UPHESC Assistant Professor Horticulture 2025 PYQs

Concept: In flower seed production, annuals are grouped as self- or cross-pollinated.

1. Self-pollinated: larkspur, sweet pea, lupin, China aster.
2. Cross-pollinated (insects): alyssum, clarkia, portulaca, petunia, antirrhinum, marigold, zinnia.
3. So larkspur is not cross-pollinated.

Short trick: Self group: 'Sweet Lady Loves Chinese Asters' – Sweet pea, Larkspur, Lupin, China aster.

Concept: Citrus tristeza virus (CTV, a closterovirus) causes quick decline of citrus, especially on sour orange rootstock.

1. Vector: brown citrus aphid Toxoptera citricida (semi-persistent).
2. Symptoms: stem pitting, vein clearing, decline; 'tristeza' = sadness (Portuguese).
3. Control: tolerant rootstocks (Rangpur lime, Rough lemon, trifoliate), virus-free budwood.

Short trick: Tristeza → citrus 'quick decline', aphid-borne.

Concept: Acridity (itching of mouth/throat) of colocasia and elephant foot yam is due to needle-like calcium oxalate crystals (raphides).

1. Raphides pierce the mucosa when eaten raw.
2. Boiling, adding tamarind/lemon (acid) reduces the irritation.
3. Capsaicin is the pungency of chilli – not colocasia.

Short trick: Arvi/suran itching = Ca-oxalate raphides.

Concept: Green Express (F₁ hybrid) and Chieftain (Savoy type) are cabbage cultivars.

1. Other cabbage cultivars: Golden Acre, Pride of India, Copenhagen Market, Pusa Drumhead, Pusa Mukta.
2. Cauliflower: Pusa Snowball, Pusa Katki; Onion: Pusa Red, Agrifound Dark Red.
3. Hence cabbage.

Short trick: ‘Chieftain Savoy’ → cabbage.

Concept: Camphor-rich basils: Ocimum kilimandscharicum and O. canum (hoary basil).

1. O. basilicum (sweet basil) – methyl chavicol, linalool.
2. O. viride / O. gratissimum – thymol, eugenol.
3. O. sanctum (holy basil) – eugenol.

Short trick: Camphor basil = kilimandscharicum / canum; Eugenol = sanctum.

Concept: Aonla is monoecious; male flowers vastly outnumber female flowers, the ratio reported being about 307.9 : 1.

1. Male flowers are borne in clusters in leaf axils at the base of determinate shoots; female flowers few, towards the tip.
2. This low female proportion makes pollination/pollinizers important.
3. Ratios like 10:1 or 1:100 do not match observations.

Short trick: Aonla: ~308 males for 1 female.

Concept: The National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) was set up on 24 November 2000 by Government resolution.

1. It is now under the Ministry of AYUSH, New Delhi.
2. It coordinates conservation, cultivation and trade of medicinal plants.
3. It runs the National AYUSH Mission (medicinal plants component).

Short trick: NMPB – millennium year 2000.

Concept: A GI tag links a product to its place of origin.

1. Feni – Goa (2009) and Alibag White Onion – Maharashtra (2021) are correct.
2. Badlapur Jamun is a GI of Maharashtra (Badlapur, Thane district, 2022), not Uttar Pradesh – incorrect.
3. Assam's GI from Tezpur is Tezpur Litchi (2015); there is no registered GI ‘Tezpur Chilli’ (Assam's chilli GI is Bhut Jolokia/Naga chilli of the North-East). So option C is also incorrect – two incorrect options as printed (bonus). The intended answer is B.

Short trick: Badlapur (Thane) jamun – Maharashtra; Tezpur – Litchi.

Concept: Onion and garlic originated in the Central Asiatic centre (Afghanistan–Tajikistan–NW India) and Near East.

1. Brinjal – Indo-Burma (Hindustan centre).
2. Lettuce – Mediterranean.
3. Tomato and hot pepper – South/Central America.

Short trick: Allium → Central Asia; Solanum tomato/chilli → America; brinjal → India.

Concept: SCAR (Sequence Characterized Amplified Region) markers are developed by sequencing a RAPD/AFLP band and designing specific long primers – a sequence-based marker.

1. RFLP – hybridization (probe) based.
2. ISSR – PCR with arbitrary microsatellite-anchored primers (no prior sequence needed).
3. STMS (SSR) primers also come from flanking sequence, but in the standard classification they are grouped as microsatellite (PCR-based) markers; SCAR is the textbook 'sequence characterized' marker.

Short trick: SCAR = sequence characterised; RFLP = hybridisation; ISSR/RAPD = arbitrary PCR.

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).