Tamil Nadu PSC Agricultural Structures & Environmental Control: practice questions

Question 1 · easy

In a well-planned farmstead, where should the farm dwelling normally be placed relative to the livestock buildings?

1. Upwind in the odour season and uphill of the livestock area
2. Downwind and downhill of the livestock area, for shelter
3. Directly between the livestock buildings and the manure store for easy supervision
4. In the lowest part of the site, where drainage water from the yards collects

Question 2 · easy

Why do planners leave one side of each major farm building clear of other structures?

1. So that rainwater from neighbouring roofs can be collected on that side
2. So the building can be extended later without demolition or relocation
3. Because building codes forbid more than three walls next to any structure
4. So that the side can be used as a permanent manure heap for the unit

Question 3 · easy

Which of these is classified as dead load on a farm building?

1. Weight of bagged fertiliser stored on the floor during the cropping season
2. Self-weight of roof sheeting, purlins and trusses permanently in place
3. Weight of cattle standing on a slatted floor laid over a slurry pit below
4. Weight of a maintenance worker walking across the roof sheets to repair them

Question 4 · easy

Which feature is most important for a good threshing floor?

1. A soft, loose earthen surface that absorbs grain impact and reduces breakage
2. A deep depression in the middle so rainwater collects and can be reused
3. A rough gravel surface, which helps separate stones from the grain
4. A hard, smooth, crack-free surface, raised and sloped to an edge drain

Question 5 · medium

Why should a rural kitchen that burns biomass fuel have a chimney or smokeless stove?

1. A chimney raises the flame temperature so that cooking needs almost no fuel at all
2. Building codes ban indoor open fires only because of the fire risk to thatch roofs
3. Indoor smoke from biomass fuel causes much respiratory illness in households
4. Smoke improves the taste of food, and the chimney stores it for later cooking

Question 6 · medium

Why are steps to the loading platform of a rat-proof godown made removable or detached from the plinth?

1. Removable steps are cheaper because they need no foundation of their own
2. Detached steps let trucks reverse closer to the door for unloading
3. A fixed step joined to the plinth would act as a ladder for rats
4. Fixed steps are banned because workers might trip on them at night

Question 7 · medium

Why are bags in a godown stacked on dunnage with a gap from the walls?

1. To keep bags off damp floors and allow inspection, fumigation and rodent control
2. To raise the stacks so that rats can run underneath them without touching any grain
3. To let the walls support the stacks and so reduce the load on the floor slab
4. To increase the store's capacity by using the otherwise wasted space by the walls

Question 8 · easy

A farm road 3.6 m wide has a two-way camber of 1 in 30. How high is the crown above the edges?

1. 60 mm
2. 120 mm
3. 54 mm
4. 30 mm

Question 9 · easy

In a tie-stall dairy barn, what is the main advantage of a head-to-head arrangement of the two rows?

1. One central dunging alley serves both rows, making milking quicker
2. One central feed alley serves both rows, making feeding quicker
3. Cows face the walls, so light falls on their udders for milking
4. No mangers are needed because cows eat from the floor between rows

Question 10 · medium

Which door detail is standard in a rat-proof godown?

1. Timber doors with a 5 cm gap at the bottom to ventilate the grain stacks
2. Doors left open by day so that cats can enter and keep the rats down
3. Close-fitting doors, metal-sheeted below, with no gap at the threshold
4. Mesh doors with 25 mm openings so workers can see inside the store