Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
(
Allium
), Alfalfa (
Medicago sativa
), Rice (
Oryza
sativa
), Potato (
Solanum tuberosum
), Soybean
(
Glycine max
), Millet (
Eleusine coracana
), Cotton
(
Gossypium
spp.), Sunflower (
Helianuthus
spp.),
Wheat (
Triticum
spp.), and Apple (
Malus
spp.).
(3) 'The place of origin of crops, their history and evo-
lution are events from the past and therefore have no
relevance to modern plant breeding' True or False?
Discuss your answer.
(4) Many believe that civilization (of man) started
with the beginnings of agriculture. Basically there
are two forms of agriculture: (1) rearing animals
for meat, milk etc. and (2) raising crops for
human or animal feed. No one knows which form
of agriculture evolved first (or maybe both types
started together). Explain why (in your opinion)
one form came before the other or both forms
evolved at the same time.
(5) A combination of natural selection, and selec-
tion directed by plant breeders (early and modern)
has influenced the crops we now grow. List five
charactereristics that mankind has selected which
would not have been selected by a natural evolution
process
(6) Have modern plant breeders improved the genetic
fitness of our agricultural crop species, or have they
simply selected plant types that are more suited to
modern agricultural systems?
