The syllabus for the Plant Science in JRF (AIEEA-PG) is vast. It covers a wide range of subject and needs daily studying and revision to succeed. If you aim to prepare for ICAR Exam – for getting JRF (AIEEA-PG) in Plant Sciences, you must start your preparation in the 2nd/ 3rd year of your B.Sc. (Ag.) course as it will be more helpful and will give you the needed time for completing the syllabus and revising the same.
The whole syllabus is important but the specific information about portions that need more focus is of utmost importance. If you are not aware about this, greater time will be required for preparation and you won’t have time for revision. The parts which you have to memorise, is considerably more in this AIEEA-PG exam. So, revision in necessary.
Plant scientists need dedication for subjects that are core to the module, i.e., Genetics, Plant Breeding, Seed Technology and Biotechnological Techniques. For the Plant Science AIEEA-PG exam, the syllabus can be broadly divided into the following subjects:
- Genetics
- Plant Breeding
- Plant Pathology
- Seed Technology
- Plant Physiology
- Microbiology*
- Biochemistry*
- Biotechnology*
- Statistics*
- General Agriculture
Books to be covered for Preparation of ICAR-JRF(AIEEA-PG)
For the subjects mentioned above, there are some specific books for each subject that need to be studied. The subject wise books are mentioned below.
1.General Agriculture:
- Nem Raj Sunda
- Arun Katyayan: Part I & II: These books need to be studied and memorised at the very end. These books contain information that are not from the subject but make a huge difference in the AIEEA-PG (JRF) exam as there are several questions from these books.
- S.R. Kantwa:This is the MCQ book from General Agriculture and this contains MCQs that need to be practised for General Agriculture as well as for the core subjects as questions are picked up from this book and asked in the JRF exam.
2.Genetics:
- Genetics by B.D. Singh
- Elements of Genetics by Phundan Singh: These books need to be studied in detail and B.D. Singh need to be learnt precisely as all the important concepts are there in this book. Phundan Singh provides a concise concept of those topics which helps in the revision.
- Genetics by Benjamin A. Pierce (for Molecular Genetics only) :The molecular genetics part in detail can be studied from this book as the chapters are explained nicely in a very clear and understandable fashion which helps to clear the concept of these topics.
- Genetics Made Easy by Gireesh,C. Yathish,K.R. MahaDebaiah, C. Shivakumar: This book needs to be done for revision and also for final looking at the topics.
3.Plant Breeding:
- Plant Breeding Principles and Methods by B.D. Singh
- Essentials of Plant Breeding by Phundan Singh: These books are for detailed study and provide clear concepts of the topics in plant breeding. The B. D. Singh is of utmost importance and the Phundan Singh needs to be consulted along with B. D. Singh especially in Breeding methods and the topics related to heritability and the various genetic variances. The biometrical methods in Plant Breeding chapter is not of much importance in the JRF exam but needs a rough lookup and not a detailed study.
4.Objective and other books:
- Objective Genetics by B.K. Prasad and B.D. Singh
- Objective Plant breeding by B.K. Prasad and B.D. Singh
- Plant Breeding S.V. Sai Prasad
- Plant Science at a Glance by Ajit Kumar Singh: These are some of the other books which need to be covered. Out of these, the objective books need to be practised in detail and the last book, Plant Science at a Glance by Ajit Kumar Singh, is of utmost importance as this has all the short questions and MCQs in sentence form and helps in quick glance at the questions of the whole syllabus.
- ICAR eCourse : This is an important piece of informative notes which can be studied to get an idea on the topics that might have been missed while studying the books as this has a concise idea on all the topics of the subjects
5.Plant Pathology:
- Fungi Bacteria Virus by H.C. Dube: This book needs to be covered in whole and the concepts needs to be memorised for the pathology and the microbiology part as all the classes of pathogens are explained nicely with all the necessary details.
- Plant Pathology at a Glance by Utpal Kumar Bhattacharyya: This book is very important for the Plant Science course as this book has MCQs which needs to be practised nicely for the exam. The book also has material for study but the synonyms of the common scientific names are presented in this book which make it a hard read and also causes confusion. So, it mainly is of importance because of the MCQs.
- Plant Science at a Glance by Ajit Kumar Singh: Same book as the Genetics and Plant Breeding part and is important for the same reason. The MCQs presented in a concise format for easy learning and memorizing.
- ICAR eCourse:
6.Plant Physiology:
- Fundamentals of Plant Physiology by V.K. Jain
- Plant Physiology by S.V. Sai Prasad (Objective Book)
- ICAR eCourse
- Arun Katyayan Vol II: These books need to be covered precisely and the objective book needs to be covered thoroughly to get the plant physiology questions correct as the concepts are covered nicely in these books. The Arun Katyayan is a general Agriculture book but the Plant physiology part is very nicely explained in the book which helps in quick understanding and revision of the part. And as all the other subjects, the ICAR eCourse is also important for quick perusal on the topics
- Plant Science at a Glance by Ajit Kumar Singh: For the same reasons as before this is of utmost importance to be read before the exam and also after each chapter to get a view of the types of questions asked from the chapter.
7. Microbiology:
- Microbiology by Michael J. Pelczar (Chapter: 1, 2, 3, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29) [5 to 16 Optional]
8.Seed Technology:
- Principles of Seed Technology by P.K. Agrawal
- Objective Seed Science and Technology by P.R. Ranganayaki, T. Ramanandane, P. Srimathi, P. Balamurugan: These books are the basics for seed technology and these are the books that need to be studied and used for revision of the topics pertaining to seed technology.
- ICAR eCourse:
9.Biochemistry:
- Plant Science at a Glance by Ajit Kumar Singh: This needs a quick view from the questions point of view and not in utmost detail. So this book provides that view of the questions from this part and needs to be memorized and if questions are given from this part can be attended.
10. Biotechnology:
- ICAR eCourse : This part needs a quick look and the ICAR eCourse provides that view on this part and the concepts of biotechnology that is important for Plant Science JRF needs to be covered from ICAR eCourse only. No recommended book is needed as there are several unimportant concepts in the book for the course of plant science which are needed in Biotechnology JRF, details for which are presented in the other blog.
11. Statistics:
- Statistics Part in Nem Raj Sunda: This part is important because genetics has several concepts related to population and statistical analysis which are asked a few times. So covering the statistics part of Nem Raj Sunda will provide a quick view of Statistics without getting too deep into the subject, which is not necessary.
For a quick introduction of what to do, you can go through the overall syllabus which is given by ICAR for the ICAR Exams, the link for which is given below.
Download it from this link: https://www.icar.org.in/sites/default/files/Syllabus%20PG-2019_1.pdf#overlay-context=content/syllabus-aieea-ug-aieea-pg-and-aice-jrfsrfpgs-2019
Firstly, the studying of books is most important and needs to be covered by the 8th Semester. Then for better preparation you can visit our Website where you can find practice papers and courses made by the highest rankers in ICAR-JRF (AIEEA-PG) in Plant Science. You can practice MCQ, which are made by them. This type of practice will definitely help you to acquire a prestigious rank in the Agricultural Entrance Exam for PG. Also we are trying to provide some video courses on the topics which need more explanation.
Thank full to you, it’s very helpful for students
Which Book of plant breeding should be read first out of them .
Which Book of plant breeding should be read first either b.D Singh or Pundan singh
B.D. Singh acts as the foundation book for plant science students. Phundan Singh is the complimentary of the previous. Both books are genuinely good for concept building. I suggest to read both of the books in simultaneous manner for best preparation in plant science.