The high-density planting requires canopy management includes pruning, training i.e., positioning limbs in specific ways to manage growth and maintain the tree growth for strong and healthy trees using growth regulators. It also helps to increase fruit production and improve fruit quality in the long term.
Target plant densities should reflect the tillering capacity of the variety. These often relate to rainfall, e.g. target tiller number for 500mm rainfall zone is approximately 500 tillers per m2. Note: Wheat can partly compensate for high or low plant populations by dropping tillers or increasing grain numbers.
Where there is a high weed burden, target high crop densities to boost crop competition with weeds and help to combat weed seed set. Although there is no economic yield advantage in having a crop that is too thick, there are generally no yield penalties, especially for growers in the medium and high rainfall zones.
The optimum density or plant population for any given situation results in mature plants that are sufficiently crowded to efficiently use resources such as water, nutrients, and sunlight, yet not so crowded that some plants die or are unproductive.
The first step in determining density is to identify the direction of the InRow planting. Using a measuring tape, hip chain, or other device, measure the distance between several seedlings in a row(between 3 and 5), and divide by the number of seedlings.
Low-density field crops cover a wide range of arable and vegetable crops planted in low-density in order to enable interrow cultivation. Such crops include sugarcane, potato, and various leaf and root vegetables. Therefore, growing low-density field crops is actually a very important and profitable business.
Density in vegetation measurement refers to the number of individuals per unit area (for example plants/m2). The term consequently refers to the closeness of individual plants to one another. The measure of density is often applied when we want to monitor changes in a given vegetation species over long periods.
Optimum plant density depends on size of the plant, elasticity, foraging area, nature of the plant, capacity to reach optimum leaf area at an early date and seed rate used.
Irrigation:Irrigation has played an important role in raising the cropping intensity in northern states where it has risen considerably. Irrigation helps raise the cropping intensity by enabling raising, of crops during the dry season also.
There are three types of cropping patterns:
- Mixed Cropping: Growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same piece of land. Minimises the risk of crop failure.
- Inter-cropping: Growing two or more crops simultaneously in the same field in a definite pattern.
- Crop Rotation:
Cropping index refers to the times of sequential crop planting in the same arable land in one year, usually defined as the ratio of the total seeding area to the arable land area (Liu, 1993), which reflects the using efficiency of soil, water, light and other natural resources.
The present cropping intensity of 136% has registered an increase of only 25% since independence. Further, rainfed drylands constitute 65% of the total net sown area.
Cotton is also known as white gold.
India has the largest cultivated land in the world, nearly 51% under cropping, 20% under forest, 6% wastelands and 4-5% pasturelands.
Methods to Increase Cropping Intensity.
| State | Cropping Intensity |
|---|
| Tamil Nadu | 174-175% |
| West Bengal | 170% |
| Bihar | 165% |
Arable land (from the Latin: arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.
Harvest index (HI) is the ratio of grain to total shoot dry matter and is as a measure of reproductive efficiency.
Mainly led by agricultural scientist M. S.Swaminathan in India, this period was part of the larger Green Revolution endeavor initiated by Dr. Norman E Borlaug, which leveraged agricultural research and technology to increase agricultural productivity in the developing world.
(a) Mean crop efficiency per crop species, calculated as the ratio between Cexport during harvest and annual GHG budget calculated in C-eq. Vertical full lines (error bars) are ± the standard deviation of each measurement mean. They were calculated when the number of sites per crop species was ≥3.
Relay cropping is a method of multiple cropping where one crop is seeded into standing second crop well before harvesting of second crop. Relay cropping may solve a number of conflicts such as inefficient use of available resources, controversies in sowing time, fertilizer application, and soil degradation.
Shifting culvitation and monocropping is still prevalent in these states. Cropping intensity is also low ( 133 .2 per cent). Constellation of factqrs such as difficult terrains, dense forest, low pressure on land, poor transport, inadequate .
Cropping intensity of Haryana is 181.47% in 2014. It was comparatively much larger than the overall cropping intensity of India i.e.140.5%. The enhancement in cropping intensity is possible due to availability of better irrigation facilities and increased use of new agricultural technologies(Singh,1990).
Multiple cropping index (MCI) the sum of areas planted to different crops harvested during the year, divided by the total cultivated area.
Cropping pattern refers to the proportion of land under cultivation of different crops at different points of time. This indicates the time and arrangement of crops in a particular land area. Any change in the cropping pattern would cause: change in the proportion of land under different crops.
Net Area Sown: This represents the total area sown with crops and orchards. This total area is also known as total cropped area or total area sown. Area Sown more than once: This represents the areas on which crops are cultivated more than once during the agricultural year.
The strategy of increasing cropping intensity is important in a country like India because: To increase the production of foodgrains for the increasing population and to meet out the demand of raw materials for the agro-based industries.
