✅Explanation: The recommended planting spacing for sunflowers is typically expressed as the distance between rows and the distance between individual plants within a row. In the given options, "30 × 15 cm" refers to planting the sunflowers with a row spacing of 30 centimeters and a plant spacing of 15 centimeters within the row.

✅ Explanation: Onion is a shallow root crop, meaning its root system does not penetrate deep into the soil. The majority of its roots are concentrated in the top layer of the soil. This characteristic makes onions suitable for cultivation in various soil types, including sandy and loamy soils.

📌Other Options Explanations:

- Lentil, Gram, Sugarcane: These are deep-rooted crops, with their root systems extending deep into the soil to access nutrients and water.

✅Explanation: Paddy, also known as rice, is a crop that is typically grown in flooded or waterlogged conditions. It is a semi-aquatic plant, and the flooded fields where paddy is cultivated provide an environment with more water but low oxygen availability in the soil. This unique method of cultivation, known as "paddy or rice cultivation," is adapted to the anaerobic conditions required for the germination and growth of rice plants.

🔑Key Points:

- The pH of soil is a measure of its acidity or alkalinity. It is a crucial non-environmental physical characteristic because it indicates the concentration of hydrogen ions in the soil solution. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, where pH 7 is neutral. Values below 7 indicate acidity, and values above 7 indicate alkalinity.

✅Explanation: Calcium and magnesium availability is influenced by the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of the soil. The pH of the soil affects the solubility and mobility of various nutrients, including calcium and magnesium. More availability of calcium and magnesium occurs in the pH range of 7.5-8.5.

✅Explanation: The black soils are made up of extremely fine i.e., clayey material. They are well-known for their capacity to hold moisture. In addition, they are rich in soil nutrients, such as calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime. These soils are generally poor in phosphoric contents.

🔑Key Points:

Black Soil

- These soils are also known as the ‘Regur Soil’ or the ‘Black Cotton Soil’.

- The black soils are generally clayey, deep, and impermeable.

- They swell and become sticky when wet and shrink when dried. 

- So, during the dry season, this soil develops wide cracks. Thus, there occurs a kind of ‘self-plowing’.

- The black soils are rich in lime, iron, magnesia, and alumina. They also contain potash.

- They lack phosphorous, nitrogen, and organic matter.

- The color of the soil ranges from deep black to grey.

- Along with cotton, the soil is suitable for the cultivation of crops like groundnut, tobacco, chilies, and Jowar.

✅Explanation: The seed rate refers to the quantity of seeds that is recommended or required to sow a specific area, and it is an essential factor in achieving optimal crop density and yield. In the case of winter pigeon pea, the recommended seed rate is 12-15 kg per hectare.

✅Explanation: The sowing of summer or rainy-season maize is carried out between January and March. The seeds are sown in the furrows formed with the tilled organic material where there is a higher concentration of humidity.

✅Explanation: The present crop insurance scheme, i.e., National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS), launched by the Hon'ble Prime Minister on 22nd June 1999 replaced the CCIS from Rabi 1999-2000 season.

🔑Key Points:

- National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) was the Government-sponsored crop insurance scheme launched on 22 June 1999.

- The objective of the scheme was to provide financial support to the farmers in the event of the failure of crops as a result of natural calamities, pests, and diseases.

- The implementing agency of the scheme was the Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AIC) Ltd.

- It covers all the food crops (cereals, millets, and pulses), oilseeds, and annual commercial/horticultural crops.

✅ Explanation: Potatoes are highly sensitive to saline soils. High salt concentrations in the soil can hinder water uptake by the plant roots, leading to stunted growth, reduced yield, and poor quality tubers.

