Biology

• the ejective
• NB Comparison
• Chart (Apps Appear
• Test OR SEMESTE
• CHAPTER 1
• THE SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE
• The science of agriculture is the basis on which all of civilization is built
• For primitive man the only available food was the wild plants and animals in nature
• However, population growth and the natural inquisitive nature of man "forced man to develop and improve its environment
• In this way the first science, namely the science of agriculture, was born about 10000 years ago in, what is now called, the Middle East
• When man started to grow their own food, they no longer needed to wander about in search of edible plants and animals and settled down to establish villages and societies
• This led to the on-going process of finding better ways (agricultural technology) to produce food, a process soll in progress today
• This led to the development of batter tools (agricultural engineering)
• Soon surplus food was produced and man started to trade (agricultural economics)
• It is believed that counting and writing developed from agriculture making the science of agriculture the mother of all sciences
• Modem research is based on the scientific method
• Due to the increase in productivity and the usage of chemicals agriculture became more complex and more based on research
• Types of research


  • Basic research
  • Applied research
• Basic research is based on the understanding of basic natural functions and then applied research applies the basic research
• For example the basic knowledge of how a cell divides can be used to develop new plants
• But in order for us to do the research correct there is certain steps that we need to follow known as the scientific method
• It is thus important to know the different steps of the scientific method
• SCIENCE AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• Seven steps in the scientific method

  • Identify the problem
  • Formulate the hypothesis
  • Design and conduct experiments
  • Collect data
  • Analyse the data
  • Draw conclusions
  • Make recommendations
• Problem


  Usually identified by asking a question and is then formulated in the form of a question
• Hypothesis


  Represents a tentative answer to the question
• To correctly formulate the hypothesis a thorough literature search is necessary to find out what other research have discovered about the topic
• The hypothesis must then be proven correct or wrong by conducting specially designed experiments
• To prove the hypothesis correct or wrong data must be collected, analysed (e.g. statistical) and processed (e.g. graphs drawn)
• Conclusions drawn from this will assist in making recommendations with regard to finding solutions for the original problem
• The number of plots should be large enough so that differences in the soil and other factors would average out
• By randomizing the plots all treatments are given the same "chance" to perform without any subjective predispostion
• The control and treatment plots must be handled in exactly the same manner jeg. same wheat cultivar, planting dan method of harvesting, etc.) cept for only one difference namely inorganic or organic fertilizer. The above experimental layout can become more complex if more than one application concentration is used for the inorganic and organic fertilizers!!!
• After the yield data (eg. dry weight of kemeis) have been obtained for the replicates separately, the average and standard deviation (SD) is calculated and statistically analysed using a standard statistical program (e.g. SAS, NCSS. Win Stat, etc.) Data from the control and treatment plots are then compared
• Statistical data wil assist the researcher to come to a final conclusion with regard to the performance of the different fertilizers as well as to decide whether the hypothesis has been proven correct or wrong (NB: Data must differ statistically significantly over three seasons before any recommendations can be made)
• Discoveries and developments that have aided the advancement of agriculture

  • Animal immunization
  • Canning and refrigeration
  • Agricultural mechanization
  • Pesticides
  • Genetics
  • The use of computers and precision farming
• No branch of science touches our lives more than the science of agriculture. It has revolutionized every aspect of our lives. Only on-going research in the future will ensure that the challenges with respect to population growth and food production will be met. It is therefore the aim of this subject. "Biological principles in Agriculture", to establish a research attitude in students with biology as the point of departure
• In essence the science of agriculture has to deal with the soil-plant-air continuum (Figure 2) that makes it a multidisciplinary science
• An agriculture scientist may decide to specialize in a specific field but, will soon find that the interrelationship between different sciences is difficult to avoid and that a sound knowledge of the different sciences, woven into one, is essential to improve the technology needed to solve future problems