Passage

It is hard to predict how changes in the climate and the atmosphere’s chemistry will affect the prevalence and virulence of agricultural diseases. But there is a risk that such changes will make some plant infections more common in all climatic zones, perhaps catastrophically so. Part of the problem is that centuries of selective breeding have refined the genomes of most high-value crops. They are spectacular at growing in today’s conditions but genetic variations that are not immediately useful to them have been bred out. This is good for yields but bad for coping with changes. A minor disease or even an unknown one could suddenly rampage through a genetically honed crop.

QUESTION

CSAT

Medium

Comprehension

Prelims 2025

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

I. Global climate change can result in the migration of several plant diseases to new areas. II. Scientific understanding of the wild relatives of our present crops would enable us to strengthen food security.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?

Select an option to attempt

Explanation

Assumption I is valid: The passage states that climate change may make some plant infections more common in all climatic zones. This implies that diseases can spread or migrate to new areas due to climate change.

Assumption II is valid: The passage explains that selective breeding has removed genetic variation needed for resilience. This implicitly suggests that studying and using the genetic diversity found in wild relatives could help strengthen crop resilience and thus food security.