(IFS) IFS Examination Plan (Optional Subjects)

IFS : IFS Examination Plan

Optional Subjects

Total number of questions in the question papers of optional subjects will be eight. All questions will carry equal marks. Each paper will be divided into two parts, viz. Part A and Part B, each part containing four questions. Out of eight questions, five questions are to be attempted. One question in each part will be compulsory. Candidates will be required to answer three more questions out of the remaining six questions, taking at least one question from each Part. In this way, at least two questions will be attempted from each Part i.e. one compulsory question plus one more.

Agriculture

Paper-I

Ecology and its relevance to man, natural resources, their sustainable management and conservation. Physical and social environment as factors of crop distribution and production. Climatic elements as factors of crop growth, impact of changing environment on cropping pattern as indicators of environments. Environmental pollution and associated hazards to crops, animals, and humans.

Cropping pattern in different agro-climatic zones of the country. Impact of high-yielding and short-duration varieties on shifts in cropping pattern. Concepts of multiple cropping, multistorey, relay and inter-cropping, and their importance in relation to food production. Package of practices for production of important cereals, pulses, oil seeds, fibres, sugar, commercial and fodder crops grown during Kharif and Rabi seasons in different regions of the country.

Important features, scope and propagation of various types of forestry plantations such as extension, social forestry, agro-forestry, and natural forests.

Weeds, their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their multiplication; cultural, biological and chemical control of weeds.

Soil-physical, chemical and biological properties. Processes and factors of soil formation. Modern classification of Indian soils, Mineral and organic constituents of soils and their role in maintaining soil productivity. Essential plant nutrients and other beneficial elements in soils and plants. Principles of soil fertility and its evaluation for judicious fertiliser use, integrated nutrient management. Losses of nitrogen in soil, nitrogen-use efficiency in submerged rice soils, nitrogen fixation in soils. Fixation of phosphorus and potassium in soils and the scope for their efficient use. Problem soils and their reclamation methods.

Soil conservation planning on watershed basis. Erosion and run-off management in hilly, foot hills, and valley lands; processes and factors affecting them. Dryland agriculture and its problems. Technology of stabilising agriculture production in rainfed agriculture area.

Water-use efficiency in relation to crop production, criteria for scheduling irrigations, ways and means of reducing run-off losses of irrigation water. Drip and sprinkler irrigation. Drainage of water-logged soils, quality of irrigation water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution.

Farm management, scope, important and characteristics, farm planning. Optimum resources use and budgeting. Economics of different types of farming systems.

Marketing and pricing of agricultural inputs and outputs, price fluctuations and their cost; role of co-operatives in agricultural economy; types and systems of farming and factors affecting them.

Agricultural extension, its importance and role, methods of evaluation of extension programmes, socio-economic survey and status of big, small, and marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers; farm mechanization and its role in agricultural productioin and rural employment. Training programmes for extension workers; lab-to-land programmes.

Paper-II

Cell Theory, cell structure, cell organelles and their function, cell division, nucleic acids-structure and function, gene structure and function. Laws of heredity, their significance in plant breeding. Chromosome structure, chromosomal aberrations, linkage and cross-over, and their significance in recombination breeding. Polyploidy, euploid and an euploids. Mutation-micro and macro-and their role in crop improvement. Variation, components of variation. Heritability, sterility and incompatibility, classification and their application in crop improvement. Cytoplasmic inheritance, sex-linked, sex-influenced and sex-limited characters.

History of plant breeding. Modes of reproduction, selfing and crossing techniques. Origin and evolution of crop plants, centre of origin, law of homologous series, crop genetic resources-conservation and utilization. Application of principles of plant breeding to the improvement of major field crops. Pure-line selection, pedigree, mass and recurrent selections, combining ability, its significance in plant breeding. Hybrid vigour and its exploitation, backcross method of breeding, breeding for disease and pest resistance, role of interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. Role of biotechnology in plant breeding. Improved varieties, hybrids, composites of various crop plants.

