Current News and Conceptual Applications — Crop Protection Reviewer Questions

Sample Current News and Conceptual Applications questions with answers and explanations

Board-style items taken from the Crop Protection bank. Every answer is explained, which is the part that makes a review question worth doing twice.

1. A sugarcane extension team in Negros Occidental finds dense colonies of red-striped soft scale insect (Pulvinaria tenuivalvata) on the undersides of leaves, extensive honeydew, and black sooty growth. Which immediate field action best supports both diagnosis and outbreak containment?

   • A. Spray the entire mill district immediately with one insecticide regardless of infestation level
   • B. Burn every sugarcane field within five kilometers of the observation
   • C. Wait until harvest because sooty growth is only cosmetic
   • D. Collect georeferenced samples, confirm identification, delimit infested blocks, and restrict movement of infested planting materials correct

   Why: Confirmation, georeferenced delimitation, and movement control are the defensible first steps for an expanding pest; indiscriminate area-wide spraying or delay can worsen ecological and spread risks.

2. A mill district must compare red-striped soft scale insect (Pulvinaria tenuivalvata) pressure among farms with different row lengths. Which sampling metric is most defensible?

   • A. Kilograms of insecticide purchased per barangay
   • B. Total insects counted in each entire farm
   • C. Percentage of farmers reporting black leaves
   • D. Number of infested leaves per fixed number of randomly selected stalks correct

   Why: A fixed, standardized plant-based sampling unit allows valid comparisons among farms of different sizes and avoids confounding infestation with area or farmer behavior.

3. After an organic contact treatment against red-striped soft scale insect (Pulvinaria tenuivalvata), a researcher sees fewer live scales but abundant old sooty mold remains. What is the best interpretation?

   • A. Live-insect counts and new honeydew production should be assessed because old sooty mold can persist after pest mortality correct
   • B. The treatment failed because blackened leaves did not become clean immediately
   • C. The field should be classified as pest-free based only on the reduced stickiness of leaves
   • D. Only yield data are needed; insect survival should be ignored

   Why: Residual sooty mold is not a direct measure of current survival. Post-treatment evaluation should separate live scale density and new honeydew from old discoloration.

4. A sugarcane cooperative plans to move seed cane from a farm with suspected red-striped soft scale insect (Pulvinaria tenuivalvata) to an uninfested municipality. Which decision is most appropriate?

   • A. Mix the seed cane with material from clean farms
   • B. Move the cane at night to reduce crawler activity
   • C. Withhold movement until official inspection and pest-status confirmation, then use certified clean planting material correct
   • D. Wash the trucks but move the planting materials without inspection

   Why: Planting-material movement is a major pathway for sessile or crawler-producing pests. Official inspection and clean material are more reliable than informal washing or mixing.

5. An LGU receives limited funds for red-striped soft scale insect (Pulvinaria tenuivalvata) management. Which allocation is most likely to slow spread across barangays?

   • A. Purchase one high-capacity sprayer without a monitoring plan
   • B. Subsidize calendar spraying of every sugarcane field each week
   • C. Train scouts, map infestations, sanitize equipment, and prioritize treatment of delimited hotspots correct
   • D. Replace field surveillance with social-media reports only

   Why: Early detection, mapping, sanitation, and hotspot-based action improve containment efficiency. Calendar spraying without surveillance wastes resources and increases resistance and non-target risks.

6. Field crews observe red-striped soft scale insect (Pulvinaria tenuivalvata) mainly on older lower leaves. Which sampling modification best reduces false negatives?

   • A. Sample only harvested stalk billets
   • B. Inspect only the youngest spindle leaves
   • C. Include standardized examination of lower-leaf undersides on several stalks per sampling point correct
   • D. Count only flying insects above the canopy

   Why: The pest commonly colonizes leaf undersides; sampling the likely within-plant location improves detection sensitivity.

7. A farmer proposes repeated broad-spectrum insecticide applications against red-striped soft scale insect (Pulvinaria tenuivalvata) even where natural enemies are abundant. What is the strongest technical objection?

   • A. They may disrupt predators and parasitoids and select for resistance without proving economic benefit correct
   • B. Broad-spectrum sprays always increase sugar content
   • C. They are prohibited for every sugarcane pest in the Philippines
   • D. They cannot contact any scale insect

   Why: Unnecessary repeated sprays can eliminate natural enemies and intensify resistance and resurgence risks. Product legality and efficacy must be verified for the registered crop–pest use.

8. A diagnostic laboratory receives sugarcane leaves with two reddish longitudinal marks but no intact insects. What should the laboratory request before confirming red-striped soft scale insect (Pulvinaria tenuivalvata)?

   • A. A fertilizer analysis only
   • B. Preserved specimens from symptomatic leaves plus field-location and host data correct
   • C. A photograph of the mill
   • D. A weather forecast

   Why: Plant discoloration alone is insufficient for species confirmation. Intact specimens and associated field metadata support morphological or molecular diagnosis.

Practise the full Crop Protection bank free

Other Crop Protection topics

• Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Entomology 2026 — 250 questions

Back to the Crop Protection reviewer · All six board subjects