About the Book

Book 1: Production and Management of Spices

Book 2: Production and Management of Tea

Book 3: Production and Management of Rubber

Book 4: Production and Management of Coffee

Book 5: Production and Management of Other Plantation Crops-Coconut and Cashew

Book 1: Production and Management of Spices

Spices impart colour, flavour and fragrance to food. As a preservative, spices played an important role in preservation of physical bodies of Royalty in Egypt. India is the world leader in production, marketing and domestic uses of spices. Among spices, cardamom, black pepper, ginger, turmeric and tree spices are grown along the length and breadth of India. Cardamom, the Queen of Spices, originated in the Western Ghats of India and spread to other countries including Guatemala. Tree spices are clove, nutmeg, allspice, tamarind and garcenia. Cloves are grown for its immature unopened flower bud. Nutmeg is a three-in-one spice, all three parts of it are spicy. Allspice flavours like cardamom, cinnamon and clove.

India grants over 50 spices of which black pepper is most important in production and export. Vietnam is competing with India in Global market. Guatemala is overtaking India in cardamom. India is the world leader in production of large cardamom. During 2007-08 India exported spices worth US$ I billion; the target for export by 2015 is US $ 10 billion. The Spice Board of India has the mandate on production and export of cardamom and export of other spices. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India takes care of all the spices other than cardamom. Productivity of many of our spices are to be boosted up by practicing high production technologies considering the increase in domestic consumption greater demand for Indian spices in the world market as well as the threats to exports from other producing countries. Good agricultural practices to produce clean spices is gaining significance. Pertinent information on ago climatic-soil-water requirements, establishment of plantations, integrated management practices for nutrition, pests and diseases and salient features relating to organic spice producers are presented in this Block of three units.

Unit 1 In Cultural practices of spices are elaborated. Spacing, time of planting, soils and water requirement are dealt with. Pests and diseases affecting black pepper, cardamom, ginger, turmeric and tree spices are indicated along with their control measures. Weed management to minimize nutrient and water losses is important in .spices cultivation. List of important varieties grown provides Indias strength in the productive genotypes.

Unit 2 discusses Integrated Nutrierts, Pests and Diseases Management. Integrated Nutrient Management deals with the optimization of nutrient use to maximize productivity of spices. IPM deals with Integrated Pest Management to control important pests of spices so that minimum insecticide residues are recovered on analysis. Integrated Disease Management (IDM) takes care of management of diseases through bio control tools, avoidance of preferred hosts and also intercropping with non-preferred crops. Parasites, predators and parasitoids are used in one way or other in pest management.

The significance and scope of organic spices following good agricultural practices have been dealth with in Unit 3. Standards and principles for efficient and economic spice production, products for plant protection for more nutritive and socially acceptable spices etc., have been discussed. Procedures for organic spice -production and citification in respect of the two prominent spices viz., pepper and cardamom are also explained at length in this unit.

The material provided in this block is supplemented with examples and activities which will make the learning process simple and interesting. We have also provided check your progress questions for self test at a few places of these units which invariably lead to possible answers to the questions set in those exercises. What perhaps you ought to do, is to go through units and jot down important points as you read, in the space provided in the margin. This will help you in assimilating the content. A list of reference books has been provided at the end of each unit for further detailed reading.

Book 2: Production and Management of Tea

Do you know that tea, India's number one beverage, is obtained from the plantations distributed along the mountain terrains of North-East India and the Western Ghats of South India. India has the second largest area under tea in the world after China, and is second in terms of total production too. Darjeeling Tea which fetches premium price in export market, is from the Himalayan Hills of North-East India. This block on Production and Management of Tea gives you adequate details on better nursery materials and management practices for high and sustainable tea production.

Promising tea varieties have been developed and approved for cultivation by tea research institutions in India. Tea being a self-sterile plant, shows variability in seedling populations hence, vegetatively propagated superior clones are widely used. Establishment of new plantations, maintenance of field planted estates, cultural practices including fertilizer application, regulation of shade, drainage, provision of need based irrigation etc., should be properly undertaken. Similarly, management of pests and diseases through timely application of chemicals is the last but the most important factor for maximum production. At the end comes harvesting (plucking) of tea leaves which also demands scientific approaches as far as tea quality i concerned. In addition, procedures for scientific 'organic tea' production, are also elaborated and presented in this Block.

Unit 4 gives you information on distribution, area and production of tea, production of plant.ing materials for commercial tea growing, management practices for plantlets and grown up tea bushes both in the nursery as well as in established areas, and on different soil and water copservation measures. The importance of shade management, pruning of tea bushes for shape and production and their maintenance and methods of harvesting tea are also dealt with in the unit.

