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Agronomy 105 Learning Objectives
Soil Physical Characteristics
1. Differentiate physical, chemical and biological properties of soils.
2. Know the major soil components and how much (%) of the soil medium they make up
individually.
3. Differentiate soil texture and structure.
4. Explain the differences in size and feel between sand, silt, and clay.
5. Use the textural triangle to put a soil into its textural classification.
6. Describe implications of soil texture for water-holding capacity and soil workability.
7. Describe differences between prairie vs. forest soils.
8. Know what soil aggregates are and why aggregate stability is important.
9. Identify the five different types of soil structures and describe what soil peds are.
10. Know what bulk density is and why it’s important.
11. Know obvious differences between the O, A, B, E, C, and R soil horizons and at approximately
what depths they are located on a soil profile.
Soil Chemical Characteristics
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Describe soil mottling.
Differentiate cations and anions, and list examples of each.
Describe how percentage of clay, the type of clay, and organic matter influence CEC.
Describe cation exchange capacity and how it relates to different soil textures.
Describe differences between high and low pH values.
Differentiate saline, sodic, and saline/sodic soils.
Know major issues in agriculture today – including erosion, land use, weed resistance, GMO’s,
and climate change.
Soil Biology
1. Understand how to effectively manage soil organic matter and why organic matter
stabilization is important.
2. Know important functions of humus.
3. Describe some benefits of returning plant residues and organic matter back to the soil.
4. Describe how soil structure affects soil permeability, infiltration, root development, and
aeration
5. Understand the importance of earthworms and other soil life.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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Soil Formation and Site Characterization
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List the five soil forming factors.
Know major differences between types of parent materials (lacustrine, alluvial, loess, glacial).
Use the web soil survey to determine soil characteristics of a field
Understand why the legal land description system was developed.
Write a full legal land description on a piece of property, including acreage.
Calculate field slope.
List the square feet in an acre, how many acres are in a section of land, and how many sections
of land are in a township.
Soil Restrictive Layers; Water/Solute Movement
1. Describe examples of naturally occurring soil restrictive layers.
2. Define plow pan, hardpan, soil crusting, and sidewall compaction.
3. Know how soil surface crusting and sidewall compaction issues can occur, and consequences of
each.
4. Know factors affecting water infiltration.
Soil-Plant/Water Relations
1. Describe the role of stomata on plant leaves.
2. Define micropore, macropore, field capacity, permanent wilting point, gravitational water,
plant available water, and capillary action.
3. Define evapotranspiration.
4. Describe factors that affect evapotranspiration.
5. Describe soil conditions that may cause a decrease in nutrient availability and uptake.
Drainage and Irrigation
1. Describe flood, furrow, sprinkler, traveling, drip/trickle, center pivot, surface, and subsurface
irrigation.
2. Be able to pick out the most water-efficient irrigation system.
3. Describe subsurface drains/tiles, ditching, raised beds, and land leveling.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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Soil Conservation and Water/Air Quality
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Describe the roles of detachment, transport, and deposition in soil erosion.
Describe factors that increase water erosion.
Understand the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE).
Describe factors that increase wind erosion.
Describe effects of soil erosion on crop productivity and the environment.
Describe differences between contouring, strip cropping, grass waterways, terraces, cover
crops, and buffer strips.
7. Know various indicators of water quality.
8. Describe eutrophication and understand how it can lead to hypoxia.
9. Explain how a hypoxia zone can develop from excess nutrients in a body of water.
10. Describe effects of high nitrate levels on humans and livestock.
11. Understand how crop production relates to air quality.
12. Know how the agricultural sector contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and list the three
primary greenhouse gasses.
Tillage
1. Know differences between conventional vs. reduced vs. conservation tillage.
2. Differentiate primary and secondary tillage; identify tillage implements associated with either
the primary or secondary tillage category.
3. Understand why a producer might do conservation vs. conventional tillage.
4. Describe methods of measuring crop residue.
5. Know what crop residue is and its benefits/disadvantages.
6. Know the factors affecting crop residue.
7. Measure crop residue using the line-transect method and the photo-comparison method.
8. Describe how surface residue affects soil temperature, moisture, and erosion potential.
9. Describe how farm equipment traffic and soil moisture affect bulk density.
10. Describe strip tillage, ridge tillage, no-tillage, mulch tillage, and vertical tillage.
Weather and Climate
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Distinguish climate and weather.
