in the same field following a defined order.

(ii) Mono-cropping and mixed cropping are the two methods used in crop production.

5. Seed bank:

(i) The Royal Botanical Gardens located in Kolkata first started collecting seeds formally as seed bank.

(ii) A seed bank is a place where seeds are stored in order to preserve genetic diversity.

(iii) Seed balls are a mixture of soil, compost and plant seeds. These balls are thrown into land areas. With the monsoon set in, these planted seed balls will germinate into a seedling.

6. Bio-Indicators:

(i) Bio-control or biological control is a method of controlling pests such as insects, mites, weed and plant diseases using other organisms.

(ii) A bio-indicator or biological indicator is any species or group of species whose function or status reveals the qualitative status of the environment.

(iii) Bio predators, bio-pesticides, bio-repellents and bio-fertilizers are used for controlling microorganisms which cause damage to the crops, pests and insects.

7. Agriculture Research Institutions:

(i) The Indian Agricultural Research Institute is a national institute for agricultural research, education and extension.

(ii) The Indian Council of Agricultural Research is an autonomous body responsible for coordinating agricultural education and research in India.

8. Foliar Sprays:

Foliar feeding is a technique of feeding plants by applying liquid fertilizer directly to their leaves.