Unit 5 Nutrient Management - This unit describes soil types found in tea growing areas, method of collection of representative soil samples for fertility evaluation, importance and principles of manuring, types of plant nutrients and fertilizers and symptoms of nutrient deficiency. Various climatic, soil and plant factors affecting utilization of nutrients and the use of plant growth regulators for increasing crop production are also discussed in Unit 5.

Unit 6 on 'Plant Protection Measures' deals with different types of pests, diseases and weeds that affect tea and which bring about on an average 15-20 per cent reduction in yield due to loss of crop and sometimes even the death of tea bushes. Besides crop loss, there is also deterioration in quality of made tea. This unit also describes different types of pests, diseases and weeds commonly found in tea growing areas, the nature of damage caused by them and their control through chemical, cultural and other means.

Production of 'organic tea' without using any kind of synthesized chemicals like pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, concentrated fertilizers and plant growth regulators is given in Unit 7 on 'Organic Tea'. A brief description is given on the selection of site and planting materials for organic conversion of existing tea growing estates into organic areas and their maintenance. Details of different methods of crop protection measures to control/manage pests, diseases and weeds in organic tea growing areas are also discussed in this unit.

The material provided in this block is supplemented with examples and activities which will make the learning process simple and interesting. We have also provided check you progress questions for self.test at a few places of these units which invariably lead to possible answers to the questions set in those exercises. What perhaps you ought to do, is to go through units and jot down important points as you read in the space provided in the margin. This will help you in assimilating the content. A list of reference books has been provided at the end of each unit for further detailed reading.

Book 3: Production and Management of Rubber

The words of Professor Richard Evans Schutes, "No single species of plant has in the short span of 100 years so utterly altered life style around the globe as Hevea brasiliensis", truly describe the prominent position the rubber tree enjoys I as an important industrial plantation crop.

Introduction of Hevea brasilensis as a plantation crop in South and South-East Asia in the last quarter of the 19^th century paved way for systematic studies on, plant productivity technologies and processing of the crop. The discovery of pneumatic tyres and the. subsequent automobile revolution further strengthened and maintained the commercial viability of rubber plantations even against stiff competition from synthetic rubber introduced during the second world war. Natural rubber still plays a significant role as an important industrial raw material.

The original genetic material of Hevea introduced to South-East Asia in.1876 had only a yield potential of about 200-300 kg per ha. By careful Ortet selection (selection of high yielding mother trees) and cloning and at a later stage, through planned hybridization and selection, commercial yield recorded steady increased over the years. The present modem clones evolved and released by different Rubber Research Institutes in various rubber growing countries can yield 2000 - 3000 kg/ha. The high yielding clones recommended by the Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) rank among the best clones in the world and these clones have contributed to make India attain the first position in productivity.

The objectives of this block are:

To realize the full potential of any high yielding clone, it is necessary to adopt scientific methods of agro - management. Though rubber is predominantly a small farmer crop, most of the small holdings maintain high standards of management. To ensure synergy between scientific advances and good management practices, it is essential to develop proper expertise in this field. In this block, we have four units.

The units under Block 3 "Production and Management of Rubber" were designed with the above objective in mind.

Unit 8 discusses the Agro-climatic requirements for successful establishment of rubber plantations. Besides describing the ideal climatic requirements, this chapter also indicates the constraints in many non-traditional belts in India where rubber is now cultivated.

Unit 9 describes 'the different-types of Nursery and planting materials. While this chapter lucidly narrates the subject matter, a field visit to such nurseries may be rewarding.

Unit 10 deals with all aspects of Planting and cultural operations. The scientific basis of each and every agro operation is elucidated in this chapter.

Unit 11 covers all aspects of Crop protection. This chapter contains vivid description of disease and pest symptoms and appropriate control measures. A brief account of the equipment normally used for plant protection is also included.

The material provided in this block is supplemented with examples and activities which will make the learning process simple and interesting. We have also provided check your progress questions for self test at a few places of these units which invariably lead to possible answers to the questions set in those exercises. What perhaps you ought to do, is to go through units and jot down important points as you read in the space provided in the margin. This will help you in assimilating the content. A list of reference books has been provided at the end of each unit for further reading.

Book 4: Production and Management of Coffee

Coffee has a place of pride among the plantation crops in India and is mainly cultivated in the traditional coffee growing states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and to a lesser extent in the non-traditional areas such as Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and seven North Eastern States.

