UPHESC Assistant Professor Agricultural Botany PYQs

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.

Concept: India has parts of four hotspots: Western Ghats–Sri Lanka, Himalaya, Indo-Burma, and Sundaland (Nicobar).

1. Among the options the Western Ghats is the classic, fully recognised hotspot with very high endemism.
2. 'Himalayan Hill' as worded is less exact (the hotspot is the Himalaya), while Indo-Gangetic plain and Central India are not hotspots.

Short trick: Myers' hotspot = high endemism + >70% habitat loss → Western Ghats.

Concept: Ex-situ conservation keeps species outside their natural habitat: seed/gene banks, botanical gardens, zoos, cryopreservation, tissue-culture banks.

1. National parks, sanctuaries, biosphere reserves and forests are in-situ.
2. India's National Gene Bank is at NBPGR, New Delhi; Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.

Short trick: Ex = outside home: seed bank, zoo, botanical garden.

Concept: UNESCO launched the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme in 1971; it designates Biosphere Reserves.

1. India's first biosphere reserve – Nilgiri (1986).
2. WWF – NGO for wildlife; UNICEF – children; IMF – finance.

Short trick: MAB 1971 – UNESCO – Biosphere Reserves.

Concept: Storage proteins of legume seeds are mainly globulins (salt-soluble) – legumin (11S) and vicilin (7S), glycinin in soybean.

1. Cereals are rich in prolamins (gliadin of wheat, hordein of barley, zein of maize) and glutelins.
2. Albumins are water-soluble, minor fractions.

Short trick: Legume – globulin; cereal – prolamin.

Concept: Thiourea breaks dormancy and stimulates germination (it can even substitute for light in lettuce seeds); also KNO₃, GA, ethylene, cytokinin.

1. Ferulic acid, coumarin (phenolics) and ABA are germination inhibitors.

Short trick: Thiourea, KNO₃, GA = 'go'; ABA, coumarin = 'stop'.

Concept: Baskin & Baskin classify dormancy as endogenous (due to the embryo itself – physiological, morphological, morpho-physiological) or exogenous (due to coverings).

1. Seed coat, endosperm, fruit wall (pericarp) cause exogenous (coat-imposed) dormancy – physical (hard seed), chemical or mechanical.
2. Endogenous: immature/rudimentary embryo, inhibitors or low GA in embryo.

Short trick: Endo = inside the embryo; exo = outside coverings.

Concept: Indian Minimum Seed Certification Standards: maximum moisture for wheat seed is 12% in ordinary containers (8% in vapour-proof containers).

1. Above ~12–14% moisture, respiration, heating, fungi and insects increase.
2. Harrington's rule: each 1% fall in moisture (5–14% range) doubles seed life.

Short trick: Cereal seed safe at ≤12%; vapour-proof ≤8%.

Concept: India protects plant varieties through the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001 – a sui generis system under TRIPS Art. 27.3(b).

1. It gives breeders' rights, researchers' rights and farmers' rights.
2. Plant varieties are excluded from patents in India (Patents Act Sec. 3(j)).

Short trick: Variety → PPV&FR, invention → patent, place-linked product → GI.

Concept: Seed multiplication chain in India: Nucleus → Breeder → Foundation → Certified.

1. Certified seed is the progeny of foundation seed (or of certified seed for a further stage in some crops).
2. Tags: breeder – golden yellow; foundation – white; certified – azure blue.
3. 'Registered seed' is a US class, not used in India.

Short trick: N → B → F → C (golden – white – blue).

Concept: Match each term with its basis.

1. Imbibition – absorption of water by hydrophilic colloids (cellulose, proteins, starch) (a-4).
2. IAA – indole-3-acetic acid, an indole compound (b-3).
3. Dehydrogenases use NAD(P)⁺/FAD as coenzymes (c-2).
4. Amylase hydrolyses starch (d-1).

Short trick: Dry seeds swell – colloids imbibe; IAA has 'I' for Indole.