ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF Land Degradation, Desertification & Soil Conservation: practice questions

1 · Forms of land degradation: erosion, salinisation, compaction, nutrient mining, pollution · hard

Secondary salinisation in irrigated areas is mainly caused by:

1. Weathering of parent rock rich in sodium in humid tropical forests with very high annual rainfall
2. Acid rain dissolving calcium carbonate from upland soils
3. Rising water tables from seepage and over-irrigation, with capillary rise and evaporation
4. Excessive use of nitrogen fertiliser on rain-fed dryland crops

2 · Drivers of degradation: biophysical and socio-economic · hard

Charney's hypothesis for the Sahel proposed that loss of vegetation could:

1. Increase sea level, flooding coastal drylands across West Africa
2. Have no effect on regional climate because vegetation cover does not affect surface albedo
3. Raise surface albedo and reduce local rainfall, reinforcing degradation
4. Lower albedo and increase rainfall, reversing degradation quickly

3 · Desertification and drylands · hard

Which Indian institute at Jodhpur specialises in arid-zone research?

1. Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA)
2. Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI)
3. Indian Institute of Soil Science (IISS)
4. Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI)

4 · Assessment and mapping of land degradation · hard

Why is RESTREND (residual trend analysis) used with NDVI time series?

1. To estimate population density from vegetation greenness
2. To remove productivity changes explained by rainfall, revealing human-induced trends
3. To convert NDVI values directly into soil organic carbon stocks for each pixel of the image
4. To correct NDVI for differences in satellite colour palettes

5 · Salt-affected and waterlogged soils: reclamation · medium

Which Indian institute developed subsurface drainage technology for waterlogged saline lands?

1. CSSRI, Karnal
2. CAZRI, Jodhpur
3. NBSS&LUP, Nagpur
4. IARI, New Delhi

6 · Salt-affected and waterlogged soils: reclamation · hard

Which measure prevents secondary salinisation most cost-effectively?

1. Adding much more irrigation water each season
2. Burning all crop residues every year
3. Planting flooded rice in all seasons
4. Lining, controlled irrigation, drainage

7 · Mine-spoil and wasteland reclamation · easy

Acid mine drainage forms mainly from oxidation of:

1. Pyrite and other sulphides
2. Quartz and feldspar
3. Gypsum and halite
4. Calcite and dolomite

8 · Mine-spoil and wasteland reclamation · medium

Which approach is used to reclaim ravines in the Chambal valley?

1. Flooding with seawater
2. Peripheral bunds, gully plugging and afforestation
3. Deep ploughing of ravine beds
4. Paving the ravine beds and slopes with concrete

9 · Sustainable land management practices · medium

Why do farmers often abandon conservation structures built by projects without their involvement?

1. Farmers are legally forbidden from maintaining structures on their own land
2. Structures built by projects always collapse within a year because of poor materials and design
3. Structures always increase erosion, which farmers quickly notice
4. The structures did not match their needs, costs and priorities, and they had no ownership

10 · Economics of land degradation (refers to natural-resource-environmental-economics) · hard

Which policy instrument directly addresses off-site benefits of upstream land management?

1. Free electricity for farm pumping
2. Subsidies for burning crop residues
3. Higher import tariffs on foreign food
4. PES from downstream users