Lok Sewa Agriculture Officer flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Economic threshold level (ETL)

The pest population density at which control measures should be applied to prevent the population from reaching the economic injury level, where losses exceed control costs.

Cation exchange capacity

The total quantity of exchangeable cations a soil can hold, expressed in cmol(+)/kg; it rises with clay content and organic matter and indicates nutrient-holding ability.

Climacteric fruit

Fruit that continues to ripen after harvest with a burst of respiration and ethylene production, such as banana, mango, tomato, and apple.

Gross margin

Gross revenue minus variable costs for an enterprise; used to compare enterprises when fixed costs are similar across options.

Field efficiency

The ratio of effective field capacity to theoretical field capacity, expressed as a percentage, accounting for turns, loading, and other non-productive time.

Diffusion of innovations

The process by which an innovation spreads through a social system over time, following an S-curve across adopter categories from innovators to laggards.

Federalism in Nepal

A governance system established by the 2015 Constitution, with three tiers: federal, seven provinces, and 753 local units, each with defined powers.

SMART objectives

Objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound; used in planning, monitoring, and performance appraisal.

Randomized complete block design

An experimental design that groups experimental units into blocks to control one direction of field heterogeneity, with treatments randomly assigned within each block.

Break-even yield

The output level at which total revenue equals total cost, calculated as fixed costs divided by the difference between price and variable cost per unit.

Reference evapotranspiration

The evapotranspiration rate from a reference surface, estimated by the Penman-Monteith method; multiplied by a crop coefficient to obtain crop water use.

Seed certification

A quality assurance process involving field inspection, sampling, laboratory testing, and labeling to verify that seed meets prescribed genetic and physical standards.

Agroforestry

A land-use system that deliberately combines trees with crops or livestock on the same land, providing shade, fodder, fuelwood, and soil conservation benefits.

Agricultural Development Strategy

Nepal's medium-term policy framework guiding investment and reform in agriculture, emphasizing commercialization, competitiveness, and smallholder inclusion.

Brooding temperature

The temperature maintained for young poultry, starting near 32–35 degrees Celsius in week one and reduced about 3 degrees per week thereafter.

Heritability

The proportion of total phenotypic variance attributable to genetic variance; high heritability indicates that selection based on phenotype will be effective.

Value chain

The sequence of actors and activities that transform raw agricultural produce into final products, including input supply, production, processing, distribution, and retail.

Climate-smart agriculture

An approach that simultaneously pursues increased productivity, enhanced adaptation to climate change, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions from farming systems.

Food security

A condition where all people have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food meeting dietary needs, resting on availability, access, utilization, and stability.

Bt crop

A genetically modified crop expressing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis, targeting specific lepidopteran pests and requiring biosafety approval.

Social capital

The trust, networks, and shared norms within a community that facilitate cooperation, collective action, and the spread of information and innovation.

Agro-dealer

A last-mile retailer supplying seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides to farmers, often providing advice and serving as a channel for extension messages.

Draft power

The force exerted by a tractor or animal to pull an implement; multiplied by speed it gives power, commonly expressed in kilowatts.

Universal soil loss equation

A model estimating average annual soil loss as the product of rainfall erosivity, soil erodibility, slope length and steepness, cover management, and support practice factors.

Index-based crop insurance

Insurance that pays out based on a weather or yield index rather than verified individual loss, reducing moral hazard and assessment costs.

On-farm trial

A field experiment conducted under farmer conditions to validate a technology before wider scaling, often comparing a recommended practice with the farmer's own practice.

Balanced ration

A feed mixture supplying energy, protein, minerals, and vitamins in proportions that meet an animal's requirements for maintenance and production.

Irrigation efficiency

The proportion of water delivered that is beneficially used by the crop, combining conveyance, distribution, and application efficiencies.

Business plan

A written document covering market analysis, operations, financial projections, and risk management, used to guide and finance an agribusiness venture.

Growing degree days

A measure of heat accumulation calculated as the sum of daily mean temperatures above a base temperature, used to predict crop development stages.

Integrated pest management

A decision framework combining host resistance, cultural, mechanical, biological, and chemical tactics, with pesticides used only when monitoring shows thresholds are exceeded.

Controlled atmosphere storage

A post-harvest technique that adjusts oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in storage to slow respiration and extend the shelf life of produce.

Colostrum

The first milk produced after birth, rich in immunoglobulins; it must be fed within the first one to two hours before gut closure occurs.