ICAR AIEEA-PG — Physical Science group (sub-subject 3.6 Environmental Science) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersWhat happens to pesticides after application and how to reduce harm: fate processes, residues, effects on non-target organisms, regulatory risk assessment and reduction strategies. Field IPM practice is in the crop protection subjects; this subject is the environmental science of pesticides.
In the exams: ICAR AIEEA-PG 3.4 Agricultural Chemicals; ICAR AICE subject 71 Unit 4 (pesticides); UGC NET Unit 6
ICAR AIEEA-PG (Unit II, pesticides and biopesticides; Unit IV, soil and water pollution)
Classification by target and chemistry, modes of action, WHO and Indian toxicity classes, LD50, fate processes, persistence and half-life calculations, residues and MRLs, biopesticides, and the Insecticides Act 1968.
How our questions for ICAR AIEEA-PG spread across the units of Pesticides in the Environment: Fate, Risk & Reduction. Difficulty: 8 easy, 24 medium, 5 hard.
| Classification of pesticides by target, chemistry and toxicity | 9 | |
| Residues in food, soil and water; maximum residue limits | 7 | |
| Persistence and half-life | 5 | |
| IPM as risk reduction | 5 | |
| Biopesticides and botanicals | 4 | |
| Environmental fate: sorption, degradation, volatilisation, leaching, runoff | 3 | |
| Pesticide risk assessment and registration | 2 | |
| Effects on non-target organisms: pollinators, aquatic life, soil biota | 1 | |
| Persistent organic pollutants and the Stockholm Convention | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin belong to which group?
B. Neonicotinoids
They are neonicotinoids (IRAC 4A), nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonists.
Synthetic pyrethroids such as cypermethrin act mainly on:
A. Sodium channels in nerve membranes
Pyrethroids keep voltage-gated sodium channels open (IRAC 3A).
Atrazine is a herbicide that acts by inhibiting:
B. Photosystem II
Triazines block electron transport at PSII; paraquat acts at PSI.
A higher LD50 value for a pesticide indicates:
C. Lower acute toxicity
More substance is needed to kill half the test animals, so it is less toxic.
For most pesticides in soil, the main degradation process is:
D. Microbial degradation
Microbes degrade most pesticides; sorption and volatilisation are transfer, not degradation.
A crop residue of 2 mg/kg has DT50 10 days. After 30 days, assuming first-order decline, the residue is:
B. 0.25 mg/kg
3 half-lives: 2 x 0.125 = 0.25.
The acceptable daily intake is usually derived by dividing the NOAEL by a default factor of:
D. 100
10 for animal to human and 10 for variation among humans.
In India, maximum residue limits for pesticides in food are set by:
D. FSSAI
FSSAI sets MRLs; CIB&RC registers pesticides.
Endosulfan was banned in India in 2011 by order of the:
A. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court's 2011 order followed health concerns in Kasaragod, Kerala.
Rotating insecticides between different IRAC mode-of-action groups mainly:
A. Slows the evolution of resistance
Alternating modes of action reduces selection pressure.
Ten here, 37 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to ICAR AIEEA-PG in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
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