UPHESC Assistant Professor Horticulture 2025 PYQs

Concept: Seedless (parthenocarpic) guava fruits are induced by spraying/applying GA₃ at high concentrations, 1000–8000 ppm, to emasculated flowers.

1. Guava seeds are hard and numerous; GA₃ lets fruit set without fertilisation.
2. Lower doses (10–100 ppm) are used for fruit set/size in grape, not for guava parthenocarpy.
3. Higher concentration within the range gives more seedless fruits but smaller size.

Short trick: Guava seedless = very high GA (thousands of ppm).

Concept: Fresh grapes are India's leading fresh fruit export, contributing roughly one-third (about 34%) of fresh fruit export value.

1. Main markets: Netherlands, UK, Russia, UAE, Bangladesh; Nashik (Maharashtra) leads.
2. Pomegranate and mango follow with much smaller shares.
3. India is a net importer of apple.

Short trick: Top fresh fruit export = Grapes (Nashik).

Concept: The Zero Energy Cool Chamber (IARI, Roy & Khurdiya) is a double brick wall structure with wet sand in between; evaporation of water lowers temperature and raises humidity.

1. Temperature drops 10–15 °C below ambient in summer; RH about 90–95%.
2. No electricity needed – ideal for on-farm storage of fruits and vegetables.
3. Gas laws (Boyle/Charles) and diffusion are not the working principle.

Short trick: Wet sand + bricks + evaporation = ZECC.

Concept: Satputia (Luffa hermaphrodita) bears hermaphrodite (bisexual) flowers and small fruits in clusters.

1. Popular in Bihar and eastern UP; fruits borne in bunches ('sat-putia' = seven fruits).
2. Pusa Nasdar, Pusa Nutan, Arka Sujat are normal monoecious ridge gourd varieties.
3. Hence Satputia.

Short trick: Satputia = bunch-bearing, bisexual flowered luffa.

Concept: Nucellar embryos arise from maternal nucellus tissue, so nucellar seedlings are clones of the mother.

1. a – true to type ✔; b – vigorous and uniform ✔ (ideal rootstocks).
2. c – most viruses are not seed-transmitted, so nucellar seedlings are virus-free ✔ (nucellar budlines).
3. d – wrong: nucellar seedlings show juvenility and are very thorny, with delayed bearing.

Short trick: Nucellar = clone + vigour + virus-free, but thorny & juvenile.

Concept: CIM-Madhuras is a peppermint (Mentha × piperita) variety released by CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow.

1. Japanese mint (M. arvensis): Kosi, Himalaya, Saksham, Kushal.
2. Spearmint (M. spicata): Neera, Arka, MSS-5; Bergamot mint (M. citrata): Kiran, Kranti.
3. Peppermint: Kukrail, Tushar, CIM-Madhuras, CIMAP-Patra.

Short trick: Madhuras (sweet, cool) → peppermint.

Concept: Reserpine is an indole alkaloid from roots of Sarpagandha (Rauvolfia serpentina).

1. Used as an antihypertensive and tranquilliser.
2. Tulsi – eugenol; Aloe – aloin; Neem – azadirachtin.
3. Roots are harvested after 18–30 months.

Short trick: Sarpagandha → Reserpine → BP down.

Concept: Elakki Bale (Ney Poovan) is an AB diploid banana, yet parthenocarpic and seedless.

1. Most commercial bananas are triploid (AAA, AAB, ABB) – seedlessness is usually linked to triploidy.
2. Elakki is an exception: diploid but seedless due to parthenocarpy and sterility.
3. Small, very sweet fruits; popular in Karnataka/Kerala.

Short trick: Elakki/Ney Poovan = AB diploid seedless.

Concept: The main anthocyanin of strawberry is pelargonidin-3-glucoside (with minor cyanidin-3-glucoside).

1. Cyanidin-3-glucoside – main pigment of apple skin, litchi, blood orange.
2. Malvidin-3-glucoside – grape (red wine).
3. β-cryptoxanthin – orange carotenoid of mandarins/papaya.

Short trick: Strawberry – Pelargonidin; Grape – Malvidin; Apple – Cyanidin.

Concept: Mango is mainly pollinated by flies (Diptera), especially the house fly; honey bees are poor visitors because mango flowers have little attractive nectar/odour for them.

1. Other pollinators: blow flies, hover flies, thrips, ants.
2. Hanging fish/meat waste in orchards has been used to attract flies.
3. Aphids are pests, not pollinators.

Short trick: Mango = fly-pollinated (house fly).

Concept: Wide crotch angles (about 45°–90°, ideally 60°–70°) give strong scaffold branches.

