The agricultural cycle is the annual cycle of activities related to the growth and harvest of a

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

(plant). These activities include loosening the soil, seeding, special watering, moving plants when they grow bigger, and

harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

ing, among others. Without these activities, a crop cannot be grown. The main steps for agricultural practices include preparation of soil, sowing, adding manure and fertilizers, irrigation, harvesting and storage.

Seeding

The fundamental factor in the process of seeding is dependent on the properties of both seed and the soil it is being planted in. The prior step associated with seeding is

crop selection Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. It is used to improve the quality of plant products for use by humans and animals. The goals of plant breeding are to produce crop varie ...

, which mainly consists of two techniques: sexual and asexual. Asexual technique includes all forms of the vegetative process such as

budding Budding or blastogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to cell division at one particular site. For example, the small bulb-like projection coming out from the yeast cell is kno ...

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticulture, horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the roots ...

and

layering Layering can refer to: * Layering (horticulture), a means of vegetative propagation * Layering (finance), a strategy in high frequency trading * Layering (linguistics), a principle by which grammaticalisation can be detected * Surface layering ...

. Sexual technique involves growing of the plant from a seed. Grafting is referred to as the artificial method of propagation in which parts of plants are joined together in order to make them bind together and continue growing as one plant. Grafting is mainly applied to two parts of the plant: the dicot and the

gymnosperm The gymnosperms ( ; ) are a group of woody, perennial Seed plant, seed-producing plants, typically lacking the protective outer covering which surrounds the seeds in flowering plants, that include Pinophyta, conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetoph ...

s due to the presence of

vascular cambium The vascular cambium is the main growth tissue in the stems and roots of many plants exhibiting secondary growth, specifically in dicots such as buttercups and oak trees, gymnosperms such as pine trees, as well as in certain other vascular ...

between the plant tissues:

xylem Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue (biology), tissue in vascular plants, the other being phloem; both of these are part of the vascular bundle. The basic function of the xylem is to transport water upward from the roots to parts o ...

and

phloem Phloem (, ) is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This transport process is ...

. A grafted plant consists of two parts: first

rootstock A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to ...

, which is the lower part of the plant that comprises roots and the lowest part of the shoot; second, the branches and primary stem, which consists of the upper and main part of the shoot which gradually develops into a fully nourished plant. Budding is another form of asexual reproduction in which the new plant develops from a productive objective source of the parent plant. It is a method in which a bud from the plant is joined onto the stem of another plant. The plant in which the bud is implanted in eventually develops into a replica of the parent plant. The new plant can either divert its ways into forming an independent plant; however, in numerous cases it may remain attached and form various accumulations.

Seedling

Germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, ...

is a process by which the seed develops into a

seedling A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embry ...

. The vital conditions necessary for this process are water, air, temperature, energy, viability and

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

s. If any of these conditions are absent, the process cannot undergo successfully. Germination is also known as sprouting; it is also considered the first sign of life shown by a seed.

Pollination

The process of

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma (botany), stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or bu ...

refers to the transfer of pollen to the female organs of the plant. Optimum factors for ideal pollination are a relative humidity rate of 50–70% and temperature of 24.4 °C. If the humidity rate is higher than 90%, the pollen would not shed. Increasing air circulation is a favourable method of keeping humidity levels under control.Rowe, Jervis E. (2011). Crop Selection and Management. Retrieved from http://www.cardi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Crop-Selection-and-Management.

Irrigation

Irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

is the process of artificially applying water to soil to allow plant growth. This term is preferably used when large amounts of water is applied to dry, arid regions in order to facilitate plant growth. The process of irrigation not only increases the growth rate of the plant but also increases the yield amount. In temperate and tropical areas rainfall and snowfall are the main suppliers of irrigation water, but in dry places with unfavourable weather conditions, groundwater serves as an essential source.

Groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

collects in basins made up of gravel and

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

s, which are water-holding rocks. Dams also act as an essential distributive source of irrigation water. Underground wells also play an important role in storing water for irrigation, specifically in America, and Arizona, in particular.Brown, Paul W. Importance of Irrigation Management. Retrieved from http://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu/+symposium/proceedings/2008/08-141.pdf Water and debris from streams filled by water accumulated during storms also collect into underground basins. There are two types of irrigation techniques: spray irrigation and drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is regarded as more efficient as less water evaporates than in spray irrigation.Science Channel. What is irrigation?. Retrieved from http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-is-irrigation

References

{{reflist Agriculture Crops