what is monoculture in brief (bio , long answer 7 marks)
Answers
Answer:
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of growing a single crop, plant, or livestock species, variety, or breed in a field or farming system at a time. Polyculture, where more than one crop species is grown in the same space at the same time, is the alternative to monoculture.
Answer:
Monoculture farming is a form of agriculture that is based on growing only one type of a crop at one time on a specific field. In contrast, a polyculture system assumes that a field is sown with two or more crops.
Monocultures of perennials, such as African palm oil,sugar cane,and pines,can lead to environmental problems. Diversity can be added both in time, as with a crop rotation or sequence, or in space, with a polyculture.
Benefits
In crop monocultures, each plant in a field has the same standardized planting, maintenance and harvesting requirements resulting in greater yields and lower costs. When a crop is matched to its well-managed environment, a monoculture can produce higher yields than a polyculture. In the last 40 years, modern practices such as monoculture planting and the use of synthesized fertilizers have reduced the amount of additional land needed to produce food,called land sparing.
Risks
Diverse rotations of crop monocultures can minimize the risk of disease and pest outbreaks.However, the shorter the rotation (fewer crops included) the higher the risk. There are examples of short, two-year rotations selecting for pests that are adapted to such rotations Therefore, rotations of 3 or more crops are recommended for pest and disease management.