Chapter 9: Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production – Long Answer Type Questions

CBSE Class 12 Biology Long Answer Questions (NCERT): Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production

Course & Examination Details

Course: CBSE Class 12 Biology
Unit: Unit III – Biology and Human Welfare
Chapter: Chapter 9 – Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production
Prescribed Textbook: NCERT Biology Class XII
Examination: CBSE Class 12 Board Examination
Question Type: Long Answer Type
Answer Length: 120–150 words each
Syllabus Alignment: Strictly as per NCERT

Section A: Animal Husbandry

Q1. Explain the concept and importance of animal husbandry.

Answer:
Animal husbandry is the scientific management of domesticated animals to obtain products such as milk, meat, eggs, wool, and honey. It involves breeding, feeding, housing, and disease control of livestock. Animal husbandry plays a vital role in increasing food production and ensuring nutritional security, especially proteins and fats. It supports rural livelihoods, generates employment, and contributes significantly to the agricultural economy. Proper animal husbandry practices improve productivity, enhance disease resistance, and ensure sustainable use of animal resources. Thus, it is essential for meeting the food demands of a growing population.

Q2. Describe dairy farm management and its significance.

Answer:
Dairy farm management involves the systematic care and breeding of milk-producing animals like cows and buffaloes. Key aspects include selection of high-yielding breeds, proper housing, balanced nutrition, regular health check-ups, and disease prevention through vaccination. Efficient dairy management increases milk yield and quality, ensuring a reliable source of proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals. It also improves farmers’ income and supports the rural economy. Scientific dairy practices reduce losses due to diseases and poor management, making dairying a sustainable agricultural activity.

Q3. Explain poultry farming and factors affecting its success.

Answer:
Poultry farming is the rearing of birds such as chickens, ducks, and turkeys for egg and meat production. Success in poultry farming depends on selection of disease-resistant and high-yielding breeds, balanced feed rich in proteins and vitamins, proper housing, temperature control, hygiene, and disease management. Poultry farming provides a quick and affordable source of animal protein and supports small-scale farmers. Scientific poultry management ensures high productivity, reduced mortality, and economic viability.

Q4. Describe animal breeding and its objectives.

Answer:
Animal breeding involves mating selected animals to improve desirable traits such as high yield, disease resistance, adaptability, and fertility. Objectives include improving productivity of livestock, developing superior breeds, and meeting increasing food demands. Breeding techniques like inbreeding, cross-breeding, and outbreeding help enhance genetic quality. Proper animal breeding ensures sustainable livestock improvement and supports food security and rural development.

Q5. Explain inbreeding, its advantages, and disadvantages.

Answer:
Inbreeding refers to mating between closely related individuals of the same breed for several generations. It increases homozygosity and helps in fixing desirable traits such as high milk yield or disease resistance. However, continuous inbreeding can lead to inbreeding depression due to accumulation of harmful recessive genes. This results in reduced fertility, productivity, and vitality. Therefore, controlled inbreeding is useful, but excessive inbreeding should be avoided.

Section B: Apiculture and Plant Breeding

Q6. Discuss apiculture and its importance in agriculture.

Answer:
Apiculture is the scientific rearing of honeybees for honey and wax production. Common species include Apis indica and Apis mellifera. Besides producing nutritious honey, bees play a crucial role in pollination, enhancing crop yield and quality. Apiculture requires minimal investment and provides additional income to farmers. It supports biodiversity and sustainable agriculture, making it an important allied agricultural activity.

Q7. Define plant breeding and explain its objectives.

Answer:
Plant breeding is the science of developing improved plant varieties with higher yield, better quality, and resistance to diseases and environmental stresses. Objectives include increasing productivity, improving nutritional quality, developing pest-resistant varieties, and ensuring crop adaptability. Plant breeding helps achieve food security and reduces dependence on chemical inputs, promoting sustainable agriculture.

Q8. Describe the steps involved in plant breeding.

Answer:
Plant breeding involves several steps: collection of germplasm, evaluation and selection of suitable parents, hybridisation, selection and testing of superior hybrids, and release of improved varieties. These steps ensure development of crops with desirable traits such as high yield and resistance. Systematic breeding improves crop performance and sustainability.

