Class-IX

Chapter- Improvement in Food Resources

EXTRA QUESTIONS

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. How is the use of manure beneficial for our environment?
Answer:
Manure is beneficial because they help in:

 protecting the damage of environment from chemicals such as pesticides and

fertilisers.
 recycling the biological wastes, i.e., animal excreta and plant wastes, thus
preventing the accumulation of these things.

2. What is green manure?

Answer:
Some plants like sun hemp or guar are grown in the field prior to the sowing of the
crop seeds. These are then mulched by ploughing them into the soil. These green
plants gradually decompose and turn into green manure which helps in enriching the
soil in nitrogen and phosphorus.
3. What is a GM crop? Name any one such crop which is grown in India. [NCERT
Exemplar]
Answer:
Crop which has been developed by introducing a new gene from a different source, to
obtain the desired character, is called genetically modified (GM) crop. For example,
Bt cotton which is made insect-resistant by introducing a new gene from a bacteria.

4. Why is organic matter important for crop production? [NCERT Exemplar]

Answer:
Organic matter is important for crop production because:

 It helps in improving soil structure.

 It helps in increasing water holding capacity of sandy soil.
 In clayey soil, large quantities of organic matter helps in drainage and in
avoiding waterlogging.

5. Write the modes by which insects affect the crop yield. [NCERT Exemplar]
Answer:
Insects have a damaging effect on the crop yield. Some insects cut the plant parts
inhibiting their growth while others suck the cell sap so bees cannot help in
pollination. Some insects are even seen as the bore which damage the entire crop
yield.

6. Why is excess use of fertilisers detrimental for the environment? [NCERT Exemplar]
Answer:
Fertilisers are inorganic chemicals which are not easily degraded. Excess use of
 fertilisers causes environmental pollution as their residual and unused amounts will
become pollutants for air, water and soil.
7. Differentiate between compost and vermicompost. [NCERT Exemplar]
Answer:
Compost: It is prepared by the process in which farm waste materials like livestock
excreta, vegetable wastes, animal refuse, domestic waste, straw, eradicated weeds are
decomposed and used as manure. Vermicompost: It is the compost prepared from
organic matter using earthworms which hasten the process of decomposition.

8. An Italian bee variety A. mellifera has been introduced in India for honey production.
Write about its merits over other varieties. [NCERT Exemplar]
Answer:
Merits of Italian bee variety A. mellifera are:

 It stings less.
 It has high honey collection capacity.
 It stays in the given beehive for longer periods and breeds very well.

9. What do you understand by organic farming?

Answer:
Organic farming is a farming system in which there is minimal or no use of chemicals
such as fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, etc. There is maximum input of organic
manure, recycled farm wastes, i.e., straw and livestock excreta, use of bio-agents such
as culture of blue green algae in preparation ofbiofertilisers. Also, neem leaves or
turmeric is used specifically in grain storage which act as biopesticides. It employs
healthy cropping systems (mixed cropping, intercropping and crop rotation).

10. List out some useful traits in improved crop? [NCERT Exemplar]
Answer:
Some useful traits in improved crops are:

 Higher yield of crop

 Improved quality of crop
 Biotic and abiotic resistance
 Change in maturity duration
 Wider adaptability and
 Desiratble agronomic characteristics.

11. Which factors should be taken into consideration for fish culture?
Answer:
The three important factors to be considered for fish culture are:

 Topography, i.e., location of pond.

 Water resources and their quality.
 Soil quality.

12. Name the indigenous fowls of India. Which among them is the most popular?
Answer:
Indigenous fowl varieties of India are:
  Aseel
 Ghagus
 Chittagong
 Busra

Of these, Aseel is the most popular, which provides high yield of meat but is a poor egg
layer.

13. What are the important precautions that should be taken in poultry farming?
Answer:
In poultry farming the following precautions should be taken:

 Proper poultry feed.

 Proper vaccination of birds.
 Prevention and control of diseases and pests.
 Isolation of diseased birds.
 Maintenance of optimum temperature and hygienic conditions in housing.

14. What are poultry diseases and how can they be prevented?
Answer:
Poultry fowl suffer from a variety of diseases caused by virus (Dermitis), bacteria
(Tuberculosis), fungi (Aspergillosis), parasites like worms, mites as well as from
nutritional deficiencies. These necessitate proper cleaning, sanitation and spraying of
disinfectants at regular intervals. Appropriate vaccination can also prevent the
occurrence of infectious diseases and reduce the loss of poultry during an outbreak of
a disease.’

Question 15.
Why is animal husbandry essential?
Answer:
Animal husbandry is essential because of the following reasons:

 To increase milk production. It also increases the production of various milk

products like butter and cheese.
 To increase egg and meat production which are highly nutritious.
 To increase fish production.
 For the proper utilisation of animal wastes.

Question 16.
What are the advantages of beekeeping?
Answer:
Following are the main advantages of beekeeping:

 Along with getting honey on a commercial scale, other products like wax, royal
jelly and bee venom are also obtained from beekeeping.
 Beekeeping requires low investments due to which farmers, along with
agriculture also do beekeeping to generate additional income.
  It also helps in cross-pollination as pollens are transferred from one flower to
another by the bees while collecting nectar.

