|
rotation of crops
rotation of crops agricultural practice of varying the crops on a piece of land in a planned series, to save or increase the mineral or organic content of the soil, to increase crop yields, and to eradicate weeds, insects, and plant diseases. In a rotation, it is often desirable to alternate a cult...
Read more
|
|
|
agronomy
agronomy , branch of agriculture dealing with various physical and biological factors—including soil management, tillage, crop rotation, breeding, weed control, and climate—related to crop production. Agronomy commonly refers to field crops, e.g. wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, soybean, co...
Read more
|
|
|
wireworm
wireworm elongate, cylindrical larva of the click beetle . Most wireworms are hard and brown, but members of some species are soft and whitish. Wireworms live in rotten wood or in the ground and feed on roots and seeds, injuring potatoes, grasses, and a wide variety of leguminous field crops. They...
Read more
|
|
|
fallow land
fallow land cropland that is not seeded for a season; it may or may not be plowed. The land may be cultivated or chemically treated for control of weeds and other pests or may be left unaltered. Allowing land to lie fallow serves to accumulate moisture in dry regions (see dry farming ) or to check...
Read more
|
|
|
clubroot
clubroot disease of cabbages, turnips, radishes, and other plants belonging to the family Cruciferae ( mustard family). It is induced by a plasmodial slime mold that attacks the roots, causing, in the cabbage, undeveloped heads or a failure to head at all. Clubroot can be partially or in some ca...
Read more
|
|
|
alfalfa
alfalfa or lucern , perennial leguminous plant ( Medicago sativa ) of the family Leguminosae ( pulse family), the most important pasture and hay plant in North America, also grown extensively in Argentina, S Europe, and Asia. Probably native to Persia, it was introduced to the United States by ...
Read more
|
|
|
oats
oats cereal plants of the genus Avena of the family Gramineae ( grass family). Most species are annuals of moist temperate regions. The early history of oats is obscure, but domestication is considered to be recent compared to that of the other grains—perhaps c.2500 BC During the Bronze Ag...
Read more
|
|
beet
beet biennial or annual root vegetable of the family Chenopodiaceae ( goosefoot family). The beet ( Beta vulgaris ) has been cultivated since pre-Christian times. Among its numerous varieties are the red, or garden, beet, the sugar beet, Swiss chard, and several types of mangel-wurzel and other st...
Read more
|
|
|
pasture
pasture land used for grazing livestock. Land unsuited for cultivation, e.g., hilly or stony land, may be used as pasture. Tilled land and meadow may be pastured after the crops are removed. Pastures that have been overgrazed and in which such soil-improving practices as liming, fertilizing, and se...
Read more
|
|
|
nitrogen cycle
nitrogen cycle the continuous flow of nitrogen through the biosphere by the processes of nitrogen fixation, ammonification (decay), nitrification, and denitrification. Nitrogen is vital to all living matter, both plant and animal; it is an essential constituent of amino acids, which form proteins...
Read more
|
