Improvement In Food resources
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Write a brief note on green revolution and white revolution.
The green revolution contributed to increased food –grain production while the white revolution has led
to better availability of milk which was achieved by using scientific methods. These revolution needed
extensive use of natural resources and hence may damage our environment. Thus sustainable practice is
required in agriculture and animal husbandry.
How can we solve the problem of malnutrition and hunger ?
 Increasing the income of people working in agricultural field to combat the problem of hunger.
 Scientific management practices should be undertaken to obtain high yield from farms.
 Undertaking mixed farming, intercropping and integrated farming practices, for example, combining
agriculture with livestock/poultry/fisheries/bee keeping for sustained livelihood.
Name the crops grown for:CarbohydratesRice, Maize, Millets, Sorghum
ProteinPulses like gram, peas, black gram, green gram, pigeon pea, lentil
Fat- Oil seeds including soyabean, ground nut, sesame, castor, mustard, sunflower etc.
Vitamins and mineralsFruits, vegetables, spices
Food for livestock(fodder crop)- Berseem, oats, sudan grass
Name the major groups of activity for improving crop yield.
 Crop variety improvement
 Crop production improvement
 Crop protection management
How are cultivation practices and crop yield related to weather?
Different crop require different climatic conditions, temperature and photoperiods (duration of sunlight)
for growth and completion of their life cycle. Therefore some crops are grown in rainy season (kharif
crops) and some are grown in winter (rabi crops).
Describe any three factors for which variety improvement is done.
Crop variety improvement is required  To improve the quality of food grains.
 To produce high yields.
 To find a variety of crop that can withstand adverse biotic and abiotic factors that can affect their
growth.
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How do biotic and abiotic factors affect crop production ?
Biotic factors include living organisms that reduce crop productivity either by directly feeding on them
(e.g., insects, rodents) or causing diseases (bacteria, virus, fungi, nematodes).
Abiotic factors are non-living components of environment (drought, salinity, water logging, heat, cold
and frost) that reduce crop production.
What are desirable agronomic characteristics for crop improvement?
For higher productivity desired agronomic characters are different for different plants. Some of them are
as follows Tallness and profuse branching for fodder crops
 Dwarfness in cereals so that less nutrients are consumed by the crops.
 Legumes with more pods.
What is hybridization ? Mention their types and importance.
Hybridisation refers to crossing between genetically dissimilar plants.
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This crossing may be of three types:
i)
Inter-varietal: Cross-breeding between two different varieties.
ii)
Interspecific: Cross-breeding between two different species of the same
genus.
iii)
Intergeneric: Cross-breeding between two different genera.
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Hybridisation helps in incorporating desirable qualities into crop varieties such as disease resistance,
response to fertilizers, product quality and high yield.
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What is a GM crop ? Name any one such crop which is grown in India.
Crop which has been developed by introducing a new gene from a different source, to obtain the desired
character, is genetically modified(GM) crop. For example, Bt cotton which is made insect-resistant by
introducing a new gene from a bacteria.
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How do plants get nutrients?
Plants obtain nutrients from air, water and soil. Air is source of carbon and oxygen. Hydrogen is
obtained from water. The remaining thirteen nutrients (six macro-nutrients and seven micro-nutrients)
are absorbed from the soil through roots.
Explain micro and macro-nutrients.
Nutrients that are required in small quantities are called micro-nutrients where as nutrients required in
large quantities are called macro-nutrients.
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Micro-nutrients
Macro-nutrients
Iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium,
molybdenum, chlorine
magnesium, Sulphur
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Describe the main irrigation that are adopted in India. (Refer textbook)
What happens due to deficiency of nutrients in plants?
Nutrients are required by the plants to carry out various life processes and to maintain good health.
Deficiency of nutrients will affect the physiological processes in plants like reproduction, growth,
susceptibility to diseases, etc. and can ultimately lead to death of the plant.
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List the advantages of manure.
