UPHESC Assistant Professor Agricultural Botany PYQs

Concept: Restriction endonucleases ('molecular scissors') cut DNA at specific palindromic sites, making gene cloning possible.

1. e.g. EcoRI cuts G^AATTC giving sticky ends; DNA ligase then joins fragments.
2. DNase degrades DNA non-specifically; amylase and lipase digest starch and fats.

Short trick: Scissors = restriction enzyme; glue = ligase.

Concept: A plasmid (Lederberg, 1952) is a self-replicating extrachromosomal DNA (replicon) stably inherited without integration into the chromosome.

1. An episome (e.g. F factor) can exist free or integrate into the host chromosome.
2. A vector is any carrier DNA (plasmid, phage, cosmid) used for cloning.

Short trick: Plasmid = always outside; episome = in or out.

Concept: Energy flow is unidirectional: solar (light) energy → chemical energy in food (photosynthesis) → lost as heat through respiration at each trophic level.

1. Second law of thermodynamics: transformations degrade energy to heat.
2. Lindeman's 10% law – only ~10% passes to the next level.

Short trick: Sun → Sugar → Heat.

Concept: An ecotone is the transition zone (tension zone) between two communities, e.g. forest–grassland; it often has greater species richness (edge effect).

1. Ecocline – gradual gradient of communities along an environmental gradient.
2. Ecads – environmentally induced variants (phenotypic forms) of a species.
3. Ephemerals – short-lived plants completing life cycle in a brief favourable season.

Short trick: Eco-TONE = TENsion zone between two communities.

Concept: The Global Carbon Budget is produced by the Global Carbon Project – an international scientific consortium under Future Earth/WCRP – not the World Bank.

1. CCPI – Germanwatch with NewClimate Institute and CAN.
2. State of the Global Climate – WMO.
3. Emissions Gap Report – UNEP.

Short trick: World Bank publishes 'State and Trends of Carbon Pricing', not the Global Carbon Budget.

Concept: EIA notifications (1994, 2006) are issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

1. Statement 1 correct.
2. Statement 2 wrong: Category A projects need clearance from the Central Government (MoEFCC, on EAC advice); Category B projects from the State-level SEIAA.

Short trick: A = All-India (Centre), B = state.

Concept: On 26 April 1986 reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (then USSR, now Ukraine) exploded – the worst nuclear accident (INES level 7).

1. Fukushima (2011) is the other level-7 accident.
2. Bhopal (1984) – MIC gas leak.

Short trick: Chernobyl 1986 = nuclear; Bhopal 1984 = gas.

Concept: Smog = smoke + fog, a form of air pollution.

1. Classical (London, reducing) smog – SO₂, soot, fog in cold humid weather.
2. Photochemical (Los Angeles, oxidising) smog – NO_x + hydrocarbons + sunlight → O₃, PAN.

Short trick: Smoke + Fog = Smog.

Concept: LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), e.g. differential-absorption LIDAR (DIAL), sends laser pulses and analyses back-scattered light to map gas concentrations remotely over large areas.

1. Spectrophotometry, GC and mass spectrometry analyse samples collected at a point – they cannot map a whole town from one spot.

Short trick: LIDAR = laser radar – scans from one place.

Concept: Saffron (kesar) consists of dried stigmas with the upper part of the style of Crocus sativus (Iridaceae).

1. Colour – crocin; flavour – safranal; bitterness – picrocrocin.
2. Fennel – fruits; turmeric – rhizome; Rubia (manjistha) – root dye.

Short trick: Kesar = Crocus stigma (Pampore, Kashmir).

Concept: Flavr Savr tomato, developed by Calgene (California), was the first GM food approved for sale (USFDA, 1994).

1. It carried an antisense polygalacturonase (PG) gene, delaying fruit softening.
2. Bt cotton (Monsanto) was the first GM crop in India (2002).

Short trick: Flavr Savr – Calgene – 1994 – antisense PG.

Concept: Wheat is a rabi (temperate) crop needing a cool climate during vegetative growth and moderately warm, dry weather at ripening.

1. Optimum germination ~20–25 °C; tillering/growth ~16–20 °C.
2. Terminal heat (>30–35 °C at grain filling) causes forced maturity and shrivelled grains.

Short trick: Wheat = cool-season (rabi) cereal.

Concept: Carrot (Daucus carota) belongs to Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) and bears a compound umbel.

1. Other umbellifers: coriander, cumin, fennel.
2. Spike – wheat ear (spikelets), Achyranthes; corymb – candytuft; catkin – mulberry, Salix.

Short trick: Umbelliferae = umbel (umbrella-like).

Concept: Sorghum (jowar) is called the 'camel crop' because, like a camel, it withstands prolonged drought.

1. It has an extensive fibrous root system, waxy leaves and stems, leaf rolling, and can stay dormant in drought and resume growth after rain.
2. It also tolerates waterlogging better than maize.

Short trick: Camel survives the desert – so does sorghum.

Concept: The UN declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity.

1. In 2010 CBD COP-10 at Nagoya adopted the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Nagoya Protocol.
2. 2011–2020 was the UN Decade on Biodiversity; 2011 – International Year of Forests.

Short trick: 2010 – Nagoya – Aichi targets.

Concept: Sujata (TNAU, Coimbatore, 1969), a selection from the Egyptian cotton Karnak, was India's first Egyptian-type (G. barbadense) variety.

1. Suvin (Sujata × St. Vincent) is an extra-long-staple Sea-Island type – the finest Indian cotton.
2. Suman – a hirsutum variety.

Short trick: Sujata first, then Suvin (its offspring).

Concept: Whittaker's scales: α (within a community/habitat), β (between communities, turnover along a gradient), γ (over a whole region/landscape).

1. Aggregation is a pattern of spatial distribution of individuals (clumping), not a diversity scale.

Short trick: α within, β between, γ region.

Concept: Phenology studies the timing of periodic biological events (leafing, flowering, fruiting) in relation to season and climate.

1. Synecology – ecology of communities.
2. Autecology – ecology of an individual species.
3. Teratology – study of abnormalities/malformations.

Short trick: Pheno = appear: when do flowers appear?

Concept: Apical meristem (0.1–0.5 mm dome + 1–2 leaf primordia) is usually virus-free, so meristem culture (Morel & Martin, 1952, dahlia) gives disease-free plants.

1. Reasons: no vascular connection, high auxin and rapid cell division.
2. Often combined with thermotherapy/chemotherapy.
3. Anther culture – haploids; somatic embryogenesis/synthetic seed – propagation.

Short trick: Meristem tip = virus-free zone.

Concept: The theory of natural selection was given by Charles Darwin (and Wallace) – 'Origin of Species', 1859; E. P. Odum was an ecologist (Fundamentals of Ecology, 1953).

1. Neutral theory of molecular evolution – Motoo Kimura, 1968.
2. Kin selection – W. D. Hamilton, 1963/64.
3. Hardy–Weinberg law – 1908, foundation of population genetics.

Short trick: Natural selection = Darwin 1859, never Odum.