Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in Current Affairs.

The common methods of conventional propagation are cutting, grafting and layering. 

a. Cutting: It is the method of producing a new plant by cutting the plant parts such as root, stem and leaf from the parent plant. The cut part is placed in a suitable medium for growth. It produces root and grows into a new plant. Depending upon the part used it is called as root cutting (Malus), stem cutting (Hibiscus, Bougainvillea and Moringa) and leaf cutting (Begonia, Bryophyllum). Stem cutting is widely used for propagation.

b. Grafting: In this, parts of two different plants are joined so that they continue to grow as one plant. Of the two plants, the plant which is in contact with the soil is called stock and the plant used for grafting is called scion. Examples are Citrus, Mango and Apple. There are different types of grafting based on the method of uniting the scion and stock. They are bud grafting, approach grafting, tongue grafting, crown grafting and wedge grafting.

(i) Bud grafting: AT- shaped incision is made in the stock and the bark is lifted. The scion bud with little wood is placed in the incision beneath the bark and properly bandaged with a tape.

(ii) Approach grafting: In this method both the scion and stock remain rooted. The stock is grown in a pot and it is brought close to the scion. Both of them should have the same thickness. A small slice is cut from both and the cut surfaces are brought near and tied together and held by a tape. After 1-4 weeks the tip of the stock and base of the scion are cut off and detached and grown in a separate pot.

(iii) Tongue grafting: A scion and stock having the same thickness is cut obliquely and the scion is fit into the stock and bound with a tape.

(iv) Crown grafting: When the stock is large in size scions are cut into wedge shape and are inserted on the slits or clefts of the stock and fixed in position using graft wax.

(v) Wedge grafting: In this method a slit is made in the stock or the bark is cut. A twig of scion is inserted and tightly bound so that the cambium of the two is joined.

c. Layering: In this method, the stem of a parent plant is allowed to develop roots while still intact. When the root develops, the rooted part is cut and planted to grow as a new plant.

Examples: Ixora mdJasminum Mound layering and Air layering are few types of layering.

(i) Mound layering: This method is applied for the plants having flexible branches. The lower branch with leaves is bent to the ground and part of the stem is buried in the soil and tip of ( the branch is exposed above the soil. After the roots emerge from the part of the stem buried in the soil, a cut is made in parent plant so that the buried part grow into a new plant.

(ii) Air layering: In this method the stem is girdled at nodal region and hormones are applied to this region which promotes rooting. This portion is covered with damp or moist soil using a ; polythene sheet. Roots emerge in these branches after 2-4 months. Such  branches are removed-from the parent plant and grown in a separate pot or ground.

The unit of reproductive structures used in vegetative propagation is called diaspore or reproductive propagules.

Layering is a conventional propagation method, where the stem of a parent plant is allowed to develop roots while still intact. When the root develops, the rooted part is cut and planted to grow as a raw individual. E.g.: Jasminum.

(a) Bud grafting 

(b) Tongue grafting 

(c) Crown grafting 

(d) Wedge grafting

In Grafting, parts of two different plants are joined so that they continue to grow as one plant. Of the two plants, the plant which is in contact with the soil is called stock and the plant used for grafting is called scion.

In Bryophyllum, the leaf is succulent and / notched on its margin. Adventious buds develop at these notches and are called epiphyllous buds. They develop into new plants forming a root system and become independent plants when the leaf gets decayed.

(a) Only one parent is required. 

(b) New individuals are genetically similar 

(c) Rapid spreading 

(d) Large scale production

(a) Budding – Hydra 

(b) Fragmentation – Spirogyra 

(c) Regeneration – Planaria 

(d) Gemma cup formation – Marchantia

Grafting: 

1. In grafting, two different plants (stock & scion) are used to develop new plant. 

2. The new plant will support to possess the characters of both the parents or new variation can be noticed.

Layering: 

1. In layering, only one plant is used to develop new plant. 

2. Variation cannot be expected. The new individual is exactly similar to parent plant.

Advantages of modern methods 

1. Plants with desired characteristics can be multiplied rapidly in a short duration. 

2. Plants produced are genetically identical. 

3. Tissue culture can be carried out in any season to produce plants. 

4. Plants which do not produce viable seeds and seeds that are difficult to germinate can be propagated by tissue culture. 

