AGRICULTURAL CROP DISEASE MANAGEMENT ACTUAL
TEST PAPER 2025/2026 QUESTIONS WITH SOLUTIONS
GRADED A+
✔✔Forms of soil water and plant-available water - ✔✔Gravitational, capillary,
hygroscopic water, and plant-available water for plant use
✔✔Soil saturation, field capacity, and permanent wilting point - ✔✔Soil saturation -
pores filled with water, field capacity - maximum available water, permanent wilting point
- when plants can't extract more water
✔✔Relation between water availability and soil texture - ✔✔Soil texture impacts water
retention and availability for plants, sandy soils drain faster but hold less water
compared to clay soils
✔✔Water Use Efficiency (WUE) - ✔✔Measures plant biomass or yield produced per
unit of water consumed
✔✔Fallows and cover crops for soil water management - ✔✔Fallows leave land
uncultivated to conserve moisture. Cover crops protect soil, manage nutrients, and
improve water retention in dryland systems
✔✔Types of fallows - ✔✔Bare fallow (no vegetation), green fallow (cover crops grown),
brown fallow (soil left undisturbed)
✔✔Cover crops - ✔✔Grown between main crops to enhance soil health, control
erosion, fix nitrogen, and improve water retention
✔✔Pros and cons of cover cropping - ✔✔Benefits include soil improvement, weed
suppression, erosion control, but challenges include competition with main crops and
additional management
✔✔C:N ratio in cover crop selection - ✔✔Affects decomposition rates, nutrient
availability, and soil organic matter, impacting cover crop selection
✔✔Cover crop management practices - ✔✔Planting methods, termination techniques
(mechanical or chemical), and incorporation into soil to maximize benefits
✔✔Living mulch system for soil water management - ✔✔Maintains continuous
vegetation cover to enhance water retention, reduce erosion, and improve soil health in
dryland systems
✔✔Methods of irrigation - ✔✔Surface, sprinkler, drip, and subsurface irrigation - each
with distinct advantages and disadvantages
, ✔✔Factors influencing time of harvest - ✔✔Crop maturity, weather conditions, market
demand, and machinery availability affect harvest timing
✔✔Differentiating physiological maturity and harvest maturity - ✔✔Physiological
maturity is when the crop reaches its maximum growth stage, while harvest maturity is
when it's suitable for harvesting based on market or consumption needs
✔✔Different harvest methods - ✔✔Manual, mechanized (using harvesters or
combines), each with specific applications based on crop type and scale
✔✔Parts of a combine harvester - ✔✔Cutter bar, reel, thresher, separator, cleaning
system, and grain tank are integral components
✔✔Defoliants and desiccants for facilitating harvesting - ✔✔Chemicals used to remove
foliage or accelerate crop drying to aid harvesting
✔✔Moisture migration in grain storage - ✔✔Movement of moisture within stored grains
leading to potential spoilage or quality degradation
✔✔Temperature & moisture effects on stored grain - ✔✔High temperatures and
moisture levels can promote spoilage and decrease grain quality during storage
✔✔Making hay, haylage, silage, and earlage - ✔✔Processes involving cutting, drying
(in the case of hay), fermentation (in silage), and ensiling (earlage)
✔✔Curing and packaging hay - ✔✔Drying and storing hay at the correct moisture levels
to prevent spoilage, packaging in bales or stacks
✔✔Enhancing silage quality - ✔✔Proper harvesting timing, chopping size, packing, and
sealing techniques influence silage quality
✔✔Advantages and disadvantages of haylage - ✔✔Benefits include high nutrient
content, but challenges include spoilage risk and specific storage requirements
✔✔Soilage and earlage - ✔✔Similar to silage, but soilage includes additional feed
ingredients mixed with forage, while earlage involves harvesting whole corn plants
✔✔Bushel and test weight concepts - ✔✔Bushel is a unit of volume, test weight
measures weight per unit volume. Test weight reflects grain quality
✔✔Differentiating high-yielding and high test weight hybrid - ✔✔High yield doesn't
guarantee high test weight and vice versa due to different genetic traits impacting yield
