Indian Forest Service (IFS) Examination : Syllabus
Syllabus - 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 inter-cropping,
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 fertiliser 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.
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Soil conservation planning on watershed basis. Erosion and run-off management
in hilly, foot hills, and valley lands; processes and factors affecting
them. Dryland agriculture and its problems. Technology of stabilising
agriculture production in rainfed 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 productioin 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 interspecific and intergeneric 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. Imbibition, surface
tension, diffusion and osmosis. Absorption and translocation of water,
transpiration and water economy.
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Enzymes and plant pigments; photosynthesis-modern concepts and factors
affecting the process, aerobic and nonaerobic respiration; C, C and
CAM mechanisms. Carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism.
- Growth and development; photoperiodism 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 nutriton. 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.
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