5. Rare and endangered plants can be propagated. 

6. Disease free plants can be produced by meristem culture. 

7. Cells can be genetically modified and transformed using tissue culture.

(a) Parthenium hysterophorus

(a) Breaking stress: The stress corresponding to which a wire breaks is called breaking stress. 

Breaking force = Breaking stress * area of cross-section of the wire 

(b) Plastic region: The region of stress- strain curve between the elastic limit and the breaking point is called plastic region.

(c) Compressibility: The reciprocal of the bulk modulus of a material is called compressibility. 

Compressibility = 1/k

The correct option is C) YZ -plane.

If the uniform electric field will exist along x axis then the equipotential surface will exist parallel to the y-z plane i.e. the planes that are normal to the x-axis. 

An equipotential surface is a surface that comprises same electric potential at every point. Besides, the electric field is always perpendicular to it.

Micro propagation of plants invitro through tissue culturing is a modem and alternative tool to conserve and safeguard rare plant species. Since the basic principle behind PTC is totipotency. With the help of a single explant it  is possible to generate a huge population of plantlets within a short span of time. Conservation through micro propagation offers the possibility to rescue endangered and endemic species.

The correct option is C) Both a and b.

Coulomb force also called electrostatic force or Coulomb interaction, attraction or repulsion of particles or objects because of their electric charge. 

The electric force is operative between charges down to distances of at least 10^-16 metre, or approximately one-tenth of the diameter of atomic nuclei.

In case of maize, the pollinating agent is wind. These flowers are unisexual, small colourless, inconspicuous and odourless. Whereas in wheat, its self pollination. Both anthers and stigma of bisexual flowers from the same plant mature before the bud opens, thus to ensure complete self-pollination.

1. When the author saw the girl for the first time, he could not stop staring at her.

2. The girl had a pale skin, shiny black hair and dark eyes.

3. The girl saw that the author was looking at her intently, but she pretended not to notice it.

4. The author says that the girl’s eyes were dark, searching and lively.

Would you like going to market.

Spirulina can be grown easily on materials like waste water from potato processing plants (containing starch), straw, molasses, animal manure and even sewage, to produce large quantities.

1. The author felt anxious and nervous as the train entered Deoli.

2. He decided that he would not stand helplessly before her.

3. The author was wondering what he should say to the girl and what he should do.

1. The girl was young and she wore old clothes, with a shawl across her shoulder.

1.The author always looks out of the window to see the girl’s unchanged face smiling at him.

2. The author would never break his journey at Deoli because he preferred to keep hoping and dreaming and looking out for the girl waiting for him.

3. No the author never breaks his journey at Deoli, but he passes through as often as he can.

The author left for Dehra earlier than usual because he could not forget the girl. He was very eager to see and meet her.

(B) They invite me and my friend to tea.

We walked on foot.

The author felt anxious and nervous as the train entered Deoli. He decided that he would not stand helplessly before her. He was wondering what he would say to the girl and what he should do.

It fell off the table and broke.

Emily left school at the age of 16.

Stop making this terrible noise at once.

a. A cross between parents differing in two heritable traits is called dihybrid cross. 

b. An individual possessing identical alleles for a particular trait is called homozygous or pure for that trait. E.g. TT for tallness and tt for dwarfness. 

c. An individual possessing contrasting allele for a particular trait is called heterozygous. E.g. Tt showing tallness. 

d. The cross of F progeny with homozygous recessive parent is called a test cross.

Money Moulds Choices Evie and John are denitely true representatives of the modem world where money moulds the choices. Both of them knew very well that Mr. Gresham has misappropriated bank money. When they come to know that if their father, Robert Baldwin, simply says three words “I don’t know” during the trial of Gresham, he is promised a bribe of a colossal sum of 100,000 dollars, they want their father to say those three words and collect the money. For the poor family like Evie’s and John’s, this is a huge sum. If that money comes to the family, Evie and John can do some of the things they want to do, but were unable to do because of the lack of money. So they are making excuses to make their father accept the bribe.

