KAVERI’S IAS TEST SERIES

AGRICULTURE DAILY ANSWER WRITING PROGRAMME

Improve your Answer writing expression in matured manner over the Practice of more than 40 to 44 trial Test. Identify your mistakes
& rectify solutions for those deviations in your preparation.
Test No Syllabus
PAPER I
Day-1 Ecology and its relevance to man, natural resources, their sustainable management and conservation. Physical and social environment as factors of crop
distribution and production.
Day-2 Agroecology, cropping pattern as indicators of environments. Environmental pollution and associated hazards to crops, animals and humans.
Day-3 Climate change – international conventions and global initiatives. Greenhouse effect and global warming. Advance tools for ecosystem analysis – Remote
sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Day-4 Cropping patterns in different agro-climatic zones of the country. Impact of highyielding and short-duration varieties on shifts in cropping patterns. Concepts of
various cropping and farming systems.
Day-5 Organic and Precision farming. Package of practices for production of important cereals, pulses, oil seeds, fibres, sugar, commercial and fodder crops
Day-6 Important features and scope of various types of forestry plantations such as social forestry, agro-forestry, and natural forests. Propagation of forest plants.
Forest products. Agro forestry and value addition. Conservation of forest flora and fauna.
Day-7 Weeds, their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their multiplications; cultural, biological, and chemical control of weeds.
Day-8 Soil- physical, chemical and biological properties. Processes and factors of soil formation. Soils of India.
Day-9 Mineral and organic constituents of soils and their role in maintaining soil productivity. Essential plant nutrients and other beneficial elements in soils and
plants. Principles of soil fertility, soil testing and fertilizer recommendations, integrated nutrient management.
Day-10 Biofertilizers. Losses of nitrogen in soil, nitrogen-use efficiency in submerged rice soils, nitrogen fixation in soils. Efficient phosphorus and potassium use.
Problem soils and their reclamation. Soil factors affecting greenhouse gas emission.
Day-11 Soil conservation, integrated watershed management. Soil erosion and its management. Dry land agriculture and its problems.
Day-12 Technology for stabilizing agriculture production in rain fed areas. Water-use efficiency in relation to crop production, criteria for scheduling irrigations, ways
and means of reducing runoff losses of irrigation water
Day-13 Rainwater harvesting. Drip and sprinkler irrigation. Drainage of waterlogged soils, quality of irrigation water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and water
pollution. Irrigation projects in India.
Day-14 Farm management, scope, importance and characteristics, farm planning. Optimum resource use and budgeting.
Day-15 Economics of different types of farming systems. Marketing management - strategies for development, market intelligence. Price fluctuations and their cost;
Day-16 role of co-operatives in agricultural economy; types and systems of farming and factors affecting them. Agricultural price policy. Crop Insurance.
Day-17 Agricultural extension, its importance and role, methods of evaluation of extension programmes,
Day-18 socio-economic survey and status of big, small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers. Training programmes for extension workers.

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Day-19 Role of Krishi Vigyan Kendra's (KVK) in dissemination of Agricultural technologies. Non Government Organization (NGO) and self-help group approach for
rural development.
PAPER II
Day-20 Cell structure, function and cell cycle. Synthesis, structure and function of genetic material.
Day-21 Laws of heredity. Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations, linkage and cross-over, and their significance in recombination breeding.
Day-22 Polyploidy, euploids and aneuploids. Mutations - and their role in crop improvement. Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification and their
application in crop improvement
Day-23 Cytoplasmic inheritance, sex-linked, sex-influenced and sex-limited characters. DNA finger printing
Day-24 History of plant breeding. Modes of reproduction, selfing and crossing techniques. Origin, evolution and domestication of crop plants, center of origin
Day-25 law of homologous series, crop genetic resources conservation and utilization. Application of principles of plant breeding, improvement of crop plants.
Molecular markers and their application in plant improvement.
Day-26 Pure-line selection, pedigree, mass and recurrent selections, combining ability, its significance in plant breeding. Heterosis and its exploitation. Somatic
hybridization.
Day-27 Breeding for disease and pest resistance. Role of interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. Role of genetic engineering and biotechnology in crop
improvement. Genetically modified crop plants.
Day-28 Seed production and processing technologies. Seed certification, seed testing and storage.
Day-29 seed registration. Role of public and private sectors in seed production and marketing. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues, WTO issues and its impact on
Agriculture.
Day-30 Principles of Plant Physiology with reference to plant nutrition, absorption, translocation and metabolism of nutrients. Soil - water- plant relationship.
Day-31 Enzymes and plant pigments; photosynthesis- modern concepts and factors affecting the process, aerobic and anaerobic respiration; C3, C4 and CAM
mechanisms.
Day-32 Carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism. Growth and development; photoperiodism and vernalilzation.
Day-33 Plant growth substances and their role in crop production. Physiology of seed development and germination; dormancy. Stress physiology - draught, salt and
water stress.
Day-34 Major fruits, plantation crops, vegetables, spices and flower crops. Package practices of major horticultural crops
Day-35 Protected cultivation and high tech horticulture. Post harvest technology and value addition of fruits and vegetables.
Day-36 Landscaping and commercial floriculture. Medicinal and aromatic plants. Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition.
Day-37 Diagnosis of pests and diseases of field crops, vegetables, orchard and plantation crops and their economic importance. Classification of pests and diseases and
their management
Day-38 Integrated pest and disease management. Storage pests and their management. Biological control of pests and diseases
Day – 39 Epidemiology and forecasting of major crop pests and diseases. Plant quarantine measures. Pesticides, their formulation and modes of action.
Day – 40 Food production and consumption trends in India. Food security and growing population - vision 2020. Reasons for grain surplus.
Day - 41 National and international food policies. Production, procurement, distribution constraints. Availability of food grains, per capita expenditure on food. Trends

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in poverty, Public Distribution System and Below Poverty Line population, Targeted Public Distribution System (PDS), policy implementation in context to
globalization. Processing constraints
Day – 42 Relation of food production to National Dietary Guidelines and food consumption pattern. Food based dietary approaches to eliminate hunger. Nutrient
deficiency - Micro nutrient deficiency : Protein Energy Malnutrition or Protein Calorie Malnutrition (PEM or PCM), Micro nutrient deficiency and HRD in
context of work capacity of women and children. Food grain productivity and food security.
DAY – 43 Comprehensive Papers – 3 for each papers (from Test 43 to 48)

Features of Test Series:

 42 Topic wise Test ( Question cum answer spacing format exam)

 6 Comprehensive Test

 Evaluation + Discussion

 One to one Interaction for every student for rectifying your mistakes in answer writing framework.

Note: The Dates of Examinations are Liable to Alteration, if the Circumstances so Warrant.

So I hope that this Mains Test Series Programme will help conceptually for your UPSC mains preparation. For more details please contact office.

With All The Best. Jai Hind!!!

KAVERI’S IAS

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