CUET Agriculture: Crop Production, Soil Science, Protection and Farm Economics
Agriculture is the CUET domain subject that tests the scientific and economic foundations of crop and animal production in India. Questions move quickly between agronomy, soil science, plant protection, horticulture, breeding, livestock and farm economics, so the paper rewards precise definitions and numbers rather than broad description.
Crop seasons and systems
Kharif crops are sown with the monsoon (June–July) and harvested around September–October: rice, maize, sorghum, pigeonpea, groundnut and cotton. Rabi crops are sown October–November and harvested March–April: wheat, barley, gram, mustard and pea. Zaid is the short summer season between rabi and kharif, growing cucurbits, moong and fodder. Cropping intensity = gross cropped area ÷ net sown area × 100. Intercropping places two or more crops in the same season in definite rows; mixed cropping sows them together without row geometry.
Soil, nutrients and reclamation
A soil profile runs O–A–B–C–R, and loam texture balances sand, silt and clay. Seventeen elements are essential: six macronutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S), eight micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, Mo, Cl, Ni) plus C, H and O. Acidic soils below pH 6.5 are reclaimed with lime; sodic/alkaline soils with gypsum. Liebig's law of the minimum says the scarcest nutrient caps yield.
Irrigation arithmetic
Duty is the area in hectares irrigated by one cumec running for the whole base period; delta is the depth of water required. Delta (m) = 8.64 × base period (days) ÷ duty (ha/cumec).
Worked example
A crop has a base period of 120 days and a duty of 864 ha/cumec. Delta = 8.64 × 120 ÷ 864 = 1.2 m, that is 120 cm of water over the field. The 8.64 converts one cumec-day into hectare-metres, so cancelling units gives metres directly.
Traps that cost marks
Reporting delta in metres when centimetres are asked. Swapping gypsum and lime between alkaline and acidic soils. Placing wheat in kharif or cotton in rabi. Quoting sixteen essential elements instead of seventeen. Attributing zinc deficiency (khaira of rice) to boron, whose deficiency causes brown heart of cauliflower, while calcium deficiency gives blossom-end rot of tomato.