Improvement in Food Resources

Introduction

     Man is an omnivore. He depends on both plants and animals for food. We know that crops are a major source of food.

Milching Animals

     Most zebu cattle (domesticated cattle, Bos indicus) are resistant to Rinderpest. This disease has been controlled through a National Vaccination Programme.

Milch Animal Management - Continued

     Indigenous dairy breeds produce 6-8 litres of milk a day where as foreign exotic breeds produce 60 litres of milk a day.

Fish Farming

     Fish is a source of high quality animal protein and a rich source of minerals like calcium, phosphorus and iron. India abounds in fish, both fresh water and marine.

Human Dependence on Plants and Animals for Food

     Animals are heterotrophs i.e. they are incapable of synthesizing their own food. They depend on plants and other animals for food. Man also being a heterotroph, gets his food from plants as well as animals.

Natural Fertilizers

     Constant use of the soil leads to the loss of its important nutrients particularly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and thus the soil loses its fertility.

Chemical Fertilizers

     Chemical fertilizers contain a higher amount of nutrients as against manures and so are used in very small quantities.

Sustainable Agriculture

     Sustainability means keeping an effort going continuously, or the ability to last out and keep from falling.

Mixed Farming

     While modern day farmers specialize in one agricultural sector, either dairy or growing potatoes, their predecessors kept a wide array of farm animals and planted many different kinds of field crops.

Salient Features of Mixed Cropping

     Mixed cropping is growing of two or more crops simultaneously on the same piece of land.

Multiple Choice Questions