Chapter 15: Improvement of food resources
In-text Question 1.1 Page number: 204
Q1. What do we get from cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables?
Ans: Cereals provide us carbohydrates which are the main source of energy. Pulses provide protein
for growth and repair. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with minerals, vitamins, and required for
overall development.
In-text Question 1.2 Page Number: 205
Q1. How do biotic and abiotic factors affect crop production?
Ans: Factors responsible for loss of grains, during storage and production are:
(a) Biotic factors like rodents, pests, insects, etc.
(b) Abiotic factors like temperature, humidity, moisture, etc. Combination of both biotic and abiotic
factors causes:
1. infestation of insects
2. weight loss
3. poor germination ability
4. degradation in quality
5. discolouration
6. poor market price
Q2. What are the desirable agronomic characteristics for crop improvement?
Ans: The essential agronomic features required for crop improvement are:
1. Profuse branching along with tallness in any fodder crop.
2. Dwarfness in any cereals.
In-text Question 1.3 Page Number: 206
Q1. What are macro-nutrients, and why are they called macronutrients?
Ans: Macro-nutrients are the nutrients that are required by plants in large quantity. Macro-nutrients
needed by the plants are:
• Macro-nutrients as the constituent of protoplasm.
• Phosphorus, Nitrogen, and Sulphur are present in proteins.
• Calcium exists in the cell wall.
• Magnesium is a significant component of chlorophyll.
Q2. How do plants get nutrients?
Ans: Plants get nutrients from air, water and soil. There are 16 basic essential nutrients required by
plants to grow. Carbon and oxygen are supplied by air, and the remaining nutrients are supplied
through the soil.
In-text Question 1.4 Page Number: 207
Q1. Compare the use of manure and fertilisers in maintaining soil fertility.
Ans: Uses of manure are:
1. Manure improves soil quality with added nutrients.
2. Manure provides extra organic matter called humus to the soil and therefore increasing the
water retention capacity of sandy soils and drainage in clayey soil.
3. Manures reduce soil erosion.
4. They provide food for soil-friendly bacteria, which are helpful in growing crops.
The effects of fertilisers are
1. Fertilisers make the soil become too dry and powdered and raise the rate of soil erosion.
2. The organic matter decreases by decreasing the porosity of the soil; hence, the plant roots
do not get oxygen properly.
In-text Question 1.5 Page Number: 208
Q1. Which of the following conditions will give the most benefits? Why?
(a) Farmers use high-quality seeds; do not adopt irrigation or use fertilisers.
(b) Farmers use ordinary seeds, adopt irrigation and use fertiliser.
(c) Farmers use quality seeds, adopt irrigation, use fertiliser and use crop protection measures.
Ans: Option (c) will give the most benefits because the use of good quality seeds is not only sufficient
until the soil is properly irrigated, enriched with fertilisers and protected from biotic factors.
In-text Question 1.6 Page Number: 209
Q1. Why should preventive measures and biological control methods be preferred for protecting
crops?
Ans: Diseases in plants are caused by pathogens. To get rid of pathogens, some preventive measures
and biological control methods are used as they are simple, economic and minimise pollution
without affecting the soil quality along with increasing production. Since chemicals are harmful to
plants and also to the animals which feed on them, bio-pesticides are used as a safe way of crop
protection.
Q2. What factors may be responsible for the losses of grains during storage?
Ans: Abiotic factors like moisture (present in food grains), humidity (of air) and temperature.
Biotic factors like insects, rodents, birds, mites, bacteria and fungi.
In-text Question 1.7 Page Number: 210
Q1. Which method is commonly used for improving cattle breeds and why?
Ans: Cross-breeding is generally the best method adopted for improving cattle breed quality. During
the process, indigenous varieties of cattle are crossed by exotic breeds to get a breed which is high
yielding and possess qualities of both the parental breeds. During cross breeding, the desired
characters are taken into consideration. The offspring should be high yielding, should have early
maturity and should be resistant to disease and climatic conditions.
In-text Question 1.8 Page Number: 211
Q1. What management practices are common in dairy and poultry farming?
Ans: Management practices are:
1. Shelter: well designed airy and hygienic shelter.
2. Feeding: Good quality proper food and fodder
3. Caring for animal health: Animal and birds must be protected from diseases caused by virus,
bacteria or fungi.
Q2. What are the differences between broilers and layers and their management?
Ans: Broilers: The poultry bird raised for meat purposes is called a broiler. Broilers feed on protein-
rich adequate-fat food. The level of vitamins A and K is kept high in poultry feeds.
Layers: The egg-laying poultry bird is called a layer. The housing, environmental and nutritional
requirements of broilers vary from those of egg layers. Layers require proper lighting and enough
space.
Q3. Discuss the implications of the following statement: “It is interesting to note that poultry is
India’s most efficient converter of low-fibre foodstuff (which is unfit for human consumption) into
highly nutritious animal protein food.”
