ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) — Environmental Sciences (subject 71) and Agricultural Meteorology (subject 60) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) — Environmental Sciences (subject 71) and Agricultural Meteorology (subject 60) is a PhD, fellowship and lectureship exam run by National Testing Agency for ICAR, for candidates in India. Computer-based MCQ paper for PhD admission and the JRF/SRF fellowship; one paper per subject. Timing and marking follow the yearly bulletin and were not re-read.
Source: icar.org.in.
Checked against the exam body's published information. Formats and fees change; confirm the current edition there before you book.
Recall of LCA as a tool beside EIA and environmental auditing: the four phases, the ISO 14000 family numbers (14040, 14044, 14067, 14025, 14046), eco-labelling types, carbon footprint basics and greenhouse gas equivalence.
Quantifying the environmental impacts of a product from cradle to grave under ISO 14040 and 14044: goal and scope, inventory, impact assessment and interpretation, with the agricultural complications of multifunctionality, land use and biogenic carbon.
Our 17 ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF questions in this subject: 3 easy, 12 medium, 2 hard, across 5 units.
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
These 10 were written to ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF and are not shown on any other exam's page.
Which ISO standard sets out the requirements and guidelines for conducting a life cycle assessment?
C. ISO 14044
ISO 14044 contains the requirements and guidelines; ISO 14040 gives principles and framework. ISO 14001 is the environmental management system standard, ISO 14064-1 covers organisational greenhouse gas inventories and ISO 14025 covers Type III environmental declarations.
Which statement correctly distinguishes LCA from environmental impact assessment (EIA)?
C. LCA assesses potential impacts of a product function across all sites in its chain; EIA assesses a specific project at its site
LCA is function-based and reports potential impacts per functional unit wherever processes occur; EIA is project- and site-specific and is the tool that is legally required for project approval in many countries. LCA does not predict actual local damage, and it spans the whole life cycle.
Which group of standards was replaced by the 2006 editions of ISO 14040 and ISO 14044?
D. ISO 14040:1997, ISO 14041:1998, ISO 14042:2000 and ISO 14043:2000
The 2006 revision merged the four LCA documents (14040 framework, 14041 inventory, 14042 impact assessment, 14043 interpretation) into ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. The 14001/14004/14010/14011 set is management systems and auditing, the 14020 series is labels, and 14064/14065 is greenhouse gas accounting and verification.
Why are multi-year averages, rather than a single year's data, preferred for crop yields in agricultural LCA?
A. Yields swing with weather, so one year alone misrepresents the system
Weather drives large year-to-year swings in yield and therefore in per-kg results, so three- to five-year averages give a more representative inventory. ISO sets no such ban, databases accept other data, and averaging does not remove the need to assess uncertainty.
Emissions per tonne of crop are 30 kg nitrate (NO3-) to water, 0.5 kg phosphorus (P) to water and 10 kg NH3 to air. With eutrophication factors of 0.10, 3.06 and 0.35 kg PO4-eq/kg respectively, what is the result?
C. 8.03 kg PO4-eq
Result = 30 × 0.10 + 0.5 × 3.06 + 10 × 0.35 = 3.00 + 1.53 + 3.50 = 8.03 kg PO4-eq. Summing masses gives 40.50; leaving out the airborne NH3 gives 4.53; swapping the nitrate and NH3 factors gives 13.03.
In LCA, how are land-use flows inventoried?
D. As occupation, area × time, and transformation, area converted between states
Land use is inventoried as occupation in m²·year and transformation in m² converted from one state to another; impact models then translate these into soil quality and biodiversity effects. Land value, farm counts and excavated mass are not land-use inventory flows.
Which statement about crediting soil organic carbon sequestration from improved management in a crop LCA is most defensible?
A. Gains slow near equilibrium and reverse if practice stops
Soil carbon gains saturate as a new equilibrium is approached (IPCC Tier 1 uses a 20-year default), are reversible, and are small relative to the stock, which makes them hard to measure over short periods. That is why standards ask for them to be reported separately with evidence.
A field receives 120 kg synthetic N/ha. Take FracGASF = 0.11 (fraction volatilised as NH3 and NOx) and EF4 = 0.010 kg N2O-N per kg N deposited. What is the indirect N2O from volatilisation?
C. 0.207 kg N2O/ha
N volatilised = 120 × 0.11 = 13.2 kg; N2O-N = 13.2 × 0.010 = 0.132 kg; N2O = 0.132 × 44/28 = 0.207 kg/ha. 0.132 stops at N2O-N; 13.200 is the volatilised N; 1.886 is the direct emission, not the indirect one.
A field receives 200 kg N/ha. Take FracLEACH = 0.24 and EF5 = 0.011 kg N2O-N per kg N leached. What is the indirect N2O from leaching and run-off?
B. 0.830 kg N2O/ha
N leached = 200 × 0.24 = 48 kg; N2O-N = 48 × 0.011 = 0.528 kg; N2O = 0.528 × 44/28 = 0.830 kg/ha. 0.528 omits 44/28; 0.707 uses the older 2006 defaults (0.30, 0.0075) instead of the stated values; 75.429 skips EF5.
Which change in rice water management is most associated with lower paddy methane emissions?
A. Alternate wetting and drying instead of continuous flooding
Methane forms under anaerobic conditions; draining the field periodically (alternate wetting and drying) interrupts methanogenesis. Continuous or extended flooding and incorporating fresh straw before flooding raise emissions; IPCC scaling factors reflect these effects.
This plan follows where our questions actually fall, so the time goes where the marks are likely to be. It is our reading of the syllabus, not the exam body's weighting.
Read the manual chapters for these first and do every worked question you can find on them.
Aim for one sitting per unit, then mixed questions across them.
Learn the definitions, classifications and standard numbers; these units are more often recalled than worked.
Come back to these after a first pass, untimed, and read every explanation, including for the options you rejected.
Do these early in revision so they are fast on the day.
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