✓Agronomy
•General: Fundamental of Agronomy, tillage, crop density and geometry, sowing of different crops. Plant ideotype, growth and development of crops, crop rotation, crop management technologies in problematic areas. Essential plant nutrients and their deficiency symptoms, concept of essentiality of plant nutrients, manures and fertilizers, principles and methods of fertilizer application, integrated nutrient management.
•Field crops: Origin, distribution, economic importance, soil and climatic requirement, varieties, cultural practices and yield of cereals (rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, finger millets, barley), pulses (chickpea, lentil, peas, pigeon pea, mungbean, urdbean), oilseeds (groundnut, soybean, rapeseed & mustard, sunflower), fiber crops (cotton, jute), sugar crops (sugarcane), fodder & forage crops (sorghum, cowpea, napier, berseem, lucerne, oats, cluster bean), and medicinal and aromatic crops (menthe, lemon grass, citronella).
•Weed management: Principles of weed management, classification, biology and ecology of weeds, crop weed competition and allelopathy, concepts and methods of weed control. Classification, formulations and selectivity of herbicides. Concept of adjuvants, surfactant, bio herbicide, herbicide mixture, herbicide compatibility and herbicide resistance. Application methods and equipments. Special and problematic weeds and their management in cropped and non- cropped situations, weed management in field crops.
•Water management: Principles of irrigation, water resources and irrigation development in India and Chhattisgarh. Water and irrigation requirements of different crops, concepts and approaches of irrigation scheduling, methods of irrigation, measurement of irrigation water. Water and irrigation use efficiencies, conjunctive use of water, irrigation water quality and its management, water management in major field crops. Agricultural drainage and watershed management.
•Farming system: Types of farming system and factor affecting farming system. Farming system components, cropping system, cropping pattern, multiple cropping system, sustainable agriculture, indicators of sustainability, conservation agriculture (conservation strategy, HELA, LEIA and LEISA) integrated farming system (objective, characteristics, components & resource recycling)
✓Agricultural Economics
Importance of agriculture in national economy: Theory of consumer behavior, theory of demand, elasticity of demand, indifference of curve analysis, theory of firm, cost curves, theory of supply, price determination, market classification, concept of macro economics, money and banking, national income. Agricultural marketing-role, practice, institutions, problems and reforms, role of capital and credit in agriculture, crop insurance, credit institutions, cooperatives, liberalization and globalization, WTO & its impact on Indian Agriculture. Basic principles of farm management, concept of farming system agricultural production economics- subject matter and analytical approaches analysis, factor-product, factor-factor and product-product relationship, marginal cost and marginal revenue, farm planning and budging, agricultural finance: nature and scope. Time value of money, compounding and discounting. Agricultural credit: meaning, definition, need, classification. Credit analysis: 4R’s, 5C’s and 7P’s of credit, repayment plans. Nationalization of commercial banks. Lead bank scheme, regional rural banks, scale of finance. Higher financing agencies, RBI, NABARD, AFC, Asian Development Bank, World Bank.
✓Agricultural Extension
Extension Education-concept, meaning, principle, philosophy, scope and importance. Extension Programme Planning and evaluation-step and principle, historical development of extension. Rural development, meaning, importance and problems; Rural development programmes in India- Pre-independence era to recent ones; Extension Teaching Methods-definition and concept of sociology, differences between rural & urban communities, social stratification, social groups, social organization, social institutions and social change. Social ecology- meaning, definition and its importance in agricultural extension. Rural leadership, Educational psychology-learning and teaching, role of personality in agricultural extension. Indian rural system-its characteristics; value system, caste and class; structure and customs, rural group organization and adult education. Communication, principles, concept, process, elements and barriers in communication. Different kinds of communication methods and media and AV aids/materials. Media mix, Campaign, Cyber extension- internet, cybercafé, Kisan Call Centers, teleconferencing, expert system, agriculture journalism, Diffusion and adoption of innovations, adopter categories, capacity building of extension personnel and farmers. Training to farmers, women and rural youths. Type of training. Concept of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship. Traits and types of entrepreneurs.
