General Science Questions (MCQs) for Competitive Examinations

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Biofortification is the breeding crops to increase their nutritional value. This can be done either through conventional selective breeding or genetic engineering. Biofortification differs from ordinary fortification because it focuses on making plant foods more nutritious as the plants are growing, rather than having nutrients added to the foods when they are being processed.

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The major role of epidermis is to protect all the parts of the plant. Epidermal cells on the aerial parts of the plant often secrete a waxy, water-resistant layer on their outer surface. This aids in protection against loss of water, mechanical injury and invasion by parasitic fungi.

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Holstein Friesian cows are world’s highest-production dairy animals and dominate the global dairy industry. These cows originated in Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. They are known as Holsteins in North America and Friesians in UK and Ireland.

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Taenia is a genus of tapeworm that includes some important parasites of livestock. Members of the genus are responsible for taeniasis and cysticercosis in humans. There are more than 100 species recorded. They are morphologically characterized by a ribbon-like body composed of a series of segments called proglottids with proximal mouth called scolex.

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Plant wilting occurs after excessive loss of water by transpiration and lesser absorption. i.e. rate of transpiration exceeds rate of water absorption. On a hot day, plants transpire heavily and cannot absorb water speedily to keep pace with transpiration loss, even when there is enough water.

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Based on the dividing capacity of the tissues, various plant tissues can be classified as growing or meristematic tissue and permanent tissue. Meristem is a type of tissue system in plants, composed of a mass of undifferentiated cells and their primary function is to take part in the growth of plants. Permanent tissues are differentiated tissues doing specific functions such as conduction, providing mechanical support or carrying out photosynthesis etc.

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Infection is the invasion of an organism’s body tissues by disease-causing agents, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agents and the toxins they produce. Infectious diseases can be spread from one person to another, for example through contact with bodily fluids, by aerosols (through coughing and sneezing), or via a vector, for example a mosquito.

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Vitamin C is quite unstable when cooked or stored improperly. It is very liable and easily destroyed during cooking as well as storage. It is a water-soluble and temperature-sensitive vitamin, so is easily degraded during cooking, and elevated temperatures and long cooking times have been found to cause particularly severe losses of vitamin C.

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The Taungya system involves growing agricultural crops between rows of planted trees (sal, teak, etc). Along with jhum cultivation, it is one of the well-known systems of agro forestry programmes in practice in our country.

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The best way of getting rid of non-biodegradable waste such as plastic is by recycling them. Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is the third component of the “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle” waste hierarchy. Burning may release toxic gas into the atmosphere. Burying and dumping will hardly solve anything because of their very long life of self decomposition.