Food, feed, fibre, and fuel.

Also: "farmaceuticals", flavours, and fun.

The speed of growth graphed over time. The derivative of the culumulative growth. A bell-shaped line.

W = weight

t = time

G = (W₂ - W₁) / (t₂ - t₁)

aka Accumulation

Roots taking up nutrients in higher concentrations than they could with simple osmosis. Uses ATP to create an electrochemical gradient. H⁺ ions are pumped into the apoplasm, causing ions to go into the symplasm through membrane-bound transporters.

aka "The King of Forages"

Legume forage crop. An autopolypliod. Perennial: lasts 2 to 3 years, cut 3 to 5 times a year. Grown in rotation with corn. 18% protein. The crown and root survive the winter. If it is weak going into winter, surival will be poor. Ther is a critical harvest period in the fall. Ideal harvest stage is just before flowering.

aka Blind staggers

A disease in grazing animals. Caused by eating plants that have taken up selenium.

aka Row agroforestry

Crops planted between rows of trees. The tree may benefit from the crop, or the crop benefiting from the trees. Partially overcomes the mechanism barrier of multispecies cropping.

NH₄⁺

An ion form of N available to plants. A mobile element.

NH₄NO₃

A mineral salt. When in the water it ionizes into ammonium and nitrate.

aka Magnoliphyta

Flowering plants. A division in the kingdom Plantae. There are about 500 thousand species. Most crops belong to this group. Divided into dicots and monocots.

3000 BC.

Used the ard, Saltus/Ager systems, and two-field rotations. Animals were slaughtered in the fall due to limited feed storage. Land was not well prepared or fertilized. Low productivity.

aka Scratch plow

Used 3000 BC. An animal-drawn tool. A single spike that is dragged through soil. Pulled with a neck yoke system.

The third name that is sometimes included in a binomical system of nomenclature name. Tells you who classified that species.

Example: L stands for Linnaeus.

The number equal to a mole.

6.02e23

Hordeum vulgare

A cereal crop or forage crop. Found in annual pastures. Requires 200 mm + of rainfall. Tolerant of heat and cold. Resistant to salinity. Has devleopmental plasticity. Yieldes 0.6 - 3 tonnes/ha.

A lifecycle classification of vegetables. Plants require two years to complete the reproductive cycle. First year, they form from a rosette, the second year they have bolting. Without the cold period of <10ºC for at least 10 days, bolting doesn't occur. This requirement may be bred out of a plant.

Beets, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, carrots, celery, onions, parsnips, Cole crops, horseradish, and many weeds.

H₃BO₃

The form that boron is absorbed in. Not an ion.

aka Triticum aestevum

A cross between pasta wheat (teteraploid) and Triticum tauschii (diploid). Used to make bread. The interaction between the parent genes somehow created sticky protein that captures CO₂ from yeast, making the bread able to be leavened. Important in Mediterranean areas.

Plants that take up CO₂ in the nighttime so that during the day photosynthesis can occur with stomates closed, reducing transpiration completely.

Cacti.

aka Brassica napus

CANadian Oil Low Acid. A Canadian-invented oilseed derived from rapeseed. Lower in erucic acid and glucosinolates. Canada produces 11% of the world's canola, 99.9% of this production is in Western Canada. Canola is 42% oil.

CO₂

A plants #1 most needed nutrient. Enters through the stomates.

Manihot esculenta

aka Yuca

A root crop. Originated in Brazil. Grown in an 18 month cycle. A subsistence crop in Africa, Oceania, South America, and the Caribbean. Requires 500 mm of rainfall, but optimally 1000 mm - 2000 mm. Includes bitter and sweet cassava. The longer they are left in the ground, the more woody the roots get. Fresh roots are 70% moisture and very bulky and hard to transport. Fresh roots can be stored for only 3 - 4 days before they start to rot. Raw root contains cyanide which is toxic and very unpalatable. Must be processed before consumption. May be intercropped. Cassava is used for flour, confectionaries, feed, ethanol, processed foods, textiles, pharmaceuticals, paper industry, or in traditional foods.

Cicer arietinum.

A pulse crop. Includes kabuli and desi. Requires 600 mm - 1000 mm of rainfall. Germinates at 10ºC to 35ºC. Optimum temperature is 19ºC - 28ºC. Yields up to 0.7 - 1.17 tonnes/ha.

International Center for Wheat and Maize Improvement.

In Mexico. Belongs to CGIAR.

aka Maize

aka Zea mays L.

A major cereal and forage crop. Day-neutral. Originated from teosinte in Mesoamerica 5000 years ago. A C4 crop. Requires 1000 + mm of water. Has a multitude of uses in food industry. A variety of types of corn. Grown in a wide range of latitudes, including temperate climates. Often cultivated with beans and squash. High yielding. Produces a lot of residue, which affects subsequent crops. Frost sensitive. Needs high temperature an low moisture. The area of land growing corn in Ontario is rising. Management enables rapid, uniform emergence and early silking. Non-limiting fertility. High plant water availability is good (root growth not restricted). Weed control. Nitrogen fertilization is an issue (nitrous oxide emissions, leaching, manure, covre crops, genetics). There are drought tolerant hybrids (only reduce losses). Irrigation may have vlue. Found in many food products (corn starch, HFCS, animal feed). Used in ethanol and plastics production. Yields are about 140 - 160 bu/ac. In developing countries yields are 30 - 40 bu/ac due to crop failure. Corn is 10% protein, but high in energy.

