HPPSC Agriculture Development Officer Syllabus 2026

Advertisement 63/9-2026 prints the scheme. It does not print the number of questions in Paper I. For Paper II it says the detailed syllabus is already on the commission's website. That file is still the one listed under Two Tier syllabi: Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission No. 03-63/2023-PSC (R-I), dated 22 March 2025, SAT syllabus PDF. It was written for an earlier contract-basis recruitment. The 2026 advertisement changes the engagement to a job trainee and does not attach a newer chapter list. The units below are from that uploaded file. The posts, the ward-of-ex-serviceman condition and the fee are on the recruitment page.

When the written test is skipped

If the number of eligible candidates is six times the posts, or fewer, everyone eligible is called straight to the personality test. There are 23 posts, so that threshold is 138 eligible candidates. Above that, the commission holds two papers on the same day, morning and evening, and then the personality test.

Both papers are held in Himachal Pradesh. A computer-based slot can be anywhere in the state, depending on lab capacity. The objective paper can be one question paper in one slot, or different sets in different slots.

Paper I

One hour. 100 marks. Objective. Each question has options A, B, C and D, and option E if you do not want to answer.

A wrong answer costs one fourth (0.25) of the marks assigned to that question. A blank answer costs the same. More than one option marked costs the same. Option E does not. A score of zero or below on Paper I keeps you out of the Paper II evaluation.

Paper II is not checked for everyone. For an advertisement of up to 25 posts, the commission evaluates 20 times as many Paper II scripts as there are vacancies. For 23 posts, that is 460 scripts, taken from the Paper I merit list.

The answer key goes up after the test. You get five days, not counting the day of publication, to object. Each objected question costs a non-refundable Rs 100, filed online with a document. Two subject experts decide. If they disagree, a third is asked, and the majority holds. A question that is scrapped gives no marks to anyone, and the passing mark is reduced in proportion. The final key is not open to a further objection.

If the Hindi and English versions of a bilingual question differ, the English version is the one that counts.

Paper II

This is the descriptive Subject Aptitude Test. Three hours. 120 marks, split by the uploaded syllabus into Part I (60 marks) and Part II (60 marks). The file says the paper covers B.Sc. (Agriculture) and M.Sc. (Agriculture) level. It does not say how many questions you must attempt, so prepare both parts. Do not borrow an "attempt six out of eight" rule from a different HPPSC post.

The minimum to qualify for the personality test is 45 percent. A candidate below that is disqualified, whatever the Paper I score was.

Part I of the SAT

These 23 units are the Part I list in the 22 March 2025 file.

1. Fundamentals of agronomy. Seeds and sowing, tillage, crop geometry, manures and fertilizers, nutrient-use efficiency, crop water requirement, irrigation scheduling, weeds, herbicides, allelopathy, crop rotation, harvesting and threshing.
2. Agro-meteorology and climate change. Atmosphere, radiation, temperature, humidity, monsoon, drought, flood, frost, heat wave, cold wave, and the effect of climate change on agriculture.
3. Kharif crop production. Rice, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, pigeon pea, mungbean, urdbean, groundnut, soybean, cotton, jute, and the forage crops sorghum, cowpea, cluster bean and napier. For each crop: origin, soil, climate, varieties, culture and yield.
4. Rabi crop production. Wheat, barley, chickpea, lentil, peas, rapeseed, mustard, sunflower, sugarcane, mentha, lemon grass, citronella, berseem, lucerne and oat.
5. Farming systems and sustainable agriculture. Cropping systems, HEIA, LEIA and LEISA, and integrated farming systems.
6. Organic farming. NPOP, certification, nutrient restrictions, and pest and weed management under organic production.
7. Geoinformatics, nanotechnology and precision farming. GIS, remote sensing, GPS, site-specific nutrient management, nano-fertilizers and nano-sensors.
8. Rainfed agriculture and watershed management. Drought, water harvesting, contingent crop planning.
9. Genetics. Mendel, mitosis and meiosis, linkage, mutations, quantitative traits, cytoplasmic inheritance, transcription and translation, lac and trp operons.
10. Seed technology. Classes of seed, foundation and certified seed, the Seeds Act, the Seeds Control Order 1983, grow-out test, and storage.
11. Plant breeding. Self- and cross-pollinated methods, male sterility, heterosis, Hardy-Weinberg, recurrent selection, polyploidy, marker-assisted selection, and plant breeders' rights.
12. Kharif crop improvement, including hybrid seed production in maize, rice, sorghum, pearl millet and pigeon pea.
13. Rabi crop improvement, including hybrid seed production of rabi crops.
14. Soil science. Texture, structure, water, pH, cation exchange, organic matter, and soil pollution.
15. Manures, fertilizers and soil fertility. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, micronutrients, deficiency and toxicity, soil testing and critical levels.
16. Problematic soils and their management.
17. Entomology. Insect morphology, classification, and the orders that damage crops.
18. Pests of crops and stored grain, and their management.
19. Beneficial insects. Honey bees, silkworms and lac.
20. Agricultural economics. Demand, supply, national income, and the place of agriculture in the economy.
21. Agricultural finance and cooperation. Credit, the three-tier cooperative structure, and crop insurance as the unit states it.
22. Agricultural marketing, trade and prices.
23. Farm management and resource economics. Costs, returns, risk, and common-property resources.