✅Explanation: Red soil is a type of soil that is characterized by its reddish color, which is primarily due to the presence of iron oxide. Here's an explanation of why red soil is associated with poor drainage capacity:1. Composition: Red soils are often formed in areas with a tropical climate that experiences high temperatures and heavy rainfall. The iron in the soil undergoes oxidation, leading to the development of iron oxide or rust, which imparts the characteristic red color to the soil.2. Clay Content: Red soils typically have a high percentage of clay. Clay soils have small particles that pack closely together, leaving little space for water to pass through. This compact structure contributes to poor drainage.3. Water Retention: Due to the fine particles and high clay content, red soils have good water retention capacity. While this can be beneficial for plants during dry periods, it also means that excess water may be retained in the soil, leading to poor drainage.4. Impaired Aeration: Poor drainage in red soils can result in waterlogged conditions, which, in turn, can lead to reduced aeration in the soil. Plant roots require oxygen for respiration, and waterlogged conditions can limit the availability of oxygen, adversely affecting plant growth.5. Nutrient Leaching: In poorly drained soils, nutrients may leach away more slowly, leading to the accumulation of certain minerals in the soil. However, this does not necessarily mean that red soils are rich in all essential nutrients. They may still have imbalances and deficiencies in certain elements.

🔑Key Points:

- Red soils are formed mainly by alfisols soil order.

- Red soils are having high Phosphorus fixing capacity because of the presence of Kaolinite clay mineral.

- These soils are lightly textured with porous and friable structure and there is an absence of lime Kankar and free carbonates.

- This soil is also known as the omnibus group. 

- The presence of ferric oxides makes the colour of soil red.

- They have neutral to acidic reaction and are deficient in nitrogen humus, phosphoric acid and lime. 

- Crops suitable: wheat, cotton, pulses, tobacco, millets, orchards, potato and oilseeds.

🔑Key Points:

Sahiwal is the highest milk producing indigenous breed of cow in India.

- Sahiwal Originated in the Montgomery region of undivided India.

- This breed is otherwise known as Lola (loose skin), Lambi Bar, Montgomery, Multani, Teli.

- Reddish dun or pale red in color sometimes flashed with white patches.

- Heavy breed with the symmetrical body having loose skin.

- The average milk yield of this breed is between 1400 and 2500 kgs per lactation.

- Milk yield of Red Sindhi ranges from 1250 to 1800 kgs per lactation.

- Haryana cows are fair milkers yielding 600 to 800 kg of milk per lactation.

✅Explanation: Drip irrigation is known for its efficiency in water use. It provides water directly to the root zone of plants, minimizing evaporation and runoff. This targeted application of water contributes to high water use efficiency.

A water use efficiency of 90% indicates that 90% of the water supplied through drip irrigation is effectively utilized by the plants for their growth and development. This makes drip irrigation one of the most efficient irrigation methods.

🔑Key Points:

- Drip irrigation also called as trickle irrigation is used in in areas with water scarcity and salt problems.

- It involves slow application of of water, drop by drop to the root zone of a crop, water seeps from these holes drop by drop, hence the name drip irrigation.

- Water saving 50-70% as compared to surface irrigation.

- Water discharge rate is generally 1-8 lit/hr. at 1.5-2.5 kg/cm2 pressure.

- Water use efficiency of drip irrigation is 90-95%

- Most suitable for widely spaced crops, orchards trees and in green houses.

✅Explanation: Sandy soils have large particles and low cohesion, making them prone to poor water retention and low compaction. To make sandy soil more compact, conserving water is a suitable practice. Adequate water management helps improve soil structure and increases the cohesion between soil particles. When water is applied judiciously, it promotes better compaction by allowing the soil particles to come into closer contact and reducing the tendency of sandy soil to remain loose and porous. Conserving water also contributes to the formation of aggregates, enhancing the overall structure of the soil.

✅Explanation: Rhizobium is a type of bacteria that forms a symbiotic relationship with leguminous plants. This symbiosis is a form of nitrogen fixation. The bacteria colonize the root nodules of leguminous plants, such as peas, beans, and clover, and in return, the plants provide the bacteria with sugars. The rhizobia have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen into a form that the plants can use for their growth.

📌Other Options Explanations:

- PSB (Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria): These bacteria solubilize phosphorus from the soil, making it available to plants.

- VAM (Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza): These fungi form symbiotic relationships with plant roots, helping them absorb nutrients and water from the soil.

- Actinomycetes: These bacteria can fix nitrogen independently, without a symbiotic relationship with plants.

🔑Key Points:

- Rhizobium is the bacteria that live in symbiotic association with the root nodules of the leguminous plants. 

- Fixation of nitrogen cannot be done independently. 

- That is why rhizobium requires a plant host. 

- It is a vital source of nitrogen to agricultural soils including those in arid regions.