An oil seed crop. The most important fibre crop. Its seeds contain gossypol. Rain-fed or irrigated systems. Small and large farms. Includes Old World and New World species. Potentially a perennial but grown as an annual. Naturally indeterminate. Yields 1 - 4 tonnes/ha. Fibre is 20% - 40% of the weiht. Seeds produce cottonseed oil and cottonseed cake (used in animal feed). Optimum temperature is 27ºC. Drought tolerant; has a taproot. Slow initial growth. Harvested mechanically or by hand. Boll development stages are pinhead square, match-head square, square growth midpoint, candle, white, bloom, and boll development. The plant has a long straight vegetative bracnh, and a zig-zagged fruiting branch, each one is 3/8 of a turn around the stem from the branch below it. Flowers are self-pollinating.

Susceptible to weeds, pests, and disease because it has different parts going through different developmental stages at the same time.. Extremely wide range of insect species includin monophageous, oligophageous, and polyphageous species. Controlled with insecticides, destruction of remains, weed control, and crop rotation. Cotton accounts for 11% of all pesticide sales and 25% of insecticide sales. S

aka Green manure

A crop that benefits soil and other crops, but itself is not harvested. Reduces soil moisture. Benefits soil erosion, organic matter, soil structure, nitrogen, leaching, weed suppression, reduced pest population, soil structure, and can be a pasture crop. Oilseed radish, oats, medic, rye. Found in annual pastures.

Vigna unguiculata L.

Originated in Western Africa. A pulse crop. An annual. There are bushy, erect, prostrate, and creeping varieties. Plant is 30 cm - 60 cm tall. Pods are 8 cm - 30 cm long and grow in pairs. 8 - 20 peas per pod. Peas can be grey, brown, red, or light coloured. Regional preferences for colour. A legume; fixes 240 kg N/ha. Crops are significantly improved with the use of pesticides.

The criteria for an element to be considered essential to a plant. 

1. Plant unable to complete lifecycle without it.

2. No other element can substitute it.

3. Directly involved in plant function.

aka Floating rice

Rice that can grow in water up to 5 meters deep in flooded conditions. If the waters recede, the plant will fall over.

aka Zea mays indentata

The main corn variety used as animal feed. Composed of hard starch with a soft arch in the crown. Shrinks when dried, causing a dent.

aka Magnoliopsida

aka Dicotyledneae

One of the divisions of angiosperms. Seeds contain two cotyledons. Vascular bundles are arranged in a cylinder of the stem. Can be woody. Branched leaf veins. Flower petals are in multiples of four or five. Vegetative apical meristem is above soil level. Has only apical meristems in the primary plant body.

aka Phylum

The taxin under kingdom. Contains class. Has names ending with -phyta. In animal classification it is called a phylum.

Because the genes for domestication syndrome are fairly condensed on the genome, it would be possible domesticate a crop within 10 to 100 years if someone was trying. However, ancient people were not actively trying to domesticate, and used agriculture only occasionally, decreasing the selection pressure. In reality it took up to 1000 years. Domestication is the first genetic bottleneck in domestic crops; only a small number of mutants are selected as the gene pool.

A change in plant morphology. Reduced seed shattering, overcoming of seed dormancy, optimum growth habit and harvest index, gigantism, and resistance to pests and disease.

aka Triticum monococcum

The first species of wheat to be domesticated. The lower yielding branch of wheat species. Used today for animal feed. Was once a staple grain.

A theory that light moves through space as a wave. It moves at the speed of light (c). Because it is a wave, light has a frequency (γ) and wavelength (λ). 

c = γλ

aka Hulled-grain wheat

aka Triticum dicoccum

A cross of two diploid species, AA and BB, creating a tetraploid AABB.

A line around the earth where the sun's rays shine on a 90º angle on the equinoxes, March 20 and September 20.

March 20 and September 20. The days in the northern hemisphere that has an exactly 12 hour photoperiod. The sun's rays hit the equator at a 90º angle.

aka Mineral ions. 

Elements acquired through the soil solution as ions. Meet the  three criteria for essentiality. Nitrogen, phosporius, potassium, sulphur, magnesium, caclium, chlorine, iron, boron, manganese, zinc, copper, molybdenum, and nickel. Grouped into macronutrients and micronutrients.

aka Off-site program

Gene banks where thousands of seeds are kept. Botanic gardens with live specimens. Sterile culture flasks of plant matter.

An input brought into a cropping system from outside

or

When an action in a system causes an outside effect. Can be negative (pollution) or positive (bird habitat).

Fatty Acid Methyl Ester

Three fatty acids in a triglycerol, but separated from one another. Used as a biodiesel.

