NABARD Grade-A Exam : Notes on Agriculture & Rural Development (with focus on Rural India)

Classification of Field Crops

Field crops may be classified in more than one way. It may be on the basis of:

1)Climate:

Tropical: Crops grow well in warm & hot climate. E.g. Rice, sugarcane, Jowar etc

Temperate: Crops grow well in cool climate. E.g. Wheat, Oats, Gram, Potato etc.

2) Growing Season:

Kharif/Rainy/Monsoon crops: The crops grown in monsoon months from June to Oct-Nov, Require warm, wet weather at major period of crop growth, also required short day length for flowering. E.g. Cotton, Rice, Jowar, bajara.

Rabi/winter/cold seasons crops: require winter season to grow well from Oct to March month. Crops grow well in cold and dry weather. Require longer day length for flowering. E.g. Wheat, gram, sunflower etc.

Summer/Zaid crops: crops grown in summer month from March to June. Require warm day weather for major growth period and longer ay length for flowering. E.g. Groundnuts, Watermelon, Pumpkins, Gourds.

3)Use/Agronomic classification:

Grain crops: may be cereals as millets cereals are the cultivated grasses grown for their edible starchy grains. The larger grain used as staple food is cereals. E.g. rice, Jowar, wheat, maize, barley, and millets are the small-grained cereals which are of minor importance as food. E.g. Bajara.

Pulse/legume crops: seeds of leguminous crops plant used as food. On splitting, they produced dal which is rich in protein.  E.g. green gram, black gram, soybean, pea, cowpea etc.

Oilseeds crops: crop seeds are rich in fatty acids, are used to extract vegetable oil to meet various requirements. E.g. Groundnut, Mustard, Sunflower, Sesamum, linseed etc.

Forage Crop: It refers to vegetative matter fresh as preserved utilized as food for animals. Crop cultivated & used for fickler, hay, silage. Ex- sorghum, elephant grass, guinea grass, berseem & other pulse bajara etc.

Fiber crops: crown for fiber yield. Fiber may be obtained from seed. E.g. Cotton, steam, jute, Mesta, sun hemp, flax.

Roots crops: Roots are the economic produce in root crop. E.g. sweet, potato, sugar beet, carrot, turnip etc.

Tuber crop: crop whose edible portion is not a root but a short thickened underground stem. E.g. Potato, elephant, yam.

Sugar crops: the two important crops are sugarcane and sugar beet cultivated for production for sugar.

Starch crops: grown for the production of starch. E.g. tapioca, potato, sweet potato.

Dreg crop: used for preparation of medicines. E.g. tobacco, mint, pyrethrum.

Spices & condiments/spices crops: crop plants as their products are used to flavor taste and sometime color the fresh preserved food. E.g. ginger, garlic, chili, cumin onion, coriander, cardamom, pepper, turmeric etc.

Vegetable crops: may be leafy as fruity vegetables. E.g. Palak, mentha, Brinjal, tomato.

Green manure crop: grown and incorporated into soil to increase fertility of soil. E.g. sun hemp.

Medicinal & aromatic crops: Medicinal plants include cinchona, isabgoli, opium poppy, senna, belladonna, rauwolfra, iycorice and aromatic plants such as lemon grass, citronella grass, palmorsa, Japanese mint, peppermint, rose geranicem, jasmine, henna etc.       

4) Life of crops/duration of crops:

Seasonal crops: A crop completes its life cycle in one season-Karin, Rabi. summer. E.g. rice, Jowar, wheat etc.

Two seasonal crops: crops complete its life in two seasons. E.g. Cotton, turmeric, ginger.

Annual crops: Crops require one full year to complete its life in a cycle. E.g. sugarcane.

Biennial crops: which grows in one year and flowers, fructifies & perishes the next year? E.g. Banana, Papaya.

Perennial crops: crops live for several years.  E.g. Fruit crops, mango, guava etc.

5) Cultural method/water:

Rainfed: crops grow only on rainwater. E.g. Jowar, Bajara, Mung etc.

Irrigated crops: Crops grows with the help of irrigation water.  E.g. Chili, sugarcane, Banana, papaya etc.