Economic cultivation of coffee is dependent on suitable climatic conditions, edaphic factors supported by adequate elevation and rainfall regime. Coffee being a perennial crop grown for its beans, selection of high yielding, disease/ pest resistant material having wide adaptability to a range of agro-climatic conditions prevailing in coffee tracts is essential while starting the plantation. Besides, it is also important to have a thorough knowledge on cultivation and adoption of improved crop husbandry practices for obtaining economic returns from the plantations.

The Block 4 on Production and Management of Coffee which largely covers all cultivation aspects of coffee, has been divided into five Units covering from seed to harvest. Brief details of the Units are as follows:

Unit 12 Agro-climatic Conditions: Deals with-the requirements of ideal soil and climatic conditions for successful cultivation of the two major species of coffee viz., Arabica and Robusta. Besides, the ill effects of adverse weather conditions on performance of coffee are dealth with.

Unit 13 Nursery and Planting Material: Deals with methods of propagation such as seed and clonal progagation and requirements for the proper maintenance of seedling and clonal nurseries. In addition, this unit also describes the approaches adopted in India for development of planting materials and characteristic features of some of the important coffee varieties.

Unit 14 Planting and Cultural Operation: This Unit covers all the important crop husbandry practices such as establishment and aftercare of new plantations and different cultural practices to be adopted periodically in an established plantation for obtaining desirable yields.

Unit 15 Crop Protection: This Unit deals with pests and diseases of coffee in India and their effective management for minimizing crop losses.

Unit 16 Organic Coffee: Deals with the requirements for establishment of new organic plantations and also conversion of existing plantation for organic coffee production as per the National Regulations. Besides, the Unit also describes the procedure to be adopted for obtaining of certification of organic coffee that would ensure premium price in the market.

The material provided in this block is supplemented with examples and activities which will make the learning process simple and interesting. Vie have also provided check your progress questions for self test at a few places of these units which invariably lead to possible answers to the questions set in those exercises. What perhaps YQU ought to do, is to go through units and jot down important points as you read in the space provided in the margin. This will help you in assimilating the content. A list of reference books has been provided at the end of each unit for further detailed reading.

Book 5: Production and Management of Other Plantation Crops-Coconut and Cashew

Though Plantation crops constitute only about two per cent of the total cropped area in the country, they generate considerable foreign exchange earnings by way of export. Large scale plantations of tea, coffee and rubber were started only after the arrival of the Europeans but coconut and spices were under cultivation from the very early days. The very name 'Kerala' meaning land of coconut, speaks about its antiquity. Cashew indigenous to South America, was introduced into India by the Portuguese in the 16^th century to the West Coast as a soil binding crop. In order to ensure good yields, it is essential that high yielding varieties are used as planting materials. Such varieties should be planted in favorable locations having fertile and deep soil. The after care of the plants by proper manuring, inter cultivation and irrigation should be systematically attended to for obtaining good establishment, growth and yield. Inter and mixed cropping with compatible crops would enhance the income from unit area of the plantation. The crops also need to be protected from pests and diseases to prevent the death of plants and loss of yield.

The present block deals with various aspects of crop production and protection of coconut and cashew. The topics have been dealt in such a way that it gives the reader a cohesive picture of the various facets of crop varieties, crop production technologies, crop protection and attainable yields. These are covered in three units; the details are as follows.

A general idea about the crop, its origin, distribution, botany and varieties under cultivation has been presented in Unit 17. To obtain good field establishment and growth of plants, details regarding nursery techniques to produce quality seedlings, field preparation and planting, manuring and irrigation etc., have been described. Inter and mixed cropping as a farming system to increase income, is then discussed.

The Unit 18 deals with soil and climatic requirements of cashew to start with. Varieties to be used and production of planting material have been dealt with in detail. Field preparation and planting, cultural practices to be adopted, fertilizer scheduling, organic nutrition and management of senile plantations are the other sections covered in the unit.

The Unit 19 describes about the pests and diseases affecting coconut and cashew. Details regarding insects and pathogens that attack the crops, symptoms of the malady and control measures to be adopted have been given adequately so as to help the reader study the damages and to take appropriate control measures.

The material provided in this block is supplemented with examples and activities which will make the learning process simple and interesting. We have also provided check your progress questions for self test at a few places of these units which invariably lead to possible answers to the questions set in those exercises. What perhaps you ought to do, is to go through units and jot down important points as you read in the space provided in the margin. This will help you in assimilating the content. A list of reference books has been provided at the end of each unit for further detailed reading.

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