 Improves soil texture
 Increases the water holding capacity of sandy soil
 Helps in drainage and prevents water logging in clayey soil
 Helps in recycling biological wastes and hence is environment friendly.
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Define green manure and biofertilizer ?
Green manure: Prior to the sowing of the crop seeds, some plants like sun hemp or guar are grown and
then mulched by ploughing them into the soil. These green plants thus turn into green manure which
helps in enriching the soil in nitrogen and phosphorus.
Biofertilizer: This refers to living organisms used as fertilizers to supply nutrients to the soil . for
example nitrogen fixing blue-green algae and the bacteria rhizobium, which fix atmospheric nitrogen
and enrich the soil with nitrogen.
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What do you understand by organic farming ? (Refer text book-pg.-207)
Suggest a few methods for increasing the water availability for rain fed crops.
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Rainwater harvesting and watershed management
Building small check-dams which lead to increase in ground water level. The check-dams stop
the rainwater from flowing away and also reduce soil erosion.
Write the advantages of:
i)
Mixed cropping:
 It acts as an insurance against the possible total crop failure in poor rainfall areas.
 A varieties of crops can be grown simultaneously by the farmer.
 Optimum use of nutrients.
ii)
Intercropping:
 Ensures maximum utilization of nutrients supplied.
 Prevents pests and diseases from spreading and hence better return can be expected.
 Maintains soil fertility.
iii)
Crop rotation:
 Maintains soil fertility.
 Two or three crops can be grown in a year with good harvests.
 Total crop failure can be avoided.
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Name the agents from which you need to protect your crops.
 Weeds
 Insect pests
 Pathogens (Disease causing microorganisms)
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What are weeds ? Give examples of weeds and also mention why it is important to remove them
from the crop field ?
Weeds are unwanted plants in the cultivated field, for example, Xanthium (gokhroo), Parthenium (gajar
ghas), Cyperinus rotundus (motha).
Weeds must be removed from the crop field as They compete with crop plants for food, water and sunlight.
 They reduce the growth of plants.
 They reduce the yield (amount of produce).
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Mention a few preventive methods to control weeds.
 Proper seed bed preparation
 Timely sowing of crops
 Intercropping or crop rotation
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Write the modes by which insects affect the crop yield ?
i)
They cut the root, stem and leaf
ii)
They suck the cell sap from various parts of the plant body.
iii)
They bore into stem and fruits.
All of the above said activities affect the health of the plants and reduce yields.
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What are the preventive measures to control insects/pests in a crop field.
 Use of resistant varieties.
 Summer ploughing (field is ploughed deep in summers to destroy weeds and pests.
 Practicing crop rotation, intercropping etc.
What are the factors that cause loss of stored grains ? How do they affect the grains ?
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Factors that cause loss of stored grains can be biotic or abiotic. Biotic factors include infections by
insects, rodents, fungi, bacteria, termites etc. Abiotic factors refer to inappropriate moisture and
temperatures in the place of storage.
The above factors cause Degradation of quality of grains
 Loss in weight of grains
 Poor germinability
 Discolouration of produce
All of these lead to poor marketability.
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Why should preventive measures and biological control methods be preferred for protecting crops ?
 They do not cause measurable loss in quality and quantity of crops.
 They do not harm the environment.
 They are economic.
 Preventive methods protect the crops from weeds and pests whereas biological control methods
eliminate insects/pests without any harm to the crop plants or other life forms.
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What is animal husbandry ? Why is animal husbandry essential ?
Animal husbandry is the scientific management of animal livestock. It includes various aspects such a
feeding, breeding and disease control. It is essential for To increase milk production.
 To increase egg and milk production.
 To increase fish production.
 For proper utilization of animal wastes.
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What are the requirements of dairy animals ? Name two types of animal feed and their functions.
The food requirement for dairy animals are of two types.
(a)
Maintenance requirement :
The food required to support the animal to live a healthy life.
(b)
Milk producing requirement :
Food required during the lactation period.
