Question

What are the adverse effects of using high yielding varieties of seeds?
A. They are expensive.
B. They require lots of water for irrigation.
C. They have low productivity.
D. Both A and B.

Answer 1

The high-yielding crops or HYV crops are modified crops that give better quality production at a high rate. They are shorter in height and require special irrigation facilities. Also, small scale farmers cannot afford to buy them. Also, HYV cops have high productivity and they respond to fertilizers more rapidly.

Complete answer:
The high yield varieties of seeds are designed to be dwarf to retain strength in plants and they have early maturation. The early maturation quality allows the farmer to raise additional crops in their spare time. The high yield crops as their name suggests are seeds boosting the yield per hectare at a faster rate thus benefiting the productivity and quality of crops. Another important advantage of HYV seeds is they respond to fertilizers in a better way than the normal crops. The yield of HYV seeds increases substantially when fertilizers are applied. With so many benefits and advantages, the HYV crops pose a threat to the environment and have some major drawbacks. The HYV crops are modified and technically are of superior quality, but with advancement, the rates of the crop also get raised. The HYV crops are way much more expensive than traditional or normal crops. Small scale farmers cannot afford them. The HYV crops require special irrigation facilities. They require more water as compared to normal crops. The increased water requirement for HYV seeds decreases the water table levels. Also, they require more fertilizers to grow healthy. But an elevated level of fertilizers decreases the soil fertility over time and poses threat to the environment. The harmful chemicals in fertilizers enter along with water into water bodies from the fields.
Therefore, the right answer is option D.

Note: Although HYV crops give better productivity and higher quality yield, they have many disadvantages. These drawbacks should not be avoided as they cause harm to the environment. Eutrophication that is caused by field runoff containing high fertilizer levels leads to deterioration of water bodies. Thus, they should be used in limited cases.