Range Forest Officer recruitment (state exams) · India · State Public Service Commissions and state forest departments (e.g. MPPSC, UKPSC, UPPSC)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersRaising planting stock and getting it established in the field: nursery layout, containers and media, seedling quality, site preparation, planting and early care.
In the exams: IFoS Forestry Paper I Section A (nursery and planting techniques, grading and hardening, water budgeting); ICAR AICE-JRF 59 Unit 2; ICAR AIEEA-PG Group 09 (nursery and planting technique)
How our questions for Range Forest Officer recruitment spread across the units of Forest Nursery & Plantation Establishment. Difficulty: 21 easy, 4 medium, 0 hard.
| Nursery site selection, layout and bed types | 3 | |
| Growing media and sowing methods | 3 | |
| Seedling quality grading and hardening | 3 | |
| Bare-root and container nurseries; root trainers | 2 | |
| Nursery operations: shading, watering, nutrition, weed control | 2 | |
| Nursery pests and diseases | 2 | |
| Site preparation and soil working | 2 | |
| Planting patterns, spacing and pit sizes | 2 | |
| Planting methods and timing | 2 | |
| Moisture conservation and irrigation at establishment | 2 | |
| Survival assessment and beating up | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Bare-root seedlings are:
A. Grown in open beds and lifted with roots exposed for transport and planting
Bare-root stock comes from open beds. Polybag and root-trainer stock are container stock; unrooted cuttings are sets.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
Teak is commonly planted as:
B. Stumps, also called root-shoot cuttings
Teak stumps, with a short shoot and a longer root section trimmed from nursery seedlings, are traditional planting stock. Teak is not raised from sets or on eucalypt rootstocks.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
Coir pith, widely used in South Asian container media, is:
B. The fibrous waste of coconut husks
Coir pith comes from coconut husks. Expanded volcanic glass is perlite; decomposed sphagnum is peat; limestone is a liming material.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
Why is shade removed gradually and finally completely before dispatch?
A. Plants raised in shade are soft and suffer badly if planted straight into the open
Gradual removal hardens plants for full sun. Nets do not crush plants; shade does not kill roots; shade needs differ by species and stage.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
White grubs damage nursery stock by:
D. Eating roots in the soil
White grubs are scarab beetle larvae that feed on roots and can destroy beds.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
Culls in nursery grading are plants that:
C. Are too small, spindly, deformed, diseased or have coiled roots
Culls fail grading standards and are discarded. Planting poor stock wastes more than discarding it.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
In quincunx planting, the plant at the centre of each square is often:
A. A temporary filler or nurse species removed later
The centre plant is commonly a filler or nurse. The main crop occupies the corners.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
When planting a polybag seedling in a pit, the bag should be:
B. Removed carefully without breaking the root ball
Plastic bags restrict roots and must be removed. Leaving or burying the plastic harms the plant and site.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
At planting, the root collar of a container seedling should usually be:
D. At or slightly below ground level
Correct depth puts the collar at or slightly below the surface. High planting exposes roots; deep burial can rot the stem.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
Of 2,500 plants planted on a hectare, 1,950 are alive at the survival count. What is the survival percentage?
D. 78 per cent
1,950 ÷ 2,500 × 100 = 78%. 22% is mortality; 128% inverts the ratio; 55% confuses deaths (550) with a percentage.
Further reading: Landis et al., The Container Tree Nursery Manual; Evans & Turnbull, Plantation Forestry in the Tropics (3rd ed., 2004); Khanna, Principles and Practice of Silviculture
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