NDA (II) 2024 General Ability Test · Question 15 of 141

Correct — B, irrigated. Read with the previous clause ('a high-producing plant that lacks resistance to drought is ___'), the sentence contrasts two ways of coping with drought: instead of breeding the plant for drought resistance, growers simply supply water artificially — the plant 'is irrigated and the resistance to drought is ignored'. 'Irrigated' (watered by artificial means, e.g. canals or sprinklers) is exactly the agricultural shortcut the passage criticises; the other options do not carry the sense of substituting watering for bred-in resistance.

• (a)heated — Applying heat is unrelated to drought and would worsen water stress, not substitute for drought resistance.
• (c)showered — Loosely 'rained on', but not the agricultural term for supplying water to crops, and it does not pair with 'resistance to drought is ignored' as a farming practice — 'irrigated' is the precise word.
• (d)deserted — 'Deserted' means abandoned, which contradicts the point that the plant is deliberately kept productive by watering.

Cloze / word-choice item: a drought-vulnerable crop is kept productive by artificial watering — 'irrigated' — rather than bred for resistance; the surrounding farming context fixes the precise verb.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Fill in the blank: In the dry season the fields must be ______ from the canal.

  • (a)showered
  • (b)irrigated
  • (c)heated
  • (d)drained

  Answer(b) irrigated — supplying crops with water by artificial means is 'irrigation'.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the correct word: Rather than plant drought-tolerant varieties, the farm simply ______ its crops all summer.

  • (a)irrigates
  • (b)deserts
  • (c)heats
  • (d)showers

  Answer(a) irrigates — artificial watering substitutes for drought tolerance.