Question

Major food crops of the world belong to family
A. Leguminosae
B. Cruciferae
C. Solanaceae
D. Gramineae

Answer 1

Hint: Crops are products derived from both plants and animals grown and harvested for commercial purposes. The crops harvested extensively as food for humans and livestock are known as food crops. Typical food crops are rice, corn, maize, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, vegetables, etc.

Complete answer:
Option (a) is incorrect. Leguminosae is a family of economically important flowering plants. The members of this family are known as legumes. The most commonly known legumes are peas, lentils and soybeans. A unique feature of these plants is the presence of nodules in the roots that contain nitrogen fixing bacteria. These bacteria are able to convert atmospheric nitrogen into the usable form of ammonia. This makes the legumes play a key role in crop rotation.
Option (b) is incorrect. Cruciferae is an economically important family of plants. The common members of this family are mustards, cabbages, horseradish, rapeseed, etc. The species of Cruciferae are used extensively for vegetable oil production and as a food crop for humans.
Option (c) is incorrect. Solanaceae are flowering plants harvested for a variety of purposes. They are used for food, medicines, spices and also as ornamental plants. The commonly known members of this family are tomatoes, potatoes, chilli, peppers are used as food. Ornamental species are Datura, Atropa, Petunia, etc. While species like Nicotiana contain tobacco.
Option (d) is correct. The members of the family Gramineae are monocotyledonous plants. Majority of food crops belong to this family. Gramineae species are harvested extensively for direct human consumption and provide a major chunk of daily dietary calorie intake. The members of Gramineae are rice, wheat, millet, maize, barley, etc. Sugarcane is an important source of sugar, and is also used for making alcoholic beverages.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Note: Food crops are plants exclusively harvested to be consumed as food for humans and animals. A major part of all the food crops comes from the family Gramineae. This family constitutes the grasses like bamboo, wheat, maize, corn, millets, etc. Apart from being used as food, the Gramineae species are used for fuel, timber, making furniture, paper, etc. Bamboo also belongs to this family of plants and along with straw and thatch are used extensively as building materials.