Seed technology, its importance. Different kinds of seeds and their seed production and processing techniques. Role of public and private sectors in seed production, processing and marketing in India .

Physiology and its significance in agriculture. Imbibition, surface tension, diffusion and osmosis. Absorption and translocation of water, transpiration and water economy.

Enzymes and plant pigments; photosynthesis-modern concepts and factors affecting the process, aerobic and nonaerobic respiration; C, C and CAM mechanisms. Carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism.

Growth and development; photoperiodism and vernalization. Auxins, hormones, and other plant regulators and their mechanism of action and importance in agriculture. Physiology of seed development and germination; dormancy.

Climatic requirements and cultivation of major fruits, plants, vegetable crops and flower plants; the package of practices and their scientific basis. Handling and marketing problems of fruit and vegetables. Principal methods of preservation of important fruits and vegetable products, processing techniques and equipment. Role of fruits and vegetables in human nutriton. Raising of ornamental plants, and design and layout of lawns and gardens.

Diseases and pests of field vegetables, orchard and plantation crops of India . Causes and classification of plant pests and diseases. Principles of control of plant pests and diseases Biological control of pests and diseases. Integrated pest and disease management. Epidemiology and forecasting.

Pesticides, their formulations and modes of action. Compatibility with rhizobial inoculants. Microbial toxins.

Storage pests and diseases of cereals and pulses, and their control.

Food production and consumption trends in India . National and international food policies. Production, procurement, distribution and processing constraints. Relation of food production to national dietary pattern, major deficiencies of calorie and protein.

Agricultural Engineering

Paper-I

Section A

1. Soil and Water Conservation : Scope of soil and water conservation. Mechanics and types of erosion, their causes. Rainfall, runoff and sedimentation relationships and their measurement. Soil erosion control measures - biological and engineering including stream bank protection-vegetative barriers, contour bunds, contour trenches, contour stone walls, contour ditches, terraces, outlets and grassed waterwyas. Gully control structures - temporary and permanent - design of permanent soil conservation structures such as chute, drop and drop inlet spillways. Design of farm ponds and percolation ponds. Principles of flood control-flood routing. Watershed Management - investigation, planning and implementation - selection of priority areas and water shed work plan, water harvesting and moisture conservation. Land development - levelling, estimation of earth volumes and costing. Wind Erosion process - design fo shelter belts and wind brakes and their management. Forest (Conservation) Act,

2. Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing : Basic characteristics of photographic images, interpretation keys, equipment for interpretation, imagery interpretation for land use, geology, soil and forestry.

Remote sensing - merits and demerits of conventional and remote sensing approaches. Types of satellite images, fundamentals of satellite image interpretation, teachniques of visual and digital interpretations for soil, water and land use management. Use of GIS in planning and development of watersheds, forests including forest cover, water resources etc.

Section B

3. Irrigation and Drainage : Sources of water for irrigation. Planning and design of minor irrigation projects. Techniques of measuring soil moisture - laboratory and in situ, Soil-water plant relationships. Water requirement of crops. Planning conjunctive use of surface and ground weater. Measurement of irrigation water, measuring devices - orifices, weirs and flumes. Methods of irrigation - surface, sprinkler and drip, fertigation. Irrigation efficiencies and their estimation. Design and construction of canals, field channels, underground pipelines, head-gates, diversion boxes and structures for road crossing.

Occurrence of ground water, hydraulics of wells, types of wells (tube wells and open wells) and their construction. Well development and testing. Pumps-types, selection and installation. Rehabilitation of sick and failed wells.

Drainage causes of waterlogging and salt problem. Methods of drainage— drainage of irrigated and unirrigated lands, design of surface, sub-surface and vertical drainage systems. Improvement and utilization of poor quality water. Reclamation of saline and alkali soils. Economics of irrigation and drainage systems. Use of waste water for irrigation — standards of waste water for sustained irrigation, feasibility and economics.

