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ICAR-IASRI MSc and PhD Agriculture for Statisticians: practice questions

ICAR-IASRI MSc and PhD (Agricultural Statistics, Computer Application, Bioinformatics) · India · ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute with the IARI Graduate School

Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
10worked here, free
68written to this exam in this subject
10syllabus units

What this subject covers

The agriculture a statistician must know to plan a trial, frame a crop survey or read a breeder's question: how crops, livestock and fisheries are produced, what pests and diseases do to yield, how agricultural research and statistics are organised, and the rural-development programmes surveys evaluate. It is Unit I of AIEEA-PG Group 07.

In the exams: AIEEA-PG Group 07 Unit I (heavy: the agriculture unit); ASRB ARS/NET interviews (present)

Where the 68 questions fall

How our questions for ICAR-IASRI MSc and PhD spread across the units of Agriculture for Statisticians. Difficulty: 33 easy, 28 medium, 7 hard.

Basic principles of crop production: seasons, cropping systems and yield components9
Agricultural units, conversion factors and crop calendars9
Soils, nutrients and fertiliser response8
Livestock and fisheries production basics8
Plant and animal breeding basics: what breeders measure and select8
Major pests and diseases of crops and how they are measured7
Elementary principles of agricultural economics and extension7
Importance of agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries in national economies6
Organisation of agricultural research, education and extension (CGIAR and national systems)5
Rural development programmes and what they ask statisticians to measure1

10 practice questions, worked

Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.

1 · Importance of agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries in national economies · easy

As a country's per-capita income rises over decades, what usually happens to agriculture's share of GDP?

  1. It falls, while farm output still rises
  2. It rises, because richer consumers spend a larger share of income on food
  3. It stays constant, because food demand grows in step with population
  4. It falls only because agricultural output itself declines in absolute terms
Answer and working

A. It falls, while farm output still rises

Structural transformation: Engel's law (food's share of spending falls as income rises) and faster farm productivity growth shrink agriculture's share while output grows.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

2 · Soils, nutrients and fertiliser response · medium

A fertiliser recommendation gives 50 kg P₂O₅/ha. How much elemental phosphorus is that?

  1. 114.7 kg P/ha
  2. 41.5 kg P/ha
  3. 21.8 kg P/ha
  4. 50.0 kg P/ha
Answer and working

C. 21.8 kg P/ha

P = 0.436 × P₂O₅ = 0.436 × 50 = 21.8 kg P. 114.7 divides by 0.436; 41.5 uses the potassium factor 0.830.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

3 · Major pests and diseases of crops and how they are measured · medium

Fifty plants are scored for disease on a 0-4 scale: 10, 15, 12, 8 and 5 plants in classes 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. What is the percent disease index?

  1. 80.0%
  2. 20.8%
  3. 41.5%
  4. 33.2%
Answer and working

C. 41.5%

Sum of ratings = 0 + 15 + 24 + 24 + 20 = 83; PDI = 83/(50 × 4) × 100 = 41.5%. 80% is the incidence (40 of 50 plants diseased); 20.8% divides by 400 instead of 200.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

4 · Livestock and fisheries production basics · easy

A steer weighing 500 kg live gives a carcass of 270 kg. What is the dressing percentage?

  1. 54%
  2. 46%
  3. 185%
  4. 27%
Answer and working

A. 54%

Dressing % = carcass/live weight × 100 = 270/500 × 100 = 54%. 46% is the non-carcass fraction.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

5 · Livestock and fisheries production basics · medium

What is catch per unit effort (CPUE) used for in fisheries statistics, and what is its main weakness?

  1. An index of stock abundance, biased when fishing efficiency changes or fish aggregate
  2. An exact count of the fish in the stock, unbiased under any fishing practice or gear
  3. A measure of the fish growth rate, biased by changes in water temperature only
  4. The price per kilogram received by fishers at landing, biased by general inflation
Answer and working

A. An index of stock abundance, biased when fishing efficiency changes or fish aggregate

CPUE assumes catch ∝ abundance × effort. Better gear, targeting of dense schools and hyperstability break that proportionality, so CPUE trends need correction or survey data.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

6 · Plant and animal breeding basics: what breeders measure and select · easy

Which breeding method fixes any superior genotype immediately, because the crop is propagated vegetatively?

  1. Pure-line selection
  2. Recurrent selection
  3. Backcross breeding
  4. Clonal selection
Answer and working

D. Clonal selection

In vegetatively propagated crops (potato, cassava, sugarcane) a selected plant is multiplied as a clone, so its genotype, including heterozygosity, is preserved.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

7 · Elementary principles of agricultural economics and extension · easy

Rogers' adopter categories, in order of adoption, are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. What percentage are innovators?

  1. 13.5%
  2. 2.5%
  3. 16%
  4. 34%
Answer and working

B. 2.5%

Using a normal curve of adoption time: innovators 2.5%, early adopters 13.5%, early majority 34%, late majority 34%, laggards 16%.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

8 · Elementary principles of agricultural economics and extension · medium

In which stage of the production function does a rational farmer operate?

  1. At the point where total product is lowest
  2. Stage III, where marginal product is negative but total product is still large
  3. Stage II, between maximum average product and zero marginal product
  4. At the point where total product is lowest, so that input costs are minimised
Answer and working

C. Stage II, between maximum average product and zero marginal product

In stage I adding input still raises average product, so more should be used; in stage III output falls. Profit maximisation lies in stage II.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

9 · Elementary principles of agricultural economics and extension · medium

A 10% rise in the price of a staple cereal reduces quantity demanded by 2%. What is the price elasticity of demand, and how is demand described?

  1. −5.0, elastic
  2. −0.2, inelastic
  3. −0.2, elastic
  4. +0.2, inelastic
Answer and working

B. −0.2, inelastic

Elasticity = %ΔQ/%ΔP = −2/10 = −0.2; its absolute value below 1 means inelastic, typical for staples. That is why small surpluses can cause large price falls.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

10 · Organisation of agricultural research, education and extension (CGIAR and national systems) · easy

Which organisation compiles FAOSTAT and issues the World Programme for the Census of Agriculture?

  1. The World Organisation for Animal Health
  2. The International Fund for Agricultural Development
  3. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  4. The World Trade Organization
Answer and working

C. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

FAO sets international concepts for agricultural statistics and publishes FAOSTAT; the census programme is issued for each ten-year round.

Further reading: Martin, Waldren and Stamp, Principles of Field Crop Production; Brady and Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils; Falconer and Mackay, Introduction to Quantitative Genetics; FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture

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Agriculture for StatisticiansThe full study manual, free ICAR-IASRI MSc and PhDFormat, sections and how it has changed

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Agriculture for Statisticians for other exams

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