Agriculture Syllabus for UPSC
Main Examination
Paper-I
Ecology
and its relevance to man, natural resources, their sustainable management and
conservation. Physical and social environment as factors of crop distribution
and production. Agro ecology; cropping pattern as indicators of environments.
Environmental pollution and associated hazards to crops, animals and humans.
Climate change - International conventions and global initiatives. Green house
effect and global warming. Advance tools for ecosystem analysis - Remote
sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Cropping
patterns in different agro-climatic zones of the country. Impact of
highyielding and short-duration varieties on shifts in cropping patterns.
Concepts of various cropping and farming systems. Organic and Precision
farming. Package of practices for production of important cereals, pulses, oil
seeds, fibres, sugar, commercial and fodder crops.
Important
features and scope of various types of forestry plantations such as social
forestry, agro-forestry, and natural forests. Propagation of forest plants.
Forest products. Agro forestry and value addition. Conservation of forest flora
and fauna.
Weeds,
their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their
multiplications; cultural, biological, and chemical control of weeds. Soil-
physical, chemical and biological properties. Processes and factors of soil
formation. Soils of India. 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, soil
testing and fertilizer recommendations, integrated nutrient management.
Biofertilizers. Losses of nitrogen in soil, nitrogen-use efficiency in
submerged rice soils, nitrogen fixation in soils. Efficient phosphorus and
potassium use. Problem soils and their reclamation. Soil factors affecting
greenhouse gas emission.
Soil
conservation, integrated watershed management. Soil erosion and its management.
Dry land agriculture and its problems. Technology for stabilizing agriculture
production in rain fed areas. Water-use efficiency in relation to crop
production, criteria for scheduling irrigations, ways and means of reducing
runoff losses of irrigation water. Rainwater harvesting. Drip and sprinkler
irrigation. Drainage of waterlogged soils, quality of irrigation water, effect
of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution. Irrigation projects in
India.
Farm
management, scope, importance and characteristics, farm planning. Optimum
resource use and budgeting. Economics of different types of farming systems.
Marketing management - strategies for development, market intelligence. Price
fluctuations and their cost; role of co-operatives in agricultural economy;
types and systems of farming and factors affecting them. Agricultural price
policy. Crop Insurance.
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. Training programmes for extension workers.
Role of Krishi Vigyan Kendra's (KVK) in dissemination of Agricultural
technologies. Non Government Organization (NGO) and self-help group approach
for rural development.
Paper-II
Cell
structure, function and cell cycle. Synthesis, structure and function of
genetic material. Laws of heredity. Chromosome structure, chromosomal
aberrations, linkage and cross-over, and their significance in recombination
breeding. Polyploidy, euploids and aneuploids. Mutations - and their role in
crop improvement. Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification
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, evolution and domestication of crop plants, center of origin, law of homologous
series, crop genetic resources conservation and utilization. Application of
principles of plant breeding, improvement of crop plants. Molecular markers and
their application in plant improvement. Pure-line selection, pedigree, mass and
recurrent selections, combining ability, its significance in plant breeding.
Heterosis and its exploitation. Somatic hybridization. Breeding for disease and
pest resistance. Role of interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. Role of
genetic engineering and biotechnology in crop improvement. Genetically modified
crop plants.
Seed
production and processing technologies. Seed certification, seed testing and
storage. DNA finger printing and seed registration. Role of public and private
sectors in seed production and marketing. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
issues, WTO issues and its impact on Agriculture.
Principles
of Plant Physiology with reference to plant nutrition, absorption,
translocation and metabolism of nutrients. Soil - water- plant relationship.
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 vernalilzation. Plant growth substances and their role in
crop production. Physiology of seed development and germination; dormancy.
Stress physiology - draught, salt and water stress.
Major
fruits, plantation crops, vegetables, spices and flower crops. Package practices
of major horticultural crops. Protected cultivation and high tech horticulture.
Post harvest technology and value addition of fruits and vegetables.
Landscaping and commercial floriculture. Medicinal and aromatic plants. Role of
fruits and vegetables in human nutrition.
Diagnosis
of pests and diseases of field crops, vegetables, orchard and plantation crops
and their economic importance. Classification of pests and diseases and their
management. Integrated pest and disease management. Storage pests and their
management. Biological control of pests and diseases. Epidemiology and
forecasting of major crop pests and diseases. Plant quarantine measures.
Pesticides, their formulation and modes of action.
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