Growing food: a guide to food production

342 Pages·2006·2.93 MB·English

by  Tony Winch

Growing Food
Growing Food
A Guide to Food Production
By
Tony Winch
Hereford, UK
dua, Italy
AC.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN-10 1-4020-4827-0 (HB)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4827-2 (HB)
ISBN-10 1-4020-4975-7 (e-book)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4975-0 (e-book)
Published by Springer,
P.O. Box 17, 3300 AADordrecht, The Netherlands.
www.springer.com
Front Cover:
Top left - Beans for seed - Vincent Johnson
Top right - Long grain rice - Keith Weller, ARS/USDA
Lower left - Cambodian vegetable gardener - Vincent Johnson
Lower right - Maize cobs from South America - Keith Weller, ARS/USDA
Back Cover:
Potato seedling in the hand - Scott Bauer, ARS/USDA
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 2006 Springer
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording
or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception
of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered
and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1
THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES USED
IN AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE

A Plant Growth 1
a Plant Propagation 1
b Plant Population 4
c Leaf Area Index 5
d The Root System 6
e The Nitrogen Cycle 6

B Arid Regions 8
a Plant/Soil/Water Relationships 8
b Plant Reaction to Stress 9
c Crop Management in Arid Regions 10

C Soil 11
a Saline Soils 15
b Soil Analysis 18
c Acid Soils/pH value 20
d Trace Elements 23

D Fertiliser 29

E The Plant 36
a Annual/Biennial/Perennial 36
b Botanical Classification/Taxonomy 36
c Cultivar/Variety 38
d Photosynthesis/Respiration 39
e Transpiration 39
f Wilting 39
g Shade Plants/Sun Plants 40
h Vegetative Reproduction 40
i Determinate/Indeterminate 42
j Day length/Photoperiodism 42
k Growth Period 43
l Tuber 44
m Rogue Plants 45
n Volunteer Plants 45
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

F The Seed 45
a Germination 46
b Seed Rate 52
c Hybrids 52
d Composite Varieties 53
e Inoculation/Nitrogen Fixation 54
f Seed Treatment (Dressing) 57
g Vernalisation 59

G Crops 59
a Cropping Calendar 59
b Break Crops 61
c Catch Crops 62
d Climbing Crops 62
e Companion Crops 63
f Cover Crops 63
g Pioneer Crops 64
h Smother Crops 64
i Shade Crops 64

H Farming Systems 65
a Rotation 65
b Mixed Cropping 66
c Alley Cropping 68
d Green Manure 69
e Mulch 70
f Silage 72
g Hay 72
h Land Area Measurement 74

I The Harvest 76
a Maturity 76
b Yield 76
c Haulm 77

J Insects 78

K Diseases 81

L Weeds 88
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
M Tools 92
N Irrigation 93
O Storage 100
SECTION2
DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE MAIN FOOD CROPS
A Cereals 105
Barley 107
Buckwheat 110
Maize 113
Millets 119
Oats 125
Rice 128
Rye 133
Sorghum 135
Teff 140
Wheat 143
B Legumes 150
Broad Bean (Horse Bean or Field Bean) 152
Chickpea 155
Cowpea 158
Field pea 161
Groundnut 164
Haricot (French) Bean 167
Lentil 171
Lima Bean 174
Mung Bean 177
Pigeon Pea 179
Soybean 182
Vetch (Grass Pea or Chickling Pea) 186
C Oilseeds 188
Castor 190
Linseed 193
Niger Seed 196
Sesame 198
Sunflower 201
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
D Root Crops 204
Cassava/Manioc 205
Irish Potato 208
Sweet Potato 212
Taro 215
Yam 217
E Vegetables 221
Cabbage 222
Carrot 225
Cucurbits 228
Okra 231
Onion 234
Peppers 237
Tomato 240
F Fruits 243
Avocado 244
Banana 247
Citrus 253
Guava 256
Mango 259
Papaya (Pawpaw) 261
Watermelon 264
G Under Exploited Food Crops 266
Amaranth 268
Bambara Groundnut 271
Buffalo Gourd 273
Leucaena 275
Lupin 278
Tepary Bean 282
Winged Bean (Four-angled Bean) 284
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
SECTION 3
A Naming and Classification of Food Crops 288
B Seed Purchase Procedures 310
C Conversion Tables and Statistics 313
D Some Issues to Consider When Planning or Assessing
Agricultural Development or Rehabilation Programmes
317
Bibliography 324
Index 327
SECTION 1
THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES USED IN AGRICULTURE
AND HORTICULTURE
1A. PLANT GROWTH
Green plants need to have an adequate supply of water, warmth, light, air and nutrients
in order to grow properly and produce healthy crops. Food growers have some control
over all of these factors:
• Water and Warmth—the time of planting can be chosen so that plants at each
stage of their life are growing when the temperature and rainfall are as near to
optimum as possible. Irrigation can sometimes also be used—see pages 93–100.
• Light and Air—farmers and other food growers can select the planting date and
plant spacing so that adequate light and air is available to the plants–discussed on
page 4 “Plant Population” andpage 42 “Day length / Photoperiodism”.
• Nutrients—see pages 11–29 “Soil” and pages 29–36 “Fertilizer”.
The following subsection on plant growth discusses five topics that are of particular
interest to food growers:
plant propagation, plant population, leaf area index, the root system and the Nitrogen
Cycle.
1Aa. Plant Propagation
Plants reproduce themselves, or “propagate”, either sexually by means of seeds, or
asexually by various processes of vegetative reproduction, described on pages 40–41.
Some plant species, such as onions, can propagate themselves by both methods,
using either seed or bulbs (“sets” ).
Seed, or “grain”, provides the biggest proportion of the world’s food, especially in
poorer countries and, as a result, seed is discussed at greater length in this book than
other plant food sources such as root and oilseed crops, fruit and vegetables.
Sexual reproduction in plants, by which they produce seed, is represented in
Figure 1. Key to the terms used in the drawing of a flower, Figure 1 overleaf:
Pollen—contains the male gametophytes, and is produced in the anthers. When mature,
pollen is released into the air and comes into contact with the stigma of either the same
flower, or flower of the same plant, in a process known as self-pollination. When the
pollen comes into contact with the stigma in a flower of another plant, this process is
known as cross-pollination.
Pollen Tube—a long hollow tube that provides a passageway for the male pollen,
containing two male nuclei, to the female ovule, entering via the micropyle.
Pistil—the female part of the flower, consisting of the ovary, stigma and style, around
which the other flower parts are arranged.
1