Improvement In Food Resources Class 9 Extra Questions

CSCE TUTORIAL

CHAPTER 15

IMPROVEMENT IN FOOD RESOURCES

 

1. What is the most important source of irrigation in India?

Ans:  Rain water i.e., Monsoons.

 

2. What are the traditional ways of irrigation used in India?

Ans:  There are many traditional ways of irrigation used in our country:

1. Wells – There are two types of wells, dug wells and tube wells. In a dug well water is collected from the water bearing strata whereas in a tube well water is pumped out from the deeper strata through pumps.
2. Canals – In this system water from one or more reservoirs or from rivers. The main canal is then branched into distributaries to irrgate fields.
3. River lift system – In areas where the canal flow is irregular/ insufficient due to inadequate reservoir release, the lift system is used. Water is directly drawn from the rivers for supplementing irrigation in areas that are closed to the rivers.
4. Tanks – These are small storage reservoirs which receive and store run-off of smaller catchment areas.

 

3. What are the two fresh initiatives for increasing the availability of water for agriculture? What is the advantage of building check dams?

Ans.  Rain water harvesting and water shed management are the two fresh initiatives to supply water for irrigation. This involves building                  small check dams which  lead to an increase in ground water levels. Stop the rain water from flowing away thus reduces soil erosion.

 

4. What do you mean by:
   1. Mixed cropping – Mixed cropping is growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same piece of land. For example, wheat + gram or wheat + mustard. This reduces the risk and gives some insurance against failure of one of the crops.
   2. Inter-cropping – It is growing of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field in a definite pattern. A few rows of one of alternate with a few rows of another crop for example soya bean + maize or finger millets + cow pea. The crops are selected in such a way that their nutrient requirements are different. This ensures maximum utilization of nutrients supplied and also prevents pests and diseases from spreading in a field.
   3. Crop rotation – The growing of different crops in a pre-planned succession is called crop rotation. Depending on the duration different combination of crops can be used. The availability of moisture and irrigation facilities decides the choice of crops. It can help the farmer to get two or three crops in a year with good harvests.

 

5. What are weeds? Give examples. How are they harmful to the crops?

Ans:  Weeds are unwanted plants growing in the field along with the main crops.
For example, Xanthium and Parthenium, Cyperinus rotundus.
They compete with the main crop for nutrients, water, space etc. Therefore, they need to be removed from the field in the early stages            of crop growth for a good harvest.

 

6. What are the various ways in which insect pests attack the plants?

Ans:  Three ways in which insect pests attack the plants are-

1. They cut the root, stem and leaf.
2. They suck the cell sap from the various parts of the plants.
3. They bore into the stem or fruits. In these ways the plant health is harmed by the insect pests.

 

7. How weeds, insects and diseases can be controlled in plants?

Ans:  Diseases in plants are caused by pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, virus etc. Weeds, insects and diseases can be controlled by various methods.

1. By using pesticides which include herbicides, insecticides, fungicides etc. These chemicals are sprayed on crop plants or used for treating the seeds and soil. However, excessive use of these chemicals creates problems as they are poisonous substances harming the environment and plants and animals.
2. Weeds control methods also include mechanical removal.
3. Growth of weeds can also be prevented by proper seedbed preparation, inter or mixed cropping pattern etc.
4. To avoid pests, pest resistant varieties can be used. Summer ploughing is also helpful in removing weeds. In this method fields are ploughed deep in the summer to destroy weeds and pests.

 

9. What factors may be responsible for losses of grains during storage?
   Ans:  Storage losses in agriculture can be very high. factors responsible for such losses are:Biotic – insects, rodents, fungi, mites, bacteria etc.

   Abiotic – inappropriate moisture and temperature of the storage area.

10. How does storage losses cause harm to agricultural produce?

Ans:  Storage losses cause degradation in quality, loss in weight, poor germinability and discoloration of produce resulting in poor marketability.

 

10. What are the various methods to avoid loss of grains during storage?

Ans:  Storage losses of the grains can be reduced by strict cleaning of the produce before storage, proper drying of the produce first in sunlight and then in shade and fumigation using chemicals which can kill the pests.

 

11. What do you mean by animal husbandry?

Ans:  The scientific management of animal livestock is called animal husbandry. It includes feeding, breeding and disease control.

 

12. Give two reasons for which cattle farming is done.

Ans:  Cattle husbandry is done for two purposes – milk and draught labour for agricultural work such as tiling, ploughing etc.

 

13. What is the lactation period?

Ans: The period of milk production after the birth of calf is called the lactation period.
Milk production can be increased by increasing the lactation period. For this reason exotic breeds  like Jersey and Brown Swiss (for long lactation period) are crossbred with Indian breeds like Red Sindhi and Sahiwal (excellent resistance to diseases) to get animals with both the desired qualities.

 

14. Name two milk producing cattle in India.

Ans: Bos indicus (Cow) and Bos bubalis (buffalo)

 

15. What are the food requirements of dairy animals?

Ans:  The food requirements of the dairy animals are of two types –

1. maintenance requirements – the food required by the animal to live a healthy life.
2. milk producing requirements – the food required by the animal during lactation period.

