Question

New world crops shifted to India by North and South America are
A) Cashew nut, mango, tea
B) Cashew nut, rubber, potato
C) Mango, tea, coffee
D) Coffee, tea and cashew nut

Answer 1

New world crops are those crops which were native to the western world especially America. These were initially not found anywhere else . Now a days various methods are adopted for the growth of better crops such as plant breeding

Complete answer:

New crops are those crops or foods which were native to the new world ( mostly to Americans ) before 1492 CE and not found anywhere else at that given period.
The new world had developed agriculture by the time of 8000 BC. The first crop to be domesticated was SQUASH.
In 5000 BC peanut and avocados were domesticated. During 4000 BC sea island cotton and common bean were domesticated.
Many of these crops are now grown in other parts of the world and have become a part of the parcel of their daily lives.
Some important crops among them are maize, winter squash and climbing beans.
List of new crops is as followed :
Cereal – little barley, maize
Pseudocereal – amarnath, chia, goosefoot
Fruit – acerola, avocado, blueberry, cashew apple, cherimoya, curuba, custard apple, strawberry, guava, huckleberry, papaya, passionfruit, tomato, tomatillo, tucum
Seed – achiote, guarana
Beans – cocoa bean, common bean
Boll – cotton
Root – arrowroot, camas root, cassava
Nut – cashew, pecan, black walnut
Wood - logwood

Plant breeding can be defined as a practice in which a plant species is altered genotypically in order to obtain desired changes with respect to better yields, disease resistance and more nutritive value. The primary objective of the plant breeding is to produce new crop varieties superior to existing types in all the desirable characters.

The main steps for developing new varieties of crops are:
i) Collection of variability(Germplasm): Genetic variability is the foundation of any breeding programme. The germplasm of any crop species would consist of the following types of material:
(i) Cultivated improved varieties.
(ii) Improved varieties that are no more in cultivation. (iii) Old local or 'desi' varieties.
(iv) Lines produced by plant breeders, and
(v) Wild species related to the crop species.

ii) Evaluation and selection of parent plants : The germplasm is evaluated so as to identify plants with desirable combinations of characters. The chosen plants are multiplied and used in the process of hybridisation. Purelines are created wherever desirable and possible. Selection is based on desirable characters from a given population of plants based on phenotypic traits.

iii) Cross hybridization among the selected parents: Incorporation of characters of two or more desirable species or varieties or even genera into a single synthetic one (hybrid) by employing the method of artificial pollination is called hybridisation.

iv) Selection and testing of superior recombinants( or hybrids) : Those hybrids which got derived after cross hybridisation and possessing the desired character combination are selected.

v) Testing, release and commercialisation of new cultivars : The newly selected lines are evaluated at various research stations located under diverse climatic conditions. The ideal growth conditions are maintained in research fields with regard to irrigation, fertilizer, application, eliminating weeds from the fields, etc.

Hence the correct answer is option (B) i.e. Cashew nut, rubber, potato

Note: The major common objectives of plant breeding are:
1. High yield
2. Better quality
3. Disease resistance
4.Early maturity
5. Dwarfing
6. Removal of toxic compounds
7. Abiotic resistance.