Question 17.
Name two infectious diseases each of cows, poultry and fishes.
Answer:

 Cows – Anthrax and Foot and mouth disease

 Poultry – Ranikhet and Salmonellosis
 Fishes- Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) and Infectious Pancreatic
Necrosis (IPN)

18. What is pasturage, and how is it related to honey production?

Answer : Pasturage is the flowering plants and trees found around an apiary. From
these, bees collect nectar and pollen to form honey.

Pasturage is essential to determine the quality and quantity of honey. This is

because the quality of honey depends upon the pasturage, while the type of flowers
determines the taste of honey.

19. What is genetic manipulation, and how is it useful in agricultural

practices?

Answer 20: Genetic manipulation is the addition and incorporation of the desirable
characteristic in an organism by the process of hybridization, mutation, DNA
recombination, etc.

The scope of genetic manipulation in agricultural practices is:

 Improvement in varieties of seed.

 High yield.
 Better adaptation.
 Disease resistance.

20. How are fishes obtained? What are the advantages of composite fish
culture?

Answer : The fish are obtained by capture fishing and culture fishery.

Capture fishing means fish are captured from their natural resources. Culturing of
fish by fish farming is called Culture fishery.

The advantages of composite fish culture are:

 In composite fish culture, the competition for food between the fish is
avoided.
 All the species consume the food in the pond without any competition.
 Total fish yield from the pond increases.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. What are weeds? Enlist the methods employed to control weeds.

Or
Discuss various methods for weed control. [NCERT Exemplar]
Answer:
The unwanted plants in a cultivated field are called weeds. They compete for
food, space and light with the main crop plants. They germinate and grow
faster, and thus effect the quality and yield of the crop. For these reasons,
weed plants need to be removed from the cultivated field in early stage of
crop. The methods employed for weed control are as follows:

 Mechanical Method: The weed plants are removed from the field either
manually or with the help of agricultural implements like uprooting or hand
hoeing or weeding with khurpi, ploughing, etc.
 Cultural Method: This method includes:

 Proper seed bed preparation

 Timely sowing of crops

 Intercropping

 Crop rotation

 Chemical Methods: By Spraying chemicals that do not harm crop plants but
destroy only the weed plants, the latter can be controlled. These chemicals are
called weeclicides, e.g., 2, 4-D and atrazine.
 Biological Method: As we know, some insects feed an particular weeds. Thus,
we use these insects as biological weed-controlling agents like the use of
cochineal insect to control Opuntia weed and the use of the grass carp fish to
control aquatic weeds.

2. If there is low rainfall in a village throughout the year, what measures will you
suggest to the farmers for better cropping? [NCERT Exemplar]
Answer:
For better cropping in low rainfall areas, farmers can be suggested to:

 Practice farming with drought-resistant and early maturing varieties of crops.

 To enrich the soil with more humus content as it increases the water-holding
capacity and retains water for longer duration.

3. Figure shows the two crop fields [plots A and B] have been treated by
manures and chemical fertilisers respectively, keeping other environmental
factors same.
Observe the graph and answer the following questions.
(i) Why does plot B show sudden increase and then gradual decrease in yield?
(ii) Why is the highest peak in plot A graph slightly delayed?
(iii) What is the reason for the different pattern of the two graphs? [NCERT
 Exemplar]

Answer:
(i) With the addition of chemical fertilisers there is sudden increase in yield
due to release of nutrients N,P,K, etc. in high quantity. The gradual decline in
the graph may be due to continuous use and high quantity of chemicals which
kills microbes useful for replenishing the organic matter in the soil. This
decreases the soil fertility.
(ii) Manures supply small quantities of nutrients to the soil slowly as it
contains large amounts of organic matter [Hint: Importance of organic matter
can be included]. It enriches soil with nutrients; thereby increasing soil fertility
continuously.
(iii) The differences in the two graphs indicate that use of manure is beneficial
for long duration in cropping as the yield tends to remain high when the
quantity of manure increases.
 In case of plot B the chemical fertilisers may cause various problems when used
continuously for long time. Loss of microbial activity reduces decomposition of
organic matter and as a result, soil fertility is lost that affects the yield.
 Discuss the role of hybridization in crop improvement.

 Answer 25: Hybridization is a process by which genetically dissimilar crops

are crossed. It is of three types: intervarietal, interspecific and intergeneric
cross.

 The Intervarietal cross is the crossing between two different varieties. It is

done to improve the variety of the crop. This produces a high-yielding crop
which is resistant to diseases and pests. Their quality is improved and plays a
significant role in crop improvement.

 Crossing between two different species of the same generic is called an

interspecific cross. The intergeneric cross is between different genera.

 Differentiate between capture fishing, mariculture and aquaculture?

 Answer 23:

Capture fishing Mariculture Aquaculture

Fish is obtained from Practice of culturing It is the production of fish
natural resources like marine fish varieties in the from freshwater resources.
rivers, ponds and canals. coastal waters.

Fishes are located easily Satellites and echo- Fishes can be located easily
and caught with a net. sounders are used for and can be caught using
locating large fish schools. simple fishing nets.