✓Entomology
Crop Protection Principles in field and storage. Major insect pests of agricultural crops like rice, cotton, pulses (arhar, gram, blackgram), oilseed crops (groundnut, soybean and mustard, vegetables like tomato), Cole crops; fruit crops like mango and banana and their management practices.Classification of animal kingdom up to class level and the distinguishing characters up to orders in class insecta and the general organization of an insect external morphology with special reference to lepidopteron larvae, coleopteran adults; and honeybee; metamorphosis and moulting; different physiological systems; insect plant relationship; insect pests of agricultural and horticultural crops, and stored/processed products, insect vectors of plant diseases-identification, biology, nature of damage, and their management tactics; and pests of household, medical and veterinary importance and their control; useful and beneficial insects like honeybee, lac insect, silkworm and pollinators. IPM : introduction, importance, concepts, principles and tools of IPM (Cultural, biological, insecticidal, quarantine, and regulatory aspects); insecticide classification and insecticide resistance management; and insect protective transgenic crops
✓Genetics & Plant Breeding
Mendelian principles of heredity. Cell and Cell Organelles. Chromosome, cell cycle and cell division- mitosis and meiosis. Chromosomal abnormalities. Epistatic interactions with examples. Linkage and its estimation. Crossing over and types. Mutations. Cytoplasmic inheritance. Genetic materials (DNA & RNA). Transcription and translational. Genetic codes. Gene concept. Self-incompatibility and male sterility. Apomixis. Genetic basis and breeding methods in self and cross pollinated crops and asexually propagated crops. Population improvement.Heterosis breeding. Polyploidy in relation to plant breeding. Mutation breeding-methods and uses. Breeding for important biotic and abiotic stresses. Biotechnological tools-DNA markers and marker assisted selection, Transgenic and GMOs. Polyploidy and applications. Mutation breeding-methods and uses. Seed and seed technology, seed quality and classes of seeds. Seed testing, Seed certification, Seed Processing, Seed Act, GMO and Transgene and Seed Act enforcement. Grow out Test, Seed storage and seed marketing. Plant genetic resources, its utilization and conservation; Hybrid seed production of major field and horticultural crops. Ideotype concept and climate resilient crop varieties for future uses.Intellectual property, Various types of Intellectual Property Rights. PPV&FR Act 2001, International treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (ITPGRFA)., TRIPS Agreement, UPOV, and Indian Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
✓Plant Pathology
Milestones in phytopathology with particular reference to India. Major epidemics and
their social impacts. Historical developments of chemicals, cultural and biological protection measures including classification of plant diseases. Physiologic specialization, Koch’s
postulates; Diseases and symptoms due to biotic and abiotic causes; reproduction, survival and dispersal of plant pathogen; Factors influencing infection, colonization and development of symptoms; Types of parasitism and variability in plant pathogens; Pathogenesis-Role of enzymes, toxins and growth regulators in disease development; Defense mechanism in plants; Epidemiology: factors affecting disease development, disease triangle and tetrahedron; General morphological characters, reproduction, nomenclature and classification of Fungi, Bacteria and mollicutes and Nematodes; Nature, structure, replication and transmission of Viruses; Study of phanerogamic plant parasites.Crop diseases of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, plantation and fiber crops caused by fungus, bacteria, viruses, viroids, phytoplasmas and other fastidious prokaryotes.
✓Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry
Soil as a medium for plant growth, composition of earth`s crust, weathering of rocks and minerals, components of soil-their importance, soil profile, soil particles-physical mineralogical and chemical nature. Mechanical analysis, Stokes law, assumptions, limitation and applications. Soil physical properties-density, porosity, texture, soil structure and their brief descriptions. Rheological properties in soils, calculations of porosity and bulk density. Soil Air-Aeration, causes of poor aeration, factors affecting aeration, it’s importance for plant growth. Soil temperature-sources and losses of soil heat. Factors affecting soil temperature, its importance in plant growth. Soil water-structure of water, soil-water-energy relationship, classifications, surface tension and movement in soil. Soil colloids-classification, properties, structure of silicate clay minerals, sources of negative charges, kaolinite, illite, montmorillonite and vermiculite clay minerals, milli-equivalent concept, cation exchange capacity, anion exchange capacity, buffering of soils. Problem soils- acid, saline, saline-sodic, sodic and acid sulphate soils-their characteristics, formation, problems and management. Irrigation, water quality and its evaluation. Waterlogged soils- basic features, distinction with upland soils.
Essential plant nutrients- criteria of essentiality, their forms absorbed by plants,functions for plant growth, mechanisms for movement and uptake of ions in soils and plants, Forms of nutrients in soils, deficiency symptoms on plants, luxury consumption, nutrient interaction and chelated micronutrients. Soil fertility, evaluation and management for plant
growth, soil testing and fertilizer recommendations. Soil classification- diagnostic surface and sub-surface horizons, soil orders and associated specific features, soil survey- objectives, uses, land capability classification. Remote sensing and its application in agriculture, SIS, GIS and GPS- basic features and uses in agriculture, Soil micro- organisms, classification and their roles. Organic matter-decomposition, C:N ratio, mineralization and immobilization processes, humus, role of organic matter in soil quality. Soil erosion, types and control measures. Fertilizers and manures – classifications, NPK and micronutrient fertilizers, their reactions in soil, slow release fertilizers, nitrification inhibitors, nano-fertilizers and their role, green manuring, recycling of organic wastes, composting. Soil and water pollution- sources brief idea about different pollutants in soils and their managements.
