Unit 4: Components and practices in natural farming - Practice Quiz

1 Which feature of traditional Indian agriculture was widely appreciated by European observers?

2 Sir Albert Howard learned important agricultural lessons in India mainly by observing whom?

3 What does the integration of crops, trees, and animals on a farm mean?

4 Which material supplied by farm animals can directly support crop production?

5 What is a common benefit of growing trees along with crops?

6 What is crop rotation?

7 Which cropping approach involves growing two or more crops together in the same field?

8 What does biodiversity on a natural farm refer to?

9 How can flowering plants near crop fields support natural farming?

10 What is an indigenous seed variety?

11 From which plants should a farmer generally select seeds for the next season?

12 Which process converts crop residues and animal dung into a useful soil amendment?

13 Why are crop residues commonly used as mulch?

14 Which irrigation method delivers water slowly near the root zone?

15 What is rainwater harvesting?

16 Which renewable energy source can power a farm water pump during sunny periods?

17 Biogas on a natural farm is commonly produced from which material?

18 What type of feed is preferred for animals under natural farming?

19 Why are indigenous livestock breeds often preferred in natural farming?

20 Which practice supports animal health and welfare on a natural farm?

21 A European observer notes that an Indian village has maintained soil fertility for generations through mixed cropping, livestock integration, composting and community water tanks. Which conclusion is best supported by this observation?

22 Which field observation would provide the strongest evidence for the effectiveness of a long-established Indian agricultural technology?

23 A farmer grows cereals, keeps cattle and plants fodder trees. Which arrangement creates the most effective nutrient cycle?

24 On a small rainfed farm, trees are beginning to compete with crops for light and water. Which adjustment best preserves integration while reducing competition?

25 A farmer has experienced declining cereal yield and increasing weed pressure after growing the same cereal repeatedly. Which cropping-system change is most appropriate?

26 In sole crops, millet yields t/ha and pigeon pea yields t/ha. In an intercrop, they yield t/ha and t/ha, respectively. What is the land equivalent ratio?

27 A region receives uncertain rainfall and farmers want to reduce the risk of complete crop failure. Which approach is most suitable?

28 A natural farm has frequent aphid outbreaks because it consists of a single crop with bare boundaries. Which modification is most likely to improve biological pest regulation?

29 Two farms grow the same area of rice. Farm X uses one genetically uniform variety, while Farm Y uses several locally adapted rice varieties. Under variable weather, what advantage is Farm Y most likely to have?

30 A farmer wants to improve a local rainfed sorghum population without losing its adaptation to low-input conditions. Which selection method is most appropriate?

31 A farmer is producing seed of an indigenous cross-pollinated crop near another variety of the same crop. What should be done to maintain varietal purity?

32 A farm has weeds containing mature seeds, and the farmer wants to recycle them without spreading the weeds. Which treatment is most suitable?

33 A compost pile made almost entirely of dry cereal straw decomposes very slowly. What is the best corrective action?

34 A field on a gentle slope loses rainwater and topsoil through surface runoff. Which intervention would most directly address both problems?

35 A farm roof of m² receives mm of rainfall. If the collection efficiency is , approximately how much water can be harvested?

36 A farm produces cattle dung daily and currently uses firewood for cooking. Which renewable-energy option would provide the strongest combined benefit?

37 A solar pump can deliver more water than crops require during sunny hours. Which design best combines renewable energy with water conservation?

38 A pasture is becoming degraded because cattle graze the same area continuously. Which management change is most appropriate?

39 A farmer in a hot, drought-prone region must choose between a high-yielding exotic cattle breed and a moderately productive indigenous breed. Which criterion best supports natural farming?

40 Which animal-health plan is most consistent with preventive management under natural farming?

41 A European observer attributes the stability of an Indian farming system to indigenous tank irrigation and mixed cropping. Which evidence would most strongly support the claim that the stability resulted from technological design rather than merely favorable climate?

42 When using European observers' accounts to assess the excellence of indigenous Indian agriculture, which approach provides the most defensible historical conclusion?

43 Legumes fix kg N per year on an integrated farm. Animals consume residues containing kg N, excrete kg N, and composting retains of the excreted N. Ignoring deposition and purchased inputs, which interpretation of the farm nitrogen balance is correct?

44 In a rainfed crop-tree-livestock system, tree rows are reducing crop yield through both shade and competition for surface moisture. Which redesign best retains tree services while addressing both constraints?

45 An integrated farm produces tonnes of fodder dry matter annually. It reserves as soil mulch, and harvesting and storage lose of the remaining fodder. Each cow requires kg dry matter per day. With no purchased feed, what is the maximum whole-number stocking level?

46 In an intercrop, cereal yield is t/ha compared with a sole-cereal yield of t/ha, while pulse yield is t/ha compared with a sole-pulse yield of t/ha. What is the land equivalent ratio, and what does it imply?

47 A farmer rotates maize with sorghum and observes little reduction in a cereal root pathogen that survives on both crops. Which modification is most likely to disrupt the pathogen cycle while supporting natural soil fertility?

48 Two crops have yield variances and . A farmer allocates fractions and of land to them. Under which condition can diversification reduce whole-farm yield variance below a similarly scaled weighted average of the separate variances?

49 Four farms each contain four crop species with relative abundances shown below. Which farm has the greatest Shannon diversity, where ?

50 A flower strip increases arthropod species richness but also supports an alternate host of the farm's major viral disease. Which redesign best applies functional biodiversity rather than maximizing richness alone?

51 A farmer maintains a heterogeneous indigenous millet population using seed from 100 mother plants, but half of the next generation's seed comes from only five high-yielding plants. What is the principal long-term risk?

52 A landrace is being improved for drought tolerance, but farmers also want to preserve adaptation across variable seasons. Which seed-selection strategy best balances gain and resilience?

53 A compost mixture contains kg of dry straw with a C:N ratio of and kg of dry manure with a C:N ratio of . Assuming equal carbon fractions in both materials, what is the approximate combined C:N ratio?

54 A natural farm intends to recycle manure from animals recently affected by an enteric disease. Which protocol most effectively combines nutrient recovery with biosecurity?

55 A farm exports grain every year, imports no phosphorus, and returns all crop residues and animal manure to its fields. Which statement about phosphorus sustainability is correct?

56 A farm receives mm of seasonal rainfall. Contour bunding reduces runoff from to of rainfall, but only of the additional infiltration remains available in the root zone. If irrigation application efficiency is , what gross irrigation withdrawal can the stored water potentially replace?

57 A high-rainfall farm has slowly permeable clay soil, a shallow perched water table, and crop losses from prolonged saturation. Which intervention is most appropriate?

58 A solar pump must lift m³ of water per day through a total head of m. Pump efficiency is , controller efficiency is , peak-sun duration is h/day, and panel derating is . Using kg/m³ and m/s², what minimum array rating is closest?

59 A farm can burn crop residues for heat, digest wet manure for biogas, or return materials to the soil. Which resource-use sequence best aligns renewable energy production with natural-farming principles?

60 A farmer interprets natural animal rearing as requiring no vaccines, quarantine, or veterinary treatment. Which management plan is most consistent with natural farming and animal welfare?