TRB BT Assistant - Agricultural Botany and Crop Improvement Question Bank with Options

1. Which of the following is a genetic factor that breeders aim to improve for increased yield in cereal crops?

A) Increased tillering in all conditions

B) Larger root systems

C) Higher harvest index (ratio of grain weight to total plant weight)

D) Reduced photosynthetic efficiency

2. What is the primary role of the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in agricultural botany?

A) Developing high-input crops for temperate regions

B) Improving dryland crops like sorghum, pearl millet, and groundnut for food security in semi-arid regions

C) Focusing exclusively on genetic engineering

D) Researching ornamental plants

3. The development of crops with reduced shattering (seed dispersal) is important for:

A) Wild plant propagation

B) Preventing yield loss during harvest and improving ease of cultivation

C) Increasing seed dormancy

D) Encouraging natural seed dispersal

4. What is the significance of photoperiod sensitivity in crop improvement?

A) It allows crops to flower regardless of day length.

B) It determines the timing of flowering and maturity based on day length, allowing adaptation to different latitudes.

C) It makes crops more resistant to drought.

D) It increases the nutritional content of grains.

5. Accelerated breeding programs aim to:

A) Slow down the generation time of crops

B) Reduce the time required to develop new crop varieties

C) Increase the cost of seed production

D) Focus only on mutation breeding

6. Which of the following is an example of a crop that has undergone significant improvement for yield through hybridization and selection?

A) Wild grass

B) Modern maize (corn)

C) A newly discovered plant species

D) A weed

7. What is the term for the process of selecting plants based on their genetic makeup rather than just their observable traits?

A) Phenotypic selection

B) Genotypic selection

C) Mass selection

D) Reciprocal selection

8. CRISPR-Cas9 technology is a revolutionary tool in gene editing, which can be used for crop improvement by:

A) Randomly inducing mutations

B) Precisely modifying specific DNA sequences

C) Creating sterile plants

D) Increasing the ploidy level

9. What is the primary purpose of introducing 'male sterility' in hybrid seed production?

A) To prevent self-pollination and facilitate cross-pollination

B) To increase the number of seeds per plant

C) To improve seed germination rates

D) To make the plant more resistant to diseases

10. The development of crops that can thrive in marginal lands (e.g., saline, arid) is a key aspect of:

A) Intensive agriculture

B) Sustainable agriculture and climate change adaptation

C) Urban farming

D) Organic farming exclusively

11. Which breeding strategy is employed when a breeder wants to introduce a single desirable gene from a donor parent into an otherwise elite recurrent parent?

A) Pedigree selection

B) Bulk method

C) Backcrossing

D) Hybridization

12. What is the role of cytogenetics in crop improvement?

A) Studying the soil composition

B) Analyzing chromosome structure and behavior to understand inheritance and develop breeding strategies

C) Developing new fertilizers

D) Monitoring weather patterns

13. The creation of gene banks or germplasm collections is crucial for:

A) Reducing crop diversity

B) Preserving genetic resources for future breeding programs and conservation

C) Eliminating the need for traditional farming

D) Promoting monoculture

14. What does the term 'germplasm' refer to in the context of crop improvement?

A) The soil in which crops are grown

B) The genetic material (seeds, tissues) of plants, particularly those with desirable traits

C) The tools used for farming

D) The nutritional content of harvested crops

15. Which of the following is NOT a goal of agricultural botany and crop improvement?

A) Increasing yield per unit area

B) Improving nutritional value

C) Enhancing resistance to pests and diseases

D) Developing new species of wild plants

16. What is the genetic basis for improved yield in many hybrid varieties?

A) Recessive gene expression

B) Dominant gene expression

C) Overdominance and epistasis (components of heterosis)

D) Linkage disequilibrium

17. The 'pedigree method' in plant breeding involves:

A) Growing a mixed population of seeds without individual selection

B) Selecting and individually evaluating progeny from selected parent plants

C) Using chemical mutagens

D) Inducing polyploidy

18. What is the 'bulk method' of breeding?

A) A method where individual plants are selected and their pedigrees recorded

B) A method where a large population of F2 or later generation seeds is grown together without selection until desired traits appear

C) A method involving repeated backcrossing

D) A method using DNA markers

19. Protoplast fusion is a technique used in crop improvement to combine cells from different plant varieties or species. What is a key step in this process?

A) Removing the cell wall to obtain protoplasts

B) Inducing mutations

C) Performing sexual crosses

D) Selecting for disease resistance

20. What is the main challenge in interspecific and intergeneric hybridization?

A) Fertile hybrids are always easily produced.

B) There is often genetic incompatibility between species or genera, leading to sterile hybrids or failure to cross.

C) The resulting hybrids always have superior traits.

D) The process is very quick and efficient.

21. The process of combining genes from different species or genera into a single organism is known as:

A) Intraspecific hybridization

B) Interspecific hybridization

C) Intrageneric hybridization

D) Transgenesis

22. Which type of breeding aims to improve the quality of food products derived from crops, such as increased oil content or improved protein profiles?