✓ Horticulture
Importance of vegetables and spices in human nutrition and national economy, status and scope. Classification of major vegetables and spices. Package of practices of vegetables (Tomato, Brinjal, Chilli, Capsicum, Cucumber, , Gourds, Melons, Pumpkin, French bean, Peas, Cowpea; Cole crops such as Cabbage, Cauliflower, Knol-khol; Bulb Crops such as Onion, Garlic; Root crops such as Carrot, Radish, Beetroot; Tubers crops such as Potato; Leafy vegetables such as Amaranth, Palak. Perennial vegetables.). Improved vegetable nursery technology, organic farming, post harvest technology, seed production and use of PGR in important vegetables, protected cultivation. Importance & scope of Spices crops. Production Technology of Ginger, Turmeric Coriander, Fenugreek, Black Pepper, Cardamom.Importance and scope of horticulture, climatic zones of horticultural crops. Orchard establishment including high density planting, planting geometry and planting systems, propagation methods and root stocks of fruit crops, training and pruning methods, role of PGR in fruit crops, production technology of major fruit crops (mango, banana, papaya, guava, grapes, citrus, litchi, sapota), temperate fruit crops (apple, pear, peach, plum, strawberry), minor fruit crops (aonla, bale, ber, custard apple, pineapple, pomegranate, jackfruit). Production technology of tea, coffee and coconut. Importance and scope of post harvest technology of horticultural crops. Post harvest handling of fruits and vegetables. Maturity indices, grading, packing and storage of fruits and vegetables. Importance and scope of fruits and vegetable preservation. Principles of preservation by heat, low temperature, chemicals and fermentation. Preservation methods by canning, bottling, freezing, drying and dehydration. Preparation of jams, jellies, candies, chutney, pickle, ketchup, nectar and squashes. Preservatives and colours permitted and prohibited in India. FPO, HACCP, FSSAI. Famous gardens of India & abroad; Importance, features & establishment of formal, Informal, Free style &Wild gardens; Xeriscaping-Principles & Practice; Bio-aesthetics Planning & Avenue Planting; Principles of landscape gardens; Scope & importance of Commercial Floriculture in India; Production techniques of commercial flower crops viz. Rose Marigold, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, Tuberose and Gerbera for domestics and export market; Role of heterosis, production of F1 hybrids & utilization of mole sterility; Floriculture industry importance, Area and Production of commercial flower crops viz., Rose, Marigold, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, Tuberose and Gerbera; Importance, classification, design values and cultivation aspects of ornamental plants viz., annuals, perennials, grasses shrubs, climbers trees, indoor plants. Palms and cycads, ferns and cacti & Succulents; Establishment of garden features/components; Importance of garden adornments; Lawn- establishment & maintenance.
✓Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
Importance of agriculture in national economy; principles of crop production: cultivation of rice, wheat chickpea pigeon-pea, sugarcane, groundnut, tomato and mango. Major soils of India role of NPK and their deficiency symptoms. General structure and function of cell organelles; mitosis and meiosis; Mendelian genetics. Elementary knowledge of growth, development, photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration: Elements of economic botany. General structure and function of carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, enzymes and vitamins Major pests and diseases of rice, wheat cotton, chickpea, sugarcane and their management. Organic farming; bio-fertilizer; bio-pesticides. Recombinant DNA technology; transgenic crops. Important rural development programmes in India; organizational set up of agricultural research, education and extension in India. Elements of statistics. Importance of biochemistry in agriculture Acid-base concept and buffers; pH. Classification, structure and metabolic functions of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Structure and function of nucleic acids. Enzymes: structure nomenclature mechanism of action; vitamins and minerals as coenzymes and cofactors metabolic pathways: Metabolic pathways: glycolysis, TCA cycle, fatty acid oxidation triglyceride biosynthesis. Electron transport chain; ATP formation. Photosynthesis: C-3 C-4 and CAM pathways. Nitrate assimilation; biological nitrogen fixation. Colorimetric and chromatographic techniques. Characteristics of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, differences between fungi, bacteria mycoplasms and viruses. Physical and chemical basis of heredity; chromosome structure. DNA replication, transcription and translation; genetic code; operon concept. Genetic engineering; restriction enzymes; vectors gene cloning; gene transfer. Plant cell and tissue culture; micro-propagation; somaclonal variation. Transformation; recombination: heterosis General application of biotechnology Molecular and immunological techniques. Concept of bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics.
Plant physiology importance in agriculture. Seed germination viability and vigour. Photosynthesis – significance of C-3 C-4 and CAM pathway; photorespiration and its implications. Translocation of assimilates; dry matter partitioning: Harvest index of crops.
Growth and development; growth analysis; crop- water relationship. Plant nutrients and their functions. Phytohormones and their physiological role. Photo-periodism, vernalisation; pollination / fertilization in flowing plants. Post- harvest physiology and its significance
✓Agriculture Statistics
Introduction: Definition of Statistics and its use and limitations; Frequency Distribution and Frequency Curves. Measures of Central Tendency: Arithmetic Mean, Properties of Arithmetic Mean, Median, Mode, Merits and Demerits of Arithmetic Mean. Measures of Dispersion: Variance, Standard deviation, and Coefficient of Variation. Probability: Classical Definition of Probability and simple problems; Normal Distribution, its properties and Simple problems; Introduction to Sampling: Random Sampling; the concept of Standard Error.
