The entire collection of plants/seeds having all diverse alleles for all genes in a given crop is called
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Germplasm collection
Option (3) Germplasm collection — Correct. The entire collection of plants or seeds that carries all the diverse alleles for all the genes of a crop is called its germplasm collection. It is the first step in plant breeding.
Note: This question is from Chapter 9, Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production, of the pre-rationalised NCERT book. This chapter is not in the present NCERT book (2026-27). The extract below is from the pre-rationalised edition.
NCERT Extract (Pre-rationalised edition, Chapter 9, Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production):
What Is Plant Breeding? – “… Collection and preservation of all the different wild varieties, species and relatives of the cultivated species (followed by their evaluation for their characteristics) is a pre-requisite for effective exploitation of natural genes available in the populations. The entire collection (of plants/seeds) having all the diverse alleles for all genes in a given crop is called germplasm collection.”