Table of Contents
There are a total of 48 subjects on the UPSC optional subject list, including agriculture. The UPSC Agriculture Syllabus strongly emphasises students’ capacity to approach the topic as science and apply what they learn to real-world issues. Each of the IAS Agricultural Optional papers carries a mark value of 250 and a total of 500 for both papers. IAS Exam Mains consists of nine papers.
UPSC Agriculture Syllabus 2025
Applicants who select agriculture as an optional topic for the UPSC civil services exam will discover that the course material is engaging and pertinent to the problems that the nation’s farmers are now facing. Candidates belonging to remote areas will find it easier to prepare for the subject. They have access to traditional knowledge and are better able to comprehend the problems facing farmers. You may get the Agricultural Optional Syllabus PDF for the Civil Services Test and the comprehensive UPSC syllabus 2025 on this page.
Agriculture Paper 1 Optional Syllabus 2025
The Union Public Service Commission UPSC Agriculture Optional Syllabus Paper I is as follows:
| Macro topic | Micro Topics |
| Ecology | – Ecology and its relevance to man, natural resources, their sustainable management and conservation.
– Physical and social environment as factors of crop distribution and production. – Agroecology, cropping patterns as indicators of environments. Environmental pollution and associated hazards to crops, animals and humans. – Climate change – international conventions and global initiatives. Greenhouse effect and global warming. – Advanced tools for ecosystem analysis – Remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). |
| Agronomy | – Cropping patterns in different agro-climatic zones of the country.
– Impact of high-yielding and short-duration varieties on shifts in cropping patterns. – Concepts of various cropping and farming systems. – Organic and Precision farming. – Package of practices for production of important cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fibres, sugar, commercial and fodder crops. |
| Forestry | – Important features and scope of various types of forestry plantations, such as social forestry, agroforestry, and natural forests.
– Propagation of forest plants. Forest products. – Agroforestry and value addition. – Conservation of forest flora and fauna. |
| Weed Science | Weeds, their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their multiplications; cultural, biological, and chemical control of weeds. |
| Soil science and nutrient management | – Soil- physical, chemical and biological properties.
– Processes and factors of soil formation. – Soils of India, Mineral and organic constituents of soils and their role in maintaining soil productivity. – Essential plant nutrients and other beneficial elements in soils and plants. – Principles of soil fertility, soil testing and fertiliser recommendations, integrated nutrient management. – Biofertilizers. – Losses of nitrogen in the soil, nitrogen-use efficiency in submerged rice soils, and nitrogen fixation in soils. – Efficient phosphorus and potassium use. – Problem soils and their reclamation. – Soil factors affecting greenhouse gas emission. |
| Soil and water conservation | – Soil conservation, integrated watershed management.
– Soil erosion and its management. – Dryland agriculture and its problems. – Technology for stabilising agriculture production in rainfed areas. – Water-use efficiency in relation to crop production, criteria for scheduling irrigations, ways and means of reducing runoff losses of irrigation water. – Rainwater harvesting. – Drip and sprinkler irrigation. – Drainage of waterlogged soils, quality of irrigation water, the effect of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution. – Irrigation projects in India. |
| Agricultural economics | – Farm management, scope, importance and characteristics, farm planning.
– Optimum resource use and budgeting. – Economics of different types of farming systems. – Marketing management – strategies for development and market intelligence. – Price fluctuations and their cost; role of cooperatives in agricultural economy; types and systems of farming and factors affecting them. – Agricultural price policy. – Crop Insurance. |
| Agricultural extension | – Agricultural extension, its importance and role, methods of evaluation of extension programmes, socio-economic survey and status of big, small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers.
– Training programmes for extension workers. – Role of Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s (KVK) in the dissemination of Agricultural technologies. – Non-Government Organizations (NGO) and self-help group approach for rural development. |
Candidates can check out UPSC Mains Result 2024 Here!
