ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) · India · NTA for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) is a PhD, fellowship and lectureship exam run by NTA for ICAR, for candidates in India. Computer-based, 2 hours, 120 questions: Part A 20 (general agriculture, animal husbandry, current events), Part B 50 (core group), Part C 50 (specialised subject). +4 / -1, maximum 480.
Source: icar.org.in.
Checked against the exam body's published information. Formats and fees change; confirm the current edition there before you book.
Mechanisms: transstadial versus transovarial transmission, propagative and cyclo-developmental transmission, extrinsic incubation, endemic stability, molecular mechanisms of acaricide resistance (kdr, altered AChE, metabolic), FAO larval packet test, Bm86 vaccine and sterile insect technique.
Flies, mosquitoes, midges, lice, fleas, ticks and mites: the damage they do themselves and the diseases they carry, and the ectoparasiticides used against them.
Our 21 ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF questions in this subject: 0 easy, 6 medium, 15 hard, across 10 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.
Dirofilaria immitis in the mosquito is an example of which type of biological transmission?
C. Cyclo-developmental
The filaria develops through larval stages in the mosquito but does not multiply, so one microfilaria yields at most one L3: cyclo-developmental. Plasmodium in mosquitoes both develops and multiplies (cyclo-propagative), and arboviruses multiply without developing (propagative).
Which is the main Old World vector of both bluetongue virus and African horse sickness virus?
C. Culicoides imicola
C. imicola is the classic vector across Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. C. sonorensis is the North American vector and C. brevitarsis the Australian one; Aedes aegypti is a mosquito.
Larval control is rarely a practical way to control Culicoides on farms mainly because:
D. Larval habitats are small, scattered patches of wet mud, soil and manure that are hard to find and treat
Semi-aquatic Culicoides larvae live in diverse moist organic habitats scattered over the landscape. Larvae in running water describe blackflies, and larvae inside the female describe tsetse and keds.
Transmission of Yersinia pestis by Xenopsylla cheopis is a classic example of propagative transmission because:
D. The bacteria multiply in the flea's gut and block the proventriculus, so they are regurgitated into bites
Propagative transmission is multiplication without change of form. Development without multiplication is cyclo-developmental (filariae), and carriage on the mouthparts is mechanical.
Dermatobia hominis delivers its larvae to hosts by:
D. Laying eggs on other blood-feeding insects, which carry them to the host (phoresy)
Dermatobia captures mosquitoes or muscid flies and lays eggs on them; larvae hatch when the carrier feeds. Depositing larvae in the nostrils describes Oestrus ovis.
Which statement correctly contrasts transmission of Theileria and Babesia in their tick vectors?
C. Theileria is passed only transstadially, whereas Babesia is passed transovarially
Theileria infection is acquired by a larva or nymph and transmitted by the next stage; it does not pass through the egg. Babesia species invade tick ovaries and pass to the next generation.
Lumpy skin disease virus belongs to the genus:
A. Capripoxvirus
LSDV is a capripoxvirus, related to sheep pox and goat pox viruses. Orbivirus is the genus of bluetongue virus.
In a bioassay, mortality was 82% in acaricide-treated tick larvae and 10% in untreated controls. Using Abbott's formula, the corrected mortality is:
A. 80%
Corrected mortality = (treated − control) ÷ (100 − control) × 100 = (82 − 10) ÷ 90 × 100 = 80%. 72% subtracts control mortality without rescaling, 82% ignores control mortality, and 91% divides the treated mortality by 90 without first subtracting the control.
In an adult immersion test, untreated engorged females weighing 3.0 g in total laid 1.8 g of eggs, while treated females weighing 3.0 g in total laid 0.45 g of eggs (equal hatchability assumed). The percentage inhibition of oviposition is:
D. 75%
Reproductive index = egg mass ÷ female mass: control 1.8 ÷ 3.0 = 0.60; treated 0.45 ÷ 3.0 = 0.15. Inhibition = (0.60 − 0.15) ÷ 0.60 × 100 = 75%. 25% is the treated index as a proportion of control, 60% and 15% are the indices themselves.
Knockdown resistance (kdr) in flies and ticks gives cross-resistance between:
C. DDT and synthetic pyrethroids
Both DDT and pyrethroids act on the voltage-gated sodium channel, and kdr mutations in that channel reduce sensitivity to both. Altered acetylcholinesterase links organophosphates and carbamates instead.
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.
Last updated · How Laisha writes and checks its pages · Report a mistake
US$10 a month · one price worldwide · cancel any time
| Free | Smarter | |
|---|---|---|
| Grow guides, pest pages, articles | Read all | Read all |
| Ask Laisha | 5 a day | Up to 1,000 a month |
| Exam practice | The sample on each page | Every question, timed papers |
| Crop calendar and pest alerts | — | For your own fields |
| Calculators and tools | — | All |
| Uploads and reports | — | 100 a month, real files |
An AI operating system for agriculture: free guides, manuals and tools written for every country.