Write a paragraph in your own words on each of the following.

(a) Preparation of soil

(b) Sowing

(c) Weeding

(d) Threshing

(a) Preparation of soil — Preparation of soil is primary step before growing a crop. It involves loosening and turning of soil. The process of loosening and turning of the soil is called tilling or ploughing. Turning the soil and loosening it allows the roots to penetrate deep into the soil. The loose soil allows the roots to breathe easily even when they go deep into the soil. The loosened soil helps in the growth of earthworms and microbes present in the soil. Since only a few centimetres of the top layer of soil supports plant growth, turning and loosening of soil brings the nutrient-rich soil to the top so that plants can use these nutrients.

(b) Sowing — Sowing of seeds is done after ploughing of land. Before sowing, good quality, clean and healthy seeds of a good variety are selected and are put into water. The floating seeds are rejected as they are damaged or hollow. Seeds are either broadcasted by hand or are sown with the help of traditional tool with a funnel. Nowadays the seed drill is used for sowing with the help of tractors. This sows the seeds uniformly at equal distance and depth. It ensures that seeds get covered by the soil after sowing. This protects seeds from being eaten by birds. Sowing by using a seed drill saves time and labour.

(c) Weeding — Undesirable plants growing naturally along with the crop are called weeds. The removal of weeds is called weeding. Weeding is necessary since weeds compete with the crop plants for water, nutrients, space and light. Thus, they have adverse effect on the growth of the crop. Weed management can be done by following ways:

• tilling before sowing uproots and dries weeds.
• manual removal with help of khurpi.
• by using chemicals, known as weedicides. For example, 2,4-D

(d) Threshing — The process of separation of the grains from the chaff is called threshing. The primary goal of threshing is to extract the edible part of the plant, which is the grain or seed, from the non-edible parts. It is done with the help of threshing machine or combine. A combine is a harvester as well as a thresher.