UPSC Mains 2020 Agriculture Optional Paper II questions

28 questions from the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2020. Official UPSC paper (PDF) · All Agriculture Optional PYQs

1. Differentiate between the following: 409 (i) Varietal seed production and Hybrid seed production (ii) Conventional and Molecular breeding

2. What is mass selection? Discuss its applications in varietal improvement.

3. Enumerate factors responsible for absorption of nutrients by plants. Explain the mechanism of absorption of nutrients.

4. Define synthetic variety. Discuss the operations involved in the production of synthetic varieties.

5. Describe chromosome under the following headings: 409 (i) Chromosome number (ii) Chemical constituents of chromosomes (iii) Chromomere (iv) Y chromosomes

6. Explain self-incompatibility and its mechanism. Discuss relevance of self-incompatibility in plant breeding.

   20 marks

7. What do you understand by the term 'seed quality'? Describe the; regulatory and certification systems that are in place to ensure seed quality.

8. Enumerate various types of structural chromosomal aberrations with their types. Give detailed account of inversion-type structural aberration.

9. Explain the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 200. Give an account of protection provided to farmers, breeders and indigenous property rights under this Act.

   20 marks

10. Describe the applications of mutation breeding. Also discuss the limitations of this approach of plant breeding.

11. Describe the role of molecular markers and marker-assisted selection in crop improvement.

12. Define plant nutrition. Give an account of essential and beneficial nutrients to plants and their status in Indian soils.

    20 marks

13. What do you understand by 'genetically modified crop plants'? Give an account of their uses in management of insect-pests, diseases and weeds.

14. Sex-linkage (ii) Double cross-over (iii) Autosome (iv) Cytoplasmic male sterility (v)

15. Differentiate between the following: 40 (i) Plant hormones and Synthetic plant-growth regulators (ii) Cg, and C, plants

16. Give a brief account of the effects of drought and salt stress on growth and development of crops.

17. What is meant by physiological disorders? Describe physiological disorders of potato.

18. Discuss the scope and importance of roof-gardening in cities.

19. Discuss the role of nutri-cereals in managing malnutrition in India.

20. Classify pesticides according to target pests. Describe the trend in pesticide consumption in India.

    20 marks

21. Describe mango cultivation with respect to propagation, intercropping, biennial bearing, fruit drop and black-tip.

22. What is Public Distribution System (PDS) and what are its objectives? How does targeted public distribution system overcome problems with PDS?

23. What are the major constraints of food production in India? How will National Food Policy help in sustainable food security?

    20 marks

24. List biotic and abiotic causes of plant diseases. Give an account of the classification of major physiological processes affected by diseases and symptom types.

25. Define plant growth regulators. Elaborate their applications with suitable examples.

26. Give a brief account of tomato cultivation with respect to climate and soils, sowing time, and nutrient, water and post-harvest management.

    20 marks

27. What are the causes of post-harvest deterioration of flowers? Elaborate the techniques to enhance shelf-life of flowers.

28. Give an account of steps taken by the government to cope up with constraints in procurement and marketing of agriculture produce.