Ans: Poultry farming aims to raise domestic birds for egg and chicken meat. These feed on
agricultural by-products, particularly cheaper fibrous wastes and convert into high quality meat and
also help in providing eggs, feathers and nutrient-rich manure. For these reasons, it is said that
“poultry is India’s most efficient converter of low-fibre foodstuff into highly nutritious animal protein
food.”
In-text Question 1.9 Page Number: 213
Q1. How are fish obtained?
Ans: There are two ways of obtaining fish. One is from natural resources, which is called capture
fishing. The other way is by fish farming, which is called culture fishery.
Q2. What are the advantages of composite fish culture?
Ans: In composite fish culture a combination of 5 or 6 types of fish species are cultured which have
different feeding habits and do not compete for food among themselves. The advantages are:
1. Food resources can be completely utilised
2. Survival of the fish also increases
3. More yield
In-text Question 1.9 Page Number: 213
Q1. What are the desirable characteristics of bee varieties suitable for honey production?
Ans: Desirable characteristics of bee for honey production are:
1. The variety of bees should be able to collect large amount of honey.
2. The bees should stay for a longer period in bee hives.
3. The bees should have good breeding capacity.
4. Bees should be disease resistant.
Q2. What is pasturage, and how is it related to honey production?
Ans: Pasturage refers to the availability of flowers to the bees for pollen and nectar collection. The
quantity of pasturage and kinds of flowers determine the taste and quality of the honey.
Exercise Questions 1.1 Page Page Number: 214
Q1. Explain any one method of crop production which ensures high yield.
Ans: Plant breeding is one of the methods adopted for high-yield. In plant breeding, plants from
various places/areas are picked up with preferred traits, and then the process of hybridisation or
cross-breeding is done among these varieties to get a crop/plant of desired characteristics.
Q2. Why are manure and fertilisers used in fields?
Ans: Manures and fertilisers are used to enrich the soil quality and improve the yield. Manure and
fertilisers replenish the soil by supplying nutrients to the soil and improves soil fertility. They are
excellent sources of potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen which assist in the healthy development
of plants. They are used to ensure good vegetative growth (leaves, branches and flowers), giving rise
to healthy plants, that results in high crop production.
Q3. What are the advantages of inter-cropping and crop rotation?
Ans: Advantages of Inter-cropping:
1. It helps to maintain soil fertility.
2. It increases productivity per unit area.
3. Save labour and time.
4. Both crops can be easily harvested and processed separately.
Advantages of Crop rotation:
1. It improves the soil fertility.
2. It avoids depletion of a particular nutrient from soil.
3. It minimise pest infestation and diseases.
4. It helps in weed control.
5. It prevents change in the chemical nature of the soil.
6. Farmers can grow two or three crops annually
Q4. What is genetic manipulation? How is it useful in agricultural practices?
Ans: Genetic manipulation is a process in which the transfer of genes takes place from one organism
to another. Here, a gene of a particular character is introduced inside the chromosome cell, resulting
in a transgenic plant.
Genetic manipulation is useful in developing varieties which shows:
1. Increased yield
2. Better quality
3. Shorter and early maturity period
4. Better adaptability to adverse environmental conditions
5. Disease resistant
6. Desirable characteristics
(note to remember from MCQ point of view BT Cotton is a genetically modified(GM) crop which
carries bacterial genes that protect this plant from insects. These are used in plants like brinjal,
cabbage, rice, cauliflower, and maize crops to get protection from insects.
Q5. How do storage grain losses occur?
Answer: (already given above)
Q6. How do good animal husbandry practices benefit farmers?
Ans: Good practice of animal husbandry benefits farmers in the following ways:
1. Improvement of breeds of the domesticated animals.
2. Increasing the yield of foodstuffs such as milk, eggs and meat.
3. Good practices in terms of shelter, feeding, care provides farmers with good economic returns.
Q7. What are the benefits of cattle farming?
Ans: The benefits of cattle farming are:
1. Production of good quality cattle
2. Cattle are used for agricultural purposes
3. Milk production is increased by high yielding animals.
4. Good quality of milk, meat.
5. Skin can be used in leather industry.
6. Good breed of draught animals can be obtained.
Q8. For increasing production, what is common in poultry, fisheries and bee-keeping?
Ans: For increasing production, cross-breeding techniques are used adopted in poultry, fisheries and
bee-keeping. Along with these techniques, regular and proper maintenance methods are useful in
improving production.
Q9. How do you differentiate between capture fishing, mariculture and aquaculture?
Ans: Capture fishing: It is a technique in which fish are captured from various sources of natural
resources like sea, rivers, lakes and ponds.
Mariculture: Culturing of fish in marine fishes like prawns, oysters, bhetki and mullets in marine
water for commercial use.
Aquaculture: Involved in culturing of fish in both marine and freshwater.