A) Yield breeding

B) Quality breeding

C) Stress tolerance breeding

D) Maturity breeding

23. Biotic stress tolerance in crops refers to resistance against:

A) Drought and salinity

B) Extreme temperatures

C) Pests and diseases

D) Soil acidity

24. What is the term for the process of improving crops to withstand extreme temperatures (both heat and cold)?

A) Drought tolerance

B) Salinity tolerance

C) Abiotic stress tolerance

D) Biotic stress tolerance

25. Crop improvement programs often aim to enhance salinity tolerance to allow crops to grow in:

A) Waterlogged soils

B) Soils with high salt concentrations

C) Acidic soils

D) Alkaline soils

26. What is the primary benefit of developing drought-tolerant crop varieties?

A) To increase water consumption by crops

B) To enable crop cultivation in arid and semi-arid regions with limited water

C) To make crops more susceptible to waterlogging

D) To reduce the need for sunlight

27. Haploid plants produced through anther culture can be doubled to produce homozygous diploid lines quickly. This technique is called:

A) Embryo rescue

B) Anther culture

C) Chromosome doubling

D) Protoplast fusion

28. Tissue culture techniques, such as anther culture and embryo culture, are valuable tools in crop improvement for:

A) Inducing mutations

B) Producing haploid plants and accelerating breeding cycles

C) Increasing susceptibility to pests

D) Developing disease resistance

29. Which of the following is a challenge in developing hybrid seeds for crops that are naturally self-pollinating?

A) Maintaining the purity of parental lines

B) Preventing cross-pollination

C) Controlling the pollination process to ensure desired crosses

D) All of the above

30. What is the main advantage of heterosis or hybrid vigor in crop production?

A) Reduced yield and vigor

B) Increased yield, vigor, and uniformity

C) Increased susceptibility to diseases

D) Lower adaptability to different environments

31. The development of hybrid seeds often relies on exploiting which genetic phenomenon?

A) Heterosis (hybrid vigor)

B) Apomixis

C) Self-incompatibility

D) Polyploidy

32. What is apomixis in the context of crop improvement?

A) Sexual reproduction involving two parents

B) Asexual reproduction that mimics sexual reproduction, producing seeds without fertilization

C) Self-pollination within a single plant

D) Hybridization between different species

33. Genetically modified (GM) crops can be engineered to produce their own insecticide, such as through the introduction of genes from which bacterium?

A) Escherichia coli

B) Bacillus subtilis

C) Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)

D) Staphylococcus aureus

34. What is the process by which plants are genetically modified to tolerate herbicides?

A) Conventional breeding

B) Mutation breeding

C) Herbicide tolerance breeding

D) Polyploidization

35. Golden Rice, a genetically modified crop, was developed to address deficiency in which vitamin?

A) Vitamin C

B) Vitamin B12

C) Vitamin A

D) Vitamin D

36. Crop varieties developed for improved nutritional content are often referred to as:

A) High-yielding varieties

B) Biofortified crops

C) Drought-tolerant varieties

D) Pest-resistant varieties

37. Which of the following is a key objective of developing disease-resistant crop varieties?

A) To increase susceptibility to pests

B) To reduce the need for pesticides and prevent crop loss

C) To promote the spread of plant pathogens

D) To make crops more vulnerable to environmental stress

38. What is the primary advantage of using Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS)?

A) It is less efficient than traditional breeding.

B) It allows for indirect selection of genes, speeding up the breeding process.

C) It requires no knowledge of genetics.

D) It is only applicable to a few crops.

39. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) is a modern crop improvement technique that uses:

A) Visual observation of plant traits

B) DNA markers linked to desirable genes

C) Chemical analysis of soil nutrients

D) Environmental monitoring

40. In plant breeding, what is the term for the process of transferring a specific gene from one plant variety to another?

A) Gene pyramiding

B) Marker-assisted selection

C) Backcrossing

D) Transgenesis

41. Which of the following crops is a well-known example of a polyploid developed through crop improvement?

A) Rice

B) Wheat (e.g., Triticum aestivum)

C) Maize

D) Soybean

42. What is polyploidy in crop improvement?

A) The presence of a single set of chromosomes

B) The presence of an extra chromosome

C) The presence of more than two sets of chromosomes

D) The absence of chromosomes

43. Mutation breeding utilizes which of the following to induce genetic variations?

A) Selective breeding

B) Hybridization

C) Mutagenic agents (physical or chemical)

D) Tissue culture

44. Which breeding method involves crossing a desirable plant with its wild relative and then repeatedly backcrossing it with the desirable plant?

A) Reciprocal cross

B) Distant hybridization

C) Backcrossing

D) Interspecific hybridization

45. The process of developing a new variety by crossing two or more parents with desirable traits and then selecting the best offspring is known as:

A) Backcrossing

B) Pedigree selection

C) Bulk method

D) Composite breeding

46. What is hybridization in the context of crop improvement?

A) Crossing plants of the same variety

B) Crossing plants of different species or genera

C) Self-pollination of a single plant

D) Cloning a desirable plant

47. Which of the following is a traditional method of crop improvement involving the selection of plants with superior traits and allowing them to reproduce?

A) Genetic engineering

B) Hybridization

C) Mass selection

D) Mutation breeding

48. What is the primary goal of crop improvement?

A) To increase the aesthetic appeal of crops

B) To develop new ornamental plant varieties

C) To enhance desirable traits in crops for better yield and quality

D) To study the evolutionary history of cultivated plants

49. Which branch of botany specifically deals with the study of plants in relation to agriculture and their improvement for human use?

A) Economic Botany

B) Agricultural Botany

C) Horticultural Botany

D) Paleobotany

Agricultural Botany and Crop Improvement - Question Bank