AGRICULTURE

PAPER I

Ecology

  • Ecology and its relevance to man
  • Natural resources, their sustainable management and conservation
  • Physical and social environment as factors of crop distribution and production
  • Agro ecology; cropping pattern as indicators of environments. 
  • Environmental pollution and associated hazards to crops, animals and humans. 
  • Climate change—International conventions and global initiatives. 
  • Greenhouse effect and global warming.

Agronomy

  • Cropping patterns in different agro-climatic zones of the country. 
  • Impact of high-yielding and short-duration varieties on shifts in cropping patterns.
  • Concepts of various cropping, and farming systems. 
  • Organic and Precision farming. Package of practices for production of important cereals, pulses, oil seeds, fibres, sugar, commercial and fodder crops.

Forestry

  • Important features, and scope of various types of forestry plantations such as social forestry, agroforestry, and natural forests 
  • Propagation of forest plants. 
  • Forest products. 
  • Agro-forestry and value addition. 
  • Conservation of forest flora and fauna.

Weed Science

  • Weeds- characteristics
  • Dissemination and association with various crops; their multiplications
  • cultural, biological, and chemical control of weeds.

Soil Science, Nutrient Management and Conservation of Soil

  • Soil—physical, chemical and biological properties. 
  • Processes and factors of soil formation. 
  • Soils of India. 
  • Mineral and organic constituents of soils and their role in maintaining soil productivity. 
  • Essential plant nutrients and other beneficial elements in soils and plants. 
  • Principles of soil fertility, soil testing and fertiliser recommendations, integrated nutrient management Biofertilizers. 
  • Losses of nitrogen in soil, nitrogen-use efficiency in submerged rice soils, nitrogen fixation in soils. 
  • Efficient phosphorus and potassium use. 
  • Problem soils and their reclamation. 
  • Soil factors affecting greenhouse gas emission.
  • Soil conservation, integrated watershed management. 
  • Soil erosion and its management. Dry land agriculture and its problems. Technology for stabilizing agriculture production in rainfed areas.

Water Use efficiency and Conservation

  • Water-use efficiency in relation to crop production
  • criteria for scheduling irrigations
  • ways and means of reducing run-off losses of irrigation water. 
  • Rainwater harvesting. 
  • Drip and sprinkler irrigation. 
  • Drainage of water-logged soils, quality of irrigation water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution. Irrigation projects in India.

Farm Systems

  • Farm management, scope, importance and characteristics, farm planning. 
  • Optimum resource use and budgeting. 
  • Economics of different types of farming systems. 
  • Marketing management strategies for development, market intelligence. 
  • Price fluctuations and their cost
  • role of cooperatives in agricultural economy
  • types and systems of farming and factors affecting them.
  • Agricultural price policy. 
  • Crop Insurance.

Agricultural extension

  • Agricultural extension, its importance and role, 
  • methods of evaluation of extension programmes
  • socio-economic survey and status of big, small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers
  • Training programmes for extension workers. 
  • Role of Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s (KVK) in dissemination of Agricultural technologies. 
  • Non-Government Organisation (NGO) and self-help group approach for rural development.

PAPER‐II

Cell Biology

  • Cell structure, function and cell cycle. 
  • Synthesis, structure and function of genetic material. 
  • Laws of heredity. 
  • Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations, linkage and cross-over, and their significance in recombination breeding. 
  • Polyploidy, euploids and aneuploids. 
  • Mutation—and their role in crop improvement. 
  • Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification and their Government strives to have a workforce which reflects gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply. 
  • application in crop improvement. 
  • Cytoplasmic inheritance, sex-linked, sex-influenced and sex-limited characters.

Plant Breeding

  • History of plant breeding. Modes of reproduction, selfing and crossing techniques. 
  • Origin, evolution and domestication of crop plants, center of origin, law of homologous series, crop genetic resources—conservation and utilization. 
  • Application of principles of plant breeding, improvement of crop plants. 
  • Molecular markers and their application in plant improvement. 
  • Pure-line selection, pedigree, mass and recurrent selections, combining ability, its significance in plant breeding. 
  • Heterosis and its exploitation. 
  • Somatic hybridization. 
  • Breeding for disease and pest resistance. 
  • Role of interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. 
  • Role of genetic engineering and biotechnology in crop improvement 
  • Genetically modified crop plants.

Seed production

  • Seed production and processing technologies. 
  • Seed certification, Seed testing and storage. 
  • DNA fingerprinting and seed registration. 
  • Role of public and private sectors in seed production, and marketing. 
  • Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues, WTO issues and its impact on Agriculture.

Plant Physiology

  • Principles of Plant Physiology with reference to plant nutrition, absorption, translocation and metabolism of nutrients.
  • Soil-water-plant relationship.
  • Enzymes and plant pigments
  • photosynthesis—modern concepts and factors affecting the process
  • aerobic and anaerobic respiration;
  • C3, C4 and CAM mechanisms. 
  • Carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism. 
  • Growth and development
  • photoperiodism and vernalization. 
  • Plant growth substances and their role in crop production. 
  • Physiology of seed development and germination; dormancy. 
  • Stress physiology—draught, salt and water stress.

Horticulture and landscape gardening

  • Major fruits, plantation crops, vegetables, spices and flower crops. 
  • Package practices of major horticultural crops. 
  • Protected cultivation and high tech horticulture. 
  • Post-harvest technology and value addition of fruits and vegetables. 
  • Landscaping and commercial floriculture. 
  • Medicinal and aromatic plants. 
  • Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition.

Plant protection techniques

  • Diagnosis of pests and diseases of field crops, vegetables, orchard and plantation crops and their economic importance. 
  • Classification of pests and diseases and their management. 
  • Integrated pest and disease management. 
  • Storage pests and their management. 
  • Biological control of pests and diseases. 
  • Epidemiology and forecasting of major crop pests and diseases. 
  • Plant quarantine measures. 
  • Pesticides, their formulation and modes of action.

Food Production

  • Food production and consumption trends in India. 
  • Food security and growing population—vision Production, procurement, distribution constraints. 
  • Availability of foodgrains, per capita expenditure on food. 
  • Trends in poverty, Public Distribution System and Below Poverty Line population, Targeted Public Distribution System (PDS), policy implementation in context to globalization. 
  • Processing constraints. 
  • Relation of food production to National Dietary Guidelines and food consumption pattern. 
  • Food based dietary approaches to eliminate hunger. 

Nutrient deficiency

  • Micro nutrient deficiency : Protein Energy Malnutrition or Protein Calorie Malnutrition (PEM or PCM), Micro nutrient deficiency and HRD in context of work capacity of women and children. 
  • Food grain productivity and food security.