✅ Explanation:

The Central Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institute (CFMT&TI) is located in Budni, near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is a premier institution dedicated to training and testing agricultural machinery and equipment. It plays a crucial role in promoting the adoption of modern agricultural technologies and improving agricultural productivity.

🔑Key Points:

Central farm Machinery Training & Testing Institute, Budni (MP) has obtained the NABL Certificate of Accreditation for CMVR Test Laboratory on March 30, 2021.

- Accreditation is the third-party attestation related to a conformity assessment body conveying the formal demonstration of its competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks.

- Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) is a body that includes Testing including Medical Laboratory, Calibration Laboratory, Proficiency Testing Provider, Certified Reference Material Producer.

✅Explanation: Cropping intensity is a measure of the intensity of agricultural land use. It is defined as the ratio of the gross cropped area to the net sown area.India had a cropping intensity of 138% in the year 2013-2014.As per latest reports (Annual report 2022-23, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, GOI), cropping intensity of India is around 141%.

✅Explanation: The nitrogen content in vermicompost is typically around: (a) 3%Vermicompost is a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer produced through the decomposition of organic material by earthworms. The nitrogen content in vermicompost can vary depending on the feedstock (initial organic material) and the conditions under which vermicomposting takes place.

Vermicompost is rich in NKP (nitrogen 2-3%, potassium 1.85-2.25% and phosphorus 1.55-2.25%), micronutrients, beneficial soil microbes and also contain 'plant growth hormones & enzymes'.

🔑Key Points:

Composting is one of the options for the treatment of solid waste. In the composting process, the organic matter breaks down under bacterial action resulting in the formation of humus like material called compost.

- Vermicomposting: It involves the use of earthworms for composting organic solid waste. It is a resourceful way to recycle your food waste into compost. It takes about 2-3 months.

- Vermicompost (worm manure) is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by earthworms. 

- This process of increasing the fertility of soil by earthworms is known as vermicomposting.

✅Explanation: A balanced NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) ratio for cereal crops is often recommended for optimal growth and development. The ratio of 4:02:01 represents a balanced proportion of these essential nutrients.

Nitrogen (N) is represented by the first number (4).

Phosphorus (P) is represented by the second number (02).

Potassium (K) is represented by the third number (01).

✅Explanation: Contour farming is a land cultivation technique that is particularly suitable for hilly or sloping terrain. The main principle of contour farming is to plow and plant crops along the contour lines of the land, i.e., the lines that run parallel to the elevation contour of the slope. This method helps in reducing soil erosion, conserving water, and improving overall soil health.

📌Other Options Explanations:

- Ley Cropping: A system of farming where arable land is alternated with pasture. It's often used in temperate regions.

- Alley Cropping: A system of agriculture where rows of trees or shrubs are planted along the contour lines of a slope, with crops grown in the alleys between the trees. While it can be used in hilly areas.

- Shifting Cultivation: A farming system involving clearing forest land, cultivating crops for a few years, then abandoning the plot and moving to a new area.

🔑Key Points:

- Contour farming is the practice of filling sloped land along lines of assistant elevation in order to conserve rainwater and reduce soil erosion.

- Contour ploughing is practiced generally in slopy areas to prevent soil erosion.

✅Explanation: The seed rate for winter pigeon pea is typically recommended to be in the range of 22-25 kg per hectare. This rate is an agronomic recommendation specifying the amount of seed to be sown per hectare of land to achieve optimal plant population and crop development.

✅Explanation: The brown color of soil is primarily due to the presence of organic matter and minerals, particularly manganese dioxide.Organic matter and manganese dioxide:Organic Matter: Humus is the dark, organic component of soil formed by the decomposition of plant and animal residues. It contributes to the brown color of soil.Manganese Dioxide: Manganese dioxide is a mineral that can impart a brown color to soil. It often occurs in soils and, depending on its concentration, can influence the soil's color.

✅ Explanation: A harrow is a primary tool used in secondary tillage. It is designed to break up clods of soil, level the land, and create a fine seedbed. Harrows come in various types, including disk harrows, spring-tine harrows, and spike-tooth harrows, each suited for different soil conditions and tillage requirements.

📌Other Options Explanations:

- Dibbler: Used for sowing seeds individually at specific depths and spacing.

