A Brief Survey of Early Indigenous Knowledge Which Influenced Modern Agronomic Practices

Background Agricultural methods developed by early or prehistoric farmers are shown to provide the foundation for many modern agricultural practices. Important practices that derive from traditional agricultural knowledge include crop domestication and selection for desired characters; seed selection and protection during storage; preparation of land by terracing, irrigation, and mulching; and mixed or rotational cropping systems to reduce disease or preserve fertility. Relevance The possible benefit and wider application of other inexpensive, sustainable traditional practices should be re-examined. This might result in earth-friendly agricultural practices.304 This chapter highlights specific examples where early agricultural practices that were based on indigenous knowledge influenced modern agriculture, particularly in crop husbandry. It aims to emphasize that the modernization of agricultural activities has been necessitated by various factors such as climate change, changing human needs, socio-economic imperatives, and accesses to advanced agricultural knowledge. The indigenous farmers from the region were able to use their knowledge to correctly distinguish tetraploid and diploid species without any modern methods such as chromosome counting or isozymes. In practical terms, the preferred seed was identified by farmers based on its outward appearance. Traditionally, prehistoric farmers from different parts of the world were inclined to practice mixed cropping systems in which several different crop species would be planted next to each other in the same field. Early farmers domesticated and cultivated a wide range of cereals that are tolerant to drought.