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List four components of a blight control programme for maincrop potatoes - Leaving Cert Agricultural Science - Question 6 - 2010
Question 6
List four components of a blight control programme for maincrop potatoes. Give four reasons why scutch grass (Agropyron repens) is considered by tillage farmers to ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:List four components of a blight control programme for maincrop potatoes - Leaving Cert Agricultural Science - Question 6 - 2010
Step 1
List four components of a blight control programme for maincrop potatoes.
Answer
- Sow certified seed that is free from blight.
- Eliminate any volunteers and resistant varieties from the previous harvest.
- Implement a spray program early in the growth season using suitable fungicides.
- Monitor weather alerts closely and spray at intervals of not more than every 10 days.
Step 2
Give four reasons why scutch grass (Agropyron repens) is considered by tillage farmers to be a troublesome weed.
Answer
- Scutch grass spreads quickly through underground rhizomes, making eradication difficult.
- It can crowd out desirable crops by competing for nutrients and water.
- The plant is resilient and can regrow from small pieces left in the soil.
- Effective control methods like glyphosate may not always work, leading to reliance on mechanical methods like tillage.
Step 3
Step 4
(ii) nitrogen fixation.
Answer
Nitrogen fixation is the process where nitrogen from the atmosphere is converted into nitrates or other compounds that plants can absorb. This is often accomplished by certain bacteria, which either live freely in the soil or in symbiosis with the roots of legume plants.
Step 5
Describe how you would calculate the 1000 grain weight of a cereal.
Answer
To calculate the 1000 grain weight, you would:
- Collect a sample of the cereal grain, ideally from different areas to ensure accuracy.
- Remove any damaged grains from the sample.
- Count out exactly 1000 clean grains using a scale.
- Weigh the 1000 grains and record the weight, which will be your 1000 grain weight.