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Syllabus Outline Prelim ARS
Syllabus Outline Prelim ARS
For
February – 2010
History of agricultural development in India. Current production utilization and growth trends of
agricultural commodities in India and abroad. Current issues, constraints, mitigation strategies,
developmental programmes, legislations, frontier research areas, infrastructural development,
plant genetics and breeding science developments, genetic engineering, biotechnology and GM
crops. Agricultural microbiology, plant physiology, pest and disease science research and
development. Status of Indian horticulture, fruits, vegetables, floriculture, post –harvest quality
issues, value chain, quality seed production. Seed certification laws, hybrid technology,
quarantine and SPS issues, plant genetic resources, plant variety protection (IPRs). biodiversity
and Nano-biotechnology. Bioinformatics.
Part B :
1. CROP IMPROVEMENT
General Genetics. Mendelian inheritance, Genome organization, cytogenetics, reproductive
systems, plant breeding traditional and contemporary methods. Plant classification, description
and economic use of field crops. Evolution, biometrical and population genetics.
Biotechnological tools for crop improvement, plant genetic resources, regulatory system,
conservation, utilization, crop husbandry, seed biology, seed processing, seed quality control,
seed production methods, seed storage, health, growth of seed industry, seed certification and
seed laws
2. CROP PROTECTION
Pests, diseases and abiotic agents causing losses. Systematics, morphology, embryology,
ecology, toxicology, modern approaches of management of pest and diseases; IPM of important
pests, diseases, nematodes and others organisms attacking crop plants and vectors of plant
diseases. Useful organisms- Honey bees and bee keeping, lack insect and silk worm. mycology
and plant pathology, plant bacteriology, virology, abiotic diseases: diagnostics, epidemiology,
forecasting, principles of plant pathology and diseases management. Plant Nematology: ecology,
techniques, plant–nematode relationships, nematode, physiology, cytology and management,
Pesticides: groups, mode of action, application methods and pesticide interactions. Host plant
resistance and biological control.
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3. BASIC PLANT SCIENCES.
Cell organelles, water relations, metabolic processes and growth regulation, crop productivity
and modeling, mineral nutrition, climate and climate change, physiology of flowering,
reproduction, seed, post - harvest physiology, morphogenesis, tissue culture, genetic
transformation, enzymes, vitamins, hormones, cell structure and function, biomolecules,
metabolism, molecular genetics, gene expression, techniques, gene cloning, plant genetic
engineering, molecular markers, genomics, metabolism engineering, gene regulation and related
topics of plant biotechnology, history of microbiology, microbial ecology and physiology, soil
environment microbiology, taxonomy, techniques in microbiology, biofertilizers and microbial
biotechnology, Production of bio-agents and bio-fertilizers.
4. HORTICULTURE.
Fundamentals of horticulture, orchards management, nursery management and seed production.
Breeding of horticultural crops, improvement of fruits and plantation crops. Importance of fruits
and vegetable in human nutrition. Contribution of horticulture in national economy and exports.
Programmes of development, growth and development, physiology of flowering, fruit set and
development, parthenocarpy and seedlessness, maturity and ripening, plant growth regulators
and their role. Importance of vegetables and spices, hybrid seed production, breeding strategies
for vegetables, tuber crops, potato and spices, biotic and abiotic stress breeding, biotechnological
tools for breeding. Micropropagation, meristem culture, ovule culture, in vitro pollination.
Green house management, stionic relations and rootstocks. Protected cultivation for improved
productivity – vegetables and flowers. Floriculture and landscaping, production technology for
indoor plants, flower arrangements, value addition, commercial floriculture, gardening and turf
management, dry flowers and potted plants. Medicinal and aromatic plants of importance and
their management. Importance of post harvest handling in horticultural crops, physiology of
fruits, vegetables and flowers after harvest. Different methods of storage, cool chain
management, processing, packaging, quality assurance, storage management.
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II. VETERINARY SCIENCES
Historical developments in veterinary and animal sciences, Role of livestock sector in Indian
agriculture, Current scenario of livestock and poultry production, health and epidemiology of
diseases including emerging and exotic diseases, Knowledge on current issues and development
programmes, Constraints in animal production systems, International organizations, policies and
regulations on animal health, production and trade, Climate change and its effects on animals and
relationship, contemporary advances in research and development : Animal anatomy,
physiology, gynqeacology & obstetrics, veterinary clinical and preventive medicine, surgery &
radiology, bacteriology, virology, parasitology, veterinary public health, pathology,
immunology, pharmacology & toxicology, animal ethics & veterinary jurisprudence, animal
production, animal genetics & breeding, livestock products technology including dairy sciences,
poultry sciences and cutting –egde sciences such as biochemistry, biotechnology and its use for
growth of animal sciences.