 

16. What are the two major components of animal feed?

Ans:  Animal feed includes

1. roughage – largely fibre
2. concentrates – low in fibre and contains relatively high levels of proteins and other nutrients.

 

17. How does one get to know if a cattle is sick?

Ans:  A healthy animal feeds regularly and has a normal posture.

 

18. What are the different types of parasites affecting the health of animals?

Ans:  The animal may get affected by both external and internal parasites. The external parasites live on the skin and mainly cause skin  diseases.   The internal parasites like worms affect the stomach and intestine while flukes damage the liver.

 

19. What do you mean by poultry farming?

Ans:  Poultry farming is undertaken to raise domestic fowl for egg production and chicken meat.

 

20. Name Indian and exotic breeds of poultry birds.

Ans:  The cross breeding programmes between Indian ( Aseel) and exotic ( Leghorn) breeds for variety improvement are focused on to develop new varieties of poultry birds.

 

21. What are the various traits for which cross breeding programmes are carried out for poultry birds?

Ans:  i)       Number and quality of chicks.

1. ii) Dwarf broilers for commercial chick production.

iii)     Summer adaptation capacity.

1. iv) Low maintenance requirements.
2. v) Reduction in the size of the egg-laying birds

 

22. Explain the dietary requirements of the poultry birds.

Ans: The dietary requirements for broilers are different from the layers. Broiler

chickens are fed with vitamin rich supplementary feed for good growth rate and better feeding efficiency. The daily ration for the broilers is protein rich with adequate fats. The level of vitamin A and K is kept high in poultry feeds.

 

23. What management practices are used for good production of poultry birds?

Ans.  For good production of the poultry birds temperature management and hygienic conditions are required for housing. Good poultry feed and prevention from diseases and pests are also needed to have a good yield of poultry birds.

 

24. What are the two ways in which fish production is carried out?

Ans: There are two ways of fish production. One is from natural sources which is

called capture fishery. The other is fish farming, also called culture fishery.

 

25. What are the various products of fish farming?

Ans:  Fish farming is done for producing finned true fish as well as shellfish such as prawns and molluscs.

 

26. Name important varieties of fish obtained in India.

Ans:  Popular marine fish varieties in India include pomphret, mackerel, tuna, sardines and Bombay duck. Some marine fish are also farmed in sea water. This includes finned fishes like mullet, bhetki and pearl spots. shellfish like prawns, mussels and oysters. Oysters are cultivated for the pearls they make.

 

27. What do you mean by mariculture?

Ans:  Fish farming done in ocean water is called mariculture.

 

28. How is fish farming done in combination with rice farming?

Ans:  Sometimes fish are also grown in paddy fields. This helps the farmer to increase his income.

 

29. What are brackish waters?

Ans:  Brackish water resources are the one where the sea water and fresh water mix together e.g. lagoons and estuaries. These places are important fish reservoirs.

 

30. How are the schools of fish located?

Ans:  Large schools of fish are located by using satellites and echo-sounders. Then these fish can be easily captured by using large fishing nets.

 

31. What is composite fish culture? What are the advantages of this system? State its one limitation and also the solution to this limitation.

Ans:  Composite fish farming is a method of intensive fish farming. In such a system a combination of five or six fish species is used in a single fish pond.

These species are selected in such a way that they do not compete with each other for food as they have different food habits.

Some of these species are surface feeders (Catlas), Rohus feed in the middle zone, while Mrigals and Common carps are the bottom feeders. Green carps feed on the weeds. Together these species can use all food in the pond without competing with each other. This increases the fish yield from the pond.

 

Limitation – Many of these fish breed only in monsoon season, even if fish seeds are collected from the wild, it can be mixed with that of other species as well. So a major problem is to obtain good quality seeds.

This problem can be overcome by hormonal stimulation of fish in the ponds to ensure supply of pure fish seeds in desirable quantities.

 

32. Why is bee keeping done? How does it help the farmer?

Ans:  Beekeeping is done to obtain honey which  is widely used and also to obtain bee wax which is used for various medicinal purposes.

 

33. List various varieties of honey bee reared in India.

Ans:  The local varieties of honey bees used for commercial honey production are Apis cerana indica (Indian bee), Apis dorsata (The rock bee) and Apis florae (The little bee). An Italian bee variety, Apis mellifera, has also been used to increase the production of honey. This variety has high honey collection capacity and they sting less. Also, they stay in a given bee hive for a longer period of time.

 

34. What is an apiary?

Ans:  Large bee farms for commercial honey production are called apiaries. Rearing

and breeding of honey bees for honey production is called apiculture.

 

35. What are the factors on which the quality of honey depends?

Ans:  The value or the quality of honey produced depends on the pasturage or the

flowers available to the bees for collection of nectar and pollen. Besides this the kind of flowers available also determine the taste of the honey.