Tests of Significance: Types of Errors, Null Hypothesis, Level of Significance and Degrees of Freedom; Steps involved in testing of hypothesis; Small sample test for sample means: Students’ t-test for single sample; Two sample t-tests and paired t-test; Chi-square test,goodness of fit test, test of independence of attributes, and t-test of population correlation; Yates correction for continuity;Correlation: Types of Correlation, Scatter Diagram, Computation of Correlation coefficient ‘r’; Linear Regression : Of Y on X and X on Yand its properties, test of regression coefficient.Introduction to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA);Experimental Designs: Principles of Design of Experiments; Completely Randomized Design (CRD), Layout and analysis with equal and unequal number of observations, Randomized Block Design (RBD), Layout and analysis. Introduction to Computers; Input and output devices, Units of memory. Hardware, Software and Classification of computers; Elementary types of Processors. Booting of Computes, warm and cold booting, Operating System: DOS and DOS commands; Operating system WINDOWS; MS-WORD; Basic features of word processing; Creating, editing and saving MS-WORD documents and MS-EXCELspreadsheets. Editing cell contents; Use of in built Statistical functions like functions of mean, standard deviation, correlation and regression;Entering expressions; Creating graphs; Introduction to MS Power Point; Creating new presentation;Introduction to MS Access, concept of data base, creating data base.
Creating tables in data base;Elements of Basic Programing., Flow charts. Algorithms,
illustration through examples. Introduction to Internet. World wide web, information
retrieval. Introduction to electronic mail. Advantages ofE-mail;Basic tools of Information and communication Technology (ICT).
✓ Plant Physiology
Plant cell: an Overview; function of different cell organelles, Absorption of water, transpiration and Stomatal Physiology, Essential nutrients for plants and their role in plant metabolism, Nutrient uptake mechanisms, Photosynthesis: Light and Dark reactions, C3, C4 and CAM plants, Respiration: Glycolysis, TCA cycle and electron transport chain, Plant growth regulators: Physiological roles and agricultural uses, Physiological aspects of growth and
development of major crops: Growth analysis, Role of Physiological growth parameters in crop productivity, Introduction of plant stresses, types, mechanism of stress resistance, tolerance and avoidance. Seed dormancy, germination, types of dormancy and germination, Plant water
relations, water potential, Osmotic potential, turgor pressure, Biochemical and physiological properties of water. Food composition and chemistry (water, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, flavours, colours, miscellaneous bioactives, important reactions. Principles and methods of food processing and preservation (use of heat, low temperature, chemicals, radiation, drying etc.Food and nutrition, Malnutrition (over and under nutrition), nutritional disorders, Balanced/ modified diets.
✓Agriculture Microbiology
History and Scope of Microbiology: The discovery of micro-organism, spontaneous generation conflict, germ theory of desease, microbial effect on organic and inorganic matter, Development of microbiology in india and composition of microbial world. Microscopy and Specimen Preparation: The bright field microscope, fixation, dyes and simple staining, differential staining. Difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Prokaryotic cell structure and functions. Types of culture media and pre-culture techniques. Sterilization methods- physics and chemical. Isolation of pure cultures and preservation of cultures, microbial growth in models of bacterial, yeast and mycelia growth curve.
Measurements of bacterial growth. General properties of viruses and brief description of bacteriophages. Chemoautotrophy, photoautotrophy, growth.DNA as genetic material. Genetic recombination- transformation, conjugation and transduction, plasmids.Antibiosis, symbiosis, intra-microbial and extra-microbial association. Plant growth promoting microorganisms and mushrooms – Economical importance, industrially important microorganisms in large scale production and common microbial fermentation. Mushrooms – edible and poisonous types, nutritive values, Culturing and production techniques. Role of microbes in soil fertility and crop production: Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Sulphur cycles. Biological nitrogen fixation- symbiotic, associative and asymbiotic. Azolla, blue green algae and mycorrhiza.Rhizosphere and phyllosphere. Silage production, biofertilizers, biopesticides. Biofuel production and biodegradation of agro-waste.
✓Agrometeorology
Atmosphere - composition and properties, structure of atmosphere, Air temperature –
isotherms, horizontal and vertical temperature distribution of temperature, Cardinal temperatures – low and high air temperature and plant injury - soil temperature – importance and factors affecting soil temperature, Atmospheric pressure – general circulation, pressure patterns - wind – factors responsible, effects of wind on crops - cyclones and anticyclones, Atmospheric humidity – methods of measurement of atmospheric humidity, vapour pressure and saturation vapour pressure, process of condensation - dew, fog, mist, snow, rain and hail - clouds – cloud formation and classification - cloud seeding (artificial rain making). Monsoon, origin and onset and withdrawal process of south west monsoon and north east monsoon, economic importance and influence of monsoon rains on Indian economy, Solar
radiation – electromagnetic spectrum and functions of light, different kinds of transmission of heat and radiation, important radiation laws, solar constant and energy balance, Agroclimatic classification, Agro-climatic requirement of crops – Rice, Soybean, Maize, Sorghum,
Sugarcane, Groundnut, Cotton, wheat and major Vegetables, Weather forecasting – types of weather forecast - applications and utility for agriculture, Weather hazards - different kinds of weather hazards for agriculture, Global warming and climate change – reasons and future projections – impact of climate change on agriculture.
