Civil Service Main Examination Syllabus Agriculture - Optional
PAPER - I
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. Green house
effect and global warming. Advance tools for ecosystem analysis – Remote
sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
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.
Important
features and scope of various types
of forestry plantations such as social forestry, agro-forestry, and natural
forests. Propagation of forest plants. Forest products. Agro forestry and value
addition. Conservation of forest flora and fauna.
Weeds,
their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their
multiplications; cultural, biological, and chemical control of weeds.
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 fertilizer 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 rain fed areas.
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 waterlogged soils, quality of irrigation
water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution. Irrigation
projects in India.
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 co-operatives in agricultural economy;
types and systems of farming and factors affecting them. Agricultural price
policy. Crop Insurance.
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 Organization (NGO) and self- help group approach
for rural development.
PAPER
- II
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. Mutations - and their role in crop
improvement. Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification and
their application in crop improvement. Cytoplasmic inheritance, sex-linked,
sex-influenced and sex-limited characters.
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.