Agriculture Optional Paper 2 Syllabus 2025
Applicants should read the attached article if they plan to apply for the UPSC in 2025. IAS aspirants can combine their general studies and agriculture optional preparation in the prelims and mains to ensure success. The UPSC Agriculture Optional Syllabus Paper II is as follows:
| Macro topic | Micro topics |
| Cell biology/ Plant Genetics | – Cell structure, function and cell cycle.
– Synthesis, structure and function of genetic material. – Laws of heredity. – Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations, linkage and cross-over, and their significance in recombination breeding. – Polyploidy, euploids and aneuploids. – Mutations – and their role in crop improvement. – Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification and their application in crop improvement. – Cytoplasmic inheritance, sex-linked, sex-influenced and sex-limited characters. |
| Plant breeding | – History of plant breeding. Modes of reproduction, selfing and crossing techniques.
– Origin, evolution and domestication of crop plants, centre of origin, law of homologous series, crop genetic resources conservation and utilization. – Application of principles of plant breeding, and improvement of crop plants. – Molecular markers and their application in plant improvement. – Pure-line selection, pedigree, mass and recurrent selections, combining ability, and its significance in plant breeding. – Heterosis and its exploitation. – Somatic hybridization. – Breeding for disease and pest resistance. – Role of interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. – Role of genetic engineering and biotechnology in crop improvement. – Genetically modified crop plants. |
| Seed production and technology | – Seed production and processing technologies.
– Seed certification, seed testing and storage. – DNA fingerprinting and seed registration. – Role of public and private sectors in seed production and marketing. – Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues, WTO issues and its impact on Agriculture. |
| Plant physiology | – Principles of Plant Physiology with reference to plant nutrition, absorption, translocation and metabolism of nutrients. Soil – water- plant relationship.
– Enzymes and plant pigments; photosynthesis- modern concepts and factors affecting the process, aerobic and anaerobic respiration; C3, C4 and CAM mechanisms. – Carbohydrates, protein and fat metabolism. – Growth and development; photoperiodism and vernalisation. – Plant growth substances and their role in crop production. – Physiology of seed development and germination; dormancy. – Stress physiology – draught, salt and water stress. |
| Horticulture and landscaping | – Major fruits, plantation crops, vegetables, spices and flower crops.
– Package practices of major horticultural crops. – Protected cultivation and high-tech horticulture. – Post-harvest technology and value addition of fruits and vegetables. – Landscaping and commercial floriculture. – Medicinal and aromatic plants. – Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition. |
| Plant protection | – Diagnosis of pests and diseases of field crops, vegetables, orchard and plantation crops and their economic importance.
– Classification of pests and diseases and their management. Integrated pest and disease management. – Storage pests and their management. – Biological control of pests and diseases. – Epidemiology and forecasting of major crop pests and diseases. – Plant quarantine measures. – Pesticides, their formulation and modes of action. |
| Food production and nutrition Management | – Food production and consumption trends in India.
– Food security and growing population – Vision 2020. – Reasons for grain surplus. – National and international food policies. – Production, procurement, and distribution constraints. – Availability of food grains, per capita expenditure on food. – Trends in poverty, Public Distribution System and Below Poverty Line population, Targeted Public Distribution System (PDS), policy implementation in context to globalisation. – Processing constraints. – Relation of food production to National Dietary Guidelines and food consumption patterns. – Food-based dietary approaches to eliminate hunger. – Nutrient deficiency – Micronutrient deficiency: Protein Energy – – Malnutrition or Protein Calorie Malnutrition (PEM or PCM), Micro nutrient deficiency and HRD in the context of the work capacity of women and children. – Food grain productivity and food security. |
Applicants should read the above article if they plan to apply for the UPSC in 2025. IAS aspirants can combine their general studies and agriculture optional preparation in the prelims and mains to ensure success. Anoop Shetty, Preeti Maithil, Vikrant More, and Amit Shinde are a few of the recent top students that selected agriculture as an option. Agriculture is a technical subject in that it necessitates extensive knowledge and enthusiasm for farming and related pursuits.
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