Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. You have decided to give up your current job, and enter the wonderful world of agriculture! First things first- you have to find a suitable location to set up your farm. You need a place with a good quality soil, even terrain, a decent climate, adequate infrastructure and water-supply, among other things. You are interested in growing a variety of crops- pulses, cereals, vegetables...and so on. Which of the following locations would be *best* suited for setting up your farm?
2. You finally pick a little plot of land in the Derbyshire, England and the soil has turned out to be very poor indeed. To improve it you have two options - using natural fertilisers (manures), or artificial, industrially-produced fertilisers. You know that manures are better for the soil but due to circumstances beyond your control you will have to settle for the artificial fertiliser. Which three important elements should be present in the fertilisers?
3. Once you've sown your seeds, and the crops' growth is underway, you face your next great challenge - insects! Some of them, like locusts and grasshoppers, attack the crop by chewing it with their mouth. Others, like aphids, suck the crops' cell-sap, causing the crops to wither and die. Some insects, such as weevils, bore into the crop, attacking it from inside. Some others attack them at their roots! What is the name of a class of chemicals used by most farmers to get rid of those baneful critters?
4. You have noticed that lately that your crops have been doing particularly badly. The harvest has steeply fallen, and so have profits! After hiring an expert to take a closer look at your crop-yields, you are told that the problem is due to certain plants like parthenium, eupatorium, amaranthus, and grass, which have been competing with your crop for water, soil-nutrients, and sunlight. What is the general name for these unwanted plants?
5. Congratulations! Your farm is now well-established and now it's time to have a go at animal husbandry. You fill in the order form in "Farmers' Monthly" and place orders for 20 no(s) each of: Australorp, Black Minorca, Barred Plymouth, HH260, IBL-80 and B-77. What in the world have you just bought?
6. Your unsuccessful experiment with HH260s and Rhode Island Reds has prompted you to expand your operations by trying your hand at keeping another type of domestic animal- cattle! You have a hard time selecting between the various wonderful breeds, but finally you decide to go with the Jersey breed of cow. Four of them are expected to arrive at your farm next Tuesday. This cow is now available the world over, but what was the first home of the Jersey cow?
7. Your harvest the previous year hadn't been too good, rats had invaded the godown and eaten up half your stock! This year, however, you took precautions, and sealed all entrances, and minimised chances for rats to access the grain. This year, however, your grain met another foe- microbes! Moulds and yeasts mercilessly attacked it, and destroyed around 1/3rd of it! How could you have prevented this from happening?
8. You're tired of the regular farm life, with boring cows grazing and corn growing, and want something 'new'. And then it strikes you -- pisciculture- the cultivation of fish! You prepare a fresh-water pond, create ideal conditions for the growth of fish (with the help of a pisciculture expert), and everything is ready. But wait- what about the fish? Which of the following fish will NOT do very well for your pond?
9. You read in the magazine "Farmers' Monthly", that growing the same crop year after year on the same patch of land can lead to the degradation of soil fertility to a very high extent. Now you know why your poor potatoes were doing so badly! This leads you to discover the idea of crop rotation.
'Crop rotation' means the growing of two or more crops on a piece of land, in a planned succession, so that nutrient A can be replenished in the off season and nutrient B can be replenished in the on season. For example, if you grow rice in summer, you could grow wheat in winter on the same piece of land.
Anyway, your corn-crop leaves the soil severely devoid of nitrogen at the end of the season and you want a crop which will replenish it, AND will also be a healthy cattle-feed for your Jersey cows!
Which of the following crops should you grow?
10. A scientist from a local university approaches you, asking if you want to use their 'hybrid' seeds. He says that they have extraordinary properties, like resistance to pests, and will guarantee you a greater harvest. "Ah!", he says, "we are part of a 40-year-old global movement; the ___ Revolution!" Fill in the blank with the name of a colour.
Source: Author
achernar
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
DakotaNorth before going online.
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