1. Narrow angles trap bark between limb and trunk (included bark) → weak union, splitting under crop load.
2. Angles above 90° (drooping) reduce vigour and fruiting wood.
3. Spreaders/toothpicks are used to widen crotch angles in apple.

Short trick: Narrow V = weak; wide (45–90°) = strong.

Concept: Cytokinins delay senescence (Richmond–Lang effect) by retaining chlorophyll and protein synthesis.

1. Used to prolong shelf life of leafy vegetables and cut flowers (e.g. BA sprays).
2. Ethylene and ABA promote senescence and abscission.
3. IAA mainly controls cell elongation and rooting.

Short trick: Cytokinin = 'anti-ageing'; Ethylene/ABA = ageing.

Concept: Climacteric fruits show a sharp rise (peak) in respiration and ethylene at ripening and can ripen after harvest.

1. a ✔ respiration peak; d ✔ ripen off the plant (mango, banana, papaya, guava, apple, tomato).
2. b ✘ they accumulate starch, which is converted to sugars during ripening.
3. c ✘ pineapple is non-climacteric (like citrus, grape, strawberry).

Short trick: Climacteric = peak + starch→sugar + ripens after picking.

Concept: ‘Anupam’ (Chaubattia Anupam) is an apple bred at the Chaubattia station (Uttarakhand); the question links it with apple, the one fruit among the options in which dwarfing interstocks (interstems) are a standard practice.

1. Interstock = a piece of stem grafted between rootstock and scion to control vigour; in apple the classic dwarfing interstems are M-9 and M-27.
2. Grape is grown on rootstocks like Dogridge; in mango Vellaikolumban is a dwarfing rootstock; acid lime uses rootstocks such as Rangpur lime – interstocks are not the usual practice in these.
3. Anupam is an apple cultivar name, so the answer is apple.

Short trick: Chaubattia names (Anupam, Princess, Agaati) → apple.

Concept: Sympodial orchids grow laterally from a rhizome producing new pseudobulbs; monopodial orchids grow from a single apical stem.

1. Sympodial: Cymbidium, Cattleya, Dendrobium, Oncidium, Paphiopedilum.
2. Monopodial: Arachnis, Vanda, Phalaenopsis, Aerides, Renanthera.
3. So Arachnis is not sympodial.

Short trick: Monopodial = 'VAPAR': Vanda, Arachnis, Phalaenopsis, Aerides, Renanthera.

Concept: Pome fruits (Rosaceae, Maloideae): apple, pear, quince, loquat. Of these, loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) is an evergreen subtropical pome.

1. Apple and pear are temperate (need chilling).
2. Plum is a stone fruit (drupe), not a pome.
3. Loquat flowers in autumn–winter and ripens in March–April in the plains.

Short trick: Evergreen subtropical pome = Loquat.

Concept: Fuyu, Gosho (Giant Fuyu) and Suruga are non-astringent Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki) cultivars.

1. Astringent types: Hachiya, Tamopan, Hiratanenashi.
2. Olive cvs: Frantoio, Leccino; pecan: Mahan, Western Schley.
3. Hence persimmon.

Short trick: Japanese names (Fuyu, Jiro, Hachiya) → kaki persimmon.

Concept: Punjab Kesari (PAU) and Pusa Gaurav (IARI) are tomato varieties.

1. Other tomato cvs: Pusa Ruby, Pusa Early Dwarf, Arka Vikas, Punjab Chhuhara.
2. Potato names start with 'Kufri'; watermelon: Sugar Baby, Arka Manik.
3. Hence tomato.

Short trick: Punjab Kesari / Chhuhara, Pusa Gaurav / Ruby → tomato.

Concept: Azotobacter is a free-living (non-symbiotic), aerobic N-fixing bacterium used as biofertilizer for non-legumes (vegetables, fruits, cereals).

1. VAM/mycorrhizae mobilise phosphorus – they do not fix nitrogen.
2. BGA fixes N but is mainly for flooded rice.
3. Azotobacter also produces growth substances (IAA, GA).

Short trick: Non-legume, upland N biofertilizer = Azotobacter.

Concept: Maleic hydrazide (MH, 2000–2500 ppm) sprayed 2–3 weeks before harvest is translocated to bulbs/tubers and inhibits sprouting in storage.

1. It blocks cell division in buds.
2. Alar and Cycocel are growth retardants (anti-GA) for height control.
3. 2,4-D is a herbicide/auxin.

Short trick: Onion/potato storage sprouting → MH pre-harvest; CIPC post-harvest (potato).