•General: Fundamental of Agronomy, tillage, crop density and geometry, sowing of different crops. Plant ideotype, growth and development of crops, crop rotation, crop management technologies in problematic areas. Essential plant nutrients and their deficiency symptoms, concept of essentiality of plant nutrients, manures and fertilizers, principles and methods of fertilizer application, integrated nutrient management.
•Field crops: Origin, distribution, economic importance, soil and climatic requirement, varieties, cultural practices and yield of cereals (rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, finger millets, barley), pulses (chickpea, lentil, peas, pigeon pea, mungbean, urdbean), oilseeds (groundnut, soybean, rapeseed & mustard, sunflower), fiber crops (cotton, jute), sugar crops (sugarcane), fodder & forage crops (sorghum, cowpea, napier, berseem, lucerne, oats, cluster bean), and medicinal and aromatic crops (menthe, lemon grass, citronella).
•Weed management: Principles of weed management, classification, biology and ecology of weeds, crop weed competition and allelopathy, concepts and methods of weed control. Classification, formulations and selectivity of herbicides. Concept of adjuvants, surfactant, bio herbicide, herbicide mixture, herbicide compatibility and herbicide resistance. Application methods and equipments. Special and problematic weeds and their management in cropped and non- cropped situations, weed management in field crops.
•Water management: Principles of irrigation, water resources and irrigation development in India and Chhattisgarh. Water and irrigation requirements of different crops, concepts and approaches of irrigation scheduling, methods of irrigation, measurement of irrigation water. Water and irrigation use efficiencies, conjunctive use of water, irrigation water quality and its management, water management in major field crops. Agricultural drainage and watershed management.
•Farming system: Types of farming system and factor affecting farming system. Farming system components, cropping system, cropping pattern, multiple cropping system, sustainable agriculture, indicators of sustainability, conservation agriculture (conservation strategy, HELA, LEIA and LEISA) integrated farming system (objective, characteristics, components & resource recycling)
✓Agricultural Economics
Importance of agriculture in national economy: Theory of consumer behavior, theory of demand, elasticity of demand, indifference of curve analysis, theory of firm, cost curves, theory of supply, price determination, market classification, concept of macro economics, money and banking, national income. Agricultural marketing-role, practice, institutions, problems and reforms, role of capital and credit in agriculture, crop insurance, credit institutions, cooperatives, liberalization and globalization, WTO & its impact on Indian Agriculture. Basic principles of farm management, concept of farming system agricultural production economics- subject matter and analytical approaches analysis, factor-product, factor-factor and product-product relationship, marginal cost and marginal revenue, farm planning and budging, agricultural finance: nature and scope. Time value of money, compounding and discounting. Agricultural credit: meaning, definition, need, classification. Credit analysis: 4R’s, 5C’s and 7P’s of credit, repayment plans. Nationalization of commercial banks. Lead bank scheme, regional rural banks, scale of finance. Higher financing agencies, RBI, NABARD, AFC, Asian Development Bank, World Bank.
✓Agricultural Extension
Extension Education-concept, meaning, principle, philosophy, scope and importance. Extension Programme Planning and evaluation-step and principle, historical development of extension. Rural development, meaning, importance and problems; Rural development programmes in India- Pre-independence era to recent ones; Extension Teaching Methods-definition and concept of sociology, differences between rural & urban communities, social stratification, social groups, social organization, social institutions and social change. Social ecology- meaning, definition and its importance in agricultural extension. Rural leadership, Educational psychology-learning and teaching, role of personality in agricultural extension. Indian rural system-its characteristics; value system, caste and class; structure and customs, rural group organization and adult education. Communication, principles, concept, process, elements and barriers in communication. Different kinds of communication methods and media and AV aids/materials. Media mix, Campaign, Cyber extension- internet, cybercafé, Kisan Call Centers, teleconferencing, expert system, agriculture journalism, Diffusion and adoption of innovations, adopter categories, capacity building of extension personnel and farmers. Training to farmers, women and rural youths. Type of training. Concept of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship. Traits and types of entrepreneurs.