- Plough: Primarily used for primary tillage to invert the soil and uproot weeds.

- Spade: A hand tool for digging and turning soil, primarily used in small-scale gardening.

- Rotavator: A rotary tillage machine used in primary tillage operations.

Berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum), which is a forage crop, has a relatively shorter growth period than mentioned. The period for berseem is typically around 60 to 90 days,

✅ Explanation: The Rhode Island Red is a popular breed of domestic chicken, originally developed in the United States. It is known for its dual-purpose qualities, being raised both for egg production and meat. Rhode Island Reds are hardy birds that are well-adapted to various climates.

📌Other Options Explanations:

- Asil: Originating from India, Asil chickens are known for their fighting qualities.

- Leghorn: This breed, while popular worldwide, originated in Italy.

- Bushra: A breed native to India, known for its meat quality.

- Kadaknath: Another Indian breed, prized for its black meat.

🔑Key Points:

- Rhode Island Red is a poultry breed.

- It is native to Rhode Island in New England.

- It is a dual-purpose breed and produces 100 eggs/ year. 

✅Explanation: Humus is the organic component of soil, formed by the decomposition of plant and animal material. The carbon content in humus can vary, but it is generally around 58%. This carbon comes from the organic matter that undergoes decomposition processes in the soil.🔑Key Points:

- Humus refers to the dark-colored organic matter in topsoil.

- Humus is dark, organic material that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays.

- When plants drop leaves, twigs, and other material to the ground, it piles up. This material is called leaf litter.

✅Explanation: The correct option is (b) Carboxin. Loose smut is a fungal disease that affects cereal crops, particularly wheat and barley. Seed treatment is a common method to control loose smut. Carboxin is a fungicide that is often used for seed treatment to control various fungal diseases, including loose smut in cereals. Carboxin interferes with the energy production process in the fungal cells, leading to their death.

✅Explanation: Holstein Friesian - 3% (4% fat in HF milk). Holstein Friesian (HF) is a dairy cattle breed known for its high milk production, but the fat percentage in its milk is typically around 3-3.5%, not 4%. Option (a) is a mismatch because it incorrectly states that Holstein Friesian milk has 4% fat.

🔑Key Points:

- The Holstein-Friesian cow is the highest milk-producing breed of all cow breeds in the world.

- It originated in North Holland and Friesland in Dutch provinces.

- It is the crossbreed of black Batavians in Germany and white Friesians cattle in Holland.s

🔑Key Points::Estimated fruit production volume in India FY 2022, by leading state. Andhra Pradesh produced the largest volume of fruits in India, accounting for 19 million metric tons in financial year 2022.

✅Explanation: Kabuli Chana, also known as chickpea or garbanzo bean (Cicer arietinum), is a pulse crop that is widely cultivated for its edible seeds. The planting spacing is a crucial factor in determining plant density and overall crop yield. In this case, the recommended spacing for Kabuli Chana is 30 x 15 cm.

✅Explanation: Red, yellow, grey and bluish-grey colours result from iron in various forms. Under average conditions of air and moisture, iron forms a yellow oxide imparting a yellow colour to the soil. Where soils are well draining or under dry conditions, iron forms red oxides imparting a red colour to the soil.

🔑Key Points:

- Due to the higher degree of hydration of ferric oxide the soil has acquired yellow color. The pH of this type of soil ranges from 5.5 to 8.5.

- Silty-loams to silty-clay loams are common in the region.

- The surface color of the soil varies from light yellowish, brown-yellowish to dark brown.

✅Explanation: The contribution of Indian agriculture to world trade is approximately 1%.

✅ Explanation: A psychrometer is a meteorological instrument used to measure relative humidity. It typically consists of two thermometers: a dry-bulb thermometer that measures the ambient air temperature and a wet-bulb thermometer that measures the temperature of a moistened wick. By comparing the readings of these two thermometers, the relative humidity can be determined using psychrometric tables or formulas.  

📌Other Options Explanations:

- Thermometer: Measures temperature.

- Galvanometer: Measures electric current.

- Anemometer: Measures wind speed.

🔑Key Points:

- The relative humidity is measured by a Psychrometer/ Hygrometer.  

- A Psychrometer measures humidity by taking both a wet-bulb and a dry-bulb temperature reading.

