| Responsible Department | Department of Agriculture and Ecology | ||||||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||||||
| Level of Course | MSc | ||||||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination written examination Written Exam in Lecturehall All aids allowed Description of Examination: 4 hour written 7-point scale, internal examiner Dates of Exam: 04 November 2010 | ||||||||||||||||
| Requirement for Attending Exam | Theoretical and practical excercise report submission | ||||||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | Combination of lectures and theoretical and practical exercises | ||||||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 1 Week Structure: B Follow the structure B of the course | ||||||||||||||||
| Language of Instruction | English | ||||||||||||||||
| Optional Prerequisites | Basic courses in crop science, plant physiology and statistics | ||||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | None | ||||||||||||||||
| Course Content | |||||||||||||||||
| The course focuses on capacity development in tropical crop production. The students will be exposed to the three major crop science elements that are instrumental to optimal crop production 1) Plant breeding and crop varieties, 2) fertilizer (organic/unorganic) and 3) crop protection. This trinity will be an integrated part of the three interrelated phases: i. Agronomic disciplines with reference to tropical conditions. Tropical crop physiology; crop genetic resources, agrobiodiversity and breeding; timing of management operations, weed control; configuration (spacing and inter cropping) and soil fertility management. ii. Tropical Crops An overview of major tropical food, feed and industrial crops, their intrinsic properties and their cultivation with special emphasize on small holder conditions. Cultivation and rotations of crops under unimodal and bimodal rainy seasons iii. Farming systems Quantitative study of small holder farming systems under various agro-ecological conditions in the dry and humid tropics. | |||||||||||||||||
| Teaching and learning Methods | |||||||||||||||||
| The course combines lectures and theoretical and practical exercises. Lectures will outline the background and support the exercises. | |||||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||||||
| Provide students, having a BSc-level background in agricultural sciences or equivalent, with a comprehensive understanding of the intrinsic properties of selected tropical crop species and their management in tropical rainfed and irrigated agro-ecosystems. Focus is on bio-physical related production constraints and human endeavour to optimize crop production in small-scale farming systems, within the context of poverty alleviation and sustainable crop production. When students have completed the course they should be able to: Knowledge - Demonstrate knowledge of the principles of tropical crop production - Understand the characteristics of major tropical crops - Demonstrate overview of tropical farming systems in relation to agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions. Skills - Analyse and synthesize diverse types of information on tropical crop production -Design cropping calendars for selected major crops species - Develop tropical crop production plans in relation to given agro-ecological and socioeconomic conditions - Design, implement and analyze research projects in a tropical crop production environment Competences - Assess and formulate agronomic components of development support programmes - Advise extension and research institutions in tropical countries - Do statistical and graphical analysis of field experiments. | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Literature | |||||||||||||||||
| Azam-Ali, S.N. and G.R. Squire (2002): Principles of Tropical Agronomy Rowland, J.R.J. (1993): Dryland farming in Africa Additional teaching materials selected by the teachers. | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||||
| Sven-Erik Jacobsen, seja@life.ku.dk, Department of Agriculture and Ecology/Crop Science, Phone: 353-33388 Jørgen Lindskrog Christiansen, jlc@life.ku.dk, Department of Agriculture and Ecology/Crop Science, Phone: 353-33452 Jens Carl Streibig, jcs@life.ku.dk, Department of Agriculture and Ecology/Crop Science, Phone: 353-33457 Andreas de Neergaard, adn@life.ku.dk, Department of Agriculture and Ecology/Plant and Soil Science, Phone: 353-33499 Thilde Bech Bruun, thbb@life.ku.dk, Department of Agriculture and Ecology/Environment, Resources and Technology, Phone: 353-33412 | |||||||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||||||
| Work Load | |||||||||||||||||
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