✓Entomology
Crop Protection Principles in field and storage. Major insect pests of agricultural crops like rice, cotton, pulses (arhar, gram, blackgram), oilseed crops (groundnut, soybean and mustard, vegetables like tomato), Cole crops; fruit crops like mango and banana and their management practices.Classification of animal kingdom up to class level and the distinguishing characters up to orders in class insecta and the general organization of an insect external morphology with special reference to lepidopteron larvae, coleopteran adults; and honeybee; metamorphosis and moulting; different physiological systems; insect plant relationship; insect pests of agricultural and horticultural crops, and stored/processed products, insect vectors of plant diseases-identification, biology, nature of damage, and their management tactics; and pests of household, medical and veterinary importance and their control; useful and beneficial insects like honeybee, lac insect, silkworm and pollinators. IPM : introduction, importance, concepts, principles and tools of IPM (Cultural, biological, insecticidal, quarantine, and regulatory aspects); insecticide classification and insecticide resistance management; and insect protective transgenic crops
✓Genetics & Plant Breeding
Mendelian principles of heredity. Cell and Cell Organelles. Chromosome, cell cycle and cell division- mitosis and meiosis. Chromosomal abnormalities. Epistatic interactions with examples. Linkage and its estimation. Crossing over and types. Mutations. Cytoplasmic inheritance. Genetic materials (DNA & RNA). Transcription and translational. Genetic codes. Gene concept. Self-incompatibility and male sterility. Apomixis. Genetic basis and breeding methods in self and cross pollinated crops and asexually propagated crops. Population improvement.Heterosis breeding. Polyploidy in relation to plant breeding. Mutation breeding-methods and uses. Breeding for important biotic and abiotic stresses. Biotechnological tools-DNA markers and marker assisted selection, Transgenic and GMOs. Polyploidy and applications. Mutation breeding-methods and uses. Seed and seed technology, seed quality and classes of seeds. Seed testing, Seed certification, Seed Processing, Seed Act, GMO and Transgene and Seed Act enforcement. Grow out Test, Seed storage and seed marketing. Plant genetic resources, its utilization and conservation; Hybrid seed production of major field and horticultural crops. Ideotype concept and climate resilient crop varieties for future uses.Intellectual property, Various types of Intellectual Property Rights. PPV&FR Act 2001, International treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (ITPGRFA)., TRIPS Agreement, UPOV, and Indian Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
✓Plant Pathology
Milestones in phytopathology with particular reference to India. Major epidemics and
their social impacts. Historical developments of chemicals, cultural and biological protection measures including classification of plant diseases. Physiologic specialization, Koch’s
postulates; Diseases and symptoms due to biotic and abiotic causes; reproduction, survival and dispersal of plant pathogen; Factors influencing infection, colonization and development of symptoms; Types of parasitism and variability in plant pathogens; Pathogenesis-Role of enzymes, toxins and growth regulators in disease development; Defense mechanism in plants; Epidemiology: factors affecting disease development, disease triangle and tetrahedron; General morphological characters, reproduction, nomenclature and classification of Fungi, Bacteria and mollicutes and Nematodes; Nature, structure, replication and transmission of Viruses; Study of phanerogamic plant parasites.Crop diseases of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, plantation and fiber crops caused by fungus, bacteria, viruses, viroids, phytoplasmas and other fastidious prokaryotes.
✓Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry
Soil as a medium for plant growth, composition of earth`s crust, weathering of rocks and minerals, components of soil-their importance, soil profile, soil particles-physical mineralogical and chemical nature. Mechanical analysis, Stokes law, assumptions, limitation and applications. Soil physical properties-density, porosity, texture, soil structure and their brief descriptions. Rheological properties in soils, calculations of porosity and bulk density. Soil Air-Aeration, causes of poor aeration, factors affecting aeration, it’s importance for plant growth. Soil temperature-sources and losses of soil heat. Factors affecting soil temperature, its importance in plant growth. Soil water-structure of water, soil-water-energy relationship, classifications, surface tension and movement in soil. Soil colloids-classification, properties, structure of silicate clay minerals, sources of negative charges, kaolinite, illite, montmorillonite and vermiculite clay minerals, milli-equivalent concept, cation exchange capacity, anion exchange capacity, buffering of soils. Problem soils- acid, saline, saline-sodic, sodic and acid sulphate soils-their characteristics, formation, problems and management. Irrigation, water quality and its evaluation. Waterlogged soils- basic features, distinction with upland soils.
Essential plant nutrients- criteria of essentiality, their forms absorbed by plants,functions for plant growth, mechanisms for movement and uptake of ions in soils and plants, Forms of nutrients in soils, deficiency symptoms on plants, luxury consumption, nutrient interaction and chelated micronutrients. Soil fertility, evaluation and management for plant
growth, soil testing and fertilizer recommendations. Soil classification- diagnostic surface and sub-surface horizons, soil orders and associated specific features, soil survey- objectives, uses, land capability classification. Remote sensing and its application in agriculture, SIS, GIS and GPS- basic features and uses in agriculture, Soil micro- organisms, classification and their roles. Organic matter-decomposition, C:N ratio, mineralization and immobilization processes, humus, role of organic matter in soil quality. Soil erosion, types and control measures. Fertilizers and manures – classifications, NPK and micronutrient fertilizers, their reactions in soil, slow release fertilizers, nitrification inhibitors, nano-fertilizers and their role, green manuring, recycling of organic wastes, composting. Soil and water pollution- sources brief idea about different pollutants in soils and their managements.
