There are many factors affecting the crop production. The crop yield depends upon factors like climate, water, environment etc.
Factors affecting crop production
The factors affecting crop production can be classified into Internal and External factors.
Internal Factors
The internal factors are related to Genetic make-up of plants. These character of plant are less affected by environmental factors.
- High yielding ability
- Early maturity
- Resistance to lodging
- Drought flood and salinity tolerance
- Tolerance to insect pests and diseases
- Chemical composition of grains (oil content, protein content )
- Quality of grains (fineness, coarseness)
- Quality of straw (sweetness, juiciness)
External Factors
The external factors that affect the crop production are:
- Climatic
- Edaphic
- Biotic
- Phsiographic
- Socio-economic
Climatic Factors
The climatic factors which affect the crop production are:
- Precipitation: Precipitation includes all water which falls from atmosphere such as rainfall, snow, hail, fog and dew. Total precipitation in amount and distribution greatly affects the choice of a cultivated species in a place
- Temperature: Temperature is a measure of intensity of heat energy. The range of temperature for maximum growth of most of the agricultural plants is between 15 and 40ºC. Germination, growth and development of crops are highly influenced by temperature
- Humidity: Humidity is the amount of water vapours in the air. Relative humidity is ratio between the amount of moisture present in the air to the saturation capacity of the air at a particular temperature. If relative humidity is 100% it means that the entire space is filled with water and there is no soil evaporation and plant transpiration. Relative humidity of 40-60% is suitable for most of the crop plants. When relative humidity is high there is chance for the outbreak of pest and disease.
- Solar radiation: From germination to harvest and even post harvest crops are affected by solar radiation. Biomass production by photosynthetic processes requires light. All physical process taking place in the soil, plant and environment are dependent on light. Solar radiation controls distribution of temperature and there by distribution of crops in a region
- Wind Velocity: The basic function of wind is to carry moisture (precipitation) and heat. The moving wind not only supplies moisture and heat, also supplies fresh CO2 for the photosynthesis. When wind speed is enormous then there is mechanical damage of the crops. It also Causes soil erosion
- Atmospheric Gases: CO2 is important for Photosynthesis, CO2 taken by the plants by diffusion process from leaves through stomata. oxygen is important for respiration of both plants and animals while it is released by plants during Photosynthesis. Nitrogen is one of the important major plant nutrient, Atmospheric N is fixed in the soil by lightning, rainfall and N fixing microbes in pulses crops and available to plants
Edaphic Factors
Plants grown in land completely depend on soil on which they grow. The soil factors that affect crop growth are
- Soil moisture
- Soil air
- Soil temperature
- Soil mineral matter
- Soil organic matter
- Soil organisms
- Soil reactions
Biotic Factors
Beneficial and harmful effects caused by other biological organism (plants and animals) on the crop plants
Physiographic factors
Topographic factors affect the crop growth indirectly. For example, a mountain slope exposed to low intensity of light and strong dry winds may results in poor crop yields
Socio-economic factors
Agricultural land use, cropping pattern and agricultural processes are also largely influenced by the socioeconomic factors such as fragmentation of operational holdings, labour, land revenue, system, mechanization and equipments, transportation facilities and marketing facilities.
Download this article as PDF
Click to go to NABARD Grade A Preparation Page