UPHESC Assistant Professor Horticulture 2025 PYQs

Concept: Passive sensors record naturally available energy – sunlight reflected or thermal energy emitted by the earth.

1. Examples: optical/multispectral cameras, thermal IR sensors (Landsat, IRS LISS).
2. Active sensors send their own energy and record the return – RADAR, LiDAR.
3. EMR is the radiation itself, not a sensor.

Short trick: Passive = uses sun/earth energy; Active = own source (RADAR).

Concept: Match each fruit with its variety.

1. Lime – Pramalini (acid lime, PDKV Akola) → I.
2. Banana – Grand Nain (Cavendish, AAA) → II.
3. Amla – Laxmi-52 (a chance seedling of Francis aonla) → III; Papaya – Arka Surya (IIHR) → IV.
4. The correct code is therefore I, II, III, IV, which is not among the options (A swaps amla and papaya) – no option is correct as printed (bonus).

Short trick: ‘Arka’ papayas: Arka Surya, Arka Prabhat; ‘Laxmi-52’ – aonla.

Concept: Sonamukhi = Indian/Tinnevelly senna, Cassia angustifolia Vahl, whose leaves and pods give laxative sennosides.

1. Chlorophytum – safed musli; Withania somnifera – ashwagandha.
2. Origanum majorana – sweet marjoram.
3. Senna is grown in Tirunelveli (TN) and Gujarat/Rajasthan.

Short trick: Sona-mukhi (golden) senna → sennosides → laxative.

Concept: East Indian lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) oil is traded as ‘Cochin oil’ because it was exported from Cochin (Kerala).

1. Rich in citral (75–90%); used for vitamin A and ionone synthesis.
2. C. citratus – West Indian lemongrass; C. pendulus – Jammu lemongrass.
3. Citronella oil comes from C. winterianus/nardus.

Short trick: Cochin port → East Indian lemongrass (flexuosus).

Concept: ‘Phule Pride’ is a dwarf Cavendish-type banana variety released by MPKV, Rahuri (Banana Research Station, Jalgaon, Maharashtra).

1. It is shorter-statured, reducing wind damage and suiting Jalgaon conditions.
2. Pomegranate MPKV varieties: Phule Bhagwa, Phule Arakta, Ganesh.
3. Hence banana.

Short trick: Jalgaon (banana city) → Phule Pride.

Concept: Key pests of plantation crops:

1. Coconut – rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) → IV.
2. Cashew – tea mosquito bug (Helopeltis antonii) → III.
3. Rubber – scale insects (e.g. Saissetia) → II; Arecanut – spindle bug (Carvalhoia arecae) → I.

Short trick: Coconut-Rhino, Cashew-TMB, Areca-Spindle bug.

Concept: Each vitamin has a classic deficiency disease.

1. Nicotinic acid (niacin, B₃) – pellagra → III.
2. Thiamine (B₁) – beri-beri → IV.
3. Ascorbic acid (C) – scurvy → I; Carotene (pro-vitamin A) – night blindness → II.

Short trick: B1-Beriberi, B3-Pellagra (3 Ds), C-Scurvy, A-Night blindness.

Concept: Spacing depends on the growth habit of the rose group.

1. Hybrid Tea – about 75 cm → I.
2. Climbers spread widely – about 250 cm → IV.
3. Standard (tree) rose – about 100 cm → II; Polyanthas (compact, bushy) – about 45 cm → III.

Short trick: Bigger plant, bigger spacing: Climber 250 > Standard 100 > HT 75 > Polyantha 45.

Concept: Cultivated bananas arose in South-East Asia (Indo-Malaysian region) from Musa acuminata (A) and M. balbisiana (B).

1. Early domestication in New Guinea/Malaysia; India is a secondary centre of diversity.
2. Banana reached Africa and later the Americas (Central America) through trade.
3. Mediterranean – olive, grape; Central America – papaya, avocado.

Short trick: Banana = Indo-Malayan (SE Asia).

Concept: North Indian vetiver (wild, seeded type; traditionally distilled in ‘bhapka’ stills as ruh khus) gives a superior laevorotatory oil with a greenish tint, described as greenish-yellow.

1. South Indian (non-seeded, cultivated) type gives a dextrorotatory, brown to reddish-brown oil.
2. Oil content about 1–1.5% of dry roots; main constituent khusimol/vetiverol.
3. Used in perfumery, attar and as fixative.