Describe how temperature affects the water-holding capacity and density of air.
Describe how clouds affect daytime and nighttime temperatures.
Describe weather associated with a cold front and a warm front.
Understand how wind direction can serve as a predictor of weather.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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World and Indiana Crops
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List the top five world crops by value, and the top three by quantity.
List the top three U.S. crops by value.
List the top five crop states by monetary value.
Know the major global regions where maize is produced and the major uses of maize.
Describe the Corn Belt region.
Know the major global regions where soybeans are produced and understand the major use of
soybeans.
7. Describe the six classifications of wheat and major wheat production areas.
8. Describe where cotton, canola, rice, sorghum, tobacco, oats, peanuts, and sugar beets are
produced globally and domestically.
9. Know Indiana’s top four important crops.
Crop Types and Cropping Systems
1. Describe the following cropping systems: monoculture, rotation, double-crop, intercrop, and
ratoon.
2. Describe the following crop functions: green manure crop, cover crop, companion/nurse crop,
and trap crop.
Crop Improvement and Plant Breeding
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Explain the importance of crop improvement.
Describe differences between wild vs. domestic plants.
Describe plant yield trends since plant breeding implementation.
Define variety, variant, cultivar, and off type.
Know several objectives of plant breeding.
Understand what the green revolution was and the importance of Gregor Mendel and Norman
Borlaug.
7. Distinguish an inbred from a hybrid.
8. Describe how to produce a hybrid from inbreds.
9. Describe the difference between haploid and diploid cells.
10. Know what transgenes are and what a particle gun is.
11. Be aware of public takes on GMO’s and plant breeding.
12. Describe the purpose of global seed banks.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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Seed Quality
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Describe factors that influence seed quality.
Understand why the Tetrazolium and Accelerated Aging tests are important.
Read a seed tag and find information on it.
Calculate pure live seed.
Early Growth and Development
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Identify/label parts of a legume and parts of a grass seed.
Describe differences in germination between monocots and dicots.
Differentiate hypogeal vs. epigeal emergence.
Know the functions of the cotyledons and endosperm.
Describe corn vegetative growth stages using the leaf collar method.
Describe the corn reproductive stages of silking, blister, milk, dough, dent, and physiological
maturity.
7. Describe soybean growth stages using the Iowa State method.
8. Understand how time of year and field conditions can effect crop early growth and
development.
Corn, Soybean, and Wheat Planting
1. Describe parts of a planter.
2. Understand the difference between a row planter and seed drill as well as what crops can be
planted with either implement.
3. Calculate standard deviation in relation to plant spacing.
4. Know when to plant corn and why.
5. Describe typical row spacing, planting depth, and planting populations for corn.
6. Understand disadvantages and advantages to narrower row spacing.
7. Understand why corn needs an ample amount of nitrogen.
8. Describe typical row spacing, planting depth, and planting populations for soybeans.
9. Describe why soybeans can be planted in narrower rows and do not need nitrogen fertilizer.
10. Know the proper planting population for winter wheat.
11. Calculate plant population given plants per square foot.
12. Calculate plants per acre given row spacing and plants per foot of row.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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Photosynthesis and Plant Growth
1. Write out the photosynthesis equation in both words and simple chemical terms.
2. Draw a diagram of a cross section of a leaf and label the major parts.
3. Understand the functions of the cell wall, nucleus, vacuole, chloroplast, mitochondria, and
cytoplasm.
4. Understand the major factors that influence photosynthesis.
5. Write out the Growing Degree Units formula.
6. Calculate growing degree days given daily high and low temperatures.
Roots, Stems, and Leaves
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Explain functions of plant stems.
From a dissection diagram, differentiate monocot and dicot stems.
Describe the difference between a rhizome and a stolon.
Describe three major functions of leaves.
Explain the importance of identifying plant leaf auricles, ligules, and collars.
Given a diagram showing the cross-section of a leaf, label the epidermis, cuticle, vein,
mesophyll, chloroplast, stomata, palisade, and bundle sheath cell.
7. Differentiate palmately compound from pinnately compound leaves.
8. Given a diagram showing the cross-section of a root, label the following: root cap, root hair,
casparian strip, phloem/xylem, cortex, and epidermis.