✓ Horticulture
Importance of vegetables and spices in human nutrition and national economy, status and scope. Classification of major vegetables and spices. Package of practices of vegetables (Tomato, Brinjal, Chilli, Capsicum, Cucumber, , Gourds, Melons, Pumpkin, French bean, Peas, Cowpea; Cole crops such as Cabbage, Cauliflower, Knol-khol; Bulb Crops such as Onion, Garlic; Root crops such as Carrot, Radish, Beetroot; Tubers crops such as Potato; Leafy vegetables such as Amaranth, Palak. Perennial vegetables.). Improved vegetable nursery technology, organic farming, post harvest technology, seed production and use of PGR in important vegetables, protected cultivation. Importance & scope of Spices crops. Production Technology of Ginger, Turmeric Coriander, Fenugreek, Black Pepper, Cardamom.Importance and scope of horticulture, climatic zones of horticultural crops. Orchard establishment including high density planting, planting geometry and planting systems, propagation methods and root stocks of fruit crops, training and pruning methods, role of PGR in fruit crops, production technology of major fruit crops (mango, banana, papaya, guava, grapes, citrus, litchi, sapota), temperate fruit crops (apple, pear, peach, plum, strawberry), minor fruit crops (aonla, bale, ber, custard apple, pineapple, pomegranate, jackfruit). Production technology of tea, coffee and coconut. Importance and scope of post harvest technology of horticultural crops. Post harvest handling of fruits and vegetables. Maturity indices, grading, packing and storage of fruits and vegetables. Importance and scope of fruits and vegetable preservation. Principles of preservation by heat, low temperature, chemicals and fermentation. Preservation methods by canning, bottling, freezing, drying and dehydration. Preparation of jams, jellies, candies, chutney, pickle, ketchup, nectar and squashes. Preservatives and colours permitted and prohibited in India. FPO, HACCP, FSSAI. Famous gardens of India & abroad; Importance, features & establishment of formal, Informal, Free style &Wild gardens; Xeriscaping-Principles & Practice; Bio-aesthetics Planning & Avenue Planting; Principles of landscape gardens; Scope & importance of Commercial Floriculture in India; Production techniques of commercial flower crops viz. Rose Marigold, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, Tuberose and Gerbera for domestics and export market; Role of heterosis, production of F1 hybrids & utilization of mole sterility; Floriculture industry importance, Area and Production of commercial flower crops viz., Rose, Marigold, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, Tuberose and Gerbera; Importance, classification, design values and cultivation aspects of ornamental plants viz., annuals, perennials, grasses shrubs, climbers trees, indoor plants. Palms and cycads, ferns and cacti & Succulents; Establishment of garden features/components; Importance of garden adornments; Lawn- establishment & maintenance.
✓Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
Importance of agriculture in national economy; principles of crop production: cultivation of rice, wheat chickpea pigeon-pea, sugarcane, groundnut, tomato and mango. Major soils of India role of NPK and their deficiency symptoms. General structure and function of cell organelles; mitosis and meiosis; Mendelian genetics. Elementary knowledge of growth, development, photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration: Elements of economic botany. General structure and function of carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, enzymes and vitamins Major pests and diseases of rice, wheat cotton, chickpea, sugarcane and their management. Organic farming; bio-fertilizer; bio-pesticides. Recombinant DNA technology; transgenic crops. Important rural development programmes in India; organizational set up of agricultural research, education and extension in India. Elements of statistics. Importance of biochemistry in agriculture Acid-base concept and buffers; pH. Classification, structure and metabolic functions of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Structure and function of nucleic acids. Enzymes: structure nomenclature mechanism of action; vitamins and minerals as coenzymes and cofactors metabolic pathways: Metabolic pathways: glycolysis, TCA cycle, fatty acid oxidation triglyceride biosynthesis. Electron transport chain; ATP formation. Photosynthesis: C-3 C-4 and CAM pathways. Nitrate assimilation; biological nitrogen fixation. Colorimetric and chromatographic techniques. Characteristics of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, differences between fungi, bacteria mycoplasms and viruses. Physical and chemical basis of heredity; chromosome structure. DNA replication, transcription and translation; genetic code; operon concept. Genetic engineering; restriction enzymes; vectors gene cloning; gene transfer. Plant cell and tissue culture; micro-propagation; somaclonal variation. Transformation; recombination: heterosis General application of biotechnology Molecular and immunological techniques. Concept of bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics.
Plant physiology importance in agriculture. Seed germination viability and vigour. Photosynthesis – significance of C-3 C-4 and CAM pathway; photorespiration and its implications. Translocation of assimilates; dry matter partitioning: Harvest index of crops.
Growth and development; growth analysis; crop- water relationship. Plant nutrients and their functions. Phytohormones and their physiological role. Photo-periodism, vernalisation; pollination / fertilization in flowing plants. Post- harvest physiology and its significance
✓Agriculture Statistics
Introduction: Definition of Statistics and its use and limitations; Frequency Distribution and Frequency Curves. Measures of Central Tendency: Arithmetic Mean, Properties of Arithmetic Mean, Median, Mode, Merits and Demerits of Arithmetic Mean. Measures of Dispersion: Variance, Standard deviation, and Coefficient of Variation. Probability: Classical Definition of Probability and simple problems; Normal Distribution, its properties and Simple problems; Introduction to Sampling: Random Sampling; the concept of Standard Error.