4. Agricultural Structures : Site selection, design and construction of farmstead - farm house, cattle shed, dairy bam, poultry shed, hog housing, machinery and implement shed, storage structures for food grains, feed and forage. Design and consturction of fences and farm roads. Structures for plant environment - green houses, poly houses and shade houses. Common building materials used in construction - timber, brick, stone, tiles, concrete etc and their properties. Water supply, drainage and sanitation system.

Paper-II

Section A

1. Farm Power and Machinery : Agricultural mechanization and its scope. Sources of farm power - animate and electro-mechanical. Thermodynamics, construction and working of internal combustion engines. Fuel, ignition, lubrication, cooling and governing system of IC engines. Different types of tractors and power tillers. Power tramsmission, ground drive, power take off (p.t.o.) and control systems. Operation and maintenance of farm machinery for primary and secondary tillage. Traction theory. Sowing transplanting and interculture implements and tools. Plant protection equipment - spraying and dusting. Harvesting, threshing and combining equipment. Machinery for earth moving and land development - methods and cost estimation. Ergonomics of man-machine system. Machinery for horticulture and agro-forestry, feeds and forages. Haulage of agricultural and forest produce.

2. Agro-energy : Energy requirements of agricultural operations and agro-processing. Selection, installation, safety and maintenance of electric motors for agricultural applications. Solar (thermal and photovoltoic), wind and bio-gas energy and their utilization in agriculture. Gasification of biomass for running IC engines and for electric power generation. Energy efficient cooking stoves and alternate cooking fuels. Distribution of electricity for agricultural and agro-industrial applications.

Section B

3. Agricultural Process Engineering : Post harvest technology of crops and its scope. Engineering properties of agricultural produces and by-products. Unit operations - clearning grading, size reduction, densification, concentration, drying/dehydration, evaporation, filtration, freezing and packaging of agricultural produces and by-products. Material handling equipment - belt and screw conveyors, bucket elevators, their capacity and power requirement.

Processing of milk and dairy products - homogenization, cream separation, pasteurization, sterilization, spray and roller drying, butter making, ice cream, cheese and shrikhand manufacture. Waste and by-product utilization - rice husk, rice bran, sugarcane bagasse, plant residues and coir pith.

4. Instrumentation and computer applications in Agricultural Engineering : Electronic devices and their characteristics - rectifiers, amplifiers, oscillators, multivibrators. Digital circuits — sequential and combinational system. Application of microprocessors in data acquisition and control of agricultural engineering processes- measurement systems for level, flow, strain, force, torque, power, pressure, vaccum and temperature. Computers — introduction, input/output devices, central processing unit, memory devices, operating systems, processors, keyboards and printers. Algorithms, flowchart specification, programme translation and problem analysis in Agricultural Engineering. Multimedia and Audio-Visual aids.

Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science

Paper-I

1. Animal Nutrition-Energy sources, energy, metabolism and requirements for maintenance and production of milk, meat, eggs and wool. Evaluation of feeds as sources of energy.

1.1. Trends in protein nutriton: sources of protein metabolism and synthesis, protein quantity and quality in relation to requirements. Energy protein ratios in ration.

1.2. Minerals in animal diet : Sources, functions, requirements and their relationship of the basic minerals nutrients including trace elements.

1.3. Vitamins, Hormones and Growth Stimulating, substances : Sources, functions, requirements and inter-relationship with minerlas.

1.4. Advances in Ruminant Nutrition-Dairy Cattle: Nutrients and their metabolism with reference to milk production and its composition. Nutrient requirements for calves, heifers, dry and milking cows and buffaloes. Limitations of various feeding systems.

1.5 Advances in Non-Rumiant Nutrition-Poultry-Nutrients and their metabolism with reference to poultry, meat and egg production, Nutrients requirements and feed formulation and broilers at different ages.

1.6 Advances in Non-Ruminant Nutrition-Swine-Nutrients and their metabolism with special reference to growth and quality of meat production, Nutrient requirement and feed formulation for baby-growing and finishing pigs.

1.7. Advances in Applied Animal Nutrition-A critical review and evalaution of feeding experiments, digestibility and balance studies. Feeding standards and measures of food energy. Nutrition requirements for growth, maintenance and production. Balanced rations.