- This device works by comparing the difference in temperature between a wet thermometer bulb and a dry thermometer bulb, that has lost its moisture by evaporation.

✅Explanation: Red soil is red in color because of high content of Iron Oxide (FeO).

🔑Key Points:

Red soil is red in color because of high content of Iron Oxide (Feo).

- It is a type of soil that develops in a warm, temperate, moist climate under deciduous or mixed forest.

- These are generally derived from crystalline rock. 

- These soils develop a reddish color due to diffusion of iron in crystalline and metamorphic rocks. It appears yellow when it occurs in a hydrated form.

- Red soils are usually poor growing soils, deficient in lime, magnesia, phosphates, nitrogen, and humus and difficult to cultivate because of its low water holding capacity.

- Red soil contains a fairly high percentage of iron content, which is the reason for its color since iron oxide is reddish-brown in color.

✅Explanation: Merino sheep, native to Spain, are renowned for their high-quality wool production.

🔑Key Points:

- As compared to human hair which is 50 to 70 microns in diameter, Merino breed wool is lesser than 24 microns in diameter which makes it as finest wool in the world.

- Merino Sheep having Spain as a native is considered as an exotic breed and adapts semiarid climates.

- They have a large number of skin folds.

- Australian Merino sheep wool is the world’s finest and softest wool.

✅Explanation: Sharad Seedless is a specific variety of grapes known for being seedless. Seedless grapes are popular among consumers due to their convenience and improved eating experience. Sharad Seedless grapes are cultivated for their sweet taste and the absence of seeds, making them easy to consume without the need to spit out seeds.

📌Other Options Explanations:

- Anab-e-Shahi: A seeded grape variety known for its large, juicy berries.

- Bangalore Blue: A seeded grape variety primarily grown in India.

- Kali Saheb: A seeded grape variety known for its dark color and sweet flavor.

- Perlette: A grape variety.

✅Explanation: In India, a minimum isolation distance of fifty meters for foundation seed class and thirty meters for certified seed class production from fields of other varieties of the same species,

🔑Key Points:

• Foundation seed:

- Known as Mother seed 

- Source of Registered and Certified seed classes.

- Genetic purity- 99.9%

- Physical purity- 98%

- It is mainly produced by National Seeds Corporations.

- Denoted by White tag.

✅ Explanation: Loose smut is a fungal disease that primarily affects cereal crops like wheat, barley, and oats. It is an internal seed-borne disease, meaning the fungal spores are present inside the seed and infect the developing plant from the very beginning. The disease causes the affected plants to produce loose, black spore masses instead of healthy grains.

📌Other Options Explanations:

- Karnal bunt, Black smut, Powdery mildew: These are fungal diseases, but they are not typically seed-borne. They spread through air-borne spores or direct contact with infected plant material.

🔑Key Points:

- The disease is caused by the fungus Ustilago tritici which survives as dormant mycelium in the embryo of infected grain.

- The major symptom of loose smut is the "smutted" grain heads, which contain masses of black or brown spores.

- After spores disperse, only a bare rachis remains with a few fragments of glumes or awns.

- These spores, in turn, infect other wheat plants at flowering, causing seed infection.

✅Explanation: An explant is a plant part that is removed from the plant and used to initiate tissue culture. It serves as the starting material for the production of new plants through techniques like tissue culture or micropropagation. Explants can be taken from various plant parts, including stems, leaves, roots, or other tissues.🔑Key Points::

- ​In the case of a plant tissue culture, an explant is any part of the plant that is taken out and grown in a sterile condition in a special nutrient medium.

- This part of the plant can give rise to a whole plant.

- Thus, the explant is a part of the plant used in tissue culture. 

- The part of the plant that can be used as an explant is the leaf, stem, root, petiole, hypocotyl, cotyledon, embryo, and meristem.

- Based on the nature of the explant, tissue culture is of three types - Cell culture, Organ culture, and Embryo culture.

✅Explanation: The correct option is © Systemic poison. Aldicarb and Forete are both systemic pesticides, which means they are absorbed by the plant and translocated within its vascular system.Systemic pesticides can be further categorized into two types:Local Systemic: These pesticides are absorbed and translocated only in the localized area where the application is made.Systemic: These pesticides move within the entire plant, providing protection to various parts of the plant.