Agronomy

The Department of Agronomy is one of the core divisions of Agricultural sciences, came into existence since the inception of Agricultural College, Bapatla on July11, 1945. The principle objective of this Department is to impart agricultural education and training for human resource development through providing basic knowledge and practical skills in all aspects of Agronomy.

The Undergraduate programme of this department comprised of 12 courses with 24 (14+10) credits in accordance with the fifth Dean’s Committee report. This department also offers one course each 3(2+1) credits to the UG students of the college of Agricultural Engineering and Food Science and Technology. The Postgraduate programme of this department leading to the award of M.Sc. (Ag) in Agronomy was started from the academic year 1982-03. The main focus/ objective of this programme is 1.) to develop appropriate production technologies to enhance the production of major crop and cropping systems on a sustainable basis and 2.) to develop environmentally sound and economically viable practices of balanced usage of chemical fertilizers, organic manures, crop residues and bio-fertilizers for sustainable high productivity cropping systems involving cereals, millets, pulses, oilseeds and commercial crops. So far, 291 M.Sc. (Ag) degrees majoring in Agronomy were awarded. The Department of Agronomy has also initiated Doctoral Programme leading to the award of Ph.D from 2006-07 onwards and so far 31 doctoral degrees were awarded.

The major activity of the Department is teaching wherein it offers more number of courses14 courses (12+2 Elective courses) than any other Department in the 4-year B.Sc. (Hons) Ag. programme covering areas such as Agricultural Heritage, Fundamentals of Agronomy, Introductory Agro meteorology ,Climate change, Production of Field Crops, Water Management, Weed Management, Farming System ,Social Forestry etc. In addition to this the department also offers major share of credits in the Rural Agricultural Work Experience programme (RAWEP) Agricultural Experiential Learning Programme (AELP). At present, the research in the Department is mostly through the post-graduate students. The faculty of the Department participate in field trips and the farmers meets organized by the University, Nationalized Banks, Voluntary Organizations, and State Department of Agriculture from time to time and render technical advices. In addition, the Department also conducts training programmers to farmers and Agricultural Officers of the Department of agriculture and other organizations in some specialized areas of Agronomy.