Question

Assertion: One of the major crops that originated in the new world is wheat.
Reason: Wheat is cultivated in large scale in central Asia.

A) Both Assertion and reason are correct and reason is the correct explanation for assertion.
B) Both Assertion and reason are correct but reason is not the correct explanation for assertion.
C) Assertion is correct but reason is incorrect.
D) Both Assertion and Reason are incorrect.

Answer 1

Hint: Commonly grown wheat is Triticum Aestivum. Wheat is a monocot belonging to the family Poaceae. Wheat (Triticum sp) is a cereal grain originally from the Levant region of the near East and Ethiopian Highlands. Now it is cultivated worldwide. It is the third most produced cereal after maize and rice. Wheat has higher protein content than maize and rice.

Complete Answer:
- Wheat and barley were the first cereals known to have been domesticated. Wheat originated in South Eastern Asia. Wheat has been the basic staple food of the major civilization of Europe, West Asia and North Africa from 8000 years.
- The term old world refers to Asia, Africa and Europe. Old world refers to a part of the world that was known to its citizens before it came into contact with the Americans. On the other hand, the new world refers to America and it is inclusive of North America, South America and Central America.
- Old world crops are – wheat, barley, rye, oats etc.
- New world crops are maize, tomato, tobacco, sunflower etc.
- Thus, wheat is an old world crop, not a new world crop, so the assertion is incorrect.
- Reason is incorrect as maize is cultivated in Asia on a large scale.
Hence, both assertion and reason are incorrect.

The correct option is (D) Both Assertion and Reason are incorrect.

Note: Present day wheat Triticum Aestivum (Bread Wheat) is hexaploid. It is evolved from the sterile hybrid variety of wheat. Sterile hybrid wheat is produced by cross between Emmer Wheat and Wild grass varieties of wheat.
Wheat Kernel is a type of fruit called caryopsis.