Correct Answer - Option 2 : Pumpkin
The correct answer is Pumpkin.
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Pumpkin is a crop of the Zaid season.
- The pumpkin belongs to the “Cucurbitaceae” family and is grown extensively during the Kharif season and Zaid/Summer season.
- Prepare the soil to a fine tilth by plowing and pits of 60 cm diameter and 30-45 cm depth are taken at a spacing of 4.5 x 2 m.
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Zaid crops are summer season crops grown on the sub-continent on irrigated lands that do not have to wait for monsoons.
- They grow in the short duration between Rabi and Kharif crop season, mainly from March to June.
- Zaid is the season of cropping which is between the Winter and Rainy seasons.
- These types of crops are grown in summer: E.g. Watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber, and sugarcane.
- They require warm dry weather as a major growth period and longer day length for flowering
- Crops grew: Intensive subsistence farming yields.
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Two types of crops- wet and dry
- Wet crops - paddy
- Dry crops - wheat, pulses, maize, millets, sorghum, soya-beans, tubers, and vegetables
- India is diverse in all spheres.
- The country is bestowed with a plethora of flora fauna.
- The crops in India have divided into four categories :
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Cash Crops - Spices, Tobacco, Cotton, Oilseeds
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Plantation Crops - Rubber, Coffee, Coconut, and Tea
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Food Crops - Rice, Wheat, Maize, Pulses, and Millets
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Horticulture crops - Vegetables and fruits
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India has three cropping seasons: Rabi, Kharif, and Zaid.
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Rabi season :
- The rabi crops are sown around mid-November, preferably after the monsoon rains are over, and harvesting begins in April / May.
- The crops are grown either with rainwater that has percolated into the ground or using irrigation.
- Good rain in winter spoils the rabi crops but is good for Kharif crops.
- The rabi crops include wheat, barley, oats (cereals), chickpea/gram (pulses), linseed, mustard (oilseeds), etc.
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Kharif season :
- The Kharif season varies by crop and region, starting at the earliest in May and ending at the latest in January.
- In India, the season is popularly considered to start in June and end in October.
- Kharif crops are usually sown at the beginning of the first rains during the advent of the south-west monsoon season.
- They are harvested at the end of the monsoon season.
- The Kharif crops include rice, maize, sorghum, pearl millet/bajra, finger millet/ragi (cereals), arhar (pulses), soybean, groundnut (oilseeds), cotton, etc.