1500 AD

Animal-drawn cultivation using the plow without fallowing. Used rotation of cereals with fodder crops or seeded pastures. Complex rotations, including the Norfolk 4 course rotation. Increased animal populations. Increased food supply. Improvement on the plough lead to improved land preparation.

aka Zea mays indurata

A variety of corn. Kernels are mainly hard starch, but do not dent when dried.

aka Soft corn

aka Zea mays amylacea 

A variety of corn with very little hard starch. Can easily be ground into flour.

A formation around a seed that aids in the seed's dispersal. Formed from the funiculus and ovary wall. Diploid. Has the same genome as the mother plant. Served as a dessert to be considered fruit.

A sector of Canadian horticulture that produces $750 million/year, mostly in Quebec. Can be grown between 30 and 50 decrees latitude north or south. Requires dormant and active growth periods with sufficient chilling to overcome bud dormancy. Have different levels of cold hardiness. Pollination and fertilization are required to produce fruit. Only 80 of 2400 potential fruit species have been domesticated.

GP1 = the species

GP2 = species that can be sucessfully crossed with GP1

GP3 = species that can be sucessfully crossed with GP1 with difficulty

GP4 = species that cannot be crossed with GP1

aka Hull

A leaf-like structure on the outside of wheat grains. Needs to be removed from the grain (threshed) before eaten. Some varieties have thicker glumes than others.

1960 - 2000

International agricultural research centres, such as CGIAR and CIMMYT, collaborated to develop HYVs and MVs of many crops. Over 8000 were made in 11 crops. Huge increases in crop production. Beans and cassava MVs not developed untill later in the revolution. Decreased food prices. Without the Green Revolution, yields would be 2.4% higher in developed countries and 22% lower in developing countries. Average caloric intake would be 14% lower and the number of malnourished children 7% higher. Did not affect Sub-Saharan Africa. Caused long-term soil degradation, chemical pollution, aquifer depletion, soil salinity, biodiversity, environmental, and socioeconomic impacts. May be unsustainable.

Gross Revenue Insurance Program

Can effect what farmers will grow. Caused soybean production to go up.

aka Homo sapiens

Originated in Africa 50,000 years ago. Killed all the Neanderthals. Had advanced tools (standardized sizes, variety of materials, multi-piece). Sewn clothing. Elaborate burial rituals. Created art in caves.

8000 BC - 4000 BC

A method of improving soil fertility found in early agricultural systems in Iraq and on the Nile. Annual floods bring water and fertile silts to cropland. Winter cultivation in permanent fields of wheat, barley, or millet / peas, lentils, or Egyptian clover rotations. Use of spate and basin, and the shadouf. These systems eventually failed due to salinization, waterlogging, and malaria.

aka On-site program

Maintenance of landraces in their natural region. Reserves where crops are grown close to their wild progenitors.

aka Hsien rice

Has a longer grain than Japonica rice and a taller, thinner, more tillered plant. Includes paddy, upland, and deep-water varieties. Predominantly tropical. Minimum temperature is 18ºC. All rice MVs are indica. Photoperiod sensitive. Found in hgih altitude and tropical rain-fed or irrigated systems. More susceptible to lodging. Has seed dormancy. Longer vegetative period. Medium yield potential.

aka Heat radiation

Above 760 nm in frequency. We sense it as heat.

International Rice Research Institute

In the Philippines. Belongs to the CGIAR.

aka Sinica rice

aka Keng rice

aka Sticky rice

Has a shorter grain and a shorter, fatter, less tillered plant than Indica rice. Adapted to temperate climates. Minimum temperature is 10ºC. Includes paddy and upland varieties. Photoperiod insensitive. Found in temperate cropping sysems. Resistant to lodging. Lacks seed dormancy.

aka Goosefoot

aka Chenopodium

Now considered a weed, it used to be cultivated by the Native Americans of northeasrn North America.

Class 1 = the best land with no agricultural limitations

Class 2 = the worst land with no capability of growing anything.

aka Fat

A reduced organic biomolecule created by plants out of oxidized materials. A primary compound.

Humans need 0.12 to 0.15 day.

aka Short-night plants

A photoperiod response classification of vegetable cropps. Plants that flower when the night is below a certain number of hours. Bloom in the summer. Usually a temperate climate plant. Many develop as leaf rosettes during short days. Productin is limited to late parts of the season. Includes radishes, rhubarb, beets, Chinese cabbage, spinach, and lettuce.

W = weight 

t = time

R = (lnW₂ - lnW₁) / (t₂ - t₁)

aka Trace nutrients

An essential mineral element required at 1000 ppm or less. Chlorine, iron, boron, manganese, zinc, copper, molybdenum, and nickel.

aka Liliopsida

aka Monocotyledonae

One of the divisions of angiosperms. Embryo has one cotyledon. Vascular bundles are arranged irregularly in the stem. Mostly herbaceous. Leaf verins are parallel, fused at the leaf tip. Flower petals are in multiples of three. Vegetative meristem is below soil level. Has intercalary and apical meristems in the primary plant body.