Description

Agronomy is a discipline that is not widely understood to those outside of the agricultural sciences. Agronomy rarely appears in library and information science publications, and when it does, is part of the larger field of agriculture. Agronomy is the science and technology of using plants for food, fuel, feed, fibre, and reclamation. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology, chemistry, ecology, earth science, and genetics. Agronomists today are involved with many issues including producing food, creating healthier food, managing environmental impact of agriculture, and creating energy from plants. Agronomists often specialize in areas such as crop rotation, irrigation and drainage, plant breeding, plant physiology, soil classification, soil fertility, weed control, insect and pest control. Plants have been one of the important sources of medicines even since the dawn of human civilization. In spite of tremendous developments in the field of allopathy during the 20th century, plants still remain one of the major sources of drugs in modern as well as traditional system of medicine throughout the world. Approximately one-third of all pharmaceuticals are of plant origin, wherein fungi and bacteria are also included. Over 60% of all pharmaceuticals are plant-based. This area of agronomy involves selective breeding of plants to produce the best crops under various conditions. Plant breeding has increased crop yields and has improved the nutritional value of numerous crops, including corn, soybeans, and wheat. It also has led to the development of new types of plants. For example, a hybrid grain called triticale was produced by crossbreeding rye and wheat. Triticale contains more usable protein than does either rye or wheat. Agronomy has also been instrumental in fruit and vegetable production research. This book contains the fundamental and basic information of subject and the selection of contents makes it an appropriate book for the students.