Agronomist dictionary

Soil and tillage

Deep loosening

An agricultural practice of loosening the soil at a significant depth without inverting the furrow slice to break up compacted layers and improve soil structure...

Nutrition and fertilizers

Denitrification

A microbial process in the soil that reduces nitrates or nitrites into gaseous nitrogen, resulting in a loss of available plant nutrients.

Breeding and seed production

Depression (in agronomy)

A temporary slowing or cessation of plant growth and development caused by adverse environmental factors or external physiological stress.

Crop protection

Desiccation

Pre-harvest dehydration of plant tissues using chemicals to accelerate maturation and simplify the harvesting process.

Growth and development

Determinacy

A biological trait of plants to cease the growth of the main stem after developing a specific number of inflorescences.

Sowing and varieties

Determinate growth habit

A growth pattern in plants where the main stem ends in a floral cluster, causing the plant to stop vegetative growth once it reaches a certain size.

Growth and development

Differentiation of the growing point

A biological process where undifferentiated cells at the plant's shoot apical meristem develop into specific organs like leaves, stems, or reproductive spikelet...

Digital farming

Digital field map

A digital field map is a precise geospatial representation of farmland that integrates data on boundaries, soil properties, topography, and historical crop yiel...

Storage and economics

Direct harvesting

A harvesting method where cutting and threshing of crops are performed in a single pass of the combine harvester across the field.

Soil and tillage

Discing

A soil tillage practice using disc implements to break up clods, incorporate crop residues, and control weeds by cutting the soil surface.

Crop protection

Disease symptomatology

This refers to the set of external and internal signs used to identify the nature and severity of a pathogen's effect on a crop.

Crop protection

Distribution range

Distribution range is the geographical area within which a specific plant species, pest, or disease is naturally found or successfully cultivated under existing...

Growth and development

Dormancy

A biological state in which plant growth and metabolic activity are suspended or slowed down to survive adverse environmental conditions.

Growth and development

Dormancy

Dormancy is a physiological state of arrested growth in seeds, buds, or tubers, where they fail to germinate even under favorable environmental conditions.

Soil and tillage

Drainage

Drainage is the natural or artificial process of removing excess water from the soil to prevent saturation and waterlogging.

Machinery and irrigation

Drip tape

A thin-walled flexible tube with embedded emitters designed to deliver water and nutrients directly to the root zone of plants.

Weather and climate

Drought

A prolonged period of abnormally low precipitation leading to a water deficit in the soil and significant stress or crop failure in agricultural systems.

Weather and climate

Drought tolerance

This is the ability of agricultural crops to maintain growth and yield under conditions of soil moisture deficit and low air humidity.