Q9. Explain plant breeding for disease resistance.

Answer:
Breeding for disease resistance involves developing crop varieties that can withstand infections caused by pathogens. This reduces crop loss and dependence on pesticides. Resistant varieties ensure stable yield and environmental safety. Conventional breeding and mutation breeding are commonly used methods.

Q10. Discuss breeding for abiotic stress resistance.

Answer:
Abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, heat, and cold adversely affect crop productivity. Breeding for abiotic stress resistance helps develop crops that can tolerate adverse environmental conditions, ensuring stable yield and reducing crop failure. This is vital for sustainable agriculture under changing climate conditions.

Section C: Biofortification and SCP

Q11. What is biofortification? Explain its importance.

Answer:
Biofortification is the process of increasing the nutritional value of crops through plant breeding or biotechnology. It targets nutrients like iron, zinc, vitamin A, and proteins. Biofortified crops help combat malnutrition, improve public health, and provide sustainable nutritional security, especially in developing countries.

Q12. Describe biofortification with suitable examples.

Answer:
Biofortification enhances nutrient content in crops such as iron-rich wheat, vitamin A-enriched rice, and protein-rich legumes. These crops address micronutrient deficiencies and improve dietary quality. Biofortification is cost-effective and sustainable compared to supplementation.

Q13. Define single cell protein (SCP) and explain its advantages.

Answer:
Single cell protein refers to protein-rich biomass obtained from microorganisms like algae, yeast, bacteria, and fungi. SCP has high protein content, rapid growth rate, requires less land, and utilises waste materials. It is an eco-friendly and economical alternative protein source that helps reduce malnutrition.

Q14. Explain the role of SCP in sustainable development.

Answer:
SCP production uses industrial and agricultural waste, reducing pollution and conserving resources. It provides affordable protein and reduces pressure on conventional agriculture, supporting sustainable food production.

Section D: Tissue Culture

Q15. Define tissue culture and explain its principle.

Answer:
Tissue culture is the technique of growing plant cells or tissues in a sterile nutrient medium under controlled conditions. It is based on totipotency, the ability of a plant cell to regenerate into a complete plant. Tissue culture enables rapid multiplication of plants and production of disease-free varieties.

Q16. Describe the steps involved in tissue culture.

Answer:
Steps include selection and sterilisation of explant, inoculation in nutrient medium, callus formation, differentiation into plantlets, and hardening before transfer to soil. These steps ensure successful plant regeneration.

Q17. Explain micropropagation and its advantages.

Answer:
Micropropagation is rapid multiplication of plants using tissue culture. Advantages include large-scale production of disease-free plants, uniform quality, and year-round availability of planting material.

Q18. What are somaclones? State their significance.

Answer:
Somaclones are plants produced through tissue culture. They are genetically identical and show uniform growth, yield, and quality, useful for commercial cultivation.

Section E: Integrated and Application-Based Questions

Q19. Explain the role of plant breeding in food security.

Answer:
Plant breeding increases yield, resistance, and nutritional quality of crops, ensuring sufficient food supply for growing populations. It reduces losses and supports sustainable agriculture.

Q20. Discuss the importance of balanced feed in poultry farming.

Answer:
Balanced feed ensures proper growth, high egg production, and disease resistance in poultry, improving productivity and profitability.

Q21. How does cross-breeding improve livestock productivity?

Answer:
Cross-breeding combines desirable traits of different breeds, resulting in hybrid vigour, improved performance, and adaptability.

Q22. Explain the role of biotechnology in enhancing food production.

Answer:
Biotechnology improves crop yield, nutrition, and resistance through advanced techniques like tissue culture and genetic improvement.

Q23. Why is disease control important in animal husbandry?

Answer:
Disease control prevents economic losses, improves productivity, and ensures animal health.

Q24. How does apiculture indirectly increase crop yield?

Answer:
Bees enhance pollination, leading to better fruit and seed formation and increased crop yield.

Q25. Why is Chapter 9 important for CBSE Class 12 Biology examinations?

Answer:
This chapter covers applied biology concepts related to food security, agriculture, and biotechnology, frequently asked in board examinations and relevant to real-life applications.