Evie says Mr. Gresham has not done anything really wrong as if site is the judge! John dismisses the misdeed of Gresham by calling it a mere technicality. Moreover he says nobody will lose a cent and nobody wants Gresham to be punished. So his logic is there is nothing wrong if his father takes the 100,000 dollars offered to him. These young children are talking like some modem lawyers who twist the truth for their advantage. They don’t mind twisting the truth if the payment is good.

This is the typical attitude of the modern world. Honesty, integrity and truth have no meaning to most of the modern people who can simply close their eyes to truth if it is beneficial to them. For the modem people addicted to the consumer culture, money is God. They are prepared to sacrifice anything – their conscience, soul and spirit – for money. Mammon is the modem god and people do not even feel shame to worship him in the open! They have forgotten the old ditty: “If you lose wealth, you lose nothing; if you lose health, you lose something; but if you lose character, you lose everything!”

(A) I was kept awake by the noise of the traffic

[email protected]

sub: closing down the bank

dear john, I have got some definite information that the police will come and arrest you soon. Somebody has complained against you and accused you of misappropriating bank money. I was going through the records and I nd there are many discrepancies which we can’t explain to the police, if they come to the bank to investigate the matter. So in the best interest of all, I strongly recommend that you close down the bank. Keeping it open will bring you more troubles. With more time in our hands we can see how we can settle the things in a proper way.

I hope you will take my suggestion seriously and close the bank down.

Robert

(C) The girls play cricket

(a) An upright or straight forward person is adored as a king.

(b) Metaphor

The trait of character evident here is his honesty. He does not want to take a bribe, however big it is, and tell a lie. He wants to die as a man of integrity and truth.

(A) She had been interviewing them for the job.

Value Points :

had a black glossy coat and a white star on his forehead

had read the book of the same name

her pony resembled his namesake.

Detailed Answer : Helen had a pony at Fern Quarry. She called him Black Beauty as she had read a book of the same name in which there was a black horse. Helen’s horse resembled his name-sake. He had a black glossy coat and a white star on his forehead. Helen spent many of her happiest hours on Black Beauty’s back. Sometimes, her teacher Miss Sullivan would let go of the reins and the pony used to stop at his sweet will to eat grass or nibble the leaves of the trees. Helen loved her pony very much.

Value points :

• Helen was very adventurous and enterprising.

• Lover of outdoor sports.

• Did not let her handicap stand in the way of enjoyment.

• Learnt swimming and rowing.

• Participated in the boat race, liked canoeing on moonlit nights.

• Found joy in walking leisurely and riding her bicycle.

• Had a great love for theatre, museums and art lore.

Detailed Answer :

In her 1903 autobiography, The Story of My Life, Helen Keller has mentioned her love of the country side and outdoor sports like sailing and canoeing. She enjoyed them the most in moonlight. Helen was very adventurous and enterprising As a student of Wright-Humason School, she had taken riding lessons. Camping trips, walks in a fragrant garden, and spins on her tandem bicycle were among her favourite outdoor activities. But even more enjoyable to Keller was rowing in her canoe. In fact, she learnt swimming and rowing when she was very young and practically lived in her canoe during the summers as an adult. Nothing gave her greater pleasure than to take her friends out for rowing. She did not let her hand stand in the way of enjoyment. She found pleasure in rowing by the scent of water grasses and lilies, and by bushes that grew on the shore. She would know the resistance of water when the oars were evenly poised and would tell when she would pull against the current. She liked to contend with the wind and wave. It was exhilarating for her to go skimming, lightly over glistening, tilting waves, and to feel the steady, imperious surge of the water. She had a great love for theatre, museums and art lore.

Helen was a great lover of nature. She was surprised at what mother earth had in store for everyone. Birds and animals were always a source of interest for her. She used to hunt for guinea-fowl’s eggs in the long grass when she was a child but never allowed her friend Martha to carry the eggs home, for the fear that she might break them. In another incident, she was gifted little Tim, a canary as a Christmas gift by the Tuscumbia School children. Miss Sullivan taught her how to take care of her new pet. She prepared his bath, made his cage clean and sweet, filled his cups with fresh seed and water from the well house and hung a spray of chickweed in his swing. She used to feed him candied cherries out of her hand but felt very sad when the bird fell prey to a cat after its cage was left on a window sill. During her stay at Brewstar, Miss Sullivan attracted her attention towards a great horseshoe crab. She felt it and thought it strange that he carried his house on his back. Suddenly, she wanted to have him as her pet. She seized him by the tail with both hands and carried him home. His body was very heavy but somehow she dragged him and with the help of Miss Sullivan, put him in a trough near the well to keep him secure. But the next morning she found him to be missing. At first she felt disappointed but later felt happy that perhaps he had returned to the sea where he belonged.