Tests of Significance: Types of Errors, Null Hypothesis, Level of Significance and Degrees of Freedom; Steps involved in testing of hypothesis; Small sample test for sample means: Students’ t-test for single sample; Two sample t-tests and paired t-test; Chi-square test,goodness of fit test, test of independence of attributes, and t-test of population correlation; Yates correction for continuity;Correlation: Types of Correlation, Scatter Diagram, Computation of Correlation coefficient ‘r’; Linear Regression : Of Y on X and X on Yand its properties, test of regression coefficient.Introduction to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA);Experimental Designs: Principles of Design of Experiments; Completely Randomized Design (CRD), Layout and analysis with equal and unequal number of observations, Randomized Block Design (RBD), Layout and analysis. Introduction to Computers; Input and output devices, Units of memory. Hardware, Software and Classification of computers; Elementary types of Processors. Booting of Computes, warm and cold booting, Operating System: DOS and DOS commands; Operating system WINDOWS; MS-WORD; Basic features of word processing; Creating, editing and saving MS-WORD documents and MS-EXCELspreadsheets. Editing cell contents; Use of in built Statistical functions like functions of mean, standard deviation, correlation and regression;Entering expressions; Creating graphs; Introduction to MS Power Point; Creating new presentation;Introduction to MS Access, concept of data base, creating data base.
Creating tables in data base;Elements of Basic Programing., Flow charts. Algorithms,
illustration through examples. Introduction to Internet. World wide web, information
retrieval. Introduction to electronic mail. Advantages ofE-mail;Basic tools of Information and communication Technology (ICT).
✓ Plant Physiology
Plant cell: an Overview; function of different cell organelles, Absorption of water, transpiration and Stomatal Physiology, Essential nutrients for plants and their role in plant metabolism, Nutrient uptake mechanisms, Photosynthesis: Light and Dark reactions, C3, C4 and CAM plants, Respiration: Glycolysis, TCA cycle and electron transport chain, Plant growth regulators: Physiological roles and agricultural uses, Physiological aspects of growth and
development of major crops: Growth analysis, Role of Physiological growth parameters in crop productivity, Introduction of plant stresses, types, mechanism of stress resistance, tolerance and avoidance. Seed dormancy, germination, types of dormancy and germination, Plant water
relations, water potential, Osmotic potential, turgor pressure, Biochemical and physiological properties of water. Food composition and chemistry (water, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, flavours, colours, miscellaneous bioactives, important reactions. Principles and methods of food processing and preservation (use of heat, low temperature, chemicals, radiation, drying etc.Food and nutrition, Malnutrition (over and under nutrition), nutritional disorders, Balanced/ modified diets.
✓Agriculture Microbiology
History and Scope of Microbiology: The discovery of micro-organism, spontaneous generation conflict, germ theory of desease, microbial effect on organic and inorganic matter, Development of microbiology in india and composition of microbial world. Microscopy and Specimen Preparation: The bright field microscope, fixation, dyes and simple staining, differential staining. Difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Prokaryotic cell structure and functions. Types of culture media and pre-culture techniques. Sterilization methods- physics and chemical. Isolation of pure cultures and preservation of cultures, microbial growth in models of bacterial, yeast and mycelia growth curve.
Measurements of bacterial growth. General properties of viruses and brief description of bacteriophages. Chemoautotrophy, photoautotrophy, growth.DNA as genetic material. Genetic recombination- transformation, conjugation and transduction, plasmids.Antibiosis, symbiosis, intra-microbial and extra-microbial association. Plant growth promoting microorganisms and mushrooms – Economical importance, industrially important microorganisms in large scale production and common microbial fermentation. Mushrooms – edible and poisonous types, nutritive values, Culturing and production techniques. Role of microbes in soil fertility and crop production: Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Sulphur cycles. Biological nitrogen fixation- symbiotic, associative and asymbiotic. Azolla, blue green algae and mycorrhiza.Rhizosphere and phyllosphere. Silage production, biofertilizers, biopesticides. Biofuel production and biodegradation of agro-waste.
✓Agrometeorology
Atmosphere - composition and properties, structure of atmosphere, Air temperature –
isotherms, horizontal and vertical temperature distribution of temperature, Cardinal temperatures – low and high air temperature and plant injury - soil temperature – importance and factors affecting soil temperature, Atmospheric pressure – general circulation, pressure patterns - wind – factors responsible, effects of wind on crops - cyclones and anticyclones, Atmospheric humidity – methods of measurement of atmospheric humidity, vapour pressure and saturation vapour pressure, process of condensation - dew, fog, mist, snow, rain and hail - clouds – cloud formation and classification - cloud seeding (artificial rain making). Monsoon, origin and onset and withdrawal process of south west monsoon and north east monsoon, economic importance and influence of monsoon rains on Indian economy, Solar
radiation – electromagnetic spectrum and functions of light, different kinds of transmission of heat and radiation, important radiation laws, solar constant and energy balance, Agroclimatic classification, Agro-climatic requirement of crops – Rice, Soybean, Maize, Sorghum,
Sugarcane, Groundnut, Cotton, wheat and major Vegetables, Weather forecasting – types of weather forecast - applications and utility for agriculture, Weather hazards - different kinds of weather hazards for agriculture, Global warming and climate change – reasons and future projections – impact of climate change on agriculture.
2022
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