Food Production
ICSE Class 8 · Biology · Chapter 9
What this chapter covers
- Where our food comes from
- Microbes in the food industry
- Crops
- Horticulture
- Organic farming and the Green Revolution
- Animal husbandry
- Fish farming, sericulture and apiculture
Key points
- Food production means growing crops, raising animals and using microbes to obtain food and other useful products.
- Lactobacillus turns milk into curd by changing lactose into lactic acid; bacteria also help make cheese, idli batter, vinegar and some vaccines.
- Mushrooms are edible fungi grown on straw; wild mushrooms can be poisonous.
- Yeast gives out carbon dioxide, which makes bread and bhatura dough rise.
- Food crops feed people; cash crops are sold for money. Kharif crops grow in the monsoon and rabi crops in winter.
- Horticulture is the growing of fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants; floriculture is its flower branch.
- The Green Revolution raised grain output with high-yielding seeds, irrigation, fertilisers and pesticides, but harmed soil and water in places.
- Organic farming uses manure, compost, crop rotation and natural pest control instead of chemicals.
- Animal husbandry is the care of useful domestic animals: milch animals give milk, draught animals do heavy work, and poultry give eggs and meat.
- The White Revolution, through dairy co-operatives, made India one of the largest milk producers in the world.
- Pisciculture is fish farming, sericulture is silkworm rearing for silk, and apiculture is beekeeping for honey and wax.
Questions answered
Name the bacterium that changes milk into curd, and state what it produces from milk sugar.
Lactobacillus. It changes lactose (milk sugar) into lactic acid, which sets the milk and makes it sour.
Why does bread dough rise when yeast is added to it?
Yeast feeds on the sugar in the dough and gives out carbon dioxide gas. Bubbles of the gas get trapped in the dough and make it swell.
Why should you never eat a mushroom picked in the wild?
Some wild mushrooms are poisonous and look very much like edible ones. Only farm-grown mushrooms from shops are safe.
Distinguish between food crops and cash crops, with two examples of each.
Food crops are grown mainly to feed people, such as rice and gram. Cash crops are grown mainly to be sold for money, such as cotton and jute.
Is wheat a kharif or a rabi crop? Give a reason.
Wheat is a rabi crop, because it is sown in winter, around October and November, and harvested in spring.
What is floriculture? Name two flowers grown on a large scale in India.
Floriculture is the growing of flowers and decorative plants for sale. Marigold and rose are two such flowers.
State two benefits and two problems of the Green Revolution.
Benefits: India grew enough grain to feed its own people and no longer had to depend on buying wheat from other countries, and farmers harvested much more grain from the same land. Problems: heavy use of chemicals harmed the soil and water, and overuse of tube wells lowered the water table.
What is the White Revolution, and who led it?
The White Revolution is the large increase in milk production in India brought about by dairy co-operatives under Operation Flood. Dr Verghese Kurien led it.