9. List three major functions of the plant root.
10. Explain the importance of root hairs and the casparian strip.
11. Explain why root crops are viewed as energy sources.
12. Explain the basis behind alfalfa cutting management and why it’s important.
13. Differentiate between tap and fibrous root systems, and explain which is better at preventing
soil erosion.
14. Understand the symbiotic relationship between nitrogen-fixing bacteria and plants.
Residue Management, Growth Staging, and Plant Populations
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Know what crop residue is and its benefits/disadvantages.
Know the factors affecting crop residue.
Understand what conservation tillage is.
Know the difference between the Line-transect method and the Photo-comparison method of
measuring crop residues.
5. Given a clear image of a corn or soybean crop, be able to identify its approximate growth
stage.
6. Calculate corn plant populations in the field.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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Plant Nutrition and Soil Fertility
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List the 17 plant essential nutrients (Hint: use acronym to remember)
Differentiate macronutrients and micronutrients, primary and secondary.
Describe the functions of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in plants.
List several sources of nutrients to plants.
Differentiate nutrient uptake to plant roots by mass flow, diffusion, and root interception
Understand what soil pH is and its important role in agricultural soils.
Describe the impact of soil pH on crop production.
Explain how soils become acidic.
Understand how nutrient availability relates to soil pH.
The Nitrogen Cycle
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Draw a simple diagram of the nitrogen cycle.
Be able to explain what could happen to urea when applied to your corn field.
Understand how plant residue and organic matter can contribute to nutrient availability.
Define: mineralization, nitrification, denitrification, and immobilization.
Describe the role of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the nitrogen cycle.
Understand plant C:N ratios as related to immobilization.
Describe factors that affect nitrate leaching in soil.
Understand why nitrogen recommendations are lower in soils following legumes.
Understand why routine soil sampling is important.
Nutrient Assessment
1. Read and interpret a soil test report.
2. Describe the pH Buffer Index.
3. Understand how to account for variability within field sampling.
4. Differentiate grid sampling from zone sampling.
5. Understand the important sampling factors in tissue analysis.
6. List several different nitrogen-specific sampling/monitoring techniques.
7. Describe the difference between PPNT and PSNT.
8. Describe Fall Stalk Tests and Chlorophyll/SPAD meter testing.
9. Describe positives and negatives of nitrogen sensing.
10. Recognize photos of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium deficiencies.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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Fertilizers
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Describe different traditional plant nutrient sources.
Calculate cost per pound of N from various N sources.
Explain how most nitrogen fertilizers relate to atmospheric nitrogen.
Be able to write out and describe a given fertilizer analysis.
Describe the analysis and physical form of: anhydrous ammonia, urea, ammonium nitrate,
UAN, aqua ammonia, and ammonium sulfate.
6. Describe the U.S. trend of nitrogen fertilizer consumption.
7. List common phosphorus and potassium fertilizers.
8. Calculate nitrogen analysis, phosphorus analysis, and potassium analysis.
Fertilizer Additives
1. Understand functions of polymers, chelated products, urease inhibitors, and nitrification
inhibitors.
2. Describe how slow release fertilizers work and why a producer might use them.
3. Describe why manure nutrient credits may be variable, and list factors affecting availability.
4. Describe the three types of manure storage facilities.
5. Understand effects of manure application on watersheds and how to reduce manure runoff.
6. Describe the load/area and tarp methods of manure calibration.
7. Understand the purpose of applying lime and how lime relates to soil pH.
8. Describe gypsum’s role as a soil amendment.
9. Explain how to lower soil pH.
Fertilizer Recommendations and Calculations
1. Differentiate the nutrient recommendation philosophies of sufficiency level, crop removal and
replacement, and base saturation.
2. Understand the Test Level vs. Crop Response and Management Approach diagram.
3. Be able to calculate gallons of solution per acre.
4. Calculate pounds of fertilizer when given a fertilizer analysis.
5. Calculate needed fertilizer amounts when given acreage and pounds/tons of fertilizer.
Fertilizer Application
1. Understand various fertilizer storage methods.
2. Describe the different ways to apply fertilizer: broadcast, band, inject, incorporate, surfaceapplied, top-dress, sidedress, foliar, fertigation, and starter.
3. Describe why a producer would consider applying a starter fertilizer in placement vs. in furrow.
4. Describe variable rate fertilizer application.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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Precision Farming
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Understand what precision farming is and its importance.