Part II of the SAT

These 22 units are the Part II list in the same file.

1. Soil and water conservation engineering. Water erosion, gully control, the universal soil loss equation, contour bunds, terraces, and wind erosion.
2. Farm machinery and power. Two-stroke and four-stroke engines, tractor systems, and tillage implements, including implements for hill agriculture.
3. Renewable energy and green technology.
4. Protected cultivation and secondary agriculture.
5. Plant pathology. Fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and disease cycles.
6. Diseases of field and horticultural crops and their management.
7. Integrated pest and disease management.
8. Fundamentals of horticulture. Orchard layout, propagation, and training and pruning.
9. Production technology for fruit and plantation crops.
10. Production technology for vegetables and spices.
11. Ornamental crops, medicinal and aromatic plants, and landscaping.
12. Post-harvest management and value addition of fruits and vegetables.
13. Food science and nutrition.
14. Agricultural extension education. Teaching methods, the diffusion of innovations, and extension programmes.
15. Rural sociology and educational psychology.
16. Entrepreneurship development and business communication, as titled in the file.
17. Communication skills and personality development.
18. Plant biochemistry and biotechnology. Carbohydrates, proteins, enzymes, and the basics of recombinant DNA.
19. Crop physiology. Photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration, and growth regulators.
20. Agricultural microbiology. Rhizobium, Azolla, blue-green algae, mycorrhiza, biofertilizers and biopesticides.
21. Environmental studies and disaster management. Ecosystems, pollution, biodiversity, and the disaster-management framework.
22. Forestry. Silviculture, regeneration, tending, and agroforestry systems including taungya, alley cropping, windbreaks and shelterbelts.

A descriptive answer on this paper is a short technical note, not a multiple-choice guess. For a crop, write origin, soil, climate, a variety you can name from your degree, and the operation that decides yield. For a pest or a disease, write the causal organism, the symptom, and one management step from the integrated-management unit. Himachal hill conditions matter inside those units: rainfed slopes, horticulture, and implements for hill agriculture are named in the file.

If a Paper II question is out of syllabus, or has a printing error, and a candidate points it out within five days of the examination, the commission sends it to the subject experts. The same majority rule applies.

Personality test

30 marks, only at the commission's office in Shimla. The minimum is 40 percent for the general category, which the advertisement calculates as 12 marks, and 30 percent for reserved categories, which it calculates as 9 marks.

Original certificates are checked on that day. Admission to the written test was only on your claim. If the claim was wrong, the commission can reject you and can take disciplinary action.

There is no re-checking and no re-evaluation of the written papers or the screening test.