Part B:
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7. CLINICAL VETERINARY SCIENCES.
Veterinary gynaecology and obstetrics, reproductive cycles in farm animals, Reproductive
endocrinology, Gestation and reproductive disorders and infertility in animals: Andrology, Male
fertility, Frozen semen technology, Artificial insemination, Assisted reproductive technologies,
micromanipulation of embryo, Animal surgery and radiology, anaesthesia, orthopastic surgery
and lameness, Thoracic surgery and surgery of other systems / organs, General agents of
veterinary medicine and preventative medicine, Gastroenterology, Diseases of cardio-vascular
and pulmonary systems, urinary and nervous systems. Legislations and veterinary jurisprudence,
common toxicities and deficiency problems and metabolic diseases, Food and environmental
hygiene.
8. ANIMAL PRODUCTION
Livestock production systems, changing trends, Mendelian genetics, cytogenetics, molecular /
biochemical / population / quantitative genetics, mating systems, Breeding methods in animals,
poultry, conservation of genetic resources, lab animal breeding, Animal nutrition, lactation, Feed
evaluation and feed processing, Breeding / feeding / reproduction management, shelter / health
management, Methiogenesis and interventions poultry science, animal / poultry product
technology and management. Livestock population dynamics in India, Animal production
systems, Adaptation, Breeding policies, different breeds, Nutritional requirement, Marketing of
livestock and their products.
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III. FISHERIES SCIENCES
Fisheries resources of world and India; Importance of commercial fishery in India and its impact
on rural economy; Fisheries and aquaculture related developmental programmes in India;
Domestic and export marketing of fish and fishery products, trends, channels, mechanisms, trade
and non-trade barriers; Contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to the food, income, GDP and
livelihood securities; Common property resource management in fisheries and aquaculture;
Protection of national biodiversity; Principles of fish genetics – Mendelian genetics, laws of
inheritance, linkage and mutation; Fish biotechnology – structure of DNA and its replication,
DNA repair, genetic code and protein synthesis, transgenics and their implications; Common fish
diseases; Feeding behavior of fish, fish food organisms - phytoplankton and zooplankton, feed
management in aquaculture; Institutional finance in fisheries; Fisheries extension methods and
approaches.
Part B:
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10. FISH HARVEST AND POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY
Craft and gear technology in fisheries; Fish catching methods; Code of Conduct for Responsible
Fisheries; Fish processing technology – fish handling, grading, chilling, freezing, canning and
packaging; Machinery for handling and processing; Principles and methods of fish preservation,
sanitary and phytosanitary requirements for maintenance of quality; Quality management of fish
and fishery products; Transportation and marketing; Microbial contamination of fish and
methods of prevention; Fish biochemistry – major and minor constituents of fish – proteins,
carbohydrates, lipids and fatty acid profiles, vitamins and minerals, post -mortem changes in
fish; National and international organizations for food standards; Processing engineering,
refrigeration cycle, cold store, processing unit construction and management; Water budgeting;
Waste management.
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IV. NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
PART B:
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12. AGRONOMY AND AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY
Concepts of Agronomy, constraints in crop production, distribution of crops, their relation with
environment; Sustainable agriculture; Farming systems, cropping systems, cultural practices,
crop relation, Hitech precision farming, greenhouse production technology; Crop management
and principles of growing crops, weed management, herbicides, GM crops, soil management,
dryland farming; Evapotranspiration and water management; Agricultural meteorology,
elements of weather and climate effect on growth and yield of crops, cardinal temperature,
photo- and thermo- periodism, contingency planning, agro-ecological zoning, micrometeorology;
Crop protection from biotic and abiotic stresses, input use-efficiency, newer concepts in NRM,
field designs to plan experiments.
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V. SOCIAL SCIENCES
Role of agriculture in economic development of the country, growth analysis, planning models.
Changes in cropping pattern, capital formation, infrastructure, transfer of technology, Agro-
economic theories, liberalization, agri-business systems, agro-processing, farm machinery,
public distribution system, issues and challenges in marketing system. Agricultural trade
structure in India, family resource management, decision making, entrepreneurship management,
consumer education and managements, panchayat raj, agricultural communication and extension,
development of agriculture extension in India, scope and role of agricultural extension/
veterinary extension/ home science extension/ dairy extension/ fisheries extension etc., Farming
systems research and networking, ICT, agriculture extension management, research
methodologies in extension education, agriculture human resource development. Statistical
methods including descriptive statistics, correlation and regression and tests of hypothesis.
Computer applications in social sciences/agriculture.
