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High-yielding variety

High-yielding variety is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand High-yielding variety rather than just read about it. In short: High-yielding varieties (abbreviated as HYVs) of agricultural crops are varieties of crops that are usually characterized by a combination of the following traits in contrast to the conventional ones: Higher crop yield per unit area Higher quality of crops Improved response to fertilizers Early maturation Resistance to droughts and floods High reliance on irrigation and fertilizers (see intensive farming) Dwarfness…

High-yielding variety — main illustration
High-yielding variety — illustration

Key takeaways

  • High-yielding variety belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect High-yielding variety to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of High-yielding variety from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

High-yielding varieties (abbreviated as HYVs) of agricultural crops are varieties of crops that are usually characterized by a combination of the following traits in contrast to the conventional ones:

Higher crop yield per unit area Higher quality of crops Improved response to fertilizers Early maturation Resistance to droughts and floods High reliance on irrigation and fertilizers (see intensive farming) Dwarfness (smaller size) Resistance to many diseases and insects. The most popular HYVs can be found among wheat, corn, soybean, rice, potato, and cotton. They are heavily used in commercial and plantation farms. The Green Revolution in the late 1960s (or generally, in the second half of the 20th century) introduced farmers to cultivation of food crops using HYV seeds, although their ancestral roots may be older. Compared to the traditional seeds, HYV seeds promise to produce much greater amounts of grain on a single plant. As a result, the same piece of land now produces much larger quantities of foodgrains than was possible earlier. However, HYVs need plenty of water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce the best results.

Development

HYV seeds were developed by scientists to improve food supplies and reduce famine in developing countries. HYVs are developed in the field of biotechnology, by genetic crossbreeding of plants.

Advantages High yielding variety seeds are known for their resistance to insects and diseases and ability to produce high yields. These seeds are superior in quality and promote abundant and healthy crop production. The high-yielding seeds exhibit resilience against floods and droughts, resulting in better-quality yields. They also mature earlier than the traditional seeds.

Disadvantages HYV crops need a lot of inputs (such as fertilizers and pesticides) to grow, and this increases costs as well as environmental pollution. HYV seeds are very expensive. The poorest farmers have been unable to buy HYV seeds, so they are of no benefit to them.

See also

Green Revolution Famine of Bengal Agriculture in India

References

External links "Development and Spread of High-yielding Varieties Of Wheat And Rice in the Less Developed Nations" (PDF). U.S. Department Of Agriculture Office Of International Cooperation And Development In Cooperation With U.S. Agency For International Development. 1978. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-21. Retrieved 2016-11-10.

Illustrations

High-yielding variety: Corn, one crop for which HYV seeds have been created.
Corn, one crop for which HYV seeds have been created.
High-yielding variety: Golden rice is formed by plant crossbreeding.
Golden rice is formed by plant crossbreeding.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with High-yielding variety

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what High-yielding variety claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to High-yielding variety before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about High-yielding variety ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of High-yielding variety

In research
High-yielding variety appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses High-yielding variety in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
High-yielding variety is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Agriculture, Crops, Seeds, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for High-yielding variety outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study High-yielding variety in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what High-yielding variety means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain High-yielding variety out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is High-yielding variety in simple terms?

High-yielding varieties (abbreviated as HYVs) of agricultural crops are varieties of crops that are usually characterized by a combination of the following traits in contrast to the conventional ones: Higher crop yield per unit area Higher quality of crops Improved response to fertilizers Early mat…

Why does High-yielding variety matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study High-yielding variety?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on High-yielding variety.

Tags

  • Agriculture
  • Crops
  • Seeds

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