and grain quality
TEST PAPER 2025/2026 QUESTIONS WITH SOLUTIONS
GRADED A+
✔✔Forms of soil water and plant-available water - ✔✔Gravitational, capillary,
hygroscopic water, and plant-available water for plant use
✔✔Soil saturation, field capacity, and permanent wilting point - ✔✔Soil saturation -
pores filled with water, field capacity - maximum available water, permanent wilting point
- when plants can't extract more water
✔✔Relation between water availability and soil texture - ✔✔Soil texture impacts water
retention and availability for plants, sandy soils drain faster but hold less water
compared to clay soils
✔✔Water Use Efficiency (WUE) - ✔✔Measures plant biomass or yield produced per
unit of water consumed
✔✔Fallows and cover crops for soil water management - ✔✔Fallows leave land
uncultivated to conserve moisture. Cover crops protect soil, manage nutrients, and
improve water retention in dryland systems
✔✔Types of fallows - ✔✔Bare fallow (no vegetation), green fallow (cover crops grown),
brown fallow (soil left undisturbed)
✔✔Cover crops - ✔✔Grown between main crops to enhance soil health, control
erosion, fix nitrogen, and improve water retention
✔✔Pros and cons of cover cropping - ✔✔Benefits include soil improvement, weed
suppression, erosion control, but challenges include competition with main crops and
additional management
✔✔C:N ratio in cover crop selection - ✔✔Affects decomposition rates, nutrient
availability, and soil organic matter, impacting cover crop selection
✔✔Cover crop management practices - ✔✔Planting methods, termination techniques
(mechanical or chemical), and incorporation into soil to maximize benefits
✔✔Living mulch system for soil water management - ✔✔Maintains continuous
vegetation cover to enhance water retention, reduce erosion, and improve soil health in
dryland systems
✔✔Methods of irrigation - ✔✔Surface, sprinkler, drip, and subsurface irrigation - each
with distinct advantages and disadvantages
, ✔✔Factors influencing time of harvest - ✔✔Crop maturity, weather conditions, market
demand, and machinery availability affect harvest timing
✔✔Differentiating physiological maturity and harvest maturity - ✔✔Physiological
maturity is when the crop reaches its maximum growth stage, while harvest maturity is
when it's suitable for harvesting based on market or consumption needs
✔✔Different harvest methods - ✔✔Manual, mechanized (using harvesters or
combines), each with specific applications based on crop type and scale
✔✔Parts of a combine harvester - ✔✔Cutter bar, reel, thresher, separator, cleaning
system, and grain tank are integral components
✔✔Defoliants and desiccants for facilitating harvesting - ✔✔Chemicals used to remove
foliage or accelerate crop drying to aid harvesting
✔✔Moisture migration in grain storage - ✔✔Movement of moisture within stored grains
leading to potential spoilage or quality degradation
✔✔Temperature & moisture effects on stored grain - ✔✔High temperatures and
moisture levels can promote spoilage and decrease grain quality during storage
✔✔Making hay, haylage, silage, and earlage - ✔✔Processes involving cutting, drying
(in the case of hay), fermentation (in silage), and ensiling (earlage)
✔✔Curing and packaging hay - ✔✔Drying and storing hay at the correct moisture levels
to prevent spoilage, packaging in bales or stacks
✔✔Enhancing silage quality - ✔✔Proper harvesting timing, chopping size, packing, and
sealing techniques influence silage quality
✔✔Advantages and disadvantages of haylage - ✔✔Benefits include high nutrient
content, but challenges include spoilage risk and specific storage requirements
✔✔Soilage and earlage - ✔✔Similar to silage, but soilage includes additional feed
ingredients mixed with forage, while earlage involves harvesting whole corn plants
✔✔Bushel and test weight concepts - ✔✔Bushel is a unit of volume, test weight
measures weight per unit volume. Test weight reflects grain quality
✔✔Differentiating high-yielding and high test weight hybrid - ✔✔High yield doesn't
guarantee high test weight and vice versa due to different genetic traits impacting yield
and grain quality