2. Animal Physiology :

2.1 Growth and Animal Production :-Prenatal and postnatal growth, maturation, growth curves, measures of growth, factors affecting growth, conformation, body composition, meat quality.

2.2 Milk Production and Reproduction and Digestion : Current status of hormonal control of mammary development, milk secretion and milk ejection. Male and Female reproduction organ, their components and function. Digestive organs and their functions.

2.3 Environmental Physiology : Physiological relations and their regulation; mechanisms of adaption, environmental factors and regulatory mechanism involved in animal behaviour, methods of controlling climatic stress.

2.4 Semen quality : Preservation and Artificial Insemination-Components of semen, composition of spermatozoe, chemical and physical properties of ejaculated semen, factors affecting semen in vivo and in vitro. Factors affecting semen production and quality preservation, composition of diluents, sperm concentration, transport of diluted semen. Deep Freezing techniques in cows, sheep and goats, swine and poultry.

Detection of oestrus and time of insemination for better conception.

3. Livestock Production and Management :

3.1 Commercial Dairy Farming-Comparison of dairy farming in India with advanced countries. Dairying under fixed farming and as a specialised farming, economic dairy farming, Starting of a dairy farm. Capital and land requirement, organisation of the dairy farm.

Procurement of goods; opportunities in dairy farming, factors determining the efficiency of dairy animal, Herd recording, budgeting, cost of milk production; pricing policy; Personnel Management. Developing Practical and Economic ration for dairy cattle; supply of greens throughout the year, field and fodder requirements of Dairy Farm, Feeding regimes for day and young stock and bulls, heifers and breeding animals, new trends in feeding young and adult stock; Feeding records.

3.2. Commercial meat, egg and wool production: Development of practical and economic rations for sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits and poultry. Supply of greens, fodder, feeding regimens for young and mature stock. New trends in enhancing production and management. Capital and land requirements and socio-economic concept.

3.3. Feeding and management of animals under drought, flood and other natural calamities.

4. Genetics and Animal Breeding : Mitosis and Meiosis; Mendelian inheritance; deviations to Mendelian genetics; Expression of genes; Linkage and crossing over; Sex determination, sex influenced and sex limited characters; Blood groups and polymorphism; Chromosome abberations; Gene and its structure; DNA as a genetic material; Genetic code and protein synthesis; Recombinant DNA technology, Mutations, types of mutations, methods for detecting mutations and mutation rate.

4.1 Population Genetics Applied to Animal Breeding: Quantitative Vs. qualitative traits; Hardy Weinberg Law; Population Vs. individual; Gene and genotypic frequency; Forces changing gene frequency; Random drift and small populations; Theory of path coefficient; Inbreeding, methods of estimating inbreeding coefficient, systems of inbreeding; Effective population size; Breeding value, estimation of breeding value, dominance and epistatic deviation; partitioning of variation; Genotype X environment correlation and genotype X environment interaction; Role of multiple measurements; Resemblance between relatives.

4.2 Breeding Systems : Heritability, repeatability and genetic and phenotypic correlations, their methods of estimation and precision of estimates; Aids to selection and their relative merits; Individual, pedigree, family and within family selection; Progeny testing; Methods of selection; Construction of selection indices and their uses; Comparative evaluation of genetic gains through various selection methods; Indirect selection and Correlated response; Inbreeding, upgrading, cross-breeding and synthesis of brees; Crossing of inbred lines for commercial production; Selection for general and specific combining ability; Breeding for threshold character.

Paper-II

1. Health and Hygiene

1.1. Histology and Histological Techniques : Stains-Chemical classification of stains used in biological work-principles of staining tissues-mordants-progressive & regressive stains-differential staining of cytoplasmic and connective tissue elements-Methods of preparation and processing of tissues-celloidin embedding-Freezing microtomy-Microscopy-Bright field microscope and electron microscope. Cytology-structure of cell, organells & inclusions; cell divison-cell types-Tissues and their classification-embryonic and adult tissues-Comparative histology of organs:- vascular, Nervous, digestive, respiratory, musculo-skeletal and urogenital systems-Endocrine glands-Integuments-sense organs.

