CROPSCI 1105

• Location - refers to the geographical position or place where the crop enterprise is located in relation to a city, town, highway or any point of reference
• Site refers to the actual place where any given crop is produced.
• 1. Rainfall or water supply - It involves several physiological processes such as salt absorption and translocation, photosynthesis and respiration
• The process that is most directly and severely affected by the water status of the plant is growth by expansion associated with the turgor of the cell.
• Temperature - Extremes of temperature adversely affect physiological processes and inhibit plant growth.
• Light. All aspects of plant growth are affected by light directly or indirectly
• The aspects of light that are important in crop production are light intensity and day length or photoperiod.
• Slope - It is the ratio of the vertical distance over the horizontal distance both of the same linear unit multiplied by 100%.
• Slope significantly influences the retention and movement of water, movement of soil material, soil depth and rate and amount of run-off.
• Accessibility is often limited and this results in an increased transport cost for agricultural products
• Soil Texture - This refers to the relative proportion of clay, silt and sand
• Paddy rice prefers poorly drained clayey soils.
• Soil Depth - refers to the thickness of the soil to layers coarser than loamy fine sand, sand, gravels, stones, rocks or any impermeable layer or the water table.
• Soil depth is a measure of the soil volume available for the development of the root system of plants.
• Soil drainage is the removal of water from the soil through surface run-off and by flow through the soil to underground spaces.
• Available water is the water content of a soil held between field capacity and permanent wilting point and expressed in percent.
• Field capacity represents the maximum amount of water a soil can hold against normal drainage.
• The permanent wilting point is the water held in the soil when the plants start to wilt.
• One of the principal limitations in agricultural production in the Philippines is soil erosion.
• Surface erosion occurs when the amount of rainfall exceeds that of the infiltration capacity of the soils
• Soils with longer and steeper slopes are more susceptible to severe soil erosion than soils with lower shorter slopes
• Sandy soils are more susceptible to erosion than clayey soils
• Flooding occurs in areas occupying low physiographic positions along rivers and streams, black swamps, low alluvial terraces of the coastal landscape
• Soil fertility refers to the status of the soil in terms of its ability to provide the plants the adequate amount of nutrients in balanced proportion and on the readily available form necessary for normal plant growth.
• Cropping pattern being followed -One cannot deviate much unless the community, as a whole, changes the pattern. The risks from pest damage in the field are greater if planting is not synchronized with that of the community.
• Production practices in the area -There must be good reasons for adopting existing practices in the area. Information on yields of the best farmers in the area must be obtained and used as the standard for upgrading operations.
• Pest and disease problems in the area - A case in point is the widespread papaya ringspot virus disease in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and the adjoining provinces up to Bicol. Large-scale papaya production should avoid these areas.
• Acceptability - Is that particular crop acceptable in the community?
• Task orientation - Is a certain crop easy to follow particularly on the technology of production?
• Potential to increase income - Does a certain crop have a competitive value in comparison to other existing crops in the locality?
• Marketability - Is the crop easy to market? Is the crop acceptable to the market consumer?
• Labor requirement - Is the crop labor intensive? Does the crop need more labor force?
• Labor supply situation and level of skills - The landless group of farmers that supply manual labor must also be considered. The use of mechanical harvesters deprives these landless farmers of income of doing manual harvesting
• Accessibility of farm to transportation facilities - This must be considered for perishable crops, which need easy access to transportation and road networks.
• Local market situation and preferences of the populace - The supply and demand situation should be known so that operations can be adjusted for harvesting to coincide with the slack periods of supply when prices are high.
• Land preparation is one of the many ways by which the farmer manipulates the environment to make it more favorable for a crop.
• Land Preparation - the process of preparing the land for planting, thereby providing good physical, chemical, and biological conditions that would permit optimum plant growth
• Tillage - the mechanical manipulation of the soil from a known condition to a different desired condition.
• Primary tillage - this operation does the initial cutting or breaking of the soil at its state where either a crop has been grown and harvested or simply barren soil.
• Secondary tillage - operations on the soil after primary tillage. It includes breaking of the soil clods or granulation