Agriculture & Agricultural Engineering Syllabus for IFS Main Examination- 2016

AGRICULTURE 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. Climatic elements as factors of crop growth, impact of changing environment on cropping pattern as indicators of environments. Environmental pollution and associated hazards to crops, animals, and humans. 

Cropping pattern in different agro‐climatic zones of the country. Impact of high‐yielding and short‐duration varieties on shifts in cropping pattern. Concepts of multiple cropping, multistorey, relay and intercropping, and their importance in relation to food production. Package of practices for production of important cereals, pulses, oil seeds, fibres, sugar, commercial and fodder crops grown during Kharif and Rabi seasons in different regions of the country. Important features, scope and propagation of various types of forestry plantations such as extension, social forestry, agro‐forestry, and natural forests.

Weeds, their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their multiplication; cultural, biological and chemical control of weeds. Soil‐physical, chemical and biological properties. Processes and factors of soil formation. Modern classification of Indian soils, 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 and its evaluation for judicious fertilizer use, integrated nutrient management. Losses of nitrogen in soil, nitrogen‐use efficiency in submerged rice soils, nitrogen fixation in soils. Fixation of phosphorus and potassium in soils and the scope for their efficient use. Problem soils and their reclamation methods.

Soil conservation planning on watershed basis. Erosion and run‐off management in hilly, foot hills, and valley lands; processes and factors affecting them. Dry land agriculture and its problems. Technology of stabilising agriculture production in rain fed agriculture area.

Water‐use efficiency in relation to crop production, criteria for scheduling irrigations, ways and means of reducing run‐off losses of irrigation water. Drip and sprinkler irrigation. Drainage of water‐logged soils, quality of irrigation water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution.

Farm management, scope, important and characteristics, farm planning. Optimum resources use and budgeting. Economics of different types of farming systems. 

Marketing and pricing of agricultural inputs and outputs, price fluctuations and their cost; role of co‐ operatives in agricultural economy; types and systems of farming and factors affecting them. 

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; farm mechanization and its role in agricultural production and rural employment. Training programmes for extension workers; lab‐to‐land programmes.

PAPER­-II

Cell Theory, cell structure, cell organelles and their function, cell division, nucleic acids‐structure and function, gene structure and function. Laws of heredity, their significance in plant breeding. Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations, linkage and cross‐over, and their significance in recombination breeding. Polyploidy, euploid and an euploids. Mutation‐micro and macro‐and their role in crop improvement. Variation, components of variation. 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 and evolution of crop plants, centre of origin, law of homologous series, crop genetic resources‐conservation and utilization. Application of principles of plant breeding to the improvement of major field crops. Pure‐line selection, pedigree, mass and recurrent selections, combining ability, its significance in plant breeding. Hybrid vigour and its exploitation, backcross method of breeding, breeding for disease and pest resistance, role of inter‐ specific and inter‐generic hybridization. Role of biotechnology in plant breeding. Improved varieties, hybrids, composites of various crop plants.

Seed technology, its importance. Different kinds of seeds and their seed production and processing techniques. Role of public and private sectors in seed production, processing and marketing in India.

Physiology and its significance in agriculture. Imbibitions, surface tension, diffusion and osmosis. Absorption and translocation of water, transpiration and water economy. Enzymes and plant pigments; photosynthesis‐ modern concepts and factors affecting the process, aerobic and non‐aerobic respiration; C, C and CAM mechanisms. Carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism. 

Growth and development; photo‐periodism and vernalization. Auxins, hormones, and other plant regulators and their mechanism of action and importance in agriculture. Physiology of seed development and germination; dormancy. 

Climatic requirements and cultivation of major fruits, plants, vegetable crops and flower plants; the package of practices and their scientific basis. Handling and marketing problems of fruit and vegetables. Principal methods of preservation of important fruits and vegetable products, processing techniques and equipment. Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition. Raising of ornamental plants, and design and layout of lawns and gardens.

Diseases and pests of field vegetables, orchard and plantation crops of India. Causes and classification of plant pests and diseases. Principles of control of plant pests and diseases Biological control of pests and diseases. Integrated pest and disease management. Epidemiology and forecasting.  Pesticides, their formulations and modes of action. Compatibility with rhizobial inoculants. Microbial toxins. 

Storage pests and diseases of cereals and pulses, and their control.

Food production and consumption trends in India. National and international food policies. Production, procurement, distribution and processing constraints. Relation of food production to national dietary pattern, major deficiencies of calorie and protein.

AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING

PAPER ­ I

SECTION A

1. Soil and Water Conservation : Scope of soil and water conservation. Mechanics and types of erosion, their causes. Mechanics and types of erosion, their causes. Rainfall, runoff and sedimentation relationships and their measurement. Soil erosion control measures ‐ biological and engineering including stream bank protection‐vegetative barriers, contour bunds, contour trenches, contour stone walls, contour ditches, terraces, outlets and grassed waterways. Gully control structures ‐ temporary and permanent ‐ design of permanent soil conservation structures such as chute, drop and drop inlet spillways. Design of farm ponds and percolation ponds. Principles of flood control‐flood routing. Watershed Management ‐ investigation, planning and implementation ‐ selection of priority areas and water shed work plan, water harvesting and moisture conservation. Land development ‐ leveling, estimation of earth volumes and costing. Wind Erosion process ‐ design for shelter belts and wind brakes and their management. Forest (Conservation) Act. 

2. Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing : Basic characteristics of photographic images, interpretation keys, equipment for interpretation, imagery interpretation for land use, geology, soil and forestry. Remote sensing ‐ merits and demerits of conventional and remote sensing approaches. Types of satellite images, fundamentals of satellite image interpretation, techniques of visual and digital interpretations for soil, water and land use management. Use of GIS in planning and development of watersheds, forests including forest cover, water resources etc.

Section B

3. Irrigation and Drainage : Sources of water for irrigation. Planning and design of minor irrigation projects. Techniques of measuring soil moisture ‐ laboratory and in situ, Soil‐water plant relationships. Water requirement of crops. Planning conjunctive use of surface and ground water. Measurement of irrigation water, measuring devices ‐ orifices, weirs and flumes. Methods of irrigation ‐ surface, sprinkler and drip, fertigation. Irrigation efficiencies and their estimation. Design and construction of canals, field channels, underground pipelines, head‐gates, diversion boxes and structures for road crossing. 

Occurrence of ground water, hydraulics of wells, types of wells (tube wells and open wells) and their construction. Well development and testing. Pumps‐types, selection and installation. Rehabilitation of  sick and failed wells.

Drainage causes of water logging and salt problem. Methods of drainage‐ drainage of irrigated and unirrigated lands, design of surface, sub‐surface and vertical drainage systems. Improvement and utilization of poor quality water. Reclamation of saline and alkali soils. Economics of irrigation and drainage systems. Use of waste water for irrigation ‐ standards of waste water for sustained irrigation,  feasibility and economics.

4. Agricultural Structures : Site selection, design and construction of farmstead ‐ farm house, cattle shed, dairy bam, poultry shed, hog housing, machinery and implement shed, storage structures for food grains, feed and forage. Design and construction of fences and farm roads.

Structures for plant environment – green houses, poly houses and shade houses. Common building materials used in construction ‐ timber, brick, stone, tiles, concrete etc and their properties. Water supply, drainage and sanitation system.

PAPER­-II

Section A

1. Farm Power and Machinery : Agricultural mechanization and its scope. Sources of farm power ‐ animate and electro‐mechanical. Thermodynamics, construction and working of internal combustion engines. Fuel, ignition, lubrication, cooling and governing system of IC engines. Different types of tractors and power tillers. Power transmission, ground drive, power take off (p.t.o.) and control systems. Operation and maintenance of farm machinery for primary and secondary tillage. Traction theory. Sowing transplanting and interculture implements and tools. Plant protection equipment – spraying and dusting. Harvesting, threshing and combining equipment. Machinery for earth moving and land development ‐ methods and cost estimation. Ergonomics of man‐machine system. Machinery for horticulture and agro‐forestry, feeds and forages. Haulage of agricultural and forest produce.

2. Agro­energy : Energy requirements of agricultural operations and agro‐processing. Selection, installation, safety and maintenance of electric motors for agricultural applications. Solar (thermal and photovoltoic), wind and bio‐gas energy and their utilization in agriculture. Gasification of biomass for running IC engines and for electric power generation. Energy efficient cooking stoves and alternate cooking fuels. Distribution of electricity for agricultural and agro‐industrial applications.

Section B

3. Agricultural Process Engineering : Post harvest technology of crops and its scope. Engineering properties of agricultural produces and by‐products. Unit operations ‐ clearing grading, size reduction, densification, concentration, drying/dehydration, evaporation, filtration, freezing and packaging of agricultural produces and by‐products. Material handling equipment belt and screw conveyors, bucket elevators, their capacity and power requirement.

Processing of milk and dairy products ‐ homogenization, cream separation, pasteurization, sterilization, spray and roller drying, butter making, ice cream, cheese and shrikhand manufacture. Waste and by‐product utilization ‐ rice husk, rice bran, sugarcane bagasse, plant residues and coir pith.

4. Instrumentation and computer applications in Agricultural Engineering : Electronic devices and their characteristics ‐ rectifiers, amplifiers, oscillators, multi‐vibrators. Digital circuits ‐ sequential and combinational system. Application of microprocessors in data acquisition and control of agricultural engineering processes‐ measurement systems for level, flow, strain, force, torque, power, pressure, vacuum and temperature. Computers ‐ introduction, input/output devices, central processing unit, memory devices, operating systems, processors, keyboards and printers. Algorithms, flowchart specification, programme translation and problem analysis in Agricultural Engineering. Multimedia and Audio‐Visual aids.