Sexual Propagation of crops
Sexual propagation involves reproduction by seed, which can either he planted directly or sowed in the nursery and later transplanted to the field.
Seeds are said to be descendants of many generations of plants and tend to resemble their parents. But due to variability which results from different crossing, they could be different from their parents.
In order to keep the life of plants going. Farmers should select viable seeds for planting. During selection, there are certain characteristics that must he considered for good result.
1. Ability of such seeds or plains to resist diseases.
2. Are they early maturing or late maturing seed?
3. Are they high yielding or not?
4. Are they drought-resistant or not?
During selection, farmers should discard seeds that are of inferior quality. Crops that can be propagated by seeds include vegetables such as tomato, spinach, okra and grain crops such as maize, rice, sorghum, millet and tree crops e.g oil palm, coconut, etc.
In recent years, there have been tremendous achievements in the field of breeding by plant breeders, in order to make more and quality seeds available to farmers.
Breeders have produced new varieties of seeds by cross pollinating several varieties of the plant. Such achievements have been made in crops like maize, sorghum, cowpea, rice, tobacco, etc.
ADVANTAGES OF SEXUAL PROPAGATION OF PLANTS
1. Since only seeds with the desired quality and viability are used, therefore in any good environment crop failure is limited.
2. Through cross pollination, the ability to improve the quality of seeds to be planted is very high.
3. New varieties of seeds can be produced e.g. breeders have produced hybrid maize that is
4. Some plant diseases can easily be controlled by planting only disease resistant varieties
5. One can easily identify or know the ancestry or parents of the seeds used for planting
6. Transfer of certain characteristics is possible through breeding
DISADVANTAGES OF SEXUAL PROPAGATION OF PLANTS
1. Breeding and selection require long period of time before high yielding and good quality seeds can be achieved.
2. Large numbers of worthless and poor quality seeds may be produced, which are not suitable for planting.
3. Pests can easily damage seeds in storage meant for planting.
4. The cost of production of high quality seeds meant for planting is very high.
5. Seeds used for propagation are also valuable food for man.
6. There is no guarantee that the seeds to be produced will look like their parents.
7. Plants that cannot produce seeds cannot be propagated.
8. Seeds for planting cannot be stored over long period of time, because seeds easily lose their viability in storage.
9. Technical know-how is required to achieve the production of high yielding and quality seeds.
HERE YOU WILL FIND EVERY AVAILABLE TOPICS ABOUT AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND BIOLOGY. AND THE LINKS TO THEIR VARIOUS SOURCES.
1. DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE
2. IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE
3. SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE
4. COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE
5. PROBLEM OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
6. SOLUTIONS TO POOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
7. AGRICULTURAL LAWS AND REFORMS
8. ROLES OF GOVERNMENT IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
9. AGRICULTURAL POLICIES
10. PROGRAM PLANNING IN AGRICULTURE
34. FORESTRY
35. WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
36. FACTORS AFFECTING LAND AVAILABILITY
37. TOPOGRAPHY
38. SOIL
39. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
40. SOCIAL-ECONOMIC FACTORS
41. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
42. CLIMATIC FACTORS AFFECTING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
43. TEMPERATURE
44. RAINFALL
45. WIND
46. SUNLIGHT
47. SOLAR RADIATION
48. BIOTIC FACTOR AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
49. PESTS
50. BIRDS
51. DISEASES
52. SOIL MICRO-ORGANISMS
53. SOIL PH
54. ROCK FORMATION
55. IGNEOUS ROCK
56. SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
57. METAMORPHIC
58. SOIL AND ITS FORMATION
59. FACTORS OF SOIL FORMATION
60. LIVING ORGANISM
61. PARENT MATERIALS
62. SOIL FORMATION TOPOGRAPHY
63. PROCESS OF SOIL FORMATION
64. WEATHERING
65. PHYSICAL WEATHERING
66. CHEMICAL WEATHERING
67. PRESSURE
68. WATER
73. BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING
74. CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL COMPOSITION OF THE SOIL
75. SOIL WATER
76. MICRO AND MACRO NUTRIENTS
77. SOIL MICRO ORGANISM
78. PROPERTIES OF SOIL
79. SOIL STRUCTURE
80. SANDY SOIL CLAY SOIL LOAMY SOIL
83. SOIL TEXTURE
84. IDENTIFICATION OF SOIL TYPES THROUGH EXPERIMENTS
85. RETENTION OF WATER BY VARIOUS SOIL TYPES
soil improvement techniques
90. MACRO NUTRIENTS IN GENERAL
112. THE MAINTENANCE OF SOIL FERTILITY
113. CROP ROTATION
114. APPLICATION OF ORGANIC MANURES FARM YARD MANURE APPLICATION OF INORGANIC MANURE
117. LIMING
118. FARMING PRACTICES
119. BUSH BURNING CLEARING
121. FERTILIZER APPLICATION
122. ORGANIC MANURING FARM YARD MANURE
124. HUMUS
125. COMPOST
126. CROP ROTATION
133. FARM POWER AND MACHINERY
134. SOURCES OF FARM POWER
135. HUMAN SOURCE
149. PLOUGHS
142. FIELD MACHINES
157. PLANTERS
164. SIMPLE FARM TOOLS
165. AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION
166. THE CONCEPT OF MECHANIZATION