Describe the Global Navigation System, or GNSS.
Describe how a GPS system works.
Describe differential correction systems.
Explain sources of GPS error
Explain how GPS can lead to higher field efficiency.
Describe ways to quantify field variability.
Describe the importance of remote sensing and yield monitors.
Explain how cost of precision farming is justified by producers.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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IPM and Pest Management
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Explain what is considered a pest.
Describe the six steps in an IPM program.
Describe reasons why pests are essential in an ecosystem.
List various ways insects cause damage in plants.
Describe how to identify insects, including non-anatomical features.
Explain the difference between complete and incomplete metamorphosis.
List the insect family orders and give examples of each: Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hemiptera,
Diptera, Orthoptera, Homoptera, Thysanoptera, Arachnids.
8. Describe the disease triangle and how a pathogen occurs.
9. Give examples of the four major types of plant pathogens.
10. Explain how plant pathogens cause plant damage.
11. Explain how weeds cause plant damage.
Pesticide Modes of Action
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Describe several crop management techniques to manage pests.
Describe factors involving when and how to apply pesticides.
Explain how insecticides work.
Describe weed and crop symptoms of the following herbicide modes of action:
a. growth regulators
b. synthetic auxins
c. photosynthesis inhibitors
d. growing-point disintegrators
e. amino acid synthesis inhibitors
f. seedling growth/root inhibitors
g. aromatic amino acid inhibitors.
h. nitrogen metabolism inhibitors
i. pigment inhibitors
j. cell membrane disruptors.
5. Calculate economic treatment thresholds based on crop damage, treatments costs, and crop
value.
6. Describe the four methods of control in an IPM program: biological, chemical, cultural, and
mechanical.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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Resistance Management
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Explain why pest resistance is becoming an important issue.
List the factors that affect weed resistance, and list examples of resistant weeds in Indiana.
Describe techniques for managing weed resistance.
Explain the Refuge in a Bag Concept.
Pesticide Application
1. Explain how to maximize spray application effectiveness.
2. Distinguish early pre-plant, pre-plant, pre-emerge, post-emerge, pre-harvest, and post-harvest
applications.
3. Describe why pesticide coverage and nozzle selection is important.
4. Explain how wind speed, boom height, spray pressure, ground speed, nozzle type, and
adjuvants affect pesticide coverage and drift.
5. Describe functions of spray adjuvants.
6. List strategies to reduce spray drift.
7. Explain what temperature inversions are and why they are important.
8. Explain GPA, GPM, MPH, and W. Know how to calculate GPM, GPA, and MPH.
9. Know what part of the electromagnetic spectrum plants absorb for photosynthesis.
Pesticide Safety
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Explain what PPE is and list examples of PPE.
Describe why sprayer cleanup is important.
Explain common steps in sprayer cleanup.
Explain how to properly handle a pesticide spill.
Explain acute and chronic pesticide effects.
Know how to handle eye and skin exposures to pesticides.
Know how to read a pesticide label.
Reproductive Physiology
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Label female vs. male parts of a flower.
Differentiate complete vs. incomplete flowers.
Describe a perfect vs. imperfect flower.
Explain cross vs. self-pollination.
Describe dioecious vs. monoecious.
Explain the difference between fertilization and pollination.
Given a diagram, be able to label major parts of a flower.
Explain differences between a grass and legume flower.
Know major types of plant inflorescences (spike, panicle, etc.)
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016
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Crop Harvest and Storage
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Define physiological maturity and harvest maturity.
Describe the major parts of a grain combine.
Differentiate row heads, grain heads, and draper heads on combines.
Explain why grain storage temperature and moisture are important.
Describe important concepts in hay harvest and storage.
Describe why fermentation is important in silage production.
Know the recommended stages to harvest corn, soybean, and wheat.
Explain how to test silage or forage moisture.
Understand what successful silage preservation depends on.
Grain Grading
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Understand why knowing the moisture of grain is important.
Describe how a grain moisture tester works.
Know the factors of grade determination.
Determine the USDA grade of a sample of grain.
Managing Production Risk
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Differentiate production, market/price, and financial risks for producers.
List ways to manage production risk.
List alternatives to manage market and price risks.
List factors that influence the prices of farm products.
Explain why land leasing agreements are important and the most common leasing agreement.
AGRONOMY 105 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Fall 2016