Part –B
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16. AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
Classification, tabulation and presentation of data. Measures of central tendency and dispersion,
moments, skewness and kurtosis. Elements of probability theory, laws of probability.
Mathematical expectation. Probability distributions − binomial, Poisson, normal distributions
and their applications. Sampling distributions − t, chi-square and F. Tests of significance based
on Z, t, Chi-square and F distributions. Point and confidence interval estimation. Testing of
hypothesis − two types of errors, level of significance and power of a test. Correlation,
Regression analysis, partial and multiple correlation. Coefficient of determination. Multivariate
normal distribution, Hotelling T2, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, principal component
analysis. Non-parametric tests − sign test, run test, Wilcoxon test, Mann-Whitney U-test.
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Definition of computer, its characteristics and uses. Speed and processing power of a computer.
Number systems − decimal, octal, binary and hexadecimal. Central Processing Unit (CPU) − the
control unit, arithmetic logic unit and register. Input and output units. Organizing and accessing
stored data− field, record and file. File organization −sequential, direct and indexed file.
Multimedia-requirements and applications. Operating system (OS)-functions, Windows. Word
Processing, spreadsheets. Networking − need, basic components. Connecting computers − local
area networks, wide area networks. TCP/IP, HTTP protocols. Value added network services-
Email, on-line services, Internet, etc.
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VI. AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Historical background and current status of agricultural engineering education in India, important
Indian Organizations/institutions related with agricultural engineering; role of farm
mechanization in crop production; different types of farm equipment, IC engines; Indian tractor
industry; engineering properties of biological materials; unit operations in agricultural
processing; machinery for crop processing; types of farm structures; soil and water conservation
measures; soil erosion; hydrologic cycle, principles of fluid mechanics, methods of irrigation,
types of irrigation pumps; instruments and methods for measuring temperature, pressure, RH,
soil/grain moisture, radiation, fluid flow, engine power, electrical energy, etc; renewable
sources of energy; basics of computer hardware and operating systems; elementary statistics.
Part –B
Farm mechanization in India; status of power availability for crop production in India; soil
dynamics in tillage and traction, precision agriculture, tillage implements, equipment for
conservation agriculture, seed drills/planters, plant protection equipment, harvesting and
threshing equipment; thermodynamics of I.C. engines; tractors and systems; power tillers;
hydraulic power and controls; machine elements; renewable energy sources and conversion
systems and applications. Energy requirements in agriculture production; ergonomics and
safety in agriculture; testing and performance of tractors and farm machinery; costing of tractor-
implement system.
Engineering properties and quality of biomaterials, aerodynamics, food quality. Post harvest unit
operations, grading, premilling/conditioning treatments, cleaning, washing etc., Process
technology and machinery, functional and structural designs, Material handling, packaging
materials and characteristics. Transport, storage engineering. Thermodynamics, Heat and mass
transfer, fluid mechanics, PHT project planning and agriculture business management. Process
control software and hardware.
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20. LAND AND WATER ENGINEERING
Status of water resources in India. Methods of irrigation, water use efficiency.; principles of
surface and ground water flow; aquifer types and parameters; soil moisture, soil-plant-water
relationships; water movement through soil-plant system, crop coefficient and irrigation
requirement; hydrologic cycle; hydraulics of open channel and pipe flow; wells and irrigation
pumps; drainage design and construction; soil erosion and its control; watershed constructions;
land leveling machinery
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VII. DAIRY SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
PART B
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23. DAIRY ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Status of dairy Industry in India. Principles and practices of production of high quality milk.
Method of raw milk procurement and preservation. Physical properties and chemical
composition of milk of various species. Standardization of milk. Centerifugal separation,
clarification and bactofugation, pasteurization, sterilization, UHT processing and asceptic
packaging. Basic principles in production, processing and marketing of special milks, cream,
butter, butter oil, ghee, ice-cream and frozen products, different types of cheese and fermented
milks. PFA, BIS, AGMARK standards for milk and milk products. Properties of important dairy
detergents and sanitizers. Basic principles of heat transfer. Common heat exchangers used in
dairy plants. Constructional and operational features of cream separator, clarifier, homogenizer,
butter and cheese making equipments. Steam generation, boilers and their accessories, vapour
compression refrigeration system elements and controls, defrosting and condensers. Ion
exchangers in water softening and demineralization operations in dairy plant. Waste water
treatment and pollution control laws.
Note: -There is no separate syllabus for the disciplines of Basic Engineering and Textile Sciences
for ARS Examination-2010. The syllabus of the disciplines of Basic Engineering and Textile Sciences
of ARS Main Examination-2010 will be adopted for drawing papers for Prelim ARS Examination-2010
and ARS Main Examination-2010.
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