Mahi Kanchan and RCB 911 are hybrid variety of –
- (1)Maize and Barley respectively
- (2)Maize and Rice respectively
- (3)Maize and Bajra respectively
- (4)Bajra and Maize respectively
Answer
Why
Correct — option (3), Maize and Bajra respectively.
RPSC's final key pairs Mahi Kanchan with maize and RCB 911 with bajra (pearl millet), in that order. So the answer is Maize and Bajra respectively.
The order of the pair decides the option. Options (1), (2) and (3) all begin with maize, so the choice among them turns on RCB 911; option (4) has the same two crops as the answer, reversed.
The letters RCB also appear on a notified bajra variety. The ICAR All India Coordinated Research Project on Pearl Millet lists RCB 2, bred at Jobner and notified on 18 November 1985 for Rajasthan, among its open-pollinated pearl millet varieties.
The same compilation lists pearl millet hybrids separately, each with its parentage given as a cross of two lines. RHB 90, for example, was bred at ARS Durgapura, Jaipur, and notified in 2000 for Rajasthan.
Keep the order: Mahi Kanchan with maize, RCB 911 with bajra.
Why the others are wrong
- (1)Maize and Barley respectively — The first crop matches the key, but RPSC's key makes RCB 911 bajra, not barley.
The two are different crops in different seasons. Agricultural Statistics of Rajasthan, 2021-22 lists barley among rabi cereals, on 2.00 lakh hectares in 2021-22, and bajra among kharif cereals, on 43.30 lakh hectares.
- (2)Maize and Rice respectively — Again the first crop matches and the second does not: the key gives bajra for RCB 911.
Rice and bajra are both kharif cereals in Rajasthan, but on very different areas. In 2021-22 rice covered 1.96 lakh hectares and bajra 43.30 lakh hectares.
- (4)Bajra and Maize respectively — This option names the right two crops in the wrong order. RPSC's key makes Mahi Kanchan the maize and RCB 911 the bajra.
"Respectively" ties each crop to the variety in the same position, so a reversed pair is a different answer.
Concept
A crop variety is a named line of a crop released for cultivation. ICAR's pearl millet project compiles two tables: hybrids, each given with its two parent lines, and open-pollinated varieties, listed without a parent cross.
In 2021-22 bajra was Rajasthan's largest kharif cereal by area: 43.30 lakh hectares, 15.78 percent of the state's gross cropped area. Maize covered 9.52 lakh hectares, 3.47 percent.
In production, the state harvested 43.14 lakh tonnes of bajra and 19.85 lakh tonnes of maize in 2021-22, per the Directorate of Economics & Statistics' Agricultural Statistics of Rajasthan, 2021-22.
RPSC's 2023 Prelims syllabus lists "Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry and Animal Husbandry with special reference to Rajasthan" under Science & Technology, and "Major Crops- Wheat, Maize, Barley, Cotton, Sugarcane & Bajra" under the Geography of Rajasthan.
In ICAR's pearl millet list, the RHB 90 hybrid and the RCB 2 variety come from Rajasthan centres at Durgapura and Jobner.
The two crops also yield differently. Crop-cutting experiments in Rajasthan in 2021-22 gave 2,085 kg per hectare for maize and 996 kg per hectare for bajra.
Key facts
- In Rajasthan in 2021-22, bajra covered 43.30 lakh ha (15.78% of gross cropped area) and maize 9.52 lakh ha (3.47%).
- Rajasthan's 2021-22 production: bajra 43.14 lakh tonnes, maize 19.85 lakh tonnes (Agricultural Statistics of Rajasthan, 2021-22).
- RCB 2, bred at Jobner, was notified on 18 November 1985 as an open-pollinated pearl millet variety for Rajasthan (ICAR-AICRP on Pearl Millet).
- RHB 90, a pearl millet hybrid bred at ARS Durgapura, Jaipur, was notified on 13 September 2000 for Rajasthan.
- Crop-cutting experiments in Rajasthan, 2021-22: maize yielded 2,085 kg/ha and bajra 996 kg/ha.
Mahi Kanchan takes the first position and RCB 911 the second.
Study next
Common traps
- Three options start with maize, so the first crop does not separate them. The second position decides.
- Option (4) has the right two crops reversed. "Respectively" fixes each crop to the variety in the same position.
- Barley and bajra are different crops: barley is a rabi cereal, bajra a kharif one. Check which one the variety belongs to.
A question can name two varieties and ask for their crops in order, as this one does.
A question can also ask which crop a single named variety belongs to, where a variety was bred, or whether it is a hybrid or an open-pollinated variety.
Related PYQs
In the year 2021-22, contribution of Rajasthan in total production of Bajra in the country (in percentage) was
- (1) 46.30
- (2) 87.69
- (3) 38.98
- (4) 34.69
Answer(3)
Same crop, bajra, from the production side. That item asks Rajasthan's percentage contribution to India's bajra production in 2021-22 (RPSC's key: option (3), 38.98); this one names a bajra variety.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
RCB 2, notified in 1985 for Rajasthan, is an open-pollinated variety of which crop ?
- (a)Pearl millet (Bajra)
- (b)Maize
- (c)Barley
- (d)Wheat
Answer(1) — ICAR's All India Coordinated Research Project on Pearl Millet lists RCB 2, bred at Jobner and notified on 18 November 1985, among open-pollinated pearl millet varieties. Options (2) maize, (3) barley and (4) wheat are other cereals, not pearl millet. - practice — not a real PYQ
In Rajasthan in 2021-22, which kharif cereal covered the largest gross area ?
- (a)Bajra
- (b)Maize
- (c)Jowar
- (d)Rice
Answer(1) — Bajra covered 43.30 lakh hectares. Option (2), maize, covered 9.52 lakh hectares; option (3), jowar, 6.20 lakh hectares; option (4), rice, 1.96 lakh hectares (Agricultural Statistics of Rajasthan, 2021-22).