Two farmers cultivate bananas (Musa acuminata) as a primary staple crop. They both face severe yield losses due to Black Sigatoka infecting their plantations.
Black Sigatoka is caused by a fungal pathogen. Describe how this pathogen can spread from plant to plant and how it enters the host leaves.
The farmers want to prevent their crops from getting Black Sigatoka.
Explain how cutting off and burning infected banana leaves (de-leafing) can protect the developing banana fruit bunches.
Explain how growing sweet potatoes (a non-host crop) in the plantation area for a season instead of bananas can protect future banana crops.
The farmers test two different chemical fungicides.
They each grow bananas in one of their plantations. Each farmer sprays a different fungicide on their plantation. They then compare the average banana fruit yield (bunch weight) in the two different plantations.
How could you improve the farmers' experiment? Explain your answer.
25 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Biology 6.2 Feeding the human race, covering 6.2.1 Biological factors affecting food security, 6.2.2 Agricultural solutions to growing demand, 6.2.3 Selective breeding, 6.2.4 Genetic engineering, 6.2.5 Steps in genetic engineering, 6.2.6 Benefits and risks of gene technology in agriculture, and 6.2.7 Biotechnological solutions to growing demand. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.