Punjab PSEB Matric Agriculture cheat sheet

Agriculture (PSEB Matric Vocational)

• Soil texture is classified by particle size: sand (2–0.05 mm), silt (0.05–0.002 mm), clay (<0.002 mm); loam is a balanced mixture and is generally the most fertile texture.

• Soil pH scale runs 0–14; most field crops perform best at pH 6.0–7.5, while acidic soils (pH below 6) are corrected by adding lime and alkaline soils by adding gypsum.

• Major plant nutrients are N, P, K (primary), Ca, Mg, S (secondary) and Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, Mo, Cl (micronutrients); nitrogen promotes leafy growth, phosphorus root development, potassium grain filling and disease resistance.

• Farmyard manure is organic and slow-release; urea (46% N), DAP (18% N, 46% P2O5) and MOP (60% K2O) are common chemical fertilizers applied by soil-test recommendation.

• Seed rate, sowing depth and spacing are crop-specific: wheat is sown about 5 cm deep at roughly 100 kg/ha, and treated seed is coated with fungicide before sowing to prevent seed-borne disease.

• Irrigation scheduling follows critical growth stages - crown root initiation in wheat, flowering in cotton, and tasseling in maize - because water stress at these stages causes the largest yield loss.

• Integrated pest management order: resistant varieties and clean seed, then cultural methods (crop rotation, timely sowing), mechanical, biological, and chemical control only as the last step.

• Crop rotation with legumes such as gram, moong or berseem restores soil nitrogen through Rhizobium root nodules and breaks soil-borne disease and pest cycles.