Agriculture

Items

• monoculture

  The continuous cultivation of a single crop, usually on a large area of land.
• morphology

  The constitution of the soil including the texture, structure, consistence, colour, and other physical, chemical and biological properties of the various soil horizons that make up the soil profile.
• mottle/mottling

  Spots or botches of different colour or shades of colour interspersed with dominant colour.
• mulch

  Any material such as straw, sawdust, leaves, plastic film and loose soil that is spread upon the surface of the soil to protect the soil and plant roots from the effects of raindrops, soil crusting, freezing, evaporation, etc.
• nematodes

  Very small (most are microscopic) unsegmented round worms. In soils they are abundant and perform many important functions in the food web. Some are plant parasites and considered pests.
• nitrification

  The biochemical oxidation of ammonium to nitrate, predominantly by autotrophic bacteria.
• oestrus

  The cyclical changes occurring during the reproductive phase in non-primate animals.
• onion

  A swollen edible bulb used as a vegetable, having a pungent taste and smell and composed of several concentric layers.
• orange

  A large round juicy citrus fruit with a tough bright reddish-yellow rind.
• organic food

  Fresh or processed food produced by organic farming methods.
• organic matter

  The organic fraction of soil ranging from undecayed plant and animal tissues through ephemeral products of decomposition to fairly stable amorphous brown to black material, known as humus, which bears no trace of the anatomical structure from which it was derived. Usually determined on soils which have been sieved through a 2,0 mm sieve.
• osmotic potential

  The portion of the total water potential due to the presence of solutes in the soil. It will generally be negative.
• oxidation

  The loss of electrons by a substance, therefore, a gain in positive valence charge and, in some cases, the chemical combination oxygen gas.
• parasite

  An organism that lives in or on an organism of another species (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the other's expense.
• parent plant

  The main plant from which cuttings are taken.
• parturition

  The action of giving birth to an offspring.
• paw

  Paw is the foot of an animal with claws or nails, or a human hand, especially a large or clumsy one.
• peach

  A round stone fruit with juicy yellow flesh and downy pinkish-yellow skin.
• permeability

  The ease with which gasses, liquids, or plant roots penetrate or pass through a bulk mass of soil or a layer of soil.
• persistency

  The quality of continuing or lasting.
• pessary

  A pessary is a prosthetic device that can be inserted into the vagina to support its internal structure.
• pesticide

  A substance used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants or to animals.
• pheromone

  A chemical substance produced and released into the environment by an animal, especially a mammal or an insect, affecting the behaviour or physiology of others of its species.
• pig / swine

  An omnivorous domesticated hoofed mammal with sparse bristly hair and a flat snout for rooting in the soil, kept for its meat.
• pigeon (n)

  A stout seed- or fruit-eating bird with a small head, short legs, and a cooing voice, typically having grey and white plumage.