The two types of animal feed are –
(i)
Roughage:
These are rich in fibre ; e.g., cowpea, berseem, etc.
(ii)
Concentrates:
These are low in fibre and contain relatively high levels of proteins and
other nutrients.
Besides such nutritious food material, certain feed additives containing micronutrients promote the
health and milk output of dairy animals.
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Which method is commonly used for improving cattle breeds and why ?
Cattle breeds can be improved by Cross breeding indigenous species such as Red Sindhi, Sahiwal with
exotic or foreign breeds like Jersey, Brown Swiss with long lactation period. By the above said method
cattle with both the desired quality can be obtained.
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What management practices are common in dairy and poultry farming ?
a) Shelter: Both of the animals should be provided with well-designed, well ventilated, and
hygienic shelter.
b) Feeding: Healthy food should be provided to keep them fit and for better produce.
c) Care for their health: Both of them should be protected from various diseases.
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Discuss the implications of the following statement: It is interesting to note that..(NCERT-pg211)
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The feed consumed by poultry birds is fibrous and cheap. Moreover, it is formulated using agricultural
by-product. In this way, the product not used by human population are converted into chicken meat and
the eggs produced by poultry birds, which are highly nutritious and are used by humans.
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What are the differences between broilers and layers and in their management ?
The broiler is a poultry bird specially groomed for obtaining meat and layer is the egg-laying poultry
bird.
The daily food requirement ration for broilers is protein-rich with adequate fat and high amount of
vitamin-A and K ; whereas the layers require more of fibrous diet.
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How are fish obtained ?
There are two ways of obtaining fish. One is from natural resources, which is called capture fishing. The
other way is by fish farming, which is called culture fishery.
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What are the advantages of composite fish culture ?
 The farmer can grow around 5-6 number of species from the same culture pond.
 The species grown in this method do not compete for food with each other as they have different
feeding habits.
 Optimum use of food available in all parts of the pond.
 It increases the fish yield from a given aquatic system.
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How do you differentiate between capture fishing, mariculture and aquaculture ?
Capture fishing
It is the process of obtaining fish
from the natural resources like
pond, lake, canals etc.
Fishes can be located easily and
then caught using fishing nets.
Mariculture
It is a practice of cultivating marine
fishes in the sea.
Satellite and echo sounders are used to
locate large school of fishes. Many kind
of fishing nets are used to catch the
fishes from the fishing boats.
Aquaculture
It involves culture of fishes both
in fresh water and brackish water
resources.
Fishes can be located easily and
can be caught by using simple
fishing nets.
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What is the major problem in composite fish farming ? How can we overcome it?
In composite fish culture a combination of five or six fishes are grown in a single fish pond. One
problem with such a composite fish culture is that many of these fish breed only during monsoon. Even
if fish seed is collected from the wild, it can be mixed with that of other species as well. So major
problem in fish farming is lack of availability of good quality seed.
To overcome this problem now some ways have been worked out to breed these fishes in ponds using
hormonal stimulation. This has ensured the supply of pure fish seed in desired quantities.
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What are the desirable Characteristics of a bee for honey production ?
 Good honey collection capacity.
 Ability to protect itself from enemies.
 Prolific queen production with less swarming.
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Write the advantage of beekeeping.
 Along with honey on commercial scale, other products of economic importance such as bee wax,
royal jelly can be obtained.
 It requires low investment.
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 Generates additional income along with agriculture.
 Helps in the process of cross pollination as pollens are transferred from one flower to the other by
bees while collecting nectar.
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An Italian bee variety A. mellifera has been introduced in India for honey production. Write
about its merits over other varieties.
 They have high honey collection capacity.
 They sting somewhat less.
 They stay in the given beehive for long periods and breed well.
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What is a pasturage ? How is it related to honey production ?
The value or quality of honey depends upon the pasturage, or the flowers available to the bees for nectar
and pollen collection. In addition to adequate quantity of pasturage, the kind of flowers available will determine the test
of honey.
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