1.2. Embryology : Embryology of vertebrates with special reference to aves and domestic mammals-gametogenesis-fertilization-germ layers-foetal membranes & placentation-types of placenta in domestic mammals-Teratology-twin & twinning-organogenesis-germ layer derivatives-endodermal, mesodermal and ectodermal derivatives.

1.3 Bovine Anatomy-Regional Anatomy : Paranasal sinuses of OX-surface anatomy of salivary glands. Regional anatomy of infraorbital, maxillary, mandibuloalveolar, mental & coronal nerve block-Regional anatomy of paravertebral nerves, pudental nerve, median, ulnar & radial nerves-tibial, fibular and digital nerves-Cranial nerves-structures involved in epidural anaesthesia-superficial lymph nodes-surface anatomy of visceral organs of thoracic, abdominal and pelvic cavities-comparative features of locomotor apparatus & their application in the biomechanics of mammalian body.

1.4 Anatomy of Fowl : Musculo-skeletal system-functional anatomy in relation to respiration and flying, digestion and egg production.

1.5 Physiology of blood and its circulation, respiration; excretion, Endocrine glands in health and disease.

1.5.1 Blood constituents : Properties and functions-blood cell formation-Haemoglobin synthesis and chemistry-plasma proteins production, classification and properties; coagulation of blood; Haemorrhagic disorders-anticoagulants-blood groups-Blood volume-Plasma expanders-Buffer systems in blood. Biochemical tests and their significance in disease diagnosis.

1.5.2. Circulation: Physiology of heart, cardiac cycle-heart sounds, heart beat, electrocardiograms, Work and efficiency of heart-effect of ions on heart function-metabolism of cardiac muscle, nervous and chemical regulation of heart, effect of temperature and stress on heart, blood pressure and hypertension, Osmotic regulation, arterial pulse, vasomotor regulation of circulation, shock. Coronary & pulmonary circulation, Blood-Brain barrier-Cerebrospinal fluid-circulation in birds.

1.5.3 Respiration : Mechanism of respiration, Transport and exchange of gases-neural control of respiration-chemoreceptors-hypoxia-respiration in birds.

1.5.4 Excretion: Structure and function of kidney-formation of urinemethods of studying renal function-renal regulation of acid-base balance; physiological constituents of urine-renal failure-passive venous congestion-Urinary recreation in chicken-Sweat glands and their function. Biochemical tests for urinary dysfunction.

1.5.5 Endocrine glands : Functional disorders, their symptoms and diagnosis. Synthesis of hormones, mechanism and control of secretion-hormonal receptors-classification and function.

1.6. General knowlege of pharmacology and therapeutics of drugs : Celluar level of pharmacodynamics and pharmaco-kinetics-Drugs acting on fluids and electrolyte balance-drugs acting on Autonomic nervous system-Modern concepts of anaesthesia and dissociative anaesthetics-Autocoids-Antimicrobials and principles of chemotherapy in microbial injections-use of hormones in therapeutics-chemotherapy of parasitic infections-Drug and economic persons in the Edible tissues of animals-chemotherapy of Neoplastic diseases.

1.7. Veterinary Hygiene with reference to water, air and habitation : Assessment of pollution of water, air and soil-Importance of climate in animal health-effect of environment on animal function and performance-relationship between industri-alisation and animal agriculture-animal housing requirements for specific categories of domestic animals viz. pregnant cows & sows, milking cows, broiler birds-stress, strain & productivity in relation to animal habitation.

2. Animal Diseases :

2.1 Pathogenesis, symptoms, postmortum lesions, diagnosis, and control of infection diseases of cattle, pigs and poultry, horses, sheep and goats.

2.2 Etiology, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment of production diseases of cattle, pig and poultry.

2.3 Deficiency diseases of domestic animals and birds.

2.4 Diagnosis and treatment of nonspecific condition like impaction, Bloat, Diarrhoea, Indigestion, dehydration, stroke, poisioning.

