Reference
Glossary
Concise, non-prescriptive definitions of key agricultural and agronomic terms used across the platform.
- Agronomy
- The science and practice of crop production and soil management, integrating plant science, soil science, ecology, and farming systems.
- Annual crop
- A crop that completes its life cycle — germination to seed production — within a single growing season and is then replanted.
- Cover crop
- A crop grown primarily to protect and improve the soil — reducing erosion, adding organic matter, and cycling nutrients — rather than for harvest.
- Crop rotation
- The practice of growing different crops in sequence on the same land to manage soil fertility, break pest and disease cycles, and reduce weed pressure.
- Cultivar
- A cultivated variety of a plant species, selected and maintained for distinct, desirable, and stable characteristics.
- Economic threshold
- The pest population level at which control action is justified to prevent the pest from causing economic loss; a core concept in integrated pest management.
- Evapotranspiration
- The combined loss of water from soil evaporation and plant transpiration; a key quantity in estimating crop water requirements.
- Forage
- Plant material — including grasses and legumes — grazed or harvested to feed livestock.
- Host plant
- A plant species on which a pest or pathogen can feed, reproduce, or complete part of its life cycle.
- Inoculum
- The pathogen material — such as spores, mycelium, or bacterial cells — capable of initiating infection in a host plant.
- Integrated pest management (IPM)
- A decision-based approach that combines monitoring, prevention, biological, cultural, physical, and — where justified — chemical controls to manage pests with reduced risk.
- AphidsThrips
- Macronutrient
- A nutrient required by plants in relatively large amounts — nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.
- Micronutrient
- A nutrient required by plants in small quantities, such as iron, zinc, manganese, boron, copper, molybdenum, and chlorine.
- Perennial crop
- A crop that lives for more than two years, producing over multiple seasons without replanting each cycle.
- Ruminant
- A mammal, such as cattle, sheep, or goats, that digests plant material by fermenting it in a specialized four-compartment stomach before further digestion.
- CattleSheep
- Soil pH
- A measure of soil acidity or alkalinity on a logarithmic scale, affecting nutrient availability and biological activity. Optimal ranges are crop-specific.
- Soil texture
- The relative proportion of sand, silt, and clay particles in a soil, which strongly influences water movement, aeration, and workability.
- Loam SoilClay Soil
- Yield
- The quantity of a crop produced per unit area, commonly expressed in tonnes or kilograms per hectare. Actual yields vary widely by variety, region, season, and management.