Date: 9th- 13th of January 2023
Class: SSS 1
Term: 2nd Term
Week: 1
Subject: Agricultural Science
Topic: Cultural practices in crop production
Duration:45 minutes
Teaching Aid: A chart
Reference Books: 1. Essential Agricultural Science for Senior Secondary Schools by O.A Owena(page 133-134)
- Comprehensive Certificate Agricultural Science For Senior Secondary Schools by L.A Are et al (page 212-219)
Behavioural Objectives: By the end of this topic, students should be able to
Describe the different cultural practices in crop production which are pre planting, planting and post planting operations
Presentation I
Step 1: Teacher welcomes students back to school
Step 2: Teacher introduces and explains new topic
Step 3: Teacher dictates note
Step 4: Teacher evaluates students
Step 5: Teacher marks students' notes and give assignment
Previous knowledge: Students have been taught forms of agriculture
Content
CULTURAL PRACTICES
It involves all the activities carried out on the farm before, during and after planting of crops. Cultural practices in crop production are grouped into three; they are
- Pre-planning operation
- Planting operations
- Post-planting operations
Pre-planting Operations
These are operations done before planting, they include
- Clearing of Site: This involves the removal of all the substances (vegetation) covering the soil, such as tress, grasses and other plants and animal remains. The aim of bush clearing is to clear the existing vegetation in order to make cultivation and various farm operations easy.
- Stumping: This is the removal of plant stumps and roots from the soil. Stumps are dugged up from the base of their roots so that they will not disturb the farm equipment during tillage operations (harrowing and ridging).
- Ploughing: this involves the turning of the soil upside down. It breaks up the soil leaving it in large lumps or clods. Ploughing is the first operation in tillage. It can be done with a hoe, a spade, or a tractor driven plough.
- Harrowing: This involves the breaking up of the soil in to smaller pieces after initial ploughing. This is called pulverization of sol. The disc harrow is more suitable for use in the tropical areas. For crops that do not require seed beds or ridges such as rice, planting can be done after harrowing.
- Ridging: This is the process of making seed bed (ridges, heaps or mounds). Ridging can be done by using hoe or tractor driven ridger. Animals could also be used to drag ridger for ridge making.
Ridging is done normally across the slope of the land to prevent it from being washed away by erosion.
Planting Operations
These are operations done during planting. They are
- Planting: this is the act of sowing the desired seeds on a prepared field. In other words, it is the act or instance of putting seeds or young plant into the soil with convinient methods ( broadcasting, line sowing,dibbling, transplanting)
- Nursery: is a place where plants are propagated and grown to usable size. In nursery, they are given tender care and protected from harsh weather condition
- Transplanting: This refers to the transfer of ready seedlings from the nursery bed to the main field. It is used in vegetables, fruits, forestry and flower farming.
Post Planting Operations
- Thinning
- Supplying
- Weeding
- Fertilizer application
- Mulching
- Irrigation
- Pest and disease control
- Harvesting
Evaluation: explain pre planting operations sequentially
Assignment: Define the following post planting operations
- Roughing b) grafting c) budding d) staking e) pruning
