Q.Write the economic importance of groundnut and cotton.

Groundnut is a leading edible-oilseed and protein crop with valuable oil cake and soil-improving root nodules; cotton is India's principal natural fibre crop, whose seeds also yield oil and cake as by-products.

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea, family Fabaceae/Leguminosae), also called peanut:

1. Oilseed crop: Groundnut is one of the most important edible-oilseed crops of India. The seeds (kernels) contain roughly 45-50% oil, which is extracted and refined for use as cooking oil and as a raw material for manufacturing vanaspati (hydrogenated fat).
2. Food source: The seeds are also rich in protein (about 25%) and carbohydrates, and are consumed directly as roasted or salted nuts, and processed into peanut butter, confectionery, and various snack foods.
3. Oil cake as by-product: After the oil is extracted, the remaining groundnut (oil) cake is high in protein and is extensively used as a concentrated cattle/poultry feed, and also as an organic manure/fertilizer due to its nitrogen content.
4. Soil fertility improvement: Being a legume, groundnut roots bear nodules housing symbiotic nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium bacteria, which enrich the soil with fixed nitrogen; this makes groundnut valuable in crop rotation with cereals to help restore soil fertility.
5. Fodder: The haulms (vegetative plant residue left after harvest) are used as fodder for livestock.
6. Other uses: Groundnut oil also finds use in soap-making and cosmetic formulations.

Cotton (Gossypium species, family Malvaceae):

1. Fibre crop: Cotton is grown chiefly for the lint, the fine fibre attached to its seeds, which after ginning (separating fibre from seed) is spun into yarn and woven into fabric; it is the world's leading natural textile fibre and is often called white gold for its economic importance, with India being a major producer.
2. Cottonseed oil: The seeds left after ginning are processed to extract cottonseed oil, which, after refining to remove naturally toxic gossypol, is used as an edible cooking oil and in manufacturing vanaspati and soap.
3. Cottonseed cake: The residue after oil extraction from the seed forms cottonseed cake, a protein-rich cattle feed.
4. Linters and cellulose products: Short fuzzy fibres remaining on the seed after ginning of the main lint, called linters, are too short for spinning into yarn but are an important source of nearly pure cellulose, used to manufacture absorbent and surgical cotton, and as raw material for rayon, photographic film, and other cellulose-derived products. …