CSEC Agricultural Science Paper 2 May/June 2017 - Free CXC Past Paper with Answers

Plant tissue culture is a method of propagation that may be used to propagate banana plants.

Give ONE advantage and ONE disadvantage of plant tissue culture.

Advantage:

Disadvantage:

Farmer Tim relies heavily on inorganic pesticides to grow vegetables. His crop yields are good but he is concerned about the impact of these chemicals on the environment.

Suggest TWO ways in which farmer Tim could reduce the impact of inorganic pesticides on the environment.

Figure 2 shows the digestive system in poultry.

Identify the parts labelled X and Y in Figure 2.

X Y

A broiler bird weighs 2.5 kg. After slaughter, the offal and feathers weigh 0.5 kg. Calculate the dressing percentage. (Show all working.)

Table 1 shows two breeds of livestock reared in the Caribbean.

State the purpose for which EACH breed is reared. Write your answer in Table 1.

TABLE 1: TWO BREEDS OF LIVESTOCK REARED IN THE CARIBBEAN

A cattle farmer notices that his healthy cow fails to conceive after several attempts of mating with the same bull.

Suggest TWO methods that he could use to overcome this problem.

List THREE ways in which praedial larceny impacts on the agricultural sector.

A nursery propagates citrus seedlings. The graph in Figure 3 shows the impact of additional workers on output.

Figure 3. Graph showing impact of additional workers on output

Describe the impact on the production of seedlings of hiring additional workers at Stage II and Stage III.

Stage II

Stage III

The nursery operator has recently increased the wages of workers. Given the additional cost, the nursery operator decides to increase the selling price of each plant.

Suggest TWO ways in which farmers may respond to an increase in the price of citrus seedlings.

The government is seeking to attract new farmers to the citrus industry. Advise the government on THREE incentives it can provide to increase citrus production.

Farmer Sampson uses a four-wheel tractor to prepare land for the cultivation of crops on his farm.

Identify THREE pieces of personal protective clothing he should use when operating his tractor.

Farmer Sampson sprays his okra crop with an insecticide to control an infestation of flea beetles. After spraying, he becomes ill and is diagnosed with insecticidal poisoning.

Suggest TWO precautions EACH that Farmer Sampson should observe during and after spraying to ensure the safe use of pesticides.

During spraying

After spraying

A farmer observes that plants in one section of his tomato plot produce high yields of good quality fruits while, in another section, the plants produce low yields and poor quality fruits. An extension officer visits the plot and states that the low yield and poor quality fruits are due to weed infestation.

Explain ONE way by which weeds could reduce the yield and quality of tomato fruits.

Describe the features that will indicate when EACH of the following crops are ready for harvesting.

Tomato

Sweet potato

Cabbage

Farmer Asha receives two different bags of poultry feed with labels showing the constituents of the feeds, as shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2: CONSTITUENTS OF TWO POULTRY FEEDS

Which of the two feeds is BETTER suited for broilers at 1 to 4 weeks of age? Give TWO reasons for your answer.

Feed: 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What does the acronym FCR mean?

Write the formula for calculating FCR.

At Fazir's farm, a broiler bird that ate 9 kg of feed weighed 3 kg.

Calculate the FCR for this bird. Show all working.

A researcher conducted a study on the effect of feed on weight gain in broilers. The average FCR for each breed of broiler bird is presented in Table 3.

TABLE 3: FCR FOR BROILERS

Which breed of broiler bird has the best FCR? Give ONE reason for your answer.

Farmer Shakti has a small ruminant farm. During the dry season, she experiences great difficulty sourcing good quality forage for her animals.

Suggest THREE measures she can adopt during the rainy season to ensure that the small ruminants have food, when forage is unavailable.