2.5 Diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders.

2.6 Principles and methods of immunisation of animals against specific disseases-hard immunity-disease free zones-'zero' disease concept-chemoprophylaxis.

2.7 Anaesthesia-local, regional and general-preanaesthetic medication, Symptoms and surgical interference in fractures and dislocation, Hernia, choking, abomassal displacement-Caesarian operations, Rumenotomy-Castrations.

2.8 Disease investigation techniques-Materials for laboratory investigation-Establishment Animal Health Centres-Disease free zone.

3. Veterinary Public Health

3.1 Zoonoses : Classification, definition; role of animals and birds in prevalence and transmission of zoonotic diseases-occupational zoonotic diseases.

3.2. Epidemiology : Principles, definition of epidemiological terms, application of epidemiological measures in the study of diseases and disease control, Epidemiological features of air, water and food borne infections.

3.3 Veterinary Jurisprudence : Rules and Regulations for improvement of animal quality and prevention of animal diseases-state and control Rules for prevention of animal and animal product borne diseases-S.P. C.A. -veterolegal cases-certificates-Materials and Methods of collection of samples for veterolegal investigation.

4. Milk and Milk Products Technology :

4.1 Milk Technology : Organization of rural milk procurement, collection and transport of raw milk.

Quality, testing and grading raw milk, Quality storage grades of whole milk, Skimmed milk and cream.

Processing, packaging, storing, distributing, marketing defects and their control and nutritive properties of the following milks : Pasteurized, standardized, toned, double toned, sterilized, homogenized, reconstituted, recombined and flavoured milks. Preparation of cultured milks, cultures and their management, youghurt, Dahi, Lassi and Srikhand. Preparation of flavoured and sterlized milks. Legal standards, Sanitation requirement for clean and safe milk and for the milk plant equipment.

4.2 Milk Products Technology : Selection of raw materials, assembling, production, processing, storing, distributing and marketing milk products such as Butter, Ghee, Khoa, Channa, Cheese; Condensed, evaporated, dried milk and baby food; Ice cream and Kulfi; by products; whey products, butter milk, lactose and casein. Testing Grading, judging milk products-BIS and Agmark specifications, legal standards, quality control nutritive properties. Packaging, processing and operational control Costs.

5. Meat Hygiene and Technology :

5.1 Meat Hygiene :

5.1.1 Ante mortem care and management of food animals, stunning, slaughter and dressing operations; abattoir requirements and designs; Meat inspection procedures and judgement of carcass meat cuts-drading of carcass meat cuts-duties and functions of Veterinarians in Wholesome meat production.

5.1.2 Hygienic methods of handling production of meat-spoilage of meat and control measures-Post slaughter physicochemical changes in meat and factors that influence them-quality improvement methods-Adulteration of meat and defection-Regulatory provisions in Meat trade and Industry.

5.2. Meat Technology

5.2.1 Physical and chemical characteristics of meat-meat emulsions-methods of preservation of meat-curing, canning, irradiation, packaging of meat and meat products; meat products and formulations.

5.3. Byproducts : Slaughter house by products and their utilisation-Edible and inedible byproducts-social and economic implications of proper utilisation of slaughter house byproducts-Organ products for food and pharmaceuticals.

5.4. Poultry Products Technology : Chemical composition and nutritive value of poultry meat, pre slaughter care and management. Slaughtering techniques, inspection, preservation of poultry meat, and products. Legal and BIS standards.

Structure, composition and nutritive value of eggs. Microbial spoilage. Preservation and mainteancne. Marketing of poultry meat, eggs and products.

5.5. Rabbit/Fur Animal farming : Care and management of rabbit meat production. Disposal and utilization of fur and wool and recycling of waste byproducts. Grading of wool.

6. Extension : Basic philosophy, objectives, concept and principles of extension. Different Methods adopted to educate farmers under rural conditions. Generation of technology, its transfer and feedback. Problems of constraints in transfer of technology. Animal husbandry programmes for rural development.

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