Value points :

Helen’s visit to the Niagra Falls :

• Visited world’s fair in Chicago.

• Helen’s dear friend, Dr. Bell served as a guide to her and Ms. Sullivan.

• Despite being deaf and blind, Helen experienced a sense of wonder, being at the fair.

• Helen was full of joy as she felt the marvels with her fingers.

• Helen granted permission to touch the exhibits – helped Helen experience the Fair in her own way.

• Helen spent three weeks at the fair – loved all the things she was able to discover there.

Detailed Answer :

Helen got a chance to visit the World Fair held at Chicago. She visited the fair in the company of Ms. Sullivan and Helen’s dear friend Dr. Bell served as a guide to both of them. It was a new wonderful world for Helen as despite being deaf and blind, She experienced a sense of wonder and curiosity being at the fair. She was allowed to touch the displays and exhibits at the World Fair. She enjoyed the different works of art through her sense of touch. She was fascinated by each and everything at the Fair especially the French bronzes which were life-like and seemed to be angel visions bound in earthly forms. The process of mining diamonds at the ‘Cape Of Good Hope’ taught her many things. She learnt the art of weighing, cutting and polishing the stones. There were telephones, autophones, phonographs and many other inventions in the electrical building. Moreover, she was quite fascinated by the Egyptian mummies. She had never heard and read about them and was quite fascinated by all such things at the fair. Helen spent three weeks at the fair which were a memorable event in her life. She perceived each and every thing through her mind’s eye. She loved all the things and was able to discover there a lot a new experience of life there.

Helen Keller was a great woman who had lost her sight and hearing when she was a child. The beautiful bright world became dark and dull. It took her some time to realize that she was different from others as she felt that others did not communicate like her. There was movement of their lips when they communicated. At first she became impatient. She threw tantrums at times but gradually realized that there was another way to come out of the dark and silent world. It was to be done with the help of her feelings of the heart and her sense of touch. Miss Anne Sullivan, her teacher, helped her a lot in adjusting to the new dark world. She taught her everythingright from words to sentences. Miss Sullivan, sometimes, had to face problems while teaching the abstract nouns like ‘love’ but with her patience, she handled Helen and made her learn such words. Once Helen had gone swimming when she was at Brewstar. She was enjoying the feel of water when suddenly her foot struck against a rock and she felt herself drowning. All her efforts to save herself went in vain. But somehow, the water threw her back onto the shore and she was saved. She took some time to recover and then again went to sit on a big rock and feel the ocean water. This incident didn’t deter her. In another instance, she had almost jumped down a big tree when there was heavy rain and a storm and she became terrified. She took some time to gather her courage and she climbed another tree. Thus, we can say that she had a great strength and courage which helped her come out of her dark and silent world.

Anything used by humans to satisfy their needs and demands which is available in nature is known as natural resources, examples are water, soil plants, sunlight, and wildlife. 

Factors working against an equitable distribution of natural resources are 

(a) Excessive use of the resources by the industrialists for short-term gains. 

(b) Access of natural raw materials only to a certain group of influential people to improper management.

Correct option is D) All

Correct option is B) Rotatory
 

Jyotiba Phule started the first school for women in Pune

Paper bag, newspaper, cloth napkins, bottles of pickles can be recycled and reused.

Advantages of ground water:

(i) It does not evaporate.

(ii) Spreads out to recharge wells.

(iii)  Provides moisture for vegetation over a large area.

(iv) Does not provide breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Correct option is C) Both A & B

Environmental conservation is important for the following reasons: 

● For protecting the ozone layer, maintaining animal and human food chains, preserving potable water and making efficient use of non-renewable resources. 

● Environmental conservation seeks to prevent dormant damage through measures such as proactive management and ecologically sustainable energy production.