Short trick: North = green tinge (bhapka ruh khus); South = brown.

Concept: A true fruit develops only from the ovary; a false fruit (pseudocarp) has other parts (thalamus, peduncle) forming the edible portion.

1. Apple, pear, loquat – fleshy thalamus/receptacle forms the edible part (pome).
2. Cashew apple – swollen peduncle (hypocarp).
3. Mango, peach, plum, apricot, walnut, almond develop from the ovary – true fruits.

Short trick: Pome + cashew apple = false fruits.

Concept: Mehal/Kainth (wild Himalayan pear) is Pyrus pashia, the common pear rootstock in India.

1. In the plains Pyrus calleryana and Kainth are used; in hills P. pashia (Mehal).
2. P. pyrifolia/serotina – sand pear (e.g. Patharnakh); P. communis – European pear (Bartlett).
3. Quince is a dwarfing pear rootstock.

Short trick: Mehal/Kainth = Pyrus pashia.

Concept: In the North Indian plains, roses are pruned in the second–third week of October (after the rains) so that flowering peaks in December–March.

1. Pruning is followed by manuring and irrigation for new shoots.
2. Later pruning (November) delays flowering and lowers quality in cold weather.
3. In the hills pruning is done in February–March.

Short trick: Plains: prune around Dussehra–Diwali (mid-October).

Concept: Dashehari is largely self-incompatible; studies (ISHS) found Bombay Green the best pollinizer for Dashehari.

1. The same study found Dashehari the best pollinizer for Chausa.
2. Interplanting pollinizers improves fruit set and retention.
3. Using Dashehari itself (self) gives poor set.

Short trick: Dashehari ← Bombay Green; Chausa ← Dashehari.

Concept: DFR is a key enzyme of the anthocyanin pathway; introducing maize A1 (dfr) gene into petunia (Meyer et al., 1987) produced brick-red/orange pelargonidin flowers.

1. This was the first example of genetically engineered flower colour.
2. Similar approach (F3′5′H) gave blue ‘Moondust’ carnation and blue rose.
3. Not used for size, form or fragrance.

Short trick: dfr / F3′5′H = anthocyanin = colour.

Concept: PRSV (a potyvirus) is transmitted non-persistently by aphids (Myzus persicae, Aphis gossypii) and by sap.

1. Symptoms: mosaic, leaf distortion, ring spots on fruit, water-soaked streaks on stem.
2. Management: barrier crops (maize/sorghum), rouging, Rainbow/SunUp transgenic papaya.
3. Papaya leaf curl virus is whitefly-borne – do not confuse.

Short trick: Ring spot → aphid; Leaf curl → whitefly.

Concept: Mango is andromonoecious – each panicle bears male (staminate) and hermaphrodite (perfect) flowers.

1. Proportion of hermaphrodite flowers varies (about 1–36%) with cultivar and season.
2. There are no purely female flowers.
3. Only hermaphrodite flowers can set fruit.

Short trick: Mango = andromonoecious (male + bisexual).

Concept: The term ‘bio-aesthetic planning’ was coined by British biologist Lancelot Hogben; Dr. M. S. Randhawa popularised and applied it in India (e.g. Chandigarh).

1. It means planning of plants and animals in urban/rural areas for beauty and utility.
2. Randhawa wrote ‘Beautifying India’ and planned Chandigarh's greenery.
3. Fageria and K. V. Peter are not linked with the term.

Short trick: Coined – Hogben; Popularised in India – Randhawa.

Concept: Disease resistance is assessed from the whole-population level down to the individual lesion.

1. First disease incidence (% plants infected), then disease severity (% tissue affected).
2. Then number of successful infections (lesion number – reflects infection efficiency).
3. Finally size of successful infections (lesion size – reflects colonisation/expansion). Sequence: I, II, IV, III.

Short trick: Incidence → Severity → Number of lesions → Size of lesions.

Concept: Parentage of CPRI (Shimla) potato varieties:

1. Kufri Badshah = Kufri Jyoti × Kufri Alankar → I.
2. Kufri Deva = Craigs Defiance × Phulwa (frost-tolerant) → III.
3. Kufri Lalima = Kufri Red × AG-14 → IV; Kufri Sindhuri = Kufri Red × Kufri Kundan → II.

Short trick: Both red-skinned (Lalima, Sindhuri) have Kufri Red as mother.